We discuss 1) whether the new Centrist mega-party “Blue & White,” a party that unites Two-State-Solution types with never-Palestinian-Staters, can endure 2) what can we learn from the meteoric fall of Tzipi Livni 3) how you keep welders, carpenters and auto-repair shops in Tel Aviv when the real estate that their workshops are on is worth a gazillion shekels

We discuss 1) whether primaries are good or bad for Israeli democracy 2) with the Labor Party possibly falling below the election threshold, should we be concerned about its disappearance? 3) is there a “culture of bereavement” in Israeli politics for which women, especially, pay a high price

We discuss 1) the Likud primaries and the composite portrait they paint of the heart, soul and physiognomy of the party 2) the rage and heartache of Ethiopian-Israelis, as they protest police brutality and so much else 3) how to make sense of Conan O’Brien making sense of Israel

We discuss 1) whether election campaigns are about anything that matters, or anything at all 2) the resignation of MK Dov Khenin who says there are better ways to bring political change than the Knesset 3) an appeal to overturn the Nation-State Law on the grounds that downgrading Arabic discriminates against Mizrahi Jews

We discuss 1) an essay headlined “There is No ‘Israeli-Palestinian Conflict’” 2) the campaign videos of former IDF Chief of Staff and present PM pretender Benny Gans 3) historian Benny Morris’ prediction that, in a few decades time, Jews will be a persecuted minority in Palestine

We discuss 1) the Labor Party’s campaign to persuade other parties to commit to never joining a coalition with PM Netanyahu 2) demonstrations over an exhibit in Haifa’s art museum that includes “McJesus,” with Ronald McDonald on the cross 3) the proposal to quadruple, or maybe octuple, tuition fees in Israel

We discuss 1) the detention and interrogation of 5 Yeshiva kids accused of murdering a Palestinian woman 2) the argument between a professor and student over wearing an army uniform to class 3) the claim that kids who join “educators’ kibbutzim” have been brainwashed

We discuss the upheavals on Israel’s Right, Center, and Left, as parties fall and rise, careers crash and burn and rise like a phoenix, some political leaders abandon the parties they head, and others are defenestrated. The drama!

We discuss 1) Bibi’s decision to dissolve the government and hold elections in April 2) a traditional “Ethiopian farm” in Israel, with mud storehouses and subsistence farming, challenge the way the rest of us live 3) a new law nudging us towards a “cashless society.”

We discuss 1) the French-inspired “Yellow-Vest” protests against rising prices and what they auger for Israeli politics 2) the 2018 Democracy Index and its finding 3) the decision by shopping mall in a Jewish neighborhood to install a big honking Christmas tree.