The Promised Podcast

We discuss: 1) Whether or not war has become the norm for Israel rather than a deliberate strategy 2) Why Israelis remain among the happiest people in the world, even after October 7th

We discuss: 1) The abrupt, maybe fleeting, end to the war with Iran, and what it means, 2) The “Death Penalty for Terrorists” law recently passed by the Knesset, and what it means.

We discuss: 1) The Jewish thugs attacking, hurting and terrorizing Palestinians on the West Bank and, relatedly, 2) What our exodus story needs to be this year.

Ninety years ago this week, Hebrew was heard on airwaves as the Voice of Jerusalem had its first broadcast. The feint echoes of the thing are worth listening for today.

We discuss: 1) What this thing with Iran is 2) Whether we’re seeing a new, more Strangelovian Prime Minister Netanyahu, and 3) What life underground in the homefront tells us about Israeli society at this strange moment

Today marks the thirtieth day since we buried Ran Gvili, the hostage who came home last. Noah explores how wars end in Israel, and what the end of this war is like for all of us going through it.

Uri Lupolianski was the first ultra-Orthodox mayor of Jerusalem, and he was convicted of corruption. A week after his death, Noah says that he was also a reflection of all of us, at our imperfect best.

We discuss: 1) What to make about Bondi Beach and the many, many violent things around the world that maybe led up to it 2) What does Hanukkah mean in 2025?

We discuss: 1) whether we are headed towards what some experts call a “mental health tsunami” 2) Kibbutz Be’eri’s decision not to preserve the wrecked houses where almost a hundred of their loved ones were murdered

We discuss: 1) the Prime Minister’s request that the President pardon him 2) what to make of the movie, The Sea, which took all the important Israeli prizes this year, for its depiction of a kid living under occupation, trying to get a glimpse of the sea