We discuss: 1) The weird party mergers and odd-couples running together for Knesset in the upcoming elections 2) The “Nili force”, started after Oct. 7, dedicated to capturing or killing every last one of the 5,000-odd Gazans who poured over the border on that day.

Two years ago, this week, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin and Libi & Orly Goldberg-Polin buried their son and brother Hersh. The rest of us did, too. In this episode, we hear Rachel Goldberg-Polin during those 328 days when Hersh was in those tunnels alive, until he wasn’t.

We discuss: 1) A new “working man’s ultra-Orthodox party” that wants science in the classroom and Haredim in the boardroom and the barracks 2) A new poll showing that most Israelis feel like they need to hide who we are when we travel abroad.

We discuss: 1) The criminal harassment of Abu Rida and the Hassan families in Qusra 2) The surprising results of the Likud primaries 3) Avi Nesher’s profound and affecting new movie, “Our Loves.”

We discuss: 1) The new parties springing up in the “middle” of Israel’s electoral map 2) The likely addition as #2 on the “United Arab List” party of a Jew who made his name in the army and police.

In this very special episode, Noah shares love letters he heard walking the streets of Tel Aviv with Lucy the Dog, on a new “Love Letters” app made by genius Russian-Israeli director Semyon Alexandrovsky.

We discuss: 1) What has become of the “Religious Zionism Party,” after its sort-of primaries made it a settler-only affair? 2) What are the ties that bind the different sorts of people who hope to give Benjamin Netanyahu four more years in office?

We discuss: 1) This week’s primaries in the “Democrats Party” and what they say about Israel’s only leftist Zionist party 2) Whether or not our contemporary politics are infected by “baseless hatred.”

We discuss: 1) The “blitz” of legislation passed in the fading days of the Knesset 2) A hauntingly beautiful essay in The Atlantic by former Prime Minister and head of the opposition Yair Lapid.

We discuss: 1) The Cabinet’s dramatic statement implying that the government may not comply with a Supreme Court ruling 2) The meaning of the Maccabiah, the “Jewish Olympics” underway now.