The Promised Podcast

The “Château Latour” Edition

We discuss 1) why the Labor Party is defaming centrist Blue & White Party as stooges of the right 2) whether a key to understand Israel today is to see that it is increasingly a “post-Secular” society 3) a new project to build a cable-car connecting Jewish West Jerusalem with the Wailing Wall

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The “Banned on the Run” Edition

We discuss 1) the Central Election Committee’s decision to ban some parties from running for the Knesset while allowing others 2) the shocking popularity of a new libertarian party 3) why the Midburn festival has grown so popular and beloved so quickly.

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The “Things Change (or They Don’t)” Edition

We discuss 1) why charges of bribery and breach of trust haven’t affected Bibi’s popularity 2) the rapid growth of Arabic-Hebrew bilingual, multicultural schools 3) the charges by an Israeli-American woman that 42 years ago a 17 year-old Benny Gantz sexually assaulted her.

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The “With Us or Agin’ Us!” Edition

We discuss 1) whether the time has come to break the taboo against forming a coalition with Palestinian-Israeli parties 2) the campaign of the New Right Party 3) whether it’s right or not to help a friend move into a new apartments in a West-Bank settlement

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The “Out with the Old, In with the New” Edition

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

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The “Befuddled, Belabored, Bereaved & Beloved” Edition

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

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The “Black & White, Left & Right” Edition

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

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The “Bullsh*t Solutions to Bullsh*t Problems?” Edition

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

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The “Lessons of War” Edition

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

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The “Son of God, with a Side of Fries” Edition

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

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