The Promised Podcast – Segment

Decaffeinated to Death?

Is the shuttering of literary hangout coffee shops in Tel Aviv a sign that Israeli culture is deteriorating? Or is it time for Chicken Little to switch to decaf?

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“Selfie in Auschwitz”

A viral Israeli hip-hop video about Auschwitz? Can satire go past transgressive to just plain icky?

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In Praise of Progressive Populism

Can leftist Bernie-Sandersian or Jeremy-Corbynian populism in Israel finally break Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on Israeli politics?

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Rachael Ray’s Rapine Recipes

Rachael Ray tweets that hummus is Israeli and is immediately flamed until she herself is golden brown. Can cuisine be colonialist?

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Pascal’s Meteorology

Israel’s Minister of Agriculture sponsors a mass prayer vigil at the Western Wall to fight a four year drought. The move works – record rains immediately fall – but is that good government?

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UNRWA ShmUNRWA

Should the very job description of the UN agency that provides aid to Palestinians be revisited and changed?

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Linguaphobia

White-on-black Arabic billboards go up around Israel and some Jews freak out. What accounts for their fears of one of the country’s two official languages?

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Likud’s Settlement-Schizoid New Year’s Resolutions

Likud ministers vote in the morning to approve a deal with Europe that boycotts settlements, and the Likud Central Committee votes in the evening to annex settlements: What accounts for this settlement-schizoid behavior?

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The “Herem” of Public Opinion: On Excommunication and Rehabilitation

It was too soon for an august American Jewish institution like the 92nd St. Y to invite confessed groper and harasser Ari Shavit to speak. But how can we ever know when justice has been served?

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