the promised podcast – full show

We discuss: 1) a poll finding that most Israelis think that Iran “won the war” 2) the eviscerating new movie, “Yes”, by Israeli director-in-self-imposed-exile Nadav Lapid, who despite his criticism of Israel was BDSedly hounded out of next week’s Marseille International Film Festival

We discuss: 1) The “great deal” that US President Donald Trump struck with Iran 2) The resurgence of “communal singing” in Israel, and what it says about the state of our souls, and how nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.

We talk about this week’s strange, short, truncated warlet with Iran, and new findings that point to a weird entanglement between Israeli attitudes towards climate change and most everything else we argue about here.

We talk about President Herzog’s alarmed warning that we are turning into animals, and PM Netanyahu’s very viral election ad, about how leftist-wing sorts make right-wing sorts feel like less.

We talk about the war with Iran and the peace with Gaza, and how US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic ADD makes it close to impossible for anything good to come of our miserable wars.

We discuss: 1) Why long-time allies of Benny Gantz left the Blue & White Party, wondering if it is the man or what he stands for 2) What exactly are those secular and egalitarian Tikkunei Leil Shavuot all about?

We discuss: 1) The controversial opinion piece in the Times suggesting that Israeli guards and soldiers sexually assault Palestinian prisoners 2) Why Jerusalem Day has become an almost sectarian holiday for religious Zionists.

We discuss: 1) How the war with Iran quickened a surprisingly close strategic relationship between Israel and the UAE 2) How Israel is seen on college campuses, from the quad to the student union to the seminar room to the faculty lounge.

We discuss: 1) President Herzog’s split-the-baby reply to PM Netanyahu’s request for a pardon 2) The announcement that former PM Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid will run together in the upcoming elections, and whether the whole they make is bigger or smaller than the sum of its parts.

We discuss: 1) The imposed cease-fires and whether Israelis ought to worry we’re becoming a vassal state 2) What explains why an IDF soldier took a sledgehammer to a statue of Jesus in a yard in a village in Lebanon.