In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Yiftach Golov, one of the leaders of the protest movement against the Israeli government's proposed judicial reforms. They discuss the basis of the movement's objection to the reforms and its tactics and future direction. Golov served in an IDF Special Forces unit and is currently completing his PhD in Biophysics at Tel-Aviv University.
In this episode, Jack Omer-Jackaman speaks to Oren Kessler, author, journalist, and political analyst. They discuss Kessler's new book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict , and the ways in which the Revolt continues to inform both the Israeli-Palestinian dynamic and the direction of Palestinian politics and terrorism today. Kessler previously served as deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, research fellow ...
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Tal Shalev, political correspondent at Walla News, about the latest political developments in Israel. They discuss the internal dynamics within the coalition and their achievements in securing concessions in the recently passed budget. They also explore the government’s chances of passing a new Draft Bill reaffirming ultra-Orthodox exclusion from the military draft; and the prospects of the ongoing negotiations over judicial reform achieving a successful ...
In this podcast, Richard Pater, Director of BICOM speaks to Brigadier general (Res.) Assaf Orion, Senior Researcher at the INSS and Director of The Diane & Guilford Glazer Israel-China Policy Center. They discuss the recent conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), assess Operation Shield and Arrow’s success in degrading PIJ’s terror capabilities, explore Hamas’s role, and look at the performance of Iron Dome in intercepting PIJ rockets. After two decades in command positi...
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Professor Efraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. They discuss what the Ramadan period showed us about Israel’s current security challenges, the state of its deterrence, and the level of Iranian influence in the region. They also consider Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia, the US, and, in the light of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s recent visits, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Professor Inbar is an expert on Israeli str...
In this live podcast, Richard Pater, Director of BICOM speaks to Ehud Yaari, the Middle East commentator for Israel's Channel 12 television and former associate editor of the Jerusalem Report. He has been a Middle East commentator for Israeli television since 1975. Among his numerous awards for journalism are the Israeli Press Editors-in-Chief prize for coverage of the peace process with Egypt, the Sokolov Prize for coverage of the Lebanon War, and the Israel Broadcasting Award for coverage of t...
In this episode, Jack Omer-Jackaman speak to Sir John Jenkins. Sir John was British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from June 2012 to January 2015. He previously served as the ambassador to Libya, Iraq, and Syria, and as the British Consul General in Jerusalem. They discuss the recent China-brokered normalisation deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia, its implications for Israel and for Chinese and US regional influence respectively, as well as what we might expect to see next from Iran’s nuclear progra...
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Sarit Zehavi, a major in the IDF reserves who specialises in intelligence and holds an MA in Middle East Studies from Ben-Gurion University. She is the founder and CEO of ALMA, an organisation specialising in research and analysis of Israel’s security challenges on the northern border. In this episode, they discuss the state of Hezbollah and the recent attack it may be linked to inside Israel, politics in Lebanon and the current threat the organisation po...
In this episode, BICOM Director Richard Pater talks to Dr Michael Milshtein, an expert on the Palestinian Arena and the Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University. In this 200th episode of the BICOM podcast, they discuss the growing terror attacks on Israel, what the run-up to Ramadan may look like, the future of the West Bank and how to prevent future friction between Settlers and Palestinians, as seen in Hawara ...
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Benham Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues. They discuss the current state of Iran's nuclear programme, Iran's links with Russia, and where the US and the EU stand on Iran. Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Farsi skills, Behnam has closely tracked a wide range of Iran-related topics including nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles,...
In this episode, Jack Omer-Jackman, Research Associate at BICOM speaks to Professor Amichai Cohen. Professor Cohen is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and a faculty member of the Faculty of Law, Ono Academic College. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a master's degree and a doctorate from the Yale Law School. His research deals with constitutional and international law, and he's the author of the book The Wars of the High Court....
In this episode, Jack Omer-Jackaman, BICOM Research Associate is speaks to Professor Jonathan Rynhold, head of the department of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University. Rynhold's research focuses on US-Israeli relations, Israeli foreign policy and the role of political culture in foreign policy. They discuss the internal dynamics of the coalition government, the state of proposed judicial reforms, and look at the current strength of the relationship between Israel and the US.
In this live episode, Richard Pater speaks to Tal Shalev, political correspondent at Walla News about the new coalition government and what may be the future challenges facing Israel. At Walla News, Tal covers Israel’s prime minister, the government, and parliament as well as the country’s foreign and diplomatic affairs. She studied Political Science and Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. This briefing was recorded live with questions by the audience, facilitated by Kira Lewis.
In this episode BICOM Director Richard Pater speaks to Jonathan Paris about the current state of US and Israeli policy concerning Iran and Russia. In a wide-ranging conversation they discuss the geopolitical implications of both Tehran’s nuclear programme and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jonathan is a London-based analyst, a former Middle East Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a senior adviser to the Chertoff Group.
In this episode, BICOM Research Associate Jack Omer-Jackaman speaks to Calev Ben Dor about his recent Fathom essay ‘Politically homeless’: Yamina voters tell their story . Calev assesses the impact on November’s election results of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s stepping back from politics, the inter-communal violence of May 2021, the presence of Mansour Abbas in the previous government, and the rise of Religious Zionism. Calev Ben Dor is Senior Research Associate at BICOM and Deputy Ed...
In this episode, Richard Pater discusses judicial reform with Professor Suzie Navot. Prof. Navot explains the background of Israel’s legal system, its uniqueness among other parliamentary democracies and the significance of potentially implementing an override clause. Suzie Navot is Vice President at the Israeli Democracy Institute. She is a Professor of Constitutional Law, her areas of expertise include constitutional law, law of institutions, parliamentary law and comparative constitutional la...
In this episode, BICOM Director Richard Pater speaks with Carrie Keller-Lynn, a political and legal correspondent at the Times of Israel. They discuss the election results, breaking down what happened by party, and what could be next for the new government. Originally from the US, Carrie attended Stanford Law School and also holds a degree from Yale. She was called to the bar in New York and DC in 2017. Carrie also hosts her own podcast, and is based in Tel Aviv.
In this episode, Richard Pater speak to Jacky Hugi, the Arab affairs analyst of Israeli Army Radio and a columnist for the Maariv newspaper. Jacky gives his assessment of the Israel – Lebanon maritime agreement and the role Hezbollah plays in domestic Lebanese politics. They also discuss the ongoing violence in the West Bank. Jacky describes the current level of popularity of the Palestinian Authority and the new phenomenon of the Lion's Den group.
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks with Israel’s former Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev about his experience meeting the Queen. Ambassador Regev also shares his views on King Charles’s relationship with Israel and the strength of the bilateral relationship under Prime Minister Truss. He also offers his latest assessment on Iran, the Abraham Accords and the maritime talks with Lebanon. As well as having served as Ambassador in London, in the past he was the international spokesperson and media...
In this episode Richard Pater speaks to Orna Mizrahi, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies. With the US negotiator’s imminent return to the region, they discuss the prospects of Israel and Lebanon reaching an understanding over their maritime border. Orna also shares her assessment of the current threat posed by Hezbollah and the state of Lebanese politics ahead of their Presidential election. Before joining the INSS Orna had a distinguished military career wit...
In this episode Richard Pater and Dr Assaf Shapira, director of the Political Reform Programme at the Israel Democracy Institute, discuss the primary system in Israel. They talk about why parties chose to elect their candidates through different systems and what benefits parties such as the Likud and Labour gain from using the closed primary system. Richard and Assaf also talk about issues are most likely to dominate the election campaign in the Autumn.
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Najat Al-Saied, a Professor at American University in the Emirates, Dubai, to gain a Gulf perspective of US President Biden's recent trip to the Middle East. Richard and Najat discuss the UAE's strategy vis-a-vis Iran, how the gulf views more open security and military cooperation with Israel and why the Abraham Accords are still not viewed favourably among the Arab publics. Najat is a columnist with Al Ittihad (an Arabic-language newspaper published dail...
In this episode, Samuel Nurding speaks to Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel C. Kurtzer on what the Biden administration hopes to achieve from its upcoming trip to the Middle East. Ambassador Kurtzer also lays out a possible Israel-Saudi roadmap for normalisation and examines whether a Middle East NATO is plausible.
In this episode, Richard Pater speaks to Dr Assaf Shapira, director of Political Reform Programme at the Israel Democracy Institute. They discuss the latest developments in Israel to dissolve the Knesset and what that means for the many reform bills currently in the legislative process. Dr. Shapira also provides some reforms that lawmakers could enact to make the political system in Israel more resilient. Dr Shapira specialise on political representation, political parties, the role of money in ...
In this episode, Samuel Nurding speaks with Gabriel Mitchell, an expert on Israel’s energy policy, about the new Israel-EU gas deal. They discuss the potential benefits of the deal for the Israeli-EU and Israeli-Egyptian relationship, as well as any potential blowback from Russia. Gabriel also speaks about the latest developments between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime dispute and the likelihood of an agreement being reached soon. Gabriel the currently the Director of Undergraduate Studie...
In this episode, BICOM Director Richard Pater speaks to Dr Michael Milshtein, a colonel (res.) in the Israel Defense Forces and former head of the Department for Palestinians Affairs in the IDF Intelligence Unit. They discuss the latest threats posed by Hamas. Michael talks about the recent appointment of Hussein al-Sheikh as secretary-General of the PLO and whether recent threats by the Palestinian Authority to end recognition of Israel are genuine or not. They also reflect upon internal Israel...
In this episode, Sam Nurding speaks to military and security analyst Yaakov Lappin. They discuss the causes and fallout to the Jerusalem Police's intervention at last week's funeral procession for Shireen Abu Aqla. Lappin explains why, unlike last year, tensions on the Gaza border have not flared up (yet), as well as the latest reported Israeli airstrike in Syria and whether the invasion into Ukraine is impacting on Russia's policy there.
Richard Pater speaks to Dr Raz Zimmt, an expert on Iran at the Institute for Nation Security Studies in Tel Aviv. They discuss the extent of Iran’s influence on the recent wave of terror attacks in Israel. They also examine Iran’s involvement in destabilising activity across the region. Dr Zimmt outlines the latest development surrounding the Vienna nuclear talks, whether the US will remove the IRCG from its terror watch list, Israel’s concerns regarding the JCPOA and how close the parties are t...
Richard Pater speaks to Natan Sachs, the director of the Center for Middle East Policy at The Brookings Institution. They discuss the latest developments in the JCPOA nuclear negotiations, whether a deal will actually be signed and the differences between the Netanyahu and Bennett-Lapid governments approach to relations with the United States, especially over the Iranian nuclear issue. They also discuss the broader status of US foreign policy towards the region and how domestic dynamics within t...
In this Easter/Pesach special, BICOM's Richard Pater and Samuel Nurding discuss the current political and security situation in Israel. We talk about whether the government will survive Idit Silman’s resignation, why MKs Aymen Odeh and Bezalel Smotrich are coming under heavy criticism, and explain the government’s Ramadan policy regarding the West Bank and Gaza.
