Israeli society has been through the gambit of emotions in 2024: from the national trauma of the aftermath of October 7th and repeated failed hostage negotiations, to major military achievements that have shifted the regional security landscape. As the nation looks ahead to 2025, healing internal divisions within Israel remains elusive despite the major moves to restore regional deterrence during the second half of 2024. Profound internal divisions abound. Much of the Israeli public sees th...
Dec 23, 2024•46 min
After just a few days of fighting, Bashar al-Assad's regime has fallen, and Assad has fled to Russia. However, the collapse of the Assad regime is far from a fairytale ending. The rebels responsible for toppling Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, and history shows that power vacuums in the Middle East often lead to prolonged instability and conflict. HTS currently holds a dominant position, but Syria’s balance of power remains prec...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min
The past few weeks in the region have been some of the most eventful in recent history. Hizbullah, the crown jewel of Iran’s proxy network, has suffered a devastating blow, Iran’s air defense systems have been dismantled, and a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has been established. At the same time, the election of President Trump has introduced an entirely new level of unpredictability, sending shockwaves throughout the region. How is the war reshaping perceptions within the Middle ...
Dec 09, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 17
After more than a year of intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, President Biden recently announced a ceasefire, raising hopes that this agreement could save lives, restore stability, and bring an end to the unprecedented escalation that began with the October 7 attacks. But how did this ceasefire come about, and how does it compare to the conclusion of the 2006 war in Lebanon? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Hezbollah has been set back by decades due to the Is...
Dec 02, 2024•40 min•Season 5Ep. 16
Since October 1st, tensions between Israel and Iran have reached new heights. In recent weeks, we’ve seen significant Israeli strikes on Iranian targets and a weakening of Iran’s proxy network. At the same time, Israel is stretched across multiple active fronts, challenging its traditional military doctrine of short, decisive wars and increasing its reliance on U.S. resupply. With Iran reeling from the damage and Israel adopting a bold defensive posture, the coming weeks are set to be critical. ...
Nov 11, 2024•53 min•Season 5Ep. 15
On October 16th, the world was shocked to learn that the architect of the October 7th attacks, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by an IDF infantry unit. Yahya Sinwar’s death was a central goal of the Israeli war effort, and it marks a significant turning point for Hamas leadership, hostage negotiations, and Palestinian society. In this episode, David Makovsky is joined by two experts, Ghaith Al-Omari and Dr. Michael Milshtein. Ghaith Al-Omari is a senior fellow at The Washington Institut...
Nov 04, 2024•59 min•Season 5Ep. 14
On November 5th, Americans will head to the polls to make a decision that will shape U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East for years to come. Now more than ever, it is important to understand the critical foreign policy decisions that lie ahead for the United States. With the Middle East at a pivotal juncture, the outcome of this election will have lasting implications for U.S.-Israel relations, regional diplomacy, and the day after in Gaza. In this episode, David Makovsky is joined by two...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 13
The past few weeks have been some of the most pivotal in Israel’s modern history with Lebanon. Recently, Israeli intelligence and operational successes have delivered devastating blows to Hezbollah’s leadership, decapitating its senior command, including the infamous Hassan Nasrallah. With thousands displaced across Northern Israel and Lebanon due to the conflict, tensions have never been higher. In this episode, David Makovsky is joined by two leading experts: Hanin Ghaddar and Matt Levitt. Han...
Oct 21, 2024•53 min•Season 5Ep. 12
Iran's recent ballistic missile attack on Israel marks a significant escalation in their long-standing enmity. This attack, one of the largest in history, raises critical questions about the future of the relationship and the region at large. As tensions peak, the strategic, political, and ideological dimensions of this rivalry take on even greater importance, with both Israel’s defensive responses and Iran's aggressive stance setting the stage for potential further clashes. In this episod...
Oct 14, 2024•56 min•Season 5Ep. 11
October marks the 30th anniversary of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, a key moment in Middle East diplomacy. Since October 7th, the relationship between the two countries has been challenged like never before, with cracks appearing in the Israel-Jordan relationship. While Jordan and Israel have collaborated on strategic issues like water, energy, and security, there is a split-screen reality between the Jordanian monarchy’s ongoing cooperation with Israel and the Jordanian public’s growing disco...
Sep 30, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, it has never faced a reality quite like this: seven active combat fronts, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the West Bank, Gaza, and Yemen. This multi-front war was once the vision of Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of the Iranian IRGC’s Quds Force, who referred to it as the “ring of fire” — a strategy designed to suffocate Israel through proxy forces on all sides. Today, this vision has become reality, with Iranian-backed militias entrenched across the ...
Sep 23, 2024•54 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Since October 7th, Israel has been grappling with the immense economic toll of a prolonged, multi-front war. While the country’s economy has weathered crises before, the past 11 months have pushed its resilience to the limit. Soaring military expenditures, plummeting tourism, and the costs of compensating reserve soldiers and displaced citizens have all taken a toll on economic growth. How much of this turbulence stems from the war itself, and to what extent have policy missteps worsened the sit...
Sep 16, 2024•44 min•Season 5Ep. 8
In the wake of rising campus tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish students have faced increasing hostility, with a reported 700% spike in antisemitic incidents since October 7. As colleges reopen for the fall, we dive into the complexities of these protests. A recent Brandeis University survey found that almost one-third of college students feel hostility towards Israel. How can we put the Brandeis survey in context? What drives the unique animosity toward Israel? And how do some controver...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 7
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas launched the most significant and deadliest terror attack against Israel in the history of the state. Formed in the late 1980s, Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist military and socio-political movement. Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, and the organization has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006. How has Hamas evolved over the last few decades, and how can we understand the organization and its leadership? On this episode of Decision Poi...
Sep 02, 2024•53 min•Season 5Ep. 6
The Middle East is at a crucial moment. Dual retaliatory attacks by Iran and Hezbollah against Israel threaten to tip the region into total war. However, a breakthrough in the hostage-for-ceasefire negotiations in Doha, initiated by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, may delay or eliminate the attacks and could be a pivotal turning point in the Israel-Hamas war. In any scenario, this crisis moment will test the resolve of the US-Israel security relationship. Will crisis create opportunity? On this episo...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 5
The Gaza War is Israel’s longest battle since its War of Independence in 1948. Wartime demands have put an outsized strain on Israel’s army, reopening the debate over the ultra-orthodox (Haredi) draft and the broader secular-religious fault line in Israeli society. While the Haredim have historically enjoyed a blanket exemption from military service, a June 25th decision by the High Court of Israel overturned that status quo. In the weeks since, nearly 3,000 draft orders have been sent out to me...
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Israeli society underwent a massive shock on October 7 that upended deeply held convictions about the army and the state. The horrors of 10/7 and the immediate demands of war unified Israelis at a time of deep division, but the 300+ days since Hamas’ assault have tested societal cohesion. How have 10/7 and the ensuing months of war changed Israeli society? What is needed to carry Israel through the challenging period ahead and rebuild a stronger, more integrated society? On this episode of Decis...
Aug 05, 2024•50 min•Season 5Ep. 3
In recent weeks, the mid-intensity conflict on Israel’s northern border with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite terror group, has threatened to explode into all-out war. With Israel ramping up its targeted killings of top Hezbollah military commanders and Hezbollah launching rockets and drones ever further into Israel, is total war inevitable? What will it take to deliver peace and/or stability in the long-term and restore a sense of security to border residents? In this episode,...
Jul 29, 2024•58 min•Season 5Ep. 2
The ten months since October 7th have revealed both the profound strengths and strains of the U.S.-Israel partnership. Are current tensions a temporary consequence of the Israel-Hamas war, or do they represent a new and enduring divide between the two allies? In this episode, Dennis Ross joins David Makovsky on the eve of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s record fourth address to Congress to discuss the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship and possible future trajectories for the alliance. Ross is t...
Jul 22, 2024•53 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Host David Makovsky is joined by Prof. Yedidia Stern, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute and former dean of the law faculty at Bar-Ilan University, and Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, Israel’s former attorney-general and the recently retired deputy president of its Supreme Court. After breaking down the history and structure of Israel’s judiciary, they discuss the serious implications that Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s radical reform package could have for the future of Israeli democra...
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 11
In the season finale, David is joined by Ben Caspit, columnist and author of The Netanyahu Years , and David Horovitz, the founding editor of The Times of Israel , to discuss Israel's returning prime minister and his controversial right-wing government. David and the guests break down the keys to Binyamin Netanyahu's long-lasting political career, the evolution of his public persona, and try to understand the trajectory of the new government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...
Jan 23, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 4Ep. 10
David is joined by acclaimed historian Deborah Lipstadt, appointed by President Biden as the State Department's Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism. The two discuss the state of contemporary anti-Semitism, reflect upon the role of the Holocaust in Israel, and draw takeaways from Lipstadt's travels to the Gulf and Morocco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 16, 2023•40 min•Season 4Ep. 9
In this episode, host David Makovsky welcomes Yehudah Mirsky, professor of Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University, faculty member of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and author of Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution . The two discuss the ideology of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, founder of Religious Zionism, and how his teachings are being subverted by certain members of the modern movement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 09, 2023•55 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Yossi Klein Halevi, Shalom Hartman Institute fellow and author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor , joins the podcast to discuss Israeli-Palestinian coexistence with Yousef Bashir, Director of Research & Operations for the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and author of The Words of My Father . Halevi and Bashir share personal experiences, common public perceptions among Israelis and Palestinians, and potential steps to narrow the societal divide amid difficult times. H...
Dec 19, 2022•49 min•Season 4Ep. 7
David Makovsky hosts veteran diplomat Stuart Eizenstat, who served as Jimmy Carter’s chief domestic policy advisor and whose book President Carter: The White House Years provides an unparalleled view of the administration’s Middle East decisionmaking. In this episode, David and Stuart discuss the Camp David Accords, U.S.-led negotiations with Syria’s Hafiz al-Assad, an Egyptian-Israeli field trip to Gettysburg, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 12, 2022•57 min•Season 4Ep. 6
David Makovsky hosts Martin Indyk, Washington’s former peace envoy and ambassador to Israel, to discuss his recent book Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy . The conversation will focus on Kissinger’s Middle East strategy from the 1973 war to the beginnings of the peace process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 05, 2022•47 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Hillel Halkin, author of Jabotinsky: A Life , joins host David Makovsky to discuss Russian Zionist thinker Zeev Jabotinsky and the origins of the Revisionist movement, which has shaped a great deal of Israel’s political thought over the decades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 28, 2022•49 min•Season 4Ep. 4
David Ben-Gurion's term as Israel's prime minister marked not only a new era for the Jewish people, but a starkly different chapter in his own life. Anita Shapira, the author of Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel, joins the podcast to discuss the challenges and accomplishments of this time, from immigration and Labor party politics to German reparations and nuclearization. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 14, 2022•57 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Shlomo Avineri, the author of Herzl's Vision: Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State, discusses the father of modern Zionism and his legacy. Avineri is director of the Institute for European Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 07, 2022•45 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Walter Russell Mead, the author of The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, discusses the centuries-long history of Zionism in America, the hurdles Truman overcame to recognize the state of Israel, and the evolution of Israel’s role in U.S. domestic politics. Mead is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a scholar at Hudson Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 4Ep. 1
