The lesson of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest diplomatic gambit is that in Middle East deal-making, “the devil is in the details, but the most important thing is political willpower,” said Anshel Pfeffer , The Economist’s Israel correspondent and former Haaretz columnist, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Trump, he noted, “has supplied that political willpower in bucket loads.” Hours after Israel and Hamas agreed on a deal to end the war in Gaza and release the hostages, Pfeffer spoke with h...
Oct 09, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 442
"It is hard to overstate the almost tribal, pathological inability of folks who are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli to acknowledge the humanity of the other," said filmmaker and Palestinian American activist Mo Husseini on the Haaretz Podcast. "People are operating on the assumption that everyone on the other side is an inhumane, hateful asshole who wants to kill all of us." Husseini said that's the reason he chose to join Jewish American award-winning documentary filmmaker Julie Cohen to create ...
Oct 06, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 441
The two years that have passed since October 7, 2023 have transformed Israel and its people, its leaders, its status on the world stage and its relationship with Diaspora Jewry. On the Haaretz Podcast, Joshua Leifer , the newest Haaretz columnist, spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer the many dimensions of change the war has wrought - including the changes in his own life and thinking. In their conversation, Leifer noted that while Israelis on the far right can indulge in "a perverse and specta...
Oct 04, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 440
In this special Haaretz Podcast episode, Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon offers his analysis of the comprehensive 20-point peace plan unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump in a White House press conference on Monday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood beside him. “What we saw was a plan with big headlines, but a lack of details,” Tibon said in his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. “We don't know yet if there is actually the political will to carry it forward.” While Net...
Sep 30, 2025•13 min•Season 1Ep. 439
On a special edition of the Haaretz Podcast – as Israel faces the Jewish High Holidays mired in war and political division, host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks to Prof. Adam Ferziger about soul-searching and atonement with a focus on the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel and the Diaspora. Ferziger, who is also an ordained rabbi, believes the process of observing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur “is all about humility.” “Rosh Hashanah comes before Yom Kippur, because in order to be able to go before ...
Sep 25, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 438
In a special guest episode of the Haaretz Podcast, German ambassador Steffen Seibert sits down with Guy Rolnik and Anat Georgy, co-hosts of “The Markers” – the Hebrew-language podcast of Haaretz’s sister publication, The Marker. In the interview, Seibert addressed the increasingly complicated relationship between the two countries since the Gaza war and said he was “not optimistic” about Israel’s future if its government continues in its current direction. “My country is very clearly against the...
Sep 22, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 437
New York University professor Lila Corwin Berman has a warning for her colleagues. Corwin Berman, along with two fellow academics, recently penned a provocative piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education headlined "Jewish Studies Scholars, Beware: Trump's Deal Will Corrupt You." On the Haaretz Podcast, Corwin Berman explains how, in her view, the agreements that the Trump White House has hammered out with Ivy League universities, making their federal grant money dependent on investing in Judaic ...
Sep 18, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 436
This special episode of the Haaretz Podcast features voices from the September 14 conference held in Toronto jointly sponsored by the New Israel Fund of Canada and JSpace Canada. The event brought together current and former Israeli and Canadian politicians, journalists, academics with Israeli and Palestinian peace advocates to assess the current troubling conflict in Gaza. Speakers also explore a roadmap for peace, Palestinian sovereignty, the crisis of democracy and growing authoritarianism in...
Sep 16, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 435
The Israeli decision to bomb Doha, targeting Hamas leadership as they met to consider a cease-fire proposal, made little sense if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is truly concerned with the fate of Israel’s hostages, said Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel , speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. While it may “work against our basic instincts of assuming that the government is looking out for our collective good,” Harel concluded with an air of regret: “That's not the situation we're in. My ...
Sep 11, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 434
As Israel’s Gaza City offensive intensifies, the lack of a “fully articulated policy” on the part of Donald Trump’s White House means that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can move ahead with a “blank check” from the U.S., said Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels , speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. The message from Trump officials to Israel is “do what you need to do, just get it over with fast,” while in public statements, they have shifted to align with Israel’s “all-or-nothing” appro...
Sep 08, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 433
Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami invested substantial time and effort into shaping a two-state solution during his political career – and ultimately came to the conclusion that it was not viable. On the Haaretz Podcast, Ben-Ami cast a critical eye on the current push by French President Emmanuel Macron and a long list of countries including the U.K., Australia and Canada to recognize a Palestinian state at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. He sees the move more as "a sign of de...
Sep 04, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 432
Rabbi Yosef Blau has been the focus of both fury and admiration over the past week, called both a hero and a traitor, and garnered attention at a level that has astonished him, he said on the Haaretz Podcast. The pushback comes after Blau spearheaded an open letter signed by 80 Orthodox rabbis that called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “one of the most severe in recent history” and called on Israel to assume “its share of the responsibility” for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The letter also co...
Sep 02, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 431
While the world has been focused on the devastation in Gaza, "the annexation of the West Bank has become reality," Hagar Shezaf , Haaretz's West Bank correspondent, said on the Haaretz Podcast. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich , Shezaf explained, has created a system "that is accelerating" the process of integrating the West Bank into state institutions "while keeping the empty shell of the Civil Administration that represents military rule." Shezaf is stepping down from her beat for ...
Aug 28, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 430
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly challenged the assertion that starvation is rampant in Gaza, most recently when he slammed a UN report on famine as “blood libel.” On the Haaretz Podcast, Yarden Michaeli takes listeners behind the scenes of his in-depth reporting with Nir Hasson on the scale of severe acute malnutrition in Gaza. As Israel continues to bar journalists from entering the Strip, Michaeli and Hasson virtually “toured” clinics and hospitals in Gaza – including the pedi...
Aug 26, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 429
Israel is approaching the “horrifying” position of becoming a pariah state due to the Gaza war, former MK and Middle East expert Ksenia Svetlova said on the Haaretz Podcast, expressing deep worry that it was dangerously close to following in the footsteps of her native Russia. Western nations' refusal to cooperate with Russia due to its aggression in Ukraine, she noted, means Moscow is now lagging behind in the fields of technology, science and beyond “by decades” – and Israel could easily share...
Aug 22, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 428
Israeli musicians are learning the hard way that speaking out against the war in Gaza comes at a price, Haaretz culture reporter Shay Ringel explained on the Haaretz Podcast. The letter, signed by 1,200 members of the cultural and artistic community, was unusually outspoken regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling on Israeli soldiers to disobey "unlawful orders" and to refrain from "committing war crimes." "Talking about the horrific things that are happening in Gaza – the killing of c...
Aug 18, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 427
The Israeli public is “exhausted” by the nearly two-year conflict in Gaza, and the vast majority of IDF military leaders believe it should end. Yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forging ahead with his plan to invade Gaza City and expand the war because “he will do whatever he can to stay in power,” said Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel , speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. IDF brass, led by chief of staff Eyal Zamir , is attempting to convince Netanyahu for a more limited siege on ...
Aug 14, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 426
Israel is swimming in unprecedented diplomatic waters. Last week, Germany announced it will restrict arms exports to Israel, and a growing number of world leaders – led by France and the U.K. – are declaring their intention to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. “We are hearing things that we never heard from great friends of Israel,” said Nadav Tamir , the executive director of J Street Israel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. Tamir, a former Israeli consul-general in Boston and aide to...
Aug 11, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 425
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often portrayed as a political improviser who seizes opportunities and dodges land mines as they occur to preserve his hold on power, he is in fact guided by a clear and consistent mission, Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn tells the Haaretz Podcast. “Netanyahu’s strategy, since the inception of his career, and even before he became a professional politician, has been to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and diminish the Palestinian natio...
Aug 08, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 424
The "last thing" Rabbi Rachel Timoner says she wanted to do was block the street in front of New York's Israeli consulate as part of a protest calling on Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza – let alone get arrested for doing so. The Brooklyn rabbi said on the Haaretz Podcast that when she was asked to take part in the demonstration, she found it impossible to say no. "As a leader of the Jewish community here, as a rabbi, I feel that when Israel is acting in a way that they ar...
Aug 05, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 423
The foreign press corps in Israel has been battling – unsuccessfully – since the Gaza war began in October 2023 to be permitted access to the Strip in order to report on the conflict and the humanitarian situation there from the ground. Appearing on the Haaretz Podcast, CNN’s Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond breaks down the status of the legal and public fight by international journalists to enter Gaza, noting that “never before in Israel's history has the Israeli government blocked access...
Jul 31, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 422
The latest crisis of mass starvation and death in Gaza seems to have finally cut through the layers of denial and media self-censorship in Israel – and in both Arab and mixed cities, demonstrations against the horrifying humanitarian situation are drawing tens of thousands of protesters. This week, the Haaretz Podcast includes two firsthand accounts of survival from Gaza: 32-year-old Hana and 24-year-old Abdel Halim. Speaking on the podcast, Haaretz journalist Nagham Zbeedat told host Allison Ka...
Jul 28, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 421
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decisively lost his Knesset majority following the exit of the two major ultra-Orthodox parties that were pillars of his coalition, which now holds only 49 seats in the 120-member parliament. But celebration is premature for those hoping for swift elections that could lead to the end of his rule, warns Haaretz columnist and political strategist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin on the Haaretz Podcast. The ultra-Orthodox may have left the government in a “very demonstrat...
Jul 24, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 420
If it weren’t for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial and the multiple investigations into payments made by Qatar to his closest aides, the Gaza war could have been over, Bar Peleg , who has been covering Netanyahu’s legal woes, said on the Haaretz Podcast. In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Peleg laid out the details of the multiple investigations, including BibiLeaks and Qatargate , against the Israeli premier in light of the calls by President ...
Jul 21, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 419
The Israeli military strike on southern Syria this week is “concerning” in view of the “unexpected opportunity” for a potential peace agreement with the new government there, Israel’s former deputy security adviser Chuck Freilich said on the Haaretz Podcast. On Tuesday, the IDF struck Syrian army forces that had entered the city of Sweida to prevent harm to Druze communities and ensure the demilitarization of the area. The action was strongly denounced by the Syrian government. While Freilich sa...
Jul 16, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 418
A crisis-level shortage of clergy in North American Reform and Conservative synagogues has led to a fascinating new phenomenon – an exodus of Israeli-born rabbis moving to the United States and Canada to serve as spiritual leaders. On the Haaretz Podcast, Judy Maltz , Haaretz’s Jewish world editor who has reported on the trend, explains how these Israelis are filling an ever-growing need as fewer and fewer young North American Jews are training to be rabbis in non-Orthodox movements. Meanwhile, ...
Jul 14, 2025•22 min•Season 1Ep. 417
Israel, it seems, is once again on the brink of a cease-fire deal with Hamas – one that would see hostilities halted for at least two months, and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages. But as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump talk particulars in Washington, the families of the 50 remaining hostages are far from relieved. The deal on the table would only bring home 10 of the living hostages, and the remains of 18 of the deceased – leaving the fa...
Jul 10, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 416
Religious extremism and intolerance of liberal Judaism has spread from the ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist parties into the mainstream of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, MK Gilad Kariv said on the Haaretz Podcast. “This is not the Likud that we knew 10 or 20 years ago,” he said. “Any attempt to differentiate the Likud from the Israeli extreme religious right is a false attempt.” Kariv , a rabbi and former leader of Israel’s Reform movement, is a member of the Democrats Part...
Jul 07, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 415
An explosive expose by Haaretz featured testimonies from IDF soldiers and officers that they were ordered to use live fire to disperse thousands of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza who had crowded the handful of stations set up to distribute humanitarian aid. The story grabbed international attention, and sparked fury among top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who both called the article a “blood libel.” On the Haaretz Podcast, one of t...
Jul 03, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 414
Destructive attacks on Palestinian communities by West Bank settlers “emboldened” by support from powerful far right-wing figures in the Netanyahu government have received little attention as the country has focused on the war in Gaza and the recent clash with Iran. Last week, dozens of settlers descended upon Kafr Malik, a Palestinian town north of Ramallah, attacking residents and their property , as well as IDF soldiers who arrived at the scene. The outpost – illegal even under Israeli law – ...
Jun 30, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 413
