Episode description

Last week a deadly raid by the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Jenin and a shooting in East Jerusalem capped one of the bloodiest months in Israel and the occupied territories, outside of open war, in years.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, flew to Israel this week to call for calm.

Megan Gibson and Alona Ferber in London are joined by Katie Stallard in Washington to discuss whether Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government – the furthest to the right and the most religious Israel has had – is fanning the flames of this cycle of violence and if this could disrupt ties with allies abroad.

Meanwhile Kishida Fumio, the Japanese prime minister, has warned that the country’s falling birth rates are reaching a crisis point that could soon mean it struggles to maintain its societal functions. Japan is not alone; the team discuss how nations across the world are dealing with rapidly ageing societies.

Then in You Ask Us: Boris Johnson has said that Putin threatened him with a missile a strike before the war in Ukraine. Is he for real?

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Read more:

Alona writes that we are watching Israel build an authoritarian government in real time

Katie writes that the global ageing crisis is becoming unignorable

Katie writes that Boris Johnson has the ultimate case of main character syndrome

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