Episodes
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The far-right religious Netanyahu government is doing its best to “push away” liberal non-Orthodox American Jews from Israel, said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, leader of the U.S. Reform movement, on the Haaretz Podcast.
“We’re not going away. We’re actually leaning in,” he said. “You can’t trade in non‑Orthodox Jews for evangelical Christians. We’re stuck, you’re stuck with us, we’re stuck with you – we’re the Jewish people.”
During the era of negotiations over the 2016 historic compromise between non-Orthodox movements and the Israeli government over an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall for mixed-gender prayer, Jacobs said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and the premier’s close advisers – were in regular contact.
Today, he said, “it has been years” since there has been a phone call – let alone a meeting – between the leader of the largest American Jewish membership organization and the Israeli leader – and, nearly a decade after the collapse of the compromise effort, the government is moving legislation through the Knesset that would not only forbid but criminalize egalitarian prayer, as well as women reading Torah and wearing traditionally masculine ritual garments, at the Western Wall.
“It’s not just that you’re going to get hassled: You could literally spend seven years in jail,” said Jacobs, noting that additional proposed laws regarding the Law of Return and conversion, together with the Western Wall bill, “reflects a demonization – not just a difference, but a demonization – of non-Orthodox Jewry.”
On the podcast, Jacobs confronted the deep political challenges facing liberal and progressive American Jews regarding the “shockwaves” in the U.S.-Israel relationship, the spike in antisemitism since October 7 and Israel’s reaction to it.
“There's this notion I hear it all the time, particularly from officials of the Israeli government, which is: ‘They all hate us … Everybody hates Israel. Everybody hates the Jews. So it doesn't matter what we do here, [with] settler violence in the West Bank – if we eradicate that, they'd still hate us. And issues around pluralism and democracy don’t matter, because they'll always hate us.’
“I just would like to bring the view that says actually, it does matter.”
Read more:
Bill Banning Egalitarian Prayer at Western Wall Bound to Face Serious Legal Challenges, Warns Gov't Lawyer
Op-ed by Women of the Wall's Anat Hoffman: Israeli MKs Mull an Evil and Absurd Bill That Promises More Jail Time for Worshippers Than Rapists
Rahm Emanuel's Tough Love Wins Warm Welcome in Tel Aviv
30 Percent of Jewish American Adults Say Israel Committed Genocide in Gaza
Israel's U.S. Envoy Says Minister's Verbal Attack on Reform MK in Knesset Was 'Disgusting'
The Raucous and Roundabout History of Reform Judaism
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Unless something dramatic changes, the upcoming Israeli election will either end in a deadlock or a bold move to “get rid of the foolish self‑imposed arbitrary constraint of not forming coalitions with Arab parties,” political strategist and Haaretz columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin said on the Haaretz Podcast.
With neither the pro-Netanyahu bloc nor the opposition parties coming close to the 61 Knesset seats they would need to take power, Scheindlin said that the Jewish Zionist Israeli parties – likely in the opposition – will be pushed to do what she believes is the right thing.
"Of course, there should be Arab parties in a governing coalition. They are 20 percent of the population. There should be no ban on parties that represent citizens of this country," Scheindlin said.
In the roundtable discussion with Haaretz correspondent Linda Dayan and host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Scheindlin discussed the new iterations of veteran parties on the center right and the left, vying for the voters who would like to see Netanyahu replaced – including those who previously voted for the prime minister and hold center-right views
These parties, Dayan said, are branding themselves as the “sane right” or the “non-schmuck right.” Their main differences with Netanyahu and his ruling coalition come down to drafting ultra-Orthodox young men to the army – and the government’s refusal to create a commission of inquiry on the events of October 7.
Dayan also discussed the phenomenon of family members of former hostages throwing their hats in the ring on “every side of the political spectrum.”
Read more:
How Israel's Soft Right Could Undo the anti-Netanyahu Opposition
Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin: Can the Most Right-wing Government in Israel's History Lose an Election Over Security?
Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin: In His Own Words: Naftali Bennett Is Committed to Annexing the West Bank
Arab Israelis Aren't Looking for Token MKs. They're Looking for Genuine Change
In Haifa, the 'Putin Aliyah' and Despairing Arab Citizens Warn of A Dire Future
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Brad Lander said on the Haaretz Podcast that his resounding victory in the race for the Democratic nomination for Congress in a New York City district reflected a desire for a "reset in the U.S. relationship with Israel in the Democratic Party voting base – including in one of the most Jewish districts in the country."
Lander won by more than 30 points in New York's 10th District, covering downtown Manhattan and western Brooklyn. His win over AIPAC-endorsed incumbent Dan Goldman was part of the primaries sweep by candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Like the other Mamdani-backed candidates, Lander campaigned on a platform opposing additional U.S. military aid to Israel and condemning AIPAC as being "dangerous." Lander said on the podcast that, once he is in Congress, he will support "steps I think will help shift away from what I see as a catastrophic 'hug Bibi' policy, which both Joe Biden and Donald Trump essentially adopted."
At the same time, he told podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer that he still considers himself a "liberal Zionist" with ties to Israeli peace groups, and that he opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. The former NYC comptroller differentiated himself from Mamdani and other members of his progressive camp who do not recognize Israel as a Jewish state and oppose nearly all 'normalized' contact with Israeli representatives.
"When people hear I will sign on to the Block the Bombs Act, and that I won't vote in favor of additional U.S. military aid to Israel while it is violating Palestinian human rights and international law, people think that's someone who has joined the 'Israel haters.' But I promise you I haven't.
"What I want is a path toward rebuilding Gaza under Palestinian leadership, an end to settler violence and meaningful negotiations toward mutual recognition," he said. "I'm very clear about my politics. You can check my mentions – I get called a 'Zionist baby killer' in my mentions as often as I get called a 'kapo.' So people know who I am."
Read more:
Why Israelis Should Stop Being Afraid of Mamdani-backed Brad Lander
Mamdani-backed Candidates Sweep New York Democratic Primary, With Israel as Fault Line
New York's Primaries Send a Clear Message: Democrats Must Reckon With Israel and AIPAC
Dan Goldman Says Support for Israel Cost Him New York Democratic Primary
Israel Critic Scores Major Democratic Primary Upset as Progressive Wave Reaches Colorado
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In the inaugural episode of Haaretz’s new Election Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer welcomes the first weekly panel of Haaretz analysts who will be examining and explaining developments in the intensifying countdown to the fateful elections this fall.
This week, senior analyst Esther Solomon and Palestinian affairs correspondent Nagham Zbeedat assess the state of a race in which neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opposition currently have a path to victory according to the polls.
At the moment, “Netanyahu is more or less maxed out on however many people will still be loyal to him,” Solomon said. “He cannot crack the numbers to get anywhere near a majority to form a coalition.”
She discussed the ways in which Netanyahu visibly battled for political survival in a hastily called press conference Saturday night – from his reframing of the ongoing bloodshed in Lebanon to an invitation to his opponents to join him in a unity government.
Netanyahu’s call for unity and vow to do “everything to diffuse” a “civil war,” Solomon said, showed an extraordinary “degree of chutzpah” given that “there has been no issue he hasn’t tried to divide and inflame and incite within Israeli society.”
Zbeedat provided an update on ongoing negotiations between Hadash, Ta’al, Balad and United Arab List to run together as the Joint List, as the Arab parties did in previous elections. The four parties – which have the power to tip the balance when it comes to building a government coalition – remain divided over whether they would be willing to join a coalition led by the winning Jewish Zionist party.
The Gaza war and the lack of action to tackle the organized crime and gun violence tearing apart Arab society, Zbeedat noted, is likely to drive more Palestinian citizens of Israel to the polls than in years past.
In her reporting, she said, she has spoken to Arab Israelis who have ideologically boycotted elections in the past and “now want to vote – but more out of desperation, out of despair and out of fear, rather than faith in the election and democracy.”
Find the latest projections from Haaretz's 2026 election poll tracker
Read more:
Analysis: A Reality Check for Netanyahu's Delusional Post-Election Unity Ploy
Analysis: For Arabs, the Ballot Box Is the Last Resort to Tackle Israel's Crime Epidemic
Majority of Israel's First-time Voters Believe Their Ballot Can Change the Country, Poll Shows
Arab Parties Mull Partial Joint List as Rifts Over Joining anti-Netanyahu Coalition Continue
Jewish-Arab Movement Standing Together Launches Knesset Run With Party Built on 'Politics of Hope'
'The Jews Turned Against Us, Even the Leftists': The Bedouin City Poised to Play Kingmaker in Israel's Election
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For the Australian Jewish community, the date of December 14 carries as much gut-wrenching trauma as October 7 and September 11 does for Israelis and Americans, Daniel Hochberg, co-chair of the Union for Progressive Judaism's board, told the Haaretz Podcast.
On the six-month anniversary of the terrorist shooting attack on 1,000 Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach that killed 15 members of the tight-knit community, Hochberg and Haaretz editor Noa Levin reviewed the aftermath of the second most deadly attack in Australian history and its ongoing effect on the country’s politics and daily life for Australian Jews.
“We don't feel safe as we did before,” Hochberg said, describing an increased “closing of spaces” to Jews who once felt part of progressive circles. “It has affected our sense of self-worth, our belief in our contribution to Australia is in question, and we are struggling with that. Our walls are being built higher and higher, so there's this feeling that the Jewish community, by almost default, is being isolated from the rest of Australian society.”
On the podcast, Hochberg and Levin discussed the controversial formation and the ongoing testimony of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the national inquiry of the Bondi attacks which is focusing on growing antisemitic discourse in Australia, and the political impact of the attack inside and outside the Jewish community.
The “totally unimaginable” violent attack and the Jewish community’s reaction, Levin noted, has sparked a conversation among young Jews regarding “who gets to speak for us at a national and international level, and what recommendations would all kinds of Jews like to see to ensure their safety in Australia,” while “touching on the intersection between criticism of Israel and antisemitism.”
The Bondi attack, she said “has made the community incredibly sensitive to anything that looked, felt or smelt like something that could harm us, and that they have a right to do that, but I think it created something quite challenging in terms of discourse about Israel.”
Read more:
'Reckoning Without Consequence Is Performance': Australian Jews Cautiously Welcome Antisemitism Inquiry Findings
Australia's Historic National Inquiry Into Antisemitism, Explained
How a Portrait of an Australian Jewish Leader Humanizes an Anguished Community
The Australian Film About Jewish Fear and Unease Shot in Bondi Before the Massacre
Despite a Moderate Downturn, Antisemitic Incidents in Australia Remained High for Second Year Running
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In a special investigation on a "revolution" that has taken place over the past three years, Haaretz reporters Yarden Michaeli, Matan Golan and Yaniv Kubovich detailed the push to restore and drastically expand Israeli presence in the northern West Bank that was part of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement plan in 2005.
On the Haaretz Podcast, Michaeli discusses how the settler movement and far-right politicians have spent the 20 years since the disengagement took place planning how to execute their "return" to four West Bank settlements located in the largest contiguous area of Palestinian population in the area.
With the ascent of the most far-right government in history in 2022, members of the movement have used their power and influence in what is essentially "the settlers' government" to "return big time," Michaeli said.
In the newly published Haaretz investigation, "Undoing History," Michaeli and his team reveal how 18 new settlements and eight new army bases are cutting through the largest contiguous Palestinian population in the West Bank.
The comprehensive effort includes military deployments, new bases and checkpoints, road construction, land expropriations, the displacement of more than 32,000 residents from three refugee camps and the terrorizing of daily Palestinian life in what senior military officials warn could destabilize an already volatile region.
Every aspect of the plan, Michaeli warned, is "bad news" and "harmful" to the Palestinians living there, and that the infrastructure in place "will be very hard to remove" – undermining the Oslo Accords and the possibility of a two-state solution.
Read more:
Undoing History: As the World Watched Gaza, Settlers Charged Ahead in the West Bank. A Clash Is Imminent
Foreign Ministry Rejects Smotrich's Claim He Axed 1997 Hebron Accord With PA, as Israel Takes Municipal Powers From Palestinians
How Israel Is Using Archaeology to Advance West Bank Annexation
Former PM Ehud Olmert: Israel Is Conducting a Systematic Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in the West Bank
'Nobody's Born a Soldier': The Israeli Teens Refusing the Military Draft Say They Can Take the Backlash
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As Israelis focused on the life-and-death issues around conflicts with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, the Netanyahu government has slowly but steadily progressed in its campaign to eliminate the gatekeepers of liberal democracy in order to consolidate the power of elected politicians, constitutional law expert Prof. Adam Shinar told the Haaretz Podcast.
The steps it has taken were “not exactly the package” of radical reforms it proposed in 2023 that brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis into the streets, Shinar said, but they are firmly marching Israel in the direction of a weakened judiciary, civil service and media, by putting more power in the hands of the ruling parties.
Initially, after October 7, the push for a judicial coup ground to a halt. But as the war continued, explained Shinar, a professor at Reichman University, changes were still made – if not directly through legislation, then by the appointment of Netanyahu loyalists in key positions.
"The government saw an opening. It said, 'Hey, we can do many, many things. The public is distracted, the public is concerned about other things, and we can do a lot.”
If Netanyahu remains in power after the fall elections, Shinar predicted, the push for a total judicial overhaul will return “on steroids.”
To succeed in moving Israel further from the democracy he emphasized, "You don't have to dismantle everything, it's enough that you dismantle several key components – limiting judicial review and changing the way the attorney general is appointed. … That's 60 to 70 percent of the way.”
Read more:
Haaretz Explainer: What Are the Judicial Overhaul Bills About, and Can the High Court Strike Them Down?
With the Election Clock Ticking, Netanyahu's Coalition Is Pushing Contentious Judicial Overhaul Bills
Anti-government Protests Take Place Across Israel, Five Arrested
Knesset Grants Likud Lawmaker Immunity After She Exposed Identity of Shin Bet Agent
When Roman Gofman Came to Israel, He Was a 'Stinking Russian.' Now He's Set to Head the Mossad
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Israel is in a strategically weakened position – and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take a hard political hit if reports on the details of U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding are accurate, Haaretz columnist Joshua Leifer said on the Haaretz Podcast.
Netanyahu had been “riding high,” planning to face Israel’s upcoming elections in the fall having compensated for his failures that led to October 7 by boldly “reconfiguring the map of the Middle East, and disassembling Iran's proxy network of Hezbollah and Hamas, and taking on the Iranian regime itself,” Leifer said.
The Israeli leader thought “his legacy [would] be rehabilitated by those wars. Fast forward to where we are now, and that's not the case, and he’s having to confront that,” Leifer added. “Strategically, Israel's in a terrible place, where the Iranian regime is stronger than it was, and it is now able to enforce a new kind of equation where Israeli freedom of movement is limited by the potential threat of ballistic missiles from Iran – which wasn't the case prior to October 7.”
Netanyahu, Leifer said, has been “backed into a corner” on all of Israel’s fronts – Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran. He must follow Trump’s dictates and has turned Israel into “a total vassal state of the U.S.” and “Trump’s lapdog.” If he were to defy Trump, he runs the risk of losing American support, which could endanger the country even more.
Read more:
What You Need to Know About the U.S.-Iran Deal – and What It Means for Israel
Report: Billions in Frozen Iranian Assets May Be Released Under U.S.–Iran Deal
Israeli Withdrawal From Lebanon Not Part of U.S.-Iran Deal, White House Official Says
'Don't Bullshit Us, Trump': Netanyahu Loyalists Rage at 'Treacherous' United States Over Iran Deal
Netanyahu Says Israel to Remain in Security Buffer Zones in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria After U.S.-Iran Deal Signed
Amos Harel: The Iran Fiasco Is Netanyahu's Biggest Failure Since October 7
Read more analysis from Haaretz's Joshua Leifer
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When Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to march in New York City’s Israel Day parade - the first mayor of the city to do so in over 60 years – “did not surprise” Rabbi Josh Weinberg, who participated in the parade. But the liberal Zionist Reform rabbi was surprised to discover that he was marching alongside far-right ministers like Bezalel Smotrich and members of the Kahanist Otzma Yehudit party.
Had he known, said Weinberg, Vice President of the URJ for Israel and Reform Zionism, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, he would’ve held a sign making it clear that “Smotrich’s Zionism does not reflect our ideology at all, and is in fact antithetical to who we are as Jews and Zionists, and even as Americans. His brand of racism, discrimination, xenophobia – everything that he stands for – we want to totally reject while still maintaining our love and support for Israel."
Weinberg added that a statement by Smotrich that the New York event resembled the Jerusalem Day flag march – an event regularly marked by harassment and violence towards Palestinians in the city – made him “want to throw up.”
Also speaking on the podcast, Haaretz's New York correspondent Etan Nechin said that the Israeli ministers in the parade presented their presence as an “act of defiance by the Israeli Knesset and by the Israeli government” to “show” Mamdani.
Assessing the mayor’s relationship with the Jewish community over the first six months of his term, Weinberg praised Mamdani’s initiative to increase spending to secure Jewish institutions with the rise of antisemitism, but regretted his boycott of the parade and his high-profile commemoration of Nakba Day online.
Nechin countered with his belief that Mamdani had taken advantage of harnessing his popularity to take advantage of “this sudden historic opportunity to platform and champion Palestinian voices.” Mamdani, he said, “is a symptom of American public opinion – especially young Americans who are having conversations about Israel and Palestine, but not on Israeli or Jewish terms. It’s something that the Jewish community and Israelis will need to contend with.”
Read more:
Majority of Americans Hold Unfavorable Opinion of Israel as Confidence in Netanyahu Plummets, Pew Survey Finds
'We're Done Apologizing': Inside the Israeli Far Right's Big Weekend Out in New York
Mamdani 'Offended' by Participation of Far-right Israeli MKs in Israel Day Parade
Nearly Half of Young U.S. Jews Want to Replace Israel With Binational State, Poll Finds
How Trump's Second Term Marks the Ascendance of The New Jewish Orthodox Right
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U.S. President Donald Trump has tired of the Israel-Iran conflict, but a solution remains elusive as missile fire renewed Sunday following an Israeli attack on Beirut that provoked the Iranian regime.
“I think he's had enough of us,” said Haaretz senior defense analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. “He's fed up with this region. This is taking a lot longer than he thought, and it was less successful than he assumed. He’s paying a huge price at home domestically because of the economic effects, and he doesn't seem that tough anymore.”
Joining Harel on the podcast is former Mossad official Sima Shine, an Iran expert at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, who said that Iran clearly has the advantage in negotiations with the United States towards a long-term cease-fire.
While she said she doesn’t believe that Tehran wants to prolong the war, she said, they will only end the fighting “on their terms.”
“They are much more determined, they are willing to pay the price and therefore, they have the upper hand in negotiations” on the key issues – their nuclear capabilities and access to the Strait of Hormuz, despite the fact that their economic situation is “very bad.”
As a result, she said, she believes that ultimately “Iran will dictate the terms” of any agreement.
Read more:
Israel Strikes Multiple Targets Across Iran, Including Petrochemical Plant
'I Call the Shots': Trump Urges Netanyahu Not to Retaliate After Iranian Missile Attack
UN Nuclear Watchdog Says It's Been Unable to Inspect Iranian Facilities
Report: Pentagon Officials Suspect Israel Tried to Spy on U.S. Officials Involved in Iran Talks
Analysis by Amos Harel | As Israel Tips Back to War With Iran, Netanyahu Gets His Wish
Israel's New 'Iran Spies': Young, Broke and Mostly Clueless
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For B'Tselem executive director Yuli Novak, the firestorm around the New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof decrying sexual violence by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israeli prisons has had the wrong focus.
Speaking on the Haaretz Podcast, Novak said the Israeli government’s "propaganda machine" and other critics focused on challenging the facts regarding the abuse described in the piece, which she says are backed up by "dozens of testimonies" collected by her organization.
"I would say it's much less a question whether these things [sexual abuse of Palestinians] are happening or not happening, and much more about what it means for all of us, and first and foremost for the victims."
In its report on prisons, based on testimonies from Palestinians detained and then released from 16 detention facilities after October 7, B’Tselem documented "ongoing torture, physical and mental" abuse and the use of starvation and denial of medical treatment "as a policy."
B’Tselem’s conclusion: that these facilities represented "a network of torture camps," which Novak admitted "was hard to grasp as an Israeli. For me – torture camps have been something that happens somewhere else."
October 7 had been an opportunity and a “catalyst” for right-wing extremists in the government to influence policies in the direction of “their nationalist, racist, and in the case of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the prison system – I would even say their sadistic agenda,” Novak said.
“We can keep telling ourselves that we're a democracy, but if Israel, holding almost half of its population under its control without the right to go and vote for the system that governs them, it's not a democracy.”
Read more:
B'Tselem Report: Testimonies Describe 'Pattern of Sexual Violence' Against Palestinian Prisoners
UN Secretary-General Report Accuses Israeli Forces of Rape, Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Detainees
Ben-Gvir Is Not Alone: These Are His Collaborators in the Illegal Treatment of Palestinian Prisoners
Op-ed by Yuli Novak: Even if You Call Israel a Democracy, It Is Still Apartheid
Israel Must Let Red Cross Visit Palestinian Security Prisoners, High Court Rules
Read B'Tselem's full report on Israeli prisons as a network of torture camps
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The Gulf countries are spending “enormous amounts of money to try to mask the economic consequences of the Iran war from their population,” Gregg Carlstrom, The Economist’s Middle East correspondent, said on the Haaretz Podcast.
Carlstrom, speaking from Dubai, explained that with the Strait of Hormuz blocked by Iran, Gulf states are flying in consumer goods, food and medicine normally imported by ship “at a huge expense” so their citizens don’t experience shortages or empty shelves in stores.
However, he warned, by the end of the summer, if the security situation remains precarious and the Strait remains blocked – and especially if active warfare with Iran is renewed – the economic toll will be impossible to avoid, and these countries will worry about their many expat residents packing up and leaving.
In a conversation with Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Carlstrom described a “roller coaster” of changing attitudes in the Gulf States regarding the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.
Initially, in March, he said, when the fighting was at its peak, leaders of most of the Gulf countries were “quietly urging the Trump administration to keep fighting until the Iranian regime was overthrown or severely weakened.” By now, he said, the U.S. president “really has lost the support he had in the Gulf,” as leaders unanimously tell Trump that “this needs to end.”
The same leaders, he said, are harboring “anger at Israel” for what they see as its “major role in pushing America into this war.” As a result, he said, he is skeptical of an expansion of the Abraham Accords, as promised by Trump, in the near future.
On the podcast, Carlstrom also discusses the expanding confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the failed negotiations to end it due to what he sees as the “poor job” Lebanon is doing managing its relationship with the United States.
Read more:
Israeli Plans for Beirut Strike Place Strain on U.S.-Iran Diplomacy
How Israel's Adventures in Lebanon Are Giving Iran a Second Chance
Report: Satellite Images Show Iran Clearing Entrances to Missile Facilities Buried in Strikes
A 'Stupid, Futile Waste of Lives': The Empty Triumph of Israel's Latest Conquest in Lebanon
Report: UAE Carried Out Dozens of Strikes on Iran in Coordination With Israel and U.S.
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Both of Israel’s wars in Iran have been “strategic failures” and critically damaged the country’s deterrence, Danny Citrinowicz, a former top Iran expert in Israeli military intelligence, told the Haaretz Podcast.
He cited a long list of missteps and misguided assumptions that led to the failure of the solo military operation in 2025 and the joint U.S. attack in February.
“We overestimated air power and underestimated Iranian resilience,” Citrinowicz said, resulting in the “worst possible strategic reality, with a more extreme, decentralized regime in Tehran,” and heightened tensions with the U.S. – all while highlighting Israel’s dependence on the U.S. as a weakness.
While Iran once feared an attack by Israel, he noted, its leaders have now learned that they can be attacked by the two strongest air forces in the world and emerge with its regime intact, as well as “the capacity to launch missiles and drones, and theoretically has the potential to move to a nuclear bomb.”
Moreover, in a boomerang effect, he noted, wars launched to deter Iran’s nuclear program have likely intensified Tehran’s motivation to acquire nuclear capacity in order to prevent future attacks.
In his conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Citrinowicz – a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies – also discussed the intensifying conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued belief that Saudi Arabia will soon join the Abraham Accords, which he called a hope “detached from reality.”
Read more:
Iran and U.S. Trade Air Strikes After Trump Dismisses Report of Hormuz Deal
Trump's Iran Deal: Netanyahu's 2018 Dream Is The World's 2026 Nightmare
Analysis | Israel Demands to Disarm Its Regional Enemies, but Refuses to Pay the Price
Trump: Not Sure Iran Deal Possible Unless Saudis, Qatar Join Abraham Accords
U.S. May Need Years to Rebuild Weapons Stockpiles Depleted in Iran War, Report Says
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The first major primary battle in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections resulted in a significant victory for AIPAC and other pro-Israel megadonors, but Haaretz's Washington correspondent Ben Samuels warned that their celebrations could be premature.
The defeat of Representative Thomas Massie – a rare Republican antagonist of U.S. President Donald Trump and harsh critic of Israel whom AIPAC "has wanted to take down for years" – happened after more than $30 million was spent to defeat him in what was the most expensive Congressional primary in American history. Massie was targeted by Trump and his supporters for his disloyalty to the U.S. leader.
"They may have won the battle with Thomas Massie, but it's very clear that the ideology and the agenda and the vision that Thomas Massie embodies is not going anywhere – especially with younger voters and also with voters on the progressive left flank that found themselves to be weird ideological allies with this guy," Samuels told the Haaretz Podcast.
Samuels also discussed the role that Israel and Iran are playing on the campaign trail, and the contradictory messages from the Trump White House on the drawn-out negotiations toward a potential agreement with Iran.
"So little was actually accomplished from the kinetic military campaign that the United States and Israel launched, that any sort of negotiation that Trump is trying to eventually spin as a win wouldn't actually be that much of a win," Samuels said. It would just be moving the goalposts back."
Samuels was skeptical regarding reports that Trump is blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dragging him into the Iran war – and that the U.S. is subsequently not keeping Israel in the loop regarding negotiations – as well as theories that the U.S. leader has soured on Netanyahu after singing his praises early in the war.
"If anything, Trump defies the odds and brings himself closer to Bibi. That being said, there is no doubt that Israel is effectively being sidelined in these current negotiations."
Read more:
GOP Rebel Thomas Massie Loses Kentucky Primary After Record-high Spending From pro-Israel Foes
Vocal Israel Critic Chris Rabb Wins Pennsylvania Primary, a Victory for Progressive Democrats
Analysis by Ben Samuels | Record Pro-Israel Lobby Spending May Have Achieved Its Goal in Kentucky. But at What Cost?
Texas Candidate's Antisemitic Conspiracies Trigger a National Democratic Backlash
In Unlikely Team-up, Hunter Biden and Candace Owens Trade Conspiracies on Israel and the 'Epstein Class'
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As Israel is fighting enemies on multiple fronts, it can't afford to lose any of its vital strategic assets. And according to Dr. Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis, a researcher at Tel Aviv's Institute for National Security Studies, it is in danger of losing one of those assets: the support of American Jews.
"The loss of the special relationship between Israel and the US will force Israel to reconsider its security priorities and matter greatly to the security and foreign policy of the State of Israel," Sasson-Gordis told the Haaretz Podcast. "Within that, the Jewish community over the decades has been a major pillar of that support."
A new report co-authored by Sasson-Gordis details the data behind the deterioration of support and explains the reasons for the dramatic drop – even as the Trump White House is offering "unprecedented levels of support" for Israel. The report is intended as a wake-up call for Israeli leaders and offers a list of policy recommendations designed to stave off the deterioration.
Polls show that among the U.S. public at large, "Israel is in the red in terms of net public support in every audience except older Republicans – even traditional groups that the current government and previous Israeli governments have seen as stalwart supporters of Israel."
The Jewish community faces a "generational cliff," he said, as American Jews, particularly young Jews, are deeply influenced by the multi-front wars waged by Israel.
"If you're today a young American Jew who is not very strongly affiliated with Israel to begin with, then the experiences that you've had – either on campus or where you work or on social media – cause you to wonder whether supporting Israel is worth it for you socially and morally."
But even older members of the U.S. Jewish establishment, including institutional leaders, he said, "feel like Israel is not listening to them and is not interested in their opinions, even as they are increasingly affected by Israeli actions on the ground."
Read more:
Most U.S. Jews Do Not Identify as 'Zionists,' Even When They Support Israel, JFNA Survey Finds
Netanyahu Minister to Reform Rabbi MK Kariv: 'You're Marrying Dogs in Your Delusional Synagogues'
Analysis by Joshua Leifer: J Street Isn't Out of Touch With American Jews, but Israel's Settler Right Is
'A Critical Mass of U.S. Jews Is Now Disgusted With Israel'
Analysis by David Rosenberg: The Future of American Jewry Looks Bleak
Read the full INSS report
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U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his desire not to "get stuck" in Middle East conflict and clearly wants to avoid a renewal of full-on war with Iran – but he may not have a choice, Haaretz senior analyst Amos Harel told the Haaretz Podcast.
"The Iranians are not playing ball. They're not willing to make the concessions he's demanding," Harel said. "Under these circumstances, he may be pushed into a corner" and resume strikes on Iranian targets.
It is a scenario that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly desires, Harel said, but it isn't clear whether Trump will include Israel directly in the offensive if it returns to striking Iran. The Israeli military is, he notes, on "high alert."
On the podcast, Harel speaks to host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the "fake cease-fires" in Israel's multiple fronts – where agreements exist on paper, but attacks and drone strikes continue – in Gaza, between Iran and the Gulf states, and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In Lebanon, he noted, the number of IDF and Lebanese casualties – the latter of which recently passed 3,000 – are "massive" considering that there is no full-scale war officially raging and a recently renewed cease-fire agreement is supposed to be in place.
"We're shedding blood there, and this is not going anywhere positive soon," Harel said. "It all goes back to the fact that Netanyahu time and time again insists on not initiating any kind of diplomatic solution after the guns go silent."
"After operational success is achieved, he always refuses because of his political situation and refuses to undertake any kind of serious negotiations with the other side."
Read more:
Trump Says He Paused Attack on Iran, Signals Nuclear Deal May Be Possible
Analysis by Amos Harel: As Trump Hesitates With Iran, Israel Acts as if Return of War Inevitable
Unmoved by Trump's Ticking Clock, Iran Forms a New Reality in the Persian Gulf
Israeli Soldiers in Lebanon Complain of Risky, Pointless Missions in Broad Daylight
Israel and Hezbollah Trade Fire Across Lebanon Border Despite Cease-fire Extension
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On a special edition of the Haaretz Podcast celebrating its 500th episode, host Allison Kaplan Sommer speaks to iconic Israeli musician David Broza – the composer of "Things Will Be Better," one of Israel’s best-known peace anthems – on performing in a time of war, chaos and despair in his country.
“There’s no rationale to being Israeli,” Broza, 70, said on the podcast. "My mission is to exist as an artist and to be very much aware of where I come from and not just leave it behind and shy away from it."
Broza describes himself as being “sad but hopeful,” adding that he “would have to stop singing if I wasn’t hopeful.” Having lived in Francoist Spain in his youth, he observed that how "in fascist governments, the artists are the first ones to be burnt, banned, thrown out... And yet you can't erase the art. We need strength now. We need songs. We need art."
Broza’s music crosses cultures and genres – fusing Spanish guitar with contemporary rock and folk music, and emphasizing themes of peace and social justice. He has collaborated widely with top artists including Paul Simon, Sting, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan – and with Palestinian artists.
His belief in art to overcome conflict puts him at odds with advocates of boycotts.
"I am so adamantly anti-boycott that you can't even believe it. BDS is such a lie. It's bullshit," he declared on the podcast. "Boycott will put an end to any hope for future collaboration. If we stop talking to each other, if we do not communicate with each other, we will never step over the threshold."
At the same time, he added, "I don't disregard what's going on. I don't disregard the ultra right-wing government we have here, or the crazy government in America." But his role, he said, is clear – to play the role of the troubadour and sing “to anyone, settlers or leftists.”
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Jews in the United Kingdom watched voters in their country gravitate to parties on the extreme right and left in the country’s local elections – following a campaign where antisemitism was used as a political football, and controversies over the government’s relationship with Israel, pro-Palestinian protests and free speech factored into voting.
On the Haaretz Podcast, London-based correspondent Hagar Shezaf and senior analyst Esther Solomon discuss the impact of the results, which have been described as an “earthquake” for its rejection of the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
While covering the campaign, Shezaf said, she encountered a voter who told her “I voted for Labour my whole life. I won't be doing that anymore because of Gaza and Iran.”
The surge in support for the far-right anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party, Solomon observed, “leaves Jews in a very, very difficult position” as the party and its leader, Brexit architect Nigel Farage, made multiple bids for Jewish support during the campaign – including in the aftermath of the stabbing attacks in the Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green on April 29.
“Reform really wanted to put over the message that it was there to ‘look after’ the Jews – by cracking down on what it calls an invasion of migrants … and on the Muslim community of the U.K. … but it’s not just about protecting the Jews. It's putting them up on a pedestal in order to stamp on all sorts of other minorities.”
On the left, Solomon said the newly resurgent Green Party – led by leader Zack Polanski – “were not willing to really confront the issue of antisemitism, and constantly tried and deflect to the idea that is all about their criticism of Israel, and that they refuse to be silenced.”
Read more:
Analysis by Esther Solomon on Britain's Nationalist Surge: It's Not Only Reform's Farage That Disunites the Kingdom
How Antisemitism Can Push British Jews Into the Arms of Farage and the Far Right
Cheers for Reform, Boos for Labour: 5,000 U.K. Jews and Allies Rally in London Against 'Poisonous' Antisemitism
'No Longer Safe to Be Visibly Jewish': After Stabbing Spree, Some British Jews Say It's a Matter of When They Leave, Not If
U.K. Greens' Zack Polanski Discourages 'Globalize the Intifada' Phrase but Opposes Policing It
U.K. Greens' Polanski Slams Starmer for 'Weaponizing' Antisemitism After PM's Rebuke
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October 7 and the Gaza war radically changed the way many people around the world, including Diaspora Jews, viewed Israel.
For Toronto-based journalist Jesse Brown, the turning point came not with Hamas' massacre itself, but with the domestic backlash that followed.
“Canadians got angry with Jews after October 7, and the entire national discourse seemed to just turn against Jews in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined possible,” he told the Haaretz Podcast.
Using police-reported hate crime statistics from Canada and the United States, Brown argues that a Jew in Canada is now about nine times more likely to be the victim of a hate crime than a Jew in the United States.
Ironically, he explained to podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, the progressive political atmosphere in Canada has made things worse for Jews, not better.
Brown’s podcast series “What is Happening Here” documents the skyrocketing antisemitism targeting Jewish institutions and neighborhoods in Canada, including synagogues being shot at, firebombed or vandalized, and Jewish-owned businesses and individuals singled out for harassment campaigns.
Brown contends that debates over whether specific chants or actions are “anti-Israel,” “anti-Zionist” or “antisemitic” obscure the practical impact on Jewish communities. While he stops short of equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, Brown said that contemporary anti-Zionism is “just as dangerous to Jews.”
Read more:
Canadian Watchdog Reports Record Number of Antisemitic Incidents in 2025
Canadian-Jewish Groups Decry Efforts by pro-Palestinian Groups to Strip Jewish Schools of Their Charity Status
Toronto Police Arrest Suspect in Passover Shooting at Jewish-owned Restaurant
Campaign Targeting Jewish Children's Summer Camps in Canada Condemned as Antisemitic
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War-weary Israelis have clearly tired of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, but it is still uncertain as to whether opposition forces will be able to put aside their wide ideological differences to defeat him in the October election, Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin told the Haaretz Podcast.
Scheindlin, a veteran political analyst and strategist, said the recent announcement that Netanyahu challenger and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will join with Yair Lapid – also a former prime minister – is a harbinger of an opposition seeking to run in a united bloc.
What is unclear is whether this push for a united opposition is “an extremely sophisticated political strategy based on mathematical calculations, or it's absolutely an arbitrary guess – a finger in the wind.”
Lapid and Bennett are joining forces despite the fact that Bennett’s right-wing pro-occupation positions are firmly in line with Netanyahu’s, “minus the corruption and populism,” said Scheindlin, while Lapid supports a two-state solution.
Asked if this election is indeed as fateful as it is being framed, Scheindlin replied that in her experience, every election in Israel’s history is expected to “change the course of the country. And every time it was true.”
The difference is, she said, that even if Netanyahu is defeated, “Israel has gone so far in the direction of an undemocratic transformation and becoming a permanent expansionist, occupying undemocratic state – it will be much harder to turn the clock back.”
Read more:
Explained | What to Know About Israel's 2026 Election
Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin | The Problem With Naftali Bennett
Far-right Minister Smotrich Says Forming Government With Arab Party Chairman 'Worse Than October 7'
Top Israeli Elections Official Resigns, Risking Electoral Integrity
Despite the Cascade of Crises, Israeli Politics Remains Stuck
Analysis by Dahila Scheindlin | Israel's Biggest Existential Threat Isn't Iran
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