Unholy: Two Jews on the News

Unholy Media
  • 4.7 (535)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Weekly

Yonit Levi of Israel's Channel 12 News and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian are two of the most prominent journalists in the world today. They are also Jews. Each week, join what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow calls "two great, smart smart smart hosts" as they dissect and debate current events shaping Israel, Jewish life - and the wider world. Their blend of nuanced discussion and sparkling conversation, featuring a dazzling range of guests, is why New Yorker editor David Remnick calls himself a “proud, avid listener," why Ira Glass says he "completely enjoys this show" and why Malcolm Gladwell calls it an "incredibly fun podcast". For a weekly fix of globally informed talk – including nominations for the greatest act of chutzpah and outstanding mensch of the previous seven days – there’s only one destination. Make every Friday morning Unholy.  Contact us via: unholy@unholy-media.com

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  1. 3d ago

    The Final Sprint and What to Watch for on Election Night

    Reunited in the same studio in Tel Aviv just five days before Israelis head to the polls, Yonit and Jonathan dive into the high-stakes homestretch of an election that feels less like routine politics and more like a referendum on the country’s soul. Jonathan reports from the ground—from the packed, expat-heavy El Al flight from London to a campaign rally with Gadi Eisenkot—while Yonit parses the razor-thin bloc arithmetic, the damaging fallout from the Yonatan  Urich Qatari funding investigation, and the electoral tightrope Benjamin Netanyahu is walking with ultra-Orthodox draft evasion. They also look across the Atlantic to the agonizing choices facing Jewish voters in Michigan’s midterm contest, award our Chutzpah trophy to an American envoy in urgent need of an English dictionary, and find an unexpected, deeply moving Mensch in the southern desert dust. Don't miss Unholy's Livecast on Election night, October 27th: https://unholy-podcast.com/live/ 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  2. 6d ago

    Why one word blew up the Israeli election campaign – with Matti Friedman

    With just a week to go, Israel’s election campaign caught fire at the weekend, thanks to an incendiary intervention by one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s most ardent media supporters. Channel 14’s Yinon Magal re-opened a deep racial divide when he repeatedly referred to Netanyahu’s prime challenger, Gadi Eisenkot - whose family roots are in Morocco - as a “monkey”. What are the origins of the Mizrahi-Ashkenazi divide in Israeli society - and what place does it continue to play in the life and politics of the country? Yonit is joined by journalist and author Matti Friedman for a deep examination of a key Israeli faultline. 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Why one word blew up the Israeli election campaign – with Matti Friedman

  3. Oct 15

    Netanyahu, Eisenkot and the 61 Problem

    Twelve days before Israel votes, Yonit observes that the national mood is neither Britain in 1997 nor America in 2008 - a nation certain that it’s on the brink of change - but one of pure tension on both sides. In the final stretch, Binyamin Netanyahu is on an interview blitz, making no secret of his plans to maintain his current coalition while insisting Itamar Ben-Gvir will not be defense minister—a denial Jonathan reads as an outright forecast. Meanwhile, Gadi Eisenkot warns voters that his slate must be the largest in the anti-Bibi bloc, Naftali Bennett takes the lead for a joint ticket while his partner Lapid goes conspicuously quiet and Jonathan wonders if Netanyahu can simply peel off defectors after election day. Then, the electoral arithmetic that will decide the night: why the Arab parties sit outside both blocs, and whether a minority government could actually function. Plus: Chutzpah of the Week from an American campus, a strictly kosher if high Mensch award and a reminder that Unholy goes live on election night, 27 October, the moment the exit polls drop. 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  4. Oct 13

    Can you trust the polls? with Dahlia Scheindlin

    Two weeks before Israel votes, the polls seem to be telling two different stories — Channel 14 has the Netanyahu bloc at 63 seats, Channel 12 has it at 49. Dahlia Scheindlin, pollster and senior analyst at Haaretz, who has advised nine Israeli election campaigns, tells Yonit and Jonathan the picture is far less wild than it looks. Why do six of eight pollsters agree while two keep drifting? Who is actually still undecided, and does the much-discussed wave of expats flying in to vote amount to anything? Why have October 7 and everything since barely moved an electorate that has been shifting one way for fifteen years? And what is the iron rule that lets a pollster name your vote before you know it yourself — in an election whose result, she argues, now rests in the minds of six men. 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Can you trust the polls? with Dahlia Scheindlin

  5. Oct 8

    The Ghost of October 7th, Wild Polling — and a Response to Mamdani

    Three years after October 7th, and eighteen days before Israel votes, this third anniversary felt different from the first two — and yet it may not move a single vote. With no state commission of inquiry, a flydubai near-disaster that echoed the state's failures and polls that point in wildly different directions, Yonit and Jonathan ask if the question of Netanyahu's responsibility has already been priced in by the Israeli electorate. They discuss whether a restrained, divided opposition is fighting according to the rules against a campaign that is not, and whether Avigdor Lieberman could end up in the prime minister’s chair - as the leader of a realigned right. Outside Israel, Zohran Mamdani and the Green Party of England and Wales approached October 7th in something other than solemn mood. Plus: a crowded field for Mensch of the Week and a Chutzpah award that takes aim at punctuation. 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  6. Oct 6

    Amir Tibon on October 7, three years on - and Israel's election

    Three years ago this week, Amir Tibon spent ten hours in a safe room in Kibbutz Nahal Oz with his wife and daughters while Hamas gunmen moved from house to house. They stayed there until he was rescued - by his father, a retired general, who had driven down from Tel Aviv with a pistol to get them out. Amir has now moved with his family back to the kibbutz. Jonathan talks to Tibon — Haaretz journalist and author of The Gates of Gaza — about that return, why the third anniversary feels heavier than the first two, and why he lies awake over the election on 27 October as well as over the gunfire still audible from Gaza. Is the coming vote a verdict on the failure of 7 October, or on who can stop the next one? Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/KXcVvPmzQpo 00:00 Unholy Conversations - 3 years since October 7th01:13 Introduction to Amir Tibon's Story05:01 The Impact of October 7th on Amir's Family08:52 Returning to Nahal Oz: A Journey of Resilience13:42 Reflections on the Third Anniversary of October 7th18:46 The Political Landscape and Future Concerns  🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Amir Tibon on October 7, three years on - and Israel's election

  7. Oct 6

    Yuval Raphael on Nova, healing and Eurovision

    A note to listeners: This episode includes a Nova survivor’s account of October 7, including descriptions of traumatic events that some listeners may find distressing. Three years after the Nova festival massacre, Yuval Raphael is going back to Re'im — to sing at the memorial, on the ground where she survived eight hours in a roadside shelter. This week she sits down with Yonit for a conversation about what those three years have actually been like. Why a girl once too frightened to sing outside her own bedroom chose to represent Israel at Eurovision in Basel, and what the booing did to her on stage. What she asked a social worker from her hospital bed, and why she now tells her story over and over — to ambassadors, to the UN, to Gen Z. And the two rules she offers a country still learning how to grieve, one of them gentler than you might expect. Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/zCvdAhuWfms 00:00 Unholy Conversations - 3 years since October 7th.  01:46 Introduction to Yuval Rafael 04:45 Returning to the Nova Festival Site 07:30 The Healing Journey After Trauma 10:31 Advice for Coping with Trauma 13:18 Retelling the Survivor Story 27:31 The Impact of the Nova Festival Massacre 35:34 Representing Israel at Eurovision 40:36 Reflections on a Generation's Trauma       (קרדיט צילום: יאיר סיגרון) 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.com 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Yuval Raphael on Nova, healing and Eurovision

  8. Oct 1 ·  Bonus • Subscribers Only

    Bonus Episode: The Israel-Gaza Information War

    In this Unholy bonus episode, Yonit sits down with journalist and author Matti Friedman to examine the deep fractures in media coverage surrounding Israel and the war in Gaza. Tracing a direct line from Friedman’s seminal 2014 exposé on Associated Press newsroom bias to the post–October 7 information landscape, the two dissect how Western outlets increasingly rely on Hamas-controlled narratives, the psychological and ideological roots of the "genocide" charge, and the collapse of trustworthy sources in a post-truth environment. Turning inward, Levi and Friedman also grapple with the complex ethical responsibilities of the domestic Israeli press balancing wartime solidarity, institutional accountability, and the acute trauma of reporting on an existential, deeply personal conflict.

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Hosts & Guests

4.7
out of 5
535 Ratings

About

Yonit Levi of Israel's Channel 12 News and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian are two of the most prominent journalists in the world today. They are also Jews. Each week, join what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow calls "two great, smart smart smart hosts" as they dissect and debate current events shaping Israel, Jewish life - and the wider world. Their blend of nuanced discussion and sparkling conversation, featuring a dazzling range of guests, is why New Yorker editor David Remnick calls himself a “proud, avid listener," why Ira Glass says he "completely enjoys this show" and why Malcolm Gladwell calls it an "incredibly fun podcast". For a weekly fix of globally informed talk – including nominations for the greatest act of chutzpah and outstanding mensch of the previous seven days – there’s only one destination. Make every Friday morning Unholy.  Contact us via: unholy@unholy-media.com

Information

  • Creator
    Unholy Media
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    380
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Unholy Media
  • Show Website
    Unholy: Two Jews on the News
  • Provider
    Unholy Media LTD

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