Haaretz Podcast

Haaretz.com
Haaretz.com
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From Haaretz – Israel's oldest daily newspaper – a weekly podcast in English on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, hosted by Allison Kaplan Sommer.

  1. 2d ago

    ‘It’s a real struggle against neo-Nazis’: Behind the far-right’s political rise in Germany

    The stunning triumph of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a German state election represents a true “challenge to democracy” and has shaken the country’s Jewish community, said author and activist Dr. Ofer Waldman, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast “It's the first time that a right‑extremist party has had such a landslide victory in Germany,” said Waldman, who heads the Heinrich Boll Foundation office in Tel Aviv.  Haaretz writer and editor David Issacharoff, who joined Waldman on the podcast for a discussion of the election results, said that state of Saxony-Anhalt, which gave 44 percent of its vote to the controversial AfD party, is populated by voters who “feel abandoned, forgotten, and very isolated,” blaming the state and mainstream parties for their situation and channeling their resentment in an extremist political direction. This is worsened, both Waldman and Issacharoff said, by the fact that East Germany was not part of the post-Holocaust democracy education push in the West. "Keeping Jewish memory there is a real struggle of individuals in that state, and they're up against real forces of neo‑Nazis,” Issacharoff noted,  Both commentators pointed to the contrast between the expressed deep worry and concern of the German Jewish community regarding AfD antisemitism, and the resounding “utter silence” coming from the Israeli government – together with comments from Israel’s ambassador in Berlin during the election campaign that highlighted antisemitism on the left, while downplaying the AfD’s positions.  "When Israel and its representative in Germany focus all the fire towards the left, then they're totally absolving the right from its responsibility for antisemitism. And when the representatives of the Jewish state say that, it matters in Germany," Issacharoff said.  Waldman added the source of the dissonance was “what is perceived as a mutual enemy” by Israel’s far-right government.  “The AfD is perceived as the enemy of the Muslim community in Germany and, as such, a possible ally to the current Israeli administration,” Waldman said. Read more: German Jews 'Appalled' by Historic AfD Win as Israel Avoids Direct Condemnation The AfD's Victory Shatters Germany's Illusions of Immunity to the Far Right Several European States Clarify Settlement Trade Restrictions Depend on EU Action The Far-right German Party AfD Says It Has Nothing Against Jews. This Book Proves Otherwise Inside the German pro-Israel Lobby's Campaign to Defund UNRWA Who Stole All the Holocaust Memorial Stones on Oct. 7, Shaking This Quiet East German Town? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    ‘It’s a real struggle against neo-Nazis’: Behind the far-right’s political rise in Germany

  2. 5d ago

    Hasan Piker, Mike Huckabee and a week of Israeli political party-hopping

    A last-minute scramble before the party lists for Israel’s elections are finalized on September 8 has led to the disappearance of small parties, politicians switching parties and the dismissal of veteran ultra-Orthodox Knesset members by leaders who want to “refresh” their party lists.          On the Haaretz Election Podcast, correspondents Linda Dayan and Etan Nechin reviewed the week’s big changes – along the return of October 7 conspiracy theories and the intermingling of U.S. and Israeli political campaigning with host Allison Kaplan Sommer.  Dayan noted the leap by controversial Likud MK Tally Gotliv to the extremist Otzma Yehudit party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, pointed out that the move “shows how much Likud has absorbed toxic far-right populism.”  The drastic shrinking of Yesh Atid as its leader Yair Lapid has played second fiddle to more popular center-right figures like Benny Gantz, Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot, Nechin said, “represents the limitations of liberal Jewish Israeli society. ... There’s a segment of Israeli liberal society which deems itself very liberal and very open‑minded, but would rather cede to the right than explore new political possibilities." Nechin also discussed his decision to interview controversial streamer Hasan Piker and why, despite pushback, he felt it was important to be the first in the Israeli media to do so. "His platform, where young people – mostly men – might hear for the first time the term ‘anti‑Zionist’ or ‘settler colonialism’ or learn about Israel… makes him a person that is worth talking to," he said. Read more: A Guide to Israel's Key Election Deadline – and How It Could Decide Netanyahu's Fate Bennett and Lapid Bid to Oust Netanyahu Again as They Unveil Joint Slate As Election Focus Shifts to October 7, Netanyahu Pivots to Conspiracy Theories Hasan Piker Talks Hamas, anti-Zionism and Why Americans Are Fed Up With Israel A Convicted Terror Inciter and a Man Who Killed a Palestinian: Meet Ben-Gvir's Election Team The One Thing Hasan Piker Could Say to Begin Healing Ties With U.S. Jews See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Hasan Piker, Mike Huckabee and a week of Israeli political party-hopping

  3. Sep 3

    Fear of Muslims, socialists and Tucker Carlson: Behind the scenes at the Republican Jewish Coalition confab

    Vice President JD Vance’s charm offensive failed to completely win over skeptical GOP donors who gathered this week in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition National Leadership Summit, Haaretz’s Washington D.C. correspondent Arno Rosenfeld told the Haaretz Podcast.  There were mixed reactions to Vance’s speech to the crowd of 1,000, meant to be off the record, but leaked publicly, in which the vice president attempted to reassure those attending that, despite his isolationist leanings and association with media figures who regularly peddle antisemitic tropes, that he believed in the “mutually beneficial” relationship between the U.S. and Israel, that he was not “abandoning” the Jewish state and appreciated “American Jewish contributions to the United States.”  Vance’s words were a bit more “weird and convoluted” in a strange discussion of “blood guilt” – a term popularized by right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson, as a variation of the term “blood libel” with a slightly different meaning.  “It was quite telling that Vance was using a framework that Carlson has come up with to talk about antisemitism,” Rosenfeld said, at a moment in which even the most conservative Jews have been disturbed by Carlson’s conspiratorial theories.  On the podcast, Rosenfeld, who covered the three-day event, also spoke with host Allison Kaplan Sommer about the “anxiety” among some present over the dramatic drop in support for Israel among young conservatives, but the lack of any genuine strategy to address it, as well as the primary targets of the attack lines of the speeches: Muslims and socialists.   Rosenfeld said he was particularly “struck by the degree of just sort of open animosity toward Muslims and Islam” at the gathering, “because of how much of a focus there was on antisemitism and on extremism and on radicalism and on hate. You would get that in one breath, and then in the next breath, there would be talk about how we need to defeat ‘Islamo-fascism’ and the ‘red-green alliance’ between socialism and Islam.”  Read more: JD Vance Seeks to Assuage Republican Jews Worried About His Views Toward Israel GOP Jews Rail Against Democrats at Vegas Confab, but Worry About Their Own Party's Israel Drift Israel's U.S. Envoy Yechiel Leiter Says Government Is Failing to Stop Jewish Terrorism in West Bank Michigan Jews Help Form 'Democrats for Mike Rogers,' With Little Talk of Israel JD Vance's 'Communion' Gives Readers a Chronicle of Unconvincing Conversions See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Fear of Muslims, socialists and Tucker Carlson: Behind the scenes at the Republican Jewish Coalition confab

  4. Aug 31

    Do Israelis care about settler violence enough to change their vote?

    Nothing is helping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current coalition boost its standing in the polls, and it is clear that the premier is “panicking,” said Haaretz columnist Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, speaking on the Haaretz Election Podcast.  Scheindlin joins Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltz and host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the entrance of a new right-wing party led by ex-general Ofer Winter into the race, joining the plethora of “pop-up” right-wing parties that are causing Netanyahu’s alarm at the possibility that one or more will fall under the electoral threshold, and the precious votes in his camp will be wasted. "Netanyahu is begging the right wing not to fragment the parties. He's warning the right wing: If you do the wrong thing, the entire world explodes," Scheindlin said, ahead of the September 8 deadline for merging with other parties and submitting final lists. On the podcast, Maltz shares what she’s found as she visits cities and towns around Israel taking the pulse of voters. Kiryat Shmona – Israel’s most targeted city, devastated by three years of war – is still grappling with the 2023 evacuation that is proving to be somewhat permanent, Maltz says. “People are pretty angry and often talk about themselves being abandoned, unseen and forgotten.” Still, like the Likud strongholds along the Gaza border that she has visited, Maltz found many clinging to party loyalties despite their disappointment with Netanyahu and his government. Some favor non-Netanyahu right-wingers, but others remain loyal to the prime minister despite the devastating events that happened on his watch.  "Many of them subscribe to these conspiracy theories about the army in cahoots with Hamas together orchestrating October 7 to make Netanyahu look bad," Maltz explained. Read more: Ex-IDF General and Far-right Hardliner Ofer Winter Reveals New Party Ahead of Israel's Election Analysis by Dahlia Scheindlin | Two Months Out, Netanyahu's Bloc Is Stuck in Polls. But All the Rest Is a Mystery By Smashing a Palestinian Monument, an Israeli Far-right Lawmaker Brought West Bank Reality to Light Reality Check: As the Election Nears, Haaretz Debunks Israeli Politicians' Biggest Lies 'Israel on Steroids': Arad Foreshadows What Another Netanyahu Victory Might Look Like 'People Here Like Ben-Gvir's Tough-guy Approach': Will This Netanyahu Stronghold Near Gaza Go Further Right? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Do Israelis care about settler violence enough to change their vote?

  5. Aug 28

    Is Turkey the new Iran?

    Israel's controversial strike on an airbase in northern Syria close to Turkey was "first and foremost a message to the United States" that Turkish military penetration deeper into Syrian territory "can be turned into a real and total war," and any U.S. policy that tolerates it is "not sustainable," according to Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. The attack has been criticized as an election ploy by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Yanarocak said such considerations may have played a role in its timing, he stressed that Turkey's ambitions in post-Assad Syria are a legitimate source of deep concern for Israel. Israel's military establishment sees them as a substantial threat and pushed for the attack after Turkey ignored warnings. The past three years of war have shifted the balance of power in Turkey's favor with the weakening of both Iran and the Gulf states, he explained in a conversation with podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer. He discussed the bold ambitions of the country led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the key role Syria plays in them. "The public discourse in Turkey is neo-Ottomanism," Yanarocak said. "Putting it more familiar to the American ears: 'Make Turkey Great Again' … Turkey is thinking very big." Read more: From Iran to Turkey, Netanyahu Is on the Hunt for New Fronts to Ignite Netanyahu Warns Turkey's Erdogan Against Military Expansion in Syria, but Hopes a Warning Is Enough Attacking Erdogan or Clinging to the Status Quo? Israel's Turkey Paradox See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Is Turkey the new Iran?

  6. Aug 24

    A desperate Netanyahu is firing at all fronts to win the election. Even Trump has had enough

    The glut of new small parties throwing their hats in the ring is increasing the chances that after the voters have their say, there will not be a decisive win either for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor the opposition parties determined to topple him.  "All of these new little parties are headed by individuals who are placing their ego above the political outcome. They can't possibly join an existing party – they have to try to start their own," said Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin on the Haaretz Election Podcast.   As a result, the voters may not end up determining who will be prime minister, and instead a “little gang” of “six, seven or eight male party leaders” will meet and decide the make-up of the coalition, Scheindlin said.  Scheindlin joined fellow columnist Esther Solomon and host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the results of the Likud primaries, opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot’s declaration that there will be no Palestinian state on his watch, what appears to be a politicized decision by Israel’s internal security service not to officially protect Eisenkot, and how Netanyahu, stuck in the polls, appears to be dangerously “firing in all directions” in order to find a way to victory.  "He has the capacity to aggravate, or provoke, or exploit any number of crises that are happening in this region,” Solomon said. Little, however, Scheindlin pointed out, appears to be moving the needle for the prime minister. He has shown that "you can attack Iran and attack Iran again. You can bomb Lebanon. You can kill Hassan Nasrallah, and nothing has changed the polls." Read more: The U.S. Peace Plan Is Grave for Gaza and Great for Netanyahu Netanyahu Rival Eisenkot Vows No Palestinian State: 'Not Now, Not in Next Government' Reality Check: As the Election Nears, Haaretz Debunks Israeli Politicians' Biggest Lies The Petty Politics Destroying Israel's Opposition Likud's Casualty List: The Netanyahu Loyalists Headed Home After a Brutal Primary See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    A desperate Netanyahu is firing at all fronts to win the election. Even Trump has had enough

  7. Aug 21

    The New Yorker's David Remnick on Netanyahu, Mamdani, and Israel's 'failure to face' Gaza

    Longtime editor-in-chief of The New Yorker David Remnick joins the Haaretz podcast and guest host Joshua Leifer for a wide-ranging conversation about his more than three decades of reporting on Israel and Palestine, the role of the journalist in a populist age, and the future of U.S.-Israel relations. "The only way to tell this story is to try to tell it truthfully and to know that you will fail," Remnick wrote in his report on the aftermath of October 7, 2023, published just two weeks after the attacks. In this episode, Remnick recalls what it was like to walk through the ruins of Kibbutz Be'eri and what was then the great trepidation of the nature of Israel's impending response. Remnick returned to report on Israel and Palestine four more times over the last three years, and in July, The New Yorker published Remnick's profile of Gadi Eisenkot, currently the frontrunner among the candidates challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Remnick and Leifer discuss whether Eisenkot has what it takes, and what an Eisenkot-led government might do differently. Can the damage wrought by the current government be undone? After Israel's destruction of Gaza, and amid spiraling settler violence in the West Bank, what remains of the prospects for a just resolution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians? Read more:  Netanyahu's Biggest Challenger: Who Is Gadi Eisenkot and What Does He Stand For? Inside Likud Territory, Eisenkot Is Quietly Gaining Ground. Will It Be Enough to Defeat Netanyahu? The American Jewish Establishment Is Defending an Israel That No Longer Exists Bibi Cried Wolf? Americans' Trust in Israeli Intelligence Is Stooping to Irreparable Lows See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    The New Yorker's David Remnick on Netanyahu, Mamdani, and Israel's 'failure to face' Gaza

  8. Aug 17

    Israeli election update: Netanyahu's iron grip on the Likud primary

    The battle over the Likud Party primaries this week was a clear example of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserting his dominance over his political kingdom, Haaretz senior analyst Esther Solomon told the Haaretz Election Podcast.  Netanyahu had unsuccessfully tried to cancel the always robust Likud primaries altogether – ultimately compromising by pushing through a measure where he chose the candidates for nine key spots on the top of the list. He included a spot for Oren Dobronsky, an Israeli high-tech entrepreneur and hummus chain owner in Silicon Valley who has not lived in Israel for years, has no political experience and made headlines recently for calling U.S. President Donald Trump a “morally corrupt piece of shit” in the recent past.  The prime minister’s message was clear, Solomon said: "This is no longer about the Likud party. This is about me." Solomon joined Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltz and host Allison Kaplan Sommer to discuss the top stories from the last week week, which included controversy over efforts by expat Israelis to travel en masse to vote to replace the current government, and a proposal by opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot to form a minority government even if he doesn’t have a decisive election victory.  Also on the podcast, Maltz described her encounters as she travels across Israeli cities to take their pulse ahead of the election, including Kfar Chabad, where, she quipped “only the Messiah is more popular” than far-right extremist Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Arab city of Umm-al-Fahm, where she said it was “very sad” that many young well-educated Palestinian citizens of Israel said they were so alienated that they were not planning to vote. Read more: Netanyahu's New Election Ploy Smells of Desperation and Elon Musk In Monday's Likud Party Primary, Netanyahu Hopes to Get Rid of Lawmakers Whom He Had Nurtured in the Past Netanyahu Changes Likud Rules to Let Far-right Politician Run in Primary 'People Here Like Ben-Gvir's Tough-guy Approach': Will This Netanyahu Stronghold Near Gaza Go Further Right? 'We Need to Finish the Job': The Israeli Town Where Itamar Ben-Gvir Ranks Second Only to the Messiah See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Israeli election update: Netanyahu's iron grip on the Likud primary
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From Haaretz – Israel's oldest daily newspaper – a weekly podcast in English on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, hosted by Allison Kaplan Sommer.

Information

  • Channel
    Haaretz.com
  • Creator
    Haaretz
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    101
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Haaretz
  • Show Website
    Haaretz Podcast

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