Tel Aviv Diary Podcast

Marc Schulman
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Twice weekly, Marc Schulman shares sharp, pragmatic insights into Israeli affairs and global tech—drawing on decades as a Newsweek columnist and Apple developer. Veteran journalist and historian Marc Schulman offers sharp, unfiltered insight into current events in Israel. An American-born commentator who has lived in Israel on and off since 1975, Marc wrote a long-running weekly column on Israel for Newsweek and brings decades of deep engagement with Israeli politics, society, and history. His perspective is iconoclastic, pragmatic, and often challenges conventional narratives. Each episode combines personal observations with sharp political analysis, covering everything from the weekly rallies at Hostage Square to the intricate negotiations surrounding ceasefire deals. Marc doesn't shy away from difficult topics—whether it's critiquing government policies, analyzing the military draft controversy, or exploring the broader implications of regional conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Beyond Middle Eastern affairs, the podcast ventures into global politics, economics, and emerging technology, examining how international developments impact daily life in Israel. From trade policy critiques to AI's revolutionary impact on truth and reality, Marc brings a historian's perspective to contemporary events. Tel Aviv Diary is essential listening for anyone seeking an authentic, ground-level view of Israeli society during wartime—complete with the frustrations, hopes, and hard truths that come with living through historic events as they unfold. Raw, honest, and deeply personal, each episode captures the weight of the moment while grappling with questions that extend far beyond Israel's borders. marcschulman.substack.com

  1. 4d ago

    Inside Naftali Bennett’s Plan for Israel: Jeremy Saltan on Education, Haredi Service and the Coming Election

    Marc Schulman sits down with Jeremy Saltan, a candidate on Naftali Bennett’s list, for a detailed conversation about what Bennett and his party would actually do if returned to government. Saltan explains why he chose to run with Bennett and argues that lessons have been learned from Bennett’s previous government, including a much more rigorous process for selecting candidates. The conversation then moves from campaign politics to policy: Israel’s troubled education system, the shortage of teachers, Bennett’s proposal to bring Haredi and Arab schools into a common state framework, and the challenge of preparing Israeli children for the country’s economic future. They also tackle one of the most contentious issues in Israeli politics: Haredi military service. Saltan lays out the party’s approach to military and national service, Haredi participation in the workforce, and the principle that government benefits should be tied more closely to fulfilling civic responsibilities. With Israel heading toward an election, this episode goes beyond personalities and polls to examine the policies Bennett’s party says it intends to put into practice from its first day in office. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Inside Naftali Bennett’s Plan for Israel: Jeremy Saltan on Education, Haredi Service and the Coming Election

  2. Sep 11

    Israel’s Arab Citizens at a Crossroads: Integration, Crime, Politics—and the Search for a Shared Future

    In this Rosh Hashanah edition of the Tel Aviv Diary Podcast, Marc Schulman welcomes back Professor Yitzhak Reiter, one of Israel’s leading experts on Arab-Jewish relations, for a wide-ranging conversation about the changing place of Arab citizens in Israeli society. Arab Israelis have made striking gains in higher education, employment, medicine, technology, and other parts of Israeli life. Yet at the same time, Arab communities are confronting an unprecedented crisis of organized crime and violence, while relations between Jewish and Arab citizens have been deeply strained by October 7 and the war in Gaza. Reiter examines the political transformation taking place within Arab society, including Mansour Abbas and Ra’am’s effort to make Arab parties an integral part of Israeli coalition politics. Could Ra’am become a decisive force in forming Israel’s next government? And could tackling crime in Arab communities become one of the next government’s most urgent priorities? The conversation then goes deeper: Why has hostility toward Arab citizens grown even as integration has increased? Can Israelis and Palestinians ever reconcile their competing narratives of 1948, the Nakba, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount? Did the Oslo process underestimate the importance of those narratives? Finally, with the new year approaching, Marc challenges Professor Reiter to end on an optimistic note: Is there still a realistic path toward better Jewish-Arab relations, renewed Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, and eventually peace? A thoughtful conversation about identity, politics, history—and whether Israelis and Palestinians can still imagine a different future. #Israel #IsraeliArabs #ArabIsraelis #MansourAbbas #Raam #IsraeliPolitics #Elections #Palestinians #Oslo #Peace #RoshHashanah #TelAvivDiary This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Israel’s Arab Citizens at a Crossroads: Integration, Crime, Politics—and the Search for a Shared Future

  3. Sep 8

    Between Hope & Fear: What Israel’s Past Teaches Us and Why AI’s Future Frightens Me

    Here is the report by the chief scientist of Open AI that I reference in the episode. https://openai.com/index/an-alien-mind/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Between Hope & Fear: What Israel’s Past Teaches Us and Why AI’s Future Frightens Me

  4. Sep 1

    Launch Day: Thirty-Three Years, Year by Year: Why I Wrote Between Hope and Fear

    Launch day. Instead of the usual news, Marc Schulman talks about the book he has just published — 33 years of Israeli history, from Oslo through the war, told year by year. He traces the path that led here: an Apple developer in the early Mac days, CD-ROMs on American history, a website launched before the 1996 election, an email list of a few hundred readers that eventually scooped CNN on the Syrian reactor. Then the move back to Israel in 2011, the Newsweek partnership that began during the 2014 Gaza war, ten years of the column, and the Substack that grew from weekly to daily on October 7th. He explains why the book starts where it does, why he chose straight chronology over a thematic structure, and what that choice cost him. He is candid about the parts he isn’t sure he got right — the rift with the ultra-Orthodox, the religious Zionist project since Gush Katif, the Supreme Court and the accusations the right keeps making about it. And he lays out what he took away from writing it: that extremists on both sides wrote the story of these decades. Hamas working from the beginning to kill the peace process, and a Jewish extremist who murdered a prime minister — an assassination Marc calls one of the most successful in world history, because it changed the direction of a country. The hope in the title has shifted meaning over 33 years. It began as the hope for peace. It has become the hope that technology will save us. The fear was there the whole time. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Launch Day: Thirty-Three Years, Year by Year: Why I Wrote Between Hope and Fear

  5. Aug 28

    From Israel’s War of Independence to Ukraine: Jeffrey Weiss on History, Russia and Israel’s Strategic Future

    In this episode of the Tel Aviv Diary Podcast, Marc Schulman speaks with author and historian Jeffrey Weiss about the past—and what it may tell us about Israel’s future. Weiss begins with the remarkable story of Mahal, the thousands of foreign volunteers who came to fight for the newly established State of Israel in 1948. Many were World War II veterans whose experience proved especially important in building the fledgling Israeli Air Force. Weiss also recounts the extraordinary life of Stan Andrews, an American bomber pilot who volunteered to fight for Israel, helped create the emblem of the IAF’s 101 Squadron, and was killed in action in 1948. The conversation then turns sharply to the present. Weiss argues that Israel needs to reconsider its longstanding caution toward Russia and develop a much closer relationship with Ukraine. With Russia’s position in Syria weakened, he believes Israel could assist Ukraine with missile defense while learning from Ukraine’s battlefield experience combating drones. Such cooperation, he argues, could also help repair Israel’s strained relations with Europe and strengthen Israel’s strategic importance to Washington. Finally, Marc and Weiss examine a larger and increasingly urgent question: Is Israel losing its traditional strategic appeal in the United States? Weiss argues that the familiar case for Israel as America’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier” is becoming less persuasive, particularly among younger Americans. His prescription is a fundamental change in the conversation—positioning Israel not simply as a Middle Eastern ally confronting Iran and its proxies, but as a technological and security partner capable of contributing to the defense of Europe. A wide-ranging discussion of Zionist history, Russia and Ukraine, missile defense, U.S.-Israel relations—and how Israel might rethink its place in a rapidly changing world. #Israel #Ukraine #Russia #Mahal #Zionism #History #IDF #AirForce #America #Europe #Defense #Geopolitics #Diplomacy #TelAviv #Podcast This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    From Israel’s War of Independence to Ukraine: Jeffrey Weiss on History, Russia and Israel’s Strategic Future

  6. Aug 21

    Israel’s Demographic Time Bomb: Prof. Dan Ben-David on the Economic and Educational Crisis

    In this episode of the Tel Aviv Diary Podcast, I speak with economist Professor Dan Ben-David, head of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research, about what he sees as the long-term trends threatening Israel’s future—and why the coming election may represent a rare opportunity to change course. Ben-David lays out some stark numbers. Roughly half of Israel’s children, he argues, are receiving an education that will leave them unable to sustain a modern developed economy. Only a small portion of the workforce drives Israel’s extraordinary high-tech economy, while a relatively narrow segment of society carries much of the country’s tax burden. If enough of Israel’s doctors, academics, engineers and high-tech workers decide to leave, he warns, the country could enter an economic “spiral of collapse.” At the center of the discussion is Israel’s rapidly changing demography, particularly the growing Haredi population and the consequences of an education system that often fails to provide basic mathematics, science and English. Ben-David argues that Israel cannot continue funding schools that refuse to teach a full core curriculum or subsidizing a way of life that leaves large numbers of adults outside the workforce. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Israel’s Demographic Time Bomb: Prof. Dan Ben-David on the Economic and Educational Crisis

  7. Aug 18

    Israel in August: Likud’s Primary, the Election Ahead, Iran’s Uncertainty—and the AI Revolution

    Israel may be experiencing the traditional August slowdown, but beneath the surface, very little is truly quiet. In this episode of Tel Aviv Diary, Marc Schulman looks at where Israel stands 70 days before the election. He examines the results of the Likud primary and what they reveal about Benjamin Netanyahu’s continuing control of the party, including the political downfall of former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat and the distinctive system of alliances and organized voting that shapes Likud primaries. Marc then turns to the larger question hanging over Israeli politics since October 7: who has accepted responsibility—and who has not? With no state commission of inquiry and little serious public discussion of Israel’s future defense doctrine, the country is moving toward dramatically higher military spending while simultaneously maintaining forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. The episode also assesses the election campaign and the increasingly central role of Gadi Eisenkot, whose personal popularity and public image could prove decisive as the opposition tries to assemble a governing majority. Beyond Israel, Marc looks at the uncertain standoff with Iran after the end of the 60-day ceasefire period, the growing political pressures surrounding America’s November congressional elections, and the problems Israel faces from increasingly hostile voices on both the American left and right. Finally, the conversation turns to artificial intelligence. Drawing on his own experience using AI to help translate Between Hope and Fear into Hebrew, Marc discusses how quickly the technology is improving, why the economic case for AI may be stronger than skeptics believe—and why older generations in particular should learn to use these new tools rather than avoid them. A wide-ranging snapshot of Israel and the world in August 2026: elections, war, accountability, Iran, American politics, and a technological transformation moving faster than almost anyone anticipated. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Israel in August: Likud’s Primary, the Election Ahead, Iran’s Uncertainty—and the AI Revolution

  8. Aug 11

    Israel at the Breaking Point: Iran, Netanyahu, Trump and the Election That Could Change Everything | Dan Perry

    Israel has spent weeks living with a question that has become part of everyday life: What happens tonight? Will Iran attack? Will there be another escalation? Can people fly? Should they leave? Should they stay? In this episode of Tel Aviv Diary, I am joined once again by veteran journalist Dan Perry, who spent many years leading the Associated Press’s coverage of the Middle East, for a wide-ranging discussion about where Israel finds itself after months of war—and where it may be heading next. We begin with Iran. What was supposed to alter the strategic balance of the Middle East now looks far more complicated. The Iranian regime remains in power, the Strait of Hormuz has become a central strategic problem, and the United States appears increasingly reluctant to continue the confrontation. Dan and I examine how Washington and Jerusalem entered a conflict in which one of Iran’s most predictable responses—the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz—appears not to have been adequately planned for. We also discuss the dangers of a prolonged war of attrition and the enormous military and economic costs that Israel will ultimately have to pay.That leads inevitably to Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel placed enormous strategic weight on its partnership with the Trump administration, but what happens when American and Israeli interests—or simply their willingness to continue fighting—begin to diverge? We discuss the consequences of relying so heavily on Washington and whether Israel abandoned one of the central principles that guided its military doctrine for decades: wars should be fought decisively and kept as short as possible because a small democratic country cannot sustain endless conflict. From there, we turn to the Israeli election. After October 7, the prolonged war and the events of the past several years, one might have expected the coming election to be a foregone conclusion. It isn’t. Netanyahu’s coalition is substantially behind, yet a remarkably large portion of the electorate continues to support the parties that make up the current government. Dan and I discuss why modern elections increasingly resemble contests of identity rather than arguments over policy—and why that makes predicting Israel’s political future so difficult. We also examine a deeper struggle over the meaning of democracy itself. What does “liberal democracy” actually mean? Why have courts, the military, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, the civil service and the press become targets in Israel’s political struggle? And what happens when citizens come to believe claims about institutions that simply are not supported by the historical record? The debate is no longer merely over left and right; it is increasingly about the institutions, checks and balances, and individual rights that define a democratic state. The conversation then moves beyond Israel’s borders to a rapidly changing Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are moving toward a new security alignment—far removed from the hopes, before October 7, that Israel and Saudi Arabia might become pillars of a new regional architecture. We discuss what that emerging Sunni alignment could mean for Israel and whether it represents a genuine strategic threat or, at least for now, something more declarative than operational. We also confront the unresolved Palestinian question and the demographic reality that Israeli governments have spent decades trying to postpone. There may be little prospect of a Palestinian state in the immediate future, but postponing a solution indefinitely is itself a policy, with consequences. Dan argues starkly that continuing down the present path risks Israel’s long-term viability, including the possibility that the high-tech sector and many of the Israelis who sustain the country’s economy will eventually look elsewhere. It is, admittedly, not an especially optimistic conversation. But we end on a more hopeful note. Both of us believe the coming election could mark the end of the Netanyahu era. Dan is more optimistic than I am about how quickly the damage can be repaired, but we agree on something more fundamental: Israel’s problems are not necessarily irreversible. A different government could begin the long process of rebuilding institutions, restoring confidence and changing the country’s direction. And perhaps there is another reason for optimism. As traditional media changes, podcasts, newsletters and independent journalism are creating new places for serious political discussion—places where ideas can still matter and where thoughtful people can still influence the direction of public debate. A candid, sometimes sharp, and deeply concerned conversation about Iran, Trump, Netanyahu, Israeli democracy, the coming election, the changing Middle East—and the fundamental question facing Israel today: Can the country still change course before the consequences become irreversible? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe

    Israel at the Breaking Point: Iran, Netanyahu, Trump and the Election That Could Change Everything | Dan Perry
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Ratings & Reviews

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out of 5
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About

Twice weekly, Marc Schulman shares sharp, pragmatic insights into Israeli affairs and global tech—drawing on decades as a Newsweek columnist and Apple developer. Veteran journalist and historian Marc Schulman offers sharp, unfiltered insight into current events in Israel. An American-born commentator who has lived in Israel on and off since 1975, Marc wrote a long-running weekly column on Israel for Newsweek and brings decades of deep engagement with Israeli politics, society, and history. His perspective is iconoclastic, pragmatic, and often challenges conventional narratives. Each episode combines personal observations with sharp political analysis, covering everything from the weekly rallies at Hostage Square to the intricate negotiations surrounding ceasefire deals. Marc doesn't shy away from difficult topics—whether it's critiquing government policies, analyzing the military draft controversy, or exploring the broader implications of regional conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Beyond Middle Eastern affairs, the podcast ventures into global politics, economics, and emerging technology, examining how international developments impact daily life in Israel. From trade policy critiques to AI's revolutionary impact on truth and reality, Marc brings a historian's perspective to contemporary events. Tel Aviv Diary is essential listening for anyone seeking an authentic, ground-level view of Israeli society during wartime—complete with the frustrations, hopes, and hard truths that come with living through historic events as they unfold. Raw, honest, and deeply personal, each episode captures the weight of the moment while grappling with questions that extend far beyond Israel's borders. marcschulman.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Marc Schulman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Marc Schulman
  • Show Website
    Tel Aviv Diary Podcast

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