Episode 71: Why the heck does America support Israel?

Haredi Israelis make up some 13% of the population but have extremely low rates of workforce participation and military service. The growing welfare subsidies that sustain their communities have incre...

20 Kesä 202559min

Twenty-four people have been killed in Israel since the outbreak of the direct Israel-Iran war. The Air Force is busy hunting launchers inside Iran to constrain Iran's ability to fire missiles at Isra...

16 Kesä 202535min

The astonishing Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program was the inevitable result of October 7, a day that convinced Israelis they do not actually understand their Islamist foes, cannot deter these f...

13 Kesä 202536min

The Trump administration has been trying to hammer out a deal to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. In the last 24 hours, the rhetoric has ratcheted up on both sides, as both Iranian and US officials h...

12 Kesä 202554min

Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon after an 18-year guerrilla war that presaged everything we now think of as 21st-century warfare.I spoke to Matti Friedman,...

9 Kesä 202552min

Hamas's rule in Gaza is a theocratic dictatorship. But its roots lie in the 19th-century movement for Islamic reform that believes modernization, science and even political liberalization. How did the...

30 Touko 202556min

Jerusalem Day falls on May 25th this year. It is the day of Jerusalem's unification in the 1967 Six Day War, and so a symbol of both Jewish rescue from the genocidal plans of its enemies, a palpable e...

26 Touko 202520min

If the requirements of international law mean that Israel is effectively prohibited from defeating its enemies or protecting its borders, should Israelis turn their backs on international law? Why do ...

18 Touko 202548min