Episode 60: Does it matter what the world thinks? A conversation with Dr. Tal Becker

These are strange times to be a Jew. Jews are in many ways safer and stronger than ever, but face a surge of antisemitism unlike anything seen in generations. This includes a hatred of Jewish collective identity on the progressive left as well as hatred of Jews as Jews in millions of online posts each day and in the mainstream platforming of neo-Nazis like Fuentes and Carroll by the Tucker Carlsons of the West.

These people aren't engaged in criticism of Israeli actions or of the Gaza war, but ride the wave of legitimate critique to advance something uglier, darker and older.

What does this return of the old hatred mean? Were some of the more pessimistic Zionist thinkers right in their pessimism about the world? Do we hunker down together as Israelis or Jews and turn our backs on the world and its bigotries?

We put the question to the ever wise Dr. Tal Becker, vice president of the Shalom Hartman Institute and a preeminent international law expert who served as legal advisor to the Israeli foreign ministry.

His response, as ever, is a poignant conversation on the meaning of these strange times in the larger arc of Jewish history and Zionism.

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This episode is cosponsored by Sue Levin in honor of her father Frank Levin, who passed away on January 23, 2025 at the age of ninety-eight. "Frank, a World War II veteran, spent his entire life in Buffalo, New York, devoted to his family, his local community and his religion. He would be shocked and thrilled to know that his daughter Sue, a terrible Hebrew school student growing up, is now finally diving in and learning so much about history and current events from Haviv’s tremendous podcast."

This episode is also cosponsored by an anonymous sponsor in honor of the memory of William Isadore Eisberg, who along with the sponsor’s father enlisted in the US Navy after Pearl Harbor and was killed in action during WW2 in the battle of Tassafaronga in the waters off Guadalcanal in 1942. In addition to William Eisberg, this episode is dedicated to all the Jewish soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines past and present who serve in US Central command, and alongside Israel are protecting our most basic freedoms.

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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.