Podcast 151 – Jewish West Bank Settlements
After briefly catching up on coalition negotiations and reflecting on Gaza conflict, Alan, Mike and Matt turn their attention to the new American policy on
Coke, Pepsi, & BDS – Alan Goldman
I still prefer Coke over Pepsi. That’s what I tell my students in gap year programs in Israel. This usually comes up when we are
Podcast 150 – A Soldier on the Gaza Border
Once again, hundreds of rockets are launched at Israel by Islamic Jihad in Gaza. After reviewing and explaining this particular round of the conflict, Alan
Podcast 149 – Coalition Stalemate
Coalition negotiations for control of the government seem to be going nowhere. What does it mean that Gantz controls them? What are the possible ways
Religion, Culture and Public Spaces – Matt Lipman
During the recent holiday season, I attended a public shofar blowing in a park in my hometown of Modiin. There are about ten parks throughout
Podcast: 148 – The New Israeli Jews – An Interview with Shmuel Rosner
Zionism’s founders wanted to change Jewish character and culture. In 2019, the data is in, and we can now see that they succeeded. (although not
Temporary Shelter for the Kurds on Sukkot
It is looking like the aspirations of the Kurds are about to be dashed once more. The United States has ended its alliance with the Syrian Kurds, and the Turkish bombings have been swift to come. As the number of casualties and refugees grow, two issues arise for Israel…
“Election results of division” – a mirror of Israeli society?
Rather than exploring possible coalitions, we might want to pay attention to Sivan Rahav-Meir. On the night of the election results, she raised a deeper question about Israeli society. She suggests the sharply divided election results that Israelis provided are a sad yet precise mirror of Israeli society itself.
HBO’s OUR BOYS & Keshet’s Real Time Kidnapping
Let’s start with the words of Israel’s Prime Minister on Twitter and Facebook: “The propaganda Channel 12 Keshet has produced an antisemitic series called Our Boys.” We’ll try to work through the various accusations for what they reveal about Our Boys, their resonance in Israeli society, and their motivation.
Omar and Tlaib banned – who’s clever, who’s wise, who’s neither?
“Clever is the person who can extricate themself from a situation the Wise person would have avoided getting into in the first place.” This last
