Israel Policy Pod

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts RAND’s Distinguished Chair for Israel Policy Shira Efron and Israel Policy Forum Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow to preview next Tuesday’s high-stakes Israeli election. They examine Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection chances and enduring appeal among his right-wing base, the strengths and we...

In this episode, Neri Zilber, Israel Policy Forum policy advisor and host of Israel Policy Pod, is joined by Tal Schneider, political and diplomatic correspondent for The Times of Israel, to discuss her recent book on women in combat during the October 7 war and the latest developments in Israel's election campaign. They examine Gadi Eisenkot's prospects of becoming Israel's next pr...

In this episode, Neri Zilber, Israel Policy Forum policy advisor and host of Israel Policy Pod , is joined by Amir Tibon, Haaretz journalist and author of The Gates of Gaza , to discuss his family’s survival of the October 7 attack and their difficult decision to return home to Kibbutz Nahal Oz. They discuss what life is like in Israel’s Gaza border communities three years after October 7, the las...

In this episode, Neri Zilber is joined by Amos Harel, Haaretz military correspondent and author of the recent Hebrew-language book 06:29: Anatomy of a Failure , to examine what we know about the October 7 attack nearly three years later. They discuss reports that Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received warnings from Arab officials before the attack, the conspiracy theories that have...

In this episode, Amb. Michael Ratney, Distinguished Policy Fellow at Israel Policy Forum, joins host Neri Zilber, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist, to discuss the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, the prospects for U.S. military involvement under President Donald Trump, and the implications for Saudi Arabia and regional stability. Th...

In this episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Israel Policy Pod Host Neri Zilber, RAND’s Distinguished Chair for Israel Policy Shira Efron, and Israel Policy Forum Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow discuss the latest developments in the Israeli election, now less than 50 days away, including the party registration deadline, the emerging electoral map, the consolidated opposition, and w...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Israeli political analyst and pollster Dahlia Scheindlin. They discuss the current state of play in Israel’s election campaign, the main takeaways from recent polling, Yoav Segalovich’s alliance with the Islamist Ra’am party and the broader role of Arab parties in the election, Gadi Eisenkot’...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Director of Strategic Initiatives and IPF Atid Director Shanie Reichman hosts Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow for a wide-ranging conversation on upcoming Israeli elections, the status of Hamas disarmament in Gaza, Israel's role in U.S. domestic politics, challenges facing the American Jewish community, and more. Support the show Follow us on Ins...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber speaks with Col. (ret.) Dr. Michael Milshtein, former head of the Department for Palestinian Affairs in Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, about the deadly incident in the West Bank village of Tell and the broader escalation of violence in the territory. They examine the Israeli government...

On this week’s episode, Dan Rothem (Senior Policy Analyst, Israel Policy Forum) and Shira Efron (Distinguished Israel Policy Chair, RAND) join Tel Aviv-based journalist and Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor Neri Zilber to discuss the start of Israel’s election campaign: Gadi Eisenkot’s rise in the polls, how Bibi Netanyahu has tried to fight back against yet another retired general, and the resur...

On this week's episode, Naysan Rafati, senior Iran analyst at International Crisis Group, joins Tel Aviv-based journalist and Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor Neri Zilber to discuss the renewed military escalation between the United States and Iran, why the Strait of Hormuz has once again become the central flashpoint, the Iranian regime's continued hardline posture, President Donald T...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber and Israel Policy Forum Director of Strategic Initiatives and IPF Atid Shanie Reichman discuss the Netanyahu government's push to pass a slew of controversial bills before the Knesset's term likely ends next week, the looming constitutional crisis after the government refused to recognize...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts David Daoud, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They discuss the recent U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon, the chances of the deal actually leading to Hezbollah's disarmament and Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon, the ability of the Leb...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Dan Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel. They discuss why the recent U.S.-Israel war with Iran was a strategic mistake, what this week's memorandum of understanding reached between the U.S. and Iran actually includes, what the deal says about Trump's priorities and leverage in...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow and Washington Managing Director and Senior Policy Analyst Rachel Brandenburg. They discuss this week's major escalation between Israel and Iran, what it signals regarding the Islamic Republic's thinking two months after the original ceasefire, wh...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst and pollster, to discuss the current state of Israeli politics, what the polls are saying (and not saying) about the upcoming election, the mixed fortunes so far of the Bennett-Lapid merger, the rising Gadi Eisenkot, the role the Arab-Israeli political p...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow and Distinguished RAND Israel Policy Chair Shira Efron. The trio discuss the looming deal between the U.S. and Iran over an end to the war, what the agreement likely includes and critically omits, who won the war if it ends this way, how Netanyahu may try t...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber and Israel Policy Forum Director of Strategic Initiatives and IPF Atid Shanie Reichman discuss President Trump's impasse with Iran and the prospects for renewed escalation, Israel-Lebanon peace talks and the grinding military front with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Netanyahu's recent CBS int...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts IDF Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion, international fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and senior researcher at INSS. They discuss the latest developments at sea and the negotiating table between the U.S. and Iran, before turning to Israel's ongoing military front in Lebanon....

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow and Distinguished RAND Israel Policy Chair Shira Efron. The trio discuss the merger between former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, the motivations behind the dramatic alliance, whether it changes the chances of the opposition toppling Netany...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Naysan Rafati, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group. They discuss the latest in the fragile ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran, what a deal could actually look like, what happens if negotiations collapse and fighting resumes, which side may benefit more from not conclu...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Haaretz Military Correspondent Amos Harel to discuss the results so far of the Iran war and whether the U.S. and Israel actually "won," the prospects of a ceasefire deal emerging from the talks in Pakistan, what happens if diplomacy fails, the growing focus on the Lebanon front and...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow and Distinguished RAND Israel Policy Chair Shira Efron. The trio discuss the chances of a U.S.-Iran deal to end the war, the joint Israeli and U.S. military campaign after four weeks, Iran's ability to fight back, the impact of the conflict on the wide...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Policy Fellow Garrett Nada. They discuss who is actually running the Islamic Republic of Iran after a spate of high-profile assassinations, the fate of the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the regime's durability in the face of the intensive U.S.-Israeli offensive, why Iran thinks it...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts military affairs analyst Yaakov Lappin. They discuss the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran now in its second week, the campaign's military goals and achievements, Iran's rational 'madman' strategy, the current mood in Israel, the escalating front against Hezbollah in L...