FIDF Live

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes back Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President of Research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), to discuss the current state of Israel’s multi-front war. Schanzer explains that we are at somewhat of a yellow light in the war, with activity quieting down in Lebanon and Syria. We have also seen a drop-off in Jihadist activity in Judea a...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes author, social activist and former FIDF spokesperson for the foreign press in the Unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Alon Penzel to discuss the atrocities of October 7th, and the world’s denial of these atrocities. Alone discusses his imperative work of documenting and scientifically and empirically proving the...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes back Rocket Scientist Ari Sacher to help us understand the current threat of missiles fired into Israel by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Ari explains that the Houthis are an Iranian proxy, and so they have access to state of the art technology provided to them by Iran, including advanced long range missiles and firing systems. Israel has successfully...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Doron Spielman, Author of When the Stones Speak & Former VP, City of David, to discuss his experience running the excavations of City of David, and the significance of uncovering 3000 years of Jewish history. Doron served in the army and then went into high tech. He became infatuated by uncovering the truth of Israels ancient history after havin...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Dr. Lucian Tatsa-Laur,   former Head of the Mental Health Department in the Israel Defense Forces and current Head of the new Trauma Rehabilitation Center at Assuta Ashdod Public Hospital , to discuss his groundbreaking work in the field of PTSD and mental health treatment for combat soldiers. Dr. Laur described his experience on October 7th, learni...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Rabbi Stewart Weiss, Director and Founder of the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra’anana, and father of IDF Sgt. Ari Weiss HY”D, to discuss Rabbi Weiss’ journey making Aliyah, and being the father of a fallen solider. Rabbi Weiss recounts his son Ari’s challenges trying to get into an elite anti-terrorist unit in the IDF, initially struggling but ultimat...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil tells the story of Passover and its lasting effects on human history as well as relevance in modern times. Donate NOW at FIDF.org for the fastest and most direct way to give IDF Soldiers what they need most. 100% of your contribution will go to meet their emergency humanitarian needs.

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Shai Bernstein, an American-Israeli IDF Reservist who just completed his third round of reserve duty, to discuss his experiences over the course over the last 365+ days going back and forth into the field of battle. Shai served as an officer and a captain and officer in Givati, beginning his active duty in 2003. Shai was living in Riverdale when Oct...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Maj. Gen. (Res.) Nadav Padan to discuss the current situation in Gaza and the multi-front war. Nadav reminds us that Israel is still dealing with a 7-front war, despite the tremendous progress in each front since the war began on October 7th. In Gaza, there remains 59 hostages, and Hamas has begun to rebuild its ammunition and missile stores, as wel...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Yuval Baron, Son-in-Law of Keith and Aviva Siegel, to share his family’s unique story of survival. Yuval describes the feeling of welcoming back his mother Aviva, and later his father Keith, from Gaza as witnessing what is known in Judaism as “Techiat Hameitim,” the revival of the dead. Yuval then provides some details on the harrowing conditions un...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Olga Deutsch, VP of NGO Monitor, to discuss what Olga calls the most neglected front of Israel’s multi-front war - the political front. Olga gives Steve a breakdown of what it is NGO Monitor does. As the name suggests, NGO Monitor monitors activities of NGOs, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, to assess the true focus of their eff...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes back Ari Sacher, rocket scientist for RAFAEL, to discuss the current state of Israel’s multi-front war. Ari explains that, militarily, the combat has significantly dissipated. Ari also goes into details regarding Israel’s response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack that occurred months ago, explaining that Israel set back Iran’s ballistic missile pr...

FIDF Chief Executive Officer Steve Weil welcomes Ruby Chen, the father of Itay Chen, a 20-year-old IDF soldier and U.S. citizen, who likely fell while defending his military base on October 7th, and who is still being held by Hamas in Gaza. Ruby describes Itay's life, personality, hobbies, and values. He relates what the family now knows about Itay's experiences and actions on October 7th,...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President of Research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) to discuss the current ceasefire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Dr. Schanzer provides exclusive insight into the intents and aims of Israeli officials who helped formulate the deal. He elaborates on the broader regional geopolitical ram...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Lt. Col. (Res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Israeli Scholar of Arab Culture, Lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, and Vice President of NEWSRAEL. Dr. Kedar elucidates the level of impact Trump’s recent press conference regarding his plans to relocate Gazan residents of Gaza in order to revitalize the infrastructure in Gaza had on the world, particularly the discourse in the...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Daniel Flesch, Senior Policy Analyst for Middle East and North Africa at the Allison Center for National Security, which is a subsidiary of the Heritage Foundation, the largest conservative think tank in the country. Daniel offers his perspective on the recent ceasefire deal with Hamas. Flesch explains that while the ratio of terrorists being released by Israel to...

On this pre-recorded broadcast, FIDF CEO Steven Weil discusses with freed hostage Aviva Siegel about her experience as both a hostage and the wife of a current hostage, Keith Seigel. Aviva and Keith have been married for 44 years and have 4 children and 5 grandchildren. They lived on Kibbutz Kfar Aza for 14 years. Aviva recounts wanting to move on account of the constant threat of rocket fire. But...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Brig. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Nuriel, to discuss the current state of Israel’s multi-front war. By Gen. Nuriel’s count, Israel is fighting a 9-front war. In Lebanon, the new president appears to be delivering positive messages, but it’s too soon to make a definitive judgement on him. And, with the pending ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, Gen. Nuriel believ...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil invites FIDF Casualties Officer Maj. (Res.) M. to discuss the effect of Israel’s multi-front war on the families of soldiers who have either been injured or have fallen in combat. Officer Maj. (Res.) M. explains that families of soldiers currently serving experience high levels of anxiety and fear that they may get a difficult call in regards to their loved one, which itself i...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil walks us through the year 2024, a rollercoaster year for Israel and the IDF. Steven walks us through the progress Israel has made in its mission to eliminate her surrounding threats. However, Steven reminds us that while progress has been made, Hamas is still operative, and still using its civilian population as its first line of defense, and civilization homes and institution...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Ruthie and Andy Weiser, Grandparents of sergeant First Class Roey Weiser, Z”L, a combat solider in Battalion 13 of the Golani Brigade, who was killed on October 7th, 2023, to talk about loss and the mixed emotions they and their family have experienced over the last 15 or so months. Andy explains the heroics of Roey, who defended his base, Erez, from Hamas terrori...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil discusses the story of Chanukah, contextualizing it within the current multi-front war, the power struggle in Syria, and the rapidly evolving Middle East. Steven gives a sweeping Jewish historical overview of the First and Second Temple eras and the region that is now Syria, all the way to modern history, elucidating the evolution of the Israeli Jewish population from its humb...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by FIDF National Director Maj. Gen. (Res.) Nadav Padan to discuss the seismic shifts that have occurred over the last week in the Middle East as a result of the fall of the Assad regime. Nadav explains that Syria has been fractured for years, split between Assad’s regime, Hezbollah, Kurds, Turks and other rebel and jihadist groups. The situation is very fragile. The...

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by  Amichai Stein , Political Correspondent for Kan 11 IPBC to discuss the hostage situation and a variety of other current challenges for Israel and the IDF. Amichai begins the discussion by pointing out the stark contrast between being a journalist in Israel and being a journalist in the US, and how dramatically his job has changed over the course of the last year....

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Eric Mandel, Founder and Director of the Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN) to discuss Eric’s analysis on the current war. Eric expresses cautious optimism in regards to the recently negotiated ceasefire in the north between Israel and Hezbollah. The optimism stems from Hezbollah’s motive to agree to the ceasefire, namely, the embarrassment and...