BICOM's Podcast

James Sorene talks to journalist and Netanyahu biographer Anshel Pfeffer about Benny Gantz’s dramatic decision to join a Netanyahu led Government, the future of the Israeli right and the ultra-Orthodox communities response to coronavirus.

Richard Pater talks to former Israeli Justice Minister Dan Meridor about Israel’s constitutional crisis, coalition talks, the postponement of Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial and Israel's response to the coronavirus.

James Sorene interviews Dr. Assaf Shapira from the Israel Democracy Institute to discuss defections, minority Governments and a new law to ban an indicted MK from forming a Government.

James Sorene interviews Tom Segev, author of the monumental new biography of David Ben-Gurion, A State At Any Cost. 

James Sorene interviews pollster and political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin and Richard Pater interviews Tal Shalev from Walla News in a two-part evaluation of Israel’s third election.

Richard Pater talks to Eli Hazan, the Likud’s Foreign Affairs Director to discuss the latest polls, the Trump plan and rockets from Gaza. Richard also spoke to Blue and White MK Izhar Shay to talk about the party’s campaign and its plan for after the election.

Richard Pater talks to Likud pollster Rafi Smith about how Israeli parties are shaping up as they enter the final week of the campaign. 

Richard Pater talks to Professor Avi Weiss about the big issue being ignored in the Israeli election campaign – Israel’s increasing budget deficit and the required cuts to public spending.     

In an exclusive interview for the BICOM Podcast, Raffi Berg, author of Red Sea Spies, tells the remarkable story of the Mossad-run diving resort in Sudan that evacuated thousands of Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps and brought them to Israel.

James Sorene talks to polling expert Dahlia Scheindlin for a deep dive on Israel’s 2nd of March election: has anything changed since the last election?  

James Sorene talks to journalist Anshel Pfeffer to assess whether the US plan will provide a boost for Netanyahu’s election campaign or opens an unintended can of worms.

James Sorene talks to Neri Zilber and Richard Pater about this week’s unveiling of the US plan for Israel and the Palestinians, it’s impact on the Israel elections and how Palestinian leaders will react.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, gives an exclusive interview to the BICOM podcast about Britain-Israel trade, Iran, Royal visits and the RAF to mark the publication of BICOM’s new study, Britain and Israel: The new strategic partnership.

James Sorene interviews Dr Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, to discuss Suleimani’s legacy, Iran’s retaliation and how the Iranian regime will steer through 2020.

Richard Pater spoke to BICOM Senior Fellow, Brigadier-General Michael Herzog, to assess the impact of Soleimani’s assassination on Iranian military capability, what Iran might do in response and whether Israel could be part of the Iranian retaliation.

James Sorene talks to Richard Pater and Neri Zilber about BICOM’s new report that tries to predict the major events, political change and military conflict in the Middle East in 2020.

As Israel heads for an unprecedented third election in less than 12 months, Ronie Gazit speaks to journalist and Bibi biographer Anshel Pfeffer about how this happened and whether a third election will actually break the political deadlock.

BICOM's James Sorene and Ronie Gazit discuss the results of the 2019 poll of UK public attitudes to Israel and the Middle East carried out for BICOM by Populus. James also speaks with Rick Nye, Principal & Strategy Director at Populus about the major trends in the survey over the last 5-10 years.

Richard Pater explores the legal and political consequences of Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment by the Attorney General with Tal Schneider from Globes, and Dr Amir Fuchs from the Israel Democracy Institute.

James Sorene speaks to Brig. Gen Michael Herzog and David Makovsky to analyse the US announcement that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not illegal and to assess what impact it will have on future talks to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. James also talked to Michael Herzog about what we can learn from last week’s conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad. David Makovsky's podcast D...

Richard Pater speaks to Dr Kobi Michael from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) about the conflict this week between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Richard also interviewed Lilach Even Tzur, from Kibbutz Nirim, about living close to the Israel-Gaza border.

James Sorene talks to Sam Nurding who wrote BICOM’s new paper “UK-China relations and the Changing Middle East” and to Dr Andreas Krieg from King’s College London about China’s objectives in the Middle East and how it is expanding trade, investment and arms sales across the region.     Read UK-China relations and the Changing Middle East here .

James Sorene speaks to Richard Spencer, Middle East correspondent for The Times about protests in Lebanon and Iraq and Ronie Gazit speaks to former Israeli deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh about coalition talks in Israel and the security challenge posed by Iranian precision-guided missile technology.  

James Sorene speaks with Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post journalist and author of After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East, about the potential resurgence of ISIS following the Turkish invasion of north-east Syria.

James Sorene speaks to former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor Dr Eran Lerman about the Israeli perspective on the Turkish invasion of Northern Syria and what key issues the national security establishment might need to rethink.