BICOM's Podcast

James Sorene speaks to Hannah Lucinda Smith, Turkey correspondent for The Times and author of Erdogan Rising: The Battle for the Soul of Turkey, about why President Erdogan really ordered the operation in Syria, what it means for the battle against ISIS and what happens next.

James Sorene speaks to Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog about Israel’s ongoing battle against Iran in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and Ronie Gazit speaks to Phillip Smyth from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy about Shia militias in Iraq and Iran’s wider militia strategy in the middle east.

James Sorene talks to Tal Shalev from Walla news about coalition talks, Netanyahu’s pre-trial hearing and the contrasting style of Bibi Netanyahu and Benny Gantz.

James Sorene talks to Lahav Harkov, Senior Contributing Editor of the Jerusalem Post and Raf Sanchez, Israel correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and Richard Pater speaks with Daphna Liel and Shalom Lipner to examine the Israeli election results and analyse what happens next during weeks of coalition talks.

For the first time ever, the BICOM podcast was recorded on a moving train as James Sorene talked to polling expert Dahlia Scheindlin and journalist and Bibi biographer Anshel Pfeffer on the 21:15 from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston. They discussed the final phase of the Israeli election campaign and how voter turnout and Avigdor Lieberman’s quest to bring Bibi down will decide who wins on...

In this week’s podcast, Richard Pater talks to Jerusalem Post's editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz, author of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power, about recent events along the Israeli-Lebanese border. They also discuss the latest events in the Israeli election campaign.

In this week’s podcast, BICOM’s Senior Research Fellow, Neri Zilber, talks to Lebanon and Syria expert Professor Eyal Zisser about reported Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Syria and Lebanon and how Hezbollah is likely to respond.

James Sorene talks to Richard Pater and Calev Ben Dor about the latest news from Israel's elections with a focus on the potential impact of the new right wing and left wing party mergers. 

James Sorene talks to Michael Herzog about reported Israeli strikes against Shia militias and why Iran is sending long range missiles to Iraq. They also discussed Herzog’s new paper analysing Israel’s conflict with Iran in Syria: ‘Iran across the border, Israel’s pushback in Syria.”

In this week’s episode Elliot Keck interviews BICOM CEO James Sorene to examine Boris Johnson’s record dealing with Middle East issues as well as what he has said about Britain-Israel relations

In a special BICOM podcast to mark Benjamin Netanyahu becoming Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister, Richard Pater speaks with two Israeli journalists who have studied Bibi intensively: Tal Shalev, the chief political correspondent for Walla! News and Anshel Pfeffer, correspondent for Haaretz, The Times, The Economist and author of ‘Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu’.

James Sorene speaks to Brig.- Gen. Michael Herzog about the limited US response to Iran in the Gulf and how Israel’s battle against Iran in Syria offers a case study in creative limited combat. James also spoke to Anshel Pfeffer about the lessons for Israel from Donald Trumps behaviour towards former UK Ambassador to Washington Sir Kim Darroch.    

In this two part special, James Sorene speaks to Richard Pater and Calev Ben-Dor about the latest polling and Ehud Barak’s new party. James also interviewed former Foreign Office Minister Alastair Burt MP and Dr Toby Greene at the RUSI-BICOM conference about Iran breaking the terms of the JCPOA nuclear deal. 

On the eve of the US led ‘peace to prosperity’ conference in Manama, Bahrain, James Sorene interviewed Koby Huberman from Israel’s regional peace initiative and Ronie Gazit spoke to former US Middle East negotiator David Makovsky

In this week's episode James Sorene talks to journalist and Bibi biographer Anshel Pfeffer about the vital role of Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman in the next election campaign and why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be fighting on two fronts as he seeks an election victory on 17 September.

To mark the release of BICOM’s new paper Britain’s Iran dilemma, James Sorene speaks to the paper’s author, BICOM senior research associate Dr Toby Greene. He also discusses UK-Iran relations with Ali Ansari, Professor of Modern History at St. Andrews University, the view from inside Iran with Dr Sanam Vakil, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House, and the detail of the Iran nuclear deal with Dr...

James Sorene speaks to BICOM’s senior research fellow Brig.-Gen (Ret.) Michael Herzog about the US peace plan and the impact of the Palestinian Authority’s risky game to threaten bankruptcy

James Sorene talks to Richard Pater and Calev Ben-Dor to try and understand why the 21st Knesset voted for another election and whether Benjamin Netanyahu has been weakened by his failure to form a Government. In the second half of the episode, Richard Pater interviews Royal Marine veteran Andrew Garland who helped organise the Britain-Israel Veterans Games that took place in Israel this week.

James Sorene and Calev Ben-Dor talk to Yohanan Plesner, from the Israel Democracy Institute, about Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to secure immunity from prosecution and restrict the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court. James and Calev also discuss the Palestinian boycott of the US peace plan and the ‘economic workshop’ in Bahrain on 25 June.

BICOM CEO James Sorene presents a special two part episode from Israel. In an exclusive interview James spoke to UK Ambassador David Quarrey during his final days in Israel. James also interviewed IDF spokesman Lt-Col Jonathan Conricus to assess the hostilities last week between Israel and Gaza.

In this week’s episode, James Sorene speaks to BICOM’s Senior Visiting Fellow Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Michael Herzog about the Trump administration’s Iran strategy, whether Israel will launch a ground operation in Gaza and what will  be in the US’s plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

In this week’s episode, BICOM CEO James Sorene is joined by Ha’aretz Security Analyst, Amos Harel to discuss the stand-off between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over their refusal to accept tax revenues. They also assess the situation in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

In a special extended episode to mark our 50th episode, BICOM CEO James Sorene talks to Natan Sachs from the Brookings Institution, polling expert Dahlia Scheindlin and Times of Israel political analyst Haviv Rettig Gur to discuss what the voters did, whether Bibi will be granted immunity and if a US peace plan will ever be published.

In this week’s episode James Sorene talks to Nadav Eyal, Chief International Correspondent for Reshet News and Professor Avi Diskin from the Hebrew University to assess the impact of Israel’s election results. 

In this week’s episode Richard Pater and Calev Ben-Dor are joined by political consultant and pollster Simon Davies from Number 10 Strategies to analyse the latest polling coming out of Israel ahead of next week's elections. In addition, Calev and Richard discuss reports on the political negotiations between Hamas and Israel.