Call Me Back - with Dan Senor

Avi Issacharoff returns for an urgent update on overnight developments and their implications. Avi has been an analyst and journalist for The Times of Israel, Walla, and Haaretz. In these roles, he reported extensively on the inner workings and leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza and the West Bank — Avi has extensive networks in the Israeli security services and the Palestinian...

Much like our earlier episode on the history of Hamas, today we look at the history of Hezbollah, an even greater threat to Israel than Hamas. Our guest is Dr. Matthew Levitt. Matt is the director of the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Department of the T...

Among the questions we've been getting since October 7 are those about antisemitism. Does this time feel different? Why? Or, another question, when is it appropriate to be critical of Israeli Government policy, and when does it cross the line into antisemitism? What is the difference between antisemisitm and anti-zionism? Or is there a distinction at all? Is the latter simply a modern-day version...

Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Israel to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. We wanted to check in with Haviv on increasing questions we are hearing from within Israel and the U.S. about -- as it relates to the call-up of reserves and the deployment along Israel's southern border - why 'hurry up and wait'? In this conve...

This episode will be the first of a few conversations in which we touch on the range of directions this October 7th war could go (especially when considering comparisons to Israel's previous wars, including those with Hamas and also the 1973 Yom Kippur War). Michael Oren is the author of numerous books, including: “Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East” and “Power, Fa...

In President Biden’s address from the Oval Office, we continue to hear calls for Israel to respect the laws of war. In recent days, we have also heard others call for “proportionality” in Israel’s response. What does that actually mean? According to what definition of proportionality? And according to whose rules? Is Israel subjected to different rules of war than other countries? Is Hamas a diffe...

Haviv Rettig Gur returns to our podcast to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. He will be a weekly guest on our podcast through the duration of the war. Today he is focused on Israeli public sentiment as the country mobilizes, and also looks at how the October 7 is perhaps changing perceptions in and of the Israeli Arab community. Haviv is the po...

Today, we consider to what to expect when the IDF enters Gaza. Avi Issacharoff has been an analyst and journalist for The Times of Israel, Walla, and Haaretz. In these roles, he reported extensively on the inner workings and leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza and the West Bank — Avi has extensive networks in the Israeli security services and the Palestinian Territories. He is...

In this episode with Elliott Abrams, we provide additional detail on the history of Israel-Gaza/Hamas — this time from a White House insider on U.S.-Middle East policy during a critical period in Hamas’s takeover of Gaza — what were leaders in Washington and Jerusalem thinking at the time? Elliott takes us into the Situation Room: What did they get right and what did they get wrong? This part of t...

For analysis of the Israeli Government's formation of a (Netanyahu/Gantz) unity government and war cabinet, preparations for the invasion of Gaza, and anticipating the Hezbollah threat from the northern border, we are joined by Yaakov Katz. Yaakov is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute. Previously, Yaakov served as editor-in-chief at the Jerus...

We have been getting a lot of questions about the history of Hamas, its ideological roots and objectives, its allies and rivalries, how it wound up in charge of Gaza, the origins of this war, and whether there could actually be a post-Hamas Gaza. For this tutorial, our guest is Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, who is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Jon previously...

Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation immediately on Day III of this war. Bret came to The New York Times after a long career with The Wall Street Journal, where he was most recently deputy editorial page editor and, for 11 years, a foreign affairs columnist. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. And prior to working...

Haviv Rettig Gur returns to our podcast to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. His insights on how Israel might prosecute this war -- and the possible end of Israel's security paradigm with Gaza and its approach to Israeli hostages -- are especially important. Haviv is the political analyst at The Times of Israel. He was a long time reporter for...

One day we’re talking about the 2024 presidential election being a re-match of the 2020 election. The next day we’re watching the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives being defenestrated through a historic vote OUT of the Speakership. What is going on here? Is it a new level of crazy, or not that new at all? Karl Rove puts this period of political dysfunction in historical context. Rove se...

Many Democratic activists, strategists, donors, officeholders, and party leaders are privately discussing the weaknesses of President Biden's candidacy, heading into what now appears to be a very competitive 2024 election. But is anyone telling President Biden? Is anyone credible and viable willing to challenge President Biden for the Democratic nomination? We are constantly told that American dem...

What to make of the most recent presidential debates? What to make of what we're learning from these debates? What to make of the media's coverage of and role in these debates? And where do things go from here? Eliana Johnson is the editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon. She is a former White House correspondent at POLITICO. She previously served as Washington editor of National Review, wh...

Why is U.S. assistance for Ukraine being held up in Congress? What is at stake for the U.S.? Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Previously, he was Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Tom Cotton. Aaron served on active duty as a U.S. Marine for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer. Following his t...

Are you pessimistic about Israel’s future? My new book – which I wrote with my "Start-Up Nation" co-author Saul Singer – should give you reason for optimism. I care deeply about Israel. I’m endlessly fascinated by Israel. I travel to Israel regularly. Some may say this is a fraught period for anyone who cares about Israel. But in our new book, "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a...

Items discussed in this episode: “The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent“ World www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Nation-Teach/dp/1982115769/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2Y6VUH68GZXYL&keywords=The+genius+of+Israel&qid=1695034956&sprefix=the+genius+of+israel%2Caps%2C84&sr=8-1 “Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship“ www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provi...

Today is a special episode in which I preview some of the questions we try to answer in our new book, The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World.   Saul Singer and I collaborated on Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle . Our new book will be released this Fall, but you can pre-order it now at: www.amazon.com/Genius-Israel-Small-Natio...

Dr. Mohamed El-Erian returns to the podcast to discuss the implications of the recent announcement of the expansion of BRICS, China's economy and possible spillover effects in the West, past forecasting of recession/stagflation, and the Fed's inflation target. We also discuss Mohamed's new book: "Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World" We begin the podcast with a conversation about the upcom...

Back in July, we dedicated an episode to the question of whether the U.S. was on the cusp of reaching a new deal with Iran. Or was an unofficial deal already hatched that nobody was talking about? According to Rich Goldberg, the answers to these questions are now becoming more clear. Rich has also been focused on another development that didn’t get sufficient press attention this summer: the relea...

Kristen Soltis Anderson is a GOP pollster, messaging strategist, and Founding Partner of Echelon Insights, an opinion research and analytics firm that serves brands, trade associations, nonprofits, and political clients. Through her work at Echelon, she regularly advises corporate and government leaders. Kristen also leads focus groups for The New York Times’ opinion section “America in Focus” ser...

Special episode with Dr. Fred Kagan on the Russia-Ukraine war (and Putin's hold on power). Fred is the Director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also working closely with the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War. Fred is a former professor of military history at the US Military Academy at West Point. He completed his PhD in Soviet and Russian...

There is a lot these days to discuss with a US official who is an expert on China and has major influence over US-China policy. But today we take a longer view of the Cold War (II) we are in with China by looking at a historical comparison in Cold War I. Congressman Gallagher just wrapped up teaching a history class on one such historical comp – the Korean War. Rep. Gallagher served for seven year...