Israel Policy Pod

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...

Note: This episode is an audio recording of a webinar Israel Policy Forum hosted yesterday, Monday, March 2.   In this timely discussion on the implications of the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, Rachel Brandenburg (Washington Managing Director, Israel Policy Forum), Michael Koplow (Chief Policy Officer, Israel Policy Forum), Shira Efron (distinguished chair for Israel policy at RAND), and Garrett Na...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Washington Managing Director and Senior Policy Analyst Rachel Brandenburg and Senior Policy Analyst Dan Rothem. They discuss the inaugural meeting last week in Washington of Trump's Board of Peace for Gaza, the highs and lows of the event and the key themes that were raised, the chances...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran program at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies and a former Israeli military intelligence analyst. They discuss the latest round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, the chances of diplomacy succeeding, what Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamane...

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 this week's summit meeting in Washington between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, the chances of negotiations with Iran actually succeeding, the likely gaps between 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 state of play in the Iran crisis, potential upcoming U.S.-Iran talks and the prospects for their success, Ran Gvili z”l's return home last week and the closure of the hostage saga, the real start...

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 current state of play in the U.S.-Iran crisis, including the domestic turmoil in Iran and the U.S. military build-up in the Middle East, what options President Trump has against the Islamic Republic, what Tehran may do in retaliation, t...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Barak Herscowitz, an Israeli political commentator and former aide to Naftali Bennett. They discuss the reasons why Barak left the Likud party, his experience working with Bennett in the prime minister's office, the chances of Bennett defeating Netanyahu in this year's Israeli elect...

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 ongoing protests across Iran against the regime, the strategic indecision by the Islamic Republic especially since last year's 12-day war with Israel, the prospects for miscalculation between Tehran an...

On this week’s episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber hosts Col. (ret.) Dr. Michael Milshtein, former head of the Department for Palestinian Affairs in Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate. They discuss the current status of the Gaza ceasefire deal, the contrasting realities on the ground in the Hamas-controlled red zone and the Israeli-controll...

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 to hand out Israel Policy Pod's end-of-year awards and make predictions for 2026. The trio discuss the key events and biggest surprises of a momentous 2025—including the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal...

In this special two-part episode, Israel Policy Forum Policy Advisor and Tel Aviv-based journalist Neri Zilber and Israel Policy Forum Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow discuss the assassination of Hezbollah’s top military commander in Beirut and what it says about the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire deal, the state of play in Gaza amid what appears to be a stalled postwar transition, and what we learn...