State of Tel Aviv, Israel Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Ya’akov and I get right into the only issue. The hostage deal. Now that Yahya Sinwar is the leader of Hamas (since the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh almost three weeks ago) he holds the cards. And whether he wants a deal remains somewhat unclear. There are so many contradictory signals. But the deal links everyt...

In this episode, I continue my discussion with British barrister Natasha Hausdorff, who specializes in international law and human rights. We focus today on the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross – which has done little, if anything, to assist the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. We then move on to the complex issue of hospitals and schools, which have a special protected status u...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Today Ya’akov and I wonder what’s going on with Iran and their much anticipated retaliatory attack on Israel, following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. We speculate on the role of the newly elected Iranian president in possibly restraining the Supreme Leader’s threat to avenge, ongoing hostage ne...

In this episode, I speak with an extraordinary woman, lawyer and legal advocate for Israel - British barrister Natasha Hausdorff - who specializes in international law and human rights. We explore some of the key issues facing Israel, including its “legitimacy” as a state, the legal validity of recent accusations of genocide, and the doctrine of proportionality in military responses under internat...

In this episode, I discuss the heightened tensions in Israel amid fears of an imminent attack from Iran and its regional allies, a situation compounded by the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. With co-host Yaakov Katz on vacation in Europe, I sought out two pundits familiar to State of Tel Aviv listeners: Amir Tibon, diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz and author of the fort...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Since we recorded this podcast so much has gone down, and none of it good, sadly. The horrific rocket attack on a soccer pitch on Saturday afternoon in the Druse village of Majdal Shams, in the norther Golan Heights, becomes worse as we learn more. Children. Obliterated by an Iranian missile launched by Hizballah...

Tension has spiked again in Israel. The sustained war of attrition in the north is intense and wildly destructive. People are dying and a large swath of the country has been not just rendered uninhabitable but basically, destroyed. Everything. Homes, businesses, infrastructure. As expected, the hostage families are advocating constantly and in full force for the negotiation of an agreement for the...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com In Israel this morning we awoke to the news of the attempted assassination of President Trump on Saturday. In addition, there was an Israeli operation executed on Saturday as well to assassinate Mohammed Deif, the second-in-command to Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. Whether Deif was in fact killed remains unclear....

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Israel is riveted by the possibility – which has been much talked about in the last few days – of a return to the hostage negotiating table to finally bring an end to this interminable crisis. We have no idea how many remain alive. But they must be brought home. In any condition. And Hamas has finally agreed to th...

For the four siblings and parents of 23-year-old Hamas hostage, Romi Gonen, life has been totally upended since October 7, 2023. . Her mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen, older sister Yarden and her father, Eitan, were on the phone with her for four hours that morning. From the very first moments of the Hamas attack she was in near constant contact with one of them. They heard everything. In separate pod...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com I’m back today with Ya’akov Katz to review the past week and try to make sense of it all. And we spend a lot of time discussing the performance last Thursday of President Joe Biden at the debate with Donald Trump. The way in which America is perceived - the putative leader of the free world - impacts everyone, eve...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com There’s this weird feeling in the air in Israel. A very tense lull in military action. The IDF continues its limited operation in Rafah, with the intention of routing out the last of the Hamas and PIJ weapons caches and fighting forces. Sometimes it feels like it will never end and there are many Israelis who fear...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com So – our usual schedule got a little wonky this week. I was on a semi-holiday but became totally sick which was the first domino to fall. Anyway, we’re back. I caught up with Ya’kov on Tuesday afternoon in Israel and share the discussion today. We spend significant time on the ultra-orthodox refusal to serve in th...

The IDF took a heavy blow on the weekend with 10 soldiers killed and another who passed from severe injuries suffered earlier. With our regular itinerant guest, Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, we discuss the circumstances in Gaza that caused the deaths of eight IDF soldiers in a single incident. As a former infantryman who was in active service in the area where the tragedy occurred, Conricus i...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com The elite commando operation on Saturday that rescued four Israeli hostages who had been held by Hamas for eight months rocked the world…and gave Israelis a jolt of joy that was desperately needed. The country has been pummeled by this long war, tensions in the north and relentless diplomatic attacks. That more th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com It has been a very intense week in northern Israel with a deeply concerning escalation of conflict with Hizballah. We spoke yesterday, Thursday, with Sarit Zehavi, Lt. Col. (Res.) who spent 15 years working in Military Intelligence and is among Israel’s foremost experts on security in the north. Founder and presid...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Rachel Goldberg-Polin, ever profound in her agony, stated in recent days that it is “an embarrassment to the human race that we haven’t been able to save” the hostages held by Hamas. Her 23-year-old son, Hersh, is among the 125 people still in Hamas Hell, having survived a grenade attack in which his left arm was...

It has been a grim two weeks in Israel, with an onslaught from the International Courts in The Hague, serious hostilities on three fronts – the north, West Bank and, of course, the Gaza Strip – with the added bonus of Egypt being less than friendly…. and the continued torture of what we now believe to be 128 hostages in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad captivity. How many remain alive is unknow...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Karim Khan, K.C., is the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and in the last week he has become a household name, globally. Mr. Khan made a lengthy statement one week ago, announcing his intention to seek judicial approval to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benja...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Back from a short trip to the U.S., Ya’akov Katz is fired up. Since October 7, Israelis have been pretty obliging regarding commands from leaders in government and the IDF to come together as a united front, but almost eight months later the rage is spilling out. And Ya’akov is no exception. Last week was surreal,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Our regular Sunday man, Ya’akov Katz, is travelling today and we are joined by Jonathan Conricus, Lt. Col. (Res) in the IDF and a familiar face to many around the world from his television commentary for the first few months of the war. He is currently a general consultant and also a senior fellow with D.C.-based...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com October 7 was a huge blow to Israel, but some families were particularly hard hit. There is no rhyme or reason. Some homes were passed over while all the neighbours were burned alive, murdered or taken hostage. The Gat family of Kibbutz Be’eri is one of the unlucky ones. Wife, mother, grandmother and more, 68 Kinn...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com Never a slow week in these parts. This week the focus was, yet again, on Rafah, the city in the southern Gaza Strip that PM Netanyahu is adamant must be attacked in order to destroy Hamas as a military force and power that can ever dream of repeating October 7th. The Biden administration is vigorously opposed to t...

The only thing that Israelis are focused on is ending this agony. From October 8th I have been a broken record. Until the fate of the hostages is settled, for better or worse, israel is stuck on October 7th. This country cannot move ahead without closure, which is, agonizingly, always just a wee bit out of reach. We know that hostages are dying in captivity. They are kept in horrific conditions. W...

Carmel Gat, 39 and held in Hamas captivity since October 7th, is part of a big, loving family with deep roots on Kibbutz Be’eri. Her younger cousin, Shay Dickmann, spoke with State of Tel Aviv one week ago, on the morning after the Passover seder. Her extended family has suffered terribly for almost seven months and they continue to grieve. For her murdered grandmother and for Carmel. Imprisoned....