State of Tel Aviv, Israel Podcast

For 96 days now, Eitan Gonen has been in constant agony as he waits, and waits, for his beautiful, effervescent, 23-year-old daughter, Romi, to be freed from Hamas captivity. Last Saturday, we dropped a podcast episode focusing on our conversation with Romi’s mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen. Previously married to Eitan, the couple has five children together, ranging in age from 16 to 30. Romi, her fat...

We cover a lot of ground in our chat today with Ya’akov Katz. Starting in Gaza, we discuss the change in military strategy that the IDF is using there. Meanwhile, the northern front heats up and concern is rising that war could erupt there any moment. And we finally get into the extreme societal fissures that have been left to fester in the name of “unity.” But the lid is blowing off the pot. And...

We speak at length today with Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose 23-year-old daughter, Romi, has been held hostage by Hamas for three months. Romi’s four siblings and parents know little of her condition or treatment and have had no sign of life for almost 40 days. They do know that when captured she was badly injured. Reports from hostages released at Day 57 confirmed that her condition had deteriorated...

Earlier today, I spoke with Ya’akov Katz, former editor of The Jerusalem Post for our regular Sunday morning check in and review of highlights of the previous week. We touch on the possibility of renewed negotiations for the release of the hostages, for whom time is running out. They have been kept in dreadful conditions, received very little food, water and no medical care or hygienic supplies. T...

In this episode, our Christmas Special, State of Tel Aviv brings you a “twofer”; interviews with two of this podcast’s favorite voices. IDF Spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus and Ya’akov Katz, former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, security political analyst, share their thoughts on the challenges of urban warfare in the Gaza Strip and the continuing toll that the hostage crisis takes...

This is the second instalment of our new Sunday feature: a quick, sharp focus on what went down in the past week and what's coming. Now clocking 72 days in captivity, the hostage crisis dominated the national psyche. The inadvertent killing by the IDF of three hostages who had escaped and were waving a white flag sent Israel reeling with intense shock, grief and disbelief. Their capture is why the...

On Thursday evening, I spoke with Aviva Klompas, an extraordinary Jewish activist, educator and writer who has distinguished herself on social media since October 7. From the moment the horror began to unfold, Aviva posted constantly with information and updates on the incomprehensible evil that befell Israel; the savage Hamas attacks and the grief left in their wake, that we are just beginning to...

Beginning today,  State of Tel Aviv  brings you a weekly podcast feature: a look at the week past and what may be coming. Each Sunday, host Vivian Bercovici will speak with Ya’akov Katz, fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, former editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post, military and political expert, serial book writer and one of the liveliest story tellers around. Viv and Ya’akov will do...

Speaking with journalist and political analyst Haviv Rettig Gur is always a journey. He begins by sharing his family's personal experience with supporting a family in which many members were taken hostage. Some have been released. Some remain. Some were murdered on Oct. 7. Haviv explains the impossible, how this trauma is at once uplifting and devastating. Nothing in life is familiar. But Rettig G...

We speak with Ya’akov Katz - military analyst, author and former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post -  for his signature trenchant analysis of the impossible dilemma that the IDF faces in the Gaza Strip. How will It deal with al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; the largest in the Gaza Strip which also sits atop Hamas’ main subterranean HQ and operational hub? And those humanitarian pauses? Is it an...

For Eli Beer, October 7 never ends. Eli personifies courage and power and principle and drive. Yet he looks and sounds broken. Listen to his voice; a whisper of what it was a month ago. His NGO, United Hatzalah, is a Jerusalem-based organization with more than 15,000 volunteers including trained medics, of all religions and ethnicities, who value human life. On Saturday, October 7, only United Hat...

The day began with the release of a Hamas video featuring three female Israeli hostages, calculated to torment the Israeli public. Psychological warfare. Then. As the nation waited for a press conference to be held by the families of hostages, incredible news broke. Live. Of the IDF rescue of a female soldier the night before. A glimmer of light in a very dark time. IDF spokesperson (res) Lt. Col....

Prof. Uzi Rabi, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University is one of the top global experts on middle east geopolitics and Arab culture, in every sense. Rabi is constantly on international and Israeli TV these days, explaining the phenomenon of “progressives” in the west embracing the savage Hamas terrorist movement and all it stands for. And make no mista...

Jacqui Rivers Vital was in Ottawa visiting her family when she learned of the carnage unfolding in Israel on October 7. Her daughter, Adi Vital-Kaploun lived on a kibbutz on the border with Gaza with her husband and two young children. A second daughter lived on another kibbutz in the area. Her husband was visiting with Adi. Jacqui tells STLV in detail about the nightmare she faced to unravel the...

In this episode we speak with Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, IDF spokesperson, discussing the ongoing conflict in Gaza. We talk about the recent release of two elderly female Israeli hostages by Hamas and the need to understand the psychological manipulation employed by Hamas regarding hostages. Hamas had meticulously planned and executed the hostage-taking operation to gain political lever...

When war broke out in Israel on October 7th, Moti Jungreis wasted no time in getting on a plane so that he could assist in the massive civilian relief and support effort. A former investment banker based in Toronto, Jungreis has split his time between Israel and Canada in recent years. He spent today, Monday, harvesting fruit in farmer's fields just outside the closed military zone in southern Isr...

Iraqi Lebanese American, journalist and foreign policy specialist at DC-based think tank Federation for Defense of Democracies, Hussain spent his first 20+ years living in Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Lebanon. He explains the different "camps" in the very diverse Arab world and exposes Hamas. Hizballah. Iran. For the death cults they are. We discuss this war on the west, on Israel, on Jews and the da...

Ruben is a 25 year-old-university student who woke up on Saturday, October 7 and by late afternoon had reported to a makeshift base set up in a school in southern Israel. Since then, this reservist serving in the IDF Home Front Command, has been providing civilian relief and rescue after missiles strike, assisting people trapped in rubble, ensuring funerals may proceed safely. He also talks about...

In today's episode of State of Tel Aviv and Beyond, our guest is Dr. Michael Halbertal, the CEO of Rambam Hospital in Haifa. We discuss the challenging circumstances in Israel over the past 11 days, marked by a surge in casualties and horrific incidents, including the injuries and death of infants and children. Dr. Halbert reflects on the emotional toll and the close-knit community in Israel that...

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War in Israel, Day 9, Sunday, October 15th, 2023. We speak today with Hadar Green, 25 years old, woke up on Saturday, October 7th, early in the morning to a massive attack and bombardment of Israeli civilians. Hadar was to be married the following day. Listen to his harrowing story of that day and the week that has followed. State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts...

We’re doing our best to deliver timely reports and with a candor that you will not hear on MSM. We are also scrambling as our team is working under very trying circumstances. So please excuse any editing that isn’t up to our usual studio standard. This is war. We have Ya’akov Katz back today to brief us on the military situation on the ground in Israel and fill us in as to how civilians there are...

“There’s a feeling in the air that the country is on the line.” Today we speak with Ya’akov Katz, military affairs and political expert, author, and former editor of The Jerusalem Post. He is brilliant and distills the last day and a half of indescribable horror in Israel for us: morale, terror, intelligence and military failures and the incomprehensible savagery of Hamas terrorists. This first po...

Ziv Koren Is a peerless photojournalist in Israel and a global brand and name. Over the past 30-plus years he has cultivated unparalleled access into the private lives of prime ministers and been allowed to photograph some of Israel’s most highly trained and secretive counter-terrorism units in training. He covers global events – most recently the early Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians in th...

In the summer of 1978, Bracha Goetz – a Harvard graduate who had just completed her first year of medical school – flew to Israel for a six week working stint at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. After two weeks, she had left medicine and was studying orthodox Judaism full-time in a women’s seminary. I met Bracha in the summer of ’85,  living in a trailer in a West Bank settlement, managing four you...