The Promised Podcast

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.   Peace in Paris or conciliation in Cairo? We discuss the weird-ass peace retreat in Paris, without Israelis or Palestinians, and the Egyptian-Saudi peace initiative: So much peace-talk, so little time? Tots & moms & fallacies of feminism There i...

Allison, Noah, and Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. IDF = "It Don't Fucking-Matter"? We discuss human rights group B'Tselem's decision to stop telling IDF lawyers about crimes committed by soldiers because the army doesn't give a shit and doesn't do...

If you love Israel, this podcast will make you inexplicably happy: Israel Story 's current season is almost over, so it's a perfect chance to catch up on everything you've been missing! Today, Allison, Noah, and superstar guest Ilene Prusher discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. And now, right-wing Israeli...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Coalition ambition, suspicion, sedition, contrition & admonition We discuss the expansion of Prime Minister Netanyahu's coalition that leaves Herzog and Labor out , and Avigdor Lieberman and his right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party in . Birthright,...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Term limits of endearment We discuss a newly-proposed bill that would limit Israeli prime ministers to two terms, thereby giving the heave-ho to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Wages of peace? A new report argues that "economic peace" is growing betwee...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. "Never again" what? "Never again" why? We discuss what lessons we Israelis should draw from the Holocaust, and what lessons we shouldn't. Is there a different kind of Israeli exceptionalism to be found in the memory of the Holocaust? Legislation...

Gilad Halpern (host of The Tel Aviv Review), Naomi Zeveloff (Middle East Correspondent for the Forward), and Noah  discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. OUR Killer? Last week 2,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv in support of the 19-year-old soldier who shot in the head the immobile 21-year-old Palestin...

In this Passover potpourri of propitious, panegyric perspicacity, Don, Allison, and Noah update the old story in the Midrash about the four sons. Then they serve up a primo pastiche of past "Vatacountry!" pieces, in which the panel (and guests) describe stuff that delights, enchants, surprises, and amuses them about this crazy country we live in and love. Four Sons for a New Generation We update t...

Allison, Don, and Noah  discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. What makes Bibi tick? A new essay challenges the leftist article-of-faith that PM Benjamin Netanyahu tacks back and forth out of opportunism and naked ambition. It argues that at the base of everything he does is a bedrock of principle consistin...

Allison, Don and Noah  discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.   Israel’s Supreme Court: Democracy’s BFF or Frenemy? We discuss a spate of Supreme Court decisions that leave right-wing politicians sputtering about judicial overreach, which in turn leaves left-wing politicians sputtering about right-wing cour...

Allison, Don and Noah  discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.   Killer and Hero We discuss the twist of logic and emotion that leads some Israelis to regard the combat medic who shoots a motionless injured Palestinian terrorist in the head, a hero.   $653,868.35 A new law that limits the salaries of bank pr...

Allison, Don and Noah  discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.   Quo Vadis, Bibi? We discuss the weird state of the Israeli government, which seems to be, at once, on the verge of collapse and surprisingly stable: What gives?   The Curious Case of the Rabbi Excommunicated for Exercising Free Speech The moral...

Allison, Noah and "Tel Aviv Review" host Gilad Halpern discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Expulsion! We discuss this wrenching finding of the Pew Research Center: 48 percent of Israeli Jews report that, under certain undefined circumstances, Palestinians ought to be expelled from Israel. The poll is pro...

Allison, Noah, and Times of Israel Ops & Blogs editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Death by Facebook? We discuss the emergent popular wisdom that Facebook bears some responsibility for the continuing epidemic of stabbings, by bringing persuasive, murderous messages to the mobile p...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Our grief and theirs Pundits, politicians, and plain folks are enraged at those who express sympathy for the parents of slain terrorists; on one side, they claim, are those who love life, and on the other those who glorify death. Why did empathy...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Girls with scissors We discuss the anger over IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s statement that "I would not want a soldier to unload an entire clip into a girl who is holding scissors." What the hell is wrong with that ? There’s something about...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Peace 2.0? We discuss opposition leader Isaac Herzog’s proposal to build a massive fence – “They over there and we over here” – and disengage unilaterally from Palestinians. We ask, “Is unilateralism the new black?” Litigating the Silence A secre...

Allison, Noah, and the Tel Aviv Review’s Gilad Halpern discuss three topics of incomparable importance (which this week all touch on issues of emotion) and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Dour, sour, and out of power: The Left's Grinch problem We discuss whether the Israeli left is hobbled by its own anhedonia and general 'Grinchiness.' Should we, in...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Best Western? We discuss the historic cabinet decision that designates part of the Western Wall as pluralist and egalitarian. Is it a great victory for the home team or sort of a sell-out? The hexed, vexed & perplexed textbook The hubbub over a...

Gilad Halpern (host of the Tel Aviv Review), pollster and political consultant Dahlia Scheindlin, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Lucre, filthy & clean We discuss the "NGO Transparency Bill" and whether money donated by foreign governments is any different from money donated by foreign indi...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Tales of moles and weasels We discuss some recent revelations of right wing moles infiltrating human rights organizations. What, if anything, should be done about it? Street justice? We discuss the rage over a statement by Sweden’s Foreign Minis...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Condemn, and this time with feeling! Some right-wing Israeli politicians are demanding that Palestinian Israeli leaders condemn Palestinian violence quickly, contritely, and convincingly. Do Palestinian Israelis have a special obligation to cond...

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. People of not-this-book! We discuss the brouhaha over the Israeli Ministry of Education’s decision to not include a book in the high school curriculum because of the book’s "racy" themes. Trigger warning: May contain optimism We found a rare, le...

Allison, Noah, and Oxford Prof. Sara Hirschhorn are live (on tape) from Limmud in Birmingham, England! They discuss three topics of incomparable importance, answering questions from the audience, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.  Are reports of Israel’s demise exaggerated? What explains a recent spate of articles by bummed out Zionists suggesting t...

Allison, Noah, and host of The Tel Aviv Review, Gilad Halpern, discuss three topics of incomparable importance, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Breaking the Left? We discuss the furor over Breaking the Silence , a watchdog NGO that publishes reports of IDF misconduct. Why do they inspire such rage in so many people? Dying to be in Israel We discus...