For Heaven's Sake

What is the hidden cost of Israeli resilience?  In this episode, Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi  move beyond strategic analysis to examine how the war is reshaping daily life in Israel, why the polls haven't budged despite a popular and militarily successful war, and what the Lebanon ground operation reveals about Israel's most stubborn patterns. They also confront the growing divide in A...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ If this war with Iran is self-evident to Israelis, why does it feel so different to North American Jews? Starting with that blunt question, in this special live episode of For H...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ If this war with Iran is self-evident to Israelis, why does it feel so different to North American Jews?  Starting with that blunt question, in this special live episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi  assess endgames, regime change, public legitimacy, and the possibility that military success...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ Why do 93% of Israelis support a war that much of the West condemns as a violation of international law? In this special episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi dissect ...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ Why do 93% of Israelis support a war that much of the West condemns as a violation of international law?  In this special episode, Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi  dissect the profound disconnect between Israeli moral instincts and Western liberal sensibilities. They analyze the "unconscious pacifism" of the West, t...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ Why does this experience of war with Iran feel entirely new and eerily familiar in the arc of Israeli life? In this emergency episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Y...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ Why does this experience of war with Iran feel entirely new and eerily familiar in the arc of Israeli life? In this emergency episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi reflect on the strange, exhausting routines of life spent rushing in and out of shelters and the realization that these rituals ha...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ How do you go about daily life — bar mitzvahs, trips, work — when every two hours the news cycle shifts, every Israeli with a cousin in the Air Force has a take, and even season...

Please take 5 minutes to fill out For Heaven's Sake’s LISTENER SURVEY ____ How do you go about daily life — bar mitzvahs, trips, work — when every two hours the news cycle shifts, every Israeli with a cousin in the Air Force has a take, and even seasoned analysts can't say what comes next?  In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi take us inside the strange collective experience of...

Can a country survive when tribal loyalty overwhelms collective responsibility? This week on For Heaven's Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine something unprecedented: while Israel defends its borders from external threats, it's losing ...

Can a country survive when tribal loyalty overwhelms collective responsibility?  This week on For Heaven's Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi examine something unprecedented: while Israel defends its borders from external threats, it's losing the ability to govern within them. From ultra-Orthodox attacks on IDF soldiers to epidemic crime within and against Arab communities to ministers c...

Antisemitism is everywhere in Jewish conversation. But what are we missing? Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi zoom out to examine the assault on the Jewish story, the cost-benefit calculus of Jews around their identity, and the abuse of antisemiti...

Antisemitism is everywhere in Jewish conversation. But what are we missing?  Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi  zoom out to examine the assault on the Jewish story, the cost-benefit calculus of Jews around their identity, and the abuse of antisemitism discourse within Israel. An exploration of what antisemitism is doing to us—beyond the fear.  02:00 – A New Era of Antisemitism? Old Threat or...

Israel is headed toward elections again, but can either side form a stable government? In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi take a step back to examine the current political climate: the politics of exclusion, the historic unificatio...

Israel is headed toward elections again, but can either side form a stable government?  In this episode,  Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi  take a step back to examine the current political climate: the politics of exclusion, the historic unification of Arab parties around domestic issues, and the stalemate that could leave Israel stuck in another cycle of deadlocked elections. They offer a ...

The hostage clock stopped at 843 days, 12 hours, and 6 minutes. But did the healing begin? Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi reflect on the return of the body of Ran Gvili—the last hostage from October 7th—and what this moment reveals about Israel...

The hostage clock stopped at 843 days, 12 hours, and 6 minutes. But did the healing begin? Donniel Hartman  and  Yossi Klein Halevi  reflect on the return of the body of Ran Gvili—the last hostage from October 7th—and what this moment reveals about Israel's wounds, its divisions, and its desperate need for goodness. A meditation on trauma, ritual, and the human need for moments of grace—even when...

What can Israel do when unpredictability becomes U.S. policy? In this episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi reckon with what it means for Israel to live in “Trump’s world”—where unpredictability isn’t just a style, it’s a...

What can Israel do when unpredictability becomes U.S. policy? In this episode of For Heaven’s Sake , Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi reckon with what it means for Israel to live in “Trump’s world”—where unpredictability isn’t just a style, it’s a strategy that can have life-and-death consequences. They explore how Israel’s political drift and Netanyahu’s lack of a “day after” plan have lef...

Iran's regime is under pressure—and so are the assumptions that have shaped Western policy for decades. In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi explore the "conceptia" behind the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Jewi...

Iran's regime is under pressure—and so are the assumptions that have shaped Western policy for decades.  In this episode,  Donniel Hartman  and  Yossi Klein Halevi  explore the "conceptia" behind the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Jewish theology of power, and the strange silence from progressives as Iran's uprising escalates. For Israelis, this isn't abstract: it's about onc...

Is former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a right-wing ideologue or Israel's great national healer? Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi grapple with this paradox as they examine the only candidate currently ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ...

Is former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a right-wing ideologue or Israel's great national healer?  Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi  grapple with this paradox as they examine the only candidate currently ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in national polling. They explore Bennett's extraordinary transformation from an ideological conservative to national unifier, discuss his brief...

Did we learn anything useful about the future of Israel from the Trump-Netanyahu Mar-a-Lago summit? In this episode, recorded just hours after the summit concluded, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi wrestle with the disconnect between Trump's opti...

Did we learn anything useful about the future of Israel from the Trump-Netanyahu Mar-a-Lago summit?   In this episode, recorded just hours after the summit concluded, Donniel Hartman  and Yossi Klein Halevi  wrestle with the disconnect between Trump's optimistic assurances—"everything's going to be fine"—and the hard realities facing Israel in 2026. They debate whether Iranian regime change is ach...