Election Overdose Podcast

Final episode: Understanding Bibi's comeback

November 03, 2022 12:54 - 59 minutes - 54.7 MB

Have Israel's election results got you down? No one parses the voters' choice like Election Overdose hosts Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin. In the special one-hour season finale, they walk through all the nerdy data and critical commentary to make sense of what just happened. Learn why Netanyahu won big, but Likud fared poorly; where we think Naftali Bennett's voters went, and who really should be blamed for Meretz failing to enter the Knesset. Find out about turnout in Likud strongh...

Money time: Israel's election campaign starts now

October 20, 2022 11:02 - 49 minutes - 45.8 MB

With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the campaign has moved to high-tempo. Or has it? This week’s Election Overdose episode tries to work out why no issues have caught the public’s attention so far in the long campaign and asks whether the controversial judicial reform proposals of the far-right Religious Zionism party will gain traction. Also: Will the public opinion polls ever move before November 1? Subscribe to Election Overdose for the right dose of parties, people, pol...

Why religious voters could tip the scales in Israel's election

October 06, 2022 11:49 - 45 minutes - 41.5 MB

Will religious Jewish determine the results in Israel's election? With just 25 days to go and each electoral bloc desperate for the final push to reach a 61-seat majority, Israel's national religious community faces surprisingly tough choices. Which parties could be attractive to moderate religious right-wing voters in Israel? Why did the ultra-nationalist Jewish supremacist party call itself Religious Zionism, and why is it doing so well in all electoral surveys? To answer these questio...

Israel's Arab voters can decide its election. Do they want to?

September 22, 2022 11:57 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MB

All eyes are on Arab voters, as the Israeli election campaign begins in earnest. In the final hours before last week's deadline for finalizing party slates, the Joint List disintegrated, leaving three different parties to compete for the votes of Palestinian citizens of Israel. But the Joint List breakdown could also demoralize those voters so badly that their already-tepid participation rate falls even lower. Professor Amal Jamal of Tel Aviv University joins Election Overdose to discuss ...

A week of big decisions for Israeli politicians: LISTEN to Election Overdose

September 09, 2022 09:44 - 37 minutes - 34 MB

On September 15th, Israeli parties must submit their final lists of candidates and be inscribed in the book of parties for the upcoming election. One week from now, parties of the left and right that have been flirting with merging or splitting must make a final decision. Will the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism split into two factions and what would that mean for Benjamin Netanyahu's chances to return to the prime minister's office? Why do Arab voters want the three parties of the ...

Will the real Israeli right-wing please stand up

September 01, 2022 12:01 - 34 minutes - 32 MB

Our guest this week is Member of Knesset Yossi Shain, who joins the podcast to discuss how Yisrael Beitenu, his party, is preparing for the November 1 election. Shain argues that the secular right-wing party led by Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman represents 'the true right-wing' in Israel, unlike the religious and far-right alliance of parties that was merged last week under pressure from opposition leader Netanyahu. Shain also explains how Lieberman, who has a long history of harsh st...

In America, "it's the economy, stupid." And in Israel?

August 18, 2022 10:23 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MB

On this episode of Election Overdose, we ask if the famous rule of American elections, is finally making its way to Israel as well. Our guest Karnit Flug, former governor of the Bank of Israel, now at the Israel Democracy Institute and a professor at Hebrew University, breaks down myth and reality about the non-political economics of Israel. Why do Israelis constantly complain of economic woes, but hardly ever vote based on economic platforms? Earlier on the show, we discuss the latest se...

Will Israelis remember Gaza fighting by Election Day?

August 11, 2022 12:54 - 44 minutes - 41 MB

The week began with a ceasefire ending the three-day violent escalation between Israel and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. Now, with the border quiet again, we ask if Israelis have already forgotten the rockets fired at them and the perceived skillful handling of this crisis by prime minister Yair Lapid, and more importantly, will they remember Gaza at all on Election Day? Also this week, Labor party members voted to select their list of candidates for the next Knesset, and on Wednesday, Likud memb...

Can Israel's election polls be trusted

August 04, 2022 11:26 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MB

With just under three months to go before the election, Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast asks the million dollar question: can we, and should we, trust the polls? What are they worth at this point in time, and do they really serve the public, or are they misleading voters in the service of murky political interests? Also on this episode, we ask whether Likud’s old-new economic plan has a point, will the far-right Religious Zionism party get its act together, do either of the candidates ...

Israeli politicians' most common lie

July 28, 2022 11:23 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MB

Israeli politicians are making up for a slow summer news cycle by issuing promises almost daily about which parties they will or will not accept as future coalition partners. With several parties each rejecting several others, can Israel ever form a government? Or does the long list of coalition-building pledges simply reveal how many of these vows will be broken in the future? The politics of coalition-building seem to have usurped issues and ideology, and they may just be a proxy for the u...

Two tough women will determine the fate of the Israeli left

July 21, 2022 11:28 - 46 minutes - 42.7 MB

This week on Election Overdose, Haaretz's political podcast covering everything you need to know about the upcoming Israeli election: Merav Michaeli is re-elected Labor leader and Zehava Galon is back to rescue Meretz. But do the once-grand old parties of the Israeli left still have a role to play when they’re both shells of their former self and Yair Lapid has occupied the center-ground? Speaking of Lapid, the prime minister this week launched his own campaign promising an end to personal...

As Biden visits Israel, an election shuffle begins

July 14, 2022 10:52 - 40 minutes - 37.6 MB

This week on Election Overdose, Haaretz's political podcast covering everything you need to know about the upcoming Israeli election: Israel catches America fever as Joe Biden touches down for a presidential visit. Prime Minister Yair Lapid hopes to reap the electoral benefits and polls show he might already be gaining ground. Meanwhile, the Israeli party shuffle is underway as Benny Gantz and Gideon Sa'ar merge parties, hoping to do better together than apart. Will it work? MK Alon Tal ...

It's not all about Bibi: Election Overdose returns

July 07, 2022 11:56 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MB

It's election time in Israel again, and Haaretz's Election Overdose podcast is back for a second season! The Knesset has dissolved, the dates are set, a fifth Israeli election in three and a half years is getting Started. The parties will be rearranging themselves up to the moment they must declare their lists to the Central Election Committee. In the first formal week of the campaign, newly-anointed Prime Minister Yair Lapid burnishes his foreign policy credentials, and Benjamin Netanyahu...

Election results: It ain't over yet for Bibi, and we may meet here again

March 25, 2021 15:05 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MB

As the dust of Israel's 2021 election - at least the first one - settles, there are winners and losers, with results ranging from Shakespearean tragedy to miraculous political resurrection. But the one thing Israel doesn't yet have is a new government. With many kingmakers but still no king, Israel is now counting every last vote to find out what happens next. In the final episode of Election Overdose, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin end where they began, by asking "what just happened...

What the last-minute polls are saying, and can we trust them?

March 22, 2021 09:46 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MB

In a special extra episode of Haaretz's Election Overdose podcast, with just one day left to Election Day, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin, together with special guest, public opinion expert Tamar Hermann, try and work out what the latest polls are telling us and why they may be wrong. Also, what was Benjamin Netanyahu hoping to achieve by stalking Naftali Bennett, why have there been no election debates for twenty years and has Yair Lapid launched his anti-Kahanist, anti-Haredi campa...

Why is Netanyahu still standing after all this time?

March 18, 2021 15:08 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MB

In Episode 12 of Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast, with just five days to go before the big day, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin are joined by journalist and author Nadav Eyal to discuss whether Netanyahu’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic over the past year has helped or harmed his electoral prospects and why the center-left opposition failed so miserably in presenting any alternative Coronavirus policies? And of course polls galore, last-minute election day surprises and the intri...

West Bank and Gaza Palestinians won't be voting in Israel's March elections - would they if they could?

March 11, 2021 14:06 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MB

Why are Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem concerned about Israel's March elections, and do they see any difference between the Israeli political parties in ways that will affect their lives? In Election Overdose Episode 11, co-hosts Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin speak to special guest Dr. Khalil Shikaki, the leading Palestinian public opinion researcher, who explains why the Palestinian political elite differ from the public on whether Israel's election results ...

Who is the Mizrahi constituency in Israel, and why can't the left win its votes?

March 04, 2021 14:37 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MB

In Episode 10 of our Election Overdose podcast, with two and a half weeks left, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin ask these key questions: What can still change in the polling trends, will the High Court ruling on conversion have an effect on voting and why is no-one talking about the parties’ economic plans? With special guest Rachel Azaria we tackle one of the biggest historic rifts in Israeli life, the Ashkenazi-Mizrahi divide. We ask whether Mizrahi voters choose based on identity, ...

'We’ve shattered the paradigm of the Israeli right-wing. And the right-wing is going to win'

February 25, 2021 14:12 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MB

In Episode 9 of Election Overdose podcast, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin try to make sense of the new Israeli right-wing, with the help of 'New Hope' candidate Dani Dayan, former Israeli consul to New York and ex-Yesha Council head. Is it all about replacing Benjamin Netanyahu or is there some ideology there as well? We’ll also ask whether the 130 generals calling upon Benny Gantz to drop out of the race may have actually increased Gantz’s chances to stay until the end? What was Net...

Why Israeli-Russian politicians are flirting with the anti-vax vote

February 18, 2021 15:00 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MB

In Episode 8 of our Election Overdose podcast Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin together with this week’s guest Ksenia Svetlova ask who are the 'Russian' voters? Why do they vote mainly for the right-wing? Why are some of their representatives in the Knesset vaccination-skeptics and does that attract voters? Also, what was Benjamin Netanyahu trying to achieve in his rare prime-time TV interview this week? Why is everyone ganging up on Labor’s Arab-Israeli candidate? And will the bat...

The not-so-mysterious death of the Israeli left

February 11, 2021 15:47 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MB

Labor was on the brink of extinction only a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s Meretz’s turn to signal polling distress. Why are Israel’s old parties of the left, once in power, now on life-support? In episode 7 of Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast, co-hosts Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin, along with this week’s guest, recovering lefty Ben-Dror Yemini, diagnose the Israeli left’s chronic decline. Also, how deep is Netanyahu in league with the far-right and will his trial or Joe Bide...

Israeli election campaign finally begins: Who's up? Who's down? Who's in? Who's Out?

February 05, 2021 12:48 - 43 minutes - 39.6 MB

The deadline for filing candidates lists for Israel's March 23rd election has finally passed and Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast is here to go through all the last-minute details. Co-hosts Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin together with this week’s guest Amir Tibon chart this week’s developments: What’s the life span of a new center-left party in Israel? Why has Netanyahu embraced the Jewish supremacists? Which of the parties still in the running are in danger of extinction and whic...

Will Israeli ultra-Orthodox rioting move the needle on March 23rd election?

January 28, 2021 15:27 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB

In episode 5 of Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin, together with this week’s guest Pnina Pfeuffer, discuss the Haredi vote and whether the Coronavirus clashes have a wider effect on this election. Also, can newly elected Labor leader Merav Michaeli make something better out of the worst job in Israeli politics? How badly disjointed is the Joint List? We also indulge in some last-minute predictions on splits and mergers before the candidates in the el...

Everybody wants their vote. But what do Israeli-Arab voters want? LISTEN

January 21, 2021 14:43 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MB

In the fourth episode of Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin try to work out what’s happening in the constituency of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, together with this week’s guest, Mohammed Darawshe, leader of the new Ma’an Party. Also, can the never-Trumpers do for Gideon Sa’ar what they did for Joe Biden? Could Israel eventually see two Israeli parties led by women, and will either of them cross the electoral threshold? As Israel embarks on it...

Is it broken, or is it just Bibi? Tzipi Livni joins Overdose for a deep dive into Israeli democracy

January 14, 2021 16:52 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MB

New hopeless parties are appearing like mushrooms, old centrist parties are collapsing, and the chances are that the fourth election in a row won’t solve anything. On the third episode of Haaretz’s Election Overdose podcast, Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin ask whether the system is broken or will everything go back to normal once Netanyahu is gone. Special guest Tzipi Livni thinks the problem is that Israeli politicians are simply too afraid to talk about matters of substance anymore. ...

Will Bibi and the Arab voters get married, and where has ideology gone?

January 07, 2021 15:51 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MB

On this week’s episode of Haaretz’s Election Overdose Podcast, hosts Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin discuss with Dr Gayil Talshir of the Hebrew University the changing ideological currents in Israeli politics and whether being anti-Netanyahu is a strategy or a vision. Have questions for Anshel and Dahlia? Follow them on twitter and leave your comments there @AnshelPfeffer @dahliasc. Read more from Anshel and Dahlia on Haaretz.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three months to go: Haaretz launches weekly 'Election Overdose' podcast for political junkies. LISTEN

December 31, 2020 11:43 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

Haaretz’s Election Overdose Podcast Episode 1 It turns out you can never have too much of a good thing as Israel embarks on its fourth election in two years. This time you won’t have to face it alone, as Anshel Pfeffer and Dahlia Scheindlin, along with guests, guide you through Israel’s electoral thickets, the issues, the personalities, the polls and a history of elections in campaign jingles. This week, along with The New York Times’ David Halbfinger, they try to work out how Benjamin Neta...