On Israel with Ben Caspit, an Al-Monitor podcast
106 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago -Ben Caspit, an Israel correspondent for Al-Monitor, brings you weekly interviews with newsmakers and officials to discuss the latest news in Israel. Ben is no stranger to broadcast, hosting a daily radio show from Tel Aviv and frequently appearing on television and radio programs. Caspit is one of Israel’s most in-demand journalists and his columns – deeply sourced and vividly written -- are must reads for his take on the latest political developments. His most recent book is The Netanyahu Years, chronicling his reporting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) ever since he came to power in 1997.
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Episodes
Israel’s Innovation Minister Farkash-Hacohen: Israel-US technology cooperation needs to be improved
October 03, 2022 16:16 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Israel’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Orit Farkash-Hacohen. Israel and the United States started this week a strategic dialogue focused on technological cooperation. The minister explains that "climate change, the covid pandemic, the desertification phenomenon and so many other international and regional issues, are all in essence technological challenges. Even security has become a technological challenge." Farksha-Hacohen says tha...
Likud lawmaker Nir Barkat: Iran will continue race towards bomb, with or without deal
September 19, 2022 16:15 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Knesset member for the Likud party Nir Barkat. The legislator just came back from a tour in the United States, where he campaigned against the Iranian nuclear program. Barkat argues that the Iranians do not hide their desire to annihilate Israel, and thus the international community should not try to conclude any deal with them. "You don’t make a deal with someone who wants to take you out of business. They want to destroy Israel, so what kind of a d...
Political analyst Attila Somfalvi: Netanyahu threatens Israel’s democracy
September 12, 2022 16:05 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Attila Somfalvi, chief anchor at the Israeli Ynet news site and tv channel. Israel is preparing now for its fifth round of elections in less than four years. Somfalvi, a senior political analyst, says Israeli politics and society have deeply changed in the last few years. In the past, the political battle centered on the Palestinian issue, with the Peace Now camp on one side and those advocating against any territorial concessions on the other. This ...
Senior Haaretz editor Amir Tibon: Israel doesn’t have the power to kill Iran deal
September 05, 2022 17:01 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Amir Tibon, who serves as deputy editor for Haaretz’ English edition. Tibon, an expert on Israel-US relations, believes that a nuclear deal with Iran is bound to be eventually reached, as it is in the interest of all the world powers involved in the negotiations. Tibon recalls that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried in 2015 to stop the agreement but failed. "Prime Minister [Yair] Lapid, alternate Prime Minister [Naftali] Bennett and Defen...
Geologist Yossi Langotsky: No additional giant gas discoveries to be expected near Israel
August 22, 2022 16:45 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with veteran geologist Yossi Langostsky, considered the founding father of natural gas discoveries off the Israeli coast. Langotsky recounts that the first discovery took place in 1999, when he himself asked for an exploration-drilling permit for gas and oil, deep into Israel’s economic waters. Ten years later, actual drilling started, in an area Langotsky labeled the Tamar field, after his eldest granddaughter. The renowned geologist explains that the Ta...
Israeli media adviser Keren Hajioff: Gaza operation also a media battlefield for IDF
August 15, 2022 15:54 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Maj. Keren Hajioff, the international spokesperson of Prime Minister Yair Lapid. Haijaoff has been managing relations with foreign media during the recent IDF operation in Gaza. Alongside the exchange of fire on the ground, Israel and Islamic Jihad also fought each other in the media arena. Hajioff explains that winning media battles requires more than the truth. "The difficult part is to make people listen, to make sure that the story goes viral. Yo...
Former Israel ambassador to Russia Arkady Mil-Man: Root of Israel-Russia crisis predates Ukraine war
August 01, 2022 17:48 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MBBen Caspit speaks this week to Arkady Mil-man, the head of the Russia program at the Israel National Institute for Security Studies and previously Israel's ambassador to Russia and Azerbaijan. Over the past three weeks, tensions have increased between Moscow and Jerusalem. The reason for the diplomatic crisis is the decision by Russian authorities to stop the activities of the Jewish Agency, tasked with assisting Jews who want to emigrate to Israel. "The crisis over the Jewish Agenc...
Former IDF intelligence chief Tamir Hayman: Israel, Saudi Arabia satisfied with Biden's regional visit
July 25, 2022 16:24 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, the managing director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Hayman previously held a number of senior positions within the IDF, including chief of Military Intelligence. Referring to President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Israel, Hayman notes that the American leader clearly demonstrated his warm feelings and deep commitment to Israel, based on common values. "In our neighborhood, in the Middle East, it is ver...
J Street's Nadav Tamir: Biden’s engagement with Saudis good for Israel
July 18, 2022 15:53 - 37 minutes - 34 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Nadav Tamir, the executive director of J Street Israel. Commenting on US President Joe Biden's visit to the region last week, Tamir welcomed Washington's renewed interest in the Middle East. "I believe the current engagement of Biden with the Saudis is good for Israel. It is good not only from the perspective of those focused on normalization or a united front against Iran, but also on the Palestinian issue." The seasoned diplomat notes that the original i...
Ambassador Mark Regev: Biden’s visit to boost Lapid's image as statesman
July 11, 2022 16:05 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Ambassador Mark Regev. Having served under several governments, Regev says that US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel will politically serve both the American and the Israeli leaders. "Lapid obviously wants to be seen as a world statesman. Meeting French President Macron last week, and President Biden this week, could fix things visually for [Lapid], making him seen for the first time as an international statesman.” Biden’s 2010 visit to ...
Former Mossad intelligence chief Tomer: IDF, Mossad don’t see eye-to-eye on possible Iran deal
July 04, 2022 17:34 - 45 minutes - 41.5 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with the former head of the Israel Mossad's Intelligence division, Haim Tomer. Contrary to the IDF, the Mossad holds the view that Israel should not commit to stopping its activities against Iran. Tomer explains that according to the Mossad’s estimate, clandestine warfare against Iran could actually accelerate Tehran’s receptiveness to an agreement. "The pressure inflicted on Iran makes Iranian leadership more flexible for a possible agreement with the US...
Check Point’s Gil Messing recounts battling sophisticated Iranian hackers
June 20, 2022 16:30 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Gil Messing, the Chief of Staff and Head of Global Corporate Communications at the Israeli software technologies company Check Point. Messing recounts how his company recently stopped a sophisticated fishing campaign by Iranian hackers, which targeted senior Israeli political and security figures. “We constantly need to be under the assumption that such campaigns, such hacking operations, are taking place as we speak by the Iranians and by others,” he...
Dr. Shivi Greenfield: Orthodox Judaism shies away from the world, modernity
June 13, 2022 16:10 - 33 minutes - 30.4 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Dr. Shivi Greenfield, Deputy Director General at The Jewish Agency and author of the recently-published Hebrew-language book “Judaism and Liberalism.” Addressing the cleavage in Israel between secular and religious, Orthodox and Liberals, extremists and moderate, Greenfield argues that “the Orthodox assume as granted that the Judaism as they understand it today is the authentic one, from ever. On the other hand, Liberal Jews have very little knowledge...
Peace Now’s Hagit Ofran: Settlers holding Israel’s government hostage
May 30, 2022 16:26 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Hagit Ofran, co-director of the Settlement Watch Project at the anti-occupation NGO Peace Now. Police recently detained three Peace Now activists who allegedly intended to reach the West Bank outpost of Homesh with a bulldozer in order to demolish the illegal yeshiva operating there. Police also prevented dozens of the Peace Now activists and Meretz Knesset members from demonstrating there. Without the bulldozer campaign, the media and public opinion...
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Roll: government not about to fall
May 23, 2022 16:22 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBBen Caspit hosts this week on his podcast Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll. The coalition Roll is part of is fragile, with only 60 parliamentarians supporting it at the Knesset, compared with 60 parliamentarians for the opposition. Still, the deputy minister strongly believes in the precedent set by the Bennett-Lapid government — that of true partnership with an Arab party. For him, the success of this alliance is of historical proportions. "We are determined to make it wo...
Strategic adviser Yarden Vatikay: Israel now smarter at reacting to PR crises
May 16, 2022 16:09 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Yarden Vatikay, the former director of the national information directorate in the prime minister’s office. The senior strategic adviser speaks about the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh and the ensuing media storm Israel found itself in the midst of, noting that "being in the middle of a storm over international public opinion is not new for Israel. It is somewhat of a routine for the country, to move from a crisis to a crisis, ...
Israel's Holocaust memorial chairman Dani Dayan: Lavrov's Hitler remark 'classic antisemitism'
May 09, 2022 15:13 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov caused a diplomatic incident with Israel, Ukraine and the Jewish world last week when he claimed that Hitler had Jewish roots. For Dayan, the conspiracy theory advanced by Lavrov was antisemitic by any account. The Yad Vashem head expresses his satisfaction over the reported apology made by Russian President Vladimir Putin for Lavrov’s words. S...
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz: Keeping IRGC on terror list essential
May 01, 2022 21:43 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBBen Caspit speaks this week to Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz. He notes that his mother survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, while Gantz's father fought in Israel’s 1948 Independence War. Gantz, who himself has lost many friends and comrades in the battlefield, says, "We have the privilege, the duty and the honor to continue their legacy, to guarantee Israel’s security." Speaking about the biggest threat to Israel’s security and existence — the Iranian nuclear progra...
Israeli cyber master Nadav Zafrir: Big data, artificial intelligence keys to thwarting terror attacks
April 11, 2022 15:17 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Brig. Gen. (res) Nadav Zafrir, the former commander of the elite IDF 8200 intelligence unit and currently the founder and managing partner of the cyber company Team8. Israel has suffered three terror attacks within the span of only three weeks. Zafrir notes that while these attacks were obviously terrible and tragic, numerous other attacks have been foiled recently via very sophisticated intelligence that IDF unit 8200 members and others in Israel’s defens...
Counter-terrorism expert Boaz Ganor: Intelligence is key to thwarting terror attacks
April 04, 2022 17:52 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Boaz Ganor, the executive director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism and the Ronald S. Lauder Chair for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. Israel has suffered in the past ten days three terror attacks of different types and by different kinds of perpetrators, explains Ganor. He notes that the method to thwart any more attacks should be the same in principle — gathering as much intelligence as possible. H...
Drone expert Col. Ofer Haruvi: UAVs to revolutionize future battlefield
March 28, 2022 15:05 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Col. (res.) Ofer Haruvi. After 20 years as a pilot in Israel’s air force, Haruvi co-founded FlightOps, a startup which develops operation systems for drones. Haruvi argues that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are changing modern battlefields. "Each conflict, we see more and more UAVs. Their performance is getting better, they are more integrated into military operations, and therefore their impact on the battlefield is more significant and visible. No military op...
Ambassador Liel: Zelenskyy’s Knesset speech exposes gaps in perception over the conflict
March 21, 2022 16:10 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Dr. Alon Liel, former Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and former Israeli ambassador to Ankara. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just finished addressing the Israeli parliament via Zoom, calling on the Jewish state to help his country. Liel says he was surprised to see that Zelenskyy’s speech indicated that Ukraine and Israel have very different impressions over the role Jerusalem has been playing so far in this conflict. "Zelensk...
Former Knesset member Svetlova: Israel must be on right side of history on Ukraine
March 14, 2022 15:38 - 38 minutes - 35 MBBen Caspit hosts this week former Knesset member Ksenia Svetlova, who grew up in Russia and later made Israel her home. Noting that she still feels shock at the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Svetlova said she keeps herself busy by helping people to evacuate and by writing about what is happening. "I think this policy of Israel of sitting on both chairs, not taking sides, is not justified. It was not justified in 2014 [with the Russian annexation of Crimea], and it is not justified no...
High-tech investor Erel Margalit: Despite interests in Syria, Israel must stand with Ukraine, US
March 07, 2022 18:32 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Israel's most prominent high-tech entrepreneur, former Knesset member Erel Margalit. Reacting on the current Ukraine crisis, Margalit warns that the dictatorial camp is also carrying out cyber attacks, which is why Israel must be a resolute partner to other free democracies fighting in this field, "especially as Israel is the second-strongest country in the world in cyber security warfare." While Margalit understands the Israeli need for coordinating...
Consul General Yaki Dayan: Israel should take clear position on Ukraine
February 28, 2022 16:11 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Yaki Dayan, Israel’s former Consul General in Los Angeles and an expert on Israel-US relations. Dayan comments on reports about Prime Minister Naftali Bennett talking Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, offering for Israel to mediate the conflict. "Bennett truly believes he can negotiate, because he got the phone call from [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky. Zelensky wants to see the negotiations taking place outside of the z...
Mideast researcher Jonathan Halevi: Israeli-Islamist movement guided by pragmatism, religion
February 21, 2022 16:08 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi, who currently serves as senior Middle East researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Commenting on the unprecedented decision by the head of the Islamic Ra’am party Mansour Abbas last May to join the ruling coalition, Halevi says that from Abbas’ perspective, this decision legitimizes Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. "Analyzing Abbas’ statements over the last decade, one can see he is guided by...
Police use of Pegasus endangers Israel’s democracy, says communication expert Anat Ben David
February 14, 2022 16:14 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Anat Ben David, a specialist in communication and professor at the Open University of Israel. Talking about the internal-Israel Pegasus scandal, Ben David says that "cyber-attack tools like NSO’s Pegasus software are in fact unconventional weapons. Their use deeply undermines a large number of human rights, and no state authority should be allowed to use them against its citizens in democratic regimes, or in any regimes for that matter." For her, what is m...
Security expert Assaf Orion: Israel becoming important security asset for Gulf allies
February 07, 2022 16:13 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Brig. Gen. (res.) Assaf Orion. The senior research fellow at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) explains that the US is not responding strongly to attacks against the Emirates by Iran and its proxies. It does not make them pay. "And so, Iran and its proxies feel empowered and notch up their aggression. This situation brings the other countries in the region to seek other ways to mitigate the threat. The first way would be diploma...
Former Minister Ephraim Sneh warns Israeli, Palestinian extremists generating ethnic conflict
January 31, 2022 17:22 - 42 minutes - 39 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Gen. (ret.) Ephraim Sneh, a geopolitical expert and former minister. While the current government did change some of its approach to the Palestinians, it is not really presenting any new policies on the issue, argues Sneh. Only one third of the coalition is against the two-state solution. The rest are in favor of it. Still, the government had not prevented provocative settlement attempts in the West Bank. These include enlarging settlements around Je...
Attorney Amit Becher: Netanyahu must decide this week on plea bargain
January 24, 2022 18:43 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with veteran attorney Amit Becher about the possibility of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signing a plea bargain in order to escape prison time. The chairman of the Tel Aviv District of the Israeli Bar Association argues that even though Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit leaves office at the end of the month, Netanyahu still has enough time to reach such a deal. "If Netanyahu agrees to the conditions proposed, the technical/legal part could be...
Peace-maker Yossi Beilin: Israeli government clear on refusing to meet Palestinian side
January 10, 2022 15:00 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, who was one of the main architects of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians. Beilin is pessimistic about the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett launching any sort of talks with the Palestinians. “Since 2014, when the Secretary of State John Kerry-initiated talks stopped, we don’t have any peace process. I am sure that eventually we will have such process — I hope so. But I don’t know when talks will be...
Tel Aviv media chief says city is ‘the New York of Israel’
January 03, 2022 17:00 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Eytan Schwartz, who heads the Tel Aviv Municipality Media and Communications Department. Schwartz and his colleagues at the municipality dissociate themselves from the term “The State of Tel Aviv,” which implies that Tel Aviv residents allegedly do not carry the burden of Israeli society and are removed from the difficulties and challenges other Israelis cope with. Schwartz says that such a judgmental approach is unjustified. “In Tel Aviv, we feel pa...
General Kuperwasser: Israel must hope for the collapse of Vienna Iran talks
December 27, 2021 16:09 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, currently the director of the Project on Regional Middle East Developments at the Jerusalem Center. Kuperwasser, who previously headed the strategic affairs ministry and also the IDF research division, is considered a top expert on Iran’s nuclear program. Kuperwasser says that, from Israel’s point of view, none of the current options regarding the Iranian nuclear program are good. “The option that should have been...
Israeli journalist Barak Ravid tells how the Abraham Accords came about
December 20, 2021 17:10 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBBen Caspit hosts this week on his podcast Israeli diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid of Channel 13 News and Axios. Ravid just published his first book, which is about the Trump and Netanyahu era and the Abraham Accords. "For me, the Abraham Accords were really the biggest break-through in Middle East peace in 25 years, and I wanted to be the person to first write as detailed-as-possible account of how these accords came about," he says. Ravid thinks former President Donald Trump, ...
Former Israeli national security adviser: US is playing into Iran’s hands in Vienna
December 13, 2021 11:00 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBOn his podcast this week, Ben Caspit hosts Brig. Gen. (res) Prof. Jacob Nagel, the former Israeli acting National Security Advisor. The ups and downs in the talks conducted these days in Vienna, says Nagel, are not real drama. These are well-orchestrated stories that the Iranians are running, with all the climax points fixed well in advance. Nagel explains that the way things stand now, there is no returning to the 2015 nuclear agreement, adding, “Even the Biden administration’s spe...
Raz Zimmt: Trump-Netanyahu’s Iran strategy pushed Tehran in the wrong direction
December 06, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Dr. Raz Zimmt, an expert on Iran at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Zimmt says that the strategy espoused at the time by then-President Donald Trump and then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Iran was obviously flawed, as it did not reach its objectives. While it’s true that Iran’s economy was severely harmed, that was the means, not the goal. Iran’s nuclear policy did not change and the regime was not replaced. Or to be m...
Digital entrepreneur Yonatan Adiri: Israel could double GDP with startup advancement
November 29, 2021 16:50 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Yonatan Adiri, a leading Israeli digital healthcare entrepreneur. Adiri, a former adviser of late President Shimon Peres, explains that most of Israel’s startup leadership is avantgarde, pushing forward visions for the next internet wave. "Companies like Wix or Fiverr or Mymed, and so many other across biotech, across bioinformatics, across infrastructure, all these companies are building the tools for the future," he notes. Adiri adds that those who...
Israeli environment minister: Country at high risk over climate change
November 22, 2021 16:12 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg. The minister explains that while Israel is a small country in terms of population and its contribution to global pollution, it is also very fragile in terms of the effects of climate change such as bush fires and floods. The latter are expected to increase heavily in the upcoming years, which is why Israel must react rapidly. Zandberg says that Israel must now invest most of its resources not in looki...
International media expert Peter Lerner: Ignoring BDS is an ineffective strategy for Israel
November 15, 2021 16:11 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner, the former director of international media at the IDF's spokesperson’s office. Commenting on Israel’s repeated failures in the field of public diplomacy, Lerner says that “In Israel, we are very good at improvising, we are fantastic with innovation, but public accountability, responsibility and transparency are limited. We do have a hard case to make, but we can also do better on public diplomacy.” Lerner cites as a nega...
Washington Institute’s Makovsky: Biden & Bennett prefer to keep disagreements discrete
November 08, 2021 16:12 - 41 minutes - 38 MBBen Caspit hosts this week on his podcast David Makovsky, the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Commenting on recent signs of tensions between Washington and Jerusalem on the Palestinian issue and other topics, Makovsky says that “We have a situation where both President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett have an understanding, to try to maintain a public sense of harmony and avoid airing dirty laundry in public. An understandin...
Geneva Initiative Director Baltiansky: No real crisis in Biden-Bennett relations
November 01, 2021 07:00 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Geneva Initiative-Israel Director General Gadi Baltiansky. Commenting on the recent decision by Israeli authorities to advance construction of homes in West Bank settlements, Baltiansky says that "the Americans don’t want a confrontation with the Israeli government, and vice-versa. The US administration still senses relief over [former Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu being out of the game, and they know that the Bennet-Lapid government is the only...
Military correspondent Alon Ben David: Israel cannot destroy Iranian nuclear know-how
October 25, 2021 07:00 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Alon Ben David, the senior military analyst for Channel 13 news. Ben David says that "in 2012 Israel abandoned practicing and preparing for a viable military option [to attack Iran]. Netanyahu was responding to requests made by the American administration at the time. Now the Israeli army is back to doing what it should have done long ago, namely preparing an option to be presented for the Israeli decision-makers." Still, he emphasizes that Israel’s milita...
Geopolitical expert Eyal Zisser: A Lebanese civil war won’t really threaten Israel
October 18, 2021 15:12 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBBen Caspit talks this week to Dr. Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University. Zisser, an expert on Syria and Lebanon, reacts to recent incidents in Beirut, noting that while Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is strong, he also has his own constraints and sources of weakness — particularly since not all the Shiites in Lebanon are following him. Zisser addresses the possibility of a civil war breaking out again in Lebanon, estimating that like in Syria, this could present a tacti...
International security expert Eviatar Matania: 40% of global cyber investments reach Israel
October 11, 2021 16:50 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBBen Caspit hosts this week on his podcast Professor Eviatar Matania of Tel-Aviv University, who has played a key role in turning Israel into a world cyber power. The book he coauthored recently with Amir Rapaport, titled Cybermania, has created a stir in Israel and elsewhere. Matania explains that in this domain, Israel is a real player, not just per capita, but in absolute numbers. “Forty percent of global private investments in cyber reach Israel, and one third of the unicorn comp...
Analyst Shmuel Rosner: With Israel’s Bennett, American Jews hoping for a fresh start
October 04, 2021 15:28 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Shmuel Rosner, the political editor of the Jewish Journal and a long-time contributor to the New York Times. Rosner says that the recent meeting in New York of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with leaders of the American Jewish community was successful, first and foremost because they were happy to meet an Israeli prime minister who isn’t Benjamin Netanyahu. Referring to the strained relations that prevailed between Netanyahu and parts of the American...
Dana Weiss: Bennett’s government here to stay
September 20, 2021 15:13 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Channel 12’s diplomatic correspondent Dana Weiss. The senior analyst comments about Prime Minister Naftali Bennett appearing on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2021. What is amazing, she notes, is not that Bennett was included in the list, but rather that Arab politician Mansour Abbas would be the one to endorse him. "This is practically science fiction, to think that this could have happened. That this leader of an extreme...
Michael Oren: Israel must build case legitimizing possible action against Iran
September 13, 2021 15:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBBen Caspit hosts this week Israel’s former ambassador to the United States Michael Oren. Ambassador Oren explains that while former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach made the Iranian threat an Israeli issue, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is trying to internationalize it again. Still, Oren says that Israel must also remind the international community that it has the right and the historic duty to defend itself, and that it will take action should Iran try to break out tow...
Knesset member Yossi Shain: US needs to work with Israel on new regional alliances, Iran
September 06, 2021 07:00 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Professor Yossi Shain, an international expert on political science who recently left the academic world to join Israeli politics. The new member of the Knesset from Yisrael Beitenu says that after the United States' painful withdrawal from Afghanistan, it must now reevaluate and determine American interests in the region. It also must reposition itself as a superpower vis-à-vis China. "Now, the administration has the opportunity to sit with the Isra...
NEST CEO Moty Cristal hails Bennett's first meeting with Biden
August 30, 2021 15:10 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Moty Cristal, CEO and founder of NEST Consulting. Lt. Col. (res) Cristal, who served in the past as a negotiator and adviser in the prime minister’s office, comments on the Aug. 27 meeting between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. According to Cristal, "The chemistry between the two leaders was good because Bennett really came prepared and humble." He further explains that Bennett approached the meeting with a lot of r...
Environmentalist Maya Jacobs: Israel's new government not interested in climate change
August 16, 2021 07:00 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Maya Jacobs, who heads Israeli NGO Zalul Environmental Association. For Jacobs, even though the new cabinet calls itself the government of change, no real change has been seen on environmental issues and no real commitment was made to addressing the dangers of climate change. "Despite having new governments in the US and in Israel, our government here keeps proving that climate change does not really interest it," she says. She feels that the new gov...