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
Danny Citrinowicz: Hezbollah’s political position in Lebanon is weakening
August 09, 2021 15:08 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBBen speaks this week with Maj. (res.) Danny Citrinowicz, one of Israel’s most notable experts on Iran, its proxies in the region and its nuclear ambitions. Citrinowicz refers to the barrage of 19 rockets fired by Hezbollah against Israel last Friday. He explains that Hezbollah’s main concern in general is the deterrence equation with Israel. Hezbollah's leadership now worries that Israel might exploit the growing insecurity in Lebanon to further attack the group, "especially after r...
Meretz legislator Gaby Lasky: Israel's ruling coalition divided ideologically, but united on bettering citizens’ lives
August 02, 2021 07:00 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBBen hosts this week legislator Gaby Lasky of the leftwing Meretz party. Lasky, a human rights activist who had served as head of anti-occupation NGO Peace Now, is now member of the new ruling coalition, headed by pro-settler Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Lasky says that five months ago no one could have imagined such a coalition could be formed or was even possible. "This government faces so many missions that are important for Israeli society. No one now is inciting citizens agai...
NSO officials comment on Pegasus spyware affair: We are self-regulated on right for privacy, transparency
July 26, 2021 15:17 - 41 minutes - 38 MBFollowing recent revelations that governments were spying on journalists, opposition politicians, activists and others using Pegasus spyware, Ben speaks this week with two representatives of NSO Group, the company that developed Pegasus. Brig. Gen. (res.) Ariella Ben Avraham currently serves as Global Communication Executive at NSO, while Shmuel Sunray serves as legal adviser to the group. Rejecting accusations against NSO, Ben Avraham states, “Because of NSO, people around the wo...
Major General Noam Tibon: IDF needs more boots on the ground
July 19, 2021 15:00 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MBThis week Ben speaks with retired Israeli Major General Noam Tibon, who is specialized in counter-terrorism and homeland security. The former Commander of the Northern Formation commented on statements made last week by outgoing IDF Deputy Chief Yoav Zamir about the IDF becoming too small. Tibon says that, globally, the Israeli army is strong enough to confront simultaneously Iran-backed Hezbollah both in Lebanon and Syria and Hamas in Gaza. Still, he estimates the army is not doing...
Ambassador Haim Koren: Bennett seeks to boost Israel’s ties with Jordan
July 12, 2021 15:21 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with former ambassador Dr. Haim Koren. The former envoy to Egypt and South Sudan says that all Israeli governments, including the new government under the leadership of Naftali Bennett, have been and are interested in preserving and developing strategic relations with Jordan. "I expect that doubling the quantity of water [annually sold by Israel to Jordan] would be the first step in strengthening these relations." Koren adds the Palestinian issue is impor...
Israel’s Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai calls for renewing dialogue with American Jews
July 05, 2021 16:40 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBBen Caspit speaks with Minister of Diaspora Affairs Dr. Nachman Shai, who came back this week from a mission to Miami. The minister had accompanied an Israeli rescue team sent there to assist recovery efforts at the site of the collapsed building. Referring to the deterioration in Israel’s relations with the American progressive Judaism community, Shai stresses the importance of renewing dialogue. He said this deterioration was certainly one of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya...
World Zionist Organization’s Yizhar Hess: Israel’s new government must mend rift with American Jews
June 21, 2021 15:06 - 36 minutes - 33.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Yizhar Hess, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization. Discussing the crisis created by the former government vis-à-vis the Jewish diaspora in general — and American Jews in particular — Hess says he is now pinning his hopes on the new government to change this reality. Hess says that despite the agreement among coalition partners not to change the status quo, some specific issues could be dealt with and resolved. First and foremost, the Weste...
Former PM Olmert calls Netanyahu’s behavior at swearing-in of new PM 'shameful’
June 14, 2021 15:11 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBBen Caspit hosts this week former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Speaking just minutes after the swearing-in ceremony of the new government, Olmert says former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his "thugs" in the Knesset behaved shamefully, yelling and shouting at Israel’s new PM Naftali Bennett as he delivered his inauguration speech. "You may disagree with this government — that’s legitimate. You can criticize this government — that’s legitimate. But to organize members of parlia...
Netanyahu fears Israel could manage without him, says strategic adviser Oren Magnezy
June 07, 2021 15:00 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBOn the backdrop of an especially turbulent week in Israeli politics, Ben Caspit speaks with Oren Magnezy, co-founder of a business accelerator that helps Israeli start-ups work with the US Department of Defense. The former strategic adviser to prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert says, “What Benjamin Netanyahu fears most is a moment when he is not prime minister and the sky doesn’t fall." Mangezy argues that Netanyahu had always chosen the easy way to rule, which is to polar...
Former MK Ruth Wasserman Lande: riots in mixed cities caused significant damage, trauma
May 31, 2021 16:57 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with former Blue and White Knesset member Ruth Wasserman Lande. Wasserman, a strategic expert, public speaker and Middle East affairs’ commentator, talks about recent clashes in Jewish-Arab mixed cities, arguing there was no symmetry between attacks on Jews and attacks on Arabs. She claims the number of attacks against Arab Israelis was significantly lower than those against Israeli Jews. Still, she called for considering putting in jail the heads of what...
Israeli social media expert Orit Perlov: Recent escalation caught Gazans by surprise
May 24, 2021 15:06 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBBen Caspit hosts this week on his podcast Orit Perlov, a leading social media analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies who specializes in social networks in the Arab world. Perlov said that Gazans were shocked over the outbreak of violence and barrages of rockets fired against Israel. "The writing was not on the wall. Nobody in Gaza was talking about this [on social networks]. Nobody in Gaza knew that something like that was going to erupt," she noted. See Privacy Po...
Jerusalem and West Bank unrest generated by Netanyahu’s policies, says Eran Etzion
May 10, 2021 16:25 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with strategist Eran Etzion, who previously served as head of planning policy at Israel’s foreign ministry and as deputy head of the National Security Council in the prime minister's office. Etzion argues that the main reason for the escalation we now see both in east Jerusalem and the West Bank is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies — policies that he says are totally guided by Netanyahu’s own, narrow political considerations. "We are indeed in ...
Professor Chuck Freilich explains the failures that led to stampede at Mount Meron
May 03, 2021 14:57 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week to professor Chuck Freilich, a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. This expert on Israel’s national security strategy and Israel’s decision-making processes details five failures which brought about the tragedy of Mount Meron, where 45 people were trampled to death last week. For Freilich, the first reason relates to Israel’s top political leadership — including the prime minister, the minister of the interior, the minister of religio...
Diplomatic correspondent Tal Schneider: Israel unlikely to see Capitol-style violence if anti-Netanyahu government forms
April 26, 2021 15:27 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBFor his podcast this week, Ben Caspit hosts Tal Schneider, political correspondent for The Times of Israel. Schneider, an expert on Israel-US relations, says violence similar to that seen at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 is unlikely to happen in Israel. "Storming the Knesset is not really an option," she says. Yet if an anti-Netanyahu government is formed, the Likud party is expected to send swarms of demonstrators to the streets. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cal...
Former IDF colonel Udi Evental warns: Confronting US on Iran has price tag
April 19, 2021 15:20 - 39 minutes - 36 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with senior researcher and policy-planning expert Udi Evental. The former IDF colonel warns that Israel’s current policies on Iran and confronting the Biden administration over a return to the nuclear deal were crafted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alone, without any consultation or a decision-making process. Evental argues that the lack of a decision-making process has become a pattern in Israeli governing. Israeli silence over the expected US-Emi...
Israeli Labor party head Merav Michaeli says election success only the beginning
April 12, 2021 15:57 - 42 minutes - 39 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Labor party chair Merav Michaeli, who succeeded in reviving a party on the brinks of demise. Despite gloom public opinion polls, under her leadership the Labor party garnered seven seats in the March 23 Knesset elections. Referring to the strong correlation between the party and the foundation of the country, Michaeli says that "in order for Israel to now re-build its Zionist vision, Labor must re-fulfil its leadership role." Michaeli laments Prime M...
Israeli analyst Shimrit Meir: Arab lawmaker Abbas prefers Netanyahu coalition
April 05, 2021 23:05 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Shimrit Meir, a senior Middle East analyst and journalist. The veteran commentator hails the exceptional campaign delivered by leader of the Arab Ra’am party Mansour Abbas. She says that Abbas’ preferred option is not a coalition with the center-left, but a coalition with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rightwing camp. Meir offers a variety of explanations as to why this is the case, such as his preference for a coalition with Jewish religi...
Tuesday’s election crucial moment for Israel’s democracy, says Haaretz's Chaim Levinson
March 22, 2021 14:40 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Haaretz political analyst Chaim Levinson. The veteran columnist says that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins in the upcoming elections, Israel could witness new legislation that would completely change the structure of its democracy. Explaining the electoral success of Israel’s premier, Levinson says Netanyahu "has the ability, the passion, the energy [and] the willingness to humiliate himself, in order to become prime minister." See Privacy ...
Democracy watchdog chief Yohanan Plesner: Don’t take Israel’s democracy for granted
March 15, 2021 18:37 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute. Plesner warns that the undermining of Israel’s democracy may seem unconceivable, but is indeed possible. For Plesner, some eastern European countries — where democracy is being eroded — are models that Israel should not learn from. "Under certain circumstances we could find ourselves in a similar situation. It’s a situation where populist leaders frame their rule as the rule of a strong man...
Ex-Mossad chief Efraim Halevy: We must try talking with Iran
March 08, 2021 16:46 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBAs tensions between Israel and Iran continue to rise, Ben Caspit speaks with former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy, who says Israel should revisit the issue of the Iran nuclear deal. "It would be a mistake to adopt the policy adopted by Israel when President [Donald] Trump came in, convincing him to leave the [deal]…Once you leave an agreement you no longer have a leverage on the other side," he said. Halevy believes that ultimately the best way to serve Israel’s interests should be ope...
Former diplomat Alon Pinkas: Bibi must tread carefully with Israeli-Saudi ties
March 01, 2021 15:40 - 33 minutes - 31 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Ambassador Alon Pinkas, Israel’s former consul general in New York and an expert on Israel-US relations. Pinkas discusses what the US declassified intelligence report on Jamal Khashoggi means for Israel-Saudi ties …and US-Israel relations. Faced with this new reality, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to tread carefully with every step he makes together with his Saudi allies, keeping the US informed constantly. See Privacy Policy at https...
Economist Yaron Zelekha warns: Israel has no economic policy
February 22, 2021 16:51 - 33 minutes - 31 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Yaron Zelekha, an economist who was formerly the finance ministry's accountant general and is the founder of the New Economy party. Zelekha warns that Israel has no economic policy, and that Israel has no state budget and has not launched any reforms in the past decade. More worrying, he says, is the fact that the citizens of Israel no longer trust their government. “Twenty three percent of the population lives under poverty line. Twenty percent of bu...
J Street's Nadav Tamir: Israel must reconnect with liberal American Jews
February 15, 2021 17:20 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with ambassador Nadav Tamir, the executive director of J Street Israel. Tamir argues that J Street is very much in sync with the new administration, so if Israel wants to have a good relation with it, then good relations with J Street must be part of that. He also says that "In order for Israel to be the homeland of the Jewish people, it must be able to connect with liberal and progressive Jews — a big majority of the most important Jewish diaspora in nor...
Reform Judaism leader Gilad Kariv: State must rethink relations with ultra-Orthodox
February 08, 2021 17:00 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBBen Caspit talks this week with the executive director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism Gilad Kariv. Running on the Israeli Labor Party's list for the March 23 elections, Kariv hopes to be the first non-Orthodox rabbi in the Knesset. Kariv criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for caving in to ultra-Orthodox pressure, and says he has neglected his duty to protect the Israeli center. He says that Israeli leaders must now "establish a new paradigm in st...
Israel’s former US ambassador Michael Oren calls for united front against new Iran deal
February 01, 2021 15:58 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBBen Caspit talks this week to former Israeli ambassador to Washington Michael Oren, a long-time expert on Israel-US relations. Oren speaks about the nomination of Robert Malley as the new American special envoy to Iran, noting that "his appointment to the very sensitive position is not likely to dispel Israeli concerns or ease Israeli anxieties." His advice to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is for the Israeli political and defense echelons to present a unified front against renew...
Former Israeli consul to NY Dani Dayan: Biden presidency ‘opportunity’ for Israel
January 25, 2021 16:20 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with former Israeli Consul General in New York Dani Dayan. The veteran leader of West Bank settlers describes former President Donald Trump as a "diplomatic miracle" for the state of Israel, saying that the diplomatic dividends in his term were beyond Israel’s wildest imagination. On the other hand, Ambassador Dayan admits that Trump was a "car wreck" for American democracy, and says President Joe Biden’s term presents an opportunity for Israel to expand ...
Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro: Biden to continue Abraham Accords’ momentum
January 18, 2021 14:22 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBBen Caspit talks this week to former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro about President-elect Joe Biden’s impending term, and how future ties between Jerusalem and Washington will look. Shapiro notes that "Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have known each other for 40 years, and [there’s] a real friendship between them." He says that these personal ties will help them navigate points of disagreement and find a common approach. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/...
Opposition lawmaker Eli Avidar: Netanyahu pushing Israel towards dictatorship
December 21, 2020 17:13 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBAhead of a crucial Knesset vote on Tuesday, Ben Caspit speaks with Knesset member Eli Avidar of the opposition Yisrael Beitenu party. Over the past few months, Avidar has become one of the leaders of the demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with demonstrators calling for the premier to step down. Avidar notes that no other democracy suffering from the coronavirus pandemic has reached the situation Israel is in, with Netanyahu taking over an unprecedented number ...
Israeli Meretz Party leader Nitzan Horowitz ready to work with right wing to topple Bibi
December 14, 2020 21:47 - 34 minutes - 32 MBWith Israel's Knesset advancing towards possible fourth elections, Ben Caspit talks this week with Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz. The leftwing politician does not rule out partnering with rightwing partners in order to achieve the supreme goal of toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We are in times of unprecedented economic, corona and political crisis. So yes, Meretz will be ready to sit with other parties, even from the right wing…This is a crucial objective. This governme...
Israeli-Arab media star says Israel’s democracy in danger
December 07, 2020 14:25 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Israeli-Arab journalist Lucy Aharish. The media celebrity warns that Israel’s democracy and freedom of speech are shaky and even endangered. She says that with only a small number of media outlets, social media has become more powerful and louder in Israel than anywhere else on the globe. On the other hand, she says, every Israeli journalist knows that over criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would cost him or her their jobs — and she has al...
Israeli minister lambasts ‘organized campaign’ on Arab social media to target peace accords
November 30, 2020 14:34 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Orit Farkash Hacohen, Israel’s minister of tourism and strategic affairs. The Blue and White minister says an organized campaign on Arabic social media is now targeting the UAE, Bahrain and all other countries who have chosen the route of normalization with Israel. “In the ministry, we exposed this campaign for what it really is — a campaign financed by Hezbollah, other terror organizations and Iran, with the goal of de-legitimizing moderate countrie...
Former IDF General expects Biden will stay close to Israel on Iran
November 24, 2020 02:21 - 32 minutes - 30 MBBen Caspit speaks this week with Brig. Gen. (ret) Michael Herzog, former chief of staff to Israel's defense minister, who discusses what Israel might expect from a Biden Administration, noting that "President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris have special feelings towards Israel’" which will keep the relationship with Israel strong, despite pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic party to condition security aid to Israel on Jerusalem’s policies. Se...
Netanyahu scrambles to reset ties with Democrats after best ever relations with Trump
November 16, 2020 18:54 - 29 minutes - 27 MBBen Caspit spoke with Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist Haim Saban, who is hailing Joe Biden’s victory. Saban thinks that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still afraid of the unpredictable nature of President Donald Trump, who "shoots from the hip," and could turn against Netanyahu in a heartbeat. On the Democrats, Saban says that both Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are committed to US-Israel special relationship. Still he notes that a small minority ...
Does Netanyahu face uphill battle to win over Democrats?
November 09, 2020 16:21 - 31 minutes - 29.2 MBOne day after former Vice President Joe Biden was declared winner of the US presidential election, Ben Caspit talks with Yaakov Katz, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post. Katz says that Netanyahu now faces an uphill battle vis-à-vis the Democrats, who have not forgotten his animosity towards the Barack Obama administration. Katz notes he was shocked to see that French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and even Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congrat...
Israelis have their fingers crossed for Trump
November 02, 2020 15:37 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBFour days before the presidential elections, Ben Caspit spoke with Dan Gillerman, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations. Gillerman thinks that whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden is elected, the US administration will strive for a deal with Iran. He also said that the trend of Arab countries normalizing ties with Israel will continue and increase after the Nov. 3 elections. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com...
Israel leading in cyber technology, but also more vulnerable to attacks
October 26, 2020 14:19 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBOn the backdrop of Israel’s tenth annual cyber-tech conference, Ben Caspit speaks with Professor General (ret.) Itzhak Ben- Israel. Ben-Israel – a pioneer figure in the cyber technology sphere – tells how the country took it first steps in transforming technological know-how into civil and security uses. Still, Ben-Israel warns, ‘’Unlike most of our enemies in the Middle East, we are very much controlled by computers. Power production, water supply, transportation. You name it. Almo...
Israeli official on delegation to Bahrain discusses Gulf diplomacy and next steps
October 19, 2020 14:08 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBBen Caspit talks this week with veteran Israeli diplomat, Foreign Ministry General Director Alon Ushpiz. Speaking about peace with the Gulf states, Ushpiz says, “The beauty of what we’ve been doing in the last two to three months, is that it continued what we’ve been doing for the last 20 years.’’ Relations with United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other potential Gulf countries will be based on mutual recognition of the talents and achievements reached by all partners in space, health...
Israeli general warns: If Hezbollah attacks, it will be a nasty war
October 12, 2020 14:15 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Gershon, who was one of the only IDF generals to express support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s settlement-annexation plan. The latter was subsequently abandoned for the sake of the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates. The decorated general insists that while peace with Gulf states has huge potential for geo-strategic change, implementing Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements could secure the ...
Despite Netanyahu’s claims, normalization with Arab world can’t be separated from Palestinian issue
October 05, 2020 15:59 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBBen Caspit talks with popular diplomatic analyst Barak Ravid on demonstrations in Israel, developments in Azerbaijan and the peace agreements signed with the Emirates and Bahrain. Ravid argues that contrary to affirmations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the peace agreements broke the old 'peace-for-land' paradigm, normalization with Arab world is directly connected to the Palestinian issue, and totally connected to the two-state solution. Ravid says that what really happ...
Failed government response to COVID-19 pushes Israel to second lockdown
September 14, 2020 15:29 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBOn this week’s episode, foreign news editor of Israel’s Channel 13 Nadav Eyal explains to Ben Caspit how the government failed in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and why it pushed Israel to become the first western state to impose a second nationwide lockdown. Israel opened up its economy much too early after the first lockdown, with large weddings and mass gathering, Eyal says. “Even in Sweden they do not allow wedding of more than 50 people.” See Privacy Policy at https://a...
Israel’s former UN envoy says UAE deal sends message to Palestinians, Iran
September 08, 2020 01:51 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBThis week Ben Caspit speaks with former Israeli envoy to the UN Ron Prosor. The veteran ambassador argues that the normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates transforms Israel from a 'secret mistress' into a 'legitimate wife'. For Prosor, the UAE is telling the Palestinians: We are engaging with Israel so that we can change its policy, instead of sitting on the balcony and shouting "it’s a lousy show." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...
Netanyahu convinced Israel cannot exist without him
August 24, 2020 19:38 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBBen Caspit, publisher of the bestselling book "The Netanyahu Years," talks to journalist Anshel Pfeffer, who in 2018 published "Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu." Pfeffer says that by reaching the agreement with the UAE, Netanyahu has reached the peak of his political career as a leader. In his opinion the premier has finished his role and should now let go. However, Pfeffer predicts that Netanyahu is incapable of stepping back. See Privacy Policy at https:...
Instead of peace with the Palestinians, Israel makes peace with the UAE
August 17, 2020 16:12 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBBen Caspit speaks with former National Security Expert Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eilad about the behind-the-scenes details of the historic agreement signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. For Eiland, by signing an agreement with Israel, the United Arab Emirates turned its back on the 2002 Arab Initiative, which conditions advancement of ties with Israel on advancing on the Palestinian file. The UAE might be expecting now to purchase sophisticated, Israeli-made weapons. Se...
Israel’s budget crisis far from over
August 10, 2020 14:51 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBBen Caspit talks this week with Science and Technology Minister Izhar Shay of the Blue and White party on the current budget crisis, which is shaking Israeli politics. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz traded shouts at the weekly corona cabinet meeting on Sunday. For Shay, the country’s nine million citizens are all against new elections, with one exception only: citizen Benjamin Netanyahu, who follows his personal interests. See Privacy Po...
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warns of potential for civil war
August 03, 2020 15:33 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBBen talks with former Finance Minister and head of the opposition Yesh Atid Party in the Knesset, Yair Lapid. Lapid explains why he blames Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for incitement against demonstrations and why Israel’s political salvation won’t be coming from Blue and White Leader Benny Gantz. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Big Brother and the future of Israel’s democracy
July 27, 2020 16:27 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MBThis week Ben talks with Professor Karine Nahon, an associate professor of information science at the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, the president of the Israel Internet Association and chairwoman of the National Committee of Ethics, Regulation and Artificial Intelligence. Prof. Nahon says that while Israeli democracy isn’t dead yet, there are reasons to worry about its stability and future. The combination of mounting political pressure on Israel's gatekeepers, the use of th...
Former head of military intelligence: Israel should be prepared for Iranian strike anytime, anywhere
July 20, 2020 18:03 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MBIn this week’s episode, Ben discusses the Israeli government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, the threat of Iranian retaliation on Israel, and potential for Tehran and Washington renegotiating the nuclear deal with Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, executive director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and a former chief of military intelligence. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/p...
Venture capitalist and former MK Erel Margalit: Israel at end of Netanyahu era
July 13, 2020 16:26 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MBIn this week’s episode of On Israel, Ben speaks with Erel Margalit, the founder and executive chairman of the Jerusalem-based venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners and a former lawmaker from the Labor Party from 2013-2017. Margalit offers a sharp and focused critique of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and says that while he believes Israel is at the end of the Netanyahu era, exactly when the current PM will leave and who comes next remain unknown. S...
Former top Israeli general Yair Golan rejects annexation, says "we need deal with Palestinians, not US”
July 06, 2020 16:36 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBThis week, Ben talks with former chief of staff of the IDF and Knesset Member Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Yair Golan. The left-wing lawmaker, a member of the Meretz Party, said that he is opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, expressing his fears that annexation will endanger the Zionist dream and turn Israel into an apartheid state. Golan argues that Israelis don’t need a deal with the US administration, rather they need a deal with the Palestini...
Israel’s Naftali Bennett urges full annexation, calls for turning Syria into ‘Iran’s Vietnam’
June 29, 2020 17:02 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBIn this week’s episode, former defense minister and head of the right-wing Yamina party Naftali Bennett calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare full annexation of parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, while expressing his confidence that Israel is winning the war against Iran in Syria. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.