‘Deradicalize Hamas, give them less dangerous weapons and turn them into police,' says French ambassador

France’s ambassador to Israel Frédéric Journès said on the Haaretz Podcast that any postwar Gaza plan must acknowledge that completely disarming and ridding the Strip of Hamas militia members is not an achievable goal.  “You're not going to eliminate all of those people, so you basically need to f…

Boycotts and 'red lines': A famed NY Jewish institution grapples with tough post-Oct. 7 questions

Before October 7th, Trump’s second term and the election of Zohran Mamdani rocked New York’s Jewish community, Manhattan’s famed 92nd Street Y – like most mainstream Jewish institutions – played it relatively safe when it came to programs about Israel. Susan Engel, executive producer of the 92nd S…

‘Schindler for the animals’: How a Jewish oligarch rescued 5,000 zoo animals from the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war

Over the past two years, many filmmakers have hesitated or refrained from bringing their films to Israeli film festivals as part of cultural boycott of Israel over the Gaza war. But for Joshua Zeman, the decision to bring his powerful new documentary “Checkpoint Zoo” to the Jerusalem Jewish Film F…

‘It’s horrific. We begged our government to prevent this’: Australian Jews are angry after the Bondi terror attack

Australian Jews are “shocked but not surprised” by the “horrific” mass shooting on Bondi Beach, which turned a Hanukkah celebration into a tragic massacre, Australian Jewish leader Lynda Ben-Menashe said on the Haaretz Podcast.  In the two years since the October 7 attack in Israel, the Australian…

U.S. Jews and Israel 'are no longer exceptional': Dahlia Lithwick and Joshua Leifer on being 'Trump's chess pieces'

When it comes to liberal American Jews and President Donald Trump, the “cognitive dissonance is real,” said award-winning journalist Dahlia Lithwick on the Haaretz Podcast.  While Lithwick “doesn’t dispute for a minute" the fact that the U.S. president and his envoys “did yeoman’s work” negotiatin…

Freed hostage Elizabeth Tsurkov: 'I survived months of torture in Iraq – I won't be silenced in Israel'

After Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was freed from captivity in Iraq in September following two and a half years of imprisonment and torture, she returned to a very different Israel, she said in a wide-ranging interview on the Haaretz Podcast.  Israelis “have changed in very fundament…

'Neutrality is not a sexy choice to make': Israel Red Cross chief regrets 'unsuccessful' attempts to assist hostages

In his first interview since his release, former hostage Alon Ohel called the International Committee of the Red Cross a “disgraceful organization.” His anger reflects a general bitterness among Israelis who believe ICRC failed to ensure the Israeli hostages’ received humanitarian treatment in capt…

Trump ‘emboldened’ Netanyahu to seek a pardon: Dahlia Scheindlin on Israel’s latest political bombshell

There was a clear “threat” delivered in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s formal letter to the President Isaac Herzog requesting a pardon in his corruption case, senior Haaretz columnist Dahlia Scheindlin said on the Haaretz Podcast.  Netanyahu’s government continues to conduct a “campai…

From Gaza to Epstein: Why Israel is losing MAGA and the evangelicals

The feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene may not be exclusively about Israel, “but Israel is one of the pillars of the narrative” that fueled Greene’s decision to resign earlier this week, Haaretz’s Washington correspondent Ben Samuels told the Haar…

‘It pays for Netanyahu to keep the Gaza and Lebanon fronts open’: Amos Harel on intensifying Israeli airstrikes during the cease-fires

Now that all of Israel’s living hostages are home and the vast majority of the bodies of deceased hostages have been returned, the “line of thinking” among many Israeli military and political leaders is “we have nothing to lose” and “we can continue our fight against Hamas,” says Haaretz senior sec…