On this week’s podcast, Haaretz New York correspondent Judy Maltz talks to Haaretz Weekly host Allison Kaplan Sommer about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to the U.S. and the unprecedented demonstrations against him on American soil.

Thousands of Israeli expats calling the Prime Minister of the Jewish state a “fascist” and a “dictator” on the streets of New York is not a site American Jews are used to, and as Maltz notes, many of them still haven't understood “the gravity, the severity, and the existential crisis” that the judicial overhaul represents for Israelis.

“For American Jews, it is much more difficult to make sense of it all,” explains Maltz. “One woman I met at a meeting with Brothers and Sisters in Arms said: 'Israelis are always crying for help, there's terror attacks, or wars, missiles, or an election, there's always some crisis going on.' In a way, they are crying wolf… so Americans don't understand yet that this is something different, something we haven't seen before, an attack on the people from within. But it is starting to seep through."

The expats, says Maltz, “understood from day one what this judicial overhaul means... Israelis in the diaspora want to know that there is a place to go back to. I think, that since the Yom Kippur war, there has not been an event that has shaken them up as much as the judicial overhaul."

On this week’s podcast, Haaretz New York correspondent Judy Maltz talks to Haaretz Weekly host Allison Kaplan Sommer about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to the U.S. and the <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-09-20/ty-article/.premium/israelis-and-u-s-jews-take-part-in-anti-netanyahu-protests-as-pm-continues-un-visit/0000018a-b115-d632-a1da-bb9fe65b0000">unprecedented demonstrations</a> against him on American soil.
Thousands of Israeli expats calling the Prime Minister of the Jewish state a “fascist” and a “dictator” on the streets of New York is not a site American Jews are used to, and as Maltz notes, many of them still haven't understood “the gravity, the severity, and the existential crisis” that the judicial overhaul represents for Israelis.
“For American Jews, it is much more difficult to make sense of it all,” explains Maltz. “One woman I met at a meeting with <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-09-19/ty-article-magazine/.premium/israels-pro-democracy-protests-go-to-america-these-groups-are-fighting-netanyahus-coup/0000018a-a7f1-de77-a98f-efffefe40000">Brothers and Sisters in Arms</a> said: 'Israelis are always crying for help, there's terror attacks, or wars, missiles, or an election, there's always some crisis going on.' In a way, they are crying wolf… so Americans don't understand yet that this is something different, something we haven't seen before, an attack on the people from within. But it is starting to seep through."
The expats, says Maltz, “understood from day one what this judicial overhaul means... Israelis in the diaspora want to know that there is a place to go back to. I think, that since the Yom Kippur war, there has not been an event that has shaken them up as much as the judicial overhaul."

From Haaretz – Israel's oldest daily newspaper – a weekly podcast in English on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, hosted by Allison Kaplan Sommer.

From Haaretz – Israel's oldest daily newspaper – a weekly podcast in English on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, hosted by Allison Kaplan Sommer.

Your audio guide to Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Haaretz Podcast

From Haaretz – Israel's oldest daily newspaper – the Haaretz weekly podcast in English on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, hosted by Allison Kaplan Sommer. 

From Haaretz – Israel's oldest daily newspaper – the Haaretz weekly podcast in English on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, hosted by Allison Kaplan Sommer.

Advertisement