Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler: How AI is poisoning the information well

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Israel Democracy Institute senior fellow Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler. Shwartz Altshuler, the head of the IDI's Democracy in the Digital Ag…

Matti Friedman: As Israel plays king of the castle in Lebanon, what's its endgame?

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with author and journalist Matti Friedman. On May 31, 2026, President Isaac Herzog attended the memorial ceremony for the fallen soldiers of the …

Dara Horn: The answer to the Jewish question

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan, speaking with author and scholar Dara Horn. Horn visited ToI's Jerusalem studio while on a break from this year’s International Writers Fes…

Yishai Ishi Ron: Ex-commando writes novels about trauma and recovery

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with author Yishay Ishi Ron. Ishi Ron's award-winning 2023 book, "Dog," is about an Israeli combat officer returning from Gaza, grappling with PTSD…

Michael Wegier: British Jews aren't living in fear, but they're certainly anxious

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring one key issue currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World. This week, founding editor David Horovitz speaks with CEO of the British Board of Deputies Michael Wegier. Wegier has been the CEO of the Board, the umbrella organization representi…

Cochav Elkayam-Levy: Hamas weaponized rape and humiliation on Oct. 7

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring one key issue currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World. This week, host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaks with legal expert Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy. Almost immediately following Hamas’s murderous onslaught on southern Israel, huma…

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: Israel has re-embraced Hamas rule in Gaza

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign for Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in t…

Haviv Rettig Gur: Political footballs and politicians' fumbles

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur. On Sunday, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced a joint ru…

Rachel Goldberg-Polin: Mother of murdered hostage Hersh 'parcels out her pain' in book

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with author Rachel Goldberg-Polin. Rachel Goldberg-Polin began writing her new book, "When We See You Again," as a way of finding some relief from …

Aron Heller: 1.5 million-strong Jewish band of brothers

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with journalist and debut author Aron Heller. Some 1.5 million Jewish soldiers fought for the Allies in World War II, and 250,000 o…