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 and senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

This week, a sukka that was reportedly put up by the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace caused a social media storm because of the cynical use of Palestinian iconography on a hut that was plastered with symbols of the Sukkot holiday and phrases in English and Yiddish. Rettig Gur weighs in on why this misuse of a (not kosher) temporary hut so irks many Jews.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated during a meeting with President Isaac Herzog and in other forums in his whirlwind Israel trip this week that the death of Hamas head Yahya Sinwar offers a window of opportunity to shift the course of the war.

We discuss how the US's input wouldn't have allowed the IDF to enter Rafah, where Sinwar was eliminated, and the frustrations felt by Israelis for a perceived shackling of Israel's capabilities.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: A sukka reportedly put up by Jewish Voice for Peace on a US campus that caused a social media storm, October 2024. (Social media/X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)