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.

Inspired by an op-ed by David Brooks in the New York Times called “Why We Got It So Wrong,” the pair discuss how a similar misconception of the political landscape may afflict Israel's center-left as it did the Democratic party.

Rettig Gur discusses a newer face on the political landscape -- October 7-hero and Democrats head Yair Golan -- and talks about how his rise is in many ways a return to "classic" Labor. But, he adds, the classic Labor electorate is rapidly aging -- or fleeing that party.

We hear about a party so far-left as to be an anomaly -- Hadash -- and how extremely controversial comments from its "token" Jewish member MK Ofer Cassif have recently seen him suspended from the Knesset for six months.

We learn that Israel's many parties are a remnant of Israeli tribalism -- which may or may not be how Israelis are voting today.

So this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now.

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: Head of the Democrats Yair Golan at the Knesset in Jerusalem on November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)