Haaretz Podcast

The main lesson of Israel’s election on Tuesday was that “the October 7 war did not change Israeli society,” said Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn, speaking on a special post-election edition of the Haaretz Podcast.
Despite the turbulence of the past four years, he said, “at the moment of truth, people clung to the tribal loyalties, to the feeling of identity, of belonging” rather than reacting critically to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s many missteps and failures, he explained.
Together with Haaretz senior analyst Esther Solomon and podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Benn analyzed the complicated coalition wrangling that will determine who steers Israel into the future, after a vote in which there was a clear majority of Israeli citizens voting against Netanyahu, but with an opposition divided between Jewish Zionist parties and Arab majority parties.
Solomon hailed the record turnout in Arab communities, noting that “the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have had an internal debate for many, many years about whether to participate in Israeli politics or not, made a historic decision this time around to participate, and in incredible numbers, and that has changed the complexion of the Knesset.”
Benn and Solomon weighed post-election scenarios, assuming the Jewish opposition parties would reject partnering with the Arab parties, which could lead to new elections or a unity government including both coalition and opposition Jewish parties.
Both are, in Benn’s words, “very bad options” for the bloc headed by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. Another election is unlikely to improve the opposition’s position and could well leave it worse off, while Netanyahu has a problematic track record when it comes to reaching out across the political divide.
“The idea of Netanyahu in a national unity government where there is some kind of equal division of power and labor is just absolutely ludicrous,” noted Solomon. The prime minister, she emphasized, “is a person who won't share, as they say in playgroup. He made agreements for rotating prime ministerships in the past, and then just threw it all into the trash can. This is not the kind of person that he is, and his agenda does not work cohabiting with anyone who would call themselves, you know, a liberal Democrat.” This leaves some “very bad options, because in both cases, Netanyahu is in power, regardless of how you call it.”
Read the latest developments and analysis on haaretz.com
Israeli Democracy Has Been Given a Chance. It May Not Get Another
Israel's Worst Election Outcome: No Clear Winner, No Certainty, No Chance for Change
Ignoring the Historic Arab Turnout Is a Self-Inflicted Wound for Israel's Liberal Bloc
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the hours count down before Israelis head to the polls, and Israeli high-ranking officers warn that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may want to strike Iran before Tuesday's election - the stakes are clearly high. But they are perceived as being even higher for one political camp, according to Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, speaking on the final Haaretz Election Podcast ahead of Tuesday’s election.
"When people ask, 'Do Israelis see this as life and death?' - the answer is yes - for opposition voters," said Scheindlin, a veteran political strategist, pollster and Haaretz columnist.
She described the mood at a Saturday night opposition election rally - hammering home the need to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government as "somewhat celebratory, but also a lot of anxiety. I heard a lot of people saying, 'I'm here, but I'm scared.'"
Together with fellow columnist Joshua Leifer - who admitted to being "very anxious" and "very nervous ahead of Election Day" - and podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Scheindlin assessed the late-breaking developments on the eve of the election which appears - according to the final election polls - doomed to result in a deadlock.
"We are in for a long time of coalition wrangling, unless we see some sort of late-stage surprise surge," Scheindlin said.
Read the latest developments on haaretz.com.
IDF Brass Fears Netanyahu May Launch Iran Offensive Before Tuesday's Election
As the Hard Right Fears Historic Defeat, Armed Settler Convoys in Tel Aviv Carry a Message
Here Are Some of the Horrors Brought Upon Us by Israel's 37th Government
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Haaretz podcast, Rahm Emanuel – former White House chief-of-staff, veteran Democratic party insider, and potential presidential hopeful – speaks with guest host Joshua Leifer about the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the potential consequences of the upcoming elections in Israel, and the politics of Jewish identity in the current moment.
In July, Emanuel delivered a speech at Tel Aviv University in which he strongly criticized Israel's government, called for sanctions against violent settlers and companies building settlements, and proposed ending U.S. military assistance to Israel, all as part of a larger vision encompassing Israel's regional normalization and the creation of a Palestinian state.
On the podcast this week, he elaborated on the rationale behind the speech and what he calls the 23-three-state solution, based on the 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative. "I think lining up the Arabs' desire for stability with Israel's desire for security, with the Palestinians' desire for sovereignty – you can actually make the politics and policy work together," he said.
But to get there, he stressed, will require a change in Israeli leadership. Netanyahu, Emanuel added, "undermined any ability to have a partner in the purpose of building up Hamas."
Still, in the wake of the wars in Gaza and Iran, Emanuel stressed, the U.S.–Israel relationship "is not going to be the same relationship it was in the past, it can't be."
"We are at a tipping point," he said. "There is no reset button here."
Read more:
Rahm Emanuel Wants to Save Israel. But Are Israelis Listening?
This Month, Israelis Will Vote on Palestine. There's Only One Choice on the Ballot
The Week the Democrats Defined the Israel-Palestine Debate for 2028
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, in a move that was both unprecedented and unexpected at this point in the campaign.
With only a week left before the Israeli election, Haaretz English editor Yishai Halper said on the Haaretz Podcast that he doesn’t believe Trump's "October surprise" is enough for people on the right or the left "to make a significant change in their vote.”
"It is almost taken for granted that Trump is behind Netanyahu, and he may even amp up his endorsements in the coming days," he said, "It's an October surprise in the sense that he finally did this. The impact, I think, will be anything but a surprise.”
Also on the podcast, Haaretz correspondents Judy Maltz and Nagham Zbeedat assess the state of the race, polling and the mood of the Israeli voting public.
Zbeedat, who covers Palestinian affairs, said that the Arab majority parties are seeing the effect of many Arab citizens who previously boycotted national elections, or stayed home out of indifference or hopelessness, who are voting this year. This is mainly "because of the gun violence in the Arab community, and also because of the recent attempts to disqualify Arab parties.”
Maltz, who recently visited Gadi Eisenkot's hometown of Eilat, discussed the racist attacks on him from Netanyahu supporters. She also described the jittery mood among anti-Netanyahu voters across the country, as Election Day approaches. “People are not sleeping at night. People are talking about, ‘What are we going to do if Netanyahu pulls it off again? Where are we going to go? Can we stay here?’ It is that bad.”
Read more:
Trump Just Handed Netanyahu His October Surprise. Will It Pay Off?
Pro-Netanyahu Pundit Calls Eisenkot 'Moroccan Monkey' Controlled by Ashkenazi Elite
In Eilat, Gadi Eisenkot Has the Hometown Advantage. Is It Enough to Shake Netanyahu?
Explained: How Can Israelis Still Vote for Netanyahu?
Abu Shehadeh's Withdrawal Leaves Palestinians With a Political Dilemma
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Iran war, like so many that came before it, centers on energy’s crucial role in geopolitics, according to Hebrew University historian Dr. Guy Laron, though international leaders often downplay or ignore it.
“Time and again, leaders speak in the language of values, security, justice, freedom, while chasing oil behind the scenes,” Laron said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast in a discussion of the increasingly complicated geopolitics of the ongoing regional conflict in the wake of February’s U.S.-Israel attack on Iran and its effect on energy markets.
Historically, he added, even wars that don’t begin with energy at the center of the conflict often evolve into ‘oil wars’ once countries fighting for domination and influence are impacted by the necessity of access to tremendous levels of fuel to power both land and naval military forces.
Speaking on the podcast, Laron, the author of the new book "Oil Wars: The Struggle for Control that has Shaped the Modern World," (Yale University Press) noted how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used “energy calculus” to sell President Donald Trump on the attack and discussed the missteps that have left the White House mired in the region after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz - something that the U.S. president “was told that this is exactly what would happen, and he still took the risk,” Laron said.
“Trump was dumb enough to think that what he did in Venezuela - in America’s backyard - he can do in the Middle East in the same way.”
Read more:
Houthis Claim Another Attack on Riyadh Airport, Threaten Saudi Oil Sites
As the Election Clock Ticks Down, Netanyahu Is Running Out of Wars to Win
Will Trump Defend Saudi Arabia From Houthi Attacks – and How Far Will He Go?
Trump's Iran War: Without Strategy, There Is No Path to Victory
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.