Unholy: Two Jews on the News

This week’s Unholy conversations is a rare interview with Nir Bar Dea, CEO of Bridgewater—the world's largest hedge fund. Bar Dea moves beyond market trends, framing our current moment as a volatile collision between a changing world order, and an unprecedented technological revolution fueled by AI. He offers a sobering perspective on why the comfort of the last several decades has perhaps left us less resilient than the generations before us, urging listeners to view history not as destiny, but as a lesson in the necessity of strength during turbulent times.

The conversation turns personal, too: Bar Dea talks about the toll of his own service in the Israeli Air Force, what it's like being Israeli in New York since October 7th, and why he  believes Israel's younger generation might be its greatest asset.

00:00 Intro

01:10 The Iran-US deal and why timing doesn't matter

06:25 Trump as outcome, not cause

09:30 Tough love: why we feel overwhelmed

10:59 Israel's resilient next generation

24:49 The AI infrastructure race — and Israel's gap

27:11 Being Israeli in New York since October 7th

32:54 The hidden cost of IDF service

35:02 Bridgewater's radical transparency culture

41:51 Rebuilding from Nir Oz — a story of hope

 

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Yonit is joined by Yaakov Katz, author, columnist and former editor of the Jerusalem Post, and together they try to make sense of a week that had it all: a 17-hour mini-war with Iran, Trump growing visibly impatient -- and Netanyahu caught between his base and the White House. Israeli politics see the Israeli PM focusing on the rising political threat of Gadi Eisenkot, who for the first time has pulled ahead of Netanyahu in head-to-head polling for Prime minister -- and how the Likud is trying to turn his English skills into a liability. Then it's across the Atlantic — to an oyster farmer in Maine with a Nazi tattoo, a Michigan primary, and a New Jersey candidate with troubling ties, all pointing to a shift in American politics that Israelis aren't paying nearly enough attention to. Plus: our Chutzpah and Mensch awards — one goes to a Jewish politician building a very disturbing database, and the other heads to the World Cup.

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Israeli children are still running to shelters. The hostages are home, but the wars keep coming. And somewhere underneath it all — the October 7th trauma, the Iran strikes, the hostages, the endless sirens — something is being passed down to the next generation, whether we mean to or not.

This week, Yonit sits down with Dr. Galit Atlas, psychoanalyst and author of Emotional Inheritance, to ask the questions most of us are afraid to answer: what does prolonged, unprocessed national trauma do to a people? How do Jewish rituals of memory — Passover, Holocaust Remembrance Day — help or harm? And is there actually hope on the other side of all this?

Dr. Atlas's new book, Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy, is out in September.

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Iran broke a two-month ceasefire on Sunday night, launching missiles at Israel after Netanyahu struck Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. By Monday, Trump declared an immediate stop — but the questions it raised won't close that easily.

In this emergency update, Yonit  and Jonathan  are joined by Amos Harel — Haaretz's military affairs analyst and author of 629: Anatomy of a Failure — to break down the calculus on every side. Did Netanyahu engineer the escalation ahead of October elections? Is Trump more irritated by Israel than by Iran? And after everything — is Iran actually stronger now than before the war started?

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Intro — The 24 hours that shook the region

[00:15] Yonit breaks down what happened: sirens, missiles, school closures

[03:45] Amos Harel joins: Is the escalation cycle behind us?

[05:17] Did Netanyahu plan the Beirut strike — knowing Iran would respond?

[08:06] The thought experiment: Would this happen with different leaders?

[11:27] Netanyahu's bind: angering his base or angering Trump

[13:20] Iran's nuclear endgame — a historian's warning

[17:30] Trump's frustration: Is Israel now the obstacle?

[21:57] The chief of staff trolled Netanyahu live

[25:12] Can Netanyahu actually delay the October elections?

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The fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government is overshadowed by an already notorious phone call where Donald Trump reportedly dropped multiple F-bombs on Benjamin Netanyahu for threatening Israeli strikes on Beirut. Yonit and Jonathan dissect the increasing strain in the US-Israel relationship - and a new equation set by Iran that will alarm all Israelis.

Meanwhile, two warning signs this week for the state of Israeli democracy, as Netanyahu appoints his personal lawyer as State Comptroller, with members of the Knesset pressured to reveal their secret ballot - and a mob vandalizes the home of a Supreme Court justice in a bid to intimidate the judiciary over demands to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from mandatory military service.

Also - an inquiry into antisemitism in UK’s cherished NHS, while Canada’s PM admits the country failed its Jews, prompting a new advisory council with a questionable membership. And finally (and thankfully), it’s a crowded field for our mensch of the week award.

 

00:00 Introduction and Overview of Current Events

02:47 The Impact of Smartphones on Society

05:38 Ceasefire Agreements and Regional Tensions

09:22 US-Israel Relations and Political Dynamics

13:13 Political Appointments and Democratic Erosion in Israel

18:50 Judicial Intimidation and the Rule of Law

23:02 Global Anti-Semitism and Responses

29:35 Celebrating Women in Film: Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson

35:17 A Culinary Milestone: Mutra's Michelin Star

 

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Yonit Levi
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