Unholy: Two Jews on the News

This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with acclaimed military and intelligence analyst Amos Harel to discuss his new book 6:29  -Anatomy of a Failure — a devastating, meticulously reported account of October 7th and the collapse that preceded it. Drawing on internal investigations, intelligence materials, battlefield testimony and conversations with senior officials, Harel reconstructs how Israel failed at every level: intelligence, operations  - and strategy.

They discuss the “Walls of Jericho” Hamas attack plan that Israeli intelligence possessed years in advance; the SIM card warnings and the signs missed in the final hours before the massacre; the operational chaos that left communities abandoned for hours; and why Harel believes October 7th could likely have been prevented.

The conversation also examines Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in the years leading up to the attack: the Qatar cash pipeline to Hamas, the belief that the Palestinian conflict could be indefinitely “managed,” the judicial overhaul crisis, and the refusal — still now — to establish a state commission of inquiry.

Plus: why Hezbollah’s hesitation on October 7th may have prevented an even greater catastrophe, whether Israel has actually learned the lessons of that day, and why Harel believes the battle over the public memory of October 7th may define Israel’s coming elections.

NOTE: Amos Harel's Book, 6:29 - Anatomy of a Failure, will be published in English Later this year.

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] 6:29 — anatomy of a failure

[06:55] The Intelligence Failures Leading to October 7th

[21:05] “Where Was the Army?” — The Operational Collapse

[32:10] Netanyahu, Qatar, and the Strategic Failure Before the War

[41:40] Hezbollah, Iran, and the Attack That Could Have Been Bigger

[45:25] Can Israel Prevent Another October 7th?

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A US-Iran deal appears to be taking shape — and Israel isn't in the room. As diplomatic back-channels buzz and American strikes on Iran continue under a ceasefire that apparently requires bombing to maintain, Netanyahu finds himself watching from the outside: no seat at the table, no answers on the nuclear file, no movement on proxies. Meanwhile, two hostage parents — whose sons were held in Gaza at the same time — are entering Israeli politics from opposite ends of the spectrum, a story that says more about where the country is heading than any poll. Plus: the Caroline Glick appointment, the Israel Solidarity Parade in New York, antisemitism in London's British Museum, and a Chutzpah award for a congressman whose concession speech managed to be both funny and deeply troubling.

This week's Mensch of the Week will leave you wanting to move to Tel Aviv.

Note: The name of the Republican congressman challenged by Dan Bilzerian in Florida is, in fact, Randy Fine.

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Franklin Foer is the man who declared that the golden age of American Jewry is over - or at least ending. Two years on — in the aftermath of October 7th and the Gaza war, collapsing bipartisan support for Israel, a wave of antisemitism from both left and right, and a military misadventure in Iran — he thinks he underestimated the problem.

This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with Foer, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the landmark piece that became required reading in Jewish communities across America. They discuss whether the anti-AIPAC pledge that has become a feature of Democratic primaries is classical antisemitism in new clothing; how a forgotten Jewish genius from Odessa might explain what American Jews are supposed to do now; and why Foer refuses — loudly — to bow to fatalism.

Also: Bob Dylan's existential crisis, Abraham Joshua Heschel's ode to the Sabbath, and how soccer helps explain at least one aspect of modern Jewish life.

Guest: Franklin Foer, staff writer, The Atlantic

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Intro — Franklin Foer joins Unholy, The golden age Jewish Americans, what it was, why it's ending

[04:46] The Impact of October 7th on American Jews

[11:25] The Connection Between Israel and American Jewish Identity

[22:32] Fatalism vs. persuasion — the Cold War argument 

[28:35] How do you persuade non-Jews that antisemitism is bad for them?

[32:56] Top 3 Jewish Americans: Pichelis, Dylan, Heschel

🎙️ Unholy — honest conversations with people who have something real to say

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This week Jonathan is in celebratory mode—and no, it's not only because it’s the festival of Shavuot, but because his beloved Arsenal finally won the Premier League, sparking a spontaneous tribal gathering of ‘marauding revellers’ in North London.

Meanwhile, Yonit and Jonathan unpack the volatile situation with Iran, and ask where President Trump’s vague threats of a renewed strike are heading.

Then, it's wall-to-wall condemnation for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose grotesque 56-second video taunting Gaza flotilla detainees was a nightmare for Israel’s defenders especially.

And Jonathan describes his visit to the Nova exhibition in London, which offers a powerful, heart-rending glimpse of the human faces of the October 7th massacre and the shocking refusal of much of the world to look directly at what happened on that day. Plus: a musical mensch for the ages.

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRENGUF2AAI

 

⏱ CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Shavuot: Celebrating the Unsung Holiday 

[09:20] Iran's Threats and Trump's Unpredictability

[17:00] Israeli Politics: Elections and Coalition Dynamics

[23:12] Ben-Gvir's Controversial Video: A PR Nightmare for Israel 

[29:15] The Political Landscape in Israel

[39:02] The Impact of the Nova Exhibition

[45:30] Chutzpah and Mench

 

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Two and a half years after October 7th, the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children has published its comprehensive report — 300 pages of meticulously corroborated evidence documenting what was done to women, men, children, and hostages on that day and in captivity since. This week, Yonit and Jonathan speak with Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, the founder and chair of the Commission, 2024 Israel Prize laureate, and expert in international law and human rights — the woman who spent more than two years immersed in 10,000 photographs and videos and 430 testimonies so the world could not look away.

They discuss what the evidence reveals about the scale and calculated nature of the atrocities, why so many feminist organisations around the world fell silent, the new legal concept of “kinocide” that the Commission had to coin because no existing term could capture what had happened to families — and what it means that the person who stared deepest into this abyss still believes in peace.

Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpNOrhqCJ6E

00:00 Introduction

00:43 The scale and scope of the evidence

02:55 The 13 documented patterns of abuse

06:18 What Hamas intended — terrorizing a nation for generations

09:15 How the evidence points to deliberate strategy, not random violence

10:50 Coining “kinocide” — when existing legal language wasn’t enough

14:21 Destroying family bonds: the most intimate atrocities

16:26 Gathering evidence when so much was destroyed and victims were silenced

19:39 Institutional denial — UN Women, Judith Butler, and feminist silence

22:30 Why colleagues looked away: antisemitism and dehumanization

24:38 The report as legal and historical document

27:46 The New York Times report and the question of diversion

31:07 The personal toll — two and a half years immersed in the evidence

34:15 Can this wound ever heal?

35:21 After everything: still a believer in peace

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