Israel Policy Pod

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz break down why the swearing in of Israel's new government has been postponed, explain the expansion of the cabinet to include superfluous ministerial portfolios, and check in on the status of West Bank annexation plans.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Professor Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) joins host Evan Gottesman to break down the findings in the lDI's latest Israeli Voice Index: what it shows about Israeli public opinion on annexation, and why so many Israelis responded by saying they "don't know" about a question of existential national significance.Click here to read the findings of the May 2020 Israeli Voice Index.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Policy Director Michael Koplow and host Evan Gottesman break down a set of talking points on the Trump administration's Israeli-Palestinian proposal laid out in a recent op-ed by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.Read Michael Koplow's latest article: "Creating New Realities"Read Evan Gottesman's latest article: "Debunking David Friedman's Talking Points on the Trump Plan"Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Dr. Shira Efron, Israel Policy Forum's policy advisor and an expert on Israel-China ties, joins host Evan Gottesman to discuss recent developments in the Jerusalem-Beijing relationship and their impact on the U.S.-Israel alliance.Read Dr. Efron's work on Israel and China:The U.S.-Israel Relationship's China Problem (Israel Policy Forum)Chinese Investment in Israeli Technology and Infrastructure: Security Implications for Israel and the United States (RAND)The Evolving Israel-China Relationship (RAND)Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Policy Director Michael Koplow joins hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz to discuss the recent warning from European ambassadors against West Bank annexation, while in Israel, a supreme court ruling could send the country to fourth elections.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz speak with Dan Rothem, CEO of Commander's for Israel's Security, about how the movement of high-ranking ex-generals is confronting the imminent threat of West Bank annexation.For a follow-up to the discussion, join Israel Policy Forum for a video briefing with Israeli pollster Gilad Hirschberger on the Israeli public's reaction to annexation. The program will take place on Tuesday, May 5 at 2pm ET/11am PT. Click here to register.To read Commanders for Israel's Security's West Bank annexation study, click here.To read the recent op-ed by Commanders for Israel's Security members in Foreign Policy, click here.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Host Evan Gottesman speaks with Association for Civil Rights in Israel Executive Director Sharon Abraham-Weiss and Abir Joubran-Dakwar, Director for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories at ACRI about access to healthcare services in East Jerusalem, an area whose residents have long been locked in political and legal limbo.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss the Netanyahu-Gantz coalition agreement, which calls for annexation deliberations to begin July 1.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss the unthinkable: a fourth Israeli Knesset election in the span of just over a year (and in the middle of a pandemic, no less).Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz speak with former Member of Knesset and Green Movement leader Stav Shaffir about the collapse of the Labor Party and how the Israeli left can rebuild.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Host Evan Gottesman speaks with Ilan Goldenberg, Israel Policy Forum policy advisor and senior fellow and director at the Center for a New American Security Middle East Security Program, about the new world being shaped by coronavirus, and where Israelis and Palestinians fit into a conversation dominated by fear of pandemics and a global public health crisis.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss shake-ups and breakups on the Israeli center-left, as Kachol Lavan and Labor-Gesher-Meretz fragment over the question of an emergency unity government.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Dr. Shira Efron joins hosts Evan Gottesman and Margaux Nijkerk to discuss the spread of the novel coronavirus to the Gaza Strip and why the Palestinian coastal enclave could be especially hard hit by the public health crisis. Dr. Efron co-authored the RAND Corporation study "The Public Health Impacts of Gaza's Water Crisis." To read the study, click here.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Israel Policy Forum's new study, "In Search of a Viable Option," evaluates seven potential outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this episode, hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz explore two of those approaches, one Jewish state, and the Trump plan, with Dr. Shaul Arieli, a retired colonel in the IDF and an expert on the geography of the West Bank and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Map link: ipf.li/wbmapSupport the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

From tracking cell phones to curbing the activities of the Knesset, recent actions undertaken by Israel's caretaker government have critics alleging that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and allies like Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein are using the coronavirus as a pretext to consolidate authoritarian rule. Israeli officials counter that extreme circumstances are a legitimate basis for extreme measures. To better understand the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of these policies, host Evan Gottesman and former Israeli Deputy Attorney General Joshua Schoffman break down the question: is that legal?Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

After three Knesset elections, Israel's politicians are still locked in a stalemate. Add in coronavirus, and you have a recipe for real uncertainty. Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss the different directions Israel could take after President Reuven Rivlin gave Benny Gantz the mandate to form a government over the weekend, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calculates his next move.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

With the Coronavirus crisis dominating the headlines, Netanyahu calls for an emergency unity government under his leadership while his court date looms and Labor-Meretz-Gesher's Orly Levy emerges as a potential ally.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Israel Policy Forum's new study, "In Search of a Viable Option," evaluates seven potential outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this episode, hosts Evan Gottesman (who co-authored the study) and Margaux Nijkerk zoom in on one of those approaches, the Jordanian option, with Israel Fellow Nimrod Novik, who participated in secret talks between Israel and Jordan in the 1980s. What does the Jordanian option entail? How did a mainstream Israeli policy come to be seen as an existential threat to Jordan and its relationship with Israel? Who supports the Jordanian option today? Tune in to find out.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

If not two states, then what? Host Margaux Nijkerk breaks down this question with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel B. Shapiro, Dr. Shira Efron, and Evan Gottesman as they discuss a new report authored by Evan and Dr. Efron evaluating seven possible outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.We appreciate your listenership and support of Israel Policy Pod, and value your thoughts and feedback on our programs. Please take a few minutes to complete our brief survey so that we can continue to improve the quality of the commentary and analysis we produce.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.

Is a Netanyahu right-wing majority within reach? Does Benny Gantz have a realistic path to form a coalition? Less than a week before Israelis head to the polls for a third consecutive time, host Eli Kowaz is joined by Independent Journalist Neri Zilber to break down the state-of-play in Israeli politics. Neri is an adjunct fellow of The Washington Institute and policy director at BICOM.Support the showFollow us on Instagram and Twitter/X, and subscribe to our email list here.