Day 617 - Haviv Rettig Gur on the existential Israel-Iran War

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

Since 3 am on Friday morning, Israel has been at war with Iran. We begin the program with a pause to look at how each of us sees this Israeli moment.

Rettig Gur weighs in on how this war with Iran was inevitable ever since Hamas's murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and began the ongoing war in Gaza.

The IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir told Israel's political leaders in the past day that the campaign in Iran is essential to ensure "the existence of the Jewish people," according to Israel's Channel 12. "The operation in Iran is an operation to defend the existence of the Jewish people. History will not forgive us if we do not act now."

We discuss the tipping point of launching the operation and the international media's cynicism that it was begun in part as a ploy for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in power. A constant critic of Netanyahu, today, Rettig Gur applauds his courage in taking on Iran.

Finally, we hear Rettig Gur's thoughts on Netanyahu's hopes that the Iranian people will use this opportunity to shake off their shackles of oppression and overturn the regime.

And 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 and video edited by Thomas Girsch.

IMAGE: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, February 7, 2025, . (OFFICE OF THE IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER via AP)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters Now.
0:05.1	I'm your host deputy editor, Amanda Borschal Dan, here with our senior analyst, Kaviv Rectagur.
0:10.6	Hi, Kaviv. Thanks so much for joining me today.
0:13.0	Hi, Amanda. Good to be here.
0:14.6	It is so great to have you this Saturday night, June 14th, just after Shabbat.
0:20.2	We're all very domestic.
0:21.9	You may hear noises of our children, our washing machines, and all sorts of stuff
0:26.1	happening here in the background, because this is a real moment, a very Israeli moment here,
0:32.1	this Motsay Shabbat, in which Israel is now at war with Iran.
0:37.5	So, Kaviv, tell me in a few words.
0:40.0	What's the mood in your household, at least, or in your neck of the woods?
0:44.2	Kids are happy not to have school for the coming week.
0:47.6	All the major events have been canceled.
0:50.5	Friday was going to be my son's birthday party.
0:53.3	So that was canceled. We're going to take all his buddies to a big park where you do a lot of...
0:59.0	It's basically a jungle gym for older boys, but it's like these huge, you know, outdoor thing.
1:04.0	And that was canceled. There's no bomb shelter nearby.
1:08.0	And we got family. You know, we have family in Tel Aviv.
1:11.3	We have family called up to the northern front.
1:14.9	Just, I think, I don't know details.
1:18.0	Times of Israel, many has reported that the army has been mobilizing some units to the north,
1:22.2	just in case some, you know, leftover, Chisbalah or Syrian militias that are loyal to Iran, try and help Iran out in this war.
	...

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