Day 665 - Daniel Taub: Still mourning, Israel is not ripe to talk peace - yet

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Ahead of the holiday of Tisha B'Av, we bring you this special What Matters Now podcast:

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 author Daniel Taub.

Taub is an Israeli diplomat, international lawyer and author born in Britain in 1962. He moved to Israel in 1989, later serving in the IDF as a combat medic and as a reserve officer in the international law division. He started his path in diplomacy in the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 1991 where he held many legal and diplomatic posts, including as Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2011 to 2015.

In his new book, "Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement," Taub synthesizes his years spent at negotiating tables as a diplomat with his lifelong learning of Talmud.

Drawing on techniques from both spheres, Taub argues that disagreement can be even more constructive than easy consensus -- and is necessary for treaties to last.

We begin the program speaking about the Tisha B'Av holiday marked this weekend and how Israeli society today -- specifically, the painful ongoing debate over universal draft -- is coming close to the senseless hatred that tradition ascribes as a reason for the fall of the Temples.

We then hear how one must pick a ripe time for negotiations, and how Taub's experiences on negotiation teams with Palestinians and Syrians make him think that Israelis, at the very least, are not ready to discuss a practical peace -- yet.

And so this week, we ask Daniel Taub, 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.

IMAGE: Author Daniel Taub (courtesy) / Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man pray as they gather for the mourning ritual of Tisha B'Av, in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters now, a weekly podcast delving into one issue affecting Israel and the Jewish world right now.
0:10.2	I'm your host deputy editor Amanda Borchelle Dan, today here with Daniel Taub, a person of many hats.
0:17.7	And so Daniel, thank you so much for coming here today to discuss your new book,
0:22.1	Beyond Dispute, Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement right now this week
0:29.6	just before Tishabab. Thank you so much.
0:32.3	Great to be here, Amanda. Thank you.
0:34.1	So we are going to discuss what is Tishabab. How can your book relate to this holiday, not a joyous holiday, shall we say,
0:41.5	and how the book relates to what's happening right now in the world?
0:45.7	All this and more when we're back.
1:12.7	Thank you. I'm Amanda Borchelle Dan here with Daniel Taub, who is an Israeli diplomat and international lawyer and author, a screenwriter, as I understand it, a teacher, many, many different hats. But we're here today to discuss beyond dispute, rediscovering the Jewish art of constructive disagreement. A new book that's out
1:19.6	hitting the shelves, has hit the shelves, actually. And we're here to discuss it before Tisha Baaab.
1:25.4	So, Daniel, just to begin with, you've done so many different things,
1:30.4	but I wanted to start with the aspect of Tishabab. So tell our listeners, what is Tishabab.
1:37.9	So Tishabab is, I think, quite clearly the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. It's a day that is
1:46.4	associated with many tragedies in Jewish history. It's primarily associated with the destruction
1:53.2	of the first and the second temple, but also over the years, many other tragedies have associated
1:58.7	themselves with that. And in a way, it's almost like a
2:03.7	crucible in which we contain a lot of the sadness of Jewish history so that perhaps it won't
2:11.5	spill over and it allows us to function on all the other days of the year. Crucible is such a good
2:17.0	word because it also falls at the heat of the summer.
2:20.3	And I know for many people who observe this holiday, it's the hardest fast of the year as well.
2:25.3	That's absolutely right.
	...

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