Episode 60: Does it matter what the world thinks? A conversation with Dr. Tal Becker

Ask Haviv Anything

Haviv Rettig Gur

History

4.9 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

These are strange times to be a Jew. Jews are in many ways safer and stronger than ever, but face a surge of antisemitism unlike anything seen in generations. This includes a hatred of Jewish collective identity on the progressive left as well as hatred of Jews as Jews in millions of online posts each day and in the mainstream platforming of neo-Nazis like Fuentes and Carroll by the Tucker Carlsons of the West.

These people aren't engaged in criticism of Israeli actions or of the Gaza war, but ride the wave of legitimate critique to advance something uglier, darker and older.

What does this return of the old hatred mean? Were some of the more pessimistic Zionist thinkers right in their pessimism about the world? Do we hunker down together as Israelis or Jews and turn our backs on the world and its bigotries?

We put the question to the ever wise Dr. Tal Becker, vice president of the Shalom Hartman Institute and a preeminent international law expert who served as legal advisor to the Israeli foreign ministry.

His response, as ever, is a poignant conversation on the meaning of these strange times in the larger arc of Jewish history and Zionism.

This episode is cosponsored by Sue Levin in honor of her father Frank Levin, who passed away on January 23, 2025 at the age of ninety-eight. "Frank, a World War II veteran, spent his entire life in Buffalo, New York, devoted to his family, his local community and his religion. He would be shocked and thrilled to know that his daughter Sue, a terrible Hebrew school student growing up, is now finally diving in and learning so much about history and current events from Haviv’s tremendous podcast."

This episode is also cosponsored by an anonymous sponsor in honor of the memory of William Isadore Eisberg, who along with the sponsor’s father enlisted in the US Navy after Pearl Harbor and was killed in action during WW2 in the battle of Tassafaronga in the waters off Guadalcanal in 1942. In addition to William Eisberg, this episode is dedicated to all the Jewish soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines past and present who serve in US Central command, and alongside Israel are protecting our most basic freedoms.

If you like what we do here, please join our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything. There you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join in our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.

Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everybody. Welcome to a new episode of Ask Habib Anything. I'm very excited to have with me, Dr. Tal Becker, who is the vice president of the Shalom Hartman Institute. He previously served as legal advisor of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is an Israeli negotiator and successive rounds of peace
0:21.3	negotiations, but a great many people know him out there in the Jewish world as just a very
0:25.4	wise thinker and analyst who has taught me a very great deal over the years. We're going to be diving
0:31.8	into what this moment means in a little bit of a larger picture, a kind of conversation you can
0:36.3	really have with Thailand digging in to this moment of anti-Semitism, a kind of conversation you can really have with Talon digging in
0:37.9	to this moment of anti-Semitism, of war, of Israel and the region, of Israel and the world,
0:42.8	what it all means in the larger context of Israeli history, Zionist history, Jewish history.
0:48.0	So I'm very excited to get into it.
0:50.0	But first, I want to just tell you one minute for our sponsors.
0:53.3	This episode is co-sponsored by Sue Levin in honor of her father, Frank Levin, who passed away on January 23, 2025 at the age of 98.
1:02.8	Frank, a World War II veteran, spent his entire life in Buffalo, New York, devoted to his family, his local community, and his religion.
1:10.0	He would be shocked and thrilled to know that his daughter, Sue, a terrible Hebrew school student growing up, Sue wrote this, okay?
1:19.3	I just, don't get me in trouble, Sue, is now finally diving in and learning so much about history and current events from Chaviv's tremendous podcast.
1:28.2	Sue, I cannot tell you how wonderful that is to read.
1:31.7	Truly thank you and thank you for the sponsorship.
1:34.2	The episode is also co-sponsored by an anonymous sponsor in honor of the memory of William Isidore Iceberg,
1:40.6	who along with the sponsor's father enlisted in the U.S. Navy after Pearl Harbor and was killed in action during World War II in the Battle of Tassafaranga, a major naval battle fought in 1942 in the waters off Guadalcanal near the Solomon Islands.
1:55.4	In addition to William Iceberg, this episode is dedicated to all the Jewish soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, past and present, who are serving in the U.S. Central Command, and alongside Israel, are protecting our most basic freedoms. Thank you so much to that anonymous sponsor. I love the sponsorships as much as the episodes, folks. You come here and you tell us your stories, and that is a big part of this community.
2:21.1	So thank you very much.
2:22.5	And speaking of community, I want to invite you to join our Patreon.
2:26.4	If you're interested in asking the questions that guide the topics we choose to talk about, that's where those questions come up.
2:32.6	That's where we discuss them.
	...

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