Haviv Rettig Gur: Political footballs and politicians' fumbles
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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 The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.
On Sunday, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced a joint run for this year's Israeli elections.
Immediately, polling showed that the combined electoral slate, dubbed “Together,” would win a total of 26 seats if elections were held Monday, placing them ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud as the Knesset’s largest party, according to Channel 12.
Later in the week, Opposition Leader Lapid told Bennett that he was willing to take third place, rather than second, on their joint electoral slate if it would help secure a broader merger with Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot.
On this week's episode, in the spirit of the newly completed NFL draft, we play fantasy football and weigh the merits of the current parties and politicians vyying for the Knesset in this year's election.
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 Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: Haviv Rettig Gur (courtesy) / Green Bay Packers quarterback Taylor Elgersma (19) throws during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, August 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters Now. |
| 0:06.7 | I'm your host, Deputy Editor Amanda Borschel, Dan, in our Jerusalem studio, joined by our senior analyst, |
| 0:13.5 | Chaviv Rettigur. |
| 0:15.5 | Chaviv, such a pleasure to see you. |
| 0:17.4 | Great to be here, Amanda. |
| 0:18.5 | Nobody says your name quite like I do, and so that's why you don't come by very often. You just don't want to hear that grr anymore, as our listeners don't as well, but what can I do? Is that what it is? Okay. That's it. I was wondering, what the heck's wrong with that guy? What has he gotten lazy? I think quite the opposite, Mr. Chaviv, that you're just the globe trotter, and so we can't pin you down. But I already have a date scheduled for July, so don't slip through my fingers here. Yes, yes, I'll be here. So, Chaviv, I would like to play a game with you, and I don't know if you've been following the news, have you? Unfortunately, I have to, you know, not by choice. So you know that the NFL |
| 0:55.8 | draft just was completed this weekend. Ah, that news. Yes, I've been following moment to moment on the edge |
| 1:04.9 | of my seat. Exactly. And so football, right? Yeah, National Football League. Yeah, no, I'm joking. I know it's football. I was a Green Bay Packers fan for many years, but I have not been following the draft. Well, as one who was born in Wisconsin, I should be a fan like that, but as my 13-year-old would say, football is only for what we would call soccer. So let's just put that to this side. there was this draft and so i want to play a game |
| 1:29.9 | with you a little bit today and i want to build together a fantasy political team okay you've heard |
| 1:37.9 | about fantasy football yes okay good and so fantasy football I was just taught by our colleague Josh Davidowitz. |
| 1:47.1 | In fantasy football, you can take each of the players, not just those who are leaving |
| 1:51.8 | college and going into the NFL, but you can take each of the players and build your own |
| 1:56.7 | fantasy team. So this is kind of what I want to do with you today, Chaviv. And we're going to do this |
| 2:03.6 | after a break. When were the two of you the closest? If you ask her, she was very young. |
| 2:14.9 | Before she could talk. The slightly bossy, big sister there is my mother. |
| 2:21.3 | And sitting right beside her. |
| 2:23.5 | I'm Carol's sister, Mitch's aunt from New York. |
| 2:27.1 | Despite their occasional visits, phone calls, and birthday cards, the number of days we've |
| 2:31.8 | spent together can probably be counted on two hands. |
| 2:34.9 | Is it keeping the house clean? |
| 2:35.9 | I'm trying. |
| 2:36.9 | Until now. |
... |
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