This is the Reason Interview. I'm Zach Weissmuller. Thanks for listening. This is the audio version of a video live stream that takes place every Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Go to reason.com to check that out in real time or to our YouTube channel, YouTube.com, forward slash reason TV.

When Russ Roberts, an economist and host of the wonderful podcast, Econ Talk, received a job

offer to become president of Jerusalem's Sholem University, it seemed a no-brainer, he writes

in his 2022 book, Wild Problems, a guide to the decisions that define us.

Giving up his ability to work from home in America on whatever interested him intellectually as a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.

Only a fool would take the job, he writes.

But that's only if one considers the opportunity using a purely utilitarian pro-cons checklist.

For Roberts, this was a wild problem, one that required him to consider, quote, who I am and who I want to be.

And with that in mind, he says, it was a no-brainer in the

other direction. He took the job and moved to Israel in 2021. Reasons Liz Wolf and I spoke with Roberts

about Hamas's October 7th terrorist attack on Israel and its aftermath.

We discussed how the attack has transformed Israeli culture and politics,

what it's like to live within a 90-second rocket missile trip from Gaza,

how a free society should respond to openly anti-Jewish rallies and actions such as tearing down missing hostage

posters and what the relationship between the United States and Israel has been and should be.

Here's the reason interview with Russ Roberts.

Russ Roberts, thank you for talking with us today.

Great to be with you.

What was it like for you being in Israel on October 7th?

I just want to say first, a lot of people tell me both here and back in America, boy, you

took that job, this isn't quite what you bargained for. And it's true. It's not quite what we

expected when we moved here two years, two plus years ago. But I will say that being here for

...