Who by Fire - With Matti Friedman

Call Me Back - with Dan Senor

Ark Media

Society, October 7, Hamas, War, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Israel, News Commentary, News, Politics, Elections, Palestine, Dan Senor, Government

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matti Friedman is one of the most thoughtful writers when it comes to all matters related to Israel, on the broader Middle East, and also on trends in the world of journalism. He is a monthly writer for Tablet Magazine and a regular contributor to The Atlantic. His newest book is called “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” Before that he published "Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel," and before that "Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War," which was chosen as a New York Times’ Notable Book and as one of Amazon’s 10 best books of the year, and was selected as one of the year’s best by Foreign Affairs Magazine. Matti’s army service included tours in Lebanon. His work as a reporter has taken him from Israel to Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, DC. He is a former Associated Press correspondent and essayist for the New York Times opinion section. We cover a lot of topics in this podcast, including how to make sense of the recent Israel-Gaza flare-up, how to view it in the frame of the broader Middle East, the state of journalism and how it covers geopolitical events and wars, and we also dive into his newest book, “Who By Fire." Matti Friedman's published works that we discuss in this episode: "There Is No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'" -- The New York Times -- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/israeli-palestinian-conflict-matti-friedman.htm" "An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide "What The Media Gets Wrong About Israel" -- The Atlantic -- https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how-the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/ "The New Kibbutz" -- Tablet Magazine -- https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/kibbutz-matti-friedman "Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" -- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/who-by-fire-matti-friedman/1140395710?ean=9781954118072

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think that one thing that Leonard Cohen is doing here is escaping his own crisis through our crisis.
0:13.5	So he needs to go somewhere that is completely different
0:16.5	than what he's used to, and he needs to have some other kind of experience.
0:20.2	And he hopes to have it in this war.
0:21.7	So it's not all altruism and you know
0:24.6	Zionism and the love of the Jewish people even though I think that's a lot of what it is he
0:28.6	feels deeply connected to Jews and he needs to be here when the Jewish people is in a
0:32.2	moment of crisis.
0:33.0	And who by fire?
0:37.0	Today's guest is someone I've been wanting to interview on this podcast for some time, but wanted
0:44.4	to wait until I could do it in person, here in Israel.
0:48.3	So for this episode, I sit down with Matty Friedman, one of the most thoughtful writers I know when it comes to all matters related
0:55.0	to Israel and the broader Middle East, and also broader trends going on in the world of journalism.
1:02.1	Motti is a monthly writer for tablet magazine
1:05.0	and a regular contributor to the Atlantic magazine.
1:08.0	His newest book, which is just terrific, is called Who By Fire,
1:11.0	Leonard Cone in the Sinai. Now typically I would summarize the book here in this intro, but it's so unusual and rich that I'm not even going to bother. I won't people do it justice. So you just got to trust me and listen to my
1:23.5	conversation with Matty. The book he wrote before who by fire was called
1:28.1	Spies of no country secret lives at the birth of Israel, also superb, and before that pumpkin flowers, a soldier's story of a forgotten war,
1:38.0	which was chosen as a New York Times notable book,
1:41.0	and is one of Amazon's 10 best books of the year.
1:44.4	Matty's Army Service included a lot of time in Lebanon.
	...

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