Ask Haviv Anything

The first Jews to become subjects of the Ottoman Empire lived in Greek-speaking western Anatolia during the Ottoman conquests of the region in the early 1300s. The next seven centuries of Turkish-Jewish interaction were mostly a story of Turkish tolerance rooted in the Jews’ usefulness to the empire. For example, when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sultan Bayezid II sent his navy to offer them safe transport into his empire. The Jews were considered a talented and industrious population, so much so that Bayezid is reputed to have quipped about the Spanish expulsion of them, “You call Ferdinand a wise king, he who impoverishes his country and enriches mine!” But this tolerance was always conditioned on the Jews’ subservient status as dhimmi, or protected class, under the Ottoman “millet” system. In the 19th century, a series of reforms meant to strengthen the flagging empire in the face of growing European power instituted legal equality for minorities, broke down the old social hierarchies — and as with the removal of ghetto restrictions on the Jews of Europe, made the Jews’ situation more precarious. In our first focused treatment of Sephardi Jewry, we dive into this history with Tel Aviv University historian Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, born in Istanbul and a scion of that centuries-old community. This episode is sponsored by Jeff and Masha Gershman who asked that we share a story of Jewish bravery on or since 10/7 so that we all might be reminded not just of our pain and anxiety but also of our individual and collective strengh. In consultation with the Gershmans we chose to share the story of Nitai Meisels, one of the friends Rachel and I lost in Gaza. Master Sergeant (Res.) Nitai Meisels, 30, was killed on December 24, 2023 by an anti-tank missile fired at his tank in the Gaza Strip during a mission to locate hostages. He volunteered to be in the formation’s front tank. Nitai is survived by his parents Ayala and Eitan, his sisters Adi and Oriya and brother Aviad and their spouses and children. This episode is publishing close to Nitai’s birthday on vav Tishrei on the Hebrew calendar, which falls this year on September 28. If Nitai had survived the fighting he would be turning 32 this year. Please join us on Patreon to support this project: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 7 September 2025

Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen joins the podcast to talk about the war with Iran (spoiler: It isn’t over), the ayatollahs' regime (which won’t be easily felled), and his assurance that there are still strategic surprises in Mossad’s quiver. We discuss the stubborn Israeli insistence to continue investing heavily in HUMINT, or human intelligence - spies - in an age when other major agencies have turned away from classic spycraft to cyber, signals intelligence and AI. And we discuss how Gaza could be rebuilt and rehabilitated, who’s responsible for the failures of October 7, why Yossi has called for new elections and Yossi’s own political aspirations. This episode was sponsored by Jason and Lauriel Klinghoffer in honor of the memory of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two Israeli embassy staffers who were murdered in Washington, DC on May 21, 2025. They were fatally shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum after attending an event for young diplomats. Yaron and Sarah were planning to get engaged. May their memory be a blessing. Please join us on Patreon to support this project: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 4 September 2025

During an August speaking tour in Norway, Haviv was interviewed at an event hosted by the remarkable Jewish organization Kos & Kaos - The Nordic Jewish Network. It's a unique group founded in 2016 that brings together Jewish voices and friends and allies of the Jewish community across Scandinavia for dialogue, cultural events and critical conversations. Norwegian writer and journalist Bjørn Gabrielsen interviewed Haviv in front of a packed house in Oslo on August 21 about the war in Gaza, the condition of diaspora Jews in the wake of October 7, the state of modern journalism, how the Middle East is seen in the West, and more. This episode was sponsored by the children of Naomi Pinchuk of Chicago in honor of her 78th birthday on August 30th. Happy birthday, Naomi! Till 120. Please join us on Patreon to support this project: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 31 August 2025

Twenty-three months after the October 7 attack, Hamas is massively degraded in Gaza. At a terrible cost to Gaza itself, and after losing hundreds of IDF soldiers on the battlefield, Israel has managed to shatter its battalions and kill nearly all its pre-war command hierarchy. Yet, as with all guerrilla groups, the bar for Hamas to remain a strategic actor is very low. It can still disrupt aid distribution at a large scale, still launch guerrilla attacks out of tunnels, still even launch the occasional rocket at Israeli towns. Hamas also continues to refuse any demand, including from the Arab League, to disarm and surrender its claim to power in the post-war Gaza Strip. On the cusp of what is shaping up as Israel's most significant military offensive to date against the terror group, the incursion into Gaza City - the largest pre-war city in the Strip - we turn to Prof. John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, to ask if this long-delayed denial of Hamas's last major bastion and sanctuary in Gaza might finally bring this painful war to an end. This episode was sponsored by Gideon and Lance Drucker and their firm Drucker Wealth, a financial planning and wealth management firm. They asked to use this dedication to introduce our audience to an organisation called The Legion, a non-profit to help Jewish Americans learn how to defend their families and their communities. You can learn more at their website: https://www.legionalpha.com/ The Druckers would also like to dedicate this episode to Gideon's former officer in the IDF, Maj. Ariel Ben Moshe, 27, a commander in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, who was killed in the battle against Hamas infiltrators at Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, 2023. Ariel’s brother Shavit, an IDF paratrooper, also fought in the south that day and heard of his brother’s death while engaged in intense fighting in Kibbutz Holit, where he was wounded. Ariel is survived by his mother Galit, younger brothers Shavit and Adar, and his wife Yuval. Please join us on Patreon to support this project: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 27 August 2025

Many of our Patreon subscribers have asked us to address the campaign against Israel that accuses it of genocide, colonialism and so on. This episode is the beginning of our deep dive into examining these questions. What do anti-Zionists argue? What do they want? When is it antisemitic and when legitimate? And how do we know? We posed these questions and more to anthropologist Adam Louis-Klein, a compelling commentator on academic and elite anti-Israel narratives and ideas. The resulting conversation is a fascinating and helpful dive into these ideas and the problems they pose for Jews in the modern age. This episode is sponsored by the Frozen Chosen, Haviv’s supportive community in Minnesota, to honor Noi Maudi, 29, a US-Israeli dual citizen from the southern Israeli town of Yated who taught in the community for 5 years and was a beloved teacher and friend. Noi was murdered on October 7 along with other members of his family, including his nephew and brother-in-law, at a music festival near Kibbutz Nirim. He was an impactful and beloved Hebrew teacher at the Talmud Torah of St Paul Minnesota from 2015 to 2021. Please join us on Patreon to support this project: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 22 August 2025

Long before the operational successes of the Mossad would become the stuff of legend in the espionage world, before the Twelve Day War, before Eli Cohen, before the Mossad itself had even come into being, a small ragtag band of courageous young Jews, without training or equipment, built the country’s first espionage arm to help the nascent Jewish state defend itself against its enemies. Journalist and author Matti Friedman returns to the podcast to talk about his book, Spies of No Country, about the Mizrahi Jewish young men who became the Jewish state’s first spies in the Arab world. Their heroic, tragic, sometimes funny stories help us fill in the longstanding lacunae in the larger story of Israel’s founding and of present-day Israeli society by paying closer attention to the enormous role and influence played by Arab-world Jews in forging today’s Israel. This episode was sponsored by the Lichterman Family of Jupiter, Florida, and dedicated to the memory and bravery of Aner Shapira, 22 from Jerusalem, who was slain in the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival on October 7. Aner attended the rave next to the Gaza border with a group of friends from Jerusalem, including his close childhood friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin. When the rocket fire began, they left by car and stopped on the side of the road to seek safety in a roadside bomb shelter next to Kibbutz Re’im. Aner and his friends were among the last people to squeeze inside the shelter, where they soon realized that terrorists were gathering outside to attack. Aner positioned himself at the entrance to the shelter, where he caught and threw back seven grenades before the eighth exploded and killed him. Of the 27 people inside the shelter, only seven emerged alive. Those who survived did so because of Aner’s bravery. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 15 August 2025

Professor Yannay Spitzer is an economic historian who has studied food and hunger. His efforts over the past month to get real reliable data on hunger out of Gaza and publicize it to Israelis, data that is neither delayed nor politicized like the many claims of rampant hunger made over the past 22 months that turned out to be either inaccurate or untrue, helped change the conversation in Israel and surge aid into the strip. Professor Spitzer joins us to explain what went wrong, why Israeli officials thought there was much more food available to Gazans than there really was, why the UN's own numbers seem to agree with them even now, why it's so hard to get food to ordinary Gazans - and what all this tells us about the state of Hamas and the future of Gaza. This episode was dedicated by an anonymous sponsor to the memory of the remarkable Herbert Pagani, artist, composer and author, and in particular to commemorate the essay he shared on French TV in the mid-1970s titled “Plea for my Land,” a powerful and timeless defense of Jews and Israel that should be heard by all. Pagani was a self-described leftist and humanist, and a passionate defender of Zionism. You can find “Plea for my land” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPpYQGv_jDI Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 8 August 2025

Aimen Dean was once a fervent young jihadi fighter, a passionate believer in radical Sunni Islam who had memorized the Quran by 12 and was fighting in the Bosnian jihad by 16. Haviv talked to Aimen about the religious and psychological journey of a young jihadi, his experiences in the wars in Bosnia and Chechnya, his recruitment by Bin Laden himself in the mountains of Afghanistan, and his sudden and powerful disillusionment, both political and religious, that led him to become an MI6 spy in Al Qaeda's ranks. They talked about present-day Islam, the "deradicalization" that Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa underwent in recent years, possible better futures for Gaza and whether Israeli-Palestinian peace was still possible. We also talked about why he thinks it's time to end Western experiments in reforming Middle Eastern governance and fall back on what he sees as the most natural and inclusive form of government for the region: The paternalistic monarchy. This episode was sponsored by David and Karen Divine, who asked to dedicate it to someone we lost on October 7. This episode, we remember Abed Rahman Ziyadne, 26 of Rahat, part of Israel's Bedouin Arab community, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists on the Zikim beach, north of Gaza, on October 7, 2023, along with his girlfriend, Yulia Chaban. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 6 August 2025

Our Patreon subscribers asked for a dvar Torah, a short homily, on the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av, which commemorates many of the great tragedies of Jewish history, including and especially the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem millennia ago. Tisha B'Av, Haviv argues, is a window into the Sages' conception of history, their view of the brokenness of the world reflected in the tragedies of history, and the power of the study of history to mend that brokenness. This episode is sponsored by Alex and Betty Verjovsky in honor of Sayeret Tzanchanim, the reconnaissance company of the Paratroopers Brigade, in memory if their fallen and wounded, and the soldiers who have been fighting since October 7 and have paid a heavy price for Israel's defense. The sponsors' close friend, the unit's top NCO, is finally retiring after 35 years of service. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 3 August 2025

There is now hunger in Gaza, widespread and dangerous. It's less dire than Western media claims, but could reach those proportions if it isn't reversed through an aid surge. How did we get to this point? What were Israeli officials thinking? And what does the current crisis tell us about the state of the war? This episode was sponsored by an anonymous sponsor who dedicated it to the bravery of our friend Shaked Haran, whose story is told in episode 5 of this podcast. On October 7, Shaked's father, uncle and aunt were killed in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be'eri, and seven members of her family, including her mother and two cousins aged 3 and 7 were taken hostage, launching a long and grueling fight for their liberation that Shaked helped lead for the family. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 31 July 2025

Welcome to a special episode of Ask Haviv Anything. This episode was a live conversation with author Yardena Schwartz taped last week at Martha's Vineyard and hosted by Chabad on the Vineyard. Please note: Patreon subscribers have asked us to address the dramatic pivot in the IDF's strategy in Gaza and the question of widespread hunger there. We're now working on such an episode to provide an analysis and overview of what's happening and what it means. As always, if you have suggestions for topics, please join our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything The conversation with Yardena covers her book Ghosts of a Holy War about the 1929 Hebron massacre. We discuss the events of that year, what it tells us about the next century of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and the startling parallels to October 7. This episode's sponsor asked to remain anonymous but dedicated the episode to his Slovak Jewish Holocaust-survivor grandparents who survived Auschwitz, Mauthausen and other camps and moved to Israel at the founding of the state. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 27 July 2025

Hussein Aboubakr Mansour was born and raised in Egypt before fleeing to the United States and dedicating his life to understanding how the Arab world came to be defined by state failure, religious extremism and all the rest of the region's many crises. His conclusions, laid out in a recent essay in the magazine Mosaic, are an extraordinarily innovative new path. It isn't a crisis of internal Islamic failure, as conservative thinkers argue, nor a crisis forged and sustained purely by Western imperialism, colonialism, capitalism and the other nefarious isms of the left-wing lexicon. It is something stranger and more interesting: An imbibing into Islamic form and language of European romantic ideas about nation, history and revolution that went so deep as to almost replace (Hussein speaks of a kind of forgetting) the traditional Islamic sense of what Islamic and Arab culture once were. In this longer-than-usual episode, we take a deep dive into Hussein's thesis, and then we try to apply it to the Jews. This episode was co-sponsored by Tovit and Mike on behalf of their son Rafi and his unit, Battalion 202 of the Paratroopers and all of our brave IDF soldiers protecting our country and fighting our enemies. “This episode was also co-sponsored by the family of Larry from Encino, California in in honor of his birthday. They asked to dedicate the episode to the IDF’s reservist pilots, who 10 -- even 20 -- years out of active service, with families and full-time jobs, continue to serve with incredible selflessness. Their achievements during the Iran war were nothing short of heroic. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 21 July 2025

The clashes in Sweida in southern Syria this week focused world attention on the plight of the Druze and questions about the nature of the new Syrian government. Videos and claims of atrocities drove hundreds of Golan Druze to rush into Syria to the rescue of their brethren. Israeli strikes in Damascus against Syrian forces raised the stakes and led to questions, including in Israel itself, about how Israel can protect the Druze while not sacrificing an expansion of the Abraham Accords. Rania Fadel Dean comes from a prominent Israeli Druze family. Her organization, Covenant, seeks to teach Americans about the Druze community. She joins us to share an Israeli Druze perspective, including what she's hearing from friends and family members in Sweida. This episode was sponsored by Bennett and Robin Greenspan of Houston, Texas, strong supporters of Israel who recognize Israel's centrality and vitality to the Jewish world. They asked to dedicate this episode to lone soldiers serving in the IDF. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 17 July 2025

As hostage talks seem stalled and the war grinds on into its 22nd month, doubts about Netanyahu’s strategy and intentions have become ubiquitous. Netanyahu has given many reasons to distrust him, including his simple refusal to explain the strategy for removing Hamas and Israel’s vision for a post-Hamas Gaza. But it isn’t enough to criticize Netanyahu’s strategy or even to argue he doesn’t have one. To offer an effective critique, critics need to suggest a better strategy for removing Hamas and securing a better future for Gaza. So far, criticism of Netanyahu has either avoided this step or suggested that Hamas cannot, in fact, be disentangled from Gaza, that Gaza’s future is inevitably a Hamas future. In this episode, we dive into these questions. We ask what it would mean for both Israelis and Palestinians if Hamas is, as the critics claim, unremovable. This episode was sponsored by Bennett and Robin Greenspan of Houston, Texas, strong supporters of Israel who recognize Israel’s centrality and vitality to the Jewish world. They asked us to say that they are proud to sponsor this episode of “Ask Haviv Anything” because this podcast makes understanding the Middle East a bit easier. They have dedicated this episode to the courageous and incredibly imaginative women and men of the Mossad, who make television look boring and simplistic in comparison to their daring exploits behind enemy lines. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Transcribed - Published: 14 July 2025

There are many ways to process and manage painful and difficult times. After the massacre of October 7 and the multi-front war that ensued, many Israelis turned to music, and often to the powerful ballads and melodies of singer-songwriter duo (and married couple) Aya Korem and Adam Ben Amitai. Aya and Adam join us in a special song-laden episode to take a look back at 21 months of pain, resilience, solidarity and, in the end, also hope. This episode was sponsored by Bennett and Robin Greenspan of Houston, Texas, who believe in Israel's centrality and importance for the Jewish world. They chose to dedicate this episode to Edut710en.org, a grassroots, volunteer-driven initiative established in the wake of October 7 to listen to, document, preserve, share and amplify the voices of survivors, first responders, and entire communities who experienced Hamas’s brutal attack firsthand. Over 1,600 testimonies have already been recorded to this date—many of them accessible at www.edut710.org. We hope you like our new musical intro, written just for us by the incomparable Adam Ben Amitai. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 7 July 2025

The Iranian regime has long claimed to be the bearers of Shia Islam's vision of messianic redemption. The Supreme Leader, who ruled under regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini's ideology of "wilayat al-faqih," or Guardianship of the Jurist, created a new model of a revolutionary conquering Shiism that was previously unknown in Shia Islam, at least in its Arab version. We are joined in this episode by Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a Shia Muslim writer and analyst in Washington DC and research fellow at FDD. Hussain grew up in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War and in Lebanon toward the end of the country's devastating civil war. Arab Shiism, Hussain argues, is not what the Iranian regime has tried to make of it, and once freed of the financial, political and often violent influence of Khomeinist "revolutionary" ideology, will revert to its traditionally peaceful ways. This episode was sponsored by Bennett and Robin Greenspan of Houston, Texas, strong supporters of Israel who recognize Israels' centrality and vitality to the Jewish world. They chose to dedicate this episode to the memory of Igal and Amit Wachs, 53 & 48, American-Israeli brothers who died on October 7, 2023, defending their home of Netiv Ha'asara in the Gaza envelope. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 4 July 2025

A bombshell Haaretz report last Friday concluded that IDF soldiers were responsible for a great many of the deaths of Gazan civilians outside aid distribution centers in Gaza. What should we make of the report? How reliable is it? And what does it tell us about the army's handling of Gaza and the progress of the war? This episode was sponsored by an anonymous donor in memory of the seven IDF soldiers who were killed on June 24, 2025, during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip. Their names were: Lt. Matan Shai Yashinovski, Staff Sgt. Ronel Ben-Moshe, Sgt. Ronen Shapiro, Sgt. Maayan Baruch Pearlstein, Staff Sgt. Niv Radia, Sgt. Shahar Manoav, and Staff Sgt. Alon Davidov. May their memory be a blessing. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 1 July 2025

(Update: audio issues corrected) Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize Israel. I was an ally and vital trading partner for decades -- until the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the Islamist AKP party, who began pursuing a "neo-Ottomanist" foreign policy of Turkish influence and expansionism in the region, and specifically identified Israel as a long-term ideological enemy. Turkey is now forging alliances on all Israel's borders and looking to found an Islamic defense alliance a la NATO. Earlier this year, Turkish lawmakers formally declared Israel the country's top national security threat. As Iran's influence retreats in the wake of the war, Erdogan has already energetically stepped into the breach, calling for Israel to be dismantled and trying to position himself as leader of the Muslim political world. Unlike Iran, he may well have the military and geopolitical clout in the region to get it done. Are the two countries on a trajectory for a clash in, say, 20 years' time? Or can these two Middle Eastern powers find a modus vivendi that prevents more conflict in the region? We posed this question to Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a scholar at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University who grew up in Turkey's Jewish community and is today one of Israel's top Turkey analysts. This episode was sponsored by an anonymous sponsor and dedicated to Aviv Atzili, 49, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 was while fighting alongside the kibbutz’s emergency response team. His wife, Liat, was kidnapped that day, but was released as part of the first truce in November 2023. Aviv's body was located and returned to Israel for burial in a joint IDF-Shin Bet operation in Gaza two days before the start of the Israel-Iran war together with the body of Yaakov Yagil, also from Nir Oz. We remember them. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 26 June 2025

There's now a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Who won the war? And what happens now? We offer some preliminary conclusions as the dust settles. This episode is sponsored by the Peters family, Tom, Shevi, Daniel, Ethan, Arielle, Yoni and David, in honor of BeLev Echad, an organization devoted to helping wounded Israeli veterans recover physically, medically and emotionally. To learn about how you too can help Israeli veterans recover, visit Belevechad.nyc. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 24 June 2025

The United States has struck the Iranian nuclear program, marking a watershed moment for the region. It will take days to determine the scale of the damage and many years to understand the implications of President Trump’s decision. But a few things are already clear. A new relationship was established between the US and its ally Israel that defined a new security architecture for the American-led alliance worldwide. Israel did the heavy lifting, suffered the blowback, and only because it was willing to fight successfully itself was then able to call on America’s unique capabilities. Taiwan, take note. Russia’s European neighbors, ditto. Be ready and able to fight, and America will help. But America will no longer fight for you as in the past. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Willy Field by his family. Willy Field was born Willy Hirschfeld in Bonn, Germany and is perhaps the only survivor of a Nazi death camp who managed to survive, escape and return to German soil in a British tank. His story of disaster, recovery and frontline heroism against Nazi Germany is a testament to over a million brave Jewish soldiers who fought the Nazis in the Allied armies. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 22 June 2025

Haredi Israelis make up some 13% of the population but have extremely low rates of workforce participation and military service. The growing welfare subsidies that sustain their communities have increasingly become a source of tensions and frustration for other Israelis, and the multi-front war that began on October 7 has now made their exemptions from military service a major political issue. Israel needs more workers, less welfare spending and many more soldiers to thrive in the future. Can the Haredi community change? What happens if it doesn't? We spoke with Shmuel Rosner, senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and veteran journalist and analyst. Rosner has studied the Haredi community and the policy debates on these questions. He's the editor and publisher of the political website The Madad, themadad.com, which we recommend for, among other things, its aggregation of polling and political writing from across the spectrum of Israeli media. This episode was sponsored by Julie and Frank Cohen because they believe this podcast is a way to teach our story, and because understanding our past and present is key to building a better future. Julie and Frank have asked to dedicate this episode to someone we lost on October 7. Today we remember Yochai Azulay, 28, from Holon, was murdered while trying to flee the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival on October 7. Born in Tel Aviv, Yohai grew up in a traditionally religious family and spent much of his time devoted to exploring his roots and his connection to Judaism. He served in the Kfir Brigade during his mandatory military service, and after his release, he toured around South America. After his return, Yohai soon met his girlfriend, Noa, and the pair were planning a future together. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected].

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2025

Twenty-four people have been killed in Israel since the outbreak of the direct Israel-Iran war. The Air Force is busy hunting launchers inside Iran to constrain Iran's ability to fire missiles at Israeli cities. Parts of Tehran are being evacuated as Israel continues to hunt down the IRGC leadership and demolish the country's nuclear program. But enormous questions remain unanswered. Can Israel actually destroy the nuclear program all by itself? If it can't, and America doesn't join the airstrikes, then what's the goal? Could Israel be hoping to achieve regime change? We raise these questions and others, and then pay a short visit to the 1979 revolution that felled the oppressive Shah in a vast uprising by nearly all parts of Iranian society - and was then taken over and subverted by Khomeini into the theocracy we're still dealing with today. What does that historical perspective tell us about the Iranian regime's staying power? This episode is sponsored by an anonymous donor who dedicated it to the incredible female lone soldiers of the IDF hailing from Silver Spring, Maryland. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected].

Transcribed - Published: 16 June 2025

The astonishing Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program was the inevitable result of October 7, a day that convinced Israelis they do not actually understand their Islamist foes, cannot deter these foes and therefore cannot allow them to develop the capacity to destroy the Jewish state, no matter the cost. Israel woke up on October 7. Its enemies had been telling it they plan to destroy it for generations; on October 8 it finally started to listen. And the Middle East will never be the same. This episode was sponsored by Brenda Yablon in honor of the brave men and women of the IDF, without whose courage and selflessness Israel would not exist. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected].

Transcribed - Published: 13 June 2025

The Trump administration has been trying to hammer out a deal to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. In the last 24 hours, the rhetoric has ratcheted up on both sides, as both Iranian and US officials have warned about impending military action. A week ago, we recorded a conversation with Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on the Iranian regime's strategy, its nuclear aspirations and what it would take to disrupt those aspirations diplomatically or, failing that, militarily. Can Iran's nuclear program be stopped? Can the regime be reined in or even toppled? Do the interests of Israel and America overlap, or are there meaningful gaps that could force a divergence in policy? How do we support the Iranian people, who have repeatedly rebelled against the tyranny of the ayatollahs in Tehran? Mark joined Rachel and Haviv to tackle these questions in a conversation that has only grown more relevant as the days have passed. This episode was sponsored by Julie and Frank Cohen because they believe this podcast is a way to teach our story, and because understanding our past and present is key to building a better future. Julie and Frank have asked to dedicate this episode to someone we lost on October 7. Today we remember 1st Sgt. Eliran Abergil, who was 29 when he died fighting the Hamas terrorists who invaded Kibbutz Be'eri. On the morning of the attack, Eliran was in Tiberias in Israel's north celebrating the Simchat Torah holiday with family. He rushed down south to join his comrades, met them on the front lines, and volunteered to be one of the first officers to enter Kibbutz Be'eri. He was killed in a firefight with Hamas gunmen. Eliran's wife discovered she was pregnant with their first child shortly after his death. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 12 June 2025

Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon after an 18-year guerrilla war that presaged everything we now think of as 21st-century warfare.I spoke to Matti Friedman, veteran of Lebanon and bestselling author of a memoir from that long war, Pumpkinflowers, about the history, the lessons drawn from it and how we're seeing the continuing effects of that conflict in Gaza today. This episode is sponsored by Julie and Frank Cohen, who believe that this podcast is a way to teach our story, because understanding our past and present is key to building a better future.And as has become a podcast tradition, it is dedicated to Carmel Gat, an occupational therapist who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Beeri while visiting family. During the first weeks of captivity, she was held with orphaned children who had also been kidnapped. The children reported that she cared for them and taught them yoga. Carmel was murdered by her Hamas captors in August 2024 along with five other hostages.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 9 June 2025

Hamas's rule in Gaza is a theocratic dictatorship. But its roots lie in the 19th-century movement for Islamic reform that believes modernization, science and even political liberalization. How did the great liberalizing theologians of the late 19th century, from Al-Afghani to Abduh to Rida, become Hamas?Join us for a story that raises the startling possibility that the deradicalization of Gaza could come from within.This episode is sponsored by “the Frozen Chosen, Haviv's supportive community from Minnesota."And as has become a podcast tradition, this episode is dedicated to Netta Epstein, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists in his home in Kibbutz K'far Aza on the morning of Oct. 7th. In his last selfless act, he heroically jumped on a grenade, saving the life of his fiancé Irene. Netta was well known in many communities, but we focus on him today because Netta spent four summers at Herzl Camp in Wisconsin.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 30 May 2025

Jerusalem Day falls on May 25th this year. It is the day of Jerusalem's unification in the 1967 Six Day War, and so a symbol of both Jewish rescue from the genocidal plans of its enemies, a palpable experience of strength and redemption just two decades after Auschwitz, and also a symbol of the perils and moral problems of Jewish power, the day Israel found itself ruling another people.It is the day of the Jews' homecoming to their sacred places, but also of political grandstanding and ideological narrative-making.Yet at its heart, Jerusalem Day is also about, well, Jerusalem, the real living city, the people who belong to it, and the grandeur of ordinary life in the shadow of great and ancient abstractions.This episode is sponsored by Julie and Frank Cohen, who believe that this podcast is a way to teach our story, because understanding our past and present is key to building a better future.And as has become a podcast tradition, it is dedicated to Kinneret Gat, teacher, mother, grandmother, who was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 26 May 2025

If the requirements of international law mean that Israel is effectively prohibited from defeating its enemies or protecting its borders, should Israelis turn their backs on international law? Why do we need "law?" Isn't it enough to just do our best to be as moral as possible?After all, the institutions of international law seem so unfair to Israel. Just this past year, Israel was made to stand in judgment, accused of genocide, before a judicial panel whose president hails from an enemy country (Lebanon) and then left half-way through the proceedings to serve as the prime minister of that country. That is, the top judge who sat in judgment of Israel was campaigning in the political system of an enemy state.Then there are the many reports that accuse the ICC's prosecutor of rushing to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders without bothering with normal procedures because he was trying to cover for credible sexual assault accusations against him?If the institutions cannot be trusted and the rules themselves are abused by every one of Israel's enemies, is this really a "law?" Can it ever be applied fairly?I ask former IDF legal advisor Ben Wahlhaus, who spent 12 years as an international law officer whose duties included counseling senior officers on the legality of military operations, including during the Gaza war.Today’s episode is sponsored by Sapir, the quarterly journal edited by Pulitzer-prize-winning commentator Bret Stephens. If you’re in the US, you can get this excellent journal sent to you absolutely free by going to http://sapirjournal.org/AskHaviv. Please use the link. It helps the podcast if they know we sent you.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2025

After a delay (Haviv got a bad flu), we're happy to share a great panel with Haviv and Prof. John Spencer that took place at the Woodbury Jewish Center in Woodbury, New York on May 7.Thank you to Rabbi Jason Fruithandler and Rob Dwek for hosting, and to the Malin family for sponsoring the speaker series this event was part of.Haviv and John talked about whether victory was in the cards against Hamas, what it would require, and whether Israeli society would persevere; about claims of starvation and genocide and the role of propaganda in conflict; about whether Gazans all support Hamas; about the distinction between civilian and combatant and what it might mean for the IDF to be, as many Israel defenders say, the "most moral" army; about Netanyahu's leadership and politicking over the past 19 months; about whether Israel could go it alone on Iran; and finally, about what the rise of a new American antisemitism might mean for the biggest diaspora Jewish community in all of history.Lots and lots of topics, so it went on a bit longer than our usual episodes.This episode is sponsored by someone who asked to remain anonymous and to dedicate the episode to someone who fell on October 7. We are dedicating the episode to Yoram Bar-Sinai, architect, kibbutznik and grandpa, who died age 75 in a gunbattle with Hamas terrorists while defending the home of his daughter Ruti in Kibbutz Be'eri. Yoram died in that firefight, but not before forcing the Hamas gunmen to give up on the house, saving his daughter and grandchildren who were inside. May his memory be a blessing.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2025

Qatar has just 330,000 citizens but controls vast wealth due to its plentiful natural gas. It has used that wealth to support radical and violent terrorist groups and regimes throughout the Middle East and to wield enormous influence in the West, including among American politicians and universities.In today's episode, I asked Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and host of its Morning Brief podcast, if Qatar really is as bad as Israelis think, and if so, what should be done about it.We discuss Doha's ideological commitments and central role in building Hamas into an organization capable of carrying out the October 7 massacre; how its immense donations to elite American universities helped drive radicalization on campus; and whether the Trump administration is able or willing to hold the Qataris to account.Today’s episode is sponsored by Sapir, the quarterly journal edited by Pulitzer-prize-winning commentator Bret Stephens. If you’re in the US, you can get this wonderful journal of ideas sent to you absolutely free by going to http://sapirjournal.org/AskHaviv. Please use the link. It helps the podcast.On May 15, Sapir are initiating the Sapir Debates, a series of live debates on issues facing the Jewish people. The first debate will take place at 92NY on May 15 at 7 pm. Former Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel and former Trump special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt will debate the topic: “Is Donald Trump good for the Jews?”To purchase tickets to the inaugural Sapir debate, go to http://sapirjournal.org/sapirdebate.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2025

As the Trump administration tries to strike a deal curtailing Iran's nuclear program, I turned to Dr. Sharona Mazalian Levi, an Iran expert and proud Persian Jew, to try to take us past the headlines and political elites to the conditions and hopes of ordinary Iranians. Dr. Mazalian paints a dire picture. Desperate shortages of clean water, electricity and gas, a collapsed currency, a third of the population under the poverty line, an oppressive religious police, the highest rate of executions in the world, severe air pollution and environmental degradation -- and a regime more interested in exporting its "revolution" than tackling any of these problems. Iran, one of the most energy-rich places on Earth, is "a poor nation in a rich country." Today’s episode is sponsored by the Sapir, the quarterly journal edited by Pulitzer-prize-winning commentator Bret Stephens. If you’re in the US, you can get this excellent journal sent to you absolutely free by going to http://sapirjournal.org/AskHaviv. Please use the link. It helps the podcast if they know we sent you. Sapir are initiating the Sapir Debates, a series of live debates on issues facing the Jewish people. The first debate will take place at 92NY on May 15 at 7 pm. Former Obama chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel and former Trump special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt will debate the topic: “Is Donald Trump good for the Jews?” To purchase tickets to the inaugural SAPIR debate, go to http://sapirjournal.org/sapirdebate. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2025

Palestinian advocates like to quip that the current war "didn't begin on October 7." That's true, of course, though unhelpful. It didn't begin in any one specific place. There are no singular first causes in history. When we choose the beginning of the story, we choose its framing and meaning.For most Israeli Jews, the story of the current war might be said to have begun in the fall of 2000, in the great collapse of Oslo that still casts its long shadow on the Israeli political psyche.This is that story.Today’s episode is sponsored by Pennyweight Prizefighter, a small business dedicated to preserving the history and craftsmanship of antique and vintage fine jewelry. In a post October 7th world, pennyweight has become more committed than ever to making vintage and new Judaica available to anyone who feels compelled to honor these symbols with something as precious as gold and diamonds worn close to the heart. Check out pennyweight prizefighter on Instagram or pennyweightprizefighter.com.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2025

Passover is upon us, the seder is Saturday night.Freedom, the Sages teach, is not an end, it is a path; no mere escape from Pharaoh's tyranny but a becoming, filled with substance and responsibility and devotion; no one-off achievement but a ceaseless struggle to secure and deepen who and what we are.This bonus episode offers a few short thoughts that I teach my children at our seder each year about the meaning of this holiday, and thus the meaning of our peoplehood and freedom.This episode is sponsored by the Sapir Journal, a wonderful quarterly journal devoted to ideas for a thriving Jewish future, edited by the Pulitzer-prize-winning Bret Stephens.If you live in the United States, you can now receive SAPIR in the mail absolutely free. You can sign up for your free subscription by going to sapirjournal.org/AskHaviv.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2025

The Abraham Accords have the potential to transform the Middle East. The very fact that they survived the Gaza war proves their resilience. Indeed, trade between Israel and its Abraham Accords partners has risen dramatically and stayed high through the war.And now the “kit” of dozens of agreements drafted between Israel and the UAE, from the overarching peace agreement to treaties on cellphone network interoperability and double taxation, stands ready to be copied over to a Israeli-Saudi peace.But will the Saudi normalization go forward? What would it take? Does it depend on what happens in Gaza, and can this Israeli government deliver the conditions in Gaza that would facilitate such a peace?I posed these questions to Shiri Fein Grossman, the former head of regional affairs at the Israeli National Security Council who was one of the key coordinators and planners of the Abraham Accords. Shiri now serves as CEO of the Israel-Africa Relations Institute.This episode was sponsored by a donor who chose to remain anonymous. At her request we will continue the tradition of remembering someone we lost on Oct 7. Today we remember Roi Moshe, 36, a firefighter from Ashkelon, who was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 while trying to return home from a night shift at the Be’er Sheva station.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠.A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2025

Is Zionism colonialism? Are Jews an authentic people, or merely a religion? What about Palestinians? What are Zionism’s moral costs, and what are those of opposing Zionism? I asked one of my teachers, Hebrew University historian Prof. Alexander Yakobson, some of the great questions now being advanced in Western academic and progressive discourses about Israel. Alex has that special fearlessness of an intellectual who takes the other side's position seriously. It makes his answers all the more valuable. This episode was sponsored by an anonymous donor in honor of Battalion 363 of the Harel Brigade, which is an infantry brigade in the IDF where the sponsor’s loved one serves. May all our sons and daughters come home safely. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2025

What if everybody is right on judicial reform? Israel's highest court is immensely and unreasonably powerful. But if it is weakened, what other checks stand in the way of the tyranny of the majority, that great Achilles' heel of democracy since the dawn of Western civilization? This question is especially urgent for Israel, whose politics are more Middle Eastern than Western, more tribal than ideological. It's not unreasonable to weaken the court, but it would be disastrous to do so without broad trust and buy-in, and without addressing the desperate lack of other checks and balances in the country's constitutional order. It's time for a more serious left-wing critique and a more responsible right-wing reform. Anything less will only cause harm. Thank you to Jason and Lauriel Klinghoffer for sponsoring this episode. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 28 March 2025

Abandoning the Democrats is a losing strategy for Israel, says Rep. Ritchie Torres, perhaps the most outspoken supporter of Israel in the US House of Representatives. The fight over Israel inside American politics is a proxy for a much larger battle over the future of the Democratic Party and the character of America, he argues. Those who don't like Israel, he says, tend to take a dim view of the promise of America. And who is Clarence Jones, and why does Torres consider him "the greatest living American?" Thank you to Jason and Lauriel Klinghoffer for sponsoring this episode in honor of Jason’s grandmother, Nusia Klinghoffer, a holocaust survivor who passed away last year. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠ www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 25 March 2025

Warfighting has resumed in Gaza. Israel's message is clear: Gaza's future depends on Hamas releasing hostages and surrendering its control of the territory. But there is a larger pivot underway, a regional strategic realignment. Hamas once hoped its attack on Israel would trigger a broader regional war. In a sense, it succeeded, relegating Gaza to a marginal arena in the larger strategic struggle. That alone, gives Israel a freer hand to resume war whenever it wants. Hamas is now truly strategically alone. Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything⁠ If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 19 March 2025

This is a podcast about history, but also about this moment in history. Today's episode is a special one. Many of you asked about the hostages, about the activism of their families, about their shattering experiences on October 7 and how they have worked to piece their lives back together since. I can think of no better way to begin to answer these questions than by posing them to our good friend Shaked Haran. There's no one story of the hostage families. Their experiences vary, their opinions on the war differ. All their stories are powerful and excruciating, and often also unexpectedly inspiring; all are worth hearing. And Shaked's voice stands out among them for its clarity and courage. Shaked lost three family members in the Hamas attack on Kibbutz Be'eri, including her beloved father Avshalom, or Avshal. Seven more family members, including sister Adi, brother-in-law Tal, three-year-old niece Yahel, eight-year-old nephew Naveh, and 12-year-old cousin Noam, were dragged into Gaza as hostages. Just two weeks ago, the last family member still held by Hamas, Tal Shoham, was finally released, closing a long and painful chapter in the life of this extraordinary family. We sat down to talk about that day, about what it feels like to search desperately for your family after a massacre, about finding the strength amid the pain and fear to launch a globe-spanning fight to rescue your loved ones. We looked at Israel's social fractures and at what holds us all together, about a morally confused world and an enemy territory that could still, she believes, flourish if it managed to come out from beneath the shadow of the murderers of her family. Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at [email protected]. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2025

Israeli Jews are the last surviving remnant of dozens of devastated Jewish communities across three continents. How did this history shape them? What do they understand about the world that few others see? Join Haviv Rettig Gur for a deep dive into the historical experience that shaped this largest community of Jews ever. Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnythingIf you would like to sponsor an episode please email [email protected]

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2025

In our first interview episode, Haviv Rettig Gur sits down (virtually) with Prof. John Spencer of West Point, one of the foremost experts in urban warfare who has made a special study of Israeli warfighting tactics and strategy. Many subscribers to this podcast have asked us why Israel doesn’t seem to have won this war, why Hamas is still standing after 17 months of fighting and why Israel must still negotiate for its hostages. For answers we turned to Prof. Spencer. We learned about the IDF’s astonishing successes, such as its groundbreaking tactical innovations in tunnel warfare. And we learned about the gaping lacuna at the heart of Israel’s strategy in Gaza — the reason it still hasn’t won the war. Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything If you would like to sponsor an episode please email [email protected]

Transcribed - Published: 26 February 2025

Recorded Thursday, February 20thIsraelis watched horrified on Thursday, as Hamas gunmen conducted a ceremony handing over four coffins, two of them with the bodies of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, aged 1 and 4, when they were murdered in Gaza, along with their mother Shiri. Oded Lifshitz, 83, was the fourth body handed over to Israel. Around the ceremony, Gazan civilians cheered and threw rice, people brought their kids to watch.What should we make of this gruesome spectacle, of a festival conducted over the coffins of little children?Some thoughts on what Israelis, and with them, the whole Jewish world, just witnessed.Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2025

American Jews constitute the biggest, wealthiest, most influential and safest Jewish diaspora community in Jewish history, and also among the most Jewishly illiterate and profoundly anxious about their future.There's a good reason this immense and powerful community is also culturally weak and unsure of itself. There is deep history behind its illiteracy, a story of tragedy and trauma, rebellion and rebuilding.We unpack it all in this episode.Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything

Transcribed - Published: 18 February 2025

It’s hard for a modern Jew to grasp the depth of marginalization and ostracism that even the most assimilated of Austrian Jews experienced in the 1890s. Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, began his journey as a passionate assimilationist, a deep believer in European modernity and Germanic culture. It was only when these hopes were dashed that he turned, as a drowning man to a life raft, to political Zionism. Here is the untold story of how Herzl found Zionism. (Spoiler: It wasn’t the Dreyfus Affair.) Thank you to Joe and Shira Lieberman for sponsoring this episode in honor of those we lost on October 7th.Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2025

*Recorded Saturday night, February 8, 2025*First reflections in response to Hamas's hostage release ceremony in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza on Saturday, when Israelis discovered the extent to which the hostages had been tormented and starved.Episode first aired Sunday on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything).

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2025

"Ask Haviv Anything" is a podcast about history, a podcast you, dear listener, will help to shape and direct, focusing not just on what I want to talk about but on what you want to learn and discuss. Nothing is off limits. We're going to talk about big and painful things, and also beautiful and fascinating things, wars and identities and painful history. And also more light-hearted things. Humor matters, especially when facing tough subjects. Join me on this journey. Please join me on Patreon to support this project: https://www.patreon.com/AskHavivAnything

Transcribed - Published: 5 February 2025