#israel
518 episodes
#5581: The Jerusalem Post's 1996 Bet and the Global Jewish News Race
A polarizing paper that launched online in 1996 — and the digital news network that followed it.
#5568: Israel's Pragmatic Center: Housing, Groceries, and the 2026 Vote
Israelis say housing and cost of living decide their vote — but the campaign is about everything else. Can the pragmatic center break the pattern?
#5567: The Sinai Crossing Where a Stamp Draws the Border
A 24-hour pedestrian crossing between Eilat and Taba, where a free stamp, a one-kilometer fee waiver, and four treaty zones shape every trip into S...
#5549: When Pro-Israel Advocacy Alienates the Persuadable
A pro-Israel insider's critique: cherry-picked examples, refusing to concede any fault, and fighting fire with fire may be losing the people you mo...
#5548: Hasbara: Explanation or Policy Problem?
Israel's Foreign Minister says embassy moves matter as much as the battlefield. A listener in Jerusalem says the problem isn't PR — it's policy.
#5530: Jerusalem's Pencil Line: 1948–1967
Two commanders drew a ceasefire line in wax pencil in 1948. It became a city's border for nineteen years.
#5527: Seven Ways to Measure a Country's Isolation
Netanyahu's quick UN trip sparks a bigger question: how do you actually measure a country's isolation? We build seven heuristics.
#5511: Military Intelligence: The Spy Agency Nobody Can Name
Unit 8200 supplies ~90% of Israel's intelligence — so why is Mossad the household name? Inside the military-civilian spy divide.
#5496: Taking Down Jerusalem's 7km Border, Street by Street
Barbed wire, minefields, and a wax-pencil line: how Jerusalem's seven-kilometre border was physically torn down after 1967.
#5495: Musrara: Growing Up on Jerusalem's Pencil-Drawn Border
How a border drawn with wax pencils in 1948 split Musrara's homes in two — and shaped the neighborhood that raised the Israeli Black Panthers.
#5479: Why Number Porting Takes 30 Minutes
Routing a ported number takes milliseconds. So why does the SIM swap take hours? We trace the signalling behind "keep your number.
#5477: Who Owns the Antennas? Israel's MVNO Puzzle
Israel's virtual operators won't tell you whose towers they ride. Turns out your phone already knows — if you read the right signals.
#5475: Why Salad Is Breakfast in Israel and Punishment in America
Same chopped tomatoes and cucumbers — a morning staple in Israel and Turkey, a symbol of joyless dieting in America. How did one dish mean two oppo...
#5453: When Politics Ends a Friendship
Ed Sheeran lost friends over Macklemore. A listener lost a friend over being called a monster. Where's the line?
#5445: Israel's Periphery: Why It's Not About Distance
What "peripheria" really means in Israel — and why a $10B Intel fab sits in a town that still tops unemployment.
#5428: Wills, Superstition, and the One Event With 100% Probability
Daniel is a prepper who's terrified of writing a will. Turns out the law, the psychology, and the Israeli defaults all agree he shouldn't be.
#5423: Underground Burial in Jerusalem: 24,000 Graves, 3 Elevators
Jerusalem ran out of ground for its dead — so it built a multi-storey car park where the parking spaces are graves.
#5421: Why Secular Israelis Still Fast on Yom Kippur
A majority of secular Israeli Jews fast on Yom Kippur. What the data say about how faith gets handed down — and how observance becomes a weapon.
#5377: Is the U.S.-Israel Split a Blip or a Realignment?
Gallup's 2026 first-ever Palestinian sympathy lead isn't a flip toward Palestinians — it's a decade-long collapse in support for Israel.
#5352: What Do You Picture When You Hear "Religious Jew"?
Most religious Jews don't wear black hats and side curls. So why is that the image everyone pictures?
#5349: Why Israel Feels Like a Country at War With Quiet
Balagan, matkot, and tailgating in the Negev: what explains Israel's loud, urgent tempo — and why "security" isn't the answer.
#5315: What It's Like Living Next Door to a Prime Minister
Motorcades, megaphones at 5:30 a.m., and a three-meter wall — what neighbors of heads of state actually endure.
#5304: The Skill of Expecting Less (But Not the Worst)
Realists beat optimists and pessimists on long-term well-being. Here's what the research says about keeping expectations accurate.
#5261: Chickasaw in Jerusalem: An Indigenous Reversal
A Chickasaw citizen came to Jerusalem expecting to confirm Israel as a colonial project. He left calling it the Indigenous success story.