This past Monday marked the grim one-year anniversary of October 7th. Around the world, Jewish communities gathered to memorialize a war still being fought.

How did Israeli society experience this grief, and how did Diaspora communities memorialize? What are Israelis going through that we might not be able to see from a distance? And what are  Diaspora communities going through that Israelis may not see?

To help us better understand the dramatic developments in Lebanon, Nadav Eyal joined us for an emergency episode of the podcast.

NADAV EYAL is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

To help us better understand the escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah, Nadav Eyal joined us for an emergency episode of the podcast.

NADAV EYAL is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

WATCH THE CONVERSATION ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKPqu3CUtg

UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS: September 24 — Join us for the first major live recording of Call Me Back, held at the Streicker Center, featuring Amir Tibon. To register, please go to: https://streicker.nyc/events/tibon-senor

UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS: September 24 — Join us for the first major live recording of Call Me Back, held at the Streicker Center, featuring Amir Timon. To register, please go to: streicker.nyc/events/tibon-senor

To help us better understand events in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, Nadav Eyal joined us for an emergency episode of the podcast.

WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNugi2XnhmI

UPCOMING LIVE EVENTS: September 24 — Join us for the first major live recording of Call Me Back, held at the Streicker Center, featuring Amir Tibon. To register, please go to: https://streicker.nyc/events/tibon-senor 

Visit our website: https://arkmedia.org/
This conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/O7F7Pq-XI40

Show Notes:

In recent days, there has been intensifying debate inside Israel over whether the security concerns raised by Prime Minister Netanyahu (regarding the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border) are legitimate or just sand being thrown in the gears of the hostage negotiations?

Are there actual substantive objections to the concerns the Prime Minister is raising, or are the concerns really just with Netanyahu himself? Is the problem the message? Or the messenger?

Over the past 24 hours we learned the devastating news about Hamas’s slaughtering of 6 hostages. The families of two of these hostages – Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Carmel Gat had been guests on this podcast over the past few months.

The news of these executions followed news in Israel last Thursday of a heated debate within the security cabinet over a clause that the prime minister had introduced – to be voted on – into the negotiations over any final deal. Some critics are arguing that the introduction of that clause was part of a pattern that doomed the negotiations. Last night, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest – among other things – these moves by Israel’s Government. Others inside Israel are arguing that the principles that the Prime Minister is establishing in these negotiations are necessary conditions for Israel to defeat Hamas and prevent another October 7th-like war being launched (at least from Gaza).

Our interests in the Indo-Pacific, Russia-Ukraine, and the Middle East are all interconnected. A regional war in one, could easily trip into a regional war in another — and in some cases actors in one region are already being supported by regional actors from another. Just follow the moves of Beijing, Moscow and Tehran.

Rahm Emanuel has been an energetic diplomat in one of those regions — the Indo-Pacific. He is the U.S. ambassador to Japan. In addition to being a diplomatic and policy practitioner, he has also been an often astute — and sometimes provocative — analyst of the Chinese Government and its moves.

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Early this morning, after detecting preparations by Hezbollah to launch a large-scale attack, Israel launched a powerful preemptive strike on southern Lebanon.

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As Israelis continue to brace for a kinetic strike from Iran, or Hezbollah, or both, this long-anticipated attack may have been put on hold by Tehran while Israel and Hamas were negotiating the last details of a hostage and temporary ceasefire deal.

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Mark Dubowitz reports from Tel Aviv after over a month in Israel discussing Israel’s emerging (and bolder) approach to Iran.

Israelis are stuck in a tense holding pattern, each day waiting for a response from Iran, or Hezbollah, or both – an attack that was expected to occur last week, then later forecasted to occur over Tisha B’Av. And yet, each day… nothing.

What is going on — in Tehran? In Jerusalem? And in Washington D.C.?

HOUSEKEEPING NOTE:
I’m pleased to announce a major live recording of Call Me Back in New York City on September 24th. The event will be held at the Streicker Center, co-sponsored by UJA Federation of NY, and my guest will be Amir Tibon on the official launch date of his book The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands.

In his new book, Amir tells the gripping story of the Tibon family’s ordeal at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7 and the heroic rescue by Amir’s father, retired General Noam Tibon. Woven throughout the book is Amir’s own expertise as a longtime journalist in Israel and in Washington, the history of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and the conflict between Israel and Gaza.

Is the region ready for an Israel-Iran war? Is the U.S. ready?

What is the state of readiness of the IDF for such a war?

Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the political wing of Hamas, is dead. He was killed in Tehran yesterday, during a visit for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

To help us understand this major development, I am joined by Ronen Bergman and Nadav Eyal for a special emergency episode.