Episodes

  • Divergent reactions to BiBi’s address & its impact — with Nadav Eyal

    Divergent reactions to BiBi’s address & its impact — with Nadav Eyal
    Jul 25 2024
    *** Share episode on X: https://tinyurl.com/4xb5bu7r *** Fresh off viewing Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address before a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, Nadav Eyal sits down for an analysis as we debate the impact of Netanyahu’s speech in Israel, in the U.S., on the hostage negotiations, and on Israel’s geopolitics. Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediot. He has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.
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    53 mins
  • Israel retaliates against the Houthis - with Ronen Bergman

    Israel retaliates against the Houthis - with Ronen Bergman
    Jul 22 2024
    *** Share episode on X: https://tinyurl.com/3rwv5yzu *** A lot has happened over this past weekend, again. President Biden has dropped out of the presidential race, endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has been systematically locking up endorsements from most of her possible opponents. The ascendancy of V.P. Harris occurs at the exact time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington in advance of his address before Congress on Wednesday. We will discuss all of these issues in our next episode later this week. Also this weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to bring Israel back to the negotiating table this week for a hostages-for-ceasefire deal in Gaza, ahead of his departure to the U.S. This comes despite a letter from eight Likud MKs objecting to the possible deal. Finally, and the topic of our conversation today - on Saturday at 3:30 AM Israel time, a drone packed with explosives flew into a building in Tel Aviv, a few blocks away from the American consulate, and caused a large explosion that claimed the life of an Israeli citizen. This drone flew more than 2000 km (about 1200 miles) all the way from Yemen, and was one of four drones sent by the Houthis. The other three were shot down by U.S. forces in the Red Sea. Later on Saturday, Israel retaliated by attacking the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah, in Yemen. The targets of the attack were oil installations and refineries, the Ras Katib power plant, the HQ of the Yemen Economic Corporation, as well as the national security and military police buildings in the north of Hodeidah. The attack caused a complete power outage in all the neighborhoods in Hodeida district and disruptions in the communication network. This port was the main import access point for weapons into Yemen for the Houthis. While this low intensity war with the Houthis has been ongoing since October 7th, we have not focused much of our attention to this third Iranian tentacle. Who are the Houthis? How did Iran turn this rebel group into its proxy? And what could we expect from this third front? To make sense of all of this, we have Ronen Bergman of Yediot Ahranot and the New York Times Magazine. Ronen is a pulitzer-prize winning journalist. Also, one housekeeping note: Since October 7th, we are frequently asked for ways to ask questions, send comments and episode ideas. Listeners are also often asking for transcripts of our podcasts episodes. And many of you also want to know if there’s a way to subscribe for podcast updates. We are in the process of building a website, Ark Media. To visit the website, go to ArkMedia.Org, By visiting the website, you can: - Get in touch with the Call me Back team and share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions. - Access full transcripts to each episode, including links to external resources that will expand your understanding of the topics covered in each conversation. - And sign up for our regular updates on new episodes and live events.
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    33 mins
  • Bibi in Washington - with Amit Segal

    Bibi in Washington - with Amit Segal
    Jul 19 2024
    *** Share on X: https://tinyurl.com/mr2sejpr *** Prime Minister Netanyahu prepares to arrive in Washington, DC next week for an address to a joint session of Congress (his 4th), a meeting with President Biden (covid-permitting), all against the backdrop of the negotiations over hostages and a temporary (or phased) ceasefire. To help us understand what is going on the eve of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit, to preview what the Prime Minister hopes to get out of the visit, and the stakes for the visit (and also the future of the political Right in Israel), we are joined by Amit Segal. He is the chief political correspondent and analyst for Channel 12 News, and for Yediot Achronot, the country’s largest circulation newspaper. In his military service, he worked as a media and parliamentary correspondent for IDF (military) Radio.
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    59 mins
  • The Death of Deif – A turning point? With Ronen Bergman

    The Death of Deif – A turning point? With Ronen Bergman
    Jul 15 2024
    *** Share on X: https://tinyurl.com/5dw43272 *** Who is Mohammed Deif? Why does he matter (or why did he matter?) Is he dead? We have often said on this podcast that Hamas long ago transformed from a ragtag militia to the equivalent of a light infantry army of a sovereign state. The architect of that transformation was Mohammed Deif. If Hamas was a terror army, its commanding general or army chief of staff was Mohammed Deif. The second intifada? Deif was central to its planning and execution. Its tunnel system and rocket arsenal? All that, too, was Deif. And October 7th? Mohammed Deif. Israel had been on the hunt for Deif long before October 7th. In fact, he had escaped at least seven assasination attempts going back to 2001. Today he is most likely dead, based on an extraordinary intelligence and military operation that took place on Saturday morning. To help us understand what Hamas is, today, without Mohammed Deif, and what it means for Israel’s war against Hamas – and for the hostage and ceasefire negotiations – we are joined by Ronen Bergman, who is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and Senior Correspondent for Military and Intelligence Affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli daily. Ronen recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on this war and the pre-war intelligence failures. He has published numerous books —including “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations,” and also “The Secret War with Iran." Ronen is also a member of the Israeli bar (he clerked in the Attorney General’s Office), and has a master’s degree in international relations and a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge University.
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    35 mins
  • Naftali Bennett, (former) Prime Minister

    Naftali Bennett, (former) Prime Minister
    Jul 12 2024
    *** Share on X: https://tinyurl.com/24rsb4wv *** Today we sit down with one of the most interesting figures in Israeli public life, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who served as Israel’s 13th Prime Minister (2021-22), and previously, in a Netanyahu-led government as Defense Minister (2019-20), and earlier on as Economy Minister. When he himself was prime minister, Naftali Bennett's government was comprised of 8 political parties from across the ideological spectrum - from his own Yamina Party and the New Hope party on the Right, through Yair Lapid’s party in the center, to the Labor and Meretz parties on the Left. And then – for the first time in an Israeli Government – there was the Arab Muslim party, Ra’am. In his business career, Prime Minister Bennett was a successful start-up entrepreneur. And he served in Israel’s elite Sayeret Matkal special forces. In this long-form interview, we try to better understand Naftali Bennett's worldview on a range of issues in Israel’s post-10/07 reality – its strategic situation as it faces multiple war fronts or possible war fronts, and we wanted to better understand his vision for addressing the growing internal Israeli tensions – within the Israeli public..
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    55 mins
  • The American Victims of 10/07 — with Jonathan Greenblatt

    The American Victims of 10/07 — with Jonathan Greenblatt
    Jul 10 2024
    *** Share on X: https://tinyurl.com/2h98vux8 *** On October 7th, Hamas slaughtered, brutalized, wounded, and kidnapped numerous U.S. citizens. We think of 10/07 as a singular Israeli experience. But it was not. Americans were attacked too. There are even 8 U.S. citizens still being held hostage today by Hamas. It’s not clear what the U.S. Government is doing for these American victims and their families. What recourse do our fellow citizens have? Well, here’s one: the Anti-Defamation League has filed a lawsuit on behalf of more than 125 US citizens and their families who were killed or wounded in the kibbutzim in southern Israel and at the Nova music festival. The lawsuit accuses Iran, Syria and North Korea of providing material support to Hamas. The lawsuit lays out publicly available evidence of training, weapons and financial support from Iran; training and financing from Syria; and weapons and tunnel-digging assistance from North Korea. But where can this lawsuit actually go - what could it achieve? This is the focus of my conversation with Jonathan Greenblatt, who has been the CEO of the ADL since 2015. Prior to joining the ADL, he was a senior official in the Obama White House, and has had a long career in business and the non-profit sector before he joined the Obama administration. To learn more about the Anti-Defamation League, visit: https://www.adl.org/ Find Jonathan on X here: https://x.com/JGreenblattADL And on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jgreenblattadl/ ADL on X: https://x.com/ADL ADL on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adl_national/?hl=en
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    54 mins
  • A Hostage Deal — with Haviv Rettig Gur & Nadav Eyal

    A Hostage Deal — with Haviv Rettig Gur & Nadav Eyal
    Jul 8 2024
    *** Share episode on X: https://tinyurl.com/vehsrjpx *** Before today’s conversation, one housekeeping note. We are announcing our second "Call Me Back Live" Event. I will be talking to creators of Fauda -- Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz. They are scripting OCTOBER 7th, a feature film on the heroic true story of Noam Tibon, who rescued his son Amir Tibon, a Haaretz journalist, and his young family, from Hamas terrorists who had invaded their home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Issacharoff is also is a war correspondent who has been embedded with the IDF in Gaza. The event is July 22 at 6pm in NYC at the Comedy Cellar. Part of the proceeds will be donated to Leket, Israel’s leading food rescue organization, which has played a critical role working with farmers and kibbutizm in the Gaza envelope since 10/07. To RSVP, please go to comedycellar.com, click the "lineups" button on the top left and select "July 22". Now onto today’s conversation. How close is Israel to reaching a hostage deal with Hamas and – with that – a temporary ceasefire that could possibly become a permanent ceasefire? And why does this negotiations process have direct implications for Israel’s Northern border, between Hezbollah and Israel? Could a Gaza ceasefire result in a de-escalation on Israel’s Northern border? To help us understand what’s going on here, we have two guests today: -Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news. -Haviv Rettig-Gur has been a regular presence on this podcast since October 8. He is a senior political analyst for the Times of Israel, and has been an important interpreter for Western audiences of how to understand this conflict in broader historical terms. Speech by Nadav Eyal discussed on this episode: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9IUmVwtRZV/?igsh=MW95bXpyZ2hhdm4xNA==
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    1 hr
  • The IDF advocates for an end to the war - with Nadav Eyal

    The IDF advocates for an end to the war - with Nadav Eyal
    Jul 3 2024
    *** Share on X: https://tinyurl.com/2fpvh4mv *** In recent days, while we have all been consumed with the U.S. presidential debate, less international attention has been on Israel. But during this time, Israel’s security apparatus has proposed and advocated for a formal end to the war in Gaza. This is in part because the IDF is closer to achieving its military objectives in Gaza by having dismantled Hamas’s capabilities – and in part because they believe it’s the only way to get some calm on Israel’s northern border, at least for now. The security establishment argues that there is a connection between the two fronts. Whether or not the Government will accept and implement this proposal, is not yet clear. To help us understand what’s going on here, our guest today is NADAV EYAL, who returns to the podcast. He is a columnist for Yediot. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.
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    54 mins