Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus.

On today's Friday Focus we find ourselves in a shape shifting moment with major escalations taking place in the Middle East. How can Israel and Iran back down from this back and forth show of force? Meanwhile there is strong support in Israel for a forceful counter-attack on Iran. The presence of Hezbollah along Israel's northern border that had prevented Israel from striking Iran is now severely degraded. Is it time for Israel to take out Tehran's nuclear program? In the second half of the show, Rudyard and Janice discuss the US response. The Biden administration, worried about what an Israel attack in Iran will do to oil prices, is desperately searching for an option that allows Israel to respond in the least escalatory way possible.

To access full-length editions of the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.

Israelis are reeling from a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack which forced over 10 million people to take cover in bomb shelters and threatened to pull both countries into an open war. How will Israel respond to this attack? Can they restore deterrence in the region? And will they have the support of the US and other western nations?

To make sense of the events of the last few days, and its impact on the collective Israeli psyche, we’re joined again on the program by Yossi Klein Halevi. Yossi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and the author of the New York Times bestseller, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor.

The host of this Munk Dialogue is Rudyard Griffiths

To support civil and substantive debate on the big questions of the day, consider becoming a Munk Member at https://munkdebates.com/membership

Members receive access to our 15+ year library of great debates in HD video, ticketing privileges to our live events, and a charitable tax receipt (Canadian residents).

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue - https://munkdebates.com/

Executive Producer: Ricki Gurwitz

Editor: Kieran Lynch

Friday Focus provides listeners with a focused, half-hour masterclass on the big issues, events and trends driving the news and current events. The show features Janice Gross Stein, the founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and bestselling author, in conversation with Rudyard Griffiths, Chair and moderator of the Munk Debates.

The following is a sample of the Munk Debates’ weekly current affairs podcast, Friday Focus.

Today's Friday Focus begins with Benjamin Netayahu''s decision to push forward in Israel's war with Hezbollah. Why is he antagonizing Washington by changing his mind on their proposal for a ceasefire? Janice asks the same question she did when the war in Gaza first started: what is the endgame in Lebanon? What is the strategy? Rudyard wants to know why the Biden administration is urgeing Israel to de-escalate their wars but paradoxically is providing weapons to Ukraine to escalate their battle with Russia. Why is Israel not getting the same support and consideration being afforded to Ukraine? In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice discuss the ongoing deliberations by western countries about whether to provide long range missiles to Ukraine to strike inside Russia, which has prompted Putin to rephrase Russia's nuclear doctrine and lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. The hosts worry that we are sleeping on an issue which has the potential to blow up in the most destructive way possible.

To access full-length editions of the Friday Focus podcast consider becoming a donor to the Munk Debates for as little as $25 annually, or $.50 per episode. Canadian donors receive a charitable tax receipt.

This podcast is a project of the Munk Debates, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to fostering civil and substantive public dialogue.

More information at www.munkdebates.com.