Israel Policy Pod

On this episode, Israel Policy Pod presents a recording of Israel Policy Forum's recent briefing call with PLO Ambassador to the United Kingdom Husam Zomlot. We also encourage you to read Michal Koplow's latest column on the necessity of a Palestinian counter-offer to the Trump plan.Support the show

Find out how Israeli opposition parties are responding to West Bank annexation, featuring MK and former Deputy Mossad Head Ram Ben Barak (Yesh Atid), MK and former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan (Israel Democratic Party), and Aida Touma-Sliman (Joint List).Support the show

Policy Director Michael Koplow joins hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz to help break down a recent dramatic announcement from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that has the Israel Policy Pod team feeling a sense of deja vu.Register for our upcoming video briefing (Tuesday, May 26) with Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot: ipf.li/may26Support the show

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz break down why the swearing in of Israel's new government has been postponed, explain the expansion of the cabinet to include superfluous ministerial portfolios, and check in on the status of West Bank annexation plans.Support the show

Professor Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) joins host Evan Gottesman to break down the findings in the lDI's latest Israeli Voice Index: what it shows about Israeli public opinion on annexation, and why so many Israelis responded by saying they "don't know" about a question of existential national significance.Click here to read the findings of the May 2020 Israeli Voice Index.Support the show

Policy Director Michael Koplow and host Evan Gottesman break down a set of talking points on the Trump administration's Israeli-Palestinian proposal laid out in a recent op-ed by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.Read Michael Koplow's latest article: "Creating New Realities"Read Evan Gottesman's latest article: "Debunking David Friedman's Talking Points on the Trump Plan"Support the show

Dr. Shira Efron, Israel Policy Forum's policy advisor and an expert on Israel-China ties, joins host Evan Gottesman to discuss recent developments in the Jerusalem-Beijing relationship and their impact on the U.S.-Israel alliance.Read Dr. Efron's work on Israel and China:The U.S.-Israel Relationship's China Problem (Israel Policy Forum)Chinese Investment in Israeli Technology and Infrastructure: Security Implications for Israel and the United States (RAND)The Evolving Israel-China Relationship (RAND)Support the show

Policy Director Michael Koplow joins hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz to discuss the recent warning from European ambassadors against West Bank annexation, while in Israel, a supreme court ruling could send the country to fourth elections.Support the show

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz speak with Dan Rothem, CEO of Commander's for Israel's Security, about how the movement of high-ranking ex-generals is confronting the imminent threat of West Bank annexation.For a follow-up to the discussion, join Israel Policy Forum for a video briefing with Israeli pollster Gilad Hirschberger on the Israeli public's reaction to annexation. The program will take place on Tuesday, May 5 at 2pm ET/11am PT. Click here to register.To read Commanders for Israel's Security's West Bank annexation study, click here.To read the recent op-ed by Commanders for Israel's Security members in Foreign Policy, click here.Support the show

Host Evan Gottesman speaks with Association for Civil Rights in Israel Executive Director Sharon Abraham-Weiss and Abir Joubran-Dakwar, Director for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories at ACRI about access to healthcare services in East Jerusalem, an area whose residents have long been locked in political and legal limbo.Support the show

Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss the Netanyahu-Gantz coalition agreement, which calls for annexation deliberations to begin July 1.Support the show

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss the unthinkable: a fourth Israeli Knesset election in the span of just over a year (and in the middle of a pandemic, no less).Support the show

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz speak with former Member of Knesset and Green Movement leader Stav Shaffir about the collapse of the Labor Party and how the Israeli left can rebuild.Support the show

Host Evan Gottesman speaks with Ilan Goldenberg, Israel Policy Forum policy advisor and senior fellow and director at the Center for a New American Security Middle East Security Program, about the new world being shaped by coronavirus, and where Israelis and Palestinians fit into a conversation dominated by fear of pandemics and a global public health crisis.Support the show

Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss shake-ups and breakups on the Israeli center-left, as Kachol Lavan and Labor-Gesher-Meretz fragment over the question of an emergency unity government.Support the show

Dr. Shira Efron joins hosts Evan Gottesman and Margaux Nijkerk to discuss the spread of the novel coronavirus to the Gaza Strip and why the Palestinian coastal enclave could be especially hard hit by the public health crisis. Dr. Efron co-authored the RAND Corporation study "The Public Health Impacts of Gaza's Water Crisis." To read the study, click here.Support the show

Israel Policy Forum's new study, "In Search of a Viable Option," evaluates seven potential outcomes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this episode, hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz explore two of those approaches, one Jewish state, and the Trump plan, with Dr. Shaul Arieli, a retired colonel in the IDF and an expert on the geography of the West Bank and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Map link: ipf.li/wbmapSupport the show

From tracking cell phones to curbing the activities of the Knesset, recent actions undertaken by Israel's caretaker government have critics alleging that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and allies like Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein are using the coronavirus as a pretext to consolidate authoritarian rule. Israeli officials counter that extreme circumstances are a legitimate basis for extreme measures. To better understand the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of these policies, host Evan Gottesman and former Israeli Deputy Attorney General Joshua Schoffman break down the question: is that legal?Support the show

After three Knesset elections, Israel's politicians are still locked in a stalemate. Add in coronavirus, and you have a recipe for real uncertainty. Hosts Evan Gottesman and Eli Kowaz discuss the different directions Israel could take after President Reuven Rivlin gave Benny Gantz the mandate to form a government over the weekend, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calculates his next move.Support the show

With the Coronavirus crisis dominating the headlines, Netanyahu calls for an emergency unity government under his leadership while his court date looms and Labor-Meretz-Gesher's Orly Levy emerges as a potential ally.Support the show