Haaretz Podcast 'Our fate is in Trump’s hands': Haaretz Editor-in-Chief Aluf Benn on Israel’s ‘unprecedented’ wartime dependence on the U.S.
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Mar 27, 2026 Aluf Benn, Haaretz editor-in-chief and veteran Israeli journalist, reflects on running a newsroom during missile attacks and life under constant threat. He discusses Israel’s growing wartime dependence on the U.S. and how conflict reshapes politics, civil liberties, and efforts to expand religious power. Short, urgent, and wide-ranging.
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Haaretz Newsroom Working From Shelters During Strikes
- Haaretz staff now work from bomb shelters and cope with sleep deprivation but continue reporting.
- Benn recounts sirens, sheltering the newsroom and limited direct access to Iran compared with Gaza and Lebanon reporting.
U.S. President Holds Strategic Leverage Over Iran War
- Israel's ability to end or shape the Iran war is constrained because the decisive leverage lies with U.S. President Donald Trump.
- Aluf Benn points to U.S. troop deployments, naval presence and Trump's public diplomacy as factors that make Israeli policy dependent on U.S. choices.
Strikes Hurt Iran But Did Not Collapse Its Regime
- A strike that damaged Iran's leadership and facilities didn't topple the regime, which retains command, diplomatic capacity and PR.
- Benn warns that despite heavy hits the Iranian state apparatus can still coordinate proxy forces and negotiate.