The Promised Podcast

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and writer, TV host, and activist Ohad Zeltzer-Zubida discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Primary Dolours According to polls, fifteen political parties have a decent shot of being elected to the Knesset. Only three of those – Meretz, Labor, and Likud – hold open primaries where eligible dues-paying party members vote to determine the party list. Effusive reporters described these primaries as a "celebration of democracy." Others, like former Labor PM Ehud Barak, expressed their antipathy for the process. Are primaries good or bad for Israeli democracy? If not through primaries, then how ought Knesset candidates be chosen? Belabored Last Friday, in one outlier poll, the Labor Party fell below the election threshold needed to be seated in the Knesset. This means that, if the elections were held last week, and if that poll were right, the Labor Party would not be represented in the Knesset for the first time in Israel's 71 year history. Should we be concerned about the travails – and the incipient disappearance – of the Labor Party? If so, what, if anything, should we do about it? Bereaved = Beloved? Of all those being wooed in this election season, perhaps no one has been wooed with more verve than Miriam Peretz, an Israel Prize Life Achievement Award recipient whose two boys were killed as active combat soldiers. But she would be the first to say that the admiration with which she is held draws its force mostly from the death of her kids. Do these extravagant efforts to recruit Peretz to Knesset politics (which apparently failed), reflect a "culture of bereavement" here that is gendered, and sees in bereaved mothers, above all, a symbol of the uprightness of much of who we are and what we do? Music The power and glory of AvevA My Heart Toy vs. Breathe Black Megedenga (Gigi Cover)

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Times of Israel Ops & Blogs editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Looking for the extra segment? Likud Renewed, Dude! The Likud primaries are here! We wonder what composite portrait they paint of the heart, soul and physiognomy of the party. Being Black The rage and heartache of Ethiopian-Israelis came front and center as they protest police brutality and so much else. How are we – three white folks – ought to understand their pain and rage? Our World According to Conan How do we make sense of Conan O'Brien's attempt to make sense of Israel? Extra Segment We discuss the huge, building-sized billboards of PM Netanyahu shaking hands with US President Donald Trump under the slogan, "Netanyahu: In a League of his Own." Why? Why? WHY? Music Half Ayala Ingedashet and half Orit Tashoma (on the occasion of the big demonstration): Basar Va Dam (Flesh and Blood) La-Nua (Moving) Tov Li Achshav (All's Good Now) Bo Elay (Come to Me)

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Become a patron and gain access to our weekly extra special, special extra segments. Bullshit Solutions to Bullshit Problems? Is the election campaign about anything that matters (or anything at all)? The Change We Seek MK Dov Khenin resigned on the grounds that there are better ways to bring political change than the Knesset. Is he on to something? Some Jews are Arabs, Too An appeal has been brought before the Supreme Court to overturn the Nation-State Law on the grounds that downgrading Arabic also discriminates against Mizrahi Jews. Is this the winning argument against the bill? Extra Segment Rosanne Barr and Shmueli Boteach barnstorm Israel to make the point that Israel rocks and anti-semites suck. But to what end? Music Benaia Barabi Boker Tov (בוקר טוב) Tel Aviv ba-Laila (תל אביב בלילה) Mishehu Iti Kan (מישהו איתי כאן) Me-ha-Kfar el ha-Ir (מהכפר אל העיר)

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. No 'Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'? Journalist and best-selling author Matti Friedman argues in the New York Times that if you think of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians "as a problem that can be solved by an agreement between them," then you don't understand it. 1,364 Dead Terrorists Former IDF Chief of Staff and present candidate for Prime Minister Benny Gans boasts in his campaign videos of killing 1,364 terrorists and destroying whole city blocks in the Gaza war in 2014. Do body-counts have a place in political campaigns? Morriskeit Historian Benny Morris, on his retirement from teaching, predicts that in a generation's time, Jews will become a persecuted minority in Palestine, because Palestinians will never accept a Jewish state on this embattled land. Morris is a scholar's scholar, but also a long-time and lugubrious melancholic. What should we make of his dismal prediction? Extra Segment Michelle Alexander argues in the Times that, were he alive today, MLK would be all in on BDS. We ask, WTF? Music The happy energy of Moshe Peretz Yesh li Otakh (יש לי אותך) Sukar ba-Café (סוכר בקפה) Hakol Itakh Dvash (הכל איתך דבש) Hainu Shnaim (חיינו שניים), with Nasrin Kadrin

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Never Netanyahu? Labor Party head dares and double-dares the heads of other parties in the center and on the left to swear on a million bibles that they'll never join a Netanyahu government. Good politics or just more dumbassery? Son of God, with a Side of Fries There is blood on the streets of Haifa after the city art museum raises an exhibit including "McJesus," a sculpture of Ronald McDonald on the cross, and demonstrations of offended Christians turn violent. How do you mesh artistic freedom and sensitivity to religious beliefs? The (Too) Low Cost of Learning An Israeli Nobel laureate says the country's universities need to get hip to the logic of the market, and octuple tuitions. Does he have a point? Extra Segment Allison Kaplan Sommer (the Notorious AKS) talks us through the heartaches and controversies surrounding this weekend's Women's March in America. Music Liora Isaac Ma'ala Ma'ala Zagori Imperia, with Hadar Shmueli Ha-Laila Hatunah Periferia

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Terrorists, Murderers or Just Kids? Five fifteen years-olds suspected of killing a Palestinian mother of nine by pelting her car with rocks are interrogated by the Shin Bet without being allowed to consult a lawyer to speak to their parents. Are the kids' rights are being trampled? Uniformity A Hebrew U. prof who tells a student who complained about being treated uncivilly by a classmate because she came to class in uniform that she cannot expect others to treat her like a civilian when she's dressed like a soldier. Should we be outraged? Breeding Socialists in Schoolyards In 2019, if a person joins an "educators' kibbutz," forgoing money, property and autonomy for the sake of higher ideals, are they a cultish dupe or a vanguard of a better future? Is capital-normativity the last great hegemony? Extra Segment As you generous people asked, we discuss the legacy of Moshe Arens, may his memory be for a blessing, who died this week. MusicRam Orion, who will be playing at Levontin 7 on January 23. Sharav Kol Siba Different Girl Ha-Shaliah (with Hila Ruach)

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Right (Or, Naftali & Ayelet's Excellent Adventure) Numbers one and two of the modern-Orthodox Jewish Home party, leave to start "The New Right." It's sad when kids run away from (The Jewish) Home. Center (Or, Plenty of Benny) A general starts a new centrist party in Israel, joining forces with another general and, just like that, they're number two in the polls, behind Netanyahu. Does the future of Israeli politics run down the middle? Left (Or, The Defenestration of Tzippi Livni) Avi Gabbay, head of Israel's labor party, defenestrates his main political partner on TV. But is there anything left of the left? Extra Segment As you generous people asked, each of us discuss which party we would vote for, if elections were held tomorrow. Music Shay Nobelman, ahead of his first major show in three years, at the Ozen Bar, on January 9. Power Pop Symphony Girlfriend Baby in the Rain Ein La Avir

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Elections! Netanyahu calls new elections, spurring the talking heads to talk, the pundits to pund, the experts to expectorate, and all the rest of us to grasp our heads in our hands and rock back and forth while muttering, "Let something good come of this, Puleeeze, let something good come of this." Alternative Modernity in Kiryat Gat Does a traditional "Ethiopian farm" in Israel, with mud storehouses and subsistence farming, challenge the way the rest of us live? Rasah to Slash Our Stash of Cash? Should Israel go "cashless," or is that just more Big-Brotherization? Extra Segment We discuss a question sent in, in one variant or another, by a bunch of listeners: "Why don't you guys have any right-wing folks on your show to get a broader range of opinions? What's the value of talking just among yourselves? Whataya, chicken?" Music Yolanta and Rocker-Pocket, off their new debut record, Disteemia. Lo haya af pa'am shaket Avazi bar Ha-yaar hamechushaf Shir Eres Islandi

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. The Vested Quest of the Oppressed Some Israelis watch yellow-vested Parisian protestors burn cars and break windows and thing, "We'd like in on that action." But will Israel's yellow-vest demonstrations produce any positive change? The Left is from Mars, the Right is from Venus A new study shows that Israeli leftists are from Mars, and right-wingers from Venus. They don't even agree on what the word 'democracy' means. What does that augur for the future of the country? The Grinch and the Jewish Question A big honkin' Christmas tree goes up in the Ashdod Mall. Is it good to have more pluribus in our unam? Extra Segment As per the suggestion of longtime friend of the show, Janet Hiller, we discuss "the role of the first family of Israel - how it has become presidential in nature and potentially dynastic." Music Sweatshop Boys, Haifa's punkest punks, in honor of their new record, "Two Men." Unaware (Coco) Aya Doesn't Like the Garlic Bros. Special Mood Brian

Allison Kaplan Sommer, Noah Efron, and Don Futterman discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Unsettling A Tel Aviv leftist sets out to meet settlers in Tekoa, and makes a remarkable documentary about the discussions she has. The settlers come off as decent, human and humane. Is that a problem? Dissed Why do so many Israeli parents worry that kids with disabilities might rob their own kids of the attention they deserve at schools and in after-school clubs and activities? Censoring Computer Copulation PM Netanyahu shelves a bill to make porn "opt-in" in Israel, arguing that it is a threat to free expression. But is regulating the internet really so bad? Extra: We call on our patreon supporters to send us questions or topics they'd like us to discuss, and we'll discuss them in the upcoming weeks. We want to be your Siri of Israeli culture and politics! Music Yigal Bashan, may his memory be for a blessing. Yesh Li Tzipor Ketana Ba-Lev Im Tizkori Oti Sivan Shneinu Be-Yahad (with Yitzhak Klepter) Home Again