The Promised Podcast

Allison, Don and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Judenrein Palestine? Nein! PM Netanyahu released a YouTube video claiming that Palestinians advocate the "ethnic cleansing" of Jewish settlers as a precondition of peace negotiations: It's nutty diplomacy, but might he have a point about the position of settlers in a future Palestinian state? Derailed PM Netanyahu's compromise with the ultra-Orthodox over controversial railway maintenance on Shabbat angered many in the Opposition, who claimed the PM had been railroaded, and that his policy is on the wrong track and a potential train wreck. On the internet, everybody thinks you're a dog! We discuss scholarly suggestions that internet discourse in Israel is so mean because so many Israelis yearn to stick it to the leftist "lame-stream" media. But are Israelis really more mean on the internet than folks from other places? All songs by The Energya Psychotronics: She's My Sister Insincerely Yours Valerie-Ann My Imagination

Allison, Don and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Left behind? New polls show the Israeli left crashing and burning. What accounts for this recent slide in support, and what should the traditional Left be doing about it? From Zion shall come what? The Israeli state is funding organizations that strengthen Jewish identity on US campuses, and most of the money is going to Orthodox organizations. Should Israel be funding Jewish culture in the diaspora, and should it be doing so in this way? The right to bare midriffs A singer was booted off stage at a (publicly-funded) beach-side music festival because she wore a bikini top. Is sensitivity to delicate religious sensibilities going too far? All songs by Noa Deutsch: Lo Gever Lo Isha Ha-Heder Mevulgan Oaf Muzar Ma She-Tivakshi

Noah, author and professor Alon Tal, and legendary tour guide William Slott discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Too many Israelis? We discuss Tal's important, new book The Land is Full, claiming that we need fewer Israelis, not more, and that government policy ought to be changed to stem Aliyah and lower our birthrate. Moral guides An essay in the Times of Israel asserts that it is "immoral" to visit the City of David tourist site, which is located in East Jerusalem (Occupied Palestinian Territory). We discuss the morality of archaeology. Our lives: A late-interim review The three panelists discuss whether or not they made a huge existential mistake in moving to Israel, as they decided to do together, when kids in a Zionist youth movement. All songs by Darling Angels: Something For Your Pain Life Isn't A Fair Game I Got A Woman, And She Loves Me Mad By The Light Of The Moon

Noah, TLV1's Gilad Halpern and The Forward's Naomi Zeveloff discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Ordination is the new B.A. Israel's Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, has issued a ministerial executive order to count advanced Yeshiva education and Rabbinic ordination as equal to a university degree, for applicants to government jobs. Fear, loathing and Ha'aretz Stalwart, liberal Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz receives constant, vicious criticism from right and left. Why does the paper cheese off so many? Mo' better babies Israelis are the most prolific users of prenatal genetic testing. Why are we so eager to have only "perfect" babies? All songs by Karizmo (it's summer, people!): Ba-Derekh La-Yam Latet Lakh Ahavah Mekhayekh Hofesh

Noah, TLV1's Gilad Halpern 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. Lapdogs of democracy We discuss the uncertain future of the new Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, and the uncertain future of freedom of the press in Israel. What sort of a press does a country like Israel need? On the matter of Black Lives Matter The new Movement for Black Lives platform describes Israel as a perpetrator of "genocide" against Palestinians. We discuss the depression that engulfed us after we read it, and how we should navigate this murky water. So sorry for gassing grandma! Should Israel continue to buy gas masks from the same German company that made gas masks for the SS soldiers manning the crematoria at Auschwitz? Oy! All songs by Noga Erez, in honor of her appearance at the Olympics! Worth None (with Efrat Ben Tzur) Where Did You Sleep Last Night Weapons After

Noah, TLV1's Gilad Halpern 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. IDF to Knesset: Shut up already! "We shall keep the rabbis in their synagogues and the generals in their barracks," Herzl wrote in 1896. Now, 120 years later, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot is telling Israel's politicians to shut the f*ck up already. Ritual hypocrites American passport-holding Knesset Members who love Conservative and Reform Judaism have been voting against it, most recently passing a bill outlawing use of state ritual baths (mikvehs) by non-Orthodox converts. Does this make them hypocrites? Body-politic dysmorphia We discuss whether Israelis have body-politic dysmorphia, causing us to think that we're a whole lot bigger and more important than we really are. All songs by Talevi: Mah Shaveh Haagid Kedai She-Teheyeh Meushar Nylon Sofshavua

Don, Noah 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. Expelled We discuss Israel's new "Impeachment Law," passed by Knesset members to allow Knesset members to prevent Knesset members from remaining Knesset members. Leaving the Left A slew of prominent and thoughtful folks, including former leftist Knesset members, have said "goodbye to all that" and left the Left. These recent defections are causing us to ask, "Is it something we said"? The moral economy of the IDF Do we, as two cool Mizrahit feminists say, send Mizrahim to do the IDF's morally ugly work, and then hate them for it? All songs by Aya Zahavi Feiglin: Hadera Juke Berlin Kulam

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Who killed social justice? Did the 2011 "social protests" – which began five years ago this week – leave any real mark on the country? If not, who is to blame? An officer and a chauvinist The new Chief Rabbi of the IDF and a rabbi who runs an army preparatory school own up to some Neanderthal opinions about women and LGBTQ folks. How do men of loathsome views find purchase in the army? The art of politics The president of a Tel Aviv area design college banned a student painting because it contained a nude rendering of Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked: Censorship or just good feminist values? All songs by Ha-Tavlinim: Ba Li Rosh Ba-Kir Ba-Tahanah Nimas Li Mimekh

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Into Africa PM Netanyahu recently visited Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Is this part of a "periphery strategy" that aims to build relationships with the under-democratic developing world, as ties to Europe and the US seem to be deteriorating? Education Reparation? We discuss the much-anticipated recommendations of a government committee charged with repairing discrimination against Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewish heritage in Israel's education system. Your kid's childhood, sponsored by Proctor & Gamble Proctor & Gamble built air-conditioned bathrooms for girls in Israeli summer camps, with flat screens playing loops of tampon ads. Is commercializing sleep-away camp a crime against wholesomeness itself, or just good sense? All songs by The Aprons: Day Off This Time The Second Time Firefly

Allison, Don, and Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week. Kids in beds How can we understand the failure of Palestinian leaders to condemn the brutal murder of a 13-year-old Jewish girl in her bed? Is deprizing the Left despising the Left? Ben-Gurion University president Rivka Carmi stripped human rights NGO Breaking the Silence of a prize it had been offered by the university. Does this simply reflect pusillanimous wussiness? Jew of silence? We ask whether or not there is room for criticism of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel for failing to embrace Palestinians, even as he is being laid in his grave. All songs by Hank & Cupcakes off their brand new record, Cheap Thrill: Old And New Telephone Line A Thousand Times Ice Machine