The Promised Podcast

Show Summary – Allison, Don, Eilon and Noah discuss (1) whether there is (as journalist Yossi Klein Halevi recently wrote) a slowly surfacing, stealthful, steadily swelling, and subtly subversive moderate Center in Israeli politics, (2) why so many ex-pols are becoming rich through influence peddling, and what can be done about it, and (3) whether a proposed new law that would ban free daily newspaper is a blow for democracy, or one against it. All that and the heartbreaking new album by Israel’s most important hip-hop artist, Sha’anan Streett. music: AugustNovemberJanuaryJulyAll Songs by Shaanan Streett from Tova: A Good Project

Don, Eilon and Noah discuss (1) Whether, now that the head of the ultraorthodox Shas party has endorsed Labor Party leader Yitzhak Herzog for Prime Minister, the time has come for the Labor Party to pal up to the haredim, (2) Why Evangelical support for Israel is waning, and whether we should lose sleep over it, and (3) How our own political views have changed over the years. Plus music from the red-hot, up-and-coming all-woman rock band, Hazeevot!

Former Ambassador Michael Oren’s “Plan B” for unilateral withdrawal – what could go wrong?!?Why MK Adi Kol is being crucified on Facebook for declaring undying love for her party chief, Yair LapidWhy “Good Deeds Day” inspires and nauseates in equal measure.Plus the first annual listener Purim Quiz ! Playlist: All songs by Danny Sanderson & Friends (Danny Sanderson, Kavah Baht-Israel, Eleshevah Baht-Israel, Ziv Harpaz, Kfir Ben-Laish, Gilad Ben-Laish, Amit Harel, Shai Wetzer) Signed, Sealed, Delivered Baby it’s you Who do you love Rescue Me

Allison, Eilon and Noah (Or, Travoltafied, Alexis Keezy, Erin Stonz and Niall Edbrards) discuss: Outsourcing our political activism to entrepreneurs and captains of Industry, who claim that they anyway know best what’s best for the country; Whether it is time to stick a fork in AIPAC, and if it is, what then?; and Does our Judaism need professional coordinators, as the Ministry for Religious Affairs sets up a “Jewish Identity Administration,” which is hiring neighborhood “Judaism Coordinators” to beef up our flagging identities? Playlist: All songs by Labrador Laboratories (In honor of the release this week of their new album, Lonely Tribes). All Night in the RainI’m a ThiefDirty BootsLonely Tribes

Allison, Don and Noah discuss: Whether PM Netanyahu ought to leave his opponents in the Likud behind and start a new party, à la Arik Sharon; A Knesset committee’s vote to force Haredim into the army (well, maybe); and Whether keeping foreign produce off local shelves is screwing the poor or helping farmers. Playlist: Music by a crazy-hip female punk foursome, “Not on Tour”I Wanna Be Like You!All This TimeThis is RevealingThe Question Came Up

Allison, Don and Noah discuss: Whether the Israeli press is hobbled or hackneyed The roles academics and intellectuals play in Israeli politics, and The ambivalent comforts of holding two passports Playlist: A tribute to Israeli tributes to the Beatles, in honor of the 50th the Ed Sullivan Show. When I’m 64 - Jericho Jones I Will - Hipushiot Ha-Kfar Dear Prudence - Adam Ben Ezra Tamid - Gidi Gov and Shlomo Yidov

Allison, Don, Eilon and Noah discuss: Settlers who say they’ll stay put, even if Israel withdraws and they find themselves in Palestine; Whether “medical tourism” is a way to stave off the collapse of Israel's medical system; and How the hell we’re supposed to feel while watching video from Iran showing drones laying waste to Tel Aviv. All this, and music from “Kids from Nowhere”! (http://kidsfromnowhere.com) Playlist: BiscuitsAll the Things We DoBaby DollFavorite Time of Year

Allison, Don, Eilon and Noah discuss: whether polygamy is rampant and unimpeded among the Bedouin of the Negev; the recent finding that the half-life of ethnic neighborhoods in Israel is shorter than almost anywhere else on earth; and the deep distress of the post office, and whether it should be bailed-out or privatized. All this, and punk by ShittyCT (sound it out)! Music: ShittyCT Erev Tov Lekha (Good Evening to You) Babylon Will Fall Propaganda Tarbut ha-Parkim (Park Culture)

Allison, Don, Eilon and Noah discuss: Rights, civil and human — as Shulamit Aloni’s death leaves us to wonder about the fate of the discourse of “rights” that she did so much to advance Whether there is really no connection between the occupation and the rise of world-wide anti-Semitism, as Minister Naftali Bennett insisted this week The putative death of the Israeli center. All that and authentic Israeli bluegrass with Jacks of Diamond! Music: Jacks of Diamond A sad email Kind of Substance Would it be so bad Dear Roommates song

Allison, Don, Eilon and Noah discuss: Whether, with the Middle East in flames around us, Israel ought to adopt a “Castle Strategy” The kerfuffle around whether universities should switch to English Whether Israel’s next president ought to be a Nobel Laureate chemist. All this and the retro punk of Uzi Navon! Playlist: Four songs by Uzi Navon ve-Makarim: Hi lo sham (available here: ) Lo Evater al Atzmi (available here: ) Ha-Mosech ba-Hutim (available here) Hofesh (available here:) Plus, one by Matisyahu: Tel Aviv’n Photo by Holger Motzkau.