Show Notes
In the inaugural episode of Haaretz’s new Election Podcast, host Allison Kaplan Sommer welcomes the first weekly panel of Haaretz analysts who will be examining and explaining developments in the intensifying countdown to the fateful elections this fall. This week, senior analyst Esther Solomon and Palestinian affairs correspondent Nagham Zbeedat assess the state of a race in which neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opposition currently have a path to victory according to the polls. At the moment, “Netanyahu is more or less maxed out on however many people will still be loyal to him,” Solomon said. “He cannot crack the numbers to get anywhere near a majority to form a coalition.” She discussed the ways in which Netanyahu visibly battled for political survival in a hastily called press conference Saturday night – from his reframing of the ongoing bloodshed in Lebanon to an invitation to his opponents to join him in a unity government. Netanyahu’s call for unity and vow to do “everything to diffuse” a “civil war,” Solomon said, showed an extraordinary “degree of chutzpah” given that “there has been no issue he hasn’t tried to divide and inflame and incite within Israeli society.” Zbeedat provided an update on ongoing negotiations between Hadash, Ta’al, Balad and United Arab List to run together as the Joint List, as the Arab parties did in previous elections. The four parties – which have the power to tip the balance when it comes to building a government coalition – remain divided over whether they would be willing to join a coalition led by the winning Jewish Zionist party. The Gaza war and the lack of action to tackle the organized crime and gun violence tearing apart Arab society, Zbeedat noted, is likely to drive more Palestinian citizens of Israel to the polls than in years past. In her reporting, she said, she has spoken to Arab Israelis who have ideologically boycotted elections in the past and “now want to vote – but more out of desperation, out of despair and out of fear, rather than faith in the election and democracy.” Find the latest projections from Haaretz's 2026 election poll tracker Read more: Analysis: A Reality Check for Netanyahu's Delusional Post-Election Unity Ploy Analysis: For Arabs, the Ballot Box Is the Last Resort to Tackle Israel's Crime Epidemic Majority of Israel's First-time Voters Believe Their Ballot Can Change the Country, Poll Shows Arab Parties Mull Partial Joint List as Rifts Over Joining anti-Netanyahu Coalition Continue Jewish-Arab Movement Standing Together Launches Knesset Run With Party Built on 'Politics of Hope' 'The Jews Turned Against Us, Even the Leftists': The Bedouin City Poised to Play Kingmaker in Israel's Election See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Haaretz Podcast
In this episode of the Haaretz podcast, Rahm Emanuel – former White House chief-of-staff, veteran Democratic party insider, and potential presidential hopeful – speaks with guest host Joshua Leifer about the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship, the potential consequences of the upcoming elections in Israel, and the politics of Jewish identity in the current moment. In July, Emanuel delivered a speech at Tel Aviv University in which he strongly criticized Israel's government, called for sanctions against violent settlers and companies building settlements, and proposed ending U.S. military assistance to Israel, all as part of a larger vision encompassing Israel's regional normalization and the creation of a Palestinian state. On the podcast this week, he elaborated on the rationale behind the speech and what he calls the 23-three-state solution, based on the 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative. "I think lining up the Arabs' desire for stability with Israel's desire for security, with the Palestinians' desire for sovereignty – you can actually make the politics and policy work together," he said. But to get there, he stressed, will require a change in Israeli leadership. Netanyahu, Emanuel added, "undermined any ability to have a partner in the purpose of building up Hamas." Still, in the wake of the wars in Gaza and Iran, Emanuel stressed, the U.S.–Israel relationship "is not going to be the same relationship it was in the past, it can't be." "We are at a tipping point," he said. "There is no reset button here." Read more: Rahm Emanuel Wants to Save Israel. But Are Israelis Listening? This Month, Israelis Will Vote on Palestine. There's Only One Choice on the Ballot The Week the Democrats Defined the Israel-Palestine Debate for 2028 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, in a move that was both unprecedented and unexpected at this point in the campaign. With only a week left before the Israeli election, Haaretz English editor Yishai Halper said on the Haaretz Podcast that he doesn’t believe Trump's "October surprise" is enough for people on the right or the left "to make a significant change in their vote.” "It is almost taken for granted that Trump is behind Netanyahu, and he may even amp up his endorsements in the coming days," he said, "It's an October surprise in the sense that he finally did this. The impact, I think, will be anything but a surprise.” Also on the podcast, Haaretz correspondents Judy Maltz and Nagham Zbeedat assess the state of the race, polling and the mood of the Israeli voting public. Zbeedat, who covers Palestinian affairs, said that the Arab majority parties are seeing the effect of many Arab citizens who previously boycotted national elections, or stayed home out of indifference or hopelessness, who are voting this year. This is mainly "because of the gun violence in the Arab community, and also because of the recent attempts to disqualify Arab parties.” Maltz, who recently visited Gadi Eisenkot's hometown of Eilat, discussed the racist attacks on him from Netanyahu supporters. She also described the jittery mood among anti-Netanyahu voters across the country, as Election Day approaches. “People are not sleeping at night. People are talking about, ‘What are we going to do if Netanyahu pulls it off again? Where are we going to go? Can we stay here?’ It is that bad.” Read more: Trump Just Handed Netanyahu His October Surprise. Will It Pay Off? Pro-Netanyahu Pundit Calls Eisenkot 'Moroccan Monkey' Controlled by Ashkenazi Elite In Eilat, Gadi Eisenkot Has the Hometown Advantage. Is It Enough to Shake Netanyahu? Explained: How Can Israelis Still Vote for Netanyahu? Abu Shehadeh's Withdrawal Leaves Palestinians With a Political Dilemma See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Iran war, like so many that came before it, centers on energy’s crucial role in geopolitics, according to Hebrew University historian Dr. Guy Laron, though international leaders often downplay or ignore it. “Time and again, leaders speak in the language of values, security, justice, freedom, while chasing oil behind the scenes,” Laron said, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast in a discussion of the increasingly complicated geopolitics of the ongoing regional conflict in the wake of February’s U.S.-Israel attack on Iran and its effect on energy markets. Historically, he added, even wars that don’t begin with energy at the center of the conflict often evolve into ‘oil wars’ once countries fighting for domination and influence are impacted by the necessity of access to tremendous levels of fuel to power both land and naval military forces. Speaking on the podcast, Laron, the author of the new book "Oil Wars: The Struggle for Control that has Shaped the Modern World," (Yale University Press) noted how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used “energy calculus” to sell President Donald Trump on the attack and discussed the missteps that have left the White House mired in the region after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz - something that the U.S. president “was told that this is exactly what would happen, and he still took the risk,” Laron said. “Trump was dumb enough to think that what he did in Venezuela - in America’s backyard - he can do in the Middle East in the same way.” Read more: Houthis Claim Another Attack on Riyadh Airport, Threaten Saudi Oil Sites As the Election Clock Ticks Down, Netanyahu Is Running Out of Wars to Win Will Trump Defend Saudi Arabia From Houthi Attacks – and How Far Will He Go? Trump's Iran War: Without Strategy, There Is No Path to Victory See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Leaders of far-right parties running in the Israeli elections are openly campaigning on platforms that advocate expelling Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. On the Haaretz Podcast, senior analyst Esther Solomon and correspondent Linda Dayan discussed the platforms of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and ex-general Ofer Winter, both of whom are wooing voters by attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government from the right. Ben-Gvir in particular is proudly “promoting a platform for ‘voluntarily‘ expelling Palestinians from every single part from Gaza and the West Bank,” Solomon said. Winter included his longtime support for “voluntary emigration” from Gaza in the platform of his new Amcha Israel party, in an effort Solomon described as being designed to appeal to far-right voters dissatisfied with Netanyahu, but “who are a little bit disgusted by some of the crude ways that Ben-Gvir operates. They like their candidates to look a bit nicer.” Dayan, who recently attended a Winter campaign event aimed at English-speaking voters, said that Winter’s party’s positions articulated by the candidates on his list and their supporters are “a profoundly bizarre rejection of reality.” Together with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Solomon and Dayan assessed the state of the race, which is increasingly shaping up into a likely deadlock, with neither the pro-Netanyahu nor the (Jewish, Zionist) anti-Netanyahu bloc coming close to achieving a 61-seat majority, according to the polls. Read more: Israel Election Poll: Eisenkot Bloc Continues Slump as Netanyahu's Coalition Gains Ground Countdown to Election Day: A Road Trip Through a Country Deciding Its Future America's Right Is Tired of Israel and Jews. NatCon Jerusalem Confirms It This Leader of a Small, Far-Right Party Wants Netanyahu Fans to Take a Chance on Him See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The decision by Israel’s top generals and intelligence chiefs not to put the IDF on high alert in the hours before October 7 was “the worst gamble in Israeli military history,” according to senior defense analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast on the third anniversary of the attack by Hamas on southern Israel. “They terribly, tragically underestimated both Hamas’ capabilities and its actual intentions that night,” Harel said. Harel is the author of “6:29: Anatomy of a Failure,” the first and most complete account of the chain of mistakes by the country’s top military and political echelons leading up to the devastating events of that day. On the podcast, Harel recounts the military and political mistakes that were made, pinning them on “arrogance” and a “condescending” misreading of Hamas’ capabilities and determination – and how their failures have shaken Israeli citizen’s belief that they are “in safe hands.” “We have the best air force in the region, one of the best in the world. We have the technology. We have the operational understanding, and so on, and yet we were taken by complete surprise,” he noted. Harel also discusses the legacy of October 7, including how it is shaping Israel’s upcoming election, and the narrative crafted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has allowed him to maintain political viability as he runs a campaign that exploits fears of a repeat of the disaster, all while blocking the formation of an October 7 commission of inquiry or any other comprehensive investigation, and fanning the flames of conspiracy theories. Netanyahu, he said, is “fighting for his life by any means necessary. Everything is worth it in order to maintain power and stay out of jail.” Read more: Analysis by Amos Harel | Three Years After Hamas Attacked on October 7, Israel Has Yet to Start Reckoning With Its Failures October 7: How Hamas Attacked Israel, Minute by Minute Protests Across Israel Mark Third Anniversary of October 7 Israel's October 7 Leaders Mourned the Dead – and Celebrated Their Own Survival Op-ed | My Mother Was a Peace Activist Killed on October 7. Don't Use Her Name to Justify Mass Killing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.