Over the course of Israel’s multi-front war with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and beyond, I’ve received much of my news from podcasts. If, before Oct. 7, 2023, I was hooked on pop culture, history, and science-minded audio programming such as Fresh Air, RadioLab, and This American Life, my AirPods lately have been tuned to a more Israel-focused digital frequency.
Here are eight essential English-language podcasts that have kept me in the know.
‘Unholy: Two Jews on the News’
My go-to Friday morning listen comes from two veteran journalists – Yonit Levy, lead anchorperson on Israel’s Channel 12 news; and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian in the UK. The two tackle the trending topics of the week, usually with a special guest, such as former CIA director David Petraeus; New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman; historian Simon Montefiore; and Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of murdered hostage Hersh.
Levy tends to skew to a more centrist Israeli experience, while Freedland presents a contrarian view that often veers leftward. Each episode ends with a weekly “mensch” and “chutzpah” award.
‘Call Me Back’
Dan Senor co-wrote Start-Up Nation and The Genius of Israel with his brother-in-law Saul Singer. Senor’s credentials place him ostensibly on the Right – he worked as a foreign policy adviser to senator Mitt Romney – but he keeps his politics close to his chest.
He interviews regular pundits, such as Yediot Aharonot’s Nadav Eyal and Hartman Institute senior fellow (and former legal adviser for the Foreign Ministry) Tal Becker.
Journalist Ronen Bergman, whose book Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations raised eyebrows, has also appeared on the show.
‘For Heaven’s Sake’
Donniel Hartman grew up in Jerusalem and is the president of the Shalom Hartman Institute. Yossi Klein Halevi immigrated from Brooklyn to Israel in 1982 after falling out with a somewhat sordid past, as told in his book Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist, when he was a young acolyte to inflammatory MK Rabbi Meir Kahane. Klein Halevi subsequently wrote the much-praised Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor.
Their podcast delves into moral issues as much as the news, with Hartman playing the peacenik while Klein Halevi serves as his more militaristic yet always anguished foil.
‘Israel from the Inside’
Rabbi Daniel Gordis, prolific author and one of the founders of Jerusalem’s Shalem College, posts to his Substack newsletter and podcast daily and includes a variety of Left, Right, and Center viewpoints, from the Democrats’ Gilad Kariv to Moshe Koppel, one of the architects behind Yariv Levin’s judicial coup legislation.
Gordis tirelessly translates Hebrew press for his English-speaking listeners – he uploaded a version of the Yoni Bloch AI-driven fantasy peace video I wrote about previously, with helpful subtitles.
‘State of Tel Aviv’
Vivian Berkovici served as Canadian ambassador to Israel from 2014 to 2016. She moved to Tel Aviv in 2021 and later to a kibbutz not far from the Gaza Strip. Every week or so, either former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz or former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus joins the podcast to share his insights.
A recent two-part series explored the tragic explosion of antisemitism in Canada. My one complaint with State of Tel Aviv – and it’s one that I have with other Substack-based podcasts as well – is that they put much of their best material behind a paywall. If I paid for every podcast I listen to, I wouldn’t be able to afford my weekly falafel!
‘The Jewish People’s Podcast’
Speaking of Yaakov Katz, he’s been busy in the two years since he left the Post (where he still writes a must-read Friday column). A former defense analyst and military correspondent, he has written books such as Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War; and Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power.
Now a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, Katz hosts the organization’s podcast, where he brings on special guests before discussing the week’s news with recurring panelists Prof. Gil Troy of McGill University; Dr. Shuki Friedman, vice president of JPPI; and JPPI senior fellow (and author of the must-read book #Israeli Judaism) Shmuel Rosner.
‘Israel Story’
Originally conceived as a local version of This American Life, the Israel Story podcast, hosted by Mishy Harman, was the first Israeli one I got hooked on. I loved it so much that I even produced an award-winning episode about Better Place, based on my book about the bankrupt Israeli electric car company.
Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, mega-atrocity, Israel Story pivoted to telling the stories of survivors, hostage families, and ordinary Israelis coping with a new reality. I have a hard time listening to stories that are so raw; I look forward to the day when Israel Story returns to its original mission.
‘Honestly’
Bari Weiss launched her politics podcast in 2021 after publicly accusing the newsroom at The New York Times, where she was employed, of rampant antisemitism. She quit the Times and while her resulting publication, The Free Press, is not exclusively about Israel, Weiss and her team return to the topic frequently.
She’s recruited commentators from all sides of the political spectrum, such as Matti Friedman, author of such acclaimed books as Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, and Spies of No Country; right-leaning historian Eli Lake; and staunchly pro-Israel journalist Douglas Murray, who recently held court at a series of sold-out stadium-sized “lectures” in Israel.
When you put it all together, for heaven’s sake, you’ve honestly got an unholy inside Israel story from the Jewish people’s state of Tel Aviv. ■
The writer’s book Totaled: The Billion-Dollar Crash of the Startup that Took on Big Auto, Big Oil and the World is now available as an audiobook at Amazon and other online booksellers. brianblum.com