Thoughtful debate elevates us all. In For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi revive the Jewish art of constructive discussion on topics relat...
Today, Thursday, February 20, Hamas is returning to Israel the bodies of Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her young children Kfir and Ariel, all slain in captivity. A fresh outcry of rage is expected from the Israeli public, not just over Hamas’s brutality, but against the government’s failure to gain release of these and other hostages sooner.
In a conversation recorded yesterday, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi express their nation’s deep anguish, and ask what a second stage of the ceasefire deal might look like when Netanyahu’s two stated goals—full hostage return and removal of Hamas—stand directly at odds.
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30:14
Announcement: Thursday Release
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0:15
Israel in Ceasefire – Faces of the Hostages
It seems that every country around the world has condemned Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, and understandably so. The permanent relocation of Gazans would amount to an act of ethnic cleansing. Why, then, is Israel the only nation other than the U.S. to take Trump’s morally questionable proposal seriously?
In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi consider the fact that eight in ten Israelis are polling in favor of the Trump plan and how the Holocaust, the promise of Zionism, and the images of the three recently released hostages, have shaped current Israeli public opinion.
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32:34
Israel in Ceasefire – Trump’s Dystopia
Voters were aghast, world leaders were outraged, and Netanyahu seemed jubilant, when President Trump recently doubled down on a plan that seems totally detached from reality:
a U.S. take-over, clean-out, and transformation of Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Though the White House has since clarified that Palestinian relocation would only be temporary, the shockwaves it caused in the region, and the reaction of the Israeli public, are telling.
In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi talk messianism, morality, and this
strange new chapter of U.S. relations, as they assess Israeli attitudes towards the proposal and the precarious fate of the hostage deal.
This episode is sponsored by Nancy Cahners.
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33:03
Israel in Ceasefire – Prime Minister Trump
Many Israelis are grateful to the Trump administration for pushing forward the hostage deal, but an unsettling reality seems to be taking hold. Has Netanyahu become subservient to the returning US President, even at the expense of his own coalition? As newspapers across Israel are abuzz with the “Trump Plan” for Palestinians in Gaza, some question whether Israel has relinquished its sovereignty and moral fortitude to the whims of America’s new leader.
In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi react to the President Trump’s call
to purportedly “empty out Gaza” and discuss the moral and political discourse in Israel—or lack thereof—that has allowed him to call the shots.
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Thoughtful debate elevates us all. In For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi revive the Jewish art of constructive discussion on topics related to political and social trends in Israel, Israel-Diaspora relations, and the future of Zionism.
JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST FOR MORE HARTMAN IDEAS