PART 1: What Will Be Israel's Next Big Story? - with Donniel Hartman & Yossi Klein Halevi

SUBSCRIBE HERE to Donniel and Yossi's podcast, For Heaven's Sake: https://lnk.to/rfGlrA

Learn more about opening a JCF charitable fund today for flexible and strategic giving at jcfny.org

Subscribe to Inside Call me Back: https://inside.arkmedia.org

Gift a subscription of Inside Call me Back: http://inside.arkmedia.org/gifts

Subscribe to Amit Segal’s newsletter ‘It’s Noon in Israel’: https://arkmedia.org/amitsegal/

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

For sponsorship inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Ark Media on Instagram: https://instagram.com/arkmediaorg

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

To order Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel: https://tinyurl.com/bdeyjsdn

Today’s Episode: 

Israel was founded on a common story and a shared ethos. But what happens when the country can no longer agree on which story should shape its future? In part one of this conversation, Yossi Klein Halevi and Rabbi Donniel Hartman, hosts of For Heaven’s Sake, join Dan from across the Ark Media universe to discuss the competing narratives that tear Israel apart. From liberal democracy to theocratic Messianism. Can a new consensus emerge?

Also: stay tuned for part two of this conversation, where the three ask whether some American Jews are giving up on Israel.

(00:00) Introduction

(09:03) From labor zionism to religious zionism

(12:55) The stories that define Israel’s social camps 

(17:50) Why Israel has little margin for error

(19:32) The Israeli mainstream and the Likud

(28:03) How Israelis think about a Palestinian state

(31:14) The relationship between the Jewish and Israeli identities

(37:30) Can Naftali Bennett unite Israeli society?

(41:27) Israel’s next big story

(45:24) The strength of Israeli society

CREDITS:

ILAN BENATAR - Producer & Editor

ADAAM JAMES LEVIN-AREDDY - Executive Producer

MARTIN HUERGO - Sound Editor

MARIANGELES BURGOS - Additional Editing

MAYA RACKOFF - Operations Director

GABE SILVERSTEIN - Research

YUVAL SEMO - Music Composer