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Latest Episodes:

Israel in Ceasefire – Zelenskyy Mar 06, 2025

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Over the past year, Israel has shared a certain kinship with Ukraine; both countries are locked in existential wars started by their neighbors and backed by the U.S. administration. But in a shocking foreign policy turnaround, the Trump administration is stonewalling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanding mineral wealth from his country in exchange for further military support. In a world where Trump wields the weight of American power as he sees fit, what does this mean for Israel, a nation even more dependent on the support and protection of the United States?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi ask what sort of relationship their country is prepared to have with the U.S. to ensure its own survival.

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Israel in Ceasefire – The Wars of Gaza Feb 26, 2025

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Hamas has released each round of hostages amid increasingly cruel and theatrical public displays, going as far as returning a stranger’s body in place of Shiri Bibas, who was abducted with her two young children and killed in captivity. With stage two of ceasefire negotiations due to begin, Netanyahu, and many Israelis, are instead gearing up for a return to war. Is this the response Hamas is aiming to provoke?

In this episode of For Heaven’s Sake, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi discuss Israel’s power to deter Hamas, the “cultural threat” that is radicalizing Gazans, and what kind of war Israelis are ready to wage next in Gaza.

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Israel in Ceasefire – Agony and Uncertainty Feb 20, 2025

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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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Israel in Ceasefire – Faces of the Hostages Feb 12, 2025

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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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Israel in Ceasefire – Trump’s Dystopia Feb 06, 2025

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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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Israel in Ceasefire – Prime Minister Trump Jan 29, 2025

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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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Israel in Ceasefire — They’re Returning, Where Are We Going? Jan 22, 2025

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Three hostages have been safely returned to Israel, with more to be returned each week. But while Israelis share the relief of this long-awaited moment, Hamas is emerging from the shadows with victory cheers and a deep ambivalence over the ceasefire deal is brewing in Israel. Who has won this war, and can Israelis come to terms with the price they must pay to bring all the hostages home?

In this episode, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi discuss the divide in Israeli opinion,

the country’s unmet military goals, and whether a return to war could be on the horizon.

This episode is sponsored by Nancy Cahners.

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Israel at War – Coming Home Jan 16, 2025

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A ceasefire deal has just been reached.

In the past, Israelis have been united in elation and relief about the return of hostages, even at a high cost to national security. But not this time. Far-right MKs and ultranationalists had vigorously decried the deal, protesting any concession that would allow Hamas to hold on to power, no matter how small. What is behind their bitter dissent, and will this deepen rifts in Israeli society?

In this episode, recorded as the deal was still being finalized, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi consider closure, family loyalty, and the basic value of derech eretz (common decency) in negotiating the return of the hostages, and why the lens for ultranationalists in Israel is so starkly different.

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Israel at War — Morality and Survival Jan 08, 2025

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Israelis often speak proudly about their army’s rigorous moral standards. But after falling prey to the barbaric massacre by Hamas on October 7, national security has become top of mind for many Israelis while topics like Gazan civilian casualties are avoided. Are these two values—morality and survival—mutually exclusive?

This week, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi tackle the state of moral discourse in Israel, international criticism of the war, and the troubling relationship between victimhood and brutality.

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Israel at War – The New Israeli Silence Jan 01, 2025

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Most Israelis want a comprehensive hostage deal but seem unwilling to call out actions by Netanyahu which have sabotaged negotiation efforts with Hamas. Have Israel’s citizens become complacent?

This week, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi diagnose Israelis’ passivity in the face of deeply unpopular government decisions and their reluctance to consider the future of Gazans or of Palestinians in general.

This episode is sponsored by Lois Kohn-Claar and Gary Claar.

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