The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

"The Least Anti-Semitic Podcast that You've Ever Heard in your Entire Life" Edition Feb 23, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Noah and Don discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Eighteen Months

We discuss the sentence meted out to Alor Azaria, the combat medic who shot knife-assailant Adel Fattah al-Sharif dead while he lay prone; some are outraged he's going to prison, others are outraged he's going to prison for only a year and a half.

The Least Anti-Semitic Person You've Ever Seen & the Jewish Question

We mull over PM Netanyahu's award of a "Jew Housekeeping Seal of Approval" to Pres. Trump, certifying him as antisemitism-free; was he just doing his job or was he derelicting his duty?

Wind-Down Nation?

A new report finding that Israel's vaunted scientific talents are fading before our eyes. We ask, what can be done?

Music by Noa Eder: Beseder Flowers Nemalim Bo Iti

The "Two States, One State, Whatever" Edition Feb 16, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Noah and Times of Israel Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Two States, One State, Whatever

We discuss Prime Minister Netanyahu's meetings in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump, and what the hell they mean for Israelis, Palestinians, American Jews and other living things.

Bitcoins, the Holocaust & Psoriasis: Israel's New Lobbyists

We mull over the the 64% increase in the number of lobbyists in the Knesset in just the last year, and their impact on Israeli democracy.

Ultra-Ortholopolis The City of Tomorrow, Today!

A long-term policy of building new Ultra-Orthodox cities to solve the Haredi housing crisis has reversed; from now on, its neighborhoods in cities already on the map. We ask, is this good news?

Music by Ron and the Red Beans, in honor of their show on Saturday at The Container in Jaffa: C'est Si Bon Mardi Gras Mambo Me, Myself and I I Want to Be Like You

The "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land" Edition Feb 09, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Noah and Tel Aviv Review Host Gilad Halpern discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

This Land Is Your Land, This Land is My Land (An Expropriation Meditation)

We discuss the bill approved by the Knesset this week that allows the expropriation of privately-owned land in the occupied territories, and the end-of-days public debate that ensued.

Playing with Fire

We mull over the firing of a rocket from Gaza towards a Jewish town and the pounding IDF response that was meant to be a warning but might nudge us to a war that nobody seems to want.

The Pious Floozies of the IDF

A viral cartoon aimed at persuading religious women to opt out of army service to avoid boredom, ennui and sexual harassment. Practically everyone attacked the cartoon's producers. But we ask, do they sorta have a point kinda maybe?

Music by Static and Ben-El Tavori: Zahav Kvish ha-Hof Silsulim Stahm

The "Alt-Zionism" Edition Feb 02, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Alt-Zionism

We discuss White-Supremacist claims that their dreams of an "ethno-state" is "very similar to the idea of Zionism," and why lots of folks on the right and the left seem to agree, leading us to wonder if it is time to slit our wrists.

Schools, Cool & Uncool: An Education Rumination

We mull over what should be done when parents band together to build their own school, with its own ideology, and then ask the taxpayers to foot the bill.

The curious incident of the weed vaped in the night-time

We ask whether the weird political coalition that supports decriminalization of pot hints that maybe we don't really understand Israeli politics after all.

Music by Yair Levi, who just crowdfunded his first album, and these are the very first fruit!

Ten Li (with Anat Malamud) Menagen (with Arcady Duchin) Emunah Shuv Linshom

The "Reports of our Death are Greatly Exaggerated" Edition Jan 26, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Heart & Home

We discuss the tragic events at the Bedouin Village of Umm Al-Hiran, leaving two dead and dozens dispossessed of their homes.

"Reports of our Death are Greatly Exaggerated" (With apologies to Mark Twain)

We mull over the surprisingly growing popularity of Israel's center left, and what it might mean if PM Netanyahu is forced to resign under accusations of corruption.

Crass Combat Couture

We ask about t-shirts printed up for fun by IDF soldiers displaying all sorts of sexist and bigoted images. Are these silk-screened sleazeries just harmless fun, or are they little cotton agents of patriarchy and racism?

All songs by Malca Baya (for a summer interlude in the dead of winter) Im At Ba-Inyan Chai Lo Be-Lahatz Kama Ham Stav

The "Champagne, Cubans & Bringing Bibi Down" Edition Jan 19, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Cubans, Champaign and Bringing Bibi Down

We ask whether or not we should take to the streets to demand the resignation of PM Netanyahu, as evidence of influence peddling accumulates.

Should We Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Lieberman?

We mull over the strange fact that the strongest advocate of the Two-State Solution in the governing coalition is former hard-line Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman; but does he mean what we mean when he says "Two State Solution"?

It is Good to Drink for our Country!

We discuss a recent exposure of low-level debauchery in Israeli youth movements, and why generally wholesome youth groups are, in fact, thriving here.

All songs by Meir Banai (with sadness in our hearts, on his much too-soon passing): U'veneihem Ahava Ketzarah Be-Shem Ha-Ahavah Lecha Eli

The "Killer-Hero-Scapegoat" Edition Jan 12, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Killer-Hero-Scapegoat?

We discuss the furor over the manslaughter conviction of Sgt. Elor Azaria, for shooting in the head a subdued stabber in Hebron.

TEDs

We mull over a new effort by settlers to present themselves in a more sophisticated way, using TED-ish talks.

Yiddishkeit, that Trojan Horse!

We ask whether or not the claim by an important intellectual, journalist and leftist political analyst that Israel's left cannot win its political battles because it has conceded it's cultural battles to the right, has anything to it.

All songs by The Ultras: Boker Tov Ein li et ha-ometz Ba-leilot levad Ba li

Promised Podcast extra: Slate's Dahlia Lithwick Jan 10, 2017

Show notes

Allison Kaplan Sommer sits down for a conversation with decorated journalist Dahlia Lithwick about Trumpism, American Jewry's relationship to Israel, and Axe body spray.

The "Unsettling Cost of Unsettling" Edition Jan 05, 2017

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

The Unsettling Cost of Unsettling

We discuss the Government's decision to spend 130 million shekels to resettle 42 settler families from an illegal outpost.

If he wasn't good, he wouldn't be rich, right?

We mull over the recent entry of businessmen into Israeli politics (especially on the left) and their claim that only they can drain the swamp in Jerusalem.

Social Change? There's an App for that Now

We ask whether or not a new app designed by an NGO to improve public transportation is a good way to bring about political change.

All songs by Yossi Elephant:

Susan Yam Ha'ahava Rechov 60 Helem Kerakh

The "President Obama's Parting Gift" Edition Dec 29, 2016

Show notes

Allison, Don & Noah discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

And as a Parting Gift: UN Security Council Resolution 2334

We discuss UN Security Council Resolution 2334, calling Israeli settlements illegal, and America's failure to scuttle it, and the righteous apoplexy of Israel's official response.

The Donalds (Futterman and Trump) Agree: Jerusalem is the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People

We recount Don's shocking assertion that he agrees with US President-Elect Donald Trump: the American Embassy should be moved to Jerusalem – are we in some sort of political bizzaro world?

We Dreamt We were Farmers

We mull over the government's decision to prop up agriculture with tax payer shekels, and why we should grow stuff at home that is cheaper to import.

All songs by Regel Sabres!: Amud Shidra Chalul Cochav Ba-Shemesh shel Natanya

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