The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The "Going, Going, Gone" Edition Jul 28, 2016

Show notes

Don, 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.

Expelled

We discuss Israel's new "Impeachment Law," passed by Knesset members to allow Knesset members to prevent Knesset members from remaining Knesset members.

Leaving the Left

A slew of prominent and thoughtful folks, including former leftist Knesset members, have said "goodbye to all that" and left the Left. These recent defections are causing us to ask, "Is it something we said"?

The moral economy of the IDF

Do we, as two cool Mizrahit feminists say, send Mizrahim to do the IDF's morally ugly work, and then hate them for it?

All songs by Aya Zahavi Feiglin:

Hadera Juke Berlin Kulam

The "Officer and a Chauvinist" Edition Jul 21, 2016

Show notes

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

Who killed social justice?

Did the 2011 "social protests" – which began five years ago this week – leave any real mark on the country? If not, who is to blame?

An officer and a chauvinist

The new Chief Rabbi of the IDF and a rabbi who runs an army preparatory school own up to some Neanderthal opinions about women and LGBTQ folks. How do men of loathsome views find purchase in the army?

The art of politics

The president of a Tel Aviv area design college banned a student painting because it contained a nude rendering of Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked: Censorship or just good feminist values?

All songs by Ha-Tavlinim:

Ba Li Rosh Ba-Kir Ba-Tahanah Nimas Li Mimekh

The Collaboration, Reparation & Menstruation Deliberation Jul 14, 2016

Show notes

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

Into Africa

PM Netanyahu recently visited Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Is this part of a "periphery strategy" that aims to build relationships with the under-democratic developing world, as ties to Europe and the US seem to be deteriorating?

Education Reparation?

We discuss the much-anticipated recommendations of a government committee charged with repairing discrimination against Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewish heritage in Israel's education system.

Your kid's childhood, sponsored by Proctor & Gamble

Proctor & Gamble built air-conditioned bathrooms for girls in Israeli summer camps, with flat screens playing loops of tampon ads. Is commercializing sleep-away camp a crime against wholesomeness itself, or just good sense?

All songs by The Aprons:

Day Off This Time The Second Time Firefly

The "Deprizing, Despising & Deriding the Left?" Edition Jul 07, 2016

Show notes

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

Kids in beds

How can we understand the failure of Palestinian leaders to condemn the brutal murder of a 13-year-old Jewish girl in her bed?

Is deprizing the Left despising the Left?

Ben-Gurion University president Rivka Carmi stripped human rights NGO Breaking the Silence of a prize it had been offered by the university. Does this simply reflect pusillanimous wussiness?

Jew of silence?

We ask whether or not there is room for criticism of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel for failing to embrace Palestinians, even as he is being laid in his grave.

All songs by Hank & Cupcakes off their brand new record, Cheap Thrill:

Old And New Telephone Line A Thousand Times Ice Machine

The "Making and Unmaking History" Edition Jun 30, 2016

Show notes

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

Brexit and the Jewish Question

We discuss the various lessons Israelis are drawing for our own politics and our own futures from the Brexit vote (because, in the end, isn't everything really about us?).

The forefathers are your fathers

Why do secular Israelis feel little for the country's founding fathers (who were all secular), while religious Israelis feel growing identification with the founding fathers (who rather despised religious folk)?

Entebbe, then and now

On the fortieth anniversary of the miraculous Entebbe rescue, as the children who were then hostages are now grandparents, what enduring imprint did this stunning event leave on the country?

All songs by Jerusalem's Nati Hassid, off his moving album, "Ze Ma Yesh":

Sippur Ahavah mi-Tsrif 9 Stam Ki Kvar Lo Echpat (with Shaanan Street) Ktzat At (with Tuna) Michtavim

The "Rage!" Edition Jun 23, 2016

Show notes

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

I think I'm turning Haredi!

Although a great many people fear that our schools, army, courts, and public square are undergoing an inexorable process of "religification," do the facts on the ground really justify these fears? And if not, where does this fear come from?

Bureaucrats!

A new poll finds that Israelis think their civil service sucks, melding inefficiency with corruption and nepotism. In fact, by European standards, Israel's bureaucracy ain't so bad. So what accounts for the discrepancy?

Rage!

A personal essay in +972 Magazine called "When your own Jewish father calls you a Nazi" recounts how a friendly father-daughter lunch meeting turned nasty. Does the acrimony of the street now reach hearth and home?

All songs by Kiryat Gat's finest hip-hop trio, KGC:

Me-Hamar La-Matok (with Avior Melasa) 100% Ten Li Koach Yom Yavoh

The Terrorists in Tel Aviv? A pleasure! Edition Jun 16, 2016

Show notes

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

Terrorists in Tel Aviv? A pleasure!

We discuss reactions to last week's heartbreaking terrorist murders at Tel Aviv's Sarona Market. Why were some people here inspired to write on social media such bons mots as "So long as it's in Tel Aviv: A pleasure"?

Anyone but Bibi?

We discuss whether intensely personal animus against Prime Minister Netanyahu hasn't gotten the best of the Israeli left, leaving our politics in a shambles.

Art. What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!

In a recent interview, David Tartakover, who has for decades been the unofficial graphic designer of the Israeli Left, seemed pretty bummed out about the lack of impact his art has had on Israeli society. Should we give up on political art?

All songs by Maya Isacowitz:

Noam Rehab My Child When I Get There

The "Peace in Paris or Conciliation in Cairo?" Edition Jun 09, 2016

Show notes

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

Peace in Paris or conciliation in Cairo?

We discuss the weird-ass peace retreat in Paris, without Israelis or Palestinians, and the Egyptian-Saudi peace initiative: So much peace-talk, so little time?

Tots & moms & fallacies of feminism

There is a controversial push to repeal a 54-year-old law that places tots with moms in divorce cases. We discuss the split among feminists about whether, in a sexist society, sometimes a sexist law is a necessary evil.

The Good (for-what-exactly?) Book

In honor of Shavuot, the holiday that marks the giving of Torah at Sinai, we discuss whether Holy Writ should play any role in Israel's public sphere, and if so, what that role should be.

All Songs by Nadav Barnea:

Boker Bo BaDerech MiHaYam Halamti BaLaila Rotse Lachzor

"The Other F-Word" Edition Jun 02, 2016

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.

IDF = "It Don't Fucking-Matter"?

We discuss human rights group B'Tselem's decision to stop telling IDF lawyers about crimes committed by soldiers because the army doesn't give a shit and doesn't do shit about these crimes.

The Other F-Word

There's a new trend on the left of using the word "fascist" to describe the direction in which our government is traveling. We discuss this mainstreaming of the "F-Word," which is becoming as much a part of the Tel Aviv lexicon as "Sababa."

Who are you to lower the rent?

The Ministry of Housing seems to be moving against municipal affordable housing programs on the grounds that they discriminate by, for instance, preferring locals and young people. But shouldn't cities be able to decide who gets cheaper housing?

All songs by Avi Mesika, who won our hearts when he built a protest tent in front of the IDF radio station to demonstrate against bias in their playlist:

Yored La-Yam Reva Le-Sheva K'he Oti Ayin Tachat Ayin (with Roni Levy)

The "Donald Trump & the Jewish Question" Edition May 26, 2016

Show notes

If you love Israel, this podcast will make you inexplicably happy: Israel Story's current season is almost over, so it's a perfect chance to catch up on everything you've been missing!

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

And now, right-wing Israeli democrats?

We discuss whether a new species is emerging in Israeli politics – right-wingers terrified by Netanyahu into embracing liberal democratic politics.

Donald Trump & the Jewish Question

Will Trump rend asunder once and for all right wing Jews from left? Or will he perhaps become a uniting force for Jews who may reject him en masse, and with him, reject Adelsonism as well?

Exhibiting confusion

Is an Israeli national museum possible or even desirable in 2016, or do we need a thousand museums for the thousand different stories we tell about ourselves? Is collective memory and collective identity just soooo twentieth century?

All songs by Dorin Yanni & The Band (in honor of their knockout show at the Jacob's Ladder Festival this past weekend):

Whistle Wheels Singing With The Rain I Won't Go Home

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