The Promised Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The "Thug Jews" Edition (Live from Limmud!) Dec 31, 2015

Show notes

Allison, Noah, and Oxford Prof. Sara Hirschhorn are live (on tape) from Limmud in Birmingham, England! They discuss three topics of incomparable importance, answering questions from the audience, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Are reports of Israel’s demise exaggerated?

What explains a recent spate of articles by bummed out Zionists suggesting that Israel’s days are numbered?

The other American revolution

We ask why so many of the Jewish terrorists in Israel carry American passports. What part does their American heritage play in their murderous zealotry?

Thug Jews

Is there anything to the claims of gadfly former Knesset Speaker Avrum Burg that, because Jews had no power in the past, Israelis today are on a power-bender and out of control?

All songs with an UK theme, in honor of recording from Limmud, England:

Arisa - Po Zeh Lo IropahKol Ha-Hatichim Etzli - LondonInbal Perlmutter - Zehirut Me-Ha-MervachEran Tzur - Tachlit Ba-Tachtit

Technical production by Graham Harold Carpenter & Alex Benish

The "Breaking the Left?" Edition Dec 24, 2015

Show notes

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

Breaking the Left?

We discuss the furor over Breaking the Silence, a watchdog NGO that publishes reports of IDF misconduct. Why do they inspire such rage in so many people?

Dying to be in Israel

We discuss a stunning new report that reveals shocking figures about how often immigrants to Israel - especially from the Ethiopian and Russian communities - kill themselves. What drives them to the brink?

“You want reality, B*tches?!?”

We discuss a brilliant, charismatic, angry, radical feminist Mizrahi activist on the “Big Brother” reality show. Who’s co-opting whom?

All songs by Kol ha-Hatikhim Etzli:

Tzla'otPosaHa-Fakulta Le-Mada MeduyakOy, Elohim Yishmor

The "Cool to a Warming World?" Edition Dec 17, 2015

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.

Pity the poor Afula!

We discuss demonstrations by residents of Afula, a town in the north of Israel, against a tender for hundreds of new apartments that was won by Arab Israelis.

Am I not Ayman?

We discuss MK and leader of the (mostly-)Arab “Joint List,” Ayman Odeh’s tour of America. What does it say about the new sort of politics he represents?

Cool to a warming world?

We discuss Israel’s lackluster participation in the Paris climate conference – has “light-unto-the-nations-ism” died?

All songs by the bona fide, no-doubt-about-it, genius Ryskinder:

Stam PahaditiYashen Be-AmidahThis Zero Is MarriedCan’t Shake It

The "Three Men, Three Paths to Peace" Edition Dec 10, 2015

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.

Politics of purism

Former MK and political commentator Yossi Sarid tragically died this week. We discuss the legacy of the longtime leader of the “peace camp.” Was he part of why the Left is now in a shambles?

The 'Mizrahification' of peace

We discuss Amir Peretz’s bid to take over the Zionist Union, his new peace plan, and his claim that only a Mizrahi candidate like himself has the chops to win an election and negotiate a peace deal.

A third way?

We discuss a new movie about an effort of settlers and Palestinians to forge a "third way" to peace, inspired by Rav Menachem Froman. Director Harvey Stein joins the conversation!

All songs by Ashkera Metim:Kesef U-Menayot Meatzben Et Ha-Kayitz Yahmi Anachnu Ha-Shampanya

The "Professors, Police & Parliamentarians: Everyone Harasses!" Edition Dec 03, 2015

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.

"Horny for you"

We discuss the member of Knesset who resigned after it became public that he harassed women, and ambivalent efforts to address sexual harassment elsewhere.

It’s a gas, gas, gas

We ask why Israel's incipient gas deal has sparked mass protests on the streets, while other issues are met with apathy.

Kidnapped 67-year-old babies

We discuss why many people believe that Yemenite babies were transferred from their parents to Ashkenazi parents 60-odd years ago.

All songs from the special project by musician David Peretz, "Yodim Atem Likhvod Ma? Artists Perform Songs of Hanukah":Adam Cohen – Maoz Tzur Noa Shemer – Neirotai Ha-Zeirim Eran Tzur – Hava Narima Albert Sofer – Ner Li

The "Did Peace Slip Through Our Fingers?" Edition Nov 26, 2015

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.

Did peace slip through our fingers?

We discuss a socko television documentary showing how close Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas came to a peace agreement eight years ago, and yet how far, raising a raft of “what if?” questions.

The corruption deduction

We discuss the behind-the-scenes deals that allowed MKs to funnel monies to their favorite causes in exchange for their acquiescence to the proposed budget. Is it quite as unsavory as it seems?

Fighter flight

We discuss an IDF poll showing that, increasingly, the guys with the guns are the guys with the kippot. Should we be worried that the army seems to be becoming a religious person's institution?

All songs by Tamar Aphek:

Who Cares/Summer Comes Where Were You When It Happened?The Dynamic Of Motion Taking Over

The "Bickering about Stickering" Edition Nov 19, 2015

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.

"Well, what family doesn't have its ups and downs?" (With apologies to James Goldman and Katherine Hepburn, or perhaps to King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine)

We discuss Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent attempts to fix relations with American Jews. Is his "charm offensive" more charm or offensive?

Bickering about stickering

The EU has issued new guidelines for the labeling of products from the occupied territories, and many Israelis are up in arms. We ask how those of us on the left ought to respond.

What happened in Paris

Finally, we discuss what sense we in Israel make – or should make – of the infinitely sad mass-murders in Paris.

All songs are tributes to Paris, with a heavy heart and a troubled mind:

Yael Naim - Paris Riff Cohen - A Paris Yair Ziv - Be-Rechovot Paris Ethnix - Tel Aviv Kmo Paris

The "They Really Don't Like Us!" Edition Nov 12, 2015

Show notes

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

"They don't like us. They really don't like us!" (With apologies to Sally Field)

A meta-survey suggests that Palestinians really don’t think highly of Israelis and Jews, and other polls suggest that Israeli Jews don’t have much sympathy for Palestinians. Does this prove a one-state solution is completely implausible?

Leaving the land

We ask whether or not it's time to stick a fork in the old Zionist dream of Jews returning to the land and making it bloom. Should we lament the "abandonment" of the agriculture industry?

Sound salvation (with apologies to Elvis Costello)

We discuss the efforts of Minister of Culture and Sports, Brigadier General Miri Regev, to make army radio station Galgalatz play more Mizrahi music.

All songs by Bint El Funk, in honor of their Headstart campaign, which you can (nay, should) support:

Mujik SheliMin ZamanUmakYa Habibi (Live from IndieNegev)

The "If I Divide Thee, O Jerusalem" Edition Nov 05, 2015

Show notes

Noah, Don, 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.

If I Divide Thee, O Jerusalem…

A shocking new poll shows that 56 percent of Israelis wish to transfer Arab majority neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the hands of the Palestinian Authority, to let them keep the peace. We discuss its potential political implications.

Partition ambition

We discuss a proposal to slice Israel up into two states: An enlightened, progressive, leftist, secular state called "Dan" and a benighted, religious state called "Judaea." Why is this separation so appealing to those on the left?

Trapped in the Net: Are social networks killing Israeli politics?

Did the personal computer kill the raucous political rally? We talk about how the internet has changed the face of Israeli politics, and not necessarily for the better.

All songs by Ariel Kleiner:

Biglal HaKishlonot 4 Ha-Gumia Ke-she-Anachnu Korim

The "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today" Edition Oct 29, 2015

Show notes

In a show marking, with sadness, the 20th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s murder, Allison, Noah and Don (fresh back from rehab) discuss three Rabin-related topics, and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

Whose death is it, anyway?

We discuss the struggle over Rabin’s legacy: Should it be a broad message about political violence, or a narrower message about the dangers of the occupation?

Who really killed Rabin?

Alarming polls show that one third of all Israelis and half of religious Israeli Jews do not believe that PM Rabin was killed by Yigal Amir, instead believing one of the many conspiracy theories that proliferate. We ask why.

Had Rabin lived…

We try to answer that unanswerable, counterfactual question: Had Yigal Amir eaten some bad sushi on the 3rd of November, 1995, what country and what world would we be living in today?

All songs by Nati Hassid, in honor of his show this week at the Ozenbar club here in Tel Aviv!

A Love Story From Platform 9 Kaspomat Because We Don't Care Anymore - ft. Shaanan Streett Pass It Along

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