Call Me Back - with Dan Senor
Episodes
War Cabinet Member, Ron Dermer
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the days ahead, Minister Dermer will be flying to Washington with a small delegation to meet with the Biden administration about the IDF’s option...
Biden's Bibi Problem - with Nadav Eyal
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On October 6th of last year there was a long-standing ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas. On October 7th, Hamas launched a massive war agains...
The Sobering of the Israeli Left - with Dr. Einat Wilf
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since October 7, we have heard from more and more friends in Israel who came of age -- politically -- in the 1990s. Some of these friends were key pol...
My 'Come to Jesus' Moment with Haviv
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Ramadan begins, many analysts are speculating on what this means for Israel’s coming military operation in Rafah. There is a threat from Hamas to...
Israel’s Near Death Experience - with Micah Goodman
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Micah Goodman is on the speed-dial of a number of Israeli political leaders – from right to left, but especially on the center-left and the center-r...
External pressures on Israel, and within - with Haviv Rettig Gur
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Will there be a negotiated pause in fighting in advance of Ramadan, or will the IDF move against the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah? At the same...
1948 - with Benny Morris (Part 1)
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
PART 1 of 2 For more than 30 years of ‘on again-off again’ peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis, and certainly most int...
1948 - with Benny Morris (Part 2)
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
PART 2 of 2 For more than 30 years of ‘on again-off again’ peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis, and certainly most int...
The Anatomy of a Deal - with Nadav Eyal
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu released to his cabinet what could be interpreted as a first sketch, an early blueprint, or a statement of princip...
How Hamas fooled the world - with Matti Friedman
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every day we see news accounts “reported” by reputable journalists. There is typically one frame in the post-10/07 War: ‘Gazan Palestinians are ...
Is a peaceful Palestinian State even possible? - with Haviv Rettig Gur
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday, Israel’s cabinet unanimously issued a statement rejecting efforts by the international community to force immediate recognition of a Pale...
The spirit of a nation at war — with Wendy Singer
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
While there has been a lot of resentment inside Israel towards its political and security leadership, Israeli society has stepped up in ways sometimes...
Jerusalem - Rafah - Washington - with Nadav Eyal
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are we witnessing a dramatic change in the Biden administration’s approach to Israel’s defensive war against Hamas? Are these changes just rhetori...
The cost of starting a (losing) war - with Dr. Einat Wilf
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we look back at the history of Palestinian violence against the Jews in Israel (and in the pre-state Yishuv) -- from the fall of the Ottoman Emp...
How to build a Palestinian state - with Haviv Rettig Gur
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur of the TIMES OF ISRAEL returns for his weekly check-in from Israel. There has been a recent flurry of statements coming out of Lond...
UNRWA & Hamas, the perfect affair - with Haviv Rettig Gur
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The UN has one central agency responsible for handling all refugees globally, but Palestinian refugees have their own UN agency, UNRWA. Why? The numb...
Can a Sunni-Israeli alliance win the war?
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Al Jazeera is constantly blasting a steady stream of stories and images to the Arab world about 'tens of thousands of Palestinians dead,' according to...
Israel’s escalating internal debates — with Haviv Rettig Gur
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur from the Times of Israel, we discuss intensifying debates within Israel over the leadership of the ...
The End of a Jewish Golden Age — with John Podhoretz
20 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Will we look back at the past few decades in America as the Jewish ‘golden age’? And is this ‘golden age’ now over? Did October 7th mark the ...
On Sexual violence and… Silence - with Shari Mendes
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Having recently passed the 100 day-mark of Hamas’s massacre against Israel, two events in recent weeks occurred that should have occurred some time ...
Haviv Rettig Gur (Part 2) - 100 Days into Israel's 'Forever War'
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This past weekend, Israelis marked 100 days since the Hamas massacre -- and 100 days that 136 hostages, of all ages, still remain captive in unimagina...
Haviv Rettig Gur (Part 1) - 100 Days into Israel's 'Forever War'
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This past weekend, Israelis marked 100 days since the Hamas massacre -- and 100 days that 136 hostages, of all ages, still remain captive in unimagina...
The Houthis and The Hague - with Nadav Eyal
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In recent days, two big stories have gotten a lot bigger. The U.S. and U.K. have launched air and missile strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-c...
Growing tensions between Hamas Leaders — with Dr. Matt Levitt
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do Israelis know about the political tensions within Hamas’s leadership? About their decision-makers, their motives, their processes, and Hamas...
Gaza’s “Operating System” - with Nadav Eyal
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gaza runs like no sovereign entity. On the one hand, Hamas rules Gaza like any government does — it has a health system, an education system, a secu...
Haviv Rettig Gur on Palestinian radicalism - was 10/7 just another turn of the dial?
31 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In recent days, we have been shocked to read the details in the New York Times investigative piece titled: “Hamas weaponized sexual violence on Octo...
From Hamas to Hezbollah to the Houtis & beyond — with Bret Stephens
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation analyzing how the October 7 War is expanding beyond...
A Shift in the War - with Haviv Rettig Gur
24 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Hamas-Israel War, nearing its three month mark, is now the longest war in Israel’s history since Israel’s War of Independence (1948/49). The ...
An insider’s account of the Harvard Antisemitism Committee — with Rabbi David Wolpe
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Understanding where and how antisemitism has come to exist at an institution like Harvard is the focus of today’s conversation. We will hear the per...
The Two-State Solution - with Haviv Rettig Gur
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are increasingly hearing from policymakers in the U.S. and around the world about re-starting the path to a two-state solution after the war. That ...
What starts with the Jews, rarely ends with just the Jews - with Yuval Levin
16 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On previous episodes of this podcast we’ve discussed the origins and history of antisemitism. But what does this antisemitic moment tell us about so...
The 'Day After' in Gaza - with Haviv Rettig Gur
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel, we discuss Israel's current thinking about what a post-Hamas Gaza might loo...
Would Gazans rise up against Hamas? - with Amos Harel
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we get an update on the IDF operation in South Gaza, what Israel is learning about the Gaza tunnel system, what Israelis are learning through fu...
Hamas’s psychological warfare — with Haviv Rettig Gur
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel, we discuss the volatility in Israel, as Israelis pivoted from fighting the ...
Haley's path & Biden's only move - with Mike Murphy
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are two storylines we have been following closely that are not necessarily shaped by the minute-to-minute developments in Israel, but their outc...
Douglas Murray debunks 5 lies about Israel
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Douglas Murray, a British writer and commentator, has been on the ground in Israel for about a month, covering the war as a reporter and analyst. He w...
Lessons learned from the hostage deal - with Haviv Rettig Gur
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today is our weekly check-in with Haviv Rettig Gur of The Times of Israel. We discuss early lessons that Haviv is identifying for Israeli leaders and ...
The hostage deal: a new phase in the war - with Amos Harel
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Amos Harel has been the military correspondent and defense analyst for Israel's Haaretz newspaper for 25 years. He is among the most well-sourced and ...
The Price of Israeli Hostages - with Haviv Rettig Gur
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Jerusalem to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical ...
A conversation with Yonit Levi & Jonathan Freedland
18 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode -- which we recorded just after the historic rally in Washington, DC and as we approached the sixth Shabbat since October 7th -- I hav...
Anshel Pfeffer - Embedded in Gaza
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 5:45 am on Thursday, November 16 in New York City. It’s 12:45 pm in Israel. Early this morning, I spoke with Anshel Pfeffer, who is just ba...
Flipping the Script -- with Haviv Rettig Gur
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Jerusalem to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical ...
Israeli Resilience, Pre- & Post-10/07 - with Liel Leibovitz
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is a crossover episode with Liel Leibovitz in which we jointly release a conversation on the Call Me Back podcast feed and the Tablet Magazine's ...
American Jews on the Left, post-October 7th
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", which...
30 days, 3 pressure points - with Haviv Rettig Gur
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week we release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World", w...
BIDEN: "Don't!" / NASRALLAH: "I hear you." - emergency episode with Dr. Matthew Levitt
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We just had a conversation with Dr. Matthew Levitt, an expert on Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah, getting his immediate reaction and analysis on Nasral...
Understanding Israel's battlefields (& U.S. involvement) - with Dr. Fred Kagan
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Next week we will release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent Worl...
Antisemitism. Everywhere.
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Next week we will release the new book by Saul Singer and me: "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent Worl...
A post-October 7th security doctrine for Israel - with Haviv Rettig Gur
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Israel to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical con...
The Ground Operation Begins/End of hostage negotiations? — with Avi Issacharoff
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Avi Issacharoff returns for an urgent update on overnight developments and their implications. Avi has been an analyst and journalist for The Times o...
A brief history of Hezbollah - with Dr. Matthew Levitt
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Much like our earlier episode on the history of Hamas, today we look at the history of Hezbollah, an even greater threat to Israel than Hamas. Our gue...
The Oldest Hatred... Post-October 7 - with Ritchie Torres, Michal Cotler Wunsh & Ethan Missner
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Among the questions we've been getting since October 7 are those about antisemitism. Does this time feel different? Why? Or, another question, when is...
The Fog of Waiting - with Haviv Rettig Gur
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur returns for our weekly conversation from Israel to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical con...
Forecasting the war’s path ahead - with Michael Oren
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode will be the first of a few conversations in which we touch on the range of directions this October 7th war could go (especially when cons...
The Laws of War — with Matt Waxman
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In President Biden’s address from the Oval Office, we continue to hear calls for Israel to respect the laws of war. In recent days, we have also hea...
Public sentiment on the eve of invasion - with Haviv Rettig Gur
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur returns to our podcast to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. He will be a weekly...
The Gazan Battlefield — with Avi Issacharoff
15 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we consider to what to expect when the IDF enters Gaza. Avi Issacharoff has been an analyst and journalist for The Times of Israel, Walla, and ...
The October Massacre changes... Everything - with Elliott Abrams
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode with Elliott Abrams, we provide additional detail on the history of Israel-Gaza/Hamas — this time from a White House insider on U.S....
The world unites against Hamas... for now - with Yaakov Katz
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For analysis of the Israeli Government's formation of a (Netanyahu/Gantz) unity government and war cabinet, preparations for the invasion of Gaza, and...
The history of Hamas, and its likely grim future - with Jonathan Schanzer
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We have been getting a lot of questions about the history of Hamas, its ideological roots and objectives, its allies and rivalries, how it wound up in...
ISRAEL AT WAR: The multi-front probability - with Bret Stephens
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation immediately on Day III of this war. Bret came to ...
ISRAEL AT WAR: The Hostage Dilemma - with Haviv Rettig Gur
08 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Haviv Rettig Gur returns to our podcast to provide real-time reporting and analysis on the war, and invaluable historical context. His insights on how...
Karl Rove on our new (or not so new) political dysfunction
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One day we’re talking about the 2024 presidential election being a re-match of the 2020 election. The next day we’re watching the Speaker of the U...
Who will tell Biden? The dread of 2024 - with A.B. Stoddard
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many Democratic activists, strategists, donors, officeholders, and party leaders are privately discussing the weaknesses of President Biden's candidac...
What's with the GOP & these debates? - with Eliana Johnson
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What to make of the most recent presidential debates? What to make of what we're learning from these debates? What to make of the media's coverage of ...
What's with Republicans & Ukraine? - with Aaron MacLean
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why is U.S. assistance for Ukraine being held up in Congress? What is at stake for the U.S.? Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for ...
Will Saudi Arabia's MBS save Israel from its political crack-up? With Micah Goodman
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are you pessimistic about Israel’s future? My new book – which I wrote with my "Start-Up Nation" co-author Saul Singer – should give you reason ...
Unprecedented polarization, or has Israel been here before? With Meir Soloveichik
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Items discussed in this episode:“The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent“ Worldwww.amazon.com/Genius-Is...
Can we be optimistic about Israel? With Yossi Klein Halevi
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today is a special episode in which I preview some of the questions we try to answer in our new book, The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience ...
Mohamed El-Erian on B-R-I-C-S (& J-E-T-S)
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Mohamed El-Erian returns to the podcast to discuss the implications of the recent announcement of the expansion of BRICS, China's economy and poss...
The inner workings of an untold (Iran) deal - with Rich Goldberg
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Back in July, we dedicated an episode to the question of whether the U.S. was on the cusp of reaching a new deal with Iran. Or was an unofficial deal ...
A peek into a Trumpless election, or just a mirage? With Kristen Soltis Anderson
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kristen Soltis Anderson is a GOP pollster, messaging strategist, and Founding Partner of Echelon Insights, an opinion research and analytics firm that...
Yevgeny Prigozhin falls from the sky
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Special episode with Dr. Fred Kagan on the Russia-Ukraine war (and Putin's hold on power). Fred is the Director of the Critical Threats Project at ...
Why China is studying America’s Forgotten War - with Rep. Mike Gallagher
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is a lot these days to discuss with a US official who is an expert on China and has major influence over US-China policy. But today we take a lo...
The Summer of Geopolitical Heat - with Walter Russell Mead
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout modern history, there were major wars that were triggered by fits of inattention or inadvertence. In retrospect, these moments can seem obv...
Mike Murphy on Plan B for 2024
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Each national political party should be thinking about their Plan B for the 2024 presidential election. Mike Murphy returns to the podcast to discuss ...
Is Israeli society collapsing, or just growing up?
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One week ago, Israel’s parliament passed the first pillar of its judicial reform package. This, despite 30 weeks of massive protests against the ref...
A techno-skeptic on the A.I. revolution - with Christine Rosen
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Christine Rosen is skeptical of all the techno-optimism around the coming era of artificial intelligence. In this episode, she responds to our rec...
The (Iran) deal that shall not be named - with Rich Goldberg
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is the US on the cusp of reaching a new deal with Iran? Or has a deal already been hatched that nobody is talking about? To help us understand what is...
Cracks in the Kremlin? With Fred Kagan
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Does Putin’s hold on power now look stronger or weaker? What can we learn about where the Russia-Ukraine war is heading? And what is actually happen...
Contrarian take on the Wagner Putsch - with Richard Fontaine
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, launched a rebellion, coup or putsch against Moscow. It's still hard to dis...
SELECTS: The American College Crack-Up - with Niall Ferguson
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this special re-published episode, we revisit a captivating conversation that resonated deeply with our audience, offering new listeners an opportu...
"Losers Don't Come to Their College Reunions" -- with Bruce Feiler
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
These days there are lots of conversations about the re-shaping of the workforce as a result of the pandemic. Bruce Feiler is just out with a new bo...
Bret Stephens teaches college grads to argue!
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, returns for a conversation immediately following his address at the University...
Optimism, AI (and the end of homework!) - with Tyler Cowen
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s guest is surprisingly upbeat about the world. A big factor in his optimism is the revolution in artificial intelligence that we’re about ...
Highest Risk: 2025-2026 - with HR McMaster
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Upon graduation from the US Military Academy in 1984, HR McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the US Army for thirty-four years. He retired a...
The Invisible Primary - with Mike Murphy
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we go deep on the current phase (the invisible primary) of the 2024 presidential primaries with Mike Murphy, who has worked on a numb...
How do we know if a country is a success? Israel at 75, with Daniel Gordis
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Items discussed in this episode"Impossible Takes Longer":https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/impossible-takes-longer-daniel-gordis/1141759170 "Netanyahu...
The *real* tensions inside Israel — with Micah Goodman
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 16 weeks, Israel has experienced one of the biggest protest movements since its founding. On the surface, these protests were about prop...
IRAN - pariah no more? with Mark Dubowitz
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today we sit down in Israel with Mark Dubowitz, who is the CEO of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), at a time that Saudi Arabia is ...
Broken schools, newsrooms, governments & other institutions — Fixable or forever broken? with Alana Newhouse
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Brokenism", by Alana Newhouse - https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/brokenism-alana-newhouse“The Vanishing”, by Jacob Savage - https...
"Silver Linings" in Israel's crisis? with Yaakov Katz
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yaakov Katz – Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post and a former advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett – returns to our podcast. Earl...
Special Episode: Update on Israel's political crisis
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode we play a conversation that Dan recently had on the Commentary Magazine podcast on the current crisis, how Israel got here and...
US-China De-escalation? (& the latest on covid's origin) -- with Josh Rogin
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is the US Government trying to re-engage and bring down the temperature with China? Why right now? And what about the resurgent findings on the possi...
"Did we break Iraq?" with Eli Lake
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago this past week, on March 19, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq, marking the second time the U.S. fought a war in Iraq in just over...
China Surprise: Saudi-Iranian Detente
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
China just announced that it had brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations, for the first time since they were off...
Western ideas at their best & why they're under attack - with Eric Cohen
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Cohen is the CEO of Tikvah. He was the founder and remains editor-at-large of the New Atlantis, and he serves as the publisher of Mosaic. Eric ha...
What does Biden mean by “as long as it takes”? - with Richard Fontaine
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the topic of geopolitics, international flashpoints and the state of the war, a surprisingly optimistic Richard Fontaine returns to our podcast. Ri...
Niall Ferguson: How Cold War II Turns Hot
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Niall Ferguson returns to the podcast to look at how the current Cold War could turn hot. Niall has taught at Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford an...
Bonus Episode: Check-in on the Abraham Accords - with Aryeh Lightstone
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Abraham Accords were signed in September 2020. This agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, marked the first full normaliz...