Israel’s Constitutional Moment

Israeli politics for an American audience.

By
36

Israel is undergoing a sea change. The battle over a judicial overhaul hides much deeper national schisms. The Times of Israel Senior Political Analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins Senior Producer Adaam James Levin-Areddy to try and make sense of the mess. Will the reform fix or break Israeli democracy? Why doesn’t Israel have a constitution? Why are elite military volunteers joining the protest? Does Benjamin Netanyahu have a plan? Is the Israeli left dead? Is the Israeli right broken? And what does “right and left” even mean? (Not what it means in the U.S, that’s for sure!)

Show notes:

–Gur’s profile at the Times of Israel

–The Morning Dispatch’s latest coverage of the overhaul

–Who is Itamar Ben Gvir? (A Dispatch Podcast explainer) 

By
Comments (36)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Leslie

    WOW. What a conversation. I’m just getting around to listening to this, and am so grateful for the insight and the passion in the explanations. I am also always more grateful for the vision of our founders when I hear of the contrasts of our system of government with other systems (or “systems” as the case is here).

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    Ok, I finally got around to listening to this podcast episode after Jonah gave it a shout-out on the Ruminant podcast.

    I had thought this might be repetitive for me, because I had heard Gur on Jay Nordlinger's podcast a few months ago, so I already was aware of the basics.

    But in this podcast he went further into the historical background involved, and Adaam obviously having some understanding of Israeli politics himself, also made for additional insights.

    The Israeli Left actually being very patriotic and accounting for much of the human power of elite military divisions, certainly was a tad surprising. (Although it seems that in the US, portions of the Right now seems to be turning against the military as "too woke" or whatever, so maybe negative partisanship will result in parts of the Left suddenly having a strange new respect for the military?)

    And although obviously there are many differences between Israeli and US politics, the cowardice of elected officials pandering to the base with policies they know the courts will strike down, and therefore they can blame the courts for those policies not actually being enacted, certainly seemed relevant.

    I also appreciated how Gur ended on a hopeful, positive note despite all the turmoil. That forward looking attitude is all too rare these days, even at TD. I hope TD will invite him back.

    Collapse
  3. Marisilverstein

    Wow. That was amazing for its clarity and insight. Thank you.

    Collapse
  4. Tomandpam2

    Excellent Podcast. I learned more about Israeli government in an hour than I had in 52 years on Earth.

    Collapse
  5. Lucius S

    This is a really well done episode Adam. I've only heard from conservative Jews here in America through other podcasts what this current issues is about from their eyes, but this was a great explainer of what the issue is from both sides, and how both sides arrived at this point in time.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    Travis M

    This was a great episode! I've enjoyed the foreign affairs podcast interviews that you guys have been putting out recently!

    Keep up the good work!

    Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    Dsfelty

    Finally got around to listening. Thank you TD, Adaam, and Gur! May have to listen a 2nd time, but this old set-in-his- ways guy is not too old to learn new stuff.

    Collapse
  8. Avatar photo
    Andy Napoli

    Fantastic podcast. Extremely helpful

    Collapse
  9. Avatar photo
    Seth B

    This was outstanding. One of the best podcast episodes I have heard on the Dispatch - and I have been listening to TD's podcasts regularly for the better part of four years. I will probably listen to this one again.

    I sincerely hope that Gur's optimistic vision at the end may prove prophetic. Many thanks, Adaam, for bringing him on the podcast.

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    David.Cann1

    Thank you for a thorough discussion of this subject and it’s history for a clueless American!

    Collapse
Load More