Best Amir Factor Podcasts (2025)

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'Hope is a political choice': MK Gilad Kariv on the fight for democracy and Reform Judaism in Netanyahu’s wartime Israel 26:24

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3d ago26:24

26:24

Religious extremism and intolerance of liberal Judaism has spread from the ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist parties into the mainstream of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, MK Gilad Kariv said on the Haaretz Podcast. “This is not the Likud that we knew 10 or 20 years ago,” he said. “Any attempt to differentiate the Likud from the…

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Behind the scenes of the explosive Haaretz 'killing field' Gaza expose that Netanyahu called a 'blood libel' 26:13

7d ago26:13

26:13

An explosive expose by Haaretz featured testimonies from IDF soldiers and officers that they were ordered to use live fire to disperse thousands of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza who had crowded the handful of stations set up to distribute humanitarian aid. The story grabbed international attention, and sparked fury among top Israeli officials, inclu…

1
Why 'emboldened' Jewish settlers are now attacking Israeli soldiers in the West Bank 27:05

10d ago27:05

27:05

Destructive attacks on Palestinian communities by West Bank settlers “emboldened” by support from powerful far right-wing figures in the Netanyahu government have received little attention as the country has focused on the war in Gaza and the recent clash with Iran. Last week, dozens of settlers descended upon Kafr Malik, a Palestinian town north o…

1
Trump forced an end to the Iran war. Is Israel's war in Gaza next? 25:56

14d ago25:56

25:56

Israel’s military achievements in its war with Iran will mean little if they are not “anchored to a diplomatic agreement that will ensure that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons,” Shira Efron, research director of the Israel Policy Forum, said on the Haaretz Podcast. Without such a guarantee, she fears, the “fragile cease-fire” in place will not…

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Tel Aviv's underground tent cities: How Israelis found refuge from Iranian missiles 34:18

17d ago34:18

34:18

Israel's decision to attack "regime targets" in Iran like Evin prison, and its open desire to encourage an overthrow of Ayatollah Ali Khameini's government is misguided and potentially dangerous, a top expert on Iran said on the Haaretz Podcast. "I have serious doubts that something positive will come out of it," said Danny Citrinowicz, a senior re…

1
Israel and Iran at war: 'Trump and Netanyahu set a trap for the Iranians' 31:17

22d ago31:17

31:17

The sweeping military success of the IDF's surprise preemptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities coupled with the devastating retaliatory ballistic missile strikes have left Israelis "feeling triumphant and scared at the same time," columnist Amir Tibon said on the Haaretz Podcast, adding that "the vast majority of the public in Israel suppo…

1
Israel and Iran at war: 'The missile hit and we waited to die' 33:16

24d ago33:16

33:16

In a special podcast on the new and devastating conflict between Israel and Iran, host Allison Kaplan Sommer talks to Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel, who assesses the initial military achievements, the high price of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch a preemptive strike on the Islamic Republic and the likelihood of t…

51
Wedding wars: Inside the battle over Netanyahu's son's lavish celebration 22:30

27d ago22:30

22:30

Plans by anti-war protesters to disrupt the wedding of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Avner have turned the festivities into the focus of controversy in Israel, said Haaretz journalist Rachel Fink, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. The protests reflect an attempt to send a message that holding such a celebration as war continues in Gaza, re…

1
'I'm a journalist. I’ve run out of words to describe what we Israelis are doing to Gaza' 25:27

30d ago25:27

25:27

Israel’s new controversial aid initiative in Gaza and its support for the Abu Shabab criminal gang rivaling Hamas share the common goal of helping Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prolong the war, journalist Nir Hasson said on the Haaretz Podcast. “Netanyahu must preserve the radical right-wing fantasy of ethnic cleansing in Gaza for political sur…

1
'Israelis are furious': Netanyahu's Bugs Bunny cross-examination and the prospect of new elections 23:51

1M ago23:51

23:51

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began facing cross-examination by prosecutors in his criminal trial, the majority of Israelis are much more focused on “life-and-death” issues as the Gaza war wears on, Haaretz columnist and public opinion expert Dahlia Scheindlin said on the Haaretz Podcast. The subdued level of public interest “highlights how …

1
'Panic among U.S. Jews was already at fever pitch. Now it's a five-alarm fire' 25:37

1M ago25:37

25:37

Internal political debates between American Jewish organizations have ground to a halt following the violent attacks in Washington and Boulder, with the community united and focused squarely on safety, Haaretz's Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels said on the Haaretz Podcast. "Acts like this are just so unimpeachably antisemitic that there re…

1
'He called out Bibi's bluff': Within days of Oct. 7, this hostage's father spoke out against Netanyahu's war 27:59

1M ago27:59

27:59

Early on, it was clear the Beinin-Atzili family was not a typical hostage family, filmmaker Brandon Kramer, director of the new award-winning documentary “Holding Liat” said on the Haaretz Podcast. After learning that his relatives, Liat and Aviv Atzili, had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and held hostage by Hamas, and that Liat’s …

1
'It’s crazy for American Jews to need metal detectors, armed guards and SWAT teams to feel safe' 32:20

1M ago32:20

32:20

The shootings of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky as they stepped out of an American Jewish Committee event in Washington D.C. was “the realization of our worst fears,” the organization’s CEO, Ted Deutch, said on the Haaretz Podcast. In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Deutch said he hoped the tragedy would mark a “turning point”…

1
'We have to find ways to live here together': Why this Israeli author wrote an 'unheroic war diary' 28:39

2M ago28:39

28:39

Since October 7 and throughout the endless months of the tragedy of the Gaza War, "fiction writing has felt impossible," Israeli author Dror Mishani said on the Haaretz Podcast. "There are too many tragedies around us." Mishani is Israel's premier writer of crime novels and a successful screenwriter. His work has been translated into more than 20 l…

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'Netanyahu's vision of victory in Gaza is more Stalin than Churchill' 30:13

2M ago30:13

30:13

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fancies himself as Israel's Winston Churchill, when in fact, the Gaza war has demonstrated he is exactly the opposite of Great Britain's storied leader, asserted Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist, former Haaretz analyst and a Netanyahu biographer, on the Haaretz Podcast. "We shouldn't be making…

1
Laura Rozen on what Trump's 'made-for-TV diplomacy' means for Israel and the Middle East 22:57

2M ago22:57

22:57

It was clear during U.S. President Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf states that his foreign policy is in a very "different place" than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's, Washington-based veteran diplomatic journalist Laura Rozen said on the Haaretz Podcast, pointing to the growing divergence in interests between the White House and Israel'…

1
'Qatar, please give Sara Netanyahu a plane too, in exchange for ending the war and saving hostages' 22:01

2M ago22:01

22:01

Announcing the release of Edan Alexander – the last living Israeli hostage in Gaza with U.S. citizenship – U.S. President Donald Trump did something he never did before, Haaretz columnist Amir Tibon said on the Haaretz podcast. “Trump has spoken before releasing hostages, but this is the first time that he explicitly called to end the 'brutal war' …