logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2024
1h 16m

Israel vs. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran — and ...

NEW YORK TIMES OPINION
About this episode

It’s been almost a year since Oct. 7. More than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza are dead. The hostages are not all home, and it doesn’t look like there will be a cease-fire deal that brings them home anytime soon. Israeli politics is deeply divided, and the country’s international reputation is in tatters. The Palestinian Authority is weak. A war may break out in Lebanon soon. There is no vision for the day after and no theory of what comes next.

So I wanted to talk to David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker. Remnick has been reporting from Israel for decades and has a deep familiarity and history with both the region and the politics and the people who are driving it. He first profiled Benjamin Netanyahu back in 1998. In 2013, he profiled Naftali Bennett, the politician leading Netanyahu in polls of who Israelis think is best suited to be prime minister. And he recently profiled Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas in Gaza.

In this conversation, we talk about what Remnick learned profiling Netanyahu, Bennett and Sinwar, as well as where Israel’s overlapping conflicts with Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Hezbollah and Iran sit after nearly a year of war. Remnick and I were both recently in Israel and the West Bank, as well as near Israel’s border with Lebanon, and we discuss our impressions from those trips.

Mentioned:

Notes from Underground” by David Remnick

The Party Faithful” by David Remnick

The Outsider” by David Remnick

The Bibi Files

Book Recommendations:

Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam

These Truths by Jill Lepore

Cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Elias Isquith. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Up next
Yesterday
How the Attention Economy Is Devouring Gen Z — and the Rest of Us
Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani are both proof of how the ability to capture attention is power. And the attention economy isn’t reshaping just politics; it’s also reshaping the actual economy: the crypto market, A.I. venture capital, and how people, especially Gen Z, are making ... Show More
1h 5m
Jul 2
The Disaster That Just Passed the Senate
President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is a bad piece of legislation. It includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts that are very much tilted toward the rich, along with savage cuts to Medicaid, nutrition assistance and green energy.And on Tuesday, July 1, the Senate passed it in ... Show More
1h 11m
Jun 28
Mamdani, Trump and the End of the Old Politics
Zohran Mamdani created a new anti-establishment playbook — in his use of social video, his focus on affordability and his position on Israel. His assumed victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, trouncing the former governor Andrew Cuomo, was one of the biggest poli ... Show More
1h 24m
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2024
How has Israeli society shifted since October 7?
Even as Israelis have grown more critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last year, their complaints have been largely disconnected from Palestinian suffering. With a society shifting farther to the right and a media landscape that echoes the government’s narrative ... Show More
21m 38s
Oct 2024
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that Iran “will pay” after it fired about 200 ballistic missiles at military targets last night. When it comes to retaliation, the US President Joe Biden says he does not support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. Meanwhile, on ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 2024
Netanyahu corruption trial looms, Israel bombs Beirut
We are coming to you on Sundays with weekly roundups as Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon continues. Israeli attacks on displaced Palestinians continued. A U. S. deadline for Israel to allow more aid to Gaza passed. Israel struck Beirut every day this week. It is day 408 of the wa ... Show More
6m 21s
Jul 2024
Israel bombs Yemen, ICJ rules Israeli occupation illegal
We are coming to you on Sundays with weekly roundups as Israel's war on Gaza continues. Israel struck Yemen. Polio was detected in Gaza. The International Court of Justice said Israel's occupation of Palestinian land is illegal. Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington. ... Show More
6m 28s
Feb 2025
500 days on, how Hamas survived Israel’s war on Gaza
Hamas has survived 500 days of relentless bombardment, defying Israel's repeated vows to destroy it. Despite its losses, including assassinations of prominent leaders, Hamas is intact, manning checkpoints, coordinating aid, and releasing Israeli captives. How does Hamas continue ... Show More
23m 4s
Sep 2024
Israel kills Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
We are coming to you on Sundays with weekly roundups as Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon continues.  On Friday, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. It is day 359 of the war in Gaza, where more than 42,586 Palestinians have been killed. In this episode: Zei ... Show More
8m 25s
Jul 2024
Golan strike kills 12 Israelis, Israel attacks Khan Younis
We are coming to you on Sundays with weekly roundups as Israel's war on Gaza continues. Rockets killed 12 Israelis in the occupied Golan Heights. Residents of Khan Yunis were trapped under buildings as an Israeli offensive there continued. Israel again struck schools housing disp ... Show More
5m 50s