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Decision Points is a Washington Institute podcast on key moments in Israel's history and present. The first season focused on the history of U.S. Israel relations, the second season examined key Israeli and Arab leaders, and the third season shifted the focus to Israel's toughest contemporary policy dilemmas. Season 4 of the podcast highlights a set of books which are essential to understanding the U.S.-Israel relationship and the history of Zionism and Israel. In each episode, authors will ...
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Thought-provoking. Empathetic. Forward-thinking. In a media environment so divided along cultural and ideological lines, this podcast is here to help you see the important issues of our time in a deeper, more complex and honest way. Buckle up, get ready to be both intrigued and baffled by our country and the world's most complicated challenges.
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The Judiciary Debate and the Future of Israeli Democracy
1:10:33
1:10:33
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Host David Makovsky is joined by Prof. Yedidia Stern, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute and former dean of the law faculty at Bar-Ilan University, and Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, Israel’s former attorney-general and the recently retired deputy president of its Supreme Court. After breaking down the history and structure of Israel’s ju…
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Grappling with the Direction of the New Netanyahu Government
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1:04:42
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In the season finale, David is joined by Ben Caspit, columnist and author of The Netanyahu Years, and David Horovitz, the founding editor of The Times of Israel, to discuss Israel's returning prime minister and his controversial right-wing government. David and the guests break down the keys to Binyamin Netanyahu's long-lasting political career, th…
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Combating Anti-Semitism in the Middle East and Beyond
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39:48
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David is joined by acclaimed historian Deborah Lipstadt, appointed by President Biden as the State Department's Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism. The two discuss the state of contemporary anti-Semitism, reflect upon the role of the Holocaust in Israel, and draw takeaways from Lipstadt's travels to the Gulf and Morocco. Hoste…
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Rabbi Kook: Founding Religious Zionism and Those Who Seek to Subvert His Legacy Today
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54:49
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In this episode, host David Makovsky welcomes Yehudah Mirsky, professor of Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University, faculty member of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, and author of Rav Kook: Mystic in a Time of Revolution. The two discuss the ideology of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, founder of Religious Zionism, and how his te…
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Too Much History and Too Little Geography: A Conversation Across the Israeli-Palestinian Societal Divide
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48:53
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Yossi Klein Halevi, Shalom Hartman Institute fellow and author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, joins the podcast to discuss Israeli-Palestinian coexistence with Yousef Bashir, Director of Research & Operations for the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and author of The Words of My Father. Halevi and Bashir share personal experie…
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An Insider's View of the Carter White House: Negotiations with Sadat, Begin, and Assad
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56:33
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David Makovsky hosts veteran diplomat Stuart Eizenstat, who served as Jimmy Carter’s chief domestic policy advisor and whose book President Carter: The White House Years provides an unparalleled view of the administration’s Middle East decisionmaking. In this episode, David and Stuart discuss the Camp David Accords, U.S.-led negotiations with Syria…
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Kissinger’s Middle East: Limiting Moscow and Starting a Road to Peace
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47:12
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David Makovsky hosts Martin Indyk, Washington’s former peace envoy and ambassador to Israel, to discuss his recent book Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy. The conversation will focus on Kissinger’s Middle East strategy from the 1973 war to the beginnings of the peace process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri…
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Jabotinsky and the Birth of the Israeli Right
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49:07
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Hillel Halkin, author of Jabotinsky: A Life, joins host David Makovsky to discuss Russian Zionist thinker Zeev Jabotinsky and the origins of the Revisionist movement, which has shaped a great deal of Israel’s political thought over the decades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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David Ben-Gurion: Leader of the Young State Confronts Momentous Decisions
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56:59
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David Ben-Gurion's term as Israel's prime minister marked not only a new era for the Jewish people, but a starkly different chapter in his own life. Anita Shapira, the author of Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel, joins the podcast to discuss the challenges and accomplishments of this time, from immigration and Labor party politics to German repar…
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Herzl’s Chutzpah: Unpacking a Founder’s Vision
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45:25
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Shlomo Avineri, the author of Herzl's Vision: Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Jewish State, discusses the father of modern Zionism and his legacy. Avineri is director of the Institute for European Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
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Genesis of American Support for Israel: The Gentile Push for a Jewish State
1:02:17
1:02:17
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Walter Russell Mead, the author of The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, discusses the centuries-long history of Zionism in America, the hurdles Truman overcame to recognize the state of Israel, and the evolution of Israel’s role in U.S. domestic politics. Mead is a columnist for the Wall Street Journa…
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This season of Decision Points will mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding by highlighting some of the finest and most cutting-edge books on Zionism, the U.S.-Israel relationship, and Arab-Israeli relations. Each episode will feature in-depth interviews with a group of authors that includes key diplomats and distinguished historian…
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Can the Bennett-Lapid Government Last, and Who Comes After Abbas?
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53:28
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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit to the White House this week is a timely reminder of potentially new political dynamics in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israeli has just exited the whirlwind of four elections in two years, replacing long-serving Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu with an extraordinarily diverse coalition. Meanwhile, the…
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The Abraham Accords One Year Later: Can They Change the Middle East?
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43:58
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August 13 marked the first anniversary of the breakthrough normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates—a deal followed shortly by accords with Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. In addition to strong U.S. mediation, several broader forces brought these countries together, including mutual concerns about Iran, Arab recognition of h…
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One State or Two States? Trends in Israeli and Palestinian Public Opinion
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In recent years, public support for the two-state solution has continued to erode on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Each party suspects that the other has completely given up on the idea, further weakening the political will and public trust needed to preserve it. Can leaders lead the public on this issue, or does the public lead the…
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Over the past two decades, China has increasingly challenged America’s economic and political influence in the Middle East, including in Israel. At the same time, Washington remains Jerusalem’s strongest ally and patron, which raises questions about how the U.S. relationship affects Israel’s policies toward Beijing. On one hand, Chinese investment …
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After decades of energy dependence, Israel discovered offshore natural gas reserves that have fundamentally changed its energy dynamics and led it to deepen ties across the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The country is suddenly a net energy exporter to Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinians, while Gulf states have shown preliminary indications tha…
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Hezbollah and Israel: Between Deterrence and Deterioration
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Since the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel and Hezbollah have not engaged in major hostilities. Yet while mutual deterrence has averted all-out war, this uneasy truce is weakening. At home in Lebanon, Hezbollah is facing a dire economic and political crisis. Moreover, the group still seeks to convert some of its estimated 140,000 rockets into precision-gui…
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Putin, Israel, and the Calculated Limits of a Bilateral Relationship
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For decades, Israel and Russia stood on opposite ends of an ideological divide. During the Soviet era, Moscow not only supported Israel’s enemies economically and militarily, but also sought to stamp out any connection between Russian citizens and Israel, refusing millions the right to emigrate. Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, however, relations…
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Since 2015, Iranian forces have increasingly entrenched themselves in Syria as part of a broader effort to bolster the rule of Bashar al-Assad. As this effort began to unfold, Israel feared reenacting the cautionary tale of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where indecision over rooting out the Tehran-backed terrorist group proved to be a decision in itself. T…
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In May, after tensions escalated in Jerusalem, Hamas and Israel broke a two-year ceasefire and were drawn into war. The crisis reminded the world that the ideological differences between the sides are vast. Are Israel and Hamas doomed to face each other every few years? How much of a game-changer was this round of fighting for them, the UN, and key…
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The United States, Israel, and the Iranian Nuclear Program
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World attention has focused on the prospects of the United States and Iran finding terms that enable them to return to their 2015 nuclear deal. Yet what does this mean for all the unanswered challenges that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken say are essential to address in a “longer and stronger” follow-on agreement? How will the United…
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This season of Decision Points features episodes on Israel's toughest contemporary policy dilemmas requiring courageous leadership and creative thinking. Topics range from the aftermath of the Gaza conflict to the Israeli-Russian relationship. Each episode will explore a thorny policy issue as well as its context, trajectory, and Israel's options. …
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Ep. 31 Speechwriting for Mayor Pete Buttigieg & more w/ Zev Karlin-Neumann
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How do you write a speech for VP-Elect Kamala Harris? Or Amb. Susan Rice? Or Pete Buttigieg? What happens if you disagree with the person you are writing speeches for? What’s it like to write speeches on the road for an upstart presidential candidate? With Zev Karlin-Neumann, we address these questions and more. Karlin-Neumann was the chief speechw…
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Ep. 30 Understanding the Hispanic Vote w/ Stephania Taladrid
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53:43
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Although it has only been a few weeks, one of the major surprises from this year’s presidential election is the rise of support for President Trump in the Hispanic community. Conversely, Latino organizations such as LUCHA, a grassroots political advocacy and social services provider for Hispanics in Arizona, have newfound strength having helped Pre…
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Inside the Normalization Agreements Between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain
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For the final episode of the season, the podcast focuses on a very significant step for Israel: the recent normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Unlike with past peace partners Egypt and Jordan, Israel never fought either Gulf country on the battlefield. However, converging regional thinking, economic incentives, and s…
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