What Israelis Fear the World Does Not Understand
About this episode
In a conversation recorded after the October 7 Hamas attacks, Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi examines how the assault shattered the unwritten pact between Israel's government and its citizens, creating what he describes as an existential crisis of deterrence and protection. Drawing on his own service in Gaza during the first intifada, he traces how the uprisings pushed Israelis in opposite directions — the first toward the Oslo process, the second, marked by suicide bombings, toward the right. Halevi argues the occupation is morally untenable yet fears a Palestinian state could become a platform for further attacks, leaving Israelis torn between two existential anxieties. He expresses deep distrust of Benjamin Netanyahu while retaining faith in the military, weighs whether Hamas can truly be destroyed, and reflects on civilian suffering, rising antisemitism, and the fraying bond between Israel and the diaspora.