Israelis Are Not Watching the Same War You Are
About this episode
Fresh from Israel and the West Bank, Klein interviews Amit Segal — Israel's widely cited voice on the right — on the day Benny Gantz resigned from the war cabinet. Segal says Gantz's departure changes little for the coalition but reflects deeper fractures. His main claim: Israel's left has collapsed — roughly 65% of the public now defines itself as right-leaning — because the left's two historic promises, social justice and a negotiated two-state solution, lost credibility after the Lebanon (2000) and Gaza (2005) withdrawals, and October 7 put the final stamp on that. On security, Segal describes a post-October 7 consensus for sustained Israeli control of Gaza rather than 'managed containment,' sees little difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (citing 'pay for slay' payments and the PA's fragility), and accepts a likely northern war with Hezbollah. He also discusses Saudi normalization and Netanyahu-Biden relations.