Podcast: Ran Baratz on the Roots of Israeli Angst

The Israeli journalist stops by to talk about the deeper emotions at play on all sides of the current civil crisis, and how they can be addressed.




An anti-government activist talks with an ultra-Orthodox man during a protest in Bnei Brak, Israel, on August 24, 2023. Oren Ziv/picture alliance via Getty Images.
An anti-government activist talks with an ultra-Orthodox man during a protest in Bnei Brak, Israel, on August 24, 2023. Oren Ziv/picture alliance via Getty Images.
Observation
Aug. 25 2023
About the authors

A weekly podcast, produced in partnership with the Tikvah Fund, offering up the best thinking on Jewish thought and culture.

Ran Baratz is founder of the Hebrew-language conservative magazine Mida, the author of a weekly column for the newspaper Makor Rishon, and teaches at various academic and educational institutions in Israel.

Podcast: Ran Baratz

 

Starting in January of this year, there have been popular protests each week in Israel. On Saturday night, when Shabbat comes to a close, hundreds and thousands of people go into the streets protesting the government and its policies, chief among them judicial reform. Yet it was plain from the beginning that the protests were about more than judicial reform—that the lens of judicial reform isn’t adequate to fully understand the deeper emotions on all sides of this civil crisis.

Ran Baratz is the founding editor of the Israeli magazine Mida and a regular contributor to the conservative newspaper Makor Rishon. Speaking here with Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver, he tries to understand what’s really happening now in Israel. If the events of the last six months are not just about judicial reform, then what are they about? And how can any deeper sources of Israeli animosity be understood and addressed? For those who support the protestors, here’s a chance to learn how some Israeli conservatives actually think. For those who oppose the protestors, here’s a chance to think about their motivations sympathetically. Both endeavors are fitting for democratic citizens of the same nation, and their friends around the world.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

 

More about: Israel & Zionism, Israeli Judicial Reform, Politics & Current Affairs