Israel & Zionism
We should appreciate Theodor Herzl’s lightning-storm emergence, even if we’ll never really know what caused it.
From the soil of tsarist autocracy, no Jewish political leaders could grow. Herzl, by contrast, exuded the spirit of modern, fin-de-siècle Europe.
Historian, ambassador, public servant—Oren’s done it all. Now, after the publication of a new book of fiction, he joins us to talk about his multifaceted career.
Marriage in Israel has always been allowed during lockdown, even amid the very highest infection rates. So, as quarantine loomed, my then-fiancé and I went on with our plans.
Though he was blessed with extraordinary charisma, Herzl was filled with inner turmoil. In Zionism, he found a calling that stabilized his fragile persona.
Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations joins us to talk about the politics of water in the Middle East.
As tracked through the waxing and waning value of the Hebrew words for “departees” and “descenders.”
A young secular Viennese writer had an experience 125 years ago that would lead him to change Jewish history forever. He could never explain it. Can anyone else?
The best of what we published on the extraordinary changes taking place between Israel and its neighbors this year.
“When Arabs hear the word ‘Shoah,’” Khalid tells me, “they black out. It’s almost like a paralysis. They don’t want to hear another word about it. But they—we—need to.”
“It was one of the decisive events in human history. Never before had men been convinced, as they were then, that an idea was something to fight for and to die for.”
The outgoing Israeli ambassador to the U.S. joins us to talk about what he’s worked on over his tenure, what he’s proud of, and where he sees the alliance between the two countries going.
In anti- and post-Zionist circles, the verb of choice for immigrating to Israel has been replaced by something less romantic.
The foreign-policy expert joins us to talk about the odds of a deal between the two nations, and how the incoming American administration plays in their thinking.
