Ask Haviv Anything

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To support our work, please consider joining our Patreon community (https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything), Substack (https://havivgur.substack.com/), or Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur).

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Episode 159: Tuesday’s midterms in the US delivered a political earthquake, handing the Democratic Party a landslide victory and control of both the House and the Senate. Journalist and podcaster Michael Moynihan joins the pod to break down why the MAGA coalition collapsed across nearly every demographic -- from tariff pain and gas prices to voter exhaustion with White House "fan service" and perceived corruption.

We also dig into what the Israeli press is getting wrong about the results. While headlines in Israel fixate on a handful of far-left, anti-Israel primary winners, the actual American wave was driven by centrist "Blue Dog" Democrats and pragmatic voters who simultaneously backed conservative ballot measures like voter ID. We look at why US strategic ties with Israel will probably prove sturdier than the panic suggests, why blaming Israel for American grocery prices is a great way to do nothing about the problem of high grocery prices, and how the outcome of Israel’s own political crisis could reshape the relationship with Washington.

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This episode is sponsored by Americans for Ben Gurion University.

Israel is known worldwide as the Start-Up Nation, a powerhouse of grit, determination, and breakthrough technology. At the center of that ecosystem is Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, with three campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sde Boker, and Eilat. BGU is home to 20,000 students, and more than 100,000 alumni from Israel and all over the world are leading the way in areas like: cyber security, engineering, medicine, AI, and sustainability.

On November 15, Americans for Ben-Gurion University is bringing the best and brightest minds from their labs in Beer-Sheva to Philadelphia for the first-of-its-kind BGU Innovation Showcase. This isn’t your typical event. Trade the stage for the laboratory floor, explore interactive demos and chat one-on-one with the BGU scientists shaping our future.

Learn about breakthroughs in robotics, autism, and environmental biotechnology.

Use the link https://events.blackthorn.io/5e1M8K37/5a23VXYtL0D?utm_source=podcast&utm_content=toi_Ask_Haviv_Anything to buy tickets and learn more.

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Producer and editor: Rachel Gur
Presenter and editor: Haviv Gur
Operations: Nadav Singerman
Musical intro: Adam Ben Amitai

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If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also “Buy Me a Coffee” at https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

A note from Haviv to our viewers: Please excuse the video troubles. Elizabeth’s connectivity was limited for the first half hour or so of the conversation. But the audio came through perfectly and we didn’t want to scrap a deeply informative conversation because of those connection issues.

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We have merch! Find our awesome new shirts, mugs and hats at https://shop.askhavivanything.com.

To support our work, please consider joining our Patreon community (https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything), Substack (https://havivgur.substack.com/), or Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur).

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.

And be sure to check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/haviv.rettig.gur/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@haviv.rettig.gur).

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Episode 158: What actually holds Iran’s regional axis together, and why can't military force alone break it? Israeli analyst Elizabeth Tsurkov, now working on her doctorate at Princeton on these and other questions, has spent two decades studying the Arab nations most influenced by Iran’s regime. She also knows firsthand how Iran’s “proxies” in the region operate, having survived 903 days of captivity in Iraq at the hands of the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah.

She joins me to talk about the impending round of war with Iran, the lessons that she hopes were learned from the failure of the 39-day war to topple the regime in the last round, and how Iraq’s militias have evolved from ideological holy warriors into a massive state-looting racket that now bankrolls Tehran.

We also debate whether Israel’s post-October 7 buffer-zone strategy is backfiring in Syria, and whether Jerusalem is blowing a historic opportunity to strike a peace deal with Damascus.

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This episode was sponsored by Barbara and Peter Tuckel in memory of their parents, Eva and Max Tuckel and Rose and Harry Kaplan, with thanks to Haviv for encouraging more learning about Jewish and Middle Eastern history, inviting experts to bring greater clarity to controversial issues that affect us daily, and constantly instilling the core idea that Jews are an “am” -- a people.

Thank you to the Tuckel’s for that dedication. It’s wind in our sails.

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Producer and editor: Rachel Gur
Presenter and editor: Haviv Gur
Operations: Nadav Singerman
Musical intro: Adam Ben Amitai

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If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also “Buy Me a Coffee” at https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

To support our work, please consider joining our Patreon community (https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything), Substack (https://havivgur.substack.com/), or Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur).

We have merch! Find our awesome new shirts, mugs and hats at https://shop.askhavivanything.com.

And be sure to check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/haviv.rettig.gur/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@haviv.rettig.gur).

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Netanyahu was vulnerable. His opponents mobilized their voters and delivered huge increases in turnout. But no side secured a governing majority. What happened?

We dig into the election numbers, the cracks in Netanyahu’s coalition, and the opposition’s failure to turn his weaknesses into victory.

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This episode was sponsored anonymously in appreciation of Haviv’s “tireless commitment” to history, analysis, and a wide-ranging selection of guests. The sponsor called our community an “essential forum for diaspora audiences seeking to understand Israel and for Israelis engaging with the concerns and perspective of Jewish communities around the world.”

Thank you for sponsoring this episode.

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If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also Buy Me a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.

Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

To support our work, please consider joining our Patreon community (https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything), Substack (https://havivgur.substack.com/), or Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur).
 
We have merch! Find our awesome new mug and hat at https://shop.askhavivanything.com.
 
And be sure to check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/haviv.rettig.gur/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@haviv.rettig.gur).
 
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Even if you hate every option on the ballot today, staying home is a vote for the factions you dislike most. And understanding David Ben-Gurion’s founding principle of mamlachtiut reveals why showing up to the polls is as vital to Israel's survival as military reserve duty.
 
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This episode is sponsored by the Technion.
 
Israel became the Startup Nation by turning talent into strength, ideas into industries.
 
For more than a century, the Technion has trained the engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs who transformed Israel into the Startup Nation and delivered breakthroughs that changed the world.
 
Now Technion scientists are advancing the next wave of innovation to help power Israel’s next chapter.
 
Israel. Engineered by the Technion.
 
Join us. Visit ats.org/rebuild.
 
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If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also Buy Me a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.
 
If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.
 
Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

To support our work, please consider joining our Patreon community (https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything), Substack (https://havivgur.substack.com/), or Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur).

We have merch! Find our awesome new mug and hat at https://shop.askhavivanything.com.

And be sure to check us out on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/haviv.rettig.gur/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@haviv.rettig.gur).

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American and Israeli Jews make up nearly 90% of world Jewry, yet when they talk to each other, they more often than not talk past each other. Like ships passing in the night. To unpack why, Haviv is joined by his father, Rabbi Dr. Ed Rettig. Born in the US, Ed moved to Israel at 18, fought on the front lines of the Yom Kippur War just months later, and went on to become a Jerusalem police prosecutor, a rabbi, and a sociologist of the Jewish people.

Together, they break down the six hidden fault lines dividing the world’s two great Jewish civilizations: how radical American Protestantism turned American Judaism into a "religion of choice" while Israel remained a Middle Eastern "religion of fate"; why secular Judaism thrives in Israel but struggles to survive two generations in America; why "separation of church and state" and "separation of religion and state" mean opposite things; how each community understands and wields power after October 7; and how the centrality of sacrifice shapes the way they see the world.

This episode is dedicated by Michael Kapnick in memory of Max Steinberg, z"l, an American kid from Los Angeles who fell as a Golani lone soldier in Gaza in 2014, and whose life and sacrifice embody the bond between our two different worlds.

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If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also Buy Me a Coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live.

If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠.

Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.