Boundless Insights - with Aviva Klompas

We want to hear from you. Send questions and comments to podcast@boundlessisrael.org or message Aviva on X at @avivaklompas.

For weeks, President Trump has insisted that Washington and Tehran are on the verge of a deal. But events over the last 24 hours tell a different story. Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel. Israel struck targets inside Iran. The Houthis launched a missile from Yemen. And once again, the region finds itself balancing between diplomacy and escalation.

In this episode, host Aviva Klompas is joined by Andrew Fox, a former British Army major and conflict researcher, to unpack the latest escalation and the strategic questions now facing Israel, Iran, and the United States.

They discuss Iran's attempt to link the Hezbollah front in Lebanon to the broader confrontation with Israel, whether the latest exchange is likely to remain limited or expand into something larger, and what President Trump's diplomacy reveals about the current state of U.S.-Israel relations.

The conversation also examines the future of negotiations with Iran, the role of Hezbollah and the Houthis, the difference between tactical and strategic success in warfare, and how military leaders balance battlefield gains against political and diplomatic realities.

Guest Bio

Andrew Fox is a frontline conflict researcher and former British Army officer who served for 16 years in the Parachute Regiment, reaching the rank of Major. He completed multiple deployments in Afghanistan—including alongside U.S. Army Special Forces—as well as tours in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East. A specialist in modern warfare, disinformation, and the Middle East, he previously taught War Studies and leadership at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and is currently pursuing a PhD focused on lessons from the October 7 attacks and the war in Ukraine.

Andrew is a senior associate fellow at several international policy institutes and a frequent media commentator, appearing on outlets including Fox News, BBC Newsnight, Sky News, and i24. His reporting and analysis have taken him to the front lines in Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine. He is also the author of a widely read Substack on conflict, security, and global affairs.

We want to hear from you. Send questions and comments to podcast@boundlessisrael.org or message Aviva on X at @avivaklompas.

As the Trump administration weighs its next move on Iran, Israel faces a familiar but uncomfortable question: What happens if Washington reaches a deal that Jerusalem believes leaves the Iranian threat unresolved?

In this episode, Aviva Klompas speaks with Dr. Michael Oren about the lessons of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, how Israel should navigate disagreements with its closest ally, and whether the Jewish state is entering a new era of strategic self-reliance.

They discuss President Trump's approach to Iran, the conditions under which a deal might be acceptable from Israel's perspective, and the continuing threat posed by Hezbollah. The conversation also explores whether Israel should seek new military capabilities that would allow it to act independently against future Iranian nuclear threats.

Finally, they turn to a different but related concern: the resurgence of antisemitic tropes in mainstream discourse, the growing normalization of conspiracy theories involving Jews and Israel, and what these trends may mean for Jewish communities around the world.

Guest Bio:

Michael Oren served in the IDF as a Lone Soldier in the paratroopers. He was Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013 and later served as a Member of Knesset and Deputy Minister of Diplomacy.

He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including Six Days of War, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israel Divide, and Power, Faith, and Fantasy. Ambassador Oren published 2048: The Rejuvenated State in 2023 and is the founder of Israel Advocacy Group.

More from Dr. Michael Oren

A Time for Intimacy

After fighting publicly for the return of her son Hersh from Gaza, Rachel Goldberg-Polin joins the podcast to reflect on grief, uncertainty, love, and the challenge of continuing to live after profound loss.

Drawing from her new book When We See You Again, Rachel speaks with her characteristic honesty about the experience of mourning, the pressure people feel to “get better,” and why she believes grief is not something to overcome, but an expression of enduring love. She reflects on the stories and ideas that shape her thinking during Hersh’s captivity and wrestles openly with questions of destiny, suffering, faith, and purpose.

The conversation also explores what Rachel learned while moving through rooms of power and influence during the global campaign to free the hostages, and why she ultimately came away with a more complicated understanding of how the world works.

Finally, Rachel shares what she believes Hersh’s legacy asks of all of us: more humility, more listening, and a willingness to move away from extremism and back toward each other.

Guest Bio:

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, born and raised in Chicago, is an educator who lives in Jerusalem. She and her husband Jon are the parents of three children. Rachel is the author of When We See You Again, a portrait of pain and love in the wake of unthinkable tragedy.

Hussain Abubakr Mansour joins Dr. Rachel Fish to examine antisemitism, antizionism, and the ideological currents shaping American public life after October 7. Mansour reflects on growing up in a society where Jews were largely absent but antisemitic ideas were culturally omnipresent, and how his study of Jewish history, Zionism, and Hebrew led him to radically different conclusions.
The conversation explores how antisemitism became central to modern Arab political identity, the challenge of escaping inherited ideological frameworks, and why elite education has not protected societies from moral failure. Mansour also traces the role of universities, postcolonial theory, and progressive antizionism in making antisemitic narratives socially acceptable in contemporary America.
The discussion turns to the danger antisemitism poses not only to Jews but also to American democracy and civil society. Mansour warns that Jew-hatred is a corrosive force that can devour institutions, distort reality, and empower the worst actors in society if left unchecked.
Guest Bio:
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour is a Fellow at JINSA’s Gemunder Center, where his work focuses on the intersection of Arab politics, Islamist movements, and regional security architecture. An expert in Arab political thought and shifts within Islamist movements, Mansour analyzes how structural evolution impacts U.S. strategic interests and security. His research provides critical insights into the post-Arab Spring ideological currents and the shifting geopolitical landscape of the Gulf.
A widely published author and commentator, his strategic analysis has appeared in The Free Press, Commentary, Tablet, and the Athens Review of Books. Formerly an assistant professor at the Defense Language Institute, he is a recipient of the 2022 Per Ahlmark Award from UN Watch and the 2024 German Mercator Fellowship.
More From this Guest:
The Abrahamic Metacritic on Substack
"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Feed the Jews to the Mob" by Hussein Abubakr Mansour
“Antisemitism Has a Big Future” by Hussein Abubakr Mansour
"There Is Actually No Solution" by Hussein Abubakr Mansour

We want to hear from you. Send questions and comments to podcast@boundlessisrael.org or message Aviva on X at @avivaklompas.
Hannah Senesh is one of the most iconic figures of Israel’s pre-state history - a young poet and parachutist whose story has become part of national memory. But who was she beyond the symbol, and what can her story still teach us today?
Host Aviva Klompas speaks with Matti Friedman about his new book Out of the Sky, which revisits the story of Senesh and the Jewish parachutists who were sent behind enemy lines during World War II. Together, they explore the gap between the mythology and the lived reality of these young fighters, and what motivated them to act in a moment when the world largely stood by.
The conversation examines how Jews have historically understood vulnerability, responsibility, and the limits of relying on others for protection. It also looks at the tension between individual lives and the national narratives that are later built around them.
Along the way, they draw connections to the present: the persistence of old questions about identity and belonging, the limits of assimilation, and the ways Jewish history continues to echo in contemporary moments of crisis.
Guest Bio:
Matti Friedman is an award-winning author of five works of nonfiction, translated into more than a dozen languages. His newest book is Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, published in 2026.
His previous books include Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, a Vanity Fair best book of the year, Spies of No Country, which won the Natan Book Award, and Pumpkinflowers, a New York Times Notable Book.
A former Associated Press correspondent, his reporting has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Smithsonian. He now writes from Jerusalem for The Free Press.
Matti was born in Toronto and lives in Jerusalem with his family.