Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

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As Israelis welcome home more hostages after 15 months in Hamas captivity, we sat down with Nadav Eyal to discuss what their stories reveal about their captivity, their role in Israel’s national healing process, and the broader implications for Israeli society. We also discuss the ongoing negotiations for the next phase of hostage releases, the political stakes surrounding Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, and how these developments could shape Israel and the region.

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

CREDITS:

ILAN BENATAR - Producer & Editor

MARTIN HUERGO - Editor

REBECCA STROM - Director of Operations

STAV SLAMA - Researcher 

GABE SILVERSTEIN - Research Intern 

YUVAL SEMO - Music Composer

Watch the conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QrVakL6qcGg

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

As Israelis continue to observe the implementation of the hostage deal, we sat down with Walter Russell Mead for a conversation about U.S. foreign policy under the new Trump administration. How do we make sense of the president’s approach as he enters his new administration? What are the implications  - both for the Middle East and other geopolitical hotspots? And, where does the hostage/ceasefire deal fit in this new and larger geopolitical context?

Walter Russell Mead is the “Global View” columnist at the Wall Street Journal. He is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft with the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida. He was previously the Henry Kissinger fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

He is also a prolific author. His most recent book is -- The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, which you order here – https://a.co/d/3J67FYL

CREDITS:

ILAN BENATAR - Producer & Editor

MARTIN HUERGO - Editor

REBECCA STROM - Director of Operations

STAV SLAMA - Researcher 

GABE SILVERSTEIN - Research Intern 

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

Over the past couple of weeks, our focus on “Call Me Back” has been on the hostage deal and its implications. 

Today Amit Segal returns to the podcast to discuss the perspective of those inside Israel opposed to this deal. 

Amit Segal is the chief political correspondent and analyst for Channel 12 News, and for Yediot Ahronot, the country’s largest circulation newspaper. 

CREDITS:

ILAN BENATAR - Producer & Editor

MARTIN HUERGO - Editor

REBECCA STROM - Director of Operations

STAV SLAMA - Researcher 

GABE SILVERSTEIN - Research Intern 

YUVAL SEMO - Music Composer

Watch the conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vqT4MJKzEp0

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

Today, we are taking a step back to discuss many of the new opportunities across the landscape for the U.S. and Israel, as a new president takes office. 

Our guest is Dr. Tal Becker, who serves as Vice President and Senior Faculty of the Kogod Research Center at Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Tal was the former Legal Adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is a veteran member of successive Israeli peace negotiation teams and, most recently, represented Israel before the International Court of Justice and played an instrumental role in negotiating and drafting the historic peace and normalization agreements (the "Abraham Accords"). Tal earned his doctorate from Columbia University in New York City, and is the recipient of numerous scholarly awards, including the Rabin Peace Prize, and the Guggenheim Prize for best international law book for his book "Terrorism and the State".

CREDITS:

ILAN BENATAR - Producer & Editor

MARTIN HUERGO - Editor

REBECCA STROM - Director of Operations

STAV SLAMA - Researcher 

GABE SILVERSTEIN - Research Intern 

YUVAL SEMO - Music Composer

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

On Sunday evening in Israel, after 471 days in captivity, three hostages — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher  — were released from Gaza and returned home to Israel, as a ceasefire in Gaza went into effect. 

There has been speculation as to why this deal was agreed upon now, and about whether January 19th effectively marked the end of the Gaza war. And more than anything, there is palpable anxiety about the fate of the remaining hostages. 

To take in this moment and unpack these questions about what comes next, we are joined by Yossi Klein Halevi and Wendy Singer.

Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. Yossi has written a number of books, including his latest, "Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor," which was a New York Times bestseller. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Times of Israel. He is co-host of "For Heaven's Sake" podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/for-heavens-sake/id1522222281

Yossi Klein Halevi's books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001IXOA04

Wendy Singer was the professional founder of Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), where she served as Executive Director for nine years. Wendy currently serves as a strategic advisor to select Israeli start-ups and NGOs, including the National Library of Israel. Before joining Israel’s tech scene, she spent sixteen years as Head of AIPAC’s Israel office. Wendy is a board member of the Shalom Hartman Institute; and a Trustee of the Russell Berrie Foundation. 

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

After fifteen months of war, and months of on-again, off-again negotiations, Israel and Hamas have reached a hostage deal, which is set to take effect this upcoming Sunday. 

What are the key points of the deal? What should we expect - or brace for - as hostages return home to Israel? And - will this deal mean the end of the war? 

To take in this historic development, and to help us understand all the above questions, we welcome back Nadav Eyal to the podcast. 

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

As we wait in anticipation of a hostage deal, we welcome President Trump’s incoming National Security Adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz, to the podcast, to discuss the possible hostage deal, and his thoughts on the U.S.-Israel relationship. 

Congressman Mike Waltz is a Colonel (Ret.) in the National Guard, and the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress. He worked on counter-terrorism in the Bush White House and was a policy advisor at the Pentagon, serving under Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates, and a Congressman from Florida. As President Trump is sworn in as president - this upcoming Monday, January 20th, inauguration day - so will Mike Waltz, as the president’s National Security Advisor. 

Mike graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with Honors and served 27 years in the U.S. Army and National Guard. After being commissioned as an Army lieutenant, Mike graduated Ranger School and was selected for the elite Green Berets, serving worldwide as a Special Forces officer with multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. For his actions in combat, Mike was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two for Valor. 

Mike is the author of the books, “Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan”: https://a.co/d/18NEaB0 , and “Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret”: https://a.co/d/c0lnM9B

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

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The collapse of Assad’s regime in Syria has created a new geopolitical reality, in which Turkey has emerged as a dominant regional power, both militarily and diplomatically. For Israel, this new reality entails certain risks, but also opportunities for cooperation?

What is Turkey’s next move - and what are Erdogan’s ambitions? And how is Israel preparing for this new order? 

To help us understand, our guests are Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak and Call me Back regular Nadav Eyal. 

Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, who moved to Israel from Turkey, is a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and an expert on contemporary Turkish politics and society. Yanarocak is the editor of Turkeyscope, and a member of the Middle East Network Analysis Desk. He is a frequent guest on Israeli media, where he regularly appears to discuss contemporary Turkish issues. 

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

Watch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcast

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

Yesterday in Washington D.C., former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s funeral service was held at the National Cathedral. 

The former president’s post-presidential legacy has had a lasting impact on today’s Middle East. President Carter was known for brokering the Egypt-Israel peace treaty between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, which has lasted over four decades. However, he was also the first national leader of his stature to openly embrace Hamas, to accuse Israel of “apartheid”, and to legitimize Hamas’s slaughtering of Jews through suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism, during and following the Second Intifada. 

How did President Carter go from an engaged diplomat working for peace between Israel and Egypt to championing Hamas and its narrative of Israeli “apartheid”? 

To discuss the paradox of President Carter when it comes to Israel, and his impact on current day events in the Middle East, our guest is Ken Stein. 

Dr. Kenneth W. Stein is Emeritus Emory Professor of Middle Eastern History and Israel studies where he taught from 1977-2024.  Early in the 1980s, he led  the Middle East Program of the Carter Center, which included multiple trips to the region with the Carters, writing a book with him, and  providing monthly analyses to the former president. In 1998, Ken established the first Israel Studies Center in North America and founded the Center for Israel Education in 2008.

Pertinent to this interview, are his 1999 publication, Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for Arab-0Israeli Peace  and a personal collection of the hundreds of hours of conversations he had with Carter over a twenty year span.  He is also the author with Ambassador Samuel Lewis,  “Making Peace Among Arabs and Israelis: Lessons from Fifty Years of Negotiating Experience”,  https://www.amazon.com/Making-peace-among-Arabs-Israelis/dp/B002X78MGW [amazon.com]

Book discussed in this episode: https://tinyurl.com/4h7pmwzf

Recent article by Ken Stein: https://m.jpost.com/international/article-835320

Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr8LqOg69K8

To contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit:  https://arkmedia.org/

Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenor

Dan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenor

A few days ago, we all learned of new details and viewed footage from one of Israel's most high-risk and complex commando operations. The operation was a covert mission conducted by the IDF on September 8, 2024, targeting an underground missile production facility near Masyaf, Syria. The facility, associated with Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center, was reportedly on the verge of producing precision-guided missiles with ranges of up to 300 kilometers, intended to be supplied to Hezbollah for use against Israel. 

To unpack what exactly happened in this operation to neutralize this Iranian/Syrian facility — and the implications for Israel’s broader war with Iran — we are joined by Nadav Eyal. 

Nadav Eyal is a columnist for Yediiot. He is one of Israel’s leading journalists. Eyal has been covering Middle-Eastern and international politics for the last two decades for Israeli radio, print and television news.

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The string of Israeli successes against Hezbollah — culminating in the killing of Hassan Nasrallah — last September was partly the work of Israeli military and intelligence agencies infiltrating Hezbollah’s networks, planting booby-trapped communication devices, and tracking the leaders’ movements to dismantle the group's military capabilities. This campaign crippled Hezbollah by also destroying thousands of missiles and disrupting its leadership, delivering a blow to Iran’s regional strategy. 

An investigative report recently published by the New York Times delves into how deeply Israeli intelligence had penetrated Hezbollah ranks. Our guest today is one of the report’s authors: Ronen Bergman. 

Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and Senior Correspondent for Military and Intelligence Affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli daily. Ronen has won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Israel-Hamas war and the pre-war intelligence failures. 

The New York Times’ investigative report, co-authored by Ronen: “Behind the Dismantling of Hezbollah: Decades of Israeli Intelligence” - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/29/world/middleeast/israel-hezbollah-nasrallah-assassination-intelligence.html