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Can Gadi Eisenkot make the leap from one of Israel’s most trusted generals to its next prime minister?

Gadi Eisenkot’s popularity is seeing a meteoric rise. Dan is joined by Nadav Eyal to examine Eisenkot’s background, military record, decisions around October 7, and whether experience built on service and sacrifice can survive the rough-and-tumble of an election campaign. They also compare Eisenkot to previous generals who’ve tried this, and to his current viable political opponents.

In this episode:

- Is Gadi Eisenkot's rise in the polls real?

- The Appeal of Israel's "Quiet General"

- From Eilat to IDF Chief of Staff

- Eisenkot's military legacy and the "war between wars"

- How much responsibility does he bear for October 7?

- The personal tragedy that shaped his public image

- What the War Cabinet Revealed About Eisenkot

- Can Eisenkot Unite the Opposition?

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

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Did the Iran war solve the problem, postpone it or make it worse?

That fundamental debate has emerged over the outcome of the war with Iran. The campaigns degraded Iran's military infrastructure, but it also ended with a new, possibly more dangerous Supreme Leader in power, Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran’s nuclear capability largely intact.

Dan is joined by former Israeli Military Intelligence chief Tamir Hayman and FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz to discuss whether the war was a strategic success, a missed opportunity, or an unfinished chapter in a conflict that is far from over.

Listen to Mark’s podcast, The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz.

In this episode:

04:51 - What is the most likely outcome of the U.S.-Iran negotiations?

08:00 - What were the tactical achievements of the US and Israeli attacks?

10:03 - Was the war strategically worth it?

19:42 - Can and will Trump still finish the job?

24:44 - Was the plan to have Kurds help topple the Iranian regime credible?

32:30 - Was Ahmadinejad a realistic replacement candidate?

35:42 - How formidable a foe is Mojtaba Khamenei?

41:48 - Is Iran more dangerous today than before the war?

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

For the full episode, subscribe here to Inside Call me Back.
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This is a sneak peek from the members-only edition of Inside Call me Back. Tal Becker, who has negotiated on behalf of Israel in the past, details the lesser known levers which are used in negotiations behind closed doors.

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You can access the full episode here, where Dan takes on listener questions about:

- Is Israel on the Right Side of History, but the Wrong Strategy?

- Aliyah, Yeridah, and How Jews Should Frame their Futures

- What Would It Take to Expand the Abraham Accords?

- How Israel Can Counter Drones and Emerge Stronger

- Was Leaving the Iran Nuclear Deal a Mistake?

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Subscribe to Inside Call me Back.
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Is President Trump saving Israel from a war it can’t win, or forcing it into a deal that leaves Hezbollah intact and Israeli soldiers and citizens vulnerable?

President Trump announced a ceasefire in Lebanon. Hezbollah agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel. Israel agreed to not strike Beirut. Yet the fighting in southern Lebanon continues, IDF soldiers are being killed and injured by Hezbollah rockets and drones, and the strategic problem remains unsolved.

Dan is joined by Nadav Eyal and Amit Segal to discuss Trump’s explosive phone call and pressures on Netanyahu, the link between Lebanon and the Iran negotiations, and whether this moment represents an off-ramp from an unwinnable conflict or a pause that leaves Israel’s hands tied and facing the same dangerous dilemma in southern Lebanon.

In this episode:

04:48 - Trump's expletive-laced confrontation with Netanyahu over Lebanon

06:42 - What the new Lebanon "ceasefire" actually means

10:09 - Why Hezbollah's drone campaign is hurting Netanyahu politically

13:21 - Is the “Lebanon Trap” also possibly an off-ramp for Israel?

21:09 - What is really driving Netanyahu's decision-making?

23:30 - How Lebanon became part of the Iran negotiations

26:39 - Does Hezbollah's fate ultimately depend on Iran?

28:36 - Is Hezbollah weaker today, or stronger by adapting for the next war?

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Subscribe to Inside Call me Back.
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In a few months elections will be held in Israel, the first since Oct. 7th, and arguably one of the most consequential in Israel’s history. But how do the elections actually work in Israel?

As part of our Israel Votes series, Dan is joined by Amit Segal and Nadav Eyal for a practical guide to the mechanics behind Israeli democracy: the Knesset, coalition-building, electoral thresholds, and the structural realities that will shape the next election long before a single vote is counted.

In this episode:

03:33 - Why Israel Chose a Parliamentary System

07:06 - The Knesset, the Government, and the Courts

12:36 - How Votes Become Knesset Seats

14:57 - How Israel Actually Chooses a Prime Minister

18:45 - Coalition Negotiations and the Fight Over Ministries

22:09 - What Caused Israel's Five-Election Deadlock?

24:54 - What Election Night Looks Like in Israel

27:45 - Does Israel End Election Night With a Governing Majority?

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

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Why has the world become so fixated on Zionism, and what does that obsession actually reveal about the West?

Alana Newhouse joins Dan Senor to unpack her widely debated essay Zionism for Everyone. They explore how rapid technological change and cultural disorientation are colliding with an ancient idea of peoplehood and why that tension is showing up in the global conversation about Israel.

Newhouse argues that the fixation on Zionism is not really about Israel at its core, but about something missing in modern societies: identity, purpose, and self-determination. She lays out a provocative framework for what makes societies resilient, why some nations are struggling, and whether the model behind Zionism can be applied far beyond Israel.

Read Alana’s essay in The Free Press, Zionism for Everyone here.

In this episode:

- The collision between rapid technological change and ancient identity debates

- Why Zionism has become a global fixation right now

- What “ethnos” really means and why it’s being misunderstood

- Zionism as a model: identity, vision, and hard work

- What went wrong in the West and the limits of globalization

- Is anti-Zionism driven by envy or a loss of self-determination?

- The four traits of resilient societies

- Can this model be applied beyond Israel, and by whom?

- The erosion of peoplehood in the modern West

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

For the full episode, subscribe here to Inside Call me Back.
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This is a sneak peek from the members-only edition of Inside Call me Back. Dan addresses a listener's question about Gadi Eisenkot's political appeal and whether the qualities Israelis look for in a prime minister are the same ones valued by Diaspora Jews.

You can access the full episode here, where Dan takes on listener questions about:

- What should Trump do next on Iran?

- Will Rachel Goldberg-Polin return for another holiday episode?

- Is there still hope for Arab and Haredi integration in Israel?

- Why the Haredi draft exemption is reaching a breaking point

- Could Arab or Haredi parties decide Israel’s next government?

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo

Subscribe to Inside Call me Back.
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Can the Black-Jewish alliance be repaired, or is it irreparable?

Coleman Hughes, host of The Coleman Hughes Show at The Free Press and author of The End of Race Politics, joins Dan to trace the history of one of America’s most important political coalitions, and how it began to unravel. He looks at the forces behind that shift, from old neighborhood tensions and the Nation of Islam to campus politics and a worldview that treats America and the West as uniquely guilty. And - if the old alliance cannot simply be recreated, what would a healthier path forward actually require?

Coleman's essay on Sapir: https://sapirjournal.org/friends-and-foes/2024/black-radicalism/

Coleman's Book: https://www.amazon.com/End-Race-Politics-Arguments-Colorblind/dp/0593332458

Coleman's podcast: https://www.thefp.com/listen/conversations-with-coleman

In this episode:

- How Black and Jewish Americans became allies

- The tensions inside the civil rights alliance

- James Baldwin’s theory of Black antisemitism

- Why Baldwin’s explanation falls short

- Nation of Islam, Farrakhan, and hip-hop

- Jewish success and the resentment problem

- October 7th and the campus view of Israel

- BLM, allyship, and whether repair is possible

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo