The Fathom Podcast

15: Matthew Levitt - What Does Hamas Want?

Counter-terror expert Matthew Levitt speaks to Fathom about Hamas’s vision and strategy. What is Hamas’s strategy for the destruction of Israel? Is it strategically divided? What are the chances of a rapprochement with Fatah? What does Levitt mean by Hamas following the ‘Hezbollah model’?

14: Toby Greene: ‘None of the options are good, but if you don’t want Hamas or endless Israeli occupation, you need something else’:

Fathom speaks to Toby Greene about two articles co-authored with Professor Jonathan Rynhold and dealing with the political future of a post-Hamas Gaza: ‘Beyond Humanitarian Aid: A Plan for Gazan Civilians Is a Strategic Necessity for Israel’ and ‘URGENT: An Israeli Strategy for a Post-Hamas Gaza’. Despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated denial that Israel will support the involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Greene says that ‘if you don’t want continued Hamas rule and permanent Israeli occupation you have to work with what tools are available (which is a potentially reformed PA).’ Greene advocates the kind of technocratic approach once seen under former Prime Minister Fayyad, saying ‘a key component of getting from where we are now to Palestinian statehood is credible bottom up state-building institutions albeit within a credible diplomatic path that can work in concert with it.’ Toby is a Visiting Fellow in the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics and a Lecturer in the Department for Political Studies at Bar Ilan University. He is the author of Blair, Labour & Palestine: Conflicting Views on Middle East Peace After 9/11. He is also a former deputy editor of Fathom.  

13: Jonathan Spyer - The Iran-Israel War

Journalist and Middle East analyst Jonathan Spyer talks to Fathom about the Iranian threat and the Western response to it. Spyer is director of research at the Middle East Forum and the author of The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict. He is a veteran of the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006 and has been a regular contributor to Fathom for a decade.

12: Fania Oz-Salzberger - ‘Hamas must be defeated, not only for Israelis’ sake, but for the chance of peace in our part of the Middle East’

Jack Omer-Jackaman and Calev Ben-Dor interview Fania Oz-Salzberger, an Israeli writer, history professor and public intellectual. They discussed her thoughts about 7 October, the ensuing war, the Israeli government and her disappointment with parts of the international left. Oz-Salzberger is Professor Emerita at the University of Haifa Law School and previously taught at Princeton, Monash University, Munich University etc. Her field is the history of political thought and her books include Jews and Words, coauthored with Amos Oz. She is a peace and democracy activist.

11. Einat Wilf - “Even Jews themselves often hear about Zionism through its detractors”

Jack Omer-Jackaman and Calev Ben-Dor interviewed Einat Wilf. They discussed Wilf’s essay ‘Zionism as Therapy’, which seeks to correct anti-Zionism’s success in divorcing Zionism from its intellectual and historical origins. Wilf is a leading thinker on Israel, Zionism, foreign policy and education. She was a member of the Israeli Parliament from 2010 to 2013, where she served as Chair of the Education Committee and as a Member of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. She is the author of seven books, including We Should All Be Zionists.

10: Michael Milshtein - “We didn’t understand Hamas at all”

Calev Ben-Dor and Jack Omer-Jackaman interviewed Michael Milshtein, a leading expert on the Palestinian arena. They discussed the failures which led to 7 October – which Milshtein characterises as a failure of understanding as much as intelligence – and the current state of Israel’s war in Gaza.

9: Mohammad Darawshe and Michal Sela - Givat Haviva

Jack Omer-Jackaman speaks to Mohammad Darawshe and Michal Sela of Givat Haviva, an Israeli civil society organisation working for social change.

8 - Tareq Abu Hamed and Eliza Mayo - The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

Jack Omer-Jackaman speaks with Tareq Abu Hamed and Eliza Mayo of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, an academic research centre dedicated to providing the Middle East with a new generation of sophisticated professionals to address the region’s environmental challenges with richer and more innovative peace-building solutions.

7: Gershon Baskin - "The idea of Hamas will remain in place as long as the Palestinian issue burns heavy in the hearts and minds of millions of Palestinians"

Alan Johnson and Jack Omer-Jackaman speak to renowned writer and peace activist Gershon Baskin. They discuss his recent Times of Israel article, co-authored with Samer Sinijlawi, a Palestinian political activist, entitled ‘The Necessary Peace – The Peace of No Choice’, in which Baskin lays out his vision for a two state solution after Hamas is defeated.

6: Jonathan Rynhold - “America needs to maintain a balance of power against radical Islam”

Calev Ben-Dor speaks to Professor Jonathan Rynhold, head of the department of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University, about President Biden’s policy on Israel’s war with Hamas. Rynhold is the author of The Arab-Israeli Conflict in American Political Culture, and speaks here about Biden’s personal, ‘visceral’ commitment to Israel, his vision of a foreign policy in defence of the liberal democratic order, and the potential impact of his Israel policy on the next US presidential election.