Ask Haviv Anything
"Ask Haviv Anything" is a podcast about history, a podcast you, dear listener, will help to shape and direct, focusing not just on what I want to talk about but on what you want to learn and discuss. Nothing is off limits. We're going to talk about big and painful things, and also beautiful and fascinating things, wars and identities and painful history. And also more light-hearted things. Humor matters, especially when facing tough subjects. Join me on this journey. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur
156: Go vote. It isn't optional
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Even if you hate every option on the ballot today, staying home is a...
155: American and Israeli Jews don’t understand each other, with Ed Rettig
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American and Israeli Jews make up nearly 90% of...
154: How Israel broke pan-Arabism, and what that means for Iran, with Dan Schueftan
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In the 1950s and 60s, Gamal Abdel Nasser...
153: Where was Netanyahu on 7/10? With Elliot Kaufman
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On October 7 and in the months that followed...
152: Is Israeli society tearing itself apart? With Micah Goodman
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Most Israelis agree on almost everything that matters...
151: Could the hostages have come home sooner? With Brett McGurk
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What actually brought hostages home, and why did...
150: The case for Netanyahu, with Gadi Taub
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Gadi Taub, historian, Hebrew University lecturer and one...
149: Patriotism is too important to leave to extremists, with Prof. Alex Yakobson
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Hebrew University historian Prof. Alexander Yakobson returns for a subscriber Q&A: Did the Arabs really “miss an opportunity” in 1947? Can Europe reclaim its national identities without falling into...
148: What can you do for Palestinians? Stop supporting Hamas
This episode we are trying something a bit different. First you will hear a three minute video by American journalist Ayman Mohyeldin, and then a 12 minute response by Haviv Rettig Gur. This segment was originally published to our YouTube channel and I encourage everyone to watch it there so you can also see the visuals.
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And be sure to...
147: Are the allegations in NAZA true?
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Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.
<...
146: Israel's political system worked. Then we tried to fix it. With Dr. Shany Mor
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Israel’s democracy wasn't designed in a grand constitutional convention. It was patched together quickly in the middle of a war in 1949. Yet, for nearly 80 years, this chaotic sy...
145: Waking up from our rage-filled slumber
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Rosh Hashanah is the only major Jewish holiday that begins in total darkness — no full moon, no light on the road. And it is there, in deepest darkness, th...
144: Inside the fight to change Haredi politics, with Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer
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Israel helped rebuild the Haredi world after the Holocaust. It funds its institutions and sends its children to defend it. Why won’t more Haredim join them?
...
143: How to win the Israeli election
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Israel's first election since October 7 will be held on October 27 -- and the system it runs through is one of the simplest in the free world, which is...
142: Can Gaza ever move on from Hamas? With Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
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Can Gaza ever be rebuilt while Hamas remains armed? Gazan-American writer Ahmed Fouad Al-Khatib returns to trace Hamas’s rise — from Islamist charities and the slow remaking of Gaza...
141: Why Western ideas crash and burn in the Middle East, with Simon Sebag Montefiore
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Why does the West misunderstand the Middle East? Best-selling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore returns to the pod to discuss The Cauldron, his sweeping new history of the region...
140: Van Jones returns - The hard questions of Black-Jewish relations
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Van Jones came on the podcast a few months ago and said some things that lit up our inbox. A lot of praise, a lot of pushback.
<...139: Dara Horn’s final solution to the Jewish question
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Dr. Dara Horn didn't want to write this book. She wanted to write more acclaimed novels. But after she published her bestselling essay collection People Love Dead Jews...
138: Why antisemitism works, with Prof. Ruth Wisse
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Antisemitism is no mere prejudice. It's a potent political technology, perhaps the most effective negative campaign and coalition-builder in modern politics. Prof. Ruth Wisse, professor emerita of Harvard...
137: What does Qatar want?
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 ).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 ).--Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.In our current episode we ask: What does Qatar want?If you appreciate what we do here, please...
136: Why not two states from the start?
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Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.
<...
135: Why don’t Israelis trust the UN?
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Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.
<...
134: Was Gaza still occupied after 2005?
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Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.
<...
133: Mamdani and America’s new left, with Reihan Salam
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The rise of Zohran Mamdani and the DSA are about far more than one politician or radical political moment. Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam joins us to explain...
132: What is happening now in Gaza? With Dr. Shira Efron
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The Gaza war may have stopped, but the struggle over Gaza’s future is only beginning. Hamas is rebuilding, Gazans remain displaced, and the American plan for disarmament, re...
131: Why Christians are disappearing from the Middle East, with Amb. George Deek
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Israel’s first special envoy to the Christian world, Ambassador George Deek, joins Haviv for a sweeping conversation about Christians in Israel, Palestinian Christians, the disappearance of ancient Ch...
130: Here's to the next 250 years
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America’s 250th birthday came and went. Americans celebrated – or fretted about – their past and looked forward to their future.
Now, a week later...
129: Iran is closer to freedom than you think, with Armin Navabi
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Is the Iranian regime finally on the path toward collapse? In this episode, Iran-born political analyst Armin Navabi (from the YouTube channel Liberty Politics) takes us inside the...
128: Iran, Gaza and the new American right, with Sohrab Ahmari
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In this episode, Haviv sits down with Sohrab Ahmari -- Iranian-born American conservative writer, JD Vance confidant and US editor at Unherd -- to hash out the big...
127: Does Islam hate Jews? With Prof. Meir Litvak
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What’s the real history of antisemitism in the Muslim world?
Haviv sits down with Prof. Meir Litvak of Tel Aviv University, one of...
126: Will your kid's best friend be a robot? With Dr. Micah Goodman
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Haviv sits down with Dr. Micah Goodman, his former Maimonides professor, influential Israeli public intellectual, founder of the educational network Mabua, and co-host of the Hebrew podcast Mifleget...
125: Did Netanyahu misread Trump? With Ross Douthat
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Ross Douthat, author and New York Times columnist, joins the podcast to discuss this fraught moment in the US-Israel relationship. We discuss Netanyahu’s role in shaping Trump’s regime...
124: Vance, Iran and the fight inside Trumpworld, with Matt Continetti
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Donald Trump has gone further against Iran than any American president before him -- and then, almost overnight, pivoted toward a ceasefire, negotiations, and open frustration with Israel. What's ha...
123: Batya Ungar-Sargon on why the left turned on the Jews
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In this episode, Batya Ungar-Sargon joins the show to discuss her provocative new book, "The Jews and the Left." We dive deep into the unique history of Jews in Am...
122: When will the war with Iran end?
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Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews and lectures that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East.
<...
121: Who blinks first? The battle for Hormuz, with Rich Goldberg
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Is Trump winning or losing the negotiations with Iran? How long can America sustain the mutual blockade in Hormuz? How long can Iran? And who will blink first?
...
120: Sam Harris on tribalism, religion, and what actually saves us
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Haviv sits down with philosopher, neuroscientist and podcaster Sam Harris to explore the moral and informational crisis gripping the West. Sam explains why his defense of Israel has nothing to...
119: Canada’s Jewish reckoning, with Prof. Gil Troy
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Historian Gil Troy joins the podcast to trace the remarkable story of Canadian Jewry, from its post-war flourishing in Montreal and Toronto to its current crisis of rising antisemitism an...
118: Is Israel a settler-colonial state? A historian’s honest answer, with Alex Yakobson
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Was the Zionist-Arab encounter always destined to end in displacement, war and suffering? That's what the settler-colonial theorists argue, and it's a claim that's moved from the fringes of ac...
117: The Palestinian insider who thinks Hamas is losing, with Samer Sinijlawi
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Longtime Fatah activist Samer Sinijlawi spent five years in prison during the First Intifada and then rose up the Fatah ranks. He eventually came to lead Palestinian outreach...
