THE MOSSAD FILES with Dan Raviv

You'll hear one of the masters of Israeli espionage -- retired air force general Amos Yadlin (one of the pilots who destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981) -- former head of Aman military intelligence -- analyzing how hard Iran's nuclear program was hit -- by Israel and the U.S. in June.    Later, he says Hamas will always be hostile, but it has been severely weakened in Gaza.

Also -- our guest Joel Rubin, a former State Department official, says it wasn't easy for a Democrat to praise Donald Trump for bombing Iran's nuclear sites. But Rubin did...

Dan's guest is Shira Efron, a deeply experienced strategic analyst based in Tel Aviv -- now the Research Director of IPF, Israel Policy Forum.

We wonder what Benjamin Netanyahu may have accomplished, having spent most of the week in Washington, DC. He and Donald Trump indicated they want to have some kind of deal for a ceasefire in Gaza -- perhaps leading to an end of the war with Hamas that began with the brutal surprise attack inside Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Shira Efron believes a deal may well be announced soon.  And does that help c...

Ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Donald Trump next week, our guest is Michael Oren, the American-born historian who was Israel's ambassador in Washington in 2009-2013. 

Dan asks him about Israel's effort to get a "green light" from President Obama to attack Iran's nuclear sites -- and how that dream was fulfilled, and then some, by President Trump last month.

Oren -- as well as Rob Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy -- and Bibi Netanyahu spokesman David Mencer -- are heard on the podcast, claiming that victory over Iran opens a g...

After years of will they or won't they ... President Trump did it. Huge bunker-buster bombs hit Iran's "nuclear mountain," Fordow.

Dan Raviv chats with Jonathan Schanzer, VP for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, pointing to signs of full coordination between Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu -- but are they also taking action aimed at overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime?

We also examine information about the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, and what General Dan Caine -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs -- revealed about the massive MOPs and the B-2 crews who dropped...

After a few days of distancing the United States from Israel's surprise attack on Iran -- aimed at smashing that country's nuclear program and its plan to amass a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles -- President Trump decided to be 100% pro-Israel.

Dan Raviv, in an on-air discussion with CBS News, analyzed Trump's online posts that said "We..." as though he was involved in the war on Israel's side.

Might Israel regret teaming up with an American president who's foreign policy is erratic and unpredictable?

Dan then speaks with a military analyst who focuses...

June 13, 2025 -- Friday, Middle East time.  After more than a dozen years of hinting that it might attack Iran's nuclear facilities at any time, Israel finally did it.

Dan reports that Israel's air force -- with Mossad spies leading the way by attacking Iran's defenses -- did a lot of damage to Iran in the first days of a war that was dubbed "Operation Rising Lion."  The name is based on a Biblical verse, Numbers 23-24: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not li...

Recorded on Wednesday (June 11) and launching before Middle East events make everything outdated ... this episode analyzes the sudden upsurge in tension.

Did Israel inform the U.S. that it's going to bomb sites in Iran?  Or was the Trump Administration pulling out families of military folks and diplomats -- from Arab countries within range of Iran -- to put pressure on Iran in the current nuclear talks?

Perhaps the U.S. is preparing to strike Iran, if the talks continue to limp along without agreement -- or collapse altogether.

We consider the possibilities w...

Dan's guest is Michael Koplow, chief policy officer of Israel Policy Forum -- based in Washington -- explaining IPF's criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu, but also providing a clear-eyed view of Israel's fateful decisions: Put the hostages first? Or drive for total victory over Hamas in Gaza?

We also cover the U.S. talks with Iran over that country's nuclear program -- and the latest Israeli political crisis: whether ultra-Orthodox Jews will continue to be exempted from military service in the IDF.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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After we hear Donald Trump confirm that he advised Prime Minister Netanyahu to shelve any Israeli plan to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, Dan turns to Michael Oren -- an American-born historian who served as Israel's ambassador to the U.S. during the Obama presidency. Dr. Oren links the double-murder of Israeli Embassy workers in Washington to the wider rise of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic extremism. 

Oren also offers a fascinating prediction:

Donald Trump may lose patience with Israel's war in Gaza and demand that it end. Benjamin Netanyahu could find a reasonable ending, in a process t...

We consider the security challenge posed by the murders of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington by a "pro-Palestine" extremist. Dan speaks with Ory Slonim, former negotiator for Israel in secret missions to locate and liberate Israelis held by enemy nations and terrorists. Slonim is impassioned, calling for an end to the Gaza war so that all Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza will be freed.

Dan then interviews Jason Burke, international security correspondent for The Guardian newspaper -- on the revelation that after the Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israeli athletes in 1972, the Mossad secretly had...

Dan comments on three highlights from President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates: his respectful meeting with Syria's president, who used to be labeled a terrorist; Trump saying Iran has a limited time to agree to block any nuclear bomb program; and his accepting that Saudi Arabia won't join the Abraham Accords and open relations with Israel at this time.

Dan then brings Nimrod Novik into the conversation from his home in Tel Aviv. Novik is a longtime senior advisor to the late Prime Minister Shimon Peres. He is the Israel Fellow...

The U.S. and Iran are resuming the nuclear talks -- President Trump goes to 3 Arabian Gulf countries next week (May 13-16) -- Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu orders IDF to step-up destruction in Gaza to destroy Hamas (and free hostages?).

Our guest on THE MOSSAD FILES -- VIDEO SPECIAL -- is Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies --- in Washington, DC. He describes the FDD think-tank as "center-right" and "nonpartisan." Schanzer and his colleagues are certainly experts on the Iran's activities and a lot more in the Middle East. Our conversation...

Dan analyzes the mud-slinging feud between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the domestic security/intelligence agency Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. Bar finally agreed to step down, as of mid-June. A win for Netanyahu? Maybe.

We hear a former Shin Bet director describe Netanyahu as "paranoid."

The prime minister himself told some stories to the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem, including new details of the Mossad operation that planted explosive pagers and walkie-talkies on thousands of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon -- and how he decided to green-light the airstrike that killed Hezbollah's...

With the United States and Iran negotiating, on limits to Iran's nuclear program, it may seem premature to predict that the talks will fail -- and the result will be a military strike on Iran. But that is precisely what our two guests are expecting.

John Hannah of JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security of America) feels there is an attractive opportunity to hit Iran while it is weak, and -- answering podcast host Dan Raviv's questions -- he comments on how much damage an Israeli or Israeli/U.S. attack could accomplish.

Dan then...