Haaretz Podcast

• Western leaders may be pushing for a Palestinian state, but in the West Bank, 'annexation is the reality'

  While the world has been focused on the devastation in Gaza, "the annexation of the West Bank has become reality," Hagar Shezaf, Haaretz's West Bank correspondent, said on the Haaretz Podcast. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Shezaf explained, has created a system "that is accelerating" the process of integrating the West Bank into state institutions "while keeping the empty shell of the Civil Administration that represents military rule." Shezaf is stepping down from her beat for a year of studies after six years of covering what she describes as a "deteriorating" situation in the territories, that is generally neglected by the Israeli media. Despite settlement expansion continuing apace, violent extremist settlers becoming increasingly bold, and the direct and indirect displacement of Palestinian civilians from their homes by the Israeli military, "the West Bank is totally uncovered by Israeli news journalists," Shezaf said. Most recently, her reporting called attention to the uprooting of 3,100 trees by the IDF alongside a village after an attempted terror attack by one of its residents. Shezaf described it as an "outrageous" act, and the army's attempts to justify it, she said, "cannot convince me that this is not collective punishment."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Inside Gaza's hospitals: 'The children were very thin. Weak. Glazed eyes. It was devastating'

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly challenged the assertion that starvation is rampant in Gaza, most recently when he slammed a UN report on famine as “blood libel.” On the Haaretz Podcast, Yarden Michaeli takes listeners behind the scenes of his in-depth reporting with Nir Hasson on the scale of severe acute malnutrition in Gaza. As Israel continues to bar journalists from entering the Strip, Michaeli and Hasson virtually “toured” clinics and hospitals in Gaza – including the pediatric ward of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. Israel struck the hospital on Monday, killing multiple healthcare and media workers, including Moaz Abu Taha, the photographer who guided the Haaretz reporters through Nasser. As Michaeli “toured” the wards of Nasser, he saw children who were “very thin, with weak, glazed eyes, clearly severely malnourished with markers of starvation, like changes to their hair color, missing spots of hair on their head, missing teeth and rashes on their skin.” The condition of children, he was told by experts, are the earliest signs of large-scale famine in a population. “The fact that the marks of starvation are already visible on adults in Gaza shows that this whole situation is in an advanced stage,” said Michaeli. “We're not at the beginning. We're far and deep into the process.” Read more: 'Starvation Is Everywhere': Virtual Tours of Gaza Clinics Expose the Scale of the Horror UN Says Over Half a Million Palestinians in Gaza Suffering From Famine; Netanyahu: 'Outright Lie' Alex de Waal: 'Pasta Won't Help. Gaza Is on the Brink of an Exponential Surge in Starvation Deaths'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• ‘Netanyahu will never leave Gaza. War is part of the classic authoritarian playbook’

  Israel is approaching the “horrifying” position of becoming a pariah state due to the Gaza war, former MK and Middle East expert Ksenia Svetlova said on the Haaretz Podcast, expressing deep worry that it was dangerously close to following in the footsteps of her native Russia. Western nations' refusal to cooperate with Russia due to its aggression in Ukraine, she noted, means Moscow is now lagging behind in the fields of technology, science and beyond “by decades” – and Israel could easily share that status soon. “A crackdown on civil society in a way that it happened in Russia will indeed deem Israel to the same level, and will impose on it the very unwanted and frankly horrifying status of a pariah," she said. Svetlova believes that without any “real pressure” from U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House, she is doubtful Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reject any agreement that would end the conflict and halt the current Gaza City offensive. Ongoing war, she noted, “is in the classic authoritarian playbook.” Before that conversation, Haaretz’s Linda Dayan reports on last Sunday’s massive anti-war strike and demonstrations in support of a hostage deal/cease-fire. Although the protest had no apparent effect on the Netanyahu government’s policies, she said, organizers “felt it was successful in that it showed that no matter what the country’s leadership says, the people are behind them, the people are united in what they want. To see a literal big percentage of the national population come out to make sure that people here and abroad know that this is what they believe – that really bolstered people.” Read more: Analysis by Ksenia Svetlova | Beyond Trump-Putin Optics, Zelenskyy Finds Ukraine's Opportunity in What Went Awry in Alaska Hundreds of Thousands of Israelis Flood Tel Aviv Demanding a Hostage Deal to End Gaza War Marching on the Gaza Border, Hostage Families Say: Gaza Takeover Plan Is a Death SentenceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• 'Israeli musicians must choose if they want to be boycotted at home or boycotted abroad'

  Israeli musicians are learning the hard way that speaking out against the war in Gaza comes at a price, Haaretz culture reporter Shay Ringel explained on the Haaretz Podcast. The letter, signed by 1,200 members of the cultural and artistic community, was unusually outspoken regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling on Israeli soldiers to disobey "unlawful orders" and to refrain from "committing war crimes." "Talking about the horrific things that are happening in Gaza – the killing of children, the expulsion of population – this is something new," Ringel explains. Ringel recounted how at least one artist had a concert cancelled as a result of signing the letter. He retracted his signature, and his concert was restored "all within the course of two hours." Other artists took their name off the petition due to pressure by right-wing activists. In his conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Ringel noted that most of the signatories are older and more established musicians, while younger artists are "completely absent" from the petition. Read more: Israeli Mayors Ban Artists Who Signed 'Criminal' anti-Gaza War Petition as Some Retract Signatures 'Fake News': Israeli Singer and 'Fauda' Star Idan Amedi Slams Artists Petitioning Against Gaza War Unthinkable Today – but in 1988, Israel's Biggest Singers United Against the OccupationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• 'A very dangerous gamble': Netanyahu's open clash with IDF leaders over invading Gaza City

  The Israeli public is “exhausted” by the nearly two-year conflict in Gaza, and the vast majority of IDF military leaders believe it should end. Yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forging ahead with his plan to invade Gaza City and expand the war because “he will do whatever he can to stay in power,” said Haaretz senior security analyst Amos Harel, speaking on the Haaretz Podcast. IDF brass, led by chief of staff Eyal Zamir, is attempting to convince Netanyahu for a more limited siege on Gaza City. Still, the message from Netanyahu has been that “he is calling the shots, and the army’s job is to follow orders and prepare to invade Gaza City,” despite the danger that would pose to Israeli hostages being held in the area. Whether or not a full-on operation will eventually happen primarily depends on U.S. President Donald Trump, who, Harel says, is the only one who could push Netanyahu off course, but does not appear to be doing so – for now. “At one point or another, I think the president will be fed up, because there's no victory in sight in Gaza. The suffering continues, and he keeps facing questions from within, including from Republicans, regarding where this is going and why Americans are contributing to this suffering. I don't think that Netanyahu has all the time in the world.” Regarding the hostages, Harel confessed that he struggles to believe that “an Israeli prime minister would just desert them to their death and leave them to die in the tunnels. And yet the signs are there.” Read more from Amos Harel: First Eyal Zamir, Then Gaza City: Defense Minister Katz Targets IDF Chief of Staff Amid Unpopular Offensive Netanyahu Struggles to Sell His Plan to Conquer Gaza as Allies Openly Call for Sacrificing Hostages Despite What Netanyahu Wants You to Think, an Israeli Conquest of Gaza Remains Far OffSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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