Unholy: Two Jews on the News

Israel just learned that the US and Iran have agreed to a deconfliction cell with Lebanon — and Israel wasn't in the room. As the dust settles on a war whose outcome is, at best, ambiguous, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who wants his old job back.

Bennett doesn't hold back: on why he believes this government dragged out a war Israel was never built to fight, on the "infinite power of propaganda" keeping Netanyahu afloat three years after October 7th, and on whether he can trust Trump — or JD Vance — to look out for Israel's interests when Israel isn't at the table. He also lays out, in detail, what he'd do differently on the Haredi draft, the judiciary, the Palestinians, and Ben Gvir and Smotrich — and admits the polls aren't moving the way he hoped.

 

00:00 Introduction: Naftali Bennett joins Unholy

00:09 The Iran deal and the deconfliction cell with Lebanon

03:18 Would he have avoided this war altogether?

06:29 Did Netanyahu prolong the war for political reasons?

08:05 Trust in Trump and JD Vance on Iran

13:11 Reports the Trump administration is opening channels to him

15:19 What would actually change if Bennett became PM?

17:39 The Kogat story: improving Palestinian quality of life without a state

21:51 Pushback: is a two-state "spectrum" really viable?

24:06 Why he opposes full Palestinian sovereignty

24:39 Mansour Abbas and Arab parties in a Bennett coalition

26:52 Lapid, the polls, and stepping aside for Eisenkot

29:34 Judicial reform: would he continue where this government left off?

31:26 Why Ben Gvir and Smotrich are out

33:51 Fears of a "January 6th" scenario in Israel

36:16 Was joining forces with Lapid a mistake?

39:21 Did Bennett change, or did Israel change?

42:05 The story that brought him back: a scientist in tears

44:43 How is Netanyahu still in this race?

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As the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding is signed in Versailles — covering a ceasefire, sanctions relief, and billions in unfrozen assets, but saying nothing about uranium enrichment, centrifuges, ballistic missiles, or Iran's proxies — Israel is left reading a deal it wasn't part of and only received hours before Trump's signature. Yonit is joined this week by CNN senior global affairs analyst and Unholy co-author Bianna Golodryga, live from a New York celebrating the Knicks' first championship in 53 years, for a conversation about what this MOU actually says, what it doesn't, and what it means for a country that spent 40 days in shelters waiting for something better than this.

Plus: a Cornell sophomore makes headlines for the wrong reasons, and a design school in Israel sends wounded soldiers down a runway.

 

02:09 Responses to the MOU in Israel and the U.S.

06:59 Concerns from Israel Regarding the MOU

11:20 Netanyahu's Position and Reactions

17:24 Implications for U.S.-Israel Relations and Regional Dynamics

24:42 The Political Landscape of the Iran Deal

27:08 Consequences of the Ceasefire and Future Implications

28:56 Comparing Past and Present Iran Agreements

31:03 Economic Reactions and Military Posturing

32:49 The Changing Dynamics of U.S.-Israel Relations

35:28 Chutzpah: Cornell Sophomore Austin Franco

37:30 Mensch: Shenkar College Designs for Wounded Soldiers

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This week’s Unholy conversations is a rare interview with Nir Bar Dea, CEO of Bridgewater—the world's largest hedge fund. Bar Dea moves beyond market trends, framing our current moment as a volatile collision between a changing world order, and an unprecedented technological revolution fueled by AI. He offers a sobering perspective on why the comfort of the last several decades has perhaps left us less resilient than the generations before us, urging listeners to view history not as destiny, but as a lesson in the necessity of strength during turbulent times.

The conversation turns personal, too: Bar Dea talks about the toll of his own service in the Israeli Air Force, what it's like being Israeli in New York since October 7th, and why he  believes Israel's younger generation might be its greatest asset.

00:00 Intro

01:10 The Iran-US deal and why timing doesn't matter

06:25 Trump as outcome, not cause

09:30 Tough love: why we feel overwhelmed

10:59 Israel's resilient next generation

24:49 The AI infrastructure race — and Israel's gap

27:11 Being Israeli in New York since October 7th

32:54 The hidden cost of IDF service

35:02 Bridgewater's radical transparency culture

41:51 Rebuilding from Nir Oz — a story of hope

 

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Yonit is joined by Yaakov Katz, author, columnist and former editor of the Jerusalem Post, and together they try to make sense of a week that had it all: a 17-hour mini-war with Iran, Trump growing visibly impatient -- and Netanyahu caught between his base and the White House. Israeli politics see the Israeli PM focusing on the rising political threat of Gadi Eisenkot, who for the first time has pulled ahead of Netanyahu in head-to-head polling for Prime minister -- and how the Likud is trying to turn his English skills into a liability. Then it's across the Atlantic — to an oyster farmer in Maine with a Nazi tattoo, a Michigan primary, and a New Jersey candidate with troubling ties, all pointing to a shift in American politics that Israelis aren't paying nearly enough attention to. Plus: our Chutzpah and Mensch awards — one goes to a Jewish politician building a very disturbing database, and the other heads to the World Cup.

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Israeli children are still running to shelters. The hostages are home, but the wars keep coming. And somewhere underneath it all — the October 7th trauma, the Iran strikes, the hostages, the endless sirens — something is being passed down to the next generation, whether we mean to or not.

This week, Yonit sits down with Dr. Galit Atlas, psychoanalyst and author of Emotional Inheritance, to ask the questions most of us are afraid to answer: what does prolonged, unprocessed national trauma do to a people? How do Jewish rituals of memory — Passover, Holocaust Remembrance Day — help or harm? And is there actually hope on the other side of all this?

Dr. Atlas's new book, Come Closer: Childhood Wounds, Adult Love and the Secrets of Emotional Intimacy, is out in September.

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Yonit Levi
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