Before we get to our main subject for today, we’re sharing this video, making its way around Israeli social media in English (so you may have seen it), which is part of Israel’s attempt to win hearts and minds in a period in which that seems essentially impossible to do.
WARNING: it has some unpleasant images.
And now, for today’s podcast ….
With the war a month old and showing no signs of ending, we, like many others, are beginning to creep back to a grudging sense of pain-infused normalcy. Today we revert to one of our podcasts, one which we recorded before the war began.
Martin Indyk’s tweet above, from September 12, didn’t age well. It didn’t even make much sense the day it came out, obviously, for the antisemitism at the heart of the Palestinian cause was obvious even before their murderous, sadistic rampage of October 7.
In his book, Landes shows he he was not surprised by October 7. Here’s a lengthy quotation from the Nobel prize winning author Jose Saramago, denouncing Israel in 2002:
Richard Landes started out as someone who was in favor of Oslo, then he realized what was really happening and believed it to be a huge mistake. By now, I assume that it’s fair to say that most Israelis agree with him.
But they—like us—don’t know a fraction of what Landes does about the Jihadi world, which he shares with us in his book.
Richard Landes is a Historian of the Middle Ages, a Professor of History and the Director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University. He is also the chair of SPME’s Council of Scholars. His latest book is called Can “The Whole World” Be Wrong? Lethal Journalism, Antisemitism, and Global Jihad.
Richard received his master’s degree from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Today he lives in Jerusalem.
The link above will take you to a brief excerpt of our conversation; the full conversation, along with a transcript for those who prefer to read, is being made available to paid subscribers to Israel from the Inside.
Impossible Takes Longer is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and at other booksellers.
Music credits: Medieval poem by Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Gvirol. Melody and performance by Shaked Jehuda and Eyal Gesundheit. Production by Eyal Gesundheit. To view a video of their performance, see this YouTube:
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