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Prime Minister Netanyahu's meeting with President Trump ended without any clear declaration about simmering tensions with Iran, so Ark Media contributor Nadav Eyal joins Dan to try to read between the lines. What did Netanyahu hope to achieve? Does anyone know Trump's plan? Is an attack on Iran still on the table and did Netanyahu move the needle? Could the talks with Iran be just a head fake?

In this episode:

-What Netanyahu asked for in Washington

-Why Israeli officials think the Iran talks may be “dead on arrival”

-U.S. military buildup and strike contingencies

-Why Trump’s Iran policy is not about Israel — and never has been

-The China factor: oil, energy, and Cold War II

- Will Israel participate in a strike?

-The Board of Peace and a potential Marshall Plan for Gaza

-Why Hamas will only disarm under credible threat

More Ark Media:

• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

Please spend 5 minutes to fill out Ark Media’s LISTENER SURVEY

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What will Israelis really be voting on in the first election since October 7?

Today we are launching Israel Votes, a new Call me Back and Ark Media series that will be your hub for unpacking the Israeli election. Ark Media contributors Amit Segal and Nadav Eyal join Dan to set the stage, exploring how October 7, the war, coalition politics, deep social divides, and the Netanyahu brand will all play a role in the upcoming vote, which many Israelis feel may determine the character and future of the Jewish state.

In this episode:

- Why this election feels different from every Israeli election before it

- How October 7 changed the political map and voter psychology

- Netanyahu’s coalition problem and the ultra-Orthodox question

- The opposition’s strategy and the Bennett factor

- Is this election a referendum on the past or a vote about the future?

- What Israel’s demographic and political trends mean for the outcome

More Ark Media:

• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Explore Israel Votes
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

This is a sneak peek from the latest Inside Call Me Back, the members-only edition of the podcast.

Subscribe here to Inside Call me Back

Bret Stephens argues that while organizations like the ADL do valuable work tracking and responding to antisemitic incidents, the Jewish community has overinvested in fighting antisemitism as a primary strategy.

To hear the full conversation, become a member by following the link in the description or visiting arkmedia.org.

In the full episode:

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens joins Dan on the members-only edition of Call me Back to take questions about his speech at 92nd Street Y and the public conversation it started. Should we really stop trying to fight Antisemitism? Should the ADL be “dismantled”? Can we define the psychology of Antisemitism? And what are the stories that define Judaism?

Watch Bret's full speech: https://youtu.be/1QMTjVuo9dE

More Ark Media:

• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

Is the right way to fight Antisemitism maybe to… stop fighting it?

In this special episode, we share The State of World Jewry address delivered by New York Times columnist Bret Stephens at the 92nd Street Y. Stephens, who is also the editor-in-chief of SAPIR Journal, offers a bracing diagnosis of modern antisemitism and argues that it cannot be educated away, apologized for, or solved through allyship. Instead, he calls for Jewish confidence, cultural seriousness, and moral clarity in the face of rising hostility.

In this episode:

- Why antisemitism is about resentment, not misunderstanding

- The false promise of fighting antisemitism head-on

- The danger of approval-seeking and respectability politics

- October 8th Jews and the identity reckoning

- Jewish values as inherently countercultural

- Building strength instead of chasing acceptance

This episode was sponsored by SAPIR: Sign up for the SAPIR journal at sapirjournal.org/CallMeBack

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

Is there a deeper strategy underlying President Trump’s actions?

Dan is joined by historian, Free Press columnist, CBS contributor, and Senior Fellow at Hoover Institution Sir Niall Ferguson to connect the dots on how President Trump is using leverage, unpredictability, and selective force across Iran, Venezuela, Europe, and beyond. They discuss why a counter revolution in Iran has little chance without foreign intervention, what “regime alteration” means, whether we're still living through Cold War II, and why Europe keeps taking the bait.

In this episode…

- Iran strike timing, targets, and endgame

- “Regime alteration” vs. regime change

- Why Iran’s protests failed and fear works

- Turkey’s mediation and Erdoğan’s ambitions

- Saudi pressure and regional deterrence logic

- Cold War II and the authoritarian axis

- Davos, Europe’s weakness, and the Greenland distraction

- MAGA tensions, Israel, deterrence, and Taiwan

This episode was sponsored by United Hatzalah. Donate today at IsraelRescue.org/CallMeBack. Add this number to your phone right now if you live in Israel – 1221, and for those visiting it’s 972-2-5-383838.

From the episode:

- Niall Ferguson’s essay in the Free Press, “The Myth of Revolution in Iran”

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

This is a sneak peek from a recent conversation on Inside Call Me Back, the members-only edition of the podcast. Dan and Nadav try to understand the strategic thinking of Iran’s top command and the role of surprise in deterrence.

To hear the full conversation, become a member by following the link in the description or visiting arkmedia.org.

In the full episode:

Nadav joins Dan in the hot seat to take listener questions on Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace,” the limits of economic prosperity to deradicalize Palestinian society, and whether outside actors can actually create change in Gaza. They also discuss Qatar’s influence inside the U.S., and explore the politics of Israeli Arabs. Dan also provides his perspective on whether elite universities still matter.

More Ark Media:

• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

Is Antizionism a Soviet invention for persecuting Jews?

Dan is joined by Shaul Kelner, professor of Jewish studies and sociology at Vanderbilt University, to examine the rarely-told history of Antizionism. Kelner explains how a framework designed to deny Jewish life under Soviet rule has resurfaced in the West long before October 7 and why many American Jews were unprepared for its scale and intensity.

In this episode...

08:00: The Soviet roots of Antizionism

15:00: How Antizionism entered the West

21:00 Marxism and ideological monoculture in American universities

28:00 Why American Jews are seduced by Antizionism

32:00: Stop debating semantics

This episode was sponsored by SAPIR: Sign up for the SAPIR journal at sapirjournal.org/CallMeBack

From the episode:

- Shaul Kelner’s book, A Cold War Exodus: How Americans Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews

- Read Shaul’s article on American Antizionism in the Shalom Hartman Institute's Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas

- Attend The State of World Jewry Address at the 92nd Street Y

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo

Is a U.S. strike on Iran back on the table? How could it reshape the Middle East? And what role could the Middle East play in the new world order taking shape these days?

Dan Senor speaks with Mark Dubowitz and Yonatan Adiri about the rising likelihood of U.S. military action against the Islamic Republic, which targets are being considered, and how Iran could retaliate. They also unpack Israel’s internal debates on how to respond, the Saudi UAE rift and what it means for normalization, Turkey’s expanding footprint, and why India is becoming a more important regional player.

In this episode...

- Is a U.S. strike on Iran coming and what would actually be hit

- How Iran might retaliate and the debates inside Israel over next steps

- Whether military action is meant to pressure the regime or help bring it down

- Why Trump paused an attack and the regional forces shaping that call

- Saudi Arabia’s recalculation, its rift with the UAE, and the impact on normalization

- Turkey’s rise and why India is becoming a quiet power broker in the region

This episode was sponsored by SAPIR: Sign up for the SAPIR journal at sapirjournal.org/CallMeBack

From the episode:

- Listen to Yonatan’s podcast What’s Your Number?

- Listen to Mark’s podcast The Iran Breakdown

More Ark Media:

• Want to join Ark Media? Check out our careers page for new openings.
• Subscribe to Inside Call me Back
• Listen to For Heaven's Sake
• Listen to What’s Your Number?
• Watch Call me Back on YouTube
• Newsletters | Ark Media | Amit Segal | Nadav Eyal
• Instagram | Ark Media | Dan
• X | Dan
• Dan Senor & Saul Singer’s book, The Genius of Israel
• Get in touch

Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo