"Ask Haviv Anything" is a podcast about history, a podcast you, dear listener, will help to shape and direct, focusing not just on what I want to talk about but on what you want to learn and discuss. Nothing is off limits. We're going to talk about big and painful things, and also beautiful and fascinating things, wars and identities and painful history. And also more light-hearted things. Humor matters, especially when facing tough subjects. Join me on this journey. A podcast by Haviv Rettig Gur
113 episodes transcribedAs hostage talks seem stalled and the war grinds on into its 22nd month, doubts about Netanyahu’s strategy and intentions have become ubiquitous.Netan...
There are many ways to process and manage painful and difficult times. After the massacre of October 7 and the multi-front war that ensued, many Israe...
The Iranian regime has long claimed to be the bearers of Shia Islam's vision of messianic redemption. The Supreme Leader, who ruled under regime f...
A bombshell Haaretz report last Friday concluded that IDF soldiers were responsible for a great many of the deaths of Gazan civilians outside aid dist...
(Update: audio issues corrected)Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize Israel. I was an ally and vital trading partner for decades -- until...
There's now a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Who won the war? And what happens now?We offer some preliminary conclusions as the dust settles.T...
The United States has struck the Iranian nuclear program, marking a watershed moment for the region.It will take days to determine the scale of the da...
Haredi Israelis make up some 13% of the population but have extremely low rates of workforce participation and military service. The growing welfare s...
Twenty-four people have been killed in Israel since the outbreak of the direct Israel-Iran war. The Air Force is busy hunting launchers inside Iran to...
The astonishing Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program was the inevitable result of October 7, a day that convinced Israelis they do not actuall...
The Trump administration has been trying to hammer out a deal to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. In the last 24 hours, the rhetoric has ratcheted up...
Last month marked the 25th anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon after an 18-year guerrilla war that presaged everything we now think of...
Hamas's rule in Gaza is a theocratic dictatorship. But its roots lie in the 19th-century movement for Islamic reform that believes modernization,...
Jerusalem Day falls on May 25th this year. It is the day of Jerusalem's unification in the 1967 Six Day War, and so a symbol of both Jewish rescue fro...
If the requirements of international law mean that Israel is effectively prohibited from defeating its enemies or protecting its borders, should Israe...
After a delay (Haviv got a bad flu), we're happy to share a great panel with Haviv and Prof. John Spencer that took place at the Woodbury Jewish C...
Qatar has just 330,000 citizens but controls vast wealth due to its plentiful natural gas. It has used that wealth to support radical and violent terr...
As the Trump administration tries to strike a deal curtailing Iran's nuclear program, I turned to Dr. Sharona Mazalian Levi, an Iran expert and proud...
Palestinian advocates like to quip that the current war "didn't begin on October 7." That's true, of course, though unhelpful. It di...
Passover is upon us, the seder is Saturday night.Freedom, the Sages teach, is not an end, it is a path; no mere escape from Pharaoh's tyranny but...
