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Unholy Media

Yonit Levi of Israel's Channel 12 News and Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian are two of the most prominent journalists in the world today. They are also Jews. Each week, join what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow calls "two great, smart smart smart hosts" as they dissect and debate current events shaping Israel, Jewish life - and the wider world.
Their blend of nuanced discussion and sparkling conversation, featuring a dazzling range of guests, is why New Yorker editor David Remnick calls himself a “proud, avid listener," why Ira Glass says he "completely enjoys this show" and why Malcolm Gladwell calls it an "incredibly fun podcast".
For a weekly fix of globally informed talk – including nominations for the greatest act of chutzpah and outstanding mensch of the previous seven days – there’s only one destination. Make every Friday morning Unholy. 
Contact us via: unholy@unholy-media.com

Unholy: Two Jews on the News

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As Israel marks one week out of 40 days of missiles from Iran, Yonit and Jonathan take apart the week's impossible contradictions: Netanyahu delivering a triumphalist Yom HaShoah speech while 400 kilograms of enriched uranium remain intact in Iran; a fragile Lebanon ceasefire that almost no one trusts; 40 Democratic senators voting against arms transfers; and Italy's far-right prime minister — until now Israel's last ally in Europe — quietly moving toward the exit.

They also clock a historic election in Hungary, what Orban's fall means for the Israeli opposition, and whether Gadi Eisenkot is the figure who finally changes the picture.

 

CHAPTERS: [00:00] Intro

 [02:30] Two kinds of sirens — explaining Yom HaShoah to kids during active war 

[05:00] Yom HaShoah: the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and why Israel chose this date 

[06:00] The war breakfast menu — 40 days and no off switch 

[08:44] Iran ceasefire: fragile, murky, and far from over 

[14:42] Netanyahu's Holocaust Day speech — and what it got wrong 

[20:47] Israeli elections: Eisenkot, Bennett, and the Orban lesson from Hungary

 [27:00] Democrats break with Israel: Slotkin, 40 Senate votes, and who lost America 

[33:45] Italy's Meloni shifts — even the far-right is moving 

[40:41] Chutzpah Award: JD Vance tells the Pope to be careful about theology 

[43:30] Mensch Award: Parents Circle joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony

 

 
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Lebanon ceasefire, Senate Showdown, Orban out

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Day 40 of the US-Israel war on Iran — and it's ceasefire. But the relief is complicated: Israeli bombardment of Hezbollah in Lebanon has already shifted the world's anger from Washington back to Jerusalem.

Bret Stephens, opinion columnist at the New York Times and one of the conflict's most prominent intellectual defenders, joins Yonit and Jonathan to take stock — was it worth it, what was actually achieved, and what does an inconclusive ending mean for Israel's standing with a younger American generation that's turning away.

Then: the death penalty bill that slipped through the Knesset on Erev Pesach. Dr. Amir Fuchs of the Israeli Democracy Institute was inside those committee rooms. He explains what passed and who it targets.

⏱ CHAPTERS: 

[00:00] Ceasefire — Yonit wakes up after 40 nights of sirens in Tel Aviv 

[02:10] Kids, lunchboxes, and parenting during wartime 

[05:45] Why Israel is now the global target instead of Trump

[19:24] Bret Stephens: Was the Iran war worth it? 

[23:11] Senior Israeli official admits objectives weren't achieved 

[26:23] Iran's nuclear program — degraded, not destroyed 

[29:52] The Strait of Hormuz: Iran's trump card 

[34:08] Israel's American support — how worried should we be? 

[37:07] Israel's intelligence credibility post-October 7th 

[40:33] Young Americans and the erosion of support for Israel 

[54:28] Dr. Amir Fuchs — inside the Knesset committee rooms What the death penalty bill actually says 

[1:02:30] Will the Supreme Court strike it down? 

[1:06:42] Ben-Gvir's trap — win-win by design 

[1:10:36] Yonit: Judaism doesn't celebrate death 

[1:11:53] Jonathan: the synagogue sermon about spilling wine on Passover 

[1:14:38] Hungary elections — Orban vs. Magyar 

[1:16:52] Chutzpah Award: Kanye West banned from Britain 

[1:21:25] Mensch: Colette Avital, 86-year-old Holocaust survivor, still protesting 

 
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Ceasefire on day 40 - with Bret Stephens and Amir Fuchs

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Day 39 of the war. Pesach. Instead of news, we brought you books — two of them, both essential.

Jonathan speaks with Daniel Taub, former Israeli ambassador to the UK and author of Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement — about why Jewish argument culture might be the most relevant thing in the world right now, and how families torn apart over Gaza might actually talk to each other.

Yonit speaks with Yardena Schwartz, award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer, author of Ghosts of a Holy War — about the 1929 Hebron massacre, and why this nearly-forgotten event explains almost everything about the conflict today.

Two books. Two conversations. One mid-week treat while we wait for whatever comes next.

 

 
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Books special: conversations with Daniel Taub and Yardena Schwartz

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In this special Pesach episode, Yonit and Jonathan discuss seder traditions and those who had to change due to the war. They are joined by Tom Holland — historian and co-host of The Rest Is History and author of landmark books on Rome, Persia, and the roots of Western civilization — to explain why the Romans were wrong about the Jews, why the West fundamentally misunderstands Iran, and why secularism is itself a religious inheritance. From Cyrus the Great to the Iranian Revolution to Donald Trump, this is the episode that puts the present moment in full historical context.

 
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Middle East Past and Present: A deep dive into history with Tom Holland

Please note that an (authentic!) alert sound is heard twice throughout the episode.

Watch us on Youtube: https://youtu.be/UdhHLAquwgs

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The fourth week of the war with Iran finds both sides insisting—loudly and contradictorily—that peace talks are either underway or nowhere in sight. In the meantime, Iranian missiles continue to hit civilian neighbourhoods across Israel, while rolling news blurs day into night, tracking both the war itself and the political manoeuvres that show little sign of slowing down. And in London, another antisemitic attack raises uncomfortable questions about double standards when it comes to hatred directed at Israel.

This week, Yonit and Jonathan sit down with Jake Sullivan, who puts it bluntly: this war should not have started. Sullivan lays out three reasons why the decision was flawed, argues that Donald Trump’s “appetite grew with the eating” from the 12-day war to the current escalation, and offers an alternative path—a renewed nuclear deal backed by long-term deterrence. He also raises a troubling possibility: could this conflict increase the likelihood of Chinese action against Taiwan?

 

Plus: a rare look behind the scenes of Israel’s most-watched news broadcast, as Yonit reflects on what it means to sit in the anchor’s chair for hours on end—and the personal toll it takes.

 

00:00 Day 27 — Cluster bomb near Yonit's house

 03:00 Life under sirens: sheltering in Tel Aviv 

19:48 The Rubio remark: did Israel drag America into war?

23:28 Yonit on anchoring Israel's news during a war she's living

31:23 Jonathan: global antisemitic attacks since the war began 

42:06 Jake Sullivan: deal or escalation?

1:15:16 Chutzpah & Mensch Awards

 
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Talking peace, making war - with Jake Sullivan

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This morning, Donald Trump posted something that might — or might not — mean the US-Israeli war on Iran is coming to an end.

A five-day pause on strikes. Secret talks via Pakistan and Turkey. Kushner and Witkoff on the American side. A shadowy Iranian speaker being cast as the pragmatist the US has been searching for. This is a special emergency episode of Unholy, recorded on 23 March 2026, as events were still unfolding.

Jonathan and Yonit break down the two scenarios — deal or larger war — and why Trump's exit ramp looks nothing like Netanyahu's. They also turn to the daily wave of antisemitic attacks across Europe and North America since this war began, including last night's arson on four Hatzalah ambulances in Golders Green, London.

 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Update Episode

01:02 Trump's Social Media Post and Its Implications

03:40 Negotiations and Mediating Efforts

08:29 The Role of Iran and Potential Outcomes

13:30 Israel's Position and Concerns

16:26 Rising Anti-Semitism and Community Safety

 

 
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War with Iran Update: Trump Hits the Pause Button

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Day 20 of the US-Israeli war on Iran — and it's becoming a war of attrition. In the meantime, Europe refuses to lend its ships, daylight emerges between Trump and Netanyahu, and Joe Kent's antisemitic conspiracy theory gets the full debunking it deserves.

Amos Harel, Haaretz's military affairs correspondent, joins Yonit and Jonathan for a deep dive. What does the assassination of Ali Larijani — Khamenei's right-hand man — actually achieve? Is the war drifting from plan A toward something no one planned at all? And why is Netanyahu now talking less about regime change and more about Israel as a "world superpower"?

And we turn to you, our listeners, with your most pressing questions about anything between life and war.

 
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Day 20 of the Iran war - with Amos Harel. Plus: Shelter Q&A

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Naomi Alderman on Substack: look at me. I’m here. I’m the ultimate product of Hitler’s defeat: https://naomialderman.substack.com/p/look-at-me-im-here-im-the-ultimate

Day 13 of the war with Iran — and the conflict just got bigger. Overnight, 200 rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon. Hezbollah, which many believed had been neutered, is back. 

This week, Yonit and Jonathan take stock of a war that is growing, not winding down. They're joined by General David Petraeus — former CIA Director, commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one of the most clear-eyed voices on American military strategy. Petraeus breaks down what the US and Israel have actually achieved so far: missile launches are down over 90%, air defenses have been dismantled, and over 6,000 targets hit. But the new Khamenei? "We wanted a Delcy Rodriguez," he says. "We got a young Kim Jong-un." And he's blunt about what comes next: Iran's a million men under arms, and nobody has a clean exit.

Then: a very different conversation. Jonathan talks to novelist and broadcaster Naomi Alderman about why she thinks Marty Supreme is the most intensely Jewish movie she's ever seen. 

Plus: the Mensch and Chutzpah awards return. The Academy of Hebrew Language gets hacked by Iranians. Their response? Perfect.

 
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Iran with General David Petraeus, Oscars with Naomi Alderman - plus: can Jewish life thrive under fire?

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As the war between Israel and Iran enters its second week, daily life in Israel has settled into a strange and exhausting rhythm.

Yonit describe what it means to live under constant missile alerts: sleepless nights, families moving between shelters, and a country running on collective exhaustion. They also unpack two major developments shaping the conflict. First, the mixed and sometimes contradictory signals coming from Donald Trump about how long the war will last. And second, the sudden leadership change in Iran, with Mojtaba Khamenei emerging as the successor to his father.

To make sense of it all, they speak with Professor Ali Ansari of the University of St Andrews, one of the world’s leading historians of Iran. Ansari challenges much of the conventional analysis around the war and the future of the Iranian regime.

Could the Islamic Republic actually be weaker than many assume? Is regime change truly impossible—or simply unpredictable? And if change does come, what might it look like?

 
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War with Iran Week II: can the regime actually fall? With Ali Ansari

Watch us on Youtube: https://youtu.be/zNwIQcrIMDs

Recent update episodes:

War with Iran day 4 - Living under fire (March 3)

Khamenei Is Dead. What Now for Iran? - with Dr. Suzanne Maloney (March 1)

US and Israel strike Iran; Khamenei reported dead - with Amos Harel (Feb 28)

America and Israel are at war with Iran. non-stop sirens in Tel Aviv, the Gulf states are under fire, and the Trump administration is hit by a barrage of tough questions in Washington.

This week, Yonit and Jonathan take stock of a historic and disorienting first week. Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times, joins to assess the war from the outside: Trump shifting justifications for war, Israel's military logic-- and who will fill the regional power vacuum if Iran is weakened.

And: Jonathan reports from Sydney, where he visited Bondi Beach and spoke to a Jewish community still shaken by the shooting in December — and Yonit, running on five nights of no sleep, describes what it's actually like to stop your car on the side of a highway when the sirens go off. Also: a wedding in a shelter, four floors underground.

0:00.000 Chapter: US & Israel war against Iran - day 6

22:31.671 Chapter: Shifting Justifications for War

25:22.534 Chapter: Israel's Strategic Calculus

28:27.274 Chapter: Changing Dynamics in American Support

31:12.981Chapter: The Role of Allies in a New World Order

34:19.257 Chapter: Future of Regional Powers in the Middle East

37:16.299 Chapter: The Complexity of Regime Change

40:07.423 Chapter: Responses from Gulf States and the Path Forward

42:47.830 Chapter: Understanding the Iranian Threat

42:56.867 Chapter: Current Events in the Middle East

43:59.964 Chapter: Reflections on the Conversation and Future Outlook

 

 

 
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Middle East Past and Present: A deep dive into history with Tom Holland

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