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What Matters Now to Micah Goodman: A year to the Israel-Iran war

Best-selling author provides a new concept to frame the ongoing fight against Hamas and Hezbollah sparked by the Oct. 7 massacre, says it may be resolved far from the Jewish state

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World with host Amanda Borschel-Dan.

This week, ahead of the one-year mark of the October 7 massacre, we check in with philosopher and public intellectual Dr. Micah Goodman.

Best-selling author Goodman revisits a theory he discussed with Borschel-Dan on October 9, mere days after Hamas infiltrated Israel’s south and slaughtered 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages to Gaza. We hear about Goodman’s idea of the “zero-sum game” that Israel must play to restore deterrence and maintain legitimacy and its results so far.

Now, a year into this ongoing war, we learn how the Israeli narrative of the war is shifting away from perceiving it through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Today, two other narratives are increasingly gaining steam: One states that October 7 was the opening salvo to a regional war and the other zooms out even further and places it in the context of a realignment of the global axis.

We hear how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “right” in warning against Iran, but his coalition just may obstruct efforts to solve the conflict once and for all.

“We need new politics in order to defeat Iran,” said Goodman.

So this week, we ask Dr. Micah Goodman, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

Check out the previous What Matters Now episode:

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