The View From the Israeli Right
On Tuesday I got back from an eight-day trip to Israel and the West Bank. I happened to be there on the day that Benny Gantz resigned from the war cabinet and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to schedule new elections, breaking the unity government that Israel had had since shortly after Oct. 7.\n\nThere is no viable left wing in Israel right now. There is a coalition that Netanyahu leads stretching from right to far right and a coalition that Gantz leads stretching from center to right. In the early months of the war, Gantz appeared ascendant as support for Netanyahu cratered. But now Netanyahu\u2019s poll numbers are ticking back up.\n\nSo one thing I did in Israel was deepen my reporting on Israel\u2019s right. And there, Amit Segal\u2019s name kept coming up. He\u2019s one of Israel\u2019s most influential political analysts and the author of \u201cThe Story of Israeli Politics\u201d is coming out in English.\n\nSegal and I talked about the political differences between Gantz and Netanyahu, the theory of security that\u2019s emerging on the Israeli right, what happened to the Israeli left, the threat from Iran and Hezbollah and how Netanyahu is trying to use President Biden\u2019s criticism to his political advantage.\n\nMentioned:\n\n\u201cBiden May Spur Another Netanyahu Comeback\u201d by Amit Segal\n\nBook Recommendations:\n\nThe Years of Lyndon Johnson Series by Robert A. Caro\n\nThe World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig\n\nThe Object of Zionism by Zvi Efrat\n\nThe News from Waterloo by Brian Cathcart\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\nThis episode of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d was produced by Claire Gordon. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\u2019s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero.