A

Over the past couple of years, Call Me Back has grown into something much bigger than we ever expected. A place for clarity, context and honest conversations at a time when those things can seem hard to find. That's what ARC Media is all about. Building a truly independent voice, which means no one shaping what we say or how we say it. To help support our rapidly expanding operations, we created Inside Call Me Back, our members only feed. If Call Me Back has been meaningful to you and you want to be part of what we're building, I hope you'll join us. You can subscribe@ark media.org or through the link in the show Notes and to our insiders. Thank you.

B

You are listening to an art media podcast. Welcome to Inside Call Me Back, our members only edition where we open the door and let shape the conversation. And today in the hot seat addressing your questions and your personal dilemmas is ARC Media contributor Amit Segal. Amit, welcome back to the Inside.

C

Thank you so much.

B

Before we jump into the questions, I understand the topic of weight loss right now is a maybe this is too sensitive a topic. So for our listeners who, who haven't been following this, this is something that's gone viral inside Israel, where Prime Minister Netanyahu was doing what looked equivalent like a town hall meeting. A Channel 14 sponsored town hall meeting.

C

An interview. An interview, yeah.

B

But in front of a live.

C

Yep.

B

Well, why don't you explain what happened?

C

It was a very long, friendly, yet interesting interview and Netanyahu was in a very friendly, supportive atmosphere. So when he asked in what fashion has he changed since October 7, he said, I lost some weight. And then after a few seconds he collected his thoughts and said, but seriously, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. However, the fact that he joked on October 7th.

B

Joked about October 7th.

C

He joked about October 7th, exactly. Has been making a lot of noise in Israel.

B

Okay, so this has been coming up a lot in conversations I've had with Israelis about how these different comments can just be very triggering, very upsetting. I mean, I just came up with I was talking to Avi Sakharov and Lior Raz about the new season of Fouda that has a couple of episodes that deals with October 7th and season five takes place way after October 7th, a couple years after. But they have like flashbacks in a couple of episodes to October 7th. They had to put out a disclaimer when the season was released to alert viewers that two episodes deal with October 7th and may have a, like a triggering aspect that may be very hard for people to watch.

C

Right.

B

And that if they want to skip those episodes, they can, and it won't mean that you'll lose the plot of the whole series. So this is just coming up a lot and lot. So when Netanyahu makes an offhand joke for many, I would argue most Israelis, I could see why they're just like. I mean, it's just so offensive.

C

Yeah, it's offensive. I don't think it's going to move the needle because I'm not sure anything can move the needle when it comes to Netanyahu's positioning in the Israeli public one way or the other. It was a very rare moment for Netanyahu because for me, it was clear once I watched it that it was. It's not a typical Netanyahu. He's very aware, to say the least, of sensitivities and things not to joke about, et cetera. Is it going to decide the election? No.

B

Yeah. Well, let me say this. You know Michael Kinsley, the famous American journalist and pundit, and he was editor in chief of the New Republic, he since passed away. He had this very good line about what the definition of a gaffe. What is a gaffe or gaffe in politics? And he says a gaffe basically, is when a public figure accidentally breaks character or drops their spin to reveal an unfiltered thought that reveals, like, exactly how they think about an issue or about a set of events. It was a gaffe, clearly. I mean, but if you applied the Kinsley lens to it, a gaffe kind of reinforces what people think about that person. So it's not that anyone thinks Netanyahu is really so loose and lighthearted about October 7th. Please give me a break. I don't believe that for a second. But if people perceive that he hasn't taken responsibility to the extent that he should, that he hasn't been as sensitive to how much Israeli society was traumatized and shattered, then a joke like that reinforces what they already think of what he thinks.

C

Okay, so I guess that it fuels the fury central Left voters feel towards Netanyahu as the prime Minister at the time of Israel's worst defeat and worst disaster, and as someone who didn't take any accountability whatsoever. I'm not sure it's going to change the right wing's perspective exactly. For the very same reason that you've just mentioned that I guess that the vast majority of Israelis do not believe that Netanyahu is indifferent or doesn't care about October 7th. Now, there is something interesting about it, because Menachem Begin couldn't sleep at night because of the dead soldiers from Lebanon. From the first Lebanon War. There were protests outside of the Prime Minister's residence that went on and on into the night. After midnight, they burned the midnight oil there. And the police wanted to evacuate the protesters in order to let the Prime Minister sleep. So he said, no, no, do not evacuate them, because he had a hard time sleeping, too, because of the casualties. It's not the case for Netanyahu. We can argue whether it's because of the structure of his personality or something else. But as far as I understand, no one really thinks that for Netanyahu. It's funny. So I would say it's going to motivate the center left to vote against him. But I. I don't think there. There's any motivation shortage out there.

B

Okay. All right, let's jump into our questions here. First, one, Chelsea from Sydney, Australia, writes, a recent survey in Israel shows that 66% of Israelis believe there needs to be a state commission of inquiry on October 7, similar to the Yom Kippur war inquiry. And there were. There have been subsequent inquiries. There's one after the 2006 Lebanon War. This is the Yom Kippur War was not the only one. Anyways, so Chelsea says 66% of Israelis want this commission of inquiry, while only 25% oppose. Similar numbers apply to the continuation of the Haredi exemption from military service, Meaning there's a majority that want the exemption to end and there's a small percentage that want it to continue. Both issues have been policies of the current government in Israel, meaning opposing at least opposing a state commission the way that it's been traditionally done, and opposing an end to the Haredi draft exemption. And then Chelsea asks, why do these polls not line up with the political polls? Why would people who care about these policies want to reelect this government?

C

Okay, so here is an introduction to Israeli politics. You have only one vote. In the United States, you have two. You have even three.

B

Yeah, I see. Right.

C

You can elect the president based on, I don't know, foreign policy and the senator based on funding, and your congressman or woman based on local policies. In Israel, you have only one. So even crucial issues are reduced to nothing in terms of electoral importance if they are only second in priority. Okay. That's the reason, for instance, why economy hasn't been an issue in Israel almost ever, save two incidents in the beginning of the millennium. Because for Israelis, security is the number one consideration now. The only reason or the only way to make something important from an electoral perspective in Israel is to wrap it up as a security issue. That's exactly what Bennett has been trying to do since he rejoined politics. He said the fact that the Haredi youngsters dodge from the army endangers the soldiers because there aren't enough. So that's the reason why we failed to have a total victory. I'll give you a more ridiculous example. There is the Ministry for the Environment. It suffered for years from malfunctioning and budgets that were not sufficient. It ended the day that the newly elected Minister for Environment changed its name to the Minister of the Security of the Environment. All of a sudden it became about security. The same for the Agriculture Ministry. Now its name it's the Ministry for the Security of Food Supply. Okay, because it's wrapped up as we must have farmers. Because in the next war, when Turkey again will not send us wheat or apples, we have our own products. So it's defending the food. The same applies for all those questions. Now there are some sectors or some fragments of the Israeli public that for them it's crucial. Historically speaking, there is an anti Haredi sentiment in the Israeli society. How important it is, how crucial it is, I would say as follows. For Netanyahu, actually it cuts both ways. The failures in the field of the ultra orthodox question. So for him it's way more important what happens in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza than the ultra orthodox question. And if he fails in Lebanon and Iran, nothing will save him, even if every single ultra orthodox gangster goes to the army.

B

Okay, I'm going to ask two follow up questions. My first question is Israeli polls are much more difficult to make sense of than American polls or polls in other countries. The way polling works in Israel, because the way elections work in Israel. So I think there's. It's often confusing to say, well, majority of the public thinks this, so why is a government that is opposed to this not collapsing? And part of the reason polling is so hard in Israel, I believe I say this as an outsider who follows a lot of Israeli polls and follows polls in other political theaters. Is this question often in Israeli polling which we're dealing with right now, you know, you see a lot like X percent think that Eisenkot should be prime minister. X percent have a favorable view of Eisenhower's Prime Minister, whereas it's much higher than what the percentage that think that Netanyahu would make a good Prime Minister. Polls like that, in my view in Israel tell you absolutely nothing about what the future government will look like. Because unlike.

A

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