Ceasefires and Peace Deals
255 episodes
#6225: Reading the Iran Signal: Jets, Leaks, and the Midterm Deadline
Israel flew dozens of jets toward Iran and turned back. A secret Hegseth visit, a Trump pledge, and a lot of unnamed sources. What's actually being...
#6084: ישראל בוחרת, חלק א׳: מי באמת רץ
שלושים ושמונה רשימות, שני גושים ואחוז חסימה אחד: המפה המלאה של הבחירות לכנסת ב־27 באוקטובר 2026.
#6073: Israel Votes, Part 4: The Forecast
Three forecasting methods, seven synthetic voters and one prediction for Israel's 27 October election: Yashar 21, Likud 20, and nobody reaches 61.
#6066: Israel Votes, Part 2: What the Parties Stand For
Most Israeli parties haven't published a platform in years. Here's what they actually say they'll do — and where they stay silent.
Also available in:עברית
#6064: Israel Votes, Part 1: Who Is Actually Running
Thirty-eight lists, a first on-time election since 1988, and a ballot full of parties that didn't exist eighteen months ago. Here's the map.
Also available in:עברית
#5788: What Is a Consulate That Isn't a Consulate?
Israel says the consulate closed. Britain says the mission lives. Same building, same seven staff, one screwdriver.
#5713: Who Rescues You at the Ends of the Earth?
The Arctic has a binding rescue treaty. Antarctica has nothing. Here's who actually comes when you're stranded at the poles.
#5706: Two Poles, Two Fates: Arctic vs Antarctic
One pole is a militarized chessboard, the other a treaty-bound science preserve. Same frozen water — completely opposite outcomes.
#5685: East Jerusalem's Residency Trap: What 300,000 People Actually Want
A third of East Jerusalem's residents hold residency, not citizenship. What the polling says about identity surprises almost everyone.
#5567: The Sinai Crossing Where a Stamp Draws the Border
A 24-hour pedestrian crossing between Eilat and Taba, where a free stamp, a one-kilometer fee waiver, and four treaty zones shape every trip into S...
#5548: Hasbara: Explanation or Policy Problem?
Israel's Foreign Minister says embassy moves matter as much as the battlefield. A listener in Jerusalem says the problem isn't PR — it's policy.
#5531: Crayon Lines and Custom Posts: How Border Precision Creates Absurdity
A wax pencil drawn across a 1948 map became Jerusalem's binding border. Ghajar's line is precise but unmarked. What makes a border real?
#5527: Seven Ways to Measure a Country's Isolation
Netanyahu's quick UN trip sparks a bigger question: how do you actually measure a country's isolation? We build seven heuristics.
#5497: Mandelbaum Gate: Inside Jerusalem's Divided Crossing
For 19 years, one narrow seam connected two hostile halves of Jerusalem. Here's how the Mandelbaum Gate actually worked.
#5496: Taking Down Jerusalem's 7km Border, Street by Street
Barbed wire, minefields, and a wax-pencil line: how Jerusalem's seven-kilometre border was physically torn down after 1967.
#5479: Why Number Porting Takes 30 Minutes
Routing a ported number takes milliseconds. So why does the SIM swap take hours? We trace the signalling behind "keep your number.
#5357: Pan-Arabism, the Umma, and Why the Arab League Can't Enforce Anything
What pan-Arabism actually claims, why it isn't the umma, and why 22 members can't stop sanctioning each other.
#5347: What "On the Sidelines" Actually Means in Diplomacy
A "sidelines" meeting sounds casual. It's actually a fully scripted format with its own rules — and the Greenland signing shows why the label matters.
#5298: The Mountain, the Message: Nuclear Tests as Diplomacy
Nine states. Two thousand detonations. Why a nuclear test is often a sentence in a conversation, not a lab result.
#5296: What North Korea's Borders Actually Look Like
Sixty-three defectors reached South Korea this year — every one through a third country. Here's what the DMZ, China, Russia, and sea routes really ...
#5181: Shuafat: Jerusalem's Walled-Off Refugee Camp
Inside the Jerusalem camp that's within the city limits but beyond the barrier — taxed by the city, policed by no one.
#5180: Egypt's Gaza and Israel's Jerusalem: Two Legal Suspensions
Egypt ruled Gaza for 19 years without annexing it. Israel applied full law to East Jerusalem in 1967. Two occupied places, two very different legal...
#5156: Is Gaza One Place or Many?
Gaza is 41 km long, but inside it: refugee camps, native towns, Bedouin tribes, and a fault line that runs through every city.
#5153: When Surveyors Meet Shepherds: Borders vs. Nomads
What happens when a precise surveyed border cuts through a way of life built on movement? The Bedouin, Druze, and Maasai cases.