Benny Morris Answers 18 Questions on Israel, Gaza, & the Future of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Yussie Zakutinsky’s own words— taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

hi I'm Benny Morris I'm an Israeli historian and this is 18 questions 40 Israeli thinkers from 1840 so let's begin with the basics as an Israeli and as a Jew how are you feeling at this moment in Israeli history well I'm I'm quite despondent uh things have taken a very bad turn I would say over the past two decades but uh certainly over the past year and a half with October 7th being of course the high point for the high point for despondency can you say more well um Netanyahu returning to power a year and a half ago um tried to overthrow the Israeli democratic system by lessening the power or reducing completely the power of the Jud Judiciary and um essentially taking power into his own hands and that of his Coalition members but basically it's in his own hands and this was followed of course by um and this was followed of course by um October 7th which means that he'd diverted people's attention the bureaucracy's attent attention um the Army's attention away from our outside neighbors onto something which was completely absurd and this led to the big surprise and in part to the idf's incompetence on October 7th 8th um for which he of course is ultimately responsible so the country has been going down the drain for about a year going down the drain for about a year and a half but I would say it's longer it's since Netanyahu came to power um in the end at the end of the 2000s 2008 2009 what has been Israel's greatest success and greatest mistake in its war against Hamas it's a bit early to tell um I think it underrated the power firstly it was CAU by surprise the elligence services and the Army by

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1. 0:00hi I'm Benny Morris I'm an Israeli historian and this is 18 questions 40 Israeli thinkers…
2. 2:33wasn't understood properly and Israel has been unable for eight eight months now to basically overcome…
3. 5:08um at the start of the operation maybe even before taking Gaza City this is as…
4. 8:18and the people who cling on to him are enjoying the benefits of corruption which is…
5. 10:52some people have taken it further and said not only should it be perpetuated but should…
6. 13:56um today the you can see this overlap between anti-zionism and anti-Semitism emerging in in the…
7. 16:30very Flats um under their Flats under the hospitals inside the hospitals under the schools inside…
8. 19:04Enterprise was resisted and attacked by sporadically and growingly over the decades by the Arab population…
9. 22:10north with kisah who knows um I think that's a major mistake I I'm I'm not…
10. 24:48happen why do you say so neither side is willing to do the things which make…

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