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For more than seven decades, Israel and Syria have been in a formal state of war. Now, for the first time in years, there are murmurs of something different, but new tensions are threatening to unravel what little stability remains.

In recent days, violence has erupted in southern Syria. A bloody assault on the country’s Druze community has reignited fears that Syria’s fragile postwar order could collapse. The unrest has drawn in Israel and raised new questions about the region’s trajectory.

In this episode, host Aviva Klompas speaks with Dr. Michael Oren—historian, author, and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States—about whether peace between Israel and Syria is truly within reach or slipping further away.

They explore Syria’s volatile history, the strategic importance of the Golan Heights, what’s changed under Syria’s new leadership, and whether there’s any real path toward ending hostilities.

Read More:
Is Peace Between Israel and Syria Really Possible? by Dr. Michael Oren

New Words from Dr. Oren:
Vociferousness – the quality of being loud, forceful, and outspoken in expressing one's opinions or feelings.

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In this episode, Dr. Rachel Fish talks with historian Dr. Jeffrey Herf, a leading expert on Nazism, the Holocaust, antisemitism, and the connections between Europe and the Middle East. Dr. Herf explains how antisemitism and anti-Zionism have become more accepted in universities and public debates, and why that’s so dangerous.

They discuss Iran’s state-sponsored antisemitism, Hamas’s genocidal ideology, and how these views are being normalized in higher education and social justice circles. Dr. Herf also talks about how Western foreign policy often downplays threats to Israel, and how parts of the academic left have morally failed by ignoring or excusing hatred.

He explains how groups with extreme right-wing, religious, and misogynistic views have been wrongly embraced by people who see themselves as progressive. Together, they explore what it will take to restore moral clarity, defend historical truth, and push back against hatred disguised as justice.

Learn more about Boundless: https://boundlessisrael.org/

Guest Bio:

Jeffrey Herf, a historian of modern European, especially German, history, is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park. His publications include The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust (Harvard U.P., 2006), Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World (Yale U.P., 2009), Israel's Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949 (Cambridge UP, 2022), and Three Faces of Antisemitism: Right, Left and Islamist (Routledge, 2024). Before and since October 7, 2023, he has published essays on contemporary issues have appeared in the pages of The Free Press,, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Quillette, Persuasion/American Purpose, Sapir, and The Washington Post.

Mentioned in this episode:

Laurent Murawiec, The Mind of Jihad (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Hamas Charter

7 October Parliamentary Commission Report

Anti-Israel Campus Groups: Online Networks and Narratives

Jeffery Herf's Articles:

'Free Palestine' Terrorism, The Free Press, June 1, 2025

Why it’s wrong to call Israel’s war in Gaza a ‘genocide’, The Washington Post, June 3, 2025 (with Norman J.W. Goda)

From the River to the Sea, Persuasion, Nov 20, 2023

Jeffrey Herf’s Books:

Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World (Yale University Press, 2010)

Three Faces of Antisemitism: Right, Left and Islamist (Routledge, 2023)

Israel's Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945–1949 (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

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On October 7, Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. Among those taken hostage was Elkana Bohbot, who was working for the festival that morning. Before he was captured, Elkana called his wife Rebecca to tell her he was staying behind to help the wounded. He promised her he would come home. That was their last conversation.

In this episode, Rebecca shares who Elkana is as a husband and father – a man of joy, bravery, and kindness who never left anyone behind. She describes the pain of raising their son, who was just three years old when his father was taken, and how she explains his absence to him now.

Rebecca shares what she’s learned of Elkana’s condition in captivity and opens up about why she chose to start speaking out publicly, despite fears it might jeopardize his chances of release. This is a heartbreaking and deeply human conversation about the fight to bring Israel’s hostages home.