E50. New Year’s Eve Special: Week in Review with Ya’akov Katz in our final Podcast of 2023

Earlier today, I spoke with Ya’akov Katz, former editor of The Jerusalem Post for our regular Sunday morning check in and review of highlights of the previous week. We touch on the possibility of renewed negotiations for the release of the hostages, for whom time is running out. They have been kept in dreadful conditions, received very little food, water and no medical care or hygienic supplies. The hostage plight continues to gut the nation and try the families, unbearably. We then look at the northern front, where Hizballah has been attacking Israel more aggressively in recent days and the possibility of all-out war erupting looms. We wrap with the increasing political tensions which are coming to a boil and even prompted President Isaac Herzog to implore in a television address last Sunday for the politicking to stop. Of course, things just heated up more after his plea, and Ya’akov became involved in one particular skirmish involving former PM Naftali Bennett, who finished off the year with a spectacular own goal. Which Katz called. We look ahead with trepidation but the storied resolve that you just grow here after a while. Like a second skin. Happy New Year from the State of Tel Aviv. See you on the other side in 2024!