Tel Aviv Diary Podcast

About Tel Aviv Diary Podcast

Twice weekly, Marc Schulman shares sharp, pragmatic insights into Israeli affairs and global tech—drawing on decades as a Newsweek columnist and Apple developer. Veteran journalist and historian Marc Schulman offers sharp, unfiltered insight into current events in Israel. An American-born commentator who has lived in Israel on and off since 1975, Marc wrote a long-running weekly column on Israel for Newsweek and brings decades of deep engagement with Israeli politics, society, and history. His perspective is iconoclastic, pragmatic, and often challenges conventional narratives. Each episode combines personal observations with sharp political analysis, covering everything from the weekly rallies at Hostage Square to the intricate negotiations surrounding ceasefire deals. Marc doesn't shy away from difficult topics—whether it's critiquing government policies, analyzing the military draft controversy, or exploring the broader implications of regional conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Beyond Middle Eastern affairs, the podcast ventures into global politics, economics, and emerging technology, examining how international developments impact daily life in Israel. From trade policy critiques to AI's revolutionary impact on truth and reality, Marc brings a historian's perspective to contemporary events. Tel Aviv Diary is essential listening for anyone seeking an authentic, ground-level view of Israeli society during wartime—complete with the frustrations, hopes, and hard truths that come with living through historic events as they unfold. Raw, honest, and deeply personal, each episode captures the weight of the moment while grappling with questions that extend far beyond Israel's borders. marcschulman.substack.com (https://marcschulman.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Marc Schulman

Category

news · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 May 2025

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

133 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Oct 2026

   The blockade, the midterms and Iran’s permanent revolution with Dr. Meir Javedanfar

   Dr. Meir Javedanfar was born in Tehran and left at 14, a year after his bar mitzvah. He has written about Iran since 2005 and has taught contemporary Iranian studies at Reichman University since 2011. In this episode he tells Marc Schulman he expects the Islamic Republic to start another round of fighting with the United States. His reasoning starts with resources. The US naval blockade has stopped Iran’s oil exports and cut off about 80 percent of the imports that used to arrive through Gulf ports. Oil prices haven’t moved despite the closure of Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf states haven’t asked the Americans to leave. Javedanfar compares the faction now in charge in Tehran to Trotsky’s advocates of permanent revolution. He says that faction sees raising the war’s cost before the US midterms as its only lever. He describes the regime’s hardliners as an economic class more than a religious one. People who would otherwise ride the bus now run sanctions-busting oil brokerages in the UAE, with drivers and multimillion-dollar budgets. They know they lose everything if the regime falls. In his view, Islam has become a veneer. Marc and Meir also cover why Israel’s readiness to kill Iranian commanders deters Tehran more than American strikes on infrastructure. They discuss why the UAE is the likeliest target after Mohammed bin Zayed hosted Netanyahu, and why Erdogan wants the regime to survive. Javedanfar points to a wave of resignations by Iranian teachers and nurses, which has not yet reached the security forces. The conversation ends with a dream Marc asks for: the regime’s fall. Javedanfar expects chaos and score-settling over mass graves at first, and a water crisis no new government could fix quickly. He still thinks Iran’s chances would be far better without this regime. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe (https://marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   6 Oct 2026

   Remember October 7th Three Years Later

   October 6th used to belong to the Yom Kippur War. This year it falls between the government’s official October 7th memorial, held on the Hebrew date, and the ceremonies the families will hold tomorrow in Yarkon Park and at Kibbutz Re’im. On this in-between day, Marc Schulman reads from the October 7th chapter of his new book, “Between Hope and Fear: Israel from Oslo to October 7th.” The readings follow the morning hour by hour. Sergeant Roni Eshel reports the breach from the Nahal Oz surveillance room. Civilian security squads hold off hundreds of attackers at Be’eri and Nir Oz. Aner Shapira throws grenades back out of a roadside shelter near Re’im. Paramedic Amit Mann treats the wounded in Be’eri’s dental clinic until the end. The chapter then asks the question that still haunts Israel: where was the army? Marc then reads from his assessment of what he calls Israel’s three-and-a-half-front war, including the policy of treating Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority. Speaking in his own voice, Marc asks why, three years on, there is still no commission of inquiry of any kind. He connects that failure to Meron, to the submarine affair, and to the FlyDubai incident. He considers the two narratives October 7th left behind and argues that both are true. He explains why Israel should aim to be Athens rather than Sparta, and why he is backing Gadi Eisenkot in the coming election. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe (https://marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   After the Flydubai Attack: Israel Heads Toward an Election: as America Faces Its Own Reckoning

   Marc Schulman returns to Tel Aviv after two weeks in the United States to a country already focused on the October 27 election—and still absorbing the extraordinary attempted destruction of a Flydubai flight bound for Israel. Marc examines the questions raised by the attack, including how a potentially dangerous pilot was able to fly a route into Israel, and what the episode says about Israel’s security establishment. With the anniversary of October 7 approaching, he turns to an election campaign increasingly centered on responsibility for the failures that preceded the attack and the continuing absence of a national commission of inquiry. He also looks at what Israelis mean when they say the country has “moved to the right” since October 7, the changing attitudes of younger Israelis, and the political arithmetic that could determine who is able to form the next government. Then the focus shifts to the United States: the approaching midterm elections, what changes in Congress could mean for Israel, continuing uncertainty over another confrontation with Iran, and Marc’s growing concern about the extraordinary speed of artificial intelligence—and whether governments are running out of time to regulate it. A wide-ranging Tel Aviv Diary about Israel three weeks before an election, America approaching its own political test, and a world in which politics, war, and technology are changing with remarkable speed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe (https://marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Who has been a guest on Tel Aviv Diary Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Maggie Bar-Tura
• Ehud Haik
• Laura Rozen
• Nimrod Sheffer

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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