Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign for Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

This week, the Board of Peace’s top Gaza envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, is in Israel in an attempt to kick-start the Trump peace plan. He has previously urged the international community to pressure the Hamas Palestinian terror group to disarm and prevent another cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip.

This week, we hear why Alkhatib believes the current stalemate in Gaza is being embraced by both Hamas and official Israel.

But first, Alkhatib paints a dismal picture of life in the Strip -- rat infestations, sewage in the streets and a strong Hamas presence on the ground.

We learn about the recent elections for Hamas leadership and hear background about the leading candidates.

Finally, among all the darkness, Alkhatib shares pinpoints of light from among the people who are still not cowed by the terrorist regime.

And so this week, we ask Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, what matters now?

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

On Sunday, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced a joint run for this year's Israeli elections.

Immediately, polling showed that the combined electoral slate, dubbed “Together,” would win a total of 26 seats if elections were held Monday, placing them ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud as the Knesset’s largest party, according to Channel 12.

Later in the week, Opposition Leader Lapid told Bennett that he was willing to take third place, rather than second, on their joint electoral slate if it would help secure a broader merger with Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot.

On this week's episode, in the spirit of the newly completed NFL draft, we play fantasy football and weigh the merits of the current parties and politicians vyying for the Knesset in this year's election.

And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Haviv Rettig Gur (courtesy) / Green Bay Packers quarterback Taylor Elgersma (19) throws during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, August 16, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with author Rachel Goldberg-Polin.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin began writing her new book, "When We See You Again," as a way of finding some relief from her pain after she buried her son, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed by his Hamas captors in August 2024, after being held captive for 330 days in a Gaza tunnel.

Goldberg-Polin speaks about the process of writing the book, urged by her husband, Jon Polin, and how the book became a kind of answer to people asking her how she was.

The bulk of the book takes place after the Goldberg-Polins buried Hersh on August 31, 2024, and is an accounting of their lives in what Goldberg-Polin terms the Before and After.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Author Rachel Goldberg-Polin joins host Jessica Steinberg for an episode of What Matters Now

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.