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, we dive into the 12-member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.

The technocratic council is headed by former Palestinian Authority deputy planning minister Ali Shaath. It is tasked with running daily affairs on the ground and providing services for Gazans in place of the Hamas terror group.

The committee held its first meeting in Cairo on Thursday, but is currently barred by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip and its work remains in limbo as the Board of Peace begins its activities in Davos this week.

We hear how the names on the technocratic council are relatively consensus figures -- among Gazan Palestinians -- and learn about Israel's objections to this committee and Trump's naming of Qatar and Turkey to the Gaza Executive Board.

Alkhatib delves into the lack of popular Hamas support throughout the Strip, but points out the massive enforcement problem that the committee will face as the armed terrorist group maintains its hold.

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 the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (courtesy) / A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, January 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

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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 Israel Story producer Mitch Ginsburg.

On February 20, 1979, the last 33 Israelis returned from Tehran upon the forced closure of the Israeli embassy. After the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khoumeini's new regime, the Israeli trade mission's location was given over to the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose supporters immediately stormed the building.

In today's episode, we relay the untold saga of the derring-do that saw these final Israeli officials back to the Jewish state.

A story of four chapters, Ginsburg narrates the tale through the eyes of the Tehran embassy's military attache, Brigadier General Itzik Segev.

Hear how they walk the plank, assume false identities and eventually meet up with the American delegation, which was also fleeing the country.

Our conversation is followed by the complete episode of Ginsburg's recent Israel Story installment, "Frankly, My Deer," which tells the tale of the final and frantic days of the Shah’s regime, when an unlikely Israeli envoy — a cross between David Attenborough and Jason Bourne — landed in Tehran. His secret mission was to bring back something certain powerful people in Israel sorely wanted.

And so this week, we ask Mitch Ginsburg 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 the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: In this December 10, 1978 file picture, demonstrators hold up a poster of exiled Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini during an anti-shah demonstration in Tehran at the Shayah monument which was built to commemorate the monarch's rule and symbol of his power. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz)

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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 stand-up comedian Liz Glazer, who is coming soon to Israel as part of the annual Comedy for Koby tour.

On stage and off, the former law prof -- a graduate of New York's stalwart Modern Orthodox Ramaz high school -- is loudly and proudly out about her life as the spouse of a female rabbi. Perhaps more unusually, since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on Israel, she's also made no secret of her support for the Jewish state

In our conversation, we hear which of Glazer's identities -- lesbian or Jew -- is trickier for her to navigate on stage. We learn how being the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors has shaped her personality -- and career choice.

And finally, we hear how becoming a mother two years ago has shifted Glazer's comedic sensibilities.

Comedy for Koby is a fundraiser for the Koby Mandell Foundation, which was founded by Seth and Sherri Mandell, whose son Koby and his friend Yosef Ishran were murdered in a terrorist attack in 2001.

Jumping off from the foundation's motto, "From tragedy to community," the comedy tours have brought 88 comedians to Israel since comedian Avi Liberman began hosting and organizing them in 2008. From January 5-12, Glazer will be joined by Andy Pitz and Rich Shnyder throughout Israel.

And so this week, we ask Liz Glazer 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 the Pod-Waves.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, we dive into the five likely scenarios that could play out in Gaza during 2026, which Alkhatib recently proposed on his social media channels.

According to Alkhatib, the five proposals all "undermine Hamas severely and massively change the calculus and geostrategic landscape following the Trump-sponsored ceasefire in October, which has temporarily halted the war."

The five proposals include: A mutiny from Hamas’s ranks within Gaza due to economic and cost-of-living pressures; a significant rise and empowerment of anti-Hamas militias in different areas of the Gaza Strip; mass protests and large-scale uprisings against Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip by civilians; a mass exodus of civilians, from the Red Zone controlled by Hamas behind the "yellow line" into the Israeli-controlled Green Zone; and a successful international stabilization force (ISF) deployment with the mandate of battling and demilitarizing Hamas.

We go through each scenario point-by-point throughout the conversation, leaving time for a reader's question or two.

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 the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Palestinians walk along a street past a tent camp in Gaza City, December 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

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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 cookbook author Adeena Sussman.

In this conversation with the bestselling author of "Sababa" and "Shabbat," Sussman discusses the intersection of cooking, culture, and personal experiences as she continues melding her American Jewish background with her current Israeli life in her recipes.

She reviews aspects of her latest cookbook, "Zariz," which emphasizes quick, easy recipes with shorter lists of ingredients, and how working on it during the war offered a therapeutic outlet during troubling times.

Sussman talks about her various Hanukkah recipes, tips for frying potato pancakes and sufganiyot, and how to streamline the latke-making and doughnut frying processes, if one decides to make their own.

Adeena Sussman's Sheet Pan Latke Board
For the latkes:

1½ - 1¾ lbs skin-on Russet potatoes, scrubbed (depending on your sheet pan size)
1 med-large onion, peeled
2 eggs
2 tsps kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
3-4 tablespoons potato starch, cornstarch or flour
¼ - ⅓ cup olive oil

Toppings ideas:

Gravlax, sour cream, dill, lemon zest, capers
Sour cream + fish eggs + green onion
Avocado + chili crisp
Horseradish sour cream + quail egg
Pear Gorgonzola
Pomme persimmon
Labaneh + jam
Apple butter

Instructions
Arrange a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 450°F.

1. Grate the potatoes and onions on the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl. Using both hands, squeeze out and discard as much of the liquid from the potatoes as possible; transfer them to a second bowl.
2. Add the oil to a quarter-sheet pan (or 9 x 13 inch glass metal baking dish); place in the oven and heat until the oil is very hot but not smoking, 7 to 8 minutes.
3. During the last two minutes of the oil heating, stir the eggs, salt, pepper, and potato starch into the potato-onion mixture.
4. Carefully remove the sheet pan from the oven.
5. Quickly pour and spread the latke batter across the pan; tip and spoon any excess oil over the top.
6. Bake until deep golden brown and crisp, 23 to 25 minutes (or longer as needed). Cut into squares and top with the toppings of your choice.

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

IMAGE: Cookbook author Adeena Sussman with her latest, 'Zariz,' in December 2025. (Courtesy)

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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 James Pasch, the Anti-Defamation League's vice president of litigation.

Pasch, is currently in Israel to meet with the plaintiffs in a massive lawsuit the ADL initiated against Iran, North Korea, Syria and Hamas, for their part in the October 7 massacre.

In a new strategy, the legacy Jewish organization's work in fighting antisemitism is moving to encompass lawfare and since the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the ADL has filed more lawsuits than in all the years of the existence of the organization.

In this podcast, we discuss how the ADL and other legal organizations are being creative in repurposing laws and redefining terms. We also hear about the struggle to remain firmly inside the Constitution and Bill of Rights when taking on the campus protests that test the boundaries of Freedom of Speech. And we learn how the ADL is preparing for the next big wave of campus hate.

And so this week, we ask James Pasch, 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 the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: James Pasch (courtesy)/ People hold US and Israeli flags as they gather before the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, outside a military base near Re'im, southern Israel, October 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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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 Dr. Gilad Malach, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Malach's research focuses on public policy related to Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, including issues critical to its integration into Israel's economy and society.

This week, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is debating a new bill aimed at regulating Haredi draft exemptions.

Starting with the foundation of the state in 1948, Malach takes us through the evolution of the ultra-Orthodox community's refusal to serve in the IDF. We hear of previous efforts to entice the population to join the army and how badly they failed.

Malach takes us through the unique make-up of the ultra-Orthodox household, in which women generally are more educated and go out to work, while men form a "community of learners."

As this new legislation is being debated, we learn what is at stake for the community, as well as the frustrations from the majority of Israelis who are shouldering the national burden.

And so this week, we ask Dr. Gilad Malach, 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 the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Ultra-Orthodox Jews from the two rival factions of the Ponevezh Yeshiva stand outside the yeshiva following a mediation session held at the place, in Bnei Brak, November 19, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

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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 Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign For Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.

This summer, Alkhatib flew over Gaza as part of the last days of the United Arab Emirates's aid drop missions. It was the first time since he had seen his former home since leaving the enclave in 2005 for what was meant to have been a high school year abroad. To begin the program, Alkhatib relates how he felt viewing the swaths of destruction two years of war had left in its wake.

An outspoken anti-Hamas voice, Alkhatib promotes what he calls “radical pragmatism” through his work with the Atlantic Council and his speaking engagements around the world. No short on considered criticism for Israel's prosecution of the war sparked by Hamas's murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, we learn of concrete steps that could be taken to drive out the terrorist organization.

We hear how Hamas is re-rooting itself into all aspects of the Strip's governance. Now that the terror regime has been reestablished, so has law and order, says Alkhatib, leaving Gazans stuck in a "safe-ish," but abusive relationship.

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 the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stand amid the destruction left by Israeli strikes north of Gaza City, November 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

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