The 60-Day Countdown, Sledgehammer Politics -- and Dolly Parton

Yonit Levi (0:00)

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Jonathan Freedland (0:01)

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Pre-election jockeying in Israel is intensifying. International opinion of the violence on the West Bank is hardening. And we will find a way to talk about Dolly Parton. It's Unholy. I'm Jonathan Freedland in London.

Yonit Levi (1:37)

And I'm Yonit Levi in Tel Aviv.

Unholy, Two Jews on the News. I mean, anyone who has small children, Jonathan, can relate to what I'm about to say now in the final, final days of August. You feel like the devolution between it starts, summer starts, and you're like, let's learn about a country every night and cook its food, and there's going to be an hour of reading and only then an hour of screen time. All of that, everything's going to be very healthy and wholesome, and now it's like a complete, complete collapse of all standards at the end of August. You're like, yes, we can see K-pop demon hunters for the fourth time today, and of course, three milkshakes is the way to hydrate yourself. And yes, you can eat frozen chicken nuggets right out of the freezer and a gummy bear. That's completely a nutritious thing. It's like, you start out, it's the Brady Bunch, you end at the summer, you end summer, and it's like you're the Addams Family.

Jonathan Freedland (2:49)

Basically, that was me summing up my week. I feel like I got quite a good insight into the Levy household there. I enjoy that. That's given me quite a perspective.

I don't know where other listeners are. I think I would rather be there at the end of summer than at the beginning. I'm not sure I wanted the different country every night bit, but the three milkshakes, you've sold me.

Yonit Levi (3:10)

Look, if leftover popcorn and gummy bears is your thing, then definitely, definitely wait till the end of summer.

Jonathan Freedland (3:17)

Yeah, no, that's where I would want to be. End of summer mood here as well. The skies are darkening a bit after a very hot, long, hot summer.

So that mood is changing. And I suppose we know that this time it doesn't just mean that the Chagim, the major Jewish festivals are coming, it means election season is coming. We've been sort of counting down. I think it is only 60 days to go now. So in between the gummy bears and the milkshakes, you'll have a good grasp of what's happening. I mean, what is the lie of the land?

Yonit Levi (3:53)

So as you said, we're at the 60-day mark.

Compared to the stakes, I mean, we're going to go a little bit granular in our discussion. But just before we do, I think we kind of need to look at the sort of Eisenkot, Netanyahu, or the anti-BB bloc and the BB bloc, we should say. First of all, Eisenkot is still ahead of Netanyahu in most of the mainstream polls. And also in that question of suitability to be prime minister, he's also ahead of him. That is where the picture is, on the one hand, clearly difficult for Netanyahu to find his angle in attacking Gadi Eisenkot, who was the IDF chief of staff. So it's hard to say he doesn't understand or doesn't know anything about defense. He's a bereaved father. His son, Gal, died in Gaza.