Office Hours featuring Israeli elections & more

Thanks so much to folks who turned out for Office Hours today! Y’all had lots of great questions on your minds.

The Number One topic was Israel’s election coming up in October, about which there were a number of Qs. Accordingly, I spoke about:

• Gadi Eisenkot, his Yashar party, and whether an Eisenkot-led government might pursue a different policy than Netanyahu vis-a-vis Palestinians and the occupation

• The Mizrahi dimension — Remarkably, Eisenkot would be Israel’s first non-Ashkenazi prime minister if he ascends to that position

• A Place for Us All — Whether this fledgling party that emerged from Standing Together has a chance of making it into the Knesset

• Nation-State Law — Whether any parties are aiming to repeal it

I fielded a number of other questions on topics including:

• Abdul El-Sayed and whether he should avoid using certain language regarding Israel-Palestine

• Hamas’ October 7th attack — Whether Israel ignored intelligence and how it should have responded

• Ambassador Mike Huckabee — Israeli perceptions of him and Donald Trump

• Christian evangelicals — Why Netanyahu and other Israelis have embraced and relied on them (more than on American Jews)

• Israel-US defense integration — Why I strongly oppose this provision in the NDAA, as well as other reasons Democrats must stop the NDAA from passing

Paid subscribers have full access to the recording.

Several people expressed interested in regular Office Hours as a benefit for paid subscribers. I’d love to get a sense for how widespread this interest is, both among paid subscribers and folks who aren’t yet — but might find regular Q&A sessions to be good motivation to invest in a paid subscription.

Thanks for your feedback!

I’ll be away next week, but before I go anywhere, we’ve got a big day lined up for tomorrow. The Debrief will feature two great podcasts, one of which I just scheduled.

Abdul El-Sayed’s Victory & Where Democrats Go from Here — with James Zogby

Join Debra & Jim Live

Dr. Jim Zogby is President of the Arab American Institute, Director of Zogby Research Services, and a longstanding activist and leader in the Democratic National Committee. He knows Democratic party politics inside and out and has spearheaded efforts to change the party’s positioning on Israel-Palestine for many years.

We’ll discuss the significance of Abdul El-Sayed’s primary victory in Michigan; what if anything El-Sayed should do differently in the run-up to the general election; the fight between progressives, moderates, and the Democratic party establishment; and where the Democratic party is going with regard to Israel-Palestine.

Defiance & the Fight for American Democracy — with Miles Taylor

Join Debra & Miles Live

Miles is the founder of Defiance.org, a NYT bestselling author, and the anonymous writer of a 2018 NYT op-ed on being part of the resistance inside the first Trump administration. In April 2025, claiming that Miles’ actions could be treasonous, Trump issued a presidential memorandum ordering senior staff in his administration to launch an investigation against him.

For those of you who enjoyed my recent conversation with Ami Fields-Meyer, co-author of On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear — you’ll love this podcast with an American dissident who put his career (and more) on the line to warn Americans about Donald Trump.

That’s all for now, folks.

I’m excited for these two great guests tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing many of you.

All the best,

Debra