May 18, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 12 segments
In this episode of The Long Path Podcast, we sit down with Matan Yaffe of El Hadegel for a wide-ranging conversation about the current state of Israeli politics, the future of Zionism, and what it…
Amitai FraimanHost
I wanna just, um, I wanna, um, bring this, uh, a little bit, um, in focus for our, for our listeners.
So number one, El Adegel, translation there means, you know, to the flag, right? Like when we raise a flag.
You know, if you think back about the days, uh, you know, prior to, uh, October 7th with the demonstrations.
You know, you, you talk about the existential demonstrations about praying with or without a, you know, a mechitza, a, a separation in Visigal Center, and of course the whole thing with the j- the judicial reform.
People were very proud of the fact that if you were pro or against, it doesn't matter which side you found yourself, the flag was very uniting.
Another point that I want to reflect back which is very interesting, we often talk about here in America about, you know, October 8th Jews, right? I think, uh, Brett Stevens brought it up.
These are Jews who woke up after October 7th and were like, you know, they, they realize that the world i- is actually not what they thought it was and that there's a unbelievable amount of Jew hatred, something that you experienced the first time going to Harvard, but here people thought it was over.
So, you know, we talk about the equation from a different, from a different perspective, but it's very interesting to see that you're saying that, you know, the, the presumption or the understanding of this deep...
You knew that it was such a dramatic earthquake, what happened on October 7th, that it, there is no, no way that Israel would return to what it was before in terms of the way the politicians, uh, spoke about things, the way we approached sec- questions of security, questions of society building.
And when you came back and saw that it's, um, everything's, you know, business as usual, basically, three months into the war-
... you're like, "We have to do something," and that's where this movement started.
So, so w- what does that mean, a new political movement? I mean, you know, growing up in Israel, uh, we're kind of used to a, a...
I wanna just, um, I wanna, um, bring this, uh, a little bit, um, in focus for our, for our listeners.
So number one, El Adegel, translation there means, you know, to the flag, right? Like when we raise a flag.
You know, if you think back about the days, uh, you know, prior to, uh, October 7th with the demonstrations.
You know, you, you talk about the existential demonstrations about praying with or without a, you know, a mechitza, a, a separation in Visigal Center, and of course the whole thing with the j- the judicial reform.
People were very proud of the fact that if you were pro or against, it doesn't matter which side you found yourself, the flag was very uniting.
Another point that I want to reflect back which is very interesting, we often talk about here in America about, you know, October 8th Jews, right? I think, uh, Brett Stevens brought it up.
These are Jews who woke up after October 7th and were like, you know, they, they realize that the world i- is actually not what they thought it was and that there's a unbelievable amount of Jew hatred, something that you experienced the first time going to Harvard, but here people thought it was over.
So, you know, we talk about the equation from a different, from a different perspective, but it's very interesting to see that you're saying that, you know, the, the presumption or the understanding of this deep...
You knew that it was such a dramatic earthquake, what happened on October 7th, that it, there is no, no way that Israel would return to what it was before in terms of the way the politicians, uh, spoke about things, the way we approached sec- questions of security, questions of society building.
And when you came back and saw that it's, um, everything's, you know, business as usual, basically, three months into the war-
... you're like, "We have to do something," and that's where this movement started.
So, so w- what does that mean, a new political movement? I mean, you know, growing up in Israel, uh, we're kind of used to a, a...
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