BICOM's Podcast

Episode 59 | Mañana in Manama

On the eve of the US led ‘peace to prosperity’ conference in Manama, Bahrain, James Sorene interviewed Koby Huberman from Israel’s regional peace initiative and Ronie Gazit spoke to former US Middle East negotiator David Makovsky

Episode 58 | Lieberman the kingmaker?

In this week's episode James Sorene talks to journalist and Bibi biographer Anshel Pfeffer about the vital role of Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman in the next election campaign and why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be fighting on two fronts as he seeks an election victory on 17 September.

Episode 57 | The Iran edition

To mark the release of BICOM’s new paper Britain’s Iran dilemma, James Sorene speaks to the paper’s author, BICOM senior research associate Dr Toby Greene. He also discusses UK-Iran relations with Ali Ansari, Professor of Modern History at St. Andrews University, the view from inside Iran with Dr Sanam Vakil, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House, and the detail of the Iran nuclear deal with Dr Emily B. Landau from Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

Read BICOM's paper: http://www.bicom.org.uk/analysis/bicom-briefing-britains-iran-dilemma/ 

Episode 56 | What will happen if the PA goes bust?

James Sorene speaks to BICOM’s senior research fellow Brig.-Gen (Ret.) Michael Herzog about the US peace plan and the impact of the Palestinian Authority’s risky game to threaten bankruptcy

Episode 55 | We can’t quite believe it, but there’s going to be another Israeli election...

James Sorene talks to Richard Pater and Calev Ben-Dor to try and understand why the 21^st Knesset voted for another election and whether Benjamin Netanyahu has been weakened by his failure to form a Government. In the second half of the episode, Richard Pater interviews Royal Marine veteran Andrew Garland who helped organise the Britain-Israel Veterans Games that took place in Israel this week.

Episode 54 | Bibi’s immunity mission

James Sorene and Calev Ben-Dor talk to Yohanan Plesner, from the Israel Democracy Institute, about Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to secure immunity from prosecution and restrict the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court. James and Calev also discuss the Palestinian boycott of the US peace plan and the ‘economic workshop’ in Bahrain on 25 June.

Episode 53 | Exclusive interview with David Quarrey, UK Ambassador to Israel

BICOM CEO James Sorene presents a special two part episode from Israel. In an exclusive interview James spoke to UK Ambassador David Quarrey during his final days in Israel. James also interviewed IDF spokesman Lt-Col Jonathan Conricus to assess the hostilities last week between Israel and Gaza.

Episode 52 | Will Israel invade Gaza?

In this week’s episode, James Sorene speaks to BICOM’s Senior Visiting Fellow Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Michael Herzog about the Trump administration’s Iran strategy, whether Israel will launch a ground operation in Gaza and what will  be in the US’s plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Episode 51 | The PA is running out of money – what happens next?

In this week’s episode, BICOM CEO James Sorene is joined by Ha’aretz Security Analyst, Amos Harel to discuss the stand-off between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over their refusal to accept tax revenues. They also assess the situation in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

Episode 50 | How did Bibi win, how divided is Israeli society and will there be a US peace plan?

In a special extended episode to mark our 50th episode, BICOM CEO James Sorene talks to Natan Sachs from the Brookings Institution, polling expert Dahlia Scheindlin and Times of Israel political analyst Haviv Rettig Gur to discuss what the voters did, whether Bibi will be granted immunity and if a US peace plan will ever be published.