Political Gabfest: Why Netanyahu Blinked

This week, David Plotz, John Dickerson, and Emily Bazelon discuss Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to pause the legislation that will weaken Israel’s judiciary; the Congressional testimony of TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew; and the possibility of Chris Christie for President in 2024.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:

Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “Behind Protests’ Fury in Israel, Fear of a Quiet Slide From Democracy”

Peter Baker for The New York Times: “A Four-Decade Secret: One Man’s Story of Sabotaging Carter’s Re-election”

Here are this week’s chatters:

Emily: WBUR and The Marshall Project’s podcast Violation (Host Beth Schwartzapfel, Producer Quincy Walters) 

John: Tweet from @george_mack: What is ignored by the media but will be studied by historians?; response from Matthew Yglesias, Slow Boring: The biggest problem in media is the audience: Not everything is a conspiracy

David: Greg Miller for The Washington Post: “He came to D.C. as a Brazilian student. The U.S. says he was a Russian spy.“

Listener chatter from Judy: Tablet Studio’s podcast Gatecrashers (Host Mark Oppenheimer, Executive Producers Josh Kross, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz)

For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the new evidence of the “October Surprise” that delayed the release of the American hostages from Iran in 1980.

Email your questions and chatters to gabfest@slate.com or Tweet us @SlateGabfest. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

Research by Julie Huygen

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