Danube Institute Podcast

In this episode of Reflection from Budapest, we interviewed Josh Hasten, International Spokesperson for Gush Etzion, host of the weekly “Israel Uncensored” program and a well-known award winning freelance journalist. Through the discussion we can learn about the settlements and the perception of settler violence in the media and the Western world. We also touched upon the events of October 7 and the possible consequences of the UN Security Council resolution issuing an immediate ceasefire.

In this episode of Reflections from Budapest, we interviewed Shadi Khalloul, Director of Strategic Partnerships Alma Research & Education Centre, Founder and President of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association and Aram Galilee Centre, and reserve captain in the IDF. Listening to the discussion, we can get an overview of the history of the Aramaic community in the Middle East and Israel, and a deeper insight into their life today in a Jewish state. Also, how do other religions in the country and the region relate to them?

In this episode of Reflections from Budapest, we continued our discussion with Amiad Cohen, director-general of the Tikvah Fund in Israel. We asked Mr Cohen about his intake on Hungary’s strong support of Israel, the IDF’s operation in Rafah, and his insights into the historical background of the current conflict in Gaza. To conclude, we talked about how the war impacted the West Bank, the possibility of a third Lebanon war, and the future of the Middle East in the day after the Israel-Hamas war.

"In war it is perfectly acceptable to lie to your enemy," says Professor David Betz of King's College London, "lying to yourself, though, is the kiss of death". In this episode of the Buda Hills Podcast, we discuss the ways in which Professor Betz thinks the collective West has been lying to itself about war in the twenty-first century.

In this episode of Reflections from Budapest, we asked Amiad Cohen, director-general of the Tikvah Fund. Since the October 7th massacre, Mr Cohen has been on reserve duty; we asked about his experiences and role in the IDF. Mr Cohen detailed Hamas’s intention behind October 7th and his views on the impossibility of a two-state solution in the foreseeable future, Palestinian violence in the West Bank and the importance of Judea and Samaria for Israel.

In this episode of Reflections from Budapest, we asked Lt. Col. (Res.) Maurice Hirsch, the Director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a Senior Legal Analyst at Human Rights Voices and a senior researcher at the Israel Defence and Security Forum. We asked Mr Hirsch about his personal, professional and military background and his experiences living in a settlement in the West Bank, Judea and Samaria. As Mr Hirsch was the architect of the law that strips Israeli citizenship from Palestinian terrorists who have been convicted of terror offences, he gave valuable insight into legal strategies and measures used by Israel to combat Palestinian terrorism.

In this special episode of Reflections from Budapest, we had a discussion with Lieutenant Colonel (res.) Yaron Buskila. He is the CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum and a retired IDF commander who currently serves in the reserves as operations officer for the Gaza Division of the Israel Defense Forces. We asked Colonel Buskila about his military background and past experiences in Gaza. During the discussion, Colonel Buskila shared his personal experience of fighting against 40 Hamas terrorists on October 7th and provided valuable insights into the Gaza conflict, including how the 2005 withdrawal contributed to the events of that day.

In this special episode of Reflections from Budapest, we continued our discussion with Colonel Christopher P. Costa. Colonel Costa was a former US government official with 35 years of experience, including 25 years in military counterintelligence, human intelligence (HUMINT), and special operations forces (SOF). He also served as the Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the White House from 2017-18. Since 2018 he has been the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. We continued our discussion with Colonel Costa about the ramifications of the war in Gaza. Colonel Costa shared his insights on the issues stemming from hostage-taking and subsequent negotiations or hostage rescue. To conclude Colonel Costa shared what lessons Israel should have learned and what changes he would recommend to ensure that October 7th will not happen again.

In this special episode of Reflections from Budapest, we had the honor of having Colonel Christopher P. Costa as our guest for the second time in our podcast series. Colonel Costa was a former US government official with 35 years of experience, including 25 years in military counterintelligence, human intelligence (HUMINT), and special operations forces (SOF). He also served as the Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the White House from 2017-18. Since 2018 he has been the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. This time we focused our discussion with Colonel Costa on the ramifications of the war in Gaza. Colonel Costa shared his insights on how the attack on October 7th and the subsequent war in Gaza have affected American policy and security concerns and discussed the possible reasons for the Israeli intelligence failures on October 7th. To conclude,we asked Colonel Costa about the brutal tactics employed by Hamas on October 7th.

Communist states had, and still have, a millennial sense of utopianism. But is secular liberal democracy utopian, too? Could it be that our democratic utopianism is presentist? This is what Professor Zoltán Balázs of Corvinus University argues in the new episode of Buda Hills Podcast. With our rights "revealed" in the American and French Revolutions, democratic utopianism has located us at the end of history. We now live in a sort of eternal future in which we must fight to maintain democracy—forever.