Middle East Shitshow - MESS

Gaza is quiet. Lebanon is quiet. Even Iran, from Israel's standpoint, is quiet. So why does the West Bank look like it's being set alight on purpose? Daniella and Yossi examine the fear that Netanyahu wants conflict...

Reports that the Mossad explored working with former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of an effort to change Iran’s leadership sound almost too extraordinary to be true. Daniella and Yossi examine the...

From Switzerland to southern Lebanon, this episode follows the chain linking the Iran deal, Hezbollah, Trump, Netanyahu, and Israel’s strategic isolation. Daniella and Yossi revisit the history of US-Israel ties, debate...

<p>What happens when everyone talks about a conflict, but not with the people at the center of it? Daniella and Yossi Alpher discuss Israel’s exclusion from negotiations over a war it helped fight, think tanks that...

<p>What does it take to lead the Mossad? In this episode, Daniella and Yossi Alpher trace the history of Israel’s intelligence leadership through stories of controversial appointments, unexpected successes, operational...

<p>This week, Yossi and Daniella assess the real state of Iran's military capabilities after recent strikes, and what Israel's overblown assessments reveal about its chronic inability to define achievable war aims. They...

<p>In this episode of MESS, Daniella and Yossi Alpher step back from the headlines to examine a deeper problem: the repeated failure of Israeli strategy across multiple fronts. Going back to the idea of “mowing the...

<p>Is this ceasefire the end of the war, or just the end of this round? Daniella and Yossi Alpher argue that the campaign against Iran looks less like decisive victory and more like mowing the lawn: inflicting damage...

<p>In this episode, Daniella and Yossi Alpher record remotely in the middle of the war with Iran after Yossi suffers a mild heart attack and undergoes emergency catheterization under missile alerts. From the hospital...

<p>In this episode, Daniella and Yossi look past the daily headlines to examine the deeper strategic patterns shaping the Middle East. They discuss the hidden vulnerability of the Gulf states, the weakness of Lebanon in...

<p>In this episode, Daniella and Yossi unpack a set of questions that go far beyond the current news cycle: why outside powers so often overestimate what the Kurds can deliver, how proxy relationships break down, what...

<p>Day 4 of the Iran–Israel–US war, and the arena is getting bigger by the hour. Daniella and Yossi break down what’s changed since the opening strikes: Iran’s push to regionalize the conflict across the Arabian...

<p>Recorded remotely from Tel Aviv during repeated air-raid sirens, Daniella Alpher and veteran strategist Yossi Alpher unpack the first hours of a direct Israel–U.S. military campaign against Iran and Iran’s immediate...

<p>Discussion focuses on the geopolitical implications of the US military deployment around Iran and the potential timing of a U.S. attack. Yossi recounts his role as Israel's chief intelligence analyst for Iran in the...

<p>The discussion integrates a guest, a conflict resolution expert and visiting family member. He and Yossi discuss the link between intelligence, clandestine operations, and peacebuilding, emphasizing the credibility...