Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people.

For this second episode in the new series, who better to ask the big questions than a philosopher? We turn to author and public intellectual Micah Goodman for an in-depth conversation on the one burning issue that unites America's radical right and left.

Spoiler: They hate Israel.

But the reasons why the far left and the far right despise the Jewish state come from very different narratives, explains Goodman. Likewise, their "final solutions" for Israel would result in divergent conclusions.

In the second half of the program, we turn the tables and ask: Are Israelis aware that the fate of the Jewish state is an election issue in the US? Why is this fissure in the essential US-Israel relationship trumpeted as a main existential issue on Israeli politicians' campaign trails?

Israelis, says Goodman, need to wake up.

But will they?

A Mandatory Listen podcast episodes are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Micah Goodman: The one issue that unites America's radical left and right

A Mandatory Listen

Micah Goodman: The one issue that unites America's radical left and right