From Tokyo to Suwayda

In this episode we begin with yesterday’s election results from Japan, where the ruling coalition lost its majority in the upper house of the Diet without the leading center-left opposition party gaining any seats, to the benefit of the much-discussed right-wing populist Sanseito party and the much-less-discussed (in the West) centrist DPP; I compare the DPP to centrist parties that have outperformed older center-left parties in France and Israel. Then we dig into this report on White House frustrations with Bibi Netanyahu over Israel’s strikes on Damascus last week, among other things. Grant expounds on Evangelical Christian pro-Israel activism and speculates about connections between an American citizen from Oklahoma reportedly killed in Syria and local churches and Oklahoma-based scholars. I wonder if Israeli policymakers have a distorted view of the violence in Southwest Syria, which Grant compares to the simplified picture of the region in the Evangelical media ecosystem. Finally, we discuss the latest news from Gaza and increasing international pressure to end the war.