Between Border Strikes and Broken Narratives: Israel, Iran, and a Week of Unsettled Waiting

This week on Tel Aviv Diary, Marc Schulman surveys a familiar Israeli paradox: a country living at the edge of war while trying to pretend—at least some days—that normal life is still possible. Up north, Israel continues striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and along the Lebanese–Syrian border, even as talk resurfaces about pressure on Beirut to explore formal peace negotiations. Marc traces the long arc—from childhood hopes on the border in the 1960s to today’s reality of Hezbollah’s entrenchment—and explains why what many Lebanese may want and what the state can actually deliver remain painfully far apart.The focus then shifts to Iran: the regime’s intensifying crackdown, the persistent rumors of imminent U.S. action, and the strategic question Israel cannot escape—if Washington strikes, does Tehran automatically retaliate against Israel, or does deterrence cut the other way? Marc also looks outward, at the striking imbalance in global attention: the comparative silence surrounding Iranian repression, the media choices that elevate some suffering over others, and the lone high-profile voice at Davos said to have raised the issue publicly—President Zelenskyy.Back in Israel, Marc digs into two domestic stories: a proposed 1.5% tax on “unused” private land that he argues would disproportionately hit Arab towns where planning approvals have long been withheld, and the Supreme Court’s decision that revealed the identity—and mental condition—of a man who infiltrated sensitive wartime meetings, puncturing the political narrative of “treason” pushed by Netanyahu’s allies. He closes with a rapid tour of other pressures shaping the week: calls to quit the WHO, talk of leaving the Paris climate accords, Gaza’s murky short-term path, the tragedy of two infants in an illegal daycare, and the broader question of governance, enforcement, and responsibility in ultra-Orthodox society—before ending, as always, with a quick readout on the accelerating AI race and what it’s doing to daily life. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcschulman.substack.com/subscribe