Hanukkah in the Tunnels: Hostage Footage, Gaza’s Uncertain “Next Stage,” and Trump’s New World Order

In this week’s Tel Aviv Diary (December 12), Marc Schulman reflects on newly released IDF-captured Hamas footage of six hostages later executed in the tunnels under Rafah—images of young Israelis lighting Hanukkah candles underground, trying to keep their spirits alive, as the country watches with grief and fury. Marc returns to Hostage Square after the storm, noting what has been dismantled, what still stands, and the clock still counting down—especially for the one last body not yet returned. He asks what comes next in Gaza as talk swirls around a Trump-backed plan, a looming committee, and conditions—Hamas disarmament, Israeli pullbacks, and controversial roles for Turkey, Qatar, and the Palestinian Authority—that collide with political realities in Jerusalem.From there, the episode widens to Israel’s northern front, the uneasy truce lines, and a larger argument about defense: how much of Israel’s future security will be manpower, and how much can be technology—interceptors, lasers, surveillance, and eventually autonomous systems—without repeating the blindness of October 7. Marc then turns to the budget fight and the ultra-Orthodox draft crisis, tracing the issue from Ben-Gurion’s original exemptions through the Tal Law era and Supreme Court rulings to today’s political brinkmanship, committee shakeups, and a bill widely viewed as preserving exemptions rather than producing the soldiers the army says it needs. Finally, he surveys American politics and AI: a Trump national security doctrine that, in Marc’s view, reads like disengagement from the world; big-tech moves that reshape culture and power; and a regulatory retreat that leaves AI accelerating with fewer constraints—ending the week with hard questions, sharp skepticism, and a Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv. 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