Netanyahu’s Pardon Gambit, the Haredi Draft Battle, and AI in the Classroom

In this episode of Tel Aviv Diaries, Marc Schulman looks back at a fraught week in Israel and beyond. He begins with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s highly controversial request to end his corruption trial and the unprecedented intervention by President Trump, probing what it means for Israel’s judiciary, international standing, and political stability. Marc then turns to the new ultra-Orthodox draft law, explaining why it is seen by many Israelis as a “law of avoidance,” how it could entrench long-term exemptions, and why it is politically risky even within Likud’s own base.From there, the episode shifts to Gaza and Lebanon: the tentative outlines of a second-stage Gaza arrangement involving international forces and reconstruction money, the debate over whether Israel should risk another war with Hezbollah, and the economic toll of prolonged conflict as tourism collapses and missile defense still needs years of rebuilding. Marc also unpacks the renewed tensions between Yad Vashem and the Auschwitz Memorial over Polish complicity in the Holocaust, Europe’s conflicted stance toward Israel—from Eurovision boycotts to buying Israeli missile defense—and the latest slide in President Trump’s popularity as hard-line immigration policies collide with economic realities. He closes with reflections on AI: how he uses it as a research tool for his own history writing, why it threatens to hollow out student learning if misused, and what a serious rethinking of education might look like in an age when machines can draft the paper—but can’t ask the questions. 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