As Israelis set out to vote for the fourth time in two years, two of the country’s sharpest political analysts look at its politics and the public trends that matter most to the citizens of the Jewish state. Prime Minister Netantyahu is the central fact of Israel’s political system, and the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Katz, and the founding editor of Mida, Ran Baratz, are joined by the JNS managing editor Alex Traiman to analyze the factors that will determine Israel’s next government.

Ran Baratz

Ran Baratz is the founding editor of the Hebrew-language conservative news site Mida and a columnist for Makor Rishon. He previously served as the director of communications for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office between 2016-2017. Baratz conducts research on matters of national policy, chiefly security, economics and government, and lectures on philosophy, history, and Zionist thought at numerous Israeli academic and informal educational institutions. He regularly publishes op-eds, essays, and studies in leading Israeli and American newspapers and periodicals.

Yaakov Katz

Yaakov Katz is Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post. He previously served for close to a decade as the paper's military reporter and defense analyst and is the co-author of the books Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power, The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower and Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War. Prior to taking up the role of Editor-in-Chief, Katz served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Israel’s Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs. In 2013, Katz was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Originally from Chicago, Katz also has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and four children.

Alex Traiman

Alex Traiman is a veteran journalist and filmmaker, and currently the managing director and Jerusalem bureau chief of Jewish News Syndicate/JNS.org. Traiman has directed and produced award-winning documentaries, including Iranium and Honor Diaries.