July 18, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode, Lahav Harkov, a senior political correspondent for Jewish Insider, discusses the complexities of reporting on Israel, the disconnect between local and international news coverage, and the resilience of Israeli society amidst ongoing conflict. Lahav shares personal anecdotes from her journalism career, including unexpected adventures and the challenges of conveying the truth in a polarized media landscape. She expresses optimism for Israel's future and emphasizes the importance of listening to diverse perspectives. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.
Read Lahav's work at the Jewish Insider
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
And guest today is Lahav Harkov. Laha is senior political
correspondent for Jewish Insider. Hi Lahaf, so nice to have
you on.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi, Carol, thanks for writing me.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So you cover Israel in English? Is that the correct right?
Am I summing up? But it's not necessarily for an
American audience or is it for an audience outside of Israel.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
So these days I work for Jewish Insider, and it's
very much for an American audience, mostly a Jewish American audience,
but not only It's like a very Washington based publication
that allow people read on the hill and policy circles,
so those are like the main audiences, but it's not
as many readers in Israel. I used to write for
the Jerusalem Post for many years, and then it was
(00:50):
for people who speak English, but in Israel it was
a daily newspaper.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Do you feel like there's a disconnect between the new
is that people get in Israel and the news that
we get outside of Israel, Like I feel like a
lot of the time it's not the same stories.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Absolutely, there's a huge disconect. I mean, right now, the
government is on the verge of like collapse, collapse, which
is not like I mean, it just happened.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You guys went through like five of those in a
few years.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah. Yeah, And you know, I don't know when people
are talking about like red at Thunberg, you know, not right,
not that Israel's about to have an election probably, I
mean not for sure, that's it over deals over But
right what do you.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Feel like people outside of Israel misunderstand about the country?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I mean so much, right, I think right now we're
in the middle of Israel's longest war, and it's serious
and it's a real war. But what even when we
weren't right, people seem to look at it as like
a constant war zone when actually, I mean, it's a country,
a very vibrant country, right, like huge texting, one of
(02:06):
the most advanced in the world, huge like food, e
seed right, culture for sure. Yeah, it's like I find
it to be like Televis, like all the funnest cities
of the world. I've done a lot of travel, I've
lived another place. Unfortunately, people associated so much with conflict,
you know, and I hope that like the day will
come that that's not the top story that israel I.
(02:27):
Really I hope the day will come that people don't
talk about us so much that that would be great.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Oh yeah, that's actually a really good point. I frequently
am like, oh, Israel's trending on Twitter X, like I wish,
I wish it wouldn't, like yeah, just you know, right,
find something else to talk about. But I had John
and Russic from Fight for Fighting on this show, and
he performed in Israel the night of the Iran attack
(02:54):
and he said that, you know, I asked him like,
were you scared, and he's like, of course I was scared.
He's like, but the people that were with we're like,
we have restaurant reservations that we can't miss, and you know,
like like time's a ticken, we got to go to
the restaurant. It's we have a reservation and that's just
the way it goes. And he was like I wanted
to go home and like hide under my bed, but
(03:14):
Israelis were like, no life goes on.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I mean, that's definitely the vibe here. Unfortunately, we you know,
every couple of nights have to deal with air raid
sirens because of missiles being shot by the Hoo's ease
from Yevin Iran was different, right, Like that was like
hundreds of missiles and we all had to sit in
the shelters for like over an hour, where normally it's
like ten minutes. But on the other hand, like I
(03:38):
let my kid have asleep over that night. It was
like every practically it Israel has a mud right, has
an ninety right, has a safe room. It was like
she could either be in the safe room with me
or she could be in the safe room with her friends.
And like, you know, they sent us pictures.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I love it. I love ISRAELI. That's just crazy. How
did you get into being a journalist in the media world?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So the big answer, the initial answer was that my
grandmother was a journalist and she was still is. She's
still alive, thank god. The most interesting person I know.
I mean, she just had amazing stories. She meant incredible people.
And from a very young age, I was like, I
(04:23):
want to do that too, that's so cool. And I
was like a big reader, you know. But then also
like at the age when I start to become aware
of politics and news and things like that. The second
into Fota was happening in Israel, and I grew up
in the US, but my mother and her whole side
of the family are Israeli. And I realized how much
Israel is being misrepresented in the news in America, and
(04:45):
I wanted to be someone to tell the real story
of Israel. And so those two sort of different factors
came together. And what I it's what I ended up
doing with my life.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What's the biggest challenge to telling that story?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Sorry, well, I think that the international media, you know,
and the big American and British media outlets, they have
like prejudices and sort of preconceived ideas of what the
story should be, and it's often wrong. They often trust
people who are not trustworthy out of this idea that
(05:21):
they want to be fair and even handed, but like
to be even handed between a terrorist organization, for example,
and a liberal democracy. It doesn't actually make that much sense,
you know, Which is not to say that they shouldn't
talk about the palacity inside of the story at all,
but to sort of treat terror scredulously is often just
(05:43):
at the core of why.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So many stories are wrong, right, I mean, any headline
that's like Hamas says, like Hamas says, who cares what
they say. It's right, exact, complete nonsense.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So like you're it's like an uphill battle because when
you're dealing with people who like such a basic idea
of what is actually fair and how to actually get
at the truth as far into them, you know, you
really have to get to the basics to get the
real story out.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
What would have been like a plan be for you
if you didn't go into journalism, What other thoughts did
you have and what you would do with your life?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Interesting? Well, first of all, like I wanted to be
in a journalists for a really young age, and I
started working at it for a really young age. But
I did briefly study economics, I studied political science, I
did like I worked a little bit in a sort
of political activist space in college before I got my
first paid journalism job, So maybe that's where I would
(06:42):
have gone.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Do you find it to be a job that is
exciting as you imagine? Like I'm thinking, and I'm sure
it is exciting, but like, is it exciting and not
the ways you thought? Like for example, I know you
were on a trip with the Prime Minister and Yahoo
and he decid I did to take a side trip
or I think it was to Hungary. Maybe I might
be getting the details wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Start in Hungary and then while he wasn't Hungary, Trump
was like President.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and so you just went. You went, and it's like,
you have kids at home, but I don't even know
if you packed, you know, orry for a longer trip.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Tell us this story.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I want to hear it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, so this wasn't the April first of all, it
was the week before Passover, and for listeners who are
not Jewish, like the week before past the big deal,
craziest week of the year for Jewish families because you
basically do spring cleaning, but it's like a religious elements
of spring cleaning, so everybody is just completely intensive.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So for starters, I had to not be in the
country that week. It was supposed to be a four
day trip to Hungary. It was basically Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
return on Sunday. And my birthday was that weekend. And
the Prime Minister doesn't I mean he works on Saturday,
he's the Prime Minister, but he doesn't have like public
meetia to a public schedule on Saturday, which is the
(08:01):
Jewish Sabbath, like out of respect for Jewish tradition. So
my husband, because it was my birthday, he flew out
to spend the weekend with me because he knew I
was going to have a day where I'm not actually
doing any work, So he was staying in the hotel
with me where I was in Hungry in Budapest. Yeah,
which is a beautiful city. Highly recommend you to spend
in a really nice weekend with your spouse there. But
(08:26):
over that weekend, we saw that got the news that
I have to continue on to Washington. And I sort
of said to my husband, like, I'm glad that you
were here to witness this because it's so crazy that
it's like almost unfeavable. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's because if you have to call him and be like, hey,
I have to go to America, it's like it doesn't
have the same he doesn't know the insanity that you
felt in that moment and the way that it all developed.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right, And he saw, I mean, he saw me running
into like my colleagues in the lobby and almost being like,
oh my god, what is happening?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So I have to go by underwear.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Actually, one of the people who's like on TV news
literally said on the news that he is washing his
underwear and then the sink of the tever. I was like,
I cannot believe he said that on TV. He said
it on one of the like more lighthearted programs, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, amazing. Yeah, So you did continue on to America
And how was it?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It was? It was good. It was very interesting. It
always is. It's always interesting to the Trump White House?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
But was it?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now? I was in the White House twice this year.
So in February into I went. There was like this
very long oval office and very long press conference where
Trump answered so many questions. You know, sometimes he just
does that and he just let rolls with it, like yeah,
this time was like sort of more formal and it
didn't last as long, but he did answer a bunch
of questions. And it's always like it's always a cool experience.
(09:47):
I mean again, like I grew up in the US,
so like I have so much respect for that office
and like feel very privileged to have been able to
go there so many times.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So is it exciting? Is it like you thought it
would be?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It is? It is, And it's beyond what I thought
I would be, you know, like because I have been
like have had been had the opportunity to go so
many places and meet so many things that I don't
think that even when it was my ambition to be
a journalist, i'd be able to do, like being able
to say that, like I've been to the White House
so many times, and that I've interviewed multiple Israeli Prime ministers.
(10:24):
One of my favorite things I ever did is that
I got to go to a royal dinner, like in
a palace for.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
The which royal family? Oh nice Norway?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, for Shimon Paris who was president at the time.
So I'm really aging myself here, but yes, I was reporting.
It was actually his final trip as president, so you know,
I was not yet a reporter at the beginning of
his presidency. But that was really cool, you know. It's
like I, yes, people asked me. I always say that
that was one of the coolest things I got to
do as a reporter.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marco wid Show. What do you
worry About?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So we're talking at a time that my husband is
in idea reserve duty. He's done over two hundred days
and he's now at the beginning of what's going to
be a long stretch through August. So I really worry
about him all the time. But in a sort of
larger scale, like I think my worries about him are
(11:20):
also worries about the country in the sense that like
we are in a really long war. I don't want
to get into the politics necessarily, but like as a
society where we have so many people fighting this war
coming back from the war, so any families that are
apart right now, Israelis are incredibly resilient, but like this
is the biggest tak Yeah, and so I worry about
(11:44):
it as a society. I worry about my kids, and
I worry about the kids all around us, you know.
So I just hope that we all sort of have
the strength to be able to move forward from this.
And I know, I mean, you've written and talked so
much about like COVID, so I also think about at
how like I have a son who's just turned six,
and like his life was just COVID and then war
(12:06):
or yeah, some kids have that experience in Israel.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Are you optimistic about Israel's future? Like, I know that
there's a large pendulum swing. It could happen in any moment,
but right now, do you feel good.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Optimistic about Israel? Because I think that the way the
country rallied after October seventh, like that the months before
October seventh were really difficult months in Israel where people
were really divided over politics and there were all these
protests in the street and things got really really ugly.
But then the country really rallied and got together after
this horrible, horrible attack on us. And I think that,
(12:43):
you know, the politicians are saying ugly things to each
other again. But I think that when you're.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Some almost like back to normal, that's like is that
bad necessary?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You know, because when you talk to normal people, regular Israeli,
they still I think that this has given us such
a sense of like why we're here and what we're
fighting for. You know that you know, we would be lost,
bereft entirely without the Jewish state, you know, and of
course so many people. I mean, there was like this
(13:12):
song that came out a few months after the war
that was like a hit here. It was like it
was like a rap song, but like a soft rap song,
so to speak, where they said, you know, like the
teacher and the guy selling you vegetables in the supermarket
and your dentist, and they're all fighting in the war.
They're all like superheroes, you know, and like you really
(13:34):
feel that, you know, like that we've all come together
and are doing something for the greater good and for
each other as a society.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It's a great feeling. Actually, it's very hard to maintain.
I was in New York on nine to eleven, and
that lasted for a little while, but I can't say
that even two years later it was still feeling that way.
I think by by two thousand and three that had
faded in a big way. And the fact that Israel still,
you know, kind of united and in a good place
(14:03):
and optimistic about the future. It's a positive.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah. I was in New York then too, so it
is a good point. I think the starting point of
Israel being like of the Jewish people start with that,
and what Israel means to the Jewish people is a
strong sort of starting point. So I'm optimistic about us
continuing to be able to rally.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I love it. I love your optimism because I you know,
I root for Israel. But some days are harder than others.
I definitely feel not great on some days when I
read some news and about an internal strife and that
kind of thing, even though again, I do think it's normal.
I think it's normal politicians to yell at each other.
(14:47):
We're recording this shortly after Elon and Trump had their
big blow up, and then they're they're very public making up.
So yeah, you know, maybe that's the sign of normalcy
that isn't so bad.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Maybe I think maybe I'm like seeing these through rose
tints and glasses a little too much, But I do
feel like the current polarization, both in the US and
in Israel, is like really extreme and that like, maybe
it wasn't always like that, but people always also look
at the past and think about the good old days.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So I won't wait, So, what's the rose colored glasses part?
I thought you were going to tell me how great
I think is Oh, okay, I see.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Like being like, oh, it wasn't this bad before, right.
I covered the class at Israel's parliament right for for
eight years, and I did feel like it got uglier overtime.
There were some uposente downs, but like, I feel like
now we're at an uglier place than we were when
I started. It was in twenty eleven.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Interesting Okay, all right, we'll see what happens. I guess
what advice would you give your sixteen year old self, Like,
what is sixteen year old Lahov need to know? And
also where were you at sixteen?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So at sixteen, I was going to high school in Manhattan,
Jewish High School, and uh, you know, doing the school newspaper, and.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You really did always want to be a journalist as well.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, you know, I was trying to get into colleges
like any other kid, most of the kids. I think
like the advice that I really needed at that time
was not to sell myself short. I think I was
not so like as a kid, I didn't have a
lot of confidence, and I think that I could have
like tried more things, done more things, also socially sort
(16:25):
of put myself in better situations. And I think that
that's in general, a lot of people, you know, don't
understand their own worth. So that probably would have been
my advice to myself. Though. The other thing that I
think is important to tell most teenagers, including myself, is
to actually listen to other people. That others I mean,
maybe not everyone, but like actually listen when people talk
(16:48):
to people have interesting things to say, and you have
a lot of things that you can learn and you
don't know everything.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I feel like teenagers don't really want to hear that.
I had my question authority you know button that I wore. Yeah,
punk rock was was what it was all about. But
that's interesting that you would sell yourself short. I feel
like I can't imagine you're doing that. I think you're
I think of you as pretty confident and you know,
(17:15):
sure of yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, I don't. It took time.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I know.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It's funny like people who knew me growing up and
people who know me as an adult, I feel like
they have very different ideas about me kind of but
and I can't even like put my finger on what
it was and what changed. But just over time, I
definitely felt a lot more like stable and sure of
myself that, you know, I actually have something to offer
(17:39):
to the world.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
You know, I was thinking, I don't know that I
have had somebody who lives in Israel on the show.
I'm trying to think, but what advice would you give
to my audience if they're visiting Israel? Like what should
they not miss? What what I mean other than the
you know, the kind of the main the main things.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's an interesting question for I think like people who
like nature and like hiking, Like it's a really good
trip for nature because you can get a lot of
really cool things in one trip. You can get desert,
and you can get forests, and you could get well,
you could get kayaking. It's not I grew up in
New Jersey, the kayaking and the Delaware better than here,
So maybe not that, but you could get all kinds
(18:18):
of nature in one place because Israel is the size
of New Jersey and you have skiing all the way
north and desert in the Yeah, it's not like also
not amazing skiing, so if you're a skier, I don't
recommend doing that in Israel. But in terms of the
variety of what you can get here, you know, into
such a small place, you can come for a week
and see snow in desert, although not in the summer.
(18:41):
There's no snow in the summer. But so that's one thing,
Like if people love nature, there's like really cool stuff
to see. Also, just the archaeology is really cool, and
it's not just there's archaeological sites all over that you
can visit. The classic one that everyone goes to is Masada,
but there's a lot of projects and things like you
(19:01):
can do sifting or you could see like if you
really like mosaics, there's all kinds of cool ancient mosaics.
And if you want to see what houses look like,
there's kinds of you could It's like very varied. There's
a biblical archaeology also, you know Old Testament, New Testament,
and all kinds of theater sites. Like it's it's really
(19:23):
there's so much history here that like you can think
about all different time periods that someone might have a
special interest in and see really interesting things.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I had darn Schpielman on the show. Maybe he's he
lives in Israel, but yeah, he wrote he wrote when
the Stones about city of David.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
So the same David is one of these places that's
really cool because like you're like, okay, I'm visiting an
archaeological site, but you can do a water like a
water hike. There's like a tunnel with water in it,
and you see like the road they excavated, like the
road that people would walk to the Holy Temple. It's
like really cool. It's not just like I'm going to
go in and look at some rocks.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
You know, right, it's really unique. I didn't do the
water whatever, but I feel.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Like that thats going to have to.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Come back to that. Yeah, amazing. Well, I've loved this conversation.
Oh You're always been somebody that I'm interested in and
does here with your best tip for my listeners on
how they can improve their lives.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
You know, I'm going to go back to the tip
that I give teenagers and give it to everyone and say, listen.
You have to not just think that you're listening, but
like actually try to listen and hear what people are saying.
And I think it's something that served me really well
as a journalist because I'm mostly a reporter. It's rare
that I write opinions, and so I have to look
(20:41):
at someone who I might disagree with or might just
have a totally different idea of things from and actually
try to understand where they're coming from, you know. And
I find that that I've learned so much and it's
opened my mind to so much over the years by
sort of forcing myself to actually listen to other points
of view. It's not always easy, No, it's not. Yeah,
(21:04):
that's my I think best advice that people should try
to listen, really really listen to people who are different
from yourself.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
All right, I'm gonna do my best, but it's not
one of my strong strong points. She's the ha Harkop.
Check her out a Jewish Insider. Thank you so much
for coming on, Laha, thank you.
Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
And guest today is Lahav Harkov. Laha is senior political
correspondent for Jewish Insider. Hi Lahaf, so nice to have
you on.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi, Carol, thanks for writing me.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So you cover Israel in English? Is that the correct right?
Am I summing up? But it's not necessarily for an
American audience or is it for an audience outside of Israel.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
So these days I work for Jewish Insider, and it's
very much for an American audience, mostly a Jewish American audience,
but not only It's like a very Washington based publication
that allow people read on the hill and policy circles,
so those are like the main audiences, but it's not
as many readers in Israel. I used to write for
the Jerusalem Post for many years, and then it was
(00:50):
for people who speak English, but in Israel it was
a daily newspaper.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Do you feel like there's a disconnect between the new
is that people get in Israel and the news that
we get outside of Israel, Like I feel like a
lot of the time it's not the same stories.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Absolutely, there's a huge disconect. I mean, right now, the
government is on the verge of like collapse, collapse, which
is not like I mean, it just happened.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You guys went through like five of those in a
few years.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah. Yeah, And you know, I don't know when people
are talking about like red at Thunberg, you know, not right,
not that Israel's about to have an election probably, I
mean not for sure, that's it over deals over But
right what do you.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Feel like people outside of Israel misunderstand about the country?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I mean so much, right, I think right now we're
in the middle of Israel's longest war, and it's serious
and it's a real war. But what even when we
weren't right, people seem to look at it as like
a constant war zone when actually, I mean, it's a country,
a very vibrant country, right, like huge texting, one of
(02:06):
the most advanced in the world, huge like food, e
seed right, culture for sure. Yeah, it's like I find
it to be like Televis, like all the funnest cities
of the world. I've done a lot of travel, I've
lived another place. Unfortunately, people associated so much with conflict,
you know, and I hope that like the day will
come that that's not the top story that israel I.
(02:27):
Really I hope the day will come that people don't
talk about us so much that that would be great.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Oh yeah, that's actually a really good point. I frequently
am like, oh, Israel's trending on Twitter X, like I wish,
I wish it wouldn't, like yeah, just you know, right,
find something else to talk about. But I had John
and Russic from Fight for Fighting on this show, and
he performed in Israel the night of the Iran attack
(02:54):
and he said that, you know, I asked him like,
were you scared, and he's like, of course I was scared.
He's like, but the people that were with we're like,
we have restaurant reservations that we can't miss, and you know,
like like time's a ticken, we got to go to
the restaurant. It's we have a reservation and that's just
the way it goes. And he was like I wanted
to go home and like hide under my bed, but
(03:14):
Israelis were like, no life goes on.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I mean, that's definitely the vibe here. Unfortunately, we you know,
every couple of nights have to deal with air raid
sirens because of missiles being shot by the Hoo's ease
from Yevin Iran was different, right, Like that was like
hundreds of missiles and we all had to sit in
the shelters for like over an hour, where normally it's
like ten minutes. But on the other hand, like I
(03:38):
let my kid have asleep over that night. It was
like every practically it Israel has a mud right, has
an ninety right, has a safe room. It was like
she could either be in the safe room with me
or she could be in the safe room with her friends.
And like, you know, they sent us pictures.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I love it. I love ISRAELI. That's just crazy. How
did you get into being a journalist in the media world?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
So the big answer, the initial answer was that my
grandmother was a journalist and she was still is. She's
still alive, thank god. The most interesting person I know.
I mean, she just had amazing stories. She meant incredible people.
And from a very young age, I was like, I
(04:23):
want to do that too, that's so cool. And I
was like a big reader, you know. But then also
like at the age when I start to become aware
of politics and news and things like that. The second
into Fota was happening in Israel, and I grew up
in the US, but my mother and her whole side
of the family are Israeli. And I realized how much
Israel is being misrepresented in the news in America, and
(04:45):
I wanted to be someone to tell the real story
of Israel. And so those two sort of different factors
came together. And what I it's what I ended up
doing with my life.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What's the biggest challenge to telling that story?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Sorry, well, I think that the international media, you know,
and the big American and British media outlets, they have
like prejudices and sort of preconceived ideas of what the
story should be, and it's often wrong. They often trust
people who are not trustworthy out of this idea that
(05:21):
they want to be fair and even handed, but like
to be even handed between a terrorist organization, for example,
and a liberal democracy. It doesn't actually make that much sense,
you know, Which is not to say that they shouldn't
talk about the palacity inside of the story at all,
but to sort of treat terror scredulously is often just
(05:43):
at the core of why.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So many stories are wrong, right, I mean, any headline
that's like Hamas says, like Hamas says, who cares what
they say. It's right, exact, complete nonsense.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So like you're it's like an uphill battle because when
you're dealing with people who like such a basic idea
of what is actually fair and how to actually get
at the truth as far into them, you know, you
really have to get to the basics to get the
real story out.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
What would have been like a plan be for you
if you didn't go into journalism, What other thoughts did
you have and what you would do with your life?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Interesting? Well, first of all, like I wanted to be
in a journalists for a really young age, and I
started working at it for a really young age. But
I did briefly study economics, I studied political science, I
did like I worked a little bit in a sort
of political activist space in college before I got my
first paid journalism job, So maybe that's where I would
(06:42):
have gone.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Do you find it to be a job that is
exciting as you imagine? Like I'm thinking, and I'm sure
it is exciting, but like, is it exciting and not
the ways you thought? Like for example, I know you
were on a trip with the Prime Minister and Yahoo
and he decid I did to take a side trip
or I think it was to Hungary. Maybe I might
be getting the details wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Start in Hungary and then while he wasn't Hungary, Trump
was like President.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and so you just went. You went, and it's like,
you have kids at home, but I don't even know
if you packed, you know, orry for a longer trip.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Tell us this story.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I want to hear it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, so this wasn't the April first of all, it
was the week before Passover, and for listeners who are
not Jewish, like the week before past the big deal,
craziest week of the year for Jewish families because you
basically do spring cleaning, but it's like a religious elements
of spring cleaning, so everybody is just completely intensive.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
So for starters, I had to not be in the
country that week. It was supposed to be a four
day trip to Hungary. It was basically Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
return on Sunday. And my birthday was that weekend. And
the Prime Minister doesn't I mean he works on Saturday,
he's the Prime Minister, but he doesn't have like public
meetia to a public schedule on Saturday, which is the
(08:01):
Jewish Sabbath, like out of respect for Jewish tradition. So
my husband, because it was my birthday, he flew out
to spend the weekend with me because he knew I
was going to have a day where I'm not actually
doing any work, So he was staying in the hotel
with me where I was in Hungry in Budapest. Yeah,
which is a beautiful city. Highly recommend you to spend
in a really nice weekend with your spouse there. But
(08:26):
over that weekend, we saw that got the news that
I have to continue on to Washington. And I sort
of said to my husband, like, I'm glad that you
were here to witness this because it's so crazy that
it's like almost unfeavable. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's because if you have to call him and be like, hey,
I have to go to America, it's like it doesn't
have the same he doesn't know the insanity that you
felt in that moment and the way that it all developed.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right, And he saw, I mean, he saw me running
into like my colleagues in the lobby and almost being like,
oh my god, what is happening?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
So I have to go by underwear.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Actually, one of the people who's like on TV news
literally said on the news that he is washing his
underwear and then the sink of the tever. I was like,
I cannot believe he said that on TV. He said
it on one of the like more lighthearted programs, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, amazing. Yeah, So you did continue on to America
And how was it?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It was? It was good. It was very interesting. It
always is. It's always interesting to the Trump White House?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
But was it?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now? I was in the White House twice this year.
So in February into I went. There was like this
very long oval office and very long press conference where
Trump answered so many questions. You know, sometimes he just
does that and he just let rolls with it, like yeah,
this time was like sort of more formal and it
didn't last as long, but he did answer a bunch
of questions. And it's always like it's always a cool experience.
(09:47):
I mean again, like I grew up in the US,
so like I have so much respect for that office
and like feel very privileged to have been able to
go there so many times.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
So is it exciting? Is it like you thought it
would be?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It is? It is, And it's beyond what I thought
I would be, you know, like because I have been
like have had been had the opportunity to go so
many places and meet so many things that I don't
think that even when it was my ambition to be
a journalist, i'd be able to do, like being able
to say that, like I've been to the White House
so many times, and that I've interviewed multiple Israeli Prime ministers.
(10:24):
One of my favorite things I ever did is that
I got to go to a royal dinner, like in
a palace for.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
The which royal family? Oh nice Norway?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, for Shimon Paris who was president at the time.
So I'm really aging myself here, but yes, I was reporting.
It was actually his final trip as president, so you know,
I was not yet a reporter at the beginning of
his presidency. But that was really cool, you know. It's
like I, yes, people asked me. I always say that
that was one of the coolest things I got to
do as a reporter.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marco wid Show. What do you
worry About?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So we're talking at a time that my husband is
in idea reserve duty. He's done over two hundred days
and he's now at the beginning of what's going to
be a long stretch through August. So I really worry
about him all the time. But in a sort of
larger scale, like I think my worries about him are
(11:20):
also worries about the country in the sense that like
we are in a really long war. I don't want
to get into the politics necessarily, but like as a
society where we have so many people fighting this war
coming back from the war, so any families that are
apart right now, Israelis are incredibly resilient, but like this
is the biggest tak Yeah, and so I worry about
(11:44):
it as a society. I worry about my kids, and
I worry about the kids all around us, you know.
So I just hope that we all sort of have
the strength to be able to move forward from this.
And I know, I mean, you've written and talked so
much about like COVID, so I also think about at
how like I have a son who's just turned six,
and like his life was just COVID and then war
(12:06):
or yeah, some kids have that experience in Israel.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Are you optimistic about Israel's future? Like, I know that
there's a large pendulum swing. It could happen in any moment,
but right now, do you feel good.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Optimistic about Israel? Because I think that the way the
country rallied after October seventh, like that the months before
October seventh were really difficult months in Israel where people
were really divided over politics and there were all these
protests in the street and things got really really ugly.
But then the country really rallied and got together after
this horrible, horrible attack on us. And I think that,
(12:43):
you know, the politicians are saying ugly things to each
other again. But I think that when you're.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Some almost like back to normal, that's like is that
bad necessary?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You know, because when you talk to normal people, regular Israeli,
they still I think that this has given us such
a sense of like why we're here and what we're
fighting for. You know that you know, we would be lost,
bereft entirely without the Jewish state, you know, and of
course so many people. I mean, there was like this
(13:12):
song that came out a few months after the war
that was like a hit here. It was like it
was like a rap song, but like a soft rap song,
so to speak, where they said, you know, like the
teacher and the guy selling you vegetables in the supermarket
and your dentist, and they're all fighting in the war.
They're all like superheroes, you know, and like you really
(13:34):
feel that, you know, like that we've all come together
and are doing something for the greater good and for
each other as a society.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It's a great feeling. Actually, it's very hard to maintain.
I was in New York on nine to eleven, and
that lasted for a little while, but I can't say
that even two years later it was still feeling that way.
I think by by two thousand and three that had
faded in a big way. And the fact that Israel still,
you know, kind of united and in a good place
(14:03):
and optimistic about the future. It's a positive.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah. I was in New York then too, so it
is a good point. I think the starting point of
Israel being like of the Jewish people start with that,
and what Israel means to the Jewish people is a
strong sort of starting point. So I'm optimistic about us
continuing to be able to rally.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I love it. I love your optimism because I you know,
I root for Israel. But some days are harder than others.
I definitely feel not great on some days when I
read some news and about an internal strife and that
kind of thing, even though again, I do think it's normal.
I think it's normal politicians to yell at each other.
(14:47):
We're recording this shortly after Elon and Trump had their
big blow up, and then they're they're very public making up.
So yeah, you know, maybe that's the sign of normalcy
that isn't so bad.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Maybe I think maybe I'm like seeing these through rose
tints and glasses a little too much, But I do
feel like the current polarization, both in the US and
in Israel, is like really extreme and that like, maybe
it wasn't always like that, but people always also look
at the past and think about the good old days.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So I won't wait, So, what's the rose colored glasses part?
I thought you were going to tell me how great
I think is Oh, okay, I see.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Like being like, oh, it wasn't this bad before, right.
I covered the class at Israel's parliament right for for
eight years, and I did feel like it got uglier overtime.
There were some uposente downs, but like, I feel like
now we're at an uglier place than we were when
I started. It was in twenty eleven.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Interesting Okay, all right, we'll see what happens. I guess
what advice would you give your sixteen year old self, Like,
what is sixteen year old Lahov need to know? And
also where were you at sixteen?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So at sixteen, I was going to high school in Manhattan,
Jewish High School, and uh, you know, doing the school newspaper, and.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You really did always want to be a journalist as well.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, you know, I was trying to get into colleges
like any other kid, most of the kids. I think
like the advice that I really needed at that time
was not to sell myself short. I think I was
not so like as a kid, I didn't have a
lot of confidence, and I think that I could have
like tried more things, done more things, also socially sort
(16:25):
of put myself in better situations. And I think that
that's in general, a lot of people, you know, don't
understand their own worth. So that probably would have been
my advice to myself. Though. The other thing that I
think is important to tell most teenagers, including myself, is
to actually listen to other people. That others I mean,
maybe not everyone, but like actually listen when people talk
(16:48):
to people have interesting things to say, and you have
a lot of things that you can learn and you
don't know everything.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I feel like teenagers don't really want to hear that.
I had my question authority you know button that I wore. Yeah,
punk rock was was what it was all about. But
that's interesting that you would sell yourself short. I feel
like I can't imagine you're doing that. I think you're
I think of you as pretty confident and you know,
(17:15):
sure of yourself.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, I don't. It took time.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I know.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It's funny like people who knew me growing up and
people who know me as an adult, I feel like
they have very different ideas about me kind of but
and I can't even like put my finger on what
it was and what changed. But just over time, I
definitely felt a lot more like stable and sure of
myself that, you know, I actually have something to offer
(17:39):
to the world.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
You know, I was thinking, I don't know that I
have had somebody who lives in Israel on the show.
I'm trying to think, but what advice would you give
to my audience if they're visiting Israel? Like what should
they not miss? What what I mean other than the
you know, the kind of the main the main things.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's an interesting question for I think like people who
like nature and like hiking, Like it's a really good
trip for nature because you can get a lot of
really cool things in one trip. You can get desert,
and you can get forests, and you could get well,
you could get kayaking. It's not I grew up in
New Jersey, the kayaking and the Delaware better than here,
So maybe not that, but you could get all kinds
(18:18):
of nature in one place because Israel is the size
of New Jersey and you have skiing all the way
north and desert in the Yeah, it's not like also
not amazing skiing, so if you're a skier, I don't
recommend doing that in Israel. But in terms of the
variety of what you can get here, you know, into
such a small place, you can come for a week
and see snow in desert, although not in the summer.
(18:41):
There's no snow in the summer. But so that's one thing,
Like if people love nature, there's like really cool stuff
to see. Also, just the archaeology is really cool, and
it's not just there's archaeological sites all over that you
can visit. The classic one that everyone goes to is Masada,
but there's a lot of projects and things like you
(19:01):
can do sifting or you could see like if you
really like mosaics, there's all kinds of cool ancient mosaics.
And if you want to see what houses look like,
there's kinds of you could It's like very varied. There's
a biblical archaeology also, you know Old Testament, New Testament,
and all kinds of theater sites. Like it's it's really
(19:23):
there's so much history here that like you can think
about all different time periods that someone might have a
special interest in and see really interesting things.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I had darn Schpielman on the show. Maybe he's he
lives in Israel, but yeah, he wrote he wrote when
the Stones about city of David.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
So the same David is one of these places that's
really cool because like you're like, okay, I'm visiting an
archaeological site, but you can do a water like a
water hike. There's like a tunnel with water in it,
and you see like the road they excavated, like the
road that people would walk to the Holy Temple. It's
like really cool. It's not just like I'm going to
go in and look at some rocks.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
You know, right, it's really unique. I didn't do the
water whatever, but I feel.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Like that thats going to have to.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Come back to that. Yeah, amazing. Well, I've loved this conversation.
Oh You're always been somebody that I'm interested in and
does here with your best tip for my listeners on
how they can improve their lives.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
You know, I'm going to go back to the tip
that I give teenagers and give it to everyone and say, listen.
You have to not just think that you're listening, but
like actually try to listen and hear what people are saying.
And I think it's something that served me really well
as a journalist because I'm mostly a reporter. It's rare
that I write opinions, and so I have to look
(20:41):
at someone who I might disagree with or might just
have a totally different idea of things from and actually
try to understand where they're coming from, you know. And
I find that that I've learned so much and it's
opened my mind to so much over the years by
sort of forcing myself to actually listen to other points
of view. It's not always easy, No, it's not. Yeah,
(21:04):
that's my I think best advice that people should try
to listen, really really listen to people who are different
from yourself.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
All right, I'm gonna do my best, but it's not
one of my strong strong points. She's the ha Harkop.
Check her out a Jewish Insider. Thank you so much
for coming on, Laha, thank you.
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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