Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, PhD, a historian, journalist and former IDF Unit 8200 intelligence analyst who writes The Grand Scheme newsletter, traces how his worldview moved from Likud-voting Zionism to a sharp critique of Israeli state policy. He describes how investigating the Sde Teiman detention abuse scandal, and hearing sources admit they had lied, shattered his instinctive trust in Israeli narratives. He argues that the conflict is only about a century old and rooted in nationalism rather than ancient religious hatred, and that Israeli schooling, children’s literature and public memory have erased Irgun and Lehi violence while labelling every Arab act terrorism. Drawing on strategic culture, he contends that after 7 October the IDF abandoned deterrence and peace agreements for permanent expansion, with Syria as his example. He names the religious-secular divide, Haredi conscription and settler ideology inside the army as Israel’s most dangerous fault lines, and sees no opposition that seeks peace. The conversation also covers the conflation of Judaism with Zionism, the use of antisemitism accusations to silence critics, paid influencers and bot networks, and the two-state solution as a diplomatic fiction kept alive by governments protecting military and economic ties. He disputes the standard ‘flawed concept’ account of 7 October, arguing Netanyahu ignored repeated warnings, and describes the radicalisation of settlers and Israeli youth, the backlash against dissident filmmakers, and social media’s power to shift opinion without shifting policy. He urges listeners to drop good-versus-evil moralism, treat every actor as strategic, and expects change only through external pressure.