#244 - Operation Guardian of the Walls: What the $*&# Happened? (Ofir Dayan and Jonathan Elkhoury)

*This episode is sponsored by Masa Israel Journey. Check them out at masaisrael.org/twonicejewishboys * Exclusive subscription offer for podcast listeners: Get 6 months of The Forward for only $15: Forward.com/partneroffer promo code: 2NJB It seems like forever ago when rockets hit Israel and we ran to shelters to the soothing sounds of the sirens. Actually, wait, that was a week ago! That’s the pace of things in the Middle East. Still, something big happened here. Tectonic changes. Things will never quite be the same as they were. Many people blamed the recent round of hostilities on Jerusalem-related events. Be it the Temple Mount, where we made the Palestinians angry, or Sheik Jarah, where… Apparently we made the Palestinians angry. They get angry quite often, I’ve noticed. But I digress. In the aftermath of Operation Guardian of the Walls, we decided to summon some of our favorite past guests to talk about what went down and the current situation. Ofir Dayan is a Temple Mount Enthusiast, an Al Aqsa aficionado if you will, and an advocate for Israel in the world. As a student at Columbia University in New York, she served as the head of SSI, Students Supporting Israel. Our second guest tonight, Jonathan Elkoury, was one of our first guests on the podcast back in 2001. Jonathan is an avid advocate for Israel in international media, he’s a political activist and recently, a reality tv star in a new upcoming show. We are thrilled to be joined by Ofir and Jonathan today to try and understand what the hell happened here, and what the future holds for Israel and Jerusalem.