The Israeli Perspective (featuring Yair Lapid and Eyal Hulata)

The Israeli Perspective (featuring Yair Lapid and Eyal Hulata)

Author: FDD April 2, 2025 Duration: 1:18:14

About the Episode

"Death to Israel, the little satan!"

It's all too familiar, this rallying cry of Islamic Republic regime officials and their sympathizers — they've been chanting this for almost 50 years now. But make no mistake: they mean what they say.

With its terrorist proxies across the region, the Iran threat has been knocking at Israel's door for decades. But on October 7, 2023, they knocked down the door—what was previously considered a "war between wars" came out of the shadows and into plain sight.

Tehran activated its regional terror proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen to pile on with direct rocket attacks in an attempt to overwhelm Israel's already-taxed security apparatus. And in an unprecedented move — not once but twice in recent months — a missile attack on Israel was launched directly from Tehran.

As the new Trump administration grapples with how to face the Iran threat, understanding the Israeli perspective will be vital.

To help us do just that, host Mark Dubowitz speaks with Israel's former Prime Minister Yair Lapid as well as with former Israeli national security advisor Eyal Hulata, now a senior international fellow at FDD.


About the Music

Our intro and outro music samples (with artist's permission) Liraz Charhi's single, "Roya" — check out the full version of the song and the meaning behind it here.


Hosted by Mark Dubowitz, The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz is a focused miniseries from FDD that cuts through the noise surrounding one of the world's most persistent and complex crises. Rather than just recounting headlines, this podcast delves into the underlying forces-historical, religious, and societal-that shape Iran's actions both at home and abroad. You'll hear detailed analysis on the regime's nuclear ambitions, its support for proxy networks across the Middle East, and the ongoing struggle for human rights within its borders. Each episode aims to connect these geopolitical strategies to their real-world impact, offering a clearer understanding of a nation that consistently defies simple explanation. For anyone trying to make sense of the tensions that ripple from Tehran to the wider world, this series provides essential context and insight, moving beyond surface-level reporting to explore the deeper cultural and ideological drivers. Tune in for a sober, informed exploration that treats the subject with the gravity it demands.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 54

The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz
Podcast Episodes
Winning the Iran War — Whether Washington Knows It or Not [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:59
In this special solo episode of The Iran Breakdown, FDD CEO Mark Dubowitz pushes back hard on the narrative that America is losing the war with the Islamic Republic. Step by step, he makes the case that Tehran has just s…
Operation Economic Fury (feat. Miad Maleki and Rich Goldberg) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:26
Iran isn’t just under pressure. It’s under siege.Its currency is collapsing. Its ports are constrained. Billions are bleeding out as war damage mounts and oil revenue tightens.This isn’t sanctions as usual. It’s economic…
War of the Words in Iran (feat. Ali Ansari) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:03
This war isn’t just being fought with missiles and drones. There's also a war of the words, a narrative battle.While the regime pushes its narrative at home and abroad, the West struggles to keep up — and the Iranian peo…
Breaking Down The Islamic Republic (Cliff May feat. Mark Dubowitz) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:48
We’re marking one year of The Iran Breakdown by bringing you a special conversation from our sister FDD podcast.In this episode of Foreign Podicy, host Cliff May sits down with Mark Dubowitz to unpack a question at the c…