Late Night Live — Full program podcast · ABC Australia

Gideon Levy on Israel's objectives in Iran, the secret life of batteries, and Australia's earliest desert people

·55 min·2 clips

Israel has pushed for this war, but it's a joint venture with the American president's collaboration.

David Meyer opens from Gadigal Land in Sydney. He first speaks with Gideon Levy of Haaretz about the war involving Iran, with Israel and the United States still striking and Iran retaliating across the Middle East. The interview asks why the war is being fought and argues that the reasons first advanced by Donald Trump do not fully explain it. The programme then shifts to batteries. Meyer describes them as magical, and the conversation broadens to their place in the energy transition, the sharp drop in renewable technology costs, the influence of oil and fossil-fuel prices, and the need for regulation if clean energy is to displace existing systems. The final segment turns to Peter Veth of the University of Western Australia and his work on the ancient desert people of this nation, ending in a lecture and debate about rethinking the first settlement of Sahul and whether the 65,000-year claim should stand.

As heard by us

War, batteries, and ancient settlement, handled with breadth more than tight focus.

Late Night Live ranges from the war on Iran to batteries and the first settlement of Sahul, with David Meyer bringing in Gideon Levy to talk through why the conflict is being fought and what the destruction across the region is meant to achieve.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want Israel-Iran war context, battery prices, and Australia's first-settlement debate in one sit.

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