Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Support Jonny here. In this exclusive interview, Reuven Rivlin, the tenth president of Israel pushes back on Polish law on remembering the Holocaust in Krakow. President Rivlin was among world leaders in politics and industry at the European Jewish Association’s delegation to Auschwitz-Birkenau and taking part in a symposium on the growing threat of antisemitism in Europe, entitled NEVER AGAIN: Lip Service or Deep Commitment? Also with us, former French prime minister Manuel Valls, a strong voice against antisemitism and Israel’s minister of the diaspora, Amichai Chikli. In 2018, Poland amended their domestic laws on National Remembrance to penalise speech in public laying responsibility for the Holocaust to Poland or the Polish nation. There was international outcry, relations between Israel and Poland were frozen. Israeli school trips to Poland’s death camps were suspended. The tours are back now - although the law still applies. Poland was the first country invaded and occupied by Adolf Hitler. Members of

Support Jonny here. Elon Musk returns fresh from visiting Auschwitz and here are his initial reflections. He’s interviewed by Ben Shapiro. I’m with him and other delegates in Krakow at the European Jewish Association symposium. The episode starts with a stirring Holocaust Kadesh, recited by EJA Founder and Chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin. It was called "NEVER AGAIN: Lip Service or Deep Commitment?" Among the world leaders I managed to speak to are former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who pushes back on Polish Holocaust denial, former French prime minister Manuel Valls, who conducts our discussion on in French, and Israel’s minister of the diaspora, Amichai Chikli. This is my recording of Elon Musk’s interview from inside the conference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support Jonny making his podcasts by buying him a coffee. How has the October 7th massacre challenged Israeli public opinion on the conflict with the Palestinians? What about 'day after' planning? Has it seriously begun? And does peace lie with the Gulf states? Just how much do the Saudis and the UAE want Israel to win? Who in Palestinian society is there to deal peace with? Is there anyone? Has the Israeli left anywhere left to go? Is war from Lebanon inevitable? While the Houthis, another Iranian proxy, bomb western ships in the Suez Canal, how many fronts could this war open? Is the escalation so inevitable that Iran joins the fray directly? Russia in Syria, Iran’s land bridge there. Let’s update that too. Why is it imperative that Israelis from both the north and south return to their towns and kibbutzim? Two of Israel’s leading journalists and analysts join me here in London thanks to Elnet UK, a bipartisan, cross-party international organisation, who stand above politics, working to advance UK-Israel re

Help support Jonny's coverage of Israel and the Jewish diaspora by making a donation here or you can buy him a coffee here. Our guest today is Nicholas Martin, movie producer and writer of the biographical drama, “Golda”. Golda was seven years in the making, and as you’ll hear, Nicholas has delved so deeply into her story - and by extension Israel’s story from independence to the 1970s - which makes this such a captivating interview. He’s also made deep friendships with Golda’s family and throughout Israel. A highly experienced and talented filmmaker who’s become a world authority on the period, but didn’t know a great deal about Israeli history before he started. Nicholas’ previous film was the hilarious, Florence Foster-Jenkins. Golda also stars Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger and Camille Cottin as Lou Kadar, Golda's assistant. Our episode music has just been composed in support of Israel by my friend Bryan Edery with concert violinist Miriam Kramer. He’s called it “Israel in my Heart, ner Tamid”. Thank y

This is “Another How to Make Peace in the Middle East", building on the success of the first Talk TV Special, with more highly informed guests from the worlds of politics, the military, frontline medicine, journalism, diplomacy and think tanks. In this episode, British-born Israeli hand and trauma surgeon, Dr Elliot Sorene explains how he's operated on Hamas fighters, who after successful surgery have "promised to see him on the battlefield". He also tells us how his son survived the Nova Festival massacre and saved other’s lives too. Hen Mazzig is a former IDF humanitarian soldier, who insists his experiences in Judea and Samaria give him belief in a path to peace from the younger generation of Palestinians. Jonathan Sacerdoti reveals yet more evidence of human shields and Gazan tunnels. Barak Seener has troubling statistics on just how radicalised the Palestinian population is and the extent to which hearts and minds must be changed after the war with Hamas is won. And Benjamin Anthony believes the war agai

Dov Forman, 20, co-author of New York Times bestseller, Lily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live, was invited to Israel by ELNET UK on a solidarity mission to see for himself the trail of death and devastation left by Hamas through Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7th. Scenes and smells he says have changed him forever. ELNET’s been running constant missions ever since for European influencers and Parliamentarians. Almost 100 MPs from eight European countries have been to Israel to bear witness. And amid new denials from enemies of Israel and the Jewish people, Dov tells us how important it is to tell the truth about the depravity and murder which took place and why talk of a ceasefire will only make the possibility of this horror happening again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Israel's a self-starting civil society, which takes so much on itself", so says Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who talks about her city's response to the 250,000 displaced Israelis who've left their homes in the south. But there is a determination across the whole nation for them to return home and rebuild their lives and communities after the terrible pogrom of October 7th. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On my TalkTV show, I spoke with Orit Meir, mother of Almog, 21, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7th, then seen in a Hamas propaganda video shortly after. Nothing has been heard or seen of him since. Orit says he MUST remain front of mind amid the release of other Hamas hostages. I can’t remember conducting a more emotional interview in all my years in broadcast journalism. This is a vital message to transmit through a mother’s agony and anxiety as you’ll hear. Bring Them All Home Now. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aside from producing

Our guest is Chaim Oren, an expert on resilience, wellbeing and high performance, who advises professional sportspeople and leading CEOs on fulfilling their human potential. When it comes to strengthening personal resilience, Chaim quotes Victor E. Frankl, Auschwitz survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning: “If you have the why you can endure any how”. Frankl, who conceptualised “logotherapy” a therapeutic approach to find personal meaning in life, believed anyone, anywhere could “rise up to any challenge”. “If you develop a life meaning you can overcome any difficulties, dangers and hardships". Chaim is the son of two Holocaust survivors who arrived in British mandate Palestine on the Exodus ship in 1947. His late uncle Dov Shilansky, the 12th speaker of the Knesset, was a close confidant of Menachem Begin. He’s famous for saying, "we don't have another choice, we must fight for our life. I won't put up my head in the handing rope again." We develop our conversation into how Israel comes together in t

In these times of danger in the Middle East, even on one’s own doorstep, it was both heartening and morale boosting for everyone who attended a Parliamentary reception at the Palace of Westminster. Led by Elnet UK with United Hatzalah of Israel and World Jewish Relief, we learned of support on the ground for victims in the Ukraine and Israel. Meant to mark the 600th day since the war started in Ukraine, the Hamas terror attacks meant the focus shifted - though we were urged not to forget the war in Europe. In both conflicts, we were reminded of the “sickening suffering” inflicted on innocent civilians. And not just of concern to Israel, but wars for the future of good overcoming evil. Shocking testimonies don’t seem to get easier to hear. We heard Noam Sagi’s heartfelt story of his mother’s kidnap from her kibbutz Nir Oz home. He gave a news conference to London-based media. It’s coming up. I hosted the panel discussion with Assaf Admoni of United Hatzalah, Marta Kubica, chief executive of Elnet (Central and

Words are important. In times of war, their importance is magnified. Never has my mission for Jonny Gould’s Jewish State seemed more urgent: to combat the slurs, the lies and the distortions of history which threaten Israel and Jewish people. The media has a responsibility - at the very least - not to fan conjecture and untruths, because it comes with a by product: incitement. And the media column seems found to be woefully short of moral purpose. Hundreds of thousands Britons felt emboldened to head for Central London in support of Hamas, which prompted a disagreement between the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman and the chief of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley about the small amount of arrests. We hear from Sir Mark outside the Home Office as he left the meeting. As the weeks went by the protests, which became weekly got bigger, swelling from 100,000 to over 350,000 by week 4. Ms. Braverman eventually lost her job, describing the anti-Israel rallies as “hate marches” in a Times newspaper article. We

Israel’s collective spirit is rekindled. After eight months of street protests, of political turmoil and the societal divisions it scored arising from judicial reform proposals, the nation has responded in unity to the terror committed by brutal Hamas murderers, rapists and kidnappers on October 7th. The people have risen “ground up, not bottom down” in the best ideals of Israeli and Jewish society. The IDF, the collective “us” has brought Israelis together once more. And it’s a phenomenon our guest today says will change both the Middle East and Israel for good. Benny Davidson is an Entebbe hostage survivor. Now aged 60, Benny was just 13 when he and his family were among those rescued in the legendary Israeli raid in July 1976. He gives talks across the world on hostage trauma and says he’d go anywhere to do so. This episode is his insight into what the hostages are going through and what can and should be done to get over 200 babies, the elderly and whole family groups out of hell. He calls for more suppor

Israel is heartbroken, the house of Israel is heartbroken. Israel is at war again fighting genocide. It’s resilient people are traumatised by shock, horror and grief. A quiet Shabbat morning, also the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah where Jews celebrate finishing reading the Torah and then start to read it again, “In the Beginning”, was shattered by a mass invasion of Hamas terrorists, smashing through the concrete border wall, paragliding into Israel, before rampaging through a music festival killing 364, machine gunning people at the bus stop and in their own homes in Sderot and on kibbutzim. Gruesome videos and pictures swiftly circulated on X, horror one can never unsee. The elderly and babies slaughtered, women raped, bodies taken in to Gaza paraded and desecrated, mothers with children in their arms abducted are all now hostages in Gaza’s terror tunnels and tower blocks. Depravity and barbarism reminiscent of the European Holocaust and Russian pogroms. How did Israel’s famed security services miss

This is a special episode featuring a competition winner from North West London Jewish Day School, who won the chance to make an episode of Jonny Gould’s Jewish State with me. I ran it for Year 6 pupils and was delighted when 11-year-old Bella Bolot stepped up to the plate and secured us an interview with Bill Browder. Bill is a London-based American-born financier, the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, once the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. On discovering that taxes he was paying to the Russian exchequer were being stolen by middlemen officials, he started to expose large scale systemic corruption in the country. With his Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, he took on large companies like Gazprom and Sidanco. But as they confronted faceless power, the consequences were fatal. In retaliation, in November 2005, Bill was refused entry to Russia, deported to the UK, and declared a threat to Russian national security. But Sergei was tortured and murdered in prison for testifying on

Our two guests today make their first appearances on the “podcast of record”, and you might say after 120 plus episodes of Jonny Gould’s Jewish State, they’ve been a rather glaring omission. They are two of British politics' biggest supporters of Israel and opponents of antisemitism. The Right Honourable, Lord Eric Pickles and the Right Honourable, Joan Ryan are in conversation. We focus on the future of Holocaust remembrance, including a serious attempt to get to the bottom of what actually went on in the only concentration camp built on British soil by Hitler, at Alderney in the Channel Islands. We also discuss the UK government bill to quell the racist endeavours of BDS. The Anglo-Jewish community owes a debt to those in our political class who stood up to the growing scourge of antisemitism which followed Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party. And typically, proof that the “oldest hatred” stands above party politics is the cooperation, even camaraderie, which exists right across party lines.

Help support Jonny's coverage of Israel and the Jewish diaspora by making a donation here or buying him a coffee here. Let’s confront the latest expression of antisemitism: that which hates Jewish people for the State of Israel. I’m delighted that Jake Wallis Simons has given his first interview about his new book to Jonny Gould’s Jewish State, “Israelophobia: The Newest Version of the Oldest Hatred and What To Do About It”. We can’t really have a conversation about Jew-hate in the 21st century without confronting those who try to separate anti-Zionism from antisemitism. Because 9/10 Jews say Israel is key to their Jewish identity and it never takes long for antisemitism to spring from slurs which start with Israel. Enter Jake, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, who also writes for the Spectator, the Telegraph and you’ve seen him on Sky News reviewing the papers. He also spent time overseas as a foreign correspondent. The time is ripe to discuss Israelophobia, the newest mutation of the oldest hatred. Jake’s boo

Our guest today says the unedifying term “civil war” bandied describing judicial reform in Israel is a useful device to maintain pressure on both sides to find a solution. Let me be clear: I spent much of July and August 2023 in Israel and the country is not “entering a state of civil war” as former Prime Minister and convicted criminal, Ehud Olmert claimed. There’s no curfews, no rubber bullets and no army in place of cops on the streets. But that’s not to say this isn’t a serious situation. As positions entrench further, is hope for a solution ebbing away? Time for some realpolitik. While in Tel Aviv, I met historian and commentator, Dr. Edy Cohen, PhD. This is the third time Edy’s joined me on Jonny Gould’s Jewish State - but the first time face to face. Beirut-born Edy has his finger on the pulse of the Arab world. He is a world authority on Muslim holocaust denial, Islamist terrorism and the history of Jewish communities in Arab lands. There’s no one with a more amplified voice across the whole of the Mi

Jonny Gould’s Jewish State heads for the Knesset in Jerusalem and a couple of nights out in Tel Aviv, fresh from an eye opening visit to the Israel-Gaza border (scroll back one episode for that atmospheric discussion beneath an Iron Dome rocket launcher). I was part of an Elnet UK delegation, an organisation sharing democratic values and strategic interests between the Jewish State and the UK and Europe. Now let’s talk to politicians and an Iranian expert for a snapshot on regional and domestic issues. The white heat of judicial reform has seemingly pushed the general public’s concerns about the Palestinians into the shadows. I met Hanoch Milwidski MK on trying to bring Israelis back together although as a Likud member, he's highly critical of the protestors. Then it’s off to Tel Aviv to meet Iranian expert, Dr. Meir Javedanfar, who supports the JCPOA. What many in Israel and around the world regard as appeasing the Iranian regime, allowing them space and time to create a nuclear weapon! Why does he suppo

Let’s take you to a top secret location in the south of Israel to observe at firsthand an Iron Dome battery, followed by a trip to Kerem Shalom, the border frontier exchanging goods and workers between Gaza and Israel. We were told by the IDF the night before not to come because there’d been incoming rocket fire which they’d defended against from that very location. But in the end, the invite and clearance was reinstated. When I arrived there, I was surprised by the personnel in charge of the two bulky anti-missile launchers. The IDF soldiers responsible for defending Israel with the system were three 18 year old girls. I interview two members of the IDF, who reveal what it takes to be a soldier with split-second responsibility, to make crucial decisions - and at such a young age. The Jenin operation, dubbed “House and Garden”, (yes, really) was also in full action and yet another car ramming and stabbing greeted our arrival into Tel Aviv. I was part of an Elnet UK delegation, an organisation sharing democrat