Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Iran's war against Israel comes fully out of the shadows. Since Iran's unprecedented direct attack on Israel, Jonny compiles and hosts the first of a regular news bulletin rounding up major stories as the Middle East conflict is being realised as the Iran-Israel War. These regular bulletins expose the Iran Octopus as the prime mover in the Middle East conflict. All of the soundbites from world-class experts are compiled from interview episodes of Jonny Gould's Jewish State podcast. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts. To support Jonny's coverage of October 7th from Israel's perspective, make a donation or buy him a coffee here or here - Thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s it really like in Iran - for its citizens and the Jews who still live there? Iran’s major cities, Tehran and Isfahan still have functioning synagogues, but the communities have declined sharply since the Islamist revolution which shapes the world today. Let’s discuss today's Iran with someone who really knows it. This is an interview conducted in Israel just a matter of weeks before October 7th. During the heady late summer days of weekly judicial reform rallies, this is Dr Meir Javedanfar. He was born in Tehran to a family from the city of Isfahan. Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-Israeli lecturer, author, and commentator. He's taught Iranian politics at Reichman University in Israel since 2012. He is the coauthor of Ahmadinejad’s biography, “The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran". He has published many articles on Iran and Iran-related matters for Foreign Affairs, Al-Monitor, The Diplomat, The Guardian and others. He's guest lectured at more than 20 universities and his Ph.D dealt with Mohammad Reza Shah’s security decision-making in relation to threats posed by Iraq and the Soviet Union. Eight months after his bar mitzvah in 1987, Meir and his family moved to the U.K as Jewish refugees from Iran. He remains a committed Anglophile, he never quite left the English sense of humour behind, so listen out for a Basil Fawlty joke! Whatever the status of the JCPOA in the wake of Iran’s first ever direct assault on Israel, he told me he supported it - and said Israeli military experts in the know did too… Why? And he took part in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 - yes really! - but seven Jews were killed and the Persian Jewish population collapsed from 100,000 under the Shah to where it is today: a paltry and declining 7,000. So why was there a revolution in 1979 in the first place? The mullahs are wary of their own people, scared of American soft power, led by the threat of feminism. This really is a fascinating interview which deserves the light of day, its own episode. This is Dr Meir Javedanfar Ph.D. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. If you'd also like to support Jonny's podcast work, you can find all his episodes and buy him a coffee here - or make a bigger donation here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iran's war against Israel comes fully out of the shadows. Since Iran's unprecedented direct attack on Israel, Jonny compiles and hosts the first of a regular news bulletin rounding up major stories as the Middle East conflict is being realised as the Iran-Israel War. These regular bulletins expose the Iran Octopus as the prime mover in the Middle East conflict. All of the soundbites from world-class experts are compiled from interview episodes of Jonny Gould's Jewish State podcast. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts. To support Jonny's coverage of October 7th from Israel's perspective, make a donation or buy him a coffee here or here - Thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See Jonny's broad range of interviews and support him with a coffee right here or by making a donation here. You’ve been on protests and rallies countering the never ending anti-Israel hate marches in London. You look on wondering why Saturdays in central London are allowed to become the domineering space for terror supporting hordes and their throngs of useful idiots, as they snake past the splendid museums, jaunty theatres, flagship stores and centuries old architecture which talk of deep British traditions. Tolerance of protests is an expression of our freedom and values. But our free country and its values must be allowed to survive. President Macron outlawed them in France immediately after October 7th. He looks wise in retrospect. And then across the road amid the Palestinian flags and disgusting antisemitic placards, you see men you recognise with long coats, big hats, payot, beards and white socks. The inexplicable Neturei Karta, the ultra orthodox anti Zionists, who literally side with the deathly enemy. It’s one thing to be a religious Jew and believe Israel can only exist from the messianic age onwards. It’s quite another to flirt, to consort with those who chirp for Israel’s destruction. To support Iran and its proxies. And as you’ll hear they actually believe they’re safe standing with these terrorist supporters - and believe antisemitism started with the Zionist movement and the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. These are the most, extreme and unpleasant views ever expressed in Jonny Gould’s Jewish state but I believe we have broad enough shoulders to take this dissent from an extreme minority - and put it in its place. And that place is in the dustbin of the wrong side of history. So I walked through the police cordon and stood with the repugnant Islamist agitators and hatemongers with their Palestinian flags and covered faces and confronted the frummers. I must confess I left them, with a feeling of despair because of the sheer treachery and lack of faith in what was said to me. I ran a poll of regular listeners to see whether I should even run this as an episode. The result was 2/3 to 1/3 in favour of running it. So here it is. You’ll hear two members of the sect. Jacob Miller and Alte Hochhauser. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iran's war against Israel comes fully out of the shadows. Since Iran's unprecedented direct attack on Israel, Jonny compiles and hosts the first of a regular news bulletin rounding up major stories as the Middle East conflict is being realised as the Iran-Israel War. These regular bulletins expose the Iran Octopus as the prime mover in the Middle East conflict. All of the soundbites from world-class experts are compiled from interview episodes of Jonny Gould's Jewish State podcast. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts. To support Jonny's coverage of October 7th from Israel's perspective, make a donation or buy him a coffee here or here - and thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a rather 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. Awareness of news and current affairs is certainly heightened by the pressure of social media - so imagine a young person growing up in this day and age. I ran a competition for the pupils of Year 6 and I said to the class, “get me an interesting interviewee and write down the questions you’d like to ask them”. I was delighted that 11-year-old Maya Amit stepped up to the plate and secured time with the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, who invited us to his home. This episode is presented with Lemon Soul in loving memory of the late Jonny Zucker, a born educator, children’s author and primary school teacher, who also trained as a radio journalist. His mission was encouraging children to read, he visited school after school, library after library. With thanks to the Chief Rabbi for giving us his valuable time at home, to competition winner Maya Amit and mum Raquel. To Miss Caplan and Mr. Radomsky at North West London Jewish Day School and to Nigel Canin and all at Lemon Soul, a publishing house from EdTech company, 2Simple, in loving memory of the late, great Jonny Zucker. Jonny, I hope you’d be proud of this initiative x Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you'd like to support Jonny's work, you can buy him a coffee here. The Islamic Republic of Iran emerges from behind the regional proxies it's used as pawns until now to take direct action against Israel. Over 300 suicide drones, ballistic and cruise missiles targeted Israel from multiple fronts from Iran, as well as Iraq, Syria and Yemen. 99% were intercepted, mostly outside of Israel's airspace by Israeli, British, American, French, Saudi and Jordanian forces. So what tactical change by Iran does this signify? Have they ramped up a level towards their endgame, the step-by-step systematic, premeditated domination of firstly the Middle East - and then the world. Ruth Wasserman Lande is former MK for the Blue and White Party, she served as advisor to Shimon Peres and as Deputy Ambassador at the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Her parents arrived from Soviet Lithuania. They lived in Ashdod before moving to South Africa. Then she decided to make Aliyah and return to Israel. Since October 7th, she’s addressed groups of parliamentarians from across Europe and hasn't held back telling them in graphic form about the extreme violence, burning, shooting, raping and murdering of civilians on that terrible morning. I caught up with Ruth in London as the European Jewish Association organised a tour of Jewish community leaders in London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. Hear why she says the IDF should go into Rafah and finish off Hamas once and for all as well as what Israel should do with Iran. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is brought to you with Dangoor Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support thirsty Jonny here with a coffee Jonny also produces and presents 🍎 number one hit podcast, 🎙️Jonny Gould’s Jewish State. Follow now at this link: This is Israel’s minister of the diaspora Amichai Chikli, with me in Krakow, just a short distance from Auschwitz, where we’d journeyed together with other international leaders as part of a European Jewish Association delegation. We were all there for a symposium on antisemitism in Europe called, "Never Again: Lip Service or Deep Commitment?" Also among the notables, former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who pushed back in our interview on Polish Holocaust denial on Polish soil - and Elon Musk, in conversation with Ben Shapiro - and coming soon on Jonny Gould's Jewish state, former French prime minister Manuel Valls, who conducted our interview in French. Amichai tells us that October 7th is a reset for the House of Israel to achieve a new unity and awareness and pride in Jewish identity. He pays tribute to individuals within American Jewish leadership, who recognise the dangers of the university campus, where words lead to violence. And we talk of prospects for peace: where it’ll come from and through the worst days of Israeli-American diplomacy, how Israel must prevail over Hamas. So that “Never Again is Now” doesn’t lead to a Never Again tomorrow. This is Amichai Chikli, Israel's minister of the diaspora. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education: Jonny also produces and presents 🍎 number one hit podcast, 🎙️Jonny Gould’s Jewish State. Follow now at this link: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support thirsty Jonny here with a cup of coffee. Emily Schrader returned to London for a whistlestop tour of speaking engagements and appearances and attend street protests in solidarity with Britain's Jewish community, embattled by the unrelenting pro-Palestinian hate marches which never seem to end. Listen to how she deals with the antisemites on the streets of London and how she views the over tolerance of Islamofascism spreading fast across the West. Emily appeared on my Talk TV early breakfast show alongside news commentator and foreign policy expert, Benedict Spence as we discussed fears of escalating tensions caused by Hezbollah from Lebanon, why they haven't started a full-scale war yet and why "happy days" could be ahead of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But can he survive until November to get there? Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The war started by the October 7th massacres is the longest in Israel's history. But with rockets still being fired from Gaza into Israel’s southernmost city of Sderot and a first Houthi rocket landing further south, what next steps are open to Israel - and what of the deteriorating relationship with the United States? Our esteemed guest today is Col. Richard Kemp, commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and Chair of the COBRA Intelligence Group, coordinating MI5 and MI6 during the London bombings of 2005 and the Bali and Madrid terror attacks. Richard joined the Army the day after he left school and spent thirty distinguished years in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Bosnia, as well as Afghanistan. He always delivers new insight into war commentary and this discussion is no different. Col. Kemp hails the success of the Shifa Hospital campaign in northern Gaza as “the single largest and most successful operations in the war so far". The IDF killed around 140 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as arresting around 650 additional terrorists. He describes the evacuation of a million or more civilians sheltering in Rafah as possible - and explains how instead of moving Gazans north into cities like Khan Yunis, why Egypt could so easily solve the refugee issue - but won’t. Not forgetting our hostages? Where are they? How can they be rescued? Israel has never been more on its own. Richard says Hamas has only been emboldened by the UN Security Council resolution, which called for a ceasefire and for the freeing of hostages, but to Israel’s fury did not hinge the ceasefire demand on freeing them. But there is a military alternative to going into Rafah. With world opinion led by the UN and the Biden Administration squarely against Israel finishing off Hamas on their terms, Richard explains the options open to Israel which you're not hearing about in the media. You’ll hear it here. Plus the unreported cooperation between Israel and Egypt, who also share a border with Gaza beyond Rafah. This episode is presented with the cooperation and support of ELNET UK, a bipartisan, cross-party international organisation working to advance UK-Israel relations based on shared democratic values and strategic interests. Our discussion is led by ELNET UK's CEO, the Rt. Hon. Joan Ryan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support Jonny's podcast here, buy Jonny a coffee! For 20 years, Avi Issacharoff has been an accomplished Israeli author and journalist and now he's emerged as the internationally renowned television drama producer, the co-creator of hit TV series of Fauda. How has October 7th changed Israel? Every family has been affected and Israel has become one big family. Avi’s Fauda family too. Do we have the stomach for another series, isn’t it just too close to home? And while the world from the White House down to the United Nations and the depths of the BBC is seemingly waged against the Hamas endgame, Avi restates Israel’s position: the war could be over now. Fauda’s cut through about Israel’s plight to a watching world more strongly than any factual news report seems to. What does Avi put that success down to? And who is Fauda’s best actor? Find out right here! Buy Jonny a coffee! Support Jonny's podcast here Find more of Jonny's video and audio podcasts here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support Jonny's podcast here, buy Jonny a coffee! It’s always a pleasure to see Einat Wilf, here again on a whistlestop tour of London, she met with politicians of all parties at the Houses of Parliament, plus journalists and Jewish leaders and their communities. And it’s her clarity which is arresting. She elevates Zionism above politics, creating unity for Jews of every stripe to coalesce around. Not to mention the millions of non-Jews who believe in the Jewish people’s right to self determination too. And she’s been on a metaphoric journey too. Originally from the peace camp, she believed like so many right across the political spectrum in surrendering land for peace - but today - we all face the chilling reality of October 7 to show what Palestinianism is really about. They keep telling us, she says. Let’s believe them. Einat, who co-authored The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace, with Adi Schwartz, believes Israel needs to negotiate with pre conditions Listen up to hear what they are and if there really are Palestinian partners in peace. With thanks to the Anglo Israel Association. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Loay Alshareef came on my TalkTV show to talk about the peace which remains between Arabs and Jews despite the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel. And it’s good news. The Abraham Accords which bound the UAE, together with Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan with Israel in September 2020, remains steadfast and though the pogrom exacted on Israel is a “setback”, the opportunities for peace are still there. Loay has become a good friend since he invited me to Abu Dhabi in 2022 and it’s always a privilege to spend quality time with him discussing pragmatic ideas for peace in a world consumed by hostilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support Jonny here. Loay Alshareef has been on quite a journey. Growing up in Saudi Arabia and brought up a religious Moslem, he was exposed to antisemitic schooling about Israel and the Jews. “Jews are the fierce enemies of the Arabs and you shouldn’t have them as friends. Christians too. But first, Jews.” Loay was part of a generation of young Saudis who stood no chance. Isolated from the world, taught to hate. It still goes on - although less so. But the poisoning of his young mind was challenged when he visited France with the Accord school, a homestay program in Paris so he could learn French. He was housed with a Jewish family. Initially he refused, preferring to be with a Tunisian Arab family. But in the end, he stayed with the Jewish family. His host Rachelle of Yemeni tradition said, “stay with us a couple more days”, and so began a journey to conciliation. But it started with confusion. These people are nothing like what he’d been told. Rachelle was a good person, so were the Koranic texts about Jews wrong? Loay was introduced to “The Protocols of the elders of Zion” at 15 and was told it was a book brought in from Egypt as a text “the Jews don’t want you to read”. Two weeks and two Shabbats later, Rachelle took him Kosher shopping. He was included in Pesach and Chanukah celebrations, a first hand education in Judaism. He went home, told his mum. Mum said” I’ll give you two months, you’ll come to your senses!”. 14 years on, it was the catalyst to a new world and mum supports his stance on social media. Loay travels the world as an ambassador for his country of residence, the UAE and for Muslims. He tweets in Ivrit as a fluent speaker, quotes the Torah and Tanach and wants to pursue a PHD in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It’s a pleasure to have spent hours and hours in Loay’s company. We talk candidly with the tape on and off. I try to get my head round the tribal differences between the Arabs, it gives me a headache, especially when he says even the Qataris want Israel to win the War in Gaza and I ask him about the UAE’s support for the South African case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. It’s a frank and fascinating discussion with one of the Gulf’s most important voices. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If I'd been asked which journalist might one day confront Gary Lineker face-to-face about his views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, I might well have said, "it's going to be Nicole Lampert!", such is her journalistic courage. And so it was, as Nicole and a small handful of other journalists were invited to a Broadcasting Press Guild Lunch to hear from Lineker about his burgeoning podcast business. The Press all introduced themselves and Lineker admitted to feeling scared. He was right! He'd retweeted a BDS demand to ban Israel from international football. He took it down later amid a brou-ha-ha. Nicole asked him why he'd broken the BBC's social media rules. The usually polite and deferential event suddenly took a turn. There was clapping at the end of Gary's presentation, but Nicole didn't join in the applause, so Gary went to look for her. We take up the story in this fascinating episode. If you like these podcasts, you can support Jonny here with a coffee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support Jonny here. Itamar Marcus is the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, started in 1996 to monitor the consensus of the Palestinian world. They started reading the papers for the views of their leaders and found school books and television programmes indoctrinating children in Jew hate. But with 75% of Palestinians supporting Hamas’ October 7 massacres with 60% “extremely supportive” and 98% “feeling a sense of pride as a Palestinian”, what future peace for Israel? This episode discusses the damage UNRWA has done to peace in the Middle East and also includes Hillel Neuer’s stunning testimony to the US Congress about the UN agency’s complicity in Hamas terror. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Poland’s resistance and government-in-exile did try to warn the world of the mass killing of Jews, thousands of Poles risked their lives to do so. However, Holocaust researchers have collected overwhelming evidence of Poles who murdered Jews fleeing the Nazis, or Polish blackmailers who preyed on helpless Jews for financial gain. Nearly all of Poland’s roughly 3 million Jews, were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators, and the major Nazi death camps were in Poland. And in telling the truth with me in Krakow, the president challenges Polish law directly. President Rivlin’s a Jerusalemite and says it gives him a unique skill in dealing with allcomers in Israeli society, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Armenians, Druse, you name them. As a new Polish government contemplates overturning the laws of a previous administration, Reuven Rivlin tells it like it is. Enjoy this conversation with Israel’s tenth president. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 relations. We go deeper into the conflict, wading through the hardship, to try to find a route to a better day. Haviv Rettig Gur is a senior analyst for The Times of Israel. He’s covered the politics, foreign policy, education and relationship Israel has with the Jewish diaspora for 20 years, he served as Director of Communications for the Jewish Agency and taught at the best pre-military academies in Israel. He was a correspondent at the Jerusalem Post. Jonathan Spyer is Director of Research at the Middle East Forum and edits the Forum’s journal, the Middle East Quarterly. He has reported from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Ukraine and back home including in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. LISTEN NOW for a in-depth analysis of today’s Middle East and hopes for a better tomorrow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 you for allowing it to be our beautiful episode theme tune. I’d been talking to Nicholas about an interview for two years, before we eventually sat down in his London home for this considered and emotional discussion. I want to thank Nicholas for being such an open interviewee. This is one of the best. You can buy "Golda" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Sky Store, Microsoft Store, Rakuten TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube as download or rent it on Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Rakuten TV, Apple TV, Sky Store, Curzon Home Cinema online. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices