Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Jotam Confino is one of Israel’s brightest young journalists. Both disciplined and intrepid, Jotam brings together old school standards with open source leads which surround us all on the socials today.  The key is to discern which video is real, which source reliable. That’s journalism.  Originally from Denmark, Jotam made Aliyah (the Jewish ideal of return) because he wanted to live and work in Israel as a journalist. His career only really began when he moved there in February 2018, when he was 27.  He holds an MA in Security and Diplomacy and a BA in International Studies.  You’ve seen him writing and broadcasting in The Telegraph, CBS News, BBC, USA Today, Haaretz, The Sun, Daily Mail, Good Morning Britain, Sunday Express - and now Jonny Gould’s Jewish State.  He doesn’t shirk the trolls on social media either. He’s Happy to debate online.  And we got together while he was here in London on a book tour.  “Netanyahu’s Israel: Rise of the Far Right” is a collection of interviews with key figures since 1996

Follow the rest of Jonny’s podcasts here Brian Epstein is one of the most significant cultural figures in Anglo Jewry’s 20th century.  Midas Man is the fifth Beatle's story. Also from Liverpool, Brian saw the fledgling Fab Four performing at the Cavern one lunchtime, was bedazzled by them and went about masterminding their rise to global fame. He crafted their image, secured their first record deal, and so heralded the British cultural invasion of America. Brigit Grant wrote the screenplay for "Midas Man” highlighting his journey from family department store heir to one of the most influential music managers of all time. But behind the glitz and glamour was a man seeking acceptance and love, but not able to get it.  Midas Man peels back the curtain on the swinging '60s, the triumphs, heartbreaks, and secrets of the man who changed the face of music forever. Brigit popped round my house, we put the kettle on and had a good chat about Brian and the movie. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Educ

What is “strategic drift” and why does it threaten Israel’s military progress in Gaza?  How dismantled is Hamas? How can Israel’s borders be secured so that the people of Sderot, Ofakim and the kibbutzim return home?  Is Israel going to have to build a wall?   In the north, the IDF is capitalising on some remarkable early breakthroughs in the battle to break Hezbollah. What now?  As Yoav Gallant is sacked by Benjamin Netanyahu - again, is that a signal of military progress? And the return of President Trump to the Oval Office: what that will mean to Israel’s fight against Iran and its proxies.  These are all questions for my friend, Andrew Fox. Research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, Andrew served in the British Army for sixteen years, retiring as a Major in 2021  As a senior lecturer in War Studies and Behavioural Science at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, He holds degrees in Law & Politics, Modern War Studies, and Psychology.  It’s always good to speak to Andrew Fox. Jonny Gould's Jewish Stat

"An urgent ceasefire, get humanitarian aid in without further delay, release the hostages. Oh, and let's move towards a Two-State Solution".  When we switch on the news, that's the agenda-setting drumbeat from politicians, aided and abetted by international institutions and their media lackies. The unrepentant, unaccountable BBC and others don't care about the mess they leave. Welcome back for the third time to Jonny Gould's Jewish State, Imshin, Jacqui Peleg. Her sources are impeccable, transparent and open source and they tell the REAL story in Gaza. Because they come from videos uploaded to social media by Gazans themselves. This is how they want us to see and hear them. They’re all available now on her X account, Imshin. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find more of Jonny’s podcasts and writing here. Israel is fighting an existential war on seven fronts but an eighth one always seems to be discounted from the reckoning.  It’s the battle of narratives, played through media, both legacy and social. Somewhere since October 7th 2023, the truth has been trampled down a long deep rabbit hole.  What you’re about to listen to is totally irreconcilable with the shorthand, throwaway phrases you get from mainstream bulletins.  Mosab Hassan Yousef, born in 1978 is a child of the Israel Gaza conflict.  He’s "The Green Prince," son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, co-founder of Hamas.  Raised in a family deeply entangled with Hamas, Mosab seemed destined for a life of terrorism. But he defected to Israel in 1997 and worked as a spy for Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service for a decade until he moved to the United States.  He helped them prevent numerous suicide bombings and other terror attacks leading to the capture of several Hamas operatives.  His autobiography, "Son o

This is a rather different and special episode of Jonny Gould’s Jewish State. It's year 2 of our “Schools Podcaster of the Year” award, presented this year by Dangoor Education.  It stars our winner, 11-year-old David Green from Year 6 at North West London Jewish Day School, who won the chance to make this episode with me.  David has the open mind of a young man blessed with great intelligence and the capacity for profound uncluttered insights.  And he secured time for us with Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum, a man of great learning. His latest book is "Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt”, reconciling Judaism with modernity, addressing profound questions that intersect faith, science, and contemporary life. He’s Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) and holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought, named in honour of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory, our late Chief Rabbi’s' legacy in contemporary Jewish philosophy and education. With the Dangoor Education “Schoo

Support Jonny's work here. “After The Pogrom” - what now for Israel and the Jewish diaspora? And for western civilisation for that matter?  The swirling dust of conflict has brought with it significant changes to our world and yet amid Israel’s fight on seven fronts, Brendan O’Neill’s coherent methodic analysis explains what we’re witness to.  Brendan’s not on X, you’ll only find “burntoakboy” as he’s known on Instagram “because the rest of social media is far too rough and ugly” for him. And it’s where since October 7th 2023, he’s been ever present with stout, sometimes uncensored defences of the State of Israel. You’ve seen him writing for Spiked Online and on TV and radio.  But he’s no Johnny Come Lately: he’s not jumped on the Israel bandwagon. In our first interview here on Jonny Gould’s Jewish state in 2020, Brendan compared the Jewish and non-Jewish people’s takeaways from the Second World War.  While Europeans declared that to end all wars, we needed “happy clappy borders”, Jews on the other hand reco

Help Jonny make the podcasts: buy him a coffee here. Amid the IDF's push into Lebanon to eliminate Hezbollah, the thwarting of terror attacks on Israel’s streets and the hail of rockets fired into them, we must always, always keep in our minds the plight of our hostages incarcerated by the savages of Hamas and their accomplices in Gaza.  For it was on that fateful Shabbat and Simchat Torah morning of October 7th 2023, that the lives of Israeli and Jewish people around the world changed forever.  Free the hostages. Bring them home now. Let’s go back to where it all started.  As chaos broke out all around her, our guest today relives the moments of sheer terror that morning, but her words are laced with a message of future hope and delivered with tremendous dignity. This is Irit Lahav, survivor of the Kibbutz Nir Oz disaster as she revealed how she survived, while her dearest friends were murdered or taken hostage around her. Also, when and why she wants to go home and why it’s so important for the country as a

If you like Jonny's podcasts, support by buying him a drink or make him a monthly donation with Gift Aid. Here’s a voice from the American right, steeped in generations of support for Israel and so recognisable through the decades. But times, they are a changing, even for this staunch supporter of the Jewish State.  Joe Walsh remains so, amid the swirling winds of university protests for Hamas and rallies in major cities right across America.  But even as a former Congressman, a lifelong Republican, he strenuously opposes Donald Trump so much, he’d prefer Kamala Harris to win the White House - whatever their differences, and take it from there.  Elected as part of the Tea Party wave in 2010, Joe freely admits he was a "divisive political asshole from the right!", Joe served Illinois's 8th district, for two years until 2013.  His rhetoric and demeanour has cooled since those days. Now he says he’s politically homeless and says America is ready for more than a two party system.  Joe ran for the presidency in 20

Find more of Jonny's podcasts right here. Even as aerial assaults continued over Lebanon’s capital city Beirut, rumoured to be targeting Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an impassioned speech to the UN General Assembly in New York. Here’s the full speech on this bonus episode. In his address to the 79th session of the General Assembly, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized several critical issues: Iran and Regional Security: Netanyahu positioned Israel's actions within a broader context of combating what he described as Iran's "axis of evil," highlighting ongoing conflicts and the threat this poses to Israel and regional stability. Gaza Conflict: With the Gaza situation nearing its one-year mark, Netanyahu likely addressed the military operations, defending Israel's actions while possibly facing international scrutiny over civilian casualties and humanitarian concerns. Lebanon and Hezbollah: Amidst concerns of escalating conflict, Netanyahu's comments on return

Find more of Jonny’s podcasts here: https://podfollow.com/jonny-goulds-jewish-state How should Israel tackle Hezbollah and its estimated 150,000 rockets all pointed at them?  Is pushing the Lebanon’s terror insurgency back behind the Litani River enough?  In this era of long range technology, isn’t a river just an arbitrary line? The terrorists can still reach Israel from there.  Hezbollah is a battalion of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Wouldn’t it be best if they were removed completely?  Let’s talk about the sheer audaciousness of the pager and walkie talkie attack against them, the psychological effect of it and the downgrade in their military capabilities. Then there’s Yemen, is America doing enough to quell their threat?  And boots on the ground in Syria: Israel is showing it can defend itself - even thousands of miles into enemy territory. And is Iran, the country hiding behind its deathly proxies only a "paper tiger" after all? Benjamin Anthony served in the Israel Defense Forces in the sec

You can help Jonny by buying him a coffee here! I’ve known Israel’s Trade and Innovation Special Envoy, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum for so long. which is why it was a pleasure that she had time to stop by and join me for a chat and a phone-in on my early breakfast show on Talk.  Having moved on from being Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur now beats the drum for Israel’s famed enterprise as the Startup Nation, but how has the economy adjusted to wartime? Can growth and inward investment be restored? And as Israel faces new military challenges, necessity is proved again to be the mother of invention. There are always secondary uses for technology in civilian life. Are new patents and processes in the offing?  We discuss UK Labour's Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his restoration of funding for UNRWA - then following it up with an arms embargo. My viewers didn’t like it. Also: the threat from the north: Hezbollah - and Israel's displaced population and when they can go home. The war is far from over.  And the hostages:

Jonny would love your help. If you buy him a coffee while looking through all his previous interviews, do it right here. They told Tuvia Tenenbom, don’t go to Mea Shearim, Jerusalem’s ultra orthodox enclave, it’ll be dangerous, they’ll throw stones at you.  But after living among Israel’s Charedi communities in Jerusalem and Beer Sheva, Tuvia found the community to be quite the contrary.  And, he believes they’re more liberal and progressive than the world beyond.  This is the story behind Careful, Beauties Ahead! Tuvia’s follow up book to the Taming of the Jew, eyeopening revelations on antisemitism is in Great Britain. Now Tuvia, son and grandson of ultraorthdox rabbis returns to the communities of his upbringing and childhood in Israel. Have attitudes and practices changed in the years since he left?  We talk about new pressures on the ultrareligious to join the IDF for the first time - and we unpack what Zionism means to them.  And did the disaster of October 7th prove a truly unifying experience? Was it

Jonny needs your help to battle the wave of anti-Israel media coverage. Do you want to help his podcast counter this? Donate here or buy him a coffee here Find all of Jonny's previous episodes here. Who was Ismail Haniyeh, Leader of Hamas?  He was assassinated in Tehran on the last day of July 2024 and buried in Doha two days later.  He's been branded a "moderate”, but was in charge of Hamas’ so-called political wing, who’s murderers, rapists and kidnappers pillaged - and filmed - their way through southern Israel on the Shabbat morning of Simchat Torah on October 7th. It was the biggest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.  Slain on Iranian soil in their capital city, Haniyeh’s financiers were deservedly humiliated. A resident of billionaire's playground Doha, the capital of terror-supporting state Qatar - he was in Tehran for the inauguration of their new president.  The last one, of course, was killed in a helicopter crash. Haniyeh met the Ayatollah, they tweeted a resistance photo, he then went back t

Subscribe/follow Jonny Gould’s podcasts here The October 7th War in Gaza is the longest war in Israel’s history. But how to grasp the nettle that is Hezbollah?  What will “the day after” really look like in Gaza?: are the oil rich gulf states the answer to a more moderate Palestinian state?  How soft have the West been on Iran? Is dethroning the theocracy in Tehran the key to an Islamic reformation?  Is Britain’s foreign policy reset really pondering between Qatar and Saudi? And is it a Hobsons choice anyway?  And as President Trump dodges an assassin's bullet, we roll-call the achievements of his first administration, from the Abraham Accords to the Jerusalem embassy and ask what else can be achieved in a second term?  Retired Major Andrew Fox is a Research Fellow at The Henry Jackson Society. He served in the Army for sixteen years, with three tours to Afghanistan, one of them with US Army Special Forces.  He was in the Parachute Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group.  There were also tours i

Find the rest of Jonny's podcasts right here. This is Ivor Perl, survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau. Born Yitzchak Perlmutter, in a family of 11 in Mako, Hungary in 1932, Ivor’s youth and education was stolen from him in 1944.  His orthodox Jewish childhood was stable enough, but there were always antisemites who slapped and pushed him about on the way to school - but it got far worse during World War II, because the Nazis began targeting Jews in Hungary. In 1944, when he was just 12, Ivor, along with his whole family, were abducted and put on a train to Auschwitz.  Out of his family, only he and his brother Alec survived the mass murder, a fact that Ivor attributes to his brother's quick thinking and the binary luck of being placed in a line that spared him from immediate death. After surviving Auschwitz, Ivor and his brother were taken to Dachau, where they were liberated by American soldiers in 1945. Ivor, who turned 13 during his time at Dachau, recalls marking his bar mitzvah day all alone behind barbed wi

Our guest today is France’s former prime minister, Manuel Valls.  We met at the European Jewish Association delegation to Auschwitz. France has the biggest Jewish community in Europe and it's the only country outside the Middle East where Sephardim outnumber Ashkenazim. Undoubtedly, this is a legacy of the Holocaust and the subsequent migration of French-speaking Jews from North Africa after World War II. Notre invité aujourd’hui est l’ancien Premier ministre Français, Manuel Valls, rencontré à la « European Jewish Association delegation to Auschwitz ».  Manuel Valls est un fervent défenseur de la communauté juive de France et décrit les problèmes de la société française dans cet entretien informel, enregistré lors d’une pause-café entre les séances où il intervenait. M. Valls a souhaité mener l'entretien en français afin de respecter la nature précise de ses convictions.  J’ai bien entendu accepté, conscient de l’auditoire nombreux francophone ici à Londres, en Europe et au Canada. Nous avons parlé du Premie

Back by popular demand, Imshin returns to Jonny Gould’s Jewish State  Scroll back and listen to our first episode, an introduction to Imshin, real name, Jacqui Peleg. Imshin’s feed on X with the famous hashtag, #TheGazaYouDontSee is a phenomenon of the social media era. And what Jacqui achieves couldn’t have existed before Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. Because such a specific subject via these video news sources, couldn’t have been so constantly delivered in real time. It’s now so readily available via the socials. So Jacqui lifts the lid on the real lives of Gazans, through their own eyes, via thousands of videos shot by Gazans themselves.  And as a news source, it’s impeccable, complete transparency of source.   Jacqui lives in Tel Aviv, and grew up in Liverpool before making Aliyah with her family as a child.  But now there’s the threat of a second front opening. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Israelis from the north and the south are living in hotels in the middle of the country.  As the threat of an e

This is the latest on Iran’s War on Israel, produced and presented by Jonny Gould. All of the soundbites you’ll hear in this bulletin are compiled from interviews in episodes of Jonny Gould’s Jewish State podcast.  Subscribe and follow now and scroll down for previous episodes - wherever you get your podcasts.  The headlines: Israel faces full military confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon because of a significant escalation of tensions. The IDF’s Chief of Staff meets with Arab counterparts in Abraham accords ally, Bahrain, while operations against Hamas continue in Rafah, 2 of the 4 remaining battalions are eliminated. And Yemen’s Houthis increase their aggression against merchant shipping in and around the Dead Sea while announcing further joint strikes on Haifa and Ashkelon with Iranian-linked Iraqi Shia militias. You’ll hear from Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus on how close Iran is to completing their long term ambition of making a nuclear bomb.  Ayelet Razin Bet Or, a criminal lawyer at the State Att

Subscribe and follow Jonny Gould's Jewish State podcast now and scroll down for previous episodes. Jonny is back with the latest on Iran's war on Israel including the moment the IDF came to rescue the "diamonds", the code word for the hostages incarcerated in Gazan hell since October 7th. All of the soundbites you’ll hear in this bulletin are compiled from interviews right here - in episodes Jonny Gould’s Jewish State podcast.  The IDF continue its operations against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah launches drone attacks against Hurfeish and Nazareth in northern Israel and four soldiers from the elite Givati brigade are killed in a booby trapped building in Rafah.  Stay tuned for comment on the plight of the remaining hostages and what the Arab world should do about Hamas - from former Entebbe hostage, Benny Davidson plus Emily Schrader on why the Iranian public love Israel. We also hear from Izhar Lifshitz, the son of two of the oldest hostages Yocheved who’s 85, released on October 23rd and Oded, 83 who's still in