Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

Why are so many young Americans saying they support communism and do they understand that the anti-Zionist lies they are swallowing were cooked up by Soviet propagandists a half-century ago? Those are the questions JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is asking about the willingness of ignorant Americans who are embracing the Marxist war on the West. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by scholar Jonathan Brent, the CEO of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and a historian of communism and the Holocaust.   According to Brent, the reason for the revival of Marxism is, “the hatred of the American system of government and of the West generally that has been inculcated in generation after generation of young people who have gone to our most liberal and our most privileged universities and progressive schools.” This has, he says, created an appetite for a belief in the power of the state to “smash” bourgeois values, liberalism and institute more equality. But Brent points out that all this failed ideology has to offer is “an equality that is actually based on deprivation and enslavement rather than on lifting people up.”   The renewed infatuation with Marxism and the overlooking of its role in the murder of more than 100 million people during the 20th century is, Brent argues, also directly related to the support for Hamas, anti-Zionism and the war against Israel among young people. It also explains the support that an anti-Zionist like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gets from many young people.   Alongside of this trend is a renewed interest in the Jewish Labor Bund, the socialist Jewish movement that thrived in Europe before the Holocaust. Brent believes it is wrong for contemporary anti-Zionists to use it to attack the existence of the state of Israel.   “The back in the 1930s was not between Bundism and Israel,” Brent points out. It was a debate about, “Do we stay here or do we go there? Where do we have the best chance of survival? And by that I don't mean simply physical survival, but the survival of our traditions, the survival of our language, the survival of our customs, our literature, our music, and so on. That was the issue. Bundism, in the classical sense, was never against Israel as such. So, it's a bit dishonest to take that principled intellectual dispute of the 1930s and transport it into the present day.”   Brent also discussed the work of YIVO, which seeks to preserve the record of the Eastern European Jewish civilization that perished in the Holocaust and the Soviet gulags. While the Bundists shouldn’t be blamed for believing that Europe could be a place where Jewish life could continue to flourish, the verdict of history vindicated the belief of the Zionists that it was doomed there.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

The trouble with most reporting and commentary about the war the United States and Israel have waged against Iran is obvious, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Liberal Journalists and members of the foreign policy establishment are so deranged by their hatred of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they’d rather the Iranian Islamist terror regime win a war than see those two leaders get credit for doing the right thing.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Michael Doran, the senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute. Doran believes there are seven myths about the conflict that need to be debunked if Americans are to understand what’s happening in the Middle East.   The first is that it is a “war of choice.” It is not, he argues. The only other option was for the U.S. and Israel to wait for the Iranians to construct a sufficiently strong force of missiles with which they could defend their nuclear program at which point it would have been too late to do anything about it. The second is that President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal would have prevented the threat if Trump hadn’t withdrawn from it. The truth is the opposite. The accord guaranteed that Iran would get a bomb rather than preventing it.   The third is that President Joe Biden had left Trump a peaceful world. That is also false because Biden’s weakness and appeasement efforts empowered Iran and left the Middle East in flames. Another myth was that Iran was ready to compromise with Trump. As with their dealings with Obama and Biden, Tehran’s idea of compromise was the United States tolerating Iran’s terrorism, missiles and nuclear ambitions.   Doran also points out that the idea that stopping Iran is a distraction from the need to contain and confront China is wrong. Conceding victory to Iran will immeasurably strengthen its Chinese ally.   The most damaging myths are the ideas that Israel dragged the United States into war and that Trump and Netanyahu are megalomaniacal warmongers. The claims about the Jewish state deceiving Trump into war are more about the antisemitism of anti-Zionists and other Israel-bashers and completely divorced from the truth. The main purpose of the war is to defend American national interests. Nor are the claims about the two leaders true. They waited until all other avenues for ending the Iranian threat were tried before ordering the strikes on Iranian targets.   Doran also deprecates those who analogize the war to past historical incidents like the 1956 Suez crisis. The United States is, unlike Britain and France in 1956, not a declining power that can be muscled by powerful allies into abandoning their interests. While the outcome of the war and negotiations to end it are unclear, Doran points out that the notion that the U.S. and Israel are doomed to defeat simply isn’t true.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

The problem facing Jews today, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, is that blood libels about Israel aren’t just being mainstreamed as they are becoming unchallenged tropes of popular culture. He’s joined in the week’s episode of Think Twice by scholar and educator Naya Lekht who argues that it’s a mistake to think that the current surge of antisemitism dates back only to the aftermath of the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.   Lekht argues that to understand what’s happened, we need to realize that current events were catalyzed by the UN’s 2001 Durban Conference, the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and the Second Intifada. These events helped introduce into the West an ideological assault on Zionism and Jewish rights for which the organized Jewish community was completely unprepared. What’s more, she says, there is no major Jewish legacy organization that's running a campaign devoted to opposing anti-Zionism.   The anti-Zionist propaganda which is aimed at attacking an essential element of Jewish identity that has been normalized in academia and throughout Western society is not new. It is, she points out, a vestige of Soviet disinformation and propaganda.   Lecht, who emigrated from the former Soviet Union as a child, says that Jews living under Soviet rule were immune to this propaganda because they understood instinctively that what they were hearing from the Communist government’s media was always untrue. By contrast, Americans are vulnerable to such appeals. That’s especially the case when they come packaged as part of fashionable ideologies about race that have been adopted by liberal cultural and media institutions as a new orthodoxy. In this manner, such toxic ideas are accepted even when they are specifically crafted to target Jews.   She teaches that Jew hatred can be understood as part of a “three-era framework,” consisting of three distinct eras, anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism that are all part of a demonization project. The mistake that many Jews and supporters of Israel make is to try and debate the truth of blood libels about Israel such as the claim that it is committing “genocide” or defend the Jewish state’s right to exist. As much as it is important that such blatant lies be refuted, Lekht says what is needed is an effort to stop playing defense and isolate the Jew-haters spreading propaganda.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Jews around the world are reeling from the unprecedented surge of antisemitism that followed the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. They may feel helpless when confronted by the way the Jew-haters have mainstreamed tropes of antisemitism in order to demonize Israel and its supporters. But, says JNS editor-in-chief, the answer to this problem is not to give up. Jews don’t merely need to wake up and fight back but to do so effectively and win.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by JNS columnist Melanie Phillips, who has written a handbook for doing just that, titled, Fighting the Hate: A Handbook for Jews Under Siege.   According to Phillips, many Jews have responded to the post-Oct. 7 tsunami of hate with shock and confusion. She says that Jews have an absolute duty to stand up against lies, against injustice, and to tell the truth. “It seemed to me that there was much that could be done if people had the right ideas about how best to go about this, " said Phillips. “And I thought, and I still think, that the organized Jewish world in the diaspora didn't really have a strategy.”   Instead of playing defense, Phillips believes the Jewish world has to get off the back foot onto the front foot and go on the offensive. Yet too many are ignorant about the conflict with the Palestinians and the way leftist ideologues are spreading Hamas propaganda.   Part of the problem is what she calls, “liberals with moral vertigo.” Phillips says some Jews were so stunned on October 7th by the people that they had thought were being oppressed by the Israelis, but had turned into barbaric, psychopathic, slaughterers for which there was absolutely no reasonable excuse and they can't process it. Yet she believes that the pro-Israel and sane Jewish community can make some headway with them. But, she says, the first thing is you have to park your anger and reach out to those who used to rationalize Palestinian behavior and try to reach them with the truth and the facts.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

At the heart of much of the opposition to the war the United States and Israel are waging to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and spreading Islamist tyranny with terror is a conspiracy theory. Both left-wingers and some on the right still believe in myths about Israel or the Jews manipulating American foreign policy, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by historian and Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead who points out that surges of antisemitism in the United States, such as the one we’re currently experiencing, is a function of other factors which impact national discourse like economics and mass migration.   Mead also says that while antisemitism on the right is highly visible because of celebrity podcasters like Tucker Carlson, the overwhelming majority of Republicans still support Israel and the war in Iran. He argues that changes in attitudes toward Israel and increasing antisemitism are far deeper and more widely spread on the left right now.   While he doesn’t minimize the impact that antisemitic advocacy from podcasters can have on our national discourse, Mead says it's important to remember that not everyone in the country is immersed in online conspiracy theories and listen to extremists on the internet more for entertainment than for news.   American policy toward Iran is, as is the case with all foreign policy decisions, being decided by what the president of the day considers to be in U.S. interests, and not because of what Israel says or wants. As for the outcome of the current war, he admits there’s no way of knowing the outcome for sure. But he believes that the most likely result right now is one which may leave the current Islamist regime in place but with their ability to inflict harm on their neighbors or the world vastly reduced. That may oblige the U.S. and Israel to have to attack it again in the future, invoking the “mowing the grass” metaphor.   That’s in keeping with Mead’s belief that Trump’s foreign policy remains essentially “Jacksonian” in that he isn’t much interested in spreading American values and ideology abroad but is determined to defend the country’s interests aggressively.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Jews shouldn’t have to choose between fighting antisemitism and bolstering Jewish identity. According to JNS editor-in-chief, the assertion of New York Times columnist Bret Stephens that the Jewish community should stop doing the former and concentrate on the latter is a false choice. They need, he says, to continue to do both, though, admittedly the critique of Jew-hatred is often badly executed.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Dara Horn, author of the highly influential 2021 book, People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present and the recently published Passover-themed graphic novel One Little Goat. Horn is the founder and president of The Tell Institute, which is devoted to educating the public about Jewish civilization. She says the lessons of her previous book still apply in the post-Oct. 7 era.    She argues that “people tell stories about dead Jews that make them feel good about themselves” and “living Jews have to erase themselves in order for those stories to be told.” But after Oct. 7, it’s clear that it's actually simpler than that. “The message of people who love dead Jews, which unfortunately has only been confirmed in the past two years, is that non-Jewish societies generally only find Jews acceptable when Jews have no power.”   Ultimately, she says, the point of venerating dead Jews while delegitimizing live ones, like those in Israel, “is the goal of working toward a final solution of eliminating Jewish civilization.”   Her graphic novel is aimed primarily at children but is sophisticated enough to have a lot for adults too. It presents a surrealist seder in which a lost afikomen prolongs the evening for six months and prompts a journey through Jewish history for its protagonist while being led by a talking goat. In the course of the story, the essential lesson of Passover that every Jew understands that they were personally liberated from Egypt is brought to life.

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, at the heart of much of the opposition to the joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran is general ignorance about the fanatical nature of the Tehran Islamist terror regime. Rooted in religious fanaticism, their sponsorship of terrorism and nuclear ambitions are non-negotiable to a government of theocratic tyrants. That makes it imperative that Washington cease allowing them to delay until they get a weapon.   Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Retired Israel Defense Forces General Yosef Kuperwasser, the director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. He says the answer to the question about why the regime underestimated President Donald Trump’s determination to stop them from continuing to seek a nuclear weapon and spread terrorism is rooted in its essential nature.   “They couldn't do anything else, because accepting the conditions put forward by the president would have portrayed them as weak, and they cannot afford to be seen weak at home,” says Kuperwasser. He added that they also are really committed to having this nuclear weapon and will never give it up. What’s more, they believed that isolationists within the administration would persuade Trump not to act with Israel to avert the threat. Kuperwasser pointed out that the mullahs’ interpretation of Islam also leads them to believe that it is permissible to deceive foes with compromises that they don’t intend to abide by, rendering more negotiations with Tehran pointless.   Kuperwasser also tempers optimism about the majority of the Iranian people using the U.S. and Israeli attacks on the regime to overthrow it. So long as the minority within the country that are still loyal to the theocrats have a monopoly on armed force and the opposition is deeply divided along ideological and sectarian lines, there is still a good chance that the Islamic government will survive.   Kuperwasser is also deeply worried by the willingness of many Americans on the left and the far right to blame Israel for the war. It is, he says, “a very strange situation where we are attacked from both sides of the aisle.” But he insists that Israel and its supporters must prioritize. “Our first priority is to make sure that the Iran terrorist regime is out of business.” It might, he says, cause Israel to pay a political price for achieving that end in the United States. But before that problem can be addressed, the existential threat from Iran to Israel as well as the West must be eliminated.

The main question to be asked about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is not the immediate one about whether or when the United States will attack Iran, important though that may be. Rather, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, it’s understanding that, his critics’ claims notwithstanding, far from being isolationist, Trump’s approach is one of selective use of force only when he perceives it to be in America’s direct interest.   Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by veteran diplomat and Tikvah Fund head Elliott Abrams. He believes that a negotiated deal between the United States and Iran that might prevent a military conflict are highly unlikely. Abrams asserts that after the severe losses they suffered during last year’s 12-day war on Iran by Israel and the United States, Trump thought Tehran understood that it was in no position to avoid making real concessions on its nuclear program and other issues. But the Iranians clearly are more worried about looking weak in the eyes of its restive population.   The Islamists are also, Abrams says, much like the Palestinians in their thinking about the conflict. They believe that demonstrating their willingness to be steadfast and continue the war against the U.S. and Israel is vital to maintaining their ideological purpose despite it not being in their interest to do so.   On the other hand, Abrams points out that a failure on Trump’s part in following through on his threats against Iran and his promise of help to the Iranian people will have serious consequences for U.S. foreign policy. Trump, too, cannot afford to look weak in the eyes of America’s adversaries.   As for the situation in Gaza in the aftermath of the cease-fire that ended the post-Oct. 7 war on Hamas, Abrams says that Trump’s Board of Peace is “frankly absurd” and “won’t achieve anything.” The situation in which Hamas continues to dig in and strengthen its military position in the portion of Gaza it still controls while Israel attacks and seeks to weaken the Islamists will likely continue until, probably after the next election, Jerusalem decides that it can no longer tolerate a Hamas state in Gaza, even if it is smaller than the one that existed prior to Oct. 7 and not as militarily strong.   Abrams also discussed the surge in antisemitism in the United States, particularly on the right. He said President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are in a position to do something about it. The question is whether they will. Meanwhile, the Tikvah Fund leader said that American Jewry should concentrate more on strengthening their own community than on playing defense against antisemites.

Is it possible for Israelis to overcome the differences that nearly tore the country apart before the Oct. 7, 2023 Palestinian Arab terror attacks? JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin points out that the divisive debate about judicial reform which helped encourage Hamas to strike on Oct. 7, was part of a culture war that pits liberal secular elites against the religious and nationalist communities that they think shouldn’t be allowed to govern that is still simmering.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Israeli historian and activist Yoav Heller, the leader of the Fourth Quarter movement that is trying to transcend this divide. Created in 2022 as a reaction to the four stalemated elections that took place after 2019, the group, whose name references the effort to ensure that the Jewish state survives past its 100th birthday, seeks to bring Israelis from across the political, ethnic and religious spectrum together.   Heller, a former journalist and historian of the Holocaust, says the point of the Fourth Quarter, which, he says, has hundreds of thousands of members, is to allow Israelis from different communities to experience each other’s pain rather than just blaming each other for the nation’s problems. In particular, he wants to build support for a party that he may or may not lead that will be pledged only to serve in a unity government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and his centrist and left-wing opponents.   Heller is a critic of Netanyahu but believes that if the prime minister wins re-election, even those who have said they will never serve with him, should join with him to form a unity coalition. Indeed, he is critical of those parties for not agreeing to serve with Netanyahu after the Oct. 7 attacks.   Netanyahu’s efforts to reform the out-of-control and all-powerful Israeli judiciary has been a main point of contention to the point where the government’s critics were prepared to tear the country apart over it in 2023. That may well have encouraged Hamas to attack on Oct. 7. But the Fourth Quarter’s platform features support for judicial reform, albeit in a manner that Heller claims will provide consensus rather than one side of the political divide triumphing over the other.   But according to Heller, the point of the group isn’t just politics. Its real purpose is to awaken a higher degree of civic engagement and local philanthropy and volunteerism among Israelis. It is only by creating that communal spirit that seemingly unsolvable problems can be solved allowing the Jewish state, unlike previous Jewish commonwealths more than two millennia ago, to survive into a second century.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

It's time to stop worrying about accusations of Islamophobia when discussing Muslim antisemitism. According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, reporting and commentary on the shocking levels of Jew-hatred among Muslims has been silenced out of fear of accusations of racism and prejudice. But most of what is labeled Islamophobia is just truth telling about the way conspiracy theories and hate speech about Jews is normative in the Islamic community. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Andrew Bostom, author of a number of important works about Islamic radicalism including the new A Modern Qur'anic Kampf Against the Jews. His book is a translation with commentary of a highly influential text written by Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the late head of Al Hazr University in Cairo, widely considered the “Muslim Vatican,” which illustrates that Jew-hatred is baked deep into both Islamic culture and traditional religious thought. Bostom points out that the polling done by the Anti-Defamation League—including some results that were apparently considered so shocking that the group didn’t publish them—has demonstrated just how pervasive antisemitic attitudes are among Muslims around the world and in the United States. The notion that Muslim Jew-hatred is merely the product of resentment of the state of Israel or concern for the Palestinians is utterly false, says Bostom. And far from cherry-picking outrageous quotes from an otherwise unexceptional text, Boston’s translation of Tantawi’s screed illustrates that the vilest forms of hate directed at Jews is part of mainstream Muslim thought. What is most shocking about Tantawi’s antisemitic book is not just the way he shows how antisemitism is mainstream in Muslim thought or the way he mixes traditional anti-Jewish tropes with modern conspiracy theories about Jews (such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion). It’s the fact that Tantawi was considered a moderate Muslim and not as extreme as many other Islamic religious figures. A big part of the problem though, is the failure of the West, including Jewish groups and leaders who prioritize the idea of interfaith dialogue above defending their communities against hate, to directly call out Muslim antisemitism. Too many people are, Bostom says, simply afraid of being accused of Islamophobia. Christians and Jews must find the courage to tell Muslims, “We won't accept you at interfaith dialogue meetings if you're going to preach this way. Just stop it. We're aware of it. Stop it. It's ugly. Don't do it.” Register for the JNS International Policy Summit here: https://jns-summit.org If you liked this episode, watch more Think Twice here: https://youtu.be/0gWSr1oi9A4?si=3O0ANsqbqAIFX95B Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel. Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel. Register for the JNS International Policy Summit here: https://jns-summit.org

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, understanding the anomalous position of the kingdom of Jordan requires balancing distaste for its strident public advocacy against Israel against its role as a strategic ally. Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by journalist Aaron Magid, the author of the biography The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan.   Magid, who worked in Amman for several years as a reporter says that it’s hard to measure the popularity of Jordan’s King Abdullah since its people have no say in their government. But he points out that Abdullah has skillfully navigated a dangerous political and strategic landscape by seeking to mollify the approximately half of his country’s population that is Palestinian with criticisms of Israel. At the same time, the half-British and American-educated king (who at the time of his accession to the throne in 1999 spoke better English than Arabic) has managed to closely align his country with the United States. And he is dependent on the close cooperation between his security services and those of the United States and Israel, without which it is unlikely that he would still be on the throne.   The author points out that the regime in Jordan is far less repressive than other Arab and Muslim countries but it is not a democracy. And he has maintained the peace treaty with Israel that his father King Hussein agreed to in 1994 despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Jordanians, both Palestinian Arabs and “East Bankers” would prefer that it be abrogated. Magid says that hatred for Israel and Jews is pervasive in Jordanian society with copies of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf being sold on the streets of its cities. By contrast, sale of Magid’s book, which is by no means highly critical of Abdullah, is banned in the kingdom.   Jordan receives $1.45 billion a year in aid from the United States and Magid says the reason why Abdullah managed to hold onto power during the Arab Spring protests of 2011 is because, unlike, for example, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, the U.S. didn’t discard him. In return for that money, Jordan allows the American troops to be stationed on its territory and assists the U.S. in dealing with threats, including shooting down Iranian missiles that were aimed at Israel in 2024.   While friends of Israel had good reason to be outraged over some of the statements Jordan has made about the Palestinian war on Israel, such as Queen Rania’s denial of the atrocities committed on Oct. 7, 2023, Magid says that is part of the price Israel pays for having a tacit ally on its border. He also notes that the reason why Jordan hasn’t extradited Palestinian terrorist murderer Ahlam Tamimi to the United States is that Washington has never prioritized the issue. That allows Tamimi, who took part in the 2001 Sbarro Pizza bombing in Jerusalem in which 16 people were murdered, including 15-year-old American Malki Roth, to evade justice.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Progressives and far right conspiracy mongers have more than just antisemitism in common. According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, those trying to subvert President Donald Trump’s agenda consist of not only the left-wing “resistance” leading an insurrection in Minneapolis. The same goal motivates China and its various allies and  business partners like Qatar.   Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by journalist Lee Smith, author of the new book, The China Matrix: The Epic Story of How Donald Trump Shattered a Deadly Pact. Smith believes that over the past quarter-century, a bipartisan coalition of Republicans and Democrats have helped the Chinese Communist Party via a disastrous trade deficit and allowing fake CCP companies to list on U.S. capital markets. Trump has sought to address this problem with some success via tariffs. TikTok poses a danger to U.S. national security via its ability to influence Americans. The pending sale of the platform, however, raises questions about whether the interests of large GOP donors who profit from dealings with Beijing will undermine Trump’s efforts to shift the focus of U.S. foreign policy to dealing with the threat from China.   Smith also thinks it’s vital for the U.S. not to let the Islamist regime in Iran, which is a key ally of China, escape from its current predicament caused by mass protests seeking its overthrow. He argues that China’s influence operation in the United States in which officials below the national level, like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are being targeted by them to support their policies, is a real danger.   The author is concerned that lobbying by business interests and others will pressure Trump not to follow up on efforts to exert maximum pressure on Tehran. He also throws cold water on the idea that there is any deal to be made between the United States and Iran. He worries that by giving Tehran time via negotiations that will never lead anywhere, the theocrats will wriggle out of their current predicament.   He’s also worried about the rise of antisemitism on the right and the way those, like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, are seeking to stop American action against Iran is very troubling. Even more dangerous are the questions raised about the intentions of Carlson’s friend Vice President JD Vance, who seems not to understand the role that Israel plays in American interest and in advancing American peace and prosperity in a vitally strategic region of the world.   He’s equally worried about the ability of Qatar not only to buy influence in the United States but to get support inside the Pentagon.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

What’s been going on in Minneapolis is no coincidence, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. The city which is in a virtual state of insurrection against the federal government’s efforts to enforce immigration laws is also the place where a massive fraud was perpetrated against American taxpayers by Somali immigrants with ties to a jihadist group and which is also represented by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)one of the country’s leading antisemites. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by investigative journalist Ben Weingarten, Newsmax contributor and author of American Ingrate: Ilhan Omar and the Progressive-Islamist Takeover of the Democratic Party. Weingarten says that events in Minnesota demonstrate what he calls the failed “progressive model of governance,” which combines advocacy for open borders and non-enforcement of immigration laws with corruption. Moreover, he says that some of the same forces that are creating mayhem there were similarly part of the activism that produced the “mostly peaceful” riots of the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020 and the pro-Hamas antisemitic protests since Oct. 7, 2023. Weingarten also breaks down his recent reporting about President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace and the supposedly apolitical Palestinian technocrat that has been tapped to lead the reconstruction of Gaza. According to Weingarten, Ali Shaath is, like all those who have been part of the corrupt Palestinian Authority, not a supporter of peace with Israel. Rather, he is someone who supports the ongoing war to destroy the Jewish state embraced by most Palestinians and is unlikely to do anything that would prevent Gaza from being turned back into a terrorist fortress from which the Jewish state could be attacked. The journalist also analyzes U.S. policy toward Iran and says that predictions that the Trump administration may be ready to embrace a policy of negotiation and appeasement toward the Islamist regime are premature. He also commented that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s memoir detailing the way he was vetted by the staff of former vice president Kamala Harris for their party’s vice-presidential nomination illustrates the serious antisemitism problem in the Democratic Party, which is even more significant than the troubling outbreak of Jew-hatred on the right. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

How much has the world learned since Islamist terrorists murdered Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks there was a consensus that Islamist terrorism was beyond the pale. But the surge of support for Israel’s destruction after the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023 demonstrates that many Americans have forgotten that basic lesson.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Daniel Pearl’s father, UCLA computer scientist Judea Pearl, who became a leading voice for Israel and Jewish identity in the years since his son’s death and the author of the recently published Coexistence and Other Fighting Words: Selected Writings of Judea Pearl 2002-2025.   Pearl says that in the last 24 years he’s “wised up” about the prospects for peace in the Middle East. A longtime advocate for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, he now believes that any agreement to end the conflict is currently impossible. That’s because even most “moderate” Arabs and Muslims are committed to the eradication of Israel. He says this unalterable demand should not be confused with traditional ideas about antisemitism. Instead, he labels this hatred of Jews and their state as “Zionphobia.”   Zionism is, he says, “a Jewish quest for normalcy” in their own homeland. But in the aftermath of the surge of hatred for Jews rooted in intolerance for Jewish self-determination, since Oct. 7, the West has not internalized this basic truth. According to Pearl, denial that Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel isn’t just wrong, rooted in the myths of settler-colonialism theory is enabling Zionphobia and an atmosphere of hate against all Jews who will not betray their own people. Denying Jewish history is the short path to erasing Jewish rights.   He says Jews, such as those who advocate against Israel or who voted for a rabid anti-Zionist like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani are seeking to gain acceptance in society. What American Jews need is leadership that is strong enough to ostracize such people.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been playing a double game in the Middle East and with the United States, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Turkey continues to back Hamas in Gaza. It also hasn’t halted its intervention in Syria, where it has a vested interest in suppressing Kurdish autonomy in order to undermine that people’s efforts to throw off repression inside Turkey. But the Turkish leader has maintained a cordial relationship with President Donald Trump. Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Mark Meirowitz, a scholar of U.S.-Turkish relations. Meirowitz believes that the current situation in Syria is a “trainwreck” and that war between the new regime there and Israel is a distinct possibility. He also worries about the way the Turks have boxed themselves into an untenable position with respect to Hamas in Gaza by their backing of the terrorists since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Meirowitz says the only person who is likely to be able to unravel this dilemma is Trump, whom both Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu respect. There are many good reasons for Turkey to wish to have good relations with the Jewish state, not the least the fact that their current hostility has isolated them in the Eastern Mediterranean as Israel, Greece and Cyprus have cooperated in their efforts to exploit natural gas fields while excluding the Turks. But given the many other foreign policy problems facing Washington, the president may be too distracted to be able to broker a rapprochement between Jerusalem and Ankara. CHAPTERS 00:00 – Maduro Captured: What It Signals to America’s Enemies 03:02 – Turkey After Venezuela: Ally, Adversary, or Both? 06:45 – Erdogan’s Double Game With the U.S., Iran, and Hamas 10:58 – Why Rogue Regimes Stick Together 15:40 – Turkey’s Global Ambitions Beyond the Middle East 20:25 – Pride, Power, and the Erdogan Worldview 25:55 – Islamism, Secularism, and Turkey’s Internal Tensions 31:40 – Coups, Purges, and Erdogan’s Grip on Power 36:50 – Turkey, NATO, and the F-35 Standoff 42:35 – Israel, Hamas, and the Collapse of Turkish-Israeli Ties 48:55 – Syria, the Kurds, and the Risk of Regional Collision 55:40 – Iran’s Decline and Turkey’s Strategic Calculations 1:01:20 – Somaliland, Somalia, and Turkey’s Expanding Footprint 1:06:10 – Can Trump De-escalate Israel-Turkey Tensions? 1:10:45 – The Dangerous Path Forward for the Region Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Jonathan Tobin doesn’t hold back! In this year-end "Think Twice" AMA episode, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin takes aim at the Heritage Foundation’s flirtation with antisemitic voices, calling out conservative personalities like Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance and exposing the mainstreaming of Jew-hatred from the left and right. He names names, tackles the rise of anti-Zionism in American politics and warns that the Overton window has shifted into dangerous territory. From New York’s radical new leaders to shocking silence in elite institutions, this episode is an unfiltered look at the ideological war threatening Jewish life in America.

Will the failure of leading conservatives to disassociate themselves from the increasingly antisemitic former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and even more extreme figures like Candace Owens lead to the movement being hijacked by hatemongers? That’s the question posed by JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin in the wake of the shocking defense of Carlson by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts in November. Roberts walked back his denunciation of those who criticized Carlson’s platforming of Holocaust denial as well as neo-Nazi groyper leader Nick Fuentes as being part of a “venomous coalition.” But questions remain about Heritage’s future with many of those involved with the institution leaving as a result of the controversy. But according to Heritage Vice President Victoria Coates, the think tank remains committed to the fight against Jew-hatred and support for Israel. Coates, who joins Tobin in this week’s episode of Think Twice, credits Roberts for the fact that Heritage has played a leading role on the issue. Its Project Esther helped provide the inspiration for President Donald Trump’s efforts to hold colleges and universities accountable for their toleration and encouragement of Jew-hatred on their campuses. But she admits that Roberts’ initial video expressing solidarity with Carlson was a mistake and that the think tank head understands that too and that he is determined for Heritage to continue to work against the spread of Jew-hatred. As troubling as the growth of hate on the right may be, she says the Bondi Bay Chanukah massacre of Jews is a reminder that the most potent threat to Jews and the West remains Islamist and leftist terror. Coates, who, like Roberts, knows Carlson well, says she can’t explain his turn toward antisemitism as well as his bizarre willingness to deny that Islamists are persecuting and murdering Christians in Africa. But she says there’s no denying the growth of antisemitic attitudes among younger conservatives which she fears has become widespread. She says that’s a product of the crisis induced by leftist indoctrination in the schools as well as the Covid pandemic, not to mention the misinformation about Israel and the Middle East that is ubiquitous on social media. Coates believes what happened at Heritage will help to focus minds on the right on the threat from antisemitic extremism.

Are Americans comfortable with an administration that is ready to defend their nation’s sovereignty? That’s the question posed by JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. The criticism of the Trump administration for its actions attacking terrorist drug smugglers and closing the border to illegal immigrants is, he says, rooted in the toxic Marxist idea that national sovereignty is a problem rather than an expression of national security. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by national security expert Frank Gaffney of the Institute for the American Future, who says recent incidents like the shooting of a National Guardsman in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan refugee as well as the massive fraud involving Somali refugees raises important questions about the spread of Islamist ideology in the United States. Gaffney traces the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and its front groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) back to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the George W. Bush administration. He says there has been a “catastrophic” failure on the part of a number of administrations since then to take action against a real threat to the homeland from efforts to introduce totalitarian Sharia law into American society. Tobin and Gaffney both noted that Islamist activism in the United States has been shielded by efforts to smear critics of the Muslim Brotherhood as “Islamophobic” when most of what is labeled as such are merely efforts to draw attention to the dangerous radicalism and antisemitism that has spread in the Muslim community. Gaffney is particularly concerned with the ability of Qatar—the Muslim Brotherhood’s host country and principal funder—to buy influence within the United States in academia, the media and in government. He says a crucial test for the Trump administration will be whether it is ready to follow through and designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist group despite the fact that Qatar is lobbying hard to oppose that common sense measure. If Trump listens to voices like that of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who seems to be in Qatar’s pocket, it will have immeasurably emboldened Islamist terrorists as well as others who threaten American security, such as the Chinese Communist Party.

Why are so many in a conservative movement that looked to a passionate Christian Zionist like the late Charlie Kirk for leadership now willing to turn a blind eye to or even rationalize the antisemitism of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes? That is the question that JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin has been pondering in recent months in the wake of Carlson hosting Fuentes on his podcast and the Heritage Foundation’s perplexing loyalty to the former Fox News host.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Newsweek senior editor-at-large and podcaster Josh Hammer who was personally acquainted with Kirk and other leader conservative figures. He says it’s outrageous that Kirk is being portrayed by some on the right as a foe of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he was, in fact, merely critical of some tactical decisions made by Jerusalem, not its war goals or of Zionism. Moreover, he was a fervent opponent of antisemitism and a friend of the Jewish people.   Hammer is similarly troubled by the way the Heritage Foundation, the leading conservative think tank and its president Kevin Roberts have refused to disavow Carlson, whom he labeled as “the most dangerous antisemite in American history.” He says Carlson deserves that distinction because of his mainstream appeal and strong connections to Republican leaders. He believes Carlson’s Jew-hatred is made obvious by the fact that antipathy for Israel and even Judaism has become the organizing principle of his advocacy. His goal is not so much to break up the U.S.-Israel alliance but to write Judaism out of Western civilization and, as a result, destroy President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and replace it with something that is openly anti-Israel and antisemitic.   At the heart of the problem with conservative neutrality about Carlson and other even more extreme antisemites is their abhorrence for “gatekeeping” and the left’s tactics of canceling people they disagree with. But Hammer argues that there’s nothing wrong with maintaining boundaries between mainstream opinion and extremists and hatemongers.   Hammer believes that at some point, Vice President JD Vance, who is a close friend of Carlson and whose presidential ambitions for 2028 are no secret, is going to have to make a firm statement about his opposition to antisemitism and distinguish himself from the anti-Israel faction on the far right.     Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Can American Jews shake off their defensive posture rooted in fear and a distorted conception of Jewish values to begin acting to both deter those who attack them and to convince them that the Jews are not easy prey for antisemitic thugs? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, that’s the question the Jewish community must confront of an unprecedented surge in Jew-hared in the two years since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Benjamin Kerstein, author of the new book, Self-Defense: A Jewish Manifesto. He says it’s time for Diaspora Jews to shake off the constraints of what he calls “learned helplessness,” a mindset that conditions victims to believe they have no recourse but to endure violence without seeking to take action to defend themselves. Historically, this was overcome by the Zionist movement and the founding of the modern state of Israel. But in America, most Jews react to the post-Oct. 7 assault on their rights and safety with passivity. As we saw on college campuses where pro-Hamas mobs terrorized Jewish kids, they were told to shelter in place and to not confront their tormentors. Kerstein argues that what happened at UCLA in 2024 was a model of how to end the harassment of Jews. There, a group of Jewish students responded to a pro-Hamas encampment by aggressively making it clear that Jews would not be intimidated. Though the action was flawed by violence, this forced the university administration to act to end the encampment. A better idea would have been non-violent action in which Jews confronted the antisemites wherever they sought to block access to campus sites. He says the model not to follow was that of the Jewish Defense League and its leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. It descended to illegality and violence that not only led to the government shutting it down but also in discrediting the whole idea of Jewish self-defense for generations. Rather, what is needed is a Jewish version of the civil rights era group the Students Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that confronted racism around the United States and helped usher in an era of equality.  What is also clear, says Kerstein, is that the Jewish establishment and those organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, whose task it is to defend Jews are not doing their job. Their policies are a product of politics in which they have long preferred to focus on lesser threats like that of neo-Nazis rather than on the greater peril posed by progressives who have effectively imposed their antisemitic beliefs on the education system and much of American culture. Above all, Jews must, he argues, embrace the anger they feel about what has happened in the last two years and start to make “good trouble”—the phrase coined by civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) who urged African Americans to non-violently stand up to discrimination. Jews must now do the same when it comes to the broad array of antisemitic threats posed by forces on both the political left and right.     Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

How did supporters of Hamas and others who want Israel destroyed win over so many young people since Oct. 7? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the answer lies in large measure in the ability of progressives to redefine words in such a way as to normalize Jew-hatred and help create a surge of antisemitism.  He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by scholar Donna Robinson Divine, co-editor of the new book, October 7: The Wars Over Words and Deeds, a collection of essays exploring issues relating to the war on Israel and how the Jewish state’s opponents have helped turn truth on its head to demonize Israel. According to Divine, on college campuses across the country, “feelings replaced thinking” as many young persons who know little or nothing about the Middle East, were convinced to believe that supporting a genocidal and antisemitic cause was the right thing to do. The veteran scholar of the Middle East said she was shocked not merely at the distorted nature of the discussion about the post-Oct. 7 war but also because not a single head of an elite university told their students to “go and study” the subject of their protests. She says that compared to student protest movements of the past, the pro-Hamas activists don’t seem to know what they’re talking about or have a clear idea of what they want. Other, that is, than wanting Israel to disappear, though even there they don’t seem to realize that doing so would involve Jewish genocide. Divine points out that a study of the history of the conflict quickly reveals that the goal of the Palestinian movement isn’t about statehood, it’s the principle of not sharing any part of the land with the Jews. Redefining terms is also important to the cause of delegitimizing Israel. Divine points out that by changing the meaning of the word “genocide”—coined in the aftermath of the Holocaust to mean an attempt to wipe out an entire people—to merely meaning “depriving them of agency,” the pro-Palestinians have smeared the Jewish state as guilty of genocide. Though she also notes that if the Palestinians have lost the ability to determine their own future, it’s because of their own decisions. Just as sinister is the way Palestinian employed “extreme violence” and rape on Oct. 7, only to see their supporters deny these crimes happened, despite abundant evidence for them provided by the perpetrators. Most important, is how the Palestinians and their supporters have worked to demonize the Israeli victims, both to make the terrorists appear as if their atrocities are justified and to depict the Jews as deserving of being murdered, raped or kidnapped. Divine also says that the willingness of opponents of Israel to delegitimize the Jewish state’s actions when they are no different from those of other countries leads to the inevitable conclusion antisemitism is the explanation for these double standards.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Though the study of history is being slighted by contemporary educators, according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan S. Tobin, knowledge of the past, including that of the ancient world, is more important than ever if we are to understand current dilemmas. And that’s especially true in the Middle East.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Hoover Institution scholar Barry Strauss, one of the leading experts on the ancient world and the author of the new book, Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World’s Mightiest Empire.   Strauss’s book tells the story of the three rebellions fought by Jews against the Roman Empire over the course of a 70-year period stretching from 66 C.E. to 136 C.E. that included the Great Revolt, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, a little-known Diaspora revolt and the Bar Kochba rebellion. The history of these struggles is integral to the story of the Jews. But some historians call the Jews of the ancient world Judeans rather than Jews. Strauss disagrees with this since, as he says, “this is to write Jews out of Jewish history.”   The historian says there are some important lessons for Jews and Israelis to draw from these tragic episodes.   One is the danger of disunity. The divisions between the Jews fighting the Romans and each other inside besieged Jerusalem were, he says, “absolutely fatal.” He notes that, there should be a lesson that you can only take political disputes during a time of war or in a dangerous period “only so far.” That’s something that Israelis learned from the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, since the Palestinians believed they were too divided to unite and defend their county.   Strauss says another issue is the relationship between faith and politics. Jewish extremists believed that God would save them if they fought Rome no matter how steep the odds. “Faith is essential for Jews and for everyone in their own particular way. But when you are letting it lead you to politically dangerous, unintelligent decisions, then you have to really think things through and you have to be careful of what you're doing.”   Yet another lesson Strauss says that can be drawn from the revolts is that “small states never are fully independent.” In fact, he added, “Even large states are never fully independent. Everyone needs allies, but small states above all need allies. And so, I think Israel today must learn from the lesson of the failure of the rebels in the great revolts.” Speaking of the Jewish rebels, he says, “They had a plan that was an intelligent plan, which involved getting help from Parthia [an independent kingdom located in modern-day Iraq and Iran that successfully resisted Rome]. But they should have been able to do a cost-benefit analysis and say, it's not likely and maybe back down then.”   The author says the failure of America’s education system to teach history is “terrible” and largely the fault of progressives. “The so-called woke people are selling narratives that give a completely different view of American history and of the world, and that makes it easier for people to push the button of the oldest hatred and to cast the Jews as the villains,” Strauss says. “It’s absolutely essential for the next generation, for good people to get control of the educational system and to bring us back to a sensible educational system in which people can study history without fear or favor in an unbiased way. We know as citizens, whether we're Jewish or not, that education is absolutely essential. So, this is something that we have to prioritize.”   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

The victory of Zohran Mamdani is a watershed moment for American Jewry, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. For the first time in living memory, Jews are dealing with a surge of antisemitism that the election of an avowed anti-Zionist will exacerbate. He is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, a leading liberal critic of Mamdani.   According to Hirsch, the danger from a Mayor Mamdani for New York Jews isn’t necessarily a matter of him downgrading protection for Jewish institutions. Rather, he says, “History demonstrates to us that wherever anti-Zionism is normalized and wherever it has support, anti-Zionism has support from high-level government officials, as night follows day, hostility to Jews increases.” Moreover, as he learned from a meeting between the mayor-elect and a group of rabbis, Mamdani is ideologically committed to the war against Israel, it’s “the core principle of his political ideology. That’s why he can’t explain away his support for “Globalize the intifada.”   Hirsch also notes that the surge of antisemitism since Oct. 7 has traumatized liberal Jewish New Yorkers who have seen their erstwhile allies fail them. “Many of them disappointed us and some of them actually betrayed us.”   The rabbi also noted that the disaffection from Israel on the part of many American Jews, is due in part to the failure of  liberal Jewish religious denominations including his own Reform movement. He says they “mistaught” the concept of tikkun olam by failing to make it clear that while universal values are a vital part of Jewish identity, many of the youngsters didn’t also learn that defending Jewish rights and expressing Jewish particularism, including support for Israel, is also integral to liberal Judaism.   At the core of the problem is, he said, “There's simply a very deep and broad Jewish illiteracy in the American Jewish community” that can only be corrected by increased emphasis and support for Jewish day schools, camps and trips to Israel.

Everything you learned about the horrors of nationalism and the importance of multilateral and supranational organizations like the United Nations is wrong, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Much of the West has been taught to denigrate the idea of faith in a system of independent sovereign states after World War II and to support systems that undermine them. But the truth is that the most likely source of hate, bigotry and oppression in the 21st century doesn’t come from nationalists, but from liberals and leftists who seek to impose their ideas on the world by any means necessary. He’s joined in this week’s episode of "Think Twice" by Yoram Hazony, author of the seminal 2018 book The Virtue of Nationalism, which has just been republished in an updated edition. He points out that though modern liberals have accepted the idea that Adolf Hitler’s Nazism was a natural consequence of German nationalism, the truth is that it was a scheme for imperial domination, much like the ambitions of Napoleon and Stalin. It had nothing to do with the notion of an international order of independent sovereign states that, as Hazony writes, is the best recipe for freedom, despite the fact that all countries are flawed. He also points out that the contemporary push to downgrade national freedom in favor of globalism and the rule of international organizations, like the United Nations or the European Union, is another instance of that same desire for imperial rule in which elites in one place seek to dominate other nations. Hazony believes that the anti-Zionism and antisemitism directed at Israel is, in large measure, derived from the resentment of Marxists and Europeans who have lost faith in the rights of their own countries to national independence and sovereignty feel about the Jewish state’s willingness to fight for its right to exist and thrive. In this way, Israeli nationalism is viewed as unacceptable and paradoxically linked to the intolerance of the Nazis when, in fact, Zionism is a rational and much-needed response to the powerlessness and lack of national sovereignty of the Jews during the Holocaust. The intolerance of these anti-nationalists on the left for those, like Israelis, who resist their diktats, is similar to the way true believers in an ideological faith regard those who resist their ideas, he said. That, along with traditional antisemitism, is fueling the fires of hatred against Israel. Hazony, who leads the Edmund Burke Foundation, which has organized several National Conservative conferences in Europe and the United States since his book was first published, acknowledged that he was troubled by the growth of anti-Israel sentiment among some American conservatives since the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Most American conservatives have embraced U.S. President Donald Trump’s version of nationalism, which is very supportive of Israel. But some figures, labeled by Hazony as “alt-right,” seek to push Jews out of the conservative movement and are hostile to the Jewish state. That’s creating a problem for the Trump administration. Their need to keep their electoral coalition intact may be setting up a situation where they need to confront people like former Fox News host and current political commentator Tucker Carlson, but are “hesitant” to do so. But the author said he still has hope that it will do so in a firm way. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, a growing number of otherwise marginal right-wing voices are joining forces with most of those on the left to bash Zionism and Israel. He is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Breitbart.com’s Joel Pollak who believes that Zionism isn’t just a movement of Jewish rights but a model for how every group and nation can emphasize success rather than a harmful focus on being victims.   Pollak is the author of the newly republished book The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You and believes that instead of demonizing Zionism, the rest of the world, including the Palestinians, ought to learn from it. In his view, it provides a model for empowering and bettering the lives of non-Jewish minorities who are otherwise mired in divisive minority-group woke politics.   He sees anti-Zionism from the left as, in part, derived from anti-American ideas that oppose all successful nations as morally suspect. And the hatred for Israel that has surged in the last two years is rooted in a desire to spread fear among Jews.   The anti-Israel attitudes that are coming from the right are partially the result of traditional antisemitism and also based in envy of Israel as well as delusional conspiracy theories about the Jewish state controlling the United States. Those who oppose Israel are also putting themselves on the wrong side of history and opposing President Donald Trump, which is a certain loser for conservatives.   Tobin and Pollak disagreed about how to handle people like podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and the openly antisemitic Candace Owens. Pollak sees Carlson’s anti-Israel attitudes and platforming of antisemitic guests including Holocaust deniers as the result of the Anti-Defamation League’s attacks on him before he was openly antisemitic.   Tobin believes that Carlson was always an opponent of Israel and that his departure from Fox News just removed the guardrails that existed there which deterred him from platforming hatemongers in the way that he does now in his podcast. Tobin believes that prominent conservatives need to denounce antisemitism even when it comes from friends and allies. Pollak prefers to accentuate the positive and thinks it’s not too late for Carlson to change but agrees that even a “big tent” has walls, meaning that some things must always be unacceptable.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no choice but to go along with the scheme but believing that President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war in the Gaza Strip can work still requires a leap of faith, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. He believes that there’s little reason to think Hamas will free the hostages and surrender their arms and control of the Strip even if Trump is offering them no alternative. Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by JNS contributing editor and columnist Ruthie Blum who believes that while an end to the war with the “barbarians” of Hamas on Trump’s terms is possible, but she said we shouldn’t call that “peace” if it involves releasing more terrorists in exchange for freeing Israeli hostages and believing that the Palestinians are ready to change. While she was skeptical that Hamas would take this opportunity to end the war, the Trump plan won’t involve trust since nothing will move forward if all of the hostages are not freed first. Still, she feared that any deal that will mandate the release of Palestinian terrorists from prison may lead to more bloodshed in the same way that the 2011 agreement that freed kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit led to the Oct. 7 massacres. She also agreed with Tobin that the Trump administration’s faith in the good will of Qatar is a mistake since that regime funds terrorism and Islamist fundamentalism around the globe. Blum believes that businessmen like Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff simply don’t understand Muslim fanaticism since they view the world solely through the prism of business deals based on mutual interests. They fail to realize that the war between Jews and Arabs is about much more than real estate. Blum pointed out that those who claim that Israel can’t achieve its objectives by military means are wrong and that Netanyahu is right. If there is to be any progress toward ending the war it is only because of the military pressure that Israel has exerted on Hamas. What will be needed for Trump’s deal to do more good than harm, as was the case with previous attempts to broker peace, is for him to stick to his word and let Israel “finish the job” of defeating Hamas if they don’t agree to the deal or violate it afterward. That’s not what happened in the past when Israel made concessions to the Palestinians in the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. Blum sympathizes with Netanyahu when he tells his supporters to pipe down about extending Israeli sovereignty to Area C of Judea and Samaria where Jewish communities exist. His priority must be to avoid alienating Trump and showing patience on the issue since that is in Israel’s interests.

The question facing American Jewry is which trend is more important. As JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin notes, a lot of American Jews have been shocked by both the trauma of the Oct. 7 attacks and the subsequent surge of antisemitism into increased activism on behalf of Israel and giving to Jewish causes. But on the other hand, a large number of Jews, especially progressives, are becoming more assimilated, less interested in Jewish life and alienated from Israel. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by eminent scholar and author Jack Wertheimer, whose new book Jewish Giving: Philanthropy and the Shaping of American Jewish life traces the history of the subject up and to the present day. According to Wertheimer, since Oct. 7, “Jews have come out of the woodwork to give in support of Israel and support of Jewish institutions.” But on the other hand, there has been a marked decline in giving to Jewish causes over the course of recent decades. In the 2020 Pew Research Center survey on American Jews, showed that for the first time, a majority of them were not giving to Jewish philanthropies. Wertheimer said there was overlap between this group and those whom demographers describe as “Jews of no religion,” and those identity as political progressives. The problem is greater among younger Jews who are being heavily influenced by what he described as “propagandistic social media” that is hostile to Israel and the “tribal” loyalties to Israel and the Jews that is out of fashion on the political left. It is this portion of the community that sees the problem with Jewish groups and philanthropies as being that they are too focused on Jewish causes rather than not enough interest in them. Wertheimer’s research leads him to the conclusion that the problems facing umbrella Jewish philanthropies like federations are no different to those being faced by similar secular groups. He also thinks the belief that “big donors” are having a disproportionate impact driving the agenda of the Jewish community is overblown. Jewish groups and donors are not monolithic in their agendas. He says the key question facing the Jewish community is how it can follow up on the post-Oct. 7 increase in interest in Jewish life from those who have been galvanized by the actions of Hamas and its antisemitic supporters, including among those secular Jews who had been “checking out” of the community. Wertheimer asserts that even as major Jewish philanthropies have recognized the importance of support for Israel, they're also recognizing the vital importance of educating the next generation and also socializing them into participating in Jewish communal life. Because without that, there won't be a future for Jewish philanthropy in the next generation. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you liked this episode, watch more Think Twice here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsksduy16U5Kb-ZQdW5aIj7xGhY1kk6i0&si=ar3F8TsXM898lAJi Become a JNS Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24cdDLzkNJf2_CNNzdI-UQ/join Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel. Become a JNS Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24cdDLzkNJf2_CNNzdI-UQ/join

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the release of a new documentary film called “Soul on Fire” about the life of Holocaust survivor, author, teacher and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel couldn’t be timelier. At a time of an unprecedented surge of antisemitism and demonization of Israel, Wiesel’s example of courageous truth-telling is needed more than ever.   He is joined in the latest episode of Think Twice by Wiesel’s son Elisha, who works on Wall Street and for Israeli startups, as well as being a leading human rights activist. Elisha Wiesel said that he and his late mother, who passed away earlier this year, had been searching for a filmmaker to do a documentary about his father before choosing writer/director and producer Oren Rudavsky. He says that acting on his father’s instructions, they have refused to let anyone produce a film based on Wiesel’s classic Holocaust memoir, Night but believed a well-made documentary could help keep his memory alive as well as reintroduce a new generation to his work.   The film traces Wiesel’s Holocaust experience and journey back to life after surviving the camps and then his rise to prominence as an activist and author. But the key incident in it concerns his confrontation with President Ronald Reagan live on national television when he unsuccessfully sought to persuade him not to visit a military cemetery in Bitburg, where German SS soldiers were buried in 1985.   Elisha Wiesel, who was present at the White House for this event says that looking back at it now, he sees how difficult it was for his father, who liked Reagan very much, to lecture him in front of the country. But it was a classic example of how to “speak truth to power,” in the service of a great truth.   He also says that those Jews who speak out against Israel since Oct. 7, 2023 and in favor of “free Palestine” are not following his father’s example. Elie Wiesel was an ardent Zionist and never chose to criticize the Jewish state whether or not he always agreed with its government because he understood how that would be used by antisemites.   “Many of these people think that they're acting in keeping with my father's values. You know, I've seen signs at Israel-hating rallies that actually say, know, Elie Wiesel said, you know, the enemy, the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. So, a lot of people go around and they think, you know, ‘I'm being Wieselian. I'm not indifferent. Look at me.’ But of course, I think my father hadn't properly envisioned at the time that he made that statement, how we've gone past, we've gone beyond indifference. We've gone straight to what I like to think of is indignant ignorance.”   He said that the current generation of young American Jews, “Don't feel what I feel in my heart. When Israel is attacked, it's visceral. It's gut level. It's emotional. This is 50% of my brothers and sisters in the Jewish people, so many of whom came, whether fleeing the Farhud in Muslim lands or the Holocaust, you know, to get to Israel. These are my people, my brothers and sisters, who have gotten to a place where they can finally defend themselves and create the state that is transforming the world with its inventions and its ideas.   Elisha Wiesel compared the “Free Palestine” movement and support for Israel-hating New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to the punk rock music he loved as a teenager.“So much of the free Palestine movement to me, and so much of the tear it down, anarchy, let's end capitalism, has all of the violence of punk rock without the good music. It's just people looking for change without thinking too hard about what they're going to build or what should be built.”

When Jews gather in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this month, will their rabbis seek to rally them to stand with Israel and against the surge of antisemitism fueled by blood libels against the Jewish state? Or will they instead use their pulpits to virtue signal their support for the false charges of “genocide” being hurled at Jerusalem? Those are the questions that JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is posing. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, chair of the Rabbinic Zionist Coalition, who lamented the fact that so many Jews rely on outlets like The New York Times and NPR for news, which base their coverage on an uncritical acceptance of an anti-Israel and pro-Hamas narrative. He says the Rabbinic Zionist Coalition is needed more than ever now because as the post-Oct. 7 war drags on with antisemitism growing, Israel needs both the support of American Jewry and their spiritual leaders more than ever. He believes that the imperative for rabbis is to remember that “we should not allow our relationship with Israel to be defined or determined by Israel's enemies.” Weinblatt said he was concerned by the way a growing number of young rabbis are embracing an anti-Zionist agenda promulgated by opponents of the Jewish state. Their opinions were, he said, as is the case with many young Americans, influenced by progressive ideologies that falsely labeled Jews and Israel as “white” oppressors. Moreover, he said it was essential for all Jews to recognize the centrality of the land of Israel in Judaism. While some are focused on misleading allegations about Israeli behavior, even if some of the charges lodged against the Jewish state were true, “We do not love Israel because Israel is perfect, nor do we need Israel to be perfect for us to love her.” The mainstreaming of antisemitic attitudes and blood libels is, he said, simply a reversion to the pre-Holocaust reality in which Jew-hatred was normal. He pointed out that there are many great young rabbis who are inspiring their congregants to have a stronger connection with Israel. But part of the problem is the way some of the seminaries educating rabbis are admitting open opponents of Israel’s existence, something, he said, they would not do if candidates for admission were homophobic or racist. These institutions do so because they are desperate for students and also because they, too, are influenced by progressive attitudes about Israel. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you liked this episode, watch more Think Twice here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsksduy16U5Kb-ZQdW5aIj7xGhY1kk6i0&si=ar3F8TsXM898lAJi Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel. Become a JNS Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24cdDLzkNJf2_CNNzdI-UQ/join

With mainstream media parroting Hamas propaganda about “genocide” in Gaza, the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism is likely to continue to get worse, says JNS editor–in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Those blood libels are not only fueling the sort of Jew-hatred that is impacting students on college campuses but also raising the threat of more violence directed at synagogues, schools and other Jewish targets. He’s joined on this week’s episode of Think Twice by Michael Masters, the National Director and CEO of the Secure Community Network (SCN), the organization that is responsible for the security organization for the North American Jews. The SCN monitors threats to Jews and advises community organizations on safety issues providing its own version of an Iron Dome for the community. According to Masters, the antisemitism crisis on college campuses is not the product of spontaneous efforts to support Hamas and attack the pro-Israel community. The immediate mobilization of protesters and materials for them was organized and coordinated. And much of it was funded by foreign state actors, especially Iran. Moreover, he says these efforts were not merely expressions of free speech but took the form of organizing manuals that were clearly aimed at facilitating violence and other illegal acts.   The most ominous development, Masters points out, is that in the wake of pressure from the Trump administration on colleges and universities to stop tolerating and encouraging Jew-hatred, the pro-Hamas activists are switching tactics. Instead of building takeovers, they are now emphasizing the targeting of Jewish individuals, such as professors and students. Their goal is to silence and intimidate people from speaking out on behalf of Israel and in defense of the Jewish community.   The security expert points out that in the current atmosphere, Jew-hatred unites both the extreme left and the extreme right in a “circle” in which white supremacists and Islamists join together to target Jews. As such, he asserts that what is needed is a unified Jewish community that will advocate against antisemitism and also to get the funding needed to adequately protect Jewish institutions.   While the SCN has a list of recommendations for enhancing Jewish safety, Masters emphasizes the need for training for those responsible for security. While Americans have a Second Amendment right to carry firearms, he says the key to protecting the community is putting weapons in the hands of those who are trained to use them in an emergency.   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Jewish students should expect to be confronted by more pro-Hamas mobs and antisemitism when returning to college this fall, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin.  With legacy media mainstreaming Hamas propaganda and blood libels against Israel,  it’s likely that the surge of antisemitism throughout American education that began after the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, will continue in the coming months. He’s joined in the week’s episode of Think Twice by Cornell Law professor and Legalinsurrection.com founder William Jacobson who says it’s “going to be a very hot fall” with respect to anti-Israel activity. Jacobson believes that the pro-Hamas movement is in retreat as a result of Trump’s crackdown, which has caused many schools to act swiftly to quash antisemitism on campus, lest they lose federal funding. But given the widespread belief in the lies about Israel committing “genocide” in Gaza, antisemitic groups like Students for Justice in Palestine will be even more aggressive than in the past two years. It will be up to colleges and universities to ensure that those who break the rules and engage in illegal activity in the name of “Palestine” are held accountable. Israel-haters have, Jacobson says, co-opted the entire left-wing movement, sidelining causes like Black Lives Matter and making activism for the destruction of Israel their main goal. This movement is being aided with funding from Qatar and other malign actors and is also seeking to co-opt the right via influencers like Tucker Carlson. But, he says, their main target is America itself and not just the Jews. “If you wanted to destroy the United States from inside, what would you do differently than the left and now the Islamists are doing to our educational system, which is pitting students against each other based on skin color and identity group? And that's what the mainstream Jewish community refuses to address.  Jacobson says that Trump’s attempts to broker deals with universities like Harvard and Columbia is having an impact on the spread of antisemitism, in part, because of the decline in foreign students who have been a big part of the problem. But he cautions that enforcement of the provisions of those agreements are key, since these institutions are hoping to wait out Trump and go back to their discriminatory policies once he leaves office. The key to the problem is ridding the system of the plague of the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) which is at the core of the spread of anti-Jewish prejudice because it falsely identifies Jews and Israel as “white” oppressors. He criticized those mainstream liberal Jewish groups that refuse to oppose DEI.  Jacobson said he’s not sure whether the education system can be saved. “We need to now figure out how we protect ourselves from the universities, not how we reform the universities. I do not believe that universities can reform themselves, at least not the so-called elite universities where we're having most of these problems.” Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, Americans and many in the West seem to be blind to the threat posed by radical Islam and Islamist movements. Thanks to the successes of a red/green alliance that unites Marxists and Islamist antisemites who both hate the West, this attitude is leading to a fundamental shift that undermines the national identity of some nations and calls into question their willingness to defend civil liberties. This also involves not just tolerance for antisemitism and hatred for the state of Israel but legitimization and mainstreaming of the worst sort of anti-Jewish hate. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Ben Poser, the executive editor of White Rose Magazine, which has devoted its most recent issue to a discussion of what it describes as “the death cult of Islam.” Poser believes that in the name of tolerance and pluralism, many in the West fail to understand that jihadist terror groups and their advocates aren’t so much distorting Islam as they are a reflection of its basic beliefs and texts. Moreover, the claim by Muslim apologists that the word “jihad” is merely about internal struggle rather than faith-based commitment to aggression and terror against non-Muslims is a deception. Poser points out that the notion that the West is uniquely or even solely guilty for slavery or imperialism is not just wrong. It also ignores the fact that historically the Muslim world was just as responsible for such practices and, unlike the West, never repented for its crimes. Indeed, as he notes, slavery continues to this day in the Islamic world though few in the West care to notice it. He says Western societies need not violate their own principles of civil liberties in order to defend their values against those who seek to impose Muslim practices that are antithetical to liberty and democracy. Moreover, they need to recognize that the while the red-green alliance seems to be solely focused on vilifying Jews—in which they falsely accuse Israel of genocide which is what the Islamists of Hamas seek to do—it is also a threat to the entire West and not just Israel and its supporters. It is, Poser declares, necessary to understand that groups like the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) that masquerade as a Muslim civil rights group, is directly linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. The Brotherhood should, he says, be designated as a terrorist group, by the United States government. Washington should also stop treating Qatar, which funds these groups and is itself deeply implicated in the Islamic terror and indoctrination, as an ally rather than a dangerous foe. #geopolitics #news Chapters 00:00 The Nature of Islam and Its Perceived Threat 03:49 Understanding the Focus of White Rose Magazine 08:14 The Historical Context of Jihad 12:39 The Concept of Jihad: Internal Struggle or Conquest? 24:41 Islam's Compatibility with Western Civilization 31:26 Historical Perspectives on Slavery and Guilt 36:12 The Red-Green Alliance: Ideological Intersections 41:14 The October 7th Massacres and Ideological Jihad 43:35 Persecution of Christians in the Muslim World 50:36 Modern Slavery and Western Ignorance 54:56 The Rise of American Muslim Organizations Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you liked this episode, watch more Think Twice here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsksduy16U5Kb-ZQdW5aIj7xGhY1kk6i0&si=ar3F8TsXM898lAJi

If Israel’s plan for the “day after” the current war against Hamas ends is to secure a future of peace by pouring aid into the Gaza Strip, then JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin says Israel’s leaders are being delusional. That’s the same foolish mindset that led the entire Israeli military, intelligence and political establishment to believe that Hamas wouldn’t jeopardize the flow of cash and aid into the Strip by attacking as they did on Oct. 7, 2023. He’s joined in the week’s episode of Think Twice by Hudson institute scholar and Tablet magazine editor-at-large Liel Leibovitz who says that Israel’s leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political opponents lived in “dream palaces” in which they bought into the conceptzia that led them to think, “that all we have to do is find the correct amount of U.S. dollars to pay the Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas would basically transform itself into the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.” According to Leibovitz, the lesson of Oct. 7 and of the previous century of history is that the idea that Israel is, as its leadership always says, not at war with the Palestinian people, is a delusion. It is, he says, “absolutely straightforwardly false. Israel's war is 100% with the Palestinian people and we know this from the records of every single hostage who's returned” and spoken of how they were held and abused by ordinary Palestinian civilians, not terrorists. “We are fighting a war against a population that is hellbent on destroying us for no apparent reason. They are not kind of under the spell as some of our self-appointed intellectual and moral betters like to tell us.” Nor is it, he asserts, “because of some generational trauma or the ‘occupation’ or living in Gaza. They are pursuing a very distinct and easy to understand faith that tells them that in their midst, there is a usurper, the Zionist entity and it must be destroyed.  Leibovitz also believes that the emphasis in the pro-Israel community on winning the information war against the Hamas propaganda with better hasbara is another delusion. He says that Israel should forget about hasbara because the Western media is not interested in facts or truth. The only thing to do is to win the war and defeat Hamas and not worry about the “day after.” He also points out that the arguments against defeating Hamas in order to save the remaining hostages simply isn’t rational because it will endanger more Israelis and these efforts to pressure the government to surrender to the terrorists just makes a deal even less likely. The writer also believes the efforts by some Jewish groups including the Jewish Federation in New York City to aid Gazans is indicative of a delusional effort to demonstrate their empathy for the Palestinians that will accomplish nothing. The same is true, he says, of what the Anti-Defamation League is doing. Leibovitz thinks the mainstream Jewish organizations’ failure to respond to the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism illustrates their moral bankruptcy and the need to replace them with groups that actually serve the community’s interests and defend the Jewish people. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Not enough attention is being paid to the way foreign funders and supporters of terrorism are infiltrating into North America. That’s the conclusion JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin draws from a new report about the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood produced by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).  He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by ISGAP’s founding director and president, Charles Asher Small. According to Small, the Muslim Brotherhood is a century-old reactionary Islamist movement whose goal is to complete the work of Adolf Hitler and kill Jews and destroy the state of Israel. It’s just as interested in waging war on the West. To that end, it has spawned the Hamas terrorist movement and, with the financial assistance of Qatar, is also spreading its influence in the West. As ISGAP’s research revealed, the Brotherhood has made an impact in the United States as front groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) pose as civil rights organizations while spreading hate for Jews. But it has made even greater inroads in Canada. There it has weaponized that country’s liberal political culture and lack of First Amendment free speech protections to promote the idea that any criticism of Muslim antisemitism is Islamophobia and illegal. As Small relates, it has led many Jewish groups and leaders to be silent on a growing problem of Jew-hatred. That is compounded by the fact that many Brotherhood associated groups are now also receiving money from the Canadian government. Small also discussed the way Qatari money is spreading antisemitism in higher education, something that is also advanced by the presence of so many foreign students from countries where Islamist views are normative. He says it’s important for groups that are advocating terror and being funded from the Middle East to be banned and cut off from funds. Similarly, universities should not be allowed to import Jew-hatred while bolstering their finances. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

Patriotism seems to be out of style in the United States and many young people are also being influenced by toxic woke ideas that falsely smear Israel as an illegitimate “apartheid” state. That’s why JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin believes we need examples of Jews who dedicated their lives to serving both America and Israel more than ever. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by author Steven Ossad, whose latest book is dedicated to retelling the story of one of the greatest of American Jewish heroes: David “Mickey” Marcus, the West Pointed-trained American Jewish officer who helped lead Israeli troops in the War of Independence.   Marcus is the most famous of the foreign volunteers who joined the fledgling forces of the newborn Jewish state in 1948. Ossad’s new book, Chasing The Shadow: Mickey Marcus’s 200 Days of Destiny is the first book in English dedicated to this subject to be published in 60 years. Speaking of his subject, the author says Marcus was the son of Romanian immigrants to the United States who “made it” in the era in between the two world wars. He graduated from West Point where he won acceptance from his classmates as a collegiate boxing champion. He then went on to a career in the law and the administration of New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia before returning to the service prior to America’s entry into World War Two. He was a highly-ranked Pentagon staff officer and played an important role in the occupation of Germany and the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.   But in early 1948, he accepted an offer from the head of the government of what would soon become the state of Israel to organize and train the troops of the Haganah as it transitioned from an underground militia to an army of a beleaguered nation that was about to be invaded by five nations. He would go on to be the first Jew to be given the rank of aluf or general in 2,000 years and command the IDF’s troops that successfully lifted the siege of Jerusalem before being killed on the evening of a cease-fire in the conflict in a tragic friendly fire incident.   According to Ossad, Marcus is a symbol of the shared national security interests of the United States and Israel and a symbol of the democratic values of an army that fights a common enemy. He also noted that in the current atmosphere of hatred for Israel and antisemitism, he had a very difficult time finding a publisher for the book before the University of Missouri finally accepted it. Chapters 00:00 Reviving American Jewish Heroes 03:25 The Life and Legacy of Mickey Marcus 11:42 Mickey Marcus: Myths and Realities 17:42 The Formation of the Israel Defense Forces 23:21 Mickey Marcus's Impact on Jewish Identity 29:54 Mickey Marcus and Military Training Manuals 32:10 Truman's Recognition of Israel 35:56 Mickey Marcus's Role in the 1948 War 42:14 The Battle of Latrun and Its Significance 47:49 Mickey Marcus: A Symbol of US-Israel Relations 53:59 The Legacy of Mickey Marcus and His Story   Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, Americans may be failing the Jeffrey Epstein Rorschach test. He says the eagerness of so many people to not merely jump to conclusions about the notorious case but to use it as a vehicle to promote antisemitism says a lot about contemporary America as well as the way Jew-hatred has been mainstreamed by the corporate media and popular culture. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by famed legal scholar and author Alan Dershowitz. The retired Harvard Law School professor is someone who has been in the middle of the Epstein controversy as one of his attorneys and was at one time one of those falsely accused of participating in his crimes. That charge was retracted by his accuser. He says he wants all the material related to the case released by the government. But he warns though that those who anticipate that there are some terrible secrets yet to be revealed will probably be disappointed.

With talk of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire/hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in the news, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is asking whether the proposed agreement will allow the terrorists to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Israel’s two main goals of the post-Oct. 7 war—freedom for the hostages and the eradication of Hamas—are still mutually exclusive. He says it remains to be seen whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can insist on the sort of tough terms that will ensure that the Jewish state’s security isn’t compromised by an agreement that lets the terrorists survive the war they started with unspeakable atrocities. He’s joined by Israeli military analyst Elliot Chodoff who says that after 22 months of fighting, the Israel Defense Forces are exhausted and are ready for a break in the fighting against Hamas in order to rest and refit its units. He also says that although the terrorist group is not wiped out, the IDF has “smashed” its military formations and capability. What is left are guerilla forces that harass Israeli soldiers and is what he calls the “thug” level, in which operatives of the Islamist group intimidate the population of the Gaza Strip. Those thugs will likely prevent the creation of a planned “humanitarian city” in the southern sector of Gaza as well as any hope of realizing President Donald Trump’s idea of turning the area into a resort. Chapters 00:00 Ceasefire Negotiations and Hamas's Future 02:53 IDF's Achievements and Costs of War 05:59 Political Dynamics and Military Strategy 08:43 Challenges of Urban Warfare and Guerrilla Tactics 11:46 Economic Implications of Prolonged Conflict 27:15 Taxation and Economic Challenges in Israel 29:35 IDF's Mistakes and Successes: A Critical Analysis 33:39 Intelligence Failures: Understanding the October 7th Attack 38:31 Iran's Strategic Position and Future Threats 50:32 Syria's Role and the Future of Israeli Relations 53:02 The Abraham Accords: Prospects for Saudi Recognition

Anti-Israel extremists on both the left and the right are becoming more vocal and dangerous. But, according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City primary and the rebuff of Tucker Carlson by President Donald Trump, demonstrates that the left is far more dangerous right now. He’s joined on this week’s episode of Think Twice by Townhall.com political editor and Fox News Radio host Guy Benson who is deeply troubled by the way so many people have sympathized with the murderers, rapists and kidnappers of Hamas rather than democratic Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks. Chapters 00:00 The Shift in Democratic Support for Israel 03:39 The Rise of Extremism in Political Discourse 09:37 The Impact of Zoran Mamdani's Candidacy 17:46 The Intersection of Identity Politics and Extremism 23:36 The Broader Cultural War and Its Implications 28:54 The No Kings Movement and Its Implications 33:36 Bipartisan Responses to Foreign Policy 40:56 The Rise of Extremism in Political Discourse 49:41 Evaluating Trump's Second Term 54:56 Concluding Thoughts and Future Outlook

Being someone who opposes Israel’s existence and favors legitimizing terrorism and antisemitism now means never having to say you’re sorry in New York City. That’s the conclusion JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin drew from the victory of Socialist Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. According to Tobin, Israel’s enemies in the Middle East have suffered devastating defeats. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior analyst and JNS columnist Ben Cohen who believes Mamdani’s win must be seen in the context of an “eye-watering escalation of hate crimes against Jews” in New York since Oct. 7, 2023. Cohen also sees this as an example of how the antisemitism of the elites and the rougher version of Jew-hatred that happens on the streets has merged in the form of the pro-Hamas mobs chanting to “globalize the intifada” that Mamdani supports.

In this episode of "Think Twice," host Jonathan S. Tobin, editor-in-chief of JNS.org, welcomes Professor Amy Wax, a tenured law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a leading voice on issues of academic freedom, to discuss the increasingly narrow boundaries of acceptable discourse in America’s elite universities.

As environmentalist extremist turned pro-Hamas activist Greta Thunberg’s refusal to watch the film of the atrocities committed by the Palestinians on Oct. 7, 2023 indicated, the Jewish state’s foes may not be interested in listening to the truth about the war in Gaza. But according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, it is still imperative for pro-Israel advocates to continue to speak out and highlight the facts of the conflict. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by legal expert Thane Rosenbaum, author of the new book, “Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.” Rosenbaum argues that the attempt to smear Israel as having committed war crimes or a genocide in Gaza is not only an outrageous lie. He sees the attempt to shape the narrative of the war in this manner as “the intersection between antisemitism and international law.”

Can Israel afford to say “no” to the president who has been its best friend since the founding of the modern Jewish state? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, that’s a question that may have to be answered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if President Donald Trump’s optimism about his negotiations with the Iranian regime is vindicated by events.

In the Internet era and politically bifurcated societies, is constructive disagreement, a concept that is at the heart of traditional Talmud study, even possible anymore? JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin admits that he’s skeptical about whether political discourse can be anything other than a zero-sum game in the current atmosphere. Tobin is joined on this week’s episode by one person who believes that it doesn’t have to be that way. Daniel Taub, a mediator, writer and former Israeli diplomat is the author of the new book, Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement. According to Taub, the tools to bring us closer together can be found in those that are part of the Jewish tradition. What’s more, he points out that the methods that are used in Talmud study arose out of a period of even worse Jewish disunity, during the last years of the Temple era 2,000 years ago and the period that followed its destruction.

There were serious concerns raised about the way Israel seemed to have been sidelined during President Donald Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East. But JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin says that those worries need to be balanced recognizing that Trump has earned the trust of the pro-Israel community. He also believes that the substance of his policy address during the trip in which he said that the U.S. would reject both nation-building and appeasement and instead take a realist approach to dealing with the region would be better for the Jewish state in the long run. He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly. Bryen says that those worried about Trump and Israel shouldn’t panic. More than that, she noted that the way so many countries in the Middle East were showing eagerness to be friends of the United States since the start of Trump’s second administration was highly encouraging.  “The good news is that the United States is perceived now as a strong horse in the region,” said Bryen. And, she added, that's bound to be good for Israel as well as America. Bryen acknowledged that the fact that the war with Hamas can’t be ended quickly or easily will inevitably create some tensions with the United States since Trump dislikes “forever wars” and doesn’t want to be tied up in them. But she added that Washington has continued to send arms to the Jewish state to prosecute the war and is doing so without the conditions and criticisms that the Biden administration employed to try to hamstring Jerusalem’s efforts. Bryen agreed that the optics of Trump accepting a plane from Qatar, a “frenemy” of the United States, as a gift were bad. But she explained that it was not something from which the president would personally benefit. The Qataris are untrustworthy and connected to Iran and Hamas and host the Muslim Brotherhood. But she also pointed out that their recent conduct indicated that they knew that Israel’s successful actions in Lebanon and Syria had significantly weakened Tehran. The United States needs to be engaged in the region because the alternative is China, America’s chief geostrategic rival and moderate Arab nations don’t wish to be dominated by Beijing. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel. This episode of Think Twice is sponsored by The Jewish Future Promise — ensuring a vibrant and thriving future for Jews and Israel.   Sign the pledge: https://jewishfuturepromise.org/sign-the-promise/

How can American Jews help revive a community beset by assimilation and a declining sense of Jewish peoplehood among so many of its members? The answers to that have long been apparent, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Support for Jewish education, especially day schools, Jewish camps and trips to Israel is essential. But how can support for this effort be mobilized and energized? One answer is the Jewish Future Promise, a nationwide effort to get people to make a non-binding pledge that if there are any charitable contributions made upon their passing that 50% of it will be left to Jewish causes. Tobin is joined in this week’s episode by Mike Leven and Hadara Ishak, respectively the founder and the chief executive officer of Jewish Future Promise. According to Leven, who is a successful businessman in the hospitality industry, his hope for the project involves more than money. He wants parents to have conversations with children about the importance of supporting Jewish causes and in so doing, help reinforce a sense of continuity and their obligations to their fellow Jews, both in the United States and in Israel. Ishak noted that of the $6.3 trillion being donated to charitable causes in the United States, some 18 to 20% of that total comes from Jews. Yet only 11% of all the money given by Jews went to Jewish causes. They figured if that could be changed, then resources for all of the most vital needs of the Jewish people could be found. And that is what Jewish Future Promise hopes to achieve. They say the pledge isn’t about trying to persuade people not to give to non-Jewish causes but rather to remind them of the importance of investing in the Jewish future. While many people value acceptance by the non-Jewish world, Leven argues that such acceptance can’t be counted upon and that they need to remember that Israel is the “insurance” of the Jewish people’s survival. He said that this is even more true than ever after the Hamas-led Palestinian terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He wants Americans to take pride in the accomplishments of the Jewish people, especially in Israel. One of the more encouraging developments is that the Jewish Future Promise is also attracting support from non-Jews, such as actress Patricia Heaton, a passionate supporter of Israel who recently became the 100,000 promiser. The group is also sponsoring a program for young people called Jewish Youth Promise involving them writing a letter to their future selves about their commitment to the Jewish people. Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel. This episode of “Think Twice” is sponsored by The Jewish Future Promise—ensuring a vibrant and thriving future for Jews and Israel.Sign the promise: https://jewishfuturepromise.org/jns/

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the horrific Hamas-led Palestinian attacks on southern Israel that took place on Oct. 7, 2023 raise troubling questions about the reactions from the international community. Rather than rallying to Israel’s defense, much of the world responded with a surge of antisemitism that has impacted the lives of Jews around the world as well as isolating the Jewish state. He is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Israel Ellis, author of 10.7 The Wake Up Call: Global Terrorism and the Rise of Antisemitism in a World Gone MAD. Ellis, a Canadian entrepreneur and author who has a son who serves in the Israel Defense Forces, says his new book is an effort to answer the question of how this catastrophe could have happened. It’s also intended as a primer about the facts about Oct. 7 and the war against Hamas in response to the denial about the atrocities as well as the lies that have been spread about the Jewish state’s conduct in the conflict.He spoke of his outrage about the Jew-hatred that is made itself felt throughout North America and especially in his home of Toronto in which sympathy for the Palestinians’ “death cult” and hostility to Israel has become widespread. He pointed out that one of the key factors in transforming colleges and universities into hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism and hostile environments for Jews is the corrupting influence of money from Qatar and Iran. Ellis also thinks that the importing of students from the Middle East who have helped lead antisemitic demonstrations and illegal activities has helped transform these schools since the 1990s when he studied the Middle East.Ellis believes a big part of the problem that Israel faces is the way the West, especially the Obama and Biden administrations in the United States and the Justin Trudeau government in Canada “betrayed” Israel by appeasing Iran and undermining the war on Hamas. He is hopeful about the new administration of President Donald Trump, whom he believes is a “messenger of God,” whose outlier personality and role as an agent of “chaos” has brought about a necessary change in the conversation about the Middle East.Ellis also believes that an imperative of the post-Oct. 7 world is to create Jewish unity. He believes that can only be achieved in Israel by the creation of a constitution and a change in the way the Knesset and government are elected. Though he admits it seems an unlikely prospect, he asserts that when you consider that “Israel is a land of miracles,” anything is possible.Listen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.This episode of “Think Twice” is sponsored by The Jewish Future Promise — ensuring a vibrant and thriving future for Jews and Israel.Sign the promise: https://jewishfuturepromise.org/jns/

The willingness to succumb to antisemitism is always a sign of a sick society, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. The mainstreaming of Jew-hatred in the media, popular culture and political discourse since Oct. 7, 2023 has created a perilous moment for Jews but it is also a sign of just how lost so many Americans have become. He believes what’s needed now is a willingness to understand that it is Western civilization, which has its roots in Judaism, that is under attack as much as Israel.He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Newsweek senior editor-at-large and podcaster Josh Hammer, the author of the new book, Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.JNS will host its inaugural International Policy Summit on Monday, April 28, 2025. This daylong event will convene government officials, policymakers, diplomats, security experts, leaders of pro-Israel organizations, and influencers for vital discussions aimed at addressing Israel's critical challenges and opportunities in a post-Oct. 7 world.Registration at this point is for invitees only. However, you can submit a request for registration at the following link: https://reg.eventact.com//welcome?Form=iZpQAAA&c=iOAE&Event=iUJEAAA&lang=enListen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.This episode of “Think Twice” is sponsored by The Jewish Future Promise — ensuring a vibrant and thriving future for Jews and Israel. Sign the promise: https://jewishfuturepromise.org/jns/

Jonathan S. Tobin, Editor-in-Chief of JNS, sits down with Jennifer Sutton, Executive Director of the Council for a Secure America (CSA), to discuss the critical intersection of energy policy, U.S. energy independence and its impact on Israel and the broader Middle East.

🔥 Trump’s Crackdown on Pro-Hamas Foreign Students – Is It Justified? | Think Twice with Jonathan S. Tobin & Benjamin Weingarten 🔥This episode of Think Twice is sponsored by The Jewish Future Promise — ensuring a vibrant and thriving future for Jews and Israel.Sign the pledge: https://jewishfuturepromise.org/sign-the-promise/In this episode of Think Twice, JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan S. Tobin sits down with Benjamin Weingarten, Senior Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, Fellow at the Claremont Institute and Senior Contributor at The Federalist, to discuss the latest controversy surrounding deporting foreign students who support Hamas.🚨 Topics Covered in This Episode:Assessing President Trump’s first weeks in office.Why Trump’s immigration policies are sparking outrage from the left.The legal and national security rationale for removing pro-Hamas foreign students.How the woke ideology in American universities fuels antisemitism.The Biden administration’s past failures in tackling radicalization on campuses.The broader implications for free speech, national security, and higher education👉 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on hard-hitting discussions that challenge the mainstream narrative.#Trump #Immigration #CampusAntisemitism #FreeSpeech JNS will host its inaugural International Policy Summit on Monday, April 28, 2025. This daylong event will convene government officials, policymakers, diplomats, security experts, leaders of pro-Israel organizations, and influencers for vital discussions aimed at addressing Israel's critical challenges and opportunities in a post-Oct. 7 world.Registration at this point is for invitees only. However, you can submit a request for registration in the following link: https://reg.eventact.com//welcome?Form=iZpQAAA&c=iOAE&Event=iUJEAAA&lang=enListen/Subscribe to weekly episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.Watch new episodes every week by subscribing to the JNS YouTube Channel.

JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by George Washington University Law School Professor and Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley, author of the important new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage. Turley’s book highlights the fact that almost from the moment the First Amendment was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution, the right to free speech has been under attack. As in the past, the impetus behind the contemporary war on free speech has been the belief that political foes represent a threat that cannot be coped with by normal means. Catch every story from Israel and the Jewish World:Latest news: https://bit.ly/jewish_news_serviceSubscribe to our free newsletter: https://bit.ly/subscribe_to_JNSYou can also join the fight against media bias! Donate here: https://bit.ly/Support-JNS