Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Jonny Gould

This is Jonny Gould’s podcast of record and diplomacy for Israel and the Jewish diaspora. These are conversations for everyone, with top guests and their most essential thoughts and perspectives. Presidents and politicians, commanders, artists, ambassadors, rabbis and rock stars - even Mossad agents. Apple Podcast Number 1’s all over the world, all the time. Tell your friends! Subscribe now and support Jonny. read less
Religion & SpiritualityReligion & Spirituality

Episodes

145: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: "If you're a rabbi and everyone loves you, you're not a rabbi and if you're a rabbi and nobody loves you, you're not a mensch!"
Apr 17 2024
145: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis: "If you're a rabbi and everyone loves you, you're not a rabbi and if you're a rabbi and nobody loves you, you're not a mensch!"
This is a rather special episode featuring a competition winner from North West London Jewish Day School who won the chance to make an episode of Jonny Gould's Jewish State.  Awareness of news and current affairs is certainly heightened by the pressure of social media - so imagine a young person growing up in this day and age. I ran a competition for the pupils of Year 6 and I said to the class, “get me an interesting interviewee and write down the questions you’d like to ask them”. I was delighted that 11-year-old Maya Amit stepped up to the plate and secured time with the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, who invited us to his home.  This episode is presented with Lemon Soul in loving memory of the late Jonny Zucker, a born educator, children’s author and primary school teacher, who also trained as a radio journalist. His mission was encouraging children to read, he visited school after school, library after library. With thanks to the Chief Rabbi for giving us his valuable time at home, to competition winner Maya Amit and mum Raquel. To Miss Caplan and Mr. Radomsky at North West London Jewish Day School and to Nigel Canin and all at Lemon Soul, a publishing house from EdTech company, 2Simple, in loving memory of the late, great Jonny Zucker. Jonny, I hope you’d be proud of this initiative x Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
144: Ruth Wasserman Lande: “Iran’s mullahs have held the Iranian people hostage since 1979”
Apr 14 2024
144: Ruth Wasserman Lande: “Iran’s mullahs have held the Iranian people hostage since 1979”
If you'd like to support Jonny's work, you can buy him a coffee here. The Islamic Republic of Iran emerges from behind the regional proxies it's used as pawns until now to take direct action against Israel. Over 300 suicide drones, ballistic and cruise missiles targeted Israel from multiple fronts from Iran, as well as Iraq, Syria and Yemen. 99% were intercepted, mostly outside of Israel's airspace by Israeli, British, American, French, Saudi and Jordanian forces.  So what tactical change by Iran does this signify? Have they ramped up a level towards their endgame, the step-by-step systematic, premeditated domination of firstly the Middle East - and then the world.  Ruth Wasserman Lande is former MK for the Blue and White Party, she served as advisor to Shimon Peres and as Deputy Ambassador at the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Her parents arrived from Soviet Lithuania. They lived in Ashdod before moving to South Africa. Then she decided to make Aliyah and return to Israel.  Since October 7th, she’s addressed groups of parliamentarians from across Europe and hasn't held back telling them in graphic form about the extreme violence, burning, shooting, raping and murdering of civilians on that terrible morning. I caught up with Ruth in London as the European Jewish Association organised a tour of Jewish community leaders in London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.  Hear why she says the IDF should go into Rafah and finish off Hamas once and for all as well as what Israel should do with Iran. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is brought to you with Dangoor Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
143: Amichai Chikli: "October 7th has created a reset for world Jewry. There is an awakening of the Jewish spirit"
Apr 10 2024
143: Amichai Chikli: "October 7th has created a reset for world Jewry. There is an awakening of the Jewish spirit"
Support thirsty Jonny here with a coffee Jonny also produces and presents 🍎 number one hit podcast, 🎙️Jonny Gould’s Jewish State. Follow now at this link: This is Israel’s minister of the diaspora Amichai Chikli, with me in Krakow, just a short distance from Auschwitz, where we’d journeyed together with other international leaders as part of a European Jewish Association delegation. We were all there for a symposium on antisemitism in Europe called, "Never Again: Lip Service or Deep Commitment?" Also among the notables, former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who pushed back in our interview on Polish Holocaust denial on Polish soil - and Elon Musk, in conversation with Ben Shapiro - and coming soon on Jonny Gould's Jewish state, former French prime minister Manuel Valls, who conducted our interview in French. Amichai tells us that October 7th is a reset for the House of Israel to achieve a new unity and awareness and pride in Jewish identity.  He pays tribute to individuals within American Jewish leadership, who recognise the dangers of the university campus, where words lead to violence.  And we talk of prospects for peace: where it’ll come from and through the worst days of Israeli-American diplomacy, how Israel must prevail over Hamas. So that “Never Again is Now” doesn’t lead to a Never Again tomorrow. This is Amichai Chikli, Israel's minister of the diaspora. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education: Jonny also produces and presents 🍎 number one hit podcast, 🎙️Jonny Gould’s Jewish State. Follow now at this link: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
141: Col. Richard Kemp: "The UN, US and UK just threw the Israeli hostages under the bus"
Mar 28 2024
141: Col. Richard Kemp: "The UN, US and UK just threw the Israeli hostages under the bus"
The war started by the October 7th massacres is the longest in Israel's history. But with rockets still being fired from Gaza into Israel’s southernmost city of Sderot and a first Houthi rocket landing further south, what next steps are open to Israel - and what of the deteriorating relationship with the United States? Our esteemed guest today is Col. Richard Kemp, commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and Chair of the COBRA Intelligence Group, coordinating MI5 and MI6 during the London bombings of 2005 and the Bali and Madrid terror attacks. Richard joined the Army the day after he left school and spent thirty distinguished years in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Bosnia, as well as Afghanistan.  He always delivers new insight into war commentary and this discussion is no different. Col. Kemp hails the success of the Shifa Hospital campaign in northern Gaza as “the single largest and most successful operations in the war so far". The IDF killed around 140 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as arresting around 650 additional terrorists. He describes the evacuation of a million or more civilians sheltering in Rafah as possible - and explains how instead of moving Gazans north into cities like Khan Yunis, why Egypt could so easily solve the refugee issue - but won’t. Not forgetting our hostages? Where are they? How can they be rescued? Israel has never been more on its own.  Richard says Hamas has only been emboldened by the UN Security Council resolution, which called for a ceasefire and for the freeing of hostages, but to Israel’s fury did not hinge the ceasefire demand on freeing them.  But there is a military alternative to going into Rafah. With world opinion led by the UN and the Biden Administration squarely against Israel finishing off Hamas on their terms, Richard explains the options open to Israel which you're not hearing about in the media. You’ll hear it here. Plus the unreported cooperation between Israel and Egypt, who also share a border with Gaza beyond Rafah.  This episode is presented with the cooperation and support of ELNET UK, a bipartisan, cross-party international organisation working to advance UK-Israel relations based on shared democratic values and strategic interests. Our discussion is led by ELNET UK's CEO, the Rt. Hon. Joan Ryan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
137: Loay Alshareef in London: "It’s bad news for the enemies of peace”
Feb 20 2024
137: Loay Alshareef in London: "It’s bad news for the enemies of peace”
Support Jonny here. Loay Alshareef has been on quite a journey. Growing up in Saudi Arabia and brought up a religious Moslem, he was exposed to antisemitic schooling about Israel and the Jews. “Jews are the fierce enemies of the Arabs and you shouldn’t have them as friends. Christians too. But first, Jews.”  Loay was part of a generation of young Saudis who stood no chance. Isolated from the world, taught to hate. It still goes on - although less so.  But the poisoning of his young mind was challenged when he visited France with the Accord school, a homestay program in Paris so he could learn French. He was housed with a Jewish family.  Initially he refused, preferring to be with a Tunisian Arab family. But in the end, he stayed with the Jewish family.  His host Rachelle of Yemeni tradition said, “stay with us a couple more days”, and so began a journey to conciliation. But it started with confusion.  These people are nothing like what he’d been told. Rachelle was a good person, so were the Koranic texts about Jews wrong?  Loay was introduced to “The Protocols of the elders of Zion” at 15 and was told it was a book brought in from Egypt as a text “the Jews don’t want you to read”.  Two weeks and two Shabbats later, Rachelle took him Kosher shopping. He was included in Pesach and Chanukah celebrations, a first hand education in Judaism.  He went home, told his mum. Mum said” I’ll give you two months, you’ll come to your senses!”. 14 years on, it was the catalyst to a new world and mum supports his stance on social media. Loay travels the world as an ambassador for his country of residence, the UAE and for Muslims.  He tweets in Ivrit as a fluent speaker, quotes the Torah and Tanach and wants to pursue a PHD in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It’s a pleasure to have spent hours and hours in Loay’s company. We talk candidly with the tape on and off. I try to get my head round the tribal differences between the Arabs, it gives me a headache, especially when he says even the Qataris want Israel to win the War in Gaza and I ask him about the UAE’s support for the South African case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. It’s a frank and fascinating discussion with one of the Gulf’s most important voices. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
134: 🇮🇱 Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s tenth president, “we were butchered here also by the Polish people”
Jan 28 2024
134: 🇮🇱 Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s tenth president, “we were butchered here also by the Polish people”
Support Jonny here. In this exclusive interview, Reuven Rivlin, the tenth president of Israel pushes back on Polish law on remembering the Holocaust in Krakow. President Rivlin was among world leaders in politics and industry at the European Jewish Association’s delegation to Auschwitz-Birkenau and taking part in a symposium on the growing threat of antisemitism in Europe, entitled NEVER AGAIN: Lip Service or Deep Commitment? Also with us, former French prime minister Manuel Valls, a strong voice against antisemitism and Israel’s minister of the diaspora, Amichai Chikli. In 2018, Poland amended their domestic laws on National Remembrance to penalise speech in public laying responsibility for the Holocaust to Poland or the Polish nation. There was international outcry, relations between Israel and Poland were frozen. Israeli school trips to Poland’s death camps were suspended. The tours are back now - although the law still applies. Poland was the first country invaded and occupied by Adolf Hitler. Members of Poland’s resistance and government-in-exile did try to warn the world of the mass killing of Jews, thousands of Poles risked their lives to do so. However, Holocaust researchers have collected overwhelming evidence of Poles who murdered Jews fleeing the Nazis, or Polish blackmailers who preyed on helpless Jews for financial gain. Nearly all of Poland’s roughly 3 million Jews, were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators, and the major Nazi death camps were in Poland. And in telling the truth with me in Krakow, the president challenges Polish law directly. President Rivlin’s a Jerusalemite and says it gives him a unique skill in dealing with allcomers in Israeli society, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Armenians, Druse, you name them. As a new Polish government contemplates overturning the laws of a previous administration, Reuven Rivlin tells it like it is. Enjoy this conversation with Israel’s tenth president. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
133: Haviv Rettig Gur and Jonathan Spyer: “Deathblow” to Hamas would aid Gulf vision for stability
Jan 17 2024
133: Haviv Rettig Gur and Jonathan Spyer: “Deathblow” to Hamas would aid Gulf vision for stability
Support Jonny making his podcasts by buying him a coffee. How has the October 7th massacre challenged Israeli public opinion on the conflict with the Palestinians? What about 'day after' planning? Has it seriously begun? And does peace lie with the Gulf states? Just how much do the Saudis and the UAE want Israel to win? Who in Palestinian society is there to deal peace with? Is there anyone? Has the Israeli left anywhere left to go? Is war from Lebanon inevitable? While the Houthis, another Iranian proxy, bomb western ships in the Suez Canal, how many fronts could this war open? Is the escalation so inevitable that Iran joins the fray directly? Russia in Syria, Iran’s land bridge there. Let’s update that too. Why is it imperative that Israelis from both the north and south return to their towns and kibbutzim? Two of Israel’s leading journalists and analysts join me here in London thanks to Elnet UK, a bipartisan, cross-party international organisation, who stand above politics, working to advance UK-Israel relations. We go deeper into the conflict, wading through the hardship, to try to find a route to a better day. Haviv Rettig Gur is a senior analyst for The Times of Israel. He’s covered the politics, foreign policy, education and relationship Israel has with the Jewish diaspora for 20 years, he served as Director of Communications for the Jewish Agency and taught at the best pre-military academies in Israel. He was a correspondent at the Jerusalem Post. Jonathan Spyer is Director of Research at the Middle East Forum and edits the Forum’s journal, the Middle East Quarterly. He has reported from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Ukraine and back home including in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. LISTEN NOW for a in-depth analysis of today’s Middle East and hopes for a better tomorrow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
132: 🎥 "Golda": producer Nicholas Martin, "We knew we were winning when Assad shot his generals"
Jan 3 2024
132: 🎥 "Golda": producer Nicholas Martin, "We knew we were winning when Assad shot his generals"
Our guest today is Nicholas Martin, movie producer and writer of the biographical drama, “Golda”. Golda was seven years in the making, and as you’ll hear, Nicholas has delved so deeply into her story - and by extension Israel’s story from independence to the 1970s - which makes this such a captivating interview. He’s also made deep friendships with Golda’s family and throughout Israel. A highly experienced and talented filmmaker who’s become a world authority on the period, but didn’t know a great deal about Israeli history before he started. Nicholas’ previous film was the hilarious, Florence Foster-Jenkins. Golda also stars Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger and Camille Cottin as Lou Kadar, Golda's assistant. Our episode music has just been composed in support of Israel by my friend Bryan Edery with concert violinist Miriam Kramer. He’s called it “Israel in my Heart, ner Tamid”. Thank you for allowing it to be our beautiful episode theme tune. I’d been talking to Nicholas about an interview for two years, before we eventually sat down in his London home for this considered and emotional discussion. I want to thank Nicholas for being such an open interviewee. This is one of the best. You can buy "Golda" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Sky Store, Microsoft Store, Rakuten TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube as download or rent it on Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Rakuten TV, Apple TV, Sky Store, Curzon Home Cinema online. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
131: 📺 “Another How To Make Peace In The Middle East" TalkTV Special
Dec 24 2023
131: 📺 “Another How To Make Peace In The Middle East" TalkTV Special
This is “Another How to Make Peace in the Middle East", building on the success of the first Talk TV Special, with more highly informed guests from the worlds of politics, the military, frontline medicine, journalism, diplomacy and think tanks. In this episode, British-born Israeli hand and trauma surgeon, Dr Elliot Sorene explains how he's operated on Hamas fighters, who after successful surgery have "promised to see him on the battlefield". He also tells us how his son survived the Nova Festival massacre and saved other’s lives too. Hen Mazzig is a former IDF humanitarian soldier, who insists his experiences in Judea and Samaria give him belief in a path to peace from the younger generation of Palestinians. Jonathan Sacerdoti reveals yet more evidence of human shields and Gazan tunnels. Barak Seener has troubling statistics on just how radicalised the Palestinian population is and the extent to which hearts and minds must be changed after the war with Hamas is won. And Benjamin Anthony believes the war against Hamas is long overdue and needs to be prosecuted to the very end, but with the equal commitment of rescuing the Israeli hostages who remain incarcerated in Gazan hell. The response to the first show was instant thanks to social media and included an incredible response on YouTube, where my interview with Dr Einat Wilf has attracted approaching 400,000 views. This is ANOTHER How to Make Peace in the Middle East. With thanks to everyone at TalkTV, who give me this vital and valuable platform to discuss hopes for a better day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices