Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

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.