Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Find more from Jonny here.
This is Survivor, an animated film created by puppeteer and cartoonist, Zoom Rockman.
It's the story of Auschwitz and Dachau survivor, Ivor Perl BEM, based upon his Holocaust memoir, Chicken Soup Under The Tree.
The first screening in London took place in November 2024 and you'll hear Ivor and Zoom reflect on the movie and why it's so important.
I’ve had the privilege of having a one-to-one conversation with Ivor at his London home, where he shared his harrowing experiences and reflected on the reawakening of antisemitism today.
This is a Lemon Soul film, in loving memory of Jonny Zucker, an inspirational teacher, fantastic children's author, who celebrated reading among kids and envisioned educational ideas such as this movie.
The stirring title music was composed and performed by Erran Baron Cohen, who produced musical accompaniment on the night. Listen to the story of Survivor.
Find more from Jonny here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find all of Jonny's podcasts, personal appearances and writing on Substack and support him with a coffee here.

Parents, if you're about to send your child to university, how are you preparing them for it?

Western campuses aren't all what they used to be.

In this powerful conversation, I meet the brilliant Izabella Tabarovsky — a leading scholar on Soviet antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and author of Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide.

Izabella grew up under the Soviet system, where 'anti-Zionism' was the official line — and it quickly turned into suspicion of all Jews, Zionist or not.

"Jews who grew up in the Soviet Union know well their copybook is being repeated here", says Izabella.

And Israel hate doesn’t distinguish between the Jewish State or its diaspora or your child, the institutions become anti-Zionist, so all Jews are suspect.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a Zionist or not.

They don’t even understand what Zionists are. When they speak about Zionists they mean you and me.

The Iron Curtain hate of the Cold War-era has resurfaced in universities in the UK, US, Europe, and beyond — dressed up in modern language, but delivering the same chilling results: isolation, hostility, and erasure of Jewish identity.

What does this mean for your son or daughter heading off in their first weeks away from home? How can families prepare? What lessons from Soviet refuseniks can help Jewish students thrive — or simply survive — in today's environment?

Izabella breaks it down with unflinching clarity: the patterns, the propaganda echoes, and practical steps parents and students must take now.

This isn't just history repeating — it's a wake-up call for the present.

This is Izabella Tabarovsky.

Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy.

Find all of Jonny's podcasts, personal appearances and writing on ⁠Substack⁠ and support him with a ⁠coffee here⁠.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help support Jonny by buying him a coffee and find his Substack feed with all his podcasts and articles.

What you’ll hear now in this short interview is a headline masterclass in defining and tackling antisemitism.

If only I had longer, but our guest filled the room with shorthand wisdom of the deepest kind when we met during an antisemitism conference in Vienna where I was presented with a plethora of brilliant and courageous people.

Vienna, the scene of my own family’s escape to Birmingham in 1938 and 1939 from Hitler’s European tyranny.

Join us for a compelling conversation with Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel's former Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism, ex-Knesset member, and leading voice on the "oldest hatred" in its modern form.

Born in Jerusalem, raised in Canada as stepdaughter to renowned human rights advocate Irwin Cotler, she returned to Israel for military service, law studies, and a career bridging academia, policy, and politics. Her PhD probed free speech limits on campuses—eerily prescient today.

Since the October 7 attacks, Michal has spotlighted the surge in antisemitism, featured in the documentary Tragic Awakening: A New Look at the Oldest Hatred. She dissects how anti-Zionism mutates into mainstream Jew-hatred, the failures of the global response, and why this threat demands urgent action from everyone - and you.

A must-listen on resilience, truth, and defending shared humanity.

Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, supporting philanthropy.

Help support Jonny by ⁠buying him a coffee⁠ and find his⁠ Substack⁠ feed with all his podcasts and articles.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Help Jonny's worldwide coverage of Jewish and Israeli stories. Buy him a morale boosting coffee here.

And so it’s happened. There’s now a piece of Palestine on British soil.

In Galena Road, a back street of Hammersmith.

An interesting name for a Palestinian address. It’s a Sephardi Jewish surname for one.

And archaeologists discovered a prehistoric trench under the modern office building on which this embassy now stands - the remnants of a Roman road. The Romans,conquerors of Jerusalem, destroyers of the Second Temple, which forced most of the indigenous Jews into exile.

You decide if G-d has a sense of humour.

Keir Starmer’s ill-conceived declaration of Palestine, which has led to this embassy and described by former prime minister Boris Johnson as a “fart in a gale” amounts to a staging post in the Palestinian pursuit to destroy the Jewish State.

Starmer’s unleashed a persistent stink on the British people rather than a momentary pong.

As the continuing Hamas protests ruin London’s premier shopping and entertainment thoroughfares, Starmer’s only served to embolden the keffiyeh-wearing terror supporters into Palestining our city centres on days off and threatening the daily lives of Jewish people as they go about communal prayer or dropping kids off at school.

In a stroke, Starmer’s turned an office block off King St’s one-way system from a self-proclaimed mission to a full-blown embassy, with a Palestinian flag hoisted outside.

“Palestine” has no internationally agreed boundaries, no capital and no army.

No army of course, but for terrorist militias Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others.

But now Starmer has gifted them the diplomatic credentials and privileges of every other state represented in London - now with the cloak of diplomatic protection to plan what Palestine is best known for.

Starmer’s proclaimed vision for Palestine included a governing militia he freely calls a terrorist group, whatever he now says since Donald Trump’s decisive action to bring all but one of the remaining Israel’s hostages home from Gaza hell.

So if you’re wandering down King Street in your kippah or tzitzis unlucky enough to take the wrong short cut to Ravenscourt Park tube, think twice about the route you take.

Because the Palestine Embassy isn’t a peaceful diplomatic entity and by promoting it, Starmer’s contributed to importing the intifada to Britain’s streets.

Here’s Hassan Zomlot, Palestine’s first Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Listen very closely to his words.

Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy.

Find all of Jonny's podcasts and writing on his Substack.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices