Jonny Gould's Jewish State

A university lecturer at Southampton Solent was sacked for telling his course leader, “I believe that Jewish people are among the cleverest in the world.They are much maligned because of it.” Stephen Lamonby remarked to Dr. Janet Bonar that people from different countries had become good at certain things owing to “high exposure”.He said that Germans are good at engineering because they are “exposed to a high level of industry from an early stage in their lives”.When Dr. Bonar, an engineering lecturer, mentioned her degree in physics, Mr Lamonby said that Jewish people had “a particular gift” for the subject. He used Albert Einstein as an example and asked Dr Bonar if she was Jewish. She took offence and called Mr. Lamonby a racist.Mr. Lamonby was sacked by the University and an employment tribunal dismissed his claim. Judge Colm H. O’Rourke said: “A Jew told they are good at physics — because they are a Jew — may well consider that as demeaning their personal intellectual ability/hard work.” Mr. Lamonby says, “at university, you can only think things, you can’t say them!”Is this verdict a complete miscarriage of justice? Is it even offensive to Jews to say they have a talent for physics? Although Jews account for less than 0.2% of the world’s population, at least 20% of all Nobel Prizes have been won by Jews, including 56 winners of the Physics Prize – nearly half of the total! When does philosemitism become antisemitism?And what’s happening to free thinking in our British universities?If you enjoy Jonny's podcast shows, you can help support him at http://www.donorbox.org/jgpodcast or you can buy him a coffee and see all his podcasts here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This a rework of the Trevor Horn episode from 2019. As lockdown looms large over 2020, this is a tribute to his creative vibrancy throughout the previous year: the worldwide concerts and ambitious records.And it’s updated to include the orchestral album with Rod Stewart and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which followed “Reimagining the 80s”, a 65-piece rework of the best songs by stars from the decade.I was lucky enough to see Trevor in concert during this prolific period of creativity at the Royal Festival Hall in London.But I’ll always remember this very personal discussion because of how we discussed his deep connection to both Judaism and the synagogue community of South Hampstead in London.We also talk about his own background growing up in County Durham. His father came from a family of teachers, his mother from mineworkers and the class snobbery which emerged from that seems a world away from his life now. I’m always proud when an interviewee tells me at the end that he or she’s never been asked a question about an aspect of their life before.Jewish religious spirituality and community is a big part of Trevor’s life. “I believe in Judaism more than I believe in anything else”.You can help support Jonny with Gift Aid at https://www.donorbox.org/jgpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help Jonny's podcast along with a coffee!This is the second episode of a two-part series on the future of Britishness, patriotism and the nation state. In Part 1, Trevor Phillips talked of “mission creep” in diversity and Karen Harradine distinguished between power and influence, arguing that though Trump and Johnson were in power on both sides of the Atlantic, many of our institutions were influencing against them.Today, "Britain's strictest headmistress" Katharine Birbalsingh discusses the unifying call of Britishness for those of us lucky to live here.And writer and campaigner Inaya Folarin Iman says identity politics discounts humanity and its sheer potential and possibilities.Katharine came to prominence a decade ago at the Conservative Party conference, when she spoke in support of the party's education policies.She slated a "culture of excuses, of low standards ... a sea of bureaucracy ... [and] the chaos of our classrooms", “because it keeps poor children poor."Katharine confronted the prevailing culture in education to setup the Michaela secondary school in Wembley.Inaya Folarin Iman is a writer, commentator, campaigner and director of the Free Speech Union, campaigning for freedom of speech and expression, democracy, liberty and human potential.I need your help to keep this podcast going, so if you’ve listened to a few episodes and eagerly anticipate the next one, buy me a coffee here! Thanks! ⤵️ https://ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cancel culture, editorial purges and your sporting heroes kneeling before kickoff.Why should sport be a promotional platform to institutionalize potentially divisive ideas? Unlike other countries,English football's popularity was built on its competitive integrity and little else. I just want to watch Aston Villa lose in peace in an ideologically free zone and wonder to why the jobs market might be engineering opportunites for some and not others.What is antiracism and is it the same as being against racism? - and if not, what exists between those definitions? Is antisemitism the elephant in the vaccuum?If we all agree racism is a problem is change even possible when the establishment of public sector, charities, even sports governing bodies are rushing to be associated with an organisation which also wants to defund the police and crush capitalism.Not to mention their plan for Israel.And is the silent majority of Britain made up of factory workers, lollipop ladies and warehouse operatives miffed to be told they’re guilty of white privilege?Over the next two episodes, I talk to some of the leading critics of these sudden events to define this newly-charged identity politics which it has triggered.Trevor Phillips has been there done that, a doyenne of arts, equality and data analytics, he’s also among many other roles, the former chief of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, who have completed their report into Labour antisemitism which dogged Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and threatens Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.Writer and campaigner and Conservative Woman, Karen Harradine believes that while Trump and the Tories are in power, it’s an unelected illiberal left which dominates cultural and civic institutions.And coming up in the next episode: Educationalist and headmistress, Katharine Birbalsingh, who is proud to be British and wishes people would stop telling her black and Asian pupils that somehow their identity lies elsewhere even if they and their parents were born here.And director of the Free Speech Union, Inaya Folarin Iman, who says we’re navel-gazing in the narrow world of identity politics when the human condition of achievement and fulfilment is so much greater.I'd love your help to keep this podcast going, so if you’ve listened to a few episodes and eagerly anticipate the next one, buy me a coffee here and scroll through all the other episodes too. Thanks! ⤵️ https://ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Theresa May's former joint chief of staff, Nick Timothy.Many will recall a bushy beard during his time running Mrs. May’s administration; a style of grooming by which the tabloids dubbed him, “Brummie Rasputin” but they’ll have to find a new nickname for him now!Nick formulated and wrote policy in the Home Office before ascending to the corridors of Number Ten where he wrote Mrs. May’s 2017 General Election manifesto.But he didn't see out her premiership, taking the hit with Fiona Hill for her disastrous 2017 election campaign, an experience he calls "both brutal and chastening".His career continues as both a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and author of "Remaking One Nation: The Future of Conservatism", in which he outlines a restoration of civic capitalism as the way to bring a bruised and divided country together.We also discuss the problems of globalisation, the West’s future relations with China which he's long warned about, lessons learned for both major parties from the 2019 General Election and he hits back at an allegation of antisemitism from the left-wing magazine, The New Statesman.A Brummie like me, Nick cites another son of Birmingham, the 19th Century’s Joseph Chamberlain as his political hero.LISTEN to Nick Timothy. Have you listened to a few of Jonny’s podcasts? If you enjoy his shows, you can help support him at http://donorbox.org/jgpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Greenblatt is the co-architect of the peace plan which changed the course of the Middle East during 2020.In January 2017, he was appointed Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations.With presidential advisor and President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner and US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, they drafted “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People”.Officially he’s left his role as one of President Trump’s chief Middle East peacemakers. But in practice, it’s quite another matter.“It's like that line from the Eagles' song, 'you can checkout anytime you like, but you can never leave'", says today’s prestigious guest of “Hotel California”.He admits to still being involved despite leaving the White House in September 2019. The following February, Jason joined the board of Our Crowd, a crowdfunding investment platform aimed at projects in the Middle East, but says he's in regular contact with diplomats, politicians and contacts built up during his years in Washington.It's a wonderful interview in which we define the hopes and challenges of making an elusive peace to Israel and the Palestinians and he doesn't shy away from the difficult obstacles. He's realistic in his outlook.Jason is a first-generation American. His parents only arrived in the US in 1941 and 1956 as penniless Jewish immigrants of both Nazism and Communism and he marvels at the opportunities his country has given him.LISTEN to Jason Greenblatt.If you enjoy Jonny's shows, you can help support him with a donation at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonny's podcast is helped along by your generous support. Buy me a coffee here.How many acts of heroism never come to public attention because of the modesty of the heroes themselves?This is a first-ever audio interview in English with one such man.His name is "Dani', the Mossad commander in charge of “Operation Brothers” for five drama-filled years from 1978.Without doubt, this is one of Israel's finest hours; a Mossad mission to emancipate thousands of Ethiopian Jews from the dangers of revolution and persecution. But this is also about partnership and brotherhood.Mossad would never have achieved this lethally dangerous, giant humanitarian mission without the equal determination of the Ethiopian Jews themselves, to realise a generational longing to return to Israel, the land of their forefathers."Dani" only agreed to this interview on condition that his full identity wouldn't be revealed. And while he's partially emerged out of the shadows, I'm told many of his Mossad colleagues remain completely anonymous. “Operation Brothers” was a mission to spirit thousands of Ethiopian Jews out of their remote highland villages to walk hundreds of miles to the hell of a Sudanese refugee camp, whereupon they would begin a perilous exodus to Israel.Some Jews were given passports and papers and flown out of Khartoum Airport, a difficult and dangerous process in itself. But thousands of others were transported hundreds more miles to the Sudanese coast under cover of a plain-sight Red Sea diving resort which Dani and his Mossad agents ran as a fully functioning hotel while conducting their covert operations each night.10% of the Jews didn’t make it, dying on the exhausting journey. Mossad is famous for spying missions and counterespionage - but this was nothing to do with that. This was a world first for such an organisation: purely humanitarian, 700 kilometres behind enemy lines in Sudan, which was extremely hostile to Israel back then.Dani's Mossad command of this covert mission is faithfully chronicled in Raffi Berg’s brilliant book, "Red Sea Spies". I am so grateful to Raffi for organising the interview and truly honoured to talk to Dani.This episode is dedicated to Kasei and Kidan Cohen.Let me inform, educate and entertain you! I’d appreciate your help. If you’ve listened to a few episodes and eagerly anticipate the next one, follow this link to donate. Buy me as little as a cup of coffee at https://ko-fi.com/jonnygouldRecorded in May 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Jonny Gould’s Jewish State grows, so does the challenge to deliver relevant content to a bigger audience. I have now expanded into news coverage as Israel gets a first government in 18 months after three exhausting elections. This is “Israel Briefing”, the first in a new series on Jonny Gould’s Jewish State, as James Marlow becomes our Israel correspondent. On Israel's 72nd anniversary, Binyamin Netanyahu leads yet another government as PM, the Trump Administration urges him to scale down business with China, while reports of Iran’s withdrawal from Syria appear to have been somewhat overstated. James also reveals the brinkmanship behind forming the next government, an enlarged 36 ministries as splintering parties seek cabinet responsibility but the merger of the UN and US Ambassador roles. If you like what you hear today, please share generously on Facebook, Twitter and email. Jonny makes these podcasts for free and if you enjoy his shows, you can help support him here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Israel is fast emerging as a hub for international TV drama.Netflix is syndicating a host of Israeli hit shows across 192 countries. It was unthinkable even five years ago that the Startup Nation would add cultural ‘soft power’ to its already established high-tech rollcall of global successes. Fauda was thought just to be of interest to an Israeli audience.Originally only in Hebrew and Arabic, it's the story of the IDF's special units who go deep behind enemy lines to combat terror and rescue hostages.Among the mainstays of all three series is co-creator and lead, Lior Raz who plays Doron Kabbilio (and other undercover aliases) and his Shin Bet commander, Itzik Cohen, the long suffering Captain Gabi Ayub.I caught up with Itzik, locked down in Tel Aviv, who explained with great passion the role of the actor in such a realistic show. Lior Raz comes courtesy of Roger Bennett of Men In Blazers. Thanks and Courage, Roger.Jonny Gould's Jewish State is brought to you with Dangoor Education.You can support his work too right here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve listened to a few episodes and eagerly anticipate the next one, follow this link to support Jonny.Today’s guest is author and the creative power behind the Netflix smash hit Unorthodox, Deborah Feldman. This has become the runaway most-listened to episode of Jonny Gould's Jewish State so far.Unorthodox on Netflix has become the must-watch drama everyone seems to relate to. It’s a highly moving portrayal in English, German - and Yiddish.It’s about a pregnant teenager fleeing her ultra-orthodox Jewish community in New York for a new and uncharted life in Berlin. The series heroine, Esty Shapiro, played by Shira Haas is fictitious - but the story mostly isn't. It's a version of the life of Deborah Feldman, who now lives in the German capital having grown up in Brooklyn in a Satmar community.Deborah's book chronicles her own exodus from Williamsburg and I tracked her down to her Berlin home, which was easier than normal during lockdown! It's an intense interview covering many topics, including the role of women in orthodox communities, how the current Jewish generation deal with the trauma of the Holocaust, the future of Zionism and just how many Chasidim(religious Jews) have taken Esty and Deborah's route out. It’s “thousands and now it’s become a movement”, says Deborah.LISTEN to this powerful, thought-provoking interview with the real Esty Shapiro, Deborah Feldman. Let me inform, educate and entertain you! I’d appreciate your help.If you’ve listened to a few episodes and eagerly anticipate the next one, follow this link to donate. Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is brought to you with Dangoor Education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices