Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Hen Mazzig is truly a modern Israeli. A social media manager for major corporations and a writer and campaigner.Born in Israel in 1989 to a Mizrahi family originally from Iraq and Tunisia, Hen campaigns for the advancement of Israeli Jews from the east and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay man.He actually came out in the IDF serving in Ramallah and Jerusalem in a humanitarian role.His life experience includes being blown out of an ice-cream shop by a suicide bomber when he was 12. It was an attack which killed a grandma and her granddaughter.Identity is a huge part of modern day political discourse, where it seems being a Jewish progressive puts you at odds with non-Jewish ones.In doing so, I encounter the word, “pinkwashing” for the first time. We unpack some complicated concepts because I think it's important we all understand where both Israel and antisemitism is going in the 21st Century.Hen's very engaging and I learned a lot about parallel histories and Jewish lives to my own.Jonny produces these podcasts to support Israel and the Jewish diaspora. You can help support the show at http://www.buymeacoffee.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is dedicated to the 60,000 British Jews who fought for their country during 1939 to 1945.One of them, Stanley Fisher (100-years-old in August 2024), is my first cousin Samuel Posaner's great-grandfather - and we met by chance at Samuel’s Bar Mitzvah in Birmingham in the very 75th anniversary week he landed on Normandy’s beaches in 1944.Stanley is living history.Not only a teenage soldier arriving in Arromanches in the week of D-Day, he also fought at Arnhem, a terrible and bloody defeat for the allies - and then witnessed the shocking aftermath of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.He says it gave him nightmares, silencing him from telling his wartime story for decades.Eventually though, a desire to recount his experiences prompted him to speak up - for the benefit of the next generation.It's a profound privilege to bring his story to a wider audience.With thanks to Ben and Rachel Posaner, Esmond Rosen and of course, Stanley who came to the Bar Mitzvah with his wife Evelyn, whom he married in the summer of 1946. That's 73 years! (Update: Sadly Evelyn died a few months later).By the way, Bar Mitzvah boy Samuel's great grandmother, Olga Posaner's own Holocaust testimony is available here (she was my grandma). It's "from Vienna's tyranny to Birmingham's freedom".Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is brought to you with Dangoor Education.And you can help me too by making a small donation the size of a cup of coffee at http://www.ko-fi.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author, historian and campaigner Lyn Julius promotes the culture, history and lives of Mizrahim, the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa. Mizrahi is the Hebrew word for Easterners - and their exodus from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Morocco, Lebanon, Iran and Algeria has perhaps been overlooked in the last century. After 3,000 years of vibrant Jewish life, interspersed with persecution and exile, the Mizrahim are all but erased from those countries. Most live in Israel now - but there's also a diaspora in the UK, France, Canada and the USA. So what can and should we learn from the sudden flight from their generational homes? Lyn's book "Uprooted: How 3,000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World Vanished Overnight" is the culmination of a decade of research. It's a story we mustn't ignore. This podcast also contains Hillel Neuer's famous "Where are your Jews?" audio by his kind personal permission. Jonny produces these podcasts in support of Israel and the Jewish diaspora. Would you like to support his show? Do it right here and see the rest of the series of podcasts with great guests and conversations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonny produces these podcasts in support of the Jewish diaspora and Israel. You can help support the show here.My guest is a fourth generation smoked salmon purveyor and a former EU politician (if not a European Union supporter).Lance Forman was elected as a Brexit Party MEP in the 2019 European election, which he says shouldn't have happened in the first place.He accuses the political class of being fast and loose with extremist rhetoric, while being cowardly in making the big decisions lest they lose votes.He plots a 115-year history of the family business, H Forman & Son and describes the challenges of succession, planning and adapting to modern times. He harks for a return to the days of Margaret Thatcher, says Nigel Farage is "Maggie in men's clothing" and "antisemite" Jeremy Corbyn and allies' vision of "Britain as Venezuela" needs preventing.He's proud to be a Jewish member of the party, shrugging off the unpleasant daubing of a swastika on his factory shutter by what he describes as an “extinction rebellion” supporter.Jonny produces these podcasts in support of the Jewish diaspora and Israel. You can help support the show here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can help support the show at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygouldToday's guest is distinguished academic, medic, historian and legislator, Lord Leslie Turnberg. Born in Salford in 1934 to Polish and Romanian immigrant parents, Leslie grew up to enjoy a successful career in medicine including presidency of the Royal College of Physicians. He took his place in the House of Lords when Tony Blair was prime minister and now speaks with authority in the upper chamber on medicine, the NHS and Israel. Agile of mind with a lifetime of experience and achievement, Leslie has applied his considerable intellect to becoming a historian. To mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, he wrote a book on its place in today's Middle East. In an extensive conversation, we discuss the history of Israel's formation, the key Zionist characters, those who helped them, today's Palestinians - and as a Labour peer, what he thinks of the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuvia Tenenbom, theatre director, playwright, author, academic and unapologetic, uncompromising Jew. For six months in 2019, he travelled the length and breadth of Britain, uncovering “a deep psychological Jew hate”.He warns the Anglo-Jewish community’s in denial - just as they are in Poland, where he also gives examples. His UK experiences make up the fifth book in a series, The Taming of the Jew, which was released towards the end of 2019.He spoke to many voices in British Jewry and found a refusal to admit to the extent of antisemitism. He says, "I feel like a plumber, clearing out the sewage. I don't want to do antisemitism - but I have to."Tuvia says that if Jews hide their identity, they face extinction.He says Israel needs to be cherished, it's the future but losing it would spell the end of Jewish life in the world - but for a few isolated Chasidim.I met him in the week he visited a pub in Derry, Northern Ireland, creating world headlines as the regulars openly told him, “Hitler hadn’t finished the job”. His frankness is as hilarious as it is disturbing.Jonny produces these podcasts to support and defend the Jewish diaspora and Israel. You can help support the show and see the rest of the series via the link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we focus on champions for our people in law and football. We talk to CEO of UK Lawyers for Israel, barrister Jonathan Turner and David Bolchover, author of a biography on Bela Guttmann, “The Greatest Comeback”. Jonathan describes the remarkable successes of his organisation despite limited manpower and resources and David recounts the ultimate Jewish football hero, Bela Guttmann, who survived the Holocaust to become a twice-winner of the European Cup with Benfica. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show by buying him a coffee and looking back at every episode he's made so far at http://www/ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yaakov Peri has dedicated his life to public service. As director of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security, he was answerable only to the Prime Minister and oversaw the agency for nearly seven years. He was also in the opposition Yesh Atid party from 2013 including a spell as Minister for Science, Technology and Space. Yaakov tells me his hopes for peace with Palestine, the deeply problematic situation with Hamas in Gaza, how the flurry of Israeli elections will shape the future and changes to the Basic Law, which concern his instincts for equality. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My two guests are MPs taking the fight to Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism. While Ian Austin became the ninth MP to leave Labour since Corbyn became leader, John Mann MP says he'll "have to be thrown out". But both are united in their fight against his leadership. I share with Ian a deep respect and affection for the Black Country, where he's MP for Dudley North, and we discuss our shared heritage of family who sought refuge from the Holocaust in the industrial Midlands. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I focus on an industry at which Israel leads the world, HealthTech.In a matter of years, Israel's digital health industry has evolved from a small group of innovative start-ups to a rich eco-system around Tel Aviv. In a partnership of private and public sector investment, Israel's HealthTech industry is training AI algorithms, using massive data based on twenty years of medical records from half of Israel's population.This was presented at the third UK Israel Business HealthTech Forum at which I spoke to UKIB's Hugo Bieber, Clalit's Professor Ran Balicer and Eyal Gura of Zebra Medical Vision.Israel has the equivalent of four NHS’s serving its population with a top-up private sector with additional benefits.So what can Israel teach the UK about public healthcare provision?This is a good news story from the start-up nation!Jonny makes these podcasts in support of Israel and the Jewish diaspora and you can help support him at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices