After October 7: A Quillette Podcast

For three years, historian Omar Mohammed secretly documented life under the Islamic State as the anonymous blogger Mosul Eye. He speaks with Pamela Paresky about growing up under Saddam Hussein, the Jewish history Iraq erased, the 1941 Farhud, reporting from inside ISIS-held Mosul, and why he believes antisemitism is the thread that runs through every jihadist movement.

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Historian Richard Landes speaks with Pamela Paresky about apocalyptic movements, shame–honour cultures, and why he believes Western journalism has spent twenty-five years reporting jihad backwards.Landes was trained as a medievalist, specialising in apocalyptic movements and shame–honour cultures. He is the author of Can "The Whole World" Be Wrong? Lethal Journalism, Antisemitism, and Global Jihad, and the founder of Infidel Awareness Month, a 27-day observance running from 11 September to 7 October.Recorded 9 September 2026.📖 Full transcript: coming soon🌐 infidelawareness.com📚 Can "The Whole World" Be Wrong? — https://www.amazon.com/dp/164469994X?tag=quillette-20Quillette is an independent platform for free thought. Subscribe: https://quillette.comCHAPTERS

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What is it really like to be an Arab Muslim serving in the Israeli army?

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In this wide-ranging Quillette interview, Gadi Taub speaks with Pamela Paresky about Israel’s war aims, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and the collapse of long-standing assumptions in Western foreign policy.

Taub argues that the goal of the current conflict is not simply to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but to make the cost of pursuing them unbearable. He also examines the legacy of the Oslo Accords, the failure of deterrence-based thinking, and the deeper ideological divide between Western and Islamist worldviews.

The conversation explores how postmodern and postcolonial ideas have shaped Western perceptions of conflict—often obscuring reality rather than clarifying it.

Topics include:
– Why regime change is difficult but still relevant
– The strategic transformation of the Middle East
– The failure of Oslo and the two-state paradigm
– Palestinian political culture and the role of Hamas
– Deterrence, escalation, and military doctrine
– The influence of postmodernism on Western thinking

This is a detailed and challenging discussion about war, ideology, and the limits of Western self-understanding.

00:00 – War aims and the limits of destroying nuclear programmes
01:00 – Why deterrence may not work with Iran
03:00 – How the Middle East strategic balance has shifted
05:00 – The problem with “living with a nuclear Iran”
07:00 – Zionism, academia, and the culture wars
10:00 – Civilisation vs barbarism: competing worldviews
12:00 – Nuclear deterrence and Western complacency
14:30 – Why avoiding war can lead to bigger wars
18:00 – Israel’s early military doctrine vs modern strategy
22:00 – Deterrence, escalation, and US–Israel alignment
25:00 – Internal tensions: politicians vs military leadership
29:00 – The “gatekeepers” and democratic accountability
33:00 – Oslo explained: demographics vs security
37:00 – The collapse of the “concept” on October 7th
42:00 – Palestinian society, education, and ideology
47:00 – Civilian casualties and urban warfare comparisons
50:00 – Why Oslo failed in practice
55:00 – Gaza disengagement and its consequences
59:00 – West Bank risks and security realities
01:05:00 – The West’s tendency to blame itself
01:10:00 – Postmodernism, Foucault, and truth
01:15:00 – Identity politics and the depoliticisation of identity
01:20:00 – Why Zionism is uniquely targeted
01:24:00 – What the West gets wrong—and what must change

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In this episode, Pamela Paresky speaks with journalist and analyst Emily Schrader about the Islamic Republic of Iran—its ideology, power structure, and the growing signs that the regime may be approaching a breaking point.

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In this interview, Iranian-American analyst Behnam Ben Taleblu speaks with Pamela Paresky about the ideological origins of the Islamic Republic, the evolution of Iran’s protest movements, and the geopolitical stakes of the current conflict. From the revolution of 1979 to the regime’s modern network of proxy militias, Taleblu argues that Iran’s ruling system is both internally fragile and externally aggressive—and that its future may depend on the interplay between internal dissent and external pressure.

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Israel’s recent military victories in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and against Iran have reshaped the regional balance of power. But according to Professor Dan Schueftan, battlefield success is only the beginning. In this wide-ranging conversation with Pamela Paresky, Schueftan argues that Israel faces not a solvable conflict but a permanent condition — one requiring what he calls “violent maintenance” to prevent enemies from rebuilding.

He also contends that Israel is losing Western public opinion amid a broader cultural shift within academia, media and law. Israel, he says, must be “Sparta towards its enemies and Athens at home” — strong externally, liberal internally, and prepared for a long struggle.

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In this wide-ranging interview, Israeli historian and public intellectual Gadi Taub joins Quillette’s Pamela Paresky to discuss the controversy surrounding the Sde Teiman detention facility, the leaked surveillance footage that went viral worldwide, and the legal and political fallout inside Israel.

0:00 — Introduction

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In this extended interview, Quillette’s Pamela Paresky speaks with Chapin Fay, spokesperson for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an independent American non-profit delivering emergency food aid to Gazans amidst ongoing war. Fay describes how GHF has distributed more than 170 million meals in just four months—without diversion or theft—and explains why their unorthodox model, which includes armed protection and local staffing, has drawn both praise and controversy. He also addresses criticisms from the UN and outlines the complex logistical and moral landscape of operating in one of the world’s most fraught humanitarian environments.

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Gil Hoffman is the Executive Director of HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog that monitors international news coverage for bias against Israel. He previously served as the chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post for nearly 25 years, covering 10 Israeli election campaigns and reporting from over 40 countries. A frequent lecturer on Israeli politics and media, Hoffman has appeared on CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, and has been a guest lecturer at major universities around the world. He holds a degree in political science and journalism from Northwestern University and served as a reserve spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.

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