I'm Jonathan Sacerdoti

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I'm Jonathan Sacerdoti episodes

February 25 Iran’s negotiators are stalling, but pressure at home could change everything – Beni Sabti
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Benny Sabti, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, joins me at a moment of acute strain for the Islamic Republic. He argues that Tehran’s diplomatic posture follows a familiar pattern: delay, repackage old positions, concede nothing essential, preserve enrichment capability and the infrastructure of coercion. This time, Washington appears less willing to indulge the ritual, framing negotiations as a final test before more forceful options are considered.Are the renewed student protests, including at the Sharif University of Technology, a sign of genuine internal fracture or another uprising destined to be crushed? Does the re-emergence of figures such as Ali Larijani signal consolidation, desperation, or preparation for succession? Could someone like Hassan Rouhani serve as a transitional figure if pressure intensifies? And if confrontation comes, would it accelerate regime collapse or entrench it through violence? These are the questions Sabti addresses as we assess how narrow Tehran’s room for manoeuvre has become.👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand whether Iran stands at the brink of war, internal upheaval, or a managed transformation that reshapes the Middle East.💬 We Discuss: ⚖️ Why Tehran’s negotiating pattern reflects a long institutional culture of delay without substantive concession 🧭 How the Trump administration’s approach seeks legitimacy before escalation 🎯 The erosion of Iran’s regional terror network and what that means for deterrence 📉 The regime’s domestic crisis, from inflation shocks to collapsing public trust 🎓 Why renewed campus protests at Sharif and beyond matter strategically 🛡️ Whether elements of the IRGC could favour controlled transition over ideological collapse 👑 The symbolism of exiled opposition figures and the limits of monarchical nostalgia 🔄 Regime change versus regime management, and what history suggests about transitions from revolutionary states 🌍 What retaliation against Israel or US allies would mean for the regime’s survival 📊 How internal legitimacy and external pressure now converge on Tehran’s future🔔 Subscribe for more serious, unflinching conversations about geopolitics, security, antisemitism, and the future of Western institutions.📲 Follow JonathanOn X: https://x.com/jonsacOn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com👇 Comment below — is Iran approaching genuine transformation, or merely another cycle of tactical retreat designed to preserve the regime for another generation?#JonathanSacerdoti #BennySabti #Iran #MiddleEast #Geopolitics #RegimeChange #NuclearNegotiations #IRGC #WesternSecurity
44 min
February 22 The public no longer trusts the establishment – Julia Hartley Brewer on immigration, Israel, Islam, Frage, and Starmer
Julia Hartley-Brewer is one of the most outspoken voices in British broadcasting. In this conversation she defends Israel with unapologetic force, describing her recent visit as life changing and arguing that after October 7 the country acted with remarkable restraint under existential threat. She says Britain and America would have responded far more ruthlessly.
But this discussion goes far beyond Israel.
She explains why she would now have voted for Donald Trump, why she believes lockdown was a historic political and moral failure, and why trust in government, science and the BBC has been permanently damaged. She argues that Britain has talked itself into cultural self-doubt, tolerated intolerance in the name of liberalism, and failed to defend its own borders or values.
From mass immigration and deportations, to media bias over Gaza and Iran, to the psychological impact of Covid on a generation of children, this is a conversation about strength, sovereignty, and whether Britain still has the will to govern itself.
👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand why she believes Britain is drifting, institutions are failing, and political courage is in short supply.
🇮🇱 Why she says Israel showed extraordinary restraint after October 7 and has been misrepresented in Western media
🇺🇸 How Donald Trump's strength is essential to deterrence
📺 BBC amplification of Hamas narratives and hesitation over Iran protests
🧠 Why lockdown policies shattered public trust and damaged children, families and the economy
🛂 Why illegal immigration requires mass deportations and a hard reset on border control
🇬🇧 Why she believes British liberal culture is superior in its freedoms and should be defended without apology
🗣️ The danger of suppressing dissent while tolerating extremist rhetoric on Britain’s streets
📱 How social media broke the information monopoly of legacy broadcasters
⚖️ Whether Britain needs a leader willing to make deeply unpopular but necessary decisions
🔔 Subscribe for more serious, unflinching conversations about Britain, Israel, free speech, and the future of Western democracies.
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👇 Comment below — has Britain lost the will to defend its values, or is a political reckoning on the horizon?
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💬 We Discuss:
1 hr 26 min
February 17 Inside Gaza: will the war start again as the ceasefire is tested? Jonathan Sacerdoti reports from central Gaza as Hamas breaks Gaza ceasefire AGAIN
Jonathan Sacerdoti travels into the Gaza Strip, embedding with the IDF along the new front line that now divides the territory.
Months into the Trump brokered ceasefire, Israel holds 58 per cent of Gaza behind what they call the 'yellow line'. Hamas remains in control of the rest and declares it will not disarm. Sniper fire, tunnel discoveries and daily ceasefire violations continue, even as aid enters through Israeli controlled crossings.
From fortified positions overlooking the central refugee camps to staging areas where humanitarian supplies are transferred, this on the ground report examines how Israel is enforcing its security doctrine just a kilometre from its own civilian communities.
Speaking with the IDF’s international spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, Jonathan explores Hamas’s continued tunnel building, guerrilla attacks during the ceasefire, disputed casualty figures, and the strategic calculation behind holding a majority of the Strip.
The question hanging over the quiet landscape is whether this is containment, or simply the interval before renewed war.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how a ceasefire operates when territory is divided, weapons remain in place, and both sides prepare for what may come next.

💬 We Discuss:
🟡 Why Israel is holding 58 per cent of Gaza and what the yellow line represents in practice
🔫 How Hamas continues sniper attacks and guerrilla operations during the ceasefire
🕳️ The scale and persistence of the tunnel network beneath Gaza
📦 How humanitarian aid is transferred across the border under Israeli control
🏘️ The strategic importance of Gaza’s central refugee camps
⚖️ The dispute over casualty figures and the politics of wartime information
🛡️ Whether demilitarisation is achievable under the current agreement
🌍 The prospects for international forces replacing the IDF presence

🔔 Subscribe for more serious, on the ground reporting and analysis on Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle East.

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👇 Comment below — will this ceasefire endure without Hamas disarmament, or is renewed conflict inevitable?
15 min
February 11 Did NY's Muslim mayor just use the Quran to fight Trump's migration policy? Neo-Islamic conquest and how compassion became our weakness and their strength – Prof Mordechai Kedar
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When NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani referenced Islamic teachings and invoked the Hijrah in his speech at a multi-faith event, was he offering a message of spiritual resilience — or signalling something more political?
In this conversation, Prof Mordechai Kedar unpacks what that reference really means, explaining how Hijrah is not simply a story of exile and refuge, marking the transition from marginalisation to sovereignty, from preaching to governing. We explore how a modern political leader drawing directly on that narrative deserves our urgent attention.
Mordechai Kedar, one of Israel's most experienced scholars of Islamic culture, Arabic society, and political Islam, draws on decades of study, to explain how migration functions within Islamic tradition, how theology becomes statecraft, and why historical precedent matters in contemporary politics.
We also assess Gaza after October 7th, Israel’s determination that Hamas does not return to power, and the argument for clan based emirates rather than nationalist or Islamist governance. Finally, we analyse Iran: credible threat, regime survival, ethnic fault lines, and whether decentralisation offers a more stable future than imposed unity.
This is a conversation about power, legitimacy, and the operating systems beneath public rhetoric.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand what Mamdani’s Hijrah reference signifies within Islamic history — and how migration narratives intersect with political authority in the West and the Middle East.

💬 We Discuss:
🕌 What the Hijrah represents in Islamic political development
🏙️ How religious narrative can function as a framework for public authority
⚖️ The boundary between personal religious practice and political Islam
🔥 What makes Israel alarmed about the Trump plan for Gaza
🏛️ The case for clan based emirates over ideological nationalist movements
🌍 Why heterogenous Middle Eastern states struggle for legitimacy
🛢️ Whether Iran is truly afraid of Trump's threats
🧭 The argument for decentralisation as a path to stability

🔔 Subscribe for more serious conversations on Israel, political Islam, geopolitics, and Western institutions.

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👇 Comment below — when political leaders invoke sacred history, should voters hear metaphor, or doctrine with institutional consequences?
1 hr 6 min
February 03 Iran’s last chance: what the West can still do to save Iran – Dr Thamar Eilam Gindin
Iran’s regime is relying on executions, foreign fighters and extreme repression to survive.
In this conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti speaks with Dr Tamar Eilam Gindin, a specialist in Iranian language, culture and political mythology, about what she is seeing emerge inside the Islamic Republic. Drawing on reports and her own sources from within Iran, she explains how executions surged in the months that followed the 12 Day War, how protests were crushed using non-Iranian forces, and why these tactics point to a system under enormous strain.
Dr Gindin describes how funerals have turned into protests, why mosques are being burned as symbols of oppression, and why removing the Supreme Leader might not dismantle the regime.
The conversation also examines how Iranian regime narratives continue to shape Western media and academic analysis, and why protesters inside Iran are rallying around Reza Pahlavi.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how Iran’s uprisings will develop in the coming weeks and months.

💬 We Discuss:
🇮🇷 The surge in executions after the war in June
🔥 The regime’s use of foreign militias against protesters
🕌 The breakdown of religious legitimacy
⚔️ Why removing one leader would not end the system
🧠 How Western analysis misunderstands Iran
👑 Who is Reza Pahlavi and why protestors chant his name
🌍 What type of external pressure could actually change outcomes

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on Iran, power and global affairs.

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👇 Comment below — will the US act to end the regime, or has the moment passed?

#Iran #IranProtests #IslamicRepublic #MiddleEast #RezaPahlavi #JonathanSacerdoti #TamarEilamGindin
1 hr 7 min
January 30 Is the world about to tip over? What Trump may do next – Col Richard Kemp
What happens next in Iran? Will the United States strike, and if so, when? Will Israel be drawn in again, or deliberately held back this time? Will Britain take part, or remain confined to a defensive role?
What would the targets actually be – nuclear facilities, missile infrastructure, or the leadership itself? And if the regime is hit hard enough to fall, who takes over? If it survives, what then?
These questions sit at the centre of the Middle East right now. Military forces are already deployed. Diplomatic pressure is intensifying. The margin for miscalculation is shrinking, and whatever comes next will shape the region for years, possibly decades.
In this deep and analytical conversation, Colonel Richard Kemp speaks with Jonathan Sacerdoti about the strategic reality behind the headlines. Kemp is a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan and a long standing analyst of Islamist movements, Western military power, and the politics of war. He brings operational clarity to a moment dominated by uncertainty and noise.
The conversation also covers Hezbollah, Hamas, Gaza, the Houthis, and how Iran’s proxies shape escalation across the region. It also turns to Britain, asking whether the UK is prepared for war at all, and what repeated signals of weakness mean for deterrence, along with analysis of the planned UK surrender of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, Britain’s shrinking strategic posture, and the consequences of failing to defend national interests.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand what may be coming next in Iran and the Middle East, and what it reveals about Western strength, weakness, and leadership.

💬 We Discuss:
🇮🇷 What Iran’s internal unrest means for the survival of the regime
🇺🇸 Whether a US strike is now likely, and what it would target
🇮🇱 Israel’s role behind the scenes and why intelligence may outweigh firepower
🎯 The realistic prospects and dangers of regime collapse in Tehran
🧨 How Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis shape regional escalation
🇬🇧 Britain’s readiness for war and the limits of its current posture
⚖️ The legal pursuit of soldiers and veterans and its impact on morale
🏝️ The Chagos Islands and the consequences of surrendering strategic ground
🏛️ Leadership, deterrence, and why institutions fail under real pressure
🌍 How the Middle East could be reshaped if Iran weakens or falls

🔔 Subscribe for more serious, unflinching conversations about war, power, and Western responsibility.

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👇 Comment below — if Iran is heading towards a decisive moment, do Western governments actually know what outcome they are prepared to deal with?

#RichardKemp #JonathanSacerdoti #Iran #MiddleEast #Israel #UKDefence #Geopolitics #WesternSecurity #WarAndPeace

1 hr 13 min
January 26 Rewriting centuries of British law, and the public wasn’t asked — top barrister Jeremy Dein KC speaks out against government proposals
Britain’s justice system is facing a profound rupture. Under the banner of efficiency and backlog reduction, reforms are being proposed that would remove large numbers of cases from jury trial, weaken appeal rights, and concentrate decision making power in the hands of the state. These changes touch principles that have defined British liberty for centuries and raise fundamental questions about our justice and democracy, and who they ultimately serve.
In this conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti speaks to veteran criminal defence barrister Jeremy Dein KC, whose decades at the heart of the courts give him a rare vantage point. Dein explains why dismantling jury trials will not solve the crisis it claims to address, why judges themselves are alarmed, and how political pressure, public disorder and selective enforcement are corroding trust in the rule of law. From constitutional change to the reality of two-tier justice, this discussion exposes how institutional drift becomes moral failure when the state forgets its duty to protect the individual.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how the erosion of jury trials, policing failures and selective enforcement are symptoms of a deeper crisis in British justice.

💬 We Discuss:
⚖️ Why jury trials are not a procedural detail but a constitutional safeguard against injustice
🏛️ How proposals to reduce jury trials undermine principles dating back to Magna Carta
📉 Why abolishing juries will not solve the court backlog and may worsen it
👩‍⚖️ Why concentrating power creates new risks
📜 The quiet removal of appeal rights and what it means for ordinary defendants
🚨 Fast tracked justice and why speed can become a substitute for fairness
🔍 Two tier justice and how public order policing reveals institutional fear and inconsistency
🕍 The failure to protect Jewish communities from intimidation masquerading as protest
🗣️ Free speech versus criminal intimidation and where the law has lost clarity
🇬🇧 What all of this says about Britain’s future as a liberal democracy

🔔 Subscribe for more serious and unflinching conversations about law, power and the future of British institutions.

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👇 Comment below — if jury trials and equal justice are weakened in the name of efficiency, what protections remain for the individual against the state?

#JeremyDein #JonathanSacerdoti #BritishJustice #JuryTrials #RuleOfLaw #FreeSpeech #Antisemitism #UKPolitics #CivilLiberties
1 hr 11 min
January 21 Why Trump’s lawyer says America should be a refuge for British Jews — Exclusive interview with Robert Garson
Donald Trump’s lawyer went on the record and said it plainly: Britain’s Jews need protection. They need somewhere to flee. He's urging the US President to let them come to America.
When The Telegraph put the proposal on its front page, it was no longer a hypothetical concern whispered in private, but a public warning, issued at national level, about the condition of Britain itself.
In this frank and unsettling conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti speaks with Robert Garson, the Manchester-born barrister and US attorney who is close to Donald Trump, about why he believes the idea of asylum for British Jews is no longer extreme, but overdue. Garson explains how a lifetime of loyalty to Britain collided with the reality of a country that increasingly refuses to enforce its own laws when Jews are threatened.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how the US could provide refuge for British Jews, and what that idea reveals about Britain now.

💬 We Discuss:
🇬🇧 How Britain reached a point where asylum is openly discussed
📰 Why The Telegraph front page mattered
🚨 From fringe antisemitism to mass intimidation
👮 Policing, fear, and the refusal to enforce the law
🇺🇸 Why the US responded differently after October 7
🛡️ Jewish self defence and the limits of state protection
🎓 Universities, emigration, and collapsing confidence
🏛️ Institutional weakness inside British Jewish leadership
✈️ Asylum, visas, and the search for alternatives
⚠️ What Britain risks losing if its Jews decide to leave

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57 min
January 16 The international players who can help topple Iran’s regime. The call for support — Niyak Ghorbani
For nearly half a century the Islamic Republic has ruled Iran through fear, censorship and organised cruelty. It has crushed dissent at home while exporting terrorism abroad, and it has relied on a simple calculation: that the world would look away while its own people suffered in silence.
Today that calculation is collapsing.
Across Iran, ordinary men and women are rising against a regime that has impoverished them, humiliated them and treated their lives as disposable. They are marching in the streets knowing they may never return home. And for the first time in decades, they feel that the outside world might finally be listening.

In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti is joined by Iranian activist Niyak Ghorbani, one of the most visible organisers of protests in the United Kingdom and a relentless opponent of both the Islamic Republic and the antisemitic movements it sponsors. Drawing on his own experience of life under the regime, and on the stories of family and friends still trapped inside Iran, he describes what this moment feels like from the inside.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand why the battle for Iran’s future matters far beyond its borders, and why this uprising feels different from all those that came before.

💬 We Discuss:
🇮🇷 What daily life under the Islamic Republic is really like for ordinary Iranians
🔥 Why this wave of protests feels closer to regime change than ever before
🇺🇸 How Donald Trump’s words transformed Iranian morale
📺 The failure of mainstream media to report the uprising honestly
👮‍♂️ Niyak’s own arrests in Britain for opposing antisemitic marches
🕊️ The bravery of protesters who know they may be killed for demonstrating
👑 Why many Iranians now rally behind Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi
🌍 How Iran’s struggle mirrors the rise of Islamist influence in the West
📱 Social media, citizen journalism and the fight to break regime censorship
⚠️ The lessons Britain should learn from Iran before it is too late

🔔 Subscribe for more fearless conversations about world affairs, freedom and the fight for truth.

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1 hr 17 min
January 11 Does Europe still love Israel? What war, intelligence, trade and Eurovision tell us about diplomacy
Europe’s relationship with Israel has never been simple. It is shaped by history soaked in blood, by moral claims born from catastrophe, and by institutions that insist on speaking in the language of values while acting through interest. In the aftermath of October 7, those tensions have hardened, exposing fractures between governments and peoples, ideology and reality, rhetoric and reliance.

As Europe’s political centre shifts and its demographics change, Israel finds itself simultaneously condemned in public and depended upon in practice. Accusations of antisemitism collide with strategic cooperation. Recognition of Palestinian statehood sits uneasily alongside intelligence sharing, weapons procurement, and military coordination. The question is no longer whether Europe and Israel disagree, but whether they still understand each other at all.
In this conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti is joined by former Israeli Ambassador to the EU and NATO Ronny Leshno Yaar, and Professor Sharon Pardo of Ben Gurion University, to examine whether Europe has turned against Israel, or whether the reality is more structurally complex and morally uncomfortable. Drawing on diplomatic experience, academic analysis, and personal history, they explore Europe’s changing identity, the return of antisemitism, Israel’s missteps in European politics, and the quiet depth of cooperation that continues despite the noise.

👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand why Europe’s posture towards Israel appears hostile yet remains dependent, and what that means for Israel’s future in a changing West.

💬 We Discuss:
🧭 Why Europe is not a single actor, but a shifting collection of interests, institutions and contradictions
🧬 How Jewish history is embedded in European identity, and why that inheritance is now contested
📉 The return of antisemitism after October 7, and Europe’s failure to confront it structurally
🏛️ How Israel aligned with Europe’s right and what it gained and lost by doing so
🛡️ Europe’s quiet military and intelligence defence of Israel, despite public condemnation
✈️ Why people to people ties, from academia to travel, may matter more than diplomacy
⚖️ Whether Israel can afford deep cooperation with Europe while facing existential political disagreements

🔔 Subscribe for more fearless conversations about world affairs, freedom and the fight for truth.

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👇 Comment below — can Israel and Europe remain partners if they no longer share a moral language?

#Israel #Europe #EuropeanUnion #Antisemitism #MiddleEast #Geopolitics #JonathanSacerdoti
1 hr 3 min

About I'm Jonathan Sacerdoti

From the publisher's feed

Journalist, broadcaster, and commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti engages in in-depth conversations with thought leaders, experts, and influential voices from around the world. Covering politics, culture,…