The Honest Report

When it comes to reporting on Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria, nuance isn’t exactly something often seen in the news media. Whether disdainfully referring to them as illegal Jewish settlements, or claiming that their existence violates international law, or even that they are the single biggest obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians, it can be hard to separate truth from fiction and to try and understand the reality of these communities.

Our guest this week will be sharing a unique viewpoint not often seen in the news media: that these Jewish communities are not only not obstacles to peace, but in fact may be very much the opposite. Since arriving on Aliyah from the United States in 2002, Josh Hasten has been at the forefront of Israel’s public diplomacy efforts.

Josh is currently the International Spokesperson for Gush Etzion. He is also the host of the weekly radio program “Israel Uncensored." Josh is also a well-known award-winning freelance journalist. He is also a sought-after guest for television interviews on current events in Israel, having appeared on CNN, BBC, Sky News, and more.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast.

On June 11, 2003, Sarri Singer was heading to a restaurant in Jerusalem to meet friends for dinner. In her 20s, she was an American volunteering in Israel. But while taking the bus to the restaurant, a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded his vest, killing himself and 17 other innocent civilians. Sarri was injured, but she survived. Tragically, all those around her on the bus did not survive.

After her recovery, Sarri turned her experience into an opportunity to help other victims of terrorism and founded Strength to Strength, an organization dedicated to assisting survivors of terrorism, who are often overlooked.

In this week's episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Sarri to discuss her experience as a victim of a suicide bombing, and how lives continue to be impacted by senseless terrorism.

Israel may not often get a fair shake in the news media, but what's the cause - and the solution? Is the problem inherent bias on the part of journalists, is it a more sophisticated messaging on the part of anti-Israel activists, or is the complexity of the conflict that makes Israel inevitably have a more challenging time?

Few individuals know the truth better than Avi Mayer. Mayer has served as the Senior Spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee, the international spokesman of The Jewish Agency for Israel, as well as a foreign media liaison for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

In this week's episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Avi Mayer to discuss the reality of today's journalists in Israel, why coverage of the Jewish State looks like it does, and what can be done to ensure the truth about Israel gets more airtime and coverage in the future.

If you were told the word "Italy," what words come to mind? Pasta, beautiful, or cobblestones perhaps? If you were told the word China, perhaps you'd think of The Great Wall, The Yangtze River, or Chinese food.

But when people think of Israel, what words come to mind? Even among Jews, Israel is often associated with anti-Israel disinformation.

How did anti-Israel groups brand Israel so successfully, and what should be Israel's brand in return? Hi-tech, cherry tomatoes, or something else?

In this week's episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Itzik Yarkoni, founder of BOMAH (Brand of Milk & Honey) for his take on what branding means, and how Israel's opponents have been successful, and how he thinks Israel should brand itself.

Perhaps you've heard the point made before that Jews, far from being illegal occupiers in the land of Israel, are in fact indigenous to the region.

But what exactly does indigenous mean, and can the Jewish claim to Israel really hold up to that kind of claim?

Ryan Bellerose certainly knows. As a Metis from Alberta, he has become one of the world's pre-eminent activists on behalf of Israel and Jewish claims to Israel and has lectured widely on Jewish indigenous rights.

In this week’s episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Ryan for a refresher on how to understand the concept of indigeneity, and why it's so critical for the next generation of Jews and non-Jews alike to understand how the Jewish People's history in Israel can't be understood without it.

Day in and day out, anti-Israel activists, whether on campus, on social media, or on the pages of daily newspapers, seek to defame Israel.

And it seems that despite the herculean efforts of the Jewish and pro-Israel world to fight back, there’s still an important voice missing: personal stories.

Hananya Naftali is one of the world’s most recognized personal stories. A young Israeli, formerly having worked for former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali is a powerhouse on social media, with nearly two million followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where he calls himself “that Israeli who talks to the camera about peace in the Middle East.”

In this week’s episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Hananya for his thoughts on how anti-Israel activists have been successful at marshaling storytelling for their cause, and why telling the truth about Israel can’t just be about rattling off facts, but about making it personal.

Every day Israel is hailed as a colonialist and apartheid state by its opponents. However, nothing could be further from the truth; and yet this reality of Israel being defamed as a colonialist state persist. Why is it so dangerous and problematic?

In this week's episode of The Honest Report Podcast, we sit down with Ysabella Hazan, a Montrealer and law student at the University of Ottawa, who is also the founder of Decolonized Judean. She shares her thoughts about why the insidious lie of Israel being a colonialist state is so dangerous, particularly as it relates to the next generation of young Jewish leaders on campus.

Before the advent of social media, getting your message out to the wider public was not always an easy task, but since the explosion of social media in the last 15 years, anyone with internet access can spread their message to the world. This democratization was supposed to be a good thing, but things haven't turned out that way.

Anti-Israel activists have used social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others as springboards to share their anti-Israel disinformation, and social media has served to disseminate more hate than previous platforms ever could.

In this episode of The Honest Report, we sit down with David Olesker, Founder & Director of the Jerusalem Center for Communication and Advocacy Training (JCCAT) for his thoughts on how the anti-Israel movement has managed to spread its insidious message so well, and what can be done to help spread truth instead.

Around the world, Holocaust denial continues to spread its ugly and hateful message, claiming that the Nazi Holocaust either didn't happen, or that the numbers are greatly exaggerated.

But the challenge to truth isn't just hate; it also comes from ignorance and apathy. In recent surveys, significant numbers of respondents, especially younger people, claim little knowledge of the Holocaust.

But the cause is not hopeless. At the end of May, after a two-year hiatus, The Living Legacy Experience brought dozens of Canadians to Poland, alongside a Holocaust survivor, for a powerful week on the ground, helping to create seeds of inspiration for participants.

In this week's episode of The Honest Report, we sit down with Isaac Osiel, a Toronto businessman and founder of The Living Legacy Experience, for his thoughts on why the program needed to be created, and the dangers of not educating the future generations about the Holocaust.

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Anti-Israel activists are busy spreading propaganda about the Jewish State, and often it can seem like the challenge is insurmountable. After all, the anti-Israel movement is so large and well-funded, how can its false claims be effectively challenged?

While it may not be possible to directly reach everyone, when promising young university students spend time studying in Israel, this can be one of the most powerful tools in helping to create informed leaders.

In this week's episode of The Honest Report, we sit down with Momo Lifshitz, CEO, Lirom Global Education.

Welcome to The Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show.