The Honest Report

Jerusalem is probably the most famous city in the world, but much of it is for the wrong reasons. This past May, when Hamas launched a terror war against Israel, Jerusalem was at centre stage, thanks to anti-Israel propaganda which was being spread around the world. 

But Jerusalem is more than a city under the siege of misinformation; it is also the 3,000 year old home of the Jewish People, and is undergoing a historic revitalization. 

One of the people most responsible for Jerusalem's revitalization is Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the city's deputy mayor, who joined The Honest Report as our guest.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

The Dead Sea is more than just the lowest point on Earth; it represents one of Israel's best chances to build relationships with the wider Arab world.

That's the view of Noam Bedein, founder & director, The Dead Sea Revival Project, who has spent the better part of the last two years educating the world about the Dead Sea & how Israel's efforts to protect the body of water can reap benefits for Israel, both diplomatically & economically.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

It's a common trope in the western news media: Hamas is the extremist arm of the Palestinian leadership, while the Palestinian Authority (PA) is the preferred, moderate peace partner. But that simplification ignores a deep-seated problem with the PA: despite their promises, it continues to foster hatred against not just Israel, but Jews in general.

In this episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which studies Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing the (PA) through its media and schoolbooks.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

Mohammad Kabiya has become one of the most outspoken pro-Israel voices in the world today. He is a young Israeli Bedouin from northern Israel who enlisted in the IDF voluntarily in order to give back to his country.

But Mohammad wasn't satisfied yet. He became an international lecturer, speaking to groups around the world, helping to dispel the most common anti-Israel claims, and with his first-hand experience, he has become a valuable asset to the pro-Israel cause.

We are pleased to welcome Mohammad as our guest this week.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a burgeoning regional powerhouse in the Middle East, and it has found significant strategic value in partnerships with Israel. But what exactly does that mean for the Middle East, and what can we expect in the future?

This week, we sit down with Adam Hummel, a member of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Jewish Diplomatic Corps, who recently returned from a WJC mission to the United Arab Emirates, for his reflections and thoughts.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

Hebron is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, if not the oldest, but to see much of the news media describe things, Israelis who live in this ancient city are little more than extremist settlers living in a land not their own.

If it's frustrating to read and hear news media which misrepresents things in Hebron, imagine being the spokesperson for the Jewish community there, and seeing it first-hand every day.

That's what Yishai Fleisher does - representing the small number of Jews in Hebron to the world media. In this week's edition of the Honest Report podcast, we chat with Yishai about what life is like in Hebron, what the world doesn't understand, and why he chooses to live in such a delicate and often difficult place.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

Israeli politics are famously unstable, with Prime Ministers and coalitions coming and going regularly. But while Israelis know the instability is the price of democracy, far too often, world media outlets characterize Israel's vibrant democracy as a liability. Additionally, Israel's new Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, is frequently described as an extremist by world media. But is it accurate?

In this episode, we sit down with Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, and he helps us unpack Israeli politics as they are - not necessarily how the world sees things.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

Three years ago, on October 27, 2018, a gunman entered the Eitz Chaim synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and murdered 11 Jews at prayer, in the worst attack on Jews in the United States ever. The next year, a man brandishing a machete had attacked a Chanukkah celebration in New York, murdering a rabbi, and in April 2019, a worshipper was murdered at a Chabad synagogue near San Diego.

In the attack in Pittsburgh, the shooting suspect had posted antisemitic hate online in advance of the shooting, but it went unnoticed. As antisemitism threatens Jews around the world, are social media giants doing enough to stamp out the hate, and if not, how can they be held to account?

In this week's episode of The Honest Report podcast, we are joined by Mark Oppenheimer, historian and journalist, who recently released a book on the shooting aftermath and the Jewish community in the Pittsburgh neighbourhood where the attack took place.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

Around the world, BDS activists try and portray Israel as a villainous abuser of human rights, and paint the country in as simple terms as possible.

Many arguments are used to combat their misinformation, but one man knows the shallowness of the BDS arguments first-hand: Ishmael Khaldi. He is Israel's first Bedouin diplomat, and is an advocate not just for Israel on the international stage, but for his Bedouin community within Israel.

Recognizing that Israel may have imperfections, but that it is not guilty of the horrific crimes it is accused of committing, Ishmael Khaldi has been widely recognized for his diplomatic efforts on behalf of Israel.

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.

If one judged Israel's trajectory just by news media coverage, they would assume Israel is on the cusp of losing its Jewish majority forever.

But in reality, Israel is both a democracy and a Jewish-majority state, and in no risk of losing either title.

In this week's edition of the Honest Report podcast, we are joined by Yoram Ettinger, an Israeli researcher, diplomat, writer, lecturer and consultant to legislators around the world. He previously served as an Israeli diplomat in the United States. 

Welcome to the Honest Report podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share our show. If you are interested in sponsoring a podcast, visit the HonestReporting Canada website.