The Israel Connexion

Michael Hirsh was the former national editor for the magazine Politico and a former foreign editor, chief diplomatic correspondent, and national economic correspondent for Newsweek. He is a lecturer and has appeared numerous times as a commentator on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and is a frequent guest of The Young Turks, a streaming internet political talk show. He is the author of two books: Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s Future Over to Wall Street and At War With Ourselves: Why America Is Squandering Its Chance to Build a Better World. These days he is a regular columnist for Foreign Policy.

I caught up with Michael Hirsch to discuss an article he put together for Politico earlier this year titled ‘Arab States Are Giving Palestinians the Cold Shoulder. Here’s Why’ in an interview with the former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. (0:37-32:49)

A historic, one night only concert in Melbourne, direct from Israel, starring 'The Chayalim Band and Singers' will be conducted by Israeli maestro Rafi Greidi and will bring together local singers Shimon and Dov Farkas and some local surprises. I speak with the musical director Rafi Greidi in anticipation of a very moving performance. (32:56-54:58)

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I catch up once again with Gidi Grinstein, an Israeli societal entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Reut Group, a non-partisan not-for-profit research, strategy and leadership group. We spoke on the eve of "Peace Week", the anniversary of major milestones in Israel's modern history - Oslo, the Abraham Accords and Camp David. My previous extensive interview with Gidi Grinstein can be heard here.

This is the full interview with Gidi Grinstein.

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The new drive to introduce “Anti-Palestinian Racism” to “equity and inclusivity strategies” throughout a number of Western countries must be a wake-up call. I speak with Shauna Small, a principal of an elementary school in Canada, who has written an article for the ‘Future of Jewish’ newsletter. in which she says that, “Codifying so-called "Anti-Palestinian Racism" in Canada is harming Jewish Canadians and infringing on our rights, liberties, and safety.”

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The new drive to introduce “Anti-Palestinian Racism” to “equity and inclusivity strategies” throughout a number of Western countries must be a wake-up call. I speak with Shauna Small, a principal of an elementary school in Canada, who has written an article for the ‘Future of Jewish’ newsletter. in which she says that, “Codifying so-called "Anti-Palestinian Racism" in Canada is harming Jewish Canadians and infringing on our rights, liberties, and safety.”(0:36-32:16)

I catch up once again with Gidi Grinstein, an Israeli societal entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Reut Group, a non-partisan not-for-profit research, strategy and leadership group. We spoke on the eve of "Peace Week", the anniversary of major milestones in Israel's modern history - Oslo, the Abraham Accords and Camp David. My previous extensive interview with Gidi Grinstein can be heard here. (32:22-57:25)

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Elliott Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, DC. He served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor in the administration of President George W. Bush, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East for the White House, and as Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela in the administration of Donald Trump. We will be discussing the US-Israel relationship and what may be the impact of the US presidential elections on that relationship. (0:36-23:27)

I will also be talking about the schism in Israel society, between those who are pushing for a ceasefire deal to get the release of the hostages and those who say that Israel must consider foremost its national security. (23:34-56:52)

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Catherine Perez is the Executive Director of We Believe in Israel which is BICOM's pro-Israel advocacy organization in the United Kingdom. We Believe in Israel  has been mounting some important campaigns opposing

• any move by FIFA to ban the Israel Football Association;
• the resumption of funding to UNRWA;
• any moves to block arms sales to Israel.

(This is the full version of the interview with Catherine Perez)

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Catherine Perez is the Executive Director of We Believe in Israel which is BICOM's pro-Israel advocacy organization in the United Kingdom. We Believe in Israel  has been mounting some important campaigns opposing

• any move by FIFA to ban the Israel Football Association;
• the resumption of funding to UNRWA;
• any moves to block arms sales to Israel.   (0:50-33:17)

Michael Gencher is the Executive Director of StandWithUs Australia, which has been established as an arm of StandWithUs, an international, non-partisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism. (33:23-56:38)

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Dr Gadi Taub is an Israeli historian, author, screenwriter and political commentator. He is a senior lecturer in the School of Public Policy and the Department of Communications at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Taub is also an internationally recognized voice in the discourse on Zionism and illiberalism. I speak with Gadi about the complex political situation in which Israel finds itself today. (0:45-34:26)

Tal Rabani is a 3rd year computer science student at Monash University, who has been instrumental in establishing a chapter of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) at Monash. He is joined by Ilan Sinelnikov, a founding member of SSI, which has been growing exponentially in the aftermath of Oct 7th. (34:32-55:21)

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Dr Adi Schwartz is an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the Misgav Institute for National Security. He is a research fellow at the Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, and at the Institute for the Study of Global Anti-Semitism. Together with Dr. Einat Wilf, he authored the book The War of the Right of Return: The Battle Over the Palestinian Refugee Problem and How Israel Can Win It. We will take a look at the possibilities of the elimination of UNRWA.(0:36-35:15)

Celina di Veroli is an undergraduate student, one of maybe 10 Jewish students at the University of Sydney, who braved a very large gathering of students on campus last week, who voted resoundingly for anti-Israel motions. She wrote an extraordinarily expressive article describing her experience at the student meeting. (35:22-55:13)

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Professor Dennis Altman is Vice Chancellor's Fellow at LaTrobe University. His most recent books are God Save the Queen: The Strange Persistence of Monarchies, and Death in the Sauna.

Professor Altman wrote a response Crying antisemitism drowns out the real problem to an article Lived experience, paranoia and slippery antisemitism written by Deborah Stone, the editor of The Jewish Independent.

I invited Professor Altman to dig deeper into his response to Deborah Stone. (0:37-34:37)

Gil Hoffman is an Israeli-American journalist and political correspondent who serves as executive director of Honest Reporting. He was previously chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post.

I caught up with Gil Hoffman to focus on the endeavours of Honest Reporting since Oct 7th.

Honest Reporting is an Israeli media advocacy group. A pro-Israel media watchdog, it describes its mission as "combatting ideological prejudice in journalism and the media, as it impacts Israel". (34:44-54:51)

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