The Spiro Circle

Last Friday saw Kanye West, also known as Ye, unleash a tirade of antisemitic, sexist, and abusive tweets on X where he called himself a Nazi, praised Hitler, and blamed Jews for a myriad of problems.

It was a return to a form we saw in December 2022, when his last outburst led to him being dropped by Addidas and largely canceled by the wider world.

A little over two years have passed, and the world is different. Elon Musk purchased Twitter, turning it into X, and reinstated his account in a turn that was said to promote free speech.

It’s been three days and Kanye has suggested that “Jewish People are always going to steal”... they “Love to take ownership over shit they didn't make or own”, and that they “are like bitches” who need to be “kept in check”.

He also praised Hitler and made tasteless comments against the black community, gay people, Muslims, and white people more generally. Honestly, the list goes on.

At the time of this episode’s recording on Sunday evening, his posts all remained up apart from some being ‘limited’ with restricted share abilities due to X’s rules against hateful content. In the 12 hours following this conversation, he had also started posting pornographic material - and by the time this episode was published (Monday morning), his account appeared deactivated.

Those who know me know that my libertarian instinct has always favored free speech online over censorship. I do believe that the internet should be open and free, and bad ideas should be presented and judged accordingly. I prescribe to Musk’s idea that free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and that speech that matches the law should remain online - then the free market of ideas will sort the good from the bad.

But even I had to take a moment to consider how Kanye’s rant was allowed to continue. Old Twitter may have censored too much, but this was a little extreme, even for me. And I was concerned about the real-world consequences of actions taken by such a prominent public figure.

To understand all of this better and gain a different perspective, I spoke to CyberWell Founder & Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor.

CyberWell is an independent nonprofit focused on combatting online antisemitism and Holocaust denial on social media. I wanted to know more about the impact these outbursts have on online discourse, how and if that bleeds over to the ‘real’ world, and what other social media platforms are doing in comparison to X.

I hope you enjoy it.

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This week, I was joined by Omri Hurwitz, regarded by many as a media maven in marketing, tech, PR, and more.

If you’re active in the Israeli tech ecosystem, you have certainly come across his content over various social media channels where he meets with prominent players in the sector while offering his analysis of news events.

Omri and I have shared a few conversations in the past about New Media. Over the years we have discussed Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and its consequences, Fake News, and the general media landscape as it continues to evolve.

Every time we speak there is something new to discuss.

This time, our focus was on the unstoppable train of AI and how it has been impacting our information and news cycles.

Together we discussed:

* The future of media

* AI algorithms in news

* Community Notes and its power to fight fake news

* The impact of China’s DeepSeek

* The need to remove media ecosystems

Please feel free to watch or listen here wherever you get your podcasts. Unlike previous episodes, video is not essential for this conversation.

Follow Omri here: https://x.com/OmriHurwitz

https://www.linkedin.com/in/omrihurwitz

The Spiro Circle is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Get full access to The Spiro Circle at www.thespirocircle.com/subscribe

Here I tell the story of my experience visiting Kfar Aza and Nova, two sites impacted by the Hamas attack across Israel on October 7, 2023.

I discuss the following topics:

* The pain of the locals in the Kibbutz

* The Nova site and modern-day memorials

* Israel’s new responsibility as a site for “Tragedy Tourism”

* UNRWA trucks were giving aid… but no one talks about it!

My latest article, published in The Times of Israel, provides an in-depth review of my day. You can read it below:

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/kfar-aza-and-me/

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The world woke up today with the news that Israel and Hamas have finally secured a deal to release some of the hostages from the October 7 attack and slowly begin the end of the war.

It was news met with mixed emotions: some thinking the deal was a bad one and many just praying for the return of as many hostages as possible.

To discuss some of the details and emotions behind the arrangement, I invited Eitan Goldstein to share his views on the last 24 hours and predict the next stage in Israel’s journey of the war.

Readers of The Spiro Circle may already be familiar with Eitan. He is a Middle East expert who served as a policy NCO in the Foreign Relations division of the IDF. He was also a senior editor at Ynetnews, the English-language edition of Israel’s largest newspaper. Eitan currently works in public relations where he promotes Israeli organizations in the international press. He is fluent in English, Hebrew, and Arabic and previously wrote a story for us which can be read here:

Today we discuss:

* The details of the hostage deal

* The world’s reaction to the news

* Biden and Trump: Two leaders fighting for credit!

* Life after the war and ‘the least bad option’ for Israel

Please note that The Spiro Circle is still a new and growing project; the sound will improve as we grow in experience and equipment! I appreciate your patience.

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Starting a new media venture can be daunting, especially since the results are published online for the world to see.

Of course, we all know that more often than not it is because the world does *not* see what is published. And it’s easy to be discouraged when your content is getting lost in the forest of creators.

I’ve been interested in this for a while; I purchased my microphone in 2019 intending to start a podcast - truthfully, that would have been the best time to do it right before a pandemic! Fate had other plans and it sat in my office collecting dust for a few more years.

2025 and things are different. Over the years I have built a strong network of founders, personalities, tech experts, and friends who have been instrumental in forming this new media landscape. And with everything going on in the world, now truly is the best time to jump in.

But it’s scary! Of course it is. To learn more about this process I spoke to Yoel Israel, the Founder and CEO of Wadidigital and founder of IsraelTech, an online show where innovators, VCs, and personalities all gather to share news from Israel’s tech community.

He’s already been in the game for a year and the chances are you’ve seen his content in your Instagram, X, or LinkedIn feeds.

Here are some of the things we spoke about:

* Taking the plunge to follow a passion

* Gamifying rejection

* Identifying tipping points

* Supporting the Israeli tech ecosystem online

* The future of media

* … and my own technical difficulties!

At the end, I battled a technical issue that I left in the show for two reasons: First, I needed a sign-off for the episode. But more important than that, I wanted to show the viewer at home the messy process this can take. Yes, there will be mistakes, but I hope over time to get more experience and help tell stories around the world.

I invite you to please tune in to the first episode and follow IsraelTech for more news.

https://x.com/YoelTIsrael

https://x.com/IsraelTech

https://www.linkedin.com/company/israel-tech

https://www.facebook.com/IsraelTech48/

https://www.instagram.com/israeltech48/

The Spiro Circle is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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For the last few months, I have been sharing written work and short video interviews conducted on behalf of my work at CTech. Today, I wanted to share for the first time here a long-form interview from its popular BiblioTech series.

A few months back I spoke to Judah Taub, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Hetz Ventures, about his book ‘How To Move Up When The Only Way Is Down’. It is designed to transform readers’ decision-making by recognizing Local Maximums and skill-building based on lessons from AI.

I first read Judah’s book in October 2024 when I was on a long-haul flight to the Philippines and it was a pleasure to speak to him about his experience, his writing process, and some of the practical lessons that can be gleaned by readers. The conversation was wide-ranging, but we managed to discuss some of the following topics:

* His IDF experience

* Jewish philosophy and ‘The Devil's Advocate Unit’ [known as ‘Ipcha Mistabra’ in Hebrew]

* The Netflix/Blockbuster competition and the Theranos story

* What modern-day businesses can learn in their journeys

Judah Taub is co-founder and managing partner at Hetz Ventures. Previously, he served as Head of Data for Lansdowne Partners as well as an advisor to multiple young startups. In the Israel Defense Forces, Taub served as an officer in a classified intelligence unit where he engineered a large-scale project that won the IDF 2014 Creativity Award.

Please enjoy the video, and feel free to read the (slightly edited) transcript directly on CTech.

I hope that there will be more video content in the future, so watch this space!

The Spiro Circle is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Get full access to The Spiro Circle at www.thespirocircle.com/subscribe