Afleveringen
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The last year has unmasked for all to see the level of infiltration by anti-Israel and anti-Jewish extremists, in multiple areas: in the news media, in politics, in universities, and even in public schools.
But noticing a problem and doing something about it are two different things. That's where JEFA has come in. JEFA, or Jewish Educators and Families Association, which also counts many non-Jews among its ranks, was founded in the wake of October 7 and has since become a powerful resource gathering students, educators and faculty members in schools across Canada to help combat the insidious and hateful campaign being waged there.
Thank you for tuning into The Honest Report podcast.
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After ignoring a year of incessant Hezbollah terrorism on Israel, the news media is now devoting extensive news coverage to it as a result of Israel responding.
Against Hezbollah, what can be the end game for Israel, particularly in light of discussions around a truce being pushed by Washington? And with news coverage portraying Israel, and not the terrorist group, as the aggressor, what is the path for peace?
To help us untangle fact from fiction, we are joined by Michael Rubin. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where his expertise focuses on Iran, Turkey and the broader Middle East. A former Pentagon official, he has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, and both pre- and postwar Iraq.
Michael joins us as our guest this week. Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Israeli misdeeds, knowing that they will be rarely challenged by news media outlets.
But that doesn't make their claims any closer to the truth.
Andrew Fox knows that well. Having served three tours in Afghanistan, as well as in Bosnia, northern Ireland and elsewhere in the Middle East, he is a former major in the British military who served as a paratrooper and a senior lecturer at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he currently is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society.
As an expert on urban warfare, he is also an outspoken advocate seeking to ensure that media outlets articulate the truth, and not just Hamas propaganda.
Major Andrew Fox joins us as our guest this week.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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A year after Hamas' genocidal massacres on October 7, and the world has long forgotten, at least much of it. It has forgotten not just the brutality and the demonic viciousness, but the deliberate randomness of it, how Hamas terrorists intentionally went after civilians, young or old, it didn't matter.
But the world cannot forget, and Igal Hecht, a Toronto filmmaker and creator of Chutzpa Productions Inc, is releasing a new film, The Killing Roads, telling the stories of the highways and roads where Hamas terrorists massacred unsuspecting motorists during their invasion.
The film will be released for free across social media, as well as at thekillingroads.com, on October 1, and Igal joins us as our guest this week.
Thank you for tuning into The Honest Report podcast.
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In South Asia, Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country with a sizeable Hindu minority, which in recent weeks has suffered an outburst of violence, in just the latest chapter of harassment going back more than 100 years. And, like Israel, the news media has often downplayed the concerns of Hindus in Bangladesh, and that's when the story gets reported at all.
To help us understand this context more deeply, we are joined by Rishabh Sarswat, the president of CoHNA, the Coalition of Hindus of North America.
Thank you for tuning into The Honest Report podcast.
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There have been many impacts following the October 7 massacres. And while the negative side is well-established: Israel at war against an increasingly aggressive array of Iranian-backed terrorist groups, anti-Jewish hatred, Israel under attack diplomatically, and much more, there are also many uplifting stories.
Stories like Justin Chow's: On October 6, he was a university student in Canada, from Hong Kong, minding his own business and pursuing his academic career. But the next day, everything changed for him. A light went off, so to speak, and suddenly, a conflict on the other side of the world, one which he had no personal connection with, became immensely personal to him.
Justin, who just graduated from the University of Toronto, is a recent HRC/AVI Campus Media Fellow, and is now an Allyship Advisor with Allied Voices for Israel (AVI), and he joins us on our podcast this week.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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The now-dismantled anti-Israel occupations on some Canadian university campuses may have garnered public attention, but they were just the latest manifestation of anti-Israel propaganda on universities.
For years, anti-Israel activists, whether in the classroom as professors, in student government, or playing roles elsewhere in faculty have used and abused their authority to promote a fanatical anti-Israel agenda, often veering into Jew-hate.
On an institutional level, what steps can be taken to help address these challenges? The University of Ottawa recently appointed Artur Wilczynski, a former Canadian ambassador to Norway and longtime senior national security official in the federal public service, as the university's first special advisor on antisemitism. It is believed to be the first such position at a Canadian university.
Artur Wilczynski joins us to discuss what the role entails, what his goals and deliverables are, and the message it sends to Canadian Jews, and the wider public at large.
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Across the Middle East, Christian populations are falling everywhere, from Egypt to Syria, Lebanon to the Palestinian territories, except for one place: Israel.
Israel's Aramean Christians link their origin to the founding of Christianity, and today, the bulk of their population is in northern Israel, in the direct shadow of Hezbollah.
In this week's podcast, we sit down with Shadi Khalloul from his home in the village of Jish, just four kilometres from the Lebanese border. He is the president of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association, and he joins us to discuss his community and its deep involvement in Israeli society today, his fears for other Christian communities in the Middle East, and why he refused to leave his home, even despite Hezbollah threats.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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For many years, anti-Israel activists have attempted to turn Zionism into a dirty word, reframing it from the Jewish People's national movement of self-determination in their historic homeland into a mishmash of everything that is wrong with the world.
But Zionism is not just for Jews. In fact, anyone who recognizes the reality that the Jewish People are owners, not occupiers, of the land of Israel can be reasonably called a Zionist.
Recognizing this is not only an embrace of historical reality, but it also can inspire other groups around the world, including right here in Canada.
In this week's podcast, we sit down with Karen Restoule. She is a member of the Dokis First Nation from northern Ontario, and a self-described Zionist, for her take on what national liberation movements mean from Canada to Israel, and her thoughts on how anti-Israel groups have sought to hijack First Nations terms for their own benefit.
Thank you for tuning into The Honest Report podcast. We invite you to become a subscriber, offer your feedback through a review, and spread the word about our series.
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One of the most dishonest and yet widespread lies parroted by anti-Israel detractors is the claim that there is famine in Gaza, an allegation spread by news media outlets, non-profit organizations, and more.
But the simple, uncontestable, data, tells the truth: there is more than enough food coming into Gaza daily, plus food cultivated within the territory, to feed the entire population with sufficient calories, not just to survive, but to thrive on a Western diet.
In this week's podcast, we sit down with two professors at Columbia University, Awi Federgruen and Ran Kivetz, who penned a study which evaluated all available data, and found what any observer knows to be true: that claims of famine in Gaza are nothing more than dishonest propaganda.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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One of the many lessons of the post October 7 world is how vicious anti-Israel propaganda is being pushed, not just in the same places as always, but in venues, platforms and areas which are often least expected.
And in the Canadian context, that means small towns and provinces, where anti-Israel activists have attempted to harass, intimidate and bully in order to get their way.
But in New Brunswick, they have faced stiff resistance from one vocal provincial politician.
Dominic Cardy is a Member of the Legislative Assembly, or MLA, for the riding of Fredericton West - Hanwell, and has made a name for himself by being a strident advocate for Israel, for the province's small but growing Jewish population, and indeed, for the Canadian values under assault by anti-Israel extremists.
Dominic joins us as our guest this week.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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For months, anti-Israel activists have been cynically usingthe term "anti-Palestinian racism" as an effort to stiflelegitimate criticism of pro-Palestinian propaganda, effectively labeling anyone who refuses to adhere to their radical ideology as a racist.
The latest front for this battle is inside school boards,where anti-Israel radicals are trying to force their ideology into the classrooms, or more accurately, to strengthen the anti-Israel propaganda that is often already quite present in the classroom.
To help us understand this insidious attempt, and how it can be combated, we are joined by Dr. Casey Babb. He is a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald Laurier Institute, an International Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and an Associate Fellow with the RoyalUnited Services Institute in London.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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If you're reading the headlines, or the chatter on social media, it would be easy to conclude that for Jews in the Diaspora, it's little different than 1930s Germany: Brownshirts are on the move, and antisemites under every rock.
But fortunately, that's not the truth at all, at least in Canada, according to a new study which examined recent data around antisemitism, and found - perhaps surprisingly - very positive results.
While there has been a marked increase in antisemitic incidents, primarily graffiti and the like, the attitudes of Canadians towards Jews remains almost unchanged since October 7, with only a miniscule percentage of Canadians expressing anti-Jewish views.
In this week's podcast, we sit down with Professor Robert Brym, one of Canada's leading sociologists and demographers studying the Canadian Jewish community, to discuss his new study which evaluated Canadian attitudes towards Jews and Israel, finding that anti-Jewish incidents emanate from a tiny proportion of society, and that overwhelmingly, Canadians do not embrace such hatred.
Brym's study does not preclude the need to combat anti-Jewish hatred in society, but as he explains in the podcast, it should help to focus the Jewish community's energies.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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It is hardly an exaggeration to say that over the last eight months, there has been a marked increase in the amount of anti-Israel activism in the news media, on university campuses, and in many other fronts, much of it organized by pro-Hamas gangs.
What about the efforts to combat those insidious hate campaigns, particularly on a grassroots level?
In this week's podcast, we sit down with someone who didn't just see a problem and complain about it, he took charge and created what is possibly the largest ongoing pro-Israel rally outside of Israel since October 7.
Guidy Mamann is an immigration lawyer in Toronto by day and an active Israel advocate, serving as the president of the Toronto Zionist Council. Days after the October Hamas attacks, when the terrorist group declared a day of rage across the world, Mamann and a group of others launched a weekly pro-Israel rally in uptown Toronto, which has continued now for nearly 40 weekends in a row without interruption.
Guidy joins us as a guest to explain not just his initiative, but how it can serve as an inspiration for others to take responsibility, too.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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While it rarely makes headlines in the Canadian news media, Israel is facing an onslaught from multiple terrorist groups at once. Not just Hamas, Yemen's Houthi movement, and Islamist groups in Iraq.
But without question, the most capable of the terrorist groups is Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which, like the others, receives extensive training, weapons and funds from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Hezbollah, like Hamas, is a genocidal Islamic terrorist group. But it is far more powerful, and is deeply embedded within the Lebanese government. Since October 7, it has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, and has forced upwards of 60,000 Israelis from their homes for more than eight months, with no end in sight.
To help us understand the Hezbollah threat, and Israel's options, we are joined by Sarit Zehavi. Sarit is the President and Founder of the Alma Research Center, a nonprofit and an independent research and education center specialized in Israel’s security challenges on its northern border.
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The Islamic Republic may be a theocratic totalitarian regime which executes homosexuals, persecutes women, and attempts to destroy Israel, but those fanatical ideologies are not shared by a large majority of Iranians, either in Iran, or in Canada, home to one of the world's largest Iranian diaspora communities.
Contrary to the fanaticism of the Islamic Republic's leaders, most Iranians oppose the regime's existence, as well as its dangerous murderous support for terrorist organizations.
In this week's podcast, we sit down with Negar Mojtahedi, a Vancouver-based journalist with Iran International, to offer her insights into the mood on the street among Iranians in Iran, and here in Canada.
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How quickly the world has forgotten October 7. Not just the brutality and bloodthirsty massacres of the Hamas terrorist attacks, but the significance of them: unmasking the Palestinian terrorist group for all to see, not as a party that can be reasoned or negotiated with, but as a party with whom there can be no compromise because it seeks nothing less than the total destruction of Israel.
In early May, I visited Israel alongside a group of Canadian journalists in a weeklong program organized by the Exigent Foundation.
While there, we were able to get a first-hand look at the Israeli communities massacred on October 7, which remains closed to the general public, as well as visit Israel's north, battered by attacks from Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist organization which fires rockets into Israel on a daily basis.
In this week's episode, rather than a guest, I reflect on the lessons gleaned from our visit to Israel, seeing what too many news media outlets have chosen to forget.
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The facts are as undeniable as they are unreported by the news media: that Israel has done more to protect civilians in war, particularly in an urban warfare setting, than any other military in the history of warfare.
Despite a widespread and well-funded disinformation campaign, from actors ranging from South Africa to the Islamic Republic of Iran to professional protesters, Israel is not only definitively not guilty of the crimes it is accused of, but it has taken extraordinary steps to protect civilians in Gaza, going far beyond what is required by international law.
Israel has paid for this care dearly, losing more than 270 soldiers fighting Hamas terrorists in close combat, rather than - doing as virtually any other country would do - minimizing risk to soldiers and simply using overwhelming aerial firepower.
To help us understand Israel's extensive protections of civilians in Gaza, we are joined by John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, and one of the world's top experts in urban warfare.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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This much is clear: in far too many corners of the news media, attention spans are short.
The moral clarity that existed in the immediate aftermath of Hamas' October 7 massacres have dissipated in many places, replaced by a desire to draw a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
But the October 7 terrorist attacks aren't just a singular event; they make clear Hamas' motivations, tactics, inhumanity, and perhaps above all: the fruitlessness of negotiating with a group that will commit such acts.
In this week's podcast, we speak with Warren Kinsella, a lawyer, political strategist, and columnist at the Toronto Sun, who was recently in Israel with a group of journalists, as well as HonestReporting Canada's assistant director, Robert Walker, to get a first-hand look at Israel, and to understand what the news media should be reporting, but often isn't.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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Israeli society has often been called one big family, where in times of crisis, all segments of society come together to pull for the common good.
Since Hamas' massacres of October 7 and the subsequent months, that common mission has been on full display, despite Israeli disagreements over politics, religion and more.
As the war began seven months ago, launched by Hamas on a Jewish holiday, Israel was in turmoil. Shock and anger soon gave way to a realization that the country was unprepared to take care of its front-line defenders, those soldiers fighting Hamas.
One organization was soon born, Soldiers Save Lives, which worked to help equip those on the front lines, even when seemingly other safety nets failed. In this episode of The Honest Report podcast, we sit down with Ike Bodner, the organization's COO.
Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.
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