Josh Szeps joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about Israel, Gaza, antisemitism, Zionism, Jewish identity and why the debate has become so exhausting and distorted.
We talk about whether Jews outside Israel are being forced to answer for the Israeli government, what anti-Zionism really means, the failure of the peace process, Netanyahu, Gaza, drones, Palestinian leadership, the pressure to “circle the wagons,” and whether it is possible to criticize Israel without giving ammunition to people who hate Jews.
Josh Szeps hosts one of the biggest shows on Substack, Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps, where he has funny, bullshit-free conversations with people like Sam Harris, Jimmy Carr, Bari Weiss and Mark Normand about subjects that the mainstream media fails to discuss honestly. He has been on Joe Rogan's show seven times, he was a founding host of HuffPost Live in New York, then went on to get cancelled from his own top-rating talk radio show on Australia’s national public broadcaster. He's a columnist for Australia's most prestigious newspaper, the Australian Financial Review, and a major media figure Down Under.
https://x.com/joshzepps?lang=en
https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/about
Chapters:
00:00 Intro and Josh Szeps joins the show
03:06 Josh’s background, Australia, and his previous Israel controversy
07:12 Jokes, parenting, kids, porn and the internet
12:59 Antisemitism, Australia, and the post-October 7th climate
15:36 Anti-Zionism, Israel’s legitimacy, and the meaning of a Jewish state
22:07 Palestinian refugees, Arab countries, and the right of return
27:26 Gaza, drones, October 7th, and whether Israel had another choice
30:29 Josh’s controversial “abandon Israel” column
38:16 Circling the wagons, Jewish identity, and criticizing Israel from the diaspora
47:58 Anti-Israel backlash, boycotts, and Jews being blamed for Israel
54:16 Kristof, the dog allegations, and the difficulty of discussing ugly claims honestly
01:08:35 The flotilla, Israeli detention, and skepticism toward activist claims
01:11:23 War crimes, double standards, history, and modern technology
01:13:05 Uyghurs, Kurds, ethno-states, and why Israel gets singled out
01:17:00 Media collapse, audience capture, and trying to have sane conversations
01:18:29 Finkelstein, complexity, and final thoughts
