Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

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Ep. 66: Behnam Ben Taleblu: You cannot stand with Iran’s women while seeking a deal with Tehran Oct 06, 2022

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In this week’s episode of “Top Story,” JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior fellow Behnam Ben Taleblu about the fallout from the protests against the Iranian theocratic government’s despotic rule and the ongoing efforts of the Biden administration to reach a nuclear deal with the regime.
Tobin and Taleblu both discuss how the lip service being paid to the demonstrations by women and others against the regime’s “morality police” by President Joe Biden is contradicted by American nuclear diplomacy that is aimed at empowering and enriching the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Ep. 65: Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt: Is it okay for a rabbi to be anti-Israel? Sep 22, 2022

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JNS Editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with Zionist Rabbinic Coalition Founder Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt.
The two speak about the troubling shift in the American rabbinate. Weinblatt warns that there are rabbis who are afraid to speak out in favor of Israel. He then explains that just as rabbinical seminaries would not admit a racist, a homophobe or a misogynist, they should not accept anyone who doesn’t believe in Jewish peoplehood and the importance of Israel.

Ep. 64: William Jacobson: ADL is mired in leftist ideology Sep 15, 2022

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In this week’s episode of Top Story, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with LegalInsurrecution.com’s William Jacobson about the Anti-Defamation League’s betrayal of its mission by including critical race theory teachings in the curricula it distributes in schools as part of its anti-hate programs. These toxic ideas are linked to anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel.
They discussed how the ADL has changed into a functional arm of the Democratic Party in recent years and become more focused on demonizing conservatives and staying in sync with liberal political fashion than in fighting anti-Semitism.

Ep. 63: Aryeh Lightstone: If Iran gets the bomb, it's America's fault Sep 08, 2022

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In this week’s episode of Top Story, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, who served in the Trump administration helping to bring about the Abraham Accords and the author of a new memoir about his experiences.
They discussed the fate of the Abraham Accords under a disinterested Biden administration and the threat of a new Iran nuclear deal. “My concern isn't whether or not the Biden administration wants to support the Abraham accords, but do they want to give $250 billion to Iran?" Furthermore, he asserts that the US is in fact the only country really pushing Iran to join the deal and provide a path to a nuclear missile.

Ep. 62: David Harsanyi: Liberal Jewish groups are the same as the Democratic party Sep 01, 2022

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JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with columnist and author David Harsanyi about unjust Biden administration policies that hurt the working class and help the well-off and the rise of anti-Semitism on the left.
Harsanyi called President Joe Biden’s student loan bailout “Robin Hood in reverse.” He also said that Jewish groups' embrace of such unjust policies showed that they are “the same as the Democratic Party” and laments the rise of anti-Semitism on the left.

Ep. 61: Nathan Lewin: Is abortion more important to Jews than Judaism or Israel? Aug 25, 2022

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In this week’s episode, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with veteran Supreme Court litigator Nathan Lewin about the court’s recent decisions defending religious freedom.
According to Tobin, liberal Jewish groups are opposing the court’s stand due to partisan politics and their fear of allowing faith in the public square.
Lewin decried the willingness of Jewish groups to prioritize liberal social issues like abortion over the interests of the community, such as support for day schools and Israel as “degrading Judaism.” He also said that acceptance of woke ideas like critical race theory that oppose the principle of equal opportunity is dangerous for society as well as the Jews.

Ep. 60: Matt Continetti: 'The biggest threat to American support for Israel comes from the Left' Aug 18, 2022

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In this week’s episode of “Top Story,” JNS Editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with Matthew Continetti, author of “The Right: The Hundred Year War for American Conservatism.”
The two discuss the history of conservatism, as well as the way the rise of former President Donald Trump and his populist approach to politics can be traced to trends that were part of the debate between the various strands of the movement.
While the Left takes it as a given that the Right, especially under the leadership of Trump, embraces extremism, conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism, he said that these traits exist on both ends of the political spectrum.
Continetti argued that “the biggest threat to American support for Israel, to Israel's legitimacy and I think to the success of the American Jewish community does come from the Left today and not from the Right.”

Ep. 59: Walter Russell Mead: Believing Jews control everything is a moral, intellectual deficiency Aug 11, 2022

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The notion that Jews are manipulating U.S. foreign policy against American interests is false but also the product of ignorance, explains Walter Russell Mead, the author of The Arc of a Covenant: The United Israel and the Fate of the Jewish People.
He joins JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin this week to discuss how misperceptions of Jewish power are both an anti-Semitic trope and a misplaced belief in the centrality of Israel or Zionism. In fact, other nations and leaders are almost always pursuing their own interests.
Even many Jews believe that supporters of Israel influence events when the decisions of each president, including the search for the “holy grail” of Middle East peace. are motivated by domestic concerns and not either a conspiracy or an exercise in Jewish power.

Ep. 58: Batya Ungar-Sargon: 'The New York Times lied and they knew they were lying' Aug 04, 2022

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In this week’s episode, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin speaks with Batya Ungar-Sargon, author of “ad News: How Woke Media is Undermining Democracy.” The two discuss how the shift away from objectivity to open left-wing bias on the part of the mainstream media is motivated not just by ideology but also by a desire for profit.
Ungar-Sargon explained that the embrace of toxic leftist theories about race by young journalists dovetails with the desire of leading outlets like The New York Times to market itself to elites. This has led to the near-total erasure of working-class Americans and their concerns from the news pages. But it has also done the same for Jews, who are falsely classified as White oppressors.

Ep. 57: Jason Greenblatt: ‘Donald Trump was a breath of fresh air to the Arabs’ Jul 28, 2022

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In this week’s episode JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin discusses how former President Donald Trump’s firing of the foreign policy establishment and disdain for the failed policies of his predecessors was the factor that made the breakthrough to the Abraham Accords possible.
According to Tobin, though those experts disdained Trump, his achievements were too important for President Biden to overturn them.
He’s joined by Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East and the author of a new memoir about his experiences that set the stage for the Abraham Accords.
Greenblatt explained the success of the Trump administration’s Middle East efforts by pointing to the way the experts “blamed Israel for just about everything” and treated the Palestinians “like children.” Trump’s amateurs discovered that the Arab states “felt abandoned by Obama” and found Trump to be “a breath of fresh air.”

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