NEVER AGAIN IS NOW Podcast

Mayor of Beverly Hills, California, Sharona Nazariandiscusses her city's policy and activities against antisemitism. She has now launched the year-long campaign Never Again Is Now. In October, 2025, the citywill unveil the world's first monument of the attacks on Israeli civilians of October 7, 2023.

An Iranian-Jewish grassroots community leader in LosAngeles, Sharon Nik, speaks about the antisemitism in Iran and warns us for being naïve about antisemitism today in America. She urges everybody to speakup now.

Strategic advisor Toba Hellerstein shares research-driven insights on how (not) to counter the current anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli narratives. She is the founder and CEO of Attune Now and helps governments, non-profits and institutions with shaping strategies for public perception. Her latest research report can be found here: Report: Perceptions of Jews & Israel | Attune Now!

Business consultant Claudine Cohen in New York tells us about the Jewish alumni group she recently co-founded next to her busy day job, to change the anti-Zionist conversation on American campuses. For more information, go to the website of the Pan-University Jewish Alumni Coalition  https://panjac.org

Andrew Pessin, professor of philosophy at Connecticut College and Campus Bureau Editor of the www.Algemeiner.com, sharply analyzes antisemitism on campuses. It makes him an unpopular guest at parties by his own admission. See www.andrewpessin.com

Eighty years after the end of the Holocaust -- Joanna Sliwa, co-author of the nonfiction book THE COUNTERFEIT COUNTESS, shares examples of resistance of Jewish women during the Holocaust. She is an historian at the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference).

Christian Zionism is an important pillar of support for Israel. Daniel Hummel, an historian of U.S. religion, explains the reasons for this committed support. He is the director of The Lumen Center for the study of Christianity and a research fellow in the history department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Andrew Fox served in the British Army and is currently an associate fellow of the UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society. He specializes in Defense. the Middle East, and the psychology of disinformation. His recent paper on the conflict: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/HJS-Questionable-Counting-–-Hamas-Report-web.pdf

Robert Spencer, author of the new book ANTISEMITISM: HISTORY & MYTH, explains antisemitism in its historical context. He's an historian, counterterror analyst, director of Jihad Watch, and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. His just-released book is available at https://www.amazon.com/Antisemitism-History-Myth-Robert-Spencer/dp/B0DKD5ZFQD

Jewish school students in America from kindergarten to high school are facing a dramatic increase of antisemitism and marginalization since October 7th. Sara Colb, the Deputy Director for the Anti-Defamation League New England, discusses this situation and the factors that encourage it.

Rabbi Raphael Shore gives a provocative answer to the fundamental question: why have the Jews been hated throughout their history? We discuss his ideas about this from his new book "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Jew: Learning to Love the Lessons of Jew-Hatred" and his documentary "Tragic Awakening." See https://www.amazon.com/Whos-Afraid-Big-Bad-Jew/dp/1957466103 and https://raphaelshore.com/tragic-awakening/.

Robert Gregory, the CEO of the Australian Jewish Association, describes the severe antisemitism across Australia. He also discusses what can be done by those of us outside Australia to motivate the Australian authorities to do more against this.

Yael Vias Gvirsman, founder and lead attorney for October 7 Justice, explains how her organization is bringing the perpetrators to face international courts. Learn more at https://www.october7justice.org/

Samantha Ettus is the creator of the Jewsletter and a producer of the new documentary OCTOBER 8 (in U.S. theaters March 14, 2025). She discusses the need to pushback against Jewish "erasure" and biased news. Check out https://jewsletter.substack.com/

Dr. Elana Heideman, CEO and founder of the Israel Forever Foundation, discusses the root causes of global antisemitism today. She urges all Jews to educate themselves to speak up against this hate. https://israelforever.org

Jarrow Rogovin, a philanthropic supporter of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, discusses his views on an alternative to a two-state solution. He proposes Egypt take back Gaza and that Palestinians become citizens of the countries in which they are now living.

Mark Sandler, founder of the Alliance of Canadians Combating Antisemitism (ALCCA), discusses the dramatic increase in antisemitism in Canada and the urgent need to push back against the new Canadian concept of "anti-Palestinian racism." This concept has already infiltrated into the U.S. and we need to stop it now. Read more at https://www.alcca.ca/

Scott D. Seligman, author of the new book "The Chief Rabbi's Funeral: The Untold Story of America's Largest Antisemitic Riot," discusses how the Jewish communities united to fight for justice at the turn of the 20th Century and if we can use these uniting strategies now. See the book at https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Rabbis-Funeral-Americas-Antisemitic/dp/164012618X (NOT an affiliate link)

Joshua Blustein, who has published scholarship on the economics and currency of the Lodz Ghetto, shares how Holocaust museums and research centers today have been diluting their Holocaust Jewish content in favor of a broader multicultural approach. This new focus minimizes the political antisemitism of the Holocaust and the lessons from that unprecedented genocide.

Ryan Mauro, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center, provides chilling examples of the groups in the U.S. working to undermine the Jewish state and the American way of life. Listen now to learn what you can do to stop this multi-pronged attack. See his report Marching Toward Violence: The Domestic Anti-Israeli Protest Movement -Capital Research Center

Alon Penzel is a 23-year-old Israeli journalist who collected first-hand testimonies of survivors, rescuers, and numerous others. His  book "Testimonies Without Boundaries: Israel: October 7th 2023" records the horrific atrocities in order to pushback against Oct. 7th denial.

Williamson M. Evers of the Independent Institute explains the woke antisemitic "liberated" high school curriculum in California. He also discusses the alternative curriculum he wrote -- curriculum that removes antisemitic bias and encourages critical thinking. Check out the "Comparative Cultures Ethnic Studies Curriculum" at https://www.independent.org/publications/ethnicstudies/ and "Readings on Anti-Semitism" at https://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=13206

Ronny Nathaniel -- former Director of the Center for Information and Documentation Israel in The Netherlands -- provides insights on both recent events in Syria and in The Netherlands. How might these events affect Israel and Jews worldwide?

David Beesemer, chairman of Maccabi Netherlands and Maccabi Europe, describes how his team sprang into action to rescue hundreds of Israelis who were attacked in the city.

Philippe Karsenty, founder of Media-Ratings -- a company that monitors the French media for bias, joins us to discuss this important topic. He also offers insights into the often ineffective responses to such biases by European and American Jewish organizations. He can be reached on Twitter at @pkarsenty

Hebrew Union College rabbinic student Tori Greene shares the work she is doing with young people at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Tori coaches the high school students on what to do when seeing a negative social media headline about Israel.

Dutch news commentator and author Leon de Winter reports on the November 7th Jew hunt in Amsterdam and what this bodes for the future of Jews and Western Civilization in Europe.

Dillon Hosier, Chief Executive Officer of the Israeli-American Civic Action Network, discusses the new unfriendly Jewish environment in the city of West Hollywood, CA as the "canary in the mine" for other American cities. And what can we as individuals do to stop this antisemitic tide? Learn more at www.icanaction.org

Rabbi Erez Sherman of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles discusses the pilot program planned for a national roll-out. This new program prepares Jewish high school students to have confidence at college -- and change things there -- in the face of antisemitism.

Baruch Apisdorf, the founder of Let's Do Something, recounts his unsuccessful attempt to save his best friend, David Newman, at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th. In the immediate aftermath of this failure, Baruch and other friends started airlifts of supplies to Israel. Now the organization works on solutions in the fields of advocacy, defense and healing. We can all help with this -- see https://www.letsdosomething.com/

On Oct. 7, 2023, hundreds of people of all ages attending the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel were murdered by Hamas terrorists. Hundreds of others survived this unprovoked massacre. Anna Cooper, chief of staff of the Nova Exhibition, discusses the Nova Music Festival Exhibition that seeks to share the story of the victims and survivors of the festival, and to aid the collective healing process. Now extended to Nov. 3rd in Los Angeles, the exhibition will next move to Miami. Learn more at https://www.novaexhibition.com/

Sharon Buenos, Global Director of Zikaron BaSalon -- an Israeli organization bringing people together with Holocaust survivors to keep alive the history of the Holocaust -- shares what her organization has been doing since a few hours into the Oct. 7th massacre. First, the organization reached out to Holocaust survivors to help them with the devastating situation. Second, the organization turned to helping Oct. 7 survivors learn from Holocaust survivors how to move forward from such traumatic experiences. And you too can host a Zikaron BaSalon event -- see https://www.zikaronbasalon.com/en/home-2/

Gregory T. Angelo, President of the New Tolerance Campaign (NTC), is offering the pro-Hamas group Queers for Palestine $1 million if it successfully hosts a gay pride parade in Gaza or the West Bank. This podcast interview includes the exclusive premiere of the NTC video about the $1 million challenge, contrasting human rights in Israel with the Palestinian Territories and exposing the ignorant hypocrisy of the Queers for Palestine movement. Check out www.NewTolerance.org and www.HateMap.com.

Kristen Eastlick, Senior Vice President at Capital Research Center, shares the often-hidden funding trail of pro-Palestinian protests and propaganda as well as how we can push back via our elected officials and the IRS. See https://capitalresearch.org/ and https://www.influencewatch.org/

Filmmaker James Forsher, long-time producer of films about Hollywood's history, recounts the story of the film industry's century-long battle against antisemitism within its own community.

Mansour Al-Hadj, director of the Reform Project at MEMRI -- Middle East Media Research Institute -- discusses the need for a wake-up call for Americans who are unaware of what is being preached by radicals in Muslim countries as well as in mosques in the United States. Now is the time to call-out these messages of hate. Learn more at https://www.memri.org/ and https://claritycoalition.org And check out: https://www.memri.org/reports/challenging-dominant-radical-narrative-preached-mosques-across-us-regarding-israel-hamas-war

Well-known British journalist Jonathan Sacerdoti shares his expertise on the Middle East and antisemitism around the world. He says we must be willing to engage in civil conversations with those whose opinions are different than our own. Learn more about Jonathan Sacerdoti's views at his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@MrJonsac

Avi Abraham Benlolo, founder and CEO of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative promoting human rights, urges Jews and our allies to counter denial, distortion and complicity. Learn more at https://agpiworld.com/

Sam Westrop, director of Islamist Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum, discusses combating the ideology and institutions of Islamism in the West. Learn how all of us must speak up against this threat to Western democracy being unwittingly funded by the U.S and other Western governments. And stay informed at the Middle East Forum https://www.meforum.org/; CLARITy Coalition  https://claritycoalition.org/; MEMRI https://www.memri.org/    Here is an article about violent Islamists coming to the U.S. https://www.meforum.org/66020/a-british-warning-to-americans-the-notorious-cage

Anne-Sophie Sebban, director of the American Jewish Committee in Paris, provides insights on the political situation for French Jews today. They are caught between the antisemitic Far Left and the Far Right trying to overcome its heritage of antisemitism.  

Sandy Cardin founded the organization Global Jewry in 2023 to strengthen the bonds that unite the Jewish people. Listen to this interview for how individuals and organizations can collaborate to multiply their effectiveness. Learn more at GlobalJewry.org

Author Howard Lovy discusses the anti-Zionist education material currently widely taught in US K-12 schools. He calls for all hands on deck to turn this around. Reach out to him at www.HowardLovy.com

Cyber policy expert and book author Dr. Lev Topor discusses the severe threat to Jews and Israel by online bot farms from hostile regimes and hate groups. He stresses the importance of all of us engaging in counterspeech on the web.

On the recent launch of her NY Times bestseller UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS WITH A JEW co-written with Emmanuel Acho -- Noa Tishby tells us all to stop being complacent and instead start to speak up.

Dexter Van Zile, investigative journalist and managing editor of the Focus on Western Islamism for the Middle East Forum, visited the campus protests and explains what motivates students to join these. He also discusses the underlying ideology being taught in schools and how to stop this. See www.meforum.org and https://claritycoalition.org/

Investigative journalist Asra Nomani discusses the activists that drive today's protests and opinions against Israel's policies and existence. Her book WOKE ARMY: THE RED-GREEN ALLIANCE THAT IS DESTROYING AMERICA'S FREEDOM is a wake-up call for all of us. Learn more at https://asranomani.com/

Undergraduate student Elisha Baker discusses the open letter titled "In Our Name" co-written by him and three other Columbia Jewish students and signed by hundreds of other Columbia Jewish students. The letter, which quickly went viral, discusses the Jewish students' position on the antisemitism occurring on Columbia's campus.

Clinical and neuropsychologist Orli Peter discusses her team's innovative work in Israel with treating the trauma of Oct. 7 survivors and others. Learn more at her website https://www.israelhealinginitiative.org/

Orly Beigel from Mexico City and Evelyn Markus from the Netherlands share the Holocaust memories of their mothers. Both their mothers were Jewish prisoners in Bergen Belsen. They were liberated from the "death" train near Magdeburg, Germany on April 13, 1945, by the 30th Division of the 9th American Army. The photo in the YouTube image is of Orly's mother, Jetta Halpern, after she was liberated.

Selina Robinson discusses how she was forced to resign as minister of post-secondary education in Canada's British Columbia. The sequence of events leading to this undeserved firing was fueled by her remark about the legitimacy of the State of Israel. 

Tulane University senior Yasmeen Ohebsion testified with other Jewish college students at a special session of the House of Representatives Committee on Education & the Workforce. Hear directly from her on the continuing and dangerous climate that Jewish college students are facing. And sign up at https://www.campusfairness.org/ to find out what is going on at your alma mater.