Jonny Gould's Jewish State

This is my second meeting with Richard and delighted to tell you it took place in Tel Aviv. He's a regular visitor to Israel and gives generously of his time to so many people and institutions helping to make the country stronger. Our trips to Israel coincided and he graciously made time to sit down with me amid his many engagements. There have been two significant, perhaps gamechanging events since we first met in September 2019; Donald Trump's much anticipated Deal Of The Century was launched and the US assassinated Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. Can the Palestinians be persuaded to stop saying “a thousand times, no?” Could Iran’s proxies continue their retaliation against America and its allies - including Israel? We hear Richard’s take on both. Plus listen for his extraordinary meeting with two IDF soldiers, both Muslim Arabs. He unpacks the huge personal sacrifices they've made, why they enlisted in the first place and the impact it’s had on their lives in East Jerusalem. LISTEN HERE to the estimable Col. Richard Kemp. Jonny makes these podcasts to support Israel and the Jewish diaspora. You can support him by buying him a coffee here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Jerusalem is the laboratory for the regional solution”. Fleur Hassan-Nahoum has been Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor since November 2018. I met her in London as she prepared to join a cross-party delegation in the House of Lords urging Britain to cease funding UNRWA to which they’ve just pledged a further £65.5 million. It’s supposed to aid Palestinian refugees yet funds the “glorifying of martyrdom” to Palestinian schoolchildren. With age-old communities in Israel’s capital living side-by-side, Fleur wants to close the gap between equal opportunities and equal rights, particularly in East Jerusalem. Born and bred in Gibraltar, Fleur says it’s her “oracle” for harmony and believes her Anglo-Spanish Jewish background helps her fulfill her job. She's not been without controversy, lending Katie Hopkins a helping hand to promote her movie, “Homelands” and attending a far-left Emek Shaveh event but she can't stand political correctness and is happy to argue her point. So much so, she’s too tired to argue with her hubby when she gets home! It's a good chinwag with Fleur. We’ve known each other for 20 years and it was great to catch up. I produce these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at www.donorbox.org/jgpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Baroness Ruth Deech gave me more than I bargained for in this wide-ranging interview. I asked a question, she replied with 120% of an answer. Ruth discusses the rise of British antisemitism, the post-Holocaust record of Poland, campaigning to ease tough abortion laws, restoring university maintenance grants to aid social mobility and the role of the BBC. Baroness Deech tells me: • about her lack of surprise at Sir Richard Evans’ decision to vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour before claiming to change his mind after an open letter in the New Statesman by Anthony Julius. Sir Richard, a world authority on the rise of Nazism, was an expert defence witness of Deborah Lipstadt when holocaust denier David Irving sued her and her publisher for libel. • she believes EU Council President Donald Tusk should “sort his own country out first before interfering in ours”. • leaving Europe will be “absolutely excellent because we will not be sucked into anti-Jewish sentiment sweeping Europe. Our democracy and tolerance of minorities will be refreshed and revived”. • she’s in favour of generous abortion laws and assisted suicide at the end of life for people in great distress. • Jewish students must choose their universities carefully as many make for hostile antisemitic environments. • she reencountered old antisemitic tropes only when she entered the House of Lords. LISTEN to the remarkable career and challenging views of Baroness Ruth Deech. And you can help support Jonny in the making of these podcasts and see the rest of the series here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Together Against Antisemitism, a rally outside Parliament just days before the infamous 2019 General Election featuring Jeremy Corbyn. To say this gathering at Parliament Square organised by Campaign Against Antisemitism attracted a cross-section of society is an understatement. All the present to show their support for the Jewish community. The anxiety ahead of the poll was palpable in the crowd. This episode includes excerpts from rousing speeches made by TV Judge Robert Rinder and actor and writer Tracy-Ann Oberman. It seems the Jewish community has many friends. Listen to Pakistan’s Christian community in support of Israel, comedian Al Murray who has a personal history of opposing antisemitism, Jewish and Zionist activist Damon Lenszner and Jewish communist, Jonathan Silberman who stood in the 2019 General Election against David Lammy in Tottenham. Jonathan might be workers first but he also fights antisemitism on the left and supports Israel’s right to exist. Communism isn’t for most - but give him a listen. In calling himself a communist, he might just be more intellectually honest about himself - where other politicians aren’t. I make these podcasts voluntarily. If you enjoy them, please consider helping me at http://buymeacoffee.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If only I could go back in a time machine and interview Mrs. Thatcher. This is the next best thing! As an extra to the Zoom Rockman interview, I was delighted to bump into Steve Nallon, the unforgettable Spitting Image voice of Mrs. Thatcher during her years as Prime Minister. Steve was there to add his support to Zoom's Portraits of Churchill launch at the Hyatt Regency Churchill Hotel in London. Relive his great impression from back in the day with updated political gags - and very funny Ann Widdecombe and Homer Simpson impressions too. Jonny produces these podcasts as a vountary effort. You can help support him and find the rest of his episodes at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm giving this episode over to two brilliant 19-year-olds who energize the worlds around them. Zoom Rockman’s a magazine & newspaper satirist, a cartoonist and commissioned artist who at such a tender age has already left the Beano for Private Eye and from the Savoy to the Churchill hotels, where his distinctive sketches of Sir Winston Churchill now grace the walls. Harry Markham’s a self-declared "unapologetic” Zionist, who confronts Jew-hate on university campuses. While that role is important to him, he stresses an even greater emphasis in wanting to shake both Jews and Israelis into a greater appreciation of Zionism. I repeat, they’re both just 19. LISTEN to this episode to hear how this time and place is producing such inspiring young Anglo-Jews. I make these podcasts voluntarily. If you enjoy them, please consider helping me right here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Collier is an extraordinary researcher and his facts and figures on Labour antisemitism and the deligitimization of Israel have at times, dominated the news agenda. In this interview profiling his work and background, we get behind the computer screen to reveal more about the man and his mission. He says his undercover work online has revealed extraordinary levels of Jew hate within the highest corridors of British politics. He explains antizionism as nothing more than antisemitism. David’s most recent projects include lodging a complaint against the publisher, Pearson over an anti-Israel textbook about the Middle East, which he says has been lifted in large part from Wikipedia - and a report into Amnesty, which he says obsesses about Israel. While they overspend time and resources on the conflict in Gaza, David says they’re missing out on enormous disasters elsewhere. He doesn’t mince his words over the EHRC investigation into the Labour Party either, which he worries will not tell it like it is: that there is a growing alliance between the hard-left and Islamists. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support him here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Special Envoy Elan Carr spoke to Parliament in his role as the United States' leading diplomat in the fight against antisemitism. The address was hosted by Henley MP John Howell and I was given the honour of presenting Elan on behalf of Our Soldiers Speak and quite a platform to explain what the organization is about. In this tough yet uplifting speech, Elan clearly defines the three disparate sources of antisemitism, describing its 21st Century manifestation and how if not confronted, tyranny follows for everyone, not just Jews. Jonny produces these podcasts to support Israel and the Jewish diaspora. You can help support him here at http://www.buymeacoffee.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Col. Richard Kemp has "seen evil at first-hand" and says fighting it "becomes personal". In this wide-ranging interview, Richard discusses his military career over three decades, starting in Northern Ireland, culminating in Whitehall as a senior government advisor and as commander of British Forces in Afghanistan. This episode opens with Jeremy Corbyn claiming we in the West don’t understand Iran’s “inclusivity, tolerance and acceptance of other faiths, traditions and ethnic groupings”. But Richard’s response is withering. He says Iran is the world’s greatest threat and predicts growing menace from Russia, China and ongoing Sunni extremism. He explains his unwavering respect for and friendship with Israel and warned of "hundreds of years" of damage that Britain could have self-inflicted had Jeremy Corbyn become Prime Minister. Col. Richard Kemp speaks in measure with the immense experience of a senior soldier and the gravitas of a world authority. It made for a fascinating interview and memorable meeting. Do you enjoy this series? Jonny produces these podcasts for Israel and the Jewish people and you can help support him here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Palestinian Mudar Zahran is Jordan's self-styled opposition leader but lives in exile in the UK after denouncing his country as an apartheid state. In his absence, he was found guilty by a Jordanian military court of inciting hatred against the Hashemite kingdom, which handed down a sentence of imprisonment and hard labour. But he continues to speak out against the 82-strong royal family who rule over the majority Palestinian populous and believes one day, he’ll return to Jordan as president in a bloodless coup, which will herald new peace and cooperation with Israel. His view of Palestinian identity makes mockery of Jeremy Corbyn's so-called support for his people. He even accuses the British Labour leader of “hating Jews more than any love for the Palestinians”. Mudar also predicts President Trump’s plans for Iran as the theocratic terror state sponsors rebellion and destabilization across the Middle East. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support him at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ashley Blaker and Bennett Arron are the two most prolific Jewish standup comedians in the UK. Their journeys are different but their comic routines are both rich in life experience and observation. As Ashley says, ”Jews are funny people”. Bennett grew up in Port Talbot in the town’s last Jewish family. His father ran a glazing business staying there long after the rest of the community had moved on to Swansea, Cardiff and Manchester. He says his dad remembers a time when he couldn’t get a seat in the synagogue. Ashley is a ba'al teshuva; highly observant but not born religious. He was a BBC comedy producer directing among other shows, Little Britain, but changed direction in 2015 becoming a standup the day before his 40th birthday. They both say comedy has changed rapidly even in the last decade, so how do they find laughter among new and diverse audiences? LISTEN as I go behind the punchlines with these two thoughtful and talented funnymen. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is legendary BBC Panorama documentary maker, John Ware. John has yet more revelations and assesses his view of Jeremy Corbyn since his Panorama programme, "Is Labour Antisemitic?" was aired on primetime BBC1. “What we transmitted is not everything we have. There’s a sizeable iceberg beneath the surface”. I like and respect John because as a libel barrister once told him, ”report the facts, don’t rant!”. And it’s his evidence-based journalism that make his documentaries so robust. In this candid interview recorded in the days after the show was shown, John revealed how "livid" he was at Labour's allegations that he was “motivated to mislead”, predicted how it panned out and delivered his own verdict on whether the Labour leader is antisemitic. (Cover picture by Inc. Monocle) I make these podcasts voluntarily. If you enjoy them, please consider helping me at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Special Envoy Elan Carr’s White House role is to monitor and combat global antisemitism. But the tragedies of the Pittsburgh and Poway synagogue attacks have ensured his focus has become more domestic. He was appointed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February 2019. Mr Carr's message is like Jonny Gould's Jewish State's: unity; for the Jewish community to stand together to fight anti-Jewish hatred - and to bridge the gap in an increasingly polarized America to work on bi-partisan solutions. He is an Iraq war veteran, a former deputy US attorney in LA and a Republican in an historically Democratic district of the House of Representatives. Elan is of Iraqi Jewish heritage and served the US military in Baghdad, lighting Chanukah candles and leading Shabbat services in the palace of deposed President Saddam Hussein. We discuss issues of free speech, protected and unprotected speech plus where he sees the role of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in the future protections of Jewish people, and by extension safeguards to western society itself. Jonny produces these podcasts in support of Israel and the Jewish diaspora. You can help support the show and see the rest of the podcast series at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hen Mazzig is truly a modern Israeli. A social media manager for major corporations and a writer and campaigner. Born in Israel in 1989 to a Mizrahi family originally from Iraq and Tunisia, Hen campaigns for the advancement of Israeli Jews from the east and LGBTQ rights as an openly gay man. He actually came out in the IDF serving in Ramallah and Jerusalem in a humanitarian role. His life experience includes being blown out of an ice-cream shop by a suicide bomber when he was 12. It was an attack which killed a grandma and her granddaughter. Identity is a huge part of modern day political discourse, where it seems being a Jewish progressive puts you at odds with non-Jewish ones. In doing so, I encounter the word, “pinkwashing” for the first time. We unpack some complicated concepts because I think it's important we all understand where both Israel and antisemitism is going in the 21st Century. Hen's very engaging and I learned a lot about parallel histories and Jewish lives to my own. Jonny produces these podcasts to support Israel and the Jewish diaspora. You can help support the show at http://www.buymeacoffee.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is dedicated to the 60,000 British Jews who fought for their country during 1939 to 1945. One of them, Stanley Fisher (100-years-old in August 2024), is my first cousin Samuel Posaner's great-grandfather - and we met by chance at Samuel’s Bar Mitzvah in Birmingham in the very 75th anniversary week he landed on Normandy’s beaches in 1944. Stanley is living history. Not only a teenage soldier arriving in Arromanches in the week of D-Day, he also fought at Arnhem, a terrible and bloody defeat for the allies - and then witnessed the shocking aftermath of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He says it gave him nightmares, silencing him from telling his wartime story for decades. Eventually though, a desire to recount his experiences prompted him to speak up - for the benefit of the next generation. It's a profound privilege to bring his story to a wider audience. With thanks to Ben and Rachel Posaner, Esmond Rosen and of course, Stanley who came to the Bar Mitzvah with his wife Evelyn, whom he married in the summer of 1946. That's 73 years! (Update: Sadly Evelyn died a few months later). By the way, Bar Mitzvah boy Samuel's great grandmother, Olga Posaner's own Holocaust testimony is available here (she was my grandma). It's "from Vienna's tyranny to Birmingham's freedom". Jonny Gould’s Jewish State is brought to you with Dangoor Education. And you can help me too by making a small donation the size of a cup of coffee at http://www.ko-fi.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author, historian and campaigner Lyn Julius promotes the culture, history and lives of Mizrahim, the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa. Mizrahi is the Hebrew word for Easterners - and their exodus from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Morocco, Lebanon, Iran and Algeria has perhaps been overlooked in the last century. After 3,000 years of vibrant Jewish life, interspersed with persecution and exile, the Mizrahim are all but erased from those countries. Most live in Israel now - but there's also a diaspora in the UK, France, Canada and the USA. So what can and should we learn from the sudden flight from their generational homes? Lyn's book "Uprooted: How 3,000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World Vanished Overnight" is the culmination of a decade of research. It's a story we mustn't ignore. This podcast also contains Hillel Neuer's famous "Where are your Jews?" audio by his kind personal permission. Jonny produces these podcasts in support of Israel and the Jewish diaspora. Would you like to support his show? Do it right here and see the rest of the series of podcasts with great guests and conversations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonny produces these podcasts in support of the Jewish diaspora and Israel. You can help support the show here. My guest is a fourth generation smoked salmon purveyor and a former EU politician (if not a European Union supporter). Lance Forman was elected as a Brexit Party MEP in the 2019 European election, which he says shouldn't have happened in the first place. He accuses the political class of being fast and loose with extremist rhetoric, while being cowardly in making the big decisions lest they lose votes. He plots a 115-year history of the family business, H Forman & Son and describes the challenges of succession, planning and adapting to modern times. He harks for a return to the days of Margaret Thatcher, says Nigel Farage is "Maggie in men's clothing" and "antisemite" Jeremy Corbyn and allies' vision of "Britain as Venezuela" needs preventing. He's proud to be a Jewish member of the party, shrugging off the unpleasant daubing of a swastika on his factory shutter by what he describes as an “extinction rebellion” supporter. Jonny produces these podcasts in support of the Jewish diaspora and Israel. You can help support the show here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can help support the show at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Today's guest is distinguished academic, medic, historian and legislator, Lord Leslie Turnberg. Born in Salford in 1934 to Polish and Romanian immigrant parents, Leslie grew up to enjoy a successful career in medicine including presidency of the Royal College of Physicians. He took his place in the House of Lords when Tony Blair was prime minister and now speaks with authority in the upper chamber on medicine, the NHS and Israel. Agile of mind with a lifetime of experience and achievement, Leslie has applied his considerable intellect to becoming a historian. To mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, he wrote a book on its place in today's Middle East. In an extensive conversation, we discuss the history of Israel's formation, the key Zionist characters, those who helped them, today's Palestinians - and as a Labour peer, what he thinks of the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuvia Tenenbom, theatre director, playwright, author, academic and unapologetic, uncompromising Jew. For six months in 2019, he travelled the length and breadth of Britain, uncovering “a deep psychological Jew hate”. He warns the Anglo-Jewish community’s in denial - just as they are in Poland, where he also gives examples. His UK experiences make up the fifth book in a series, The Taming of the Jew, which was released towards the end of 2019. He spoke to many voices in British Jewry and found a refusal to admit to the extent of antisemitism. He says, "I feel like a plumber, clearing out the sewage. I don't want to do antisemitism - but I have to." Tuvia says that if Jews hide their identity, they face extinction. He says Israel needs to be cherished, it's the future but losing it would spell the end of Jewish life in the world - but for a few isolated Chasidim. I met him in the week he visited a pub in Derry, Northern Ireland, creating world headlines as the regulars openly told him, “Hitler hadn’t finished the job”. His frankness is as hilarious as it is disturbing. Jonny produces these podcasts to support and defend the Jewish diaspora and Israel. You can help support the show and see the rest of the series via the link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we focus on champions for our people in law and football. We talk to CEO of UK Lawyers for Israel, barrister Jonathan Turner and David Bolchover, author of a biography on Bela Guttmann, “The Greatest Comeback”. Jonathan describes the remarkable successes of his organisation despite limited manpower and resources and David recounts the ultimate Jewish football hero, Bela Guttmann, who survived the Holocaust to become a twice-winner of the European Cup with Benfica. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show by buying him a coffee and looking back at every episode he's made so far at http://www/ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yaakov Peri has dedicated his life to public service. As director of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security, he was answerable only to the Prime Minister and oversaw the agency for nearly seven years. He was also in the opposition Yesh Atid party from 2013 including a spell as Minister for Science, Technology and Space. Yaakov tells me his hopes for peace with Palestine, the deeply problematic situation with Hamas in Gaza, how the flurry of Israeli elections will shape the future and changes to the Basic Law, which concern his instincts for equality. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My two guests are MPs taking the fight to Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism. While Ian Austin became the ninth MP to leave Labour since Corbyn became leader, John Mann MP says he'll "have to be thrown out". But both are united in their fight against his leadership. I share with Ian a deep respect and affection for the Black Country, where he's MP for Dudley North, and we discuss our shared heritage of family who sought refuge from the Holocaust in the industrial Midlands. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I focus on an industry at which Israel leads the world, HealthTech. In a matter of years, Israel's digital health industry has evolved from a small group of innovative start-ups to a rich eco-system around Tel Aviv. In a partnership of private and public sector investment, Israel's HealthTech industry is training AI algorithms, using massive data based on twenty years of medical records from half of Israel's population. This was presented at the third UK Israel Business HealthTech Forum at which I spoke to UKIB's Hugo Bieber, Clalit's Professor Ran Balicer and Eyal Gura of Zebra Medical Vision. Israel has the equivalent of four NHS’s serving its population with a top-up private sector with additional benefits. So what can Israel teach the UK about public healthcare provision? This is a good news story from the start-up nation! Jonny makes these podcasts in support of Israel and the Jewish diaspora and you can help support him at http://www.ko-fi.com/jonnygould Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city of your exile, pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper", Jeremiah 29:7, recited to me by the remarkable Trevor Horn. The Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello Award winning record producer, coined "the man who invented the 80s", gives me a very personal interview about his current projects, (touring and a new album) plus a rundown of his musical career and influences. He also discusses his journey into Judaism; something he says he "believes in more than anything else". It turns out Frankie goes to Synagogue! Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show with Gift Aid at https://www.donorbox.org/jgpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode goes some way to explaining the Jewish relationship with football, both today and in the twentieth century. My guests today are Ivor Baddiel, the comedy writer and biographer David Bolchover, who wrote "The Greatest Comeback", the amazing story of football's greatest Jewish hero, Bela Guttmann. If you've been to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, you'll almost certainly have heard the word, "Yid" chanted in support of Spurs - or worse, AGAINST them by opposition fans. You may have even chanted it yourself. But what does it mean exactly? Do you think it still has a place on football's terraces? Campaigner Ivor Baddiel and his brother David began a campaign eight years ago with a short film, "The Y Word" which explained that it's a derogatory term for Jewish people - like the P or N Word. The podcast includes an excerpt from Ivor and David’s short film, The Y Word starring Gary Lineker and Frank Lampard. Would you like to help Jonny in the production of these podcasts which support Israel and the Jewish diaspora? You can do so here and also see his full set of episodes too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My two guests today are from very different parts of British society - but united in opposing Jeremy Corbyn and the scandal of antisemitism sweeping Labour. Jassem Tamim (pictured hugging our own James Marlow at the 2021 Israel Solidarity Rally in Kensington, London) is a Sunni Muslim originally from Morocco, who considers his opposition to antisemitism as payback to Britain for the tolerance and acceptance he's found since moving here. He also believes it's his Islamic duty to defend Israel and Jews. And Richard Millett is the longtime activist who the Labour leader famously called “lacking English irony”. I ask both of them what the hard-left takeover of Labour has done to Britain? LISTEN to their insightful answers and fascinating stories here. Jonny produces these podcasts to support Israel and the Jewish diaspora. Want to help him? Buy him a coffee here. You can help support the show at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dov Forman and her great-grandmother Lily Ebert have co-written a book, “Lily’s Promise” about her Holocaust story. But 35 years before, I recorded the same idea with my own grandma. Grandma Olga’s recorded voice and when and where we recounted her life story will always be my most treasured episode. This is her eyewitness testimony of leaving Nazi-occupied Vienna for a new and as yet, uncharted home in the UK. She rebuilt her life in Birmingham where I grew up and where back in 1984, we recorded a chat on cassette in her front room. At the time, she was 77 and I was just 17. The motivation to record this way back then was to explain, to my as yet unborn children, who we are and how we got here. Grandma began life in England as a 32-year-old housemaid in a faraway London suburb before meeting my fellow refugee grandpa at a friendship club in Birmingham. They got married and lodged in an upstairs room next to Sutton Town's football ground. Eventually, they managed to buy their own home and set up a typewriter repair shop down the road. I’m so proud of my grandma and grandpa, at how quickly they got themselves together in Birmingham after the disasters which befell their Viennese lives. Their story is a constant motivation for me. The family history handed down to me was largely happy in outcome, except for the murderous loss of my great grandparents in a Polish death camp. Yet every single one of my grandparent’s brothers and sisters survived, fanned around the world to rebuild lives thousands of miles apart - but still close together in contact and spirit. From Shanghai to Palestine, Nottingham to Vancouver, Chicago to Glasgow, Vienna to Toronto. And of course, Birmingham, where my grandma and grandpa arrived in September 1938 and April 1939 respectively. The story of Bela Guttmann, clubmate of my grandfather and great uncle in the legendary Hakoah Vienna FC who hid in a loft in Hungary to survive the war, made me realise that the comparative safety of my own family’s story was at odds with so many others. As the Churchill movie, which dramatised the imminent invasion of Britain in 1940, my grandparent’s arrival in the UK wasn’t even the end of their escape from tyranny. Listening to my dear grandma, who told me she ran her own exotic pet shop in Vienna in well to do 1920s society, only to become a penniless chambermaid in Northwood in the 1940s, inspires me to dig deep and accept whatever problems are thrown at me - and to climb back. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education. (Picture: Grandma Olga Posaner and my mum, Yvonne Gould, taken in the back garden of their home in Birmingham Road, Sutton Coldfield in 1948) You can help support the show right here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a very special episode for me. I rediscovered an old cassette I’d recorded of an interview with my late Grandma in 1984, when she was 77 - and I was 17. Thursday afternoons were always lunch at Grandma and I’d always wanted to record her voice for future Gould/Posaner generations. She narrates her own escape from Hitler's Vienna in 1938 and arrival in Birmingham. It’s her story of rebuilding family life destroyed by tyranny, the upheaval of leaving a place that made her - mixed with the heartache of saying goodbye to her parents, who she would never see again. She learned years later, they were murdered in a Polish death camps. There's also an extensive interview with Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism on his tireless campaign against the worst excesses of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour and what he hopes will happen. Jonny produces these podcasts. You can help support the show and see all of his latest episodes here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark joins me to discuss moving to Israel with his fiancée, Mandy Blumenthal, what prompted their decision to leave the UK and the Israeli health system which promises him the world’s best treatment for Multiple Sclerosis, a condition he’s had since his twenties. He’s had a remarkable legal career, the highlight was when he represented more than 120 victims of phone-hacking and exposed the News of the World’s role in the scandal. When specialist hacker, Glenn Mulcaire and royal reporter, Clive Goodman, were both charged in 2006, Mark noticed what others had missed. Although the charges related were mostly to youngsters of the Royal Family, Mark was concerned that Mulcaire’s wider targets included five others, among them the chairman of the professional footballers Association, Gordon Taylor. “I saw the news and thought ‘They hacked Gordon to get that story’.” He calls it his “light-bulb moment”. Mark exposed the full scale of criminality inside Murdoch’s paper and then later inside Mirror Group Newspapers. LISTEN to the remarkable Mark Lewis on the next chapter of his remarkable life. Jonny produces these podcasts for free. You can help support the show at https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=BW4GZLQCCL29Y&item_name=Podcast+production+&currency_code=GBP&source=url Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We ought not deal in the soft bigotry of low expectations of the Palestinians” – Benjamin Anthony, CEO, MirYam Institute. This is the first podcast in a series on Jewish and Israeli issues - so let's start with the biggest of them all: peace with the Palestinians. Brigadier General Amir Avivi (ret.) and Sgt. Benjamin Anthony of The New State Solution were in London to meet Egyptian officials to discuss their plan to create a Palestinian state from Gaza to North Sinai. Egypt is key to realising their vision as they would have to cede land for the New State. But then so is the agreement of the Arabs of the West Bank and the Gazans too. Can they do it? Is there a window of opportunity opening with the thawing of relations with Saudi and Oman? Listen to the opportunities they believe are available. Jonny asks for your support to help him make these podcasts. You can help support the show right here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices