John Podhoretz

We’ve spent a year in the pages of COMMENTARY detailing how the surge in anti-Semitism in America and around the world is the result of two decades or more of organizing, propagandizing, and spending. We’ve talked about the role of Qatar as the literal bank from which Jew-haters were drawing cash. We’ve written about the universities training students and turning them into the academics who have spread the gospel of anti-Zionism by serving as the mentors and sponsors of the kids and groups that have made the post–October 7 atmosphere so poisonous, toxic, and dangerous.

The appointments of Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard to major jobs in the administration has set Washington's (and our) heads on fire. And with Robert Kennedy Jr. soon to follow,

How the RFK pick is both conventional (Trump rewarding an important endorser) and the result of radical changes in the way Americans view trusted institutions (they don't trust those institutions).

Noah Rothman joins us today to talk about presidential appointments and how to stay calm and rational as Donald Trump continues to make news at the same dizzying clip he

Today's podcast delves into a New York Times story suggesting Donald Trump thinks Matt Gaetz will not be confirmable, or confirmed, by the Senate. What's going on here? What will

The news that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant came the same day that 19 Democrats voted to embargo “offensive weaponry” to Israel—and a former Israeli cabinet minister was denied entry to a conference in Australia because her very presence might be “disruptive.” The war against Jews is relentless and ever-morphing, and there is going to be pushback. Give a listen.

Today's podcast begins with the horrible murder of a Hasidic emissary in the UAE and the growing institutional anti-Semitism in Canada before moving on to the very interesting political dynamic

According to Israel, it is agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in large measure to stave off an American assault in the UN on Israel’s efforts in Lebanon. We discuss what this reminds us of, why it’s outrageous if indeed this is the case, and whether Israel can find a way to benefit from the pause. Also, hijinks with tariffs and fights on the patio at Mar-A-Lago! Give a listen.

The 60-day ceasefire to which Israel has agreed, thus pausing its efforts to degrade Hezbollah in Lebanon to such a degree that 60,000 Israelis can begin to return to their homes near the Lebanese border, exists because of blackmail. Blackmail from the United States. Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet that if they did not agree to the Biden terms, the administration would move against the Jewish state in the U.N. Security Council. This threat was a first of its kind for any president; even Barack Obama only allowed a hostile Security Council action to go through without a veto in his final act of aggression against Jerusalem in 2017. This time Biden was threatening to lead the U.N. against its only true ally in the Middle East.

We try to make sense out of Israel’s participation in the ceasefire that began today—and which Hezbollah may already have violated. Did Israel actually want this because it needed time to recover its strength? Or did it have to agree because it needed weapons from the United States that were being withheld? Oh, and what on earth was with that weird Kamala Harris video in which she appeared to be, shall we say, not entirely sober? Give a listen.