Mike, this is a long review but I have a lot to say: Having read and heard copious amounts of “anti-semitic” commentary since October 7th, and being a man who insists on hearing ALL sides of an issue, I started listening to your podcast in the summer of 2024, and I actually enjoyed it: you made some very good points, and you came off as a generally decent, rational, temperate and sincere commentator. However, when I came to your March 13, 2022 episode, you lost me. The famous quote “I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It”, which is alternately attributed to Voltaire, Arouet, Hall and others, is, regardless of its author, expressive of a fine and noble sentiment, one fully in accord with the United States’ Constitution’s 1st Amendment and the wisdom and spirit of the people who created that document. I am American. I entertain a profound reverence for American political ideals embodied in documents like our constitution, and in particular I feel a zealous devotion to our right to Free Speech, recognized in the 1st Amendment; and, per corollary, I feel the utmost aversion to any policies that in any way violate this right, and toward any persons who even countenance, let alone heartily approve of, such disgustingly despotic policies. Your approval, expressed in the 3/13/22 episode, of the ADL “cleaning the internet”, and more generally of Big Tech platforms stifling so-called “Hate Speech”—a creepily Orwellian phrase if ever there were one—was astounding. After having gained some respect for you, I immediately lost most of it after hearing you so casually regard this fundamental right and basic precept of intellectual integrity and decency with such contempt. The respectable way to counter what you judge as “wrong” is not to silence (or approve of others silencing) the speaker of said “wrong”, but for you to speak up and explain WHY it is wrong; in other words, to let EVERYONE, no matter how nasty or how “wrong” he might strike you, to have his say, and to let the audience make up their own minds AFTER freely hearing ALL sides. Considering that you HAVE for quite some time now been doing the latter, and often very convincingly, how disappointing that you would spoil it all by also doing the former!

I found this podcast after October 7 when I was in shock and disbelief that such atrocities had occurred. I really did not know very much at all about Israel’s history or the history of the Middle East. This podcast has helped me so much. I listen to the current episodes and am working my way through the past episodes. Mike is a wonderful teacher. He explains things in a way that I can understand, with facts and historical evidence that create a firm and unshakable foundation of truth. I have learned so much about Israel and the Jewish people and I have so much heartfelt admiration for both. Mike is always fair and straightforward; I trust him as a teacher, and in today’s world of misinformation, that trustworthiness is so important to me. He has also answered my questions, and helped me understand without ever making me feel bad about what I don’t know. He has recommended books and films to further my learning. I highly recommend this podcast. I look forward to all of the upcoming episodes.

So far my favorite episode has been with JudeanFirst, but I enjoy them all. They discuss contemporary components of Jewish and/or Israeli issues that need to be heard to make a fully informed opinion on the topic.