‘Suicidal Empathy’ is such a perfectly judged phrase for some of the most misguided tendencies in many Western governments, including Britain’s, that it has already taken hold in mainstream conversations – despite Dr Gad Saad's book of that name not even being out yet. Now, the wait is nearly over, and the book is out in less than one month. It was a pleasure to speak with him about it yesterday, before we sat down for a longer discussion on antisemitism and Islam.

This Yom Hashoah special episode features Holocaust survivor Martin Stern, who shares his story and reflects on his fears for the world today. Martin Stern survived arrest, deportation, and life in camps as a young child, his survival dependent on individuals who chose courage over conformity at moments of real danger. His life since has been shaped by that experience, through decades of reflection and education, including his work teaching younger generations about the Holocaust and other genocides. In this challenging conversation, Martin It examines how ordinary people come to adopt ideas they have not properly interrogated, how crowds form around moral language that has lost its substance, and how institutions fail to cultivate independent thought. What emerges is not simply memory, but a warning about how societies drift, how certainty replaces judgement, and how easily moral language can be detached from reality. To support my work, including these interviews, please donate at http://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how Holocaust testimony exposes the deeper failures shaping the present 💬 We Discuss: • 🕯 Why Yom Hashoah demands moral seriousness rather than symbolic remembrance • 🧠 How a five-year-old child experienced arrest, interrogation, and deportation under Nazi rule • 🚂 What the camps revealed about ordinary people carrying out extraordinary evil without reflection • 🧭 How individual acts of courage, like those which saved Martin and his sister, illuminate moral choice under pressure • 🏛 How modern institutions and media environments fail to cultivate independent moral judgement • 🗣 Why large groups adopt identical slogans without genuine understanding or inquiry • ⚖ The role of conformity, social approval, and intellectual laziness in shaping belief systems • 🔥 How contemporary hostility toward Jews reflects deeper ideological and civilisational tensions • 🧩 The convergence of identity politics and inherited prejudice as a destabilising force • 📉 Why “never again” has not held, and what that reveals about human nature • 🧑‍🏫 The collapse of education as a system for teaching ethical reasoning and responsibility • 🌍 What it means to live in an era where truth is contested and moral certainty is performative 🔔 Subscribe for more serious and unflinching conversations about history, power, and the moral challenges shaping our world 📲 Follow Jonathan On X: https://x.com/jonsac On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/ On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — what does it take for a society to turn memory into judgement, rather than ritual? #JonathanSacerdoti #MartinStern #YomHashoah #HolocaustSurvivor #HolocaustMemory #Antisemitism #WesternValues #EducationCrisis #MoralResponsibility

The language of international law is being stretched to breaking point. Terms once defined with precision are now deployed as instruments of moral accusation, detached from the evidentiary standards that once gave them force. In that shift, something deeper is revealed about the condition of Western institutions. Authority no longer rests securely on method, but on consensus, amplification, and the emotional force of accusation. What presents itself as a defence of human rights increasingly operates through blurred definitions, institutional capture, and self-reinforcing narratives. The result is a system that struggles to distinguish between war, crime, and rhetoric, while insisting on moral certainty. Danny Orbach is an associate professor for history and Asian studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specialises in military history, political assassinations and coups, military adventurism, illegal orders, dynamics of military atrocities and the history of intelligence and espionage. In this conversation with Jonathan Sacerdoti he challenges the widespread use of the term “genocide” in relation to Gaza, examines how international institutions, media, and academia reinforce one another in elevating contested claims into accepted truth, and how evidentiary standards are displaced by moral framing. He explores the blurring and expansion of legal definitions, the role of NGOs and the UN in shaping narratives, and the way political and intellectual pressures shape judicial and scholarly consensus. He also addresses how immigration and shifting notions of national and cultural identity are placing new strain on Western democracies, challenging their ability to define boundaries, maintain cohesion, and sustain legitimacy. 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how legal language, institutional authority, and political incentives are reshaping truth, justice, and democracy in the modern world. 🙏🏻 DONATE TO SUPPORT THESE INTERVIEWS: https://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate 💬 We Discuss: ⚖️ Why the legal definition of genocide requires specific intent and why that threshold matters 🧠 How moral intuition is increasingly replacing evidentiary standards in public discourse 🌐 The rise of “junctions of reliability” across the UN, NGOs, academia, and media 📊 How the shift from quantitative to interpretive standards enables political manipulation 🔁 The feedback loop between institutions that amplifies unverified claims into accepted truth 🏛️ Why international courts may be influenced by social and intellectual pressure 🧩 The gradual expansion and blurring of legal definitions in the laws of war 🗳️ How modern political incentives prioritise signalling over compromise in democracies 🧱 The “barnacle effect” of accumulating laws and regulations slowing institutional function 🌍 Why the post-World War II rules-based order is fracturing into a more unstable system ⚠️ The growing gap between liberal elites and democratic legitimacy 🧭 Whether liberal democracy can reform itself before more radical alternatives emerge 🔔 Subscribe for more serious and unflinching conversations about geopolitics, law, and the future of Western civilisation. 📲 Follow Jonathan On X: https://x.com/jonsac On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/ On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — can institutions recover their authority once definitions, evidence, and trust begin to erode, or does that loss become irreversible? #DanielOrbach #JonathanSacerdoti #GenocideDebate #InternationalLaw #IsraelGaza #MediaBias #WesternInstitutions #LiberalDemocracy #Geopolitics

Does God exist, and can we prove it? Donate to support these interviews, at https://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate There is a growing assumption in modern Western life that science has settled the question of God. That belief rests less on settled knowledge than on cultural habit, reinforced over generations of intellectual fashion and institutional authority. What once presented itself as liberation from superstition has, in many cases, hardened into a new orthodoxy, one that treats materialism as neutral and belief as deviation. Yet the scientific story itself has not remained static. Developments in cosmology, physics, and biology have introduced new tensions into that confidence. Questions of origin, order, and fine tuning continue to resist reduction to simple mechanism. The deeper the inquiry goes, the more the underlying assumptions begin to matter. In this conversation, Jonathan Sacerdoti speaks with Michel-Yves Bolloré, co-author of God, the Science, the Evidence, a book that has reached a wide audience across Europe and now enters the English-speaking world. Bolloré approaches the question not as a theologian, but as a proponent of a cumulative case built from scientific and philosophical developments over the past century. His argument rests on the claim that the balance of evidence has shifted, and that materialism now requires greater leaps of faith than it once did. The discussion moves between first principles and contested conclusions. Bolloré distinguishes sharply between the existence of a creator and the claims of organised religion, treating the former as a question of reason rather than revelation. At the same time, he extends the argument into moral philosophy and history, suggesting that questions of good and evil, as well as the endurance of certain civilisations, cannot be understood within a purely material framework. What emerges is a live dispute about the nature of explanation itself. Scientific models, philosophical commitments, and human intuitions about meaning are all in play. The conversation exposes the fault line between competing accounts of reality, each claiming rational authority, each carrying profound implications. 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how modern science is being used to challenge materialism and reopen the question of God’s existence. 💬 We Discuss: 🔬 Why recent developments in cosmology and physics are being interpreted as evidence for a creator rather than a self-contained universe 🧠 How materialism functions as a belief system with its own assumptions, rather than a neutral scientific default 🌌 The implications of the Big Bang and why a universe with a beginning raises deeper questions about causation ⚖️ The distinction between probability and proof, and how scientific reasoning is applied to metaphysical questions 🧩 Fine tuning and whether the precision of physical constants points to design or coincidence 🧪 The unresolved problem of how life emerges from non-life and why this remains a critical gap in scientific explanation 📚 The relationship between science, philosophy, and religion, and whether they can coherently point in the same direction 🧭 The argument that morality requires a source beyond human preference and legal convention 📖 The role of historical continuity, including the survival of the Jewish people, in arguments about divine intention🧍 Human freedom, suffering, and the persistent question of evil in a world that may or may not be created with purpose 🔔 Subscribe for more serious, unflinching conversations about belief, power, and the foundations of modern civilisation. 📲 Follow JonathanOn X: https://x.com/jonsacOn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — does the accumulation of scientific evidence strengthen belief, or does it simply expose the limits of what science can explain? #JonathanSacerdoti #MichelYvesBollore #GodAndScience #Materialism #BigBang #Philosophy #FaithAndReason #WesternValues #Metaphysics #FreeSpeech #God #proof

Donate: https://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate Suleiman Maswadeh is Israel’s most visible Palestinian Arab television correspondent, a regular presence on the national news, speaking fluent Hebrew to a country that rarely hears an Arab accent in that role. His career sits inside one of Israel’s deepest contradictions, two communities living side by side, sharing streets and history, yet separated by language, schooling, and fear, with the public story of the conflict often shaped by the absence of ordinary contact. Jonathan Sacerdoti meets Suleiman Maswadeh in person to trace how a Palestinian Arab man raised in an observant Muslim family taught himself Hebrew as an adult and entered Israel’s mainstream media. He describes the practical mechanics of East Jerusalem’s isolation, the misinformation that flourishes when people cannot speak, and the personal cost of crossing over, including ostracism, threats, and the dislocation of being trusted by Hebrew speaking viewers while remaining contested at home. 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how language, media, and intimidation shape the conflict more quietly than slogans ever will. 💬 We Discuss: 🧭 What it means to grow up minutes from Jewish neighbourhoods and still live in a different world 🗣️ How learning Hebrew became a route into work, citizenship, and a wider reality 🪪 The lived politics of taxes, representation, residency status, and unequal civic investment 🧠 How misinformation about history takes hold when education and contact collapse 🪖 Why the only “relationship” many Palestinians have with Israelis is through soldiers and raids 📺 How Arab and Israeli media each fail audiences, especially under the pressures of war 🧩 The psychological strain of living between identities, languages, and public expectations 🕯️ October 7 as personal grief, public rupture, and a harder test for anyone arguing for contact 🗳️ How fear polices civic participation, including threats against Palestinians who try to run locally 🌱 Why change driven by ordinary people, language learning, and education may outlast leadership cycles 🔔 Subscribe for more unflinching conversations about Israel, Palestinians, media, power, and the moral condition of the West. 📲 Follow Jonathan On X: https://x.com/jonsac On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/ On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — what breaks first in a divided society, trust, language, or the courage to tell the truth out loud? #SuleimanMaswadeh #JonathanSacerdoti #Israel #Palestine #Jerusalem #Journalism #MediaBias #FreeSpeech #MiddleEast #October7

Donate: https://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate Major General Yaakov Amidror argues that wars in the Middle East are never truly concluded. They are managed, suppressed, and deferred. Born on the day Israel declared independence and shaped by decades at the heart of its security establishment, he views October 7 not as an aberration but as the cost of strategic hesitation. The dismantling of Iran’s crescent, the degradation of Hamas, and the weakening of Hezbollah mark a significant shift in Israel’s position. None of it is final. Each front remains unfinished. Each contains the seeds of the next confrontation. In this conversation, Amidror lays out a doctrine grounded in vigilance, pre-emption and strength. Israel cannot transform the political culture of the region or impose a permanent settlement on its enemies. It can only ensure that when one war ends, preparation for the next is already under way. The question is whether the post–October 7 strategy has internalised that lesson, and whether coordination with the United States will reinforce Israeli security or restrain it at a decisive moment. 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how Israel’s post–October 7 strategy is being recalibrated around pre-emption, American coordination, and the permanent management of existential threats. We Discuss: 🛡️ Why dismantling Iran’s “ring of fire” has changed the strategic map, yet left unfinished fronts in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond 🎯 The case for restoring pre-emptive war as a legitimate and necessary Israeli tool after years of strategic hesitation 🇺🇸 How far Israel should defer to the United States on Gaza, Iran and Hezbollah, and when it must ultimately act alone 🔥 Whether Hamas can ever be disarmed without direct IDF force, and what happens if American diplomacy fails 🚀 The military lessons of October 7, from munitions stockpiles to manoeuvre divisions and long-range strike capacity 🌍 The emerging Turkish–Qatari–Saudi alignment and what it means for Syria and the regional balance of power ⚖️ Why Israeli resilience rests on necessity, mobilisation rates, and a cultural understanding that survival has no substitute 📉 The limits of international legitimacy, European reliability, and Israel’s ability to influence rising antisemitism abroad 🔄 What a “visible victory” truly means in a region where threats regenerate unless actively suppressed 🔔 Subscribe for more serious conversations about Israel, geopolitics, security, and the future of Western civilisation. 📲 Follow Jonathan On X: https://x.com/jonsac On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/ On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — Has Israel achieved a decisive strategic shift since October 7, or is this merely the opening phase of a longer and more dangerous cycle? #YaakovAmidror #JonathanSacerdoti #IsraelSecurity #MiddleEastStrategy #IranThreat #Hamas #Hezbollah #Geopolitics #Preemption #WesternSecurity

Please donate at: https://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate Benny Sabti, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, joins me at a moment of acute strain for the Islamic Republic. He argues that Tehran’s diplomatic posture follows a familiar pattern: delay, repackage old positions, concede nothing essential, preserve enrichment capability and the infrastructure of coercion. This time, Washington appears less willing to indulge the ritual, framing negotiations as a final test before more forceful options are considered. Are the renewed student protests, including at the Sharif University of Technology, a sign of genuine internal fracture or another uprising destined to be crushed? Does the re-emergence of figures such as Ali Larijani signal consolidation, desperation, or preparation for succession? Could someone like Hassan Rouhani serve as a transitional figure if pressure intensifies? And if confrontation comes, would it accelerate regime collapse or entrench it through violence? These are the questions Sabti addresses as we assess how narrow Tehran’s room for manoeuvre has become. 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand whether Iran stands at the brink of war, internal upheaval, or a managed transformation that reshapes the Middle East. 💬 We Discuss: ⚖️ Why Tehran’s negotiating pattern reflects a long institutional culture of delay without substantive concession 🧭 How the Trump administration’s approach seeks legitimacy before escalation 🎯 The erosion of Iran’s regional terror network and what that means for deterrence 📉 The regime’s domestic crisis, from inflation shocks to collapsing public trust 🎓 Why renewed campus protests at Sharif and beyond matter strategically 🛡️ Whether elements of the IRGC could favour controlled transition over ideological collapse 👑 The symbolism of exiled opposition figures and the limits of monarchical nostalgia 🔄 Regime change versus regime management, and what history suggests about transitions from revolutionary states 🌍 What retaliation against Israel or US allies would mean for the regime’s survival 📊 How internal legitimacy and external pressure now converge on Tehran’s future 🔔 Subscribe for more serious, unflinching conversations about geopolitics, security, antisemitism, and the future of Western institutions. 📲 Follow Jonathan On X: https://x.com/jonsac On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/ On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — is Iran approaching genuine transformation, or merely another cycle of tactical retreat designed to preserve the regime for another generation? #JonathanSacerdoti #BennySabti #Iran #MiddleEast #Geopolitics #RegimeChange #NuclearNegotiations #IRGC #WesternSecurity

Donate: https://jonathansacerdoti.com/donate Major General Yaakov Amidror argues that wars in the Middle East are never truly concluded. They are managed, suppressed, and deferred. Born on the day Israel declared independence and shaped by decades at the heart of its security establishment, he views October 7 not as an aberration but as the cost of strategic hesitation. The dismantling of Iran’s crescent, the degradation of Hamas, and the weakening of Hezbollah mark a significant shift in Israel’s position. None of it is final. Each front remains unfinished. Each contains the seeds of the next confrontation. In this conversation, Amidror lays out a doctrine grounded in vigilance, pre-emption and strength. Israel cannot transform the political culture of the region or impose a permanent settlement on its enemies. It can only ensure that when one war ends, preparation for the next is already under way. The question is whether the post–October 7 strategy has internalised that lesson, and whether coordination with the United States will reinforce Israeli security or restrain it at a decisive moment. 👁‍🗨 Watch if you want to understand how Israel’s post–October 7 strategy is being recalibrated around pre-emption, American coordination, and the permanent management of existential threats. We Discuss: 🛡️ Why dismantling Iran’s “ring of fire” has changed the strategic map, yet left unfinished fronts in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond 🎯 The case for restoring pre-emptive war as a legitimate and necessary Israeli tool after years of strategic hesitation 🇺🇸 How far Israel should defer to the United States on Gaza, Iran and Hezbollah, and when it must ultimately act alone 🔥 Whether Hamas can ever be disarmed without direct IDF force, and what happens if American diplomacy fails 🚀 The military lessons of October 7, from munitions stockpiles to manoeuvre divisions and long-range strike capacity 🌍 The emerging Turkish–Qatari–Saudi alignment and what it means for Syria and the regional balance of power ⚖️ Why Israeli resilience rests on necessity, mobilisation rates, and a cultural understanding that survival has no substitute 📉 The limits of international legitimacy, European reliability, and Israel’s ability to influence rising antisemitism abroad 🔄 What a “visible victory” truly means in a region where threats regenerate unless actively suppressed 🔔 Subscribe for more serious conversations about Israel, geopolitics, security, and the future of Western civilisation. 📲 Follow Jonathan On X: https://x.com/jonsac On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathansacerdoti/ On Substack: https://jonsac.substack.com 👇 Comment below — Has Israel achieved a decisive strategic shift since October 7, or is this merely the opening phase of a longer and more dangerous cycle? #YaakovAmidror #JonathanSacerdoti #IsraelSecurity #MiddleEastStrategy #IranThreat #Hamas #Hezbollah #Geopolitics #Preemption #WesternSecurity