“Bad Jews” (replay) & Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt
Being Jewish with Jonah Platt
Jonah Platt
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What happens when one of the world’s leading Holocaust scholars says today’s antisemitism feels frighteningly familiar?
In this vital episode Holocaust historian and former U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt discusses the dangerous surge and normalization of antisemitism worldwide, citing the incidents in London and the October 8, 2023 Sydney Opera House rally. Lipstadt argues antisemitism now operates as a “horseshoe” uniting extremes at the far right and left. She uses the analogy of an upside-down pyramid to illustrate the threat to Jews, democracy, and international security (including “utilitarian antisemitism” on PRC platforms). She compares today to the 1930s while noting key differences. She critiques university groupthink and campus failures at UCLA and Columbia to protect Jewish students. She describes her envoy work shifting from Abraham Accords, including global guidelines signed by 44 entities and a symposium with major tech platforms.
She calls for unequivocal leadership, depoliticized action, education, and everyday speaking up. She emphasizes that there must be Jewish joy alongside fighting hate.
Topics include:
- Lipstadt’s legal battle against Holocaust denier David Irving and the film adaptation starring Rachel Weisz.
- Lipstadt warns about rising antisemitic violence in London, including incidents in Golders Green and the Finchley Reform Synagogue.
- The episode examines antisemitic protests outside the Sydney Opera House following October 7, 2023.
- The discussion references the spread of antisemitic content on social media platforms including Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and X.
- Lipstadt describes international diplomacy surrounding the Abraham Accords and outreach to Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
- Lipstadt praises cooperation from officials in Austria, Germany, and France in combating antisemitism.
- The Paris Peace Forum and comments by former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls following the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket siege.
- Lipstadt discusses online hate campaigns targeting Jewish institutions including the 92nd Street Y and AIPAC.
- The murder of Mahsa Amini in Iran and global protests over women’s rights.
- Lipstadt and Platt discuss authors and commentators including Dara Horn, Douglas Murray, Bret Stephens, Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson.
- Lipstadt reflects on Jewish education through organizations like BBYO, USY, and institutions including Emory University and Brandeis University.
- Surprising Global Allies in France and Austria
Mentioned in the episode:
The Tam Institute for Jewish Studies
Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory
A Conversation With U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt
Antisemitism being 'normalized' and not taken seriously enough, chief rabbi tells BBC
Third arrest over attempted arson at synagogue
Police investigate pro-Palestinian protest at Sydney Opera House over alleged anti-Semitism
Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign from Congress amid clashes with Trump over Israel, Epstein
Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu - Biography
Code Pink Outs Itself as Anti-Jewish Hate Group
Gunman Kills Three at Kansas City Jewish Community Center, Retirement Home
UCLA can’t allow protesters to block Jewish students from campus, judge rules
Met Police apologizes for 'openly Jewish' comment
Charlie Hebdo attack: Three days of terror
‘Déjà Vu’: Remembering Hyper Cacher Five Years Later
Report of the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education
Venice Biennale previews in chaos, overshadowed by row over Israeli and Russian participation
Leading Jewish Organizations Disturbed By Saudi Arabia’s Islamist Turn
‘Globalize the Intifada’: Meaning, Origins, and Why The Slogan Is a Call for Violence
Emory Together: Countering Antisemitism // DC
Organization of American States
A Break in the Argentina Murder Case Tied to Iran
Iran: Mahsa Amini's father accuses authorities of a cover-up
Dutch ministers decry Israeli ministry’s report on Amsterdam violence
Trump Is Right to Deport Hamas Supporters
The Presidential Campaign That Changed American Politics
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Western Wall: The Western Wall Tunnels
How Golda Meir Rose to Become the ‘Iron Lady’ of Israel
Arab Terrorists Murder Israelis at Munich Olympics
Natan Sharansky, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board
When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry
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Written and Hosted by Jonah Platt, Executive Producers: Steve Hein, Jonah Platt, Chief Business Officer: Kenyon Laing, Chief Marketing Officer: Katya Chen, Production Manager/Executive Assistant: Josie Rothschild, Research Associate: Samantha Greenwald, Production Associate: Rachel Stern Production Interns: Sasha Nelson, Emma Webb, YouTube Consultants: Jason Al-Samarrie & Zac Stein, Post Production by TIMEWEAVER, Creative Director: F. Brian Scofield, ACE, Lead Editor: Noam Klement, Editor: Gray Clevenger, Joe King. Graphic Designer: Noah Bell, Theme Music by Gabriel Mann, Performed by Jonah Platt
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello friends. Today we're going to do something a little different. For the first time, |
| 0:06.6 | we're going to replay an existing monologue, one of my earliest, in fact, because we got a lot of |
| 0:12.0 | new listeners. Welcome. So happier here. And this particular monologue seems to really resonate |
| 0:18.4 | with folks whenever it pops up again on social media or gets |
| 0:22.1 | referenced by somebody else. Also, I had the flu last week and was down for a few days, but I swear |
| 0:28.1 | we wanted to try this thing anyway. It's not long, so even if you've heard it before, maybe you could |
| 0:33.4 | use a little refresher. Without further ado, what kind of Jew are you? |
| 0:39.2 | Tell me if you've heard this one. Folks will say, I went to Jewish summer camp. I went to |
| 0:43.9 | Hebrew school. I had a bat mitzvah. We celebrated Russia Shana in Passover. I work with Holocaust |
| 0:49.0 | survivors, et cetera, et cetera. But it's preceded by this odd disclaimer. Well, I'm reform, but I'm reform, but, or |
| 0:59.8 | I'm culturally Jewish, but like there's a need to qualify one's Jewishness, like there's a sense |
| 1:06.0 | of apology. I know this is less than ideal, but, and I thought to myself, where is that coming from? |
| 1:12.7 | Why are people who have done many of the things that foster Jewish identity, things that |
| 1:17.2 | clearly denote a Jewishly connected person who cherishes that connection, why do these people |
| 1:23.0 | feel the need to downplay their own validity as Jews? |
| 1:27.1 | I think it's because, whether subliminally or overtly, |
| 1:30.6 | we are made to believe that our validity as Jews is based solely on our level of religious observance. |
| 1:37.0 | That because someone may not be as literate in the vast canon of customs and traditions of our people, |
| 1:42.0 | they are not as Jewish as someone who is. |
| 1:45.7 | And I know these insinuations occur because I've seen it happen. |
| 1:49.6 | And hell, I probably participated in it myself at some point or another. |
| 1:53.5 | Orthodox to conservative, conservative to reform, on and on. |
... |
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