Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

Think Twice with Jonathan Tobin

The Internet and mainstream media are inundated with misinformation and superficial hot takes. That’s why you’re not getting the full story. Take another look with JNS Editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin as he takes deep dives into the most critical stories and controversies impacting the Jewish world with insightful commentary and fascinating interviews. If you want to understand the bigger picture and the context of the issues that really matter, this show is for you. Thanks for listening to Jonathan Tobin's podcast. If you appreciated today’s discussion and want to dive deeper into the issues shaping Israel and the Jewish world, join our community by subscribing to our newsletter. Your engagement keeps our journalism thriving. Your support is crucial. Support us with a donation to ensure we can continue delivering in-depth reporting: Donate Now!

Episodes

February 5, 2026 47 mins
According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, understanding the anomalous position of the kingdom of Jordan requires balancing distaste for its strident public advocacy against Israel against its role as a strategic ally. Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by journalist Aaron Magid, the author of the biography The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan.   Magid, who worked in Amman for several years as a rep...
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Progressives and far right conspiracy mongers have more than just antisemitism in common. According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, those trying to subvert President Donald Trump’s agenda consist of not only the left-wing “resistance” leading an insurrection in Minneapolis. The same goal motivates China and its various allies and  business partners like Qatar.   Tobin is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by jour...
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What’s been going on in Minneapolis is no coincidence, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. The city which is in a virtual state of insurrection against the federal government’s efforts to enforce immigration laws is also the place where a massive fraud was perpetrated against American taxpayers by Somali immigrants with ties to a jihadist group and which is also represented by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)one of the country’s lead...
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How much has the world learned since Islamist terrorists murdered Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks there was a consensus that Islamist terrorism was beyond the pale. But the surge of support for Israel’s destruction after the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terror attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023 demonstrates that many Ame...
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been playing a double game in the Middle East and with the United States, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Turkey continues to back Hamas in Gaza. It also hasn’t halted its intervention in Syria, where it has a vested interest in suppressing Kurdish autonomy in order to undermine that people’s efforts to throw off repression inside Turkey. But the Turkish leader has maintained a co...
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Jonathan Tobin doesn’t hold back! In this year-end "Think Twice" AMA episode, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin takes aim at the Heritage Foundation’s flirtation with antisemitic voices, calling out conservative personalities like Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance and exposing the mainstreaming of Jew-hatred from the left and right. He names names, tackles the rise of anti-Zionism in American politics and warns that the Overton window...
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Will the failure of leading conservatives to disassociate themselves from the increasingly antisemitic former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and even more extreme figures like Candace Owens lead to the movement being hijacked by hatemongers? That’s the question posed by JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin in the wake of the shocking defense of Carlson by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts in November. Roberts walked back his...
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Are Americans comfortable with an administration that is ready to defend their nation’s sovereignty? That’s the question posed by JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. The criticism of the Trump administration for its actions attacking terrorist drug smugglers and closing the border to illegal immigrants is, he says, rooted in the toxic Marxist idea that national sovereignty is a problem rather than an expression of national security...
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Why are so many in a conservative movement that looked to a passionate Christian Zionist like the late Charlie Kirk for leadership now willing to turn a blind eye to or even rationalize the antisemitism of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes? That is the question that JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin has been pondering in recent months in the wake of Carlson hosting Fuentes on his podcast and the Heritage Foundation’s ...
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Can American Jews shake off their defensive posture rooted in fear and a distorted conception of Jewish values to begin acting to both deter those who attack them and to convince them that the Jews are not easy prey for antisemitic thugs? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, that’s the question the Jewish community must confront of an unprecedented surge in Jew-hared in the two years since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Isr...
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How did supporters of Hamas and others who want Israel destroyed win over so many young people since Oct. 7? According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the answer lies in large measure in the ability of progressives to redefine words in such a way as to normalize Jew-hatred and help create a surge of antisemitism.  He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by scholar Donna Robinson Divine, co-editor of the new book, ...
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Though the study of history is being slighted by contemporary educators, according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan S. Tobin, knowledge of the past, including that of the ancient world, is more important than ever if we are to understand current dilemmas. And that’s especially true in the Middle East.   He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Hoover Institution scholar Barry Strauss, one of the leading experts on the ...
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The victory of Zohran Mamdani is a watershed moment for American Jewry, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. For the first time in living memory, Jews are dealing with a surge of antisemitism that the election of an avowed anti-Zionist will exacerbate. He is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, a leading liberal critic of Mamdani.   According ...
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Everything you learned about the horrors of nationalism and the importance of multilateral and supranational organizations like the United Nations is wrong, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Much of the West has been taught to denigrate the idea of faith in a system of independent sovereign states after World War II and to support systems that undermine them. But the truth is that the most likely source of hate, bigotry and...
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According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, a growing number of otherwise marginal right-wing voices are joining forces with most of those on the left to bash Zionism and Israel. He is joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by Breitbart.com’s Joel Pollak who believes that Zionism isn’t just a movement of Jewish rights but a model for how every group and nation can emphasize success rather than a harmful focus on being vi...
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no choice but to go along with the scheme but believing that President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war in the Gaza Strip can work still requires a leap of faith, says JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin. He believes that there’s little reason to think Hamas will free the hostages and surrender their arms and control of the Strip even if Trump is offering them no alternati...
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The question facing American Jewry is which trend is more important. As JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin notes, a lot of American Jews have been shocked by both the trauma of the Oct. 7 attacks and the subsequent surge of antisemitism into increased activism on behalf of Israel and giving to Jewish causes. But on the other hand, a large number of Jews, especially progressives, are becoming more assimilated, less interested in Jew...
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According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the release of a new documentary film called “Soul on Fire” about the life of Holocaust survivor, author, teacher and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel couldn’t be timelier. At a time of an unprecedented surge of antisemitism and demonization of Israel, Wiesel’s example of courageous truth-telling is needed more than ever.   He is joined in the latest episode of Think Twice by W...
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September 11, 2025 53 mins
When Jews gather in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this month, will their rabbis seek to rally them to stand with Israel and against the surge of antisemitism fueled by blood libels against the Jewish state? Or will they instead use their pulpits to virtue signal their support for the false charges of “genocide” being hurled at Jerusalem? Those are the questions that JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin is posing. He’s j...
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With mainstream media parroting Hamas propaganda about “genocide” in Gaza, the post-Oct. 7 surge in antisemitism is likely to continue to get worse, says JNS editor–in-chief Jonathan Tobin. Those blood libels are not only fueling the sort of Jew-hatred that is impacting students on college campuses but also raising the threat of more violence directed at synagogues, schools and other Jewish targets. He’s joined on this week’s ep...
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