"Call Me Back" with Dan Senor

Episode: Two Years Since October 7 – with Sam Harris

Date: October 6, 2025
Podcast Theme:
A deep, searching reflection on the second anniversary of October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking a new era in Israeli, Middle Eastern, and global Jewish history. Dan Senor and philosopher Sam Harris discuss the dramatic shifts in geopolitics, the explosion of antisemitism, the information war against Israel, and the moral dilemmas faced by Western democracies, all in the aftermath of unprecedented attacks and upheaval.

Main Theme and Purpose

The episode marks the two-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre, examining the transformation in Israel’s security, politics, and global standing. Dan Senor and Sam Harris dissect the rise in antisemitism, shifting alliances, and the erosion and confusion of Western liberal values when confronting radical Islamism and the aftermath of terror. The episode seeks to clarify what has happened to Israel, world Jewry, and the broader West since 2023, and what may lie ahead.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The State of Antisemitism and Western Response

Timestamps: 06:51–16:27

• Explosion and Normalization of Antisemitism:
  • Both speakers are shocked, not just by terrorist incidents (like the recent Manchester synagogue attack), but by open street celebrations of Jewish murders and increasing societal tolerance of such displays, particularly in Western Europe.
    • “There were celebrations in the streets of London in the immediate aftermath... unabashed celebrations of the murder of Jews... it’s shocking.” — Sam Harris [10:17]
• Moral Confusion and Failure of Integration:
  • Western European societies, especially the left/liberal establishment, are gripped by moral confusion and masochism; the failure to integrate large, hostile immigrant communities has led to cultural unraveling.
    • “You have ghettos filled with religious maniacs... The situation is totally untenable, and it is as bad as Trump, or J.D. Vance, or anyone else... say it is.” — Sam Harris [11:34]
• Government Complicity:
  • European politicians respond to tensions by "feeding the beast," criticizing Israel and Jews to placate Muslim populations, yet violence and social fragmentation only grow worse.
    • “We can kind of feed the beast by criticizing Israel, by attacking Israel, by criticizing the Jews... Of course, the opposite happens.” — Dan Senor [18:27]

2. The Information War Against Israel

Timestamps: 23:11–26:08

• Collapse of Narrative Defense:
  • Israel has lost control of its global image, failing to explain its defensive war or the complexity of Hamas' tactics to a world hungry for simple binaries.
    • “Israel fails to explain what it was doing militarily... If Israel really was a genocidal state, those 500-plus, 600-plus soldiers killed since October 7th—not a single one of them would have had to be killed.” — Dan Senor [59:01]
• Western Double Standards and 'Islamophobia':
  • The term “Islamophobia” weaponizes moral discourse, making serious debate on radical Islam impossible for left-leaning societies.
    • “Islamophobia is a word that has been made up to prevent criticism of Islam and to conflate it with bigotry.” — Sam Harris [23:13]

3. Israel’s Military and Diplomatic Transformation

Timestamps: 29:22–39:04

• Unexpected Geopolitical Change:
  • Israel’s response reshaped the region: peace plans, taking out Hezbollah, exposing Iran’s vulnerability, and solid alliances with the US and regional Arab states.
    • “The geopolitics of the Middle East have been reshaped. It’s, obviously, a huge advantage to Israel.” — Dan Senor [34:41]
• US-Israel Military Successes:
  • The US and Israel together seriously set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions; Israel demonstrated air superiority.
    • “What the US and Israel did was pretty masterful... I couldn’t have imagined this is where we would be.” — Dan Senor [38:45]

4. The Ceasefire Debate and the Silence of Campaigners

Timestamps: 39:04–47:07

• Hamas' Leverage, Zero-Sum Negotiations:
  • Hostage negotiations with Hamas are fully zero-sum; each released hostage reduces Hamas’ bargaining power.
  • Israel gained leverage only after intense military pressure, especially during the controversial “Gaza City operation.”
• Selective Activism and Ceasefire Advocacy:
  • Notable silence from “Ceasefire Now” activists when a workable ceasefire is on offer—revealing underlying motives or confusions.
    • “Where are all these voices?” — Sam Harris [00:14, 39:04]
    • “I would argue they were given an opportunity to support the end of the war on the very terms they said were important... and there’s silence.” — Dan Senor [46:04]

5. Critique of Israeli Leadership & The Netanyahu Question

Timestamps: 47:07–56:56

• Myths and Realities of Bibi’s Conduct:
  • The popular narrative that Netanyahu prolongs war for personal reasons is likely misplaced; his real concern is legacy and national recovery post-October 7.
    • “It was more about his legacy than anything—but here’s the problem. If you ascribe ulterior motives to Netanyahu... In order to evaluate that idea, you have to say: Has the prolonging of the war accomplished anything?” — Dan Senor [50:03]
• Strategic Decision-Making:
  • Some key errors: Israel should have moved on Gaza City and Rafah earlier; global storytelling was an avoidable strategic failure.

6. The Persistent Moral and Narrative Challenge

Timestamps: 56:56–71:30

• Hamas' Story vs. Israel's Story:

  • The Palestinian narrative, seen through Western lenses as one of oppressed people of color, has proven infectious. The inability/willingness to understand the true ideology and tactics of Hamas and other jihadist groups feeds delusions and moral inversions.
    • “For some reason left of center people can’t see this... It’s beyond anti-Semitism and it’s beyond an animus toward Israel. It’s a hatred of the West.” — Sam Harris [71:54]

• Western Liberal Pathologies:

  • Cultural guilt and the need to blame Western society for all violence disable effective responses to actual threats.
    • “There’s nothing that has ever been done to America or to the west that America and the west has not earned through its own callousness and avarice...” — Sam Harris [73:14]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Western Denial and Feed-the-Crocodile Politics

“You can get hundreds of thousands of people in the streets exerting barely tolerable pressure on the political system... all this mayhem is the result of 6% of the population making itself noisy. Can you imagine what it would look like with 30%?”
— Sam Harris [20:41]

On Moral Illusions and the Optics of War

“When you hold up the images of Gaza and say there’s no equivalent death and destruction on the Israeli side, therefore Israel’s in the wrong, you’re rewarding Hamas for using its own non-combatants as human shields... and you’re demeaning Israel for having successfully protected a civilian population.”
— Sam Harris [66:33]

On Antisemitism's New Face

“The depth of the crater—it's a bigger problem than I imagined a year ago... It seems to be getting worse, not better. And I keep finding new details that shock me.”
— Sam Harris [10:17]

On Secularism, Religion, and the Reality of Alliance

“The religious maniacs on the Christian side are imperfect allies in that war of ideas. Granted, in certain cases they're allies of necessity for Jews and for Israel. But we need better allies, ultimately.”
— Sam Harris [81:57]

Important Segment Timestamps

| Time | Topic | |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 06:51 | Sam Harris and Dan Senor open their conversation, introduce main topics | | 10:17 | The shock and normalization of antisemitism in Europe post-October 7 | | 29:22–35:20 | The new regional order: Israel, Hezbollah, Iran, and U.S. strategies | | 39:04 | Deep-dive into the Trump/Hamas ceasefire proposal, hostages, and negotiation logic | | 46:04–47:07 | Reflections on the “Ceasefire Now” crowd’s silence | | 50:03 | Netanyahu’s motivations and the debate over his conduct in war | | 56:56 | Dan Senor outlines critical strategic missteps by Israel | | 66:33 | Sam Harris’s barbell strategy on Israel’s media blackout vs. the war of ideas | | 71:54 | Why does Hamas’s story “catch on” in the West? Western masochism, identity politics, and narrative | | 76:54 | The rise of religious revival and shifts in U.S. political culture | | 83:02–89:55 | The Republican Party’s drift, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens; risks to Israel and Jews in America | | 89:55–94:23 | Mamdani, New York politics, and the Democratic Party’s future |

Tone and Language

The conversation is urgent, lucid, occasionally combative but always intellectually rigorous. Both Senor and Harris express deep unease with current trends—whether the rise of antisemitic violence, the failures of the liberal West, or the risks of right-wing populism and religious revival. Both refuse easy answers, highlighting the tragic and sometimes paradoxical moral context of this new era.

Takeaways for Listeners

• The global Jewish and Israeli experience since October 7, 2023, is defined by simultaneous trauma and geopolitical transformation.
• Western societies, especially the left, are failing to address radical Islamism; antisemitism is rising and normalized.
• Even robust alliances (with Trump/US, Arab states) are complex and potentially unstable; internal Israeli and diaspora Jewish debates remain unresolved.
• The moral calculus of war, peace, and national defense is nuanced; the information war is as vital as the kinetic conflict.
• With a shifting global order, Jews and their allies face dilemmas on identity, alliances, and civilizational values; the risks from right and left both loom large.

For anyone trying to make sense of what has happened since October 7th—and where next—the conversation offers clarity, warning, and a call for moral seriousness.