Podcast
On the Nose
Hosted by Jewish Currents · EN
On the Nose is a biweekly podcast by Jewish Currents, a magazine of the Jewish left founded in 1946. The editorial staff discusses the politics, culture, and questions that animate today’s Jewish left.
32episodes
Episodes
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Politics and the Jewish Body
4d ago00:52:39Tap to summarizeIn the latest issue of Jewish Currents, we published a piece called “Does the Jewish Body Keep the Score?” by Jon Danforth-Appell, which looks at three recent left-wing books about the relationship between Jewish trauma and Zionism, and challenges the view that Zionism in Jewish communities constitutes a trauma response that will need to be healed in order to be fought. On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with the author of one of those books, Wendy Elisheva Somerson, known as Wes, a somatic healer who helped found the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and published An Anti-Zionist Path to Embodied Jewish Healing last year. Angel and Somerson discuss the risk of essentializing about “Jewish bodies,” whether implanted or prosthetic trauma still needs to be “healed,” and what it means to claim Jewish ritual as somatic practice.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingAn Anti-Zionist Path to Embodied Jewish Healing by Wendy Elisheva SomersonRuach healing groups“Western Philosophy as White Supremacism,” Crispin Sartwell, The Philosophical SalonPower-Under: Trauma and Nonviolent Social Change by Steven Wineman“Prosthetic Trauma at the Nova Exhibition: Holocaust Memory, Reenactment, and the Affective Reproduction of Genocidal Nightmares,” Ben Ratskoff, Journal of Genocide Research“Picturing Power,” Arielle Angel, Jewish CurrentsWounds Into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma by Tirzah FirestoneTaking the State Out of the Body: A Guide to Embodied Resistance to Zionism by Eliana RubinTranscript forthcoming.
Transcribe →The Israel Day Parade Debacle
3w ago00:43:06Tap to summarizeLast Sunday, New York City officials took part in the annual Israel Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. Mayor Zohran Mamdani was notably absent, insisting that this was not a “Jewish pride parade,” as it is often styled, but a celebration of a country committing genocide, and saying he did not need to be present to “ensure the safety” of the parade. His resolve proved prudent, as New York officials found themselves scrambling to distance themselves from the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is responsible for the creeping annexation and violent ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, and who took part in the march along with a rogues gallery of openly genocidal Israeli government officials.On this episode of On the Nose, host Arielle Angel, senior reporter Alex Kane, and news director Josh Nathan-Kazis discuss the history and makeup of the Israel Day Parade, parse the responses from New York officials facing criticism for marching with extremists, and debate the feasibility of an actual “Jewish pride parade” in New York City.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further Reading“A Litmus Test Backfires,” Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents“NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani missed the Israel Day Parade. Many who went didn’t miss him.” Grace Gilson, The Forward“Progressive Zionists Choose a Side,” Mari Cohen, Jewish CurrentsDocumentation of abuses in Hebron on B’Tselem“Meet the U.S. Nonprofit That Funds the Israeli Guards Who Terrorize Palestinians,” Alex Kane, In These Times“Universal Jurisdiction in Action: Peru Investigates Israeli Soldier for Genocide and War Crimes after HRF Complaint,” The Hind Rajab FoundationNerdeen Kiswani tweet about protesting the Israel Day Parade“Bitter Rift Over Israel Hits LGBTQ Jews Hard After Controversial Protest At Celebrate Israel Parade,” Ari Feldman, The Forward“Jewish New York deserves a parade as diverse as its communities,” Jill Jacobs, JTATranscript forthcoming.
Transcribe →Sally Rooney in Hebrew
4w ago00:45:43Tap to summarizeIn 2021, famed Irish author Sally Rooney declined to publish her book in Israel because there was no BDS-compliant publisher. At the time, she said she would be “pleased and proud” to have her books translated into Hebrew, as long as it was done in a way that respected the principles of the boycott. Last week, Rooney announced that she was publishing a Hebrew translation of her latest book, Intermezzo, with November Books and +972 Magazine. The publishers had been vetted by PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and deemed BDS compliant. This means November Books does not operate in Israeli settlements, receives no state funding, and explicitly recognizes the Palestinian right of return. In The Guardian, Rooney said she “kept in touch with PACBI along the way to try to ensure that I was upholding both the letter and the spirit of the institutional boycott.”Immediately, there was backlash. Some Palestinian writers, including Mohammed El Kurd and Susan Abulhawa, questioned the decision to use this “loophole” in BDS guidelines to bring the book to Israeli audiences. Why now? And why this? Even if it adheres to the letter of the boycott, does it capture the spirit, as Rooney says? On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Ahmed Moor, a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace; Maya Rosen, assistant editor at Jewish Currents; and Muhammad Shehada, a writer from Gaza and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about this tempest in a teapot surrounding the Hebrew translation of Intermezzo. They discuss whether this action hit its strategic marks, and what the response says about the Palestine movement’s relationship to both the Israeli left and the prospect of changing Israeli society.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingBDS Guidelines“On +972 Magazine, Sally Rooney, and the centering of Israelis in an anti-colonial movement,” Susan Abulhawa, MondoweissThe Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé“Yuval Noah Harari on Donald Trump’s Core Delusion,” The Ezra Klein ShowPerfect Victims by Mohammed El Kurd“We’re publishing Sally Rooney in Hebrew, in line with BDS. Here’s how and why,” Haggai Matar, +972 MagazineSalma Shawa discussing Hebrew on Instagram“In the Middle of Our Palestinian Neighborhood, My Daughter Started Yelling in Hebrew,” Sari Bashi, HaaretzPACBI’s Position on No Other Land“Did Zionism Go Wrong or Was It Always Wrong?,” Peter Beinart with Omer Bartov and Gideon Levy on the Beinart Notebook on SubstackTranscript forthcoming.
Transcribe →Hasan Piker’s Politics of Appeal
May 2100:40:50Tap to summarizeOver the last eight years, streamer and leftist political commentator Hasan Piker has built a following of millions on Twitch, where he streams seven to ten hours a day, discussing current events and interacting with followers in a rapid-fire chat. Lately, Piker, who has hit the campaign trail for Democratic candidates like Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, has become the object of a raging debate about the direction of the Democratic Party. For many progressives, establishment attacks on Piker and the candidates he supports are evidence that the party is out of touch with its base, especially young people. For the establishment, embrace of Piker by Israel-critical candidates is evidence that the party is becoming too radical. A recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by leaders of the centrist think tank Third Way labeled Piker a “Jew hater,” and urged Democrats to denounce him.The irony is that Piker, who appeals to exactly the sorts of young men who are being lured to the right in large numbers by the “manosphere,” is unique in how often he speaks about the principled fight against antisemitism. As figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes become more prominent in the pro-Palestine digital ecosystem, Piker may be one of the most important figures on the left countering a simplistic narrative of Jewish control and American innocence. On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Piker about keeping the nuance in a media environment that wants easy answers, using electoral politics to build class consciousness, and why he keeps talking about antisemitism.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingHasan Piker on Twitch“Hasan Piker Has a Few Choice Words for His Bad-Faith Critics,” Aaron Regunberg, The New Republic“The Right Is Capturing the Online Palestine Conversation,” On the Nose“Charlie Kirk and American Innocence,” On the Nose“Where Cenk Uygur and I Disagree,” Beinart Notebook on Substack“The Many Equivocations of Curt Mills,” Will Alden, Jewish Currents“Ocasio-Cortez warns against associating with Greene, calling her a ‘proven bigot,’” Ryan Mancini, The Hill“AOC vs. MTG on Palestine: the voting records don't lie,” Mehdi Hassan on Zeteo“This Is Why There’s No Liberal Joe Rogan,” Ezra Klein, The New York Times“Democrats Are Too Cozy With Hasan Piker,” Jonathan Cowan and Lily Cohen, The Wall Street Journal“Some Democrats Shun Him, but Young Voters Want a Selfie,” Nathan Taylor Pemberton, The New York Times“House Democratic leaders condemn Texas candidate for antisemitic comments,” Ben Kamisar, NBC NewsTranscript forthcoming.
Transcribe →The Wrong Way to Fight Antisemitism in Britain
May 1400:48:49Tap to summarizeOn April 29th in London, an attacker stabbed a Muslim acquaintance before traveling to the largely Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green and stabbing two Jewish men at random. This was only the latest in a string of attacks on Jews, synagogues, or other communal infrastructure in the UK since mid-March; other instances have included arson attacks on three synagogues as well as Hatzola ambulances. The British Jewish community—already on edge since the Yom Kippur attack on a Manchester synagogue that killed two and injured three—is in a state of rising alarm. Predictably, Jewish communal leaders, politicians, and the police have baselessly sought to tie the attacks to the Palestine solidarity movement, justifying crackdowns in civil liberties and proposing increased police budgets.The backdrop to these attacks is a local election cycle in which the two major parties, Conservative and Labour, lost substantial ground to tertiary parties on their wings: Reform on the right, and the Green Party on the left. Though newly elected members of the Reform Party include avowed racists and Holocaust deniers, much of the media attention has been on candidates whom the Green Party has removed from contention because of charges of antisemitism. There is particular focus on the head of the Green Party, 43-year-old Zack Polanski, whose Jewish identity and pro-Palestine stance has shattered some of the received wisdom about who British Jews are, announcing a new era in UK Jewish left politics.To discuss the London attacks and their political fallout, Arielle Angel speaks with Brendan McGeever, co-director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at the University of London, and Em Hilton, co-founder of Na’amod, an organization of British Jews opposing Israeli occupation and apartheid. They parse what we do and don’t know about these attacks, and critique the government’s response, which casts Jews as special wards of the state at the expense of civil liberties and the safety of other minority groups.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles Mentioned and Further ReadingBrendan McGeever in the Jewish Currents newsletterJewish Policy Research survey on UK Jews’ feelings about antisemitism, UK Jewish voters voting Green, and UK Jewish identification with Zionism“The present crisis,” editors of Vashti“Good Jews, Bad Jews,” Barnaby Raine interviewed by Gavin Jacobson, Equator“The difficult truth about antisemitism in the UK,” Brendan McGeever, Ben Gidley, David Feldman, Prospect“Anti-terrorist programme Prevent ‘outdated and inadequately prepared’, report finds,” Rajeev Syal, The GuardianDavid Cameron’s 2015 speech at the Community Security Trust Keir Starmer echoing Enoch Powell“U.K. Vows Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Protests After Latest Antisemitic Attack,” David Luhnow, Wall Street Journal“Five members of biggest British Jewish body suspended after Israel criticisms,” Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian“Processing the Attack at Bondi Beach,” On the Nose, Jewish CurrentsAshok Kumar on Julia Hartley-Brewer“Over 2,000 U.K. Jews Sign Petition Against Nigel Farage Attending Antisemitism Rally,” Hagar Shezaf, Haaretz“How Palestine Action put the justice system on trial,” Rikki Blue, Declassified UK “Zack Polanski’s Jewish identity is being erased because he is leftwing,” Owen Jones, The GuardianZack Polanski on Sky News“Green Party candidate arrested over antisemitic social media posts,” Athena Stav...
Transcribe →The Hill
May 701:02:02Tap to summarizeHarriet Clark comes from a long line of radicals. Her ancestors were gun runners in Minsk. Her grandparents were active members of the Communist Party USA, and the family moved to Moscow for a time, where her grandfather wrote for the Daily Worker. Her mother is Judith Clark, a former member of the Weather Underground and the May 19th Communist Organization, who was given a life sentence for her participation in the Brinks robbery in 1981 that killed three people. (Judith was paroled in 2019.)Harriet Clark’s debut novel, The Hill, tells the story of a girl who vows to visit her mother every week in the upstate New York prison where she is being held. In this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Harriet about her stunning new book, what comes after failure in radical movements, and the heroism of trying to keep families affected by incarceration together.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingThe Hill by Harriet Clark“I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic“Photos of the migrant caravan and the Trump military response tell different stories,” Johnny Simon, QuartzJoseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey“Judith Clark’s Radical Transformation,” Tom Robbins, The New York TimesHouse and Fire by Maria HummelHousekeeping by Marilynne Robinson“To a Student” by Diane Di Prima
Transcribe →Exit Interview
Apr 3000:45:59Tap to summarizeAfter more than ten years as the rabbi of the anti-Zionist synagogue Tzedek Chicago, Rabbi Brant Rosen is stepping down. On this episode of On the Nose, Rosen speaks with editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents, Arielle Angel—who after eight years is also leaving her post—about what has changed in the building of anti-Zionist institutions over the last decade, what it means to do Jewish left communal work in a time of crisis for Judaism, and whether we must believe we will win.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingTzedek Chicago“We Need New Jewish Institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents“Our Approach to Zionism,” Jewish Voice for PeaceMariame Kaba talking to Dean Spade about hope“Mailbag #3 — Live!,” On the Nose“Stay In,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Transcribe →Mailbag #3 — Live!
Apr 1600:46:56Tap to summarizeOn this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Daniel May, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman answered listener questions about what accountability looks like for US rabbinic leadership, how American Zionists will respond to Israel’s plummeting popularity, and more. For the very first time, this episode of On the Nose was recorded live in front of an audience, which gathered at Littlefield in Brooklyn.Thanks to the Littlefield staff for hosting and recording the event. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further Reading“J Street says Israel should fund its own defense,” Jacob Kornbluh, The Forward“Democratic Senators Face Pressure on Israel Arms Sales Vote,” Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents“Democratic Presidential Contenders Are Turning on Israel. Will They Convince Progressives?,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents“A Majority of Voters Support Senate Resolutions To Block Bombs and Bulldozers To Israel,” Common Dreams“The Many Equivocations of Curt Mills,” Will Alden, Jewish CurrentsHere Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly CrabappleJFNA Survey of Jewish Life since October 7 – Zionism Findings“Rhetoric Without Reckoning,” Simone Zimmerman, Jewish Currents“At Synagogues, Tensions Are Boiling Over,” Eyal Press, The New Yorker“The Rabbinic Freak-Out About Zohran Mamdani,” On the Nose“Nostra Aetate” from the Second Vatican Council“MAGA Catholics in Revolt,” On the Nose“Do No Harm! Palestinian Call for Ethical Tourism/Pilgrimage” from the BDS movementEverything You Have Is Yours, film about Hadar Ahuvia“The Capitalist’s Kibbutz,” Sam Adler-Bell, Jewish Currents
Transcribe →The Right Is Capturing the Online Palestine Conversation
Apr 900:43:26Tap to summarizeAs right-wing streamers like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have become more outspoken against Israel and against Zionist influence in American politics, their content has found new audiences online, even in a Palestine movement traditionally more associated with the left. Though the fracture on the right around Israel is a welcome development, the anti-Israel right’s racist, misogynist, anti-trans, anti-immigrant, and antisemitic views raise questions about how the left should relate to this development, and what it can offer instead.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Izz al-Din Mustafa, co-executive director of the Palestinian-led advocacy organization Adalah Justice Project, and Stefanie Fox, executive director at Jewish Voice for Peace, about whether the ubiquity of right-wing anti-Israel voices online was showing up in their face-to-face organizing. They discuss the perils and opportunities created by the growing popularity of conservative anti-Israel voices, the importance of IRL organizing, and how the left might reclaim the conversation.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingAdalah Justice ProjectJewish Voice for Peace“The Bondi Memo’s Quiet Rewriting of Domestic Terrorism Rules,” Thomas E. Brzozowski, Lawfare“Verified pro-Nazi X accounts flourish under Elon Musk,” David Ingram, NBC News“Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook,” Human Rights Watch“Joe Kent’s Resignation Was Brave. His Analysis Was Faulty,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents“American Evangelicals’ Declining Support for Israel,” Jonathan Kuttab, Arab Center Washington DCChristians for a Free Palestine“We need an exodus from Zionism,” Naomi Klein, The Guardian“MAGA Catholics In Revolt,” On the Nose“The Democratic Party debate over Hasan Piker is really a fight over Palestine’s new place in U.S. politics,” Walter Lucken IV, Mondoweiss“Why do elite Democrats fear Hasan Piker?” Bhaskar Sunkara, The Guardian
Transcribe →The Fault Lines Shattering the Iranian Diaspora
Mar 2400:36:26Tap to summarizeThe US and Israel began a joint strike on Iran on February 28th, with the US immediately striking a girls’ elementary school, killing more than 180, the vast majority of them children. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated the very same day, and later replaced by his son Mojtaba; the US and Israel have continued to kill high-ranking figures in Iranian leadership. The human toll of this war is already being felt in Iran. Almost 1,500 Iranians have been killed since the war’s start, and more than three million have been displaced. On March 6th, Israel struck three oil depots around Tehran, destroying crucial infrastructure while sending noxious particulate into the sky that will do long-term damage to the health of the city’s inhabitants.Meanwhile, Iranians on the ground and in the diaspora are fracturing over US and Israeli actions. This war was preceded, in early January, by a grassroots uprising against the regime, which may have killed tens of thousands in crackdowns on the protests. This crackdown has been cited by opponents of the Iranian state as a justification for the war, and many in the diaspora have expressed support instead for the return of the monarchy, led by Reza Pahlavi, who has been living in exile since 1979, when his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was deposed. This argument between pro- and anti-war segments of the community has become deeply fraught—sometimes relationship-ending—as Iranians across the globe battle over the future of their community.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Narges Bajoghli, a professor at Johns Hopkins and the author of How Sanctions Work and Iran Reframed, and Manijeh Moradian, a professor at Barnard College and the author This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States about the fractures roiling the Iranian diaspora, the nuances of the anti-war position in the face of a repressive regime, and the need to build an anti-imperialism for the 21st century.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further Reading“Hard Feelings,” Narges Bajoghli, New York “All Modern Warfare Is Chemical Warfare,” Narges Bajoghli, New York How Sanctions Work by Narges BajoghliIntroduction to “Iran in Crisis: Seven Essays on the Obstacles to Freedom,” Manijeh Moradian and Ida Nikou, JadaliyyaThis Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States by Manijeh MoradianInternational Women’s Day AI slop depicting Israeli fighter pilots “liberating” the women of Iran“Iran Is Not an Existential Threat,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
Transcribe →