Episodes

  • Why Trump’s Deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is Perfectly Legal, with Ilya Shapiro

    Why Trump’s Deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is Perfectly Legal, with Ilya Shapiro
    Mar 12 2025
    Last Saturday, ICE agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian who was one of the leaders behind the year-long Tentifadah in Columbia University. Khalil and his group have repeatedly expressed their support for Hamas and other terrorist organizations, a violation of U.S. immigration law. Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, joins Liel to explain why the act is completely legal, and why we shouldn’t fall for the bad faith argument that Khalil’s arrest is a free speech issue.
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    16 mins
  • What to Do in Ukraine, and in Gaza? With Eli Lake

    What to Do in Ukraine, and in Gaza? With Eli Lake
    Mar 6 2025
    It’s been a week of fast-paced breaking news, from a bit of Hamas propaganda winning the Academy Award for best documentary to President Trump and Vice President Vance presiding over a heated meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the White House. Journalist and podcaster Eli Lake joins Liel to discuss what Trump gets wrong about Ukraine, what he gets right about Israel, and what Israel’s options may be as its ceasefire with Hamas draws to an end.
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    54 mins
  • Can Orthodox Judaism Be Reformed? with Rabbi Irving Greenberg

    Can Orthodox Judaism Be Reformed? with Rabbi Irving Greenberg
    Feb 20 2025
    One of American Jewry’s leading theologians and thinkers, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg has spent decades engaging—and enraging—orthodoxy by suggesting it was time for religious Jews to examine some of their closest-held beliefs, including on such controversial issues like gay marriage or female members of the clergy. He joins Liel to discuss his new book, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism, the role of God during the Holocaust, and why he believes the ancient religion is finally old enough to grow out of some of its ancient hang-ups.
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Is This the End of Woke Capitalism?, With Jennifer Sey

    Is This the End of Woke Capitalism?, With Jennifer Sey
    Feb 13 2025
    Jennifer Sey was a national gymnastics champion who then won awards for exposing the abuse many female gymnasts suffered at the hands of their male coaches. She was also a celebrated executive with fashion giant Levi Strauss before being canceled for speaking her mind. Now, she’s the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, a new brand committed to protecting women in sports from males unduly entering their spaces. She joins Liel to share how she ended up behind the president’s desk at the signing of a recent executive order, what it was like to have J.K. Rowling endorse her ad, and why Nike and every other big brand in sports is now copying her message.
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    49 mins
  • Are We Really About to Empty Gaza of Palestinians?, with Tony Badran

    Are We Really About to Empty Gaza of Palestinians?, with Tony Badran
    Feb 5 2025
    Welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump has repeatedly made a bombshell proposal: Empty Gaza of its 1.8 million Palestinian residents, resettling them elsewhere in the Arab world and rebuilding the devastated strip. Tony Badran, Tablet Magazine’s news editor, joins Liel to explain why Trump’s plan is deeply generous, why so many of Washington’s self-proclaimed best and brightest have gotten the Middle East wrong for so long, and about why the Abraham Accords are far from the panacea many still believe them to be.
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    27 mins
  • Are Science and Religion Mutually Exclusive? With Spencer Klavan

    Are Science and Religion Mutually Exclusive? With Spencer Klavan
    Jan 30 2025
    Not long ago, a prominent Silicon Valley technologist told anyone who would listen that he believed he would never die because Artificial Intelligence was basically a God-like machine that could override all human frailties, including aging. This idea, says author and classicist Spencer Klavan, isn’t new: the history of science is in large part the story of trying to take the Creator out of the picture, only to come back again to the same stirrings described so eloquently in the first chapter of Genesis. Klavan, the author of the new book Light of the Mind, Light of the World: How New Science is Illuminating Ancient Truths About God, talks to Liel about the future of AI, the arrogance of the new atheists, and the hopeful future that groundbreaking discoveries are ushering in by bridging the gap between faith and science.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Saving Western Values: Rotherham and the Perils of Multiculturalism with Melanie Phillips

    Saving Western Values: Rotherham and the Perils of Multiculturalism with Melanie Phillips
    Jan 23 2025
    Elon Musk recently reignited discussion of a decade-old child sex scandal in England, in which more than 1,000 girls were groomed and raped by gangs largely composed of men of Pakistani descent. The scandal was mismanaged by the authorities, and British journalist Melanie Phillips joins us to share her take on why this is. She discusses how this tragedy was made worse by the impacts of multiculturalism and explains how this ideology puts the values of liberal democracy at risk. She also discusses her new book The Builder’s Stone: How Jews and Christians Built the West – and Why Only They Can Save It.
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    50 mins
  • Is the Hostage Deal a Disaster? with Gadi Taub

    Is the Hostage Deal a Disaster? with Gadi Taub
    Jan 16 2025
    According to reports, Israel is about to sign a ceasefire deal with Hamas that will secure the return of some hostages in return to a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, paving the way to ending the war. Gadi Taub, the co-host of Tablet’s popular Israel Update podcast and one of Israel’s most influential journalists, opposes the deal. He joins Liel to shed light on the Israeli government’s challenges and missteps, on the incoming Trump administration’s potential and worrying decline in support for Israel, and on how the Israeli public is reacting to this difficult and flawed deal.
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    34 mins