Jonny Gould's Jewish State

Find all of my podcasts, TV appearances and writing at my Substack. As westerners, as Jews, as supporters of Israel, we should know more about the Kabyle people, the largest of North Africa’s indigenous Amazigh (Berber) groups. On December 14th 2025, Kabylia declared independence from Algeria. With their own language, culture, and a centuries-long tradition of autonomy, the Kabyle have maintained a distinct identity despite repeated periods of foreign rule and the oppression which always follows. Is there future at a turning point. Rogue state Algeria has sharply escalated its repression of the Kabyle people’s political, cultural, and religious life with churches forcibly closed and leaders in civil society facing escalating intimidation. Many detained without due process, and political expression increasingly criminalized. And now, in the midst of this pressure, Kabylia’s leaders are preparing for the Kabylia Declaration of Independence. They believe in Britain’s moral authority and so a delegation came to our parliament in London. The delegation waited until the final hour to learn whether Paris-based President-in-Exile, Furhat Merhenni would receive his UK visa in time. But he didn’t get it. But the story moves forward. To understand what this moment means for Kabylia, for Algeria, and for the region, I spoke Murad Amellal, Chief of Staff to President Merhenni and his Special Envoy. In our conversation, he walks us through the stakes, the strategy, and the sentiment around the world as Kabylia approaches what he calls a defining chapter in its modern political journey. But there are big questions: * If the leadership isn’t physically there, what does a Declaration of Independence actually do in practice? * With the President-in-Exile, what happens next? * If the declaration were issued on Algerian soil, just how would Algeria move to suppress it? * How does President Merhenni’s role compare to leaders in Israel’s early statehood? Who is Ben-Gurion, Begin or Herzl? * And find out why the Kabyle people’s cultural, linguistic and religious background embrace western values not those of Islamic extremism. All that—and more—in my rangy conversation with Murad Amellal. Find all of my podcasts, TV appearances and writing at my ⁠Substack⁠. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Follow all of Jonny's podcasts and latest writing in his Substack. Today we explore the legacy of Joe Lieberman and the documentary movie Centered about his life. He remains to this day the only orthodox Jew to stand for vice president of the United States, on the ticket with fellow Democrat Al Gore, losing by the narrowest and most controversial of margins to George W. Bush. And how he may have stood again as a Republican candidate alongside John McCain later in his career. Centered, directed by Jonathan Gruber, who also made the brilliant Upheaval, the story of Menachem Begin, captures Joe Lieberman’s lifelong devotion to public service, moral conviction, and pragmatic leadership. I was delighted to meet Rob Schwartz in London as the movie was screened here for the first time, a close friend of Joe Lieberman and a trusted partner through decades of public life. Rob’s insider’s perspective as Senator Lieberman’s chief of staff, bring depth, warmth, and intimate understanding to his legacy celebrated in Centered. Follow all of Jonny's podcasts and latest writing in his ⁠Substack⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Help support Jonny's independent journalism by supporting him on Substack. The BBC's top brass have lost their jobs over the institutionalised bias of their news coverage. But their news output which made them so famous and trusted around the world has let the rest of the corporation down for a very long time. Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of News, Deborah Turness resigned over a series of scandals exposed by a memo written by Michael Prescott and leaked to the Daily Telegraph. As a supporter of Israel, you'll have known for a long, long time how their news produced hostile output about the Jewish State - and today we meet a man who has dedicated his career to listening, watching and reading BBC Arabic's astonishingly antisemitic output. He's CAMERA's Senior Arabic Researcher and he goes by an alias, "David Grom". CAMERA is The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis. I have bleeped out his real name both for his own protection and for the sad reality that we live in an incessant time of cancellation. "David" talks about his editorial achievements, what he's found, particularly since October 7th and how "artwashing" is a growing part of anti-Israel sentiment in the growing arena of the podcast. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is supported by you, Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find Jonny's writing and other podcasts on his Substack. Buy him a coffee here. A chunk of my background, both personal and professional, has been washed away. I didn’t think football was supposed to hurt like this. Banning a mere thousand or less Israeli football fans from Villa Park for a Europa League tie is a cause for deep sorrow. But not just for me, an Aston Villa fan through my Holocaust-surviving grandfather who setup his typewriter shop bang next to Aston Station on the Lichfield Road, but for this generation of Villa fans and those to come. Because football is supposed to be a thrilling, entertaining source of pride. Not a dispensary for anger and shame, of imported hate and community breakdown. Is the Beautiful Game still beautiful? My generation and those that came before had the best of it. We enjoyed league title wins, European glory and trips to Wembley. But it would have meant nothing without the communal joy and camaraderie it spawned. And for this Jewish kid, it was a high voltage plug-in to the prevailing, sometimes overwhelming culture of my city beyond my upbringing. So accepting they were of me, that by the age of 21, I was reporting my beloved team from the press box for the radio station covering the West Midlands and Shropshire. When I returned as a national reporter to the old Trinity Road box years later, the stewards, dear old men, bowled me over with their effusive welcome back. Like that beautiful Archibald Leitch-designed stand, their unvarnished spirit is gone. So this is my own very personal sadness about what football and the city that helped shape me has become. The English game shunned politics, now it’s buried by it. Snarling Islamist boycotters - an elected MP is trashing what was good here. For what? They think it’s all over. It is now. Find Jonny's writing and other podcasts on his ⁠Substack⁠. Buy him a ⁠coffee here.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find my writing and podcasts on Substack. The anger we feel as British Jews has reached a head as we mourn the two congregants from Heaton Park, who were killed on Yom Kippur inside the synagogue. This episode also includes the regrettable appearance of David Lammy, the deputy prime minister in front of a furious community in north Manchester. Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education, the Rosemarie Nathanson Charitable Trust and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices