Katherine Brodsky: After 10/7 in Israel, Europe and the US

Jan 9, 2024

Katherine Brodsky, author and journalist, discusses her travels in Europe, her understanding of Israel, and being a Jew in the world today. She shares her observations of anti-Semitism in different countries, the global Left's support for Palestinians, and dismissals of sex crimes by feminist organizations. The conversation also covers topics like misinformation on social media, perception of ethnicity in conflicts, the political situation in Hungary, and differences in attitudes towards civil liberties in various countries.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

02:08 • 23min

Misinformation and Propaganda on Social Media

25:24 • 3min

The Selection of Images and Perception of Ethnicity

28:37 • 22min

Political Situation and Leadership in Hungary

50:22 • 3min

Jewish Identity and Safety in Right-Wing Authoritarian Countries

53:07 • 10min

Differences in Attitudes Towards Civil Liberties and Personal Choices

01:03:04 • 28min

Moral Development in Children and Teenagers

01:30:53 • 2min

Complex Dynamics: Israel Issue in North America

01:33:22 • 19min

Discussion on the Book 'No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage, Lessons for the Silent Majority'

01:51:53 • 3min

Katherine Brodsky hosts the Substack Random Minds and is author of the soon-to-be-published book No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage―Lessons for the Silenced Majority. The daughter of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants to Israel and then Canada, Brodsky has worked as a photographer, in public relations and as a publisher. A recent visiting fellow of the Danube Institute, she is freshly back in North America in the wake of Israel’s Gaza invasion, following the Hamas attacks of 10/7.

Razib and Brodsky have a wide-ranging conversation about her travels in Europe, her return to North America, her understanding of Israel and what it’s like to be a Jew in the world today. Despite Hungary being ruled by a right-wing government for the past decade, Brodsky observes that it is the European nation where she perceived the least public anti-Semitism, in large part due to government policy suppressing such sentiments. In contrast, she felt very uncomfortable and even afraid in London when she visited during the mass protests in support of the Gazans. Brodsky has also been shocked by the unanimity of the global Left in support of the Palestinians, and the dismissal by many feminist organizations of the reality of sex crimes committed by Hamas on 10/7. A secular Jew, Brodsky has now begun to wear visible signs of her Jewishness as a rebuke to the anti-Semitism she sees all around her.

Razib asks her about her opinions in regard to free speech and the battle between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian factions in the media. Brodsky believes that the topic of her book, No Apologies, is even more relevant after the events of the last few months than it was when she initially wrote the book proposal. They discuss the lack of dialogue, debate and the polarization into strict information tribes. When it comes to information, they touch upon semantic arguments about indigeneity, who is a settler in the context of Israel-Palestine, and how it relates to genetics, history and archaeology.