The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table

Josh Szeps joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about Israel, Gaza, antisemitism, Zionism, Jewish identity and why the debate has become so exhausting and distorted.

We talk about whether Jews outside Israel are being forced to answer for the Israeli government, what anti-Zionism really means, the failure of the peace process, Netanyahu, Gaza, drones, Palestinian leadership, the pressure to “circle the wagons,” and whether it is possible to criticize Israel without giving ammunition to people who hate Jews.

Josh Szeps hosts one of the biggest shows on Substack, Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps, where he has funny, bullshit-free conversations with people like Sam Harris, Jimmy Carr, Bari Weiss and Mark Normand about subjects that the mainstream media fails to discuss honestly. He has been on Joe Rogan's show seven times, he was a founding host of HuffPost Live in New York, then went on to get cancelled from his own top-rating talk radio show on Australia’s national public broadcaster. He's a columnist for Australia's most prestigious newspaper, the Australian Financial Review, and a major media figure Down Under.

https://x.com/joshzepps?lang=en

https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/about

Chapters:

00:00 Intro and Josh Szeps joins the show

03:06 Josh’s background, Australia, and his previous Israel controversy

07:12 Jokes, parenting, kids, porn and the internet

12:59 Antisemitism, Australia, and the post-October 7th climate

15:36 Anti-Zionism, Israel’s legitimacy, and the meaning of a Jewish state

22:07 Palestinian refugees, Arab countries, and the right of return

27:26 Gaza, drones, October 7th, and whether Israel had another choice

30:29 Josh’s controversial “abandon Israel” column

38:16 Circling the wagons, Jewish identity, and criticizing Israel from the diaspora

47:58 Anti-Israel backlash, boycotts, and Jews being blamed for Israel

54:16 Kristof, the dog allegations, and the difficulty of discussing ugly claims honestly

01:08:35 The flotilla, Israeli detention, and skepticism toward activist claims

01:11:23 War crimes, double standards, history, and modern technology

01:13:05 Uyghurs, Kurds, ethno-states, and why Israel gets singled out

01:17:00 Media collapse, audience capture, and trying to have sane conversations

01:18:29 Finkelstein, complexity, and final thoughts

Peter Savodnik joins us to talk about Nicholas Kristof’s column alleging abuse of Palestinian prisoners, including the most extreme dog-rape allegation, and how pro-Israel people should respond when the reporting is weak but the underlying issue may still deserve investigation.

We talk about the difference between bad journalism and false accusations, the danger of reflexively circling the wagons, Ben-Gvir and the Israeli prison system, antisemitism, double standards against Israel, whether Jews are being pushed back into history, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Gavin Newsom, Jonathan Haidt, Twitter addiction, and the general collapse of everyone’s sanity online.

Peter Savodnik reported for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Guardian, GQ, Wired and other venues from the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Asia and across the United States. His book, The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union, was published in 2013 by Basic Books. He is now a senior editor at The Free Press and based in Los Angeles.

https://x.com/petersavodnik

Chapters:
00:00 Intro and Peter Savodnik joins
01:16 Nick Kristof’s Israel prison-abuse column
06:15 Olmert, Benny Morris, Haviv Rettig Gur, and what may actually be true
10:00 Double standards, bad reporting, and how Israel should respond
15:56 The dog-rape allegation and the danger of reflexive denial
22:22 Why Israel may need its own serious investigation
24:23 Circling the wagons vs. demanding proof
28:17 What real reporting would require
34:03 Retractions, antisemitism, and “emptying our pockets” for every accusation
38:27 Are Jews and Israel entering a more dangerous historical moment?
49:11 JD Vance, Rubio, Trump, and the future of the Republican Party
57:18 Gavin Newsom, 2028, and the Democrats
59:26 Jonathan Haidt, NYU, wokeness, and phone addiction
01:04:13 Twitter fights, the new Comedy Cellar room and final thoughts

Noam Dworman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by return-guest, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, for a wide-ranging debate about truth, propaganda, evidence, starvation and the Israel-Gaza war. The conversation focuses on John Mearsheimer’s claims about October 7, whether public intellectuals should lose credibility when they make unsupported accusations, disputed casualty reporting in Gaza and the role political bias plays in shaping what people choose to believe.

Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a general, trauma, and critical care surgeon in California. He is also a humanitarian surgeon, having worked most extensively in Palestine, but also in Ukraine, Haiti, Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso. He has written and spoken extensively about surgical humanitarian work, the United States’ role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the political consequences of medical relief work.

Twitter/X @FerozeSidhwa

Chapters:
00:00 Intro and Twitter fights
08:14 Mearsheimer, October 7, and “good faith” arguments
15:25 Trump, Epstein, and blackmail claims
22:01 The Israel Lobby and the Iraq War debate
34:05 Germany comparisons and collective punishment
37:09 Netanyahu, “Amalek,” and genocide accusations
46:15 Dead children, crossfire, and moral responsibility
47:43 Gaza aid shootings and casualty reporting
50:02 The Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion controversy
55:11 Rashid Khalidi, sources, and historical credibility

Noam Dworman is joined by Professor Gerald Steinberg. Steinberg breaks down the hidden world of NGOs—what they are, how they gained massive global influence and why he believes many have drifted far from their original mission. From organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to their role at the United Nations, Steinberg argues that these groups now act as powerful political players shaping narratives around conflicts like Israel–Palestine. 

Gerald Steinberg is founder and president of NGO Monitor and Professor at Bar Ilan University. His research focuses on Middle East diplomacy and Israeli security, and the politics of human rights and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Prestigious grants and prizes include Israel Science Foundation, Bonei Zion Prize (2017) and the Bernard Lewis Prize in 2025.

https://x.com/GeraldNGOM

Andrew Fox joins Live From The Table to talk about personal courage, Gaza, Hamas casualty numbers, Israel’s military strategy, Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and what modern war actually looks like.

Andrew Fox is a former British Army officer (three tours in Afghanistan), now a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank. Fox has been to the frontlines in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine. He wrote the first papers worldwide exposing the Hamas fatality figures manipulation in Gaza and showing how Israel actually fought on the ground in Gaza from a tactical perspective.

mrandrewfox.substack.com

https://x.com/mr_andrew_fox

0:00 Intro

1:00 Serving in Afghanistan

4:00 Looking back on the war

7:30 Hamas casualty numbers in Gaza

10:00 Why Andrew looked into the numbers

12:00 Hamas figures, IDF figures, and media coverage

15:30 Civilian casualties and Hamas’s strategy

18:15 Child fighters and Hamas

19:25 Why Andrew speaks up for Israel and Jews

22:00 Problems inside the IDF

28:40 Iran and the wider war

31:50 Why stopping Iran’s nuclear program matters

37:30 Strait of Hormuz

42:00 What kind of Iran deal would make sense?

47:20 Why this is different from the JCPOA

54:00 Gaza casualty ratios and urban war

57:00 Was the Gaza war worth it?

1:02:00 Why Israel went into Gaza first

1:04:30 Final thoughts