Don't Know Much About with Naya Lekht
Don't Know Much About is a show devoted to unpacking contentious topics--to clarify the complex and empower people to understand historical and political events.
Episodes
33 episodes
From Law to Culture: Where the Real Battle Is Being Fought
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht shifts the conversation from law to culture, arguing that while legal frameworks may lag behind, culture is where meaning is made, narratives are shaped, and ultimately, where battle...
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1:01:24
'You Started With a Tough Case:" Jews and Anti-Discrimination Law with Rona Kaufman
On this episode of Don't Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Professor Rona Kaufman, co-founder of the Center for Jewish Legal Studies.Naya opens with a case study: a campus speaker who deploys libels against Israel. ...
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1:07:04
Propaganda in the USSR, Virtue in the USA: Antizionism
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht examines a troubling paradox: why is antizionism in the West more dangerous than in the Soviet Union, the regime that invented it? Beginning with a personal observation from her ...
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11:32
25 Years of Campus Antizionism: An Investigative Report
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht traces how antizionism took root on American campuses, beginning with student activism in the early 2000s and becoming institutionalized through recurring campaigns such as Israe...
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17:34
Cold War Ghosts: The American Afterlife of Soviet Antizionism with Shaul Kelner
Antizionism has been described as a hate movement, as a form of anti-Jewish bigotry, and, as I argue, the third era of Jew-hatred. But it can also be understood as one of the most powerful social movements of our time. Powerful not only in its ...
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46:20
Byline or Party Line? Journalism after October 7 with Kevin Deutsch
Journalist Kevin Deutch and founder of the Jewish watchdog Substack AFTER OCTOBER 7, joins Naya Lekht for a conversation about what happened to journalism, and why it matters now more than ever.As antizionism exploded across Ame...
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1:16:08
To Live with Conviction: A Conversation with Natan Sharansky
What does it mean to live with conviction when the cost is prison, isolation, and the full weight of a totalitarian regime? On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, I have the profound honor of speaking with Natan Sharansk...
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1:01:49
The Islamic Republic vs. the Iranian People with Ali Siadatan
With thousands of Iranian civilians killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in recent weeks, the will of the Iranian people is unmistakable: a nation seeking to liberate itself from an Islamic regime that devalues human life and ...
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2:00:57
My Family Read That Too! The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Naya Lekht sits down with Professor of Jewish Literature Marat Grinberg to discuss his book The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf: Jewish Culture and Identity Between the Lines. The conversation...
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1:30:09
Inside the Anti-Israel Cult: Michael's Story
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Michael. His story is gripping, urgent, and, quite frankly, one that must be told. Michael was born in the United States to a Coptic Christian family, but he struggled deep...
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1:01:12
Beware Those Who Condemn Antisemitism: The Relationship between Antizionism and Antisemitism
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht leads a critical conversation on how public condemnation of antisemitism often functions as cover for antizionism, the latest mutation of Jew-hatred.Drawing on her framewo...
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12:52
When the State Took the Classroom: The Story Behind 15 Days
At the crossroads of expanding teachers’ unions, the infiltration of anti-American curricula, and the silencing of dissenting scientists and doctors lies a story that now feels distant but urgent: the closure of schools during COVID. On this ep...
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59:26
Illegal on Paper, Ignored in Practice: Jews and the Enforcement Gap
As anti-Jewish violence continues to rise, Jews are increasingly forced to confront a troubling question: how effective are existing laws at protecting them when the community seeks protection and finds few willing to provide it? Against this b...
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1:23:23
Heroes, Villains, and Speaking for a Nation with Eylon Levy
In this episode, I sit down with Eylon Levy, former spokesman for the State of Israel, to ask, what is the role of a government spokesman, and does every country have one? We begin by examining the function of state advocacy, public diplomacy, ...
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44:45
Born in the West: The Hidden Origins of Today’s Anti-Western Movements
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht is joined by Samuel J. Hyde, a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) and a columnist for The Jerusalem Post. Born in South Africa, Sam recounts his firstha...
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1:29:42
Antisemitism Was Illegal and Poland Purged Its Jews: The 1967 Story
Top-down history often fails to capture the lived experience of individuals, and Naya has long been committed to telling history through personal stories. On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Leyb Ejd...
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1:16:28
Arrivederci Italy: Monica Osborne on Italy's Jews
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, award-winning journalist and storyteller Monica Osborne joins Naya to discuss the difficult decision she’s had to make: leaving Italy amid the alarming rise of antizionism. This conversation wa...
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1:08:29
This Far, No Further: On the Need for Jewish Rebels
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Naya speaks with Israeli-American writer and award-winning journalist Benjamin Kerstein about his new book, Self Defense: A Jewish Manifesto. The thesis of the book can be summed up in...
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1:08:29
The Courage to Name It: Andrew Pessin's Journey Confronting Antizionism
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with philosopher, professor, and author Andrew Pessin, one of the earliest Jewish academics to warn about the rise of antizionism within higher education. Pessin re...
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1:08:29
Reevaluating Jewish Advocacy Against Antizionism
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht asks, Why have so many Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups failed to counter the antizionist narrative? While antizionism evolved into a sophisticated campaign of disinformatio...
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18:53
Armed and Jewish: The Case forJewish Gun Ownership
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht sits down with Adam L. Fuller, Professor of Political Science at Youngstown State University, to discuss his new book, "The Armed Jew: The Case for Jewish Gun Ownership." While the title ...
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58:06
Bye, Bye Miss American Pie? A Schism on the Right
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht is joined by James Lindsay, a leading voice on the rise of the “woke right.” Together, they unpack the origins of this movement, examine who may be driving it, and, most alarming...
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1:08:29
Why Gen Z Shrugs at Making the "Case" for Israel
On this special episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht is joined by two of her former students, Shaya and Misha Keyvanfar. Shaya is a junior at UC Berkeley, majoring in Global Studies, while Misha is a senior in high school. ...
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58:06
When Israel Becomes the Whole Story: The Dilemma of a Partial Jewish Identity
On this episode of Don’t Know Much About, Dr. Naya Lekht speaks with Daniel Levine, Rabbi of Orange County Hillel, Lecturer in Jewish Studies at UC Irvine, and host of the Rabbi Daniel Levine YouTube podcast. Drawing on h...
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1:09:11
We Always Danced Again: Hillel Fuld Urges Jews to Keep on Shining
On this episode of Don't Know Much About, blogger, marketer, and journalist Hillel Fuld joins Dr. Naya Lekht to reflect on the unique moment facing the Jewish people in the aftermath of the greatest tragedy since the Holocaust: October...
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1:11:30
