The Antony Loewenstein Podcast

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In this episode, Antony Loewenstein examines the global surge of far-right populism and its obsessive focus on immigration and Islam across Australia, the US, the UK and Europe. Using recent comments by Pauline Hanson as a starting point, he explores how anti-Muslim rhetoric has been normalised in mainstream media and politics, and why similar language would be unthinkable if directed at other groups. The episode unpacks the deeper forces driving this shift, economic insecurity, media failure, and political opportunism, while challenging the myth that far-right figures represent “ordinary people.” Antony also traces the historical roots of these narratives, from the War on Terror to Australia’s offshore detention regime, and how Western immigration policies have influenced global approaches to borders and refugees. Ultimately, he argues that the current debate is not a calm discussion about immigration, but a broader ideological battle over multiculturalism, colonial legacy, and the kind of societies Western nations want to become.

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This week on the Antony Lowenstein Podcast, we examine the controversial Australian visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog: Why he came, how the visit was framed, and why it triggered protests across the country.

Publicly positioned as a gesture of solidarity following the Bondi massacre, Herzog’s trip quickly became a flashpoint in Australia’s already tense debate around Israel, Palestine, and media narratives. Antony unpacks Herzog’s political record and public statements, the way he is portrayed in Western media, and the broader context of Israel’s war in Gaza. He also examines how the visit was covered by Australian outlets, whose voices were amplified or ignored, and why tens of thousands of Australians took to the streets in Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra.

The episode explores allegations surrounding Herzog’s rhetoric, the political calculations behind the visit, and the Australian government’s response, including questions around protest rights, policing, and the language of “social cohesion.” More broadly, this conversation looks at how diaspora communities are positioned in public discourse, and what this moment reveals about power, protest, and dissent in modern Australia.

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For years, Jeffrey Epstein has been framed primarily as a lone sexual predator embedded in elite social circles. While his crimes against underage girls are real, horrific, and central to his story, this episode examines a dimension of the Epstein case that much of the mainstream media has avoided: his deep and sustained ties to Israel, Israeli intelligence, and the global surveillance and defence industry.

In this episode, investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein explores newly released documents, leaked correspondence, and long-ignored reporting that suggest Epstein operated as a key intermediary for Israeli political, intelligence, and corporate interests over decades. Drawing on reporting from Drop Site News, court documents, and historical context, the episode interrogates how Epstein accumulated immense power, wealth, and access and why his role appears to have been protected even after his criminal behaviour was widely known in elite circles.
Produced by: Antony Loewenstein, Lem Zakharia and Lena Helou
Overlay sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Lucia-Osborne-Crowley-The-Lasting-Harm-9781761066566
https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/ry4ridpvyg
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kP4Vka4WUgc
https://www.dropsitenews.com/s/epstein-and-israel/archive?sort=new
https://www.dropsitenews.com/s/the-palestine-laboratory
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/modi-epstein-files-steve-bannon-india-trump-bjp
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-aided-alan-dershowitz-mearsheimer-walt-israel-lobby
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/jeffrey-epstein-files-noam-chomsky
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00634274.pdf

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In this episode, Antony traces how the post-9/11 “War on Terror” helped shape today’s political and media climate including the normalization of anti-Palestinian racism across many Western elite circles. He revisits the early messaging of “tolerance” from George W. Bush alongside the reality of Afghanistan, torture, rendition, and Guantánamo Bay, and connects that legacy to contemporary narratives about Israel/Palestine, media accountability, and the ongoing denial of Palestinian identity and history.
Antony also reflects on what it means to speak as a Jewish critic of Israeli policy, the kinds of abuse and accusations that follow, and the ongoing attempt to frame resistance as “terror” while state violence is legitimized. He argues that neoconservative thinking never truly disappeared, and that while public support for Palestinians has risen, elite media and political institutions continue to enable dehumanization and avoid accountability.

Overlay sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/14/iraq-war-9-11-george-bush-post-truth
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Paul-McGeough-In-Baghdad-9781741142198
https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/costs/human
https://mondoweiss.net/2020/05/atlantic-editor-who-promoted-erroneous-conspiracy-to-gin-up-iraq-war-bewails-arab-propensity-to-conspiracy-thinking/
https://www.booktopia.com.au/pity-the-nation-robert-fisk/book/9780192801302.html?srsltid=AfmBOooeWLPuhXSG0bgSte6u8F3tIoEDPsTO_XpDhi9xuBpKHD8eyNQN
https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/15/afghanistan-should-leave-its-copper-in-the-ground-to-avoid-further-strife

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This week, Antony Loewenstein speaks with Randa Abdel-Fattah; Palestinian Australian writer, academic, and former lawyer, and author most recently of “Discipline”.

They reflect on knowing each other for over two decades, before turning to Randa’s visits to Palestine in 2000 and 2010 with her father, including returning to his village Burqa, and what dispossession looks like when it fractures people from land, memory, and ancestry.

The conversation moves to the present: how Randa thinks about “after Zionism,” why she rejects future-tense ideas of “coexistence,” and what it means to practise solidarity now, including with anti-Zionist Jewish communities.

They discuss how Palestinians process ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank, the psychological toll of constant exposure, and why refusing to “switch off” has become a discipline in itself.

Antony and Randa also examine Australia’s media and cultural institutions including the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices, the use of “risk management” as censorship, and what the Adelaide Writers’ Week controversy revealed about power, narrative control, and whose speech is treated as dangerous.

The episode closes with a wider discussion about the rise of the far right in Australia, the positioning of far-right parties as “pro-Israel,” and why Randa believes building independent institutions and alternative platforms is no longer optional.
Overlay sources:
https://meanjin.com.au/latest/inaudible/
https://mondoweiss.net/2026/01/paraglides-cultural-safety-and-decolonization-randa-abdel-fattah-on-her-ban-from-adelaide-writers-week-and-the-silencing-of-palestinians/
https://tickets.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au/Events/AFTER-ZIONISM