The Antony Loewenstein Podcast

What’s really behind the viral clips flooding your feed? Antony Loewenstein reacts to widely shared social media videos associated with Israeli propaganda, unpacking how they’re crafted, why they spread, and what key context is often missing.

Through a critical lens, Antony Loewenstein examines the narratives, visual tactics, and emotional messaging used to shape public opinion online, offering viewers a deeper understanding of how digital propaganda operates in real time.

What is life really like inside Iran right now?
Antony shares exclusive audio messages from an anonymous Iranian insider living in Tehran, offering a rare and deeply personal look into everyday life inside the country. For her protection, her identity has been concealed and her voice altered, but her experiences reveal the reality of navigating checkpoints, censorship, and constant uncertainty in a highly controlled environment.
Through her story, we hear how people continue to live, adapt, and find moments of freedom, from underground gatherings to navigating internet blackouts and the looming fear of conflict. This episode goes beyond headlines, providing an unfiltered perspective on what life inside Iran truly feels like right now.

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This week, Antony Loewenstein is joined by producer Lem for an extended conversation unpacking Australia’s Royal Commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, the political forces behind it, and the broader debate around Israel, Palestine, Zionism, protest movements, and free speech. Antony examines how the Bondi terror attack became tied to a wider national conversation about antisemitism, the role of pro-Israel lobbying in shaping media and political narratives, and the growing push to criminalise pro-Palestine speech and protest in Australia and beyond. The episode explores the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, the emotional and political impacts of reporting on Gaza, the conflation of criticism of Israel with hatred of Jewish people, and how governments, media organisations, and lobby groups are responding to rising tensions. Antony also reflects on historical antisemitism, the role of nationalism, the future of democratic protest, and why many people are increasingly turning away from mainstream media coverage in search of independent journalism and more honest conversations.

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In this final episode of the One Nation Series, we break down the real reason Pauline Hanson and One Nation feel “everywhere” right now and why that perception doesn’t match the actual vote.
Journalist Amy Remeikis joins to unpack how media dynamics, not just voter sentiment, are amplifying far-right politics in Australia.

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Pauline Hanson is often framed as a political outsider. But what if her real impact wasn’t electoral success, it was shifting the boundaries of what mainstream politics could say and do?
In this episode, we trace how One Nation reshaped Australian political rhetoric from the late 1990s onward, and how both major parties absorbed elements of Hanson’s agenda. Rather than being pushed out of relevance, Hanson helped normalise positions on migration, national identity and security that later became standard across the political spectrum.
We look at how John Howard strategically captured One Nation voters, how the Tampa crisis marked a turning point in asylum policy, and why Hanson’s prosecution and imprisonment strengthened her political narrative instead of ending it. The episode also explores the role of commercial media in keeping her visible during her so-called “wilderness years,” and how that visibility helped enable her return to the Senate in 2016.