The Honest Report

Israeli society has often been called one big family, where in times of crisis, all segments of society come together to pull for the common good. Since Hamas' massacres of October 7 and the subsequent months, that common mission has been on full display, despite Israeli disagreements over politics, religion and more. As the war began seven months ago, launched by Hamas on a Jewish holiday, Is...

Anti-Israel and antisemitic hate mongers have rarely sought to hide their true feelings, a reality that has been readily apparent for the last 6.5 months around the world. But the response to it by Jewish and pro-Israel organizations have left much to be desired; beyond social media condemnations, little more has been done. Fortunately, there are many options available. Howard Levitt is a senior p...

It's a claim that is taken almost as an unassailable truth by a huge number of news media outlets around the world: that some 33,000 people died in Gaza, and that two-thirds of them are women and children. While the source of that claim is Hamas, and its "Gaza Ministry of Health," which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, or those killed by Israel or by errant P...

For years, Israel has accused UNRWA, the disgraced United Nations agency, of ties to Palestinian terrorism and incitement and glorification of violence. But only after the massacres of October 7 did the UN agency, officially tasked with providing aid to Palestinians, get into the larger spotlight. Israel has accused - and provided evidence for - UNRWA staff of participating in Hamas' massacre,...

Ian Ward is a Councillor in Colwood, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, a suburb of Victoria, population just under 20,000 people. He has also become a leading voice of moral clarity, advocating for both Israel and the Jewish People, even though as an elected official in a municipality with a relatively small Jewish community, there is little electoral benefit in doing so. Ian joins us as a gu...

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas' invasion of southern Israel on October 7, it became evident that Israel lacked the ability to scale up its procurement of military and civilian gear, both for the IDF in its operations, and for Israeli civilians forced from their homes and displaced refugees in their own country. In the face of fast-changing events, one Israeli man, Michael Freedman, saw an...

It's a fact largely ignored by anti-Israel activists: that 20 percent of Israel's population are Arabs, largely Muslim. They enjoy the same democratic rights as Israeli Jews, can vote and stand for election, and hold citizenship as Israelis. The Bedouin of Israel's south are part of this population, and they are unique in their own right, distinct from the Bedouin in Israel's north...

It is very easy to consume news in a bubble. Human nature is to read, listen and watch information that fits our preconceived ideologies and ideas. Breaking out of that bubble is easier said than done, and when it comes to the hundreds of millions of Arabic-speakers around the world, getting accurate information about Israel can be next to impossible. Rawan Osman is looking to change that. Followi...

October 7 was more than just a terrorist attack, or even the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It represented, perhaps more than any other event, the truest opportunity to see the real face of Hamas, not just its rhetoric, but its actions. Not only the rapes, murders, tortures, and kidnappings, but the gleeful manner in which they were carried out, filming it all for posterity and out...

Over the last five months, Rahim Mohamed has become one of Canada's most recognizable opinion columnists. The Calgary-based commentator, writing in The National Post, has also made a name for himself as a vocal advocate for Israel and a harsh critic of the moral turpitude that has allowed disinformation to fester. While commentators are entitled to their own views, but not their own facts, tha...

As the war rages in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel, following the simple narrative is easy. And that narrative, that Israel is a murderous state hell-bent on genocide, may be a simpler message to understand, but it is an inversion of reality. While some politicians take the easy path, others put facts before ideology. In recent weeks, Kevin Vuong, an independent Member of Parliament for...

Egypt plays a towering role in the Middle East. Not only is the country the most populous in the region, home to more than 100 million people, it is also the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, in 1979. Egypt also plays a critical role in the current war between Israel and Hamas, bordering Gaza. What is Cairo looking for in its relationship with Israel, with Hamas, and what role is it tryi...

In the current Hamas-Israel war, things are very different than before. In previous conflicts, Israel practiced what was called "mowing the lawn," which meant degrading Hamas' capabilities, but avoiding all-out war. That is no longer the case. But in an asymmetric war, how does that look long-term, and what power vacuum will take hold if and when Hamas is no longer in charge in the G...

For scores of Israelis, the horrors of Hamas' genocidal October 7 massacre didn't end four months ago; it continues every single day. Not just for the Israelis who continue to endure rocket fire, or who lost loved ones fighting the terror group in Gaza, but also for the families of the remaining 136 hostages in Gaza. There are now negotiations for a possible release of this last group of h...

Since October 7, posters showing the faces and names of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas have become ubiquitous around the world, reminding the public about the true nature of the terrorist group and showing the reality of Israel's suffering. Grotesquely, these same posters are also being widely torn down by anti-Israel activists, who oppose the humanization of Israelis, and beyond publ...

What exactly is the explanation for antisemitism? No matter what excuse is cited by those seeking to demonize Jews, it fails to explain the pervasiveness and intensity of Jew-hatred, both from the extreme right and the extreme left. But despite the inherent illogic in antisemitism, there remains a tendency to attempt to explain it and categorize it. Our guest this week is attempting to put all tha...

Amongst Israel's enemies, there are many fronts in war: In addition to the physical threats marshalled against the Jewish State such as terrorism, there are others, such as the attempts to delegitimize and demonize the country in the eyes of the world, namely in the form of the BDS movement.   But there is yet another front, often unknown to the general public: cyber warfare, where state and n...

The social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, has often been criticized by Jewish leaders and human rights organizations for what critics say is its failure to act on addressing widespread antisemitism, particularly since coming under the ownership of Elon Musk in the fall of 2022. But for some, simply speaking out against the social media giant isn't good enough. In January 2023, the...

The judicial overhaul being proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has united countless Israelis in at least one way: their strong opinions on the matter. To its supporters, the legislation represents a critical need to stand in the way of an activist and unelected judiciary. To its opponents, it is an unforgivable assault on democracy. But is there room for compromise between the t...

Thirty years ago, on September 13, 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, which were more commonly known as part of the Oslo Accords, called because they were secretly negotiated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. What are the significance of these accords three decades later, and do they help provide...

Israel is widely known as the Start-up nation, producing a disproportionate number of high-tech companies, and a general ambiance of ingenuity. But what exactly is Israel's secret sauce? What makes Israeli society do things differently? Many answers have been offered, including the country's small and vulnerable area, its paucity of natural resources, its focus on education, and even its m...

In 2011, after a large earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, killing tens of thousands of people, Israeli teams were on the ground, providing critical relief and rescue operations.    That earthquake, which also created a large nuclear meltdown and the discharge of radioactive water in Fukushima, was one of the largest disasters in recent memory, but it still didn't stop Israelis from coming to...

Following the 2020 Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic relations between Israel and two new Arab partners, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, there has been speculation about which country may be next for Israel to establish relations, namely Saudi Arabia. But there's still more potential for Israel to establish ties with a much larger Muslim-majority country: Pakistan, home to ne...

It happens like clockwork: whenever tensions rise in the Middle East, as they did during the spring of 2021 between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza-based Islamist terrorist group, incidents of antisemitism spike around the world. But that doesn't mean antisemitism ceases to exist other times, or even that it remains dormant. Indeed, across the world, from North America, and particularly in Europe,...

Over the course of about four weeks beginning in August 2005, Israel underwent a profoundly traumatic experience: the Disengagement from Gaza. Critics at the time said it was tearing Israel apart. Supporters said it was difficult, but Israel had no choice. Before long, the vacuum left by Israel in Gaza was filled by Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group which continues to run the coastal enclave wit...