British journalist and author Melanie Phillips—Times of London columnist and author of The Builder’s Stone—joins David from Jerusalem to dissect the cultural and media forces shaping Israel’s fight.
In this episode:
Origins & worldview: A British Jewish upbringing, Oxford, two societies in one head—London and Jerusalem.
From Left to outcast: The 1982 Lebanon War, double standards at The Guardian, and how “anti-racism” masked real racism.
Journalism’s fall: Universities abandoned objective truth → media embraced “narratives” over facts.
The cognitive war: Why Israel long ignored Hasbara, and what a serious strategy would require.
Britain vs. America: Different publics, different levers—both persuadable with evidence and backbone… annnd hate, lies, and propaganda.
Qatar & hostages: Why treating Doha as an honest broker fails.
Campus reality: Safety first, solidarity second—and the need for intellectual tools and moral confidence.
Candid, uncompromising, and urgent—this conversation exposes the “eighth front” in Israel’s war: the battle for truth itself.
Chapters
00:00 — The Cognitive War
02:12 — Crisis of Truth
04:24 — From The Guardian to Heretic
10:18 — British Jewish Anxiety
13:41 — 1982 Lebanon Break
20:00 — Fear and Conformity
26:28 — Cognitive Dissonance
36:43 — Journalism’s Collapse
47:38 — The Eighth Front
55:58 — Britain vs. America
1:04:40 — Gaza & Education
1:07:55 — Qatar’s Role
1:12:30 — Message to Students
1:17:54 — Closing
You can find the condensed transcript & summary of this episode and more episodes at
This episode of "The J100 Podcast" was produced by David Taragin.