Maccabee Nation Podcast

US Pilot Rescued in Iran Brings Some Partisan Reactions Back Home

I’ve been relatively quiet while following the news these past weeks. Like most Americans and Israelis, I’ve hoped the heroic sacrifices in this war would lead to an expansion of the Abraham Accords and an era of peace and stability in the Middle East that benefits the world. Those hopes were tested when we learned a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran. Fortunately, special operators carried out a risky nighttime rescue deep inside hostile territory and recovered both crew members successfully. One Air Force officer ejected, evaded capture while injured for nearly two days, and both are now safely back with their unit. This should be a moment of gratitude for the pilots, special forces, and all involved. Yet it’s hard not to notice something disturbing: segments of the media [https://www.thedailybeast.com/iran-blows-up-donald-trumps-annihilated-brag-by-downing-two-jets/] (and unfortunately some real life conversations) seemed to root for the airmen’s capture and exploitation on Iranian TV, not out of anti-military sentiment, but because it might damage Republicans ahead of the midterms. Years of intense partisanship have turned too many foreign crises into domestic score-settling. For some, partisan victory outweighs American success overseas. Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, a direct threat to the West, and is still pursuing uranium enrichment while calling for death to America and Israel. Recent strikes set back their nuclear and military capabilities, but the regime endures. We should finish the job decisively so our forces aren’t forced to return later. To be clear, criticizing a war isn’t unpatriotic when it’s well-researched and principled. Americans have long debated conflicts from our Civil War, where brothers killed one another, to Vietnam’s often chaotic and violent protests. The real issue isn’t how we got here or lamenting lost unity. Our republic has always been fragile, but that doesn’t mean we abandon ideals. The most basic one is standing together for our survival against regimes that seek our destruction. We got our pilots home. Now let’s finish the mission abroad so we can focus on repairing and strengthening our home. After all, we have to live here together. Get full access to Maccabee Nation at www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe [https://www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Mamdani's First Strike

It’s been a not so happy New Year for many NYC Jews so far. On January 1, 2026, Zohran Mamdani took the oath as New York City’s mayor. To the surprise of no one who’s been following his campaign, he made clear his top priority was to immediately attack the Jewish community. Mamdani went right to work reversing a stack of executive orders, from the Adams era, intended to protect the Jewish community of New York (the largest population of Jews living outside of Israel). He revoked orders adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, orders banning adoption of BDS, and orders that banned disruptive protests outside houses of worship, including synagogues. New York is on its way to becoming a hellscape for Jews. No less culpable in the current political disaster are the “progressives” like Bernie Sanders who’ve become experts at weaponizing their identities against other Jews, despite having no connections to Judaism. Let’s be clear, this isn’t just policy tweaking. By scrapping IHRA, Mamdani is deliberately blurring the line between legitimate criticism and outright hatred of Jews. He claims he’s protecting “free speech,” but in practice, this green-lights the vilification of Israel, and ultimately Jews, without consequence. Antisemitic attacks in NYC have skyrocketed since October 7. Jews make up only about 10% of the population NYC, but are the victims of more than half of all hate crimes reported by NYPD data. Worse still, lifting the holy site protest ban opens the door for mobs to scream blood libels at our community outside temples, for simply practicing their faith. Why when I look at holy sites around the country do we not see the type of the security that temples deem necessary? This should not be necessary in America, a nation built of freedom of worship and rugged individualism. Mamdani talks a big game about “affordability and abundance,” but these moves signal something darker, prioritizing radical activism over the basic safety of Jewish New Yorkers. We’ve seen this playbook before, appeasement of radical voices that ultimately leads to physical violence. So what’s the solution? Should Jews leave or stay and fight? I wish I could believe we could make a difference reversing the evil that plagues such an important and once great city, where I lived for many years. If Jews defend themselves the reality if they’ll be legally persecuted, even if it’s clear they are acting in self defense. Here’s the reality we must stop ignoring… Mamdani’s evil agenda will prioritize radical mobs that seek to do Jews harm over law-abiding citizens, it won’t change. Knowing that, it’s time for us Jews to pack up and leave. Let NYC devolve into a failed communist hellhole. We’ve rebuilt before, from Egypt to Europe. We must turn away from the trap of embracing victimhood (this is a road to nowhere) as a solution and embrace our nomadic traditions. Not just Mamdani, but NYC more broadly have delivered Jews a clear threat. Believe them that it’s real. Vote with you feet my friends. Not just clear eyed Jews, but anyone with a conscience. Do not pretend to be deaf and blind, take your skills and moral clarity somewhere you can live in peace. Then let’s see how much New Yorkers enjoy the intifada revolution without Jews to blame all their problems on. Get full access to Maccabee Nation at www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe [https://www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Being liked is nice. Being alive is essential.

The following is a post from https://x.com/AP_from_NY/status/1927071023339331715. Not sure the original authors name, but I wanted to share this perspective. I am not saying I share it, I think building bridges and communication with the other side is important, but I certainly understand and appreciate the sentiment. Let us know what you think in the comments. We, as Jews, need to stop trying to be liked. It’s a hard thing to say out loud, but it’s true. For generations we have held onto this idea that if we just explained ourselves better—if we were more open, more moral, or more patient—maybe people would finally understand us. Maybe they would stop hating us. Maybe they would come around. But they didn't and they won’t. Because the hate that we are up against isn’t logical. It’s not based on policy, politics, or misunderstandings. It’s older than any of that. It’s inherited, recycled, dressed up in new language, but it’s the same old hatred our grandparents and great-grandparents knew all too well.There are people who support us, and we should cherish them. But the people who don’t—they are not sitting around waiting for the perfect argument that will suddenly change their mind. If someone could look at what happened on October 7th—see women dragged through the streets, children butchered, people burned alive—and still say, “Well, it’s complicated,” then they’re not confused. They’re not on the fence. They have already decided we are not worth mourning. And that’s what makes this so painful. We still believe in the power of truth, because we know how much truth has mattered to us. We come from people of books, debate, ethics, and relentless questioning. We think if we just teach history the right way, if we show people what really happened, they’ll get it. But the world saw the Holocaust. Not just in hindsight—during. There were reports. Photographs. Eyewitnesses. And most of the world did absolutely nothing. The trains kept running. The borders stayed closed. The silence was louder than the screams.After the Holocaust, people said “Never Again,” and then promptly forgot almost everything. We remember six million names. The world remembers a handful. Anne Frank. Elie Wiesel. Maybe one or two more. Six million people turned into two or three acceptable symbols of Jewish pain. The rest were too Jewish, too messy, too difficult to include in the world’s moral story.So when people don’t care about Israeli Jews being massacred today, we shouldn’t be surprised. And we need to stop thinking it’s our fault for not explaining it well enough. The people who hate us aren’t looking for better explanations. Their hate is not built on logic, so it can’t be unraveled with facts. It’s built on stories they were raised with, a culture that normalizes suspicion of Jews, and a long history of blaming us for everything from plagues to power.I understand that It’s hard to accept that there are people who simply don’t care if we live or die. But that’s what history teaches us. People are perfectly capable of watching Jews suffer and moving on. In many ways, they’re more comfortable when we suffer. They know how to talk about dead Jews. They hold memorials and light candles. They feel righteous remembering us—once we’re gone. It’s living Jews who defend themselves that make them uncomfortable. So we need to stop seeking comfort in their approval. We were not put here to be liked. We were not put here to win anyone over. We were put here to survive, to protect our own, to build, to love, to outlast every empire and ideology that tried to erase us. That’s our legacy. And it continues—not because we convinced the world to accept us, but because we stopped needing their permission.We don’t need to justify our existence. We don’t need to apologize for defending ourselves. And we definitely don’t need to beg for sympathy from people who watched what happened on October 7th and kept scrolling. We should speak to our own. Strengthen each other. Teach our children who they are and where they come from. Remind them that being hated is not new. It’s not their fault. And it has nothing to do with how “good” or “moral” or “explained” we are.Being liked is nice. Being alive is essential. Let’s choose the one that matters. Get full access to Maccabee Nation at www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe [https://www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

New Yorkers Who Voted for Mamdani Deserve Everything That's Coming.

The following is a post from Tyler Winklevoss originally found at https://x.com/tyler. Much can be said about Zohran Mamdani’s disdain for Jews disguised as anti-Zionism, but I chose to highlight this editorial instead because his win says more about young peoples broader hatred for Western civilization and values. Jews are just be the first canary in the coal mine to feel the impact before everyone else does. A lot of people have asked me if I will get involved in the NYC mayor race by supporting a candidate that can defeat Zohran Mamdani. TBH, I’m torn and undecided. Like every other city run by democrats, NYC is a broken kleptocracy. Taxes are astronomical and services are pathetic to nonexistent. Anarchy and socialism are the next logical steps in this story arc. It's what the people of NYC have been asking for for years and it looks like it's what they are about to get. Trying to fight against this tide seems like throwing good money after bad. It appears things will have to get worse in NYC before they get better. The Zoomers and Millennials need a refresher on the outcome of Marxism and socialism. They are too young to remember the crack and crime epidemic and murder sprees of the late 80's and early 90's. The squeegee men, graffiti, mugging, lawlessness, chaos, and pandemonium. Streets that were too unsafe to walk alone at night or even during the day. Getting mugged on the way to and from school was not just a rite of passage, it was an inevitability. The Wall Streeters, financiers, and hedge funders have been too busy working on their fishponds and climbing the rungs of polite society to remember to protect the system that allowed them to achieve their success in the first place and allowed New York City to once become the greatest city in the world. Not ruffling feathers was more important than questioning the ideological insanity being taught in the private schools and universities that they sent their kids to. All that mattered was fitting in and getting invited to the right dinner parties. Now their kids are indoctrinated NPCs, always protesting and supporting the current thing. Like their parents, they too want to fit in. To do so, they unironically exchange bromides and platitudes on the benefits of socialism over rosé brunches in the West Village. Because their friends hate America and capitalism, they do too. It never dawns on them that their lifestyle and studio apartment that their parents subsidize are all made possible because of capitalism. This delusional thinking was ingrained in them at an early age by institutions that were captured by insane ideology and left unchecked by their grossly negligent parents. Instead of providing their children with immunity from stupid and provably bad ideas that have only led to misery and death throughout history, these parents shrugged it off as kids will be kids. Now these kids are adults who can vote, but are totally unequipped to do so. In many ways it’s not their fault. From their parents, they learned some combination of magical thinking, preference falsification, and an inability to stand up for anything greater than themselves. As a result, they never learned how to think critically or independently. They never learned the value of Western civilization so they don't understand why, or know how, to fight for it. Sometimes the only way to learn something is to learn it the hard way. Sometimes the only way to learn the value of what you have is to lose it. If that’s the case, Marxism and socialism might just be what the doctor ordered. To receive new posts and support my work, become a free subscriber. Get full access to Maccabee Nation at www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe [https://www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Passover Pandemonium

This Passover, our local reform Temple seder was a whirlwind of kids, matzah, and potentially predictable drama. An elderly woman—probably with dementia— blew a gasket over our kids’ behavior. Fortunately, I was spared from the reprimand, probably because she felt pity for me after overhearing I was begging to escape for 45 minutes before her temper tantrum. Also, I am a father, and am thus immune to any parental criticism from strangers. Admittedly, our three young kids were being little agents of chaos. They were also being wonderful, telling the story of Passover, answering questions, and singing too. They bounced off the walls, explored vacant classrooms, and the middle one allegedly tried to lick some unattended plates. I watched as the ancient woman at the next table stared daggers at us with every loud peal of laughter, and rocked back and forth like ‘The Joker’ trying to control herself. I warned my wife, who told me I was using it as an excuse to try and leave (partly true). After all, “seen but not heard” is an old-fashioned notion, am I right? I resigned myself to defeat as I watched Cruella de Ville turn all sorts of vivid colors as the seder wore on. We almost made it to dessert, when sadly an innocent game of golden doodle stuffed animal hot potato that my kids were playing on the floor prompted our neighbor to melt down like the Fukushima reactor being hit by a tsunami. As I listened to the old lady screech like the Green Goblin from Spiderman, my first instinct probably should have been to defend my family. But… I couldn’t help shake the feeling that the grinchy granny might have a point. A lot went through my head during this moment… First, parenting is hard and people in general seem less tolerant of kids than ever before. Even though we are blessed to have an amazing rabbi who kept the seder short, funny, and engaging, these types of events are impossible for kids. No amount of coloring books and crafts (of which there were plenty), can stop children from becoming feral at Temple seder past their bed time. I feel like 10 or 20 years ago, the old people at the next table might have picked up some rambunctious kids and helped entertain them instead of scolding them, or at the very least ignored them. I tried to snap back to reality as I watched the old lady’s head almost spin completely around like in The Exorcist. After her outburst, she burst into a dozen bats and flew back to whatever nest of misery she crawled out of for the evening. My next thought? Sweet relief. Maybe my wife will finally want to leave now! I know that sounds terrible, but I try my best to be honest here. And indeed, we made our exit shortly after. When we got home, I retreated to our room to decompress while my wife put the kids to bed, because like my children, I am a giant man child. In the aftermath of the seder chaos, I keep questioning why we do this multiple times a year. Is it the importance of tradition? It does seem like we have an innate need to build and maintain community as a subconscious survival mechanism that helps protect future generations of Jews. Even as I struggle with my own faith, I’m still happy to send my kids to religious school and think it’s important to do so. But, I can’t deny that I often feel a hollow sense of religious obligation that ultimately seems to breed resentment. Those feelings of resentment only lead to more guilt, which leads to hate… and to suffering. Okay, that last part was a bad Master Yoda joke, for the Star Wars fans out there, but you get the idea. It’s not lost on me, that especially on this Passover, with so many families unjustly separated due to the October 7th war in Israel, how petty it is to complain about having to sit through a few hour dinner. I realize I’m very fortunate, but I still feel trapped by the cycle of stress and boredom that these holidays bring. And yet I cannot bring myself to stop participating in them. I can’t shake the feeling that I am the asshole. And yet I know as much as I complain that I don’t want to go to the next holiday, I’ll probably end up going. I’ll go because I don’t want to feel like a shitty father or husband. Or maybe because our strange Jewish experience has convinced me that the rituals are supposed to be hard. I’ll keep showing up to these holidays, because maybe the torment’s the point—proof we’re still here (that’s a miracle!), plate-lickers and meltdowns included. Maccabee Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to to join a likeminded community of people who love Israel and the Jewish diaspora! Get full access to Maccabee Nation at www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe [https://www.maccabeenation.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]