As the author of the bestselling book Jews Don’t Count — which brought the debate about left-wing antisemitism to prominence — comedian and JC columnist David Baddiel has spent more time than most analysing the many faces of bigotry against Jews.

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When it comes to Israel, however, he has always insisted that he feels no affinity at all, even writing “I don’t care about stupid f***ing Israel” on Twitter in 2020.

In the latest episode of Let’s Talk: The Jewish Chronicle Podcast, however, Baddiel accepted that has more affection for the Jewish state than he had previously acknowledged.

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David Baddiel and Jake Wallis Simons

“I don’t know if it’s absolutely true that I feel no attachment to Israel,” he told, JC editor Jake Wallis Simons. “I am more concerned about what happens there and to people there than I am [with] other countries.”

Although he doesn’t feel that Israel is his “homeland”, he added, he has “turned up the volume” on his antipathy towards Israel as a tactical move to outsmart antisemites.

“It completely undermines the constant reflex attitude of progressives towards Jews and
antisemitism,” he said.

“It is an intellectual tactic… it flushes out the fact that they rely very heavily on condemning Israel to nor have the proper conversations they need to have on antisemitism.”



Baddiel was speaking on the podcast about his new book, The God Desire, a polemic exploring his atheism in the context of his Jewish identity.

“God is like a crime for which there’s no evidence but enormous amounts of motivation… we are frightened of death,” he said. “We are frightened that the world has no justice in it.”

Let’s Talk: The JC podcast is available now on Apple, Spotify and all major platforms