EylON the Record

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00:00: The Disinformation Apocalypse
06:39: How the Netanyahu Conspiracy Started
09:16: Bots, Sock Puppets, and Troll Farms
11:59: The State Actors Behind Disinformation
14:58: The Business of Online Hate and Propaganda
17:50: How Coordinated Networks Spread Conspiracies
20:32: Why Western Societies Are So Vulnerable
23:04: Viral Fakes, AI Hoaxes, and the Tel Aviv Lies
25:42: Can Social Media Be Fixed?
35:39: How Democracies Should Fight Back
41:19: What Individuals Can Do

When people no longer trust their own eyes, disinformation stops being background noise and becomes a battlefield.
The conspiracy that Benjamin Netanyahu is dead may sound absurd. But the ease with which it spread reveals something far more serious: hostile actors no longer need bombs alone to destabilize democracies. They can do it with algorithms, fake accounts, recycled footage, and millions of willing believers.
In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Travis Hawley, a former US Air Force intelligence analyst and open-source investigator, about how the conspiracy theory that Netanyahu is dead went viral, who helped push it, and what it reveals about the broader information war facing Israel and the West. They explore how state and non-state actors exploit social media, AI, and collapsing public trust to spread falsehoods, inflame hatred, and weaken democratic societies from within.
In this episode, we discuss:
How the “Netanyahu is dead” conspiracy spread from fringe rumor to mass delusion
The role of Iran-linked propaganda, bot networks, troll farms, and useful idiots in amplifying lies
Why fake footage of destroyed Tel Aviv and AI hoaxes are part of a wider asymmetric war
Whether democracies can defend themselves when social media rewards manipulation over truth
This conversation goes beyond one viral lie. It is about what happens when open societies are flooded with industrial-scale deception and citizens lose the ability to distinguish evidence from narrative. Understanding that threat correctly is no longer optional. It is a matter of democratic self-defense.
🎯 Key moment:
 “They don’t need to destroy Western civilization with bombs. They will do it with tweets.”
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ABOUT THE SHOW
EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.
Stay up to date at:
X: https://x.com/eylontherecord
Instagram: https://instagram.com/eylontherecord

Support on Patreon for only $10 a month

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For years, the world treated Hezbollah as a problem to be managed... or ignored. Now Lebanon is being forced to confront what that evasion has cost.
In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Jonathan Elkhoury, a Lebanese-Israeli and the son of an officer in the former South Lebanon Army, about Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon, why the Lebanese state failed to dismantle it after the November 2024 ceasefire, and why Israel no longer believes diplomacy alone can remove the threat. Together, they examine whether Lebanon’s sudden moves against Hezbollah are genuine, whether peace talks with Israel are serious or tactical, and what this means for Israel, Lebanon, and the wider war against Iran’s proxy network.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why the 2024 ceasefire failed and how Hezbollah rearmed despite diplomatic guarantees
Whether the Lebanese government truly could not confront Hezbollah — or chose not to
Why Israel sees renewed diplomacy as a way of freezing the threat rather than removing it
Whether Hezbollah’s defeat could create a real opening for peace between Israel and Lebanon
This conversation goes beyond the latest strikes and ceasefire talk. It is about the long-term cost of letting armed proxies outgrow the states that host them — and about what happens when diplomacy becomes a substitute for enforcement instead of a path to peace.
🎯 Key moment:
“If the Germans and French were able to make peace the day after, then there’s hope for everyone to make peace.”
ABOUT THE SHOW
EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.
🎙 Filmed at M10 Studios, Tel Aviv 
mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues
mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Support the show
ABOUT THE SHOW
EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.
Stay up to date at:
X: https://x.com/eylontherecord
Instagram: https://instagram.com/eylontherecord

Support on Patreon for only $10 a month

Send us Fan Mail
Support the podcast and keep it independent.
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https://patreon.com/eylontherecord

Iran built its power on terror, missiles, and the threat of nuclear blackmail. The question now is whether the U.S. and Israel will finish the job—or leave behind an even more dangerous regime.

In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Lt. Gen. Dick Newton, former Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force and America’s first commander of the B-2 stealth bomber squadron, about the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran and what it will take to actually win. They discuss whether this is a synchronized allied operation or two parallel wars, what success against the Islamic Republic would really look like, and why stopping short could leave Israel, the United States, and the wider region facing an even greater threat.

In this episode: 
Why the United States is so impressed with the Israeli Air Force as a "force multiplier" for American power 

Why declaring victory too early could leave a wounded Iranian regime alive, angry, and more dangerous than before
Why a joint US-Israeli commando operation might be the only way to deal with the Iranian regime's enriched uranium 
This conversation goes beyond the daily headlines to examine the real strategic stakes: deterrence, alliance credibility, regime survival, and the future balance of power in the Middle East. If Iran is left partially defeated but still intact, the costs will not stay local—they will shape American power, regional stability, and the global contest against the authoritarian axis.

🎯 Key moment:
“A half-done war is worse than no war at all.”

mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues
mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Support the show
ABOUT THE SHOW
EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.
Stay up to date at:
X: https://x.com/eylontherecord
Instagram: https://instagram.com/eylontherecord

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Iran’s regime may not fall from the center first. It may begin at the edges.
In a moment of war, regional upheaval, and collapsing old assumptions, the Kurdish question is no longer peripheral. It may be central to what comes next.
In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Uri Zaki, policy fellow at Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, about whether the Kurds could play a decisive role in weakening or even helping topple the Islamic Republic. They discuss the strategic logic behind Israeli interest in Kurdish alliances, the risks of backing minority forces inside Iran, and why the post–October 7 Middle East is forcing Israel to think like a regional power — not just a country defending its borders. The conversation explores what regime change in Iran could actually look like, and what it would mean for Israel, for the region, and for the wider democratic world confronting authoritarian aggression.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why even a prominent voice on the Israeli left sees the war against Iran’s regime as justified
What the Kurds in Iran can realistically do — and why backing them is essential if the regime somehow survives 
Why Israel may need a coherent long-term Kurdish strategy across Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey
This conversation goes beyond the immediate military campaign. It gets at a deeper question: what kind of regional order could emerge if Iran’s regime weakens, and whether minority alliances, federal structures, and political realism can succeed where slogans and diplomacy alone have failed. Understanding that matters not just for Israel’s security, but for the future of the Middle East after the old order begins to crack.
Click here to read Uri Zaki’s policy paper and learn more about Israel–Kurd relations in the Middle East after October 7. 
mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues
mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Support the show
ABOUT THE SHOW
EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.
Stay up to date at:
X: https://x.com/eylontherecord
Instagram: https://instagram.com/eylontherecord

Support on Patreon for only $10 a month

Send us Fan Mail
Support the podcast and keep it independent.
 👉Subscribe on Patreon for $10/month:

A country at war can survive many things. A broken social contract isn’t one of them.
In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Yonatan Shalev, a 23-year-old former special forces soldier and reservist activist, about Israel’s exploding draft crisis: an army short tens of thousands, repeated reserve call-ups stretching families to breaking point, and a government trying to legislate what critics call a “draft-dodging law” to formalize mass exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men. What happens to Israel’s security, economy, and liberal democracy when service becomes something only a shrinking segment is expected to carry?
In this episode, we discuss:
Why the IDF says it’s short tens of thousands of soldiers — and what that means in a prolonged war
How repeated reserve duty is crushing the same people who power Israel’s economy and civil society
The politics of coalition survival vs. national survival: why the draft issue could trigger elections
The deeper Haredi reality: fear of leaving a closed world, lack of basic education, and rabbinic control
Israel’s draft debate isn’t just about fairness. It’s about whether a small country in a hostile region can keep a sustainable army, a functioning economy, and a shared sense of obligation — without sliding into a two-tier citizenship where some serve and others are protected from the cost.
mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues
mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Support the show
ABOUT THE SHOW
EylON the Record is a podcast about Israel, the global information war, and the battle between democratic societies and authoritarian or extremist movements — told through in-depth conversations with people shaping events on the front lines.
Stay up to date at:
X: https://x.com/eylontherecord
Instagram: https://instagram.com/eylontherecord

Support on Patreon for only $10 a month