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Transcript
Hi, it's Dan.
In case you didn't hear the announcement in our previous episode, I want to tell you about something important that we're launching tomorrow on Thursday, August 7th.
Over the past few weeks, I'm sure many of you have noticed me mentioning that we're developing some new programming with Arc Media's contributors, Nadaveal and Amit Segel.
It's a milestone for us as we've been trying to figure out how to invest in the future of this podcast, which has been a project that we never imagined would play such a meaningful role for so many of you as you have expressed to us through your thoughtful feedback.
Now, if you have a minute, let me take you back to the beginning.
We started the podcast a few years ago coming out of the pandemic, focused on a range of geopolitical and economic topics.
Some episodes were about Israel, but certainly not all of them.
On the morning of October 7th, that changed.
Ilan and I pivoted to making this podcast about Israel's war and the rapidly changing landscape for Jews around the world.
We were doing what we felt was desperately desperately needed, getting accurate information and thoughtful analysis from people on the ground rather than an American interpretation of what was unfolding 6,000 miles away.
It was also our way of processing those very traumatic days, and we had no idea how intense this winding story would turn out to be.
Hundreds of Hamas terrorists streaming in and massacring people at will.
240 people were taken hostage.
They went into people's homes and they butchered children.
The bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
The goal was now to destroy the Chabas Rushim.
Hezbollah is sitting on 200,000 rockets.
I have one word.
Don't.
Those hostages were executed before they were found by the IDF.
Most of these kids on the encampments right now are trying to tell us that there is no Jewish indigenuity in the land of Israel.
The response in the United States was the Jews deserved it.
They like us as as victims.
What the world is not comfortable with is a fighting Jew.
These pagers blew up almost at once.
Hezbollah took a shellacking, the Waqi-Takis, the killing of Hassan Nasrallah.
Yukir Sinwad, the leader of Hamasim, was killed by the IDF.
Israel would never allow a Muslim country to have a nuclear weapon in the Middle East.
Six bunker buster bombs hit Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordu.
Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace.
Israeli society is going to be faced with a very stark choice.
October 6th or October 8th.
As we continue to navigate through this historical period, your emails expressing appreciation for the sanity and clarity of the voices you hear on Call Me Back have been our guide.
Thousands of you wrote in to say that the show offered an escape from a world that seemed to have turned hostile overnight.
Students in America's top universities openly calling to globalize the intifada.
Mobs mobs in Sydney chanting gas the Jews, international media, experts and politicians questioning the very legitimacy of the Jewish state.
For those of us born after World War II, it has never felt lonelier to be a Jew.
We've never felt more alienated.
But here's the thing, and I can tell you this with confidence because I have our show's data in front of me.
You are not alone.
This show is reaching millions all over the world.
One listener said to us that for his community, Call Me Back has become like a bat signal for Jews and their non-Jewish friends, reminding them that there is reason for hope.
We may be from different backgrounds and armed with different opinions, but we all share the same story.
So far, Arc Media has been entirely self-funded.
I don't and won't profit from it.
That was simple enough in the early days when it was a two-man operation, just Elon and me.
But as our audience grew, so did our expectations.
We're no longer just a single podcast.
We've added two more podcasts to Arc Media.
For heaven's sake, and what's your number?
So we now have a full team of editors, designers, and producers, all of whom are both committed and essential to what we want this platform to become, a town square for the Jewish people.
To help support our rapidly expanding operations, we are launching Inside Call Me Back, which is a weekly premium Call Me Back episode where Amit Segel, Nadabeyal, and myself will answer questions from subscribers that go deeper than usual.
We want to bring you into the type of casual conversations we typically have after the tape stops rolling.
These subscriber-only episodes will rotate weekly between Amit, Nadav, and myself, with Ilan serving up your questions that you send in.
For $8 a month, you'll join us on a weekly basis for a more intimate conversation where your input and ideas will help shape the episode.
If you value the Call Me Back podcast, this is your way to support our mission.
To subscribe, please follow the link in the show notes or go to archmedia.org.
That's arkmedia.org.
Our first episode will drop on Thursday, August 7th.
