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Benjamin Netanyahu's Son Makes Podcast Debut

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:

President Trump may be leaving office, but his right-wing nationalist allies aren't going anywhere, nor is their next generation. The son of one prominent nationalist leader has a new podcast, and he started by talking strategy with the son of another noted nationalist. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Jerusalem.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: "The Yair Netanyahu Show" is hosted by the 29-year-old son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE YAIR NETANYAHU SHOW")

YAIR NETANYAHU: Welcome to my new podcast.

ESTRIN: The podcast debuted a couple of days before the U.S. elections. Yair Netanyahu's guest is the 36-year-old son of Brazil's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE YAIR NETANYAHU SHOW")

NETANYAHU: So today, I'm with my good friend Eduardo Bolsonaro. I wanted to talk to him today about something that impacts all of us, the global battle between globalism versus nationalism.

EDUARDO BOLSONARO: It's my pleasure to be here, my friend.

ESTRIN: Their fathers are both allies of President Trump. And they've created social media profiles a bit like Donald Trump Jr., promoting nationalist policies. Their conversation starts with disdain for the media.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE YAIR NETANYAHU SHOW")

BOLSONARO: The mainstream media in Brazil keeps saying that the Amazon is on fire.

ESTRIN: The Amazon rainforest has been on fire. But he says the media is lying and controlled by the left. Yair Netanyahu picks up on that.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE YAIR NETANYAHU SHOW")

NETANYAHU: And I want to connect to what you said before about how the left is very successful in taking over all the power centers of a country, the academia, the media.

ESTRIN: They get around the media through social media but complain that's getting tougher.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE YAIR NETANYAHU SHOW")

NETANYAHU: I was blocked several times from Facebook for hate speech. And I think you were blocked for a while on Twitter, as well.

BOLSONARO: All the media - I think only YouTube didn't block me.

NETANYAHU: Now you told them, YouTube. So now they're going to make sure to block you, too.

(LAUGHTER)

ESTRIN: They conclude that they need new platforms to reach new audiences. It's not just in this podcast. Right-wing nationalists around the world have been connecting more.

(SOUNDBITE OF CONFERENCE)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Prime Minister Orban, let's go back to 1989.

ESTRIN: A conference in Rome early this year titled National Conservativism featured European politicians, including leading nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The conference was organized by Israeli conservative author Yoram Hazony. He spoke to NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

YORAM HAZONY: Israel has a very special place at this moment of rising nationalism throughout the democratic world.

ESTRIN: He calls Israel a, quote, "successful national state protecting Jews and Judaism."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

HAZONY: In Britain or Hungary or India or Brazil or even in America, today, you hear many people saying, there's a lot that we can learn from Israel.

ESTRIN: Israeli researchers studying right-wing nationalism say U.S. conservative donors have helped turn Israel into a greenhouse for nationalist politics. Noam Gidron teaches political science at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

NOAM GIDRON: By now, the network of institutions within countries and across countries proliferating these ideas and giving them a platform - and these organizations have preceded Trump and are going to stay here after Trump is no longer president.

ESTRIN: Eduardo Bolsonaro is a member of the Brazilian Congress. He helped form a cooperation pact with the Israeli parliament. And yet Yair Netanyahu has spoken to U.S. evangelical groups, big supporters of Trump and Israel and Brazil's leaders. They end the podcast looking past the pandemic.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE YAIR NETANYAHU SHOW")

NETANYAHU: My father and your father will navigate this - our - you know, our countries through this difficult times to safer shores.

BOLSONARO: I think we are going to look great next year. We are going to recover faster than people think.

ESTRIN: Trump lost the election a couple days after the podcast dropped. But these young nationalists will continue their roles, and so will their fathers. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Jerusalem. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Daniel Estrin is NPR's international correspondent in Jerusalem.
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