Yair Netanyahu claimed that Joe Rogan refused to have his father, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, he posted on X/Twitter on Friday.
In his post, Yair Netanyahu said, "He gave [a] platform to every single neo Nazi antisemite on this plant[et], but he refuses to have my father on his show, because he knows that he doesn’t stand a chance against him, and all those years of antisemitic propaganda will go to waste."
Yair has a significant history of writing divisive posts on social media. Additionally, it was unclear whether the prime minister had actually reached out to The Joe Rogan Show to offer an interview.
The show has yet to respond to Yair's statement.
The American podcaster and commentator has hosted several controversial figures on the show, such as Alex Jones, Ian Carroll, Candace Owens, Kanye West, Darryl Cooper, and Elon Musk.
Since October 7, Rogan has made many comments about Israel's ongoing war with Hamas, claiming that Israel is committing small-scale Holocaust in Gaza. “They always say that they’re only bombing Hamas and everybody else is a casualty, well if those guys are just unarmed civilians and they’re walking alone, that’s what they appear to be, and you just blast them from the sky with robots... If you can’t talk about that, if you can’t say that’s real, then you’re saying that genocide is okay as long as we’re doing it,” said Rogan.
“And you’re saying that from the perspective of someone who literally went through the Holocaust – or your people, your tribe – went through the f***ing Holocaust, and now you’re willing to do it?”
Rogan continued, “You guys are willing to do what was done to you that led you to believe that you needed to start your own country? You’re willing to do that on a small scale in Gaza.”
Joe Rogan's previous podcast controversies
In a discussion about Ilhan Omar's infamous "All about the Benjamins" comment, Rogan said on his podcast, “[Omar] apologizing for talking about 'It’s all about the Benjamins,' which is just about money – she’s talking about money,” Rogan said.
Then Rogan went on to say, “That’s not an antisemitic statement, I don’t think that is. Benjamins are money. The idea that Jewish people are not into money is ridiculous. That’s like saying Italians aren’t into pizza, it’s f*cking stupid. It’s f*cking stupid.”
In an article explaining the antisemitic background of Rogan's statement, the American Jewish Committee stated, "According to AJC’s Translate Hate glossary, the greed trope is the foundation for some of the most constant antisemitic falsehoods and the association of Jews with greed has fueled Jew hatred throughout history, including today."
The Jewish Federation of America posted in response to Rogan's statements, "Once again, we are witnessing antisemitic tropes amplified by a person with an enormous megaphone. Normalizing antisemitism dehumanizes Jews and makes everyone less safe. This must stop."
Jewish Insider wrote about one of Rogan's guests, Ian Carrol, who they referred to as a "prominent antisemitic conspiracy theorist," famous for claiming that Israel caused 9/11 and that America is run by a "Zionist Mafia."
Oren Segal, the Anti-Defamation League's senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence, said, "Ian Carroll has a troubling history spreading toxic conspiracy theories and disinformation, especially related to the Jewish community and Israel. It is difficult to understand why Joe Rogan would offer his platform to further disseminate these ideas at a time when the Jewish community is facing increased vulnerability due to rising incidents targeting them."
Michael Starr and Ron Kampeas contributed to this report.