A popular podcast among young people surprised the Internet this week with an unexpected guest of the interview: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But Netanyahu’s offer to attract young people seemed to be counterproductive online, where the interview caused generalized criticisms of spectators throughout the political spectrum.
His interviewers, Kyle Forgeard and Aaron “Steiny” Steinberg, are members of Nelk Boys, a group of influential people in social networks known for their vlogs and joke videos. The group, which has accumulated more than 8.5 million subscribers on YouTube, attracted even more fans after its content began to highlight more conservative political figures, including President Donald Trump, whom the Podcast interviewed in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The Hourlong interview of Netanyahu, which was launched in the “full shipping podcast” by Nelk Boys on Monday, met an overwhelmingly critical online reception, with the spectators accusing the podcasters of asking softball questions and neglecting to expel Netanyahu’s statements.
Netanyahu and his government continue to face world indignation for the war in Gaza that followed the terrorist attack led by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Podcast YouTube channel lost more than 10,000 subscribers in one day, according to the Social Networking Platform Blade. On YouTube, the main comments on the episode criticized the apparent lack of preparation of the hosts.
“I see many things about what is happening in Israel and Iran and Palestine, and to be honest, I really don’t know what is happening there,” Forgeard said in the episode. Steinberg said he also waited “to educate” interviewing Netanyahu.
At one point, the theme of discussion resorted to the shared affection of Netanyahu and Trump for hamburgers. When asked about his order as McDonald’s, Netanyahu revealed that he prefers Burger King, leading Steinberg to respond, horrified: “That is your worst shot, I think.”
During the rest of the interview, Netanyahu condemned Anti-Israel protesters as “anti-Americans” and contrasted life in Israel with life under the oppressive regime in Iran. He also criticized the Democratic candidate for the Mayor’s Office of New York, Zohran Mamdani, calling his proposals for the “meaningless” city. (Mamdani has called the military actions of Israel in the “genocide” of Gaza and has said that it would arrest Netanyahu, who is the object of an arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court, if he visited New York City).
When asked why he is “so hated around the world,” Netanyahu replied: “Well, a lot of propaganda. First of all, I am not hated worldwide.” He said that Israel has received a lot of good will from many in Europe, claiming that Israel’s attack also “released them, because those Iranian missiles were also oriented to Europe and, ultimately, in the United States.”
“Propaganda is there, I don’t deny it,” said Netanyahu. “But people also have, you know, sometimes the truth signs. And what Israel did with President Trump is safeguarding societies free of a threat. I mean, this Iranian regime hangs to the homosexuals of cranes.”
On Monday, 25 countries, including Britain, Japan and many European nations, asked Israel to end the war in Gaza, a sign of traditional dismay of Israel’s allies for the humanitarian toll of the conflict. About 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities, with much of the population of the enclave expelled from their homes and pushed to the edge of the starvation.
Israeli military and government officials have repeatedly accused Hamas of exploiting civil sites, including hospitals and schools, such as coverage for their operations, an accusation that health and Hamas officials have denied.
Israel has also faced increasing accusations of war crimes and genocide, even in a case presented by South Africa before the International Court of Justice, the United Nations Court. The court last year ordered Israel to do everything possible to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. Both Israel and the United States have rejected the accusations of genocide.
Online, the clips of the Netanyahu interview attracted a viral reaction of the spectators, many of whom accused Nelk children of “Genocide propaganda” platforms and compared Netanyahu’s interview with Adolf Hitler’s interview.
The political streamer of the extreme left Hasan Piker and the white supremacist of the extreme right right Nick Fuentes were among those who criticized the last episode of “full shipping podcast” on Monday during separate live broadcasts on their platforms.
“Basically, you presented someone who is a war criminal, someone who is doing a genocide, in a somewhat neutral light,” Paker told Forgeard and Steinberg in his stream. “And you can’t be neutral when you have someone like Benjamin Netanyahu directly in the opportunity to talk to him. But that is what happened, so there is moral guilt here for you individually.”
He added that, although he would agree to interview Netanyahu if he was given the opportunity, he would be “well equipped” to verify his statements and reject the potentially doubtful statements.
Forgeard, in response, replied that his interview style could “give us the opportunity to get the biggest people in the world.”
“And I think you will know for the ‘full shipping podcast’ when you see it, it’s like, ‘hey, these guys will get great guests. We couldn’t necessarily make these boys be roasted to these people,” said Forgeard. “And that is just what you are going to expect.”
Fuentes, in his own current with Forgeard and Steinberg, also questioned the moral equivalence between him, who has faced the online sentence for his views and beliefs, and “a foreign head of state who is killing women and children.”
“This is someone who is in the process of committing what ethnic cleaning and genocide is effectively,” Fuentes said.
The interview fought to land positively even among some supporters of the Netanyahu military agenda. In The Times of Israel on Tuesday, collaborator Elkana Bar Eitan expressed his disappointment that Netanyahu “flew” in the podcast, despite the lack of decline he received from the hosts.
“It was painful to witness how Netanyahu, once a communicator teacher, lost this opportunity and showed that he lost his touch, even in English,” he wrote in an opinion article. “Despite the friendly atmosphere and softball questions, Netanyahu appeared completely separated from reality.”
A representative of the “complete shipping podcast” declined to comment.
In a video that responds to the reaction, Steinberg and Forgeard said they plan to “give the other way” to speak in their next episode, although it is not clear to what guests they refer.
“Someone has to do it,” said Forgeard. “And if we have to fall and be the bad for having the controversial people, I think we are willing to do it.”
