Birthright Israel & The IDF

Since its establishment in 1999, the organization Taglit-Birthright Israel has taken hundreds of thousands of young Jews on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Holy Land, encouraging them to settle down and have children in a country with the highest birth rate in the Western-aligned world. This week, June and Josh take a look at how Birthright functions, both as a natalist project and a backstop for The Most Moral Army In The World™ and its ongoing campaign of genocide against Palestine. **WANT MORE ILL CONCEIVED? Every other week, we release B-side supplements to the main episodes where we read your e-mail responses and discuss things further. Come check us out at Patreon.com/illconceived! (  / illconceived  ) ** **WE WANT YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THE WORLD FAMOUS MAILBAG! Send an email with feedback about this week's episode to illconceivedpod@gmail.com (mailto:illconceivedpod@gmail.com) ** EPISODE ART: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Before his death in 2021, Adelson was the single largest funder of Birthright Israel, contributing over $500 million (https://www.atlantajewishtimes.com/bi...) alongside his wife Miriam. AUDIO CLIPS: • 49:33 – Excerpt from an NPR article about the IDF sperm retrieval unit (https://www.npr.org/2026/01/18/nx-s1-...) by Daniel Estrin SOURCES: • What is Birthright Israel? (https://birthrightisrael.foundation/m...) • Why Do Observant Jews Have So Many Kids? (https://www.chabad.org/library/articl...) • Israel’s Religiously Divided Society (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/...) • Debating Natalism: Israeli One-Woman Shows on Experiencing Childlessness (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa...) • Families of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza are retreiving sperm from their bodies (https://www.npr.org/2026/01/18/nx-s1-...) • Questioning our 'Birthright' (https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/20...) • 15 year old thread on Birthright: Just got back from my Birthright trip. I want to share my experience with others because it did not match the promotional material. (  / just_got_back_from_my_birthright_trip_i_wa...  ) • New data suggest Birthright effect on Jewish marriage, connection to Israel lasts up to 2 decades (https://forward.com/news/459286/birth...) • The Romance of Birthright Israel (https://archive.is/5yr6k) FOLLOW THE SHOW: • Website: illconceivedpodcast.com (https://illconceivedpodcast.com) • Bluesky: ‪@illconceivedpodcast.com (https://bsky.app/profile/illconceived...) • Tumblr: @illconceivedpod (https://www.tumblr.com/illconceivedpod) FOLLOW JOSH: • Website: joshboerman.com (https://joshboerman.com) • Bluesky: @bosh.worstpossible.world (https://bsky.app/profile/bosh.worstpo...) • Other podcast: The Worst of All Possible Worlds (https://www.worstpossible.world) • Stream: Traditional Scrench (  / traditional_scrench  ) FOLLOW JUNE: • Bluesky: @junlper.beer (https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mf5d...) • Other podcast: Kill The Computer (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...) • Writing: June's Substack (https://junlper.substack.com) ILL CONCEIVED THEME SONG BY: Caleb (Linktree (https://linktr.ee/birdrespecter) / Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/birdrespecte...) )