and I said to the policeman in Hebrew
help help this boy and they said to me
what are you talking about he's an Arab
these are messages coming into me right
now from people in Gaza he told us when
the soldiers come they wake everybody up
and her them into a kitchen for hours
while soldiers sleep in their bedrooms
this whole idea that Jews and Arabs have
been enemies I mean that's like just
it's modern propaganda to kind of
justify because this is over a thousand
years of mothers teaching their children
grow up and kill Jews in the Muslim
World Jews thrived it was a golden age
we we Jews talk about the Golden Age of
Spain it's time that Gaza ends the 2
million people who live there they are
clever assassins they need to be removed
from that land that land needs to be
turned into a national part about Herzel
he was thinking about
Christians annihilating Jews what what's
your response to that that's the
narrative that's painted that for over a
thousand years Muslim mothers teaching
their children hate Jews eradicate Jews
completely untrue it's absolutely untrue
and that is my next guest Rabbi that's
right Rabbi David M I I first went to
Israel as a 19-year-old young man trying
to find my place in the world coming to
a place where I felt like w you know
like Israel that's that's like my
people's country very first week maybe
the second or third day I was in
Jerusalem I was walking down a street
that's called Jaffa Street it goes from
the Jaffa gate to Jaffa and there's nice
Old Stone shops and stuff and there was
a little boy maybe six or seven year-
old boy bleeding from his hand he must
have cut his hand on a broken bottle
bleeding and crying and and and there
was two policemen there so I I went to
the boy and I said you know come with me
and I took him to the policeman and I
said to the policeman in Hebrew help
help this boy and they said to me what
are you talking about he's an Arab you
know just get rid of him so that was my
first experience RAB
David and you know I just want right
here in the beginning I can say it's
it's a cognate or related word with um
bishara MH or
Bashas right in Arabic it's it's a it's
a Hebrew word that means a messenger
bringing good news beautiful beautiful
and uh this is what really captivated me
the story you were sharing and there's
another part to it I want to go ahead
and emphasize this is the the part
that's stuck out and I want people at
home to really like replace this word
Arab with the next word that we're going
to go ahead and have people listen to
and then they can really maybe this can
really hit home if he said the NW right
please forgive me but I'm just trying to
say just replace Arab with the nword
mhm huh yeah exactly how repulsed would
we be yeah it's dis he's an Arab he's an
you know just get rid of him so that's
what's happening to the people over
there this is how they're treated
exactly is this so this is the story
this is where your journey started to
where you are today uh tell us a little
bit about yourself or people don't know
about you and then we can get into kind
of the story that I was sharing with the
audience you know I want to like
actually replace what you just did which
was completely right but right now what
I'm hearing is people being driven out
of their homes being displaced many of
them being killed what if we went back
80 years ago and replaced the word Arab
with
Jew right I mean what was going on uh in
the early 1940s when Nazis were
rampaging across Europe and driving
Jewish people out of their homes
rounding them up in these tiny little
places full of disease with no food no
water and intending actually to to to
exterminate them you know you you could
have gone farther with what you just did
in that little segment which I
understand like that was like for an
American audience to hear that
word but when I see what's going on
today what I see is the history that I
grew up with which
um was totally the
Holocaust and I can say at that time I
don't know how much people were aware of
what was going on in the world you know
did they know what was happening in real
time I think largely it wasn't really
known until afterwards I don't know
that's history my point is right now we
see what's happening in real
time and I think we're feeling very
impotent to do anything about it so
anyway that's just what's right on top
for me like right now while while I'm
sitting here I I don't know if you hear
these little sounds coming from my
computer going bo bo bo these are
messages coming into me right now from
people in
Gaza there are two women in maazi Camp
one of them is 24 year-old mother of to
who I've been in touch with for about
four years and helping her provide
little literally food for her
children for these years and the other
one is a woman who's an amazing woman
she has four children and she's also
there and I've only been in touch with
her since October 7th when things got so
horrible but they're both writing to me
in the last hour or two telling me they
are being driven
out and there's nowhere to
go so you're literally right now getting
messages from Gaza how are they able to
communicate we heard like the internet
they shut everything down how are they
still able it's off and on it's off and
on I mean yeah they'll be they'll be
they'll be in touch um for a while and
then they're just gone you know and and
um it feels like it's really important
when you can be in touch with them to to
connect you know part of I think
obviously the little bits of money that
we send them help them buy food and
water and all this started in a time
when they didn't even need warm clothes
you know and now they do anyway there's
so much that they need and a little bits
of money that we send help them but
besides that for a lot of people um
being in touch with someone who's
outside of that situation who knows
what's going on with them here's another
one like really really
um in real time that's amazing in real
time you're getting messages from from
Palestine from Gaza it sustains you know
it's it make like there's so many things
from the Holocaust where people wrote on
like little pieces of paper and like
stuck it in a crack in the wall saying
if only someone knew what was happening
to
us right or they'd write it on a little
like just like scroll it on the wall
like when this is over someone will find
us and they'll know what happened to us
we got we got it in 4k what's happening
right now
live The Whole World's seeing it
yes yes it's it's uh tell tell me let's
go back to this uh story this story when
I when I first watched this he's an Arab
he's an you know just get rid of him I
was like wow so you went back and you
were going back uh you lived in Israel
and now this is kind of what kicked it
off and then there were other events but
take us back to that story let's let's
revisit that
story okay
so I you know I grew up in America in a
very you know comfortable reasonably
easy life in the late
1960s and as I got more and more
interested in my own Jewish identity and
who am I as a young you know young man
growing up in this world and really
seeing myself as a Jew where's my place
in the world where do I belong like it
was good to get born in America and grow
up there and made life a lot easier than
most other places but I didn't feel like
that was really my place in the world I
don't actually belong there in some
essential way that country of America
doesn't belong to me you know uh this
land is your land this land is my land
it's like H not really we are the
beneficiaries of a genocide that's why
we're there so where do I belong and
everything I knew kind of pointed back
to the land of the Bible the land where
my ancestors lived the land where the
Jewish Kings were Kings and where our
prophets were and so I 18 19 years old I
thought I'll go there I'll check it out
and was full of idealism about it so
that's like some
background and then when I went it was
197
71 the story that
you're asking me to retell a bit is when
I first was in Jerusalem which was like
magical amazing beautiful unbelievable
kind of place there was an incident
where maybe second or third day I was
there I'll just retell the story I was
on a a very nice Street full of old
shops you know Stone buildings and just
beautiful you it say little boy was
bleeding out of his hand and crying and
I and I thought oh my God you know I'll
try to help this little kid and there
were two policemen standing right nearby
so I gently took the little boy to the
policeman and I said in Hebrew you spoke
you were speaking in Hebrew
right yeah yeah yes yeah I I learned
Hebrew and and this policemen were like
they were
like like what
he's an Arab he's an you know just get
rid of him he's an Arab like just you
know just get rid of him and that was
honestly that was my introduction to you
could say the other side of Israel so I
I lived with an ideal a kind of romantic
vision of
Israel and actually you know one reason
I was telling that story is because it
took me Decades of my life
to when I saw right before my eyes
decades like I told when I was just
telling you was when I was 19 years old
I think I passed age 50 maybe got close
to 60 before I could integrate into my
overall concept of Israel what was
really going on there I read the history
I knew that I knew that the Jews threw
out the Arabs demolished their homes
erased their Village I saw right before
my eyes piles of rubble that were
Palestinian Villages I knew that it
wasn't a matter of cognitively not
knowing it it was a matter of
integrating it into my conception of
what's going on and I'm and I'm saying
this
because it takes people a very very long
time
to let go of the stories that we tell
ourselves that mean so much and kind of
shape who we are right that story that I
was telling myself about
Israel a story about myself and to let
go of that was such a major
reorientation what why what triggered me
about that story what was fascinating is
that Humanity like just the child an
innocent child your Humanity turn was on
and you wanted to help this child but
then you took them over to the proper
authorities and is a fair assessment had
they lost their Humanity
we're trying and by by Our intention
here is to get people to keep the
humanity on I mean we condemn uh the
killing of any innocent human being all
human life is precious this is without a
doubt all human life not just some life
all human life yeah so we want to get
people on the same page with
this and then when we and and never
again well you know know like isn't that
one of the purposes of religion doesn't
every religion teach
that right and then they get they get
distorted and corrupted and perverted so
it ends up when you say they lost their
Humanity oh they're so kind and helpful
to other Jews or people they think are
Jews but they wall off everybody else
and you know with all respect for other
people's religions I
think in
practice that happens a lot you know
happens a lot where the religion turns
into like an ingroup versus the out
group now you talk about for our
audience who don't know this term
cognitive dissonance when you went
through it for a long time from and that
was that was a catalyst from that moment
so uh cognitive dis dissonance the state
of having inconsistent thoughts this is
one of the definition beliefs or
attitudes especially is relating to
behavioral decisions and attitude
exchange some examples given are you
want to be healthy but you don't
exercise regularly or eat nutritious
food you feel guilty as a result you
know that smoking drinking is harmful to
your health but you do it anyway in the
field of psychology cognitive dissonance
is the perception of contradictory
information and the mental toll of it so
this was your state for a long time how
can someone now how can we imp package
this that people who want to have their
Humanity on they don't have to go
through such a long time while we're
seeing right 4K innocent children
innocent human beings being uh going
through uh a genocide would you say this
is a genocide
is it is it is it is doesn't matter
whether I say it or not but it is it's
it's it I mean
it's Israel is indiscriminately
killing thousands of people simply
because of how Israel identified them
right they're gazin they're Palestinians
they're Arabs and they're just getting
killed and also it's very clear that
Israel
is removing them erasing them from the
place where they've been living and
that's over two million people I expect
they're going to
be pushed out of there and we need to
remember why are they even there in the
first place MH something like 80% of the
people in Gaza are the children and
grandchildren of people who were pushed
into
Gaza in
1948 when their homes
were uh destroyed they were driven out
of their homes in
1948 and then the Israelis dynamited
them bulldozed them wiped them off the
face of the Earth so they would have
nowhere to come back to that's explicit
and that gets called the nakba the nakba
the nakba and it's a continuous process
that began in 47 and 48 but we're seeing
it as you've said a couple times I don't
know what 4K means but we're seeing it
in four 4K like you have 1080 you have
this is the different HD that's like the
top in HD okay that's not my field of
expertise but my point is this is
happening right now in real time I just
I'm getting messages right now within
the last hour from two women with
children who haven't been able to eat
for two months being driven out of their
homes and and when you say is this a
genocide I don't want to get pedantic I
mean you can look it up in a dictionary
or go to some you know international law
like what is genocide this is it it's
happening
and for Americans it's being paid for
with our tax dollars wow and given given
a you know diplomatic cover political
cover it's happening right now tell me
let's go back in history uh you
mentioned 1948 I'm going to play another
clip and this is by one of a leading
figure in America it's a Christian and
there it it goes with this narrative so
we want to unpackage this narrative and
see if how how false true this is we can
no longer Embrace this being Mr Nice Guy
to the people who are in Gaza because
this is over a thousand years of mothers
teaching their children grow up and kill
Jews grow up and kill Jews now now when
you hear that as a Jewish rabbi what do
you say to that the narratives that
she's the what she's repeating is that
it's been over for a thousand years
Muslim mothers mothers Palestinian
mothers are teaching their children to
hate Jews to eradicate Jews what's your
response to that completely untrue it's
absolutely untrue this first of all this
conflict only began a little more than a
hundred years ago it began because of
Zionism declaring that it's going to
take this land away that's why that
began and it's certainly not a thousand
years and during the past Thousand Years
many many Jews who needed to flee from
their homes were taken in by Arabs and
by Muslims even in Gaza there were Jews
in past centuries who fled to what we
call eriel the land of Israel and the
place where they went was Gaza and they
were taken in that's known there are
rabbis in
Gaza nobody killed
them wow so this is uh and this is
confirmed i' I've interviewed other
rabbis and they've also testified to
this historically so where where is she
getting this I mean because there was a
relative there was relative peace for
over a thousand years sure sure you know
you just said where dides she get it so
go back to that concept of cognitive
dissonance and I want to apply it to
this situation so most people want to
believe that the people who they
identify with and they are a part of are
good people and they do good in the
world right we want to think that about
ourselves in the
plural and and if the evidence is to the
contrary and you and right before your
eyes you see that that's not
true cognitive dissonance means you
can't hold both of those things in your
mind at the same time you can't say we
are good people and we're doing evil
that doesn't fit so one or the other of
those things needs to go and if you're
very attached to the idea that we are
good people then you have to get rid of
the evidence you have to like sweep it
under the rug and not believe it and
even overwhelm it with something else so
I would just propose kind of armchair
psychologist that that woman and many
many people like
her can't
accept that their people are doing
something so horrible so the
psychological defense against that is to
say
like oh um those people
the ones we're doing it
to they're really the problem they're
the ones who hate they're the ones that
kill and so on and so on and we're
hearing that over and over
again this is
very complex I don't say that as an
excuse to not deal with it but just
right now something we hear over and
over and over is on October 7th
yes Hamas
Fighters broke through through the fence
that they had been enclosed in for 16
years most of them were not much more
than 16 years old you know they broke
through the fence and they attacked
Israelis and they killed
hundreds they committed
atrocities and that is just used over
and over and over and over again as a
kind of
justification which it's not for
committing even greater atrocities I'm
just saying that's a dynamic why does
that woman need to insist on something
that is so completely
untrue it's it's like a psychological
cover I think it's not a political
argument right there's no there's no
truth to
it but it can make her feel okay about
the people who she identifies with
whether she's Jewish or not I don't know
who she is but she identifies with that
so for her it's okay to do what we see
Israel doing because those people are
such
monsters and just one more piece of
information I want to go ahead and just
to drive this point home this is another
academic Jewish academic uh uh regarding
this question and this issue this
narrative that they painting I want to
go ahead and play this Jews under
medieval Islam never suffered from the
same general negative perception as as
in Christian West despite Regional
variations and high medieval political
instability in medieval Islam mult
Multicultural environments combined with
active engagement in science and
literature led to something of an
Islamic golden age for the Jews at least
according to most histor historical
accounts it has been primarily in the
context of recent political developments
that the once assumed positive views of
Jewish life under medic evil Islam have
been seriously
questioned and this is uh from the
professor Dean Philip Bell professor of
history at separatist
Institute
yeah would you Fus Institute is a Jewish
College in in Chicago it's a Jewish
College in Chicago do do you know this
Prof do you know do you know this do you
know this professor I don't know him
actually but but more importantly is
what he said is undeniably true
absolutely anybody who knows like say
Jewish liturgy meaning the kind of body
of prayers that we say in the worship
would know that our most beautiful like
um hymns and poems we call it peute were
written uh in the Muslim World Jews
thrived it was a golden age we we Jews
talk about the Golden Age age of Spain
that was several
centuries under Muslim Rule and it came
to an end actually when the Christians
conquered the Muslims and push them out
oh yeah sure every I mean any all this
stuff is being used politically and
distorted but anyone who has the a shred
of knowledge about the development of
Jewish life knows about say the golden
age in
Spain beautiful I could go so much
farther than that I mean many of the
people listening might have heard of
myones I think in Arabic he's called
aluni Ram is that R R thank you R yeah
you did that very well rambam which
stands for Rabbi mosha Ben myON tell us
about him yes well what I want to say
well we there's an expression saying
from from Moshe to Moshe there was none
like Moshe meaning from Moses the
prophet
Bible
until Moses Ben myON rambam or almuni
there was no one that great he was that
great he was like the
leading Jewish philosopher and so on he
also was a
physician I'll just say a few more
things so he was born in andalo in Spain
under Muslim
rule which went on for centuries and it
was a beautiful Multicultural kind of
environment
I've even seen pictures of tombs of
kings that engraved on the tomb is
Arabic Latin and Hebrew I mean that's
how Multicultural it was the Tomb of the
King has those three languages anyway so
myones was born there his family was
driven out they went to Morocco and
eventually he went and settled in Cairo
and he became the physician to the cff
in Cairo but the thing I wanted to say
is he wrote his greatest philosophy that
in English it's called Guide to the
perplexed it's written in the Arabic
language um you know and Jews the
majority of Jews in the world spoke
Arabic they lived in arabic speaking
countries for centuries and
centuries um yeah so this whole idea
that Jews and Arabs have been enemies I
mean that's like
just it's modern propaganda to kind of
justify modern very sadly what some Jews
are doing to Palestinians and that's
been going on for I'd say started about
a hundred years ago it got very intense
little more than 75 years ago and as we
speak today it's like
reaching it's it's reaching a level like
actually I think beyond what was done in
48 to drive more than two million people
out of their homes and indiscriminately
just kill and starve people and actually
induce
diseases
it's it's it's it's I can't I I I just
can't even think about it and even that
idea can't think about it so that means
a lot of people need like a screen so
they don't have to think about it MH so
they come up with this idea like
Oh They'll kill us if we don't kill them
first they even actually did kill some
of
us now you being uh practicing obviously
uh Jewish rabbi many Jews that I've
spoken to Jewish rabbis they also they
talk about how Zionism has hijacked
Judaism and here's an interesting uh
historian he talks about how most
zionists don't believe that God exists
but they do believe that he promised
them the land how ironic and that is it
true that most of even the
the theator herzo and the early Founders
uh they they didn't also use this
argument that to to establish this uh uh
state that they had to establish it for
their survival against the Muslims they
didn't use that argument they didn't
that yeah they didn't no no no no no
they didn't they weren't dealing with
that it hadn't come up in history yet
for them when you talk about Herzel he
was thinking about Christians
H annihilating Jews I mean we're talking
about let's say when my grandparents
were young right my grandfather was born
in what today is bellus and it was R
with pgrs meaning mobs armed mobs
attacking defenseless Jews killing them
raping them destroying their homes you
know so they fled from that to America
thank you very much America um
but that's what that's what Herzel was
reacting to it had nothing to do with
Muslims it wasn't Muslims it was I don't
even want to say it was Christians
because Christians don't behave like
that people that they're not they're not
Christians I don't care what they call
themselves they're not Christians but
that's that the point is had nothing to
do with Muslims
whatsoever and you also brought up
something about Judaism itself I think
you might have used the word hijacked um
that's very true that
J Judaism has
always maintained a relationship between
the Jewish people and that land I can
say the land of our ancestors for sure
you know that was a place that we prayed
about when we prayed like to be able to
be restored to it but it wasn't being
restored by by might or Force like we're
going to take it over being restored to
it meant
that we were living in like a Godly way
and the religious idea was if
we live in a Godly way and do the right
things in this world then God will take
us back and that's part of like kind of
putting the world back together and kind
of like this I it's like a mythical
ideal the way it should be almost like
an image of the Garden of Eden I don't
believe it's a historical real ity but
it's again I think psychology is so
important like our inner lives really
Drive what we do you know so if you have
a belief of a kind of an ideal way that
it should be and that ideal is we'll be
back in our
land when
we live in a right holy Godly way part
of the reward for that is we'll get to
go back to where we
belong and that's that was a religious
Jewish idea and for 2,000 years Jews had
that idea and prayed about it and tried
to live in a good holy way and it wasn't
happening and there were programs and
there
was horrible things going on so in the
late 1800s in the time of modernity
maybe a different conception of human
agency in this world unless like relying
on God to get things done
and in a time when nationalism was
rising in Europe there were Jews who
thought we need to take history into our
own hands right not pray about it not do
all these religious obligations or
Commandments and hope that God does it
for us because that's not working right
and we're Meanwhile we're getting killed
so we need to take care of this
ourselves and that's that's the birth of
Zionism I'm going to get your uh we're
GNA go back to this uh Michelle Bachman
who's uh former Congress lady who was um
in the previous clip I want to see how
you that that that's that's why I I
played that clip because she's a very
influential lady I didn't know that's
who that was yeah so many many people
here's another clip and I think one of
the wisdoms behind what's happening is
we're really getting to see people's
true faces and what's in their hearts
and if they even have a heart so uh I
want to hear this next clip see how you
interpret this it's time that Gaza ends
the 2 million people who live there they
are clever assassins they need to be
removed from that land that land needs
to be turned into a national park 2
million people clever assassins I think
half half of those there are children
under the age of 18 H how would you
translate those those those what she's
uh spewing out there it's just hateful
racism I can't imagine I can't imagine
what's going on in her head
I can't either I was like am I crazy
here is this this is like almost
inciting genocide this is also this is a
crime byal La almost it is it is it
is yeah it's sick it's it's a kind of a
Psychopathology to think that way about
she said clever assassins turn it into a
amusement park I cannot wrap my mind I
said I don't get it and like you said
yeah go ahead it's just totally
irresponsible I mean I would just say
irresponsible totally irons of like
Trump just anything can come out of her
mouth she has a thought she thinks it's
going to like impress people and get her
some attention and oh well there she is
on the Charlie Kirk show and so she just
blurts out whatever she feels like
saying it's completely irresponsible
and it's just it's horrible we we are
living in
very very frightening times when people
like can have such a platform and
they're taken
seriously very scary I want people to
now watch this next clip and tell us
your experiences from living Israel did
you see some of this and I want people
to just put thems until we're able to
put ourselves in other people's shoes to
have some empathy some sympathy and say
would we allow this for ourselves check
this out we understand that Israeli
soldiers came in this morning and
without any notice without any
invitation came into the apartment and
have been there ever
since we cannot speak with you there's a
soldiers there soldiers yes what are
they doing here we are prison here
what's happening they are keep keeping
here and soldiers upstairs we cannot
move we cannot speak with you you can't
leave the house they told you that yes I
can't breathe how long are they going to
stay I don't know are they paying you
any money you kiding I'm kidding Abdul
nasif the bank manager said he had to
get to his bank to open the safe but
that soldiers wouldn't let him go he
told us when the soldiers come they wake
everybody up and her them into a kitchen
for hours while soldiers sleep in their
bedrooms they can't leave or use the
phone or let us in this time they kept
the women under house arrest but let the
men go to work and the children go to
school when the children returned we
caught a glimpse of two armed soldiers
at the top of the stairs sleep in their
bedrooms what is your uh reaction and
this is uh this has been going on for
for how long oh for
decades they can literally come in
someone's house and take over their
house and sleep in the bedroom they can
do anything they want no one's going to
stop them and they do it I know this
personally I know I I mean I've
absolutely seen this I have my own clips
of people I can use names and play
places I could tell you very
specifically going back at least 20
years mhm and it's it's totally common
place all the time Israeli soldiers
barge in to fam's homes take over their
homes they often go up on the roof and
use the roof as an observation point or
even a sniping
post and you could say they use the
people in the houses like human
Shields wow and they they can they just
ransack the house I mean this
happens every single night and it's done
for again for psychological reasons to
Simply assert domination and to enforce
subjugation just show who boss we're
going to come in here we're going to
tear your house
apart and there's nothing you can do
about
it this is uh wow and and I when I I
showed this I said just put yourself in
their POS would we ever allow this to
ourselves to someone you have your
family your home your dignity you have
safety in your house you're the king of
your Castle the queen of your house and
now somebody's coming and just taking
over and sleeping in your bed would we
accept that as Americans for ourselves I
hear you I hear you
and uh let's any with anybody anybody I
want to say let's hope we never find out
and that question of would you
accept I'll I'll just tell you a little
story about me growing up you know I
heard so much about like the Jews during
the
Holocaust going like sheep like why did
they just go why didn't they resist more
why didn't they fight
back you know but if you are faced with
brutal brutal people with weapons and
you have nothing and you're barefoot in
your
pajamas are you going to fight back I
heard you Eddie right now you just said
like oh who would accept this like you
don't have a choice it's not you don't
you don't like nobody's asking whether
you accept it yeah right 20 guys with
guns bash down your door and Barge into
your
house you don't have a
choice the main person I'm thinking of
right now I'll just I I'm not going to
use her name because she's actually
uh still there but when Israel built the
wall the famous wall this is a woman who
lives in Bethlehem from a fairly
prosperous
family she and her husband and children
lived in a house and they still live in
this house on one side of the main
street that went between Bethlehem and
Jerusalem right across the street was
her sister next to her sister was her
brother and when the Israelis built the
wall that divid Ides Palestine as it
does they built this
wall right in front of her house right
around the side of her house right
around the back side of her house so
that the other side of the wall was like
on the side that is where Israel is and
where she was isolated in her house is
the part that's like the West Bank where
the Palestinians are she can't move out
of her house except one way walk all
along the wall and when they did that
they also occupied her house they
command deared it might be a better word
for it they just they barged in they
took it over they stayed there for weeks
and she had she talked about like
hanging laundry out on the line like
from her balcony with the Israeli
soldiers just sitting on the balcony
them watching over the wall watching her
neighbors you know ready to um snipe
them and that's gone on and on and on
and eventually the Israeli soldiers left
but they're still stuck behind that wall
and they can come back
anytime wow I would say honestly I want
to I want to say nothing can stop them
but there is something that can stop
them and I think it actually is American
voters and American taxpayers because
all of this is supported by American tax
dollars and American political support
and when the US finally gets ready to
pull the plug it's all going to go down
the
drain and this is an important point
that I don't think any person who has
their Humanity on would want their money
going towards what is it about almost
four billion yearly that's the regular
amounts do you know what Congress is
considering right now how much another
14 billion
unconditioned and you know I'm you know
you know I'm in Canada right I live in
Canada
that's where I am
Israel's gross domestic product per
capita is higher than Canada's Israel
has like a higher level of economic
activity per capita than Canada does and
the US is giving that
Aid it's I'm just like I know a lot of
your audience is probably in the US
people in the US really have to get
mobilized
else I just want to say like two or
three weeks ago yes there was a bill in
the US Senate to provide 10 billion
dollar of unconditioned Aid to Israel to
like you know Finance all the weapons
that they're using now that weren't
included in the previous Aid and they
bundled that bill together with Aid to
the Ukraine and
50 Republicans voted against it and that
wouldn't have been enough to stop it
except the
one person who joined them was Bernie
Sanders so Bernie Sanders plus 50
Republicans voted against it and that's
what shot it down in the Senate but now
they're trying a different configuration
of the bill trying to get their money
through again I the reason I'm talking
about that is to say that this stuff is
determined by actual decisions made by
real people who are elected by the
American voters and everyone who stays
home and doesn't
vote you're just turning it over to the
other side and I I'm an American I'm an
American who been living in Canada for
28 years I'm very active in US politics
for this
reason you know I still vote I vote in
Pennsylvania and the
our our I just want to say regardless of
how bad the choices are between like
worse and even more worse we still are
making a
choice we can you know voting for the
lesser of two evils is better than not
voting at all because then the worst
evil is GNA going to dominate so again
just thinking thinking about soldiers
barging into somebody's house command
Deering it sleeping in their bed from
that all the way to sending 2,000lb
bombs to destroy people's homes and in
hospitals all of that is
enabled by us voters not doing better so
I'm going to say do better I'm one of
them I'm not talking to you I'm talking
to us we need to do better and we can
put an end to
this and I'm with uh Rabbi David here
and those Chings that you're hearing is
someone live
who is messaging him from Gaza from
Palestine and just a couple more
questions have you had any success how
have been the conversations when you
talk to other Jewish rabbis on the issue
have you been able to um help people get
through the cognitive dissonance quicker
with your experience has there been any
success can you talk to us briefly on
that well one thing I'd say is it's very
polarized right you said earlier in this
conversation that we're really seeing
people's True Colors most so people are
kind of needing to get on one side or
another of this divide and it's very
divisive so something we are seeing is
there
are rabbis who never before
have spoken out or done anything to try
to re in
the abuses and the horrors that Israel
is committing who are
now doing that I wish there were more I
wish it would happen faster but it is
happening I think there's people a bit
like me maybe 15 years ago where just
like the evidence piled up so much that
I just could not continue like
rationalizing and justifying and it kind
of like the dam broke you know and I got
kind of swept over to the other side I
think that's happening to more and more
rabbis and all kinds of Jewish people so
I am I am being
contacted every day by Jewish people who
are they actually write to me someone
wrote to me yesterday I said I realize
everything that I've believed was a lie
somebody wrote that to me and now what
do I do this is from another Jewish
person yes there's lots of them lots of
them beautiful I just want to actually
say straight out out loud like an
organization I'm active with in the
states is called Jewish voice for peace
and it's been around maybe 15 or 20
years it had about 200,000 members but
more and more and more people are just
coming out and and joining us you
probably see this you see lots and lots
of Jewish people going into public
spaces like you know Grand Central
Station or Bridges and really
demonstrating our not in our name not in
our name right I thought about wearing
my not in their name t-shirt today but I
didn't wear it but my you asked like you
you know what you asked me was am I
having some success in changing people's
minds and I have to say I I don't I
don't see that directly and it's a kind
of thing where I think
it's well I'm just I I'm not in that
conversation with specific individuals
but many many many people are seeing
what's going on and it's finally adding
up to them that they
cannot support it they cannot go on like
with their acquiescence to just let it
be so many many many Jewish people are
feeling
honestly the like pangs of conscience
based on all the teachings of Judaism
about pursuing Justice pursuing peace
about every person is an image of God
when we say we're created in the image
of God we are an image of God and anyone
being abused or hurt is abusing and
hurting God this is in our teachings so
more and more and more people are
putting two and two together and
saying what's actually happening right
now it's such a violation and I cannot
stand idly by I need to engage and it's
very
painful
to see that the communities the
synagogues that we are a part of and
that we identify with are
are on such the wrong side you know and
it's forcing people to make a
choice it's very difficult I mean I'm
not looking for sympathy right because
other people are getting bombed and
don't have anything to eat I'm not
saying feel bad for people facing this
difficult choice but it
is difficult and more and more people
are making that choice it's um I don't
think things are ever going to go back
to the way they
were H as we uh wrap up now I just have
a couple more questions as we're almost
out of time we covered a lot we
dispelled this myth this lie that this
has been something that Muslims it's a
Muslim versus Jew things Muslims and
Jews lived relative pece for over a
thousand years uh we discussed um the
situation the nakba
1948 the over almost 800,000 people that
were driven out their homes so people
can look more into this uh you mentioned
human shields uh I've also had a Dr
Norman finlin another Jewish academics
professor and he addressed this you
mentioned how when the video showing the
soldiers going into the house and then
you gave it also example of the human
shield and it's interesting that Amnesty
International as D Dr Norman finlin and
other human rights human rights
organizations they say it's actually
flipped the other way around like you
just said that they're using the
Palestinians as human shield but this is
a common argument so my next question is
how do you address this and then we can
um go ahead and conclude is that prior
after 2006 they pulled out they could
have made this a beautiful Resort and it
a bid Paradise on Earth and you get this
you hear this a lot right this is
another one of the talking points that
there was no occupa there is no
occupation they pulled out in 2005 2006
no how would you address that no no what
do you mean specifically is that Israel
withdrew its
military and the
settlers from Gaza when you say they
pulled out in 2006 you're saying they
pulled out from
Gaza yeah so you know there's an Israeli
professor
um who said that that is very analogous
to the guards at a
jail basically going home at night right
they have the keys the prisoners are on
the inside they have the keys but they
left the jail they all went home but
they left the prisoners on the inside
and the guards control how much food
goes in what can come out when anybody
can come out if someone is sick they
have cancer or they have kidney disease
or God knows whatever is going on would
you let that prisoner out to go to a
hospital or do they just have to stay in
there and die right so to say that
Israel withdrew from Gaza it's just
another kind of slight of hand it's not
true they turn Gaza into basically a
huge concentration camp and not only
that but Israel constantly surveils with
drones constantly Israel knows where
everyone is in Gaza that's why they're
able to kill the doctors the heads of
hospitals the presidents of universities
over a 100 journalists they know where
everyone
is and they never they didn't really
withdraw they control the land borders
Egypt is subservient to Israel there's
one little part of Gaza that borders on
on Egypt and is Egypt serves Israel's
interest Egypt is bribed to do that by3
billion dollar in US foreign aid every
year second only to Israel right Israel
controls the sea the air the land
controls the water supply as we see the
electric supply and Israel has kept Gaza
very explicitly they say this basically
on slightly above starvation diet up
until 10 weeks ago when they just shut
that off so it's not true to say that
Israel
withdrew wow this is uh people are
getting a totally different perspective
what is it currently now the amount of
civilians that have what is the number
that have been killed and also including
in that is that journalists un workers
sure do you know the numbers well it's
something like
23,000 we're we're up to 23,000 I want
to say 23,000 people identified as dead
I
know specific families whose love ones
are under the rubble in other words
that's that's not counted in there so
it's it could be people who they were in
their house when their house was hit by
a missile they got out they got out the
bodies of their children but they have
other children that they can't even C
them out so so yeah so those are not
included so we got people we don't even
know what's going on with them they're
still under the rubber whatever the
number is Eddie it's going up today went
up last night these wom these women who
I told you I'm hearing from in maazi
Camp there was over a hundred people
killed in maazi Camp
yesterday and this one woman I said her
name is Iman she stayed in her house you
know they were all told to leave and go
to the South so the other woman named
Mesa with two
children she left and went to the South
and there's nowhere to go she didn't
have anywhere to go there you know
and Iman said they're not leaving
because nowhere is safe it doesn't make
sense to leave she's been in her house
for something like six weeks with with
no windows no
doors holes in the roof no water nothing
to cook on nothing to cook but they
didn't leave their house and Mesa left
her house she went first to kanun and
then she went from Kan to Rafa and she
was basically staying in a tent and then
the day before
yesterday she went back to maazi
because like Iman said nowhere is safe
it wasn't helping her to be in
Rafa and then each of them they they
actually don't know each other they live
very near each other but they don't know
each other I'm just saying so last night
while I was asleep Iman wrote to me and
she said that now they're getting these
leaflets telling them they need to leave
maazi because maazi is going to be
flattened wow and she nowhere to go and
then about 2 hours after that I woke up
and I wrote to Mesa Mesa how are you
doing you know what's going on and she
wrote back to me she said the exact same
thing that they have
been um forced out of like the ruins of
the refugee camp that she lived in her
whole life with nowhere to go she has
two little
kids and her house was her house was so
damaged two years ago there was hit in
the middle of the night she actually
grabbed her two kids in a mattress and
ran out in the street and slept in the
street and then couldn't go
back and I did
fundraising oh I'll say it you can edit
this out if you
want Kyrie
Irving gave money that helped this young
woman Mesa rebuild her house Kyrie
Irving Kyrie Irving
[Laughter]
she rebuilt her house and moved back in
about the third week of September mhm
and two weeks later just happened and
her house is
gone her house is gone she's nowhere she
went she went back to maazi but there's
no house there for her to be in and as
of this morning she left and she wrote
to me I could I could I could pull up
the clips that I get from her I mean you
can see this on my Facebook
Messenger he's been very outspoken also
Kyrie Irving regarding this hasn't he
you know I'm not going to lie to you
guys a lot of stuff is going on in this
world and uh basketball is just not the
most important thing to me right now
there a lot of stuff going on overseas
all my people are still in bondage it's
sad to see this going on um and
it's not just in Palestine it's not just
in Israel discriminated against based on
their religion color their skin what
they believe in it it's just it's just
sad he's really been somebody who is U
many are scared of getting cancelled and
you know to speak up more concern about
their careers rather than Humanity but
Kyrie's really been stand up on this
he's really been stand up say very
literally he put his money where his
mouth is standup human being yes he put
his money where his mouth is and the
money is a it's a way to
concretize your wishes and you you know
you want something you want you want
this young woman and Gaza to have a
house you want that you can make that
happen if if you have the ways and means
you know so anyway I'm just I I want to
more talk about them and what's going on
there so they have right now I I mean
when I finish talking with you I'm going
to go back and try to reconnect with
them and I don't know if I'll be able
to uh let's close off with this uh I
know I'm not going to speak for
Canadians but I know as an American here
that we would never never
ever agree with if a school shooter came
into an auditorium a elementary high
school and he took over that we would
say it would be acceptable just to blow
up the entire
School unacceptable how about in Canada
yeah I think Canadians have that
attitude yeah no seriously you know but
at the same time can Canada's government
is just locked up with
Israel right you said Canadians
Canadians have a certain way of seeing
things but our Canadian government is
um it's not it's not helping
I I I want to say God bless you da uh
Rabbi David God bless you well thank you
God bless you too
and you know clearly
there's there's more going on in this
world than what we know and certainly
much more than what we can control you
know and we each need to do our piece of
what we can do and have faith and know
there's something bigger going on here
it's not just us
right we have to do our
part you know but there's something
greater going on and really really God
willing that that will kick in goding
yeah and that's it in thank you thank
you very much thank you very very much I
have no doubt that it will be a
successful project inshallah I've had
the blessing of knowing brother Eddie
since he started the dean show and he's
one of the most sincere and most
dedicated people to the that I have ever
met so please do support the dean Center
[Music]
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