Note: I hate recommending audio and/or video because that's too heavy a lift for most people. I know my inbox is overwhelmed with people linking to audio and video and articles and if I consumed it all I'd have no time to do my own work. So, having said that...
1. "Why Hamas Won Gaza - Bill Clinton": tinyurl.com/bdhs994k
This a concise explanation of how Hamas gained power in Gaza. I could summarize it, but it's only 3:35 long, but you should watch this, everybody should watch this, irrelevant of your feelings about Bill Clinton, positive or negative.
2. "Conversation with Fareed Zakaria — The Conflict in Israel and the State of Foreign Affairs The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway": tinyurl.com/2sxm7zxz
This is a longer commitment, and therefore I can understand why you might pass. But if you want an overview of what is happening with Israel/Hamas and the Middle East...this is the best one I've found, and I've been consuming information voraciously. Start the podcast at 19:20. The above link is to Apple Podcasts, but the podcast is available on all platforms.
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Not sure you knew this, but my father arrived in Israel in 1942 after barely escaping the carnage that became the Poland/Russia story (long but fascinating story). As a 14 year old boy, he was moved to a Kibbutz and "indoctrinated" into the Hashomer Hatzair scouting movement, where he eventually joined the Palmach. He told me stories of the youth movement, and living in the North, where they pleaded with Arabs not to leave in 1948, in English, Hebrew and Arabic. They worked side by side with the Arabs (as they were known). It broke his heart to see his dreams of peace shattered time after time.
Now, maybe it was a somewhat idealized version, but the reality is post Six Day war in Jerusalem, the Israelis were waiting for a call from the Jordanians to try and make peace. None came.
Lastly, let’s not forget the massacres I’ve witnessed in my lifetime:
Avivim school bus bombing 1970
Lod Airport 1972
Munich Olympics 1972
Kiryat Shimona 1974
Zion Square Massacre 1975
Ma’alot Massacre 1975,
Entebbe 1976
Coastal Road Massacre 1978
—- and the list goes on and on.
Let’s of course not forget to mention poor wheelchair bound Leon Klinghoffer, executed and tossed off the side of the Achille Lauro.
Simma Levine
P.S. For those who think it was a mistake for the Jews to have a home in the Middle East, clearly they don’t know their history or read a Bible. Jews lived in the area until they were expelled by the Romans, around the time of the destruction of the second temple. They started coming back during the inquisition (and some sooner) while it was controlled by the Ottoman brothers
That land was controlled by the Ottoman Empire until 1918 until the British arrived. Prior to that the area was inhabited by both Jew and Muslim, side by side, in relative piece.
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I am a Jewish trial lawyer and I have been intricately involved in the world of sports and entertainment law for about half a century. After reading some of those execrable letters, I realized that I had to try to set the record straight. I am terribly frustrated by how terribly the Israeli government has handled public relations. As you can clearly see from the article and map below, pursuant to the 1948 accords, the origin minuscule State of Israel did not include the West Bank (Judea and Sumeria), the Golan Heights, Gaza or even East Jerusalem where the Old City and the Wailing Wall (Kotel) were located and held under the auspicious of the Jordanian government. It should be noted that Jews were denied access to this holiest spot in the Jewish religion—where the Temple Mount had been located. Perfectly content with existing within the confines of this area that had been mandated to them by U.N. Resolution, they were nevertheless viciously and mercilessly attacked by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria. At that point in time a Palestinian state could have been carved out of any of those areas which had not been ascribed to Israeli boundaries, but instead, none of these nations who attacked Israel had an iota of thought about the Palestinian people. It was not until the Six Day War in 1967, that those territories fell under Israeli control, and only then, twenty years later, when all of the sudden everyone in the Arab world was clamoring for a Palestinian state, which could have been carved out of more land available to them then that they are even demanding now! Of course Jewish settlements had been violently attacked by the Palestinians since the creation of Israel by the PLO and various other terrorist groups. Even in 2000 when the Clinton administration and the Israeli government proposed a very reasonable road map for a Palestinian state, the Palestinians responded with the Second Intifada. As Abba Eban once famously said: “The Palestinians never failed to fail to miss an opportunity”. Now with all this hue and cry that Israel has cut off the food, water and electricity that it had provided to Gaza, the Israeli government made it clear that they would continue to provide those needs if Hamas simply released the hostages. Of course, Hamas knows what that would mean, so they would rather see their own people die from starvation and sickness than let those innocent captives go free. Even if the Gazans that did not support Hamas would be innocent victims, they should have risen up against Hamas as they rose up against the Israelis. As it has often been said, if the terrorists laid down their arms, there’d be peace; if the Israelis laid down their arms there’d be obliteration. All that having been said, I do think that the creation of a Palestinian state is a sine qua non for peace, if they recognize the right of Israel to also exist in peace.
Louis B. Priluker, Esquire
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I told You Bob. Three weeks ago. Before this HAMAS atrocity. During your attempted Roger Waters execution. The Israeli apartheid state can no longer be ignored by the majority of earth citizens in good conscience. I’m a relatively young guy still and I cant bear it. Nobody from Gen X on down is down with it. Only you old guys. And I really Dislike people calling pro-Palestinian equality “anti-semitism” which is what I emailed You and then used it as a jumping off point for an article. We’re soooo tired of it. No one believes it except Israeli hardliners. And no one believes them. Ironically the most active Palestinian supporters in the US are Jews. The ones who run all the orgs. They just hate what’s been done in their name. What people forget is that israel is at war. Still. They’re the Russia in this. As are the Palestinians still at war all these decades later. They’re the Ukrainians. I still Am in shock by their methods in this latest attack. My God what inhumane barbarism. But it’s a war Bob. They’re not attacking Israel because they hate Jews. Go to Iran and see how much Jews are hated. They’re not. Second largest Jewish population only to Israel. They’re attacking isrsel because Jews invaded their home of 2000 years. And then … we’ll you’ve been there. You’ve seen it. It’s deplorable how Israelis treat them. They’re downright war crimes. What we’ve seen the last 60 years. I’m still in shock by what I see There every damn time. As Israel reprises, in greater numbers, orgs like Hamas will be more fueled to gear up for their next reprisal. And so it goes. As wars go. And the ball is fully in Israel’s court. They can stop this any time they want to. Biden called it “an unprovoked attack”. Jesus. Both of you boomers need to get a clue. Or stop telling untruths. At least tell it like it is. We all despise what Hamas did to our Jewish brethren. But this is war. Stop trying to pretend like it’s not. And for Gods sake stop trying to conflate anti-semitism with being anti invasion and occupation. And shiiiit negro I’ve got a lot more skin in the Jewish game than I do In any Arab one. I’m pro Palestinian equality because I’m human. Not because I’ve got some allegiance to Palestinians.
Still a subscriber. But please man, study. Learn. Pray if that’s your thing. You could be a passionate voice for liberty and equality. EnLighten up Bob. See both sides. Soften that hardliner in you. As so many recent subscriber emails to you show, people know what’s up now. And they’re not afraid to say. Even so soon after the atrocities we just witnessed. That’s surprising. People are done with the mass displacement of one group with another just because they want to and can. That’s soooo 20th century. Those days are gone.
Sincerely,
The Ambassador
The Transcendence Embassy
C/O Dying Van Gogh Records/BMG
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There is no justification for what Hamas has done to innocent Israelis, and there never will be.
But Hamas is not all Palestinians.
There is also no excuse for what the right-wing Israeli government has done (and now has exponentially ratcheted up the kill rate) to innocent Palestinians, and there never will be.
But Netanyahu’s fascist government is not all Israelis.
Let’s try to remember that, shall we?…
There are no winners in this game, only suffering and death.
And when it comes to the leadership involved, there are no good guys. Only theocrats and racists who thrive on the violence, and the power it gives them.
Having said that….
Israel clearly has the upper hand militarily in this situation (by a VAST margin), and always has. The Israeli government MUST stop its apartheid and brutal oppression tactics against Palestinians. These people live in an open-air prison of extreme poverty and suffering, with no escape. Totally at the mercy of Israel’s whims. This violence is what such misguided, dehumanizing policies have wrought. You can’t create the conditions that WILL inevitably spawn monsters… and then feign innocence and surprise when they actually act like monsters.
Mike Froedge
Step Up to the Mike Productions, LLC
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I have followed you since you first started publishing.
While I disagree with you on most political things I 100% agree with you on Israel.
I consider myself a Christian and as long as I have a breath of fight in me I will protect and help defend Israel's right to exist. Jews have had it tough for a long, long time. Nobody understands that more than Christians.
If Israel goes, we all go.
Nothing left to do but fight and pray.
regards
J.B. Vick
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It took me a while to reply to this. When I first did, my response was as reactive as your letter. So I wrote it but I just erased it after.
This letter came as a shock. You’re a man of great character whom I’ve admired and who doesn’t pull any punches. But in situations of this complexity, being this reactive only adds fuel to the fire. I am sure you read a lot so I am surprised at the lack of nuance and history of your response. Human history is messy, and full of awful atrocities on every side of the spectrum, and being alive on this earth takes a tremendous amount of courage.
This is a situation that involves ALL of us. We have to share this earth because there’s no other way. As Einstein once said “I don’t know with which weapons World War III will be fought but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”. Blowing each other up to smithereens solves nothing.
You have a very very big and wide audience. You have the power the create a bridge and a conversation. But instead you just reacted with fear and anger. I understand your pain, I believe that every single one of us who is looking at what is happening consciously is hurting over what’s going on. But some of us I believe , have a bigger responsibility. Anthony Bourdain was a person who created conversations and brought people together with such purity and potency in a world that was progressively becoming more and more divided. Can you do the same? It’s easy to be a reactionary these days. I advice you to check the episode of “No reservations” on Jerusalem one of these days and look at the human beings that live there instead of the politics.
There’s a lot of children in Gaza. The grand majority to be exact. I would keep that in mind next time I feel as reactive as this.
In any case, I was disappointed at your letter. I’m not sure what I expected but it definitely wasn’t this. I imagine a lot of conversation even if it’s reactive will come of it. I hope some of the letters you’re receiving will allow you to look at the situation with wider spectacles.
You probably already saw this but incase you haven’t, meet Mc Abdul from Palestine:
youtu.be/l8qay1Al7Dc?si=TkWijAk4OQwrbL7M
Best vibes
Kami Rayne
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You really are a dick!!
Two wrongs don’t make a right and an eye for eye revenge tactics don’t work either Captain Caveman!!
Bibi obviously had his eye off the ball re: Hamas and its terrorist plans as he was too busy trying to dismantle the Israeli Judicial System!!
The killing needs to stop immediately and peace talks needs to start. The Hamas thugs need locking up for war crimes and the collective punishment of the Palestinians must end.
Patrick Smith
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...blows me away(and I assume you too)how people create two sides to a story.
Jimmy
loyalears
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With all that’s being written, no one really talks about what the world would be like with all of us gone. How many more would have died from COVID and other diseases without the vaccines developed by Jewish scientists? And how about entertainment? Movies, TV, comedy. Financial markets. Many want us gone, but would they really live better lives without us?
Stay safe.
Tom Brodie
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Maybe it's time to publish Hamas's charter. Article in the Atlantic - maybe if people read that their stated purpose is to wipe the Jews off the planet and they think Jews are responsible for WWi, WWII, and alcohol drug addictions and they use Rotary Club and Lions as arms of their nefarious plots, then maybe, just maybe everyone will realize that Hamas is evil, pure evil
Terrance Moran
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I really sympathize with you --- the bombardment of opinion is fine but the uninvited bombardment of attacks is not --- Arafat queered the deal back in the late 1990's that would have let to a two-state solution ---- Arafat Arabs ( not all Arabs) did not want to end to the fighting. Ask anyone who is a student of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
R Lowenstein
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Bob - thanks for sharing these replies to your email about the unfolding tragedy in Israel. If nothing else, they represent the spectrum of belief regarding the Jewish State and the lengths to which some will go to justify the barbarism of Hamas.
For me, it is clear that Iran is using Hamas to disrupt the peace process in the region. I have heard from friends in Israel that Arab Israelis are outraged by the actions of Hamas. The fact that Egypt closed their border to the people of Gaza is revealing of the way Hamas is viewed by the rest of the Arab world.
The Abraham Accords brought Gulf states together in the recognition that Iran, not Israel, is the common enemy of peace in the region. My hope is the action of Hamas reinforces rather than destroys this understanding.
David Murphy
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Bob, this is a great article if you haven’t already read it. The writer is a multibillionaire hedge fund manager who admonishes UPenn and other universities for their silence regarding the attack on Israel and over the pro-Palestine movements on their campuses, some of which are blaming Israel for the attacks. His basic premise is that prominent Jewish donors should stop donating to such universities.
To add my own take to this, many large public and private universities have become hotbeds of progressivism and radicalism. The university administrations are often very quick to speak out vocally over hot topic issues; the killing of George Floyd, publicly support for the BLM organization, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the “don’t say gay” bill in Florida, the “disenfranchisement” of black voters in Georgia by requiring voter ID, etc. Yet when one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in modern history occurred, many of these universities remained silent. Not even an admonishment of the brutality of the attack nor condolences for the families of victims.
This is truly shameful on their part. One of the biggest culprits is UCLA, whose campus is filled with buildings named after prominent Jewish donors who have given the university hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in the past few decades. All they did on their social media feeds is post a canned response from the UC Regents and made excuses for a pro-Palestine rally that was scheduled to happen on campus, after a public uproar about it occurred.
My hope is that wealthy Jewish donors across America, who have collectively donated tens of billions of dollars to universities over the years, never even give another penny to the universities that remained silent after this terrorist attack. It will be a crippling financial blow to them.
Also, given how many Jewish people own and run companies in America, they should be extra selective when sourcing job candidates from these schools, particularly the ones from particular majors that tend to produce radical activists.
www.thefp.com/p/marc-rowan-university-donors-close
tonycor1
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These particular individual men must be remembered for their intentional actions and specific crimes against humanity when it’s time for war tribunals in The Hague:
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister: Leading the Likud party, Netanyahu systematically undermined Mahmoud Abbas. He intentionally left a vacuum in Gaza for Hamas, giving him a pretext for his genocide. He also altered the Israeli constitution, shielding himself from legal consequences.
Yoav Gallant, Defense Minister: Gallant targeted UN facilities, schools, and hospitals, displaying his genocidal intentions. While depriving Palestinian civilians of essentials, he bombed them using advanced US-funded weaponry. These attacks on UN structures were deliberate.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security: Convicted 8x for inciting violence against Arabs, Netanyahu still appointed him. He leads the settlement activities in illegally occupied territories, using IDF forces to evict Palestinians.
Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance: Smotrich publicly called for the destruction of Palestinian villages by the Israeli state. He financed illegal settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
Peace is impossible while these men hold power.
However, 40% of the Knesset, including Yair Lapid, seeks peace. Lapid refused to join the war cabinet, emphasizing this isn't a reflection of 'The Jewish People'. With children in the largest concentration camp in human history as targets, the genocidal maniacalism of these individuals is clear.
????? ??????? ?????.
Aaron Harris
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I'm surprised to see so many apologists for terrorists subscribed to your newsletter. I'm probably not your typical subscriber because I would describe my politics
as anti modern day liberal (I can't stand the far right either). Not surprisingly too much of the far left has come out in support of the terrorists. The only answer is to hunt
down and decimate Hamas. There are no negotiations or treaties that will do anything but the equivalent of putting a band aid on a gaping wound. Like you mentioned,
innocent people will get killed, but hundreds of innocent people have already been slaughtered, and those people weren't harboring terrorists among them. The only way
the so called innocent Palestinians are going to give up the Hamas terrorists is if they are more afraid of the Israelis than Hamas
My dad was a tank commander in World War II. He was in the 12th Armored Division. They were nicknamed "The Hellcats" and "The Suicide Division" because they were on the
front lines starting in France and ending in Germany with the defeat of the Germans. They saw first hand what the Germans had done to the Jews. My dad would only hint at what he had seen
and done in the war, but you could tell it changed him. He was the greatest man I've ever known. The Allied troops were forced to destroy numerous German cities to root out
the evil. Hundreds of thousands of German civilians were killed. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Six million!!! You know, and all these other morons should understand
that the deaths of every other Jew alive and still to be born is the only real goal of Hamas and those of their ilk. If you don't oppose the terrorists then you are implicitly supporting them It is time
to wipe out this cancer. Make them run and hide like the cowards they are for the rest of their lives. And no I'm not Jewish though I did grow up in an area of Western PA with a large
Jewish population. In fact I'm half German with the rest divided between Albanian and Slovak.
Dave Crookham
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Disappointed in you. Supremacist thinking and stereotype slinging... I thought you were better than that.
The war criminals are Netanyahu's supremacist crew AND his ally-enemy Hamas, whose unconscionable violence will help "justify" the government troops' ultimate of fulfillment Bibi and the hardliners' ethnic-cleansing dreams. Decent Jews and Arabs deserve better.
The Palestinian civilians, the Israeli civilians... I pray for them, and for peace and justice.
NR Davis
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Free Palestine from the evil white supremacy Zionist! God is watching!!!!
Sarahalmi
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I’m with you. Hamas is holding their ‘em-constituents hostage. Anyone giving you sh*t and unsubscribing, you don’t want them anyway. Ethnic cleansing? Go look at videos of hamas ethnically cleansing fatah or their dear neighbors to the north in Syria (many of which are "Palestinian". They used to be Arabs when Jews were Palestinians.
I’m for peace and living side by side, but when your neighbor wants your head and then takes your baby’s head, game on. Hamas and Islamic jihad are holding 2 mm Arabs hostage. Why don't their brothers in Egypt want them to come through Rafah? Because Arafat was Egyptian and they know better.
Of course israel isn’t perfect, but they are actually the best neighbor Arabs have. The rest of the Arabs kill each other on the daily.
Adam Meislik
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Israel will prevail.
I wish our society was more educated that land was offered to Palestine in the 40’s after the war and they refused it because Jerusalem wasn’t part of the deal.
Keep doing what you do.
Vera Kolovic NYC
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F*ck the anti semites Bob. They will hate us for breathing. Your take was spot on.
Josh Fialky
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Simply: if there is no Israel, there are no safe Jewish people… anywhere.
Sari Leon
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What is wrong with this world? We all know “Free Palestine” means kills the Jews and destroy Israel. They’re not looking for peace. If anyone else did what hamas did to their country there would be hell to pay. The world’s response? It’s Israel’s fault and show some restraint!
Free Palestine from Hamas
Nathan
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I agree with you but you forgot the PLO. They are as bad as any other organization there. Go Bibi. If anyone knows how to do this it is he even if he does have oddball ideas about how his country should be run. I'm tired of the Palestinian bs and BDS and no more Roger Waters for me.
Helene
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I give you a ton of credit for sharing your thoughts, knowing full well you’d lose subscribers and receive heated messages back.
It’s just like you said how real artists used to be in music before social media and trying to please everyone for likes and follows.
And on another note, I’m half a world away, not Jewish, don’t know anyone personally impacted, and yet I’m still traumatized to my core from what happened. Cannot fathom what it’s like living through it.
Nathan Taylor
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Just think…….
If all the terrorists, hamas, etc. lay down their weapons, there would be peace.
If Israel laid down its weapons they would all be slaughtered.
Who are the villains?
Ron Stone
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