Israel's Moral War: Yaron Lectures - podcast episode cover

Israel's Moral War: Yaron Lectures

Feb 01, 20241 hr 34 min
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Episode description

The October 7th terrorist attacks and the ensuing escalations have brought international attention back to the decades long Israel-Palestine conflict. Many commentators acknowledge Isarel’s right to self-defence, but feel morally conflicted about the increasing number of civilian casualties. In this talk Yaron Brook will highlight the ethical issues involved in the conflict and explain why it might be moraly necessary for Israel to not only see Hamas, but the Palestinian population at large as an enemy.


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Transcript

Thank you everyone. I'm sorry for the delay. I'm Gregory Salmery of the Salem Center for Policy here at the University of Texas. I know it's not in the room. Can people hear me in the back? Okay, we're just the mice are just for the internet. Nevertheless, as I say, I'm greg Salmery of the Salem Center for Policy here at the University. This event has sparked some controversy, leading to some demands that we cancel it and

to a need for added security. I'd like to thank all of you for complying with the security measures recommended to make sure that this was a safe space where ideas can be shared safely. There's something really important on which the organizers of the event and those who are most upset about it agree. There are monstrous evils taking place in the world today, perpetrated by factions who seek genocide. Too many people actively support these and this support cannot simply be an honest

error. Most people simply look the other way, too confused or too frightened to take a strong stand in either direction. It's an issue of life or death, an issue of racist murder, and of self defense against it. What we disagree about is who are perpetrating these evils and who are resisting them. Such disputes are sadly normal in human history. History is largely the story of people's killing one another, each believing or making believe that they're acting in

self defense. In times of war and atrocity, passions properly run high. Propaganda is always rampant, and it can be hard to tell what is true and what is false, who is wrong, and who, if anyone, is in the right. It's for this reason that it's so important that parties on all sides of the most contentious debates have the freedom to speak, particularly

parties on all sides of debate about war. And it's equally important that we each take time on occasion to listen to the views we find most abhorrant. Over the past months and again in the past days, I've been reading and listening to a lot of content on the events in Israel and Gaza that I

view is wrong, much of it that I even view is evil. I've asked Juron Brook to come here tonight to present a contrary perspective on the issue that I know will be unwelcome by some university policy and state law provide that registered university groups are free to put on events advocating any point of view, and the right to free speech demands that when a space has been secured for such an event in accordance with university policies, the event not be disrupted.

If if anyone here who disagrees with doctor Brooke, You're welcome to express your opinion briefly in a question to him at the end, and I hope you will. You're also welcome to frown or scowl during the talk. You're also free to express yourself with talk signs and other means of expression and common outdoor areas on campus in accordance with university policies, and at other university events hosted

by clubs who are sympathetic to different ideas. You may not, however, make noise in this space, or hold up distracting signs here, or otherwise deprive doctor Brook of his opportunity to speak and this audience of their opportunity to hear him. Anyone who violates our freedom of speech in any of these ways will be escorted out of the whole by campus police. If they're a member of the university a community, they may also be subject to disciplinary actions.

I'd like to thank the administration and the campus police for protecting our right to speak. I trust that they are doing the same for others on campus of very different views. This includes I gather an organization that posted triumphal images of Hamas's invasion of Israel in the days immediately following ten seven. I gather that they are hosting another speaker tonight elsewhere on campus. With those preliminaries out of

the way, I am priessed to introduce Uron Brook. Doctor Brook is the chairman of the Einran Institute, the host of the Yran Brook Show, and these in my opinion, the most insightful commentator on current events in the world today. Doctor Brook, thank you for most of us. I think the images, the sounds, the voices, the stories that occurred on October seventh a seared in our memory. The horror of the rape, the murder, the torture, the beheadings, just the barbarism of actions on that day against

innocence throughout Southern Israel. These events were not only horrific in and of themselves. I mean they were bad enough just seeing the images and knowing what happened and what was going on well when made October sevente in some ways unique is that in our modern era of social media, the perpetrators uploaded the images of what was going on to social media and expressed their pseudo pride in what they were doing, their satisfaction with the rape, with a murder, with the

torture. These monsters, and they are monsters, felt satisfied in killing parents in front of their children, children in front of their parents. They felt satisfied by kidnapping little babies, old people and taking them back into Gaza.

One horrific perpetrator called up his parents, stating with joy that he had just killed some Jews, and one can imagine the parents on the other side probably not chiding him for doing so. What all this really reflects for that day and for the people perpetrating these horrors is the nihilism, the hatred, the destructive urge, the will to destroy, to kill, to bring everything down, to end the lives of so many people, I mean, and with

relish they did this. It is rare to see such relish in such barbarous actions. I mean. What is striking about what happened on October seventh, particularly given the demonstrations and the chants and of those who support Hamas and the Palestinians, is their genocidal intent? Is there any doubt that if they could have continued to Tel Aviv, or to Haipha, or to Jerusalem, that

they wouldn't have killed hundreds of thousands, millions. Even their intent was genocide their intent, and they say so in their charter, the Hamas Charter, which is the governing charter of the Palestinian people. They say that what they want is the eradication of the state of Israel. They say that what they want, it's the rid Jews from the territory from the river to the sea.

The river to the sea is a statement of genocide. It is a statement of wiping out of people, of destroying them, killing them, or sending them on boats who knows where. This is what October seventh represented. And it's not just one time event. One of the spokesmen for Hamas recently said, there will be a second and third and fourth October seventh. Israel must be destroyed. And much of this, much of this is motivated not just by hatred and by nihilism, but it is motivated by an ideology,

by an ideology driven by religion. This hatred is driven by an ideology of Islamism, of Islami totalitarianism, the dedication, the commitment to run over the world with the slum. As hard as it is for us in the West, they imagine these kind of ideas, but to dominate the world, to bring the world under Sharia law, to make everybody a Muslim or else, talk about genocide. It's not just river to the sea they want, they want the world. Comas is just one of many organizations dedicated to exactly this

project, as ridiculous and as bizarre and as barbaric as it is. And the question here is is this just Ramas? When that murderer called his parents again, did the parents chide him? Or the parents in on it? Indeed, are not the Palestinian people in on it? There not a signal thinking majority of them vote for Ramas in Pole after Pole do not a significant

number Are Palestinians support Ramas, accept Ramas as their government representing them. This is not just Tramas, And indeed the war is not a war with Ramas. One does not fight just a governing party, a governing ideology. What is involved here is a war between peoples between nations, an Israeli nation, a Palestinian nation. What is involved here is a war between two cultures. We'll talk about those cultures in a minute. The war in Gaza is not

a war just against Ramas. And one of the mistakes is Roles making making is cons of it as a limited war against Kamas. So Tamas is not just a terrorist organization. I think it's a mistake to say Tarmas terrorists. Tarmas is a governing political entity. It runs the government, it has the police, it you know, it funds the hospitals. It is does what a government does in every other state. World War II is not a war

just against the Nazis. It olways war between the United States and Germany, a war between the United States and Japan, not against I don't know how you even described the ruling elites of the Japanese Empire. And the war Israel is engaged today is a war with the Palestinians, a war, by the way, that could be ended very quickly. Release the hostages and surrender your best chance of survival. How do we judge the Palestinians and Israelis? How

do we morally assess who's in the right and the wrong. Now you think that just the actions of October seventh would be enough that you would be able to judge just that. But people will come and say, but there's a history, and the horrible things have happened in the past. And I'm happy to take questions on history from anybody and to be challenged in this. But I don't think you actually have to go very deep into history to discover who

the good guys here are and who the bad guys here are. All one has to really do is look at their culture, look at their societies. What does it mean to be good? What does it mean to be bad? To be good is to be life affirming. To be good is to be pro human flourishing. To create a good societ society is a society of flourishing. It's a society where individuals can make the most of their life, can pursue happiness. To be bad, to be bad, to be bad

as to create a culture in which people cannot thrive. People cannot live freely, people cannot speak their mind, people cannot live based on their own values in pursuit of their own goals. Let's look at Israeli society and look at Palestinian society, and everything you need to know about who the good guys are and who the bide guys are are is right there in front of you.

Israel with Gaza. If you look at Gaza, if you look at the West Bank, you find a society that is fundamentally anti life, a society that relish is martyrdom, relish's death. A society that venerates its martyrs, that teaches its children hatred, teaches its children that the best life, the most noble life, is a life of martyrdom. It's a life of killing. It's a life of violence. You have a society in which free speech doesn't exist. You disagree, you get killed, you go to jail,

you get burnt alive. The violence in such a society against its own people is horrific. It's theocratic, authoritarian, tribal, no respect for the individual in sovereignty, no respect for the individual and his mind. I mean, I find it bizarre and horrific and weird to see signs of the American campuses called queers for Palestine. Really, do you really know what they do to queers in Palestine? Do you have any idea? Have you not seen the

images of them throwing homosexuals off the roofs of tall buildings. They kill gays. They don't respect their rights. They don't say, oh, well toos, you do what you want as long as they're not hurting other people who cares. Their ideology calls for death, and that is exactly what they act on. They don't treat women with any kind of respect, honor. Killings are prevalent, So your sex life is regulated by family, regulated by the tribe, the community. It is a primitive society. It is a society

that's anti life, anti individual, anti happiness. Instead of investing in Gaza, instead of building up this beautiful piece of land right on the Mediterranean with amazing beaches, instead of investing there building hotels, results industry, what did they do. They built tunnels, a bolt, weapons, built missiles, all in the name of destructure, not in the name of life, in the name of death, in the name of killing, in the name of

their own suicide and modern him. You know. One of the I think more illustrative stories I heard about this mentality, antike production, anti wealth,

anti industry, anti growth that exists in Gaza. Is in two thousand and five, when Israel left Gaza. And maybe you guys don't know, but Israel used to occupy Gaza and then left in two thousand and five Withdrew dismantled some of the villagers and towns that had been built in Gaza, and part of those villages and towns there were greenhouses, these beautiful greenhouses in which Israelis had made amazing agricultural products in Gaza, incredibly valuable. And when they Israelis

left, they left the greenhouses there. Now you would think people focused on life, focused on well, focused on production, focused on progress, would take those greenhouses and use them. This is great free stuff. But on day one they were destroyed. They didn't have anything to do with it because it was built by Jews, it was built by Israelis. What motivates them is not progress, it's not success, It's a destruction and death. This is not a healthy society, This is not a good culture. This is

a culture of death. Israel, on the other hand, and let me tell you, in other contexts, I am probably I am probably one of the biggest critics. So in different contexts, I am one of the biggest critics of the state of Israel. I have long lists of problems with the state. Ultimately, I left long time ago. But Israel in comparison, is a land of life. It is a fundamentally free society. Individual rights are protected, free speech is protected, the individual mind is respected, individual

opinion is respected. Arabs and Israel benefit from the security of rights, just like Jews. It's a society that has thrived, that is produced, that has become incredibly wealthy. Those are signs that they're doing something right. When you grant people free speech, when you respect their property, when you respect property rights and contract law, people thrive, people build, people create. And the testament to that is the tech industry that is booming in Israel and

is a sign of everything good about that society. In comparison, there is no comparison. One is a good culture, a good society, a good country. The other is not. It is bad, It is evil. It is dedicated to death, life versus death. Now, none of this is ingrained in anybody's genes. None of this is deterministic, none of this has to be. These are all human choices. It is a choice what kind of society you build. Anybody could build the great society. The Palestinians

have chosen a path that is wrong and destructive. These Raelis have chosen a path that, for the most part, is good and productive. Now we are in the midst of a war, a war that has been fought primarily in the Gods of strip a war of self defense, a war there was necessary necessity by October seventh. It is a war that Israel is engaging to defeat its enemy, to defeat Hamas, to defeat the Palestinian people. But defeating of the prest then people is not, in spite of what some in

this room think is not genocide. The Allies in World War two did not commit genocide against the Germans. Allies in World War iiO did not commit genocide against the Japanese. They defeated them, and that defeat ultimately led I would argue to much benefits to both Germany and Japan, to them learning the evils of their way, to them learning through being defeated that the cultures that they had before were destructive or horrific, and that they needed a change, and

they changed. Look at Japan and Germany today, not only are they thriving, prosperous society, but also they defends The United States have, in spite of them being defeated, or maybe just maybe because they were defeated. The

same is true in the Gaza. Israel must defeat its enemy. They must shake them to the courts so that they question the culture, the society that they have built, shake them to the court so that they think can consider better alternatives, they think can consider a society that ultimately can live in peace with Israel. Any army's responsibility in a war is to defend its own The responsibility of the Israeli army in Israel is to defend Israel, and it's to

defend its own troops to minimize its own casualties. Indeed, I believe it there is a travesty. It's so many Israeli soldiers are dying on the field because Israel refrains from defending them and places places the lives of civilians on the other side, is more valuable than its own soldiers. That is a moral travesty, It's a mal travesty in any war. Civilian casualties are unavoidable in

any war. But in this one, where Hamas is hiding behind the civilian casualties, well, Hamas is placing its own fighters inside hospitals, inside schools inside mosques. Of course, civilian casualties are going to occur. And yet, in spite of this bomb dropped. There's a new statistic for you, But bomb dropped, fewer civilian casualties have died in god Asa than in any previous war. No army in history has done more to try to avoid civilian

casualties than the Israeli army. I think they've tried too hard everywhere else. All right, guys, Calm down, Calm down by guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, God God, calm down, Calm down, Calm down, Calm down, com down, Calm down, calm down. Israel indeed has been soucietal and sacrificial. And the number of troops that has lost for the sake of saving Palestinian lives. You know that about twenty five at least of the Israeli soldiers that have died in Gaza have died

for friendly fire. And they've died for friendly fire because of the unique challenges of fighting in an urban landscape, but beyond that, because of the ongoing attempts not to kill civilians. I think that is tragic and sad is well, it's also engaged now in negotiations, negotiations to free hostages. But every time they negotiate with Hamas, they recognize it as a legitimate political entity.

Every time they negotiate with Kamas, they give more power too Hamas. Every time they negotiate with Kamas, they encourage the taking of hostages, they encourage more October sevenths. Why my heart is with the hostages, and I feel terrible about their fate. Israel cannot sacrifice victory for the sake of saving the hostages. That is sad, it is tragic, It is horrible, but it is the truth. Is doing the opposite of committing genocide. It is

trying to win genocide is the organized, systematic murder of a people. Is doing the exact opposite. And if you think about the history, just the short history of the Gaza strip, the population of Gaza has well more than doubled over the last twenty years. I mean, if Israel is dedicated to genocide, that's a pretty bad job they're doing of it. They've grown, They've grown because they've had babies, they've had children, They're living longer,

life expectancy has increased. Indeed, even now of a population of two million people in a dense urban area, one of the most dense urban areas in the whole world. The numbers are incredibly small of the number of Palestinians that have died. If this is genocide, then again they're doing a hollow job. What they're trying to do is not Genno side. They're trying to win. They're trying to defeat an enemy, a murderous enemy, a barbaric enemy,

and an enemy that we saw what they did during October seventh. They're trying to do it in a way that there will never be another October seventh. Not. One of the things that are truly I think stunning and maybe really shocking and surprising, even more so to some extent than what happened in October seventh that many of us in many regards so coming, is the amount of support Commas is received in the West, in the United States, including

among people in this room. It's hard to comprehend how they can venerate the barbarism of October seventh, how they can venerate an organization so dedicated to death and anti life. I mean, the hatred, the hatred that they must have is incredibly intense and strong towards Israel and towards Jews. More broadly, part of this is some ancient kind of leftover of anti Semitism, not leftover,

it's still rampant. But there's something modern about this particular hatred. There's something about it that is related to the modern leftist views about anti colonialism and intersectionality and oh woke phenomena. There's something about this idea that we must divide the world into oppressors and oppressed, and everybody's an oppressor or an oppressed, and how do we decide who's an oppressed and who's an oppressor by the outcome.

If you're successful, if you're wealthy, if you're pursuing happiness, if life is pretty good, you must be an oppressor. And if you're poor, if you're struggling, if things aren't going too well, you must be oppressed. It can't be your fault anymore than it's the fault of the successful person. The world is now divided into oppressed and oppressors Jews Israel. Israel in particular is an incredible success. It thrives, It's wealthy people sue happiness,

they're well off. It can be the color of the skin, because if you've ever been to Israel, you know that israelis come in all colors. It's something about Israel, it's something about them being Jewish that somehow made them, I guess oppressors. Israel has become a culture, a good culture, a successful culture. And if of a definition, they're oppressors, by definition, they're the bad guys. And by definition, you can do anything

you want to the bad guys, to the oppressors. There's no limit to the arbarity you can admit against an oppressor and a bad guy, and that is to be celebrated. They can be killed, they can be murdered, they can be raped, they can be tortured, and it's okay because they were oppressors. They had it coming. And of course the Palestinians who struggle, who are poor, who will be defeated, they must be oppressed.

By definition, look at the outcome. We don't have to know anything more than to see that they are struggling, and they are poor, and they are in bad shape, and they're the oppressor. And as oppressors they were allowed to do anything. We can never criticize them, we can never condemn them. They're by definition good Now this is a sick, distorted ideology. This is real perversion. It denies any agency, denies any responsibility for the

choices you make. If you're good, it's because you oppressed other people, not because you create it, not because you made good choices, not because you produce something, not because you have good ideas. And if you're not doing well in life, it's never your fault, it's always somebody else's. You're, after all, just the oppressed. This dynamic is playing out and manifesting this crisis. It's so obvious and so horrific and so tragic and sad.

Instead of giving Israel the credit for what it is built, the fact that it is successful and be built is now a vice. Instead of telling the Palestinians they should be doing better and that there are better ideas and there is a better way of life and there is a way for them to flourish,

we tell them it's just the nature of their being oppressed. And the only time this, somehow will go away is if we ever achieved some mythical equality where we're all exactly the same, and if for the no oppressors and no oppressed, and of course we all know when that will happen. Never So, two cultures have made two different sets of choices. They've gone in two different directions, one towards life, towards happiness, towards freedom, towards

success, the other towards death, destruction, oppression, and authoritarianism. It's not surprised one led to poverty and one led to wealth. Now all this sounds pretty bleak, and it is. It's horrific. But is there any chance? Is there any possibility of peace? It's peace in the land of Israel possible? Now today it is not. It is not. With seventy percent of Palestinians supporting Kramas, How are you gonna have peace with people who

want to destroy Israel? How can Israel negotiate, never only settle, never mind live side by side with people who want to kill them, who people who celebrated oktober' semeth. That is impossible. It cannot be achieved, and it should not be tried. After all, before October seventh, there was cease fires after cease fires, after cease fires, after peace agreements, after other peace agreements to no end, and all they resulted in in a long

string of agreements and violence. Peace cannot be achieved. As long as you have two cultures side by side with such opposing views on life and the world, you cannot have peace with the culture dedicated to death. You cannot have peace or the culture dedicated to your death and your destruction and genocide inflicted on you. So there is no way to negotiate a peace today. Does this mean peace is impossible? No, I don't think that's the case. I

don't think it's impossible. What would it require. It would not genocide, not extimination, but it would require victory. It would require the victory of Israel over the Palestinians. It will require the Palestinian accepting once and for all that they cannot use violence to get out of the situation that they're in. They cannot use violence to destroy Israel. The violence is not a means for

their success. It means the Palestinians have to give up on the sword, They have to give up on violence as a tool, and they have to embrace a proper culture, a culture of life, a culture of progress. They have to embrace the same ideas as live in Israel. The ideas of individual liberties, the ideas of free speech, the ideas of property rights, and contract law. There needs to be a fundamental shift in Palestinian culture.

That shift will only come when they have lost, when every ounce of hope that they can beat Israel, that they can destroy Israel has been lost, has been eliminated, when they are truly hopeless. Germany at the elder World War two understood that they had lost and therefore or we'll need to consider something completely new. Japan at the end of World War two had lost, and we're willing to consider something really radical for them, very different than ancient Japanese

culture, and yet they thrive today. Israel, oh, the Palestinians, needs to be where Germany and Japan were in nineteen forty five, for them to reorient themselves, to recognize the fact that they must rethink their life, their values, their focus. When that happens, peace of course, is not only a possibility, but will be a reality. Israel fundamentally wants peace. At least a vast majority of Israelis doze wants to live with their neighbors.

Whether that happens to be a two state solution a one state solution, I don't know, and I don't really care. I'm not against any of those solutions. Now. I know what the Palestinians want. They want a one state solution with no Jews. But that is what they have to give up on. That's what they have to eradicate. I really do believe there

is a future. I don't know when, and I don't know that I will see it in my lifetime, although I believe it could happen in which Jews and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs live side by side in Israel, or in Israel, in Palestine, or however you want to structure it in peace, in a thriving society, the respects to the rights of individuals, and the builds on the success of Israel and allows everybody in that geographic area to benefit from that success. Thank you, thank you. We will. That's

the best they can do. I'm not worried. Question. Yes, yes, doctor Brook. Is it good? Yes, just as the ultimate antidote to anti black racism, yeah yeah, just just yell, Okay, Well I'll repeat the question so everybody can hear it. I've got a big voice. Yes, just as the ultimate antidote to anti black racism is in black nationalism and liberia. It's classical liberalism in the United States. The ultimate anti antidote to anti Semitism is in Zionism and Israel. It's classical liberalism and the

United States. So my question is, doctor Brook, and I understand you have immigrated, and thank you so much for immigrating through our country. I'm sure I'm not welcome. Well, I guess it just seems as if it seems as if you're giving up on classical liberalism and the United States. I don't understand why. I mean, shouldn't we just allow complete open immigration from Israel and allow the people like you yourself came So let me let me just

say absolutely, let's allow open immigration. Maybe not just from Israel, but maybe Israel is a good start. I'm not sure most Americans will accept that, right, So I don't think that's a proposal that would fly very far anyway. But no, I'm not giving up in the United States. I'm adding Israel to the world of classical liberalism. The United States has come a long way from its roots in classical liberalism, and Israel has come a long

way from its roots in socialism and has moved towards classical liberalism. So I want a world of classical liberalism. I want the Palestinians to be classical liberal I want all of the world to benefit from the enormous prosperity and individual liberties that are possible as a result of classical liberalism. So why limit myself just to the United States when the United States is in decline and the rest of the world can benefit from these ideas. So it's not a man of giving

up in the United States. Quite the country. Ninety nine percent of my talks and my lectures about how to make the United States better, how to save capitalism, how to save freedom. My concern is though, that there are few bastions around the world, you know, parts of Europe, parts of Asia, and Israel that represent what I believe is classical liberalism, and I'd hate to see them destroyed, because you know what, when they're destroyed,

you know where they're coming next. Hi, thank you for coming to talk. My name is Colby Martin Jones. I am currently working on my master's in public affairs here at the OBJ School. I earlier you mentioned that there was about twenty thousand odd deaths to the two million population, and how that was a shoddy job of genocide, and I guess I just wanted to

ask you. We were talking earlier about how during the Sealed Team six expedition to kill a Sama Bin Laden, the sanctioned un amount of civilian deaths to his to achieve his death was thirty. So I guess I would just like to know, given that information, and given what you know about what seems

to be happening, how many civilian deaths are justified in this fight. However many it takes to bring victory against the enemy, there is no number, and and and and by the way, I didn't mention the twenty thousand figure. This is the first I've heard. The formal number that Hamas presents is twenty five to maybe a little over twenty five. But of course that is massively distorted because at least ten of those are actual combatants, people with guns.

And of course, how do you tell who's a combatant who's not When Ramas fights and civilian close, when Ramas hides behind civilians, Well, Hamas, you know, is among the civilians. You can't tell who is a fighter and who is not. So in terms of civilians, the numbers are a lot less than twenty thousand once you take it out, But the reality is there is no magic number thirty to one, fifty to one, one hundred to one, one to one on proportionality. The idea of proportionality is

suicidal. There is no such thing as proportionality in war. The good guys have to win, and they have to win quick, and they have to win with the least casualties possible. That is what an army's responsibility should be. It's not. And part of the reason the America hasn't won a war since World War Two is that it won't fight like that. Israel has adopted that strategy, and I fear that it's not gonna win this war, not in the way I think it should. Awesome, thank you so much for

taking the time to answer. I would like to add that the willingness to kill every member of any population is indeed also genocide. So nobody has said. Nobody has said the willingness to kill every member of a population. Indeed, it is never necessary to kill every member of the population. It is not necessary, and it's certainly not Israel in and to do that, Selena, my intent to do that, but it is necessary to kill as many

as is necessary to achieve victory. For Hamas, Hamas will surrender, that Palestinians will surrender. Hey, ron Ohi, I was wondering if you could give advice to those of us who are on the right side of this issue, we're on Israel's side, about how to avoid falling into tribalism ourselves, and about how to support Israel for the right reasons. I think a big part of it is to emphasize the fact that there's nothing inherent in the Palestinians

being the way they are. That is, there's nothing that necessitates the Palestinians be as murderous as they are. That this is a choice. It's a civilization or choice. It's a cultural choice that every culture in a sense makes. It's intellectuals, it's people, it's leaders make. You can choose to adopt an anti life, a Swiss side id, a destructive ideology, and

you can choose to be pro life. And there's nothing to me that says that Palestinians cannot be as rich, as successful, as individualistic, as prosperous as israelis if they make the right choices as individuals and in aggregate as a culture. And that's why where you get around the kind of deterministic tribalism that so pervades so many conflicts. There's nothing inherent in being Israeli that makes you good. There's nothing inherent in being a Palestinian that makes you bad. I

know a lot of Israelis that I hate. So it's it's not about that. It's about what ideas you have, and it's about what you do with those ideas and how you live your life as an individual, and again, how that impacts the culture as a whole. We do Hi there, I just want to start by saying, you know, I am a proud anti Zionist Jew. We do exist. Thank you, and yes, yes I am. Okay, well it's fine, okay. So you know I wanted to ask, you know, I was. I was sort of interested by

this. You know, in your talk you you know, you say Israel is a fundamentally pro life society. I'm curious how is Israel a pro life society At the same time, you're also saying that Israel should prioritize winning this war over both protecting civilian lives but also the lives of the hostages. I don't understand this. It feels like a contradiction to me, because you know, if you're saying that, you know, we should risk more civilian lives.

You know, haven't we seen that, you know in the US war on terror that isis originated out of our ground offensive to eliminate al Qaeda. Right, a large scale ground offensive of this of this size will inevitably lead to more trauma and more terror, more tear terrorism. I just want to end off. Also on there's a there's a Jewish mid roster. There's a saying that when you save one life, you save an entire world, you save an entire universe. And I think that in this war, we should

be protecting lives at all costs, whether they're Jewish or Palestinian. So I'd say, yeah, so first, you know, I'm not going to get into it, but your interpretation of the of ices is completely wrong, and happy to happy to cover that another time. In terms of the history and what led to the wise of iceis I've written about this and that talks about this a long time ago. You know, violence does not create terrorism, never has. The reality is that I don't know when it was the last

time Americans were killed by Japanese terrorists. We dropped two nuclear bombs on them, and yet there, we are best friends. How many of you fear going to Germany because those Germans are going to kill you because that when they find out you're American and you're part of the people who flattened resident They don't defeated countries do not then engage in violence against once they realize they being defeated, Once they realize their way of life was wrong, and the Palestinian way

of life today is wrong. It needs to change and they need to come to that realization. And the only way they will come to that realization is when they are defeated. And that would be good for the Palestinians, not only for the Israelis. Their lives will be better because they will live in a thriving, pro life society once that happens. In terms of valuing life, the responsibility of Israeli military is to value the life of Israelis. The

responsibility to Israeli military is to protect the lives of Israelis. Now, you say, but what about the hostages there? Israelis? After all my fear about the hostil the Jesus that yes, there are one hundred and something hostages

there. But by negotiating with Kamas, by cutting a deal, by having a ceased fire, by not defeating Kamas, you sacrifice many, many times, one hundred people in the future, many many, many more Israelis will die in the future if you compromise today, if you sell ittate and look, this is not theoretical, this is not hypothetical. Israel has done this

many, many times. One of the reasons they took hostages is because of Israel releasing a thousand for one soldier Shalitz a few years ago when they released it. And Israel has cut deals with the Palestinians over and over again without defeating them, and the results of those deals have always been more violence, not more peace, more violence. So it's time to stop pretending, stop deluding ourselves, stopt that there's somebody to talk to right now, because there

isn't. And it's time to change the dynamics. And October seventh, with the hollor that it is presented an opportunity to change that dynamics. I think, unfortunately, I don't think that will happen because I think your you will win out fair. So I just want to say that I am taking a class on Jewish values and then everything I've learned from it has valued social justice,

it's valued repairing in the world, and it's value charity. So I also want to preface that I believe that every people to have respect, safety and peace. But I do believe that you are mistaken about the Polictian people. I think you're talking about them like they're black into the brown. You talk about them like how so many Western countries have talked about black people throughout

history. You call it violent, You say that we we thirst for blood, that were uneducated, that we don't know how to how to go ourselves. That's at least what I got from your talk. Sure right, yeah, so yeah, I'm a huge advocate for the virtue of justice. I believe people need to get what they deserve, and justice sometimes demand that people

get punished for the actions that they take. I have come to my conclusions about the Palestinian people as they are today, not based on some theory, not based on the color of their skin, not based on history, but based on their actions, based on what I witnessed in terms of their behavior, they won't My assessment of the Palastinian people is not always like this. I've woke the Palestinian people in Israel and in those days, it's you know, it was peaceful, and it was there was a lot of respect.

That has changed, and the reality on the ground is that today, if you've seen any of the images of October seventh, you know that they're all murderers. And again, it wasn't five people, it wasn't ten people, it wasn't one hundred people. There hundreds of Palestinians. And they went back to gods and they told, come on, it's a once in a lifet opportunity killed Jews. There's something wrong with people who think that way. There's

something wrong with people behave that way. And unless we're willing to face the reality of what we see, examine it and deal with it, you can't do Ticuna lum. Part of Ticuna lam is to face the evils of the world, challenge them and try to repair them, and to repair the evil here Victorian war is necessary. War is a horrible thing. It's the most horrible thing the human beings do to one another. I agree it's definitely the

last resort. But when it happens, you have to make it quick, and you have to win, and you have to make sure it doesn't happen again. And I do believe in and I do believe in Takun Alum and repairing the world and chadaka and charity, and I believe I am challenging the evil. I believe you set this fast binary that we are enemies, that the Palestinian people are enemies to the Israeli people, when first of all, there are Palestinian Jews there as well. But also it's not one culture is

evil, one culture is good. Okay, in this case they are. And in this case the reality is Mass was created by Israel. Kamas was not created by the Mass. What's funded by Israel? I agree, I'm not going to disagree with you, Okay, Can you let me talk for a second. I'll let you talk. Hamas was definitely funded by the State of Issuel originally, and it's origins it was taken out of the Muslim Brotherhood. Israel believed that because the Muslim Brotherhood was religious, they would be more

peaceful than the PLO. So they funded Hamas and its origins in order to provide an alternative to PLO. Stupid, horrific mistake. Stupid. Right now, what if Hamas come about anyway? Probably the Muslim Brotherhood was already quite dominant in Gaza, in the in the West Bank and the Muslim Brotherhood. If you know anything about history, is a movement dedicated to Sharia law and the world domination of Sharia law comes out of Egypt from the nineteen twenties.

We can do the whole history if you want. So, you know, Israel did not create Hamas and did not it funded it originally and then left

it once it realized a monset that created but he created a monster. But the reality is Hamas in its documents are founding calls for genocide against Israel, against the Jews, right, I mean, does anybody deny that that's what in the document that they still have not changed, and they refuse to change, and they reaffirm on a daily basis every time a Hamas leaders interviewed that is in the document. They're genocidal and they are proud of their genocide and

Israel is committing the genocide. No, Israel's not committed any genocides. No genocide is being committed by Israel. Ever, Hamas is committed to this. And on top of that, the Palatinian people love. I didn't make that up. Look at every single poll out there, the Palestinian people support the genocide of Hamas, they support the eradication of the state of Israel, they

support the killing of eight million Jews. Now, not every Palestinian, I acknowledge absolutely, and I hope that the Palestinians who really want peace in Israel, ultimately, they're the ones who win out. They're the ones who changed their own culture, and they're the ones who actually established peace with Israel ultimately for their own sake and for the sake of everybody who lives in that region.

But right now, the reality we face right now is a majority of Palestinians are genocidal, a majority of Palestinians do support Hamas, and a majority of Palestinians sadly supported what happened on October seventh, and supporting that is just beyond the peal. I mean the other people. There's a long line behind

you, a long line. Very last point. Okay, if we put people into an apartheid state and we continually oppress them for decades, we kill those people, are they not going to become angry and vited towards at the other state, that pothe state in Israel? It is it is absurd.

The reality is do you know why is only in two thousand and five when they left the Gaza Strip literally dismantled Jewish towns that were in Gaza and forcefully, literally using force, dragged those people out of Gaza and brought them beyond the border with Gaza. Why did they do it? Because no Jew can survive in Palestine under the Palestinian authority. Jews will be killed. And they knew it, and they said, we can't protect you there. We're going

to force you to come to the other side. If they had stayed in Gaza, the Palestinians would have slaughtered them. That is the reality in Israel. Arabs in Israel for the most part. I'm not saying Israel's perfect and it doesn't do things and acts that are illegitimate towards its Arab population. But for the most part, Arabs and Israel have equal rights to Jews. They can live anywhere, they can speak their mind, they can even speak support

for political parties that antagonistic to Israel. There are members of Arab members in the Kinnisset, the Arab members in the government. The Arabs have they you know, they're pressed, they have newspapers, they have TV stations they are. You know, you know most of the doctors now, most of the physicians who treat you in northern Israel Arabs, not Jews. If you go to Nahalia, if you go to even to Mbam and Haipha, half the doctors in Umbam and Hiper and Hypher where I grew up Arabs, which is

fantastic. I love it. That's an apothey state where they doctors are treating Jews. Arab doctors are treating Jews. Really, where do you live? People? Have you ever seen a potheide? Have I ever seen a part time? You ever seen the signs? Have you ever seen the barrel of a gun in your face at the age of twelve, sitting in your own home? Okay, okay, I love everyone here. I love everybody. Choose mercy, Choose peace. That's all I say. I answered. I

was asking a question. Let's go, let's why I was asking, Sorry, how are you doing? Time that we're getting some of the challenging questions, and I hope you all will continue because the line of times one question and then move on. Everyone, no worries, I'll sick. I'll sick

to one all right. I didn't really have a massive question or for you, But I did have a little bit of an observation as there were, you know, people getting up during your talk, leaving, saying a couple of words, and then and then being escorted out as per the policy. The first person that left stood up and they said, I think an eleven year old girl had her throat slit yep by the Israeli people, and then she was escorted out yep. And the first thing that I heard out of

a lot of mouths here was laughter. Yeah, I heard a lot of I heard a lot of people laughing at her. Maybe maybe it was her, maybe it was her conduct. But still to think about an eleven year old getting her throat slit, and one of the first things I hear out of people's mouth is laughter does not feel very pro life to me. You might have to break it down, but it does not feel very pro life to me. I did not hear laughter. If people laughed, it was

clearly inappropriate and was wrong. Slitting on eleven year old's throat of eleven year old goal is killing a non act of self defense and it's condemnable. And if Jews did that, if Israeli did that, I hope they sit in jail and they want in jail for the rest of their life. That's my time. Dr Brook. First, I just want to say thank you so much for being here and just to say you're being documented just on what I thought, hopefully on we have all the Jewish people here maybe except for him.

Just how reassuring and encouraging it is to have someone outside this. I would all right ask the question to school, but I encouraging. Yeah, we can't. We can't do it. Yeah, it's either sorry, are you refusing? Are you a physical set it first? It's like you get it first. I'm talking about this like it's true. I'm just feeling not a little words. No, I have not said a world you can't. But you put the camera like right in my face. I want you to

go. I want to there needs to be like we can't have the rules with this. I cannot stand up and put your camera standing. I gonna get that one. I don't even said a word sporting from my face. Figure out see then getting up. So just today it's it's me, don't fucking touch me. Don't fucking touch me. Please just say don't fucking touch me. Fed me. I walked out on my own piece of ship. You fucking please, don't clutch me. No, I'm not No, don't touch me. I'm walking on my own. I'm walking on my own.

Pam fucking Peal, I'm fucking movie. I didn't just love ship. I was talking met this fascist see puppy gallery of Mike Press. Stop. It's literally fucking to the side. But doctor brook As, I was saying, just to have someone outside the Jewish faith speaks with such clarity and enthusiasm about not only this conflict, but guys, come on, yeah, the Jewish

people. It really it's very impactful for us and we really appreciate it, so thank you, And I just want to give those two thoughts to you to get your ideas on it. I think a lot of us were really shocked to see how some institutions, from Harvard to the un reacted the Red

Cross and Wake. And I was just wondering what the United States, Israel, the governments, the Jewish people, what our reaction should be to those organizations, and also as Israel comes into acknowledge and observe Joshawa tomorrow, what you think the state of the Jewish people, not only in the Middle East, but also in the US, Australia, England would be without Israel. I mean, it is, it is scary and shocking the increase in anti

Semitism across the world. I mean remember, you know, October eighth, where you know, was in Sydney. They were they were chanting ju shall burn and things like that, just just things that you you couldn't have imagined just a few years ago would be going on and and all over you know, on campuses and all over the world. Really it became an international phenomena.

I think there's some deeper rot that is inflicting our institutions. And I, you know, indicated a little bit about that when I talked about these ideas of intersectionality and these ideas of anti colonialism that they call it that, But it's even anti what they call today anti racism, not real anti racism, but the notion of anti racism. There is a real perversion of thinking going on in our unfortunately in our academic institution and therefore spending throughout throughout the

land. The whole phenomena which is fundamentally discriminatory, fundamentally anti reason, anti individualism. It is very collectivistic, it is very tribal, and I think that the solution to all these challenges has to be ultimately intellectual. It has

to be a you know, to loge extent. Our educational institutions, particularly the premier educational institutions like Harvard and you Can, have been taken over by a certain segment within the left that is very dangerous and very anti the ideas of the Enlightenment that made the West the West, that made America America. And they're chipping away, and they're cutting, they're chipping away at our identity.

And what we need is to propose new ideas, ideas of the Enlightenment, from the Enlightenment, to resurrect kind of that spirit of Americanism and that spirit of individualism that I think permeated this country and permeated much of the West for a long time and now being being undercut dramatically. Thank you let me of the center of traditions, of the reasons you have so I also wanted to thank you for the speech, and I had a deeper question, but

I wanted to change due to some of the other questions. I wanted to ask how many lives of Jews were spared during October seventh by terrorists after the terrorists learned that these are anti Zionist Jews. Well, not only we were none of them. And and indeed many of the many of the victims sadly

were uh supporters of of the Israeli Left. Quite a few of them were members of Peace Now and and the Israeli Left and and people who whoo, who basically wanted to kind of deal with a Poutstinius no matter of what. And yet they were the worst victims. But more than that, I mean, think about what happened in October seventh. I mean it was indiscriminate. Ties were killed, Filipinos were killed. These are people who worked them.

When they said we're not we're not Jewish, it doesn't matter. You worked for them, Therefore you you're part of the sin. They killed Arabs, they killed Muslims, They killed Bedouin who just happened to be there, and a number of Bedouin families who are grieving for the loss of their children as a consequence. They were indiscriminate. If you worked for the Jews, if we related to the Jews, if you had anything to do with the Jews, you were it was okay to slaughter you was okay to kill you.

So you know, this is what an ideology of death really looks like. This is what a commitment to destruction and to death looks like. Thank you, And just a clarification, I think some of the people in the audience are not committed with all of the terms we use or we're familiar with from

the Middle East. Can you maybe explain honor killing for the audience? Sure, for those of you who do not know on a killing is when a let's say a daughter, a daughter has sex outside of marriage and and her father or brother will often kill her as as a as a former punishment right for for having sex outside of marriage. Uh. This is I think, you know, hopefully less common, but it still is prevalent in UH. And it's barbaric. Look, it's barbaric. I don't care who does it

with it's done this is. This is a barbaric act. Then, unfortunately, is still part of many Arab communities. I like, yeah, yeah, I'm dissatisfied with the criterion of victory against the enemy. You state that in defeating Germany and Japan and World War two, Uh, it led to a correction within those countries and you specified that the Allies did genocide the German

or Japanese people. Do you acknowledge that the argument that Hamas hides in civilian clothes and that all Palestinian people could potentially be a member of Hamas can easily lead to the genocide of the majority children population of the nation of Palestine, especially as Israel's response to the events of October seventh continues indiscriminately and causes numerous

civilian casualties. At what point will enough Palestinians have died for Hamas to have been defeated, especially as you say that there is no one to talk to in regards to HAMAS or leadership in Hamas. So a number of things that are wrong in what you stated there, as well as not indiscriminately killing people, absolutely not. And as I said, in terms of casualty, civilian casualty pa, bomb dropped or by any metric you want to use, this

is a war that has killed the fewest civilians probably in human history. So very few civilians are dying. Given the extent of this war, and given the Kamas is hiding among the civilian population, who's outsiding what counts as a

civilian versus a well, nobody is. The reality is that the Hamas is reporting that about twenty five twenty six thousand people have died, and Israel is claiming I don't have the exact numbers that nine to ten thousand Hamas fighters Hamas militants have been killed, so you can figure out how many of the dominateive civilians. And you might not trust the Hamas numbers. I don't. You might not trust the Israeli numbers. I don't know if they know what they're

talking about either, but it's probably somewhere in that ballpark. If you know anything about the military, if you know anything about combat, you probably don't. But if you did, then you know that those are given the kind of battle that are going on there, these are kind of reasonable numbers. These are not outrageous and ridiculous in terms of the reality. They're ridiculous in terms of the fact that so many people have to die, and that is

sad. But the fault for that is one hundred percent of Hamas. So I don't know how many people have to die, I need to say that again, but I do know this. Every single death in Gaza, a child, a civilian, a Hamas an Israeli soldier. Every single one of those deaths is on the hands of Hamas. It is their responsibility. They they are to blame for this. They started it. They forced Israel into a situation where they must fight for their preservation, fight for their existence.

They initiated genocide against Israel. Israel is defending itself. It is not intending to it again. If it intended genocide, many many more people could could be dead. But they have done everything they can to minimize those casualties, including the deaths of their own soldiers, often for no good reason. So this accusation is a way for you, guys, to avoid the moral argument, the fact, the moral fact that Hamas is responsible for all these deaths.

It is a way for you to avoid condemning Commas and what they did on October seventh. It is a way for you to pretend that you're not actually supporting a genocidal regime and people committed the genocide and the destruction of Israel and everybody who lives in it. Thank you for your response. Hi. The UN Convention on Genocide says attempting to destroy a people in a whole or part through killing or creating unlivable conditions. Is genocide? You say, the

enemy is not just Hamas, the war is against the Palestinian people. So if you support targeting the Palestinian people, why don't you just admit that what you support is genocide under the UN Convention and you think genocide is justified in this case, because that's not what I think, and it's not what genocide is. Genocide is the targeting of the targeting of a population for destruction and elimination. And that is clearly, obviously, if you open your eyes,

not what Israel is doing. Wars are not fought between political parties. It's not the Republicans versus the Nazis, or in this case of Democrats because there was FTR Right versus the Nazis. It's not the Japanese imperialists versus Truman. It's Japan is fighting against the United States of America. The United States of America is fighting against Japan. That is the rule in this case. It's not Hamas, that is the governing body of Palestinians. It's not something little

terrorist organization that's hiding among the Palestinians. Palestinians really hate them, they want to destroy them. No this is an organization supported by a majority of Palestinians. This is an organization that is embedded within the Palestinian people. And the goal here is not the destruction of the palest Any people. The goal is the defeat. The two are not the same. Genocide is not the same as defeat. America did not commit genocide against Germany. Every war does not

ended genocide. But every war, every war that leads to a lasting peace, always ends with one party defeating the other. So you don't agree with the UN definition, that's what you're saying. No, I'm I don't particularly agree with the UN on pretty much everything. So let's be very clear, and I don't agree with your interpretation of that particular definition. Yes, Earlier in the talk, you mentioned that the Israeli society is a thriving society.

Yes, and it is, and therefore thriving society is than to be considered the oppressor. And if you look at the Middle East, for example, and several other entries, really there are many thriving countries and they're not considered oppressors or enemies. So I don't I don't get that part. Also, I wanted to correct something you mentioned that the Palestinians, generally speaking, for the for the most part, are people that hate the Jews simply because they're

Jews. That is absolutely not true. It's not true that Palestinians want one state that has no Jews. In fact, Jews existed before the establishment of what we call the state of Israel today. And that's a fact. That's a fact. And there and everybody lived in peace. That's everybody lived in peace. Let me, you should read your history. You really needed to read some history. I will nineteen thirty six, I had nineteen nineteen, nineteen twenty four, you know, and and and I could go on.

So in nineteen that's all. After seven, I mean, that's all. What after after some Jews emigrated to a land, bought the land, committed cultivated the land. In fact, I had committed tourist attacks, committed no attacks. And I mean, this is complete a story, the history. No I know the history insight. This is not about the history of Lesson. I just want to say, Palestinians don't hate Jews. It's not about

one state with no Jews. That's absolutely can I ask you, okay, okay, guys, guys, guy, guys, we got a bunch of questions, and I keep going and end though because we got more questions. Really, the matter is much more simplar than that. It's really much more simplar than that. There's in justice that was committed and people just need that right back. It's really not complicated. We don't need to philosophize any of this. Make it a big case of where we need academia or you don't

need a phdr or anything like that. What's wrong is wrong, and it's obvious. Skilling children is wrong. Killing children is wrong. I don't care what the reason is when you say this is we're not here for people. This is not the case. Okay, okay, okay, thank you, uh uh uh. I'll know that you're right. It's very simple. The path is simple. If Ramas surrender tomorrow, Ramas surrender tomorrow, the fighting would be over. If they released the hostages, the fighting would be over

tomorrow, it would be over. It is very simple. And if the Palestinians if right now, no no, no, if if the if the palace enough, if I mean I mean, I mean, I mean the reality, the reality is this good. I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm

glad. The reality is if the Palestinian people wanted Hamas to surrender, if the Palestinian people wanted Haamas, should Palestinian people wanted Hamas to surrender Hamas with surrender, if the Palestinians were not hiding the hostages, civilian Palestinians hiding hostages in their homes, If the Palestinians civilians, they know where Sinoa is, they know where the Tamas leadership is. If they wanted to end this war, it would be over in a day. They don't want to end this

war. They're willing to die for what Hamas did on October seventh. They value it that much. Now that is sad because it is pretty simple. Bad is bad. Stop doing the bad stuff. Hi, thank you so much for being here tonight. I think it's been clear from your discussion that there is this idea across Western universities that Israel is the oppressor and the Palestinians

are undergoing impression. How can we, as you know, diversity students, there are a lot of us here tonight, how can we calmly and thoroughly debreak like on this idea that's clearly being perpetrated throughout our universities. I think the big challenge is that there is this idea of oppressor and oppressed is not limited to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. As I said, It's a broader philosophical movement that's out there and the universities, and your you need is to advocate

for its antidote. You know, what you need is to advocate for its the opposite. What you need is to advocate for really American ideals with what this country is founded on. It's in the Declaration. What you need is to defend the rights of individuals to their own life, to live their life based on the old judgment, in pursuit of their own values and ultimately in

the pursuit of their happiness. So combat their tribalism and the determinism. And they you know what they do is they turn you You're part of a group, right that that is your essence, essential characteristic. And in that sense they're both racists and and and and the tribalists. You we need to dismantle that in the name of an alternative, and that alternative is a positive one, and that alternative is an individualistic alternative. Treat individuals as individuals and violence.

Violence never has a place, so an initiation of force, the initiation of violence, is never appropriate. We can have discussions and we can have debates, and we can disagree, and we will disagree on a lot of things, and we should be able to walk away our own way. That's what freedom means, and we should be advocates for freedom. Thank you so much. Hi, thank you so much. Oh right, no way,

thank you so much for being here. Something that I didn't get to hear about in your talk that I'd like for you to elaborate on is the role of Iran in all of this, and as well as the role that other nations like the United States, members of the Abraham Accords and future members potential future members of the Abraham Accords such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may play in limiting the leuins of Iran, as well as maybe diving in more into what Iran has done to cause this worth So, yes, I mean,

there's a lot I didn't cover in this talk. There's a lot to say about the Middle East. I didn't talk about history, I didn't talk about other countries in the Middle East. But suddenly I think the most destructive country the most destructive political entity in the Middle East for now, what is it, well over forty years now is Iran. The Iranian Revolution in nineteen seventy nine was the start of a lot of the damage and the horrors that we've

experienced in the Middle East. It proved to a certain element within the Muslim world that the idea of imposing sharial law on a national scale and running a country on that scale, and standing up to America. Remember that the Aanian Revolution, you know, culminates really its peak is when is when they take the American embassy and they take the hot the What does what does America do? Nothing? What does our tough Ronald Reagan do? Negotiates and releases the

hostages in you know, in a in a a in a deal. So Iran since then has been not only a funder of terrorism globally, a funder of movements of Islamists jihadis all over the world. But it has been an inspiration to them. It has been the model that they aspire to and it's behind much of the devastation in the Middle East. I do want to caution you about countries like Saudi Arabia. I know there's a lot of positivity and oh isn't this wonderful? But look, Saudi Arabia has funded many of the

terrorist organizations out there. Saudi Arabia has funded Hamas. Saudi Arabia funded or at least funded the schools that supported al Qaeda and brought brought forth many of the Islamists and Jihadis. Sadiu Aris still has a wahabbies, you know, who are very very you know, bad ideology as part of their regime. So beware of thinking too positively. Yet we'll see maybe maybe I'm wrong,

and maybe they've moderated it, maybe they've suppressed the Islamist tendencies. But you know, this is a you know, in many ways, this is a global problem. It's not just an Israeli problem. Iran is not just after Israel. Uh, you know, al Qaeda, isis the Taliban, all these organizations are united by shared ideology of Islamism. They're all out there scheming and planning and various terrorist attacks and other things. This is not the end

of it. This is and of course there's physic aligning Lebanon. So you know, there's a lot to do if you want to actually bring peace to the to the whole Middle East is what could start with Hamas, could start with Gaza, but there's a lot more that needs to happen to actually achieve long term peace in them, at least I agree. Thank you so much, Thank you Ron for doing this, and to everybody who's remaining civilized.

During a heated discussion like this, I wanted to challenge you on You said that Japan and Germany, when they were fully defeated, were able to turn

around and become great, great allies and friends of the West. So but Gaza seems to me like it's the difference is that Germany was the pinnacle of national socialism, it was the exemplar of it, and Japan was the exemplar of its militaristic Shinto style whatever was going on there, whereas Gaza seems more like a proxy war, or or like a pond being pushed around by as you said, in a number of these others, by Iran, or by

by all these other forces. So defeating the defeat of the Palestinian and Hamas seems more like it would be a defeat of a small portion of that. Maybe it's how do we prevent that from becoming their Alamo? As opposed to you know something something No, it clearly is a challenge because, as I said, there is a greater global struggle, there is a there is a suddenly a regional but I think in the end of the day, it is a global issue with regard to Islamism, and Hamas is part of a network

of these organizations all over the Middle East and the world. What's that, Sam Harrison? Probably yes, I think that's true. Israel cannot take all of that on. Is cannot take responsibility for solving the entire worlds problems in terms of Islamism. I do think though, that it can solve the problem

with the Palestinians. And maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I do remember a period, a period where I lived in Israel, a period where Palestinians there was no wall, there was no fence, Palestinians came to working is well every single day. There was a lot of I've been to Gaza, I was in many of these you know West Bank cities. I mean it was nothing to go to East Jerusalem and walk around or even grom or any

of these places in those days. You know, you did it, and it wasn't it didn't feel it didn't feel dangerous, and so so I know that peace here is possible and and coexistence is possible. I think Israel made

some big mistakes, the Oslo codes being the primary ones. But I really do think that there are elements within the Palestinian people that would embrace a move towards peace once these more horrific, genocidal elements of being destroyed and proven to be incompetent and to be unable to being about the so called victory that they keep promising. I could very well be wrong in the sense that you've got to solve the global regional problems, and only then will you be able to

solve these really problems. I hope I'm not. Thank you all right, I think this will be the last question. Yes, Lucky me Hi your own. Nice to see you, Hi, Thanks for coming. I wanted to get some insight from you and perhaps a solution when it comes to the following problem that just came up organically about five minutes ago for me. So I thought that was worth the dressing. In my experience, it seems like those who are you know, pro Palestine in the West clearly have the Western

culture perspective they're not in Palestine themselves. Palestinians in America very different from Palestinians and the culture mindset over in Palestine. Thus, it would also follow that I can I understand how it's it seems and could be incredibly offensive. Palestine is bad Palestine. There's a bad planet Palestine site everyone who's not a member of Kamas. However, there is a serious distinction to be made between Hamas

and Palestine and Palestinians an American in America. So what I'm wondering is what to what extent do you think that lack of experience of being in the Palestinian culture in Palestine and actually having like you know, the direct experience of Hamas and the conflict with Israel is where what's missing from that experience that is making it maybe difficult for Palestinians in the West to accept that this is truly as

horrific as it is. And also, can you do you have any ideas about how this how this problem that is big can be discussed in the West in a way that's kind of constructive between like all parties as opposed to you know, Americans saying you hate me because I'm this or you know, I hate you because you're this because no one here probably is in Hamas because they don't tend to like vacation here. Yeah. But but but but there are

people here that are willing to apologize for apologists for Hamas, right. They're willing to turn another you know, the to let to defend Hamas doing what they did, or at least not to condemn them. And and that's almost as bad, right, So I think you give them too much credit. I don't think the issue here is that they lack experience of actual Palestinian culture in Palestine and therefore can condemn it. I mean, anybody who reads can

read about what's going on there. You don't need to actually live there to know that if you speak up against the Palestinian authority, never mind against Hamas, not good your life is going to be is going to be pretty horrible if you if you're if you're an atheist, God help you, right. Uh you know and and and you know these are not secrets. October seventh is not a secret if you gay and you're Palestinian in that in the West

Bank or in Gaza, people know exactly what happens to you. This isn't there're no secrets here, right, And by the way, same thing as to a Saudi Arabia. I mean, we talked about Saudi Arabia. Right. Beware if you're an atheist in Saudi Arabia. Beware if you're gay in Saudi Arabia. Right. So that's why I'm hesitant to embrace the Saudis and pretend that they are friends of civilization. So I don't think you can. I don't think you can do that. Look, I mean, I've said

this a few times, but I think it's it's worth repeating. The only way to deal with this is to argue for a positive we've got. I mean, part of the problem is that we don't embrace what it means to be American, what it means to have American values, what those values are. And those values are universal values. They're not unique to some particular people

that happen to be born in America, right, They're universal values. The values of individualism, the values of personal responsibility, of reason and applying reason and therefore a free speech and and and and and and the willingness to debate and discuss on the basis of reason, accepting reason as a guide to truth. Right, those are the values that we need to promote, promote, and those are the values that are not being promoted at universities. And that's

the challenge. And as long as that's the case, there is no there is no magic solution. The solution is educate with the right ideas. Educate with the ideas of the Enlightenment. Individualism and reason. Those are the cause fundamental values I believe of what is Western civilization. The good in Western civilization is reason and individualism, and that's what we need to fight for. And only on that basis what we see kind of a rebirth of a positive civilization.

Thank you, Thank you, doctor Brook. And I'd like to thank everybody who came tonight, especially those people who came not agreeing with what they expected to be heard said here tonight, and who may be leaving not expecting or not agreeing, but who took this evening as an opportunity to hear a point of view different from your own, to argue with it, and to do it within the bounds of the principles and protocols that make discussions like this

possible. I hope we've all learned something and I look forward to seeing you at future events. Thank you all Hire

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