Afleveringen
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Israel commentator Ori Goldberg joins me from Tel Aviv to discuss the rocket that hit a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams within the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel has blamed the attacked on a Hezbollah strike. Hezbollah denied being behind the attack. Speculation arose that it was actually due to a malfunction of Israel's Iron Dome. That said, there is evidence that this was likely a Hezbollah rocket. In any case, 12 Druze children perished due to the rocket. At the funeral for the dead children, members of the Druze community protested the presence of Israeli ministers. Meanwhile, a number of Israelis are turning "We Are All Druze Now" into a slogan as fears of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah grow.
Ori offers his thoughts on the incident, and makes the case that the deaths of the Druze children was likely accidental based on Hezbollah past history and concerns that any false move could start a war. He DOES NOT deny that Hezbollah conducted strikes. Nor does he seek to deny the tragedy of children being killed. Additionally, he questions/challenges the conspiracy theories arising that this was an Israeli false flag and gives his reasons for believing this is not the case. With that in mind, he cautions against drawing any firm conclusions about whether this was a mistake or intentional until there is further investigation. Ori also argues that this will not lead to a war between Israel and Hezbollah because, in his analysis, neither the IDF or Hezbollah want a full-blown war at this time.
In addition to all of this we'll also discuss the death of Mohammad Bhar, a young Palestinian man afflicted with autism and Down syndrome who was mauled by an Israel Defense Forces attack dog and bled out in the aftermath. Moreover, we will discuss the Israeli psyche at this moment, the situation of the Bedouin and Druze minorities in Israel and discrimination against them, the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People that was passed by the Israeli Knesset in 2018, why Ori believes the Gaza war is slouching towards an inevitable close/end, Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to U.S. congress, post-war Gaza and "The Day After", Netanyahu announcing the he's "postponing" the departure of sick children from Gaza who need life-saving therapy because of the Majdal Shams indecent, the blowing up of Rafah's water reservoir, Israeli hopes of introducing "de-radicalization" into Gazan education post-war, and much, much more.
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On this edition of Parallax Views we've got a double feature. In the first half hour of the program historian Allan Lichtman of American University discusses his The Keys to the White House model for predicting Presidential election. This model has proven extremely robust at getting election predictions right and is based on 13 true/false statements about the candidates and/or their parties preceding the election. According to the model, "If five or fewer of the following statements are false, the incumbent party is predicted to win the election. If six or more are false, the incumbent party is predicted to lose." We'll discuss a number of issues related to this election including Joe Biden recently dropping out of the election and Kamala Harris becoming the presumptive Democratic Party Presidential candidate. What does it entail for the election? Find out in this conversation with Allan Lichtman!
In the second segment of the show, a segment yours truly recorded a few months ago with Ukrainian lawyer Kateryna Busol. In a recent edition of the Journal of Genocide Studies, Busol penned a peice entitled "When the Head of State Makes Rape Jokes, His Troops Rape on the Ground: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Russia’s Aggression against Ukraine". We'll be discussing the issue of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in relation the Russo-Ukrainian war, the worrying rhetoric of Timofey Sergeytsev's "What Should Russia Do With Ukraine?" that was published in Russian state-owned outlet RIA Novosti, reparations for victims of CRSV, Kateryna's work on destruction of cultural heritage in war, and the importance of applying international law to other issues like the Gaza War.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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On this edition of Parallax Views, James M. Dorsey, whose commentaries can be read at his Turbulent World w/ James M. Dorsey Substack, give one of his regular visits to discuss the latest in regard to the Middle East and Israel/Palestine. This time we examine Israeli Prime Minister's visit to Washington D.C. where he gave a speech to Congress that received multiple standing ovations despite the heavy criticisms Netanyahu has come under for both how the war in Gaza has been conducted and the safety of hostages. Pro-Palestinian activist and hostages' families alike protested Netanyahu's visit. We'll discuss all of that as well as James's upcoming book The Battle for the Soul of Islam, the two-state vs. one-state solution, his views on the Confederation solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (and why he believes it looks good on paper, but has obstacles), the calculus of Netanyahu's speech to Congress, what a second Trump term may mean for Israel, the Israeli far-right, the settler movement, land swaps in relation to solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate/current Vice President Kamala Harris and her rhetoric on Gaza, and much, much more.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Palestinian Muslim writer Abdelhalim Abdelrahman, who has written for such publications as The New Arab, The Hill, and MSN, joins the show to discuss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington D.C. to speak to Congress. Netanyahu received a standing ovation from Congressmen and Congresswomen who attended, with the notable exception of Rep. Rashida Tlaib who held up a sign that read "War Criminal". Interestingly, a number of top Democrats declined to intend, including Nancy Pelosi, who called Netanyahu's speech was "by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States". Meanwhile protests raged outside and a flag-burning, which has taken up much media attention, took place. Additionally, Gaza still faces a humanitarian crisis. Palestinians in Gaza face a dire situation, as exemplified by the tragic death of a 24-year old Gazan man named Mohammad Bhar. Bhar was afflicted with autism and Down's syndrome. He was killed last week after bleeding out from being bitten by an Israeli army dog as reportedly screamed "enough my dear, enough" and/or "let go my love, enough".
Worth noting as well, is the fact that it was not only pro-Palestinian activists protesting Netanyahu's D.C. visit. Families of hostages also protested, believing that Netanyahu has exploited them for politics and not done enough to secure the hostages from the October 7th. Hamas attack.
In other words, there are a lot of matters to discuss in this conversation. Abdelhalim covered all these issues with me as well as:
- The Palestinian Authority
- The letter Mahmoud Abbas sent to Donald Trump after the attempted assassination on Trump's life and Donald Trump's seemingly warm, positive feelings (at least in past rhetoric and response to the letter) to Abbas
- Elements of the American conservative movement moving away from Israel on "America First" grounds
- Thoughts on whether Kamala Harris will take a different approach to Gaza and the West Bank than President Joe Biden
- Empathetic rhetoric vs. actual concrete policy that Palestinian American want to see
- Abdelhalim's thoughts on the plight of the October 7th hostages
- The Fatah-Hamas unity deal that was signed in Beijing
- Abdelhalim's personal feelings on the Uncommitted movement and his frustration with the Democratic Party
- The Occupation of the West Bank and the issues of annexation and settlement expansion
- The question of "synthetic" or "artificial" Arab voices claiming to be "pro-peace" or "pro-Palestinian" but demonstrating a deep bias against Palestinians
- Hunger and starvation in Israel
- U.S. hypocrisy/double-standards on the situation of Palestinians vs. the situation of Ukrainians; Palestinians who express support for Ukraine and Ukrainians who express support for Palestinians
- Abdelhalim's point of frustration with Nancy Pelosi's criticism of Netanyahu's speech to Congress
And much, much more!
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Stephen Semler of the Security Reform Policy Institute joins us to discuss the Biden administration and the Pentagon's $280 million Gaza floating aid pier boondoggle that promised to get much needed humanitarian aid to Gazans who are now facing hunger/starvation during the Israeli bombardment. The pier became operational in May but was shut down this month, July, in what appears to have been a massive waste of time and resources that didn't even help the Palestinians of Gaza. Stephen, it turns out, was warning about the Gaza pier in Responsible Statecraft back in June when he wrote the article "Washington is not telling truth about the Gaza pier". Friend of the show and multi-time guest Kelley Vlahos also warned of the piers problems alongside others. There were logistical issues amongst much else that was criticized. We'll dive into what happened with the Gaza pier as well as discussing PR stunts and "Humanitarian Theater" being played out during the Gaza war, hunger/starvation in Gaza, the U.S. ignoring Human Rights Watch reports when it comes to the Gaza war but not the Russo-Ukraine war, Palestinian American congresswoman Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Congress, potential Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Gov. Josh Shapiro and his reaction to pro-Palestinian protests, free speech and crackdowns on protesters, Donald Trump and the American right-wing's hawkishness on China, thoughts on Kamala Harris as it relates to U.S. policy on Israel/Palestine, families of hostages being held by Hamas protesting Netanyahu's visit to Congress, Palestinians being held in Israeli administrative detention, and much, much more!
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On this edition of Parallax Views, freelance journalist Jacob Silverman, co-author with actor Ben McKenzie (TV's The O.C. & Gotham) of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, joins the show to discuss his article in The Nation entitled "It’s Official: Silicon Valley Is Fully MAGA-Pilled". With Peter Thiel associate JD Vance being unveiled as Trump's Vice President pick and Elon Musk officially throwing his endorsement to Donald Trump after the attempted assassination of the former President, this topic is timelier than ever. But Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are far from the only Silicon Valley elites to throw their weight behind Trump's campaign. They've been joined by Marc Andreassen, David Sacks, Shaun Maguire, and Joe Lonsdale. In this conversation will discuss why rich Silicon Valley power players are getting on the MAGA train. Amongst some of the topics covered in this conversation: libertarianism and the Silicon Valley ideology, the late David Golumbia's The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism, corporate tyranny, Thiel associate Curtis Yarvin aka Mencius Moldbug, Mark Cuban's comments about how Silicon Valley's power player may be getting behind trump as a "bitcoin play", America PAC and crypotcurrency lobbying/lobbyists, cryptocurrency-related organizations like Coinbase and Ripple Labs, the crypto PAC known as Fairshake that's interested in "installing crypto-friendly politicians and ousting those the industry views as a threat", JD Vance, Sam Bankman-Fried, right-wing faux populism, the Silicon Valley right-wing's fascination with J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, artificial intelligence, Silicon Valley apocalypticism, and much, much more!
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Ben Burgis, Jacobin columnist and host of the Youtube show Give Them an Argument, returns to discuss a potpourri of topics and revisit his 2022 article in The Daily Beast entitled "J.D. Vance’s Unbelievably Phony Populism". And, yes, we'll also cover Joe Biden dropping out and his apparent replacement in the race, Kamala Harris. Where should the Democrats go next if they hope to win? And what should Democratic Party messaging be as we head into the heart of election season?
We'll also discuss the Republican National convention including the circus like inclusion of pro wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and the speech made by Teamsters union leader Sean O'Brien that has sparked much debate. We'll talk the records of Josh Hawley and JD Vance, rhetoric vs. records, fake antiwar sentiments amongst Republicans (and the hawkish elements in the GOP saber-rattling for a war with Iran and China), Biden's immigration record, Gaza, antitrust lawsuit and labor in the era of the Joe Biden Presidency, the GOP's deregulatory agenda and the impacts it'll have on workers, Ron DeSantis' assault on worker's rights in Florida, forever chemicals (PFAS) and Project 2025, Josh Hawley's copyright reform BUT only to target Disney, why JD Vance doesn't support the pro-labor PRO Act and Ben's response to that, the opioid epidemic and deaths of despair, and much, much more!
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On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Anne Nelson, author of Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, returns to the show to discuss her piece in The Washington Spectator entitled "Project 2025: The Latest Plot Against America". Nelson gives rundown of what conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation's 900-page document "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise" is all about and what Project 2025 entails for worker's rights, LGBTQ+ people, the economy, food safety, the environment, and more if it is implemented during a second Donald Trump Presidency, in full or part. We'll also discuss Nelson's research into the umbrella network of the American right-wing known as the Council for National Policy, a secretive organization that brings together right-wing billionaires, conservative Catholic, evangelical Christian nationalists, and other elements of American right-wing into a formidable network. The CNP was at the heart of her previously mentioned book Shadow Network and offers a glimpse into the American right-wing's machinations and maneuverings since its founding by conservative activist Paul Weyrich and Left Behind author Tim Lahaye in the era of the Ronald Reagan Presidency. We'll also manage to briefly discuss Catholic right-wing movements like the Opus Day and their relationship to the Supreme Court. All that and much more on this edition of Parallax Views!
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Amb. Patrick Theros returns to discuss his The National Herald op-eds "Be Careful What You Wish For…" and "Tribe and Clan Wars – Is Proportional Representation the Solution?". At the beginning of the show, however, we discuss the Israeli Knesset's ruling against a two-state solution in the Israel/Palestine conflict. What does it actually mean and entail? We'll also discuss the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, what the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict means for the U.S. and its standing in the world, Israel's lack of a vision for the future beyond war, and related subject. Then, at around the fifteen minute mark, we will turn our attention to United States domestic politics. Firstly, we'll discuss the American two-party system and how the country's tribal war, between a Democratic "blue tribe" and a Republican "red tribe", are actually not an accurate depiction, in Amb. Theros' estimation, of the political landscape. Instead of just tribal war, Amb. Theros argues, we have clan wars. In other words, voters that are only concerned with specific issues fighting for those issues within the two-parties and often feeling dissatisifed within those parties when other factions win greater favor. This has manifested in the Republican Party, Amb. Theros say, in the abortion debate and in the Democratic Party in regard to the pro-Palestinian activists in the party who are upset with the Biden administration's handling of Gaza. We will also discuss the historic Supreme Court decision in Trump v. United States and the unprecedented power it gives to the President. Moreover, we'll discuss how this could come back to haunt Republicans. Finally, we will delve into the issue of Biden's performance at the first Presidential debate with Trump and whether or not he should drop out of the election.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Prof. Emil Draitser returns to discuss his latest book Laughing All the Way to Freedom: The Americanization of a Russian Emigre. Growing up in a Jewish family in Soviet Union-era Odessa, Emil came to the United States in the 1970s and began a new life in America. His previous books Shush! Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin: A Memoir, Farewell, Mama Odessa: A Novel, and In the Jaws of the Crocodile: A Soviet Memoir are a trilogy that chronicles his experiences in both the Soviet Union and the U.S. Laughing All the Way to Freedom continues that exploration of Emil's experiences, specifically as an emigre. What does it mean to be an emigre from another land with a different culture? And when does one truly become American, in a cultural sense, once they've settled in the U.S.? In this conversation we discuss issues that face emigres like culture shock, Russian humor and Emil's appearance on the Merv Griffin show discussing the subject of Russian humor, working as a satirical writer in Russia, the power of humor to soften barriers between people, the Russian bombing of Odessa and Emil's feelings of PTSD over the Russo-Ukrainian war, what does Americanization mean and what is the road to Americanization, mass emigration from the Soviet Union and the parallels with the biblical story of Exodus, how Americans born of Russian descent view America and the differences between their understanding of America and their parents' understanding of America, America's core values as understood by a Russian emigre, the concept of freedom and law in relation to both America and Russia, and much, much more.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, former Navy journalist and ex-debt collector Jerry Ashton joins the show to discuss the End Veteran Debt campaign. As previously mentioned, Jerry was a debt collector, but Occupy Wall Street changed all of that. Inspired by the Occupy movement, Jerry went from being a debt collector to a "debt for-giver" and helped co-found the RIP Medical Debt (now known as Undue Medical Debt) 501 charity. Now he's turned his attention to the issue of veterans' debts. Believe it or not many veterans from the U.S. armed forces face debt struggles and the VA is unable in many circumstances to provide all that it can for them. As such, Jerry and other have started what they call "Operation D-Day". Not D-Day as in WWII, however. But rather Operation Debt Day to help veterans with their debts. Find out all about it on this edition of Parallax Views!
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For those that don't know, Parallax Views has a monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) Patreon exclusive show known as the Parallax Vlog, a crossover show between Parallax Views and Youtube's Varn Vlog, in which C. Derick Varn and I discuss current events and culture. As I've been under-the-weather from a case of food poisoning, I thought I'd offer a preview of the Patreon content by publishing the opening segment of the latest Parallax Vlog in which Derick and I discuss Project 2025, my interview with Adolph Reed, and the upcoming U.S. Presidential election. We'll get into Derick's thoughts on Project 2025, the failures of the Democrats when they're in power, the judicial coup we've seen take place in the U.S., and much, much more. Check out the full show (which will be released in the next day or so) at: https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews
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On this edition of Parallax Views, activist, organizer, academic, and political commentator Adolph Reed, an American professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, joins the program to discuss his article for The Nation entitled "Why I’m Voting for the Enemy". Reed has been a longtime critic of the mainstream or corporate wing of the Democratic Party and its embrace of neoliberalism. He was a rather vocal critic of Barack Obama. And he hasn't been afraid to vote for third party candidates like Ralph Nader in the past. As such, he cannot be accused of always towing a strict "vote for the lesser of two evils" line that other Leftist intellectuals like Noam Chomsky & Howard Zinn have sometimes been criticized as promoting. However, in 2016, Reed penned a piece entitled "Vote for the Lying Neoliberal Warmonger: It's Important" during the tumultuous Presidential election. In that op-ed, Reed outlined why he was voting for Hillary Clinton. Needless to say, the article was a bit provocative for elements of the Left that have sought a break from the Democratic Party. Although Reed has likewise been critical of the Democratic Party for many of the same reasons given by those elements of the Left, he nonetheless viewed Donald Trump as a severe, perhaps even existential, threat that needed to be defeated. The same sentiments can also be found in the more recent The Nation piece Reed penned about the 2024 election.
In this conversation we'll cover a number of different issues including electoral fetishism in both its mainstream and Left-wing variants, the need for politics and organizing beyond the electoral realm, the working class and the professional managerial class, the pro wrestling concept of "kayfabe" and why it interests Reed as a political scientist, The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 (or the Presidential Transition Project) and what it indicates about a second Trump Presidency, and much, much more.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist Albert Lanier, a multi-time guest on the show, just started a Substack called The Final Cut. This new venture from Lanier is a return to his roots. Although he's become known, especially to listeners of this show, for his thoughts on true crime cases and politics, in a previous life he was a film critic/movie reviewer. He even contributed to Ain't It Cool News! And over the years he had an opportunity to meet Hollywood players ranging from Nancy Kwan to Roger Corman.
In this conversation, Lanier and I will discuss his work writing about cinema and his experiences going to film festivals. But we'll also discuss his thoughts on the state of the movie industry and the state of film criticism as well. In particular, we will look at the decline of film criticism and what phenomena such as film-focused, anti-woke, culture war Youtube channels have on film criticism as well as the impact of Movie Tok on film criticism and how we understand and appreciate cinema. We'll also discuss the cycles of the film industry, the importance of overseas markets to Hollywood, and much, much more.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, in 2009 a documentary came out entitled Defamation. Directed by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir, the film sought to explore the phenomena of antisemitism, the perceptions of what is an isn't antisemitic, the question of whether criticism of Israel is the same as antisemitism (or, in the words of many Israel supporters "The New Antisemitism" that seeks to dress hatred of Jews up in a critique of Israeli and its policies), and related issues. The genesis of Defamation begins with Shamir's previous documentary, the equally controversial Checkpoint. Checkpoint took a "fly on the wall" approach to examining the interactions between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian citizens along the border of the occupied territories. Despite the cinema verite fly on the wall" approach of the film, some felt that it painted a slanted, negative picture of Israel that in turn led to accusations that Shamir was the "Israeli Mel Gibson". Gibson, of course, had at that point been known for having an antisemitic outburst after a DUI arrest and, before that, his 2004 film The Passion of the Christ was heavily criticized as promoting hatred of Jewish people in its depiction of Christ's death.
Yoav Shamir, was surprised that anyone would call him the "Israeli Mel Gibson". He also had not experienced antisemitism himself as someone who lives in Israel. So he ventured out to embark on a journey that would take him from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights, where race relations between Jewish and Black residents have long been troubled, to Ukraine and even Poland. He met with the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman and was given unprecedented access to the Anti-Defamation League's office where he got a rare inside look of their operations. Additionally he spoke Jewish academic and noted critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein and the international relations scholar John Mearsheimer, who alongside Stephen Walt co-wrote the book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. And he went with a group of young Israelis to a state-funded trip to Israel in which teenaged Israelis learn about the horrors of the Holocaust in Poland. What Shamir's documentary shows, however, is up for the viewer to decide. From Shamir's purview, victimhood narratives are holding Israel, and perhaps even the Jewish people more broadly, back. However, his documentary nonetheless paints a poignant picture of all its major players and humanizes all the participants from Abe Foxman to his polar opposite Norman Finkelstein. There's moments of the film that are dramatic, but also uneasy moments of what can only be described as comedy or farce, such as when two young Israelis on the Poland trip mistakenly assume that the Polish men they approached in the street were calling them cuss words (it turns out the men simply did not know the Hebrew language and were trying to explain they didn't understand them).
It's hard to describe in both the written word or even a podcast what Defamation documents. As such it is highly recommended that either before or after this podcast you view the whole documentary at Yoav Shamir's Youtube channel. You can also watch Yoav's previous documentary Checkpoint on his Youtube channel as well and that too is recommended.
At the end of the conversation, we speak a bit about Yoav's latest documentary The Prophet and the Space Aliens about the Raelian UFO cult and discuss Elon Musk's retweeting of Defamation and get Yoav's thoughts on antisemites that have sought to use the film for their own agenda. We'll also discuss strife in Israel amongst it's inhabitants beyond the Palestinians. In other word: Mizrahi vs. Ashkenazi Israelis, etc. There's a lot of ground covered in this discussion and hopefully it supplements Yoav's documentaries well.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, investigative journalist Ken Silverstein returns to the show hot off the major story he broke for The New Republic last week: "Off Leash: Inside the Secret, Global, Far-Right Group Chat | The New Republic". Ken has blown the lid off a secret chat group created by Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private military company Blackwater, that includes a who's who of influential figures of the global right-wing including Congressman Ryan Zinke, Congressman Mark Green, Tucker Carlson, Gen. Michael Flynn, and many others. Silverstein's reporting on this provides an insight into where a number of major figures, including some with intelligence and military connection, stand in 2024 behind-closed-doors on issues ranging including Iran, the Israel-Hamas War/Gaza War, Israel/Palestine, MAGA vs. the Democratic Party, U.S. foreign policy, and much, much more. He's found communications that reveal what friend of the show, American Conservative contributor, and Senior Advisor at the Quincy Institute Kelley Vlahos describes as a "batshit crazy chat group that includes Erik Prince, Lara Logan, and every rightwing grifter, politician, influencer, ex-military psycho" that want to "nuke, napalm, and 'take out' everyone." There was even discussion in the group of rounding up the American right's domestic enemies for Nuremberg-style tribunals. And, on the U.S. foreign policy front, there were calls for covert assassination of political leaders from countries seen as adversarial to the U.S. There were even inclinations in the chat group towards the idea of using nuclear weapons against Gaza. There's also some opaque discussion of Erik Prince having "the right people in place" to deal with Iran, which many of the members of Off-Leash have hawkish foreign policy views on, and some rather interesting discussion pertaining to the plane crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Talk of the need for a MAGA "revolution" and fighting against a cabal of Marxists, Islamists, and globalists that many members of the chat view as destroying the U.S. and Western civilization are also prominent in the communications that Silverstein uncovered. We'll discuss all of this and much more in the conversation, but its highly recommended you consult both Ken's original report on this for The New Republic AND his Washington Babylon Substack which will be covering this further going forward. You'll also hear us discuss Donald Trump and domestic repression, Russiagate, the RFK Jr. connection to Off-Leash, Ken's thoughts on President Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump, and much, much more.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, recorded in May, a lengthy, almost 3 hour conversation with Yakov Hirsch. You can Yakov's writings at his new Substack here.
Although Hirsch is perhaps best-known as professional poker player, he has in recent years began commenting on the psychology of what he calls "Hasbara Culture". Hasbara, for those unfamiliar, is more or less a term that means propaganda and apologia for the state of Israel. Hirsch's concept of hasbara culture, however goes far beyond that. He argues that prominent commentators in the U.S. like Bari Weiss, Eve Barlow, Brett Stephens, and The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg have come to internalize hasabara so much that it has become a culture, a mindset, an identity in and of itself that distorts reality in ways that are harmful to not only Palestinians but also Jews, both in Israel and abroad.
Hirsch's thinking on these matters first came to prominence through and article he wrote for Tablet Magazine entitled "Hasbara Culture and the Curse of Bibi-ism". Although Tablet is a generally understood as a right-wing and adamantly pro-Israel publication, it nonetheless viewed 's commentary and thoughts on the concept of hasbara culture relevant and important. Hirsch argues that his examination of this hasbara culture is not about left-wing vs. right-wing or even pro-Israel vs. anti-Israel but instead an attempt to look at a phenomenon that is denying ground-level realities in favor of an alternate reality that exists only in the minds of its proponents.
Among the topics discussed in this conversation are Benjamin Netanyahu as the embodiment of hasbara culture; sacred macho victimhood and victimhood discourses; Anti-Antisemitism; the Daniel Goldhagen vs. Christopher Browning debates on the Holocaust (Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners vs. Browning's Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland); Hannah Arendt and the trial of Adolf Eichmann; cognitive empathy and how it is shut down by hasbara culture; the ideology of hasbara culture; the Gaza War and Israel/Palestine; "Never Again" journalists; the "real world" vs. the "separate reality" of hasbara culture; the concept of betrayal in hasbara culture discourse; the Iran nuclear deal and Bibi-ist ideology; John Kerry's warning to Israel about needing to understand the perception of Palestinians; Peter Beinart's The Crisis of Zionism and the significance of Beinart's witnessing the tears of a Palestinian child in the West Bank crying out for his father; the pro-Palestinian protests happening across college campuses; hasbara culture's cultivation of narratives and tactics of agitation; Bill Maher vs. Bill Burr on Hamas, the Gaza War, and the youth; serious people vs. unserious people; the significance of Israeli politician Yair Golan; Ehud Barak's comments on Palestinians and how he'd probably have been a terrorist if he'd grown up as a young Palestinian; Netanyahu's holy war and the coming Jewish schism; pro-Netanyahu demonization of Barack Obama; "us vs. them" mentalities and narratives; the October 7th Hamas attack; the ADL's response to the BDS movement; the question of irrational hatreds vs. legitimate grievances; the "Whataboutism" arguments of hasbara culture discourse; the attacks on Jewish studies culture Derek Penslar, the embattled co-chair of the Harvard's antisemitism task force; the Israel lobby; the IHRA working definition of antisemitism; ethnocentricity and ethnocentrism;
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Rutgers University's Director of the Center for Security, Race, and Rights, Sahar Aziz, returns to the program to discuss the recent House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearings on antisemitism and why they resemble something more akin to the McCarthyite witch hunts of the House on American Activities during the Cold War than an honest effort to combat antisemitism. These hearings, she argues, are more about shutting down political criticism of Israel than fighting antisemitism. We'll also delve into some of the key points covered in Sahar's book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom and discuss the Islamophobia-industrial complex that's especially been prevalent in America since 9/11 and the Global War on Terror. Moreover, Prof. Aziz will offer her thoughts on the Anti-Defamation League, which has received harsh criticism in recent years with Jonathan Greenblatt at its head, and its activities against pro-Palestinian and Arab American political activists. Most importantly, however we focus on how the House Commitee on Education and the Workforce investigations into antisemitism, which involves figures like Rep. Elise Stefanik and Rep. Virginia Fox, have attacked the Center for Security, Race, and Right as well as academics like Noura Erakat and Juan Cole. Sahar will address some of the allegations made by the House Commitee against CSRR and delve into how this is connected to broader Republican Party efforts to tamper down academic freedom and discourse (ie: how it connects to GOP attacks on DEI and CRT, right-wing promotion of book-banning, etc.).
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On this edition of Parallax Views, Israeli investigative reporter Meron Rappaport joins the show to discuss a MAJOR story he helped break last week with 972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian: Israel's Covert War Against the ICC. According to the bombshell reporting Meron and others have done, Israel has engaged in a nearly long surveillance program against the International Criminal Court. Surveillance was aimed at both current chief prosecutor and his predecessor Fatou Bensouda. Additionally, Palestinian human rights groups like Al-Haq, Addameer, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) were targets of surveillance and there are connections to the controversial and scandal-besieged Israeli private cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to this story. This story includes allegations of illegal activity, intimidation, and blackmail.
Read the story HERE: Surveillance and interference: Israel’s covert war on the ICC exposed
We'll discuss a numbe of issues-related to this story including how figures at the highest-levels of Israel's government, specifically Benjamin Netanyahu, figure into the surveillance program as well as the military (ie: IDF) and intelligence services (ie: Shin Bet) tie into it as well. Moreover, we'll look at how Israeli officials were initially enthused about Karim Khan taking over as chief prosecutor at the ICC until "everything changed" with the October 7th Hamas attack and the Gaza War. At the beginning of the conversation Meron will give his thoughts on the state of the Israeli free press in light of the recent attack on Haaretz's Tel Aviv headquarters where the main doors of the HQ's entrance were smashed.
In the final portion of the conversation Meron discusses the Land for All movement that he helped cofound which offers a Confederation approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many argue that the Confederation approach amounts to a push for a de facto one-state solution, but figures like Dahlia Scheindlin as well as Meron argue that it is actually a two-state solution for the 21st century that addresses the failures and missteps of the Oslo generation. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.
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On this edition of Parallax Views, longtime California-based progressive activist Mirvette Judeh tells the story of her only political journey and how she and a group of activists scored a victory for the the #CeasefireNow movement that is seeking to make calling for a ceasefire in Gaza a priority in California Democratic Party politics. Mirvette recently penned a piece that appeared in Antiwar.Com entitled "Our Fight To Get the Democratic Party To Call for a Ceasefire in Gaza" in which she chronicles how the fight to get proper recognition of the Palestinian plight in a call for ceasefire resolution. We'll also discuss Mirvette's experiences as a Palestinian, her family's experiences under the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, what "Free Palestine" means for her and what she wants for the Palestinian people, her experiences at the UCLA encampment and what she witnessed there, the "Progressives Except for Palestine" problem, antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia, the brutal nature of Israel's assault on Gaza and the cultural destruction it has wrought on Palestinian society, the importance of speaking to Palestinian voices, settler violence in the West Bank and pogroms against Palestinians in the West Bank, feelings of being portrayed by fellow Democrats who she's worked with over the years when it comes to the past 8 months of Israel's assault on Gaza, why she doesn't refer to what's happening as the "Gaza War", land theft and resource access in Israel/Palestine, Rashida Tlaib and other politicians standing up for Palestinians at this moment, problematic language in the original ceasefire language that Mirvette and other activists fought to change, and much, much more!
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