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