Speaker 1: They are good things.
Speaker 2: We will share some good news, but we also have
Speaker 2: some sobering topics to discuss, and one of those I
Speaker 2: want to just jump right into because I've got a
Speaker 2: great guest joining us here, and as many of you know,
Speaker 2: a week ago yesterday was a horrific attack in Boulder
Speaker 2: where the person who was from Egypt here illegally through
Speaker 2: Molotov cocktails and to a crowd of individuals who were
Speaker 2: simply there helping people remember the hostages that were taken
Speaker 2: six hundred and thirteen days ago by Hamas in a
Speaker 2: brutal attack. And it is time for us to make
Speaker 2: sure we all understand that we have a role to
Speaker 2: play to de escalate the anti Semitism that is going on,
Speaker 2: the normalization of violence and standing up for those who
Speaker 2: are trying to read individuals like this out.
Speaker 1: Of our country.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: Joining me today is a dear friend, someone who is
Speaker 2: a patriot.
Speaker 1: He serves on the South Metro.
Speaker 2: Fire District Board, has served in many different ways. He
Speaker 2: is an American citizen, has lived in Israel and is
Speaker 2: always helping us have a perspective.
Speaker 1: On what is really going on. And that is Rich
Speaker 1: Socle Rich, thank you so much. For joining me. I
Speaker 1: appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Hey, it's my pleasure to be with you. I wish
Speaker 3: you could be under better circumstances.
Speaker 2: Yes, I know, one of these times I'm going to
Speaker 2: have you come on. You're a really funny guy, and
Speaker 2: sometimes we're going to have you come on and just
Speaker 2: tell jokes. But that is not today, unfortunately. You know,
Speaker 2: I just want to jump right into it with you.
Speaker 1: Rich.
Speaker 2: Over the years that I've done radio, you and I've
Speaker 2: been on the air right after October seventh, I want
Speaker 2: people to remember that day because when we forget the
Speaker 2: horrors of that attack, that barberism, just give us a
Speaker 2: very quick overview again of what happened that day, Rich,
Speaker 2: how many people were killed by hamas and those are
Speaker 2: brittal attacks, how many hostages Sarah.
Speaker 3: Thank you. So we actually should go back to nineteen
Speaker 3: forty eight when Israel was formed. Five Arab argies attacked
Speaker 3: Israel on the day of it declared its independence, and
Speaker 3: no one thought Israel would win because they were outnumbered
Speaker 3: one hundred and one outgunn outmanned out everything. And yet
Speaker 3: they want But unfortunately there's still been a large part
Speaker 3: of the Arab population that does not accept the existence
Speaker 3: of a Jewish state in their mins, so they are
Speaker 3: sworn to its destruction. And they have been fighting Israel
Speaker 3: basically ever since. There's in several wars. So most people
Speaker 3: in Israel think of this as just a continuation of
Speaker 3: Israel's war for existence. So on October seventh, Hamas which
Speaker 3: is the Islamic terrorist group. Hamas means Islamic resistance movement,
Speaker 3: and they control the Kaza Strip after Israel unilatterally pulled
Speaker 3: out and gave it to the Gazans that unfortunately, they
Speaker 3: voted in Hamas, which is an internationally recognized terrorist organization
Speaker 3: and has amass ruled the Gaza Strip since two thousand
Speaker 3: and seven. And instead of building power plants and infrastructure
Speaker 3: and airports, Hamas instead has built tunnels to house their
Speaker 3: terrorists and to house their weapons and set up their
Speaker 3: communications network. And HAMAS has been attacking Israel on and
Speaker 3: off ever since they took power in two thousand and seven. Yeah, confederation, And.
Speaker 2: One thing I want to point out real quickly when
Speaker 2: people talk about the civilian casualties in Gaza Strip, those
Speaker 2: tunnels were purposely built under schools and under hospitals where
Speaker 2: HAMAS has used human shields, So so many of the
Speaker 2: casualties were because of the way Hamasa that that was purposeful,
Speaker 2: that was intentional, and I just want to make that point.
Speaker 2: But let's know, I think you were leading up to
Speaker 2: October seventh.
Speaker 3: So on October seventh, Hamas again attack, and this time, unfortunately,
Speaker 3: they were much more successful than they had in the past,
Speaker 3: and roughly three thousand terrorists breached the fence that separates
Speaker 3: ca Isral from Gaza, and they overran several military posts nearby.
Speaker 3: They overran several communities nearby, killing all the inhabitants people.
Speaker 3: I'm store aware of the music festival. They were in
Speaker 3: the large music festival going on nearby, and paragliders from
Speaker 3: Hamasque came in and killed hundreds of young people who
Speaker 3: were accept The theme of the music festival was peace
Speaker 3: and love. Unfortunately Hamas didn't get that memo, and on
Speaker 3: that day, roughly twelve hundred Israeli civilians were killed and
Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty five were taken hostage back to Gaza.
Speaker 2: Well, and then you mentioned yeah, go ahead, no go ahead,
Speaker 2: for no continue and we know.
Speaker 3: Right now, as you mentioned, there's still fifty five hostages
Speaker 3: left inside Gaza, in the tunnels of Gaza As. Some
Speaker 3: of them have been rescued or released in prisoner in swaps.
Speaker 3: We hear the stories of how they are literally tortured.
Speaker 3: They're literally starved, they're chained. The average food is in
Speaker 3: you know, a piece of moldy bread a day. They're
Speaker 3: being brutalized by their captors, and some of them, when
Speaker 3: they've been released, they literally look like they've come out
Speaker 3: of a concentration camp. Yeah. So Hamas is brutal, brutal, brutal,
Speaker 3: And why the world doesn't see this is beyond me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, And one one quick thing when when
Speaker 2: you see everybody, I feel like the world is looking
Speaker 2: for a cause, but they're embracing the wrong ones, you know,
Speaker 2: embracing and standing up for people who are here illegally,
Speaker 2: not all of whom are criminals, but many are. If
Speaker 2: you want to cause to stand up for, let's stand
Speaker 2: against a true barbarism that is happening. The fact that
Speaker 2: you know, you and I've talked to Rich, we've seen
Speaker 2: the unedited Hamas body cam footage. There is no moral
Speaker 2: equivalency here between anything other than Hamas and pure barbarism.
Speaker 1: Terrorism, horrific activities.
Speaker 2: So now we go to Boulder a little bit over
Speaker 2: a week ago, and this was a group called Run
Speaker 2: for their Lives. I think it's a great name because
Speaker 2: the fifty five remaining hostages, now six hundred and thirteen
Speaker 2: days in captivity, cannot run for their lives. So this
Speaker 2: is the only reason that they were there. And then
Speaker 2: you have this horrendous attack by an Egyptian national who
Speaker 2: was here illegally.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about something you brought up.
Speaker 2: An interesting point, by the way, because people are always
Speaker 2: looking at an instance and trying to fit into whatever
Speaker 2: narrative they want to push.
Speaker 1: So you know, obviously this happened in Boulder.
Speaker 2: The individual traveled all the way up from Colorado Sprains.
Speaker 2: Can you talk about what you found interesting about that?
Speaker 3: Sure? So we know the perpetrate came from Colorado Springs
Speaker 3: and he drove all the way up. I twenty five
Speaker 3: asked Denver to Boulder to commit this attack. Now, the
Speaker 3: group Run for Their Lives has two walks here every Sunday.
Speaker 3: One is actually in wash Park here in Denver, and
Speaker 3: the other is in Bolder. So the perpetrator throw literally
Speaker 3: on I twenty five asked the wash Park march and
Speaker 3: went all the way up to Boulder. So the question
Speaker 3: is why did he do that? Why didn't he just
Speaker 3: go to the closer one in wash Park? And we
Speaker 3: don't know the answer, of course, but people are speculating
Speaker 3: it's because of the difference in concealed carry laws between
Speaker 3: Denver and Boulder. So in Denver and public spaces, you
Speaker 3: were allowed to conceal carry. In Boulder you are not.
Speaker 3: So what struck me when I saw the videos of
Speaker 3: what happened when he threw the molotov cocktails. There are
Speaker 3: literally people on the ground, his victims, these peaceful marchers
Speaker 3: on the ground on fire, and other people nearby, of course,
Speaker 3: are getting water and trying to bounce the fires out.
Speaker 3: Meanwhile the perpetrator is just walking back and forth, nearly
Speaker 3: ten feet away from where the people are that he
Speaker 3: just set on fire, and no one's taking the guy out.
Speaker 3: We got very lucky last Sunday, and that he threw
Speaker 3: two molotov cocktails. He had over a dozen more with
Speaker 3: him that he could have thrown. Because you know, the
Speaker 3: police are great. The first responders got there pretty quickly,
Speaker 3: but it still took three minutes from the first nine
Speaker 3: to one call to the time the police apprehended him.
Speaker 3: Think about the damage he could have done in that
Speaker 3: three minutes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, that's a huge point.
Speaker 3: There was someone if there had been someone there who
Speaker 3: could have taken the guy out. In retrospect, I wish,
Speaker 3: of course there would have been, But yeah, I think,
Speaker 3: you know, we have to recognize what our laws are
Speaker 3: and why this guy went to Boulder instead of doing
Speaker 3: this in Denver.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you and I were talking about people this are
Speaker 2: evil and I don't use that word very often, but
Speaker 2: certainly in this case, I don't know another word that
Speaker 2: I could possibly use. But they're not stupid. And that's
Speaker 2: the same case when you look at there were a
Speaker 2: theater shooter went past numerous theaters closer to his home
Speaker 2: and went to one specifically that was a quote unquote
Speaker 2: gun free zone. They know where to go to have
Speaker 2: maximum damage. And the horrific perpetrator of this action in Boulder,
Speaker 2: as we know, had been denied a permit. It can
Speaker 2: still carry permit. But once again, that actually proves the point.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter the method of destruction that someone uses.
Speaker 1: It matters the person and their intent.
Speaker 2: Whether it's people driving cars into gatherings, whether it is
Speaker 2: someone now doing homemade molotov cocktails. If to desire and
Speaker 2: the hate is there, they will find a way no
Speaker 2: matter what the.
Speaker 1: Tool they use.
Speaker 2: And like you said, you know antisecond Amendment can still carry.
Speaker 2: Anti can seal carry laws only keep the good people
Speaker 2: from carrying the weapons, not those who wish to do ill.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about this aspect, Rich, because I
Speaker 2: know I can imagine, and I've got many friends like
Speaker 2: you are who are Jewish, and what this rise in
Speaker 2: anti Semitism, how it's impacting you. And I want people
Speaker 2: to hear this directly, and I want anyone listening to
Speaker 2: put yourself in the position of someone who is Jewish today,
Speaker 2: a parent.
Speaker 1: A grandparent.
Speaker 2: Rise of anti Semitism has risen by almost nine hundred
Speaker 2: percent in the last ten years in our country. The
Speaker 2: Anti Defamation League has said that in Colorado nearly four
Speaker 2: hundred percent and five years. You're a parent, Rich, tell
Speaker 2: me what this is like and whether it's doing to
Speaker 2: so many in your community.
Speaker 3: So there is just out and outphere right now in
Speaker 3: our community, Jewish people feel very unsafe. I know yesterday
Speaker 3: I was at synagogue and at all synagogue events now
Speaker 3: and my synagogue we have to have an arm guard.
Speaker 3: You know, five years ago we didn't have an arm guard.
Speaker 3: And that's just not my synagogue, that's every synagogue in
Speaker 3: America basically now has to have arm guard. We have
Speaker 3: people trained at our synagogue that patrol the grounds, that
Speaker 3: carry just so that we're prepared in case something happens.
Speaker 3: But I think even more so than just that, we
Speaker 3: also fear for our children. So, for example, one of
Speaker 3: my children is going to the East Coast on Wednesday
Speaker 3: to a Jewish leadership seminar, and my wife and I
Speaker 3: are having the discussion should she wear anything that identifies
Speaker 3: her as being Jewish. She wears a Star of David
Speaker 3: around her neck, so we're discussing whether or not, seeing
Speaker 3: the other kids she's going with, should they even wear that,
Speaker 3: because if they're identified as Jewish, they could be at risk.
Speaker 3: We know other Jewish families, most Jewish families, on their doorposts,
Speaker 3: on their front door to their homes, they have what's
Speaker 3: called a mezuzza, which is a squirrel with a prayer inside.
Speaker 3: A lot of the Jewish families are now thinking of
Speaker 3: taking down their missizzas because they don't want anyone to
Speaker 3: know that their Jews because they may be at risk.
Speaker 3: Now let me say against this. I think by doing
Speaker 3: those things, we let the terrorists win, and we have
Speaker 3: never let the terrorist win. We can't alter what we do.
Speaker 3: We need to stand up, stand strong, stand louds down proud.
Speaker 3: But the fear is still there. And who would have
Speaker 3: thought this could have happened in our backyard, dead up
Speaker 3: the road. Yeah, you know it takes a flamethrow and
Speaker 3: throwsmallo tough cocktails at elderly people who are just marching,
Speaker 3: you know, for release of hostages. And by the way,
Speaker 3: that people want to know for the march. You could
Speaker 3: be any political persuasion, and there are people on the left,
Speaker 3: there are people on the right. This is not a
Speaker 3: political state about the Israeli cause of war. All it
Speaker 3: was was we want to bring attention to the hostages
Speaker 3: and get our hostages home. There's no other political statement
Speaker 3: than that. Yeah, and yet the guy who did this
Speaker 3: wanted to kill Zionis, who wanted to kill Jews.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and he made that very clear. And
Speaker 2: I'm grateful that for once, when we see an attack
Speaker 2: like this, there isn't this long pause of what we're.
Speaker 1: Trying to figure out his motive.
Speaker 2: He said what his motive was, he wanted to kill
Speaker 2: Zionists in any way anywhere he could.
Speaker 1: I want to end with this, Rich And if.
Speaker 2: You're tuning in Deborah Floor sitting in for Mandy Connell,
Speaker 2: my guest, Rich Sokele. You know you pointed out that
Speaker 2: people that were there in Bolder a week ago and
Speaker 2: also then yesterday, therefore a positive, peaceful reason standing up
Speaker 2: for releasing of hostages, you know, not realizing that that's
Speaker 2: what that was about, or maybe did and didn't care.
Speaker 1: But people need to know that.
Speaker 2: You know, when we talk about the moral equivalency of
Speaker 2: and I'll share after the break a story when I
Speaker 2: was at the Holocau.
Speaker 1: Museum this past weekend.
Speaker 2: But this moral equivalency where they're trying to say, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, well, Israel killed individuals in Gaza, which we've
Speaker 2: just stated was really Hamash using them as human shields.
Speaker 2: The whole moral equivalency idea, which is false. Can you
Speaker 2: share something beautiful that you talked with me about of
Speaker 2: what the true Jewish goal is? And as a Christian,
Speaker 2: by the way, kind of a grafted mind, it's my
Speaker 2: goal as well.
Speaker 1: You just said it so beautifully.
Speaker 3: So we as Jewish people that believe that God gave
Speaker 3: us a purpose, and that purpose is coined in the
Speaker 3: Hebrew phrase tikun olam. Tikun means to repair and olam
Speaker 3: means the world. So we believe the purpose, the reason
Speaker 3: for the Jewish people is to repair the world wherever
Speaker 3: we see injustice, wherever we see suffering, and so many
Speaker 3: of us have dedicated our lives to that, so we
Speaker 3: know we have a long ways to go, and of
Speaker 3: course we invite all peoples to join us. And this
Speaker 3: is not just a Jewish cause, it's a human cause.
Speaker 3: And we're also taught that we may not be able
Speaker 3: to solve every problem in the world, nor are we
Speaker 3: allowed to refrain from trying. So we do our part
Speaker 3: and we hope others follow us until we can create
Speaker 3: a better and more perfect world. Yeah, and that's what
Speaker 3: we try and do, and that's what we urge others
Speaker 3: to join us, and hopefully we lead by example.
Speaker 2: Well, I tell you, I know I'm joining you. I
Speaker 2: know many others will, And that is really one of
Speaker 2: the reasons why I want to end with that rich
Speaker 2: because it's such a beautiful way for listeners to understand
Speaker 2: the tamping down of this hate, of this anti semitism,
Speaker 2: of this dehumanizing, of this normalization of violence. It's going
Speaker 2: to take every single one of us and you and
Speaker 2: I've talked a lot about there's two battlefields here for
Speaker 2: what's going on, the fight against the barbarism in the
Speaker 2: Gaza strip.
Speaker 1: There is the actual battlefield, the.
Speaker 2: Military battlefield, and then there's a battlefield a public opinion,
Speaker 2: and every one of us can be a part of
Speaker 2: that and say this is wrong, this is a human goal,
Speaker 2: and let's join with the beautiful Jewish statement of tikun.
Speaker 1: Olam to repair the world. I think that's beautiful. Thank you, Rich.
Speaker 2: We're heading to a break, but I so appreciate you joining,
Speaker 2: my friend, and I want you to know I'm speaking
Speaker 2: for myself, but I know I'm speaking for many others.
Speaker 2: We are praying for you, We're praying for our Jewish
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters in this country, and we will work
Speaker 2: together to get to a point where no one needs
Speaker 2: to feel like they're afraid for their children if they
Speaker 2: wear something expressing their identity or their faith.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much, my friend, Bev.
Speaker 3: Thank you. If your listeners want to join us at
Speaker 3: Run for their Lives at the walk, it's Denver's ten
Speaker 3: am on Sundame Boulders at eleven am. You could just
Speaker 3: google it, but that's a tangible way that you can
Speaker 3: say we stand for good, we stand for fixing our world,
Speaker 3: and we stand against terrorists.
Speaker 1: Here here, we will be there, we will be joining you.
Speaker 2: So thank you for that. Thank you, Rich We're heaving
Speaker 2: to your break you take care and God.
Speaker 1: Bless you, God bless you, Thank you, thank you. Bye bye. Well,
Speaker 1: don't go anywhere.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to talk a little
Speaker 2: bit more about this, but I want us all to
Speaker 2: think about that phrase. Take kun olam repair the world.
Speaker 2: We are not responsible for doing it solely. God ultimately
Speaker 2: has to do it. But the reality is we are
Speaker 2: not off the hook for doing our best in that
Speaker 2: area and we can.
Speaker 1: That's a hopeful part.
Speaker 2: We come back, we'll continue that conversation if you want
Speaker 2: to text in five six six nine zero. That's five
Speaker 2: six six nine zero. This is Deborah Flora sitting in
Speaker 2: for Mandy Connell.