One hundred days ago, the world changed. October 7 has proven to be many things: the opening salvo in a brutal war between Israel and Hamas; an attack that could precipitate a broader, regional war; the beginning of a global, ongoing orgy of antisemitism
This could be probably the most difficult and horrifying thing I've ever listened to.
The fact that there are women like Michelle Obama that have a voice, who will #bringthemhome if they are from Nigeria but not from Israel, shows a frightening lack of morality and disdain for humanity in general.
My honest wish for people like Obama and so many others is that they never have to see their daughters go through anything like what happened on October 7 and continues to this day. Yet, their lack of compassion and support makes me hate them with a heat of a thousand suns.
There is no place for ceasefire, even with the broken hostages being returned. There is only a reminder that Never Again, means Never. Again.
Destroy Hamas. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. And for anyone that supports them under the guise of "free palestine", their minds have been captured by evil and they should be punished, either by governments or G-d.
I just listened to this podcast and my brain is literally on fire. The depravity and horror are mind-numbing. I was going to write my own comments but yours are so incredibly spot on, that there's not much left to say, except that my disappointment in our leaders (and those that I don't consider leaders but have enormous influence in this world (e.g. M Obama and the likes)) has reached a new low.
My SF neighborhood has many Palestinians; store owners and others. I see the maps on the wall that are solid green from the Jordan river westward. A neighbor who is socially friendly with others on my block was wearing a “Free Palestine” shirt out of tribal solidarity. I avoid the discussion with them to not have conflict. But, I pursue discussion with friends who live beyond my neighborhood.
Honestly and respectfully, I don’t think that we should avoid conflict. That’s how their frankly mindless behavior becomes socially acceptable. You can be civil and if they really are open to listening for understanding, you might make a small difference. When we all do this, it can have a big impact.
If anyone doubts that dishonest reporting and journalistic malpractice by the likes of Jeffrey Gettleman in this NY Times piece that Bari relied upon for this podcast - can inflame emotions and allow people to mentally justify the carnage and depravity of the assault on Gaza please see Steve's comments above. Then watch this segment on The Hill
If you still have doubts about the veracity of Max's critique ask yourself this: why did the The Daily pull it's segment? Why is there an internal uprising in the NY Times newsroom over the reporting? Why hasn't the NY Times or Jeffrey Gettleman responded to the claims more than a month later???
First, I’ve followed Bari Weiss long enough to know that, as any competent journalist, she relies on multiple sources for her reporting.
Second, relying on anything Max Blumenthal says is beyond insane. He is simply not credible.
Third, I have family members that have physically seen the devastation that Hamas wrought on October 7th and have been working with the families of the hostages and the ones that have been released. Every single word in the podcast is true. Period.
It was barely worth responding to the lies you posted but it is necessary to push back when people lie about what happened.
I am not a Jew, have no friends or relatives in the Middle East and am surely not the type to post messages and opinions online. The past few months since Oct 7th have changed me. How anyone of conscience can fail to unequivocally and wholeheartedly condemn Hamas for their monstrous cruelty saddens me. This podcast was devastating and very hard to listen to, but I implore all who read this to do so.
I listened to every word and now more than ever, my heart is broken. How dare anyone keep silent? How dare anyone mock the mothers of these girls? Who will bring them home? Who is caring for the babies? I would now be in jail, I fear, had I heard the boos or pig noises or any evil words…I want to hit, slap, kick hard in response. The pure evil of Oct. 7 and the continuing evil of caring only for Gaza while these women and children are abused, starved, mistreated infuriates me! I am not a Jew. I am a Christian. Bari, how hard it must be for you to keep digging, to keep hearing new horrors and to keep reporting. Your bravery will not go unnoticed. Your personal sacrifice is honoring to all who have suffered unimaginably and are still suffering. I look to you for truth, even as it tears my heart in two. Hang on and keep pounding. We MUST bring all of the hostages home. Everyone who hears this podcast is responsible to speak out. I am so very angry. I pray that God will soon intervene. Have mercy on us all, Lord God, for in our silence, we become complicit with evil, the worst evil I have seen in my 69 years of life,
Many of our people take that safety so for granted that we have lost our boundaries and our moral clarity as a nation.
I don't think those on the left have any idea what they are throwing away or what they are signing us on for. We have to wake up and turn this around from the inside before it's too late.
Thank You, Bari, for doing everything you can do to lift the blinders from our eyes...
Thank you for this grim witness to the absolute worst of human nature unleashed on innocents. It’s beyond heartbreaking to see the denial and hypocrisy in the west over this. But I think you have also pointed out that we are witnessing a new kind of ideological trench warfare. Both sides are dug in. Both hurl “facts”and “context “ at the other side. Each believes the other is deluded. No one is changing position, or so it seems. The catastrophe that confronts me now is that the pro Hamas message has gotten hold in the western cultural imagination. And facts don’t seem to matter. What do those of us that believe that this is the beginning of the end of western culture do in response? Your podcast is a noble effort, but you’re preaching to the choir; none of my ( former) friends will even consider it. Their mind is made up. I don’t want to give in to despair, and yet…
Am with you Greg. But, I think the mental gymnastics of navigating so many contradictions in the “pro-Palestine” camp place the woke over very thin ice.
The realization these organizations are not apolitical is something conservatives have been aware of for years. It’s been blindingly obvious to the unbiased.
Oct 7th has pulled the shroud of many liberal’s eyes. Maybe some good will come from this. Folks who’ve been told to hate each other can realize they’ve been used and propagandized.
Full disclose these polarizing forces are at work on both sides of the aisle but the Federal Government, most NGOs and most MSM support the left.
Of the people screaming "shame on you" at the hostage's mother, I suspect many if not most of them are very quick to use maximum emotional blackmail on, say, gun rights supporters. They sure don't seem to like being on the receiving end of (an entirely justified version of) it.
You know, I have no expectation that “actor-activists” will ever do anything useful or courageous. Such people are merely jesters and they wear their “activism” like they wear their designer clothes and expensive plastic surgeries - it exists only to make them look good. But, in my naivety, I held serious people like Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama to a higher standard. Clearly, I was wrong, wrong, wrong. That pair are worse than jesters. They are hypocritical, cowardly monsters. Fuck them both.
The #MeToo groups are morally compromised and have been from the start. Only those they agree with or care about are worthy of note. There are no moral absolutes in their world.
This level of evil is disturbing, it’s heart wrenching. Praying for the women that remain in captivity and the rest of the hostages. May God give them mental and physical strength 🙏🏽
I can't get this out of my mind. What kind of culture creates a mindset where people consider this level of atrocity acceptable, much less worthy of celebration?
I am listening to podcast in pieces. At age 9 or 10; I was supposed to be abducted by a bad guy two days in a row during my early morning paper route 1976. But, I escaped both days. Parents helped on day 02. The bad guy never touched me (15 feet away) and I never touched his car ( 3 inches away as door opened). Today, I am viewing the disturbing silence about the hostages as an economist. Those who think there will be no cost for their silence are delusional. The cost may even be paid by a good guy like me if society gets more weird. Damn it, we are all in this together.
She dedicated her life to socialism, she felt at home at the Socialist International, and she thought, she really thought, that those socialist leaders were her friends. That socialism went above and beyond any race, nationality, or ancestry.
But come October 1973, and it turns out that socialism is indeed brotherhood, except when Israel is concerned. Socialist European leader refused to help Israel, a country led by socialists since its founding and most aligned with socialist values, in its existential crisis.
She felt deeply disappointed (and told them to their faces).
Fast forward to October 2023. It turns out that all feminists are sisters... except for Israeli women.
One of my Jewish friends stated that what is going on now in Israel, but also before Oct 7 throughout the Mideast and Africa, is the failure of the nation-state. He didn't say this, but with what's become so obvious since Oct 7 is that as nation-states fail, ideology arises as the dominant factor that will drive future conflicts including civil wars.
Bari, you are right, horrible but necessary to listen to this Honestly podcast. Keep doing what you know needs to be done, and thank you.
Tom, do you mean that Israel, parts of middle east and parts of Africa are failed states or do you mean globally? I think of Israel as more resilient than many other nations, not to diminish the crisis at present.
I found my friend's comment intriguing and thought provoking, so I threw it out here, and frankly your question is making me think thru the implications of his comment.
I don't think Israel is a failed state, but there are certainly numerous failed states throughout the world, mostly in the Middle East (Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan for example) and Africa (Somalia, Sudan, Libya, others). These states can't control their borders or protect their populations - think Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates in these regions. Israel wasn't attacked by a nation state, it was attacked by an ideology (indeed, been under attack by that ideology for decades). So maybe it isn't the failure of the nation-state per se but failure of an international order based on respecting individual nation-states? Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and others dictatorships looking to expand their borders via military force or intimidation, while promoting terror organizations that are based on ideology or tribe rather than geography and constitutional history.
Caveat: I'm no geo-political scientist, no background in that at all, but maybe this is thought provoking.
This could be probably the most difficult and horrifying thing I've ever listened to.
The fact that there are women like Michelle Obama that have a voice, who will #bringthemhome if they are from Nigeria but not from Israel, shows a frightening lack of morality and disdain for humanity in general.
My honest wish for people like Obama and so many others is that they never have to see their daughters go through anything like what happened on October 7 and continues to this day. Yet, their lack of compassion and support makes me hate them with a heat of a thousand suns.
There is no place for ceasefire, even with the broken hostages being returned. There is only a reminder that Never Again, means Never. Again.
Destroy Hamas. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. And for anyone that supports them under the guise of "free palestine", their minds have been captured by evil and they should be punished, either by governments or G-d.
I just listened to this podcast and my brain is literally on fire. The depravity and horror are mind-numbing. I was going to write my own comments but yours are so incredibly spot on, that there's not much left to say, except that my disappointment in our leaders (and those that I don't consider leaders but have enormous influence in this world (e.g. M Obama and the likes)) has reached a new low.
My SF neighborhood has many Palestinians; store owners and others. I see the maps on the wall that are solid green from the Jordan river westward. A neighbor who is socially friendly with others on my block was wearing a “Free Palestine” shirt out of tribal solidarity. I avoid the discussion with them to not have conflict. But, I pursue discussion with friends who live beyond my neighborhood.
Honestly and respectfully, I don’t think that we should avoid conflict. That’s how their frankly mindless behavior becomes socially acceptable. You can be civil and if they really are open to listening for understanding, you might make a small difference. When we all do this, it can have a big impact.
If anyone doubts that dishonest reporting and journalistic malpractice by the likes of Jeffrey Gettleman in this NY Times piece that Bari relied upon for this podcast - can inflame emotions and allow people to mentally justify the carnage and depravity of the assault on Gaza please see Steve's comments above. Then watch this segment on The Hill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paDjsRkhc28
If you still have doubts about the veracity of Max's critique ask yourself this: why did the The Daily pull it's segment? Why is there an internal uprising in the NY Times newsroom over the reporting? Why hasn't the NY Times or Jeffrey Gettleman responded to the claims more than a month later???
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/01/10/questions-nyt-hamas-rape-report/
https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1740641517847335009
First, I’ve followed Bari Weiss long enough to know that, as any competent journalist, she relies on multiple sources for her reporting.
Second, relying on anything Max Blumenthal says is beyond insane. He is simply not credible.
Third, I have family members that have physically seen the devastation that Hamas wrought on October 7th and have been working with the families of the hostages and the ones that have been released. Every single word in the podcast is true. Period.
It was barely worth responding to the lies you posted but it is necessary to push back when people lie about what happened.
I am not a Jew, have no friends or relatives in the Middle East and am surely not the type to post messages and opinions online. The past few months since Oct 7th have changed me. How anyone of conscience can fail to unequivocally and wholeheartedly condemn Hamas for their monstrous cruelty saddens me. This podcast was devastating and very hard to listen to, but I implore all who read this to do so.
I listened to every word and now more than ever, my heart is broken. How dare anyone keep silent? How dare anyone mock the mothers of these girls? Who will bring them home? Who is caring for the babies? I would now be in jail, I fear, had I heard the boos or pig noises or any evil words…I want to hit, slap, kick hard in response. The pure evil of Oct. 7 and the continuing evil of caring only for Gaza while these women and children are abused, starved, mistreated infuriates me! I am not a Jew. I am a Christian. Bari, how hard it must be for you to keep digging, to keep hearing new horrors and to keep reporting. Your bravery will not go unnoticed. Your personal sacrifice is honoring to all who have suffered unimaginably and are still suffering. I look to you for truth, even as it tears my heart in two. Hang on and keep pounding. We MUST bring all of the hostages home. Everyone who hears this podcast is responsible to speak out. I am so very angry. I pray that God will soon intervene. Have mercy on us all, Lord God, for in our silence, we become complicit with evil, the worst evil I have seen in my 69 years of life,
Well said.
This country is rotting from the inside.
We have been very safe for a very long time.
Many of our people take that safety so for granted that we have lost our boundaries and our moral clarity as a nation.
I don't think those on the left have any idea what they are throwing away or what they are signing us on for. We have to wake up and turn this around from the inside before it's too late.
Thank You, Bari, for doing everything you can do to lift the blinders from our eyes...
Thank you for this grim witness to the absolute worst of human nature unleashed on innocents. It’s beyond heartbreaking to see the denial and hypocrisy in the west over this. But I think you have also pointed out that we are witnessing a new kind of ideological trench warfare. Both sides are dug in. Both hurl “facts”and “context “ at the other side. Each believes the other is deluded. No one is changing position, or so it seems. The catastrophe that confronts me now is that the pro Hamas message has gotten hold in the western cultural imagination. And facts don’t seem to matter. What do those of us that believe that this is the beginning of the end of western culture do in response? Your podcast is a noble effort, but you’re preaching to the choir; none of my ( former) friends will even consider it. Their mind is made up. I don’t want to give in to despair, and yet…
Am with you Greg. But, I think the mental gymnastics of navigating so many contradictions in the “pro-Palestine” camp place the woke over very thin ice.
The realization these organizations are not apolitical is something conservatives have been aware of for years. It’s been blindingly obvious to the unbiased.
Oct 7th has pulled the shroud of many liberal’s eyes. Maybe some good will come from this. Folks who’ve been told to hate each other can realize they’ve been used and propagandized.
Full disclose these polarizing forces are at work on both sides of the aisle but the Federal Government, most NGOs and most MSM support the left.
Of the people screaming "shame on you" at the hostage's mother, I suspect many if not most of them are very quick to use maximum emotional blackmail on, say, gun rights supporters. They sure don't seem to like being on the receiving end of (an entirely justified version of) it.
You know, I have no expectation that “actor-activists” will ever do anything useful or courageous. Such people are merely jesters and they wear their “activism” like they wear their designer clothes and expensive plastic surgeries - it exists only to make them look good. But, in my naivety, I held serious people like Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama to a higher standard. Clearly, I was wrong, wrong, wrong. That pair are worse than jesters. They are hypocritical, cowardly monsters. Fuck them both.
The #MeToo groups are morally compromised and have been from the start. Only those they agree with or care about are worthy of note. There are no moral absolutes in their world.
This level of evil is disturbing, it’s heart wrenching. Praying for the women that remain in captivity and the rest of the hostages. May God give them mental and physical strength 🙏🏽
I can't get this out of my mind. What kind of culture creates a mindset where people consider this level of atrocity acceptable, much less worthy of celebration?
Thing is, Barri, should someone rape my wife or daughter or sister - by God in the skies - I assure you that there would be Hell to pay and in Full.
Just what kind of man would I be if this wasn't so?
Just askin' ?
Bari says here what needed to be said. May it be heard around the world.
I am listening to podcast in pieces. At age 9 or 10; I was supposed to be abducted by a bad guy two days in a row during my early morning paper route 1976. But, I escaped both days. Parents helped on day 02. The bad guy never touched me (15 feet away) and I never touched his car ( 3 inches away as door opened). Today, I am viewing the disturbing silence about the hostages as an economist. Those who think there will be no cost for their silence are delusional. The cost may even be paid by a good guy like me if society gets more weird. Damn it, we are all in this together.
Sigh, again and again...
I recently read a biography of Golda Meir.
She dedicated her life to socialism, she felt at home at the Socialist International, and she thought, she really thought, that those socialist leaders were her friends. That socialism went above and beyond any race, nationality, or ancestry.
But come October 1973, and it turns out that socialism is indeed brotherhood, except when Israel is concerned. Socialist European leader refused to help Israel, a country led by socialists since its founding and most aligned with socialist values, in its existential crisis.
She felt deeply disappointed (and told them to their faces).
Fast forward to October 2023. It turns out that all feminists are sisters... except for Israeli women.
Thank you Bari.
One of my Jewish friends stated that what is going on now in Israel, but also before Oct 7 throughout the Mideast and Africa, is the failure of the nation-state. He didn't say this, but with what's become so obvious since Oct 7 is that as nation-states fail, ideology arises as the dominant factor that will drive future conflicts including civil wars.
Bari, you are right, horrible but necessary to listen to this Honestly podcast. Keep doing what you know needs to be done, and thank you.
Tom, do you mean that Israel, parts of middle east and parts of Africa are failed states or do you mean globally? I think of Israel as more resilient than many other nations, not to diminish the crisis at present.
I found my friend's comment intriguing and thought provoking, so I threw it out here, and frankly your question is making me think thru the implications of his comment.
I don't think Israel is a failed state, but there are certainly numerous failed states throughout the world, mostly in the Middle East (Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan for example) and Africa (Somalia, Sudan, Libya, others). These states can't control their borders or protect their populations - think Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates in these regions. Israel wasn't attacked by a nation state, it was attacked by an ideology (indeed, been under attack by that ideology for decades). So maybe it isn't the failure of the nation-state per se but failure of an international order based on respecting individual nation-states? Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and others dictatorships looking to expand their borders via military force or intimidation, while promoting terror organizations that are based on ideology or tribe rather than geography and constitutional history.
Caveat: I'm no geo-political scientist, no background in that at all, but maybe this is thought provoking.