7/28/25: Bibi Denies Gaza Starvation, Liberals Flip On Israel, Rogan Rejects Bibi Interview

24:53It's gonna go on forever. There is no political constituency inside of Israel that actually seeks a ceasefire or a diplomatic solution. Yeah. So what is you know, what's next? Well, not to mention that, you know, there's there's claims that, oh, they're going to let more aid in. Believe that when you see it. Yeah. Believe that when you see it, because it's very likely that they just I mean, so far, there are no reports of, you know, increased aid reaching the population on the ground. and they've done these, we can put these, this airdrop image up on the screen. This is A10. You know, they've allowed in some of these airdrops, which is just another, you know, they did this a little bit under the Biden administration.

25:30We covered it then. Like, this is just like a PR stunt. And then you can see the absolute chaos. I mean, these people are starving it out. They're desperate. They're trying to get whatever they can to like, you know, save themselves and their family. And so, of course, it's just, you know, absolute disaster. There have been injuries with this. And the amount of food that's getting in is absolutely paltry. So thus far, there has not been any significant increase in aid. And you certainly would not put it past them or, you know, the Trump administration running cover for them to say to do some show of, you know, we're letting the airdrops in and here's a few more trucks, but not really change the situation on the ground.

26:10And make no mistake about it, the situation is incredibly dire. the very latest update we have, is that there have been 14 more cases of death by starvation over just the last 24 hours. So that's the pace. You know, the pace of starvation death is escalating. That brings to 147 confirmed starvation deaths, most of them, again, occurring over the past several weeks. And that includes 88 kids who have been starved to death. And it takes effort. It takes like a concerted plan. And a famine is not just something that randomly happens, especially not one where the entire 100 % of the population in the Gaza Strip is impacted by this.

26:49They are in the fifth, the worst stage of famine at this point, where there will be, even if they did flood the zone with aid at this point, where there will be dire consequences, including continued deaths for some period of time. And there will be irreversible health damage to many of the 2 million, roughly, people who are in the Gaza Strip because of the level of malnutrition. I mean, kids who are trying to develop and grow. And I mean, you just you can't even imagine it like you truly cannot imagine it. And one of the thing from that Axios report that we had up before that I just want to really underscore a note for you guys is they report in there that Trump has given Netanyahu a free hand to do whatever he wants.

27:28That's exactly what they say from military operations to hostage negotiations and the distribution of humanitarian aid. Well, White House officials say Trump is genuinely disturbed by the killing of Palestinians and wants the war to end. He has applied virtually no pressure on Netanyahu to end it in the last few months. In most calls and meetings, Trump told Bibi, quote, do what you have to do in Gaza. In some cases, he even encouraged Netanyahu to go harder on Hamas. And there was another clip of Trump from a few days ago where he said Israel needs to finish the job. I mean, that's where he's been.

28:02So, I mean, any sort of concern he has, like, who cares whether you're bothered by the images or not, if you're not willing to do anything in order to stop it. And yes, you have plenty of power to stop it. A couple more things here to get to. Let's put a seven up on the screen just to underscore the point Sagar was making about how sick Israeli society is at this point. This is on Israeli Channel 14. And this is, you know, this commentator who is mocking a mother whose child died of starvation. And they're saying, oh, well, she looks like this is not a starving woman. No, this woman may have eaten all of her child's food.

28:44I don't know. I can't think of any other option. A woman who ate a whole goat, who ate the girl herself. That's what they're saying about this mom whose four-year-old daughter died of starvation imposed by Israel. That's what they're saying. And, you know, listen, it's so sick and twisted. You hate to even address it. But guys, guess what? Children are the most vulnerable. Their little bodies are trying to grow. They take more nutrients. They have fewer, yes, fat stores to draw on when they're little kids. So of course, they're the most vulnerable to starvation. And it's just absolutely sick and twisted, the things that you see coming out of this society, which is in a, by and large, and there are exceptions, but there is a genocidal fervor that has taken hold of this society.

29:31They are fully on board, by and large, on board with blocking aid. They are by and large on board with complete ethnic cleansing. According to the polls, close to a majority of Israeli Jews are on board with an absolute complete and total genocide of the Palestinian population. And those are the voices that are represented and very powerful within this government. So we can't fool ourselves about what is going on within that society. And last one here, let's put A9 up on the screen because this is important too in terms of some of the lies and the fraud that has been spun. So the Israelis have been trying and their propagandists have been trying to spin this idea that it's the UN's fault that there's starvation.

30:10Well, there's not starvation, but if there is starvation, it's the UN's fault. Bullshit. Look at this. The IDF, according to an Israeli channel, again, Israeli report, they destroyed a thousand trucks worth of aid and buried that aid rather than provide it to Palestinians. This is our friend Shiael Ben-Efram, who says this occurred two months ago, resulting in the current hunger crisis in Gaza. The same source says the IDF is about to destroy more aid. Don't let anyone tell you the hunger is not intentional. This is a deliberate Israeli policy. And in fact, the UN had brought in trucks back a week or so ago.

30:47And the Palestinians who were desperate swarmed the trucks. And then the IDF shot at both the Palestinians and those aid workers. So if you're the UN, how can you distribute aid? First of all, they're blocking the vast majority of anything coming in. and then they're firing on aid workers. And by the way, if you don't want to have this chaotic situation and there's no proof whatsoever that Hamas has been stealing the aid as they've been asserting, but if that is truly your concern, the answer to that, Sagar, is actually to have a mass quantity of aid so that food is not so valuable and so precious, that there's plenty to go around, so that the Gaza, quote-unquote, humanitarian foundation, they tweeted in Gaza, food is power.

31:34Yeah, when you have nothing, then of course, the scarce supply, whoever has that, ends up with a lot of power. So if you're so concerned that, oh, it could be Hamas of benefits, that is even more of an argument to flood the zone with aid, with food, with water, with fuel, so that people are not starving to death. Yeah, the World Food Program says they have enough food to feed every person in Gaza for the next three months. Just let them do it. That's it. And the whole point is that I know this is difficult. The reason why that the UN was not, quote, distributing this is because you said not only the security situation, but it's because the Israelis and the Americans said there's only one way that you're allowed to do that, and that's with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

32:17Yes. And they're like, well, we're not going to partner with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation because they're openly slaughtering, killing people whenever people come for aid. Yeah. You're basically setting up a death trap. Yeah, over 1 ,000 Palestinians. massacred trying to seek aid. You've shot and killed. Humanitarian Foundation. Yeah, maybe tomorrow we'll talk about that Green Beret, right, who came out. I mean, it's unbelievable, right? And this is a guy who served in multiple theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's like, I have literally never witnessed this level of carnage of war crimes by the IDF and of the gunning down of people who are coming for aid.

32:51He said that out loud, right? And so you can see why as an international aid organization, you would not want to both legitimize and actually partner with said thing because then your food would basically be used as bait to kill even more people. It's a horrific, horrific situation. As I said, look, I think it's better, obviously, that some of the aid begins to come in. But this is, in my opinion, probably the darkest part of the entire war because it shows the full force of the propaganda machine in Israel, in America. And also, listen, guys, I mean, I know people think it's a victory. Our ambassador is still denying that there's any starvation.

33:31Our government is still allowing all this to happen. The EU and the Brits and all these people, yeah, they'll put out a statement. As long as some of the aid continues to go in, like this is going to continue now for quite some time. And I don't know. It's not good. It's just like – I don't really see at this point any sort of like slow – anything less than total victory for their own diplomatic part. I just saw some reporting from outside of Israel. It's like BB wants to take the summer to basically, you know, re-engineer his re-rise to power, beat the court case. And after that, that's when the full-on, like, expulsion is going to happen.

34:13That's their plan. What it sounds like when you road trip to the iHeartRadio Music Festival in the all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. Wow, this is really nice inside. The Palisade Hybrid has more luxury than ever. Whoa, this sound system is awesome. Turn it up. More tech than ever. Sweet. You got the available built-in dash cam? And more range than ever because the Palisade Hybrid gets up to 600 plus miles of range on a full tank. So do we ever have to stop for gas? Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months.

34:54I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, Shut up. Don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

35:40Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story.

36:16I'm obsessed. So obsessed. From best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. At the same time, there's an interesting cultural moment that's worth examining where I think because of the images of these emaciated babies who are dying from this blockade, I think there's been some realization of how this is all going to look in the history books.

37:09And so there's some some CYA going on of everybody from Richie Torres, Barry Weiss, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, who's been completely silent, suddenly feeling like they we need to say something like we need to put something out. And many of these statements are pathetic, milquetoast, buy into a bunch of the Israeli Hasbara propaganda. But something has happened that made all of these people at once feel like, OK, we need to express some sort of sympathy for these babies that our country, along with Israel, literally starving to death. So here's Richie Torres, who is a particularly interesting case.

37:52Ritchie, of course, has taken some like roughly$1.5 million from AIPAC and the Israel lobby. He is one of, if not Israel's staunchest defender in Congress, seems to focus much more on Israel, a foreign country, than his own district in the Bronx, which is the poorest congressional district in the entire country. Even he felt the need to separate himself in this interview with Chuck Todd a little bit from the Netanyahu government. Let's go ahead and take a listen to a little bit of that. But there's this feeling that it's become harder to criticize Netanyahu without somebody accusing that person of being anti-Semitic.

38:32Yeah. Right. And this is this. And there's angst in this in the Jewish community. There's angst outside it. I'm guessing you probably hear it yourself in your own district. Look, I love America. But I do not love my government. And it is possible to support Israel as a country while objecting to the Israeli government. And the idea that there should be a Jewish state and not necessarily being in favor of what Bibi's doing. Every country, including Israel, is fair game for criticism. If you're a Democrat, and if you're a Democrat of color, and if you're a black Democrat, you take immense pride in Barack Obama.

39:13I mean, he represents just one of the greatest achievements in politics. We take pride in his presidency. And to see a foreign leader visibly disrespect him in the manner that Bibi Netanyahu did, I feel, did irreparable damage to the relationship with the Democratic Party. I think there's a legitimate perception that the present Israeli government is just aligned with the Republican Party. No, Richie Sager, I think, is a particularly special example because Zoran Mamdani won his district, congressional district, quite overwhelmingly. And so he has seen a little bit of the political writing on the wall.

39:52I do think that this is largely the Zoran effect where he's realizing that he is wildly out of step with the Democratic Party base, including his own base, in his district. And he has come out swinging now in defense of Zoran and against the Islamophobic attacks against him. You know, he has, you know, put out other comments about the starvation. And then he goes here and says this, which is very counter to, you know, the way he's voted in Congress, where he's always there to vote for these definitions that conflate anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. So for him to come out and announce, of course, you can criticize the government of Israel.

40:26Oh, really? That's not the way that you've positioned yourself up to this point. But I think with him in particular, you know, I don't think it's the starvation images so much as him reading the political writing on the wall and fearing a primary challenge. In particular, Michael Blake, who endorsed Zoran in that primary, lives in that district and is being encouraged and contemplating running in a primary against him. And I think he would be vulnerable. So he is desperately trying to reposition himself. Yeah, it's interesting there on Richie. He's trying to whitewash a little bit. Really what I think what we're kind of seeing, though, is like the starvation was the jump off point for a lot of centrists to do this.

41:04But it kind of reminds me of the liberal Zionist movement broadly about like, oh, Tel Aviv, it's the most beautiful place. It has, what, gay pride parades. It's actually a pluralistic, you know, incredible and free society. And like that is the Israel, you know, that they kind of want to defend. But obviously over the last 18 months, like there's been a big, I would say, revealing of what the country, you know, really is all about. And this is now the way that they can criticize Israel or they can acknowledge facts about what's going on without undermining the aims of the war itself and or the state and the diplomatic cover.

41:42So, for example, you know, here we have former AIPAC employee Wolf Blitzer, who is now openly acknowledging some of the reality here, where, if you'll recall, you know, even he in the very early days of the war, we had multiple clips here, was openly defensive, you know, of the IDF. So let's take a listen. Dozens and dozens of humanitarian groups are warning that doctors, journalists, aid workers are going hungry alongside what's going on in Gaza right now. UNICEF says that what 80 % this is UNICEF 80 % of those who have died of starvation are children in Gaza And now the enclave is on the brink of running out of Specialized food that needed that's needed to save these kids in order for people to survive In Gaza you need at least about 1500 truck trucks coming in every day with supplies Are you holding a three-month-old baby who is starving to death accountable for things that that baby did not?

42:40No, I'm holding Hamas accountable. It's so important to remember that we are not talking about talking points. We are talking about human beings. And there are people who are starving, children who are starving in Gaza today, who had absolutely nothing to do with what happened on October 7th. We are in the wealthiest country of the world. Israel is our ally and our partner. We have leverage here. The question is, why aren't we using it? And that, like other news organizations around the world, is prevented by Israel from reporting inside Gaza and from seeing for ourselves what is really going on.

43:13So we rely on trusted freelancers in the territory. Mohammed and his mother, Hedaya, were filmed by one of the trusted Palestinian freelancers we work with in Gaza, who are themselves starving. Israel does not allow international journalists to enter the territory. So you can see, even CNN has begun to turn. Let's put B3 up here on the screen. This is, in my opinion, some of the most important crystal. This is from the Free Press, which is ironically named. But you can see that not even that long ago in May, they had a story called, quote, The Gaza Famine Myth, How Lazy Journalism, Bad Data, and Skewed Statistics Fueled Accusations of War Crimes Against Israel.

43:55And then not even, what, two months or so later, they had that guy, Amit Segal, who is himself a right-wing Israeli journalist, actually write a story, say, quote, The price of flour shows the hunger crisis in Gaza. There have been tremendous lies about Israel's war. That doesn't mean the threat of starvation isn't real. It is. And in fact, Amit really is, I think, trying to get ahead of the entire situation. He was even quoting people who were Israeli scholars who were warning about the flour and the hunger crisis in Gaza. This is another one. This still takes some explaining. This is a guy named Yair Rosenberg who really, in my opinion, embodies the liberal Zionist movement.

44:33But broadly, he's like the anti-Semitism hatchet man. Like he's the person who works for the Atlantic who's constantly concern trolling around anti-Semitism. And here he writes, quote, my latest, how Trump opened the door to ethnic cleansing in Gaza. He needs to close it and stop feeding the Israeli rights fantasy of conquest or he will never achieve the peace he claims to want. Please read the whole thing. Quote, Trump turned a far right fantasy ethnic cleansing in Gaza into U.S. policy. He needs to reject it. I mean, look, it doesn't take a genius to say also this is not just a Trump policy.

45:05This has been a Biden policy now as well. All of it has been underwritten by America. If anything, Trump is – the Trump administration is just more open about allowing it to happen. But it's like Ben Gavir and Bibi have been saying this since October of 2023, people, in terms of what the actual goal of the entire war is. So you can see that people in the U.S. are trying to shift. But again, I think that the starvation is actually the access point so that when Israel buckles, which they did, at least for now, they can say, see, you know, they listen to us without undermining any of the broader policy implications of the war or, and more importantly, upsetting future funding to the state of Israel, which they'll continue to call you anti-Semitic or whatever.

45:45Of course. You know? Of course. So nothing is really changing, in my opinion. This is all like a big cover operation, like a limited hangout, I guess, is the way that you do it. Yeah, I think that's right. And with regards to the free press, I hate even calling them that, the Barry Weiss publication, their line is like, oh, well, you know, it's so hard for Israelis or Israel supporters to take these, you know, legitimate reports of starvation seriously because there have been crying wolf all along about how everybody was starving to death. And this was just a pack of lies. That is all just complete and total bullshit.

46:17I mean, again, you had days after October 7th, you had Yoav Galan announcing a complete siege and we're going to treat them like human animals. And while there have been times when war aid has been coming in, yes, there have been dire circumstances in the past. And even though the majority of starvation deaths have come now, there were starvation deaths, by the way, before. But they act like if the whole population is not like dying today, then it's not really a big deal. if you have people, a large proportion of the population, going without food for days and days at a time. So the risk has been very real.

46:51It takes a long time. It takes months and months of concerted effort to get a, we're talking about 100 % of the population in famine conditions, in like the worst stage of famine conditions right now. And that is something that we don't see even in, you know, some of the worst, most war-torn places in other parts of the planet. In Gaza, it is the worst. So yes, all those warnings, all of that concern, all of the way along, that has been completely and totally justified and is vindicated, but horrifyingly vindicated by the fact that we now have so many people now, over a dozen people died just yesterday, just in the last 24 hours from starvation.

47:32It actually takes you a long time to get to the point where you literally die from lack of food to eat. You got a bunch of politicians on the, mostly these are on the Democratic side that have decided, okay, we better say something at this point. Could put this up on the screen. Barack Obama. Oh, that guy's still around. He had this to say. He says, well, lasting resolution of the crisis in Gaza must involve a return of all hostages, cessation of Israel's military operations. These articles underscore the immediate need for action to be taken to prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation.

48:08So there you go. very milquetoast, not a lot of blame attributed there. And he shared some New York Times pieces that contained a bunch of Israeli hasbara. Let's go ahead to the next one. I believe we've got Cory Booker here. I mean, this guy's typical Bill Ackman-length post on Twitter. But I'll just save you the trouble and tell you that nowhere in this long screen does he mention the country. The word Israel is not in here at all. And Cory Booker is a big AIPAC recipient and always carrying the line for them, but he felt the need at least to say something about what he describes accurately as the catastrophic hunger and suffering of civilians, especially children, women, sick, and elderly in Gaza.

48:47Let's go and put the next one up on the screen. Hillary Clinton, she actually beat Barack Obama to the punch. She says eight organizations report thousands of children in Gaza are at risk of starvation while trucks are full of food sit waiting across the border. Full flow of humanitarian assistance must be restored immediately. Again, Israel is not mentioned. I actually wonder if Obama didn't see her pose and be like shit. Hillary got in before me. I better say something. I better say something. Put the next one up on the screen. We've got Marjorie Taylor Greene, who says, I can unequivocally say what happened to innocent people in Israel on October 7th was horrific, just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific.

49:23The war and humanitarian crisis must end. I mean, I sort of hate calling it a humanitarian crisis because it makes it sound like this just happened. Yeah. Right? Like this wasn't an intentional Israeli and U.S. policy. to starve these people to death. But that, in fact, is exactly what is going on there. And then finally, we've got Amy Klobuchar, who was just recently pictured in that lovely photo op with wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu when he was here in Washington. Now she gave a little heartfelt, voice-quavering presentation on the floor of the Senate about how acute malnutrition is rising.

50:01Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while seeking food, most in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites and others on the routes of aid convoys. This is simply unacceptable. I think she may have been one of the ones that signed on to Chris Van Hollen is leading a new letter calling on us to stop using the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, allow the UN to go about distributing aid. I think she may have been one of the people who signed on to that. But again, total change, total repositioning from her as she now pretends to care about Palestinian life. They're all like that.

50:35I mean, if you look at Cory Booker, he was pictured with Yoav Gallant not that long ago. Oh, he was also in that Netanyahu photo. He was trying to hide behind someone else, but he was there, yeah. I'll give MTG a pass. I mean, she actually tried to cut all funding to Israel, which apparently AOC is not even willing to sign on to. But within the Republican framework, that's about as good as you're going to get from any politician. The truth is, is that, you know, and that's what I was warning about before. This is basically like a way for these centrist pro-Israel folks to say, look, we pressured them and they're good people.

51:08They're allowing the aid in without undermining any of the war goals, aims itself. So to the extent that there's been any diplomatic pressure, that's where it is. But you should also take it as proof that when you want to, you can force them to do anything. I mean, you know, it only took a day for them to buckle on the starvation and to actually allow something. Now, again, I'm not claiming that's going to fix anything, but obviously it's better than nothing and it's changing things in the future. And so where things are right now is I think, again, that they're trying to set the ground so that the, quote, legitimate war aims don't get changed at all.

51:43And that's just going to continue marching forward. I guess it's a big question of whether the Democratic apparatus itself will put up with it. I think they will. I just don't think there's any real evidence outside of this right now that they're not going to forcefully push back on the Republican side too. I mean the dollars are just going to keep flowing. There's at least going to be another vote sometime in the next six months to one year to continue more aid to Israel. I guarantee you it's going to pass. But I mean it's just more of a question about – it's more of a question about the political system where, look, if you look at the right and left-wing polling on this, outside of boomer evangelical Americans, the entire country is against funding Israel now at this point.

52:22The entire country, like probably super majorities effectively, especially by the way, if they really knew what was going on and if Fox and, you know, that's probably what the first honest segment you've seen on CNN on Israel in like two years. Now imagine if that was on Fox News or anywhere else. I really, I genuinely believe everything would change if that were to happen, but that's the power of the propaganda machine. It really is. And so that's where the political ground is kind of being pointed towards and everything is kind of being used to just pressure them on this one point without undermining the rest of the entire project.

52:53Yeah. I think that the other fear is that Hillary, Obama, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Wolf Blitzer, Barry Weiss, all these people, that they are not stupid people. They, like us, see exactly where this is going. You know, we have reached this point of famine where some of the death and destruction is irreversible. And the plan to completely, you know, ethnically cleanse the population, like it's been laid out in clear terms and is being implemented as we speak. And so they can see the dark direction that this is going in. And so this is their, you know, this is so that two years from now they can, oh, look, I made a statement.

53:40Look, I spoke out about this. Don't let them get away with rewriting history. Like so many of these, I mean, everybody that we just mentioned, they all, they all enabled it, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, by the way, who votes for the military aid for Israel routinely. Like they all enabled this and they should never be forgiven for it. Their little ass covering, milquetoast bullshit statements are not anywhere close to enough to make up for what has been done here. And so I think they see the way that history will record this. I think they see that this is going to get, if it's possible, even darker and more disgusting, abhorrent, outrageous, like barbaric than it was before.

54:23And so they want to put their little, oh, look, I sent on a tweet so that they can pretend Like they're still liberal do-gooders, even though it's all complete and total bullshit. Yeah, well, that's well said. All right, let's move on to the podcast. What it sounds like when you road trip to the iHeartRadio Music Festival in the all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. Wow, this is really nice inside. The Palisade Hybrid has more luxury than ever. Whoa, this sound system is awesome. Turn it up. More tech than ever. Sweet, you got the available built-in dash cam? And more range than ever because the Palisade Hybrid gets up to 600 plus miles of range on a full tank.

54:58So do we ever have to stop for gas? Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming.

55:48They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse.

56:26I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. From best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place.

57:00Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Now it turned to the podcast environment. Remember, people made a big deal about it during the 2024 election. Well, let's check in on how exactly that's viewing the topic of Israel. We've got some major news here from Benjamin Netanyahu's son. Let's go ahead and put it up there on the screen. This is Yair Netanyahu, who, again, by the way, lives here in America. From his condo in Miami. Yeah, nobody's quite sure why he lives here. Apparently he had to delay his wedding, which is such a tragedy, over the war in Gaza.

57:35He says, quote, great wake up call for conservatives to remember Joe Rogan is not a conservatives. He gave a platform to every single neo-Nazi anti-Semite on this plant, but he refused to have my father. This guy doesn't even speak English. Why does he live here? But he refused to have my father on his show because he knows he doesn't stand a chance against him. And all those years of anti-Semitic propaganda will go to waste. So that is apparently some interesting news from BB's own son that Rogan has refused to have on, Benjamin Netanyahu. But it does fit, I think, with the turn in which the, quote, podcast space has really come around on Israel.

58:18We could go here to the next one, Theo Vaughn, who just tweeted, quote, Mr. At POTUS, JD Vance, Bernie Sanders, RFK Jr., Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna. Theo, please have me on to educate you on who has the power here in this situation. But he says, can we, Mr. blah, blah, blah, can we please get aid into Gaza now? Children are starving to death. We are America. This isn't about politics. This is about humanity. Exactly three people who are tagged there have actual power, the president, J.D. Vance and Robert Kennedy Jr. The rest are, unfortunately, either members of the U.S. Senate and or backbenching congressmen who, listen, they're great.

58:55I have nothing against any of those folks, but it's not like Ro Khanna and Thomas Massey can even force a vote on the Epstein files, let alone get humanitarian aid into Gaza. The truth is there's only one person in that list who has any power. POTUS. J.D. Vance doesn't have any power, really. RFK Jr., OK, yeah. He's still over there struggling to get dyes out of cereal in two years from now or whatever. And using the HHS to go after the scourge of anti-Semitism and accusing Bernie Sanders of blood libel. So he's got his hands full. Right. So there's that. But actually, what is interesting even more is the extent to which Theo and now Tim Dillon and others have really taken their platform, I think, to the next level in calling out the situation.

59:37For example, here is Theo. He's recently, I think he was in an airport, stopped by TMZ. Here's what he had to say. My things would be like what – like why we're being supportive of the genocide in Gaza. Like why are we helping with that? Like, I don't, I think it's making a lot of people feel really scared that, um, it's like hurting our feelings. Like, why are we supporting that? Yeah. And then why wouldn't we come to the rescue of the people over there? Oh, the Epstein thing? Yeah. It's like people, I think people just don't believe that the government works for the people anymore. And it's really just like, and maybe it never has, right?

1:00:16It felt like it was supposed to really feel like America first. And I don't know if people are feeling that. I think people are feeling more nervous. I think there's that deal with Palantir for like a surveillance state. I feel like there's people in power that know where we're headed that aren't telling us. Interesting. Very interesting indeed. And then here we have Tim Dillon reacting to the Nelk Boys interview. But actually, more importantly, it was just the direct call to cut off all eight to Israel. Let's take a listen. Earlier this week, 30-year-old teenagers, the Nelk Boys, received a massive amount of backlash for their interview with Benjamin Netanyahu.

1:00:52We should absolutely cut all funding to Israel immediately. Cut all funding. A hundred percent. I don't know why that's even controversial. So you could see, I mean, you know, cutting off aid to Israel immediately, calling out the Nelk boys. I do think - Can we call them Nelk men? The Nelk men. I like that. You know, you're right. No, I appreciate that because that was something that pissed me off too is they're still like infantilized. Like they infantilize themselves and then I feel like everybody else infantilized. You are 30 years old. Like, at least have the sense that Rogan had to be like, no, I'm not having you on.

1:01:24And the thing that Netanyahu's son said about like, oh, he knows he can't go up against my dad. I mean, it may be true. Like, it certainly was true that the Nelkmen were not prepared to deal with and unpack all of the layers of Hasbara because they haven't been studying it. Clearly, they didn't spend any time studying it before they had him on. That's fine. If you recognize, like, you know what, I'm not really equipped for that, good. That's great. You don't have to do that. And so if he at least had that realization, like, you know what, I'm not really the person to do this. I don't think anything good is going to come out of this.

1:01:57Yes, you don't have to say yes to these interviews. And, like, the entitlement of thinking that you just, this pisses me off, too. There's such an entitlement of some of these figures of, like, oh, well, they should have me on their platform. They wouldn't let me come on their platform. It's like, no, it's their platform. They get to have on and not have on whoever they want, including your war criminal father. You know, the funny thing I found with this Yair Netanyahu situation and others is that they gave the game away too clearly in the actual NELC interview itself. Because the NELC interview, you literally had Bibi say, we're here to reach the young people of America.

1:02:41Right. And then you had the fallout and the NELC guys were like, yeah, the White House tried to set it up. So obviously Israel and the White House tried to work together to reach out to all of these podcasters. By the way, if they reach out to you and you denied it and you don't want – or if you don't want to say it publicly, reach out to me and I will leak it for you. OK? I happily will. But my point is just like I'm curious to see who else that they tried to get onto their platform and what the Israeli government kind of views as its problem. But I do think it is also clear of like some sort of vibe shift that Rogan himself is like, no, I'm not having you on.

1:03:15And I think there's a reason for it, which is not – let's say this is even ahead of the NELT conversation. You're like, ah. It's not even just about being equipped to sit there and to challenge. There is an actual debate here around how to force Netanyahu where, look, even in a Brett Baier interview on Fox, I'm not saying he isn't lying and all that. there's still at least some level of rigor. And there's a reason that even Bibi only agrees, mostly, to journalists' interviews here in Washington. They're not that well equipped. He never sits down for interviews in Israel. Never. For any of these people.

1:03:50You know, the equivalent, the Israeli left or any sort of critical interviewer, they would destroy him if they had the ability to even sit with him for 10 or 15 minutes. He does them in English and these cushy things and makes it so, you know, he's a very skilled communicator, obviously, in English. And what he wants to do is kind of try to use our media to broadly, you know, impact the U.S. population, to keep them as pro-Israel, to keep the dollars that are flowing towards him. I do think that there is a growing recognition because you saw this the last time Bibi was in town after his – it's only his second time in Washington when he met with Tim Pool and all of those other guys behind the scenes.

1:04:27Like they have a sense that the internet and all of that is turning against them. Their belief is that they need to basically use these people as useful idiots. But there is also a growing recognition because of the democratic pressure like small d against all of – on the internet. Just take a look. Not even comment sections, views, videos, et cetera of people who are critical of the government versus the people who are not. I would say it's pretty 90-10 in terms of the issue. You can see then that that's obviously indicative of how a large, especially the younger population of America, really feels about it.

1:05:02Maybe tomorrow we'll cover this Turning Point USA focus group. It is like you could put it in the lab in terms of, look, even with Turning Point and all of them trying to keep it as pro-Israel as possible, there was stuff in there where you're like, wow, this is not good for the future of Israel. And the Republican Party, obviously on the Democratic Party, things are moving rapidly, I think, over the last two years. Yeah, well, and to your point about the like, OK, if you're going to do an interview with someone, you always want to go in with like, OK, what is my goal in this interview? What do I want to accomplish here?

1:05:33Do I want to persuade this person of something? Do I want to expose something? Do I want to just make them look bad? Like, what is it? And, you know, like the interview Tucker did with the Iranian president or the interviews that Scahill does with Hamas or whatever are super useful because those perspectives are not presented in Western media at all. So just to get, OK, what how are they like? What is their propaganda? What is their view of the world? What are they selling to their constituents? Yeah, just that is valuable in those settings. I agree. We know what Netanyahu is selling the pot. We get it all day long.

1:06:08So you have to ask yourself, OK, what is the value of getting this propaganda line that we all could basically recite chapter and verse one more time from Netanyahu himself? And so the only reason really to have him on, in my opinion, is just to relentlessly and aggressively try to expose him as the monster effectively that he is. And so if you aren't prepared or equipped to do that, which in the podcast, we're just having conversations mode, is not going to happen, then there is no value in hearing for the one millionth time what the Israeli propaganda line is. Because you can read it in the New York Times.

1:06:51You can hear it on CNN. You can hear it on Fox News. You can see it in the Wall Street Journal. Americans are very well acquainted with what the Israeli hasbar is ultimately going to be. so it has an interview with him just sort of inherently has very limited value for that reason especially in that right you know in terms of the nelk way of also yeah i mean it's just so ridiculous like when the biggest pushback or whatever that you have is on burger king and on mcdonald's like what i find more interesting about it is that you know if you take this demographic we're not going to say it's maga we're going to say it's like largely male generally younger, skewed more right wing in the 2024 election, a lot of former Bernie bros.

1:07:32And if you see that energy as politically important, which I do, I still remain and believe that it is. Well, we can say then that it's pretty clear that things are breaking dramatically against the state of Israel, against Bibi now specifically, and to try to track that in the future for their ability to effectively try to communicate to the American. Because as long as, you know, this free, look, We have the CNN, the free press, Twitter, and all of that. They have an ironclad hold on the elite. But the rest of the population, in my opinion, is really not putting up with it anymore, including a lot of the Democrats, despite them having a lot of trust in the media.

1:08:07That is the breakage for what the future, I think, will look like for them. And they should be afraid, honestly, because if they do accomplish their goals, which, honestly, I think they will. I do. I just don't see a way to stop them, like in terms of our political system. I'm not saying I would love to stop it if we could. I would cut them off literally tomorrow. I would have done it October 17th or whatever. But nobody wants to do it. Nobody has any stomach for putting up with any of this stuff. And after that happens, I don't see a way for them to actually re-engineer the current status quo in terms of our politics.

1:08:41I could be wrong. I wouldn't put it past them. They're very skilled political manipulators. But I'm not quite sure they could ever do it again. Yeah. And, you know, if the Democratic Party weren't themselves complicit and leadership basically on board with the same project that, you know, Trump is on board with as evidenced by what happened under the Biden administration. I think it's a bit undersold how much this issue could actually turn things around for them and win back young, you know, some of the young men in particular who love them. And I think Zoran's a perfect example of this. Like, yes, Zoran ran a great campaign that was focused on New Yorkers and affordability, etc.

1:09:14But I actually think a key part of his appeal and the reason why he was able to transform the electorate in New York City in a way that leftists have always dreamed and seldom been able to actually pull off. But he actually did it. And he gets, you know, like Andrew Schultz's was amenable to him. Joe Rogan was impressed with him. Like the podcast. Yeah. The podcast universe was like, OK, you know, I may not agree with everything, but like I see where you're coming from. this issue is becoming such a clear dividing line and i've been saying it in the democratic parties of it but i really think it's becoming a clear american dividing line because it's a question you know if you're if you're uh sort of like more right populist inclined it's a question of well what's your priority why are you talking about this foreign country not focused here if you are you know more on the like sort of liberal if you care about seeing babies starve to death with your tax dollars, for example.

1:10:10Obviously, it's a moral atrocity. It's a moral line. And then it also signals, are you willing to stand up against powerful, entrenched interests? Are you willing to be independent? Are you willing to go against the trend when you're getting called an anti-Semite and you're being smeared and your own party won't even endorse you or have anything to do with you? Do you have the backbone to stand up against that. And so, you know, if Democrats had any soul or intelligence, they would realize that this issue, as much as they want to dismiss it as sort of a sideshow, it actually is becoming a central dividing line in American politics.

1:10:47And certainly it is a massive glaring gulf. And we'll talk more about this in the Dems block between Democratic leadership and where the base of the Democratic Party is. And I think there are going to be many Democrats who crash into the rocks of trying to hold on to their AIPAC support and losing the entire Democratic base in the process. I hope you're right.

1:11:31Whoa, this sound system is awesome. Turn it up. More tech than ever. Sweet. You got the available built-in dash cam? And more range than ever because the Palisade Hybrid gets up to 600 plus miles of range on a full tank. So do we ever have to stop for gas? Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. I survived nine months in captivity. and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are The Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

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