In this exclusive podcast edition of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, we welcome the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Lara Friedman, to further inform our listeners about the ongoing state of affairs in Israel/Gaza and the emergency unconditional $14 billion spending bill moving through Congress to aid Israel.
Thanks for the emergency for peace. But we and the planet are lousy at peace, example Afghanistan Iraq Haiti Nicaragua etc. How do we build the peace after ceasefires?
Since October 7th I've listened and read all I can. I'm currently reading Norman Finkelstein's book - Gaza: And Inquisition Into Its Martyrdom.
What's clear to me is how much the Western Media has lied to us. What's also clear is the Democrats, who I've loyally voted for over the years, are in on the lie.
I'm so disgusted I'm seriously considering not voting for them in 2024. There's a side of me that wants Trump to win. Maybe then people will wake up.
I'm 64. If I feel this way imagine how younger people are feeling.
This from Caitlin Johnstone’s newsletter sums up how I feel. Again. Why should I or others vote for a party that’s lied to us over and over again?
“If you’re among the millions of people who are coming to realize that the western political/media class have been lying to you about Israel-Palestine this entire time, you should probably be aware that they’ve been lying to you about every other foreign conflict as well.”
Just talking with my wife. She's not a wonk. She reads maybe one political story a week. She's always voted for Democrats. This is even getting to her.
Her words:
On Biden in general: "He's too old. Your body and mind just doesn't work like it did when you're younger. There's a reason why they call it retirement".
On Israel/Gaza: "Biden should man up, stand up against murdering innocent Palestinians. But he's too afraid of losing the election".
On the state of politics: "Maybe we should vote for that Kennedy guy. What good does voting for Democrats do? Does it matter? Maybe we need to let things burn down".
Me: "For the first time ever, I can understand why people don't vote".
Me to Her: "Ralph said Nancy Pelosi hasn't had a town hall meeting with her constituents in at least 17 years! Can you believe it? I used to praise her".
Me and her: "Why should we stand in line to vote for a party (Democrats) we don't even believe in"?
Me to her talking about how I traveled from Eagle, CO where we live to Chicago in 08 to see history: "Can you believe I spent our money going to Chicago to cheer for Obama? Man, we were blind".
Whew. Just more from a writer for Jewish Currents. Do a bit of a stretch a bit and get Arab and Muslim writers and thinkers on. Try someone like Lowkey, really,
Around 1,500,000 Iraqis, primarily children, died as a direct consequence of the imposed sanctions, according to UNICEF estimates.
+--=
Between 2013 and 2017, about 331,000 people died on the battlefields of Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, DRC, Iraq Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This total is based on data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program Georeferenced Events Dataset (UCDP-GED), with the exception of Syria where, owing to underreporting, we used Violations Documentation Center data. Of these 331,000 people, a total of 174,703 were combatants according to the same sources.
....in the last five years alone 550,000 infants have died due to the reverberating impact of conflict. The total for children under five is 868,000. These estimates are imperfect – they are indicative and may be conservative.
+--+
Israel-Palestine war: Arab regimes have betrayed Gaza. It's time to change course
From Ronald Ashford, 117 Avondale Dr., Lafayette, La., 337-981-0127: If reader want to understand the Israel war they needed to read the following site: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_expulsion_and_flight; and also look-up “NAKBA”. The Palestinians can't even fish in the Mediterranean sea or even developed the “OIL deposit” (which the Israelites want to acquire by relocating the Palestinians to the Sini desert) off the coast of Gaza. The Israelites are doing what we did to American Indians. In your research, the reader will discover the real reasons why this conflict is similar to what Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull attempted to do unsuccessful, as will happen to the Palestinian. The biggest problem the Indians and the Palestinians had, “ is that they had no court houses ( or Koran) to register their claims to the land; just “adverse possession rights”!!
I was surprised to see a second RNRH episode this weekend, but the special episode is a good discussion with Lara Friedman. I’ve mentioned before in the comments how UK politician Jeremy Corbyn was harmed by nonsensical allegations of antisemitism and, in many ways, we’re seeing countries elsewhere in the west in current times where politicians are even more punished demanding peace than what we’re seeing in the US even. Just recently, UK Conservative MP Paul Bristow was stripped of his duties within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology by his own party for asking for a permanent ceasefire and Labour MP Andy McDonald has suffered similar sanctions from his party. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is acting as if he is in competition with Biden to prove who loves Netanyahu the most. That is just the UK, this nonsense is going on throughout the west.
So, with all of this, I appreciate the discussion about the definition of antisemitism and how it is used by the Zionist lobby, often comprised of right-wing Zionist Christians in the US at least, to stifle discussion of the tactics used by the right-wing government of Israel. I think Mr. Nader would do well to describe to the RNRN listeners what happened to Corbyn so that peace advocates running for office in the US will be better prepared to deal with what Corbyn had to deal with in 2019.
Having discussed the nonsensical definitions of antisemitism being thrown around by the Zionist lobby, as Lara Friedman discussed, there is also growing legitimate anti-Jewish, anti-Islamic, and other sentiments which are impediments towards peace. I think this is where connecting with the arts is vitally important so we can see the cultural gifts which have come from the Middle East to gain an appreciation for why peace is so important aside from the gruesome images we see from the war. Conductor Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said started the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra many years ago with members from a variety of Middle Eastern backgrounds and it is a great symbol for peace and cooperation. Barenboim, who is Jewish, has long been an advocate for a two-state solution and has long been a critic of the conservative governments of Israel. Barenboim’s recent comments are a worthy read: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/15/orchestra-palestinians-israelis-humanity-daniel-barenboim-west-eastern-divan-orchestra
This is why funding for the arts is so important and we must not lose sight of that. The likes of Barenboim are quite old and not in good health, we need young artists who can use art as an instrument of peace in promoting culture and collaboration. So, again, this is another reason to be economically informed in order to fight damaging austerity economics. The good news is that former chairman of the House Budget Committee John Yarmuth spoke at a House Budget Committee hearing on Oct. 19th and presented a refreshingly progressive view of the budget. This is getting no media attention or attention from progressives, but it should. Fortunately, the hearing is on C-SPAN for the Congressional watchers: https://www.c-span.org/video/?531235-1/house-budget-committee-hearing-bipartisan-fiscal-commission
Lara Friedman complimented your previous program on Israel/Palestine regarding the rules and laws of war and Medea Benjamin’s experiences protesting this war on Capitol Hill.
Besides Israel’s ignoring the laws of war and the frenzy for war funding from Congress, is a basic tenet of how an adversary is viewed. That tenet holds the “other” needs to be seen as a human being or human beings equal in the eyes of the more powerful and worthy of humane consideration. Since before the founding of Israel, the other, now Palestinians, are seen as lesser and prehaps as not worthy as being considered as human beings in any sense. How can the death toll of children in the Gaza Strip, perhaps now more that 4,000 kids, not pass the bar of worthiness? When we stand as worthy opponents to the horrific nature of this war and all wars and are attacked in an ad hominem manner, there’s not muich room for consoideration and debate.
You're incredibly knowledgeable, an amazing spokesperson for such a highly volatile issue. I truly wish you were heard by people everywhere.. we're so propogandized is the U. S.
I've signed up to your organization. Will follow you, and recommend you to all my friends. Great work Lara
Republicans Presidents, from R. Regan to D.Trump are responsible for the majority of the nation’s debt with their tax breaks, etc.. Although, President Clinton was the first to use SS monies to address revenue shortfalls. But left office with a surplus. Bush jr. Rather than replenishing the SS account with the surplus, he gave a tax break that gave the wealthy the majority of it.
What should have been done to save SSI was to pay the the program/account the same interest rate as was given to the buyer of government bonds, not the .02% for borrowing from the fund. Tax breaks were given to the rich causing a deficit, only to sell bonds to the very wealthy who in turn bought bonds at a higher rate than was given to the SS account creating a greater deficit!!! A 1 trillion tax break to the wealthy only increases GDP ( stock market) by 1 trillion; where as that sam money put in programs would have increased GDP by 6 trillion dollars. That’s why the Democrats are better for the economy, stock market and lower deficits, etc. Research it, dare you!!!
It appears that you want people to research the ‘progressive’ economics of Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers, Newt Gingrich, and Milton Friedman. I suggest otherwise.
As former Chairman of the House Budget Committee John Yarmuth recently said, correctly so, before the current House Budget Committee, federal government spending does not come from tax returns. As former Rep. Yarmuth has also stated, the federal budget does not work like a household or business budget, or any budget of a currency user. As a currency issuer, there is absolutely no need to balance the budget. Clinton’s right-wing balancing of the budget, fueled by economic beliefs by such ‘luminaries’ as Greenspan and Newt Gingrich, was a strike against social security, not something which forwarded it. This is not to say taxes are unimportant or to justify any tax cuts by Republicans or refusals to raise taxes to previous levels by Democrats because taxes serve a crucial role in the federal budget, but there is absolutely no need to balance the budget. In fact, such an austerity measure cripples social funding and social programs.
boycott.thewitness.news Boycott these, well listed, corporations-businesses who directly support Israel’s occupation & now the Biden, Netanyahu and the complacent-complicit, United Nations, security council’s genocide. The Security Council has a primary responsibility, under the UN charter “for the maintenance of international peace and security.” It is for the security council to determine when and where a UN peace operation should be deployed. Has it been over a month since that seventh day of the week, on October 7 2023? Someone pls educate me on the religious principles & tradition of “sabbath”.
Try Vanessa for your show, Ralph. Stay away from the Beltway!
Does Suella Braverman's allegiance lie with the UK or Israel?
After Braverman's history of racist policies have plagued her political career now she normalises the Zionist genocide against Palestinians VANESSA BEELEY
We remembered all the miseries, all the injustices, our people and the conditions they lived, the coldness with which world opinion looks at our cause, and so we felt that we will not permit them to crush us. We will defend ourselves and our revolution by every way and every means.
George Habash (1926-2008)
A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.
Thanks for the emergency for peace. But we and the planet are lousy at peace, example Afghanistan Iraq Haiti Nicaragua etc. How do we build the peace after ceasefires?
Since October 7th I've listened and read all I can. I'm currently reading Norman Finkelstein's book - Gaza: And Inquisition Into Its Martyrdom.
What's clear to me is how much the Western Media has lied to us. What's also clear is the Democrats, who I've loyally voted for over the years, are in on the lie.
I'm so disgusted I'm seriously considering not voting for them in 2024. There's a side of me that wants Trump to win. Maybe then people will wake up.
I'm 64. If I feel this way imagine how younger people are feeling.
Good morning,
An elderly Jewish woman was arrested in London for carrying a sign protesting the Israeli government.
https://x.com/murchadhfinn/status/1721220366100836566?s=46
How long will it be until they come for us?
I’m furious. Thoroughly disgusted with Democrats. I’ve called my representatives to tell them so.
My mother worked in government for Democrats. She was active politically. She taught me about voting and to care about politics.
If she were alive I think she’d agree that what use is there now, to vote for Democrats?
Again. I’m 64. Imagine how younger people feel. What motivation is there for them to vote for Democrats? The answer is none.
This will cost Democrats the election.
Millions should be in the streets.
Free Palestine!
This from Caitlin Johnstone’s newsletter sums up how I feel. Again. Why should I or others vote for a party that’s lied to us over and over again?
“If you’re among the millions of people who are coming to realize that the western political/media class have been lying to you about Israel-Palestine this entire time, you should probably be aware that they’ve been lying to you about every other foreign conflict as well.”
Just talking with my wife. She's not a wonk. She reads maybe one political story a week. She's always voted for Democrats. This is even getting to her.
Her words:
On Biden in general: "He's too old. Your body and mind just doesn't work like it did when you're younger. There's a reason why they call it retirement".
On Israel/Gaza: "Biden should man up, stand up against murdering innocent Palestinians. But he's too afraid of losing the election".
On the state of politics: "Maybe we should vote for that Kennedy guy. What good does voting for Democrats do? Does it matter? Maybe we need to let things burn down".
More from my wife and I talking.
Me: "For the first time ever, I can understand why people don't vote".
Me to Her: "Ralph said Nancy Pelosi hasn't had a town hall meeting with her constituents in at least 17 years! Can you believe it? I used to praise her".
Me and her: "Why should we stand in line to vote for a party (Democrats) we don't even believe in"?
Me to her talking about how I traveled from Eagle, CO where we live to Chicago in 08 to see history: "Can you believe I spent our money going to Chicago to cheer for Obama? Man, we were blind".
Whew. Just more from a writer for Jewish Currents. Do a bit of a stretch a bit and get Arab and Muslim writers and thinkers on. Try someone like Lowkey, really,
https://youtu.be/FW34WLYg9QI?si=YEsPjpsF4RzYk8bR
This Beltway chauvanism gets old, Nader.
Try: MintPress director Mnar Adley
https://youtu.be/pxGDRJJ9avw?si=29V5jgE9ac29CKBY
Journalists That Support Israel Will Have Blood on Their Hands Forever
+--+
Oh, the graveyard of children, already been done, thank you very much:
https://paulokirk.substack.com/p/gaza-as-a-graveyard-for-children
+--+
Around 1,500,000 Iraqis, primarily children, died as a direct consequence of the imposed sanctions, according to UNICEF estimates.
+--=
Between 2013 and 2017, about 331,000 people died on the battlefields of Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, DRC, Iraq Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This total is based on data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program Georeferenced Events Dataset (UCDP-GED), with the exception of Syria where, owing to underreporting, we used Violations Documentation Center data. Of these 331,000 people, a total of 174,703 were combatants according to the same sources.
....in the last five years alone 550,000 infants have died due to the reverberating impact of conflict. The total for children under five is 868,000. These estimates are imperfect – they are indicative and may be conservative.
+--+
Israel-Palestine war: Arab regimes have betrayed Gaza. It's time to change course
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-gaza-arab-regimes-betrayed-time-change-course
+--+
Blood on our HANDS!
Notinourname.net Jews who have spoken out for decades. Explore their voices.
Thank you for your approval. Shalom
From Ronald Ashford, 117 Avondale Dr., Lafayette, La., 337-981-0127: If reader want to understand the Israel war they needed to read the following site: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_expulsion_and_flight; and also look-up “NAKBA”. The Palestinians can't even fish in the Mediterranean sea or even developed the “OIL deposit” (which the Israelites want to acquire by relocating the Palestinians to the Sini desert) off the coast of Gaza. The Israelites are doing what we did to American Indians. In your research, the reader will discover the real reasons why this conflict is similar to what Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull attempted to do unsuccessful, as will happen to the Palestinian. The biggest problem the Indians and the Palestinians had, “ is that they had no court houses ( or Koran) to register their claims to the land; just “adverse possession rights”!!
I was surprised to see a second RNRH episode this weekend, but the special episode is a good discussion with Lara Friedman. I’ve mentioned before in the comments how UK politician Jeremy Corbyn was harmed by nonsensical allegations of antisemitism and, in many ways, we’re seeing countries elsewhere in the west in current times where politicians are even more punished demanding peace than what we’re seeing in the US even. Just recently, UK Conservative MP Paul Bristow was stripped of his duties within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology by his own party for asking for a permanent ceasefire and Labour MP Andy McDonald has suffered similar sanctions from his party. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is acting as if he is in competition with Biden to prove who loves Netanyahu the most. That is just the UK, this nonsense is going on throughout the west.
So, with all of this, I appreciate the discussion about the definition of antisemitism and how it is used by the Zionist lobby, often comprised of right-wing Zionist Christians in the US at least, to stifle discussion of the tactics used by the right-wing government of Israel. I think Mr. Nader would do well to describe to the RNRN listeners what happened to Corbyn so that peace advocates running for office in the US will be better prepared to deal with what Corbyn had to deal with in 2019.
Having discussed the nonsensical definitions of antisemitism being thrown around by the Zionist lobby, as Lara Friedman discussed, there is also growing legitimate anti-Jewish, anti-Islamic, and other sentiments which are impediments towards peace. I think this is where connecting with the arts is vitally important so we can see the cultural gifts which have come from the Middle East to gain an appreciation for why peace is so important aside from the gruesome images we see from the war. Conductor Daniel Barenboim and the late Edward Said started the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra many years ago with members from a variety of Middle Eastern backgrounds and it is a great symbol for peace and cooperation. Barenboim, who is Jewish, has long been an advocate for a two-state solution and has long been a critic of the conservative governments of Israel. Barenboim’s recent comments are a worthy read: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/15/orchestra-palestinians-israelis-humanity-daniel-barenboim-west-eastern-divan-orchestra
This is why funding for the arts is so important and we must not lose sight of that. The likes of Barenboim are quite old and not in good health, we need young artists who can use art as an instrument of peace in promoting culture and collaboration. So, again, this is another reason to be economically informed in order to fight damaging austerity economics. The good news is that former chairman of the House Budget Committee John Yarmuth spoke at a House Budget Committee hearing on Oct. 19th and presented a refreshingly progressive view of the budget. This is getting no media attention or attention from progressives, but it should. Fortunately, the hearing is on C-SPAN for the Congressional watchers: https://www.c-span.org/video/?531235-1/house-budget-committee-hearing-bipartisan-fiscal-commission
Excellent conversation!! Thank you!
Lara Friedman complimented your previous program on Israel/Palestine regarding the rules and laws of war and Medea Benjamin’s experiences protesting this war on Capitol Hill.
Besides Israel’s ignoring the laws of war and the frenzy for war funding from Congress, is a basic tenet of how an adversary is viewed. That tenet holds the “other” needs to be seen as a human being or human beings equal in the eyes of the more powerful and worthy of humane consideration. Since before the founding of Israel, the other, now Palestinians, are seen as lesser and prehaps as not worthy as being considered as human beings in any sense. How can the death toll of children in the Gaza Strip, perhaps now more that 4,000 kids, not pass the bar of worthiness? When we stand as worthy opponents to the horrific nature of this war and all wars and are attacked in an ad hominem manner, there’s not muich room for consoideration and debate.
Thank you.
Just heard the Ralph Nader podcast with you.
You're incredibly knowledgeable, an amazing spokesperson for such a highly volatile issue. I truly wish you were heard by people everywhere.. we're so propogandized is the U. S.
I've signed up to your organization. Will follow you, and recommend you to all my friends. Great work Lara
Michele
To be ignorant is not a sin, but to “ELECT” to stay ignorant is unconscionable!!!
Debts:
Republicans Presidents, from R. Regan to D.Trump are responsible for the majority of the nation’s debt with their tax breaks, etc.. Although, President Clinton was the first to use SS monies to address revenue shortfalls. But left office with a surplus. Bush jr. Rather than replenishing the SS account with the surplus, he gave a tax break that gave the wealthy the majority of it.
What should have been done to save SSI was to pay the the program/account the same interest rate as was given to the buyer of government bonds, not the .02% for borrowing from the fund. Tax breaks were given to the rich causing a deficit, only to sell bonds to the very wealthy who in turn bought bonds at a higher rate than was given to the SS account creating a greater deficit!!! A 1 trillion tax break to the wealthy only increases GDP ( stock market) by 1 trillion; where as that sam money put in programs would have increased GDP by 6 trillion dollars. That’s why the Democrats are better for the economy, stock market and lower deficits, etc. Research it, dare you!!!
Sent from my iPhone
It appears that you want people to research the ‘progressive’ economics of Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers, Newt Gingrich, and Milton Friedman. I suggest otherwise.
As former Chairman of the House Budget Committee John Yarmuth recently said, correctly so, before the current House Budget Committee, federal government spending does not come from tax returns. As former Rep. Yarmuth has also stated, the federal budget does not work like a household or business budget, or any budget of a currency user. As a currency issuer, there is absolutely no need to balance the budget. Clinton’s right-wing balancing of the budget, fueled by economic beliefs by such ‘luminaries’ as Greenspan and Newt Gingrich, was a strike against social security, not something which forwarded it. This is not to say taxes are unimportant or to justify any tax cuts by Republicans or refusals to raise taxes to previous levels by Democrats because taxes serve a crucial role in the federal budget, but there is absolutely no need to balance the budget. In fact, such an austerity measure cripples social funding and social programs.
Not sent from an iPhone
boycott.thewitness.news Boycott these, well listed, corporations-businesses who directly support Israel’s occupation & now the Biden, Netanyahu and the complacent-complicit, United Nations, security council’s genocide. The Security Council has a primary responsibility, under the UN charter “for the maintenance of international peace and security.” It is for the security council to determine when and where a UN peace operation should be deployed. Has it been over a month since that seventh day of the week, on October 7 2023? Someone pls educate me on the religious principles & tradition of “sabbath”.
Shalom.
Israel wants the “OIL” off the beaches of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea. Would let them fish, much less let them produce the oil!!
Try Vanessa for your show, Ralph. Stay away from the Beltway!
Does Suella Braverman's allegiance lie with the UK or Israel?
After Braverman's history of racist policies have plagued her political career now she normalises the Zionist genocide against Palestinians VANESSA BEELEY
https://beeley.substack.com/p/the-shifting-sands-of-the-middle
Right to Resist? You betcha:
https://www.ebb-magazine.com/essays/the-palestinians-inalienable-right-to-resist?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
We remembered all the miseries, all the injustices, our people and the conditions they lived, the coldness with which world opinion looks at our cause, and so we felt that we will not permit them to crush us. We will defend ourselves and our revolution by every way and every means.
George Habash (1926-2008)
A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)