Committing High Reason

There is no "new anti-Semitism." Anti-Semitism has not mutated to include anti-Zionism. Instead, accepting the unintelligible Zionist definition of Jewish identity has caused Zionists to be defined out of the protected classes of minorities that society has created laws to protect. The IHRA definition is a misguided and destructive attempt to rectify this.

For further reading:
The Empty Wagon: Zionism's Journey From Identity Crisis to Identity Theft
The UnJewish State: The Politics of Jewish Identity in Israel

Theodor Herzl (d. 1904) is a Zionist hero, described in Israel's Declaration of Independence as the "spiritual father" of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu referred to him as  the "Moses of our time." But Herzl was notorious for horrific anti-Semitism particularly against religious and Eastern European Jews (read this, for example) and his delusions about Zionism transforming the Jews into "normal" people, causing anti-Semitism to disappear off the face of the earth. In this episode, you will learn facts about the so-called חוֹזֵה הַמְדִינָה‎, ("Visionary of the State")  that they don't teach in the Hebrew Academy.

Miko Peled needs no introduction - he's a famous guy. But if you want, you can check out his website or podcast.  If you really want to know what kind of guy he is, though, the most emblematic snippet I can think of offhand is this:

Miko Peled followed his father’s footsteps at first, joining Israel’s Special Forces after high school and earning the red beret, but he soon grew to regret his decision. He surrendered his status as soon as he earned it, becoming a medic, and finally, disgusted by the 1982 Lebanon invasion, he buried his service pin in the dirt. (Wikipedia)

That about chalks up Miko.

In this episode, Miko describes his journey from a member of an elite Zionist family - his grandfather was one of the original signers of Israel's  Declaration of Independence and his father, a general in the IDF - to a pacifistic martial arts instructor and anti-Zionist activist living in Washington DC.

The January 6th insurrection at the nation's capital that resulted in the impeachment of Donald Trump depicted the characteristics of a religion more than a political position. Prof. Gloria Moran discusses American civic religion from a legal and historical perspective, tracing its roots to its the Roman Empire.

Lee Stranahan, Republican radio host, journalist and former Breitbart reporter once thought that his peers at Breitbart - Joel Pollak and Ben Shapiro - are typical of observant Jews’ attitude toward Israel, and that anti-Zionism was “a leftist thing,” directly tied to one’s position in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Then one day, Lee watched a video of Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro and close to 20,000 Orthodox Jews opposing Zionism as wholly un-Jewish and rooted in anti-Semitism. Judaism to these devout Jews is a religion, not a nationality, and there is no such thing as a “nation-state” of the Jews, or Jewish nationalism (aka Zionism). This struck a chord with Lee and led him as a journalist to investigate further into the masses of mainstream Orthodox Jews who reject Zionism, and whose anti-Zionist activity is ignored by the mainstream media. His search led him to astounding revelations about the origins and ideology of Zionism, and to the discovery of a whole world of Orthodox Jews, who, independent of Israel’s politics, refuse to tie their Jewish identity to any political construct – and certainly to a foreign country. This is Lee’s story, Part 1. 

Studies have discovered surprising weaknesses in our decision-making process that make us vulnerable to manipulators. We may think we are making rational decisions based on clear data when in reality we are looking at the numbers through the prism of our own biases.  These biases are exploited by people who want us to make certain decisions. We do so, without knowing we are being manipulated. In this episode, Rabbi Shapiro explains how you can protect yourself from a particularly sly type of psychological manipulation used by politicians, advertisers, salesmen, and others who want to sway our decisions.


SELECTED LINKS AND MATERIAL FROM THE EPISODE

Thinking, Fast and Slow | Daniel Khaneman
Study on dropping the dollar sign | Cornell.edu

Reuven and Esther Guttman of Long Island arrived in Egypt for what they expected to be a routine vacation.  But when the border guards ran Esther's passport, which had her maiden name, Maimon,  on it, they discovered that she was a descendent of Maimonides (1135-1204), the revered rabbinic head of the Egyptian Jewish community in the 12th century, and personal physician of the first sultan of Egypt.  In this podcast, they describe how they were given the royal treatment by the Egyptian government as, for the first time in centuries, a family member of the revered Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon had set foot on Egyptian ground.

In February 2020 an anonymous article appeared in the Forward by a teacher in several Zionist Hebrew Day Schools, claiming they teach dual loyalty to Israel and that they need to stop. The article was met with derision, condemnation, and even denial of the author's existence. Meet the author, who no longer teaches in such schools and is safe from reprisals,  as he tells us his full story.


SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

I’ve taught at six Jewish day schools. They’re preaching dual loyalty to Israel | Forward

 Jonathan Greenblatt’s Response | Forward

The meaning of Israel as the state of the Jewish people | Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 Jewish Leaders Denounce “Dual Loyalty” While Demanding Fealty to Israel | Forward

 Peter Beinart and Deborah Lipstadt Discuss Anti-Semitism in America Today | Forward (podcast)

 Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress | video

Netanyahu’s Speech to Congress | transcript

“Prime Minister of the Jewish people” | Times of Israel

"The leader of the Jewish state and the entire Jewish people” | Reuters

Netanyahu is ‘the leader of the Jewish world,’ says top aide | The Times of Israel

Why Jonathan Pollard is still in Prison | The Jewish Week

The NY Radio Stars Who Blamed 9/11 On The Jews–And Went Unpunished | The Jewish Press

"Mike and Mad Dog Exposed as Frauds"| NY Post

We Listened To One Of The "Lost" Mike And The Mad Dog 9/11 Tapes | Deadspin