📄 Extracted Text (13,163 words)
[00:00:06] [Music]
[00:00:32] he
[00:00:58] [Music]
[00:01:06] [Music]
[00:01:14] [Music]
[00:01:27] [Music]
[00:01:48] [Music]
[00:01:54] [Music]
[00:02:08] [Music]
[00:02:19] [Music]
[00:02:32] [Music]
[00:02:43] [Music]
[00:02:59] [Music]
[00:04:04] [Music]
[00:04:21] [Music]
[00:04:45] [Music]
[00:04:59] [Music]
[00:05:10] [Music]
[00:05:23] [Music]
[00:05:34] [Music]
[00:05:58] [Music]
[00:06:13] he
[00:06:47] [Music]
[00:06:56] [Music]
[00:07:09] [Music]
[00:07:30] [Music]
[00:07:36] [Music]
[00:07:42] [Music]
[00:08:03] [Music]
[00:08:30] [Music]
[00:08:39] [Music]
[00:08:54] [Music]
[00:09:00] [Music]
[00:09:25] [Music]
[00:09:58] he
[00:10:24] [Music]
[00:10:32] [Music]
[00:10:40] [Music]
[00:10:45] [Music]
[00:10:53] [Music]
[00:11:13] [Music]
[00:11:21] [Music]
[00:11:34] [Music]
[00:11:45] [Music]
[00:12:00] I'm
[00:12:09] [Music]
[00:12:15] [Music]
[00:12:23] [Music]
[00:12:29] [Music]
[00:13:15] [Music]
[00:13:23] [Music]
[00:13:31] [Music]
[00:13:37] for
[00:13:44] [Music]
[00:14:00] [Music]
[00:14:20] [Music]
[00:14:36] [Music]
[00:14:49] [Music]
[00:15:00] [Music]
[00:15:06] [Music]
[00:15:14] [Music]
[00:15:34] good evening
[00:15:35] everyone my name is Trevor McKay and I'm
[00:15:38] the president of the William F Buckley
[00:15:39] Jr program at Yale it is my pleasure to
[00:15:42] welcome you all to tonight's event
[00:15:44] featuring author commentator and radio
[00:15:46] host bench Puro for a conversation on
[00:15:49] how October 7th broke America's college
[00:15:51] campuses first I want to extend my
[00:15:54] thanks to Carol Brown who is with us in
[00:15:56] the audience tonight and the young
[00:15:58] Americas Foundation Irving Brown lecture
[00:16:00] series for making this event
[00:16:02] possible thank
[00:16:05] [Music]
[00:16:07] you now before I introduce Mr Shapiro
[00:16:10] I'd like to say a few words about the
[00:16:12] Buckley program the William F Buckley
[00:16:14] junr program is the flagship program of
[00:16:16] the Buckley Institute an organization
[00:16:18] dedicated to promoting intellectual
[00:16:20] diversity and open political discussion
[00:16:22] at Yale we've hosted lectures dinner
[00:16:24] seminars Firing Line debates and an
[00:16:26] annual conference every year since 2011
[00:16:28] 11 by providing Yale students with a
[00:16:31] forum to engage meaningfully with
[00:16:33] serious conservative thought the Buckley
[00:16:35] program has become an institution on
[00:16:36] Yale's campus and a symbol for a more
[00:16:39] open and representative political
[00:16:40] atmosphere especially at a university
[00:16:43] where the mission is the cultivation and
[00:16:45] creation of new knowledge Buckley
[00:16:46] fellows believe that all perspectives
[00:16:48] must be heard and examined in good faith
[00:16:51] you can learn more about the program and
[00:16:52] how to become a Buckley fellow on our
[00:16:54] website at Buckley institute.com before
[00:16:57] we begin tonight's program I want to
[00:16:59] emphasize the Buckley program's
[00:17:01] commitment to freedom of speech
[00:17:02] disruption of an event is not consistent
[00:17:05] with Yale's policies on freedom of
[00:17:06] expression as outlined in the Woodward
[00:17:08] report I would ask that each of you
[00:17:10] respect the right of our speakers to be
[00:17:12] heard and the right of your fellow
[00:17:13] audience members to listen to the event
[00:17:16] thank you for joining us in upholding
[00:17:17] the value of free
[00:17:20] [Applause]
[00:17:24] speech now I'd also I'd like to reflect
[00:17:28] I'd like to reflect on the significance
[00:17:30] of today's date one year ago today Hamas
[00:17:34] terrorists infiltrated Israeli towns and
[00:17:36] Villages murdering 1,200 innocent men
[00:17:39] women and children and committing
[00:17:41] horrible atrocities this unconscionable
[00:17:44] Act was the single deadliest attack on
[00:17:46] Jews since the Holocaust more than 240
[00:17:49] people of over a dozen nationalities
[00:17:51] including many Americans were taking
[00:17:53] hostage around 100 of whom are still in
[00:17:55] captivity today as we speak and the war
[00:17:58] triggered by that attack also continues
[00:18:00] to this day we pray for an end to the
[00:18:02] war and the terrorism that initiated it
[00:18:04] and for the safe return of the remaining
[00:18:06] hostages to their families it is my hope
[00:18:09] that this night advances conversation
[00:18:11] insight and understanding to help us all
[00:18:13] think with Clarity and urgency about
[00:18:15] these ongoing
[00:18:17] crises and now our guest for tonight Ben
[00:18:20] Shapiro is the founding editor-in Chief
[00:18:22] and editor ameritus of the daily wire
[00:18:24] and the host of the bench Pio show the
[00:18:26] largest and fastest growing conservative
[00:18:28] podcast show in the nation in addition
[00:18:31] he also hosts debunk Ben Shapiro's book
[00:18:33] club the search and the Sunday
[00:18:36] special Mr Shapiro is the New York Times
[00:18:38] best-selling author of over a dozen
[00:18:40] books focusing on higher education free
[00:18:43] speech and
[00:18:44] Israel he is a much sought-after voice
[00:18:46] on college campuses and across the
[00:18:48] country for his incisive commentary on
[00:18:50] the state of our democracy and our
[00:18:52] nation he has been a strong supporter of
[00:18:54] Israel throughout his life and has been
[00:18:56] particularly vocal in support of
[00:18:58] Israel's right to defend itself since
[00:19:00] the October 7th Terror attacks one year
[00:19:02] ago
[00:19:03] tonight Mr Shapiro was hired by Creator
[00:19:05] Syndicate at age 17 to become the
[00:19:08] youngest nationally syndicated colonist
[00:19:10] in the United States he earned a ba in
[00:19:12] political science from UCLA in 2004 and
[00:19:16] even though he graduated from Harvard
[00:19:17] Law School in
[00:19:18] 2007 we're still incredibly grateful to
[00:19:21] have him here at Yale tonight so without
[00:19:23] further Ado please join me in welcoming
[00:19:24] Ben Shapiro to Yale
[00:19:28] [Music]
[00:19:36] [Applause]
[00:19:39] [Music]
[00:19:43] Ben thanks so much for being here
[00:19:44] tonight thanks for having me and uh
[00:19:47] condolences on Michael moles being a
[00:19:48] graduate of your five
[00:19:50] University so it's it's the first
[00:19:52] anniversary of the horrible terrorist
[00:19:54] attacks on Israel and I know that many
[00:19:57] are spending today morning but others
[00:19:59] even in the United States even maybe on
[00:20:01] Yale's campus are celebrating today's
[00:20:03] dates and I'd like to to ask you why did
[00:20:06] you want to speak on a college campus on
[00:20:08] this date and and at Yale in particular
[00:20:10] well I think that October 7th revealed a
[00:20:12] a lot of truths about the world that the
[00:20:14] West had been hesitant to to address but
[00:20:16] I think one of the biggest truths was
[00:20:17] revealed in the days after October 7th
[00:20:20] when even before Israel's retaliation
[00:20:22] began before Israel's operations to
[00:20:23] cleanse out Hamas began there widespread
[00:20:26] protests across the West particularly on
[00:20:27] college campuses in favor of Kamas in
[00:20:30] favor ofah in favor of those who would
[00:20:32] extrap Israel from the planet and that
[00:20:34] revealed to me a cancer that's at the
[00:20:36] heart of American Education I've been
[00:20:37] writing about this for a very long time
[00:20:39] but the extent of the rot at the core of
[00:20:42] American Education I think has been
[00:20:44] truly revealed over the course of the
[00:20:45] last year that's why I think it's
[00:20:46] important to come and speak about that
[00:20:48] tonight because the day is not just a
[00:20:49] day of morning it's a reminder of what
[00:20:51] happens when the West goes to sleep on
[00:20:53] its own principles when it Imports
[00:20:55] people who don't believe in the west
[00:20:56] principles and when it cultivates a an
[00:20:58] entire generation of people who don't
[00:21:00] believe in the mission of its
[00:21:01] civilization and you mentioned that
[00:21:04] protest started against Israel even
[00:21:06] before Israel responded to October 7th
[00:21:09] um and there were comparatively few
[00:21:11] responses that I saw uh against Hamas
[00:21:14] and in fact today there was a Yale
[00:21:16] student group who encouraged us to not
[00:21:18] attend class in order to quote stand in
[00:21:21] solidarity to mourn the martyrs of
[00:21:23] Palestine and so I'm wondering could you
[00:21:26] speak to the mentality behind those who
[00:21:28] want to blame Israel for October 7th and
[00:21:30] what do you think about the sort of
[00:21:31] religious language that this has been
[00:21:33] couched in on college campuses well I
[00:21:34] think that there are a few different
[00:21:35] groups that that are complicit in this
[00:21:37] particular message the group number one
[00:21:39] would be radical fundamentalist Muslims
[00:21:41] who who believe that Israel ought to be
[00:21:43] wiped off the map that's certainly not
[00:21:44] all Muslims I know great many Muslims
[00:21:46] don't believe that many of them are from
[00:21:47] Abraham accord's countries for example
[00:21:49] there are some Palestinians who don't
[00:21:50] believe that although their voices have
[00:21:52] been in a Bayan since October 7th
[00:21:53] unfortunately uh that would be group
[00:21:56] number one then there is a secondary
[00:21:57] group and that group are American
[00:21:59] leftist college students who
[00:22:01] unfortunately have been inculcated in a
[00:22:03] belief that success is inherently
[00:22:05] connected with exploitation and that
[00:22:07] anybody who claims to be a victim and is
[00:22:09] unsuccessful and lives in a way that
[00:22:12] that seems impoverished or or or violent
[00:22:15] that it must be that they've been pushed
[00:22:17] into that by the great exploiter the
[00:22:19] victim victimizer narrative is the
[00:22:21] ugliest narrative in politics it goes
[00:22:23] all the way back to Cain and Abel
[00:22:25] nothing is new Under the Sun and it's
[00:22:26] been repeated here so the basic idea
[00:22:28] here is that because Israel is
[00:22:29] disproportionately powerful because
[00:22:31] Israel is disproportionately successful
[00:22:33] because Israel has actually built itself
[00:22:35] into a thriving Democratic country
[00:22:37] because of that then anyone in the
[00:22:39] region who is suffering that must be a
[00:22:41] byproduct it's zero some thinking and it
[00:22:42] isn't true at all but that sort of
[00:22:44] thinking also leads to bizarre
[00:22:46] coalitions like you see on college
[00:22:47] campuses where you see people walking
[00:22:49] around with signs that say for example
[00:22:50] queers for Palestine which is one of the
[00:22:52] great mysteries of human history since
[00:22:54] all the people who are queer in
[00:22:56] Palestine it found out are dead and the
[00:22:59] the question becomes why exactly that is
[00:23:00] and the answer is what you have are
[00:23:02] people who believe they are Mar
[00:23:03] marginalized by the system believe that
[00:23:05] they are victimized by the system
[00:23:07] gathering together in a Coalition in
[00:23:09] order to fight the great oppressor
[00:23:10] Israel being the bleeding point of the
[00:23:12] spear in that
[00:23:14] Vision here at Yale um as with many
[00:23:17] other campuses around the nation we had
[00:23:19] an encampment at two of them actually of
[00:23:21] pro Palestine students occupying a
[00:23:23] common space and denying use of that
[00:23:24] common space to other students who might
[00:23:26] not agree with those views I'm curious
[00:23:28] what you think the mindset of these
[00:23:30] students who go beyond normal rallies
[00:23:32] Beyond normal protests why why do they
[00:23:34] feel that they need to Stage this more
[00:23:37] radical action in staging in the
[00:23:38] encampment I'm not a psychologist I
[00:23:40] think it would take a psychologist to
[00:23:41] examine why people would want to live in
[00:23:42] their own feces at the tens ofata but
[00:23:44] you know the the the sort of General I
[00:23:47] think push for it uh is presumably that
[00:23:50] the more you dissociate from the
[00:23:52] civilization that you are the
[00:23:54] beneficiary of the more holy you are the
[00:23:56] more virtuous you are and so if you
[00:23:58] occupy a space in the center of one of
[00:24:00] the most privileged places in American
[00:24:01] life if you if you take up that space if
[00:24:04] you make that space a a dangerous place
[00:24:06] to be if you bar entry to that space
[00:24:08] somehow you struck a blow against the
[00:24:10] great oppressor I noticed that the vast
[00:24:11] majority of people who do this are then
[00:24:13] very upset about the possibility being
[00:24:14] actually expelled from that space
[00:24:16] expelled from the college campus and
[00:24:18] whine about it the minute that any sort
[00:24:19] of consequences may actually hit them
[00:24:22] but I I think that this is the same sort
[00:24:24] of of feeling that drives a lot of folks
[00:24:26] unfortunately in in modern politics and
[00:24:28] is a feeling of of virtue signaling that
[00:24:31] that makes people feel a sense of
[00:24:33] purpose that they can't find anywhere
[00:24:34] else and that sense of purpose is to be
[00:24:35] found and actively alienating yourself
[00:24:38] from the institution that you're an
[00:24:39] active beneficiary of do you think any
[00:24:42] Universities dealt with October 7
[00:24:44] particularly well yeah I think
[00:24:46] University of Florida deal a great I
[00:24:47] think I think the University of Florida
[00:24:49] uh which at the time was being run by
[00:24:51] Ben sass who's the president down there
[00:24:52] put out a statement and said you are you
[00:24:53] are perfectly within your rights to
[00:24:55] protest in designated spaces time
[00:24:57] placing manner restriction and you
[00:24:59] violate those you'll be expelled and
[00:25:01] that was the end of it it turns out that
[00:25:02] this is actually not particularly
[00:25:04] difficult it also turns out that
[00:25:05] whenever we hear that that Viewpoint has
[00:25:08] nothing to do with it that these these
[00:25:09] universities would have let anybody do
[00:25:10] this we all know what that is I
[00:25:11] mean to put the point a little bluntly
[00:25:14] if if people had been on the The Lawns
[00:25:16] at Yale protesting in favor of white
[00:25:17] supremacy they would have been expelled
[00:25:18] forth with and we all know
[00:25:20] it I'd like to to focus on University
[00:25:23] bureaucracies for a moment because
[00:25:25] zooming zooming in a little a little
[00:25:27] closer to the to what I I think some of
[00:25:28] the problem might might be um diversity
[00:25:31] equity and inclusion efforts are Al
[00:25:32] often a huge part of any University's
[00:25:34] bureaucracy even a Yale um and and I was
[00:25:37] wondering why do you think that it is
[00:25:38] that Dei seems to place such little
[00:25:40] emphasis on Jewish individuals in
[00:25:42] particular despite the you know historic
[00:25:44] marginalization of Jews well because
[00:25:45] historic marginalization is is
[00:25:47] completely beside the point the the
[00:25:48] entire point of the Dei mentality is
[00:25:51] again that Victor VI victim victimizer
[00:25:53] narrative and so what Dei essentially
[00:25:55] posits is that the more victimized you
[00:25:57] are the less successful you are Jews
[00:25:59] violate that narrative so by the way do
[00:26:01] Asians which is why they're constantly
[00:26:02] discriminated against when it comes to
[00:26:04] admissions uh the the basic idea is that
[00:26:06] Asians are not actual minorities who've
[00:26:08] experienced any sort of Oppression in
[00:26:09] the United States because they're too
[00:26:10] successful they get to their scores on
[00:26:12] the SATs are too good and therefore it's
[00:26:14] perfectly well within bounds for
[00:26:16] universities to openly discriminate
[00:26:17] against them not admit them to
[00:26:18] universities the same thing happens with
[00:26:20] Jews the idea is that all suffering of
[00:26:23] the past or in the present by Jews is
[00:26:25] completely irrelevant because it breaks
[00:26:27] the Matrix the minute that the
[00:26:28] victimized group also happens to be
[00:26:30] disproportionately economically and
[00:26:32] educationally successful the entire
[00:26:34] worldview breaks down and so the only
[00:26:36] way to avoid that is to then relabel
[00:26:39] minority groups that are both victimized
[00:26:40] and successful as white right so Jews
[00:26:43] then suddenly become members of the
[00:26:44] white super class and and the same thing
[00:26:46] happens to Asians asan Asians suddenly
[00:26:48] become white adjacents right is is the
[00:26:51] phraseology that's frequently used
[00:26:52] because God forbid the stupid and
[00:26:55] nefarious worldview of Dei is somehow
[00:26:57] broken by reality that has to be
[00:26:59] maintained by relabeling into people by
[00:27:01] relabeling people into categories that
[00:27:03] that fit the the worldview better do you
[00:27:05] think there's a connection between Dei
[00:27:08] bureaucracies on University campuses and
[00:27:09] what we saw in the aftermath of October
[00:27:11] 7th absolutely I mean I think that the
[00:27:13] Dei bureaucracy on campus agrees with
[00:27:15] the ba the basic world view of those who
[00:27:16] are protesting on campus otherwise they
[00:27:18] wouldn't have allowed it again I go back
[00:27:19] to the simple fact that if it had been
[00:27:21] Nazis who had actually been protesting
[00:27:22] on campus as opposed to the new Nazis
[00:27:25] then it it would have been a very
[00:27:26] different story as to how the administ
[00:27:28] dealt with
[00:27:30] it why do you think University students
[00:27:32] are particularly inspired by Palestine
[00:27:35] against Israel I mean for instance in
[00:27:37] September
[00:27:38] 2023 um aeran displaced over a 100,000
[00:27:41] Armenians mostly Christians and I didn't
[00:27:43] hear anybody a Yale talking about it I
[00:27:45] didn't see the ydn writing about it I
[00:27:47] didn't see the news talking about it why
[00:27:48] why do you think that of course I mean
[00:27:49] the same thing is true in Sudan or
[00:27:51] Somali I mean there's great suffering
[00:27:53] all around the world the the reason
[00:27:55] again that this has become the the tip
[00:27:57] of the left WI spear is because it is
[00:27:59] almost the perfect example of a of an
[00:28:02] event that ought to break the Matrix and
[00:28:03] so you have to grip it that much harder
[00:28:05] there's this idea in in sociology which
[00:28:08] is usually a feel but has a
[00:28:09] couple of good points uh that sorry
[00:28:11] sociology Majors but you're going to
[00:28:12] have to find employment elsewhere uh the
[00:28:15] you know there there there is uh the
[00:28:17] idea in sociology that that basically
[00:28:20] many of the things that we do in life
[00:28:21] are are signaling that we have skin in
[00:28:23] the game right so for example I wear
[00:28:24] yamaka it symbolizes that I have skin in
[00:28:26] the Jewish game right it means that I go
[00:28:28] to synagogue regularly we all have these
[00:28:30] sorts of things we dress in a certain
[00:28:31] way to demonstrate that we have that we
[00:28:32] have skin in the game well if you want
[00:28:34] to demonstrate that you have skin in the
[00:28:35] game of the victim victimizer narrative
[00:28:37] what you do is you pick literally the
[00:28:39] worst example of supposed victims on the
[00:28:41] planet and then you declare that they
[00:28:43] are the victims so you take Hamas which
[00:28:45] is literally the worst people you could
[00:28:47] declare victims I mean they they are
[00:28:48] they are fascists they they are the
[00:28:50] actual munis they are genocidal Maniacs
[00:28:53] they habitually engage in the murder of
[00:28:56] their political opponents they engaged
[00:28:57] in Mass rape they they celebrated the
[00:29:00] the murder of children you can hear that
[00:29:02] they triumphantly live streamed all of
[00:29:04] this and they did all of this while
[00:29:06] siphoning billions of dollars away from
[00:29:07] the Palestinian people to build hundreds
[00:29:09] of kilometers of Terror tunnels to hide
[00:29:11] below the civilians that when Israel had
[00:29:12] to go in civilians would have to die in
[00:29:15] order for Israel to be able to clear the
[00:29:16] territory these are not victims these
[00:29:17] are just evil like the worst people in
[00:29:20] Modern Life and somehow the best way to
[00:29:23] demonstrate the have skin in the game is
[00:29:24] to clear that they are actually the
[00:29:25] victims if you can maintain that
[00:29:27] philosophy man you have skin in the game
[00:29:29] man have you demonstrated your felty to
[00:29:31] this perverse worldview if you can
[00:29:32] actually agree that somehow Hamas are
[00:29:34] the victims in this
[00:29:36] situation if God forbid 911 were to
[00:29:39] happen tomorrow in the United States how
[00:29:41] do you think the people that are in
[00:29:42] favor of Hamas here on this campus would
[00:29:44] react I think they react very much the
[00:29:45] same way I I I think that that for
[00:29:47] example the boycott divestment sanctions
[00:29:49] movement would similarly like to boycott
[00:29:51] divestment sanction the United States
[00:29:52] except they haven't yet found a way to
[00:29:54] live here 5T off the ground floating in
[00:29:56] the air you know the the reality is that
[00:29:59] that when when you know they take the
[00:30:01] position that Kamas is somehow the good
[00:30:04] guy these are the same people who would
[00:30:05] declare that osam Bin Laden was probably
[00:30:06] justified in in 911 after all there's a
[00:30:09] long history of American involvement in
[00:30:10] the Middle East and isn't he just an imp
[00:30:12] no he wasn't isn't he just an UNR well
[00:30:14] no he wasn't isn't he just you know a
[00:30:16] good-hearted person who wishes the best
[00:30:17] for his children no he isn't but you
[00:30:19] know you get the point the idea again is
[00:30:21] that anybody who is attacking the West
[00:30:23] is doing so for a good reason because in
[00:30:25] the end the West is bad and this is I
[00:30:27] think one of the big lessons of October
[00:30:28] 7th as well despite the West's desperate
[00:30:30] attempt desperate attempt to go back to
[00:30:32] sleep the reality is that Israel was
[00:30:35] attacked because it is perceived as a
[00:30:37] western country that is why it was
[00:30:39] attacked it was specifically picked and
[00:30:41] chosen because it is an element of the
[00:30:43] West okay it is not that that radical
[00:30:46] Muslims that members of Hamas that the
[00:30:48] radical left that they that they hate
[00:30:50] America because they hate Israel it's
[00:30:52] they hate Israel because they hate
[00:30:53] America because Israel they say it
[00:30:55] themselves they say it's a quotequote
[00:30:56] colonialist Outpost to the West I mean
[00:30:57] they're not hiding the ball here and so
[00:30:59] if if they hate The quotequote
[00:31:00] colonialist Outpost of the West what do
[00:31:02] you think they think of the west
[00:31:04] directly a phenomenon that came to Yale
[00:31:06] in a significant way uh after the attack
[00:31:09] was media bias and and censorship of
[00:31:11] what Hamas did actually did on the
[00:31:13] ground in Israel um weeks after it was
[00:31:16] well reported in major news outlets
[00:31:18] across the country our campus paper
[00:31:20] removed references to rape that occurred
[00:31:22] during the attacks um could you talk a
[00:31:25] little bit about the media reaction to
[00:31:26] October 7th uh and what you you've seen
[00:31:28] so far how it's changed over the course
[00:31:30] of the year I mean the media the media
[00:31:31] are generally trash which is why I
[00:31:32] started my own media Outlet um but you
[00:31:34] know the the the Legacy Media
[00:31:35] particularly when it comes to the Middle
[00:31:36] East are are true garbage I think it was
[00:31:39] Michael kryon who who suggested famously
[00:31:43] that if you ever want to know how bad
[00:31:44] the newspapers are read a newspaper on a
[00:31:47] topic that you know really really well
[00:31:49] right because what you will see is that
[00:31:50] the articles are filled with errors the
[00:31:51] journalists and reporters don't actually
[00:31:52] know what they're talking about on the
[00:31:53] topic that you know really well so if
[00:31:55] you're a math major and you see them
[00:31:56] writing about math you'll read the
[00:31:57] article and realize there are 10 errors
[00:31:59] in this one article and then you'll flip
[00:32:00] over to the foreign policy pages and
[00:32:01] you'll be like well they probably know
[00:32:02] what they're talking about here and and
[00:32:04] that's not true so much of the coverage
[00:32:06] has been wildly skewed incredibly biased
[00:32:09] the headlines are all determined to try
[00:32:12] and achieve some sort of moral
[00:32:13] equivalence between Israel and Hamas
[00:32:15] largely by labeling things like the
[00:32:16] Israel Gaza War as though Israel was at
[00:32:18] war with a place as opposed to with an
[00:32:20] actual terror group that launched a
[00:32:22] terror assault on them while Israel by
[00:32:24] the way has been providing literally
[00:32:26] hundreds of thousands of tons of human
[00:32:29] supplies into nutritional supplies into
[00:32:32] Gaza in the middle of a war that it is
[00:32:33] fighting sacrificing its own soldiers in
[00:32:36] order to do that Israel is engaging the
[00:32:37] most targeted Urban military operation
[00:32:40] literally in human history right now and
[00:32:42] somehow the media come up with the idea
[00:32:44] that this is a a borderline genocidal
[00:32:46] action by Israel they're doing the same
[00:32:48] thing in Lebanon where Israel is again
[00:32:50] delivering some of the most targeted
[00:32:52] strikes in the history of warfare and
[00:32:54] they did it after the Israeli beeper
[00:32:55] operation which is literally the most
[00:32:56] targeted strike in the history of
[00:32:58] warfare uh so you know the the the media
[00:33:00] coverage is is truly egregious and it
[00:33:02] all comes from a morally relativistic
[00:33:03] place that has to maintain the idea that
[00:33:06] at least if Israel isn't the victimizer
[00:33:08] well they're kind of still the
[00:33:09] victimizer even in the aftermath of
[00:33:10] October 7th you got about a week of
[00:33:13] sympathetic media coverage and then
[00:33:14] immediately shifted back into the cycle
[00:33:16] of violence if only we could come to a
[00:33:18] deal if only we could craft some sort of
[00:33:20] negotiation where everyone would would
[00:33:22] go home happy as opposed to the reality
[00:33:24] which is there are fundamentally
[00:33:25] incompatible goals in the Middle East
[00:33:27] Israel has uh this this you know really
[00:33:29] troubling need to breathe and survive
[00:33:31] and uh and his enemies have a apparently
[00:33:34] a wildly
[00:33:36] justifiable need to to destroy it and
[00:33:38] kill every Jew in the region in that
[00:33:40] case do you think there's any hope for
[00:33:42] truth if if these people were confronted
[00:33:44] with with bare fact that showed the
[00:33:46] horrors of what Hamas did on October 7th
[00:33:47] would that change their mind or would
[00:33:49] they just continue on the same path I
[00:33:51] mean I I think that you have to take
[00:33:52] everybody on a one by one basis some
[00:33:54] some folks are obviously open to the
[00:33:55] truth and a lot of people aren't as far
[00:33:56] as you know the the dominance of the
[00:33:59] Legacy Media again that's why we started
[00:34:01] a very very large conservative Media
[00:34:03] Company specifically to to fight The
[00:34:05] Narrative that's been driven by the
[00:34:06] Legacy
[00:34:07] Media a lot of people I think look at
[00:34:11] this conflict and they really just have
[00:34:13] no idea what's going on they don't know
[00:34:14] what to think they don't know who to
[00:34:16] believe what what do you think is like
[00:34:19] most purely at stake in this conflict
[00:34:21] going on right now I mean what what's
[00:34:22] purely at stake is the very definition
[00:34:24] of of evil the simple fact of the matter
[00:34:27] is that Hamas is a terrorist group that
[00:34:29] states its goals openly and out outright
[00:34:32] forthrightly they're not hiding anything
[00:34:34] I mean they they say that they wish to
[00:34:35] destroy the state of Israel they invaded
[00:34:37] Israel from a territory that had
[00:34:39] effectively been seeded to them in 2005
[00:34:41] when Israel unilaterally withdrew from
[00:34:42] the territory so this was not a border
[00:34:43] dispute uh they did not attack purely
[00:34:45] military targets they specifically went
[00:34:46] into towns including by the way
[00:34:48] civilians from Gaza who went into those
[00:34:49] towns in order to participate in the
[00:34:51] mass rape and murder and kidnapping uh
[00:34:54] what's at stake is whether the the West
[00:34:56] even has the capacity to label evil evil
[00:34:58] at this point which is really I think a
[00:35:00] serious ongoing question I don't think
[00:35:01] that that question is limited obviously
[00:35:02] to the Israel Palestinian conflict and
[00:35:05] again I I even hesitate to label it the
[00:35:06] Israel Palestinian conflict because I
[00:35:08] don't think that every Palestinian is a
[00:35:09] supporter of fata the Palestinian
[00:35:11] Authority Islamic Jihad or Hamas
[00:35:13] although disproportionate share
[00:35:14] unfortunately are you know the the the
[00:35:17] the question is going to be going
[00:35:19] forward whether the West Has the
[00:35:21] strength to recognize when there are
[00:35:23] actual threats to it or whether it
[00:35:25] wishes to Simply pretend that everyone
[00:35:27] in the world has the same basic goals
[00:35:29] wants to live the same kind of life and
[00:35:31] it's just a matter of pragmatic
[00:35:32] differences over how we reach that very
[00:35:35] very few lies have been told that are
[00:35:36] greater than that
[00:35:38] one what do you think the best way for
[00:35:40] people that may not have a connection to
[00:35:42] Israel what do you think the best way
[00:35:44] for them to kind of memorialize what
[00:35:46] happened one year ago today would be
[00:35:49] well I mean listen I think that that
[00:35:50] everybody in the west has a stake in
[00:35:53] paying attention to the the victims
[00:35:55] they're still ongoing they're still
[00:35:56] ongoing h hostage I was with the family
[00:35:59] of of a of a 20-year-old who's being
[00:36:02] held hostage lit literally today I was
[00:36:04] with his his mom and his dad and his and
[00:36:06] his younger brother today uh actually
[00:36:08] with President Trump over in Queens uh I
[00:36:11] had on my show just last week and a
[00:36:13] different set of parents uh who who have
[00:36:15] a son who's been held hostage I've met
[00:36:17] multiple families who have who have kids
[00:36:19] who've been those people are still being
[00:36:21] held hostage um and and understand that
[00:36:24] unfortunately when it comes to the fight
[00:36:25] against Hamas orah or Iran which is
[00:36:28] really their sponsor State the the only
[00:36:30] way out is is through war is ugly no one
[00:36:33] wants it particularly by the way not the
[00:36:34] Israelis particularly not the Israelis
[00:36:36] we've been a state of constant War since
[00:36:38] 1947 literally every Israeli at the age
[00:36:40] of 18 is drafted and that's going to
[00:36:42] include the religious soon enough I mean
[00:36:44] if if you if you are if you are a
[00:36:47] everyone your age everyone in this
[00:36:48] audience your age is in the Israeli
[00:36:49] military everyone okay if you think that
[00:36:52] their parents want them to be serving on
[00:36:53] the front lines in southern
[00:36:55] Lebanon you don't by the way and I don't
[00:36:57] just mean people now right now who are
[00:36:59] who are 20 21 I'm talking about anybody
[00:37:01] in this In This Crowd who's 40 45 I know
[00:37:04] parents with three four kids are
[00:37:05] currently on the front lines in southern
[00:37:07] Lebanon called up if you think that's
[00:37:08] what the Israelis want you're out of
[00:37:09] your mind that that is certainly not
[00:37:11] what the Israelis want the only way
[00:37:13] however that you come to an actual peace
[00:37:15] and this is just the lesson of historic
[00:37:16] War the way that you come to peace is
[00:37:18] not through empty-headed diplomacy where
[00:37:20] people say funny words and then they
[00:37:22] sign a piece of paper and then they
[00:37:23] violate their word 5 seconds later
[00:37:24] Victory is the only way that you
[00:37:26] actually achieve peace that is the
[00:37:28] historic lesson of War it is Victory and
[00:37:30] the and the threat of a crushing victory
[00:37:32] that that dissuades people from engaging
[00:37:34] in these sorts of attacks and that's not
[00:37:35] even me you know making that case there
[00:37:38] there's a historian who wrot a book
[00:37:39] called The Clause of War where he
[00:37:40] examined literally every war from the
[00:37:41] year 1700 to 1988 and what he found was
[00:37:44] again the only way that you actually
[00:37:46] achieve lasting peace in in a time of
[00:37:48] war is for one side to actively defeat
[00:37:51] the other which is something the West is
[00:37:52] very not used to the West has decided
[00:37:53] that Victory is a dirty word do you
[00:37:56] think that the United States has been
[00:37:58] doing enough to ensure the return of the
[00:37:59] hostages and and the creation of lasting
[00:38:02] peace hell no no I I think I think the
[00:38:04] United States has has has acted under
[00:38:06] the Biden Harrison Administration and
[00:38:08] everyone knows my politics I would
[00:38:09] assume at this point uh the the the
[00:38:11] Biden Harrison Administration which
[00:38:13] started off I will say at the very
[00:38:14] beginning of the war fairly well uh
[00:38:16] immediately then launched into a a soft
[00:38:19] morally relativistic stance in which the
[00:38:21] idea was that if Aid was slow walked to
[00:38:23] Israel somehow this would facilitate
[00:38:25] peace negotiations as opposed to
[00:38:26] incentivizing Hamas to keep going Hamas
[00:38:29] understands that they are militarily
[00:38:30] inferior I mean right now basically no
[00:38:32] one in the upper as line of Hamas is
[00:38:33] Left Alive Yak sinir may be alive in a
[00:38:35] bunker somewhere surrounded by by live
[00:38:37] hostages uh but but it's not as though
[00:38:39] he has any sort of serious military
[00:38:40] force at his disposal what he's counting
[00:38:42] on is that the United States will force
[00:38:43] Israel into making some sort of
[00:38:45] concessions that will allow him and his
[00:38:46] and his group to survive uh the United
[00:38:48] States could have done something very
[00:38:49] easy they could have done this by the
[00:38:50] way in Ukraine as well they could have
[00:38:51] said listen our allies deserve our
[00:38:54] support in a time of War they they
[00:38:56] should be able to pursue the ends that
[00:38:58] are necessary in order for them to
[00:38:59] achieve Victory they shouldn't the
[00:39:01] United States should not be in the
[00:39:02] position of micromanaging the wars of
[00:39:04] our allies it's a stupid idea in the
[00:39:06] first place and it's particularly stupid
[00:39:08] when America's enemies are watching and
[00:39:09] they see every Act of weakness as
[00:39:12] another sign that the United States is
[00:39:13] not willing to stand up for its allies
[00:39:14] in the region and the reality is October
[00:39:16] 7th never would have happened if the
[00:39:18] Biden administration had not immediately
[00:39:19] come into office and started playing
[00:39:21] footsy with the with the Islamic
[00:39:23] Republic of Iran if that had never
[00:39:24] happened then then October 7th never
[00:39:26] would have happened in the first place
[00:39:27] the the Saudis and the Israelis likely
[00:39:29] would have already signed the Abraham
[00:39:30] Accords You' have seen the continuation
[00:39:32] of the of the budding peace in the
[00:39:33] Middle East that was until very recently
[00:39:36] the actual wave of the future over there
[00:39:37] and I think will be again now that
[00:39:38] Israel has reestablished its military
[00:39:40] deterrence in the region and one last
[00:39:43] question before I hand it over to the
[00:39:45] audience for their Q&A um William F
[00:39:47] Buckley Jr wrote God and man at Yale
[00:39:49] nearly 75 years ago in it he criticizes
[00:39:52] Yale for promoting secularism and
[00:39:54] collectivism while undermining
[00:39:56] Traditional Values he argues Yale's
[00:39:58] intellectual environment is hostile to
[00:40:01] the principles upon which our
[00:40:02] institution was founded do you think his
[00:40:04] critique is relevant to what happened at
[00:40:06] our universities after October 7th does
[00:40:08] it still hold true today just a just a
[00:40:10] little just a little is there hope is
[00:40:12] there hope for our institutions um I
[00:40:13] think there is hope for your
[00:40:14] institutions but your donors are going
[00:40:15] to have to start threatening to withraw
[00:40:16] their money that's that's the actual
[00:40:19] answer and employers are going to have
[00:40:20] to start looking at degrees uh from Yale
[00:40:22] and determining whether they are in fact
[00:40:23] worth the paper that they're written on
[00:40:25] and by the way I'm not singling out Yale
[00:40:26] here the same thing is is true of my
[00:40:28] alma moer Harvard which is having very
[00:40:30] similar experiences it's true for most
[00:40:32] of the the major it's okay you can hit
[00:40:34] them I don't like them either
[00:40:36] uh it's true of most of the major
[00:40:38] universities in the country at this
[00:40:39] point employers are making a grave
[00:40:41] mistake if they believe that just
[00:40:42] because you have a polyi degree from a
[00:40:43] top university that makes you qualified
[00:40:46] to hold a job in many cases it makes you
[00:40:48] the reverse of that well thank you very
[00:40:50] much for our conversation
[00:41:01] [Applause]
[00:41:05] Q&A excuse me we are now moving into the
[00:41:08] Q&A portion of the evening if you have a
[00:41:10] question for Mr Shapiro please come
[00:41:13] forward come to the back of the
[00:41:15] auditorium Circle your way around and
[00:41:17] stand behind this yellow line right here
[00:41:19] and we'll be able to get your
[00:41:22] question it doesn't have to be on this
[00:41:24] topic obviously it can be on anything
[00:41:25] and also I do have a general rule which
[00:41:26] is if you disagree you can raise your
[00:41:28] hand and go to the front but you
[00:41:29] actually have to disagree don't do it
[00:41:30] just to get to the
[00:41:34] front Mr shap Mr Shapiro thank you for
[00:41:37] sharing your thoughts
[00:41:39] tonight America our country fought a
[00:41:43] protracted global war and Terror for two
[00:41:45] decades just as you have mentioned today
[00:41:47] we have faced the ethical problems of
[00:41:50] War political problems opposition
[00:41:54] support for
[00:41:55] it but one day seemed
[00:41:59] to lay sacred in our country the day of
[00:42:02] remembrance on 9/11 and even whether you
[00:42:06] were for or against the war that day
[00:42:07] seemed to be a day where we remembered
[00:42:11] thousands of civilians firefighters and
[00:42:13] police lost their
[00:42:15] lives given that today is October 7th
[00:42:19] what do you think the ethical
[00:42:20] consequences are
[00:42:22] of you politicizing today as a day of
[00:42:26] anti-war protest and not a day of
[00:42:29] remembrance for the people who lost
[00:42:30] their lives this faithful day so frankly
[00:42:33] I think that we celebrate 911 wrong I
[00:42:35] think that the the idea that that 911
[00:42:37] ought to just be a sad day in which you
[00:42:39] remember that some people died in a
[00:42:41] tower somewhere as a congresswoman from
[00:42:42] Minesota might say I think that that is
[00:42:44] a that is a grave error it should be a
[00:42:47] reminder of of the enemies that the
[00:42:49] United States faced on 911 continues to
[00:42:52] face today we seem to have forgotten
[00:42:53] about all of those lessons which is why
[00:42:55] I think that we're doomed to repeat
[00:42:57] instances I I don't tend to believe that
[00:43:01] acts of Terror are equivalent to deaths
[00:43:03] by natural tragedy I think that it's one
[00:43:04] thing to hold the commemoration for a
[00:43:07] natural tragedy something horrible
[00:43:08] happens in life and and we all mourn
[00:43:10] that horrible thing happening I think
[00:43:11] that when you're talking about an act of
[00:43:14] War which is what 911 was or if you're
[00:43:16] talking about Pearl Harbor or if you're
[00:43:17] talking about October 7th the idea that
[00:43:19] you can treat that in the same way that
[00:43:21] you would say a day of remembrance for
[00:43:23] people who died from uh a flu pandemic
[00:43:27] uh I think that that is that is
[00:43:28] wrong-headed and foolish because you
[00:43:30] can't take away the lesson from October
[00:43:31] 7th or 911 or any other day in
[00:43:33] remembrance of of the victims of
[00:43:35] terrorism that terrorism is evil that it
[00:43:38] ought to be fought that those who
[00:43:39] believe in the ideology that forward it
[00:43:41] need to be defeated then I think you're
[00:43:42] doing the memorial
[00:43:51] Rome hi Ben uh my name is Zach it's nice
[00:43:54] to meet you um so as we stand here talk
[00:43:58] today uh students are holding a vigil to
[00:44:01] commemorate the people who died on
[00:44:03] October 7th and this event is
[00:44:05] counterprogramming that vigil in fact
[00:44:08] multiple student organizations wrote you
[00:44:10] letters asking you to hold this event at
[00:44:12] a different time pra vote tells us that
[00:44:15] you can serve God or you can serve
[00:44:18] yourself you are being paid thousands of
[00:44:20] dollars to counter program a vigil for
[00:44:23] the victims of October 7th so my
[00:44:25] question to you is how are you not
[00:44:26] serving s with this event well since
[00:44:29] there are hundreds of people who shut up
[00:44:30] to hear me talk about what's going on I
[00:44:33] don't think that it's serving myself per
[00:44:35] say I also don't think that I need the
[00:44:37] money uh so my suggestion would be so my
[00:44:41] suggestion would be that there are many
[00:44:43] ways to commemorate what happened I
[00:44:46] don't think that the folks who wish to
[00:44:48] hold different events have a veto on my
[00:44:50] event I certainly don't have a veto on
[00:44:52] theirs in fact there was one event that
[00:44:53] contacted me that was programmed at the
[00:44:55] same time and I attempted to actually
[00:44:57] move our event so that it did not
[00:44:59] conflict with that event they ended up
[00:45:00] moving their event earlier and actually
[00:45:02] went to that Memorial event at the kabad
[00:45:04] at 5:00 so this notion that I'm somehow
[00:45:07] ignoring the wishes of the entire Jewish
[00:45:10] Community or large swas of the Jewish
[00:45:11] Community by coming and speaking about
[00:45:13] the most vital issue on the most vital
[00:45:15] day of the last year is insipid and your
[00:45:18] insulting attempts to quote per aot at
[00:45:20] me are frankly uninspired
[00:45:29] [Music]
[00:45:31] only resp that's fine it's fine yes fine
[00:45:35] sure so um just to provide some
[00:45:38] additional context I think it was slifka
[00:45:40] the Hillel on campus sent you letter I
[00:45:42] believe kabad might have sent a letter
[00:45:43] to why IFI sent you a letter all these
[00:45:46] grp so weird that I coordinated with
[00:45:48] kabad as far as H there are many
[00:45:50] organizations on campus I don't agree
[00:45:51] with all of them politically they don't
[00:45:52] all agree with me politically but I do
[00:45:54] not give anyone a veto power on my
[00:45:56] ability to speak on again a very
[00:45:58] important day about a very important
[00:45:59] topic of conversation schedu an event
[00:46:01] for a different hour not the 7 p.m.
[00:46:03] visual at a 400 seat theater when I
[00:46:06] could easily fill a 3,000 seat one so
[00:46:08] you you're saying right now that you
[00:46:10] never considered moving an event just
[00:46:12] one hour to allow the vigil that had
[00:46:13] been saying Halls here I don't book The
[00:46:16] Halls here I might why don't you direct
[00:46:18] your questions at the Y Administration
[00:46:19] if you're so perturbed about this this
[00:46:21] is a question out of legitimate concern
[00:46:24] no I've answered your question I
[00:46:26] appreciate the time
[00:46:29] all
[00:46:30] right oh you can hold it well I'm glad I
[00:46:32] got to follow that guy so Ben my name's
[00:46:35] domini from here in Connecticut so
[00:46:38] listen I want to thank you and the daily
[00:46:39] wire for everything you do I'm a
[00:46:41] subscriber a longtime listener and uh
[00:46:43] what I appreciate most is the way you
[00:46:45] fight for our freedoms whether it's
[00:46:47] mandates or it's the uh freedom of
[00:46:50] speech and you know today something
[00:46:52] happened to me that was very disturbing
[00:46:54] reminds me that there's another front
[00:46:56] where we have to fight for our
[00:46:57] conservative voice I was on chat gbt
[00:46:59] trying to do a simple graphic says never
[00:47:01] forget I wanted to put a star David on
[00:47:03] there and I asked for a Jewish theme and
[00:47:05] I asked chat gbt for an Israeli theme
[00:47:08] and it rejected me in every corner and
[00:47:10] reminds me that this is just another way
[00:47:13] where we have to fight for our voices
[00:47:14] and and I want to know if you have any
[00:47:16] plans to help fight on the AI front U
[00:47:19] well I mean the good news is that grock
[00:47:20] exists right so grock has no limits you
[00:47:23] can do whatever you want there as crazy
[00:47:24] as you want it to be right everyone
[00:47:26] knows and I'm I'm friendly with Elon uh
[00:47:28] you know I think that that grock will
[00:47:29] will generate whatever image you want
[00:47:30] it'll do so very quickly and the images
[00:47:32] that it makes are actually quite amazing
[00:47:34] uh so I'm I'm a big believer in AI
[00:47:36] actually I think that AI has tremendous
[00:47:38] potential to change the world um and I
[00:47:40] also am very pleased that there are a
[00:47:41] lot of competitors who are who are
[00:47:43] capable of of out competing chat GPT if
[00:47:45] they decide to place arbitrary limits on
[00:47:46] the kind of images that can be created
[00:47:49] thank you for thanks so
[00:47:54] much hi thanks for being here um I
[00:47:57] wanted to ask so you mentioned that like
[00:47:59] employers and donors could do a lot to
[00:48:01] affect change on a college campus but
[00:48:03] since you're looking at an audience of
[00:48:05] students I'm sure there's a lot of like
[00:48:07] interesting ways that you think students
[00:48:08] can affect change on a college campus
[00:48:10] and I want to hear what you think those
[00:48:11] are and like how they could be
[00:48:13] practically implemented by a student
[00:48:15] body that wants the world to know that
[00:48:16] evil is evil right so I mean I think
[00:48:18] that there are a bunch of things that
[00:48:19] you guys can do so the first thing that
[00:48:20] you guys can do is actually make the
[00:48:22] public aware of what's going on on
[00:48:23] campus so listen when I was in college I
[00:48:25] would say most kids didn't want to
[00:48:26] involved in politics at all right you
[00:48:28] want to get through your degree you want
[00:48:29] to go on with the rest of your life and
[00:48:31] then you know every so often you
[00:48:32] remember where he went you brag about it
[00:48:34] and this kind of it uh maybe you cut a
[00:48:36] check every so often um but the the
[00:48:38] reality is that most Americans don't
[00:48:40] actually know what's going on on campus
[00:48:41] which is why it was so shocking when all
[00:48:43] of a sudden there were these giant
[00:48:44] protests that suddenly erupted on campus
[00:48:46] you know sounding the clearing call
[00:48:48] getting in touch with Outlets like ours
[00:48:49] we report on this stuff fairly regularly
[00:48:50] there are other outlets that do as well
[00:48:52] so I think that number one I'll say as
[00:48:53] my my mentor Andrew Breitbart once said
[00:48:56] if you've got a you got a phone you got
[00:48:57] a camera you're now a journalist so so
[00:48:59] you should be out there you know making
[00:49:00] things Stories the second thing that you
[00:49:03] can be doing is is organizing and yeah
[00:49:05] that's uncomfortable and yeah it means
[00:49:06] that you're going to have to you know
[00:49:08] not be friends with everybody uh I can
[00:49:10] safely say as you might have guessed not
[00:49:12] a friends person right so when when I
[00:49:14] was on a college campus that was not my
[00:49:16] top priority nor is it my top priority
[00:49:17] today uh well thank God I I have my own
[00:49:20] Cadre of friends I call them my children
[00:49:21] and my wife um but the but the you know
[00:49:24] the the thing that you can do is you you
[00:49:26] can you can organize uh you can do
[00:49:28] events uh and you can expose what's
[00:49:31] going on in the classroom you can expose
[00:49:32] professors you can you can expose what
[00:49:34] administrators are doing you know there
[00:49:36] there is a special window that you have
[00:49:39] into the campuses that no one else does
[00:49:40] because you're on one I know this
[00:49:42] because it's actually what I did at UCLA
[00:49:43] I mean again I got started in this job
[00:49:45] you know working in politics when I was
[00:49:46] 17 I was at UCLA at the time my first
[00:49:48] book was about bias on college campuses
[00:49:51] it was called brainwash and it came out
[00:49:52] in 2004 okay so it's been 20 years and
[00:49:55] what I did is I basically reported from
[00:49:56] what was going on inside the classroom
[00:49:58] so you can all do that thank
[00:50:01] [Applause]
[00:50:05] you hey Ben thanks for being here my
[00:50:08] name is Manny um I'm actually a fan of
[00:50:11] your show and I'm part of yaf appu uh as
[00:50:13] a prolifer myself I have an abortion
[00:50:15] question that some left this bring up so
[00:50:18] if you were in a burning hospital and on
[00:50:20] one side there were 100 invitro fertiliz
[00:50:23] eggs and the other side there were five
[00:50:24] born babies and you had to only save one
[00:50:27] side which would you save and why okay
[00:50:30] so the the traditional answer that
[00:50:32] anyone would give is you'd save the five
[00:50:34] born babies and the reason you save the
[00:50:35] five born babies is because the the
[00:50:37] embryos have a chance at life the the
[00:50:39] chance they're already alive but they
[00:50:40] have a chance at at Living a a full life
[00:50:43] outside the womb already right so this
[00:50:45] is let say well this is an argument
[00:50:46] about viability now you're arguing that
[00:50:48] a life outside the womb is more valuable
[00:50:50] because of viability right but these are
[00:50:51] embryos that are not in a womb right now
[00:50:54] so if the the question was you know you
[00:50:56] can save baby or I can punch this 9month
[00:50:58] pregnant woman in the stomach it might
[00:50:59] be a slightly different question also
[00:51:01] this does not define the value of life
[00:51:02] our our sort of gut reaction as to which
[00:51:04] life is more valuable doesn't Define the
[00:51:06] value of life so let me give you another
[00:51:07] example where you know I could give
[00:51:09] here's a very similar example burning
[00:51:11] building 80-year-old person 5-year-old
[00:51:14] child who do you save right and the
[00:51:15] answer that most people are going to
[00:51:16] give is the 5-year-old child does that
[00:51:17] mean the 80y 80-year-old person is not
[00:51:19] alive doesn't mean that their life is
[00:51:21] not worthless I could also give an
[00:51:23] example you know a sort of hypothetical
[00:51:25] in which you would save the embryos so
[00:51:27] let's say that you're on a spaceship
[00:51:28] okay we're doing a hypotheticals are fun
[00:51:30] you're on a spaceship and on this
[00:51:31] spaceship you have a 5-year-old child or
[00:51:34] a thousand embryos okay and you're the
[00:51:36] last spaceship in existence and you are
[00:51:38] the future of humanity okay and you got
[00:51:40] to save one the one five-year-old child
[00:51:42] or the Thousand embryos which one do you
[00:51:43] save well now you save the Thousand
[00:51:45] embryos because the entire future of the
[00:51:46] human species is at stake and so you
[00:51:48] want to save the Thousand as opposed to
[00:51:49] the one so our sort of gut level
[00:51:51] reaction as to which life we would save
[00:51:54] does not is it's not a dispositive
[00:51:56] answer to whether there is value to the
[00:51:58] to the life that's being form also it's
[00:52:00] a weird false hypothetical because you
[00:52:01] don't that's never the choice no
[00:52:02] nobody's ever like you know what I'm I'm
[00:52:04] six months pregnant and so here's my
[00:52:06] question do I save this child or do I
[00:52:09] murder this 5-year-old right that's
[00:52:11] never been a thing that's ever
[00:52:13] Arisen and then my other question my
[00:52:17] other question is if you support the
[00:52:19] death penalty how should abortion be
[00:52:21] criminalized in terms of who and what
[00:52:23] the adequate punishment is I've heard
[00:52:25] you say that you would say in the case
[00:52:27] of a woman getting the abortion that the
[00:52:29] woman has like a lack of men's Rea which
[00:52:31] is like Crim lack of Criminal Intent
[00:52:33] they don't meet the standards for that
[00:52:34] um but like if you hire a hitman
[00:52:36] wouldn't you be punished for hiring that
[00:52:38] Hitman to like commit an act of M well I
[00:52:41] mean that it's sort of a questionable
[00:52:43] premise in the sense that If you hired a
[00:52:44] Hitman to kill a vegetable right or what
[00:52:46] you thought was a vegetable which is
[00:52:47] what most people think when they get an
[00:52:49] abortion right they believe that the
[00:52:50] thing that they're killing doesn't have
[00:52:52] innate human value very few people are
[00:52:53] willing to admit this thing has innate
[00:52:54] human value it's a human life I'm
[00:52:55] killing it anyway
[00:52:57] and that's actually pretty horrifying if
[00:52:59] you if you think about it if that's the
[00:53:00] way people are approaching abortion but
[00:53:01] the vast majority of people who are
[00:53:02] approaching abortion that way are not
[00:53:03] thinking about it that way it'd be like
[00:53:05] hiring a Hitman to to kill a cow or to
[00:53:08] or in in in the Viewpoint of the person
[00:53:10] who's who's in in your analogy uh so you
[00:53:13] know if if let's say that you are a an
[00:53:15] abortion do let's say you're Kermit
[00:53:16] gnell and you're an abortion doctor and
[00:53:18] you partially abort fetuses and then
[00:53:20] they're born alive sometimes and you
[00:53:21] kill them then kit gnell should have
[00:53:23] received the death penalty right so you
[00:53:25] it depends on the level of Mena the
[00:53:27] level of the level of egregious you know
[00:53:31] the egregiousness of of the murder but
[00:53:33] yeah I'm I'm certainly in favor of the
[00:53:34] death penalty in certain cases it's not
[00:53:36] an across the board yes or no kind of
[00:53:37] thing go go okay
[00:53:41] [Applause]
[00:53:45] thank um hello uh you quoted a or
[00:53:48] mentioned a book earlier I didn't quite
[00:53:50] catch it um when you were talking about
[00:53:51] how peace can only be achieved through
[00:53:54] um Victory and long lasting peace yes
[00:53:56] lasting piece okay and I was also hoping
[00:53:57] if you could give an example of um a
[00:53:59] relevant example of such Victory and
[00:54:01] defeat and then talk about what victory
[00:54:03] and defeat would look like in this case
[00:54:04] with Israel and sure okay so the the
[00:54:07] author is I believe Jeffrey blay the
[00:54:09] book is the cause of War by Jeffrey blay
[00:54:11] um the the I mean the perfect example
[00:54:13] obviously is World War II so World War I
[00:54:16] actually ends with a negotiated end
[00:54:18] right World War I is negotiated
[00:54:19] everybody's like oh the Versa treaty
[00:54:21] it's so terrible look how it how it
[00:54:22] incentivized Germany to then have to pay
[00:54:24] reparations and then that leads to World
[00:54:25] War II and and so look how how many
[00:54:27] never if everybody had just been nicer
[00:54:29] to Germany World War II never would have
[00:54:30] happened the argument blay makes which
[00:54:32] is a pretty convincing one is that we
[00:54:33] were a lot meaner in World War too when
[00:54:35] we when the west and and the Soviets
[00:54:37] completely invaded and then parceled out
[00:54:39] the entirety of Germany and there hasn't
[00:54:41] been war in Germany since as it turns
[00:54:43] out the examples from the Middle East
[00:54:45] would include Israel's uh signal defeat
[00:54:48] of the Egyptian Army in 1973 so Israel
[00:54:50] fully defeats the Egyptian Army after
[00:54:52] they take their best shot in 1973 and
[00:54:54] the Egyptians decide at that point they
[00:54:55] do not have the ability to defeat the
[00:54:57] Israelis and then they sign a peace
[00:54:59] agreement with the Israelis so Jordan
[00:55:02] Jordan same sort of thing right Jordan
[00:55:03] attacks in 1967 in 1967 Israel defeats
[00:55:07] them the jordanians never go to war with
[00:55:08] Israel again I mean so these are not
[00:55:10] just relevant examples these are
[00:55:11] relevant examples from the region okay
[00:55:13] so if if you're talking about how do you
[00:55:15] achieve long-lasting peace in in this
[00:55:17] particular region I mean first of all
[00:55:19] Israel has achieved a pretty long-
[00:55:21] lasting cold peace with Egypt and with
[00:55:22] Jordan they're achieving a much warmer
[00:55:24] piece with Bahrain UAE and and they will
[00:55:26] with saity I have I have full confidence
[00:55:29] if you're talking about how do they
[00:55:30] achieve a long-lasting peace with say
[00:55:31] Lebanon the answer is going to have to
[00:55:33] be such devastatingly effective military
[00:55:35] victory that there is likely a regime
[00:55:37] change uh that that that ends with some
[00:55:40] form of actual military governance in
[00:55:42] Lebanon sufficient to with withhold
[00:55:45] power from kah which by the way was
[00:55:47] supposed to be the case after 2005 when
[00:55:49] Israel withdrew Israel 2006 when Israel
[00:55:51] Drew from Southern Lebanon there's a UN
[00:55:53] resolution I don't give a about the
[00:55:54] UN the un's a terrible place and it's
[00:55:55] filled with terrible people but the UN
[00:55:57] resolution 1701 says that south southern
[00:55:59] Lebanon was supposed to be completely
[00:56:01] demilitarized and unifil was supposed to
[00:56:02] maintain control and that never happened
[00:56:05] so the only way to actually achieve
[00:56:06] long-lasting peace is by crushing the
[00:56:08] hopes and dreams of people who wish to
[00:56:11] attack their neighbors in such
[00:56:12] devastating fashion that they have no
[00:56:14] choice but to negotiate a peace that
[00:56:16] that and and so when it comes to Gaza
[00:56:18] Israel has done that with Hamas the only
[00:56:20] way Israel is going to be able to
[00:56:21] maintain that unfortunate Israel is
[00:56:22] desperately trying to find somebody to
[00:56:23] run the Gaza Strip they offered it to
[00:56:25] Egypt EG like are you kidding me no way
[00:56:27] they offered it to Saudi Saudi doesn't
[00:56:29] want any piece of it they offered it to
[00:56:30] Jordan Jordan doesn't want any piece of
[00:56:31] it no one wants a piece of the Gaza
[00:56:32] Strip nor have they ever by the way
[00:56:34] Israel NE Israel never wanted the Gaza
[00:56:36] Strip in 1967 there was an open debate
[00:56:38] inside the Israeli cabinet whether they
[00:56:39] even had to go into the Gaza Strip with
[00:56:41] most people arguing that if they could
[00:56:43] get away with not going in there and
[00:56:44] leaving it in Egyptian hands they would
[00:56:45] do it okay like the Gaza Strip has
[00:56:47] always been in trouble area so Israel's
[00:56:49] going to have to probably militarily
[00:56:51] occupy the area and pacify it and a
[00:56:53] counterinsurgency operation for the
[00:56:54] foreseeable future until they're able
[00:56:56] ble to negotiate a broader piece in
[00:56:57] which somebody is willing to accept some
[00:56:58] responsibility
[00:57:00] there thank
[00:57:03] [Applause]
[00:57:06] you oh um thank you for coming to speak
[00:57:10] with us and engaging with us um my
[00:57:12] question was about free speech um so I'm
[00:57:15] I'm a leftist and like well thank you
[00:57:18] first of all thank you for coming no
[00:57:19] seriously thanks for coming I appreciate
[00:57:20] that um and I I
[00:57:24] agree I agree that the laugh has a long
[00:57:26] ways to go in terms of addressing free
[00:57:28] speech and um like and their response
[00:57:31] act side but I think one of the things I
[00:57:35] struggle with is sort of like the sort
[00:57:38] of double standard the left is being
[00:57:40] held to in that like the right claims
[00:57:42] that the left is the only ones
[00:57:44] infringing on Free Speech right I think
[00:57:47] just as it is like bad for the left to
[00:57:51] like straw man a vocal few conservatives
[00:57:54] and like label them all white
[00:57:56] supremacists it seems that it's just as
[00:57:59] bad to like label vocal few leftists as
[00:58:01] all Nazis right um and the same way it's
[00:58:05] like Banning employ like employment
[00:58:07] opportunities for leftists that Express
[00:58:09] certain views and saying that the same
[00:58:11] shouldn't happen to the conservatives so
[00:58:14] do you think that the right has a long
[00:58:16] way to go in terms of free speech as
[00:58:18] well or do you think that this is purely
[00:58:20] a leftist problem I mean I I think that
[00:58:22] everyone can do better on Free Speech I
[00:58:23] do think that it's disproportionate in
[00:58:25] terms of the attacks on free free speech
[00:58:26] in in the modern day and age uh I think
[00:58:28] that if you would have gone back to 1965
[00:58:30] there are probably more attacks on free
[00:58:31] speech from the right than the left and
[00:58:33] if you go to today there are more
[00:58:34] attacks on free speech from the left
[00:58:36] than than the right also I think some of
[00:58:37] the examples that that you're using the
[00:58:39] the suggestion that like everybody on
[00:58:40] the left is is sorious I don't think
[00:58:43] that's true but I think that there there
[00:58:44] are certain people who are I think there
[00:58:45] are certain systems that are for sure um
[00:58:47] but you know again it's easy to
[00:58:49] overstate just quickly like for example
[00:58:52] right like let's take the example of
[00:58:54] like high schools like ing certain types
[00:58:56] of speech or like the boycott of
[00:59:00] budlight for example right like I mean
[00:59:03] like in many ways that's like similar to
[00:59:05] how the left cancels the right right
[00:59:07] it's like isn't there like a pretty like
[00:59:10] big problem on the there's a really good
[00:59:12] question so so the reason this is such a
[00:59:13] good question is because I think that
[00:59:15] there's a category error that often gets
[00:59:16] made with regard to these sorts of
[00:59:17] questions what I mean by that is that it
[00:59:20] is in fact an element of free speech and
[00:59:22] the leftist said this too it is an
[00:59:23] element of free speech for people to not
[00:59:24] want to go to my speech for example if
[00:59:26] people want to boycott the speech and
[00:59:27] not come that's their prerogative that
[00:59:29] is an element of free speech if I choose
[00:59:30] not to buy Bud Light that is also an
[00:59:32] element of free speech that's how I
[00:59:33] choose to to use my money when it comes
[00:59:35] to cancel culture I think that there
[00:59:37] again there's been a category error
[00:59:39] there there are two questions one is
[00:59:40] whether people ever deserve to be
[00:59:43] boycotted and the answer there is
[00:59:44] clearly yes right there are certain
[00:59:45] people who deserve to be boycotted and
[00:59:47] then there's the question of who and I
[00:59:49] think this is where you see the real
[00:59:50] imbalance for for the left in the United
[00:59:52] States the Overton window within which
[00:59:54] you have to operate in order order to
[00:59:56] not earn a boycott is extremely narrow
[00:59:59] for the right it's much wider but I
[01:00:01] wouldn't say that it's completely gone I
[01:00:03] believe in an Overton window I I do
[01:00:05] think for example that if I'm an
[01:00:07] employer I I do not have a moral
[01:00:08] obligation to hire people who believe
[01:00:12] that Hitler was a great guy I don't have
[01:00:13] a moral obligation to do that right
[01:00:14] that's not that's me not me violating
[01:00:16] their free speech or boycotting them in
[01:00:18] a way that's a violation of free speech
[01:00:19] principles because I think the the basic
[01:00:22] social contract suggest again they have
[01:00:24] a right to go and work in the United
[01:00:25] States they don't have a right to earn a
[01:00:26] job from me I'm not calling for them to
[01:00:28] be jailed and I think we also ought to
[01:00:29] differentiate between private action and
[01:00:31] public action in this particular venue
[01:00:33] uh in this particular kind of area that
[01:00:35] we're talking about with that said the
[01:00:37] Overton the big imbalance that people
[01:00:38] are noting on the right is the Overton
[01:00:39] window of the left is extremely narrow
[01:00:41] you can say very mild things and get
[01:00:43] quote unquote canceled if you are if you
[01:00:45] are on the right whereas if you're on
[01:00:47] the left it's very very difficult to say
[01:00:49] something so transgressive that the
[01:00:51] entire world turns on you and you lose
[01:00:52] your job like you have to go a very long
[01:00:54] way in order to get there
[01:00:57] [Applause]
[01:01:02] uh hi Ben um I'm a huge fan of yours uh
[01:01:05] as you can see I'm Asian I study
[01:01:06] artificial intelligence so thank you for
[01:01:08] the for the call out yes well dude
[01:01:11] congrats on getting in do they know
[01:01:12] you're Asian uh
[01:01:14] no uh yeah I hit the Box you're the
[01:01:18] you're the Deadpool of speeches and
[01:01:21] debates for me yes really so I'll get to
[01:01:24] Serious Business so like three very
[01:01:26] short and but questions just like so the
[01:01:30] first one do you think William
[01:01:33] Shakespeare was an
[01:01:35] anti-semite uh I mean by by the evidence
[01:01:37] in merchants of Venice
[01:01:39] sure I mean yes I mean the merchants of
[01:01:41] Venice is in fact an anti-semitic work
[01:01:43] does that mean it's not a great work no
[01:01:45] and I I have a habit of of trying to
[01:01:47] read great works and then also
[01:01:49] understand that there's Terrible Things
[01:01:50] often in in great works that's that's
[01:01:52] something new I I don't like bouldered
[01:01:53] versions of of literature by the way
[01:01:56] that's true of an enormous number of
[01:01:57] people historically a lot of I mean a
[01:02:00] lot of great literature a lot of great
[01:02:01] thinkers who weren't fond of my kind
[01:02:04] okay and the second one do you think the
[01:02:06] tale of Robin Hood promotes
[01:02:09] socialism no I think the tale of Robin
[01:02:12] Hood is is a fight against over taxation
[01:02:15] okay the Sheriff of
[01:02:19] Nottingham so uh uh one last one just
[01:02:23] just the last one I don't want to take
[01:02:24] up too much time so like um so I don't
[01:02:26] know if you heard of a anime French
[01:02:28] called Sailor Moon do you think it
[01:02:30] promotes homosexuality and
[01:02:36] transgenderism okay I have heard of
[01:02:39] Sailor Moon I do not know what it is and
[01:02:43] any and are you asking me a question
[01:02:45] about anime is that a thing that's
[01:02:46] happening in real life right now so so
[01:02:49] yeah and so like uh I used to watch it
[01:02:51] and
[01:02:53] like so and and so like
[01:02:56] it just see I'm just starting to realize
[01:02:58] they seem to like promote lesbianism and
[01:03:00] transgenderism in certain certain of its
[01:03:03] Seasons um I have no specific views on
[01:03:07] whether Sailor Moon promotes
[01:03:09] transgenderism I I I I have to say I do
[01:03:12] not have
[01:03:14] [Music]
[01:03:18] any hi Ben thank you for coming I'm
[01:03:21] Caroline um my question is um do you
[01:03:24] think Israel is in a Race Against Time
[01:03:27] in a race to secure its Geo geostrategic
[01:03:30] position before the US becomes beholden
[01:03:32] to the left and its anti-israel bias yes
[01:03:35] uh so I mean the the so the question is
[01:03:37] to whether Israel is has got a short
[01:03:40] time frame in order to ensure its own
[01:03:41] security for the future as the left
[01:03:43] gains in power the answer is obviously
[01:03:45] yes I mean you've seen the slow walking
[01:03:47] from the of the aid from the the Biden
[01:03:48] Administration despite Congressional
[01:03:49] approval of that same Aid I think you
[01:03:52] would see something very similar from
[01:03:54] the Harris Administration God forbid um
[01:03:56] and I I do think that you are seeing a
[01:03:58] growing sentiment not only on the left
[01:04:00] it's like fullon anti-israel uh but
[01:04:02] there's a growing isolation of
[01:04:03] sentiments on the right that basically
[01:04:04] is doing a fortress America routine
[01:04:06] which I think is counterproductive but
[01:04:08] it is growing I think by the way the
[01:04:10] Israelis know that and and that's why I
[01:04:12] think they're reshoring a lot of their
[01:04:13] defense production I think they'll be
[01:04:14] doing more of that in the near future
[01:04:17] that that that by the way is is actually
[01:04:18] a problem for the United States if you
[01:04:20] believe the United States ought to have
[01:04:21] strong connections with its allies and
[01:04:22] by the way leverage over over our allies
[01:04:25] uh then you actually want there to be
[01:04:26] strong military aid connections with a
[01:04:28] wide variety of allies of the United
[01:04:30] States because it turns out that let's
[01:04:31] say Israel does not get its arms from
[01:04:33] America and let's say America wants to
[01:04:35] hold the leash on Israel uh is what what
[01:04:38] leash right so that that that is
[01:04:40] something that the defense establishment
[01:04:41] has always believe the defense
[01:04:42] establishment has always been very much
[01:04:43] in favor of of or at least in the modern
[01:04:45] era post 67 of certain amounts of Aid to
[01:04:48] Israel because enormous amounts of Aid
[01:04:49] are are not only spent all that Aid gets
[01:04:51] spent in the United States and
[01:04:53] additional military spending in Israel
[01:04:54] has to be spent in the United States but
[01:04:55] also because that gives the United
[01:04:56] States leverage over Israel's foreign
[01:04:58] policy decisions as well so you the
[01:05:00] answer is yes uh Israel is going to have
[01:05:02] to go its own way more it's going to
[01:05:04] have to get more independent and believe
[01:05:06] you me they know
[01:05:08] [Applause]
[01:05:13] it hey Ben thanks for coming out today
[01:05:15] um I'm someone who used to be a Democrat
[01:05:18] and actually became a republican after
[01:05:20] being exposed to viewpoints such as
[01:05:22] yours so thank you for what you do and
[01:05:24] actually now I'm running for state
[01:05:26] representative here in the state of
[01:05:28] Connecticut as a republican so thank you
[01:05:30] so much my question is how do we appeal
[01:05:33] to younger people who may be on the
[01:05:34] fence that could be con you know swayed
[01:05:37] by Republican values they're not totally
[01:05:39] convinced by democrats but they might
[01:05:40] think that it's not cool to be a
[01:05:41] republican what value values or issues
[01:05:44] should we focus on well I mean listen
[01:05:45] it's not cool to be a republican uh it
[01:05:48] it isn't I mean but I think that values
[01:05:50] tend to be uncool uh I've never thought
[01:05:52] that cool was a particularly important
[01:05:54] thing in life as you might be able to
[01:05:55] tell um but with that said uh I I think
[01:05:59] that the the left has moved so far the
[01:06:01] left that there is a rebellion Brewing
[01:06:03] it turns out that most people want to
[01:06:05] succeed in life most people want to
[01:06:07] thrive most people at least in the
[01:06:09] United States uh wish to be Lions there
[01:06:11] there's a matrix that I've been working
[01:06:13] on for a while kind of in my own head
[01:06:15] about you know everybody sort of has
[01:06:16] their version of they're two kinds of
[01:06:18] people right um but but here's here's
[01:06:20] one of those two kinds of people over
[01:06:21] simplifications uh there's two kinds of
[01:06:23] people there are lions and there are
[01:06:24] scavengers there people who actually
[01:06:26] want to go out and there they want to
[01:06:26] achieve they want to build community
[01:06:28] they want to build family they want to
[01:06:29] they want to innovate they want to be
[01:06:30] entrepreneurial they want to work a job
[01:06:32] they want to grab control of their own
[01:06:34] life and make the best of that life
[01:06:35] provided for their family be warriors on
[01:06:37] behalf of their civilization I think
[01:06:38] that's still most Americans because
[01:06:39] America was built on that and then there
[01:06:41] are scavengers there are people who
[01:06:42] truly believe that everything is owed to
[01:06:44] them and that the system in which they
[01:06:46] live needs to be torn away at and and
[01:06:48] it's a bad system and it needs to be it
[01:06:50] needs to be dissolved or at least needs
[01:06:52] to be wounded and I think the left prays
[01:06:54] on that I think the the left Praise on
[01:06:56] this anger against the system but the
[01:06:58] reality is that there is no hope in that
[01:07:01] there is no building in that once you
[01:07:03] tear away the only system that has ever
[01:07:05] provided prosperity and freedom to
[01:07:06] humankind which is the sort of freedoms
[01:07:09] guaranteed by the US Constitution once
[01:07:10] you do that the property rights and the
[01:07:12] and the judeo-christian history of the
[01:07:13] West once you tear that away there is
[01:07:16] nothing left to build on and so when you
[01:07:18] say to people listen I'm not here to
[01:07:19] give you a handout I'm not here to
[01:07:21] structure your life for you I'm not here
[01:07:23] to make decisions about every little
[01:07:25] area area of of how you ought to live
[01:07:27] what I am here to do is tell you get off
[01:07:28] your ass work and you'll succeed in
[01:07:30] America because it turns out that if you
[01:07:32] do work in America you will succeed in
[01:07:34] America I mean the very simple
[01:07:36] three-part rule that offends a lot of
[01:07:37] people graduate high school don't have a
[01:07:39] baby before you get married get a job
[01:07:41] you do these three things you will not
[01:07:43] be permanently poor in the United States
[01:07:45] that is just the reality and when you
[01:07:46] say to people listen any obstacles to
[01:07:48] those things I want to help you CLE
[01:07:49] clear away any obstacles to that whether
[01:07:51] you're talking about big business
[01:07:53] collusion or whether you're talking
[01:07:54] about the government which I think is
[01:07:55] mostly the problem when anything we can
[01:07:57] do to tear that away and move that away
[01:07:59] from you so you can succeed that's that
[01:08:02] I think is an inspiring message to
[01:08:03] people and it gives them a hope for
[01:08:04] their own future thank you very
[01:08:06] [Applause]
[01:08:12] much hey Ben thanks so much for being
[01:08:14] here tonight I you mentioned um Ukraine
[01:08:17] briefly earlier I just wanted to get
[01:08:20] your take on what the perspective from a
[01:08:23] for foreign policy standpoint should be
[01:08:25] on the continuation of the war I know
[01:08:27] you've been attacked um by certain
[01:08:30] factions um in the Republican Party most
[01:08:33] notably Tucker Carlson um for your
[01:08:36] support for continued funding of Ukraine
[01:08:38] I'm just I sort of want your take on
[01:08:41] what you think the endgame is in Ukraine
[01:08:43] and what should be the approach from a
[01:08:45] US foreign policy perspective to achieve
[01:08:48] that sure so my my approach to Ukraine
[01:08:50] Contra what Tucker you know perceives my
[01:08:53] approach to be is that the United States
[01:08:55] should continue to fund Ukraine
[01:08:56] sufficient to maintain it its current
[01:09:00] borders and pressure Russia to the table
[01:09:03] right Ukraine is not going to take back
[01:09:05] Crimea or the donbass just realistically
[01:09:06] speaking the chances that that Ukraine
[01:09:08] is going to be able to do that are very
[01:09:09] low they've been low since 2014 that's
[01:09:11] nothing new uh I I've been saying since
[01:09:13] probably August of of 2022 that the best
[01:09:16] thing the United States could do would
[01:09:17] be to actually quickly ramp up the
[01:09:19] amount of military aid being provided to
[01:09:20] Ukraine in order to pressure Russia for
[01:09:23] an offramp uh and and then
[01:09:25] zilinski is in in a bad position I mean
[01:09:27] you you feel for him as a leader he's in
[01:09:29] a position where his people have been
[01:09:31] absolutely ransacked where hundreds of
[01:09:33] thousands of them have been killed and
[01:09:36] and his people correctly morally
[01:09:37] speaking don't want to give up a shred
[01:09:39] of the land they believe that they lost
[01:09:40] in 2014 and Beyond and you get that
[01:09:44] totally so zalinsky is not in a position
[01:09:45] where he can say okay fine I'll sign a
[01:09:47] deal where I give away Crimea or the
[01:09:48] donbass or sign any of that away despite
[01:09:50] the fact that those two parts of Ukraine
[01:09:52] tend to be significantly more prau than
[01:09:54] than the rest of the country uh you know
[01:09:55] so so what the United States might have
[01:09:57] to do is basically cut a deal in lie of
[01:10:00] zinski and cram it down on him right I
[01:10:02] mean that that might be something that
[01:10:03] has to happen where the United States
[01:10:04] goes to Russia if Russia were willing to
[01:10:06] negotiate and says to Russia here's the
[01:10:09] deal the we will have a mutual Aid
[01:10:12] guarantee with Ukraine we will guarantee
[01:10:14] their security you're not going to
[01:10:15] invade their borders anymore but the
[01:10:18] lines get frozen where they are
[01:10:20] essentially and and then you know you
[01:10:22] might have to cudel Ukraine on the other
[01:10:24] side again there's a bit of a different
[01:10:25] story from the situation with say Israel
[01:10:27] and its enemies because Israel is the
[01:10:29] overwhelming military force in the
[01:10:30] region as opposed to Ukraine which is
[01:10:32] fighting against apparently an
[01:10:33] insuperable supply of of human flesh
[01:10:36] that that Putin is just drafting out of
[01:10:37] everywhere uh so you know if that sounds
[01:10:39] like a wildly hawkish perspective that's
[01:10:41] weird because it's precisely the
[01:10:42] perspective that Donald Trump has taken
[01:10:43] on the same
[01:10:44] issue thank
[01:10:46] [Applause]
[01:10:49] you hi thank you for being here um so I
[01:10:53] I want to continue with the question
[01:10:55] about Ukraine um and genuinely don't
[01:10:57] know the answer to the question I'm
[01:10:59] about to about to ask you so I'd be
[01:11:01] interested in your what you think about
[01:11:02] it so um there's been several reasons
[01:11:04] given by Pro Palestinian activists Pro
[01:11:07] Hamas activists for why they support
[01:11:09] Hamas um Hamas hates the west but Russia
[01:11:13] also hates the West um you know Israeli
[01:11:16] operations have killed uh many innocent
[01:11:18] Palestinian civilians but Russia uses
[01:11:21] conscripts and abductees from Nepal and
[01:11:24] India which are poor countries and many
[01:11:26] of them go and sign uh along with the
[01:11:28] Russian military only to find themselves
[01:11:30] in the front lines um Ukraine is funded
[01:11:32] by US taxes uh much of Israel's military
[01:11:36] or like at least Israel's military gets
[01:11:37] a lot of Aid um Ukraine has been a state
[01:11:40] for less time less than half the time
[01:11:44] than Israel has been a state uh and
[01:11:46] about seven times as many people have
[01:11:48] died in Ukraine as in the entire Israel
[01:11:51] Hamas or Israel G Gaza War so my my
[01:11:54] question to you is and and seriously I
[01:11:55] do not know the answer to this but like
[01:11:57] what is stopping somebody who is pramas
[01:12:01] pro Palestinian from realizing these
[01:12:03] like direct parallels and also
[01:12:04] supporting Russia uh because again
[01:12:07] looking for logic in these places I
[01:12:08] think is difficult uh and and I think
[01:12:11] that what it really comes down to is
[01:12:13] what is the position that is most
[01:12:16] coalitionally convenient so I I I don't
[01:12:19] think that that most of the pramas
[01:12:21] people on campus care deeply about let's
[01:12:24] put it this way the the radical Muslim
[01:12:27] fundamentalists who agree with Hamas
[01:12:28] don't particularly care about Russia
[01:12:29] Ukraine that's not their issue it's not
[01:12:30] their bag they don't care about it very
[01:12:31] much and in fact they tend to be more
[01:12:32] Pro Russia than the opposite because
[01:12:34] Russia is very supportive of many the
[01:12:36] activities of kah and Iran uh the the
[01:12:38] sort of leftwing bizarre dichotomy
[01:12:41] between uh the proas position and the
[01:12:43] pro Russia and the pro uh zalinsky Pro
[01:12:47] Ukraine position I think that dichotomy
[01:12:49] comes down basically it's it's weird how
[01:12:51] politics works it comes down basically
[01:12:52] to a lot of people on the left really
[01:12:54] really hate Russia not because they hate
[01:12:56] Russia they hate Russia because they
[01:12:58] think that Russia stole the election for
[01:12:59] Donald Trump in 2016 I mean I'm I'm I'm
[01:13:02] serious about this in 2012 it was Barack
[01:13:03] Obama who was on a stage with Demitri
[01:13:06] Medvedev literally telling him on a hot
[01:13:08] mic that he would make concessions to
[01:13:10] Vladimir Putin post election if Russia
[01:13:12] would leave off so I mean if you're I
[01:13:15] know you guys are young but back in the
[01:13:17] olden days in 2012 uh the the the it was
[01:13:20] Mitt Romney on a stage arguing against
[01:13:22] Russia and Barack Obama arguing the
[01:13:24] 1980s called in wanted their foreign
[01:13:25] policy back the only thing that switched
[01:13:27] was the bizarre leftwing perception that
[01:13:29] Russia had somehow made Donald Trump
[01:13:30] president which of course is not
[01:13:33] true thank
[01:13:38] you this will be the final
[01:13:43] question hi Ben thank you so much for
[01:13:45] coming to speak with us today um my
[01:13:47] question is regarding the concept of
[01:13:49] indigeny um often being used or being
[01:13:51] indigenous to a particular land being
[01:13:53] used as claim Often by the left um for a
[01:13:57] people to have a legitimate reason to
[01:13:59] occupy a territory or a piece of land um
[01:14:02] just this morning I saw a post saying
[01:14:04] that today is actually not about if a
[01:14:06] post by a prop Palestinian organization
[01:14:08] about how today is not actually about
[01:14:10] October 7 2023 but rather about the
[01:14:13] nakba that happened in 1947 um I'm
[01:14:16] thinking okay if we're going to go back
[01:14:17] to 1947 then why not go back to you know
[01:14:20] the seventh 7th Century ad um when it
[01:14:23] was conquered by Muslim conquest or we
[01:14:26] even go back further like 2,000 years
[01:14:28] ago when they were banished from this
[01:14:30] region um and so I just wanted to hear
[01:14:32] your view on what you think the
[01:14:34] importance or how important it is to
[01:14:37] even have indigen as a concept when
[01:14:39] discussing um ownership or claim to a
[01:14:42] land um how should we understand it um
[01:14:45] or if we do use it how far back should
[01:14:46] we go so I mean as you say I think
[01:14:48] indigeneity tends to be much more of a
[01:14:51] it's an there's sort of internal claims
[01:14:53] and there's external claims so internal
[01:14:54] claims you know this is our land this is
[01:14:56] the land that unifies us those those are
[01:14:58] common and those exist across the world
[01:14:59] and there's nothing new about that as
[01:15:01] sort of an external justifying claim
[01:15:02] indigeneity tends to be a very weak
[01:15:05] response and it tends to be a response
[01:15:07] by the way it doesn't tend to be the
[01:15:09] initial claim it's not you know I ought
[01:15:11] to have this land because my great great
[01:15:13] great great great great great great
[01:15:14] great great great great great
[01:15:14] grandfather had this land and we tend to
[01:15:16] perceive that as very weak CLA we ought
[01:15:18] to perceive that as as a very weak claim
[01:15:20] it tends to be only used in the context
[01:15:23] of a of a counter hisorical claim right
[01:15:25] somebody will say well I ought to have
[01:15:27] this land cuz my grandfather had this
[01:15:28] land and somebody says well um your your
[01:15:29] grandfather had my my he got it from my
[01:15:32] great-grandfather right and so it's it's
[01:15:33] more of a a counter claim um the the the
[01:15:36] sort of historic game playing here
[01:15:38] elides the central issue okay so when
[01:15:41] I'm trying to simplify the Israeli
[01:15:42] Palestinian issue there's a very easy
[01:15:44] way to do this okay the very easy way to
[01:15:46] do this is would the world look better
[01:15:48] if it looked more like Israel or would
[01:15:49] it look better if it looked more like
[01:15:50] say the West Bank under the Palestinian
[01:15:52] Authority and fata or the Gaza Strip
[01:15:54] under Kamas
[01:15:55] okay that's a very very simple question
[01:15:57] and it's a very easy question to answer
[01:15:58] and nobody wants to answer it so instead
[01:16:00] there's obfuscation instead you get
[01:16:01] people who are saying things like well
[01:16:02] you know it's really about what happened
[01:16:04] in 1947 and it's really what happened
[01:16:06] you know uh about in during during the
[01:16:08] Ottoman Empire and it's really what
[01:16:09] happened if you go all the way back to
[01:16:11] when this land was was occupied by you
[01:16:14] know the the Crusaders I mean like you
[01:16:16] can do that all day long you really can
[01:16:18] and it doesn't actually prove anything
[01:16:19] or help anything particularly I mean
[01:16:22] again if you want to go back originally
[01:16:23] originally according to the Bible it was
[01:16:25] Canaanite and if you want to go back to
[01:16:26] you know most of the archaeology most of
[01:16:28] the archaeology in Israel dates to you
[01:16:30] know about the 2 Century BC when it was
[01:16:32] Jewish uh and and so this is a
[01:16:35] particularly weak claim and we all know
[01:16:36] it's a weak Claim by the way because
[01:16:37] nobody at Yale is is proposing to give
[01:16:39] up this the beautiful University to the
[01:16:40] Native American tribes who originally
[01:16:42] possessed this land obviously uh so you
[01:16:45] that sort of claim is is I think a
[01:16:47] misdirect I think it's a red herring and
[01:16:49] I think that the people who use it
[01:16:50] definitely know that it's that it's a
[01:16:52] red herring in order to avoid the
[01:16:53] obvious which is everyone in the world
[01:16:56] would prefer to by the way including
[01:16:58] Arabs Israeli Arabs are perfectly happy
[01:17:00] living in Israel and none of them want
[01:17:01] to leave and live in the Gaza Strip or
[01:17:03] or in the the areas of Judean Samaria
[01:17:05] known as the West Bank no nobody wants
[01:17:07] that thank
[01:17:09] [Applause]
[01:17:14] you
[01:17:17] well I believe that uh that please Jo
[01:17:21] than thank you so much so much thank you
[01:17:26] [Music]
[01:17:27] thank you so
[01:17:28] [Music]
[01:17:30] [Applause]
[01:17:33] [Music]
[01:17:35] [Applause]
[01:17:53] much
[01:18:23] e for
ℹ️ Document Details
SHA-256
yt_P6D1b6ymoFM
Dataset
youtube
Comments 0