Full Transcript for Timeless Wisdom: The Moral Case For Israel (Part 1)

minister, and a rabbi, or, to be redundant, a Jewish rabbi. And I decided around the four year mark, wait a minute, why should I only have Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Let me open this up to every religion. And I began to regularly every month. 00:07:51 Speaker 3: Have a Muslim before it was at all. 00:07:54 Speaker 2: Politically correct to do so, before it was popular to do so. 00:07:58 Speaker 3: And I did so, and they were grateful, so grateful. 00:08:03 Speaker 2: I was the first Jew to lecture and do so repeatedly at the Southern California Islamic Center. So I want you to understand that none of what I am about to say comes from ill will, certainly toward Muslims individually. I pray, literally pray that everything I say changes and that a moral renaissance takes place in the Islamic and Arab worlds. I pray for that, but I will be lying about the reality of life. 00:08:40 Speaker 3: To deny what I am about to tell you. 00:08:44 Speaker 2: In moral contrast of Israel and its neighbors, that's the sad reality. To have said that Nazism was evil was not to say Germans are evil. Everybody understood that in World War Two because we didn't have political correctness. Then you could actually say then that certain societies were creating better values than others, because that self evident truism. 00:09:12 Speaker 3: It's not a truism that is acceptable. 00:09:14 Speaker 2: However, since multiculturalism was created, the concept that all cull are morally equivalent. 00:09:21 Speaker 1: This episode of timeless wisdom will continue right after this. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom. 00:09:36 Speaker 2: I debated on my show a professor from Rice University who had written a piece or was quoted actually in USA today, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Rice University who said that the Middle Eastern culture is has the same values as American culture and Western culture. 00:09:55 Speaker 3: And I said, how could that be? I mean? And I gave him example after example. 00:10:00 Speaker 2: Either either denied the example or said, excuse me, sir, all cultures have the same fundamental values. This is a professor, my nine year old if I can translate the words into simple English would know that that's not true. If all cultures have the same values, then what's the value of any given culture. 00:10:23 Speaker 3: I mean, the idea is absurd. 00:10:24 Speaker 2: Is democracy the same value as totalitarianism? 00:10:28 Speaker 3: Is racism, the same value is as pluralism. I mean, what are we talking about? So yes, Unfortunately, there is a part of the world that suffers morally at this time, that is in a dark age, and it is unfortunately where a Jewish state smaller than New Hampshire finds itself located. When Israel is attacked morally or attacked. 00:10:56 Speaker 2: Verbally, the argument is given, and let me go through some of them very quickly. For example, its birth is illegitimate because it displaced indigenous Palestinians. Without getting into vast demographic data, let's just say something that happens to be true. There is no country in the world that was founded without a displacement of some of the peoples in the area. Therefore, to single out Israel for illegitimacy is anti Semitic. There is no other possible explanation to say that all states in the world are legitimate, no matter how violent their birth, except for the Jewish state is an anti Jewish statement. Let me make something clear about myself. I have argued on my radio show for years and years, and many Jews get angry at me about this, about how little anti Semitism there is, for example, in the United States. 00:11:57 Speaker 3: And I have said that over and over, and Jews will call me up and say I'm naive and I don't realize what non Jews is saying behind my back and so on, and I've gotten a lot of flack. 00:12:09 Speaker 2: So I am not one who quickly says so and so is an anti semi. In fact, the second Jesse Jackson, many years ago, apologized for calling New yorktown. And I don't like Jesse Jackson, but I said on the radio and in print, this man must be forgiven. He apologized, end of issue. I think he's wrong on almost everything. If he told me the time of day, I would check my watch. But I will not say the man is an anti semit Because of Heimitown, I wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal defending Hillary Clinton against charges of anti Semitism for comments that she had made, which I believed she had made about Jews. If everybody whoever made a comment about any ethnic group were considered a bigot, no one except the mute would actually be be capable of You know what I say when drivers drive slowly in the left lane, If I were recorded, I. 00:13:07 Speaker 3: Would be arrested. They would be called a hate crime. I want everyone who goes slowly in the left lane to be executed. I just us my belief, and if they're part of any distinguished, any distinct group, I curse the group. It doesn't matter. If it's a you with the Yamoka, I curse out Yamoka wearing Jews. It doesn't matter to me. So what people make comments here and there. I am very loath to charge anti Semitism. But when you single out of all the states in the world somehow or other, Pakistan's birth is legit with all the Hindus who are slaughtered. India's birth is legit with all the Muslims slaughtered. But Israel's birth is illegit. America's birth is legit. Mexico with all its displacement of Indians, that's all legit. Everything's legit except one state. Then you have to answer why you single that one out. 00:14:11 Speaker 2: I don't have to answer why it is legitimate. You have to single you have to answer why you singled it out for a delegitimate So forget the demographic data, which go in all directions. When you single out one state on Earth for illegitimacy, you have to answer for your immorality and in this case, for your. 00:14:35 Speaker 3: Singling out the one tiny, infinitesimally small Jewish state. You

can jog across Israel and you don't run a marathon. That is how narrow it is. In parts of it. 00:14:51 Speaker 2: You can drive from the very top to the very bottom and start breakfast in one and have dinner in the other, driving leisurely. It's not an autobunn that's an Israel. That's the whole state. I remember the story of an Australian, rich Australian who visited the West Bank. He was taken on a tour of the West Bank and. 00:15:14 Speaker 3: He said, this is it. My ranch is bigger. He couldn't belie what was talking about, what the world was talking about, because you've see maps there, of course blown up disproportionately. We're talking about such a small area of the world. You know. I have never seen a map of. 00:15:32 Speaker 2: The world so big that the letters is r ae L could actually fit in the state of Israel. 00:15:39 Speaker 3: That's not a big name Israel. You know, we're not talking Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which by the way, did fit. That's how big the place was. Israel doesn't even fit on any world map. And this is what the Jews have. A little part of the earth, a tiny part of the earth to call their own, and for some reason, that's the one illegitimate part of the earth. The North Korean regime is legitimate, but Israel is not. 00:16:11 Speaker 2: And I'm supposed to come to university to defend the existence of Israel. 00:16:16 Speaker 3: Think about it for a minute. Put it in perspective either way, if I may, I did put it. 00:16:20 Speaker 2: In perspective, and it has reinforced my theology. 00:16:25 Speaker 3: I'm a religious Jew, though not Orthodox. 00:16:28 Speaker 2: And I believe deeply in the fact that there is a divine contract with the Jews. 00:16:35 Speaker 3: I believe in it. I also believe there is with the United States. I believe that, I believe not a contract of guaranteed goodwill or anything like that. Jews have suffered too much. 00:16:46 Speaker 2: By the way Jewish chosenness, which I think is at the heart of the hatred of Jews. 00:16:50 Speaker 3: And I wrote a book about this called Why the Jews. 00:16:52 Speaker 2: I am convinced and so are anti Semites whenever I read the comments of Muslim anti Semites, as with German anti Semites in the thirties, that the Jews believe they're chosen and most Jews don't, most Jews are run away from the idea, but that Jews have believed this, and some do. Mostly Christians believe that today. When I say this in front of Christian audiences, just hear Hallelujah and Amen. When I say it in front of Jews, you could hear a pin drop. The tension is so thick. Don't talk about chosenness. 00:17:28 Speaker 3: It's a mary. We don't want anybody to hear. The only people to talk about chosenness are Christians and anti Statemites. It's really ironic. Jews never talk about it. 00:17:40 Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom. 00:17:54 Speaker 3: But that is what is involved. 00:17:55 Speaker 2: How do you explain that the United Nations may it move to Saudi Arabia. 00:18:00 Speaker 3: The United Nations has spent more time on Israel than any other issue in the history of the United Nations. It makes no sense. If a Martian visited Earth, he would or she would undoubtedly conclude that most humans were Jews. There would be no other rational explanation for the preoccupation of the world with the Jews and the Jewish state. There is none. 00:18:30 Speaker 2: By the way, tried this on a non Jewish friend, even a university educated friend. Say as follows. You know there are six billion people in the world. I was just wondering, how many Jews do you think there are? I have never had an answer of under fifty million, and most of the time it's one hundred or two hundred million the answer that is given. 00:18:52 Speaker 3: And I remember when I first asked this. 00:18:53 Speaker 2: I was on my way to lecture in Louisville, Kentucky, and the lovely woman sitting next to me and I were speaking, and she asked me why you go in to Louisville. I said, I'm going to give a lecture to the Jewish community. She was a non Jew lives in Louisville. How we got oh Jews fascinated? We got into a discussion. So I asked her, because it was clear from the way she was talking she thought there were a lot of Jews. So said I'm just curious how many Jews you think there are? There are six billion in the world, and then she gave me some astronomical figure. Then I said, how about the United States? There are two hundred and fifty million Americans at least there were. Then how many Jews you think there are? I think she said all about fifty million. I said, well, said, well you know they're In fact, there are under six million. 00:19:42 Speaker 3: And she looked at me and she said, huh. They must all live in my state, which, as we all know, is on Kentucky Jewry. It is one of. 00:19:53 Speaker 2: The dominant subjects in Jewish life. The preoccupation with the Jews has to have transcendent sources. I am absolutely convinced of it. There is no rational reason. It transcends the rational then, so that's with the origins. Then, of course the issue was raised, well, if only Israel didn't occupy the West Bank, then by golly, they would be Missuzzu's on mister Arafat's doors, door posts, Missizzus, for those of you who don't know, are those little why do you cat of you explain to missus on the doorposts of homes there was a little shell with inside his a parchment of part of the of the Torrest scroll, and Jews have traditionally had this on their doorposts. Anyway, the occupation issue can be resolved as follows. And I, by the way, again, maybe personal I was thoroughly pro Oslow. I was wrong, but I was pro Oslow I was. I wrote about it, I lectured about it. 00:20:57 Speaker 3: I was pro Oslow. I was naive. I cried. 00:21:01 Speaker 2: I literally cried when I watched mister Robin and mister Arafat shake hands at the White House. 00:21:06 Speaker 3: I was

so thrilled that peace might come to the Middle East. I was fooled. 00:21:11 Speaker 2: Mister Robin was fooled, and because our ache for peace was greater than our grasp of reality that the Palestinians want Israel dead, not peace with Israel. 00:21:24 Speaker 3: This should have. 00:21:25 Speaker 2: Been learned at the time, and in retrospect it's easy to learn. All you have to do is monitor Palestinian television and monitor Israeli television, and basically nothing else needs to be done. I will come back to the TV comparison in a moment. The occupation. First of all, for the last nine years or so, most of the West Bank has not been occupied. It is owned it is governed, It is whatever you wish to call in the final analysis, it is not an autonomous place. 00:21:55 Speaker 3: Neither is Puerto Rico. 00:21:57 Speaker 2: I would say that the status of the West Bank has been closer to that of Puerto Rico than it has been to that of an unoccupied territory, where it does not have autonomy, It cannot shape its foreign relations, it does not have its own army. But in terms of autonomy over itself it was allowed. 00:22:16 Speaker 3: Did it have full autonomy? 00:22:17 Speaker 2: Of course, not to speak of this in occupation terms like it was the Nazis occupying Poland is to engage in an offense to the polls. 00:22:28 Speaker 3: For what they suffered in World War II under the Nazis. 00:22:33 Speaker 2: If the issue or occupation and a Palestinian state, there is a very large question I never heard answered, and I've debated this with spokesman for the other side very often. Why was there never a mention or a movement toward a Palestinian state in all the years that the West Bank was owned by Jordan. 00:22:54 Speaker 3: None, no movement, no clamoring, nothing. 00:22:57 Speaker 2: If the PLO is all about occupation by Israel, how come it was founded before nineteen sixty seven? I mean, these questions are legion and they're not answered, at least to my satisfaction. Okay, I'd like to make a moral comparison of Israel and its enemies, to have you understand why the very notion of such a talk should be rendered unnecessary, and yet it is necessary, so sad to say. 00:23:22 Speaker 3: In no order of importance. 00:23:24 Speaker 2: Number one, I'm going to give you a list of comparisons that I would like you to make. Whatever side you're on, I'd like you to compare, to the best of your ability, what the average Muslim leader in a mosque on Friday in the Muslim world of the Middle East, or specifically among the Palestinians, and a typical rabbi in a synagogue on Saturday. 00:23:50 Speaker 3: We'll say at the synagogue, from what we have, from what we know, the invoking of hatred against Jews, and the word Jews is used far more than just Zionists, which used to be a euphemism, but now it is straight out Jews. 00:24:06 Speaker 2: Oh Allah, curse the Jews, damn them, annihilate them. These are said by major i moms in Saudi Arabia, major Muslim officials, leaders, clerics. They don't have a clerical class as such, I'm using a Western term in the Palestinian territories and so on. 00:24:26 Speaker 3: I could tell you one example from my. 00:24:28 Speaker 2: Synagogue, my synagogue in Los Angeles, every Saturday, when we would do the Grace after meals. You could even find that it's published in one of the major Grace after Meals little books. There was there's a series of may the Merciful One do a lot of things. May the Merciful One make a good Shabbat a Sabbath for us. May the Merciful One give us an honorable livelihood. 00:24:56 Speaker 3: A whole series of things. 00:24:58 Speaker 2: Well added in many thousands of synagogues was may the Merciful One bring peace and love between the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael Ishmael. And I added in our synagogue the following words. I said, this blessing is pointless unless we add the following words and have. 00:25:21 Speaker 3: Them say the same blessing. 00:25:25 Speaker 2: If only one side asks God for peace, it's pretty pointless. You need two sides. Do you think there was a mosque? They're a billion Muslims, so this is a large question. Was there a mosque on earth that prayed to Allah for peace between the children of Isaac and the children of ishmae Al. If there was one, I would be the happiest man to report it. I would in fact mention its name on the radio. I would want it credit. I would hope they wouldn't be killed as the hen. I'm serious, as the handful of Muslims who have called for peace have so often been killed. Not just peace between Israel and Palestinians, peace in Algeria. 00:26:06 Speaker 3: I'll never forget the two paragraph peace in. 00:26:08 Speaker 2: The New York Times many years ago of a Muslim leader who was killed because he condemned. 00:26:14 Speaker 3: Islamic terror in Algeria. 00:26:16 Speaker 2: Had nothing to do with Islamic terror in the Middle Eg anyway. That's my first comparison what is said by Jews in their synagogues, what is said by Muslims in America, the West, not necessarily Indonesia and Asia and India, but in the West, which is far more radical than Islam. In India, for example, it was the British Muslims who forced Kolmani to issue the fatoa against Salmon Rushti, the order that he be killed by any Muslim in the world, because his novel was considered blasphemous. 00:26:54 Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this. Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom. 00:27:08 Speaker 3: Number two. 00:27:10 Speaker 2: Compare Israeli television and Palestinian television. For any twelve hours you wish to choose, you pick the twelve hours you record. 00:27:19 Speaker 3: You have utterly non political people. 00:27:23 Speaker 2: Translate what went on, and you tell me which side wants peace and which side wants death. Okay, what goes on on Palestinian television is so frightening, is so morally frightening. The celebration of children who kill themselves and others

with them. 00:27:43 Speaker 3: We have them. I mean, we have the tapes. 00:27:45 Speaker 2: It's not hard to get Palestinian TV just recorded. 00:27:48 Speaker 3: I was at a place that showed me these tapes. 00:27:51 Speaker 2: They showed me a program given by a Gaza psychologist, a child psychologist, who answered questions from Palestinians calling in. One woman called in and said, my son wants to be a shahid. In other words, my teenage boy wants to blow himself up along with Jews, and what do you say? And the child psychologist didn't say discourage him. In fact, they broke away for a speech by Arafat lauding Shahidah Shahida, just screaming the. 00:28:21 Speaker 3: Word mortars, mortars. 00:28:24 Speaker 2: So here you have a child psychologist show extolling the virtues of children blowing themselves up. There was a picture from Germany at an anti Israel demonstration of a Muslim man in Germany with his daughter who was about five. The pictures on the internet, and she had strapped around her model model bombs. To raise your child to kill herself is I'll use the word Jews will be familiar with Nachus. This is joy from children to know that mine will blow himself or herself up and take as many people as possible, as many innocents as possible. The latest one was, of course a grandmother, an eighteen month old, and this. 00:29:09 Speaker 3: Is considered a brigade. 00:29:11 Speaker 2: I love that they call themselves brigades when they target grandmothers. It's an insult to the term brigade. I'd have to say. Umber three. Compare Israeli democracy and the police states around it. I marvel at this notion that somehow there's a moral equivalence between Israel and those who wish to destroy it or those who make war on it. Where else do we in the world make a moral equivalence between free countries and non free countries only with Israel only. Every other place we say, hey, wait a minute, this place has freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, but this is denied. I was on Hannity and Colmes, the Fox television show two weeks ago, and the other guest was the head of the Council on American Islamic Relations CARE, the largest spokesman for American Muslims and a very radical group. 00:30:07 Speaker 3: Indeed said to say. 00:30:09 Speaker 2: And he said on the show, Israeli Arabs have no right to vote. He just point blank said that on national television. And I said, he's lying. This is not an exaggeration, this is not a white lie, this is an outlie. 00:30:25 Speaker 3: There is no truth to that claim. 00:30:27 Speaker 2: There are ten Arab members of the Israeli parliament who basically support the suicide terror against Israel and still have diplomatic immunity in that own place. 00:30:39 Speaker 3: I don't know if there's a parallel to that in the history. 00:30:42 Speaker 2: Of democracy, that members of one's own parliament call for support for those who wish to destroy that democracy. That is how free politically an Arab is is it? Great to be an Arab in Israel. It's better to be a Jew in Israel. But it's better to be an Arab in Israel than an Arab in an Arab country. 00:31:04 Speaker 3: Stat's the truth, because you have more rights. That's why they don't move. So they hate the place that they never want to leave, somewhat like some professors in America. 00:31:19 Speaker 1: Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. 00:31:22 Speaker 2: Does anybody know what Amas is fighting for? You just have to read their own literature. They're fighting for a Taliban type state. They want to impose the Shariah on everybody, including of course fellow Muslims first and foremost. 00:31:36 Speaker 1: Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit Dennispragger dot com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles