A separate newsletter accompanying the new episode will follow, so I’ll keep this message brief!
Today is Israel Independence Day, marking the birth of one of the oldest democracies on Earth.
It’s a great time for people to learn some basic history of the region. They won’t get this from the media.
There’s a terrific lesson from a guest in Episode 51. Listen on any platform:
I posted a clip today on social media:
I also addressed this in Episode 27, a recording of a speech I gave on the Oct. 7 anniversary.
Far more Jewish people were expelled from Arab nations than Arab people who were living under a British-mandated region known as “Palestine.” (The Romans renamed Judea after the Philistines in an effort to erase Jewish history). Arab communities in the region allied with Hitler and the Nazis.
Across the world, hundreds of millions of people were displaced and lost everything in the 20th century. But the world has special rules for Jews. In this one and only case, any dispossession means “big, bad Jew.” And that became the latest incarnation of what so many people love to have: the Jewish entity to scapegoat.
If Jewish culture had a vicitmhood mentality, Israel would not have been born as a democracy. And it would not have become the modern, successful nation it is.
The world should learn from this, celebrate what’s possible, and tell all the hate groups to move on.