← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
From the Front Lines in Israel in a Time of War, LIVE Interview with Aryeh Lightstone, former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel
00:54:15
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- [00:01]
Ted Cruz
Welcome. It is verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you and center we've got a special guest live from Israel in a moment. But before we get to that, the media got it wrong. The headlines have not been taken down and they're still misleading the American people and the world over. That rocket that hit the hospital in Gaza. One of the big headlines that's still up as we speak is on cnn. It says Gaza hospital explosion sparks anger and protest in Arab countries. Then you look at Reuters it their breaking news headline was an Israeli airstrike killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza City hospital crammed with patients and displaced people. Health authorities in the in the besieged enclave claim. Then the Associated Press breaking the hot the Gaza health ministry says at least 500 people killed in an explosion at a hospital that says was caused by an Israeli airstrike. The New York Times breaking news. An Israeli airstrike hit a Gaza hospital on Tuesday killing at least 200 Palestinians according to Palestinian health minister which says a number of casualties is expected to rise. Then the BBC getting in on it too. Hundreds of people have been killed in an heirs in Israel in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza according to Palestinian officials. Follow the latest. And finally CNN with another one. Palestinian health Ministry says 200, 300 people may have been killed in Israeli strike on hospital in Gaza. Now they all got it wrong. They're still not retracting it. You and I talked about this on the last podcast and it shows you just how much deceit there is within this media and anti Semitism.
- [01:47]
Ben Ferguson
Well every one of those headlines the corporate media is lying. And at this point they all know they're lying. They are repeating a fundamentally false statement. It has now been demonstrated by both the Israeli intelligence services and American intelligence that what hit the Palestinian hospital was not a bomb from Israel. It was not the Israelis who bombed that hospital. It was rather Palestinian Islamic Jihad which is a terrorist group in Gaza. And listen one of the basic differences because people might be well why would the Palestinians bomb their own hospital? You have to understand there's a very big difference in how the two sides wage war. The Israelis have one of the most advanced militaries on the face of the planet. They use precision, precision guided munitions and with very few exceptions, they hit the targets they aim at. And the Israelis don't target hospitals. They don't target civilian targets. They target military targets. They're looking to take out Hamas, the Hamas terrorists and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. They are firing very, very crude rockets and missiles and they're often Just a tube of metal with some propellant in them, with some explosive and metal, whether it's ball bearings or nails or other anti personnel shrapnel, designed to murder as many civilians as possible. And they fire these rockets, they fire thousands of them and many of them go wildly off course because they don't have any navigation system. They're just sort of aiming them and hoping they go into Israel and kill Jews. And so a significant percentage of the terrorist rockets don't even make it out of Gaza. And in this instance, both the Israeli intelligence and the US Intelligence have confirmed this came from Palestinian terrorists. Now that has not stopped almost the entirety of the corporate media from taking Hamas's talking points and blaming Israel. And I want to read you a tweet that Rashida Talib, who is ostensibly a member of the United States Congress, here's what she tweeted yesterday, quote, Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital, killing 500 Palestinians. Doctors, children, patients, just like that POTUS. This is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire and help de escalate your war and destruction. Only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans like me, we will remember where you stood. Now that tweet, at this point, she knows it is a flat out lie. Now I will tell you that Tweet has had 28.4 million views. So she's spreading propaganda that is deliberately false. But you know what, it's very helpful to the Hamas terrorists. Blame Israel and blame Israel first. It is a lie. And by the way, if you don't believe me, Joe Biden from Israel said this came from the Palestinian terrorists. This did not come from Israel. Chuck Schumer said this came from the Palestinian terrorists. It did not come from Israel. So Rashida Tlaib and cnn, MSNBC and every one of those media outlets that are lying about this, they know they're lying. But their objective of undermining Israel is more important to them than telling the truth and their shamelessly engaged in that propaganda.
- [05:14]
Ted Cruz
What was even more shocking than that is the President is also basically become an apologist for Hamas. He was on Air Force One, this audio being released after he had left Israel. And I want to get your reaction to it because this is Joe Biden on the Gaza hospital attack and he's almost apologizing or becoming an apologist for Hamas. Listen, Mr. President, the hospital, sir, people.
- [05:38]
Aria Lightstone
All over the region are upset about.
- [05:40]
Ben Ferguson
The hospital and don't necessarily believe you.
- [05:43]
Aria Lightstone
Or the Israelis that they didn't have.
- [05:45]
Joe Biden
Anything to do with it.
- [05:45]
Ben Ferguson
Do you have a message to the.
- [05:46]
Joe Biden
People in the streets right now. Well, I can understand why in this circumstance they wouldn't believe. I can understand that. And. But I would not notice. I don't say things like that unless I have faith in the source from which I've gotten. Our Defense Department says it's highly unlikely that it was rarely. But if it had a different footprint and it intercepted soon anyway.
- [06:13]
Aria Lightstone
Yeah.
- [06:15]
Joe Biden
So that's why, if you notice, I didn't say it first. I wanted to make sure that I knew. And look, and I'm not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it either.
- [06:30]
Ted Cruz
I'm not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it either. NBC News senator followed up with that live reporting from the street where. Where their guy Engel there says blaming Israel for hospital blasts wasn't an impossible assumpt. Some of it might be disinformation. That's how they're trying to clean up their mess over there on NBC.
- [06:54]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, I'm gonna actually surprise you a little bit on this, Ben, and on this point, I'm gonna defend Joe Biden a little bit. Number one, I appreciate that he flew to Israel, that he went to Israel in person to be there while Israel is at war. Listen, I've got enormous criticisms with how the Biden administration has flown flooded money into Iran, flooded money into Gaza and has funded this attack. And we have detailed those at great length on this podcast. That being said, for the president of the United States to go to Israel at a time of war is a big deal, and I'm grateful. I want to say thank you for the president for doing the right thing. It would have been easy to stay home and not be there. And I'll say secondly, the fact that he definitively said in Israel, and even in that clip you just played on Air Force One, he definitively said Israel did not do this, this was Palestinian terrorists. That's a big deal, too. It's important to clarify this and I'll actually thank Chuck Schumer as well. I disagree on a thousand things concerning Middle east policy and their efforts to undermine Israel, but the fact that they've gone out of their way to clarify that this was Hamas terrorists. And look, that is really important to clarify now. The reaction of the media, all of their justification, the glee they had to blame this on Israel was incredibly revealing. They have those stories ready to go. And by the way, there is going to be a story that is true at some point of a significant number of Palestinian civilians killed by an Israeli attack. Why is that? We've talked about that on length on this podcast. Hamas wants Palestinian citizens to die, so they use Palestinian civilians as human shields. There will be an instance in this war where Israel is taking out a Hamas military target. They're taking out terrorists, they're taking out a headquarters, they're taking out rockets. And there will be Palestinian civilians there because Hamas wants them there. And there will be women and children who are killed. It's tragic. Israel is bending over backwards to avoid civilian deaths, but they will not be 100% successful because Hamas is very good at sacrificing the lives of Palestinian civilians. Now, look, I'll say as a final thing what Joe Biden said at the very end there, I don't find fault with either, which is he said, I'm not saying Hamas did this on purpose. I agree with that. I don't think Palestinian Islamic Jihad deliberately fired a rocket at the hospital. I don't think they did that. I think they're willing to use Palestinians as human shields, but I think there's no evidence that they said, all right, let's just fire a rocket at a hospital. I think they just don't care who they kill. I think they're just firing rocket after rocket after rocket, and they know a bunch of them are gonna go off course and just kill people randomly. So it wasn't like they were aiming at the hospital. They were just firing so many rockets and sort of hoping, well, some of these will kill people we don't like, and we're so excited to kill Jews that if we have to kill some Palestinians too, they're willing to do that. So I don't think it was deliberate. I think it was reckless. They just didn't give a damn who they murdered with those rockets.
- [10:09]
Ted Cruz
It certainly was interesting to watch the White House today because they were having one thing in Israel. And then you had Vice President Harris saying today at the White House, in front of the White House podium, I support the right of the Palestinian people to dignity, freedom and self determination. Making sure they were playing both sides of this to cover that, as there were protests on Capitol Hill. Before we get to our guests, I want to tell you about our friends over Augusta Precious Metals. You know what's going on, the economy, you know what's going on with interest rates. You've seen what's happening with inflation. You've seen in the last 12 months bank failures. And if you're like me, you want to preserve your hard earned dollars. That is why I worked with Augusta Precious Metals. I worked with them because I wanted a company that I could trust to help me diversify my financial portfolio. So no matter what's going on, at least I know that I have some protection. And that is where gold comes in. Now, if you are in retirement or close to retirement, you understand there are no time to make up losses. And that is where gold can come in to help protect you and what you've worked so hard to preserve. Now call Augusta Precious Metals and they do things a little bit differently. They're going to do a one on one web conference with you and answer all of your questions about gold and how gold can be used as part of a portfolio, whether it's to protect an IRA or a 401k. They're also going to send you the free Investor's guide on gold. You can read that and then do the web conference and ask every question you might have. So if you want a company that I work with that I trust that you can talk to, call Augusta Precious Metals877, the number four gold IRA. That's 877, the number four gold IRA. Or online at Augusta Precious Metals.com that's Augusta Precious Metals.com Center. We've got a guest and I want you to introduce because it's, it's really important that we hear from people on the ground in Israel. And that's what we're going to have for Vertical listeners right now. And this is going to be something that I will say to everybody listening. Please make sure you share this podcast because if you want to know what's actually happening, we're going behind these headlines, calling out when they're getting it wrong and letting you know what's happening on the ground.
- [12:20]
Ben Ferguson
So I'm really pleased to welcome and to verdict a good friend of mine, Aria Lightstone. So Aria served as the chief of staff and senior Advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Trump, David Friedman. And David Friedman was an extraordinary ambassador. He's a good friend. He was the strongest champion in the Trump administration for moving our embassy to Jerusalem. He played a critical role in that. And Aria was by his side, assisted in every aspect of that. I was with Aria, I was with David the day we opened our embassy in Jerusalem. It was a historic day. It was actually the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern state of Israel. And I got to stay. I've been to, been to Jerusalem. I've been to Israel many times. I've never seen such jubilation. People dancing, women dancing in the streets in celebration. Aria is a native of Denver, Colorado. He's a rabbi, He's a management professional, he's an entrepreneur. And he splits his time. He has a wife and four children. He splits his time now between Colorado and Israel. But Aria is calling us. It is right now 5:27 in the morning in Israel. And Aria got up early to call in and participate in Verdict and to tell us, tell us from the ground what is happening. Aria, welcome. Welcome to Verdict and our million plus listeners are really glad to welcome you here.
- [13:50]
Aria Lightstone
Senator, thank you for having me. I have to tell you, just listening to your moral clarity for the last several minutes was better than a cup of coffee. People in Israel need to hear this. And when they wake up in an hour and I share this, this will be better. It'll be better than a warm hug.
- [14:07]
Ben Ferguson
Well, Aria, thank you. Now tell me, where in Israel are you today? And tell me what's transpired with you. First of all, we're going to talk broader about policy, but just tell me what you've experienced on October 7th and on the days that have followed since then.
- [14:23]
Aria Lightstone
Yeah. Thank you. So now, 12 days ago, my family and I on Sabbath were Sabbath and servants went to synagogue to celebrate what's really the joyous or second most joyous day on the Jewish calendar year. Walked into Synagogue at 8:15. The security professionals in the neighborhood walked into synagogue at about 8:25 and said, Everybody go home. We're evacuating. Now, Israel has a strange thing. We get shot at a fair amount of times by rockets. And that's considered acceptable because there's this awesome innovation called Iron Dome, which I think one can make an argument that Iron Dome is made Israel complacent. It's incredible technology. It shoots rockets out of the air. But if we can imagine just for one moment that Mexico City was lobbing rockets into Dallas or Houston, I'm not positive the first reaction of the United States of America would be to build a shield to prevent those rockets. It would probably be to eliminate Mexico City. And for the last 15 years or so, Israel has lived with its cancer called Hamas on its southern border that every couple of weeks lobs several rockets in. Since that Saturday 12 days ago, there have been over 7,500 rockets aimed at civilians from civilian areas, which is exactly what you were speaking about beforehand. And my family has been in and out of our bomb shelter no less than 40 times. And yes, my kids sleep in the bomb shelter. We've discovered that the trauma of waking up a child at 2 in the morning to rush down in the 45 seconds that we have to get into the room and feel it was too traumatic. So was that an ongoing sleepover? For the last 11 nights.
- [16:08]
Ben Ferguson
How old are your kids, Arya? Yeah, how old are your kids?
- [16:11]
Aria Lightstone
15 is my, 15 is my oldest. 6 is our youngest. And then we've got a 13 year old and a 10 year old in between the 13 year old and the 6 year old. This is the most traumatic in real time. And just to fast forward a little bit, we had that red alert last Wednesday where the, from the, from the Central Command, Homeland Security in Israel sends out this app that keeps you alert to all of these rockets. So it sent out an incredible blast at 4:45pm on I believe it was Wednesday that the northern border had been breached with paragliders. Now, I don't know about you, when I see a paraglider Prior to 12 days ago, it brings me enormous joy. I can't imagine anything more fun than simulating flying through the air. And it's normally with these beautiful rainbow colored parachute type things and it looks majestic. That symbol has been hijacked. On that Saturday, there were more than 20 paragliders who paraglided in with automatic weapons whose entire goal was to murder innocent civilians after they raped and tortured them. And there was a report that these paragliders had come in from the north and it reached the front lines of Israel affair. And my family went down to our safe room and discovered that our safe room was not safe enough and we did a hostage drill. What would happen if somebody breaches our house? And you need to have that conversation with a 15 year old or a 6 year old exactly once in your life to expire them forever. And we did it because we thought it was the only way to protect our family. But when you look at that innocence shattered. Yeah, it is not surprising that my children do not go to sleep easily at night.
- [17:53]
Ben Ferguson
Look, Arya, that is horrifying. Heidi and I, our girls are 15 and almost 13 and I cannot imagine the fear and terror. And when I've been in Israel, I've been to kibbutzes on the southern border by Gaza and I've talked with residents there that deal with the trauma, really the PTSD in some instances of the rocket attacks and rushing to a shelter. And that's a regular part of life and it has a real human cost on any day. But in this instance, what happened on October 7 and in the aftermath was so grotesque and horrifying. The world has not seen a mass murder of Jews on this scale since the Holocaust. You have to go Back to the Nazis to find a moment like this. Let me ask you, I mean, you're there. How are the people of Israel reacting and handling this? My heart is breaking for them, but I'm not there. I'm not seeing firsthand what they're experiencing. And so can you just help people who listen to this podcast understand what the people of Israel are experiencing in real time?
- [19:08]
Aria Lightstone
So my grandfather, who survived the Holocaust, felt it was his duty to tell people what had happened, because if you didn't hear from the first time from a firsthand account, you wouldn't believe it. And he began every one of his speeches to tens of thousands of public school students that there's a phrase called seeing is believing. And he's here to tell you that that is not true. Because what he saw, what he lived through, he still can't believe it. Because human beings who have a soul cannot believe that there is this level of depravity that can exist from other human beings, because it's not possible that somebody with a soul, with a piece of godliness within them could be so barbaric. People use the word animalistic. It's an insult to animals. Animals don't conduct themselves. That's right. And the news, the report. There's not a person, Israel, Israel is a small country. There's not a person in Israel who has not been to a funeral, who has not been to a Shiva house, a house of mourning, who has not been to a vigil for the many, many hostages that are still missing with very little information about them. And if you remember what it was like In America on 9, 11, there was a sense of bewilderment and helplessness that existed. And I will be very clear, Saturday and Sunday, 12, 11, 10 days ago, that is what the people of Israel felt like. Now, starting nine days ago, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, it felt like when Bush stood on the ruins of the World Trade center and said, we're America, and Israel stood up and said, we're Israel. We're the strongest, the most brave, the most courageous, the most creative, intelligent. We're going to take care of this. And if you read, and I encourage all of your listeners to read the stories of heroism that are so incredible, it's difficult to imagine human beings were created this way and they are not angels. But the feeling on the street in Israel today is everybody has a husband, a father, a son on the front line, ready to do what it will take to excise this cancer from Israel. Because there was a promise that the Jewish people made after The Holocaust called never again. And that promise was fulfilled from 1945, when America liberated the last concentration camp, up until October 7th of 2023 and October 7th, 2023. The beheading of children, the kidnapping of Holocaust survivors, the murder of women, the tying of other women to those murdered women, raping them, torturing them, and then murdering them. And all reported not by the eyewitnesses, of which there are plenty. But Hamas recording this on their own GoPros of streaming it on Facebook Live. The difference between the Nazis and the modern day Nazis is at least the Nazis had the craft. Just to be embarrassed to do this secretly, they tried to destroy the evidence. Hamas not only didn't try to destroy the evidence, they publicized it in such a public braggadocious way, it makes you wonder whether there is any soul in there. Which leads us to your description of the rocket yesterday. So just sitting in Israel Yesterday at 7:00pm there's an enormous boom that happens because there was a barrage of, sorry, not yesterday, two days ago. Now I forget what day it is. There was a barrage of rockets again from civilian populations and aimed at civilian populations. And Hamas bragged that they're aiming at Haifa, which would be the furthest north city that their rockets can hit. And everybody in the Haifa goes down to shelter. No siren goes off, no boom over Haifa. Several booms over my house. My house is, I don't know, 45 minutes south of Haifa. And about eight minutes later, the New York Times sends out a tweet, I don't know, led by Rashida or followed by Rashida and Ilan, saying that Israel deliberately knocks out a hospital and killing 5,000 people. That's the tweet. And within minutes, the organized Arab street across capitals across the Middle east start marching on US embassies. Explain to me what this has to do with the United States of America marching on US embassies screaming, death to Israel, Death to America. And later on we woke up yesterday morning, the conclusion was it was not Israel. It did not hit a hospital. There were now 5,000 deaths. This was a rocket from Islamic Jihad that landed short and hit the hospital parking lot. It may have killed people. We're still waiting on the count. It wasn't in the hundreds, it likely wasn't in a dozen. And it hit a parking lot. There are several kiosks that were damaged. There may have been some Toyotas as well. And with the urgency to make the Jews not the victims, but the perpetrators of crime, to set off a blood libel across the Middle east, when you sit Here in Israel, you're like, holy cow. The promise of never again. It needs to be restored by Israeli deterrence like it's never seen before. Because if you were sitting there walking on those streets, they would chop your head off in a split second. That's the feeling in Israel in a nutshell.
- [24:32]
Ted Cruz
To be clear, I want to make sure people understand this because you said it, but the headline said that the hospital was destroyed and that 500 people died. You're saying the actual hospital is still standing and it was a not a bomb, it was a rocket that hit in the parking lot, Correct?
- [24:57]
Aria Lightstone
That's correct. There have been over 7,500 rockets fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And you may as well just call it Iran. I'm saying this is Iran firing from Gaza over the last 12 days. And the Senator has been the single best person in the history of America to identify that and fight that. And if everybody listening to him, I wouldn't be going to funerals every day and meeting with families of hostages. There's no doubt about that. That is clear and understood. Out of 7,500 rockets, more than 450 never made it out of Gaza, and therefore they have hit Gaza. Target. The part that makes people so obscenely upset over here, not obscenely, correctly, upset over here is the world was afraid aflame for the period of time when they thought that Israel intentionally murdered 5,000, and it went to 500. Men, women, children, doctors, nurses, babies, whatever else it would be. And then when they discovered that their own people did it, there are no protests. Nobody's in the street. Nobody cares about Palestinian children other than the Israelis and the Americans.
- [26:04]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and it's worse than that. It's worse than that. Arya Rashida Tlaib still has not deleted that tweet. I read that tweet from her Twitter feed that is live at this moment. It's 10:39pm in D.C. she still hasn't deleted it. She's happy to continue lying because it's a useful lie. And, you know, you're talking about the atrocities and your grandfather saying seeing is believing and that it's difficult to comprehend that people can do this. And I will say that these atrocities are being played out in a different time because we have the phenomenon of social media and we also have the sick phenomenon of Hamas proudly bragging about their atrocities and tweeting out the videos. And I will say I've watched a lot of these videos, and it's sickening. It is grotesque to watch what is happening. And listen, I Understand, in warfare, one soldier shooting another soldier, that that war can be horrific, it can be hell. But soldiers fighting each other is something that has happened from the dawn of time. And you can compromise, you can wrap your mind around that. You can comprehend it, what these terrorists are doing. I do not understand people murdering the elderly. I do not understand people raping women and little girls, raping little girls in the street and parading them around. I do not understand people who behead infants and burn them alive. I mean, that is monstrous at a level. It's a level of hatred and racism and just bilious evil that it's important to really comprehend. And I will tell you, look, you know this. You grew up here in the United States. But I'll tell you, the people of America are horrified for what's happening in Israel. And there is. Do not be deceived by the corporate media and the radical left at universities and the radical left in the Democrat Party. The American people are horrified and standing in complete unison with the people of Israel. And, Ari, if you can convey anything to your friends and neighbors and colleagues, tell them that we are praying for you, we are standing with you, we are grieving for you at the horrors you are experiencing. But we will also have Israel's back. The mission of eliminating Hamas, it is right, it is just. It is righteous. It is necessary. And you know that you are going to have enemies, not just the enemies of these monsters, but you are going to have enemies in the corporate media. They're going to attack Israel. And the way to respond is with truth and light and facts. And so thank you for what you're doing, Aria.
- [29:11]
Aria Lightstone
Thank you. You, this podcast, your platform, your voice is how we fight back. And, you know, the battle has expanded not just to the media, but certainly to our college campuses. If you've seen the when people chant from the river to the sea, although they've also taken off the mask on that one. I saw on two Texas campuses where they chant actually gassed the Jews or something, that encouraging the again, from the river to the sea essentially means let's liquidate all the Jews. Which liquidated as a nice way of saying let's kill all the Jews in Israel. And you've pointed this out numerous times. Apparently that is too subtle for people protesting today. The people who protest in favor of Hamas are actively rooting for the beheading of babies, the raping of women and little girls, and the kidnapping of Holocaust survivors. That is what they are rooting for. And my comment here is the United States of America is the beacon of light to the world. This is a small percentage. Let's defeat this small percentage while they remain a small percentage. This is as though the Nazis were out there cheering in the process of the murder, the genocide of all of the Jews. And all it takes is for people to be quiet. To allow that 1% to turn into 5% to turn into 10%. The American people, my people, your people, need to stand up and support. This is not a Jewish battle. This is not even an Israeli battle. This is a civilization battle in between good and evil. And good must prevail.
- [30:50]
Ben Ferguson
I will tell you, Aria, real quickly, a story that NBC News ran tonight that I just retweeted, which is that the headline is top US law firm Davis Polk announces in an internal email that it has rescinded letters of employment for three law students at Harvard University and Columbia University who signed on to the organizational statements regarding Israel. And look, Davis Polk is one of the top law firms in the world. It is one of the premier law firms in New York City, and this is a big damn deal. Look, the statement from Harvard and what Columbia did, it was disgraceful. It was repulsive. And what the law firm is saying is, listen, if you sign on to a statement that is admitting publicly that you are a deeply racist anti Semite, that you blame Israel for the murder of children and infants carried out by terrorists, that we don't wish to be associated with you any more than if you, if you tattoo a swastika on yourself or start marching around in KKK hoods. We're not going to hire you at our firm because we're not interested in being associated with Klansmen or Nazis or people who revel in the rape and murder and torture of women and children and innocent civilians. And I will say it is a sign. Look, Davis Polk is not a conservative place, to put it mildly. It is overwhelmingly left leaning. But that. That is a positive sign that, that, you know, even people who are not right of center are recognizing this embrace of. Of horrific atrocities is, is despicable and unacceptable in civilized society.
- [32:38]
Aria Lightstone
I'm pleased that there is, that there's, you know, broad bipartisan support for not beheading baby sides. We found the common denominator amongst 99% of America and we should identify the 1% who can't agree to that. There's plenty of room for disagreement with Israeli policy. Middle east policy in and of itself is complicated. This is not complicated. And our ability to identify and excise that cancer within us as well will be critical. To the ongoing health of the United States of America. And we've got two congresswomen. I don't know what legal recourse there is, but the active promotion of a blood libel seems to be something that would deserve at least like a censure or, you know, well.
- [33:23]
Ben Ferguson
And listen, Aria, we played on this podcast the video of a reporter asking Rashida Tlaib what is your view on the burning alive of children, on the raping of little girls, on the beheading of infants. And she refused to answer the question. And so, you know, you said 99% agree that beheading infants is unacceptable. I find it astonishing that a sitting member of Congress cannot say that. That won't just say it's horrible and evil unequivocally, period, full stop. But she will not utter those words.
- [34:01]
Aria Lightstone
Yeah, we're gonna have to make up a T shirt that said that Rashida represents the 1%. It's the 1% of people who don't have humanity and the people 1% of people don't have a soul. It's a constituency apparently. And who would have thought that she represents the 1%?
- [34:18]
Ted Cruz
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- [36:14]
Joe Biden
And based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there's a lot of people out there not sure who was looking. We Israel has a value set like the United States does and other democracies, and they're looking to see what we're going to do.
- [36:36]
Ted Cruz
He refers to a terrorist organization that just beheaded infant children and raped women and tortured people and put it on video as the other team, while also saying, I'm going to send a bunch of money to an area that's been filled with corruption, even when we've had humanitarian aid going into this part of the world and been used by the terrorists.
- [36:59]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, one of the things about the Biden administration, Ben, is that they have been willing to hire and bring into their administration radicals who are deeply anti Israel and deeply anti Semitic. So there's a story that broke today, and it was in the Daily Wire. The headline is, the US Government hired a pro Hamas PLA spokeswoman to handle asylum claims. And there is a woman named Nejwa Ali who is an officer at the Department of Homeland Security, and she's in charge of adjudicating asylum claims. Now, she previously worked in 2016 and 2017 as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian delegation in the U.S. which, according to its own website, served as the PLO office in D.C. and she has been on social media repeatedly writing just rabidly anti Semitic statements. So she has stated, for example, this is a quote from social media, f Israel, but she does not abbreviate f the government and its military. Are you ready for your downfall? According to her social media, she's American born, Palestinian at heart. She's from Dearborn, Michigan, born in America. And if you look at the quotes she's put out, she sent out tweets. She sent out tweets with a picture of the paragliders with machine guns along with the caption, free Palestine. She has also sent posts that say, quote, respect our existence or expect resistance. Simple. No apologies. She also says, I hold every Israeli accountable for their government's actions if they do not speak against Israel. And here's what she said on October 9 after watching this mass murder. Quote, f Israel. Again, F is not abbreviated. And any Jewish that supports Israel, a nation that has nothing but Allah has everything it will ever need. This is a sitting official in the Biden administration, not just an official in the Biden administration. You know what her job is determining who gets asylum. So if you have presumably terrorists who have the same views she does, which is we should murder Jews, you have to assume she's eager to say we're going to grant you asylum in the United States and to carry out your racist, anti Semitic mission. Today I called on the Biden administration to terminate her immediately. To the best of my knowledge, they have not done so yet. And these kind of radicals, sadly are populating the Biden White House, are populating the Biden State Department, are populating agencies throughout this administration. And it is, it is the impact, it's why the squad is not just tolerated in the House. The rest of the House Democrats are terrified of aoc, they're terrified of Talib, they're terrified of Omar. They don't want to be primaried from the left and so they won't take on and condemn the vicious poison they're spewing.
- [40:17]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, great, great point there. Lastly, for everyone in the US that's going to be hearing this, is there anything that they can do? I've had so many people reach out saying they want to get involved, they want to help. What is it they can do? Obviously, pray for the people of Israel and those, the loved ones still have, their loved ones who are missing that are being held hostage. But is there anything else that Americans can do if they want to be involved?
- [40:46]
Aria Lightstone
Thank you for asking. Having had the privilege of representing America here in Israel for four years, I know that Americans love Israel and I know that Americans love being on the side of good. And Israel is a great example of that. Here are the three things that somebody can do and I just want to highlight for one moment. It's important for all the listeners to know that there were 30Americans killed in this tragedy and there are 11Americans at least still missing. I remember a time where there was a submarine, a tourist submarine to go see the Titanic. And I think there were five, six, seven people on board and the nation was gripped by how many hours of oxygen that they had left. And it was this porn of watching these people die. But the world was gripped and prayed and whatever else happened to. And I'm not belittling that by any stretch of imagination, but I do not see the same captivation of America of eleven American young men and women being held hostage. The Red Cross has not been able to see them. We don't know where they are. The leaders of their organization fit in a major non NATO allied country, Qatar. They sit there in the four season village and are living it up while they know where our young men and how young women are. And I don't know why there's not a counter of how many seconds have gone by since their parents, if their parents are still alive, have seen them last since America knows where they are. I mean, this is, yes, in Israel, but there are Americans amongst the hostages and America's amongst the killed in action. And. And we have people protesting the streets, rooting these people on. They are rooting on the killing and the kidnapping of Americans. I just want to be crystal clear on that. Three different things we can do as human beings, certainly as Americans, because we're highly influential and connected. The first is prayer. God neither sleeps nor he slumbers. Let's make sure that he's busy 24 7. If you pray, pray more. If you don't pray yet, start now. That's critical. Number two is Israel will defend itself by itself. It does not want an American troop. It never has wanted an American troop. It needs arms, needs weapons. It needs to be able to be resupplied, and it needs diplomatic cover to be able to continue to do this. The senators pointed out so clearly how fast the world turns against Israel. The United States needs to have the moral clarity to allow Israel to excise its tumor along its side. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Iran. It needs that diplomatic space and needs the weaponry to be able to do it by itself. The third thing is, look, all of my neighbors, as I said, have somebody who's at the front. I don't know how they sleep at night, which is more than honored to be up in the middle of the night to be able to be on this podcast. There's a very little bit that I can do. If you post, post. If you give charity, give charity. But whatever it is that you do, do it until it hurts. There are mothers who cannot sleep tonight because their kids are missing. There are fathers who cannot sleep tonight because their kids are on the front and they don't know if they will come home. If we want to be with them, we need to be with them. And that means do something differently than you would normally do. If you normally pray for fathers, pray until you're missing the football game this Saturday. Pray until. If you give charity, if you can afford $1,000, figure out how to give 2,000 hours. There are ways that we can be with the people of Israel at this point in time, the Americans who are still missing at this point in time in a way that God will know that I am willing to sacrifice in order to help share the pain. Pain can be diffused. Pain can be shared. And so will victory. Israel will win. The free world will win. America will win. We just need to do those three things.
- [44:53]
Ben Ferguson
So, Arya, that was profound and powerful, and I agree with all three. Let me make a couple of observations. One, the fact, my friend, that you are a rabbi came through loud and clear when you gave the wonderful advice, if you pray, pray more. If you don't pray, start praying now. I love that advice, and that's good advice to every listener. A verdict. I enthusiastically second that council. And you're right in terms of all of the steps of adding the voice, adding the voices of truth that are really needed powerfully right now. You know, I want to ask you, I want to shift, just as we're wrapping up, to a broader policy question, because you are living in Israel. You're experiencing firsthand what's happening there. But you also have been a very senior United States official, the chief of staff to the American ambassador to Israel during one of the most consequential times in the history of Israel, and that was the Trump presidency. David Friedman was ambassador. We moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem, something presidents of both parties had promised, both Republican and Democrat, and presidents of both parties had broken that promise. And yet we were able to deliver on it. And you also were integral in a process. Just two and a half years ago, we were at a moment where peace was breaking out in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords were being signed, and we were seeing Arabs and Israelis coming together in a moment that many of us were afraid we would never see. And it was extraordinary. And you played an important part in that process. And so what I want to ask you is a question. What changed three years ago? I remember standing on the South Lawn of the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accords, and people were marveling, how did this happen? And now we're facing the worst war in Israel in over 50 years. And in your judgment, as someone who was intimately involved in the policy that led to the good outcome, what has changed to have led to this horrific state of affairs where we find ourselves today?
- [47:14]
Aria Lightstone
My goodness. Yeah. You know when your phone shows you like images that happen on that day. So three years ago this morning, I was in Abu Dhabi with our Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, leading the first ever Abraham Accord Business delegation to Abu Dhabi in the height of COVID We brought 100 Israeli business people, men and women, to meet with 100 Emirati business people, men and women in the middle of COVID And had it not been Covid, they would have been hugging each other. Instead they were doing that stupid elbow thing, which was worse for people. And just there was an El Halt flying from Israel to Abu Dhabi to the United Arab Emirates and five peace treaties in 123 days. And there were more to come. Had the Biden administration capitalized on that? The answer, and I will agree with how you started the show. Thank God for President Biden showing up to Israel. Thank God that President Biden brought the carriers into the Mediterranean close in order to do an act of deterrence. I praise him, I thank him, and I think those are important. I think that's great. But the three years prior to that is why we're in this position. When you appease Iran, that is a Neville Chamberlain action. When you fight Iran, that is a Churchill reaction. We have given money to Iran. We've taken our foot off of their financial neck. The billions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars that Iran has gotten over the last three years were not used to rebuild their economy, their universities, their high tech sector, they were used to fund terror. And when Biden decided that he wasn't going to use the words Abraham, of course that sent a message to every country that joined Israel in peace that we, the United States of America, do not stand with you. It left a vacuum in the region. And when the United States leaves a vacuum in the region, it is not filled by Costa Rica, it's filled by China, Iran and Russia. And the only deal that's been brokered in the last three years in the Middle east, after we did five in 123 days with 10 other countries ready to go, we gave the playbook to the Biden administration. China brokered a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Now, why would Saudi Arabia, a chief relationship of the United States of America, agree to a deal with their number one adversary, Iran, brokered by China? Because they didn't trust that the United States of America would be there for them. And our inability to be able to tell our allies concretely we will be with you, create a vacuum. And when that vacuum exists, it's filled by terror. Under the Obama administration, it was called Hake. Under the Biden administration, it's called Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. It's the same thing, the same radical Islam. But it's because we are not decisive we are not clear. And we fund this. We fund this with our Iran deal that you fought against. We fund this with our hostage negotiations, which I would call ransom payments, which you fought against. But we nonetheless have enfranchised these monstrous barbarians who direct, fund and lead these attacks. And you can call it Hamas, you can call it Hezbollah, but it's Iran.
- [50:36]
Ben Ferguson
Aria, my friend, there was more wisdom in what you just said than I have heard from virtually any of my colleagues in the United States Senate. And I think that that insight and observation was impressive, important. And listen, we often ask our listeners to share the podcast and particularly the last two weeks with the war on Israel. I think what we've been covering has been consequential and has been information that you can't get many other places. I think listening to Aria on the front lines, experiencing firsthand what is happening in Israel, this conversation is important. And if you watch cnn, you will watch all day long and not hear a word of the insight that you've heard in the past few minutes. Aria, I want to tell you I'm praying for you. I am praying for you and your wife. And I want to tell you in particular, I'm praying for your kids. As a father, my heart grieves. I know your children are afraid and I know as a dad, you're frustrated and you feel powerless to fully comfort your kids because the fear they are feeling is not irrational. It is a very rational feel, fear from monsters who would do them harm. And know that I am praying that God's comfort be with your children, that his strength be with your children, that his peace be with your children, and that the world will stand united with Israel as you stand and eliminate this force of evil, these monsters that prey upon you. Know, my friend, that we are with you.
- [52:16]
Ted Cruz
Thanks again for coming on.
- [52:18]
Aria Lightstone
Thank you so much.
- [52:20]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, thank you for coming on. Don't forget, we do this show three days a week. We will keep you updated on what is going on in Israel. We'll keep getting you the real news that's coming out, not these headlines that we talked about earlier coming from the media. Make sure you share this podcast and please write us a five star review as well. We'll also have a great weekend recap for you on Saturday and those days in between. Make sure you download my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you updated on the breaking news in between verdict episodes and we'll see you back here in a couple of days. Let me tell you about our friends over at Chalk. If you're a guy and you feel like that you've lost some of your strength and your vitality and weakness and complacency are setting in. Maybe you just feel fatigued and you don't want to go workout. Maybe you don't even like playing sports anymore and that's something you love to do. Maybe you just feel like you're just getting weak and complacent and sitting around too much. Well, guess what? You're not alone. Men's testosterone levels are off a cliff, historically at an all time low. Thankfully, the patriots at Chalk are helping real American men just like you boost your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. You'll get back that strength and vitality. You'll get rid of that weakness and complacency. It's manufactured right here in the US Of A. Chalk's natural herbal supplements are clinically proven to have game changing effects on your energy, your focus and your mood. So if you're sick and tired of sitting around and just being sick and tired of having that weakness and complacency, check out chalk choq.com that's choq.com. now here's the best part. Use the promo code, Ben, and you'll get 35% off at chalk. Com choq. Com boost your testosterone levels up to 30% over 90 days. Choq. Com that's choq. Com.