Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Founder and CEO of Vandalay Publishing Benjamin Smith. Benjamin, thank
you so much for being on our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yes, thank you for having me Happy Friday as well.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Absolutely. Okay, So let's go ahead and let's talk about
just what we know about the implications of this. Right,
there's a war that's been going on for over a
year and a half now in the Middle East, and
it is created a lot of emotional discussion here in
the United States, but it has turned violent on multiple
occasions and then included with the shooting of two Israeli
(00:33):
embassy employees. So what do we know about this and
what the reaction is going to be from you know,
people on both sides of the political aisle.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Absolutely, there is a great points and I mean, as
you've said, we've seen this festering first in Europe and
now on college campuses New York City, and now unfortunately
we're seeing violence across the country. Not even to mention
you know, what we heard and what we saw with
Governor Shapiro himself and being attacked in his own home
as they try to torch him over this issue, and
(01:04):
also just the ugly attacks against you know, Senator Fetterman
as he continued to stand for Israel and democratic style,
where it's becoming a more tenuous position to even you know,
the voice your support for Israel on the on the
left side of the political aisle here in d C,
where you know I've lived for a decade. It's one
of the most shocking acts of violence I think we've
seen downtown in a long time to people who, by
(01:29):
the way, the event that was going on at the
Jewish Museum in d C was a peace talk. It
was a you know, teach to peace, which was bringing
people together, an interfaith dialogue. And what a horrile place
to have this take place. The gunman of crazed man
flew in from Chicago to our nation's capital, where you
(01:49):
know I'm proud call home and came in and I
mean brutally executed two people who were working towards peace
at the Israeli Embassy. I mean it's had shown that
police have said and seen on camera where the woman
that was shot was trying to crawl away and he
kept following her and firing into her body as she
(02:10):
tried away. And it's absolutely horrific scene in DC. Over
the last few days, having been near and close to
members of the Jewish community here in d C. Including
former friends who've worked at the Israeli Embassy. Not overlapping
with these people. I've seen a lot of tributes boring in,
very emotional, very personal, just wonderful how this couple they
(02:31):
were with their friends, what they care about the passion. Unfortunately,
he had just bought an engagement ring and was going
over Jerusalem in a few weeks to propose to her.
So it's an awful situation all around, and just the
response has been utter shocked and a call for zero
tolerance policy, you know, condemning what we've seen since this
(02:55):
war broke out in October seventh of this idea that
the gun and himself was screaming free palace out at
the end of it. So just this continual festering and
this cancer that's been spread across the United States, mainly
by college kids on college campuses, and the lack of
accountability and any kind of leadership you know, by in
(03:15):
campus administrators or really people in Congress turning a blind
eye of this is even their own fellow members get attack.
It's just really sad and sticking at the same time.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, we're speaking with Benjamin Smith, who's the founder and
CEO of and Andalai Publishing. So I mentioned the political
spectrum we talk about, you know, zero tolerance here, but
there are people on our political left that are representatives
that are in Washington, d C. That have been slow
to condemn you know, these types of protests, and peaceful
(03:47):
protesting is one thing, but the general hate speech in
the way that you know, some people and some leaders
of these protest groups have gone about making sure that
anti Semitic rhetoric is part of what they are doing.
For whatever reason. How can we expect them to handle
this because this seems like something that should be so
(04:07):
easy to condemn.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It should be and that's the thing that's so I
would say disappointing about their action, especially this growth in
left wing political violence over the past couple of years
and really throughout We've seen history with left wing political violence,
but we have a real cancer in our stire right now.
This is violence perpetrating these protests from you know, the
(04:31):
anti Trump protests where I had to evacuate my own
building in Washington, d C. Because I was close to
the White House and it was it was dangerous. People
were getting hit the Communists were marching saying, you know,
join us or die down my street multiple times a day,
and I felt in so in state i had to
leave the area. But back to this, you know, horrible
(04:51):
tragy and just execution that happened in d C. And
they're already ignoring it, They're already downplaying. And you have
Seenn in the last forty eight hours, who can said, well,
how it's going to affect the Muslim Americans. We've had
you know, Omar be chased down by reporters and run
and be not even mentioned or condemn it. We had
to have the Republican Jewish Coalition, our JC tweet at Medea,
(05:15):
Benjamin Code Pink care to even get a statement in.
Our athlete tweeted them, which was even the next day.
And then we have AOC on Twitter, you know, not
even mentioning the fact that you know, this was a
hay Crome towards Jewish people. You know, yes, she condemned it,
but you had to go and see the tweet itself,
and actually clips who she had to realize as a
(05:36):
Jewish group acted a Jewish organization. Quite frankly, from me,
it's appalling that after months of supporting these things. They
come out and even have the guts, and it's honestly
really ironic to even say that they condemn it. I mean,
Alex Soros, George Soros's son, came out on Twitter said,
you know, we condemned this violence while still propagating and
giving money to anti Israel groups. It's whitewashing it, it's
(05:59):
giving lip serves to it, but not really meaning it
because they've let this fester and let their voters and
their supports fester. That's cancer throughout their ranks for so long.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Benjamin, I think that, you know, going back to the
entire source of the issue itself is in the Middle East,
and the United Nations has said they are having difficult
to getting humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. You're of
course hearing Donald Trump saying he'd like to see Benjaminett
yaw Who wrap it up over there. And I know that,
you know, our attention is in a few different places
(06:30):
in terms of conflicts around the world, But how how
close do you anticipate we are to Donald Trump really
starting to put the pressure on Benjaminett and yah Who,
for a variety of different reasons, to try to end
that conflict in as quick a fashion as possible to
also try to settle down some of the anti Semitism
(06:52):
and the hate that's taking place here in the United States,
which isn't even directly in the conflict.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, and I think it's a great question. I mean,
in that front, you've already seen Donald Trump put the
pressure on come out with statements. You've seen some of
more on right leaning spaces online, which is you know,
kind of especially to my area, come out in support
of the present, putting more pressure on net and Yahoo.
This has been extremely divisious thing. As much as I
(07:20):
distrust the United Nations, it has seemed to be a
little bit difficult to get that humanitarian IDI in there.
But as we know, Hamas controls the area and the
Gaza strip, and they're taking the humanitarian aid for themselves anyway.
So there is a crisis, but it's been propagated by
Hamas stealing the food, Hamas running these organizations to take
(07:43):
stuff from the UN, and the UN just kind of
turning a blind eye. So this is really a self
made thing by Hamas, and unfortunately it really is affecting
the people that they're supposed to serve and represent. The
Gaza strip.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Last thing for you, Benjamin, Uh, What's what comes next? Now,
certainly this is a bad actor. Not to say that
there aren't people who are anti Semitic that would like
to propagate violence of some kind, but this seems to
be one guy who wanted to do one thing, and
that was to create one of them, you know, the
worst possible crime that you can commit. Do you anticipate
(08:19):
there being you know, kind of copycats of this or
do you think that even some of the you know,
anti Israel or pro Palestinian groups are going to try
to distance themselves from this type of act so people
will take their cause more seriously.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Absolutely, it's a great question, and I think it's hard
to tell in the future. What we've seen so far,
especially in DC, is a lot of the more pro
Hamas I'm not sorry, pro Goza groups that have been
wrapping themselves in this humanitarian ideas. Some of them to
you know, obviously do care, but there has been a
lot of wrapping around in this humanitarian cause for anti Semitism,
(08:57):
and it's a lot of property in that. But we've
already seen them come out online and say, you know,
we condemn this kind of whitewashing it, a lot of
you know, toning it down. We need to tone it down.
We can understand your frustration, but don't hurt people. Unfortunately,
I don't think this is the end of the violence.
I don't see, especially online. I've already seen. If you
(09:18):
remember Rebecca Jones, the person who kind of came out
against DeSantis, is that he was lying about code numbers.
She's already online with a video this morning justifying the killings.
You've seen Taylor Wrenn samsing on CNN, who was big,
you know, Luigi supporter. Instead, he was justified to do it,
not in certain terms and around that area, retweeting people
(09:39):
saying you know, well, you know it's not that big
of a deal, YadA, YadA, YadA. It's really frustrating for me,
someone who's you know, had friends who've worked at the
Israeli embassy and seen a bunch of friends with personal
tributes coming out to this wonderful couple just downplay what's
really going on. Unfortunately, you know, there's a narrative out
there that you know, Israel Is you know, the occupier,
(10:02):
the aggressor, and unfortunately, I see the violence continuing. I
see this as a pausing point, but I don't see
it's slowing down unfortunately, in times soon. And you know,
we really do have to take steps, the Americans to
both protect ourselves, and from what I've heard from people
inside the Jewish communities, we're ramping up protection at museums,
at synagogues of the Temple to really try to protect
(10:24):
their people. And the one good thing about this whole
situation is is the Jewish community has been really good
over the years, especially in DC, when I've seen something
like this happened or an anti Semitic action taken, is
they really do rally around together. Remember this event that
they were attending was a piece top at Uniti top
with leaders all across the spectrum in this area coming
(10:44):
together to have this discussion. Unfortunately, was marred by a
basic execution killing where I mean the girl was chased
down and shot multi times she tried to crawl away.
It's a disgusting situation.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Benjamin Smith is the founder and CEO of Vandalai Publish
Great Takes It in great analysis. Benjamin, really appreciate you
being on our show today.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I really appreciate you having me. Thank you so much.
Founder and CEO of Vandalay Publishing Benjamin Smith. Benjamin, thank
you so much for being on our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yes, thank you for having me Happy Friday as well.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Absolutely. Okay, So let's go ahead and let's talk about
just what we know about the implications of this. Right,
there's a war that's been going on for over a
year and a half now in the Middle East, and
it is created a lot of emotional discussion here in
the United States, but it has turned violent on multiple
occasions and then included with the shooting of two Israeli
(00:33):
embassy employees. So what do we know about this and
what the reaction is going to be from you know,
people on both sides of the political aisle.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Absolutely, there is a great points and I mean, as
you've said, we've seen this festering first in Europe and
now on college campuses New York City, and now unfortunately
we're seeing violence across the country. Not even to mention
you know, what we heard and what we saw with
Governor Shapiro himself and being attacked in his own home
as they try to torch him over this issue, and
(01:04):
also just the ugly attacks against you know, Senator Fetterman
as he continued to stand for Israel and democratic style,
where it's becoming a more tenuous position to even you know,
the voice your support for Israel on the on the
left side of the political aisle here in d C,
where you know I've lived for a decade. It's one
of the most shocking acts of violence I think we've
seen downtown in a long time to people who, by
(01:29):
the way, the event that was going on at the
Jewish Museum in d C was a peace talk. It
was a you know, teach to peace, which was bringing
people together, an interfaith dialogue. And what a horrile place
to have this take place. The gunman of crazed man
flew in from Chicago to our nation's capital, where you
(01:49):
know I'm proud call home and came in and I
mean brutally executed two people who were working towards peace
at the Israeli Embassy. I mean it's had shown that
police have said and seen on camera where the woman
that was shot was trying to crawl away and he
kept following her and firing into her body as she
(02:10):
tried away. And it's absolutely horrific scene in DC. Over
the last few days, having been near and close to
members of the Jewish community here in d C. Including
former friends who've worked at the Israeli Embassy. Not overlapping
with these people. I've seen a lot of tributes boring in,
very emotional, very personal, just wonderful how this couple they
(02:31):
were with their friends, what they care about the passion. Unfortunately,
he had just bought an engagement ring and was going
over Jerusalem in a few weeks to propose to her.
So it's an awful situation all around, and just the
response has been utter shocked and a call for zero
tolerance policy, you know, condemning what we've seen since this
(02:55):
war broke out in October seventh of this idea that
the gun and himself was screaming free palace out at
the end of it. So just this continual festering and
this cancer that's been spread across the United States, mainly
by college kids on college campuses, and the lack of
accountability and any kind of leadership you know, by in
(03:15):
campus administrators or really people in Congress turning a blind
eye of this is even their own fellow members get attack.
It's just really sad and sticking at the same time.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, we're speaking with Benjamin Smith, who's the founder and
CEO of and Andalai Publishing. So I mentioned the political
spectrum we talk about, you know, zero tolerance here, but
there are people on our political left that are representatives
that are in Washington, d C. That have been slow
to condemn you know, these types of protests, and peaceful
(03:47):
protesting is one thing, but the general hate speech in
the way that you know, some people and some leaders
of these protest groups have gone about making sure that
anti Semitic rhetoric is part of what they are doing.
For whatever reason. How can we expect them to handle
this because this seems like something that should be so
(04:07):
easy to condemn.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It should be and that's the thing that's so I
would say disappointing about their action, especially this growth in
left wing political violence over the past couple of years
and really throughout We've seen history with left wing political violence,
but we have a real cancer in our stire right now.
This is violence perpetrating these protests from you know, the
(04:31):
anti Trump protests where I had to evacuate my own
building in Washington, d C. Because I was close to
the White House and it was it was dangerous. People
were getting hit the Communists were marching saying, you know,
join us or die down my street multiple times a day,
and I felt in so in state i had to
leave the area. But back to this, you know, horrible
(04:51):
tragy and just execution that happened in d C. And
they're already ignoring it, They're already downplaying. And you have
Seenn in the last forty eight hours, who can said, well,
how it's going to affect the Muslim Americans. We've had
you know, Omar be chased down by reporters and run
and be not even mentioned or condemn it. We had
to have the Republican Jewish Coalition, our JC tweet at Medea,
(05:15):
Benjamin Code Pink care to even get a statement in.
Our athlete tweeted them, which was even the next day.
And then we have AOC on Twitter, you know, not
even mentioning the fact that you know, this was a
hay Crome towards Jewish people. You know, yes, she condemned it,
but you had to go and see the tweet itself,
and actually clips who she had to realize as a
(05:36):
Jewish group acted a Jewish organization. Quite frankly, from me,
it's appalling that after months of supporting these things. They
come out and even have the guts, and it's honestly
really ironic to even say that they condemn it. I mean,
Alex Soros, George Soros's son, came out on Twitter said,
you know, we condemned this violence while still propagating and
giving money to anti Israel groups. It's whitewashing it, it's
(05:59):
giving lip serves to it, but not really meaning it
because they've let this fester and let their voters and
their supports fester. That's cancer throughout their ranks for so long.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Benjamin, I think that, you know, going back to the
entire source of the issue itself is in the Middle East,
and the United Nations has said they are having difficult
to getting humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. You're of
course hearing Donald Trump saying he'd like to see Benjaminett
yaw Who wrap it up over there. And I know that,
you know, our attention is in a few different places
(06:30):
in terms of conflicts around the world, But how how
close do you anticipate we are to Donald Trump really
starting to put the pressure on Benjaminett and yah Who,
for a variety of different reasons, to try to end
that conflict in as quick a fashion as possible to
also try to settle down some of the anti Semitism
(06:52):
and the hate that's taking place here in the United States,
which isn't even directly in the conflict.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, and I think it's a great question. I mean,
in that front, you've already seen Donald Trump put the
pressure on come out with statements. You've seen some of
more on right leaning spaces online, which is you know,
kind of especially to my area, come out in support
of the present, putting more pressure on net and Yahoo.
This has been extremely divisious thing. As much as I
(07:20):
distrust the United Nations, it has seemed to be a
little bit difficult to get that humanitarian IDI in there.
But as we know, Hamas controls the area and the
Gaza strip, and they're taking the humanitarian aid for themselves anyway.
So there is a crisis, but it's been propagated by
Hamas stealing the food, Hamas running these organizations to take
(07:43):
stuff from the UN, and the UN just kind of
turning a blind eye. So this is really a self
made thing by Hamas, and unfortunately it really is affecting
the people that they're supposed to serve and represent. The
Gaza strip.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Last thing for you, Benjamin, Uh, What's what comes next? Now,
certainly this is a bad actor. Not to say that
there aren't people who are anti Semitic that would like
to propagate violence of some kind, but this seems to
be one guy who wanted to do one thing, and
that was to create one of them, you know, the
worst possible crime that you can commit. Do you anticipate
(08:19):
there being you know, kind of copycats of this or
do you think that even some of the you know,
anti Israel or pro Palestinian groups are going to try
to distance themselves from this type of act so people
will take their cause more seriously.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Absolutely, it's a great question, and I think it's hard
to tell in the future. What we've seen so far,
especially in DC, is a lot of the more pro
Hamas I'm not sorry, pro Goza groups that have been
wrapping themselves in this humanitarian ideas. Some of them to
you know, obviously do care, but there has been a
lot of wrapping around in this humanitarian cause for anti Semitism,
(08:57):
and it's a lot of property in that. But we've
already seen them come out online and say, you know,
we condemn this kind of whitewashing it, a lot of
you know, toning it down. We need to tone it down.
We can understand your frustration, but don't hurt people. Unfortunately,
I don't think this is the end of the violence.
I don't see, especially online. I've already seen. If you
(09:18):
remember Rebecca Jones, the person who kind of came out
against DeSantis, is that he was lying about code numbers.
She's already online with a video this morning justifying the killings.
You've seen Taylor Wrenn samsing on CNN, who was big,
you know, Luigi supporter. Instead, he was justified to do it,
not in certain terms and around that area, retweeting people
(09:39):
saying you know, well, you know it's not that big
of a deal, YadA, YadA, YadA. It's really frustrating for me,
someone who's you know, had friends who've worked at the
Israeli embassy and seen a bunch of friends with personal
tributes coming out to this wonderful couple just downplay what's
really going on. Unfortunately, you know, there's a narrative out
there that you know, Israel Is you know, the occupier,
(10:02):
the aggressor, and unfortunately, I see the violence continuing. I
see this as a pausing point, but I don't see
it's slowing down unfortunately, in times soon. And you know,
we really do have to take steps, the Americans to
both protect ourselves, and from what I've heard from people
inside the Jewish communities, we're ramping up protection at museums,
at synagogues of the Temple to really try to protect
(10:24):
their people. And the one good thing about this whole
situation is is the Jewish community has been really good
over the years, especially in DC, when I've seen something
like this happened or an anti Semitic action taken, is
they really do rally around together. Remember this event that
they were attending was a piece top at Uniti top
with leaders all across the spectrum in this area coming
(10:44):
together to have this discussion. Unfortunately, was marred by a
basic execution killing where I mean the girl was chased
down and shot multi times she tried to crawl away.
It's a disgusting situation.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Benjamin Smith is the founder and CEO of Vandalai Publish
Great Takes It in great analysis. Benjamin, really appreciate you
being on our show today.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I really appreciate you having me. Thank you so much.
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