May 16, 2025 • 19 mins
COLONEL MICHAEL SCOTT STANDS WITH ISRAEL And unlike most of us who just SAY that he is putting action to words as a battle tested Australian commander of troops who is putting his money where his mouth is. He joins me at 1pm to talk about his visits to Gaza to talk to IDF soldiers and why he believes the IDF is the most ethical fighting force in the world. Read his column on it here. He joins me at 1pm. Find out more about him by clicking here. Find out about his organization The 2023 Foundation here.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am pleased is punched to have in the studio
with me now an interesting fellow. We were just chatting
during the break. He is originally from the great massive
country of Australia, and after serving proudly in the Australian military,
he has now turned his attention to Israel and what's
happening in Israel. And he spent time in Gaza with
IDF troops in the last couple of years during the
(00:23):
actual fighting, and has now been in the United States
for several months spreading the word and supporting a new
foundation that he's created. I don't know how new it is.
We'll find out a second that he's created to fight
anti Semitism. His name is Colonel Michael Scott and welcome
to the show, sir.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hey Mandy, wonderful to be with you today and your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And now I already told him that just because of
the Australian accent, you guys are going to be like, Wow,
he's awesome, and he is. So let's talk a little
bit about you. First, tell me a little bit about
your backstory.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Hi Andy.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Colonel Michael Scott, thirty one year veteran of the Australian
Army previous operationals service in East Team or Boganville, Iraq,
two tours of Afghanistan, the later operations working hand in
glove with United States Military Force elements. But more recently,
from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one, I was secondered
(01:15):
from the Australian Army to the United Nations Truth Supervision
Organization as a senior unarmed observer operating in Israel, but
with responsibilities in Israel up in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
And this was al during most of the hot mess
in Syria, hot mess in Israel. The hot mess really
didn't break out fully until after you finished that position.
Can you tell my audience what the responsibilities how a
UN observer actually are.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Certainly the particular mission that I was seconded to has
been going since nineteen forty eight. Australians have been supporting
the mission since nineteen fifty six. I was the head
of the military of one hundred fifty three offices drawn
from twenty seven different troop contributing countries, including the United States,
(02:07):
Russian Federation, China and many other nations. And we observed
and monitored and reported the terms of the various ceasefire agreements,
so we operated heavily up in the South Latani River
sector north of Israel. I had team members up in Beirut,
in Damascus, Syria, either side of the area of separation
(02:28):
between gol Lan and Kenetra, but also elements in Aman, Jordan,
and down in Ishmaelia Egypt.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Now, a lot of people don't understand how small that
area is that you're talking about, I mean, and this
is part of the problem I think for some Americans
in understanding why this conflict remains so hot all the time.
And it's because we're talking about a very small area
of land.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
If you go from the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv
and drive east for one hour, you're at the jordan
A valley, which is the border between Israel and Jordan.
It's such a small area, and that's something that most
Gentiles don't appreciate that when we're talking about Hamas terrorists
in Gaza, people that are not dissimilar to the violent
(03:17):
militants in the sixth century AD. It's a forty five
minute drive south of Tel Aviv.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It'd be the equivalent of Boulder harboring Hamas. I mean,
that's really what we're talking about. For Denver rides. It
would be having people who wanted to murder you in
Boulder and a whole bunch of them and a whole
community dedicated to that. That's probably a great way to
think about that. How did you go into that experience
as a U observer? What was your mindset? What did
(03:47):
you think you were going to see versus what actually transpired?
Were you close?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So? I think since my early twenties I've had an
interest in the Israeli Defense Force and also the Levonde.
So when the application came about twenty eighteen, I was
very interested to put my name forward. It was a
fascinating part of the world because the Israeli Defense Forces,
in my judgment, are the most lawful, ethical, and moral
(04:12):
military fighting force world history is known not only with
what's happening in Gaza at the moment, but if we
look at the modern history from forty eight, nineteen fifty six,
nineteen sixty seven, seventy three, the inn Fada's Elebanon campaigns,
the Israeli Defense Forces are really excelled against against an
(04:33):
intractable flight foe. David has defeated Goliath in many of
the campaigns in the past.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, let's talk about now, because there's you know, I
yesterday I had read an article that was an a
Reuter's article, and I could very easily go through and
show the clear instances of anti Israel bias from not
mentioning that the local health ministry is her Maasa's health
ministry that's giving these numbers. When you went to Israel,
(05:02):
you already had a fascination with the IDF. What did
you see there that affirmed your belief that they were
operating as ethically as possible in a war zone? Which
almost sounds like an oxymoron, You know it doesn't. How
can you have ethical war because war is so to determine,
to break things and kill people. It's a purpose of war.
How do you square that? Give me some examples.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I think the first thing for the listeners to understand
is that Israeli defense forces are just that they are
a defensive mindset. They're not an offensive mindset. So Israel
as a people are very similar to Western liberal democracies
around the world. But one of the things that's different
for Israel is that forty five minutes away from the
(05:43):
second largest city, barbarians that want to rape and murder
on film and then break about it. And so Israeli
defense forces face a number of the checks and balances
that are very familiar to US military and Australia in
terms of targeting protocol, look at proportionality, the laws of war.
There really is no moral comparison between Israeli Defense Force,
(06:07):
wonderful citizen soldiers and the genocidal maniacs in Hamas.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
How do you explain to someone or respond to someone
who says, but they're block eating Gaza. But but but
they're creating starvation. But how do you how do you
explain that?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's One of my observations at the strategic level is
that we operate in an or Welly in age of
gas liting and projection. People seem to have very fixed
opinions on Israel and the IDEF without any first hand interaction.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It is Allwellian.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
People are forming deep mindsets based on what they're hearing
from Beljazerra BBC. For those that are reasonable, open minded,
I'd encourage people to get across to Israel, to actually
interact with Israelis, because like I saw when I was
there from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one Israelis and
Israeli defense for are very similar to our own and indeed,
(07:02):
for non Jewish people, when I say, when I give
an example of how they can actually picture the average
idea if depending on their age, I think I tell
them to picture their own children or their own grandchildren,
because that's the closest indication of what n IDF sol
job is.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Well, there's a sense of duty in Israel, and everybody
is in the IDF for at least two years, so
you know, everybody kind of goes through the process. But
in my experience, to your point about them being a
defensive force, no one is ever saber rattling to go
bust down the neighbor's door. You know. It is all
about just maintaining peace and making sure that their families
(07:41):
can grow up and flourish. That's the whole purpose of
the whole thing. Is there ever going to be a
situation where IDF movements are not going to be the
most highly scrutinized movements in the world, Because I've talked
on this show about the barbarians that work for the
UN in places like the Congo, who are literally committing
(08:01):
war crimes against women, every single day, and it's not
making a blip in our news media at all. Nothing
is being said.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I think a good test for anti Semitism is
the Natan Sharansky's three D definition, demonize, delegitimize, and double standards.
It's quite shocking when we think of the very imperfect
world in which we live, what the Russian troops are
doing in Eastern Ukraine, dreadful things that are happening all
(08:30):
over the world, but the Israelis are the focus of
so much pillary and bile.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It's completely irrational.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And part of the work that I'm involved in in
combating any Semitism is connecting with reasonable, open minded people
and allowing them to interact with Israel and Israelis and
learn and see the truth for themselves, because I think
the only way practically that we can overcome or Wellian
levels of misinformation is for reasonable people to get across
(09:01):
and to live a personal experience.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I'm going to ask you this, and this is just
a speculative question. You can answer it or not. It
seems to me that Israel has recognized that once again,
no matter what they do, they're going to be held
to a different standard. So it seems to me from
the outside looking in, they are highly committed to completely
rooting out Hamas at this juncture, and even possibly going
further to completely destabilize Hasbal as we've seen, and now
(09:27):
they're launching missiles at Houthi's as well. Does this feel different?
Are we moving towards a final resolution with Iran?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Look, there's a number of significant issues and questions to
unpack there. If we look at just the Gaza envelope. Presently,
Israeli's three strategic goals are to return the hostages. There's
still fifty eight hostages held in Gaza. The second is
to dismantle Hamas, and the third is to ensure that
(09:55):
the Gaza strip the envelope never again constitutes a threat
to the safety and sie security of Israelis Iran is,
of course the head of the snake. Iranian retrick has
been very consistent since the late nineteen seventies and the.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Fall of the Shah.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Death not only to the Little Satan, but death to
the big Satan the United States, And for me, I
take that very personally as as an Australian that's given
the whole of my adult life to the profession of arms.
And someone that believes in Judeo Christian traditions and the
Western civilization that constitutes a threat not only to the
(10:35):
safety and security of Israelis Americans, but also to the
safety and security of my children and my family and
loved ones. And for what it's worth, I see no
non kinetic solution to the Iranian problem. I think that
there will need to be a strike to remove once
and for all the Iranian nuclear program like we saw
(10:56):
in the early nineteen eighties in Iraq.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
What you're not Jewish? So what has drawn you into
not just being an unabashed supporter of the IDF in Israel,
but now you're actively fighting Semitism? What clicked in you
that made you say this is going to be my
life's mission.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
So I think my tipping point was October twenty twenty three.
But to understand that fully, I've got to go back
into my early twenties when a mentor of mine, a
former commanding officer, said Michael, as part of your professional development,
you need to study Israel's wars and so understanding the tactics,
the operations, and strategy also exposed me to the history,
(11:36):
politics and the peace attempts and so it was only
after October twenty twenty three that I have been able
to look back that I've been an ardent Zionist since
my twenties because I believe in the political and cultural
self determination of the indigenous people in their homeland, deep
personal connection with Israelis. People that I know and care
(11:57):
for were personally involved on October seven. Indeed, the adopted
son of a dear friend of mine is still the
hostage in Gaza, one of the fifty eight. And at
the time, my eighteen year old daughter was that a
music concert four hours away from the family home in Sydney, Australia.
At the same time that kids were being slaughtered and
(12:17):
raped in Nova, my daughter was away from home. So
to say I can empathize and relate is an understatement.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Let me ask you a question, because you've actually spent
time in Gaza, and you've spent time in Gaza during
this war. I have got in and on good authority
from people who live in Israel, and many of them
will say the Palestinian people are as oppressed. Some one
said this to me. They are as oppressed by Hamas
as North Koreans are oppressed by Kemilun that no dissent
(12:46):
is allowed, no protest, no sort of pushback. There are
no elections. So how or do you separate the people,
the Palestinian people that initially elected Hamas only to find
out what were they go after they elected them? Or
do you separate them at all? And if not, why not?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
See that's a cracking question. Again.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I'm really smart. I am really smart, Colonel Michael Scott.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I can only give my judgment and looking at the
Palestinian people, so not only in Gaza envelope, but Juda
and Samaria. I must admit that since the Bibas murders
back in February, I've had a lot of difficulty referring
to Juda and Samaria as the West Bank. So I
remember the celebration and the joy of those people at
(13:35):
the spectacle of Shari Kafir and Ariel's body coming back
home to Israel.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I think one of the.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Things we've seen at the moment is a level of
radicalization that is without precedent and human history. If we
look it back at the Mongols, the Vandals, the Tatars,
I don't think they I think they pale in comparison.
When we talk about the radicalization of the Palestinians, and
something that I'm deeply angry about is that it's your
taxpayers money and mine that's funded that level of radicalization.
(14:09):
In my judgment, there will certainly be gardens that have
got no interest in supporting Hamas, but Hamas rules with
an iron fist. My concern is that Hamas have been
operating with the acquisition the acquiescence, but perhaps the majority
of gardens, and so even after we look at the
(14:30):
operations beyond the kinetic activities in the envelope, there's going
to be a sustained period of de radicalization where people
of goodwill get into the schools, get into the offices,
deradicalize a population, and indeed, for those listeners that are interested,
I think that the United Arab Emirates and some of
(14:50):
the work there in terms of firstly outlawing was them
brotherhood in the United Arab Emirates, but more particularly establishing
a ministry of tolerance, I think that that points to
some of the solutions that we might look at seeing
in Gaza and the West Bank.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I agree wholeheartedly. When I was probably twenty years old
and I'm fifty five now, I saw a documentary called
the women of Hesbla, and I didn't know anything about
the region at all, but that documentary genuinely horrified me.
Because children from the time they were very very little,
when they were falling behind their parents in the market
or something, they turn around and say, hurry up, or
(15:28):
the Jews are going to get you. And they tell
their children if they got out of line, the Jews
were going to come take them and kill them and
eat them. Now, this is what parents were telling little children.
Those little children have no chance, you know, in terms
of what they believe and how they're steeped in. And
I'm with you, I think it's it's like a two
generation process to undo all of that. That is to
(15:49):
me going to be the hardest part of peace.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
And I think objectively, what are the steps that we
can take going forward. I'm a big fan, as a
simple soldier of kiss, keep it simple, stupid, and I
think the first precondition is to stop rewarding bad behavior.
So throwing good money after bad into organizations like the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency absolutely a non startup
(16:15):
that needs to stop. And unfortunately, like we've seen in
the United Nations where in my judgment, the institutions remain relevant.
It's not an institutional problem, it's a people problem. Activists
have taken over and infected not only the UN, but
agencies that were formally credible like Amnesty International, like the
(16:36):
International Rights like UN High Commission Humans. It's outrageous and
I think that the simple policy positions there is to
stop funding bad behavior.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Israel is a.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Wonderful tolerant organization for those listeners that are interested in
understanding a little bit more about what the Israeli government
does to provide support for the Palestinians and the territories.
I'd recommend people look at CogAT Coordination of government aid
in the territories, and that's got a source of truth
(17:12):
to how much water, how much electricity, how much food
goes in and it straightaway empowers and enables people like
you and me to push back on the hard left
Cellos and the social Marxists that are trying to gas
light and project their nonsense onto us and shape not
only anti Israeli sentiment but anti Semitic center.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
We're almost out of time, and I want to make
sure we get to the foundation. The foundation that Michael
Scott has founded is the twenty twenty three Foundation. It's
an Australian nonprofit organization dedicated to combating anti Semitism. Tell
me a little bit about what.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
You guys do, absolutely that theseiest way to explain it
is that we're very similar to the Fulbright Scholarship, which
was established in the United States at the end of
the Second World War, not only brings people into US
institutions to educate them, but builds cross cultural linkages through
soft power. And so the basis of the twenty twenty
(18:09):
three Foundation is to connect with reasonable, open minded non
Jews with little or no first ten experience with Israel
and incentivize them across to Israel so they can interact
with the.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Environment and overcome go to Israel.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
In my judgment, there's no practical way to anti Semitism
without people going across and seeing the facts on the
ground and all of Israel's perfect imperfections. They have to
get across there to see the truth and how israelis
not just Jewish people.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
The Drews, Christian Arabs.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Muslim Arabs interact to be able to push back on
some of the gas lighting from some of our failed
legacy media institutions and those dim wets we're seeing on
campus in Colombia and other over League institutions.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Colonel Michael Scott, I still you have got links to everything.
I've got a link to his website. I've got a
link to a phenomenal column that he just wrote, an
opinion piece that I highly recommend, and now link to
the twenty twenty three Foundation. If you would like to
support this. I agree because I will tell you my
trip to Israel went for my nephew's wedding, which already
is a wonderful occasion, but walking through Old Jerusalem is
(19:20):
such a It's just an incredible and powerful thing. I
would love for everyone to have that opportunity to walk
in the same steps if you're a Christian that Jesus
walked in, and if you're Jewish, you go to the
wall and you see the foundations of the Temple. It's
just the cradle of humanity is in Jerusalem. I mean,
(19:41):
there's no other way to say it. So I so
appreciate what you're doing and making time for us today
and coming with your beautiful Australian accent to talk to
my radio listeners.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
You very sweet many you wanted to be a guest
on your show Schebechlom, everyone,
I am pleased is punched to have in the studio
with me now an interesting fellow. We were just chatting
during the break. He is originally from the great massive
country of Australia, and after serving proudly in the Australian military,
he has now turned his attention to Israel and what's
happening in Israel. And he spent time in Gaza with
IDF troops in the last couple of years during the
(00:23):
actual fighting, and has now been in the United States
for several months spreading the word and supporting a new
foundation that he's created. I don't know how new it is.
We'll find out a second that he's created to fight
anti Semitism. His name is Colonel Michael Scott and welcome
to the show, sir.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hey Mandy, wonderful to be with you today and your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And now I already told him that just because of
the Australian accent, you guys are going to be like, Wow,
he's awesome, and he is. So let's talk a little
bit about you. First, tell me a little bit about
your backstory.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Hi Andy.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Colonel Michael Scott, thirty one year veteran of the Australian
Army previous operationals service in East Team or Boganville, Iraq,
two tours of Afghanistan, the later operations working hand in
glove with United States Military Force elements. But more recently,
from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one, I was secondered
(01:15):
from the Australian Army to the United Nations Truth Supervision
Organization as a senior unarmed observer operating in Israel, but
with responsibilities in Israel up in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
And this was al during most of the hot mess
in Syria, hot mess in Israel. The hot mess really
didn't break out fully until after you finished that position.
Can you tell my audience what the responsibilities how a
UN observer actually are.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Certainly the particular mission that I was seconded to has
been going since nineteen forty eight. Australians have been supporting
the mission since nineteen fifty six. I was the head
of the military of one hundred fifty three offices drawn
from twenty seven different troop contributing countries, including the United States,
(02:07):
Russian Federation, China and many other nations. And we observed
and monitored and reported the terms of the various ceasefire agreements,
so we operated heavily up in the South Latani River
sector north of Israel. I had team members up in Beirut,
in Damascus, Syria, either side of the area of separation
(02:28):
between gol Lan and Kenetra, but also elements in Aman, Jordan,
and down in Ishmaelia Egypt.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Now, a lot of people don't understand how small that
area is that you're talking about, I mean, and this
is part of the problem I think for some Americans
in understanding why this conflict remains so hot all the time.
And it's because we're talking about a very small area
of land.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
If you go from the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv
and drive east for one hour, you're at the jordan
A valley, which is the border between Israel and Jordan.
It's such a small area, and that's something that most
Gentiles don't appreciate that when we're talking about Hamas terrorists
in Gaza, people that are not dissimilar to the violent
(03:17):
militants in the sixth century AD. It's a forty five
minute drive south of Tel Aviv.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It'd be the equivalent of Boulder harboring Hamas. I mean,
that's really what we're talking about. For Denver rides. It
would be having people who wanted to murder you in
Boulder and a whole bunch of them and a whole
community dedicated to that. That's probably a great way to
think about that. How did you go into that experience
as a U observer? What was your mindset? What did
(03:47):
you think you were going to see versus what actually transpired?
Were you close?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So? I think since my early twenties I've had an
interest in the Israeli Defense Force and also the Levonde.
So when the application came about twenty eighteen, I was
very interested to put my name forward. It was a
fascinating part of the world because the Israeli Defense Forces,
in my judgment, are the most lawful, ethical, and moral
(04:12):
military fighting force world history is known not only with
what's happening in Gaza at the moment, but if we
look at the modern history from forty eight, nineteen fifty six,
nineteen sixty seven, seventy three, the inn Fada's Elebanon campaigns,
the Israeli Defense Forces are really excelled against against an
(04:33):
intractable flight foe. David has defeated Goliath in many of
the campaigns in the past.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, let's talk about now, because there's you know, I
yesterday I had read an article that was an a
Reuter's article, and I could very easily go through and
show the clear instances of anti Israel bias from not
mentioning that the local health ministry is her Maasa's health
ministry that's giving these numbers. When you went to Israel,
(05:02):
you already had a fascination with the IDF. What did
you see there that affirmed your belief that they were
operating as ethically as possible in a war zone? Which
almost sounds like an oxymoron, You know it doesn't. How
can you have ethical war because war is so to determine,
to break things and kill people. It's a purpose of war.
How do you square that? Give me some examples.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I think the first thing for the listeners to understand
is that Israeli defense forces are just that they are
a defensive mindset. They're not an offensive mindset. So Israel
as a people are very similar to Western liberal democracies
around the world. But one of the things that's different
for Israel is that forty five minutes away from the
(05:43):
second largest city, barbarians that want to rape and murder
on film and then break about it. And so Israeli
defense forces face a number of the checks and balances
that are very familiar to US military and Australia in
terms of targeting protocol, look at proportionality, the laws of war.
There really is no moral comparison between Israeli Defense Force,
(06:07):
wonderful citizen soldiers and the genocidal maniacs in Hamas.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
How do you explain to someone or respond to someone
who says, but they're block eating Gaza. But but but
they're creating starvation. But how do you how do you
explain that?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's One of my observations at the strategic level is
that we operate in an or Welly in age of
gas liting and projection. People seem to have very fixed
opinions on Israel and the IDEF without any first hand interaction.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It is Allwellian.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
People are forming deep mindsets based on what they're hearing
from Beljazerra BBC. For those that are reasonable, open minded,
I'd encourage people to get across to Israel, to actually
interact with Israelis, because like I saw when I was
there from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one Israelis and
Israeli defense for are very similar to our own and indeed,
(07:02):
for non Jewish people, when I say, when I give
an example of how they can actually picture the average
idea if depending on their age, I think I tell
them to picture their own children or their own grandchildren,
because that's the closest indication of what n IDF sol
job is.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Well, there's a sense of duty in Israel, and everybody
is in the IDF for at least two years, so
you know, everybody kind of goes through the process. But
in my experience, to your point about them being a
defensive force, no one is ever saber rattling to go
bust down the neighbor's door. You know. It is all
about just maintaining peace and making sure that their families
(07:41):
can grow up and flourish. That's the whole purpose of
the whole thing. Is there ever going to be a
situation where IDF movements are not going to be the
most highly scrutinized movements in the world, Because I've talked
on this show about the barbarians that work for the
UN in places like the Congo, who are literally committing
(08:01):
war crimes against women, every single day, and it's not
making a blip in our news media at all. Nothing
is being said.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I think a good test for anti Semitism is
the Natan Sharansky's three D definition, demonize, delegitimize, and double standards.
It's quite shocking when we think of the very imperfect
world in which we live, what the Russian troops are
doing in Eastern Ukraine, dreadful things that are happening all
(08:30):
over the world, but the Israelis are the focus of
so much pillary and bile.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
It's completely irrational.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And part of the work that I'm involved in in
combating any Semitism is connecting with reasonable, open minded people
and allowing them to interact with Israel and Israelis and
learn and see the truth for themselves, because I think
the only way practically that we can overcome or Wellian
levels of misinformation is for reasonable people to get across
(09:01):
and to live a personal experience.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
I'm going to ask you this, and this is just
a speculative question. You can answer it or not. It
seems to me that Israel has recognized that once again,
no matter what they do, they're going to be held
to a different standard. So it seems to me from
the outside looking in, they are highly committed to completely
rooting out Hamas at this juncture, and even possibly going
further to completely destabilize Hasbal as we've seen, and now
(09:27):
they're launching missiles at Houthi's as well. Does this feel different?
Are we moving towards a final resolution with Iran?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Look, there's a number of significant issues and questions to
unpack there. If we look at just the Gaza envelope. Presently,
Israeli's three strategic goals are to return the hostages. There's
still fifty eight hostages held in Gaza. The second is
to dismantle Hamas, and the third is to ensure that
(09:55):
the Gaza strip the envelope never again constitutes a threat
to the safety and sie security of Israelis Iran is,
of course the head of the snake. Iranian retrick has
been very consistent since the late nineteen seventies and the.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Fall of the Shah.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Death not only to the Little Satan, but death to
the big Satan the United States, And for me, I
take that very personally as as an Australian that's given
the whole of my adult life to the profession of arms.
And someone that believes in Judeo Christian traditions and the
Western civilization that constitutes a threat not only to the
(10:35):
safety and security of Israelis Americans, but also to the
safety and security of my children and my family and
loved ones. And for what it's worth, I see no
non kinetic solution to the Iranian problem. I think that
there will need to be a strike to remove once
and for all the Iranian nuclear program like we saw
(10:56):
in the early nineteen eighties in Iraq.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
What you're not Jewish? So what has drawn you into
not just being an unabashed supporter of the IDF in Israel,
but now you're actively fighting Semitism? What clicked in you
that made you say this is going to be my
life's mission.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
So I think my tipping point was October twenty twenty three.
But to understand that fully, I've got to go back
into my early twenties when a mentor of mine, a
former commanding officer, said Michael, as part of your professional development,
you need to study Israel's wars and so understanding the tactics,
the operations, and strategy also exposed me to the history,
(11:36):
politics and the peace attempts and so it was only
after October twenty twenty three that I have been able
to look back that I've been an ardent Zionist since
my twenties because I believe in the political and cultural
self determination of the indigenous people in their homeland, deep
personal connection with Israelis. People that I know and care
(11:57):
for were personally involved on October seven. Indeed, the adopted
son of a dear friend of mine is still the
hostage in Gaza, one of the fifty eight. And at
the time, my eighteen year old daughter was that a
music concert four hours away from the family home in Sydney, Australia.
At the same time that kids were being slaughtered and
(12:17):
raped in Nova, my daughter was away from home. So
to say I can empathize and relate is an understatement.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Let me ask you a question, because you've actually spent
time in Gaza, and you've spent time in Gaza during
this war. I have got in and on good authority
from people who live in Israel, and many of them
will say the Palestinian people are as oppressed. Some one
said this to me. They are as oppressed by Hamas
as North Koreans are oppressed by Kemilun that no dissent
(12:46):
is allowed, no protest, no sort of pushback. There are
no elections. So how or do you separate the people,
the Palestinian people that initially elected Hamas only to find
out what were they go after they elected them? Or
do you separate them at all? And if not, why not?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
See that's a cracking question. Again.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I'm really smart. I am really smart, Colonel Michael Scott.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I can only give my judgment and looking at the
Palestinian people, so not only in Gaza envelope, but Juda
and Samaria. I must admit that since the Bibas murders
back in February, I've had a lot of difficulty referring
to Juda and Samaria as the West Bank. So I
remember the celebration and the joy of those people at
(13:35):
the spectacle of Shari Kafir and Ariel's body coming back
home to Israel.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I think one of the.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Things we've seen at the moment is a level of
radicalization that is without precedent and human history. If we
look it back at the Mongols, the Vandals, the Tatars,
I don't think they I think they pale in comparison.
When we talk about the radicalization of the Palestinians, and
something that I'm deeply angry about is that it's your
taxpayers money and mine that's funded that level of radicalization.
(14:09):
In my judgment, there will certainly be gardens that have
got no interest in supporting Hamas, but Hamas rules with
an iron fist. My concern is that Hamas have been
operating with the acquisition the acquiescence, but perhaps the majority
of gardens, and so even after we look at the
(14:30):
operations beyond the kinetic activities in the envelope, there's going
to be a sustained period of de radicalization where people
of goodwill get into the schools, get into the offices,
deradicalize a population, and indeed, for those listeners that are interested,
I think that the United Arab Emirates and some of
(14:50):
the work there in terms of firstly outlawing was them
brotherhood in the United Arab Emirates, but more particularly establishing
a ministry of tolerance, I think that that points to
some of the solutions that we might look at seeing
in Gaza and the West Bank.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I agree wholeheartedly. When I was probably twenty years old
and I'm fifty five now, I saw a documentary called
the women of Hesbla, and I didn't know anything about
the region at all, but that documentary genuinely horrified me.
Because children from the time they were very very little,
when they were falling behind their parents in the market
or something, they turn around and say, hurry up, or
(15:28):
the Jews are going to get you. And they tell
their children if they got out of line, the Jews
were going to come take them and kill them and
eat them. Now, this is what parents were telling little children.
Those little children have no chance, you know, in terms
of what they believe and how they're steeped in. And
I'm with you, I think it's it's like a two
generation process to undo all of that. That is to
(15:49):
me going to be the hardest part of peace.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
And I think objectively, what are the steps that we
can take going forward. I'm a big fan, as a
simple soldier of kiss, keep it simple, stupid, and I
think the first precondition is to stop rewarding bad behavior.
So throwing good money after bad into organizations like the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency absolutely a non startup
(16:15):
that needs to stop. And unfortunately, like we've seen in
the United Nations where in my judgment, the institutions remain relevant.
It's not an institutional problem, it's a people problem. Activists
have taken over and infected not only the UN, but
agencies that were formally credible like Amnesty International, like the
(16:36):
International Rights like UN High Commission Humans. It's outrageous and
I think that the simple policy positions there is to
stop funding bad behavior.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Israel is a.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Wonderful tolerant organization for those listeners that are interested in
understanding a little bit more about what the Israeli government
does to provide support for the Palestinians and the territories.
I'd recommend people look at CogAT Coordination of government aid
in the territories, and that's got a source of truth
(17:12):
to how much water, how much electricity, how much food
goes in and it straightaway empowers and enables people like
you and me to push back on the hard left
Cellos and the social Marxists that are trying to gas
light and project their nonsense onto us and shape not
only anti Israeli sentiment but anti Semitic center.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
We're almost out of time, and I want to make
sure we get to the foundation. The foundation that Michael
Scott has founded is the twenty twenty three Foundation. It's
an Australian nonprofit organization dedicated to combating anti Semitism. Tell
me a little bit about what.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
You guys do, absolutely that theseiest way to explain it
is that we're very similar to the Fulbright Scholarship, which
was established in the United States at the end of
the Second World War, not only brings people into US
institutions to educate them, but builds cross cultural linkages through
soft power. And so the basis of the twenty twenty
(18:09):
three Foundation is to connect with reasonable, open minded non
Jews with little or no first ten experience with Israel
and incentivize them across to Israel so they can interact
with the.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Environment and overcome go to Israel.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
In my judgment, there's no practical way to anti Semitism
without people going across and seeing the facts on the
ground and all of Israel's perfect imperfections. They have to
get across there to see the truth and how israelis
not just Jewish people.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
The Drews, Christian Arabs.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Muslim Arabs interact to be able to push back on
some of the gas lighting from some of our failed
legacy media institutions and those dim wets we're seeing on
campus in Colombia and other over League institutions.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Colonel Michael Scott, I still you have got links to everything.
I've got a link to his website. I've got a
link to a phenomenal column that he just wrote, an
opinion piece that I highly recommend, and now link to
the twenty twenty three Foundation. If you would like to
support this. I agree because I will tell you my
trip to Israel went for my nephew's wedding, which already
is a wonderful occasion, but walking through Old Jerusalem is
(19:20):
such a It's just an incredible and powerful thing. I
would love for everyone to have that opportunity to walk
in the same steps if you're a Christian that Jesus
walked in, and if you're Jewish, you go to the
wall and you see the foundations of the Temple. It's
just the cradle of humanity is in Jerusalem. I mean,
(19:41):
there's no other way to say it. So I so
appreciate what you're doing and making time for us today
and coming with your beautiful Australian accent to talk to
my radio listeners.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
You very sweet many you wanted to be a guest
on your show Schebechlom, everyone,
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
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