An Israeli and a Gazan
Ep. 227 w/ show notes
Hunter Biden was convicted on all three counts in his federal gun trial this week. Ravi takes stock of the verdict and President Biden’s response before diving into the secret recordings of Supreme Court Justices Alito and Roberts, the new partnership between OpenAI and Apple, why to pay attention to foreign political interference in Canada, and what’s behind Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s increased unpopularity.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar says civilian casualties are “necessary sacrifices” and a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal accuses the International Criminal Court of “brazen” anti-Israel bias. Ravi shares his take on both developments before welcoming Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a U.S. citizen from Gaza, and Michael Bauer, an Israeli, to the show to discuss their perspectives about the current state of the war and the response abroad.
Ravi and Ahmed discuss the potential for a ceasefire and the challenges of negotiating with Hamas, the reasons the American left can’t agree on how – or if – to criticize Hamas, and why the pro-Palestine movement would benefit from a greater diversity of thought. Michael, who lives on a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, shares his experience on October 7 and then talks with Ravi about the potential for a short-term solution to the war and a long-term resolution to the broader conflict and how the war has impacted the political landscape in Israel.
Show Notes:
The President’s Son Is Found Guilty (The Atlantic, 6/11/24)
Hamas leader said civilian death toll could benefit militant group in Gaza war, WSJ reports (CNN, 6/11/24)
Gaza Chief’s Brutal Calculation: Civilian Bloodshed Will Help Hamas (Wall Street Journal, 6/10/24)
An Unbiased History of Israel-Palestine (Part 1) (Lost Debate, 10/23/23)
An Unbiased History of Israel-Palestine (Part 2) (Lost Debate, 11/2/23)
The View From Gaza (Lost Debate, 4/19/24)
In Secret Recordings, Alito Endorses Nation of ‘Godliness.’ Roberts Talks of Pluralism. (New York Times, 6/10/24)
Clarence Thomas discloses trips paid for by GOP donor as justices report financials (NPR, 6/8/24)
Clarence Thomas belatedly discloses lavish travel expenses paid for by Harlan Crow (Politico, 6/7/24)
The ICC’s Brazen Anti-Israel Bias (Wall Street Journal, 6/9/24)
What the Apple-OpenAI Deal Means for Four Tech Titans (Wall Street Journal, 6/11/24)
A report claims certain parliamentarians colluded with foreign states — could they be charged? (CBC News, 6/8/24)
Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s leftist mayor, is struggling (The Economist, 6/8/24)
Is the New York Times bestseller list politically biased? (The Economist, 6/11/24)
The Education of Chesa Boudin (Lost Debate, 6/10/22)
Israel Journey: Eight Days In One Of The World's Most Complex Countries (Michael Bauer, 8/21/21)
Ahmed Alkhatib | Breaking the Cycle of Dehumanization (Oslo Freedom Forum, 6/3/24)
Ravi - I just wanted to say that I really appreciated Ahmed's interview. It was the first time I've really heard a Palestinian speak so passionately AND honestly about the challenges facing their people, and it was a breath of fresh air. The man is absolutely right: However horrible what the Israeli state is doing is -- and it IS horrific -- it's not going to get solved by a terrorist state whose explicit strategy is to maximize their own civilian casualties, NOR by an impotent but dangerously out-of-touch international activist movement that promises Palestinians a revanchist fantasy that would literally require ANOTHER crime against humanity (expelling Israelis from homes many have inhabited for generations now) to achieve.
Personally, what I wish we could see would be a compromise that granted some sort of "right of first refusal to return", with an accompanying "right of reparation". Basically, for all the homes that a given Palestinian family or its descendants can show original ca.~1949 ownership of, whenever it goes up on the market, they would have the right of first refusal to have it repurchased for them by the Palestinian gov't from Israel. The repurchase fund would itself be funded out of a loan program subsidized and capitalized by Israel.
Also, since in a lot of cases we'd expect the houses to never come up on the market (or stay off for decades on end), if the descendants don't want to wait that long, then they could sell their right (presumably to investors) and have immediate cash on hand to go rebuild their lives and society with. We'd probably set up some sort of further mechanism for transforming these sold-on claims into regular old liens that could be disposed of by the market (or by another subsidized-and-capitalized reparations fund).
The way I see it, this provides a way for Palestinians to either (A) consciously decide to _move_the_hell_on_ and give them the immediate capital to make the best of that decision, or (B) establish a hope for a future return without compounding the original Nakba's wrong with its reverse of expropriating and cleansing Israelis. If anything, (B) also provides a gradualist mechanism for a peaceful reintegration of the two societies.
Anyways, that's just my $0.02. Cheers!