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I'm extremely excited to announce a brand new sponsor for the Behind the Shield podcast

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that is Transcend.

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Now for many of you listening, you are probably working the same brutal shifts that I did

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for 14 years.

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Suffering from sleep deprivation, body composition challenges, mental health challenges, libido,

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hair loss, etc.

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Now when it comes to the world of hormone replacement and peptide therapy, what I have

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seen is a shift from doctors telling us that we were within normal limits, which was definitely

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incorrect all the way to the other way now where men's clinics are popping up left, right

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and center.

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So I myself wanted to find a reputable company that would do an analysis of my physiology

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and then offer supplementations without ramming, for example, hormone replacement therapy down

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my throat.

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Now I came across Transcend because they have an altruistic arm and they were a big reason

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why the 7X project I was a part of was able to proceed because of their generous donations.

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They also have the Transcend foundations where they are actually putting military and first

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responders through some of their therapies at no cost to the individual.

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So my own personal journey so far filled in the online form, went to Quest, got blood

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drawn and a few days later I'm talking to one of their wellness professionals as they

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guide me through my results and the supplementation that they suggest.

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In my case specifically, because I transitioned out the fire service five years ago and been

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very diligent with my health, my testosterone was actually in a good place.

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So I went down the peptide route and some other supplements to try and maximize my physiology

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knowing full well the damage that 14 years of shift work has done.

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Now I also want to underline because I think this is very important that each of the therapies

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they offer, they will talk about the pros and cons.

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So for example, a lot of first responders in shift work, our testosterone will be low,

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but sometimes nutrition, exercise and sleep can offset that on its own.

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So this company is not going to try and push you down a path, especially if it's one that

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you can't come back from.

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So whether it's libido, brain fog, inflammation, gut health, performance, sleep, this is definitely

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one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox.

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So to learn more, go to transcendcompany.com or listen to episode 808 of the Behind the

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Shield podcast with founder Ernie Colling.

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This episode is sponsored by a company I've literally been using for over 15 years now

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and that is 511.

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Now my introduction to their products began when I started wearing 511 uniforms years

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ago for Anaheim Fire Department.

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And since then I have acquired a host of their backpacks and luggage, which have literally

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been around the world with me.

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The backpack where I keep all my recording equipment is a 511 backpack.

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And in most of my civilian gear, the clothes that I wear are also 511.

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Now more recently they've actually branched out into the brick and mortar stores.

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So for example, Gainesville where I do jiu jitsu has a beautiful 511 store.

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So if you are a fire department, a law enforcement agency, you now have access to an entire inventory

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of clothing and equipment in these 511 stores.

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Now I've talked about the range of shoes they have and how important minimizing weight in

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our footwear is when it comes to our back health, knee health, et cetera.

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I've talked about their unique uniforms that are fitted for either male or female first

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responders.

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And then I want to highlight one new area, their CloudStrike packs.

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For those of you who enjoy hiking, this would even be an application I believe for the wildland

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community.

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They've created an ultralight pack now with a hydration system built in for rucking, running

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or other long distance events.

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Now as always, 511 is offering you, the audience of the Behind the Shield podcast, 15% off

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every purchase that you make.

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So if you use the code SHIELD15, that's S-H-I-E-L-D-1-5 at 511tactical.com, you will get that 15% off

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every single time.

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So if you want to hear more about 511 and their origin story, go to episode 338 of Behind

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the Shield podcast with their CEO, Francisco Morales.

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Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.

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As always, my name is James Gearing and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome back

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onto the show, Chicago ER physician and humanitarian, Dr. Thea Ahmad.

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Now if you didn't hear the first conversation on episode 892, I strongly advise you listen

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to that one first.

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It was recorded on February 20th, a few short weeks after he had returned from delivering

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humanitarian aid in Gaza.

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Now Thea has become a trusted and centralist voice when it comes to what's happening and

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in the first conversation he contrasted watching Christians and Jews and Muslims praying side

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by side outside of Gaza, but then the antithesis of that as he witnessed the horrors within.

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So in the second conversation we discuss a host of new topics.

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From hearing the dispatch tapes from the attempted rescue of 6 year old Hind, the divisive nature

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of American politics that's leading to these polarized views on Gaza, the bombings, poverty

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and starvation that the Palestinian people are continuing to endure, how this conflict

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will extend to other Middle Eastern countries if a ceasefire is not met and so much more.

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Now before we get to this incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment.

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Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and

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leave a rating.

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Every single 5 star rating truly does elevate this podcast therefore making it easier for

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others to find.

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And this is a free library of almost 950 episodes now.

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So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible men and women stories so

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I can get them to every single person on planet earth who needs to hear them.

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So with that being said, I welcome back onto the show Dr. Thea Ahmad.

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Enjoy.

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Well Thea, I want to say firstly thank you so much.

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We did an incredible conversation on episode 892 and anyone who hasn't heard that needs

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to go and listen to that first.

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And that was in February, mid February when we did that.

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So you just come back from Gaza, talked about your own upbringing and working in the ERs

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in Chicago and the violence you saw then.

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The beautiful brother and sisterhood you witnessed in the West Bank between the Christians and

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the Jews and the Muslims praying side by side there.

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And then obviously we got to hear about what you witnessed as a humanitarian physician

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in Gaza at that point.

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So long intro but I want to welcome you back to the Behind the Shield podcast today.

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Thank you for having me.

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It's always great to talk to you James.

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So I want to start with Hinn's dispatch tapes.

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I just shared that and to me it was just horrendous as a paramedic, as a firefighter, you know,

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someone who has signed on a dotted line to help other people.

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And it's the same with, you know, members of the Israeli rescue services that were killed

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doing their positions.

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There are professions on the other side as well.

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But Hinn's story was just so tragic and then hearing it actually play out through the dispatch

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tapes was horrendous.

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So we talked about that story before, you know, what is kind of surface and what do

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you want to add to paint in that picture?

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Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of information that's come out.

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And you know, what's really tragic is there's three hours of dispatch tape with Hinn who

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was trying to flee Gaza City, which is in the north of Gaza.

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And if you recall from our last conversation, everybody's kind of being pushed to the south

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of Gaza.

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And we'll talk a little bit about how that's sort of been flipped on its head in recent

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weeks and months.

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But everybody's being told, go to the south, it's safe in the south.

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And so people like Hinn's family and her uncle's family decided to flee south.

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So we know that there were two cars heading towards the south, Hinn and her cousin Leyanne,

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who is a 15 year old girl.

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Hinn is six years old, and Leyanne's mother and father and other siblings hop in one car.

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And then Hinn's parents and her siblings hop in another car.

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Well, in their pursuit of heading to the south towards safety, they come under fire.

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And we know that the cars got separated.

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And that is really when the dispatch call first starts to take place, is you have Leyanne,

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who is Hinn's 15 year old cousin calling and saying, there is a tank less than 100 meters

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away from us.

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And then you hear on the phone call that was released by the Palestinian Red Crescent,

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you hear the tank firing and you hear Leyanne shrieking.

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And then the very next call, because they get disconnected, you hear Hinn's voice, who

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is this six year old girl now talking to the dispatcher.

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And the first thing that she says is she tells the dispatcher that Leyanne is dead and that

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she's next to her.

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And you're talking about this girl who's six, has no idea what's going on.

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But at the time when all of this came out and that's all we had known, we were looking

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for her.

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I mean, at that time, her mom was in the south talking to different media saying, I just

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want to be reunited with my daughter.

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I want to be able to reach her.

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The Palestinian Red Crescent said, we dispatched the crew to head out there and then we lost

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contact with the crew.

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And there's all of this blurriness and we don't know what's going on.

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And we're fearing the worst has occurred.

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Meanwhile, the Israelis are saying, we've got no military activity in the area there.

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And whatever's going on has nothing to do with us.

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You fast forward now several months later and we find that the two heroic first responders,

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Yousef and Ahmed, were dispatched on the way to try to rescue Hind and they had gotten

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the green light from the Israeli military.

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They were told, here's the route you have to take and you can go and get Hind from the

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area that you are saying that the car is at.

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And on the way there, they just get hit by an airstrike or a tank shell or a drone strike.

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We don't know, but both of them died in the process of trying to save Hind.

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Two young paramedics.

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And then we also find later on that Hind, that her body has already started to decompose

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a week later when they finally reached the car and they see obviously everybody in the

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car is dead.

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But this girl who spent three hours on the phone with dispatchers, we see what was the

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result of what took place.

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And there's a documentary that was just released and I know you shared a clip from it on social

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media and there's one part of it that absolutely killed me.

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And I want to share it because I think it's important to really honor people like Hind

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and just kind of push back on all of the dehumanizing narrative that tries to take place.

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But Hind is on the phone and the dispatcher is clearly like, it was like a mental health

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trained person who knows what they're doing.

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And they were like, you know, I noticed you're not talking as much Hind, what's going on?

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Like, talk to me a little more.

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And Hind says that she doesn't want to talk because blood keeps coming out of her mouth

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and she doesn't want to ruin her clothes because she doesn't want her mom to have to have to

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clean her clothes.

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So a really devastating situation, horrifying.

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The essence of what this six year old thinking about that, she thinks she's going to make

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it, she's going to survive.

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She doesn't want her mom to get mad that her clothes are dirty, not knowing that she's

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going to die there.

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And that's where her final moments will be.

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And you know, what's tough is that, you know, that story made headlines and I'm glad this

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documentary came out about her.

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But then you also think about, you know, how many other kids have sort of suffered similar

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fates in Gaza.

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And we know that the numbers is, you know, staggering.

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But I also see lots of interviews of Hind's mom now and every single time she can't finish

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the interview.

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You know, it's just so devastating.

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She's forced to relive this trauma over and over again.

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And we all know, I mean, the sort of mental toll that takes to have to really talk about

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this over and over again.

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But I know why she's doing it.

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You know, I know that she wants to make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else,

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that there's some sort of solution to what's going on, that nobody else has to deal with

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this.

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And it brings me to the next thing that I really wanted to share is that, you know,

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May 7th, the border between Egypt and Palestine, Egypt and Gaza was stormed by the Israeli

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military and shut down.

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And what that means is that that was the main artery to get supplies in, to bring in emergency

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medical teams through the WHO, but also to bring people out.

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You know, if you were, that was your only way to escape the war.

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If you're Palestinian in Gaza, you go through that and get into Egypt.

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And so that shut down.

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And one of the main effects of this, in addition to making the humanitarian crisis devastating,

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I mean, you're talking about trucks in Egypt, the food, that after this border gets stormed

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and shut down, the food is rotting on the other side of Gaza, where there's famine-like

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conditions and malnutrition and starvation.

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But the other thing is medical evacuations, people who can't get out, it suddenly stopped.

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That was since May 7th.

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And I'm not just talking about kids injured in the war.

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This is the largest cohort of child amputees that we've seen since World War II.

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Yeah, those kids need to get out and they need orthopedic care.

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Not talking about the burn victims as well.

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Of course, they need to be able to get out and get the burn care that they need before

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they get infected and die.

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But also there are kids who get cancer.

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There are elderly people who need, you know, a cabbage.

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They need to have like bypass surgery.

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There are people who have tumors that they want to have removed.

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All of these people, their care stops.

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Even before October 7th and the war in Gaza, there was a mechanism in place to get these

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people out.

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It wasn't great.

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It was not.

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I've been to Gaza multiple times, but it existed.

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Now you totally shut that down.

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Since May 7th, there's only been one day and it was all kids that they allowed a dozen

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or two dozen worth of pediatric cancer patients out one day.

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I mean, we both know that that's, you know, that that's not doing anything and that there

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are going to be a ton of people who are waiting to get out of Gaza to get medical care that

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are going to die waiting.

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People like Hind who are waiting for somebody to come and help them and get them to where

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they need to go and get the treatment that they need that are just going to die waiting.

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So, you know, that Hind situation that took place, I really hope that that's a story that

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we can continue to share and highlight because it really does capture so many different things

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that went wrong and so many ways that, you know, that I think there's no better way for

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me to combat the dehumanization of Palestinians than just by playing Hind and Leanne's voice

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and the way you did when you shared it.

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I mean, you don't have to say anything after that.

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We can argue with a girl saying, I'm scared, please come.

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And the horror, the fear that you have when you hear a kid yelling and then you hear gunfire

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or tank shelling in the background.

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I mean, there's, you know, that's overwhelming for anybody.

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You don't have to be a parent.

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You don't have to be a vet.

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You don't have to be a doctor.

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You don't have to be anything.

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You can empathize with that on a deep level.

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And you could say that, you know, this kid should not have died alone in a car surrounded

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by her dead relatives waiting for an ambulance to be able to get her.

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And those people who are just trying to do their job, recover a six year old girl to

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be killed like that.

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I mean, we don't even, you know, who's going to remember those guys, those two heroes that

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hopped in an ambulance and went to the most dangerous area they could in a super dangerous

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part of the world and got in the Gaza Strip where there's F-16s and tanks everywhere.

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And that was a no man's land.

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And they hopped in there and they went to go try to rescue this girl and they died in

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that process.

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So you know, that story is so tragic and I mean, it absolutely kills me.

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But you know, I hope that there's, I hope that us collect, the collective humanity can

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at least recognize that story, honor their memories and be able to hope for a better

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future.

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You know, it's really tough.

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So obviously I shared our episode, which I think, I don't really think got any real negative

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even once I put it out there, I don't read comments after the first, you know, couple

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of hours, but I know other things that I've shared and again, simply about the humanitarian

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crisis talking about the men, women and children, not the people.

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And I know there's an even deeper backstory to Hamas and all that stuff, but not even

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that, not the combatants, the innocence that are being caught up in this.

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And the knee jerk response for a lot of people is like, well, if they were Hamas and I'm

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like, hint the six year old girl that was sitting in this blown up car bleeding to death,

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you have no empathy for her because you think she was Hamas.

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Like I don't understand where this disconnect is.

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You can absolutely empathize with the people that were killed from the Israeli side on,

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you know, on the October attacks.

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That doesn't mean that you are now anti, you know, Palestinian.

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And then the converse happens as well.

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You can empathize with the tragedies that are happening in Gaza to the Palestinian people.

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And it doesn't mean that you're all in on the Hamas, you know, message or journey, if

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you like.

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So what are you seeing as far as this just insane two dimensional knee jerk all into

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a political side rhetoric that is so disconnected from the actual humanity that I've said on

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the show many times is actually taught by the holy books that people claim to be so

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invested in?

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Absolutely.

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I mean, I think that's well said.

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I think unfortunately those voices that try to simplify it in a way where it becomes polarizing

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are the ones that are dominating the conversation.

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I tell you, since I've come back, I've spent my time mostly trying to advocate for like

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medical evacuations, a humanitarian ceasefire, food entry.

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And I'm dealing with lawmakers.

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I'm dealing with anybody really that we can help organize and work on this.

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And every single barrier that we have is because of people who try to change the conversation

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into that, try to change it into, well, you know, this is the problem is we can't talk

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about this because this group needs to be out of the picture.

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Hamas needs to be eliminated.

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The Israelis need to do this.

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And you're like, you know, while you're having this conversation, I know that there's a nine

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month old who has liver failure that needs a transplant right now.

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And by the time you finish that sentence, I know the toxins have already risen in her

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blood.

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It sucks that these are the people who sort of are dominating this conversation.

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It sucks that these are the people also that when I'm going to visit different congressmen

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and senators or national security council or the state department, that these people

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are there.

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You know, there was, I had a conversation recently where somebody, you know, the bottom

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line is that border crossing shuts down.

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And now I'm very concerned about food getting in.

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And the person tells me, he goes, you know, the Israelis are claiming that they're asking

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there, they want the UN and the World Health Organization to pick up all of these supplies,

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but they won't do it.

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And in my head, I'm like, oh, okay, that's, that's bizarre.

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And they're like, you talk to the UN and the World Health Organization, they're like, it's

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not safe.

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We need it to be safer.

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We need there the bombs to stop dropping.

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It's such a drop in the bucket, the stuff that's entering that a lot of these trucks get looted.

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I said, that's the story that's right there.

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It's there's not enough aid entering.

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Don't talk to me that don't tell me don't have the Israeli side trying to blame the

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UN and then the UN trying to blame, you know, whatever Palestinian group it is.

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The bottom line is there's not enough food entering to get this hungry population.

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If you are able to consistently get them food, none of this will be a problem.

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If you're able to reliably deliver flour to families, you're not going to have any issues.

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And then, you know, you start to you start to realize, oh, this conversation is getting

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00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:39,960
derailed.

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I'm forgetting about the 14,000 people that are on a medical evacuation list.

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I'm forgetting about the girl I mentioned, her name is Sadie, the one with the liver

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cancer, the liver failure that she needs a transplant.

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I'm sitting here trying to remind people to focus on the human beings that are suffering

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that are starving, that are hungry.

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And anybody that tries to say, well, you know what the problem is?

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It's Hamas.

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That's the problem.

330
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They've got to be removed as power.

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Me and you both know that, you know, you somebody comes into an emergency department, somebody

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you go in the field, you're trying to bring somebody to an area.

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You're not going to sit there and start talking about the administrative failures of being

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able to reach that person and transport them there.

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The highest priority is we've got to get the person the treatment and the care that they

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need.

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We've got to stabilize.

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We've got to make sure the person stops bleeding.

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We've got to make sure that the ABCs are taken care of.

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And right now you have people in power in high places that don't understand that notion

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at all, that think that just because they want to make some sort of political point

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and advance some sort of political agenda that we can pause people suffering, we can

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pause sickness, we can pause trauma.

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But it doesn't work like that.

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And for me, I've come to the conclusion after speaking to so many people and spending so

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much time on this.

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We need new personnel, man.

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We need new personnel in D.C.

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We need them all over.

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We need people who can truly live by certain ethics, who can prioritize human life, the

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sacred aspect of human beings, who can understand that kids, regardless of where they're born

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and how they look, deserve a chance at the future.

353
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And that's just not the case right now.

354
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,040
It's insane to me how bureaucratic and bogged down things get.

355
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,280
I can tell you this now for sure because I feel like I'm an expert on it when it comes

356
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,120
to advocacy efforts to help people.

357
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It's insane.

358
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:29,960
It's insane.

359
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It's a lack of political will.

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And the political will needs to be based in true humanitarian values.

361
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And it's not there.

362
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,040
The values and the ethics are not there.

363
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,040
It's such a hypocritical world that we live in.

364
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,020
And I think Gaza exposed that.

365
00:22:45,020 --> 00:22:50,400
But I'm sure that there will be so many more devastating situations that will also expose

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that again and again and again.

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And so that's what I try to do.

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00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:58,880
I mean, I remember one senator point blank told me when I said, you know, we really need

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a ceasefire.

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00:23:00,020 --> 00:23:06,400
She goes, well, you know, ceasefire is a different word to you than it is to me.

371
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,400
For me, ceasefire is like a military political term.

372
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:11,400
I know you mean ceasefire.

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00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,240
I'm like, I don't care what you call it.

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00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:14,360
Call it whatever you want.

375
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Call it a pause, a truce, whatever it is.

376
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:20,500
I'm just telling you, stop the bombs from dropping so that trucks of food and water

377
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and medicine and supplies can get in and people can come out.

378
00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,560
I mean, you know, like I don't that's how that's how derailed the conversation can get.

379
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,280
You want to argue semantics with me.

380
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,640
I'm you know, I work in the emergency department.

381
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:33,060
I don't care about semantics, right?

382
00:23:33,060 --> 00:23:38,320
Like if a blood pressure is low, I want to see it stabilize or come back up or improve,

383
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:39,640
say whatever words you want.

384
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,200
You know, so I that to me has really been very, very frustrating.

385
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:51,880
And you know, unfortunately, the things have gotten so exponentially bad that, you know,

386
00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:52,880
it's hard.

387
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,740
You know, you get you get to a really dark place sometimes, you know, and as somebody

388
00:23:57,740 --> 00:24:05,760
who was in a hospital in Gaza that was ultimately raided, destroyed to hear about this happening

389
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:10,000
to multiple, multiple hospitals and then to come back to what I just told you about the

390
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,240
border is shut down.

391
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:12,720
There's no way for people to get out.

392
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Now not enough aid is getting in.

393
00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:18,840
It's this 360 just like assault on life.

394
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:24,680
You know, like it's really feels like it's so hard to be alive in Gaza from any direction

395
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,040
you look at it.

396
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:32,360
When you talked about the just the environment in general, that kind of selfishness versus

397
00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:34,660
altruism element.

398
00:24:34,660 --> 00:24:37,480
When I was young, I talked about this quite a lot.

399
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:42,360
The TV in England, there was a show called Blue Peter, and it was like a kids show and

400
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:45,880
they'd feature, you know, someone beyond there doing karate and breaking blocks and, you

401
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,760
know, they'd show stories from around the world.

402
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,560
But like when I was young, it was when we had the crisis in Ethiopia and they would

403
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:57,900
rally all these children to do jumble sales and sell sandwiches and, you know, do whatever

404
00:24:57,900 --> 00:25:03,400
you could to raise money and collectively, you know, the UK when there was kind of this

405
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,840
rah rah movement, we would collect money and you think about live aid and you think about

406
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:08,320
comic relief.

407
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:12,240
There are some people suffering in another part of the world and we are going to help

408
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,360
and a lot of those came from tribal disputes and genocide.

409
00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:20,220
Look at Rwanda, for example, but people were still helping.

410
00:25:20,220 --> 00:25:24,980
But then you look at the debate and you look at the kind of human being and I've been very

411
00:25:24,980 --> 00:25:27,520
open about my feelings towards both sides.

412
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,280
The kind of human being that has put at the pinnacle of this country.

413
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:35,020
I asked you when's the last time you heard about kindness and compassion and community

414
00:25:35,020 --> 00:25:37,360
and bringing the country together.

415
00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:45,580
So this anti Gaza rhetoric is coming from the same mouth as this toxic cancerous kind

416
00:25:45,580 --> 00:25:49,520
of shitty human being that we keep putting in office at the moment.

417
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:50,520
Absolutely.

418
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:56,160
I mean, you know, from the debate, one of the moments I think for at least my community

419
00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,760
that was really taken aback and we kind of something we suspected, but it's just out

420
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:06,720
in plain sight is, you know, Trump referred to Biden as a Palestinian and he mentioned

421
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,800
and he referred to him as in a derogatory way.

422
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:09,800
Like look at this.

423
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:11,600
He's basically a Palestinian.

424
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,240
And then, you know, you have Biden, it pans to Biden and he's like shaking his head like

425
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,480
that's ridiculous that, you know, that somebody would call him such a thing.

426
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:20,160
And you're like, what's going on here?

427
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:21,160
What does that even mean?

428
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,280
The fact, you know, you're going to use Palestinian as some sort of derogatory term now.

429
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,720
Like it's like this is it's so horrible to be Palestinian.

430
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:34,520
And again, it goes back to this, the lack of recognizing that, you know, other people

431
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,120
are as human as you are.

432
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:42,160
And I think, I mean, to me, you're absolutely spot on when it comes to, you know, it's this

433
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,840
is the highest office in the land.

434
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:45,120
It's supposed to be the best of us.

435
00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:46,120
Right.

436
00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:47,600
Like that's who we should be seeing on stage, the best of us.

437
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,000
And that's just not the case.

438
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,840
It's really not the case at all.

439
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,200
It's filled with, you know, ego.

440
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:59,320
And it's just, you know, the way that things are spewed and, you know, given to the American

441
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:04,800
public, one thing that tells it, you know, the one thing that really is, you know, definitely

442
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:09,560
was for me, especially coming away from the debate and this whole election cycle, there

443
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,200
isn't a lot of respect for the intellect, for the American public, the way things are

444
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:14,720
are just thrown at them.

445
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,400
And, you know, it's like, oh, they'll like if I'm look strong and I insult this other

446
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,280
person or I'll lie about this thing and I will, you know, it'll make me look good or

447
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,360
I'll pretend like it's doomsday if you go one way or the other.

448
00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:29,800
And it's like, you know, it's just this it's just like the fact that the American public

449
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,200
is viewed in this very dismissive way.

450
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,440
Like, oh, you can just kind of sway them any way you want.

451
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,800
And I think and I hope that I think people are turned off by that.

452
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,440
I think people are coming away recognizing like, you know, this should be we should be

453
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:45,560
better than this.

454
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:47,800
We should be better than this nonsense.

455
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:52,600
This this election that's taking place is, you know, it really it's like almost holding

456
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,600
up a mirror to the worst parts of our society.

457
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,520
Like this is the worst of us of, you know, this is kind of how things look.

458
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,200
And I think people are I think people recoil at that.

459
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:09,640
I think when it comes to when it comes to Gaza and Palestine, too, one thing I've noticed

460
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:14,880
is there's a tremendous amount of everyday people who have no connection whatsoever,

461
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:20,880
who are able to recognize how horrible the situation has gotten, how sad it is.

462
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,800
And I'll share this story with you.

463
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:29,320
There is a five year old girl who was in Egypt when I had tried to go back to Gaza in May.

464
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,360
But again, the border was stormed by the Israeli military shutdown.

465
00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:34,360
So we were turned away.

466
00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:36,160
We weren't able to enter Gaza.

467
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,400
And so on my way figuring out I'm going to come back to the states, there's this girl.

468
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:47,160
She's got this really bad fracture, probably needs an amputation who was accepted to come

469
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:48,760
to the United States.

470
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,640
She was going to go to a hospital, be treated there.

471
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:53,340
All costs were going to be covered.

472
00:28:53,340 --> 00:28:56,560
And she really she just needed a escort with her, like a medical escort.

473
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:02,000
So I was like, you know, my plans just got my plans just got totally thrown out the window.

474
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,560
So I figured that I would basically escort her back.

475
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:09,600
So I get to meet this family.

476
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:15,720
It's a five year old named Maya and as well as her mom and her sister.

477
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:17,840
And they're going to come to the United States.

478
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:24,520
So you know, we hop on a plane, we come back and we first land in Newark before we kind

479
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,720
of go to our final destination.

480
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:32,800
And the TSA worker realized, oh, they didn't speak English.

481
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:37,000
I just kind of stepped in and she saw that this girl had this external fixator on her

482
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,880
leg that was keeping her leg in place, was in a wheelchair.

483
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,640
And so I was just saying, oh, yeah, OK, you know, I was telling them she's asking you

484
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:44,840
to remove this stuff in Arabic.

485
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:46,520
And she goes, where are they from?

486
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:47,520
And I said, they're Palestinian.

487
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:48,520
They're from Gaza.

488
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,400
And she's like, oh, wow, they're coming here to get to get treatment and care.

489
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,320
I said, yeah, the hospital here is going to take care of them, is going to try to kind

490
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:56,400
of give this treatment.

491
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:57,720
She's like, as we should.

492
00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,280
That's exactly what we should be doing.

493
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:00,400
Tell them I'm praying for them.

494
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:02,800
Tell them I'm hoping that everything goes well for them.

495
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,480
And then she's like smiling at them.

496
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:09,960
A TSA agent in Newark, literally no connection whatsoever, just kind of being able to look

497
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:11,240
at a child for what it was.

498
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,280
And I'm like, wow, this is this is crazy.

499
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:18,160
I mean, even the place that I work at, people kind of walking around and randomly coming

500
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:19,160
up to me.

501
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,160
I would never expect to be paying attention just seeing like, you know, we know what's

502
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:24,160
going on.

503
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:25,600
We know that you've been there and stuff.

504
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,720
There's anything we can do to support you.

505
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,520
We're just we're there.

506
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:37,320
So I do feel like with all of this nonsense when it comes to government and bureaucracies

507
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:43,320
and corporations, there's the people are like kind of recognizing, hey, I'm seeing what's

508
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,640
in front of me and I don't like it.

509
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,080
I don't like what's happening to other people.

510
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:49,160
And I hope that it can stop.

511
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:50,680
And I believe there's real power in that.

512
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:51,680
I really do.

513
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,640
I mean, I just think that there's, you know, I hope that that, you know, that that power

514
00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,200
can be translated into something that changes on the ground soon.

515
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,540
But that's something that that's like one of the main things that I come away from that

516
00:31:02,540 --> 00:31:04,280
at least gives me some comfort and hope.

517
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:08,720
It's just being able to interact with other human beings who empathize, man.

518
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,560
And they feel they feel like something is like something terrible is going on and they

519
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:13,960
want to say something about it.

520
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:19,040
And that's that's that's a silver lining for sure from all of this chaos.

521
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:24,560
Well, I think this is what's so angering is there's this projection and you watch that

522
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:29,160
debate and we literally are living in idiocracy if you if you allow yourself to be drawn into

523
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:30,960
the screens.

524
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,840
But I'm disgusted with the fact that they project this is who America is.

525
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,040
And I have people from overseas all the time like, oh, my God, you know, you're going to

526
00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:40,040
have civil war.

527
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,680
Then I might know you go outside your door of my community right now.

528
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:47,720
And I've got people from Asia and Africa and all over the country.

529
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,680
I'm assuming probably, you know, many different sexual orientations, certainly many different

530
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:53,680
religions.

531
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:54,680
And you know what happens?

532
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:55,680
They ride their bikes.

533
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:56,680
Our kids play together.

534
00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,120
We say hi when we walk our dogs because we're fucking normal people.

535
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,560
But you get this projection of all America's divided in this and that.

536
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:09,400
And it's like, no, the two extremes are divided, the 10 percent on each side.

537
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,960
But the 80 percent of us in the middle, yeah, it might be pulled a little bit, but they're

538
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:13,960
the normal people.

539
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:18,800
And I've heard that America is one of the most generous countries when it actually comes

540
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,600
to donating and trying to help other people.

541
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:26,560
But this demonization, you know, which I mean, let's be honest, absolutely mirrors what the

542
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:32,520
Nazis did with the Jews back in the early 30s, you know, kind of giving them names and

543
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:37,840
saying they're subhuman and, you know, taking away literature and all these kind of things.

544
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,680
And now, you know, you're literally creating an enemy.

545
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:48,640
And so how fucking disgusting that our greatest generation, as we called it, fought for people

546
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,100
who were suffering.

547
00:32:50,100 --> 00:32:55,360
And yet now, two generations over, we're allowing people to tell us to turn our backs on the

548
00:32:55,360 --> 00:33:00,080
very same type of suffering that our forefathers fought for in the 40s.

549
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,080
Yeah, I mean, it's it really is bizarre.

550
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:08,360
And you know, it's funny because I mentioned this recently when I was talking to somebody

551
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,200
about people in Gaza.

552
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:14,800
They have a word for like, you know, the whole Western world is supposed to be, you know,

553
00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,480
you know, obviously advancing democratic values.

554
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,140
There's human rights.

555
00:33:20,140 --> 00:33:24,600
This is where we got humanitarian law, where we got the Geneva Conventions.

556
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,600
It came from the Western world and Western states.

557
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,200
And you know, I think for a long time, especially in the Middle East, that was something that

558
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,880
people looked at and was like, we want to we want to have those kinds of institutions

559
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:39,360
as well as we kind of in this post World War Two era, we want to, you know, you're talking

560
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,720
about an area that would look at that and say, wow, you know, that's that really is

561
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:44,720
commendable.

562
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,760
And now they refer to the Western world as just the hypocritical world.

563
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,400
I mean, literally, that's what they say.

564
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:52,920
They're like, they these laws don't apply to everybody.

565
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:57,520
This idea of the sanctity of human life are not applicable to all.

566
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:03,360
I remember just any time I'm speaking to different health care workers, they're perplexed at

567
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,020
they they're always asking me, they said, how do you guys, you know, when you hear about

568
00:34:07,020 --> 00:34:12,120
what's happening here in America, for example, how do you guys understand it?

569
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:17,080
You know, they they they they're not sure they they think is there what is the cognitive

570
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:22,520
dissonance at play here where you're like, you can hear this and then just kind of justify

571
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:23,520
it somehow.

572
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,880
And I have to tell them I have to remind them that actually what happens is if you look

573
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,500
at corporate media, they're not really sharing these stories.

574
00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:35,200
You're not going to hear Hind is not on any it's not on CNN.

575
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:36,200
It's not going to be on MSNBC.

576
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:37,720
It's not going to be on Fox News.

577
00:34:37,720 --> 00:34:39,720
They're not going to talk about the six year old.

578
00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:43,160
They're not going to show her picture how beautiful she was.

579
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:44,160
They're not going to show any of that.

580
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:45,840
I can show her crying mother.

581
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:50,760
You know, it's it's always just like, hey, fighter jet, drop the bomb.

582
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,200
You know, 10 people killed.

583
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,480
Well, you know, at some point when we've gotten to the point where we're at, where we're exceeding

584
00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,560
40,000 people, if you include those who are trapped beneath the rubble, that number is

585
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:02,600
not it's not tangible to understand.

586
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,960
I can't conceptualize what 40,000 killed people are.

587
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,240
But I can absolutely tell you, a six year old, I can feel that pain.

588
00:35:10,240 --> 00:35:14,280
I can feel what it means when she's on the phone terrified.

589
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:18,480
And I can I can I can relate to that in a way that makes me want to do something.

590
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:19,480
I want to do something about that.

591
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:20,600
I want to change it.

592
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:26,720
So for them, they you know, they they the people in Gaza have always anytime I visited

593
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:29,840
even before, they're always curious, what do people think of us?

594
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:31,960
Like what do they imagine we look like?

595
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:36,120
I remember doctors and nurses would be like, do you think that we're ever going to ask

596
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:39,960
who somebody is if they come in here and they need to be resuscitated if they come into

597
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:41,320
the emergency department and they're sick?

598
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,600
Do you think we're going to sit there and be like, hey, what are what religion are you

599
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:45,920
or where you come from?

600
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:47,360
Like you're going to do your job.

601
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:48,360
You're going to do your job.

602
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:49,360
I mean, it only makes sense.

603
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,560
Like, why would you withhold that from another human being?

604
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:58,040
And so to hear on the flip side here in a in kind of like a way of saying like, no,

605
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:02,720
you know, some people always some people I've heard say, you know, in Gaza, they actually

606
00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:06,520
voted for this government back in 2006.

607
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,120
And I'm like, what?

608
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,360
We have an election every four years for president.

609
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,360
We have an election for Congress every two years.

610
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,660
We have senators every six years.

611
00:36:14,660 --> 00:36:19,360
You know, how could you talk about what happened in 2006 if you know that half of the population

612
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:20,640
is children?

613
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,360
So half of the people weren't even born at that point in 2006.

614
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,520
And then how many of them couldn't have even voted?

615
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:31,760
You're going to just collectively punish everybody because of a way that they voted, you know,

616
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:33,280
almost 20 years ago.

617
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:34,280
I mean, let's be real.

618
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:35,280
Just think about it.

619
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,880
Think about would you hold yourself to that standard?

620
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,800
You know, who do I guarantee if you ask somebody, are you happy with your vote from 2020?

621
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,440
What they would be like, I regret ever doing that.

622
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,800
They wouldn't they would be mortified if I said, I'm going to I'm going to punish you

623
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,640
for the way you voted in 2020 or in 2016.

624
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:52,000
I'm going to make sure you pay for that.

625
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,280
You're like, hey, I didn't know that this was going to happen.

626
00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:56,480
You know, like I'm so it's just it's tough.

627
00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,760
You know, you just you got to just look at them in a way where you're like, these are

628
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:01,760
people like me, man.

629
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:02,760
They're getting up every day.

630
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:03,760
They're going to work.

631
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:05,120
Some of them hate their jobs.

632
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:08,080
Some of them have kids that they're worried about how they're going to pay for school.

633
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,880
Some of them want to leave and travel the world.

634
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,840
And if you're not doing that, then you're you know, for me, it's like that's the first

635
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:19,960
step is just look at them like you would look at yourself or at your close friends or the

636
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:21,480
people around you.

637
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:25,440
Just look through that lens and think really hard about what kind of blinders do I got

638
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:26,440
on here?

639
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:27,440
What kind of blinders?

640
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,280
You know, you said something before like I love that you said this.

641
00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,400
We were talking about like the word debate and just having this idea of a debate.

642
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:40,060
If we just get away from that for one second and stop trying to say, I'm going to prove

643
00:37:40,060 --> 00:37:42,040
my point is right at any expense.

644
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,200
I want to make sure that I'm vindicated in the end.

645
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:49,080
If you get away from that sort of framework and just start looking at the world as, hey,

646
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:50,600
we're all trying to navigate through it.

647
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,400
We're all trying to maybe learn something or or not, whatever it is.

648
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,360
But we're all just trying to make it to a certain point.

649
00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:00,240
I think that's the way to go about it as opposed to saying I'm on this side and my side is

650
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:04,560
right and I'll do anything and I'll say anything to make that the reality.

651
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,880
I think that's kind of that's where a lot of this stuff arises from.

652
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:13,320
It's just like, you know, this identity politics where it's like me and mine and that's it.

653
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:14,320
Forget everybody else.

654
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:18,360
That's supposed to be an interesting the last eight years with the show, because I mean,

655
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:22,760
as you can imagine, a thousand people I've had, you know, diversity and religion and,

656
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,680
you know, again, sexual orientation and gender and race and you name it, all the things.

657
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:29,920
And there's people that lean very far one way.

658
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,920
People leave very far the opposite.

659
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,480
But what I realize is you just start in the middle.

660
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:37,120
You know, do you have kids?

661
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:38,680
Do you want them to be educated?

662
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:39,680
You want them to be safe?

663
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:40,680
Do you want them to be fed?

664
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:41,800
All right, let's start there.

665
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,160
And then you start kind of pushing out.

666
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:48,560
What I've seen, though, recently and again, this spans both sides of the aisle because

667
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,000
it's the same shitty factory churning out these people.

668
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,840
It's just, oh, this year we're going to give you a blue tie for years.

669
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,360
All right, you get a red tie now.

670
00:38:56,360 --> 00:39:01,040
But is, you know, it's it's pointing everyone going, but you're different, you know, and

671
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:06,160
ignoring the 80 percent, 90 percent of commonality that binds us together.

672
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,600
And I think what's really interesting about this conversation to the a lot of people listening

673
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:16,120
is they served and they understand that not only are we going to treat anyone hands down,

674
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:21,800
but also with the person who's dying at that point doesn't care who we are and what color

675
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,560
we are and who we pray to and who we sleep with.

676
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,960
You know, and if they do, they can already chance of survival.

677
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:34,400
But but, you know, the point being, the people listening just care about people.

678
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:39,520
And so if we can see through this deliberate attempt to pigeonhole and divide because that

679
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,920
weakens the nation and that's clearly what they want to happen.

680
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:48,360
So the moment we have this awakening firstly within our own nation, but then to realize

681
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:55,140
that we were not Team America, World Police, we're Team America, World Altruists in a way.

682
00:39:55,140 --> 00:40:00,280
If we saw our own shit, imagine the great things that we could do around the world.

683
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:05,600
And as someone said to me, we are the poster child for democracy.

684
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,040
And if we're not putting work in in our own country, people on the outside looking in

685
00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:13,920
going, wait, your children are being murdered in schools and you've got 70 percent of the

686
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:18,400
population is overweight or obese and you're consuming two thirds of sorry, three quarters

687
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:23,280
of the world's opioids and 20 percent of the world's prison population.

688
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:27,840
You know, so we've got to look in the mirror and realize how fucked up we are, fix our

689
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:33,160
own stuff and question this extremism that has actually dragged our own country into

690
00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,660
the ground as well, because Americans are beautiful people.

691
00:40:36,660 --> 00:40:40,400
But we have on our own country robbed from us right beneath our nose.

692
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:41,400
Absolutely.

693
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:42,400
Yeah.

694
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:50,000
I mean, that's you reminded me actually of of a there's a combat medic who went to Gaza

695
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:51,480
in April.

696
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:53,880
Dr. Adam Hamawi.

697
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,120
So this guy served in the Gulf War.

698
00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:01,200
He actually and this is why his voice is so powerful.

699
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:05,600
So there was Senator Tammy Duckworth got injured in the Gulf War.

700
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:07,620
She's the senator from Illinois.

701
00:41:07,620 --> 00:41:13,160
And her helicopter got hit her and went down and she ended up actually losing both of her

702
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:15,280
legs as a result of this.

703
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,360
And he was the one who took care of her.

704
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:20,280
And he was saying and he was he went to Gaza.

705
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:22,400
And one of the things one of the he did an interview while he was in Gaza.

706
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:27,520
And he said, you know, if I was you know, if me and the senator were in this situation

707
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,720
in Iraq during the Gulf War, he goes, she would not have survived that injury if she

708
00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:32,760
was in Gaza.

709
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:34,760
She would not have survived that injury.

710
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:38,280
Then the border gets stormed when I'm trying to go in.

711
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:39,280
So I can't get in.

712
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:40,280
But Adam can't get out.

713
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:44,400
Dr. Adam stuck inside of Gaza because the border has now shut down.

714
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,160
And they're starting to evacuate some teams through like some special ways.

715
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:50,580
You know, the U.S. is involved, the WHO.

716
00:41:50,580 --> 00:41:56,200
And he refuses to leave because he said there's other people here and they're not being told

717
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:57,240
that they can evacuate.

718
00:41:57,240 --> 00:41:58,960
They don't have safe passage.

719
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:02,300
I'm not going to leave until I can guarantee that they can safely get out.

720
00:42:02,300 --> 00:42:07,800
So he does he's no no man left behind, really kind of takes his stance.

721
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,160
And then he finally kind of gets out.

722
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:14,520
And he's been on a rampage since then, really just kind of trying to communicate like, hey,

723
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,920
you know, here's here's kind of what happened to me.

724
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:22,800
And his voice is so powerful because he doesn't he's not going to sit there and say, like,

725
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:24,840
oh, you know, here's the agenda that I'm pushing.

726
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,960
He's a guy that said I served my country and I really enjoy the opportunity to be able

727
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,440
to help people out in a desperate situation.

728
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,280
I went to Gaza and this is what I saw.

729
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:36,440
And people have to listen to that.

730
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,920
A guy who served in the Gulf War, a guy that's not sitting there telling you I'm red, I'm

731
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,440
blue, a guy is not running for office.

732
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,040
He's not starting his own organization, not trying to get donations.

733
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,380
He's literally just up there saying, hey, take care for what it's worth.

734
00:42:50,380 --> 00:42:51,880
Like this is my experience.

735
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:56,640
And what I love about the fact that he's willing to use his voice to speak up is, you know,

736
00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:59,120
no one's going to try to sit there and discredit this guy.

737
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:04,120
This vet, this guy who's seen so much, also somebody who a politician can also dismiss

738
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:05,280
and say, like, oh, forget him.

739
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:06,280
He's a whack job.

740
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:08,400
No, he saved one of your colleagues life.

741
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,960
You know, he's he stepped up and he got you know, he was he was on it.

742
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:16,440
So you know, that's I think the more you have those those kinds of voices out there that

743
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:21,640
are able to see the issues for what they are like, you know, hey, I'm a patriot.

744
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:22,980
I love America.

745
00:43:22,980 --> 00:43:24,440
But here are the problems.

746
00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:30,180
Here's what's threatening the country that I love, as opposed to, you know, this weird

747
00:43:30,180 --> 00:43:32,680
reality now where it's like, it's perfect.

748
00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:33,680
Shut the hell up.

749
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:34,680
It's great.

750
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:35,680
Everything about it is awesome.

751
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:36,680
And I'm going to make sure that it's awesome.

752
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:37,800
Or now it's really bad.

753
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:40,560
But if you elect me and my folks, it's going to be great.

754
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:42,720
Or hey, don't don't bring that guy.

755
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:43,720
He's going to destroy this country.

756
00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:47,160
No, I mean, that's the truth is we've got these problems, just like you said.

757
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:52,600
I mean, we've got a horrifying opioid pandemic that we see firsthand up and close.

758
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,240
That's right. That's destroying different communities.

759
00:43:55,240 --> 00:43:59,160
Right. And so if anybody is going to try to cover that up, I mean, you're just going to

760
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:05,120
allow this problem to continue to escalate and become horrifying.

761
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,420
But I think that's why you need voices of these.

762
00:44:07,420 --> 00:44:11,040
Like you said, starting in the middle, somebody who just can come in there and be like, ABCD

763
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:12,040
is what's wrong.

764
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:13,040
I need to try to fix it.

765
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:17,960
You know, one thing that also bothers me about politicians is and this is the case even right

766
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:23,680
now with this conflict, too, is you have people in power, especially this the prime minister,

767
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:30,480
Netanyahu guy, who every single person from in Israel, in America, who's like this guy

768
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:36,280
has every incentive to keep the war perpetuated because his political career relies on it.

769
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:38,120
It's not a values thing.

770
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:40,820
It's not like this is a mission thing.

771
00:44:40,820 --> 00:44:42,460
It's purely selfish.

772
00:44:42,460 --> 00:44:45,640
I stay in power as long as there are bombs dropping.

773
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:46,640
Right.

774
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:51,520
And it's weird because he also he's sitting there and he's motivated by this fact to say,

775
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:56,080
oh, we tried something and I want to say that it worked.

776
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,360
Nobody's willing to say here's the mistakes that were made.

777
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:00,120
Here's how we're going to grow from the mistakes.

778
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,040
Here's the accountability that I'm going to bear as a leader.

779
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,840
And I'm going to tell you that, yes, I need to face the consequences.

780
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,200
But this is my plan to rectify that.

781
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,400
That's like a no go zone now, especially in America.

782
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:12,400
Right.

783
00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:17,280
Right now, Fauci is making the rounds and everybody's like, hey, that was the disaster.

784
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:18,560
Right now, he's got to sit there.

785
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:23,880
It's like if you make a mistake somehow and there's no redemption from it, you need to

786
00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:24,880
be pulverized.

787
00:45:24,880 --> 00:45:28,000
And it creates these monsters who are like, I'm right.

788
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:29,000
Everything we did was right.

789
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,000
Actually, this is what it is.

790
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:35,120
And it incentivize them to lie, to misconstrue the facts, to spread false information.

791
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:36,120
We've got to change that.

792
00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,640
I mean, we've got to change that aspect of it.

793
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:42,720
The other thing I'll say too, I don't want to dig into how American electoral politics

794
00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:44,120
need to be rectified.

795
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:51,320
But one thing too that's true is if a race in the United States can be bought with millions

796
00:45:51,320 --> 00:46:00,360
of dollars, then that to me is a threat to our ability to make sure that the cream of

797
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:07,200
the crop is rising to the top of the electoral politics, to the top of these offices.

798
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:11,400
If we can't do it based on people who have experience, expertise, intelligence, and it's

799
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:15,240
more about say what we want you to say, here's a blank check.

800
00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:16,760
I mean, we're in trouble there.

801
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:22,920
I think I see that's kind of what's happening here is like you've got these people who are

802
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:27,240
willing to throw X amount of dollars just to keep things going.

803
00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:31,640
And they're not interested in the benefit of the American people of this country kind

804
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:33,680
of progressing and having a path in the future.

805
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:34,960
They don't care about that.

806
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:40,240
They care about this interest or this specific thing that they want to promote.

807
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:45,140
You could say that about a million different things, but that's what we've allowed to kind

808
00:46:45,140 --> 00:46:49,320
of pollute a little bit of what our country, where we're headed.

809
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:55,440
It's just you're allowing these random small groups to come in here and just dominate what

810
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:57,000
our country is about.

811
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,800
And everybody gets lost in the shuffle as a result of that.

812
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:05,320
The question I always ask people is with this 330 million Americans and you're telling me

813
00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:06,320
those are the best.

814
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:10,800
And then if they're like, oh yeah, but already would you let them date your daughter?

815
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:11,800
Yeah.

816
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:12,800
You know what I mean?

817
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:18,520
I know phenomenal human beings, men and women that I would be honored to date my son or

818
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,640
daughter if they were age appropriate.

819
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:21,640
You know what I mean?

820
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:24,960
Incredible leaders, courageous, altruistic.

821
00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:28,840
And you look at these two freaking ding-dongs that we just watched do the clown show nationally

822
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,400
for the world to laugh at yet again.

823
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,760
And then they ask again, 330 million people.

824
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:35,760
It's not democracy.

825
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,240
It should be as demistocracy.

826
00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:43,400
It's the game that the rich get to play and all the good leaders get flushed down the

827
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:44,440
toilet basically.

828
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:50,000
So until we realize that we're being completely duped and demand a new system, every four

829
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:51,800
years we're going to get another one.

830
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:52,800
Absolutely.

831
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:56,200
I mean, you wouldn't trust these people to fill gas in your car without watching them.

832
00:47:56,200 --> 00:48:00,400
So a crazier question is what would you allow them to do?

833
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:02,560
And I guarantee that list will be short.

834
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:03,560
That list will be short.

835
00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:08,000
You know, it reminds me of when the first responders from 9-11 were dealing with health

836
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:14,320
problems directly as a result of their willingness to really go to ground zero and try to do

837
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,280
something about the horrible thing that happened.

838
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:22,340
And then watching lawmakers sort of try to cut those benefits off or try to add it on

839
00:48:22,340 --> 00:48:23,480
to some other thing.

840
00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:25,000
So then it becomes this political debate.

841
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:26,560
Are you kidding me?

842
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:31,720
These guys that we asked to show up, no questions asked, were there.

843
00:48:31,720 --> 00:48:34,840
And you're telling me now that you don't want to pay for their health insurance?

844
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:38,320
Like this country, like you said, it's 330 million people.

845
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:40,000
We've got trillions of dollars.

846
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:43,880
We're spending all of this money on foreign aid.

847
00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:48,360
We give billions of dollars here, literally writing checks that we can't cash.

848
00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:53,180
You're not willing to pay for somebody's cancer therapy from mesothelioma that they got because

849
00:48:53,180 --> 00:48:55,680
they were on ground zero pulling people from the rubble.

850
00:48:55,680 --> 00:48:59,960
So I mean, like that should be for me, like when I saw that was taking place and that's

851
00:48:59,960 --> 00:49:01,960
this conversation keeps coming up, right?

852
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,760
Like, I mean, the funding expires and then it's another battle.

853
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:11,600
It's like, to me, that's just a that's a testament to like, all right, the people that are there

854
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:13,760
now, we've got to get rid of them.

855
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:20,540
There's got to be real, like sensible human beings that are decent people in these positions.

856
00:49:20,540 --> 00:49:21,640
And I can't say that, right?

857
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:25,420
I can't say the majority of people are decent who make some of these decisions.

858
00:49:25,420 --> 00:49:26,840
And I don't know them personally.

859
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:27,960
I've never spoken to them.

860
00:49:27,960 --> 00:49:30,260
But the actions are what I'm worried about.

861
00:49:30,260 --> 00:49:36,660
Like in Gaza, when you're hearing that there is going to be that there is children who

862
00:49:36,660 --> 00:49:42,560
are starving to death because there are famine conditions in the north and you instead want

863
00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:44,680
to tell me, well, it's because of this or that.

864
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:46,840
And you're not trying to tell me how do we save those kids?

865
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:50,200
How do we make sure it's not going to be 29 or 30 or 31?

866
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,560
I think there's a problem with who you are as a person if you're going to respond to

867
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:54,560
me that way.

868
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:56,800
You know, so I mean, that's really what bothers me.

869
00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:02,440
The other thing that not to keep not to keep kind of totally shitting on, you know, the

870
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:04,680
us as you know, like our leaders.

871
00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:07,780
But you know, they built this pier off of Gaza.

872
00:50:07,780 --> 00:50:13,080
So you know, Biden does his State of the Union address and he says we're going to construct

873
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:19,560
a humanitarian pier off of the coast of Gaza to deliver aid because the people are suffering.

874
00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:21,040
And I'm like, well, all right.

875
00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:24,800
You know, every every single person who's been in Gaza is like, why go through all that

876
00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:31,600
trouble when you can just open the border and just let you know, that's no pier is going

877
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:33,700
to replace their shipping and all that.

878
00:50:33,700 --> 00:50:34,880
And I'm like, that's crazy.

879
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:38,860
And then you hear that it's three hundred million dollars for three months.

880
00:50:38,860 --> 00:50:40,960
The Army Corps of Engineers has to construct it.

881
00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:42,540
It's going to cost three hundred million.

882
00:50:42,540 --> 00:50:45,780
It's going to be they got to figure out from Cyprus how you're going to ship containers

883
00:50:45,780 --> 00:50:47,320
of stuff, who's going to deliver it.

884
00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:48,320
They don't know any of these details.

885
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:53,000
And I had meetings with USAID, the highest levels of USAID, and they didn't they could

886
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:56,600
not tell me the logistics of how this pier was going to work.

887
00:50:56,600 --> 00:51:00,160
So this pier is being constructed and they don't even know how they're going to receive

888
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:01,960
and then distribute the humanitarian aid.

889
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:03,820
I'm like, is this a joke?

890
00:51:03,820 --> 00:51:08,600
Like what is going on here is there are there are five land borders that you can open up

891
00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:12,300
and they can do 10 times the amount of work that this pier is going to do.

892
00:51:12,300 --> 00:51:15,880
But instead, we're mobilizing this all of these resources and stuff.

893
00:51:15,880 --> 00:51:18,400
And you're just like, this is so bizarre to me.

894
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:20,560
I'm like, this this is a whole this is a bad decision.

895
00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:21,880
It's just bad.

896
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:25,920
And now you hear every time the pier makes the news, it's not because it's doing incredible

897
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:27,500
work and distributing food.

898
00:51:27,500 --> 00:51:32,420
It's because the the waves are so rocky that keeps washing the pier away.

899
00:51:32,420 --> 00:51:35,440
And so they have to they have to like reassemble and assemble it.

900
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:38,440
And it's costing millions and millions and millions more dollars.

901
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:40,480
Like right now, I can't imagine what they haven't disclosed this.

902
00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:44,700
But I'm going to be watching very closely how much money has been spent on this pier

903
00:51:44,700 --> 00:51:50,120
that has not done that has barely distributed any humanitarian aid yet into Gaza.

904
00:51:50,120 --> 00:51:54,880
So you know, like that's to me, it's like, all right, there seems to be these people

905
00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:56,300
who are trying to play games.

906
00:51:56,300 --> 00:52:00,640
That's why I said there's no respect for like the intelligence of the everyday American

907
00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:01,640
person.

908
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:04,000
It's just like these people are making these random decisions.

909
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,080
As long as I can do some bells and whistles, I think it'll get through.

910
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:09,160
But you know, you're 100 percent right.

911
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:14,200
Like if there isn't some sort of, you know, awakening, if people aren't, you know, you

912
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:18,280
know, if we're not able to kind of bring attention to this and replace these people with people

913
00:52:18,280 --> 00:52:23,840
who should be in these roles, who, you know, at least have the you know, that those leadership

914
00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,840
qualities, then it's just going to be a cycle.

915
00:52:26,840 --> 00:52:28,060
It's going to it's a never end of sight.

916
00:52:28,060 --> 00:52:31,800
After these two bozos are gone, it's going to be another two bozos.

917
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:35,760
I promise you, like, you know, we're not going to it's not just going to fix itself.

918
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:36,760
Absolutely.

919
00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:41,860
Well, I want to get on to, you know, your meeting with the president before we do.

920
00:52:41,860 --> 00:52:45,340
We talked about 9-11.

921
00:52:45,340 --> 00:52:50,960
There was such a great opportunity to see who Americans actually are and the conversations

922
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:57,160
I've had with that period and the incredible community that was born out of 9-12.

923
00:52:57,160 --> 00:53:02,600
You know, and we're talking mosques and synagogues and temples and, you know, churches and, you

924
00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:08,200
know, all these different places of worship and the congregation and obviously the religious

925
00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:11,360
leaders are there in droves trying to help.

926
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:12,920
And it was the same with the Grenfell fire.

927
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:17,360
I mean, just beautiful watching all these denominations working side by side.

928
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:19,240
That's who Americans are.

929
00:53:19,240 --> 00:53:23,720
You know, so this is the thing again is and I'll move on from this point, but this projection

930
00:53:23,720 --> 00:53:27,120
of who we are is doing such a disservice of who we are.

931
00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:32,160
And if you want to be reminded of what America is really about, go to 9-12.

932
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:36,040
If you want to be reminded of who England is, go to the day after Grenfell or the day

933
00:53:36,040 --> 00:53:37,040
after 7-7.

934
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:40,520
You know, that is when you saw your real humanity.

935
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:44,660
Now yes, we can deviate from it quite quickly, as you mentioned in New York with the politics

936
00:53:44,660 --> 00:53:46,200
and the money.

937
00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:51,920
But if we remember that that's who we were when the country needed us the most, then

938
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:54,100
look at these people debating.

939
00:53:54,100 --> 00:53:57,720
You can see the chasm between and that's what we've got to fix.

940
00:53:57,720 --> 00:53:58,720
Yeah.

941
00:53:58,720 --> 00:54:01,920
And I think it's just too quickly on this is it's about making sure that we amplify

942
00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:06,000
those voices that represent the best of us, you know, and so that's I think that's what

943
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:10,320
everybody can do coming away from, you know, any of these really horrifying moments in

944
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:14,540
our history or when we start to realize how bad things have gotten.

945
00:54:14,540 --> 00:54:18,360
It's looking to the people who are the true leaders, amplifying those voices, the people

946
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:22,840
who bring people together, you know, especially in those moments of difficulty and tragedy.

947
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:27,840
You know, these people come up, they respond to those calls and it sucks because they're

948
00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:32,400
usually not the ones who are willing to self promote themselves and try to make it to these

949
00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:33,400
positions.

950
00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:36,960
But that's why I think it's great to kind of continue to amplify those voices, share

951
00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:39,200
those stories, because yeah, that's the key.

952
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:40,800
That's the key to victory for sure.

953
00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:45,680
Well, you've definitely become one of the kind of most trusted voices on this whole

954
00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:46,680
thing.

955
00:54:46,680 --> 00:54:50,640
I mean, again, being an American, being an E.R. physician, you know, working in a very,

956
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:54,880
you know, high up tempo part of the country when it comes to violence and trauma.

957
00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:56,960
And then, you know, you're obviously out in Gaza.

958
00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:02,400
And as we discussed, you know, you were talking about the parts of the West Bank where you

959
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:03,720
saw how it should be.

960
00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:08,080
People just worshiping side by side, humans working with other humans.

961
00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:10,080
What was it that took you to the White House?

962
00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:12,480
And then talk to me about why you walked out.

963
00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:13,480
Yeah.

964
00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:20,480
So again, since I came back, it's been nonstop just trying to communicate with State Department,

965
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:27,800
USAID, National Security Council, just about kind of what we think needs to happen in Gaza,

966
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:30,680
especially just about the humanitarian crisis.

967
00:55:30,680 --> 00:55:33,700
Here's where there are some things that are happening that need to be changed.

968
00:55:33,700 --> 00:55:39,360
You know, and so from those meetings, you know, the White House decides that they want

969
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:41,160
to engage as a result of that.

970
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:46,760
And I get a call actually from someone who is in charge of like he's a liaison to the

971
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,160
Muslim community.

972
00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:55,680
And what I find out pretty quickly is that they really desperately need a Palestinian,

973
00:55:55,680 --> 00:55:59,760
Palestinian Muslim person to kind of come and engage at the White House because many

974
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,240
people have been rejecting those invitations.

975
00:56:02,240 --> 00:56:06,800
And the reason they've been rejecting is because they felt that the policies in this country

976
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:12,280
in the last, at that time, six months, seven months, were fueling the fire to this war.

977
00:56:12,280 --> 00:56:16,240
And it was not really being constructive to bringing an end to it or highlighting, you

978
00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:19,020
know, kind of the devastation that had taken place.

979
00:56:19,020 --> 00:56:23,900
One thing that keeps echoing in these circles in these communities is President Biden kind

980
00:56:23,900 --> 00:56:25,440
of dismissing the death toll.

981
00:56:25,440 --> 00:56:29,700
And I think that was a bad, that was a bad leadership move.

982
00:56:29,700 --> 00:56:33,520
Why are you getting caught up in how many people have died in Gaza and trying to cast

983
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:37,680
shade on that, even if it's 10 percent off, 20 percent off?

984
00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:39,680
That's not how you approach the situation.

985
00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:42,480
You say, we acknowledge there's been a tremendous loss of life.

986
00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:47,400
It doesn't matter if it's five thousand, ten thousand, fifteen thousand, if it's innocent

987
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:51,140
people, if it's kids, if it's pregnant women, then it's horrifying.

988
00:56:51,140 --> 00:56:56,980
So you know, the community was really, really upset with how that was taking place.

989
00:56:56,980 --> 00:57:01,240
And this was on the heels, this invitation was on the heels of the Democratic primary

990
00:57:01,240 --> 00:57:08,480
vote in Michigan, where there were 10 percent of this battleground state that voted uncommitted

991
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:10,680
on the Democratic primary ballot.

992
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:14,480
That was a devastating blow to Biden's reelection campaign.

993
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:19,720
I mean, they recognize there is a group of voters here who are not happy with the policy

994
00:57:19,720 --> 00:57:23,800
decisions of the president, especially when it came to Gaza.

995
00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:25,720
And they wanted to see a difference there.

996
00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:29,480
So that's really where the invitation was born out of.

997
00:57:29,480 --> 00:57:36,080
It was this sort of this guise of like, hey, it's Ramadan, Muslims are fasting.

998
00:57:36,080 --> 00:57:39,380
We know that you guys as a community are hurting.

999
00:57:39,380 --> 00:57:43,360
So we want to acknowledge your hurt and we want to bring you to the table.

1000
00:57:43,360 --> 00:57:46,800
Usually these Ramadan events are massive.

1001
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:49,640
I mean, they're talking about 400, 500 guests.

1002
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:53,920
The president shows up, gives a little bit of a speech, shakes some hands and walks out.

1003
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:58,360
They said this was going to be an intimate one on one conversation.

1004
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:01,640
Basically there would only be me and like four or five other people.

1005
00:58:01,640 --> 00:58:06,260
It would be the president, the vice president, the national security adviser, the ambassador

1006
00:58:06,260 --> 00:58:10,760
to the United Nations, members from different security, the National Security Council and

1007
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:11,760
other members.

1008
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:16,040
Like this was high level admin officials.

1009
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:20,400
And they're like, the way it was pitched to me is like, this is your chance to influence

1010
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:21,400
policy.

1011
00:58:21,400 --> 00:58:23,640
And I was like, it didn't make sense to me.

1012
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:25,120
I didn't, that didn't make sense.

1013
00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:26,940
Like no way.

1014
00:58:26,940 --> 00:58:31,840
Six months into this and I'm the first Palestinian American the president has met with.

1015
00:58:31,840 --> 00:58:37,480
I'm the first person that has been on the ground in Gaza that he's met with in six months.

1016
00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:38,560
Why now?

1017
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:42,480
And why is it on the heels of this Michigan uncommitted vote that he's really worried

1018
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:43,480
about?

1019
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:47,640
So I had my suspicions and in my head I'm like, I'm like, keep an open mind.

1020
00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:49,640
You never know what could happen.

1021
00:58:49,640 --> 00:58:51,520
Just show up and say what you got to say.

1022
00:58:51,520 --> 00:58:55,080
Talk about the different, talk about what you've seen, experienced and what the solutions

1023
00:58:55,080 --> 00:58:58,120
are because we all know what the solution needs to be.

1024
00:58:58,120 --> 00:59:05,880
But the days leading up to it, his administration approves $18 billion F-16 fighter jet sail

1025
00:59:05,880 --> 00:59:07,320
to the Israeli military.

1026
00:59:07,320 --> 00:59:10,640
These are the F-16s that were flying overhead when I was there.

1027
00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:13,480
I could hear them fly over the hospital that I was sleeping in.

1028
00:59:13,480 --> 00:59:19,520
They approved all of these weapons, 2000 palm bombs that I watched level neighborhoods.

1029
00:59:19,520 --> 00:59:26,760
And then they had also the World Central Kitchen massacre happened where seven international

1030
00:59:26,760 --> 00:59:34,000
aid workers in Gaza delivering hot meals to people were killed in two cars by an Israeli

1031
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:35,240
strike.

1032
00:59:35,240 --> 00:59:40,480
Two British, one American, one Palestinian, one Polish.

1033
00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:44,560
I can't remember the other, but seven people who had no ties were there just delivering

1034
00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:47,480
hot meals killed while they were working there.

1035
00:59:47,480 --> 00:59:52,480
So to me, in my mind, I was like, all right, this is not real.

1036
00:59:52,480 --> 00:59:54,760
This is not an actual invitation.

1037
00:59:54,760 --> 00:59:57,440
This is not genuine.

1038
00:59:57,440 --> 01:00:02,120
Unless there's something crazy that happens, I'm going to get up and protest and walk out

1039
01:00:02,120 --> 01:00:03,640
on the president.

1040
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:08,800
We show up and I'm getting a lot of heat because somehow my name gets revealed as people who

1041
01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:09,800
get invited.

1042
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:13,080
So I've got a lot of people from my community, people who I've never even met before telling

1043
01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:15,480
me like, no, don't go meet with the president.

1044
01:00:15,480 --> 01:00:16,520
He's done this, this and that.

1045
01:00:16,520 --> 01:00:22,960
And my response to them is like, just basically I have to do right by the people that I saw

1046
01:00:22,960 --> 01:00:24,900
and that I left back in Gaza.

1047
01:00:24,900 --> 01:00:25,900
They have a story.

1048
01:00:25,900 --> 01:00:26,900
I need to share their story.

1049
01:00:26,900 --> 01:00:27,900
That's the bottom line.

1050
01:00:27,900 --> 01:00:29,400
I need to say what I need to say.

1051
01:00:29,400 --> 01:00:36,000
So we get to the meeting and it's just a table that we're all sitting around and the president

1052
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:41,280
walks in and he says a couple of words about like, hey, we're working on this and we hope

1053
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:44,040
you guys can understand, but we want to hear from you guys.

1054
01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:45,040
And I just felt right there.

1055
01:00:45,040 --> 01:00:50,000
And I'm like, this is not, this is just, this is, this is going to be read out in a White

1056
01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:54,360
House statement tomorrow that the president engaged with member leaders from the this

1057
01:00:54,360 --> 01:00:57,120
Palestinian American, Muslim American, blah, blah, blah, America.

1058
01:00:57,120 --> 01:00:58,840
I'm like, this is just, this doesn't mean it.

1059
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:01,120
So I was like, this is the right decision.

1060
01:01:01,120 --> 01:01:02,680
I should get up and protest.

1061
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:08,040
And I had a letter from an orphan who was in Rafa, the border town between Egypt and

1062
01:01:08,040 --> 01:01:13,380
Gaza and I had her picture and I handed him the picture and I told him, I said, you know,

1063
01:01:13,380 --> 01:01:15,560
me and you disagree.

1064
01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:20,120
I mean, you agree on one thing and it's about this death toll not being accurate, but I

1065
01:01:20,120 --> 01:01:24,280
know having been there and been on the ground that the numbers astronomically higher, there

1066
01:01:24,280 --> 01:01:27,960
are people trapped beneath the rubble that we've never rescued yet.

1067
01:01:27,960 --> 01:01:32,400
And that the fact that we're sitting here now, seven months later, I'm the first person

1068
01:01:32,400 --> 01:01:35,720
who's been on the ground that you've spoken to out of respect for my community.

1069
01:01:35,720 --> 01:01:37,800
I need to walk away from this table.

1070
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:41,520
I need to walk away on the heels of a decision to give more fighter jets, more bombs to this

1071
01:01:41,520 --> 01:01:42,800
war.

1072
01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:48,120
And there were, you know, there's all these different members of the admin there.

1073
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:51,040
And I mentioned three things before I left.

1074
01:01:51,040 --> 01:01:57,680
I said a temporary ceasefire is cruel because you have to have a permanent ceasefire.

1075
01:01:57,680 --> 01:02:01,720
It's not just about temporary ceasefire, allow food to get in, feed the hungry Palestinians

1076
01:02:01,720 --> 01:02:03,200
and then resume the bombing.

1077
01:02:03,200 --> 01:02:05,840
I mean, that's just cruel.

1078
01:02:05,840 --> 01:02:07,100
That should not be on the table.

1079
01:02:07,100 --> 01:02:10,880
The second thing is when you see all of these countries that are sort of recognizing how

1080
01:02:10,880 --> 01:02:14,200
horrible it is, we should be leading these countries, not sitting there when there's

1081
01:02:14,200 --> 01:02:20,280
a UN Security Council resolution saying return the hostages and have an immediate ceasefire,

1082
01:02:20,280 --> 01:02:23,100
allow aid to enter, stop the war sort of thing.

1083
01:02:23,100 --> 01:02:27,880
We shouldn't be sitting there announcing the next day, you know, a UN resolution is non-binding.

1084
01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:31,480
Like that's what we were doing as the U.S., the most powerful country in the world was

1085
01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:36,520
saying, yeah, this international institution, their resolutions in the Security Council

1086
01:02:36,520 --> 01:02:37,520
are not binding.

1087
01:02:37,520 --> 01:02:39,400
So there's no consequence to it.

1088
01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:44,400
And then I was telling the National Security Advisor that I know that the Israelis, for

1089
01:02:44,400 --> 01:02:47,800
example, are telling you this and that about the situation on the ground.

1090
01:02:47,800 --> 01:02:54,000
But I'm telling you as somebody who doesn't have any interest in kind of from any organization

1091
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:58,560
or any group that any sort of invasion in Tarafah, because that was what was in the

1092
01:02:58,560 --> 01:03:01,660
news at the time, is going to be catastrophic.

1093
01:03:01,660 --> 01:03:02,800
It's going to be a bloodbath.

1094
01:03:02,800 --> 01:03:03,800
You can't do it.

1095
01:03:03,800 --> 01:03:07,040
You're not going to be, the Israelis will not be able to do it in a sophisticated fashion.

1096
01:03:07,040 --> 01:03:12,080
I've been on the ground there, I know, and I got up and walked out and I didn't think

1097
01:03:12,080 --> 01:03:14,840
it was going to go viral.

1098
01:03:14,840 --> 01:03:18,580
But there was a protest being staged at the White House to this event.

1099
01:03:18,580 --> 01:03:20,520
So there was already media there.

1100
01:03:20,520 --> 01:03:23,800
And there was people who had recognized me as like people, somebody who's being invited

1101
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:27,560
and noticing that I had left 10 minutes after the meeting had started.

1102
01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:28,960
And so they were like, what happened?

1103
01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:32,000
And it kind of it went it went ballistic from there.

1104
01:03:32,000 --> 01:03:33,720
It really went insane.

1105
01:03:33,720 --> 01:03:40,060
But you know, I would say one thing that I say that really kind of it's it's it sucks

1106
01:03:40,060 --> 01:03:44,920
to say this, but you know, what we said ended up being true, what everybody was worried

1107
01:03:44,920 --> 01:03:50,640
about about like a Rafa invasion where you're displacing a million Palestinian displaced

1108
01:03:50,640 --> 01:03:52,240
people who went to the south.

1109
01:03:52,240 --> 01:03:54,880
Now you're telling them go to the middle, go to the north.

1110
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:55,880
It was horrifying.

1111
01:03:55,880 --> 01:03:58,480
I mean, you know, the malnutrition rates went up.

1112
01:03:58,480 --> 01:04:02,680
There was a tent massacre where all of these makeshift tents, there was a bomb that had

1113
01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:07,160
hit in the area and then all set on fire and 30 plus people died.

1114
01:04:07,160 --> 01:04:10,520
You know, the hospital that's there is being evacuated.

1115
01:04:10,520 --> 01:04:14,440
You know that there are 200 dialysis patients that are not going to get their dialysis.

1116
01:04:14,440 --> 01:04:21,120
So it you know, we were we were proven correctly in the worst possible way, in the worst possible

1117
01:04:21,120 --> 01:04:22,120
way.

1118
01:04:22,120 --> 01:04:23,120
You know, and that's that's what sucks.

1119
01:04:23,120 --> 01:04:27,320
You know, and that's what really and it kind of solidified that I should have walked away

1120
01:04:27,320 --> 01:04:29,440
from the meeting because it was not a serious meeting.

1121
01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:33,560
But that's why I did it, not because I'm going to be voting for the other guy in November,

1122
01:04:33,560 --> 01:04:37,800
not because I'm a Democrat or a Republican, not because I care about any of it.

1123
01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:40,520
It's purely because I didn't want to be used for that thing.

1124
01:04:40,520 --> 01:04:42,120
I don't want to be used for this campaign.

1125
01:04:42,120 --> 01:04:46,320
I don't want to be, you know, like this token Palestinian who engage, you know, so the president

1126
01:04:46,320 --> 01:04:49,760
can say I met with a Palestinian, I met with somebody who went to Gaza.

1127
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:51,440
I'm not interested in that.

1128
01:04:51,440 --> 01:04:55,400
But and I said this to afterwards and I've when I've because I've continued to advocate

1129
01:04:55,400 --> 01:05:00,160
I was in I was in the Capitol last week talking about a medical evacuation.

1130
01:05:00,160 --> 01:05:02,120
I'll meet with any senator, any congressman.

1131
01:05:02,120 --> 01:05:08,160
I'll meet with any any any division of government if it's a serious conversation just about

1132
01:05:08,160 --> 01:05:09,760
solutions.

1133
01:05:09,760 --> 01:05:10,760
I don't want to be heard.

1134
01:05:10,760 --> 01:05:13,920
You know how many times, James, that we sit in some of these meetings and I know that

1135
01:05:13,920 --> 01:05:19,320
they're bullshitting me and they're just like, we hear you and we feel you're like we understand

1136
01:05:19,320 --> 01:05:23,000
what you're saying and we just want you to know that you're heard and you're like, that's

1137
01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:24,120
not what I'm looking for here.

1138
01:05:24,120 --> 01:05:25,160
I'm looking for solutions.

1139
01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:26,680
I want people who I can work with.

1140
01:05:26,680 --> 01:05:30,280
We can come to we can get to a point where we can do something about this.

1141
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:34,360
And so that's, you know, you know, that's that's kind of what's that's literally what

1142
01:05:34,360 --> 01:05:36,680
it's been looking like since since the White House thing.

1143
01:05:36,680 --> 01:05:41,280
I'm still willing to go out there and talk to people and try to try to bring some some

1144
01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:44,640
reprieve for the tremendous amount of suffering that's taken place.

1145
01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:46,360
But it's been tough.

1146
01:05:46,360 --> 01:05:47,360
It's been tough.

1147
01:05:47,360 --> 01:05:51,920
Well, I want to get to, you know, what has occurred since we last spoke in February as

1148
01:05:51,920 --> 01:05:57,360
far as the the refugees being moved in different areas and the states at the hospitals and

1149
01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:01,920
the systematic demolition of blocks that we discussed before.

1150
01:06:01,920 --> 01:06:09,600
But just before that, again, I am way outside the circle trying to look in and offer a kind

1151
01:06:09,600 --> 01:06:13,520
of altruistic, compassionate lens to this whole thing.

1152
01:06:13,520 --> 01:06:18,240
One thing that I feel like is hurting and it's funny, I was talking to Mohammed about

1153
01:06:18,240 --> 01:06:21,600
this are the protests themselves.

1154
01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:26,160
When people are just kind of getting together, some seemingly not even understanding what

1155
01:06:26,160 --> 01:06:27,800
they're protesting in the first place.

1156
01:06:27,800 --> 01:06:30,000
And then that's kind of shown.

1157
01:06:30,000 --> 01:06:37,160
So which which of the protests are being effective and is there a danger of them actually doing

1158
01:06:37,160 --> 01:06:39,440
the polar opposite of what they're trying to do?

1159
01:06:39,440 --> 01:06:40,440
Yeah, of course.

1160
01:06:40,440 --> 01:06:46,120
I mean, you want to be as you want to be as intentional as possible about what your what

1161
01:06:46,120 --> 01:06:51,560
sort of action you're taking now, whether that's writing to a congressperson or you

1162
01:06:51,560 --> 01:06:57,960
know, or you're engaging with some sort of administration official or you're contributing

1163
01:06:57,960 --> 01:06:59,520
dollars to a humanitarian organization.

1164
01:06:59,520 --> 01:07:02,400
You want to be intentional, you want to be thorough, you want to make sure that the messaging

1165
01:07:02,400 --> 01:07:03,560
is clear.

1166
01:07:03,560 --> 01:07:09,520
And so, you know, I think, you know, one thing that I will say is, you know, there is, I

1167
01:07:09,520 --> 01:07:14,440
think when you've looked at some of these campus protests, what I found that has been

1168
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:21,560
extremely effective is there there's a deliberate ask that they have, and they are asking for

1169
01:07:21,560 --> 01:07:27,280
their universities, for example, to make sure that they are not funding companies, that

1170
01:07:27,280 --> 01:07:29,560
they are not investing in companies that produce weapons.

1171
01:07:29,560 --> 01:07:33,400
I mean, to me, like that is straightforward.

1172
01:07:33,400 --> 01:07:37,480
You know, the ask is there, you have you have you have a goal there.

1173
01:07:37,480 --> 01:07:42,160
One thing that I think we you cannot allow to happen because you're there's there's a

1174
01:07:42,160 --> 01:07:46,920
really two negative effects, because like you said, one, you can misconstrue the message

1175
01:07:46,920 --> 01:07:50,680
that you were trying to deliver in the first place, and it can blow back.

1176
01:07:50,680 --> 01:07:53,980
But two, you have to think about people who are engaged in this.

1177
01:07:53,980 --> 01:07:58,920
And if you're just sort of not organizing in a way where there is a clear aim, there's

1178
01:07:58,920 --> 01:08:04,720
goals, there's a message that's in place, you're bringing together coalitions, there's

1179
01:08:04,720 --> 01:08:09,160
a potential for fatigue on this as well, where the people you're you know, all of the people

1180
01:08:09,160 --> 01:08:12,600
you want to engage, they're not engaging anymore because they don't know what the what the

1181
01:08:12,600 --> 01:08:14,640
message is or what the goal is.

1182
01:08:14,640 --> 01:08:18,320
And so that's why I think it's you know, it is it's a delicate balance.

1183
01:08:18,320 --> 01:08:22,720
And you can, you know, I think I understand the frustration I really do, because there

1184
01:08:22,720 --> 01:08:26,760
are people who are like, nothing that we're doing is working.

1185
01:08:26,760 --> 01:08:30,640
Nothing that you know, the way that you're supposed to bring about change and the way

1186
01:08:30,640 --> 01:08:33,600
that you're supposed to approach the situation, nothing is working.

1187
01:08:33,600 --> 01:08:39,400
So some of this is actually just sort of like a like a lashing out or you know, kind of

1188
01:08:39,400 --> 01:08:43,160
like a nothing, you know, like screaming at the top of your lungs, because you feel like

1189
01:08:43,160 --> 01:08:44,920
nobody's listening to you.

1190
01:08:44,920 --> 01:08:50,200
But I think that right now, we're at we're at eight months.

1191
01:08:50,200 --> 01:08:53,160
And it's it's proven to be a very lengthy process.

1192
01:08:53,160 --> 01:08:56,680
And I know that there are a lot of people who are very gung ho or like, I want to do

1193
01:08:56,680 --> 01:08:59,440
everything that they're burnt out at this point.

1194
01:08:59,440 --> 01:09:01,200
And they're not really engaging anymore.

1195
01:09:01,200 --> 01:09:05,480
So, you know, like for me, one of the things that I want to you know, when I'm thinking

1196
01:09:05,480 --> 01:09:10,000
about, OK, who do I want to sort of when we're talking about a protest or we're trying to

1197
01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:15,080
hold somebody accountable, I think about like the American Medical Association, they had

1198
01:09:15,080 --> 01:09:19,320
a delegate meeting for all of their delegates in June.

1199
01:09:19,320 --> 01:09:24,440
I want them to I want to be outside of there asking them to introduce a resolution saying

1200
01:09:24,440 --> 01:09:28,040
that all 40,000 members here are behind the ceasefire.

1201
01:09:28,040 --> 01:09:29,120
We want to get a ceasefire.

1202
01:09:29,120 --> 01:09:30,400
We want hospitals to be protected.

1203
01:09:30,400 --> 01:09:31,880
We don't want doctors to be killed.

1204
01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:36,160
So like those are you know, you want to have tangible goals that are in place where the

1205
01:09:36,160 --> 01:09:40,680
person that you're trying to deliver the message to can actually respond and do something about

1206
01:09:40,680 --> 01:09:41,680
that.

1207
01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:45,160
It's just like when you go to meet your congressperson, you have to have asks.

1208
01:09:45,160 --> 01:09:47,760
My ask for you is to help with medical evacuations.

1209
01:09:47,760 --> 01:09:51,920
Call the call the Israeli embassy and ask them to open the border like there needs to

1210
01:09:51,920 --> 01:09:52,920
be deliberate things.

1211
01:09:52,920 --> 01:09:57,920
If you're just going out there waving a flag, sort of just yelling in place, you're not

1212
01:09:57,920 --> 01:10:02,200
you're you're you're also not capitalizing that energy in a way where we can bring in

1213
01:10:02,200 --> 01:10:03,200
some results.

1214
01:10:03,200 --> 01:10:05,480
We want to measure, you know, what's working, what's not working.

1215
01:10:05,480 --> 01:10:06,800
We want to be able to build on that.

1216
01:10:06,800 --> 01:10:08,720
We want to organize in a way that's effective.

1217
01:10:08,720 --> 01:10:14,680
And so I think, you know, I think, you know, when it when it came to Gaza, I don't think

1218
01:10:14,680 --> 01:10:21,960
anybody anticipated was going to take this long to end the fighting, to end the war.

1219
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:24,200
And that's been really devastating for people.

1220
01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:29,880
And I think along the way, instead of sort of kind of like trying to make sure that we

1221
01:10:29,880 --> 01:10:33,880
that there are these actions in place where we can measure some outcomes, I think instead

1222
01:10:33,880 --> 01:10:38,040
it was like, get louder or, you know, get, you know, do whatever.

1223
01:10:38,040 --> 01:10:42,400
And I think that's, you know, that's something I worry long term in terms of like, hey, we

1224
01:10:42,400 --> 01:10:48,640
want to be able to accomplish some real things that change the situation on the ground.

1225
01:10:48,640 --> 01:10:53,560
I really want the people there, any action that we take here for them to for that to

1226
01:10:53,560 --> 01:10:54,760
be able to affect them.

1227
01:10:54,760 --> 01:10:58,840
I don't want to just, you know, like get together for the sake of getting together and have

1228
01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:02,320
large numbers just to say I have large numbers or to do this.

1229
01:11:02,320 --> 01:11:03,840
That's that's that's really important.

1230
01:11:03,840 --> 01:11:07,960
That goes back to organizing and it goes back to, you know, just kind of like community

1231
01:11:07,960 --> 01:11:09,000
engagement.

1232
01:11:09,000 --> 01:11:15,240
It's like we need, you know, one thing one thing I'll say is another realization, which,

1233
01:11:15,240 --> 01:11:19,320
you know, we really want to start to think about and be intentional and be thorough about

1234
01:11:19,320 --> 01:11:25,760
how we respond and what actions we take is we realize how little of a voice we have when

1235
01:11:25,760 --> 01:11:28,000
it came to this conflict.

1236
01:11:28,000 --> 01:11:34,180
I would say that there are the public opinion was very much in favor of like, like, hey,

1237
01:11:34,180 --> 01:11:35,480
there should be a ceasefire in place.

1238
01:11:35,480 --> 01:11:40,080
There was like a poll that, you know, two thirds of Americans wanted a ceasefire like

1239
01:11:40,080 --> 01:11:41,720
four months ago.

1240
01:11:41,720 --> 01:11:47,400
So what it told me is that there were there wasn't that sort of the infrastructure or

1241
01:11:47,400 --> 01:11:52,760
that structure that was in place where the voice of the people is being communicated

1242
01:11:52,760 --> 01:11:56,720
to the people who are making these decisions, the policymakers and the decision makers.

1243
01:11:56,720 --> 01:12:00,560
Where are we're you know, we didn't have those that community engagement piece.

1244
01:12:00,560 --> 01:12:04,960
We didn't have that organizing piece in a way that allowed all of us to build coalitions,

1245
01:12:04,960 --> 01:12:08,200
raise our voices in a way that people can hear us and make a difference.

1246
01:12:08,200 --> 01:12:11,120
That's a lesson that's that we're still learning.

1247
01:12:11,120 --> 01:12:16,140
It's a lesson that's been painful because, you know, again, it's always sucks to feel

1248
01:12:16,140 --> 01:12:21,360
like you're not your voice is being dismissed, but it's an important lesson that had to

1249
01:12:21,360 --> 01:12:22,360
be learned.

1250
01:12:22,360 --> 01:12:27,080
And so it's really just about empowering yourself and then kind of reaching tangible goals,

1251
01:12:27,080 --> 01:12:29,000
having those asks in place.

1252
01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:31,760
And when they're not being met, how do you hold that person accountable, whether it's

1253
01:12:31,760 --> 01:12:37,400
a professional society, a corporation, a congressperson or, you know, you're you know, whatever it

1254
01:12:37,400 --> 01:12:38,400
is.

1255
01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:40,080
But that's yeah, I think you bring up an interesting point.

1256
01:12:40,080 --> 01:12:44,640
That's something that I don't think is going to actually I think it's going to I think

1257
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:46,680
the war has to stop.

1258
01:12:46,680 --> 01:12:48,960
And I and you know, this is I learned this from the people of Gaza.

1259
01:12:48,960 --> 01:12:52,000
Honestly, they were like, there's going to be a war after the war.

1260
01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:56,820
And what they mean is that, you know, we're going to process everything that we've lost.

1261
01:12:56,820 --> 01:13:01,720
We're going to take a look at the vulnerabilities that were in place that kind of really made

1262
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:04,760
things worse for us as a community, as a people.

1263
01:13:04,760 --> 01:13:06,120
That's going to happen here, too.

1264
01:13:06,120 --> 01:13:09,820
I mean, we're going to have to once this is over, we have to process everything that took

1265
01:13:09,820 --> 01:13:13,140
place and where things went wrong and how it got as bad as it did.

1266
01:13:13,140 --> 01:13:15,360
And what what did we do wrong?

1267
01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:17,240
And then what can we do better?

1268
01:13:17,240 --> 01:13:20,720
Because you know, don't just just because something bad happened doesn't mean it's never

1269
01:13:20,720 --> 01:13:21,720
again.

1270
01:13:21,720 --> 01:13:24,040
It's you've got to make sure that it's never again.

1271
01:13:24,040 --> 01:13:25,040
You know, that's that's on you.

1272
01:13:25,040 --> 01:13:30,400
I mean, I think the covid the way covid was handled was the perfect example.

1273
01:13:30,400 --> 01:13:31,400
And I've talked about this.

1274
01:13:31,400 --> 01:13:33,160
We've probably touched on this last time, I'm assuming.

1275
01:13:33,160 --> 01:13:40,760
But I was driving home today and I was thinking, imagine a pandemic where we did everything

1276
01:13:40,760 --> 01:13:45,760
opposite than we did last time, where you weren't allowed to go into your home, where

1277
01:13:45,760 --> 01:13:49,680
you had to go and find community and spend time with people.

1278
01:13:49,680 --> 01:13:54,380
You had to exercise, you had to eat good food, you had to abstain from alcohol and put your

1279
01:13:54,380 --> 01:13:56,080
screens down.

1280
01:13:56,080 --> 01:13:59,160
What a beautiful environment that would be.

1281
01:13:59,160 --> 01:14:01,200
But that's not what happened.

1282
01:14:01,200 --> 01:14:05,780
Everyone was told to stay in their home, shut the hell up, we'll get fast food and alcohol

1283
01:14:05,780 --> 01:14:09,980
delivered to your house, the beaches and parks and gyms are all closed.

1284
01:14:09,980 --> 01:14:14,880
You know, and then, you know, when we tell you to, you will, I repeat, will have this

1285
01:14:14,880 --> 01:14:15,880
vaccine.

1286
01:14:15,880 --> 01:14:20,640
You know, so and then after the fact, there was no willingness to go, you know what, we

1287
01:14:20,640 --> 01:14:21,640
didn't do that properly.

1288
01:14:21,640 --> 01:14:27,080
We had a two year captive audience, so we could have made a massive dent on the opioid

1289
01:14:27,080 --> 01:14:30,160
epidemic, on the obesity crisis.

1290
01:14:30,160 --> 01:14:35,380
We could have put PE programs back in schools, take out the processed shit and cook real

1291
01:14:35,380 --> 01:14:41,740
food like we used to in schools, bolster local farmers to create organic food and get rid

1292
01:14:41,740 --> 01:14:44,060
of that massive bottleneck that we saw.

1293
01:14:44,060 --> 01:14:45,360
But they didn't.

1294
01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:50,480
And this is the point is that, you know, again, you allow the wrong people in these positions.

1295
01:14:50,480 --> 01:14:55,880
And I'm assuming there's a lot of Israeli people that are absolutely opposed to what's

1296
01:14:55,880 --> 01:14:57,080
going on in Gaza.

1297
01:14:57,080 --> 01:15:03,320
But where's their 125,000 people in Tel Aviv yesterday protested for a ceasefire.

1298
01:15:03,320 --> 01:15:07,480
Yeah, but they're they're not being represented by their quote unquote leader.

1299
01:15:07,480 --> 01:15:08,480
Yeah, exactly.

1300
01:15:08,480 --> 01:15:09,480
Exactly.

1301
01:15:09,480 --> 01:15:14,120
You know, the other thing about the pandemic is there's going to be another one and there's

1302
01:15:14,120 --> 01:15:15,120
going to be another one.

1303
01:15:15,120 --> 01:15:16,760
I mean, this is just the world that we live in.

1304
01:15:16,760 --> 01:15:22,580
And so how horrifying is it to think of, you know, maybe not learning from the mistakes

1305
01:15:22,580 --> 01:15:24,760
of the past and sort of repeating it?

1306
01:15:24,760 --> 01:15:29,320
I mean, that would be that would be, you know, that would be devastating if you're making

1307
01:15:29,320 --> 01:15:30,600
if you're repeating the same mistakes.

1308
01:15:30,600 --> 01:15:32,920
I mean, this is the definition of insanity.

1309
01:15:32,920 --> 01:15:39,000
And it's you know, the thing is, I think I really think that it's you know, that's why

1310
01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:43,600
that's something that it's on every single person to sort of figure out a way what their

1311
01:15:43,600 --> 01:15:45,360
role is and how do you contribute?

1312
01:15:45,360 --> 01:15:47,600
How do you kind of make sure that you're a part of it?

1313
01:15:47,600 --> 01:15:52,080
And like, you know, you talk about like, you know, a glue to the screen stuck inside of

1314
01:15:52,080 --> 01:15:56,440
your house, not doing like that's the opposite of what we're talking about in order to make

1315
01:15:56,440 --> 01:15:59,400
a better future for yourself and for the people around you.

1316
01:15:59,400 --> 01:16:01,000
It's about making sure that you're aware.

1317
01:16:01,000 --> 01:16:05,080
It's about making sure that you whatever it is that you think you can contribute to society

1318
01:16:05,080 --> 01:16:07,340
and to people and to humanity, you do it.

1319
01:16:07,340 --> 01:16:08,600
You give that piece of it.

1320
01:16:08,600 --> 01:16:12,800
And you know, I'm a firm believer that that is something that, you know, that's not something

1321
01:16:12,800 --> 01:16:13,800
that you're losing.

1322
01:16:13,800 --> 01:16:16,520
You're not losing the time that you're giving towards that you're not losing the energy

1323
01:16:16,520 --> 01:16:17,600
that you're giving towards it.

1324
01:16:17,600 --> 01:16:18,920
It's something that comes back.

1325
01:16:18,920 --> 01:16:23,560
And so, you know, I hate to speak in sort of like the in like abstracts, but I truly

1326
01:16:23,560 --> 01:16:29,620
believe that, you know, every single person plays a specific role that is unique to them.

1327
01:16:29,620 --> 01:16:33,760
But if they're not going to play that role and they're sort of withdrawing, it's a loss

1328
01:16:33,760 --> 01:16:34,760
for everybody.

1329
01:16:34,760 --> 01:16:37,880
You know, and that's something I hope people can at least take away.

1330
01:16:37,880 --> 01:16:41,880
It's like there's something that you're offering, whether it's, you know, for whatever for in

1331
01:16:41,880 --> 01:16:44,880
whatever aspect, there's something that you can offer.

1332
01:16:44,880 --> 01:16:46,960
And there's something that you bring to the table.

1333
01:16:46,960 --> 01:16:50,280
And it's like, if you're not doing that, it's that's where the loss comes in.

1334
01:16:50,280 --> 01:16:53,080
That's where, you know, everybody loses from that.

1335
01:16:53,080 --> 01:16:57,620
So, you know, I when I saw that there was this report of, you know, one hundred and

1336
01:16:57,620 --> 01:17:01,240
twenty five thousand people in the streets of Tel Aviv calling for a ceasefire.

1337
01:17:01,240 --> 01:17:07,600
You're like, OK, I mean, like there is, you know, there is this there's like this this

1338
01:17:07,600 --> 01:17:10,920
this chance where we can sort of seize the opportunity.

1339
01:17:10,920 --> 01:17:11,960
Everybody's aligned.

1340
01:17:11,960 --> 01:17:15,080
Everybody understands this is what's needed right now.

1341
01:17:15,080 --> 01:17:17,240
And then you start to realize who's getting in the way of that.

1342
01:17:17,240 --> 01:17:20,600
And I think that's just as important as anything else is like you start to realize who's standing

1343
01:17:20,600 --> 01:17:22,920
up against that, who does not want that to be in place.

1344
01:17:22,920 --> 01:17:29,040
And so, you know, I I hope that that's I hope that that's something that we're going to realize pretty soon.

1345
01:17:29,040 --> 01:17:31,520
Absolutely. Yeah, I've said this many, many times.

1346
01:17:31,520 --> 01:17:36,240
You think most Russians are on board with invading the Ukraine, you know, the people that are

1347
01:17:36,240 --> 01:17:39,880
just getting on with their life and the kids are going to school and they're going to work and

1348
01:17:39,880 --> 01:17:42,720
growing vegetables or whatever it is they're doing in that area.

1349
01:17:42,720 --> 01:17:44,440
Someone says, oh, we're going to invade Ukraine.

1350
01:17:44,440 --> 01:17:47,040
You're like, no, we're not. I don't want any part of that.

1351
01:17:47,040 --> 01:17:48,440
You know, but they did it anyway.

1352
01:17:48,440 --> 01:17:57,320
Under the again, the extremist tyranny of the few ruin it for for, you know, hundreds of thousands of people.

1353
01:17:57,320 --> 01:18:03,160
Absolutely. That's that's that's that's that's really I think we're at such an important historical moment

1354
01:18:03,160 --> 01:18:09,360
because you have sort of access to all of this information that's not being filtered by people that want to feed you a message.

1355
01:18:09,360 --> 01:18:14,120
You're able to kind of see right now you can hop on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook and you can see what's happened.

1356
01:18:14,120 --> 01:18:19,240
You can literally watch all of the people that are evacuating different parts of Gaza right now.

1357
01:18:19,240 --> 01:18:25,840
And you can see them on the back of, you know, the these on these these donkeys that are pulling carriages.

1358
01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:32,560
You see them, you see they've got everything that they've you know, that they have all of their worldly possessions are in their arms.

1359
01:18:32,560 --> 01:18:36,080
Right. They've got like a pot and they've got, you know, some bookbag or something.

1360
01:18:36,080 --> 01:18:42,920
You can see that live. And I think we're in this critical moment now where you can sort of look for the truth yourself

1361
01:18:42,920 --> 01:18:48,000
and find it in a way that's not being filtered by some sort of executive producer on some show somewhere

1362
01:18:48,000 --> 01:18:51,760
that's trying to make sure prime time gets enough views for their advertisers.

1363
01:18:51,760 --> 01:18:56,520
So that's this a special moment right now where we really can sort of see what's going on.

1364
01:18:56,520 --> 01:19:03,560
And that's why I think we're in this there's a I really I truly believe there's like there's a few moments in history that you'll always look back at.

1365
01:19:03,560 --> 01:19:10,200
And I know that Gaza is one of those moments. I just know that we're going to be looking back at this and starting to ask ourselves,

1366
01:19:10,200 --> 01:19:14,720
you know, how did we respond to this humanitarian disaster and crisis?

1367
01:19:14,720 --> 01:19:19,360
And then how did all of these quote unquote leaders respond to it?

1368
01:19:19,360 --> 01:19:22,400
How did the world stand idly by? And then what were the people doing?

1369
01:19:22,400 --> 01:19:30,360
And so that's why you keep coming back to, you know, just how I know that there are so many people who can who sympathize with what's happening,

1370
01:19:30,360 --> 01:19:33,760
who really find feel a certain way about it.

1371
01:19:33,760 --> 01:19:38,320
And I think that that's something that we'll we'll see in the future in terms of, you know,

1372
01:19:38,320 --> 01:19:41,960
there were people who were against this happening to other human beings.

1373
01:19:41,960 --> 01:19:46,800
And, you know, I it's it sucks that it reached this point.

1374
01:19:46,800 --> 01:19:51,280
But you just hope that, again, that there's enough energy and momentum behind it where we can make a change.

1375
01:19:51,280 --> 01:19:54,680
I do think that there's a special moment now that we can do that.

1376
01:19:54,680 --> 01:19:59,200
Yeah, absolutely. Well, the last time we spoke was February 20th.

1377
01:19:59,200 --> 01:20:04,520
And at that point, I think people were going to Rafa, if I remember rightly.

1378
01:20:04,520 --> 01:20:09,240
And then you'd witness that truly, as we said before, the bulldozing of, you know,

1379
01:20:09,240 --> 01:20:13,920
blocks of houses over and over, not just houses, businesses and hospitals and all these things.

1380
01:20:13,920 --> 01:20:17,840
So walk me through, you know, the next few months. What's happened since?

1381
01:20:17,840 --> 01:20:25,560
I think I think if I remember as well, just for the children alone, I think the death toll was at twelve or thirteen thousand by that point.

1382
01:20:25,560 --> 01:20:30,200
So kind of walk me walk me through the next few months that takes us up to today.

1383
01:20:30,200 --> 01:20:40,640
So at that time, Khan Yunus, which was also in the south, was being people had to flee at Khan Yunus because that's literally where I mean,

1384
01:20:40,640 --> 01:20:42,960
neighborhood by neighborhood was just absolutely being devastated.

1385
01:20:42,960 --> 01:20:47,440
And they were all piling into Rafa, which is the southernmost part of Gaza.

1386
01:20:47,440 --> 01:20:49,520
It's the border between Egypt and Palestine.

1387
01:20:49,520 --> 01:20:53,440
And you had people in every inch and corner of Rafa.

1388
01:20:53,440 --> 01:20:59,720
And that's why as March we started to enter into March, we were hearing that the Israeli military was

1389
01:20:59,720 --> 01:21:03,200
planning an invasion of Rafa and everybody was in panic mode.

1390
01:21:03,200 --> 01:21:04,680
I mean, they were like, it can't happen.

1391
01:21:04,680 --> 01:21:13,000
One point seven, one point eight million displaced people in makeshift tents cannot be moved and heard it around like sheep.

1392
01:21:13,000 --> 01:21:22,720
Simultaneously, while this was taking place, there was this, you know, this horrible famine that was taking place in the north of Gaza.

1393
01:21:22,720 --> 01:21:25,080
And then some people would be like, well, it wasn't technically a famine.

1394
01:21:25,080 --> 01:21:28,120
Whatever. Again, I'm not going to argue semantics, but there were children.

1395
01:21:28,120 --> 01:21:31,560
The malnutrition rates were exceedingly high.

1396
01:21:31,560 --> 01:21:35,760
There was 20 some cases of children who had starved to death.

1397
01:21:35,760 --> 01:21:40,440
And just to be clear, these were children who had, you know, there were some kids who had cerebral palsy,

1398
01:21:40,440 --> 01:21:44,960
some kids who had juvenile diabetes, some kids who had cancer.

1399
01:21:44,960 --> 01:21:50,480
But the point of the matter is that's the canary in the coal mine is that if you have the sicker kids at first,

1400
01:21:50,480 --> 01:21:56,200
now they're dying from the malnutrition, then your healthy kids are their malnutrition rates are very high.

1401
01:21:56,200 --> 01:22:03,000
And God forbid if there's cholera, if there's, you know, flu that starts to spread around, there's some sort of diarrheal illness.

1402
01:22:03,000 --> 01:22:06,520
Those kids are in a very, very life threatening situation.

1403
01:22:06,520 --> 01:22:09,440
I mean, their mortality rates skyrocket.

1404
01:22:09,440 --> 01:22:16,920
So we're in that moment where you're in March and in your year in April where you're just like, OK, this is not stopping.

1405
01:22:16,920 --> 01:22:19,920
The bombing is not stopping. We're seeing the death toll start to rise.

1406
01:22:19,920 --> 01:22:31,920
In fact, so much so that the UN said the health care system has been so devastated that we can't tell you what the breakdown of numbers are in terms of how, you know, is this a kid?

1407
01:22:31,920 --> 01:22:36,360
Is this a woman? Is this whatever it is? That's that's we're still in this moment now.

1408
01:22:36,360 --> 01:22:40,800
So hospital by hospitals getting raided, rendered defunct.

1409
01:22:40,800 --> 01:22:43,480
And the health care system is not on its feet.

1410
01:22:43,480 --> 01:22:51,080
The only numbers that we're getting is from the government media office that's just telling you how many people have been were buried in the last 24 hours.

1411
01:22:51,080 --> 01:22:57,320
And so this death toll is rapidly approaching 30 plus thousand, thirty five thousand in April.

1412
01:22:57,320 --> 01:23:06,280
Now you're almost at forty thousand. So, you know, things are getting much worse from a perspective of like this war is getting really, really intense and it's not letting up.

1413
01:23:06,280 --> 01:23:10,720
And there's all these people that are stuck in the south in the southern tip of Gaza.

1414
01:23:10,720 --> 01:23:20,000
You fast forward now and the Israeli military green lights operation and they order that, you know, the people in the south have to go to the middle of Gaza.

1415
01:23:20,000 --> 01:23:30,640
And so you you watch in the span of about two and a half weeks, nine hundred thousand people get up and try to flood the streets in the middle area.

1416
01:23:30,640 --> 01:23:39,320
In the meantime, people who did not leave are right there in the air strikes are intensifying and the tanks are rolling and now there's a ground invasion.

1417
01:23:39,320 --> 01:23:44,200
Then the border gets seized, the border between Egypt and Gaza.

1418
01:23:44,200 --> 01:23:51,560
And now all of those trucks of humanitarian aid are not able to enter the medical teams that the WHO was sending in are not able to enter.

1419
01:23:51,560 --> 01:23:56,160
And the medical evacuations and people who are who are trying to get out of Gaza are not able to get out.

1420
01:23:56,160 --> 01:23:59,840
That was May 7th since May 7th until today.

1421
01:23:59,840 --> 01:24:02,320
Right now, that border is still shut down.

1422
01:24:02,320 --> 01:24:11,040
There has been only one day where they allowed medical evacuations out, and that was basically through a border crossing called Karam Shalom or Karam Abu Sanam.

1423
01:24:11,040 --> 01:24:13,680
And that basically is Gaza into Israel.

1424
01:24:13,680 --> 01:24:17,000
And there were about 20 some patients who were medically evacuated.

1425
01:24:17,000 --> 01:24:19,920
Most were pediatric cancer patients.

1426
01:24:19,920 --> 01:24:23,560
That was one day from May 7th until now.

1427
01:24:23,560 --> 01:24:32,400
There is an estimated 14,000 people who are on the immediate evacuation list published by the World Health Organization waiting.

1428
01:24:32,400 --> 01:24:34,600
These are urgent evacuations.

1429
01:24:34,600 --> 01:24:37,200
These are people who need all sorts of different care.

1430
01:24:37,200 --> 01:24:38,520
They are waiting on this list.

1431
01:24:38,520 --> 01:24:46,520
And the expected the expectation is that there will be a few thousand of them who will die waiting to be evacuated.

1432
01:24:46,520 --> 01:24:49,760
I mean, that's just the numbers game, unfortunately.

1433
01:24:49,760 --> 01:24:52,280
Now you have a lot of people who are in the middle area.

1434
01:24:52,280 --> 01:24:58,920
The hospital system was essentially reduced to 12 partially functioning hospitals.

1435
01:24:58,920 --> 01:25:03,520
Of them, only two have CT capabilities.

1436
01:25:03,520 --> 01:25:06,560
Only two of them can you get a CT scan at.

1437
01:25:06,560 --> 01:25:10,880
Al Aqsa, which is in the middle, and the European Gaza Hospital, which is in the south.

1438
01:25:10,880 --> 01:25:12,840
It's on the border of Rafah and Khayn-Yuris.

1439
01:25:12,840 --> 01:25:17,160
Today, the European Gaza Hospital got evacuation orders.

1440
01:25:17,160 --> 01:25:21,960
So the 400 patients that were in there had to be evacuated out and all of the health care workers have to leave.

1441
01:25:21,960 --> 01:25:24,400
And that hospital will be shut down by tomorrow.

1442
01:25:24,400 --> 01:25:30,640
So you lose one of that main hospitals funded by the EU, funded by different international partners.

1443
01:25:30,640 --> 01:25:34,000
So now we're in this area where we don't have really any good hospital.

1444
01:25:34,000 --> 01:25:38,520
I got a text message yesterday about this kid who has an incarcerated hernia.

1445
01:25:38,520 --> 01:25:40,200
He's 18 months.

1446
01:25:40,200 --> 01:25:45,600
And there's no place for him to get the hernia reduced, no place for him to get the hernia repaired, no surgery that he can get.

1447
01:25:45,600 --> 01:25:47,920
And I'm just frantically scattering around.

1448
01:25:47,920 --> 01:25:55,400
And there might be a hospital called Nasser Hospital where I was in January that's starting to build up their services.

1449
01:25:55,400 --> 01:26:03,480
But what's so just like really, really like you get so burnt out from this is every day there's a new crisis.

1450
01:26:03,480 --> 01:26:11,360
So he might be able to go to Nasser Hospital, but now we're hearing from the hospitals that there's no fuel entering to power the generators,

1451
01:26:11,360 --> 01:26:13,520
to keep the lights on so that we can get things moving.

1452
01:26:13,520 --> 01:26:15,920
It's like one thing after another.

1453
01:26:15,920 --> 01:26:19,760
Literally, I keep asking myself, how can it get any worse?

1454
01:26:19,760 --> 01:26:21,240
And then something worse happens.

1455
01:26:21,240 --> 01:26:24,040
I mean, it's it's just unbelievable.

1456
01:26:24,040 --> 01:26:26,880
And I'm here. I'm in the United States now.

1457
01:26:26,880 --> 01:26:28,520
I have phone. I can pick up the phone.

1458
01:26:28,520 --> 01:26:30,480
I've got reliable telecommunications.

1459
01:26:30,480 --> 01:26:32,240
I've got I can call the State Department.

1460
01:26:32,240 --> 01:26:34,240
I'm calling anybody that I can.

1461
01:26:34,240 --> 01:26:38,680
I'm talking to my buddies who are there, the health care workers, the nurses and the docs.

1462
01:26:38,680 --> 01:26:41,040
And they are just exhausted.

1463
01:26:41,040 --> 01:26:45,320
I mean, they don't know the temperatures are above 100.

1464
01:26:45,320 --> 01:26:47,400
I mean, it's scorching hot there right now.

1465
01:26:47,400 --> 01:26:50,320
There is barely any supplies.

1466
01:26:50,320 --> 01:26:57,680
One of the doctors I know who's from who's from California, who's there now with International Medical Corps, he's in a field hospital.

1467
01:26:57,680 --> 01:27:02,560
He's like, we're literally scavenging all parts of different areas looking for medical supplies.

1468
01:27:02,560 --> 01:27:11,400
I mean, we're looking for gauze and we're looking for we're just looking for things because we keep getting people who have wounds from airstrikes months ago.

1469
01:27:11,400 --> 01:27:14,120
And now you're starting to notice some infection develop in these rooms.

1470
01:27:14,120 --> 01:27:15,920
And it's like, what do we expect to happen?

1471
01:27:15,920 --> 01:27:23,560
What do you think was going to happen when we're not allowing medical supplies in, you're not allowing water in, you're not allowing any of this stuff in?

1472
01:27:23,560 --> 01:27:28,760
And then while you're doing that, you're you're making sure these hospitals just get wrecked.

1473
01:27:28,760 --> 01:27:36,480
And so, you know, we're at a really, really horrible, horrible moment in Gaza right now in terms of the humanitarian situation.

1474
01:27:36,480 --> 01:27:39,000
But we're also at the lowest point of coverage on it.

1475
01:27:39,000 --> 01:27:45,600
Like with respect to Western media, we're not it's not getting the same attention that it was getting back in February, back in March.

1476
01:27:45,600 --> 01:27:50,200
So it's really concerning because, you know, you're like, what where do we go from here?

1477
01:27:50,200 --> 01:27:57,720
And now we have to rely on those on those same pollutes politicians in terms of getting to a deal, just getting something in place.

1478
01:27:57,720 --> 01:28:05,600
You know, and again, you know, there's people who people think like, you know, the fact that maybe I'm talking a lot about Gaza,

1479
01:28:05,600 --> 01:28:08,400
that I don't care about anything else or that anybody else that might be suffering.

1480
01:28:08,400 --> 01:28:16,680
But we're talking about just any sort of solution to this issue to bring peace to everybody in that area, everybody in that region.

1481
01:28:16,680 --> 01:28:20,320
I mean, it's enough. You know, time is we've got to got to stop this.

1482
01:28:20,320 --> 01:28:26,600
And one thing I'll end with is, you know, last week, this guy, this prime minister,

1483
01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:33,680
Netanyahu jumps on a video and he records this video and he publishes publishes on his Twitter.

1484
01:28:33,680 --> 01:28:40,320
And he's basically going after Biden because he's saying there's been delays in the 2000

1485
01:28:40,320 --> 01:28:46,400
bomb bombs and 500 pound bombs that we that we bought that we want them.

1486
01:28:46,400 --> 01:28:52,560
And you're like, what? This guy wants the weapons to be delivered so that he can use them like he that's what he's complaining about right now.

1487
01:28:52,560 --> 01:28:56,080
So to me, I was scared, obviously, when I first saw the video.

1488
01:28:56,080 --> 01:29:00,240
But now I'm pissed off because I'm like, the guy wants to the guy wants to keep things going.

1489
01:29:00,240 --> 01:29:05,880
And he wants to keep things moving. And you're starting to hear about the conflict spilling over into the region, into Lebanon.

1490
01:29:05,880 --> 01:29:09,640
I mean, you're already you already had this little back and forth with Iran and Israel.

1491
01:29:09,640 --> 01:29:12,440
Nobody wants that. I mean, nobody wants this to happen.

1492
01:29:12,440 --> 01:29:19,080
I mean, I don't I just this these sort of escalations that only kind of serves the interests of a few.

1493
01:29:19,080 --> 01:29:22,400
And it's like everybody else just has to eat shit in the meantime.

1494
01:29:22,400 --> 01:29:26,760
I mean, that's what that's what's concerning me. It's like, you know, I mean, I don't know, man.

1495
01:29:26,760 --> 01:29:31,880
I really I can't imagine this going on until November.

1496
01:29:31,880 --> 01:29:41,840
But I know I know that there are many people who are involved in this who want to wait for an American election and like see who what the outcome is,

1497
01:29:41,840 --> 01:29:46,840
like who wins that election and then start to think about how can we continue the war based on that.

1498
01:29:46,840 --> 01:29:52,440
They maybe think that one candidate might help them get the war more escalated versus another.

1499
01:29:52,440 --> 01:29:58,080
I don't know. But I know that that's kind of that's the chatter that we're hearing, at least in the NGO space about,

1500
01:29:58,080 --> 01:30:00,160
you know, what's the prospects of the day after?

1501
01:30:00,160 --> 01:30:03,960
When can we get to the day after so we can start rebuilding and reconstructing?

1502
01:30:03,960 --> 01:30:09,800
And that's what we're hearing is like, there's some there's these are kind of the kinds of discussions that are in play here.

1503
01:30:09,800 --> 01:30:14,960
So, you know, not not a great update. It's really gotten significantly worse there.

1504
01:30:14,960 --> 01:30:23,680
But, you know, I think right now it's like, you know, what right now you've got people who are trapped, who don't have any food, don't have any water.

1505
01:30:23,680 --> 01:30:27,440
The hospitals don't have any supplies and they don't have any fuel for their generators.

1506
01:30:27,440 --> 01:30:35,840
And then there's more doctors, nurses, first responders, paramedics, people who you call civil defense, who have been killed in the last couple of months.

1507
01:30:35,840 --> 01:30:40,600
Over one hundred and sixty two aid workers have been killed at this point.

1508
01:30:40,600 --> 01:30:42,560
And then over one hundred journalists have been killed.

1509
01:30:42,560 --> 01:30:47,880
So it's like, you know, you're just every aspect of this is in a bad situation.

1510
01:30:47,880 --> 01:30:56,160
Anything that could somehow help the people, whether it's media coverage or whether it's fuel for a hospital, it's all obstructed.

1511
01:30:56,160 --> 01:30:59,360
It's all not not working well.

1512
01:30:59,360 --> 01:31:05,720
I've had so many members of the military on the show that, you know, lost friends, for example,

1513
01:31:05,720 --> 01:31:10,280
because of the stringent rules of engagement that tied their hands.

1514
01:31:10,280 --> 01:31:19,640
You know, we've had the border boarding and all these things brought out into the forefront, you know, that was seen as these horrendous atrocities.

1515
01:31:19,640 --> 01:31:22,360
But then you look at what's going on in Gaza.

1516
01:31:22,360 --> 01:31:26,920
Talk to me about the the abuse of the Geneva Convention.

1517
01:31:26,920 --> 01:31:29,080
You know, how far are they straying?

1518
01:31:29,080 --> 01:31:40,240
Because to me, just the fact that you're not allowing humanitarian aid in itself seems like a blatant spit in the face of the international community.

1519
01:31:40,240 --> 01:31:49,520
Absolutely. I mean, that's really what we've been these are the talking points that we're using when we're talking to policymakers, decision makers, whether it's at the UN or in capital.

1520
01:31:49,520 --> 01:31:54,480
For example, aid can starvation cannot be used as a weapon.

1521
01:31:54,480 --> 01:31:58,680
It is against international humanitarian law. It's against the Geneva Convention.

1522
01:31:58,680 --> 01:32:02,240
You cannot starve a population's as a means to punish them.

1523
01:32:02,240 --> 01:32:09,880
And so when you are saying that there is food on these trucks that you're not allowing to enter and then as a direct consequence of that,

1524
01:32:09,880 --> 01:32:16,880
malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition is rising in a very heavy and in a very aggressive way.

1525
01:32:16,880 --> 01:32:20,520
That's that's something that has to be changed. That's something that has to be rectified.

1526
01:32:20,520 --> 01:32:30,120
If you don't hold parties accountable for those types of actions, you are setting a precedent that is going to be that the word regret is is an understatement here.

1527
01:32:30,120 --> 01:32:33,640
I mean, you don't want you want to make sure that people are held accountable for these reasons.

1528
01:32:33,640 --> 01:32:42,720
Number two, there's something called the under international humanitarian law. You cannot convert hospitals into targets.

1529
01:32:42,720 --> 01:32:45,680
Health care workers need to be able to practice in these hospitals.

1530
01:32:45,680 --> 01:32:52,360
You cannot wipe out this many civilians to get one combatant, for example.

1531
01:32:52,360 --> 01:33:01,240
And I'll tell you, in conversations that I've had with senior high level people, they're telling me, well, there is a there is like this international law reasoning where you can say,

1532
01:33:01,240 --> 01:33:08,240
hey, there's one bad guy here so we can kill one hundred and fifty because the potential of that one bad guy, he could have killed hundreds.

1533
01:33:08,240 --> 01:33:11,320
You're like, that's bullshit. Nobody is buying that.

1534
01:33:11,320 --> 01:33:13,240
I mean, come on, man. Like, what are you talking about?

1535
01:33:13,240 --> 01:33:20,600
You just wipe out an entire apartment building full of one hundred and fifty people because you've got one bad guy that could have done bad things.

1536
01:33:20,600 --> 01:33:22,440
Come on. That's not that's not reasonable.

1537
01:33:22,440 --> 01:33:28,560
Like, you're not going to argue that in international law because you're saying the civilians cannot deliberately be targeted,

1538
01:33:28,560 --> 01:33:32,200
you cannot indiscriminately attack civilian infrastructure.

1539
01:33:32,200 --> 01:33:33,880
And we're not just talking about civilian infrastructure.

1540
01:33:33,880 --> 01:33:36,240
We're talking about hospitals, talking about clinics.

1541
01:33:36,240 --> 01:33:41,600
Like, you're you're not considering the devastating effect that it has on the population.

1542
01:33:41,600 --> 01:33:47,680
If you take out the maternity hospital, what happens to the pregnant fifty thousand pregnant women that are there?

1543
01:33:47,680 --> 01:33:55,720
We already know that some of them, a handful of them, have had to have C-sections without anesthesia, without general anesthesia, only local.

1544
01:33:55,720 --> 01:34:01,560
I mean, that is horrifying. And then you're telling me that two hours after you there's a C-section,

1545
01:34:01,560 --> 01:34:10,360
you're telling the mom that she's got to get up and go back to her tent with her baby because there's another mom there because it's the only field hospital that can handle maternity patients.

1546
01:34:10,360 --> 01:34:12,040
All right. Is that OK?

1547
01:34:12,040 --> 01:34:15,320
You're saying that that doesn't directly violate international humanitarian law.

1548
01:34:15,320 --> 01:34:21,840
But that's the reason that that's in place is because there was a violation against the hospital in the first place that shut it down, that destroyed it.

1549
01:34:21,840 --> 01:34:28,360
So, you know, there are several different things that are in play here when you when we start talking about international humanitarian law.

1550
01:34:28,360 --> 01:34:33,160
But I think that there has to be the will to hold people accountable.

1551
01:34:33,160 --> 01:34:40,560
There has to be where you say, all right, this hospital was hit by a missile and this 12 year old girl was killed as a result of that.

1552
01:34:40,560 --> 01:34:45,680
And then you shut down the maternity services and you didn't allow water to enter clean water to enter.

1553
01:34:45,680 --> 01:34:49,800
So these are violations in play and we need to hold you accountable.

1554
01:34:49,800 --> 01:35:01,680
How you do that is up to you guys, but if you don't do it at all, you're establishing horrifying precedent in something that right now we're growing towards more and more global conflicts.

1555
01:35:01,680 --> 01:35:11,920
You can't also say in one second Russians cannot target Ukrainian hospitals and then just be quiet if hospitals in Gaza are being targeted where you have to have moral consistency.

1556
01:35:11,920 --> 01:35:14,280
You have to have a principled approach. Yes.

1557
01:35:14,280 --> 01:35:18,400
Is it your best friend that maybe is doing? I understand that's that can be tough.

1558
01:35:18,400 --> 01:35:21,600
But you have to be morally consistent and it will be good for all parties.

1559
01:35:21,600 --> 01:35:25,480
I promise that as long as we're holding people accountable, it's good all around.

1560
01:35:25,480 --> 01:35:30,960
You know, so I think that that's something that is something we've tried to raise.

1561
01:35:30,960 --> 01:35:37,160
The one thing I do want to mention to you is there's this notion of de-confliction in these war zones.

1562
01:35:37,160 --> 01:35:46,360
And anybody that's been in the military understands like humanitarian services and delivery of health care is going to take place and needs to take place, especially in wartime.

1563
01:35:46,360 --> 01:35:48,560
That's really when those principles get challenged.

1564
01:35:48,560 --> 01:35:58,200
And so there is going to be coordination between international organizations, health care institutions with both militaries saying we're going to be moving in this space.

1565
01:35:58,200 --> 01:36:03,600
We're going to be bringing in this amount of medicine. We're going to be at this location. Here's our safe house.

1566
01:36:03,600 --> 01:36:07,720
You know, that's something that needs to be upheld and it usually is upheld.

1567
01:36:07,720 --> 01:36:12,080
And in Gaza, that has proven to have failed every step of the way.

1568
01:36:12,080 --> 01:36:15,200
And that's how those world central kitchen aid workers got killed.

1569
01:36:15,200 --> 01:36:19,120
That was an approved route. That was a de-conflicted route.

1570
01:36:19,120 --> 01:36:24,240
They had given their coordinates. They had told the Israeli military, we are leaving from this location at this time.

1571
01:36:24,240 --> 01:36:27,440
We are taking this road. We are going to this target location.

1572
01:36:27,440 --> 01:36:30,520
We were carrying this amount of stuff. And these are the amount of people with us.

1573
01:36:30,520 --> 01:36:33,800
These are their identification numbers. Here are their passport numbers.

1574
01:36:33,800 --> 01:36:37,960
Here are, you know, here's the cars they'll be in. Here's the marked car. Here's the license plate.

1575
01:36:37,960 --> 01:36:43,320
They still were triple hit. It was a triple tap. Three different missiles that killed those seven people.

1576
01:36:43,320 --> 01:36:51,000
And it's because de-confliction broke down and it has consistently broken down in Gaza every day for the last eight months.

1577
01:36:51,000 --> 01:36:54,280
Does that happen in war? It does. But I'll give you one example.

1578
01:36:54,280 --> 01:37:00,520
In Afghanistan, the United States military accidentally hit a Doctors Without Borders hospital.

1579
01:37:00,520 --> 01:37:05,760
It was a huge incident. It was called the Kunduz hospital hit. Huge incident.

1580
01:37:05,760 --> 01:37:11,920
The entire United States military revamped their de-confliction methods because of that.

1581
01:37:11,920 --> 01:37:16,680
And that's what you're supposed to do. And if you ask Doctors Without Borders, MSF,

1582
01:37:16,680 --> 01:37:21,320
about how did de-confliction work after that horrible, terrifying incident, they said it upheld.

1583
01:37:21,320 --> 01:37:28,160
It was reasonable. It worked out well. Even Israel, even Israel has a de-confliction system that works.

1584
01:37:28,160 --> 01:37:34,000
And it's proven in southern Lebanon in 2006, there was a de-confliction system that worked.

1585
01:37:34,000 --> 01:37:41,360
And that's how you minimize the civilian casualties. That's how you minimize devastating damage where you're going to get a lot of suffering.

1586
01:37:41,360 --> 01:37:48,160
And to me, it's broken down in Gaza in a really disgusting, terrible way.

1587
01:37:48,160 --> 01:37:53,000
And every single NGO that you've heard of has kind of come out against this.

1588
01:37:53,000 --> 01:37:59,840
There was a letter written by Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, Project HOPE, World Central Kitchen,

1589
01:37:59,840 --> 01:38:07,280
ANERA, and one other organization, the International IRC, the International Refugee Council, or Relief Council.

1590
01:38:07,280 --> 01:38:12,400
I can't remember their name. But they wrote a letter, incidents where de-confliction broke down

1591
01:38:12,400 --> 01:38:18,760
and that they were suffered, whether it was somebody who was killed or a house that was hit or an operation that was disrupted.

1592
01:38:18,760 --> 01:38:27,920
And these are huge players. These are recognizable names. Oxfam, when Oxfam is telling you that starvation is being used as a weapon, you listen.

1593
01:38:27,920 --> 01:38:37,160
I mean, Oxfam has no financial interests in Gaza. It's a position that they have said loud and clear.

1594
01:38:37,160 --> 01:38:43,600
We should be listening to that. I mean, that's important to say where they're saying this is contravening international laws.

1595
01:38:43,600 --> 01:38:47,040
This is going against international humanitarian law, something to consider.

1596
01:38:47,040 --> 01:38:52,000
And then the last thing I'll say, I'm not a legal expert, so I want to, that's the disclaimer.

1597
01:38:52,000 --> 01:38:57,520
But the International Court of Justice is hearing a case when it comes to the situation that's taking place in Gaza.

1598
01:38:57,520 --> 01:39:01,680
And that case was brought by the South Africans in December.

1599
01:39:01,680 --> 01:39:13,760
All right. The other thing is you have the International Criminal Court, who's right now trying to pass arrest warrants for political leaders involved in this conflict because of war crimes.

1600
01:39:13,760 --> 01:39:22,640
And then the other thing is you have three UN special rapporteurs, independent investigators, that have found war crimes have been committed in this conflict.

1601
01:39:22,640 --> 01:39:31,480
And so we've got a mountain of evidence here that really bad shit has happened in Gaza.

1602
01:39:31,480 --> 01:39:38,040
Really horrifying stuff that has happened and it's happened because of human beings that made the decision, they made the call.

1603
01:39:38,040 --> 01:39:46,520
If we don't make sure that this that there is some sort of consequences to these sorts of actions or behaviors,

1604
01:39:46,520 --> 01:39:54,360
we are going to set the stage for a horrible, horrible future, immediate future, not just in this region, but globally.

1605
01:39:54,360 --> 01:39:59,000
You think that people who are adversarial towards America aren't watching this?

1606
01:39:59,000 --> 01:40:02,880
Putin is not paying attention to what's taking place here or even Zelensky.

1607
01:40:02,880 --> 01:40:12,160
I mean, I'm not saying you know, I don't want to pretend like I like I'm sitting here and like I understand the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to a T.

1608
01:40:12,160 --> 01:40:14,520
But they're seeing what's taking place over there.

1609
01:40:14,520 --> 01:40:21,720
The Russians have already had very had had allegations of war crimes levied against them because of their behavior in the Ukraine.

1610
01:40:21,720 --> 01:40:28,200
Do you think they're not watching what's taking place in Gaza or the Chinese are not paying attention to what's going on in Gaza?

1611
01:40:28,200 --> 01:40:38,800
When they have their own conflicts with the Uyghurs and and even when you're talking about Hong Kong or semi-autonomous regions, everybody's paying attention.

1612
01:40:38,800 --> 01:40:41,600
Everybody's paying attention because the Americans are involved.

1613
01:40:41,600 --> 01:40:46,000
We're involved in this. We are the we are the global leader.

1614
01:40:46,000 --> 01:40:49,880
We're the superpower. Everybody's watching how we respond to this and what we're going to do about it.

1615
01:40:49,880 --> 01:40:52,640
It's going to set the stage for generations to come.

1616
01:40:52,640 --> 01:40:55,200
And we have the opportunity to do the right thing.

1617
01:40:55,200 --> 01:40:57,600
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

1618
01:40:57,600 --> 01:41:00,720
Well, I want to hit one more area and then just we'll quickly visit Lebanon.

1619
01:41:00,720 --> 01:41:12,920
But when we spoke last, UNRWA was about to have the funding pulled and that was a huge financial crutch, for lack of a better word, for the people of Gaza.

1620
01:41:12,920 --> 01:41:14,880
So what happened with that?

1621
01:41:14,880 --> 01:41:17,800
So UNRWA is a quasi-government.

1622
01:41:17,800 --> 01:41:18,880
That's the bottom line.

1623
01:41:18,880 --> 01:41:24,320
Largest employer in Gaza, largest health care provider, largest educator in Gaza,

1624
01:41:24,320 --> 01:41:28,120
you know, the largest aid distribution and food security person.

1625
01:41:28,120 --> 01:41:30,000
UNRWA was the backbone of the Gaza Strip.

1626
01:41:30,000 --> 01:41:32,400
They do everything. They are a quasi-government.

1627
01:41:32,400 --> 01:41:40,680
And they were obviously they're funded by by they're funded by several international countries.

1628
01:41:40,680 --> 01:41:42,920
But there are like 10 big honchos.

1629
01:41:42,920 --> 01:41:46,520
The U.S. and the UK are the top two donors to UNRWA.

1630
01:41:46,520 --> 01:41:56,120
And when the allegations came out that there were 12 employees that participated in the attacks on October 7th, everybody paused their funding.

1631
01:41:56,120 --> 01:41:59,120
An independent investigation took place.

1632
01:41:59,120 --> 01:42:02,920
Then the story came out that the number has been reduced from 12 to 6.

1633
01:42:02,920 --> 01:42:07,880
And then the report by the United Nations came out and said, you know, the allegations are unsubstantiated.

1634
01:42:07,880 --> 01:42:08,960
There's no evidence there.

1635
01:42:08,960 --> 01:42:16,440
So every country resumed funding except the United States and the United Kingdom, the only two countries that have still not resumed

1636
01:42:16,440 --> 01:42:23,480
their funding. This is a big deal because the United States gives around 300 million dollars to UNRWA's budget.

1637
01:42:23,480 --> 01:42:28,240
UNRWA works in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Syria and in Jordan.

1638
01:42:28,240 --> 01:42:33,120
So they work everywhere. There are Palestinian refugees and they have 30,000 employees.

1639
01:42:33,120 --> 01:42:35,480
Now, other countries have tried to increase their funding.

1640
01:42:35,480 --> 01:42:39,000
And I spoke to the director of UNRWA.

1641
01:42:39,000 --> 01:42:45,320
I was at a conference recently and I heard them basically say that they do believe that they'll be able to kind of somehow get some

1642
01:42:45,320 --> 01:42:50,520
operations going, get some things off the ground in a reduced way.

1643
01:42:50,520 --> 01:42:58,800
But all I can think is when we're talking about the day after, it's going to require everybody increasing capacity.

1644
01:42:58,800 --> 01:43:08,160
I mean, if you're saying 70 percent of houses and businesses have been destroyed in Gaza and you're talking about 2 million people now

1645
01:43:08,160 --> 01:43:13,960
and 60 percent of them need places to stay and they're going to need jobs and everybody's going to need health care and

1646
01:43:13,960 --> 01:43:19,360
everybody's going to need schooling to resume, it's going to need, you're not going to go, you can't go back to the operations that were in

1647
01:43:19,360 --> 01:43:22,720
place on October 6th. It needs to be above and beyond that.

1648
01:43:22,720 --> 01:43:25,520
And so already they're going to be in a limited capacity.

1649
01:43:25,520 --> 01:43:28,240
And I know that people in Gaza are going to suffer as a result of that.

1650
01:43:28,240 --> 01:43:40,040
So UNRWA, the United States passed our Congress in all of its infinite wisdom, decided to pass and codify into law that you are not

1651
01:43:40,040 --> 01:43:43,400
able to fund UNRWA for fiscal year 2025.

1652
01:43:43,400 --> 01:43:50,520
So our government, who gives 300 million usually to UNRWA, is not going to be giving them any money through 2025.

1653
01:43:50,520 --> 01:43:53,920
And so they're not going to they're going to have to come up with that money from somewhere else.

1654
01:43:53,920 --> 01:44:00,440
There was recently last Thursday, there was a bunch of votes in the Capitol.

1655
01:44:00,440 --> 01:44:02,880
Somebody had tried to bring up UNRWA Restoration Act.

1656
01:44:02,880 --> 01:44:04,480
Basically, let's refund UNRWA.

1657
01:44:04,480 --> 01:44:07,240
Let's kind of go back to everything that's happened.

1658
01:44:07,240 --> 01:44:09,160
And that was quickly withdrawn.

1659
01:44:09,160 --> 01:44:11,160
Nobody voted on it. It was not going to pass.

1660
01:44:11,160 --> 01:44:12,440
So the money's got to come from somewhere.

1661
01:44:12,440 --> 01:44:13,600
I don't know what's going to happen.

1662
01:44:13,600 --> 01:44:17,240
The other thing is it's important to I mean, just to leave it all out in the open.

1663
01:44:17,240 --> 01:44:18,800
Why is UNRWA being attacked?

1664
01:44:18,800 --> 01:44:20,520
Why is the funding not going to be there?

1665
01:44:20,520 --> 01:44:22,440
Why is why are the why?

1666
01:44:22,440 --> 01:44:25,480
Why is everybody's sights set on kind of UNRWA collapsing?

1667
01:44:25,480 --> 01:44:27,600
It's because of what it sort of represents.

1668
01:44:27,600 --> 01:44:35,840
UNRWA was created by the United Nations, and essentially it was to address the Palestine refugee problem.

1669
01:44:35,840 --> 01:44:47,160
So as long as there is an institution that's being supported by all of these countries that is geared towards Palestinian refugees until there aren't any Palestinian refugees,

1670
01:44:47,160 --> 01:44:51,480
that problem is going to persist for people who want that problem to go away.

1671
01:44:51,480 --> 01:44:57,280
And so really, that's that if you look at the history of UNRWA, it's been attacked over the last two decades.

1672
01:44:57,280 --> 01:45:00,320
And so that's that's what's at play here.

1673
01:45:00,320 --> 01:45:04,600
I hope that something changes with respect to them.

1674
01:45:04,600 --> 01:45:14,960
And, you know, I think that's probably I think that's probably I don't know if there's been any other development other than the fact that they've lost UNRWA being a UN agency.

1675
01:45:14,960 --> 01:45:20,680
And since World War Two, there's been over 150 UNRWA employees killed in Gaza.

1676
01:45:20,680 --> 01:45:25,520
It's been the most ever for any UN agency since its inception.

1677
01:45:25,520 --> 01:45:30,800
So it's also a deadly job in Gaza to be to work for UNRWA.

1678
01:45:30,800 --> 01:45:36,120
Well, you mentioned Lebanon before, just to close off this conversation, I know you were just there.

1679
01:45:36,120 --> 01:45:38,520
Obviously, now there's tension at that border as well.

1680
01:45:38,520 --> 01:45:44,000
Talk to me about the Lebanese people's fears, having seen what's going on in Gaza at the moment.

1681
01:45:44,000 --> 01:45:48,960
And absolutely. And they experience they experience what war looks like in southern Lebanon.

1682
01:45:48,960 --> 01:45:53,520
In 2006, there was a war that took place there and a lot of it was devastated.

1683
01:45:53,520 --> 01:46:00,400
And there's been skirmishes back and forth between southern Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel.

1684
01:46:00,400 --> 01:46:05,840
I mean, they have been really kind of going back and forth on a smaller scale.

1685
01:46:05,840 --> 01:46:13,040
An idea of a full blown war breaking out reached its reached like the height of fears last week.

1686
01:46:13,040 --> 01:46:19,160
So much so that Canada encouraged any dual citizens to flee the country.

1687
01:46:19,160 --> 01:46:25,800
They told any Canadian citizen in Lebanon, get out while you can, is what the messaging was from Canada's foreign ministry.

1688
01:46:25,800 --> 01:46:32,440
So there have been lots of villages that have been evacuated in southern Lebanon and have been destroyed.

1689
01:46:32,440 --> 01:46:35,360
The pictures are rough.

1690
01:46:35,360 --> 01:46:41,160
But the idea that this could break out into something that looked like 2006, everybody's nervous.

1691
01:46:41,160 --> 01:46:46,760
Everybody's panicking. The airports have a lot of a lot of people who are fleeing the country.

1692
01:46:46,760 --> 01:46:53,480
And in the streets of Beirut, I mean, there's people who are just like pretty nervous and saying,

1693
01:46:53,480 --> 01:46:58,000
we really don't want to see a war come to this country.

1694
01:46:58,000 --> 01:47:05,880
And I think my understanding is if you talk to anybody involved, is that if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, we're good.

1695
01:47:05,880 --> 01:47:10,640
There will be no war in Lebanon. There will be no war between Iran and Israel.

1696
01:47:10,640 --> 01:47:15,720
The Houthis in Yemen will not attack any cargo ships that are passing through the Red Sea.

1697
01:47:15,720 --> 01:47:21,400
Everything will kind of stabilize. And so I think that's why it's so important to kind of keep,

1698
01:47:21,400 --> 01:47:35,400
make sure that we're still pushing for a ceasefire, making sure that we just stop this war that's going on and prevent it from becoming this whole regional war that will absolutely pull in other global players.

1699
01:47:35,400 --> 01:47:45,960
And America has come out and said plainly, the US said we have to get involved if there is some sort of Lebanon-Israel war between Hezbollah and Israel.

1700
01:47:45,960 --> 01:47:49,440
So, you know, that's this is it's the real deal. It's the real deal.

1701
01:47:49,440 --> 01:47:53,240
Now is the time to act and make sure that we prevent anything from happening.

1702
01:47:53,240 --> 01:47:59,400
Yeah. And that makes it more real for the Americans that will understand their children will be sent to fight those wars.

1703
01:47:59,400 --> 01:48:05,360
You know, and again, you talked about, you know, people gaining power and wealth from war.

1704
01:48:05,360 --> 01:48:08,480
Well, we're fully aware of the military industrial complex here.

1705
01:48:08,480 --> 01:48:17,400
You know, and there's so many people have on the show, especially in the special forces branches, that when it comes to Afghanistan, for example, they all kind of say the same thing.

1706
01:48:17,400 --> 01:48:24,440
We should have been in for like 18 months, you know, taken out the key targets, taken out the training camps and then left again.

1707
01:48:24,440 --> 01:48:29,960
And it was 20 years with the world's worst withdrawal that broke the hearts of so many people who served.

1708
01:48:29,960 --> 01:48:37,680
And now we're going to send our children off again to watch more, you know, American, British, Canadian caskets come back covered in the national flag.

1709
01:48:37,680 --> 01:48:41,000
So this should be a giant wake up call for us.

1710
01:48:41,000 --> 01:48:47,440
Like the driving nucleus of this is it's the right thing to do because it's an absolute atrocity.

1711
01:48:47,440 --> 01:48:54,360
But even if you're more worried about your own bubble, this is going to bleed into our military, too.

1712
01:48:54,360 --> 01:48:56,640
And James, you bring up an important point.

1713
01:48:56,640 --> 01:49:08,760
There is this figure that's coming out of Gaza six over, you know, up until this point, the Israelis have gotten 60 billion dollars worth of arms from the United States in these eight months.

1714
01:49:08,760 --> 01:49:13,560
Who is benefiting from that amount of money of weapons being sent to the Israelis?

1715
01:49:13,560 --> 01:49:17,520
Right. And it's that it's again, there's people who are going to make lots of money.

1716
01:49:17,520 --> 01:49:21,760
A war with Lebanon and Hezbollah would surely mean a surge in that.

1717
01:49:21,760 --> 01:49:26,880
I mean, you're talking double or triple that amount of weapons needed and being purchased.

1718
01:49:26,880 --> 01:49:28,840
So, you know, that's important to keep in mind.

1719
01:49:28,840 --> 01:49:33,440
It's like, you know, there's, you know, there's all sorts of reasons to be against this.

1720
01:49:33,440 --> 01:49:38,280
And like you said, kind of the backbone of this is really want to avoid bloodshed.

1721
01:49:38,280 --> 01:49:40,200
Really want to make sure that that doesn't happen.

1722
01:49:40,200 --> 01:49:49,560
But also, I mean, these you don't want these people's showing up influencing decisions that are made in wartime, people who are going to be lining their pockets with money.

1723
01:49:49,560 --> 01:50:01,000
And that's, you know, that that that only spells bad news for the people involved, for the everyday people who, for example, will have will either be serving or have people they love who will be serving in these conflicts.

1724
01:50:01,000 --> 01:50:05,360
Absolutely. Well, we have gone, you know, not even all over the place.

1725
01:50:05,360 --> 01:50:10,520
We've taken a deep dive. I think what's interesting about the second conversation is we've looked in the mirror in the States.

1726
01:50:10,520 --> 01:50:13,160
Like, what can we do? And I love that phrase.

1727
01:50:13,160 --> 01:50:15,080
If you want to change the world, start at home.

1728
01:50:15,080 --> 01:50:19,960
Like you said, every single one of us has an opportunity to make a difference in this conversation.

1729
01:50:19,960 --> 01:50:27,640
And if we stand side by side like we should do, then we can demand a change before I let you go.

1730
01:50:27,640 --> 01:50:32,080
Is there anything else you want to kind of impart?

1731
01:50:32,080 --> 01:50:38,560
You know, I probably would just say again for me, I do think this is a pivotal moment.

1732
01:50:38,560 --> 01:50:47,360
The last thing I want to tell you is just to kind of give everybody a glimpse of what it would take to kind of get in now that the border has sort of shut down there.

1733
01:50:47,360 --> 01:50:51,680
Now you have to go to Jordan, go into Israel and then get to Gaza.

1734
01:50:51,680 --> 01:51:00,880
But we are hearing communication that the Israelis say anybody with Palestinian roots, even if they have Palestinian grandparents, will be denied entry into the Gaza Strip.

1735
01:51:00,880 --> 01:51:07,720
And that before when I took seven bags of medical supplies with me and a group of five of us took 30 bags of medical supplies.

1736
01:51:07,720 --> 01:51:15,920
Now, one per person, you can only take one bag less than 50 pounds, less than 23 kilograms, and it can only have personal belongings.

1737
01:51:15,920 --> 01:51:21,800
And I was bringing in ET tubes. I was bringing in a portable ultrasound device.

1738
01:51:21,800 --> 01:51:24,200
I was bringing in Band-Aids. I was bringing in gauze.

1739
01:51:24,200 --> 01:51:27,680
Those are the things that I brought in. I stuffed my bags with when I went in January.

1740
01:51:27,680 --> 01:51:34,320
Now you're telling me, me as a Palestinian, I can't go in, but you who's going to go in there, James, if you're going to decide to go to Gaza and help out,

1741
01:51:34,320 --> 01:51:39,800
you can only bring in your boxers and briefs and you can only bring in personal items.

1742
01:51:39,800 --> 01:51:42,840
You can't bring in stuff that you know that you need to use.

1743
01:51:42,840 --> 01:51:47,840
And now before it was minimum two weeks. All right.

1744
01:51:47,840 --> 01:51:53,960
A rotation of two weeks of humanitarian actors, doctors, nurses, first responders, whatever in and out.

1745
01:51:53,960 --> 01:51:58,880
Now it's minimum of four weeks and expect delays.

1746
01:51:58,880 --> 01:52:05,880
James, I don't know a single subspecialist in the United States who can take four weeks off of work to go and help in Gaza.

1747
01:52:05,880 --> 01:52:09,360
I don't know anybody that I don't know an orthopedic surgeon that can do that. I don't know a trauma surgeon.

1748
01:52:09,360 --> 01:52:11,920
I know that two weeks they can do it. They can make it happen.

1749
01:52:11,920 --> 01:52:13,640
But now they're telling us four weeks.

1750
01:52:13,640 --> 01:52:23,920
So the idea that, you know, that there is going to be like, oh, some sort of opportunity to continue the war and then allow the humanitarian situation to get better.

1751
01:52:23,920 --> 01:52:27,800
With how it is right now, as of today, it's impossible.

1752
01:52:27,800 --> 01:52:37,360
And this this new process of getting people in who want to help in Gaza, making it so brutal and difficult and restrictive, it's only going to result in people suffering.

1753
01:52:37,360 --> 01:52:45,160
So I hope that anybody that's listening to this can just sort of know some of those details, because I think people like those like to hear details like that.

1754
01:52:45,160 --> 01:52:50,160
They like to hear like, OK, if somebody wanted to go and help, I'm a doctor, I'm a nurse, I'm a you know, I'm a paramedic.

1755
01:52:50,160 --> 01:52:52,200
I want to go and help. I want to do what I can.

1756
01:52:52,200 --> 01:52:55,640
I know how to deal with trauma. This is what this is what you would be put through.

1757
01:52:55,640 --> 01:52:57,440
This is the ringer that you'd be put through.

1758
01:52:57,440 --> 01:53:01,600
Don't even think about, you know, you can bring in one stethoscope if there's two, it's getting confiscated.

1759
01:53:01,600 --> 01:53:06,320
You can bring in one electronic device. You try to bring in one of those cool portable ultrasounds.

1760
01:53:06,320 --> 01:53:10,240
Forget about it. I mean, that's that's the that's the stuff that's going on right now.

1761
01:53:10,240 --> 01:53:15,440
And so I think that's something that I just wanted to kind of put out there just to see just how hard it is to kind of do good work,

1762
01:53:15,440 --> 01:53:19,080
just how hard it is to bring in relief into Gaza right now.

1763
01:53:19,080 --> 01:53:21,520
So that's just one layer. I know we've talked a lot about this.

1764
01:53:21,520 --> 01:53:24,880
Obviously, I appreciate the opportunity. It's always great talking to you.

1765
01:53:24,880 --> 01:53:27,200
And it's nice to kind of put things in perspective.

1766
01:53:27,200 --> 01:53:31,120
I think that, you know, that helps me and I hope it helps people who are listening.

1767
01:53:31,120 --> 01:53:38,200
I'm sure it does. So we mentioned before about MedGlobal, obviously the humanitarian group that you're a part of.

1768
01:53:38,200 --> 01:53:44,880
Where can people find MedGlobal so they can be more educated or maybe donate and try and be part of the solution?

1769
01:53:44,880 --> 01:53:48,080
And then where are the best places to find you online?

1770
01:53:48,080 --> 01:53:52,760
Absolutely. I mean, you can definitely follow me on Instagram. That's the only social media that I'm on.

1771
01:53:52,760 --> 01:53:56,880
And it's just my name. If you search my name, Thayer Ahmad, you'll find me.

1772
01:53:56,880 --> 01:54:00,280
And then MedGlobal, too, they're on social media, MedGlobal.org.

1773
01:54:00,280 --> 01:54:03,720
There are a lot of great organizations working in Gaza right now.

1774
01:54:03,720 --> 01:54:10,680
The Palestinian American Medical Association, the International Medical Corps, they've all got teams on the ground.

1775
01:54:10,680 --> 01:54:16,600
And there's they're always pulling out, you know, they're just trying to show the reality of what's taking place on the ground.

1776
01:54:16,600 --> 01:54:24,360
So anybody that's really kind of wants to do a deeper dive, you know, obviously, feel free to also contact me with any questions or anything.

1777
01:54:24,360 --> 01:54:29,120
You can definitely find me on Instagram. And then also with any of these organizations,

1778
01:54:29,120 --> 01:54:36,560
one thing I always caution people with, especially because if they want to be generous and they want to donate financially to some of these humanitarian relief organizations,

1779
01:54:36,560 --> 01:54:42,640
make sure you're looking at organizations that were already on the ground in Gaza before everything broke out.

1780
01:54:42,640 --> 01:54:47,720
They've got the infrastructure. They've got people in the field. They've already got the know how.

1781
01:54:47,720 --> 01:54:52,120
You know, there's there's a really sad thing. And I hate to end with this,

1782
01:54:52,120 --> 01:54:58,320
but there's a really sad thing when conflict happens and you get a rush of all these different groups and organizations.

1783
01:54:58,320 --> 01:55:01,960
Unfortunately, that can not result in the maximum benefit.

1784
01:55:01,960 --> 01:55:08,280
So always keep in mind, you know, that there are organizations that have been on the ground support those organizations.

1785
01:55:08,280 --> 01:55:15,120
You can always go to Charity Watch or Charity Navigator and double check, making sure that the organizations you do contribute to are legit.

1786
01:55:15,120 --> 01:55:17,720
They're rated well, that they are audited.

1787
01:55:17,720 --> 01:55:24,120
And then finally, you know, anything that you feel like is important, you want to share, you want to collaborate with,

1788
01:55:24,120 --> 01:55:26,720
you can reach out to people like me or people who have been there.

1789
01:55:26,720 --> 01:55:31,880
We're always happy to continue the conversation and always happy to answer any questions.

1790
01:55:31,880 --> 01:55:36,320
Beautiful. Sorry, I'm excited.

1791
01:55:36,320 --> 01:55:39,720
Well, I just want to say thank you. I mean, this is obviously a second conversation now,

1792
01:55:39,720 --> 01:55:43,680
but it is so important for us to hear that centrist voice.

1793
01:55:43,680 --> 01:55:46,760
And, you know, it doesn't matter what I'm talking about.

1794
01:55:46,760 --> 01:55:49,800
The normal people always live in the middle, standing in the middle.

1795
01:55:49,800 --> 01:55:53,240
And with you being a respected physician here in the U.S.

1796
01:55:53,240 --> 01:55:59,840
and with you having actually spent time in Gaza, you know, obviously before it got immensely worse.

1797
01:55:59,840 --> 01:56:01,720
This is such an important perspective.

1798
01:56:01,720 --> 01:56:07,920
So I want to thank you yet again for being so generous with your time and coming on the Behind the Shield podcast.

1799
01:56:07,920 --> 01:56:35,920
Thank you. Love the podcast. Always so happy to be on it.