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This conversation centers on Israel, lobbying, and US policy. Speaker 0 says he’s been very pro Israel and defender of its right to defend itself, but has 'no skin whatsoever in defending any lobbyist group,' and has declined repeated invitations to go to Israel. He notes mounting pressure to stay aligned and that he’s not on Hamas’ side, though his views have shifted since 10/08/23. Speaker 1 explains APAC is 'not registered under FARA' and describes freshman trips to Israel, meetings with government members. He notes that '3.8, billion dollars in funding for Israel' is an annual decision, that Israel is 'less than 400,000,000,000 in debt,' and that Israelis have 'government funded health care' and 'government funded college.' He questions why the US funds this given its own economic strain, citing that 'we buy money from your defense contractors' and that Israel can buy from Israeli defense contractors.

Speaker 0: Were I a Jew, I would be a Zionist. And my father pointed out to me, I did not need to be a Jew to be a Zionist, for I am. Israel is essential to security of Jews worldwide. Speaker 1: That this is not theoretical. This is not just about things that happen on Twitter. Antisemitism kills. Hate kills. Speaker 2: I come before you not only as The United States Secretary of State, but also as a Jew. My grandfather, Maurice Blinken, fled pogroms in Russia. My stepfather, Samuel Pizar, survived concentration camps, Auschwitz, Dachau, Maidanic. Speaker 3: We have a common agenda to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and preventing Iran's aggression, maintaining the security and prosperity of this region, and seeking to expand the circle of peace. Speaker 4: On October 7, Hamas terrorists murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians. They perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Speaker 5: Holocaust. Holocaust. My grandfather fled Nazi Germany. Fled Nazi Germany. If we wanna create peace in the Middle East, resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, we don't need boycotts. We need business. We don't need divestment. We need investment. We don't need sanctions. We need startups. We need startups. They met with several Israeli companies looking to expand into The United States. Speaker 1: Actual, literal, no shit, Jews will not replace us anti Semites as very fine people. Speaker 6: I support Israel's ability to defend itself. Speaker 7: It's about time we stop those of us who support as most of us do, Israel and this body for apologizing for our support for Israel. There's no apology to be made. None. It is the best $3,000,000,000 investment we make. $3,000,000,000 investment we make. Speaker 8: two of us were brought together by Apex Education Foundation for a mission to Israel. We hear the call of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Israel was this place I had always felt an, I don't know, unexplainable pull. Speaker 5: And the Jewish people have been the recipients of boycotts for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Speaker 6: So I just had a frank and constructive meeting with prime minister Netanyahu. I told him that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran backed militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Speaker 3: Israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of peace by foreign leaders. Speaker 9: Why does Israel need our help? We need to get out of their way. Speaker 6: I've said it many times, but it bears repeating. Israel has a right to defend itself. Speaker 2: The message that I bring to Israel is this. You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side. Speaker 1: He is a friend of the Jewish people by aligning not even with Israel, but with a certain kind of politics within Israel. And I just think that the American Jewish community are a lot smarter than that. Speaker 7: And even suggested breaking from the long standing US policies on settlements. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Speaker 9: I was one of the few in congress that said it's none of our business, and Israel should take care of themselves. Speaker 8: Perhaps he does not know that I am the child of a holocaust survivor. Perhaps he does not know that my mother lost almost all her family at the hands of the Nazis. At the hands of the Nazis. Speaker 9: Israel has 200, 300 nuclear missiles, they can take care of themselves. Why should we commit? We don't even have a treaty with Israel. We don't even have a treaty with Israel. Speaker 7: Were there not an Israel, The United States Of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interest in the region. Speaker 9: Why why do we have this automatic commitment that we're gonna send our kids and send our money endlessly, to to Israel?

The speaker says the United States is Israel's last ally besides the UK and that Americans lack perspective due to lies from the political class and media. Citing Haley's 2023 remark: 'Last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do. The only thing we should be doing is supporting them and eliminating Hamas. It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel.' They assert: 'Israel could not survive without The United States' and that 'every dollar that goes to the Israeli military from The United States is a dollar that the nation of Israel can spend on its own people.' They claim Haley was never asked to explain how that could be true, and warn that discussing geopolitics invites accusations of antisemitism, creating a 'state of perpetual intimidation' and no honest conversation.

So right now, as we speak tonight, there are two THAAD missile batteries in Israel. That's one quarter of the world's total supply of THAAD missile batteries. They are American military personnel, and they are manning these batteries to protect Israel. And that shouldn't surprise you because since 10/07/2023, which is a little less than two years ago, The United States has spent at minimum $30,000,000,000 defending Israel. Israel is by far, no one comes close, the largest recipient of USAID over time and currently. They don't know how disproportionate our attention to Israel and our spending on Israel is relative to the rest of the world.

Why, the speaker asks, is the U.S. taxpayer money given to Israel used to fund social programs like monthly child allowances, income support, unemployment benefits, housing assistance, free health care, and free education through university? The speaker questions why the U.S. enables Israelis to have these benefits while many in the U.S. oppose universal health care and free education for Americans. The speaker believes it is inconsistent to fund these programs for another country while opposing them domestically. The speaker also notes that the Israeli government should not be allowed to do whatever they want without consequences from the U.S., given the billions of dollars in military assistance it receives annually.

"it's not antisemitic to talk about this, and it's not antisemitic to question any foreign country's government secular government, including Israel." "We fund a lot of other countries' borders better than we fund our own." "it's over $800,000,000,000,000, actually, close to 900,000,000,000,000 is the total bill." "the 500,000,000 for Israel." "They already received $3,400,000,000 annually every single year through the State Department." "Taiwan for 500,000,000 and for Jordan for 500,000,000 as well." "There's 15,000,000 in there for AIDS prevention education activities." "America's broke. We're $37,000,000,000,000 in debt." "we just can't pay for the world anymore." "Not being an isolationist. That's actually being smart and serving the people that that pay for all of this stuff and have been chained into 37,000,000,000,000 in debt." "And that's not being mean to foreign people and foreign countries, but America's broke."

"If Bibi Netanyahu, if he does something I don't like and if I criticize it, am I, like, a bad Christian? Absolutely not." "What I find strange is that we're able to criticize the American government sometimes in the Christian world with more freedom than the Israeli government." "To be pro Israel means you believe in the nation of Israel Mhmm. Not necessarily the government of Israel." "When you when Joe Biden was president, you and I were what we loved America, but we detested our government." "If they challenge a foreign government, which is what happens so often. Right. Like you're a bad Christian if you have a question about a foreign government." "Right. That creates backlash that I don't think people understand."

"If Bibi Netanyahu, if he does something I don't like and if I criticize it, am I, like, a bad Christian? Absolutely not." "What I find strange is that we're able to criticize the American government sometimes in the Christian world with more freedom than the Israeli government." "To be pro Israel means you believe in the nation of Israel Mhmm. Not necessarily the government of Israel." "When you when Joe Biden was president, you and I were what we loved America, but we detested our government. And those two those two things beautifully coexisted." "Exactly. And what they don't want is they don't wanna be called bad Christians Mhmm." "If they challenge a foreign government, which is what happens so often. Right. Like you're a bad Christian if you have a question about a foreign government." "Right. That creates backlash that I don't think people understand."

With the money that we, the taxpayers, have given Israel over the last seventy five years, they are now able to give families a monthly child allowance for each child they have, income support, unemployment benefits, housing assistance, free health care, and free education through university. So I ask again, why are we okay making it possible for Israelis to do that. But when it comes to our country, a whole group of people are totally against the idea of universal health care and free education. I need someone to explain to me why it's okay to fund their abilities to do that. No ally of The United States should be allowed to do or say whatever they want without any consequences from us, not when we give them billions of dollars every single year. And none of what I'm saying is even delving into the fact that what the Israeli government is doing with all the military assistance that we've given them.

Speaker argues that "Israel's really last remaining ally of size other than The UK is The United States" and that the relationship carries a "huge cost," while Americans "marinate in lies" about it from "our political class" and the media. Blame is placed on "our elected leaders" who "continuously lie to us about the nature of this relationship, its significance, and they do it generationally." Citing Nikki Haley's 2023 debate, he notes: "Last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do... The only thing we should be doing is supporting them and eliminating Hamas. It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel." He asserts: "Israel could not survive without The United States." "Every dollar that goes to the Israeli military from The United States is a dollar that the nation of Israel can spend on its own people." "There is no world in which America needs Israel more than Israel needs The United States." He laments a "state of perpetual intimidation" that prevents an honest conversation.

Speaker 0 argues that "Israel's our greatest ally. We should never ask anything of them." They echo: "Protecting Israel's most important thing. They're our only real ally." They question, "If they're our only real ally, why does Israel have a long history of transferring military technology, including American military technology to China? To China?" and ask, "Why is China running the Port Of Haifa, Israel's biggest port?" They claim "From Israel's perspective, we're not a close ally" and "The loyalty is not requited. It's one way." They say Netanyahu "has pushed it too far" and that "the governor of Israel, in particular, the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has pushed it too far." They add "I control Donald Trump. I control the United States Congress. I control The United States." They cite Trump on West Bank annexation: "No. I will not allow it. It's not gonna happen." and "I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank." The speaker concludes "It's been enough. It's time to stop" and that "This is why Donald Trump has lost support over this Israel question."

"Presidential campaigns do shape how a party thinks about questions more than midterms, and I think somebody's gonna stand up running for president in both political parties and say, I don't think we should send one more dollar to Israel. I don't think they've been good allies. I don't think they've been good friends. And if someone makes that argument, how do you think they'll be perceived in the Republican Party following the research you did on Kirk's own evolution?" "I think it's gonna be really hard to change young people's minds." "a generation of people who, for a really wide variety of reasons, I think, are very, very hostile to this to the Israeli government, really dislike what they're doing." "the truism in American politics that ultimately in elections, really, nobody cares about foreign policy."

Why are we, as American taxpayers, funding social programs in Israel that many Americans oppose here at home? With our tax dollars, Israel can provide its citizens with monthly child allowances, income support, unemployment benefits, housing assistance, free healthcare, and free education through university. Yet, many of us are against universal healthcare and free education in our own country. It doesn't make sense to me that we can fund these things for Israelis but not for our own people. And this doesn't even consider the military assistance we provide, which seems to allow Israel to act without consequences, despite our financial support.

"If Bibi Netanyahu, if he does something I don't like and if I criticize it, am I, like, a bad Christian? Absolutely not." "What I find strange is that we're able to criticize the American government sometimes in the Christian world with more freedom than the Israeli government." "To be pro Israel means you believe in the nation of Israel Mhmm. Not necessarily the government of Israel." "When you when Joe Biden was president, you and I were what we loved America, but we detested our government." "You never you never once said, hey, I'm I'm out on America. On America's right." "And what they don't want is they don't wanna be called bad Christians Mhmm." "If they challenge a foreign government, which is what happens so often. Right. Like you're a bad Christian if you have a question about a foreign government."

Speaker argues the United States is Israel's last large ally besides the UK, with a large cost and limited perspective due to lies from the political class and media. They blame U.S. elected leaders for decades of misrepresentation. Citing Nikki Haley's 2023 Republican primary debate, the quote: "Last thing we need to do is to tell Israel what to do. The only thing we should be doing is supporting them and eliminating Hamas. It is not that Israel needs America. America needs Israel." The speaker contends this is inverted: "Israel could not survive without The United States." American backing funds Israeli wars and social services; "every dollar that goes to the Israeli military from The United States is a dollar that the nation of Israel can spend on its own people." Haley wasn't asked to explain, and questioning geopolitics is feared as antisemitic, leading to "a state of perpetual intimidation" and "We have not had an honest conversation about this ever."

"In the past three years, Americans have paid more for Israel's defense budget than Israelis themselves, according to the Israeli army's former chief of staff." "The United States gave nearly $3,100,000,000 to Israel this year, making it the number one contributor of American foreign aid." "And yet during this time, we're giving a huge amount of money to Israel." "Israel ranks among the top 30 richest countries in the world, while some of the poorest countries only see a fraction of that amount in USAID." "According to the Congressional Research Center, once dispersed, Israel's military aid is transferred to an interest bearing account with the Federal Reserve Bank." "This means Americans are paying interest on the billions of dollars given to Israel, while Israel accumulates interest on those same billions."

Speaker claims: "Israel has an overwhelming lobby over the United States government, and we have unconditionally supported them." He cites "BB Netanyahu came to our congress in the nineties, told us a list of countries that we need to take out. Some were Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, etcetera." He adds "Through those wars, we have lost trillions of dollars" and "We have lost American servicemen." He asserts "They don't teach about the USS Liberty, where Israel literally came, blew up an American ship because they want us to get in their war with, Egypt and they don't teach that in school." He asks "Why is there this societal taboo around criticisms of Israel? For example, APAC doesn't have to register as a foreign lobby, but like the Australia lobby does. And the it just That should be changed. I That should be corrected." Finally, "Look. I I am not gonna say Israel should have any special privileges. None."

"Israel is the only country I know of that has some sort of incredible influence and control over nearly every single one of my colleagues." "Because APAC are Americans, therefore, they can legally donate to members of congress and senators." "Freshman, member of congress, or first year in congress, they take them on a very special trip to Israel in August." "That's Dems the and Republicans or just Republicans? They take both of them. Yes." "So they take them on this trip to Israel." "They wear the, kippah." "They and even though they're Christians. They're they're not Jewish, but yet they're adorning, Jewish attire, and they're at these Jewish, religious sites." "The Israeli government is secular." "This is not the biblical Israel." "It is the secular government of Israel."

Speaker 0 raises a question about accountability for Israel and mentions Jeffrey Epstein’s dealings with Mossad. Speaker 1 asks, without specifics, whether there are forces that tried to influence him to stop what he’s doing now. Speaker 0 responds that they wouldn’t vote for foreign aid and foreign war funding, and they were upset because he said no. He states: “I’m not voting to fund the Ukraine war ever,” and “Israel’s doing just fine. We don’t need to give them a penny, not a single penny, nor do we need to give it to any other country, but they get mad at me for that.”

The speaker describes meeting with prime minister Netanyahu as part of a Christian conservative Gen Z focus group, noting that Netanyahu listened attentively and heard their concerns. "APAC is not an Israeli organization. It has no ties whatsoever to the government of Israel. It's not foreign lobbying." "APAC, like, makes up less than 5% of the lobbying." "Israel is not offering to fund anybody. They're not trying to get involved in American political advocacy groups. That has never happened." "If you're about this, who you should be concerned about is Qatar because they are doing this." "Many of these protests slash riots that you see destroying our cities, a lot of that has foreign funding from Qatar." "Netanyahu's first address to congress was to say that they didn't want aid."

"If Bibi Netanyahu, if he does something I don't like and if I criticize it, am I, like, a bad Christian? Absolutely not." "What I find strange is that we're able to criticize the American government sometimes in the Christian world with more freedom than the Israeli government." "To be pro Israel means you believe in the nation of Israel Mhmm. Not necessarily the government of Israel." "When you when Joe Biden was president, you and I were what we loved America, but we detested our government." "And those two things beautifully coexisted." "If they challenge a foreign government, which is what happens so often." "Right. Like you're a bad Christian if you have a question about a foreign government." "Right. That creates backlash that I don't think people understand."

"Israel is isolated." "Israel can't break out of the season." "We will." "Yes, we can." "We're pretty good at producing weapons." "We share intelligence with The United States." "A good chunk of your intel and our weapon systems." "We are tremendously appreciative of the bipartisan support in military matters to Israel in previous years and today as well." "You're holding a piece of Israel right there." "it's an Israeli product as there are so many other things." "This serves the betterment of for the betterment of all mankind and womankind." "We can make things." "We cherish the fact that we have the constancy of American support despite the attempts to erode it, and we'll continue to work to make sure that that continues on both sides of the aisle." "But equally, we will eventually create the independence that we need so those in Western Europe who think they can deny us things will not succeed." "We can break this siege, and we will."

"Here's what Democrats are going to what Jewish Democrats or Jews in general are going to have to make a decision." "Until you crush the cultural Marxist lens of which they view the world, you will never actually be able to build support for Israel." "You cannot subsidize support and play footsie with cultural Marxism and have a future for the state of Israel, so you have to choose." "And Jews have been some of the largest funders of cultural Marxist ideas and supporters of those ideas over the last thirty or forty years." "Stop supporting causes that hate you." "Until you cleanse that ideology from the hierarchy and the academic elite of the West, there will not be a safe future." "Until you shed that ideology, you will not be able to build the case for Israel because they view Israel as an oppressor."

"I just said this in another meeting and they said, oh, Israel is isolated. Israel can't break out of the season." "Yes, we can." "We're pretty good at producing weapons." "Like intelligence, we share both with The United States." "A good chunk a good chunk of your intel and our weapon systems." "We're tremendously appreciative of the bipartisan support and military matters to Israel in previous years and today as well." "But do you have cell phones? Any you have cell phones here? No." "You're holding a piece of Israel right there." "You know where that was made? I don't like cherry tomatoes, but it's an Israeli what can I do? It's an Israeli product, as are so many other things." "I think that is Israel's unknown contribution." "We can break this siege, and we will."

Speaker 0: Do we need this connection with Israel? What is it? No one ever explains what it's for. I feel like. Right? That would help everybody have a much better understanding, you know, because it starts to feel like America is just a shell company, an LLC for Israel. That's what it starts to feel like a lot of times, you know? Do you feel like that that's realistic, or do you feel like that that's off base? Speaker 1: I would I wouldn't send them a dime. Like, that's my position. I don't think whatever we're getting isn't worth it.