Chapo Trap House - 984 - The Killing Fields feat. Jasper Nathaniel (11/3/25)

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Jasper Nathaniel is back with another report from the occupied West Bank. He tells us about a band of West Bank settlers attacking him and locals in the olive fields of Turmus’ayya, including an old... woman who was beaten unconscious on camera. He then talks about the Israeli military and intelligence’s response to the crime, the footage actually breaking through to the mainstream Anglophone press, and various U.S. Senators’ response to the attack. Finally, he closes with speculation about Trump and Netanyahu’s refusal to sign on to an official West Bank annexation. Follow Jasper’s substack: https://substack.com/@infinitejaz Follow Jasper on Twitter: https://x.com/infinite__jaz?lang=en Follow Jasper on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/infinite_jaz/?hl=en

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 All I'm going to be is a trouble All I'm going to be is a joke All right. Joining us now on the program is Jasper Nathaniel, who is just recently back stateside after several weeks in doing reporting in the West Bank.
Starting point is 00:00:44 Jasper, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me back. I just want to begin with, like, you're this most recent reporting trip to the West Bank, because you've been many times before, but I want to talk about the timing of this recent trip. And like, could you describe like the context based on your previous reporting and what you know that made it so important for you to travel to the West Bank at the exact moment when these so-called ceasefire in Gaza had been implemented?
Starting point is 00:01:10 Yeah. You know, the situation in the West Bank has been spiraling for years, as we talked about last time. As you guys know, it actually started before October 7th when Smotrich pulled off this sort of of remarkable bureaucratic coup to take over governance of the West Bank and basically cleared away all the guardrails to let settlers fulfill all their messianic dreams. And after October 7th, it just continued to get worse as, you know, all eyes were on Gaza and the sort of breathless cover of October 7th. And at various times in the last two years, over the course of the genocide when there have been, um, you know, quiet moments in Gaza or, um, you know, ostensible ceasefires pretty much without fail every time the violence in the West Bank
Starting point is 00:01:59 ticks up. And, you know, there's, there's evidence that points to in some cases, there's been like actual quid pro quos where Smotrich or Ben Gavir or some of these other right wingers in the Knesset and in the cabinet agree to, you know, vote in support of a ceasefire or in support of sending in more aid to Gaza on the condition that, like, new outposts are legalized or some other policy is pushed through in the West Bank. And so actually, when I plan this trip earlier this year, I didn't know that it was going to be right around the same time as a ceasefire. What I knew was that it was olive harvest season, which is historically a dangerous time in the West Bank because it's, you know, such an important, meaningful time for Palestinians, both in, you know, for their
Starting point is 00:02:46 livelihood because a lot of Palestinians in the West Bank make their living off of the olive harvest, but also because it's, you know, a perfect time for the settlers to go and terrorize the Palestinians in their olive field. So I was going at really for that timing. And then it just so happened that the ceasefire and, you know, this prisoner exchange all happened right when I got there. And, you know, I don't, maybe I'm too close to it to know if the, you know, incredible spike in violence just in the last month in the West Bank was related to the ceasefire or just because of the olive harvest. But, you know, it should go without saying that, I mean, first of all, the 20 point peace plan or whatever, whatever Trump calls it makes no mention of the West Bank.
Starting point is 00:03:27 It was in a previous draft and then it got stripped away from the one that was finally agreed to. Again, probably, you know, negotiated that way by Smotrich or Ben Gavir or maybe even Nanyahu himself. But it's just been on fire, basically. I mean, it would seem counterintuitive, like, from, like, you know, most normal human perspectives, like, to do what they did in Gaza and then to, like, have that be like semi-officially brought to a close, you'd think that they would want to, I don't know, keep people's attention elsewhere. But, like, as you've documented, it's just like they've gone all in on the West Bank. Like, it's just no stop. It's like no stop whatsoever. Like, and if anything,
Starting point is 00:04:07 they're using the technical pause of hostilities in Gaza to just ramp, ramp up their attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Yeah. And as I've said many, many times, like the, you know, Gaza is not, the land itself of Gaza is really not all that significant to the religious Zionists or, you know, certainly the settlers. You know, they want the land because they want all the land and they want to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians out of it. But Gaza is, is not all that significant in the Old Testament. It, you know, it was never like a home for the Jews, really. The West Bank, you know, they call it Judea and Samaria. It's where the ancient kingdoms of Israel are. And so that, you know, all things equal, the vast majority of the religious Zionists in
Starting point is 00:04:59 Israel who are increasingly influential and powerful are much more concerned with taking the West Bank. Well, Jasper, you're reporting on this most recent trip has garnered quite a bit of international attention and has caught on in the broader press because of your reporting regarding a settler attack on Palestinians in one of these olive harvest, which you know have copious amounts of video footage of I want to I want to just I want to do you to talk about that incident because you tell us a little bit about like what your trip was like in the in the days or weeks leading up to that incident like what who did you talk to and what was your what did you report on leading up to that incident?
Starting point is 00:05:39 My first stop was Umel Chair, which is in Masvaryata. It's a little Bedouin village in the South Hebron Hills. And if it sounds familiar, it's because this is where Aouda Hatalin, who was an activist who was involved in no other land, the documentary, he was a teacher and really just a beloved figure there. He was murdered on camera by a notorious settler named Yenon Levy. And, you know, in response, Levy, of course, never did a day in jail. and the 19 villagers, who were mostly family members of Audehathaline, were arrested and detained and tortured. And so it was, this place has been tormented. And, you know, it's a very small community.
Starting point is 00:06:22 And I can't overstate, like, how important of a figure Aouda Hathlene was. And so when I went there, I mean, this place is, it's grieving. It's mourning. And, you know, his presence is just everywhere. And he has three small children. that are now running around without a father. And what's happened in the last two, three months since that murder is that settlers from an outpost up the hill have decided to, excuse me, from a settlement up the hill,
Starting point is 00:06:50 a legal settlement called Carmel built an outpost literally directly adjacent to the village. And there was some court proceedings and actually the local Palestinians were able to get a halt on the construction in the Israeli courts, but it didn't stop them, of course. So while I was there, we were, every single day, settlers from the settlement were coming down the hill and basically harassing us, harassing people, destroying property. There was one incident which just honestly, I don't want to say it cracked me up, but it was so absurd where basically I was watching Palestinian kids play soccer. And I was filming it on and off because it was exciting. It was a soccer match. And as I was doing that, this basically huge crowd of settlers starts streaming down the hill into the outpost to like, I don't know, celebrate some Jewish holiday that even I'm not familiar with as a Jewish person.
Starting point is 00:07:46 And so they are basically walking like directly next to the soccer field. And as it's happening, all of a sudden, this settler with a huge gun starts screaming at me in Hebrew. And he like waves over two soldiers and starts pointing at me. And I was like, oh, shit, what have I done? And they, they, the, the soldiers demand that I come to them. And I look at the Palestinians next to me, I'm like, what should I do? They're like, go. Go, you have to go talk to them.
Starting point is 00:08:16 So I do. And basically what had happened was the settler with the gun accused me of filming his children. And the way he was saying it was like, you know, this very, like accusing me of being a creep, basically. Like this guy's filming our children, blah, blah. Did he think you had like a soccer fetish? He knew exactly what was happening.
Starting point is 00:08:36 It was, he was just like, you know, I said, I was like, I was actually filming a soccer game and then you guys walked right through it. But it was just such a like perfect example of the way they are constantly putting their children on the front lines. I mean, in a lot of cases, it's the kids who are actually like going into the settlements and terrorizing people and causing violence and harassing. I think last time we spoke, Will you coined the term feral street urchins. but but in this case like this particular incident was not violent but they were using their children to like accuse me of wrongdoing and I you know basically I got they took my passport and like detained me very briefly and then I got off but this town actually like four days ago was issued by the military demolition orders for basically the entire village and so again like
Starting point is 00:09:31 this place is, is grieving. And, um, and it's just, it's completely, uh, unambiguous what happened there. I mean, there was a murder. And I mean, it really just goes to show like the way Israel is treating even the most of, or especially the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank. So, so that was like the first few days of my trip. Well, actually, before I get into, uh, something else you filmed on this recent trip there. Could you just talk, tell us a little bit more about the background of this murder. Like you mentioned who was killed, but like what were the circumstances surrounding this killing?
Starting point is 00:10:07 So, Yenon Levy is a notorious violent settler. To the extent that when I traveled there last year long before this murder, I was warned about him and I was shown his picture and basically they said, you know, if you see settlers, you know, there's a protocol basically to avoid confrontation at all costs. But if you see him, go the other way because he carries a gun and he, he, He is, he will shoot you, basically. And so he's a known figure, even actually Biden, in one of the like few good things that he did for the Palestinians, he sanctioned a number of violent settlers.
Starting point is 00:10:42 And Yenon Levy was actually one of them. Now, I don't know if it actually did anything, but, you know, he was sanctioned. Trump comes in and literally on his first day of office lifts the sanctions. Again, I'm not like implying there was a material impact here. But point being, this guy was well known to the authorities. Smotrich had armed him, given. him weapons, night vision goggles, ATVs, just poured money into his outpost. And, you know, the way this guy is thought of by the right wingers in Israel is basically like a Jewish pioneer.
Starting point is 00:11:15 He's on the front lines, you know, finding new frontiers for the land of Israel, literally pushing the boundaries. And so in the case of this actual murder, he run, this guy, Yinan Levy, he runs a construction company. And he was commissioned. I, believe by the state to build this outpost that ends up right next to Umel Chair. So he was there with a bulldozer crew. Um, and they drove the bulldozer right through the village, cut their, um, I believe electricity and water, um, pipes and cables. And a bunch of the villagers basically came out and confronted him. And this part is all on video. First, the bulldozer swings around and knocks a guy out cold.
Starting point is 00:12:01 This is one of Aouda's cousins, I believe. And then you see Yenon Levy basically waving his gun around shouting. And then he just starts shooting. And he hits out of Hathylene, who is standing about 100 feet away in the community center, holding his three-year-old child. And by the way, there's just kids everywhere in this community and kills him. And after that happened, the police show up, he's really police. and there's a video of this too. Yenon Levy is basically seen smoking cigarettes and chatting with the police very casually
Starting point is 00:12:35 and pointing out which Palestinians he wants arrested and they all then get arrested. And the next day, you know, this Yenon Levy actually does get, he has to go to court for a day. He's immediately let off, but he's joined in court by several members of the Knesset. The, you know, major headlines in some papers in Israel say he survives in attempted lynching. and it is, you know, it was used by these sort of nefarious figures as justification for further arming the settlers there, for further supporting their endeavors to destroy this community. And that has, that is what has played out since. And it's, it's, you know, this is a, in this instance, it was caught on camera. But this is the kind
Starting point is 00:13:17 of thing that happens all over the West Bank every single day. And always, always, whenever there is any sort of a violent incident, regardless of who is hurt, they will then use it to say, you see, we need more security, we need more weapons, we need more presence there. And so literally the settler, the infamously violent settler, murdering the famously peaceful father and teacher and activist, then it ends up being grist for the mill for them to go and, you know, potentially demolish the village in the coming days. Well, another individual that these people require military protection from and violent vigilante justice to meet out on their behalf is a Palestinian grandmother who you filmed being brained with
Starting point is 00:14:09 a club by one of these jackals in her olive orchard, in her olive field. And this is more or less what has caught on in the sort of mainstream press, has had to deal with this because there's video of it. Now, you lay this out in a very good piece you wrote on your substack called a lynch mob in the olive fields. But can you just give us like a sort of a minute by minute breakdown of what happened when you and others, including this grandmother, were attacked in this olive orchard? So this is in a town called Termis Ayah, which is one of a handful of villages in the West Bank, which is actually predominantly made up of Palestinian Americans. So the, you know, the place I was just talking about, Umel Chai, or these are, this is a
Starting point is 00:14:51 a bedwind community. They don't have much money. Their infrastructure is, you know, is fragile to say the least. Termos Aya, I mean, these people live in mansions, just to be frank. And the town is actually mostly built on the American economy because a lot of the men, well, they have businesses in the U.S. The farmer that I was with was an attorney. He owned a family law practice. And then they come back to the West Bank with their children to raise them there. And so they go back and forth. So the point is, these people are actually not accustomed to facing violence. They've been somewhat or relatively insulated from the violence of the occupation in a way that most other places in the West Bank have not.
Starting point is 00:15:37 And, you know, these people also are nominally, you know, should be protected by the American embassy there. Now, in the last couple of years, violence has started to show up in these places. and it comes down to the fact that the settlers are basically setting their sites higher. I mean, they are now looking at these mansions and thinking, hey, you know, maybe we can, maybe we can live in those places. And so they're now, you know, what they've been doing all over the West Bank for decades, they're now starting to do in these wealthier American communities, which is build outposts
Starting point is 00:16:12 closer and closer to the village and basically creep in on them. So in this town, Termisaya, violence has been increasing in the last. couple of years. Because of that, the farmers in the village all decided that this year, everybody was going to go out together in basically one caravan into their olive fields. And the olive fields basically are the buffer zone between two settlements, Shiloh and Adayad, and then the village itself. And then you've got the olive fields in between. And the settlers have been building outposts there and basically preventing Palestinians from accessing their land. They're literally, this part just absolutely killed me when I saw it. The settlers are living in these beautiful farmhouses built by the villagers. We saw a settler like doing housework outside of a farmhouse that the guy who I was with had built. So anyway, we all decide to go out together. And, you know, I want to just mention that like in this particular town, it's not really principally about income. I mean, certainly a lot of them make their money from make money from.
Starting point is 00:17:21 from this, but it's more a matter of, number one, pride. But actually, more importantly, they really see the olive fields as a place where if they don't maintain a foothold there, then the settlers are basically at their doorstep. And so if they don't keep going out into the olive fields and, you know, showing some resistance to these violent settlers who are getting closer and closer, they're going to be in the village soon. And so that's really the big reason It's pretty clear that the settlers understand these olive fields in exactly the same way. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. And, you know, like, it should be said that as much as they are, they sort of appear to be these like rogue maniacs, they're incredibly strategic in where they are building these outposts, how they are sort of creeping in. And so it's very clear to the people, particularly those who live like right on the olive fields that this is the land that they need to find. fight to keep or else they will be attacked in their homes next.
Starting point is 00:18:22 And as you say, well, like the settlers know it too. So anyway, we all decide to go out together. The day before we're supposed to go out, a farmer gets a little too brave and he goes out with his son and immediately he's attacked by settlers. He basically gets his face bashed in and gets his truck destroyed and manages to escape and had to get his face all stitched up. And we met him right after it happened. And I mean, it was very predictable, but also just incredibly ominous because, you know, it was just clear that the settlers are just waiting.
Starting point is 00:18:56 They know what's coming. And so the next day, October 19th, so just over two weeks ago, we all meet in the center of town at about 7.30, maybe like 40, 50 farmers in like eight or nine or 10, maybe 10 or 15 cars and trucks. and we start driving out into the olive fields and within two or three minutes we are stopped because there's a settler standing in the middle of the road just brandishing a pistol and you know very clearly staring into cars and intimidating us and you know it's effective when it's you know you run into settlers all the time but when when a settler has a gun then you know, you don't challenge them. So immediately we turn around. And I should say that I later I would also say you wouldn't challenge them because given the reaction of the American embassy
Starting point is 00:19:50 and American politicians, I don't think you could really count too heavily on the American state backing you up should you get shot by one of these maniacs. Yeah. And just to put a fine point on it, this town is made up of Americans. So we're talking about an Israeli settler who this guy is a known menace around Termos Ayah. He has been for years. His name is Amishav Malt. He's the leader of the local outpost. A police officer told me that he shot a Palestinian a couple years ago and had his gun taken away and he's apparently gunned it back. So this is an Israeli settler who has been terrorizing Americans day and day out for years. And the U.S. Embassy, of course, has done nothing. So on this particular day, he's talking on his cell phone. And
Starting point is 00:20:37 as he's talking, we see other settlers start to sort of appear behind him. So it's very clear that like, uh, they know we're there and, you know, they're ready for it. So we turn around. We try to go in another way. And this time we actually make it into the olive fields. It's like a 20 or 30 minute drive, um, you know, across pretty rugged terrain to get into the olive fields. I'm with a farmer named Yasser Alcum who is, um, like I said before, he's an attorney. Uh, he speaks with a pretty much American accent. He's in his 60s, so he's not a young guy, and he's never been attacked before. He's much more like what you would expect in just like an old lawyer in California than he is like what you would expect to meet in, you know, Palestinian olive fields. So we go out together
Starting point is 00:21:23 and his olive fields are pretty barren. It's possible that it's because settlers had already got into the trees, but it's probably just, it was a bad season because of the weather and climate change and whatnot. So we decide to leave and we turn around to leave in his car and the road that we came in on is now blocked by settlers. And Yasser says, okay, it's fine. We can just go the other way. There's another road. So we go the other way and this time there is an army jeep blocking the road. Now we're at basically the bottom of a hill and the army jeep is maybe 100 meters up on the top of the hill. And Yasser says there's no M driving towards that Jeep because famously a Palestinian car driving towards a Israeli military Jeep is perfect justification for them to, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:18 blast through your windshield with their M16s. Real quick, though, a detail that comes out in your story is like at that distance, how would a soldier tell what's a Palestinian car versus an Israeli car. Ah, well, interestingly enough, how would they differentiate? Oh, right. The license, their license plates are literally different colors. Like, what is it? Yellow. So they can see from a distance. Yeah. Yes, exactly. So Israeli plates are yellow and we obviously don't have them. And so it's, it's actually incredibly dangerous for us to drive up towards, I mean, because they were blocking the road. So we talk about it. And, you know, Yasser, even though we're both American, he's got brown skin and I don't. And so we decide, like, I will get out of the car with my hands up, walk towards them
Starting point is 00:23:01 and, you know, ask them to help us, basically. So that's what we do. So I get out, raise my hands, immediately they're aiming their guns at me, which I should say is just like standard procedure in the West Bank. And when I get close enough, I call out to them and I explained that I'm American and I just, we are trying to get out of the olive fields. We're trying to get back into the village of Termisiah, but we're blocked by settlers and we need help getting by them. And they sort of questioned me for a little bit. At one point, one of the soldiers says, do you have family here? And it's like very clear. He's asking, are you a real American or are you a Palestinian American? And finally, they just, they asked to see my passport. And then
Starting point is 00:23:45 they say, okay, you know what? Get in the car and come up. You're fine. So, so I'm thinking, okay, they're going to help us get out of the olive fields. And, you know, I think this is probably obvious, but the soldiers know that the settlers in the olive fields are attacking Palestinians every day. Like, that's why they're, you know, that is like theoretically why they're there to prevent these violent confrontations. And I told them that. I said, we're trying to get out and we're being blocked by settlers.
Starting point is 00:24:12 We need help. So I get back in the car. We drive up the hill. As we get up towards the top of the hill, with the army jeep still there, I see right next to them is the settler with the gun. Amishav Malt, and he is on his ATV, and again, he's talking on his phone. And on the other side of the Army Jeep, there's a Palestinian car that's been completely smashed. The windshield is shattered, and at least one of the tires had been slashed.
Starting point is 00:24:39 And then there's a couple of Palestinian workers standing outside of it. And it's very clear that, like, they've just been attacked. And now the settler is still lingering there. And the military is there, I guess, separating them. So I shout out the window and all this is recorded in that substack piece you mentioned well. So I shout out. I say, are you going to move the settlers? And the soldier says, yes, yes, we're going to move them and then, you know, and then you can get by.
Starting point is 00:25:05 And so we're like, okay, great. Right after he says that, the soldiers get back in the Jeep and just speed off, just like jet away, like cartoonishly fast, leaving us alone with the settler with a gun, who again I later learned is. a famously violent leader of the local outpost who is known to all of the Israeli authorities, including the military, who's there. So now it is Mian Yasser in his car, this other Palestinians in their damaged car, the settler with a gun who's talking on his phone on his ATV. He then, the settler, drives away in the same direction that the military went. And so we think, okay, maybe we're actually good.
Starting point is 00:25:48 So we start to drive back into the village. and then I realize the damage car is struggling to get out because, you know, flat tires and and so I get out of the car and I tell Yasser, you go ahead and I'll catch up with you. I'm going to help basically try to push the car to the ridge of the hill so it can roll back down towards the village. So I get out of the car and I start pushing the car. This is about four minutes after the military and the saddle left. As I'm pushing the car, suddenly huge rocks start raining down.
Starting point is 00:26:20 around me and I turn around and there is a just enormous mob of masked settlers wielding huge clubs coming over the ridge running towards us. And so I run for my life basically. And I, you know, I was filming for some of it, which in hindsight I probably would have put my phone away a little sooner, but I mean, I was shouting at them, American press, American press, which I will say in the past has actually slowed them down. We had an incident two days earlier in another town, Al-Mazra al-Sharkia, where we were surrounded by settlers with huge metal rods. And I started shouting at them like, you all want to be in the American newspaper? And they sort of backed off. In this case, I mean, I have since seen the video that somebody else took from across the
Starting point is 00:27:15 And it looks like a horde of zombies pouring over the hill. So I don't know if, you know, I doubt they could have, they could hear me or what. But basically, they chase me down the hill. I also learned from watching video later that they dragged the Palestinian guy out of his car. And he, he miraculously escaped and ran away as well. But basically, I run down the hill being chased by these guys. They're, you know, throwing rocks. And it's just pure. chaos at this point. They set the car on fire. So now there's a car burning and exploding. A Palestinian fire truck appears or comes at some point. So there's sirens. Point being like there's a very, very, very, very loud commotion. The soldiers cannot have gone too far in those four or five
Starting point is 00:28:03 minutes. But of course, the soldiers were nowhere to be seen. So I get back down to Yasser's car. I get in the car and this settler who had a huge club that was clearly like turned into a weapon. It's not a stick. It looks like a shaleigh, like a shalele, like a stick with a knotted like fist on the end of it. Yeah, or like a golf club or something. And he, I mean, he was basically like chasing me down. I mean, we were in a foot race. And I should say like a couple kilometers away for.
Starting point is 00:28:39 here is where a Palestinian American named Cifola Mussolet, who was 20 years old, was beaten to death by a mob of settlers exactly like this. And I had just been reporting on that weeks earlier. I was with his family when they were in Washington, D.C., trying to get justice. So point being, like, I know these guys are not playing around. So I get into the car and the settler with the Club smashes through our rear windshield and we're stuck because there's like a logjam of Palestinian vehicles trying to get out. He smashes through our rear windshield. Both Yasser and I think he's going to drag us out of the car or this mob is going to drag us out of the car and it could be bad. I mean, you know, there are dark thoughts going through both of
Starting point is 00:29:26 our heads we later discussed. The settler then runs around the car and this is when we see this woman standing under an olive tree, maybe like 30 feet in front of us. And he starts running towards her. He throws a rock at her. And I mean, you can actually hear in the video, like we see him running towards her. And both of us actually thought, for all the terrible settler violence we've seen, we both thought, like, he's not going to attack that woman what kind of a like complete psychotic maniac clubs an older woman completely defenseless in a hijab standing on an olive tree and sure enough he goes and he um he knocks her unconscious his first blow knocks her out cold i watched her body go completely limp and then he stood over her and hit her twice
Starting point is 00:30:16 more in the head with his club um it was the i mean it was the most heinous shocking act of violence i've ever witnessed in my entire life. And you got to remember, like, there's a hundred or dozens of settlers behind him, too, running clubbing cars, throwing rocks. The guy with the club then runs ahead, and he clubs two international activists. And it's just pure chaos. Basically, what ends up happening is I get out of the car to help the older woman, who I later learned with two members of her family who showed up, I think maybe grandchildren or nephews or something, and we helped her into a car to get away. The settlers eventually retreat because they reach close enough to the village where there's now a crowd of Palestinians waiting there for them. And they, you know, apparently were not
Starting point is 00:31:06 interested in actually facing off against like a crowd. They just wanted to, you know, club grandmothers or beat like independent journalists running by themselves. So it, the aftermath, I mean, it was like a, it looked like a war zone. I mean, there were people screaming. Serious injuries. One of the activists was really, really, really badly hurt. Three or four or maybe even five cars were on fire. And it was just pure chaos. And I emphasize that because I just want to say that after this video starts to go viral and it starts getting reported on, I think BBC was like the first big publication to do a story on it. It included a response from the IDF, who, of course, denied my claim, which I had then made at that point, that the idea of lured us into the ambush,
Starting point is 00:31:57 which I stand by a thousand percent. But they also claimed that the IDF showed up and dispersed the confrontation, which is a categorical lie. And it should come as no surprise that they would lie about it. But like, it is just like, it's not a stretch of the truth. It just is a thing that didn't happen that they say happened. So that was the sort of timeline of the attack itself. so as you mentioned like this video has broken through but uh you said like you you helped this grandmother out what can you tell us about who she is and you indeed you got to spend some time with her she was in the ICU thankfully she was discharged from the hospital and you got to spend some time with her what can you tell us about who she is and just like what her experience of life in the
Starting point is 00:32:42 West Bank is like obviously you know colored by this recent attempted murder she is much more like what you would imagine an olive picker in the West Bank would be. She's from a working class family. They don't live in Termosia. They live in a neighboring town. And she was basically a hired worker who one of the landowners in Termosia had hired to help pick olives. And she was actually there with several members of her family. And so this is what she did every year. And it's not like the way you think about sort of day laborers in the U.S. It's, well, I'm not an expert on this, but in no way does it feel exploitative. Like it's a real sort of celebratory family affair when the workers and the landowners get together.
Starting point is 00:33:25 They're all picking olives together. They're all breaking bread together. And, you know, she doesn't speak a word of English. She has never, never been in the spotlight in any way. And she didn't ask for any of this, obviously. When I met her, she was, it was, I think maybe five days after the attack. she had just gotten out of the hospital and I mean she was completely shell-shocked and I mean you could really see how badly injured she was I mean first of all she has a brain injury
Starting point is 00:33:56 I mean I was a shot it was amazing to me she didn't die like I mean the savagery of the violence is astonishing yeah yeah no it's really a miracle she um she's incredibly uh battered and and scared but I think that she was starting to register that, you know, this had become sort of a worldwide event. And like, that's not, I don't, you know, I don't know her that well, obviously, but like, I don't think she thinks in that sort of a paradigm. Like, you know, she's, she was there to pick olives, not to make a global statement. But I think that, you know, enough people had talked to her about it and she had seen the coverage that she was starting to realize this, you know, this has become a big deal. And by the end of our meeting, she was very sort of quiet and reserved at first. And I
Starting point is 00:34:48 actually was feeling like I think we're imposing and we should go. I was there with Yasser and actually the mayor of the town. And then she, her like brother-in-law comes in and we start chatting and she loosens up a little bit. By the end of the meeting, she was smiling and actually laughing a little bit. And, you know, we, we joked that maybe I would be her neighbor one day. And point is like, oh, so now they're okay with American Jews taking their land. Well, it's funny because the mayor of the town, the mayor told me that when Palestine is free, he's going to give me a pot of land. And I was like, oh, okay, we actually have a word for that. It's called settling. So I'll just settle right in on your, on your land. But no, I mean, you know, the other thing I'll just,
Starting point is 00:35:35 just say is like I've been like to be clear as we've said like this happens every single day there was actually nothing remarkable about that day except the fact that I was there to film it and so and there's a lot there are activists in the West Bank who are out here doing protective presence documenting this stuff every single day so like what what I did and where I happen to be was not altogether unique but the the level of attention that this brought to the West Bank as a whole and to Termosiah. I mean, the image was shown on the Senate floor. It was like covered all over the world. It actually became a huge story in Israel. It was like one of the biggest stories in the country. And I think that, you know, some people from Israel actually have told me that it
Starting point is 00:36:20 really like the image itself of, you know, a frankly, a muscular man in a mask wearing, you know, the little Jewish, what's it called, Sizi or something? Felix, maybe you know, the little Do you mean Teos? No, not the little sideburns. The things like by their waist. Oh, yeah, I don't know what the fuck those are. Those things. Those little Jewish things.
Starting point is 00:36:46 You bring that up, but like I've seen a lot of reaction to this from people who have used the fact that the attacker was wearing a mask to say, aha, but like how can you be so sure that was a Jewish settler? And like a not in fact, a Palestinian pretending to be or just like attacking one of their own. your response to these allegations sir my response is it could have absolutely been a horde of 100 Palestinians attack no I mean of course not like it's it's just and and as I write in that piece like yeah I actually ended up talking to giving a police statement at the request of the the people in term Messiah I was like not sure if I should do it or not but they
Starting point is 00:37:28 wanted it to be documented and the police officer who was leading the investigation was questioning me if I had any proof that they were Jews. And I said to him like, look, man, I'm not going to play this game with you. Like, we both know these are settlers, obviously. And I actually have been like sort of tickled by how many of these like crazy Zionist accounts on X have responded by saying these are Arabs in disguise. But they're not. They're settlers. And we know it also because even the chief of police in the West Bank, who was Ben Gavir's personal bodyguard at one point, who's a right-wing nut job, a text message that he sent to a group of officers was leaked where he said he was horrified by it and they must bring him to justice. So like it,
Starting point is 00:38:12 it registered in Israel as a PR crisis that they then had to find a way to clean up. I didn't hear any like legitimate Israeli authorities or media trying to claim that they were not settlers. That's, I feel like a new style of Hezbar or a new style of Hezbar communication. where they say something that doesn't it certainly is not going to sway anyone who's on the fence somewhat one of the last few remaining like American liberal Zionists who loves every war committed outside of Israel's borders
Starting point is 00:38:47 but is still ostensibly against settlements. It's too ridiculous and stupid to win them over. It certainly isn't going to sway anyone who is decidedly sympathetic to Belstonians and it isn't particularly useful cover for them more so it seems like it's just these types of things that or like the free press um starvation article it's just sort of like a demonstration of how far are you willing to go yeah how ridiculous are you willing to be how much are you willing to just like ignore reality to uh both show your dedication and to kind of like
Starting point is 00:39:29 mock everyone who's disgusted by this and especially the people this happened to. I mean, this entire thing, this entire thing was like looking into America in probably like five years. Because what you just said, what you said about this
Starting point is 00:39:46 poor woman who is beaten horribly, like people, people have been, you know, killed instantly by far less awful looking head injuries. But what you said about her
Starting point is 00:40:01 not realizing until after the fact that it had become like this global media firestorm that is that that seems to be like a new universal
Starting point is 00:40:11 trait in societies with a huge reactionary contingent like this where the reactionaries are vicious and feral but they're also
Starting point is 00:40:24 calculated and part of their feeding process is thrusting some hapless individual into the public sphere, someone with, who never intended on being a public figure, doing something so terrible to them that they become a public figure and then digging into their past, embarrassing them further, making them relive the incident over and over and over
Starting point is 00:40:46 again. This may be embarrassing for them, but they are also, are like, savoring her, the feeling of repeatedly violating her in this way. And just like, sorry, just add on to what you said, Felix. how ludicrous these defenses or denials are, or like this new style of propaganda that Felix is talking about, is also about a demonstration of power. Because like the fact that like by voicing criticisms or like, I don't know, propaganda like this,
Starting point is 00:41:14 it is embarrassing or should be embarrassing for the person doing it. But the fact that they feel so free to be able to do it is a demonstration of their own impunity that they're able to enjoy. And going off of that, like, could you talk a bit about your interaction, with representatives of the U.S. government
Starting point is 00:41:31 when you're trying to bring attention to the savage assaults being carried out on American citizens and like what should be of concern you think to the embassy of the country it's happening in? Or the elected representatives? I really got a hand to Chuck Schumer. He really came through here.
Starting point is 00:41:50 No, no. Well, maybe I'll start there. My mom, who is, you know, granted, that she's moved further and further left in the last two years on this issue. But she is a sort of classic New York, classic, yeah, but she is a sort of classic New York Jewish liberal watches MSNBC. She has voted for Chuck Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand for, you know, probably most of, they're,
Starting point is 00:42:18 but she's probably not missed a vote for either of them. So I personally, like I made a video the night that it happened where I called on Schumer, Jill Brin, and Dan Goldman, who is my other representative. All three of them, of course, are, you know, in the bag with APEC. But I said to them, I'm still in Termesia. I am back in the Alawfields tomorrow. And I am in danger. I am literally in danger.
Starting point is 00:42:45 And by the way, I'm with lots of other Americans who are too. And I'm calling on you to make some calls. Like call your friends in the Israeli government or in the military and tell them, not to kill us and my mom and you know they of course nobody responded and and this this video was viewed like millions of times so it obviously like their staffers saw it my mom has called their offices literally every single day right before I got on with you guys she called me and was like I just chewed out Jill Brand staffer boss so like they they have just completely ignored me and my mom and um at Schumer's staff at one point like somebody got back to
Starting point is 00:43:27 and was like, we saw the video. We're horrified. We have a meeting with Senator Schumer tomorrow to discuss it and we'll get back to you. And then they just never responded to her after that. As far as the U.S. Embassy, I actually did speak with them on the day of the attack. Some guy reached out after seeing the video. And he was just so horrified by what he saw. And he said to me, like, he was like, man, enough is enough. Like, this has got to stop. And for a minute, I was, maybe like dazed and naive enough to think like, oh, this guy wants to help me. And then he was like, I just have to have some internal meetings. Then I'll be back to you with next steps on like how we're going to protect the
Starting point is 00:44:07 house of beast. Yeah. Yeah. So then he, the classic technique. The classic technique. I'll get back to you after this. Well, literally the next text was like an hour later or something. And he was like, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do to protect you.
Starting point is 00:44:22 It is the responsibility of the host nation to protect you. And I said, okay, just to be clear, like, it was the military of the host nation that led me into this attack and that failed to protect me. And he says, well, that's how it's supposed to happen. And then he said, like, you know, in nations where the host nation failed to protect Americans, we pull our embassy. And then I said, so are you pulling the embassy from Israel? And the next response, actually, which I have not talked about in hindsight, it's hilarious. I said, so are you pulling the embassy from Israel? he responds, please reach out to public affairs and gives me an email address for U.S. Embassy Public Affairs.
Starting point is 00:45:00 And then there was a time like, I mean, the thing is like this event, you know, the video was so shocking, but this was one of like 10 instances in three weeks when I was, you know, witnessing some sort of violence or in like acute danger. There was another incident maybe a week later where I was in a town called Duma where we were really, really surrounded and being threatened by very scary settlers. And I called the embassy and I reached out and they just completely ignored me. So, yeah, I mean, the U.S. government left me to die and has left the Americans there to die. And again, I want to just emphasize right before this trip, I was in Washington, D.C. with the families of Palestinian Americans who are trying to get the U.S. government to acknowledge that their children have been murdered or abducted. I was also staying at the house of the 16-year-old Palestinian-American kid, Mohamed Zaire Ibrahim, who is in Israeli military detention since February,
Starting point is 00:45:57 and the government has done virtually nothing to help him. So it's like these towns, these American towns really have just been completely abandoned by the U.S. government to a degree that it's just like, yeah. Out of all the instances of American citizens being brutalized, murdered, everything else, in the West Bank, has there ever been an instance of the U.S. government actually like putting pressure on anybody and it leading to an arrest or persecution or anything? If you talk to the families, they all sort of say that like there were some people in the U.S. government that like sort of became their champions and their allies. And they all ended up basically saying,
Starting point is 00:46:43 actually, sorry, there's nothing we can do. I mean, just like the families that were in D.C. It was the family of Rachel Corey, who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 in Rafa in Gaza. It was the family of Iseigneur who was a Turkish American,
Starting point is 00:47:02 who was shot by an Israeli sniper, I think maybe a year or two ago. Family of Saifula Mussolet, the 20-year-old who was beaten to death. The family of Talfic Abd al-Jabbar, who was killed by an Israeli sniper last year. And then the family of this kid, Muhammad Zahir Ibrahim,
Starting point is 00:47:17 not a single one of them did the U.S. investigate the crime. In every single one, they deferred to Israel to investigate. Yeah. And the thing I wanted to bring up is that while you're over there, while this is going on, and like I think what you say about how like these families, like their initial point of contact will be someone in the U.S. government who sympathize with them and wants to help them. But then like at some point on the chain of command or whatever, they just run into a wall.
Starting point is 00:47:46 and then they have to come back sheepishly and I think quite nauseatingly and have to say like there's nothing I can do. In the killing of Shereen Abu Akla, just this week, we found out that the military police officer who was assigned to investigate this killing or he was assigned by his superior
Starting point is 00:48:04 to basically do what he does. He's a military police officer to investigate this shooting. And he concluded that she was shot by an Israeli soldier and there is no possible way that this shooting could have been anything other than intentional. It's just coming out now because that is a conclusion that he drew when he was
Starting point is 00:48:20 assigned this investigation by a superior officer. But when he brought the results of that investigation to the superior officer, the superior officer bottled it and said the Israeli military said it was an accident. And that's what we're going with. So he's like... And this was during Biden. This is Biden blinking, to be clear. This is the Biden Blinken State Department. And it was like this is an American officer being assigned this investigation, who has been being, like, basically completely shunted to the side in favor of the officers of a foreign military and what they said. And, like, this pattern, as you said, like, happens over and over and over again. And this military police officer guy was quite rightly, like, terrified and, like, astounded that such a thing could
Starting point is 00:49:01 happen. But yet, it happens all the time. And then taken, like, as a whole, when you see all of these incidents, it just does seem that there is a ceiling on how much, on what any investigation can show or any fact that can be brought to light as it regards the brutalization and murder of Palestinians, be the American citizens or not in the West Bank. Yeah, I mean, every time I go to the West Bank, there's like part of me, you know, I try to go open with an open mind and think, you know, of course I have my biases, but I like allow myself to be open to being surprised by something and every time it just goes the other way like in this particular case I mean this is just clearly my like American white privilege speaking but like I was actually
Starting point is 00:49:49 shocked that that the embassy was like fuck off like I was like are they really going to just leave me to die there's no way I'm Jasper from New York like they're not going to do that to me and they just straight up like basically told me to go fuck myself and actually a contact that I have who worked in the State Department and knows my Cuckabee personally, texted him, sent him the video and said Jasper is in danger and would like to speak to you. And he literally passed them off to the press office and then the press office declined to speak. So like they actually, you know, it's like on another level I want to say, I don't even know if it's racist against Palestinians because I'm not Palestinian. Like it actually is just pure deference to
Starting point is 00:50:32 Israel. I mean, they are literally allowed to kill Americans. And, yeah, like, again, you know, people know this, but just experiencing it firsthand, it really, it actually still managed to shock me, which I guess is good that I'm still able to be surprised like a child. So that's nice. Yeah. I mean, that I always think about when Chuck Schumer said that, or I'm saying that Trump said that Chuck Schumer is now Palestinian, you know, the famous firebrand Chuck Schumer, a founding member of Palestinian Islamic jihad. Um, he, it's, I mean, Palestine definitely is like a racial category for the Israelis. Um, but it's also like, it's amorphous. You can become Palestinian just through sheer proximity. Yeah. And that like anyone who gets brutalized by the Israeli military in the West Bank is a Palestinian by virtue of blood spilling. And you also see it in like, um, the accounts by like David. Adler when he was, you know, arrested from the flotilla. Like, he got special treatment for for being a Jew who dared to challenge Israel. He got like special humiliation, special
Starting point is 00:51:49 abuse. So, you know, in their eyes, you're even, you're a traitor, your turncoat. And on some level, like, it's even, I don't want to say it's worse because it's certainly not worse than what the Palestinians go through. But it's a special kind of resentment that they have for you as a Jewish person or even just as a non-Palestinian, if you dare to stand with them. Yeah. Jasper, there's another thing I have to ask you about in terms of, like, how this video has sort of caught on and, like, penetrated the veil of the mainstream press to a certain degree.
Starting point is 00:52:19 It's even, you know, some few senators are talking about it. And I think it's because of, like, how stark, just the simple image of, like, what it portrays is. So, like, there's really, like, there's no denying it. There's no way around it. There's nowhere to shade it. However, I got to say, did you, I'm sure you saw the video. of Daniela Weiss, who's like the, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:52:38 the crone in chief of the official, like, Israeli settler movement, a British journalist attempting to show her that video and her refusing to look at it. My question is, who keeps letting this woman give interviews with the foreign press? Like, do they think that, like, she provides a sympathetic view of who they are and what their movement stands for? And I guess my broader question is, I know, like, you've dealt with these people,
Starting point is 00:53:01 but have you ever, like, talked to one of these settlers? is like, who the fuck are these people, is my question. Well, in fairness to Danielle Weiss, who is known as the godfather, the godmother of the settlement movement. I mean, she was literally there in, I think, 67, if not 68, leading the charge. In fairness to her, she did say, I don't believe in videos, and she closed her eyes. So she didn't actually have a chance to see it and respond to it. It's funny.
Starting point is 00:53:26 I was actually just talking about this with my dad last night. Like, it's hard to tell if she just, like, enjoys this role. I mean, she must just enjoy this role because I think she does enjoy it and it's the impunity with which she can just say I don't believe in videos or like I simply won't watch it. And they're the only violence that takes place
Starting point is 00:53:48 in the West Bank is attacks on settlers and not vice versa. It's the impunity like who wouldn't enjoy the ability to like just forthrightly. I mean, it's not even lying really like I mean like obviously it is lying. Well, it's kind of like when your grandparents Yeah, when your grandparents get to a certain age and they just start saying whatever they think and it's like, grandma, come on. You can't say that they can kill kids. But to answer your question, well, like I have been into a couple settlements, including some that are sort of like known as extremist settlements. And I've talked to lots of people. I think maybe those days are over for me. But I mean, everybody that I have talked to in a settlement is just as racist and.
Starting point is 00:54:33 and sort of, you know, maniacal and sociopathic as the rest. And they all have the same view that, you know, the Palestinians are, you know, terrorists who, if they let their guard down for one second, they will come and kill them and kill their whole families. But they are not, they're a little, the ones I've talked to at least are savier than Danielle Weiss. And they will frame things in terms of security. And they all have like a handful of.
Starting point is 00:55:03 of, you know, Palestinian attacks that they reference as justification for every last thing they've done. Like, for example, the just unbelievable system of checkpoints and like bottling off communities, a settler said to me, well, if you think about it, if there's a terrorist in Nabilis, Napolis is like a huge city, by the way, and there's 15 exits out of Nabilis, and we shut it down to just one exit out of Nabilis, it's much harder for that terrorist to get out. And it's like completely lost on them that, I mean, you're, you're talking about a huge city of people that you have just shut in. So, you know, they're a little bit more like they talk kind of like just, I don't know, like far right wing Republicans. But they all in my experience, I mean, look, there's really no reason to become a settler unless you want to join the project of ethnic cleansing.
Starting point is 00:55:53 Like there's actually plenty of space in Israel to live if you like really feel like you need to go live there. But you decide to move to the West Bank, A, because like the government's going to give you subsidies and like, you know, maybe even give you a house and pay you to do it. But because like you believe in this project of turning the, you know, Judea and Samaria, as they call it, into just a Jewish territory that's part of Israel. And so they have different ways of saying it. Daniela Weiss is like particularly ghoulish in the way she talks about it. But I think that's more or less how all of them feel. Well, I mean, like, I want to use her as the example because, like, Per Felix's earlier point, like, it can't possibly be that they think that this makes them look good to an international audience. In fact, I think they know exactly the truth of it, which is that they come across just as ghoulish as they appear to be. But it's a demonstration of their power that they have, that they get to decide what truth is. And they can do it so brazenly. But I also want to just add, Will, like, I actually much prefer interviewing. a settler than a like liberal Zionist.
Starting point is 00:57:01 Yeah, I mean, shit, it's one. Because, because they are just, they just come right out with it. They know what they believe in. Yeah, well, they, and they like, frankly are, are real, like, adherence to the, the early Zionist manifestos. Like, they understand, you know, they got the assignment and they're still doing it. And, you know, they have this line that they love to use, which I think is, like, so interesting. thing where they will say like if the Jewish state, if the state of Israel was founded based on its claims to, you know, biblical and historical claims to the land itself, then our claims
Starting point is 00:57:38 in East Jerusalem, in Samaria, and, you know, these various places in the West Bank are much stronger than any claims they have to Tel Aviv or Haifa or other places in Israel, which is 100% correct. It's 100% correct. And that is why, like, you know, when you open the box, when you open Pandora's box of an ethno state that requires ethnic cleansing in order to maintain a Jewish majority. Like, you can't shut it. Now the, you know, the settlers in the West Bank are just using the exact same language that
Starting point is 00:58:11 the Zionists use for decades. And it's, you know, we talked about this last time, but it's why, like, archaeology has been so central to the state, too, because the same archaeologists who in the 40s and 50s were, you know, uncovering evidence of ancient Israel. in, you know, 48 Israel just hopped right over the green line after 67 and we're like, hey, look at this. It's even more Jewish over here. And like, hey, like, they're in southern Syria and Lebanon. And like, everywhere they look, they're finding pottery shards with Hebrew lettering. So it just, you know, it goes on and on. And that is sort of the Zionist project. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's kind of remote.
Starting point is 00:58:52 We talked about this last time. We briefly touched on this how, uh, 20, 30, 40 years ago Zionist American organizations APEC the thing that Edward Bronfman was in charge I mean actually Edward Bruntman himself would repeatedly do this where
Starting point is 00:59:14 there was a comprehensive defense of every cross borders Israeli military operation as they would term it but the occupation of the West Bank or settlements in general in the case of Bronfman
Starting point is 00:59:31 were like crossing a red line and it was that was for the longest time like the acceptable mainstream American position and the acceptable like Zionist American position and it's just it's shocking when you look at it how untenable
Starting point is 00:59:49 it is because it is like okay so this 3,000 year old endless like blood claim on the land It ends right here. Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah, it's like, it is like trying to, if like there was a John Anderson type candidate running in the Third Reich. It just doesn't, it just does not.
Starting point is 01:00:12 I'm surprised it held together for as long as it did. But going back to a little what you said about Danielle Weiss, it is, and the type of American that like lives in a settlement. it's so interesting because it is that is like the highest form of spite because it fucking sucks it's terrible you have to live in a fucking like prison basically have you seen what these settlements look like
Starting point is 01:00:37 it's like it's terrible and then you compare it to like Barry Wise or Ben Shapiro or anyone else they don't even want to live in Tel Aviv they want loyalty legends in the world to live in the fucking West Bank or even yeah yeah yeah
Starting point is 01:00:53 like Tel Aviv is to like gross and annoying for them. But like, yeah, these people, these people are taking like a, an absolute decimation of their average quality of life just out of like sheer racial animus in spite. It's like all the people that say that they're going to leave New York tomorrow when Zoran wins. Like, they all say they're going to move to Florida, not fucking Israel. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:01:18 Well, you know, I will say, though, just to emphasize, like, the Israeli government is pouring just unbelievable, disproportionate amounts of funding from the taxpayer base into turning these settlements into beautiful, well-run cities. I mean, they're bringing 5G over there. They're connecting highways. Like, they really are going all out to make it a better place to live. But yeah, I mean, the settlers, you know, I try not to like generalize them too much. but in this sense, like, you can generalize that, you know, you have chosen to be part of a project. In this project, you have chosen to live directly next to your enemy. Like, why would you, you don't, again, you don't have to do that. People that you claim all want to,
Starting point is 01:02:04 like, kill you immediately. Yes. And like, it's just. And like, and by the way, and every day, you're behaving in a way that makes it more likely that they will eventually do that. And, and that's why that soccer story to me is like so perfect. It's like, man, nobody asked your fucking kids to come walk through this Palestinian soccer game. Like, you could stay up there on top of the hill. You could stay in Israel, but you decided to come over here to march your family right through this soccer game, to be in the frame of the video that I was taking so that you could then play the victim and claim that, you know, I'm, you know, taking creepy pictures of your children, which then they will feed into the machine of villainizing the Palestinians and
Starting point is 01:02:49 justifying, you know, demolishing their villages and basically just getting them out. Jasper, my last question for you is, like, do you expect there, like, do you expect there to be any changes in policy towards the West Bank going forward? And I'm bringing this up in light of the fact that our current president, Donald Trump, when he has asked about it, does seem sort of tired of talking about it. And he sort of waved it away. in recent, when he's been asked by reporters, he said, like, they're not going to annex the West Bank. It's not a problem.
Starting point is 01:03:18 We've taken care of that. Like, Trump seems to be tired of talking about it or dealing with it and seems to be, like, adamant that, like, he's going to say no to Netanyahu's government and their attempts to further annex the West Bank. Do you place any credence in that, or do you just think, like, Rubio and the Huckab Beast are basically, like, they have their hand at the till of policy
Starting point is 01:03:37 as it regards Israel and the West Bank? No, I do actually put credence in that, specifically because for two reasons. One of them is because the UAE has basically threatened to withdraw from the Abraham Accords if Israel annexes the West Bank. And that was sort of the, you know, the crown jewel foreign policy achievement of Trump's first term. And he also is, you know, obviously deeply financially tangled up with like the Saudis and the Gulf states who all have sort of a political motivation to prevent a formal annexation. But the other thing is that there's a lot of people who believe, including myself, that Nanyahu himself does not want to formally annex the West Bank. Because once you do that, you have decided, you are now unilaterally saying, this is part of Israel. And now you either have to give citizenship to the three million Palestinians there, which, you know, erodes at the Jewish majority, or you are just coming out and saying, like, this is an apartheid regime, which, you know, they deny because it's a military occupation there and it's not technically part of Israel. So I think they would much rather do what they're doing now, which is.
Starting point is 01:04:41 a de facto annexation, where they are just taking all the laws in Israel and systematically bringing them over into the West Bank. They are, you know, dismantling any sort of, you know, remnants of authority that the PA, the Palestinian Authority still has. And they are just making it like Israel and just, you know, further marginalizing the Palestinians there without having to deal with these thorny questions around, you know, citizenship and potentially harming normalizations. So I think what they're doing now is, is sort of ideal for them. Just in terms of like, is anything going to change? I mean, this is like, I think about this all the time when I'm in bed at night trying to solve the conflict of the Middle East.
Starting point is 01:05:27 Like, it's, it's impossible to, I mean, like my prognosis, like anybody who's spent time there or who watches the news is like incredibly bleak. There's so much momentum that, is just in the in the favor of Israel and the the far right despite the fact that the entire world is turning against them like politically diplomatically like there's nothing slowing the settler movement right now really except for and I don't want to maybe I take that back not except for but one thing that is actually making a difference is activists and journalists and just people going into the West Bank and documenting what's happening and I want to just like actually make a really clear call to action to people, if that's okay, that like any Palestinian
Starting point is 01:06:18 on the ground of the West Bank, who is in a place that is under siege, which is the majority of the West Bank, will tell you that the more, frankly, like, it sucks, but the more Westerners that are there that are documenting what's happening, that are just providing presence, like, that is one of the only things that is slowing down the settlers. And, you know, it's so easy to feel completely powerless watching what's happening. I mean, with the genocide and with just with Israel's, like, just, you know, rogue behavior. But it's, you can go. It's actually not that difficult.
Starting point is 01:06:49 I mean, unless you're like, I think maybe Will and Felix, you guys might not be able to go at this point. You may be on a list, but like most of your listeners, but, but like, you can pretty easily get into the West Bank. And there's lots of organizations, which maybe will, I can send you some after. Yeah, please do. you can like share links to him. But but like it's not that hard to go and you don't necessarily have to like, you know, put yourself in the middle of a dangerous situation. There's other
Starting point is 01:07:19 ways that you can just provide presence. But the point is like the incident with the woman being clubbed on video, what it actually showed in my mind was that Israel is on some level still responsive to, you know, international outrage. Like they did actually the next day send the military out to protect the Palestinians, not out of a sincere care for them, obviously, but because they knew if there's another vicious attack on film, it's going to cause even more outrage. Do they have any idea who wielded the club? Has there been any arrest made? Well, there's been no arrest made, no, but I can't get into too much detail about this, but like I was actually contacted by a very high-level officer in an Israeli intelligence agency
Starting point is 01:08:05 that actually shocked me when I got the call and asked me to speak with them. And I talked it over with my Palestinian friends, Palestinian lawyers, Israeli human rights lawyers. And they all said, you should talk to them, actually. So I went in and talked to them and I told them, like, they basically both said to me, it was two guys. And they said what we saw was one of the most horrible things we've ever seen. They called it terrorism, which I was actually. surprised to hear and they said like we will hold them accountable and I said to them you guys are full of shit like maybe the two of you on an individual level like see this
Starting point is 01:08:48 video and are horrified by it but like the system is not going to support you in this what I ended up thinking though was and I said this to them was basically like I think it's possible I think they are doing an investigation and I think it's possible that they will find the guy who clubbed the woman and drag him in front of a judge and maybe give him some jail time to make sort of a symbolic token arrest to show that they did something. But what I made very clear to them was that's nothing. Like that counts for almost nothing. If you don't dismantle this terror network in Termisaya and beyond, I mean, it's actually very straightforward what they need to do. They need to evict the hundreds or thousands of settlers that are
Starting point is 01:09:32 living in the olive fields in the farmhouses built by the Palestinians. They need to get them out and they need to keep them out. And they need to do that all across the West Bank, obviously. Like even forgetting the fact that like the whole project is illegal under an international law, just if you focus on this one town, I said to them, like, you know as well as I do. This is not about one bad apple. Like this was, first of all, it was a mob. Second of all, the military was involved. So like, there are things that you could do to dismantle this whole thing. And they basically didn't respond to that part. So I think the best case scenario is that maybe they make an arrest. Maybe it has like some, I mean, listen, it would be good if that
Starting point is 01:10:10 happened because like the people of Termosaya are living in fear. And maybe it would send some kind of a message. But in terms of like the systemic rot that undergirds this whole thing, I mean, I've seen no indication that that is something that they're going to take on. I think that's a really important point to make that like they still as much as much impunity as they seem to have like they still do they need this
Starting point is 01:10:36 country to do everything and they are fucking terrified of the seismic shift that's occurred in public opinion obviously that hasn't manifested in policy change but
Starting point is 01:10:51 the boomers aren't in great help you know they know that there is like a day what right um as for like uh me and will being on a list if we tried to go there do you think it would work if i went i changed my mind like i just showed it i'm like whoops i was right hey guys i was don't listen to any of that stuff i said i was having a 12 year long mental breakdown i'm moving here now there is a process whereby you can contact the Canary Mission and do a video where you recant all your public views and they will public, I'm not even, I'm not even kidding. There's a page on the Canary Mission for people who have
Starting point is 01:11:39 recanted their views and have been removed from the blacklist and added to the good list. So, Felix, I don't know if you're on there, but you could just like proactively make a video and get it out there. And then I think you might be able to get it. That's, that's, that is awesome. That's like literally Spanish Inquisition shit. Yeah, exactly. God. That is, I need to, I need to watch the apology section. I need to know the stories behind that.
Starting point is 01:12:10 Like, Jesus. They're like hostage videos, but. Yeah, you can hold up today's, you know, paper and recant everything you've said over the last 10 years. I think it's good of them to show amnesty, frankly. So I, I, I'm going to have. personally give Canary Mission credit in this instance. Thank you for that. And if I ever find myself there, I will have a video to you within 24 hours. Felix, I think we should do it. Let's go to Tel Aviv. Let's make Alia. Let's eat disco pizza. Let's go to a rave and, you know,
Starting point is 01:12:43 just like have fun for once. None of this sad, depressing shit. Yeah. Let's dance in that weird fucked up way that they all do when they just sort of jump up and down. They're loving it. They're having a great time. I love the jumping up and down dance. We would be the first people who bring Molly into the country that isn't 89% meth. It's a good business opportunity too. Think about all the babes we could pull once we get right with the state of Israel. Oh, actually, I need to just tell you guys one more thing, which is hilarious. A friend in the West Bank who will remain nameless, a Palestinian friend is on Tinder and the Tinder, you know, is unable to discriminate between settlers and Palestinians. And so swiping through it, it is literally like, it's actually like
Starting point is 01:13:35 90% settlers. And man, those profiles. What do they listen to the hobby? You know, the hobbies section. To tell you the truth, it's actually like alarming how normal. Like most of them just like normal Israelis. And every once while you get like a complete psychopath who's like, you know, holding up a like a bloody Palestinian flag or something. But it's just like the, everything about the situation in the West Bank is just so absurd and weird because of the settlements. But anyway, I think you two would do quite well over there on a settlement tender. Do they have settlement raya? Settlement riot. Yeah, yeah. Then you can get hooked up with Daniel O. Weiss. You know, you have to have a certain level of celebrity to get on.
Starting point is 01:14:19 Settler, Rihanna. Me and my 82-year-old wife are having a kid. I, I, I, I, that actually reminds me, um, we had a friend on Twitter. He's not on Twitter anymore, but, um, he, he, he, we had a friend, Ali from, uh, set, from South Beirut, uh, several years ago on Twitter. And he actually, he matched with like a, um, Israeli soldier who was like illegally in Golan Heights
Starting point is 01:14:54 and like obviously you know like you know called her a Nazi and everything it's yeah I I would guess that like the more urbane ones are on Tinder and that accounts for them
Starting point is 01:15:09 for you know the underrepresentation of the hills have eyes type settlers it could be a cultural thing where the really scary ones like have all gone to like Bumble or something. Yeah. That's actually it, Felix. The feral street urgesons are on Bumble because that way they can't message first, which is ideal over there. They're shy. All right. All right. Well, we'll leave it there for today. Jasper Nathaniel, thank you for
Starting point is 01:15:36 your time. Thank you for your reporting. And if people should follow your substack to come if they're interested in the West Bank. Yeah. And we will include links to those, you know, calls to action that you made about, like, possibly volunteering as sort of like an activist or some sort of, you know, Western presence in the West Bank to make the ongoing siege and ethnic cleansing, maybe just a tad bit more problematic or difficult for the occupation forces and their sort of cutting edge of feral Americans who move there to kill people and steal their homes. It also just feels good to, frankly, like, get out of the U.S. culture. war and remind yourself about the actual war where people are being killed and to be closer to
Starting point is 01:16:22 it. But yeah, thank you guys for having me. I really appreciate it. And I'll talk to you both soon. All right. Our pleasure. Cheers.

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