Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - A Serious Talk About Israel and a Not-So-Serious Talk About Rap Beef

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay start today’s episode by giving their impressions on the progression of the beef happening in the hip-hop world (01:32). Then they are joined by Alaa Elassar and Yahya Abou-Ghazala, CNN reporters and collaborators on “Voice Notes From Gaza,” to weigh in on the Israel-Hamas situation as it continues to escalate (41:41). Lastly, they are joined by Bomani Jones, host of ‘The Right Time’ presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment (1:14:18). Together, they dig into the rap beef of today and share interesting media experiences. Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guests: Alaa Elassar, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, and Bomani Jones Producer: Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, talk warriors. What is up? Tyler is on is I, Van Lathan, Jr. Ed is me, Rachel and Lindsay. Hold on, you. Y'all got to hear something real quick. This is why I'm laughing. At King Wallonius.

Y'all got to hear this. Who is the genius that put this together? That is the best thing I've heard. So this is from at King Wallonius. I don't even want to work. On Instagram. I saw it this morning. Look, here's the thing.

obviously AI is a big problem. But there are several different versions of BBL Drizzi. Like they're... Well, is that the best one? Because that's a hit. Oh, my God, my God. What an unsirious fucking whole goddamn weekend. This is what I'm talking about.

This is what I want to hear. Like, this is taking a beef to another level. And I want, this is what I want from here on out. But, I mean, obviously, you guys, if you guys are, if you guys were paying attention to more important things that happened. this weekend, which we're going to talk about on this podcast today. I think the thing that captured a lot of attention this weekend in the social media talking spaces in the Twistphere was the rap, Armageddon. Strong word.

How would you describe it? Rap. Beefing. I was going to do a lighter work than even beef. I'm not going to say, no, don't do that to women. Oh, this is. The girls are fighting. Hold on, first of all, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this

This rat beef, don't get me wrong. But this rap beef is real housewives coded. It is definitely like the dramatics of a reality show. For sure. You got a BBL. Like you had a nose job. Call mom. Mom's involved.

Okay. So there's been a lot of talk, I feel like, more than ever, in regards to this rap situation. That's what we'll call it. Where AI's involved more than ever. So there's a question surrounding this one of how much is real and how much is fake. For you, you saw that, like, what we're talking about in regards to call mom, one of the things that came out is this text message exchange. Did Ross post that? Uh, no way. Drake posted it, right? Yeah. Drake posted, so Rick Ross dropped his disc track towards Drake. Drake, Drake dropped a disc track

and the disc track was, first of all, we're going to talk about this later in the podcast. I just want to play BBL Drizzi. How was your weekend? How was your weekend? Before we got it to you. My weekend was really chill. didn't do a whole lot. Had a nice little girls weekend. Little girls sleep over, catching up with some friends. Got some stuff done. Kalika and I, we got a big event this weekend.

So, you know, we were putting in some work with that. But it was chill. Very chill weekend. What about you? You smoke any weed? I did not this weekend. How often do you smoke weed? Very rarely.

Like what? I actually don't smoke. You don't smoke? You don't like to tote? I don't like to tote. I don't like, it. Have you ever taken a bonged rip? No, actually. Never? What kind of weed have you done? Like what, like when you say weed,

what kind of weed have you smoked? You smoke a J, you smoke a blunt. What does Rachel get into when she's wanting to get mellow? Okay, well, I don't smoke, but I have done it before. Why are you, why is it so difficult to talk about? No, no, it's not difficult to talk about, but is this a judge's daughter drugs thing? Well, no, I mean, I've had weed before. Do you think your dad smokes weed? No, no, not the judge. My dad does not like to lose control, so he's not going to do anything that could like... Or we would make your dad lose control. Well, no, like, it affects your state of mind.

And so he's not going to do anything. Does he drink? He doesn't drink either. Doesn't drink? I don't think that's true. Maybe, who knows what he did before me? But as far as I know, he doesn't do either one. When the judge came on here and I got a chance to talk to the judge who have a great deal of respect for,

I think the judge is a weed smoker. No. I saw his lips. Okay. His doesn't have what? He's darker lips? He got blunt lips. No, he doesn't have blunt lips.

The judge has blunt lips. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows that like... They weren't here. Bring up a picture of the judge. The judge be... What's your laptop? You don't have a laptop?

I'm doing it off the phone. Okay. Everybody bring up a picture of the judge. Ashley, bring a picture of the judge. up. That's why he didn't want me to come visit him. Don't do my dad like that. In Chambers that time. Tell him to my dad like that. Because he'd be in between sessions

burning the token of the smoke. He got blunt lips. You're looking at a picture of him right now, aren't you? I am. Right. No, I'm more so looking up like, why they got this picture of my dad looking like this. Let me see. It's the first picture that popped up. Oh, you can't tell me he don't have blunt lips.

Don't do my dad like that. So either your dad... Plus the respect. Hold on. Hold on. Either your dad got blunt lips or he's smoking black and miles. No. Wait. It's so obvious what somebody does and it's not my dad. Let's see.

Here we go. Look, give me. You guys. Old picture. Ain't no blunt lips. He, okay. So he definitely has there a little bit less pronounced there. You're struggling.

He's a little bit less pronounced there. But that's an old picture before. Oh, so he recently does. Look at him now. Look at this picture now. You can't even see his lip. I'm telling you, he got the purple blunt lips. Okay.

But don't do my dad like that. Anyways, no. You think you smells black a mile? It's like 25 cent at the club. No, no. You would smell it. Like, that's the thing. Like, you smell that.

Do y'all ever, there was the thing that we did in Baton Rouge. I don't know if they did in other places. To where it was black a mile night at the club? No, we did not do that. Where you could get in for 25 cent? No. If you had a black amount.

No. Am I making this up? No, I mean, it might be, it might be, no, you don't need to call anybody. Okay. You don't need to call anybody. It just might be. something that's very particular. It's a bad en rouge.

Do you like a black and mine? No, I've actually never had a black and wild. I don't believe you. No, I'm dead serious. I've smoked before. I'll tell you. Like, I'll tell you. But I've never had a black and mild.

Never? Not like, and when everybody was doing clothes, like, that's not my thing. I never was into all of that. You ever smoke a Primo? No. You know what that is? No. You have no idea what a Primo blunt is?

Maybe I have and I didn't know that's what it was called. What's a pre-mo? So you put a little cocaine out. Oh, no, I've never had that. Unless I didn't know. Unless it was laced and I didn't know. But no, like, that was a, that's a college thing.

What? I don't like smoke. Like, no, I just don't like smoking. Like, it just doesn't settle. I'm more of a gummy person. I think I'm allergic to cigarette smoke. Is it? Like, do you smoke?

No, but whenever I'm around cigarette smoke, I get an intense headache. No, it affects my allergies. Like when I go to Vegas and I walk through the casino, I have to take medicine because it affects me. Speaking of that, karma hit me hard. I was making fun of you and your pork-based diet and I got sick. Do you have some pork? I did not. Are you sick now?

No. Okay. I'm over the hump. Because you did have tissues when you came up. It's still coming out. Okay, well, thank you for put, I'm just, okay, first off, we're podcasting, so that's a lot. To the people listening. Oh, whoa.

Is it not? Whoa. Is it not? Whoa. Okay. So look, I played a little beat. I apologize. I played a little beat and I apologize.

Rachel, the podcast feaster, who eats a different meal almost every podcast. You're so extreme. The podcast feaster. Rachel, the dog babysitter. We're podcasts. All you're in the backer. You are, it's been a while since that's happened.

That's very good. It's very good. impression of Brownie. Yeah, I'm like, it's like, yo, Rachel is Brownie killing a cat? Can we get all with the show? So there's no way.

Yeah, I did a little beat. I'm sorry. I don't think you were noticing that you were doing it. I was more so bringing it to your attention. Anyways, what were we talking about before the beat? We were talking about, um...

You being sick. Oh, I was saying you put all of us in jeopardy. How so? You came in with tissues. You're still lingering. I'm just now. I just am starting to get my voice back. I'm just right in time for the birthday.

From the divorce? No. Oh. Right in the think of that. Okay. Please, I'm sure it went down. Don't even get me started. That's what women say sometimes.

To be very honest, I'm trying to keep it light because I'm really not in a mood. Oh, shit. I'm really not in a mood. All right, we out. That's all you got to say to me. I'm going to be on the other side of that. Not you. It is nothing with you.

I'm here for the lightness and put my energy into work, but man. Yeah. Stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So you don't smoke. You never smoke to Primo. Have you ever done cocaine?

No. Ever. Never. It's, I just, maybe if there was a different way you could take it, I would be more interested. But the snorting up the nose is not for me. I can, you know what I can see? I can see a scene. This is the scene. I can see a scene with you where you were going to try it.

And you got your rolled-up dollar. And everybody starts to do it. And you see to do it. And then you just get cold feet. Like, everybody's like, oh, fuck. And you go. And there's no. I don't want to do it, guys.

It'll be like, no, Rachel, you know, you don't have to do it that way. You could take a bump. I'm not into that. Like, there's just nothing attracted to me about that. It's a no for me. Yeah, I remember, that's not my jam. I remember in Louisiana when people started doing different types of Coke, and Ian was just incredulous about it.

Okay, don't, don't, Ian. Ian never has done cocaine. Ian is so anti-drugs. Ian is the most anti-drug person I've ever known. Ian don't want to smoke weed Ian don't want to... He might take a gummy now and it's weird now

because he's like a, he's a pharmaceutical salesman and he's in the weed. Oh, is he? Is that the space? Yeah, he makes a lot of money. He's doing very well. But Ian was,

Ian was a singer. So everything would affect his voice. Like, he was like, oh, I want to drink a Pepsi that affect my voice. Takes the craft seriously. I like that. Yeah, whatever, though.

What kind of drugs you do? Why are you over here of asking me? I'll try them all. All of them? A lot of them, yeah. Heroin? Because your face, no, I've never tried fucking heroin.

Well, you said all of them, so I went to the hard stuff. Some 270 pounds, but I try heroin. Not if you tried it once, you wouldn't have marks all over you like that? I don't know if there's a drug that you could try once. Oh, you think you would get addicted? I'm definitely. Like, I know. Do you have addictive personality?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, maybe the porn thing is like a telltale sign. You know what I mean? Yeah, I have an addictive personality. Like sometimes I walk past a bag of peanuts And the peanuts are like They're talking to me

Eminem peanut Eminemes Like I'll be I cannot walk past a bag of peanut M&Ms Without the peanut Eminemes Speaking to me Oh gosh maybe Like it doesn't matter where I'm at

I could be like at a ball game I could be in the circle K The 7-11 whatever And when I walk past the peanut M&Ms It's like the United Nations of candy that's inside of there. And they're like, yo, man, think about it. When you bite down, there's a pop. Then there's a feel of chocolate.

And then after that, there's this little candy coating. And it's crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. Okay. And then you feel this euphoria of sugar. That's tough, fan. And they go, fan. Free us. And I buy them.

Only to eat them. So it's kind of twisted. No. They're talking to you. That's their purpose. They want? That's their purpose. To make you feel good?

No, their purpose is to be eating. Listen, this is the thing. Everything has a purpose. The purpose of the peanut M&M is to be consumed. They want that. That's a lot, Van. If they're talking to you, then other foods are talking to you too. That's a lot.

Peanut Eminem is without buying them. Never. As much as I love the pork, it doesn't even talk back to me. Yeah, it's because it's a part of you. You are a pig. Did everybody hear that? Like you're part? Did everybody do that?

No, no, no, no. Just pause there. Don't try to explain it. What? You call me a pig. Like, but you're... Pigs are dirty. They're not.

They are dirty. They're not. They're not dirty. They're not dirty. They're not dirty. Okay. Let me tell you something about a pig real quick. Listen.

Let me tell you something about a pig real quick. Okay. Pigs are misunderstood. You don't want to tell me. Okay. So it's not... I am one. It's not that they're dirty.

It's that they don't feel societies need to be clean. A pig is a rebel. A pig is a delicious rebel. You ever read Animal Farm? No. Got to read it. Don't try to make it better. You called me a pig and that's where it's dead.

The pork is a part of you. That's what I meant. The pork is a part of you. You should have left it there. Okay. You know what? I'm a pig. Forget about it.

We're some pigs in this much. I apologize. Whatever. What did you do this weekend? Nothing. I was feeling sick. Oh yeah, that's right. You did say that.

Well, did you feel better. It was just good. Right in time for your birthday. Yeah, my birthday is tomorrow. Actually, my birthday is today if you listen to the podcast, it's today. Well, happy early birthday. Yeah. A couple of people were wondering, because it was around this time that you were supposed to get the

transplant. Yeah. Where are we with that? I keep pushing it back. Okay. But you still want to do it? I pay for it already. Oh, my gosh.

I'm sure you get a refund. No. I'm sure you paid half. Yeah, I paid half. Okay. But they don't fuck around. I pay for it, but I need downtime. Oh, it's going to be a while.

So because I need downtime, I need April ended up not being a great month for downtime. I'm getting it. I don't care. No, I'm not trying to judge you. I know you're not. curious. Why? You're going to get a hair transplant? I mean, you know, maybe I'll fill it a little space, a couple spaces. I didn't know. You, you put me on to the fact that women do it. Yeah. You know, I don't know. I like my forehead. I don't think that there's anything that you could do

to. No, people do. They move it up. But you don't have, it's not like you don't have hair. You have hair. No, but like, it's just a prominence. Bring up the line. Is that going to change the forehead, though? Well, wouldn't it? I don't know. It might make it look. I don't know. Yeah. I think it's perfect the way it is, Rachel.

I don't know if you want to fuck with it. I'm just talking. I don't think I would actually do it. How's the playbook? Dying? What's going on this morning? The playbook is not dying. I have to say something.

You're not on your job. You've confused people about the playbook. I haven't. I have to say something about the playbook, you guys. Rachel is picky. That's not. True. You, like, Rachel is picky.

Rachel is, and you should be, but Rachel is picky. But I do think sometimes that you're trying to thread a very specific needle, and we just need to kind of get out there now. I'm trying to be, what's the word? Not polite. Consider it? Maybe. But I do think sometimes there's a little gun shy. Just, I think we need to.

But why would I not? I think we need to just go. You know, you ever be? been to, I'm sure you've been to Basque Robbins. You probably worked there. Oh my gosh, Dachry Ice, my favorite flavor. What's it called? Dacry Ice.

Okay, cool. So when you go there, just, you know, you taste a little bit of the different flavors. You don't have to have a whole cup or cone. Just taste a little bit of the different flavors. Taste a little bit of different flavors. Taste them, taste them. Give me an option. Okay.

I feel like I haven't been out and about it. Give you one option. I said yes. Okay. A very prominent. No, stop. Stop. Don't say.

A very prominent and accomplished. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't. Don't. Guess who Rachel's mystery suitor is in the Reddit chat. Very prominent. Actually, in the Reddit chat, say who you would like for it to be. Oh.

Who could you see? Better. This is the whole format of our podcast. I say something. Rachel says it better. That's how higher learning goes. Yes, who would you like to see Rachel? Throw some ideas out at Rachel.

You know, that's what Calica last night? What did you say to her? I was like, I haven't had, I'm, never mind. Is this penis vagina intercourse? No. Oh, I was about to say, what the fuck are we talking about? What, what the, what like, are you going to say I haven't had a black wangtang tang? Oh, my God.

Oh, shit. What the fuck? Jesus Christ What I was going to say is I was talking to Whoa I was going to say in my 30s

as I'm about to because I've been in a relationship You haven't had black wang in your thines I was thinking about this and I was like I'm nervous It just had this real and they I had this realization and I was like Kalika.

Oh my gosh. Wow. Wow. It's there's I have a. No, no, no, no. Let's go. Rachel. I was just going to say I have a friend who's experiencing for the first time and I'm like hearing her talk about it. And I'm like. Experiencing black meat for the first thing.

And I'm hearing her talk about it and I'm like, hmm. We got to work through. this real quick. You guys, high learning, we're going to take two minutes here on this topic. We're not going to go. We're not going to go too far because I know the audience, I know you guys can't hear this. As I told you on the top of this podcast, I'm not okay. So, so you're, so you're thinking about what it means to. I'm just saying it's, it's been a while. Yeah, yeah.

A decade, that's a long time to be, you know what I mean? That's a long time. Yeah. You're in the land of the purple penis and now you got to come back. So do you have concerns? No, it's just a realization that I had and it was like, oh, wow, I'm, you know, coming home. Coming home. It's just, I really was like, man, I've really been away for a while. It's been a long time.

Because I'm loyal. You're loyal. You're loyal. it size, is it a rhythm? Is it like, because all of these things are different, right? Neither one of those. Oh, my God. What is it, the musk? The scent of a black mane.

What is it? Big black buck. Addictive personality. Addictive personality. There it is. There it is. You know, that's what's going to end up happening. We keep, like, we keep acting like we're going to get into the. a playbook and Rachel's about to date some nice, whatever. I'm going to walk in here one day and it's going to be a 60 Crip named Terry sitting here.

I swear to God. I'll be walking here one day and I'm going to walk past this bitch and I'm going to say, what's up? He's going to go, neighborhood, nigger. I'm going to like, what? We both going to say what? He's like, he's going to be like, neighborhood, niggum. What's happening with you?

I'm like, oh, shit. It's like, hey, bro, what's happening with you? man, yes, Lawson. And then Rachel's going to be like, man, this is Terry. I went to the GS sports bar with some friends of mine. You ever been to the GS before?

No. Got to take you to the GS. I went to the GS sports bar with some friends of mine and I met him. And he's, what's your name? A little two times. He had a cool nickname and him and I have been hanging out

riding around, listening to Larry June and the Blue Bucks Clan and all of that stuff. So yeah, this is him. Like, what thing was how'd you, dog? What you're from? Hey, bro. Whoa.

You know what I'm saying? That's because you got to at least do one of them. Enough. You have to at least do one of them. I mean, fuck it. We back, man, we gotta have fun, Rach. Rache, you get one summer of fun and then after that, you have to be the princess of black America like you've been before.

Like, you, you're one summer of fun. All right, I'm down for a summer of fun. Summer of fun Fuck these niggas, man I'm so sick, brad everybody, a summer of fun, man. Why not? Why not dip off in tune?

All right, I'm very curious as to who the Reddit suggests. Right. Somebody else throw game signs at you. Then you take that list and you see who you know. We'll cross-reference. Yeah. Maybe I've never slid in anyone's DMs before. Maybe I'll slide in somebody's DMs.

Be careful with that. Those DMs last forever now. Well, how you think I'm going to slide in? I'm going to be above board. Work video. No, that's not my style. What would you be, what would be your DM slide? Hi.

Depends who it is. We, I love the law. And I've seen that you've been to jail four or five times. Maybe I could talk to you. We could work together. We could collaborate. We could collaborate together. Oh, shit, honey, that's lit.

My man, Pino will reach out. I can't wait. I want to see you make a just one. Okay, I want it the best for you. And we're going to make sure that it's the best. But I think bad to say. are actually good decisions in the long run. So I want to see you make one bad decision.

Maybe I already am. Oh, my God. This is going to be summer. You guys, not even summer yet. It's not even summer yet. Okay. Protracted, elongated. Speaking of Rachel's

coming home to black men. Pleasantry's there. But on the other side of this, startling and shocking news from the Middle East. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, Every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.

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Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at Fandul.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash herms. Israel is wearing its response after Iran fired a missile barrage at the country over the weekend. Now, while everybody else stays outside, not everyone else, but a lot of people on my timeline were paying attention to manufactured rat beef. There was real war happening in the Middle East. Iran launched an unprecedented large-scale drone and missile attack in Israel.

This was Saturday night. Israel has vowed to exact exact a price from Iran. after this attack. Now, if you're asking why did Iran attack Israel, it was retaliatory. Born Israeli strike earlier this month on an Iranian consulate building in Syria. Now, most places that are consulates, embealcies, places like that, countries look at those things as constituting their soil. And the attack on that building was seen by many members of the international community

as being reckless by BB Netanyahu. There was a tactical purpose for that attack that was trying to take out members of Iran's Republican Guard. There has been proxy fighting in this, meaning militia groups that are backed by Iran, have been launching attacks at not just Israeli forces, but at American forces for a while now. The interesting thing about this is that this was seen as a direct attack,

because it was an Israel's attack was on a consulate. And then this return attack by Iran wasn't launched through proxy. This was Iran from their soil launching missiles and drones at Israel. Slow moving missiles, excuse me, slow moving drones, right? Almost telegraphed in a way that made it, an attack is an attack. Yeah, they knew they were coming. But they knew they were coming. But not that many.

The Jordanians had vowed to shoot them down when they crossed into their airspace. It's not like it wasn't an attack, but it was certainly an attack that was slow moving enough. They telegraphed enough to where you wonder what they were trying to accomplish by the attack other than to say to the world, we will respond if Israel attacks us directly. So I'm not sure what they, if this was meant to exact. Listen, I'm saying this not to downplay the fact that Israel was attacked by Iran. I am saying the attack itself was odd. See, I felt like they were trying to show what they could do. Right.

Because they had not ever attacked them in that way with that many missiles. Israel saying it was around 300 drones and missiles and I think they were just kind of it felt to me like this is a preview. It felt like a warning of certs which is what I was trying to say

and it was full and articulate. Did this scare the shit out of you? It scares me now. I mean, we've talked on this podcast about what is rude? Ashley, cut this out, go ahead. No, no, no. Leave it in, Ashley because this is exactly what he would do to me.

Everybody, let's pause on the fact that remember Van said he's not sick. We've talked about several times on this podcast how what Israel is doing to Gaza is not being well received throughout the world. Right. But we haven't seen a response like this other than rhetoric of like they're displeased with it. And yes, there's been like back and forth, but nothing where there's this been this unprecedented attack from Iran to Israel. And I'm, to answer your question, yes, I'm very nervous at, well, one, two, about the U.S. response, right? Because the U.S. is saying right now that they are telling Israel not to respond to these missiles. But the U.S. is still providing weapons.

The U.S. is still giving money. And I'm concerned as to what, because it's getting to the point where they're going to have to pick a side. They're going to have to take a stance. What do you mean? Well, they already are in the sense, but like if this becomes something wider, and a lot of people are saying what BB did as far as with the consulate in Syria was to draw the U.S. into this. This was intentional. It wasn't necessarily reckless. Some people are saying this was intentional, one, to solidify his place in government with Israel because there's an election coming up and he could be voted out because people are displeased with them. And if a war is going on, they might keep him. And then the other thing people are saying, is that he's doing it to bring the U.S. into it. The U.S. I'm saying is going to have to make a decision of right now they're telling them don't retaliate.

But if they do, what will the U.S. do? Are you going to say no to Israel? Or are you going to say yes and fight against Iran? That's what scares me of like what's going to happen here as to me, and I already stated this, this is a warning of like what we can't. do and what we will do. Well, once again, they have been, like I said,

proxy fighting through Iranian-backed militia groups and organizations, be it Hezbollah, be it, the Houthis. Israel, the United States, knows when Iran is propping up organizations and factions to attack

U.S. forces or to attack Israel? The recklessness of the Israel attack was just because it was on, it's tantamount to an attack on some on soil, like I said. And that changes the legitimacy of the attack. It's, we're hitting you. And we took out a couple of members of the Iranian Republic Guard. So that almost begs a nation to respect.

The U.S. has said that it would not respond directly in any sort of military operation against Iran, that it won't do that. Biden has said that he views Iran's attacks Saturday night as a win for Western forces for the U.S. and Israel, and he's urging restraint. To me, the different issue is this. This is the consequence of a protracted, elongated Gaza massacre. When it lasts three months, five months, are we in the sixth month now? The longer it goes, and the more... unclear the military operational point of it is, the more the opportunity for it to spin into something that becomes more regional, that a spark gets lit and now the fire is raging out of control,

which direct state action between neighbors that have had longstanding animus and distrust, as we know that Iran hates Israel. Israel hates Iran. A lot of the back and forth there is about who can maneuver and bring their allies into it. And a lot of the resistance to the Iranian nuclear program is because it puts Israel at such a danger. I mean, Iran being able to strike the United States with nuclear missiles is certainly a prospect if they were to get those weapons. but it puts Israel directly at danger because they are so close,

think a thousand miles away or whatever. Jeez. So that is the deal here. If this becomes a wider regional conflict, alliances will be put to the test. And we'll see how Israel responds, but to me, honestly, this is what they wanted. That's what I'm saying.

Right. For Netanyahu, the state of Israel, as I'm speaking about it right now, I'm talking about the people who are running the government, and it seems like war is good for Netanyahu. He's a weak leader with no war, and he's an incredibly strong one with war. So if Israel is threatened, It seems like it's actually better for him.

Right. Because it gets him off of the hook for the things that he's under investigation for in the country, for the direction that he's taking the country in. And it girts people up to where it's, their nationalism is at an all-time high. So, once again, these were missiles that were sent. It wasn't an edible arrangement. So people were, lives were in danger. the Jordanians reacted with what they would do

shooting the missiles down, the Turkey reacted, but what they would do. It's unclear what was damaged and whether or not they were able to shoot them all down. I don't think that any real price was exacted. No, somebody was like a seven-year-old was injured. Okay. Like most of them were intercepted,

but a couple of people were hurt. There you go. So this is an act of war. So as much as people are saying that, hey, these were slow-moving drones, there were some missiles, but this doesn't seem like it seems like it was a warning. No, somebody sent missiles into a country and they put people's lives at danger. And this was in response to a direct attack from that country on an installation of Iran's. So this is serious. And diplomacy and urging and.

and words and actions and statements at the UN, none of that stuff has been able to stop what's happening in Gaza. Maybe the impending doom of a wider regional conflict or a conflict that spills out of the region into other fronts around the world, maybe that will. I don't know. But this was certainly an escalation. I just don't see with everything that you've seen so far from Israel

and the way that Beebe is running that country, how they would not retaliate. But we'll see. Iran has said the attack is now concluded, but warned of potential future escalation. They're basically saying, we got our lick back. We don't want no more beef. But if you are that Yahoo,

or if you are Israel, the way that you respond to this will be very telling for a lot of people in the international community because fronts missiles into your country, drones into your country. And you hand-wave it

or you talk your way out of it, it will seem like that direct state action from I mean Israel has a stronger military than Iran but direct state action from someone that actually has sort of stakes to it

that you stand down a little bit but when people below you are crowded into a dense area and don't have a real way of fighting back in a large military scale you'll just bomb them and bomb them and bomb them and bomb them and bomb them and bomb them with impunity

because there's not a huge threat that comes back from them. And that's not to say that terrorism doesn't exist. Right, right. Hamas terrorism doesn't exist and that October 7th wasn't bloody and vicious and brutal. But if the, if a timeout is called with Iran or if they don't react in some way, then it might make people wonder what the true intention of the operation in Gaza really is. Interesting. Well.

Scary times. But thankfully we have rap music to distract us. No. Still see a way out of this. That's what's scary. It's the unknown. And I don't see how we just say, all right, everybody, Well, I mean, there's a way out of it.

There's always a way out of it, right? So, look, the way out of everything, the way out of anything is always for people to be their principles. That's the way out of- But you have to have principles. Well, principles are stated, right? And if people are- That's what I'm saying. So the way out of anything is for people to be their principles.

Like, take Jesus Christ, for example. Jesus Christ didn't put a calculus problem on a board and then leave it for the world to figure out what it meant. He didn't go fucking X equals blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, you guys do this. Were you in calculus? Yeah, I don't like calculus. Jesus said it very plainly.

Hey, somebody smacks you, turn the other cheek, it's cool. If somebody's poor, give them something to eat. if somebody is rich try to see them for something that's more than money don't judge people unless you want to be judged wash the feet of people help people Jesus said it very clearly they left very clear instructions for the Jesus world

and everybody gets it wrong still everybody's like the message of a lot of the Christian diaspora is I hate you because Jesus says I have to. That's something that Jesus would never say. No. Right? Like never say.

A lot of it comes from that. So what I'm saying is if people are their principles, then we would understand that like pictures of babies burned to a crisp and buildings destroyed and whole cultures decimated that there would be some pause in continuing to inflict that on people. And we figure what's the best way out of this that ensures minimal loss of life and maximal, maximal security and cooperation for the future? But seeing how history has not done that. Right. So what I'm saying is. There's no way. I'm saying is what history has taught us, particularly history dominated by white European supremacy, is that the biggest dick wins.

right? The biggest dick that's actually being driven by the smallest dick because the smallest dick makes the biggest bump. So the, it's just, I'm just saying, like the, like the biggest dick wins. And so we'll see right now if between all of these people,

between America, between Israel, between Iran, between any other other people that will be laying in weight, right? The Russians, the Chinese or whatever, who's able to put their dick in the biggest way?

Who's able to, I'm just being for real because who's able to drop their nuts in the largest, most demonstrative way because that's who's going to figure out this situation.

But it won't be compassion, it won't be humanity, it won't be what's best for the future. Sure. It'll be... What's best for me? What's best for me? What's best for us?

And that's why you have to watch what you support and like watch what you vouch for. So whole thing. Weird. We'll see what happens. But very scary, very scary stuff. We talked about the best way that we could. Nobody went to the goddamn school of public policy, international geopolitics at Harvard. It's, I read a couple of books.

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into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Okay. We talked a little bit about earlier today. happenings in the Middle East right now with Iran's drone attack on Israel, what that meant to escalations in the region, and what the ongoing massacre in Gaza means both for the region and for world politics writ large. We've been promising to have Palestinian voices on this podcast to discuss things that are going on there. You guys have demanded it.

and you guys have held us to account over it. So we have two Palestinian voices to join us today. And what we want to talk about is the scope of this for you guys, how you are feeling, and what, if anything, can be done to stop what's happening and to bring peace and stability to the region if that's still on the table. We have two people join us today. Alay Elisar and

Yahia Abu Ghazala. How are you guys doing today? We're good. Thank you so much for having us today. We're really excited to join me. Yeah, same. Thank you. First question for me. In the aftermath of October 7th, what was the first thought that each of you guys had?

Yeah, so obviously we are Palestinian, but we're also journalists. And I think that our first thought was, at least my first thought, was, of course, what's going to happen, but immediately getting to work and making sure that, you know, Palestinians are not forgotten, you know, from the stories that being told and really, like, just getting to work. Yeah, and kind of going off of that, I think everyone in this industry as journalists, us as Palestinians, we knew that this was going to be a big moment in history, a very big story for all of us. that was going to last a long time. And, you know, we got kind of geared up in preparation for what the, you know, how can we contribute to this coverage? What are the important storylines to tell?

And just kind of really immediately put our journalist hats on and dove right into this big story. As journalists, what was, what was important, what was important from you guys' purview for people to know in terms of, I understand covering it, the nuts and bolts of the story, and the realities of the region. But what was it important as journalists, the story that you wanted to tell? What did you want people to know? Of course, so I think that a really critical part to remember

is, of course, on October 7, everybody was beyond heartbroken. The Israelis that were killed in the attack by Hamas, but we also wanted people to remember that this is not new in the region or in, you know, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory at all. This started in 1948. People in Gaza have been experiencing, you know, violence since then.

You know, thousands of Palestinians were forcibly removed out of their homes and they were killed. A lot of people referred to Gaza as an open-air prison. They've faced every year, really, you know, some sort of conflict or attack where hundreds and thousands die. So they weren't necessarily, you know, new to violence. And I think, you know, just remembering that this didn't happen in a vacuum and 1948, it's been 75 years of this, 75 years of, you know, Palestinians really struggling for people to pay attention to, you know, various moments and history of them facing humanitarian crisis. So that was important for me, for people to remember that there is context to this for October, 75 years of context. And yeah, especially going into this moment, kind of contextualizing what it's like in Gaza at the time, especially for us journalists on the outside, knowing that, you know, since 2005, since Israel withdrew from Gaza, the situation in there, you know, Israel exercises effectively control of the land, air, and seas, the control of movements and people in and out of the strip. And so for us as journalists, we knew that reaching people inside of Gaza to understand the scope of what was about to happen, what was about to unfold, was critical from the

beginning. And, you know, that's kind of a testament to the situation on the ground. And it became very clear to us early on that reaching these voices to understand what was happening, connecting with local Palestinian journalists on the ground as well, that was going to be critical because, you know, telecommunications were cut off. You were relying on text messages that may or may not deliver hours, weeks may pass between your communications with someone. And so kind of contextualizing what the situation like in Gaza is at the time because I don't think the average person understands essentially what Gaza was like and what it's like to even reach people inside of there to understand what's happening. Yeah, if you guys can, you have that really powerful piece that

was published, the voice notes from Gaza, and it's one thing to read about it. It's another thing to hear those voices. If you could speak to what it is that you learned from publishing that piece and then also what it is that we are not seeing in the media or maybe able to read that you were able to discover by putting that out. I'll start this on that you can follow after. But I think when we initially came up with this idea, we were trying to visualize, A, what we want from this piece and how to capture the right form. the right tone, you know, what the objective was. And I think we kind of, we came together with this idea

that we kind of wanted this to be almost like a museum exhibit. If you go and interact with the piece, it has a very distinct feel to it, the color choice, the design. And we wanted it to feel like specifically in moments in time like this, which there's so much devastation, killing, suffering. How can we give the average person, almost a snapshot in time where you feel like as you're scrolling through, you are hearing from the people that you otherwise would never have heard from. People whose voices were otherwise

going to be reduced to essentially being a number. You know, we're approaching 34,000 Palestinians killed according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. How do you capture just a half dozen of those and give someone a feel through their voice through their, you know, the inflections, you know, almost the the fear and emotion you hear in them, just an idea of what that is like and let each person from various, all across, various swaths of society in Razzad, the chance that let you hear from them.

And I think that's kind of how we set out for it. And we're very intentional with the choice to make sure we captured and gave those voices the platform that they otherwise wouldn't have had. Yeah, I mean, Yehah said it perfectly. I think, I'm speaking for myself, but I think, you know, me and Yehah talked about this, but I genuinely feel haunted by the voice recordings that I heard.

And I think I want to remind people that our story, as beautiful as it is, we had to really limit it to, like, what was it? Like two minutes max per person, we have hours of recordings, hours of people crying, hours of people describing their loved ones with their head smashed, a seven-year-old who talks about her friends being dead and war, like it's normal. It was really jarring for me hearing a seven-year-old talk about the ugliest side of humanity like it was normal. We have recordings of people. I mean, all of our voices told us we might not be able to send you this recording because we could be dead by the time we finish recording it. A lot of times we could hear

the Israeli drones just in the background constantly. You can hear it in the voice recordings. And these are people, you know, we were talking to them over the course of months. So we learned all things about them. They were like ranting to us about their day. Like today, I only had a slice of cheese to eat that we have to split on five people in our family. Today, I, you know, haven't spoken to my two daughters who are on the other side of the country and I have no idea if they're alive or dead. So we were really there. There were weeks at a time that we didn't hear back from them, obviously because Gaza, you know, Israeli air strikes often cause telecommunication, blackouts where we can't hear from them. And we have no idea if they were even alive or dead.

So it's so hard to put into words. The experiences that we've heard through these voice recordings, haunting is generally the only way to describe it. These people are in a nightmare. They're in a hell, like a hell. And one thing they kept saying was, like, please do what you can. They were basically begging us through these voice recordings. And I think that was our priority to make the world hear them. It's awful, but basically begging for their lives, begging for help, begging for a seat.

fire, begging for people to care and to listen. And the last question we asked them is, is there a message you want to send to the world? And in the story at the end, you'll see messages to the world and they each have a message. And it's just so, it's difficult to describe. Yeah. And I just want to add something to that, which I think when we kind of set out, we knew that some people might not respond. We might not reach everyone. But we have the goal of almost trying to get someone to represent all forms and corners of society. Because I think when you think about the devastation in Raza right now, you don't realize exactly how the suffering has affected every corner.

And so when you hear from a university student who dreamt of graduating, except her university has been turned into rebel from an Israeli air strike, correct? You know, when you hear from a med student who was still studying, and thrown into hospitals to work on injuries that she said, I would never have been prepared to deal with something like this. You know, these are people who told us, we heard this several times, is we're people with goals, dreams, ambitions, and all of that has been decimated within a blink of an eye.

And so when someone comes to the peace, we wanted them in the swath of voices to be able to connect to, wow, I never even thought that that's something that could be taken from someone or that they could lose that, or that's something they could suffer from every single day. And so kind of in that scope of things, we tried to make sure that in some way, hopefully some way, shape, or form,

you could connect with at least one voice of the many that we kind of included in this piece. You guys both work for CNN. You work with CNN. There's been a noticeable shift in coverage in Western mainstream news. surrounding what's going on. It was just to be transparent in lockstep with Israel early on.

And as this has gone on further, there seems to have been a pivot to understanding, highlighting, and being more sensitive to the toll that it's taking on the Palestinian people there in Gaza. Have you guys felt that at CNN? Or do you think that that's true? Is there any frustration around the way Western media has been covering this? What's your gauge of all of that? I get this a lot from people who know that I'm Post-Stating, and I work at CNN.

And, of course, I know all media outlets in the United States and across the world have faced a lot of, you know, criticism on how they cover. And I always respond like this. I think that you guys should judge every journalist on their own. Like, for example, you know, me and Yehya, we work on all kinds of stories and this was one of them. Every journalist kind of, you know, does, I would say, you know, judge journalists by, you know, their work and what they cover and stuff like that. And in terms of, you know, CNN's coverage, I would say that, you know, this voice notes from Gaza story is an incredible piece that shed so much. light and it's not the only one that I personally worked on. I've worked on a story where I spoke to doctors in Gaza and the horrifying, you know, experiences that they were having amputating limbs without

anesthesia. A pregnant woman having C-sections were, again, without anesthesia, stuff like that. I've covered protests all over the country. You know, people, basically, again, like I definitely understand the criticism 100%. And that's why diversity in newsrooms is so. so critical because, you know, we just have this sense of humanity. And this is totally, like, in relation, my priority is not only Palestinian voices. I write about indigenous Americans who are being murdered without investigations in the United States, victims of police brutality, you know, in the Black community, you know, the Ukraine war, the earthquake in Syria. My priority is humanity. And I wish that every journalist's priority was humanity as well. I think.

think we would see a shift in coverage. But to that, I say, more diversity in newsrooms, you know, and I think that could help a lot. Yeah, he can add anything on that much. Yeah, and I think, you know, at CNN, we're fortunate to work with a lot of very smart, very talented people. I will say the voice notes from Guzda story, since we're talking about it, it was a collaborative effort from various teams across CNN with just some dedicated, brilliant journalist. You know, when you put all of your minds together and you come at it as journalists become as like, what is the through line here? What is our focus? And how can we allow essentially the people that were telling their stories to speak for themselves in a way? And that's kind of was one of our

objectives with this piece is to do that. And I think kind of to your question as a whole, in terms of kind of the shifting coverage over time, I mean, I think in many ways, one of the things to remember is that it has been six months now, and the war is still going on. The death toll is, like I said, approaching 34,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. And so as we, you know, because it's been this long of the war, naturally the stories pile up. It's an important story that all journalists need to be prepared to meet. And so as it just continues to unfold over that length of time. Naturally, of course, you're just going to see different sorts of investigations, different angles that people might not have been thinking about maybe the first couple of weeks

of the war, but as it's progressed, you're able to see certain patterns, certain important storylines that are worth pouring your resources into. So I think that's just kind of an inevitable consequence of the length of this and how long it's been going on. Yeah, I think after you have almost 34,000 Palestinians 70% who are women and children killed. And a lot of it is on video. A lot of it is on video. You know, you can watch. You can hear people. I think that does something to the world, right? People are like listening and journals we're listening to. And it's our moral responsibility and obligation to make sure that everybody's voice is heard. And that's what we were doing with the story. So hearing you talk about, you know, some of the things that you learned,

when you were doing your voice notes, um, project and publishing that. And you're talking about people saying, hey, I only received this amount of food or, uh, doctors that don't have the supplies and the tools that they need.

With what happened, the devastating, um, lives that were, how devastating it was that those lives were lost with the world's central kitchen and that they were taking away their aid because of what happened to their volunteers. Can you speak to what if any aid or if you know anything about,

aid that is being sent into Gaza, whether it's from someone else, whether it's from Israel, because sometimes it seems that there are conflicting reports with that. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm going to start that with saying over two or at least 200 aid workers have been killed in Israeli airstrike since October 7. So although the World Central Kitchen Aid Workers, the last one was, you know, really heartbreaking to hear about, it's at 200 aid workers killed so far. And the amount of aid getting into Gaza, the way is being compared, is like a drop of water in an ocean.

At least everybody I spoke to have not received any of that aid. And I spoke to overall total, we spoke to 10 people. They're not, they've gotten like little, okay, for example, you know, we've gotten trucks. You see pictures of trucks going in Israel and Egypt control the entry points. And there's been accusations that they're holding up the delivery of aid for a variety of reasons. So that's a problem. The U.S. and Jordan and a couple of other countries are organizing airdrops. And you know, you're seeing that as well.

But it's still so little. The Palestinians of Gaza are screaming for help, for food, for, you know, water, for medical supplies that they are not getting. People are dying of starvation. 30 people so far have died of malnutrition. A lot of them are children. And so we are seeing, you know, the pictures of the trucks and stuff, but when we're personally talking to people, they are not getting that. Actually, that's a point that they bring up.

It's like, where is it then, you know? One can of beans feeding a family of 14. One of the woman I spoke to, her name is Rauisa, and she's a cancer patient. She needs, she has breast cancer and she needs treatment. She's not going to get that. Her mom, who has kidney disease, needs dialysis treatment. They're not getting that either. So when you're thinking of aid, it's not just food and water.

There are people who are going to die of, you know, just normal diseases that they had and are not getting treatment for. People are dying from, you know, the lack of clean water and diseases that is going to, you know, be caused by that. So the bottom line is there's just not enough aid and a lot of people are not getting any of it at all. Yeah, I think that I know within the last week or so, Israel has said that it's increased the number of, of trucks that it has, you know, allowed to enter Gaza. The, you know, but many humanitarian organizations will say that it is just nowhere near enough to meet the dire need in Gaza right now. You know, the other day, the Samantha Powers, the USAID administrator, essentially said

it's credible to assess that famine is underway. And so when you have, you know, two million people in Gaza on the verge, over two million people in Gaza on the verge of starvation and experiencing just the lack of access to resources, the lack of access to food, water. And, you know, CNN has done reporting on this before when you see the number of trucks that do get denied entry based on little to no solid reasoning, turning whole trucks away that may have baby wipes in them or certain medical supplies. even at the border with Egypt, there are miles of trucks, just trucks lined up waiting to go in. So the frank reality is that the amount of aid before the war began, it would be about 500 trucks a day that would go into Gaza.

I believe that's the number. But when you have it for six months of deprivation of these resources and such little to no aid going in, obviously in order to then address that you would need significantly more and the people on Gaza now are just kind of just waiting for this aid to essentially trickle and reach them. That's kind of the reality. How much is Hamas responsible for the conditions of life in Gaza pre-war? One of the things you hear is that there was a, there was all kinds of things coming in and Hamas was stealing it and using it to.

retrofit, like special luxury bunkers and that they were stealing resources and aid to from the people starving their own people. How responsible for the conditions in Gaza is Hamas in general, would you guys say? I think, and Yahir, I'd love if you could talk a little bit more about, again, I want to mention that this is, okay, what we're talking about, right? now is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel's war in Gaza, a death toll caused by Israeli airstrikes, a lack of aid caused by an Israeli blockade on allowing aid to get through. So I think, you know, the priority right now is discussing what can be done for the survivors

of this. People who have survived airstrikes and are being, you know, starved to death or bombed to death or shot to death. So I think that's a priority at the moment. But before October 7th, again, people in Gaza have been used to this. And of course, there's a lot to say. There's a lot of controversy between, you know, who's responsible for this or that. But the point is, it was called an open-air prison for a reason, you know, Israeli checkpoints that are in complete control of who goes in, who goes out, what comes in, what comes out. So if you talk to a Palestinian person, that's what they're going to talk about. And the Palestinians spoke to did not bring up Hamas. They bought up the current situation who they say, you know,

Israel is responsible for. And that's what we're hearing from on the ground right now. Nobody's talking about Hamas did this or Hamas did that. But again, you know, we're journalists and we're not analysts by any mean to analyze who is responsible for this or who is responsible for that. We're just bringing the current situation on the ground. and what Palestinians that are in our voice notes from Gaza story are talking about, and none of them mentioned Hamas. Yeah, I mean, Al-Av covered it pretty well. I think, like she said, as journalists, not analysts, kind of our job is to just report what we see.

We know, obviously, I know your question was before October 7. You know, Hamas was the governing party. It has a militant wing as well, and it governed the Gaza Strip. It also is important to know that, like I mentioned earlier in this conversation, that Israel does control before the war, it controlled the land, air, sea movements of people, goods, resources in and outside of the strip. And so when you think about access to food, access to water, access to electricity, that's also an important part of the conversation that people should be aware of in terms of kind of just the reality on the ground. I guess last question for me, and I'm not even sure if it can be answered, but with what's happening right now was between Israel and Iran and Israel attacking that consulate and Iran responding, how do you see that impacting what's happening in Gaza as well? I think technically it doesn't change any situation.

and people are still dying in Israeli air strikes. Again, they're dying of a lack of food and water. And again, although we are talking about Gaza, the fighting has obviously gone beyond that. Israel's conducting military operations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinian villages in the West Bank. Israel is exchanging strikes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

They're also hitting targets in Syria, including Iran's consulate building in Damascus. So it goes on and, you know, there's also the United States struck healthy targets in Yemen. So if we're talking about, you know, a regional disruption, yeah, the region is obviously upset with, you know, devastation caused by Israel's war in Gaza. And there will be reactions to that. And people are concerned about, you know, a bigger war. But when we're talking about Gaza, all of that stuff that's happening has, you know, there. They're still stuck and they're still starving and they're still dying. That doesn't change anything at all.

And they're still asking for the same thing, which is a ceasefire. So AIDS can, you know, really quickly be allowed in so people who are dying can live. And it's just that simple for the people of Gaza. They don't care what's happening outside of it. Yeah. I think that's one of the themes that we heard in our messages to the world section of our story where everyone just sent us kind of the one message. want to send out if they could. It's just this idea of they just want this war to end. They want the international community to do something to bring this to an end. And so irrespective of kind of what is going on outside the confines of the Gaza Strip, the people on the ground essentially are highlighting their suffering and pleading with the world to just figure out a way to end this war. That's what they all told us in the voice notes. It was the consistent theme almost from

everyone that we spoke to. And I think that is kind of where their focus is right now. It's, you know, irrespective of what unfolds over the next, you know, weeks or months. Their suffering is kind of confined to their reality right now, which is a starving, decimated population. And over 90% of the people in Gaza have been forcibly displaced, you know, 100% food insecurity. Those are all things they face every day. And for them, that's the reality that they're living, irrespective kind of the geopolitical back and forths right now. Can I ask you guys and thank you for joining us. And you guys have been so responsible in your answers.

and we really appreciate you guys being here because I ask one broad question. Please. And thank you for having this as well. We really appreciate you prioritizing this. What do you feel like Israel's goal is here? It's from somebody sitting where I know it's a tough question, but from somebody sitting where I'm sitting right now,

as the days go past, I don't, it, and the death toll rises, it's increasingly difficult to see an end to it. It just seems like it'll stop when they want it to stop. And I don't know when that is, and that's scary. It makes you feel a lot of fear for the people there. What do you feel like the goal here is?

Yeah. Again, we're responding as journalists and not analyst. then I will start by saying what Israel says is the goal. Israel says their goal is to eradicate Hamas and to bring the hostages hope. And they say that they're not targeting civilians. So they deny any allegations that they're targeting civilians. As journalists, the facts are nearly 34,000 Palestinians are dead against 70% who are women and children. 100% of the people there are food insecure.

30 people have already died of malnutrition. You know, these are the facts. So what Israel wants to do with this, that's not, you know, it's not my responsibility to be like, this is what Israel wants. I don't, you know, I'm a journalist. I'm just reporting the facts. And for me and with our voice notes from Gaza story, the facts are people are terrified. They're terrified. They're begging for help.

They're, again, starving. They have injuries with maggots inside of them. They are rotting. They have no medical care. people with breast cancer dying because they don't have AIDS. So whether, I don't know, you know, again, responding as a journalist is like, I have to give you the facts. And then you can't decide what, you know, where you want to stand. But yeah.

Yeah, I think that's a, like kind of going off of what Alat was saying. I think that's a subject of much discussion from all corners. I think, obviously, from just the reporting that we have is, like that said, Israel says it's stated goal for this war is to destroy Hamas and return the hostages. And it has argued that its military tactics are necessary to achieve that goal. Obviously, South Africa has brought a case before the ICJ. The ICJ has ruled in South Africa's case that it brought before the court that essentially alleges that those military tactics are, the ICJ found that it's, quote, plausible that they might amount to genocide. And so Israel rejects those allegations in that court case may take years to unfold before a final ruling

is given in that case. But it kind of gives you the context of like where the scope of this conversation is right now. You have stated goals of the Israeli military tactics and what their goals are versus obviously just the reality on the ground and the devastation. station that has unfolded over the last six months with the casualties, the women, the children, the starvation. And so that's all part of just what we as journalists are dealing with in terms of reporting the story out. And I think it's just all part of that bigger conversation. Yeah. And I'll add one thing, like Yahia said, there, okay, so first of all, as we were talking about earlier with what is the overall goal that Israel's trying to do. And again, they said that they want to

bring the hostages home. But when you're talking about what critics are saying is that eradicating Hamis through Israel's current military tactics will not happen because the war has only strengthened support for Hamis. And most of the hostages that have been released were not freed due to the military tactics that they're using on Gaza, but actually they were freed due to negotiations happening. So that's what people are saying, you know, critics of Israel's military tactics are saying, and again, South Africa did bring that case before the International Court of Justice, alleging that Israel's military tactics can amount to genocide. And the International Court of Justice did say that it is plausible, that it is, that Israel is carrying out genocide, but it would take years before there

is actually a ruling on whether this is genocide or not. In the meantime, the important thing to remember is that there are mass killings in a huge humanitarian crisis unfolding right in front of us, and it needs an immediate remedy. We thank you so much for being here, guys, and we thank you for your work, and we thank you for your professionalism as well. Yeah. So we want to thank you both for joining us on higher learning today, and we will hope that we could check in with you guys in the future at some point as well.

I hope so, too. Thank you guys again. As I said before, it means a lot that you guys are using your. platform to talk about these kinds of stories. Yeah, I just want to echo that. Thank you guys both so much. It's pleasure and honor to be on your show, and we're glad that you chose this topic to cover and invited us of all people to speak to it. Yeah. All right. Thank you. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Trimphia is a

administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tramphia, proper training is required. Tremfaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com.

This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum. spectrum business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support, millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. We're going to do a rap beef segment with Bumani Jones. Okay. What the fuck you got on, homie? I got my cowboy hat on. Is it like a particular reason? No, it's with us every podcast. now. He's been doing it for a strong month.

Yeah. I mean, I'm the one from Texas and we ain't doing no shit like that. I'm from Louisiana. I'm from Texas too. I know that. I know that. And again, that's what I'm saying. I've been damn new to your neighborhood. They know cowboy hats. I'm from Merringwood, Louisiana. Oh, are you from Mariguan? No, I'm not from Maryland. My father's from Maryland.

So all the men and my family wear cowboy hats and be, we've been on this. Okay. Listen. Boy from Mariguan. That's why I was a little stunned to hear another person say that out loud. Oh, we're like being him related. Got to be. But he went to South by Southwest and this is how he came back. He got the hat. He went to Austin and he's been rocking it ever since. Somehow I'm in in Austin, no less. The least cowboy had Texas location. It was mad cowboy hats in Austin. Okay, two people from Texas. It is not.

Okay. Look, what were you from here in Houston? Yeah. Okay. And then Rachel's from. Dallas. That's unfortunate. Boom. There you go. Bomani coming in hot. That voice that you guys are hearing right now taking us to task is the host. Oh, y'all do this.

Oh, okay. I didn't realize it was. Keep the same energy, Beaumonti. Keep the same energy. That voice out here is one of the smartest men in media. I've told him this before. He knows this. Bomani Jones, host of the right time with Bumani Jones.

Bumani, how are you doing? I'm good, man. How about you? Nice to meet you, Rachel. Nice to meet you, too. Bomani, but you came in hot. What's your problem with Dallas? Hold on.

What's the problem with Dallas? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Dallas. I just ain't never found nothing right. No, no, no. You did today. I'm from Dallas. You did today. Okay, that's cool.

I mean, look, man, some of us like healthy, like heavy dollops of racism without any cultural influence to balance it out, right? Like, if that's what you're about, Dallas is right on time. Beaumani, aren't you from outside of Houston, though? I am from as far outside of Houston you can be

while actually still being in Houston. I went to school outside, yes, but my address is Houston, Compton, Texas. Okay, okay. I'll tell you this, though, I want to know who, I want to know who tried to drop that in on me. I didn't know where you ain't know I was even from Houston until two minutes ago.

No, that's not true. I knew you were from Houston. Okay, okay. I thought you were from outside of Houston, though. So, so Bomani is accusing us of having an agent drop in information about him. It just came out of nowhere.

That's all I'm saying. It just came in out the blue. I was like, oh, okay. Well, here's the thing, though. That tells you that Rachel has been doing her homework. That's what I was about to say. I detect some diligence about the gig. Oh. Oh. Oh,

you've been doing your B'bamani work. Dude, you've been doing your Bumani work. Rachel, fight back, you're like, you represent the whole podcast, fight back. There's no need to fight back. That's down bad. Houston, number one.

Wait a minute. I have a lot of family in Houston, so I'm really not going to talk bad about Houston. My people are from South Park. They are. South Park and Cyprus. I got a lot of people. South Park Mexican? Oh, wow. Don't do that to us.

I will say this, though. If I were from Dallas, I wouldn't say nothing bad about Houston either because quite honestly, how could I? This nigga is relentless with the Houston. I'm not really with the Dallas Houston beep. I never understood the energy of why we got to. be so down on Dallas. I really don't. Give us something

to be up about. They still wearing shags, right? South side. It's a culture thing. What's wrong with the shag? What's wrong with leather shorts? What's wrong with leather shorts? What's wrong with the shag? Bobani, it's a style.

It's an attitude. You're giving us all the reasons why you ain't never going to move back. Hey, let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Bumani. Hold on. No, no, no, no, no. Right fast. We hit it right there. She was like, up, you got me there. I am not going back. It's not that.

It's the politics. But the politics. Let me ask you. But, Bimani, isn't it true that the music in Dallas is better than the music in Houston? No, I'm not even going to say that. I'll say this, though. At the height of the heights, Dallas gave us the DOC and they gave us Eric Abbottu. Like, I feel like those are two strong contributions.

But then you gave us. Not DSR? Not DSR? We can't even put, we can't even acknowledge DSR? No? That is. Who's DSR? Big Tuck, Tom, Tom.

I don't know who they are. Fat bastard. Fat bastard is his name? Oh, you know what she said? DSR? I was out south you was talking about the gangstalline dude. That's what I thought you was talking about. This is for my homies.

This is for my homies. Well, well, that's what I thought. That's the DSR. I know they're not from Dallas, though. That's D. Yeah. You remember them? You'll remember them.

That's before your time. It's before my time. But I was talking about DSR. Yeah, the 90s was rough, man, because them funeral songs was all over the radio. Br, it was so many, bro. I did not realize that many niggas was diet. I really did not.

Master P. Our favorite sitting in the kids about all my homies passed away. Right. And then the next record, it'll be like, kill niggas 15. Okay, anyway. So speaking of that,

speaking of rap, but Mani is, well-versed in many different cultural topics, sports, politics, art, movies, but also hip-hop. Hip-hop is a Bommani thing.

And over this weekend, we've seen rat beef percolate to the top of cultural discussions. It is Drake versus the world. A 20V1, Drake says. We got, I think, two records. We got Drake's response to Kendrick Lamar

getting at him on like that. And then we got Rick Ross's response to Drake's drop-and-give-50 record. Rate the weekend and rap beef, B'amani. Like, what do you think? What's going on here? How do you look at it? Okay.

So there's a parallel to what happened with Drake in the push-a-tee situation, right? Now, I think he learned his lesson from the push-a-tie situation because that double-joint was hot when it came out, but it was just a little too dismissal, right? Right. And what he didn't understand was that push a tea hates his guts.

Right. So he thought that he could do him like he did me. Like we're going to mean you out. We just going to kind of laugh at you. Ha, ha, ha. Is it a world tour, your girl tour? You know, like it's almost like he thought he could just like mush him and then walk away. And the next thing you know, you are hiding a child.

Let that boy come home. Right. He just took it. He didn't understand how much that man hated him. what he stood for, hated where he came from, like all of it. And so this time, when it was time for Drake to come up, I think he came a whole lot harder. And it was good. He had some lines.

I understand that Metro Boomer ain't no rapper, but shut your whole ass up and make some drums. It's one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. He really stepped up. But little did we know, Rick Ross hates Drake's guts. I didn't know Rick Ross hated Drake's guts. I know that Drake does not hate Rick Ross's guts. And I know it had to hurt. And I, like, it's like Ether, where Ether was like Takeover was for everybody.

Ether was for an audience of one. I feel like Rick Ross put out another audience of one series of body punches that, like, I didn't know Rick Ross had these feelings about the biracial community. You know what I'm saying? I just didn't know. Yeah, we're in the middle right now of what I like to call the biracial apocalypse. And we're reassessing our relationship with. some of the biracial brothers that we've empowered.

Look, we have our organization here that we started at higher learning rituals to be far away. You have an organization. It's called the BBI, the biracial Bureau of Investigation. We investigate them. We put cases on motherfuckers all over the time. We're definitely putting cases now. Jay Cole has an open case, open case right now.

You have to be seen whether or not Drake has one. All right, we're not sure about Drake. I thought Drake would have been the inaugural member. Or y'all have a separate, just broader light-skinned, investigation. It sounds like that. These are great points, and I will defer to Michael Harriet and by Trachel as people who are members of the BBI to get into this.

I'll say this. I will say this. This is a different rat beef than I am used to. This is the AAU ball version of rat beef to me. This is EYBL. To me, this is where the NBA is right now. It's the rivalries. They're there, but they're a little bit soft.

and more supple because everybody played AAU ball together. The rap beefs that I'm that I'm accustomed to is fuck you. Everything that you've ever done sucks. You're whack. You are the worst. You are a hoe. That's kind of what I come from. I fucked your wife.

You're ugly and stupid and everything that you're done is crazy. No one should ever listen to you again. This stuff was kind of a little bit. It's like, once again, it's the AAU Nuvo NBA version of rap. Which is why I can't get into it. So I'm curious, you seem excited by it. I can't get into any of this.

I have the opposite take on this. Wow. Okay. Here's why. I agree with you on how AAU has affected like basketball, right? And these cats are just a little too chummy and a little too friendly. But with rat beef, this leads to something a little bit different, which means like basketball players,

they all sleep with the same women. But as a result, they are now given access to information that completely changes the scales on this rat beef thing. I mean, I don't feel like you can hear that Rick Ross joined and feel like that was AAU Friends talk.

Like, that's how you talk about somebody. That's the only one. That's the only one. Because he, what you got from him is, I never really like this nigga. Yes. That's what you got from Ross's, yeah. But I don't get the feeling that Kendrick Lamar and Drake are homies by any stretch of the imagination either.

Like the way he was coming at him and the way the future and Drake and Future going back and forth like two dudes who have slept with the same woman at some point. We got reason to think that that's also what's going on in the John Moran thing. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't know how I feel about this being the basis of all the beef, right? Like that, that I'm not sure of, but I did not think Drake was going. I did not feel like Drake was like, yeah, but they're my homies. Like the only one that did that was Jay Cole and bless his heart. His third eye saw that this was going to get to some places that he just didn't want to get to.

I didn't like how he did it, but I got a better understanding after Saturday, man. Saturday was a lot. Yeah, he seems like he's kind of vindicated it a little bit. I'm not going to lie. Jay Cole. Yeah, a little bit because Jay Cole, because this got so toxic, so quick. And Jay Cole is probably going to drop. And I had a lot of shit to say about Jay Cole.

And it's still a very non-hip hop thing to do. But the one person right now that's probably not structured. out? It's cold. No, he had after school special, man. He was like, no, I ain't trying to hit that joint. No, no, no, I don't do drugs, right? I don't want no drugs.

Like that was basically him. He's the guy, hey, you know, sometimes you're going to have to let them call you names, right? Right. Like, I'm probably fine. Yeah, you're right. I'm a bitch, man. You're right. Yeah, you're right.

I'm weak. I mean, he's the guy that had to do that. And I was the one that was saying it. But now I look at it and I'm like, yeah, sometimes you just got to live with the fact that that's what they're going to say about you. Yeah. Why do you think people question the legitimacy of Drake's dis, like when it first came out, everyone was like, this is AI, this is AI.

And then with other stuff, they're like, it's not. Why are we so quick? I feel like particularly with Drake, it's like, this is AI. This isn't real. Okay. So I think we have like a large societal issue with skepticism of everything, right? Like I was stunned. I heard that and I was like, there's no question, this is real.

Now, I will say, to be fair, if you go listen to somebody's fake AI recordings, it's a little frightening, right? Yeah. But there was never a moment that I thought that that one was fake. Never. But it is interesting to me that people could have thought that that was a fake. And then he put up this text exchange supposedly with his mom, which seemed obvious to me to be something made up for comedic effect.

And people are positive that's the case. Like they really think his mama would text him like that. I'm like, I can't, how people decide what they are and are not going to jump on is wild to me. But it also gets down to right or wrong. People think Drake don't write his rap. And I don't know if. I don't think Drake writes every rap he's ever done, but he'll write a lot of rap.

He writes a lot of rap. He's L.L., right? He does things that are very clearly succorific, and I wish he understood, like LL, like, Patina, you ain't got to do all these wax songs and lip-licking, man. They're going to fuck you regardless, right? Like, I wish you knew you didn't have to play it like that, and Drake is in that same boat.

You don't have to do that. But if you bring it to him on some, if you bring it to him on a battle kick, he can bring it right back. Like, don't get a whiskey. If you bring it to LL, if you bring it to LL, LL will bite your fucking face off. Yeah. And everybody had ever brought it to LL.

Drake still got... He beat them all. He'll bite your fucking face off. Drake still got a gaping hole in his resume. And that's the no response to the story of Adidon. Right. Because look here, L.L. has understood that these dudes hated him. Like, Drake, if Drake had gotten to get that link back, I still wonder what it would

it sounded like. Because Drake's other mistake was, Push was the one coming at him. and he was so mad at Kanye that he made the whole thing about Kanye. And no, no, that's the guy that hates you over here. This is why, this is where the biracial part jumps in. And I'm serious. This is where the biracial part jumps in, just from my perspective.

Number one, there was a case opened on Drake. I'm glad you reminded me. The BBI opened an official case on Drake after Drake put up the text exchange between him and his mom, even though it was for comedic. effect because he said he's angry and racist. Yes. Even a hint of playing the race car in this is a case for investigation under the

tendency to be mad. Now you got to pick a side. Now you got to pick a side. And also, the reason why I think the biracial part plays into this is because the stuff that Rick Ross was saying about Drake, not in bars because the song itself wasn't that great. But the youths a white boy hanging out with us smoking and doing all of that stuff, I think they feel that about him.

And I think he probably, that's probably some deep trauma inside of Drake about how black he is and whether or not LL don't have that. Like Drake probably actually feels like at some point these are guys he couldn't have hung out with before and all of that stuff. That probably hits him where it hurts right there. Before this, Drake to me was the definition of the God MC and I'll tell you why. Please do. I tell you why.

Abani, I'll tell you why. To me, gods are deities that no matter what they do, people worship them anyway. Okay. Okay, I see. I see. So, like, even if you're the guy to the suckers, you're God. Right. So it's like, it's like whenever anything happens, good or bad, it's God's will.

Right. And so people will say, hey, a hurricane is a blessing. winning the lottery is a blessing. Drake is the only rapper that no matter what he does, his fans go, it's okay. Everybody else is subject to some of the side of criticism except for Drake. Drake goes right.

Drake could go pop. Drake could sing. Drake could do whatever he want. He is truly a God to his fans. He can do no wrong. Even when he drops and the shit is whack, they will convince you and themselves that they liked it.

I guess I feel like it's split. I feel like people give Drake a lot of shit at the same time. You're right. He gets a lot of shit. But the people who ride for him are unconditional. And may I add pathetic. But they are uncondit. He got caught with his meat out and they was out here complimenting him on his meat.

This is true. Okay, bruh, it was a whole. You called him the meat Messiah. He was the meat Messiah. Drake became the meat Messiah. I was like, oh, my God. Can you believe my goat got that meat? My goal.

I'm like, what the fuck? What part of the game is this? I'm like, what this shit is going on? I'm like, my goat got the big dick. I'm like, oh, my God. I knew Drake had it. I'm like, Jesus, we're different. Who's going to win?

Well, who is winning? No, for moments like that, I didn't even talk to budd about this. We can get hologram pimpsie or something, right? Oh, my God. Like that's the AI. we need. We need an AI PimpC for moments like those. Can you imagine what Pimsy would think about so many of these things that have happened?

Yo, that's such a good idea. Like a Jarvis? I wouldn't be shocked if it happened. Like a Pimsy Jarvis that like from Iron Man and did, man, man, that what y'all? Is that a Pimpsey in person? That's how Pimpsey was when Pimpsey was mad at Atlanta. You go to smell my clone. That is what about favorite Pipsy lies. You're saying about you going to smith.

Who's, who's winning right now. Where we stand right now with what we have, who's winning? Oh, Rick Ross. Rick Ross and Kendrick are up, right? Look, the ultimate flex for Drake is he's right. It does seem like 20 on one. And I have to say, that sounds like it would be really stressful, right? Like, you know, when you drop the tweet that just didn't hit the way you thought it would, and now you got all these people that aren't real people coming at you, it's pretty stressful. But these are real actual people in the whole world seeing it. He's under siege right now. He got called out for his cosmetic surgery, which, by the way, this is a poor reflection on the rap game.

Yeah. Is that true? Well, that he had cosmetic surgery, don't get me to lie it, but he got called out for it is what I'm saying. It's plausible. It is plausible. That's true. Like if somebody came out and said Kendrick had cosmetic surgery, we'd be like, yeah, whatever. Somebody said that about Drake, and we're like, oh, okay, got it.

That explains. I can see that. Yeah. Poor Drake. Wait, can we play the real winner and all this? Have you heard BBL Jersey? No. Hold on, you got to hear it.

Cut it off. Woo! That made by day. There's nothing better than like a song that is at least you at least ostensibly supposed to be comedy

but it's also good. Right? Like did you ever hear Look at the Coons? No, let's look at the Coons. Oh, you got to look up, look at the Coons. Got to look at a little beat to it, don't it?

Yeah, what the fuck? Look at the artwork. Like, there was real. dedication to making that record. I thought it was supposed to be funny, but I don't think it was. Same with BBL Drizzi. I don't think that's a joke. I think that's passion.

Bro, there's a difference. BBL Drizzi is AI. Look at the Coons. Somebody got a funky-assession. Like that was like that somebody had a funky-ass session. Somebody had like a motherfucking session in that bitch. And they was

like, like, like, Hey, give us a little bit more of Coos. Like, somebody, there was a session to that hell. That's artistry. My man said, they put a ball TV, put a camera in your face. As long as you say that it's not about race, then here come to Coons. He met it. Balani.

The Butter Biscuit Brigade. He also used that. Oh, the Butter Biscuit Brigade. Don't get, all right now. All right, now. When we started talking about Masters butter biscuits, people start to get, they get a little tight. B'amani, where can people listen to you and

tell us about your podcast and what you're doing and it's so much fun? I've been on there a couple of times, man. You've been on there one time and you turned us down every other time. That's not true. It's not true. I've been on there one time, but they do the podcast Wednesday mornings the same time.

I do Midnight boys, but I'll say this. There's nobody I really like to chop it up with as much as Bumani. Me and Bumani, I love talking with Bamani. Me and Bumani talk like off the fucking thing about all kinds of shit you're always going to get convoy out of Bumani Jones. I appreciate it because you're the only reason

I say something about you not coming on is that I want you to come on the show. Otherwise, we just move on. But now that I know you have a locked in scheduling conflict, I'm taking it far less personally. And so I wouldn't have said nothing about your hat if I had known that it was a locked in scheduling conflict. But check out the right time with Bomani Jones.

We are available wherever you get your podcast. You can find us on the YouTube. My bosses seem to think that makes money for so you can feel free to check us out over there. We are on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday live on YouTube, Mondays and Wednesdays at noon. I want to get you back on because I want to talk, or we can do it on your part.

I want to talk about one specific subject with you, but I want to surprise you because I know it's something that you are deeply knowledgeable in and me and you have never talked about it before. Okay. Yeah. You have to understand the level of trust it takes for me to be like, sure, I'll come off for your grab bag podcast

of this thing that you've been wanting to talk to me about. That won't be a setup. That's the level of faith I got in you. But let me tell you guys right now, if you guys want a filtered Bermani on the wide scope of his knowledge, the podcast,

I'm telling you guys, it's fantastic. Go give it a listen, go give it to spin. He can literally talk about anything. Thank you for joining us on how I learned it. I appreciate it. Rachel, Dallas, you know. y'all do y'all best. Bye, my buddy.

All right, you guys, we're going to end it right there. Tell you think caps off, but do not stop learning. I am Van Lathen Jr. I'm Rachel Lynn Lindsay. Bye, guys.