Transcript [00:00] I want to show you a fascinating [00:02] exchange between Brendan O'Neal and [00:05] Melanie Phillips. And I want you to [00:06] listen carefully, not just to what they [00:09] say, but to what it reveals. Because [00:12] what they're really describing in this [00:14] conversation is something much bigger [00:16] than Israel, much bigger than this war. [00:19] They're really talking about a collapse [00:22] in how the West fundamentally [00:25] understands right and wrong. And after [00:27] you watch this, I'm going to I'm going [00:28] to come back and I'll explain why I [00:31] don't think that this is actually [00:33] confusion. They they speak about it as a [00:36] kind of confusion, but I think it's [00:38] something much more serious. 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[01:26] We're plugged in to a lot of the best [01:28] charities that have their finger on the [01:30] pulse of the needs and uh and your [01:32] dollar will really go to people who need [01:35] it, especially with Passover only about [01:38] a week away. Many more needs at home. So [01:40] please help out. Israel365.com. [01:43] All right, let's get right to Melanie [01:46] Phillips and Brendan O'Neal. Here we go. [01:50] >> It's not surprising, but it remains [01:52] shocking, doesn't it, that we can have [01:55] pretty high numbers in the Western world [01:57] who are openly expressing support for [02:00] the Islamic Republic against the West. [02:02] >> Yeah, it's not just in Britain. Um, it's [02:05] happening uh in other countries too. Uh, [02:09] uh, other well other part other parts of [02:11] the West. um uh particularly those with [02:15] um you know liberal leftist [02:17] administrations [02:19] um Canada, Australia um uh and parts of [02:23] America uh you know New York um for [02:26] example um but um this has been going on [02:30] as you say for a very long time and it's [02:33] it is it is really difficult to [02:35] understand um one can only begin to [02:38] understand it by acknowledging [02:42] What's happened in the education system [02:44] for the last half century in which two, [02:48] three, four generations of kids have [02:51] grown up and become adults and have [02:52] begun to teach kids who've grown up and [02:55] become adults. Um that the West is evil [02:57] and racist and white and colonialist and [02:59] oppressive and that nothing it does is [03:02] good and that anything that the [03:03] developing world does uh which is bad is [03:06] good. Um it can't do anything bad and so [03:08] on and so forth. Um, and so you have to [03:10] see it in that through that prism uh [03:13] before you even start. Um, and then you [03:15] have the wallto-wall [03:18] I was going to say media narrative, but [03:20] it's more than a media narrative. It's [03:22] both the media in the west backed by the [03:26] entire [03:28] um international humanitarian [03:31] establishment of international law um [03:34] rooted in the United Nations [03:37] um expressed through transnational [03:40] courts the international criminal court [03:42] international court of justice um and [03:44] through the great nos I mean by great I [03:47] mean enormous um Oxfam uh war on wants a [03:51] run um human rights watch and all those [03:54] people and the whole tribe of [03:56] international lawyers um and uh you know [04:00] for the last two three decades this [04:03] entire establishment [04:06] uh which purports to represent peace and [04:09] justice at the heart of which is the UN [04:12] peace and justice in the world and has [04:14] come to become a kind of almost religion [04:17] it stands for conscience in the [04:19] progressive classes is who want to do [04:22] good and they think that everything [04:24] therefore that this humanitarian [04:25] establishment says must be right and [04:28] true and good and just and moral and [04:31] that entire establishment has for [04:33] various reasons to do with the [04:35] politicization of international law and [04:38] all that it has turned viciously and [04:41] venomously against Israel. I mean, the [04:43] United Nations has been in bed with [04:46] Hamas, with the Muslim Brotherhood, an [04:49] organization that not only sets out to [04:51] exterminate Israel, that is fueled by [04:56] venomous anti-semitism of the most [04:59] medieval and Nazi kind. Um, and um, uh, [05:06] has been, you know, caught uh, [05:09] supporting Hamas in Gaza. So many of its [05:12] uh Ana people have been you know g have [05:16] been Hamas operatives and teaching [05:18] hatred and so on. Now if you have a [05:21] situation in which the kind of moral [05:24] compass of the west its conscience is [05:29] set according to evil not good then you [05:34] have a situation which in fact we've [05:35] been living through in which everything [05:37] is turned upside down. Good is bad and [05:40] bad is good. Victim is aggressor and [05:42] aggressor is victim. Justice in is [05:45] injustice and vice versa. And that's [05:48] kind of the prison through which you [05:50] have to see this madness uh that erupted [05:53] over the war in Gaza. In fact, before [05:56] the war in Gaza on October the 7th, [05:58] while Israelis were still being [06:02] slaughtered in southern Israel by Hamas [06:04] le Palestinian Arabs from Gaza, you had [06:08] immediately ecstatic demonstrations that [06:11] Israel was about to be brought down and [06:13] the West was going to be brought down as [06:16] a result. So, you had that madness [06:19] erupting on October 7, 2023. And now [06:22] scroll on, we have a new iteration of [06:25] the madness over the war in Iran. And so [06:29] if you've been following this, as you [06:31] and I have, a ghast [06:34] uh with our hearts in our mouths and our [06:37] spirits in our boots, looking at the [06:40] destruction of the West's moral compass, [06:44] um you're not surprised, but it's still, [06:46] as you've just said, extremely shocking. [06:49] One thing that happened on 7th of [06:51] October alongside all the things you've [06:53] just mentioned there is that the wife of [06:56] the future mayor of New York um Zoran [06:58] Mamani his wife Rahmed Dwaji um she was [07:02] liking posts that celebrated what was [07:05] happening in um Israel. Um she was [07:08] giving a heart which is what you do on [07:10] Instagram. She was giving a heart to [07:12] images of Hamas's invasion, the collapse [07:15] of the fence, um people sitting on top [07:17] of an IDF tank and so on. Um my initial [07:20] response when I saw these reports, I'm [07:22] sure I'm sure you've seen them as well, [07:23] is that well maybe she didn't understand [07:25] how awful it was on that day. But no, [07:28] because months later in 2024, she was [07:32] liking posts that denied her masses [07:34] sexual crimes against the women of [07:36] southern Israel. Um, I found it very [07:39] difficult to communicate to people just [07:42] how serious it is that the mayor of New [07:45] York is married to a woman who would [07:47] like, let's be honest about it, who [07:48] would give a heart to the worst mass [07:52] murder of Jews since the Holocaust. [07:54] That's what we're talking about here. [07:56] What have you made of that story? What [07:58] do you think that tells us about not [07:59] only about Mamani in New York, but I [08:01] guess that new politics that is creeping [08:03] up in the Western world? [08:05] >> Well, it's monstrous. I mean, she is [08:07] monstrous. He is monstrous. He has the [08:09] same views. Um, he thinks that Israel [08:12] should not exist. He has said so. He may [08:14] purport to like Jews, but he only likes [08:18] the kind of Jews who hate other Jews and [08:21] who hate Israel and want to destroy [08:22] Israel. And so, he uses Jews to divide [08:26] the Jewish community of New York. I'm [08:29] afraid to say many of whom voted for him [08:31] because this is another topic maybe but [08:35] um you know about threearters of [08:38] American Jews are liberally and [08:40] left-wingly inclined and they voted for [08:43] him in great number. Uh whether they're [08:45] having buyers remorse now I'm not sure [08:48] but um it is a monstrous situation. [08:52] These people are monsters. They support [08:54] monsters. uh they support uh people who [08:59] not only slaughter but rape and torture [09:04] uh uh in a most sadistic way uh Israelis [09:08] on October 7, 2023 and would do the same [09:11] again. And it's like a psychopathy. And [09:14] it's not just them. I mean, I'm looking [09:16] at the faces and behavior of people in [09:20] Britain and in uh the equivalent [09:24] demonstrations [09:26] in uh Australia, in Canada. And you see [09:29] the same contorted hatred um of Jews and [09:33] you think, well, what's going through [09:35] their minds? Why do they hate Jews? Most [09:37] of them have never met a Jew. They don't [09:39] know anything about Judaism. They know [09:40] nothing about the Middle East, nothing [09:42] about Israel. But they have been taught [09:46] that this is what passes for conscience. [09:49] They observe that their entire peer [09:51] group thinks this. And it's like the [09:55] madness of crowds. It's the herd. You [09:57] know, you follow the herd. [10:01] Okay. [10:06] So, here's my take on this. [10:11] What you just heard from Melanie [10:13] Phillips, I think a lot of people feel [10:16] this but don't quite know toart know how [10:19] to articulate because she's describing a [10:22] kind of moral inversion, right? A world [10:24] in which good is called evil, evil's [10:26] called good. That's what she said. A [10:29] world in which Israel's the aggressor, [10:31] Hamas or now Iran is treated as [10:35] somehow justified. and she calls it a [10:37] collapse [10:39] uh or a break in the West's moral [10:41] compass. But I want to push that one [10:43] step further because I don't think that [10:45] the West has lost its moral compass. I [10:48] think it has actually replaced its moral [10:51] compass. I think that that that [10:53] distinction matters because what we're [10:55] seeing today [10:58] is not I don't think these people are [11:00] confused. [11:02] people on the other side. Like the way [11:04] Brendan and Melanie were talking, they [11:06] make it sound like that this is a a kind [11:08] of confusion. [11:10] But I don't think that's what it is. I I [11:13] don't think they're they're just getting [11:14] things wrong. I think they have a [11:16] completely different moral framework. [11:19] The old framework was that you judged [11:21] people by their actions. You [11:23] distinguished between civilization and [11:25] barbarism, and one was objectively [11:26] better, between those who build and [11:29] those who are out to destroy. [11:32] Okay. The new framework doesn't work [11:34] that way. The new framework, in the new [11:36] framework, everything is about power. If [11:38] you're perceived as strong, you're [11:40] guilty. If you're perceived as weak, [11:41] you're innocent no matter what you do. [11:43] And I've made I've made videos on this [11:45] channel. I should come back to this [11:46] topic again that that this is a [11:48] commonality between Islam and Marxism, [11:52] which is that it think it's it's all [11:54] about power. Okay? Because Islam is [11:57] about dominance and submission and about [11:59] power and about honor and offense, [12:02] right? Very similar to like political [12:04] correctness. It's all about, you know, [12:05] being offended or honor, you know, it's [12:08] meaning uh how you feel if you feel [12:11] disrespected that has value, right? This [12:13] there's a real similarity here. But [12:15] again, to sum up in this new in this new [12:18] moral this new moral compass because I [12:20] again I believe the moral compass has [12:22] been replaced. There is a moral compass [12:24] here. It's just it's if you're strong, [12:27] you're guilty. If you're perceived as [12:29] weak, you're innocent no matter what you [12:31] do. [12:33] And once you understand that, then a lot [12:35] of other things start to make sense. [12:36] That's why people could celebrate on [12:38] October 7th while Israelis were still [12:40] being slaughtered because in that [12:41] framework, Israel's strong and therefore [12:44] it's guilty and the attackers are weak [12:45] and therefore they're justified, right? [12:48] They're not confused. You understand? [12:49] There's a certain consistency here to [12:51] how they think. Now Melanie Phillips [12:52] talks about the education system and [12:55] she's absolutely right. You know for [12:56] decades now generations have been taught [12:59] that the West is uniquely evil, that [13:01] it's colonialist, that it's racist, that [13:03] it's oppressive. But I would take it [13:05] even further. See, they haven't just [13:07] been taught that the West is wrong. [13:11] They've been taught that the truth that [13:14] truth itself is suspect, [13:17] right? That that you can't really define [13:19] anything. I talked about this in an [13:20] earlier video where I showed this debate [13:23] debate between Constantine Kissen and [13:24] Destiny, right? That nothing can really [13:26] be defined. Nothing can really be [13:28] judged. Everything is narrative and [13:31] perspective and power, right? And and uh [13:35] feelings, right? If you can't define [13:37] anything, then you can't defend [13:39] anything. You can't defend your country. [13:40] You can't defend your civilization. You [13:42] can't even defend the idea that your [13:44] civilization should exist. And that's [13:46] exactly what we're seeing play out. Now [13:48] there was another point she made that I [13:50] think is absolutely critical. She talked [13:52] about this entire humanitarian [13:55] establishment, right? The UN, the NOS's, [13:57] the international courts and how it has [14:00] become almost like a religion. And [14:01] that's exactly right. Right. This is the [14:03] new moral authority in the west. People [14:05] don't think things through for [14:07] themselves. They defer. If the UN says [14:09] it, it must be true. That's a certain [14:11] authority, right? The UN said. If Human [14:13] Rights Watch says it, it must be true. [14:15] It must be moral. If some international [14:17] court says it, it must be just. It must, [14:19] you know, that's the law. But what [14:20] happens when that entire system is [14:23] corrupt? When the when the entire system [14:26] gets it wrong because it's based on [14:27] wrong assumptions, right? What happens [14:30] when that entire system has been [14:31] captured by a specific political agenda? [14:34] Then your entire moral compass isn't [14:36] actually broken. It's a wrong moral [14:40] compass. It's pointing in the wrong [14:41] direction. something that Dennis Prager [14:43] said in a speech that also I did a video [14:45] about a few weeks ago. And this brings [14:48] us to Israel [14:50] because Israel is not the cause of this [14:52] confusion. Okay? Israel is just the test [14:55] case that brought it out into the open. [15:00] Right? If Israel fighting enemies who [15:02] openly call for genocide of Jews, for [15:05] the destruction of the state of Israel, [15:06] if Israel is the villain, then what that [15:09] means is that the system itself is [15:11] broken. Or let's be more accurate, [15:14] maybe the system itself is working [15:17] exactly as designed with a a wrong moral [15:21] compass, a a moral a moral compass that [15:24] has replaced the correct moral compass. [15:27] That's why the reaction That's why the [15:29] reaction to October 7th was so important [15:32] because it was spontaneous, right? It [15:33] was it was everything was exposed. What [15:35] was exposed after October 7th was not [15:37] born on October 7th. It was all there. [15:39] The groundwork for that had been laid [15:41] for decades. You didn't have to wait for [15:44] investigations or reports or narratives. [15:46] People immediately knew who they wanted [15:49] to blame. That's why she talked about [15:50] the demon the anti-Israel demonstrations [15:52] began right away on October 7th. Right? [15:55] That's what tells you everything. [15:57] Now, one more point that she made that I [15:59] think is worth sharpening. Melanie [16:00] Phillips, Melanie was talking about the [16:02] madness of the crowds, the herd [16:04] mentality, and that's true, but it's not [16:08] the whole story because this isn't some [16:10] sort of hysterical reaction, right? [16:13] There's also an incentive structure [16:15] that's built into this, especially on [16:17] social media, because people gain [16:18] status, they gain followers, they gain [16:21] belonging and identity by adopting these [16:25] positions, these these nihilistic, [16:28] leftist, Marxist, anti-Israel, anti-west [16:31] positions. It actually gains them [16:34] status, [16:35] right? And and in in this day and age, [16:37] you don't need to understand the Middle [16:38] East. You don't need to know anything [16:40] about Israel or Hamas or Iran. You just [16:42] need to signal that you're on the right [16:44] side. And that's why you see people [16:47] chanting things they don't understand. [16:48] River, sea, supporting causes they've [16:51] never studied. They hate people they've [16:53] never met, right? They don't know [16:55] anything. It's not about that. It's not [16:57] about knowledge. It's about it's about [16:59] being a part of the right camp. [17:04] Which brings us to a bigger picture, [17:05] right? There's a lot there's a lot of [17:07] talk about whether the West is finished. [17:11] I talk about it a lot whether countries [17:13] like like the UK have lost their way [17:16] irretrievably. [17:18] Now I'd like to again redefine it. It's [17:21] not that it's finished at this point. It [17:24] will be finished at this point. I would [17:26] describe it as hollowed out. [17:30] It's a it's still there. There's a shell [17:33] because a civilization that doesn't have [17:35] an identity anymore that that has lost [17:37] its way. It doesn't really know what it [17:39] is. It doesn't believe it has the right [17:42] to defend itself or the ability to [17:44] defend itself. That's a civilization [17:46] that is in serious serious trouble. It's [17:49] not dead yet, right? But it it's it's [17:51] going that way. And here's the part that [17:52] should really concern us. This is far [17:55] beyond a cultural issue. It's also a [17:59] strategic one down the like a look down [18:02] range. Look at where the world's going. [18:04] Our enemies understand what's happening [18:05] to the West. They they know it very [18:08] well. They they watch it with glee. Iran [18:11] understands it. Hamas understands it. [18:14] They they know that the the Muslim [18:16] Brotherhood understands it. They know [18:18] this. They know that they don't need to [18:20] defeat the West outright. They just need [18:22] to play the long game, [18:26] right? Prolonging conflicts, escalating, [18:29] and let the West's own moral confusion [18:32] do the rest. the the moral relativism [18:35] always comes back to save the the wicked [18:37] actors. The evil guys always benefit [18:40] from the moral confusion of the West, [18:44] right? We see this over and over again. [18:45] This is where it ties into what I've [18:47] been saying about wars and victory [18:49] because for decade the, you know, for [18:51] decades [18:52] the West H has had this pattern, right? [18:55] We fight wars, but we don't finish them, [18:58] right? We confront evil. We confront [19:00] evil, but we don't defeat evil. We don't [19:02] take it all the way to the end cuz we we [19:05] prefer to negotiate. We prefer to [19:06] compromise. We see those things as [19:08] virtuous. That's that's what we prefer. [19:11] And we leave the bad actors in place. [19:14] But now we've taken it one step further. [19:16] We're not just stopping short of [19:17] victory. We're no longer even sure who [19:20] the good guys are, right? Because we [19:23] have this moral relativism, this this [19:26] broken compass, this incorrect compass, [19:30] right? We we don't know again we don't [19:32] know who's good and who's evil. And if [19:34] you can't determine that, if you can't [19:36] with confidence say we're the good guys, [19:38] they are evil and we need to destroy [19:40] them. I you hear me say this all the [19:42] time. That's a simple conviction that [19:44] we're on the side of good and the people [19:45] we're fighting are evil and it is the [19:47] responsibility of good people to defeat [19:49] evil. Very simple that. But it's not so [19:52] simple because it takes conviction that [19:54] you are on the right side. And that's [19:56] what the West has lost because if you [19:59] can't answer the question about who the [20:00] good guys are, you're not going to win [20:03] anything. [20:05] That should be eminently clear. [20:08] Anyway, that's my take on Melanie [20:11] Phillips. Hope you enjoyed that. Hope [20:12] you found it interesting, helpful. [20:14] Please drop a comment. Let me know what [20:16] you think. And thank you for growing the [20:18] channel. And uh please spread the word. [20:20] God bless.
