This show proudly sponsored by Real American Freestyle Wrestling. Emily Schrader joins us now, journalist who lives in Tel Aviv, an Israeli human rights activist and author of 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College. Emily, welcome. Glad to be here. First off, did you live in Tel Aviv now?
Did you ever live here? Yeah, of course. I'm originally from Los Angeles, but I've lived in Tel Aviv over ten years now. What made you go? I have to say, a lot of the campus anti-Semitism.
Didn't intend to talk about that today, but that's the truth. I attended USC for my undergrad and I experienced some of the same types of bigotry that we've seen today, not quite as extreme, but just a very, very hostile environment for Jewish students on campus. And this is before all the uprising after the attack by Hamas.
So a lot of people think it just came out of nowhere, but you said it was there? Absolutely. I mean, this has been an ongoing issue on campuses for many, many years, long prior to October 7th. Where does it come from? It's coming primarily from the groups like Students for Justice in Palestine as well as some other extremist groups.
And this group actually has ties, albeit distant, to Muslim Brotherhood.
So there is a concerted effort to subvert pro-America and also pro-Israel activism on campus.
Now, unfortunately, they are usually targeting Jewish students, not even activists, but Jewish students. And we've certainly seen that in the aftermath of October 7th as well. I remember UCLA, we covered it live that these kids were trying to get through and they just said, oh, you're Jewish, you can't walk through. Can't walk through a campus that you're probably paying tens of thousands of dollars to go to because you're Jewish. Yeah, that's right.
I mean, what we saw with the encampments is really inexcusable. And, you know, we do know from the U.S. government reports that at least some of that was funded in part by the enemies of the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran. And we've also, of course, seen $6 billion over the past few years be poured into American academia by Qatar.
So this is a definite effort to undermine, I think, freedom. Loving liberal values, at least on campuses.
So, what was the feeling in Tel Aviv when the hostages came out and when the deal was signed? Unbelievable sigh of relief collectively from left to right, religious, secular. Every community in Israel felt that truly, truly, truly a remarkable day that we weren't sure was going to happen. And it happened, and that's the main thing. If Hamas continues to act like the terrorist organization they are, the thing is, the gloves are off.
If you have to go back, you know exactly where to go, you know the tunnels that remain, and you actually know how to do the fighting instead of ju going through training.
Now you have a year, two years of training to do it.
So it's going to be interesting because now we have communication constantly with Jared's over there now, Kushner. We also have Steve Woodkoff over there. We have the Vice President over there.
Now we have the Secretary of State. Actually, you need this type of hands on, constant vigilance from other than Just Hamas and Israel. Is it welcome? Yeah, I mean, I think there are concerns, primarily because I don't think that anyone in Israel believes that Hamas is actually going to disarm or disband or that they're going to step away from any form of governance. They themselves have stated unequivocally that that's not going to happen.
At the same time, I think it's very important that there is an international coalition, that there is leadership on this, holding these parties accountable for the ceasefire, but more importantly, for the long-term well-being of the entire region for that disarmament of groups like Hamas.
So, when they see right now, the IDF is where they're supposed to be, and they were still attacked, you said with an RPG, and you said it was one of the soldiers that lost their lives, was an American? Yeah, on Wednesday, there was an RPG attack by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. There have been a few skirmishes like this that we've seen since the ceasefire took place. And unfortunately, yes, the soldier who was killed on Wednesday was an American Israeli both. Yonah Feldbaum is his name.
And unfortunately, this isn't surprising. I mean, we have seen actions like this from Hamas violating. The ceasefire and trying to sabotage the progress that's been made thus far. And we did see Israel respond to that, and I expect that will be the same if they continue to attack IDF forces.
So Hezbollah is not moving over. They're trying to rearm right now. They're risking the ceasefire there. How close is the Israeli government watching what the developments are? Because the whole point was that Lebanon would say this group's been diminished severely thanks to Israel's brilliance, and now they could take over Lebanon.
Can you imagine Lebanese running Lebanon? But that's not happening yet. No, it's not. And I think it's something to pay close attention to because it also we can learn from this example when it comes to dealing with Hamas. I mean, the UN Resolution 1559, as well as 1701, called on Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon, to disarm and to disband.
No enforcement. Even when billions of dollars, by the way, U.S. tax dollars, taxpayer dollars, were poured into UNIFIL. They didn't do their job. They weren't.
And that was the peacekeeping group in the area. That's right. And they were basically complicit with Hezbollah, or scared to death of them. That's right. And that's what we're seeing from Lebanon now.
You know, at first the government was saying, yes, we're going to disarm Hezbollah. And now suddenly it's been a rearmament of Hezbollah, and they don't really have the power to enforce that ceasefire. And that is extremely dangerous, of course, for Israel, which we're paying close attention to, but also for Lebanese. They shouldn't have to live under effectively an occupation of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their proxy, Hezbollah. Yeah, we understand, too.
Intelligence shows Iran is sending them rockets, anti-tank missiles, and artillery, which is unbelievable. Their people are starving. And yet, they're sending whatever money they have to buy weapons or make weapons and send them over to their proxy groups.
Well, it's disgraceful. I mean, you see, the economy in Iran is in free fall. There's 90 million people who effectively are a form of hostages of their own government. There is nothing operating the way that it should inside Iran, and the people are really paying the price. And instead of prioritizing the well-being of their own people, they're sending billions of dollars to terror groups and figuring out ways to evade sanctions instead of just acting as they should, responsible leaders of their country.
How close is the international force to being deployed? I mean, I think there's a lot of people worked out, but there's also debates inside of Israel and even between Israel and the U.S. in terms of who's going to be involved in this. We saw just a few days ago, the Trump administration wanted to have some sort of representation from Qatari forces. That was a hard no from the State of Israel.
They vetoed that. I expect those decisions and debates to continue for at least a few more days.
So, why would you be against Qatar military?
Well, I think from October 7th through today, we've seen many Qatari officials speak out both sides of their mouth. On the one hand, they want to have good relations with the United States. On the other hand, they are regularly spewing anti-Semitic rhetoric across social media, sometimes even very plainly in English. Their government or their people? Government officials.
Government officials. Yes. Ambassadors, senior officials. There was just a new one last night that I saw that had been tweeting since October 7th, really crazy things, even endorsing the actions of October 7th. And let's not forget that they've allowed Hamas to have an effective headquarters in Qatar for many, many years.
They could have done more sooner. And that's very frustrating, I think, for Israelis because they don't trust Qatar. By the way, we're talking with Emily Schrader. She's a journalist and Israeli human rights activist here from Tel Aviv. And her book is called 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College.
But let's talk about the nations in the Arab world that would be acceptable.
Well, I mean, I think Israel has a longstanding. You know Indonesia said, well, you need 30,000. Indonesia says, I will supply troops. I don't know anybody else that stepped up. I hear they're training Palestinians and some others in Jordan and in Egypt.
What have you heard? Same thing.
So we're right now we're looking at Jordan and Egypt being the primary contributors, in addition to Indonesia. I know that the Trump administration is working very hard to build a much broader coalition that can enforce this. I do think that that's the path forward for Gaza. We don't want to see Israel controlling what's happening in Gaza. They should have their own form of governance.
But absolutely, we have to get rid of these terror groups, which, by the way, another proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran should not be in power of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. I mean, it's just unacceptable, and all the Arab world should be on the same page as that. Hi everyone, I'm Brian Kilmedy. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that Simply Safe is now available at 50% off because you're listening to this podcast.
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Yeah, I mean, I think, again, it's hard to tell because a lot of times you see these leaders speaking out both sides of their mouth or something different in English than it would be in Arabic or to their own people. But yeah, of course. I mean, nobody wants to see war. It's a terrible, terrible thing. It's a terrible thing for everyone in Britain.
But I would say, and you know this better than me. If you talk to an al-Qaeda fighter, an ISIS fighter, a Hamas, and has what they like war. Sure, but that's not the same thing as a state. When we're talking about Egypt, Jordan, even Qatar, any of these countries, with the exception, I will say of the Islamic Republic of Iran, most of these countries are not keen to start big wars, even for causes they very much believe in. See, that's what I think that's happened over the last 10 years.
I think these leaders are trying to lift their economies. I think they really are. And Saudi Arabia is probably the most amazing story that I've seen. The fact that they care about entertainment, that they care about, they're trying to get their people to do things. They're trying to give their women stuff that we take for granted, I guess, because everybody should be equal.
But the things they're allowing women to do now, walk around in Western-style clothing, being able to drive in these things. I mean, we were told that was never going to change. And this prince has seemed to have done a lot. Absolutely. I mean, I think the progress in Saudi Arabia is truly remarkable.
And I think we're hopeful there'll be peace. I think we want to sign a deal with you, don't you? I sure hope so. Yeah, I know it's been in discussions for a long time. In fact, it was one of the reasons that Hamas wanted to do the October 7th massacre.
They wanted to throw a wrench in that expansion of the Abraham Accords. I'm hopeful that they will not be successful and that moving forward we can continue to see that. I know it's a main priority also of the Trump administration to push forward this initiative of expanding the Abraham Accords. whether it be with Saudi Arabia or Indonesia. I know that Israel is on board for anyone who wants to make peace with Israel.
We're willing to make peace with them.
So let's talk about some things that parents should know before they send their Jewish kids to college.
Well, I think the most important thing is that people are prepared with the basic information and even the terminology, which is something I spoke about in the book quite a bit, that people don't know the difference between terms like the West Bank or Judea and Samaria. They don't know that Judea and Samaria is the actual historic name of that territory and that, in fact, the West Bank means the West Bank of the Jordan River, referring to Jordan, not a historic state of Palestine or anything like that. And I don't say that to minimize anything for Palestinians, but because when a student goes to campus and they get these things thrown at them that may or may not be true, because a lot of people don't know what they're talking about, yet they speak with such confidence. These students who are not experts in international law, they don't know what that means. They don't know what the connotations are.
They don't know who the players are on this issue. And you shouldn't have to have a law degree to be able to have a conversation with people on campus. And unfortunately, that was my experience. You have to... You're a bad engagement.
Yeah.
So instead, you just say you take these people on. Absolutely. Absolutely. And it doesn't mean you have to even have a debate, but have a conversation, an educated conversation, where you can speak honestly about these things no matter what side of the issue you're on. Give me some more.
For example, who was there first?
Well, I think when it comes to who was there first, it's not really debatable. I mean, I know they would like to debate it, but of course, the Jewish people, where they are from, is Judea and Samaria. It is the land of Israel. That is where they became a people. And honestly, I mean, the Palestinians that we know today, the Arab Palestinian people, came as colonizers to the first time in that region.
So that is the history.
Now, that doesn't mean they don't have a right to exist or anything else today, but historically speaking, it's unquestionable who was there first. Looking back now with the Oslo Accords, would that have been a disaster? Had Yes Raffett said yes? In What do you think? I mean, it's hard.
It's hard to say. I mean, he kind of did say yes and then no and backtracked on that issue. And then ultimately, we saw the second Intifada. It could have worked if there was a viable leadership that was ready to teach peace. And this is the core thing that's missing even until today.
That even if there was a Palestinian leader who said, okay, let's move on from this history of rejectionism and violence and all of the things that we've seen over the past 70-some years, the public won't accept it. And this is the problem with a highly, highly radicalized society. And that's why you saw criticism actually from Palestinians of Yasser Arafat for even agreeing in the first place to the Oslo Accords. And that's something really important to note. We have to teach future generations that Israel has a right to exist and vice versa.
Otherwise, we're not going to get anywhere in the long term. And that would have connected Gaza and the West Bank, and they would have had some type of tunnel or bridge to both lands, correct? And a portion of Jerusalem? Yeah, I mean, this is one of the things that has been offered land swaps for certain Israel would ever go for that now. I don't think so either, just in terms of security.
I mean, we're in a very different reality today. Also, with the intervention of, as I mentioned, the Islamic Republic and all the proxy terror groups that they're working on. I mean, they've been trying to infiltrate the Jordan border to attack Israel from that side as well. Even now, there's discussion of the proxies of the regime that are in Iraq coming into Israel to invade, not just with missiles, but also trying to get through Jordan to invade Israel.
So this is a very, very serious threat. And I don't think that Israel's in a position to give some of the concessions that they previously were willing to give simply because of security. Does Netanyahu get re-elected? Oh, that's a great question. I mean, we'll have to see.
It depends. Honestly, it depends on the day, how popular Netanyahu is. Right now, I saw the polls even this morning. We're saying that the opposition would win pretty steadily if the election were held today. But he does seem to be somewhat of a magician electorally.
It seems that every time we go to elections, something happens and he's able to come out ahead again.
So we'll have to see. All right. Emily Schrader, pick up her book, 10 Things Every Jew Should Know Before They Go to College Anywhere. Emily, thanks so much. Thanks.
It's Will Tain Country. Watch it live at noon Eastern Monday through Thursday at FoxNews.com or on the Fox News YouTube channel. And don't miss the show. Listen and follow the podcast five days a week at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
