Tamara Ugolini and David Menzies discuss the tragic events that took place in the Middle East over the weekend, including the attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, and the death of journalist Abby Yitzchak, who was on the ground covering the events.
00:02:59.980This is National Angel Food Cake Day, and my co-host does not celebrate National Angel Food Cake Day because, well, she's just so gosh darn angelic as is.
00:03:44.140I took some time to just kind of disconnect, which, you know, in hindsight was maybe inappropriate, but also very much needed over the weekend.
00:03:53.660So, and you, David, you're out in the field all weekend, so I don't even think you had a turkey dinner.
00:03:59.540You know what, and we'll get to this a little later on, but I thought even though we're a world away from the Middle East, the feeling of Thanksgiving this year, it was a very melancholy one, given the events.
00:04:14.380Um, and the fact that I, I didn't really get to celebrate it, but I'm not complaining because, uh, there were so many important, uh, events to cover right here in our backyard.
00:04:27.220Um, thank goodness, Tamara, that Ezra is dispatching Abby Yamini from Australia to Israel.
00:04:34.920I think he lands there tomorrow, folks.
00:04:36.900And it's not just to cover the war, which is important, but it's to cover those who are covering the war in the mainstream media, because, you know, very soon the bullshite cycle will start.
00:04:51.860The demonization and vilification of the victim, Israel, uh, will get underway.
00:04:57.420And, uh, I think our Abby Yamini was going to act as a one-man fact checker, and I couldn't think of a better journalist to cover, uh, you know, this, this, uh, tragic event, folks, because Abby, uh, has spent many years in Israel.
00:05:23.940And, uh, you know, thank goodness we have a guy like Abby to, uh, keep the media honest, if that's indeed in the realm of possibility these days.
00:05:32.860Well, and just contrasting their reports as well.
00:05:35.480And they've, we've launched a campaign to support Abby and follow along as they give you breaking on the ground reports.
00:05:42.580Um, that new website is the truthaboutthewar.com.
00:05:47.760So there we already have lots of articles and video clips about what has transpired since Saturday when the news broke out of the attacks, um, and the, the escalation that has resulted.
00:06:03.100But before we get into that news, we have to, we want to share with you that Rebel News is bringing you the latest and next Rebel News live event.
00:06:14.240So that's a great way for you to come out and support us in our journalistic endeavors, but also to gather with us in person, unabated.
00:06:23.400You know, David Menzies and I co-host in studio.
00:06:26.420Typically we had a little bit of a break there for several weeks while the studio had some renovations and then there was other issues and then you were traveling.
00:06:35.580So it is always so nice though, to get together in person and you really can't compare, um, to gathering, um, you can even call it that virtually or via electronics.
00:06:48.740So we are doing our next in person in the flesh event in Calgary on Saturday, November the 18th, uh, rebelnewslive.com.
00:06:59.760That's where you can find out more and get your tickets.
00:07:01.860We're still securing some speakers, but it's a great way for you to hear from certain keynote speakers, have great food, music, socialize.
00:07:12.580And of course, uh, purchase exclusive Rebel News merchandise and our latest books.
00:07:19.520So I would urge everyone who's interested in or in the Calgary area to head over to rebelnewslive.com, buy your tickets and stay tuned as we announce our speaker list over the next few weeks.
00:07:34.460Um, some, and then you can find the list from last year.
00:07:38.300So Tamara Leach, Arthur Pawlowski, Julie Panessi, Maxine Bernier, Andrew Lawton, and the list goes on and on.
00:07:46.180But, um, I'm sure there will be equally as intriguing speakers to bring to you in a little bit over a month.
00:07:54.620So get, get it while it lasts because these, these events continually seem to be selling out.
00:07:59.860So, um, purchase them now before it does.
00:08:04.160Uh, Tamara, and one of the reason is the members of the audience who are our supporters, um, you couldn't, you know, encounter a better bunch of people and to see them live, shake their hands, hear their stories.
00:08:18.980So it's very much a symbiotic, uh, you're coming for the speakers and, and the special guests and, um, we get to meet you, which is always a pleasure indeed.
00:08:56.640So for those of you who are just tuning in, this is our daily roundup, our way to dissect and bring you the newsiest news items of the day, or in this case of the weekend and the holiday Monday here in Canada.
00:09:11.980So it was a holiday for us, some of us, or none really of us.
00:09:18.040But anyway, so we do this every day from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern, and we stream on a few different platforms.
00:09:24.520You can find us on Rumble, Odyssey, Getter, and the Censorious One, which is YouTube.
00:09:30.260And because we've been demonetized completely from YouTube, we can no longer get those small monetary donations to have comments read on air.
00:09:39.100But if you join us over on Rumble, which for the meantime is being hailed as the free speech platform, you can give us what's called a Rumble rant.
00:09:49.740And it's a great way for you to support our efforts, keep our lights on, fund our equipment and our endeavors, and also have your comment read live on air by us.
00:10:02.820So if you head on over to Rumble, give us what's called a Rumble rant through a small monetary donation.
00:10:08.700We will make sure that we get to your comment at some point throughout our live on the air commentary.
00:10:14.740And with that, David, maybe you can take us through the series of events you were out in the field over the weekend, as we mentioned, covering some of these rallies in the greater Toronto area.
00:10:25.860And it was truly a tale of two demonstrations.
00:10:28.820First of all, around 2 o'clock at Nathan Phillips Square, we had, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, folks, but I'm going to say it, a pro-Hamas demonstration.
00:10:39.360Can you imagine as the Israeli death toll, I believe at last count is approaching 1,000, and the most horrific acts of terrorism, I'm so sorry, I might have offended some reporters at the CBC.
00:10:53.740They're not allowed to use the T-word to describe terrorism.
00:10:58.860But everything from innocent civilians being killed, dismembered, their bodies paraded through the streets.
00:11:10.300Now we have stories of babies being beheaded.
00:11:16.240You know, a lot of people are saying, you know, these animals, and people go, oh, no, no, no, don't call them animals.
00:11:33.000But in any event, here I am, Tamara, on holiday Monday, Thanksgiving Day, and I'm thinking we have so much to be thankful for in this country.
00:11:43.900I mean, being with our loved ones, food on the table, a roof over our head, being healthy.
00:11:51.420And here I am in the city of my birth.
00:11:54.280I mean, just behind City Hall, about a click away, is the place of my birth, Women's College Hospital.
00:12:02.520Tamara, do they call it Women's College Hospital anymore?
00:12:04.880I mean, is that a little insensitive to the trans community?
00:12:11.340And here I see people, not in Ramallah, but in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the place of my birth where I've spent most of my life marching up Bay Street in support of the savages and barbarians that carried out this attack on Israel on Saturday.
00:12:32.220And it's getting to the point I don't even recognize my city anymore.
00:12:39.520And this is not a unique Toronto thing.
00:12:41.160There are other major Canadian cities that had this grotesque display, cities in the U.S. as well, cities all across Europe.
00:12:49.740And I got to think, especially if you're a Jewish person, it is, you know, post-Holocaust, the saying is never again.
00:13:01.320It kind of looks like it's happening again, doesn't it, Tamara?
00:13:04.000This idea of demonizing Jews and those who are pro-Israeli.
00:13:10.080And I have to say, in light of how the Freedom Convoy was treated last year, remember, Prime Minister Blackface inferred that those people were Nazis.
00:13:23.260Yet Hamas, I think, fits the definition of an Islamo-Nazi terrorist group.
00:13:30.320And you saw all kinds of hateful slogans and signs there.
00:13:35.960Do you think, Tamara, is anyone going to be arrested Tamara Leak style?
00:13:40.620Do you think, Tamara, oh, I don't know, people are going to have their bank accounts frozen?
00:13:46.300Is blackface going to demonize those people?
00:13:50.200No, that doesn't dovetail into the whole diversity is our strength and multiculturalism is fantastic.
00:13:58.820Even though blackface, as his nickname indicates, mocks those who are racially different than him by donning blackface so many times that even the prime minister has lost count.
00:14:10.820So it was the hypocrisy on display that really jarred me.
00:14:16.260And also, I look at some of the so-called allies marching with them.
00:14:22.900The most spectacular one of all, Tamara, was a trans person.
00:14:30.220In this, it would be a man pretending to be a woman.
00:14:34.700And by that, folks, I mean an obvious male in every regard, except that he was wearing earrings and a dress.
00:14:42.540And, oh, and a face diaper, too, and had an umbrella, even though there was zero precipitation that day.
00:16:26.160I mean, do you know what you're even standing for?
00:16:30.340So, you know, and I want to I'll finish very quickly because I want to get your thoughts in terms of a tale of two demonstrations.
00:16:40.420And as you can see, that is Nathan Phillips Square.
00:16:42.820And by the way, the silver lining compared to the last time the pro-Hamas crowd came out, which was May 2021, which we covered, there was easily, I would estimate, 10 times more protesters back in 2021.
00:16:57.840They were even climbing the arches over the reflecting pool.
00:17:03.920And I was a little concerned because I don't know what the weight tolerance of that concrete was.
00:17:08.600And of course, you're not allowed to, by law, climb those structures.
00:17:12.440But, you know, we turn a blind eye to these special people.
00:17:15.900But at 7 o'clock at Mel Lassman Square, which was in the former North York section of Toronto, now it's just all Toronto, a solidarity with Israel event took place.
00:18:01.120Because when you have a few thousand pro-Israeli people and Jews congregating in a square, in the world in which we live, do we know there might not be?
00:18:15.420And there you can see the garbage trucks, some individual that might pack a vehicle with explosives and take out several hundred people.
00:18:27.260So this, again, this is the city of my birth, Tamara, where we have to lay siege to a section in order for a peaceful protest to take place.
00:18:39.480And by the way, that was the other thing that was very noticeable.
00:18:41.860You didn't see the Jews and the pro-Israeli people at Mel Lassman Square chanting death to the Palestinians, destroy the Palestinian Authority, nothing like that.
00:18:53.660It was very peaceful by every definition.
00:19:01.500You can see it's a sea of Israeli flags.
00:19:05.380But yes, by foot traffic, some Palestinian pro-Hamas demonstrators came and they were trying to bait the crowd into throwing haymakers with their slogans.
00:19:21.500And all they got was copious quantities of raised middle fingers and F-bombs.
00:19:26.440In other words, nobody crossed the line, thank goodness, because this is what they want.
00:19:30.760They want to show that these people are violent, but nobody took the bait.
00:19:36.240And again, in stark contrast to the hatred we saw on display in downtown Toronto five hours earlier and also the ramped up security, like I said, because and for good reason.
00:19:52.400We have to live, I think, today, Tamara, in a world where we say better safe than sorry.
00:19:59.100I mean, in all likelihood, there was probably going to be no terrorist attack if vehicle traffic was allowed on Yonge Street that night.
00:20:09.100No, you can never be too sure, which is probably why they deployed those vehicles to keep that line of separation between the two different sides.
00:20:19.820And, you know, it's important to note here that there's extremism on both sides.
00:20:26.820And the pro-Hamas side is a direct reflection of the extremist extreme that you're seeing post the Saturday attack where the Hamas terrorists broke through, what is the wall called there, where they broke through several key points of the border.
00:20:51.680There is so much nuance involved in the situation.
00:20:56.760I mean, my question keeps going back to how did the Israeli defense not see this coming?
00:21:04.400That's a major point of contention for me personally, where I go, how did how did no one see this coming?
00:21:11.900How are they not prepared for such an attack?
00:21:14.380And to see, you know, we had this write-up posted on October 7th, so the day that this all unfolded, to see the way the liberals, the unions, the CBC minimized this slaughter of innocent victims, right?
00:21:28.600There's innocent civilians being targeted and slaughtered for ideology.
00:21:34.780And that's where this is so unfortunate.
00:21:39.100And my heart really goes out to the innocent people that are caught in this crossfire and these attacks because obviously this is adjacent to a war crime.
00:21:49.080And you have one of Canada's largest unions, CUPE, post on Twitter, Palestine is rising, long live the resistance, and really validating this and normalizing this kind of extremism, murderous extremism.
00:22:09.040And that is really concerning to see on the Canadian sociopolitical landscape.
00:22:15.860There's this whole write-up that Sheila did on Saturday has some of these tweets and these retweets.
00:22:23.940CBC, the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday in a surprise assault, right?
00:22:34.440So the wording's really strange, really downplaying the magnitude of this attack that combined gunmen crossing into several Israeli towns with a heavy barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.
00:22:50.740Nothing in there about how these are innocent civilians being targeted and murdered because of a radically extreme ideology.
00:23:01.860And we see that not necessarily this particular ideology infiltrating Canadian politics and, as I mentioned, our socio-political landscape, but this kind of radical progressive extremism is very much aligned with things like the CBC, the unions, so on and so forth.
00:23:22.880Right, this normalization isn't far off from where they've been the last few years in terms of the political landscape and these really progressive extreme ideologues.
00:23:35.860Those tweets by CUPE, Tamara, were absolutely horrific.
00:23:41.220By the way, have they been taken down yet?
00:23:47.460And, you know, even in instances, and I'm not sure if we're going to get into this in a little bit, but Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, I think it took her three times to get it right.
00:23:57.380She tweeted, tweeted and deleted and posted on X, whatever it's called now.
00:24:03.240But it took her three different tries to get it right on this.
00:24:06.760And she kept kind of wishy-washy, changing her tune, wasn't sure which way the winds were going to blow politically for her.
00:24:15.000And so she had to delete and repost her point or her stance three different times.
00:24:21.360You know, I'm not surprised because one thing I noticed at Nathan Phillips Square, which folks, if you've never been to Toronto, that's where Toronto City Hall is physically located.
00:24:30.620The flag of Ukraine was, you know, there flying.
00:24:38.540But remember, this is three days after this terrorist attack.
00:24:44.000Is it too much to ask Mayor Chow to put up maybe the flag of Israel?
00:24:48.320Now, maybe in the meantime, there has been a flag raised.
00:24:53.000But, you know, it seems like that might be a bridge too far or a flag too far, as the case may be.
00:25:02.200The other thing, I mean, this is, you know, when you see these celebrations supporting Hamas, this is equivalent, I think, Tamara, to, you know, in the hours after 9-11,
00:25:17.640going out there and supporting the terrorists, can I say terrorists?
00:25:23.120I know CBC wants me to use the word militants or it was militant to extreme, maybe protesters.
00:51:56.920And you'll have a full report on what happened yesterday out in the field.
00:52:01.200But we have this first small 15-second clip here, which really highlights the dehumanization under the guise or because of these differing ideologies.
00:52:12.640So basically, he's saying there's no such thing as Israel.
00:52:33.360Yes, no such thing as Israel that a real Jew denounces the state of Israel, that the solution for the crisis in the Middle East in that neighborhood, Tamara, it's a one-state solution, which is to say it's a Palestinian state only.
00:52:48.920This speaks to the bigger problem that over the decades in the peace process that has always proven futile, when the Palestinians are getting in one peace deal, I think it goes back to the Clinton years, 98% of what they were asking for.
00:53:09.280Now, Tamara, if you're negotiating a deal and you're getting 98% of your demands, that's not a good deal.
00:53:19.920And therefore, you know, again, it might be unpopular to say this, but I think based on all those failed attempts, including land for peace, money and land for peace, and it's always no, no, no.
00:53:36.220And then you see this act of barbarism on Saturday, it makes me wonder if the Palestinian people are mature enough to have their own state because their actions speak otherwise.
00:53:52.560Well, and I just want to really drive home the point that there is the radical Hamas terrorists, and then there are innocent Palestinians who are caught in this crossfire.
00:54:04.400And we should really make sure to note that there, you know, the entanglement of the extremes is really where we get lost in the nuance and not to contribute further to that dehumanizing on either side.
00:54:18.660And because there are innocent civilians being caught here, and that is the most atrocious and atrocious part of this.
00:54:26.760And if we look at the Gaza Strip, you're talking about 2 million residents.
00:54:30.780It is probably the most densely populated strip of territory on planet Earth.
00:54:37.960And, of course, not all Palestinians are simpatico with groups like Hamas.
00:54:45.160And that, you know, the question arises, who was the real winner here based on Saturday?
00:54:52.760Already, Israel is ramping up to enact justice as it should.
00:54:58.400And unfortunately, with the bombings in retaliation and with the siege in terms of fuel and food and electricity, it is going to be those Palestinian citizens that are going to be victimized.
00:56:12.220I live, and this was interesting, at the Israel event last night, we saw many members of the Persian community waving the flag of Iran in solidarity with Israel.
00:56:24.080And again, it's important to differentiate the Persian people from the Islamic regime, because I think the biggest victim group of the Islamic regime are the Iranians that live in Iran.
00:56:39.100But they were out there in support of Israel.
00:57:01.580Except for one, the member of parliament for Richmond Hill, who actually has his allegiance with the tyrannical terrorism-supporting state of Iran.
00:57:13.260How in blue hell did that ever happen?
00:57:16.360Yeah, that's a great question and remains unknown because you've investigated.
00:57:21.480Well, Blackface calls him a great man.
00:57:23.780And they've just shut the door in your face repeatedly, if I remember those reports correctly.
00:57:37.200While regressives tend to defend Palestine to the point of anti-Semitism, secularist Jews, especially in Israel, despite being woke, tend to consider themselves completely exempt from intersectionalism.
00:58:07.800They're starting to see how much the COVID response actually harmed them.
00:58:11.240They're the most locked down, most injected population, arguably, on Earth.
00:58:17.320And so they were starting to say, hey, wait a minute, we don't appreciate and we don't agree the way that our government responded to the COVID regime and the COVID narrative.
00:58:25.840And lo and behold, 10 days later, all of a sudden, a war breaks out in the country.
00:58:31.520So that's an interesting kind of nuance to note recent, not even historically, like just recently, 10 days ago, Israelis were out in the streets protesting.
00:58:41.480Yeah, and there's been huge protests, too, on a totally different matter, Tamara, and that is the judicial reforms that the Netanyahu government is trying to enact, because basically you're having a country increasingly governed by unelected judges by striking down bills of the government.
00:59:01.280But I think one of the backstories here, when you look at the international politics of this region, you saw recently Israel and Saudi Arabia, of all people, getting involved in diplomacy to see if Saudi Arabia could be part of the Abraham Accords.
00:59:23.440It's something I believe seven Middle East nations are, something that Donald Trump should have got the Nobel Peace Prize for.
00:59:31.920But, you know, Trump, the arrangement syndrome, can't give him credit for anything.
00:59:36.080And that is an important point, because Iran, I think, wanted to derail these talks.
00:59:44.000These talks are now on hold, obviously, because Iran sees itself.
00:59:49.100That is the regime of Iran, again, I'm differentiating between the regime and the people of Iran.
00:59:55.280They want to be the straw that stirs the drink in the region, not Saudi Arabia.
01:00:00.780And I think this was, given the timing, deliberate sabotage to end those, you know, negotiations of having Saudi Arabia come into the Abraham Accords.
01:00:13.580And I'm sure we'll learn about some more of that context as Avi Yamini heads over and starts populating his reports on that page, thetruthaboutthewar.com.
01:00:25.460We have another rumble rant that we'll get to as well.
01:01:01.180So let's just try to ramp through some of these clips.
01:01:04.620And again, if you want to see more or see about what happened over the weekend with some of these clips and reports, you can do that at thetruthaboutthewar.com because we have a lot here and there's just no way we're going to get to all of this.
01:03:51.900I guess it's true, Tamara Ugolini, what they say.
01:03:54.720Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
01:03:58.040But on the other hand, what has my spidey senses tingling a bit is that line where we're going to stand with Israel to defend itself in accordance with international law.
01:04:12.160And words matter because already I heard an interview, I can't remember the individual's name.
01:04:18.320It was a commentator on Middle East affairs who was already suggesting that Israel, by preventing electricity, fuel and food to go into Gaza, could fit the definition of a war crime.
01:04:30.960So without firing a single bullet, just this siege in order to have Hamas at bay is considered a war crime.
01:04:44.200Is this what Blackface is inferring here in terms of in accordance with international law, that Israel yet again has to fight with one hand tied behind its back?
01:04:58.100And I think the country, the government, Netanyahu, really, they don't give a rodent's rectum what the world community has to say or what the UN has to say or the international law has to say.
01:05:12.960They have to defend themselves by any means necessary.
01:05:16.400And based on what happened on the weekend, Tamara Ugolini, can you blame them?
01:05:19.860Well, and I want to contrast that as well with what leader of the opposition, Pierre Polyev, had to say, which we also have a short clip to.
01:05:28.080And I think after that one, maybe we'll try to get to Melanie Jolie's.
01:05:31.400I noticed that our battery is dying here as well.
01:06:23.520It was so refreshing, the honesty there.
01:06:27.400And maybe we should compare Pierre Polyev weighing in with Melanie Jolie, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the mealy-mouthed words she had to say about this.
01:06:44.660We're just going to look for that clip, folks.
01:06:47.120Yeah, and, you know, I love how succinct Pierre Polyev can be.
01:06:50.180Like, you know, Justin Trudeau is just always so emotive and drawing on those emotions.
01:06:57.820And this is why I always like to contrast how Pierre Polyev responds because it's very pointed, very succinct, very logic, rational, reasonable approach versus Justin's Trudeau breathless emotion that he just can't seem to curtail.
01:08:08.000And like I said, civilian lives must be protected.
01:08:10.780So, these will be difficult days ahead and right now and ahead for Israeli people, for Palestinian people, for Canadians, for the world.
01:08:23.580And you Canadians can know that the government and the Prime Minister and myself are absolutely engaged 24-7 on this issue.
01:08:32.780But, Minister, what do you say to Canadians or other people in this country who might go to a protest that critics say is purporting to celebrate what Hamas has done?
01:08:42.920I mean, should these protests be happening?
01:08:44.440There have been some calls by others to maybe find a way to prosecute this over supporting terrorism.
01:08:49.080I don't know if it goes that far or not, in your view.
01:08:52.500But what is your message to Canadians that might attend these protests, given what's happened in the last 48 hours or so?