On the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, an entire generation has grown up with no memory of that day. I fear that we are losing our cultural memory for that day, and when you forget the past, you are sometimes doomed to repeat it.
00:00:48.460It's the 22nd anniversary of 9-11. Horrific day. I remember it vividly, but I'm 51.
00:00:55.680It's been so long since it's happened. An entire generation has grown up with no recollection
00:01:02.220of it. I think 9-11 was my generation's JFK assassination moment, something that every
00:01:09.180single person in the world knew exactly where they were when they heard the news. That's how I felt
00:01:14.540about 9-11, and it changed everything. I think young people don't know what 9-11 is. It's like
00:01:20.060people talking about Hitler. They know Hitler's a bad thing vaguely, but they have no idea
00:01:25.440about the Second World War. I fear that we're losing that cultural memory for 9-11 too, and
00:01:32.100when you forget the past, you're sometimes doomed to repeat it. I'm, as you know, in Israel for the
00:01:39.540Rebel News Abraham Accords trip. We're spending a week in Israel, and then we're going to the United
00:01:44.700Arab Emirates to see how the Abraham Accords peace deal is going. Israel is a country that never
00:01:50.720forgets what terrorism is like because there are terrorist attacks almost every day. We today
00:01:57.640visited with Danny Tirza, a retired colonel whose job was to stop those terrorist attacks by building
00:02:05.540a security barrier, a fence, and sometimes a wall between the Jews and the Arabs. We're still editing
00:02:13.400our report on that, but here's a report I did on the subject in our last trip to Israel. I look a
00:02:21.260little bit different. Here's my report when Danny Tirza gave us a tour of the security fence. I'm
00:02:27.080standing in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. Down there is Bethlehem and Beit Jala in the West Bank,
00:02:33.060and with me is retired colonel Danny Tirza. Nice to see you. You were the colonel in charge of the
00:02:39.240security barrier between the West Bank and Israel. How is it working? How many years old is it, first
00:02:44.480of all? It was start constructed here in 2002, and now we're in 2017, so 15 years that it works.
00:02:53.500How many people try and cross the barrier on any given day? Today, maybe 20 to 30 times a week
00:03:02.620someone tried to cross the fence. So three to five times a day. Are they people who were lost? Are they
00:03:09.860regular criminals? What's the breakdown of those 20 or 30 people a week? Most of them are criminals.
00:03:16.820Some of them are illegal workers, and even Palestinian women that are running away from the families.
00:03:22.380You know what happened to a Palestinian wife if her husband suspects her. She better run away.
00:03:27.160How has it affected regular life, commerce? Can people on the Bethlehem side still come to Israel
00:03:34.760and vice versa? Yes, they have, but they can. But they can do it only through checkpoints and after a
00:03:41.620security check. Let's talk a little bit about Bethlehem. We can see a few churches. I see a golden dome
00:03:49.060there. That's a church, right? That's St. Nicholas Church, very famous one in Beth Jala.
00:03:56.040Beth Jala. And can you point to, is that on the highest point there, is that Bethlehem on the highest
00:04:01.780point of that hill? On the top of the mountains, you can see the column there of Maria. Behind it,
00:04:08.400it's the Nativity Church. So the geography is extremely small. I mean, we're here in Jerusalem.
00:04:15.320Bethlehem is really, it's, if this was in North America, it would be called a neighborhood of
00:04:20.380Jerusalem. Bethlehem really isn't even separate. That's right. That we don't have any space here
00:04:26.440between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Therefore, we had to build something on the ground to prevent
00:04:32.160these terrorists from coming to Israel. How are Christians treated in Bethlehem? I heard you say
00:04:37.260earlier today that the Christian population of Bethlehem is, did you say it's down to 12 percent?
00:04:41.400Is that the number? Today, most of the Christians ran away abroad from Beth Jala and Bethlehem after
00:04:51.4201995, after the interim agreement between Israel and the PLO, when we let this area to the Palestinian
00:04:58.840authority, most of the Christians ran away abroad from the Muslims because they want to have better
00:05:05.320life in the world and not living here under the Muslims. I'll be back in Canada at the end of the
00:05:13.220week. I return on Friday morning to Canada. I'm looking forward to getting home. I've been away
00:05:18.540for far too long. Anyway, so I have three stories today from Canada that I sense had a theme. I don't
00:05:26.460know. Have you ever heard of Robert Conquest's laws of politics? I've mentioned them to you before.
00:05:32.680The first one is, everyone is a conservative about what they know best. Isn't that the truth? Whether
00:05:39.800you're a bricklayer or a surgeon, it doesn't matter if you know something, if you're an expert in
00:05:46.820something, it's almost certain that you're a conservative because you know how it ought to be
00:05:51.640done. It's the radical rebels who don't know what they're doing, who are progressive. I like that
00:05:58.700first Robert Conquest's law. The second one is, any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or
00:06:05.920later becomes left-wing. Isn't that the truth? Look at the mission creep of, well, every organization
00:06:12.480from universities to colleges of physicians and surgeons and onwards. But the third of Robert
00:06:19.260Conquest's laws is what came to mind today with these three stories that I'll tell you about.
00:06:24.640And that law is, the simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization
00:06:30.520is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies. What does that mean? And what news does
00:06:39.640that apply to? Well, I've got three stories for you. One about Governor General Mary Simon attacking
00:06:46.160people who are deniers of indigenous residential school issues. The next story is an incredible
00:06:56.540one of Justin Trudeau demanding that the Canadian Armed Forces find a new role, that they become global
00:07:04.340warming warriors. I'm not even kidding. And the third story is the Quebec Journalists Association
00:07:11.900condemning Facebook. I'll link these three stories together because they all follow Conquest's
00:07:18.600law. So let's go to the first one. The story, as I often find them, is in Blacklock's reporter. I
00:07:27.900mentioned Blacklock's before, and I know Sheila Gunn-Reed mentions them a lot too. Blacklock is a
00:07:33.740small independent media company in Ottawa that, like Rebel News, does not take any money from the
00:07:40.540government. And so they're one of the few media in this country that is able to criticize the
00:07:46.540establishment. So here's their story today. Governor General Mary Simon blames unnamed media for what
00:07:55.640she called residential school denialism. There's this whole movement to ban denying residential school
00:08:06.380issues as if it's Holocaust denial. They use the word denial, climate deniers, Holocaust deniers. By the
00:08:14.280way, it is not against the law to deny the Holocaust. It may be in bad taste, but it is not a crime.
00:08:20.200However, they seek to illegalize, to criminalize denialism with regards to residential schools. Let
00:08:27.280me read a little bit to you from the story in Blacklock's. Governor General Mary Simon blames unnamed media
00:08:32.200for what she called residential school denialism. Unidentified media are trying to, quote,
00:08:38.640control the story of indigenous people, she said. There are those who deny the stories of residential
00:08:44.880schools, of abuse and neglect and racism, Simon said in a speech Friday to observe a national gathering
00:08:51.980on unmarked burials conference. Even though residential school denialism is in the minority,
00:08:57.720it is nonetheless present. Denialism takes the form of attacks online through the media and through the
00:09:04.920desecration of burial sites, said Simon. That's a new one. I haven't heard that before. These attacks
00:09:11.960are attempts to control the story of indigenous peoples. And then here's the interesting part from
00:09:17.940Blacklock's. Simon's remarks were from a written text and not spontaneous. Rideau Hall did not reply to
00:09:25.460questions. Canadians can no longer say, I didn't know, said Simon. We now acknowledge all aspects of
00:09:32.920our history, both the good and the bad. It's not funny, but there's so many groups who only talk
00:09:39.080about the bad. And if there's not enough bad news, they'll just make more bad news about Canada's past.
00:09:44.920Quote, for the longest time, too long, this trauma was buried. Unheard, said Simon. For years,
00:09:50.420the loss, fear and pleas from mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts,
00:09:54.520and communities went unrecognized. Children disappeared at residential schools and other
00:09:59.040institutions, buried in unmarked graves. And the story goes on. Now, I have no doubt that terrible
00:10:07.840things were done in residential schools. Terrible things are done in all places by all people of all
00:10:14.480races. And we know that from other schools, sometimes there is sexual abuse or other abuse,
00:10:21.020especially when there involves children in a mass setting like that. But to say that anyone who
00:10:28.120criticizes or asks skeptical questions about residential schools is a, quote, denier, is a
00:10:35.180terrible form of political censorship, which I think is exactly the goal. Our own Dre Humphrey, who is
00:10:41.540indigenous herself, went to Kamloops to do a documentary on the alleged mass graves there.
00:10:49.380Here's an excerpt from her film. Well, the remains of 215 children have been found in a mass grave in
00:10:56.640Canada. Many of you know that just over a year ago, the discovery of the remains of 215 children
00:11:03.480was found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School at the Kamloops Shaswamik First Nation.
00:11:08.660But what if I were to show you that what I just said wasn't true and that, in fact, a year later, not a single body has been found?
00:11:19.660This mass grave is a painful reminder of the genocide.
00:11:25.660Canada's leaders aren't condemning the burning of churches. No, they're endorsing the burning of churches.
00:11:30.660A juvenile rib bone that surfaced in the same area.
00:11:33.660You'd be surprised the number of people who say, you know, I'm a doctor, I'm a paramedic. This is definitely a human bone and it's definitely not.
00:11:41.660Is Drea a denier because she sought to have proof of the exaggerated claims of hundreds of bodies in a, quote,
00:12:01.660mass grave. That's what Jagmeet Singh said about it. Do we now control ideas by banning denialism?
00:12:08.660Do we also ban hoaxes like what was clearly perpetrated in Kamloops and other places?
00:12:14.660Pretty recently, one of the Manitoba sites of an alleged mass grave,
00:12:20.660when they finally investigated the ground penetrating radar, found that there was no mass grave at all.
00:12:27.660It was at worst a hoax, at best an error, but the ability to challenge it would be banned by the likes of Mary Simon.
00:12:35.660And here's my point of conquest's third law.
00:12:39.660Mary Simon is the governor general and the governor general's position is to be apolitical, nonpartisan,
00:12:48.660rather like the king or the queen, the late queen themselves.
00:12:53.660But by being so partisan and so accusatory and so ideological, Mary Simon accomplishes two things.
00:13:02.660First of all, she uses the weight of her office to condemn people who happen to disagree with her.
00:13:08.660So she weaponizes the powers of the governor general's office.
00:13:12.660And who knows if she ever had to make some decision on the matter, she would clearly not be impartial.
00:13:18.660So she uses and misuses the power of her office to attack unnamed journalists.
00:19:17.660Can you name a single country in the world with the possible exception of Cuba and Ukraine?
00:19:24.660Can you name a single country in the world that Canada is stronger in our relations with today than when Trudeau took over from Stephen Harper?
00:19:34.660Whether it's Russia or China or India or America or the UK or Australia, name a single country in the world other than Cuba or Ukraine that is a closer friend of Canada's now than when Trudeau took over.
00:20:22.660In the National Post, Quebec journalists urge public to boycott Facebook and Instagram on September 15th.
00:20:29.660By not consulting or posting on the meta platforms, Quebecers would be protesting against its decision to block news distribution.
00:20:37.660I just got to read a little bit of this story to you.
00:20:39.660Groups representing Quebec journalists and public relations professionals, or are those in the same league, are urging people to take a 24 hour break from Facebook and Instagram on September 15th.
00:20:53.660The two organizations say the one day boycott of consulting or posting on the platforms is a protest against Meta's decision to block news on its sites.
00:21:03.660Quote, we want to show that it is not a foreign company that will dictate to Canadians, to Quebecers, what laws should be in force here, said FPJQ President McHale Nguyen.
00:21:15.660He noted large companies like Meta and Google obtain most digital advertising revenues in Canada, contributing to the media crisis by reducing their sources of revenue.
00:21:26.660So let me get this straight journalists.
00:22:35.660But the fact that these so-called journalists are attacking Facebook, the victim of this tax hike, rather than Trudeau shows whose pocket they're in.
00:22:45.660Three stories, all with one theme, that our institutions are rotting from the inside out.
00:22:51.660And in many cases, that's just part of Trudeau's plan.
00:22:56.660Well, like I say, we're in Israel, a country where their institutions are under attack as well.
00:23:02.660We've learned a lot about that over the last week, and we're off to Dubai tomorrow, a city in the United Arab Emirates.
00:23:09.660We're going to investigate the Abraham Accords.
00:23:12.660Before I go, let me leave you with another video that we recorded from our trip here to Israel.
00:27:05.660But they are one of the signatories of the Abraham Accords peace deal with Israel, along with other countries like Bahrain.
00:27:12.660And I think Sudan is in there and Kosovo and Morocco.
00:27:17.660And I think other countries will join also.
00:27:19.660But we're going to go to Abu Dhabi and visit this Abrahamic friendship center where they have a mosque, a church and a synagogue co-located in an Arab country.
00:28:06.660I have to say the last 20 seconds of that gives me the chills.
00:28:30.960In an Arab country ruled by an emir, it's called the Emirates, to have a synagogue where Jews can pray freely is an incredible thing to me.
00:28:40.840And I've heard people say that it is safer to be a Jew in the Emirates, including wearing a yarmulke, than it would be in a city like Paris where you're bound to be attacked.
00:28:52.500And we'll have news for you from there tomorrow.
00:28:55.080In the meantime, there's so much coverage we have going on back in Canada.
00:28:58.880And, of course, we've got a great team covering the trial of Tamara Leach in Ottawa.
00:29:03.760Robert Kraychuk and, of course, our friend Lincoln Jay are covering that with Alan Hauner and Mark Joseph of the Democracy Fund doing some live tweeting also.