Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Poll shows people who want Canada's immigration reduced the most are immigrants

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Incredible poll by Leger, very reputable and large Canadian pollster based in

00:00:05.840 Quebec. They asked new immigrants their views on immigration levels. And you know what? You're not

00:00:12.120 going to believe this. New immigrants do not like high immigration. They are more hostile to it 1.00

00:00:20.080 than white people. In fact, this poll is broken down by race, which is really rare. I'll take

00:00:27.320 you through the numbers. You will be shocked. That's ahead. But first, let me invite you to

00:00:33.380 become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. It helps you see

00:00:39.140 things because we have a lot of video clips. And for example, in today's episode, I'll show you some

00:00:43.760 charts from the poll. So I think it's very useful to you to get that kind of video content. But also

00:00:49.040 for our point of view, we need the eight bucks a month. I know it's not a ton of money for you,

00:00:54.180 but it really adds up for us. So please go to rebelnewsplus.com and click subscribe. Okay,

00:01:00.160 here's today's podcast. Tonight, a poll on Canadian immigration shows that visible minority immigrants

00:01:21.980 are the ones who want immigration reduced the most. It's April 19th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:30.460 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:41.920 It seems like just a moment ago when even raising the subject of immigration was forbidden in polite

00:01:48.040 company, even though for years Canadians have said the numbers were too high. I've never seen the poll

00:01:54.440 say anything else, but no one was really allowed to say that out loud. I remember when the Conservative

00:02:00.760 Party of Canada decided it didn't want anything to do with Rebel News anymore. I know the precise moment

00:02:06.280 it happened. It was when I interviewed Andrew Scheer a few years back and asked him about immigration.

00:02:14.360 He avoided the question, so I asked him again. He avoided it again, so I asked him again, again.

00:02:21.640 I think I might have asked him five times. Here was the last time he ever made the mistake of talking

00:02:29.160 to Rebel News. This is when we broke apart. And Kelly Leach said, I'm going to be the Canadian values

00:02:34.580 candidate, especially when it comes to immigration. How would you position yourself on those issues?

00:02:39.560 Because I'm trying to differentiate for myself and for our viewers amongst the dozen candidates.

00:02:45.160 I think what you've described so far is good, and I'm glad to hear it. But to me, that's sort of the

00:02:50.040 base, you know, the starting point. Where are you on these other more divisive issues?

00:02:55.500 Well, I can tell you that I've always had a pro-life voting record.

00:03:03.880 My concentration on a lot of these things that have been thrown out is that, look, as the leader,

00:03:12.600 you have to find those issues that conservatives can unite around. There's no sense in a leader

00:03:18.960 promising things that he knows the Conservative caucus might not even go for, never mind the

00:03:24.240 parliament itself.

00:03:25.620 I take your point about focusing on uniting the party, but I would put it to you that conservatives

00:03:33.480 and all Canadians think immigration is too high. Only 8% of Canadians want more immigration.

00:03:40.840 In the United States, Donald Trump has shown his most popular issue was immigration and stopping

00:03:47.780 illegal immigration and revising, reviewing Muslim immigration with an eye towards security.

00:03:53.600 We've just had John McCallum announce in this week, Economic Times, he's going to jack up

00:04:00.520 immigration. Kelly Leach is staking out that ground. Do you have anything to say about

00:04:05.740 the Syrian migrants or about John McCallum's new numbers? Or, I mean, that's something that I

00:04:11.820 think conservatives, maybe it's just me, but I think a lot of conservatives want to hear something

00:04:15.980 on that.

00:04:17.080 I think you're right. And I think it's more than just conservatives. I think a lot of Canadians are

00:04:21.260 concerned about issues like security. And one thing we saw with the Syrian refugee issue

00:04:28.240 was that it became very apparent that it was a political goal on a political timeframe and

00:04:33.360 that it looked like the Liberals were sacrificing things like security and proper vetting to

00:04:39.820 reach that. And the feedback I got from my constituents and premiers around the country,

00:04:44.140 a lot of people saying, look, we have to get this right. Yes, Canada can play a role in providing

00:04:47.940 a compassionate space for people in danger, but we have to get the security component of that right.

00:04:52.860 But Kelly Leach isn't talking about security, he's talking about values. What's your view on

00:04:56.380 a values test?

00:04:57.500 So look, yeah, you mentioned a couple of issues, immigration and values. Let me talk about

00:05:01.280 immigration first. I think it's important that we arrive at a number based on some kind of logical 0.96

00:05:06.720 formula. What is the need that we're trying to address? Is it an aging population based on

00:05:12.840 logical rationale?

00:05:13.740 Okay, well, McCallum has said he's going to jack up the numbers probably by 100,000. Do you oppose

00:05:17.880 that?

00:05:18.120 Well, what's that based on?

00:05:19.720 I don't know.

00:05:20.140 Yeah, so if it's not based on something logical or coherent, then I think it's just a political

00:05:24.740 target aimed at trying to win over a segment of the electorate. I'm not going to do that.

00:05:31.340 Are you against that?

00:05:32.520 Well, I am against a policy that just throws a number out for shock value to try to gain attention.

00:05:40.580 I mean, I agree with you about integration and about how to get people involved in Canada's

00:05:47.660 community once they're here. But Kelly Leach has said before they get here, they should

00:05:53.100 be some sort of a value screening. Do you think we should ask any values laden questions of

00:06:00.740 people before they get here?

00:06:01.840 Well, I'm not sure what she's, you know.

00:06:03.500 Okay, forget about her. You just tell me your answer yourself. Do you think, you're saying

00:06:07.260 once people get here, integrate them, teach them? I don't think anyone disagrees. But

00:06:11.160 before they even get here, should we ask them about their values? Should we ask them about

00:06:15.780 Canadian values before we let them in?

00:06:17.220 Well, he's gone and Rebel News is still here. Anyways, immigration is one of those issues 0.58

00:06:21.980 that everybody talks about except the media. Journalist Mickey Kaus calls that kind of story

00:06:27.860 the under news. What real people talk about, the water cooler, the coffee pot, the photocopier. But

00:06:34.320 only if you follow, if you only follow the regime news, you'll miss it altogether. That's one of the

00:06:41.460 reasons why Donald Trump did so well in 2016. So many people thought the border wall was a good idea

00:06:46.460 and still do. Well, immigration is the ultimate under news issue in Canada. And frankly, it touches on

00:06:53.520 so many issues at once, all of which the regime media are squeamish about. Housing being the most

00:06:59.500 universal one, you simply cannot add 2.2 million people a year to Canada without driving up the

00:07:06.320 price of housing, especially given that Canada is only building a bit more than 200,000 houses a

00:07:11.940 year. You just can't do it. Housing prices, crime, social unrest, especially people who come here

00:07:19.780 from countries where anti-Semitism is endemic and who have become activated like little sleeper cells

00:07:27.400 of Nazis or something like this guy. That's a racism problem. That's an immigration problem. That's a 0.97

00:07:40.060 crime problem. We're simply not vetting immigrants for cultural fit. In fact, we're not really vetting 0.77

00:07:45.500 them at all. We admit 6,000 people per day, 365 days a year to immigrate to Canada. You don't even 0.86

00:07:53.380 have to have an interview or a face-to-face meeting anymore to become an immigrant. So yeah, those

00:07:58.560 Hamas hate marches are a function of immigration policy too. Our healthcare system is strained, of

00:08:04.700 course. Welfare, of course. Even something as simple as traffic. Like I say, everyone talks about these

00:08:11.440 things except the establishment. And if you even breathe a word about it, well, you're a racist, 0.98

00:08:16.820 sexist, homophobe, transphobe. Well, that's what I want to tell you about today. Look at this. A new 1.00

00:08:23.560 poll by Leger. As you know, they're the largest Canadian-owned pollster. The poll's about immigration

00:08:29.680 and it specifically asked people of different racial backgrounds their thoughts on immigration. Here's

00:08:37.300 what made up this survey. It's really interesting. 2,100 people were surveyed, focused on newcomers,

00:08:43.580 as they call them, people who came here as recently as yesterday and as long ago as 10 years. So anyone

00:08:49.280 who's arrived in the last 10 years, that's who they surveyed. And let me just quote from their survey.

00:08:56.100 Results were weighted by age, gender, region, country birth, as well as years since arrival. So this is an

00:09:02.920 unusual poll, eh? Good for them for doing it. Page 10 shows a breakdown of who they spoke to. 41% were

00:09:11.480 what's called permanent residents, 16% temporary workers, 11% students, etc. So let's start with

00:09:18.840 the boring question. Who would you vote for? And let me be clear, these are for newcomers, as they call 1.00

00:09:25.280 the fairly recent immigrants. 24% lean conservative, 22% lean liberal. 38% say they don't know, which

00:09:34.220 makes sense. I mean, if you just arrived here as a student visa holder, you probably haven't thought

00:09:39.940 about politics yet. But right there, that's interesting, isn't it? New Canadians are ready

00:09:44.040 to vote for Pierre Polyev and the conservatives. The typical media smear of you're racist doesn't seem

00:09:49.120 to be working anymore, does it? Page five of the poll is sort of interesting. Political party by race

00:09:55.680 of newcomer. So black immigrants lean liberal, and they lean against conservatives pretty dramatically, 0.99

00:10:03.260 which is a surprise to me. South Asian, I think that means mainly India, which would include Sikhs,

00:10:10.680 but also Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. They're strongly conservative. And look at those Chinese 1.00

00:10:16.980 numbers. Holy moly, three to one, choosing conservatives over liberals. That's honestly

00:10:25.020 sort of surprising to me. I thought that maybe Justin Trudeau sucking up to communist China would

00:10:30.760 be appealing. But I mean, I'm just telling you what the poll says, three to one there for the

00:10:35.160 conservatives. I think all that's sort of interesting. But I want to talk about immigration.

00:10:39.000 That's what is the most interesting here. So look at page seven of the poll, opinion of current

00:10:43.960 immigration plan. And again, if I'm understanding this poll correctly, all of these people are new 1.00

00:10:50.380 immigrants, people here in the last 10 years. They just break those newcomers down by race, 1.00

00:10:57.860 which is, again, unusual for a poll. Now, I want to read to you something that will erode your confidence

00:11:02.600 in this poll a little bit, but I want to disclose it to you. It made me raise an eyebrow. Here's the

00:11:07.000 actual question that was put. The government of Canada's current immigration plan

00:11:11.260 is to welcome 465,000 immigrants to Canada this year, 485,000 in 2024, and half a million in 2025.

00:11:20.700 So they started doing this poll late last year, by the way. But as you know, and as I said a few

00:11:25.420 minutes ago, that is not accurate. Those numbers are not accurate. Because in addition to those numbers,

00:11:31.680 there are a stunning 900,000 foreign students here on visas. And then there are about 600,000

00:11:40.960 temporary foreign workers here on visas too. So the real number, as calculated by Candace Malcolm at

00:11:46.660 True North, is 2.2 million per year. Four times the number that Leger asked in their polling portion.

00:11:54.520 So I would think that if people knew the truth, their reactions would be even more stark. But let me tell

00:12:00.040 you what newcomers said when presented with the question that Leger actually did ask them.

00:12:05.240 Let's look at the choices. Too many immigrants, the right number of immigrants, or too few immigrants? 0.99

00:12:11.760 Only 7% said too few. By the way, I'll take you out of suspense. Those who say the right number

00:12:19.320 is really, in my mind, a way of saying, I don't know. Because it's a safe answer in addition to the

00:12:26.140 17% who actually say, I don't know. I think many people would say about right if the number were higher

00:12:31.940 or lower. They just don't want to be controversial. But for those who have an opinion, only 7% say no,

00:12:38.800 we should have more. Whereas 42% say we have too many. But let's break it down by race. That's what's

00:12:45.160 interesting here. 41% of white immigrants say there's too many immigrants to Canada. 42% of BIPOC 0.59

00:12:52.360 say the same. That is a goofy acronym. I never use it. It stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of

00:12:59.740 Color, which is a weird category because it contains other categories within it. The group

00:13:06.440 that has the fewest people saying there's too many immigrants is Black immigrants, even though I just

00:13:11.360 mentioned BIPOC, so I don't quite get that. 17% of Black immigrants say we're taking too many. But

00:13:18.060 still, that outnumbers the number of Black immigrants who say we're taking too few, which is just 11%.

00:13:23.760 So there is no race of immigrant whatsoever where more people, more immigrants want more 0.80

00:13:30.440 immigration than want less. But look at South Asian people. So people from India, including Sikhs,

00:13:37.480 etc. 50% of people from India say that Canada is taking too many immigrants. And these are Indian

00:13:45.100 immigrants saying this. Oh my God, look at the next statistic. 64% of people from Southeast Asia

00:13:53.340 say there's too many immigrants. 64% of recent immigrants. So it's not, I'm not talking about 0.94

00:13:58.980 someone who came here 50 years ago or even second generation. I'm talking about someone who's just 0.99

00:14:04.420 off the plane or just off the boat. Someone who's been here less than 10 years. Someone who could have

00:14:08.820 arrived yesterday. 64% of Southeast Asian immigrants think that we can take too many immigrants. That's 1.00

00:14:16.600 places like Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia. They are fed up with immigration, 1.00

00:14:21.980 even immigrants from there are fed up. In fact, only 4% of Southeast Asians want more immigration.

00:14:31.360 64% think we're letting in too many people. I find that incredible. And again, I'm comparing that to

00:14:38.580 white immigrants. Only 42% of white immigrants say the same thing. Do you see what I'm saying?

00:14:44.340 Visible minority immigrants are a harder line on immigration than white folks.

00:14:49.500 And you can see Chinese Canadians are almost as skeptical of immigration. 55% of them want the 1.00

00:14:56.720 doors closed. What do you think of this? You can challenge some of the methodology here. I do.

00:15:03.140 This poll took place over a number of months. A lot has changed in the immigration debate over the last

00:15:08.700 six months. I already showed you that the essential question to put to people undercounted immigration by a

00:15:15.880 huge number. And I'm just skeptical of the numbers for black Canadians. My own anecdotal experience with

00:15:22.660 Canadians from the Caribbean or Central Africa are different from the results here. I don't know how

00:15:27.700 BIPOC is different than black. I don't know. But listen, this is the poll. These are done by experts.

00:15:33.520 Maybe that's the difference between my anecdotes and their data. But put aside any quibbles or quarrels

00:15:38.680 for now, that's not even the point. The point is that on its own terms, for whatever it's worth,

00:15:45.020 this poll by Canada's largest pollster shows that far from immigration skepticism being a racist

00:15:52.860 point of view, immigration skepticism is actually the dominant point of view for Canadian immigrants

00:16:00.740 from minority races. Let me put it another way. Minority immigrants, immigrants of color,

00:16:06.760 are more anti-immigration than white immigrants. And compared to other polls of all Canadians,

00:16:13.300 particularly the polls taken by Angus Reid, all immigrants are more anti-immigration than old stock 1.00

00:16:19.740 Canadians are. Maybe it's time the conservatives embrace a message of immigration sanity. Or as I like to

00:16:29.280 call it, net zero immigration. Stay with us for more. 1.00

00:16:46.640 Well, the other day, it sounded for a moment like we were on the brink of World War III. Iran,

00:16:53.020 everyone said, was planning to launch a massive attack on Israel. It's almost as if they had

00:16:58.860 telegraphed the exact time and day of their attack. And when I say World War III, well, that's because 0.97

00:17:04.940 there were a lot of countries involved in the battle. Iran and its allies, the Yemeni Houthis,

00:17:12.240 Hezbollah, and on the Israeli side, the United States, and reportedly the United Kingdom, France,

00:17:18.520 Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. I think that is a kind of world war, but it ended as soon as it began, 0.72

00:17:24.840 over in hours. A shock and awe attack where allegedly 99% of the rockets were intercepted.

00:17:33.120 Well, Israel responded the other day in the same sort of manner, very noisy, but did it do any damage? 0.95

00:17:39.980 What is this all about? Is this play fighting? Is it, what is going on? Is this all orchestrated for

00:17:47.920 public consumption? What is the state of bellicosity between these two countries? And what is America's

00:17:55.200 role? That's what I find most confusing. Remember that Joe Biden, when he was vice president under

00:18:01.100 Barack Obama, was a leader in normalizing Iran and funding Iran, lifting of sanctions on that country,

00:18:09.860 including making it easier for them to develop their nuclear weapons. Joe Biden has done that again

00:18:16.440 as president releasing tens of billions of dollars to that country. You could say America was funding

00:18:23.800 both sides of that battle. Well, that's my amateur point of view from my perch here in Canada.

00:18:29.760 But what about someone who has spent his life studying the region? In fact, who runs a think

00:18:35.840 tank called the Middle East Forum, who himself has lived in the region for years and has traveled widely.

00:18:42.580 I'm talking about our friend Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum. He joins us

00:18:48.120 now via Skype. Dr. Pipes, great to see you again. Thanks for coming back on the show.

00:18:53.060 Thanks for inviting me.

00:18:54.700 I don't know what's going on over there. I thought that the armed direct battle between Iran and Israel

00:19:02.200 would be a sort of a final showdown. Those two countries have been staring at each other literally

00:19:08.060 for decades, not just because the Ayatollahs are exporting terrorism, but because Iran has a 0.87

00:19:14.140 nuclear program, which is so evidently aimed at Israel. What is the state of affairs there? I don't

00:19:20.720 know what's going on, and I don't want to yield to online conspiracy theories, but it looks strange to me.

00:19:26.700 No, I don't think there are conspiracies going on. I think the key factors are, one, that the Iranian 0.99

00:19:38.960 military is quite weak. Strikingly, amazingly even, the Iranians have not managed to buy modern military 1.00

00:19:50.080 aircraft since the revolution, and they're still using American-purchased planes from the 1960s and

00:19:59.180 70s. I don't know why the Russians, Chinese, and others haven't supplied them, but they haven't.

00:20:03.600 So the Iranians are weak from that point of view. They don't have much of a navy. They don't have 0.67

00:20:10.320 much of an air force. They can't really take on Israel. That's point one. Point two is that the U.S. 0.90

00:20:17.360 policy, as you suggested, is deeply conflicted. Look at the person of Joe Biden. He has a relationship

00:20:25.280 with Israel that goes back half a century. He proudly mentions that he met Golda Meir something

00:20:30.880 like 50 years ago, and he keeps saying that he has Israel's back and ironclad commitments and so forth.

00:20:39.120 At the same time, as you pointed out, President Obama and now Biden have a great interest

00:20:47.200 in luring the Iranians back into the so-called family of nations. They have a belief that if you 0.99

00:20:55.120 treat the Iranians nicely, if you offer the money, don't take a hostile stance that you can bring them

00:21:02.720 back. So I think these are the two key factors, and the complications derive from them.

00:21:10.560 Well, I think everyone knows that Iran, while I agree with you, its conventional army is not

00:21:20.720 strong. It is the master of asymmetrical warfare. It funds terrorist groups, Hamas in the Gaza Strip,

00:21:28.960 Hezbollah in Lebanon, and it seems to be quite successful in the drone industry. In fact, I think Iranian 1.00

00:21:38.480 drones are actively used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. So Iran has avoided direct conflict

00:21:46.160 with Israel, preferring the economic and political benefits of asymmetrical warfare. That is some 0.75

00:21:52.880 plausible deniability. The rockets weren't launched from Iran themselves, they could say. And if there

00:22:00.080 was a battlefield loss, it wouldn't be on Iranian soil. That changed last week when Iran launched rockets

00:22:07.840 and missiles directly. What's the, why, what, what's next? Why didn't Israel attempt to take out Iran's 0.99

00:22:19.360 nuclear project? I'm just trying to understand, is it over? Are they, are they play fighting?

00:22:25.520 I don't understand how to, tell me more about it. I'm trying to figure it out.

00:22:31.440 I'm not sure if it's over or not, but for the moment it is over. Who knows? There might be another

00:22:36.080 act of retaliation ahead of us. But right now, the Israelis would, I believe, dearly love to attack the 1.00

00:22:44.800 Iranian nuclear infrastructure. And there are many, myself included, who wish they had.

00:22:50.160 But the pressure from the United States and other friendly countries on Israel was intense. Don't,

00:22:58.880 don't do anything too provocative. Do something more or less symbolic. Let's close this thing down.

00:23:06.720 And what's so striking is that the attack yesterday is not acknowledged by Israel and is not acknowledged

00:23:12.640 by Iran. So everybody wants to close it down, or at least the allies of Israel want to close it down. 0.51

00:23:20.000 And the Israelis are going along with it. I suspect Israelis have come to the conclusion that it is a 1.00

00:23:25.520 better deal to go along with their allies and to put pressure on them, to hold over them the threat

00:23:32.320 of attacking Iranian nuclear infrastructure, to get them to take more, to get the allies to take more

00:23:39.760 aggressive steps. And the allies have promised to take steps, which they have done already some of.

00:23:47.760 And the Israelis still can attack the nuclear infrastructure at will. But it'll be expensive 0.74

00:23:57.040 in terms of their diplomacy, in terms of their support, in terms of their getting arms from the

00:24:02.640 United States and other Western countries. So the Israelis have concluded, Benjamin Netanyahu has concluded that

00:24:10.160 this is the better course to follow now. He has internal pressure to do more. Many Israelis want more.

00:24:18.320 But he concluded that better to go along with President Biden and not cause any rupture in the

00:24:25.520 U.S.-Israel relationship.

00:24:29.680 For me, a strange fact is that Hamas has been allowed to live in peace in the southwestern end of Gaza in

00:24:41.760 in the Rafa area. The leadership is unmolested there. Israel does not attack it. For months,

00:24:48.160 it's been a stalemate there. And you see America and other G7 countries basically saying to Israel,

00:24:56.480 do not finish the job, do not finish the job. Israel has taken over, or at least controls, 0.78

00:25:01.520 the bulk of the Gaza Strip. But the hardest part of it, where any surviving hostages might be,

00:25:10.960 where the leadership of Hamas is, remains with impunity. Do you think Israel will finish the job? 0.80

00:25:20.720 And if not, why are Israel's so-called allies telling it not to finish the job? 0.79

00:25:28.000 I do think the Israelis will resume their attack on Rafah. They are going slow again because of intense

00:25:38.960 diplomatic pressure. Israelis need to balance their own military imperatives with their diplomatic

00:25:49.600 imperatives. They're a small country, and small countries need to balance these sort of things. 0.66

00:25:56.880 Look at Ukraine. They have to worry. Ukraine is much bigger, but it's still a small country,

00:26:02.000 relatively speaking. And so they don't follow the kind of direct, consistent policies that a great

00:26:14.400 power can do. And we see that very much in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu has over and over again

00:26:23.120 talked about total victory and absolute victory. And he's been very emphatic

00:26:27.840 about the need to destroy Hamas, have no remnants of Hamas. And yet, as you point out, Hamas exists

00:26:36.080 and is in no particular jeopardy at this point. Will the Israelis resume? I think so. 0.99

00:26:42.800 Will it be at a cost to their relations with the United States and other friendly allies of Israel?

00:26:47.520 Probably. But the Israelis have many times gone against the wishes of their allies. I think of the

00:26:55.920 destruction of the Iraqi nuclear plant in 1981. The Americans and everyone hated it, eventually came to

00:27:03.520 terms with it. In fact, we're grateful when the United States went to war with Saddam Hussein. Great 0.99

00:27:08.960 gratitude for there being nuclear bombs in Iraq. So it's not a conspiratorial game. It's not a play

00:27:18.800 acting game. It's a complex diplomatic game of how far can Israel go militarily when it's constrained

00:27:26.960 diplomatically. I don't know what's going to happen in November in the US presidential elections. I don't

00:27:34.320 know if Donald Trump will be in jail, God forbid, assassinated. And I say that again, I don't mean

00:27:40.240 to be extreme, but so far there are no taboos that have been unbroken in terms of stopping him.

00:27:47.120 I think there's a chance that Donald Trump could be president. Let me put it that way.

00:27:51.120 And there's also a good chance that Biden would be. Maybe Israel is just trying to bide time until

00:27:57.680 November, where I think Donald Trump presidency, if it were to come, would reset a lot of things in

00:28:03.600 the region. I think it would put Iran back in its box. And I think Gaza and Hamas would be dealt with 1.00

00:28:10.560 as swiftly as Trump dealt with ISIS. I don't know. I wonder if Israel can afford to wait seven months in

00:28:17.840 the hopes that America will have a different stance. Perhaps. But I'd like to point out that

00:28:27.680 Trump and Netanyahu had a good working relationship through their years together.

00:28:36.400 But in January 2021, Netanyahu recognized Joe Biden as president of the United States and sent him the

00:28:45.520 routine kind of congratulations that foreign heads of state do, as a government do. And Donald Trump took

00:28:53.200 this amiss. He is angry. And he remains angry. So what I'm getting at is if Benjamin Netanyahu remains

00:29:01.440 the prime minister of Israel, he can expect a lot of hostility from Donald Trump. Should there be a new

00:29:10.320 prime minister? I think it would be different. But Donald Trump retains his

00:29:18.320 grudges. And I think he has a grudge against Netanyahu. Now, Netanyahu had no choice. What's

00:29:23.120 he supposed to do? Say that Biden was not the president, but rankers, rankles with them, with

00:29:31.440 so I don't know that if Trump came to office and Netanyahu were in office, that would all be 0.91

00:29:35.840 beyond that smooth sailing in 2025. A few weeks ago, Senator Chuck Schumer, a senior Democrat who

00:29:46.480 also happens to be Jewish, gave an astonishing rant, basically demanding that Israel depose Netanyahu.

00:29:54.560 I don't think that's too strongly worded to say that. I mean, they basically said, Netanyahu,

00:30:00.480 you've got to go for the U.S.'s relationship to remain. I found it striking at least. If Netanyahu were 0.81

00:30:07.280 to go, who would succeed him? And would they want to, quote, finish the job against Hamas?

00:30:15.520 As Netanyahu has repeatedly said, who is in the wings? And would they finish this military project?

00:30:22.960 Well, the easier question to answer is the second one. Would they resume and finish the job? Yes,

00:30:27.840 I think so. There's a very strong sentiment in Israel that Hamas needs to be obliterated. The

00:30:35.440 institution of Hamas can no longer have power in Gaza. Who that might be, I don't know. Presumably,

00:30:43.120 Netanyahu's successor would be from within the Likud party. He has managed to keep his potential

00:30:50.080 successors down. He does not have a right-hand man. He does not have a vice

00:30:57.680 prime minister. So there are aspirates near Barkat, for example, the former mayor of Jerusalem.

00:31:05.200 Danny Danone, former ambassador to the United Nations and others have shown their interest in taking his

00:31:14.560 place. But we don't really know because they haven't been allowed to run for any kind of leadership

00:31:23.840 position. So there are so many excellent candidates within Likud and even outside Likud. But it's very hard

00:31:31.840 to predict at this point who might be Netanyahu's successor. Easier to predict that that successor

00:31:36.640 will continue the job, yes. Let me ask you one last thing. I'm astonished by the approach of the U.S.

00:31:44.560 Navy in the region. There's a lot of aircraft carriers and missile ships in the region. And yet,

00:31:52.480 I would say every week, there's another attack on civilian shipping. Anything that is in any way

00:32:01.200 related to Israel, those ships, like it could be some cargo from Israel on a ship that is owned by

00:32:08.800 South Korea, registered in Liberia or whatever. But if there's any Israeli connection at all,

00:32:14.240 the ship is attacked. It's boarded by Yemen, even by Iran. And you have all these mighty 1.00

00:32:21.920 American ships there. But sailing through the Suez Canal still appears to be very dangerous

00:32:27.360 at the hands of this ragtag terrorist regime. I find that puzzling. And even when the American 0.76

00:32:34.800 ships themselves are attacked, America doesn't fight back. It's like shooing flies away as opposed to

00:32:41.760 killing them dead. What's going on there?

00:32:43.520 I just make one slight correction. The Houthis in Yemen are attacking basically everyone at this

00:32:53.120 point, whether or not there's an Israeli connection. It's indiscriminate, even Chinese. I think even

00:32:58.240 Russian. I'm not sure.

00:32:58.960 Hmm. How can that continue? It's just like a return to pirate days.

00:33:04.080 Yeah, it is equivalent of piracy. I thought at the beginning of this barrage of attacks from Yemen 1.00

00:33:13.760 that there would be an international consensus that this is hurting everybody. And there would

00:33:20.000 be a squelching of it. There'd be pressure on the Iranians to stop it. But no, it hasn't happened, 1.00

00:33:23.840 as you correctly point out. This has just continued. And it is outrageous. World shipping,

00:33:30.960 world economy is affected by it in substantial ways. And the Houthis just, without much danger 1.00

00:33:38.880 to themselves, continue to attack. The United States hasn't done much. Neither has anyone else.

00:33:45.040 It shows a kind of passivity that is, I think, very ominous that a ragtag, as you call them, 1.00

00:33:53.120 group can have this impact on the global economy. Terrible, terrible. We are defensive.

00:34:01.600 And again, with the Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel is purely defensive. The United

00:34:07.680 States came to help, as the Saudis and the Jordanians and the British, Israel knocked down

00:34:14.000 these drones and missiles. But don't do anything offensive, they say. You can't win if you're always

00:34:19.920 on the defensive. And yet that is the preferred American posture or preferred democratic postures.

00:34:25.280 Let's stick to the defensive. Let's not offend anybody.

00:34:28.640 You know, I think it's an echo of the domestic policy in the United States and Canada,

00:34:34.560 where you have Hamas hate marches on the streets, on campuses, some astonishing footage

00:34:40.960 out of Columbia University yesterday. In that case, there were some arrests. But when I see these

00:34:47.840 mighty US ships turning the other cheek, it reminds me of the hate marches in the streets of Toronto and

00:34:53.600 Montreal and other places where even in New York, quite often police just let obvious crimes go by

00:35:00.960 instead of, you know, cracking down on crimes. I'm not talking about political censorship.

00:35:06.000 I'm talking about actual crimes that are committed. I find it astonishing the strongest country in the world

00:35:13.680 doesn't have enough self-respect or motivation to take care of itself. And again, I'm not looking

00:35:19.360 for political censorship, but there are actual physical crimes. Blocking the key bridges, blocking the airports

00:35:27.360 in Chicago, in New York, in Seattle for hours. And then letting, I understand in San Francisco,

00:35:35.200 they blocked the bridge and all the blockers were let go without charge. I think it's an analogy,

00:35:41.360 a Navy that won't shoot down a Houthi and police forces and prosecutors that won't lay a finger

00:35:47.840 on Hamas activists in America. I find it very demoralizing.

00:35:50.720 Well, Ezra, you have captured the temper of the times on the frame in Western countries.

00:35:57.760 Well, I'm sorry that that's the case. I hope it'll change. It's great to see you again,

00:36:01.600 and I'll continue to follow your work at the Middle East Forum. We've been talking

00:36:04.560 with Dr. Daniel Pipes, and you can follow his work at meforum.org. Did I get that right?

00:36:11.680 You did. Excellent. Well, nice to see you again, and thanks very much for your wisdom.

00:36:20.720 Hey, welcome back to your letters to me. Ryan Michelle says,

00:36:32.080 Justin only stands with Laurentian elites. We're talking about being a fancy pants.

00:36:37.680 I think it's possible to grow up in wealth and have a common touch. I think it's possible to live

00:36:43.520 your life where you mix with people of all backgrounds. I happen to think that Robert F.

00:36:48.640 Kennedy Jr. does that. In his own way, as I mentioned, I think Donald Trump did that.

00:36:54.000 But Trudeau has not. And imagine him or Mr. Rolex, Jagmeet Singh,

00:36:59.920 saying that Pierre Polyev is the fancy pants. Pierre Polyev was an orphan. He was raised,

00:37:04.720 he was adopted, raised by two Saskatchewan teachers. I mean, he's the least fancy of all the party leaders.

00:37:10.720 Crushing all deceivers. I'm guessing that's not the name that mama gave you.

00:37:17.360 Says, say no to halal mortgages and halal mortgages in Canada now. That's really weird.

00:37:24.560 There was a reference in the budget to halal mortgages. Of course, halal is the Arabic or Muslim 0.85

00:37:31.120 word for, I guess it's their version of kosher. Like halal food would mean no pork,

00:37:38.400 food killed in the Islamic way. So what's a halal mortgage? Well, paying interest is usury. It's 1.00

00:37:46.720 against the rules of Sharia law. So how do you give someone a mortgage if they can't pay interest? Well,

00:37:53.040 you have fees and you have rent to own and you have, there's ways around it that exist right now.

00:37:59.360 There are thousands of Canadian Muslims who have unconventional mortgages that get around this

00:38:07.040 technical issue. And frankly, I don't have a problem with that. I mean, I don't care what

00:38:11.680 kind of deal you make with your lender or your bank. What I'm worried about is the government

00:38:17.040 mandating a religious approach to banking to people who don't want to do it. That would be

00:38:24.800 something I'm worried about. The trouble is we have no idea what it means and the government has

00:38:29.520 not yet told us. So I'm on alert. I'm not on high alert yet. I just don't think the government should

00:38:36.480 say, hey, do this religious approach to business. No, people can do that if they want.

00:38:42.000 It shouldn't be forced by the government. TMG says, I think you'd make a great prime minister,

00:38:48.240 Mr. Levant. It's very nice of you to say. I don't speak French for one thing.

00:38:55.120 I don't think I have the patience for it. I think I'm doing something morally important

00:39:01.280 here at Rebel News. In fact, I think what we do in some way assists conservative politicians. We help

00:39:09.280 shape the battlefield of ideas. Let me give you the example of perhaps one of the greatest

00:39:16.640 conservative leaders in the last 50 years. I'm referring to Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan could

00:39:23.040 only do what he did. And Margaret Thatcher, his counterpart in the UK, could only do what she did

00:39:29.600 because of the support of conservative leaning media that shaped the battleground of ideas that

00:39:35.840 gave him and gave Margaret Thatcher support. In fact, especially in the UK, it was critical that

00:39:42.320 she had the support of the London Telegraph and some of the tabloids. She couldn't have done it

00:39:47.440 without that. When I look around Canada today, I think that the media is a huge problem. And even if we

00:39:54.960 had a principled, passionate conservative leader without a friendly or fair, let me put it that way,

00:40:02.400 media environment, they're doomed. So I see that as my role. I don't know if you know this, but 30 years

00:40:07.600 ago, I briefly, or 25 years ago, I briefly ran for political office, but I stepped aside in Calgary

00:40:14.080 Southwest for Stephen Harper. So that's my little footnote in history. Anyways, that's our report for

00:40:19.280 today. Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home,

00:40:24.000 good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - April 20, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Poll shows people who want Canada's immigration reduced the most are immigrants

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