Rita Cosby fills in for Roger Stone as he mourns the passing of rock icon Ozzy Osbourne and talks about the Columbia University hostage situation and the new lawsuit he is filing against the Trump administration, as well as other stories.
00:02:15.960Well, today also, we're talking about, obviously, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now going to be meeting with the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, Todd Blanche, President Trump's former attorney.
00:02:29.480We saw him in a lot of those legal cases, all the lawfare against President Trump.
00:02:33.920And also, in the middle of all this, one of the other big stories is Mahmoud Khalil.
00:02:40.420He is the Columbia University activist.
00:02:44.420This is the guy who is leading all of these different protests, especially the big one there, as we know, on Columbia University campus.
00:02:52.440Remember, they were holed up for a long, long time there at the campus.
00:02:58.380Remember, they had to bring the police in and to try to break it up.
00:04:22.840I'd love to hear somebody like him say, America is the greatest country in the world, and we need to abide by their laws and respect America and not cause division and not create fear in the eyes of other students, Jewish or non-Jews.
00:04:39.040I mean, this is crazy, but no, what does he do?
00:04:42.760He goes on CNN to announce that he is suing the Trump administration for $20 million because he says they need to now feel the pressure.
00:08:27.940Hamas is a ruthless, disgusting terrorist group.
00:08:31.700And to me, this is absolutely disgraceful.
00:08:35.840Listen to what Mahmoud Khalil wouldn't say when he was talking to CNN today.
00:08:41.580Just to be clear here, though, do you specifically condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the United States,
00:08:48.940not just for their actions on October 7th?
00:08:51.700I condemn the killing of all civilians, full stop.
00:08:57.220But what I don't want to get into is, no, I am very clear with condemning all civilians.
00:09:05.160I'm very straight in my position in that part.
00:09:11.080But it's disingenuous to ask about condemning Hamas while Palestinians are the ones being starved now by Israel.
00:09:17.440It's not condemning October 6th, where 260 Palestinians were killed by Israel before October 7th.
00:09:25.160So I hate this selective outrage of condemnation, because this wouldn't lead to a constructive conversation.
00:09:37.160And this is also like what we want to deal with is the root causes of why that happened.
00:09:43.440And it's in no way anyone can justify the killing of civilians.
00:09:45.740Just to be clear, just to be clear, Mahmoud, we did ask about, you know, we've talked at length about your views, of course, on the Palestinians.
00:09:52.200But it is fair to ask you about whether you condemn Hamas, because the Trump administration has claimed that you are Hamas' sympathizer.
00:10:00.040So it's very important to actually ask that question in this broad conversation.
00:10:05.160Yeah, I simply asked and protested the war in Palestine.
00:13:14.140The streets were deserted, streets that were normally lively.
00:13:16.440We know, and it lasted for years, that thousands of people, both Palestinians and Israelis, died before they got some kind of a treaty to sort of dial back some of the violence.
00:13:26.820It was just a horrible, horrible time.
00:13:28.800And as you know, as you've heard, a lot of people are traumatized by that word.
00:13:33.520It brings back a lot of really, really bad memories.
00:13:35.940I was just a visitor, but there are people who have lived with much worse.
00:13:38.440Obviously, as part of your job as mayor, you would need to sort of dial back the temperature, bring people together.
00:13:45.540Where are we now in that conversation?
00:13:48.160And what else might you want to say about that particular phrase?
00:13:52.420You know, Errol, I've thought about this quite a lot.
00:13:55.640And for some New Yorkers, this phrase is one that refers to civil disobedience and protests,
00:14:02.800a call to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
00:14:05.720But I know that for many Jewish New Yorkers, it brings to mind images of the like that you are speaking of.
00:14:12.440I was sitting with a rabbi not too long ago who told me how the same phrase is heard very differently by her.
00:14:18.480And it's heard as a reference to bus bombings in Haifa, restaurant attacks in Jerusalem,
00:14:25.020and engenders a fear in her and in others of the possibility of those very attacks coming home here in New York City.
00:14:32.140And that distance between what some intend and what others hear is a bridge that is too far.
00:14:38.880And it is why I have not used the phrase, and it is why I discourage its use.
00:14:43.840And my focus is on building a movement for justice and equality.
00:14:47.860And as it pertains to Israel and Palestine, I think often of the words of Noy Katzman,
00:14:54.220who lost their brother in the horrific war crime of October 7th.
00:14:58.540And Noy said, we must believe in all life, Israeli and Palestinian, Jewish and Arab,
00:33:37.800The streets were deserted, streets that were normally lively.
00:33:40.600We know, and it lasted for years, that thousands of people, both Palestinians and Israelis, died before they got some kind of a treaty to sort of dial back some of the violence.
00:33:50.460It was just a horrible, horrible time.
00:33:52.220And as you know, as you've heard, a lot of people are traumatized by that word.
00:33:57.160It brings back a lot of really, really bad memories.
00:33:59.580I was just a visitor, but there are people who have lived with much worse.
00:34:03.160Obviously, as part of your job as mayor, you would need to sort of dial back the temperature, bring people together.
00:34:09.360Where are we now in that conversation?
00:34:11.780And what else might you want to say about that particular phrase?
00:34:15.300You know, Errol, I've thought about this quite a lot.
00:34:19.340And for some New Yorkers, this phrase is one that refers to civil disobedience and protests, a call to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
00:34:29.360But I know that for many Jewish New Yorkers, it brings to mind images of the like that you are speaking of.
00:34:36.240I was sitting with a rabbi not too long ago who told me how the same phrase is heard very differently by her.
00:34:42.120And it's heard as a reference to bus bombings in Haifa, restaurant attacks in Jerusalem,
00:34:48.160and engenders a fear in her and in others of the possibility of those very attacks coming home here in New York City.
00:34:56.400And that distance between what some intend and what others hear is a bridge that is too far.
00:35:02.420And it is why I have not used the phrase, and it is why I discourage its use.
00:35:07.480And my focus is on building a movement for justice and equality.
00:35:11.500And as it pertains to Israel and Palestine, I think often of the words of Noy Katzman,
00:35:17.860who lost their brother in the horrific war crime of October 7th.
00:35:22.180And Noy said, we must believe in all life, Israeli and Palestinian, Jewish and Arab, that it is equally precious.
00:35:32.940And that is the vision that I hope to fulfill.
00:37:17.300What I see is a lot of times our media, our newspapers, or any journalistic area, these people are getting the media.
00:37:26.720If we turned our back on them and didn't give them the attention, they have no way to dispute their actual hate out into the world.
00:37:35.100And that's exactly what they're doing.
00:37:36.840And we're allowing them to do the wordplay.
00:37:39.040And then we actually elect these people into our own government, which makes me absolutely nauseous to no end, because they do not want freedom.
00:37:49.740They're here to gut America from the inside out.
00:37:53.240And I'm really saddened that a lot of Americans can't see what they've been doing to us for the last 20 and 30 years.
00:38:06.580Your rights are being taken away while they are getting more and more rights and getting more and more seats in our government and everywhere we look.
00:38:16.180You know, Joan, Joan, I think you're bringing up some great points, because, first off, I agree.
00:38:21.980Unfortunately, this, like a lot of them, are getting a lot of attention, especially Mondami here in New York City.
00:38:29.420And you're right, it's part of a very big, troubling national trend.
00:38:33.120There's also a guy running for mayor in Minnesota, in Minneapolis.
00:39:12.720And so I came from a home where, you know, you could not thank this country enough and appreciate this country enough.
00:39:19.360And to see a lot of these people and stirring up a lot of other people to have the same values.
00:39:27.620And the fact that they won't condemn Hamas.
00:39:32.280And even, you know, Zoran Mandani, when he was asked, you just heard that interview just a couple days ago, said, I'm not going to use the phrase global intifada because some people construe it.
00:39:43.700Well, I don't think, you're not two years old.