Western Standard - ＂We’re Not Insulated From This＂｜ Cory Morgan interviews Larry Maher of the Exigent Foundation

00:00:00.000 All right. So let's get on with other things. As I said earlier, yes, I vanished for a bit. I don't

00:00:11.540 tend to, I had gone to Israel. I was posting a lot of things from there. Some people were wondering

00:00:16.140 what the heck is Corey doing over there? What's going on? What's this about? And well, it was an

00:00:22.540 opportunity that came about thanks to the Exigen Foundation and Larry Maher. And you know, I can't

00:00:28.020 think of a better way to explain it and then bring Larry on and talk about what those guys do and why

00:00:32.880 they would sponsor to bring a nutcase like me over to Israel to tour around and look at a few things

00:00:38.540 and learn some stuff. So let's bring Larry in and have a conversation there. Hey, Larry, thanks very

00:00:44.140 much for joining me today. Hey, Corey. How are you? Thank you for having me. Oh, very good. Thanks.

00:00:49.840 I've just recovered from the jet lag, so I'm almost awake now. It's been much better.

00:00:54.280 Great. So, I mean, I guess just to begin with, I'll start with the why. You and Vivian were the

00:01:01.640 founders of the Exigen Foundation. Why did you feel compelled to begin this organization?

00:01:08.540 Well, shortly after, as you know, October 7th, I was seeing what was going on in Ontario and Toronto

00:01:16.740 specifically with a lot of the protests happening. And I was speaking to friends and family and I

00:01:23.340 realized that this was going to get a lot worse and some people didn't believe me. They didn't

00:01:28.260 really understand why. So I decided that I would take a small group of journalists to Israel to

00:01:36.700 basically give them a little bit of an education as to the extremism that surrounds Israel in the

00:01:42.860 Middle East and how it's been here for decades in Canada, in North America, and was going to show

00:01:50.580 its ugly face through our institutions, which we're now seeing through universities, through schools,

00:01:57.080 unions, you name it. And that was the purpose of why we started these missions to Israel.

00:02:06.240 Well, and personally, I mean, I thought it was very effective. I already had my views and opinions,

00:02:11.320 but still there's only so much I could know. And as I said to Dave just before that with the check-in,

00:02:16.840 you can't beat having your feet on the ground, talking to other people and just seeing for

00:02:21.400 yourself. And I mean, I want to clarify that with some people. I mean, you guys weren't there to

00:02:25.840 indoctrinate us. I wasn't sitting there being grilled with lectures or told what to do. You just

00:02:32.140 kind of brought us around and gave us a wide variety of things to see over there.

00:02:35.880 Yeah. I mean, we went, as you know, we went down South, we went to the Gaza border,

00:02:39.920 we went up North to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan. I mean, that was all done within four or five days.

00:02:45.280 You see how small the country is. And you had an opportunity to speak to Israelis as well as I

00:02:49.620 believe you spoke to a couple of Palestinians, one that used to live in Gaza, one now in Ramallah,

00:02:54.780 and one actually a Palestinian Christian that converted from Muslim to Christianity. I know

00:03:00.040 a couple in the group had an opportunity to speak to. So yeah, it's quite the experience,

00:03:10.480 it's an eye opener. And like you just mentioned earlier with Dave, you can read a book and books

00:03:17.200 for days and months, but the experience of traveling, at least for me, nothing beats that.

00:03:24.980 No. And part of what you list on the site and what you kind of alluded to earlier too,

00:03:30.420 I mean, a lot of what I've heard from other people is, well, what does it matter to me?

00:03:34.920 What does it mean to me? I'm not worried about that. That's over there. That's their problem.

00:03:39.800 And this extremism is spilling over, as you pointed out, into our universities, into our media

00:03:45.860 over here, onto our streets. We got to see the worst possible outcome of it when it's actually

00:03:52.260 spilled out in a massive horrific terrorist attack. But we have to be able to point out to people that

00:03:58.200 we aren't insulated from this. That same ideology is over here, even if it's not as immediately vicious.

00:04:03.220 Exactly. I mean, I brought, I mean, now it's about 50 members from Canadian media across Canada,

00:04:10.660 all different, you know, from BC to Quebec, Ontario, yourself from Alberta, a number of people from

00:04:18.660 Alberta, different walks of life. And they're able to apply the extremism, these situations that

00:04:25.280 happen in their own communities. And they see how it's coming from the Middle East, this extremist 1.00

00:04:31.800 ideology. You can call it, it doesn't matter if it's the far left or the far right. They both have

00:04:37.540 these extreme ideologies. Neither one of them is good. And, you know, the issue that me personally,

00:04:44.000 now on a personal level, is we don't see very much happening in the center and being able to have a

00:04:49.040 dialogue with people on both sides of the aisle. It's either, it's either one extreme, or if you're not

00:04:54.500 on that side, you're an extremist on the other side. But, you know, radical Islamists have been

00:05:02.480 for years. And we can look at this, as you see through the Muslim Brotherhood, they have been 0.94

00:05:08.320 infiltrating our institutions. And people need to start waking up and understand what's going on.

00:05:14.960 As I said before, in the Middle East, the violence is very different than the indoctrination that they're

00:05:20.520 using here in the West. They do it in a different way. They've learned how to latch on to our liberal

00:05:26.060 ideas and our democracies and use those against us, unfortunately.

00:05:32.160 Yeah. And bringing us over there, I think at least helped for some who might not know necessarily,

00:05:38.380 like just it is a liberal democracy over there. I mean, it's got challenges, but it's a welcoming

00:05:44.460 place, meeting the people. I mean, Tel Aviv was something else. And something I noticed while

00:05:48.820 walking down the street was a, well, a couple of, well, everybody's beautiful out there, it seems,

00:05:54.100 but a couple of nice looking young men, quite enamored with each other, sitting on a bench,

00:05:59.080 having a good time. That's fine. But that couldn't happen anywhere else in the Middle East. Like this

00:06:04.320 bastion of freedom for some people of oppressed minorities. I mean, if Israel disappeared,

00:06:10.280 the Middle East is going to be a much worse place. 0.99

00:06:12.080 Yeah. I mean, look, they don't, you can go back in history. The Arabs don't necessarily all love 1.00

00:06:18.640 each other. I mean, if Israel were to disappear tomorrow, there would still be war in the Middle 0.98

00:06:23.660 East. As you saw in Syria, there's a, there's a, it's unstable there. You have Sunnis and Shiites 1.00

00:06:30.200 fighting each other. You have ISIS and Al-Qaeda that are, that are fighting each other. You have

00:06:35.460 factions, you have about 12 different factions, 15 different factions in Gaza that are, that are fighting

00:06:41.180 with each other and with Hamas. I mean, Lebanon is trying to stabilize itself by, by attempting to

00:06:46.760 disarm Hezbollah. It's just, it's a very, very unstable situation. And, um, you know, Israel is,

00:06:54.300 as, as, as I mentioned to you before, this is not a mission to, uh, talk about politics where,

00:07:00.680 you know, every country's got its, got its, uh, its own issues. Uh, you can agree with a government

00:07:05.700 just like our government here or disagree with it. And it's the same for Israel there. It's about

00:07:10.280 the experience of what Israelis are facing as a democracy in the Middle East. And, um,

00:07:16.580 uh, and, and those challenges that they have all have, are coming over here and they've

00:07:21.620 already come here and hopefully it's not too late to deal with them.

00:07:24.320 Hmm. And, and being able to meet, uh, different people and, and talk with them and get perspectives.

00:07:29.420 Uh, God, I'm so terrible with names. I should have written in my notes that the gentleman who

00:07:32.840 took us on the tour of the, the kibbutz and that got hit so hard, we met at Vivian's place as well.

00:07:37.500 Yeah. Uh, there we go. And so candid with us though. I mean, it was a gentleman that clearly

00:07:45.420 would still hurt, uh, you know, such a vicious, horrible experience yet quite blatant, just saying

00:07:52.280 it's got to end. Like he's, he's, he doesn't want more war. He's saying we've got to find a way

00:07:56.880 out of this. Like that, that, that picture, some people are pointing that, that Israelis are vengeful

00:08:02.700 or want this battle to go on. I mean, I imagine there's a handful that are that way, but I didn't

00:08:07.420 meet that. I saw people who were wounded and just wanted resolution though. Nobody can quite see

00:08:12.540 exactly how to get there yet. No, exactly. I mean, look, Ilan, you, you know, staying in Kfaraza, he,

00:08:18.860 that particular kibbutz, they used to have Palestinians that from Gaza that would work every

00:08:24.060 day on the kibbutz in a variety of different roles. They were, they were getting paid to do it.

00:08:28.700 And, um, they, you know, to an extent they were, they were friends. This was going on

00:08:32.540 for years. And when you stand there at that gate and you're behind you is the horrors of October

00:08:38.140 7th and you look straight ahead and you see Gaza. I mean, Corey, that was your, that was your house

00:08:44.620 where he's still not living there. He hasn't been living there for two years. And you look across,

00:08:49.500 I mean, there's, there's a whole thought. I mean, even when I look across is how secure is the border

00:08:56.620 right now, if I were to move back into my home, into this kibbutz. So I don't know how you felt 0.99

00:09:01.900 when you're, when you, when you see the horror around you and you look across and you see Gaza, 0.86

00:09:07.660 you know, that there's, there's a lot of uncertainty.

00:09:11.420 Well, that's it. I mean, we, we've never had to experience that in Canada, not that sort of

00:09:17.260 fear. I, I mean, uh, I guess some people would feel there was a sense of complacency that allowed

00:09:21.740 things to build up as badly as they did in Gaza until it spilled over in that worst, worst possible

00:09:27.020 way with the, the, the horrific activities of October 7th. So you can see why there's support to

00:09:32.140 somehow eliminate the threat, somehow eliminate Hamas. And, and yeah, it's easy to say that,

00:09:37.500 but when you've got, it's not like a conventional war that people you're fighting against are

00:09:41.420 intermixed among some innocent civilians. How do you pick them out of the bunch, but you can't just

00:09:46.860 leave it. How do people move back? How do people relax again until they feel it's been resolved?

00:09:52.060 It's just such a mire. It is. I mean, look, a great example of what you're just saying right now

00:09:57.260 is when we spoke to, uh, he's on the Palestinian that now there's a Ramallah. And I believe you

00:10:02.460 asked the question, you said, uh, if, can you name asking him, can you name any leadership either in

00:10:08.060 Gaza or in the West bank, if there was complete peace right now that he could name to, uh,

00:10:17.420 govern the Palestinians in either Gaza or the West bank or both?

00:10:22.060 And what was his answer? He didn't have an answer. There's, there's nobody. And so there's a lot of,

00:10:26.060 there's not only infrastructure problems, there's governing problems, there's corruption. It's been

00:10:30.300 going on, it's going to be going on for decades and decades and decades. Uh, so, so there's a lot of,

00:10:36.300 you know, issues other than rebuilding Gaza and, and, uh, and ending this war, but the Palestinians

00:10:45.020 themselves don't have any clear leadership. I mean, the, their Mahmoud Abbas is, is, uh,

00:10:50.460 he's a terrorist. Uh, he's a pay for sleigh. His, his, uh, PhD that he wrote was, um, it was the denial 0.98

00:10:57.580 of the Holocaust. And, uh, he hasn't called elections in, in decades. And, uh, the second,

00:11:03.660 uh, person that the Palestinians are insisting, even Hamas that could possibly run would be 0.61

00:11:09.020 Marwan Barghouti, who's serving, I think five or six life sentences in, in, in Israeli jail right now.

00:11:14.540 So there's a, there's an issue. Um, so I don't know what, I don't know what the answer is. And,

00:11:21.740 um, you know, I don't know, maybe you have, maybe you have some suggestions.

00:11:25.660 No, the, the term I've been using to other people when they ask about is, is, is I'm like an old,

00:11:30.860 you know, 486 computer. I've got all this input and now it's spinning and processing and processing

00:11:35.260 and processing. I, I haven't figured out how to, I, I mean, a, uh, I'd be making far more money or in a

00:11:40.700 better position if I was smart enough to find a solution for that, but I'm closer to it. I've

00:11:45.180 learned a lot. Uh, something I saw, thought might show a, a glimmer on where we should start looking

00:11:51.020 maybe when we drove up through Haifa and Jeff pointed aside that here's the town I live in and

00:11:55.900 right next door, there's another town with minarets and it's, it's an Arab town. I mean, 1.00

00:12:00.300 people again, forget it's not a exclusively Jewish country. 18% of the country is, is, is Arab.

00:12:07.180 Uh, those towns, I mean, they're not integrated. They, but they're not, or weren't at each other's

00:12:13.020 throats either. Like there's gotta be room for the communities to live next to each other without

00:12:16.780 trying to kill each other. I imagine attitudes between those two towns are different than those

00:12:20.540 between Gaza and Israel itself, but maybe it's, it's some of those relationships we can start

00:12:24.780 looking at and trying to figure out how we can try and make some of these things work.

00:12:27.980 Yeah. I mean, like, look, I mean, I don't know, I know a little bit what's going on in Alberta,

00:12:32.540 but I can tell you in Ontario on any given day here, we have protests in the, not in the hundreds

00:12:38.060 anymore, I mean, in the thousands, um, pro Hamas rallies, pull terrorist rallies, whatever you want

00:12:43.820 to call them. And I don't, I believe if someone can correct me, if I'm wrong, there has not been

00:12:50.380 one protest in Israel by any pro Hamas crowd in any Arab village since 10 October, October 7th.

00:13:01.180 So this is a problem that's happening here in the West because that's not happening in Israel. Um, 0.94

00:13:08.220 you know, Arabs and, and, and Israelis and Christians are able and Jews are able to live, uh, side by side.

00:13:14.860 Um, you know, they, they get along and, and I'll also point out not only there are no protests in

00:13:20.940 Israel, uh, on two different occasions where I've been in Israel, on one occasion, Hezbollah had fired,

00:13:27.580 I think it was around 20 rockets while we were heading up North. One of the rockets, a couple of

00:13:32.460 them actually landed in the village next to where we were going, an Arab village killed, uh, I believe he

00:13:37.980 was 21 years old. Um, one of the journalists had said to myself and another person, what would Hezbollah

00:13:45.740 say, uh, knowing that they killed, uh, an Israeli Arab? And the answer was, they don't care. They 0.99

00:13:52.300 don't care if you're Arab. They don't care if you're Christian and they don't care if you're Jewish or what

00:13:56.940 you are, straight, gay, doesn't matter. And the same thing as when we went up, uh, North and Magdal Shams, 1.00

00:14:03.180 Hezbollah fired rockets, landed in a school yard, in the, in a soccer yard that killed, uh, you know,

00:14:09.820 10 or 12, uh, Druze children while they were playing soccer. These are not Jews. They are 1.00

00:14:14.220 targeting anything and anybody in Israel, period. The existence of Israel is not in their vocabulary.

00:14:21.900 No. And I mean, something that, that, that really drove me nuts prior to the trip and even more so now

00:14:27.820 is the people even trying to soft sell or deny or, or undercut the atrocities of what happened on

00:14:33.820 October 7th. Uh, you know, you could differ with Israeli policy or even, you know, the, the, the

00:14:38.860 existence of Israel, even which, you know, I don't, but I mean, so people could, but to try and even

00:14:43.260 slightly justify what happened that day. And I mean, boy, you guys didn't sugarcoat it for us, but we

00:14:49.340 needed to see that, uh, for anybody who's seen, you know, that, that, that horrific video and see the

00:14:53.980 sites, uh, the, the, the music festival, the kibbutz and I, it, it should change anybody's

00:15:00.220 perspective if they're human. And, uh, I think just, we need more outreach to people to understand

00:15:05.820 whatever the solution is to this actions like that can, can never be accepted. And it's never

00:15:10.620 be a course of action for changing a state. I agree with you a hundred percent. I mean, Israel is a, 0.87

00:15:15.820 is a sovereign, sovereign state. It's a nation. It's, it's, it's been around since 1948 and it, it had,

00:15:23.020 it was invaded by a government, a government of Hamas. They sent thousands of people in, uh,

00:15:30.220 and invaded a sovereign state. They didn't hold them hostage in Israel. They brought them back 0.99

00:15:35.740 across their border and they've held them hostage even until today, dead or alive. Um, you know,

00:15:42.060 any other country in, in the world that's ever, I don't even, that's had an invasion like this and

00:15:47.260 people been taken back across the border as a hostage, any other country go back and get their 0.99

00:15:51.580 citizen. They would do it immediately. I mean, I don't want to discuss, you know, the timing of

00:15:58.140 going into Gaza and all that sort of thing. But the fact that is, I mean, if Canada went into Buffalo

00:16:03.420 and in October 7th happened in Buffalo, you can be sure that the United States within seconds would

00:16:09.580 be back over here and collect every last U S citizen, no matter what happens. And the same for 0.95

00:16:14.940 most countries around the world. Um, so this whole narrative that that's going on right now to me is

00:16:20.620 absolutely ridiculous. And I don't even entertain it. No. And it's maddening. Thankfully, at least the 0.82

00:16:26.460 living hostages are back as, as horrible with what they had to endure and hopefully the last of the

00:16:30.780 remains come in. Uh, just a lot of people might not realize just how sacred the remains are for,

00:16:35.420 for Jewish people as well. I mean, it's sacred for everybody with their family members, but even more so in

00:16:40.220 that case. Uh, but I, either way I've run out the segment, I appreciate you taking the time. I really

00:16:45.660 appreciate you bringing myself and Dave out there. It was enlightening. I feel I'm better. I don't have

00:16:51.580 the answers, but I'm a little bit closer to it than I had been prior to going. Um, before I let you go,

00:16:56.700 where can people find information on the foundation to find out more about it or support it or anything

00:17:00.940 of that sort? They can go to exigentfoundation.org and they will, uh, find the information on there and, um,

00:17:07.660 um, they can send us, uh, emails, donations, uh, whatever they like.

00:17:12.860 All right. Well, excellent. Thank you very much again, Larry. Uh, hope we get to talk again

00:17:16.700 sometime soon and, and please keep up that good work.

00:17:18.940 For sure. Thanks, Corey. Appreciate it.

Western Standard - October 30, 2025

＂We’re Not Insulated From This＂｜ Cory Morgan interviews Larry Maher of the Exigent Foundation

Episode Stats

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Transcript

Western Standard - October 30, 2025

＂We’re Not Insulated From This＂ ｜ Cory Morgan interviews Larry Maher of the Exigent Foundation

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

＂We’re Not Insulated From This＂｜ Cory Morgan interviews Larry Maher of the Exigent Foundation