Eli Hassell

THE AXIS OF EVIL THAT GEORGE BUSH NEVER WARNED US ABOUT!!

Candace Owens is a crazy conspiracy theorist who thrives on fabricating nonsense about how the elite are lying to you. Trump is based for calling her out.

Candace Owens, one of the most popular podcasters today, believes Jews control the world. Nobody should be embracing her antisemitic blood libels.

Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO), by most accounts, is the most influential and evil antisemite in the West today. "Crazy Candace" has millions of viewers an episode, as she regurgitates blood libels and conspiracy theories. According to her, Jews control the world and are the epicentre of evil. Let's be clear: she is the enemy from within. She is slowly convincing parts of the public about how evil the Jews are - just like Hitler did in the 1930's. She has blood on her hands.

How Israel’s Greatest Victory Became Its Greatest Problem May 1967 was a frightening month for Israel. The Soviet Union had informed Egypt that Israeli forces were massing on the Syrian border (in preparation for an attack). This intelligence was a complete fabrication but, regardless, the Arab states treated it as real – and as an opportunity to destroy Israel once and for all. In response, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser demanded the removal of the United Nations Emergency Force from the Sinai Peninsula, where it had been stationed since the 1956 Suez Crisis, and instead deployed around 100,000 Egyptian troops into Sinai. Egypt then closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping – a move that Israel had explicitly stated would constitute casus belli – and Nasser publicly announced, on national radio, Egypt’s readiness for war. Shortly after, Egypt signed mutual defence agreements with Jordan, Iraq and Syria, which all moved forces to Israel’s borders. Israel faced an existential threat. There was a big military danger, but alongside to that, there was also a severe economic risk. According to renowned historian Benny Morris, due to this threat, Israel had mobilised roughly 10% of its workforce into their army, which was unsustainable for a long period of time – especially for such a small and fragile economy. A prolonged mobilisation could have caused economic collapse, threatening the state’s survival even without a battlefield defeat. Israel was essentially facing two existential threats: militarily and economically. Faced with this reality, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on the 5th of June 1967, destroying around 90% of Egypt’s aircraft and giving Israel complete air superiority for the following days. Over the next six days, Israel did extraordinarily well. They defeated multiple Arab armies and captured a lot of territory: the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. And on the 10th of June, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire. The war was an extraordinary success. Israel, fighting several states simultaneously, had not only survived but expanded its territory by around four times. Yet the victories didn’t stop there. Israel annexed East Jerusalem and later the Golan Heights, and viewed the other territories as bargaining chips for peace. Levi Eshkol, Israel’s Prime Minister, attempted to do so almost immediately after the war. However, the Arab League responded with the Khartoum Resolution- famously declaring “no peace, no recognition, no negotiations with Israel” – and closed that door. Over time, Israel did manage to trade land for peace: in 1979 it returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in exchange for a peace treaty, and in 1994 Jordan also signed a peace treaty (although this time without giving up any territory). On paper, this war was a huge success for Israel. But despite these achievements, the war had devasting effects on Israel: their oppresion over the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza enabled and encouraged the growth of the Palestinian independence movement. After 1967, Israel controlled the Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Sinai was eventually returned to Egypt. In the Golan Heights, much of the local Druze population received Israeli citizenship and gradually integrated into Israeli society. In East Jerusalem, the local Palestinians were offered permanent residency and the option to apply for Israeli citizenship, though only a minority did so, leaving hundreds of thousands without citizenship today. The core problem, however, lay in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians there were not offered citizenship at all. Israel faced a dilemma. Fully annexing these territories would require granting citizenship to the local Palestinians, which would have threatened Israel’s Jewish demographic majority – and which is incompatible with the state’s founding purpose. It seemed like Israel would hold onto the territories pending peace agreements with their neighbouring Arab states. But over time, especially since the 1960’s, Palestinian national identity became the dominant framework for resolving the conflict. Egypt and Jordan no longer sought to reclaim Gaza or the West Bank, and Israel was unwilling to hand the territories to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, whose founding charter rejected the existence of a Jewish state outright. The result was an unresolved status quo. Israel retained control over borders, airspace, and security in the West Bank and Gaza, while refraining from formal annexation. At the same time, it supported the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements – particularly in the West Bank – while maintaining military rule over the Palestinian population. Today, over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank. They are governed by Israeli law and enjoy full political rights. Palestinians living alongside them are subject to military law, lack voting rights in Israel, and are treated as non-citizens in a territory Israel effectively controls. Israeli historian Benny Morris describes this system as “an apartheid regime based on nationality”. Around five million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live under this reality. They experience Israeli authority without political representation, and the legal inequality between settlers and Palestinians is evident and stark. This dynamic dominates the online narrative surrounding Israel where footage of the unequal treatment is commonly found. Domestically and regionally, it has fuelled Palestinian nationalism and made the conflict increasingly intractable. Historian Benny Morris has argued that Israel should have found a way early on to relinquish the West Bank to Jordan. By failing to do so, Israel locked itself into a situation with no clean exit. Israel resoundingly won the Six-Day War, which helped reshape the Middle East. But the continued control of the West Bank and Gaza, the expansion of settlements, and the permanent denial of rights to millions of Palestinians has created a reality that is unsustainable. In that sense, the 1967 war was a decisive short-term victory – but one that may yet prove to be Israel’s greatest long-term defeat.

I hosted a conversation with Steven Bonnell (@TheOmniLiberal) and historian Benny Morris on the Israel-Palestine conflict. We covered: • Trump’s peace deal - can it work? • Israeli violence in the West Bank - is it state backed terrorism? • Israel’s internal crisis - where is it heading? Watch here: youtu.be/Uu3WtCS-FrM?si…

I spoke to Corey Gil-Shuster, founder of The Ask Project, who does street interviews with Israelis and Palestinians. With his experience speaking to thousands on the ground, he shared what he’s learned about the conflict and the people who live there. Listen to the full conversation, exclusively on audio platforms: open.spotify.com/episode/1rL6NH…

History is Clear: Jesus Was Not Palestinian There’s this common claim among some pro-Palestinian spaces that Jesus was a Palestinian. This is historically false. There was no Palestinian identity or country in Jesus’s lifetime. Let’s look at the historical record. Around 1000 BCE, King David established a Jewish monarchy commonly referred to as the United Kingdom of Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital. Not too long later, around 930 BCE, it split into two separate Jewish states: The Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Both Jewish kingdoms existed independently, alongside each other, for centuries. In 722 BCE, the Assyrian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Israel, and, around 150 years later, the Babylonian Empire destroyed the Kingdom of Judah and exiled most of its Jewish population. The Jewish people were committed to come back and re-establish a Jewish kingdom. After Persia conquered the Babylonians, the Jews were allowed to return to Judah and create a semi-autonomous Jewish state under Persian rule. In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great led the Greek Empire to conquer Persia, which included Judah (now known as Judea). After Alexander’s death, Judea was constantly passed between competing Greek kingdoms. Jews revolted against Greek rule in 167 BCE. By 140 BCE, the Jews had re-established an independent Jewish kingdom in Judea. (This success of this resistance is celebrated annually, even in current times, with the Jewish festival of Chanukah.) In 63 BCE, Rome took control of Judea and made it into a vassal state and later, in 6 CE, formally annexed it and made it a Roman province. This is the political reality which Jesus was born into. Jesus was born sometime between 0 to 6 CE, and lived for around 30 years. At this time, the land was called Judea (or Judaea), the population was predominantly Jewish, and there was no such thing as Palestine. After Jesus’s death, the Jews revolted against Roman rule on several occasions. Following Rome’s brutal suppression of a major rebellion in 135 CE, in which tens of thousands of Jews were killed and enslaved, they also tried to erase Jewish identity from the area. Judea was renamed to Syria Palaestina (which evolved over time to Palestine), Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina and Jews were banned from living in that city. To be clear, Jesus was not Palestinian. He was a Jew born in Judea who lived under Roman occupation. The name Syria Palaestina only came to existence around 100 years after his life. This is not disputed history. Most historians, archaeologist and Bible-scholars agree on this timeline. Even the New Testament says, in Matthew 2:1, that “Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea”. It clearly says Judea, and not Palestine.

A Response To Jimmy Dore Fans Around two weeks ago, I interviewed popular political commentator Jimmy Dore, who has millions of followers across social media and whose videos attract tens of millions of views each month. The interview, which unintentionally ended up being combative, has already been watched by more than 50,000 people. (Watch here: youtu.be/_rcksVEuk-A?si…) Judging by the comments, which are mainly made up of insults and baseless accusations directed at me, I assume that most of the viewers are Jimmy's fans. I would never usually respond to such comments, as they lack any substance, however it seems that people somehow genuinely believe them - so I think a response is likely warranted. For context, during the interview I asked Jimmy basic questions about the topics he regularly talks about on his show. But as he didn't know the information and wasn't able to answer most of the questions, he instead resorted to repeatedly personally insulting me. This reflects a lot of his political commentary, in which he almost automatically believes any anti-establishment narratives and conspiracy theories, even when there little or no proof. He also seems to do no substantive research (as otherwise he would be able to answer elementary questions about the subjects he covers). For example, he frequently talks about Israel on his show; he claims that Netanyahu was behind the October 7 attack and, more recently, that Israel was behind the terrorist attack in Australia. Yet he told me in the interview, somehow unabashedly, that he didn't know how many Palestinians were displaced in 1948, was unaware that Jews had also been displaced, didn't know that Egypt was involved in Gaza from 1948 onward to today, and had never even heard of the War of Independence. These are foundational facts that any political commentator, regardless of ideology, should know. Especially Jimmy, who has an audience of millions, has a basic responsibility to do some reasearch and understand the fundamentals of the topics that he discusses. Another example is that he claims Israel was involved in Charlie Kirk’s assasination, citing suspicious Google searches which came from Israel. Yet, on his own show, he said that didn’t understand how Google Trends works (which supposedly gave this data) and hadn’t spent even a few minutes to verify the information before presenting it as evidence. When someone doesn’t bother to do basic research, mainly relies on weak or out-of-context evidence, almost automatically believes anti-establishment views, and resorts to insults rather than engaging in a substantive discussion, it’s not surprising that his fans mirror that behavior in the comments. (And no, I was not paid to press him for answers.)

The Dirty Trick Candace Owens Keeps Playing There’s a horrible phenomenon that’s been taking over social media in the recent years: the rise of the “I’m-just-asking-questions” influencers. This a commonly-used dirty tactic employed by those who operate in bad faith, in an attempt to disguise their hatred towards certain groups and individuals (unfortunately, many good-faith podcasters have also fallen into this trap). A good example is Candace Owens. According to her, she’s just asking questions about Charlie Kirk’s assasination - whether his friends acted suspiciously and were actually involved, whether Egypt and Israel might have been involved, or maybe Bill Ackman was involved. But what she’s really doing is much more sinister: she paints the accused as guilty until proven innocent, and continues to push and push until that person or organisation has no option but to respond to the absurd accusation. When she's accused of being malicious, she has an easy get-out-of-jail card on hand: “I was just asking questions, not stating anything as fact”. She does this trick constantly: she says the most whackadoodle things and then, almost in attempt to protect herself from accusations of her being a conspiracy theorist (and maybe also of legal action) she’ll cover it up by saying - “Just to be clear, I’m not saying anything definite. I’m just asking questions.” Of course, it’s necessary to ask questions. But Candace uses it as a veil to hide what she's really doing: targeting and harrassing people. (These 'questions' always seem to be focused on a single group.) This largely overlaps with IDS - Israel Derangement Syndrome - when Israel is automatically blamed for everything and anything bad. Charle Kirk was brutally assasinated? Blame Israel. A war broke out in Europe? Blame Israel. A teapot breaks in China? Blame Israel. I am not attempting to excuse Israel from crimes it has committed, but to just automatically assume Israel and Zionists is the cause of all bad things in the world - is so nonsensical that it should be laughable. Unfortunately although it’s not a laughing matter, as many social media influencers with IDS have very large followings. An example of this is Jimmy Dore, a popular political commentater whose videos are viewed 30 million times a month. His commentary consistently displays IDS: he’s claimed that Charlie Kirk was killed by the Mossad and American government, that Netanyahu orchestrated October 7th, and that the IDF likely killed more of their own citizens than Hamas did on that day. Basically, “Bo-hoo. Israel, Israel, Israel. Blame Israel for everything bad.” These are just crazed conspiracies, with very little logic attached to any of it. What makes this even worse is that Jimmy knows next-to-nothing about Israel. I recently did an interview with him (watch here: youtu.be/_rcksVEuk-A), in which he said that he didn’t know about Egypt’s current or historic involvement in Gaza, how many Palestinian or Jews were displaced in 1948, or even what the War of Independence is. For someone who constantly talks about Israel, it’s worrying how he doesn’t even know basic facts about the country. But why bother knowing the facts? After all, he’s just asking questions.

If you haven't yet had a chance, watch the full debate between Myron Gaines and Destiny. youtu.be/vtvCw5Lrk_I

Live now!

Rescheduled to tomorrow (Sunday) at 8 PM EST!

I'm hosting a debate with Myron Gaines (@MyronGainesX) and Destiny (@TheOmniLiberal) on who's the bigger obstacle to peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Watch live this Saturday (tomorrow) at 8 PM EST.

Taken from my latest article in the Times of Israel: blogs.timesofisrael.com/466-palestine-…

466 Palestine Action Protesters Arrested; Free Speech Is Under Attack The UK government’s constant draconian actions in recent weeks is a clear telltale to why Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform Party is enjoying a huge surge in popularity. In recent weeks, Keir Starmer’s government has taken it upon themselves to interfere and strip away as many crucial rights and freedoms as possible. Two major things have happened in recent weeks: the government’s mass-arrest campaign against those who support Palestine Action, and the passing of the Online Safety Bill into law. Palestine Action is self-described as a “non-violent yet disruptive” protest organisation against Israel. Last month, after they broke into a Royal Air Force hangar and vandalised British military planes – mistakenly believing they were being used in support of Israel – the government banned them and proscribed them as a terrorist organisation. A core premise of Western countries – and what makes us a shining example to the world with our virtuous standards – is based on our prioritisation of democracy and free speech. Based on that premise, many protesters took to the streets of Britain in support of Palestine Action, exercising their freedom of speech. Unfortunately, Keir Starmer’s Labour government doesn’t seem to hold such Western values – and over the past weekend alone, arrested 466 protesters. These people were not arrested for inciting violence, but simply for stating their support for Palestine Action. This is not an isolated case. Just last year, when the radical right rioted against immigration, Starmer’s government jailed people for what they posted online. The precedent is clear: there are little safeguards to protect freedom of speech from government overreach. Then there’s the Online Safety Bill. When I first saw that the bill would make it harder for children to watch adult content, I was totally in favour. But in practice, social media sites such as Reddit now require ID verification before allowing you to see “expressions of hatred”. Almost every free speech organisation, tech company and cybersecurity expert rallied against this bill, warning it interferes with freedom of speech and is the precursor to a surveillance state. Yes, it seems undoubtedly true that the main beneficiary of this bill is children – but what are we willing to sacrifice to achieve that? I’m doubtful anything is more important than free speech. Meanwhile, the Conservative Party – supposedly the counterweight to Labour – seems to have gone missing. They should be raising hell, doing whatever they can to stop the government’s crackdown on free speech, yet they’ve barely raised their voices. And then they wonder why there’s a rise in Nigel Farage’s far-right party. It’s simple, there’s a growing feeling that there’s a uniparty system that’s working against the will of the people. When that happens, people start supporting ‘anti-establishment’ parties. With this overreach on free speech, Britain has become a laughing-stock – especially to our American allies, who are rightfully concerned. (US Vice President JD Vance even mentioned it to Keir Starmer in the Oval Office, in front of President Trump and the world’s press.) Keir Starmer’s Labour government need to realise that so many people have lost faith in them as a political party – and what’s even worse is that too many are unfortunately starting to lose faith in the UK as a country.

Watch here: youtu.be/GC7QSQwyO4w

My latest interview with historian Benny Morris is out now!

I interviewed well-renowned historian Benny Morris on the history of Israel and Palestine, the 1948 War of Independence, the current war in Gaza, and more. To be released soon!

I hosted a discussion with renowned economics professor Richard Wolff and Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, about America's political crises. Watch the full conversation here: youtu.be/rNXKIjR56UE