The EU”€™s New Anti-Semitic Labeling System “€“ With Special Guest Mitch Danzig: Does Jewish hatred still exist? Should Israel be allowed to live on its own land? Join us as we discuss the answers to these questions and more.

Air Date: 11/20/2019

Guest: Mitch Danzig

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Faith and the Culture

Rick: Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live, where we’re talking about today’s hottest topics on policy and faith and the culture. We always do that from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Now, today we’re going to have David Barton and Tim Barton with us later in the program. Initially, we’ve got Mitch Danzig back with us. We’re gonna be talking about this letter that’s been signed by a lot of senators speaking to the EU. So it’s a hot topic, it’s again, a needed area to stand with Israel and again, looking at that position from a biblical historical and constitutional perspective.

Before we dive in with Mitch Danzig, a frequent guest here on WallBuilders Live and great expert on these policy matters, just want to recommend that you hit our website today, wallbuilderslive.com because there you can find archives of the program from the last few months. It’s also a great place just to see some of the hot news topics and get some of the links from the guests that we have on the program. And then of course, most importantly, to the life of the program and the growth of the program, is that donation button. So if you’ll take an opportunity today to make that one time or monthly donation, we sure appreciate it. As a listener supported program, it takes supporters just like you that are listening to the program to make it possible. So thanks for considering that today.

Let’s jump in with our guest, Mitch Danzig; back with us today. Always good to have you, man. Thanks for giving us sometime today.

Mitch Danzig: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

EU Labeling Plans

Rick: Hey, every time we see headlines like this, we think, “€œOkay, all right. When there’s bipartisan support for something initially, we think this must not be doing anything.”€ But in this case, you”€™ve got 36 senators saying these EU labeling plans”€”I guess they’re going to label Israeli products that are imported by European countries. And the senators are saying, “€œNo! Bad deal.”€

Mitch Danzig: Yes, so the proposal by the EU, what the EU plans on doing is to label Jewish goods so to speak, that are made from businesses or farms, etc, that are in either the Golan, the Golan Heights, or Judea and Samaria as being “€œsettlement,”€ or something of that nature, not made in Israel, to distinguish between products that are sold in within the EU that come from Jewish businesses that are within what they call the green lines, meaning Israel’s borders between 1948 and June of 1967.

Rick: Wow! So, so this is I mean, I guess part of the BDS movement then, they’re doing everything they can. Well, I mean, this smacks of as much anti-Semitism as you can get. But is it pushed by the BDS movement? I mean, who’s behind this?

Mitch Danzig: 100%, the BDS campaign. There’s about 100 different territorial disputes in the world, including many that are right at the EU”€™s doorstep or within the EU. The Spanish control of territory in Africa, for example, or the territorial disputes involving Turkey and Cyprus. You know, obviously, the Ukraine, and Russia”€™s presence in Crimea. There’s, you know, there’s just hundreds of Over 100, right, worldwide.

A Campaign to Punish the Jewish State

Yet, there’s a campaign that only seeks to punish the Jewish state for the territorial dispute that it is involved in. And the biggest flaw behind this setting aside that Jews obviously have a right to live anywhere in the world that they want to live and have them have businesses, particularly in a place called Judea.

Rick: Right.

Mitch Danzig: But the biggest flaw behind this is it tries to punish one party for the absence of a peace deal with the Arab Palestinians, as if Israel hasn’t repeatedly offered over and over and over again, territorial compromises that the Arabs have rejected.

Rick: Right.

Mitch Danzig: And so it acts as if the only “€“ The key to somehow imposing or creating a peace, you know, if that’s viable at this point, within the Arab-Israeli conflict is just punishing Israel, and particularly, calling out Jewish homes and Jewish businesses in Judea and Samaria.

Rick: Two things surprised me looking at just who was behind both the push to do this, and then this letter from the senators, first on the on the EU side; 424 out of 525 members supported this.

Mitch Danzig: Yeah.

Rick: I mean, that’s a significant number. Is the EU that far on the BDS movement?

Mitch Danzig: A hundred percent. The BDS campaign and the anti-Israel bashing that takes place within the EU is a given. It’s remarkable and sad, but we cannot forget that we’re 75 years removed from two thirds of the Jewish population of Europe being massacred.

Anti-Semitism in Europe

We cannot forget that Europe anti-Semitism, which has never gained a strong foothold in the US. We have anti-Semitiesin the United States for sure, and we have terrible anti-Semitieson the far right and far left in America for certain at this point. But it’s never been the part and parcel of American society, the way it has been for 2000 years in Europe.

And Europe kind of tried to walk back its anti-Semitism and treated it as a thing of the past, basically for about 30 years after the Holocaust. And then the moment Israel won the Six Day War, it became suddenly, “€œOh, they’re actually a strong country. They can defend themselves.”€ Then suddenly Europe felt more and more at liberty to display and act on its inherent anti-Semitism. It’s a deep part of European culture. You think about this, today “€“ again, we’re 75 years removed from the Holocaust. That’s it. They’re still Holocaust survivors alive today with the concentration camp tattoos on their arms. And in Germany, they had a poll recently done, a survey, where 40% of Germans polled said the Jews need to get over the Holocaust and talk about it less.

Rick: Wow. Wow.

Mitch Danzig: forty percent; almost half of Germany said, “€œJews, get over the Holocaust. We just tried to kill all of you and we successfully murdered six million of you in four years, you should get over it, and talk about it less.”€ So, we can’t discount how big a role inherent institutional deep ingrained anti-Semitism plays and how Europeans and predominantly their elite institutions like in the EU view the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Bi-Partisan Support

Rick: Well, and it’s clearly reflected in that number. I mean, that’s 80% are better voting for this. And then the second thing that surprised me was the, you know, bipartisan support on this letter. I mean, I’m looking at the list of names and it looks”€” I mean, I didn’t count them up, but it looks basically 50/50 democrats and republicans and you know, from you very wide variety of philosophies and worldviews. So that’s impressive. Ted Cruz and Kirsten Gillibrand put it together. But then that goes to what you just said, is that deep seated anti-Semitism has not taken root in the US for most people. And so does that, you know, is that a good sign that the mix on this letter is bipartisan.

Mitch Danzig: Well, hundred percent, it”€™s a good sign. I hope that type of stuff continues. I have concerns, when you see the type of rhetoric coming from some of the leaders in the Democratic Party right now. We just had the JStreet Conference, and J Street is an anti-Israel organization that pretends to be pro-Israel. And it’s views represent maybe 10% of the population of Jews in America. And I say that maybe it does that.

A History Lesson for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren

But yet, we had Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and other you know, not quite leading lights of the Democratic Party, people who are at least in the running, so to speak, to be representing the Democratic Party in this next presidential race, all pandering to the JStreet view, all pandering to the EU view that Jews living in Judea is somehow the obstacle to peace, and that if only we pressure and punish Israel more for the presence of Jews in Judea, somehow a magic Genie will appear, and the Palestinian authority led and Hamas led Arabs in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria will suddenly be peaceful Israel they want to have. Elizabeth Warren said, “€œLive side by side in peace with a Jewish state,”€ which of course is a complete myth, and it’s so removed from reality, it has to be breath-taking.

Rick: Yeah, which Prime Minister was it that has the famous quote about, you know, “€œIf Israelis lay down their arms, we”€™d be massacred. If the Palestinians lay down their arms, we”€™d have peace.”€

Mitch Danzig: Right. I mean, there’s a couple like, Bibi Netanyahu said that, “€œThe moment the Arabs lay down their arms, there”€™d be peace. If Israel lay down their arms, there would be a massacre,”€ and both the media famously said, you know, there’ll be peace at the moment the Palestinian Arabs love their children more than they hate us.

Rick:. Yeah,

The Six-Day War

Mitch Danzig: And again, we see this over and over and over again. Israel has since 1967… I mean, it seems like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders need a lot of history lessons, as do all the folks in the EU. But, you know, it wasn’t like when Israel wasn’t in Judea and Samaria and wasn’t in Gaza when those territories were controlled by Egypt and Jordan respectively, that there was peace. It wasn’t as if the Arabs living in Judea and Samaria under Jordanian rule and in Gaza under Egyptian rule, were constantly using those two places as basis of operation to attack and murder Jews living in what was Israel at the time. The Six Day War happened because three Arab countries attacked Israel with the goal of destroying it and their media made it very clear what their goal was. Their goverTim Barton: ent-controlled media said, “€œWe’re going to push the Jews into the sea.”€ Well, they lost and as part of that loss, they lost the territory that you know, was not called occupied. But again, occupied from who?

Rick: Yeah.

Mitch Danzig: You know, Jordan wasn”€™t even lawfully in Judea and Samaria and when it bifurcated Jerusalem into it, and put barbed wire right down the middle of Jerusalem. It wasn’t lawfully in possession of Jerusalem either, right? So it attacked Israel. Israel still 1967 said, “€œWe’re willing to give up the majority of the land we gained control over this defensive war in exchange for peace.”€ The Arab said no”€”uniformly.

Territorial Compromises

Then, over the years, we’ve offered over and over again, different territorial compromises, including, you know, famously a Camp David with Clinton and Yasser Arafat, Israel’s Prime Minister, including Barak offered Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian authority control over all of Gaza, 97% of Judea and Samaria people called the West Bank. And the Arab said no to that. In 2008, Ohud Elmert, the Prime Minister of Israel then at the time offered Mahmoud Abbas, the president for life of the Palestinian authority an even better deal, and the Arabs again said no to that. So you know, who’s the one making peace offers and who’s the one rejecting them as it is?

Rick:. No. That”€™s why it always frustrates me so much, Republican and Democrat, you know, presidents that have been Republican and Democrat both, in my lifetime anyway. I just, you know, constantly the pressure seems to be”€¦ I know it’s not one sided. I know they put pressure both sides, but they constantly expect Israel give and give and give, and as many times as they’ve done that and had the refusal, it doesn’t make sense. But I will say you’re exactly right. I mean it is”€¦

And then the two names you’ve thrown out, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are not on this letter, we should point out, definitely did not sign on it. And I did add up the numbers as you were just talking, and I was wrong. It’s not 50-50, it”€™s 75% Republicans and 25% Democrats, so at least there are a few Democrats that are standing against this, this labeling of Jewish products as is being done.

Democrats Impede the Protection of Israel

And for the most part, the Democrats have not backed Israel, they’ve been very much an impediment to the protection of Israel. So let’s do be clear about which party has stood with Israel.

Mitch Danzig: Yeah, but Joe Biden to his credit, when he heard the Bernie Sanders craziness and Elizabeth Warren craziness but both of them said that, you know, American military aid to Israel should be withheld to be used as a cudgel you know, if Israel doesn’t go along with their plans, so to speak, and Jews continue to live in Judea, and Israel continues to build homes in Judea, that somehow that should be you used to, you know, reduce American military aid. Bernie went so far as to say the amount of military aid in America against Israel should go to Gaza, you know, if it’s being withheld from Israel that that number should go to Gaza. It’s called humanitarian aid. Apparently not understanding that Gaza is controlled by Hamas and any dollars you give to Gaza go to Hamas. Bernie’s all for taking military aid from America’s best ally in the Middle East and giving it to, you know”€¦

Rick: Terrorist.

Mitch Danzig: “€¦A terrorist group. And Biden, to his credit said, “€œThat’s enough.”€ You know, Biden understands. Biden understands that first of all American military aid to Israel is not dollars, right. It’s a coupon. I hope your supporters, your listeners understand and when we’re talking about American military aid in Israel, America gives Israel a coupon, right. And that’s a coupon to buy weapons systems produced in America. That’s all it is.

Our “€œMilitary Aid”€ is a Coupon

And, it’s a coupon to buy weapons systems in America that are offering the product of joint development with Israel and every piece of military hardware or software that is purchased with those coupons is then taken Israel and made better, and then when they make it better, that benefits America.

Rick: It benefits America, absolutely.

Mitch Danzig: Yeah. And America and Israel have a relationship when it comes to security and intelligence, both from a technological perspective and just a sharing perspective on information that benefits America significantly. And you know, Israel’s taken now developed like things like the [inaudible 12:36] and the Iron Dome and the arrow missile defense systems. And all that development of Israel shares with United States.

Rick: Yeah.

Mitch Danzig: This is also a defense supplier to the United States and you know, not only the high tech drone weaponry and things of that nature, but also with cutting edge technology that is for medical products that are provides to US servicemen. So US servicemen are using battlefield bandages that Israel developed [crosstalk 13:03] servicemen”€™s lives.

Rick: Yes, so many mutual benefits.

Mitch Danzig: Yeah. So when Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders is talking about cutting American military aid to Israel, because Israel still has so people living in today in Judea and Samaria, you know, setting aside that it completely miss directs where the blame should be. You know, it’s as if Jews living in Judea is the problem, right? Arabs live in Israel. A million a half Arabs are citizens of the state of Israel who vote in Israel elections and are you know, Israeli judges and officers in Israeli military.

Israel is Not and Obstacle to Peace

They have full rights and their presence in Israel is not an obstacle to peace. But yet somehow, people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren thinks the presence of Jews living in Judea, right, that somehow is an obstacle to peace, as opposed to the fact that they understand”€¦Instead, they basically say, we recognize that under the Palestinian authority, or under Hamas, or whatever government the Arabs would have, if they were ever able to negotiate a true peace deal and have an independent state in Judea, we couldn’t have a Jewish minority living there. Why? Because you can’t have any minority, sadly, at present in any Arab country that you could be confident would have full rights.

Rick:. Right, right. And just imagine I mean, if Elizabeth Warren was president united states and was handling the foreign policy and the negotiation on these issues I mean, very, very bad for Israel and all of those. Both the Jewish community and the Christian community that stands with Israel needs to recognize that and realize that’s going to be one of their top issues when it comes to voting if you’re Democrat when it comes to voting to the primary coming up, and all Americans vote in the general election next November. Man, we’re out of time. Gotta run. But thank you so much. Appreciate your commentary as always and I appreciate your time today.

Mitch Danzig: It”€™s my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Rick: Stay was folks. We”€™ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

America’s Hidden History

DAVID:

Hi, this is David Barton.

TIM:

And, this is Tim Barton, and we want to let you know about a series that’s happening right now on TBN on Thursday night. TBN is the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Every Thursday night, there’s a series that we’ve filmed called America’s Hidden History.

And, this season is called “€œAmerica’s Hidden Heroes.”€ The reason is, we highlight heroes from American history. For years we’ve been focusing on the forgotten history and heros of the nation.

And now, we have a TV show just highlighting some of those heroes.

DAVID:

These are inspiring stories about some of the greatest people maybe you’ve never heard about. We go on location to the sites and show you where the events happened. It’s the stories of folks like Bronco Charlie, Stagecoach Mary, Jedediah Smith, Robert Smalls, and so many inspiring folks.

TIM:

Now, this happens every Thursday night, and the time is gonna be different based on where you live. Either way, we think this is something that will so encourage and inspire you in learning some of these great stories from America’s Hidden History.

Thanks to Mitch Danzig

Rick: Welcome back! Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks again to Mitch Danzig for joining us one more time; always good to get his commentary on these issues. We’re back with David and Tim Barton. And guys, I didn’t realize that the EU was that bad. I mean, those numbers really shot. I thought it would be like, you know, I don’t know, maybe 55 to 45. But that’s like an 80/85% saying, “€œYeah, we’re gonna label Jewish products,”€ as if that shouldn’t conjure up some really bad images from not too long ago.

David Barton: Well, what you’re seeing in Europe is a pretty good split between the more secular nations and the more Christian nations. If you look at the younger Christian nations like Romania and Poland and the Czech Republic and Ukraine, those four particularly, they don’t like the EU, they don’t like where it’s headed, they don’t like the secular nature of it. And those nations tend to be very good toward Israel. So the younger Christian nations, those four nations, that’s probably where all those boats came from on the right side of Israel, as opposed to the Germany and the France and Italy and so many other nations of the EU that tend to be so much more secular.

So there is a huge division in Europe over that. That’s why you’re seeing a lot of those nations kind of move away from the EU. Poland’s printing his own money now, rather than using euros; they’ve got their own Polish money. They’re trying to move toward more sovereignty.

Why the Focus on this Territorial Dispute?

And the whole, I mean, I thought what Mitch pointed out was really good. There are 100 territorial disputes across the world right now. How come you guys are focused only on the Israel dispute?

Rick: Great point.

David Barton: And by the way, while we’re at it, Tim and I are on a cruise with Glenn Beck. We’re part of that where there are 3000 people on the boat, and so over that period of time, we’re going from Italy to Greece to Slovakia to Israel to look at the roots of what made America. And so along the trip we have presentations that we do; Beck’s got some, I’ve got some, Bill O’reilly, others. And I’ve got four presentations I do on Israel, and part of those presentations on Israel’s to have these 3000 people know, what is the deal with the Palestinians and this claim that they have for, you know, occupied lands? And kind of the analogy I use”€”and by the way to understand occupied lands, this is Israel’s sole property but this is where the Palestinians want to live. So what happens is we condemn Israel for building stuff on its property because somebody else wants it. That’s like saying, if you’re in northern Michigan, and you’re building a house in northern Michigan, and Canada condemned you, because Canada wants that part of Northern Michigan, we would say, “€œCanada, you’re crazy. That’s Michigan,”€

Tim Barton: Right. But the argument would be, now wait a second, Israel has not have this land, except like back in the 60s or back in the 40s. And it was the Palestinians land before that. So you took it to the Palestinians, and you’ve driven us off this land and that’s the argument, right?

Arguing About Israel in Judea?

Because you have grandparents or great grandparents that this was their land, and now you chase them off their land and now you’re building on what was their land. But if it comes to property ownership, the question is how far back are you going to go in this conversation because there’s a reason, like, even as Mitch pointed out, right, you’re going to argue about Judea when it comes to Israel?

David Barton: I’ve got to say, it took me a while to get that, not on this program, but a guy in Israel pointed out that, all right, Judah, what is the root word of Judah? It is Jew. And so Judea and Samaria or Judah, and Israel, or whether it be Judeo Christian, the root word of all of those is the word Jew. So how can you take the root word Jew and say that it’s not Jewish and somehow”€¦? And I’ve never thought about that. So you know, even when you said it right there, Tim, it’s only been recently that it really struck me that that is the root word, is Jew.

Tim Barton: Yeah. And this is where when you look at the history of Israel, certainly you can go back and show that thousands of years ago, the Jews were living in the land of Israel, actually back then their borders were a bit larger. And certainly you can go through all the different periods.

David Barton: I would say, not just a bit larger, since they encompassed Iran and Saudi Arabia and Jordan and Lebanon and much of Egypt, they’re a little bit more than a bit larger.

Palestinians Have Never Accepted Peace

Tim Barton: That”€™s a bit larger, I mean, in Texas we would say that’s a bit. It’s quite a large piece of land but this is the point, is that you can back up and show now wait a second, this was their land long before and certainly, there is a complicated history and this is not to belittle “€“ There are some very good Palestinians, right? It’s one of the things that when you talk about Islamic extremists and Muslim terrorist it’s not to brush over the fact that no, there’s some very good people who as far as their lifestyle, the way they treat others, there’s some people who are good people who are Muslims now.

I would think that any belief system outside of Christianity, Jesus, are wrong, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a good person, right? I mean, relative, and I’m sure there’s people going, “€œOh, wait a second. There’s nobody good except Jesus.”€ Okay, I get it. Yes, I’ve read the Bible too. I know. But when we talk about the reality of the world we live in that there can be some good people who don’t yet know Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. There can be some good Palestinian. But a lot of the Palestinian position as a whole, or many of the things they come with, you know, even as Mitch pointed out, how many times was there an offer for peace from Israel that was never accepted. And they were giving up so much land.

Palestinians and Arabs

The only thing you want as a land is as Palestinians, right, you want a land where you can raise your family, you can do business where you can exist, how many times Israel offer that and the Palestinians have never accepted? Because the point is, it’s not about them having their own place. It’s about Israel not having a place.

David Barton: That’s right. That’s exactly it. Tim, we have records of conferences, where the Palestinians and other Arabs say, “€œHey, we’re not just after this land; we just want the Jews gone.”€ And that’s why they’ve not accepted any other offers for partial land to live side by side, the Jews, that’s not what they want to do. They want what the Jews have, and they want the Jews gone. You know, Smith said “€˜to drive into the sea”€™ was the stated objective. And so that’s why they don’t settle disputes on land agreements. They want all of it.

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The EU”€™s New Anti-Semitic Labeling System “€“ With Special Guest Mitch Danzig

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