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From Bais Yaakov To The White House · None of Your Business Podcast

• 0:00
  I think a Jew walking in the streets of the United Arab
• 0:03
  Emirates right now, with a keep on his head can often be safer
• 0:06
  than, sadly, most of Western Europe and even some of our
• 0:10
  cities now in the United States. Doesn't that just blow your
• 0:13
  mind? Business Oshi.
• 0:17
  None of your business, Michael. It's the None of Your Business
• 0:20
  podcast hosted by Michael Anoshi.
• 0:22
  Welcome back everybody to another riveting episode of the
• 0:26
  None of Your Business podcast. I'm your host, Michael
• 0:28
  Greenfield. Joined with me is Oshi Schwartz.
• 0:49
  And of course, we're produced by the Prime Source production
• 0:52
  team. Thank you to subscribers,
• 0:53
  listeners, commenters. Speaking of which, we are with
• 0:56
  someone who I've been looking forward to this for a while.
• 0:59
  Ellie. I got to be honest with you.
• 1:00
  Ellie Kohanim, am I saying it correctly?
• 1:03
  Wow, what an amazing name. What an amazing story.
• 1:05
  I can't wait to get into it. Welcome to the program.
• 1:08
  Thank. You great to be with you.
• 1:09
  And I have to say that we always ask for recommendations at the
• 1:13
  end of the podcast for someone else, which we'll get to at the
• 1:15
  end. But we also ask people on
• 1:17
  LinkedIn, you know, who would you recommend?
• 1:19
  Someone recommended someone and that person was here.
• 1:21
  And we ask also our teammates from prime source, like who do
• 1:24
  you recommend every month when we have our call for the entire
• 1:27
  company? And Karen, kudos to you.
• 1:30
  Karen, second mention on the None of Your Business podcast
• 1:32
  recommended you. Wow, I love Karen so she and I
• 1:36
  are good friends and I'm so honored to be here.
• 1:38
  Amazing. Well, we love her too and we
• 1:40
  appreciate you being here. And, and again, I'm excited.
• 1:43
  You know, we have this little thing called ChatGPT said.
• 1:45
  What about you? It helps our audience get to
• 1:48
  know you real quick. I am so curious to hear what
• 1:50
  ChatGPT has to say. It'll be fine.
• 1:53
  It seems like everybody is like weary but curious at the same
• 1:58
  time. I'm curious, what does ChatGPT
• 2:00
  have to say? But it's funny because most
• 2:01
  people don't check like they're, they come on the podcast,
• 2:04
  they're sitting right where you are.
• 2:06
  And we do the same thing every time.
• 2:07
  And they're like, oh really? What What do they say?
• 2:09
  And I'm like, I would think by now, well, most people would
• 2:12
  have put their name into chat GB.
• 2:13
  Yeah, I think people are. Afraid actually, I guess.
• 2:15
  And you know, I didn't do it this time, but from now on, I
• 2:17
  think I'm gonna add give me something negative.
• 2:19
  Exactly. See what all these things seem a
• 2:20
  little bit positive? It's very.
• 2:22
  Positive. Can you dig up a little dirt,
• 2:24
  please? Like give us what we really
• 2:25
  wanna know. Well, there is a lot of.
• 2:27
  Controversy on this. I gotta be honest with you while
• 2:28
  I'm reading it right now I'm like oh you said that and you
• 2:31
  did. Whoa.
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  OK so here it. First of all, I am blown away by
• 2:35
  reading this now. I didn't even know this.
• 2:37
  You were born in Iran. I was born in Iran.
• 2:40
  Wow, did I say that properly? You did you like that I.
• 2:43
  For an Ashkenazi Jew, you got it right on.
• 2:46
  Was she right? No, it's Iran, Michael.
• 2:48
  I don't know who you think you are, though.
• 2:49
  You get to say it that way. Iran.
• 2:51
  You could say it that way. Say we're like white collar
• 2:55
  Americans, you know, So if I was.
• 2:56
  There, I'd run away. So yeah, I like that.
• 3:01
  You were born in Iran and you fled the Iranian revolution in
• 3:05
  1979, That's why. Which is proof that resilience
• 3:09
  isn't just a buzzword, it's your origin.
• 3:15
  Wow that's pretty amazing. From a journalist to a US deputy
• 3:19
  envoy for combating anti-Semitism.
• 3:22
  You literally went from breaking news to making news.
• 3:27
  Aren't they good? Aren't they amazing?
• 3:29
  And you've been on Fox, right? And not just on a video.
• 3:32
  No, I've, I've been in, in Fox, in studio multiple times.
• 3:35
  Very honored for that. Wow, what'd they call you in
• 3:38
  for? So typically Fox has me as a
• 3:41
  commentator on Iran, which is fantastic because I love being
• 3:48
  given the opportunity to talk with the American people
• 3:51
  essentially about the Iranian threat.
• 3:54
  And there's so much for us to talk about there if, if you want
• 3:58
  to. Discuss.
• 3:59
  I'm just going to read this quickly because I really want to
• 4:01
  go back to everything and I want to hear your story and where
• 4:03
  you're from. I'm fascinated by this stuff.
• 4:05
  I think most of us are, you know, when we hear that, like,
• 4:08
  you know, modern woman living in New York City, America,
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  whatever, and you're coming in here and she's.
• 4:13
  Like a foreign concept. Yeah, like it doesn't make sense
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  to me what you're from. We don't talk, of course, people
• 4:17
  like you every day amongst our circles like you already just by
• 4:22
  starting out coming from Iran, It's like all right, there's a
• 4:25
  lot to unpack here. Let's get into it.
• 4:27
  You're. Fighting anti-Semitism by
• 4:29
  convincing imams to put hatred on mute.
• 4:32
  I'm not sure what it means by that.
• 4:34
  Want to get into that cold COVID conspiracy theorists modern day
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  bloodline. I'm not sure where he gets that
• 4:40
  from, but the translation is you know how to drop a mic and a
• 4:43
  history lesson at the same time? OK cool.
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  And Twitter once had a thing in your past with Ayatollah where
• 4:52
  something where it's. Pressuring Twitter to ban the
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  Ayatollah. When he decided to ban President
• 4:58
  Trump and still gave what I call the hater in chief, the supreme
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  hater in Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei was always given a
• 5:11
  platform. They've never de platformed him.
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  And this is Twitter under the old regime, before Elon Musk
• 5:16
  bought it and turned it into X. If you remember right, President
• 5:20
  Trump was the platform president of the United States, and yet
• 5:23
  they had people like Ayatollah Khamenei still free speech for
• 5:27
  him, but not for the president. And others and you responded to
• 5:30
  something or like this. Yeah, I mean, I was.
• 5:32
  I actually went on Fox News about it.
• 5:35
  I was very outspoken and vocal on social media, on Twitter at
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  the time, you know, asking them to reconsider what they were
• 5:43
  doing against President Trump. And again, if you're going to do
• 5:46
  that to the former president of the United States, at that
• 5:48
  point, why not take the hater in chief off of of the your
• 5:54
  platform? You got to have it both ways.
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  I mean, like either a general rule, you know, anybody that
• 5:58
  spreads hate or is a danger to society, take them off.
• 6:02
  I hear it. But you start picking and
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  choosing and it's a very clear line with the tell of the
• 6:06
  Iranian supreme leader. I mean, he wants the whole world
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  under Sharia law, you know, I mean, he's very open about what
• 6:15
  he really wants and what he what, what they stand for.
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  How could he be and forget about Trump and anybody else.
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  Like it just doesn't make sense. It's like, obviously you're
• 6:23
  allowing anybody, like any maniac could be on here.
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  But him you have a problem with a lot of.
• 6:27
  Credibility coming coming from Someone Like You.
• 6:29
  So we have to go back. Well, she always comes in at
• 6:31
  this point and says like, let's dial it back a little bit.
• 6:34
  Yeah. But normally I would say like,
• 6:35
  let's go back. That's when your life got
• 6:37
  interesting. Like don't take me back all the
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  way to the beginning. But with you, I actually do want
• 6:41
  to go all the way back to the beginning.
• 6:42
  OK, I understand like where you were born, where you grew up,
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  what your life looked like at that point, a little bit about
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  your family. And then when you made your way
• 6:52
  out, let's let's go through the motions on unfold all of this,
• 6:56
  unpack all of this for us. Let's start from the beginning.
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  OK, was she? So I was born in Iran, like we
• 7:00
  discussed, to a Jewish family, and Iranian Jews are one of the
• 7:05
  two most ancient Jewish communities in the world.
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  We trace back to the First Temple in the Bible.
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  When Jews are forced out of Jerusalem and into the diaspora,
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  they go to Babylonia, ancient Persia.
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  And so the Jews in Iran were there predating the Islamic
• 7:24
  conquest. And so we were there for
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  thousands of years, approximately 3000.
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  And Fast forward to 1979. There's this Islamic revolution.
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  Ayatollah Khomeini comes in, grabs power.
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  The king at the time, the Shah of Iran, is pushed out, and the
• 7:42
  Jews suddenly find ourselves under threat.
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  There were about 100,000 Jews living in Iran at the time under
• 7:47
  the Shah. You asked what life was like for
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  for the Jewish community. Certainly.
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  And I would say for a huge segment of Iran, there was a
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  flourishing middle class. There was so much prosperity.
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  There was oil and the Shah of Iran was modernizing the
• 8:03
  country. And that was part of why the
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  radical Islamists pushed him out, because he instituted anti
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  hijab laws. He brought again, modernity,
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  prosperity and Western flavor to Iran.
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  So if you see pictures of my mom in Iran in the 60s and 70s, she
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  looks like she could be in New York, she looks like she could
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  be in Paris. Really fashionable, latest
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  styles. So 1979 Islamic Revolution,
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  100,000 Jews. And one of the first things that
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  the regime did was they executed the president of the Iranian
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  Jewish community, Mr. Habib Al Vanayan And that was when the
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  Jews in Iran understood that we were under threat if they could
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  kill the president of the community.
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  Under what charges? What was their?
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  I think they call them a Zionist spy, which is like the, you
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  know, the typical thing, Zionists.
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  That's the go to. Yeah, the go to everybody's a
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  Zionist spy. And so if they could execute
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  him, they could execute anyone. And so that was when Mike, my
• 9:00
  family and majority of the Jews of Iran began our escape.
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  We were so blessed and fortunate to come to the US and be given
• 9:10
  refugee status. And so we came to the United
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  States as real refugees, in contrast to, let's say, a quote,
• 9:18
  UN quote, you know, the asylum seekers who today are coming in
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  through the southern border. We were actual political
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  refugees, understanding that we could be killed for being a
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  religious minority in the country we came from.
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  Yeah, and how old were you at that time?
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  I was about 6 1/2 so I started first grade in the US.
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  Wow, do you remember that time period of actually travelling
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  like to the United? Like do you remember that at
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  all? Any memories?
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  So, Oshi, I have a child's memory of Iran.
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  I remember our house. I remember I have a memory of
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  during the revolution, there was a lot of chaos in the streets
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  and there were people just shooting bullets into the air.
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  One bullet landed in my cousin's bedroom.
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  My own father had done business with Israel in the 70s.
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  He had a large construction works company and he had hired
• 10:08
  Israeli engineers. And so he, what happened with my
• 10:12
  family in particular was that he had lent people some money
• 10:16
  during the revolution, try to collect.
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  And the person said to him, Kohanim, come back again.
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  I'm going to denounce you as a Zionist spy.
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  And so that's why my father decided very early on in the
• 10:27
  revolution to leave and we got on an airplane and left.
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  After that point we were on, I think one of the last flights.
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  They closed the borders. Wow, so just in the nick of
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  time. Just in the nick of time.
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  And how many in your family? So we're 5 total, my parents and
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  three children. So older brother, older sister,
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  myself and I just want to share. We have a real American dream
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  story. So again, I'm so blessed and
• 10:52
  fortunate to have been raised in the US.
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  My older sister is the first Iranian American elected judge
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  in the United States. And my older brother's a doctor.
• 11:01
  So my parents, you know, they hit all the checkmarks of Jewish
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  parents, A doctor, a lawyer. Did your parents up in heaven
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  before they came down and they were grabbing like, you know,
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  different luck and different things?
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  Did they take it all and leave anything for the next person?
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  I I think my parents are amazing people.
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  I mean you're all very under accomplished, you know, I mean
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  all three, you know, you guys went oh for three there.
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  That's very impressive. Thank you.
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  I'm. Curious.
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  You left people behind. I'm curious about that.
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  Like when you left, like you knew people that didn't make it
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  out and what was that vibe like? Like, oh, we're coming.
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  We're not kind. Of interrupted.
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  Do you see the stark difference between us?
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  You see how empathetic he is? Yeah, he's immediately thinking
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  about. All right, so you left people
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  behind. And that must have been your
• 11:41
  friends, your cousins, your family.
• 11:42
  We're impressed by the success and I want.
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  And the glamour. That's what I want to know
• 11:46
  about. That's what you'll learn a lot
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  of differences between. Well, you're.
• 11:49
  A great balancing. Yeah.
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  And Michael, that's a great question.
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  So we did. So we got here 79 in the early
• 11:59
  80s. We did still have family left in
• 12:01
  Iran. Eventually all of my immediate
• 12:03
  family, thank God, left. So they either came to the US or
• 12:07
  majority went to Israel. That has been a great advantage
• 12:12
  for me in life because I am very outspoken against the Iranian
• 12:16
  regime. And partially the reason I can
• 12:19
  do that is that they cannot target my family who's still
• 12:22
  left behind for it. A lot of Iranian dissidents,
• 12:27
  journalists, opposition figures are always worried about any
• 12:32
  family they might have back home who will get targeted.
• 12:35
  I mean, that's a part of what the regime does is they target
• 12:37
  family members. Wow, how many people today
• 12:42
  actively are living in Iran as openly Jewish?
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  So the numbers are somewhere between less than 10,000 Jews
• 12:51
  left, eight 8010 thousand. And what's keeping them there?
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  Why aren't they? Why isn't every last person
• 12:59
  being brought here or to Israel or somewhere?
• 13:02
  So is she. I would tell you that partially,
• 13:05
  I think people feel they are really, really Persian.
• 13:09
  They are Iranian. You know, it's how we began our
• 13:12
  conversation about this being one of the most ancient Jewish
• 13:14
  communities. And I think partially they are
• 13:18
  just so part of the place that even the Iranian regime cannot
• 13:23
  push them out. And then the other is there are
• 13:27
  people who are elder and elderly and I think it's hard for them
• 13:29
  to leave. Some of it is financial.
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  I think people have, you know, a middle class lifestyle and they
• 13:35
  think about the currency is worth nothing.
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  And every day that goes by the Iranian currency is worth less
• 13:41
  and less. So they could never, you know,
• 13:43
  recreate a lifestyle. They, I think they understand
• 13:46
  that once they leave Iran, they will be poverty stricken,
• 13:49
  whether it's Israel or the United States.
• 13:52
  So all of those reasons, I think combined, yeah, make it
• 13:55
  whoever's left makes it hard for them to leave.
• 13:57
  There's a lot of history. I mean, the whole Megillah,
• 13:59
  right? That whole story of Purim took
• 14:02
  place in in Iran. Is is the Mordecai buried there
• 14:05
  or they're? Protecting it, I believe, yeah.
• 14:07
  Right there's a lot of burial sites there from a lot of you
• 14:09
  know, large, big leading figures, you know, and in our
• 14:12
  history. So it's really holds a lot of a
• 14:15
  lot of place in our hearts, you know for many thousands of
• 14:19
  years. So I get, I get the connection
• 14:20
  to logging through it, but at a certain point, you know, it's,
• 14:23
  it's either your life or your, you know, or, or your heritage.
• 14:27
  And you're going to have to ultimately pick.
• 14:28
  And there's a lot of Jewish, I mean, Israel, look what Israel's
• 14:31
  thriving today. You know, even in America, all
• 14:33
  the communities are thriving. So you come to New York.
• 14:36
  Where did you guys end up? Where did you go in in America?
• 14:38
  We came to Queens, NY, OK. And that is the Iranian Jews
• 14:42
  have two big centers in the US One is New York, the other, the
• 14:47
  bigger one is Los Angeles. And so if you go to LA, there's
• 14:51
  neighborhoods, they call it like Tahranjalis, and there's a lot
• 14:56
  of stores with Farsi signs in the windows.
• 14:59
  Very fascinating for me in the Pico area is kosher and Persian
• 15:05
  Jewish. So there's a lot in LA, New
• 15:07
  York, we most of us came to Queens.
• 15:09
  And then eventually, I call it the Jerusalem of the Iranian
• 15:13
  Jews's Great Neck, Long Island, of course, the communities in
• 15:17
  Great Neck, yeah. What's the difference between
• 15:19
  Syrians and are there any connect any energy between that
• 15:23
  or is it totally separate? Totally separate.
• 15:25
  I have a lot of respect and admiration for the Syrian Jewish
• 15:28
  community. They've been here about four
• 15:30
  generations, so they're here longer than us.
• 15:32
  And I think that they've managed to maintain their Jewish
• 15:35
  heritage much stronger, their religious identity much
• 15:38
  stronger. I think the Iranian Jews have a
• 15:41
  lot to learn from the Syrian Jews.
• 15:43
  Unfortunately, the public schools in Great Nick have been
• 15:46
  so fantastic that a lot of the kids in our community have gone
• 15:49
  to public school know less about their Judaism.
• 15:52
  So I think it's been one of the advantages of being in Brooklyn.
• 15:55
  You wouldn't put your kids in public school.
• 15:57
  Naturally people wind up putting their kids in yeshiva and I
• 16:00
  think you maintain their the heritage stronger that way.
• 16:03
  So I think that Persian Jews could really learn a lot from
• 16:07
  the Syrian community. But there is some intermarriage
• 16:10
  and it's so funny to say that because both of our communities
• 16:13
  are very, I think tight knit and so there.
• 16:17
  But there is some marriage between our communities.
• 16:19
  I did. Learn about it.
• 16:20
  I spent the weekend in New York City and Safra Synagogue and a
• 16:24
  lot of Persian Jews there. I learned about the community.
• 16:26
  They don't let them marry from outside because they don't want
• 16:29
  to lose that I guess community base.
• 16:32
  Yeah, the purity of it. Yeah, I think the parents
• 16:35
  definitely prefer for everyone to marry with it.
• 16:37
  Right, right. And they push for that a lot,
• 16:39
  which is kind of cool. I mean in a way, but in a way it
• 16:42
  makes it more difficult then because you're, you know, less
• 16:45
  options I guess. I I agree, Michael, but the one
• 16:48
  thing I'll say is that again, these Jewish communities are so
• 16:53
  ancient. The tradition is so ancient and
• 16:56
  if, if there's any way for the elders to, to maintain the
• 17:00
  heritage, it's just so rich. It's such a, it's such a
• 17:04
  beautiful part for me of the Jewish tradition.
• 17:06
  And, and you know, I say this as someone who when we first came
• 17:10
  to America and wind up in Queens.
• 17:12
  So my parents have no idea. They're like total immigrants,
• 17:15
  no idea what's going on. Don't speak the language.
• 17:17
  They don't speak the language, they don't know what's going on.
• 17:19
  But they did put me and my sister in public school first.
• 17:23
  Quickly realized public school is bad news in Queens, Ringo
• 17:27
  Park, New York. So they find the base Yakov of
• 17:31
  Queens and they put me and my sister there not realizing
• 17:35
  really anything what base Yakov is.
• 17:38
  But you know, it's all girls, it's Jewish.
• 17:40
  What could be bad? That's what I want to hear
• 17:42
  about. How did that work out for you?
• 17:44
  Like going through that process. So I think what happened was
• 17:48
  that first of all, I feel very fortunate that I believe have a
• 17:51
  good Jewish educational foundation as a graduate of the
• 17:56
  base outcome of Queens through 8th grade.
• 17:59
  The second thing, though, I think it did for me was really
• 18:03
  exposed me to the Ashkenazi Jewish experience.
• 18:06
  And So what I think that's helped me understand is having
• 18:12
  more of a sense of the overall Jewish experience.
• 18:14
  So I have obviously grew up Persian and know about the
• 18:17
  Mizrahi, this farty Jewish experience and and so much of
• 18:21
  the oppression, the sad stories, but also the happy, but the sad
• 18:25
  stories, the oppression that Jews in the Middle East under
• 18:28
  Islam face and then understanding the Ashkenazi
• 18:31
  experience of Jews in Europe and you know, obviously in the
• 18:34
  culmination of the Holocaust. And I can tell you as as a
• 18:37
  little girl in Baisakov of Queens, I didn't realize what it
• 18:41
  meant. But we had teachers who had the,
• 18:44
  the numbers on their arms and we had the cooks in the Baisakov
• 18:49
  because Rabbi Newman, the the great and famous rabbi who was
• 18:53
  our principal, I think he went out of his way.
• 18:56
  And so the, the kitchen staff were all survivors.
• 18:58
  Again, we didn't really understand any of this until
• 19:01
  about 7th or 8th grade. But they had numbers on their
• 19:04
  arms. And so this was just like the
• 19:06
  milieu that I grew up in was survivor, so his children and
• 19:11
  grandchildren of survivors in Basiakov.
• 19:14
  And after we got to a certain age, Rabbi Newman and the
• 19:17
  teachers did obviously talk to us about what happened.
• 19:20
  And, and I'll never forget that he was in particular very angry
• 19:23
  about the British not allowing the Jews to get to Israel.
• 19:26
  He used to talk about that to us all the time.
• 19:28
  Besides what happened with the Holocaust, the fact that the
• 19:31
  British didn't allow the Jews to go to Israel.
• 19:33
  So, you know, so, so this is something that I think became
• 19:36
  like really a fabric of who I am.
• 19:39
  And when you asked me, was she about, you know, like, when did
• 19:43
  life get exciting? I got a phone call out of the
• 19:45
  blue. I guess it was 16.
• 19:49
  I should get my timeline. No, I think it was 17.
• 19:52
  Phone call out of the blue asking me if I would serve in
• 19:54
  the Trump administration. And I said in what capacity and
• 19:56
  they asked. They said in the anti-Semitism
• 19:59
  office and without even thinking about it for a second, I
• 20:03
  immediately said yes. Not even understanding it means
• 20:06
  relocating to DC. Nothing.
• 20:08
  I just see media say yes, of course, because it was the
• 20:11
  opportunity for me to finally give back to America, this
• 20:13
  amazing country that took me in as a child refugee, but also to
• 20:17
  help the Jewish people. How do you say no to that?
• 20:19
  Right? But I think the reason why that
• 20:21
  was just my immediate gut reaction was because I had
• 20:24
  understood anti-Semitism in my bones from having escaped Iran
• 20:29
  as a child coming here and then also learning the Ashkenazi
• 20:33
  experience of anti-Semitism. And so it's something that I
• 20:36
  think has been my life's work without.
• 20:38
  I have to ask. You did this in high school?
• 20:40
  Like how did they get your number?
• 20:41
  Were you outspoken? Like what we miss?
• 20:44
  So, yeah, I was extremely outspoken, really.
• 20:49
  I would tell you that I think Barack Obama is the person who
• 20:52
  turned me into the most outspoken person at that time
• 20:56
  against the Iran deal. Obama, as you all know, as your
• 21:02
  audience knows, sold the American people this very bad
• 21:07
  bill of goods about how the US made a deal with Iran that put
• 21:14
  the Iranian regime on the pathway to a nuclear bomb in
• 21:18
  2025. And that was the pathway that
• 21:21
  they were on. And, and I knew right away that
• 21:26
  this was incredibly dangerous for the whole world, certainly
• 21:28
  for the Jewish people, certainly for the Jewish state of Israel.
• 21:31
  Khamenei, who we started this conversation about on Twitter,
• 21:34
  he had, he had tweeted out a 13 point plan for the destruction
• 21:38
  of Israel in Iran. They, their policies, the state
• 21:42
  policies, death to America, death to Israel.
• 21:44
  So, you know, as an Iranian, someone who escaped that regime,
• 21:47
  I knew this was an incredible existential threat to Israel, to
• 21:50
  the Jewish people, but also to America and to the world.
• 21:54
  And so Barack Obama made me very outspoken.
• 21:57
  And so I think maybe that is part of the reason, Michael,
• 22:00
  that I was tapped for that deputy envoy to combat
• 22:03
  anti-Semitism position. Whoa, that's a mouthful.
• 22:07
  That's what it ended up being, yes, but you so in terms of, you
• 22:11
  know, the reaction that you had to everything that you saw,
• 22:13
  though, were you feeling it on the streets?
• 22:15
  Were you discussing it with people?
• 22:16
  Were you tweeting like what were you doing?
• 22:18
  What? What was your world like then as
• 22:20
  a teeny? Real entrance way into making a
• 22:23
  scene like. A vocal a lot of teenagers like.
• 22:25
  Feel things a teenager at this point, at that point, I
• 22:28
  appreciate this. I think maybe think I'm younger
• 22:30
  than I am, Michael. No, I wasn't a teenager during
• 22:34
  Obama. I was a broadcast journalist.
• 22:36
  I was working for Jewish Broadcasting Service, for JBS
• 22:39
  TV. And before that, you know, I
• 22:43
  had, I had been very involved in the Jewish communal world.
• 22:46
  I had been on the boards of American Jewish Committee.
• 22:50
  I had worked at UJA Federation of New York.
• 22:52
  I had spent many years in my career in the Jewish communal
• 22:54
  world, but I would say the the journalism I was doing was what
• 22:59
  gave me a platform, an outlet to be outspoken against the Iran
• 23:04
  deal and also activism. I just, I kind of became an
• 23:07
  activist. Right.
• 23:10
  What was that first thing that you left high school like?
• 23:13
  Where did your life go in your early 20s?
• 23:15
  I was a student at Barnard College, Columbia University and
• 23:19
  so when you ask me what is Fox News bring me on often about
• 23:22
  Iran but also about anti-Semitism of course.
• 23:24
  And I've been also very outspoken about my alma mater
• 23:28
  becoming the Ground Zero for the pro Hamas movement in our
• 23:33
  country since October 7th. So, you know, it's, it's been
• 23:37
  for me a great shame, my alma mater that I was so proud of
• 23:41
  being a graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University,
• 23:45
  you know, as a as an immigrant child, it was such a big deal
• 23:49
  for me that I had achieved that. And now to look at my alma mater
• 23:52
  and say, God, you know, this is where the president of Columbia
• 23:56
  University on the day one when she saw this pro Hamas movement
• 23:59
  flourishing on her campus, she should have stood up to them and
• 24:03
  said, no, get out. You know, we're not a, we're not
• 24:06
  a font of hatred. We're a university, a place for
• 24:09
  ideas. And they didn't do that at
• 24:11
  Columbia. And to this day, Columbia has a
• 24:13
  lot of work ahead of them. Yeah, yeah.
• 24:15
  And anybody who doesn't do anything about it, like, you
• 24:18
  know, the inability to act is compliciteness.
• 24:21
  You know, it's, it's helping get along and it's adding fuel to
• 24:24
  the fire. So when you see something that's
• 24:27
  wrong, you go and you stop it, you know, and if you don't, it's
• 24:30
  somewhat of you agreeing to it. It's it's giving your, your
• 24:33
  approval. I want to go back a minute to
• 24:35
  your parents when they got here because I could wait to see you.
• 24:39
  You're obviously a very accomplished person, as are your
• 24:41
  siblings. What did your parents do when
• 24:43
  they go? How did your parents make a
• 24:44
  living? Your father?
• 24:46
  What was your mother like? How did they integrate, you
• 24:49
  know, and, and produce such amazing wolfspring like that
• 24:53
  starts with them. How did they?
• 24:55
  How did this happen? So it's a great question and I
• 24:57
  think understanding the America as a place where immigrants for
• 25:04
  generations have come and have achieved the American dream.
• 25:08
  I always say that I feel like our family, and I always said
• 25:10
  that earlier, right? That this is a country where the
• 25:13
  American Dream is so still alive.
• 25:15
  And one of the things that infuriates me the most is all
• 25:18
  the hatred that's directed towards our country.
• 25:22
  So many people are just completely just lying, lies,
• 25:27
  propaganda about America. And so look, my parents came
• 25:32
  here with basically the shirts on their back.
• 25:34
  They came with very little. They were able to bring very
• 25:36
  little out of Iran during the revolution.
• 25:38
  Because if you think about what happens during a revolution, the
• 25:41
  currency goes into freefall. Nobody wants to buy your assets
• 25:46
  because everybody's, you know, it's a revolution, people,
• 25:48
  everybody else, anyone who can is trying to escape.
• 25:50
  You don't know. It's complete chaos.
• 25:51
  Somebody knows where the country's headed.
• 25:53
  So your assets become worthless. So my parents couldn't bring
• 25:57
  much with them. We landed in Rego Park, Queens,
• 26:01
  and they had to start over again.
• 26:03
  They had to learn the language, which they did, and they had to
• 26:06
  just start over again. And they struggled and it was
• 26:09
  very traumatic for them. They had a beautiful life in
• 26:11
  Iran. They came here with it
• 26:13
  practically nothing, had to start over again.
• 26:15
  It was very, very hard. So you grew up in not in luxury.
• 26:21
  You didn't grow up comfortable, you grew up in a struggling
• 26:25
  environment. Yes, very much so, very much so.
• 26:28
  And again, you know, I think that is the classic American
• 26:32
  experience, that somebody in the family at some generational
• 26:37
  point was an immigrant to the US And this is a country where
• 26:41
  people bootstrap. And that is the beauty of
• 26:44
  America is that we don't live in a classist country where
• 26:48
  opportunities and exists, opportunity exists everywhere.
• 26:51
  And so I think that, you know, my parents bootstrap to the best
• 26:56
  of their ability to give us everything that they could.
• 26:59
  And I would say that my father was a big believer, is a big
• 27:02
  believer in education. So even though I would tell you
• 27:06
  traditionally Iranian men were not big on education for their
• 27:10
  daughters, my dad was exceptional in that way and he
• 27:13
  really did push education on me and my sister.
• 27:16
  And I think that that was a big part of it.
• 27:18
  He really encouraged us. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:20
  He had the foresight. And you know, Michael, I, we
• 27:23
  talk about this a lot. We're big believers in the
• 27:26
  Jewish community, firm Jewish community.
• 27:28
  A lot of times we put a lot of stock in the boys and in the
• 27:31
  teenage boys and, you know, and the men and the women, you know,
• 27:34
  they, they, you know, don't necessarily, you don't see them
• 27:37
  at the forefront as much as you'll see a man.
• 27:39
  And it's changed. It's in our communities.
• 27:41
  It's really changed. And women can accomplish
• 27:44
  anything. You know, it's very traditional
• 27:46
  to like, you know, the boys do this, the boys do that and the
• 27:49
  girls more or less stay at home, right?
• 27:51
  But I mean, look, look at what you've done and what you've
• 27:53
  accomplished. I mean, you're a voice for
• 27:55
  hundreds of thousands of people. So I'm, I'm really, I was
• 27:58
  grateful to your father that he had the foresight and say, no,
• 28:00
  no, I want them to be educated and not follow the traditional
• 28:03
  path, you know, of, of putting stock in the boys.
• 28:06
  And I'll say one more thing, Ellie, I'll say one more thing
• 28:09
  for all the people. And there are many that hate on
• 28:11
  America and the United States. Somehow, nobody ever leaves and
• 28:15
  everybody is still dying to get in.
• 28:16
  Exactly right, yeah. It's it's probably the leading
• 28:19
  country where most people are attempting to get into right by
• 28:23
  far. It's not even close.
• 28:24
  You may want to combine the rest of the country.
• 28:25
  You still won't get to the number of how many people are
• 28:28
  desperately people are giving up their lives worth.
• 28:30
  Exactly. You always hear about people
• 28:31
  crossing the southern border you mentioned, but do you know at
• 28:33
  what peril and at what risk they're actually trying to get
• 28:36
  in? I mean, they're doing just
• 28:38
  unfathomable things to try to get in.
• 28:40
  That's how desperately they want a beer.
• 28:43
  Because we're such a bad country, right?
• 28:44
  That's the reason why. No.
• 28:45
  So obviously there's something, there's something to it.
• 28:48
  There's other ulterior motives that people have.
• 28:50
  Yeah, a lot of self interests also being being served.
• 28:54
  And, and one more thing while I'm on this rent and I'll say is
• 28:57
  because you also mentioned it is that, you know, why protect
• 29:00
  Israel? Like a lot of American taxpayer
• 29:02
  money goes towards Israel and goes towards, you know, and
• 29:05
  there's a side that you know, why are we giving?
• 29:06
  It's a foreign country, it's America first, Why are we giving
• 29:09
  to them? You know, nobody seems to ask
• 29:11
  the question, why are I don't know how many other hundreds of
• 29:13
  other countries also getting foreign aid?
• 29:15
  Do you have a problem with that? That's specifically the problem
• 29:17
  with Israel. But I think what a big portion
• 29:20
  of our country faces they're ignoring is that this isn't just
• 29:24
  an Israel America problem. It's a world problem.
• 29:27
  And we're doing everybody a favor.
• 29:28
  We're fighting the good fight and we're sending our little
• 29:31
  boys and girls to go out there and fight on a war that is going
• 29:34
  to come on your doorstep very, very soon.
• 29:36
  If people realize the dangers of radical Islam, of a radical.
• 29:40
  And Trump always says, he always said is say it what it is.
• 29:43
  It's radical Islamic terrorism. That's what it is.
• 29:46
  We have no problem with the Muslim community.
• 29:48
  We've been side by side for thousands of years.
• 29:51
  We have many periods of time that we got along with them.
• 29:54
  You know, we're cousins. We have relationships.
• 29:57
  But it's the radical extreme Islamic terrorists that are a
• 30:01
  big problem and that's manifesting itself all over the
• 30:04
  world. They're growing.
• 30:06
  They have a lot of resources. And if we don't get rid of it,
• 30:09
  so we're doing a big service to the entire world, we should be
• 30:12
  thanked for it. Quite frankly, we should be
• 30:14
  thanked for instead of that, all of this propaganda that's being
• 30:17
  straight about everything. It's like what is going on?
• 30:20
  Sometimes it just boggles your mind.
• 30:22
  How can people not see clearly What is they themselves telling
• 30:26
  you? It's like, it's not even like
• 30:27
  they're hiding it. You have to go find it.
• 30:29
  They're putting it out there for you to see and yet people still
• 30:32
  go. I'm sorry I'm on a rant over
• 30:34
  here, but. She I think, I think you're 100.
• 30:36
  Percent. Give Fox News his number,
• 30:37
  please. Not listen, I I'm saying this
• 30:40
  now here between I don't. Know we've spoken about.
• 30:42
  Harder say it on a big platform and you know, really millions of
• 30:45
  people listen to you. Whoa, whoa, I give you a lot of
• 30:46
  credit then. And, you know, we need people
• 30:48
  like you that are out there that are fighting the good fight and
• 30:50
  speaking your mind and, you know, a Jewish representative
• 30:54
  nonetheless, you know, and it's, I have a lot of admiration for
• 30:57
  for what you're doing. Thank you.
• 30:58
  And, and look, you know, I really appreciate that you are
• 31:00
  making the distinct distinction between radical Islam and the
• 31:04
  Muslim world because you're right.
• 31:06
  We are cousins with our Muslim neighbors, you know, my former
• 31:10
  neighbors. And part of what I had the
• 31:14
  privilege of doing in the Trump administration is that, you
• 31:17
  know, when, when they tapped me, I immediately asked for the Iran
• 31:20
  portfolio. I asked for the Middle East
• 31:22
  portfolio and I was given that for our office.
• 31:25
  And we came into office not knowing where things would land.
• 31:29
  But thanks to President Trump's leadership, senior advisor Jared
• 31:34
  Kushner and others, I can't go through the whole senior list of
• 31:39
  the administration. But by the end of the
• 31:41
  administration, President Trump brokers the Abraham Accords.
• 31:46
  Now, we were kind of under the guidance of the White House that
• 31:51
  we were working in this direction.
• 31:53
  So part of what happened for me in My Portfolio was that I was a
• 31:57
  part of the Abraham Accords, what we called the Warm Peace
• 32:00
  team. And so I was working very
• 32:03
  closely with the Arab world and with the moderate Gulf Arab
• 32:07
  countries, and they are now proving to be just the best
• 32:14
  allies that Israel has. And part of what I have found to
• 32:18
  be just the most greatest cause for optimism in the world is my
• 32:25
  Arab Zionist friends. And believe it or not, they
• 32:27
  exist. So, you know, I'm talking about
• 32:30
  people like Louis Al Sharif, Amja Taha.
• 32:33
  If you go on social media, you will find them the, the NGO
• 32:38
  called Sharaka, they have a whole group of people in the
• 32:42
  from Muslim countries in the Arab world who are out there
• 32:46
  actually advocating on behalf of Israel.
• 32:48
  It's an incredible thing to see. And just all of the people to
• 32:53
  people relationships that have come out of the Abraham Accords
• 32:57
  have have just again, been such a cause of optimism.
• 33:01
  And I will tell you that I think a Jew walking in the streets of
• 33:05
  the United Arab Emirates right now with a keep on his head can
• 33:08
  often be safer than, sadly, most of Western Europe and even some
• 33:13
  of our cities now in the United States.
• 33:15
  Doesn't that just blow your mind?
• 33:16
  It is mind blowing. It's unbelievable.
• 33:19
  And it's so true what you're saying.
• 33:20
  I believe every word of it because you could for myself,
• 33:23
  Michael, I'm sure you too. We go sometimes just to New York
• 33:26
  City and I feel a little bit unsafe.
• 33:28
  I have, I have like this little flinch of maybe taking off my
• 33:31
  Yamaha because why should people over here know that I'm Jewish?
• 33:33
  What do I need this for? This extra headache?
• 33:35
  Like, Oh my God, ten years ago, 15 years ago, I never would have
• 33:39
  thought of that. And it's only getting worse, you
• 33:41
  know, and in Saudi Arabia and in in the UAE, whatever, in certain
• 33:45
  places, they actually understand the culture and the religion
• 33:49
  more and they're more acceptable.
• 33:51
  It's just it's mind boggling. I, by mistake, bumped into a
• 33:54
  protest in New York City, didn't know what was going on.
• 33:56
  Yeah, I remember that story. And I said to the cop, I'm like,
• 33:58
  is it safe for me to be here? And he literally looked at me.
• 34:00
  He goes. You should leave.
• 34:01
  Yeah, I have it on video. I was like, Oh my gosh.
• 34:03
  Because I, I wasn't sure what was going on, right?
• 34:05
  And I couldn't believe I was scared.
• 34:06
  And it was just like I, I, I couldn't believe I was scared to
• 34:09
  be in New York City at the moment.
• 34:10
  It was just. We were going down such a
• 34:12
  dangerous path. That's why I think it was such
• 34:14
  an heroic thing where Trump came into office.
• 34:17
  Yeah, because he was the exact opposite.
• 34:19
  And he has no boundaries, no limitations.
• 34:21
  And I think that's what a lot of people don't like about him as
• 34:23
  well. But at the end of the day, you
• 34:25
  needed somebody on the other side of him that's not afraid to
• 34:28
  say what he wants, not afraid because we were, we were really
• 34:31
  heading in a terrible direction. We needed somebody crazy,
• 34:34
  Needless to say, to come in and just quickly turn it all around.
• 34:37
  Have you met him? Have you met I?
• 34:39
  Have had the honor and privilege of meeting President Trump.
• 34:43
  I wouldn't use that language to describe President Trump.
• 34:45
  I would tell you this, I think President Trump on the world
• 34:48
  stage is unpredictable as a leader.
• 34:52
  And I think that is one of his greatest strengths and it's one
• 34:55
  of the biggest assets we have as a country.
• 34:57
  Because when you look around the world and you understand who our
• 35:00
  adversaries are, you're talking about China, Russia, Iran, North
• 35:04
  Korea. And these are just some of the
• 35:07
  most evil people and most evil regimes out there.
• 35:11
  And they want to destroy America if they could, You know, they
• 35:14
  want to destroy our entire lifestyle, our freedoms, our
• 35:17
  prosperity, everything good about this country.
• 35:20
  And you have a president like Donald Trump in the White House
• 35:25
  who is unpredictable. It makes them think twice about
• 35:30
  what they're gonna do to the US and to our allies and to our
• 35:36
  interests in the world. And so I think that, you know,
• 35:39
  President Trump is really, I believe the greatest leader,
• 35:46
  greatest president in our lifetimes.
• 35:48
  And it's funny, just yesterday I, I reposted a couple of years
• 35:56
  ago. So between the first
• 35:57
  administration and this election, I had the honor of
• 36:03
  helping to present President Trump with this award.
• 36:06
  It was the Defender of Zion award at Mar a Lago.
• 36:10
  And that night in my presentation to him, I called
• 36:15
  him our modern day Cyrus the Great and said that he would be
• 36:18
  remembered in history for standing with the Jewish people.
• 36:21
  And look, obviously I know that I look at the world through a
• 36:25
  Jewish lens. But if you look at the the, the
• 36:28
  broad sweep of history, Cyrus the Great is someone who to this
• 36:32
  day, we all know who that is. We know his name, and that's
• 36:36
  partially because he gave the Jews the freedom to go back and
• 36:40
  rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and gave, you know, he was like,
• 36:42
  the first leader to believe in human rights at the time.
• 36:46
  And I believe that President Trump is going to go down in
• 36:49
  history. He will be forever remembered
• 36:51
  for all of the brave acts that he's done for our country, but
• 36:54
  also for the Jewish people. You can't dispute that.
• 36:57
  You cannot dispute those olfacts.
• 36:59
  Everything you just said is and you need a little bit of crazy
• 37:03
  to come back crazy. You know, you need fire.
• 37:05
  You got if you if you're playing with fire and a way to put it
• 37:08
  out is with more fire, you need fire with fire.
• 37:10
  That's the way it is. You're looking at Putin, you're
• 37:12
  looking at, you know, China, you're looking at North Korea.
• 37:15
  I mean, they all have nothing in common except one thing.
• 37:17
  They all hate America. That's what they banned behind.
• 37:19
  That's what they unite on. That's it.
• 37:21
  It's that they want to become the next World power.
• 37:23
  Imagine there's no America. You know what's next?
• 37:25
  Each other, then they're going to go after each other.
• 37:27
  That's what's going to be left, you know, so you need a
• 37:30
  protector of the realm. And at the end of the day, I
• 37:32
  think Donald Trump, that's what I meant before.
• 37:34
  And I said you needed somebody that is capable and somebody
• 37:36
  that can like, I, I don't know, it's even, it wasn't about
• 37:39
  Republican or Democrat. It was way beyond that.
• 37:41
  You needed somebody as outrageous as, as Donald Trump.
• 37:46
  So like, what are you seeing in the political arena as far as
• 37:50
  you know, not even for, for Judaism, that's putting that
• 37:54
  aside, just, you know, for you yourself.
• 37:56
  Do you have any more aspirations?
• 37:57
  Like do you have something you want to what's on your radar?
• 37:59
  You want to do something next? Like, you know, what's the next
• 38:02
  big thing coming for Ellie? Well, I will tell you is she
• 38:06
  that I feel like my life has been very much guided by the
• 38:10
  hand of God. So I very much defer to what
• 38:17
  comes my way because that phone call that I got from the Trump
• 38:21
  administration in the first, in the first administration was
• 38:25
  completely out of. The I still can't believe that
• 38:27
  that it was so spontaneous and you did not see it coming.
• 38:30
  I had no idea. And you immediately accepted
• 38:32
  too. And I immediately accepted
• 38:33
  literally within, you know, just.
• 38:35
  And you said you moved you, you relocated.
• 38:37
  And relocated to Washington, DC, which was, you know, a lot to
• 38:41
  ask my family to do, but we did it and, and yeah, you know it it
• 38:48
  I had to do the job in DC and so.
• 38:51
  You live there now. No, we are back in New York.
• 38:54
  OK, but but it was, you know, it was a great time to be there
• 38:58
  under the Trump administration. And and so you know, though
• 39:02
  that's I don't know exactly what life will bring me or she, but I
• 39:07
  do have one exciting development that I hope I can share with
• 39:10
  everybody, not not with the Trump administration, but very
• 39:14
  soon. I can't share yet, but as soon
• 39:17
  as I can, I will. I will.
• 39:19
  So. That was just the tease.
• 39:20
  Yeah. What was that?
• 39:22
  Well, it's none of your. Business there is.
• 39:24
  You whipped it out, You used it all right.
• 39:26
  You know you only get it once you can.
• 39:28
  Use that once. That's it.
• 39:29
  I'm curious, throughout your journey, who did you meet that
• 39:31
  was like unexpected? I mean, obviously you met with
• 39:34
  President Trump and that's pretty cool.
• 39:35
  And but like you saw somebody like, whoa, like I, you know,
• 39:39
  great question. Like, because you've met so many
• 39:41
  interesting people throughout your career so far.
• 39:45
  You know, the 1st president that's coming to mind is Sheikh
• 39:50
  Al Issa, who, who is a Saudi religious figure, the head of
• 39:58
  the Muslim World League. And he's such a forward thinker.
• 40:04
  And the conversations that I have had with him have been just
• 40:08
  so interesting and eye opening to me.
• 40:11
  And you know, again, for me, I think the greatest optimism that
• 40:16
  I feel is, is actually coming out of the Arab world.
• 40:19
  And I, and I think that might be really surprising for people to
• 40:21
  hear, but. Look, sadly, I look at Western
• 40:25
  Europe and I see a lot of decay. I see, I see a civilization that
• 40:30
  doesn't know what it's fighting for.
• 40:31
  In a way they are like a post religion civilization.
• 40:36
  They, they're, the Europeans, seem to have lost all connection
• 40:40
  with their history and their heritage.
• 40:43
  And to me, I actually think that the Arab world presents us with
• 40:48
  hopefully just opportunity for the future and hopefulness for
• 40:53
  the future. That is very eye opening for
• 40:56
  people to hear and I I love hearing that a totally.
• 40:57
  Different twist. I didn't see that coming, but
• 41:00
  now that I'm connecting to that. So after you're saying that
• 41:02
  you're probably right, we can count on some of our Arab
• 41:04
  nations as partners and supporters more than we can
• 41:09
  count on a lot of our western allies, like France, for
• 41:12
  example. It's like, it's unbelievable.
• 41:15
  There's a lot look at Germany. Germany is a staunch supporter
• 41:18
  of Israel today. Who would have thought?
• 41:20
  Who would have thought, right? It's just like things constantly
• 41:22
  change in this arena. It's it's really amazing.
• 41:25
  New alliances are being formed. All the alliances are being
• 41:28
  broken and it's just like there's so many moving parts,
• 41:31
  There's so many things. But you know what's been
• 41:33
  Michael? I'm so proud of this because I,
• 41:34
  I, I always tell Michael and I say, I say in the I'm not the
• 41:37
  greatest Jew at all by far. Like I have a lot of work ahead
• 41:41
  of me. I'm so proud to be a Jew.
• 41:42
  I'm so proud to be part of this nation 'cause you know why?
• 41:45
  We've been a constant for a very long time.
• 41:48
  Since the beginning, we've been here the same.
• 41:51
  Nothing's changed. We've been to say we've kept
• 41:53
  their identity and we keep it going on every other nation.
• 41:56
  Everybody else is just, it's up and down.
• 41:59
  It's a roller coaster. One day they're here, the next
• 42:01
  day they're not here. They look completely different
• 42:03
  than they were at one point. It totally lose their entire
• 42:06
  culture and everything change shifts.
• 42:08
  But Jewish people, man, we don't change.
• 42:11
  We're still here. We're in your face bigger than
• 42:14
  ever. I'm with you.
• 42:15
  We're. Thriving.
• 42:16
  We're thriving. And and Elliot, This is why
• 42:18
  people hate us. Yeah, maybe we gotta dial it
• 42:21
  back a little bit. Maybe we shouldn't be so
• 42:24
  successful. Maybe maybe we need to like tone
• 42:26
  it down because that's everybody wants to target the bully, the
• 42:29
  big bad bully in the room. Everybody goes after them.
• 42:31
  I'm sorry, I shouldn't use the word bully.
• 42:32
  It sounds horrible. What I mean to say is, is that,
• 42:35
  you know, the biggest companies, right?
• 42:37
  Everybody else wants a little piece of it, right?
• 42:38
  There's always, always targeting them.
• 42:40
  That's the way it is. Like it's just if you go on the
• 42:42
  Internet, you go on the Internet, all you see is, is is
• 42:46
  the hate. That's all you.
• 42:47
  See there's been a lot of hate coming towards the Jewish people
• 42:51
  since October 7th. Now, I would not tell you that
• 42:53
  there wasn't anti-Semitism before October 7th because if
• 42:58
  you were looking at the trend lines and you were looking at
• 43:00
  the studies and the FBI every year publishes reports and Jews
• 43:04
  are always happened for so many years the number one victims of
• 43:08
  hate crimes by religion. So the trend lines were sadly
• 43:12
  very bad for a while, but I think October 7th unleashed this
• 43:18
  worldwide very open hatred. They're very brazen about.
• 43:25
  Very brazen, they. Feel almost entitled, like now
• 43:27
  we can say something yes in public and I because you're
• 43:30
  wrong. Look at what you're doing after
• 43:31
  October 7th. Look at what you're doing,
• 43:32
  genocide and this and famine and hunger and.
• 43:35
  All the lies, the endless lies and propaganda.
• 43:38
  And I'll tell you, I personally think part of it is that it was
• 43:42
  almost like they're like sharks who, you know, we're seeing
• 43:45
  blood in the water because for one moment Israel was vulnerable
• 43:52
  and and Jews were massacred on October seven.
• 43:56
  You've got 1200 Jews massacred. And the most heinous atrocities
• 44:00
  were committed against Jewish women, babies, children and
• 44:04
  adults, Holocaust survivors, elderly.
• 44:07
  And I think for one moment that this true forces of evil felt
• 44:12
  that the Jews were weak and they were going to come after us.
• 44:15
  And This is why I believe, you know, when you ask about
• 44:18
  anti-Semitism and how do you address this anti-Semitism.
• 44:21
  For me, a big part of how we're going to get this global
• 44:24
  anti-Semitism kind of like back in the box is when Israel has a
• 44:29
  resounding victory in Gaza. Now Israel has had a resounding
• 44:34
  victory. They had a 7 front war.
• 44:37
  They had a tremendous resounding victory on all of the other
• 44:41
  fronts. And it's just Gaza remaining.
• 44:43
  And you know, I am just kind of holding my breath waiting for
• 44:47
  Gaza to end the way we needed to end.
• 44:49
  And, and I believe that the Jewish people will be safer for
• 44:54
  it all around the world. You know, when I was in Times
• 44:57
  Square this week, I saw this $1,000,000 billboard and I'm
• 45:00
  sure it cost a lot of money, you know, sponsored by probably an
• 45:03
  organization that you're somewhat a part of or, you know,
• 45:06
  you know, I don't remember who it was from and it, and it was
• 45:08
  huge and it was in Times Square in the middle and for like 20
• 45:11
  seconds kept rotating and said, did you know that one in every
• 45:14
  three Jews have experienced a hate crime or something to do
• 45:17
  with hate? I'm curious because you're on
• 45:19
  this topic and you're saying she was mentioning earlier you are a
• 45:23
  voice. And what would be your message?
• 45:25
  And this is the time of the podcast that I would ask you,
• 45:27
  what would be your message to our listeners in terms of
• 45:30
  dealing with it? Because we hear a lot, you know,
• 45:32
  fight the hate or ignore it or, you know, fight the hate with
• 45:36
  love. You know, from your perspective
• 45:38
  coming from who you are and what you've done.
• 45:40
  And also I agree with everything you're saying.
• 45:43
  Amazing. What would be your message?
• 45:45
  Well, Ushi said it before me, which is Jewish pride.
• 45:48
  I think the first, you know, the basis, the layer before
• 45:52
  everything else is pride in who you are.
• 45:54
  Jewish pride have to feel pride in yourself.
• 45:58
  And that means knowing your heritage, knowing your history.
• 46:03
  And that means that Jewish children need to get educated in
• 46:06
  Judaism. You know, when you have Jews on
• 46:10
  the boards of federations and foundations and they're trying
• 46:15
  to figure out, you know, the next, next, it's always the
• 46:17
  next, next in the Jewish community.
• 46:18
  Should we fund this? Should we fund that?
• 46:20
  What's going to be the Band-Aid for this?
• 46:21
  What's going to be for Jewish identity?
• 46:23
  How do we make sure that, you know that the Jews exist into
• 46:26
  the future? Well, it's very basic.
• 46:28
  It's Jewish education. There's no two ways about it.
• 46:32
  You Jewish children need to have a Jewish education in order for
• 46:36
  them to maintain their Judaism. So that's, that's like the basic
• 46:40
  level. And so from that, I believe
• 46:43
  comes your Jewish pride. And then from there you can
• 46:46
  understand why does Israel need to exist?
• 46:48
  It's the Jewish homeland, right? We, it, we are indigenous to
• 46:52
  Israel. Everybody who claims everything
• 46:55
  about us that is the opposite of that is lying.
• 46:58
  We're the indigenous people, right?
• 47:01
  But you need to have a Jewish education in order to know all
• 47:03
  that. And also being able to
• 47:05
  distinguish between, you know, like tikkun Judaism and the
• 47:10
  Torah because, you know, I am finding that so many of the
• 47:16
  leaders of the different streams of the Jewish community don't
• 47:20
  know actually all that much themselves.
• 47:23
  And they have taught American Jews that everything is tikkun
• 47:26
  olam. Everything is, you know, there's
• 47:29
  this like confusion of liberalism and Judaism.
• 47:35
  And so you've got a lot of American Jews right now who are
• 47:38
  just completely lost because they believe in liberalism and
• 47:42
  they think that's what it means to be Jewish.
• 47:44
  Hey, look, you can be Jewish and liberal.
• 47:45
  I don't have anything against it.
• 47:46
  But don't think that your liberalism is Judaism.
• 47:50
  Study Judaism. You'll learn what Judaism is.
• 47:52
  It's not that you know. And so that that's the first
• 47:56
  thing I would say is Jewish pride.
• 47:57
  Know who you are and what you stand for, your heritage, your
• 48:00
  history. Then I would say in terms of how
• 48:03
  do you fight anti-Semitism? You know, one strategy that I
• 48:06
  that I do think is a mistake is trying to dispute all the lies
• 48:11
  that are coming at us. If you're spending the entire
• 48:14
  conversation trying to dispute, well, no, we aren't committing
• 48:17
  apartheid. No, it's not genocide.
• 48:19
  No, it's not colonialism. No, we there is no famine in
• 48:22
  Gaza. They've already won because
• 48:25
  they've framed the conversation. So I think we have to be really
• 48:28
  careful how much of our time we're going to spend trying to
• 48:30
  dispute the lies and just spending more time on revealing
• 48:35
  the truths. I would say that in the the
• 48:41
  Israel's war these last two years, the post October 7th war,
• 48:46
  I think that Israel could have done a better PR job.
• 48:50
  There were too many times where there were accusations made of
• 48:54
  Israel, where Israel wasn't fast enough to to reveal the truth.
• 49:01
  But at the same time, I also think that they're in an
• 49:03
  impossible situation, We heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say in
• 49:07
  an interview recently. Well, I was busy fighting an
• 49:09
  actual kinetic war and we couldn't necessarily fight the
• 49:14
  information war. But I, I think, I think the last
• 49:18
  piece I would say is that Michael is that it is an
• 49:20
  information war. We need to be really clear eyed
• 49:25
  that there is, there's two fronts of war going on.
• 49:28
  And I don't know where I was just reading, but I was just
• 49:32
  reading something about how Hamas had an entire kind of
• 49:37
  information OPS part of the war on their side where they had
• 49:43
  like embedded in their terror infrastructure are people who
• 49:47
  are taking videos, who are editing, They move around from
• 49:50
  place to place and they're constantly putting it out there.
• 49:53
  So, so just, you know, very important for us to understand
• 49:57
  that this is not just PR, but that this is actual information
• 50:00
  war. That part of the way Hamas has
• 50:02
  been operating is understanding that the way they manipulate
• 50:06
  global public opinion and also Israeli domestic public opinion.
• 50:10
  They were apparently tracking and trying to manipulate and
• 50:14
  succeeded in in manipulating Israeli domestic public opinion
• 50:19
  on. They understood that was
• 50:21
  impacting the way Israel was fighting the war.
• 50:23
  So all of us need to also understand this is not just PR,
• 50:26
  it's it is an actual warfare that that we are in the midst
• 50:30
  of. How'd you do, Michael?
• 50:33
  Very. I'm like blown away.
• 50:34
  Very. Well, yeah, I think you're
• 50:36
  hired, like Donald Trump likes to say, you know, you're fired.
• 50:39
  You're hired. Yeah.
• 50:41
  I just want to add what I mean, can't really add much to what
• 50:44
  you said, you said at all. But for the last point that you
• 50:46
  made, I, I saw the Rubin Report. He's a podcast, a conservative
• 50:49
  podcast, and he brings on very interesting guests.
• 50:52
  And I think he's very well spoken and he always has very
• 50:54
  good logic. I like the way he thinks.
• 50:56
  I used to like Piers Morgan, by the way.
• 50:58
  Yeah, I used to like Tucker Carlson.
• 51:01
  I thought Tucker Carlson and also was very well spoken and he
• 51:03
  was very good at making his points and articulating it until
• 51:07
  he totally went real. What's another conversation we
• 51:09
  got to talk about what happened to these people.
• 51:11
  They totally shifted sides. They totally changed their ways.
• 51:14
  They're clearly getting paid off or they have other something
• 51:16
  that's going on over there. But this guy in a room report,
• 51:19
  he said and stuck with me when he said it.
• 51:21
  And I thought, Oh my God, he he's making a good point.
• 51:24
  He said how did Hamas know that they could go and murder in the
• 51:30
  most vicious, inhumane ways, 15102 thousand people and the
• 51:36
  world would side with them? How did they know?
• 51:38
  Because the normal person, logical person would think I'd
• 51:40
  do something bad. People are going to be upset at
• 51:42
  me. People are going to, people are
• 51:44
  going to be very, very, very upset.
• 51:46
  Hamas knew that they had almost a green light to do it and they
• 51:49
  knew that they would be rewarded for it, that a lot of the world,
• 51:52
  a big part of the world is actually going to immediately.
• 51:55
  I mean, people were already wondering October 8th, why is
• 51:58
  Israel fighting back? It all didn't even respond yet
• 52:00
  and people were already on Palestine, Hamas side and they
• 52:04
  didn't respond yet. That's how far it went.
• 52:06
  How did Hamas know? What information did they have?
• 52:09
  How far were they planning this synonym?
• 52:11
  They've infiltrated a lot of different global systems that
• 52:15
  they're in cohorts with now, clearly, and no one takes such
• 52:19
  an audacious move without knowing that there won't really
• 52:22
  be the repercussions that they're probably going to face.
• 52:25
  It was so thought provoking and I was like, wait a second.
• 52:28
  He makes a good point. I think that's exactly right and
• 52:30
  you know the best evidence for that also is the fact that Hamas
• 52:36
  took footage of the atrocities they were committing on October
• 52:39
  7th. So a lot of people have been
• 52:41
  talking lately more I think about the 47 minute video that
• 52:45
  Israel gathered and it's a video of the footage that comes from
• 52:51
  Hamas terrorists were wearing GoPro cameras on their heads as
• 52:56
  they're committing these atrocities.
• 52:58
  So it's the footage that comes from the GoPro cameras, a lot of
• 53:02
  security footage and, and some of it I guess was from the from
• 53:10
  the first responders. And I saw this footage, I was in
• 53:14
  Israel twice since October 7th. I was there right after, soon
• 53:17
  after in December 2023 and then again in March and in December,
• 53:22
  I saw this footage at an IDF base.
• 53:24
  And the Israelis, as you know, have been keeping very tight
• 53:26
  control over the footage showing it to select audiences.
• 53:31
  So, Ushi, it's exactly what you just said.
• 53:34
  Hamas was documenting the atrocities as they were
• 53:37
  committing it, not hiding it, but documenting it so that they
• 53:41
  could advertise it. Then we live in this crazy world
• 53:45
  where even though here they are proudly advertising it, you had
• 53:48
  denial October 7, denial almost immediately.
• 53:52
  So with the Holocaust, you have Holocaust denial 70 years after,
• 53:56
  60 years after, whatever it is right.
• 53:59
  With October 7th, it was immediate denial, attempts at
• 54:02
  denial immediately after, even though the footage was right out
• 54:05
  there. And, and, and so the other thing
• 54:08
  that this also reminds me of is going back to the question of
• 54:10
  anti-Semitism and how do you deal with it?
• 54:12
  How do you address it? You know, the I believe the
• 54:16
  reason why Israel has been careful about not releasing that
• 54:19
  footage is because, again, we walk this fine line of do you
• 54:23
  want to portray Jews as victims or not?
• 54:27
  If you portray us as victims, it's like open season on the
• 54:32
  Jews. We need to stay strong.
• 54:35
  And so even though on the other side, they are constantly
• 54:38
  creating fake footage of Gaza famine and Gaza victims, and
• 54:43
  there's all this you, it's all out there on social media where
• 54:45
  they're like staging victims to create victimhood on the
• 54:50
  Palestinian side of the narrative for Jews.
• 54:54
  We walk this very fine line. And people say, well, why hasn't
• 54:56
  Israel just just share the footage letter?
• 54:59
  I wondered about that, yeah. I believe I've no one has said
• 55:02
  this to me, but I believe it's because we have to be really
• 55:04
  careful about not portraying ourselves as victims because
• 55:07
  then it's almost like inviting, yes.
• 55:09
  Further makes us vulnerable in a way, right?
• 55:12
  You know, point, but it's never thought about it.
• 55:14
  Either I've thought about why aren't they just they're
• 55:16
  blasting this out all over the place, let people see the other
• 55:18
  side and see what actually, but they haven't done that and and
• 55:21
  now I'm understanding it makes sense what you're saying.
• 55:23
  It's my theory. It's it makes sense.
• 55:24
  It's a good strategy. It makes sense.
• 55:26
  We don't want to play the victim card.
• 55:27
  That's besides the point. But let's you know, this, this,
• 55:31
  this was a dark time for us. This was very, this was a gaping
• 55:35
  hole in our in our history that we're never going to forget.
• 55:38
  You know, when a day is remembered by the actual month
• 55:41
  and dates, right? You know, that's going to be
• 55:42
  here for a very long time. It's very unfortunate, but look,
• 55:47
  I, I want to digress from some of this stuff, if I may.
• 55:49
  Ellie, sure, you're a fascinating person.
• 55:51
  You have some really deep insights and you're, you're an
• 55:54
  expert. You're you're a subject matter
• 55:56
  expert on this and we could sit there picking your brains all
• 55:58
  day, but I want to learn a little bit about you.
• 56:00
  I just want to know like a little bit more about.
• 56:03
  Let's talk about you and what you do for fun.
• 56:04
  Like what excites you in life when you're not being political?
• 56:07
  When you're not being political, You like to read?
• 56:10
  You like to watch movies. Yeah, exactly.
• 56:11
  What do you do? So yeah, my definition of fun is
• 56:15
  reading. I will admit that I am on my
• 56:19
  phone like all like. The rest of us.
• 56:21
  Yeah, all the time. But I believe X is the best
• 56:26
  source of immediate news, so I'm kind of addicted to it all the
• 56:30
  time, checking to see if something's happening.
• 56:33
  Who's your favorite person to follow on X?
• 56:35
  Favorite person? Well, Elon Musk is such a funny
• 56:38
  personality. I I I am so sad about the
• 56:41
  falling out between him and. President not terrible.
• 56:44
  Terrible. And hopefully there will be a
• 56:46
  rapprochement, full rapprochement.
• 56:48
  I still like Elon Musk, but. I do too.
• 56:49
  Even though he had a fallout with the.
• 56:51
  I, I hope that that gets, you know, completely smooth.
• 56:54
  You think it will. You know time heals all wounds.
• 56:57
  Sadly. Maybe you could broker
• 56:58
  something, yeah. So I I love following Elon Musk.
• 57:03
  Who else? So I I don't know.
• 57:04
  I follow so many. Oh, you know who I love?
• 57:07
  OK, Dan Linneus. He's brilliant.
• 57:11
  I'm going to find him for you. OK, It's your.
• 57:15
  Maybe your. Yeah, it's spelled like this,
• 57:17
  Dan. And then LINNAEUS.
• 57:22
  Very strange laughs. Very strange.
• 57:24
  Yeah, Daniel spells way more complicated than he needed to.
• 57:27
  Yeah, and I don't even know if I'm pronouncing it right, but
• 57:30
  Dan is brilliant. I love following him.
• 57:33
  Like he's a political commentator.
• 57:34
  Like what is he? But yes, political commentator,
• 57:39
  you know, I can't even tell you I'm on it all the time.
• 57:41
  Following, you know and so. That's a guilty pleasure.
• 57:44
  That's my guilty pleasure. I have Fox News on at home.
• 57:48
  The TV's blasting 24/7, so Fox News is like always on in the
• 57:52
  back. Favorite Fox News host?
• 57:54
  Oh, gosh, I love all of them. They're, they're really,
• 57:57
  honestly, the Fox News hosts are such great people.
• 58:01
  Yeah. Very talented.
• 58:03
  Very talented, also very down to earth.
• 58:05
  Like I haven't met any Fox News host who is snobby or kind of
• 58:10
  like full of themselves. They're 'cause you know, they're
• 58:12
  celebs, right? Correct, but you in a sense are
• 58:15
  also so you're like one of their like you know, you're in their
• 58:18
  business. That's if I would show up,
• 58:20
  they'd probably like, you know, kick me to the curb.
• 58:22
  I'm a nobody. I think they're very cool.
• 58:24
  Yeah. Grounded.
• 58:25
  People you intimidated the first time you went on on stage.
• 58:27
  Oh yeah, and, and also, I have to tell you, my heart still like
• 58:30
  races every time I'm about to do it T VS hit, but but you know,
• 58:35
  you just kind of like exciting though.
• 58:36
  Yes, yes. It means you're alive.
• 58:38
  You know, it's like it's those are the peak moments that you
• 58:41
  you look back on and you reminisce and you recapture that
• 58:44
  feeling for a few minutes. Yeah, it's.
• 58:46
  It's awesome. Yeah.
• 58:47
  My favorite host, not that anybody asked me, but I'm gonna
• 58:49
  offer it anyway. Fox News is Jesse Waters.
• 58:52
  Oh, Jesse's I. Love Jesse.
• 58:54
  Jesse's. I think he's funny.
• 58:55
  I think he's charming. I think he's knowledgeable.
• 58:57
  Yeah, I think he's also bold. He asks the right questions.
• 59:00
  He's not afraid to push back. And yeah, he's a little bit
• 59:04
  biased sometimes, like you feel like, OK, he's drinking the
• 59:07
  kool-aid, I hear. Right.
• 59:08
  But he's reasonable. He's reasonable.
• 59:10
  You know, you can, you know, he'll admit when something is a
• 59:12
  little bit off, even on on his own side.
• 59:15
  But I'm a big fan. I I.
• 59:17
  Honestly, I love all of them. Every single host I've met,
• 59:19
  they've they've just been amazing people.
• 59:21
  I think Fox has done a great job, OK?
• 59:23
  Have you travelled around the world?
• 59:24
  Anywhere I'm swimming? You've, you know, in your
• 59:27
  capacity, Have you gone to any interesting places?
• 59:30
  Yes, I mean so many. So I'll tell you that again,
• 59:33
  going back to the Abraham, of course, I went on official
• 59:35
  travel to the United Arab Emirates, to Egypt.
• 59:39
  I was invited for the grand reopening of the Alexandria, the
• 59:42
  Great Synagogue in Alexandria, which President Sisi at the time
• 59:45
  had just spent millions of dollars refurbishing synagogues,
• 59:50
  churches and like Pharaoh Onyx sites in Egypt at that time.
• 59:55
  So that was that was really fascinating.
• 59:58
  I work a lot with evangelical Christians and so I was invited
• 1:00:02
  to speak at the Church of of then President Bolson Narrow in
• 1:00:08
  Brazil. That was a very great trip to
• 1:00:13
  Brazil and with my evangelical evangelical Christian friends
• 1:00:16
  whose bored I sit on Latina coalition for Israel.
• 1:00:19
  I have traveled to Guatemala, met with President Jimmy
• 1:00:23
  Morales, who was the first country.
• 1:00:25
  Guatemala was the first country and moved their embassy to
• 1:00:28
  Jerusalem after President Trump. I remember that, yes.
• 1:00:31
  And so I interviewed President Jimmy Morales about, you know,
• 1:00:36
  that moment, his decision. Is he?
• 1:00:39
  Still a president there. No, no, no longer.
• 1:00:42
  So that was a great trip. Guatemala.
• 1:00:44
  They're very religious country. Love Israel.
• 1:00:48
  Argentina was fascinating. I was there for the, I believe
• 1:00:52
  it was the 25th commemoration of the AMIA bombing.
• 1:00:55
  Iran backed Hezbollah bombing of the Jewish Community Center in
• 1:00:59
  Argentina. Do you know about that?
• 1:01:02
  I don't even know much about that, that incident. 1984, I
• 1:01:05
  believe, was the year that Hezbollah, which is Iranian
• 1:01:09
  proxy, bombed the Jewish Community Center in Buenos
• 1:01:14
  Aires, Argentina. I'm sorry, I don't remember
• 1:01:17
  right now the number of people killed, but way too many.
• 1:01:21
  It was the deadliest terror attack in the Americas, I
• 1:01:27
  believe still to this day. And it was just a great tragedy.
• 1:01:33
  And and so Argentina has one of the bigger Jewish communities in
• 1:01:39
  the Americas, in Latin America. And, and so, you know, every
• 1:01:43
  year they do commemorate this bombing.
• 1:01:47
  It it also, I think, is an important event for us to
• 1:01:51
  remember because it it should be a reminder that Iran's presence
• 1:01:56
  is right on the doorstep of the United States.
• 1:02:00
  Yep, those who don't know history are bound to repeat it,
• 1:02:03
  right? It's the old adage exactly.
• 1:02:04
  But so when I asked you if you traveled, you're like, yeah,
• 1:02:06
  I've traveled and you list off like, I don't know, like 18
• 1:02:09
  different very cool places. I may add I'm going to Egypt.
• 1:02:13
  I'm about meeting with cool people.
• 1:02:14
  Meeting with cool people like yeah, I interviewed across the
• 1:02:16
  beach. Guatemala.
• 1:02:17
  We're going to the town. Yeah, No good deal.
• 1:02:19
  I thought you were gonna say, like, I don't know, I've been to
• 1:02:21
  Puerto Rico. I've been to Jamaica, you know,
• 1:02:24
  like. Bahamas.
• 1:02:27
  You've been all across the globe.
• 1:02:29
  I, I definitely feel very fortunate to do, to do the
• 1:02:32
  international travel, you said, to meet with world leaders and,
• 1:02:36
  and, you know, dignitaries and, and it's, it's what gives me
• 1:02:42
  optimism. You know, when I do meet people,
• 1:02:45
  counterparts across the world to do have a sense of morality who
• 1:02:50
  are just out there doing the right thing, you know, like
• 1:02:53
  President Bolsonaro of Brazil, I have a picture with his wife.
• 1:02:59
  They're just, you know, very religious Christians.
• 1:03:02
  And they had gone to visit Israel.
• 1:03:04
  They really are very interested in the Bible.
• 1:03:07
  And she was wearing this gorgeous leather jacket that
• 1:03:11
  inside it had been like a cut out of Hebrew words from
• 1:03:16
  tahilim. I forgot you say Tahilim in
• 1:03:18
  English, Psalm, Psalms, right. And, And so this is, you know,
• 1:03:22
  the, the wife, the first lady of Brazil, It's really, it's really
• 1:03:27
  incredible when I have, I have the honor for experiences like
• 1:03:30
  that. Incredible.
• 1:03:32
  I mean, Michael was, you know, Michael's mother smiling from
• 1:03:35
  ear to ear. I'm just watching him.
• 1:03:37
  He's Michael's, you know, enjoying it.
• 1:03:39
  He's living it up right now. Yes, yes, this.
• 1:03:41
  I love travel in general. He does also Israel.
• 1:03:44
  I hate travelling by the way. If I go on vacation to like
• 1:03:47
  Pennsylvania for like 3 days, I need to come home everybody.
• 1:03:49
  Yeah, I like I. Wanna know where you're going
• 1:03:51
  next? I wanna, I wanna.
• 1:03:52
  Just, you know, I'm gonna about all your travels.
• 1:03:55
  Do you have another cool trip coming up that you know about
• 1:03:57
  already or it's. I'm actually invited to Morocco
• 1:04:00
  and I'm hoping to go very soon. My mother's from Morocco.
• 1:04:03
  Is that right? My mother was born in Morocco.
• 1:04:05
  Tell us. Yeah.
• 1:04:06
  Yeah. She's comes from French, Spanish
• 1:04:13
  origin and she, I think her grandmother, great grandmother
• 1:04:18
  lived there and then she moved to her mother, moved to
• 1:04:22
  Jerusalem when she was like one or two years old.
• 1:04:25
  Which was a big deal back then, yeah, because it's not easy to
• 1:04:28
  travel. Right.
• 1:04:29
  It wasn't at all. So her mother speaks a little
• 1:04:31
  bit of like French. That was the I think that's
• 1:04:34
  their first language there, or. Something.
• 1:04:36
  It's the yes. Is it still speak other
• 1:04:37
  languages? I do, yeah.
• 1:04:39
  Of course, Michael. I speak Farsi.
• 1:04:41
  OK you heard her story. OK, she probably speaks like 8
• 1:04:44
  languages I. Don't know.
• 1:04:46
  I wish. You know.
• 1:04:46
  I speak Farsi. I speak Hebrew.
• 1:04:48
  I am familiar with Arabic. Nice.
• 1:04:49
  Nice. Farsi's a cool language.
• 1:04:52
  It is a cool language. Yeah, very hard to learn.
• 1:04:54
  It is. It is, and people don't realize
• 1:04:56
  that Farsi and Arabic are two different languages.
• 1:04:58
  They also don't realize that Persians are are different from
• 1:05:01
  Arab, so right Persian. We know that, but I see why
• 1:05:06
  people. Don't realize right so Iranians
• 1:05:08
  are indo Europeans, They're not Semites and the languages are
• 1:05:12
  completely different languages. But Persian has a lot of well,
• 1:05:15
  the alphabet is the same alphabet and Persian has a lot
• 1:05:18
  of Arabic loan words in it. It's like Yiddish with German,
• 1:05:24
  you know, like there's, there's some, yeah, some synergies
• 1:05:27
  there, but it's two different, you know.
• 1:05:28
  Two different languages. Do you have any questions for
• 1:05:30
  us? Yeah, so.
• 1:05:32
  You said that way too quickly, like you were like you were
• 1:05:34
  prepared for questions. Did you know who's going to ask
• 1:05:37
  you if you have any questions? So here's the thing.
• 1:05:39
  So this has been such a fun conversation, but I understand
• 1:05:42
  you guys are in the healthcare space.
• 1:05:44
  Yes, we are, yeah. And that is a very fascinating
• 1:05:46
  space for me. So even though I don't get to,
• 1:05:50
  you know, spend my time, I'm thinking about business and the
• 1:05:53
  economy and making money, which is always a nice thing that I
• 1:05:57
  somewhere in the distance people do, just not me.
• 1:06:00
  But so I would love to know what you guys think is happening next
• 1:06:06
  in the healthcare industry, because we do always hear that
• 1:06:08
  Healthcare is the one segment of the economy that is growing.
• 1:06:13
  Wow, that's a great question. By the way, a lot of voters in
• 1:06:16
  the healthcare industry, right? You always see politicians going
• 1:06:19
  to nursing homes and assisted living homes because you can
• 1:06:21
  just get 100 votes, you know, just get them out to vote.
• 1:06:23
  Yeah, but they got to bust them though.
• 1:06:24
  So, yeah, so they do that. They do it well.
• 1:06:27
  But that's a great, that's a great question.
• 1:06:29
  Excellent question. Yeah, Oshie, I'll let you take a
• 1:06:32
  stab at it. Really.
• 1:06:34
  I'm shocked. This is what you let me take a
• 1:06:36
  stab at. There's a particular question.
• 1:06:39
  Go for it. I don't know if I have the right
• 1:06:41
  answer. I don't know.
• 1:06:41
  I mean, where the healthcare market is going as far as the
• 1:06:45
  the future. I mean, it is the most
• 1:06:48
  sustainable industry I think. I'm very proud.
• 1:06:52
  I'm just going to jump in. I'm very proud of the technology
• 1:06:54
  that's being adapted to the industry, specifically Israeli
• 1:06:57
  technology that's being adapted in the industry using radar
• 1:07:01
  technology and so on. So I want to say that it's
• 1:07:03
  becoming a younger industry. It used to be a very older
• 1:07:07
  industry, like the owners and operators were in their 70s and
• 1:07:10
  80s, or at least they felt that way when we first started.
• 1:07:12
  Definitely. And it's becoming much more
• 1:07:14
  educated, like they know their stuff, you know, their
• 1:07:16
  administrator level operators. I wouldn't be nervous today
• 1:07:20
  putting a loved one in a nursing home.
• 1:07:22
  It just has to be the right nursing and there's a lot of
• 1:07:24
  right nursing homes today that's forward thinking.
• 1:07:27
  So I would say is that it's forward thinking, believe in or
• 1:07:30
  not very forward thinking, very innovative and using technology
• 1:07:34
  to really care for the people that are there.
• 1:07:36
  And the idea is to get them out of the nursing home, I think.
• 1:07:39
  What Ellie Ellie was asking is why is it still growing?
• 1:07:42
  Why is it a market that's been so, you know, it's been not just
• 1:07:46
  sustaining for a long time, it's been thriving, it's been growing
• 1:07:49
  and they're expecting the next 30-40 years like many, many,
• 1:07:52
  many billions, you know, that are going to be in this market.
• 1:07:54
  What is it the? Financial answer is that the
• 1:07:57
  government doesn't want people in the hospitals.
• 1:08:00
  They don't want them staying in the hospitals.
• 1:08:02
  So after a surgery where it used to be, they stay, you know, Mrs.
• 1:08:05
  Jones will stay in the hospital to recover.
• 1:08:06
  Right now it's let's get them to a step down South in in our
• 1:08:10
  world, nursing homes are many hospitals.
• 1:08:12
  So that's the way they should be looked at and it's getting them
• 1:08:15
  there. So that's I guess from that
• 1:08:17
  perspective. Can I ask you one more question?
• 1:08:19
  You can ask us anything true. AI is AI already impacting,
• 1:08:23
  starting to impact. Oh yeah, we'll impact.
• 1:08:25
  Absolutely tell. Them in a big way.
• 1:08:27
  So curious about this. I think from the drugs
• 1:08:29
  perspective, from the pharmaceutical world, it's
• 1:08:32
  being, you know, looked at in terms of what works, what
• 1:08:34
  doesn't work, immediate information, which I think helps
• 1:08:37
  a lot. I think also treating the
• 1:08:38
  residents differently re hospitalizations is a big deal
• 1:08:41
  in in our industry. Meaning you're coming from a
• 1:08:44
  hospital and if you're not treating them properly, using
• 1:08:47
  all the right products and services, they're going to go
• 1:08:49
  back into the hospital. So using AI to evaluate based on
• 1:08:52
  the data and the information that's in their, you know,
• 1:08:55
  charts of what can we do for prevention, which we speak about
• 1:08:59
  a lot as well in general preventing those problems.
• 1:09:01
  From predicting, and that's a very big thing now.
• 1:09:04
  Predicting is a better word. What's?
• 1:09:06
  Going to potentially. Happen by the way, predict if
• 1:09:08
  you don't prevent. Things, yeah, exactly.
• 1:09:10
  So we're seeing a lot of the in the Emrs where they're, they're
• 1:09:13
  using a lot of AI as a functionality in order to really
• 1:09:16
  learn things ahead of time before it happens would.
• 1:09:19
  You be scared for a loved one to go to a nursing home these days.
• 1:09:22
  Yeah. I mean, it's, it's definitely
• 1:09:24
  feels like it's not something that you look forward to, no.
• 1:09:28
  Right for you. No, I don't care how good the
• 1:09:30
  nursing. Home is no, but we wanna be.
• 1:09:31
  Not how beautiful it is a nice it is it's a little bit
• 1:09:33
  isolating wait away from your family.
• 1:09:36
  Yeah, you know there's oh you make new friends and a nurse.
• 1:09:38
  Well, not really. It's not how it's not how it
• 1:09:40
  works, but you don't see a lot of religious families that send
• 1:09:45
  their parents to a nursing home. I'm not just saying Jewish, I'm
• 1:09:48
  saying in any religion that the religious part of it, yes, the
• 1:09:51
  ultra like religious part of it's a thing where they keep
• 1:09:54
  their parents at home. Eventually they move back with
• 1:09:56
  you at home. That's how it works.
• 1:09:58
  Right. I think that's true.
• 1:09:59
  But you're saying that there are better nursing homes and there's
• 1:10:03
  a way to find absolutely, right? Yeah, you ask.
• 1:10:06
  Us. Are you in the hunt?
• 1:10:07
  Are you looking? No.
• 1:10:08
  I'll never forget this magnet that one of my friends had in
• 1:10:11
  his fridge. Be careful how you treat your
• 1:10:13
  children. They'll decide which nursing
• 1:10:15
  home you're going to go to. Yes, that's true.
• 1:10:17
  Yeah. Yeah, we've all heard that.
• 1:10:18
  That's a very morbid thought. Exactly.
• 1:10:20
  But be nice with your kids otherwise.
• 1:10:22
  Excuse me? And your kids owe you a lot
• 1:10:24
  more, you know, than you'll ever owe them.
• 1:10:26
  I think that's. So as I'm just curious before we
• 1:10:29
  wrap up, you're an advocate, which is of course, of course,
• 1:10:32
  what you do, but your day-to-day, what's that more
• 1:10:34
  like? I don't have a normal
• 1:10:36
  day-to-day, I don't have a typical is what I'm saying.
• 1:10:38
  Because it kind of changes every day.
• 1:10:42
  So I guess I would say that I am good at managing chaos because
• 1:10:47
  every day is different. So I just have to kind of like
• 1:10:50
  roll with, you know, like today I'm with you guys.
• 1:10:53
  And then no, I'm just saying like today I'm here.
• 1:10:57
  But tomorrow I might not have any appearances.
• 1:10:59
  I don't know. It's air of Shabbat.
• 1:11:01
  Maybe I'll be like a more family centered on a Friday.
• 1:11:04
  And then Monday will be like next week.
• 1:11:06
  I'm in DC, I'm presenting at a conference about Iran and
• 1:11:11
  hopefully having some meetings with Trump administration.
• 1:11:14
  And also I'm a Co chair of this national task force to combat
• 1:11:17
  anti-Semitism, which is my work that I do with the evangelical
• 1:11:20
  Christian community mostly. So next week we'll look
• 1:11:23
  completely different from this week and I just have to kind of
• 1:11:27
  be able to roll with it. Love that.
• 1:11:29
  Wow, it's exciting. It is, yeah, I'm very.
• 1:11:31
  Like we haven't really gotten into the weeds of everything
• 1:11:33
  that you've been doing and some of your accomplishments, like we
• 1:11:36
  haven't really touched. Actually what I wanted to hear,
• 1:11:38
  Yeah, more about like your Yeah, but I love the snapshot.
• 1:11:42
  You know what I know it's very clear about Ellie.
• 1:11:43
  She's, she's very passionate about what you do.
• 1:11:46
  I think that's why you're good at it.
• 1:11:46
  I think you shouldn't do anything that you don't really
• 1:11:48
  care about or like to do because you're probably gonna fail.
• 1:11:51
  But you're very passionate about it.
• 1:11:52
  Like you really, that this is a part of who you are.
• 1:11:55
  It's your DNA. It's very clear.
• 1:11:56
  You're also good at it. A lot of people are passionate
• 1:11:58
  about things and they just, they're not good.
• 1:11:59
  At it, yeah, but you can't be good at something without
• 1:12:02
  passion. Yeah, you can have passion and
• 1:12:03
  still not be good at it. Yeah, well, you can't have that
• 1:12:05
  without dependent. I would say I feel very
• 1:12:07
  fortunate and blessed that I am able to do what I'm passionate
• 1:12:11
  about. Yeah.
• 1:12:11
  You know, I just feel like again, you know, when I was
• 1:12:14
  saying that I feel God's hand in my life, you know, my life story
• 1:12:18
  of coming here as a refugee from Iran, escaping anti-Semitism and
• 1:12:23
  then being able to to fight back on global anti-Semitism.
• 1:12:28
  It just feels like the work that I was intended to do and a
• 1:12:31
  calling. I feel it's a calling and I feel
• 1:12:33
  for you. I'm curious more the work that
• 1:12:35
  you've done and you know the people you've spoken.
• 1:12:37
  Do you have a mentor, someone that you go to for like?
• 1:12:40
  I have a number of mentors, yeah.
• 1:12:42
  So I feel that, you know, it's kind of like depends on what
• 1:12:46
  what it's about. But one person I'm I'm very
• 1:12:49
  happy to talk about is former deputy national security advisor
• 1:12:54
  for the Middle East under President Trump, Victoria Coats,
• 1:12:57
  who runs the Heritage Foundation's Davis Center, which
• 1:13:01
  is their international and foreign policy national security
• 1:13:05
  arm. And she's a brilliant woman,
• 1:13:08
  always been a mentor to me. Beautiful, beautiful.
• 1:13:12
  I have like a inappropriate question.
• 1:13:15
  I'm sorry but. I was about to wrap up and ask
• 1:13:17
  her the final question, but go for it, I like it appropriate.
• 1:13:21
  Appropriate gotta. Yeah, just don't underwhelm me
• 1:13:23
  here. Not.
• 1:13:24
  Appropriate I'm I'm I'm putting too much pressure on this.
• 1:13:27
  Who's the most famous person that you have in your phone that
• 1:13:30
  you can call on on whims? Notice if you.
• 1:13:33
  Ohh God, I don't even. I don't even know.
• 1:13:36
  I don't even. Have to be a celebrity like a
• 1:13:37
  movie, like you're. Like a famous person that's.
• 1:13:39
  A great. It's a good question.
• 1:13:40
  Anybody that's famous, anybody that like is very well known.
• 1:13:43
  OK, I will. I'm not revealing names, but I
• 1:13:45
  will tell you I have cabinet secretaries in my phone.
• 1:13:48
  That's it. That's all I'm saying.
• 1:13:49
  OK, any movie stars? No, I'm not in the Hollywood
• 1:13:52
  world. She watches Fox all day, not
• 1:13:54
  HBO. Why not?
• 1:13:55
  Why aren't you in the movie world yet?
• 1:13:56
  When are you getting into Hollywood?
• 1:13:58
  I never really thought. You know that politics crosses
• 1:14:01
  with Hollywood at some point. OK, maybe you guys will make
• 1:14:04
  that shit up for me, you know? I'm looking for an in by the
• 1:14:06
  way, so you know you have a this.
• 1:14:09
  Is why he asked. Yeah, you have a way better
• 1:14:11
  chance of getting in than me. So pushy.
• 1:14:12
  I wanna know someone. Who you know, who's your most
• 1:14:16
  famous and. That's how we get to Chile.
• 1:14:18
  You're gonna. Haven't found anybody who.
• 1:14:19
  Knows Hollywood, Yeah. But I'm getting closer to Steven
• 1:14:22
  Spielberg. I want you to know I'm getting
• 1:14:23
  very close. Go to LA for Shabbat, you'll be
• 1:14:26
  all upset. No, I don't want to be in there.
• 1:14:28
  I don't want to be part of their community.
• 1:14:30
  I just want to like go in and out, you know?
• 1:14:31
  I want to be like in for a few days and then go back to my
• 1:14:34
  life. Sorry, I know Hollywood.
• 1:14:36
  Sorry. Ellie, this has been so much
• 1:14:37
  fun. It was great getting to know
• 1:14:39
  you. I have to ask our final
• 1:14:40
  question, which is who would fill that seat?
• 1:14:43
  Who would you recommend to be on our podcast here after hearing
• 1:14:46
  this all today? Have you guys ever had Tuvia
• 1:14:49
  Tenenbaum on? No, I don't know who he is.
• 1:14:52
  No, no. Educate us.
• 1:14:53
  OK, so Tuvia Tenenbaum is, he's one of the funniest people I've
• 1:14:58
  ever met in my life. He is a journalist, author,
• 1:15:04
  writer. But but what he does, which is
• 1:15:09
  so incredible is Tuvia goes undercover and he goes into
• 1:15:14
  communities and infiltrates and comes back with the craziest
• 1:15:20
  stories. And he actually writes for
• 1:15:23
  German papers and is published in German but also translated
• 1:15:28
  into English. His most fascinating stuff was
• 1:15:32
  he infiltrated the Palestinian Authority and they literally
• 1:15:37
  think he's a German non Jew, kind of like almost Nazi ish
• 1:15:41
  guy. And he has the most fascinating
• 1:15:43
  stories. I think he grew up Hasidic.
• 1:15:46
  He's a great. Let's get him on.
• 1:15:48
  I feel like we do know him, maybe if we see a.
• 1:15:51
  There he is. Is that?
• 1:15:52
  Him yeah, he looks like a fun guy OK, he.
• 1:15:54
  Looks like Chris Farley. Yeah, well, you know, a better
• 1:15:57
  looking version perhaps, but yeah.
• 1:15:59
  Tuvia is such. So let's get him.
• 1:16:01
  Let's get. Him on?
• 1:16:02
  Yeah, he sounds great. Riot, does he live around here
• 1:16:04
  that he'll be able to come to our studios?
• 1:16:06
  He'll be able to come he. Travels the world constantly.
• 1:16:09
  Let him infiltrate the none of your business studio.
• 1:16:12
  So can you ask him We we would love if you can call.
• 1:16:13
  Him I will. Do you want to call him right
• 1:16:15
  now? Yeah, please.
• 1:16:16
  Yes. This is how we do it here.
• 1:16:18
  You know, you know. This storyline reminds me of
• 1:16:20
  Sasha Barricone. What does alter ego?
• 1:16:22
  Yeah, yeah, he has so many. Ali G.
• 1:16:24
  Ali G Yeah. Ali G Yeah.
• 1:16:25
  You're. Gonna hate me but I think I have
• 1:16:27
  only his wife in my phone. No, it's OK.
• 1:16:30
  All right. Can I call her you?
• 1:16:31
  Want me to? Yeah, You can call him a
• 1:16:32
  separate time. It's yeah.
• 1:16:33
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's gonna hound you on this
• 1:16:35
  because. We're gonna make sure.
• 1:16:36
  I want. I want.
• 1:16:37
  You're gonna call him? Yeah.
• 1:16:38
  Yeah, love that. Tovia Tenenbaum, you're gonna be
• 1:16:40
  on our podcast and we are looking forward to it.
• 1:16:43
  Thank you, everyone for listening.
• 1:16:44
  Listen, I have to tell you something.
• 1:16:45
  This was amazing to us. I mean, like, fascinating.
• 1:16:48
  Karen said that this was going to be a special episode, and she
• 1:16:50
  wasn't wrong. She may have even undersold it a
• 1:16:52
  little bit. But I think, Michael, it's very
• 1:16:54
  appropriate. And it's only befitting that we
• 1:16:57
  end off with saying thank you to you, really, if there weren't
• 1:17:01
  people like you doing what you guys are doing and not just
• 1:17:03
  being activists, but standing up for what's right and willing to
• 1:17:07
  do something about it. There are a lot of people that
• 1:17:10
  agree with you and think the same way you think, and they're
• 1:17:13
  just not doing much about it, myself included.
• 1:17:15
  I'm sitting here in my cushy chair.
• 1:17:16
  I'm going to go back to the office very well, go back to
• 1:17:18
  work. I'm going to go play softball
• 1:17:20
  tonight to have a game later on tonight.
• 1:17:22
  Like you're taking a stand and you're devoting a big part of
• 1:17:26
  your life for it and you're sacrificing a lot of other
• 1:17:28
  things you could be doing because you genuinely care.
• 1:17:31
  Couldn't agree more. And I really appreciate what
• 1:17:33
  you're doing. We all owe you a demography.
• 1:17:34
  You guys are. I want to say you're fighting
• 1:17:37
  hate by not just, you know, creating policy, but, you know,
• 1:17:41
  taking it personally. And it's just so amazing.
• 1:17:43
  Exactly. And it's really beautiful.
• 1:17:51
  It's a wrap. It's a wrap.