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Good evening. It's Thursday, October 19
Tonight: less than 24 hours after Joe Biden appeared at the side of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pledged full-scale and unlimited support for the Israeli war effort in Gaza, similar to what the United States pledged for the war effort in Ukraine, the State Department earlier today issued what it called a “worldwide caution” for all Americans traveling anywhere abroad, citing “the potential risk for terrorist attacks” and “violent actions against U.S. citizens.” The warning urges Americans overseas to “exercise increased attention”. On last night's episode of System Update, we posed these two questions: 1) is full-scale U.S. support for the Israeli war in Gaza more likely to strengthen the security for American citizens or more likely to undermine it? and 2) when deciding whether the U.S. should fund and arm a foreign country and, specifically, whether to fund and arm Israel, is the security of American citizens even a relevant metric at all – let alone the overarching one?
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As is true for the debate over whether to involve the U.S. in the war in Ukraine, it appears that the security of American citizens is the least important consideration that's evaluated if it even ranks at all as something to consider. Other events over the past 24 hours included several attacks on U.S. troops in the Middle East and the resignation of a longtime State Department official on the ground. That arming and funding Israel in this war runs counter to the interests of the American people makes it more urgent than ever to ask whether, as was true for the war in Ukraine, Biden's war policies are benefiting several groups of people, none of whom is the ordinary American citizen whose interests are likely to be far more harmed than promoted by American involvement in this new war.
Then: a member of the Israeli Knesset, Ofer Cassif, joins us tonight for our interview segment. Dr. Cassif is a vocal and longtime critic of the Netanyahu government from his position as a member of the Knesset and has spoken out in opposition as well to various components of the Israeli response in Gaza to Hamas's attack on Israel on October 8. He was suspended by the Knesset for 45 days from performing his duties or attending parliamentary committees following particularly harsh criticism he expressed over the last week.
While not all of Dr. Cassif’s views are shared by a majority of Israelis, he most definitely speaks for many Israelis with views that are often overlooked or actively suppressed in the Western media. We think it's vital that Americans understand that Israelis are no more monolithic than any other group and that those in the U.S. who seem fond of anointing themselves as spokespersons for all Jews or all Israelis are speaking only for themselves. We do not doubt that hearing from him will prove enlightening and will broaden the scope of our understanding of how Israelis are debating Netanyahu's competence and the key questions driving Israel's new war.
I spent some time talking today to viewers who are trying to guess what my outfit would be, as well as to get some input about whether people think there is too much coverage on this show of this war. It's basically been the primary focal point of our coverage ever since last Monday. So it's almost two full weeks now of covering this war. On the one hand, we understand that there are other issues taking place. On the other, the U.S. media coverage of Israel in general, and certainly now tends to be so monolithic that we feel that some kind of counter coverage for balance is necessary. But as I said in the chat, we do intend to start diversifying once again the kind of topics and the range of subjects we cover, providing there are no major new escalations or developments in this war, but this is now an American war and we think it is vital to pay attention to it. That's a little taste of the kind of chat we just had in the live chat, and we're hoping to integrate the live chat even more into our show.
For now, welcome to a new episode of System Update, starting right now.
