I grew up in a traditional Jewish Jewish household, but in an untraditional decision after graduating from Michigan, I made Aliya and enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. I spent the next two years serving as a surgeon, an instructor in the Armored Corps. [00:00:16] To many, this might seem like a contradiction for a woman who identifies as liberal and progressive to be a Zionist so committed as to join the IDF. For me, these two identities go hand in hand. And now this IDF instructor has been hired to serve as TikTok's [00:00:35] so-called hate speech manager in order to censor what she deems to be anti-Semitic content on the platform. Now, the US government didn't manage to ban TikTok, and we all knew what they wanted to ban TikTok about, right? [00:00:51] Like, it wasn't actually because they're worried about data collection by a foreign actor. You think our government cares about our data being collected. Our data gets collected every minute of every day, whether it's a foreign actor or not. Our government officials could not care less, [00:01:10] but they really didn't like the fact that a lot of young people were sharing information about the war crimes Israel is committing on TikTok, and that content goes viral. A lot of young people rely on social media, for better or worse, [00:01:26] for their information. And our government officials don't like that. Former Republican Senator Mitt Romney said that on the record, even Nancy Pelosi alluded to that in a statement. So now, if you're not going to ban TikTok, why not get a former IDF soldier to serve [00:01:45] as the top censor for the platform? Fantastic. So TikTok's new hire is a woman by the name of Erika mindel, and after serving in the IDF, she worked in the Biden White House because, of course she did. According to Jewish Insider, the streaming platform enlisted Erica mendel, [00:02:04] a former State Department contractor who worked for Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration's special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, to join TikTok's global public policy and government affairs team. [00:02:20] Now, if you're wondering what exactly is she going to do in this role for TikTok? Exactly what is she going to focus on in her newly created role? Meaning this role was created specifically to censor criticism [00:02:36] of the Israeli government. Let's keep it real. Mendel will develop and drive the company's positions on hate speech, seek to influence legislative and regulatory frameworks, and analyze hate speech trends with a particular focus on anti-Semitic content, [00:02:51] among other duties cited in an official job description shared by TikTok. Great. You know, it's interesting because as we all know, anyone who's spent any time on social media can tell you there's all sorts of terrible people who say terrible things. [00:03:07] It could be sexist. It could be racist. It's just gross, right? Some people like to use social media to air their disgusting grievances, but never have I seen an effort to ensure that there's like, [00:03:22] a new role created a top censor role to ensure that these bad actors don't engage in racism, sexism, whatever. But anti-Semitism, we got we got to create a role for that, right? And by the way, I detest anti-Semitism as I do racism and sexism [00:03:41] and all of the other stuff. But this ain't about anti-Semitism. This is about protecting good old Israel as they're carrying out a genocide in Gaza and as they continue on with their campaign to annex the West Bank [00:03:56] and steal the land in Gaza, that's what this is really about. Okay, so she also spent some time working in Trump's second administration as well. Mindel, who previously served as an assistant director of program development at the American Jewish Committee, [00:04:13] had briefly worked for the special envoys office in the second Trump administration before she was finally hired by TikTok. Now, look, she's doing this out of the kindness of her own heart. You know, she just wants to make sure that TikTok is a friendly place for people of all backgrounds to create content, share content. [00:04:33] It's not like she's going to get a fat salary for doing this, right? Except she is. This is amazing. And look, TikTok is a private company. They can pay her whatever, whatever they want. TikTok's a private company. They can hire a censor if they want. I obviously have a problem with it because I can see the tea leaves, read the tea leaves, [00:04:49] and I see that this is really just about shutting down a certain form of speech that a foreign government doesn't like. But her base salary for censoring people for criticizing Israel will be anywhere between 178,000 and 338,000. Or, I'm sorry, $330,480. [00:05:07] And that's according to an official listing for the job. But she was going to get hired for the job. Like as the listing was posted. I want to be clear about that, because the role was created after a high level meeting took place between the Anti-Defamation League. [00:05:24] They organized the meeting with higher ups over at TikTok, and Mendel was part of this whole process. So TikTok last year complied with demands from the Israeli firm Cyber Well to censor content exposing the Israeli government's lies about Hamas [00:05:40] committing mass rape on October 7th. Remember that lie? Now, look, Hamas did carry out rapes, but mass rape has not been proven. And this organization wanted to censor content that exposed that the Israeli [00:05:58] government was lying about mass rape. So journalist Lee Fang actually wrote about it a year ago. Here's the piece in case you want to read it for yourselves. Cyber well is an NGO partner, trust and safety org working with meta [00:06:13] and TikTok to censor criticism of Israel, including accurate critiques of the IDF. The group claims to be independent, but deleted records show it is managed by former Israeli intelligence. Fantastic. Many younger Americans, by the way, as I mentioned, [00:06:30] do rely on social media to stay updated on the reality of world events because you're not going to get the reality consuming corporate news here in the United States. And by the way, Drop Site News is also reporting that unfortunately, some of the independent media has been infiltrated by. [00:06:49] Self-interested actors. Okay. Compromised essentially by pro-Israeli forces. So a piece written for drop site news that I highly recommend you read. A pro-Israel nonprofit is funneling news content through Barry Weiss's free press. [00:07:05] Seems like the Free Press ain't so free, as Weiss's new organization explores a deal to sell to CBS, much of its content on the Middle East is produced by a shadowy think tank tied to pro-Israel advocacy. So the organization in question is the center for Peace Communications CPC. [00:07:24] The CPC is a nonprofit organization whose board of directors includes multiple senior figures drawn from pro-Israel think tanks in Washington, D.C., including the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. [00:07:40] Now, if you're wondering where this nonprofit gets its funding from, well, it is financially backed by the likes of the Adelson Family Foundation, which gave the CPC $150,000 in 2023 alone. [00:07:55] Now, the CPC has helped the free press produce reporting on the Middle East that is aligned with the shifting strategic goals and public relations needs of the Israeli government. With the organization cited as the source for free press content on the region [00:08:12] in a steady stream of stories since 2023. Is anyone really surprised by any of this? I mean, the coverage of what's happening in the Middle East on the Free Press has been a joke. Like, like completely biased. [00:08:28] I mean, so much so that they were putting out pieces claiming that the starvation campaign in Gaza was a myth until they just couldn't deny it anymore because the evidence was so overwhelming. That's what you left the New York Times for, Barry, Berry for this. [00:08:47] The Free Press interview. I'll give you an example. They did interview this guy Yasser Abu Shabab. Okay. So the Free Press interview with Shabab offered him a chance to sell himself as this anti-terror militia or his anti-terror militia [00:09:03] called the Popular Forces. While responding to charges that he was tied to ISIS and had previously been jailed on drug trafficking charges. So the interview was all about laundering his reputation. All this talk is lies and slander against us, Shabab told Free Press in an audio [00:09:19] message and video later posted online. We categorically reject this extremist ideology. We believe in peace and we believe in secular governance. Now why is this guy's reputation being laundered? Why would the free press even care to do that? Why would the CPC, this Israel backed nonprofit, want to do that? [00:09:38] Well, it turns out that Yasser Abu Shabab is a Bedouin who leads the Israeli backed militia in the Gaza Strip. And basically, Israel wants to launder this guy's reputation [00:09:54] because they're supporting him and whatever he's up to in Gaza. By the way, Israel is currently funding militia groups. Okay. This is also well documented in Gaza, just like Netanyahu facilitated the funding of Hamas. [00:10:12] I just I don't know what to I don't know what else to say. Like it's so what's happening is so gross. And I do feel that our country right now, whether you're talking about our media or our government and at this point, even our social media platforms is occupied by a foreign government [00:10:30] because it literally is. It literally is. Last week, the Wall Street Journal also published an op ed written by Shabab expressing his readiness to support Israel's takeover of Gaza, notwithstanding previous Israeli news reports that the would be [00:10:48] militant leader is illiterate. So the Free Press is again helping this guy launder his reputation. Now, let's talk a little more about CPC. This organization, it turns out the founder and president of CPC is a guy by the name of Joseph Broad. [00:11:03] Now, who's Joseph Broad? I mean, I hadn't heard of him before. Turns out that he's a piece of crap. All in his own right. And even pled guilty to charges of smuggling stolen antiques out of Iraq following the US invasion of that country in 2003. [00:11:23] Okay. Total scumbag. So, in the free Press video detailing Shabab's plans to take over control of the Gaza Strip with Israeli support. Broad appears as a commentator defending Shabab from allegations of extremist ties, stating that, quote, I am fairly confident that he is not ISIS, though, conceding that one cannot preclude [00:11:44] that he may have had ties with the group in the past. Amazing. Well, all of this is super relevant on its own, but it's extra relevant when you consider the fact that Barry Weiss is currently in talks with CBS to sell the Free Press to CBS for a whopping $250 million, [00:12:04] even though that amount far exceeds the roughly 15 million a year that it is estimated to drive in subscription revenue, and reports from late July indicate that Barry Weiss has, in fact met with David Ellison, [00:12:20] the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and soon to be owner of CBS news, about a possible acquisition of the publication. So it's important to know what type of, you know, influences, [00:12:36] what kind of influencing factors lead to the type of reporting we're consuming here in the United States? That's why independent sources who are truly independent and have values, have morals, want to get accurate information to the people. [00:12:52] They're the most valuable platforms in the country. And I hope everyone is just mindful about what they're consuming, what's influencing the news that they're consuming. And question everything. Question us. I like that. As long as it's fair. [00:13:09] Because if I get something wrong, I want to make sure I correct it. And you know what? I'm human. I have my own biases, and I do want to be checked on that because at the end of the day, what's more important to me is that I'm doing right by my audience, and I'm getting you guys accurate information and not feeding into this slop [00:13:27] that makes up American media. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.