It looks like there was more to that gross joke that Van Jones told about dead babies during his recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, because drop site news has uncovered his ties to a new pro-Israel organization, [00:00:15] which he should be upfront and disclose. But he didn't. So let's learn more about this organization. So it's called the Jackie and Jeff Karsh Journalism Fellowship, and it describes itself as solely dedicated to Jewish topics. [00:00:33] So Jackie Karsh, I had never heard of her in my life, but it turns out she's one of the Fellowship's co-founders and states that she is fighting on the front of journalism for Israel. So she's out front with her bias in favor of Israel, which is kind of the antithesis [00:00:52] of pursuing journalism. But okay, fair enough. She's apparently, or at least she likes to fashion herself as a journalist based here in Los Angeles in December of last year. Here's what she stated. October 7th happened and everything changed for me because I knew this was going to be a war of information the second it happened. [00:01:13] You know, Jackie, I knew that too. You want to know why I knew that? Because I live here in the United States, where the atrocities and war crimes that are carried out by the Israeli government tend to get glossed over or not covered at all. Our media seems to be pretty friendly to the pro-Israel narrative. [00:01:32] But here's what happened. Over the last two years, we saw endless videos of innocent people getting bombed. Okay, just absolutely destroyed. Children with limbs missing, parents weeping over [00:01:50] the corpses of their toddlers. We saw images like that, the entirety of the Gaza Strip leveled by the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces. That's what we saw. And it turns out that all the disinformation that Israeli supporters [00:02:08] or Israel supporters might want to put out there really pales in comparison to the imagery that we've been consuming over the last two years. But anyway, she then cited a post from Aviva Klopas, who's the former head of, [00:02:24] I'm sorry about that. She's the I'm sorry, former head of speechwriting at the Israeli mission to the U.N. Now, what did Aviva write and what was cited? She wrote that the IDF is going to attack our enemies by land, sea and air. And the rest of us are going to fight on the battlegrounds of academia, [00:02:42] law, business, media, and every other damn front we can think of. And in reference to that, Karsh says, so this is my front. Journalism is my front, and I'm doing what I can. Look, I actually really value the fact that she's being open and honest [00:03:01] with what her agenda is. I respect that even though I disagree with her, clearly I disagree with her point of view. Putting your cards on the table is admirable, because at least you're not trying to pretend like you're being a fair and honest [00:03:16] journalist like Barry Weiss does. Barry Weiss, just like Karsh, has an overwhelming bias. But unlike Weiss, Karsh is willing to be upfront about her bias. Okay. Fair enough. Great. So in March of this year, Karsh stated that the Israel story [00:03:35] is on the facts side. So you're already starting from a good place because the truth is, at the end of the day, the IDF is the most moral army in the world. You know, Jackie, I wouldn't I wouldn't think that just judging based on [00:03:53] how people behave when I engage in debate with them on Israel and its atrocities. Some of them even quit, live on air and run off the set. But anyway, let me give you more. The Israeli population is made up of Christians, Jews and Arabs and Israelis. [00:04:08] Jews. It runs the gamut. And so there's no apartheid there. And I think if you just go through each of those things systematically, the facts are on Israel's side. Oh, is that true? Is that is that why Palestinians were shot and killed [00:04:24] as they merely approached the border wall that separates Gaza from Greenline Israel? Is that why that happened if there's no apartheid? Interesting, Additionally, Karsh has cast doubt on the casualty numbers [00:04:42] provided by the Gaza ministry of health. I actually cast doubt on those numbers as well. I actually think it's severely underestimated how many Palestinians have perished in Gaza as a result of this ongoing genocide. I suspect, though, she's going in the opposite direction. [00:04:59] She also criticized the media's coverage of the Al Ahli Hospital bombing in 2023, which the IDF claimed was caused by a Palestinian rocket. Since then, Israel has proceeded to bomb literally every single hospital [00:05:15] in the Gaza Strip. And she served as the board member of a pro-Israel group called Jewish Federation for several years now. Drop Site News also notes that as far as they could tell, Karsh has never publicly expressed any concern, [00:05:33] not even one no modicum of concern for the Palestinian civilians in Gaza who have been starved, forcibly displaced or slaughtered by the Israeli government. She seems to think that their lives aren't as important. I'll be generous and just frame it that way. [00:05:51] Now, let's talk a little bit more about this fellowship that she's a co-founder of. So the Jackie and Jeff Karsh Journalism Fellowship maintains that it is resolutely nonpartizan. They didn't say that they're unbiased, but they're nonpartizan. [00:06:07] So left. Right, Democrat, Republican. As long as you support Israel, you're welcome. They began taking applications from those interested in joining back in July, and their whole game plan is to have up to ten fellows [00:06:23] who will then meet with journalists, scholars, policymakers and innovators over the course of three retreats. You know, the pro-Israel cohort in this country really loves their retreats, don't they? So they plan on discussing topics that include Middle East misinformation [00:06:42] and how to stop anti-Semitism. In other words, they're going to get together to discuss how they can spread and propagate their own version of Middle East misinformation. And they are going to embolden the current government of Israel to continue engaging [00:07:01] in the type of atrocities that has fueled the uprise in anti-Semitism globally. I don't think these people realize how counterproductive they really are with what they're doing. Again, we have seen the images and the videos for two years straight. [00:07:18] There's no level of propaganda that's going to erase the images that are literally the images that at this point for me, are seared in my mind. 16 scholars and journalists have already been chosen as mentors for the fellows. [00:07:36] And Van Jones, as we previously mentioned, happens to be one of them. He used to be a radical. This is the guy who got fired from the Obama administration because he questioned the nine over 11 narrative. Man, this is embarrassing and also a little depressing to be honest. [00:07:56] So other mentors from the publications, other mentors are from publications that include The Atlantic, Not Surprise, Spectrum News, The Spectator, Ynet, which I think is an Israeli publication, if I'm not mistaken, The Times of Israel and The New York Times. [00:08:11] And that last bullet point is especially interesting when you consider the following. The New York Times Handbook of Values and Practices for its journalists states they should take care to ensure any public engagements, including giving speeches, participating on panels, teaching classes and presenting at conferences [00:08:30] do not create an actual or apparent conflict of interest or undermine public trust in the Times's independence. When it comes to Israel, though, it's not rare for values to kind of fall by the wayside. I mean, think about the standards we have for literally every other country [00:08:50] on the global stage when it comes to engaging in war. Now, if Russia carried out the same atrocities that the Israeli government is currently carrying out, we might have nuked them by now. But since it's Israel, it's okay. Fair enough. [00:09:09] So drop site news asked the times whether having their journalists participate in this fellowship would, you know, essentially serve as a conflict of interest, especially considering the standards that The New York Times has? In response, a spokesperson called it ridiculous to claim that their mentorship [00:09:27] is about anything other than supporting up and coming journalists. So apparently the New York Times didn't get the memo, even though Karsh was abundantly clear about what the agenda for this fellowship really is. [00:09:43] I guess that's why they pay them the big bucks to do journalism. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.