110 Comments

If you go onto breaking points with jocko thursday, and krystal says something out of pocket... please take off your “news media decorum” hat and put on the “twitter” hat.

Even if its only for a second.

Thanks

-long time listener/subscriber😁

Expand full comment

DC with his twitter hat on would be absolute gold! Would love it!

Expand full comment

I'd pay extra for that

Expand full comment

Seconded

Expand full comment

I remember about a decade ago reading an article about Gideon Levy. It described him as the most hated man in Israel. Why? Because every week, he went to the occupied territories and described what he saw there.

Expand full comment

Hi Darryl, im a long time listner an subscriber. I live in Jerusalem Israel. I was meaning to contact you for a while, I thought your series about the Israeli Palestinian conflict was really great although you did have a few rather big mistunderstandings. I gotta say Im very disappointed about you sending this rather poor piece of propagnda as the first published piece of yours since the holocaust wich was perpetrated in the south of Israel by the arabs agains inocent jewish men woman and especially children. Il be happy to explain all of the errors of his speech and give you my point of view on the current situation here. All the best to you and your subscribers and anyone who is looking for the truth.

Expand full comment

Please speak more .

Expand full comment

Id love to but it will take a long serise like only Darryl can make :) first of all mr Levy states that Israel occupies Palestinian territories, that is completely false since there wasnt ever a Palestinian state.. The strory be tells is very sad if true but from that he gives the listner a distorted understanding of reality and basis an entire view on one story. Of course he fails to menchin the never ending terror of the Palestinian against the Jewish Israeli population sinse the 1920s which is the reason there are checkpoints. By the way this interview is from 2003 and sinse then the checkpoints came down in many places which resolted in many more murdered Jews. Another grotesque lie is that Israel is a democracy only for Jews, it is completely false, since we have 2 million Israeli Arabs which enjoy all of the rights we do, and even recieve additional benefits. The third largest political party in one of the elections was Arab, we had anArab party in the government, an Arab sits on the Supreme Court, we have Arab doctors Lawyers, you get the message. The only reason I can see for Darryl to share this antisemitic propaganda is because it comes from a Jewish Israeli, so a listner can rightfully say, hey if an Israeli says it it has to be true. But if we will study a bit of history we will quickly learn that some of the biggest haters and enemies of the Jewish people were Jews.

Expand full comment

It’s important to consider that Darryl likes to look at things from all sides. Him posting it doesn’t mean he agrees with it. I think most of us here want to hear various perspectives, up to a point anyway. I don’t give a shit about what a bunch of dumb undergrads think at Harvard and Columbia for example. But I digress. Stay safe over there brother

Expand full comment

Thank you so much, Im a big fan of Darryl for this reason. Hes the most objective iv come across. That is why sending a poor propaganda piece out of context and without mentioning the holocaust which was perpetrated is way way way benith his level. I took the trouble to write and critisize because I know Darryl and his followers are real truth seekers. All the best Brother.

Expand full comment

I think perhaps the reason the Holocaust is not mentioned is because it was not perpetrated by the Arabs and this episode is about the Arab Israeli conflict

Expand full comment

Yes I appreciate the details. I’ll have to re listen to the entirety of Darryl Cooper’s Israel history. My understanding was that the Jews were originally granted the entire land of Israel by League of Nations , from Jordan to the Mediterranean, and from Eilat to border with Lebanon, minus the Golan . Then there were Arab riots that caused UK to further partition the Jewish portion. Then masses

of illegal Arab migrants and other nationalities of Muslims moved into the newly partitioned land. That migration further caused the refugee problem from the 1948 war. I cannot recall of Darryl ever quotes or references “From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine” by Joan Peters. I met her personally at a Daniel Pipes dinner.

Expand full comment

It is important to note that what mr. Levy called occupied territories are the 67 territories, but the real Palestinian claim is for the entire land of Israel. '' From the river to the sea '' that dosnt refer to Judea and Sumeria, but rather, to the entire land. Which means the Jews will have to go to the sea. Another thing which is crucial to understand is that our mandate for the land comes from God in the bible and the land of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people for 4000Years, since the time of Abraham. So we went back and actually never left this land and the league of nations recognized this (even though only acnoglegde part of the land) simply not to say it is just a piece of real estate. The Arabs actually have a very recent histoty in the land in comparison and for sure thete was no Palestinian people prior to 1948. Darryl covers this well. It was a part of great Syria and even a leader of an Israeli Arab party Balad stated it. In short The creation of the state of Israel the Jewish state created also the Palestinian people.

Expand full comment

"the land of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people for 4000Years" - is this what you mean to say? My understanding was the Israelites settled in Israel around 1200 BCE - a smidge over 3000 years ago. It's a pretty massive rounding error to go from 3200 to 4000, so I assume you consider the Canaanites proto-Jewish people or something?

Expand full comment

The essential element of all Palestinian propaganda is to invert cause and effect so that the measures taken by Israel to contain Palestinian violence are recast as the justification for Palestinian violence. The simple truth is that the best deal the Palestinians have ever got or will ever get was in the decade after 1967 when they could basically work freely inside Israel, and Israeli consumers drove daily to the West Bank to shop. This ended because of their violence, and it has got ever worse because of their violence.

There is a another point here, though, which is that the Dissident Right often accuses Jews of 'ethnonationalism for thee but not for me'. However, I haven't seen any Right Wing Zionists eagerly promoting BLM or the 1619 project. What I do see is a lot of dissident Right Wingers promoting Israeli left wing freaks and patting themselves on the back about it.

Expand full comment

"The beatings will continue until morale improves"

Expand full comment

While I don't agree with a lot of what you said, I will say the Palestinians turned down a few fair deals. If they had accepted the 67 one or one of the pre-48 ones, this mess probably would have been avoided.

Expand full comment

Darryl, I can't wrap my mind around something:

The Azerbaijanis submitted the armenians, of Nagorno-Karabakh, 120,000 CIVILIANS, to a 9 month total blockade denying them food, fuel and medecine. Barely a word in western media, no Underground podcast with Jocko and yourself, no campaign of celebrities and western politicians with the Armenian 🇦🇲 flag on their social media profile... nothing. Then a murderous Azerbaijanis military assault took place on September 19th. The whole armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh fled to Armenia. Typical playbook of ethnic cleansing. No sanctions or boycott campaign against Azerbaijan, no backlash or hate crimes against people of tartar descent or Muslims elsewhere in the world related to this... nothing.

There's a long tradition of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the history of the "civilized world", but it's 'funny' how it's seems that ethnic cleansing is now a 'privileged' given to certain cultures.

The Turk got away with one of the worst genocidal campaigns in modern history and one of the largest population transfer (up to that point) with the benediction of the League of Nation.

There won't be any lasting solution for Gaza apart from a population transfer. Instead of sending billions to Israel to bomb Gaza, why not make a deal with Egypt, Jordan and the other Arab states for an economic incentive package for taking in Palestinian refugees?

Expand full comment

It would be suicide for any Arab government to partake in a population transfer taking in refugees and allowing Israel to take the lands would be akin to surrender. There isn’t an economic incentive in the world that would be worth the internal political turmoil such a move would bring. For many Arab Muslims this is a holy war and the very existence of Israel is an affront to Allah and martyred Palestinian civilians are useful propaganda tools against Israel.

Expand full comment

You are right about the Holy war and propaganda tool, this is why Israel needs a strategic paradigm shift. There is no scenario where the Jewish states survives long term apart from ensuring that a majority of the population in the territory they control is Jewish. Anything else will be a forever war scenario. So either they accept that reality or try something else that has worked for all the other Arab states in the region that have successfully reduce the percentage of their non-muslim population over the last 100 years, their latest 'success story' just happened in Azerbaijan.

How long can the open-air Gaza prison strategy work? 🤔 there is no "status quo",

the population of Gaza will increase by 50% by 2030, double by 2040... killing a few thousands Hamas fighters every 4 or 5 years won't make a difference.

So the paradigm shift could be something like this: To protect the Palestinians of Gaza from Hamas, Israel will relocate them to the neighboring Arab states, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Also Germany, should be "voluntold" to take in a few hundred thousand Palestinians refugees since they have an historical responsibility having infected the Palestinians with the Nazi propaganda during WWII (Listen to the great podcast series on the topic of the Muslim Nazis by Alexander Von Sternberg of the History Impossible podcast).

Another possibility would be a population swap with Turkey, Palestinians for the Kurds.

Might sound outrageous at first, but they are many historical precedents, and both populations have an historical link with their proposed new hosts.

In anycase, unlike the current situation, both scenarios offers a long term solution.

Expand full comment

And that’s the problem, it’s insolvable.

Expand full comment

Sounds like it's showtime for you.

Don't be afraid to self promote and don't forget to mention your Substack and Podcast.

Expand full comment

Expanded? That thing is gonna be double marathon length now. Looking forward to a re-listen

Expand full comment

Hear your going on breaking points thurs

Expand full comment

Who told you that

Expand full comment

Breaking points this morning, said they were working on getting you on Thursday

Expand full comment

I feel you have the best intelligence on the situation. Peter zeihan, believes there won't be a broader war and ww3 isn't going to happen. I hope he's right on this one.

Expand full comment

one can only hope...

Expand full comment

This short piece by Eric Hoffer was published in the LA times in 1968! I am amazed and also saddened by how well it has aged.

"The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russian did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.

Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.

Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.

Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israelbe defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.

No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.

The Swedes, who are ready to break of diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.

The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is toAmerica and the West in general.

I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us.

Expand full comment

That’s a perfect encapsulation of the double standard we operate in. I’ve always been fascinated at how different rules are implemented onto the Jews than for everyone else. Why? It’s a puzzle I can’t figure out.

Expand full comment

Because it's completely unnecessary now. You keep bringing up horrors of the past to justify the present. The ground truth is more Jews in the United States then there are Native Americans. Well integrated and vastly punching above their weight in influence and wealth. There's more of you in Canada then Inuit. Times change, morals have changed, expectations have changed and I keep getting beat on the head with 1945.

If Israeli dies it will be of its own hand, transformed into a global pariah state completely drained of its best and brightest for greener pastures because it can't admit to creating an underclass it screams at the whole world that it exemplifies against all observable facts. I don't want a dime of my money or a single American life to be wasted on that bizarre juxtaposition.

Expand full comment

"Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally." USS Liberty attack. PROMIS-Inslaw case. The tacit stealing of US nuclear tech. Not to mention whatever security agency Epstein belonged to. Are these the actions of an ally? What exactly does the US get out of this alliance?

Expand full comment

Forgot about Operation Susanna.

Expand full comment

With everything there is to say about the current state of affairs....you choose to give increased exposure to this person!?

Criticism of Israel is not out of bounds by all means, but in the wake of what has just taken place, and the threat that is faced by the Jewish state and Jews everywhere, this is not the time.

What could possibly be in your heart to choose to publicize this person?

Mr Levy is a pariah in the Jewish community for good reason.

I ache for peace with our cousins, the sons of Ishmael , and so do most Israelis and Jews everywhere. This proctologist’s view of Israel does not advance that agenda one bit

WTF Darryl?

Expand full comment

I disagree with your opinion of Levy, to say the least.

Expand full comment

Clearly we have differing opinions on Mr Levy . I enjoy your podcasts so much. Your series “Fear and Loathing in the new Jerusalem” was gloves off and fair in my estimation. So I am not an incorrigible “Homer” for Israel

But I do feel that all the decent peoples of the world should be United to burn the evil that is Hamas from our midst

Then we will have to consider that Israel cannot as a long term solution count on military superiority only as a sustainable solution to this conflict

Every Zionist , every thinking person, must consider that if we love our homeland , and want it to be be free, democratic, and Jewish --

Expand full comment

He's not really a pariah, he has a weekly column in Israel's upper class newspaper. Similarly, I can easily find a thousand articles in the New York Times depicting America as a racist dystopia where innocent black people and immigrants flee from torch-wielding MAGA mobs, but I know that if I shared that as some sort of insight into America while trying to look profound it would reveal me to be a cretin.

Expand full comment

I agree that the actions of Hamas are disgusting and evil. Maybe your outrage towards them can convince the Israeli government to stop financing and supporting them?

“For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces

The premier’s policy of treating the terror group as a partner, at the expense of Abbas and Palestinian statehood, has resulted in wounds that will take Israel years to heal from”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/

“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” Netanyahu told his Likud party’s Knesset members in March 2019. “This is part of our strategy"

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-09/ty-article/.premium/another-concept-implodes-israel-cant-be-managed-by-a-criminal-defendant/0000018b-1382-d2fc-a59f-d39b5dbf0000

Expand full comment

The policy of accepting Hamas as the government of Gaza has been widely accepted around the world. Here is George Soros advocating it in 2007. George Soros usually gets what he wants, and he did here to:

https://www.ft.com/content/8835d6dc-d54a-11db-a5c6-000b5df10621

Long ago, the Israeli military decided it was impossible to retake Gaza without Israeli casualties that would tear society apart, and Palestinian casualties that would destroy our international standing. Since then, the entire Israeli political establishment from far Left to far Right has been engaging in Cope. Netanyahu's Cope was that somehow tolerating Hamas advanced settlement expansion. Actually it wasn't even his Cope, it was the Cope he sold to coalition parties to his Right. But everyone was in on it, and everyone had their own version of the Cope, and everyone is guilty.

Expand full comment

Recent events in Israel are a direct reaction to the events of the past. So yes, this is the time to reflect on the past. And if that past is full of events to be criticized, it is even more important to realize and address it now, instead of doubling down on past errors.

Expand full comment

Hey Darryl, where is this talk from? And who is the audience?

Expand full comment

Darryl

Another short missive from the Canadian Nova Scotian retired chaplain. After wading through (joyfully) podcasts from History Hit , namely ancient history and warfare I looked to the substack once more for a timely binge of your latest episodes.

What I value about your offerings is that although our politics would not always land in the same place I very much appreciate being pushed to think outside my comfort zone. And where we agree I raise a cheer when I drive as well. Your episodes regarding Job are an excellent exegesis. You have done the hard work. Job was the hardest translation I undertook when studying Hebrew in seminary. Being poetry it followed none of the normal Masoretic scribe rules. A metaphor for the suffering of Israel. His friends being at their best when they were silent and just present with Job. All these things you touched and I certainly have enjoyed listening.

I veer as well into the world of the unravelling with you and Jocko. My politics if given a label likely would be centrist liberal in the classical sense but I do not find myself hammering my dashboard in anger when hearing views that press upon me. Instead I value the discourse that sadly is not too present in our world now with so much stark polarization.

I don’t follow Twitter much because it seems to be a very different kind of forum that spews rather than informs.

But to date I am resolved to remain a faithful listener to the things with which I agree , disagree or am prompted to a place of sober second thought.

Best

Tim

Expand full comment

Much profundity. A lecture by noted neurotic left-wing freak, Gidon Levy. Now I really understand Middle East politics. Look, here's a lecture by an American professor about how White policeman hunt down innocent blacks who dindu nuffin because muh racism. Yeesh.

Expand full comment

A delicious listen. You are a must-follow and membership.

Expand full comment

I’m already so sick of all the side taking in this. This shit has been going on over there since the beginning of recorded history. It will never stop. America needs to stay out of it an let the religious psychos fight it out. I know I sure don’t want to see my son have to go over there and die for either side. Why are American lives always expected to be given. Maybe we should concentrate on our own problems here at home. Opiates crossing border would be a great start. That has killed many more than has died over there for this last conflict. How bout instead of aid to Isreal or Ukraine,maybe aid to rebuild after fire in Hawaii,or train wreck in Ohio. Of course all of you 2min attention span people prob have already forgotten all about these issues. I care about America first. Period.

Expand full comment
Comment deleted
Oct 24, 2023
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

Well, if you believe the Bible. It’s been going on much longer than since the great world wars. Muslims and Jews and Christians have been killing each other over their interpretations of God for longer than 100 years. It’s all stupid. I don’t care what you or any other person wants to believe in. If it isn’t the same as my belief I definitely don’t think that’s a good reason to kill each other.

Expand full comment

A small part of me wishes aliens would invade bent on all human death. I’m curious if the human race would postpone the killing each other about God in order to draw together to save ourselves from extinction.

Expand full comment

I bet a solid fifth of humanity would start worshipping the aliens.

Expand full comment

I appreciate you putting this out there Darryl. I didn't really like what I heard, and I suspect many other listeners will feel the same way. But if we are unable to listen to and absorb opinions that differ from our own, then that just makes us a little more like those religious zealots Hamas.

Expand full comment

Oh gosh! So many thoughts. But I’ll spare the reader and offer just a few. Imagine with me how the history and current racial climate of the United States of America and Canada would have been if the Native American peoples fought with the same degree of tenacity against Europeans like the Palestinians have been doing against the occupying Jews in Palestine.

The British (along with many of the powerful empires of yesteryear) cavalierly entered many foreign lands and did as they wished with the peoples and cultures that they found living in these various places. But this one spot in the Middle East was different. Palestine had a history that was very different than other colonial acquisitions. A cursory review of history might have caused a sensible empire to tread carefully around this land mine.

But no, empire building, questionable Christian eschatology, and a strong dose of self-superiority allowed them to plow right past all the guard rails. The British with the help of the League of Nations created this situation. They should not have been allowed to simply walk away after 1948.

And finally, let’s stop pretending that peace is possible with the long list of cease fires and accords they’ve been tossing at the problem. Haven’t we seen enough of these already? These things are mere window dressings that don’t directly address the core of the matters that Mr Levy is stating!

And Instead of asking why I’m not fully supporting the Jews in Israel; please, for one minute, try and see where the atrocities of the Hamas attack stems from. As humans, atrocities and the need to correct, avenge, and prevent them can blind us the root which causes them in the first place. We can support, weep with, and defend Israel, while at the same time look deeply into the disease which refuses to be healed because it’s never directly addressed.

Responding to symptomatic flare-ups is not good medical practice and we’ve been negligible physicians.

Expand full comment

It's not the Palestinian's fault. It's not the Jew's fault. It's the fucking British.

Expand full comment

Bingo!

Expand full comment

If the aliens are watching & learning the lesson is kill all when conquering bc anyone you give mercy to is going to come back and wreak hell....maybe war and conquering are a thing of the past but wars been around forever and exists in the animal kingdom taking over and protecting territory for its resources, killing rivals....but ya no good way to address what’s been done probs. What’s your best solution? I feel like it could go either way, open borders and let everything even out so the whole world is basically at the same level..bc fortunately I am a white American but in my next life I could be born as a Chinese poor city dweller or something...orrr give everyone by race they’re own home to be around peers and govern themselves....or both...but where would the Jews or palastenians go? Or AAs for that matter. If the Jewish and Palestinians could agree on separate spaces I think the Jewish would leave them alone. Not sure I could say the same of the Palestinians. But I think it comes down to where the money comes from. If someone’s paying for you they get to tell you what to do..so everyone would have to be independent.

Expand full comment

Let me go a step further with this although I promised only a couple of thoughts: First, I think the hubris that created this conflict needs to be checked. I find it amazing that not only the League of Nations, but that actual hundreds of thousands of Jews who were so heavily persecuted in Germany, Poland, and elsewhere would not have developed empathy for other despised people groups, having such a deep understanding of the pain that accompanies oppression.

I wonder how empathy for the experiences of losing life and liberty wasn’t extended to others when coming into Palestine and witnessing the forced exodus of so many people who have lived in these places for centuries.

This hubris seems to animate many still today as they pontificate on what the best solution to this problem is.

Really?

Haven’t the 70 to 100 years that have passed offered no insight that this is not a problem but a condition, as someone has recently said? Geez. How about some humility, people? When we start with humility, we begin looking at the history with clearer vision.

Please listen to Jocko & Darryl’s episode of the Unraveling Podcast which gives an enlightening sketch of the histories and connections between Israeli Terrorist groups and Israeli presidents.

Finally, I venture to say that had the Palestinian been regarded with the same degree of humanity as the Jew and the British, and while we’re at it, Europeans in general, we would be having a different discussion today. There. I said it. Come at me!!

Expand full comment

I’ve listened to the jock and dc podcasts, not really about coming at you...but ya still doesn’t really answer what the solution is..I dunno where the people are supposed to go. Any ‘people’ that doesn’t feel they have a home. Or like if there should be reconciliation for conquering or what that should be or if it is sort of inevitable like a things fall apart sort of situation.

Expand full comment

Agreed, and I don’t know what the answer is either. But I have a feeling that if all the stakeholders in this conflict would focus on the root issue, they would be better equipped for finding a solution. It’s almost like they don’t want to look at it. It’s so weird to me. I grew up in the 1980’s with calls for “peace in the Middle East” and other such mantras, and assumed that people just needed to stop fighting and live in harmony. I was so miseducated. But now, almost no one has an excuse to be ignorant of the facts and those in power should be addressing these facts.

Again, I don’t pretend to know the answer, but I trust that rational minds at the top levels can get closer to a solution than where we are or where we have been, if they take a deep look at what started this mess in the first place.

Expand full comment

Right, and if those at the top had the best for the whole world in mind, which even just working in small organizations makes me doubt. Have become suspicious of almost everything big with any level of bureaucracy

Expand full comment

Hard to expect the Jews of Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Yemen, Morocco, etc., who were getting butchered in their homelands, to feel a lot of sympathy for the Arabs living in Transjordan. It wasn’t just European Jews in Israel.

Expand full comment

That really does sum it up

Expand full comment