Brother Nathanael - Anti BDS As Group Think
Aired: 2019-02-15
Duration: 03:50


=== Freedom to Boycott (03:25) ===

[00:00:01]  The Senate just passed yet another package of aid to Israel.
[00:00:05]  It contained legislation called the Combatting BDS Act, which runs smack dab into a clash with the First Amendment.
[00:00:14]  Sponsored by Marco Rubio, perhaps to please his donor Norman Bremen, the act rubber stamps states that penalize boycotters of Israel.
[00:00:24]  Every single Republican voted for the bill, save this one.
[00:00:30]  One of the things that I think is fundamental to our country is the freedom to protest, the freedom to dissent, and the freedom to boycott, if you so choose.
[00:00:40]  Our country was actually founded with a boycott.
[00:00:43]  The boycott was dumping English tea into the ocean.
[00:00:48]  In my state, Henry Clay was famous for passing legislation boycotting British goods so that people would wear American clothing.
[00:00:57]  He actually fought a duel over that and became famous and then became one of the most famous US senators.
[00:01:03]  Right. Boycotts are a long-established political tool.
[00:01:07]  Why should Israel get a pass?
[00:01:10]  Why should Rubio and his backers decide what political expression is or isn't allowed and authorized?
[00:01:18]  Rand says no way.
[00:01:20]  I'm not making really a point on whether the boycott's good or bad or with regard to Israeli policy.
[00:01:26]  My point is whether it's good or bad with regard to the First Amendment.
[00:01:30]  You see, the First Amendment isn't really about Hearing from people about things that you like, if it's speech that you like and people say, you're a great guy, you're not going to be offended by that speech.
[00:01:43]  It's when people are critical of you or critical of your thoughts or have different thoughts.
[00:01:48]  But that's what the First Amendment's about.
[00:01:50]  Right. It protects speech you don't want to hear.
[00:01:54]  Yet Rubio isn't about America's fundamental principles.
[00:01:59]  His eyes rest sentimentally on Tel Aviv.
[00:02:02]  Boycotting Israel is discriminatory, says he.
[00:02:06]  But no one's prejudicing a race or creed, but instead protesting a policy of discrimination that Israel carries out against Palestinians.
[00:02:15]  It's like someone saying back in Martin Luther King's day, Don't protest sending blacks to the back of the bus, because if you do, you're discriminating against the bus driver.
[00:02:27]  Yet, Rubio tweets, BDS is about destroying Israel.
[00:02:33]  B.S. With Israel getting 10 million U.S. bucks per day and armed to the teeth with nukes, Israel needs anti-BDS laws to keep it from being destroyed?
[00:02:44]  Come on!
[00:02:46]  Rather, it fears that its good guy brand is fading, whether through BDS or outright censure.
[00:02:54]  Wrong think is catching up with the narration.
[00:02:57]  What to do? Subplant it with groupthink.
[00:03:01]  It's groupthink around here.
[00:03:03]  Everybody's so paranoid and says, oh, we can't object to this lobby because this lobby's so powerful, we can't object to them.

=== Codifying Commitments? (00:38) ===

[00:03:11]  That takes balls, Rand Paul.
[00:03:13]  Bravo. But strange, how is it that grown men, Republican senators who cry, Constitution, the Constitution, can't stand up to, uh, The lobby.
[00:03:27]  That means the next administration, whatever party that's in, six years from now, whenever that may be, is going to inherit a law that has codified the Memorandum of Understanding as a floor and makes clear to the world that the U.S. has a legal commitment, not just a moral one, but a legal obligation to come to Israel's assistance and to continue to provide help.
[00:03:47]  And toss the First Amendment into the trash.