Ezra Levant marks 9/11’s 22nd anniversary, warning that fading memory risks repeating history, while visiting Israel’s security barrier—built post-9/11—blocking 3–5 daily crossings by criminals. He critiques Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon for blaming "unnamed media" over residential school claims, Justin Trudeau’s climate-focused military rebranding amid NATO spending failures, and Quebec journalists boycotting Meta instead of the government’s linking tax. Levant argues institutions are hijacked by ideological enemies, contrasting Israel’s religious freedom with UAE’s selective enforcement, before previewing Rebel News’ legal battles, including Tamara Leach’s trial and Pastor Derek Reimer’s case, tying it all to systemic erosion of free speech. [Automatically generated summary]
I can hardly wait to come home, but I have a story for you about Canada.
In fact, three stories that have a common theme about how our establishment is being colonized, well, by the enemies of these establishments.
I'll explain what I mean in a second.
But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
That's the video version of this podcast.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com and click subscribe.
All right, here's today's podcast.
It's the anniversary of 9-11.
It's September 11th, and you're watching the Anzra Levant Show.
shame on you you sensorious bug it's the 22nd anniversary of 9 11.
A horrific day.
I remember it vividly, but I'm 51.
It's been so long since it's happened.
An entire generation has grown up with no recollection of it.
I think 9-11 was my generation's JFK assassination moment, something that every single person in the world knew exactly where they were when they heard the news.
That's how I felt about 9-11, and it changed everything.
I think young people don't know what 9-11 is.
It's like people talking about Hitler.
They know Hitler's a bad thing vaguely, but they have no idea about the Second World War.
I fear that we're losing that cultural memory for 9-11 too.
And when you forget the past, you're sometimes doomed to repeat it.
I'm, as you know, in Israel for the Rebel News Abraham Accords trip.
We're spending a week in Israel, and then we're going to the United Arab Emirates to see how the Abraham Accords peace deal is going.
Israel is a country that never forgets what terrorism is like because there are terrorist attacks almost every day.
We today visited with Danny Tirza, a retired colonel whose job was to stop those terrorist attacks by building a security barrier, a fence and sometimes a wall between the Jews and the Arabs.
We're still editing our report on that, but here's a report I did on the subject in our last trip to Israel.
I look a little bit different.
Here's my report when Danny Tirza gave us a tour of the security fence.
I'm standing in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.
Down there is Bethlehem and Beitjala in the West Bank.
And with me is retired Colonel Danny Tirza.
Nice to see you.
You were the colonel in charge of the security barrier between the West Bank and Israel.
How is it working?
How many years old is it, first of all?
It was start constructed here in 2002.
And now we're in 2017, so 15 years that it works.
How many people try and cross the barrier on any given day?
Today, maybe 20 to 30 times a week, someone tried to cross the fence.
So three to five times a day?
Are they people who were lost?
Are they regular criminals?
What's the breakdown of those 20 or 30 people a week?
Most of them are criminals.
Some of them are illegal workers.
And even Palestinian women that are running away from the families.
You know what happened to a Palestinian wife if her husband suspects her.
She better run away.
How has it affected regular life, commerce?
Can people on the Bethlehem side still come to Israel and vice versa?
Yes, they have, but they can, but they can do it only through checkpoints and after a security check.
Let's talk a little bit about Bethlehem.
We can see a few churches.
I see a golden dome there.
That's a church, right?
That's St. Nicholas Church, very famous one in Bejala.
Bejala.
And can you point to, is that on the highest point there?
Is that Bethlehem on the highest point of that hill?
On the top of the mountain, you can see the column there of Maria.
Behind it, it's the Nativity Church.
So the geography is extremely small.
I mean, we're here in Jerusalem.
Bethlehem is really, if this was in North America, it would be called a neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Bethlehem really isn't even separate.
That's right.
We don't have any space here between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Therefore, we had to build something on the ground to prevent these terrorists from coming to Israel.
How are Christians treated in Bethlehem?
I heard you say earlier today that the Christian population of Bethlehem is, did you say it's down to 12%?
Is that the number?
Today, most of the Christians ran away abroad from Betjala and Bethlehem after 1995, after the interim agreement between Israel and the PLO when we let this area to the Palestinian Authority.
Most of the Christians ran away abroad from the Muslims because they want to have better life in the world and not living here under the Muslims.
I'll be back in Canada at the end of the week.
I return on Friday morning to Canada.
I'm looking forward to getting home.
I've been away for far too long.
Three Canadian Stories00:15:57
Anyways, I have three stories today from Canada that I sense had a theme.
I don't know, have you ever heard of Robert Conquest's laws of politics?
I've mentioned them to you before.
The first one is, everyone is a conservative about what they know best.
Isn't that the truth?
Whether you're a bricklayer or a surgeon, it doesn't matter if you know something, if you're an expert in something, it's almost certain that you're a conservative because you know how it ought to be done.
It's the radical rebels who don't know what they're doing who are progressive.
I like that first Robert Conquest law.
The second one is any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
Isn't that the truth?
Look at the mission creep of, well, every organization from universities to colleges of physicians and surgeons and onwards.
But the third of Robert Conquest laws is what came to mind today with these three stories that I'll tell you about.
And that law is the simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.
What does that mean?
And what news does that apply to?
Well, I've got three stories for you.
One about Governor General Mary Simon attacking people who are deniers of Indigenous residential school issues.
The next story is an incredible one of Justin Trudeau demanding that the Canadian armed forces find a new role, that they become global warming warriors.
I'm not even kidding.
And the third story is the Quebec Journalists Association condemning Facebook.
I'll link these three stories together because they all follow Conquest Third's Law.
So let's go to the first one.
The story, as I often find them, is in Blacklock's reporter.
I've mentioned Blacklocks before, and I know Sheila Gunnreid mentions them a lot too.
Blacklocks is a small independent media company in Ottawa that, like Rebel News, does not take any money from the government.
And so they're one of the few media in this country that is able to criticize the establishment.
So here's their story today.
Governor General Mary Simon blames unnamed media for what she called residential school denialism.
There's this whole movement to ban denying residential school issues as if it's Holocaust denial.
They use that word denial, climate deniers, Holocaust deniers.
By the way, it is not against the law to deny the Holocaust.
It may be in bad taste, but it is not a crime.
However, they seek to illegalize, to criminalize denialism with regards to residential schools.
Let me read a little bit to you from the story in Blacklocks.
Governor General Mary Simon blames Onname Media for what she called residential school denialism.
Unidentified media are trying to, quote, control the story of Indigenous people, she said.
There are those who deny the stories of residential schools of abuse and neglect and racism, Simon said in a speech Friday to observe a national gathering on unmarked burials conference.
Even though residential school denialism is in the minority, it is nonetheless present.
Denialism takes the form of attacks online through the media and through the desecration of burial sites, said Simon.
That's a new one.
I haven't heard that before.
These attacks are attempts to control the story of Indigenous peoples.
And then here's the interesting part from Blacklocks.
Simon's remarks were from a written text and not spontaneous.
Rito Hall did not reply to questions.
Canadians can no longer say, I didn't know, said Simon.
We now acknowledge all aspects of our history, both the good and the bad.
Isn't that funny?
But there's so many groups who only talk about the bad.
And if there's not enough bad news, they'll just make more bad news about Canada's past.
Quote, for the longest time, too long, this trauma was buried unheard, said Simon.
For years, the lost fear and pleas from mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and communities went unrecognized.
Children disappeared at residential schools and other institutions, buried in unmarked graves.
And the story goes on.
Now, I have no doubt that terrible things were done in residential schools.
Terrible things are done in all places by all people of all races.
And we know that from other schools, sometimes there is sexual abuse or other abuse, especially when there involves children in a mass setting like that.
But to say that anyone who criticizes or asks skeptical questions about residential schools is a, quote, denier is a terrible form of political censorship, which I think is exactly the goal.
Our own Drea Humphrey, who is Indigenous herself, went to Kamloops to do a documentary on the alleged mass graves there.
Here's an excerpt from her film.
The remains of 215 children have been found in a mass grave in Canada.
Many of you know that just over a year ago, the discovery of the remains of 215 children was found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School at the Tekumloop-Shaswamik First Nation.
But what if I were to show you that what I just said wasn't true?
And that in fact, a year later, not a single body has been found.
This mass grave is a painful reminder of the genocide.
Canada's leaders aren't condemning the burning of churches.
No, they're endorsing the burning of churches.
A juvenile ribbon that surfaced in the same area.
You'd be surprised that at first people just say, you know, I'm a doctor, I'm a paramedic.
This is definitely a human bone and it's definitely not.
It's like the chief.
Is Drea a denier because she sought to have proof of the exaggerated claims of hundreds of bodies in a quote, mass grave?
That's what Jagmeet Singh said about it.
Do we now control ideas by banning denialism?
Do we also ban hoaxes like what was clearly perpetrated in Kamloops and other places?
Pretty recently, one of the Manitoba sites of an alleged mass grave, when they finally investigated the ground-penetrating radar, found that there was no mass grave at all.
It was, at worst, a hoax, at best, an error, but the ability to challenge it would be banned by the likes of Mary Simon.
And here's my point of Conquest's third law.
Mary Simon is the governor general, and the governor general's position is to be apolitical, non-partisan, rather like the king or the queen, the late queen themselves.
But by being so partisan and so accusatory and so ideological, Mary Simon accomplishes two things.
First of all, she uses the weight of her office to condemn people who happen to disagree with her.
So she weaponizes the powers of the governor general's office.
And who knows if she ever had to make some decision on the matter, she would clearly not be impartial.
So she uses and misuses the power of your office to attack unnamed journalists.
Does she mean Drea Humphrey?
Is she attacking Drea or other Indigenous critics?
But the second thing she does is she undermines the office itself.
In this way, it's a liberal's dream.
Take over a great office of the state, like the governor general.
But of course, the left sort of hates the monarchy.
So take over the great office, weaponize it to be a leftist voice, and discredit it in the eyes of those who love the monarchy and know that the governor general, like the king himself, must be politically neutral.
That's Robert Conquest's third law.
Any group has been hijacked by a cabal of its enemies.
Mary Simon is herself a colonizer.
She's taken over the office of Governor General and is abusing it.
Let me read you the second story in the same vein.
It's by our friends at the Western Standard, and it's an item that appears to have, I don't know if it's particularly breaking news, but I've never seen it phrased this way before until today in the Western Standard.
The Liberal government says it has plans to improve the Federal Emergency Response Plan, F-E-R-P.
An emergencies ministry spokesperson told the CBC Ottawa's right on top of preparing for future disasters.
And Defense Minister Bill Blair said Canadians can count on the military being deployed to respond to emergencies.
Trudeau issued a directive last fall to the four-party member Standing Committee on National Defense to re-roll, I've never heard that phrase before, re-R-O-L-E, re-roll part or all of the Canadian Armed Forces into a climate change force.
We know that Justin Trudeau doesn't believe in the military.
Well, he does in the case of fighting Russians in Ukraine, but other than that, he's never expressed any support for the military before, just like his father.
He despises the Canadian military and all those in it.
Remember, shortly after he was elected, he mocked generals who wanted to whip out their CF-18s and see how big they were?
Remember that ofish comment?
Canada has a capacity and an expertise in doing just that.
Why aren't we talking more about that?
Why aren't we talking more about the kind of humanitarian aid that Canada can and must be engaged in, rather than trying to whip out our CF-18s and show them how big they are?
It just doesn't work like that in Canada.
That was the real Justin Trudeau.
And he wants to continue his father's attack on the Canadian armed forces by having them re-roll themselves into a climate warrior force.
You know, in real life, Canada's diminution of our armed forces is actually a global disgrace.
I don't know if you recall, but fairly recently, NATO had the largest exercises ever in that alliance's history.
And they were tiny little countries that were involved.
Canada, one of the very early members of NATO, was not involved at all.
We simply did not have the military equipment that was working.
Our jets were grounded.
We have one of the lowest GDP expenditures.
There's a goal in NATO members to spend 2% of our GDP on military matters.
We are barely at half of that, something that Donald Trump pointed out.
And Trump caught Trudeau lying on the subject.
Do you remember this when Trump and Trudeau met a few years ago?
Where would you put Canada in that as they're not?
I'm delinquent with that.
Canada, but they'll be okay.
I have confidence.
Just slightly delinquent.
Canada does not meet the 2% standard.
Should it have a plan to meet the 2% standard?
Well, we'll put them on a payment plan, you know?
We'll put Canada on a payment plan, right?
I'm sure the Prime Minister would love that.
What are you at?
What is your number?
The number we talk about is a 70% increase over these past years, including, and for the coming years, including significant investments in our fighter jets, significant investments in our naval fleets.
We are increasing significantly our defense spending from previous governments that cut it.
Okay.
Where are you now in terms of your number?
140.
And continuing to move.
They're getting there.
They know it's important to do that.
And their economy is doing well.
They'll get there quickly, I think.
You know, Trudeau has his plane stuck at the G20 summit.
It's a rather fitting metaphor.
Trudeau is now routinely mocked by world leaders.
Only his captive regime media in Canada still treat him as a serious player.
I love this headline in the Globe and Mail.
Trudeau eyed tougher Russia stance.
Sure, he did.
PM pushed rule of law agenda at summit and a meeting with Modi on foreign interference.
Only the Globe and Mail would cover Trudeau's trip as if he were some sort of player.
In real life, he was snubbed.
He was marginalized.
He didn't have a one-on-one meeting with Modi other than a very quick photo op, and they actually snubbed each other, which I think is a rather reckless thing for Trudeau to do.
He's already hemorrhaging at the polls.
There's about 2 million Indo-Canadians in the country.
And I'm not sure if getting into a foolish spitting war with Prime Minister Modi is a wise move for any Canadians.
I don't know why we would alienate an entire country, but that seems to be Trudeau's way.
Can you name a single country in the world with the possible exception of Cuba and Ukraine?
Can you name a single country in the world that Canada is stronger in our relations with today than when Trudeau took over from Stephen Harper?
whether it's Russia or China or India or America or the UK or Australia, name a single country in the world other than Cuba, Ukraine that is a closer friend of Canada's now than when Trudeau took over.
You can't do it.
Which brings me to my third and final story in line of Robert Conquest's third law.
That's the one, the way to understand an institution is to see it at war with itself, taken over by a couple of its enemies.
In the first case, it's Mary Simon, who hates the monarchy, who is doing her best to destroy it from within.
The second was Justin Trudeau, who hates the Canadian Armed Forces, who is now making it re-roll itself into climate warriors.
And here's the third story.
In the National Post, Quebec journalists urge public to boycott Facebook and Instagram on September 15th.
By not consulting or posting on the meta platforms, Quebecers would be protesting against its decision to block news distribution.
I just got to read a little bit of this story to you.
Groups representing Quebec journalists and public relations professionals, or are those in the same league, are urging people to take a 24-hour break from Facebook and Instagram on September 15th, International Day of Democracy.
The two organizations say the one-day boycott of consulting or posting on the platforms is a protest against Meta's decision to block news on its sites.
Quote, we want to show that it is not a foreign company that will dictate to Canadians, to Quebecers, what laws should be in force here, said FPJQ President Mikhail Nguyen.
Facebook's Tattoo Controversy00:04:29
He noted large companies like Meta and Google obtain most digital advertising revenues in Canada, contributing to the media crisis by reducing their sources of revenue.
So let me get this straight.
Journalists, oh, but also PR reps, I guess they're in the same business of promoting the regime.
They're all calling for a boycott of Facebook.
All right.
I mean, journalists against free speech is a new one for me, but I should get used to it.
But again, like Conquest Third Law, these aren't actually journalists.
These are anti-journalists, these people who have taken over journalism.
And instead of attacking Justin Trudeau, who is imposing a linking tax on Facebook and Google, that's why Facebook has gotten out of the news business.
Because Trudeau had proposed a linking tax called Bill C18.
What I mean by that is simply linking to or even publishing an aggregated list of Canadian news sources.
For that service, Facebook would have to pay the government a fine, a tax, which is absurd because linking is the entire basis of the internet.
You don't have to pay to link to anyone.
In fact, in most cases, they love it.
It gives them traffic.
That's why news sources pay to advertise on Facebook.
It's up to side down thinking, but the fact that these so-called journalists are attacking Facebook, the victim of this tax hike, rather than Trudeau shows whose pocket they're in.
Three stories, all with one theme, that our institutions are rotting from the inside out.
And in many cases, that's just part of Trudeau's plan.
Well, like I say, we're in Israel, a country where their institutions are under attack as well.
We've learned a lot about that over the last week, and we're off to Dubai tomorrow, a city in the United Arab Emirates.
We're going to investigate the Abraham Accords.
Before I go, let me leave you with another video that we recorded from our trip here to Israel.
Take a look at this.
In 2023, so many people have tattoos.
I'd say as many people have tattoos as don't.
And even up here, I mean, most of the people up here are tourists from America or other Western places.
I've seen a ton of tattoos.
So the fact that you were the only guy told to cover up his tattoo sounds a little iffy to me.
Even in our own team, I'd say about half the people have tattoos.
So yeah, I think it was a form of political censorship.
You know, be respectful, but if it is politically motivated, not going to have it.
I have a U mini for Rebel News on Temple Mount here in the eternal capital of Israel, Jerusalem.
Now, as I walked in here today, I was told that I have to cover my tattoos.
I want to see if the other tattoos are in there.
No.
But lo and behold, I found a man here on the ground full of tattoos.
He turned out to be a fan, which makes sense.
He seems like a rebel.
Do you speak English?
I don't know who you are.
Do they?
I love this.
Did they ask?
Are you reporting here?
No, no, we're here on a tour.
I just wanted to ask you to put on time.
No, they didn't ask me to put anything off.
That was fun.
Did you walk through the front?
Yeah, nice to meet you.
Good to meet you.
I met you in Melbourne.
Oh, where are you from?
Melbourne.
Yeah, so all Rebel News, all through our COVID and stuff like that.
Ah, too funny.
No, I walked in and I'm like, I swear to God, I think it's that.
But they're like, nah, tattoos, tattoos.
You can't have tattoos.
Mine's not religious.
I'm like, mine's not religious.
It's not really.
Yeah, and they told me to put this on.
And he, and the guide says, no, no, no, it's because it's tattoo.
I'm like, there's a guy here, full tattoos.
I've got more.
I've got more.
I warp hands to be respectful.
Yeah, yes.
But dude, if there's a rule of tattoos, there's a rule of tattoos.
They can have that.
I think one rule for all is fair.
So I've taken off the jumper they give me and I'm going to walk free, hopefully not causing an international incident.
Does this inspire you to get a tattoo next year?
Return here with a tattoo on your face?
You know, I've been thinking beef ribs, just some knuckle tats, beef ribs.
If you enjoy this little interaction, I guess, that's happened here, make sure to like, comment, but most importantly, share.
Abu Dhabi Synagogue Visit00:04:54
Because the world doesn't really know the truth about what happens here on the ground in Israel and especially the most contentious piece of real estate in the world.
This is the holiest site for Jews and the third holiest site for Muslims.
But as a Jew, I think, you know, there certainly is Lamic symbols everywhere.
I think as a Jew, it should be my right to also show off and display my Jewish heritage, my Israeli side.
So that's what we did.
And let people know that's what's happening.
And if you want to see some of the other stories we're doing here on the ground, rebelnewsisrael.com.
I'm just here because I feel like if we're about to cause an international diplomatic incident, I want to know what is going on.
I'm kidding around.
Listen, I believe in freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press.
And Israel is one of the few countries in the region that lets you do that.
So, you know, Abby's on our Israel tour, but he's also a journalist and he's a free man, first and foremost.
So there you have it.
Well, that's the show for today.
I'm going to try and do a video tomorrow from Abu Dhabi.
That's the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Let me give you a little bit of a sampler here.
The United Arab Emirates is an Arab country run by a benign dictator.
I think that's the way I'd phrase it.
But they are one of the signatories of the Abraham Accords peace deal with Israel, along with other countries like Bahrain.
And I think Sudan is in there and Kosovo and Morocco.
And I think other countries will join also.
But we're going to go to Abu Dhabi and visit this Abrahamic friendship center where they have a mosque, a church, and a synagogue co-located in an Arab country.
Take a look.
Take a look at this.
I have
to say, the last 20 seconds of that gives me the chills.
In an Arab country ruled by an emir, it's called the Emirates, to have a synagogue where Jews can pray freely is an incredible thing to me.
And I've heard people say that it is safer to be a Jew in the Emirates, including wearing a yarmulke, than it would be in a city like Paris where you're bound to be attacked.
It's incredible.
And we'll have news for you from there tomorrow.
In the meantime, there's so much coverage we have going on back in Canada.
Of course, we've got a great team covering the trial of Tamara Leach in Ottawa.
Robert Krachuk and, of course, our friend Lincoln Jay are covering that with Alan Honor and Mark Joseph of the Democracy Fund doing some live tweeting also.
We got you covered on that.
Just go to tamaratrial.com.
When I'm back in Canada, boy, do we have a lot of other trials going on?
Arthur Pavlovsky's sentencing is in Lethbridge on Monday the 18th, if I'm getting my dates correct.
I'll be there in Lethbridge covering that.
We've got our application, our lawsuit against the Calgary Police Service the next day in Calgary.
I'll be covering that.
Then I have my hearing in the Labranos matter.
My book, The Labranos, is going to court because they accused it of being an illegal publication.
I'm going to federal court on the 21st and actually on the 20th in Calgary.
I think Pastor Derek Reimer's trial starts.
Every one of these actions, Rebel News is involved, either as a party or crowdfunding for the people who are there.
We're doing so many things.
And I thank you for your support.
And man, I can hardly wait to get back to Canada.
I'm loving this trip.
I'm loving hanging out with different rebels as we tour around in the 30-degree heat or even hotter.
It got up to 40 yesterday.
I'm enjoying learning about Israel.
I can hardly wait to learn about the United Arab Emirates and to see if this is a warm piece, a strong piece.
I think it is, which is why, of course, Donald Trump will never get the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating.