 Hello and thank you for joining us on the spin room. I'm your host Ami Kauffman Our two spin doctors today are the mayor of the West Bank settlement if rat and the chief foreign envoy for the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria Odette revivi and the former director of peace now Yareev openheimer Thank you very much for coming on the show. It's good to see you Our four topics of discussion today with our esteemed guests are Arielle Gold the American Jew was barred entry to Israel for supporting the BDS movement We'll then tackle a new law that will bar left-wing NGOs from lecturing in Israeli schools Afterwards, we'll discuss the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and who exactly is blocking a to the strip and will and time-willing with a new bill Addressing the army draft passing its first hurdle last night a move that could lead to early elections in Israel Okay, our first topic is BDS Arielle Elise Gold a Jewish American boycott divestment and sanctions activist was denied entry into Israel on Sunday by the population and Immigration authority upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport The decision came following instructions from Interior Minister Aria Derry and the recommendation of the strategic affairs minister Gilad Erdan Erdan posted a message following the event on his Twitter account saying we prevented Arielle Gold an extreme boycott Activists from entering the country our policy is clear those who campaign towards boycotting Israel and come here in order to cause harm Won't be allowed to enter the country the rules have changed and Israel will not show restraint towards those who try to hurt it Joining us now from Ithaca, New York is Arielle Gold herself the national co-director of code pink Arielle Thank you very much for joining us here on the spin today Thanks so much for having me on so can you tell us again? What exactly happened after you landed there at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday? I believe it was Well the last time I was there, which was last summer I was both physically assaulted and campaigned against by right the right wing is really settler movement by fanatics in the West Bank Including as I said a physical assault and when I left the country I was informed by the authorities that in order to re-enter I would have to obtain permission in advance and so I did that I followed that process Accurately and respectfully I obtained a visa in advance from the Israeli consulate in New York City I was coming to attend a course at Hebrew University and It was for that purpose that I had the visa. It was a one-year multiple entry visa However, when I arrived as you said It was recommended that I not be able to enter the country. So this was a student Yeah, so this was a student visa Yes, and what was the course and how long was the course supposed to be a week course Which is how long I plan to stay my children are right over right now at a Jewish Sleepaway summer camp in America I a part of the URJ Union for Reform Judaism to which my family myself are members And so that gives me that gave me time to come and travel and to attend the course So besides the course besides the study, were you planning on going to to the West Bank and doing anything in the West Bank? Friends or not I think is quite irrelevant to whether I had intentions to visit friends or not in the West Bank as I think quite irrelevant to the visa that that I rightfully Obtained and I want to point out that Erdan one of the quotes that he said about why I was being denied entry was that I had filmed soldiers And said that their actions were not in compliance with Jewish values and that Occupation and repression are not Jewish values and I stand by that and what Erdan was specifically referring to was what happened last summer while I was there and I was in Hebron in the West Bank. Yeah, and a notoriously violent settler by the name of I just I don't want to talk right now about what happened back then But I do want to talk, you know, you you are part of of coat pink as I mentioned in the intro So, I mean coat pink was on a blacklist that was published by Israel I believe it was back in January that anyone who tries to enter from one of these organizations be a Jewish voice for peace or People like you from coat pink would be barred entry. So I can't you can't say that you're really surprised First of all, it didn't say that they would definitely be barred entry right after that blacklist was put out The two co-founders of coat pink, Medea Benjamin and Jodi Evans entered the country easily Also, as I have said many times I applied in advance for a visa and was granted that visa So if there was a time to Decide to deny me that would have been the time when I applied at the consulate in New York City My panelist here you a Reeve Oppenheimer the former director of peace now once asked you a question if you Many questions actually I will try to do it short. First of all, are you against the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza? Or are you against the idea of the state of Israel? I'm against the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. I am opposed to Any laws that are contrary to human rights I believe in full equality and freedom and dignity for all people But do you support the right of Israel to exist as a state? because This as a state, I don't think that's in question here The question is whether Palestinians have human rights Do you consider to sue Israel for the harm that you lost money lost time? Do you think about that? That will be something I will discuss with my attorney. Okay What do you say Arielle to the many Israelis who see BDS? The BDS movement as an anti-Semitic movement one which doesn't agree with the very existence of the Jewish state because code pink kind of cooperates with the BDS movement doesn't it look at the demands of the BDS movement, they're quite simple. They're really demands for human rights and international law and I can't speak to the actions of all people who say they're acting on behalf of BDS, but I can speak for myself You admit that there are anti-Semites that there are anti-Semites in the BDS movement There are anti-Semites everywhere in the world that that's not in question in fact But you don't think Arielle at the BDS movement particularly has a BD has an anti-Semitic problem Why why does my question is why does BDS attract so many anti-Semites? I wouldn't say that BDS attracts anti-Semites I would say anti-Semitism is heavily on the rise right now And I would point to the Trump administration right here in America. I would point to my president Donald Trump who after the Events in Charlottesville where neo-Nazis marched Chanting blatantly anti-Semitic things Jews will not replace us My president Donald Trump said there were good people on both sides and defended the neo-Nazis Okay, so I would point by the anti-Semitism around the world and say that that is absolutely something that we need to address I want to bring in Odette. I want to bring in Odette of her. What do you look at her? Does she look like a dangerous person? She is an extremely dangerous person. She's an extremely dangerous person. How so how how so if you go and look at what she writes What she says what she does Against the state of Israel regarding whether they're Jews in Judea and Samaria She doesn't even remember that Israel is not occupying Gaza But it's all in one big scramble against the state of Israel And the only thing I can say is that I'm so sorry that you gave us so much screen time because she doesn't deserve anything She shouldn't be allowed on air as far as a legitimate Position of many by the way also Israelis The state of Israel and she came to study here So how you can kind of study the place if you are against the fact that it's exist Go and look at whether she's against the state of Israel She said no, okay, let me feed her and tell her what to answer you get the answer with what you want Go and look on the website of acts that she does and she's proud of doing them And what she's doing against the state of Israel against the legitimacy of the state of Israel And that's why we have to go for a break a real 20 seconds before we go for a break quickly I'm a direct descendant of Rabbi Joseph Caro and the land and the people are incredibly important to me and my Judaism It's incredibly important to me All right We're gonna go for a commercial break and we're gonna continue with Yareev openheimer or dead revivi and Ariel Gold Let me come back in just a moment stay with us right here on the spin room from on this topic Americans have simply lost trust in news media What happened to the news all I get is a daily service They may do your job and just tell me I am overloaded with news that is useless. Give me the facts. Let me sort it out Where is the integrity? Unflinching opinionated Weeknights David Schuster and Shayna Estulan bring you analysis Interviews and opinions that connect us to the Middle East and the world watch crossroads weeknights starting at 6 p.m Eastern only on I-24 news Back on the spinner window dead revivi and Yareev openheimer and joining us from Ithaca, New York Still is Ariel Gold the BDS activist Jewish American who was barred entry to Israel for her stances for her political opinions Ariel I want to ask you something again If the United States knew of a foreign national who dedicated his life to Exposing the evils of the United States it would not give that person a visa wouldn't it say that Let's all remember here that Israel claims to be a country for all Jews It claims to be a safe haven for all Jews except now it has become a capitulation to the extreme right but you're not you're not a citizen Ariel you're not a citizen of the state That might be my next step Really you will make are you gonna make a lia? It's a possibility Really? you're thinking about it, but Again, Israel claims to be a place where Jews should visit where we should be encouraged to visit um And criticism of the government is not anti-jewish at all first of all I'm quite critical of the Israeli government and I also want to contrast my criticism of the Israeli government with my in Jewish life And my raising of my kids within Jewish community Last summer my my son traveled to Israel with an American Jewish youth group My daughter is expected to do so next year. I don't think anybody could say that I am against the Jewish people are looking to destroy the Jewish people Do you have a plan to try to challenge the system again and to come back to Israel in the next few weeks or months? Or you are planning as you said to make a lia and to do to go all the way and to do it officially I'll discuss with my attorneys. Okay. What are you supposed to study in the in which campus? Where you're supposed to take the course to university. It has two campuses. Which one? Have you named them both for me? I am terrible Yes, that was and have you checked like what's the land between Jerusalem and Mount Scopus? It's legal standard. Are you aware that you might have made just a statement by crossing over the green line to go and study university Which is not quite located in the old Jerusalem Was that any importance for you? What do you mean not quite located in the old basically what he's saying? I'll translate it for you the that campus Mount Scopus is beyond the green line. It's an east Jerusalem Yeah, but in fact if you took a course there you would be you would be you would be taking part in the occupation, which you oppose That isn't taking part in the occupation anymore than It's funding. I'm sure the BDS movement is against that campus. The previous summer is taking part in the occupation. I Pursue human rights for all people for Palestinians and for Israelis and I consider it my responsibility as a Jew to help guide my people Back on to a path of justice and righteousness Because we have to answer someday for what we are doing right now for the crimes that we are either directly committing If we are Israeli citizens or complicit in if we are diaspora Jews So is that something that you and maybe other BDS activists are considering to maybe To to make your your to make aliyah and to become citizens and make your campaign more effective Is that something that you and other activists are thinking of? I can't speak to what other activists are thinking. I'm sure something that you might talk about between yourselves say raged at being denied entry And that I will be continuing to be an activist for Palestinian rights And that I will be contesting um this denial. Okay, all right. No singing rights The same what are the Palestinian rights when you say free Palestine? No, when you say free Palestine, what does that mean for you? It means freedom for Palestinians Palestinians right now do not have freedom of movement According to what? Israel on a regular basis arrests around 700 Palestinian children every year. These children are abused What are the borders that you are talking about? These are kind of rights that i'm referring to what are the borders that you are talking about when you say free Palestine because you didn't say free Palestinians You have a sign free Palestine and I want to know from you at what borders are you talking about? Go ahead I believe that israel should act in accordance with international law and the internationally recognized borders. Okay Okay, ariel gold. We thank you very much for joining us from ethical new york. It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much We're going to continue with our regular topics Our next topic is somewhat connected via breaking the silence law was approved this morning in the education committee For second and third readings by majority of seven to five the law states that organizations that allegedly operate Against idf soldiers such as the left-wing NGO breaking the silence and against the goals of state education Will not be able to enter school grounds and meet With students, so you're even kind of you know similar topics if the state deems these organizations Unpatriotic or harmful to the army or to israel They have the state has the right to do that doesn't it? It's not just the state It's the government the government actually legislates the laws and making this decision And we have something in comment of these two laws and the the feeling comment is that People are trying to deny reality people are trying to block their eyes about what's going on to block their ears And not to listen to the criticism We just heard a very clear a statement saying that israel has the right to exist But the palestinian has the right to have their own state and this is a legitimate opinion And we don't want to hear it. We don't want to listen to it We don't want to know what's going on behind the scenes We look at the settlements and it looked very nice and quiet and fun But behind the scenes there is occupation and we are trying to avoid ourselves from looking it Like the people of breaking the silence are doing well. What about free speech hearing different voices critical voices sometimes What about that? There's no problem for freedom of opinion Freedom of speech expressing your opinions The problem with areal gold the problem with breaking the silence Is that they're not just expressing their opinions. They're also activists In changing the reality by doing actions as long as it was Only the law No, not always according to the law, but as long as it was just expressing opinions It was fine But when actions are being done against the State of israel against the organs of the state of israel harming the organs themselves And we have to start what kind of action breaking the silence are doing that are Illegal or something that are harming the security of israel what breaking the silence are doing Be specific. What's the harm when they start taking videos when they do photoshop when they spread different Ammunition breaking the silence as photoshop as far as I know part of the reason it Photoshops look at the pictures. These are real pictures of the occupation. This is how it's look like. It's not photoshop This is not occupation. This is freedom of speech of people demonstrating great. So why you want to block it? Why you want to say the breaking the silence is exactly what breaking the silence are doing But what they as far as I understand they want to do it in israel in schools in israel not abroad So allow them because as far as I understand There is a mixture between freedom of expression and bringing these organizations into the school and becoming part of the curriculum And they shouldn't be active in the schools because we don't want any politics in the school This is something different I think that we do want politics and we have politicians getting into schools and some movement as well As long as it's balanced and you have all the opinions as long as what you are trying What the government is doing here is aiming for specifically breaking the silence and silence aiming specifically 20 seconds is settlement activities You're wrong politics are not allowed in schools You can have a a lecture about a citizenship about how the system runs But people are not allowed to come and advocate and especially and especially not organizations Who are calling for the destruction of the site of israel calling for the destruction These are soldiers that fight for israel how they can call We have to go for commercial break when we come back more with yareev openheimer and or dead revivi stick around Don't my coffee in it Roku express now 500 000 movies and tv episodes. 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We're back on the spin room with oded revivi and yareev openheimer And moving on to our next topic that is mahmud abbas the israeli daily heart is reporting today that israel It's showing willingness to alleviate the suffering in the god of the strip But it is president a palestinian president mahmud abbas Who is the main obstacle to making that happen since his cooperation is needed as well? Oded almost arel the military pundit in hires who wrote this piece said that despite the tough rhetoric by israeli leaders The past few weeks have seen a greater readiness among them to advance projects that would rehabilitate Gaza's Instructor why do you think israel reached this decision and is it a good idea? We can't ignore what's happening behind the borders We understand that at the end of the day even if people in the international community Put a lot of pressure on israel to withdraw like we did from the gaza strip at the end of the day It's areas of land which are hard to manage by themselves without cooperation And therefore a deal needs to be made about how to govern all the areas and how to deal with infrastructure And with natural resources what's happening when you withdraw from gaza Then all of a sudden you have a bomb which is going to explode because nobody is managing it When suggested that we'll withdraw from the juda and samaria area the same thing will happen until Mahmoud abbas is willing to sit negotiate and understand how we're going to deal with it It's always going to be a game of raising the flames and lowering the flames Do you buy this that it is basically a boss is the the largest stumbling block to make this happen Or maybe this is an excuse that's being uh, you know kind of used by israel to not make things go forward First of all, I think that abbas is not really helpful in solving the problem with gaza But i'm not so sure that abbas is dead because eventually you got hamas in gaza and you got the israeli government Actually talking with hamas not for the first time and i think that this is the right thing to do You ask why we suddenly thinking about making the life in gaza better only because of the demonstrations Only because of the kites without it. No one will care. We will not discuss about gaza We'll not hear about gaza and the fact that the gaza people Went to this big demonstration and even the kites that are making a huge harm, but are not Didn't kill even one israeli This is the proof that the people of gaza understood that the best way to gain something is not by killing israelis But to protest against israelis kind of interested their reports that hamas is interested in uh, In in in more intense fighting in this summer. I didn't you were giggling a bit before about what you're saying I don't think the protest of the people in gaza against israelis. What's moved the the shift look at look at the last years See that we ignore gaza totally until the protest and the kites We didn't ignore gaza at all. We kept on bringing in supplies all the time into gaza We saw it at the end of the day when with our supplies the tunnels to attack us were built At the end of the day what i think has changed the israeli approach is again the international community to say Here we're doing what we can do, but if hamas won't look after its people won't stop being a corrupt organization Nothing good will happen. You know that the people of gaza don't see hamas as co-opt and you cannot speak on their behalf This is not your reality. I'm sorry to Face the truth All right, we want to move on we have a few more minutes left for our last topic of the day That is israeli politics legislation addressing ultra orthodox military enlistment passed its first reading in the knesset overnight In the first of three readings it must pass before becoming law The bill sets minimum yearly targets for ultra orthodox conscription that if not met Would result in financial sanctions on the yeshivas or rabbinical seminaries where they study if the bill becomes law The ultra orthodox sitting in the netanyahu government have threatened to quit a move that could trigger early elections Are we headed towards early elections? Is that how serious this coalition crisis is or is it a little deja vu that you might have seen before Listen, the coalition of last night is almost an unbelievable coalition. Yeah, it's strength. You meaner. Oh, yeah voting for netanyahu I just want to tell our viewers yeah, they'll appear the leader of the yeh shatid party is what leading opposition figure who joined forces with the government as you mentioned it's very Criticized by the opposition itself today that he helped them out go ahead and at the end of the day I'm afraid that none of the politicians are really calling the problem as it is there is no equality in military service the percentages of Kids reaching the age of 18 are dropping in taking part in A their military service in the idea the fact that they're picking on the charadee community Is merely to create headlines merely because there is also an intention to bring them into the workforce Which is the major challenge and everybody is playing games to see how they can carry on Being in the government pretending that they didn't Betrayed their morals and carry on working on us. Yeah, these spins are flying but Two major effects should be should be on the table the first one No, orthodox religious is going to come to the army because of this bill It's not going to force anyone to join the arm second Yeah, I repeat and the other people in the opposition if they will have the chance to have a coalition With the orthodox religious parties. They will sign exactly the same bill So it's all about speed. I repeat betray the opposition Hey, he did some something that I think it's a bit bizarre because he actually helped Netanyahu to stabilize his coalition I cannot understand the logic of that However, again, if you are happy tomorrow need to be prime minister and in order to do a Coalition he needs the orthodox religious. He will sign exactly the same bill or even a better one for the orthodox religious So one of the recent polls showing that basically the prime minister has no one not even Yair Lapid Uh, uh, that's really threatening him. Why is no one on the left? Capable of challenging the prime minister waiting for guns, you know the formula I give chief of staff. He's the only one right, but he's not in the game yet. What do you think? I think whether we like Netanyahu or not There is nobody at his league that can manage to play All balls at the same time Manages house managed investigations managed the party politics international politics None of the other candidates are the same caliber and that's why there's no 20 seconds Huge put a credit in among the israelis including people also from the center and left And I think that eventually the opposition to this government is about the issue that we discussed here today About the israeli-palestinian conflict about security about peace about ideology And when the left-wing opposition is hiding this issue, okay, Netanyahu is alone in the game That is all the time we have. I want to thank our panelists Yareef Oppenheimer and Oded Ravivi. Thank you very much It's been a pleasure with you. Stay with us. We'll be right back with our weekly segment person of interest The senior medista ferris correspondent. Muhammad al-qasim stick around Fearless timely and always engaging Every night david shuster brings the news from around the world to your front door Watch stateside weeknights at 9 p.m. Eastern only on i24 news