Podcasts about Arabs

What is it like to be a Christian in Israel—and why do many Israeli Christians insist, "We are not Arabs"? In this eye-opening episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Rabbi Pesach Wolicki and Pastor Doug Reed speak with Lieutenant Colonel (Reserves) Ihab Shlayan, the IDF's most senior Christian officer and founder of Christian Voice in Israel. Shlayan shares a frank, ground-level account of how Christian communities in places like Nazareth and Cana have steadily become minorities in their own historic towns—and why he says the greatest threat to Christians in the region is not the State of Israel, but Islamist intimidation and Arab political control.  He also lays out five concrete demands he's pressing with the Israeli government: recognition of Christians as a distinct community (not "Arab"), equal access to scholarships and employment benefits for those who serve, a separate Christian education framework, visible Israeli civic presence (including flags) in Christian towns, and proper representation and memorial recognition for Christian IDF soldiers.  Whether you've heard claims that Christians are "second-class citizens" in Israel—or you've never considered the internal pressures facing Christians in the Holy Land—this conversation delivers rare clarity from someone who has lived it in uniform, in public advocacy, and on the front lines.  

2025 has show us the evolution of alternative media into the very thing it was sold not be to be; regurgitated talking points rooted in advertisements, special interests, and personal bias. On this end-year episode of TST radio, we will look to investigate the underlying mechanism behind the claims and narratives that become talking points every day. These are stories that are not new nor unique, yet are presented in a way to essentially obscure the past in the name of truth and exposing corruption. We begin with Nick Shirley: Nick Shirley's 42 minute “I Investigated Minnesota's Billion Dollar Fraud Scandal” video went viral on X after being posted on December 6, 2025. Within hours Elon Musk was posting about the lack of coverage from news outlets like ABC and Fox News, while other well-known names like Alex Jones were calling it the “fraud of the century.” Random accounts with enormous amounts of followers were calling for Nick to be given the Pulitzer Prize, every top-post was pushing memes of Nick with an X logo that said “100 million views,” and other memes were circulating about how Nick did what mainstream news could not. These posts were pushing the idea that X is completely independent and the definition of free speech and journalistic integrity. Some minor digging, however, shows all of this to be nothing but a theatrical production. Several mainstream and local news outlets covered the Minnesota fraud. In fact, ABC 5 KSTP did an investigation on the fraud in October 2025, posting a video similar to Nick's. In 2018, Fox 9 KMSP did an investigation. In 2015, Hennepin County raided multiple day-care centers as part of a fraud investigation; they arrested four people. The biggest report of all came in 2019 when the Office of the Legislative Auditor State of Minnesota did a full investigation on the Child Care Assistance Program. The investigation around hundreds of millions in fraud. Nick's report was therefore not unique, groundbreaking, or new. It also appears that the attempt to paint X as a source of truth and real journalism follows Musk's signing of an agreement with CHEQ, an Israeli company, to regulate content on the platform. As with TikTok's forced selling to Larry Ellison over content deemed dangerous to Israel, X obliterated not only stories about Israel following Nick's viral video, but drove down another Israeli story happening the same week. On December 29, 2025, Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United States to meet with Donald Trump. The meeting involved an announcement of pre-war in Venezuela alongside multiple discussions about an upcoming conflict with Iran. Trump also announced that he has been working with the Israel government to get Netanyahu a full pardon for his crimes.  Furthermore, Nick also teamed up with Jake Lang, an Israeli behind provocations in Michigan an Texas, who arrived in Minnesota to openly called for a crusade against Islam. Just prior to Nick's video going viral, he spent some of the spring in Israel/Gaza interviewing IDF Colonel Grishna Yakubovich, former administrator of occupied Palestine. The interview featured atrocity propaganda and commentary on how evil Arabs, Muslims, and the Palestinians are.  In preparation for the upcoming crusade, the Pentagon, which just failed its eighth straight budget, received a 1 trillion dollar budget from Congress.  https://www.military.com/feature/2025/12/24/pentagon-fails-eighth-audit-eyes-2028-turnaround.html https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/02/trump-defense-budget-hits-1-trillion-despite-doge/84419890007/https://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/sreview/ccap.pdf https://kstp.com/tracking-your-tax-dollars/whistleblower-minnesotas-child-care-assistance-program-has-fraud-cases-dating-back-12-years/ https://www.fox9.com/news/millions-of-dollars-in-suitcases-fly-out-of-msp-but-why.amp https://www.startribune.com/hennepin-county-raids-day-care-centers-as-part-of-fraud-investigation-4-arrested/329988761 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-israeli-co-cheq-to-help-musk-battle-bots-on-x-1001464912 *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.WEBSITEFREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVE-X / TWITTERFACEBOOKINSTAGRAMYOUTUBERUMBLE-BUY ME A COFFEECashApp: $rdgable PAYPAL: rdgable1991@gmail.comRyan's Books: https://thesecretteachings.info - EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / rdgable1991@gmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

In Part II of this two-part series, guest host Esaa Mohammad Sabti Samarah, PhD, LMSW reunites with Dr. Siham Elkassem, Dr. Bryn King, Dr. Nuha Dwaikat-Shaer, and doctoral candidate Amilah Baksh to move beyond naming harm and toward a deeper examination of responsibility. This episode turns a critical lens on how the social work profession responds, or fails to respond, to anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racisms, with particular attention to the ways calls for “neutrality” shape research, teaching, and professional practice.The conversation interrogates neutrality as it appears in social work academia, especially in relation to empiricism and claims of objectivity. The panel introduces and critically examines the concept of “weepy universalism,” a term they coin for social workers in their forthcoming work to describe how generalized expressions of sympathy can obscure power, flatten difference, and ultimately reproduce harm rather than challenge it.The episode also brings these debates down from theory to practice, exploring what they mean for social workers on the ground, particularly those working with youth and communities most directly impacted by these forms of racism. The series closes with a collective call to action, challenging the profession to move beyond symbolic gestures and toward principled, sustained solidarity with Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims, as part of broader struggles for justice and liberation.This episode invites listeners to reckon with complicity, resist comfort, and reimagine what ethical practice demands in moments of profound injustice.#BeyondNeutrality #EthicalSocialWork #SolidarityNotSilence #WeepyUniversalism #YouthJustice #DecolonizeSocialWork #JusticeInActionLinks to Published WorksDwaikat-Shaer, N., Baksh, A., Elkassem, S., & King, B. (2025). Phenomenologies of Silence: On the Palestine Exception and the Complicity of Social Work Academe. Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work, 3(2).Siham Elkassem - Google ScholarSupport the showSupport the Center for Security, Race and Rights by following us and making a donation: Donate: https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/csrr-support/20046.html Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbUfYcWGZapBNYvCObiCpp3qtxgH_jFy Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rucsrr Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rutgerscsrr Follow us on Threads: https://threads.com/rutgerscsrr Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/rucsrr Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/rucsrr Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://csrr.rutgers.edu/newsroom/sign-up-for-newsletter/

In this episode, we'll hear about one of the most chilling rulers of Byzantium – the empress Eirene. She was Byzantium's only empress to take on the reins of government in a sole capacity. Her reign is controversial because she took sole power only after she'd killed the reigning emperor by gouging out his eyes. And the emperor in question was her own son. Even by the shocking standards of the Dark Ages, this stands out as pretty extreme parenting. And yet despite that, today she is a saint in the Greek Orthodox church since she restored icon worship, overthrowing the iconoclasts we talked about in the last episode. For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.comFind my latest book, Justinian's Empire, on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. For German listeners, find the German translation of the first book in my series on the 'Fall of the Roman Empire', Die römische Revolution, on Amazon.de. Finally check out my new YouTube videos on the fall of the Roman Empire.

In 1908, the Ottoman Empire was on the brink of collapse. The despotism of Sultan Abdul Hamid II had stifled political life for decades, but a military uprising in Macedonia would soon change everything.In this episode of Explaining History, Nick explores one of the great forgotten revolutions of the 20th century: the Young Turk Revolution. Drawing on Eugene Rogan's masterful book The Fall of the Ottomans, we delve into how the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) forced the Sultan to restore the constitution, sparking scenes of jubilation across the empire where Turks, Arabs, and Armenians briefly united as "Ottomans."But why did this moment of hope turn to disillusionment? Why did the revolutionaries leave the Sultan on the throne? And how did the failure to address deep social and economic crises pave the way for the brutal nationalism that would define the empire's final years?Key Topics:The 1908 Revolution: How junior officers forced the Sultan's hand.The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP): The secret society that seized power.Constitutional euphoria: The brief moment of multi-ethnic unity.The limits of political revolution: Why changing the constitution wasn't enough to save the empire.Books Mentioned:The Fall of the Ottomans by Eugene RoganThe Balfour Declaration by Jonathan SchneerExplaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this powerful episode, Gabe sits down with Eli Be'er, founder of United Hatzalah, Israel's remarkable all-volunteer emergency response organization. Eli shares the inspiring story of how thousands of Jews, Arabs, Christians, religious, and secular Israelis come together to save lives, when every moment counts. From heartwarming tales of cross-community cooperation to the heroic actions of volunteers on October 7th, including saving the future head of Mossad, this conversation reveals the real Israel: united by the sanctity of life above politics. A must-listen for anyone seeking hope amid division.

The Sound Chaser Progressive Rock Podcast is on the air. On the show this time I have new music from Art Griffin's Sound Chaser and Ian Neal, plenty of other music across the styles and eras of prog, the Symphonic Zone, an In Memoriam feature for Stig Arve Kvam-Jørgensen, and more. All that, plus news of tours and releases on Sound Chaser. Playlist1. Frost* - Welcome to Nowhere, from Experiments in Mass Appeal2. Peter Gabriel - I Go Swimming, from Plays Live3. Nic Potter - Off the Planet, from Self Contained4. Alex Machacek, Jeff Sipe, Neal Fountain - Put Me Back to Sleep, from The Official Triangle Sessions5. Art Griffin's Sound Chaser - The Yin and the Yang, from Approaching Translucence6. Kate Bush - Houdini, from The Dreaming7. Lodger Wright - Himalaya by Rail (The Darjeeling Line), from One Lump or Two?8. Ian Neal - The Thing That Hurts, from https://ianneal.bandcamp.com/track/the-thing-that-hurts9. Dwiki Dharmawan - London in June, from Pasar Klewer10. Side Steps - Because of Silence, from Verge of Reality11. The Tea Club - If I Mean When, from If / When12. Robert Rich - A Flock of Metal Creatures Fleeing the Onslaught of Rust, from Below Zero13. Barry Cleveland - Voluntary Dreaming, from Voluntary DreamingTHE SYMPHONIC ZONE14. The Watch - Soaring On, from Primitive15. Saga - Images, from Images at Twilight16. Sky Architect - The Curious One, from A Billion Years of Solitude17. Rafael Pacha - A Song for Toni, from Arqueologías18. Glass Kites - Leviathan, from Glass Kites II19. Checking for Echo Project - Time, from Life and Other Short Stories Vol. IILEAVING THE SYMPHONIC ZONE20. TNO - Space Walk Part III, from Space Walk21. Tusmørke - Kontakten Brytes, from Intetnett22. Brady Arnold - Forget Me, from One More for the Void23. The Picturesque Episodes - Old Static, from Young Galaxy24. Earthstar - Night Tones, from Salterbarty Tales25. Führs & Fröhling - Dancing Colours, from Strings26. Jean-Michel Jarre - Silhouette, from Métamorphoses27. Ashra - Club Cannibal, from Correlations28. Gong - Isle of Everywhere, from You29. Gong - You Never Blow Yr Trip Forever, from YouIN MEMORIAM Stig Arve Kvam-Jørgensen30. Arabs in Aspic - Arabide, from Strange Frame of Mind

Today, we travel to my favorite place on the planet: the desert of Wadi Rum in southern Jordan, to meet Ahmad Mara'yeh, a Bedouin man and co-founder of Rum Planet Camp.We are returning to Jordan next June! Join us June 5-14, 2026 on a 10-day trip to this country we love so much. We'll visit the Dead Sea, Petra, Wadi Rum, Amman, and many off-beaten spots in between. And yes, we will also stay with Ahmad at Rum Planet Camp in the desert. Go to https://goingplacesmedia.com/jordan for details on early-bird booking, which ends on Jan 4, 2026.Going Places is an audience-supported platform. You can become a member for as little as $6 a month. Visit us at goingplacesmedia.com to learn more.Thanks to our Founding Members: RISE Travel Institute, a nonprofit with a mission to create a more just and equitable world through travel educationRadostina Boseva, a film wedding photographer with an editorial flair based in San FranciscoWhat you'll learn in this episode:What it's like growing up in the desertWhat is Bedouin culture?What Bedouin hospitality looks likeHow tourism impacted Bedouin communitiesThe disappearance of traditional Bedouin lifestyle What it was like for Ahmad to meet Matt Damon during the actor's "Martian" filmingHow Ahmad thinks about some of the stereotypes about Arabs and MuslimsWomen in Bedouin cultureWhat Ahmad is doing to make his eco-camp truly sustainableRum Panet Camp's efforts to showcase the real Bedouin identityFeatured on the show:Join me in Jordan next JuneFollow Rum Planet Camp on Instagram @rum.planet.campRead my article in AFAR Magazine, Heading to Jordan? Skip the Bubble Tent and Stay Here Instead.Original Air Date: Oct 3, 2023.Going Places is a reader-supported platform. Get membership perks like a monthly group call with Yulia at goingplacesmedia.com!For more BTS of this podcast follow @goingplacesmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on YouTube!Please head over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE to the show. If you enjoy this conversation, please share it with others on social and don't forget to tag us @goingplacesmedia!And show us some love, if you have a minute, by rating Going Places or leaving us a review wherever you listen. You'll be helping us to bend the arc of algorithms towards our community — thank you!Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk is a show that sparks a better understanding of people and places near and far by fostering a space for real conversations to occur. Each week, we sit down with travelers, journalists, creators, and people living and working in destinations around the world. Hosted by Yulia...

A new report by the Shoresh Institution has found that a large percentage of men are not retiring in their elderly years, but continuing to work. Yet the disparity between those who choose to work and those who don’t is growing. The disparity also exists between men and women and between Jewish men and Arabs, who face economic insecurity. Reporter Arieh O’Sullivan spoke with Prof. Ayal Kimhi, vice president of the Shoresh Institution, about the report.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov was freed from captivity in Iraq in September following two and a half years of imprisonment and torture, she returned to a very different Israel, she said in a wide-ranging interview on the Haaretz Podcast. Israelis “have changed in very fundamental ways,” she said. “After October 7, the circle of people towards whom Israelis feel compassion shrunk very significantly.” As she returns to public life as a researcher and commentator on Middle East affairs, while undergoing physical rehabilitation from injuries she suffered as the prisoner of Kata’ib Hezbollah, she has already been attacked by the Israeli right for social media posts in support of human rights and critical of Israel’s policies in Gaza. Despite being held in captivity, she said, her political views “have not substantially changed: I still see Arabs as human beings, which is an unpopular opinion, it seems.” In her conversation with host Allison Kaplan Sommer, Tsurkov discusses the politics of Iraq – the country where she was kidnapped and held – following their recent elections, calling it a “failed oil state” driven by the behavior of Iranian-backed militias with “no clear path for reform and change.” She also analyzes the impact of the new regime in Syria, praising the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump towards the year-old government. She also credits the president with her release. “Trump is the reason I'm free. This is not an interpretation, this is a fact. I know exactly how I came to be released: It was because of threats that were made on his behalf.” Read more: Right-wing Pundit Amit Segal: Tsurkov 'Should Do Some Soul-searching About the Price Her Stupid Adventures Cost Israel' 'Strung Up and Tortured': Elizabeth Tsurkov Recounts Over Two Years of Captivity in Iraq 'Things Weren't Easy': After Iraq Captivity, Elizabeth Tsurkov Tells Netanyahu She Was Tortured What Is Kata'ib Hezbollah? Opinion | Through My Friend Elizabeth Tsurkov, I Learned That Syrians and Israelis Desire the Same Thing Elizabeth Tsurkov's past writing for HaaretzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

PEACE.Peace, I give unto you. My peace. Not as the world gives. Mine is perfect peace. Let not your heart be troubled and do not be afraid!The words of the BABE OF BETHLEHEM. The most reassuring words, the words, the promises, which this world needs now so desperately. All humankind craves peace now more than ever, and that peace is more elusive than ever.In the end times, so say scriptures, there will be wars, rumors of wars, and physical brutality. Hatred among mankind will replace love. Jealousy, suspicion, lawlessness, and evil conduct will be how the world is. The peace of God in the person of Jesus Christ, THAT PERFECT PEACE, will be nowhere to be found, NOWHERE!Israel battles Hamas, the proxy of the brutal land and its rulers, Iran. There is enmity between the seeds, Arab and Jew, so says the scripture. That enmity is nowhere more evident than what now happens in The Holy Land, The Promised Land. The very land where the Babe of Bethlehem was born, the Christmas ambassador of peace has really never known that peace now more than ever. We are admonished as Christians to:PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM.We pray, and pray more, and earnestly so, but that peace eludes in every way. It should be obvious to all that only the Messiah, THE PRINCE OF PEACE, the Babe of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ himself the Messiah, can bring that peace. That will come only WHEN HE COMES.War goes on. Hatred increases between Arabs and Jews, between Israel and Hamas. War goes on between Russia and Ukraine, war fostered by the evil dictator Vladimir Putin and civilians die, thousands upon thousands of innocent men and women, the elderly and children. They die without cause, craving peace, begging for it, praying for it, but it eludes them as the war-like hatred, the Christ-less hatred of mankind prevails. More of this will come. China will become a serious war monger and so will North Korea, and Iran, governed by men who dictate war, hatred, and killing, with no concern for human loss but only human destruction and more of it. The conduct of this world indicates clearly signs of:THE END TIMES.There would be nothing left of this world if those days were not shortened and the only one who can do that, THE PRINCE OF PEACE returns to take charge.When He does, swords will be ground into plowshares. The prince of Peace will make certain there will be no more wars, NO MORE! But, only the Babe of Bethlehem, whose birthday we celebrate soon, can bring that peace, can change whole nations and bring them to the Holy City of Jerusalem, to learn how to cooperate, work together, and foster peace under His rule of love. Only HE can make that happen, no one else.So, we who believe, believe in Him, His salvation message of love, healing, and PEACE. You should not worry or be afraid. Our Lord, the Prince of Peace, has admonished us:LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLEDNEITHER LET IT BE AFRAIDBELIEVE IN ME! Believe in my promises. Believe that I come again and I, He says, will bring the peace, the eternal peace which all humankind craves. I PROMISE I WILL DO THAT. So again, don't be troubled. Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe in Me and that promise. BELIEVE! I will bring the PEACE OF JERUSALEM and I will bring (Shalom) peace to the whole world.So, don't worry. If God be for us, who can be against us? No one or nothing can. PEACE-SHALOM I give unto you, so let not your heart be troubled. Rather, praise God for His unspeakable gift, the gift of His Son, Jesus of Nazareth:THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM.So, like the Angels of old, as they made that unbelievable announcement to the Shepherds about this divine birth, let us say with those Angels:GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHESTAND ON EARTHPEACE AND GOODWILL TOWARD ALL MANKINDAnd let us praise our God for that gift.And let us worship Him as the angels do, those of us especially who believe in that Salvation message which came from Bethlehem of old.And let us be thankful unto our God for his unspeakable gift. We cannot describe in human words the wonder, the magnitude, the depth of the love of that gift but we can now and evermore give thanks, and praise, and worship, and GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST! All the while we pray for that promise of peace on earth and goodwill toward all mankind, and for the soon return, THE SOON RETURN of the MESSIAH:THE PRINCE OF PEACE.3So, we thank you, Father God, I thank you for our Savior, your precious son:OUR LORD JESUS CHRISTTHE PRECIOUS BABE OF BETHLEHEM!

Carine Bassili shares how God used her viral worship song to break barriers and release healing between Arabs and Jews...

Listen along as Mike Gaston continues our Advent series. Notes//Quotes: Matthew 2:1-12 - Faith Reading   Slide 1 The Big Idea The Magi prove that God keeps His promise to bless all the nations of the earth   Slide 2 Who was Herod the King?   Slide 3 “There are lots of Herods in the New Testament—this one is the first Herod, Herod the Great, the King of the Jews. But the thing about Herod the Great, the King of the Jews, is that he wasn't a Jew and shouldn't have been king. He wasn't from the tribe of Judah, or the house of David. He wasn't actually a Jew—he was an Idumean, an Edomite, technically, one of Israel's historical enemies. He ruled by terror and murder. He was paranoid and at times seems legit crazy. At one point when he was literally on his death bed, he thought his own sons were trying to assassinate him. He's literally on his death bed actually dying—so he had his own sons executed. By the last few years of his life it seems like he was completely out of his tree.”   Craig Hamilton   Slide 4 Who were the wise men?   Slide 5 “Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.” Exodus 7:11-12   Slide 6 “Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler of the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.” Daniel 2:48 Slide 7 ““The group of Magi in question came “from the East.” They might have been Zoroastrians, Medes, Persians, Arabs, or even Jews. They probably served as court advisors, making forecasts and predictions for their royal patrons based on their study of the stars, about which they were quite knowledgeable. Magi often wandered from court to court, and it was not unusual for them to cover great distances in order to attend the birth or crowning of a king, paying their respects and offering gifts. It is not surprising, therefore, that Matthew would mention them as validation of Jesus' kingship, or that Herod would regard their arrival as a very serious matter.”   Craig Chester   Slide 8 What was the star?   Slide 9 “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.” Revelation 21:23-25   Slide 10 What do the gifts mean?   Slide 11 The ultimate question: What's the point?   Slide 12 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse., and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3   Slide 13 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14   Slide 14 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10   Slide 15 “Matthew plainly says that, though Jesus was the Messiah, born in David's line and certain to be Shepherd and Ruler of Israel, it was the Gentiles who came to worship him.” D.A. Carson   Slide 16 “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:17-19   Slide 17 The Big Idea The Magi prove that God keeps His promise to bless all the nations of the earth  

In the first half of the eighth century, Byzantium stemmed the Arab advance into Europe. Critical to this achievement were two emperors: Leo III and Constantine V. In this episode, I explain why I think these two men were heroes of the Dark Ages who changed history. And their lack of visibility is explained by a conspiracy  against them which echoes the cancel culture of our own times. The Curious Case of Being HumanThe Curious Case of Being Humanwith Matt Cooper and Isabelle...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifyFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.comFind my latest book, Justinian's Empire, on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. For German listeners, find the German translation of the first book in my series on the 'Fall of the Roman Empire', Die römische Revolution, on Amazon.de. Finally check out my new YouTube videos on the fall of the Roman Empire.

Egypt purchased state of the art weaponry from the Soviet Union that obliterated any balance of power between Israel and her Arab adversaries. Egypt would have the armament, it already had the desire, to wipe out Israel. Israel naturally turned to its trusted ally, the United States, but the days of Harry Truman were over. The new President, Dwight Eisenhower, together with his State Department which has traditionally been slanted against Israel, saw wisdom in aligning with the far more numerous Arabs. Israel desperately needed a friend that manufactured weapons, and that ally turned out to be France.  France's primary motivation was the principle that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. FLN freedom fighters in Algeria were seeking freedom from France and they were armed and trained by Egypt.  When Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal and expels western managers, Britain and France know that they must act and their unlikely partner is Israel.  Credits: Trailer Music Empire, String of Fire Epic History, Suez Crises Happy Coffee House, Paris Cafe Ambience with French Music for a Good Mood  Sammy Burdson Timpani Roll Soundrise Music Ticking Tension  Jedi Orchestra plays The Throne Room conducted by Andrzej Kucybała One For Israel "DAVID DANCED"  Learn more at TellerFromJerusalem.com Don't forget to subscribe, like and share! Let all your friends know that that they too can have a new favorite podcast. © 2025 Media Education Trust llc

Arabs think differently Phantom Nation 03DEC2025 - PODCAST

A @Christadelphians Video: **YouTube Video Summary / Description**Description: These two excellent prophecy talks test from Scripture whether the view that the Arabs invade and overcome Israel before Armageddon and Christ's second coming is correct, but show that this is not the case. On the contrary it is after Christ comes, that those Arab nations which favour the land and people of Israel now, will become subject to Christ in the Kingdom of God and their transformation to the worship of Yahweh the God of Israel will occur in the post-Armageddon era through the domination of Israel and the saints of God. In this thought-provoking and expositional Bible study, we continue our deep dive into the controversial "Inner and Outer Ring" prophecy theory. Is a specific Arab coalition truly destined to invade Israel in the latter days? Through an insightful, Scripture-based analysis, we demonstrate why this popular idea contradicts the Bible's own prophetic blueprint.Join us as we rightly divide the Word of Truth, tracing the definitive role of key Arab nations—including Libya, Sudan (Ethiopia), Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza—before, during, and after the Armageddon campaign. This outstanding presentation reveals the true, post-Armageddon fate of the Arab world and its remarkable transformation in the coming Kingdom of God.

Sources for this series (more will be added later):The Economist often for current affairs (cited when relevant)ABICHT L. Israël, Palestina. ABICHT LUDO. Delalniettemin: over Joodse wijsheid en humorARNES I. Historische atlas van het jodendom : de bewogen geschiedenis van het joodse geloof in kaart gebracht.Librero, Kerkdriel, 2012, 400 p. BLACK I. Enemies and neighbours. Arabs and Jews in Palistine and Israel, 1917-2017. Alan Lane, s.l., 2017, 605 p.BLOK ARTHUR. Morgen misschien: waarom de problemen in Libanon niet worden opgelost.COOGAN M. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press, 2001, 508 p.DAVIES W.D., HORBURY W., STURDY J. The Cambridge History of Judaism EVERS LOU: jodendom, een heldere inleiding.HINCHCLIFFE P., MILTON-EDWARDS B. Jordan. A Hashemite LegacyHIRSCHFELD H. Kernpunten van hetIsraelisch-Palestijns conflict,HARRIS W., Lebanon a history. Oxford University Press.JOHNSON P. Ahistory of the Jews. Londen, Phoenix, 2004, 643 p.MASALHA N. Palestine:a four thousand year history. Zed Books, Londen, 2018, 459 p.SCHAMA S. De geschiedenis van deJodenLEVY RACHEL. Israël op een doordeweekse dag. ROBINS P. AHistory of Jordan, University of Oxford, Oxford. 2004, 266 p.SAND SCHLOMO. The invention of the land of Israel: from holy land to HomelandSOETERIK R. De verwoesting vanPalestina. Van der Horst, Pieter Willem. Het joodse koninkrijk Himyar en de christelijke martelaars van Nadiran: joden en christenen in Arabië in de zesde eeuw. Van Diggele, Els. "We haten elkaar meer dan de joden: tweedracht in de Palestijnse maatschappij. "VAN MIDDEN PIET: Israël, een wereld apart: een geschiedenis van 3000 jaar op leven en dood

Five years after the signing of the Abraham Accords, the Middle East looks very different—defined by both extraordinary cooperation and unprecedented challenges. In this episode, we unpack how Israel's defensive war on seven fronts affected regional partnerships, why Abraham Accords nations have stood by the Jewish state, and what expanded normalization could look like as countries like Saudi Arabia and others weigh making such monumental decisions.   We also explore the growing importance of humanitarian coordination, people-to-people diplomacy, and the critical role AJC is playing in supporting deeper regional collaboration. From shifting narratives to new economic and security opportunities, we chart what the next five years could mean for peace, stability, and integration across the region. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. This episode is up-to-date as of November 25, 2025. Read the transcript: Building What's Next | Architects of Peace - Episode 6 | AJC Resources: AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace - Tune in weekly for new episodes. The Abraham Accords, Explained AJC.org/CNME - Find more from AJC's Center for a New Middle East Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus  People of the Pod Follow Architects of Peace on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace You can reach us at: podcasts@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript: ANNE DREAZEN: One thing that I have learned from my many years at the Department of Defense is that military instruments of power are not sufficient to really build longlasting peace and stability.  The importance of trade, of economic development, of people-to-people ties, is so essential to what we think of as an enduring or a lasting peace. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: In September 2020, the world saw what had been years–decades–in the making. Landmark peace agreements dubbed the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between Israel and two Arabian Gulf States, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.  Later, in December, they were joined by the Kingdom of Morocco. Five years later, AJC is pulling back the curtain to meet key individuals who built the trust that led to these breakthroughs and build bonds that would last. Introducing: the Architects of Peace. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: It has been five years since Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House. In those five years, Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking a massive refugee crisis. The U.S. elected one president then re-elected his predecessor who had ushered in the Abraham Accords in the first place.  And amid news that Saudi Arabia might be next to join the Accords, the Hamas terror group breached the border between Israel and Gaza, murdered more than 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 more. Israel suddenly found itself fighting an existential war against Iran and its terror proxies on multiple fronts – Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran itself. At the same time, Israel also fought a worldwide war of public opinion – as Hamas elevated the death toll in Gaza by using Palestinian civilians as human shields and activists waged a war of disinformation on social media that turned international public perception against the Jewish state. Through it all, the Abraham Accords held. ALI RASHID AL NUAIMI: There are those who work hard to undermine what we are doing. And this is where many question: 'How come the UAE is still part of the Abraham Accords?'  MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi is a leading parliamentarian and educator in the United Arab Emirates. He has served as the Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University and the Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge. He currently serves as the Chairman of the International Steering Board of Hedayah, The International Center of Excellence for Countering Extremism and Violent Extremism. The center is based in Abu Dhabi.  He was one of the first to go on Israeli and Arab media to talk to the general public about the Abraham Accords and was known for correcting news anchors and other interview subjects, that the UAE had not simply agreed to live in peace with the Jewish state. It had agreed to actively engage with the Israeli people. ALI RASHID AL NUAIMI: We saw the importance of engaging with both sides. We saw the importance of talking to the Israeli general public. We saw the importance of dialogue with the government in Israel, the Knesset, the NGO, the academician, businessman. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: That engagement started almost immediately with flights back and forth, musical collaborations, culinary exchanges, academic partnerships, business arrangements–much of which came to a halt on October 7, 2023. But that simply meant the nature of the engagement changed. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas War, the UAE has provided extensive humanitarian aid to Gaza, delivering more than 100,000 tons of food, medical supplies, tents, and clothing, by land, air and sea—about 46% of the total assistance that entered Gaza. It established six desalination plants with a combined capacity of two million gallons per day.  And, in addition to operating field and floating hospitals that treated 73,000 patients, the UAE also provided five ambulances, facilitated a polio vaccination campaign, and evacuated 2,785 patients for treatment in the UAE. From Dr. Al-Nuami's point of view, the Abraham Accords made all of that humanitarian aid possible. ALI RASHID AL NUAIMI: This is why we were able to have these hospitals in Gaza, we were able to do these water solutions for the Palestinians, and we did so many things because there is a trust between us and the Israelis. That they allowed us to go and save the Palestinian people in Gaza.  So there were so many challenges, but because we have the right leadership, who have the courage to make the right decision, who believe in the Abraham Accords principles, the vision, and who's working hard to transform the region. Where every everyone will enjoy security, stability, and prosperity without, you know, excluding anyone. Why the UAE didn't pull out of the Abraham Accords? My answer is this. It's not with the government, our engagement. The government will be there for two, three, four years, and they will change.  Our Abraham Accords is with Israel as a nation, with the people, who will stay. Who are, we believe their root is here, and there is a history and there is a future that we have to share together. And this is where we have to work on what I call people to people diplomacy. This is sustainable peace. This is where you really build the bridges of trust, respect, partnership, and a shared responsibility about the whole region. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: On October 9, two years and two days after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the White House announced a ceasefire would take effect, the first step in a 20-point peace plan proposed for the region. Four days later, President Donald Trump joined the presidents of Egypt and Turkey, and the Emir of Qatar to announce a multilateral agreement to work toward a comprehensive and durable peace in Gaza. Since then, all but the remains of three hostages have been returned home, including Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose remains had been held since 2014, ending the longest hostage ordeal in Israel's history. Finally, the prospect of peace and progress seems to be re-emerging. But what is next for the Abraham Accords? Will they continue to hold and once again offer the possibilities that were promised on the White House Lawn in September 2020? Will they expand? And which countries will be next to sign on to the historic pact, setting aside decades of rejection to finally formalize full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state? The opportunities seem endless, just as they did in September 2020 when the Abraham Accords expanded the scope of what was suddenly possible in government, trade, and so much more.  ANNE DREAZEN: The Abraham Accords really opened up lots of opportunities for us in the Department of Defense to really expand cooperation between Israel and its partners in the security sphere.  MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN:  Anne Dreazen spent the last 18 years as a civil servant in the U.S. Department of Defense. For most of that time, she worked on Middle East national security and defense policy, focusing on Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. And most recently serving as the principal director for Middle East policy, the senior civil service job overseeing the entire Middle East office. She was working at the Pentagon when the Abraham Accords were signed under the first Trump administration and immediately saw a shift in the region. ANNE DREAZEN: So, one thing that we saw at the very end of the first Trump administration, and it was made possible in part because of the success of the Abraham Accords, was the decision to move Israel from U.S. European Command into U.S. Central Command. And for many decades, it had been thought that that wouldn't be feasible because you wouldn't have any Middle East countries in CENTCOM that would really be willing to engage with Israel, even in very discreet minimal channels.  But after the Abraham Accords, I think that led us policymakers and military leaders to sort of rethink that proposition, and it became very clear that, it would be better to increase cooperation between Israel and the other Gulf partners, because in many cases, they have similar security interests, specifically concerns about Iran and Iranian proxies and Iranian malign activity throughout the region. And so I think the Abraham Accords was one item that sort of laid the groundwork and really enabled and encouraged us to think creatively about ways through which we could, in the security and defense sphere, improve cooperation between Israel and other partners in the region. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: But sustaining peace in the region is more than a matter of maintaining security. Making sure young people can fulfill their dreams, make a contribution, build relationships and friendships across borders, and transcend religion and ideologies – even those in the security sphere know those are the necessary ingredients for peace and prosperity across the region.  Despite the efforts of Hamas and other Iran-backed terror proxies to derail the Abraham Accords, the U.S., Arab, and Israeli leaders had continued to pursue plans for an Israeli-Saudi peace agreement and to explore a new security architecture to fight common threats. This spirit of optimism and determination led AJC to launch the Center for a New Middle East in June 2024. In October, Anne joined AJC to lead that initiative. ANNE DREAZEN: One thing that I have learned from my many years at the Department of Defense is that military instruments of power are not sufficient to really build long lasting peace and stability. The importance of trade, of economic development, of people-to-people ties is so essential to what we think of as an enduring or a lasting peace.  And so at AJC, we're actually focused on those aspects of trying to advance normalization. Really trying to put more meat on the bones, in the case of where we already have agreements in place. So for example, with Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco, trying to really build out what more can be done in terms of building economic ties, building people-to-people ties, and advancing those agreements. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Of course, that work had already begun prior to Anne's arrival. Just two years after the Abraham Accords, Retired Ambassador to Oman Marc Sievers became director of AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding, the first and only Jewish agency office in an Arab and Islamic country.  After more than 30 years as a U.S. diplomat serving across the Middle East and North Africa, Marc has witnessed a number of false starts between Arab nations and Israel. While the Abraham Accords introduced an unprecedented approach, they didn't suddenly stabilize the region.  Marc's four years in Abu Dhabi have been fraught. In January 2022, Houthis in north Yemen launched a drone and missile attack on Abu Dhabi, killing three civilians and injuring six others. In 2023, the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, Israel's retaliation, and Israel's war on seven fronts dimmed Emiratis' public perception of Jews. As recently as this past August, the U.S. Mission to the UAE issued a dire warning to Israeli diplomats and Jewish institutions in Abu Dhabi – a threat that was taken seriously given the kidnapping and murder of a Chabad rabbi in 2024.  But just as the UAE stood by its commitment to Israel, Marc and AJC stood by their commitment to the UAE and Arab neighbors, working to advance Arab-Jewish and Muslim-Jewish dialogue; combat regional antisemitism and extremism; and invigorate Jewish life across the region. From Marc's vantage point, the Abraham Accords revolutionized the concept of normalization, inspiring a level of loyalty he's never before seen.  It's worth noting the precursor to the Abraham Accords: the Peace to Prosperity Summit. For decades, diplomats had frowned on the idea of an economic peace preceding a two-state solution.  MARC SIEVERS: That idea's been out there for a long time. …It was just never embraced by those who thought, you know, first you have a two-state solution. You have a Palestinian state, and then other things will follow. This approach is kind of the opposite. You create an environment in which people feel they have an incentive, they have something to gain from cooperation, and that then can lead to a different political environment. I happen to think that's quite an interesting approach, because the other approach was tried for years and years, and it didn't succeed. Rather than a confrontational approach, this is a constructive approach that everyone benefits from. The Prosperity to Peace Conference was a very important step in that direction. It was harshly criticized by a lot of people, but I think it actually was a very kind of visionary approach to changing how things are done. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The conference Marc is referring to took place in June 2019 –  a two-day workshop in Bahrain's capital city of Manama, where the Trump administration began rolling out the economic portion of its peace plan, titled "Peace to Prosperity."  The workshop's host Bahrain, as well as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates participated, to varying degrees.  The plan called for large scale investment, mostly by other countries in the Gulf and Europe, to advance the Palestinian economy, to integrate the Palestinian and Israelis' economies and establish a small but functional Palestinian state.  Angered by Trump's recognition of Jerusalem, Palestinian leadership rejected the plan before ever seeing its details. But as former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman pointed out in an earlier episode of this series, that was expected. The plan enabled Israel to demonstrate that it was open to cooperation. It enabled the Trump administration to illustrate the opportunities missed if countries in the region continued to let Palestinian leadership call the shots. It was economic diplomacy at its finest. And it worked.  MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN:  Benjamin Rogers, AJC's Director for Middle East and North Africa Initiatives, who also serves as Deputy Director of the Center for a New Middle East, said the Center has focused heavily on expanding private sector engagement. Israelis and Arab entrepreneurs have quietly traveled to the U.S. as part of the Center's budding business collectives.  BENJAMIN ROGERS: So people who are focused on med tech, people who are focused on agri tech, people who are focused on tourism. And what we do is we say, 'Hey, we want to talk about the Middle East. No, we do not want to talk about violence. No, we don't want to talk about death and destruction. Not because these issues are not important, but because we're here today to talk about innovation, and we're here to talk about the next generation, and what can we do?' And when you say, like, food security for example, how can Israelis and Arabs work together in a way that helps provide more food for the entire world? That's powerful. How can the Israelis and Arabs working together with the United States help combat cancer, help find solutions to new diseases?  If you really want to get at the essence of the Abraham Accords – the ability to do better and work together, to your average person on the street, that's meaningful. And so one of the initiatives is, hey, let's bring together these innovators, these business leaders, private sector, and let's showcase to Arabs, Israelis, non-Jewish community, what the Middle East can be about. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: People-to-people connections. That's what AJC has done for decades, traveling to the region since 1950 to build bridges and relationships. But providing a platform to help facilitate business ventures? That's a new strategy, which is why AJC partnered with Blue Laurel Advisors. The firm has offices in Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Washington, D.C.. It specializes in helping companies navigate the geopolitics of doing business in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Israel.  At AJC Global Forum in April, founder and Managing Director Tally Zingher told an audience that the Abraham Accords, which effectively lifted the UAE's ban on business with Israel, brought already existing deals above the radar. TALLY ZINGHER: We've been wowed by what the Center for a New Middle East has been able to do and put forth in the very short time that it's been incubated and Blue Laurel Advisors are really delighted to be part of this project and we're really aligned with its mission and its vision. It's quite simple in the region because the region is really driven by national agendas. I think it's no surprise that the appendix to the Abraham Accords was a direct parallel to the Abu Dhabi national vision. It's the key areas of growth in UAE and Saudi Arabia that are now really well aligned with Israeli strength.  We're talking about the diversification efforts of the UAE and of Saudi Arabia. At Blue Laurel, we're quite focused on Saudi Arabia because of the real growth story underway there created by the diversification efforts. But they're focused on water, energy, renewable energy, healthy cyber security, tourism. Ten years ago when you were doing this work, 15 years ago there wasn't as much complementarity between Israel and the start-up innovation ecosystem and what was going on. The region is really ready and ripe to have Israeli innovation be a part of its growth trajectory. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Benjy said there's another advantage to building bridges in the business world – continuity. BENJAMIN ROGERS:Out of the three sectors that we're focused on – diplomatic, business, and civil society – business relations are the most resistant to political conflict. There's this element of self interest in it, which I'm not saying is a bad thing, but when you tie the relationship to your own worth and your own value, you're much more likely to go through kind of the ebbs and flows of the political.  Whereas, if you're a civil society, you're really at the mercy of populations. And if the timing is not right, it's not impossible to work together, but it's so much more difficult. Business is even more resistant than political engagement, because if political engagement is bad, the business relationship can still be good, because there's an element of self interest, and that element of we have to work together for the betterment of each other. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The economic diplomacy complements AJC's partnership with civil society groups, other non-profits that work to bring people together to experience and embody each other's realities in the Middle East. The Center also has continued AJC's trademark traditional diplomacy to expand the circle of peace. Though Marc prefers to call it the circle of productivity.  MARC SIEVERS: I think it achieved new relations for Israel that were perhaps different from what had happened with Egypt and Jordan, where we have long standing peace agreements, but very little contact between people, and very little engagement other than through very specific official channels. The Abraham Accords were different because there was a people-to-people element. The UAE in particular was flooded with Israeli tourists almost immediately after the Accords were signed, Bahrain less so, but there have been some. And not as many going the other way, but still, the human contacts were very much there.  I think it was also building on this idea that economic engagement, joint partnerships, investment, build a kind of circle of productive relations that gradually hopefully expand and include broader parts of the region or the world that have been either in conflict with Israel or have refused to recognize Israel as a sovereign Jewish state. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: It being all of those things explains why the potential for expansion is all over the map. So where will the Abraham Accords likely go next? The Trump administration recently announced the addition of Kazakhstan. But as the Central Asian country already had diplomatic relations with Israel, the move was more of an endorsement of the Accords rather than an expansion. In November 2025, all eyes were on the White House when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman paid a visit. In addition to the customary Oval Office meeting, President Trump also hosted the Saudi royal at a black-tie dinner. ANNE DREAZEN: Right now, everyone is really talking about and thinking, of course, about Saudi Arabia, and certainly I think there's a lot of promise now with the ceasefire having been achieved. That sort of lays a better groundwork to be able to think about whether we can, whether the United States can play an important role in bringing Saudi Arabia and Israel to the table to move forward on normalization. Certainly from the Saudis have have made they've cautioned that one of their prerequisites is a viable path toward Palestinian statehood. And we've known that, that's in President Trump's 20-point plan. So I think it remains to be seen whether or not Israel and Saudi Arabia can come to a mutually agreed upon way of addressing that key concern for Saudi Arabia. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: But there are also countries who only a year ago never would have considered a relationship with Israel. With Hezbollah diminished and a moderate and forward-leaning Lebanese government in place, quiet conversations are taking place that could lead to a significant diplomatic achievement, even if not as ambitious as the Abraham Accords. The same in Syria, where Ahmed al-Sharaa is sending positive signals that he would at least be willing to consider security arrangements. ANNE DREAZEN: Even if you don't have a Syrian Embassy opening up in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv,  even if you don't have an Israeli embassy opening up in Damascus, there could be other arrangements made, short of a full diplomatic peace accord that would lay the groundwork for some understandings on security, on borders. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Marc said it remains to be seen whether Oman, his final diplomatic post, will join the Accords. Two years before the signing of the Accords, while serving as ambassador, there was a glimmer of hope. Well, more than a glimmer really. MARC SIEVERS: In Oman, the late Sultan Qaboos, a good, almost two years before the Abraham Accords, invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit him in his royal palace in Muscat. Netanyahu came with his wife, Sarah, but also with a lot of the top senior leadership. Certainly his military secretary, the head of the Mossad, a few other people. As soon as Netanyahu landed in Israel, the Omanis put it all over the media, and there were some wonderful videos of the Sultan giving Netanyahu a tour of the palace and a choir of children who came and sang, and some other things that the Sultan liked to do when he had important guests.  And it was quite an interesting moment, and that was two years before. And that was not initiated by the United States. Unlike the Abraham Accords process, that was an Omani initiative, but again, other than the meeting itself, nothing really came of it. The Omanis took a lot of pride in what they had done, and then they backed away. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Instead, Marc points to the country with the largest Muslim population in the world: Indonesia – especially following recent remarks to the United Nations General Assembly by Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto. PRABOWO SUBIANTO: We must have an independent Palestine, but we must also recognize, we must also respect, and we must also guarantee the safety and security of Israel. Only then can we have real peace. Real peace and no longer hate and no longer suspicion. The only solution is the two-state solution. The descendants of Abraham must live in reconciliation, peace, and harmony. Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, all religions. We must live as one human family. Indonesia is committed to being part of making this vision a reality. MARC SIEVERS: We've heard that, you know, Indonesia needs some time to consider this, which makes a lot of sense. It's not something to be done lightly, and yet that would be a huge achievement. Obviously, Indonesia has never been a party to the conflict directly, but they also have never had relations with Israel, and they are the most populous Muslim country. Should that happen, it's a different kind of development than Saudi Arabia, but in some ways, it kind of internationalizes or broadens beyond the Middle East, the circle of peace. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: But in addition to adding signatories, Anne said AJC's Center for a New Middle East will work to strengthen the current relationships with countries that stayed committed during Israel's war against Hamas, despite public apprehensions. Anne recently traveled to Bahrain and the UAE with AJC's Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson, who has long led AJC's Middle East outreach. There, Anne discovered a significant slowdown in the momentum she witnessed when the Accords debuted. ANNE DREAZEN: I saw a real hesitancy during my travels in the region for politicians to publicly acknowledge and to publicly celebrate the Abraham Accords. They were much more likely to talk about peaceful coexistence and tolerance in what they characterize as a non-political way, meaning not tied to any sort of diplomatic agreements. So I saw that as a big impediment.  I do think that among the leadership of a lot of these countries, though, there is a sense that they have to be more pragmatic than ever before in trying to establish, in time to sustain the ceasefire, and establish a more enduring stability in the region. So there's a bit of a disconnect, I think, between where a lot of the publics lie on this issue.  But a lot of the political leaders recognize the importance of maintaining ties with Israel, and want to lay the groundwork for greater stability. We are very interested now in doing what we can as CNME, as the Center for New Middle East, to help rebuild those connections and help reinvigorate those relationships. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: This is especially the case in Bahrain, which has not seen the same economic dividends as the UAE. ANNE DREAZEN: Bahrain is a much smaller country than the UAE, and their key industries – they have less of a developed startup tech ecosystem than the UAE. And frankly, many of Bahrain's sectors don't overlap as neatly with some of Israel's emerging tech sectors, as is the case with the UAE. So, for example, Bahrain is very heavy on steel and aluminum manufacturing, on logistics. Manufacturing is a big part of the sector.  Israeli tech doesn't really, in general, provide that many jobs in that type of sector. Tourism is another area where Bahrain is trying to develop as a top priority. This obviously was really challenged during the Abraham Accords, especially when direct flights stopped over Gulf air. So tourism was not a natural one, especially after October 7.  Bahrain has really prioritized training their youth workforce to be able to take on jobs in IT and financial services, and this is one area we want to look into more and see what can be done. Bahrain is really prioritizing trying to build relationships in areas that can provide jobs to some of their youth. It is not as wealthy a country as the UAE, but it has a very educated young workforce. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Again, fulfilling dreams, giving youth an opportunity to contribute. That's the necessary narrative to make the Abraham Accords a success.  ALI RASHID AL NUAIMI: It's very important to focus on the youth, and how to create a narrative that will gain the heart and the mind of all youth in the region, the Israeli, the Palestinian, the Arabs, the Muslims. And this is where it is very important to counter hate that comes from both sides. Unfortunately, we still see some hate narratives that come from those far-right extremists who serve the extremists on the Arab side, taking advantage of what they are saying, what they are doing. From the beginning, I convey this message to many Israelis: please don't put the Palestinian people in one basket with Hamas, because if you do so, you will be saving Hamas. Hamas will take advantage of that.  This is where it's very important to show the Palestinian people that we care about them. You know, we see them as human beings. We want a better future for them. We want to end their suffering. We want them to fulfill their dream within the region, that where everybody will feel safe, will feel respected, and that we all will live as neighbors, caring about each other's security and peace.  We have to engage, have a dialogue, show others that we care about them, you see, and try to empower all those who believe in peace who believe that Israeli and Palestinian have to live together in peace and harmony. And it will take time, yes, but we don't have other options. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: But Dr. Al Nuaimi emphasizes that it can't be just a dialogue. It must be a conversation that includes the American voice. The UAE has been clear with the Israeli public on two occasions that attempts by Israel to unilaterally annex the West Bank would be a red line for the relationship between their two countries. But even as the five-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords approached, a milestone that should've been a reminder of the countries' mutual commitments, it took U.S. intervention for Israel to heed that warning. Anne Dreazen agrees that the U.S. plays an important role. She said Israel must continue to defend itself against threats. But in order to create a safe space for Israel in the long term, the U.S., the American Jewish community in particular, can help bridge connections and overcome cultural differences. That will keep the Accords moving in the right direction. ALI RASHID AL NUAIMI: I believe many Arab and Muslim leaders are eager to join it, but you know, they have to do their internal calculation within their people. We have to help them, not only us, but the Israelis. They are looking for a way, a path, to have them as neighbors, and to have a solution that the Palestinian will fulfill their dreams, but the Israeli also will be secure. I think having such a narrative that will take us to the next level by bringing other Arab countries and Muslim country to join the Abraham Accords. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Thank you for listening. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jason Isaacson, Sean Savage, and the entire AJC team for making this series possible.  You can subscribe to Architects of Peace on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. You can reach us at podcasts@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us. Music Credits: Middle East : ID: 279780040; Composer: Eric Sutherland Inspired Middle East: ID: 241884108; Composer: iCENTURY Mystical Middle East: ID: 212471911; Composer: Vicher

When Arabs slaughtered (literally) the Jew in Hebron in 1929, the Communist Party said it was the fault of the Jews and the Arabs were in the right. And Jewish Communists sided with the Party! Similar things are happening today ...https://thechesedfund.com/rabbikatz/support-rabbi-katzz-podcast

Rabbi Elhanan Miller is the Israel-based Founder of People of the Book, a Good People Fund grantee harnessing the power of original video and social media to advance coexistence between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East … and beyond. With hundreds of thousands of followers, and a reach into unlikely spaces, he is using … Continue reading Jewish Education for the Arab World →

Marjorie Taylor Greene has officially given her resignation for Congress and with it published a video of her reasoning. In simple terms, she says that both parties are corrupted and beholden to special interests, the President is a traitor, and nothing ever gets accomplished for the American people because most of the government serves a foreign master. Her claims, partly motivated by the Epstein coverup, infer a similar position to former representative Cynthia McKinney, who having been elected to represent her Georgia district, and to bring more about peaceful relations to Africa and withs Arabs, found her momentum thwarted by the Israel-Jewish lobby. She said loyalty pledges must be signed or Jewish money is cut off. She alluded to the fact that peaceful outreach to Muslims is strictly forbidden, though now that same money funds “radical Muslims” for show. What both MTG and McKinney have said is precisely what Reverend Ted Pike was warning about in the 80s, and Ernst Zündel in the 90s. Gathering all of this evidence helps us to further understand what exactly Germany experienced in the 1920s. We are not motivated by ideology in analyzing this, but instead a desire to get to the bottom of this golden thread and what comes next historically. Further, rabbis have been consistent in their belief that once the American people wake up to these facts, the country will be brought to utter destruction.  *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.WEBSITEFREE ARCHIVE (w. ads) SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVE - X / TWITTERFACEBOOKINSTAGRAMYOUTUBERUMBLE-BUY ME A COFFEECashApp: $rdgable PAYPAL: rdgable1991@gmail.comRyan's Books: https://thesecretteachings.info-EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / rdgable1991@gmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

In this sleep documentary, I take you to the mythical city of Constantinople to explore the history of the Byzantine Empire. As the Western Roman Empire collapsed under invasions, its Eastern counterpart lived on and perpetuated the dream of recreating the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages. I discuss the waves of invaders that Byzantine had to face, from the Huns and the Arabs to the Turks, its culture, politics and society, how it drifted away from the west religiously, leading to the East-West Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, and many more things, until the final fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. #sleep #bedtimestory #asmr #sleepstory #history #byzantine Welcome to Lights Out Library Join me for a sleepy adventure tonight. Sit back, relax, and fall asleep to documentary-style bedtime stories read in a calming ASMR voice. Learn something new while you enjoy a restful night of sleep. Listen ad free and get access to bonus content on our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/LightsOutLibrary621⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen on Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@LightsOutLibraryov⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ¿Quieres escuchar en Español? Echa un vistazo a La Biblioteca de los Sueños! En Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/1t522alsv5RxFsAf9AmYfg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ En Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/la-biblioteca-de-los-sue%C3%B1os-documentarios-para-dormir/id1715193755⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ En Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@LaBibliotecadelosSuenosov⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we turn east to consider Byzantium. We last spoke about the eastern Romans, or the Byzantines, in episode 113 when I described the emperor Leo III's victory in the winter of 717/718 over an immense Umayyad army and navy intent on taking Constantinople. This was a pivotal moment in history. Few people at the time would have expected Byzantium to survive. But it did. And the Umayyad Caliphate's advance into Europe was blocked. But before we move on to the rest of Leo's reign, the question I want to ask in this episode, is how did Byzantium do it? How was it able to fend off Islam, by far the greatest power of its age? For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.comFind my latest book, Justinian's Empire, on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. For German listeners, find the German translation of the first book in my series on the 'Fall of the Roman Empire', Die römische Revolution, on Amazon.de. Finally check out my new YouTube videos on the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Time Riders: Part 12 Teaching Nanu about the modern world. Based on a post by BiscuitHammer, in 16 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Some minutes passed before Becky pressed her forehead to Nanu's, holding her by the cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Nanu; I thought I'd lost you. I'm sorry; I'll teach you how to be careful. I promise." "I'm sorry, Mistress, I didn't mean to be thoughtless and frighten you," Nanu sniffled, her eyes bleary. As much as the fright by the wheeled monster, she was disconcerted by how upset her Mistress was. Rebe-kah was genuinely terrified that she'd nearly lost Nanu. It made her love her Mistress even more. "Let's go back inside," Becky suggested, pulling Nanu to her feet. "I promise, we'll try again later." She looked both ways before taking them across the road, holding Nanu close, even possessively. Becky was taking no chances. "Mistress?" "Yes, my love?" As they reached the curb back in front of Becky's house, Nanu held up the hem of her long shirt, heedless of the fact that she was flashing her cunt to a random woman walking by as she showed Becky something. "I'm sorry, the monster, it frightened me. I; I pissed myself and ruined the sack." Becky's response was somewhere between a laugh, a choke, and a sob and she caressed Nanu's shoulder as they continued walking. "Don't worry, I'll find you another." "Can it have a flaming cock on it again?" Nanu asked. "I think I rather like that." Becky smiled. "I'll buy you some more flaming cock shirts, my love. I promise." The door shut behind them, and it was time to relax. It had been quite the eventful day and it was barely noon. After a nap. "Do you have friends, Mistress?" Nanu asked as she lay on her back on the bed, gazing up at Becky. She ground and pumped her hips, slithering her cunt against her lover's, while Becky looked down at her, churning and undulating. Becky was fondling one of her ample tits, while the other was caressing one of Nanu's. In turn, Nanu was groping Becky, while her free hand had reached down and was holding her nether lips wide, exposing her throbbing clit to be brushed by Becky's. They'd already cum a few times, but were simply enjoying the sensations now. "Of course, silly," Becky giggled, loving how wet and sticky their pussies felt together. "You just haven't met any of them yet. The only person you know aside from me is Mark." "If we meet your friends, what will you tell them about me?" One of the things that Becky appreciated about Nanu was that she could fuck and still hold a conversation if she felt the need. Business didn't interfere with pleasure. "I admit, I haven't given it too much thought yet, but I would probably tell them that you're a student from another country who I have staying with me, and you don't speak English." Nanu arched her hips and side, pressing hard against Becky's cunt. "Mistress, what; what is the name of the place we are in? Where in the empire of the Romans is it?" Becky had to stop fucking because she broke down laughing. She leaned down and pressed her body to Nanu's hugging her tight while she jiggled uncontrollably. Nanu held her Mistress, but she was frowning, wondering what was so funny. She stopped frowning when Becky kissed her lovingly. "Oh, Nanu," the blonde woman said, smiling into her companion's eyes. "I have so much to explain to you still;” She sat up and then pulled Nanu into her lap. Nanu's legs wrapped around her Mistress' waist and she just looked contentedly into Becky's blue eyes. She knew she was in for an explanation she wouldn't completely understand, but as long as she was naked like this with Becky, she didn't mind, either. There wasn't much Nanu couldn't endure, as long as she kept getting fucked on a regular basis. And Becky seemed to like fucking as much as she did. It was a wonderful match, as far as Nanu was concerned. "Baby," Becky cooed, pushing a stray damp hair away from Nanu's lovely face. "Where we are now, we are very, very far from the boundaries of the Roman Empire. The place I live, it is a nation called 'Canada'." "Kaaa-na-daaa;” she said quietly. She liked the sound of it. "Is Kaaa-na-daaa a large place?" Becky tried to remember her ancient history, not to mention what she knew about her own geography. "Well," she said finally, having figured it out. "Canada is larger than the entire Roman empire at its height. Canada is the second largest nation in the world." Nanu's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Impossible!" she almost hissed in disbelief. "How have you fought off the Roman devils? Is Kaaa-na-daaa mighty?" Becky drew in a breath. This is where it got difficult. "Nanu, I know you can read, and you can count, but; do big numbers mean anything to you?" Nanu shrugged. "I could count higher than any of the other slaves in the Flavian household, and even a few of my masters and mistresses. Sometimes I was too smart and they beat me for it. I think I count well." "I'm asking because;” Becky continued, seeming hesitant. "The Roman Empire, it fell around one-thousand five-hundred years ago." Nanu said nothing, trying to understand what she had just been told. The Empire, gone? Life without Rome? Becky blushed. "It; and the time you were from, Nanu, that was just under three hundred years before Rome fell. My time, where we live now, is about eighteen-hundred years after your own." A long silence followed. Nanu shook her head. When she looked at Becky, her hazel eyes were full of worry. "Mistress, are; are you lying to me?" Becky shook her head slowly. "No, Nanu. I promised you I wouldn't lie to you." "But I don't understand what you mean," the Egyptian girl almost pleaded. "These numbers you are saying, they; I don't understand them!" She took Becky's hands in hers, her expression somewhere between afraid and desperate. "Please help me understand, Mistress.." Becky thought about what she could possibly do to help her beloved Nanu understand. She considered, her eyes closed for some seconds. When she opened them, she nodded. "Come downstairs with me and I will try," she said. Nanu clambered out of her lap and the two girls rose. Taking Nanu's hand, Becky led her downstairs to the living room. She made Nanu sit on the floor while she walked over to a corner. In said corner, behind a decorative screen, she kept a large, bluish water container, like one would find supplying the water cooler in an office. With a grunt, she began rolling it out from its storage space and toward Nanu. The former slave-girl watched curiously while Becky now turned it over with some effort, spilling out what looked to Nanu like tiny brown coins. Endless numbers of them, chinking and tinkling into a pile on the rug. "There," Becky breathed, wiping her brow. She'd already been sweaty from sex with Nanu, and the effort of rolling and tipping her change barrel had her feeling warm. She now lay down on her stomach on the carpet opposite Nanu, with the piles of tiny brown coins between them. "Nanu, these are called 'pennies', and they are a type of coin we use in my time. They are made of aeramen (copper), like some coins you know." Nanu nodded slowly. Becky held up a penny. "We're going to pretend each of these is a year. We're going to count them. And when we get to a certain point, that is how long ago the Roman Empire fell. But think of them as years, Nanu." Nanu drew a deep breath, sat with her legs crossed, and began counting, picking up the pennies and placing them into a new pile she started. "One; two; three;” Fifteen minutes later. Nanu had stopped pushing the pennies, but was still counting aloud while Becky moved the coins. "Six hundred fifty-one; six hundred fifty-two;” Becky could tell her beloved friend was getting very upset, but she kept going, because she needed Nanu to understand. The minutes dragged by, but Nanu kept counting. "Nine hundred eighty-five;” she said in a quavering voice. "Nine hundred eighty-six; nine hundred; No!" Nanu shoved the ever-growing pile of pennies away, scattering the coins, and Becky reared back in surprise. The Egyptian girl was scrambling backward on her ass, her eyes wide in fear and disbelief. She bumped into the couch before she yelped and leapt to her feet, dashing out of the room. "You're Lying!" "Nanu!" Becky called, getting hastily to her feet as the smaller girl opened the front door and burst onto the street. She was still naked, and Becky could hear her sobbing. "Shit shit shit shit;” Becky said under her breath as she pulled a long jacket out of the closet and then dashed out the door, looking around. "Nanu?" she called frantically. "Nanu!" But the girl was nowhere in sight. She looked up and down the street, seeing no bewildered pedestrians. Thank God it was Sunday, but how long could it possibly be before a tiny naked woman was noticed running around the neighborhood sobbing to herself and unable to speak English? She'd be picked up by the police, be terrified, and they would have absolutely no way of identifying her. Heaven only knows what would happen then. Poor Nanu! Becky took a chance and began heading in the direction she heard a dog barking from. She kept calling Nanu's name, having no clue where she could have gone. How on earth had no one seen her yet? Becky cursed herself. There were so many things she hadn't anticipated. How could she? She and Mark had brought Nanu forward in time to make her life better, to free her from the chains of slavery. It seemed like such a good thing to do. It had to be. After all, hadn't time let them do it? She wasn't even exactly certain what had set Nanu off, but she had an inkling. Yet another thing Becky hadn't known she needed to think through. Why would she know that? She'd never brought anyone forward in time before. How many people had? One ten millionth of this time's people? Maybe? She didn't know! This was almost as new to her as it was to Nanu. But Becky was making her own choices and knew she didn't need to be afraid. Nanu was completely surrounded by a universe she knew nothing about. Even the air had to smell completely different to her! She stopped just outside of a parkette and looked around. "Nanu!" she called loudly. She heard a gasp and then muffled sobbing, along with the rustling of foliage. She turned and saw the shrubs that marked the boundaries of the parkette moving awkwardly. She moved toward the disturbance, hoping her search was over. She stopped in front of the shrubs and spoke gently. "Nanu?" "En!" the girl hissed in panic. "Annoi!" Becky had no idea what Nanu had just said, since it wasn't Latin, but she could guess. She stopped coming forward and simply knelt down in the cold grass, determined to give Nanu the time she needed. She could see the girl now, stuffed bodily into the thicket, her hazel eyes brittle with fright. Poor Nanu had to be in agony, wedged in with all those branches and sticks poking and scratching her. How had she done it to begin with? "I'm here, Nanu," she said softly, letting Nanu see her smile, but she stayed still. "I'm sorry you got frightened. Will you please tell me what happened? I am trying so hard to understand, but I am not perfect at this, as you can see." Nanu was sobbing quietly, trying to not be heard. But after some moments, she seemed to be trying to rein in her crying so that she could speak. It took some time, words only coming out as choked gasps. Becky stayed still. She would wait however long was necessary. For Nanu, no length of time was too much. She owed it to the lovely, frightened young woman. And Nanu finally spoke. "They're gone, Mistress," she said in little more than a whisper. "They're all gone." Becky thought about what Nanu was saying and it sent a chill through her. "Nanu, do you mean your family?" "They're dead," she managed to say in a rasping whimper. "They're all dead; my mother, my father; my brothers and sisters; my Ki; her little baby daughter, Nanu; they are dust; dust;” Becky couldn't help it, she began crying too. She bent her head and her chest shuddered as she tried not to vocalize, and tears streamed down her face. This was a horrifying thought when she examined it from Nanu's point of view. Everything Nanu knew to be real was gone. And not even recently. The pennies had forced Nanu to see things in a way she was never meant to. Her family, they weren't newly dead, remembered by anyone. They weren't even decaying in graves. They were dust, nothing more than the endless sands of the land Nanu had grown up in. They'd become a sort of nothingness. "Nanu," Becky whispered, tears stinging her eyes and cold on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I; wish I knew what to say." "What can you say?" the girl murmured. "You are not a god, you cannot bring them to life for me. All I can ever do is go and see them, as they once were, alive and remembering me. But I will always be thinking that I live many ages of the moon after they are nothingness. I will never be rid of that realization, Mistress." "You're right, of course," Becky admitted, nodding. "It's different for you. Lots of my family members are dead, but I never met them, I never knew them. You lived with them all." "Please be honest with me, Mistress," Nanu said quietly. "How much more counting was there to do? How much bigger was the pile of coins going to get?" Becky blushed, feeling stupid for thinking it had been a good idea. The road to Hell was paved with good intentions. "It was going to be twice that size, Nanu. We; we got halfway through the counting." She closed her eyes while Nanu wept quietly again. Someone walked by, staring at her in confusion as she knelt in front of the shrubs in a long jacket, but just kept walking. Maybe it was a weird meditation thing. Nanu finally stopped crying but went silent. Becky did the only thing she could, and remained silent, waiting to see what happened next. Some minutes passed before Nanu finally spoke. "There are twigs and leaves stuck in my cunt." Despite herself, Becky began to snicker, squeezing her knees as she tried to stop. "Mistress," Nanu protested, but she was also trying to keep from giggling. "It's not funny, it hurts. Why did you let me do this?" "I'm sorry, baby," the blonde woman said finally, wiping a tear from her eye and smiling. "I'll try harder to keep you from doing crazy things. I promise." "I am naked, Mistress," Nanu pointed out. "Did you bring me something to wear?" "No, honey, I forgot, because I was so worried about you," admitted Becky. "Why are you stuffed into a shrub, anyway?" There was a pause before Nanu answered. "The dog scared me when it barked at me. Dogs scare me. The Romans use dogs for guards and for war. Why does Ka-na-da have war dogs?" "They aren't war dogs, my love," Becky said, wondering what to do next. "People keep dogs as pets. I used to have a dog when I was a little girl. I miss him very much." Nanu considered. "What was his name?" Becky was almost reluctant to say, since it now sounded silly. "His name was Frankincense. I; I just called him Frank for short." There was another pause. "What does that name even mean?" Becky shrugged. "He's named after a substance I think the Romans called olibanum." "You named your dog after that shit my Flavian masters kept burning in their rooms?" Nanu queried, clearly not impressed. "Hey, I like that smell, thank you," Becky replied. "And you be nice about my little Frankie, or you can keep the leaves and twigs in your cunt, young lady." "Sorry," Nanu snickered. "I'm sure your dog with the stupid name was very nice, Mistress." "Okay, are you ready to come home now?" asked the blonde, pondering their situation. "I can't leave you here like this, so; I guess I'll just hide you inside my coat and hope for the best. I mean, it's only seven blocks back to the house." There was a pause for some moment before Nanu answered. "Okay. I'm; I'm sorry, Mistress. I; I got scared." "I don't blame you, my love," Becky said gently. "Nobody can understand what you're feeling. Nobody, anywhere, can understand. Even Mark and I can't truly." She leaned forward and spoke quietly. "But I promise you, Nanu. We love you. And we want you to be happy. We wanted to free you from slavery and show you the wonders that Mark and I experience. But; we are not very good at planning, because even we don't know what to expect. But please believe me when I say that we want your happiness." "I know, Mistress. And I am sorry I said you were lying and ran away. I just felt terrified. Nothing made sense. It; still doesn't. All I can do is place my faith in you now." Becky nodded solemnly. Nanu was right. Becky couldn't even take her home, because Mark was the one with the time machine, and they wouldn't see him for the next three months. All this trauma had happened on Day One. Not a smooth start. She sighed. Maybe the chroniques dealer she'd found hidden away downtown could find someone to take Nanu back to her own time if she really wanted to return? She'd talk with Nanu about it in due course. She owed Nanu an out if she wanted one. "Okay," she said finally. "I'm going to move to the bush and open my coat, Nanu. Then you; uh; you get inside, I guess, and hug me with your arms and legs. Then I'll try to close my coat and get us home, okay?" The bush rustled as Nanu nodded, and then she moved forward, grunting and swearing as she unstuck herself from her deciduous prison. She almost tumbled into Becky, who was also nude underneath the long garment. She prayed that it would somehow fit around them both. As Nanu snuggled into her, Becky knelt up straight, presenting her waist. She fought to keep herself balanced as Nanu wrapped her arms and legs around her torso, her face squashed between Becky's ample tits. Great; Becky thought as she pushed to her feet and began struggling to close the coat around herself and the Nanu-shaped bundle now hanging onto her. She wheezed almost comically. If I manage to close the damn coat, I'm gonna smother Nanu between my tits. She'll suffocate before I get her the seven blocks home. How on earth did she get this far to begin with? Naked? Becky turned slowly and began to waddle out of the parkette. She pivoted ponderously onto the street and began the slow, awkward trek home. She could hear Nanu snuffling and trying to breathe inside the stretch-tight coat. As she waddled, Becky pulled the top of the coat open slightly, hoping to give Nanu some air. She looked down, seeing Nanu looking back up at her out of the darkness. "Thank you, Mistress;” the girl whispered. Becky could begin to imagine how she looked at the moment; she probably looked like she was trying to give birth to a horse. Or was smuggling a primate beneath her coat. Close enough, really. The occasional person walked by, giving her a curious glance, but then continuing on. This neighborhood wasn't known for being terribly nosy, as long as you weren't too dark of skin. Becky hadn't quite figured out how to solve that problem yet. "Eep! Nanu!" she hissed, shivering as Nanu's mouth found one of her nipples and began sucking on it. She heard Nanu hum contentedly, clearly willing to occupy herself this way while Becky got them home. "What're you doing, you brat?" Nanu ignored her, and Becky realized she'd been speaking English, so Nanu was free to not notice anything she said and had a perfectly viable excuse for doing so. Becky bit her lip as Nanu's wicked tongue swirled around her nipple before she began sucking again. Worse, one of the little brat's hands found her cunt and began stoking it. Whether she wanted to or not, Becky started getting wet and she tried waddling faster. Becky was going to kill Nanu when they got home. She was going to fuck her to death! Another block down. Becky could feel her face was flushed, and she was sweating now, and not only from the effort of carrying Nanu around her middle beneath the damned coat. She bit her lip and groaned as her eyes almost rolled up into her head. Dammit, one of Nanu's fingers found her way inside Becky's cunt! She tried closing her legs as she walked, to force the little tramp's finger out, but she quickly realized she would lose her balance and fall over if she kept this up. Sighing in frustration, she kept her legs open while she walked, doing her best to walk faster. "What're you smuggling under your coat, Fischer?" guffawed a neighbor as he walked by. "An orangutan?" "Uh; just groceries I have to protect!" Becky replied hastily, wrapping her arms under Nanu's ass as if holding the aforementioned imaginary groceries. She heard Nanu sigh and wiggle her cheeks on the hands. She kept sucking on Becky's tits and fingering her cunt. Becky's knees were trembling, and she was fairly certain she was dripping, leaving a path of sticky droplets on the sidewalk her behind her. Her whole body was tingling, even as she struggled to walk. "Uh!" Becky gasped loudly as Nanu bit and tugged on the nipple, the delicious sting lancing along the blonde's nervous system. "You little brat," she hissed, pulling the top of the coat open and scowling down into it. "When we get home, I am spanking your ass right off, young lady!" "If you make it that far, Mistress," Nanu replied, smirking up at her evilly. "If you make it home before you cum, I will eat a whole package of that bay-kon as punishment." Becky waddled faster, panting now as she fought for control. Nanu had two fingers in her now, making scooping motions along her upper wall. "Uh, that's cheating, you little slut!" "It is taking us so long to get home, Mistress," Nanu teased, slithering her tongue around a nipple. "How far are we walking? The length of your Ka-na-da?" Staggering quickly, almost wheezing like she was about to give birth, Becky moved on relentlessly. She almost couldn't see anything as pleasure kept flooding through her, promising orgasm was just around the corner. But Becky knew she didn't have strength to climax and keep moving. If she came, she would be collapsing to her knees and cumming on the sidewalk. If she was lucky, she'd remain kneeling. Sweat was streaming from her body. She was amazed Nanu was still able to hold on at all. C'mon; c'mon. She moaned as Nanu got a third slender finger inside her Mistress, and some woman chose that exact moment to go jogging by, giving Becky a confused look. Becky ignored her and just soldiered on as best she could. She could feel her arousal trickling down her inner thighs. How ridiculous must she have looked, barefoot, waddling around in a long jacket, smuggling an octopus while grunting and moaning like she was in a porn movie? She had barely turned up onto the little walkway leading up to her house before she tore the coat open and burst into a run, stampeding up the stairs while Nanu squeaked in alarm. She flung the door open and staggered inside, panting like she'd just run a marathon and sweating like she'd been fucked by twenty men in a row. Nanu was goggling up at her Mistress in shock (and maybe a little panic). Becky's blue eyes flashed and she grabbed the slave-girl and shoved her down her sweat-slicked body. Nanu's knees hit the wooden floor and she barely had time to register what had happened before Becky grabbed her head and jammed it against her steaming cunt. Nanu grunted and almost choked as Becky ground her hips with a dreadful eagerness, desperate to cum. Nanu slid her tongue inside and lashed her Mistress' cunt frantically. One of Becky's hands scrabbled for and finally grabbed onto the front door, managing to swing it closed so that they couldn't be seen from outside anymore. Leaning back against the wall, she bucked her hips furiously against Nanu's face, both her hands now gripping the Egyptian girl's black hair. She hissed and panted, her entire body shaking. Becky clamped her hands over her mouth and shrieked, juddering as the orgasm rocked her. She was barely cognizant of Nanu below her, trying not to drown as Becky's cunt flooded over. Becky pumped and ground greedily, reality spinning around her. She felt herself slumping down the wall to the floor, her hand on the back of Nanu's head, making sure the girl didn't try to escape. Becky felt like her eyes had switched sockets. Thank God this hadn't happened on the street or she would have been arrested, no question. At last, she opened her eyes and Nanu was kneeling in front of her, waiting patiently with her hands in her lap. Her face and much of her upper chest were glistening with Becky's cum. Not surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind. She stayed quiet until Becky seemed more focused before she finally spoke. "I guess I'm going to have the shits for a few days after the bay-kon, aren't I, Mistress? I lost the wager." Becky wearily reached up and caressed her beloved Nanu's hair. "I'm not letting you eat all my bacon, you silly slut. I love bacon. I'll figure some other way to punish you for losing the wager, like tonguing my ass or something." Nanu nodded. "I think I will enjoy losing wagers to you, Mistress." Becky laughed tiredly. They weren't even through their first day yet and she was exhausted. How many millions more things did she have to teach Nanu before this would was safe for her? And she only had three months to do it! Who would've thought that introducing someone to the future would prove so troublesome? "So you do want to see how the television works?" Becky asked, holding up the remote. Nanu looked at her curiously. They were both naked again, and in all likelihood intended to stay that way, unless they had to leave the house. Becky imagined that Nanu's ass probably still hurt somewhat, and anything she could do to relieve the discomfort was likely in order. Not wearing clothes seemed like a good start. "Mistress, I don't even know what it does, never mind how it works," the Egyptian girl pointed out, sitting on the floor, cross-legged. She gestured at the small black device her mistress held. "Wassa?" "This controls the television for me," Becky said, sitting down next to her charge and showing Nanu all the tiny buttons on the device. Granted, Nanu didn't know what buttons were, so she merely frowned at the remote in mild confusion. "I use it to watch things on the television. It allows me to select what I watch." She pointed the remote at the television and pushed the Power button. The High Definition unit, which was actually longer than Nanu was tall, winked on, and noise blared from it as images came on the screen. Nanu squealed at the sound and scrambled behind Becky, hiding and clutching her mistress' flanks. Becky giggled and lowered the volume. "You can come out now, hero," Becky said, smirking. "I lowered the volume." Nanu peeked out from behind her mistress, looking at the screen warily. She stared for some seconds, unable to understand what she was seeing. Some yellow-haired woman, ridiculously overclothed, was looking at Nanu and babbling in what she could only assume was En-gush. She had a serious look on her face as she spoke into what looked like a black cock. It was windy, apparently, because her hair was blowing around. Nanu slowly crawled toward the TV, her eyes narrowing. Becky watched in amusement, still sitting some distance away. Nanu had a great ass, and she could stare at it endlessly. The younger woman moved close to the screen, staring in bewilderment. Becky had lowered the volume sufficiently so that the news reporter wasn't yelling in Nanu's face. Nanu stared, then moved to the side of the television, looking around and behind it, sitting on its smoked glass countertop. She crawled around to the other side and looked behind again. Finally, she turned and looked at Becky in confusion. "Mistress?" she asked uncertainly. "Why do you keep the woman in the tiny box? How?" Becky had half-expected the question, of course, but it was still funny to hear. Once she was done snickering (Nanu waited patiently, looking only slightly annoyed), Becky replied. "She is not trapped inside the television, darling. It is a device that can show me other people. You have paintings in Rome and back in Egypt, right?" Nanu nodded. "And of course, a painting is just an illustration of someone," Becky explained. She'd had a little bit of time to put thought into this. "They're not actually in the painting, trapped." "So;” Nanu ventured, thinking about it. "The woman inside the box is a painting? Why can it move and talk to me?" "It's not a painting, it's a representation of her," Becky replied, knowing this would get awkward. "A television allows me to see things that are happening elsewhere." Nanu's eyes widened in shock. "The woman you see on the television is here in the city somewhere. I can see other people as well;” She changed the channel, and the television now displayed a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Unfortunately, a split second after the cartoon came up, Tom screamed loudly, having stabbed himself in the ass with a needle on the end of a pool cue. Nanu yelped in fright and threw herself into Becky's arms, shaking. Becky wheezed as she tumbled onto her back, holding onto her young ward. Nanu was trembling, her face stuffed between Becky's boobs. "Mistress, the box frightens me," the girl whispered. "It is too loud." "We can change how loud it is, Nanu," Becky said gently, pushing herself up into a sitting position and hugging Nanu, who was still wrapped around her, refusing to let go. "My world is probably rather loud compared to the one you know, my love. And the noises will be things you're not used to. But I promise you that you will adapt. Just like you did to life in Rome, and just like you will to bacon." Nanu nodded and then turned her head to look back at the TV. "Is; is that supposed to be a mouse and a cat?" Becky nodded. "Someone drew them to look comical and make people laugh." "The mouse is trying to kill the cat," Nanu pointed out. "He struck the cat on the head with the stick so that the cat screamed and swallowed that rolling ball. The mouse is evil. Are cats not sacred in your time, Mistress?" "Cats think they are, but many people just keep them as pets," Becky laughed. "Turn around and let me show you more. And I promise you, Nanu, nobody is caught inside the box. I don't quite know how to explain yet, but I will when I can. The television is meant to entertain." She changed the channel again and Nanu watched intently as Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago slugging it out on the screen. "You have gladiators in your society, Mistress?" she breathed, watching the bulging muscles flex as the two men pummeled one another. "We pay some athletes to fight, but we do not have death sports, like you remember," Becky replied, shrugging as she hugged Nanu, who was still sitting in her lap. "I mean, maybe some countries like the Veniti (Russians) do, but they're rather barbaric. We have Olympics, like you remember, just a lot more events. But this is just a story being told, this isn't real." "It looks very real," Nanu said, still glued to the screen. "I can hear them hitting each other." "Did you ever see a drama or play, Nanu?" Becky asked, which got a nodding head from the smaller girl. "Well, just like in those plays or dramas, the actors can pretend to strike one another. In my time, we might just be better at making it look real." "How do you tell fake fights and real fights apart?" Nanu asked. Becky could feel the other girl squirming in her lap. Nanu was getting turned on watching muscular men beat one another up. "Circumiastentia, (context)," Becky replied. "The television will tell you if you are watching something that actually happened, or whether it is a drama." Nanu tilted her head. "Can you show me a real fight?" Becky considered and then switched to a sports channel. Quickly enough, she came across an MMA fight between two women. Nanu gaped as she watched the women grapple and beat the shit out of one another. "Oh, Nunes! She Just Hurt Cyborg!" crowed the announcer. Not that the Egyptian girl understood what he was saying. "And; they never use weapons?" Nanu asked in a quiet but somehow hopeful voice. "No, you bloodthirsty little thing," Becky giggled, hugging her tight and wiggling her boobs into Nanu's back. "If you see weapons, it is probably a drama and not real." "These women are not very attractive, and punching each other just makes it worse," Nanu said, wrinkling her nose. "I would not fuck them. Are they fighting over a man?" Becky wasn't about to try to explain that Amanda Nunes was married to another woman who was also an MMA fighter. She just let her continue to watch while blood and teeth flew everywhere. "What else, does the magic box show us?" Becky thought of how to explain. She thought about anything Nanu might have been familiar with. "Do you; remember how announcements were placed in the Forum in Rome for people to read?" Nanu nodded. "The acta diurna. They told us about things that were happening. I was one of three Flavian slaves who could read them. It made the others jealous. But mostly we just found out about things from hearsay, people telling other people things." "Well, there are people who are paid to report nuntium (news)," Becky said. "That way, you can know what's going on, not just here in the city, but almost anywhere in the world." Nanu leaned back into Becky and looked up at her. "What IS the name of this city you live in, Mistress?" "Toronto," Becky said. This drew a frown from Nanu. Becky picked up Nanu's hand and gently pressed her lips against her palm. "To-ron-to." Nanu shook her head. "Maybe if you said it against my lips, Mistress." Becky giggled and shook her head. "You little slut;” She leaned down and her lips barely touched Nanu's. "Tor-ron-to." Fifteen minutes of almost kissing passed before Nanu could say Toronto. Becky wasn't at all surprised. It occurred to her that maybe one way to ease Nanu into her new environs and life was to find ways in which it was similar to her old one. "I know you don't speak English yet, darling, but I might be able to help you learn a little more quickly. Can you spell your name?" "Nanu nodded. "I can speak Latin and read some, Mistress, but; I only know how to write a few words. One of them is my name." "Come," Becky said, getting Nanu out of her lap and getting to her feet. Nanu followed suit. "Let's go to the kitchen;” She brought Nanu by the hand into the kitchen and stopped in front of the fridge. She had a small whiteboard stuck to it, and some colored markers alongside. She popped the top of the black marker and then drew a large dot on the board, demonstrating for Nanu how it worked. She then handed the marker to Nanu. The Egyptian girl looked at it curiously and then sniffed the tip. "Don't lick it, Nanu," Becky said gently but firmly. Nanu grimaced and stuck her tongue back in her mouth, sighing and turning toward the whiteboard. It was a glossy white color she'd almost never seen before. She gripped the marker awkwardly, in her fist, and pressed the tip against the white surface, obeying Becky's instructions to not press so hard. She slowly drew out her name on the surface. NANV "Good," Becky said as the slave-girl wiped her forehead. "Now, watch me spell your name in English;” NANU Nanu looked shocked. "Mistress, they are almost exactly the same," she breathed. "Why are they so similar?" Becky smiled. "My language borrows many, many things from Latin, including the alphabet. Many words have Latin origins as well." She wrote the name of Rome in Latin and English for Nanu, followed by the words for Egypt. ROMA ROME AEGYPTUS EGYPT. Nanu got quiet for a moment. "Mistress, I; I know my family is gone now but; what does my home look like?" "Do you mean Egypt?" Becky asked. Nanu nodded. "Well, it is still largely desert, except along the river, but there are many large cities like my own there now. The city that is the capital of the Egyptian nation is one of the largest in the world." Nanu almost looked excited. "My people are numerous and mighty?" Becky paused a second too long in answering and Nanu's expression changed to one of concern. "Mistress? Tell me the truth." Becky led her over to two small chairs and held her hand while they sat down. Becky drew a deep breath. "It is hard to explain, Nanu. Your nation is populated, like I said, but; I don't think the people there are Egyptians the way you understand them." Nanu almost went pale. "We have been destroyed?" "No, not as such," Becky fumbled, trying to explain. "But; for centuries after your time, there were waves of people who moved through the lands. Do you know who the Arabs are?" Nanu thought about that. "They are nomads from the great desert, aren't they?" Becky nodded. "After the Roman Empire fell, the next great empire was one ruled by the Arab tribes. Egypt fell to them. Modern scholars believe that the Arabs are the blood of Egypt now, and much of northern Africa. They had children with your people, and then with those children in time, and soon; your blood, true Egyptian blood, was no more. Not as you would think of it." The Egyptian girl was silent for some time, staring at nothing. Or Becky's boobs. It was a fair bet with Nanu. "My people are gone;” she murmured, looking at the floor. "We are no more;” Becky nodded sadly. "There are many civilizations in the world that has happened to, Nanu. Egypt, your Egypt, just happens to be one of them. If the scholars are right about that, then you are the only person in my world of your bloodline, your people." Nanu finally looked up at Becky and nodded. "Then I must fuck and have children so that the people of the Black Land may rise again. I will be the new queen of a new, mighty people of Keme." Becky smiled warmly. Nothing ever seemed to daunt Nanu for long. "Nanu, my love, somehow I do not doubt that about you. Let's eat, shall we?" This time around, Becky chose the foods carefully, mostly relying on fresh fruits and vegetables. She did her best to buy organic products, free of pesticides and preservatives, so hopefully this meal would not wreak havoc on Nanu's digestive tract. Nanu watched patiently as her mistress prepared the food, cutting into a loaf of what seemed to be bread, and smelled wonderful. Becky had baked it not long before she and Mark had gone to retrieve Nanu, so it was still quite fresh. She brought everything to the table and sat Nanu down before sitting herself. "Apples, pears, blackberries, celery, scallions, cherry tomatoes, bread I made myself, with butter and my own peanut butter," Becky said, pointing to everything in turn. "I think you'll like it." Nanu made a wry face when she looked at the peanut butter. "What is that, Mistress? I would be rude if I said what it looked like." Becky snickered, remembering that the Romans had no damn idea what a peanut was. "It is a paste made of a ground up nut. You have eaten almonds?" The Egyptian girl nodded, still looking at the brown goop suspiciously. "This is like almonds, but I have ground them up and made a paste out of them. Try a bit on your spoon." Nanu trusted her mistress enough to dip her spoon in the goop that looked like warm shit, and licked it with her tongue apprehensively. She smacked her lips as she tasted the peanut butter, her eyes darting back and forth. Then she blinked and dunked her spoon into the condiment, scooping up a huge glob and shoving it in her mouth eagerly. "Leave some for me, you brat!" Becky laughed. "You spread it on your bread, although you can also put it on some of your fruits and vegetables, like the apples or celery. Let me show you." She demonstrated spreading the peanut butter on her piece of bread, and Nanu followed suit. Nanu devoured the bread covered in peanut butter quickly, then began experimenting with putting the substance on the other foods on her plate. Some were a miss, but she seemed delighted with the peanut butter on the apples and celery, as her mistress had suggested. "Mistress, I cannot wait to lick this off of you;” the Egyptian girl breathed. "This is as good as licking honey off a cunt." "All in due course, my dear," Becky assured her. "For now, just eat." "How will I eat, Mistress?" Nanu asked as she shoveled apple and peanut butter down her gullet. "You said that you must work, you are to be gone for long parts of some days. How will I feed myself if I cannot work the food makers?" "I will start teaching you," the blonde said, smiling. "But until then, I will make food for you and leave it in the cold box and you can eat it when you get hungry. It might be cold food, but you will like it, I promise. And maybe I can show you how to prepare some things that don't require the heat makers." "I would like to learn, Mistress," Nanu said, pausing eating long enough to indicate she was serious. "I want to thrive in my new world, and to do that, I must be able to feed myself. You said you teach young minds?" Becky nodded. "Young men and women, from the ages of thirteen to eighteen. I teach them sciences." "Why are girls taught, Mistress?" Nanu asked. "If they just need to be able to read before they marry and have children, why would they learn anything else? Especially a science?" Becky almost laughed. "In this day and age, Nanu, education is the right of everyone, man or woman, girl or boy. Women, as it turns out, are every bit as capable as men when it comes to academia. That's why I'm a teacher, after all." "I just thought you were smarter than everyone else and exceptional," Nanu grunted, going back to her food. "You are certainly smarter than M-ark." "You'll get no argument from me, darling," giggled the older girl, drinking some milk. "Mark is currently failing my science class." "Do you beat him?" queried Nanu. "In my time, negligent boys are held down and whipped with a leather strap if they are failing in their studies." "No, we don't beat our students, tempting as that sounds," Becky said, picturing herself beating Mark's ass for yet another D grade in her class. "But when I work, which is generally five days a week, I leave in the morning and am back in the mid-afternoon. Between eight and nine hours." "That is a long time for me to be alone, Mistress, but I will manage," Nanu sighed. "If you show me how to do things and keep myself amused, I will be fine. Maybe I can teach myself about your world." "I absolutely believe that about you, Nanu, you are a very smart young woman," Becky said, nodding and smiling. "You may have just been a dancing slave in your old life, but I'll bet you could be anything you want here in my world, if you are diligent and work hard." Nanu's eyes widened. "You mean I could become a mighty and feared queen who conquers her enemies? I will work so very hard, Mistress!" "Let's just make sure you can conquer to the TV remote first," Becky laughed as she began to clear off the table, leaving the peanut butter for Nanu. It had been a long time since she'd had it licked off her tits or her cunt, after all. They spent a good deal of the afternoon in the bathtub, where Nanu was resting back against her mistress, humming in contentment as she luxuriated in the hot, scented water. Becky was fond of adding oils to her bath, making her skin smooth, and she loved how it made her smell, even after a vigorous workout at her Krav-Maga class. "Hmm, this feels so nice, Mistress," the Egyptian girl murmured, snuggling back against Becky, her eyes closed. "Even warmer than the baths of Trajan, and much warmer than my master kept his." "I like it," Becky said agreeably, scooping up water in her hands and pouring it down over Nanu's tits and down her torso. She caressed the smooth, tan skin gently, making Nanu sigh in pleasure. They'd fucked again before the bath, making each other cum at least twice. Nanu had indeed licked peanut butter off Becky's cunt, and out of it. The brat in her came out and she managed to smear it all over Becky's front before the blonde could stop her, resulting in Nanu having to lick it all off, apparently. A terrible dilemma for them both. Once they'd showered, Becky drew a bath, and this was where they found themselves now, relaxing and winding down the day. "And you can't take me with you to your work?" Nanu asked, her head nuzzled back between the twin pillows of Becky's tits. "It's not a good idea right now, my love," the teacher answered, stroking her lover. "It's hard to explain, but Mark is there, and he can't see you right now." "I thought you said we couldn't see Mark for three whole months?" Nanu asked, making a wry face. "But you see him at your school every day?" Becky considered how to explain. "You now understand that Mark and I travel through time, right?" Nanu nodded. "I don't understand at all how you do it, but I have seen it for myself, so yes." "Well; imagine if I took you to see your family, but before you were even born. Like, if your parents were so young that they haven't even met yet. You might know who they are, but they would have no idea who you were, because you weren't born yet." Nanu squeezed her eyes shut, thinking very hard, but it was a losing battle. "Keep going, Mistress." "The Mark you would see in my school doesn't know about time travel yet, or you. He isn't my lover yet. He won't be until three months from now. The Mark you know and love is from three months ahead of us, darling. So; you meeting the Mark who exists at the same time we do is a bad idea." Nanu shook her head. "I don't understand how meeting this Mark could be bad when meeting the Mark of tomorrow isn't. But I guess I must just take your word for it; again." "Probably for the best, Nanu," Becky giggled. "Don't worry, I don't like it either." "Three months without cock, Mistress," the younger girl almost groused. "How do you survive it?" "Nanu, just because we can't see Mark doesn't mean we can't have sex with men," Becky pointed out. "Mark doesn't own us, we can fuck whomever we please, just as he can." "Just not your students," Nanu grunted. "Who else is there?" Becky shrugged. "There's quite a few teachers, but that's awkward to me. I don't want to fuck my co-workers." "There must be lots of people in this world to fuck, Mistress," Nanu insisted. "And yes, I love you, and your cunt, but three months without cock is long time for me. I could have it nightly if I wanted when I was a slave." Becky reflected on that conundrum. Before she'd begun time travelling with Mark, she'd actually been experiencing quite a drought when it came to getting laid. It had been more than a year since she'd gotten any, and that pent-up tension had a tendency to come out during her Krav-Maga lessons. She couldn't help but think that maybe, in a world so very many times larger than Nanu's, she'd made her own life difficult by being overly fussy. After all, she'd hardly shown any restraint at all once she'd gotten into the time stream, had she? In Renaissance France, she'd fucked the innkeeper's two daughters quite readily. She rarely been with a woman since her days at university. And at the Flavian villa in Nanu's Rome, she'd fucked several men and women at once, because she could. It was an orgy, after all. What the Hell was so hard about getting laid in her own time? "Nanu, I promise you, we will fuck men before we meet Mark again," she assured her charge. "Maybe I don't know who yet, but I'll make it happen." Nanu nodded drowsily, the warmth of the water in the tub getting to her. "Hmm, glad to hear it, Mistress. I do love a stiff cock in my cunt." "So do I, my love," Becky sighed, finding her own mind wandering because of the water and the sensation of Nanu's soft body against hers. She had to admit, she normally wasn't this relaxed, even after her yoga and meditation. Sometimes, there was just no substitute for getting lots of sex. "I don't want you to worry about me going to work and leaving you tomorrow. I will make sure you are fed and have things to do. We'll make all your food tonight so that it's ready for tomorrow." "Where can we get some cock, Mistress?" Nanu asked, seemingly becoming fixated. Not that Becky blamed her. The blonde closed her eyes and pondered that for a few moments. Where was she guaranteed to get Nanu and herself laid without big risk? Of course! Talk about surefire! She smiled down at her companion and hugged her close. "Nanu, I have an idea, and it will certainly result in cock for you. All the cock you want and very likely the biggest. But you'll need to bear with me first, okay? I have to teach you some things." Nanu looked back at her and nodded eagerly. "Yes, Mistress. I will learn so well if it means I get some cock!" I can't tell if she's more food-motivated or sex-motivated, Becky thought with a smirk. "Okay, then. It'll likely be later this week, so you need to be patient. But there's much to do before then." Becky reached out of the tub and picked up her cellphone, which Nanu looked at curiously. Becky pressed some small dots on the surface, which had a very lifelike picture of her Mistress on it. Becky could see Nanu's confusion and remembered that the girl had no idea what the Hell a button was. Where in ancient Rome would she have seen a button? She keyed in a number and then hit the speaker button, allowing Nanu to hear what was happening. She made a shush gesture with her finger, indicating that Nanu was to be quiet. The Egyptian girl nodded and watched intently. Nanu frowned as she heard a weird buzzing sound that was uncomfortable in her ears. Then it stopped and was replaced by a lyrical, wondrous voice. "Hello?" "Heya, Lady Prof," Becky said cheerfully. "It's Becky." What sounded like a gasp of delight emanated from the little box Becky held, and then the wonderful voice again. "Rebecca Nightingale Fischer! How are you, my dearest and most talented student?" "I'm good, thanks," Becky replied, feeling a delicious tingle at the sound of that voice. "If you and Lord High Eve

After Israel's stunning and unpredictable victory (especially from the Arab perspective) in the War of Independence, there was a colossus of bruised pride in the Arab World. To answer the heretofore imponderable, "How could Israel have been victorious?" a narrative emerged, "We did not lose because Israel was strong, but rather because our leaders were weak." The search began for strong military men who could restore Arab dignity, and the undisputed rising star was Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Nasser was a pan-Arabist who maintained that Arabs were born for greatness and should have had one of the most enduring empires, had they not been victims of colonialism. A Soviet shift in the 1950s pushed them from allies of Israel to adversaries. President Eisenhower, with the very strong support of his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, decided to be stronger aligned with the Arab side in the conflict. Credits One For Israel "DAVID DANCED"  Snare Drum Solo Larry Salzman "Legionnaire" by Scott Buckley AP Archive April 23, 2003 Saddam Walk Around 
Yasuichi Kobayashi Radio Cairo Sound Effects for Free: Goal !!! Norwegian Baron: Russian Federation (1991-) Military March "To Serve Russia" Framesticker: The Benny Goodman Orchestra - Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing)   Syria 1949 – How the CIA Rewired a Nation Historical Documentaries: Nasser: Power, Pan-Arabism And Legacy Of A Leader  The War for Control of the Suez Canal | History of Israel Explained | Unpacked Learn more at TellerFromJerusalem.com Don't forget to subscribe, like and share! Let all your friends know that that they too can have a new favorite podcast. © 2025 Media Education Trust llc  

The government shutdown is over, but the typo-ridden unraveling of Donald Trump's Epstein coverup has only just begun! The iconic Henry Winkler stops by to celebrate turning 80 with a relaxing round of 80 Questions. The hilarious Mo Amer joins to help us rank Hollywood's knockoff Jews and bootleg Arabs. And before we go, we rise up to bitch and moan in a brave act of resistance. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Arab-Muslim discussion and interviews with hosts Samar Jarrah and Ahmed Bedier.

This holy Martyr was an Egyptian and a soldier during the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian. Though he was known for his valor in combat, he renounced his soldier's rank when his legion was ordered to seize Christians in north Africa. Fleeing to the mountains, he dwelt there for some time in silence and solitude, devoting his days to prayer. In time, he presented himself at a pagan festival, denounced the idols and declared himself a Christian. For this he was handed over to the governor of the city, who subjected him to horrible tortures and finally had him beheaded. Some faithful retrieved part of his relics and gave them honorable burial near Lake Mareotis, about thirty miles from Alexandria. The church built over his tomb became a place of pilgrimage not only for countless Egyptians but for Christians all over the world: evidence has been found of journeys to his shrine from as far away as Ireland.   The Synaxarion gives an account of the Saint's intervention in the Second World War: "In June 1942, during the North-Africa campaign that was decisive for the outcome of the Second World War, the German forces under the command of General Rommel were on their way to Alexandria, and happened to make a halt near a place which the Arabs call El-Alamein after Saint Menas. An ancient ruined church there was dedicated to the Saint; and there some people say he is buried. Here the weaker Allied forces including some Greeks confronted the numerically and militarily superior German army, and the result of the coming battle seemed certain. During the first night of engagement, Saint Menas appeared in the midst of the German camp at the head of a caravan of camels, exactly as he was shown on the walls of the ruined church in one of the frescoes depicting his miracles. This astounding and terrifying apparition so undermined German morale that it contributed to the brilliant victory of the Allies. The Church of Saint Menas was restored in thanksgiving and a small monastery was established there."

This holy Martyr was an Egyptian and a soldier during the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian. Though he was known for his valor in combat, he renounced his soldier's rank when his legion was ordered to seize Christians in north Africa. Fleeing to the mountains, he dwelt there for some time in silence and solitude, devoting his days to prayer. In time, he presented himself at a pagan festival, denounced the idols and declared himself a Christian. For this he was handed over to the governor of the city, who subjected him to horrible tortures and finally had him beheaded. Some faithful retrieved part of his relics and gave them honorable burial near Lake Mareotis, about thirty miles from Alexandria. The church built over his tomb became a place of pilgrimage not only for countless Egyptians but for Christians all over the world: evidence has been found of journeys to his shrine from as far away as Ireland.   The Synaxarion gives an account of the Saint's intervention in the Second World War: "In June 1942, during the North-Africa campaign that was decisive for the outcome of the Second World War, the German forces under the command of General Rommel were on their way to Alexandria, and happened to make a halt near a place which the Arabs call El-Alamein after Saint Menas. An ancient ruined church there was dedicated to the Saint; and there some people say he is buried. Here the weaker Allied forces including some Greeks confronted the numerically and militarily superior German army, and the result of the coming battle seemed certain. During the first night of engagement, Saint Menas appeared in the midst of the German camp at the head of a caravan of camels, exactly as he was shown on the walls of the ruined church in one of the frescoes depicting his miracles. This astounding and terrifying apparition so undermined German morale that it contributed to the brilliant victory of the Allies. The Church of Saint Menas was restored in thanksgiving and a small monastery was established there."

https://thecommunists.org/2025/10/22/news/tale-of-two-chants-starmer-british-police-antisemitic/ Why is the government so keen to let violent and racist Israeli thugs loose on Birmingham's streets? Starmer wanted punk band Bob Vylan prosecuted for chanting “Death to the IDF!” Four months on, he's bullying the police to let Israeli football thugs into the UK to chant “Death to the Arabs!” Subscribe! Donate! Join us in building a bright future for humanity! www.thecommunists.org www.lalkar.org www.redyouth.org Telegram: t.me/thecommunists Twitter: twitter.com/cpgbml Soundcloud: @proletarianradio Rumble: rumble.com/c/theCommunists Odysee: odysee.com/@proletariantv:2 Facebook: www.facebook.com/cpgbml Online Shop: https://shop.thecommunists.org/ Education Program: Each one teach one! www.londonworker.org/education-programme/ Join the struggle www.thecommunists.org/join/ Donate: www.thecommunists.org/donate/

From IBM and Microsoft to serving as Chief Business Officer at Google X, Mo Gawdat has spent over three decades at the forefront of technology and innovation. Today, the bestselling author turns his engineer's mind toward life's biggest question: how can we live well and meaningfully in an age defined by artificial intelligence? This monumental 2.5 hour episode, which Mo Islam called “the best I've ever shot”, is a journey through life, loss, and the future of humanity.Mo Gawdat opens up about his late son Ali and the lessons that inspired ‘Solve for Happy', before diving into the decade of disruption ahead: from the rise of AI and autonomous weapons to universal basic income and the impending economic reset. Together, the two Mo's explore why Arabs are so misunderstood in the West, how ethical AI must be grounded in love and empathy, and how the Middle East can lead the next wave of innovation.  They challenge the failures of modern education, the grip of the military-industrial complex, and even the mysteries of the space-time continuum, all while searching for meaning in what Mo calls the “legendary level” of modern life. A very big thanks to Merwas Studios in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for inviting us to shoot in their WORLD CLASS Studios! 00:00 Intro03:18 IBM, Microsoft & Google X05:07 Losing Ali: The Moment Everything Changed09:27 Writing Solve for Happy11:41 Leaving Google & Launching “1 Billion Happy”13:35 Living with Loss17:05 Fate, Life & the Interconnectedness of Everything23:04 Death as the Opposite of Birth26:02 The Video Game of Life31:23 Ali's Death & Mo's Purpose34:53 Redefining Success: Impact over Ego38:54 Learning, Curiosity & Creation44:08 Solitude & Silent Retreats49:01 Meditation Practices55:13 Mindfulness in Daily Life57:06 The Loneliness Epidemic1:01:02 East vs. West: Community vs. Individualism1:05:10 Surveillance, Privacy & the Illusion of Security1:08:11 Raising Children in a Broken World1:11:03 The Collapse of Capitalism & the Rise of AI1:21:16 China vs. The West1:24:06 The Illusion of Stock Markets & Institutional Control1:30:03 War Economics: How Weapons Drive Profit1:35:19 Humanity's Awakening & Questioning the System1:41:08 Reclaiming the Arab Narrative1:47:27 Building Ethical AI1:52:18 Entrepreneurship, Self-Reliance & Believing in the Region2:00:03 Education is Broken2:07:03 Business vs. Capitalism: Purpose Over Profit2:10:00 Reclaiming Global Perception2:17:13 Governance, Fairness & Leadership in the Arab World2:22:06 Living in Uncertain Times2:25:17 The Ultimate Video Game of Life2:26:57 Closing Reflections

Monte Judah examines Israel's struggle with Hamas, Trump's missteps over annexation, and the biblical covenant that defines the Land of Israel.00:00 – Opening & Shalom IntroductionMonte Judah welcomes viewers and opens with this week's Messianic World Update.00:42 – Ceasefire Broken Again in GazaHamas attacks IDF forces despite the ceasefire; Israel retaliates, leaving over 100 Palestinians dead.02:15 – U.S. Declares Ceasefire RenewedDespite violence, the U.S. and media call the ceasefire “holding.” Monte discusses the cycle of deception.03:40 – Hamas Games and False Body ReturnsHow Hamas manipulates international media by faking body recoveries and stalling hostage returns.05:22 – Hudna vs. PeaceExplaining the Islamic concept of hudna—a temporary truce used for regrouping, not genuine peace.06:30 – CENTCOM and U.S. Troops in IsraelThe U.S. presence at Kiryat Gat monitors Gaza via drones; Hamas observed rearming instead of complying.08:10 – Hezbollah and Regional AttacksIsrael continues strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and prevents a terror attack in Samaria.09:25 – Is There Really Peace in the Middle East?Monte questions the idea of peace amid ongoing conflict in Gaza, Lebanon, and Judea–Samaria.10:12 – Trump's Peace Plan Under FireTrump claims the world supports his 20-point peace plan, but few nations have joined or complied.11:50 – Hamas Refuses to DisarmNo Arab nations will provide peacekeepers; Hamas openly rejects disarmament under Trump's plan.13:05 – Turkey's Offer Rejected by IsraelTurkey's attempt to join peacekeeping efforts dismissed due to its pro-Hamas stance.14:10 – Ultra-Orthodox Protests in JerusalemHaredi Jews plan mass demonstrations against mandatory IDF service exemptions.15:25 – Settler Violence in SamariaReports of Jewish settlers attacking Palestinian villages raise tensions and international criticism.17:00 – The Annexation Bill DebateMonte explains Israel's plan to annex Judea and Samaria and U.S. threats to oppose it.18:30 – Annexing East of Jerusalem & Temple MountAnnexation would encircle East Jerusalem, strengthening Israel's sovereignty over its biblical capital.19:50 – Media Manipulation and Time Magazine's RoleMonte reveals how Time's delayed Trump interview aimed to sow division between the U.S. and Israel.21:05 – Trump's Comments Before the VoteTrump's words to Arab leaders: “It won't happen.” Why his promises contradict Israel's sovereignty.23:00 – Israel's Response: Calm and SteadyDespite U.S. pressure, Israel quietly asserts sovereignty over its covenant land.24:20 – Tania Koenig: ‘The Sentence Trump Signed Against Himself'Monte reads Koenig's powerful critique—Trump promised what wasn't his to give.26:15 – Israel's Sovereignty is God's CovenantMonte emphasizes that Israel's land is covenantal, not transactional—it cannot be bargained away.27:45 – Trump's Misunderstanding of Covenant vs. ContractForeign policy as a “deal” clashes with God's eternal covenant promise to Abraham.29:05 – Prophecy from Joel and EzekielScriptures foretelling Israel's return to the land and the nations' judgment for dividing it.31:45 – Modern Fulfillment of Ancient ProphecyJoel 3 and Ezekiel 34 confirm Israel's restoration to the mountains of Judea and Samaria.33:10 – Trump's Peace Plan and the Coming ConflictMonte warns Trump's promises to the Arabs will fail—Israel's destiny remains in God's hands.34:45 – Call to Prayer for Israel and the NationsEncouragement to pray for Israel, President Trump, and for God's will to prevail in the Middle East.37:15 – Closing and Shabbat Blessing

The audio recording of this conversation was compromised and you may need to adjust volume settings for certain portions of the recording. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience. Dr. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha is a medical doctor with a specialty in internal medicine, currently completing a clinical fellowship in critical care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, combined with a research fellowship at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School. Her research focuses on healthcare policy and politics that create inequality in health services and outcomes for underserved communities.  She formerly served as the Health Policy Director at the Task Force for Health Promotion and Equity in the Arab Society at the Israeli Ministry of Health, leading major efforts and interventions to deal with health disparities between Jews and Arabs in Israel.   She co-founded two NGOs that promote socio-economic development of the Bedouin community in Israel, while focusing on health, education, women's employment, housing and community empowerment. She has won several awards, including the 2007 Ramon Award for quality, leadership, and excellence and was chosen to be part of Forbes' “30 Under 30” list. In 2023, she was named one of Israel's 50 most influential women by Globes Magazine.  Yasmeen holds a BSc and MD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.

Pastor Jason continues in Nehemiah 4, and we see how Nehemiah faces the opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites from all sides. From this, we learn how to face the different kinds of opposition in our own lives.

How should one go about translating a text that is untranslatable? Especially when the text is believed to be the living word of God? Muslims have pondered this dilemma for more than a millennium, because a standard doctrine of Islam is the ‘inimitability of the Quran' (i‘jaz al-Qur'an). This principle was often taken to imply the untranslatability of the Quran. But even in the first centuries of Islam, the conversion on non-Arabs created the practical need for translation. This episode explores the different solutions Muslims found, whether through interlinear summaries and tafsir commentaries in premodern times or via the proliferation of full-blown translations in the modern age of print—and nationalism. From multilingual manuscripts to state-sanctioned translations, we trace the different ways in which the Quran has been read over the centuries. Nile Green talks to M. Brett Wilson, author of Translating the Qur'an in an Age of Nationalism: Print Culture and Modern Islam in Turkey (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Why is it that right-leaning influencers and elected officials continue to adopt so many ideas foreign to conservatism?  Today, I go through some principles of conservatism from Russell Kirk to show how today's reactionary performers on the Right are leading us astray. Nowhere is this more evident than with those throwing out all principles about never negotiating with terrorists. The administration's ties to Qatar are getting worse by the day. Ironically, after two decades of nation-building on behalf of Arabs, we are like the dog returning to its vomit and are engaged in the worst form of nation-building for Gaza. I also lambast Republicans for supporting special favors for AI data centers at a time when AI is proving to be a brain cancer when used for most of its public commercial use, such as chatbots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Black History Month Special (Part 2) AI - The Truth Exposed! The Black Spy Podcast 216, Season 22, Episode 0007   This week, host Carlton King continues his headfirst dive into the meaning of Black History Month — asking seemingly none provocative questions of Chat GPT such as Why do you and other LLM continue to use terms such as the Middle East” and why does this matter? Carlton argues that while race is a biological nonsense, it remains a powerful political reality shaping lives, identity, and history itself. To illustrate this, Carlton explores the true financial and political objectives and consequences of the British Empire, including how Britain came to rule world finances. Carlton also uncovers how AI is finally challenging a racist, euro-centric manipulation of history with true and evidenced fact, yet strangely Carlton notes that these answers are not provided questionaries in the first instance and he wants to establish why?. Carlton examines who decides who's “Black” and who's “White,” and how these definitions have been weaponised throughout history to dumb down Africa and it's diaspora's real historical legacy. Once again we hope you enjoy this week's episode and learn from it. So, please don't forget to subscribe to the Black Spy Podcast for free, so you never miss another fascinating episode.

In this powerful conversation, Veronica sits with Zeena Ismail - a Palestinian somatic practitioner, trauma educator and writer - to explore what it means to belong, to heal and to stay rooted in the midst of ongoing displacement and collective trauma.Zeena's work weaves politicised somatics with land-based practice and systemic literacy, inviting Arabs and diaspora communities into embodied repair through her six-month bilingual programme, Where Do We Begin. They explore the intersections of trauma, resistance and reclamation - how bodies hold the weight of occupation, and how safety, grief and aliveness can coexist.This episode invites us to look beyond ideology and into the body as a site of truth, where liberation and safety must include everyone.Rooted Healing's year-long programme, Deepen Your Roots, is now enrolling for its third cohort. Acting as an incubation ground and compass toward a more beautiful world, Deepen Your Roots invites participants into a year of embodied exploration through place, body, spirit and calling - nourishing leadership and participation in the Great Turning.This cycle leans more deeply into participatory, relational learning, with co-created practice, small-group inquiry, ritual and embodied exploration, and a renewed effort to gather elders and living-tradition keepers whose presence anchors the work toward humility, continuity and intergenerational wisdom.  Learn more and join the next cohort at rootedhealing.org/deepen and use the code ROOTED10 for 10% off. .Support the show

X: @ChrisCBNNews @ileaderssummit @americasrt1776 @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk Join America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio co-hosts Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy with Chris Mitchell, CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief, based in Jerusalem, Israel. Chris Mitchell is bestselling author of titles including "Jerusalem Dateline," "Destination Jerusalem" and "ISIS, Iran and Israel: What You Need to Know about the Current Mideast Crisis and the Coming War." Chris Mitchell serves on the Executive Advisory Board of International Leaders Summit and Jerusalem Leaders Summit. Chris Mitchell first began reporting on the Middle East in the mid-1990s. He repeatedly traveled there to report on the religious and political issues facing Israel and the surrounding Arab states. As an eyewitness to major events in the region, Chris was in the center of hostile locations when reporting on October 7, 2023 and then actually in Gaza examining the tunnels with Israel's military. He has traveled extensively, including the more difficult places affected by conflicts and war. There are few Western journalists that have such a deep understanding of Israel within the Middle East, and the challenges and opportunities that the Jewish State faces in the 21st century. He has interviewed American and Israeli leaders including PM Benjamin Netanyahu on several occasions, and America's top leaders including cabinet members and ambassadors. In fact, Chris Mitchell visited Riyadh and met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the prospects of normalizing relations with Israel. The conversation with Chris Mitchell on America's Roundatble is focused on US-Israel relations, an update on the release of 20 remaining living hostages from Gaza, Trump's speech in Knesset, the signing of peace accords between Israel and hamas in Egypt and the future of the Middle East. On August 17, 2000, Chris Mitchell opened the CBN News Bureau in Israel. He came with his wife, Liz, and their three children without a notion of what would begin just five weeks later — a four-year-long campaign of Palestinian terror attacks and suicide bombings known as the Second Intifada rocked Israel. He also serves as the host and Executive Producer of Jerusalem Dateline, a weekly TV program from Israel seen worldwide on numerous networks. A native of the Boston area, Chris earned a B.A. in History at the University of New Hampshire in 1975. In 1987, he graduated with honors from Regent University, earning an M.A. in Communication. CBN's impact around the world engages an estimated viewing audience of 360 million people - a combined number of viewers through the numerous programs broadcasted in 156 countries and 76 languages. americasrt.com (https://americasrt.com/) https://ileaderssummit.org/ | https://jerusalemleaderssummit.com/ America's Roundtable on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-roundtable/id1518878472 X: @ChrisCBNNews @ileaderssummit @americasrt1776 @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk America's Roundtable is co-hosted by Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy, co-founders of International Leaders Summit and the Jerusalem Leaders Summit. America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio program focuses on America's economy, healthcare reform, rule of law, security and trade, and its strategic partnership with rule of law nations around the world. The radio program features high-ranking US administration officials, cabinet members, members of Congress, state government officials, distinguished diplomats, business and media leaders and influential thinkers from around the world. Tune into America's Roundtable Radio program from Washington, DC via live streaming on Saturday mornings via 68 radio stations at 7:30 A.M. (ET) on Lanser Broadcasting Corporation covering the Michigan and the Midwest market, and at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk Mississippi — SuperTalk.FM reaching listeners in every county within the State of Mississippi, and neighboring states in the South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Tune into WTON in Central Virginia on Sunday mornings at 6:00 A.M. (ET). Listen to America's Roundtable on digital platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Google and other key online platforms. Listen live, Saturdays at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk | https://www.supertalk.fm

Ramzy Baroud, journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle, discusses being born and raised in Gaza while also covering the greater history of Palestine: from British colonialism, the rise of Zionism and the decision that someone made to mythologise Palestine as “a land with no people,” a historical exchange to rewrite, rename, and reinvent the land of Palestine to belong to someone else, except the land indeed had people. Responding to the claims of those who deny the genocide or who have clung to the rape fictions that were created by the state of Israel in tandem with legacy media, which resorted to racist stereotypes of Arabs “as rapists” in order to seamlessly encourage the public acceptance of Israel's genocide of Palestinians. Baroud notes how the Western focus on “the treatment of women in Palestine” has become a convenient derail to the larger issue of genocide, to which he recounts the story of his sister, a physician who was assassinated by Israel last year and whose life's work has left a legacy for both Palestinian men and women. Baroud narrates how the legacy of Palestinian women, including his grandmother, have always been at the centre of their society, observing that Western feminists have simply embraced Orientalist language of old while completely forgetting that it is colonialism and military occupation that oppress women. Baroud also relates how many Palestinian women have given birth at checkpoints, as the IDF blocks their access to hospital care, and he asks: Where were these Western feminists who didn't say a thing while these women were forced to give birth at checkpoints, during a most intimate moment in their lives and under the gaze of IDF soldiers watch? Where were these Western feminists' voices when the 17.000 women were butchered and raped by the Israeli army? Baroud goes on to narrate Israel's direct attacks on the storytellers of Palestine—the journalists, historians, and scholars—many of whom have come under legal attacks and various other forms of intimidation while also addressing the hasbara replete within western media representations of Palestine. Get full access to Savage Minds at savageminds.substack.com/subscribe

These last two years have shown us that western civilization doesn't need protection, it needs redemption. It needs to save its soul. Reading by Tim Foley.

Did you know Jesus' identity is under attack? In this episode of the Curt Landry Podcast, Rabbi Curt and Darrell Puckett discuss the biblical and historical evidence for Jesus' Jewish identity, its significance, and the power of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah for all people. Jesus' Hebrew name, Yeshua, means “salvation.” It's only through the blood covering of Jesus and His salvation that we have reconciliation with God and others. God loves all people – Jews, Arabs, every tribe and tongue. He has a beautiful plan of redemption for all humanity, and when we operate in love towards one another, we testify to this hope that we have within us. Join Rabbi and Darrell as they talk about the truth about Israel's society and humanitarian aid, God's love and plan for Jews and Arabs, and how to be anchored in biblical love and truth. Resource Mentioned: Grow your faith through the One New Man app: https://app.onenewman.com Disclaimer: Curt Landry Ministries will never send you a direct message or comment asking for donations, or, request to move the conversation to Telegram or any other third-party application. Any and all donations are solely collected through our website, https://www.curtlandry.com, or, through one of our YouTube fundraisers. For tithing and giving, please visit: https://shop.curtlandry.com/donate/ Listen to The Curt Landry Podcast: https://www.curtlandry.com/podcast/the-curt-landry-podcast/ Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRSNGrZ4oXOEYHMxBkZO94A/join · Website: https://www.curtlandry.com · Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtlandryministries/ · Twitter: https://twitter.com/curtlandrymin · Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curtlandrymin/ Get the resources you need to stand firm in your inheritance… · Jewish Roots Guide… https://curtlandry.com/Jewish-Roots · One New Man Guide… https://curtlandry.com/ONM-Guide · Psalm 91 Prayer… https://curtlandry.com/Psalm91Prayer · Goals to Grow… http://curtlandry.com/Goals2024

K.T. McFarland, Former Deputy National Security Advisor, joins Sid to discuss the extensive and strategic moves made by President Trump to reshape the Middle East landscape. She delves into Iran's nuclear threat, the strategic bombings, and how Trump's decisions paved the way for the Abraham Accords and a new generational change in leadership across Gulf Arab countries. The conversation highlights Trump's influence and actions that united the Arabs against common adversaries like Hamas and strengthened alliances with Israel. The discussion also touches upon the geopolitical implications, Europe's energy policies, and the broader vision of creating a Middle East corridor for trade that challenges China's influence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Viewpoint This Sunday with Malcolm Out Loud – Is the government shutdown really about healthcare or relevancy? Christian Briggs will tell us how long this goes on for… and Trump's reaction to China's policy change on Rare Earths. Brandon Weichert talks peace in Middle East… bringing Arabs and Muslims together for Israeli peace deal? Nate Cain on Weaponization - James Comey, Adam Schiff, Letitia James… The media cries foul...

Viewpoint This Sunday with Malcolm Out Loud – Is the government shutdown really about healthcare or relevancy? Christian Briggs will tell us how long this goes on for… and Trump's reaction to China's policy change on Rare Earths. Brandon Weichert talks peace in Middle East… bringing Arabs and Muslims together for Israeli peace deal? Nate Cain on Weaponization - James Comey, Adam Schiff, Letitia James… The media cries foul...

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, as he dives into today's top stories shaping America and the world. In this special edition of The Wright Report, Bryan delivers a breaking update on peace in the Middle East — as Israel and Hamas accept President Trump's peace plan. From the release of hostages to a new path toward Arab-Israeli reconciliation, today's report covers the facts, intelligence insights, and listener questions on what this historic moment means for the world.   Trump Announces Peace Deal Between Israel and Hamas: President Trump revealed that Israel and Hamas have both signed on to Phase One of his 20-point peace plan, with help from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. “This means that all of the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their troops to an agreed-upon line as the first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace,” he said. The agreement includes a ceasefire, the release of approximately 20 surviving hostages, and Israel's withdrawal to key defensive lines.   Prisoner Exchange and Humanitarian Aid: Israel will release about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners within 48 hours while Hamas returns the living hostages. The bodies of 28 murdered captives, including two Thai citizens, remain withheld. In exchange for disarmament and the entry of humanitarian aid, Gaza will move toward a transitional governance phase under international oversight.   The Road Ahead — Hamas Must Go: Phase Two of the plan requires Hamas to disarm and give up control of Gaza. Trump's decision to pledge U.S. military defense to Qatar — a key Hamas ally — may have been part of a broader deal to pressure the group's leadership and expand the Abraham Accords. “We gave them something massive so Trump could get something massive in return,” Bryan explains.   Listener Q&A on the Peace Process: Bryan answers listener questions about why hostages are being released slowly, why Hamas might accept defeat, and why this peace effort may succeed where others failed. He describes a Middle East transformed: Iran weakened, Hezbollah diminished, Syria and Lebanon reshaped, and Gulf nations eager for modernization.   Intelligence Services at Work: Mossad, the CIA, MI6, and Arab agencies are already recruiting informants and installing surveillance systems to stabilize Gaza. Bryan explains how spies will penetrate interim governments, military forces, and communication networks as Gaza transitions to a monitored peace.   Challenges Ahead — Extremism on Both Sides: Bryan warns that both Palestinian and Israeli extremists could attempt to sabotage the deal, but Trump's leverage with Arab governments makes large-scale rebellion unlikely.   What It Means for America: A lasting peace could allow U.S. forces to withdraw from the Middle East, focus on China and Latin America, and enable the deportation of radicalized Palestinians and Islamists from the U.S. and Europe. “If this holds,” Bryan says, “it's good for Israel, good for Arabs, and good for us. Bravo, Mr. President.”   "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32     Keywords: Trump Israel Hamas peace plan, Middle East peace hostages release, Gaza ceasefire international oversight, Hamas disarmament phase two, Qatar defense pledge Trump, Abraham Accords expansion, Mossad CIA MI6 Gaza intelligence, Palestinian prisoners exchange, Biden foreign policy contrast, Gaza transitional governance, Arab Stabilization Force, U.S. withdrawal Middle East focus China, deportation of radicals Europe U.S.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, AJC hosted a conversation with Jason Greenblatt, a key architect of the Abraham Accords, and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro. They discussed the challenges threatening regional stability, from unilateral moves on Palestinian statehood to political pressures within Israel, and underscored what's at stake—and what it will take—to expand the Abraham Accords and advance peace. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC.  Episode lineup: Dan Shapiro (1:00) Jason Greenblatt (18:05) Full transcript: https://www.ajc.org/news/podcast/accords-of-tomorrow-architects-of-peace-episode-5 Resources: AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace - Tune in weekly for new episodes. AJC.org/AbrahamAccords - The Abraham Accords, Explained AJC.org/CNME - Find more on AJC's Center for a New Middle East Listen – AJC Podcasts: AJC.org/ForgottenExodus AJC.org/PeopleofthePod Follow Architects of Peace on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace You can reach us at: podcasts@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript: Manya Brachear Pashman: In September 2020, the world saw what had been years – decades – in the making: landmark peace agreements dubbed the Abraham Accords – normalizing relations between Israel and two Arabian Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Later, in December, they were joined by the Kingdom of Morocco. Five years later, AJC is pulling back the curtain to meet key individuals who built the trust that led to these breakthroughs and turning the spotlight on some of the results. Introducing the Architects of Peace. On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, American Jewish Committee hosted conversations with former Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, a key architect of the Abraham Accords, and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro:. Both diplomats discussed the dangers threatening peace in the region, including some countries' unilateral calls for Palestinian statehood. They shared what's at stake and what it will take to expand the Abraham Accords and make progress toward peace in the region. We're including those conversations as part of our series.  AJC's Chief Strategy and Communications Officer Belle Yoeli starts us off with Ambassador Shapiro. Belle Yoeli:  Ambassador Shapiro, thank you so much for being with us. We're going to speak primarily about unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, but I, of course, want to ask you a couple of questions, because you have so much to share with us before we dive in.  First and foremost, as we've said, It's been almost two years, and at AJC, we're all about optimism and playing the long game, as you know, but it does feel like the challenges for the Jewish community and the state of Israel continue to build. And of course, the war looms very large. What is your analysis of the geopolitical horizon for the war in Gaza. Dan Shapiro:  First, thanks for having me. Thank you to American Jewish Committee and to Ted and everybody for all you do. Thank you, Ruby [Chen], and the families, for the fellowship that we can share with you in this goal. I'll just say it very simply, this war needs to end. The hostages need to come home. Hamas needs to be removed from power. And aid needs to surge into Gaza and move forward with a reconstruction of Gaza for Palestinians who prepare to live in peace with Israel. This is something that is overdue and needs to happen. I think there have been a number of missed opportunities along the way. I don't say this in a partisan way. I think President Trump has missed opportunities at the end of the first ceasefire, when the first ceasefire was allowed to expire after the Iran strike, something I strongly supported and felt was exactly the right thing to do. There was an opening to create a narrative to end the war. I think there have been other missed opportunities. And I don't say in a partisan way, because the administration I served in, the Biden administration, we made mistakes and we missed opportunities. So it can be shared. that responsibility.  But what I do think is that there is a new opportunity right now, and we saw it in President Trump's meeting with Arab leaders. It's going to take very significant, deft, and sustained diplomatic effort. He's got a good team, and they need to do the follow through now to hold the Arabs to their commitments on ensuring Hamas is removed from power, on ensuring that there's a security arrangement in Gaza that does not leave Israel vulnerable to any possibility of a renewal of hostilities against it. And of course, to get the hostages released. That's pressure on the Arabs. And of course, he's got a meeting coming up with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and I do think he's going to need to lean on Prime Minister Netanyahu to overcome the resistance that he has to deal with in his cabinet, from those who want to continue the war or who those who rule out any role of any kind for the Palestinian Authority in something that will follow in the day after in Gaza.  So there is a real opportunity here. Once the war is over, then we have an opportunity to get back on the road that we were on. Two years ago at this UN General Assembly, I was serving as the Biden administration's Senior Advisor on regional integration, the first State Department position to hold that, trying to follow through on the excellent work that Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner and, of course, President Trump did in the first term in achieving the Abraham Accords. And we were building out the Negev Forum. And in fact, at that UNGA meeting, we had planned the next ministerial meeting of the Negev Forum. It was to take place October 19 in Marrakesh. Obviously, no one ever heard about that summit. It didn't happen. But getting back on the road to strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords, to getting Saudi Arabia to the table as a country that will normalize relations with Israel, to expanding regional forums like the Negev Forum. Those are all still within reach, but none of them are possible until the war ends, till the hostages are home, till Hamas is removed from power.  Belle Yoeli:  Absolutely. And we look forward to talking more about the day after, in our next segment, in a segment coming up. Ambassador, you just got back from Israel. Can you tell us about your experience, the mood, what's the climate like in Israel? And any insights from your meetings and time that you think should be top of mind for us? Dan Shapiro:  I think what was top of mind for almost every Israeli I spoke to was the hostages. I spent time in the hostage square in Tel Aviv, spent time with Ruby, spent time with other hostage families, and everywhere you go as everybody who spin their nose, you see the signs, you hear the anxiety. And it's getting deeper because of the time that people are worried is slipping away for, especially for those who are still alive, but for all of those hostages to be returned to their families, so deep, deep anxiety about it, and candidly, some anger, I think we just heard a little bit of it toward a government that they're not sure shares that as the highest priority. There's a lot of exhaustion. People are tired of multiple rounds of reserve duty, hundreds of days. Families stressed by that as well the concern that this could drag on with the new operation well into next year. It's allowed to continue. It's a lot of worry about Israel's increased isolation, and of course, that's part of the subject. We'll discuss how countries who have been friends of Israel, whether in the region or in Europe or elsewhere, are responding in more and more negative ways, and Israel, and all Israelis, even in their personal lives, are feeling that pinch. But there's also some, I guess, expectant hope that President Trump, who is popular in Israel, of course, will use his influence and his regional standing, which is quite significant, to put these pieces together. Maybe we're seeing that happening this week. And of course, there's some expectant hope, or at least expectant mood, about an election next year, which will bring about some kind of political change in Israel. No one knows exactly what that will look like, but people are getting ready for that. So Israelis are relentlessly forward, looking even in the depths of some degree of anxiety and despair, and so I was able to feel those glimmers as well. Belle Yoeli:  And relentlessly resilient, absolutely resilient. And we know that inspires us. Moving back to the piece on diplomatic isolation and the main piece of our conversation, obviously, at AJC, we've been intensely focused on many of the aspects that are concerning us, in terms of unfair treatment of countries towards Israel, but unilateral recognition of Palestinian state is probably the most concerning issue that we've been dealing with this week, and obviously has gotten a lot of attention in the media. So from your perspective, what is this really all about? Obviously, this, this has been on the table for a while. It's not the first time that countries have threatened to do this, but I think it is the first time we're time we're seeing France and other major countries now pushing this forward in this moment. Is this all about political pressure on Israel? Dan Shapiro:  Well, first, I'll say that I think it's a mistake. I think it's an ill advised set of initiatives by France, by Canada, Australia, UK and others. It will change almost it will change nothing on the ground. And so to that sense, it's a purely rhetorical step that changes nothing, and probably does little, if anything, to advance toward the stated goal of some sort of resolution of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. And in many ways, it may actually set it back in part because of the way it appears to and certainly many Israelis understand it too. And I'm sorry to say, many Arabs understand it to reward Hamas. Hamas is celebrating it as an achievement of October 7, and that October 7 will find its place in the pantheon of the Palestinian Liberation story that should never be allowed to happen. So doing it this way, doing it without conditioning it on the release of hostages, on the disarming and removal of Hamas from Gaza, is a mistake. And of course, it tells Israelis that their very legitimate concerns about obviously the hostages, but also that some future Palestinian state, wherever and whatever form it might take, could become a threat to them from other parts, from parts of the West Bank, as it was from Gaza on October 7. And you cannot get to that goal unless you're willing to engage the Israeli public on those concerns, very legitimate concerns, and address them in a very forthright way.  So I think it's a mistake. I'm sure, to some degree, others have made this observation. It is motivated by some of the domestic political pressures that these leaders feel from their different constituencies, maybe their left, left wing constituencies, some right wing constituencies, and some immigrant constituencies. And so maybe they're responding to that. And I think that's, you know, leaders deal with those types of things. I think sometimes they make bad decisions in dealing with those types of pressures. I think that's the case here, but I it's also the case. I think it's just fair to say that in the absence of any Israeli Government articulated viable day after, plan for Gaza, something we were urged Israel to work with us on all the time. I was serving in the Biden administration, and I think the Trump administration has as well, but it's remained blurry. What does what is that vision of the day after? Not only when does it start, but what does it look like afterwards? And is it something that Arab States and European states can buy into and get behind and and put their influence to work to get Hamas out and to do a rebuild that meets the needs of both Israelis and Palestinians. There hasn't been that. And so that could have been a way of satisfying some of those domestic pressures, but it wasn't really available. And so I think some of the leaders turn to this ill advised move instead. Belle Yoeli:  So perhaps catering to domestic political concerns and wanting to take some sort of moral high ground on keeping peace alive, but beyond that, no real, practical or helpful outcomes, aside from setting back the cause of peace? Dan Shapiro:  I think it has limited practical effects. Fact, I think it does tell Israelis that much of the world has not internalized their legitimate concerns, and that they will be, you know, cautious at best for this. Everybody knows that there are many Israelis who have been long standing supporters of some kind of two state resolution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. And post October 7, they've, they don't still hold that position, or at least they say, if it can happen, it's going to take a long time, it's going to look very different. And I think that actually is some a real practical takeaway, that if we are going to talk about some future establishment of a Palestinian state and some two state arrangement, certainly separation between Israelis and Palestinians, so they don't try to live intermixed in a way that they govern each other. I think that is that is desirable, but it's not necessarily going to look like two state outcomes that were envisioned in the Oslo period, in the 90s and the 2000s it's going to look different. It's going to take longer. And so that is something that I think we have to make sure is understood as people raise this initiative, that their goal is not the goal of 1993 it's going to have to look different, and it's going to have to take longer. Belle Yoeli:  So as more and more countries have sort of joined this, this move that we find to be unhelpful, obviously, a concern that we all have who are engaged in this work is that we've heard response, perhaps, from the Israelis, that there could be potential annexation of the West Bank, and that leads to this sort of very, very, even more concerning scenario that all of the work that you were discussing before, around the Abraham Accords, could freeze, or, perhaps even worse, collapse. What's your analysis on that scenario? How concerned should we be based on everything that you know now and if not that scenario? What else should we be thinking about? Dan Shapiro:  We should be concerned. I was actually in Israel, when the UAE issued their announcement about four weeks ago that annexation in the West Wing could be a red line, and I talked to a very senior UAE official and tried to understand what that means, and they aren't, weren't prepared to or say precisely what it means. It doesn't necessarily mean they're going to break off relations or end the Abraham Accords, but that they would have to respond, and there's a limited range of options for how one could respond, with moving ambassadors or limiting flights or reducing certain kinds of trade or other visits. Nothing good, nothing that would help propel forward the Abraham accords and that particular critical bilateral relationship in a way that we wanted to so I think there's risk. I think if the UAE would take that step, others would probably take similar steps. Egypt and Jordan have suggested there would be steps. So I think there's real risk there, and I think it's something that we should be concerned about, and we should counsel our Israeli friends not to go that route. There are other ways that they may respond. In fact, I think we've already seen the Trump administration, maybe as a proxy, make some kind of moves that try to balance the scales of these unilateral recognitions. But that particular one, with all of the weight that it carries about what how it limits options for future endpoints, I think would be very, very damaging. And I don't think I'm the only one. Just in the last hour and a half or so, President Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, said very publicly that he, I think you said, would not allow Netanyahu to do the Analyze annexation of the West Bank. I think previously, it was said by various people in the administration that it's really an Israeli decision, and that the United States is not going to tell them what to do. And that's perfectly fine as a public position, and maybe privately, you can say very clearly what you think is the right course, he's now said it very publicly. We'll see if he holds to that position. But he said it, and I think given the conversations he was having with Arab leaders earlier this week, given the meeting, he will have his fourth meeting. So it's obviously a very rich relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday, I think it's clear what he believes is necessary to get to the end of this war and not leave us in a worse position for trying to get back on the road to his goals. His goals of expanding the Abraham accords his great achievement from the first term, getting Saudi Arabia to normalize relations, of course, getting hostages released and getting Arabs involved in the reconstruction of Gaza in a way that Gaza can never become the threat it was again on October 7, those are his goals. They'll be well served by the end of the war that I described earlier, and by avoiding this cycle that you're referencing. Belle Yoeli:  Putting aside the issue of unilateral recognition, I think we've seen in our work with our Israeli counterparts, sort of differences in the political establish. Around how important it is in thinking about the day after and seeing movement on the Palestinian issue. And we've seen from some that they perhaps make it out that it's not as important that the Palestinian having movement towards a political path. It's not necessarily a have to be front and center, while others seem to prioritize it. And I think in our work with Arab countries, it's very clear that there does have to be some tangible movement towards the political aspirations for the Palestinian for there to really be any future progress beyond the Abraham accords. What's your take? Dan Shapiro:  My take is that the Arab states have often had a kind of schizophrenic view about the Palestinian issue. It's not always been, maybe rarely been their highest priority. They've certainly had a lot of disagreements with and maybe negative assessments of Palestinian leaders, of course, Hamas, but even Palestinian Authority leaders. And so, you know, it's possible to ask the question, or it has been over time, you know, how high do they prioritize? It? Certainly those countries that stepped forward to join the Abraham accords said they were not going to let that issue prevent them from advancing their own interests by establishing these productive bilateral relations with Israel, having said that there's no question that Arab publics have been deeply, deeply affected by the war in Gaza, by the coverage they see they unfortunately, know very little about what happened on October 7, and they know a lot about Israeli strikes in Gaza, civilian casualties, humanitarian aid challenges, and so that affects public moods. Even in non democratic countries, leaders are attentive to the views of their publics, and so I think this is important to them. And every conversation that I took part in, and I know my colleagues in the Biden administration with Arab states about those day after arrangements that we wanted them to participate in, Arab security forces, trainers of Palestinian civil servants, reconstruction funding and so forth. They made very clear there were two things they were looking for. They were looking for a role for the Palestinian Authority, certainly with room to negotiate exactly what that role would be, but some foothold for the Palestinian Authority and improving and reforming Palestinian Authority, but to have them be connected to that day after arrangement in Gaza and a declared goal of some kind of Palestinian state in the future.  I think there was a lot of room in my experience, and I think it's probably still the case for flexibility on the timing, on the dimensions, on some of the characteristics of that outcome. And I think a lot of realism among some of these Arab leaders that we're not talking about tomorrow, and we're not talking about something that might have been imagined 20 or 30 years ago, but they still hold very clearly to those two positions as essentially conditions for their involvement in getting to getting this in. So I think we have to take it seriously. It sounds like President Trump heard that in his meeting with the Arab leaders on Tuesday. It sounds like he's taking it very seriously. Belle Yoeli:  I could ask many more questions, but I would get in trouble, and you've given us a lot to think about in a very short amount of time. Ambassador Shapiro, thank you so much for being with us. Dan Shapiro:  Thank you. Thank you everybody.  Manya Brachear Pashman: As you heard, Ambassador Shapiro served under President Obama. Now AJC's Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson speaks with Jason Greenblatt, who served under President Trump. But don't expect a counterpoint. Despite their political differences, these two men see eye to eye on quite a bit. Jason Isaacson: Jason first, thank you for the Abraham Accords. The work that you did changed the history of the Middle East. We are so full of admiration for the work of you and your team. Jared Kushner. Of course, President Trump, in changing the realities for Israel's relationship across the region and opening the door to the full integration of Israel across the region.  It's an unfinished work, but the work that you pioneered with the President, with Jared, with the whole team, has changed the perspective that Israel can now enjoy as it looks beyond the immediate borders, Jordan and Egypt, which has had relations with a quarter a century or more, to full integration in the region. And it's thanks to you that we actually are at this point today, even with all the challenges. So first, let me just begin this conversation by just thanking you for what you've done.  Jason Greenblatt: Thank you. Thank you, and Shana Tova to everybody, thank you for all that you do. Jason Isaacson: Thank you. So you were intimately involved in negotiations to reach normalization agreements between Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco, the Kingdom of Bahrain, of course, the United Arab Emirates. Can you take us behind the scenes of these negotiations? At what point during the first term of President Trump did this become a priority for the administration, and when did it seem that it might actually be a real possibility? Jason Greenblatt: So I have the benefit, of course, of looking backward, right? We didn't start out to create the Abraham Accords. We started out to create peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which, as Dan knows, and so many people here know, including you Jason, seems to be an impossible task. But I would say that if I follow the breadcrumbs, my first meeting with Yousef Al Otaiba was a lunch, where it was the first time I actually ever met an Emirati, the first time I understood the psychology of the Emiratis. And others. I realized that the world had changed tremendously.  Everything that you heard about anti-Israel wasn't part of the conversation. I'll go so far as to say, when I went to the Arab League Summit that took place in Jordan in March of 2017 where I met every foreign minister. And I'm not going to tell you that I loved many of those meetings, or 85% of the conversation, where it wasn't exactly excited about Israel and what Israel stood for. There were so many things in those conversations that were said that gave me hope.  So it was multiple years of being in the White House and constantly trying to work toward that. But I want to go backwards for a second, and you touched on this in your speech, there are many parents and grandparents of the Abraham Accords, and AJC is one of those parents or grandparents. There are many people who work behind the scenes, Israeli diplomats and so many others. And I'm sure the Kingdom of Morocco, where the architecture was built for something like the Abraham Accords, everybody wanted regional peace and talked about Middle East peace. But we were fortunate, unfortunately for the Palestinians who left the table, which was a big mistake, I think, on their part, we're very fortunate to take all of that energy and all of that hard work and through a unique president, President Trump, actually create that architecture.  On a sad note, I wouldn't say that when I left the White House, I thought I'd be sitting here thinking, you know, five years out, I thought there'd be lots of countries that would already have signed and all the trips that I take to the Middle East, I thought would be much. Now they're easy for me, but we're in a very, very different place right now. I don't think I ever would have envisioned that. Jason Isaacson: Thank you. The administration has talked a great deal about expanding the Abraham Accords, of course, and as have we. Indeed, at an AJC program that we had in Washington in February with Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, he talked publicly for the first time about Lebanon and Syria joining the Accords. Obviously, with both of those countries, their new political situation presents new possibilities.  However, the ongoing war in Gaza, as we've been discussing with Ambassador Shapiro, and Israel's actions, including most recently striking Hamas in Doha, have further isolated Israel in the region and made an expansion of the accords harder to envision. At least, that's the way it seems. Given the current situation in the Middle East. Do you think the Trump administration can be successful in trying to broker new agreements, or do the current politics render that impossible in the short term? How hopeful are you? Jason Greenblatt: So I remain hopeful. First of all, I think that President Trump is a unique president because he's extremely close to the Israeli side, and he's very close to the Arab side. And he happens to have grandchildren who are both, right. I think, despite this terrible time that we're facing, despite hostage families, I mean, the terrible things that they have to live through and their loved ones are living it through right now, I still have hope. There's no conversation that I have in the Arab world that still doesn't want to see how those Abraham Accords can be expanded. Dan, you mentioned the Arab media. It's true, the Arab world has completely lost it when it comes to Israel, they don't see what I see, what I'm sure all of you see.  I'm no fan of Al Jazeera, but I will say that there are newspapers that I write for, like Arab News. And when I leave the breakfast room in a hotel in Riyadh and I look at the headlines of, not Al Jazeera, but even Arab News, I would say, Wow, what these people are listening to and reading, what they must think of us. And we're seeing it now play out on the world stage. But despite all that, and I take my kids to the Middle East all the time, we have dear friends in all of those countries, including very high level people. I've gotten some great Shana Tovas from very high level people. They want the future that was created by the Abraham Accords. How we get there at this particular moment is a big question mark. Jason Isaacson: So we touched on this a little bit in the earlier conversation with Dan Shapiro:. Your team during the first Trump administration was able to defer an Israeli proposal to annex a portion of the West Bank, thanks to obviously, the oped written by Ambassador Al Otaiba, and the very clear position that that government took, that Israel basically had a choice, normalization with the UAE or annexation. Once again, there is discussion now in Israel about annexation. Now the President, as Ambassador Shapiro just said, made a very dramatic statement just a couple of hours ago. How do you see this playing out? Do you think that annexation is really off the table now? And if it were not off the table, would it prevent the continuation of the agreements that were reached in 2020 and the expansion of those agreements to a wider integration of Israel in the region? Jason Greenblatt: To answer that, I think for those of you who are in the room, who don't know me well, you should understand my answer is coming from somebody who is on the right of politics, both in Israel and here. In fact, some of my Palestinian friends would say that sometimes I was Bibi's mouthpiece. But I agree with President Trump and what he said earlier today that Dan had pointed out, I don't think this is the time. I don't think it's the place. And I was part of the team that wrote the paperwork that would have allowed Israel to . . . you use the word annexation. I'll say, apply Israeli sovereignty. You'll use the word West Bank, I'll use Judea, Samaria.  Whatever the label is, it really doesn't matter. I don't think this is the time to do it. I think Israel has so many challenges right now, militarily, hostages, there's a million things going on, and the world has turned against Israel. I don't agree with those that are pushing Bibi. I don't know if it's Bibi himself, but I hope that Bibi could figure out a way to get out of that political space that he's in. And I think President Trump is making the right call. Jason Isaacson: So, I was speaking with Emirati diplomats a couple of days ago, who were giving me the sense that Israel hasn't gotten the message that the Palestinian issue is really important to Arab leaders. And we talked about this with Ambassador Shapiro earlier, that it's not just a rhetorical position adopted by Arab leaders. It actually is the genuine view of these Arab governments. Is that your sense as well that there needs to be something on the Palestinian front in order to advance the Abraham Accords, beyond the countries that we've established five years ago? Jason Greenblatt: You know, when I listened to Dan speak, and I told him this after his remarks, I'm always reminded that even though we disagree around the edges on certain things, if you did a Venn diagram, there would be a lot of overlap. I agree with how he sees the world. But I want to take it even back to when I was in the White House.  There are many times people said, Oh, the Arabs don't care about the Palestinians. They don't care. We could just do whatever we want. It's not true. They may care more about their own countries, right? They all have their visions, and it's important to them to advance their own visions. The Palestinian cause may not have been as important, but there is no way that they were going to abandon the Palestinians back then, and I don't think the UAE or the Kingdom of Morocco or others having entered into the Abraham Accords, abandoned the Palestinians. I think that was the wrong way to look at it, but they are certainly not going to abandon the Palestinians now. And I think that how Dan described it, which is there has to be some sort of game plan going forward. Whether you want to call it a state, which, I don't like that word, but we can't continue to live like this. I'm a grandfather now of three. I don't want my grandchildren fighting this fight. I really don't. Is there a solution?  Okay, there's a lot of space between what I said and reality, and I recognize that, but it's incumbent on all of us to keep trying to figure out, is there that solution? And it's going to include the Palestinians. I just want to close my answer with one thing that might seem odd to everybody. I'm not prone to quoting Saeb Erekat, who I disagreed with, the late Saeb Erekat, who I disagreed with just about on everything, but he used to tell me, Jason, the answer isn't in the Koran, it's not in the Torah, it's not in the Christian Bible, and the Israelis and the Palestinians are not leaving the space. So let's figure out a solution that we could all live with. So that's how I see it. Jason Isaacson: Thank you for that. One last question. I also heard in another conversation with other em righty diplomats the other day that the conflict isn't between Arabs and Israelis or Arabs and Jews, it's between moderates and extremists, and that the UAE is on the side of the moderates, and Morocco is on the side of the moderates, and the Kingdom of Bahrain is on the side of the moderates, and Israel is on the side of the moderates. And that's what we have to keep in our minds.   But let me also ask you something that we've been saying for 30 years across the region, which is, if you believe in the Palestinian cause, believe in rights for the Palestinians, you will advance that cause by engaging Israel, not by isolating Israel. Is that also part of the argument that your administration used five years ago? Jason Greenblatt: 100%. I think, I mean, I kept pushing for it and eventually they did it, for the Israelis and the Arabs to engage directly. Yes, the US plays a role, and they could play a moderating role. They could play somewhat of a coercive role. Nobody's going to force the Israelis, or frankly, even the Palestinians, to do anything they don't want to do, but getting them in the room so there are no missed signals, no missed expectations, I think, is the key part of this solution. I'm still hopeful, just to go back to your prior question, that they could get the right people in the room and somebody like President Trump, together with Emirati diplomats, Moroccan diplomats and others. They could talk rationally, and sanely, and appropriately, and we'll get somewhere good. Jason Isaacson: Ok, look ahead. We just marked the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords. Will there be a 10th Anniversary of the Abraham Accords, and will it look the same that it is now? Jason Greenblatt: No, I think it's going to be better. Yes, I think there's going to be a 10th Anniversary. I think there will be challenges. But maybe the best way I could answer this is, when the, I'll call it, the beeper incident in Lebanon happened. Okay, quite, quite a feat. I was in a conference room at a client of mine in the Middle East. Most of the room was filled with Lebanese Arabs, Christians and Muslims and some Druze. And it was unusual for everybody's phone to buzz at once, because I'm usually following the Israeli and American news. They're following Arab news. All the phones buzz. So somebody stopped talking, and we all picked up our phone to look at it. And I'm looking at the headlines thinking, oh, boy, am I in the wrong room, right?  And after a minute or so of people kind of catching their breath, understanding what happened, two or three of them said, wow, Jason. Like, that's incredible. Like, you know, I wasn't in the White House anymore, but they also want a different future, right? They are sick and tired of Lebanon being a failed state. Their kids are like my kids, and they're just . . . they're everything that they're building is for a different future, and I see that time and time again. So to go back to the UAE diplomats comment, which I hear all the time as well. It really is a fight of moderates against extremists. The extremists are loud and they're very bad. We know that, but we are so much better. So working together, I think we're going to get to somewhere great. Jason Isaacson: Very good. Okay. Final question. You can applaud, it's okay. Thank you for that. Out of the Abraham Accords have grown some regional cooperation agreements. I too, you too, IMEC, the India, Middle East, Europe, Economic corridor. Do you see that also, as part of the future, the creation of these other regional agreements, perhaps bringing in Japan and Korea and and other parts of the world into kind of expanding the Abraham Accords? In ways that are beneficial to many countries and also, at the same time, deepening the notion of Israelis, Israel's integration in the region. Jason Greenblatt: 100% and I know I think AJC has been very active on the IMEC front. People used to say, Oh, this is not an economic peace. It isn't an economic peace, but nor is economics not a very important part of peace. So all of these agreements, I encourage you to keep working toward them, because they will be needed. In fact, one of the fights that I used to have with Saeb Erekat and President Abbas all the time is, I know you're not an economic issue, but let's say we manage to make peace. What's going to happen the next day? You need an economic plan. Let's work on the economic plan. So whether it's IMEC or something else, just keep working at it. Go, you know, ignore the bad noise. The bad noise is here for a little while, unfortunately, but there will be a day after, and those economic agreements are what's going to be the glue that propels it forward. Jason Isaacson: Jason Greenblatt, really an honor to be with you again. Thank you.  Manya Brachear Pashman: In our next episode of the series, we will explore more of the opportunities and challenges presented by the Abraham Accords and who might be the next country to sign the landmark peace agreement.  Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jason Isaacson, Sean Savage, and the entire AJC team for making this series possible.  You can subscribe to Architects of Peace on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/ArchitectsofPeace. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. You can reach us at podcasts@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us. Music Credits: Middle East : ID: 279780040; Composer: Eric Sutherland Inspired Middle East: ID: 241884108; Composer: iCENTURY Mystical Middle East: ID: 212471911; Composer: Vicher

On the September 15 edition of the podcast, @BenStein leads @JudahFriedman and @TheRoffDraft through a discussion of the Emmys, the war in Ukraine, the salacious charges that continued to be leveled against former President Richard Nixon, and a potpourri of items the likes of which can only be found on #TheWorldAccordingToBenStein.