Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me.
The carriage held but just ourselves, and immortality, and
immortality we slowly drove. He knew no haste.
And I I had put away my labor and my leisure too, for his
civility. For his civility, we passed a
school where children played their lessons scarcely done.
We passed through fields of gazing green.
We passed the setting sun. We passed and the setting sun.
This is Michael Moore. This is my podcast.
The song was Natalie Merchant along with Susan McEwan and the
Chanting House singing singing their riff on the Emily
Dickinson poem. Because I could not stop for
death, he kindly stopped for me. Sort of a mournful, soulful tune
to play today, appropriate for what we're going to do on this
episode of my podcast. For now, over three weeks, I,
like many of you, have felt deep despair.
I felt it actually for much longer than these three weeks.
I first visited Gaza almost 3039 years ago.
That's how long this little strip of land 3 to 5 miles wide,
about 25 miles long. One of the most God awful sights
imaginable. And when I first saw it, I never
recovered from it. 39 years ago this has been with me and I went
back to Gaza. I wasn't prepared for what I saw
and it's been like this now for for me at least for what?
Almost 4 decades of being a witness and lucky me.
All I have to do is suffer through what I observe and see
and experience. But I don't have to be
Palestinian and to wake up all these years later in the morning
of October 7th and to learn that there are over 1400 dead,
slaughtered Jewish brothers and sisters in the streets, in their
homes. I want to live in a world where
we don't slaughter anybody, where we don't harm or take
hostages or put anybody in an outdoor prison for 17 years.
I don't want to live in that kind of world.
But I'm alive. I'm alive and I'm a witness and
I'm a citizen of this, of this world.
And I just can't turn away. I can't ignore what's going on.
And you've heard me, Those of you who've been fans of mine for
a long time say that that I will not stand for anti-Semitism.
I will not stand for any kind of bigotry or racism.
I will not stand for anybody who wants to harm the Jews of this
world. And I've talked in the past
about what I've done throughout my life since I was a teenager,
to stand up against the haters, to stand up and say with other
non Jews, with Gentiles that we will never let what happened in
the 20th century ever happened again.
Never again, never again. But that promise that pledge if
you're Jewish and. You hear a non Jew like me say,
I will never let this happen to you again.
I will stand. I will have your back.
I will not allow harm to you if you don't also hear me say that.
I also will not let that happen to any Palestinian brother or
sister of mine on this planet. If I can't say that also, then I
have no credibility. When you hear me say that I will
stand for you. You shouldn't believe me, in
fact. If I can't also say that I will
not let harm come to the Palestinian people, that I will
stop this madness, I will stop this treatment, I will stop this
apartheid, I will stop this, I will do whatever I can.
I will not let my government send weapons, send billions of
dollars to fund a sad, disgusting, disastrous
situation. And I've had many talks with
many Jewish friends, family members.
My niece had her bat mitzvah at Masada.
You know the Cliff there in Israel, the Holy Land, where
Jews were forced to jump. Many, many, many, many, many
hundreds of years ago because they would not take being slaves
being subservient to the masters of that time and lost their
lives as a result of it. This is where she she didn't
ever bought mitzvah at the at the wall.
Western Wall shit at Masada. So, you know, I don't normally
take the time today to talk to you about all this because I'm,
I have a lot to say and I will, I will say it here in the next
days and weeks to come. It's taking me this long just to
wrap my head around it, just to get over some of the grief so I
could think clearly and say the things I want to say in the
coming weeks here. And when I say weeks, we don't
really have any time because. Because they're they're being
slaughtered, children are being killed, There's a carpet bombing
going on. There's no such thing as they're
targeting Hamas. I mean, I know I don't have to
tell any of you this. You're smart enough to know the
BS, but especially for these last few nights, you know, now
some cameras have gotten in there.
They wouldn't let any in at the beginning because they had shut
down, cancelled. They got rid of all the
communication towers and. Internet.
So we didn't see anything these past few days, but now we're
seeing the images of neighborhood after neighborhood
after neighborhood, miles upon miles leveled.
Just buildings leveled. Rubble.
Nothing but rubble. God knows how many people are
under that rubble. And you could never say to me.
You could never justify that to me.
Oh, well, so and so who lived in that neighborhood, did this
awful thing. And so we're going to go kill a
bunch of their people. We won't last as a world, as a
planet, as humanity, if that's how we that's how we think and
vengeance, Vengeance will be the death of all of us.
After 911, nobody could think straight in this country.
And so right away it was like, let's invade, let's invade,
let's invade Afghanistan, let's invade Iraq.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.
Didn't matter. Let's go kill.
But we kill 300, about 3. The estimate is about 300,000
Iraqi civilians. That's who we are.
But, you know, listen, we're the pros at genocide.
So this goes back a long way. N Americans and the people that
first settled here, the Spanish and the Portuguese and the the
British. We're really good at genocide.
And we've been copied by the masters.
There's this. I'm sure you've read or heard,
you know this, this incredible, awful story of how Hitler, when
he was elected in 193233, sent a couple of academics to the US to
study how the US gets away with putting their people of color in
the parts of town, the ghettos. How do they create the ghettos
and how do they, how do they make sure that they have no
power? They actually studied this.
In the night the Germans did 19. The 1930s.
Well, I have a lot more to say about all this, but I thought on
this first episode of us talking about this, this horrific
slaughter going on, that I would, I would let the people of
Israel, our Jewish neighbors, our brothers and sisters, and
our Muslim and Palestinian. Brothers and sisters have the
microphone here, so I'm part one in today's podcast, My team
here, my Rumble, my podcast team went down to a mass
demonstration at the rush hour on Friday afternoon where a few
thousand New York City Jewish men, women, children took over
Grand Central Station and shut it down in a mass act of civil
disobedience. We joined them so we could give
the microphone to them so we could hear what they had to say.
That's what you're going to hear on today's episode of my
podcast. It'll be a series of people to
talk about why they belong to the Jewish Voice for Peace.
JVP and I personally joined Jewish Voice for Peace myself.
These are people demanding an end to the Israeli slaughter, an
end to they're asking for a ceasefire, both sides ceasefire,
release of the hostages, stop the killing.
And as Jews they wore these T-shirts that said not in my
name, be over and over, they told us on Friday night.
I don't want a single Palestinian hurt in my name.
As a Jew, I will not stand for this.
Over and over. This is what we heard is very
powerful and police at first didn't quite know what to do or
how to take care of this because it was they had shut down Grand
Central Station, which is, you know, no, no easy feat here.
So I'm going to turn it over to them.
You'll hear some of the chanting and some of the singing also
that was going on. And because this is an audio
podcast, I don't have subtitles to put up there for you.
So you can, you know, hear them. But I'll just.
I'll tell you some of the the chance I think you'll be able to
understand Most of them, they're chanting.
Not in our name. Raising our voices higher and
higher. No war.
Call for a ceasefire.
Ceasefire. Now your people are my people.
Your people are mine. These are Jews.
Chanting this to the Palestinians of this world, and
especially in Gaza, where you go, I will go.
Palestine, where you go, I will go.
Never again for anyone, never again is now.
So you'll hear all this, and then you'll hear some of the
little brief interviews we did. I really want to thank the only
two executive producers that this podcast has had and it's
what will be almost it'll be 4 years old.
Here this podcast in in December.
The Co founder of this with me was Basil Hamden and was he was
executive producer of IT for the 1st 2 1/2 years and then for the
last year and a half Angie Vargos has been.
The executive producer, Basil is a Palestinian American and Angie
is originally from Illinois. So I'm not, it's not a false
equivalency or anything. I'm just just letting you know
who they are. Two great people I've been able
to work with and a real privilege and an honor.
So my thanks to them for that. You'll hear their voices doing a
little bit of this interviewing and talking to people there in
Grand Central. Basil and Angie, So and then
Part 2 of this in a few days will air because the very next
day, on Saturday of this weekend, we went to Brooklyn.
And again, Angie and Basil marched with the Palestinian
demonstration for peace and talked to Palestinians and
Palestinian allies, which was one of the amazing things of
this massive March and demonstration on Saturday.
Is how many people came out to support Palestinians.
All kinds of people. All ethnicities, races,
religions, colors, old and young.
It's very powerful. So I'll play that for you in a
couple of days on Part 2 of this.
I think before we get going I gotta, I wanna thank a couple of
my underwriters here and then a couple more, I'll think at the
end of the of the podcast. This episode is brought to you
by Better help. Our human brains are
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And now let's turn the microphone over to Jewish Voice
for Peace. Live from Semi.
Live from Grand Central Station on Friday night at rush hour,
one of the most powerful demonstrations I've ever seen in
New York City. So many people and so many
Jewish voices demanding an end to all of this.
It's very powerful. I'll ask you what.
Brings you here today. I'm Jewish and I'm a Holocaust
survivor. And I'm totally.
Against what Israel does. My name is Doctor Steve
Auerbach. I am Jewish.
I am a pediatrician and I'm calling for ceasefire now not in
my name. The horrific attacks by Hamas
were indeed horrific. But history did not begin on
October 7th. The mass retaliation by Israel
against civilians is itself also a war crime, and as a
pediatrician, I am saddened and despondent at the deaths of
children and their families in Gaza, in Palestine, in Israel.
I've never been prouder of my completely mainstream New York
State chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which
came out with a statement on October 13th calling for a
ceasefire on behalf of the children of Israel and Gaza and
Palestine. I I am shocked, disappointed.
I don't know what the right word is that calling for a ceasefire.
While thousands of civilians are being killed, is somehow
considered an extremist position.
Calling for a ceasefire in the midst of mass bombings of
civilian areas is and should be a normative, mainstream view.
I call on President Biden. I call on Senator Schumer,
Majority Leader in the Senate. I call on my own congressperson,
a Nadler who considers himself the senior Jewish representative
in the House. I call on them to stand up for
actual Jewish values, a ceasefire, no more killing of
children and moving towards an honest, negotiated settlement.
The right wing government in Israel has had no interest in A2
State Solution. That's why they spent the last
10 years propping up a mosque. Neither of those two parties has
in any interest in A2 State Solution and we just get these
endless cycles of violence. The United States can use its
authority and power where it has leverage, principally with
Israel, to insist, insist on a ceasefire now and real movement
to a just internationally recognized two state solution,
borders. And on behalf of the children
and families of Israel and of Palestine.
I I send you my love. I send you my care as a
pediatrician, as a Jew, as a father.
You mentioned it shouldn't be controversial to want to
ceasefire, but are you heartened to see that the first polls that
have come out show that the majority of Americans actually
do want to ceasefire and the majority of Americans don't
want? The United States sending more
weapons to Israel, does that hearten you at all?
It heartens me to the extent that we can believe the polls.
It heartens me that people are seeing what's going on with
their own two eyes on the screens.
And please take care of yourselves.
Watching these videos over and over again is also harmful.
I was the first responder with 911 and watching horrific videos
over and over again is is is not good for your own health.
But having seen that, please stand for a ceasefire.
The brave 18 or so Congress persons who supported the
ceasefire now including Jamal Bowman, who I work for,
including Velasquez, including AOC in the New York City area.
Bravo to them. But again, yeah, you know,
Israel bombed the heck out of Gaza roughly 10 years ago, then
spent the next 10 years propping up Hamas because neither party's
interested in an actual solution.
And here we are bombing again. So clearly bombing is not the
solution. Clearly more civilian deaths is
not the solution. And again, as a pediatrician,
all I can do really is hold up the value as a Jew that all
lives matter, as a Jew and a pediatrician that all children
lives matter and their families and that, you know, these mass
bombings semi discriminate, I guess at best you could call
them is simply unacceptable. And that's why we call for a
ceasefire now. Are you here to take a train
skits? Are you here to take a train
today? I am, yes.
I like to say that I believe that this is a volatile
situation and I don't think anybody here wants to add to the
bloodshed or they are are are the sorrow.
That is on both sides. That is fueling the anger.
And I believe that this is a dangerous situation and it's
not, it's not the way to address it.
I would like to say that to the crowd, if it were possible.
And without permission, I am honoring you to leave these
premises now. If you refuse to leave, you will
be arrested and charged with trespassing.
Just. Curious.
Can I just ask you why you're here and willing to get
arrested? Do you mind?
I guess I'm here because I just feel like I can't sit by and
watch ethnic cleansing and genocide happening in my name.
I just can't watch it. Are you Jewish?
I am, yeah. And you're willing to be
arrested for that today? I'm willing to be arrested for
that as much as it takes. I just we can't allow this to
happen and. Have the world sit silently and
just watch it as if Palestinian lives don't matter.
They do matter. I'm married to a Palestinian and
my family is Palestinian. And I'm.
Here, so my children can live in freedom and dignity and all
Palestinians can live in freedom and dignity in their homeland.
And today you're willing to be arrested for that cause?
Hell yeah, never again. My name is Jay Sabre and I'm
here with Jewish Voice for Peace.
Thousands of Jewish New Yorkers reverberated our voices here in
Grand Central Station in New York City calling for a
ceasefire. Right now, hundreds of arrests
are being made as a people. Who have survived A genocide.
We know that we have to do everything we can to put our
bodies on the line to try to stop a genocide from unfolding
in real time against the Palestinians of Gaza.
Have you been heartened to see, despite some very tough media
coverage, that in the first round of polling the majority of
Americans actually do want to ceasefire?
I mean, at first it felt like. We're on the defensive.
Everyone is against us, everyone who wants peace, that the media
is rushing to war again. But it seems like there's
actually a groundswell of support in favor of a ceasefire.
Is that what you're sensing or are you seeing that?
Are you feeling that? Yeah, well, this evening you got
to feel the resounding collective dissent of us raising
our voices saying we need a ceasefire.
We were just in Washington DC last Wednesday where hundreds
got arrested in Congress. Calling for a ceasefire as well.
We know that the public wants a ceasefire, does not want the US
to send more money and more weapons to Israel, but instead
call for an immediate ceasefire. Some of your Jewish brethren,
it's the term that gets used all the time will say self hating
Jew. Look at what these animals did
to us on October 7th. You're taking their side.
How could you do that? What do you say when you hear
something? Like that we understand that
everybody is grieving in this moment and we refuse to allow
our own pain and trauma to be used to justify further acts of
violence against another people. We are raising our voices to say
not in our name. The hundreds who are getting
arrested are wearing T-shirts right now that say Not in our
Name. Because we believe that our
safety can never come at the expense of the safety of another
community. We are proudly Jews who believe
that our tradition compels us to take action for justice, to
honor life as sacred. And so we had rabbis here
getting arrested with us, who are deeply rooted proudly in our
Jewish tradition, which tells us to take action, to save life, to
speak up. Right now to try to stop the
bombing of Gaza and also to challenge the US government,
which sends $3.8 billion every year in military funding to
Israel. We know that that US complicity
and moral cover has allowed Israel to carry out not only
this latest act of violence, but 75 years of occupation
apartheid. Which are the root of the
violence that we have to address.
For people who are listening, that want to do something, say
something, take part in this, where should they go and what
can they do? So right now, everyone is needed
to raise your voice to call for a ceasefire.
You can call your members of Congress and demand that they
support the ceasefire. Now resolution you can take to
the streets. To support demonstrations that
are right now, helping to build the international outcry that is
necessary to bring an end to Israel's bombing of the 2.2
million Palestinians trapped inside the world's largest open
air prison in Gaza. If they want to take collective
action with Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized this
historic demonstration here this evening, you can go to JVP.
Dot org slash app. Powerful, powerful words on
Friday night at Grand Central Station.
Before I close out here, let me just thank our other two
underwriters for this episode and much gratitude.
Toward those who support this podcast, who financially support
it and support my voice. It's not necessarily always the
popular thing to do, but there's enough good people that want to
do the right thing and want to live in a world of peace, and I
appreciate them sponsoring this podcast.
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Stage you're in shopify.com/rumble.
OK, so our final underwriter for today's episode of my podcast
begins with me asking you a question.
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BABBEL babelbabbel.com/rumble. Rules and restrictions may
apply. All right.
Thank you Babel for supporting my podcast and my voice.
I'm so grateful to those who spoke to us.
If you want to go on my site, you can.
You can see video that we shot on there on Friday night at
Grand Central. So grateful to Jewish Voice for
peace. Like I said, I I signed up and
and joined on Friday night. I'm not Jewish.
I'm not Muslim. As you know, I'm a recovering
Catholic. But all of our voices must be
heard now. We need to join with our Jewish
brothers and sisters who are calling for this ceasefire and
no more killing on either side. A release of the hostages
immediately. Violence, war is not the answer.
I'm grateful for those who've taken the stand.
I know for a lot of them it's not easy.
They've had their own trials and tribulations in the past few
weeks with their friends, family members, others that are unhappy
with their strong voices for peace.
I'm sorry to hear that. We should all be that.
We all have to do that. We all have to call our members
of Congress and tell them that we do not want to be the bank
for more death and destruction. We are not supporting this.
I know it's hard for some people.
I know I understand the pain. I don't know it because I
haven't had to live it. But I know that I I've seen
enough of it in my lifetime and I'm sick of it all.
So thank you all of our hundreds, thousands of Jewish
brothers and sisters there at Grand Central the other night
and in a couple of days I'll play Part 2 of this from the
Palestinian LED March and. Rally that went across the the
borough of Brooklyn and across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Thousands there on Saturday and Saturday night.
Very powerful moment. And I want you to hear the
Palestinian voices of this. So we'll do that in a couple of
days here on my podcast. Again, my great, great thanks to
my 2 Executive producers who've worked on this podcast, Basil,
from the very beginning. Basil Hamden and Angie Vargos,
who is my current editor and executive producer.
Thank you for the great work you did and the and the risks that
you took to kind of pull this together.
So let's close out with the rest of that song from Natalie
Merchant, who's also a signer to the Ceasefire letter.
It was the one song that I felt just kind of conveyed where I'm
at. This week, these last couple
weeks, and just if you can just hang with me here for two more
minutes and and hear the last part of the song, I'd really,
I'd really enjoy and appreciate knowing that that we kind of
shared this together. Be well, everyone, this is
Michael Moore. This is Rumble.
Swelling off the ground, the road was scarce in this wall.
The corners, but a mountain. The corners, but a mountain
since Auntie Sanchez. Hoodie feels shorter than D
since I've heard the mind of horse's head with dwarf turn
teeth. 20 turn teeth. Because I could not stop.
For death he kindly stopped. For me the carriage held, but
just ourselves and immortality and immortal.