Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax, Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Global Studies, Sociology, and affiliate of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins the program to discuss his classic 2000 book Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious (now in its fourth edition) in light of the October 7th Hamas and news reports of violent Israeli settlers wreaking havoc in the occupied West Bank. We discuss Mark's concept of cosmic war as an animating force for young men, misconceptions about the type of young attracted to religious violence and terrorism, Israeli terrorist Dr. Baruch Goldstein, Dr. Juergensmeyer's experiences with Hamas leaders, the final words audio tapes of Hamas combatants before their martyrdom and what they reveal, Timothy McVeigh and far-right terrorism, 9/11 the Bush administration's War on Terror folly in Afghanistan and Iraq, and much, much more.

On this edition of Parallax Views, The New Arab Investigative Unit's Anas Ambri joins the show to discuss his articles "Rothman: The investor that angered Jerusalem's Armenians", "Ben-Gvir associate, settlers intimidate Jerusalem Armenians", and "Spyware brokers and Lebanon’s surveillance state". We delve into the Armenians in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem that are under threat from the mysterious Australian real estate investor Danny Rothman (aka Danny Rubinstein) and armed Israeli settlers. In the latter portion of the program, we delve into HackingTeam, spyware, and its role in the Lebanese army and Lebanese security state.

On this edition of Parallax Views, renowned Holocaust historian and genocide scholar Dr. Omer Bartov, Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, joins the program to discuss the Gaza War and the question of genocide in relation to both the October 7th Hamas and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Other topics broached include: - The nature of the Occupation and how occupations effect both the occupied and the occupier; Israel/Palestine and fears of a second Nakba or ethnic cleansing of Palestinians - The Jewish parable of the Golem of Prague, the Israeli far-right as a Frankenstein's monster that must be deactivated, and the messianic, supremacist vision of figures like the Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir and violent settlers in the West Bank - The open letter Prof. Bartov and other scholars like Christopher Browning on the misuse of Holocaust memory; "An Open Letter on the Misuse of Holocaust Memory" (The New York Review of Books) - Will change happen when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's is out of office? - The UN definition of genocide; war crimes and crimes against humanity; disagreements with genocide scholar Dirk Moses - Risks of the current situation evolving into a genocide - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, The Nation magazine's National Affairs correspondent Jeet Heer joins the show to discuss the Gaza War and his article "Why the Anti-Defamation League Loves Certain Bigots". Recently, the ADL's Jonathan Greenblat embraced Twitter/X's Elon Musk, despite Musk's spreading of antisemitic conspiracy theories, because Musk said that words and phrases like "decolonization" and "from the river to the sea" would result in banning from the platform. We will discuss that as well as the more checkered elements of the Anti-Defamation League's history such as the Roy Bullock spying scanadal involving the South African apartheid regime and the case of the Los Angeles 8 (7 Muslim men and one Kenyan woman). We'll also talk about the Gaza war, insurgencies and how counter-insurgency wars are fought, the parallels between the rise of the far-right in the U.S. and the far-right in Israel, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, foreign policy commentator Eldar Mamedov, a contributor to Responsible Statecraft and Eurasianet, joins the show to discuss the rather hawkish foreign policy inclinations of Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei. We will also discuss MAGA populism's embrace of Milei, who seeks to take a metaphorical chainsaw to the entirety of the Argentinian state apparatus, and the arguments made by figures like Sohrab Ahmari against that embrace. Some issues discussed: potential for Milei to isolate Argentina form both South America and the world, potential impact on relations between Argentina and Brazil, Milei's views on China and Israel, and more. There's also a brief side-discussion on Nagorno-Karabakh and U.S.-Azerbaijan relations.

On this edition of Parallax Views, we take a break from current events coveage to present a Halloween Hangover episode featuring Dennis Daniel on his book The Horror! The Horror! A Film Fanatic's Obsession With the Cinema of the Macabre. A lifelong horror movie fan and monster kids, Dennis Daniel has contributed to such publications as Deep Red, Delirium, and Cinema Macabre. We end up discussing not only his lifetime love of horror but also the underground tape trading culture of the pre-DVD/Bluray era, the role Dennis played in a fiasco where Charlie Sheen mistook an underground Japanese horror movie for a snuff film, the poetic horror of French filmmaker Jean Rollin, the schlock-tastic Italian cinema of Bruno Mattei, the wild and weird world of Jess Franco films and his muse Lina Romay, the 1930s adaptation of Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff as the Monster, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Armenian Christian in the Old City of Jerusalem are purportedly under threat from Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir-backed settler movement as per reporting from The Armenian Weekly and The New Arab. Additionally, statements have been released by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem and the Christian Scout Groups of Jerusalem. Dr. Bedros Matossian of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln joins us to discuss this troubling situation which involves settler extremists as well as a company known as Xana Gardens Ltd and its owner Danny Rothman (aka Danny Rubenstein). We also discuss the history of the Armenian people in Jerusalem, the Armenian diaspora and the Armenian genocide, Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey, The Cow's Garden, and much more. Dr. Matossian's bio: Dr. Bedross Der Matossian born and rasied in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, is Professor of Modern Middle East History and Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies; and Vice Chair of the Department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he began his graduate studies in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. He completed his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 2008 in Middle East History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. From 2008 to 2010, he was a Lecturer of Middle East History in the Faculty of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His areas of interest include ethnic politics in the Middle East, inter-ethnic violence in the Ottoman Empire, Palestinian history, and the history of Armenian Genocide.  Der Matossian is the author, editor, and co-editor of seven books. His latest edited volume, Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century, published by U. of Nebraska Press (2023), documents how modern genocides have adapted with new strategies to augment established modes of denial.  A powerful image from the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem taken by the prominent Armenian photographer Garo NalbandIan. Armenian priests standing in front of the tractor that destroyed the wall of the Armenian Seminary.  - Dr. Bendross Der. Matossian

On this episode of Parallax Views, the noted genocide studies scholar A. Dirk Moses, author of The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression, returns to his intervention on the debate about whether or not what is happening in Gaza constitutes a genocide. He recently wrote the piece in the Boston Review entitled "More than Genocide". In addition to this we also discuss his scathing take on the open letter of solidarity signed by Jurgen Habermas and other major German intellectuals. In the second segment of the show, Dr. Waitman W. Beorn joins the show to discuss how British writer Douglas Murray, fashion model Fabio, and others are distorting Holocaust history by making defenses of the Third Reich in light of the Oct. 7th Hamas attack. These commentators are making the case that the Nazis were "ashamed" of the Holocaust, concealed their crimes as a result, and were remorseful for their action. Dr. Beorn begs to differ and believes this Nazi apology, like the clean Wehrmacht myth, could lead down dangerous paths.

On this edition of Parallax Views, recorded before the news that a deal between Israel and Hamas to reach hostages was announced as being close to being made,  Helena Cobban, a non-resident fellow of the Center for International Policy, joins the show to discuss the UN, the Gaza War, international law, Hamas, Israel, and related issues. She also promotes her new podcast, co-hosted by Yousef Aljamal, entitled the Palcast: One World, One Struggle about the Israel/Palestine. Helena Cobban is also the head of Just World Educational. Recorded 11/16/23

On this edition of Parallax Views, two Jewish American perspectives on the Jewish American community's response to 9/11, the issue of antisemitism, and Israel/Palestine. First up, Dov Waxman, director of UCLA’s Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies, joins the show to discuss the American Jewish community's response to 9/11, defining antisemitism (and why he argues that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism; Waxman was part of the Nexus Task Force that sought to combat antisemitism while arguably having a less broad and potentially politicized definition of antisemitism than the IHRA), his book Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict Over Israel, the idea of exiling anti-Zionist Jewish groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow and why disagrees with it, the debate over the value of the settler-colonial discourse, the different types of Zionism, his feelings on Palestinian anti-Zionist attitudes, and much, much more! In the second segment of the show Ron Kampeas, longtime reporter of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, discuss a number of the topics discussed with Prof. Waxman, but also the March for Israel rally, right-wing antisemitism and criticism of John Hagee's participation in the rally, the involvement of a "peace bloc" at the rally, the Jonathan Pollard spy case, Ron's reporting on the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, remaining objective in reporting on news that oftn hits close to home emotionally, Rashida Tlaib's use of the pro-Palestinian "from the rive to the sea", the murder of Chicago-based Jewish-American community leader Samantha Woll and the rush to assume it was a hate crime (since ruled out by police), differences between Jewish media outlets in both America and Israel, sentiments against Benjamin Netanyahu in the U.S. and Israel, and much, much, more!