It happened on July 13, at the height of summer, when the American presidential race also reached a boiling point. For a moment, it seemed that the necessary condition for victory for her, in the form of the candidate in whom she wholeheartedly believes, might disappear – and not by choice. "I think after they throw four criminal indictments and a public arrest photo at your boss, and then someone shoots at him while he's speaking on stage, and he almost gets killed in front of the whole world, nothing moves you anymore," she says.

"In those minutes I was with my husband (Darren Centinello, who was the campaign's digital director) at home. It was Saturday and suddenly, our emergency phone started exploding with calls. We read what happened and tried to understand – is he alive? Is he dead? What exactly is happening? We finally look at our phone look at what happened. We click into the event, and at the moment we click in, Donald Trump is on the ground. I think the Secret Service is already on top of him. I think he stood up after, you know, a minute, but it felt like 20 minutes, especially considering the messages we got saying, is he dead? Is he dead? So all we see is him stand up, blood rushing down his face. I'm obviously crying. I'm getting a million phone calls. My husband's trying to reach the president's family to see if we know anything else. 

"My husband's father was also at the rally and actually sat right behind the president because we got him VIP tickets, so we called to make sure he was alive too. He answered us and said everyone was looking for the shooter, and in the background, I could hear screaming."

Q: How did you handle this? 

"Immediately afterward, most of us in the campaign didn't even stop to think about it because we were so busy we could only focus on what we could control.  It's weird because obviously it's horrible, and I think if you had gone back to the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney days, just a couple of election cycles prior, this never would have happened. If John McCain and Barack Obama were running against each other and a film like that came out against one of them, even the other one, their opponent, would probably have said something about how negative and inappropriate it was. Obviously, in Trump days, everything has changed. I think after your boss gets charges thrown at him four times, gets a mug shot, nearly gets killed in front of the world, shot on stage, nothing really fazes you anymore. Most of us didn't even think about it. I saw a few scenes because people sent it to me. I didn't even watch the movie. I knew he was upset about it. I think he posted something about it once or twice. But A, we're so busy we can only pay attention to what we can actually control. And B, once your boss survives an assassination, has a mug shot that goes viral, once the FBI comes after you and your own family for working for him, nothing fazes you anymore."

Q: That's frightening. Do you think, uh, in a way, the media all over, all around the world and specifically the American media, did it undermine this, that incident in a way? 

"You know, you get scared in general, working in Republican politics, getting the messages that I get, the death threats that I get. And then when you see your boss who has, you know, some of the best security in the world, almost get assassinated live on camera, you wonder what could happen to you. So it was really, really scary for all of us and showing up to the convention and seeing the extra security and seeing our bosses tell us you cannot leave this secure perimeter, everything is dangerous. Don't talk to anyone, be careful where you go, don't go outside where there's no security. It was obviously really, really scary. But again, we're moving. We don't have time to stop. We don't have time to think about it. So it only hits you months later that your boss was nearly, you know, assassinated. The former president was nearly assassinated on stage. I mean, they wanted him to have his head blown off on camera. That's what they wanted in front of the world. And thank God it didn't happen."

Q: You seem to take it personally.

"It's hard for me because I've been around Donald Trump and I've seen the way people cover his life and his actions and his campaign or his staff compared to anybody else. I believe that there was a different race and it was, you know, Ron DeSantis and Joe Biden or Jeb Bush or any Republican that people would have accepted that wasn't Donald Trump. It would have been talked about very differently. I think, in general, Donald Trump is not treated fairly in the press. I will stand by that, not just because I've seen it happen to him, but because I've seen it happen to me because I'm associated with him. I've seen the way people have lied about me and my family and misreported so many things just to hurt me because I work for Donald Trump.

"I thought that was such a bad event that it would kind of make people go back to normal, make people realize that this could have happened to Joe Biden or Kamala Harris too and that the last thing you want is for a former president, current president, anyone, especially a politician who represents a group of people to be targeted in that way. And it would take America back to a really, really dark place. So I thought people would freak out so much that they would become normal again and say, Donald Trump is not the man we support, but he's the man that just almost got shot on stage, and millions of Americans support him. And we should respect the fact that this is a horrible tragedy in America and maybe speak normally about the election moving forward. And that lasted about two hours. And then people forgot it happened. They started making assassination jokes. Um, some people claimed it wasn't real. Obviously, politicians went back to saying Donald Trump was Hitler and a threat to democracy and insulting him and inciting the same kind of hatred that they were doing beforehand, almost, you know, 48 hours later. So, it did not last clearly. And it's obviously disappointing, but it's not surprising."

Q: How shaken was he by the attempt on his life?

"I do think he changed. I really do. I have heard him talk about it. Um, I didn't hear him talk that week. I was not with him personally. I heard his speech, obviously, and I thought he was a little different, but even seeing him later on, um, throughout the campaign and talking to him and hearing his voice when it comes up and saying, I think God saved me. Yeah, I think he definitely changed. I didn't hear him talk about God ever as much as he did after that incident. And I think, in general, no matter how tough and how strong and how cool you are when you get shot in the head, you're going, you're going to change. So I think, I think something changed in him, but you know, now he's the same Donald Trump, you'd never know. But I do think internally, he feels as though God saved him. He says it all the time. And he also knows that he survived the gunshot to the head, making him even tougher and even cooler. So he's definitely a changed man, but almost just like an elevated version of the same Donald Trump."

Q: In the end, the incident produced an iconic image, perhaps even leading to victory.

Seeing someone like that in your life who gets shot in the head and thinks in that moment, not how do I get off stage as fast as possible, but how do I respond in some way to inspire people and let them know that I'm okay. And that America's never going to be taken down if I'm in charge. Knowing someone thought of that in the moment is, I mean, one of the most inspiring things you'll ever see. And I saw a lot of Democrats, a lot of people who didn't support him, say the exact same thing. They said when he raised his fist and screamed fight, how on earth do you not take inspiration from that? And I don't know who else could have responded the same way in that moment." 

Q: Trump is considered a Wild Card. Unpredictable and inconsistent. Not exactly a statesmanlike politician.

"I will say working in politics, the grossest, most horrible word you can tell me is "politician". I hate politicians. I hate almost every politician that has existed before Donald Trump. I don't care if they're Democrats or Republicans. So I think the fact that people try to use the argument that he's not a politician to get people to vote against him backfired because most people agree with me that politicians are not the people that you want. 

"At the same time, when the world is literally on fire, I think the argument is even stronger. Joe Biden was in the White House for four years. Joe Biden was one of the longest serving politicians that we have had. Joe Biden was a vice president. He was a senator. He has more foreign policy experience as a politician than Donald Trump will ever have. And yet the world was on fire when Joe Biden was in office. Maybe politicians are the reason that the world is on fire and, that Americans aren't happy, and that things continue to happen the exact same way that no one wants to find peace because they like when things are in chaos because that's what politicians create. So, I 100% agree he's not a politician. He was the president of the United States and he's still not a politician. And that's why I support him."

Going to synagogue on holidays 

For 29-year-old Pipko, Trump has been much more than a boss. In her incredible life story, the American president constitutes a defining event, no less. A person who changed the course of her life from the moment she became aware of his political work. An almost divine factor who taught her no less than any rabbi she met in the synagogues she attended. A mentor, a spiritual teacher.

"Trump completely changed my life," she says. "So, my entire life has focused around Donald Trump for about eight years, a little bit longer. So I don't think my brain has realized yet what it means to not be in a campaign and not be fighting for Donald Trump because that's all we know. My husband and I used to joke that we'd get divorced after the election was over because we didn't know if we had anything else to talk about because all we talked about was Donald Trump…I met my husband through the campaign. I grew, I learned from Donald Trump. I love Donald Trump genuinely."

Considering that joining his team was the moment that helped her emerge from the greatest low point of her life, it's understandable. Today, she is one of the women closest to the president's ear. After working with him for eight years, and being a spokesperson for the Republican Party, coordinating campaign fundraising, and helping him reach the White House twice, Pipko is one of Donald's confidantes, and to a large extent, this involves explaining the Jewish and Israeli views to him in the current war in Gaza. 

She regularly appears in studios and gives interviews, makes regular television appearances, and defends Israel passionately. She condemns progressive nonsense, points out "woke" hypocrisy, and raises awareness of problematic to outrageous statements by people in positions of power in higher education institutions in the US. Through the "Jexodus" movement she founded (later renamed The Exodus Movement), she helps American Jews, a population that until recently was mostly identified with the left side of the political map, move to the right side. Now, she's leading a joint project with Chabad that will make mitzvot accessible to Jews in America. And to think that in a parallel universe, she's actually an Olympic athlete.

Pipko was born in New York in 1995, the daughter of a Jewish immigrant family from the Soviet Union and granddaughter of the artist Marc Klionsky. "I attended an Orthodox Jewish school from age 3, but I wouldn't say we were devout," she says. "We went to synagogue on holidays, sometimes on Saturdays, and of course, I learned Hebrew. I did everything my parents wanted me to do, but we didn't keep kosher. I never ate pork, shrimp, or cheeseburgers, but I would eat meat outside, for example."

In her youth, she discovered the world of figure skating on ice, convinced her parents to switch to homeschooling, and devoted all her time to training for the biggest and most important competitions in the world, but a leg injury pulled the ground out from under her feet and brought her to a mental low before she turned 20. After investing years in a dream that evaporated in a second, Pipko was more lost than ever.

"It was a terrible period, really awful," she recalls what she now understands was depression. "I moved to Florida to skate on ice; that's all I knew how to do; I was far from family and friends, I studied from home, so I didn't have school friends, and I skated for 15 hours every day, and then I found myself returning to New York with a huge cast on my leg, unable to walk and still studying online, so I had no friends.

"Everyone I knew was applying to good colleges; I never thought of going to college because I wanted to go to the Olympics. I stopped going to class and doing work. I just cried in my bed all day, every day.  After they removed my cast, I realized I couldn't go up and down stairs, and I was now a 17-year-old girl who was behind in her classes, had no friends, didn't know what she was going to do, and had to go to the doctor five days a week to relearn how to walk and how to do stairs.  I had nothing. And I continued being depressed and a giant mess for two years three years.

"I  still don't know how my parents kept it together and weren't so worried about me that they interfered. I think they just knew that, eventually, I would snap back. I basically was probably years behind on my schoolwork. I would go out with losers that I knew in the city and just do nothing all day, cry in my bed all night, write some sad poetry, and do the same thing the next day. I could have had a great future. I didn't understand why, after working as hard as I did, everything was taken from me. For three years, I didn't think I had a future. I was sure that eventually, I would work as a waitress, and that would be my life."

"Saved my life"

Luck began to turn in her favor thanks to her mother, or to be precise – thanks to the family dog.

"My mom used to walk our dog in Central Park, and one day a photographer who was there stopped her and asked if he could take the dog for a short time for a photo session. When he asked how he could repay her, Mom replied: 'Can you do a photo shoot with my daughter? She's very depressed, and I think she'll feel better.' I met the photographer the next day. We maybe, you know, did 30 minutes of some pictures in the park with her just trying to do it as a favor for My mom decided to send the photos to the biggest modeling agency in the world and a week later they offered me a contract.

"I never thought of such a possibility. As a little kid, I was bullied severely for being ugly. Never thought that it was gonna happen. Every girl dreams of modeling. So I'm not gonna say I didn't think about it, but it was not something I thought of at that time or worked toward. And it was basically just handed to me by God in the moment. I don't think it was the greatest part of my life, but it certainly brought me some confidence and a lot of accomplishments. For a young woman who cries all day, seeing yourself on magazine covers definitely strengthened me a bit and became a very cool part of my story."

From that point onwards, she became a sought-after model, signed with Wilhelmina Models, appeared on the covers of magazines like Esquire, Grazia, and Contrast, and is physically compared to model and actress Emily Ratajkowski ("Gone Girl", "Entourage"). But the real change in her life came alongside Trump's first run for the presidency.

"To witness the whole world mocking him when he says he's going to be president, to see him running and continuing the campaign and, of course, ultimately winning, was simply inspiring. I watched his videos, read his books and later started volunteering for his campaign.

"Today, I have a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from UPenn, I was the spokesperson for the Republican Party, and I think I'm doing truly important things for the world. I truly believe that Donald Trump saved my life."

Q: But it's hard to deny that he's a controversial figure, and his statements regarding women don't paint him in a positive light either.

"If I didn't know him myself and hadn't spent time with his family and staff but only read the stories about him, I would hate him too.

"I say that all the time because the stories are horrific. At the same time, when you look into the stories, you find out that this is a lie and this is exaggerated, and this is here. So, I think there are two ways to look at it. However, I have never argued Donald Trump was the perfect person. I have never argued that he was an angel on earth and that all the accusations or everything he's been through was a lie. The only thing I've argued is that he's the perfect person to be president of our country. 

"I'm not going to tell anyone he's the perfect husband or the perfect friend. I am sure that I would be wrong, and I'm sure that even he would tell me I wasn't the perfect husband, or I wasn't the perfect friend or I wasn't the perfect this. He is not a perfect man. I do not try to convince people that he was. My only argument was that against Hillary Clinton or against Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or really any other Republican or anyone else who could have run against him, he was the only man for the job... I would die on that hill. That is an argument that I think I get proven right with almost every single day with his actions. I am proud to have stood by him this entire time, but it was never because of his personal life. It was because of what he could have done for America and the world."

Q: You define yourself as a feminist, how does that align with his opposition to abortions?

"That's actually a question that's easy for me to answer. I started researching this topic in 8th or 9th grade after watching a woman testify in Congress that her mother tried to abort her, and she survived. I did a lot of research, and at some point in my life, I wanted to be closer to the Jewish religion, so for m,e the answer to this question is not found in politics but in the Torah. It's a religious issue for me and a topic close to my heart. At the time, I thought, 'how the hell can people claim that it's okay to have an abortion?' and as I grew up and met people with different opinions, I understood that these things can happen. So, as a woman, I am very anti-abortion, but I'm also very pro-America.

"Trump just said that this is an issue that should be decided by the states. I'm not for telling people what they can or cannot do, but there is a middle way. America is a great country because even if you don't agree with a law – whether it's related to abortions, gun rights, marijuana use, or anything else – you can protest it, change it, or move to a place where you agree more with its principles."

"Creating precedents" 

Last week, the world was shocked over the meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For Pipko, this meeting also touched on a very personal point. "The two main issues I talk about are the issue of Israel and the Middle East and the issue of Russia and Ukraine," says Pipko. "My family is from there, and when the war began, I loudly supported Ukraine. Even Trump said it's a shame that Russia invaded Ukraine. The fact is that it didn't happen during his term; several years have passed, and now that he's the president, he is committed to supporting peace.

"I think if Zelenskyy had disrespected other presidents that way, they likely would have talked back to him as Trump did. It didn't happen under Joe Biden, whether that's because they were team Ukraine and against America or because Joe Biden didn't have it in him and didn't have the capabilities, I don't know, but I think when a war has gone on as long as it has and you have to answer to the American people who have had billions of their own tax dollars sent over there and who have never been told this is how close we are to victory or this is what a victory would look like, you owe it to the American people to stand up for us and demand something of this man. Trump wants the war to come to an end. He did not say I am team Russia, I'm team Ukraine. He said, 'I want the war to come to an end,' and Zelensky had a problem with that, and Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America who has a responsibility to his supporters and to these people in the country to not send over billions of dollars more to Ukraine without an explanation for why and to try to bring peace to the world, which is what he promised always knew Donald Trump was going to yell at someone if they disrespected him, but more importantly they disrespected his country. He genuinely believes that if people talk to him in that way, they're not disrespectful to the man, but they're disrespectful to the United States of America, and he thinks it is his job to be the representative for the United States of America…no one has heard anyone debate Zelenskyy or Putin or anyone else for four years because we've had a president who literally hid from the media and from foreign leaders for four years in the White House. So, no one has seen anything like this. I don't think it's that shocking."

Q: How would you define the relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

"I mean, in general, I think the back and forth that they've had between good and bad is a good thing. I think when you have a real relationship, it has its ups and downs. I think it proves how close our nations are in general. think when two leaders have to talk as much as they have to talk, when two leaders have to work together as much as they do, A there's going to be ups and downs and B it shows how connected the two countries are. I call them sister nations in the fight in in the world right against the exact same enemies. Like Bibi said our enemies are the same enemies. Our victories will be the same victories. I think the relationship that they have proves that they both see the world in the same way.

"Trump witnessed what happened on October 7, and he is much more focused on trying to support Israel and trying to bring peace to the region than on his personal relationships with any of those involved. These aren't two leaders who meet to take a photo and then don't talk for a year. These are two leaders and two nations that actually work together in the world to try to bring goodness and preserve Western civilization for the rest of society. I think that's why they're as close as they are. That's why they have their ups and downs because their relationship is so important, and I truly am proud to have a president who treats Israel and treats its leader in a way that a lot of former presidents, at least in my recent lifetime, have not…I think they probably see themselves in a similar light and see a lot of the hatred that they get in their own country in a similar way." Before October 7 obviously, Netanyahu was dealing with the kind of protest that we see over here all the time. So I think they deal with a lot of the same things politically, . I think Donald Trump respects a strong leader, respects a strong leader who's made a comeback like he has. I don't know if anyone's comeback has been as strong as Donald Trump's but Netanyahu certainly knows his way around a comeback as well. I think, in general, the leaders have a lot in common, and again, I'm proud to know that Donald Trump will support any democratically elected leader of Israel because he supports the people of Israel and he supports the message of Israel regardless of who was in charge honestly." 

Q: Is the voluntary deportation plan from Gaza a realistic thing?

"Under Donald Trump, anything is possible. The man has done many things that many people said were impossible, that's for sure. Trump has a very specific negotiation style, right? And very often, he says things or demands things or asks for things that people say are impossible, maybe that he even knows are impossible, and at the end of the day, the compromise ends up being exactly what he would have wanted from day one. So, I'd say very often, I would question those who want to judge any of Donald Trump's negotiation tactics. 

"He's very famous and very famously known for obviously the art of the deal, but more importantly, I think people should look to him as someone who has put in the thought into wanting to change the status quo with what has gone on in the region for far too long. Whether his plan, the exact plan that he came up with, works or not, obviously, we're going to have to wait and see. But the fact is, how many leaders before him have promised peace and done absolutely nothing? And how many leaders before him have tried to do the exact same tactics and gotten absolutely nowhere? 

Q: Is he aiming for the Nobel Peace Prize?

"I would say this: After Barack Obama got it for nearly nothing, Donald Trump certainly might deserve it for even the Abraham Accords in his last term, or we'll see what happens in this one. But I mean, when he said I'm bringing the hostages home and I'm making you know peace in the region, he meant it. That's why he got to work on day one and I hope people take him seriously when they realize that his legacy is only important to him if it's the legacy that he would have wanted. He's not trying to make a legacy for himself that comes with this award and that award for the wrong reasons. He's trying to actually prove that if you do things differently and maybe not like a politician, you cannot only bring peace but prove to the world how easy it would have been to set a new precedent and move forward and do things differently and I know that he knows he has one term to do that and hopefully everyone that comes after him will continue doing what he's doing."

"A global problem" 

In a parallel universe, one where she would still injure her leg but not be swept after the current president, Pipko could belong to a completely different political camp. On the face of it, this is the life path that would be paved for a young woman from Generation Z who dabbles in poetry and went to two of the most extreme universities in terms of their approach to the events of October 7 and the war in Gaza.

In the place where she studied, privileged students who had never known real conflict in their lives called for boycotting Israel, excluded Jewish students, and declared that they were in a completely delusional and imagined humanitarian crisis, which prevented them from accessing aid and food supplies that were within walking distance from the campus lawns to the cafeteria.

"On paper, given the fact that I'm Jewish with two degrees from the Ivy League and the daughter of immigrants, I should be a Democrat," she says. "I should have blue hair and ugly glasses, and I should be screaming that I love Hamas. I did have blue hair at some point in my life, but I never supported Hamas, and the credit for that goes to my parents. I had the best parents, and upbringing, and backbone in the entire world.

"I always tried to do the right thing because I wanted my parents to be proud of me, but I also know the story of those who came before them. Even at my lowest point, I was still a proud American and Jew. I knew what my values were. If more people listened to their parents and paid attention to their history, they would be on the right side of history. There's a good side, and there's a bad side, and anyone who learns a little about the subject on a basic level knows that regarding Gaza – Israel is on the good side, and Hamas is the bad side."

Q: What do you think creates the perceptual dissonance of the "woke"? After all, Hamas represents everything they stand against – religious extremism, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, hatred of LGBTQ+.

"A few things happened quickly and all at once. The fact that our country became politically polarized during the rise of social media is a really big problem. It was hard for me to see how the media decided that its role is to tell people what to think and feel and how to vote because it was afraid of Donald Trump instead of doing its journalistic work. That was scary. Any person can consume any piece of misinformation in the world on social media and follow random celebrities who don't know anything, but feel free to tell their followers and the world what to think, feel and share. Meanwhile, our universities, whose role is to educate, decided that they need to shape.

"At the universities I studied at, I didn't have a single pro-Israel professor. Before I enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania I asked former students there a few questions. There was a Jewish girl there who said students in her class would prefer to discover that she took part in the January 6 riots at the Capitol than to discover that she's a Zionist. She told me, 'Just don't tell anyone here that you're a Zionist.' This happens on campuses, and no one says anything.

"These professors become their mentors and leaders. I'm very happy that the protests at educational institutions in America were so bad and extreme because finally, parents are saying, 'wait, I need to check this school out before I send my kids there.' I see donors saying, 'I'm not going to donate my money to Harvard.' It's not a Jewish problem but a global problem. Everyone needs to understand how badly they messed up. These are good, decent, and smart kids whose minds have been washed to support a terrorist organization that would kill them in two seconds."

Q: You said that you wanted to be a part of the administration. So what's next? 

"It would be the honor of a lifetime, of course, to serve the American people. So I'm not going to stop thinking about it. I'm going to focus on a few other things at the same time right now, but I'm sure I'll make my way into the administration before it's over."

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?  

"President? Maybe that first female president. I mean, why not? We need a first female. We need a first Jew. Why not just combine the two, you know?"

The post 'The perfect person to be president': Trump's young confidante on why he 'supports the people of Israel' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The anticipation and intrigue surrounding "Captain America: Brave New World," Marvel's new and eagerly awaited superhero film opening tomorrow, could have – and perhaps should have – centered on the matter of replacing the actor who plays its lead character.

After years in which the Captain was essentially the heroic embodiment of Steve Rogers (played by actor Chris Evans), the armor and suit of the all-American hero was inherited in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" series by his protégé Sam Wilson, portrayed by black actor Anthony Mackie ("8 Mile," "Pain & Gain").

In an era of political correctness and black representation in key Hollywood roles, Marvel's decision to cast an African American actor in one of its most important and veteran superhero roles is no small matter. However, with Israeli actress Shira Haas also in the cast, the fact that Captain America is being portrayed for the first time by a black actor has become almost secondary. Moreover, the fact that iconic actor Harrison Ford is a central part of the film's cast has become the main topic of conversation.

Ford plays Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, the US President who is also, of course, the Red Hulk in the film. Beyond impressions about Ford choosing to perform some of his own stunts, it's hard to ignore that this certainly isn't the first time the actor has stepped into the shoes of a US president, following his iconic role in "Air Force One" (1997).

When asked what quality causes directors to cast him as the leader of the free world, he can't help but laugh. "Oh yes, that has definitely happened before," he told Israel Hayom. "I don't know if anyone ever really looked at me and said 'he needs to play the president,' but I think they said something like 'he can play the president.' Because we've seen throughout history there's a wide range of presidents, all kinds of people have sat behind the US leader's desk, and some were considered good presidents and some were judged poorly."

"This isn't a movie about a good or bad president, but in this film the president is part of the story. This isn't an instruction manual for the current president. It's simply a story about a group of people in tight suits who can fly, as part of the wonderful imagination that the Marvel Cinematic Universe provides. It's primarily an escape from reality."

Many thought that the fact Ford plays both the American president and the Red Hulk in "Brave New World" hints at a comparison between him and the recently re-elected Donald Trump, as part of the filmmakers' critique of where America is heading. But Ford denies this. "There's no truth to that. Nothing. Zero. It's a movie," he emphasized. "The idea that this character is connected to reality is incorrect. It's entertainment, and it's not based on any current political reality."

Q: Have you ever received offers to play a superhero throughout your long career?

"I've never been offered a flying suit or superpowers. I guess I'm only qualified to play the president, without powers. This is definitely a different situation for me, acting in a Marvel movie. I wanted to be part of a film intended for a different type of audience than I've ever had the opportunity to address before and tell a story to. I saw how successful these films are and how much Marvel Cinematic Universe fans enjoy them, and I thought to myself that this would be an interesting thing to explore. I was offered a role that sparked my imagination and it was a great pleasure."

An incredible opportunity

Anthony Mackie, the new Captain, also jumped at the chance to lead a film from one of Hollywood's strongest movie brands for the first time. Especially with one of his most admired actors by his side. "It's an incredible opportunity, not just because of race, but also because of Captain America's characteristics," he said. "He represents the good in all of us, human decency and loyalty. So carrying this character's shield has a lot of meaning for me, it's a great honor."

Q: And you couldn't pass up the opportunity to act alongside a legendary actor.

"We acted together many years ago in a film called 'Hollywood Homicide' that Harrison probably won't talk about. When I met Julius [Onah, the film's director] we put together a list of actors who could act in this film, and Harrison was on it. It was an incredible opportunity to work alongside such an icon, an actor with 50 years of experience. Harrison is a man of few words, but when he speaks it has meaning. He gave advice on set and contributed with his presence."

The post Harrison Ford on Marvel role: It's not based on current political reality appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Yoseph Haddad sits in a café in Jerusalem on a winter afternoon, attempting to enjoy a pasta dish, but finds himself interrupted every few bites. The interruptions come from a steady stream of admirers – passersby or those who just moments ago had actually managed to successfully finish their own pasta, each feeling compelled to break into his lunch despite their apologetic manner.

"We have to thank you," a religious couple in their forties said. Minutes later, two women in their twenties approach with similar sentiments. A reservist soldier follows, placing a hand on Haddad's shoulder: "I won't have another chance to say this – thank you for everything you do." An elderly man calls out "God bless you!" from across the way. Later, en route to his car to drive to a signing of his new mini-autobiography "Let Me Explain", he attempts to cross at a crosswalk when two men call him over. Who, after all, doesn't pause mid-crossing for a quick roadside selfie?

Thirty minutes earlier, he had taken down contact information from another stranger offering to translate his book into French. He acknowledges everyone – smiling, nodding, pressing his hands together in gratitude, bowing his head slightly. If what you see on the street is a more accurate indicator than any poll or media commentary, should he run for office today, we might witness Israel's first swearing-in of an Arab Prime Minister. For now, though, meeting him is like spending a day with a celebrity.

"You know," he reflected, "when I think of the word 'celebrity,' I think of artists, media personalities, athletes, actors, TikTokers – people who've truly made it. In my context, that word doesn't sit right. I've worked and continue to work in Israeli advocacy, so that label feels uncomfortable."

Q: It's perfectly acceptable to acknowledge enjoying your new status. 

"My public work began long before Oct. 7, 2023. Undeniably, I've become much more recognized since then and my exposure has grown significantly, but it happened because of the greatest catastrophe in Israel's history. That's why that word troubles me."

Q: Yet people don't just approach for photos, they most genuinely want to express gratitude. It's not superficial.

"Against this wave of support, there's also an extreme minority. Though small, they're a closed and dangerous group that targets you, threatens you, tries to intimidate you, and attacks you. There have been cases where police had to make arrests because people explicitly threatened, 'I'll put a bullet between your eyes.'"

Q: From the Arab side or the Jewish side?

"There are extremists in both Arab-Israeli and Jewish society, but I don't pay them much attention. The majority of Israeli society is supportive and encouraging. Do you know why I value that, and why I give attention to every person who approaches me? Because their support helps me continue despite the extreme and violent attacks from those extremists. They broke my mother's arm. It's not easy being a son whose mother's arm was broken because of his work. I feel guilty about that."

Q: After that incident, didn't your parents suggest – or perhaps you considered yourself – that maybe it was time to step back?

"Just the opposite. What happened was we were sitting on a plane in Dubai, still during boarding, waiting for takeoff. Some men spotted me with my family and began cursing. When I took out my phone to record them, they attacked me physically. My father stood up, and in the chaos that followed, my mother's arm was broken. We left the plane for the terminal to file a complaint – my mother's arm was bent, we didn't know it was broken yet but knew something was seriously wrong. Then my father looked at me and said in Arabic, 'Dir balak ithalihen yiwafuk. Kamel, ihna bidahrak,' meaning: 'Don't let them stop you.'

"He was essentially saying that 'they behave this way because they can't handle you and the truth you represent. Their only recourse is to silence you, to attack. And when that fails, they target your family. So I'm telling you now, don't stop.' Now tell me: with support from my family, from my partner Emily who herself faces attacks, from the majority of the Israeli people, do you think I would even consider stopping?"

It's somewhat peculiar to need to introduce Yoseph Haddad. A year and three months after becoming one of the most recognized voices in Israeli discourse, it hardly seems necessary. While he had gained recognition during previous military operations and conflicts, back then he was viewed more as a novelty. Perhaps 'anomaly' is a more fitting word – an Israeli Arab from Nazareth, son of a priest, former IDF combat soldier, driven by an unwavering purpose to represent Israel's narrative globally. A convenient example to point to: "Look, he's Arab and he's on our side."

But since the October massacre and the ensuing war, Haddad (39) has emerged as one of Israel's most vital representatives on the world stage and across social media. A private citizen (in the absence of official advocacy) who embodies the voice of the average Israeli, one who watches in frustration as the international community responds with indifference at best, or at worst, with accusations while unconscionably ignoring the horrors of that day. His secret weapon – though it's hardly a secret – is his nationality, but that's not all. Even when confronted by those who try to dismiss him as a "token Arab" or a gimmick, he counters with powerful arguments. his combination of speaking Arabic while presenting facts proves more effective than any megaphone at an anti-Israeli protest, and more powerful than any woke student with purple hair at an elite American university.

"My identity is a huge bonus, but that doesn't mean it isn't backed by substance," he explained. "Yes, it's an important tool, because at the end of the day, I'm the Arab living in this country and I know the truth. You can't teach me about it. If all my work was based on identity alone, it wouldn't work. I have a feeling that those who think I'm a gimmick belong to a minority group on a certain side of the political map, and I take that as a compliment because it means I'm on the right path.

"Now, let's talk for a moment about that extreme left group that claims I'm a gimmick. And they're a minority because I don't think we should label all leftists as anti-Israel or all right-wingers as racists. But to those people who claim I'm a gimmick, I have one question: Show me where I'm wrong. Does my identity not fit your narrative? Then you're the racists. And by the way, the worst racism I've experienced hasn't come from the extreme right but from the extreme left. Because I destroy their narrative. And I'll say it again – they don't represent the Zionist left."

Q: Those calling it a gimmick would say – "look, he's even publishing a book. He's leveraging this."

"How much airtime do I usually get in TV studios? Three minutes here, a minute there. Even on social media, I can't write long posts – people want short videos. The book gives me a chance to present the full picture. What's interesting is that when people accuse me of 'doing this for the money,' they learn that I donated all my earnings from the Passportcard campaign [an alert app for Israelis about dangers abroad] to Israeli advocacy. I didn't keep a single shekel – I made sure that was written into the contract. I felt strongly that I didn't want to profit from Israel's greatest disaster. As for the book, anyone in publishing knows there's no real money in books. This is about ideology, and what bothers them is that the ideology is winning."

Q: Why publish now, though?

"I always wanted to write a book – it just happened that fate connected me with the publishing house. We met, they asked if I'd considered writing a book, and I told them I'd already started. I talk about my childhood, for example. Not everyone attends my lectures or meets me personally – not everyone knows my journey and how I became who I am and got to do what I do. Beyond that, the book also covers Israeli advocacy. I write about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, about the partnership between Jews and Arabs. It's really an opportunity to lay out my complete vision."

Q: You're steering us toward the topic of politics. You've received offers from various parties.

"I've received offers from across the political spectrum. It's crazy – parties from all sides see something in my message and values. But actually entering politics? No. There's a reason I say this – if I were to announce 'I'm with this party,' I'd immediately lose my position as someone who unofficially represents our country. That would all disappear. And honestly, I don't even have a clear idea right now of which party truly represents me.

Q: Yet there are positions you considered even before this crisis.

"I'm not aiming to be Israel's UN ambassador, but when I think about it, yes, that's a role I would really want. I've done a lot of good work with good people in advocacy and public awareness, but if I have any ambition to represent the country officially, it would be at the UN – the most hypocritical organization there is. It demands the highest level of effort, dealing with intellectual confrontations, using facts and a different approach than at universities. Arabic is an official UN language – you're allowed to give an entire speech in Arabic. It's my dream to stand there, represent our country, and deliver a speech in Arabic."

Q: So you have gotten political after all.

"I promise you, I swear, if we go to elections I'll think about it. I'm telling you exactly what I plan to do. I was asked this question long before Oct. 7, but I always said – when something politically suitable comes along, I'll definitely consider it as an option. But to start thinking about politics now?"

Q: Does Israel need to hold elections now?

"If there were a shred of integrity among all 120 Knesset members, coalition and opposition alike, they would all resign, but only after stabilizing the situation. They would acknowledge 'this happened under our leadership' and step down. If they possessed any real honor, they would place their keys on the table and walk away."

Haddad's story, as told in "Let Me Explain," weaves together pivotal moments in his life with his moral and social convictions. It chronicles his political, social, and personal evolution – including unique family practices, such as designating specific days when only Hebrew could be spoken at home, and others exclusively for English. The narrative also encompasses his meeting with Emily Schrader, an American-Israeli journalist and advocacy activist who became both his life partner and ally in his mission.

His injury during the Second Lebanon War, where he lost his foot, forms a crucial chapter in his life story. This experience would later provide him with an unassailable response during heated international debates, moments now well-documented in videos across his Instagram account, which boasts 845,000 followers.

"Once, in front of 500 students, someone challenged me: 'You're Arab – do you really think the Jews like you? They're using you. The moment they have no more use for you, the Jews will throw you in the trash.' The anti-Israelis in the audience erupted in applause. I responded, 'According to your theory, I should have been in the trash long ago because they already had no use for me.'

"Initially, no one grasped my meaning. So I explained: 'Throughout my military service, I served alongside Christians, Muslims, Druze, and naturally, Jews. During the Second Lebanon War specifically, I served in a platoon composed entirely of Jews. I was the only Arab.

"We were dispatched to recover a tank in Bint Jbeil, four days before the ceasefire. That's when we were hit by a Kornet missile. The blast threw me, and shrapnel severed my foot. I felt blood streaming down my face from another piece of shrapnel that had torn it open completely. They later told me the hole in my face was large enough to fit a fist through. At that moment, despite being incapacitated and despite serving in a platoon of exclusively Jewish soldiers with no Arab present to say 'he's one of us,' they didn't abandon me.

"Though immobilized, I remained conscious. Suddenly I felt movement – four Jewish soldiers lifting me onto a stretcher, hoisting it onto their shoulders, and carrying me to safety under enemy fire. When I share this story, complete with photos and facts, it ends the debate. The dynamic in the room shifts completely. The hecklers stop cheering and grow angry, and frustrated. Meanwhile, the pro-Israelis in the audience are now the ones applauding. No one can dispute my lived experience. Ultimately, I use these confrontations as tools to convince others – the undecided ones, who genuinely want to understand the truth."

Q: And there are those who will never be convinced. Perhaps you actually enjoy the confrontation?

"First of all, we don't have any other choice. And since we're talking about it – yes, I'll admit that I enjoy it. I enjoy making anti-Israel people look foolish, I enjoy getting under their skin. And when I expose their arguments as ridiculous and they realize how ridiculous they look, that's when a video, post, or debate has a real impact. I've seen people switch to our side because of this."

Oct. 7 caught him off guard, like it did everyone else, though he sensed it slightly earlier. "In Arab society, we understood what was unfolding before most others did. Forget Telegram – we were the first to receive the information, it was all over our social networks. I quickly grasped the magnitude of the catastrophe."

Q: What was our biggest mistake? What did we fail to understand?

"We need to look at history. Everyone knows the history of this land, but those who oppose Israel have written their version, repeated their lies, and now people believe them. What I'm trying to say is that even Jewish society, or at least part of it, has started accepting the claim that they are colonizers. And I'm asking you – not as a Jew, but specifically as an Arab Christian: Are you all crazy?

"This land is rightfully yours. And as an Arab Christian, I'm telling you – it's written in my religion, it's right there. Yet in Jewish society, people started feeling apologetic. What do you have to apologize for? This constant cry of 'occupation.' I was taught that in the year zero, right here in Jerusalem, Jews were living here. How can [the Palestinians] claim this is their land when my own religion tells a completely different story?

"I love challenging people who claim 'but you stole this land from the Palestinians.' I ask them: 'Who was their president? Who was the prime minister? Let's make it simpler – who was any Palestinian leader? Your great historical figure is [Yasser] Arafat? A man born in Egypt who spent most of his life in Tunisia?' I go by the truth and facts, and it bothers me deeply to see people in Jewish society denying their own history. The irony that I'm the one having to say this isn't lost on me."

Addressing the war, Haddad observed: "Until recently, Israel had lost its near-exclusive status as a regional power. Then came a dramatic reversal: we eliminated [Ismail] Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar and [Hassan] Nasrallah. Hezbollah is left with what amounts to an AliExpress replacement.

"We eliminated 15,000 terrorists, Gaza lies in ruins, Syria has undergone a dramatic transformation, and we've neutralized Hezbollah's primary smuggling route. We've conducted strikes in Yemen and deep within Tehran. A major shift has occurred. We've demonstrated military superiority, and I see the Arab world acknowledging this reality. From this position of strength, it's time to negotiate a deal and bring our hostages home. Society is prepared for it, the government is ready, and with Trump potentially returning, the Middle East is primed for such a move. We must bring them home."

When asked about the day after, Haddad outlines a two-tiered approach: "The first phase involves military administration, in partnership with the UAE or Saudi Arabia, or any Arab nation willing to join the Abraham Accords and share responsibility for Gaza. A crucial element is preserving the IDF's operational freedom – this cannot be compromised under any circumstances.

"However, even if you dismantle Hamas and expel all terrorists from Gaza, failing to significantly diminish the ideology behind Hamas means we'll face today's generation attacking us again in twenty years. This leads to the second tier: education. I personally retrieved math textbooks from the rubble of a UNRWA school in Gaza containing equations like: 'You have ten Israeli soldiers and 11 stones. After throwing ten stones at the soldiers, how many remain?' As long as these texts remain the educational standard, there's no hope. While Gazan education from ages 4 to 18 continues preaching Israel's destruction, meaningful future dialogue remains impossible. We're essentially preparing for the next Oct. 7.

"The true battle lies in transforming hearts and minds. Military victories alone won't secure lasting peace – we must address the root causes that perpetuate this conflict through generations."

The post 'I destroy their narrative': Israel's renowned Arab advocate appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In the mid-1990s, when he was a young, quite uninhibited comedian, David Baddiel did something that he would come to regret years later. In a skit on the football comedy show Fantasy Football League, which he wrote with co-creator Frank Skinner, Baddiel played Jason Lee, a black footballer and former Nottingham Forest player.

The 59-year-old British Jewish comedian wore blackface to depict Lee in his Nineties show. The fact that he portrayed Lee with a pineapple on his head to ridicule the footballer's hairstyle didn't help either. Even today, after apologizing for the skit several times and admitting that it was a mistake and had racist tones, people still bring up the show whenever he dares to claim discrimination against his own people.

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In other words, whenever Baddiel talks about antisemitism today, the golden age of identity politics, a time when every racial, ethnic, or gender minority receives immediate protections, someone online will remind him of something he did 30 years ago.

Of course, no one complains about the imitation of Baddiel on the comedy sketch show "Bo'Selecta!" in the early 2000s, in which he was portrayed as a grotesque Hassidic Jew with a huge nose and frizzy black hair. Four years ago, during the Black Lives Matter protests by the African-American community in the United States, series creator Lee Francis apologized to blacks he imitated — including singers such as Craig David or Spice Girl Melanie B, but he never apologized to Baddiel for the offensive imitation. For the past few years, he has been arguing that there is a hierarchy in racism, and expressions of contempt or hatred towards Jews are at the bottom of the list.

Hatred as an identity

 While many Israelis have been left shocked by the hostile response and lack of empathy from the Western world in the face of the October 7 atrocities, and many still refuse to accept that their progressive views on gender, race, and religion will never mark them as part of the international left-wing community, Baddiel surely feels as if he basically prophesied everything.

For years, the British-Jewish screenwriter has been analyzing modern antisemitism, especially how it has taken root in progressive left-wing circles, becoming a status symbol and a distinctive characteristic of those who fiercely defend anyone who is treated insensitively because of their race or ethnicity. Antisemitism, he says, not only doesn't top the agenda of those he describes as self-styled warriors for justice, but they have embraced it; not by name of course, and usually in political contexts within the framework of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"I hear a lot of progressives saying, 'Well, antisemitism exists only because of Israel,' but I think that cheapens the meaning of that word, because antisemitism is a form of racism that has been around for generations and generations, long before the establishment of Israel," he said in an interview from his London office. "It's just a way of not dealing with antisemitism and saying, 'Oh, we all know this problem only exists because Israel sometimes does bad things in the Middle East.'

"I refuse to accept that. It is truly perverse to think that Jews around the world are responsible for what is happening in the Middle East, that they are to blame for what happens. This isn't the case for Britons of Chinese descent when China behaves unacceptably. It isn't the case for British Indians when India does something, and it isn't the case with any other minority. It's just Israel's actions that are blamed on all Jews, wherever they may be.

Q: It's funny because the left side of the global political map isn't the one associated with conspiracy theories. Unless it's October 7, then all of a sudden there are plenty of theories and "conclusive" evidence about Israel's involvement in that day's atrocities. How do you explain that?

"I think Israel has become a totem for the extreme left, and for the left in general. It's the thing you have to hate. In the past, South Africa played this role, and I'm afraid now it's Israel. Part of the identity of these people is to hate Israel. People for whom politics is their identity are not interested in complexity. They only care about 'good' and 'bad,' and they support whoever they think is good. Be on the side of the good guys, not on the side of the bad kids.

"And if the good guys, which for them is the Palestinians, do something as terrible as October 7, those people can't fit it into their worldview. They say, 'That can't be true! It has to be the Jews, the Israelis created this themselves.' Otherwise, they would have to accept a much harder fact to digest, which is that there are good and bad people on both sides and that life is complicated."

Q: Tell that to Roger Waters, who attacked U2 frontman Bono for condemning the murder of innocents.
"Roger Waters is a crazy believer in conspiracy theories, and he is obsessed with Israel. I checked it out, and all Bono did was sing a song in memory of those murdered at the Nova Festival. He didn't wave a flag in support of Benjamin Netanyahu or extremist settlers. But once more, Waters can't think in a complex fashion, he just heard someone who sounded to him a little sympathetic to Israel, and that upsets him, because he can only see the world in black and white."

Q: How does the British media view Roger Waters?

"I think some people are aware of this side of him, which is really into conspiracy theories and is anti-Israel, but I think the problem here is – and that's the thing for me – that he is still the man from Pink Floyd. When his last album came out, it received a lot of good reviews. Some critics said, 'Yes, Roger has said some crazy things lately, but hey, we love this album.'"

By the way, I didn't like the album. It was a sort of reworking of 'The Dark Side of the Moon' songs, and consisted entirely of strange, whispered versions of the old songs. But the British media and British people in general don't want to give up on Pink Floyd. What I'm saying is that Roger won't be completely 'canceled' no matter what he says."

One tweet can ruin a career

Baddiel was born in 1964 in New York City but grew up and was educated in London, where he still lives today. He is considered a well-known name in the United Kingdom thanks to the TV series he has written and the books and columns he has authored, as well as for his stand-up comedy. His most recent book, "Jews Don't Count," came out in 2021 and deals with the subject at hand - antisemitism. In the book, Baddiel, a Jew who has never hidden his Jewishness but admits to not having any special connection to Israel, takes an intelligent and meticulous look at the lack of empathy for Jews and the convenient disregard for expressions of hatred or contempt for Jews.

This disregard for anti-Jewish racism comes at a time when "celebrities find themselves 'canceled,'" reputations are tarnished, and entire careers can be wiped out by one tweet that "doesn't meet the standards of morality" dictated by a particular camp. "Displays of condescension toward black people can totally shatter a person's standing, ignorance of LGBTQ issues will cause an uproar, and Islamophobia will lead to death threats, even by people who aren't members of that religion."

But when it comes to antisemitism, then things become more complex, says Baddiel

"Anti-Jewish racism isn't considered racism by a lot of people," he writes in his book, which was recently translated into Hebrew. In the foreword to the Hebrew edition, Baddiel explains that up to the October 7 massacre he had never felt particularly connected to the state of Israel – as he viewed himself as British. The pogrom, as he describes it, changed his feelings.

He wonders whether the fact that it took so long for a Hebrew edition to come out (it was originally published in 2021) is because of his disconnect from Israel.

"I was always a little confused as to why a Hebrew edition hadn't come out previously. After all, it is a book about Jews. Jews buy it and read it everywhere else in the world and there are of course lots of Jews in Israel and that seemed like a good marketing peg. I talk in the book about how I don't have that kind of deep connection to Israel that Jews from other parts of the world are supposed to have, and I thought maybe that's the reason. But an Israeli journalist pointed out to me that I talk about Jews as a minority and in Israel, Jews are a majority.  It never crossed my mind to think about it in that way. I think that since October 7 there are Israelis who feel that they are a minority in the world and they have a lot more in common with Diaspora Jews than they had thought. Israelis received a terrible reminder that they are Jews. "

It was also convenient to think that antisemitism wasn't a common phenomenon. My father made Aliyah from Romania in the late 1970s when it was still part of the Soviet communist bloc; whenever I expressed a desire to leave Israel he would say: "Wherever you are, you will always be a dirty Jew." I thought he was exaggerating. 

"A lot of Jews who don't live in Israel tell me that I should feel more connected to Israel. The reason they tell me that is that as Jews they will always be hated and if things go wrong they will always have somewhere to go – Israel.  I never really thought that was a useful way to think about antisemitism because I felt that Jews in the West – in the United States and Europe – don't need to think about a shelter. They don't need to think 'we need a place to hide;' they should be standing up to antisemitism in the places they live.

"The interesting thing is that Jews in Europe and America are obsessive about antisemitism. Perhaps you are right, perhaps Israelis until recently weren't like that because they didn't want to believe, and because they didn't experience it in Israel. It is really different. I never thought about it. We live in a Jewish state, we see an increase in antisemitism whenever Israel goes to war and it's only then that we see condemnation of Israel around the world. I don't think Israelis are aware that antisemitism is a routine issue for Jews overseas."

Q: You said that the events of October 7 awakened within you a need to express solidarity with Israel that you had not felt previously. Perhaps those events caused you to understand that while you made a distinction between your Judaism and Israel, the rest of the world doesn't make that distinction. 

"I think it's a little simplistic to put it that way. Your perception that all the Jews who live in London or New York have some kind of deep romantic connection to Israel isn't necessarily right. For some of us, it's a foreign country. I speak with Jews who say it's their homeland, the land of their ancestors, and I don't know what they are talking about. What is a motherland, what does that mean?"

Q: What I mean is a historically based spiritual connection.

"Yes, but the phrase "land of my forefathers" hints that this a place where one wants to live, but most Jews who say that don't actually want to live in Israel – they want to live in London and say Israel is my homeland. But I am a British Jew. By the way, I want to make it clear that I am not anti-Zionist; I am also not necessarily a Zionist. For a long time that quite simply wasn't the issue. I refuse to succumb to the idea that all Jews, especially in progressive eyes, should be classified by what they think about Israel.

"Until recently, my thing was" I don't really think too much about Israel unless something or someone forces me to do so and that happens sometimes. That was my position on the matter. And then came October 7 and everything was cast aside and replaced by an emotional reaction to what happened. So that might be a bad point to connect, but it is nevertheless a point that connects my family history to what happened to people there. It was a pogrom, right? That connected me."

Is Hollywood really Jewish

 One of the most shocking things that has happened since the war is the ease with which people allow themselves to write pretty terrible things about Jews online. Replace the word "Jews" with any other race, and they wouldn't dare talk that way.

"Another thing I have noticed is that people are more willing now to talk about 'Jewish power' or whatever you want to call it, 'Zionist power.' The idea that Jews can have a fundamental influence on geopolitics, that they control America or whatever. Before, people were more aware that this was an antisemitic portrayal and they wouldn't say it out loud. But now they say it all the time. It's absolutely fine now to say that obviously the reason that America funds Israel is because the Jews fundamentally control the American administration."

Q: In your book, you write about the fact that from the perspective of the progressive Left, discrimination against Jews simply doesn't exist. Their argument is that Jews are in positions of power in the economy, in Hollywood, in culture, literature, the universities, in politics. What's your answer to that?

"I say that's not true. It's something that is said about Jews all the time, and people just believe it. For example, people in Germany in the 1920s, before World War II, and not just Nazis, thought that Jews controlled banks. But the real numbers showed that Jews constituted about two percent of the banking industry in Germany at the time. Still, people believed that Jews were overrepresented in the banking industry

"If you check how many Jewish agents there are in Hollywood, you'll find that there are quite a lot, and that leads people to say that showbusiness is controlled by Jews. But I did a documentary version of the book, which was broadcast on Channel 4, and we struggled to find Jews who would work as directors, who would work in production, simply because there aren't that many."

Q: Some people would argue that there are a lot of Jewish producers in the movie business.

"In the beginning, a long time ago, some Jewish immigrants went to Hollywood and built the studios, because they were good at telling stories. But they didn't tell mostly Jewish stories or hire Jewish actors or writers. But that's not the case any longer.

"Even though people think Jews are all over show business, there aren't that many of them in the industry – certainly not in Britain. And I know most of them. Jewishness certainly exists when we meet, but not all the time – none of us are religious. It has been more present since October 7. Some, like Stephen Fry, have become more Jewish, or at least think more about the fact that they are Jewish."

The theme of how progressives view Jews as compared to other minorities is one that Baddiel explores in depth in his book.

"I discovered that the ethnic minority with the most millionaires in the world is Indians, not Jews," he says. "But the important point is not that they're Indians, it's that no progressive will ever say, 'Well, that makes anti-Indian racism a good thing.' We are indeed a minority, and if we succeeded in achieving small pockets of success, it should not be used as a weapon against us to say that antisemitism does not exist."

Q: It's interesting that people ignore the issue of color. Not all Jews are really white.

"It has more to do with the cataloguing of Jews as white or non-white by non-Jews. The fact is that for many years far-right extremists, or Nazis, said, 'It doesn't matter what your skin tone is – if you're Jewish you're not part of the Aryan race.' In other words, you're actually not white simply by virtue of your Jewishness.

"On the other end of the spectrum, a lot of progressives describe Jews as white. It's interesting to consider how much opposition there is to the idea of Jews as people of color. A few days ago, an Israeli-British guy was thrown out of a comedy show in London. A comedian named Paul Currie, whom I don't know took out a Palestinian flag at the end of his performance at the Soho Theatre and asked people in the audience to stand up and give an ovation. Only the Israeli refused to do so.

"Instead of poking fun at him for not having the same beliefs as he does, which is what Currie could have done, he told him to get out. The Israeli left the venue. In any other context that would have been a white man kicking a black man out of his show, a racist event.  But when Israel is in the equation somehow the guy isn't black any longer

Q: Hamas terrorists look like poster boys for toxic masculinity, another popular term in recent years. Still, they are categorized as the good guys in this situation.

"In my documentary, author Jonathan Safran Foer says that people today like to see the world in a very simplistic way – a world of victims and victimizers. They seem to find it hard to see Jews as victims. And for those who see the world that way, it's very difficult to see victims like the women of October 7 and see that they are no longer the victimizers. You have to rethink your whole worldview to understand that."

Israel is used as an excuse

 Aside from being a proud Jew (the kind who describes himself in his Twitter bio as "Jew," in a kind of defiant reclaiming of the term, which is considered by many to be derogatory), for years, Baddiel has been cultivating another obsession. Being an avid football fan led him and his former comedy partner Frank Skinner to write "Three Lions" (or "Football's coming home" as many know it) an anthem written in 1996 when England hosted the European championship, and which is still a popular chant when England competes in international matches. The popularity and relevance of the song, almost three decades later, sometimes surprise him too, especially given the response the song received when it was released.

Q: It must be very satisfying to have written an anthem.

"When you write, you hope that it will catch on; nothing I ever wrote succeeded like "Three Lions." When Frank Skinner and I wrote the words we thought about the experience of being a football fan, especially in England. The feeling isn't 'we are going to win' which is what is expressed in other songs, but that we will probably lose. That's the idea behind the song. 'We will probably lose but we hope that on this magical path, there will be one time that we win."

"What happened was that against Scotland at Euro 96, England won, and as the teams walked off the pitch the DJ in the stadium played the song, and the whole crowd joined in. Until then, we didn't know they liked this song. It was such a magical moment when everyone At Wembley sang it, except of course for the Scots. Everyone knew the lyrics and sang them as if they were part and parcel of the identity of English fans."

Q: The critics didn't like it when it came out.

"No, and they still don't like it. It got pretty bad reviews but who cares about reviews? People now know that it's the most famous song, the one that is most identified with the England national team, and I think it will be like that forever. When it came out in 1996, the general feeling was that it wasn't cool. You got to remember that it was written in 1996, during the 'Cool Britania' period [when UK culture was popular all over the world and a source of pride for British people] Everyone was hoping that Oasis or some other band would write it, but they were wrong."

Q: For decades after the Holocaust, Israel was popular, it was cool to like us.

"When I was in a Zionist-socialist youth group called Habonim, they wanted to get people to go to kibbutz and make Aliyah, which I never did. But in the 1970s, kibbutz was a progressive thing, and many leftists aspired to the kibbutz lifestyle. I think that's changed for a lot of reasons. Some of them have to do with things that have happened in the Middle East.

"Part of it has to do with the fact that after the Holocaust there was a collective sense of guilt in the world, certainly in Europe, about what happened to the Jews. There was a small window where, for the first time in history, there was sympathy for the Jews. And then people thought that antisemitism was a thing of the past, 'something that happened during World War II.'  Of course, that isn't the case.

"People now use Israel as an excuse. Last week in London, a Star of David necklace on a statue of Amy Winehouse was covered with a sticker of the Palestinian flag. People are so stupid that when they see a Star of David, they automatically think it has something to do with Israel and the Palestinians. No, this statue has to do with the fact that she was Jewish and lived in Camden. That's a long, long way from Tel Aviv and Gaza."

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International pop icon Christina Aguilera will perform a concert in Israel in the summer.

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The event will be held on August 10 in Rishon Lezion, central Israel.

The legendary singer will celebrate an impressive 25 years of career with her Israeli fans.

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Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy winner whose roles on the TV megahit "Cheers" and in the "Look Who's Talking" films made her one of the biggest stars in American comedy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, died Monday. She was 71.

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Alley died of cancer that was only recently discovered, her children True and Lillie Parker said in a post on Twitter.

"As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother," her children's statement said.

She starred opposite Ted Danson as Rebecca Howe on "Cheers," the beloved NBC sitcom about a Boston bar, from 1987 to 1993. Alley would win an Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy series for the role in 1991. She would take a second Emmy for best lead actress in a miniseries or television movie in 1993 for playing the title role in the CBS TV movie "David's Mother."

She had her own sitcom on the network, "Veronica's Closet," from 1997 to 2000.

In the 1989 comedy "Look Who's Talking," which gave her a major career boost, she played the mother of a baby who's inner thoughts were voiced by Bruce Willis. She would also appear in a 1990 sequel "Look Who's Talking Too," and another in 1993, "Look Who's Talking Now."

John Travolta, her co-star in the trilogy, paid her tribute in an Instagram post.

"Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I've ever had," Travolta said, along with a photo of Alley. "I love you Kirstie. I know we will see each other again."

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Creator and screenwriter Michael Leendertse was only 10 years old when one of the most tragic flight disasters took place in the Bijlmer neighborhood of Amsterdam took place. The boy, who would go on to become one of the most interesting names in the Dutch film industry, still vividly remembers the footage from that crash on television: the fire; the billowing smoke; the cries of survivors; and those who had lost their loved ones. 

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For the Dutch, the events of October 4, 1992, were the type that scar the collective memory. On that day, a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft operating El Al Flight 1862 crashed on two residential buildings in southeastern Amsterdam, in the Bijlmer neighborhood. For the Netherlands, the sheer scale of the loss that day is on par with 9/11 for Americans.

"My family lived in Rotterdam at the time, and like many people in the Netherlands, I was glued to the television screen. It was a very powerful experience," Leendertse told Israel Hayom ahead of the launch of his miniseries on the tragedy. 

"The events hit me hard; I can still recall all of it as if it happened just now. The Dutch had never experienced a crash of such magnitude, and the footage on television was horrific. I remember my mother calling my aunt who was living in Amsterdam to ask her if she was OK because we could not figure out how extensive the damage was and I can still vividly remember that emotional call between my mother and my aunt. There are only a few moments in our national history that a certain generation can remember in such a visceral way, and this is probably one of them. Everyone remembers where they were when the Bijlmer tragedy struck.

It turns out not everyone. Yours truly was born in 1982 – just like Leendertse. And even though the events were directly related to my country because of the national airline that had crashed, I only had a rudimentary familiarity with the facts of this case until now. Even though the anniversaries have been marked by various articles in Israel, the Jewish state has – by and large – avoided dealing with this, despite its airliner indirectly causing the death of 43 people on its way to Israel after making a stopover in Amsterdam from New York's JFK airport.

Even the fact that this has been El Al's only air accident caused by technical failure has not put this story on the front burner, making it almost an afterthought in our collective psyche. Perhaps this is because it happened on foreign soil or because the casualties were mostly non – Israeli. Or perhaps because our daily lives are replete with similar anniversaries that this just got overlooked.

"I heard about this [lack of familiarity] from Israeli journalists and others, and I was quite surprised," he said. "This was a colossal event here, and people in the Netherlands remember it and its aftermath in great detail. Perhaps this is because there were only three Israeli crewmembers and one Israeli passenger who was on the plane. The horror was felt on our soil of course, so maybe that is one of the reasons," he continues.

"It's not being taught in school" 

For the 40 – year – old Dutch filmmaker, although the images from the disaster comprise the defining hallmark of this work, they are not its focus. As he sees it, the miniseries "The Crash" that he created to mark the 30th anniversary of the disaster aims to tell a political thriller. It is about how a catastrophe can shine a light on the darkest aspects of the Dutch government, as well as the inner dealings that were designed to stage a cover-up t that would conceal the nature of the cargo – including the information on the question of whether it had dangerous substances that were to be sent to Israel's Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona.

The show also deals with the host of medical problems that had emerged in the wake of the accidents among those exposed to the substances. These claims were all but ignored by the authorities. This neglect was, to a large extent, a consequence of the patients being from a disadvantaged socioeconomic immigrant background. The story tells the story of several survivors and how they coped with the event, alongside an exposé that uncovers unknown facts on the case.

Q: It's hard not to see the striking resemblance to the series "Chernobyl." 

"Yes, the series was part of my inspiration, but only in terms of the overall theme. Chornobyl also deals with corrupt governments, although that may be too harsh of a word. Rather, I would say that it deals with governments that try to cover up the facts and provides a political agenda that trumps their citizens' health. This is the theme of our series as well. But I think that my series stands on its own. Just like I said, not everyone from the generation that came before me truly remembers the tragedy's impact; it took six years to imagine. People have a general recollection of events: the crash and the people who wore white hazmat suits [according to testimonies, these were probably because they were searching for the traces of depleted uranium in the cargo – A.F.) and there were various conspiracy theories. But there are other facts that are very much unique to this case.

"The disappearance of the black box for example. That doesn't just happen. It took me a decade to carry out the investigation for the miniseries because people only remember the big things. I spoke with journalists and politicians on the disease and medical issues that emerged after the event, and even for me – as someone who has been aware of the details – this came as a shock to hear all the details. This is part of my history. I have very young nephews and when I tell them about the day the plane crashed and the apartment block that got destroyed they look at me with wide eyes of disbelief because this is never taught in school. So the series caters to younger generations as well. Some of what it does is to relive our history and I think it managed to do so. In recent weeks everyone has been talking about this event once again and why it is important to have the right lessons drawn."

Q: Do you think the event was a watershed moment in terms of the trust between the Dutch people and their leaders? 

"Yes, it was the beginning of this. A week ago we saw a poll showing that 73% of the population does not trust the Dutch government. This was all over the news. There are serious trust issues when it comes to the government, and this is also the case on a global scale. I also think that a lot of the conspiracy theories are the product of that era. Over the past five years, Dutch politics has been going through some turbulence because people felt that their well–being has been neglected for the sake of politics. So this series allows us to look at things through the prism of political scandals that are still unfolding in the Netherlands." 

Q: The tragedy didn't help diplomatic ties between the two countries. 

"Right, it caused some friction. Of course, relations between the two nations have been thriving since the 1960s and 1970s. I think that it was Prime Minister Golda Meir who said that the Netherlands was Israel's eternal friend. We have always had good relations with Israel, but that event truly created some chasm. I read that Israel considered having El Al move out of Schiphol." 

Unanswered questions

More than 50 homes were destroyed in the crash. Initially, some 200 people were believed to have perished in the crash, but the official figure ultimately dropped to 43 (although many still believe that the number is higher because the families of the deceased did not report them missing for fear of jeopardizing their immigration status). In Israel, a commission of inquiry was formed with former Israeli Air Force chief Amos Lapidot as chairman. A separate commission was created in the Netherlands. Investigators quickly ruled out terrorism but over the years the rumors surrounding the payload only spread wider. The official version is that the plane was carrying fruit, beauty products, perfumes, and computer hardware. 

Having bearly processed the enormity of the tragedy, many simply accepted the official narrative without asking too many questions. But when the local outlet  Het Handelsblad published an exposé on the sixth anniversary, people were shocked to learn that the plane had also been carrying 10 tons of chemicals, including phosphonic acid and other substances that could be used for the production of nerve agents.

Israel, as is usually the case, was tightlipped about such security matters. The fact that the internal recording system of the cockpit was destroyed along with any information on the critical moments leading up to the crash did not help shed the image that Israel was trying to hide the true nature of the content on board. The exposé provided a plausible explanation as to why the survivors and others in the area had begun to suffer from various medical problems. Ultimately, El Al confirmed that the plan also had 50 gallons of dangerous substances that were indeed supposed to go to the biological institute in Ness Ziona. 

"The Crash" is based on the investigation carried out by independent journalist Vincent Dekker, who exposed this scandal. One of the most important scenes in the first episode shows the journalist talking with a barwoman who helps him collect testimony. He focuses on aeronautics but she tells him it's a human story. Leendertse strikes a balance between the two stories: On the one hand, this is a political thriller on government corruption; on the other hand, this is a human drama that deals with how people pick up the pieces following a traumatic event on a national and personal level. 

Q: How do you balance the two stories considering their enormity?

"There is a reason why it took me 10 years to work on this. I am a filmmaker, not a documentarian. So I had to create dramatization. This is my interpretation of history. The first thing I had to do was find a perspective through which I can tell this story. So I met Vincent Dekker; he is still alive. Like me, he stumbled upon this path despite the story not directly impacting him. And like me, he was shocked when he spoke with the people living there. Our discussion lasted three hours over coffee and it convinced me that this is one of the most important stories there is to tell, and not just in Dutch history.

"One of the many shortcomings of a political system is that it looks at the citizens primarily as a statistic rather than as human beings. This is the story that Vincent told me, and this is what I did in the series. It starts off with the technical aspects and then eventually the human story emerges. I listen to it for hours. In the beginning, it feels like a journalistic thriller, before captivating the reader with the fascinating human stories, however weird it may be to use that description. The biggest challenge was not to assign specific blame. I wanted to blame the system because this is a universal story that is not unique to the Netherlands. It is an age-old story of interests and money that trump human lives." 

Q: Did you talk with the survivors? 

"Yes, it was the second step in the investigation. Vincent really helped me in locating the people who were living there at the time. Many of them still live there and are afraid to talk. Some are still furious and have the same questions they had then. The biggest lesson I draw from this story is that hundreds – perhaps thousands – of people, still carry the same unanswered questions they had back then." 

Q: I'm told that you are a LEGO and Star Wars aficionado. So what had you drawn into such a serious subject? 

"I think that over the past ten years I have matured. I became a father and began to feel more like a citizen of this country. I am deeply concerned about the polarization between the people and the politicians. I don't want to paint all politicians as bad people; this is not my goal. But when I look at my little girl I am worried because you need to talk about the system's faults and do so in a frank matter. I still very much like LEGO and Star Wars." 

Q: Does it mean that your next project is going to have much less seriousness? 

"I like to be versatile and do a variety of things; I am now working on an adventure show. But I think that this project made me realize how much I want to expand my knowledge of history – Dutch, European, and even the world's – and turn it into something people can see as entertainment. 'The Crash' is a thriller that successfully teaches history through entertainment. And this is what I want to do again." 

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Of the thousands of live performances Andrea Bocelli has given over the course of his career, his concert at Masada in June 2011 is one he won't forget soon.

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The Italian tenor appeared at the foot of the historical site, and what would have been just another performance – the breathtaking surroundings notwithstanding – turned into a battle against the forces of nature. The heavy desert winds set the microphones hanging from the overhead rigging swinging.

The wind was heavy throughout the evening, and eventually became part of the concert, trying to steal the stage.

"I remember the situation well, because it was a very beautiful place, but the wind was immense. I definitely remember," Bocelli tells Israel Hayom in a phone interview from his home in Tuscany.

Bocelli is planning a "one-time mega concert" in Israel, to take place at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, June 8. Bocelli will appear with the Israel Philharmonic and the Gary Bertini Israeli Choir.

"The audience at Masada was very warm," he says. "Of course, it was harder for me than a regular performance, because it was unusual to be singing and competing with the wind. But I've been in Israel many times, and I have lots of good memories. My first visit was many years ago, when Zubin Mehta called me and asked me to replace a singer who was ill. Since then, I've established a good relationship with Zubin. I recorded 'La Boheme' in Tuscany with Maestro Mehta. I have wonderful memories of Israel, and I'm waiting for more, because it's been a long time since I've had a chance to visit your country."

Q: You also met with the late Shimon Peres. What do you remember from that meeting?

"It was very exciting for me, because Peres was a very important political personality. In meeting with people at his level, I think it's best to listen. On occasions like that, I let the important people talk, because we can learn a lot from them. He was very nice to me. I met him again in Rome, at a charity event. He introduced me to [former PLO leader Yasser] Arafat there."

It was nothing unusual for Bocelli, 63, to be rubbing elbows with the world's greats. After a 30-year career, a wealth of prizes and awards, and over 70 million albums sold, he is certainly one of the greatest names in the world of opera specifically and culture as a whole.

Bocelli is also known for working with some of the hottest names in pop music, and his repertoire includes duets and collaborations with musicians like Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, and Ed Sheeran.

Q: How important is it to you to join forces with the world of pop music?

"The truth is that I started a career in pop music when I was 18. I got into pop as a youth, when I played hits from bars and nightclubs on the piano. By the way, I don't find that pop and classical music are so different. Ed Sheeran asked me to sing an amazing song with him called 'Perfect Symphony,' because he was looking for a tenor.

"You say it's 'trailblazing,' but in reality, I'm just the latest person to do it. This connection goes back to the 18th century. I believe that it's important to continue the tradition. To touch people, you need to speak their language."

'I knew the pandemic would end'

It's hard to sum up Bocelli's three decades of success. He was born with glaucoma and lost his sight at age 12, but was given one of the most beloved voices of his generation. He is married for a second time and a father of three – two adult sons with his first wife, from whom he separated in 2002, and a young daughter with his current wife, Veronica Berti, who is also his manager.

He sang at the funeral of his good friend and fellow tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who passed away in 2007, and also gave a chilling performance in New York at the end of 2001, months after the 9/11 attacks, staged at Ground Zero on the ruins of the former World Trade Center. Unable to see the devastation, his other senses kicked in.

"I was able to smell what was there. It was a very moving moment, because families of the people killed in the attacks were there. The smells of the tragedy were in the air, and I had to sing at a very critical, sensitive moment.

"I haven't forgotten anything, and I'll never forget the tears. People never stopped crying there. These are things that are hard to explain or describe. Maestro Pavarotti's funeral was also very emotionally loaded for me. He was the person who launched my career, and I'll always be grateful to him."

Another moment in Bocelli's career that quickly became iconic happened at the peak of the COVID pandemic, early in 2020. The first lockdown was in place, and images of coffins in Italy were flooding the news broadcasts and horrifying the world. While all this was going on, Bocelli filmed an Easter concert in the main cathedral in Milan, empty. It was an almost surreal sight, but one that underscored where the world was.

The concert garnered over 40 million views on Bocelli's YouTube channel and provided some comfort for many who were closed in at home, confused. Bocelli himself had contracted the virus, but refused to report it because he didn't want to worry his fans and preferred to protect his family's privacy.

"I don't really consider that performance in the Duomo a concert, but more a prayer for me and for anyone who wanted to join me to remember those the virus took," he says.

"As far as my contracting the virus, I wasn't really worried, because in the end, we were just at home. It was a terrible experience, because the worst thing that can happen is to have your freedom taken away. I missed my audience, I missed the freedom of movement, and being forced to stay at home made me feel like my freedom was stolen.

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"So it was really terrible, but I was also optimistic because I knew that throughout history, all pandemics ended after three years. Even in times and places where there were no antibiotics or medical staff – eventually, it ends, so I wasn't really worried. I was the first one in my house to get it, but I treated it as something that would pass."

Q: How do you view the world after COVID? How has it changed for you?

"There's no doubt that it changed the world, and you can never go back. The pandemic caused radical changes and stirred up fears and lots of other things that were happening below the surface, which we'll need to work on and cope with as a society. Today, the situation in Italy is good. There are no government limitations, but there are still plenty of people who place themselves under restrictions. They still wear masks and can't get back to their former lives."

Advice to his musician son

While it's hard to argue with success, Bocelli has not been a darling of the critics. The New York Times classical music critic wrote in 1999 that Bocelli did not use "proper technique" and claimed that Bocelli did not have true mastery of the notes that came out of his throat. Other critics have claimed that he has difficulty maintaining rhythm, and the Guardian critic was unimpressed by the voice beloved by millions. Bocelli himself does not reveal any offense taken, at least during our conversation.

"Oscar Wilde said that people will forgive you for everything but success. That's how the world works. There's an entire book that is nothing but criticism of the soprano Maria Callas, and she was one of the best-known, most successful singers in the world!"

Q: Your son Matteo recently entered the world of music. What do you think of his work?

"Personally, I like his songs and what he writes, but my opinion isn't too important. What's important is how the audience reacts … Sadly, in the music world the numbers are what matters. One person's opinion carries weight, to a certain point. Obviously, I give Matteo advice when he asks for it, but I think the best advice you can give your children is to serve as an example."

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Alec John Such, the bassist and a founding member of the iconic rock band Bon Jovi, has died. He was 70.

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The group on Sunday announced the death of Such, the New Jersey band's bassist from 1983 to 1994. No details on when or how Such died were immediately available.

Alec, you will be missed pic.twitter.com/yK0RlgVkZc

— Jon Bon Jovi (@jonbonjovi) June 5, 2022

"He was an original," Bon Jovi wrote in a post on Twitter. "As a founding member of Bon Jovi, Alec was integral to the formation of the band."

Bon Jovi credited Such for bringing the band together, noting that he was a childhood friend of drummer Tico Torres and brought guitarist and songwriter Richie Sambora to see the band perform. Such departed the band in 1994, when he was replaced by bassist Hugh McDonald. He later rejoined the band for its induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

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Actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has released a Twitter video appealing to Russian soldiers to end the war in Ukraine.

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In the nine-minute video, captioned, "I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth," Schwarzenegger speaks directly to the Russian people, telling them that they are being engulfed in state propaganda and do not understand what is taking place in Ukraine.

The "Terminator" star tells Russian viewers that the claims that the Ukrainian government is "Nazi" are false, and points out that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and lost much of his family in the Holocaust.

"I know your government has told you that this is a war to denazify Ukraine … This is not true," he says. "Ukraine did not start this war. Neither did nationalists, or Nazis. Those in power in the Kremlin started this war. This is not the Russian people's war," he continues.

I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share. pic.twitter.com/6gyVRhgpFV

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) March 17, 2022

Schwarzenegger also talks about his own father, who was a Nazi soldier during World War II and fought at Leningrad. He says his father had been captivated by Nazi propaganda, and returned from the war a broken man, physically and emotionally. His father, Schwarzenegger said, was consumed by guilt after realizing that the facts of the situation were different than those he had been fed.

Schwarzenegger also speaks directly to Russian soldiers, warning them not to repeat his father's mistakes, and reminding them that they are attacking civilians, schools, and children. "This is an illegal war," he tells them. "Your lives, your limbs, your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war condemned by the entire world."

Not pulling his punches, he also has words for Russian President Vladimir Putin: "Your started this war. You are leading this war. You can stop this war."

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