Ro Khanna's West Bank Trip and Why The Right Words Aren't Enough- w/ James Ray

well that's a great uh thing to start off on a positive note now we'll get to when i had initially messaged you i think a couple weeks back now to discuss this is right around the time that Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative from Silicon Valley, went to the West Bank, was around journalists that I follow.

There's a lot of really good things, I think, in my view, Jasper Nathaniel.

There was also Henry, who's an anti-Zionist Israeli that really spends a lot of time in the West Bank, a singular figure in a lot of ways on the front from Israel.

Yeah, one of the 13 ethical Israelis, yeah.

Yeah, something like that.

And it was like a firestorm of virality, I think, for a lot of like good reasons that people saw.

And then, of course, there was the Zionist backlash, which was to be expected.

But when you saw this video of I saw initially we're kind of going to the West Bank and then saw the detainment video and the pictures and things of that nature.

And then some of the reporting around, including from Jasper and other people.

What was your initial reaction before he started doing the interview rounds, which will maybe get to some clips and things like that? But what was your initial reaction to this and what did you think about it, given Roe's history and everything in between? I

mean, my initial reaction was, I think, generally overwhelmingly positive.

Like, it's good to see, I think, elected officials engaging in an on-the-ground capacity to kind of see the actual material harm occurring on the ground.

I am a firm believer that you don't need to be on the ground to know that things are bad.

So, like, obviously, like, I have... mixed opinions of like a political actor kind of like going over there for like purely like PR reasonings.

But I do, I see the value in like being able to highlight that, right? And I was hoping ideally that he would come back from that experience possibly with a bit of a different position than he's traditionally kind of had.

Because Rakan has been, I know we can talk about this a little bit, like, a real mixed bag historically on like Palestine, especially mixed bag being like, I think the nicest way I can put it.

I mean, and, and so like, we've seen some progression in his positions leftward over time, particularly around being able to call what's going on in Gaza genocide.

Um, some of his general prescriptions around like wanting to potentially try Israeli leadership and some Israeli soldiers who are engaged in Gaza and committing crimes there.

But like, then the interview started and it was like, okay, like cool.

Yeah.

Before we, before I, maybe I have, I've got one from Jasper and of course the one everyone watched, which was Jeremy Scahill's.

But I, but I, it's interesting to me to, to see somebody go there, like living, right? Like I have not, I have not, I'm sure you probably have.

I haven't been anywhere close to some sort of situation or occupation to that degree.

Like you said, you can hear about whatever.

And, and I think there's a growing, I mean, there's a large proportion of the population, including representatives, but everyday people that they really do learn from like lived experience.