Substacks
The Stories—and Stakes—of War in Israel Bari Weiss
If you’ve been following The Free Press for the past ten or so days, you’ve noticed that we’ve been covering the war in Israel nonstop. We’ve never produced this much content in this short of a time about a single subject. Some of you might be thinking, why?
On October 7, we saw the single biggest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. But unlike the Holocaust, in which Germans tried to hide their war crimes, here the terrorists are streaming them in real time across the internet. When the reports, and the videos, started circulating, we thought: surely this amount of blood and horror will be enough to shake the world awake.
And yet, it wasn’t.
Internationally, some of the most educated people—including students, professors, and administrators at the most elite universities in the world—have either equivocated or remained silent in the face of mass atrocities. Others, by the tens of thousands, have taken to the streets to rejoice in the terrorist attack, screaming “resistance is justified” and “glory to the martyrs.”
That is why this story matters. Because this is not just a war in a faraway land; it’s a battle for civilization itself. As my friend Sam Harris recently said, “There are not many bright lines that divide good and evil in our world, but this is one of them.”
This war should matter to everyone—not just Jews—who care about the future of civilization. Because if there is one lesson from history, it’s that what starts with the Jews never ends with them. And societies in which the Jewish people are persecuted are societies in which no one is safe.
That is why we will continue to report on this war with such urgency.
On today’s episode, you’ll hear just nine of the stories from the more than three dozen Israelis we have spoken to since the attacks on October 7. We talk to a woman, Shaked, who tells us that eleven of her family members—including her three- and eight-year-old niece and nephew—were taken hostage by Hamas. We talk to survivors of the Nova music festival, like Amit and Chen, who miraculously escaped. We talk to a father whose son, Hersh, was kidnapped from the music festival, and to a mother whose daughter, Oriya, was killed there. We talk to a grandmother who hid in the safe room of her home for hours with her 10-day-old grandson as terrorists shot at them from the other side of the door.
These stories are difficult to hear. But we will keep reporting them, and hope that you will take the time to listen them, and to share.
And if you haven’t yet, become a subscriber to The Free Press:
The single most important issue in polls during the last presidential campaign was inflation. Thus it is ironic that one policy Donald Trump has preached with particular fervor is tariffs, the goal of which is to raise prices.
But the greater irony of Trump’s tariff plans is that America’s tariff system is the quintessential example of what he sometimes attacks as the deep state. Tariffs are managed by opaque bureaucracies and manipulated by high-priced lobbyists in order to extract funds from American consumers. And if one’s goal is to pare back the powers of the modern administrative state, abolishing the tariff system would be a good place to start.
When I was shaken awake by my panicked wife, around 5 a.m. on Friday morning, to the news that our former home had been the target of an antisemitic attack, I was upset—but not shocked. That’s because there is nothing unusual about what happened.
As co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, I spend my days advocating for my country’s Jewish community—which numbers around 120,000 people. And since October 7, 2023, I have woken many times to news like this. Staff, journalists, and politicians have all called in the small hours to inform me that a synagogue is burning, or that cars, daubed with antisemitic slogans, are on fire, or that yet another Jewish business has been vandalized.
But the most recent target of antisemitism in Australia is a building that was, until two years ago, my home—a whitewashed semi in Dover Heights, a comfortable Sydney suburb. This wonderfully ordinary place, which sheltered me, my wife, and our three small daughters from a global pandemic, was set on fire and vandalized. One of the arsonists also scrawled “Fuck Jews” on the side of a nearby car.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration banned Red Dye No. 3—a coloring found lurking in everything from pastries to pills. Regulators banned it on the grounds that several studies have shown a worrying tendency for the dye to cause thyroid cancer in animals. Since 1990, it has been prohibited for use in cosmetics, but it has somehow persisted in food and medicine.
Relieved by the ban? Don’t be. Red Dye No. 3 is set to be replaced by. . . Red Dye No. 40, which in Europe comes with the unencouraging warning label: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
It’s hard to shake the feeling that synthetic dyes are just the tip of a very large and very troubling iceberg.
Why the Deep State Loves Tariffs Judge Glock
In Australia, Jew-Hate Is Out of Control Alex Ryvchin
It’s Not Just Red Dye No. 3. It’s All Our Stuff. Joshua Lachter
This is What Happens When You Try to Report Dirty Cops
THE IRON-CLAD PIÑATA Seymour Hersh
The Russell Brand Rorschach Test Kathleen Stock
RARE VIDEO: 1987 DC Hearing – NBC Warns Against Removing Fairness Doctrine – Learn Why It Matters
WATCH: CSPAN Caller Call Out the Resending of the Smith-Mundt Act – Learn Why That’s IMPORTANT
WATCH: 1975 Church Comitee Hearings on the CIA Mockingbird Media
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Awakening Video1 year agoThis is What Happens When You Try to Report Dirty Cops
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Substacks10 months agoTHE IRON-CLAD PIÑATA Seymour Hersh
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Substacks1 year agoThe Russell Brand Rorschach Test Kathleen Stock
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Substacks1 year agoA real fact-check of Trump’s appearance on Meet the Press Judd Legum
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Substacks1 year agoLetter to the Children of Gaza – Read by Eunice Wong Chris Hedges