So, listen, you come highly recommended from the agency, probably a formality, but let's just do a little camera test. Yeah, Grace. No, my script would be handy as the fella says. I have my script from a YouTube show. Oh, my God, Grace, you don't mind? I forget my head if it wasn't greener. By the way, a pantsuit. Love it. Ball choice. If you'd like to... just...
Day 400 of Israel's genocide. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Might stop you there. They did not tell me that you're a mad lefty. I'm not a mad lefty. I'm a journalist. I know and I love that book. But around here we say Israel's war. We don't use the G word.
The UN has been calling it a genocide for the last year, as well as we're leaders and human rights activists. I know, but Dr. Phil disagrees. 36 Palestinians include 18 children. We say young ladies and young men, because they grew up so fast, don't they? If they grew up at home.
Ooh, this cat's gone claws! Masakards. Die? An Israeli airstrike? The Edith oat, Israeli, because, I mean, who knows who actually did it. No warning was given. Well, if there's no warning, we don't have to mention it. And then we just round off with the Hamas-run health ministry claim. Happy to go again? Pantsuit. Oh, my God.
Day 101 of World War III, which was triggered by the horrific terrorist attacks of October 7. An airstrike on what is believed to be a terrorist training camp disguised as a daycare center has mainly killed young ladies and young men. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed
Welcome to free state everybody what we call our free state saturday election special that has the as I like to say it has the
The atmosphere of the Saturday morning radio shows were the same people are there every week. Not Joe Brawley, he's always here though. Same comforting sounds coming out of you. You've got to have that slight little calm voice on a Saturday, Joe, you've got to keep
Just keep the voice a little, a little lower. You do have a lot of people who have said to me, including my mother and Mount Mora, who is scaving of everyone. As you know, I've shown you some of our workshops after the shows, but they all think you've got a beautiful voice and you're very manly. Oh, no!
You wouldn't be universally popular in the North. They don't give in boys' WhatsApp grip. It has not been county this week. Oh, really? What was that about? Well, one of the contributions that jumped out is how do you stick that blue shirt bastard?
Well, it's good to know that our attempt, whatever we're trying to attempt with this podcast, our experiences are mirrored wherever we go because that is my common message I get when I bump into people.
Keep going with that kid. The voice of reason, as a man said, when we met someone in the pub the other day. Do you remember that? Another one of them, just looking at it, here's this. And it needs to go to a psychiatrist. He's obsessed with the area, that boy. I said, well, I mean, he is a free stater. I said, look, as my father famously said, he said, you know, don't be too harsh in the free stater. Some of them are nearly as Irish as we are.
Well, that's the whole debate, isn't it? It's sometimes a wonder why you want to unite with us at all, given how much you despise us. It's a quildering to me. We understand that Dublin Unionists are also part of people who hank her back to the days of the Empire and all of that. They're also part of Ireland. These are people we must bring with us.
Don't hank her back to the days of the empire. Just, you know, moving on. Well, sure. All you ever do is talk about cricket and stuff and soccer and, you know, everywhere they have atrocities from this, everything. Everyone talking about soccer is, well, the one I talked about on Thursday was from 1990. But anyone, you know, anyone tells you that soccer isn't harking back to the empire. I have to say, even, even you see the people talk about these things now, you know, the,
And I wonder, maybe this is a wee bit optimistic and presumptuous, that over the last sort of year and a half that we've been doing this, we've put this on the agenda. I was thinking about it again last night, you know, on our team in news last night.
where they did a very, very cursory report on the International Criminal Court issuing the arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Galant, the former defense minister for war crimes. Whereas it was a very performatory report, they did a lengthy, they had a very lengthy segment on the Birmingham bombings
which as the glamorous britette looked at me and she said, why are they doing such a... And I said to her, well, it's the middle of an election campaign. You know, it's a very subtle and powerful way to IRA, to say, look, you know,
We're in the middle of an election campaign and there's one party here who are, as you would put it, and extractably linked to the IRA, even though the Birmingham bombing switch goes without saying terrible, terrible, terrible atrocities. And in fact,
I should tell the listener that Dion whose content, whose contacts are endless, endless, has managed to secure a treasured interview with the great Chris Mullen, you know, the famous proper labor MP, even labor, actually meant labor, who was at the very heart of the successful campaign to have the Birmingham Six exonerate and the others who were convicted. Stickspot and you're done giving WhatsApp group.
You're right. What do you think about that? No, boys. You think about that now? I didn't give it once. After one of the Murphy boys called you a black bastard. Well, there you go now. So he's coming in. But the point is this, that was up front and center. And then Claire Byrne, who was interviewing Mary Lou. I mean, really, it was Ray Hostel. I mean, we both remarked on it watching it, Ray Hostel.
It was, you know, IRN, I was asking about apologies. But what is this? Is this on Virgin or on LRT? No, but let me, let me, I want to come to the main point rather than... No, no, no, no, which interview you're talking about because then I just make sure you get the right purpose.
Yeah, wasn't it? It was Claire Byrne. On Virgin? No, she's... I know she's on our team. Mary's who did a big interview on Virgin this week. I on Virgin, yeah, yeah. But my point is that, you know, people of good faith must say, well, why? Why is this const... I mean, I saw your man Thomas Byrne from Fina Fueil, who met once. I've said, I don't think much of them, you know, but that's by the by.
He is a vintage air and he was on mark for others, but it was very interesting to see him in different handling
Meet Mark Carollars has been decorated by Her Majesty the Queen. Fantastic fella, obviously from a very different tradition than mine. But I would like to think I'm friendly with Mark, and I have tremendous time for his abilities. I think he's a truly outstanding journalist. But it was interesting to see
the difference in handling by a veteran BBC reporter from Belfast, and how RTE, for example, or the other mainstream channels here, handle this sort of thing. So Thomas Byrne was on, and Mark was pressing him about FNA5 saying that they wouldn't go into any coalition with Sinn Fien.
And he was highlighting the hypocrisy when they had said that they would never go into Mehel Martin said he would never go into coalition with Finnegeo, and then promptly did just that to keep Sinn Féin out. But whenever Thomas Burns started the IRA, he started talking about Sinn Féin and their friends in the IRA. Marco others immediately stopped.
and said, what's the relevance of that? What does that got to do with policy? What does that got to do with an election campaign now? See, because we're just fed up to the teeth with this nonsense in the Norris, and people have been saying, I mean, what? Like genuinely. And he stopped him in his tracks. He was talking about, you know,
what the IRA did, and the damage the IRA have done, and Sinn Fein and their friends in the IRA. And all of that would be absolutely fine with the southern media establishment, but curlers stopped it immediately. And, you know,
It made me think about something that we have discussed on this show before, one of the most horrific events of The Troubles, the abduction and murder of Jane McCombell. And you'll recall that there's a Disney series that's just about to be released called Say Nothing and you had talked about to do.
Brilliant. The writer was, et cetera, et cetera. The book is a fantastic book. The book was fantastic, yeah. And a very important contribution, et cetera, you were saying. And it's been released now at this particular time. And there's been a lot of publicity around it in the South. But I don't know if you saw Michael McConville's open letter.
The press changed some. Yeah. Yeah. He said this series, this portrayal of my mother's murder, he said, which is very well known. Everyone knows about it. I mean, it's been talked about endlessly. This portrayal in an entertainment series is horrendous. And you will never understand how cruel this is for me and my family.
Another telling of my mother's story for other people's agendas that we have to endure, even though everyone knows this, people who use this as a stick or as entertainment, and they have no genuine interest in us, he said, they'll move on, and I can't.
No, it's very powerful. Yes, but it's more than very powerful. It's the truth and it goes to the heart of the hypocrisy. And this thing about, well, what do you say? Do you condemn this atrocity? Do you condemn that atrocity? And do you do? It's a bit like, do you condemn Hamas when someone's talking about the genocide that unfolds? You hold them up
for a minute or two in the course of a precious two or three minutes in television. They said, yes, well, but do you condemn and am I asked them? We've seen RTE, interviewers and BBC interviewers, et cetera, repeatedly do that so that it's impossible to get into any flow and make the point. It's just a propagandistic tool.
But it reminded me of something that John Finukin said when I was interviewing him. And I was asking him about his father. And he said, imagine me saying to somebody, do you condemn the murder of my father? To use it as a tool to avoid difficult questions or to divert people from the real issues. And he was very emphatic about it.
You know, and that is the interesting thing about my community in the north. They don't do these things. They don't do this. They don't say, well, do you condemn that or do you condemn this or do you condemn that or do you condemn this? Because it's our lived experience. And you know, we do not want to use that.
in a hypocritical way, you know, to make cheap points, which is precisely what Jean MacConville's son has said. And I'd tell you my friend, they endured more than most. Not only was there, not only was there mother abductors and taken away from them, you know, a huge big family of children. She was tortured and then murdered. And then her body was buried.
never been found, desperate, desperate, desperate situation. And then people like Thomas Byrne, you know, or dare I say it yourself, even though you're a person of good faith. Well, isn't these things to say? Well, what about that? Yeah, but I mean, what about that? Don't dare you say yourself stuff. Don't do that. You were the one who talked about what a great book it was and about how important the contribution it would be.
Why is it a great book? Because it tells the history of something. Everybody knows there's three of us. There's been countless documents. We stop writing history books, do we? Do we stop writing history books? It's not a question of that. The question is the motivation. The question is the motivation.
Well, I don't think that if you read the book, you wouldn't come, there is no, it is not a black and white book. It is not a book that you actually come out of a going. It is not a book that is IRA-ing in any way. Well, the series certainly is the area that is sort of a jolly feisty grip of plucky chaps.
What else would you expect? I would have been wary of having read the book and knowing how much gets lost when books get turned into television series or into films that you lose so much of the nuance. It's a book of
of real complexity and a really detailed work. I have no issue with that. The issue that I have is the way that it is used.
There's a word for this quiddling. It's to concentrate on trivial issues. That's not to say that that horrendous murder was trivial or anything like it. That's a life sentence for her family and those who loved her. And it reverberated around the north and it reverberates to this day. But what I mean by that is diverting.
diverting from the important issues that are occurring during this election campaign. You're not going to create on trivial ones. Well, that's fine. That's fine. That's grand. But when you say to me, dare you say it, like you've put Thomas Byrne in and then you say me somehow bringing up the murder of Jean MacConville, which I haven't actually, I've mentioned talked about the book. I haven't used it in the context. I haven't used any time we've talked with this. I've never used it in the context of
No, I appreciate that. I accept that. And whenever we've had conversations about this, I'm making the same point. But you have talked repeatedly about the area, the area, and apologies, and apologies, and apologies. No, I haven't talked about apologizing. I've talked about apologizing. You've talked to Mary, you've talked about it. I've talked about apologizing in terms of how an apology is framed. I'm not talking about, do you condemn? I'm not interested in that. I think it is a fascinating
I think where Sinn Fein are now is really interesting. What are Sinn Fein doing on the day we're recording on Friday? They're talking about Irish unity, okay? 2% of Sinn Fein voters are going to vote for Sinn Fein on the basis of Irish unity, but Sinn Fein are talking about it. In some ways you could say that's a trivial issue because most of their voters that alone anyone else aren't interested. But they're talking about it. So when we're talking about Irish unity... No, it's the important
Let me finish. I'm pissed off with you now. Let me finish. When you're talking about that, you have to talk about who you want to be united with. When you talk about who you want to be united with, you have to acknowledge
the baggage and the legacy of things. That is what I'm talking about. And what I am interested in. Let me finish. Let me finish. It's going to be a really short podcast, okay? Let me finish, right? When we talk about that, what we're talking about is how you move it forward. And I think someone, you know, I thought it was very interesting when Michelle O'Neill did that really important
gesture and more than a gesture of laying a wreath on Remembrance Sunday. And when she did that, and we talked about how brilliant Michelle Nail has been as first minister so often on his pocket. Let me let Joe. That's one normal for sure. I heard one comment.
one commentator said, and this is the thing, one commentator said, uh, talked about how, you know, there will be some, there will be some rumbles in the, in the Republican movement about this. And there will be some, just quiet about that. Right. And I think one of the, one of the things that is, I'm interested in, and it's not a question of getting, and this is when we were talking with Mary Lou, it's how you talk about these things and the legacy of, of what was done in terms of moving forward, that
Sometimes I believe that Sinn Fein have prioritized bringing, and this is one of the key themes of say nothing as well, have prioritized bringing the Republican movement with them at the expense of maybe making more gestures towards the people they need to bring over from the unionist about the community.
And when I spoke, what about Martin McGinnison E.M. Paisley at the very start of the peace process? That's great. What about meeting the king, the head of the parishion regiment after what they did? Nobody said to the king. No, no, no, or tea, if you're said to King Charles. Do you condemn what the parishion regiment did in your name in the north?
the way they ran a muck and shot to kill and did whatever they liked and walked away from it with impunity and nobody was even charged or prosecuted. Do you understand? Because it's a propagandistic backdrop that disallows that. What does the Queen say? Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody says to DUP politicians who are hand in glove with loyalist power militaries through the LCC to this day. Gordon Lyons met them a fortnight ago.
That's the second meeting that he's had with him. They met the Minister for Education in the North to voice their concerns over an Irish language medium, integrated Protestant Catholic primary school in East Belfast. And nobody says to those politicians when they appear on RTE, do you condemn
the loyalist atrocity at Grey Steel or the countless, do you condemn the shankle butchers? We happen to be on the anniversary of the shankle butchers, one of the most horrendous grips of killers that the world has ever seen who dismembered their victims with axes and swords with impunity. Do you condemn that? And the reason that they don't do that is because quite rightly, it would be seen as
You know, seriously lads, is this where we are? You know, you've got a politician on to talk about things, and that's what you're putting to, events that happened 50 years ago. But it's okay insofar as you're in fear and are concerned. That's the point. It is okay. It's open season. I mean, it's been going on all week. I've been watching it on the various channels. I mean, I come back to the point.
Why is it asked? And it is not asked for genuine reasons. And don't say to me, Dion, don't say to me seriously, because the nationalist community in the North has been only generous, reaching out the hand. Ever since the peace process began, no issues will work with anybody, will cooperate with anybody. I mean, Alex Maskey, who was the youngest internee,
He was 16 years of age when he was taken away from his home. And he was interned for four years in the Long Kish concentration camp. Alex Maske, when he was the Mira Belfast, went and mounted a protest in the village.
The village, one of the most loyalest areas of the north, about the horrendous conditions that the old age pensioners there were living in, with outside toilets, with leaking walls, with no central heating, until something was done about it.
So don't say to me that our community has not reached out the hand of friendship, which has constantly been happening, and symbols like laying wreaths, like meeting the king, like meeting the queen, all of those things are done without any fuss whatsoever.
You know, so in terms of you saying, well, look, you know, more has to be done. Well, I do believe that at the current moment, because it's entirely propagandistic, it doesn't really matter what's done. Because at the end of the day, in the end of the day, the fin of foilers and the fin of gailers, I mean, you're missing. Me, Hall, Martin. Me Hall, Martin, and the course of a 10 person debate and the course of a 10 person debate.
had to get in the IRA shooting guards, had to get it in. Oh, well, you're one to be talking to the IRA shooting guards. You should be ashamed of yourself. To me, Lou, because I understand it was infinifoil at the time. I mean, so my point again is, and I think we need to crystallize this. Why? Why is this being put? It's not being put for genuine reasons. And one of the reasons that it's allowed to happen
You know, is that take RTE, for example, I mean, RTE lost its independence in November, 1972. And since then, it's really been a broadcasting sort of authority on behalf of the government, on behalf of the establishment. I mean, we know that they've just been bailed out. And I think you would agree with me about this, that without any reforms having to be made, without any criteria laid down,
to give or tea after the scandals that beset it, which involved close relatives of high-ranking members of the establishment and of the government, that then being given 725 million euro with new strings attached was little more than a bribe.
Well, I wouldn't, I'm not sure. And it works. And it works. It was, it was another example of, um, a deeply conservative, um, I'm sort of feeling like, what does that even mean? Conservatives are euphemism for all sorts of school degree. I mean, I would say RT, you know,
The way that was structured and everything was appalling, given RT's dominance in the market. I did think it was notable. Coming up to an election. Coming up to an election. One of the reasons they said for not running a debate was because they talked about budgetary pressures. One of the things that is really damaging in terms of media independence in this country is the domination that RT has over everything because of
and the power they get through a license fee and commercial revenue. And the fact that that deal was given without any radical restructuring of RTE was appalling. And yes, you can see it as... Penguin, for example. Penguin, for example.
But Penguin, for example, have been in discussions with me about writing a book. I would describe it. I've written quite a bit then. We've been in discussions over the past year or two. I intend to devote some time to it when I get the opportunity.
But one of the problems that they have is, well, you're going to have to get on RTE, you're going to have to be giving some airtime there, you know? And apart from Pari Kildia on the Late Late Show, yeah, but this is supposed to be the public broadcaster. And apart from Pari Kildia on the Late Show, he famously said the Taliban are back in control, broadly.
Apart from that, it's not feasible because my table is for Joe Broly. Well, my sort of viewpoints are not, they're not kosher there. You know, Thomas Byrne, those sorts of people, et cetera, et cetera. But it is important. It's why we're doing our own Saturday morning podcast.
The reason that I want to do this is because of Sinn Fein's manifesto commitment to undertake via independent people, an independent review of RTEs and partiality. I think it's urgently required. You look at the way they've reported the Israeli genocide.
You know, it's a war. It's, you know, the Hamas, the Hamas-run health ministry. It's entirely in tune with what you would see on any of the Me and Israeli channels. You know, with, of course, the pictures have to be shown of the horrific devastation and the annihilation of a people. But the way that it's presented
Okay, it's very carefully curtilled. But I trace back to, and by the way, by the way, European Union Act Article 5 makes it clear. Okay.
One of their most important articles, safeguards for the independent functioning of public service media providers. All members state shall ensure that public service media providers are editorially and functionally independent and provide in an impartial manner a plurality of information and opinions their audience in accordance with their public service remit as defined at national level and line with protocol number 29. And that has been incorporated into Irish law.
Nobody has anything to fear from independence. Of course, Finnigail and Finnafoil are immediately crying foul. Oh, this is an attempt. This is my favorite one. This is an attempt at political interference. In November 1972,
after RT reported. Why are you arguing about the things in the 70s? Why are you bringing up the 70s? Yeah, because this is because this is the Simon Harris wasn't even born. No, no, no, but it's the commencement of the infiltration by the establishment on RTE. That's why. So this is not a, this is not a gratuitous thing. In November, 1972, after Kevin O'Kelly had repeated statements on air from an interview he had conducted with the then R.A. Chief of Staff, Sean McStephan,
The government promptly sacked the entire RTE authority. And as Brian Hamley put it in his book, The Impact of the Troubles on the Republic of Ireland.
The Taoiseach Jack Lynch of Corkman replaced the authority with what one journalist described as, quote, a collection of civil servants, party hacks, and loyal Corkmen. Meanwhile, O'Killy... My grand-uncle was one of those... I knew he was, and he was a good one. Meanwhile, O'Killy was arrested. Nobody up here, nobody in the Free State would be arrested new.
Meanwhile, give them boys a little of us. Meanwhile, O'Kellie was... The same for him, and then he got stuck on that Blackmaster Broly. We spent a lot of podcasts. All I'd be thinking about is, how's this going down in the don't-care box?
Meanwhile, either they're live texts. Meanwhile, Kelly was arrested and he was charged with contempt of court because he refused to hand over the interview tape as he was absolutely correct to do ethically as a journalist. And he was sent to jail. And Fiona foils George Collie.
in the House dismissed, quote, all this clap trap about freedom of the press. And it was that very month that the government proposed an extraordinary amendment to the offenses against the state act, which
was which had a chilling effect on broadcasters. And interestingly, a very youthful Mary Robinson was at the forefront of those who denounced the proposal and worried aloud. She was quite right too that this was the beginning of the takeover of a public broadcaster by the government of the day.
Finnegeel abstained, which continues to be their policy on the North to this day. And Kitty's mom, Mary Holland, described the atmosphere in the oil bar as fianna foil celebrated victory, like being like a Kilburn pub on a Friday night. And then in October 1974, the RT current affairs program seven days broadcast a special on internment, which was a euphemistic term for the long case concentration camp. And it featured interviews with
people who had been released from attorneys from internment and their families. And it was interspersed with footage of British trips attacking anti-enternment marches. Okay. And Minister for Broadcasting and the Finnegal Coalition, Connor Crucial Brian, suspended the head of RT's current affairs, Des Fisher, and members of the seven days production team. And declared that the IRA
are in spiritual occupation of RTE. So then you had the criminal law jurisdiction bill in 1976, where media outlets could be prosecuted for publishing material, quote, deemed subversive. Anything that was deemed subversive. And when President O'Dally, who was one of the great jurists that this country ever produced,
So concerned was he at the con, I mean, this was a renounger, like worldwide renown, you know, and it was a source of great pride when he was made the president. He was so concerned at the content that he took the unusual step of referring the bill to the Supreme Court before signing it, and he was hounded out of office by the government, you know. And so RT,
Very quickly became a platform for the establishment. Sinn Féin were reduced to voiceovers. Gerry Adams was played by Stephen Raj. Remember Stephen Raj was talking to us about that. And the people of the South who, in my view, had a great emotional connection with us. Very quickly.
strong, strong, strong efforts were made to destabilize that connection and to other us, you know. And we see, you know, how when Jerry Adams came on the late late show, he was pilloried, ran, told Martin McGinnish, you have blood in your hands.
We told Jay Adams, that and Jay Adams said, so did your grandfather. And Tuberty said, I was wondering how long it would take you to bring that up. I'm sure. Welcome back to the past again. No, no, no, no, but I'm bringing this, I'm bringing this right through, right through to know, you know, and we see the different treatment of Sinn Fian from the establishment parties.
I mean, we've seen that, for example, in the John McGowan thing, which has been largely overlooked for us, for us. There hasn't been largely overlooked. Well, you know what? I'll tell you what you do. I'll tell you what you do. If you really believe that, if you really believe there's an equivalence, if you really believe there's an equivalence, right? If that, if that, if that,
incident had been Sinn Féin, the debate. Mary Lou would have not been able to open her mouth without... Look what you have done. Have you seen the video footage? Have you seen what he has done? Is this not a man who's also guilty of a rotten sexual assault and another unconscious man? Do you think he's the sort of person who's fit to be a TD in this country?
That's how they do it. We saw that with the cost of living, like the Irish economy collapsing, all these kinds of huge issues. And yet in the middle of an action campaign, a huge amount of it has been taken up, but a lot of has pivoted on a fight
outside a pub in Dundalk. So it's got a huge amount of coverage. I do remember how you talked. I do remember vividly how you spoke about Senator Nal O'Donnell and how you spoke about brand, about the Shenfian TD, who's been stood down, suspended, and no stood down, and his running is an independent on this podcast, which is very different from the very dismissive way.
You have just dealt with Senator McGowan. No, I'm not talking about it. No, I'm not talking about it. No, I wasn't talking about it. I didn't describe it as a scuffle. I described it as a fight, and I saw it's a violent assault, and we saw that, and we saw the picture. The picture you took, the media that you say have ignored it, it was on the front page of the Sunday Times last weekend, the injuries that were caused to the man who John McGowan lost the civil case to.
And we have to say that he was cleared, he was cleared in a criminal trial as Simon Harris keeps pointing out. But unfortunately, the video is out there. The point I'm making is that... And the Sunday times is not RTE.
No, that's fair enough. But what I'm saying is, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm saying in the context of an election campaign where there's going to be a lot of things being talked about, it is, it is, it is, I, you know, it is dark. There's a dark kind of humor, if you like, to the fact that this, this, this fight and this brute like this, this,
these injuries that were inflicted on this man have become one of the themes of the election. Nothing can be more important than the freedom of the press, and we see how the press is not free when we look at the coverage of the genocide and Gaza around the world. We saw, for example, when the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and they were followed by a young Dutchman, an Amsterdam who makes his own videos, he followed them from the moment they arrived.
And we saw them rampaging through the streets, burning taxis, beating up people, ripping down flags, burning flags, the horrific chants that they chanted. And it was presented universally across the media as pogrom, an anti-Semitic pogrom by locals against Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters. And he
So when raised to see that he threatened to sue the New York Times, he threatened to sue the BBC because they were using videos of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attacking locals and saying this was locals attacking Maccabi Tel Aviv fan. He threatened to sue them and they had to take it down. They had to take it down. But by that time you had
Netanyahu, an anti-Semitic pogrom, Joe Biden, anti-Semitic pogrom, Keir Starmer, anti-Semitic pogrom, you know, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union Chief, anti-Semitic pogrom, you know, and the media falling into line with that. Sky News, presented.
For a moment, forgetting, forgetting that there's no such thing in the West as freedom of the press, apart from some small outlets, they put the true story up with videos clipped. And an hour later, it was taken down. An hour later, it was taken down. And so nothing can be more important than the freedom of the press. I mean, the BBC, for example, are now so infiltrated that did you see that you didn't have any chance to tune into the six o'clock BBC news yesterday?
So, I mean, I think that we all probably agree, you know, the fact that the International Criminal Court have issued a warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu is the headline event for war crimes, starvation, deliberate annihilation of a civilian population, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, okay?
The that warrant was not even mentioned and the BBC news headlines either six o'clock news or their ten o'clock news not even mentioned. Okay, and then you get a cursory mention and the way it's done is this. Controversial decision by international criminal criminal court lambasted by world leaders.
because you've got America saying, well, it's anti-Semitic, you have Israel saying it's anti-Semitic. And I thought that, you know, there's the whole episode of the Maccabi Tel Aviv and of what we've seen with the portrayal of the International Criminal Court, which is 124 countries arising from the Rome Treaty in 1998.
And it was to ensure that in future, any war criminal would be brought before an international court, or international standards of justice apply, some eminent judges from each jurisdiction, and a very careful, rigorous, transparent, collegiate approach to interpretation of laws.
America refused to sign the treaty and did not opt into the International Criminal Court. For fear, quite rightly, that their soldiers and leaders could, at any moment, be investigated and charged with war crimes. But not only that, in 2002,
The so-called Hague invasion act was unanimously passed through the Congress and the Senate. And do you know what the Hague invasion act is? No. This is what the Hague invasion act says. An act.
Okay. Allowing the president of America to order US military action such as an invasion of the Netherlands where the Hague is located to protect American officials and military personnel from persecution or rescue them from custody in the event that they are charged or arrested under the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction. Okay. It was passed 75-19 by the Senate.
And the bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush. But interestingly, it doesn't just apply to Americans who are arrested, charged, held, awaiting trial. So America
The American president is authorized to immediately take whatever action, including war, to extricate American citizens or leaders from that situation. Okay, so here we're not getting involved in that, you know, where we're.
Our middle name is war criminal. This is what we do. This is what we do. So we cannot expose ourselves to this risk. And we certainly can't sign up to it as a matter of law. But they also included not just US citizens, Dion, and US leaders, but guess which other country they included in the 2002. Let me give you the full title of the act.
The 2002 Supplemental Appropriations Act for further recovery from and response to terrorist attacks in the United States. Guess which other country was included. Come on, you know. Yeah. You know, go on set. I don't know. What do you do know? Tell me. Who else would America want to protect from war crimes? Israel. Israel, yeah.
So, you know, the response in America to this very careful. And many people would say, why has it taken so long for them to do this? But the response in America has been, well, this is anti-Semitic. This is outrageous. This is a kangaroo court, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Because the reality is, and people are saying this is stark relief as well now, you know, America is not the good guy here.
You know, and you know, I don't think many children this week, you know, and honestly, I really thought, you know, I felt disgusted, you know, I have to say, I do feel
because, you know, at exchange of ideas, of course, robust ideas, et cetera, et cetera, but when you're facilitating and enabling and supporting enthusiastically, a genocide like this, you know, I mean, I feel demeaned now that I have read anything to do with them and that I ever, you know, was part of, you know, inviting them here and introducing them to hospice and things like that, which are extremely close to our hearts and where the purpose is to see of lives, you know, and I do feel
Soiled and let down. Because I remember whenever I started, I said, you know, I really think as a man of good faith and conscience that he can stop this. But to see his enthusiasm for these ghouls, you know, I'm hugging Netanyahu and the way he has behaved, you know,
And tells you, of course, that he's not a man of conscience at all, you know, and that what we've seen is largely, largely, an act by an expert politician. Obviously, I don't know. I mean, I take no pleasure in the fact that he's clearly very frail now and not the person that he was. But, you know, this is why a free press is so important. I mean, in America, the press has just been bought up now.
Well, you see, that's all, that's all true. Billionaires, billionaires by the press. They're in charge of the story. I'm not sure how Sinn Fein ordered independent review peer review is going to actually make the press more independent. That's the one thing. Well, no, the first thing is, I'm not sure of it. Listen, listening to Sinn Fein talk about this, that I get the feeling that they're not so sure how this ended up in their manifesto either and why they, you know, because, because when they start talking about it, they start saying, well, this is just one little paragraph in a, whatever it is, 70 page manifesto. I'm not sure.
But is it not clear where it's there? It's urgently needed. Well, I don't think so. I don't think an independent media is served by Sinn Fein going to government and saying the public broadcaster is not served. David Conan mentioning that the BBC had done this, and I was like, what have the BBC done this? I'm not sure what he was talking about, but I looked up. There have been two reviews into the BBC's coverage of Gaza. One said they were very too pro-Israeli, and the other said they were too pro-Palestine. So it kind of depends on who you select to be on these panels.
that you have to find out. No, no, RT needs to, RT needs to start from scratch. They've been so infiltrated by the establishment, you know, they've got so set in their ways, they've got so decrepit in relation to how they do report. You know, sorry, hold on a second. If I am not mistaken, whenever we were doing our RT programs, you said that it had to be this month, then we had to start again with the new blueprint. I mean, so now you're agreeing with me, but you're not agreeing with me. I'm confused. I'm saying I don't agree with Sinn Fein doing it. I think, you know, do you condemn Hamas?
That's the important question. Do you condemn the Don't Give a Voice? What's up? I vociferously condemn to Don't Give and What's App Group and all they stand for. On that bombshell. I have no truck with the Don't Give and What's App Group and I am muting them. I ask you, Joe, as my co-podcast host, to mute them too. Thank you very much. I will tell you something, Dion.
I am going to bring you to the then given club some night, and I assure you that you will get a hero's welcome. Every bit is, every bit as agility as when Ian Paisley went on the late late show. Excellent. That's all I can ask. That's all I ever want. The same reception as Ian Paisley. Needless to say, it'll be a very carefully selected audience. Thanks for listening, everybody. Enjoy your weekend. You're very smooth, and I'll give you that.
