‘This Is a Genocide!’ Jewish Talk-Show Host Rips Dem Lawmaker for Trying to Lecture Him About Israel, Anti-Semitism
Comedian and talk-show host Adam Friedland tore into Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) during an interview on Wednesday after the congressman attempted to lecture Friedland – a Jewish former resident of Israel – about anti-Semitism and the Israel-Gaza war.
“I think hatred of Jewish people has exploded in this country, and I think it’s because of our support of what looks to be an absolute brutality [in Gaza],” said Friedland during an interview with Torres on The Adam Friedland Show.
Torres questioned, “You think that’s a justification for anti-Semitism? You think Israeli government policy is a justification for anti-Semitism? My view is there’s no justification for anti-Semitism.”
“What does it look like to have a flag with a Jewish star – and I’m Jewish – and for kids to be starving right now?” shot back Friendland.
After Torres protested, “It just sounds like you’re justifying anti-Semitism, which is making me feel–” Friendland interrupted, “Are you crazy right now?”
He continued:
I’m telling you as a Jew right now that we are receiving a lot more hate because of what the people with a flag that has a Jewish star on are doing to other people right now, and I’m telling you as a Jewish person how painful it is for us to say, and it hurts my stomach to say – and you’re gonna say, “I disagree, I disagree” – that this is a genocide, and that hurts to say that a Jew can do that. It hurts because we grew up with learning about what hatred is, we grew up learning about this, and the same year the state of Israel was established, in 1948, the world saw the Holocaust and they established standards for what a genocide is. It was the same year and the world said that this shouldn’t be a thing that happens.
Friedland recalled how he saw Palestinians being “demeaned and dehumanized” during his residency in Israel, before acknowledging:
Me saying this to you right now will hurt people in my own family, OK? Because this is a very important thing to us and the fact that I still f*cking care about being Jewish is embarrassing. I should just be a guy. But this feels like a stain on our history and it feels like it’s changed what being Jewish is, because what being Jewish is isn’t Israel. Judaism has existed for 4,000 years. This is a country for 75 years.
He added, “People in my life are gonna be mad at me about this, but I’m saying this because I am Jewish, you know?”
Torres complained, “I feel like I’m here to be lectured now.”
“Shut up,” Friedland fired back. “The world is seeing something that looks terrible and it’s being done in my name.”
As the argument continued, Torres accused Friedland of “trivializing” and “downplaying” the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, declaring, “Hamas murdered thousands of people.”
“So what does that mean?” asked Friedland.
“That Hamas is a terrorist organization for murdering innocent children and civilians,” replied Torres.
Friedland shot back, “How many civilians have been killed in this war?”
“The war is a tragedy, but–” said Torres, as Friedland pointed out, “90% of them have been civilians. They’ve killed journalists! They’ve killed people waiting for aid.”
Torres insisted, “But you’re suggesting that it is the policy of the Israeli government to murder civilians, and that is a notion that I reject.”
“Listen man, you gotta be like a human being about this,” advised Friedland. “Do you feel in your heart that what you’re saying is right? You don’t actually think that.”
The congressman snapped, “Don’t tell me what I believe. I’ve told you what I believe.”
Accusing Friedland of being “hostile” and conducting a “gotcha interview,” Torres claimed, “In the South Bronx, people are not talking about Israel. People are talking about how to put food on the table… In my world, people are struggling.”
“Then why, if people are struggling in your world, are you paying $25 billion [to Israel]?” asked Friendland, to which Torres replied that the money was “minuscule.”
Watch above via The Adam Friedland Show.
