India Today Conclave 2024: Viral from Israel-Gaza War Stinging Comic Commentary By Egyptian Comedian

me I to discuss the conflict in Israel and Gaza it's a TV host in Satur Bassam YF Bassam it's great to have you back on the program I wish it was under different circumstances um first of all what is your reaction to What happened on October the 7th oh it was terrible of course I mean we kind of get our news kind of also secondhand because you know my my wife's family they live in Gaza they you have uh cousins and uncles there um and uh their house was bombed we haven't been able to communicate with them for the past 3 days communication are lost so we don't know actually what is the uh how is like how are they're doing but you know we used to that I mean it's it just like it's it's it's very repetitive we used to that we used to them being bombed every time and moving from one place to the other uh you know it's just like those Palestinians they're very dramatic ah Israel killing us but they never die I mean they always come back you know they they are very difficult to kill very difficult people to I know because I'm married to one I tried many times couldn't kill her I mean there's a dark humor there and I understand why because no it's not dark human I really I try to get to her every time but she uses our kids as human Shields I can never take her out I would say I really applaud Israel for doing one thing that no military force in the world does because I heard I heard Ben Shapiro and I heard Ron DeSantis and they said they said Israel is the only military force in the world that warn civilians before bombing them I mean how cute that is so nice of them because with this logic if Russian troops started warning ukrainians before bombing their houses we're cool with Putin right I mean okay Habibi you have warned them go invade it's fine you have done your job all right ladies and gentlemen that sets the stage for our next session viral from the Israel Gaza war zone a stinging comic commentary shivar on stage to take this forward I I really don't know how to introduce our next guest after you've watched that video uh fun fact I happened to be in Israel when that video actually dropped so uh it was something that absolutely exploded now Basim YF uh is someone all of you have heard about uh that video got 22 million views when it first came out and it spawned an entire uh ecosystem for want of better word uh of knowledge and awareness about what was happening uh between Israel and Gaza and Palestine uh this is a man uh uh ladies and gentlemen who fled from Egypt in 2014 uh knowing full well perhaps that the war for freedom of speech expression satire commentary was going to make him someone who would spend perhaps the rest of his life on the run so we're very very lucky to have someone who continues to spend his life provoking commenting satirizing and making fun of the most serious things happening in the most dangerous parts of the world it is our deepest honor to welcome basam [Music] YF that's a very scary visual hi everybody I am very pleased to be here in India by the way this is my first time ever in India and this week yes this my first time and and this week is very special for me because in five days I'm going to turn 50 years old so the last thing I would ever imagine that I would spend my birthday in India and I have to tell you I've been here only for two days man New Delhi this is KY multiplied by a thousand W like I live now in Los Angeles and everybody in Los Angeles about traffic and I tell them if you haven't been to Cairo you haven't seen traffic and the thing is this is what we do as brown people we like to compete with white people with who has the biggest misery it's like oh you have traffic wait listen to me you know but I have to tell you after 2 Days in New Delhi you win we cannot compete with that kind of traffic I thought it was alhamdulillah you guys are amazing so it is amazing that I'm here and I am very very pleased to be here and it's such an honor and I don't know like I I thought a lot about how to start my speech so I thought of starting a speech of maybe like an unusual um way maybe quoting someone that you might know and the quote goes as starvation of an underfed bengalese is less serious than that of sturdy Greeks that was Winston Churchill responding to the news of millions of Indians killed in the Bengal famine in 1943 Churchill was also the one who said I do not admit that a great wrong has been done to the red Indians of America or the black people of Australia I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race a higher grade race a more worldly wise race has come in and taken their place now I know that my presence here carries certain expectations of talking about certain topics or might I say one certain topic but it is all connected human stories across our history with their pain struggle grave Injustice are all connected the stories might come from different parts of the world different eras of our past but at the core they are more or less the same story it's a story of who writes the story who owns the narrative and who manipulates the truth Winston Churchill was a hero to the British Empire he is even considered by many as the greatest Britain that ever lived but for India and for many other ex British colonies he was a racist Colonial and hateful enemy same goes for many European and American politicians leaders and Military Commanders all through history someone's hero is another one's Colonial nightmare but we don't write the story they do it is also a very old and repetitive story throughout history humans killed other humans conquered humans enslaved humans exploited humans from an evolutionary point of view we are animals but we don't want to feel like animals I won't just get up and kill you in the morning who do you think I am an animal no no I'm human I am evolved I only kill if I absolutely need to so I need a justification you are a threat you are a danger you brought it on yourself but most importantly you are not as human as me under the Nazis Jewish people were called rats it's not that easy to put a human in a gas chamber but a rat put 10 put a 100 put a million it's just a rat an animal a subhuman lower than me you can't just take another human put him in Chains enslave them torture them and treat them like animal you need to see him as an animal as a Savage as someone who doesn't deserve to be human it's their color is their primitive culture they are less than me you can't just starve or kill whole population you need to see them as Unworthy of living killing humans is difficult but doing it because of feeling Superior entitled that's easy in short humans have been consistent about one thing and one thing alone being to other humans throughout our history we killed people because they had the wrong religion the wrong color the wrong ethnicity but they don't even have to be different even with people who looked sounded and believe the same we like the we are managed to find something anything to excuse ourselves for our shitty behaviors towards others maybe we can't help it maybe human nature is by nature a shitty nature but there is the problem humans actually believe that they can do better after World War II with the formation of the UN and the new Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Spree of Nations Independence around the world and the Civil Right movements and the fight for equality and prosperity for all we thought thought that we could evolve into better humans that the atrocities that happened in the past will never be repeated never again we are not primitive anymore we are not in the Dark Ages anymore we have defeated colonialism racism and Injustice we can do better and finally become human how embarrassingly naive we were we maintained our brutality but we became more creative in justifying the we do to other humans all because we we became more connected to reality you see a long time ago we weren't aware of what's Happening far away from us if you were a resident of ancient Athens or Rome if you lived in Spain or Portugal in the 1600s if you were a citizen of England or France in the 1800s you would have enjoyed a good life under the power of those Empires but this quality of life was made possible through the exploitation of other nations and people but the people of these Empires were too far removed from the process they enjoyed the fruit of their nation's dominance without having to know how it happened and what at what human cost a 100 years ago you would have never heard this in London let's have some tea it's fair trade no Indians were harmed in the process no people were like oh spices I don't know how we got them but yeah same in same is true today I I now live in America which in its Spare Time invades people here and there and because of that we enjoy great discounts at Costco but now we are not that remote because of the technology that is available in our hands we now have a first row seed to the killing the abuse and the exploitation necessary to provide a life of comfort wealth and prosperity for the mighty and the powerful so now we as humans need even better justification more effective distractions and more reasoning so we don't feel bad about ourselves now we need a better constructed reality to make us feel okay with all of this an alternative reality or in layman terms propaganda but despite our progress and despite our elaborate propaganda our justifications to kill others remain the same they are savages terrorists they are coming for us they have wmds boom let's invade Iraq or like how Isis decided that the rest of us are infidels heathens and that God gave them the right to kill other men and enslave their women or when Israel is feeling that because they were God chosen people they can kill others that God didn't choose here is the thing with propaganda you cannot refute propaganda with just facts and Truth propaganda is meant to make you emotional to make you have a visceral reaction the lies have to be so elaborate in order to prevent you from using common sense they distract you throw you off balance ignore reality and make you focus on what they want you to focus on before I took the stage they played a video of my interview with PS Morgan talking about the war in Gaza I was put in a position to defend people who were vilified while being slaughtered because the Israeli propaganda made Millions believe that these people deserve to die they did it through lies propaganda twisting facts and emotional blackmail in these situations the truth doesn't work facts don't work you need to destroy propaganda in a way that is slick and effective suddenly satire comes in handy how many people should we kill as many as we can but Israel is warning civilians before bombing them very very cute all I did was regurgitate their talking points to them to make them see how stupid they are propaganda is not just about lies it's about distraction just take a small sample of the cliches they use in order to divert the conversation I'm sure you heard these one after the other what is a proportionate response does Israel have the right to defend itself do you condemn Hamas does Israel have the right to exist October 7th decapitated babies babies babies women were raped babies were put in the oven they are killing babies October 7th October 7th why don't the Arab take in the Palestinian I where is the outrage when Muslims kill other Muslims why don't you talk about Syria Libya Sudan Yemen October 7th you are anti-emetic you are a Jew hater you are a terrorist sympathizer do you condemn Kamas October 7th October 7th we will talk about everything except the killing that is happening every day as we sit here discussing talking points this style of distraction is inspired by a very old debating trick called Gish Galloping Gish Galloping is a way where one side throws distraction lies and have Truth at you in order to confuse you distract you away from the real issues we have seen this on display every day since the war started history only started on October 7th we are not allowed to talk about what came before you criticize Israel you want cease fire you hit the Jews what about the decapitated babies so now they shut down the conversation they turn it emotional visceral but I don't blame them they do what other countries do they lie they lie and they lie and they lie and they lie and when you think they are done they go like DJ Khaled another one no I don't blame them I blame the Western media the same media that gave us lectures and history lessons about transparency honesty journalistic integrity and holding people accountable the decapitated B babies the gang rape Stories the babies in ovens these were lies that have been refuted by the Israeli media themselves none of the western media Outlets retracted retracted any of those stories with the proper apologies ours no days days were dedicated to the most obscene outlandish stories and no one said sorry guys we messed up the Israeli media talked extensively about the Hannibal directive and how a huge portion of Israeli civilians were killed by not so friendly fire CNN BBC nothing they were busy publishing headlines like 15 people were killed in Gaza killed by who we don't know how are they killed we don't know they have been doing this forever one of my favorite Headlines by the New York Times is from 2014 when Israel fired a missile killing five people in a coffee shop in Gaza and the headline came as missile finds patrons at Cafe how did it find them we don't know what would have happened if it never found them we have no idea or when the Wall Street Journal just a few weeks ago in October published this headlines blast goes off at Orthodox Church in Gaza yes there was a miracle blessed that miraculously happened you don't believe in miracles come on it actually happened in a church miracles do happen the Western media that has been lecturing us about the dangers of using religion and Holy scripture to justify political actions and launching Wars those same people have no problem talking about the historical claims of the chosen people and their indisputable right in the promised land really chosen people chosen by whom promised promised by whom God your God my God who's God we don't know it is funny how the West uses religion as it pleases they ridicule and criticize brown people religions at will your religion is violent your religion is nonsense your religion is ridiculous Savage primitive you can't take political decisions just because your scripture tells you so and yet they openly talk about God choosing certain people to do whatever the hell they want and I and and this is where I get confused if they really believe in this this whole thing about chosen people then why don't they just all convert to Judaism if you believe that they are the chosen people won't you feel left out won't you feel unchosen I mean the hypocrisy we are the West we are secular we are liberal we don't care about religion but when it comes to Israel Suddenly It's biblical by the way the lies and the false justification that have been used to kill other people and wiping out whole communities have been re cycled over and over again 1898 the Wilmington Massacre 1906 the Atlanta Massacre 1912 fory country Massacre 1921 the Tulsa Massacre 1922 Perry Florida 1923 Rosewood Florida 1931 the scotsburg boys trial in Alabama these were massacres against black people in America and all of them started the same way a rumor an allegation that some black people raped or assault Ed white women that gave white Americans an excuse to kill torture Lynch and even burn down whole communities displacing them destroying their homes hospitals and schools Collective punishment gendered accusations and displacement based on false rumors sounds familiar they even still use the same kind of accusation whenever people speak against Injustice when some people try to support the black community in their plight for justice and equality they were called race traitors self-hating whites self-hating Americans same as we see today when Jewish people stand up against Israeli war crimes they are called self-hating Jews and it doesn't matter how Jewish you are the co-author of the universal Declaration of Human Rights Steven Hassel was a Jew he was a holocaust Survivor he was part of the French Resistance against the Nazis when he stood up for Palestinian rights he was called an anti-semite just like that together with many Jewish people including politicians comedians actors ex IDF soldiers who rejected Zionist lies and even rabbis they too were called self-hating Jews and anti-semites it's the best way to shut down the conversation I got a taste of that myself because my position against them they now call me a jewter an anti-semite and a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood but I'm used to that in Egypt 13 years ago when I host my political satire show and because of my views I was called an Infidel a traitor a Freemason a secret Jew an underground mad agent and my absolute favorite I was called a CIA operative who has been recruited by John Stewart to use satire to bring down the country I'm running out of countries and I'm running out of accusations yes satire is a huge threat to propaganda because those who manipulate people and blame blackmail them through lies and fear they know that satire is their Kryptonite because when you laugh at someone you are not afraid of them anymore when you ridicule their lies they have no legs to stand on and when you use common sense laced with a little bit of humor their talking points self- implode they don't want you to call them out cu if you do you will ruin whatever they have to be trying to achieve stripping Palestinians away from Humanity painting them as terrorist Savages and monsters so everyone can feel better killing them they act like a typical narcissist every time you expose them when they they're like how dare you ruin my reputation by telling people what I actually do Americans did that with black people Britain did that with Indians the West did that with Iraq lies propaganda and dehumanization but to be fair it is not just white people doing it to brown people and black people brown and black people dehumanized others too at certain point of History we were cruel and V against other people human history is just one big abusive toxic relationship but it just happens that now white people rule the planet and they do that with the very advanced technology and very scary weapons so the destruction and the decimation are much more pronounced and the killing is much more effective today I don't have to drive my sword into your body to kill you I can just sit behind the screen push a button and blow your whole block up advanced technology allowed humans to be more removed and more lethal while being conveniently away from the Bloodshed how many times did you hear them brag about bombing their enemies back to the stone ages killing them like animals but there's a problem when you treat people like animals animals is what you're going to get when someone attacks another one with a knife it's terrorism but if I fly comfortably in my $64 million F-16 pushing a button to drop a 16,000 a84 multi-purpose bomb on a residential block killing 200 people that's not terrorism that is war those are just collateral damages sad and inevitable outcome of War we have gotten so comfortable killing people from afar from behind screens treating them like Savages that they roam behind fortified walls it's easy and convenient but here's the problem when that screen is removed when the Fortified walls get breached you will find yourself face to face of what with what you have created you bomb them to the Middle Ages then middle-age brutality is what you're going to get you treated them like Savages they will attack you like Savages despite all that I still consider myself very fortunate living in today's world I of marveled at our human ability to innovate and create a better life that is easy convenient and even at sometimes very entertaining but I'm also scared of our own ability to hate discriminate and self-destruct I hope that we truly evolve to understand that we are all the same I wish that we can understand that no matter how much we think we can be powerful enough to abuse exploit and kill other people what we are really doing is killing our own Humanity I wish that the leaders we celebrate would be leaders who help lift All Humans help all humans be good to All Humans not just leaders who acquire their Fame and status from using and abusing a group of people from the benefit of Their Own and speaking of leaders and in closing there's just one thing left for me to say Winston Churchill thank you very much just need a to change we get well you know we can we can talk like this until they do the not to keep them with Hello can we just do it like this yeah yeah okay so you've given us a whole lot to think about basam we didn't expect uh anything less but I'm going to start off with what you started with and how you ended I'm not going to repeat the words but beep Winston Churchill is something that uh I dare say would get a rise out of most Indians okay so you've uh warmed yourself to all Indians by saying that about Winston church but why uh why did you think that uh you know talking about Winston Churchill and the British would get everyone's blood up well because we it's a very provocative thing and it's it's something that a lot of people relate to in this country well because we we basically I I said before Egypt and India India is like Egypt but multiply by a thousand we were also occupied by the British for a very long time and we understand what is the meaning of being looked down and what's the meaning of actually being discriminated against being looked down as a lower race because they think they are better and they have the right to exploit our riches and our resources because they are entitled to do that and while they are heroes in their own land they they they do that on the expense of our own people and our own resources so I understand how you feel and I kind of like I felt kind of a a more of a comraderie with with Indians in this particular matter uh you know I wanted to talk about anti-Semitism now basam because that's uh uh that's something that you're attacked with a lot you're called a Jew hater you're labeled as anti-semitic uh you know people are unwilling to listen to anything you have to say sometimes because they say no the place he's coming from is anti-Semitism and that's one of the themes that you just touched upon right now when you when you talked about how all these things are thrown at you so that the essence of what you want to say is diluted or diverted from how do you you know how do you respond when people call you a Jew hater or an antiem well here's the thing the the accusation of anti-Semitism is a very dangerous accusation no one should ever be hated or discriminated against because of their ethnicity and religion but the way that is been used and overused and abused it's being used in a way to shut down conversation everybody's an anti-semite and it's been so overused that it doesn't mean anything anymore you know it's like you know when you whenever you call everybody islamophobe islamophobe islamophobe you know people okay I'm an islamophobe what you going to do right I don't believe the way that when you throw accusations and people in order to to shut down the conversation they just um um Jonathan Glazer he was like an Israeli Jewish director he won an Oscar for his movie about the Holocaust and because he refused to have his Jew Jewish faith to be use an excuse to kill other people he was called an anti-semite so if you overuse a certain accusation it means nothing it means nothing anymore it's like you want to call me an anti-mite call me I don't care but the thing is here's the thing even in India even in America even in Egypt the way that people use like oh you you hate your country you hate your religion you're not Indian enough you not Egyptian enough you're not American enough you self you're self-hating American you're self-hating Egyptian self-hating Indian this is a way in order to create this viseral emotional blackmail so people would be scared to speak up so I think this what happened is good because we need to speak up because they cannot use these empty accusations against us anymore because if they use that this going to be the first step to shut down the conversation and do whatever the hell they want without and while you being afraid to speak up being called a self-loathing Indian is very much part of the conversation in India as well so we know what you're talking about but you know but the thing is like I'm sure that the people who a lot of people who have been called self-loathing Indians are people who criticize what's happening in India out of love the people who actually criticize things in their own country or their own religion it becomes it if I don't care about my country I will not criticize what's happening right or if I'm complicit in what's happening why would I criticize and again as you said self-loathing Indian self-hating Jew self-hating American it is the same exact way and strategy in order to shut down conversation uh you know many of the things you've spoken about are extremely evocative and the parallels you've drawn are themes that resonate with us as Indians as well you know from your Egyptian experience and I just wanted to quickly tell our audience here because I was approached by many people uh raise your hands if you have a specific question for Bassam you can ask him he will answer you we've got about 25 more minutes so I have a few questions so until I uh we pass some mics around if you raise your hand I'll see you uh okay yeah over there but before before you I'm going to quickly ask one question since you talked about uh Basim elaborate lies propaganda as you know subtle elaborate lies it's not loud it's it's Insidious it's it's subtle uh you don't really know it when it's happening what's the most elaborate lie currently in your view in my view yeah in your view well there's a lot of them like uh I mean the whole thing about the propaganda that there was like gang raping of women and decapitated babies and the Israeli media it's self has refuted these claims Time After Time After Time After Time and that's why I use the example from the black history uh African-American history in America because they would use that in order to kill and decimate whole Community I don't know if you know about that uh about Tulsa RA in Tulsa in Oklahoma there was a very prominent and very lavish black community they had uh good businesses they were they were like raising up in the in the in the socio economic ladder and just because of a lie that some black uh person assaulted a a white woman in an elevator their whole District was was burned out in Atlanta it happened the same and they even pushed them and displaced them into a smaller place in the middle of Atlanta so that's why it is this kind of ways in order to use a very very elaborate lies in order to kill people okay uh we've got a question over there this guy this guy did it first okay okay there first and then you yeah go ahead for promoting me up the order sir so while I very much enjoy Satia myself while I thank you for promoting me of the order while I very much enjoy Satia myself um Malcolm Gladwell hosted a podcast where he said that Satia often misses the mark because a lot of the audience takes it literally they don't know you're joking have you ever faced this problem and do you have a view on satire thank you oh oh absolutely even especially in the Arab world a lot of people um mix satire with disrespect if you joke about something you're disrespecting me and this comes from an authoritarian mind because if I in a in a in a place of authority you don't have the right to criticize me it is kind of like the Father Figure man I'm your father how come that you criticize me and that works in families but that doesn't work in politics because in politics you're an elected politician it doesn't matter how old or how respectful you're not my father you are there to make to do a job for me I mean this is this is the idea of a public servant so when you criticize using satire it is a way of freedom of expression but people in order they shut down the conversation they call you disrespectful they call they even use religion in order to discredit you so of course I it doesn't satre doesn't miss the mark people who criticize it they miss the mark do they say why are you making fun of a serious issue oh yeah that all the yeah yeah right um basum yeah um humor me a little um you haven't spoken about your Terror past your connection with terrorists back home why tell us all also you criticize the west but when you were to flee Egypt you landed in the great us a absolutely absolutely well here's the thing I criticize a country that I wanted to be better I tried that with my country and I failed now I'm in a new country that's why I don't want to be running out of countries well here the thing this this is like a very I I actually I like that you asked this because this is exactly what a white person would tell me it's like if you criticized in the west why are you staying there this is exactly what they say right but the thing is we go to the don't insult me by calling me white no of course not I said like one but like um but here's the thing the way that we go to the West because they are they marketed their countries very well come to us we have freedom of expression we come and we speak up it's like no no no no go back to where you came from it's like come on come on that doesn't work if you promise people to come there for freedom of expression and equality we go there and we take this promise and again when we criticize the West we don't criticize the West out of hate we want it to be out of love so they will be better for themselves and for the rest of humanity the same way that I criticize my own country I don't not out of hate I I don't do it out of spite I do it out of love in order to be better thank you speaking of uh thank you g for that uh the land and and and and also like I want to escape like I I wanted to play the white man game they always win so I want to be on The Winning Side speaking of the land of the free and Home of the Brave basam uh you've got a you've got an interesting name for the current president of the United States genocide Joe no no no no no genocide before me I added iatric to the is a geriatric genocide Biden yeah so we've got a you've got an election coming up where uh where uh you've decided to be much more against the current president than the guy who's up against him how's that working out for you well one would have imagined when it comes to Trump no no I I it doesn't when I am against Biden it doesn't mean that I'm Trump but it just like it is sad that like a democracy like America can only produce two people that should be in a nursing home home you know it's just like I I I think we should like this this is very sad this is extremely sad you know I mean I mean I have a joke that I say in my my stand-up comedy you know I make a joke about Trump so the Trump supporters kind of get angry I like guys it's not that it's just like it is so refreshing you know when Trump was President he was in your face the whole time he was all in the news but when now it's so refreshing to find that to wake up in the morning and and and you know forget you have a president and then I said like even Joe Biden he wakes up in the morning and he forgets his pres so so that that that is that is the thing I mean the whole idea of look look at it from a business point of view how many how many oil companies you had in the past and how many oil companies you have now how many uh weapon country uh armed uh companies you had in the past now they're all they used to have like about 53 uh companies now they are Consolidated in five this kind of Monopoly consolidating power in a very few hands like consolidating power in only two parties these are not the two best candidates in America these are the best these are the candidates that are promoted by those two parties consolidating power in at the hand of very few is very dangerous it's dangerous to economy it's like Monopoly and it's dangerous for politics and it's dangerous for freedom of expression so this is when when you when you say that you do not accept what is happening it doesn't mean that you support trump it means that you are against the discourse that this this that the Democratic process has taken and I think that United States deserve much better than this well this isn't going to happen Bim but if you were moderating the presidential debate between Biden and Trump this year what would you say to both by way of introduction what would you say to both you can say you can spend 30 seconds saying something to both Biden and Trump what would you say to them uh please welcome a mad man and a genocide man he's like this is this is like the this is the problem with the choices that we have like I was just like please please I like please welcome the only two choices that we have that we shouldn't be ending with that is basically that we should represent them with okay yeah go ahead yeah hi B uh my question is like you know it's uh when you when anyone does comic and satire it is pretty much a creative work so my question is uh like when you do so for the darker side of life for a war or for for so many negative things happening around the world how do you prepare yourself I mean what's your creative process behind it before you do a satire show what is the creative process of writing uh comedy for satire and comedy of the darker subjects yeah I go into a period of depression and then I I end up with some suicidal thoughts and this process of self cleansing and the need to to exterminate yourself accompanied by me being in my and coming to become 50 and in my midlife crisis so that all creates a great environment for dark satire thank you thank you so much you I want to return to that uh uh you know video I we've got a still image from the pi Morgan uh uh conversation that you had that went so incredibly viral what happened immediately after that bam you know because you have you went and did another longer piece with with PE that was in LA uh but in the immediate aftermath of that of that you know incredible incredible peace with uh with Pierce for the first time uh what happened immediately after that what changed for you oh my life changed forever apart apart from your enormously bigger fan base and audience what changed for you well there is of course there are some positive changes because suddenly uh a lot of Arabs came to me and they're Arabs in politics and they said that it's kind of like open the door for them to speak because a lot of people are afraid to speak up so but what happened to me is that I lost a couple of in Hollywood and I I actually gained a lot of of of work too and it seems that it was the best representation of how you could be dropped by The Establishment by chosen by the people because in life life comedy and life audience you don't have to go through a middleman you don't have to go through a studio you people come and they pay the ticket to see you so it's more of like a vote of people more than just like you having to go by the what the establishment says you got a question from there uh thank you for the honesty we have very similar views about Mr Churchill um I feel the conversation get that a lot believe me thank you I'm I'm I'm I'm very happy that I that I I touch a nerve thank you I I feel the conversation may be a bit incomplete till we don't hear a few minutes about your views about Mr putine like just I feel that that also may be included in the conversation what Putin what do you feel about Mr Putin what the Russian guy Putin Putin oh Putin yeah but how do I feel about Putin what do you feel about Putin what do you think about Putin I I think he there's an authoritarian dictator the same it's not it's it's like he's the thing when you criticize a certain side it doesn't mean that you like the other side I mean the fact that like these are the choices that are giving on both sides doesn't make it right but I don't I I think like Putin is a dictator uh and I but I think and I think America in itself is going to in its own way of becoming what we call um not a it's more of an oligarchy because the problem with here's the thing you can talk about Putin and Russia but like it's he does what he's expected to do to be an authoritarian to be a brutal dictator but America that markets itself as a democracy has been now turning very very slowly to an oligarchy because all of the politicians are being bought by special interest groups whether by it's like certain lobbies or certain gun or uh gun groups or certain um uh groups that follows the military industri complex or the pharmaceutical company so you end up voting for people you have the illusion of freedom of expression and you vote for someone and that someone doesn't represent your your interest he represents whoever pays him in order to carry his campaign so like about Putin I mean there's nothing really to be said about like he's a classic classical brutal dictator but you know I'm more concerned about the people who call themselves the leaders of the Free World who Market themselves at the at the Beacon of democrac you need to step up for what you are you are talking about Western hypocrisy uh is is another theme that resonates with us here in India uh especially the Western press you know you took the names of certain newspapers and Publications and those very frequently become trigger points uh here uh in India as well you you know you often say Basim imagine if Israel was Russia would the Press be looking at it the same way can you expand on that a little bit what happens when you say that because you see you've given us examples of how the Western press reports on Israel you took those very uh you know resonant examples of the headlines they gave for that bomb that went off in a church in Gaza uh and you constantly say what if Israel was actually Russia or what what's UK If the Palestinians were Ukraine Ukraine cor but the thing is when you say that they tell you how how dare you compare them you know they don't even want to even start the comparison it's like oh that's that's different it's and and and and this this is this is where the hypocrisy is very apparent because they do not they always talk about Israel right to exist what about Palestinian right to exist they talk about their right to defend thems what about Palestinians right to defend itself and it doesn't mean that when I talk about that that I support Hamas but this is how they want to to kind of conclude the conversation they want to put you in that corner right you you can talk and criticize Hamas as much as you want but Hamas is a product for what happened by Israel for years and years and years than you so you cannot really separate the both got a question back there yeah the the lady in the glasses back there they're I'm coming to you first of all thank you so much for um sharing with all of us that there was no romantic golden age in the past we come from great stocks of be looking for equally crappier future but in times like this when it is so dark um what gives you hope that is if you're still hopeful what gives you hope is the new generation I mean I think it was very apparent in the past few months how the newer generation who were not been following the Legacy Media that they formed their own media their own research I myself have learned so much from younger people doing research and deun debunking lies and propaganda that have stayed for years and years and years and years the younger people the young bash yes thank you the younger people who who have now like taken over Tik to talk and taking over the social media explaining things to us that this Legacy Media didn't do for us so maybe my hope is that that new generation who have their own way of of of of acquiring information that having his their own way of of uh uh of knowing the truth and that is like the thing that gave me hope maybe the new generation that we criticize and we make fun of because they're on Tik Tok the whole time maybe there's something that we don't see that they will come and surprise us is that an opportunity basam I want to explore that for a moment uh before I come to you is that an opportunity with this new generation rejecting Legacy Media you know forming their own opinions doing their own research you know but the but the the cycle of violence the circle of War continues why isn't that an opportunity for things to actually change because they don't have the power but power is still in the hands of the Old Guard because the geriatrics are dying they have to die because no they're D no they don't have to die we need to put them in a nursing home but it's not that it's just like I think it is it we have a great opportunity in the future for those younger people hopefully when they come to the position of power they can actually make change and maybe it is what what we have seen in the past few months that was as brutal as it was it gives us hope in a new generation that we never thought that would perform that well yeah hi um my name viar raaga uh I think you and I think everyone might believe that whatever we think and we talk much that will happen or maybe manifest right uh we we are the normal people human beings right we don't like Wars we don't like any negative things right I know this is not your good for your business you guys business maybe but I think if you want to remove these kind of negative things or War right we have to stop the I believe the only way to stop something is to start uh stop talking about those topics right if you keep on topping something a negative or anything of War not about you I just talking very general right uh that is I think that is the only way to stop the negative thing right otherwise we'll manifest more and more all right let's follow your advice and let's talk about everything bad happens in the world and see let's give it a week every I mean I think this is a a very nice and spiritual way to speak about things but I think that doesn't work because the only way things change is actually you talk about them I understand that talking about them are noisy and disturbing you know as they say democracy is very noisy democracy is very uh it's a very noisy place because you have to listen to you have to listen to horrible things but that is how things change you talk about things you don't hide in the hide your head in the sand and not talk about it hoping for it to go away that's my simple reaction speaking about what G just before I come to you I have a quick question and I must ask this since since the gentleman here talked about you know how to stop War uh I must ask you because this is something you probably are asked Bas which is as far as Israel and Palestine are concerned it's been going on for so long cycles of violence keep coming up how does it end what needs to happen for it to end you're asking me I'm asking you this is a 75 years conflict that Scholars and politicians and Nations fail to stop that that's probably why maybe it needs a comic it it comes down to justice justice fa fair to be fair and to give people what they deserve you cannot expect to come and replace a whole population take their land and then expect them to go and die silent and disappear into the night I mean it happened before it happened with the Native Americans it happened with the Aboriginal in Australia but 50 million Native Americans were killed 20 million Aboriginal killed in Australia but the thing is we don't live in 1400s anymore we live now we see that what happens day to day and you cannot just like annihilate a old people or expect to displace 7 million people outside of a certain land and they expect it to go away like if we really believe in our ability to be humans and to change things we cannot allow the mistakes of the past to keep repeating because it just happened before almost out of time so yeah thank you shf for a second chance I can with you here's the white woman again the white woman again uh Bas yes you have have turned a very dark age or or or stage in in our history uh into u a lot of people to ponder upon but also brought it to the for through your humor but it's about content generation where are you getting this content from what is just give us one glimpse of your conversation with your loser cousin back home or back in Gaza uh your brother-in-law in Gaza uh what's a conversation that you have and uh how do you pick up content from that what conversation do I have with the with with your loser cousin or your loser brother-in-law by the way my loser brother-in-law is not actually Los he's a doctor and I will tell you something come on don't break my heart don't I don't need those no wait wait wait wait and Basim is a surgeon by the way for those who don't know I used to be a heart surgeon yes I I used to be I used to be a doctor so that makes me practically an Indian so I know like you know I know guys you know like I go I tell everybody you know we have one of India's top doctors sitting right there Dr Nishan H sir like okay guys if anybody have a headache I I I tell people I tell people in my show you know like I the only reason I became a doctor is because in the Middle East uh you're expected to be one of three things a doctor an engineer or a disappointment so I've been living my life as a disappointment now for 13 years so uh so back to my loser cousin here's the thing about my loser cousin uh I made that joke about him in the PE Morgan show I told him my loser cousin he he's not even good enough to be a human shield you know and um and I told my wife if to can can you please like you know send him a message that like I'm sorry I made fun of him but like and you know what happened she sent him a message 3 days later he responded he said like show what show TV what TV we don't have Internet and then he said oh Basim oh we love him let him say whatever they want this is how they act this is how they act even in the middle of the war and the thing is uh all of the their family the cousins and the uncles there will all spread around Gaza and now they are being pushed to Rafa and they all all of them lost their homes they are talking about like 18 people 18 families and they live now in one apartment and that apartment is in a building that could be bombed right now as we speak and all because these freaking lies that they were repeating in order to justify the killing of millions of people while the the West is sitting there wasting our time in discussions what's a proportionate response seriously are you seriously asking this question what's a proportion this this question has should have been stopped by the second day of the war because what is happening there is an continuous onslaught of killing innocent people using shits and the Western media is complicit because they are wasting time by distracting you with useless questions right and this is the way this is this is the way that their discussion ends to Nowhere they just want to give you the illusion of the freedom of discussion where they only waste your time where they letting them do whatever they want we're almost out of time uh there's a question that uh and I'm not saying this because I I work for the India Today group but Bassam you'll be happy to know that uh when uh when the IND today group sent me and some of my colleagues uh too is Isel last year to cover what happened after October the 7th we were the first Network that not only reported from Israel but also went into the Palestinian territories and told both sides of the story so we brought both sides of the story uh to this entire thing so uh I just wanted to place that on the record because it's important as far as the media is concerned War reporting is a difficult job and the India Today group has definitely shown the way as that as far as that is concerned no no here's the thing because you guys know what it means to be dehumanized you guys know what it means to be ruled by Ruthless People who dehumanize you and look down upon you that is why in America the people who support the Palestinian rights are African-Americans because they have been through that they have been through that pain and they know and we know and you know when they do that with all of their like very elegant suits and very nice looks and makeup they do that behind a facade that is actually full of lies so we understand it's we expect nothing less than you and also I want to thank the amazing stuff of India today I own they were amazing and I have to apologize to them because behind their back I sneaked out from my room today at 3:00 in the morning and I went to T Mahal and I came back right and they were like please don't go please don't go but like you there's a lot of traffic so I went at 3:00 in the morning with and I came here in time and and I said like how like we need to lock you in the room it's like I escaped from Egypt do you think that Palace can contain me so I apologize if I I give you guys some minimum heart attack you have a doctor here who can take care of you I forgot everything about medicine call 911 but otherwise I'm extremely extremely proud and happy and honored to be a guest in this amazing amazing event and you guys have made my time and you basically gave me the my best birthday ever in years so thank you very much and and while wishing you a very happy birthday in advance basam I just want to tell everyone here that uh some people may want to label you as the John Stewart of the Arab world but I think all of us here are going to remember you as Basim Yousef of America thank you very much thank you so much thank you than [Music] you

Channel: India Today Conclave

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Id: _04qco8OjkY

Length: 53min 49sec (3229 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 16 2024