NewsReal Interviews Caroline Glick
Caroline Glick has received notoriety for her recent parody, "We Con the World." She considers herself an American-Israeli Jew who is currently a deputy editor for the Jerusalem Post. She was a captain in the Israel Defense Force and from 1997- 1998 served as Assistant Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. She is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC where she routinely briefs senior administration officials and members of Congress on issues of joint Israeli-American concern. In 2008, she wrote the book, Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad. She commented on the issues facing Israel today.
NewsRealBlog: Do you understand the criticism you are getting for your video?
Caroline Glick: No. We were just making a parody of "We Are the World."
NRB: Are you upset that Jews like Steven Spielberg are not speaking out in support of Israel?
Glick: Speilberg produced Schindler’s List and Munich. He clearly has a vision of Jews based upon weakness, not strength and upon Jews being protected by non-Jews rather than defending themselves with the tools of power.
NRB: Are you upset with the criticism?
Glick: Not at all. If they or Hamas said they liked me I would be very concerned about what I am doing.
NRB: Why did you make the video?
Glick: Latma is our website. At Latma it is our belief that by exposing the media to ridicule, we will help to change the nature of public discourse. We were planning on doing this parody for only the Israeli domestic audience.
NRB: Why did you change your mind?
Glick: We decided to direct it to the international audience when we saw the international community pile on against Israel and produced it in English.
NRB: Is this the first parody you created?
Glick: No. On the website LATMA we have had lots and lots of parodies. We have produced them with English subtitles for the past several months.
NRB: Do you want to respond to those critics who are calling you a racist?
Glick: The lefts’ favorite method is to call anyone who gives them an argument they can’t contend with a racist. It’s ok that the left call Israel a neo-Nazi or Fascist state. I categorize those attacks against myself and my team as the last refuge of desperate, pathetic, frustrated ideologues that cannot handle reality.
NRB: Has your job at the Jerusalem Post been affected by this outcry to fire you?
Glick: Definitely not.
NRB: What point did you want to get across with the video?
Glick: My team and I wanted to lash out to those people who dared to call our naval commandos murderers for defending their country and themselves from a lynch mob. Calling those on the flotilla "peace activists" is a complete lie. They were just championing the rights of a terrorist organization.
NRB: What do you want to tell your critics?
Glick: 90% of the tens of thousands of responses to this clip were positive. The leftist response to what we did is marginal. We have received an outpouring of support not only from the US but literally from all over the world.
NRB: Do you agree that a lot of the left embrace anti-Semitism?
Glick: Yes. It’s the anti-Semitism of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Helen Thomas. They want the destruction of the state of Israel, the third exile. People don’t want to get their arms around the fact that Israel is in existential danger.
NRB: Did you read Andrew McCarthy’s book The Grand Jihad which also talks about the left?
Glick: I haven’t read it yet but I can’t wait to read his book. I read his earlier book. I think he is an excellent and a wonderful supporter of Israel.
NRB: Do you think the left is trying to demonize you?
Glick: They try to personalize everything. They can’t deal with content based upon reality. They can’t deal with the fact that leftism is a recipe for disaster on every level. They attack people who point it out.
NRB: What is your book about?
Glick: My book is a compilation of my columns from 2002 to 2004.
NRB: Can you be more specific?
Glick: I use my columns as a vehicle to explain the basics of Jihad. Israel is on the front lines. There is an onslaught on Western Civilization and the free world. How do we in Israel contend with the challenge that we are being presented with by radical Islam. These are basically the themes I touch on with my column twice a week.
NRB: Do you think America is also on the front lines to fight Jihad?
Glick: The Obama Administration is doing two things. First, they are ignoring and denying the existence of the enemy, the Radical Jihadists. They are pretending there is no such thing. Second, President Obama does not believe the US should have a leadership role in the world. The US should just be a part of the pact. They need to change this policy because the US has a right and a duty to lead the free world in defending itself against radical Islam.
NRB: What do you think of Iran backing down and not sending the supposed aid ship to Gaza?
Glick: A video released around June 18 will have Ahmadinejad in it. If Iran is sending a ship it is not an aid ship. Call it like it is-a war ship. They are basically provoking an act of war with Israel.
NRB: Are you going to make more videos and write more books?
Glick: We will do what is necessary, so yes.
