Ray McGovern: Israeli Settlements in Palestine
Geopolitics & Empire
Geopolitics & Empire
4.2 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2017
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Former CIA intelligence officer Ray McGovern describes his view on the Israeli settlements in Palestine in light of his recent trip to the Holy Land.
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About Ray McGovern
Ray McGovern was an Army infantry/intelligence officer and then served as a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. Ray’s duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s five most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985.
In January 2003, Ray co-created Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) to expose how intelligence was being falsified to “justify” war on Iraq.
A founder of Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence ( samadamsaward.ch ), Ray was happy to be able, with former awardees Thomas Drake, Coleen Rowley, Jesselyn Radack, to present the annual award in 2013 to Edward Snowden.
Ray’s B.A. and M.A. degrees – both from Fordham University – are in Russian history, language, and literature, with minors in theology, philosophy, and classics. He has taught Russian as an adjunct at the University of Virginia. Ray also holds a Certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
A Catholic, Ray has been worshipping for many years with the ecumenical Church of the Saviour. He has been invited to lecture at various interfaith and ecumenical events around the U.S., and has preached during services at a number of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.
Ray is fluent in Russian, German, and Spanish. He and his wife have been married 55 years; they have five children and nine grandchildren.
*Podcast intro music is from the song “The Queens Jig” by “Musicke & Mirth” from their album “Music for Two Lyra Viols”: http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On this edition of the Geopolitics and Empire podcast, we interview former CIA intelligence officer Ray McGovern. |
| 0:07.9 | He is also the co-founder of veteran intelligence professionals for sanity and the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity and Inintelligence. |
| 0:16.4 | He writes for consortium news, among other outlets, and you can find his writings and interviews |
| 0:22.6 | on his website at raymogvern.com. |
| 0:25.6 | He recently visited Israel and Palestine, and he gives us his take on the situation there |
| 0:30.6 | regarding the settlements. |
| 0:32.6 | You recently traveled to Israel and Palestine. |
| 0:36.6 | This is the first time on the podcast we're covering this topic. |
| 0:40.7 | Could you give us a quick overview of the issues from your perspective and from your trip |
| 0:46.2 | and what injustices are being perpetrated and perhaps comment on what you think Trump's policy will be regarding Israel, Palestine, |
| 0:58.6 | and the settlements? Sure. Well, a delegation, a small delegation of eight Veterans for Peace, |
| 1:08.9 | these are people who have served in the U.S. military and are now working |
| 1:13.6 | very hard to ensure that there will be not any more war. We visited Israel and Palestine for two |
| 1:21.8 | and a half weeks earlier this month, actually starting late last month. So from February to March, we're able to see with our own eyes what Bishop Tutu of South Africa |
| 1:38.3 | has described as an injustice system worse than the apartheid system in South Africa, |
| 1:48.0 | which has ended when Nelson Mandela was freed. |
| 1:53.0 | Now, that's serious. |
| 1:55.0 | What we have for your students' background is a situation where after World War II and the killing extermination |
| 2:08.6 | of five, six million Jews in Germany and elsewhere, it was thought that the Jews should have a homeland. |
| 2:20.3 | And the West Europeans who felt so conscience-stricken by what they had acquiesced in, |
| 2:30.3 | by what they had watched, by what they had not found the strength to oppose, said, oh, yeah, that would be a great idea. |
| 2:39.0 | Let's give the Jewish people their own homeland. |
... |
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