Beyond the Matrix

The National Religious Broadcasters gathered in the final week of February 2020 at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville for their annual convention. It is an opportunity to address media issues and programming for the largely Christian Evangelical communicators who have had an outside influence on Trump Administration policy regarding Israel and increasingly on the rising Global Antisemitism in the West, particularly here in the US. Attending as major speakers are several figures in the Administration and of the President: Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos and personal attorney to the President Jay Sekulow.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dexter Van Zile, Christian Media Analyst of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) to address why anti- Zionism is the only unifying factor for the World Council of Churches (WCC). The umbrella world body was founded in 1948 with the mission of unifying Christian witness. However, with conflicting theologies, the only thing that it shares is political defamation of the Jewish state of Israel thus providing cover for the Palestinian Authority opposing efforts at normalization.

He tells of the loss of his family's lumber business through “aryanization” and betrayal by Christian friends in his community in Slovakia. The family escape in 1943 to a small village in Hungary in 1943 here they have relatives, while his parents move on to find work in Budapest. That haven ended in 1944, when the Horthy and Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross party capitulated to German occupation and Eichmann began transports to Auschwitz – Birkenau.

The recent commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz - Birkenau death camp by Russian Forces on January 20, 1945 and the gathering of 50 world leaders at the World Holocaust Forum at Yad Va Shem in Jerusalem brought new focus on the question of why didn’t the allies Bomb Auschwitz? A BBC/PBS documentary, “Bombing Auschwitz” was accused of being a “whitewash” of FDR’s betrayal of the six million European Jewish men, woman and children murdered in unspeakable ways during the Holocaust. Those accusations and more were the comments of a frequent guest on Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix, Dr. Rafael Medoff, executive director of the David S. Wyman, Institute of Holocaust Studies. Rod Bryant and Jerry Gordon discussed these issues with Dr. Medoff.

The Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal on January 18-19, 2020 had a provocative essay by controversial Dr. Martin Indyk, currently a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Clinton era Ambassador to Israel, State Department Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs and Obama era Special envoy for Israel- Palestinian negotiations: “The Middle East Isn’t Worth it Anymore”. Indyk’s bottom line was the US has few vital interests at stake in the Region and should set aside its “grandiose ambitions”. Takeaways were “a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem is a vital Israel interest, not a vital American one” and “We should be wary of those who should rush to battle stations on Iran”.

For months, we at Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix had asked why the Trump Administration hadn’t developed a strategy to confront Iran’s jihadi regime? This was after Iran downed a US reconnaissance drone and launched a drone and cruise missile attack crippling Saudi Arabia’s oil processing and storage facilities.

On the evening of January 7, 2020, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched more than a dozen short range ballistic missiles from Iran that hit US coalition bases at Al – Sad and Irbil in Western and Northern Iraq. There were initial unconfirmed reports of possible casualties. Early warning of the attack may have sent both Iraqis, US and other coalition military personnel to safety in bunkers.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant bring back Dan Diker of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs to address what is behind the disturbing rise of violent anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in the US and Europe. Diker is the Director of the Program to Counter Political Warfare at the JCPA.

Rod Reuven Bryant and Jerry Gordon interview Ken Timmerman, veteran Iran watcher and New York Times best-selling author fresh back from Tbilisi, Georgia with a tale of Iran’s Islamic Regime brutality and deception.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dr. Stephen Bryen. Dr. Bryen is a former Reagan era Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for technology security, a noted Military Technologist and Asia Times Columnist.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon interview Dexter Van Zile, Christian Media Analyst of Boston-based Committee for Accuracy for Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA). Van Zile gave the latest update on extremist Christian and sinister academic groups fostering anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism - “the likes of which we haven’t seen since Father Coughlin of the 1930’s and Henry Ford.” Top of the list is TruNews, a Vero Beach, Florida church with an antisemitic news podcast and YouTube Channel.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon in Israel News Talk Radio – Beyond the Matrix interviews in November focused on the threat of the Islamic Republic to Israel and other US allies in the Middle East.

Watch for a new Timmerman novel of how Trump lost the 2020 because of a team of a Democratic operative and hackers who meddle in the election in key states.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon interview Dan Diker, Director of the Program to Counter Political Warfare at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The occasion was the stunning policy ruling by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Israeli settlements in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria,

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dr. Stephen Bryen to address Iran’s provocative nuclear and missile threats to Israel and the US. Dr. Bryen is a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense during the Reagan Era, a noted military technologist and Asia Times columnist. This timely discussion occurred on news of Iran further breaching the 2015 Nuclear deal with ramp up of uranium enrichment threatening to produce enough fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons within a year.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dr. Stephen Bryen to address Iran’s provocative nuclear and missile threats to Israel and the US. Dr. Bryen is a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense during the Reagan Era, a noted military technologist and Asia Times columnist. This timely discussion occurred on news of Iran further breaching the 2015 Nuclear deal with ramp up of uranium enrichment threatening to produce enough fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons within a year.

Rod Reuven Dovid and Jerry Gordon interview Gil Hoffman, chief political analyst and columnist for the Jerusalem Post during his fall tour of the US and Canada. They discuss Israel’s national emergency- the two failures by Prime Minister Netanyahu to form a majority ruling coalition in the Knesset following the April 9th and September 17th, 2019 elections. Now, it is former IDF Chief Benjamin Gantz and his Blue White Alliance turn to see if a national unity government might be formed. But time is running out.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon discuss the superbly executed US special operations raid, that, with Kurdish cooperation and critical intel, bagged the elusive founder of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. A separate attack took out ISIS spokesperson and possible successor, Abu Hassan al- Muhajir.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dilliman Abdulkader, a Kurdish policy expert. He is director of external relations at Allegiance Strategies, a Washington, DC -based public affairs consulting firm. He is involved in advocacy for Congressional passage of tough sanctions bi- partisan legislation just as a cease fire “pause” of 120 hours comes to close in northern Syria. The “pause” was concluded with Turkish President Erdogan during a session in Ankara with Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo. The pause has been interrupted with continued fighting between Turkish -supported jihadist Syrian National Army (SNA) militias and elements of the Kurdish YPG-led Syrian Democratic Force. Moreover, there is increasingly evidence of war crimes perpetrated by the jihadist SNA and use of chemical weapons such as white phosphorous. President Trump ordered the redeployment of 1,000 US forces in Syria to bases in Iraq, while abandoning and even bombing former bases in Syria.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dilliman Abdulkader, a Kurdish policy expert. He is director of external relations at Allegiance Strategies, a Washington, DC -based public affairs consulting firm. Abdulkader’s family fled from Kirkuk, Iraq during the Gulf War and spent seven years as a child in the Al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria now filled with 70,000 ISIS fighters and families.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back veteran Iran-watcher, best-selling investigative journalist Ken Timmerman to address the question of has the US lost the Middle East. Background are troubling developments with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Turkey. The bottom line: Iran intends to achieve its goal of controlling the area between the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the Mediterranean with more than 25% plus of the world’s oil supply while perfecting its Shi’ite objective of surrounding and destroying Israel. As Stephen Bryen has noted in a recent Beyond the Matrix interview the US has “no strategy, no intelligence” and thus appears unable to deal with what Timmerman considers are dire geo-political threats.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dan Diker of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) to discuss important developments in a tumultuous do-over election. Discussions between Gantz of Blue White Alliance and PM Netanyahu of Likud right wing coalition are at a critical impasse with the possibility that Netanyahu might hand in his mandate from President Rivlin. All hinges on critical meeting on October 2nd between Gantz and Netanyahu. The Arab Joint List with 10 mandates ironically endorsed Gantz, a former IDF Chief of Staff. Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu with 8 mandates wants a national secular unity government without Netanyahu leading Likud and right wing religious parties. Liberman is trying to position himself as leader of the secular nationalists to emerge as a possible future PM. Could the do-over election result in other Likud leading political figures contesting for party leadership as rotating PM.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dan Diker to discuss important developments in a tumultuous do-over election. The result is a virtual tie with the Blue White Alliance of Benny Gantz at 44 Knesset mandates versus PM Netanyahu Likud and Right-wing alliance with 55 mandates. The Arab Joint List with 10 mandates that endorsed Gantz and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu with 8 mandates have big chips in unity government negotiations to pass the threshold of 61 mandates with Gantz and Netanyahu as rotating PMs. Liberman is trying to position himself as leader of the secular nationalists to emerge as a possible future PM.

What was behind Iran's attack on Saudi Arabian oil processing facilities?

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant bring back on 9/11 Dr. Rafael Medoff, Executive Director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. His latest book, “The Jews should be Quiet”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and the Holocaust unveils new archival evidence of the relationship between FDR and Rabbi Stephen S Wise, leader of the American Jewish Congress and World Jewish , Congress, a Reform Rabbi and an activist Zionist in his youth.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dr. Stephen Bryen, former Reagan era Defense official, premier Washington -based military technology expert and Asia Times columnist. The discussion focused on the technology behind Israeli successes in the recent Shadow War episodes in late August 2019 against Iran’s Quds Force and proxies Hezbollah and Shi’ite Popular Mobilization Forces in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. We also delved into the Russian disastrous test of a nuclear reactor powered missile in the arctic region, race to develop hypersonic missiles and the lack of anti- effective missile defense by the US.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and current sidekick Jerry Gordon bring back former co-host Israel News Talk Radio 'star' Rabbi Ira Michaelson to wax nostalgic about how Beyond the Matrix originally started and the spiritual bond between Rod and Ira. Ira Michaelson introduced Jerry Gordon to Rod Bryant from an interview on a previous weekly national security program on Salem Media where Gordon was producer and co-host. The rest as they say is history.

Rod Bryant and Jerry Gordon interviewed Ben Weinthal, Jerusalem Post’s European correspondent and Research Fellow of Washington, DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies on what lies behind Germany’s tilt towards Iran.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon interview Yaacov Apelbaum, founder and CTO of New York -based XRVision, Ltd, an early stage start up technology company developing adaptive AI video analytics solutions for law enforcement, security, and intelligence applications called the Sentinel AI. This is the future of visual intelligence.

Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dexter Van Zile of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) to discuss a conservative Catholic E. Michael Jones extolling Jew hatred and racism via the internet misleading young millennials. Even more dangerous is that Jones has consorted with the like of white supremacist David Duke.