Syria is not Palestine; anti-Salafism/Wahhabism is not Islamophobia - with Rania Khalek (Ep. 18) by Moderate Rebels published on 2018-05-07T07:28:14Z Moderate Rebels episode 18 - Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton continue the discussion with Rania Khalek. We explain how our erroneous views on the war in Syria evolved. Max apologizes for his Al Akhbar resignation, and Rania discusses the destructive sectarianism in prominent Arab-American and Muslim-American organizations, many of which get funding from Gulf regimes. We also detail Israel's support for the Syrian opposition, and show how dishonest the attempts are to liken Salafi rebels to the Palestinians. This is part 2 of our 3-part interview with Rania Khalek. TOPICS 0:00 Intro 1:48 Max on his Al Akhbar resignation and his awakening on Syria 13:00 Rania on initially getting Syria wrong 18:10 Gulf regime funding for Arab-American and Muslim-American groups 21:42 Turkey's influence and Armenian Genocide denial 24:50 Sectarianism and the similarities between Islamism, Zionism, and white nationalism 31:36 Syria sectarianism's damage to pro-Palestine solidarity and grassroots movements in the US 37:32 Israel's support for the Syrian opposition 46:08 Dishonest attempts to liken Syrian rebels to the Palestinians 52:09 Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria Genre News & Politics Comment by Trisha Y. Roberts Thanks so much for all your podcasts. Really great detailed presentations. 2018-05-21T08:10:59Z Comment by Ken P Takes a big person to own this and apologize. 2018-05-11T01:09:24Z Comment by Ken P l made the same mistake. I think MoA is being a little too hard on your guys though. 2018-05-11T00:58:10Z Comment by Yuri S great second part, can't wait for the third part and having followed Rania, Max and Ben closely and the incredible smear campaign, blackilisting, and hardship inflicted on you three but especially Rania, its been very enlightening to discover how many Middle East organization/NGOS and NGOS ingeneral and who influences media outlets like the Intercept, Democracy Now and yours truly Al Jazeera who've jumped the shark on Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine, Libya beforehand and Russia conspiracy theories its been very enlightening from Rania and the co-hosts how its not just corporate media and centrists and well funded right-wing groups that are detrimental to society but faux progressives groups also backed by insincere wealthy donors that are part of the problem. and with the media criticism Rania, Ben and Max has shown is we need to go after and criticize media funded by Qatar and insincere wealthy donors which you all have discussed, the late Alexander cockburn, Michael Parenti and Mint Press 2018-05-07T22:24:27Z