The Sherry Sylvester Show · Texas Public Policy Foundation

The War in Gaza and the Texas-Israel Alliance with Jay Rubin

·25 min·1 clip

Rubin says October 7 killed 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250, after a ceasefire the day before.

1. The Sherry Sylvester Show uses the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Annual Policy Summit as the setting for a discussion of the war in Gaza and the Texas-Israel alliance. 2. Sherry Sylvester speaks with Jay Rubin, a longtime leader in the Austin Jewish community, former executive vice president of Hillel International from 1997 to 2000, and a native of Brooklyn who has lived in Texas longer than anywhere else. 3. The conversation asks what the Gaza war means for Texas, for campus politics, and for how American media covers Israel. 4. Rubin describes Austin's Jewish community growth from about 3,000 Jews in the city when he first lived there to close to 40,000 today. 5. He links that growth to migration into Austin from across Texas, from Israel, and from places like California. 6. Rubin recalls teaching the first Holocaust course at Texas State and says a colleague has kept it going for more than 40 years. 7. He says he chose to move from a history Ph.D. track into Jewish community work after taking a three-year job at Texas State and getting involved in Austin. 8. On October 7 and afterward, Rubin says Governor Greg Abbott showed leadership by going to Israel, speaking at the Dell Jewish Community Campus, and backing public officials who did not allow encampments. 9. Rubin contrasts Texas with campuses elsewhere, naming Columbia University and UCLA as places where he saw mirrored protest activity. 10. He says Texas universities did not mirror those tactics because law enforcement and university presidents acted quickly against intimidation, vandalism, and building occupation. 11. Rubin calls the recent hostage handoff 'barbaric and unconscionable' and says the bodies of two young boys and their mother were part of what made the day so sad. 12. He says the event was not a real exchange and argues that Hamas routinely stages public displays when hostages are released. 13. Rubin says Hamas cannot remain in Gaza, cannot be part of any government, and cannot again be allowed on Israel's borders. 14. He argues that there was a ceasefire on October 6 and that Hamas broke it on October 7 by killing 1,200 men, women, and children and kidnapping over 250 people. 15. Rubin says Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis were all part of a larger effort to destroy Israel. 16. He says Israel made a major strategic mistake by underestimating Gaza after focusing on Hezbollah, and he connects that error to the current hostage releases. 17. Rubin says American campuses now reflect an 'oppresor or oppressed' worldview that flattens Israel into a simple symbol and misses its multiracial and multireligious reality. 18. He says modern media is 'homogenized,' that many people now get news only from outlets they already agree with, and that podcasts matter more than newspapers or television. 19. The tone is direct and argumentative, with Sylvester pressing on current events and Rubin answering in a policy-and-history frame. 20. Listeners interested in Texas politics, Israel advocacy, campus protest, or media criticism will get the most from it.

As heard by us

A Texas-centered conversation about Gaza, Israel coverage, and Holocaust education.

This episode keeps its attention firmly on Texas, starting at the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Annual Policy Summit and then moving through Jay Rubin's long presence in the Austin Jewish community, his work at Texas State, and his concern with how Israel is covered in Texas…

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Why you'd press play

You want Gaza discussed through a Texas lens, with no wasted motion.

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