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Michael Moore Misappropriates the Holocaust in Car Crash CNN Interview
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s recent interview on CNN is difficult to watch.
Indeed, challenging is the best word to describe watching the ill-informed Moore ramble on for 10 minutes, while receiving little pushback.
Appearing on The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Moore was asked to comment on the anti-Israel campus protests that have swept across colleges in the United States following the Hamas massacre on October 7.
Moore suggests that such demonstrations are a hallmark of healthy “democracy and free speech,” and complains that protesters have been beaten and clubbed by police in response, even though no protesters are “committing any acts of violence.”
We must assume that Moore was wearing a blindfold on the many occasions he’s witnessed or participated in these protests, because footage of threatening and violent behavior at different colleges has been widely shared on social media for weeks.
Moore goes on to suggest that most of the allegations of violence center around the signs some students are holding, which he says contain merely innocuous statements like “Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea…”
Again, we must assume Moore is suffering from both hearing and vision problems, if he won’t acknowledge chants like “Go back to Poland,” or if he hasn’t seen signs held aloft by his Gen-Z heroes that imply the world must be “cleaned” of Jews.
And, of course, chants for a Palestine “from the river to the sea,” are calls for the destruction of Israel.
Moore claims that a moral panic about the protests is being whipped up on little evidence, claiming the “one Hamas flag” that was flown on campus is not representative of protesters in general. According to Moore, “this is all a made-up thing.”
Of course, there is a wealth of photographic and video proof that the problem extends far beyond one rogue antisemite flying a Hamas flag. We and millions of others around the world have seen the Hezbollah flags and the students in Hamas headbands, and we have heard their chants calling for “Zionists” to be wiped off the face of the earth.
The only mild pushback that occurs in the whole segment is Collins’ pointing out that many Jewish students have reported feeling unsafe.
Naturally, Moore trots out a lie that serves to dismiss this fact, which is that the majority of Jewish students support demonstrations.
Michael Moore on @CNN: “98% of them [protesters] are not saying anything that’s antisemitic because they don’t believe in antisemitism, in part, because Palestinian people are Semites.”
How to prove you know nothing about antisemitism while talking about antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/Ci8xOqmhxG
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 30, 2024
The parts of Moore’s interview that stand out most, however, are the ones in which he reveals his breathtaking ignorance—an ignorance so profound that it should render him blacklisted from any serious news program in the future.
The first is when he states that 98% of protesters are not antisemitic — something he suggests is impossible “because the Palestinian people are Semites.”
It is a shame that CNN anchor Collins also clearly knows little about the subject, or she might have been able to challenge this disinformation. The word “antisemitism” is a late 19th-century coinage and was a way of giving a pseudo-intellectual front to anti-Jewish hatred. There is no such thing as Semitic people, just Semitic languages.
The second comes at the end of the interview, when Moore starts ranting about the Holocaust, which he suggests Palestinians have borne the brunt of by virtue of the land being “taken” from them as a response to the mass slaughter of six million Jews.
The implication of this is that Moore believes the creation of Israel was Western compensation to the Jews, ignoring historical and religious ties to the land dating back thousands of years.
Blithely unaware that a well-known ally of Hitler was none other than one of the “founding fathers” of Palestinian nationalism, the Grand Mufti Amin Al-Husseini, Moore even rewrites history to suggest that Arabs were somehow innocent of all Jew hate over the centuries. Of course, the massacres of Jews that long pre-date Israel’s creation in 1948 tell a different story.
Insultingly, Moore expresses how it’s right to “love the Jewish people but not this,” which he claims, in reference to the current war, is the “mass extermination” and “carpet bombing of a civilian population.”
The most irritating aspect of the whole interview, however, is not Moore’s unbridled ignorance, but that he was not taken to task for some of his more outrageous remarks. Instead, Collins appeared starry-eyed and was practically mute as Moore was given the stage to reimagine facts and rewrite history.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Iran Says Nuclear Talks Will Fail if US Pushes for Zero Enrichment

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits the Iranian centrifuges in Tehran, Iran, June 11, 2023. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States “will lead nowhere” if Washington insists that Tehran drop its uranium enrichment activity to zero, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takhtravanchi was quoted by state media on Monday as saying.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterated Washington’s stance on Sunday that any new deal between the US and Iran must include an agreement to refrain from enrichment, a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear energy program has entirely peaceful purposes; Western countries have countered there is no civilian justification for the extent of Iran’s uranium enrichment.
“Our position on enrichment is clear and we have repeatedly stated that it is a national achievement from which we will not back down,” Takhtravanchi said.
During his visit to the Gulf region last week, US President Donald Trump said a deal was very close but that Iran needed to move quickly to resolve the decades-long dispute.
Washington is complicating negotiations by expressing views in public different from what is discussed privately during talks, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
“Despite hearing contradictory statements from the Americans, we are still participating in negotiations,” Esmail Baghaei added.
A fifth round of talks is expected to take place in Rome this weekend pending confirmation, an Iranian official told Reuters.
During his first, 2017-21 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed temporary limits on Tehran’s enrichment activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Trump, who branded the 2015 accord one-sided in Iran‘s favor, also reimposed sweeping US sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic responded by escalating enrichment.
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Israel Declares Start of Gaza Ground Operations, No Progress Seen in Talks

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, May 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had begun “extensive ground operations” in northern and southern Gaza, stepping up a new campaign in the enclave.
Israel made its announcement after sources on both sides said there had been no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Qatar.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the latest Doha talks included discussions on a truce and hostage deal as well as a proposal to end the war in return for the exile of Hamas militants and the demilitarization of the enclave – terms Hamas has previously rejected.
The substance of the statement was in line with previous declarations from Israel, but the timing, as negotiators meet, offered some prospect of flexibility in Israel’s position. A senior Israeli official said there had been no progress in the talks so far.
Israel’s military said it conducted a preliminary wave of strikes on more than 670 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past week to support its ground operation, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots.”
It said it killed dozens of Hamas fighters. Palestinian health authorities say hundreds of people have been killed including many women and children.
Asked about the Doha talks, a Hamas official told Reuters: “Israel’s position remains unchanged, they want to release the prisoners (hostages) without a commitment to end the war.”
He reiterated that Hamas was proposing releasing all Israeli hostages in return for an end to the war, the pull-out of Israeli troops, an end to a blockade on aid for Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, which attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages.
The Israeli military campaign has devastated the enclave, pushing nearly all residents from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities.
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Pope Leo Urges Unity for Divided Church, Vows Not To Be ‘Autocrat’

Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful from the popemobile ahead of his inaugural Mass in Saint Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, May 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
Pope Leo XIV formally began his reign on Sunday by reaching out to conservatives who felt orphaned under his predecessor, calling for unity, vowing to preserve the Catholic Church’s heritage and not rule like “an autocrat.”
After a first ride in the popemobile through an estimated crowd of up to 200,000 in St. Peter’s Square and surrounding streets, Leo was officially installed as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church at an outdoor Mass.
Well-wishers waved US and Peruvian flags, with people from both countries claiming him as the first pope from their nations. Born in Chicago, the 69-year-old pontiff spent many years as a missionary in Peru and also has Peruvian citizenship.
Robert Prevost, a relative unknown on the world stage who only became a cardinal two years ago, was elected pope on May 8 after a short conclave of cardinals that lasted barely 24 hours.
He succeeded Francis, an Argentine, who died on April 21 after leading the Church for 12 often turbulent years during which he battled with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalized.
In his sermon, read in fluent Italian, Leo said that as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, he would continue Francis’ legacy on social issues such as combating poverty and protecting the environment.
He vowed to face up to “the questions, concerns and challenges of today’s world” and, in a nod to conservatives, he promised to preserve “the rich heritage of the Christian faith,” repeatedly calling for unity.
Crowds chanted “Viva il Papa” (Long Live the Pope) and “Papa Leone,” his name in Italian, as he waved from the open-topped popemobile ahead of his inaugural Mass, which was attended by dozens of world leaders.
US Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who clashed with Francis over the White House’s hardline immigration policies, led a US delegation alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Catholic.
Vance briefly shook hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the start of the ceremony. The two men last met in February in the White House, when they clashed fiercely in front of the world’s media.
Zelensky and Leo were to have a private meeting later on Sunday, while Vance was expected to see the pope on Monday.
In a brief appeal at the end of the Mass, Leo addressed several global conflicts. He said Ukraine was being “martyred,” a phrase often used by Francis, and called for a “just and lasting peace” there.
He also mentioned the humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying people in the Palestinian enclave were being “reduced to starvation.”
Among those in the crowds on Sunday were many pilgrims from the US and Peru.
Dominic Venditti, from Seattle, said he was “extremely excited” by the new pope. “I like how emotional and kind he is,” he said. “I love his background.”
APPEAL FOR UNITY
Since becoming pope, Leo has already signaled some key priorities for his papacy, including a warning about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence and the importance of bringing peace to the world and to the Church itself.
Francis’ papacy left a divided Church, with conservatives accusing him of sowing confusion, particularly with his extemporaneous remarks on issues of sexual morality such as same-sex unions.
Saying he was taking up his mission “with fear and trembling,” Leo used the words “unity” or “united” seven times on Sunday and the word “harmony” four times.
“It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving, as Jesus did,” he said, in apparent reference to a war of words between Catholics who define themselves as conservative or progressive.
Conservatives also accused Francis of ruling in a heavy-handed way and lamented that he belittled their concerns and did not consult widely before making decisions.
Referring to St. Peter, the 1st century Christian apostle from whom popes derive their authority, Leo said: “Peter must shepherd the flock without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat, lording it over those entrusted to him. On the contrary, he is called to serve the faith of his brothers and sisters, and to walk alongside them.”
Many world leaders attended the ceremony, including the presidents of Israel, Peru and Nigeria, the prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Australia, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
European royals also took their place in the VIP seats near the main altar, including Spanish King Felipe and Queen Letizia.
Leo shook many of their hands at the end of the ceremony, and hugged his brother Louis, who had traveled from Florida.
As part of the ceremony, Leo received two symbolic items: a liturgical vestment known as a pallium, a sash of lambswool representing his role as a shepherd, and the “fisherman’s ring,” recalling St. Peter, who was a fisherman.
The ceremonial gold signet ring is specially cast for each new pope and can be used by Leo to seal documents, although this purpose has fallen out of use in modern times.
It shows St. Peter holding the keys to Heaven and will be broken after his death or resignation.
The post Pope Leo Urges Unity for Divided Church, Vows Not To Be ‘Autocrat’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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