Real Life Ministry
A podcast for Christians living in America. Talking about the constant struggles that we face in life. Teaching and educating the followers of Jesus Christ to Live Free and Live Strong.
Real Life Ministry
The Woke Right And Anti Semitism | Special Interview with Karys Rhea | Part 1 of 2
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We talk with Karys Rhea about the “woke right” and why anti-Israel and anti-Jewish narratives are showing up in conservative spaces and even in churches. We trace how conspiracy culture, foreign propaganda and bad theology can distort a biblical view of Israel and fracture the values we’re trying to preserve.
• defining the woke right as left-style identity politics applied on the right
• Karys journey from Bay Area politics to Israel advocacy and counterterrorism
• what working in political media teaches about censorship and narrative shaping
• Middle East Forum research on Islamist influence and how stories break
• how foreign adversaries exploit anti-Zionism to divide Americans
• globalist institutions, NGOs and pressure on American sovereignty
• October 7 as a trigger for conspiracy thinking and anti-Semitic tropes
• replacement theology concerns and why Christians support Israel
• biggest lies to watch for about Israel’s goals and what “chosen people” means
If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit.
And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us.
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Real Life Ministry, where we are dedicated to teaching and encouraging Christians to live free and live strong. Your host today is Ryan Rice, a Bible teacher, a pastor, entrepreneur, and a writer. Join us as we dive into various topics and how they relate to faith, values, and making a positive impact in America. Let's dive into it.
SPEAKER_03All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of Real Life Ministry. Today in the studio we have Karis Rhea. Did I pronounce that correct, Karis?
SPEAKER_00It's Rehea. Right. But you got the first part right. So that's that's impressive enough.
SPEAKER_03Well, Karis Rea, thank you so much for joining us today. Karis serves as an American political commentator, expert on Israel anti-Semitism. She's a writing fellow with the Middle East Forum and is working on a new book and about how uh a new woke right is undermining President Trump's America's first vision and dividing the MAGA the MAGA movement. Did I did I get that right, Karis?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, the book's still uh, you know, it's still being written, so um I the the angle is still being ironed out, but but I think that's generally a good summary.
SPEAKER_03Well and for our listeners jumping in, when we're talking about woke right, some of these terms, you know, uh they're just it it's it's like there's a there's new terminology through uh you know being disseminated throughout culture right now. And so you would you define woke right as people who claim to be conservative but use kind of left style identity politics, cancel culture, victim talk, often with anti-Israel or anti-Semitic twist. Is that how you would define that?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, couldn't have couldn't have summarized it better myself.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's interesting to me because that has become so shocking to me as a pastor, you know, uh who sees Christians that uh that I love all of a sudden kind of come out with like these weird anti-Semitic twist. It's like and and like exactly what you're taught, you know, what we were talking about, this kind of cancel culture and victim talk, as if the Jews are taking over the world and they're the biggest problem. And it's it's just it's alarming. It's very, very
Defining The Woke Right
SPEAKER_03alarming. So before we jump in, Karis, um could you give our listeners
Karis Reah’s Story And Shift
SPEAKER_03just kind of a short version of your story? How how'd you go from music into politics and and why did Israel and anti-Semitism become such a big focus in your in your life?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Wow, okay, so that's basically my entire life. Um summarized. Let's see. Um, well, I grew up in the Bay Area, pretty much the wokest, most progressive place in the country, I would say.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00And I just assumed I was a Democrat, but I wasn't politically aware. I never even really considered my political views, but everybody was around me, everybody around me was a Democrat. And then I think, if I can recall correctly, 9-11 was probably a turning point for me. I started being more aware of geopolitics. I was very intrigued by um the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism, particularly radical Islam. That led me to become a Zionist. Um, understanding, I mean, I was a Jew, but I wasn't particularly religious, but just understanding Israel's place in the world and Israel as a bulwark against, you know, the scourge of radical Islam, which was which was becoming a real threat, not just to Israel, but to America and Western civilization. Um, and uh, you know, I kind of struggled with my political identity for a while. I thought maybe I was an independent throughout college, and then pretty much accepted that I had been a conservative all along when I realized that fundamentally what American conservatives stand for are small government, local representation, you know, uh a more you know originalist um interpretation of the constitution, uh state rights, you know, uh a strong middle class, things of that sort. So um, you know, uh uh strong families, um faith, freedom, you know, the the three F's of conservatism. So um I I think Israel was kind of my first window into political conservatism, if you will. Um, but I kind of put that on hold after college. I spent my 20s um doing music because I have a very, very strong passion for songwriting and for playing drums, and and so I was in bands and I recorded and toured and performed. And then I sort of got sick of the hustle, grew up, went to grad school in Israel, got a master's degree in in um government and uh with a specialization in counterterrorism. And then let's see, I was really very active in uh uh Israel advocacy and the nonprofit world for quite some time. I worked for a whole host of Jewish or Zionist uh organizations, and then I got really tired of working from home. It was a little bit soul-sucking, especially once I had really truly exited the the um the music industry. This was even before the pandemic. So I decided to kind of change careers and I did have this undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism from NYU. So it seemed like an industry that I could get into, especially because I was a little bit familiar with journalism and the media landscape, having having written so many op-eds over the years. Um, and so I transferred to the media broadcast news network industry, and I was a producer at Newsmax for a little bit, and then I went to Epoch Times for three years that um relocated me from New York City to DC, which is where I am now. And then last year I uh I got an offer, a publisher reached out to me and asked me to write a book based on an article I had written about the woke right, and he wanted me to expand it into a nonfiction political book. So that's what I've been working on every day since then.
SPEAKER_03Wow, that's great. That's great.
What Media Work Taught Her
SPEAKER_03And so, I mean, you you've worked on a lot of different, you know, uh media projects. Uh you worked on shows, if if I'm uh correct me if I'm wrong, but American Thought Leaders, Cassius Corner. What did what did those jobs teach you about how media shapes what people believe?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I learned so much at Epoch Times, really. I I think I learned just more about the subject matter that Epoch Times was really focused on, more than any sort of abstract ideas about you know, media or um shaping narratives, right? Because Epoch Times was was was founded by Chinese Americans to push back against CCP propaganda and to expose the crimes and corruption that have been taking place since the CCP took over. And so my knowledge base about China and about the threat that the CCP poses to the West was just expanded, you know, uh 200 fold. I mean, it was just, it was such an eye-opening stint that I had. Um, really, it was just, and I learned about other things too, not just China. I mean, Epoch was very focused on the health freedom movement during the pandemic. Um we were one of the few outlets, if any, that was giving voice to doctors or, you know, healthcare professionals or scientists who were being silenced and censored and kicked off platforms and people who didn't uh you know agree with the COVID protocols, people who had been injured by the vaccine. We were interviewing all of them on my show. So I got quite an education about that. And, you know, these these some of these doctors were as you know, some of the most renowned uh, you know, public figures in their fields, right? I mean, people, you know, Harvard, Princeton doctors, you know, um, you know, famous British cardiologists, you know, uh people who had published more uh, you know, um peer-reviewed articles in their field than any other doctor in the world, you know. So these were real professionals. And so I just got such an education into so many other areas than what I had originally been very passionate about, which which was Israel and Islam and the Middle East, yeah, things of that nature. So Yeah.
Middle East Forum And Islamist Influence
SPEAKER_03Speaking, speaking on the Middle East, you you're writing for uh or with the Middle East Forum, I believe. And and so what does that actually look like day to day? And what kinds of issues are you trying to expose?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm just a fellow with the Middle East Forum. So basically what they do is they will just repost any articles that I publish. But because I've been working on my book so much, I really have not been writing. Once the book is in its final stages, I'll definitely be putting out like excerpts. Um, I know commentary has offered um, you know, to publish an excerpt once it's done. But I have been with uh the Middle East Forum in a much more intimate capacity over the years. I actually have worked, I think, in every single department there. I think I started with them in like 2017, you know, always part-time, but but I really um got to see the ins and outs of the organization. And they just do fantastic research um exposing what is actually happening in the West in terms of you know Islamist influence and how that is manifesting uh day to day on both a local and state and national level. Sam Westdrop, um, who's you know the head of Islamist watch there, it just has exposed so much breaking news that should be, you know, it should be talked about on all you know conservative outlets, right? He just did a whole a whole expose about how the you know the LDS uh church, the Mormon church has been you know funneling um just loads of cash to like uh Hamas linked charities. Um so you know, yeah, and he brought receipts. So so yeah, I'm I'm I'm you know always impressed by what I read over there. And Greg Roman, who's who's now the executive director, I believe he's he's he he writes almost every week for them, and he's been um he's been sharing his own commentary about the Iran war, and he's over there. He he he lives in Israel now. Um, and it's just been, in my opinion, like so uh valuable for the conversation. And I just wish that all of his pieces had gotten into Marco Rubio's hands throughout the entire war because I really think he just has his finger on the pulse of the most important issues, you know, stripped of any sort of media narratives that might be, you know, fluff or superfluous. Like he just really gets it. He gets the core issues of what's going on on a practical level and and and the steps that we need to take in order to in order to be victorious.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I read a book, I think it was called Why Christians Should Support Uh Israel by Jeff Miles. He's the president of Summit Ministries. And uh in his book, he kind of exposed some of the funding that was going into uh well, it was terrorist groups like Hamas and uh different uh I think it was Hezbollah, and a lot of the funding he linked it back in his book back to like some of these gigantic global elites, like uh a number of individuals and uh Soros, I think it is. Um and and then and then there was uh you you made mention of the Mormon church funding some of some of this stuff. Kind of elaborate on on what you know about some of the funding that's going into this anti-Semitic kind of uh push that that is happening and
Funding Pipelines And Foreign Influence
SPEAKER_03spiking in our culture right now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, I think that it's not even just uh jihadist organizations, right? Or just any sort of anti-Semitic outfits that are funding these anti-Zionist uh narratives in America. I also think it is just America's enemies that are not even necessarily so invested in, you know, the the fight over Israel or even just anti-Semitism in the States. I'm talking about the CCP, I'm talking about Russia, right? Like all of the forces in the world that seek to weaken America so that they can be the dominant, you know, uh hegemon um either in their region or in the world, they understand that using Israel and Jews as a cudgel is in it is kind of a sure thing if you look back through history in order to divide and weaken and make vulnerable societies. There's there's no better playbook that has been written, right, than turning a community or a society or a state against its Jewish population, right? Or in the modern era against the one and only Jewish state in order to sow chaos and division in society and make it vulnerable. So I think that you know, we've seen evidence of all of the forces that are trying to destabilize America on the international arena, you know, uh uh um uh uh be engaged in this sort of anti-Zionist uh uh propaganda, um, sometimes at a local level, right? Sometimes they'll just you know fund like local, local, um, uh local churches or mosques or even just you know low-level podcasters, right? I mean, they're very granular about this. We saw how it worked during the Cold War, right? And the unbelievable active measures that the Soviet Union would use to propagandize, you know, none of that, none of that's got gone away. The CCP learned from Russia, they employ all of the same methods, right? Putin himself was a KGB agent, right? So so yeah, so I think that the issue of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism that has now infected so many parts of our societies and our institutions, I think that it is it is landing there from and it is put there like from a whole variety of bad actors, right? Who just understand like the landscape and and and see an opportunity here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it seems like there's not you know there's not just a divide in American politics with for left versus right, but it's more like it's there's a divide from within the right, from you know, a woke right, uh, as we've said, to to to the right, conservative right. And and there's these global elitists that are kind of against this freedom-loving middle class American, is what it seems. Um, to you, who are these globalists in in your mind in in and who is this freedom-loving middle?
SPEAKER_00Well, are you talking about in terms
Globalism And The Middle Class
SPEAKER_00of the more internationalist, uh progressive side of things? Like, for example, these multilateral institutions like the United Nations and the EU and the World Economic Forum, because they're all doing a whole bunch of damage to the American, you know, freedom-loving middle class, especially when it comes to their work um, you know, uh uh encouraging and facilitating illegal immigration, but also in terms of them, you know, buying up our property, buying up our land in terms of their you know, climate agendas and everything they're doing to weaken the the you know or or take away the sovereignty of America and nation states in general. I mean, I think multilateral institutions are just I'm I'm not saying that there isn't some good work that they do because they're very massive, massive institutions, but in terms of their vision for, you know, um like the moral order of things, I think that there's they're one of the primary threats to the American way of life for sure. Um, as well as, like you said, like George Soros and a lot of these NGOs and these, you know, these billionaires that fund, you know, not just left-wing causes, but they fund, you know, Islamists and China and, you know, like I said, all the forces trying to destabilize America, you know. So um, so yeah, I mean, I I'd say, you know, the the multilateral institutions are are probably the the the biggest the biggest threat in terms of the the globalist, you know, the the globalist arena and how they are are slowly destroying the the middle class in America for sure. And I think the person who made me understand that the most was Victor Davis Hansen in his book, The Case for Trump, which he wrote in 2016, I believe. And um, and he really kind of talks about everything that set the stage for Trump to be victorious in 2016 and and and how how globalism had actually affected the middle class in America in in very negative ways.
October 7 And Conspiracy Thinking
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Uh you you point out in like in to Russia's war in Ukraine and October 7th, 2023, Hamas's attack on Israel as major turning points. How did those bring some of these anti-Semitic and extreme ideas on the on the right out in and into the open, do you think?
SPEAKER_00Right. Well, October 7th is a little more obvious, so I'll tackle that one first. You know, after October 7th, you know, initially there was about you know a week of sympathy for Israel, right? But we all knew, all of us who have been studying, you know, the anti-Israel um rhetoric and sentiment throughout the world, knew that that would change on a dime, that that would change the second that Israel responded, right? I mean, there was already cries of genocide against the Palestinians, against the Gazans, before Israel had even uh leveled a response, you know, before the the the the bodies of those who had been slaughtered on October 7th in Israel had even been identified, right? So um, you know, I think this whenever whenever there is some sort of catastrophic event that happens related to Israel, it always unleashes a torrent of Jew hatred around the world. We saw it in the 2021 Gaza War, we saw it in, you know, in in the 2009 uh uh war and in the 2014 war. It's it's just it happens every single time. It's like clockwork. But this time, it also ended up infecting, you know, so-called conservatives. And I speak about this a lot. I think that this moment was ripe for it because the the Republican Party under Trump has become a very conspiratorial party for good reason. We saw very real conspiracies during the pandemic before our eyes that when we tried to comment on them, we were censored and silenced and kicked off social media, right? For just raising very, you know, uh uh astute observations about like COVID coming from a lab in Wuhan, right? I mean, um, or you know, with uh uh writing about the Russia gate, you know, and commenting on that whole uh that whole campaign to frame Trump as some sort of Russian asset, right? So I I think that you know people use the word black pill a lot, and I find it so apropos for what we're talking about here, right? You have a a a population in America that that becomes so jaded and and loses faith in our institutions during this time, you know, around in uh during the pandemic. We lose faith in in in all the institutions that are supposed to be uh Um, you know, truth bearing and honest and and not corrupt uh you know entities in America. And once you open the door to that type of thinking, the the the conspiratorial worldview, I think um, I was listening to Ben Shapiro the other day, and he said to have a theory about a conspiracy is very different than being a conspiracy theorist, right? And once you make that switch to actually it's like your identity, an entirely worldview, right, that is conspiratorial, it is so easy to end up in the anti-Semitic train because anti-Semitism has always functioned as a conspiracy, always it punches up as well as down. It's always about a sinister cabal of a you know of Jews controlling everything and manipulating the scene. So we saw that after October 7th. We also saw a lot of the same, you know, denial about the atrocities and the rapes, the same kind of stuff that people write about the Holocaust, right? And it makes conservatives feel kind of edgy and um it piques their ego, right? Because it's like they're the ones with the secret knowledge, they know the truth, and everybody else is living in the matrix. And I think conservatives got very comfortable with this type of positioning, right? As the them seeing themselves as the underdog,
Replacement Theology And Christian Support
SPEAKER_00right?
SPEAKER_03Well, well, and then you've got you've got Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, you know, you know, br fueling this fire, which is which I see as like creating so much division even within the church. And I what I in the Protestant church, I I tell our congregation and tell other Christians, it's like don't don't take your your your your your worldview beliefs about a people group or biblical theology from political pundits, you know, like and and by the way, they are Catholic, and so the the Catholics generally hold to this idea of what's been labeled replacement theology, where the church has replaced Israel on God's promises and plans. And so there's no real there's no real strong need for Israel and in that worldview, and um they're done, and it's the church's day, and so that that's not helping. Absolutely for sure.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean the idea of replacement theology, in my opinion, is as much anathema to evangelicals as it is to Jews. It is dismissing the centrality of Jews in the Bible, which is all linked to the second coming, which will not transpire if Jews do not inhabit Jerusalem and fulfill the promises of the Lord. You know, I mean, and Tucker is is is threatening the theology um by by uh you know by by by throwing a wrench in the continuity of the Bible and the relationship of the past to the present. And this is also antithetical to conservatism, which is about the preservation of tradition.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, I mean this this tears the Bible apart because it denies the role that Jews play. The covenant is trashed with God, and and suddenly God now is accused of not keeping his promises, yeah, right, and Christians are the new chosen people. I mean, it's an abomination to say that God breaks his promises and to reinterpret the covenant, and now they're trying to call it fulfillment theology.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00Because they recognize as a euphemism, because they recognize how problematic the term replacement theology is to say that God's words can actually be right, that God's promise can be replaced with something else. So now they're they're calling it, now they're saying, oh, it's not replacing, it's just fulfilling. And it's so transparent the whole thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's I'm I'm gonna be teaching on some of that, but I, you know, and I write about it in the book I I put out, but it's you know, that Israel, Israel's promised a land in Genesis chapter 12, and the land, the land is clarified in Genesis 15, and the land is about 150 times the size of what Israel is today. So, so all this talk and anger about the size of Israel, and I mean, I'm like, you know, it's the only nation in the world uh that God has created and given and clarified. And so his promises, as I teach very clearly, is that his promises are yet to be fulfilled, but he's not done. Um there does seem to be a partial hardening of heart, like the apostle Paul says in Romans 11 has come upon Israel. Um, but the plans of God, his calling are irrevocable, and he's gonna use Israel in an unbelievable way in in the future. And so I've always taught our people like, hey, you should be praying for Israel, peace in Israel, God's got a plan and purpose for Israel, and we are we are grafted in to uh uh this uh relationship with God, and it's because of Israel and the Jewish people that we have the faith that we have today, you know.
SPEAKER_00So absolutely, and there's nothing more beautiful than being hum than humility, right? And being humble. And I think that understanding is is what gives Christians that quality, which in my opinion, when I, you know, when I work with Christians, that's the thing that I think is so special about them is their humility, understanding, you know, their uh that that they are existing before God, right? And and and um, you know, just being like God smacked, if you will. Right. Um, and I just find Tucker Carlson to be breaking the the love, the the the the pure, true love that exists, right? That uh, you know, within the metaphysical idea that underpins you know Christian support for Israel. I mean, that's what's so dangerous, more dangerous than any, you know, single thing that he says about Israel itself, right? You know, I I I I just feel like it it's it's it also threatens the constitution as well, because you know, the values of the past need to, they themselves need to be preserved. And and all of the groundwork of what we've created in terms of our American Republic is rooted in the Bible, which includes the Hebrew Bible. And that is being torn apart because the podcasters like like Tucker Carlson.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, for last question, uh, and we'll come back on our
Biggest Lies About Israel And Jews
SPEAKER_03next episode. But for uh listeners out there right now, what's the number one lie about Jews or Israel that you want them to watch out for?
SPEAKER_00Oh man, that is such a difficult question. There's so many. Oh my gosh. Um the biggest lie about Jews.
SPEAKER_03Or just the number one, kind of like in your mind.
SPEAKER_00I mean, maybe for Israel, just that Israel has any ambitions as a whole, obviously individually speaking, right? There's there's corruption in Israel, just like any other country, and there's there's a political elite and and all of that kind of stuff, right? But you know, in in the more general abstract sense, I I think that it's important to understand that Israel's ambitions are solely to survive in a hostile region where its neighbors want to kill them. It is not it is not to, you know, um, you know, to have uh a sort of greater Israel or to you know uproot Palestinians or to replace, you know, the what you know some imaginary Palestinian genocide, they just want to exist and thrive, right? In their homeland.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and if you understand the history and if you look at the offers made for peace and the unbelievable concessions that Israel has given Palestinians, even in terms of land, um, then you will see that that that that is the case. So I think that's that's one of the biggest lies. And then for Jews, um, you know, I mean, you know, the stuff that I really don't don't like is when people talk about how Jews think that they're better than everybody because well, this is what conservatives say, right? Conservatives say Jews think they're better than everybody but because they're the chosen people. And I think that's such a misunderstanding of what it means to be a chosen people. And I personally have never come across Jews that that that exhibit that type of air uh uh arrogance or sense of superiority. You know, quite the contrary, um, being a chosen people is an unbelievable burden, right? It's not chosen to be, it's not chosen to be better or superior, it's chosen to, you know, it's chosen to spread goodness and morality, right? It's the obligation to do God's work and and to live as you know, as as as moral and ethical uh beings, right? Wow. I mean that's a that's a very tall order, you know, and it's a burden and an obligation that Jews have, and um, and we fall short, just like everybody else. But um, so you know, that's I don't know if that's the biggest lie, but that's one thing that really bothers me that I see more and more in the conservative spheres.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, and Christians and Jews share in common the great commandments love God, love neighbor, you know, and so there is there's some common ground to for for for Christians and Jews. And you know, um the the I what I'm gonna he uh be uh talking with on we're doing this uh event coming up on Saturday, and uh Lieutenant Colonel Alan West is gonna come and he he will speak about the the importance that the Jewish people have in safeguarding, you know, uh just a just a uh uh a Judeo-Christian value worldview, peace, and in uh a free country, uh in in the Middle East. Like it's the it's a buffer. It's a from a military strategic standpoint as well, it's so important. And it's just a it's just a shame to see how on every level right now the people are abandoning the Jewish people from their biblical theological worldview to the political side, to the uh military side, strategic side, and it's not a good thing, it's it's a bad thing. And uh so next time when we're gonna talk about in our episode, we'll talk about I'd love to dialogue with you about how Christians can respond with wisdom, courage in a biblical view of Israel and the Jewish people. So thank thanks for joining us, Karis.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and then how can people find out about
Where To Follow Karis And Closing
SPEAKER_03you? Where can they track you? Where can they find you?
SPEAKER_00Um, I'm very active on X. My handle is just my last name and then my first name. So it's at Reah Karis, R-H-E-A-K-A-R-Y-S. Um, I also send out a daily DIY newsletter. I send I say DIY because it's literally just an email with links. Um, that if you want to be on it, you can email reasdailist at gmail.com. Um, but it's uh but it's a lot because it's a daily email. So you would get, you know, one email a day with you know like three are three to five articles that I I think are usually outside of the the mainstream, and they're usually about Israel or anything related to the Middle East or Iran or Islam. But every once in a while I do throw something in there about just something totally random, China or AI or health or whatever. So it's a fun hodgepodge of of news.
SPEAKER_03That's great. That's great. All right. Well, thanks for listening, guys. Uh, if you want to find out more information, visit us online at reallifeministry.us, and we'll look forward to seeing you next time. And Karis, well, thanks for joining us, and we look forward to having you on another episode.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for listening to Real Life Ministry. If you found any of what you heard today helpful, please share it with others who may benefit. And if you would like to support the content that we put out, please consider making a donation at reallifeministry.us. While you're there, check out some of our episodes. And together, let's continue to educate and encourage Christians to live free and live strong.