In this YouTube segment from The Dennis Prager Show, Dennis Prager reacts to Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech for the Oscar‑winning film Zone of Interest, a German‑language drama about Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss. Prager first outlines the film’s subject matter and the Holocaust death toll, then launches into a detailed discussion of Jewish identity, emphasizing that Judaism is an ethnic people‑hood rather than a purely religious affiliation. He argues that a Jew can be an atheist or even act against Israel without ceasing to be Jewish, drawing analogies to American citizenship and to Christian identity. Prager then sharply criticizes Glazer’s remarks that the film should make audiences reflect on present‑day dehumanization, interpreting Glazer’s comment as equating Israel’s actions with Nazi atrocities. He cites the October 7 Hamas attack, the ensuing Israeli response, and the suffering of civilians on both sides, accusing Glazer of moral hypocrisy. Prager also references George Soros and Stalin to illustrate the absurdity of labeling someone by a birth‑based identity when their actions contradict that group’s values. He notes that only a small fraction of the audience applauded Glazer’s speech and urges listeners to watch the full episode for a deeper analysis.
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The, uh, the award was for, I believe, documentary. Let's see, they won it for, uh, let's see, the German language film which earned a total of 5 Oscar nominations. Focuses on the film of Auschwitz's longest-serving commandant, Rudolf Höss. Höss ran the Auschwitz concentration camp between 1940 and 1943. An estimated— this is from the Washington Post— 1.1 million people were murdered there, 1 million of whom were Jews. Auschwitz is the first name of an institution that cubs the people for pure evil. One of the Nazi death camps where you were sent in order to be murdered, you and your entire family, if you were a Jew. The guy himself is a Jew. Yeah, the, the name of the, uh, the name of the documentary or film is Zone of Interest. Jonathan Glazer accepted the award And so here is a man born a Jew. I have no idea if he does anything that represents the fact that he is. In other words, I have to explain something about Jews which confuses non-Jews completely understandably. It even confuses many Jews. You are not born a Christian. You are born a Jew. Christian is something you affirm. It's a religion. It's not a people. Jews are like Americans, a people. You can be born American and devote your life to hurting America, right? That's clear. So what you believe has no effect on whether or not you're an American. Being born an American or becoming an American formally is enough. Likewise Jews, you can be an— you can't be an atheist Christian because Christianity affirms God. And you can be an atheist Jew. You can be a Jew who does everything possible to hurt Israel, the only place where Jews have a majority, the only Jewish country, first in 2,000 years, where massive number of Holocaust survivors escaped to after the Holocaust, or fled to once the Holocaust was over. They weren't Well, in part time they were escaping, but it's another issue. So when somebody like George Soros is identified as a Jew, a man who has noted he has zero Jewish identity, it would be like saying that Stalin was a Christian. Even though he spent his life denouncing and killing Christians. But he did go to a seminary in Georgia. He was not Russian, he was Georgian, which is also somewhat irrelevant because even if he didn't, he— it would be stupid to call him a Christian. But he, uh, Stalin was as much a Christian as Soros is a Jew. By the way, Soros wouldn't deny that. So Jews are stuck with a fair number of people who only do Jews harm, like Soros, and now this guy Glazer. So I want you to hear his comments. Another man who couldn't, couldn't, like Jimmy Kimmel, but worse. Could not resist the temptation to crap on Israel in a very, very morally despicable way because he made a Jew about the— he made— he's a Jew and made a film about the Holocaust. Here he is receiving his award.
Thank you to the Academy for this honor and to our partners A24, Film4 Access, and Polish Film Institute, to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for their trust and guidance, to my producers, actors, collaborators. All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say, 'Look what they did then,' rather, 'Look what we do now.' Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October— whether the victims of October 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?
By the way, there are very few people applauding It sounded louder. It's, I would say, maybe a fifth of the audience applauded, just for your knowledge. So let me, let's unravel what he went up there saying as a Jew who's made a film about the Holocaust. All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present. Not to say, look what they did then, rather, look what we do now. Really? So Israel is now engaged in what the Nazis did in Auschwitz? Am I, am I putting words in his mouth? Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. That's true. It's now this notion that both sides dehumanize Hamas and Israel. You know how many thousands of Palestinians up till October 7th were driven by volunteer Jewish groups to hospitals in Israel? Thousands. Of them. Dehumanized? One side dehumanizes, but the moral idiot Glazer who made this film says both dehumanize. For the full episode of The Dennis Prager Show, go to pragertopia.com, sign up, and become a full member.
