Judging Freedom - Aaron Maté : IDF Tortures a Baby

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

Aaron Maté : IDF Tortures a BabySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? the government. What if Jefferson was right? What if that government is best, which governs least?

What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Wednesday, April 1st, 2006. My dear friend Aaron Mote joins us now. Aaron, a pleasure, as always. Thank you for joining us. I want to spend a little time on where you think the president is going to go tonight and whether what he says even matters, because he doesn't always do what he doesn't always do what he says he's going to do. But before we get there, the Gray Zone is reporting that the IDF tortured a two-year-old baby in the president. presence of the baby's father. What can you tell us about this horrific event?

The baby's name is Jawad Abu Nasr and Israeli forces kidnapped him and his father in central Gaza. And the father says the baby was tortured with a cigarette and a doctor who treated the baby after he was returned to his family says the burns are consistent. The burns are consistent with cigarettes. and the aim, according to the father, was to extract some false confession. And initially, the baby was returned by himself without the father. And the Israeli military, of course, denies all this and says that the father was a member of Hamas and who's using the baby as a human shield, which is their boilerplate excuse for every atrocity they commit against civilians. How would you use a baby as a human shield?

Where did they kidnap this baby from, from the house? They were crossing together somewhere in central Gaza when they were just seized, as the Israeli military does with so many people. For example, doctors, including the very famous doctor, who has been kidnapped for more than a year and subjected to severe torture inside an Israeli prison. So this is standard practice.

And there are Israeli officials and soldiers who said before that we have to kill Gaza's children before they grow old, like before they grow up to kill us. So it wouldn't surprise me at all that this is happening. This is just what happens when you have a supremacist, a Jewish supremacist military granted complete impunity by its main sponsor to commit genocide. And you also have a situation where now no one's even talking about Gaza anymore. I mean, already before we weren't talking about Gaza enough. But now it's totally off of the front pages because of Trump's war on Iran and also Israel's concurrent assaults on Lebanon as well, where they've displaced more than a million people. So it's not shocking to me that atrocities like this are taking place.

Is the IDF still violating the so-called Trump ceasefire by its presence in Gaza and its killing of Palestinian? Of course, and there are bombings constantly, randomly amidst all the footage we're getting now from Iran of Israel and the U.S., blowing up infrastructure, killing civilians. You'll see a video from Gaza as a reminder that this is happening in Gaza too. It's been happening for more than two years. And so, yeah, there are still atrocities taking place in Gaza because the ceasefire that Trump negotiated was just a ruse, just as when Trump engaged in negotiations with the... Iran, that was a ruse to pave the way for more aggression. Are IDF troops ever prosecuted for their crimes against humanity?

I forget what the conviction rate is of Israeli soldiers for crimes against Palestinians inside Israeli courts, but it's close to zero. And of course, the idea of Israeli forces being prosecuted in international courts, That's also out the window. I mean, yes, Benjamin and Yahoo and Yoav Galant were indicted, but that took a very, very long time. And, you know, it's fair to assume that so long as the U.S. plays the role that it does on the global states, if that case will go nowhere.

What kind of a government enacts the death penalty, but limits it to only one ethnic and religious group of defendants? a Jewish supremacist government and you're referring to the law that the Israeli parliament just passed it still needs final approval but they've advanced it yet to execute Palestinian prisoners who have been convicted of terror offenses against against Israelis it's a race-based or ethnicity-based

death penalty and Israel's the only government of its kind that I know of that has something like that The mechanism for execution is hanging, and I saw reports that Idemar Ben-Gabir was handing out a button lapels in the shape of the hangman's noose and was wearing one and carrying one himself at the moment the Knesset voted in favor of this. this is really, really, really reprehensible. Can Netanyahu veto this, or is that just a crazy idea that I have? It won't happen. I don't think you'll see Netanyahu veto this. A, I mean, given his track record, I don't think he has any, obviously,

moral objection to it. And his main coalition partners, including Itimar Ben-Gabir, support it. I mean, Yitamar Ben-Gabir was seen popping champagne or drinking something celebratory. to mark the passage of this bill. So no, I don't think we'll see that in Yehovah veto it. Does it matter, I'm switching gears now, what the president says tonight. I mean, it could be a subterfuge, just like the negotiations with Whitkoff and Kushner were in June and in February. Yeah, I think Trump's statements right now are just geared toward calming markets and trying to depress energy prices. as they approached a $150 a barrel mark because he has no coherent strategy.

He keeps pretending as if he's engaged in negotiations and they're going very well. And he says, you know, I'm having good talks with Iran's new leadership. They're great. When in real life, Iran's new leadership is more, is less sort of open to accommodation than I think the previous one was for obvious reasons that they've just been subjected to, they're being subjected to a horrible act of aggression. So Trump is in a complete fantasy lens. So whatever he says, I think it will be geared around more embellishments

to try to calm the markets. He said most recently that he expects the war to wrap up in a couple of weeks. But what does that mean? He said so many things. He said in the first days of the war that the war has already been won. And of course, it's still going. So I don't expect anything coherent. I don't expect him to announce ground troops.

I just don't see him sending U.S. on a suicide mission like that. At the same time, you never know with this guy. It comes down, like so much now, when it comes to analysis of Trump policy, comes down to psychology and trying to divine what's in his head, which is really hard to do. We just interviewed, you know him,

Professor Muhammad Miranda from Tehran. And, well, he tells us that there's, even though they're on a religious holiday for two weeks, This is the second of the two weeks, and most people were returned to work and school, etc. next Monday. He does say that Iran is showing signs of normalcy in terms of people moving about and commercial activity. However, he's of the view and his colleagues and friends in the government are of the view that a massive invasion is coming, no matter what Trump says tonight.

Now, add to that, a report from a friend of ours who doesn't want me to say his name on air, but he sometimes is on this show, that the British government has agreed to send 5,000 special forces to Iran. British newspapers are reporting a lower number and claiming they're there for defensive reasons only. This sounds like LBJ sending advisors to Vietnam, but whatever. Are there signs as you see this more toward Trump bringing everybody home in two or three weeks, like he said yesterday? Or Trump mounting a significant ground invasion, as crazy as that may be logistically and militarily? Yeah, you really can't rule anything out with this guy. And it's sure that he has surged more forces to the region.

But I just don't think it's enough to mount a ground invasion of Iran. I think also it would be complete suicide. It would be a disaster. U.S. forces would be sitting ducks. So even as someone with the mindset that Trump does, who's been so unbelievably reckless beyond words, I don't see it happening. But again, of course, at this point, it is all speculation.

And I take those reports that you've relayed seriously of even British forces. being deployed. The British were integral to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But the U.K. is constrained more so than Trump is, because he doesn't care, obviously, by public opinion. Well, there's no support at all for a war. And so do I see Kier Starrmer, given how precarious his situation already is,

and given how unpopular this war is, given how difficult it was for him even to let the U.S. to use one of the UK's military bases, Diego Garcia. I don't see it. I don't see a ground invasion happening, and I hope I'm not wrong. Well, here's Kier-Stormer last night at number 10, Downing Street. Chris, number 25.

This is not our war. We will not be drawn into the conflict. That is not in our national interest. And the most effective way, we can support the cost of living in Britain, is to push for de-escalation in the Middle East. Even though the BBC reported just a few hours ago, quote, more UK troops to be sent to Middle East,

Defense Secretary announces, the Sun, in big caps, war boost, written to send more troops and air defense systems to Gulf to counter-Iranian attacks, Defense Secretary. confirms the independent i guess that's another newspaper with which i'm unfamiliar extra uk troops heading to middle east to help defend against the ryan attacks and then trump's saying that we might pull out of nato because nobody in nato wants to help us look anything is possible it's

quite possible that uh starmer eventually comes to a point where let's say there's some israeli u s provocation that prompts a iranian response that hit It's a country that, you know, like one of the Gulf countries or maybe even Iran hits Diego Garcia, although I doubt they would do that, but let's say they do. And then Stammer could say, well, this is not our war, but Iran has forces to enter it or something. You know, that's possible. I strongly doubt it, though. I see in Kirstarmer someone who's afraid of his own population and who's aware of how unpopular this war is. They've already spent a lot of money on the Ukraine proxy war.

that hasn't gone well. And is there the bandwidth there? Is there the money? Is there the political strength on Starmer's part to withstand the backlash? I don't think so. And meanwhile, he's doing things like hosting the former leader of al-Qaeda in Syria at Tandyanic Street, which he did yesterday. Akhman al-Shara was given a warm welcome. While, meanwhile, his government is cracking down on pro-Palestine speech or anti-genocide speech.

There is a doctor, Dr. Rahma. She's been arrested, I think, five times now for posts on social media critical of Israel and Zionism and the role of the Zionist lobby in UK politics. And just today, two organizers who were behind a very big anti-genocide protest were convicted in a British court because some part of the protest didn't have a permit or so. On some funny pretext. And one of them even could face prison time for this. So that's more what Kier Starrmer is concerned about, is hosting the former al-Qaeda leader in Syria,

who used to be on the U.S. terror list, and cracking down on anti-genocide protests. I don't want to get too deep into the weeds, but Starmor's government is trying to remove jury trials for crimes. where the maximum penalty is three years or less. The British people have been guaranteed jury trials since 1215 when King John signed the Magna Carta, and Starrmer and Company are trying to change that. Well, just another part of this wave of attacks on civil liberties, which happens when you go to war against foreign countries and you support mass murder.

in places like Gaza, these things will always have a blowback of a spillover effect at home. I'm going to play a clip from a Marine by the name of James Webb. His grandfather was a Marine. His father was not only a Marine, but was the Secretary of the Navy

in the Reagan administration, and then a United States Senator, you probably remember the father from Virginia. The son told Tucker Carl He would never, ever allow his boys to join the Marine Corps because it is reprehensible for American troops to be mercenaries for a foreign country. And then he said this, Chris cut number eight. We have wargamed this, and it didn't go well. The other parts of it are the, if you look at the terrain of Iran, it is Afghanistan but worse, with a larger population that is,

obviously well more equipped than any other war we fought in recent memory. That's why it's the oldest empire in the world, probably. Geography matters. Absolutely. And their traditions matter. They have survived for two millennia. And a lot of that was by having to fight. You know, they're not pushovers.

I'm not a fan of their policies. I don't want to live in Iran. But at the same time, you have to recognize realistically who you're dealing with. And they're not a backwater. They are a very advanced philosophical mathematical, mathematical society. They've given the world a lot. And if you don't take that into account, you rely on hubris to make your planning, you're going to walk into a trap.

I think he's got it right there at the end when you rely on, and I guess he's talking about Hegsseth, when you rely on hubris to animate your planning, you're walking right into a trap. And that's Trump as well as, and Rubio as well as Hexeth. And Netanyahu, who is just a career arrogant supremacist who always believes that things will go his way because he thinks he's superior as the head of the Jewish supremacist state. And the backward people of the region that he's colonized, in his view, are inferior and can't

fight and will crumble. And so the theory of the case that he sold Trump on is that, yeah, we just bomb Iran, kill its leadership. You know, if we happen to kill 160 school girls, so be it, the people will rise up and overthrow their government. And this will be over with very quickly. That's why in the early stages, him and Trump are saying, take to the Iranian people, when we're done, take back your country. And of course, all they've done is destroy Iran's infrastructure, trying to weaken the state's survival. And Jim Webb in that clip talks about Iran's advancement scientifically. Well, that explains why Israel and the U.S. have bombed Iran's universities.

Schools that have taught people have raised generations of scientists because Iran is very advanced academically have been destroyed, just as Israel did in Gaza, which is their playbook. And they're also hitting pharmaceutical plants. that make medicine for domestic consumption, and which are all the more important because of U.S. sanctions that cut off foreign medicines and foreign health care products to the people of Iran. So that's what they've been going after.

Jim Webb, who we just showed will be on the show tomorrow. I'm sure I'm going to hear this because even though Senator Webb and Secretary Webb has been a friend of mine, I thought Jim was the best. grandson of Secretary Webb, he's the son, not the grandson. However, Jim, the young man we just saw, his grandfather was also a career Marine. Jim will be on with us tomorrow morning. President Trump wrote about an hour ago that President Poseshkien called him. Now, who would believe that? Then, of course, it gets worse, and he asked for a ceasefire. And Trump's said, well, you got to give up the straits of Hormuz first.

I can't imagine anybody taking this seriously. So what do you think he'll do tonight, announce a massive invasion, and why would he announce it, give the Iranians some false sense of security? There is a three-day weekend coming up. The markets are closed on Friday because of good Friday, and he does like to do these things, the kidnapping of Maduro and the initial part of the invasion, both in June and in February, or when the markets were closed. What do you expect tonight?

Or do you have no way of knowing? And it is also worth noting it's being shown now on screen. What else Trump said that unless Iran reopens the sort of her moves, we will blast Iran back to the Stone Ages, which is an open threat of more war crimes, which has now become totally normalized by this administration. Previous administrations used to speak with more tact. And you used to...

Last time I heard that phrase, bomb them into the Stone Ages, was General Curtis E. LeMay talking about North Vietnam. Vietnam now our third biggest trading partner. Yeah. And nevertheless, that language is barbaric. It's so barbaric. And so in terms of what I think Trump will do, again,

I think whatever he says will be aimed at calming the markets and trying to assure people that this war is winding down. I just don't think, as Jim Webb talked about, they've wargame this, as much as Trump might want to try a ground invasion and, you know, press is lucky. He obviously doesn't care about sacrificing U.S. soldiers early on when he launched this act of aggression. He said, you know, U.S. soldiers will die and that's the way it is. And I think he showed his lack of respect for service members pay the ultimate sacrifice when he showed up to a dignified transfer ceremony, wearing a.

a white maga hat. Yeah. So I think whatever he says will just be more along the lines here of just falsification because there is no new regime president. As you said, the president. What is he talking about in this truth socially? Iran's new regime president? Is Peschkian still the president?

Peschian is still the president. So I just don't know what he's talking about. And I, it's lying about the progress of diplomacy so far when there are no direct talks. And in fact, the reports I hear that the indirect talks mediated by Pakistan are not going very well. And that the U.S. is pushed actually for direct talks, which Iran has not agreed to. Because Iran's in a situation now where, as we've talked about so many times, they've engaged in multiple rounds of diplomacy with the U.S. And under Trump, Trump used those rounds to launch two acts. of aggression. And going back more than 20 years when Iran has tried to negotiate, it's always been

the U.S. that acted in bad faith. You know, as early as 2003 under the Bush administration, Iran floated an offer to the U.S. saying, let's address everything. Let's address the nuclear issue. Let's address our relationship with our allies, what are called here Iran's proxies, but it's not an accurate term, Hezbollah and so forth. Let's address that. And Iran even said, we would support a peace deal in West Asia that grants the Palestinians a state and allows Israel to have a state as long as Israel respects its own internationally recognized borders based on the June and the pre-June 1967 lines that was conveyed to the Bush administration more than 20 years ago and Bush administration the only question was inside the Bush administration was should we

acknowledge this letter that we got it or should we just pretend we didn't even get it because they had no interest in negotiations with whatsoever. So their only question was, should we at least acknowledge the letter or should we just pretend we didn't get it? And I think they ultimately pretended that they didn't get it. They didn't even acknowledge receipt of this letter, which was conveyed through the Swiss ambassador. And Bush declared Iran to be part of the axis of evil. And that, by the way, put a stop to the cooperation that Iran was providing to the U.S. when it was helping the U.S. and Afghanistan, helping them actually capture Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Iran was very helpful, according to the former U.S. ambassador, Ryan Croker. And when Bush went and declared Iran to be part of the acts of evil, that put it into that. And you go to so many other sabotage peace opportunities, the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, who was on a peace mission when Trump killed him, trying to broker better ties with Saudi Arabia,

to, of course, Trump killing the Iran nuclear deal. The entire record is of the U.S. engaging in bad faith, and that's why we're in this act of aggression that we're currently in right now. Here's Secretary Heggseth saying, well, according to Steve and Jared, you know, they are, the negotiations are real and they are going on. But we negotiate with bombs. You've got to watch this, Aaron. It's terrible. But here it is. Cut 21, Chris. Having been with Steve and Jared and the vice president and Marco and many others yesterday, they are very real, they are ongoing. They're active. And I think,

gaining strength. And we appreciate that. As I said in my remarks, we would much prefer to get a deal. If Iran was willing to relinquish material they have and ambitions they have, open this, great. That's the goal. We don't want to have to do more militarily than we have to. But I didn't mean it flippantly when I said in the meantime, we'll negotiate with bombs. Our job is to ensure that we compel Iran to realize that this new regime, this regime in charge, is in a better place if they make that deal. And so we'll continue. We're working here. hand in hand, but the primary effort is a deal. We want that deal to be accomplished, if at all possible. If not, then we're prepared to continue.

Whatever he says tonight, he says, I mean, he just spent a fortune bringing about eight or nine thousand troops there. Why would he turn them around and bring them home? They've only been there for two or three days. Today's Wednesday. They arrived on Sunday. Yeah, listen, it's a fair point, And it does raise the possibility that Trump will order some sort of ground invasion. But look, his way out of it would be to say, well, I gave Iran this huge show of force by sending our mighty military. And they back down. And he can pretend that Iran has caved on issues even when they won't. And he can turn them around then.

But again, this comes down to psychology. What is in Donald Trump's head, especially when he's surrounded by people like Pete Hagseth, who brags about reigning death and destruction down on the people of Iran. And one irony there of what he says. He says, you know, if Iran were to give up its ambitions for a nuclear weapon, well, the irony here is that the reason why the U.S. is attacking Iran is because Iran previously gave up its ambitions for a nuclear weapon, which left it defenseless, or at least very vulnerable. If Iran actually had a nuclear weapon, that John Mearsheimer always points about, this wouldn't be happening.

So the U.S., contrary to their claims about fighting a prospective Iranian nuclear weapons program, they take advantage of the fact that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program to launch this war against it. Wow. Thank you, Aaron. Great analysis, as always. Much appreciated. A happy holiday weekend to you, and we'll see you next week. To you as well, Judge. Thank you. Thank you. I'm getting a little weary over the state of affairs, but we'll keep plugging away for you. We have a busy afternoon at 1 o'clock, wherever he is. Chris will find him, Pepe Escobar, at 145, Colonel Karen Quatkowski at 3 o'clock, the great Phil Giraldi. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.