Judging Freedom - Anya Parampil: The State Dept. and Free Speech

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Anya Parampil: The State Dept. and Free SpeechSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, April 29th, 2024. Anya Parampil joins us now. Anya, it's a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you very much for joining us. What is your opinion of the state of free speech in America today, particularly speech that's unpopular with the elites? judge, I believe, was a remarkable moment in U.S. history because it began with Monday, the U.S. Congress, which is basically ineffectual in other regards, in other matters of domestic interest, pass billion-dollar military aid packages to Israel and Ukraine. And then this outpouring of resentment for these policies, which had been simmering over the last several weeks, blow up on U.S. university campuses. And from New York, where there's a Democrat, Kathy Hochul, in power, to Texas, where you have a Republican, Greg Abbott, supposedly on two different sides of the spectrum, the response to these students exercising their, not only their constitutional right to free speech, but really what the essence of university spirit is supposed to be, engaging on international issues, finding your political voice. And these states across the board moved to violently suppress

these students and do so after the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, as I'm sure you're fully aware, asked U.S. authorities to do so. And so this is no coincidence, Judge. Can you imagine if the president of Russia, which also happened to be overseeing a government that was generously investing in and donating to U.S. universities, part of an international network that pays into universities, buys influence at universities, and also owns U.S. politicians at the state level and federal, national level, demanding that these, if Putin got out there and demanded that U.S. cops beat down pro-Ukraine student protesters in the United States, what kind of outrage that would cause in the U.S. media and political establishment? Because that's actually what happened last week.

You had the Israeli prime minister doing that. And he's not just some side player on the international stage. The Israeli lobby is very powerful when it comes to our state and local governments and our universities. So it's a mask off moment for our country. We should really be asking who's working in the interest of the American people here. Right. I was appalled at the New York City police on the Columbia campus. I do believe the NYPD now stays on Broadway right there, but off the campus. I was really appalled that Governor Abbott, with no notice or warning whatsoever, sent 100 police on horseback into the University of Texas campus in Austin. I was really, really appalled

at Bibi Netanyahu who said this. What's happening on America's college campuses is horrific. Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities. They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It's unconscionable. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally.

But that's not what happened. The response of several university presidents was shameful. Now fortunately, state, local, federal officials, many of them have responded differently but there has to be more. More has to be done. It has to be done not only because they attack Israel, that's bad enough. Not only because they want to kill Jews wherever they are, that's bad enough. It's also when you listen to them, it's also because they want to kill Jews wherever they are, that's bad enough. It's also, when you listen to them, it's also because they say not only death to Israel, death to the Jews, but death to America. And this tells us that there is an anti-Semitic surge here that has terrible consequences. We see this exponential rise of anti-Semitism throughout America and throughout Western societies as Israel tries to defend itself against genocidal terrorists, genocidal terrorists who hide behind

civilians. Yet it is Israel that is falsely accused of genocide, Israel that is falsely accused of starvation and all sundry war crimes. It's all one big libel, but that's not new. We've seen in history that anti-Semitic attacks were always preceded by vilification and slander, lies that were cast against the Jewish people that are unbelievable, yet people believed them. And what is important now is for all of us, all of us who are interested and cherish our values and our civilization, to stand up together and to say enough is enough. We have to stop anti-Semitism because anti-Semitism is the canary in the coal mine.

It always precedes larger conflagrations that engulf the entire world. So I ask all of you, Jews and non-Jews alike, who are concerned with our common future and our common values, to do one thing. Stand up. Speak up. be counted. Stop anti-Semitism now. So a foreign leader gives a distorted view of events that he caused and in the process attacks American law enforcement and American freedoms

and the President of the United States and the State Department don't give a damn? Apparently not. And it's very offensive to witness that and to realize this as an American. And I think that's the one silver lining to all of this is that for the first time, there's no denying the influence of the Israeli lobby in the United States because they're showing it, they're demonstrating it out in the open with statements like this and then actions such as the ones taken over the last week on U.S. universities. I come from a political milieu where there's always a debate about whether or not the U.S. controls Israel because Israel is

just a facet of our imperial ambitions in the Middle East or whether or not Israel actually has more outsized control over the United States than a traditional imperial relationship would. And I think this has blown it out of the water. If Israel, if the United States were an independent country, our constitution would actually apply to these students and there would be outrage in the media. And it wouldn't have even come to this because our state governors would not be taking orders from the Israeli prime minister. But you have Greg Abbott out there openly posing with the Israeli lobby. There are pictures of him with the Israeli flag draped around his stage.

And so when this is the figure in government taking these actions, I think if Israel has to try that hard to buy our politicians and walk back our constitutional rights as Americans, it's very clear that the relationship is out of balance and that we are not a sovereign country. And I don't think it's ever been more clear to the American people, I hope, not only what an evil force Israel is, but that we ourselves in the United States are not free. I'm waiting for the courts to get involved, Anya, because all of this speech is absolutely protected. Even the one-liners that Prime Minister Netanyahu paraphrased, as hateful as they are, death to the Jews, death to Israel, death to America, that is all protected

speech. And it is articulated in an environment dedicated to the public use, either because it is public property, Governor Abbott, like the University of Texas is, where the First Amendment applies, or it's private property like Columbia University, which has a public accommodations law, state of New York, city of New York, that make the open public spaces available for any political opinion that you want to articulate, whether management or ownership or the government agrees with it or not. Now, what I've just said is basic constitutional law 101 that first-year law students understand. It doesn't take a federal judge or a partner at a major law firm or a college professor to articulate this. This should not be disputed. It shouldn't be, but as we've seen, not just with

international law over the last several months, domestic U.S. law doesn't apply to Israel. Israel gets a free pass to do whatever it wants in Gaza to commit atrocious war crimes on camera in front of all of us and confidently act as if it's never going to be and their forces are never rights that we hold dear. And by the way, should apply universally, which is why I see I'm confused by, for example, some of the MAGA crowd that supported January 6th, which even though a lot of people may have criticized that, I would always say that the people have a right to protest and we can be consistent in that view. But now are these people that defended January 6th are throwing some students under the bus for the cause of free speech. I mean, I really think that unless you're getting paid to take that position, I just don't understand how an American could defend a crackdown on civil liberties like that. And again, it speaks to the level that Israel has to go in order to curb our rights as American citizens. I'm thinking of the example in South Dakota, for example, of the governor there, Kristi Noem, passing a law called something about protecting God's chosen people, the God's chosen

people act, something like that, that criminalized any speech that could be regarded or labeled anti-Semitic in South Dakota. Well, that law is unconstitutional. As you say, it should be challenged in court. It should go all the way to the Supreme Court. How is it possible to have a protected class of citizens in the United States where the law doesn't apply? It's outrageous. And I hope that more people are taking notice here. One more clip on this, because I think you know this fellow, Saeed Arakat, attempting to be

patient, but losing his patience. He had the patience of a saint. And then, you know, enough is enough with the spokesperson for the State Department. Watch this. But I'm asking you, there is a foreign leader who's saying that American law enforcement, including the National Guard, ought to crack down on Americans exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. I'm asking you on this particular issue, not on October 7, not on all this that happened. I'm asking you, do you find this to be appalling by a foreign leader in direct interference in the way Americans conduct themselves? A leader can call on whatever they'd like, Said, but it's – no one is naive to the fact that utilization of the National Guard is ultimately a decision up to individual

governors. I understand. And so beyond that, the prime minister is welcome to make whatever comments he'd like. No, no, hold it. Please, I'm not done. I'm not done. I'm not done.

Hey, I'm not done. Please. I'm not done. I just want to – I understand. I understand the need to combat the despicable anti-Semitism and so on. I understand what the president is doing. I'm asking you, do you reject the fact that a foreign leader is saying that the demonstrations ought to be put out, ought to be cracked down upon? That's what I'm asking you. Do you reject that?

MR. So... I mean, do you reject people, I mean, do you reject the U.S. government cracking down on peaceful demonstrators, correct? Correct? Sorry. You reject that? I mean, this is part of what America is all about. I'm asking you, do you reject the interference of a foreign leader calling for the crackdown

on full American citizens exercising their basic rights, their First Amendment rights, to demonstrate. That's what I'm asking you. Look, the prime minister was commenting on something happening in this country. I will say over the course of this – MR PRICE I'm not asking the prime minister. I'm asking you. You are – you are here representing the government of the United States of America.

I'm asking you, you as an officer of this government, of this administration, do you reject the interference of a foreign leader saying that you must crack down on Americans exercising their right to demonstrate? It's a very simple question. MR. I wouldn't equate that to interfering, Said. Right.

MR. Now, I've taken a couple questions on this. You've got a bunch of colleagues. I have a couple more questions, but I have one last comment. MR. Sure. Don't you feel offended by the fact that a foreign leader is trying to fan the flames against Palestinian Americans in this country? That's exactly what he's doing. You don't feel offended by that?

Saeed, that is not how I would interpret the prime minister's comments. And I defer you to his office to offer any clarification on what he said. State Department just doesn't care or this young man is incompetent or fearful. I'm not even sure how to get a handle on this, Anya, except it's a disgrace for a government that supposedly exists to preserve human liberty. You mentioned, or the way you described Saeed's questioning there, I think is right,

that he had the patience of a saint. And not only in that video clip, but while Saeed has been working at the State Department, at least for the last 10 years I've been here in D through these briefings with Matt Miller, or I'm sorry, yeah, Matthew Miller and Vedant Patel lying, just blatantly lying. And not only that, but defending, for example, Israeli attacks and the destruction of al-Shifa hospital and egregious crimes that we've, again, all see played on video. And we can see it on their faces, Vedant and Miller, that they know they're lying. And I always wonder how it would be if a reporter in there kind of broke the third wall and asked something just like, how do you sleep at night? That's the question I would like to ask these government spokespeople.

And the way that Saeed questioned Vedant there, really, I felt like he was speaking for me. As a U.S. government official, are you not offended at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's behavior? Because I was. And Vedant Patel couldn't even say that, that, yes, this is constitutionally protected speech. I'm quite sure even the U.S. government spokespeople have to take the same oath to uphold and protect the U.S. Constitution. I mean, isn't that the basis of serving in our government? Yes. People should resign if they cannot speak in defense of the basic principles of our Constitution. And we as the American people should demand that, just as we should demand an investigation into all of the members of Congress receiving AIPAC, such as Speaker Mike Johnson. I mean, it's just, we've really reached

a breaking point, I think, when it comes to our government and this influence, because I think American people are seeing through it unlike ever before. And so the performance in the TV show is getting a little old, Vedant Patel. Everybody can see through it. that oath when I became a judge, and it is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, which includes the First Amendment, which obviously embraces the freedom of speech. Let's go to Israel. Seven months out from October 7th, is there a feeling that Netanyahu's government probably knew what was happening? On October 7th in the lead up to it? I think it's clear that there were intelligence failures and it's up to the Israeli people at this point to demand an investigation into what exactly took place. And I again would always like to know which forces in the Israeli government knew, because I think there is a behind the scenes

power struggle going on here between Netanyahu and the various interests, including the more extremist interests that, for example, now would just like to go through, push all the way through into Egypt and himself and other forces that would like to play more politics and try to maintain a long-term project with Israel. And they worry that maybe they've gone too far. And I think Blinken's recent trip, he was in Saudi Arabia today. Tomorrow, he'll go to Israel and Jordan and is touting this new ceasefire deal. He and Lord David Cameron, the British foreign secretary, both spoke at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh today and both spoke about this deal that's on the table now where they claimed that Israel has agreed to the release of thousands of Palestinian hostages.

And they're kind of suggesting that this is the best possible deal Hamas could ever receive. Though Cameron let it slip that this is a ceasefire deal for 40 days. So that's not a ceasefire. That's not a real peace treaty. And so I don't see how even if there's concessions from the Israeli side that Hamas would see that as a viable deal. But the fact that Israel and Blinken and the British are at this point where they want to make such an offering suggests to me that they are embarrassed, that they've gone, they're worried they've overplayed their hand, and that Rafah, especially looming as an operation in the coming weeks, if the Israelis have their way or certain elements do, that would be a nail in the coffin for the Biden administration,

especially now with these students. I think there's an actual political calculation here that Blinken is considering when pushing these so-called negotiations forward, because obviously he could have put a stop to this a long time ago if he truly wanted to. Can Biden afford to fund the invasion of RAFA? And before you answer, can Bibi afford not to invade RAFA for fear that the extremists will leave his coalition and he'll no longer be the prime minister? Well, we can't afford in the United States, if you just mean financially, we can't afford any of this. We never have been able. I meant politically, Kim Biden. Financially, they just print and borrow all the cash they want. Exactly. That was kind of my joke

there. But politically, Biden absolutely cannot afford to go through with Rafa. If we think that these student demonstrations are intense now, after we witness what the Israelis have in store for Rafa, I think that would only get worse. It'll be a more intense summer and a very volatile Democratic Party convention. I would assume if they go forward with Rafa that Biden's position as the nominee, if it's not already rocky or in flux, would become even more vulnerable if we're now going to be inundated with a stream of more genocidal images over the next several weeks. Israel, they've really been defeated on a military front in the sense that northern Israel is evacuated for the foreseeable future. People have left there, aren't coming back. Their economy is in shambles. And segments of the

Israeli public have woken up to the fact that their government not only massacred a good amount of the civilians that came out as the official death toll on October 7th, that Israel itself was actually responsible for that, but that they've also refused to secure the release of their hostages and killed their own hostages. That's the other difficult part of this equation. If Israel goes through with the Rafah cleansing campaign, it will no doubt kill its own hostages as part of that operation, which will only create more turmoil in Israel. There really is no way I see Israel surviving going forward already because of these moving elements. And so if Netanyahu eventually does, everybody is expecting that when this war does come to a close, that will also bring about an end to Netanyahu's political career because this is what's keeping him alive. But if he's removed from the scene, Israel will then have to confront this deeper reality that I'm not sure if there's a figure in Israeli politics who can navigate that or speak to these deep contradictions and the deep damage, the deep

damage that came as a result of October 7th. Because no matter what the Israeli officials say, I believe that as a result of October 7th, the subsequent war, and then Iran's recent attacks, recent strikes on Israel, that the Israeli paper tiger is now exposed to the world. And so if you're an Israeli sitting in Israel right now, you're realizing perhaps that Iron Iron Dome is not as secure as you thought it was, that the northern expansion and move toward Gaza is also not necessarily going to bring about security to the Israeli people. And so how do they survive as a state? I really don't see it going forward. And this war, I think, will be understood as having brought about an end, really, to the Zionist project. A few years from now, we might see that.

Here's Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on CNN giving a version of events on October 7th that bears no resemblance whatsoever to reality, but that he says persuaded him to support the additional aid to Israel that was voted in along with the $61 billion for Ukraine. The point we tried to make today is that this is not who we are as Americans. This is not an expression of the First Amendment. This is not an exchange of ideas. This is threats and intimidation of violence against Jewish students for who they are, for their faith. And that's a terrible trend that's going on in the country right now. We have these similar types of activities and what are becoming violent protests on

campuses around the country. And members of Congress, I believe, have an obligation, a responsibility to speak about this and to demand that it come to an end because it's not good for us. The main thing they were chanting was free Palestine. How is that anti-Semitic? Well, what's anti-Semitic is that Hamas endorsed this protest today. Within the last two hours, they issued an endorsement statement and heralded the students here and said, this is the next generation of leadership in America. If you're getting endorsed by Hamas, that's not a good look.

It's not a good sign. Some of these students apparently are unaware of the atrocities of October 7th, or they're denying it. They deny that women and children were brutally raped and murdered, that infants were placed into ovens and cooked alive. The things that happen there are unspeakable, and yet they're out there waving flags for the very people who committed those atrocities. This is not who we are. I wonder where he got that from. It's pathetic at this point. Like I say, it's like watching a movie that they're acting out for themselves. And I'm wondering, OK, you might be reading this script and delivering these lines.

But do you realize at this point, pretty much nobody, I think, except for a small segment of that's super brainwashed or paid, believes this when they hear him speak. And I mean, it comes to whether it's Ukraine or Israel, and there's this odd link between the two where it seems to be those two countries and taking on Russia and Iran are the main priorities of our government right now and the Biden administration. It's really disturbing, honestly, because the only result of Mike Johnson's policy will be the deaths of Ukrainians, Russians, Palestinians, and Israelis. I don't know how someone especially who is so vocal about his Christian faith could act as a tool for the war machine. It's a kind of deception and evil act that really, again, causes me to step back and wonder what is going on in our government.

Something, they must have shown him something either about himself or something concocted by the intelligence community when he met with them in private and secret and came out and said, I'm all in favor, whatever you want. Do you think the International Criminal Court will indict Prime Minister Netanyahu? And if so, will it just be symbolic or is there something there for him to be concerned about and the rest of us to look to? I think the fact that the Israeli government and Israeli officials have revealed this story and commented on this story and that it's coming out of Israeli media does suggest that there is a threat, though, as other guests on your program have mentioned, and as we've covered in depth at the Gray Zone, the head of the International Criminal Court, Kareem Khan, is very, very closely tied to Western intelligence. He's basically their

tool. And so I would be shocked if they actually did follow through or issue an arrest warrant for Israeli officials. But again, the fact that they're afraid sends a message that was willing to carry out an arrest of them. I assume they would be safe forever in Israel as many criminals, including weird sex criminals from the United States, they just go to Israel and they're kind of protected forever. That's the way Israeli officials will exist in Israel, just as that's how Bush and Cheney and U.S. officials exist in the U.S. There are certain countries they cannot go to out of fear they will fall under arrest. But it really does, this whole war has revealed a huge weakness of this so-called international system of law, because whether it's the United Nations, whether it's the international courts, even if they do condemn Israel, even if they do demand

a peace treaty, even if they do issue an arrest warrant, there's actually no way to enforce a ruling or a decision. And Israel will just ignore it as they've shown time and time again, they've ignored every other resolution regarding their conduct. And unfortunately, as we've seen, Israel really only understands this military force that it's receiving for the first time in its history, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas as a unified access, really doing damage to Israel. And if they were concerned with peace or a diplomatic solution, that option went out the window a long time for Israel. There's only this, Israel's existence is based on this violence. So I think it will only

come to terms with its actions, unfortunately, through violence. Thank you, Anya. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your analysis, my dear friend. Spot on, as always. My pleasure, Judge. We'll see you again soon. Coming up later today, 4.30, this afternoon, Eastern, Scott Ritter. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. I'm out.