Judging Freedom - COL. Douglas Macgregor: Is Egypt prepping for War with Israel.

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

COL. Douglas Macgregor: Is Egypt prepping for War with Israel.See 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, March 3rd, 2025. Colonel Douglas McGregor is here. We will shortly be discussing, is Egypt getting ready for war with Israel? And what is the fallout from the famous or infamous press conference in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon? But first this. Hi, this is Colonel Douglas McGregor, CEO of Our Country, Our Choice. Today, we stand on the threshold of potentially a very large regional war in the Middle East, a war that could ultimately reach us here inside the United States. Many of you know me. Some of you don't. I'm not the sort of person to shrink from combat.

I was a professional combat soldier. I liked it. And I have fought against the enemies of this country. And I have killed men in action. But there has to be a good reason. And I think over the last 25, 30 years, we haven't had very many good reasons to sacrifice American lives and treasure overseas. The fact that this large-scale war could break out and involve us concerns me deeply. This is a time when you, if you share my concern and oppose involving us in a large Middle Eastern war should stand up and be

counted. It's time to say no. We don't want to fight in another war in the Middle East that could cost us dearly and result in the loss of millions of lives. Too many lives have been squandered at this point. We don't want to lose anymore. If we're going to fight, let's find a damn good reason to do so. Today, that does not exist for us in the Middle East.

So give it some thought. Tell the people that are in Washington what you feel, what you think. Believe me, you have an impact. And we will join together with other organizations, some of them may be where you live, organizations that involve veterans and many other good citizens who are equally concerned about the potential for the war in the Middle East to spread. We don't want that. We want a powerful United States that is prosperous, but we want peace abroad. And we can't build up this nation to what it should be but we want peace abroad. And we can't build up this nation

to what it should be unless we have peace abroad. We have the border to think about. We have illegal immigration to think about and criminality here at home to think about. We need to act on those. Tell the people that represent you in the House, in the Senate, at your local level. This is where we want to focus. Our focus and operation focus is very clear. We are opposed to another large regional war in the Middle East. We don't want to be part of it. We don't need it.

And we think it's the wrong war in the wrong place for all the wrong reasons. Thank you. Well, Colonel, you did not know we were going to run that and you sent that to me and I was so impressed with it that I thought we would air it for you. What is the war in the Middle East? What is the likelihood of war in the Middle East? Who would be the combatants? How would this come about? What do you fear there, Colonel? Well, first of all, thank you, Judge.

I appreciate that. My concern right now, today, is that Prime Minister Netanyahu has cut off water, food, sustenance to the people living in Gaza in the ruins. And this happens during a period that they call Ramadan. In other words, these are holy days. Now, this is not the first time this has happened,

but right now this is extremely dangerous for the lives of the people who are clinging tenaciously to life in Gaza. But it is also pushing the Arab states in the region to the point where they cannot help but declare war and fight Israel. This has become the cause celebre throughout the Islamic world. Right now, Egypt has poured more than 50,000 troops into the Sinai in close proximity to the border with Israel. And I think this is conceivably the last straw. Tomorrow, all of the Arab states will meet in Cairo, and they will discuss their plan to resolve the Gaza crisis. In other words, a plan to rebuild Gaza.

And I think it will be presented effectively as an ultimatum to Mr. Netanyahu. Now, it could be that the Israelis decide to strike before they become the targets themselves. They've done that before. But I think they'll find that the Arab states are actually ready for that. And the Arab states will ultimately, if this is rejected, they will fight Israel. And I don't think it will stop there. I think Jordan will be pulled into this unavoidably. I think this will involve Syria, where in southern Syria, all the way up to Damascus,

the Israelis have essentially declared a buffer state under their control. This is a provocation to the Turks, and I think the Turks will find it impossible to avoid conflict with Israel. And at the same time, the Iranians and the Egyptians are close, and the Iranians have said that they will stand by Egypt. And obviously, the crown prince in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, is close to President Sisi. Again, I think you're going to see unity across the region and across the Islamic world. And this is the last thing that I think we as Americans and, frankly, Israelis should want to see. We want Israel to survive. And this is a prescription for destruction that once unleashed could consume Israel completely.

And it'll do a lot of damage to us. We can't even begin to talk about what happens at home in the markets, to our economy, the financial system, and ultimately behind Iran. And I think increasingly Egypt, we will find Russia, because the Russians have no interest in seeing these countries destroyed by Israel or us. This is what I'm concerned about, because President Trump has just led us courageously down the path of peace in Ukraine, and it will happen. And I think President Trump got a foretaste of what he's

going to get from those who have pushed this terrible, evil proxy war under the leadership of this criminal regime in Kiev. I think he's going to brush that aside. He's going to make peace with the Russians, and we're going to find a way forward together. But this could also be jeopardized if something is not done to arrest these forces that are running out of control in the Middle East. So that's pretty much in a nutshell what I see happening. Well, thank you for that explanation. But it seems to me that it's politically impossible for him to brush aside Netanyahu because of the political influence that Netanyahu's allies and colleagues have here in the United States, both donors and members of Congress and members of the president's

administration and members of the president's inner circle. If the Arab League or if select Arab countries attack Israel because of its now genocidal behavior against the Palestinians, and the law defines the denial of food and water and medication as a war crime, would you expect the United States to get involved in that conflagration? In other words, would the effect on the United States be more than economic? Would it be military? Yes, unfortunately I do, because I think the trigger is already set. In other words, we've cooperated closely with the Israelis, and I think the predisposition is to automatically launch whatever aircraft, missiles, air and naval power is required, perhaps special operations forces on the ground.

We have been beefing up our positions in the region. Large numbers of National Guardsmen have been sent over there because the Army today is too small to operate without the Guard and the Reserve. They are all going to be at risk. Americans will ultimately be drawn into this. I don't think there's a way to avoid it. However, I would simply point out that President Trump is still the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, and he is the leader of the United States. He is the head of state. And regardless of whatever pressures are exerted on him, he is in a position to take decisions that his own supporters in some areas may not care for.

And ultimately, that's something presidents have to be prepared to do, wouldn't you say, Judge? Yes, yes, I fervently hope so, particularly in this instance. Is Egypt alone preparing for war against Israel? Are there indications? You know armor, you know tanks, that is your field. Are there indications that the Egyptians are preparing to invade? I think there are. I think there are several things happening one you're going to see targets inside Israel involving airplanes aircraft airfields air

defenses undoubtedly will come under attack and there will be an attempt to move rapidly around the southern area of Gaza and across the desert straight into urbanized Israel. In other words, in the direction of Tel Aviv. So I'm sure that that's under consideration. I imagine they've planned for it. There have been some statements by Egyptian generals to that effect. Now, can they do that? Well, I'm sure they'll be opposed.

And much depends on their own air defenses. Because if we've learned anything from Ukraine, it is that if you do not have effective air and missile defense, no matter what you put on the ground, it's at risk. And now you can move quickly in a tank, especially in that part of the world, very, very quickly, cover a lot of distance in a short period of time. But that's not enough. Israel will ultimately be compelled to fight in more than one direction at once. And I think that will happen with other Arab states. I don't see how Jordan holds itself together without joining this tragic war. I think it's very unlikely that southern Syria will sit quietly and wait for something to happen.

I think HGS and its Turkish backers will become involved. And then, of course, in addition to that, you have Iran. And Iran doesn't have much incentive anymore to think that it's going to receive some sort of special treatment from Washington. That, in fact, they see every piece of evidence tells them that Washington is solidly behind Israel. And they may decide they have no incentive to exercise any restraint, in which case they could level large parts of Israel very quickly. You know, thousands and thousands of these 2,000-pound bombs have now been delivered. Israel is replenished with all these lethal munitions from the air. They've got a lot of artillery ammunition now they didn't have before. So this is a tender box. This is waiting to explode. Colonel, is there or will there be an impetus for war on the governments of Arab countries by the populace?

Georgia, Egypt, Turkey. Yes, there's no doubt about it. It can reach the point where public rage is so overwhelming that the people in charge fear their removal, brutal removal, if they do not act. Because we know that the elites in the region, particularly the Arab elites and the Iranian elites, do not want a war. But I'm not sure they have much choice in the matter at this stage, particularly in view of what Netanyahu did this morning.

When you say what he did this morning, you mean announcing that he's cutting off food, water, and medicine to Gaza? Yes. This is a direct affront to the Islamic world. It's during Ramadan, and the population there has already been beaten, bombed, and suppressed to the point where their position is practically hopeless, which, of course, was the Israeli goal. But this kind of mistreatment and brutality has now spread to the West Bank.

All of this is known in the Islamic world. We in the West, as you know, Judge, don't really get a big picture of this. We only get brief snapshots. Here is what Prime Minister Netanyahu said. This is about a minute long. It has to be so thoughtless and vicious and indifferent to human life that they would make a, and even to their own security, that they would make a decision like this during Ramadan. But let's watch what he said first, and then I'll elicit your comments. Upon the conclusion of the first stage, and in light of Hamas' rejection of the Witkoff framework,

we decided at last night's discussion that as of this morning, the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza will be prevented. It must be emphasized, Hamas currently controls all of the supplies and goods that are being sent to the Gaza Strip. It is abusing the Gazan population that is trying to receive the aid. It is shooting at them and is turning the humanitarian aid into a budget for terrorism directed against us. To this, we will not agree in any way. If Hamas continues to stick to its position and does not release our hostages, there will be additional consequences, which I will not detail here. As of today, we have returned 196 hostages,

and I remind you that at the start of the war, there were those who doubted our ability to return even one hostage. Well, there you have it. He's indifferent to human life. He's been indifferent to human life his entire adult career. They don't care how many people die. What is the United States going to do about this? Probably nothing. Well, let's say he's indifferent to the lives of people who are not Israeli Jews.

Right. Let's be specific about that. I'm sure he's very concerned about the lives of Israeli Jews. Probably not enough in my judgment, since I would argue that pushing the Arab states up against the wall to the point where they have no choice but to act themselves will lead to this larger conflagration that could involve the destruction of Israel itself. I don't think he believes that, but I think that's a real danger. I'm not anxious to see Israel be destroyed. I'm not an enemy of Israel, but he's made it impossible for the Muslims in the region to

cooperate with him. And this particular, this statement is laced with a lot of things that are simply false, but it doesn't make any difference because he trades in falsehoods routinely. There's a one-way street. It's his way or the highway. And so I think war now is inevitable. Let's transition, Colonel, to the events in the Oval Office and the White House on Friday afternoon. What is your take on the fallout that is the view of those events now, two days later, three days later? I think we're dealing with a dialogue of the death. No one's listening to anybody. Now, I think this will pass, but for the moment, this was so badly orchestrated, so badly staged,

and I mean that normally anyone who's been in this business and seen events like this involving heads of state knows that you do not bring them together for a presentation to the press in, of all places, the Oval Office unless arrangements have been made in advance that are conducive to a harmonious meeting. In other words, someone must have said, and I don't know, I think the Secretary of State is the individual that set this up, someone must have said, well, we have an agreement. We're going to agree on these economic matters, and he is ultimately going to go along with us in terms of ending the war. Turned out that neither was true.

And Zelensky, who showed up in costume, the man should have been in a suit and tie to meet the President of the United States in the White House, but he shows up in his costume and then berates the President in public. It's outrageous. I'm surprised that he was not removed instantly by the Secret Service.

Should have been. Overseas, those who are globalists, who oppose peace under any circumstances with Russia, who are determined to destroy Russia and want to sabotage our effort at normalization, have come out and said, no, you know, Zelensky is a hero and we're going to support him to the bitter end and we're going to send him all this aid and equipment. Well, that's all fugazi, judge. It's just fugazi. They have nothing to send. This is a joke. And that will become increasingly clear. From the Russian standpoint, they're not paying much attention to Europeans. They know the facts. They're much more interested in normalization with us

because they know ultimately the Europeans will come along with us. And it's inevitable that they will because they too, their populations share our interest in peace, prosperity, and stability in Europe. The only way to get there is to follow President Trump's lead. The clash between the two of them and Vice President Vance was a little stomach churning, but the fundamentals of the war remain the same, Colonel, which is the Russians are on the cusp of victory. The Ukrainians are on the cusp of ending up with no military. And the United States is still sending substantial military supplies to them, authorized by the prior conference, but President Trump has not turned off the spigot. Well, that's a huge problem, because if you're sitting in Moscow and you want to do business

with us, and it's very clear that that's the case with President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. The first thing that must happen is that President Trump, and I would hope now in light of this destructive meeting, he immediately ends any further military aid and assistance to Ukraine. No more. Stop immediately. And then secondly, I would tell everyone who is an American citizen in Ukraine, whether they are military, intelligence, or simply diplomatic, it doesn't make any difference, contractors, get out. Leave the country immediately. Because this man, Zelensky, presides over a thugocracy

run by this vicious secret police and these neo-Nazis. And I would not at all put it past them to start harming American citizens who have been helping them. So I would get them out immediately as well. Do NATO members, as far as you have a grasp on them, speak privately about whether NATO can continue to exist or the members can provide security guarantees for Ukraine without the United States. Behind the scenes, there have been truthful discussions for the last couple of years, and I'm sure that they have reached the point now where very few people believe that NATO can continue in its current form. In the meantime, President Trump has taken steps to remove forces from Germany, to begin closing bases there. He's quite serious about this. He was serious four years ago when I met him in the Oval Office in 2020. He made it very clear that

was his goal. He's correct. He wants to move in the right direction. He wants Europe to be its own first responder, and that can be done. But he has now broken with the globalists because the globalists have been perpetrating this false narrative that depicts Russia as evil incarnate. They are not. They are not Cold War Russia. They are not Soviet communists. They are Russians, and they want an end to this war as badly as anybody else. They have no desire to march further west. That doesn't mean they will not if their security is at risk. They simply want their legitimate security interests recognized. And that's what President Trump has set out to do.

Just as they recognize our legitimate security interests and those of the Europeans. They want an Austrian-style neutrality for Ukraine. That has worked brilliantly in Central Europe. It can work brilliantly in Ukraine. And I think President Trump knows that. It's a matter of time now for the Europeans to sober up and come to terms with reality. But their populations are way ahead of the governments. Even Tusk in Poland, who is hardly an opponent of globalism, he is a globalist, has said under no circumstances would Polish troops contribute to any peacekeeping force in Ukraine. Well, hallelujah, thank God. It's time to get this out in the open, but an end to this nonsense. The Fugazi is in London. The Fugazi is in Paris. And I see no evidence

that the Germans want anything to do with that nonsense. After his debacle in the White House, President Zelensky flew to London, where he was given a very significant and ostentatious welcome. And then President Macron and others flew to London and they all met on Sunday. The most absurd comment at the end of which was from Prime Minister Stormer, I ask for your patience, not on its length, it's less than a minute, but on what he said. Chris, cut number two. We will go further to develop a coalition of the willing to defend a deal in Ukraine and to guarantee the peace. Not every nation will feel able to contribute,

but that can't mean that we sit back. Instead, those willing will intensify planning now with real urgency. The UK is prepared to back this. With boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others, Europe must do the heavy listing. But to support peace in our continent, and to succeed, this effort must have strong U.S. backing. We're working with the U.S. on this point after my meeting with President Trump last week. And let me be clear, we agree with the President on the urgent need for a durable peace.

Now, we need to deliver together. It's almost as if he lives in another world. He's going to put troops on the ground, planes in the air, and somehow thinks Trump will back him up. Yeah, well, all 12 fighter jets in the Royal Air Force. This is just nonsensical. Imagine that Starmer is in a skimpy bathing suit without any clothes on, standing on a board that is 15 meters high over a pool that is shark infested. And the board is shaky and about to crack. And he is saying that we are prepared to eliminate all the sharks in the pool and restore greatness. It's nonsense. It's not going to happen.

The British treasury market, they call them guilts, is in serious trouble. The British precious metals exchange, which involves the gold exchange in London, is in trouble. The country is in trouble. And he is not in a position to ship billions of pounds into the black hole of corruption and incompetence in Ukraine he knows it he needs to stop talking about it I give Starmer two weeks three weeks at the most he's not going to survive this he's in the same position Liz Truss was when she took over and then started talking about Thatcherism and the guilt market erupted and she was quickly ushered off stage. They barely held the financial system together. This time around, it's going to be very difficult to do so.

And I think behind closed doors, Starmer was asking for assistance in that regard that we can probably give to a limited extent. But we can't bail them out any more than we can bail ourselves out because we too are facing a similar dilemma in the financial system in the United States. So I think we've had a series of prime ministers. They all want to sound like Churchill, and they want to be heroic figures and posture for the public, but they forget that Winston Churchill bankrupted Britain, destroyed national power of Britain, and ultimately destroyed the British Empire. So they better sober up because they're about to destroy what's left of Britain if they don't stop. something the Russians would never agree to. His own presidency, such as it is, or even his life,

would be jeopardized upon his return to Ukraine. I think Zelensky's life's been at risk for a long time, and he owes a great deal to MI6 and the CIA and mercenaries that protect him. There's no future for Zelensky. The Russians regard him as fundamentally illegitimate. Putin, whether you like him or not, won an election with 88% of the vote. Now, people will scoff at that. They better stop because it's real.

Zelensky, I don't think, could get elected to be dog catcher in Ukraine. They need a new government. Again, I think some thought should be given to bringing Ambassador Solutioni. This was the Ukrainian general that was sent off to be ambassador in London after he was severely wounded. He may be someone with whom the Russians are willing to sit down and talk, but Zelensky is not one of them. He has no credibility at all. And that's why President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are delighted to talk with President Trump and his team. They want to bring an end to it. And

we need to go back to what we were discussing before and it will stop. And I think the Europeans will get on board. But this nonsense with Starmer just needs to be dismissed as more fugazi. It's not real. It's not rooted in reality. Last question or last subject matter. How do you see, when do you see the war in Ukraine ending? I think it will end exactly as Foreign Minister Lavrov said it would on Russian terms. And I've been saying that for the last couple of years.

And the Russians have made these terms very clear. They're not unreasonable in my judgment by any stretch of the imagination. And they've sacrificed 100,000 dead. They're not going to give up what they have won. And the Russian population in eastern Ukraine doesn't want them to leave. So I think that's a done deal. We need to get on with it and accept it. But the longer this takes, the more Ukrainians will die needlessly, and the further the Russians will move and, of necessity, subsequently decide they need more and more space as a buffer against a Ukraine that they may not trust to ever be truly neutral.

That's where we come in. We have to be the ones that make it abundantly clear that Ukraine will be neutral. And we can do that. Eisenhower did that for Austria. Trump can do that for Ukraine. Colonel McGregor, thank you very much. Thank you for that wonderful clip that encapsulates so many truths about the United States of America today, particularly the overextension and inappropriate use of the military. Coming from someone like you, a West Point graduate, a Ph.D. in military history, a career soldier, it was simply terrific. There's no way I could resist running it again, and we'll

do it again for you. And thank you for your time today. Very much appreciated. Thank you for accommodating. You're not usually on on Mondays, but thank you for accommodating my schedule. All the best to you, Colonel. Mondays are always bad news, Judge. You know that. Thanks so much appreciate it see you next week my friend thank you bye bye great man uh coming up two other great men at two o'clock this afternoon scott ritter at 4 30 4 30 this afternoon max blumenthal judge napal tunnel for judging freedom Thank you.