Judging Freedom - Kyle Anzalone: Is the US complicit In Gaza?

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

Kyle Anzalone: Is the US complicit In Gaza?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. With courses available online 24-7 and monthly start dates, WGU offers maximum flexibility so you can focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, January 16th, 2024. Kyle Anzalone from antiwar.com joins us today. Kyle, it's a pleasure, my friend. Welcome back. Very happy to be back on the show here today. Of course. I want to talk to you about President Biden and the unique box, it seems, that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Biden's donor class have sort of painted him in. Our friend and colleague Aaron Matei has written a great piece arguing that the president would like to have us believe that he is a bystander in the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. Is he a bystander or is he an accomplice? Absolutely not. He's absolutely an accomplice,

not a bystander whatsoever. If you look at the support that the U.S. has given to Israel since October 7th, we're talking over 10,000 bombs, including thousands of 2,000-pound bombs, and those are the ones that have absolutely devastated the civilian population of Gaza. You're also talking about a lot of intelligence sharing with Israel, and the extent of this is just starting to be uncovered. There's two reports out this week, one in the Intercept and one in the New York Times. And both of those discuss how the U.S. is passing intelligence to Israel that they could use for targeting. Of course, you know, these are things that made the U.S. accomplices in Israeli war crimes. And also there's all the diplomatic cover the U.S. gives

Israel at the U.N. and other bodies by, you know, sanctioning a U.N. Security Council resolution that would condemn Israel for what they're doing in Gaza. How does the U.S. acquire actionable intelligence? Is it from satellites or does, surely the U.S. doesn't have agents on the ground in Gaza because they might lose their lives, although maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. So from the New York Times and the Intercept, we learned that the U.S. was collecting intelligence through satellites and through drones, and the drones are intercepting communications, and they're at least hoping to intercept communications between Hamas leaders. And then also the U.S. has reprioritized Hamas as a security threat. So prior to October 7th, the Office of National Security had listed Hamas as a level four

priority and they have increased that to level two. And so that means more funding and resources will go towards surveilling and collecting intelligence on Hamas, not only now, but well into the future. You know, it's impossible to get into Joe Biden's head, the poor soul. I don't know if he could pass a driver's ed test today. But at one point he says, we're the United States of America, for God's sakes, we're the most powerful nation in the history of the world, and I'm the president of the United States. Okay, I get it. But has Prime Minister Netanyahu painted Joe Biden into a corner? Well, Joe Biden has certainly allowed himself to be painted into a corner on the Israel policy. There's a Democrat senator from Marylandaryland van holland who has said that israel continues to give the u.s the middle finger when it comes to what we're asking israel to do in gaza say allowing

in more aid the u.n reports that still only an average of 129 truts are entering gaza every day and israel is you know very much intentionally through their inspections protocol, slowing the process of aid entering Israel. And then you also have the U.S. asking Israel to scale back operations, which they're refusing to do. And you also have asking them to release Palestinian Authority Tazma. And all those things have been rebuffed by Israel. And so you have really this amazing policy here where Biden has a lot of leverage to use over Israel, and he absolutely refuses to do it. And it makes the U.S. look very weak and pathetic. It's very disturbing how the White House is willing to cave so much to Israeli policy. And this has been going on through the entire Biden administration, not just since October 7th. After Biden took office, one of the

first things he tried to do is restart negotiations with Iran to return to the nuclear deal. And Israel started attacking Iranian ships, Iranian nuclear facilities, and assassinating Iranian scientists. And those really scuttled and set back all the diplomacy for the Iran nuclear deal, which is now effectively dead. About two weeks ago, I asked our friend and colleague, be prepared for typical Max now, Max Blumenthal. If Joe Biden could stop what's going on in Gaza, here is a typical Blumenthalian response. Well, the Biden administration could end the occupation of Palestine tomorrow. They could have a Palestinian state while we're doing this live stream.

All they have to do is say no more spare parts for your F-16s, no more F-35s, and it's over because Israel depends, its occupation depends entirely on its direct line to Washington. Now, I made that argument yesterday. Max, of course, makes it superbly because of his incredible command of the facts and the data. I made that argument yesterday to, of all people, and I don't think little of me, Bill O'Reilly, who we had on the show, and he makes the neocon argument. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. I think Max is 100% on the show, and he makes the neocon argument, I don't buy it, I don't buy it, I don't buy it. I think Max is 100% on the mark, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. If you look at the number of munitions that the U.S. has given Israel and the aid that Israel takes from the U.S.,

they want another $14 billion in aid to continue to fight their war in Gaza. Also, what the U.S. does in threatening Israel, you know, other actors in the region, such as Hezbollah, the Houthis, you know, the U.S. is bombing Yemen right now on behalf of Israel because the Houthis have interfered with Israeli linked shipping going through the Red Sea. So this has been, you know, the U.S. is very crucial in all this on, you know, the regional and the global stage as know, the U.S. is very crucial in all this on, you know, the regional and the global stage as well at the U.N. vetoing Security Council resolution. I would argue that Joe Biden bombing Yemen, he did it today for the third day,

doesn't seem to be very effective, but they keep doing it. I would argue that that is the United States of America unilaterally expanding the war in the Middle East, targeting and bombing the lands of another UN member, profoundly unlawful and probably a war crime. Yeah, I absolutely agree with you. And even worse, it's going to be entirely ineffective and make the American people less safe. This is a situation here where Biden could deescalate the situation, not only in the Red Sea, but also on Israel's northern border with Lebanon and the U.S. troops who continue to come under fire in Iraq and Syria, all by just leaning on Israel to reduce military operations in Gaza and to allow more aid in, which he absolutely refuses to do. And because of that, he's now bombing Yemen.

And the Houthis have fought off a U.S.-backed Saudi government for seven years, from 2015 until 2022, until they fought the Saudis. And the Saudis had to sue for peace and asked for a ceasefire from the Houthis. So the Houthis are more than ready to handle the United States here and willing to absorb whatever casualties the U.S. will inflict on them to continue to stand up for the Palestinian people and also look for their own regional legitimacy. You know, they see standing up for the Palestinians as a way to gain more support from other Arab and Muslim countries. I'm going to take you back to before you were born in May 1992.

We all know Miko Pallad. This is his father, the general. Now, his father was no longer living. His father was a former chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, certainly during the 1967 war. In 1992, he was at a conference in San Francisco and made some profound comments. This is cut number six when I stopped talking, Sonia. He made some profound comments about the dangers and terrors of occupation and the dangers and terrors of cash from the United States. Take a listen. This is the situation we have to live with.

And I have no doubt that the direct consequence of the occupation, anyone who said occupation corrupts was absolutely right. And we are occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for the last 25 years, and this is corrupting us, maybe even more than the American aid. Well, I would like this to be eliminated altogether. I think that we should pay for our arms out of our own money. But in any case, this is one of the most damaging gifts that we get from the United States. How can you disagree with that?

You absolutely can, especially a long-term occupation like this one where, you know, the occupation is going to create resistance and that resistance is going to lead to violence and that violence is going to lead to hate and more violence. And now, you know, the violence and the hatred has spread so far and so deeply on both sides. And the U.S. has enabled all of it by backing the Israeli occupation rather than forcing them to compromise with the Palestinians who live within the borders that they claim. Switch gears for a minute to Ukraine, because you used a word that I have to connote with Joe Biden, and that's hatred, is hatred and bile towards Vladimir Putin. I mean, what do you think is the origin of this? Is Joe Biden stuck in a time warp? Does he still think this is 1984 and Reagan is

calling the Soviet Union the evil empire and we're going to outspend them militarily so we can bankrupt them? And he's going to say, tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev, and then Eastern European is going to be free. Is Joe Biden still in that mentality or does he know something about Vladimir Putin that the rest of us don't? Well, I wish I understood Joe Biden's mindset a little bit. I know you're not a shrink, Kyle. Because sometimes he sounds like just an angry old man who's, you know, yelling at the clouds or something like that. And just, you know, they kind of set them loose on Vladimir Putin and he's

created this ultimate enemy out of Putin. You know, they really should have negotiated with Russia in 2021 and prevented the war from Ukraine from breaking out in the first place. But Joe Biden has this odd policy where there's no diplomacy whatsoever. We give our allies everything they want. So no matter what Netanyahu and Israel do, we give them all the support they need. Zelensky, you know, there's American journalists who die in Zelensky's jails, and the U.S. does absolutely nothing about that. And yet we give them all this military aid. And then with our enemies, we set out these ridiculous standards for them to meet. And we say, you know, we're not going to make any concessions. You have to agree to our demands and we're not going to negotiate whatsoever.

And the other option is war. And this is what the U.S. did with Ukraine and Russia. And it led to a war. And now they've made Putin out to be this Hitler style enemy. And now they can't give up the fire and negotiate with them because who could possibly negotiate with Hitler? Another case of Biden painting himself into a really terrible corner. Chris, do we have the Ukrainian ambassador that negotiated in Turkey? Take a listen to this when we get to it.

This is the Ukrainian ambassador, a former high-ranking official in the Ukraine government, who, well, you'll hear what he says. He doesn't mention Joe Biden or Boris Johnson by name. We all know exactly what he's talking about. Putin made a mistake when he invaded, and he wanted to get out of it by negotiating. And I was one of the negotiators, and we had a deal. Watch this. And to my mind, very quickly after invasion in 24 of February last year,

he very quickly understood his historical mistake. And I was in that moment in the group of Ukrainian negotiators. We negotiated with Russian delegation practically two months, March and April, the possible peaceful settlement agreement between Ukraine and Russia. And we, as you remember, concluded so-called Istanbul communique. And we were very close in the middle of April, in the end of April, to finalize our war with some peaceful settlement. For some reasons, it was postponed.

But to my mind, Putin, this is my personal view, Putin in one week after started his aggression in 24 February last year very quickly understood he did mistake and tried to do everything possible to conclude agreement with you you know the neocons will deny that this happened. Bill O'Reilly didn't know about it when to Kiev or if he flew to Istanbul, wherever he went, to say, no, no, don't do it. Don't sign this thing because we have your back. The Americans have your back. The EU has your back. Between the three of us, there's plenty of cash and plenty of military equipment there to scare Putin away. Where are we now? Now, the population of Ukraine is 10 million fewer people. They're dispersed throughout Europe. A half a million young men in their 20s and 30s are high-ranking Swiss officials to set up high-ranking peace negotiations in Geneva. This guy that we just showed had this done, but the United States and Great Britain wrecked it.

Yeah, and the expense for Ukraine is really unreal. As you point out, there are 500,000 army soldiers that are either dead or severely wounded. And on top of that, Ukraine was going to be able to keep all their post-Soviet borders except the Crimean Peninsula with the initial deal offered. And now Russia has annexed four provinces of Ukraine. And they may even take more before this war is over and the negotiation is concluded. So, you know, this is a really bad deal for Ukraine. And while the West is now trying to tell, well, we've inflicted a serious blow on Russia, they've militarized the Russian economy and they made the Russian military a whole lot more powerful.

And the BBC has just reported that they found 42,000 Russians have died in this war. They think the number is higher, but that's all they could document. And a third of those are private military contractors. So it hasn't had quite the impact that some of the Western sources have liked to tout it to be. Going back to Israel, I'm going to take you to the front of the Capitol building. I don't know if you've seen this. This is Congressman Jamie Raskin, whom I know from both of our prior lives when I was a professor of constitutional law, and he was as well in law schools. It's a relatively small community. Jamie had a lot of respect. He's now a liberal Democrat, and he's making a speech

condemning authoritarianism. And then watch what happens. The political scientists tell us that the hallmarks of an authoritarian or fascist political party are that one, they do not accept the results of democratic elections that don't go their way. Two, they refuse to renounce or they openly embrace political violence as an instrument. What's the matter with this? Is there something wrong with the sign? Israel is not above the law. Hold Israel accountable. Hold Israel accountable. They accept. They're worse than Jan 6. Hold Israel accountable.

Israel is not above the law. Hold it accountable. I'm sorry. Let me just start that again. So you're outside the Capitol, the quintessential place in America for the expression of political opinions. Our friend, the great Medea Benjamin, is standing there silently with a sign. He's condemning authoritarianism and its hallmarks, and they yank her away. It's like a Seinfeld or Saturday Night Live right, where Biden is constantly up there talking about how we have to promote democracies over authoritarian regimes. And here he is back in an apartheid state in Israel. The Zelensky government, even the mayor of Kiev, has said that Zelensky is becoming authoritarian. He's outlawed and arrested people of a religion that he believes is too close to Moscow. He's tried to eliminate any public signs with the Russian language on it.

And of course, we've also backed the government of Saudi Arabia and other Mideast dictators. And so Biden likes to parade himself as this champion democracy at home and abroad. And it's a fiction in both sense. Here's Medea Benjamin again, walking through the halls of the United States Senate and talking to some senators. We all know that she's got a lot of personal courage and her courage, enough courage for a hundred people. But what is most interesting to me is what the senators say, particularly Senator Scott of Florida, as he's entering what appears to be a committee room. She sort of buttonholes him and walks with him. He turns, and you'll be stunned to hear, maybe you won't be, to hear what he said. He has obviously bought the mainstream media

propaganda about Israel. Here we go. This is number 11. No, they did not. They did not. That's just propaganda to keep this war going. It's a genocide. We need a ceasefire. Will you please call for a ceasefire? You're going to get Hamas to quit shooting innocent civilians? Well, it's the Israeli bombs that are killing thousands and thousands of people, including children and women, every single day. So did you notice what Senator Scott said about beheading babies? This was the myth foisted by Joe Biden, who first said he saw the pictures and then his staff said there are no pictures because it didn't happen.

So you couldn't have seen the pictures. Is this the mentality on which American law or by which American law is made? This type of consumption and regurgitation of false propaganda about war? Yeah, well, and especially when it's repeated by the president, I guess a lot of lawmakers will sign on to it when it confirms their bias. We also recently learned in a report from Haaretz that Israel purchased some technology that helps them manufacture mass information narratives online. And so I'm guessing that contributed to it as well. They could probably target U.S. senators and congressmen to try to put in their feed information that promotes their propaganda lines and things like that with the kind of technology that they're trying to utilize here. And also, I'm never surprised by the Republicans when it

comes to Israel. The debate last week between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, they were just trying to compete each other for who supports Israel more. DeSantis went as far to say that he wouldn't oppose Israel ethnic cleansing of Gaza, even if it was their open policy, if that's what they chose to do. So the Republicans are horrific on this. Yes. Yes, they are. And the Democrats are in a vice. I mean, Joe Biden has his donor class on one side of them and young people on the other. Supposedly, he's impatient with Prime Minister

Netanyahu. The article by Aaron Maté quotes a number of people, including Senator Van Hollen, whom you quoted a few minutes ago, but he's unwilling or unable to do anything about it. Yeah. And a lot of the Democrats in Congress are just as bad on the Israel issue as almost all the Republicans. There's a small subset of congressmen, including some of the libertarian Republicans, particularly Thomas Massey and Rand Paul, who are willing to rebu know, rebuke the Israel lobby, but most of them just go right along with it. Yes. Yes. Carl Anzalone, it's a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you so much for joining us. I hope you can come back again next week.

Thank you so much for having me back on, Judge. I really enjoyed it. Sure. All the best. Coming up on the rest of this week, those from our gaggle from whom you haven't heard yet. We hope Professor Jeffrey Sachs, surely Tony Schaefer. And yes, on Max Blumenthal and Phil Giraldi. Judson, Paul Tana for judging freedom. Thank you.