Judging Freedom - Larry Johnson: Will IDF Investigate Bibi?

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Larry Johnson: Will IDF Investigate Bibi?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, January 8th, 2024. Larry Johnson joins us now. Larry, always a pleasure. Thank you for coming on the show. Over the weekend, the Financial Times reports a brouhaha in the Israeli cabinet in which some ministers have demanded that the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, begin their own investigation of what happened on October 7th, and apparently they're going to do so. Our friend and colleague Alistair Crook characterized this as the earliest stages of a coup, a legal coup, intending to dislodge some of Prime Minister Netanyahu's closest allies from him, thereby defeating his majority in the Knesset, thereby removing him from office. Okay, all that is background. What's your take on the chaos in the Israeli government as we speak? So this is, they formed a unity government right after October 7th, brought together the opposition candidate, Benny Gantz. Gantz was a former military officer in the Israeli army. And so they all came together to be

one big happy family. Well, it's clear they're not one big happy family. So Gantz was at this meeting last Thursday, and they were supposed to get a briefing from the Minister of Defense, a guy named Gallant. He's the grumpy-looking guy, always looks mad. And always dressed all in black. Yeah. So, well, look at me. Well, all right.

So was Johnny Cash. And so Gallant was supposed to brief on, okay, what happens once we win in Gaza, whatever that means. And before he could even get into a discussion of that plan, up popped the Israeli chief of staff of the army, saying that they had named a group of guys that were going, former luminaries in the military, who were going to conduct an investigation about basically why did Israel get caught with its pants down on October 7th and what happened in terms of its military response. Well, that blew up. You had the opposition, the ultra right wing in Bibi Netanyahu's government, Ben-avir, and this guy named Smotrich. Boy, they just started lighting up the chief of staff.

And then they went after Benny Gantz. I mean, they're basically calling a bunch of commie sellouts and just as personally insulting as possible. And then Benny Gantz, and there's another opposition party guy by the name of Lapid. They began punching back. So, you know, it was sort of like that food fight, you know, animal house, you know, the thing, but it was all verbal. And not making for a happy scene.

And you've got a lot of pressure. I didn't get to listen to Alistair yet today. But you've got the hostage families. They continue to put more and more pressure. I didn't get to listen to Alistair yet today, but you've got the hostage families. They continue to put more and more pressure. Israel's having to pull out of Gaza with, you know, claiming, oh, we got a great victory. That's why we're withdrawing 10 brigades that have been chewed up in the process. They don't have a good military path forward. The Houthis got the Red Sea shut down, so they're losing economically on that front. Hezbollah is putting pressure on the north. And so even though Israel is trying to put on a brave face in all of this, those underlying political divisions have not been healed.

They are growing bigger. Is the IDF actually planning to investigate the causes of October 7th? And if so, I mean, that would be like the Pentagon investigating 9-11, including George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as the objects and subjects of the investigation. Yeah, it's not exactly what you call an independent outside source. I suppose in this case, I always call them now the Israeli occupation force, because they've not conducted themselves in a very professional way. They may be better suited because it's not so much that the intelligence failure came at the hands of the military, but maybe at the hands of the intelligence community. Anyway, it could get ugly.

And the lack of consensus on this is just going to be one of those other thorns that will continue to create division. Isn't Netanyahu the only significant player here, military and intelligence, that did not take or share any of the blame for October 7th? And isn't that rigidity inviting an investigation? Well, the public outcry against Netanyahu is large and growing, and they are blaming him directly for what happened on October 7th. So he is certainly not free of blame on this at all. As we've discussed many times on your show in the past, he is hanging on to this political position as prime minister

just to avoid facing legal troubles that will likely plant him in jail. So his motive is one of survival, and his survival comes before that of Israel. Does he control the IDF, or it's stated differently, Larry? Will this investigation be a whitewash of Netanyahu? No, no, I don't think it'll be a whitewash of Netanyahu at all. His control of the Israeli military is limited. They're like survivors in a lifeboat after a ship has sunk. They may be enemies, but they've got a vested interest in trying to work together to survive for the immediate future.

So the Israeli army is sort of its own entity. It's not under Netanyahu's thumb at all. The other thing is to worry about the intelligence services, Mossad, Shin Bet, Unit 8200. They also have sort of their own institutional interests, and they're not going to let Bibi Netanyahu threaten them. Netanyahu does not have the political base to be able to challenge that, you know, let's call it a cabal of intelligence and military authorities. So Alistair Crook also says that though Netanyahu is very unpopular, and though a lot of people would like to see him go, and although it is likely he will soon go, don't expect a change in the policies

of the government. Correct. That Lapid and Gantz, if one of them, the liberals, should become prime minister, the policies of the government vis-a-vis the Palestinians will be the same, because that's what the israeli public wants agreed oh yeah no absolutely that there is a split between let's call it left and right in israel but that split does not include that the leftists say okay let's find a peaceful accommodation with the palestinians absolutely not there is virulent, they're as intent on getting rid of the Palestinians as anybody on the right. It's just the question of the method.

So getting rid of Netanyahu is not going to change Israel's stance right now, which is a problem. Because, you know, as you pointed out, the military pressures on Israel are increasing, not diminishing. They've been punching themselves to a point of exhaustion in Gaza, and they have not won. They've killed a lot of Palestinian civilians, but they've created all this rubble and all this uninhabited territory

where the Hamas fighters are able to sneak up and ambush them constantly. So they're losing a lot of vehicles. They're getting a lot of people that are wounded in action, several killed. And it's just, you know, they're bleeding out. You can't continue to lose blood like this and remain a viable power. Is it generally accepted in the intelligence and military communities internationally that Israel has failed militarily and failed in the PR war? I don't know. You would hope that that would be the case. Clearly, Israel's lost the PR war. When you see they're frantic about trying to quash this South African filing with the International Court of Justice.

And they really remind you of a drowning man off of a ship in the middle of the ocean, just flailing about trying to grab hold of something. militarily, I think there are still some countries, particularly in Europe, that think Israel has things in hand, but recognize that Israel is very, very vulnerable if it decides to expand the war against Hezbollah into Lebanon and Syria, because Israel does not have the logistics chain. It doesn't have the size of force. It doesn't have the material needed to really sustain that kind of fight. And it's not going to be an easy one, two-week adventure. Even Netanyahu himself is talking about that this war in Gaza could extend through the rest of 2024. Israel does not have the means and the wherewithal to endure that length of a conflict. It never has. Are you of the view that Netanyahu would like to draw the United States into the war,

even a false flag attack on American troops. Yeah, yeah. No, he definitely wanted to see that. You know, I think the biggest danger right now is down in the Red Sea. We're going to talk about, let's call it an updated Gulf of Tonkin incident in which a U.S. military ship is attacked ostensibly by either. And it may actually happen, but it could also be portrayed that they were attacked by the houthis with one of the anti-ship missiles and iran gets blamed and then the war gets expanded that's what i think israel wants israel wants to see the united states

fully invested with its troops alongside it wow i don't but i don't i don't think anybody in the Biden administration is that crazy, but who knows? They can't even keep track of their Secretary of Defense. We're going to take a break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. Where has he been? We're going to talk about the North Koreans launching missiles into Ukraine. And we're going to talk about the British Navy advertising for admirals. Can't make this up. But first, but first this. Justin Faltano here. I love being a spokesperson for causes that I believe in. And one of them is the soundness of money. We don't have that anymore. The markets are casinos.

The Fed is printing cash like it's going out of style. What is the government doing to my money? What is it doing to your money? Over $34 trillion in government debt, and that number goes up with every tick of a clock. The cost of living is unsustainable, and the cost of everything from eggs to bread is going through the roof no matter what the white house tells you you can no longer trust the government or wall street or the bank so how do you save now and for the future do what i did do your research when i did my research it led me to gold and silver and that led me to lear capital the leader

in gold and silver since 1997 i know the folks at lear i work with the folks at Lear Capital, the leader in gold and silver since 1997. I know the folks at Lear. I work with the folks at Lear. I trust the folks at Lear. How do you reach them? 800-511-4620 or learjudgenap.com. You'll have a very nice conversation with a very knowledgeable person. There's no high pressure. They will send you literature that you can share with your spouse, and then

you'll decide what to do. You might even qualify for $15,000 in bonus gold. Lear has been the leader in this area of investing for the past 25 years. 800-511-4620. And don't forget to ask about a gold IRA. Find out how diversifying your portfolio from stocks and bonds into gold and silver can give you peace of mind. The peace of mind you deserve. 800-511-4620. Learjudgenap.com. And when you speak to these good folks, tell them the judge sent you. Where is Lloyd Austin?

Yeah. Well, they're going to put him in a new comic book. You know, where's Waldo? Now it's where's Lloyd? Right. He was supposedly locked away in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed Medical Center. It used to be called Bethesda Naval Hospital. It's right up Bethesda, Wisconsin Avenue.

And they put him into ICU in order to try to hide his whereabouts. He'd had some sort of surgery and then some complications from the surgery. And then was apparently, you know, in the hospital for four or five days. And just now people are discovering this as a Friday. And I think this is going to be perhaps the story of the week in Washington, because the notion that nobody, that Austin had not told the White House, hey, I've got a problem, so my deputy's taking over. None of that took place. So it's just, it's one other indicator of the complete dysfunction of the Biden administration, which where it appears that people like the Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas does his own thing. Merrick Garland does his own thing. Lloyd Austin does his own thing.

There is absolutely no coordination and management of this process. And, you know, Austin, he's in the chain of command with respect to nuclear weapons, and to have him go missing, good Lord. Do you think there's any connection between his sudden disappearance and a scolding or lecture he apparently gave Defense Minister Gallant and Prime Minister Netanyahu about, you got to dial it back. And then suddenly they announced that 10 brigades are leaving Israel. Is there a connection with all this stuff, Larry? I don't believe in coincidence. So it's when you see that kind of report and then Israel responding in that way, you know, I think it gives some credence to it.

But I also think on the part of the Israelis, they are starting to, you know, being forced, compelled by events to recognize that they're not just going to roll over Hamas, wrap them all up and kill them all. That may have been their goal, but they're certainly not being able to accomplish it because they've created this rubble in Gaza that provides great cover and concealment for Hamas fighters. Politico is now just reporting that Secretary Austin offered to

resign, and the president said he would not accept the resignation as far as offered. I don't know what that means. I mean, they can't force you to stay in the job. I don't know why he wouldn't have told his boss, hey, you know, I got to have a stent put in or I got an ingrown toenail or whatever it is. I have to go to the hospital for a day or so. Yeah, this is different. Look, someone I'm close to worked at the National Institutes of Health, and very frequently there would be, let's call them political celebrities, well-placed spouses of a prominent spouse of a president, for example, would come into the hospital for medical treatment. Sometimes it was something pretty serious. And there are ways to keep that quiet, but never had a situation where you actually had a sitting, someone in Lloyd Austin's position,

the person in charge of a particular agency or organization that comes in, they keep that quiet and it never gets out and announced in public because that goes to the heart of the government being able to function properly. How do they – this might be off the beaten path for you, but maybe you know it. I mean, how do they manage this? I mean, he's not just a patient there. Does he have bodyguards with him? Oh, no. Actually, he is a patient there.

Okay. But is he alone or is there a staff with him? Are there guards? Yeah, in Austin's case, they may bring in one or two members of the security detail who could sit outside the room. But the nurses and doctors that are attending him, they'll be going in and out of the room. They don't have to be checked before they get in and out. So they become like everybody else. If you're sick and in need of medical treatment, then you got to let the medical professionals take care of you. Okay. Let's go back to the chaos in the Israeli cabinet and the investigation of what happened on October 7th by the IDF.

Will American intelligence play a role in any of that? I doubt it. This is entirely on Israel. It's already clear they had the information in hand. They just didn't act on it. Now, the conspiracy theories have already come up that maybe they deliberately allowed it to take place so that they could use that as a pretext for clearing out Gaza and eliminating all the Palestinians. Well, that's possible. But I think what they've really underestimated Hamas, thought that they had him under control. And the, if you will, the animals broke out of their cages.

The prisoners who had been held so long, they thought were docile. And lo and behold, they broke out and they caused serious damage to Israel's reputation. What is North Korea doing? This almost sounds like a gag. What is North Korea doing in This almost sounds like a gag. What is North Korea doing in Ukraine? Like the opening line of a joke. I know it's not, but I have to ask you this. Well, the United States claims that the Russians are getting ballistic missiles

from North Korea to fire at the Ukrainians. So there are a couple of possibilities. This could be the United States continuing its meme, its theme that Russia's weak, Russia's industry can't keep up, Russia's failing, and therefore it has to go to North Korea. But you and I mentioned this briefly on Friday that one of the other possibilities that have to be considered is that the Russians are allowing North Korean missiles to be used in order for them to be tested in a combat environment. Normally, when you're shooting off a ballistic missile and they do these missile tests all the time, you shoot them up in the air, they go out over the ocean, they fall into the ocean. So you actually never get a real good sense of if they were using that in an actual combat environment, in an attack, would you be able to hit the target?

If you hit the target, would it blow up? Would the device explode? Will it function as expected? Well, guess what? With this war in Ukraine, you have an active laboratory, real world laboratory where you can fire these off, see how they work, check what the U.S. intelligence monitoring is, see what the countermeasures from NATO, do they work, do they not work? So, you know, I could see it as a real plus for North Korea as a way to get some real-world intelligence

on how their ballistic missiles will actually operate in the event that they ever decide to use them. Before North Korea could do this, would they have to have the consent of China? No, they wouldn't have to have the consent of China. It would just be Russia. And Russia has been improving its relations. It used to have actually, it's had longer relations, I think, with North Korea, positive relations than necessarily the Chinese. The Chinese have always had to sort of reign the North Koreans in. But I think this is a situation where Russia could make that call

but it was not motivated I'm confident of this, it was not motivated because Russia needed more ballistic missiles Russia has an adequate, ample supply of ballistic missiles that particularly the Iskander which is a hypersonic missile at that, that the United States has been unable to stop.

The West has been, there's not a single air defense system in Europe or the United States capable of stopping the Iskander. Finally, is it true that the British Navy actually took out an advertisement for a job as a three- or four-star admiral. Yeah. When I first, I learned of this from Andrei Matyanov, and he was quoting an article in The Guardian, and The Telegraph, and The Independent.

It was all over British media. They actually put an ad up on LinkedIn saying, hey, we need somebody that can be in charge of our submarine force. You get 150,000 euros a year, and please apply. And you're thinking, good God, what has happened to the Royal Navy? Because the way the Navy operates, any Navy, is that you have everything from starting with an ensign all the way up to captain and then admiral.

And you've got vice admirals. Surely they've got someone in the Royal Navy you would have thought capable of stepping into that position, having been trained, prep, prepared. Oh, no. They're advertising on social media. Now, this is the British Navy that once, you know, rule Britannia, the Britannia rules the waves. Well, they don't rule anything anymore. They sent their aircraft carry out in August 22 to go join a U.S. exercise.

It broke on the way out of port. And then he towed it back in. And did they sit down and fix it? Oh, no, no, no. They don't have the parts. They don't have the people competent to repair it. So then they start pulling parts off of it to repair another ship. So there's one

aircraft carrier down. They have two other equivalent of let's call them destroyers that they had to put them in port because they don't have enough crew to staff it. The recruitment level's down like 22% compared to last year. I mean, the Brits have become a joke. I volunteered a couple of candidates for them. We got Admiral Rachel Levine, the current head of the Public Health Service here in the United States. Or how about Admiral John Kirby?

Let's send him over. Is Kirby qualified? No, but hey, he's adept at lying, so, you know, that's what they're going to need. You know, what's astonishing about this, Judge, is that the primary means the Brits have for delivering nuclear weapons are their submarines. And the reports are that not even,

they can't even get all their submarines out of port, that they're all in for repair and other things. So, I mean, the next time I hear any British military analyst on television opining about anything, I want to say to them, shut up. You don't even deserve to speak. Until you guys become like a real country, just shut up and say nothing. Larry Johnson, always a pleasure, my dear man. We'll look forward to the roundtable with you and Ray later on in the week. Great. Thank you. Thanks for all your time. Thanks for all your time, of course. All of our superstars

coming up throughout this week, Professor Mearsheimer, Professor Sachs, Scott Ritter from Moscow, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Thank you.