Judging Freedom - Matt Hoh: A Government of Cowards

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

Matt Hoh: A Government of CowardsSee 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 Tuesday, September 24th, 2024. Matt Ho is here with us with the latest on the goings on in the UN today, even as we speak. And do we have a government of cowards? But first, this. A divisive presidential election is upon us, and the winner is gold. Let me tell you what I mean. Since 2016, our national debt has grown a staggering 70% and gold has increased by 60%. Do you own gold? I do. I bought my gold in February 2023 and it has risen 33%. You've heard me talk about Lear Capital, the company I trust. Let me tell you why.

Recently, Kevin DeMeritt, who is the founder and CEO of Lear, assisted the FBI in discovering a nationwide gold theft ring. And because of Kevin's good work, the FBI caught these people before they could steal anymore. That's why I have been saying the people at Lear are good people. They believe in America. They believe in their product and they're honest to the core. So take action right now, my friends. Call 800-511-4620 or go to learjudgenap.com. Protect your savings and retirement before it's too late. 800-511-4620 learjudgenap.com. Remember, hope is not a strategy, but gold is. Matt Ho, welcome here, my dear friend. We have a lot to talk about, not the least of which is the goings-on at the United Nations, even as we speak. But before we do, is there any question in your mind from your experience in the Marine Corps and in the State Department, that the activity of Mossad by putting explosive materials into cell phones, walkie-talkies,

and pager devices and causing them to explode is a war crime. Oh, it most absolutely is a war crime, Judge. I mean, it violates multiple international humanitarian laws, as well as laws of armed conflict, not the least of which, of course, is disguising a device, disguising an explosive as a civilian device, using a booby trap, the indiscrimination of the attacks, having no idea who would be around, who would be holding the pagers, where they would explode, and so forth. So absolutely, this is a war crime. And how effective is it as a military instrument? Because

my understanding from Scott Ritter and Larry Johnson and Ray McGovern and Alistair Crook is that this did not harm Hezbollah fighters. It harmed mainly civilian employees of the Hezbollah government, even though it also harmed civilians who are not employees of the government because they happened to be near these things when they went off, but stated differently, notwithstanding the boasts from the Israeli government, this did not have a military effect on Hezbollah. No, Judge. If it had been coordinated with a large-scale offensive, so that the Israeli jets were in the air, the missiles are about to be launched, the ground troops are about to cross the line of departure. And these pagers exploded the moment before all that happened. Then there'd be a military utility to it, right? Because you'd be hitting your enemy when they are disorganized, when they are struck by this. It is, we have to, you know, not saying endorsing this or anything,

but it was a very clever and well-executed operation by Israel. You have to be able to respect that if you ever want to have any chance of defeating them. So you have to acknowledge what they do well, how they do it, as well as why they do it. But this, in the way it was carried out, though, and it seems to be that that was the plan, that we would use these devices to disable Hezbollah's primary communication network, as well as take out a lot of their people at the critical moment of us launching our invasion, so to speak. It didn't happen that way because it seems as if Hezbollah figured out that their devices were booby-trapped. So in this sense, yeah, certainly granted a tactical success, but the operational success is incredibly limited in the sense that all those people who were killed and were wounded, not talking about the thousands of civilians that were killed and wounded, but the actual Hezbollah members,

uniformed members, if you will, they're all replaceable. Every one of them was replaceable. And the idea that you took down their communication network, yeah, probably Hezbollah was in a bit of chaos for two or three days. Maybe even right now, it's not great for them. But certainly, this is not any type of strategic victory. It's actually strategically, it's counterproductive because we've seen from throughout the region and throughout the world, just more support for Hezbollah, more support for the Lebanese, more support for those who are unified against Israel. And we certainly have been seeing that at the UN today in terms of the words that are coming out of the mouths of very important leaders in the

region. But you know what, it's kind of though, Judge, like the Kursk incursion by Ukraine, where the political success is what matters. And if you look at it that way, this Pager and walkie-talkie attack was politically successful for Israel because they got the response they wanted from those in the Western media and Western politicians, this ringing endorsement, this celebration. Oh, they took out 3,000 Hezbollah terrorists in the most targeted attack, this Hollywood-type storyline. That's what they wanted. So I think ultimately, if you talk to the Israelis about it, they will say, yeah, it didn't do anything. It messed up Hezbollah for a couple of days. We didn't get to use it really as we wanted to. The millions of dollars and the years we put into this operation,

it wasn't utilized the way we foresaw it. But the reality is, is we've got American politicians who are singing our praises. We've got the Western press citing just how great we are, how we are not just clever and adaptive and ingenious, but we're also respectful of civilian lives. This whole lie, all these tropes, all these gross distortions of reality, the Israelis achieved that. And they're very, very good at that. Is there any question in your mind that He hezbollah versus israel is still a mismatch that favors hezbollah no not at all not at all and certainly it won't just be hezbollah versus israel it'll be the lebanese army versus israel as well as you will have cadres coming in from syria and iraq to fight with hezbollah as hezbollah went into syria to fight with the syrian

government you'll see the same thing too. You'll have the weight of the Yemenis behind them. You will have as well, whatever support Iran. And what we saw today at the UN, essentially Turkey, Jordan, and other nations saying they will do the same. I don't think you'll see Jordan ground troops involved in this, but certainly what Jordan will do going forward, what Turkey will do going forward, what other nations will do going forward, is incredibly important to understand where Israel and the United States have positioned themselves in what is inevitably a losing position. What did the president of Turkey and the king of Jordan say today at the UN that you heard them say concerning this conflagration with Israel? Well, both men spoke passionately and forcefully and very directly. King Abdullah,

whose speech was masterful, and I encourage everyone watching us and listening to us, Judge, to go and watch and listen to King Abdullah. Absolute mastery from that podium. His entire speech was only about Palestine. But both men spoke in a manner and used words that I have not heard before in terms of being able to understand them as a call to arms against Israel. They essentially both start out with stating how the UN has failed, not just failed, that is being deliberately attacked by Israel, as well as just undermined by the United States, and essentially saying, we need to take matters into our own hands. And I want to read a paraphrase, what Erdogan said, and he got tremendous applause for this.

Erdogan said, and I'll paraphrase because I couldn't write it down quite accurately enough, but an alliance of humanity stopped Hitler. An alliance of humanity must stop Netanyahu and his murder network. And he got tremendous amount of applause at that. the UN's own resolution, its own powers under the Unity for Peace Act, that they should assemble a force to do something about the situation. King Abdullah was equally direct. King Abdullah spoke about establishing a protective mechanism across the occupied territories to protect the Palestinians from the Israelis. And he called on nations to enforce a humanitarian gateway into Palestine. I mean, so hearing those words from these two, who both of them filed directly, President Biden, who's, if you want to talk about that, that was,

I'll just say about President Biden's speech, Judge, if there are nations out there who have not signed up for BRICS yet, who are not on the BRICS waiting list yet, have a President Biden speech. Exactly. They'll be on that waiting list. We had some clips from his speech, and I thought it was very poorly delivered. I didn't watch the entire thing as you did, but it looked to me as though he was reading the teleprompter and he couldn't wait to get through it. Maybe he's unwell. And I'll tell you this about it as well, not to be snide or anything, but you can't help but notice the most applause he received throughout his speech was towards the very end where he was making a statement about how leaders need to respect their people's wishes. They need to do what's best for their people. They need to step aside when the time is appropriate. He got the most applause during his speech during that.

So he got a bronze ear during that time. He also seems to have gotten applause when he called for a two-state solution, but this is utterly without credibility for him to call for a two-state solution. He's financing the slaughter of Palestine. But here it is. You saw this earlier, but we'll watch it now.

Cut 16, Chris. As we look ahead, we must also address the rise of violence against innocent Palestinians on the West Bank and set the conditions for a better future, including a two-state solution, where the world, where Israel enjoys security and peace and full recognition, and normalized relations with all its neighbors, where Palestinians live in security, dignity, and self-determination in a state of their own. Is there anybody on the planet more responsible for Palestinians not living in a state of security, dignity, and self-determination than Joe Biden? At this point, no. Even Netanyahu. Even Netanyahu couldn't be doing two-thirds of this without American military and financial support.

And what's the financial support and what's to come, what we are on the brink of where this genocide in Gaza, God help us, might only be a minor event for the things that are to come. Right. This will be Joe Biden's legacy. You know, he what I said about this on Twitter after watching the speech and I watched it on Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera English as the president was speaking, they had a sidebar and they had footage of the bombings with American bombs in Lebanon. And they have footage of the children being massacred in Gaza with American bombs alongside of Joe Biden's speech to the General Assembly was that sidebar of footage from Lebanon and from Gaza that clearly contradicted all the disingenuous and specious and outward lies that the president stood there and just spewed forth to the world's assembled leaders. I mean, we know he has no respect for you and I judge. Right. But and all the folks watching and listening. But he certainly also has no respect because the first third of his speech is a campaign speech. I mean, the first third of his speech, you saw this. Here's a man who spent 50 years in the Senate and in the executive of the United States.

And certainly this is a platform for him to reflect on those 50 years, particularly as he was so involved in foreign policy. And what does he do? He talks about his successes. He talks about his triumphs. If there were any errors, he's the one who fixed them. When he brings up, when he goes through his 50 years and he brings up Iraq, what does he say? Not that he was the foremost champion in the U.S. Senate for that illegal and crooked and immoral invasion, but that he was the one that President Obama turned to to get us out of Iraq, right? I mean, imagine sitting there and having to endure that. And that's why I said, if nations haven't signed up for BRICS yet, after this, they certainly will. Wow. Tell us about Erdogan,

because my impression of him, and push back if you disagree, Matt, you have far more of a feel for this than I do, is that he's more bark than bite. His bark is terrific, but he doesn't bite. He doesn't do anything about it. Right. But what we're hearing from other nations is lining up with that. So if I had just seen Erdogan say this about having to assemble an alliance of humanity to stop Netanyahu as Hitler was stopped by an alliance of humanity. And then you go on and talk about the UN's Union for Peace and all the other things that Erdogan spoke of. And the first, I would say, 10 minutes of Erdogan's speech, he was just retelling the story of Gaza over the last 11 months. And he did that. I thought he did that quite well. It was only Erdogan who

said it. If it wasn't what we heard from King Abdul, it wasn't what we heard from the Iranians as well. What we've heard from other, what we know about what the Iraqis, the Syrians, the Yemenis feel, what we can kind of feel out for maybe how the Egyptians might act in this, then certainly, you know, I would just dismiss it. But the fact that you have these other factors in play, and Erdogan certainly is a politician, you know, at some point in his speech, he's going on about how Turkey has always stood with the oppressed. We've always stood with the victims. And I just, I could just hear my Armenian and Kurdish friends groaning, you know, as that's being said. So, but, but, you know, the fact is that you now have, you know, where you can point to and say, look, these nations are talking like

this. And again, they're proceeding it with the identification that the world political system has failed. The United Nations has failed. No one is going to do anything except for us. And that's why I think when King Abdullah says in his speech about how we need people to stand with us in the coming weeks, what is coming in the next few weeks? Was he just referring to Israel turning the West Bank into Gaza, to Israel's war with Lebanon? Or is he talking about something more forceful, more direct, because they realize that the only people who can do anything about this are themselves. So, you know, it's something to watch. It's something to be proud of to see these people stand up for their brothers and sisters in Palestine, to reject the United States, to reject NATO, to reject this world order, certainly to reject Israel.

But it's also, you also have to do that with trepidation and caution and realizing what does this mean? What does this mean? But this is the point we've gotten to. And this is what we talk about Joe Biden's legacy. This is what he has brought the world to. He has brought the world to where we have now world leaders, Middle Eastern leaders standing at the podium in the United Nations saying, we are going to take matters into our own hands. That's Joe Biden's legacy. And what comes from that, God help us all. Do negotiators, whether they're from the United States, Amos Hochstein, Bill Burns, Doha, Egypt, Palestine, now know that Prime Minister Netanyahu's government was never serious about any peaceful resolution or ceasefire with Hezbollah or with Hamas, and that effectively what Netanyahu's

people went through in the past nine months was a fraud? Well, I think they were in on it, Judge. I don't think this is a question of them being too dumb and them being too naive and thinking that Netanyahu, we just have to talk to him harder. Well, that was for months. That was what they were saying. You don't hear our words to Netanyahu behind closed doors, right? I mean, I don't think they really believe that. I think the administration started sweating this in February or so when the uncommitted movement seemed like it might have an impact on democratic politics. But the Democrats figured out we can just say the right things. The Times, MSNBC,

et cetera, will repeat it for us dutifully. And we can get to the point where we have a DNC convention and we have Israelis on the stage. We have pro-life Republicans on our stage, but no one is speaking on behalf of Palestine. You know what I mean? So they realize that we just have to message us correctly. And that gives us enough of a buffer to make it through to the elections and not lose because we upset the Israeli lobby. So they've known this all along and they've just been providing this cover.

They've been providing these stories. I think they're also trying to burnish their own legacies in the image because they know that there will be a reckoning for this with history. So Hochstein and McGurk, Burns, and others will say, look, they did try really hard. It wasn't them. When of course, the whole thing was known from the get out as one big, it was a scam. It was a fraud. But it works though, Judge, because if you happen to see in the Hill this week, they had who Donald Trump and Kamala Harris may have in their cabinets. And for Harris, they believe that the likely person for the secretary of state is Bill Burns. And so here you have major American political media saying that Bill Burns will be the next secretary of state.

And they point to three things why he should be right. And just take a breath because you're not going to believe what they say. The three things are that most qualified Burns be secretary of state. Don't tell me it's successful negotiations over Palestine. As well as his ability, well as handling Ukraine and handling Afghanistan. Oh, three of Joe Biden's worst, most catastrophic foreign policy disasters. Clear, costly, predictable foreign policy disasters that people were, I mean, and this is the reason why. And so this is the American political media environment in which they live, which they respond to. So they know that we just have to put up a good show, right? Because AIPAC and the other pro-Israel lobbies, they understand

what we're doing here. They understand the political realities of this. They understand the media realities. So we'll let them get away with saying such things. We'll let them get away with expressing their exasperation over Netanyahu because they live in a political reality. And this is why I remember back prior to Netanyahu and Israel going into Rafah, they were very stirred. Chuck Schumer, right? Chuck Schumer said that Netanyahu should not be the prime minister of Israel anymore. And people went crazy about that. And he didn't mean it. He just needed to say that before the democratic primaries to try and get some heat off of, of Biden in those primaries. You know, so it's all one big political game. Uh, one big, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, immoral, uh, uh, horror show that we're all living through. And these people are, are disrespecting,

uh, everyone with every chance they get, whether it's, you know, just talking to American media at the U.N. with their own counterparts, etc. We're going to transition in our conversation to Ukraine. And to do that, I'm going to subject you to President Zelensky on his plane on the way over. Immediately followed by Joe Biden, which you already heard this morning, the essence of which is that Putin has failed. So Chris, back to back, cut number two and cut number 14. We are starting a visit to the United States. We are now flying to Pennsylvania, a special visit, then New York, Washington. It is this fall that we'll decide what will happen next in this war.

Together with our partners, we can strengthen our positions as necessary for our victory, our common victory, for a truly just peace. Ukraine will present the victory plan in the United States, and the President of the United States will be the first to see it in full. Of course, I will present the victory plan to all leaders of our partners' countries who, like President Biden, are leaders of the world and can become leaders of peace by helping us with the victory plan. So, my direction, America stepped into the breach, providing massive security and economic and humanitarian assistance. Our NATO allies and partners in 50-plus nations stood up as well. But most importantly, the Ukrainian people stood up. I asked the people of this chamber to stand up for them. The good news is Putin's war has failed at his core aim.

He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free. He set out to weaken NATO, but NATO is bigger, stronger, more united than ever before. He's in another world. Yes. Putin has failed. NATO is stronger. Right. It is.

It's just it's delusional. But again, it's being written. It's being said to the loyal supporters. It's being meant to those Americans who are vote blue no matter who, who still have their Ukrainian flags hanging outside their house. That's who he's talking to. Right. I mean, so and with Zelensky, I got to tell you, Judge, honest to God, when I heard he was coming to Pennsylvania, I was afraid we were were gonna end up seeing him like in a george washington costume at valley forge like i really thought that was while he was in pennsylvania this is what we saw thank you chris this is governor josh shapiro signing artillery shells much like um uh the woman running against uh nickaley did. Nikki Haley did the same thing. Yeah, and it's just... It's brilliant that someone

won't want to sign their name on an instrument of death in an unjust war. It's absolutely grotesque. It really is. It's just absolutely grotesque. It's just so someone who has no concept

of what they're involved with, no understanding of the reality of things. They understand, but they understand the political media reality. And so Shapiro knew that this is going to burnish his credentials with the pro-war crowd. This is going to, right, this is going to burnish his credentials with his most loyal

Democratic Party base. Chris, can you put that B roll up again, please, Governor Shapiro? Yeah, so right behind him, the fellow who's turning around with the gray hair, that's Bob Casey. That's Senator Casey, who's in a very, very, very tight re-election race. So you're quite correct, Matt. These period is shaking Zelensky's hand. These folks, Shapiro and Casey, want to cement their bona fides with the pro-war crowd. These are two liberal Democrats now fiercely and disgustingly pro-war. Right. And I'm sure that video there got sent right away to the CEOs of Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon. Look who your supporters are. Remember Shapiro. Remember Casey when it's time for reelection.

They're on your side. They're willing to sign artillery shells that are going to rip young men apart. Right. I mean, like so. Yeah, the grotesqueness of this all is really quite something, you know, and just the cravenness and the cynical nature of it as well for something that is clearly unwinnable. And now we're all waiting. The media, of course, you see this the way it's been played out. Zelensky is going to present his victory plan later this week. The rollout of all this, you know, it's very well executed on their end to build the anticipation. Right. So he goes on this roadshow. He travels to Pennsylvania.

Of course, he's going to speak at the un he's wearing his uh you know he looks like he's a salesperson at bass pro sports right you know bass pro shop you know i mean like and it's kind of like the idea this is all a game it's all a role it's all a a character that they're all playing they just simply do not understand the human cost in this they do not simply understand the suffering involved here, let alone the dangers of this, of escalating, let alone the impact it had on a nation, the destruction of its industry, of its infrastructure. The environmental destruction in Ukraine is unimaginable. And of course, the long-term costs, like this is a modern war. And all these modern wars have incredible toxic legacies,

which mean that generations from now, after Shapiro is long dead, he's no longer able to sign his name on any other munition and weapon of destruction, weapon of death again, there are going to be Ukrainian mothers who are giving birth to children that are deformed, disabled, or dead because of the toxic legacy of this war. And we know that because that's how war is now. That's anywhere in the world where you have a war, particularly a war like this that is highly conventional, that is industrial, you have this toxic legacy. And if you don't understand what I'm talking about, go talk to the Algerians, go talk to the Vietnamese, the Cambodians, the Laotians, the Iraqis, the Syrians, and they will

explain it to you what I'm talking about. And these people simply don't care for them. The thing about it is the imagery, it's playing to their base. And of course, it's the contributions from the military industrial complex. The B-roll we were just showing was Nikki Haley signing artillery shells going to Gaza, well, going to Israel. And she wrote on them, finish them. And then she signed her name. Matt, no matter how grotesque or depressing the matters are that we chat about, it's always a delight to chat with you. You're always so informative from a unique and helpful perspective. Thanks very much for joining us. All right. Thank you, Judge. I appreciate it.

Sure. Hope we can see you again next week. Oh, absolutely. And thanks to everyone who watches and listens. Of course. They love you, Matt. Well, and one thing I just want to, I got a hammer on this, on what you all are doing in independent and alternative media. It's just really amazing. It really is, Judge. And I want people to do everything they can to support yourself and the other folks out there who are doing this work. If anyone thinks that if you didn't have people like Judge Napolitano and others who are providing these types of platforms, if anyone thinks that the majority of the American public right now would be against

the U.S. military getting involved militarily to defend Israel with the fact that almost all of our politicians and nearly all of our corporate media just pronounce Israeli talking points nonstop. If anyone thinks that the fact that our American public does not understand the reality of the world because of independent media, I don't know what to tell you. And if you understand what I'm saying, if you believe in what I'm saying, you've got to keep supporting Judge Napolitano, other independent media platforms, because you guys, as we know, are under attack and it's not going to stop. It's only going to get worse. Thank you, Matt. Thank you for your kind words. Coming up later today in just a few minutes, a three o'clock Eastern,

Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. We'll be you next time. You can earn your degree on your schedule. You may even be able to graduate sooner than you think by demonstrating mastery of the material you know. Make 2025 the year you focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu.