Judging Freedom - Matt Hoh: How to Stop the Slaughter

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

Matt Hoh: How to Stop the SlaughterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, October 17th, 2024. Matt Ho joins us now. Matt, a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you for accommodating all the schedule changes that visit both of us and for joining us today. I want to start where I was going to end this conversation. Who or what will stop the persistent Israeli slaughter of innocence and theft of land? Unfortunately, Judge, I don't have an answer for you. I don't think anything will. I don't see it occurring without some type of cataclysmic ex-Machina type or deus ex-Machina type event, something extraordinary that we can't foresee or expect. I see there's nothing within the Israeli

side that will lead them to stop. This is what they want. This is the opportunity. Naftali Bennett said it so well two weeks ago now. This is a once in a 50-year opportunity, what we have. The ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the potential to annex the West Bank or in East Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria, as they call it, to push into Lebanon, to get the war with Iran alongside the United States we've always wanted. So I just don't see a way this ends until the Israelis are satisfied. The only hope that there was was that there would have been some type of political pressure on the White House and the Biden-Harris campaign to reel them in, just as we saw American administrations reeling Israelis in the 50s, in the 60s, in the 70s, in the 80s, the 90s. Even under Barack Obama, he reeled them in. And it just doesn't work that

way anymore. So I am heartbroken and infuriated, but I see nothing but more suffering for the Palestinians until the Israelis have reached what they want until they've satisfied themselves well you certainly i think don't let me put words in your mouth um agree with um mcgregor and ritter that netanyahu may grossly overreach and be visited with a fusillade that he can't resist. From Iran. From Iran, certainly, certainly, but that doesn't help the Palestinians. The Palestinians suffer no matter what happens. Even if the best case for the Palestinians, there is elections early in 2025 for the Israeli Knesset, which doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Looks like that's going to be in October maybe of next year. So another year until elections and Netanyahu loses, which according to polls right now, he's not going to. He's going to remain in power. And then you get what? You get someone, Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz, who just basically reset the clock back for the Palestinians back to October 6th with all of the death, destruction, suffering of Gaza still present. What do we know today about the relationship between the Kremlin and Tehran? Oh, it's something that would make many historians, many foreign affairs experts, statespeople of the last two or three centuries spit in their grave if they knew there was this type of alliance between Moscow and Tehran. We have done seemingly the impossible by putting these two historic rivals together. And what we've seen is we're seeing something very formal, not just, hey, we're going to sell

you some weapons. We're going to exchange some advisors. We're going to have some friendly talks. You know, no, but they're looking at if it's forming into an actual military alliance. And there is a defense pact that is in the midst of being signed, I believe, between Russia and Iran. Iran interestingly also judge about a week or two ago, pushed forward this proposal to formalize the axis of resistance into something that essentially looks like NATO. I mean, so you're continuing to have this establishment of a formal relationship, a real partnership between these nations that goes much further than just the transactional nature or the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or it's because it's convenient into something that this has real a real foundation

beneath it and you can really see a future to it and this is the this is the countering of the american empire that has long been expected being made concrete in front of us well you know the the two questions are combined who or what can stop the Israelis and what is the relationship between Iran and Russia? At some point, if Netanyahu thinks he's losing, he's going to have to do something

to prevent the further destruction of Israel and that might be a dialing back of the slaughter. No? No. I think that that is be a dialing back of the slaughter. No? No. I think that that is just calling on the United States for more. That is the understanding in Israel that the United States will always be there, that the control of the American political system, very effective, very quite brilliant control of the American political system, as well as just the narrative that exists within the American elite, and to a degree, the British elite as well, and some parts of Europe, will mean that

the Israelis will have the backing that they need going forward, that they will be the West's Sparta, if you will. They will be Thermopylae, if people remember the 300, for the West against the East. This is how people like to stylize it. This is how they like to think of it. This has also, too, been formed for decades now, this narrative, this understanding of the world, this clash of civilizations. So certainly, I think what the understanding in Israel is, is that the United States will be here, and they will hook up a Israel is, is that the United States will be here and we will hook up. They will hook up a hose from the treasury of the United States to Israel to keep us afloat to get back to this idea about the Palestinians. So say it gets so bad in Israel, as many has been talking about, that it descends into civil war, right, that they're basically going through a collapse.

Even in that state, I see that the punishment that gets meted out onto the Palestinians becomes even harder, right? That in a clash between the Israelis themselves, the Palestinians will still suffer. They will be made examples of, they will be victimized in order to try and achieve some type of internal Israeli political goals. So, I mean, it's heartbreaking and it's infuriating. I don't know what else to say, but for the Palestinians, I simply see no hope. And I hate saying that. What do you think President Putin will do if the Israelis attack Tehran? He's not going to sit back and do nothing, is he?

No, I think what he will do is provide continued support to the Iranians, like we've seen, more support, more missiles, more electronic warfare systems, more visors, that type of thing. But also, too, he will have a check or a hedge in Syria because that's where his air force is, that's where his Spetsnats are, his special operations. That's where the Wagner forces are to serve as a warning or as a hedge to Israel and the U.S. that this will lead into a major power conflict. This will lead into a world war as well as to you will you possibly will see the and they've warned of this before the Russians actually, according to reports,

Putin was close to arming the Houthis, the Yemenis, last spring and the Saudis stopped him. So you'll see that as well, the arming of groups allied with Iran by Russia. And then you will see this continual building out of military, diplomatic, economic infrastructure, this new world order, if you will, a newer world order, I guess, that will counter the American empire. So I think what the Russians want is, of course, the Russians want to see the U.S. further sucked into the Middle East, because that pulls their attention, that pulls their ability to do anything with regards to Europe that diminishes that. But then also too, the Russians have a desire to see a long-term building of this counter to the American empire. And to do that, I think they're

wise and they're mature enough to take it slowly. So I don't think anyone in Russia is hoping for a war with regards to Iran, but they certainly see the benefits of the tensions. This would be a neocon dream come true. Right. If Iran versus Israel were to be a proxy for Russia versus the United States, at the same time, Ukraine is a proxy for the United States to, it's failing terribly, but the neocons don't acknowledge that publicly, for battering Russia. This would make Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton and Victoria Nuland and John

Bullen ecstatic, no matter who's the president of the United States. That's correct. We've seen this already. They try to do this with Afghanistan. If you go back about five, six years, as the Trump administration was making gestures towards getting out of Afghanistan, it became all about Russia, getting the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers. Just absolutely ridiculous, ludicrous, just such a farce. But it was all this attempt to try and tie Russia into a war where American soldiers were dying, not even that many numbers at that point, but just to try and make sure that we're always keeping our eye on the true villain, on the true man in the black hat, right? And because that's essentially what we need as a

narrative, as an empire, is we have to have something as an opposite. It has to be Manichean. It has to be good versus evil, very much like our political system here. So if people are confused about when people talk about how domestic or foreign policy is rooted in domestic politics, you can see just in the structure, the format, that there can't be anything other than zero sum. There can't be a multipolar world that can only be be at best bipolar or hopefully unipolar. But yeah, you're exactly right, Judge, the fever dream of linking us all together. And you see that. And you see that even in Volodymyr Zelensky's most recent statements as he's trying to play this, as he's trying to use this to his advantage, saying that there's this alliance between Russia, Iran and North Korea.

And this is why you have to continue us because we're doing our part on the Eastern front in Europe against this alliance. And then it makes people think of World War II and all that mythology. I want to ask you about North Korea, but I have one or two more questions on Israel. Where is the EU? Where is NATO? Where are the various individual nations of the EU and NATO on the Israeli slaughter, particularly in light of the Israeli attack on UNIFIL, which brought outrage from the Irish, the French, the Spanish, and of all people, the Chinese.

Right, right. First, I just want to say, God bless the soldiers of UNIFIL. They are absolutely outstanding in their professionalism. They are yielding. They are neither yielding to the bullying of the Israelis, nor are they taking the bait of the Israelis by shooting back. So they're refusing to cede their ground to the Israelis. And at the same time, they're not falling into the Israeli trap of shooting back, which would allow the Israelis to drop 2,000 pound bombs on them. You're seeing these cracks within the EU and these have been present throughout the most of the year, particularly led by say the Irish and the Spanish. My grandparents came from both those places. So I also have a grandparent from Germany. I'm not so happy about that heritage right now. But certainly with the Irish and the Spanish of my ancestry, I'm very proud.

Matthew, you cannot control your heritage. You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your relatives. Go ahead. So I'm very, you know, my Spanish grandparents, my Irish grandmother, you know, I think they'd be very proud, too, of what their countries are doing in terms of leading this effort to basically align with the EU's stated values, the EU's stated purposes and their missions and their charter. So the Irish and the Spanish this past week have put forward a proposal to kick Israel out of the free trade agreement with the European Union, because Israel does not align with the European Union's own rules. So you're seeing this, and then particularly what the French said, what Macron said this past week, I don't think he's going to do anything about it, but the fact that he's willing to. And this is a big difference, right,

from what we see in the past year, where they have been much more mealy-mouthed. So you're starting to see these cracks within the EU. Certainly those cracks are further exploited by things like Ukraine, or by the fact that, you know, you mentioned China, that the United States and parts of Europe want this war on China. NATO, this is, I think we will see a big schism between NATO and the EU because Mark Ruda, the new secretary general of NATO, he wants to globalize NATO. He wants to make war with China a NATO mission. And the EU is looking at this and saying, that's our biggest trading partner. Are you nuts? So you're seeing these schisms develop, not because of internal

tensions, and there certainly are those in Europe, don't get me wrong, but not because of those internal tensions, but because of these foreign wars that the European countries have gone along with being loyal vassals of the American empire. Take a listen, please, to President Macron of France. And then, Chris, please post the full screen of what he said, not in front of the camera. So cut number two and then the full screen. It is totally unacceptable for UNIFIL troops to be deliberately targeted by Israeli armed forces. We condemn it. We do not and will not tolerate it happening again. Now, here's what he said, but not in front of a microphone or a camera. Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN.

Therefore, this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN. Therefore, this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN. Matt? Right. And it'd be wonderful if he puts the French military behind his words. The French have the capability to put fighter aircraft off of their aircraft carrier as well as within the region in the skies over Lebanon. They have that ability to create a no-fly zone. It would be amazing to see that happen. We won't see that happen, but can you imagine? This is why I said, Judge, I'm disappointed in my German heritage, because reports this morning that a German warship shot down a Hezbollah drone. And so you have the Germans in that warship is a part of the UNIFIL mission, supposedly. So you have a German warship off the coast of Lebanon shooting down Hezbollah drones,

but making no action to do anything to protect either the UNIFIL peacekeepers or the Lebanese civilians. And unfortunately, I think that's what you'll see more of is you'll see these words, which are important because like I said, it's different than what we heard months ago. But what we're really seeing, though, is the continued actions of states like Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States that are the only reason, the sole reason that Israel is able to conduct these wars, these atrocities, these crimes. Take a listen to a Chinese military commander who is apparently the commander of the 400 or so Chinese soldiers that are there. Chris, cut number one. At present, the conflict between Lebanon and Israel is intermittently escalating. Due to the the ongoing combat several camps of the United Nations

interim force in Lebanon have suffered damage additionally a portion of our peacekeeping comrades have been injured we continue to make every effort to maintain peace and stability in the region did you know that the Chinese troops were there on the ground no no I had no idea makes you wonder I I also had no idea according to that idea the Chinese were there. I didn't either until Chris found this. Makes you wonder. I also had no idea, according to that video, the Chinese designate their units in their military as batches. The 22nd batch. I didn't know that either.

I won't ask producer Chris where he found the translation. But anyway, regardless of that, the fact that they have 400 there, not 40 or four, but 400. I mean, that's a military terms. That's a battalion minus, basically. I was not aware of that, but it shows the Chinese presence there. And this takes it one step forward then for the Chinese in terms of not, I don't think, what they would do immediately, right? Because I don't think the

Chinese are going to sail their one aircraft carrier over to the Mediterranean and do anything if the Chinese peacekeepers are hurt or killed. What I do think it means is it tells the Chinese, we have to be more aggressive. We have to lead much more forward in our deployments, in our role in the world. We have to be able to project power to protect our own people overseas. And so I think there's, you know, we, a lot of times as we look at the short-term impacts of what's occurring here, and we just don't have time to examine or analyze how does this play out long-term. And I think something like this, where the Chinese have 400 of their kids, 400 of

their boys in Lebanon on a peacekeeping mission, and here's Israel threatening them, potentially killing them. The United States is backing them. What are you going to do about it? And this just tells the Chinese, we need to do something about this in the future, or at least be able to do something about this in the future. This gets back to what we've said before. We talked about Turkey, say, why wouldn't the Turks get a nuclear weapon now? Looking at everything that's happening, why wouldn't they? Because that's the one thing that Israel is allowed to run rush rod over those countries with. That's the big stick they have is that, hey, Turkey, you want to get involved in Lebanon or anywhere else? Well, we'll bomb Ankara. So they can balance that out. And so you're

seeing this, both those two things dovetail with both potential nuclear proliferation, as well as a greater presence, getting back to what you asked before, Judge, about Russia and Iran, a greater presence of other powers within the region, as well as a formalizing of relationships that leads to real structures that can really effectively counter the American empire going forward. And it's not talking about 20 years from now, we're talking five or 10 years from now, the very real possibility of a strong counter to the American empire, not just in the Middle East, but throughout the world.

As if things couldn't get any crazier. Now I'm transitioning to Ukraine, but I'm going to read what Newsweek reported about 9 o'clock this morning Eastern, so about two hours ago. Some 18 North Korean soldiers are believed to have deserted the Russian front line with Kremlin fighters reportedly searching for them. You can't make this stuff up. The troops were deployed in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk oblasts about four miles from the border with Ukraine when they deserted, the public broadcasting company of Ukraine reported. Intelligence officials cited by the broadcaster said the Russian military is searching for the North Korean soldiers while commanders are trying to conceal the desertion from their higher-ups. First of all, are North Korean soldiers present in Russia? Second, does Putin need more soldiers from a foreign country? Third,

is this credible? I mean, I don't know if it's credible or not. I mean, there's all types of things that have been stated by both sides. You know, a year ago, Judge, before October 7th, we had a show, you and I, where we talked about the Ukraine-Russia war as being the most propagandized war of all time. Yes. You just really can't believe anything you hear from anyone on either side, I feel. You know, in terms of what does Putin need? No, he doesn't need forces from outside his country. That, I think, would have a negative political and morale effect within his own country to see Korean forces coming in to help out if it was publicized. But then other things too, that, you know, you start talking about integrating your militaries, that's very difficult, particularly in this day and age with the nature

of communications, the nature of technology, the requirements for things to be done very quickly, and not to have trained together before to be fully integrated is a really difficult thing. So I can't imagine the Russians wanting to have Korean forces, North Korean forces, alongside their forces in active combat. And again, they don't need it. They seem manpower-wise, They seem to be fine. That said, I don't you know, I don't know if in any time in history a nation at war hasn't taken assistance from a friendly nation. But this seems you know, this seems pretty far fetched. And this plays into Zelens know, uh, uh, alarm over the last couple of weeks about the Koreans. This is just too timely. Uh, could be true. I mean, you know, the North Koreans, who knows why they would have been sent there, what they would have been told they found themselves there and, you know, they're out looking for a McDonald's or something like that. You know,

I mean, I don't know. Uh, I don't know whether to believe it or not. But it's just the timing of it goes very congruently with Zelensky's increasingly desperate cries for help. He just released his five-point peace plan, which is just more of the same. But this tying of Russia into this evil axis of Iran and North Korea. Now, of course, there's Korean soldiers there. Yeah, it's all it's all just too perfect, it seems to me. OK, I'm going to go back. I ask your forgiveness for going back and forth. back to Europe and its reaction to Israeli slaughter, because we now have a tape of a Spanish member of parliament ripping, ripping into the prime minister of Spain for failing

to impose an arms and trading embargo on Israel. Watch this. How does this differ from Nazi gas chambers? I address you all, ladies and gentlemen, including the president. No difference. As a nation, we are complicit in perpetrating this genocide. You travel globally discussing an arms embargo that your government cannot enforce. Your government has been selling arms since after October 7th. It has bought 1 billion euro worth of weapons. 1 billion euros, ladies and gentlemen,

during this year of genocide, have allowed weapons to be transported through from our ports throughout this year. If you truly support the arms embargo, Mr. Sanchez, cease deceit and enact it immediately. Can we expect more of that from European parliamentarians? I would hope so. I think so. I think you're having more and more galvanizing. It's been a year, but we're continuing to be galvanized or to continue to be horrified by the images, the video, the spectacle that is coming out of Gaza, as well as just, you know, to take the geopolitical dangers of all this, but just the moral horror, this picture of that young man who was burned alive

in the hospital where he was a patient at, is becoming, I've heard this said a number of times now, is becoming similar to the photo out of Vietnam of the young girl who had been burned with napalm. It is becoming a rallying type of, or an iconic, And that may push more nations, or at least their parliamentarians, to do things that their executives are against. So I think maybe you possibly see a movement within a parliament like Spain's or of Ireland to do something independent of the EU. And I mean, this is how these things happen, Judge. It all takes time. One nation has to lead, another start to follow. Things will occur. The International Court of Justice will eventually find Israel guilty of genocide. I'm confident of that. Will the International Criminal Court ever issue

arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant? I don't know. I'm not so confident that because they're more suspect susceptible to pressure from the Americans than the ICJ is. So but these things happen in time and they happen step by step. And whatever we can do to support people like that Spanish parliamentarian to continue their efforts. And I think that I think the way you look at this is you look at this in the sense of the collapse of the South African regime in the 1980s, and how that began decades before the pressure on South Africa lasts for decades. And it's a slow, gradual rolling process. And even when most of the world was sanctioning and blockading South Africa, the Americans stood with South Africa for years. For years, we stood with South Africa.

And I think that will be the example that we can look to. We don't want to misuse history, right? But certainly, I think that's the example we look to as to potentially how something eventually changes in Israel. I want to go back to what I said before about Israel and the Palestinians. And my comments are really geared next one, two, three years. But long term, certainly I agree with everyone else that this is untenable for Israel. But I think they've got 10 or 15 years of American support behind them, at least. Matt Ho, thank you very much, my dear friend.

Great analysis on both Ukraine and Israel. We'll look forward to seeing you again next week. All the best. Thanks, Judge. Of course. Coming up later today at one o'clock this afternoon, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson at three o'clock this afternoon, Professor John Mearsheimer at four o'clock this afternoon. Professor John Mearsheimer at four o'clock this afternoon.

Aaron Maté and at 5.30 this evening from midnight in Moscow, Pepe Escobar. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thanks for watching!