Judging Freedom - Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Can Netanyahu Invade Gaza?

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Can Netanyahu Invade Gaza?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, August 11, 2025. Professor Jeffrey Sachs joins us now. Professor Sachs always a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you for accommodating my schedule. Before we get to Prime Minister, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his announced plans to invade, occupy, and control the Gaza Strip. I need to ask you about the meetings between President Putin and President Trump in Alaska for this Friday.

Who has the most to lose and who has the most to gain? Well, the big gain would be if they actually agreed on something to end the war in Ukraine, which is perfectly possible. But it would take some measure of coherence from Donald Trump that he's never shown. Trump would need to say Ukraine will be neutral, NATO will not enlarge Ukraine, and we will agree with Russia on a basic territorial and security arrangement so that Ukraine survives as an independent sovereign state. albeit a neutral state, and the war ends. This is possible. This is what we would like to see.

The neocons all over the place in Washington, from Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal and the Senate to Trump's own team, so-called General Kellogg and others, say no, you can't say that. You can't say that Ukraine will be neutral. you must persevere in the longstanding deep state or military industrial complex aim to surround Russia. So at best, a ceasefire. If that is Trump's position, then there won't be a ceasefire.

Russia will continue to fight. Ukraine will continue to lose. And so it's possible that at this meeting, nothing really happens about Ukraine. they talk about the Arctic or they talk about some mining projects together or they talk about other things they declare a success which is what Trump loves to do and the war goes on but if the war is to end it would have to end with the United States finally admitting the truth it's the truth that to this day, the U.S. government refuses to admit and that the mass media in the United States refused to recognize, which is that when the U.S. had the upper hand over Russia

starting in the 1990s, its intention was to break Russia, to surround it, to break Russia in pieces. And the Ukraine project was part of that. It went bad. It was an attempt to take over Ukraine by the U.S. that Russia said no, just like we would say no if Russia or China were meddling in the Western Hemisphere. Well, Russia said no in their own neighborhood, no, U.S., you're not going to have your military bases and your missile systems and your CIA and everything swarming all over Ukraine. And if Trump would acknowledge this, the war would come to an end.

It's as simple as that. But he's pretty gutless. It means standing up to the U.S. military industrial complex. He doesn't do that. So I'm not very optimistic that much is going to happen, but I would be happy to be proved wrong. As we speak, the CIA is fomenting violence in the state of Georgia. not the U.S. state of Georgia, but the country of Georgia against Russia. The CIA and other American intelligence assets are guiding Russian, Ukrainian use of American artillery and missiles to kill Russian soldiers.

And General Kellogg is on his way to Kiev. God only knows to say what to President Zelensky. It's almost, oh, and President Trump declared last week, I think you and I may have mentioned this, that Russia poses a material threat to the national security of the United States, whereas in reality it's the other way around, exhibit one, General Donahue, and his threat to invade Kaliningrad. Surely President Putin knows all this, but he's still willing to sit down and talk with Donald Trump. I wonder President Trump even knows the nature and extent of the American intelligence assets trying to wear away at Russia and trying to continue. This is right up Lindsey Graham's alley to drive President Putin from office.

And I could add one more, which is that last week, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan came to the White House. Trump had this great celebration of a new so-called Trump highway or Trump corridor to cut through Armenia from Azerbaijan to Turkey. This is another CIA meddling that has been in the works for a long time. The idea is to cut between Russia in the north and Iran in the south. The reason to mention it is that it's going to be another cause of war soon enough. The Iranians have already said they're never going to let that happen. It's a direct security interference on their borders.

The point is Trump is not in control, maybe not in control of anything much other than maybe his true social account. He thinks he's in control of the whole world. He's not in control of much. maybe he's in control of the D.C. police force right now, which he took over this morning. But when it comes to the rest of the world, we have a military industrial complex, which is a war machine. And Trump has not demonstrated any capacity to bring it under control. What cards does Trump have to play in Alaska with President. Putin. It's not really cards. It's why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and

sending so far perhaps a million or even more Ukrainians to their deaths for a game. This is a game. Brzynski spelled out the game in 1997. Everyone should go read. What are the rules of this game? In foreign affairs magazines, Big New Brugnski. wrote in an article called a geostrategie for Eurasia, that it's the U.S. aim to weaken Russia and that Russia should perhaps fall into three pieces into a European Russia, a Siberian Russia, and a far east Russia that would be in a loose confederation with each other. The same year, Brzynski wrote a book called the Grand Chessboard, where he said, And Russia without Ukraine is a third-rate power, so we should expand NATO to Ukraine.

And he analyzes in the book wrongly, but he analyzes in the book, what would Russia do if the U.S. expands NATO eastward? And his conclusion is Russia can't do anything. It's going to have to accept all of this. So this has been a game all along, a very dangerous, very costly, very stupid, game that creates crisis that makes America less secure, that brings us closer to nuclear war. And why? For no reason.

You think America will be less secure if Ukraine is neutral rather than a NATO country, for God's sake? By the way, would Ukraine be more safe if it continues to fight to be part of NATO, which is impossible, rather than declaring that it will be a neutral country and therefore not a threat to Russia, this is what this is about. So I don't even think it's cards or concessions. I think it's a matter of common sense. The U.S. and Russia should not be at war with each other. And for that to happen, the U.S. should stop putting its nose into Russia's wherever,

in Russia's immediate borders, whether it's the South Caucuses or Georgia, specifically on the Black Sea or Ukraine, it should stop provoking. And if Russia were all around Mexico and Cuba and so forth, as it once tried in 1962 and nearly blew up the world and trying, we wouldn't like it one bit. So I don't even see it as cards. I just would like to see the president say the card game's over. We're putting the cards aside. We're going to talk like grownups, but that's asking a lot of Trump. Well, the president went from self-proclaimed America First MAGA, which resonated well during the campaign to now being a captive of the neocons. Are they going to make this Azerbaijan and Armenia, NATO countries?

They'll try. You know, once you have a highway there, once you have a corridor named after President Trump, well, of course, this becomes a security issue. And there's talk about private security firms, private, that the United States is going to hire to make this secure. And this is why the Iranians are already saying, no way, this ain't going to happen. But this is another provocation, but in a neighborhood that is explosive and where the CIA has been playing games for decades. Because you go back to the 1940s and 1950s, the CIA playbook was the South Caucasus region. It was if we could inflame the Muslim populations against the Soviet Union, this could destabilize the Soviet Union.

And so this is perhaps the most ancient playbook against the Soviet Union, but it's being applied in 2025 to Russia. Tell me about this Trump highway. I mean, on whose land would it be built? Does it connect these two countries? Yeah. So the idea is a corridor through Armenia and that Armenia to Trump's face said, yeah, we seed you this land. And then immediately stories came. there's no specifics, but the stories came 99-year exclusive lease to the United States and so forth.

Oh, the United States would own this land? That's what it's supposed to be. Can you imagine? It would be like the Russian zoning Key West. Just what we need is a corridor in the South Caucasus, just what we've always needed. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. that we do things we would never, ever allow to happen to us. I went and I dusted off James Monroe's message to Congress of 1823, which contains the paragraphs known as the Monroe Doctrine.

It's really interesting. In 1823, John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State, so he wrote this section for the president. President Monroe. It said in the wake of the independence movements of the Latin American countries from the empires in Europe, that the United States would look askance of Europe intervening in the affairs of the Americas. But it actually says, to John Quincy Adams' credit, it says, And we will do the same in Europe. We will refrain from interfering in Europe's affairs.

So the Monroe Doctrine has often been quoted as saying to the Europeans, don't meddle. To the Russians, don't meddle in the Western Hemisphere. But it says absolutely clearly, the United States recognizes this is reciprocal. We will not meddle. in the internal affairs of the European powers. But where are we all over the place meddling with the NATO bases, military bases, missile systems, Trump corridors, you name it. CIA operations, as the New York Times described all over Ukraine on Russia's borders. And then we wonder, why is there a war? Why are their tensions? Why is there in security? Well, duh.

stop meddling and then we could be secure. Professor Sacks, you're so thorough, so thoughtful to have gone back and read this and reminded of all of us, it's bilateral. Yeah. It's reciprocal. I never heard of the part that says, and we will refrain from entering into the affairs of other countries. Absolutely.

It's right there. So interesting. I didn't know, actually, for sure. I had to go back and reread it, but it's online. Everyone can find it. It's Monroe's message to Congress in 1823. And boy, you know, I always thought the Monroe doctrine was pretty cheeky. We're telling the European powers don't come to our neighborhood. But we acknowledge that it is a general proposition. You don't bother us in our neighborhood. We won't bother you in your neighborhood. Thank you. It's a good principle. Let's transition over to the latest in the Middle East. Why is Netanyahu planning an invasion of Gaza? Everybody has to understand that the whole purpose of Netanyahu's political career, the whole purpose of his political movement, the whole purpose of his government, the whole purpose of his government,

is complete control over all of the Palestinian lands as well as what is today Israel. This is not a matter of security. This is not a matter of negotiation. This is a fundamental matter of the ideology of this right-wing movement in Israel. The parties called Likud in 1977, in its founding platform, It says Israel will be sovereign from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It doesn't mince words about it. That's the platform.

And all that Netanyahu has done his whole career is to try to implement that. Now, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea means East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Israel occupies all of them. The purpose of the Netanyahu government is permanent control over all of them. Just one little pesky problem. There are eight million Palestinians in those territories, plus in Israel, about the same number as Israeli Jews. It's two different ethnic groups and the way to solve this which more than 180 countries of the world subscribe to is two states side by side the way that the radicals extremists want to solve this in Israel is by killing on a mass basis Palestinians.

expelling on a mass basis Palestinians or ruling over them without any political or social or civil rights in what we call an apartheid regime. So this is not news. If you watch day by day, Netanyahu says Hamas, Hamas, Hamas, Hamas, Hamas. But he never says, so what after Hamas? Well, what after Hamas is, is Israeli control over everything. It's a sickness, it's a madness, it leads to genocide, because the whole idea of these people is that the Palestinians count for nothing. They are an obstacle.

They are a nuisance. And so in the eyes of these people, they're not even human. they're out to be shot and killed and starved. And that's the view. And it's easy. Yeah, just say Hamas, Hamas, Hamas. But they don't say, okay, after Hamas, there'll be a Palestinian state.

No. They say after Hamas, there will be us. Because that's been the whole purpose for 50 years and arguably for longer. It's not subtle. And the way to understand. understand this every day is to ask what are the Israelis actually proposing they're just proposing release the hostages and Hamas Hamas Hamas amaz to be destroyed but then what they will never say it to you and to me except when the moment comes when they have to say it

because you know they they're starving two million people so now they're saying well take over. Well, not a surprise. This has been the plan all along. This is not news. It's just stated. And when it comes to the West Bank, well, this is clear. The Knesset has said it's going to be annexed. When you play a clip that I know it's going to get under your skin, but I need you to destroy it. Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday on his so filled with lies, but But whatever, I'll let you address it. Sure. On his plans for Gaza, Chris cut number two.

Many Gazans are fighting back. They're begging us, they're begging the world. Free us, free us, and free Gaza from Hamas. No nation can accept a genocidal terrorist organization, an organization committed to its annihilation, a stone's thrill from its citizens. Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to free Gaza, free it from Hamas terrorists. The war can end tomorrow if Gaza, or rather if Hamas, lays down its arms and releases all

the remaining hostages. Gaza will be demilitarized. Israel will have overriding security responsibility. A security zone will be established on Gaza's border with Israel to prevent future terrorist incursions. A civilian administration will be established in Gaza that will seek to live in peace with Israel. That's our plan for the day after Hamas. And let me summarize it. Five principles for concluding the war. One, Hamas disarmed. Second, all hostages freed. Third,

Gaza demilitarized. Fourth, Israel has overriding security control. And five, non-Israeli, peaceful civilian administration. By that I mean a civilian administration that doesn't educate its children for terror, doesn't pay terrorists, and doesn't Launch terrorist attacks against Israel. That's what we want to see in Gaza. So it's neither Hamas nor the PA. That's our plan. This is the same government which yesterday, yesterday murdered five Al Jazeera journalists.

Well, let me just say that if you took that list and you eliminated number four, it would be close. When it says Israel overriding security, it means that this remains a part of Israel. That's all. If you take that out and you have an independent state next door and you do the other things, that's actually on the table right now. You get the Arab countries, the organization of Islamic cooperation, the UN to demilitarize the Gaza, but not to be under Israel's security control, but to be a secure and sovereign state. state. If we're under Israel security control, it would be an open-air concentration camp yet again. It was, and it is. And all that means is it's ours. It's ours from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. It's not hidden. It's just saying we do not accept anything other than our

control. That's the whole point. So, yeah, he said it. And Most of what he's saying is already the Arab offer. What isn't the Arab offer is to continue to be an open-air prison camp that can be starved to death if the Israelis decide to starve it to death, which they're doing right now. The Israelis, this man is genocidal and murderous. I know genocide has lost its, even it's lost its meaning. our time. He's just a he's a mass murderer and he has to be told no, but Trump is not going to tell him no. 180 plus countries are telling him no. Australia said today that it's going to recognize the state of Palestine. It's going to be everyone, but the United States and Israel

complicit in genocide together with Nauru, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia. That's what we're aiming for. In other words, we're aiming for complete U.S. isolation in the world because we choose to stand with the Genesidaire. So this is there, this is the Netanyahu government's latest stunt, which Senator Bernie Sanders called a disgusting lie, this argument that the Palestinian people want to be liberated from Hamas. They want to be liberated from the IDF.

They want to be liberated from Netanyahu. They want food. By the way, they really would like a meal today. They're starving to death. Their children are starving to death. Netanyahu is starving these children to death. That's all. According to Aaron Mata, the so-called humanitarian group run by the CIA and Mossad has reduced 400 food locations to four.

And Netanyahu denies this. This is mass murder. And I sat through a UN Security Council meeting last week, called by Israel, no less, where the foreign minister made a rant about the world's anti-Semitism and how everything's upside down and how the world hates the Jews and so forth. This has nothing to do with the Jews. This has to do with the Jews. despicable, disgusting, murderous behavior of a government, of the government of Israel.

It's the opposite of Jewish values, by the way. It's so completely grotesque. But this is about a government. And the whole world is against it other than the United States, because the CIA and Mossad work hand in hand and have done so for decades. So this is a genocide with U.S. complicity. So, Professor Sacks, I look forward to seeing you on Saturday. Wonderful. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, there we go.

There we are. This is a live judging freedom at the Run Paul Institute Peace Conference in Washington, D.C. It'll be a panel discussion that I will moderate involving Professor Sacks, Colonel McGovern, Max McGregor, and Anya Parenthold, and the subject matter. matter is the depravity of American foreign policy. A word I got from you, Professor. We have a lot to talk about. We'll see you on Saturday. Thank you for your time, Professor. All the best, my dear friend. I'll see you Saturday. Bye-bye. Bye. Tomorrow, we have a nice day for you. At 8 in the morning, Ambassador Chaz Freeman, at 11 in the morning, Colonel Bill Astori,

a new guest whom I think you will love, who makes the argument that American foreign policy is flailing and failing. Aaron Mattae at two, Karen Kerkowski at three. Justice LaPoltena for judging freedom. Thank you. Thank you.