Judging Freedom - Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Netanyahu Arrest Warrant !!! [BREAKING NEWS]

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Netanyahu Arrest Warrant !!! [BREAKING NEWS]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. November 21st, 2024, in light of the indictment and arrest warrant issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Professor Sachs has been gracious enough to stop his work and come to our cameras so that we can address this for you. Professor Sachs, good day to you, and thank you very much for joining us on such short notice. So Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted for war crimes and an arrest warrant has been issued for him. What is this? A much deserved indictment. Of course, he is the agent of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as is stated in the indictment. It's a very powerful indictment. It talks about Netanyahu and Yoav Galant, the former Minister of Defense,

conspiring to drive to starvation the people of Gaza, deliberately inflicting harm, indeed war crimes, on the civilian population, engaged in murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, depriving the people of Gaza of even basic medicines, anesthetics, because it talks about children in surgery without anesthetics because Israel went out of its way to deny even the most basic and urgent aid to the people of Gaza. This is a very powerful and a very credible indictment and warrant for the arrest of these two leaders. You know, I have felt for a long time that Netanyahu is one of the most violent and dangerous people in the world and has not only caused massive destruction to the Palestinians, but massive destruction across a swath of the Middle East.

And I have been saying and warning for years, the United States is complicit in this. Netanyahu received by one count 58 standing ovations in the U.S. Congress just before the election, even when the members of Congress knew that this arrest warrant was pending. Yet they stood and applauded him because the Israel lobby funds their campaigns. And without question in my mind, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken are complicit in the war crimes mentioned in this indictment because the United States has known about them, has facilitated them, has provided the financing, has armed Israel, and has done so up to and including a veto yesterday in the UN Security Council, where all of the nations of the UN Security Council, other than the United States, that is the 14 members, including Britain and France, and of course, Russia, China, and the 10 non-permanent members

called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of hostages. And the United States voted against it because the U.S. has been in the hands of the Israel lobby without any self-control of American sovereignty for a very long time. Aydin has been shockingly absent, we can say, in providing any restraint on Israel and any space between what Israel is doing and the United States' complicity in it. So this indictment is also an indictment of U.S. policy implicitly, not, of course, explicitly. What are the practical aspects of the indictment? I mean, where on the planet is it valid or stated differently, where is Prime Minister Netanyahu now safe to go besides the United States without fearing arrest?

Well, that remains to be seen, but several European countries have already announced that they will honor and respect the ICC arrest warrant, which means that Netanyahu and Gallant certainly will not be able to go to many places in Europe. That may be a decision that is European-wide soon, say the European Union could take that decision. And I'm sure that dozens and dozens of other countries will honor this as well. I think most important is not the travel and the arrest warrant, but what it signifies. And it's very important for President Trump and the incoming administration. The United States

should reassert American sovereignty. By that, I mean the Israel lobby and Netanyahu should no longer have control over the U.S. military, the U.S. State Department, Israel has run the show of US policy for decades. It's stark, it's remarkable what, say, a few hundred billion dollars of campaign contributions and well-placed senior people in the administration who are arch Zionists, let's say, absolutely committed to Netanyahu's agenda, and I would count our Secretary of State among them, but many, many others over the years. What I think President Trump can take from this, and I hope that he does, is that America needs its own sovereignty. We have been engaged in Netanyahu's wars and his war crimes, not just here in Gaza in this latest year, but going back, for example, to the Iraq

War, where Netanyahu was the lead cheerleader for the Iraq War. Netanyahu's idea, it's very important for people to understand. Already since the mid-1990s and explained clearly and vividly, I think it's madness, but clearly and vividly is simple. Israel will keep all the occupied territories. It will control the life of all of the Palestinians. Everything that Israel captured in 1967 against international law, let me add. Now, this leads to militant opposition from groups like Hamas, the Houthis of Yemen, and Hezbollah, and no doubt militant opposition. But rather than Israel abiding by international law and agreeing to a two-state solution as the whole world wants and has endorsed time and again, including the Arab countries, including Iran, including the Islamic countries, what Netanyahu's core idea is, well, if we have these militant

groups in opposition to our extremist policy and our control, illegal control over the occupied lands, well, we just have to overthrow the governments in the Middle East that support these militant opposition groups. So Netanyahu's idea for the United States is fine. We're going to keep everything. Yes, there will be opposition, but you, the United States, will spend trillions of dollars and go to war all over the Middle East and Africa, by the way, for our sake, so that we can hold on to the occupied lands, make what we call greater Israel, or what Netanyahu calls greater Israel, that is, have this illegal regime, and you, the United States, will fight our wars for us. And that's how we got into the Iraq war in 2003. The weapons of mass destruction was the excuse that was given. And the U.S. has been at this

at Netanyahu's behest for more than 20 years. And now he's under an arrest warrant, under indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And I'm hoping, I'm just hoping that President Trump will recognize this is not our partner. This is not strengthening America. This is not defense of Israel. This is U.S. wars for extremism in Israel, not for peace, but for extremism. And if we get that, there will be peace, actually. And the reason is there will be a state of Palestine. And it's very interesting to note, and if I may just finish one more thought, in recent weeks, in group after group after group all over the world, in the General Assembly, in the BRICS summit in Kazan, in the G20 that just took place in Brazil,

in the Arab League, in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, everyone's saying two-state solution. And two countries are blocking that. Israel, okay, that's their extremism, and the United States. And I hope that Donald Trump will figure this out. I really hope President Trump will figure this out because that would make America a lot stronger, a lot safer, and it would end the wars in the Middle East. In a minute, I'm going to ask you if President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and National Security Advisor Sullivan could and should be indicted. The indictment is so broad and sweeping, but before that, I first want to raise your blood pressure just a touch, notwithstanding my affection for you, and run a clip of Prime Minister Netanyahu

utterly dismissing the possibility of this indictment a couple of months ago. You have to hear this to believe this. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials as war criminals. This would be an outrage of historic proportions. International bodies like the ICC arose in the wake of the Holocaust committed against the Jewish people. They were set up to prevent such horrors, to prevent future genocides. Yet now, the international court is trying to put Israel in the dock.

It's trying to put us in the dock as we defend ourselves against genocidal terrorists and regimes, Iran of course, that openly works to destroy the one and only Jewish state. Branding Israel's leaders and soldiers as war criminals will pour jet fuel on the fires of anti-Semitism, those fires that are already raging on the campuses of America and across capitals around the world. I guess you're not surprised that he raised the specter of anti-Semitism in his defense. Now, in fairness to him, this was April. This is before the indictment was issued, and obviously he didn't have a chance to read it. There's really no... Well, today they made the same statement. They said this was a modern. It won't play.

I think Israel, these leaders are in a bubble. They don't understand world opinion. They're talking to themselves or to their inside followers. They don't understand what's happened in the world. The whole world has watched this genocidal campaign taking place now every day, watching people get killed as they stand in bread lines, watching hospitals destroyed, clinics destroyed, apartment buildings destroyed, families killed in cold blood, universities destroyed. Everyone has seen this. They've watched how people in starvation or near starvation

conditions rush to a place where they think they can get food, and then Israel has bombed them, actually. They've watched reporters being killed in cold blood. This is not hidden from view. Even IDF members have posted these videos and shown celebrations of soldiers, celebrations of the destruction of lives and property and infrastructure in Gaza. So this isn't going to play. Netanyahu's tub-thumping claim of anti-Semitism, it doesn't play. What are the chances that the president of the United States, who single-handedly caused everything that Netanyahu has been indicted for to happen, who effectively used American tax dollars and money borrowed in the taxpayers' names to pay for it, and his underlings who executed his will, will also be indicted? I doubt that it will happen in a literal sense, but I think the indictment in a figurative sense will be felt throughout the world, because there's no doubt anywhere in the world that the U.S. is complicit in this. We see it in the starkest ways when

the votes of the U.N. Security Council are 14 to 1, when the votes in the U.N. General Assembly calling for Palestinian rights are 170 in favor, and the U.S., Israel, and maybe Micronesia and Nauru against. In other words, we see a unanimity of world opinion with the United States under the Biden administration standing steadfast with Israel at every moment. So it's not hidden from view that the U.S. is complicit in every way, morally, legally, in votes at the Security Council, in blocking the two-state solution, in vetoing Palestine's membership in the United Nations, in providing the armaments, in providing the financing. And everybody knows this. It's no secret. I think it is an utter blight on an

utterly failed administration. This administration has been a disaster for the American people. And with the escalation in Ukraine as well, we're now counting the days until President Trump comes into office and this administration is over. What's startling to me, Jeff, is when the, back when Prime Minister Netanyahu made the statement that we just ran, I think it was April, which was the first time that we were aware that the prosecutor was going to ask for an indictment, not of the state of Israel, but of the person of Benjamin Netanyahu. And to make it clear, the defense minister whom he just fired, Yoav Galant, was also indicted, as was a leader of Hamas, who the Israelis say they killed. So this is effectively an indictment against two people. But at the time

this was first broached, members of the United States Congress ranted and raved, including the future Secretary of State of the United States, Senator Marco Rubio, and including the future majority leader in the United States Senate, Senator John Thune. The other cast of characters, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, of course, also weighed in. It is surprising to me that with all of its financial and other powers, the United States could not prevent this from happening. That tells me how overwhelming is the recognition of what you have just articulated in the international community. The United States is wrong, Israel is wrong, and we're the international criminal court. We're going to do our best to write it. This is correct. And I have found it remarkable that in recent days, for example, in the G20 declaration that the United States just signed, it calls squarely

for the two-state solution. And as I mentioned, there was an overwhelming vote in the UN General Assembly in which the U.S. voted no in that case. But there have been resolutions all over the world in many, many venues saying the right thing. There needs to be a state of Palestine. And it's clear the United States is the sole veto of that right now. It's the sole veto of peace because Israel doesn't have a veto over whether there's a state of Palestine. The United States has a veto over whether there's a state of Palestine. So this indictment will not be a surprise anywhere in the world. And it is not

in this sense shockingly out of the blue, and it will be associated absolutely with the United States as well. And then the question really for our political system, and maybe it's just not understood that our complicity is not only in the recent events, but that Netanyahu has created a disaster for the United States for more than 20 years because he was the cheerleader for all these wars for, as I've said, the Iraq war, but I can go on for the attempted overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, which was an Obama-led overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, another Netanyahu idea that led to disaster not only in Libya until today, but also across Africa as weapons everywhere spread to the Sahel with the massive consequences of instability,

as well as the U.S. funding and arming Ethiopia to invade Somalia in 2006, another Netanyahu call. Also, on behalf of Netanyahu, supporting Israel to invade Lebanon already back in 2006, and again, just in recent weeks. American politicians should understand this has been not a defense of Israel. This has been a bloodbath across the Middle East in which the United States has been used very, very badly, repeatedly. We've been used and abused trillions of dollars. Our weapon systems, our soldiers at time, but also funding others, we've been used by Netanyahu and these extremists to block peace. And the result, Netanyahu kept telling us, oh, it's wonderful what will happen. He told us in October 2002, go to war with Saddam, you'll see how democracy will break out everywhere. One after another, the dictators will fall.

He sold the United States a bill of goods. So is that really what Marco Rubio wants to buy into? Is that really what John Thune wants to buy into? Especially, is that what President Trump wants to buy into when he wants to make a historic administration to get even closer to an indicted Netanyahu, who indicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes of a shocking character. I hope American politicians will wake up. It's enough of this. We did all of that.

We followed the Israel lobby. We followed the Israel lobby for more than 20 years. It's time for peace. It's time for peace. Professor Jeffrey Sachs, thank you very much. I know this is all the last minute and it's breaking news. And I know you're about 10,000 miles from me now, but we deeply appreciate the time you've given us and your compelling, compelling analysis. Thank you very much for joining us. Great to be with you. Thanks a lot. Of course. Coming up later today at four o'clock this afternoon on this very topic, Colonel Douglas McGregor. Keep it, keep your eye on the Judge Knapp and Judging Freedom website. we'll let you know as we are able to schedule

various of your favorite guests in order to address this breaking news. The breaking news is that the International Criminal Court has indicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former recently fired Defense Minister Yoav Galant for war crimes, crimes against humanity. And European Union countries have begun to articulate in public that they will do their best to execute those arrest warrants, which means to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant. More as we get it. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Thank you.