Judging Freedom - Scott Ritter: Can the Gaza Genocide Be Stopped?

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

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Whatever your stage, businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash listen. Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, April 28th, 2025. Scott Ritter will be here with us in just a moment on Can the Genocide in Gaza be Stopped? But first this. While the markets are giving us whiplash, have you seen the price of gold? It's soaring. In the past 12 months, gold has risen to more than $3,000 an ounce.

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Learn how you can store gold in your IRA tax and penalty free or have it sent directly to your doorstep. There's zero pressure to buy and you have a 100% risk-free purchase guarantee. It's time to see if gold is right for you. Call 800-511-4620. 800-511-4620 or go to learjudgeknap.com and tell them your friend the judge sent you. Scott Ritter, welcome here, my dear friend. Before we get to genocide in Gaza and what can be done to stop it, were you surprised at all that there were no Israeli officials at the funeral of Pope Francis? I wasn't surprised. I mean, Israel, as it's currently configured, is governed by a criminal

enterprise, a genocidal in nature, who cannot sustain themselves based upon the cannot sustain themselves based upon the quality of the argument used to justify their continued existence. And as a result, when people are critical of them, when people call them out for their crimes, they tend to attack and isolate, condemn, belittle. And so here we have a man who is at the head of the Catholic Church, a very influential man, a man of peace, and who, you know, even if you disagree with the tactics he's used or wish he said things better, the potential for the Catholic Church to weigh in on an issue and have a meaningful impact. You know, when I say meaningful, one that contributes to peace is huge.

And here we are, we have the Israelis ignoring them, isolating them, belittling them, condemning them. It just, it reflects poorly on the state of Israel, but hey, it's a genocidal state. Everything reflects poorly on them. How deep are the domestic divisions? It appears that this dispute between Netanyahu and Ronan Barr, the head of Shin Bet, roughly their NSA or their FBI, is getting quite serious. Look, when we speak of Israel, understand that even before October 7th, the Israeli

president said that Israel was on the cusp of a civil war. That's a shooting war. That's not civil disobedience, civil unrest, demonstrations. That's Israeli with a gun shooting at an Israeli with a gun. The nation was fundamentally divided because of Benjamin Netanyahu. This is not a wildly popular guy. He has sustained his hold on power only because he creates an environment of conflict where he should have taken the path towards peace.

For instance, all the hostages could have been home today had Benjamin Netanyahu truly wanted peace. But peace means that now Benjamin Netanyahu has to be held accountable to the Israeli courts. He is a corrupt man. He's been charged with corruption, but now there's new charges. But peace means that now Benjamin Netanyahu has to be held accountable to the Israeli courts. He is a corrupt man. He's been charged with corruption. But now there's new charges.

He has violated several laws pertaining to the national security of Israel. And Shin Bet, as you said, is the FBI. They're responsible for enforcing those laws. And Netanyahu is in their sights because he is a criminal. It's not just the crimes. He's committed against humanity He has violated israeli law left and right and so, you know he now Again has to double down on conflict to sustain his hold on power. Meanwhile, he continues to

Exacerbate the divides that existed before october 7th. Israel is a broken nation There is a real chance that israel will devolve into some sort of civil conflict if not an outright civil war. Yair Lapid, who is the leader of the opposition in the Knesset, says that he foresees, you cited this but you were talking about Herzog, he foresees regrettably Jews killing Jews in the near future. He must be talking about the same thing that the president of Israel was talking about whom you quoted a few minutes ago. I believe he is and you know again I take this back you know from 1994-1998 I spent four years traveling back and forth to Israel

doing liaison with their intelligence services. And one of the guys that I worked with was a colonel who was responsible for the strategic assessments of Israel. And I watched as Iraq dropped from number one to about number six or number eight on the list. And was amazed at what replaced it, because I thought it would have been Iran or Hamas, Hezbollah, something like that.

The number one threat in 1998 to the state of Israel, projecting forward, were ultra-orthodox Jews, right-wing extremists who didn't share the vision of Israelis who had been born in Israel who understood the necessity the need of having you know peaceful relations with the Palestinians These were fanatics who had a vision of a greater Israel Had no sympathy or empathy for the Palestinian people and were willing to use violence to achieve their means Yitzhak Rabin was killed by one of these right-wing extremists the assassin who killed the prime minister of israel Wasn't Hamas wasn't Hezbollah. He was a jew a right-wing jew who had received instructions from a

Batalmudic rabbi who declared Yitzhak Rabin to be some sort of defiler of isla of of judaism therefore Yitzhak Rabin to be some sort of defiler of is of Judaism therefore able to be murdered as if God ordained it. Netanyahu heard the rabbi say this at a rally and did nothing to interfere. No, the greatest threat to Israel isn't Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran. The greatest threat to Israel is Israel. What became of the guy that murdered Rabin? He's still in jail. of the guy that murdered Rabin. You still in jail? Do the Israelis recognize that Netanyahu is a murderer? The Israelis who are level-headed, the Israelis who are looking for peaceful outcomes, the Israelis who are tired of this war, yes, of course they recognize this, but Netanyahu is, you know,

the vehicle that empowered this right-wing fanatic element, this greater Israel element, to the ultra-Zionists, to the greater Israeli host, to the people who have embraced the Talmud over the Torah, to the people who speak of Amalek as if it's a good thing to slaughter human animals. Netanyahu is their savior. He is the man who has empowered them in a way that no other Israeli leader has done in the history of Israel. And so again, Israel is fundamentally divided over this fundamentally corrupt man. Let's come over to the United States for just a minute. The drumbeat to drive Pete Hegseth from his position as Secretary of Defense, who or what is behind it? First of all, he wasn't a popular choice amongst the establishment.

When I say establishment, I don't just mean the deep state. wasn't a popular choice amongst the establishment. And when I say establishment, I don't just mean the deep state. I mean, what you would expect, normal people, people who have put in the time, got their stars, three stars, four stars, people who have headed industry, people who have made decisions at the national level, people who care deeply about this country viewed Hegseth as a threat because he was an upstart with literally no relevant experience. He has no qualifications to be Secretary of Defense, none

whatsoever, except that Donald Trump likes him. But that shouldn't be the qualification. As I've said before, Hegseth is, at best, a battalion operations officer, maybe a battalion commander, although I I question sometimes his actual leadership skill set There are many people who are anti-hegseth having said that once he becomes the secretary of defense You he the buck stops there he is the man and you have to support him I mean that you know the time to oppose pique excess was before confirmation

That's when you go to Congress and you say he's not qualified, etc But once the Senate confirms him he becomes the Secretary of Defense raises and takes the oath. He's the man. He's the boss He's he's he's the guy and he has to be supported Unfortunately, we have people who believe that their personal prejudices, their personal feelings are more important than the national security of the United States of America. For better or worse, Pete Kecseth is the lawfully ordained secretary of defense

of the United States of America. And unless the president of the United States loses confidence in him or he does something that is so egregious, it compels him to resign, until that happens or if that never happens, he's the guy, he's the secretary of defense and he must be treated as such. There are people out there who are trying to undermine him who believe that they have the right to dictate outcomes that the American people don't support. The American people voted for this president,

and this president picked Pete Kagg-Zeth, and the Senate, again, elected by the American people, confirmed him. Pete Kagg-Zeth is the choice of the American people. And we have people out there that don't respect democracy enough, I guess, to allow that to happen. Some of our colleagues on the show believe the drumbeat is orchestrated by neocons because apparently he has encouraged President Trump to exercise a restraint with respect to bombing Iran. And they're looking to induce the president to replace someone more like-minded to them, to the neocons.

The neocons have always been a problem. Remember, these are the people that gave us John Bolton, like Pompeo and Nikki Haley, all the people that caused Trump so much problems in his first administration. The American people didn't elect the neocons. The neocons are the near-do-well remnants of a former time. The bottom line is this president doesn't want to go to war against Iran. This president is trying to maneuver towards peace. And thank goodness he has a secretary of defense who respects the president's wishes. Pete Kedziczeth will obey his orders.

I'm sure he's been told prepare for potential military operations against Iran. And the US military is prepared to do that. But when it comes time to advise the president of the United States, I think Hedgeseth wisely says this is a war we're not positioned to win decisively, if at all. This is a war that will undermine everything you've directed us to try to achieve in terms of stability, peace, et cetera. This is a war the nation is not prepared to fight. Mr. President, I would advise against going to this war. This is what a good secretary of defense would do, and it's what the president wants.

The president doesn't need people trying to undermine him, trying to reverse his strategic thinking. This president does not want a war with Iran. Respect that. Unless an intelligence shows up that says, Iran has done something worthy of war, you don't go to war because the neocons want it. You don't go to war because Netanyahu wants it. You go to war because the neocons want it. You don't go to war because Netanyahu

wants it. You go to war because the security of the United States is at risk, and right now it's not at risk. Why are we paying to slaughter Gazans? Because Netanyahu wants it and because the American political establishment, the American government government is controlled by the donor class. With all due respect, Judge, it's not Netanyahu wants it. This has been happening for decades. This isn't something that was invented by Netanyahu. It wasn't invented by Trump. It wasn't invented by Biden.

It wasn't invented by Obama. It wasn't invented by Bush. It wasn't invented by Clinton. It wasn't invented by the first Bush, by Reagan, by Ford, by Nixon. This is a problem that goes way back. This is collective failure that accumulates over the years. This isn't about people waking up today saying,

we're gonna transform Gaza into a conflict zone. We know that the Israelis, Netanyahu, are the worst possible ilk of Zionism. We know that they don't want there to be a Palestinian state. We also know that the Trump administration, in a misguided effort to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, brought in something called the Abraham's Accords in their first term, which even though proclaimed support for a Palestinian state, really sought to undermine the very possibility of a Palestinian state. We know that neither one of these parties, Trump or Netanyahu, have a plan for peace,

a viable plan for peace, and that their policies lead to death and destruction. But they didn't invent that, Judge. That's been around for decades. What conceivable advantage is there to the United States paying for this slaughter of Gazans? Oh, I don't know. Let's see the people. Congress authorizes the expenditure of money. Last time I checked, Congress was voted into office by the American people. And last time I checked the pros really lobby hadi lobby had a iron kung-fu grip on On the American electoral process they spent a hundred million dollars to win the Congress's last election Not a single one of those investigated as being an agent of a foreign nation, even though they all are But what incentive to stay in office to stay in power? None of these people voting for this truly believe in Israel Their fact is I've spoken to them

They're ignorant is the day is long about Israel many of them who support only support because of some perverted form of Christianity That says that we have to support the state of Israel so that end of days comes Armageddon and we can all die That's not really the people I want to be leading my country if you believe that it is our fate to To accelerate God's will to die in a nuclear holocaust, maybe you shouldn't be in office. But these are the people that are in office and they use the Israeli lobby to help keep themselves in office. This is what's going on. This isn't about the national security of the United States. This isn't about doing the right thing by Israel. In fact, we're doing the wrong thing by Israel because our support is

actually undermining the legitimacy of Israel in the long term. It could possibly lead to not the elimination of a Palestinian state, but the elimination of an Israeli state. So we're not doing this for Israel. We're not doing it for our national security. We're doing it because a bunch of cowards in Congress have been intimidated by a pro-Israeli lobby. Multiple administrations don't have the courage to call a foreign agent, and they let them buy Congress, control Congress. That's why we're doing it, because we have power-hungry narcissists

who wanna stay in power. This is the other side of Pete Hegseth that refers to himself as a super Zionist. How can the slaughter in Gaza be stopped? Well, I can tell you how it won't be stopped. It won't be stopped by continuing doing what we're doing. For all the people out there who are saying, we need to protest in the streets.

I admire these protesters. I mean, God bless you. You're out there doing the thing. You haven't saved a single Palestinian life. For all the people who think that by calling Israel names and speaking out against Israel, and I've been guilty of this, that we're somehow promoting things, we haven't saved any lives.

We've only furthered this conflict. I did believe at one time during the 15 months of Hamas' resistance that Hamas combined with Hezbollah and Iran could prevail militarily that accelerated the collapse of Israel They almost pulled it off. But in the end the pagers went off Nasrallah was killed Syria fell and the the chance for a decisive military defeat of Israel Evaporated so now I look in the mirror and say, what do I need to do?

Do I need to continue what I've done in the past, knowing that now there is no mechanism in place and there won't be for some time to bring about the military defeat of Israel? Do I criticize the supporters of Israel? And the answer is no. The only way out of here is going to be through negotiations. The only way out of here is gonna be through negotiations. The only way out of here is gonna be through compromise. And that can only happen if we stop throwing rocks

at one another and learn to sit down with one another, even if we may disagree with everything this person said, and we may be revolted by the positions he or her has taken, we have to start talking with them. We have to have dialogue to begin a process that changes the paradigm. Because the current paradigm only leads to dead Palestinians in Gaza. We need to change that paradigm so that we're talking about the cessation of hostilities and the potential of the creation

of a two-state solution. Are we close to a regional war in the Middle East? Oh, we're hair-breadths away from it. But the good news is that despite all of the pressure that's being placed on the different parties to promote the potential of conflict, we have a president of the United States that doesn't want a larger war. Be critical of Donald Trump all you want to, but at least appreciate the fact that this man sincerely does not want a war. He has all the excuses necessary to go to war against Iran.

But he recognizes how devastating that will be for the region, for the world, for America. And he's doing the right thing by saying, no, we're going to pick a different path. We're going to talk. We're going to negotiate. We're going to have that dialogue. And as long as the president's willing to send representatives to sit down with the Iranians, as long as the Iranians are willing to send representatives to sit down with the president's representatives, we have

a real chance of avoiding the conflict. But the second you stop talking, the second, second you stop that dialogue, uh, conflict becomes almost inevitable. Why is he killing civilians in Yemen? Oh, the answer to that one is easy because they're interdicting international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. Civilians. Civilians dying everywhere. Bombing apartment buildings in Yemen. The same president who said,

stop Vladimir, stop killing civilians in Kiev, is bombing civilians in Yemen. Consistency has never been a strong suit of any American president. So to expect Donald Trump suddenly to become consistent. You know, we killed 60,000 French civilians to liberate Normandy. But we expected to kill 180 to 100,000 of them.

But we slaughtered 60,000, Judge. We flattened villages, we flattened cities, we flattened farms. That's what war does. The normal ratio in war is about a one-to-one ratio. For every combatant killed, you kill a civilian. We don't know how many Yemeni people, soldiers, combatants we've killed.

The Yemeni are rightly tightly lipped on that. They will broadcast every time a bomb hits a target. And I will tell you right now, I'm not supporting this conflict in Yemen. I believe this is stupid. I believe that we should be looking for alternatives. But if you're going to bomb, this is what happens when you run out of targets. This is what happens when you start doing something. We did this during the Gulf War, Judge. We were going after Iraqi Scud missiles. And we just ran out of targets.

So we started blowing up Bedouin tents. We started blowing up trucks, buses, automobiles. You name it, we bombed it because we were desperately looking for something. This isn't unique to Yemen. This is what we did in Vietnam. This is what we did in Korea. I wonder if they have this telling the president, do you know that we're killing civilians? Because supposedly this president is appalled at that. I don't think the military is going to come

out and say, oh, we're killing civilians. Even during the Gulf War, we said, well, we believe that that was a mobile Scud missile, even though it was a Bedouin tent full of a Bedouin family. We never came out and said, oh my God, we killed veterans. We just said it was a Bedouin tent full of a Bedouin family. We never came out and said, oh my God, we killed veterans. We just said it was a suspected Scud missile. And then, and that's it. It's just the way the military operates. I'm not justifying it. I'm just saying it is what it is.

But I, I'm opposed to the conflict in Yemen. We shouldn't be bombing. But the fact that we're killing civilians, every time we put aircraft in the air and drop bombs on, on our target, we kill. kill so we killed civilians in when we bombed Belgrade. We killed civilians when we bombed Mosul, Baghdad, every time we drop bombs, we kill civilians. That's just a horrible reality of war. If you don't want to kill civilians, don't go to war. about the Highway to Hell? The Highway to Hell is the name of a book that I've got out right now. And basically, hell is a nuclear conflict,

and we are on the highway to hell. I stole it from ACDC, but basically, it's a book that tracks my thinking on the danger of nuclear war, the danger of the threat of nuclear proliferation, arms races, the need for arms control from 2015 up until today. I've been calling this threat out consistently over time. And so I brought together my thinking over the course of nearly a decade into a single volume, Highway to Hell, so that people can, you know, take that path, get on the highway. And by the time you get to the end of it, to the end of the book, you realize how close we are to having everything we love and dear in this world come to an end. What will trigger a regional war in the Middle East?

Will it be the Israelis bombing Iran, not withstanding Trump saying no and then coming to us for assistance? What do you think will be the spark that ignites this? I would be surprised if Israel did a unilateral attack on Iran because Israel doesn't have the military capacity to neutralize Iran. And so what would happen is Iran would immediately

fire thousands of missiles into Israel and take Israel off the map. Israel won't attack Iran even though Netanyahu is making suggestions otherwise they won't attack Iran without America being there with them. Remember everybody likes to flex their muscles and pretend they can go without America. Remember the British and the French we're gonna put troops on the ground but when America said we're not backing you up they went well I guess we're not putting troops on the ground. But when America said, we're not backing you up, they went, well, I guess we're not putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, because nobody can do anything without us.

Israel can't attack Iran without us. And right now, we're not going to be helping Israel. But there's other things that Israel can do. They have a history of assassinating Israeli or Iranian nuclear scientists. They have a history of carrying out covert actions, destructive covert actions that destroys nuclear scientists. They have a history of carrying out covert actions, destructive covert action that destroys nuclear facilities. They assassinate leaders in the Iranian capital.

There's a good chance that the missile fuel that blew up in Bandar Abbas was an Israeli covert action. And if you carry out enough of these covert actions, the Iranians may decide that they're going to respond anyways. And then if Iran attacks Israel, then America might get involved and then this thing spins out of control. Scottie, good luck on the sale of the book. I have read it. I endorsed it as a blurb in there from me and I wholeheartedly endorse it, not just because you're my friend, but because

people need to understand what's coming and hopefully avoid it and how close we are to the end of times. But thank you, my dear friend. Thanks for accommodating my schedule. Thanks for taking all my questions today. Well, thanks for having me. Always a pleasure. All the best. And coming up tomorrow at eight in the morning, Ambassador Charles Freeman at two in the afternoon, Colonel Douglas McGregor at three in the afternoon, Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski at four in the afternoon from Moscow, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. you