The President's Daily Brief - PDB Situation Report | June 22, 2024: Israel-Hezbollah Clash & US Demonstrations Funding Revealed

Episode Date: June 22, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Situation Report: We start today's Situation Report in the Middle East, where tensions are on the rise between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, David Daoud, provides some insight into the motives and methods of Hezbollah. We'll examine the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests continuing across the US with author and National Correspondent for the Blaze, Julio Rosas. He'll give us insight into one of the more interesting and important aspects of these protests: who exactly is funding the ongoing demonstrations? To close out the show, we head to Paris, where the Summer Olympics are set to begin in just over a month. Amidst all the challenges the world is currently facing, French officials are working to ensure the security of the games. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll start today's show in the Middle East, where tensions are on the rise between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah. We'll speak to senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, David Daoud, about that. Later, we'll examine the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests continuing across the U.S. with author and national correspondent for the blaze, Julio Rosas. He'll give us insight. into one of the more interesting and important aspects of these protests. Who exactly is funding the ongoing demonstrations? I mean, those matching tents and Hamas headbands and professionally produced signs,

well, somebody has to pay for it all. But first, today's PDB's Situation Report's spotlight. I want to begin in the Middle East, where fighting between Israel and Hezbollah along Israel's northern border with Lebanon is rapidly escalating, raising fears, of course, that they're going to be. the situation could devolve into a wider regional war. Last Monday night, the Israeli military mounted a massive aerial strike on what is being described

as a significant Hezbollah compound deep inside Lebanese territory in the Balbek region. That's roughly 80 miles from the Israeli border. Officials said they hit a facility operated by Hezbollah's Unit 4,400, which reportedly coordinates weapons deliveries for the Iranian-backed militant group. And that's according to our report from the Times of Israel. The strikes also targeted sites in southern Lebanon and a convoy of tankers entering Lebanon from Syria, reportedly killing three Hezbollah militants. Now, Syria is part of the route used by Iran to move weapons and other resources into Lebanon for Hezbollah. The operation came after Hezbollah fighters shot down an Israeli drone with a surface-to-air missile over South Lebanon.

the group also launched explosive laden drones at northern Israel on the same day. Hezbollah responded to the airstrikes last Tuesday by launching a barrage of 50 rockets at the Golan Heights. Israeli officials said they managed to shoot down several of the rockets, while the rest struck open areas with no reported injuries. Now, as the IDF and Hezbollah continued to trade blows, the U.S. continues to urge Israel to show restraint, warning against, instigating a war on its northern frontier. As a reminder, these back-and-forth skirmishes along the northern Israeli border, they're not new.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants began launching rockets into Israel's northern territory following the October 7 attacks and have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israel ever since. As we discussed last week on the PDB, tensions are significantly escalated between Israel and Hezbollah over the past two weeks, with both sides striking deeper into each other's territory. Hezbollah has increased their rate of rocket attacks, and they've begun using 1,000 to 2,000-pound warheads, causing extensive damage to Israeli military bases along that northern border. Amid the fighting, the Biden administration has been quietly pressuring Israel against launching a

limited offensive or war against the militants, fearing that it could prompt Iran to intervene in the conflict. Two U.S. officials who spoke anonymously to Axios said that in addition to the risk of Iranian involvement, they fear that militants from pro-Iranian proxy groups operating in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen would be eager to join the fight. Is there anywhere that Iran isn't running a proxy group these days? Last week, however, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for large-scale operations along their border with Lebanon to subdue Hezbollah. Israel's war cabinet recently met to discuss the situation with the IDF presenting several military options, including a ground invasion. Now, no decision has been made yet.

And of course, what happens up north is largely dependent on the current ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. U.S. officials indicated last week that the only path to a truce between Israel and Hezbollah was to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Now, Hezbollah, for their part, well, they appear to be in no rush to de-escalate. They vowed to keep up the attacks until the fighting in Gaza ends. In a recent statement, Hezbollah's deputy chief claimed that while they're not seeking a wider conflict, quote, if Israel wants to fight an all-out war, well, we are ready for it. End quote. All right.

When we come back, we'll have more on this with senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, David Daoud. We'll be right back. Let me ask you a question. Are you overwhelmed with back taxes or unfiled returns? Well, with 88,000 newly hired agents, that's 88,000 of them. The IRS has increased enforcement, issuing millions of pay-up notices in 2024. How pleasant does that sound a pay-up notice? Well, don't face the IRS collection tactics alone. Tax Network USA can help. As the nation's premier tax relief firm, they've negotiated over $1 billion in tax. relief for clients. Services include penalty forgiveness, hardship programs, and offer and compromise solutions. Now, whether you owe $10,000 or $10 million, wow, you owe $10 million, their experts can assist. You're behind on your taxes. They can guide you in catching up. Protect your financial security. Contact Tax Network USA for strategic advice on reducing or eliminating your tax debt. To schedule a complimentary consultation, call 1-800-24-5-6-3-3-3-3-6-3.000.

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Download today. Welcome back to the PDB Situation Report. Now, for more on the growing potential for all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, I want to bring in senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, David Daud. David, thank you very much for joining us here, on the Situation Report.

Thank you so much for having me on. Excellent. Listen, let's start with a big question here. And you can roam as far or keep it as narrow as you want. What's happening up on the northern border with Israel? Well, since October 8th, we've been engaged in a war of attrition on the northern border. This is something that Hezbollah has declared that it considers a war.

The Israelis have started to see it as a war. And it's been escalating. It's been escalating in stages. and we can talk about why that escalation has been happening, what's emboldening Hezbollah to strike deeper, draw blood in Israel. And at a time, you know, where we're like a few months prior to that, it wasn't, it was very much hesitant to provoke the Israelis. These stages, you know, they've continued,

and now we're in a situation where we're seeing the rate of rocket fire that's hitting Israel exceeds what it did. even in the second Lebanon war. There are ceasefire proposals on the table from the Americans and the French. The problem is they don't satisfy Israel's most basic security needs. So you don't have a peaceful mechanism to get out of this situation. On the Israeli side, you also have 60,000 to 80,000 Israelis that have been displaced.

They're afraid to return home unless there's an actual resolution, not just a cosmetic change to the situation on the border, not something that just restores a situation of quiet, but a deceptive quiet. Because Israel learned on 107 that quiet doesn't actually mean security. So none of these proposals would actually deal with the core problem that Hezbole opposes on the border. So the alternative seems to be for the Israelis to continue striking at Hezbollah, continuing to try to push them militarily.

But in this tit for tat, we're transitioning from this war of attrition to potentially full full-blown conflict. Yeah, I think one of the things that confuses some folks who watch this is, is there may have been an expectation from some who thought, you know, once things really touched off after the Hamas attacks on 7 October and the IDF became, you know, fully engaged in Gaza, I think there was some expectation that, you know, the next shooter drop would be Hasbalah going in, you know, just pushing all the cards in and saying, you know, here we go. to get this two-front major conflict underway, what prevented, if that's the way to put it,

what prevented Hezbollah from doing that? What's keeping the breaks on Hezbollah? Well, what's been keeping the breaks on Hezbollah post-10-8 is what was been keeping the breaks on Hezbollah prior to 10-8. And 10-8 is the date that Hezbollah started. It's attacks into northern Israel. So October 17, 2019, Lebanon's economy collapses. This is one of the worst manmade economic crises in history, I think, in the top three, if I'm not mistaken. Lebanon's currency has lost

almost 100 percent of its value. The country has been in dire straits since then. Its traditional donors, the Gulf states who started pulling out their funding in 2016, Western powers, especially after this economic crisis, said we're not bankrolling any more Lebanese irresponsibility. So So what this leaves Lebanon is in a situation of ongoing economic collapse. And if you're Hezbollah, yes, you have this unchecked ideological enmity towards Israel. You want to destroy Israel. You want to fight the Israelis. But also, you don't want to burn the house that you live in.

And you don't want to compound the economic misery that the Lebanese public is going through with a security conflagration. Because what that will translate to, especially when, again, there's no aid, there's no Reconstruction A, this isn't like 2006 where the international community is going to come and foot the bill to get Lebanon back on track. You're going to have a situation where people go out into the streets and say, we were starving. We were barely able to make ends meet. We have no electricity. Basic services are not functioning.

People are leaving the country in unprecedented numbers. And you brought this unprecedented, this war of unprecedented destruction upon us for what? So Hezbollah had been trying to navigate this kind of this commitment to its resistance acts as Bonafides, right, to the broader Iranian-led regional alliance that includes Hamas with it this need to not collapse Lebanon in around it. 10-7 kind of put Hezbollah in a more uncomfortable position about how it would do that. So what they've done is they're approaching the maximum that they can in terms of control. to helping Hamas, contributing to helping their partners in Gaza, but while remaining below this threshold of international legitimacy that the Israelis would need to open up a second front to this campaign in Lebanon, and that's been carefully to, they'll escalate, where they

see tensions growing between the Israelis and the international community, particularly with the United States, but it's always remaining beneath that threshold. And even, you know, these past few weeks, we've seen escalation that has gone far. far beyond where Hezbollah's tepid attack started kind of tiptoeing and putting their toe in the water 10-8. Now they're not putting their toe in the water. But as they're calculating it, this still remains below the threshold because the United States is explicit on not supporting an Israeli campaign in Lebanon.

This limits Israel's freedom of action, the international community as well. So Hezbollah feels it has more room to play, as it were, while not inviting this full-blown war that they've been afraid of opening on themselves. I got to tell you something. I'm old enough to have watched, and I've been in and out of Lebanon a number of times. And back in the beginning of the 2000s, during some Reconstruction, Solidera was out there, you know, working the port reconstruction, all the work that was going on, the sense of hope, right, that was there. And I'll be honest with you, I've rarely met as a group of people.

the Lebanese people, you know, just, you know, vibrant and business-oriented. And just, you know, you just had this feeling like if they were just allowed to move forward, right, that the things that they could accomplish and what the country could be would be limitless. But it's so depressing to see, you know, the developments over the past few years and certainly, you know, right now in current times. but I guess this is shifting gears a little bit and I want to talk about the popular support within Lebanon for Hezbollah I mean there's always there's a lot of work that goes into trying to assess in Gaza for instance you know okay well what is this the local you know civilians support for Hamas

how do you assess the mood in Lebanon for the support for Hezbollah was you asked me that I think of two metrics like Hezbollah says of itself that it is an integral part of Lebanon's political and social fabric. I mean, I think they're right in saying that. They are not a marginal actor. You know, they are not, their power in Lebanon is defended by their weapons, but it's not based in fiat. You know, we think of Hezbollah as a bunch of guys firing the rockets. That terrorism, the military component, is one component of what Hezbollah does. They have social services. They have schools. They have TV stations, right? They have built this parallel society that is meant to draw support from

the broader, particularly Shia public, but even beyond that. So when we come to the May 2022 parliamentary elections, Hezbollah ends up winning because of all of these factors, 356,000 votes. Now, that is the most number of votes that any party gathered in that election. Hezbollah didn't get the most seats. And I think a lot of point, a lot of people at the time pointed to the fact that the Lebanese forces party, Hezbollah's arch nemesis, at least politically, Lebanese political scene gained more seats. But that was more because of the seat distribution mechanism. But the Lebanese forces gained, excuse me, 150,000 fewer seats than Hezbollah. I think there were only about 200,000, sorry, votes rather, than Hezbollah. So 356,000,

that was the largest party by any number by number of votes. And we're talking about 356,000. Again, that's just eligible voters. That's the people that went out to vote that day. That's not the total mass of people that support you. And that 356,000 is coming from what we think or what is reasonably believed to be Lebanon's far fastest growing demographic group, the Lebanese Shiites. There has not been a Lebanese census since 1932, but you can, you can be like estimates It's placed the Lebanese Shia as the fastest growing demographic.

They're not a majority yet, but they're probably a plurality in and of themselves. So you have that 356,000 number that's not marginal in a country of four and a half million people, give or take, citizens at least. And then you come to a poll that came out in January of 2024. I think Washington Institute for nearest policy put out this poll that showed that 89% of Lebanese Shia strongly supported Hezbollah, while 93,000. 3% had favorable views to some degree. Now, you could argue that this could be motivated by fear, this outpouring of support,

right? People are fearful to state their real opinions, less Hezbollah retaliate against them. And we know that Hezbollah does, again, they don't gain their power by Fiat, but they preserve it through force. So they could say they're fearful of Hezbollah retaliation. But if you're lining up behind Hezbollah or unwilling to confront it, if you're lining up behind Hezbollah out of a sense of ideological support, if you're lining up behind Hezbollah because you get something out of them, or if you're just staying out of Hezbollah's way or lining up behind them out of fear, the situation, the dynamic this creates is that you're just there, Hezbollah has no opponents, at least no credible opponents in the demographic from which it derives its support. So you have a very stable, powerful entity that is able to mobilize support and that is able to avoid criticism from within its own community. Again, it stakes us back to what they say that they are, as a result, a part of Lebanon's political and social fabric, an integral part.

Yeah. Now, you're describing in part or there's a similarity there, obviously, even with Gaza and, you know, the people of Gaza with no other options, right? So, you know, do you support Hamas? well, you know, yeah, maybe my family members are, you know, in Hamas. Maybe I just don't want to get sideways with them. Maybe I just have no other options. So what am I supposed to say? Speaking of Hamas, talk to me, if you could, a little bit about to what degree do their

movements align? You know, do they move in a sense in lockstep in terms of a larger strategy or objective? And then on top of that, to what degree? does the Iranian regime influence those strategic decisions on both sides? Hamas, if we're speaking specifically Hamas, not other Palestinian groups, they've integrated into what we call the resistance axis in fits and starts, you know, during its initial stages, Hamas is a Sunni militant organization with its roots in the Muslim brother, the Hezbollah, Shia. They have a, and it's Khomeinist Shia. They have a very different worldview.

But over time, I mean, early 1990s, Hezbollah saw the value in having Hamas as part of this regional alliance that Iran was building. And Hamas joined in stages. They started cooperating with Hezbollah in increasing stages. We saw tension grow during the Syrian civil war between these two sides, right? Hamas' Sunni instinct took it in one direction while Hezbollah was supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad and killing fellow Arabs and fellow Sunnis, or Hamas's fellow Sunnis. But starting somewhere around 2017, it seemed like both sides decided to come to a modus

of vendy, whereby the Syrian civil war would just be ignored as a matter of fact. Hamas stopped commenting on the matter, and Hezbollah stopped remarking on the fact that Hamas just did not agree with it on this and didn't join the rest of the resistance axis on Syria. And since then, we've seen increasing integration between these two forces, coordination between these two forces on the issues where they agree, namely the destruction of the state of Israel, and this will happen in stages as they envision it, and the erosion of American regional influence and regional presence. So these are kind of the bigger things that they want to work on, and they're willing to put their differences aside.

Let me ask this. I'm sorry for interrupting, David, but I'm mindful of your time. Let me ask this. And this is, again, almost one of those questions, I suppose it really doesn't have a satisfactory answer. But with the conflict that's currently ongoing, both up north with Hussbollah and what's happening in Gaza, if you had to make a prediction, where is this goat rope heading? What's the end result here in the relatively near future? Look, I don't see a peaceful mechanism to resolve this conflict in a way that satisfies Israel's security interests.

Kind of what we talked about, Hezbollah's support in Lebanon makes it impossible to disarm. Lebanon makes decisions by consensus of its sects, and those sects are represented by their biggest representatives. Hezbollah is one of the biggest representatives of the Shia sects. basically you'd have to get all these, you know, these parties around the table and ask them, can we disarm Hezbollah, including Hezbollah. They're never going to agree to that. Conversely, the LAF, which is kind of the, the guarantor of either the French or the American ceasefire proposals, will not disarm Hezbollah for similar reasons, because if you disarm, attempt to disarm this popular entity, you end up in a civil war situation in Lebanon. So Lebanon is a non-starter,

But all these mechanisms go through Lebanon and its state apparatuses. So what you're going to have is a situation where the Israelis could potentially, except a bad ceasefire deal because of reduced American support, because of international pressure on them in Gaza. And Hezbollah could withdraw from the border to a certain degree for a year or two. And then when international attention moves elsewhere, they will come back to the border and continue doing what they've been doing for their entire existence. And what this creates is a situation where,

this big war between Israel and Hezbollah. It remains inevitable because Hezbollah remains committed to Israel's destruction, will continue pursuing it. So either the Israeli, this happens now, or it happens in 10 years when it's much more destructive for both sides. Yeah, I would, it's not an optimistic assessment, but I think it's an accurate one. I would also, I would make it even worse by saying None of this works eventually. You never have long-term peace unless the Iranian regime is in some fashion dealt with, whether through sanctions, whether through some sort of hybrid and military response. But listen, David Dowd, this has been fascinating.

And I do hope that you'll join us again in the future, because I suspect, as you pointed out, this problem is not going away. It seems like we're just kicking the can down the road. and it's going to be, you know, more of the same for certainly in our lifetimes. That's very pessimistic of me, I know. But David, out from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, our job here on the Situation Report is to cheer people up. But thank you very much for taking the time, David.

I hope to see you again very soon. It was my pleasure, and I look forward to coming back on again. Excellent. Thank you, man. All right. Well, have you ever asked yourself, how are those gormless students and unemployed outside activists clogging up U.S. college campuses? How are they affording the protest life?

Right? I mean, the protest life's not free. Well, we've got you covered. Up next, we'll examine the funding behind the pro-Palestinian protests that have been sweeping across the country. We've got insights from author and national correspondent for the blaze, Julio Rosas. I'll be right back. Hey, if you're a listener to the PDB, you know, right? there's a lot going on in the world today. I think you figured that out now.

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ultra-concentrated for amplified impact and lasting power. Find your euphoria. Discover the euphoria elixir collection by Calvin Klein. Welcome back. If you thought that the end of semester here in the U.S. would bring sweet relief from the sights and sounds of pro-Hamas and anti-S. on college campuses in the U.S., well, think again. Pro-Palestinian protests are continuing across the country, a topic that we've been closely monitoring at the PDB. Last week, a particularly disturbing demonstration took place in the New York City subway system.

A viral video captured the moment that pro-Palestinian protesters boarded a crowded subway car with one demonstrator demanding of commuters, quote, raise your hand if you're a Zionist. This is your chance to get out, end quote. The demonstrator then said, okay, no Zionists were good. Well, look, to be fair, the protesters involved here were a mixed bag. Some were, well, some were just morons too stupid to know what they were protesting about,

but certainly enjoying the feeling of community that comes from being in a roving pack of morons. Some were legitimate anti-Semites, and some were paid activists there to rally the others as useful idiots to their cause. According to local reports, three of the protesters were eventually arrested. Ah, only three. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been a common sight now in city streets and college campuses since the 7th of October,

but the big question, who exactly is funding them? Well, to help us answer that question, we have the national correspondent for the Blaze and the author of Fiery but Mostly Peaceful, the 2020 riots and the gaslighting of America. Julio, thank you very much for joining us here on the PDB Situation Report. I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for having me.

Of course. All right. Now, let's, I guess, start from 30,000 foot. You've spent a lot of time, probably more time than just about anybody else, analyzing what took place during the 2020 riots. And based on what you've seen and learned from that experience, are there any linkages, are there any commonalities to what's been taking? place recently across college campuses in terms of funding, in terms of those involved,

the people behind the scenes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it is pretty now widely reported, not just for me, but that a lot of these same networks that were used to create chaos four years ago, this time four years ago, they've basically been reactivated to, you know, to latch on to a different issue, which is obviously the Israel Hamas war. And so a lot of the same groups that, because there's a lot of overlap in terms of how they view with Black Lives Matter and the issue of Israel and Hamas, they view it as one

of the same. And that's why the far left has commonality, because they view it in the lens of racism, of fascism, colonialism, a capitalism, kind of all the buzzwords that the far left likes to use. And so that's why you often see a lot of the same organizers, getting people out into the streets. And so that's why within our lifetime, the Palestinian youth movement, the answer coalition, those are kind of big groups that have been organizing these protests since October 8th. And so I think what's not really, what shouldn't be lost on that is that, yes, obviously there are people who are, supportive of the Palestinians and Hamas. But there is money behind it,

money that comes from organizations that are tied to Soros, the Rockefeller Fund, and even individual big Democratic Party donors have been giving money to these groups. And so that's why it's been interesting to see the dynamics play out because obviously they're protesting not just America in general, but the people out in the streets are specifically going after President Biden and the Democratic Party.

Yeah, I guess that's really the question, I suppose, that a lot of people have, right? I mean, you see these protests, and I think there's some in America perhaps, I suppose, that still believe it's just a bunch of kids being kids. It's just, you know, some gormillist students, and they're passionate about this cause. But when you do look at what's behind the scenes, what's off the radar screen, and who's funding and who's organizing, who's paying activists, is there a way for you to describe in, relatively simple terms, what those people, what the organizers' main goal is? I mean, what is

their objective? It can't just be to cause chaos and create this confusion on the streets and the clashes with the police. What do you think is their primary objective here? Well, that's the thing. That is their primary goal. Because oftentimes when whenever the Jews for, you know, Jewish voices for peace or within our lifetime or the Pallasian youth movement, whenever they block traffic or they block people from getting access to airports as we've seen to taking more direct action, there's stuff early on with targeting shipping vessels at different ports across the country. People often ask, well, why are you doing this? You're not bringing over anybody to your side.

You're not using the art of persuasion to get people to your side. And the thing is, these are very radical. street communists that I like to call it also there's Antifa involved as well and the goal is just to make everyday American lives as miserable as possible uh because in order to just get the rest of the country is just given to their demands that's basically it there there is no there is no attempt to try to like I said just use the art of persuasion they just want to kind of grind things to a halt and just kind of slog it out because they view the average American taxpayer as the enemy because the taxes are used to support Israel and go towards, you know,

defense contracts and what have you. So, so they view just regular Americans as a propagator of the quote-unquote genocide. Okay, but how do you, how do you explain the involvement or the, the contributions from the, the higher level, the Democrat sponsors? I mean, the people who normally contribute large amounts of money to political candidates. I mean, what's, what's in it for them if what they're doing is helping to fund chaos on the streets. Is that really what their objective is as well? Well, for the individual high-level donors, it is a little hard to say, but other than the fact that they just are just supportive of these tactics and of this

ideology, and that's why we're seeing the kind of fracture within the Democratic Party kind of play out openly, so I can only imagine how it is privately. But you have to understand that, again, that these. people are ardent believers in the fact that America is so racist and it's we have to do all these radical things to atone for our you know quote unquote past sins in history and all that and so and then when you throw in genocide today in their view well then of course people are going to want to do things in their way so that they can say well i at least stood up to to stop this so of course you know, I don't think it's been very helpful to disrupt things.

And it's only kind of actually kind of backfire to, because I've often, whenever I post videos, whenever I'm out reporting, I do sometimes see comments saying, you know, I'm not as supportive of Israel or this and that, but these people's actions are making me want to support Israel and what they're doing to Hamas. So they're doing it, whether or not it's effective, I don't think it's going to go so much in their favor, but at the same time, they don't really care. These are, like I said, these are kind of like the anarcho-communist activists of the Democratic Party that were useful to them during the Trump years,

because the main target was Trump and his base. But now, obviously, it's Biden in charge and kind of his people. And so they're more than happy to kind of, you know, have the mentality of burning down the system and we've always got to start over because that radical wing of the Democratic Party doesn't necessarily care who's in charge. they just want to be able to control things and do things the way that they want to. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a really important point. I mean, you're never really too righteous, you know, right, for the mob, right?

At some point they're going to turn on no matter who it is, right? It could even be the squad members, right, that they start getting upset with. But let me ask you this. Oftentimes when you see what appears to be a grassroots movement, say it's a, it appears to be a community activist group that's, upset about a, you know, a potential mine that's going to be located in their general, you know, vicinity or whatever it may be. Oftentimes, if you dig deep enough, you find ties to national level organizations, right? If it's an environmental issue, it appears to be just this local

community group that's trying to, you know, stop something from happening. But it turns out they're getting funding or legal advice or support or strategy advice from whomever, Greenpeace or friends of the earth or whatever. When you look at what you did and all the work that you did related to the 2020 riots and now you look at what's happening across the college campuses, is it as specific as seeing, oh, wait, I'm seeing some of these same individuals, right, involved. I'm seeing some of the same street activists who are being paid and funded for their work. But is, is it that clear or is it not quite that granular yet? I would say that it's dependent on location just because So, for example, in New York City, there actually was that famous longtime activist from back in the 60s.

She made an appearance at Columbia University. I'm forgetting her name at the moment. But she was helping organize the takeover of Hamilton Hall. And she was telling people how to barricade the doors. And then she was saying, oh, wait, we're being filmed. We've got to get the people with cameras away from us. So there are examples of that. But it is also kind of hard to know for sure because they are staunch believers still.

and wearing masks. And, you know, whether it's like the COVID-type masks or the Kaffa's or just blacked out or, you know, black-block Antifa-type garb. So unless they're arrested and then, obviously, you know, their mugshots take and then we can kind of figure out to see if it's kind of the same repeat offenders.

But also at the same time, I mean, yes, because then you look at places like Portland, Oregon, which did also experience a takeover of a library. A lot of the people that were there and were arrested, they weren't even students. They were just people who have been out there causing riots and stuff since even before 2020, but especially four years ago.

So I would say it's very much dependent on location. And we only really kind of find out if it is the same people unless they're arrested, which, you know, as of late, it hasn't been happening as much just because, you know, we are in a post-2020 world, unfortunately, and everything that came along with that. So I would say generally, yes, that we, you know, there are kind of the same people involved, which is kind of funny because every time they say, oh, they're cracking down on students, they're like, well, not an insignificant number of those people are actually just radical street activists that have been doing this for years.

Right. I think that was one of the smartest moves that they could have made, meaning law enforcement. And thank goodness, at least some of the media started to pick up on it, was when they started to break down statistics, not in, you know, they didn't really get too far into the weeds. but they would say, look, you know, 40%, 50%, 60% of those arrested during this particular protest were outside activists and were not students. I think that was important for the public to understand that, again, it's not this idea of just kids being kids and my goodness, they're following their passion. And I can't believe I just said, my goodness.

But now, when you talk about funding, Julio, is there a way to break that down and say, okay, look, I know you mentioned the Rockefeller Fund. I think that's confusing to people as well. People think of the Rockefellers and they think, really, they're contributing money to something like this. Talk to me a little bit about that. The primary groups involved, at least that you've seen to date, and what sort of dollars are we talking about?

And also, how does that work? Is it just someone gets into a position within these organizations that supports or sympathizes with some of these chaotic goals and they just start allocating grants and funding? I mean, that is kind of basically how it works. Yeah, I mean, they have these program officers that within their organization. And obviously when, you know, these groups have obviously existed for, you know, longer than October 7th.

So, I mean, they've been contributing to them for actually many years. And so that's why we're actually able to see not only the dollar amount, which can be in the hundreds of thousands over the, but it's over the course of several years. And so, and that's significant because, for example, the protests outside the White House this past weekend, there was around 9,000 people. Well, you know, how did they all get there?

Well, it's because the Palestinian youth movement, the answer coalition, they were all advertising all these different buses that people could take from across the country to make sure that they're in Washington, D.C. last Saturday. And I can tell you now, looking ahead, they're going to use that same kind of tactic to mobilize to get people out when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to address Congress on July 24th next month, right? So that's why it goes beyond just actually getting paid to, you know, someone to be there, so to speak.

But it's also just the logistics behind it, right? And the signs that they make, I mean, because they're all standardized. They kind of have the all same kind of thing. And sure, they might collect them at the end to reuse them, but they have their iconography type operations and everything like that. So it's pretty extensive. And they're able to utilize that to their benefit. And that's why I would say, you know, despite everything that's happened,

they've been pretty successful in their direct actions, just in generally speaking. Yeah. To what degree, I know this is, is a tough one to address or at least provide specific details on. But to what degree do you believe or suspect that there are, and when I say outside, I mean international groups, and by international, I mean the Iranian regime in particular, to what degree is that a factor here? And I mean, Hezbollah, they operate, operations, businesses, companies all over the world. So the idea that the

Iranian regime would look at this and think, well, this is, and I seriously doubt that they looked at it, you know, and we're surprised. I call me cynical, but I think that they've been involved in a variety of ways. But from your perspective, in the work that you do, do you suspect that somewhere in there is the hand of the Iranian regime in one fashion or another, whether it's directly or whether it's disinformation thrown out by proxy groups or other elements? No, I wouldn't be surprised. And it's just because, I mean, especially with this current administration, I mean, there was an Iranian spy ring within the State Department, essentially, right? And that kind of flew under the radar once, you know, from the mainstream media when that came out.

So I would not be surprised at all. And I think you're correct that there is definitely foreign money being funneled into these groups. I mean, the National Students for Justice in Palestine, I believe kind of has some of those foreign top. that that makes it a little bit more nefarious. So, and they're one of the, again, they're one of the main groups, all like all, essentially all the college campus encampments, those were all started by the local Students for Justice in Palestine college group, right? So, I mean, so, I mean, and they cause plenty of chaos and some even still.

There was the case in California State, Los Angeles, where they took over a building just like two days ago. So, I mean, all that is still technically still happening. Yeah, look, I really respect the work that you do. I think it's critically important, right? I mean, in today's world, people are very busy. They're just trying to put food on the table, take care of the kids, whatever. They see something, they read something. They just, a lot of people don't have the time, don't have the ability, whatever it might be, to dig further, right? And to say, well, why is that the case? Who is behind this? Who's funding this? Why are they out there? How do they all have matching tents? Whatever the simple questions may be, a lot of times they get missed. And certainly, we don't see. to have much of a curiosity or an objectivity in the overall media these days. So I think the work that you're doing is very impressive and really important to helping people at least understand and get more facts, right, so that it's not just a narrative that people are pushing out that people swallow whole cloth.

Let me ask you this. Are you putting together research for a book on what's been taking place on college campuses? You know, I've been, you know, there's always notes that I take. kind of has a debrief for these types of situations, just because you never know what it might be useful further on down the line. So whether it's for a book or whether it's for, you know, some paper at some thing tank, I'm not entirely too sure. But, you know, really I don't, I suspect, you know,

as the election heats up and, you know, depending on the outcome, I think there might be an opportunity to put out something, put out another physical medium about what's happening just because, yet you're right normal people in this country are focused on other things and so I'm more than happy to kind of take on the mantle and like, all right, let me go with the crazies

and see how it is because these are historical moments. Yeah, no, absolutely. And you pointed out Netanyahu coming to the U.S. to give that speech. Certainly there's the Democratic National Convention coming up. I don't think this is going to quiet down.

So I'm hoping that you'll come back join us again, Julio. This has been really interesting, very fascinating, and again, very appreciative of the work that you're doing. Julio Rosas, author of Fiery, but Mostly Peaceful, the 2020 riots and the gaslighting of America and national correspondent for the blaze. Again, Julio, thank you very much for joining us here on the Situation Report. Thank you. All right, well, coming up next, we'll dive into the extensive security measures that are being implemented to protect the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yep, they're coming up soon from potential terror threats. Stay tuned to learn how France is planning to safeguard the games. I'll be right back.

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required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. Okay. To close out today's show, let's turn our attention to Paris. Oh. where the Summer Olympics are set to begin in just over a month. I know a month, right? They snuck up on us. Now, amid all the challenges that the world is currently facing, and there are some, French officials are working to ensure the security of the games.

From an operational perspective, protecting the Olympic Games is always a monumental effort. But in times of turmoil or global crisis, and our current times certainly qualify, the job becomes even more difficult. Now, the threat, it's not just theoretical. French officials have said that so far, authorities have already thwarted at least two terror schemes aimed at the upcoming games.

So just what are authorities doing to keep things safe? Well, as we speak, construction crews in Paris are building a massive military camp for troops tasked with keeping the Summer Olympic Games safe. French officials have said it will be the largest mainland army camp seen in the country since World War II. It's a tall order, as right now they need to build row upon row of temporary barracks to house an estimated 4,500 troops. The effort is breaking construction records for France and is expected to be completed after only 65 days. Troops are anticipated to begin arriving in early July, and at that point, they'll have just two weeks to secure the highly anticipated

opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics along the banks of the river Seng. I know you didn't know I spoke French, did you? The construction comes as warnings emerge concerning potential terror attacks targeting the games. A report from cybersecurity firm recorded future indicates that although cyber attacks are highly probable, the primary risk to the Paris games will stem from physical threats. They caution that the Islamic State has been disseminating propaganda, encouraging its followers to replicate the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, which included a suicide bombing at the Stade de France, the primary venue for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. U.S. officials have also warned that ISIS K, which is, of course, an offshoot of the Islamic

state, has gained momentum following its lethal attacks in Iran in January, and of course their attack on the Moscow concert hall in March. Now, to counter the threat, a total of 18,000 military personnel will be on hand from July 26th to August 11th. And if you think that's a large number, well, the president. Personnel will also provide support to 45,000 individuals from internal security forces and local police, in addition to a daily contingent of private security guards, numbering roughly 22,000. Now, all those troops, the local police, security forces, security guards, the fencing, the access controls,

the canine units, barriers, cameras. Well, that's just the security that you can see. That's the security that the public is aware of. Behind the scenes, off the radar, but just as important, there's a massive amount of work, coordination and liaison between the security and intelligence elements of a large number of nations working together to identify and mitigate potential threats. It's an enormous counterterrorism operation. Every potential threat needs to be investigated.

Every potential target needs to be monitored. Every lead pursued. Terrorists, well, they're attracted to large events like most. moths to a flame. Any major event, whether in the U.S. or overseas, any memorable date or anniversary, you have to assume that one or another terrorist group or perhaps a lone wolf operating out of sympathy for whatever cause sees that event or that anniversary as an opportunity. Now, you combine what's going on in the world today, the conflict in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, with the scope and scale of the Paris Olympics. And yeah, it's a security night.

there. And on that sherry note, well, that's all the time we have for the PDB situation report this week. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. We love to hear from you. To listen to the podcast of the show ad free, of course, as you know, become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. Nothing could be easier. I'm Mike Baker. Until next time, well, you know what I'm about to say. Stay informed. Stay safe, stay cool. Let me tell you the secret of how to look like you know what you're doing. Use mushrooms, toss them on eggs, noodles, boom, it's delicious, it's not magic, it's mushrooms. Hit up mushroomcounsel.com and get cooking.