The Young Turks - Friends To Enemies - August 13, 2025

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month Shopify trial and start selling today at ⁠shopify.com/tyt Azerbaijan and Armenia release the text of a US-brokered peace agreement. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pens an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. Theo Von interviews a doctor who recently completed a mission trip in Gaza. Hosts: Ana Kasparian SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞  https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK  ☞   https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER  ☞       https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM  ☞  https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK  ☞          https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH  ☞      https:/www.shoptyt.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and we have such a gigantic show ahead for you today. In the second hour, Jank Ugar will be joining me and we're gonna have an interview with Tara Paul Mary, who's done incredible reporting on the Epstein files. And she has some insight that we think would be fascinating for you all to listen to. So again, that'll be in the second hour of the show. Anthony Blinken apparently has some opinions about whether various European countries should recognize a Palestinian state.

We'll get into the details of what he has to say and then very likely chide him for being a complete and utter failure of a secretary of state who is completely subservient to Israel. So stay tuned for that. And we'll also discuss Theo Vaughn's interview of an American doctor. who went to Gaza to volunteer and provide aid to the Palestinian people. What did he see? What did he witness? Really harrowing stories and important details there that I can't wait to share with you. And Mamdani, the mayoral candidate in New York, he's going scorched earth against Andrew Cuomo. That story's amazing, I can't wait to get to that.

And more, as always, just want to encourage you to like and share the stream if you're watching us live. It is a free and easy way to help spread the word about TYT and the work that we do here. You can also support us by becoming a member. Just smash that join button if you're watching us on YouTube. Or you can become a member by going to tyt.com slash join. All right, well, I thought I would start off with a story that I promised earlier in the week. I wanted to kind of give myself time to delve into the details of it, make sure that I really understand it. And I just want to kind of give you a warning.

This story is complex and there are going to be some granular details that I'm not going to get into out of the interest of time. But in terms of this alleged peace deal that President Donald Trump has secured between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it's important for you to know the facts and the reality of the situation. So without further ado, let's get into it. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement in the White House aimed at ending nearly 40 years of hostilities. The deal gives the United States exclusive of development rights to a transport corridor through Armenia linking Azerbaijan to its napivian enclave bordering Turkey.

Now while President Donald Trump has already congratulated himself for brokering an alleged peace deal between Armenia and its foe, Azerbaijan, the reality is that the trilateral agreement is simply a framework for a possible peace treaty that would be signed later after a few details are ironed out and negotiated. But there are many obstacles to a final agreement. And that's what we're going to discuss today. Now, one point of contention, the main point of contention between Armenia and Azerbaijan is access to a corridor that runs along Armenia's southern border with Iran. So take a look at this map because it helps illustrate the issue at hand. Armenia is represented in the light blue, while Azerbaijan's territory is shown in the darker

shade. As you can see, Armenia splits Azerbaijan into two land masses. There's mainland Azerbaijan shown on the right hand side of Armenia. And then you see Azerbaijan's exclave on Armenia's left-hand side. So that geography has obviously created some issues for Azerbaijan. And here's what they want to do about it. Azerbaijan's exclave Nahichevan. It has no connection to the country's mainland and in between is Armenia. Why is this a big deal? Because the two states argue over how Azerbaijan could connect to its exclave.

There must be easy access from mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhchewan. There should be no checks, no interference. And this is our legitimate right. But it's Armenia's land. So the idea that Azerbaijan should be able to travel freely with no checks, you know, no border security is absolutely ridiculous. Basically, the Azeris want a corridor connecting its mainland to its exclave that again would run through Armenia's southern border.

Otherwise they have to rely on flights above Iran's airspace or a lengthy train ride through northern Iran. And Azerbaijan does not have friendly relations with Iran at all. So that could be an issue, right? Now before we go any further, we really do have to understand the historical context that led us to the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan because they weren't always enemies. In fact, during the Soviet era when both countries were under Soviet rule, things were very different.

In the early 1920s, Armenia and Azerbaijan were conquered by the Red Army and became part of the Soviet Union. Their borders were delineated under Soviet rule. This map from 1928 shows it well. Two territories received a special status laying ground for future conflict. To the west of Armenia, an Azerbaijani exslave of Nakhichevan was created. And within Azerbaijan, the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mostly by Armenians, was granted autonomy. But back then they were only administrative borders within one country. the Soviet Union.

People could easily travel without any border controls. And in many places, Armenians and Azerbaijanis were neighbors and colleagues. Now those friendly relations changed rather dramatically as the Soviet Union grew weaker in the late 1980s and war broke out over land and territory. But things changed fundamentally when the Soviet Union started collapsing in the late 1980s. This is when clashes erupted between the Armenians who are mostly Christian and Azerbaijanis who are mostly Muslim. The administrative lines on the map became real borders and reasons for conflict

in the run-up to Armenian and Azerbaijani independence in 1991. By then, a full-fledged war had erupted over Nagorno-Karabakh. It is internationally recognized as territory of Azerbaijan, but mostly Armenians lived there. After six years of war, Armenians won and took control over Karabakh and bordering territories, displacing some half a million Azeris. It was during this war that Azerbaijan's connection to its exclave was cut off. Having Azerbaijani trains run through Armenia became simply too dangerous.

The last train passed through here in 1993. So due to their growing conflict, Armenia shut down the railway and corridor connecting mainland Azerbaijan to its exclave on the other side of Armenia. Then things got a lot worse in 2020 when war broke out over Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians refer to as Arzach. Take a look. Thanks to revenues from gas and oil, Azerbaijan has heavily invested in its military. The country, governed autocratically by President Ilham Aliyev, started retaking Karabakh from Armenia. By the way, Azerbaijan bought many of its weapons from Israel.

Israel is a strategic ally who wants to counter Iran's ambition in the region. In 2020, the second Karabakh war broke out. Azerbaijan now dominated the battlefield and the ceasefire was signed under Russian mediation. It was in this document that Azerbaijan secured the demand to connect to its ex-clay via Armenian territory. Armenia agreed to guarantee the security of transport connections between Azerbaijan and its ex-cliffe, Nijewan, and keep in mind one important detail. According to this document, these were Russian soldiers who shall be responsible for overseeing the transport connections.

More on Iran and Russia in just a minute. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been providing security at what's actually called the Zangezor corridor. That's the corridor that we're having a conversation about right now. Now, this pathway is going to be renamed under Donald Trump in order to honor Donald Trump if a peace treaty is signed, but that remains to be seen. But Russia essentially providing security at that corridor makes sense when you consider that this strip of land is located at Armenia's border with Iran, an ally of Russia's.

But the relationship between Armenia and Russia has weakened considerably in recent years. Although Russia has historically been one of Armenia's closest allies, Moscow was unwilling to intervene and protect ethnic Armenians as the Azeris declared war against them in Nagorno-Karabakh. And while Nagorno-Karabakh is in fact internationally recognized as Azerbaijan's territory, the Azeris have also invaded and occupied parts of mainland Armenia. Russia hasn't followed through on its security guarantees. And the one thing that Russia did do is broker a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but the Azeris broke it in 2023 and declared war once again.

Over 100,000 Armenians were ethnically cleansed from Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan took control of the territory. Now, since then, Armenia has given up territorial claims, but there are other critical sticking points standing in the way of a peace deal that honestly, no one is talking. about in American media, which is why I'm doing it. So first off, Armenia demands that refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh at least be granted the right of return, even under the governance and control of Azerbaijan. That has not been addressed in the framework that Trump brokered at all. Secondly, there are still 23 Armenian servicemen and civilians that

Azerbaijan currently has detained as prisoners of war. Investigations by the United Nations Committee Against Torture and Amnesty International have concluded that the POWs have been tortured and abused. Armenia believes that any peace deal should require the release of these hostages. I should be specific, the Armenian people feel that way. The prime minister of Armenia, Nicole Pashinyan seems a little weak in this area, to be quite frank. That's my read of it. Now, Yerevan considers 16 Armenian government officials, including the form of Arzhak state minister, Ruben Vardagnan, seized after Azerbaijan September 2023 invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh to be political hostages or prisoners of war.

But Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, is prosecuting them on trumped-up criminal charges of war crimes and terrorism in lengthy show trials. Unless Azerbaijan releases its hostages, it is unlikely Armenia will agree to a final signing of the agreement. Let's just pause right here for a second in regard to war crimes. War crimes also include some of the actions taken by Azerbaijan during that war in 2003, including decapitating two elderly people as they were alive, civilians during the war. So you want to talk about war crimes, come on.

Now the framework for a peace treaty mentions missing persons in Article 9, but not specifically prisoners of war. I think the wording is a little strange. It reads that, that the parties undertake to address the cases of missing persons and enforced disappearances taken place in the armed conflict, which involved both of the parties, including through the exchange of all available information about these persons, directly or in cooperation with relevant international organizations as appropriate. The parties hereby acknowledge the importance of investigating the fate of those persons, including searching for and returning the remains as appropriate and ensuring that justice

is served in relation to these persons through proper investigations as a means of reconciliation and building confidence. Corresponding modalities in this regard shall be negotiated and agreed upon in detail in a separate agreement. So let's pause again because separate agreement. This is, again, not a peace deal that Donald Trump brokered. It is a framework, it's incredibly vague, it is not detailed, and quite honestly, it doesn't deal in detail with the very specific sticking points, the conflict between Armenians and the Azeris. Now the prisoners of war are not missing. We know where they are. Canada's foreign affairs minister, Anita Anand, brought up the lingering issue and called for

the release of all Armenian detainees and prisoners of war, the safe and dignified right of return of Armenian civilians, and the preservation of cultural heritage. A lot of ancient Armenian churches in Nagorno-Karabba were pretty much destroyed, bombed, you get the picture. You know what's the one dish I make? It's called spaghetti al-Jenka. I take sunny side up eggs and I plop spaghetti with butter on top of it. You can mix it.

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and they're currently occupying 83 square miles of internationally recognized Armenian territory. difficult journey to work after their village school was abruptly cut off from the main highway, caught in the middle of a conflict. A part of the road, three or four kilometers of it, is under the control

of the Azerbaijani's. They claim it belongs to them. They'd say even Yerevan belongs to them. For the past two years, the teachers have been forced to take a treacherous detour down steep mountain roads. What used to be a 15-minute drive now takes an hour.

The school sits in a border village in the Armenian region of Sayunik, which has found itself right up alongside Azerbaijan for the first time in decades. Here, many teachers and pupils are fearful that Azerbaijan now wants to go further, ship away at their land, and drive the Armenian people out. advancing step by step. Their goal is the total and definitive extermination of the Armenians and the seizure of our land. So does this framework of an impending peace treaty address this? Well, yes, actually it does. The text of the agreement says Yerevan and Baku will relinquish all claims to each other's territory, refrain from using force against one another, and pledge to respect

international law. But since the signing of the framework for a possible peace treaty in the future, after, literally after, the dictator of Azerbaijan continued making claims to Armenia's land. And that's a problem. That's a huge problem. And there's nothing in the framework about a security guarantee for Armenia to protect its sovereignty, especially considering Azerbaijan's encroachment, land grab, and history of breaking ceasefires. In addition to that, the European Union has a mission deployed at the border to monitor ceasefire violations, which Baku has repeatedly demanded it withdraw, which honestly is not a good sign from a country that has violated ceasefires in the past and has demonstrated

repeatedly an unwillingness to respect Armenia's borders. Now keep in mind that Armenia does have an economic interest in opening up the Zangazur corridor. Currently, it's border with with Azerbaijan and Turkey are closed, which of course limits its economic development. Now theoretically through a peace agreement, those borders could open up. But right now, at this moment, Armenia can only trade with Georgia, which is located at its northern border, and Iran at its southern border. But the Azeris don't want Armenia to conduct passport control, border control or even customs control, even though the corridor would run through Armenian land. And honestly, this framework does not address this at all. Also, a critical point

to remember is that southern Armenia shares a border with Iran, an important trade partner for the Armenians. But Iran also happens to be an enemy of the United States, thanks to its close and costly relationship with Israel. And under the framework of the deal, the United States would provide security for safe transport through the corridor instead of Russia, thus threatening trade relations between Armenia and Iran. In fact, Iran has already come out to say that they are against this framework. And they're worried about encroachment, you know, or meddling in Iran's, you know, dealing. So look, remember, Russia and Iran are allies.

And personally, I don't trust the United States on this matter at all. I don't, because I don't like or trust its allies. I don't trust Azerbaijan for obvious reasons that I've outlined on the show. Or Turkey, which committed a genocide against the Armenian people in 1915 and still refuses to acknowledge or recognize that they did it. And I certainly don't like America's subservience to Israel, which provided the weapons Azerbaijan used to ethnically cleanse Armenians. So you have a group of countries that quite honestly couldn't care less about Armenians or Armenia, essentially taking control of a critical

strip of land at Armenia's border with Iran, which I don't think is great. Finally, there's one other thing standing in the way of a finalized peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Although the text of the present agreement does not require an Armenian constitutional amendment, After the August 8th signing, Aliyev, the dictator of Azerbaijan, reiterated his demand that Armenia amend its constitution to eliminate what Aliyev calls baseless territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Now he's referring to Nagorno-Karabakh. And guess what? Armenia is planning to have a referendum. So Armenia has indeed planned to hold a referendum on its constitution in 2027, the draft of which should be ready in June of 2026 before Armenia's next general

election. By the time the referendum takes place though, Aliyev's continued demands and hostile language will foment tension in Armenia that may discourage passage. So first of all, this signing was not for a peace treaty, it was just an agreement that they're gonna work toward peace, which is good, you want that, but the way that it's kind of being marketed in American media and by the Trump administration would have you believe that they're like buddy, buddy already and everything's great, it's not great. As you can see, actually signing a peace deal is going to take at least a few more years and there's still a lot of obstacles standing in the way. Plus, securing the referendum that Aliyev demands, right, to change the Armenian constitution

would require the support of 800,000 Armenians, which obviously is not going to be easy. Now look, the final thing I'll say about this is I would love for genuine peace and good economic relationships to like blossom in that region, in that part of the world. I would love for the border with Turkey and Azerbaijan to open for trade relations to actually be established. It would be wonderful. But the problem is the lack of respect for sovereignty for Armenia's territory. And the reason why the United States is involved in this is yes, they stand to benefit from the trade that is likely going to happen through that corridor.

There's no question about it. Armenia would also earn some interest, right? Some money from the trade that passes through that corridor, which is a great sign. It's just that I don't trust the parties involved. And the reason why the U.S. is also involved in this is they want to choke off Iran and also lessen the influence of Russia in the South Caucasus. So why do they want to do that? Well, for obvious reasons, Iran is a foe of Israel's and the U.S. loves to do Israel's dirty work. And remember, Russia is an ally of Iran. So weakening Russia would further weaken Iran. And it would also pave the way for a regime change war, which is what Israel desperately wants.

All of these things are connected. And in the middle of all of it is a tiny little country that is surrounded by its enemies. And that country, of course, is Armenia. So it doesn't have a lot of leverage. It doesn't have a lot of great options. And in a perfect world, if you believe in magical thinking, oh yeah, they're totally going to sign a, you know, peace deal, trade relations will be wonderful. and everyone will benefit. But that really does remain to be seen.

So I'll stay on the story. I'll see how this develops and I'll give you some updates. But right now, honestly, there's a lack of trust that's guiding my feelings on how this is developing. All right, we got to take a break when we come back. We've got a lot more to get to. Don't miss it. Grab a coffee and discover Vegas level excitement. with BetMGM Casino, now introducing our hottest exclusive, Friends, the One with Multi-Drop.

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play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConEx Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Just Jim writes in in our member section, and we actually agree more than you think. So the comment is I truly understand why Anna with her Armenian heritage thinks this issue has importance. What does this have to do with the United States when we are under attack daily by an autocratic oligarchy? I actually would prefer for the United States not to be involved. I don't trust the United States government on this issue at all. So yeah, I would

I would rather have Trump not metal in this, but at the same time, you know, there is a real threat to Armenia's sovereignty. And I think an ally ship with a different country would have been better. But anyway, I don't want to get into that right now. Let's get to Israel actually, because Anthony Blinken, former Secretary of State has some interesting takes on whether or not Palestinian should be granted. Statehood, let's get into it. Could you have done more to stop what's now turned into, I mean, a slaughter?

Well, Christian, I think there's a larger dynamic that you have to take into account, because what were we trying to do? We're trying to get to an enduring solution that ended the horrific suffering of people on all sides, and especially in all the days since October 7th, Palestinians in Gaza. The ultimate defeat of Hamas actually is the realization of Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. Well, the clown you just heard from is Anthony Blinken, one of the key architects of former President Joe Biden's disastrous policy toward Israel and Gaza. He's now arguing that now is not the time to be thinking about a sovereign Palestinian state.

Wow, I'm shocked and chagrin that he would have that take, especially as someone who used to run a think tank that very clearly served the best interests of Israel. Wow, what a surprise. Now, he makes the argument in a new Wall Street journal opinion piece titled Recognizing a Palestinian State is a rebuke to Hamas, but France, Canada, and the UK are doing it too hastily. I'm in favor. I'm in favor of Palestinian statehood. Really, really, I really mean it.

It's just that now is not the time. Okay. So as you can already tell, he tries to kind of play both. sides, pretending to applaud the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state. He's full of crap, I want to be clear about that. Let's not waste time pretending like we take him seriously on this at all. But simultaneously, he's saying it's just not the right thing to do this moment in time. It's just about the timing, just about the timing.

Okay, he writes, the decision by France, the UK, Canada, and Australia to recognize a Palestinian state in September is morally right and reflects a global, consensus. More than 140 countries agree that the Palestinian people are entitled to self-determination alongside a secure deal. So that sounds good, like we could agree, but then he argues this. Yet with the Gaza crisis still unfolding, he means the genocide, the genocide that's still unfolding. This focus on recognition seems totally beside the more pressing realities. Amid the suffering of Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages, the Israelis and Israel's announced plan to occupy all or part of the enclave, averting famine, recovering the hostages,

and ending the conflict in Gaza are the priorities. Talk of two states can wait. How do you, okay, so how do you, in literally the same paragraph, argue, you know, we really need to be worried about Israel wanting to occupy the whole of the Gaza Strip. So let's deal with the famine and worry about Palestinian statehood later. No, first of all, the way the Biden administration handled this, and we all know Biden's brain was melting. So who knows how many decisions he himself made as it pertains to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which Anthony Blinken, in my opinion, ensured Trump would inherit, inherit, and he has inherited that issue. And now he's even worse on the Gaza Strip,

obviously. He's essentially like bowing before Netanyahu and the Israeli government and letting them do whatever they want, including the occupation of that territory, that Palestinian territory. This guy is a complete and utter fool, a clown, okay? And he is hiding his ball here. He's hiding the big bias he has in that he's done business on behalf of the Israelis. And that really did inform his decision making as he was serving in the Biden administration. And by the way, the Wall Street Journal is firmly up Israel's ass, especially the editorial board. So it doesn't surprise me that the Wall Street Journal happens to be the place where Anthony Blinken publishes this like just grotesque opinion piece about how the Palestinian people

totally do deserve statehood and self-determination, but now is not the time. Remember, this is the same scumback. Again, I'm gonna remind you all that ran that think tank called West Exec Partners, which again served Israeli interest prior to joining the Biden administration. Now he continues recognizing a Palestinian state at the appropriate time and in the appropriate way, however, could help enable Israel's departure from Gaza and accelerate the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which many Israelis desire, I'm sure they do. Now this is a low bar to clear, but to be fair to Blinken, he does also argue against Israeli occupation of Gaza. He doesn't mean it if you ask

me. He says it's unlikely to free the remaining hostages. So he's concerned about the hostages. He's not really that worried about all the children that are being slaughtered on the Palestinian side. But nonetheless, he writes that Israel has failed to develop a plan to withdraw from Gaza and prevent Hamas from taking over again. Hamas has continued to recruit significant numbers of new militants. I wonder why, Anthony? I wonder why Hamas is having such an easy time recruiting more people. Could it be that, you know, when you have every member of your family slaughtered, when your home's been bombed, when your entire territory has been leveled by the Israelis, you might want to fight back. It's a great recruiting tool for terrorist groups.

Israeli occupation could perpetuate the misery of innocent Palestinians and be a recipe for an enduring insurgency that bleeds Israel militarily and morally. I mean, we're having a conversation about bleeding Israel morally. What morality are we talking about here? They're committing a genocide. And they're also reigning terror on Palestinians in the West Bank, which had nothing to do with Hamas. It's a land grab. And Netanyahu has announced that he's announced it himself. The prime minister of Israel has announced that this is part of the Greater Israel Project. Something that I've been warning about. Everyone thinks that you're an anti-Semite if you warn about it.

But the prime minister of Israel has said it out loud. So what now? Then he says that once the current crisis subsides, that's when forming a Palestinian state with the aid of other Arab countries who, by the way, have done Jack to help the Palestinian people, becomes, you know, necessary. Unconditionally recognizing Palestine won't produce a Palestinian state or end suffering in Gaza, failing to require that Palestinians commit to steps to ensure Israel's security in return

for recognition would fortify proponents of terror on the Palestinian side and rejections or rejectionist of Palestinian statehood on the Israeli side. You want to talk about Israelis or Israel security, the country that has nukes, the country that told its own IDF soldiers to stand down As Hamas had invaded the country and started slaughtering people, Israel, the same government, by the way, that had intel on Hamas's planned attack a year in advance, chose to ignore it, and then two weeks prior to the attack, they had additional documentation showing that Hamas intended to kidnap hostages, and they didn't do anything about that either.

Strange, right? We're talking about Israel's security. I think Israel considering all the weaponry, both defensive and offensive that we send over to them, can defend itself totally fine. You know, that secret nuclear program that they have, they do have it. So we're talking about their security, their security. Okay, what kind of military do the Palestinians have? What kind of weaponry do the Palestinians have?

What about the Palestinian security? Do they get an Iron Dome paid for the American, paid for by the American taxpayer, which we're doing for Israel? You're talking about Israel security. This government is a joke. The American government is a joke, totally subservient to a foreign country, and that's Israel. Pathetic. He continues to write that there's a better way forward.

France, the UK, Canada, and Australia should adopt and the US should embrace a time-backed. conditions-based path forward, recognizing a Palestinian state, start and end points are a must because no one will accept an endless process. Palestinians need a clear and near horizon for political self-determination. While Palestinians have a right to self-determination, with that right comes responsibility. I can't, I can't, this guy, with that right comes responsibility. But what about responsibility for the Israelis? Is there ever going to be any accountability for the Israelis? Ever?

We're talking about accountability for the Palestinians who are currently being slaughtered thanks to our weapons. A genocide that could have been ended, by the way, if the Biden administration was willing to use its leverage, withhold weaponry until Israel pulls out of Gaza. But they were unwilling to do that, right? because no accountability for Israel, but we're already having conversations about accountability for the Palestinian people if they want self-determination.

He's not serious about self-determination. That's the truth. So let's not waste time pretending like Anthony Blinken, who was the real decision maker on foreign policy, has any interest in the self-determination of the Palestinian people. It's complete and utter garbage, he's a liar. Now he lands on three years as the appropriate time frame for Palestinians to meet those conditions and show,

let's actually go back to the last graphic so you know what the conditions are. So while Palestinians have a right to self-determination, with that right comes responsibility. No one should expect Israel to accept a Palestinian state that is led by Hamas or other terrorists that is militarized or has independent armed militias that aligns with Iran or others that reject Israel's right to exist,

that educates and preaches hatred for Jews or Israel or that unreformed becomes a failed stake. Do you want to talk about the hatred that's spewed by Israelis? The hatred that they're brainwashed into believing? Because, I mean, there's endless videos of them literally talking about how they think it's okay for every single child to starve to death in Palestine. I'm not even kidding. Polling indicates that upward of 80% of Israelis. Ralees are totally in favor of what's been going on in Gaza. That's what the polling says. Yes, there's some, there's some protests that take place, you know, particularly when it

comes to the family members of the hostages, because they don't want the hostages to be killed. But I don't know if they care about the lives of the children that are being slaughtered right now in Gaza. That's not what they're talking about. So you want to talk about hate campaigns, you want to talk about demilitarizing Gaza. Okay, so you're going to have Israel, an enemy of the Palestinian people, nuked up, armed up, they've got the IDF, they've got Mossad, and then you're not going to allow the Palestinian people to have any line of defense or allies, really.

He doesn't want the Palestinian people to have their own state. He is a liar. He puts a pretty little American white face on the biggest lie that you'll hear from the American government. That's just the truth. That's just the truth. The Israelis just say it out loud. They just say, we're going to take the land. We want the land. We're going to occupy the land. We're going to expand even further. It's all part of the Greater Israel Project, which is literally in Lakud's charter and has been from the river to the sea. but no accountability for them. And now is not the right time for the Palestinian people to have their own state.

He concludes by saying that because Hamas has historically fought against a two state solution, as if Israel hasn't? Literally, since Netanyahu was in his 20s, there's videos of him talking about how he does not believe the Palestinian people have a right to self-determination. But let's talk about how the Palestinians don't believe in it. Or Hamas doesn't, far from rewarding Hamas, as some Israelis content, embracing a time-bound conditions-based recognition of Palestine would be the ultimate rebuke to its agenda of death and destruction.

And it would finally put Israelis and Palestinians on the path to enduring, peaceful, and secure coexistence. And really, this argument is nothing new. The official policy of the Biden administration was always a two-state solution. But in reality, they were submissive to Netanyahu, like little bitches, and the Israeli government's wishes, continuing to send them military aid unabated. He certified to Congress that Israel wasn't blocking humanitarian aid in Gaza. That's what Anthony Blinken did.

which by the way, of course, actual aid groups disputed, and we know the truth about. Blinken also oversaw the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, and that's very relevant because that delegation vetoed four security council resolutions that would have called for a ceasefire in Gaza. But in his interview with Christian Amampur a few months back, Blinken insisted, insisted that behind closed doors, he and Biden, you know, the Biden administration really did stand up to Israel. They were really tough guys. It's just that you guys didn't get to see it. Let's take a look. We believe very strongly that the way to get this to stop, again, in a way that answered Israel's security needs and that answered the human needs of Palestinians, was through this hostage and ceasefire agreement. But there were several impediments to getting there. Two of those impediments were Hamas's belief that if, if,

If there was daylight, if there was division publicly between the United States and Israel, if that manifested itself as well as other countries in Israel, then it could sit, wait, bite its time, and get the best possible deal way down the road. And so what was said sometimes privately versus what was advertised publicly, yeah, could be very different because we didn't want to play into this dynamic where Hamas was looking for these divisions as a way of extending what it was doing in Gaza. you're actually making these decisions. When you're thinking about what you're saying in private versus what you're stating in public, you have to keep all of that in mind if you want to get

the result. Now, we should have probably had that the ceasefire hostage deal many, many months before we did. Here's what the truth is. Israel cats went on the record, made abundantly clear that the Israelis faced absolutely no pressure to end the hostilities to sign a cease fire deal. No pressure from the Biden administration. That's the reality. I believe them. Here's the thing about the Israelis. I guess I could give them a credit for one thing. They're very public, open and honest about how loathsome they are. Here in America, though, our politicians love to lie to our faces and tell us that they're really tough guys that are fighting for the right things. Anthony Blinken, furthest thing from an American figure who's fighting for justice anywhere

in the world. He's fighting for his own pocketbook, for his own power, and he's absolutely pathetic. And so is the Wall Street Journal for publishing this slop. But hey, you know what? I believe in the freedom to make your voice heard. And this is Anthony Blinken's voice. A liar, a cheat, someone who allowed Donald Trump to inherit a genocide in Gaza. And who knows at this point, How many innocent people have been slaughtered in Gaza as a result of it? I hope the checks cleared, Anthony. You're disgusting. Let's take a break.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to the show, everyone. With you two quick super chats before we move on to our next topic. We have 0.0083 who says, Anna, remember Netanyahu helped fund and create Hamas so the Palestinians couldn't get a country. You're right about that. Thank you for the reminder. And Rage Rock for now says, actually, I hope that blinking checks don't clear. I hear you on that. I mean, obviously, I hope for the same thing. But something tells me the checks have already cleared. And that's his, you know, guiding influence when it comes to this ongoing genocide. Speaking of this ongoing genocide, let's talk a little bit about this.

It's the most intense, traumatic experience. I don't think any physician can understand. I would say take the most experienced trauma surgeon, you know, in Baltimore, which is like one of the biggest trauma centers in America, and put them in Gaza. And it's like child's play compared to what's going on in Gaza. You're talking about like an influx of like 400 patients in like four hours with 30 casualties on arrival, 30 headshots on arrival, 30 critical mass shots on arrival. And then like everything in between women, children, elderly men, young boys. And it's just like, what, how the heck do you triage all this? And that was every day, man.

This week, Theo Vaughn interviewed Dr. Aziz Rahman, who is actually a doctor from Wisconsin. who decided to volunteer, risk his life, and go on this two-week mission to Gaza in order to provide medical aid to the Palestinian people. And he witnessed some pretty devastating events that I think is important to hear about, especially now that Israel has made a point to slaughter as many journalists on the ground as possible to cover up its war crimes. Now, he was stationed at Nassar Hospital, which actually happens to be the last functioning hospital in Gaza. And he's an interventional radiologist. I had no idea what that was

until I listened to this conversation. And as he explains it, interventional radiologists use image guidance to perform minimally invasive procedures. Okay. So the interview lasted for almost two hours. It was fascinating. I highly recommend you listen to it if you if you can. We'll include a link in the description box. So in the interest of time, though, we're going to show you some highlights. I wish I can talk about the whole conversation because it was so incredible. First, we should warn you, though, his stories are pretty graphic, just horrific, hard to hear or listen to, I should say. And early on in the interview, he explained the sheer volume of patients who were injured or killed at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,

those aid sites that have been referred to as essentially death traps. So let's take a look at what he had to say about it. The first day we got there was actually pretty chill the Friday. But then the Saturday they had the MCI. It's called a mass casualty incident. And they basically pull a fire alarm. I was like, what hell is that? Oh, every doctor come down to the ER to try to help.

So I was like, okay. So went downstairs, got in there. It's just like brain matter coming out of people. there's guts coming out of people's abdomens. There's people's legs blown off and someone's carrying it in next to the one of the family members bringing it in for the doctors and they think you can just reattach it.

That's when reality hit. And I was like, okay, this must be like a one-off. And it just kept happening every day. And sometimes multiple times a day. Essentially basically we found the pattern related to when the GHF sites were opening up. So

it gets worse, believe it or not. But before we get to more of what he has to say, I want to just kind of take a quick detour to discuss Theo Vaughn as the person who hosts this podcast, the person who is hosting this guest, this American doctor who went to Gaza on his podcast. You know, I can tell by listening to the full episode that he's been attacked for daring to speak out against the genocide in Gaza. I don't know if he's ever going to hear this or watch this, but I just want to let him know, you are in the right. Like Theo Vaughn is seeing, he's a normal person. He's not a political person, right? But he sees what's happening in Gaza and he recognizes how wrong it is because he's a human

being who values human life. Much like Americans, myself included, were horrified at the atrocities committed against civilians in Israel on October 7th, when you see similar or worse atrocities being committed against the Palestinian people, obviously you're also going to be horrified by it, disgusted by it. You're going to want to speak out against it. And Theo Vaughn, since he's not a political person, feels, I can tell, he has like this lack of confidence in speaking out, but he speaks out to the best of his ability. And he's inviting experts, he's inviting this doctor on to provide a voice for the Palestinian people to provide a perspective on what's going on on the ground in

Gaza. And for that, he deserves, in my opinion, a tremendous amount of respect. So I thank him for speaking out and I thank him for having this doctor on. And more importantly, I really do value these American doctors who are risking their lives to provide medical aid in Gaza. It is so selfless and it's so wonderful and it makes me, when I think about being proud to be American, I don't think about our government, to be honest with you. I think about our people. And I think that Dr. Aziz Rahman represents the best of us. So with that in mind, he explains that some of Gazans feel so broken, so depressed,

that they intentionally go to the Gaza humanitarian foundation aid sites knowing what is likely to happen. So take a look. In Islam, suicide is forbidden, right? But the situation there where almost everyone is depressed is that some people who have lost everything, their families, their kids almost want to die. so they will, they'll go to GHF, kind of hoping they'll die. Going to these food lines and these. They're just hoping they get shot. Because the statistics are there.

Like, you know, you're seeing 100 dead every day and like 300 injured every day. Like it's almost consistent for the last month or two. That's really depressing. And honestly, of course, there are Palestinians who are so desperate for food that they'll risk getting shot. Like they don't want to die. They'll risk getting shot by going to these. GHF aid hubs, but to know that they expect to get shot at and some of them just they can't

take it anymore and want to die but don't want to take their own lives because of their religion and what their religion entails is just so utterly devastating. And again, brings me a lot of shame as an American that our government is aiding and abetting what Israel is doing right now. Now, he didn't just see patients from these GHF sites, you know, coming into the hospitals. So here's his story of a little girl with a very suspicious injury. Take a look. Well, I asked this one girl, like, what were you doing through the family? Because I don't speak Arabic, so we were using translators. And she's like, oh, I was just sitting in my tent reading the Quran, which is like the holy book, like reading the Bible, right?

And this quadcopter just shot through the tent and here I am, you know, and you know there's some weirdness going on when a bullet goes from up to down, you know? Like people usually get shot from forward to back, right? From up to down, it's sitting in a tent is very strange. So, you know, there's some people who are suspicious about quadcopter shooting middle of tents, which is in the green zone, the safe zone where civilians live. But it's almost every day we are hearing of civilians, girls, boys being shot by quadruly. podcopters? Yeah, I don't, I'm personally not going to beat around the bush at all. Why would I do that at this point?

Yeah, the IDF is intentionally slaughtering people, including children. Like why, I mean, look, I have utmost respect for Dr. Rahman, but for all intents and purposes, they are intentionally killing people. I mean, the ship of giving Israel the benefit of the doubt has sailed long, long time ago. So for me, no, that gunshot wound isn't suspicious, that gunshot wound represents the intentional slaughter of the Palestinian people, including literal children. So I want to end on a little bit of hopium here, because the doctor told many, you know, other very heavy stories that unfortunately we don't have the time to delve into, but it is

worth watching him explain what made him want to risk his life to provide medical aid in Gaza. Take a look. Myself coming home from work, you know, after a good day's work, which is unhappy. You know, I was just like, man, like, there's kids dying out there, you know. I'm taking care of these adults, you know, with alcoholic cirrhosis, you know, they made these decisions to their liver, for example. Yeah. You know, but these kids, they are innocent, right?

And so, and then I come home and see my children running up to me asking me to pay video games with them, watch TV, have some snacks. I'm saying, this dichotomy is so hard to like reconcile. And so when I got this invitation, it was almost like this opportunity to like decompress if that makes any sense in the war zone. And it is weird, right? It's like a paradox. Like, why the hell would you decompress in a war zone? But I almost needed to do something with my hands. I actually wrote some letters to my kids before I left.

I was like, I don't know if I'm coming back. I had I had the hope I would come back. Yeah, you know, anything could have happened. You've got an amazing wife and an amazing family. Honestly, I want to believe that if I were married to a doctor, I would be okay with him risking his life to do what Dr. Rahman did. I mean, they've got children, you know. I don't know.

I just think it takes an incredibly strong person. person to do this and a lot of the doctors who go to Gaza are in fact married, do have children. And they they risk their lives anyway because they genuinely believe in providing medical aid to these people who are being, you know, a persecuted, slaughtered, maimed by the IDF. And to me that that demonstrates not just kindness, but like this human spirit that I really really, really value among the doctors, of course, but also the family members who give them their blessings to go do what they did, to do what Dr. Rahman did. So I love his wife, and I'm just so grateful.

Like, these are Americans, like, these are the Americans that make me freaking proud to be an American. I'm going to skip ahead to the very last video here because he did explain how the Gossans wanted him to help after he left the territory. So let's take a look at what they had to say. I asked many people before I left. I was like, what do you want me to do? You know, and everyone basically says, like, don't stop talking.

Like, just speak about us as much as you can. And then the other thing, which I found really humbling, was tell people that we are humans. Like, that's the little demand that they expect of the world. You'd be surprised. If you went to Gaza and you told people, hey, I spoke up, you are better than, the rest of humanity to them. That's all they want. They just want you to speak up.

They're not expecting you and I to save the day. They're not expecting you and I to get rid of the bombs and the drones and the tanks. They just want us to be a voice, like you said before, and try to convince who we can, whether it be our family, our friends, that these people are human. They're not all Hamas, okay? And they deserve to live. They deserve to be educated. They deserve to have fun, smile, to see their kids grow.

So in America, we don't really have much of a choice in regard to making political decisions or voting for politicians who are going to do the right thing. Both parties are completely captured by the Israel lobby. And so as American citizens who sometimes feel incredibly powerless when it comes to situations like this, it's good to know that there's at least something we can do. And so if you're bothered by what's going on and you've felt uncomfortable speaking out, well, I mean, you can take your power back by speaking out. And that's one of the things that Theo Vaughan has done, even though he doesn't feel confident doing it.

And that's why he has my respect. And I get it. It's risky. I mean, I've dealt with the threats. I've dealt with all sorts of really, really scary situations lately because of the fact that I've been speaking out. So I'm not going to, you know, look down. at people who just don't want to. They feel uncomfortable to. But if you do want to take your power back, if you do want to do something, please speak out. And I know it's random to mention

her, but I can't help it. Shout out to Ms. Rachel, because she is such a badass, considering how she's become a target of the Israelis and she still speaks out anyway, that woman is an American hero. Another person that makes me proud to be an American. So we're going to do what we can here at TYT. We're going to continue shedding light on these stories and the plight of the Palestinian people. And thank you to everyone who's been supportive of that effort. We got to take a break. Jank Uger joins us for the second hour when we come back.