The Young Turks - Protests & Posters

Episode Date: November 2, 2023

Watch: Protesters calling for cease-fire in Gaza disrupt Senate hearing over Israel aid. Biden’s conspiracy theory about Gaza's casualty numbers unravels upon inspection. Biden’s Gaza stance spurs a stunning drop in Arab American support. Cornell student charged with threatening to massacre Jewish students. Trump supporters share what they would say to Biden. HOSTS: Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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. Woo! It's up! What's up you find people? What's up, you find people?

I'm your host, Anna Casparian, and we have a fantastic and giant show ahead for you today. In the second hour, Helen Hong will be joining me to cover all sorts of topics, including the topic of how Zoom meetings, according to recent studies, are bad for your brain. I'm not kidding, we've got the receipts. We're also going to talk about how mortgage lending companies are doing so poorly with the high interest rates of the Federal Reserve has maintained, that they're now hitting up their old employees in an attempt to claw back bonuses that they had paid them. I can't wait to share that story with you and more. So in the first hour, of course, we're going to cover the latest in regard to the war in Gaza.

And I just want to encourage you all, if you can, please help support the show. That topic specifically is an important topic to cover. We're going to continue covering it. But a lot of those videos, a lot of that content, because of the terrible violence involved in that story, end up getting demonetized. And so we got to be able to keep this place afloat. And the way we do it is through our members. We do it through the wonderful, generous people who send in their super chats during the live show. And look, totally understand if you have nothing to spare, times are definitely tough for a lot of Americans.

But you can help support the show for free by liking and sharing the stream if you're watching us on YouTube. So hit that like button. Subscribe if you haven't already. And if you'd like to become a member, you can do so by click. on that join button or going to tyt.com slash join. Now without further ado, let's get to our first story. Not in the face of an intensifying strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific and around the world. The witness will suspend and I ask everyone again respect this hearing.

We will suspend until the room is put. Is calling for a ceasefire. Shame on you all! The world is calling for. It's fired. The American people don't want to support this brutal war. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was protested repeatedly by peace activists as he was asking the American people to provide tens of billions of dollars in additional war funding for Israel. As Israel continues its siege on Gaza, and as Palestinian civilian casualties explode to devastating numbers,

each and every day, rage is growing toward the United States and its unwavering support for the Israeli defense forces brutality. You can see here, the hearings are being interrupted by protesters. The hands are covered with some type of red material, perhaps presumably indicating blood on hands for what is happening in the Middle East. Three thousand five hundred kids dead. Come on, I'm an army colonel, I'm a former diplomat, I resigned on that war in Iraq that you talked about. That was a terrible thing in what we're doing right now.

And supporting Israel's genocide of Gaza is a terrible thing too. Palestinians aren't animals. The committee will suspend, and I again ask that those in the audience respect the people in the room and allow us to continue the hearing. The hearing will suspend until the disruption is removed. Now, cease fire now. They're going to win. The Palestinian to Mexico, all the walls are back to go on the hearing on the charge of crowding and obstructing.

Some of the protesters who took part in the demonstrations were with Code Pink, which is also called for the United States to stop sending arms to Ukraine. And it turns out that they have bipartisan company, because believe it or not, Republican Congressman Thomas Massey from Kentucky declared that he does not support sending military funding to Israel because we, quote, shouldn't be funding other countries' wars, end quote. And he said this despite bullying from APAC. In an ex post, Massey argued that if Congress sends $14.5 billion to Israel, on average, will be taking about $100 from every working person in the United States. This will be extracted through inflation and taxes. And then he says, I'm against it. Now, after Massey joined House progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan

Omar and Rashida Dilip to reject military support for Israel through House Resolution 771, A-PAC attacked him. But guess what? He didn't waffle. Looks like Republicans are a little stronger than Democrats. Massey says that A-Pak always gets mad when I put America first. I won't be voting for their $14-plus billion shakedown of American taxpayers either. The resolution passed anyway, though, 412 to 10. But APEC tried to intimidate Massey one last time, arguing that he had accused American supportive of Israel of dual loyalty to Israel, which of course he didn't do. I'm happy to share that that tactic didn't work on Massey either.

He says this baseless smear is meant to intimidate me into voting to send 14 plus billion dollars of your money to a foreign country. Please let APAC know we are broke and these tactics don't work on this congressman. That's incredibly strong. Now Massey has condemned the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, but he said he also opposes the resolution because it calls for sanctions, which he does not support. In addition, the resolution included foreign aid commitments, which he is also not in favor of. The $14.3 billion aid package for Israel would include $1.2 billion for the development of the iron beam defense system and $4 billion for Israel's Iron Dome and David's sling defense systems. So I have no problem with providing some funding for the defense systems.

But in other words, the bulk of that military aid to Israel would actually be offensive weaponry with just 5.2 billion of the 14.3 billion. allocated toward defense systems. Now Massey deserves a world of credit for basically taking a stance and going as far as joining progressives in Congress to do it. And it is deeply immoral to provide weapons to Israel with no strings attached. More than 8,500 civilians have been killed due to the IDF's bombardment. The northern half of the strip has been told to evacuate their homes and go to the south, where they were told they'd be safe.

Now, this, of course, has displaced more than a million people, but the IDF continues to bomb the South anyway. They have admitted as such. Israel has also continued its blockade of desperately needed fuel into Gaza, so hospitals can power their equipment and keep wounded Palestinians alive. Humanitarian aid is severely restricted by Israel and was completely blocked for weeks denying Palestinians food and water. The White House supports this in our name.

They expect us to fund this brutality. I just want to ask, are we really okay with that? And I want to go back to Anthony Blinken's statement to the Senate Appropriations Committee because I do find it incredible how often the White House officials say the quiet part out loud these days. It will help country strategists into military and defense equipment that's made in America. The supplemental will make critical investments to protect the security of Americans here at home. That includes addressing the hemispheric challenge of irregular migration,

strengthening our defense industrial base to ensure our military continues to be ready, capable, and the best-equipped fighting force in the world, and that we remain the arsenal for democracy. More than 50 billion of the security systems funding will replenish U.S. military stocks, strengthen our defense industrial base, and will be spent through American businesses. Spent through American businesses. Arsenal of democracy sure sounds Orwellian given the context in which he made those statements. It's also clear that U.S. business interests are top of mind for these war fiends.

Consider the profits enjoyed by American defense contractors. as a result of America's preemptive war in Iraq. The following numbers actually comes from a March 2013 analysis. So with that in mind, by 2013, an analysis by the Financial Times revealed the top 10 contractors secured business worth at least $72 billion between them. None has benefited more than KBR, once known as Kellogg, Brown, and Root, according to the F.T. The controversial former subsidiary of Halliburton was once run by Dick Cheney, who of course was the vice president to George W. Bush. KBR was awarded at least $39.5 billion in federal contracts related to the Iraq war in the first 10 years of the conflict.

Blood money, which is probably why the demonstrators at the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing used a red substance, paint likely, on the palms of their hands to illustrate how the United States government has blood on its hands. Now I want to move on to another story, because as we continue covering what's happening in Gaza, obviously day by day, the death toll of Palestinian civilians increases. And there's been this ongoing trend of denialism in regard to the number of people who have lost their lives, innocent civilians who have lost their lives. And I'm ready to pour cold water on these ridiculous conspiracy theories, including the one you're about to hear from our own president, Joe Biden.

I'm sure innocents have been killed. And it's a price of waging a war. I think we should be incredibly careful. I think when not we, Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they're focusing on going after the folks that are propagating this war against Israel. And it's against their interest when that doesn't happen. But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using. No confidence in the numbers the Palestinians are using.

So as the civilian death toll in Gaza surpassed 7,000 people on October 25th, President Joe Biden suggested that Israel and the American people should be skeptical of the numbers and argued that the source of this information, the Palestinian health ministry, cannot be trusted. Biden, along with the far-right Israeli government that is carrying out the atrocities in Gaza, argue that the health ministry is controlled by terrorist group Hamas, and as a result, the numbers are likely inflated. Now, never mind the fact that Biden's own state department has cited the casualty figures put out by the Palestinian Health Ministry. Huff Post reviewed nearly 20 State Department situation reports starting on October 8th,

which of course was the day after Hamas carried out its brutal and devastating terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. And that killed 1,400 people. As Huff Post makes clear, these situation reports represent U.S. assessments from the ground that inform policy decisions and decision making in Washington. In other words, the State Department not only cites these very figures that include insanely high civilian casualties, they make policy decisions that result in the United States green lighting what Israel is currently doing. Huff Post analysis found the following.

In at least 12 instances, U.S. Embassy officials attributed the number of Palestinian casualties to the Hamas linked health ministry in Gaza, including in the report provided two State Department colleagues on October 25th, just hours before Biden's remarks. In one instance in which a situation report questioned the accuracy of figures from the Gaza ministry on October 21st, the American official drafting the note wrote of the number of Gazans killed or injured the previous day. The numbers are likely much higher, according to the UN and NGOs reporting on the situation. So there's good reason why the State Department cites and relies on these numbers.

Historically speaking, they've been relatively accurate. Toby Fricker, the United Nations who's with the United Nations Children's Fund, spoke to German outlet Deutsche Vela, DW, to make the case. And before we go to his video, keep in mind that Catherine Russell, who's the head of UNICEF, says that more than 3,000 children have already been killed in just three weeks, with another 400 children dying every single day in Gaza. Now, with that in mind, let's hear what another UNICEF official has to say. The numbers of children killed, the numbers of children injured inside the Gaza Strip are extraordinary.

Now, these numbers come from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. And UNICEF also has our own sources on the ground. We have staff on the ground, partners on the ground, to look into the numbers as we always do. And I'd just say that in past, like in 2014, for example, when there was an escalation, the UN then verifies numbers. We can't do that in real time, of course, for obvious reasons. But we verify numbers.

And when we've done that before in similar situations, or not at this scale, the numbers have been very, very similar. And it's not just UNICEF that's pushing back on Biden's regurgitated IDF talking points either. The Associated Press noted that the Ministry of Health figures from previous conflicts have broadly matched the numbers arrived at both the Israeli government and the United Nations. And the State Department itself has long considered the numbers reliable, which really does beg the question, why did Biden lie to us? But let me continue.

The Gaza Ministry of Health responded by publishing a list of names of 6,747 people who had died as of October 26th since the bombing campaign began, including 2,664 children. The list included 2,665 children, but the intercept found that one 14-year-old boy was listed twice, bringing its total down to 6,746. Otherwise, the list does not contain duplicates. And look, even though there were names provided, apparently that was not good enough for John Kirby. That's Biden's National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication, even though his strategic communication sucks balls. He made this shameful statement during a press conference following the release of the list of names. Take a look. Well, we all know that the Ghazan Ministry of Health is just a front for Hamas.

It's run by Hamas, a terrorist organization. I've said it myself up here. We can't take anything coming out of Hamas, including the so-called Ministry of Health at face value. What we're saying is that we shouldn't rely on numbers put forth by Hamas and the Ministry of Health. So they say it's more than 7,000. Is there any way to assess how many it is? I mean, the president said it was a pretty dramatic moment when he said, yeah, we don't have any confidence of that.

We respect that you can't take Hamas at its word, but it does appear by all independent journalism, including that by a lot of people in the room, that thousands of Palestinians have been killed. We would not dispute that. Does the President have fake in the numbers released by the West Bank Ministry of Health, which is run by Palestinian authorities,

that says there's been more than 100 West Bank Palestinians killed by what President called it from Mr. I know of no dispute with the rough numbers coming out of there. Either we know that there's still, there's been quite a bit of violence in the West Bank as well. Obviously, the casualties are nowhere near the numbers that we're seeing coming out of Gaza. And just today, Kirby was actually confronted by a reporter who lost members of his own family in the war. Take a look at this. Thousands of Palestinian civilians have fallen so far, including 160 of my own relatives.

And I'm just wondering, how many Palestinian civilians need to be killed? before the United States called for a ceasefire. First of all, my condolences to you and your family. Are you in touch with some? Well, not as much as I can. Not as much as you'd like to be, yeah. But I'm very sorry to hear that. I'm very sorry to hear that.

And so I can see this is obviously personal for you. In terms of a ceasefire, our concern with that is that Hamas benefits. Just go right back to regurgitating your talking points points after a reporter disclosed to the world that 160 of his own family members gone, dead, wiped out by the IDF. Okay, oh, are you able to be in touch with, Kirby realized halfway through his response, oh, you probably aren't able to get in touch with 160 of your family members who have died as a result of the IDF's brutality in Gaza, which has complete

disregard for the lives of innocent civilians. And by the way, Kirby isn't just ignoring the sound analysis of humanitarian groups that are on the ground, who tend to corroborate the numbers reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. He also decides to discredit journalists who have done their own analysis. Ryan Grimm and Prem Thacker at The Intercept took a look at the list of names released by the health ministry. And here's what they found. Prior to the, the release of the list, Maram al-Dada, a Palestinian who was born and raised in Gaza, but now lives in Orlando, Florida, had told the intercept about the deaths of seven relatives on his father's side of the family, and 30 on his mother's side, and in and around Con Unis.

Now, a week later, the number had risen to 46 total. The intercept then went on and compared the list of his relatives to the list released by the Palestinian Health Ministry. The list of those killed includes four different last names, 30 members of one branch of the family, nine from another, four from a third, and three from a fourth. Of those 46 members of Al-Dada's family, so far lost in the war, 43 appear on the list from the littlest, a baby girl not yet one, to the oldest, a 71 year old grandmother. In other words, the list put out by the health ministry was an undercount, not an overcount, not an inflation of civilian deaths.

These numbers and the details of the victims are so brutal and difficult to stomach. Entire families are being wiped out, and this brutality is being shrugged off by the West, as mere collateral damage. It was disgusting when the U.S. State Department referred to civilian deaths that way in our Middle East wars, and Israel really shouldn't be held to a lower standard. One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what. It's not just aging.

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arguing that the UN is failing to address what he calls a textbook case of genocide. Craig McIber is a longtime international human rights lawyer who served as director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He'd worked at the United Nations since 1992 and lived in Gaza in the 1990s. In a letter addressed to the UN High Commissioner for human rights Volker Turk. Craig McIber wrote, in Gaza, civilian homes, schools, churches, mosques, and medical institutions are wantonly attacked as thousands of civilians are massacred. In the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, homes are seized and reassigned based entirely on race and violent settler pogroms are accompanied by Israeli military units across the land

apartheid rules. Craig McIber went on to write, What's more, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe are wholly complicit in the horrific assault. And I feel a great deal of shame that we are, that the United States, in the name of the American people, has provided blanket immunity to Israel. Impunity. They can do whatever they want. There is no red line. There is nothing they can do that can convince the Biden administration to basically demand the demand a ceasefire, reconsider the strategy of just indiscriminately bombing.

Now, the UN official who quit is not the only one who's had issues with the United States and its handling of this war. After the Israeli defense forces took responsibility for bombing the Jabali refugee camp, which killed at least 50 innocent people and injured hundreds of others, Bolivia cut diplomatic ties with Israel. In addition to dissolving diplomatic ties, Maria Nella Prada, Minister of the Bolivian presidency,

said Bolivia's government demands the end of attacks in the Gaza Strip, which have so far led to thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinian people. Now, Israel responded, to be honest, the way you'd expect them to, by essentially accusing Bolivia of siding with Hamas, which is a common tactic Netanyahu's right-wing government uses to silence anyone who has any issue with the slaughter of civilians. They write that the government of Bolivia's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Israel is a

surrender to terrorism and to the Ayatollah's regime in Iran. By taking this step, the Bolivian government is aligning itself with the a mass terrorist organization, it's just absolutely pathetic. Now, Israel remains undeterred. As long as they have the support of the United States, that's going to be the case. So the IDF decided to bomb that same refugee camp again today after the outrageous initial airstrike. Chile and Colombia have decided to recall, recall their ambassadors to Israel as a result.

Obviously, the denialism surrounding the death toll is an admission. It's an admission that the flagrant disregard for human life, including the lives of literal children, is an outrageous violation of international law and deeply immoral. And while it is perfectly justified for Israel to hunt down the terrorists who raped, kidnapped, maimed, and murdered, innocent Israeli civilians on October 7th, What the Israeli defense forces are currently doing goes way beyond that. Israel is not entitled to engage in the casual and brazen slaughter of thousands of innocent people.

As of Tuesday, October 31st, at least 8,525 Palestinians have been killed and more than 21,543 injured. Israel is also not entitled to carrying out the displacement of literally millions of people. In the end, this will do nothing to keep Israeli safe as foreign policy analyst and University of Miami visiting professor Rula Jabriel notes here. The military officials are saying today, and they've been saying for weeks, that they really don't see distinction between militia and militants and civilians. And this is the huge problem because it's creating mass radicalization around the Middle East and it's triggering actors like Iran and others, militias who are now declaring war not only on Israel,

but also on the United States, as we've seen yesterday from the militias, the Houthis in Yemen. You cannot kill your way to defeating an idea. You have to address the underlying causes that feeds that idea. killing thousands and thousands of civilians, strengthening that idea. We need a ceasefire now. Anyone who calls for a ceasefire is not aligning with Hamas, is not supportive of terrorism, but rather supportive of keeping innocent civilians alive.

We got to take a break when we come back. We'll talk a little bit about the impact that Biden's handling of this war has had toward his campaign and the likelihood of him getting reelected as president of the United States. Stick around. of our new members, including Live Cleveland, Daniel Spadafora. We've got La Aloha, My Isha 89, and thank you to all who gifted memberships, including Mr. Anderson, who gifted five memberships, William Zaragoza, who gifted one, and Bronco, who gifted five TYT memberships.

Thank you for supporting the show and the work that we do here. We have a voice because of you. We would not be able to do this without you. With that said, I wanted to talk a little bit about the public's perception toward the Biden administration and its handling of the war in Gaza because it is having an impact among a specific set of voters, a specific demographic, and it is concerning for, it should be concerning for Biden, considering a lot of these voters are in swing states that he desperately needs in order to win re-election. Now, I want to be clear, I do not begrudge anyone who voted for Biden and is now turning around in. saying, nope, can't do it. I'm not going to vote for him now. And I don't begrudge those people because what is currently happening to innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip and the U.S. government's cover for that behavior and those war crimes is egregious. And anyone who has

moral issues with it, honestly, I think is correct, correct for having issues with it. So with that said, let's get to the details. Biden's unwavering support toward Israel's brutal siege of Gaza has had a pretty massive impact on his support among Arab Americans, which is something incredibly concerning for a president who just barely won in the swing states. Now a poll by the Arab American Institute shows that now just 23% of Arab Americans identify as Democrats due to Biden's handling of this war. Now, this is the first time a majority reported that they do not support Democrats

since the Institute began tracking party identification in 1996. Now, don't get a twisted. They definitely do not side with the GOP either. Those identifying as independence rose to 31% the highest it's ever been. And there are good reasons for why they just don't want to be identified as Democrats anymore. Look, we're not silly. We know that Trump has, we know what Trump has done to our communities, says Amir Tsar, the president of the Dearborn-based new generation for Palestine.

But when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he continues, the policies are basically the same, except when Trump does it, you get some pushback from the Democratic Party. You know, because the partisan squabbles are way more important than doing the right thing. If Trump wants to do something, Democrats have an issue with it. But then they'll turn around and do the same thing when they're in power. It's pretty gross. And Arab Americans are realizing that now. Now, making matters worse for Biden in his quest for electoral victory is this.

The same poll found that only 17% of Arab American voters say they will vote for Biden in 2024, for a staggering drop from 59% in 2020. Now look, Biden obviously needs to win states like Michigan in order to be the victor of the general election. But things are not looking good because of the fact that there's a massive Arab population residing in Michigan. The poll results are likely to increase concerns

among Democrats about Biden's standing with Arab Americans heading into 2024, particularly in Michigan. where roughly 277,000 Arab Americans call home and Biden won in 2020 by just 155,000 votes. So if they decide, we're gonna sit this one out. We're not gonna vote for the guy who has repeatedly justified the brutal bombardment of Gaza, which has led to thousands of innocent civilian deaths. Now, the smaller Arab population or the smaller Arab American populations in Pennsylvania and Georgia were also larger than Biden's margins of victory there.

All three states are ones Biden flipped after Trump won them in 2016. And remember, Biden's very likely to go up against Trump again. And if he needs to rely on those Arab American votes in order to win the election, things are not looking good for him. And look, it is not just Arabs who are now speaking out against Joe Biden. Zogby, a decades-long member of the Democratic National Committee, notes that the shift away from the Democratic Party among Arab Americans can be seen across the board. Among the old and the young, the naturalized citizens and the native-born Americans, as well as among Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims.

The community is feeling a certain sense of cohesion, and Joe Biden, and Israel brought them together, he says. Additionally, a data for progress poll found that 66% of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza because Americans are good people. And our government, unfortunately, increasingly is not representative of what we want. And I really hope that the global community understands that. Because as you see press conference after press conference featuring, you know, various State Department officials providing cover for Israel's brutality, I don't want anyone to make the

mistake in the global community that the United States consists of a giant population of people, the majority of whom are in favor of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip. We are not. Again, 66% want a ceasefire. And it's important to also note that conflating these Americans with anyone who has made justifications for Hamas and it's brutal and disgusting terrorist attacks is a liar. Two things can be true. You can be against what Hamas did as I am, as many people in the United States happen to be, while also seeing what the IDF is doing in the Gaza Strip and standing against

that as well. That's where I'm at for a whole host of reasons. other than the immorality of what's currently going on, long term, this is not going to keep Israel safe. And I worry about what this means for Israeli civilians in the long run. But let's get back to the polling. And more importantly, let's get back to what previous administrations did when there was fighting among Israelis and Palestinians.

Because I was pretty shocked to learn that back in 2002, George W. Bush of all people, George W. Bush, a noted war criminal, okay, actually decided to speak out against some of Israel's military operations and the high Palestinian civilian death count that resulted from some of them. So Bush issued one of the sharpest rebukes against Israel today. This is a New York Times piece from July 23rd, 2002, denouncing as heavy-handed the attack that killed a Hamas leader and expressing regret over the loss of innocent life. So I'm going to give you Ari Fleischer's statement in just a moment, but it's really important for you all, before I get to it, to keep in mind that the IDF

bombed the largest refugee camp in Gaza both yesterday and today. This was a refugee camp in Jabalya. At least 50 people have reportedly died as a result of that bomb. bombing, 50, at least, it's likely more. Keep that number in mind as I continue with these quotes. This heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace, said the president's chief spokesman, Ari Fleischer. This message will be conveyed to Israeli authorities and the United States regrets the loss of life. Already a strong statement, but get a load of this, he continues. Or actually, the New York Times continues. At least 14 other people.

people, including several children, were killed in the missile attack that killed Salah Shihade, a founder and the top commander of Hamas's military wing. Scores of others were wounded. So the Bush administration apparently had enough of a conscience to find it reprehensible and immoral for Israel to carry out a strike that apparently targeted one Hamas commander but ended up killing 14 additional Palestinian civilians. They had a problem with that. You can't even get the Biden administration to put out a single statement about the disgusting bombing of a refugee G camp both yesterday and today in Javalia.

It is amazing to me. This is the Bush administration. Like just let that sink in. But I'm not done yet. There's more. Fleischer said that the Israeli operation was a deliberate attack on the site, knowing that innocence would be lost in the consequences of the attack. They were against it.

They spoke out against it. asked how the administration could be so sure that Israel knew that civilians were in the building. You know what Ari Fleischer said? He replied, quote, these were apartment buildings that were targeted. It's really depressing to see that our government's morality devolved even further since the Bush administration. That is so incredibly depressing. And we can also give Ronald Reagan credit for his willingness to hold Israel accountable as well. And by the way, actually, real quick, let's go back to 2002. Let's go back to 2002. When Israel did what they did in taking out that Hamas commander, while also simultaneously killing 14 other innocent civilians, did

Israel feel safer after that? Did that end the war? You see how this keeps happening over and over and over and over and over again. How does this keep anyone safe? Hamas still thriving after taking out that commander in 2002, but they're going to use the same strategies over again. And we're all supposed to sit here and pretend that this is going to work. It's not going to work. Now let's get to Reagan.

In addition to not vetoing UN resolutions, which the U.S. loves to do now, by the way, Reagan took several actions that many in Israel and the United States perceived as anti-Israel. For example, on June 7th, 1981, less than six months after Reagan took office, Israel launched a surprise bombing raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osrak, and in doing so, violated the airspace of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Reagan not only supported UNSC Resolution 487, which condemned the attack, But he also criticized the raid publicly and suspended the delivery of advanced F-16 fighter jets to Israel. Kind of incredible.

I mean, these are two Republican presidents who apparently didn't have any problem with condemning some of the military missions and actions taken by the IDF. In August of 1982, I'm not done yet, obviously, when Israeli forces advanced beyond southern Lebanon and began shelling the Palestinian Liberation Organization, PLO, in Beirut, Reagan responded with an angry call to the Israeli prime minister, Menashem Began, demanding a halt to the operation. The Biden administration can't be bothered. There is no red line. We support them, no matter what they want to do, regardless of how counterproductive the military actions are, regardless of how many innocent civilian lives are lost.

All we hear is the same talking points regurgitated at us over and over again as if we're morons. Israel has a right to defend itself. Yes, true. They do have a right to defend themselves. They don't have a right to carry out ethnic cleansing, though. They don't have the right to commit war crimes. Oh, well, what could we do? You know, Hamas was using human shields.

That's not a justification to just bomb refugee camps, Moss. hospitals, churches, not an excuse. Just like it wouldn't be an excuse if our government carried out these same crimes. We spoke out against it when it was happening in the Middle East by the United States government and the military. And I'm not going to pretend as though Israel should get special treatment and we should pretend as though everything they're doing is okay because they have the right to defend themselves. No, if I'm willing to criticize my own government for carrying out war crimes, you better believe I'm going to aggressively and forcefully do the same when it comes to our allies when we're funding their war. And if that offends people, go ahead and get offended. It's apparently something I love to do here on this show.

But you're always going to get straight talk for me. And what Israel is doing is wrong. We need to ceasefire now. We got to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the disgusting anti-Semitism that's taking place here in the United States. We're going to condemn it as it should be and give you the details on what's happening. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the show, everyone.

I really wanted to make sure that we spent some time on the show to talk about something that's been bothering me for some time now, which is various anti-Semitic actions carried out here in the United States. It is unacceptable, I absolutely despise it, and it is getting violent in some cases. So with that said, let's get to the story. We will not tolerate threats or hatred. or anti-Semitism. That was New York Governor Kathy Hokel in Ithaca Monday after a post-threatening deadly violence

against Jewish Cornell students were discovered over the weekend on a website where people write reviews of fraternities and sororities. One post specifically targeted the building that houses both Cornell Center for Jewish Living and a kosher cafeteria. Do you feel safe walking across campus by yourself? I think I'm fearful. I mean, I'm going to have to go to classes, but there's always going to be, at least right now, that elements of fear in the back of my mind.

No one should be living in fear in the United States. And it disgusts me that our Jewish brothers and sisters, some of whom are disclosing that they're living in fear because of some of the anti-Semitic attacks they've been dealing with. Now, after multiple days of investigation, a Cornell student was detained and arrested yesterday for writing violent threats directed at the school's Jewish community. Now, it's part of a larger trend of growing attacks against both Jewish and Muslim Americans since the most recent violence in the Middle East. And it is devastating. It is depressing. It is not the way we should react or respond to what's currently happening in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Let me give you the details about Patrick Day. He's a 21-year-old junior from Pittsburgh, New York. He was charged with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, and that's according to federal prosecutors. Court documents show multiple posts allegedly made by him, where he used usernames like Hamas fighter, Jew evil, and glorious Hamas. Now, I want to warn you all, I'm going to read some details about what he posted. They're disgusting, difficult to read, difficult to share, and it could be triggering and graphic for some of you. But with that warning, I'm going to go ahead.

The complaint alleges that day posted threatening messages to the Cornell section of an online discussion site, including posts calling for the deaths of Jewish people in a post that said, gonna shoot up 104 West. Now 104 West is actually a Cornell University dining hall that caters predominantly to kosher diets and is located next to the Cornell Jewish Center. So that context matters. It's really important to know that. Now in another post, he allegedly threatened to stab and slit the throat of any Jewish males he sees on campus, to rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish females, and to behead any Jewish babies. In that same post, he threatened to bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig Jews.

Just absolutely disgusting. Now, following reports of these threats, police stationed outside of Cornell's Center for Jewish Living were positioned there as the FBI investigation was underway. So luckily, Cornell ensured that there was some protection for Jewish students, which I think was the right thing to do. they should not live in fear. They should not be in an environment where they fear for their lives. This is so stupid. Any kind of hate, whether it's Islamophobia or anti-Semitism, is unacceptable, period. And by the way, criticism toward the Israeli government is fine.

Just like criticism toward any government should be considered acceptable. That is very different, very different from anti-Semitism. or directing hate toward Jewish people, whether it be Israelis living in Israel or Jewish individuals living here in the United States. In another post, now following the reports of these threats, as I mentioned, they positioned some police outside of Cornell's Center for Jewish Living. Now, investigators also trace the posts that he made to his IP address, which is how authorities found him and arrested him. Now, his parents say that he suffers from severe mental health

issues and that they were concerned that he was on the brink of suicide. My son is in severe depression. He cannot control his emotion. Well, due to the depression, no, I don't think he committed the crime. Now, his first court appearance is scheduled for today. And if convicted, he could face up to five years in prison, a quarter million dollar fine and three years of supervised release. So we'll see what happens with this case, but obviously these types of threats terrorized people and are unacceptable. And I'm glad that the authorities did something about it.

Because oftentimes we cover these like mass shooting events. And then we find out that there were all sorts of red flags and warning signs that everyone ignored. In this case, I'm super happy that they didn't ignore this, that they looked into it, and that they're continuing to investigate and have detained this individual. And with that said, despite the violent threats, Cornell's Jewish community says they will be resilient, and that makes me super happy. So let's hear from them. It's legitimate to be scared.

Rabbi Ari Weiss is the executive director of Cornell Hillel and the grandson of Holocaust survivors. The post that we saw, which called for Jewish people to be murdered, right? That is not about Israel at all, right? That is a specific threat, that is incitement, that is hate speech. Are you going to change anything about your schedules or how you could go about campus in wake of this? That's what they want. They want to break your spirit. They want to get to you and to stay strong, to stay true to who you are.

And that's how you win. Totally agree. And what makes me feel a little bit better, again, is that a 24-7 police presence will be maintained outside of the Jewish Living Center at Cornell. Now I want to move on to something else that's been transpiring in the United States in various big cities because I just don't understand why anyone would feel the need to do this. I don't understand the lack of humanity. It has to do with posters that you may have come across featuring some of the hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. So let's give you the details on that.

So on college campuses and cities around the world, people keep getting caught, basically ripping these posters down. And again, they feature information about the civilians who were captured by and are now used as hostages by Hamas. In the week since the war in the Middle East, the kidnapped posters created by an Israeli street artists have been spread in public spaces across the U.S., Europe, and beyond. And they're available to anyone online. So if you want to help share information or spread information about these hostages, you can

easily print them out and post them in your own neighborhood. But apparently that upsets some people. apparently sharing information about innocent civilians who were kidnapped by terrorists upset some people. And so they get caught tearing the posters down. And I find that despicable. Here are just two examples of what the posters look like. And I think these examples are really important because in one of them you see literally a nine-year-old, I'm sorry, nine-month-old baby. And then in the second one, you see a two-year-old girl, an Israeli German girl who was also kidnapped by Hamas. Imagine seeing that and feeling the need to tear it down.

So the flyers have angered propal some. I want to say some. It's really important not to just conflate these despicable people with individuals who want peace, who have been calling for a ceasefire, who find what Hamas did. horrible, objectionable, and disgusting, okay? They're not all the same, and it's really important to keep that in mind, because I see this effort by Israel's right-wing government to conflate the two. I see some in America trying to conflate the two. Do not conflate the two. With that said, the flyers have angered some pro-Palestinian activists, many of whom have been caught either ripping them down or covering them up.

I want to show you a few examples. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Why are you tearing them down?

And people were kidnapped. People killed the hospital. I'll send to every single firm. See, look, see your name? Look what they're doing. They're doing over these houses signs. The children are dying in Israel. Look what they're doing.

Soon. Why is she taking the pictures off? Does she work for management all? No. Do you know this person? Is she doing it all? Yeah. That is so sad.

They think ripping these posters down is a form of protest. How are you winning anyone over and how are you making anything better by ripping down posters of innocent people who were taken hostage by Hamas? I just don't understand people, man. Removing the posters as quickly emerged as its own form of protest, a release valve and also a provocation by those anguished by the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians in the years before October 7th. And since the bombing of Gaza began, obviously I have a huge problem with the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians.

We've covered that endlessly on this show. I also have a huge problem with ripping these posters down because your enemy isn't literal nine-month-old babies who were taken hostage by Hamas. Some participants don't seem to have thought that their actions, you know, they haven't really thought through their actions. much at all. Let's just put it that way. I'll give you an example. So a woman in Brooklyn who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she said her family would be upset by the publicity. Maybe you should reconsider your actions then, okay? Said she had torn down kidnapped posters after a friend in a group chat for activists encouraged her. The posters, she said, the posters she said the friend told her, amounted to anti-Islamic war propaganda. So I said,

cool beans, let's take them down. Yeah, but do you guys not understand that you are helping to discredit well-meaning good faith individuals who want peace, who want a ceasefire, who do not want to justify what Hamas did, but also do not want to justify the Israeli government's response and reaction to that terrorist attack. Do you not understand that? But is it all about me, me, me, me, me, me, because that's what I noticed time and time again. Oh, I'm feeling something so, my emotions are overwhelming.

So I'm going to carry out something without thinking about, first of all, how awful and immoral it is, but also how tactically speaking, how stupid it is. Just the selfish. and the immorality of it. And I'm sorry, I know I keep using immoral over and over again. But I mean, how else are you going to respond to this garbage? Others insist that they're just trying to ease the tension, you know,

that the posters are actually leading to more tension between, you know, Muslims and Jewish people in these communities. In one instance, a man says, you should be ashamed of yourself as he watches two young people at the University of Southern California, USC, rip the posters down, put them in the trash. One of the young people responds as follows, they're making the conflict worse. I'm not a fan of Hamas. No, you're making the conflict worse here in the United States.

Don't rip down the posters. It's stupid. It's so stupid. And that's honestly a weak-ass excuse. A dentist in Florida, Dr. Ahmed Alcusa, was actually fired from his practice last week after cameras captured him and another man taking down the flyers in Miami. But El Cusa's lawyer explained to local news that his client simply wanted to ensure that there's no conflict here in Florida. And when he saw those posters, he was just concerned that they may lead to an escalation in conflict.

You know, there's a sizable Jewish population in Florida. I would guess that if they see you tearing down those posters of hostages, that would actually lead to increased tension and conflict. So again, what a weak-ass excuse. And understandably, that is not how their actions are perceived. Here is Nissan Mintz, one of the artists behind the posters on Fox News, of course, explaining how she feels when she sees these posters taken down. Look at this poster, for example. This is Kvil and he is nine months old. When a person is ripping apart this baby's face, he thinks that he's tearing down the entire Jewish or Israeli entity.

He does not realize that this baby is a real human being. It's not fake. This baby is right now probably in a very dark room held by Hamas with guns pointed to who knows. I mean, I can't even describe how I feel about this baby being held killed kidnapped by Hamas. That baby's life matters. The lives of the thousands of children in Gaza who have died, their lives matter. Two things can be true. You can condemn the brutality toward Israeli civilians while also condemning the brutality toward Palestinian civilians. That is what a moral human being does. They look at these two instances and they find both utterly disgusting.

Anyone who picks aside and minimizes the lives on the other, I mean, I wish I believed in religion because if I did, I could say something like, you know, their judgment day is coming. But I'm an atheist and I don't believe in that stuff. I just hope that they can take a moment to self-reflect and consider how they would feel if members of their own families were killed either by the IDF or by members of Hamas. We got to take a break when I come back. Helen Hong will join me to talk about other things in the news, including how Trump supporters feel about Biden and more importantly what they would say to Joe Biden if they could. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks. Support our work, listen ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing

to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.