WEBVTT - Israel's History with UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.520 Al Zon Media. Hello and welcome to the podcast. It's 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.320 a calm introduction today. It's just a chill one. It's 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.640 me James and I'm joined by Mia. 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:14.520 How you doing, Mia? 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:18.600 Not the best, but you know, we're hanging in there. 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.479 We're defeating we're defeating the illness and the frailness of 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:23.600 the human body. 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.200 Overcoming the surly bonds of Earth, the types of face 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:27.000 of God or something. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.160 That's what Elon Musk does every day. Of course. Yeah, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.240 when we're doing this with the power of cough medicine, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:31.960 it's gonna be great. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.199 Yeah, yeah, not the kind of cough medicine that you 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.280 can only buy so much of. Okay, So we're here today, 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.320 how by cough medicine to discuss the United Nations into 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.640 reinforce in Lebanon. Of course, thing that we haven't talked 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.040 about before, but the lots of people are talking about 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.480 on the internet, and I wanted to like just clear 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.840 up what I think is some misunderstandings or like just 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.600 a lack of background, sort of explain what they do, 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.840 Explain who it is composed of, a little bit of 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.399 history and sort of its role here. As Israel begins 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.720 attacking Lebanon as it did Gaza, right, and as it 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:11.920 has continued to attack the West Bank as well. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:13.760 Yeah, and as as we're going to get to the 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:15.839 end of this episode, they started making a small push 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:19.240 into Syria. So great things happening here. Well we'll get 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:20.440 to that the episode. 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:20.840 Yeah. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.960 Yeah, once again employing an entirely proprietary understanding of borders 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:27.640 and where they are and how they work. 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.920 Maybe they're actually the no borders state, you know, like 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:32.800 and listen. 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:36.759 My opposition to the Sykes Pcobe borders is is well known, 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:37.959 but not like this. 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.480 Not like. 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.560 In event diagram the overlap of people who disagree with 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:51.040 Sykes pecod. It's mir Wong the Kurdistant Workers Party in Israel, 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.000 but it's very small and they disagree with it for 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.320 very different reasons at Isis too. 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.000 Yeah that's true. Yeah, yeah, you're really in good company. Yeah. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.760 I remember back and back in like twenty fourteen, So 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.120 this one's for there's there are a bunch of kids 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:05.800 who listen to this show, and by kids, I mean 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.080 people who weren't like twenty seven, who don't remember the 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.600 fact that you could just argue with Isis people on Twitter. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.680 Oh yeah, twenty fifteen and like they had a really 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.440 good PR operation. Oh incredible. Yeah, And one of the 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.399 arguments he would make was like, well, yeah, we're trying 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:21.160 to destroy the imperialists. 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.880 Like it's like snow boarders. We're like, well, okay. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:27.519 Well, like you're doing this by establishing ISIS. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:32.840 It's like really, yeah, that was a wild time when 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.160 you could argue them, Like you can still argue with 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.200 like an asadist occasionally on Twitter or like. 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.880 Oh sure, but like this wasn't even just like people 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:41.760 who support them. 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.280 This was like actual isis PR guys. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.040 Yeah, yeah they were. That was the whole job was 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.160 to argue with you. Yeah, there are some pretty good 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.720 articles from back in that time period about that if 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.120 you're too young to remember that. But yeah, So we're 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.239 talking about UNIFIL today, where the United Nations in termforcing lemanon. 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.919 Why are we talking about them? Because the IDF has 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.120 spent the last week or so edging on just openly 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.040 attacking them, and it has more or less openly attacked them, 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.000 but it hasn't done so in like a complete way. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.200 I guess we'll talk a little bit now about some 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:14.720 of the things which have happened because I think we 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.639 should probably start there, and then what'll explain who uniform are, 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:18.239 what they. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.000 Do, whether they're etcetera. A little bit of history. 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.720 So UNIPHIL has called the situation with the idea of 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.800 extremely serious and a flagrant violation of international law, a 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.919 phrase which is used every time Israel does anything, because 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.480 it's true and then nothing happens, and then nothing happens. Yeah, 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.320 and that's I think where we're going to end up today, 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:40.320 is that like it's good that they are there, right, 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.080 Like just a big picture. This what Israel has done 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.600 in Lebanon, in Gaza and in the West Bank is 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.640 it has attacked anyone who is any form of outside observer, right, 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.040 it has killed aid workers, It has killed journalists, and 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.720 it has shot artillery realms at peacekeepers, injured peacekeepers in Lebanon. Right, 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.640 one who can provide any form of independent oversight, who 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.640 can provide any form of accountability for what they're doing, 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:08.040 is in danger. 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.080 And this is more or less. 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:11.880 I mean, Russia does this a little bit too, right, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:16.320 But like among like I don't know what we're supposed 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.000 to understand. It's relative democracy, but like this war seems 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.760 to be pretty unpopular even there and then Yahoo really 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.839 isn't he's taken a Trump approach to democracy. Let's say, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.400 Israel seemingly murdering journalists as part of his policy as 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.880 a goal of its invasion of Gaza is pretty unique, 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.360 even by the standards of like other Western militaries who 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.320 have done some pretty terrible things in the Middle East 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.400 in the last twenty years. So some of the things 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.400 they've done in recent days, it's fired smoke grounds about 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.520 one hundred meters from their compounds, causing UNIFIL peacekeepers to 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.840 have to done their gas masks. Fifteen of them were injured. 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.080 They have like skin irritation for whatever the munition was. 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.080 I don't quite know what it was. I guess I 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.640 think expired smokes can do that, and tear gases. Tear 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.520 gas can do that. You're not supposed to use tear gas. Yeah, 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.200 that's a war crime. Yeah, that's a war crime. It's 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.359 a war kind that lots of people do. To be fair, like, 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.600 they wouldn't be the first one I'd seen. But then again, right, 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.400 like these are people, are they signature's to a genity 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.760 of convention? Actually, I don't know that's a good they are. 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.200 They don't give a fuck does it really matter that? Yeah, 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:21.680 have a look, I'm interested to know. 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.440 Yeah, they actually have ratified Theydia of Convention, which I 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:29.040 guess makes them mildly more big international law bound. 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:34.080 In the US. The ultimate rogue state, Yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:36.000 I mean it's really it's pretty much a rogue state 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.360 at this point, right, Like that I think is oh yeah, 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:40.720 the sort of the frame of analysisue which they should 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.440 be understood. A rogue state doing violence set alone, is 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.200 wherever the fuck it wants with your taxpayer money, because 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.280 apparently there's nothing it can do which will cause it 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.839 to have one centimeter of accountability from the US. 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.359 Yeah. Other things they've been getting up to. 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.640 They've knocked down compound walls of the UNIFIL compounds. Can 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.480 we explain what uniform is, by the way, Yeah, sure. 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.680 So the UNIFIL is the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.640 It's tasked with peacekeeping, monitoring the withdrawal of the IDF. 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:14.279 So in theory, the IDEAF as we'll get into, has 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:21.720 invaded Lebanon many times in theory since two thousand and six, 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.280 which was the last time it's sort of invaded Lebanon On. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.960 Like it's invaded Lebanon on a very small scale the 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.960 hundreds of times, right, like, for instance, stepping across the border, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.040 which the border is not entirely agreed upon by its Lebanon, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.800 but the United Nations has imposed something called a blue line, 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.040 which is what it considers to be the border. It's 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:43.200 Raeli troops will go across that to trim trees a 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.120 lot so they can like spy more effectively. Right, they 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.200 literally have towers and cameras and stuff. But in two 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:53.159 thousand and six, people who are old like myself were members. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.360 Last time it did a sort of full scale evasion 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.919 of Lebanon, and on its withdrawal. 0:06:58.320 --> 0:06:59.800 I'll just go through the history of uniform now. We 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:01.440 can about the attack later, I guess. 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:06.800 So they're supposed to keep the IDF and Husbulla in 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.960 theory out of an area between the Latani River and 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.560 the blue line. The blue line is where the UN 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.600 through the border in two thousand and The idea is 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.120 that the border was drawn there by the UN to 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.720 determine if Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon. That doesn't necessarily 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.880 mean that all parties accepted it's the border they don't, 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.320 but it is the blue line for now. The UNIFL 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.800 have been in Lebanon since nineteen seventy eight. That was 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:32.520 one of the times when israelvated Lebanon. 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:34.360 At that point they were looking for the PO. 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.480 Yeah, I think the PLO had crossed over from Lebanon 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:42.560 to attack and massacre people in Israel. Right at which 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.200 point Israel then decided to just go hog and in 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.480 fully invade Lebanon seventy eight and invaded again in eighty 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.720 two while UNIFIL we was there, and it sort of 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.440 bypassed uniform position to that point. And it doesn't mean 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.280 that people didn't die in these invasions uniform troops of peacekeepers, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:01.840 because they did, right, Like it's a dangerous place to be. 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:03.960 Also, like eighty two is like the saber Chatila massacre, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.680 Like yes, like I was just like hideous Israeli massacres 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:11.160 of refugee camps, which the kind of thing that like 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.600 used to cause more anger in the US that it 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.080 did now Like yeah. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.880 Now it's another day that ends in why right, you 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.680 know the bomba hospital again. It's a year of bombing 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:28.200 hospitals now and it doesn't seem to register anymore, doesn't 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:28.520 you know? 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:30.000 Make the headlines. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:34.880 Yeah, in eighty two Israel bomb compound and it took 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:39.240 Israel until the year two thousand to quote unquote withdraw 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.599 from Lebanon. And at that point that was when the 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.559 blue line was drawn. Right during that time, before two thousand, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.160 it wasn't just the IDF that was operating in the area. 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.120 You also had the South Lebanese Army. I don't like 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.959 the division of groups in this part of the world 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.520 exclusively along religious lines, because I think that doesn't entirely 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.760 explain things always and I think it's it's like a 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.439 very analyst brain way of seeing things, like to be like, oh, 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.160 these are the sites, and they do this, the sort 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.280 of sunnies and they do this. But the SLA is 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.400 a majority Christian organization and like it began as its 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.680 own independent thing in the in the Civil War Lebanon, 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.160 but it became more or lesson it's really proxy, right, 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.600 it's certainly in this area, and the UN caused them. 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:25.040 It's Raeli de facto forces, which is kind of a 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.440 bold move from the UN. Actually, Like yeah, to just 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:30.319 say it. Of course, saying it and doing it is 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.000 another thing. But like during the time from eighty two 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.719 to two thousand. It's revvated multiple times, right, including in 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.439 nineteen ninety six when just in the year of nineteen 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.520 ninety six it's rail fired on uniform peacekeepers. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:44.599 Two hundred and seventy times. 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:49.840 So like, I think that's like every weekday for the 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.280 entire year. To put things in perspective, you know, like 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.280 if they took weekends off, they fired on them every weekday, 0:09:56.640 --> 0:10:00.360 including shelling a uniform compound. After the withdrawal in two 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:04.240 thousand withdrew UNIFILM stasts of peacekeeping monitoring the withdrawal and 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.959 assisting the Lebanese government in restoring it for authority in 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.959 the area, and a UN mandate seventeen oh one two 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.160 thousand and six is relevated again and eventually it's sort 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.240 of ground to a stand still that time, ground to 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:18.480 stand on top of a massive pile of civilian bodies, 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:19.920 as it tends to do. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:20.240 Right. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.880 They bom Beirut in two thousand and six. I remember 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.320 that I was I was traveling in the Middle East 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.720 in two thousand and six. I remember just being like, oh, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.599 this is it's I one thing to watch war on 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.640 TV when you're at home, but when you're that little 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.880 bit closer, and it's people who are like, my cousin 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.000 is there, my brother is there. A good school friend 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:42.200 of mine was within Beiru. 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:43.120 I remember like. 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.680 It was one of my earlier experiences of just being 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.880 like this is horrific, and there's nothing we can do, 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.600 Like no one seems to care, no one's going to 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.240 stop them, and like here we are getting on for 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:57.199 two decades later, and. 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.280 In fact, no one has stopped them. They're still doing it. 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.200 Talking of things that no one can stop. Yah, no 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.600 one can stop the relentless march of capitalism. And that 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:13.400 is where we now have to pivot to advertisements. 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:17.240 We are back. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.880 So in two thousand and six, once again Israel killed 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.640 UN peacekeepers right. Perhaps the most notable incident is when 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:27.000 a precision guided bomb struck a bunker and which four 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:31.800 UN peacekeepers were sheltering. They'd been shelled fourteen times that day. 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.760 They had then gone to their bunker right to be 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.160 protected from the shelling, at which point they received this 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.280 precision guided munition which killed four of them. The peacekeepers 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.760 were from Austria, Canada, China and Finland. Later the UN 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.439 sent like a quick reaction for US and a rescue team, 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:50.160 which the IDF also shelled. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:55.240 Jesus chrised, Yeah. 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.400 I think this may be the time to point out 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.840 that I think a lot of people are maybe hope 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:04.320 for and maybe it's true that like if Israel crosses 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:08.440 a line with attacking like European people, that will matter 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.400 more to the nation that the states and governments of 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.120 the world than it has done with killing Palestinian civilians. 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:16.480 And to a degree, they might be right, like you might. 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.200 You've had statements from a dozen or so countries that 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:24.920 Israel shouldn't be attacking, but they're still getting this fire hose. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:25.720 Of money and weapons. 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.800 Right, There's still been no actual accountability, and I think 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.439 there will actually stop them from doing what they're doing. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.400 That's not like the fault of the people on the 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:40.120 ground in Junifhill for the most part. Yeah, But nonetheless 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.680 it's the case. It was also in that instant in 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.280 two thousand and six, and I was talking about UNIFIL 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.360 called the IDF ten times to ask them to stop shelling. 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:50.120 And this bunker, by the way, I'm not talking about 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.480 like concealed position, right, Like like I've been in bunkers 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:55.400 and I'm away for work that you might not be 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.840 able to see very easily. This bad boy is painted 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.880 bright white with the letters you n on it like. 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.560 It's incredibly well marked. It's impossible to miss, you know. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.200 It stands out like a sauthor. That's where they drop 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.640 their precition guid ammunition. There's also an instant in twenty ten. 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.600 This might be one people remember, and this is one 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.640 of the tree trimming incidents. So the IDEF was trying 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.240 to trim trees along the blue line and the Lebanese 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.080 military perceived them to have vented Lebanon. I'm sure the 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.920 IDEF perceived themselves to be inside Israel. The ideaf's understanding 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.600 of borders, as I said, is somewhat unique, and so 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.200 Indonesian UNIFIL troops were there. This is a particularly interesting incident. 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.320 The Indonesian troops seem to be pretty popular in Lebanon. 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.760 From what I can tell, there are forty one nations 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:43.839 that take part in UNIFILM right, but there are large 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:50.760 contingents of Spanish, French, German, Italian, Irish peacekeepers and Indonesian 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.000 and Nepally peacekeepers as well. The Indonesians are interesting because 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:59.520 the government doesn't recognize Israel and so they have no diplomacy. 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.439 I don't quite know how they manage that because, as 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.400 we'll get into, Unifhili's controlled by this thing called a 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.679 tripartite mechanism whereby they have to agree on almost everything 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.080 with the government of Lebanon or the military of Lebanese 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.120 Army and the IDF, which is it's kind of classic 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.320 un right. You have these people there who are positioned 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.360 to do something really important right now, which is to 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:28.040 stop the IDF doing in Lebanon what he's done in Gaza. 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.480 But they've managed to engineer themselves into a situation where 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.760 they the IDF also has a veto on pretty much 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.080 anything they can do, yeah, which I was told. I 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.680 spoke to someone who was very familiar with the operations 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:40.400 of UNIFIL and they were telling to me, for instance, 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.840 so the IDF had been able to control what munitions 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.320 they were able to bring into the country Jesus, which 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.440 matters because, as we'll get into, one of the things 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.520 that IDF likes to do is like literally knock on 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.080 their front door with main battle tanks. Right that they 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.760 actually knocked down the front gate of the uniform compound 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:01.440 with a macaver tank. Certainly like knocking the front Gate 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:03.800 down with a mccarverary is one way of going about. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:08.080 Asking Yeah, which is insane. Yeah, like the people just 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:09.920 completely lost their minds. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.800 Yeah, that's the thing, right, Like, I think that's what 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:15.560 I want folks to take away from this is that, 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.320 like it's unlikely that the un is going to go 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.480 toe to toe with the IDF at this point. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:20.840 Yeah. 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:25.360 No, that doesn't mean as I've seen people saying that 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.680 either they're there to spy for the IDF, they're not. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:33.440 The IDEF keeps killing them, Yeah, in quite large numbers, 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.120 Like I think forty two Irish people have been killed 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.640 in the history of uniful deployments. Dozens from other countries too, Right, 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.440 Nor does this mean there's annet Yaho has called them 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.320 quote hostages of Husballa, which is kind of a ridiculous 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.240 claim as many of the things that come out of 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.880 his mouth are like they're also categorically not that they're 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.960 hostages of the United Nations. And there's this system that 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:00.240 it's backed itself into whereby two Beligeran parties can stop 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:02.520 been doing anything they do. So I'll give you an 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.920 example about twenty ten K's right, these Indonesian UNIFIL troops 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.320 are trying to prevent the IDF and the Lebanese Army 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.600 firing at each other. The IDEF is entering into Lebanon 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.560 to cut down some trees, and in the perspective of 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.120 the Lebanese Army, I guess, they started throwing insults on 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.680 one another, and soon enough they start shooting with each other. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.200 So two Indonesian peacekeepers. There was a video of this 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:27.040 that went around for a while. So the Indonesians decide 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.160 that basically there's nothing we can do they're going to 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.560 shoot at each other, and that they decide to withdraw, 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.640 which probably isn't the best like like you know, they're 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.960 not keeping peace by force, I guess, but they basically 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.560 decide there's nothing they can do. They decide to pull 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.200 out local people construct a roadblock to try and make 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:49.640 them stay and prevent the IDEF from entering Lebanon. This 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:54.200 happens a lot this, like you'll see this happening, and 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:56.240 this happens in various like I'm going to get into 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.280 some other UN situations where this has happened, right, But 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.920 the two peacekeepers get separated from their unit. This is 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.880 a video that kind of went around at the time, 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.320 like I'm sure they're genuinely afraid at that point right 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:10.480 in the video, they're being helped by local folks and 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.080 they end up getting in a taxi to like leave 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.280 and come back to their base, which, like I'm sure 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:18.760 they were in a pretty shitty they were having a 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.680 bad yeah. Yeah, And to quote Major General Alam Pelagowini, 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.040 who is a French officer who's UNIFIL commander from two 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.119 thousand and four to two thousand and seven, quote, the 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:29.720 problem is in such cases as this, if you intervene 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.399 to protect the IDF, for instance, unif will be accused 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.040 by Husbulla or the people of protecting the Israelis and 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:37.560 collaborating with the enemy. The other side, if we do 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.600 the same with the Lebanese, it's able to accuse the 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.600 unifor of collaborating with Husbula. So like, yes, it will 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:48.760 in the situation that we're seeing currently, Like I think obviously, 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.800 like what Israel thinks and says doesn't really have much 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.320 credibility anymore because they're ruled by this tripartite mechanism. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:56.800 There's really very little they can do. 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.439 Yeah, they can fire people if they fired, but the 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:06.360 IDEF isn't like engaging them in small arms combat. Right, 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:10.320 They're loving artillery shelves into their compound, they're firing smoke, 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.280 they're bashing down their walls with Caterpillar armored bulldozers. 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:16.600 The IDF loves and armor bulldozer. 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:20.560 Yeah, because I mean you can probably join the dots 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:22.560 on why the IDF loves a armored bulldozer. You know, 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.320 they're in the business of knocking stuff down, I guess. 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:30.000 And yeah, going into urban areas and destroying people's homes. 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:32.560 That's I'm sure other folks have armorable those too. Just 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.240 the IDF is kind of well known for using these things. 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.120 They shot down an observation tower last week which had 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.359 two peace keepers in it, and obviously those people were 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.119 injured because their tower got shot down. But like they're 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.399 not fully attacking them enough that those peacekeepers would like 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:52.119 defend themselves or their their positions. And I think if 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.840 people are like hoping that somehow, like an engagement between 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:59.399 peacekeepers and the IDF will be what causes accountability, I 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:00.320 don't think that's going to happen. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.399 Yeah, And for like for the UN to actually like 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:09.000 really seriously intervene in a world like this, it takes 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.240 one of the UN Security Council members being like, we 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:13.400 will send our own troops. That's like how the UN 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.080 got involved in Korea, right, Yeah, Like the US was 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:17.760 like fuck it, we're gonna send an army there, and 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:20.879 like Russia is not going to like send an army. 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.560 They're significantly too busy invading Ukraine and selling natural gas 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.679 to Israel to do anything. China is not going to 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.440 do it because there is real second largest trading partner 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.000 and they don't give a shit. Like no, no, no, 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:37.040 one's actually going to like send troops to like back 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.119 some kind of like UN mandate to like stop the 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.919 Israelis from doing this. Like that's just like not even 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:44.920 if the Israelis were to just start killing peace keepers, 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:46.680 like it's not going to happen. It's never happened any 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.919 other time the Israelis have killed peacekeepers, Yeah. 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:55.119 Like peacekeepers have in other places for yeah that for instance, 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.199 Irish peacekeepers in Congo, right or the Canadians and indeed, 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.600 like the the Uniform have engaged in combat before. But 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.120 I think the chances of them like stopping the IDF 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:07.880 invasion are extremely slim. 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:09.840 Yeah, Like and if you're finding a state that is 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.320 just directly an American proxy that there's no way. Yeah, 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.720 it's I don't even think like the seventies nam like 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.240 not a line movement like dominated UN could have pulled 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:24.760 something like that off, and like this UN will not No, like. 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.960 The UN re issue strongly worded statements, the UN will 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.399