Speaker 1: Hey, guys, ready or not, twenty twenty four is here,
Speaker 1: and we here at breaking points, are already thinking of
Speaker 1: ways we can up our game for this critical election.
Speaker 2: We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade
Speaker 2: the studio ad staff, give you, guys, the best independent.
Speaker 3: Coverage that is possible.
Speaker 2: If you like what we're all about, it just means
Speaker 2: the absolute world to have your support. But enough with that,
Speaker 2: let's get to the show, all right, Why don't we
Speaker 2: get to Israel?
Speaker 1: All right? So lot of developments here, So just to
Speaker 1: back up for a bit and give you some context.
Speaker 1: You will recall Palestinians in Gaza were forced out of
Speaker 1: northern Gaza into Conunis. They were then forced out of
Speaker 1: Conunis into Rafa. You know, have somewhere around one point
Speaker 1: three million Palestinians clustered on the border with Egypt in
Speaker 1: Rafa in what are horrifically indescribable humanitarian circumstances. Kids are
Speaker 1: literally starving to death at this point, no sanitation, no
Speaker 1: clean drinking water. They were subject to a terrible bombardment
Speaker 1: while we were all watching the Super Bowl. Over one
Speaker 1: hundred Palestinians reported dead in that you know, in that
Speaker 1: effort that led to Israel being able to secure the
Speaker 1: release of two hostages, but at the cost of more
Speaker 1: than one hundred Palestinian lives. So horrific situation in Rafa.
Speaker 1: US President Joe Biden had originally said he did not
Speaker 1: want an operation from Israel to go forward in Rafa
Speaker 1: at all. He then amended those comments and said, well,
Speaker 1: we don't want it to go forward without a plan
Speaker 1: for Palestinian civilians, to which Bbe said, Okay, no problem,
Speaker 1: here's your plan. Put this up on the screen. They
Speaker 1: want us, the United States of America, to pay for
Speaker 1: tent cities for Rafa evacuees. Israel's proposing the creation of
Speaker 1: sprawling tent cities in Gaza as part of an evacuation
Speaker 1: plan to be funded by the US and its Arab
Speaker 1: golf partners ahead of an impending invasion of a city
Speaker 1: in the Strip south, which Israel says is the last
Speaker 1: bashion of Hamas. Israel evacuation proposal includes establishing fifteen campsites
Speaker 1: of around twenty five thousand tens each across the southwestern
Speaker 1: part of the Gossa Strip. Egyptian officials said Egypt would
Speaker 1: be in charge of setting up the camps and field hospitals.
Speaker 1: The officials said plan indicates that Israel's planning an invasion
Speaker 1: of Raffa, despite US and Egyptian concerns. Cairo has said,
Speaker 1: and we covered this yesterday, that it would suspend a
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine peace treaty with Israel if Palestinians crossed
Speaker 1: the border from Rafa to flee and Israeli offensive. The
Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal has reported this was entirely predictable. Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: by saying you can go forward in Rafa, but you've
Speaker 1: got to have some kind of a plan for the
Speaker 1: Palestinians gave bb Netnyahu a clear green light that all
Speaker 1: he needed to do was come up with some bullshit
Speaker 1: fig leaf of a plan which is going to first
Speaker 1: of all, it's probably impossible. Second of all, puts all
Speaker 1: of the onus, not on them, but on us and
Speaker 1: other Arab golf countries. Third of all is going to
Speaker 1: only further am missa rate this already devastated population. But
Speaker 1: now he can say, look, I gave you your plan.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to go ahead with our indiscriminate over
Speaker 1: the top. In Joe Biden's words, bombing campaign that is
Speaker 1: going to take the lives of many, many more Palestinian
Speaker 1: civilians and once again displace them when they have nowhere
Speaker 1: else to go. So it is outrageous on absolutely every level.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's just very common. On the Israeli part.
Speaker 2: They're like, when we have a problem, we'll just ask
Speaker 2: America to pay for it. Interesting, isn't it to bring
Speaker 2: it back to the State Department?
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they since we seem to do whatever they want.
Speaker 3: No, I would do it too if I were them.
Speaker 2: But you know, where us and we're the ones who
Speaker 2: decide whether we get to pay for something or not,
Speaker 2: or allegedly there was a way the government was supposed
Speaker 2: to work. Our State Department was pressed on this a
Speaker 2: little bit yesterday by a journalist in terms of the
Speaker 2: policy and how they're conducting the military campaign.
Speaker 3: Here's what they had to say.
Speaker 4: We have pursued the policy that we think gives us
Speaker 4: the maximum ability to be successful in influencing how Israel
Speaker 4: conducts its military campaign.
Speaker 1: And how are you happy with the results, And.
Speaker 4: In many cases, no, absolutely we are not. We are
Speaker 4: happy with the fact that we have been able to
Speaker 4: get humanitarian assistants into Israel that is the direct result
Speaker 4: of US I'm sorry, into Gaza. That is the direct
Speaker 4: result of US intervention. But at the same time, there
Speaker 4: has not been enough humanitarian assistant said has gotten in.
Speaker 4: What levers have you used?
Speaker 2: So we have used.
Speaker 4: Diplomatical effort levers the secretary that means the secretary and
Speaker 4: the President and you and Kirby and whoever else standing
Speaker 4: up and saying wagging your finger and saying that that's
Speaker 4: not really leveraged. We have engaged with them on a
Speaker 4: at a multitude of levels at this administration. And as
Speaker 4: I kind of you look at the list that we
Speaker 4: just went through with Humera, we have seen them take
Speaker 4: steps at our urging that have had really a real
Speaker 4: tangible impact. But they have not been enough.
Speaker 1: But what levers have you?
Speaker 2: Actually?
Speaker 4: I think that when the United States of America stands
Speaker 4: up and says something publicly, it matters. But but but
Speaker 4: you have that's a leve and we and you haven't
Speaker 4: said no and we but any consequences.
Speaker 3: To my point, we have seen money or military assistance
Speaker 3: right there, I just went through, what have you gone?
Speaker 4: I think the words of the President of the United
Speaker 4: States the words of the Secretary of State matter as
Speaker 4: we've seen hold on over the top, and we have
Speaker 4: seen verage, and we have seen the government of Israel
Speaker 4: respond to it, not always in the way that we want,
Speaker 4: not always to the degree that we want or to
Speaker 4: the level that we want.
Speaker 2: So that is Matt Lee, the great Matt Lee from
Speaker 2: the US State Department Press Corps. He's been there for years.
Speaker 2: They're all afraid of him. He treats everybody. I saw
Speaker 2: him treat the Trump people that way. He humiliates the
Speaker 2: Biden people as well. But he does a great job
Speaker 2: of getting down to the uh, breaking through the BS.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he'll be like a like, oh, multitude, what does
Speaker 2: that mean? So you said over the top? What exactly
Speaker 2: is that supposed to be? And it's great because, look,
Speaker 2: I don't know why, but for some reason, the State
Speaker 2: Department Press as a press corps, oppressed people have not
Speaker 2: yet rigged the briefing in the same way that and
Speaker 2: they actually seem to sit there and take questions.
Speaker 3: I shouldn't call it out because I wanted to keep happening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's a great thing for us because we
Speaker 2: get people like Ryan and going there or Matt Lee
Speaker 2: and they don't just get a single question.
Speaker 3: They sit there. They haven't extended back and forth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you do, you crumble like this, look
Speaker 2: at the way that that guy came apart.
Speaker 1: Especially right now. I mean, what they're saying is complete
Speaker 1: gas lighting bullshit. It's totally apparent. They have to admit
Speaker 1: things like you know, in that beginning clip, he says,
Speaker 1: Matt Miller of the State Department Google says, we pursued
Speaker 1: the policy we think gives us the maximum ability to
Speaker 1: be successful and influencing how Israel conducted its military campaign.
Speaker 1: And the reporter says, and are you happy with the
Speaker 1: results of that? And he says, in many cases no,
Speaker 1: It's just like Joe Biden when they were asking, you know,
Speaker 1: how's the Hoofy bombing going, and he's like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: it hasn't accomplished the objectives, but it's going to continue.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing here. They know it's not working.
Speaker 1: And then Matt Lee presses the point of Okay, well,
Speaker 1: if that's not working, what leverage are you using besides
Speaker 1: you and Kirby and Biden and Blincoln whatever, wagging your finger, Oh, Israel,
Speaker 1: we don't like exactly what you're doing, which clearly hasn't worked,
Speaker 1: and Matt Miller is reduced to just like bumbling word
Speaker 1: salad of oh, we've expressed our concern on a multitude
Speaker 1: of levels, and then hackneyed cliches like the words of
Speaker 1: the United States of America matter. Clearly they don't. Clearly
Speaker 1: at this point they do not. So yet another very
Speaker 1: rough State Department briefing for Matt Miller. You know, another
Speaker 1: Brian was there as well, pressing him on the six
Speaker 1: year old who was murdered by Israeli forces alongside her rescuers.
Speaker 1: I'm going to play some of that in my monologue,
Speaker 1: but it just shows you the utter insanity of what
Speaker 1: we have washed unfold. And there was another you can't
Speaker 1: even make it up. There was yet another scoop. Biden says,
Speaker 1: Net and Nah, who's a jerk behind closed doors? Biden
Speaker 1: upset with net and Yah, et cetera, et cetera. There
Speaker 1: was yet another one of these, And it's like, how
Speaker 1: can you guys continue to print this bullshit and pretend
Speaker 1: like it matters at all? And for the Biden people
Speaker 1: who think that these leaks are somehow benefiting them, it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It just makes you look weak and pathetic, and Bibe
Speaker 1: is happy to stomp all over whatever little concerns you
Speaker 1: leak to the press about what he's doing, and happy
Speaker 1: to throw in your face some preposterous, cruel, inhumane, and
Speaker 1: outrageous plan for us to set up tent cities for
Speaker 1: Palestinians who are going to be forced out of Ratha
Speaker 1: by yet another round of insane and outrageous bombing. So
Speaker 1: that's where we are now. I did want to cover
Speaker 1: this because I think it's important to, you know, put
Speaker 1: some caveats in here about just how imminent this potential
Speaker 1: RAFA offensive is. We already had this very large bombing
Speaker 1: campaign that the Israeli's described as a diversion for their
Speaker 1: hostage rescue. So basically they had to murder dozens, potentially
Speaker 1: more than one hundred Palestinians in order to rescue their
Speaker 1: two hostages. But they say that's not the real offensive here.
Speaker 1: They're planning something much more vast. I wanted to put
Speaker 1: this in just so people know again what the caveats
Speaker 1: here are. Haretz is reporting they don't think that this
Speaker 1: RAFA offensive is actually coming anytime soon. They think that
Speaker 1: this is just basically bluster from bb that is politically
Speaker 1: advantageous for him in the context of holding onto his
Speaker 1: grip on power. Put this up on the screen from
Speaker 1: Haretz so that you can see their analysis that they
Speaker 1: say why Notta was constantly talking up a Rafa IDF
Speaker 1: operation is real. Successful raid to rescue two hostages, by
Speaker 1: the way, at the cost of massive civilian life from
Speaker 1: Rafa on Monday morning was not the operation that Netna
Speaker 1: who had in mind. But there are no signs a
Speaker 1: big IDF operation is imminent no matter what the Prime
Speaker 1: Minister says. They point to the fact that they say
Speaker 1: the IDF's deployment in the Gaza strip is the smallest
Speaker 1: it's been in over three months, with just five brigade
Speaker 1: combat teams or mainly fighting in Conunis. There are no
Speaker 1: signs of other brigades mustering near Rava on Gaza southern border.
Speaker 1: Nearly all the dozens of reserve battalions that took part
Speaker 1: in the previous stages of fighting have been demobilized and
Speaker 1: are now back home. One of the regular armoured divisions
Speaker 1: has been sent to the northern border. The IDF is
Speaker 1: unlikely to launch a major Rava operation, while an entire
Speaker 1: Division four brigade combat teams is still fighting deep in Conunis.
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to put that out there. You
Speaker 1: can make of it what you will. But at least
Speaker 1: some Israeli analysts, who, by the way, Harat's, you know,
Speaker 1: very skeptical of met Nyahoo, et cetera, et cetera. They
Speaker 1: don't expect that the big operation in Rapa quote unquote
Speaker 1: is really actually imminent and set to come. That it
Speaker 1: is more about bluster for Bbe, who wants to preserve
Speaker 1: his grip on power and sort of project to people
Speaker 1: that he's the guy who will take them to total victory.
Speaker 1: That's sort of the like catchphrase that he has adopted
Speaker 1: for his political purposes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was, actually I'd be curious to hear more
Speaker 2: of what you think, because it does seem that given
Speaker 2: that they had to pull out more reservists from they
Speaker 2: already decommissioned a lot of these reserves. They have to
Speaker 2: send them back to work, they don't have a decent
Speaker 2: enough fighting force even the ones that they do. Professional
Speaker 2: soldiers could cover themselves in glory. I think we could
Speaker 2: say that given the civilian number in the population, it
Speaker 2: would take overwhelming force. The other thing is when you
Speaker 2: pair it with the video that we played of Biden
Speaker 2: and King Abdullah talking about a hostage deal, it could
Speaker 2: be do you think that this is pressure to try
Speaker 2: and achieve some sort of short term hostage deal like,
Speaker 2: because I'm very just confused as to what their actual
Speaker 2: aim here or was this all honestly just covered for
Speaker 2: that two hostage rescue operation.
Speaker 3: That's another possibility that we can't discount either.
Speaker 1: I think that there will be a major operation in Rafa.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's insane that we can't call what they
Speaker 1: already did a major operation given the civilian death toll,
Speaker 1: but just in their mind, like a lengthier, more extended bombing,
Speaker 1: ground invasion, et cetera. If I were to guess, I
Speaker 1: think that is definitely coming. As we've discussed at length,
Speaker 1: Bbe has every political incentive, along with the rest of
Speaker 1: his war cabinet, to you know, continue this war indefinitely.
Speaker 1: Not only him, but some of the quote unquote moderate
Speaker 1: members of his cabinet have been very clear that you
Speaker 1: that you know it, it's wherever they want to go
Speaker 1: in Now suddenly that's the center of Hamas and they're
Speaker 1: saying this is where the last brigades are we can't
Speaker 1: finish the job without going into Rafa, so we have
Speaker 1: to do it. We have to do it, we have
Speaker 1: to do it. So I think, because of the unequivocal
Speaker 1: nature of that rhetoric they are going in, it's a
Speaker 1: question of when, and you know, to that I have
Speaker 1: no idea. This analysis makes sense to me that they
Speaker 1: aren't really set up to do it right now. That
Speaker 1: just gives them time to sort of drag things out
Speaker 1: even longer, maybe engage in some more of these attempted
Speaker 1: hostage rescue missions to keep feeding Israeli public at least something,
Speaker 1: you know, to keep the war effort going and keep
Speaker 1: their hold on their positions right now, because still the
Speaker 1: Israeli public, I mean, their issues with Naaniaho aren't my
Speaker 1: issues with Naniaho, but they despise him and basically want
Speaker 1: him gone. So I think it's only a matter of time.
Speaker 1: But you know, as to the timing, I can't really
Speaker 1: say at this point, you did mention, let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and play that. Biden met with King of Dullah. There
Speaker 1: were previous hostage talks that seemed to fall apart. Hamas
Speaker 1: wanted the complete end to the war, in three phases
Speaker 1: that Israelis want to continue the war, the US wants
Speaker 1: to continue the war effectively, so that was kind of
Speaker 1: a non starter. Now they're floating some modified version of
Speaker 1: the deal that would lead to six weeks cessation in fighting.
Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to what they had to say.
Speaker 5: The United States is working on a hostage deal between
Speaker 5: Israel and Hamas which would bring mediate and sustained period
Speaker 5: of calmon to Gaza for at least six weeks, which
Speaker 5: we could then take the time to build something more enduring.
Speaker 5: Over the past month, I've had calls with Prime Minister
Speaker 5: bet Yahoo as well as the leaders of Egyptian Cutter
Speaker 5: to push this forward. The key element of the deals
Speaker 5: are on the table. There are gaps that remain, but
Speaker 5: I've encouraged Israeli leaders to keep working to achieve the deal.
Speaker 5: The United States will do everything possible to make it happen.
Speaker 1: I also don't know what to make of this, whether
Speaker 1: this is real, whether it really has a shot. BB
Speaker 1: under a lot of pressure from the psychic most psychotic
Speaker 1: elements of his governing coalition not to do any sort
Speaker 1: of a deal at this point, especially not one that
Speaker 1: involves the release of any significant number of the Palestinian
Speaker 1: prisoners that they are holding. So whether this deal has
Speaker 1: any better shot at success in the last one, I
Speaker 1: genuinely just have no idea at this point. I guess
Speaker 1: I'm kind of skeptical given the way that the last
Speaker 1: negotiations fell apart.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 1: One last piece here I wanted to show you because
Speaker 1: this is just outrageous and as yet another cautionary tale
Speaker 1: about believing anything that comes out from the idea. Put
Speaker 1: this up on the screen. This is just insane that
Speaker 1: they did this. So you'll recall Israel actually has to
Speaker 1: respond to the ICJ on February twenty third, So this
Speaker 1: is really coming up about the ways that they have
Speaker 1: changed their offensive to comply with the order from the
Speaker 1: ICJ and the establishment that they are plausibly committing genocide.
Speaker 1: Part of that is an effort to oh, no, we
Speaker 1: really are shipping in humanitarian aid. And so the official
Speaker 1: state of Israel account and I'm reading now from this
Speaker 1: what is with the BBC before, who has been doing
Speaker 1: a great job tracking lies and misinformation from both Israelis
Speaker 1: and from Hamas and people who are supporting the Palestinians
Speaker 1: on the side, The official State of Israel account has
Speaker 1: posted this video saying it is facilitating aid into Gaza.
Speaker 1: A clip at the end of the video claiming to
Speaker 1: show tents and shelter equipment for Gozzen's was actually filmed
Speaker 1: in March twenty twenty two showing tents in Moldova for
Speaker 1: Ukrainian refugees. Okay, this is the level of propaganda that
Speaker 1: we're dealing with here that you can easily identify a
Speaker 1: literal stock photo from Ukrainian refugees in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: and the State of Israel account is happy to tweet
Speaker 1: this sount as evidence of their benevolence. It really is
Speaker 1: quite incredible, And yet it's the sort of thing that,
Speaker 1: just given the amount of propaganda we've been subjected to,
Speaker 1: could easily get lost as well.
Speaker 2: God, yeah, of course that's why. I mean, look again,
Speaker 2: this is a confirmed thing. This actually did happen. It's
Speaker 2: not such some random account you know, that we pulled.
Speaker 2: We've used his disinformation. He's actually done a good job
Speaker 2: of demunking many things on either side, so it's not
Speaker 2: like a selective person that we're pulling either. No, just
Speaker 2: you know, does it's just crazy especially if we loop
Speaker 2: it back to the fact that they're trying to create
Speaker 2: this like fake image about an option, but then for
Speaker 2: a humanitarian option.
Speaker 3: But all of it just comes back to the fact
Speaker 3: that they want to pay for it.
Speaker 2: They want they want to be able to inflict the damage,
Speaker 2: not deal with any of the consequences. And I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a conversation we've had here a million times,
Speaker 2: but this is not how it works. Like you can't
Speaker 2: just go in break it, you know, think that you
Speaker 2: can just absolve yourself completely. Even if we did pay
Speaker 2: for it and all that, it's not like the security
Speaker 2: ramifications and all the fallout from the future will not
Speaker 2: come back to impact Israel.
Speaker 1: This is a good transition to something that just transpired
Speaker 1: here in the Senate. You had two senators Democratic senators
Speaker 1: who traveled to the region to evaluate the aid distribution,
Speaker 1: and they were basically shocked and horrified. And they also
Speaker 1: were debunking the Israeli propaganda, the Israeli lies about how, oh,
Speaker 1: we're doing everything we can to get a humanitarian aid
Speaker 1: and they said, no, you're not whatsoever. You're throwing up
Speaker 1: all these roadblocks to make it impossible to get sufficient
Speaker 1: aid into Gaza, people are literally starving to death, and
Speaker 1: so what we're really for a sort of run on
Speaker 1: them mill, standard issue liberal Democratic senator. Quite extraordinary comments
Speaker 1: made last night. He said, number one, he has confirmation
Speaker 1: that kids are now starving to death in Gaza, per
Speaker 1: Cindy McCain, who's the head of the World Food Program,
Speaker 1: which is interesting of itself, but Personny McCain, kids are
Speaker 1: now starving to death. And he says clearly and unequivocally,
Speaker 1: this is a war crime, and the people who are
Speaker 1: doing this are war criminals. Let's take a listen to that, and.
Speaker 6: In President, I want that to sink in. Kids in
Speaker 6: Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food.
Speaker 6: In addition to the horror of that news, one other
Speaker 6: thing is true. That is a war crime. It is
Speaker 6: a textbook war crime, and that makes those who orchestrate
Speaker 6: it war criminals. So now the question is what will
Speaker 6: the United States do?
Speaker 3: What will we do?
Speaker 6: What will President Biden do? President Biden must take action
Speaker 6: in response.
Speaker 3: To what is happening.
Speaker 1: His comments very forceful there, and this came in the
Speaker 1: context of debate over that Ukraine Israel bill which just
Speaker 1: passed the Senate with a supermajority. But in spite of
Speaker 1: the fact that he says these are war crimes and
Speaker 1: the people who are doing this are war criminals, he
Speaker 1: still voted yes on the.
Speaker 3: Bill, probably because of Ukraine.
Speaker 1: That's what he said. Elizabeth Warren said the same thing.
Speaker 1: But it's like, how can you knowingly, Like, you know
Speaker 1: these are war CRuMs. You said it on the Senate
Speaker 1: floor that they are war crimes. You're like, but I'm
Speaker 1: going to go out and ship billions more to the
Speaker 1: people I am calling war criminals. Like he goes on, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, what should we do as the United States
Speaker 1: of America with President Bidena, hold them accountable, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Like you are a United States senator, you have you
Speaker 1: are incredibly powerful and influential actually within the caucus in
Speaker 1: particular on foreign policy. For you to say these are
Speaker 1: war crimes, yes, that's extraordinary. But then the next thing
Speaker 1: you do is to vote through the funding. I just
Speaker 1: don't even know what to say about.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know, which is that Ukraine is a
Speaker 2: religion and it's like a mind disease for a lot
Speaker 2: of people, and it's literally, I mean you, Israel is
Speaker 2: the same way right. For a lot of Republicans, They're like,
Speaker 2: I will support Israel no matter what period end of
Speaker 2: the story. What did that guy, the guy with the
Speaker 2: congressman who wore the idf ran we.
Speaker 3: Have killed enough kids?
Speaker 2: He's like, we haven't killed It's like what He's like, God,
Speaker 2: he's not even Jewish. That's that's the craziest part about
Speaker 2: all of this. This is the same level he's like, well,
Speaker 2: we can have bad things going, but Ukraine it's just
Speaker 2: such an important cause, et cetera, et cetera. It's just
Speaker 2: one of those you have to move past. The reason
Speaker 2: why and you and I were talking about this before
Speaker 2: the show. Why I still do think that is very
Speaker 2: important is that's Chris van Holland. This guy lives in Bethesda,
Speaker 2: which is one of the richest namesghborhoods in the world.
Speaker 3: It's right out here Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: It's full of people from the blob, represents the state
Speaker 2: of Maryland. If he is willing to talk that way openly,
Speaker 2: I do think it is still impactful and is interesting
Speaker 2: in terms of where the winds are blowing within the
Speaker 2: Democratic Coalition. Yeah, because he's not Bernie Sanders. This is
Speaker 2: not a far left person by any you know, means
Speaker 2: this is a former Nancy Pelosi top deputy, a very
Speaker 2: classic DSCC type person. So that's why I actually still
Speaker 2: found it, you know, has put his voting aside. The rhetoric,
Speaker 2: you know, usually precedes that or at least can proceed
Speaker 2: or show us something that was.
Speaker 3: Noteworthy to me.
Speaker 1: It was, yeah, it absolutely was. The other thing that
Speaker 1: is noteworthy is so van Holland and center of Merkley
Speaker 1: took this trip together to evaluate the aid distribution that
Speaker 1: I was referring to earlier, and so now you have
Speaker 1: Van Holland making these comms to other reason why it's
Speaker 1: noteworthy is receiving confirmation that yes, kids in Gaza at
Speaker 1: this point are literally dying from starvation, not just bombs
Speaker 1: as per Sidney McCain had of the World Food Program.
Speaker 1: So that in and of itself is newsworthy. And then
Speaker 1: the other thing to point out about the fact that
Speaker 1: you know, these two senators, standard issue Democratic senators travel
Speaker 1: to the region is Merkley ends up being alongside you know,
Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders, basically Democrat at this point the only Democratic
Speaker 1: votes against this package. So clearly traveling to the region
Speaker 1: and seeing this up, you know, up close and personal.
Speaker 1: Also had a real impact on them, which is, you know,
Speaker 1: something you've seen more broadly with people who have actually traveled,
Speaker 1: for example, to the occupied West Bank and seen what
Speaker 1: life is like there. They come back very, very changed
Speaker 1: by that experience, and so I thought that was really
Speaker 1: notable as well. At the same time, this we didn't
Speaker 1: want to let this pass. So they're obviously in terms
Speaker 1: of political implications, Joe Biden is quickly reckoning, or at
Speaker 1: least his team, which may still have somewhat of brain left,
Speaker 1: is weekly reckoning with the fact that they've got a
Speaker 1: massive problem in Michigan with Arab American voters in particular,
Speaker 1: and they've got a huge problem they're based in general,
Speaker 1: I mean young voters, voters of color dramatically opposed to
Speaker 1: what Biden's policy has been in Israel. So in an
Speaker 1: attempt to clean up the electoral mess, they dispatched a
Speaker 1: retinue of AIDS to Michigan to meet with some Arab
Speaker 1: American and Muslim leaders last week. Let's put this up
Speaker 1: on the screen. The headline here from CBS is Biden
Speaker 1: AID acknowledges missteps on Gaza and regrets failure to express
Speaker 1: concern over loss of Palestinian life. Me read you a
Speaker 1: little bit of this, he said this, Aid said quote,
Speaker 1: we have left a very damaging impression based on what
Speaker 1: has been a wholly inadequate public accounting for how much
Speaker 1: the President, the administration, the country values the lives of Palestinians.
Speaker 1: This was per Deputy National Security Advisor John Feiner. And
Speaker 1: the reason we know these details as apparently they leaked
Speaker 1: the audio. We are very well aware that we have
Speaker 1: misstepped in the course of responding to the crisis. He
Speaker 1: also acknowledged many in the Arab American community believe President
Speaker 1: Biden doesn't emphasis empathize with Palestinians in Gaza and occupied
Speaker 1: West Bank. In the closed door meeting, Finer expressed regrets
Speaker 1: over several specific instances of the administration's response, including a
Speaker 1: failure by the US to publicly condemn remarks made by
Speaker 1: Israeli Defense MINISTRYO of galant the ones where he called
Speaker 1: Palestinians animals in human form. We did not sufficiently indicate
Speaker 1: that we totally rejected and disagreed with those sort of sentiments.
Speaker 1: Out of a desire to sort of focus on solving
Speaker 1: the problem and not engaging a rhetorical back and forth
Speaker 1: with people who, in many cases, I think we all
Speaker 1: find somewhat abhorrent. He also expressed regret over a statement
Speaker 1: made by the President on the one hundredth day of
Speaker 1: the conflict. The statement spoke to the plight of Israeli
Speaker 1: victims of the initial Hamas attack, including those taken hostage,
Speaker 1: but did not speak to Palestinian civilians killed by the
Speaker 1: Israeli response quote, there is no excuse for that. It
Speaker 1: should not have happened. I believe it will not happen again,
Speaker 1: but we know that there was a lot of damage done.
Speaker 1: He referred to that damage as a very very big hole,
Speaker 1: I mean, note worthy to me. And the saga is
Speaker 1: the fact that there's no regrets over the actual policy.
Speaker 1: They seem to think this is all like a messaging issue,
Speaker 1: like if they had just acknowledged Palestinians in the one
Speaker 1: hundred day message, then people would be cool with the policy,
Speaker 1: or if they'd, like, you know, put out another leak
Speaker 1: to the press about how they didn't like Yoov Gallant's
Speaker 1: comments about humans and animal form, maybe everything would be fine.
Speaker 1: There's clearly no acknowledgment that the actual policy itself is
Speaker 1: the issue that people have with the administration, not necessarily
Speaker 1: the packaging of the policy, but the actual substance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the polling really bears that out too.
Speaker 2: We can put this up there on the screen, which
Speaker 2: shows that the half of you as adults now say
Speaker 2: that the military response has gone too far. You can
Speaker 2: actually compare it from the previous numbers and see a
Speaker 2: pretty substantial increase in the number of US adults rising
Speaker 2: from November of twenty twenty three, where there's forty percent
Speaker 2: that they did to now fifty percent. So you have
Speaker 2: fifty percent of US adults overall who are saying that
Speaker 2: the Israel response has gone too far, thirty one percent
Speaker 2: says not just about right, fifteen percent then saying k
Speaker 2: not gone far enough.
Speaker 3: If you look at the Democratic number, it's actually much higher.
Speaker 2: Previously it was fifty eight percent said too far, now
Speaker 2: sixty three percent, twenty four percent who are agreeing, nine
Speaker 2: percent who are saying not far enough, amongst independence the
Speaker 2: other number that matters obviously for the election, you actually
Speaker 2: see the number rise to fifty two percent and then
Speaker 2: twenty eight percent at the bit about right and twelve
Speaker 2: percent not far enough. Number so the flip from the
Speaker 2: independent voters on their view at a minority basically a
Speaker 2: balance between too far and about right from a couple
Speaker 2: of months ago to now.
Speaker 3: That's the big story to me.
Speaker 2: Amongst the Independents and then obviously amongst the Democrats as well.
Speaker 2: So you got two thirds of Democrats and about half
Speaker 2: of Independence, just demonstrating where if the trend line is
Speaker 2: going to continue his way as we go all the
Speaker 2: way into November.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a lot like the Ukraine stories.
Speaker 2: You know, people will get caught up in something and
Speaker 2: then reality starts to set in, and then after a while,
Speaker 2: especially a year and a half, two years or so,
Speaker 2: into something which is around the year is about where
Speaker 2: we would be, you know, on November November fifth, a
Speaker 2: fourth on election day.
Speaker 3: Well, you can see pretty clearly, I think where things
Speaker 3: are going in direction.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. What was a few things that were noteworthy to
Speaker 1: me in that polling. Number one, most of the increase
Speaker 1: in the number of people who thought that the Israelis
Speaker 1: had gone too far, actually wasn't Democrats who already thought
Speaker 1: that for a while. The biggest increases came from Independence
Speaker 1: and even Republicans, a third of whom now say that
Speaker 1: the response has gone too far. That was really noteworthy. Also,
Speaker 1: if you dig into some of the details of this poll,
Speaker 1: you can see the problem that Biden has with some
Speaker 1: really key parts of his base, and why this isn't
Speaker 1: just a Michigan problem. It's not just an Arab American problem.
Speaker 1: It's not just a Muslim American problem. About six and
Speaker 1: ten non white Democrats disapprove of how Biden is approaching
Speaker 1: the conflict. About half of white Democrats approved, So you
Speaker 1: have a racial divide here, but sixty percent of non
Speaker 1: white Democrats saying, no, Joe Biden, we do not like
Speaker 1: what you are doing with regard to Israel. Non white Democrats,
Speaker 1: not even just all non white people, non white Democrats
Speaker 1: sixty percent are like, no, we don't like this policy.
Speaker 1: Seven in ten Democrats under forty five disapprove seven in ten.
Speaker 1: That is the opposite of the attitude of older Democrats,
Speaker 1: among whom nearly six in ten approve. So the biggest
Speaker 1: divide on this issue is an age divide. Seven in
Speaker 1: ten Democrats, so seventy percent under forty five saying this
Speaker 1: is horrifying. And we've showed you, shown you the polls
Speaker 1: in the past where a majority of Democrats now say
Speaker 1: Israel is committing a genocide and another thirty percent are
Speaker 1: not sure and think they may be committing a genocide.
Speaker 1: So you know, that is the context for understanding why
Speaker 1: it would be insulting that this administration official goes to
Speaker 1: Michigan and says, well, we've just left a very damaging impression. No,
Speaker 1: it's we have a very accurate impression of exactly what
Speaker 1: your policy is. The problem isn't the impression that's been left.
Speaker 1: The problem is the policy itself. And until you change that,
Speaker 1: you can kiss like this is incredibly demoralizing to so
Speaker 1: many parts of your base, and not just one little
Speaker 1: like narrow constituency in Michigan that potentially you could make
Speaker 1: up with suburban women or something somewhere else.
Speaker 2: In the same That's a very good point, Bristol, All right,
Speaker 2: what are you taking a look at?
Speaker 1: On January twenty ninth, a harrowing call came into the
Speaker 1: Palestinian Red Crescent Society. A six year old girl, Hindra Job,
Speaker 1: was trapped being shot at by Israeli occupation forces. Every
Speaker 1: other family member in the car had already been killed.
Speaker 1: In a call that lasted for hours, the terrified child
Speaker 1: beg the Red Crescent to please come and rescue her.
Speaker 1: Come take me, she says, Come take you please. I'm scared.
Speaker 1: Come quick, call someone to come take me. Please. Okay,
Speaker 1: my dear, I will come and take you. Now. A
Speaker 1: volunteer from the Red Crescent is coordinating so we can
Speaker 1: come and take you. And you hear gunfire. There's gunfire
Speaker 1: around you. Yes, come take me, my dear. I swear
Speaker 1: I want to take you, but I can't right now.
Speaker 1: The family had been attempting to flee Gaza City. Hin's
Speaker 1: mother and older siblings were attempting the truck by foot,
Speaker 1: but because of the cold and the rain, hisn's mother
Speaker 1: sent her in the car with her aunt, uncle and cousins,
Speaker 1: thinking this would be safer and less arduous for her
Speaker 1: baby girl. But in a destroyed suburb of Gaza City,
Speaker 1: the car came under fire by the idf Now, the
Speaker 1: first call into the Red Crescent actually came from his
Speaker 1: fifteen year old cousin, Leon. Leon told them her parents
Speaker 1: and siblings had already been killed. They are shooting at us.
Speaker 1: The tank is next to me. The call ended amid
Speaker 1: rapid gunfire, and terrified shrieks. Next came that desperate call
Speaker 1: from Hint herself. The Red Crescent jumped into action to
Speaker 1: try to rescue this child. They reached out to the
Speaker 1: Ida and an attempt to secure safe passage for their
Speaker 1: ambulance and for the rescuers, using standard deconfliction practices to
Speaker 1: keep their own medics from coming under fire. For hours,
Speaker 1: they waited to hear back from the Israelis as Hind
Speaker 1: pleaded for help, telling them to please come that she
Speaker 1: was afraid of the dark. Finally, after three long hours,
Speaker 1: the Red Crescent got the green light. The ambulance had
Speaker 1: been cleared to move to Hind's location. According to the
Speaker 1: Red Crescent dispatcher, it wasn't long before that ambulance also
Speaker 1: came under idea fire.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 1: First, the paramedics said, the Israeli forces are putting laser
Speaker 1: lights on them, and then we heard a gunfire sound
Speaker 1: before we lost the connection. It was like a gunfire
Speaker 1: or explosion. We were not sure of what happened. For days,
Speaker 1: the Red Crescent heard nothing from their medics, and the
Speaker 1: heavy idea of presence made it too dangerous to send
Speaker 1: any additional rescuers. The organization was left to post desperate
Speaker 1: pleas to the public on their social media channels, alerting
Speaker 1: the world to Hint's plight. Finally, on Saturday, after twelve
Speaker 1: days of worrying and no news, all of our worst
Speaker 1: fears were confirmed. Israeli troops moved out, and Hin's family
Speaker 1: was able to return to the area and locate the
Speaker 1: destroyed vehicle where Hint had issued her final desperate plea
Speaker 1: in the car where the decomposing remains of Hint alongside
Speaker 1: her cousins, including Leon and her aunt and her uncle,
Speaker 1: and just down of reach, maybe a block away, was
Speaker 1: the charred remains of the ambulance which had been sent
Speaker 1: to rescue this little girl, who instead spent her final
Speaker 1: moments alone and completely terrified. Red Crescent crew Yusuf Zeno
Speaker 1: and Ahmed Al la Dune were also murdered by the IDF,
Speaker 1: in spite of being in a van clearly marked ambulance,
Speaker 1: and in spite of having received explicit permission for the
Speaker 1: operation by the IDF. Now you can see in this video,
Speaker 1: first you're looking here at the ambulance, and then within
Speaker 1: sight down the road is the car where Hind spent
Speaker 1: her final hours. You can imagine these medic heroes, so
Speaker 1: close to Hind, barely out of reach, when their vehicle
Speaker 1: was targeted and their own lives taken. I hope all
Speaker 1: of these souls rest in peace, their final agony and
Speaker 1: torment now at an end. Targeting an ambulance it's a
Speaker 1: war crime. Killing children other civilians also war crimes. There
Speaker 1: was no fighting on going the area between Hamas and
Speaker 1: the IDFs, so these vehicles were themselves targeted, not accidentally
Speaker 1: caught in the crossfire. Hind and Layon now take their
Speaker 1: place among the more than thirteen thousand Palestinian kids who've
Speaker 1: been killed by Israel since their assault on Gaza began.
Speaker 1: This is carnage that Joe Biden describes weekly as quote
Speaker 1: over the top. No, this is massacring children, targeting medics,
Speaker 1: pushing an already terrorized and display people to God knows where.
Speaker 1: This is not over the top. This is genocide. The
Speaker 1: IDF has yet to comment on this particular atrocity. Perhaps
Speaker 1: they need some time to fabricate a Hamas command and
Speaker 1: control center under the ambulance, or an intercepted audio recording
Speaker 1: of six year old Hind revealing she's actually a hardened
Speaker 1: Hamas terrorist. Liberal Western media jumped in to signal their
Speaker 1: concern with the most sanitized and accountability free or welling
Speaker 1: language possible. As noted by academic assault Rod, the premier
Speaker 1: outlets of Western journalism, The Times, The Post, CNN, and
Speaker 1: the BBC all failed to use the word killed or
Speaker 1: to so much as mention Israel in their headlines about
Speaker 1: Hin's murder. New York Times choice here is emblematic quote
Speaker 1: missing six year old and rescue team found dead in Gaza.
Speaker 1: AID group says as if they just dropped dead under
Speaker 1: mysterious circumstances. Now, for the American taxpayers who are listening
Speaker 1: to this, you should also know that your tax dollars
Speaker 1: funded this horror. Shell fragments from an American maid M
Speaker 1: eight thirty a one were found at the scene of
Speaker 1: the bombed out Red Crescent Ambulance. State Department spokesperson Matt
Speaker 1: Miller was asked about hims killing and the use of
Speaker 1: American made weapons as usual, he really had nothing to say.
Speaker 7: On the killing of a six year old h right
Speaker 7: up after an Israeli chank target. It's their family car
Speaker 7: in Gaza. The Geneva, Geneva based nonprofit Euromed Human Rights
Speaker 7: Monitor determined that the IDEF is responsible for the bombing
Speaker 7: of the ambulance that attempted to rescue Hindi, and it
Speaker 7: also reported that American made weapons was found at the
Speaker 7: bomb ambulance. Have you seen that report and do you
Speaker 7: have any response?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we are devastated about the reports of the death
Speaker 4: of hindrajab. I will tell you that I have a
Speaker 4: little girl that's about to turn six myself, and so
Speaker 4: it is just a devastating account, a heartbreaking account for
Speaker 4: this child. And of course there have been thousands of
Speaker 4: their children who have died as a result of this conflict,
Speaker 4: and every one of them is a tragedy that I know.
Speaker 4: I can tell you everyone in the United States government.
Speaker 3: Feels quite deeply.
Speaker 4: We have asked the Israeli authorities to investigate this incident
Speaker 4: on an urgent basis. We understand that they are doing so.
Speaker 3: We expect to.
Speaker 4: See those results on a timely fashion, and they should
Speaker 4: include accountability measures as.
Speaker 1: Appropriate, accountability measures as appropriate. Not going to hold my
Speaker 1: breath on that. One Secretary of State Tony Blinken says
Speaker 1: he will spend the rest of his life thinking about
Speaker 1: the thousands of children killed in Gaza. I hope he
Speaker 1: and all the other criminals with blood on their hands
Speaker 1: will be haunted by Hen's face for every single second
Speaker 1: of the rest of their days. I hope they can't
Speaker 1: sleep at night imagining her final moments of terror. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I doubt any of them has enough of a soul
Speaker 1: left to even care. But make no mistake, While some
Speaker 1: have more direct culpability than others, the truth is we
Speaker 1: all failed lay On, We failed us, if we failed Ahmed,
Speaker 1: and we all failed Hint. As Israel says its sites
Speaker 1: now on Ratha, Remember, millions of innocence, just like Hint
Speaker 1: and Leon, are sheltering there, seeking refuge, with literally nowhere
Speaker 1: else to go, each loss as devastating and tragic as
Speaker 1: that of this heartbreakingly adorable little girl who will now
Speaker 1: never see her seventh birthday. Bombs stamped made in America
Speaker 1: snuffing out these precious lives, and our president occasionally emerging
Speaker 1: from his fog to issue a weak protestation while rushing
Speaker 1: to ship more deadly child killing weapons and sager on
Speaker 1: that interaction.
Speaker 2: And if you want to hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue,
Speaker 2: become a Premium subscriber today at Breakingpoints dot com.
Speaker 3: Thank you guys so much for watching. We really appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Counterpoints is going to have more coverage, probably on this subject,
Speaker 2: I'm assuming, as well as more on the Ukraine AID
Speaker 2: and all of that, so we will see you all
Speaker 2: on Thursday.
Speaker 4: We want to keep Putt to ta