Yes, The Bulldozers Are “For Helping”

The Senate just voted on blocking more U.S. weapons transfers to Israel and the details are staggering: 12,000 one-thousand-pound bombs plus bulldozers the hosts argue are used to erase neighborhoods, not rebuild them. We get into why calling this a “weapons sale” is misleading, how taxpayer-funded military aid gets normalized in headlines, and why language is doing real political work right now.

We also follow the vote math and the motives. Bernie Sanders forces the issue into the open, but we question how many Democrats only moved because the resolutions were set up to fail. Then we name the senators who voted against blocking the bulldozers and connect those “no” votes to pro-Israel lobby money, AIPAC-aligned donors, and the broader problem of money in politics. If public opinion has shifted this hard, why is Washington still acting like nothing changed?

From there, the story goes global. The House war powers fight shows Congress still dodging its responsibility as the Iran war rattles oil markets and alliances. Italy suspends defense cooperation with Israel, Germany warns against de facto annexation of the West Bank, and South Korea’s president escalates a public diplomatic clash that signals a bigger break across Asia. Add rare protests in Japan and the question becomes unavoidable: is U.S. foreign policy isolating us to protect Netanyahu’s agenda?

Subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review. What part of this vote do you think was principle and what part was pure politics?

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:46

It has to do with a vote that was held in the Senate yesterday. And it was meant to block two proposed weapons sales to Israel. Now I do it in uh scare quotes because we don't sell anything to Israel. We gift Israel these incredibly expensive weapons. Um but either way, even if they were uh going to buy them from us, I think it would have uh been a good idea to block that anyway, since they're committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, uh not just in Gaza, but now uh they've spread uh their lovely ideology and actions into other countries in the Middle East and dragged us into a war with Iran. So, with all of that in mind, the first uh, you know, I guess cache of weapons uh would be for 12,000 bombs, each weighing a thousand pounds. Okay. The second was for the sale of bulldozers. You might be wondering, oh, maybe they need bulldozers to help the people of Gaza, you know, get through the rubble and try to, you know, find their deceased family members who have been trapped under the rubble in some cases for as long as two and a half years. No, no, that's not why they want the bulldozers. Israel would like the bulldozers to do what um they've been doing in places like Lebanon, where they've effectively been bulldozing entire communities. Entire communities. Okay. So Senator Bernie Sanders led the mission to block those two bills. And uh here's what he said on the House floor yesterday.

SPEAKER_09 2:14

Bottom line, the American people, whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents, conservatives, moderates, or progressives, want to make certain that their tax dollars are spent responsibly. And in strong and growing numbers, they do not want us to continue spending billions of their taxpayer dollars in support of the illegal, horrific, and expansionist war policies of the Netanyahu government in Israel. A recent Kwinipia poll also found that 60 percent, including three-quarters of Democrats, two-thirds of independents, and 37 percent of Republicans. I say that to my Republican colleagues.

Democrats Shift And Cynical Cover

SPEAKER_06 3:20

So there you have Senator Sanders making a strong case for blocking these weapons bills. However, um, you know, he does more than just give speeches. Uh, Sanders offered similar resolutions last summer, which Republicans also blocked. And in 2024, the same outcome uh in those cases, about half of Senate Democrats backed his effort, which obviously isn't enough Senate Democrats when you only have 50% backing what Sanders is trying to do here. Now that was in the past. This time around, things were a little different, but unfortunately, we got close, but no cigar. So several Democrats who had opposed such efforts in the past actually changed course. So 36 Democrats voted to take up a measure that would block the sale of the 1,000 pounds. So I guess um more of the Senate Democrats were in favor of the bulldozers that are uh raising neighborhoods in Gaza and Lebanon. Okay, great. Roughly a dozen more Democrats voted for those measures than have voted for similar ones in the past. Now, I want to be clear about something real quick, Jenk, and I want to get your thoughts on this as well. It is also very likely that Democrats who uh maybe wanted to vote no on Bernie Sanders' effort here to block additional military aid to Israel just knew that his effort was gonna fail. Probably knew that with the midterms coming up and the fact that most Democratic voters have soured on Israel. You can vote alongside Bernie Sanders, give the illusion that you support him without any real fear that this type of bill is gonna pass, thus blocking additional military aid to Israel. What do you think?

Media Framing And “Gifting” Arms

Name Names And Follow The Money

SPEAKER_10 5:23

Yeah, I think that's 100% right. So I'm gonna uh be nuanced here. So let's start uh to talk about uh heroes and villains. So uh usual uh villainous mainstream media, stop saying we sold anything to Israel. You're doing that, you're lying on purpose to make it seem like Israel is buying this stuff. No, we gift it to them every time. So why are you purposely lying in all of your articles and all of your news stories about how they bought the weapons? They didn't buy anything, okay? They continue to rob us blind. By the way, the bulldozers are armed. And if you're writing garbage about how, oh, the Israelis might be using bulldozers to help the Palestinians, well, I mean, can you imagine a more gargantuan lie like the Israelis would ever want to help the Palestinians, let alone the fact that they don't allow that in the uh part of Gaza that the Palestinians are in, and that you're using these bulldozers, we see and we show we've shown you videos, destroying schools and hospitals all over southern Lebanon now, like they did in Gaza. So, no, they they'll be used by a sick fascist state to murder more of their neighbors, and there's absolutely no doubt about that. Okay, now heroes. Uh Bernie Sanders. Thank God, man. At least he exists. And I think that that's so great for uh two reasons. One, he's just the moral voice of the Senate, always has been, and always uh gets to the right conclusion. Number two, thank God there are Jewish Americans like Bernie Sanders, so that more people aren't, don't make the mistake of thinking that this is about Jewish people and realize it's about the government of Israel, which is a different country. Thank you, Bernie. You're awesome. Uh now look, Bernie's too nice uh overall. I like what Rokan is doing better because Bernie will say, hey, let's vote on this thing, and it's a great thing that he proposed. But when it comes to Schumer and Biden and those guys, oh, but golly gee, they're my colleagues. They're not your colleagues. Chuck Schumer doesn't agree with us. A single thing that you think, Bernie, Chuck Schumer would betray all of your values in one second flat if you paid him a dollar, okay? Let alone the six and a half million dollars he's already been bribed by Israel, let alone the fact that he works for Israel. Come on, let's be honest about these things. Chris Van Hallen's another really good center. There are others. There are good, solid Democrats on this issue in the Senate, which is a rare thing to say. So I'll take that. Now to Anna's question about the middle ground guys. So the ones that uh voted along with Bernie on this and had the right vote, so I'm torn on that, right? Because I'll, you know me, I take yes for an answer, and I'm happy to give them credit for voting in the right direction. On the other hand, Anna's indisputably correct that if uh it was a close vote and they needed one of those guys to vote with Israel, 12 of them would vote with Israel. Of course they would. Think Corey Booker's gonna vote against Israel if they need his vote. You think Elisa Slotkin is gonna vote against Israel, or Mark Kelly, or Adam Schiff? No, no, they're all gonna vote for Israel if Israel needed the vote. Now, they didn't need the vote, they won comfortably. So, but it does show you guys that even the Adam Schiffs and Corey Bookers of the world are realize how supernova toxic it is to support Israel's war machine. It's finally gotten through their thick, thick heads. So now you'll see a lot of Democrats pretending that they don't want to fund Israel's war machine. Okay, so get ready for that. But again, you come to the right place, and if your vote matters, especially, then I give you all the credit in the world. Okay, so so far it doesn't matter, but they could. Now, one other villain uh before we go on, Anna, and that's uh all of the Republicans. They all voted, yes, Israel, we serve Israel loyally, please murder more. You you John and Sally and Kansas, shut up and give your paycheck to Israel. They need to bomb more Muslims and steal their land. The Republican Party. And Christians and Christians. There's several million Christians in Lebanon, but the Republicans all of a sudden don't care about Christians at all when they get that sweet APAC money. Every Republican in the Senate is a whore and works for APAC, and every donor that comes by, they're giant liars, and they'll sell you out in a flat second. Thank you, Ed.

War Powers Vote Falls Apart

SPEAKER_06 11:38

100%. Okay, I I want to name names. Very important to name names. Uh so uh we know on the Republican side who uh voted against Bernie's effort, every single one of them. Uh, but let's look at the Democrats. So Democrats who voted against blocking the sale of bulldozers. You have Senators uh Richard Blumenthal, Chris Koons, Catherine Cortez Mastro, Jackie Rosen, uh Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, John Fetterman, get them out, get them out. Don't forget their names. And I don't want to hear a damn Democratic voter come to me, whether it's, you know, four years from now, six years from now, whenever, to tell me, no, that's not true. These Democrats never voted in favor of sending weapons to Israel. Please, let's go to the next one. If you're curious why they voted against it, uh, money spent by pro-Israel lobby uh group donors, groups and donors. So you got Richard Blumenthal, he's taken over or nearly$1.7 million from the Israel lobby. Chris Kuhnz, uh, over$1.7 million. Uh Christine Cortez Mastro, wow, she really did rank it in,$3.2 million. I'm rounding, obviously. Uh Jackie Rosen,$7.6 million. Man, that's a lot of money. Chuck Schumer,$6.4 million. And then you have uh John Fetterman, who's already taken nearly$2 million from the Israel lobby in the short period of time he's been a politician. It's just wild, absolutely wild. And then you have Kirsten Gillibrand, of course, nearly$3.3 million. Um, so money talks. And uh, while this is extremely disappointing, um, and more proof that these uh lawmakers need to be voted out, Bernie Sanders saw this as a glass half-fold hype situation. So I want to read his reaction to all of this. He says, we are making progress. Today, more than 80% of the Democratic caucus stood with the American people and voted to block U.S. military aid to Netanyahu and his horrific illegal wars. When we started this effort, there were just 11 votes. Now there are 40. That shift reflects where the American people are. Americans, whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents, want to see our tax money invested in improving lives here at home, not used to kill innocent women and children in the Middle East and put American troops in harm's way as part of Netanyahu's illegal wars of expansion. So there you have uh Senator Sanders saying out loud what we've been saying out loud here at TYT for years now, right? Because this isn't new. The border expansion, the Greater Israel project is not some new project. Uh, this is something that Israelis uh in the media, Israeli politicians have been talking about overtly, openly, brazenly. And it's about time we actually believe that they're gonna do what they say they're gonna do rather than have, you know, them gaslight us when they're addressing Americans in American media. At the same time, over in the House, uh, the war powers resolution failed yet again. Total losers, these politicians. You're you're worthless, okay? You serve no role. You should be disbanded. All right, but anyway, so the World War Powers Act basically indicates hey, guess what? Uh, if the president wants to start a war, he needs to get it approved by Congress. You know, that whole system of checks and balances that we're supposed to value here in the United States. Well, Congress has consistently ceded their powers, ceded their power, ceded their power to the executive branch. And in this case, um, the war powers resolution failed yet again, 213 to 214. Just one Republican, Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky, voted for it. While one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, who should be voted out of office, voted against it. Representative Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio, who previously voted to end the Iran War, voted present because he's a coward. Three Republicans did not vote. They're also cowards.

Lebanon Ceasefire And Annexation Claims

SPEAKER_10 15:34

Jake. So I I want to be clear. So the seven Democratic senators at Anna Red, you guys are I call I'm calling them traitors. Now why am I saying that? Traitors to um to humanity? Well, oh, yes, sure, to humanity, America, et cetera. But really specifically, I mean uh the Democratic voters. So 80% of Democratic voters have a negative view of Israel and do not want to send them any more arms. It's not a subtle number. It's not 52%, it's not 57%, it's not even 64%. It is an overwhelming eight out of 10. And Richard Blumethal, Chris Kuhn's, Catherine Cortez, Master, Jackie Rosen, Kristen Schillerbrand, Chuck Schumer, and John Fetterman just gave all of you guys the middle finger and said, ha ha, you think I'm gonna represent you? No, I tricked you, and then I betrayed you, and I stabbed you in the back, and I twisted the knife because my donors told me to. I don't give a damn about 80% of you. I spit in your face. That's what they did with this vote. They said, no, Israel is much more important to us than our own voters. We don't care if it's eight out of ten, nine out of ten, ten out of ten, we don't care if every single Democrat in the country wants us to stop funding Israel. We loyally serve Israel and not you. That's exactly what they said with that vote. You would be out of your mind to vote for any of those seven. You're basically saying, oh, okay, I'm an idiot, I'm a sucker, take my vote, and don't care about my priorities at all. Just serve, and guys, Israel's tip of the iceberg, okay? Those seven and so many others, they serve all their donors. You think it's just Israel? They portray you with every single vote. It's all theater. They don't care about you at all. They will, and we've been telling you this for 20 years on the Young Turks. All Israel is doing is waking up the whole country to, oh, money in politics. Oh, if you give someone three and a half million dollars, it turns out they'll vote for you every single time. Of course they will. You would have to be so maniacally stupid that you as I the equivalent of a national media reporter to not understand that super simple concept. But every report in the country is like, uh, what do you mean? Do you think six and a half million affects someone's vote? But they're such an honest, beautiful, honorable politician. Get the hell out of here, man. The media is disgustingly corrupt. These politicians are disgustingly corrupt, and their job is to work in unison to make sure that they serve the richest, most powerful people in the country, and never you, and never you. So at eight o'clock, we do a show called The Revolution. You know, young church is six at eight o'clock, Monday through Friday. And at eight o'clock, I do the revolution. So tonight I'm gonna ask for your help. We're gonna find primary candidates for these folks, and we're gonna make sure that we spend our time and effort to make sure that they never, ever win another election. Ever. The only reason why anybody votes for them is because the monstrous liars in mainstream media. Oh, they oh, they're Democrats, oh, they they care about their voters, oh, they're all Hezbollah has released a statement about this.

SPEAKER_06 18:52

Uh, they said in a statement that any ceasefire must be comprehensive across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement. Now, Lebanon and Israel both agreed to a provision in this 10-day ceasefire that would allow Israel to defend itself against any further attacks from Hezbollah. So let's just keep it real, guys. The war is still on. Because another thing that Israel uh plans to continue doing during this uh next 10 days is uh maintaining their occupation of southern Lebanon so they can annex that land. They have been overt about that. So when IDF soldiers get attacked by Hezbollah, they're getting attacked because Hezbollah is resisting their annexation of southern Lebanon. And I would I gather that they intend to continue doing so. So, Jenk, you talk about the Lebanese government and you know how the Lebanese uh leader is not a fan of Hezbollah. Um if it were up to the leader of Lebanon, the current government of Lebanon, the Israelis would be in charge already, not just of southern Lebanon. The whole of Lebanon. The only thing, literally the only thing, stopping the Israelis from doing what they truly want to do, which is taking over this land, is Hezbollah, which is why Hezbollah is, whatever you might think about them, they are an established political party. And yeah, they're considered a militia because they actually resist Israeli aggression and land theft. Now, if Israel stopped bombing its neighbors, terrorizing, and slaughtering Palestinians, they wouldn't have to worry about resistance to their actions. And uh Israeli soldiers have been killed in recent days, so maybe that's another reason why Israel was open to a 10-day ceasefire. Who knows? We'll see. We'll see if they'll stop the fighting in southern Lebanon, but I I doubt that they're gonna stop. Israel never honors a single ceasefire, they always continue.

SPEAKER_10 21:32

Yeah. So look, the reason why I say it's complicated is because Hezbollah uh today put out a statement saying, uh, okay, we'll abide by the ceasefire. What we mean by that is not Lebanon and Israel ceasefire, but America and Iran ceasefire, which included Lebanon, and now that Israel is finally cease, according to Israel. Now, having said that, one of their conditions is that Israel leave Southern Lebanon, and Israel has absolutely no intention of leaving Southern Lebanon and has not left at all.

SPEAKER_08 22:48

Donald Trump, all right, let's turn now to Europe. Let's put this up here on the screen. Donald Trump says that Georgia Maloney lacks courage. Now, what in God's name could this man be talking about? They say Donald Trump has slammed his erwis ally, Georgia Maloney, over her support for Pope Leo and Rome's refusal to allow U.S. warplanes involved in the attack on Iran. However, in a new interview, telephone interview with the Italian newspaper, in a new interview, telephone interview with the Italian newspaper, the president accused the Italian premier of cowardice uh because of her comments whenever it came to his beef with the Pope. He says, Your Prime Minister is doing nothing to get oil. I'm shocked by her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong. Spokesperson for acceptable. Now, why is Trump having such beef with the Italian Prime Minister? It's not just over uh all of this with the Pope. There's a lot of underlying tension over Iran and Israel. So let's put C2 up there on the screen, because this came on the very same day. Italy has suspended defense packs with Israel, further straining ties. The move by Italy, once considered a quote, strong ally of Israel, reflected growing anger over Israeli aggression in the Middle East, and Trump openly criticized Italy's stance on the war. There is a 2005 defense accord that was ratified between the Italians and between the Israelis. Quote, cooperation between the two countries in the area of defense industry, procurement policy, importing, exporting military equipment, exchanging technical data, and other forms of military collaboration. It has been renewed every five years and was set for another renewal as of this month. However, opposition parties have put pressure on the government for over a year to suspend the renewal, and Marco Grimaldi, the opposition lawmaker, said the decision was a victory for those who had protested Israel's military. Military offensive in Gaza over the last three years. So this is a real break, not only for the Italians with Israel, but with the United States. And huge. Never thought I'd be sitting here white knighting for Italy. All right. In Europe, as people know my feelings on the continent and of the many uh American tourists who choose to go there over literally anywhere else, but it is what it is. Oh this is your worst take. What? Oh, my worst take is that if people shouldn't literally go anywhere else. Go to Italy. Yeah, go to Italy so that you can hang out with other people from like San Francisco. Yeah, that's smart. Let's go sit in a cafe and order spaghetti. All right. Yeah. Phenomenal. And make that my ringtone. Yeah. Spaghetti. Okay. So coming back, what we do know at the very least is that Europe and a lot of these nationalist leaders. So we've seen the AFD in Germany, we've seen now Maloney, we have seen Hungary, and even this new leader in Hungary, uh Magyar, all of them are charting their own course, right? And I think what people under misunderstand about national, particularly Trump, is when Trump says we have a nationalist alliance, I don't think you understand what the word nationalist means. Nationalist means putting your own country's interests first. And so these are actually the exact type of leaders who are like, hey man, you're creating a problem for me. And so if you create a problem for me, I'm just not going to join you in continuing that. I have to look out for my own nation's politics. And remember, with Italy, you have huge US bases there. A lot of AFRICOM assets I know that are used from Italian-American bases or Italian bases, or American bases in Italy. You also, of course, Italy, you know, pretty vital, I would say, member of NATO, not from a defense perspective, but just geographically in terms of uh where they are in the Alliance. Of course, they have massive economic and defense problems. So I'll put that to the side. But the point remains that generally, if you were to ask yourself who's more important. Again, this is coming from the guy who doesn't even like it, you're if you were to ask me who's important more important, Italy or Israel, who am I picking? Okay? Whenever it comes to that one. And again, that's coming from me. So you can see how this break and this total alliance with Israel has now fractured critical alliances with Korea, with Japan, with the UK, with Australia, with Italy. Like, why would we do this? And you know, I am an advocate of more relations and better alliances with Asia, much more so over Europe. But even here, just to look very rationally, why would you choose the interest of this small country which keeps dragging us into all of these conflicts and is fracturing our alliances and is destroying our honor and our moral character over all of these other countries, uh, which we have long-standing and good relationships with, at times overbalanced, but still, you know, it they still net out a little bit uh in the US favor if we wanted to. It's just it seems like madness to me. And would nobody everybody just seems to be totally okay with this, right? From the you know, pro-Israel side here in America. I just I just don't get it.

SPEAKER_07 27:38

Well, he doesn't have to pick these fights either. I mean, I think that's what's extra ridiculous, is that he can, and your point about the the nationalism is important because there is a wave of nationalism, and and you see it even among some leftist leaders like Shane Baum in Mexico, who is you know constantly hammering their own sovereignty. What they're most sensitive about, uh, and actually even Mark Carney, um, somebody who's center-left, what they're most sensitive about is the United States appearing to encroach on their sovereignty, and then then looking to their voters like they've allowed their sovereignty to be encroached upon. And that is nationalist. They might not call it that, but it really is actually nationalism. And so, uh, yes, you know, there's there there's been much written about how Trump has undermined other kind of right-wing nationalists and the causes, yeah, whether it's whether it's polyève or perhaps now this is a boost to believe.

Germany Warns On West Bank

SPEAKER_08 28:32

He absolutely screwed them in Canada. It's shocking. I listened to that guy, Pierre Paulie. How do you say? I'll choose not to say it. But uh, I had to ask him, a French professor. Did you get it right, really? Is he is he Quebec? Quebecois? Okay, all right. I know that he likes it. I have a long-standing beef with the Quebecois. Uh anyway. You have a long-standing beef with the Quebecois. You can't stand them. Can't stand him. Sorry. Sorry, Tanya. Do they know about this beef? I think so. I've mentioned it here before. I said I never want to annex Canada because I don't want the Quebecois. I don't want it in our country. All right. So I want Australia. This is my new thing. I think I like it. I like it. All right, uh C3. Let's put it up here on the screen. This is inside of Israel. Yair Lapide. Italy's decision to suspend the security cooperation agreement with Israel is yet another embarrassing failure of the Prime Minister and of the non-existent foreign minister. Maloney is not a left-wing progressive European leader. She's in the right-wing conservative camp and understands the need to fight terrorism. The government has failed to advance Israel's interests, even in the face of people who are supposed to be friends and our natural allies. So, this is from the Israeli, you know, opposition here. By the way, people who support the war, right? So it's not like these are some uh, you know, blue-haired leftists in Tel Aviv. These are inside of Israel. They're recognizing how much of a problem this is. This is also a bigger problem with Europe. Now, let's be clear with Europe. These are, you know, complete and total slaves at a legal level to Israel. They have all these BDS laws, they arrest people for like if you think it's bad in America, it's just way worse. Uh in Germany and in France where they're criticized, you know, basically criminalizing uh any Palestinian protest. But even for them, right? Let's put C4 up here on the screen. You have this new uh you have this new tweet from the Chancellor of Germany. He says, I am deeply concerned about developments in the Palestinian territories. In my phone call with the Prime Minister Netanyahu, I made it clear there must be no de facto annexation of the West Bank. So this was responded to uh by the Israelis in a shocking manner. Let's put C5 up here. So this is uh Smotrich, right? Uh Israeli minister. He says on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the German Chancellor should bow his head and apologize a thousand times on behalf of Germany, rather than daring to preach morality on us on how to conduct ourselves against the Nazis of our generation, who murdered, raped, slaughtered, and burned women, the elderly, and children in the most horrific massacre perpetuated against the Jewish people since the terrible Holocaust. We will not accept instructions from the hypocritical leaders in Europe, a continent that is once again losing its conscience and ability to distinguish between good and evil. Mr. Chancellor, the days when Germans dictated to Jews where they are permitted or forbidden to live, are over and shall not return. You will not force us into our ghettos again, certainly not in our own land. Our return to the land of Israel, our biblical and historical homeland, is the answer to anyone who tries or tries to destroy us, and we do not apologize for it a single moment. Now let's remember, this is only in response to something that says, I am concerned about developments in the Palestinian territories. I made it clear there must be no de facto annexation of the West Bank. That that's what that was in response to. Alright. So you could draw your own conclusions about how unhinged their society is right now.

SPEAKER_07 31:49

But again, it just goes back to what we were talking about in the polling block and how if like none of this is grappling with what just happened in the last several years that turned people away from supporting Israel and saying that they're supportive of Israel. There's actually a better way. They're not even making their argument in a way that's going to help them. They're making an argument in a way that is going to hurt them in the long run. So they're like, it's not even and that doesn't even have to be the way that it is. Like you could actually try to treat people as rational actors and say, huh, I'm not dismissing you as a bigot or an idiot who's been brainwashed by podcasters and TikTok. I actually want to deal with your concerns because I believe that you're a rational actor. But no.

South Korea’s Diplomatic Break

SPEAKER_08 32:33

That's where we are. All right, we got Chayel Ben Ephraim standing by. Let's get to it. Korea and to the Asian economies. As I said at the end of our interview with Rory, something very interesting is happening in Asia, a full, basically diplomatic break between Korea and Israel. Let's go ahead and put this up here on the screen. Seemingly out of nowhere, the president of Korea quote tweeted a video which said IDF soldiers tortured a Palestinian kid and threw him off a roof. They call themselves the most moral army. The president, again, literally out of nowhere, just says, I need to look into whether this is true. And if so, what measures have been taken? The forced comfort women issue that we are raising is in no different than the Jewish massacre or wartime killing. So for those who aren't aware in Korean history, uh Comfort Women was a major issue and remains a major one for the Korean people for Japanese treatment of Korean women in effective like enslavement into sex slavery during the Second World War. It remains like one of the hottest issues between the two countries and has caused like major even diplomatic problems between them. But clearly they have a very raw wound from the Second World War, and they're comparing the treatment and subjugation of Palestinians to how Israel is treating them. Now, the question though is that this video is from 2024. So why now? I think we know why, because their economy has just been decimated, and the president of South Korea is using, again, one of the most like sensitive issues in South Korean society to try to turn the people against Israel on this moral ground. Okay, so how does the Israeli foreign ministry respond? Let's put this up here on the screen. The remarks by the President of Korea, including this uh trivialization of the massacre of Jews on the eve of a Holocaust Remembrance State in Israel, are unacceptable and warrant strong condemnation. President Lee, for some strange reason, chose to dig up a story from 2024 and to cite a fake account that falsely represented as a current event. This account, remember, they're not denying any of this, okay?

SPEAKER_04 34:37

Exactly.

SPEAKER_08 34:37

This account is notorious for spreading anti-Israeli disinformation and falsehood about Israel. The event discussed occurred during an operation against terrorists at a time when Israeli soldiers were facing direct and immediate threats to their lives. The event was thoroughly investigated and addressed two years ago. Yet we have not heard a single word from the president about the terrorists who were at the center of this event, nor have we heard a word from the president regarding the recent Iranian and Hezbollah military attacks against terror or Israeli civilian civilians, Mr. President. It is always better to check before reposting. Okay, uh, so again, no.

SPEAKER_04 35:11

Seems like a confirmation of the veracity of the video.

SPEAKER_08 35:14

So right, but but this is the qu why now? Why now? Well, again, they're fed up. They they can't do this to Trump yet. They may get there uh if the blockade happens. But with Israel, who they see is um one of the precipitators of this conflict, they're like, oh yeah, no, we're done with you. And we're just gonna and this is a radical shift. They've had relations for many years. It hasn't necessarily always been on the best terms, but you know, at the end of the day, Korea, they don't care that much about Israel. They're a major U.S. of the ally. So if a U.S. wants them to cozy up to Israel, so be it. It is what it is. But now their entire population, remember what, you think we're a phone addicted society, they're very similar. They're all on social media, they have TikTok and all these other things in South Korea, so they've been watching the same Palestinian video. So they've got the population, but then you have this war, which has plunged them into economic crises and chaos. Remember, right before all of this, Korea was about to dispatch its own special envoy. Let's put D4 up there on the screen, their own special envoy appointed by their foreign minister directly to Iran to have bilateral talks with Iran. And basically, I mean, they didn't admit it, but I think they were just gonna pay the toll to get all of their oil out of their Straits of War moves. They didn't care at this point. Their economy is so deeply reliant. Well, similarly, again, they're furious with Israel for their role in this war, and so they've actually ratcheted up this diplomatic incident. Let's put uh D3 up there on the screen. This is in response to Israel's response. It's disappointing that you don't even once reflect on the criticisms from people around the world who are suffering and struggling due to your relentless anti-human rights and anti-international law actions. When I am in pain, others feel that pain just as deeply. It's only natural to feel sorry if someone else is suffering because of my needs. It makes me deeply uncomfortable to watch this immense pain and national hardship suddenly befalling our innocent citizens out of the blue like a bolt from the blue. For the sake of universal human rights and the national interest of the Republic of Korea, I must work harder to find things I can do. Israel cannot tolerate President Lee's remark that wartime killings equal Jewish massacre. I mean, this, again, is extraordinary stuff from the President of South Korea, a allied nation whose entire economy was thrown into full chaos. They were already exploring bilateral negotiations, but I think it shows a couple of things. The Palestinian issue is the one that they can easily reach for. They know that it's sympathetic for their population, their linking, their own history, and it's also a deeply, not even not so subtle, shot at the United States here. It's like we're not taking orders from you whenever it comes to our relationship here with Israel anymore, which I think is very fascinating to watch this.

SPEAKER_04 37:55

I think that's highly significant. There's two things here. Number one, I mean, it's worth noting that, of course, at the the height of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, they had nothing to say. But obviously, the entire population of the world effectively has turned against Israel because of what they have seen and the horror that was perpetrated there. So now that Israel has been directly involved in the Iran war, which is plunging the entire world into economic chaos, which is directly damaging um dramatically the South Korean economy. Now they can use the moral issue of what the way you treat Palestinians to also, you know, push back against Israel at a time when South Koreans are obviously suffering. So there's that. And then the other piece is the US piece. Um the US has been shown to be relatively weak, weaker than expected. You know, we were humiliated in a lot of ways. And so the, you know, the threats from Trump and the fear of how he'll respond and that he'll have Israel's back and you can't, you know, break from them because they're our ally and you need to be on board with them no matter what they do, those threats are not as potent, especially again at a time when you have a genuine like national crisis in South Korea because of the energy crunch. So it's both a um sign of just how furious they are with Israel and also a sign of comparative weakness from the U.S.

Japan Protests And Asia Realignment

SPEAKER_08 39:13

There's a couple of other elements to this too. So the Gulf countries, remember South Korea, because they've been under threat here from the North Koreans, they have a very robust and actually very good defense industry. So a lot of their arms and munitions have been backfilling a lot of the gaps of the US. So what's happened is that a lot of these Gulf countries, just reading this yesterday, has been going out and buying a bunch of South Korean weapons, missile interceptors. They have a pretty robust, you know, their own system, which, as I understand it, they're quite sophisticated and they're much cheaper, actually, than many even US systems. So Israel, though, maybe they were looking in the future to buy some South Korean weapons. I don't know if that's gonna happen now. And you also see South Korea with a little bit of its own leverage. They're like, oh, you Gulf countries, you guys want our weapons. Well, maybe we're gonna have to cut some deals here on the side. This all of this is just displacement of U.S. supremacy role in the region. This country, so I was just reading here, South Korea and and Israel, they signed a free trade agreement like six years ago, right? So these are not, these are not nations with any real enmity. They have tech cooperation, COVID. You know, I was uh looking for Gaza. They urged a ceasefire and humanitarianism, but they were very balanced, like they didn't, you know, outward condemnation. This is by far, you know, one of the bigger incidents. Another thing when we keep our eye on Asia, I spotted this. Nationwide protests in Japan uh just a couple days ago, this was on Wednesday, that were over 100 locations, over 50,000 people actually uh took to the streets. Uh, it wasn't just about the Iran war, but some of it was. Let's take a listen.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Protest just outside Japan's parliament, and there are thousands of people here. It's really rare to see a protest of this size in Tokyo.

SPEAKER_03 41:03

They were planned before Iran and the US agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Many showed up anyway, though, fearing it won't last and that fighting could restart.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

The protesters here are also criticizing the Japanese Prime Minister Sanai Hagai and calling on our step down.

Netanyahu Leverage And U.S. Humiliation

SPEAKER_08 41:17

I mean, look, I think it's interesting, like she said, it's pretty rare. Uh, this was not just about Iran, it was also about their own constitution. So look, every nation has domestic politics. I'm not trying to say that it's all about this. But there are signs of interesting things. And the Japanese Prime Minister, she's in a tough spot. Their government also, I mean, they had all these budget problems. I've been reading a little bit about the first budget that they had to, you know, some 11-year-old it's very similar to our Congress, uh, but they're having issues with that. But Iran remains a single problem. They had a call this morning I was looking where, you know, they're urging diplomacy and reopening of the Straits of Hormuz. Remember, 70, almost 80% of their oil uh in South Korea, very similarly. They also rely heavily on natural gas, and then they have the same problems whenever it comes to jet fuel. All of this, I think, just demonstrates like the way that this war is breaking apart these alliances in Asia. And then it also opens the question about the naval blockade of the Straits of War Moose. Are we gonna board Chinese vessels? And if you're China, I mean, look, China's singular goal with Japan and South Korea has been to separate it from the United States. South Korea made its gamble during the THAAD situation, where China threatened economic boycott and South Korea said, we gotta sit here and we gotta take the pain, we gotta keep these THAD missiles here or in battery and the radar, because at the end of the day, America's our guarantor of security. So even though we're gonna take a ton of pain, we gotta sit here and we gotta take it because it's good for us in the long run. How have we repaid them by destroying their economy? Same with Japan. I mean, for them, they're like, look, we have this alliance, occupation, and this painful history, but at the end of the day, like we have a deep consumer relationship. We're very, very tight. China, their sole goal is to cleave off South Korea and Japan from the US and to actually have them basically have a reverse relationship where they're like, look, we're not going to attack you, but you know, you get access to our consumer market. So it looks like a more appealing pitch than it was in the past. Now, I'm not saying this is gonna happen overnight, but you all all these policymakers, they have to consider their own national interest. And right now, we're not in their national interest. We're actively hurting their national interest and it's showing up in all these different ways.

SPEAKER_04 43:23

Yeah, and Israel is like the, you know, an incredible world villain, as are we, increasingly at this point. And uh let's put D6 up on the screen. You know, Trita Parsi was talking about from the Israeli perspective, what might happen, or you know, the way that Trump may approach negotiations moving forward. Netanyahu, we played for you last week, said the war's not over. They still are prepared to go back. They had this apparent coordinated leak to all three of the major Hebrew TV networks saying that they're gearing up for renewed conflict with Iran. And so Trump is gonna face, you know, a real question. If he actually wants to end US direct involvement in a hot war with Iran, he's either going to have to constrain Israel or he's going to have to make it very clear, Israel, you are on your own. And if they're on their own, they're really pretty screwed. I mean, already their interceptor stockpiles are down to double digits. They've been incredibly defended on the US Navy to protect them as much as they have been protected. And obviously, the Iranian ability to penetrate those defenses and um and do damage inside of Israel has increased the longer that the war has gone on. So, on the one hand, Israel looks like it's very strong. You know, they've dominated Gaza, they're dominating the West Bank, they're taking over a part of Lebanon, although the Hezbollah resistance has been stronger than they thought. They finally got the US to do the war in Iran that they have long sought. But at the same time, the only reason, the only goodwill that they have in the world basically is among boomers in the US and the president of the United States. We are the only thing that stands between them and having to actually live within their means and act like a real state, live within their borders and come to some sort of an agreement with their neighbors, or they won't exist anymore. So this is a very tenuous moment for Israel. There's a New York Times piece this morning that's talking about how Israelis are not feeling like this Iran war has gone very well. They're looking at this, they're like, we've been living in bomb shelters. You know, there's certainly, we don't know exactly how much, there's certainly been significant damage within the country of Israel. And what do we have to show for it? Iran is probably, you know, if anything, we're likely to pursue a nuclear weapon. Their missile stockpile remains intact. There's been some damage done to it, but nobody's under any illusion that they won't be able to, you know, build back better, I suppose. And so they're asking themselves, like, what was this all for? Which is why so much of the domestic pressure is going to be on Netanyahu to go back to war, which is something he wants to do, and very likely, you know, to drag us back in as he did before.

SPEAKER_08 45:59

I don't think it's uh, I don't think it's uh, you know, out of the question. And it's clear to, I think for the rest of the world, like this just came across. Let's talk about it a little bit. Prime Minister Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting, he said I spoke yesterday with Vice President Vance. He called me from his plane, he reported to me in detail, as this administration does every day. So I noted, I go, Netanyahu is openly, just being like the vice president of the administration, report to me in detail every day. So you and I, what do we focus in on? To the guy who literally was raised uh near the city of Philadelphia. He speaks fluent English. I think he knows what report to me in detail every day means. So a bunch of these Zionists I pointed this out, a bunch of these Zionists are like, you idiot, they're in a Of course they talk every day. I'm like, he didn't say talk. He said report to me in detail. What's the what's the impression? He gives this language openly to the world and to Israel to say, I'm the dad. I'm in charge. He knows what he's doing. He didn't misspeak. He's- I mean, look, let's give him credit. Like he I think he chooses his words very carefully. He wants to humiliate the vice president and the United States.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

Political actor.

SPEAKER_08 47:07

He knows exactly what he's doing whenever he uses this type of language to say and to say to his domestic audience, I'm still in charge. Oh, and just so you're all aware, his corruption trial miraculously was pushed two more months because of because of security and national concerns. So that means we have two months before you has to restart the war. It doesn't mean that it can't come any earlier. But Korea, Japan, Australia, all the UK, France, I mean, it's not just, we're doing this about Asia. Just this morning, both you know, the chief powers of NATO, military powers, Germany, uh, Germany, France, and the UK are all like, we have nothing to do with this. We want nothing to do with your blockade. This all needs to end right now. We are destroying all of our alliances, and it does appear as if we're doing it on behalf of Israel. They can wake up and they can read too, and they're like, this is bizarre. This is weird. Why are you doing this?

SPEAKER_04 47:58

Yeah.

Global Opinion Turns Against Israel

SPEAKER_08 47:58

So we're shredding it, and uh, it's not necessary. All right. I'll take Korea any day of the week.

SPEAKER_04 48:02

And let's let's put D8 up on the screen because this matters maybe not in terms of the political leaders, but in terms of global opinion, and as you said, um, should be about this uh infant child that was murdered by Israel in Lebanon uh while she was attending her father's funeral. And so, you know, these are the sorts of horrific, gut-wrenching headlines that continue to come out because of the insanely barbaric actions of Israel. So you are really dependent on these countries perceiving it to be in their national interest to back you because you've lost the global public. And we're not the only country where there are, you know, people who have really hardened their opinions against Israel, where the political landscape is really shifting. We're the most important one because of how much support we provide them, and of course, as the you know, global former hegemon, uh, but there are countries around the world where sentiment has hardened against Israel and continue to see these horrific headlines come out. And so uh, you know, any political leader, once they perceive it to be in their national interest to break from Israel as South Korea is um, you know, is uh perceiving that to be in their interest right now as they deal with the economic fall-on of the Iran war, they're going to do that because the population is already there.

SPEAKER_08 49:22

Yep, that's right. All right, let's get to the swell walk, shall we?

SPEAKER_02 49:25

Hey, if you like it, nice stin at the sea My face fighting all these feelings, but I don't know what to say Didn't think you'd hear me anyway When it's because I was losing focus that and everything in El was focused But in the side I still don't feel just John Crinkle You can close the