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Sept. 29, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
27:57
Alastair Crooke : Israel Losing US Support Fast.
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Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom.
Today is Monday, September 29th, two thousand and twenty-five.
Alistair Crook joins us now.
Alistair, a pleasure, my dear friend.
Thank you very much for uh joining us.
Uh I want to explore in some depth your understanding of what Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israelis are up to.
But before we get to uh Netanyahu, Trump's handoff of the Ukraine war to the Europeans, is this going to affect the war in any way?
Um I think what is going on is that actually um this um increase tension with Russia is more about keeping Russia busy and occupied.
Um, because the main scene, the main event, I think, for President Trump is in fact uh the war on Iran and the subsequent control of all the oil and gas resources of the Middle East,
which taken together with Venezuela and its massive oil resources, and Argentina, where a deal has just been done, which has got large scale oil and gas resources.
I think this is all about the American debt and about Trump's aim to keep um to uh put all of these assets, if you like, in the balance sheet, um, and to pay down the debt um from these uh resources.
So that really what we're seeing uh in Ukraine, I think it's quite clear because uh Trump, although he said very clearly, he said, Look, uh, you know, oh uh of course he just took the Kellogg line.
I mean, you know, Ukraine is winning, Ukraine is doing fine.
Uh and he he said all that, but he said equally, I don't want escalation.
So he was facing both ways, if you like, on this.
He said, okay, yes, Ukraine is winning, so we don't really have to do anything.
Europeans can pay for everything as well.
That's fine.
But at the same time, I don't want to see an increase in tensions with Russia.
In other words, he wants the Russian, if you like, conflict parked simmering, but not going into a boil when the real issue is going to be um the coming conflict uh with Iran and the possible um, if you like, I I think what the Trump team expect, but I don't think we'll get is a capitulation by Iran.
Um but if they not, they will go to war, and I think they will try and take the resources of the Middle East, add them to the resources of South America, and feel that this is the means to deal um with the US um debt uh uh overhanging.
So I think that's what what what we're seeing primarily um in his handoff of the issue to Europeans, because he knows the Europeans have neither the money nor the military forces um to do this um at all.
And in fact, Europe is in in deep trouble, uh, as he well knows.
I mean, he teased Macron said, Oh, I hear France is doing very well.
Uh Mr. Macron, President Macron, in his uh bilateral meeting.
He knows very well that France is doing anything other than being well at the Moment.
They're practically they're practically in a state of revolution, France.
Practically, yeah.
Very close.
But listen to General Kellogg, who regrettably, regrettably gets to whisper into President Trump's uh ears.
This is a terrifying answer that he gives about whether Ukraine can conduct with Trump's permission long-range uh strikes into Russia.
Chris cut number one.
Are you saying, though, that it is the president's position that Ukraine can conduct long right long-range strikes into Russia, that that has been authorized by the president?
I think reading what he has said and reading what Vice President Bance has said as well as Secretary Rubio, the answer is yes.
Use the ability to hit deep.
There are no such things as sanctuaries.
That's one of the reasons I believe that this last week, and it has been confirmed that uh President Zelensky asked President Trump to get Tomahawk missiles, which give you uh a depth.
They're really good systems.
America makes the best systems in the world.
Have we given them the Tomahawks?
Well, that decision has not been made, but he's asked I know that President Zelensky did in fact ask for them, which was confirmed by our uh social media post by Vice President Vance.
That's gonna be up to the president to do it.
Well, the Kremlin, in your view, react if the Ukrainians use American know-how, American missiles, American intelligence to target those missiles deep inside Russia.
Well, first of all, note that he didn't actually answer the question.
Right.
His question was did President Trump authorize this?
And he slid away from that by saying, well, reading it, that seems to be what's uh uh happening, and this is what.
And I do know that um Zelensky's asked for Tomahawks, but I don't know that Trump has agreed with it.
So in fact, I mean he didn't it it was a very deceptive answer that he gave because he didn't answer the question, yes, Trump has agreed to strikes in the depth.
He said, it seems this is how it is is moving, um, which was I think um uh very dis uh deceitful.
Um I don't know that that that is I don't think from what we saw and how he expressed his truth social.
As I say, Trump was facing in both directions.
You know, oh yes, Ukraine is winning, it's going ahead.
And at the same time, he said, I don't want to see escalation.
That was in the context of the Security Council resolution um that they were thinking about putting on on the agenda um for um uh uh if you like demanding in the Security Council the capitulation of Russia.
So I don't think I I don't think that that necessarily has been decided yet.
But I think what as I say, what I think he's wanting is the last thing he wants, and this is what the it's all about, is he um and the and the American, if you like, um, security apparatus does not want Russia in the Middle East if there's going to be an attack on Iran.
You recall that from the very outset, you know, the great achievement of Wolfowitz was getting Russia out of the Middle East and therefore allowing America to dominate um the whole of the Middle East and its resources.
And what they don't want is for uh Russia or China, um, perhaps to come in in support of Iran if Iran is attacked by either Israel or by both, um, the US and China.
And uh Russia has said uh and China too, very tough language in a statement saying, as far as we're concerned, the snapback hasn't even occurred.
It was illegal, procedurally flawed, and as far as we're concerned, the JCPOA therefore has not been suspended.
The sanctions are not in place.
We do not accept that in any way at all.
And furthermore, uh, in our view, uh, in fact, um the the uh JCPOA continues uh till the 18th of October.
18th of October is the sunset of the JCPOA.
That's the time it ends anyway.
It was always scheduled to end then, and all the things fall at that point on mid-October, which is why the European three have been racing to get the snapback.
What do you mean all the things fall?
This the snapback returns, or Iran returns to where it was before the JCPOA.
Yeah, it returns to where it was before the JCPOA.
In fact, the whole JCPA comes comes to its conclusion.
By its own terms.
Yes, that was originally set for it was in October.
And such any sanctions that remain, for example, on the supply of conventional weapons to Iran, all of those...
All of those fall away, any of the remaining those elements of it.
So Russia is taking a very strong line.
And so I think that, you know, what depends, what's important to Trump and the White House at the moment, is that if there's going to be an attack on Iran, they want it to happen while uh Russia is still busy fighting the war in Ukraine.
Because if the war is over before the attack comes, then it's quite possible that Russia might be more disposed to support, even if it's support only in terms of providing air defense weapons and more equipment to Iran.
But they, if the war is already concluded, Russia and China might be much more disposed to go ahead than if the war is still ongoing.
So I think that's why Trump is keeping the thing going.
And this whole thing is also tied into Venezuela because it's all about energy resources.
And if finally, in the last resort, it's all about um US debt and how to um, if you like, pay off and reduce the great otherwise.
Um I think this was Larry um Larry Fink, the head of BlackRock said together.
He said, at the moment, the only thing that is keeping things intact is that you know, this surging stock market is backstopping uh the bond market.
And if the bond market starts to collapse, then America will be overwhelmed in his view by its deficits.
It will be just overwhelmed by its deficits.
So I mean, this is what I think we have to read what's happening with Russia, with Israel, with Gaza and Venezuela, all within this context of um the broader picture of Trump struggling to try and sort out America's debt overhang.
You have um written that Netanyahu, who uh acknowledges as recently as Friday at the UN that Israel is fighting seven wars uh is about to open up an eighth front.
Is that eighth front against Iran?
Or is that eighth front against American public opinion, which is now decidedly anti-Netanyahu?
The Eighth Front is inside the United States, and it is the front that is against, if you like, um the podcasters, the influences that are on the internet, because they've already bought Israel is largely bought the mainstream media and has been controlling that from the through the Obama administration.
We all see that now, the details of how much they were controlling things through COVID and everything else.
Um now he's the eighth front, Israeli, the war that I think Max Blumenthal has been sort of outlining very clearly, the war against people like Charlie Kirk and against others who are questioning why it is that the it is Israel first and not America first,
and saying, you know, what is this takeover of America by Israel and these big Jewish um oligarch billionaires who seem to wield huge influence and who've just bought TikTok in order because they don't like TikTok?
Um its algorithm doesn't seem to give enough support to Israel.
So they're going to change the algorithm to make sure it changes its position.
So that's the front.
The front is to maintain control and to have influence over the young Americans, be they Republican or Democrats, but the young Americans, you would know this much more than me as an outsider, but young Americans are drifting away from very noticeably from the support from Israel, as is the rest of the world.
And this is an existential threat because if if Israel loses America, it's an existential threat to its future.
Is uh the Israeli government actually concerned about the effect of alternative media such as the one you and I are on at this very moment?
Very concerned about it.
Very concerned, because these young, you know, these young MAGA people, the sort of Nick Fuentes and people like this, um, as Charlie Kirk, I mean, you know, they they were still quite quite young, but quite clearly they're going to um move into positions of power increasingly in the United States.
And if they've lost the young, I mean, they are going to lose America.
Um, not today, not tomorrow, but this is the Eighth Front.
This is the big war that um Israel and Netanyahu believe they cannot lose.
They must keep the control on the, if you like, the um, you know, the the um uh internet media system as well as the mainline system.
So they're splashing out, buying up as much as they can, um, which I think uh uh Max uh Blumenthal has uh outlined quite extensively how much they're buying up.
Uh and he's done uh a good job in reporting it.
Can uh President Trump prevent the Israelis, the Israeli government from formally annexing the West Bank.
He stated several times privately and publicly, it will not happen on his watch.
I mean, the truth to this is it is happening, it's happening now, but it's happening piecemeal.
I mean, no, he cannot do it and is not doing it.
Just in these last period, Israel has introduced new settlements um around Jerusalem.
Famous, doesn't matter what they're called, but there's famous settlements, which effectively mean that the two parts of um, if you like the West Bank are divided and cannot join up, that there cannot be continuing contiguity in in any Palestinian state.
And this is going on all the time.
The the more settlements are being produced, are being instigated in in the West Bank all the time.
The changes are slowly taking place.
It's an administrative, I mean, this is the point.
It's not a sort of big military operation that come in and they just take it over and annex it.
It is an administrative attrition of the Palestinian sphere that is taking place, a slow attrition of the Palestinian territory.
And that's ongoing.
And, you know, Trump is not going to stop it, of course not.
It's underway and it will continue.
And there'll be, you know, this is PR, and this is um, you know, good, good, good, good sort of um image, imaging for for Trump, but he can't stop it.
The administrative process goes on.
Okay.
So last week, um Scott Ritter, Max Blumenthal, and I, pardon me, were invited to lunch with the president of Iran.
Uh, his foreign minister was there and other officials.
There was a very sophisticated and easy-to-use simultaneous uh translation system.
There's no question in my mind after listening to him, and we were there.
I got there a little late, but we were all there about an hour and a half this one for about an hour and a half this went on.
There's no question in my mind, but that the Iranians uh expect the Israelis to attack, expect the United States uh to back it up and are prepared for it and are prepared to cause massive, even catastrophic, a massive and catastrophic response to uh Israel.
Does Netanyahu understand that there are those in Israel who do understand it, but I think you know, there is a tendency in Israel, as there is in Europe and the West, to believe their own propaganda and the propaganda.
You can read an article even today in Israel Chayam by the main sort of expert on uh on the Iranian issue, and he's saying very clear warning.
He's saying, Look, we in Israel believe we won the 12-day war against uh Iran.
We we won it, we delivered it, we didn't achieve you know, regime change.
In fact, it showed that they were more united than we understood.
The Iranians are far more resilient and united than we understood.
But he said, um, you know, here there is a feeling that you know this was a victory.
And he said, but what they don't understand here in Israel um is that Iran believes it was victorious in the war, and that the attacks on Israel were attacks that they had never sustained before, and which they're still reluctant to admit.
They've only just admitted another part of the destruction that was uh um uh resulting from the that war, just in recent days, 800 soldiers killed and other things.
So um I think the problem is this.
It's again, you know, being presented in Washington, um, that this is you know not something, you know, this is easy, that you know, again, you know, Iran is is a sort of um house of cards, a paper tiger, whereas Israel and America have got all of these great strengths, and that it shouldn't be uh uh uh uh a problem.
But it he was warning and saying, you know, actually Iran is ready for war, more resolute, more um cohesive uh than we've ever seen it.
And so we perhaps might be misjudging this.
Were you uh surprised or dismayed at all at Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech before the UN, he expressed no empathy, no uh understanding, no remorse, no regret for the slaughter of innocents, but uh boasted and bragged about Israel's ability to get the get the job done.
He used that phrase three or four times.
And of course, he spoke to a largely empty chamber.
Yes, because this is this is the big cell.
This is the key cell that he's going to that he's going to produce here.
Yeah, we're all talking about Gaza and about a 21-point plan that supposedly is going to resolve things.
Uh, but I believe there's quite a lot of evidence to support it, that the main topic that he wants to discuss, not necessarily all the time with Trump, because Trump doesn't do details, but what he wants to discuss is the coordination for a war on Iran.
That's what he's coming.
And so, yes, he's saying the job needs to be finished.
This is his message.
You know, we've destroyed Syria, we destroyed Hezbollah, we're destroying Hamas, we're damaging the Yemenis.
But, you know, the last pig, the head of the snake, as he would put it, um, is Iran, and we've got to take out Iran.
And he's speaking to, you know, an audience in the White House that understands the importance of energy and oil and gas and what that would do if China lost its energy security,
how that would weaken Iran, uh China, and how it would also damage Russia, because China would be weakened if it lost Iranian and Middle Eastern oil altogether, because it's still China takes a lot from Saudi Arabia as well as from Iran.
So if all of that fell under, if you like, American uh uh hegemonic control, coupled with South America as oil and gas, then uh America would be in the view of the White House in a commanding,
dominating position uh over the economic Libas uh of the globe, and that can help resolve the question of its financial of the dollar and the um, if you like, the the the dollar hegemony for the next period.
Uh Nazarala, the uh longtime uh leader of uh Hezbollah in Lebanon was murdered a year ago, just about a year ago.
What has Hezbollah been up to in that year?
Um well, two things.
One is they've gone black, no communications, no statements, they've gone absolutely off the scene.
Um the only people who make a statement is uh Sheikh Naim Qasa, the the head of um the Secretary General.
Um, but it's formalized.
He's not a military person, he's a political person.
They've gone absolutely dark, and they've been rebuilding and retraining and repreparing for the next part of this war, because uh all in um all of the the uh the resistance, but particularly Hezbollah, expect that because the so-called ceasefire is being breached all the time by Israel, there were strikes even in these last days in in in Lebanon.
Israel is striking Lebanon at will, where it wants, as it wants.
And so far, because of the domestic political situation, because they've got Barak there, the envoy of Trump, saying, you know, you've got to disarm Hezbollah, you've got to disarm Hezbollah.
Um, it's not going to happen.
And Hezbolla will not accept to be disarmed.
And so the consequence of that, of course, is that Israel is talking, and I think probably seriously planning uh an invasion of South Lebanon up to the Litani River to take out uh the remains of well, the bulk of Hezbollah's weapons, because the big weaponry hasn't been touched so far.
They still have it.
The big weapons that can strike Tel Aviv and so on, are still in their tunnels and their bunkers, south or north of the Litani, I don't know where, of course.
Um, but Israel says it wants to um destroy that.
The question is, can Israel really do all these things?
Because it's very stretched.
The reservists are not turning up.
There's the even the chief of defense staff is um complaining and uh and pushing back against the the of the fighting in in Gaza and saying he doesn't have enough troops, he doesn't have enough men to be able to um really uh uh take the whole of Gaza.
Uh and he's suffering losses.
They're losing losing men there, and the reservists are uh are in short supply.
Many of them are not turning up and for a call-up.
Um so they are they say they're about 12,000 men short as things stand.
So they want to go back into Lebanon and fight Hezbollah again?
You know, that's seems to me, you know, spell bad over extension.
And you know, you can't do everything with such a small force.
Alistair, thank you very much, my dear friend.
As usual, we went across the board from uh Venezuela to Gaza with a stop in Ukraine.
Thank you for uh for all of your answers and all of your analysis.
We'll look forward to seeing you again next week.
Thank you very much, Richard.
Thank you.
Pleasure out here as always, of course.
Bye bye.
Uh a slight change in our usual Monday schedule because of the traveling.
Larry Johnson at eleven thirty.
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