Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Israel strikes Hezbollah as proxy war with Iran expands

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. I'm just fascinated by what's going on in Lebanon between the terrorist group

00:00:05.360 Hezbollah and the Israelis. Israel did something straight out of a Jason Bourne movie and managed 1.00

00:00:11.860 to plant explosives into thousands of beepers, like old-fashioned beeper technology communication

00:00:18.800 devices that Hezbollah was giving out to all its terrorists. And in one moment, they detonated 0.70

00:00:25.480 thousands of those beepers, killing or injuring countless terrorists. We'll talk about that,

00:00:31.880 what's happened since then. Very interesting stuff. But before we do that, let me invite you

00:00:36.740 to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's just what we call the video version of this podcast.

00:00:41.680 And there's so much to see in this amazing story, this terrifying story, this heartbreaking and

00:00:46.840 violent story, but hopefully a story that will end well and peacefully. Go to rebelnewsplus.com,

00:00:53.360 click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month. You get my show every weekday. My friend Sheila Gunn-Reed

00:00:59.340 does a weekly show and the satisfaction of knowing that you're keeping Rebel News strong because we

00:01:03.920 don't get any money from Trudeau and it shows. All right, here's today's podcast.

00:01:23.360 Tonight, did you see the news about those beepers exploding for all the Hezbollah terrorists? 1.00

00:01:30.660 We'll talk with Dr. Daniel Pipes about what's going on in Lebanon. It's September 27th and this is

00:01:36.280 The Ezra Levant Show.

00:01:40.340 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:43.680 For one year, the world has been riveted by the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group

00:01:59.440 based in Gaza. It was from Gaza that the attack on Israel flooded into southern Israel, breaking

00:02:09.040 through the barriers, slaughtering thousands, and taking over 200 hostages back into Gaza,

00:02:17.100 prompting Israel to go through that very dense urban area, really house by house. And much more

00:02:23.460 terrifying, the tunnels dug underneath it. But always in the background was the fact that this was just part

00:02:30.540 of the circle of iron and rocket that had surrounded Israel, much of it masterminded and strategized and

00:02:42.200 coordinated by Iran. Yes, Hamas was in control of Gaza on the southwest side of the country, but the north

00:02:50.940 was under threat by another terrorist group called Hezbollah, also deeply connected to Iran,

00:02:57.840 and in many ways more terrifying. It was said that Hezbollah had 100,000 rockets, 100,000. And even if

00:03:09.880 99 percent of those are shot down or even go awry, you send 100,000 of anything, you're going to punch

00:03:16.920 through enough to cause terrifying carnage. And so it was a startling thing just a week or so ago when news

00:03:26.120 came of a spy craft tactic that is straight out of the Jason Bourne movies. Hezbollah leadership, which 0.77

00:03:35.460 were told to downgrade their tech. They were told not to use smartphones because Israel could hack into

00:03:42.280 them. They were told, let's use old-fashioned beeper technology. That way Israel can't hack and snoop 0.99

00:03:49.800 around. Thousands of these beepers were distributed to the Hezbollah leadership. But then in one moment,

00:03:58.700 all the beepers went off at the same time. And every one of these Hezbollah terrorists picked up their 0.97

00:04:06.700 beeper to look at it, either to read it in front of their face or to have it in their pocket. And thousands

00:04:12.580 of them exploded. An explosive charge had been sneaked into the beepers by, one presumes, according

00:04:23.320 to reports, Israeli intelligence. And so in one fell swoop, the intimately precise targeting of

00:04:31.520 thousands of Hezbollah leaders, some of whom were killed, many of whom were grievously injured.

00:04:39.400 And in a moment, Hezbollah was thrown into disarray. That was followed quickly by precision 0.95

00:04:45.660 airstrikes on other Hezbollah leaders. The organizational chart for so much of the terrorist

00:04:53.420 group has been obliterated. Well, that's the good news if you are on the pro-Israel, pro-democracy 0.99

00:05:02.020 side. It's an outrage if you're on the anti-Israel side, as too many seem to be. I see that our own

00:05:09.080 prime minister has put out a statement asking for both sides to de-escalate, as if Israel, the

00:05:15.960 democracy, and Hezbollah, the terrorist group, are on par with each other, are morally equivalent, 0.84

00:05:21.920 as if Justin Trudeau himself would negotiate with terrorists. I note that when Russia invaded Ukraine,

00:05:30.440 Justin Trudeau did not call for negotiation or de-escalation. He flew to Kiev, donated billions

00:05:37.160 of dollars of Canadian money, as well as military equipment and training. He's never called for a

00:05:43.160 negotiated settlement. He has outrightly rejected it. Why is Israel required to negotiate and de-escalate

00:05:50.460 with a terrorist group? And why has it taken a year for Justin Trudeau to speak about this? For a year,

00:05:57.880 Israel's north has been abandoned. 80,000 citizens forced to move from their homes because of a

00:06:04.120 continuous low-level rocket assault on that part of the world. Well, now Israel seems to be digging in

00:06:11.600 even further and going in for the kill against Hezbollah. There are reports that Israel may

00:06:15.720 actually launch a ground invasion. So much is happening at once, and we need someone who has

00:06:21.260 been studying this subject for decades to help us make sense of it. Who better to turn to than Dr.

00:06:27.460 Daniel Pipes, the boss of the Middle East Forum, who joins us now via Skype. Dr. Pipes, great to see

00:06:33.460 you again. Thanks for joining us on this very busy day. You too, Ezra. Now, I tried to summarize some of

00:06:39.620 the things that are going on. Before we go any further, did I get my facts more or less straight

00:06:43.940 there? Did I leave out an important factor? I just thought it was an astonishing thing, this beeper attack.

00:06:49.940 Imagine putting a bomb in literally the hands of thousands of your enemy's commanders. Just one of the

00:06:58.820 most amazing acts of spycraft I've ever heard of in my life. Yeah. It took everyone by surprise. The

00:07:07.860 only correction I make is that Hamas did not kill thousands in Israel. It killed an estimated 1,200.

00:07:13.780 Oh, thank you. Otherwise, spot on. Yeah. Let's talk about what's happening in Lebanon.

00:07:19.860 Lebanon. I was terrified of Hezbollah just from the raw numbers. And even if they're low-tech missiles

00:07:27.780 and don't aim that well, well, that's sort of the point. That makes it even more terrifying,

00:07:32.660 in fact, than if these were precision munitions that would be fired at the military. It feels like,

00:07:39.220 in a way, a preemptive attack. Just like Israel had a preemptive attack on Arab nations during the

00:07:45.300 Six-Day War. All these Arab nations were amassing their armies. They had kicked out

00:07:49.540 the United Nations. Israel made the move first, wiping out their air forces before they could

00:07:56.420 attack. It feels like that's what Israel's done here. The sneak attack was not through an air force, 0.89

00:08:02.020 it was through the beepers. And the air forces come in. How badly do you think Hezbollah is degraded?

00:08:08.900 And how badly do you think their chain of command has been smashed?

00:08:12.900 It looks to me that the steps the Israelis have taken in recent days are quite effective. On the one hand,

00:08:23.620 the pager and walkie-talkie explosions. On the second hand, the targeted assassination of senior

00:08:31.700 Hezbollah figures. And on the third hand, the destruction of missile launchers. You can't do 0.60

00:08:40.180 much with missiles if you don't have the launchers. So it looks like Hezbollah is not as strong as it

00:08:44.740 was a couple of weeks ago. Now, it also appears that the Iranians, the leadership in Tehran,

00:08:52.420 is worried that it's losing its Hezbollah asset, the Hezbollah asset that is in fact protecting Iran

00:09:01.220 to some extent. So I would imagine there's a lot of disconcertion in the circles of Hezbollah

00:09:08.740 and of the Iranian Islamic Republic as to what to do next, go full force against Israel or not.

00:09:15.140 I imagine there's very intensive discussions. This is a very big decision for Hezbollah,

00:09:22.340 possibly the biggest ever in its slightly over 40-year history.

00:09:26.500 Wow. Now, Israel has invaded Lebanon on the ground several times before for similar reasons. And

00:09:36.100 I think that after a while, those wars become... I mean, if the troops are entrenched there,

00:09:41.620 the soldiers are at risk, political intensity in Israel declines. And I'm not sure how sustainable

00:09:52.580 a ground invasion of a foreign country would be for Israel. Do you think it's likely that they will 0.93

00:09:59.460 invade on the ground? Or do you think it's more just to go in and to root out some of these

00:10:04.660 subterranean launch facilities and then they'll move right back out? Like, who will fill the vacuum

00:10:11.140 if Israel goes in and then comes right out? Actually, I think it's neither of those. Let me contrast 0.94

00:10:18.900 Israel's war against Hamas with Israel's war against Hezbollah. Hamas is a Palestinian organization

00:10:26.500 solely determined to destroy the state of Israel. It has no other purpose. It cannot do anything else. 0.95

00:10:35.220 And therefore, Israel has determined a year ago, repeated many times by the prime minister and

00:10:40.420 others, that it intends to destroy Hamas. It wants nothing left of Hamas. Now, whether it can achieve 0.62

00:10:46.100 that or not, I can't tell you. It's done a pretty good job, but it's not fully finished. But destruction,

00:10:52.020 the ending of Hamas's existence is the goal. And therefore, a ceasefire is very inimical to Israel

00:10:57.860 because it means it can't do that. In contrast, Israel's war on Hezbollah is not to destroy Hezbollah.

00:11:05.300 It is to deter Hezbollah. Hezbollah exists to control Lebanon. And fighting Israel is a side venture, 0.72

00:11:14.980 a very important venture, but side. Controlling Lebanon is the key. And therefore, the Israelis are not 1.00

00:11:22.020 trying to destroy it, not trying to uproot it, but simply get it to stop sending over the missiles and

00:11:27.460 rockets so that the 60,000 or so Israelis in the north of Israel can return. Therefore, a ceasefire 0.81

00:11:34.820 vis-a-vis Hezbollah from the Israeli point of view is a positive thing. It means the ending of the 1.00

00:11:41.140 fighting. And therefore, I don't think the Israelis are inclined to go in Hamas with troops on the

00:11:47.780 ground. But it's trying to send a signal to the Hezbollah leadership that it will do what is

00:11:56.660 necessary, including a ground invasion. It doesn't want to, clearly. But it's showing its muscle, its

00:12:02.660 determination, and hoping that Hezbollah and the Hezbollah leader, sorry, the Hezbollah

00:12:10.900 bosses in Tehran will conclude, better quit now. This is too expensive. This is too draining.

00:12:18.500 Better stop. It was not, in the end, a good idea for Hezbollah to attach its fate to Hamas in Gaza.

00:12:27.220 Last night, Canada, the United States, the UK, European Union, and a number of other

00:12:32.740 allies put out a statement that I thought was quite hostile to Israel. It was similar to the

00:12:37.620 statement Justin Trudeau made, although his was obviously harsher. There have been demands

00:12:46.180 that Israel unilaterally stop fighting Hezbollah. Let me show you a particularly shrill 1.00

00:12:51.700 statement in our Canadian parliament just yesterday, where Elizabeth May, the leader

00:12:55.860 of the tiny Green Party, was shrieking that only one man has caused this violence.

00:13:01.940 She didn't name Hassan Nasrallah the head of Hezbollah. She talked about Benjamin Netanyahu,

00:13:07.300 the democratically elected prime minister of Israel. Here's that crazy clip here.

00:13:11.540 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And on the same point, it's clear that world leaders have been calling out for

00:13:17.700 the last year since the horrific attacks of October 7th, for restraint and to control the conflict

00:13:23.940 so it doesn't spread as it just is spreading into Lebanon. And we know who the enemy of peace is.

00:13:30.580 Unfortunately, he has a name. He's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And he has put his political career and his

00:13:44.580 So my theory is Netanyahu is doing what he has to do because he assumes Kamala Harris and Joe Biden or

00:13:53.620 whoever is running America is distracted by the presidential election short weeks from now.

00:13:59.300 And Netanyahu is probably banking or rolling the dice, hoping that Donald Trump wins and would be

00:14:05.300 more supportive. And in any event, Netanyahu is doing what he has to do. He, you know, yes,

00:14:10.580 he is vulnerable to U.S. pressure, but these are, you know, these are existential threats out there

00:14:16.980 and he's going to do what he has to do. What do you think?

00:14:20.420 I would again draw a contrast between Hamas and Hezbollah from the Israeli point of view.

00:14:24.580 Hamas gains extraordinary support around the world, in particular from Islamists,

00:14:31.300 radical Muslims, and from the left, especially the hard left. Hezbollah does not have that kind

00:14:37.700 of support. Yeah, there'll be the occasional speech in parliament, but you don't see encampments

00:14:44.740 on universities. You don't see parades in cities. You don't see endless vitriol against Israel when

00:14:52.420 it's fighting Hezbollah. So I think Israel has a lot more room for maneuver, pays a lesser price 0.90

00:14:59.460 in public opinion when it fights Hezbollah. I don't think it's as expensive for Israel in the United States,

00:15:07.140 Canada or around the world for Israel to be fighting Hezbollah. It has more latitude. 0.80

00:15:14.580 You know what? I don't dare disagree with you on pretty much anything. This is your subject of

00:15:18.660 expertise. But my reaction to what you just said would be, I don't think most people who are protesting

00:15:25.140 for Hamas against Israel about Gaza, I don't think they're basing it on a deep understanding of the

00:15:30.740 subject matter. I think they're just picking up the placard and going out to a march. I don't think

00:15:36.740 anyone could find Gaza on a map. I'm talking about the woke leftists who were protesting earlier this

00:15:42.500 year, places like Colombia. And I think for the professional protesters in Canada, it's been

00:15:49.060 reported that there are 700 Iranian agents operating in our small country. You know, for them, Hamas,

00:15:57.220 Hezbollah, they love them both. They're both ways to get Israel. Like, I don't think 0.99

00:16:01.620 that... I mean, we saw a protest just the other day with Lebanese flags instead of the Palestinian

00:16:09.700 flags. So I think anti-Israel tub-thumping and Israel-stop-fighting-back rhetoric, I don't think

00:16:18.260 it's deeply rooted in logic. I think they can swap in Hamas, Hezbollah, even ISIS, and keep on going with 0.83

00:16:24.820 their prefab protests. That's what I observed. Well, we're not disagreeing. I didn't say there

00:16:30.740 is a logic. I didn't say they could find Gaza on a map. What I did say is that the Palestinians, 0.75

00:16:38.260 West Bankers and Gazans, have an appeal, whether it be in international fora, in leftist circles, 0.69

00:16:46.900 in universities or other places, that Hezbollah, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, none of those

00:16:55.300 have a comparable reach. I don't disagree with anything you just said. I would only insist that

00:17:05.540 there is a global support network for the Palestinians, whether the Palestinian Authority

00:17:11.780 or Hamas, that does not exist for Hezbollah or any other group or state in the Middle East.

00:17:21.300 The Palestinians have, over the course of a century, established themselves, thanks to the support

00:17:28.660 of the Ottoman Empire, of the British Empire, of the Soviet Empire, of the Nazi Empire, of the Iranian

00:17:35.940 Empire, the Iraqi Empire, and others, as a uniquely favored liberation group. Nobody else has that.

00:17:44.580 Fair enough. It's interesting you talk about empires. You know, sometimes I think about the Roman Empire

00:17:50.180 and the British Empire, and both of which have receded to their home country. But the, I suppose you

00:17:57.780 could call it the Islamic Empire. I mean, it once had Spain. It was once on the gates of Vienna. But

00:18:05.060 when you look at all the countries you've been talking about today, Islam started in Saudi Arabia,

00:18:10.340 and it's just grown throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and around the world. I guess you could

00:18:16.100 say that in terms of empire and colonizers, Islam has been, I hate to say it, the most durable. I mean, 0.97

00:18:24.180 it's been for centuries growing. It has had some setbacks in Europe. But the Islamic Empire has, 0.96

00:18:31.380 Lebanon used to be a Christian country. Egypt used to be a Christian country. Istanbul was once called

00:18:37.540 Constantinople, the largest city in the world, and the most Christian city in the world at one point

00:18:42.500 in time. But they are never tarred with the label colonizer or imperialist, are they? In fact,

00:18:49.780 they use that language against others, including Israel, which, you know, the Jewish people predate

00:18:55.700 Islam by millennia. It's a big, complex topic. You've switched the subject from the Ottomans,

00:19:04.260 the British, the Germans, the Russians, to the Muslims. And you're now not talking about a nationality,

00:19:10.820 but about a religion, of course. And there are other comparable religions. There's a Christian

00:19:16.500 religion, which is not smaller than the Islamic one. There's Buddhist and Hindu. I think we should

00:19:24.180 look at the expansion of Islam in a somewhat different way. It's the expansion of an idea,

00:19:30.500 of a theology, of an ideology, not of a government, of an army. It's quite different.

00:19:39.860 I accept that. You know what? I was just, in my mind, I had the map of, you know, tiny Israel in

00:19:46.580 the middle and all these Arab and Muslim countries. But I suppose you're right. There is not a 1.00

00:19:52.660 pan-Arab, pan-Muslim unity. I mean, that's what the Islamic State called for, one umma, 0.81

00:19:58.900 break down these artificial borders of man. So I take your reaction. I think that's actually a good

00:20:04.260 rebuttal. But let's talk about some of those other parts of the Muslim world. I mean, Saudi Arabia

00:20:09.860 seemed to have been on track to enter the Abraham Accords with Israel as the United Arab Emirates and

00:20:17.620 Bahrain and Sudan had done until this atrocious attack last October 7th. I note that there have been 1.00

00:20:24.820 no pro-Hamas rallies in the streets of Dubai or Riyadh or any of these other places. I think that's a 0.70

00:20:32.340 Western phenomenon. What's the state of affairs with Saudi Arabia, which is probably, arguably,

00:20:40.420 the most important sunny Arab country? What's its state of relations with Israel? Are they still there,

00:20:49.140 but just more hidden? Has the Abraham Accords started to unravel? How are Israelis and Saudis getting along

00:20:56.100 these days? Tom, I'd like to answer that in two parts. The first is directly to reply.

00:21:02.580 And to say that, yeah, it's a bit on ice, but it's not really retreated. The Crown Prince of Saudi

00:21:10.260 Arabia, MPS, Mohammed bin Salman, has had to support the Palestinians verbally, but not really much more.

00:21:17.700 I think he is waiting for this to pass and for closer relations to continue.

00:21:24.420 Second part would be to look at it in a much larger context. What we've seen over the past 15 years is the

00:21:30.820 decline of American power. Now, overall, I rue this, but there is a silver lining.

00:21:36.660 And that is the following, that until, say, 2008, from 1945 to 2008, in the period of American strength,

00:21:44.820 the American strength meant that other countries, and here I include Canada and NATO more broadly,

00:21:54.100 have not had to be very responsible for their own security. They have been able to

00:21:59.540 take it easy because Uncle Sam would worry about it. Now, as a result of American weakness in the last 15 years,

00:22:08.420 you see in Europe, for example, vis-a-vis Putin's Russia. In East Asia, vis-a-vis Xi's China,

00:22:17.140 you see a rearming, a repurpose, a responsibility that you didn't see before.

00:22:26.260 And likewise, in the Middle East with Iran, you see that the states near Iran are no longer just

00:22:34.340 relying on America, but are taking seriously their own protection, their own defense.

00:22:42.580 And thus, you have the Abraham Accords, and more broadly, an accord among all the

00:22:49.380 status quo countries of the region that are fearful of Iranian revolutionary sentiments.

00:22:56.500 So it's the silver lining in an otherwise rather depressing evolution.

00:23:02.100 I saw a poll just this morning of American sentiment towards Israel and the Palestinians.

00:23:09.220 And the Democrats, people who self-identify as Democrats, really are turning against Israel,

00:23:16.100 whereas Republicans, 63% of Republicans identify with Israel, just 5% with the Palestinians.

00:23:25.220 Now, I got to tell you, that used to be how America as a whole was, I think. Now, Democrats are

00:23:31.620 on the other side. Republicans are still friends of Israel. What's the long-term trend here? I mean,

00:23:37.700 being pro-Israel always used to be a bipartisan thing, sort of like being pro-Taiwan, I think.

00:23:42.980 I suppose that's been gone for about a decade.

00:23:47.220 Let's put it a bit differently. I would say, overall, the long-term trend is that conservatives

00:23:52.660 have become more friendly and liberals less friendly to Israel. There are three periods.

00:23:56.980 The first period was from the origins of Israel, 1948, until 1970, when the Democrats were far more 0.79

00:24:02.980 friendly to Israel. They saw Israel as a victim, and the Republicans saw Israel as an impediment to

00:24:10.260 anti-Soviet alliances that changed in 1970 when a small war took place, and the Israelis came to the

00:24:18.260 aid of Jordan. And Richard Nixon, Republican, said, oh, Israel's not a problem. It's actually useful.

00:24:26.420 And so there was a period that followed from roughly 1970 to 1990, when the two parties,

00:24:31.940 the two wings of American thought, looked rather similarly at Israel and its enemies.

00:24:39.860 Starting around 1990, you see the current trend, which is Republicans becoming ever more friendly

00:24:45.780 to Israel and Democrats ever less friendly to Israel. A series of events in the 1990s led to this switch,

00:24:52.980 having to do with the European Union, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Oslo Accords, the coming

00:24:58.740 together of the EU, the ending of apartheid, and so forth. And ever since then, now 30 years, 35 years

00:25:07.780 even, you see an increasing disparity between left and right in the United States and more broadly around

00:25:13.780 the world one sees a similar phenomenon, where the right, look at Javier Millet in Argentina,

00:25:20.900 and the left, look at Gabriel Boric in Chile right next door. Two extremes of right and left. One could

00:25:27.540 not be more friendly, the other could not be more hostile without going to war or anything like that.

00:25:33.300 So this is growing and growing and growing, and I don't see an end to it. I think it will continue

00:25:39.220 for some time yet to come. Let me give you a little anecdote. I was in Sao Paulo, Brazil a couple weeks

00:25:44.980 ago for a rally led by Jair Bolsonaro, the former president, against Lula, the current authoritarian

00:25:55.460 leftist president. There must have been 200,000 people there. I've never been in such a big rally in

00:26:00.420 my life. By far, the most flags were the Brazilian flags and the Brazilian colors, which Bolsonaro has

00:26:07.460 adopted as his own colors, but in second place were Stars of David. Far behind were American flags.

00:26:16.180 I couldn't believe how many Israeli flags were there in Sao Paulo. I did not see a single Palestinian flag,

00:26:24.660 either at that rally, of course, or frankly, throughout the city. I mean, not that I spent a lot of time

00:26:30.740 down there, but I didn't spot even one. It's just a very interesting phenomenon. In fact, I asked

00:26:36.740 these clearly Christian Brazilians, why did you bring, like, they weren't Jews. Why did you bring 0.56

00:26:42.980 the Israeli flag? And the answers were fascinating. So I think it is a global thing. I mean, Javier

00:26:48.180 Emilia, he literally embraces the Jewish flag. It's very strange, the new allies and enemies. Hey, let me ask you 0.99

00:26:55.620 about this new strain of right-wing commentators who have an anti-Israel bias that I think borders on

00:27:12.900 anti-Semitism. I think it's very rare. I think it's often fake, as in it's some sort of an operation.

00:27:20.340 Like, we learned that Lauren Chen, who was with a group called Tenet Media, who took 10 million

00:27:25.620 dollars, allegedly, from the Russians, she, and I've known her a little bit, she started pumping out 0.98

00:27:32.820 anti-Israel stuff. And I didn't understand, it didn't fit in with the rest of her world view.

00:27:37.700 And now I learn from the Department of Justice indictment that she was taking dough from the 0.95

00:27:43.460 Russians. And maybe that was part of their plan. And I see others, other people who are right-wing

00:27:49.700 down, like issue, issue, issue. I'm talking about North American, old stock, not newcomers, not,

00:27:55.700 let's just regular conservatives. And I see a sharpness, almost a pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah 0.93

00:28:03.060 talking point. And I think, is that real? Or is that influencers being financed behind the scenes?

00:28:10.820 I'm trying to wrap my head around it, because I mean, I'm Jewish and that colors some of my thinking.

00:28:15.300 But I would like to think that even if I wasn't Jewish, I would be pro-Israel in the same way I'm

00:28:20.340 pro-Taiwanese, and I have no Chinese blood in me. And I'm for the little guys surrounded by big guys, 0.98

00:28:27.300 I'm for the Democrats surrounded by bullies. What do you make of the fringe right-wing anti-Israel

00:28:35.700 set? People like Jason, sorry, Hinkle is the last name of one of them. I just forgot his first name.

00:28:42.980 What's going on there? Do you know anything about that?

00:28:46.340 Dr. Carlson? Yeah, I think Ukraine is very important here. I think there is,

00:28:52.900 among certain conservatives, an attraction to Putin. Putin talks about two genders. He talks

00:28:59.300 about religion. He talks like a conservative. And there is, in certain precincts, a willingness to

00:29:08.260 give him the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, he went into Ukraine. Yeah, maybe not a great idea. But we

00:29:14.500 should not be helping the Ukrainians. We should be working with Putin. And if you're pro-Putin, then 1.00

00:29:21.940 that leads to various other policies, including a hostility towards Israel. So I think Ukraine has

00:29:30.820 been poisoning the well among certain conservatives. I mentioned Tucker Carlson. That's very clearly the

00:29:38.500 case for him. I can't help but quote him a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir

00:29:48.180 Putin never called me a racist. I have no particular problem without Vladimir Putin. So I think that's

00:29:54.100 key. That's a throwback to, I think it was Muhammad Ali, who was asked about Vietnam. And he said,

00:30:01.860 no Vietnamese ever called me the N-word. Isn't that interesting? Just for the record, I don't think

00:30:08.260 Tucker Carlson would be foolish enough to take cash from the Kremlin. I don't think he needs it. I think 0.94

00:30:14.180 that he's a consummate contrarian. I didn't mean to. No, I know you didn't mean it. I know you didn't

00:30:21.140 mean that. Some of these other folks, Jackson Hinkle, are absolutely, you know, the Tate brothers.

00:30:26.500 I think they're absolutely in it for the dough. I like Tucker Carlson, and I hope he moves away from

00:30:33.700 some of those positions that he's taken lately. Well, listen, this is very interesting. And I think

00:30:39.460 the most interesting thing to me is the element of surprise. It was the element of surprise that

00:30:44.900 made the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel so effective and has called so many to question,

00:30:52.020 how could that possibly have happened? It was the element of surprise in the Yom Kippur

00:30:55.780 war in October 1973 that overwhelmed Israel, the element of surprise in the aforementioned six-day

00:31:01.460 war. And I think Israel using the element of surprise to take on Hezbollah is just another 0.96

00:31:08.020 use of that old strategic tactic that has absolutely changed the math. And thank God

00:31:13.700 the surprise was on Hezbollah this time instead of on Israel. I'm marveling at what's happening on 0.60

00:31:20.900 that northern border because it was the one I actually feared the most. Last word to you.

00:31:25.780 The surprise is a powerful tool, a powerful tactic, no question, and has been used throughout

00:31:35.780 the history of warfare and will continue to be used in the future of warfare.

00:31:40.500 I guess it's jobs of people like you and maybe people like me to try and not be surprised and

00:31:45.940 try and think about what comes next. How do you think it's going to end? If Trump becomes president,

00:31:51.540 I think these wars will end by one way or another a lot quicker than in the current regime. Do you agree

00:31:57.140 with that? I do. Yes.

00:31:59.620 I can't help but ask you, do you think Trump is going to win?

00:32:06.820 He's not doing very well. He's not articulating his positions or combating the ideas of his rival

00:32:16.180 with much distinction. I think he was thrown for a loop when Harris was slotted in for Biden. He's not

00:32:23.300 really recovered from that. Well, I guess he's got just a month and a bit, so we'll see how that goes.

00:32:28.580 Thanks very much for joining us and answering so many questions so candidly, and it's always

00:32:34.980 stretching my mind to talk to you. I learn things every single time, and I know our viewers do too.

00:32:40.020 Thanks for that. Thank you for the invitation. Right on. There you have it. Dr. Daniel Pipes from the

00:32:46.500 Middle East Forum. Well, that's our show for today. Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at

00:32:51.540 Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - September 28, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Israel strikes Hezbollah as proxy war with Iran expands

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