We have here two forces, one is an axis of evil. >> Speaker 2: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil. >> Speaker 1: This is part of an axis of evil of Iran and [00:00:16] Hezbollah and Hamas. >> Speaker 3: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Here you have the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to Hamas, Hezbollah as the axis of evil to justify the ongoing war in Gaza, [00:00:33] which has already killed far more civilians than Hamas fighters, far more people than were killed by Hamas terrorists in Israel. But there is no ceasefire in sight. Israel refuses to engage in a ceasefire, and [00:00:49] the United States has its back on that. But for the purposes for this discussion, I think it's really important to talk about how we're repeating mistakes, massive mistakes, while simultaneously claiming that we acknowledged the disastrous [00:01:04] preemptive war that the United States launched against Iraq back in 2003. Now Israel is considering a preemptive war in Lebanon against Hezbollah. And all of this is happening while Biden claims that he asked Netanyahu and the rest of the Israeli government to avoid repeating the same mistakes [00:01:23] the United States made following the terrorist attacks on September 11th. Now here was the moment when America heard former President George W Bush in January of 2002 use that word, coin that phrase, axis of evil, let's watch. [00:01:42] >> Speaker 2: North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom. [00:02:00] Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. [00:02:16] This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. [00:02:33] This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil arming to threaten the peace of the world by seeking weapons of mass destruction. [00:02:52] These regimes pose a grave and growing danger. >> Speaker 3: Now the person who wrote axis of evil in George W Bush's speech is David Frum, a never-Trump Republican, who likes to cozy up with the Democratic Party these days. [00:03:08] Considering the MAGA era of the Republican Party, which I'm definitely not happy about. And I think you can see the influence among Democrats who have been cheerleading what Israel is currently doing in the Gaza Strip. Knowing full well that the majority of the victims there happen to be Palestinian [00:03:24] civilians, the majority of whom actually happen to be children. By the way, half of the country is under the age of 18 in Palestine, in Gaza. Now at the time of Bush's speech, the axis of evil consisted of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, which, of course, we did a preemptive war in the following year. [00:03:41] Now there's a new axis of evil, according to Netanyahu and his allies, Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Now, as you all know, I have no love for Hamas. We have been incredibly critical of these terrorist groups, incredibly critical of what Hamas did to innocent Israeli civilians. [00:03:57] But taking that tragedy and compounding it and hurting and killing innocent civilians? Not the right answer, if you ask me. So here's a little more from Netanyahu using the same terminology that we heard from Bush back in 2002. [00:04:13] And then, Cenk, I wanna hear your thoughts. >> Speaker 1: Just as the world united to defeat the Nazis, just as the world united to defeat ISIS, the world has to stand united behind Israel to defeat Hamas. [00:04:30] This is part of an axis of evil of Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas. Their goal, open goal, is to eradicate the state of Israel. The open goal of Hamas is to kill as many Jews as they could. [00:04:48] And the only difference is they would have killed every last one of us, murdered every last one of us if they could. This is not merely our battle. It's the battle of the entire civilized world. It's the battle of Israel. It's the battle of the modern Arab countries. [00:05:03] It's the battle of Western civilization, the battle of the free world, the battle for the future. We have here two forces. One is an axis of evil led by Iran through Hezbollah, Hamas, and others that wanna bring back the Middle East to the Middle Ages. [00:05:18] >> Speaker 3: So I am curious what you think about, Cenk, because I remember the Bush era clearly. Obviously, no one in the United States was minimizing the severity and the tragedy of 9/11. But in the beginning, there was a small group of vocal individuals, you were one of them, [00:05:34] who were incredibly critical of the notion of engaging in a preemptive war in Iraq. But you got shouted down. I remember a lot of the anti-war individuals who were calling for peace got shouted down. They didn't support the troops, they alleged. They don't believe in national security. They don't see these evil terrorists as the imminent threat as they are, and [00:05:53] that's how they rallied support. That is how the media manufactured consent for that preemptive war, which ended up being a complete and utter disaster. Now the situation's a little different with Israel, okay? But at the same time, the idea that Israel should be allowed to respond [00:06:08] by just leveling entire neighborhoods and killing innocent Palestinian civilians is insane to me. And the idea that we should just brush off those war crimes as if it's no big deal, no, I don't accept it, sorry. >> Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, so first of all, any time people start talking about [00:06:25] the axis of evil, what they're saying is, we would like to start a war. >> Exactly. >> And in this case, Hamas started this particular attack, no question about it. But what Netanyahu is saying is, I would like to make the war much broader, and [00:06:43] he's arguing for a preemptive strike in Lebanon. >> Speaker 3: Yes. >> Speaker 4: And that is, of course, a war crime. That's a war of aggression. That's an offensive war. That is a war that Israel would start. And if they did that, they should have zero allies in the world in that offensive, imperialistic war against Lebanon. [00:07:01] What is he trying to do, conquer the entire Middle East, this lunatic? Okay, there is one person that's evil here, that is indisputable. I mean, there's plenty of people that are evil. Hamas is evil, etc., but Netanyahu is definitely among them. So the guy who's constantly war, violence, death, destruction, [00:07:18] killing, killing, killing, subjugation, oppression of Palestinians, no, that guy right there, Netanyahu, core evil. There aren't that many people in my lifetime that were the leaders of legitimate governments, not terrorist groups, [00:07:34] but legitimate governments, that have been as evil as Netanyahu. So the constant oppression and crushing of the Palestinians, the nonstop killing of civilians, obviously on purpose. If you're not blinded by bias, you know that Netanyahu is killing them on purpose. [00:07:52] Golly, gee, did I hit a residential building again? Maybe there was a terrorist. Maybe at the bottom of a tunnel at the bottom of the building, yeah. Did I kill thousands of innocent Palestinians again? I guess they were collateral damage, wink, without a single effort to actually get a single hostage. [00:08:10] Okay, so my answer to this war is, hell no, no way. Look, guys, at this point, Netanyahu has burned all the goodwill of Israel. What an awful, despicable leader. [00:08:26] So the people of Israel had the whole world's sympathy. They had all the goodwill for the first time in a long time, because, yes, 56 years of occupation is brutal. The world did not hate you because of general anti-Semitism. [00:08:43] General anti-Semitism exists, that doesn't mean that's why the whole world condemned the occupation. They condemned the occupation cuz the occupation is immoral and it is wrong, and it has been wrong for over 50 years. >> Speaker 3: Can I just say, Cenk, I watched your interview on Dan Abrams show, okay? [00:09:01] And he said something at the tail end before wrapping it up real quick about how, it's not fair, people expect higher standards from Israel. Israel is treated differently from other countries. Now let me be clear, okay? Any country, including the United States, that engages in war crimes should be found guilty of engaging war crimes. [00:09:21] And the individuals who have carried that out should be brought to justice. Now, unfortunately, here in the United States, we ended up electing Barack Obama, who refused to pursue war crime charges against the Bush administration. I totally think he should have. [00:09:36] But in the case of Israel, no. If Israel's carrying out war crimes, if they do a preemptive war on top of all the civilians they're killing in the Gaza Strip, yeah, hell yeah. Do they want special treatment? Are we supposed to just be scared that the Israeli government is gonna accuse us of anti-Semitism and we're supposed to just shut up and [00:09:53] pretend our eyes don't see what's currently transpiring right now? >> I'm gonna say this one more time, I'll probably have to say it 12 more times. Just because there's global anti-Semitism doesn't mean, well, that's the only reason why the Palestinians don't like us. I mean, the fact that we put our boot on their neck for the last 56 years, [00:10:11] that has nothing to do with it. It's just that they're the evil, hateful ones. >> Speaker 3: How many videos have we seen this week alone of a single Palestinian crying, weeping because their entire family was wiped out? Put yourself in that person's shoes. [00:10:27] Imagine one strike, one airstrike, your entire family gone, gone, everyone in your family gone. How would you feel about that? >> Speaker 4: And guys, the supporters of Netanyahu's government here in America, including in American media, make it sound like poor Israel's being picked on. [00:10:48] And there you're only seeing the negative things about Israel, total opposite of reality. So Israel did this propaganda thing and, by the way, this part of it, even though it's propaganda, I totally agree with, they showed reporters 45-minute reel of all the atrocities that Hamas did. [00:11:04] From what I can see, I call it propaganda cuz they're trying to get their message out. And I said it the same about the Ukrainians, who I totally back, okay? But they're trying to get their message out that Hamas was brutal and atrocious, and that is true. >> Speaker 4: It is true. >> And I don't mind them doing that. [00:11:19] So then American media then went and wall-to-wall, Jake Tapper, everyone else, my God, we saw this video, it's the worst thing in the world. Good, good, good, report that, no problem. But there's no equal and opposite video of Palestinians being crushed in the rubble. We could give you a 45-hour video of one Palestinian after another. [00:11:40] And what I know that you guys don't know is in the international world, and a lot of you are international and you see it. But for example, in Turkey, they're now showing the actual videos of Gaza, where the parents are picking up body parts, and it's actual verified videos. [00:11:56] So we can show you 45 hours if we had the ability to send in journalists. Israel has already killed 23 journalists in the area. So if journalists could go in and get more of those videos, there would be endless, endless videos of children's body parts that Netanyahu created and [00:12:14] pretended he was fighting Hamas. And then the impossible standard, the Palestinians have to say they reject Hamas, otherwise we won't stop bombing them. Well, how could the Palestinians tell you that, how? There's no elections, there's no democracy, there's no reporters, [00:12:30] there's no nothing. How do you become convinced that the Palestinians have rejected Hamas? It is an impossible standard on purpose so that you could kill more, so you could crush more. No, I'm 100% against this. They're trying to drive us into World War Three. [00:12:47] They're trying to drive us into a war with Iran, these goddamn monsters. And I want no part of it, I want no part of it. I would send $0 to Israel. Forget the new aid, I would withdraw all of the aid if they do a preemptive attack inside another country. I do not want a broader war. [00:13:02] America does not want a broader war. I don't care how many people in power pretend we want a broader war and have our kids die in Iran. We do not want that. >> Speaker 3: That is what they are gearing up for in rhetoric, possibly even in military buildup. [00:13:17] There's certainly quite a bit of military buildup among IDF soldiers with the Israeli-Lebanon border. And I wanna give you some more details about what they're thinking or where their heads are at. And that is why we're kinda panicking about this, because this could very easily [00:13:35] turn into a broader war with the United States cheerleading Israel all throughout. Let's go to graphic four here. Israel continued to strike Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon. They're already doing strikes in Lebanon, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, said Monday. [00:13:50] Netanyahu has warned Hezbollah that Israel would retaliate if the militant group joined the war, and that any escalation along the shared border would be devastating for Lebanon. Israeli media has been abuzz with reports of internal Israeli government [00:14:06] deliberations over a second front with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, with the Defense Minister and other Israeli officials reportedly advocating a preemptive strike on the militant group and the US cautioning against it. Now the US is allegedly cautioning against it, but the second Israel really applies [00:14:26] pressure to the United States government to back them in this, they will. And if you don't believe me, I wanns actually go to that last video, the John Kirby video. You have National Security Advisor John Kirby, listen to what he said during a press conference today when he was asked whether [00:14:43] there should be a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. This tells you where US officials are on this issue. >> Speaker 5: We're gonna continue to make sure Israel has the tools and the capabilities that they need to defend themselves. We're gonna continue to try to get that humanitarian assistance in. We're gonna continue to try to get hostages and [00:15:00] people out of Gaza appropriately. And as I think you've heard us say, a ceasefire right now really only benefits Hamas. >> Speaker 3: I would venture to say the ceasefire overwhelmingly would benefit innocent Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom make up the current death [00:15:18] toll that we keep sharing with you all that has now surpassed 5,000 people. >> Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, these guys are warmongers, and when I say these guys, it includes the United States of America. So we were warmongers in Iraq, and we did war crimes in Iraq, and [00:15:35] I called it out when we did it. If we had the courage to call ourselves out, we should have the courage to call out our allies. And we call out other allies all the time. The minute Turkey oversteps their bounds, we call them out instantly, right? But when it comes to Israel, that's the one ally we can never, ever call out. [00:15:51] It's bizarre, it's ridiculous, it's absolutely ridiculous. But, guys, you have to understand, this isn't about Israel. There's a lot of power and money on the line here. So Netanyahu cares about keeping his power, and he thinks the more war, death, and destruction, the more Israelis will vote for him. [00:16:08] Israeli citizens should prove him wrong, okay? >> So far, they are. So far, he's tremendously unpopular. And the tactic that George W Bush used in order to garner support among the American people is not working with Netanyahu as it stands right now. [00:16:24] It could change. >> Speaker 4: Yeah, and I know that Israel is in a rage, and I get it. You were wounded deeply, I understand that, right? And we were in a rage after 9/11. And everybody gets in a rage when their family and their friends and their loved ones get attacked. But if you wanna help Israel, if you know any Israelis, if you know anyone, [00:16:43] you have to tell them, please don't do this, you're not getting the full picture. The rest of the world thinks us, America, and Israel are monsters for what they're doing. One of the body parts was an ear. [00:16:58] What are we doing, what are we doing? And saying, hey, we're only three times as brutal as Hamas is not a winning argument. That is a despicable, awful argument. Three times as many Palestinian civilians killed. If you say it doesn't matter, you're a monster, just be clear. [00:17:13] All right, now why am I telling you this? This isn't even about Israel. Cuz get a load of what Mitch McConnell said. He's gonna use the same phrase, but he's gonna have a different cast of characters cuz it isn't about the other guys. It's about the need to start a war so that they can remain in power. [00:17:29] And the defense contractors here in America could make billions and maybe trillions of dollars, watch. >> States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. [00:17:45] >> Speaker 1: And just as the world united to defeat the Nazis, just as the world united to defeat ISIS, the world has to stand united behind Israel to defeat Hamas. This is part of an axis of evil. [00:18:03] >> Speaker 4: There's an axis of evil in the world, China, Russia, North Korea. >> Of Iran, and Hezbollah, and Hamas. Their goal, open goal, is to eradicate the state of Israel. [00:18:19] The open goal of Hamas is to kill as many Jews as they could. And the only difference is they would have killed every last one of us, murdered every last one of us, if they could. >> Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you would have killed every last one of them if you could. And, in fact, you're in the middle of doing it right now. [00:18:35] But the important part of that clip is, and I love that we showed all three to you guys, you see, it doesn't matter. Just fill in the blank, Hamas, China, Russia, North Korea, it doesn't matter, they just want war. [00:18:51] They don't even particularly care who the war is against. Do not let these warmongers win. I do not want Israel's moral high ground to be evaporated, which it's in the middle of doing now. And I don't want the American moral high ground, for whatever is left of it, [00:19:09] to be eviscerated by these monsters who go around saying we should start preemptive wars. And wars that will be gigantic in the Middle East, and will unleash death and destruction like we haven't seen in a long, long time. My answer is hell, no. [00:19:25] No, ceasefire right now.