Transcript [00:02] All right. [00:03] Earlier [snorts] today, Vice President [00:05] J.D. Vance [00:07] was having a press conference, and he [00:08] was asked about negative reaction to the [00:12] memorandum of understanding, the deal [00:13] that he's been out there on every show [00:15] selling. Isn't it interesting that J.D. [00:17] Vance was chosen to sell the deal? Go on [00:19] around. President Trump even said if the [00:21] deal falls through, he's going to blame [00:22] it on J.D. So, obviously, J.D. Vance is [00:24] very invested in this deal working. [00:27] And uh he was asked, right, about the [00:30] the possibility of the Israelis [00:32] torpedoing the deal, of Israeli pushback [00:34] against the deal, of the fact that there [00:35] are Israeli political figures who are [00:37] critical of the deal. And he had some [00:39] choice words to say that I would like to [00:42] uh [00:42] comment on. Okay? So, let's take a look [00:44] at what J.D. Vance had to say. I'm I'm [00:46] As you can see, I'm a little bit worked [00:48] up right now. [00:49] Let's take a look. [00:50] >> Go ahead. [00:51] >> Thank you, sir. Uh Jordan Conrad with [00:53] the Gateway Pundit. I want to talk um [00:54] back to the Lebanon uh Israel. [00:57] Um [00:58] there's a report in [clears throat] [00:58] Axios that Netanyahu's fuming over this. [01:01] Uh he doesn't Israel doesn't feel [01:04] uh bound to the MOU as it relates to [01:06] Lebanon. If, as you mentioned, your [01:08] frustration with Israel's strike Israel [01:10] striking in Beirut, hitting apartment [01:12] buildings, if that continues, could it [01:14] torpedo the deal? And what would the [01:16] US's response be to a broader war in [01:19] Lebanon, a broader war as well? [01:21] >> Yeah, well, I don't want to get into [01:23] hypotheticals that could torpedo the [01:24] deal because I think the president's [01:26] expectation is that all of our friends, [01:28] the Israelis, the Arabs in the region, [01:31] we're going to work together and [01:32] actually see this deal to completion. [01:34] Now, I saw the Axios report uh you know, [01:36] that that that that Netanyahu is fuming. [01:39] That's not reflective of the [01:40] conversations that I've had with him, [01:42] but maybe he's saying something to [01:43] somebody else that he's not saying to [01:44] me. What I will say, and this does [01:46] bother me, is that you have seen people [01:48] within Bibi's cabinet who have come out [01:51] and attacked the deal, and in some ways [01:54] very personally attacked the president [01:55] of the United States. And I guess my [01:57] message to them would be twofold. Number [02:00] one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of [02:04] state in the entire world who is [02:06] sympathetic to the nation of Israel at [02:09] this moment in time. And he happens to [02:11] be the head of state of the world's [02:13] superpower. If I was in the cabinet of [02:15] the Israeli government, I might not be [02:17] attacking the only powerful ally that I [02:20] have anywhere left in the entire world. [02:23] And the second message I would give to [02:25] some of those cabinet members, Bibi, to [02:27] his credit, has not gone down this path, [02:29] but to some of these cabinet members in [02:31] Israel who are attacking the president [02:32] of the United States, the other thing [02:33] that I would say is that over the last 3 [02:35] months, [02:37] >> [clears throat] [02:37] >> 2/3 of the defensive weapons that have [02:40] protected your homeland have been built [02:43] by American hands and paid for by [02:45] American tax dollars. The problem for [02:48] Israel is not Donald J. Trump. And [02:51] anybody in Israel who thinks their [02:52] biggest problem is the president of the [02:54] United States needs to wake up and smell [02:57] the reality of the situation that [03:00] country is in. Thank you all. [03:03] >> All right. [03:05] There's J.D. Vance. [03:08] So, that's what he had to say. [03:12] So, J.D. Vance is there lecturing Israel [03:14] about who its friends are. [03:16] And listen, he's right about one thing. [03:18] He's right about the fact that President [03:20] Trump is the greatest friend Israel's [03:21] ever had, and Israeli politicians should [03:23] be more careful about lobbying [03:26] criticisms at him, even at a time like [03:28] this. [03:29] There is no one more friendly to Israel. [03:31] And this is a problem that the [03:32] pro-Israel community has of like going [03:35] to extremes. Like, if Trump makes a [03:37] decision we don't like, the sky is [03:39] falling, he's betrayed us, it's over. If [03:41] Trump does something we like, we're [03:42] like, "Yeah, he's like he's Cyrus the [03:44] Great, he's our hero." We got to just [03:46] relax, okay? [03:48] Now, it's also not true that [03:51] President Trump is the only head of [03:52] state in the world who's pro-Israel. [03:53] That's just That's just patently false. [03:55] But nevertheless, [03:57] Vance is here lecturing Israel. And I [03:59] have to be honest with you. It It It [04:00] actually makes me angry what he said. [04:02] Not because I think Israel's cabinet [04:03] ministers are always right. [04:05] Not because I don't understand the [04:06] political pressure that Trump is under. [04:08] I get it. I understand his calculus. [04:10] President Trump made a determination [04:11] that this deal was in his best interest. [04:13] But [04:15] what what Vice President Vance just said [04:17] is [04:18] is just wrong. [04:19] It's strategically foolish. [04:22] It comes off as petulant and arrogant. [04:26] And he's done this before. [04:29] Look, this is the same line He He was [04:32] echoing the same line we've been hearing [04:33] from a lot of people who do not [04:34] understand the US-Israel relationship. [04:36] Let me break this down. Vance says, and [04:38] I'm paraphrasing, that 2/3 of the [04:40] defensive weapons protecting your [04:42] homeland were built by American hands [04:44] and paid for by American tax dollars. [04:46] Now, to people just listening [04:49] sort of casually, it's like, "Oh, 2/3 of [04:51] of what you of your weapons, 2/3 of what [04:53] you've used." [04:54] Okay, this is This is very specific. [04:57] He said it like like it's some sort of [04:58] knockout punch, like Israel should sit [05:00] down, be grateful, and stop complaining. [05:01] So, let's let's go through the actual [05:03] numbers, and some of these I've quoted [05:04] many times before, but let's set the [05:06] whole frame of the US support for [05:08] Israel's military. Makes it sound like [05:10] 2/3. Someone just doesn't really know, [05:11] and they're listening, "Oh, 2/3 of what [05:13] the Israelis have used." No, no. [05:15] US military aid to Israel is $3.8 [05:17] billion a year. Yes, there's [05:19] occasionally supplementals. [05:21] $3.8 billion a year. That sounds like a [05:23] lot. [05:24] It's roughly 10% at most of Israel's [05:27] defense budget. [05:28] Before October 7th, it was around 11%, [05:31] but Israel's defense budget has [05:33] has increased [05:35] by orders of magnitude [05:37] ever since then, so that the number that [05:40] the US aid to Israel constitutes has [05:41] actually gone down as a percentage. And [05:43] by the way, Israel's been selling [05:45] billions and billions of dollars of air [05:46] defenses to Germany and Greece. Germany [05:49] and Greece alone in the last 6 months [05:51] uh have have purchased about $10 billion [05:54] in US in in Israeli air defenses, and [05:56] there's other countries, too. So, the [05:58] it's it it at the entire annual American [06:01] aid package is like a third of that. [06:05] So, when Vance stands up there and [06:06] implies that American taxpayers are [06:08] basically carrying Israel's military, [06:11] it's just not true. [06:13] Okay? People think there's this [06:15] conception that the US bankrolls [06:16] Israel's military. Israel's military is [06:18] like over 90% paid for domestically. [06:21] Okay? Yes, there's aid. [06:24] And here, the 2/3 number he's using is [06:26] about a specific defensive weapon, [06:28] specific air defense weapons that were [06:30] used during this war. [06:34] Okay, yes. So, fine, it could be yes, [06:35] you have 2/3 of that. [06:37] But the implication is that Israel's [06:38] some sort of dependent client state that [06:40] owes America silence and gratitude, no [06:42] matter what. [06:43] That's an insulting lie, and it speaks [06:45] to a problem of Israeli dependence. [06:48] But here's what Vance doesn't mention. [06:49] America has military bases all over the [06:51] Middle East. Yes, for some of you on [06:53] this channel, this is repetition, but we [06:54] need to hear this. We need to remember [06:55] these talking points. America has [06:57] military bases all over the Middle East, [06:59] Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, [07:01] Iraq, Syria, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt is [07:03] not official. [07:06] How much does it cost to run those [07:07] bases? Billions and billions of dollars. [07:10] It's a massive air force base in Jordan. [07:13] Personnel, equipment, operations, and [07:15] none of that is called foreign aid, [07:17] right? That's just defense spending. So, [07:19] yes, Israel gets the most foreign aid [07:21] because there's no base in Israel. [07:24] Israel gets $3.8 billion with no [07:26] American base on its soil, no American [07:28] soldiers in Israeli [07:30] you know, in in in uniform in Israel. [07:34] Oh, but Israel's the biggest beneficiary [07:36] of American generosity. You have these [07:37] countries where the their entire defense [07:40] infrastructure is Americans. [07:43] You know why there's no American base in [07:44] Israel? Because Israel doesn't need one [07:46] and America doesn't need to have one [07:48] there because Israel fights for itself [07:50] and [07:51] and is a real ally. It's the only ally [07:52] in the region that America doesn't have [07:54] to baby-sit. [07:56] And it saves American taxpayers far more [07:58] than $3.8 billion a year. But that's a [08:00] separate issue. I still don't like the [08:01] aid. Forget about how it actually [08:03] benefits America. That's America's [08:04] problem. [08:07] We'll get into that more in a minute. [08:08] But here's something that that no one's [08:09] talking about. It goes directly to [08:11] Vance's argument about American weapons [08:13] building Israeli security. Listen to [08:15] this. This is an important argument. I [08:16] don't know if I've ever really laid it [08:17] out. Listen carefully to this. [08:20] Because here he's talking about 2/3 of [08:22] the air defense weapons of the defenses [08:24] that saved you were manufactured by [08:26] Americans and and and and funded by us. [08:28] Whoa, whoa, whoa. [08:30] The current memorandum of understanding [08:33] governing US-Israel defense assistance, [08:36] okay, the one that still is in force [08:37] until [08:39] I think 2028, [08:41] still covers the relationship right now, [08:43] was signed at the end of the Obama [08:45] administration [08:47] in 2016. [08:48] And buried in that deal, in that MOU, [08:51] that 10-year MOU that didn't take effect [08:53] yet, it took effect in I think 2018, [08:56] buried in that deal was a provision that [08:58] phased out something called offshore [09:01] procurement. What is offshore [09:02] procurement? It was an arrangement that [09:05] allowed Israel to take a portion of [09:07] American military assistance, a portion [09:09] of it, [09:11] up to 26.3% of it and spend it on its [09:14] own domestic weapons manufacturers. In [09:16] other words, the American military [09:18] assistance that Israel was allowed to [09:20] use like a quarter of it, a little more, [09:22] on its own domestic weapons industry, [09:26] Israeli defense industry, Israeli jobs, [09:28] building Israeli capabilities in Israel. [09:32] And Obama's MOU that was signed in 2016 [09:36] eliminated that carve out. [09:40] Under this 2016 MOU, [09:43] the that percentage gets phased down to [09:45] zero. [09:47] 100% of American military assistance to [09:49] Israel must be spent on American [09:50] products from American companies. [09:53] The White House's own fact sheet from [09:55] 2016 said this explicitly. [09:57] That discontinuing offshore procurement [10:00] means that Israel will spend as much as [10:01] 1.2 billion dollars per year more on [10:04] American produced capabilities. So, one [10:05] of the goals, let me sum this up. One of [10:07] the goals of the Obama [10:09] MOU on aid to Israel, 10-year MOU, was [10:13] that it would phase out Israel's ability [10:15] to spend any of that money on its own [10:17] military industry. [10:20] So, what did this mean? [10:24] What it means is that Obama's MOU took [10:26] over a billion dollars a year out of [10:28] Israel's domestic defense industry and [10:30] redirected it to American defense [10:33] contractors. [10:35] So, what this ended up doing was that [10:37] Israel was coerced through the [10:39] structuring of this clause in the aid [10:42] into hollowing out its own manufacturing [10:44] capacity [10:45] in exchange for continued American [10:47] assistance. [10:48] You get it? [10:50] Because basically saying there's a about [10:52] a billion dollars or so that you'd be [10:53] spending at home at your own your own [10:55] military industry, you now can't spend [10:57] it at home. You have to spend it in [10:58] America, so you end up Israel ends up [11:00] and you have to buy these all these [11:02] munitions with it. We're not going to [11:03] let you make them yourself anymore [11:05] because now you're just going to spend [11:06] that money here. Basically, Israel had [11:08] to shut down certain parts. It was That [11:10] was the point of it. [11:11] It was to for Israel to shut down [11:12] certain parts of its own manufacturing [11:14] so that they buy the weapons from [11:15] America. [11:17] And now, years later, here we are. [11:19] Israel finds itself in a multi-front war [11:21] and reaches for that domestic industrial [11:24] base. Up, it's not fully there because [11:26] the MOU with Obama undermined it. That's [11:27] what's been going on since October 2023. [11:30] This stuff has been phased out. A lot of [11:32] Israel's military industry was being was [11:33] being phased out because of this clause [11:35] in the MOU. [11:37] So, Israel was more dependent on the [11:40] munitions from the United States cuz [11:41] they couldn't make them themselves. And [11:42] remember, when you make it yourself, you [11:44] can also sell and make money off it. So, [11:46] it's not it's not just one-to-one in [11:48] terms of the dollars. [11:51] And Vance was citing that dependency as [11:53] a reason that Israel should be grateful [11:55] and quiet. [11:56] This is exactly why Israel needs to end [11:59] the aid relationship entirely. I've [12:00] written about this. I've been saying [12:01] this for years. I said it on the Charlie [12:03] Kirk show. I wrote about it in the [12:04] Jerusalem Post. Israel needs to end its [12:06] aid relationship with America. Yes, [12:08] there's things we gain, but we but it [12:10] handcuffs us. The aid was never designed [12:13] primarily to help Israel. It was always [12:15] used from from the late 1970s with Jimmy [12:18] Carter all the way through till Obama. [12:21] The aid to Israel was always ramped up [12:24] and structured [12:25] to create leverage over Israel. It [12:28] started with with with [12:30] the Camp David Accords with Jimmy [12:32] Carter. It was [12:34] that was the first big aid to Israel to [12:36] coerce Israel or to to encourage Israel [12:40] to surrender land for peace. [12:43] Right? Israel had to give up vital [12:44] security assets and got and got [12:46] guarantees of of aid money as [12:50] compensation. Then under Obama, in the [12:52] same deal that was supposed to help [12:53] Israel, they were they it caused them to [12:56] gut their own ability to manufacture [12:58] itself. So, [13:00] The aid to Israel's always been a [13:01] double-edged sword for Israel from the [13:02] beginning. That's my point. You take the [13:04] money, you become dependent. You become [13:06] dependent, you lose freedom of action. [13:07] You lose freedom of action, then one day [13:10] a vice president stands at a podium and [13:12] tells you to remember who paid for your [13:13] Iron Dome. [13:15] No. No, no. Israel needs to build its [13:18] own industry, spend its own money, and [13:20] answer to no one. Prime Minister [13:21] Netanyahu has been moving in this [13:23] direction. The numbers are all [13:25] are already pointing that way. [13:27] Israeli defense exports are exploding, [13:29] the economy's growing, the defense [13:31] budget has more than [13:33] doubled in a decade. [13:35] The $3.8 billion is becoming less and [13:38] less significant as a percentage of what [13:39] Israel actually spends. [13:41] This is the right direction, and we need [13:43] to accelerate it now. And this is the [13:45] part that really bothers me. [13:47] Vance is making this argument in the [13:49] context of lecturing Israeli cabinet [13:52] ministers for objecting to the MOU with [13:55] Iran. [13:56] The MOU, the 14-point MOU that is just [13:58] being signed now. Let's remember, [14:00] Israel's not a party to this deal. Prime [14:02] Minister Netanyahu's statement on day [14:04] one when this deal was announced, the [14:06] opening line of the statement was that [14:07] Israel is not a party to this deal. They [14:10] were not included in the negotiations. [14:12] They weren't even They didn't even see [14:13] an advanced draft of it before it was [14:15] agreed to. [14:17] An agreement that states in its very [14:19] first clause that there will be, quote, [14:21] "an immediate and permanent termination [14:23] of military operations on all fronts, [14:25] including Lebanon." In other words, the [14:28] United States negotiated with Iran over [14:30] what Israel can and cannot do in [14:32] Lebanon. And then when Israeli ministers [14:34] said, "Hey, wait a second, we're not [14:35] bound by this. We don't consider [14:37] ourselves bound by this." Because why [14:38] should they be? They weren't in the [14:39] room, they weren't negotiating. It was a [14:41] deal between the US and and Iran, and [14:43] Israel never said they were a part of [14:44] it. And the United States [14:46] negotiates what Israel can and can't do. [14:48] And when Israeli cabinet ministers say, [14:51] "We don't consider ourselves bound by [14:53] this," Vance goes to the podium and says [14:55] to shut up and be grateful for American [14:57] weapons funding. Hello. If Israeli [14:59] ministers are actually saying, "We're an [15:02] independent nation that makes our own [15:04] decisions, just like you're America [15:06] first. God bless you. Be America first. [15:08] We have to be Israel first. We have to [15:10] look after our own nation." And he's [15:11] castigating them for that? Hey, look, [15:14] Mr. Vice President, we don't have the [15:15] same interests necessarily. [15:18] You can go ahead and cut whatever deal [15:19] you want. We don't have the same [15:20] interests. Yes, we're very grateful. [15:22] That doesn't mean we have to go along [15:23] with every deal that you make that's in [15:25] your best interest. We have to look out [15:27] for our best interest. It's called [15:28] sovereignty. [15:30] Think about what just happened here. [15:32] Iran demanded as a non-negotiable [15:34] condition of any deal that Israel end [15:36] its operations in Lebanon. [15:38] The United States agreed to put that [15:40] language in the MOU. [15:42] And Israel, which fought this war [15:44] alongside America and endured weeks of [15:46] Iranian ballistic missile and drone [15:47] attacks, [15:48] lost soldiers in Lebanon, [15:50] and was cut out of the room entirely. [15:52] And now the response to Israeli pushback [15:54] is, "We pay for your Iron Dome." Hey, [15:56] you cut us out. We're not part of the [15:57] deal. We're not part of the deal. We [15:59] don't have to adhere to it. [16:03] And Vance says that Netanyahu himself [16:05] hasn't criticized the deal, only [16:06] far-right cabinet members like Ben-Gvir [16:08] and Smotrich. Okay. [16:10] But Netanyahu's own office has stated [16:12] clearly that Israel is not a party to [16:14] the MOU. Israel has not accepted the [16:16] Lebanon clause. Defense Minister Katz [16:19] has stated that IDF troops will remain [16:21] in southern Lebanon regardless of the [16:23] agreement. The agreement does not [16:24] explicitly call for withdrawal, but it [16:26] it implies it. [16:31] So, this is not just the fringe right. [16:33] It's not just some members of the [16:34] cabinet. [16:35] This is the Israeli government's [16:36] official position. And the response from [16:38] the Trump administration publicly has [16:40] been to question Israel's judgment, [16:42] threaten the defense relationship, and [16:44] remind Israel of its dependence. [16:47] Listen, I I want this administration to [16:49] succeed. [16:50] I want it to succeed in everything it's [16:52] doing with Iran. I want Trump to be [16:54] successful. I want a real deal with Iran [16:57] if you could get one. I don't think you [16:58] can get one. [17:01] That actually dismantles the nuclear [17:03] program. Yeah, if you can do that. [17:06] I'm not anti-Trump, not even close, far [17:09] from it. You You You You would have to [17:11] have met me today only to think that I'm [17:13] anti-Trump. [17:15] I was literally one of the most public [17:16] campaigners for Trump. [17:19] I wrote a column in the Jerusalem Post [17:21] campaigning for Trump early on before [17:24] other people were calling for it. [17:27] I'm very pro-Trump. [17:30] But I also care about my country and I'm [17:32] going to call out a mistake when I see [17:33] it. [17:35] And right now I'm watching an an [17:36] American administration that genuinely [17:39] does support Israel slide into a pattern [17:42] right now [17:43] and with with Vance's comments here, it [17:46] it it's right in there that [17:48] uncomfortably looks like the Biden [17:50] playbook. Different flavor, same [17:51] dynamic, public pressure, financial [17:53] leverage, an implicit message, behave [17:56] yourself, fall in line. [17:58] Israel's biggest problem right now is [17:59] not J.D. Vance, but the road to Israeli [18:02] strategic independence [18:04] runs away from this relationship, not [18:07] deeper into it. And the sooner Israeli [18:09] leaders and the people who support [18:10] Israel around the world internalize [18:12] that, the better. [18:14] Israel needs to be independent. [18:17] We're a good ally. We share a lot of [18:20] interest with the US. We'll protect [18:21] American interests, but we're going to [18:23] protect our own interests. The security [18:25] of our people comes first. America has [18:28] its interests, we respect that, we'll [18:29] try to align. [18:31] But we live in the Middle East, we know [18:33] these people, and we have to do what we [18:34] need to do to protect the state of [18:36] Israel. [18:38] God bless. Thanks for watching. [18:40] Please like, share, subscribe, all that [18:41] great stuff. [18:43] Thank you for helping the channel grow.
