Transcript [00:00] So, Tucker Carlson was just interviewed [00:02] on Channel 13 here in Israel. Now, [00:07] it did not go well. [00:10] Channel 13, for those of you outside of [00:12] Israel or don't know, Channel 13 is like [00:14] left-wing mainstream media. These people [00:17] who think that they're so smart. [00:19] This whole [00:20] doing this interview was a massive [00:22] mistake. It handed Tucker a huge win. He [00:25] He of course put the clip up. In fact, [00:26] the the the video I'm using is from his [00:28] channel. He proudly [00:30] showed this clip and all of his all of [00:32] his fans are just like, "Look at Tucker [00:34] owning this idiot on Channel 13 in [00:37] Israel, owning the Israelis, owning the [00:39] Jews." Which is true because the guy who [00:41] interviewed him is a fool and didn't [00:43] properly push back on the arguments [00:45] Tucker was making. [00:47] Maybe he agrees with some of them. I [00:48] have no idea. I think just think the guy [00:50] just was not prepared, didn't know what [00:51] on earth he was doing. And of course, [00:53] Tucker always goes after Israel. But [00:54] this this interview is painful to watch [00:56] and I'm not [00:57] I'm not going to play the whole thing. [01:00] Uh [01:01] he had so many opportunities to push [01:03] back on Tucker and he didn't do it. So, [01:05] what I'm going to do in this video, I'm [01:06] just going to play a few short clips of [01:08] things that Tucker said and give you [01:11] what the proper pushback would have [01:13] been. [01:14] Because this interviewer just blew it. [01:19] So, let's go to uh [01:23] Let's pull it up here. Let's go to clip [01:24] one. [01:26] Here we go. [01:28] But the behavior of the Israeli [01:30] government in Gaza is disgusting and [01:32] immoral. Of course, Israel's not a [01:34] democracy in any sense. There are [01:36] millions of people who live under [01:38] Israeli control who cannot vote, right? [01:41] And so, if the West Bank, Judea and [01:43] Samaria, and Gaza, or whatever you're [01:45] calling these places, which Israel's [01:47] controlled since 1967, have people [01:49] living in them who have no control over [01:51] the government that controls their [01:53] lives, which is true. It's not a [01:55] democracy. So, let's just drop the [01:56] talking points. I agree with you on [01:58] self-defense. I don't think killing [02:00] children is self-defense. It never will [02:01] be. What on earth is he saying here? [02:04] He's saying that Israel's not a [02:05] democracy [02:07] because [02:09] of [02:10] the Palestinians, the Arabs living in [02:12] Judea Samaria and Gaza. [02:17] And here's the answer that he should [02:18] have been given. [02:20] Judea and Samaria is governed under the [02:21] Oslo Accords. A framework that Israel [02:24] did not impose on those people [02:27] unilaterally. It was negotiated between [02:29] Israel and the leadership representing [02:32] the Palestinian people. [02:34] It was [02:36] signed on the White House lawn in 1993 [02:38] that started the whole process. Now, [02:39] under Oslo, the Palestinian Authority [02:43] which is elected or supposed to be [02:45] elected. I mean, they had elections [02:47] in the early years of the Palestinian [02:48] Authority. They haven't had an election [02:51] uh since like 2006. [02:53] 2005 or 2006 was the last time they had [02:55] an election. [02:57] Mahmoud Abbas, the current president of [02:59] the Palestinian Authority, whatever his [03:01] title is, [03:03] has is now serving whatever the 20th or [03:05] 21st year, whatever it is, of a [03:07] four-year term. [03:09] But, [03:11] Israel did not impose this system on [03:13] them. [03:14] They run Palestinian civil life, courts, [03:16] schools, taxation, services. [03:19] They can say whatever they want. [03:21] I mean, it's not not up to Israel. [03:24] Israel controls security for for its own [03:26] self-defense. That's the agreement. So, [03:29] when Tucker says the Palestinians have [03:30] no control of the government government [03:32] that controls their lives, he's ignoring [03:34] the entire legal and political framework [03:36] that they actually live under. [03:40] Okay, now, for Gaza, this is even more [03:42] pronounced. Israel withdrew from Gaza [03:44] completely in 2005. Every soldier, every [03:48] civilian, [03:50] and then the Gazans held democratic [03:52] elections in 2006 and they elected Hamas [03:55] and Hamas then violently seized power [03:58] through the opposition members off the [04:00] rooftops and has held exactly zero [04:03] elections ever since. And the reason [04:05] that Gazans have no say in their [04:06] government [04:08] is Hamas. [04:10] A terrorist organization that rules by [04:12] force and has no interest in democracy. [04:13] So Tucker's blaming Israel for Hamas's [04:16] dictatorship or is he talking about the [04:18] fact that Israel can externally has [04:21] control over what happens there because [04:24] Israel looks out for its own security. [04:26] I want to make another point here on [04:28] that [04:29] about that. [04:31] Tucker keeps saying that Israel controls [04:33] the lives of millions of people who [04:34] can't vote. [04:36] But by that logic the United States is [04:38] not a democracy either. And millions of [04:40] people in countries affected by American [04:42] foreign policy can't vote in American [04:44] elections. Every sovereign nations makes [04:47] decision every sovereign nation makes [04:48] decisions that affect people beyond its [04:51] borders. [04:53] It's not the absence of democracy. [04:58] It's a ridiculous claim and the [05:00] interviewer did not push back at all. [05:02] All right, [05:03] let's go to the next thing that Tucker [05:05] said. Here we go. I agree with you on [05:07] self-defense. I don't think killing [05:09] children is self-defense. It never will [05:11] be [05:12] and no amount of recounting the [05:14] legitimate atrocities of October 7th [05:16] will ever get me to accept this behavior [05:19] from the Israeli government, from the US [05:21] government, from the Iranian government [05:22] or any government. It's always wrong and [05:25] Israel doesn't like to acknowledge [05:26] existence of universal principles. It's [05:28] always wrong to kill children. Okay, [05:31] that's a that's a that's a winning [05:32] point. [05:34] Tucker keeps talking about killing [05:35] children. It ends the conversation and [05:36] the interviewer took the bait. He got [05:38] emotional and defensive which is exactly [05:41] what Tucker wanted. Now here's what he [05:42] should have said to him. [05:45] He should have said, [05:46] "Israel kills children? [05:50] Whose numbers are you using, Tucker? How [05:52] do you know How do you know that [05:53] Israel's killed a lot of children?" [05:55] Because the only source for Gaza [05:57] casualty figures is Hamas's own health [06:00] ministry. [06:01] And according to those numbers, [06:04] not a single person killed since October [06:07] 7th in Gaza was a Hamas combatant. [06:10] Tucker, do you believe that zero Hamas [06:12] combatants were killed? [06:14] Not only that, Tucker, do you believe [06:16] that there were no [06:19] deaths from natural causes in the Gaza [06:21] Strip since October 7th? Because [06:23] according to the numbers that you're [06:24] using to say that Israel killed [06:26] thousands of children, [06:28] every single [06:29] according to their database of the Hamas [06:32] run Gaza Health Ministry, every single [06:34] death in the Gaza Strip, [06:39] every single death, [06:41] was from a military strike and was a [06:44] civilian. [06:46] No fighters, [06:48] no Hamas casualties at all, [06:51] cuz if you look at the database, there's [06:53] none. [06:55] And no natural No death from natural [06:58] causes. [06:59] Meaning it is not just They don't just [07:01] publish the the casualties from the war. [07:03] Hamas [07:04] The Gaza Health Ministry publishes all [07:06] of the deaths, and this has been [07:07] carefully studied. It's been studied by [07:09] a number of researchers, most notably [07:11] Andrew Fox at the Henry Jackson Society [07:14] out of England. They studied these [07:16] databases in detail. [07:19] And [07:20] you know, so that that's that's the [07:21] pushback. I would say, "How do you know [07:23] that Israel has killed all these [07:25] children?" [07:29] He also should have pushed back by by [07:31] noting the experts like John Spencer [07:36] from the from West Point, the expert on [07:39] urban warfare, the world's leading [07:40] expert on urban warfare, who have [07:42] pointed out that the [07:44] that even if you accept whatever numbers [07:46] we know to be true, [07:48] the civilian to combatant casualty ratio [07:52] is the is the the lowest, meaning the [07:54] most favorable, in the history of urban [07:56] warfare. [08:00] You know, the genocide charge against [08:02] Israel, [08:05] the number that really demolishes it is [08:06] that Gaza's population has grown since [08:09] October 7th. The population is larger [08:10] today than it was before the war began. [08:12] You can't simultaneously commit genocide [08:14] and grow the population of the people [08:16] you're genociding. [08:19] And and then there's the other issue [08:21] that the interviewer never brought up, [08:22] which drives me crazy. When Hamas stores [08:25] weapons in hospitals and fires rockets [08:28] from schoolyards and runs its command [08:30] centers from underneath hospitals and [08:32] mosques, which they do, which they've [08:34] openly admitted, we know that, no one [08:36] disputes that. I don't think Tucker [08:37] would dispute that. If he would, he'd [08:39] look like the fool. You have to put him [08:41] on the defensive. This guy didn't do [08:42] that even once. [08:45] When Hamas does that, those sites, those [08:48] civilian locations lose their civilian [08:51] protected status according to the Geneva [08:54] Conventions. Article 19 says it [08:56] explicitly, and more than that, there's [08:59] the issue of legal and moral [09:00] responsibility, which is worked out in [09:03] also in the Fourth Geneva Convention, [09:04] not in Article 19. [09:07] The legal and moral responsibility for [09:10] civilian casualties shifts to the party [09:13] that militarizes a civilian site if that [09:15] civilian site is hit. [09:17] So, if a hospital is turned into a Hamas [09:19] command center and it gets hit and there [09:21] are civilians killed, the legal the [09:24] international responsib- according to [09:26] international law, the responsibility [09:28] then moves to the party that militarized [09:31] the site. If human beings are used as [09:33] human shields, if civilians are used as [09:35] human shields, the responsibility for [09:38] their deaths is not on the attacker. [09:40] It's on the one who used them as a human [09:42] shield. [09:43] Hamas has been open about the fact that [09:45] they use human shields, that it's part [09:47] of their strategy. They've said it [09:48] themselves. [09:50] They need the dead children. They [09:52] deliberately position their military [09:53] infrastructure to ensure that when [09:55] Israel strikes, civilians will die. [09:58] So, the entity that is responsible for [10:01] the No, so the proper response would [10:02] have been [10:04] dead children in Gaza, however many they [10:05] were, [10:07] however many they were, [10:08] are is a terrible tragedy. [10:11] But, [10:13] and according to international law, [10:15] Hamas is responsible for them. [10:18] And Israel, meanwhile, is trying to [10:20] minimize those deaths while fighting an [10:22] enemy that's trying to maximize them. [10:24] This guy didn't push back on any of [10:25] this. [10:30] I mean, this really was this [10:32] this interview did real damage. What the [10:35] most so irresponsible. [10:38] Unbelievably irresponsible by this by [10:40] Channel 13. [10:42] Now, check out this clip. This one [10:43] really is just [10:45] nutso. [10:47] Well, Israel does commit terrorism and [10:49] brags about it. Setting off pagers in [10:51] the pockets of people when you don't [10:53] know who those people are is terrorism. [10:55] They know who they are. They are [10:56] Hezbollah terrorists. [10:58] And this is what countries do to defend [11:00] themselves. [11:01] >> that is not true. That is what you're [11:03] saying is not true. Israel did not the [11:06] morning that it detonated those pagers [11:08] know who was holding the pagers. And [11:11] people who committed no crime [11:13] >> They were pagers of Hezbollah [11:14] terrorists. Unless you are not [11:17] acknowledging Hezbollah as a terror [11:19] organization. Do you think maybe it's a [11:21] It's a some kind of a party like a [11:23] Democratic Party, I don't know, or the [11:25] Republican Party. [11:25] >> Right, I'm not defending Hezbollah. I'm [11:28] merely saying He just he's [11:31] This Udi Segal who was interviewing him [11:34] thought that he was he was catching him [11:36] by saying, "Oh, are you saying that [11:37] Hezbollah is not a terrorist [11:39] organization?" That's [11:40] Obviously Tucker is going to going to [11:42] respond and say, "Of course Hezbollah is [11:44] a terrorist organization." It completely [11:46] It's the wrong way to approach these [11:48] arguments. [11:50] Okay, Tucker calls the pager operation [11:52] terrorism. [11:55] And this one is [11:59] it's a moral inversion that is so [12:01] complete it's almost impressive. [12:05] Think about this. The pager operation [12:09] the pagers were distributed to through [12:11] Hezbollah's own military supply chain to [12:14] Hezbollah operatives, to senior [12:16] Hezbollah operatives. Those are the only [12:18] people who got them. They Tens of [12:19] thousands of operatives, right? And [12:21] there was a limited number of people who [12:22] had these. These were all people in [12:24] command positions. [12:26] Tucker says Israel didn't know who was [12:27] holding them. It's It's absurd. [12:29] The answer isn't Is it It's a terrorist [12:32] organization? The answer is this was a [12:33] communication device for highly [12:35] sensitive [12:37] highly sensitive information given only [12:39] to senior operatives. There is no chance [12:43] that they would let their wife or their [12:44] kid or their cousin hold the pager. [12:48] It's absurd. Of course Israel knew who [12:50] was holding them. But it's also beside [12:51] the point. Okay, that's not even the [12:52] main point to push back on here. [12:55] There's a There's actually a a bigger [12:58] issue. [12:59] The pager operation needs to be [13:01] understood in its full context alongside [13:03] Israel's [13:05] strategy that we see all the time of [13:07] these precision targeted strikes on [13:09] leaders. [13:11] Right? Taking people out with these [13:12] precise targeted strikes. We see it all [13:15] the time. We've seen it in Iran. We saw [13:16] it We see it in Gaza. We saw it in [13:17] Lebanon. [13:18] Right? The way they took out Ismail [13:20] Haniyeh, blowing him up in the room he [13:22] was staying in in Iran. [13:27] Right? On on on on Sinwar [13:31] strikes that kill the most guilty person [13:35] with minimal or zero collateral damage. [13:37] And that's what Tucker is missing and [13:38] what almost everyone misses. [13:40] And this is why it's such an inversion. [13:42] He's He's calling it terrorism when [13:44] actually [13:45] and I'll explain this, [13:47] the the Patriot operation was actually [13:48] the most moral form of warfare probably [13:51] ever practiced in human history. [13:55] Cuz think of what the alternative is. [13:57] Let's say you have a Hezbollah military [14:00] command [14:01] compound. Imagine that. Okay, so [14:04] let's back up. Hezbollah attacks Israel [14:07] uh right after October 7th, unprovoked. [14:09] Israel is not at war with Hezbollah at [14:11] that point because of what's going on in [14:12] Gaza. Hezbollah starts firing rockets at [14:15] Israeli towns. They declare war on [14:16] Israel. So now [14:18] so far so good. Israel is is uh is now [14:21] going to fight a just war and [14:24] Hezbollah targets are now legitimate [14:25] targets for Israel. So let's say there's [14:27] a Hezbollah command center. [14:31] And you don't have all this precise [14:32] intelligence, but you know that there's [14:33] a lot of Hezbollah operatives there and [14:35] that's their command center. [14:37] And you bomb it. [14:39] There could be someone there who's a [14:40] cook or who's the janitor who's washing [14:42] the floors or someone who was just there [14:45] using the bathroom or who knows what. [14:48] You don't know who you're killing, [14:51] but you bomb Hezbollah command center. [14:53] Is that legitimate? Of course it's [14:54] legitimate in warfare. [14:56] That's a more conventional strike. [14:58] And the other people who died, the [15:00] janitor and the person who was using the [15:02] bathroom and whoever else might be in [15:03] the building, the secretary who doesn't [15:04] really know what's going on in the [15:05] building, who aren't really guilty, are [15:08] legitimate collateral damage in that [15:10] building. [15:11] But instead, what does Israel do? They [15:13] spent many, many years and who knows how [15:15] much money developing this intelligence [15:17] and technology to surgically [15:21] only target to surgically remove the [15:23] terrorist commanders who are most [15:25] culpable [15:26] while leaving the civilian population [15:29] around them untouched. [15:32] It's the most remarkable thing. It's [15:33] like you can it imagine if you launched [15:35] a bomb and the only people who were [15:37] killed by it were the most guilty [15:40] people. [15:42] And Tucker's outraged by the precision. [15:46] What he's actually arguing for without [15:48] realizing it is less precision. [15:50] More indiscriminate warfare with more [15:52] civilian casualties. What is he arguing? [15:55] Cuz under international law, military [15:57] commanders are lawful targets by virtue [15:59] of their status and their role. You [16:01] don't need a criminal conviction. [16:03] This isn't terror- Terrorism is the [16:05] opposite of it. Terrorism is when you [16:06] target civilians. [16:09] And here's Isre- Israel's specifically [16:13] taking out commanders in a way that only [16:15] affects them and doesn't affect the [16:16] civilians around them. [16:21] The Pager operation was designed to only [16:25] take out the worst terrorists. [16:28] It's the opposite of terrorism. Tucker [16:29] has it completely backwards and that [16:31] interviewer just sat there and took it. [16:34] Unbelievable. [16:37] All right, last clip. Last one. And [16:39] Israel, again, which I've always liked [16:41] as a country, there's a lot of [16:42] civilized, decent people living there to [16:44] this day, [16:45] has to acknowledge that principles are [16:48] universal. They apply to everyone, even [16:51] you, even me. Principles are universal. [16:54] Moral principles are universal. Thank [16:56] you, Tucker Carlson. [16:58] The sanctimony is unbelievable. Anyway, [17:01] what's he saying here? [17:03] Tucker's entire rhetorical framework in [17:06] this interview is universal principles. [17:08] They apply the same standard to [17:09] everyone. [17:11] Sounds reasonable. Sounds fair. The [17:12] interviewer bought it completely, never [17:14] challenged it. [17:17] Here's the problem. [17:18] Universal principles do apply to [17:20] everyone, and that includes the [17:21] principle that is most foundational to [17:23] the laws of war, [17:25] which Tucker conveniently ignores. It's [17:27] called distinction. [17:33] The entire [clears throat] structure of [17:35] international humanitarian law [17:37] rests on one core distinction [17:41] between combatants who deliberately [17:43] target civilians as a military strategy [17:46] and military forces that target [17:48] combatants [17:50] and [17:53] accept the fact that there will be [17:54] civilian casualties as a tragic but [17:56] unavoidable byproduct of war. And you [17:59] read through the Geneva Conventions, [18:00] it's all about kind of navigating this. [18:06] That's what war is. [18:10] And [18:12] and this distinction between those who [18:15] target civilians deliberately [18:18] like Hezbollah, like Hamas [18:21] like Hezbollah, literally the only [18:23] target for their rockets is Israeli [18:25] towns. [18:27] It's civilians. That's what they do [18:29] intentionally. Iran also with their [18:31] ballistic missiles to Israel, literally [18:32] firing them [18:33] into population centers. [18:38] And and between that and an army that is [18:41] trying to minimize or avoid civilian [18:43] casualties while achieving its military [18:45] objectives, which is permissible, that's [18:47] war. [18:49] They're not legally equivalent. [18:52] They're not equivalent to any framework [18:54] that could be called moral. Hamas and [18:56] Hezbollah embed their weapons in [18:58] hospitals, in schools, in mosques by [19:00] deliberate design. Their own spokesmen [19:03] have said so. It's not a secret. They do [19:05] it specifically because it makes [19:07] Israel's military task more difficult. [19:10] And because when Israel strikes, the [19:11] resulting images of civilian casualties [19:14] serve their propaganda warfare purposes. [19:19] It's a strategy built on the death of [19:21] their own people. [19:23] So, Tucker says he cares about universal [19:25] principles. Does he apply that principle [19:27] to Hamas? Does he name what Hamas is [19:29] doing as terrorism? [19:32] In this interview, he said that Iran's [19:34] behavior is in some cases disgusting. [19:36] Some cases. That's the moral framework [19:38] he's bringing to the conversation. What [19:40] Israel is doing is the opposite of what [19:42] what Hamas is doing. [19:44] Israel warns civilians before strikes. [19:46] Israel drops leaflets. It makes phone [19:49] calls. [19:50] I mentioned before Colonel John Spencer. [19:52] Colonel John Spencer is the head of [19:54] urban warfare studies at West Point. Not [19:56] an Israeli, not a Zionist advocate. He's [19:58] only the world's leading expert on urban [20:01] combat. [20:03] He said on record that Israel has done [20:05] more than any other military in history [20:07] to protect civilian lives. But, Tucker [20:09] knows better. [20:13] Tucker's erasing the most important [20:14] distinction in the laws of war and [20:16] calling it moral clarity. See, what [20:19] Tucker's doing is is he's equating every [20:21] death with murder. [20:23] And that all war is basically evil. [20:27] There's no concept of a just reason to [20:29] fight. [20:31] Because Tucker's dealing in an amoral [20:33] construct. There is no good and evil in [20:35] the construct he's talking about. So, [20:36] there's no good actors and bad actors [20:38] for him. [20:40] It's very sick. [20:43] Every one of the arguments that I've [20:44] made was readily available to the [20:46] interviewer. I don't know what research [20:48] he did. I don't know if he watched a lot [20:50] of what Tucker says about Israel and [20:51] prepared for what the responses would [20:54] be. I doubt he did any preparation at [20:56] all. That's the That's the arrogance of [20:58] these of these fools [21:00] on outlets like Channel 13. [21:04] The casualty numbers, the Geneva [21:06] Conventions, the democracy question, the [21:08] targeting, the beeper attack, the pager [21:10] attack, whatever you call it. [21:14] He [21:15] These are not This is not rocket [21:16] science. [21:19] You just have to prepare yourself. [21:21] And everything Tucker Carlson said in [21:23] this interview about Israel, he says all [21:24] the time. [21:26] The The [21:27] With With minimal preparation, [21:29] if a far better job could have been [21:31] done. I don't I'm not saying this [21:33] interview was even a good idea. [21:35] But if you're going to sit across from [21:36] him and try to defend Israel, you better [21:38] come ready. And this interviewer was not [21:40] ready at all. [21:43] All right, that's my rant for today. [21:45] Thank you for watching. [21:47] And uh God bless.
