You're watching footage of Lebanese journalist Fady Badua getting hit by an IDF bomb while conducting a live broadcast in Baalbek, Lebanon. Now, seconds after he set up his camera. As you can see from the video, this is in his home setting up his camera, [00:00:19] and then immediately afterwards, a bomb is detonated just outside of his window, sending shards of glass to his head. Luckily, it appears he survived this attack. But there have been countless stories of journalists, both in the Gaza Strip, [00:00:36] in Lebanon, and also in the West Bank, by the way, who have been hit by bombs, you know, sent by Israel. So at least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. [00:00:52] And I should also note that Israel decided to raid the Al Jazeera offices in the West Bank. No reason for the raid, other than the fact that they continue to report on what's happening with this war, something that Israel seems to have a problem with. [00:01:08] But there's also more escalation in Lebanon, which I want to get to in just a moment. But I want to give you a chance to weigh in first, Jake. Yeah. So, look, I think that a lot of times Palestinian and now Lebanese lives are devalued. So I was on a TV debate last night where I, you know, pointed out the 12 [00:01:27] people killed by a Hezbollah strike in northern Israel was terrible. The anchor agreed it was terrorism. And I asked him about the 35 kids that were killed in the recent bombing raid that Israel did yesterday. And he said, oh, numbers don't mean anything as long as they're, you know, [00:01:43] look, I don't like bringing up identity. It's not a pleasant thing. I hate tribalism, but if we're being honest in in America and in Israel, as long as it's a muslim life, they don't really care. No, Jake, you're not bringing up identity. He's the one bringing up identity. When he says numbers don't matter. [00:02:00] Okay, then what does matter if the numbers of dead bodies of civilians doesn't matter, then what does matter? - Well, that. - Gets to the hilarious absurdity. But again, the the supporters of Israel actually believe this, which is more amazing. And you know this through American politics, because MAGA actually believes [00:02:16] that Donald Trump won the election, etc.. Right? And blue MAGA actually thought Joe Biden was young and dynamic, right? So we all know that absurdities can be believed, but in their minds they believe intent is what matters. And Israel accidentally killed over 30,000 civilians in Gaza [00:02:33] and accidentally killed those 35 children. That when they drop a bomb in the middle of a city, no one could have expected that 35 kids would be killed. Oh golly gee, they were like, well, there it is, yet another accident. But they believe it with all their hearts that every time Israel kills and including [00:02:51] 3040 times more than Hamas and Hezbollah, they think it's all an accident. It was all done with great intent. But when Hamas or Hezbollah or any Palestinian or any Muslim that kills an Israeli, it is done with great evil in their heart and hence they are evil. [00:03:07] And even though Israel kills 40 times as much, they are moral and decent. So that is their genuine belief, even though the rest of us look at them like, are you on this planet? Right? I mean, when investigations, including an investigation by CNN of all places, [00:03:22] concludes that IDF soldiers, IDF snipers intentionally shot and killed Al Jazeera journalist Abu Aqleh. This is even before the current war. How do they deal with that fact, and how does that work out [00:03:37] with their world view that everything Israel does is an accident? Yeah. And so in that there is no there is nothing that Israel can do that's too heinous, because by definition, they're the moral army, right? And by definition, Muslims are evil. So when Saudi Arabia chops up an American journalist. [00:03:56] We all condemn it at the top of our lungs. Ten out of ten condemnation and Israel joins us. Can you believe that the Saudis would do this? Now Israel has assassinated two Muslim American journalists, not just Abu Akleh, but recently one in the West Bank. Right. And sniper shots from hundreds of yards away after any conflict is done. [00:04:16] Well, after the conflict is over in a secluded area, snipers headshots killed them, murdered them. Israeli supporters believe with all their hearts accident, they must confuse them with a protester. Even though Shireen Abu Aqleh is one of the most famous journalists [00:04:33] in the Middle East, and. - She was wearing a vest. - That said press. - On it. - And they knew that she was there, right? Etc. But no, no, by definition, it doesn't matter how clearly murder it is and how overwhelming the numbers are. And in this case, our former CIA director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, [00:04:50] almost every expert is saying Israel is doing the escalation. They're the ones starting this war with Lebanon. And in fact, then Israel comes out with the most hilarious. And I love Jon Stewart for us lampooning this the other day, one of the most legendary excuses of all time that they were doing [00:05:07] de-escalation through escalation. And so that's when you know which side is lying. The guy is saying that they're doing de-escalation, de-escalation through escalation, as a Stewart, of course, pointed out. And so did we earlier. That's just called war. Okay. So Israel has started a war. [00:05:24] They basically confessed to it through that absurdity that they put out there. And that's because they want to protect Netanyahu's career. And we all know this. Anything else is just one side being so biased they can't see straight. Yeah. I mean, well, you know, war is peace, which is, of course, [00:05:41] an Orwellian thing to think. But let's give you an update on what's currently transpiring in Lebanon. So more than 500 people were killed in Lebanon in what was the deadliest day for the country since 2006. [00:05:56] That was the last time there was a war between Israel and Hezbollah. Now 35 children and 58 women were among those killed in the bombing campaign. And Israel plans to continue its intense bombing campaign, which is eerily similar to what the IDF carried out in Gaza. [00:06:13] In fact, a lot of the talking points that you hear from Israeli officials is similar to what they were saying about their military activity in Gaza. Now, on Tuesday, meaning today, the Israeli military also carried out an airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. [00:06:30] And this is its fourth direct strike on the capital in nearly a year of conflict. And a day earlier on Monday, as was reported here at tight, women, children and medics were among those killed and wounded, Lebanon's health ministry said Monday. [00:06:46] It is unclear how many of the casualties were civilians or Hezbollah militants, but many of the locations described by Israel. Israel as Hezbollah targets are also residential neighborhoods and villages. And I want to just show you the extent to which this bombing campaign [00:07:02] took place in Lebanon. If you look at this map that was put together by CNN, it shows you the airstrikes that were conducted on Monday of this week, and it gives you a sense of just how widespread the bombardments were. It wasn't just, you know, concentrated in one part of the country. [00:07:19] You see a kind of scattered throughout the country, including with the border or near the border with Israel. Now, later Tuesday, Hezbollah said that it had fired rockets at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. The Israeli military said it intercepted most of the 50 projectiles, but that some [00:07:38] had damaged buildings in the area. Israeli police said the attack caused several fires but no injuries. Around 100 projectiles had been fired toward Israel. On Tuesday, an Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson told CNN. Now I give you those details because it's really important to understand [00:07:55] the asymmetrical nature of this war, because if you look at the corporate media's reporting of the, you know, tit for tat exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, you would think that everything is about equal. But let's keep it real. Israel is backed by a military superpower. [00:08:13] The military superpower on the global stage. And that's the United States, their military capabilities, both defensively and offensively, very different from what Hamas has and certainly very different from what Hezbollah has. And you will see that, you know, play out in the number of strikes. [00:08:32] So let's take a look at this graph that was put together by the BBC. And it uses data that was compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. It shows you the various, you know, strikes that have been taking place from [00:08:48] October 7th through June 30th of 2024, and the red bars identify the Israeli strikes, whereas the blue bars represent the Hezbollah strikes. And you can see that the Israeli strikes far outnumber the Hezbollah strike. [00:09:05] So referring to this as a tit for tat is ridiculous. When you can see that most of these strikes and most of them are effective, meaning people are getting killed, are being carried out by the IDF. Yeah. So first on that stat, I wanted to just double down on that. [00:09:21] So that's the number of strikes. It's already massively disproportionate Israel doing more strikes. But remember every one of those lands and kills a lot of people. Exactly. Almost none of Hezbollah's land. Israel is the only country in the world with a defense shield, so it's nearly impenetrable. Of course, Lebanon has no defense shield. [00:09:39] And why America paid for Israel's defense shield. Great. Did we pay for other people's defense shield? No. They're to be murdered at will and with no recourse. So in the old days, war was terrible for both sides now. War is only terrible for Israel's neighbors. So Israel thinks it's invincible. It's above the law. [00:09:57] It could just kill with impunity. And they will have American anchors and politicians go out and go. Israel is our special ally. The. And of course, they'll use the propaganda like human shields when Israel or their supporters say the word human shields, everybody run, because that means they're about to kill a ton of innocent civilians and use [00:10:15] the excuse of, oh, they were hiding behind my bomb that I put on their head. Oh, look at that. Oh, a bomb in the middle of a busy city killed 35 children and 58 women. Oh, golly gee, that was another accident. Those giant number of strikes that Anna just showed you in that graph. [00:10:31] Oh, that was also an accident. The number of journalists killed by Israel is in this conflict. Is greater than all other conflicts in the world combined. It was an accident when the Muslims killed a journalist. It is on purpose when Israel kills more journalists [00:10:47] than every other nation on Earth. It was an accident. Oh. Did we eliminate the ability for the rest of the world to find out the heinous, awful war crimes we're doing? Golly gee, it was an accident. I bet those journalists were hiding behind human shields. [00:11:02] No, they're innocent civilians. If you say so. But they seem to be reporting things we don't like. So we killed them. I mean, I mean, yet another accident, by the way. Of course, they've also killed more human rights workers than any other conflict in the world. Yes. All of these are again, guys. [00:11:18] I say it in a mocking way because it's ridiculous. I have to snap them out of their hypnosis. Like, for the rest of you, you totally get it. Nobody thinks it's this idea of human shields. Excuses. Butchering 41,000 people, 25,000 women and children. [00:11:34] - Nobody in their right mind thinks that. - That's why I don't believe them. I don't believe that they actually believe what they're saying. I think they. Do. The human mind is ability to trick itself is amazing. It's one of the most amazing things in the history of the world, so that Israel can be Goliath and actually think that they're David. [00:11:53] The Palestinians are literally have slingshots with with stones like David. And and the Israel has nukes, yet they think they're David and that the Palestinians with no power at all is Goliath. That's how deluded Israel is. Final thing I want to mention about how Israel is carrying out this war [00:12:12] in Lebanon is, look, we've seen similar allegations about the use of chemical weapons against Palestinians. Now we're hearing similar things out of Lebanon. So the international campaign group Human Rights Watch has verified the use of white [00:12:29] phosphorus over several populated areas in southern Lebanon, including Al-bustan. It says Israel's use of white phosphorus is unlawfully indiscriminate in populated areas. Now, I remember the way the international community and the United States reacted [00:12:47] to Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, using chemical weapons against his own people and in Syria. Apparently the use of chemical weapons by some world leaders very naughty. Unacceptable. The use of chemical weapons by the Israeli Defense Forces. [00:13:03] Totally fine. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Look, if you say what Hamas, Hezbollah and Assad have done is terrorism, I don't know how many times we have to agree. Yeah. Killing innocent civilians using chemical weapons is disastrous. But when you say the same exact things, by the way, times 40 done by Israel is not terrorism. [00:13:22] Again, you look absurd. Maybe in your own mind. What do you mean? I can't be a terrorist? I'm Israeli. I can kill anyone I like because I'm Israeli and by definition, moral. No, I got really bad news for you. That isn't how it works. [00:13:38] The rest of the world can see it clearly. You guys. Israel is the aggressors. They've killed so many more people than the so-called terrorists. And I say so-called because terrorism doesn't mean anything anymore. Because when you say it only applies to Muslims but never applies to Israelis, [00:13:53] then the word has no meaning at all. Okay, so either Israeli is a disastrous, dangerous terrorist state because it has killed and butchered so many more civilians and done all the other abuses, throwing people off of rooftops now, sexual abuse, rape, starvation, etc. [00:14:10] They've done every abuse, every war crime in the book. And if you say that doesn't count. Well, okay, then it's impossible to have a conversation with someone that deeply irrational. But no matter what you believe, the rest of the world can see the atrocities that Israel is doing, and it does not help Israel. [00:14:27] It is a disastrous idea for Israel. And one last thing this and they won't believe it. But I see the right wing in this country turning against Israel. Yeah, of course, I have never seen that before in my lifetime. This is the first time I'm ever seeing it and the right wing is starting to go now. [00:14:44] Wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. Okay? I don't really much care about Muslims, but why are we spending our money for this? Well, when. Look, when you have a significant faction within the Republican voting base declaring themselves America First. [00:14:59] - They're not joking around about that. - Yeah, the politicians are full of crap. Every Republican says politicians, says Israel first, America 87th. Right. But the good news about MAGA and the Republican electorate, there's plenty of bad news. But the good news is they're not here to take talking points [00:15:16] from greasy corporate politicians. They'll take it for Trump. And it drives me crazy that they take it from Trump. And Trump says worse. But if Marco Rubio or Mitch McConnell or these greasy politicians go, oh, now, let me tell you something, okay? America first means we give Israel $26 billion and we give you nothing, [00:15:33] and you shut up about it. And you and some of you lose family members or risk your own lives by being deployed to the Middle East. As a result of these escalations. Those same Republican senators we reported yesterday on the show are trying to take away the the one decent thing Biden did of lowering drug prices on just ten drugs. [00:15:52] And the Republicans are like, how dare you Americans need to pay more. That is my donor, Big Pharma. I love those guys. How dare you try to pay less for your drugs? You have to pay whatever the drug companies say. And you have to do what Israel says. You try that one too many times and you're going to awaken a dragon that you can't [00:16:09] control, that none of us can control. So cut it out before it destroys Israel along with the rest of the Middle East. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. [00:16:26] You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. [00:16:42] Thank you.