Some 200km up the coast from where we are here in southern Lebanon. Israel has started what it calls a limited ground operation, sending in paratroopers, commandos and members of the armored corps. The Israeli military says it is conducting, quote, targeted raids [00:00:18] at the Israeli-lebanese border. Israel says there will be no long term occupation of southern Lebanon. You just heard a snippet of CNN's reporting on Israel's alleged limited ground invasion into Lebanon. [00:00:34] Or at least that's what the Israeli government would like you to believe. But we probably shouldn't take their word for it. In fact, why don't we take a look at CNN's Jeremy Diamond and some of the incredible reporting he's been doing in the Middle East on this matter. [00:00:50] I was cautioned by some sources that this is not a very large force going into Lebanon, but they wouldn't say exactly how many forces there are. And as I've said before, they are incentivized to continue to characterize this as limited, as targeted, as small. And I would also note that when Israel began its ground operation in Gaza, which, [00:01:10] of course, we've now seen Israeli troops pour throughout the Gaza Strip, invading the entire strip effectively at the time, they also characterized that as as a limited ground operation that was slowly, slowly expanding. And of course, it ultimately expanded into an all out invasion. [00:01:27] Well, Jeremy Diamond is not the only person who is saying this. In fact, why don't we go to Gideon Levy who has a similar things to say? Everything is so expected. This scenario repeats itself in every war that Israel is launching. [00:01:43] First, nobody is interested in full scale war. Then comes the bombardments from the air and all kinds of operations. Then it will be a very, very limited ground operation. Limited in time, limited in territory and few weeks later, how we might be [00:02:01] in the outskirts of Lebanon. Of Beirut. And then? And then comes the main question. How do we get out from there? Because entering Lebanon is the easy side, the easy step. Look what happens in Gaza. Israel is deeply stuck in Gaza without having any idea how to get out from there. [00:02:21] And what to do with Gaza now? Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, who launched a new media company. Known as Drop Site News, reported on how many troops are actually in the area in Lebanon. [00:02:36] Israeli authorities are calling the invasion a small scale military incursion, but over 30,000 troops are currently stationed in the north and are being joined by 36th Armored Division, primarily artillery and tank brigades. 98th Paratrooper Division [00:02:54] two recently called up reserve brigades totaling about 3000 soldiers. Reserve armored brigade with an additional 4000 soldiers in tanks. And it's not just the number of troops. It also has to do with the bombs and the military weaponry [00:03:09] that we're talking about here. Warnings to civilians in Lebanon from the IDF's Arabic language spokesman indicated that Israel is planning for intense battles with Hezbollah militants south of the Awali River. That's more than 30 miles from the border and far beyond the UN buffer zone declared [00:03:27] after the 2006 Israel-hezbollah war. And by the way, as we know, American troops are also being sent to the area as well. The U.S. Is sending a few thousand troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to defend Israel if necessary, according to the Pentagon. [00:03:43] The additional forces would raise the total number of troops in the region to as many as 43,000. - Hey, don't scroll away. - Come back, come back. Because before the video continues, we just want to urge you to lend your support to tight. You power our honest reporting. You do it at tight. [00:04:00] Dot com slash team. And we love you for it. Yeah. So I want to give credit to Ezra Klein and David Remnick. They had a great podcast on Ezra's, podcast through the New York Times. And in the beginning I got frustrated. [00:04:16] I thought it was going to be a typical American media. They started talking about how the Palestinians are, you know, attacking. And they didn't fully explain the context of the lives that they lived, etc. But then it turned into a fantastic podcast where they were super honest about what's actually happening in Israel. [00:04:32] And one of the things they explain is Netanyahu's dad was what's called a Revisionist Zionist, and the original Zionism is, oh my God, let's get a piece of land. Let's create a safe haven for Jews. So we're not attacked, we're not killed, and we can protect ourselves. Revisionist Zionism is let's take as much land as possible. [00:04:49] So Netanyahu's dad thought that not only should they take the West Bank, but they should take Jordan, just attack it, conquer it, take it, make it as real as land, and push Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians out to other places, ethnically. Cleanse them and, you know, kill them, cleanse them. [00:05:04] It doesn't matter. So that's Netanyahu's version of Zionism, where it's a conquering Zionism. And so this is so this whole idea in American media, you get this warped perspective that like, oh, Israel had to take all this land and occupy all these people because [00:05:22] they're just protecting themselves, not because they're grabbing land. Even though in the West Bank they have taken a larger and larger portion of the West Bank as we've gone through all these decades. And that is totally inarguable. Yeah. You know, there's something worse in Israel. I'll get to that in a second. I just want. To make a quick comment. I mean, there are other people who have said similar things, like, Vladimir Putin [00:05:41] when he invaded Ukraine, he had to do it. It was for Russia's security, of course. Well, look, now I'm going to use an example that's going to trigger people. But to Anna's point, every imperial power or colonial power that goes and grabs land never says, oh, I'm the bad guy. [00:05:58] I'm just going to go grab this land even. And that's why I'm giving this man even the most extreme example, the Germans in the 1930s, when they were grabbing land, said, oh no, we're doing it to protect the homeland because we need this security buffer. So I know that that makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but that's a fact. [00:06:14] That's exactly what they said. So anyways, now Naftali Bennett is currently leading in the polling, not Netanyahu. So you think, oh, the good news. No, not good news. Naftali Bennett is represents the religious fundamentalist wing of Israel who believe that God himself gave them the right to all this land. [00:06:33] So there are two different forces in Israel, both agreeing it's our land and the Muslims are inconveniently on our land. So what do we. And then and then there is a real like it's not just a minority, it is a giant portion of the Israeli electorate that is supporting the idea of pushing [00:06:52] the Palestinians out of not just Gaza, out of the West Bank, and just ethnically cleansed them and just take it. And so now they're in southern Lebanon and we're being told, again, limited incursion, except they have a giant army that's about to enter. Oh, we're only doing it to protect ourselves. [00:07:08] We want a buffer zone. This is for our security, not for going on the offense. Even though I just took your land and I just invaded your country. Right. And remember, Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. Stay there for a long, long time. Then they went into Lebanon again in 2006. They've been trying to take a part of southern Lebanon for a long, [00:07:25] for decade after decade. So Hezbollah has driven them out. And then, of course, since Hezbollah defended their land, they were called terrorists. And so even defending your own land is terrorism. Apparently so. And if you don't agree to that, then of course you're canceled, blah, blah, blah. [00:07:41] So the reality here is Israel is going into southern Lebanon, and they nothing that they have ever said in this conflict has ever proven to be true. So when they say it's for security, I don't believe them at all. When they said it was a limited incursion on day one, we now already know [00:07:57] it's not a limited incursion. And so I think there's an excellent chance they'll try to stay and take more Arab land while calling it for security. And again, remember tens of thousands Arabs, Muslims killed [00:08:13] and October 7th, 1200 Israelis killed. Again, what do we at 40 x 40 x the number of people killed. But then after October 7th, Hezbollah had one rocket that landed. Hamas has done nothing. Iran has done nothing. [00:08:29] I don't mean they're not trying, but they're not landing. It's very ineffectual. - Because it's an asymmetrical war. - It's an asymmetric. So but the idea that the guy, the guys who can't get hit need extra security, and the guys who are getting slaughtered don't need any security. That, in fact, the giant Goliath in the middle of the Middle East needs security [00:08:48] from the people that they're massacring. It's absurdity, but we all go along with this illusion and mirage because of - American media and American politicians. - I want to end on this. It's the final graphic here from Axios, because I think it gives you [00:09:03] a sense of the U.S. Reaction and response to the belligerence of the Israeli government and the broadening war in the Middle East. The feeling inside the administration is a mix of perturbed and intrigued. [00:09:21] On the one hand, the Israelis really are playing with fire here. But on the other hand, what if it works? What if. What works? Yeah, I. Know. - What if. - What? Like what? I need to understand. Like, what is the end goal here? No, really? Yeah. There's another thing again. [00:09:37] If you if they actually believed that, they would be the world's dumbest people. But I don't think they believe it. I think these are all excuses to just, again, take more land to continue the occupation, continue to oppress and humiliate Muslims and feel good about it, because now you're the powerful one. [00:09:53] Congratulations. But so in reality, like, how could it be an end goal of you wipe out Hezbollah and Hamas, you can kill their leaders. And they did. By the way, you're going to be shocked to find out. Hezbollah today announced new leaders. - Oh, wow. - I didn't know they could do that. [00:10:09] Oh, like you didn't think they'd come up with new leaders. Do you think that, like, there's about 40,000 Hezbollah fighters theoretically in Lebanon? That's what the reporting is. And so did you think they were all going to come out and do a press conference and go, we surrender. Israel is superior to us. [00:10:25] Just come and take southern Lebanon and continue to oppress the Palestinians. We give up our new, leaders, our rulers, our Israel. And by the way, we also love them now. We love the Israelis. Love them. Is that what you expected? [00:10:40] No. As long as you have the occupation, and as long as you keep taking their land, they're going to fight you till the end of time. No human beings would ever not fight you. I try to get people to do nonviolence. Now I'm getting attacked by the Jackson Hinkle's or whatever the hell his name is. [00:10:56] Oh my God. Okay. And so, like, oh, they say I'm a Zionist because I believe in nonviolence. He's a clown. Okay. I know, I know, but my point is, guys, if you're so deluded that you think the Palestinians are just going to surrender and say, just take our land, just occupy us forever. [00:11:12] You're nuts. You've lost touch with reality. Of course they're going to fight you. What would you do? What would you. If they were Jewish, what would you do? Would you say, hey, Jews, don't fight your occupiers. Understand that you're to be ruled. You're inferior. Let them take your land. Let them abuse you. [00:11:30] Let them kill your children. Would the Israeli Jewish people accept that? Of course not. And they shouldn't. I would, I would be livid about that. And I'm livid about the Palestinians. But when I'm livid about the Palestinians, I'm a radical anti-Semite. And, you know, but if you're concerned about Israelis [00:11:47] going into a bunker for an hour. Oh, there you go. Their lives are valuable. Their lives are valuable. Let them take all the land they want. Just a quick note about the markets. Overall. The markets are down, but I should note that some businesses are doing really [00:12:03] well, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and of course, Raytheon. They're actually reaching record highs. A friend of mine told me to invest in those as soon as October 7th happened. I couldn't stomach it and I didn't do it, but yeah, like you'd be a knucklehead. [00:12:18] Of course, those companies are even more motivated than Israel, right? And they grease the politicians just as much, if not more, than Israel. They and they. Isn't it insane that we allow lobbyists for war to go and bribe our officials? And then our officials start a war with our money so that those [00:12:36] defense contractors can get paid? And then meanwhile, all these innocent people dying all over the world. And then when America gets attacked, we go. - Oh my. - God. - What outrageous. - Violence! Savage Muslims. I can't believe that they did it for no reason. Okay, no. You're here. Guys. [00:12:53] If you didn't realize it, the mainstream media is massively lying to you. And they're pretending that Israel and the defense contractors are innocent. And it's the Muslims that they're killing that are the actual violent people and the [00:13:11] and the terrorists and the bad guys. No, the powerful are the ones that are the bad guys, not the powerless. 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. [00:13:29] 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. [00:13:44] Thank you.