Their job has to look at infractions across the border, either by Israel or by Hezbollah, but they're under threat. Israel has asked them to vacate their bases. Now, Unifil have said that that's not something they are willing to do. [00:00:17] In fact, the Irish president, who and Ireland is a major component of the peacekeeping force. Michael Higgins has said it was outrageous that the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli army, threatened Unifil peacekeepers and attempted them to attempted to get [00:00:32] them to evacuate the villages and towns that they supposed to be protecting. The United Nations is calling out Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces for intentionally opening fire at peacekeepers in Lebanon, wounding two of them as a result. [00:00:50] Now there are two separate episodes where Israelis ended up risking the lives of these UN peacekeepers. One of them was in Nakuru and the other was in Labuhan, which is nearby. Now let's start with Nakara and what happened there? [00:01:07] The two soldiers, luckily, are not dead. It's actually a shocking update to that story, considering the fact that oftentimes we do these stories, people do end up dying, but they received treatment at the hospital. They do not have life threatening injuries. [00:01:22] However, those two individuals were from Indonesia. And it's important to kind of know what Unifil is, right? So Unifil is a peacekeeping group in Lebanon, and they were formed after the Israelis had left the occupied territories of Lebanon. [00:01:41] And so the whole point is to keep the peace between, you know, Hezbollah and the Israelis. And what's interesting is it seems like they're being targeted here. So the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon or Unifil, says that the Israeli tank hit an observation Tower at their headquarters in Nakura, [00:02:00] and according to a Unifil spokesperson, Israel's military established new positions right next to this peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, and the IDF was firing at Hezbollah positions from those locations, which obviously put the lives of civilians and in this case, the peacekeepers at risk. [00:02:18] Israel's military, though, says it had asked Unifil to relocate its personnel as it invaded southern Lebanon, but that the mission had declined to do so. An Israeli military official confirmed the presence near that peacekeeping base, and said that Hezbollah was launching rockets from next to the base with impunity. [00:02:37] But I think the second incident is the more questionable one. If I want to be generous in the way I describe it, this is the one that happened in Lebanon, which is about two miles away from Nakura. And so basically it appears that the IDF was intentionally targeting [00:02:55] the peacekeepers in the second episode, because the IDF soldiers ended up hitting the entrance of a bunker at the separate base nearby where the peacekeepers are sheltering. So Unifil said vehicles and communications equipment were damaged. [00:03:12] It also said that a day earlier, Israeli soldiers had fired at and disabled the security cameras around the perimeter of the UN facility in Lebanon. I wonder why they did that. Real strange. Now any deliberate attack? [00:03:28] This is a statement, of course, from the UN on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law, the UN force said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military. But when asked for comment, Israel's military said it was doing what [00:03:44] they always do, looking into the reports that its forces had fired on peacekeepers. And look, we know what the results of those internal investigations end up being. Either they don't ever follow up and we never hear about it again, because they commit some other atrocity that people are outraged by. [00:04:00] Or they say that they have cleared the IDF of any wrongdoing, and it was totally the fault of some militant that was using human beings as a human shield. So I'm not really giving Israel any faith in doing a proper investigation into this. Oh, they're doing an investigation of themselves. [00:04:16] Yeah. The kind that acquits them 99% of the time. Interesting. I'm on pins and needles to see how that will turn out. But human shields is a very relevant thing that we just mentioned here. I'm going to come back to that in a second. So first, why do they want the peacekeepers to move out? [00:04:32] Why does Israel want that? Well, the peacekeepers are supposed to be keeping a buffer zone there so that both sides don't transgress too much. Oh, right. Israel would like to occupy a bigger part of southern Lebanon. So in order to do that, they have to move the peacekeepers out. [00:04:47] So if you wanted to move the peacekeepers out to grab more land in southern Lebanon, what's the first thing you do? You need to evacuate to a safer location. Now. Why? And after you say to you. Hey, listen, this location is not safe anymore. I know because you're shooting into it. [00:05:03] Yeah. That's right. We are so. And we we don't want. Basically Israel is saying we literally don't want peacekeepers here. Right. And so then what's the second thing you would do? Maybe shoot out the cameras so people don't see the crimes you're about to commit against the United Nations? [00:05:18] - A day earlier. - Yeah. That seems pretty, you know, thinking ahead of time. Let's put it that way. Right. So then what would you do? Well, you'd fire. It's the peacekeepers so that you can then say, well, now that we fired at them, they're biased. [00:05:34] Like they're biased against us because we try to murder them. So that's why you can't trust the peacekeepers anymore. They should just get rid of them entirely. How do they make an excuse for, targeting the bunker where Italian members of Unifil are sheltering? [00:05:50] Right. Like, was Hezbollah shooting from the bunker? Obviously not. It's the bunker that. Leads to two important things. Number one, Israel's totally out of control now. And so firing at Italians. What, are you, nuts? Are you nuts? Okay, so the people of Israel, the people that support Israel, [00:06:06] you really think I know? You think that you're defending yourself against the mighty Palestinians and the mighty Lebanese who are about to wipe you out any second now, and you can't see because you're so blinded by your bias. No. You're Goliath. You have a massive military that has now attacked five of your neighbors. [00:06:23] Lebanon has not entered into Israel. Israel has entered into Lebanon. I know you can't see any of that, but why on God's green earth would you be trying to kill peacekeepers and attack Italians? You know why? Because you're out of control. Totally out of control. So, look, Naomi Klein had a brilliant article. [00:06:42] You should all read it, but we'll get the link. We'll put it in the description box below if you're watching this later. Because she explained how Israel, not Jewish people, she's Jewish. Okay. That's why I never make it about our Jewish brothers and sisters. It's not about that at all. But, she explains, Israel is using victimization as an and mourning [00:07:03] as an excuse to go on the offense. And then when you see it framed that way and you see her trace Israeli actions, oh, we are the victims. Look at how badly we were hurt. And then using that as an excuse to grab more land, to do more atrocities, [00:07:19] do worse than what was done to them over and over and over again. And so, so she explains it perfectly in that sense. So here they they're saying we have a right to defend ourselves. That's why we invaded a foreign country with ground troops and took land. [00:07:35] Gee, who who said they were defending the homeland and took a nearby land before you could come up with a lot of analogies, by the way, it's not just one group of people. It is every aggressor, every imperial power that would like to take more land. Now, back to human shields. And because this is super important. [00:07:52] Okay, so in the midst of this article, they explained last week, Unifil spokesman said that Israel's military had established new positions beside a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and had been firing at Hezbollah positions from those locations, [00:08:08] raising concerns about the peacekeepers safety. So wait, let's focus on that quote. So Israel took a position behind the peacekeepers, inviting Hezbollah to attack, through the peacekeepers or not attack at all. [00:08:24] Oh, that's a human shield. Israel. And the IDF is literally using the UN peacekeepers as human shields right now in Lebanon. They are doing everything that they said they despised. And that's how humanity works. [00:08:40] Power leads to, you know, corruption and absolute power leads to absolute corruption. Let's talk about absolute power, because, you know, I think anyone who doesn't really have a dog in the fight, I have no dog in the fight. I just want this killing to stop. I want the war to stop. [00:08:57] You look at the situation and you can see how Israel's, you know, governance and their military is more and more out of control as this war broadens the longer this war goes on. And the reason why this is happening is because Israel knows that it has the [00:09:14] backing of the globe's foremost military superpower, and that's the United States. And so what did State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller have to say about this incident? What does he see Unifil's role as being? [00:09:30] And before we go to this clip, I want to remind you all this is an international coalition of peacekeepers, okay. You have representatives from dozens of different countries serving as part of Unifil, and they are soldiers. [00:09:46] So I mean, when you talk about peacekeeping, the peacekeeping mission, they're supposed to have the ability to act as soldiers, in some cases, even use force in order to keep the peace. If one side is acting belligerent or is threatening that peace with violence. [00:10:01] So with that in mind, here's what Matthew Miller thinks the role of Unifil should be. What is it that you want Unifil to do? Nothing. Just stand there and watch. So we want to ultimately see Unifil fulfill its security role. The question about what they do in the immediate days is a question [00:10:20] for Unifil to make, not the United States, but we want to see them, not we want to see them not be put in harm's way. Yeah, but they're a peacekeeping force. Correct. They're a peacekeeping force there to push Hezbollah back from the border. So you don't. See Unifil as having any role in terms of Israelis going into Lebanon. [00:10:39] Their role is there to keep Hezbollah back. Now, for a variety of reasons, Unifil and the LAF have not been able keeping involved. You're keeping the peace not between one side. But for a variety of reasons. Unifil and LAF have not been able to prevent Hezbollah from sitting in those [00:10:56] areas just over the border from Israel and launching rocket strikes and other attacks against Israel. So Israel is taking steps. What has the United States done to stop Israeli aggression against Lebanon, to stop them from bombing, literally bombing Beirut? [00:11:14] Yeah, they're they're taking out entire apartment buildings, over 2000 dead already in Beirut. But also just look at how one sided that was, right? Unifil is there to aid and abet Israel. That's it. That's the only that's the only reason why we believe they should be there. So that right there was so telling. [00:11:29] And Israel attacking the peacekeepers is so telling because that's Matthew Miller going, no, no, no peacekeepers aren't to keep the peace between the two different sides. The peacekeepers are supposed to be frauds who are supposed to attack Hezbollah on Israel's behalf and on our behalf. I don't want them keeping the peace with Israel. [00:11:45] No. If Israel wants war, then the UN should be for war. And the peacekeepers should be for war. As long as Israel wants it. Guys, look, that's why I said in the beginning they're totally out of control. Why did I emphasize them hitting not just the UN, but like, allies like Italy and [00:12:02] Spain is outraged and France is outraged, and all these the the only reason you would do that is if you think I'm above the law, I won't follow any war crimes. I won't follow any laws. I don't care about international law. I don't care about allies. [00:12:17] I killed American journalists and American sent me a thank you note and a $26 billion check. They've killed more journalists than any all other conflicts combined. They've killed over 1000 health care workers in Palestine. There are stories about 100 American doctors saying to the New York Times [00:12:34] and to the administration, they're shooting an extraordinary percentage of children in the head. Yeah, So that is unbelievable because they're saying we're going to break every law and convention there is. We don't care about humanitarian laws. And what you're not realizing if you support Israel is that's them [00:12:52] saying we're officially the bad guys. We kill civilians, we kill health. You know how many ambulances they've already bombed in Lebanon? Do you know they've almost destroyed all of the hospitals in Gaza? You know how many kids are starving to death right now in Gaza? You think you're the good guys? [00:13:09] You're not within a billion miles of the good guys. And so when you attack the United Nations peacekeepers, what you're saying is I'm attacking peace itself. I'm attacking the entire world because I think me and my one ally, the United [00:13:24] States, are stronger than the rest of you. And I don't have to follow your laws or your morality. I could just kill anyone I like and take any land I like. So the more the deep immorality of [00:13:40] this Israeli government will haunt us all. It'll haunt. Them. It'll haunt them. You think this is going to lead to peace for the Israelis? Which, by the way, I don't think Netanyahu and that disgusting government care about at all, because think about it. I mean, look, the Iron Dome and the defense capabilities [00:13:57] that Israel has, luckily, is able to shoot down a lot of the missiles that are being fired into Israel. They're being fired into Israel because Israel is, you know, bombing the crap out of Beirut, Gaza, Syria, all these different countries. But guess what? Some of them land and two innocent civilians in Israel got killed recently. [00:14:14] Netanyahu and that far right government has blood on its hands all. Over its hands. Are you kidding me? Hands, feet, the whole body. This is the worst. Some of the worst war crimes of our lifetime. This is a crime against humanity happening right in front of our eyes. [00:14:30] Kids who look like they came straight out of the Holocaust. Starving kids. There's one kid that the doctors report. His whole family. - Is dead to that part of the. - Story. Yeah, we will hold on. So in that and he says, you know what? What's the point of living? Why don't I just go join the rest of my family in heaven? [00:14:47] And so if you can't see that, you've become what you despise. There's something wrong with you, deeply wrong with you. So. So I don't want to hear any garbage about anti-Semitism. So you don't get to murder and slaughter children and doctors and peacekeepers, [00:15:07] and then claim that you're offended at the criticism. I'm offended by the war crimes and the crimes against humanity, and you're making us pay for it. It's disgusting. And history will judge you super harshly for what you've done. [00:15:23] And this is what happens every time. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. So it is our fault in America that we have given them absolute power. And every time they do a war crime, We go. Well, the peacekeepers shouldn't have been there. [00:15:38] The UN should be killed as long as Israel is doing it. Here's another check. I'm sick of sending them checks to slaughter more people. The government of Israel is totally and utterly out of control. And they're a danger to the whole planet. [00:15:53] Let's take a break. When we come back, I think it's important to get into the details about what doctors, international doctors who have been, you know, donating their time and their effort and their energy in Gaza, what they've been seeing when it comes to literal children showing up at these hospitals. [00:16:09] 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. 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 [00:16:28] and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. Thank you.