In a surprising move the United States has asked Israel to dial back
its brutal treatment of Palestinians.
In an unsurprising move, they're just asking for
humane treatment towards Palestinians while Biden visits,
after that Israel can go back to brutalizing Palestinians.
And I'm not joking.
That is literally what has been communicated to the Israeli government.
Let me make it clear by giving you the details.
Israeli officials said that Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf
raised the Palestinian demands with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid,
Israeli Defense Minister, Benny Gantz,
Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata and other senior officials.
And what did she ask for?
Well, she sent them a memo, a letter that made it clear that they, look,
you guys need to stop brutalizing the Palestinians because it's
gonna make the visit, the Biden visit really uncomfortable for him.
And he really doesn't want that, Leaf asked Israel to halt actions
like home demolitions, evictions of Palestinians and
decisions on settlement building as well as decrease Israeli military
operations in the West Bank until after Biden's visit, the officials said.
So these are Israeli officials who actually spoke to Axios about
the communications that were made.
And what's amazing is one Israeli official told Axios, quote,
the Biden administration doesn't want us to create any crisis in the West Bank,
they want quiet and calm for Biden's visit.
And so what was the response from Israeli officials.
We'll try but no can do.
Gantz, Lapid and Hulata told Leaf they will do their best,
but explained the domestic political complexities of halting
such actions in addition to what they called the operational
needs of the Israeli military in order to stop attacks.
Now, remember the evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem
has been internationally recognized as illegal.
Okay, the way they've been treating Palestinians, they've been attacking
Palestinians internationally, with the exception of the United States recognized
as illegal to say that they need to brutalize Palestinians to stop the attacks
is ridiculous, but more of the same kind of communication and
messaging we've gotten from Israeli officials.
>> Yeah, so here on this program, we actually do real news.
So when the Israeli government says, we'll see what we can do maybe, but
probably not.
That's saying you're not the boss of me, I'm the boss of you.
What are you gonna do about it Biden?
They know with great certainty, you're not gonna do a goddamn thing.
You're just saying please, can you not brutalize people while I'm there.
Because it's bad optics, just brutalize them before and after.
Like we've been letting you do this entire time, facts, facts.
So, look, is Israel an apartheid state?
Obviously it is, it meets the legal definition.
The international legal definition.
What do you think all those settlements are, they don't have rights.
It's an open air prison, they can't control their borders,
they can't bring in medical supplies if they wanted to if Israel
doesn't allow them to, they're not a state.
They make this absurd claim all the time.
The Palestinians don't want us to be a state.
I got news Israel, you already are one.
There's not a goddamn thing Palestinians can do about it, [CROSSTALK] but
you literally will not allow them to be a state.
How dare you do that insane, stupid talking point of,
you know they won't let us be a state.
No, you literally won't let them be a state.
How, I mean, it's just outrageous.
And here's our government going,
we reserve the right to do wildly illegal things at any time we please.
>> Including during Biden's visit.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah, so, I mean, there are so many egregious elements to the story,
including the Biden administration's acknowledgment of brutality towards
Palestinians, but the unwillingness to do anything about it.
Just the willingness to tweak the Israeli policy, politicians a little bit when it
comes to their visit, again as you mentioned, due to optics, right?
And then just the brazen unwillingness to even do that, because again,
there will be no consequences from the Biden administration.
They will continue advocating for increased military funding for
Israel regardless of what it does.
And I also wanna just note, look, it wasn't too long ago that
the Israeli defense forces killed a Palestinian American journalist,
shot her in the head and killed her.
Okay, so, I mean,
there's story after story, case after case we cover it on the show.
It's not like the Biden administration doesn't know about these things.
The Biden administration definitely does know and
just wants to kind of hide it a little bit for his meeting, just so he looks good.
And then Israel can go back to business as usual by brutalizing Palestinians.
It's disgusting.
>> Yeah, so look, rare credit here to a couple of mainstream media outlets.
Both CNN and Associated Press proved that Shireen Abu Akleh
was basically assassinated by the Israeli defense forces.
And so there's no excuse for, there was no fighting nearby.
They shot her in the head with a sniper.
They shot her for being a journalist, a Palestinian journalist.
The fact that she's American, Israel said basically, what are you gonna do about it?
And America said, I'm so sorry,
can you just kill any American you like you Israel, okay.
And it's not just Israel guys, the Saudis too,
they can kill any journalist they like, what's Biden gonna go do?
He's gonna go kiss their ass.
And Mohammed bin Salman,
the butcher of Riyadh tells Biden you're not the boss of me, I'm the boss of you.
And Biden, look, I'm sorry.
This is pathetic man.
And I'll give credit to Axios for this story where they broke the fact
that Biden has asked this for optics reasons, but generally speaking,
why does the Biden administration not mind telling everybody,
just brazenly publicly saying we're asking permission of our boss?
Hey, can you please not brutalize people for a short period of time?
What, like shouldn't they hide that?
Is that deeply embarrassing?
They don't hide it because generally speaking,
who's gonna create a problem for them?
Which part of the press?
Thank you Axios for reporting it.
But is Fox News gonna care about this?
No, they like, he's kissing Israel's ass.
They love that, kissing Saudi ass, a lot of their investors were Saudis.
They love that, right?
And is MSNBC gonna create a problem for Biden?
No, if you told us on MSNBC, they'd fire you on the spot.
What are you doing?
Bow down to corporate Democrats?
CNN they don't care.
None of these people care that.
My point is they're not gonna stay on the story.
That's why Biden administration's brazen about it.
Yeah, we're pathetic.
It doesn't matter.
Nobody's gonna find out.
But again, thank you to Axios and other two outlets for
actually covering real news on the things that matter.