Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is verdict with Senator Ted Kruz Ben Ferguson with
you and Senator Israel under attack yet again. Unfortunately, this
was predictable, especially since the United States of America i'd
taken its hand off of Israel with the Biden administration
leading the way on that.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Well, we are right now talking a couple of minutes
before eleven pm on Sunday, and the eyes of the
world are on Israel and Iran. As in the last
twenty four hours, over three hundred drones and cruise missiles
from Iran went into Israel. Now, to Israel's credit, the
Iron Dome and its missile defense systems intercepted virtually all
(00:38):
of them. But it was the first direct attack on
Israel from Iran in history, and it is an extraordinary
escalation of what has been going on. This tragically is
the result of the Biden foreign policy of appeasement and
the entire Democrat Party backing away from Israel and sending
(01:04):
billions of dollars to Iran. In a very real sense,
the missiles that Iran fired at Israel were paid for
by the Biden administration. At this point, the safety and
security of the men and women in Israel, the men
(01:24):
and women in the Middle East, and potentially more broadly,
are all in jeopardy as the world waits with bated
breath to see what happens next.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It is shocking.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And I want to talk about that money aspect of
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the money, and I've got a lot of questions that
(03:16):
i want to get to, so we're going to be
moving quickly. If you're taking notes, get ready when it
comes to the money. There are two things the Biden
administration has done that has helped the Iranian economy and
the Iranian ilatola commit these atrocites against Israel, and also
work with any terrorist organizations they want to support, whether
(03:37):
it's Amas or HESBLA, it doesn't really matter. Those two
things one or We do technically have sanctions on Iranian oil,
but we're not enforcing those. And we've also allowed direct
access to cash that Iran and can now grab that
we had basically seized and locked up. How much money
do they have now because of Biden's policies.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
It is well one hundred billion dollars, but sadly been
there are a lot more than two things that they
have done. From the beginning, the Biden administration has simultaneously
flooded our enemies with cash. Their approach to every enemy
of America from day one has been appeasement and usually
in the form of billions of dollars. And simultaneously they
(04:22):
have undermined our friends and allies and especially Israel again
from day one. Let's break them down, piece by piece.
To Iran itself, you have number one, sixteen billion dollars
in direct fund, six billion dollars that everyone talked about.
That was ransom for five Americans that was widely denounced
by me and many others. On top of that, there
(04:42):
was another ten billion dollars of money that was frozen
in Iraq that the Biden administration unfroze to allow to
flow back to Iran. That takes you up to sixteen
billion dollars. The biggest component is refusing to enforce oil
sanctions that has caused Iran in oil exports to skyrocket.
That is an excess of eighty billion dollars. We're going
(05:04):
to come back back to that one in a minute,
but not just that. You have to understand the Biden
administration has lifted sanctions on Iran's proxies on the Huthis
in Yemen who were funded by Iran. If you look
at Gaza and Hamas that carried out the October seventh
terror attack, Hamas over ninety percent of its funding comes
(05:27):
from Iran. And what did Biden do. He sent hundreds
of millions of dollars into Gaza that went directly into
the hands of Hamas that in all likelihood was used
to finance Summer all of the October seventh terror attack.
The same thing is true with flooding money into Lebanon,
much of which ends up in the hands of Hesbela.
Hesbela again over ninety percent of its budget comes from Iran.
(05:50):
On top of that, even more amazingly, the Biden administration
allowed the UN sanctions, the international sanctions on missiles in Iran,
to expire. They did this in the midst of Iran
funding Hamas funding has Bela funding October seventh and launching
over one hundred attacks on US service men and women.
(06:12):
On October seventh, more than twelve hundred Israelis were murdered.
That included roughly thirty Americans who were murdered. We still
have American hostages, We still have Israeli hostages. Not only that,
we have three service men and women the Iranians have
murdered in their more than one hundred attacks. And what
does the Biden administration keep doing shoveling cash to this
(06:37):
theocratic lunatic Ayatola.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Senatri the Zionoa also chanced death to America. There's also
another problem, and that is that the weapons inspectors that
deal with nuclear weapons, they've been kicked out of Iran,
and yet we still have this Iranian nuclear deal. And
I can't believe for a second that Iran wouldn't use
a nuclear weapon if they have one or if they
(07:04):
get one, based on what they just did with this indiscriminate,
massive attack on Israel.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, we don't know if they have a nuclear weapon.
If they don't have one, they are very very close.
And they are very very close because Joe Biden has
flooded so much cash into them to put them in
a position to have this kind of money. Let's look
at oil exports, and I said, I wanted to come
back to this. So during the Trump administration, when President
(07:33):
Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was
absolutely the right thing to do. At the time, Iran
was exporting roughly a million barrels of oil a day.
When Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, he
kept in place an oil waiver. That waiver allowed Iran
to continue selling a million barrels a day of oil.
(07:54):
I thought that was an enormous mistake. So once we
pulled out of the Obama Nuclear deal, I I pressed
President Trump repeatedly to end the oil waiver. There was
a fight between the State Department and the Energy Department.
The State Department under Trump wanted to keep the oil
waiver in place. They said that if we ended the
oil waiver, the price of oil and the price of
gasoline with skyrocket. The Department of Energy under Trump, which
(08:17):
presumably our experts and energy said, that's ridiculous. There's plenty
of global oil. This won't affect the price. As I said,
I leaned in repeatedly with Trump on Air Force one
in the Oval Office.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He agreed with me.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
He overruled as Secretary of State Mike Mike Pompeo. He
ended the oil waivers. And it turns out we now
know that the Department of Energy was right in state
was wrong. That the Iranian oil exports cratered. They felled
roughly three hundred thousand barrels a day, but the price
of oil had barely a blip. It had a negligible effect. Well,
(08:52):
fast forward to Joe Biden coming into office. Joe Biden
came in office and almost immediately he stopped in forcing
those oil sanctions, and again almost immediately, as a direct result,
Iran's oil sanctions skyrocketed. Now at the time of October seventh,
do you know what Iran's oil exports were, or production.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Rather was what was it?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Two million barrels a day? Yeah, more than double what
it had been before the oil waivers were ended, nearly
eight times seven times what they were when Biden came
into office. Do do you know what their oil exports?
Their production is right now in April of twenty twenty four,
what is it? Three point four million barrels a day?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
So let's talk cash. What type of cash are we
now dealing with it? They have their hands on because
we are not enforcing our embargo on their oil right now.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
So we're looking at easily in excess of one hundred
billion dollars. Depends on the prices they're getting. They're selling
it primarily to the Chinese communists. You have to assume
they're selling it it's something of a discount. But even so,
this is easily one hundred billion dollars that Joe Biden
just handed to the Iatola. And mind you didn't just
hand before October seventh. After October seventh, he continues handing. Today.
(10:15):
Iran just launched all these missiles. You know what, Joe
Biden hadn't done anything to enforce the oil sanctions. The
number of three point four million barrels a day is
from right now, that's April of twenty twenty four. The
Iatola is rolling in cash, which is why he can
afford to send three hundred roans and three hundred cruise missiles.
And I will tell you it is not just Biden.
(10:37):
This is one of the most important points. A lot
of folks focus on the squad. They focus on AOC
and Omar and to Leeb and the radicals in the House.
Those guys are a problem. Yes, they're rabidly anti Israel,
they make anti Semitic tropes constantly. But the problem is
not the fringe. The problem is the so called mainstream Democrats.
(11:00):
Is Joe Biden, The problem is Chuck Schumer. The problem
is Nancy Pelosi. After October seventh, just recently, just a
couple of weeks ago, I forced a vote on the
Senate floor to bar the Biden administration from sending billions
of dollars to Iran. Now, this should be easy. Iran
funded October seventh. Iran is still actively trying to kill
(11:25):
US servicemen and women. Iran is still trying to actively
murder former US senior officials, including Mike Pompeo, the former
Secretary of State, including John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor,
including Brian Hook, the former Assistant Secretary of State. I
forced to vote on the Senate floor every single Democrat,
all of them except Bob Benendez. Every Democrat but one
(11:49):
voted no. They voted to continue sending Iran billions of dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That was just a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
So you look at the cash and then let's move
to the second part here, and that is is all right?
So their UNS and the Security Council emergency meeting right now,
they're demanding that Israel show restraint. We're also getting reporting
now from Axios that Biden told apparently Netanyahu the US
won't support an Israeli counterattack on his Iran, which is
(12:19):
unfortunately not shocking.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I actually you talked about this.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's very clear now actions speak louder than words in
this present and the Biden administration and their foreign policy
is Israel bad. Everybody else can do what they want
to do. What is a response now going to be
when you go back to Washington this week and you
can't say, hey, we need to put sanctions on Ranio. Oh,
We've already done that, So do you say we want
to enforce it? And what about the White House?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, the Biden Administration's message and the message of every
Democrat in Congress is there is no military solution for
our allies. But our enemies are allowed to win. Our
enemies are allowed to attack, an attack, and attack, and
our allies have to do nothing about it. Understand the
money that they fled to Iran, you know who, They're
(13:05):
not flooding money to Israel.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Remember, there's a fourteen billion dollar Israel aid package came
out of the House of Representatives. And what did Chuck
Schumer do. He refused to allow a vote on it.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
He blocked it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
He said, we will not vote on this unless it's
tied to Ukraine and the rest of the Democrat priorities. Now,
if you'll recall, several months ago, I and several other
Republicans forced a vote on emergency military aid Israel on
the Senate floor. We released yesterday on Sunday that podcast
that we did several months ago describing exactly what happened.
(13:43):
We put that out as a bonus pod because it
is incredibly relevant. Now, if you didn't listen to yesterday's podcast,
you got to go back and listen to it. The
day of that vote was the day of the March
for Israel. There were worth three hundred thousand people that
came to the mall that were out there marching in
support of Israel.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I was there.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I was on the mall, marching in support for Israel.
A number of Democrat senators were there, including Democrat senators.
Jackie Rosen, Democrat from Nevada, was on the stage speaking
in support of Israel. Immediately after that march, I and
several other Republican senators, we forced a vote on emergency
military aid to Israel. Chuck Schumer was furious. We used
(14:22):
a parliamentary technique that's called a rogue cloture petition, which
is a method that the minority can seize control of
the floor.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
It's rare to use, and frankly.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Schumer was sloppy as majority leader to let us use it,
but we succeeded in using it, and we forced that vote.
Every single Democrat, all of them, with no exceptions, voted
against emergency military aid to Israel. They literally left a
march for Israel, came back and said no money for Israel.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
None.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
And by the way, their stated justification was because the
House had paid for it by removing that money from
the eighty billion dollars the Democrats had given to hire
eighty seven thousand new IRS agents. So because instead the
IRS was only getting sixty sixty six billion instead of
(15:13):
eighty billion. The Democrats said, no, we care more about
adding IRS agents than we do about supporting Israel against
our terrorist enemies. Now, I will say, in the last
twenty four hours, Chuck Schumer sent out a tweet saying,
we stand strongly with Israel. We will have your backs,
to which I immediately responded, well, I'm glad you're saying
(15:36):
that because you're the one who blocked emergency military aid
to Israel, and every single Democrat senator voted with you.
So you know what we ought to do today Monday.
We ought to come back and we ought to take
that bill up and we ought to pass emergency military
aid to Israel. I'm confident the House is going to
do that again. The House is going to send it
to us, and we'll see what the Democrats do. My
(15:57):
suspicion is the Democrats will line up as they did before,
to say no, no, no, no, no. We only give money to
the enemies of America. We only give money to Iran,
we only give money to Hamas, we only give money
to people who want to kill us, our actual friends
we won't give money to. But you know what, every
Democrat will have a chance to put action to their words.
(16:19):
A bunch of Democrats have been tweeting out right now
we stand with Israel, Well, talk's cheap. Are you willing
to fund the response? And we know that Biden's answer
is lee at least as is being widely reported, as
he told Dan Yahoo, do not attack, do not strike back,
take the win. He said, what a bizarre can you
imagine if America, if somebody fired three hundred missiles in
(16:44):
America and some foreign leader called up the US president said, hey,
take the win the missiles. You guys were able to
intercept them, so people didn't die. Just say well, we're
fine and do nothing. I mean, that's that's what Biden
is saying, the Israel do nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Believe you even saw this on TV today. There was
many of the commentators on TV that we're saying exactly that, Well,
if this's a big success and a big test for
the Iron Dome, and it's clear that Israel can defend itself,
and there's no reason to escalate this because now, and
this was set on TV today, I think it was
on CBS. They literally said so because now you got
(17:22):
to assume this is their words that Iran is probably
out of them, out of missiles, and couldn't do the
same type of attack today even if they wanted to,
So therefore Israel should do nothing, just celebrate the win.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
At every stage, Biden and Schumer and the Democrats have
had the same message. Number one, no matter what Iran does,
no matter what our enemies do, they want to keep
sending the money. I generally, I genuinely do not understand it.
It's pathological when someone chance death to America and death
to Israel. My reaction is not I'm going to send
you money. That apparently is Joe Biden, Dan's reaction, Chuck
(18:00):
Schuber's reaction, that apparently is Nancy Pelosi's reaction, and that's
every other Democrat's reaction. I don't get that. But secondly,
at every stage, their position has been to Israel, don't
defend yourself, don't do anything. Remember when October seventh was happening,
Literally at three in the morning on the day of
(18:20):
October seventh, when the bodies of the twelve hundred Israelis
who had been murdered were still warm, the Biden State
Department tweeted out urging Israel not to retaliate. This is
after the murder of twelve hundred civilians, This is after
the rape of women and children, this is after infants
were slaughtered. The position of the Biden State Department was
(18:41):
do not retaliate. I blasted that at three in the morning,
and thankfully they deleted it. They realized, oh, we can't
say this quite yet, but to be clear. The next day,
that would be October eighth, Tony Blinken, with his own
Twitter account, sent out another tweet saying he had just
talked with a Turkish foreign minister and Israel should not retaliate.
That was their message. The day after, again I blasted
(19:03):
the Biden State Department. Again they deleted that tweet. There
were two tweets within twenty four hours of the October
seventh massacre, and the immediate knee jerk reaction of Biden
was do not retaliate. Do not retaliate now. What have
they said every day since then? Their position has been stop,
we need a ceasefire, We need a pause. Stop killing hamas,
stop killing terrorist, stop going after the bad guy. Now,
(19:24):
their position after Iran launches three hundred missiles and drones
into Israel, do not retaliate we will not support you.
It is asinine. And you asked what Congress is doing, Well,
I'll tell you one thing. This coming week, We've got
a mark up in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and
I've got a number of Iran related amendments that I've
(19:45):
already filed. I have one that I'm looking to get
a vote on to sanction all Hamas members. I have
another to sanction the Huthis for using Iranian missiles. I
have another amendment to sanction the IRGC in Iran for
using Iranian missiles against the United States. I have another
one to tag Iran's vessels to shut down their oil money.
And I have another one that says no suspending sanctions
(20:07):
to send money to Gaza. I got to tell you,
I think I know what's going to happen. We're going
to see the Democrats vote against those amendments because their
position is, no matter how much you hate America, no
matter how many Jews you kill, no matter how many
Americans you kill, we the Democrats will keep sending him money.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
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quick about the United Nations. It seems very clear that
the United Nations is hanging Israel out to drive Israel
(22:19):
calls for new sanctions on Iran, and the UN Security
Council apparently said, you guys better be careful what your
response is. Not really worried about Israel, but worried about
what they may do in response protecting Iran.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
As we're sitting here today, it is a few minutes
before midnight, Sunday night, and there's an Emergency Security Council
meeting going on as we speak, and Israel called it.
Israel called it seeking to discuss to force a vote
to urge the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran
(22:56):
in response to the attack. And the response to that
is the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres,
told the Council that it was quote time to step
back from the brink, and that its members had the
collective responsibility quote to actively engage all parties concerned to
prevent further escalation. You notice they never say this about Hamas,
(23:20):
They never say this about Iran. It's always Israel. Just
don't retaliate. Just take people mass murdering your citizens, Just
take missiles being fired into your cities if you look
at it. So on Sunday, both Israel's and Iran's ambassadors
gave fiery comments that Israel's ambassador said that Iran's attack
had quote crossed every red line and that Israel reserved
(23:43):
the right to retaliate, and he urged the UN to
take severe actions, including crippling sanctions. And here's one thing
he said, quote the fact that Israel's air defense proved
to be superior does not change the brutality of Iran's attack.
Iran's ambassador, on the other hand, argued that Iran had
(24:03):
a quote inherent right to self defense after Israel's attack
on its diplomatic compound, and understand Iran is very upset
that Israel, in fighting back, took out a senior general
in several Iran military officials. But understand, Iran is who
funded October seventh, Iran is who funds Hamas, Iran is
(24:24):
who trained the Hamas terrorists, and so Iran has this
very strange view that it can pay people to attack
and murder other countries and not have them strike back.
The Iranian ambassador said, Iran quote does not seek escalation
or war in the region, but that if his interest
came under attack, it would quote respond to any such
(24:44):
aggressions vigorously and an accordance with international law. Nothing Iran
does is in accordance with international law. Now, Robert Wood,
who is a US representative of the United Nations, told
the Security Council that the Biden administration said quot vote,
the US is not seeking escalation. Our actions have been
(25:05):
defensive in nature. The US goal is to de escalate
and then get back to securing an end to the
to the war and the Gaza strip. This is now.
On the other hand, you know who argued in favor
of Iran.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Who is that?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Russia and China. And let's be clear when I said
that Joe Biden. The Democrats have a policy of giving
billions of dollars to our enemies. That's not just Iran,
it's not just Hamas, it's not just Hesbela. They also
give billions of dollars to Venezuela. They also give billions
of dollars to China, and they've also given billions of
(25:45):
dollars to Russia. You know, the Democrats love to talk
about Russia, but we've talked a lot on this podcast
about the nord Stream two pipeline, which I authored, the
bipartisan sanctions that shut the nord Stream two pipeline down.
Donald Trump signed those sanctions into law, and Joe Biden,
when he came into office, waived those sanctions, gave Vladimir
Putin billions and billions of dollars that effectively caused the
(26:07):
war in Ukraine. And when I forced to vote in
January of twenty twenty two to reimpose those sanctions on Russia,
forty four Democrats flipped their votes. They had voted with
me previously and voted in favor of Russia and Putin In,
giving them billions of dollars, and within a month Russia
invaded Ukraine. So this is a pattern over and over again.
(26:28):
And by the way, Russia is actively in Iran helping
them with nuclear technology.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
One of another area that I battled.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh, say that again, that's big news.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
It is big news. So Russia and Iran have a
very close relationship. I mentioned when Trump pulled out of
the Obama nuclear deal, there was an oil waiver. There
were also what were called civilian nuclear waivers, and there
were seven civilian nuclear waivers that remained in place. I
argued vociferously, we should end the civilian nuclear waivers.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Now.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Once again, the State Department, and I will say the
State Department has a long history of being wrong, especially
under Biden, but sadly with some frequency under Trump. The
State Department argued, no, no, no, no, don't end the civilian
nuclear waivers. Well, Trump agreed with me. He overruled his
own State Department.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
He ended them.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Among those civilian nuclear waivers, they were allowing Russia to
work with Iranian nuclear scientists to develop nuclear technology in
an underground bunker called Fordoh which is underneath a mountain,
and it's built under a mountain precisely to be able
to develop nuclear weapons, so that it would be harder
to take out in a military conflict. Now, what happened
(27:45):
when Joe Biden came into office. He immediately reimposed the
civilian nuclear waivers. So we've literally got Russia that is
providing nuclear technology to Iran. By the way, this is
a quid pro quo. Iran may drones is a critical
weapons supplier to Russia. So understand when Biden is flowing
(28:06):
one hundred billion dollars now more than one hundred billion
dollars to Iran. They're using them to make drones and
to make cruise missiles to attack Israel. They're using them
to make weapons to attack US servicemen and women. They're
using them to fund Hamas and Hesbela to murder Israelis
and murder Americans. But on top of that, they're manufacturing
enormous numbers of drones that are going to the Russians,
(28:28):
and the Russians are using to fight the Ukrainians. This
is a pattern. If you are an enemy of America,
lucky you because Joe Biden the Democrats will give you
billions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There's some new reporting that's just come out as well
from Politico, and it says the US to Israel don't
do something you'll regret it, says quote. The Biden administration's
main message for Israel following an attack that is massive
their quote aerial assault, comes down to this stop and think.
Officials expect Israel to respond in some fashion to Saturday's
(29:04):
massive strike, but in both public and private ways, they
are taking steps they hope will convince Israel to choose
a limited response as opposed to an all out armed
counter attack, the latter they feel will plunge the region
into a major war. In President Joe Biden, in particular,
quote wants to avoid any battle that could drag in
US troops, and he made that clear to Israeli's Prime
(29:26):
Minster net Netnyahu's saying quote, this is again we're advising
him to take a breath before responding. A US official
familiar with the Middle East one of ten people granted
aminity to freely discuss closed door diplomacy. If Israel does respond, quote,
it needs to be proportional and bring this cycle to
(29:47):
an In Senator, this may be the biggest pipe dream
I've ever heard of. Bring this cycle to an end.
What makes you think that Iran would just stop now?
Knowing that they can basically get away with literally murder.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
The only way to bring the cycle to an end
is number one, to take away the resources from the
Iranian regime that are funding these terror attacks. It's why look,
during the whole Trump administration, I was deeply involved in
pressing the administration to enforce what was called the maximum
Pressure strategy, to put the maximum pressure to defund the
(30:23):
Iranian regime, and it succeeded. Understand, when Joe Biden came
into office, the Iranian economy was in shambles. They were
facing rampant inflation, rampant unemployment, they were facing unrest in
the streets. The regime was in danger of being toppled,
and very few things would be better for the safety
of America and the safety of the world than for
these theocratic lunatics to be out of power. Part of
(30:46):
the problem is if God forbid, the Iyatola had a
nuclear weapon. It's one thing when you have tyrants who
are secular who have weapons of mass destructions. It's another
thing when you have people who are motivated by religion
that glorifies death and suicide. That means the ordinary cost
(31:06):
benefit analysis doesn't necessarily work. And I want to share
something that was put out recently by the Institute for
the Study of War, and it's an analysis of the attack,
and I want to read. It's a nine part tweet
thread that I think is actually worth worth reading in full.
The Iranian April thirteenth missile drone attack on Israel was
(31:29):
very likely intended to cause significant damage below the threshold
that would trigger a massive Israeli response. The attack was
designed to succeed, not to fail.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
And that's in bold. Here's the second tweet.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
The strike package was modeled on those the Russians have
used repeatedly against Ukraine to great effect. The strike consisted
of approximately one hundred and seventy drones, thirty cruise missiles,
and one hundred and twenty ballistic missiles. The drones were
launched well before the ballistic missiles were fired, very likely
(32:05):
in the expectation that they would arrive in Israel's air
defense window at about the same time as the cruise
missiles and drones. The Russians have used such an approach
against Ukraine repeatedly. Only a few ballistic missiles penetrated Israeli
air defenses and struck near Israeli military bases. Out of
(32:27):
the one hundred and twenty or so the Iranians fired.
Ukrainian air defenses have averaged interception rates of only about
forty six percent of Russian ballistic missiles during recent large strikes.
The Iranians likely expected that Israeli rates would be higher
than the Ukrainian rates, but not above ninety percent against
(32:49):
such a large but ballistic missile salvo. The Russians, after all,
have never fired close to that many large ballistic missiles
in a single strike against Ukraine. Israel's air defense system
has several obvious advantages over Ukrainian air defense, but the
full implications of some of those advantages might well have
(33:11):
been unclear to Iranian strike planners. Ukraine has in particular,
been unable to use combat aircraft to shoot down Russian
drones and cruise missiles at scale, and Ukrainian President Zelenski
recently observed that Kiev will likely use the F sixteens
(33:32):
Ukraine will receive this summer. In those roles. Iran will
learn additional lessons from the failed attack that it can
leverage to launch more successful attacks in the future.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
So you look at all of that and then you
see this that just came out from the National Security
Council statement on Iranian attacks on Israel, and I'm quoting
it says President Biden has been clear. Our support for
is iss security is ironclad. The US will stand with
the people of Israel and support their defense against these
(34:07):
threats from Iran.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay, senter.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
If that's true, then they have to give them what
they need this week.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Well, if there was anything like coherence and logic, then yes.
And Number one, I'm going to predict right now, Chuck
Schumer is going to do everything he can to block
a vote on emergency military aid to Israel. I've called
on it, I forced her already once. My guess is
that he will put in place parliamentary tools to prevent
us from using the same technique again.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
And I think the.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
House, we've seen the Speaker of the House and the
Majority leader both say that they're going to vote out
an emergency military aid bill this week, So we'll get
another one that comes over to us, and my prediction
is the Democrats won't back it. They don't want to
send military aid to Israel. And part of the problem
is they've got a crisis in their caucus, and their
(35:01):
crisis is that the radicals, the teleibs and omars, they
more and more represent the mainstream of the Democrat Party,
and so Schumer is terrified of Michigan. Biden is terrified
of Michigan. They're terrified of the radicals, and so they
may put out statements. But remember this is the same
(35:22):
Chuck Schumer that not long ago stood on the Senate
floor and demanded that Israel's elected prime minister be thrown
out of office. He decided that Israel, alone, among all
our allies, was not allowed to elect their leaders. Every
other country. You know, Schumer hasn't called for the leader
of Iran to step down. He hasn't called for the
leader of Hamas or China, or Rushier of Venezuela or
(35:42):
North Korea. If you're an enemy of America, nope, Chuck
Schumer and the Democrats they're giving you money. But if
you're our ally, what will Schumer say? How dare you
be in office? We need an appeaser just like us.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
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Speaker 1 (37:42):
Center Lastly, I.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Want to ask you about bb You just mentioned I
was going to go there that the Senate majority leader
said he should step down. There's been a lot of
people in the media that have been really attacking him,
saying that he is a warmonger, that he's that he's
a killer, that he should not be the president, he
should not be in charge. I don't believe we're going
to see any of that stop, but at least in
(38:05):
the Middle East right now and specifically in Israel. How
important is his leadership.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
It's extraordinarily important. I will say I'm blessed to know
Prime Minister Netanyah, who very well. I think he is
a remarkable man. When he came and addressed a joint
session of Congress, and that this was during the Obama administration,
it was on the verge of Obama pushing through the
Iran nuclear deal at the time, and this was a
(38:34):
decade ago. Multiple Democrats boycotted the speech. They refused to
listen to him speak. The Democrats hatred for Benjamin Netanyah,
who is nothing new, and understand that when he was
re elected Prime Minister Joe Biden made clear he was
not welcome in the White House, that he would not
(38:54):
be invited in the White House. He could not come
to the White House. This is long before October seventh,
This is long before the war in Gaza. They hate
Natan Yahoo, but understand they undermine every Israeli government. They
have done so from the very first days of this administration.
But net Yahoo, they have a particular loathing too, because
(39:15):
he actually understands the gravity of the threat he is facing.
He understands that when the Ayahtola says death to Israel,
he's not playing around. He actually means it. When he
says death to America, he's not playing around. He actually
means it. And listen, I've been blessed. In twelve years
in the Senate, I've met many world leaders. That's one
(39:37):
of the most incredible parts of the jobs. You get
to sit down with people that are leading our friends,
leading other countries, leading our competitors. There is no world
leader who has impressed me more. There's no world leader
who frankly has taken my breath away more than Benjamin
Netanyaho because he has a seriousness of purpose. He is
(39:59):
the only world leader reader for whom I have used
the adjective Churchillian. In my office in DC, I have
three busts. I have a bust of Ronald Reagan, I
have a bust of Churchill, and I have a bust
of doctor Martin Luther King Jr. And I have those
three busts because they are all men who had extraordinary vision.
(40:20):
They faced remarkable challenges. They saw a world that was
better than the world they were living in, and their
vision helped bring the world to a better place. With
extraordinary courage, and clarity, And I have to tell you,
I think net Nyah who has that same courage and clarity. Now,
(40:40):
it is not my role to tell the people of
Israel who their prime minister should be. So when Netanyahu
was prime minister, when I started in the Senate, I
dealt with him because he was the leader, the elected
leader of Israel. When the people of Israel elected, enough
tolly about it, I dealt with him. Whomever the people
(41:01):
of Israel elect, I will deal with the elected leader.
But the people of Israel re elected Benjamin Netnaho, and
I respect the choice of the people of Israel. There
is an arrogance in Democrat foreign policy but also in
some Republican foreign policy that they think they can meddle
in the internal politics of foreign nations and especially our
(41:22):
friends and allies, that they can do what Chuck Schumer did,
which is tell the people of Israel, tis tisk, you
have no business electing net Yah who throw them out now?
And they treat them like the voters, the people of
Israel like the red haired step children. It is ridiculous.
It's much like. Look, there have been long debates in
(41:45):
Washington about a two state solution, and that they're Every
Democrat says we must have a two state solution. Many
Republicans say we must have a two state solution.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
My view on that.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Is that's a decision for the people of Israel to make.
They care acutely about their security. If the people of
Israel decide that a two state solution is workable, I
respect that decision. If they decide it's not because the
terrorists with whom they are dealing, the Hamas and Hesbela,
will not accept Israel's right to exist and will wage
(42:18):
war on them, I respect that decision as well, And
so I will say when it comes to Prime Minister
net and Yahoo, it's the choice of the people of
Israel that he should be their leader. I respect their choice.
But at the same time, I think he is a
leader who understands the seriousness of these threats and is
not cowed by the aggression of Hamas or Hesbela, or
(42:40):
Iran or anyone else. He is bound and determined to
protect the people of Israel.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
This week is going to be a very important week.
We're going to be covering it for you on Wednesday Friday,
and if anything massive happens in between, we will more
than likely get out of pod right away, so make
sure you hit that subscribe auto download, but right now
wherever you get your podcasts. Also, if you'll please help
us by writing us a five star review and post
(43:06):
this podcast on your social media so others can hear it.
We will be saying prayers for the people of Israel,
and we'll be back here Wednesday morning. Don't forget on
those in between days. You can grab my podcast, the
Ben Ferguson Podcasts, and I'll keep you updated on the
latest breaking news on those in between days, The Centaer,
and I will see you back here Wednesday
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It is verdict with Senator Ted Kruz Ben Ferguson with
you and Senator Israel under attack yet again. Unfortunately, this
was predictable, especially since the United States of America i'd
taken its hand off of Israel with the Biden administration
leading the way on that.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Well, we are right now talking a couple of minutes
before eleven pm on Sunday, and the eyes of the
world are on Israel and Iran. As in the last
twenty four hours, over three hundred drones and cruise missiles
from Iran went into Israel. Now, to Israel's credit, the
Iron Dome and its missile defense systems intercepted virtually all
(00:38):
of them. But it was the first direct attack on
Israel from Iran in history, and it is an extraordinary
escalation of what has been going on. This tragically is
the result of the Biden foreign policy of appeasement and
the entire Democrat Party backing away from Israel and sending
(01:04):
billions of dollars to Iran. In a very real sense,
the missiles that Iran fired at Israel were paid for
by the Biden administration. At this point, the safety and
security of the men and women in Israel, the men
(01:24):
and women in the Middle East, and potentially more broadly,
are all in jeopardy as the world waits with bated
breath to see what happens next.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It is shocking.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And I want to talk about that money aspect of
this that you just mentioned, the warnings that you have
made on this show multiple times. We're going to go
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Freedom GOOLDUSA dot com slash verdict center. Let's start with
the money, and I've got a lot of questions that
(03:16):
i want to get to, so we're going to be
moving quickly. If you're taking notes, get ready when it
comes to the money. There are two things the Biden
administration has done that has helped the Iranian economy and
the Iranian ilatola commit these atrocites against Israel, and also
work with any terrorist organizations they want to support, whether
(03:37):
it's Amas or HESBLA, it doesn't really matter. Those two
things one or We do technically have sanctions on Iranian oil,
but we're not enforcing those. And we've also allowed direct
access to cash that Iran and can now grab that
we had basically seized and locked up. How much money
do they have now because of Biden's policies.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
It is well one hundred billion dollars, but sadly been
there are a lot more than two things that they
have done. From the beginning, the Biden administration has simultaneously
flooded our enemies with cash. Their approach to every enemy
of America from day one has been appeasement and usually
in the form of billions of dollars. And simultaneously they
(04:22):
have undermined our friends and allies and especially Israel again
from day one. Let's break them down, piece by piece.
To Iran itself, you have number one, sixteen billion dollars
in direct fund, six billion dollars that everyone talked about.
That was ransom for five Americans that was widely denounced
by me and many others. On top of that, there
(04:42):
was another ten billion dollars of money that was frozen
in Iraq that the Biden administration unfroze to allow to
flow back to Iran. That takes you up to sixteen
billion dollars. The biggest component is refusing to enforce oil
sanctions that has caused Iran in oil exports to skyrocket.
That is an excess of eighty billion dollars. We're going
(05:04):
to come back back to that one in a minute,
but not just that. You have to understand the Biden
administration has lifted sanctions on Iran's proxies on the Huthis
in Yemen who were funded by Iran. If you look
at Gaza and Hamas that carried out the October seventh
terror attack, Hamas over ninety percent of its funding comes
(05:27):
from Iran. And what did Biden do. He sent hundreds
of millions of dollars into Gaza that went directly into
the hands of Hamas that in all likelihood was used
to finance Summer all of the October seventh terror attack.
The same thing is true with flooding money into Lebanon,
much of which ends up in the hands of Hesbela.
Hesbela again over ninety percent of its budget comes from Iran.
(05:50):
On top of that, even more amazingly, the Biden administration
allowed the UN sanctions, the international sanctions on missiles in Iran,
to expire. They did this in the midst of Iran
funding Hamas funding has Bela funding October seventh and launching
over one hundred attacks on US service men and women.
(06:12):
On October seventh, more than twelve hundred Israelis were murdered.
That included roughly thirty Americans who were murdered. We still
have American hostages, We still have Israeli hostages. Not only that,
we have three service men and women the Iranians have
murdered in their more than one hundred attacks. And what
does the Biden administration keep doing shoveling cash to this
(06:37):
theocratic lunatic Ayatola.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Senatri the Zionoa also chanced death to America. There's also
another problem, and that is that the weapons inspectors that
deal with nuclear weapons, they've been kicked out of Iran,
and yet we still have this Iranian nuclear deal. And
I can't believe for a second that Iran wouldn't use
a nuclear weapon if they have one or if they
(07:04):
get one, based on what they just did with this indiscriminate,
massive attack on Israel.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, we don't know if they have a nuclear weapon.
If they don't have one, they are very very close.
And they are very very close because Joe Biden has
flooded so much cash into them to put them in
a position to have this kind of money. Let's look
at oil exports, and I said, I wanted to come
back to this. So during the Trump administration, when President
(07:33):
Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was
absolutely the right thing to do. At the time, Iran
was exporting roughly a million barrels of oil a day.
When Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, he
kept in place an oil waiver. That waiver allowed Iran
to continue selling a million barrels a day of oil.
(07:54):
I thought that was an enormous mistake. So once we
pulled out of the Obama Nuclear deal, I I pressed
President Trump repeatedly to end the oil waiver. There was
a fight between the State Department and the Energy Department.
The State Department under Trump wanted to keep the oil
waiver in place. They said that if we ended the
oil waiver, the price of oil and the price of
gasoline with skyrocket. The Department of Energy under Trump, which
(08:17):
presumably our experts and energy said, that's ridiculous. There's plenty
of global oil. This won't affect the price. As I said,
I leaned in repeatedly with Trump on Air Force one
in the Oval Office.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
He agreed with me.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
He overruled as Secretary of State Mike Mike Pompeo. He
ended the oil waivers. And it turns out we now
know that the Department of Energy was right in state
was wrong. That the Iranian oil exports cratered. They felled
roughly three hundred thousand barrels a day, but the price
of oil had barely a blip. It had a negligible effect. Well,
(08:52):
fast forward to Joe Biden coming into office. Joe Biden
came in office and almost immediately he stopped in forcing
those oil sanctions, and again almost immediately, as a direct result,
Iran's oil sanctions skyrocketed. Now at the time of October seventh,
do you know what Iran's oil exports were, or production.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Rather was what was it?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Two million barrels a day? Yeah, more than double what
it had been before the oil waivers were ended, nearly
eight times seven times what they were when Biden came
into office. Do do you know what their oil exports?
Their production is right now in April of twenty twenty four,
what is it? Three point four million barrels a day?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
So let's talk cash. What type of cash are we
now dealing with it? They have their hands on because
we are not enforcing our embargo on their oil right now.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
So we're looking at easily in excess of one hundred
billion dollars. Depends on the prices they're getting. They're selling
it primarily to the Chinese communists. You have to assume
they're selling it it's something of a discount. But even so,
this is easily one hundred billion dollars that Joe Biden
just handed to the Iatola. And mind you didn't just
hand before October seventh. After October seventh, he continues handing. Today.
(10:15):
Iran just launched all these missiles. You know what, Joe
Biden hadn't done anything to enforce the oil sanctions. The
number of three point four million barrels a day is
from right now, that's April of twenty twenty four. The
Iatola is rolling in cash, which is why he can
afford to send three hundred roans and three hundred cruise missiles.
And I will tell you it is not just Biden.
(10:37):
This is one of the most important points. A lot
of folks focus on the squad. They focus on AOC
and Omar and to Leeb and the radicals in the House.
Those guys are a problem. Yes, they're rabidly anti Israel,
they make anti Semitic tropes constantly. But the problem is
not the fringe. The problem is the so called mainstream Democrats.
(11:00):
Is Joe Biden, The problem is Chuck Schumer. The problem
is Nancy Pelosi. After October seventh, just recently, just a
couple of weeks ago, I forced a vote on the
Senate floor to bar the Biden administration from sending billions
of dollars to Iran. Now, this should be easy. Iran
funded October seventh. Iran is still actively trying to kill
(11:25):
US servicemen and women. Iran is still trying to actively
murder former US senior officials, including Mike Pompeo, the former
Secretary of State, including John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor,
including Brian Hook, the former Assistant Secretary of State. I
forced to vote on the Senate floor every single Democrat,
all of them except Bob Benendez. Every Democrat but one
(11:49):
voted no. They voted to continue sending Iran billions of dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That was just a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
So you look at the cash and then let's move
to the second part here, and that is is all right?
So their UNS and the Security Council emergency meeting right now,
they're demanding that Israel show restraint. We're also getting reporting
now from Axios that Biden told apparently Netanyahu the US
won't support an Israeli counterattack on his Iran, which is
(12:19):
unfortunately not shocking.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I actually you talked about this.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's very clear now actions speak louder than words in
this present and the Biden administration and their foreign policy
is Israel bad. Everybody else can do what they want
to do. What is a response now going to be
when you go back to Washington this week and you
can't say, hey, we need to put sanctions on Ranio. Oh,
We've already done that, So do you say we want
to enforce it? And what about the White House?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, the Biden Administration's message and the message of every
Democrat in Congress is there is no military solution for
our allies. But our enemies are allowed to win. Our
enemies are allowed to attack, an attack, and attack, and
our allies have to do nothing about it. Understand the
money that they fled to Iran, you know who, They're
(13:05):
not flooding money to Israel.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Remember, there's a fourteen billion dollar Israel aid package came
out of the House of Representatives. And what did Chuck
Schumer do. He refused to allow a vote on it.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
He blocked it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
He said, we will not vote on this unless it's
tied to Ukraine and the rest of the Democrat priorities. Now,
if you'll recall, several months ago, I and several other
Republicans forced a vote on emergency military aid Israel on
the Senate floor. We released yesterday on Sunday that podcast
that we did several months ago describing exactly what happened.
(13:43):
We put that out as a bonus pod because it
is incredibly relevant. Now, if you didn't listen to yesterday's podcast,
you got to go back and listen to it. The
day of that vote was the day of the March
for Israel. There were worth three hundred thousand people that
came to the mall that were out there marching in
support of Israel.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I was there.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I was on the mall, marching in support for Israel.
A number of Democrat senators were there, including Democrat senators.
Jackie Rosen, Democrat from Nevada, was on the stage speaking
in support of Israel. Immediately after that march, I and
several other Republican senators, we forced a vote on emergency
military aid to Israel. Chuck Schumer was furious. We used
(14:22):
a parliamentary technique that's called a rogue cloture petition, which
is a method that the minority can seize control of
the floor.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
It's rare to use, and frankly.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Schumer was sloppy as majority leader to let us use it,
but we succeeded in using it, and we forced that vote.
Every single Democrat, all of them, with no exceptions, voted
against emergency military aid to Israel. They literally left a
march for Israel, came back and said no money for Israel.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
None.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
And by the way, their stated justification was because the
House had paid for it by removing that money from
the eighty billion dollars the Democrats had given to hire
eighty seven thousand new IRS agents. So because instead the
IRS was only getting sixty sixty six billion instead of
(15:13):
eighty billion. The Democrats said, no, we care more about
adding IRS agents than we do about supporting Israel against
our terrorist enemies. Now, I will say, in the last
twenty four hours, Chuck Schumer sent out a tweet saying,
we stand strongly with Israel. We will have your backs,
to which I immediately responded, well, I'm glad you're saying
(15:36):
that because you're the one who blocked emergency military aid
to Israel, and every single Democrat senator voted with you.
So you know what we ought to do today Monday.
We ought to come back and we ought to take
that bill up and we ought to pass emergency military
aid to Israel. I'm confident the House is going to
do that again. The House is going to send it
to us, and we'll see what the Democrats do. My
(15:57):
suspicion is the Democrats will line up as they did before,
to say no, no, no, no, no. We only give money to
the enemies of America. We only give money to Iran,
we only give money to Hamas, we only give money
to people who want to kill us, our actual friends
we won't give money to. But you know what, every
Democrat will have a chance to put action to their words.
(16:19):
A bunch of Democrats have been tweeting out right now
we stand with Israel, Well, talk's cheap. Are you willing
to fund the response? And we know that Biden's answer
is lee at least as is being widely reported, as
he told Dan Yahoo, do not attack, do not strike back,
take the win. He said, what a bizarre can you
imagine if America, if somebody fired three hundred missiles in
(16:44):
America and some foreign leader called up the US president said, hey,
take the win the missiles. You guys were able to
intercept them, so people didn't die. Just say well, we're
fine and do nothing. I mean, that's that's what Biden
is saying, the Israel do nothing.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Believe you even saw this on TV today. There was
many of the commentators on TV that we're saying exactly that, Well,
if this's a big success and a big test for
the Iron Dome, and it's clear that Israel can defend itself,
and there's no reason to escalate this because now, and
this was set on TV today, I think it was
on CBS. They literally said so because now you got
(17:22):
to assume this is their words that Iran is probably
out of them, out of missiles, and couldn't do the
same type of attack today even if they wanted to,
So therefore Israel should do nothing, just celebrate the win.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
At every stage, Biden and Schumer and the Democrats have
had the same message. Number one, no matter what Iran does,
no matter what our enemies do, they want to keep
sending the money. I generally, I genuinely do not understand it.
It's pathological when someone chance death to America and death
to Israel. My reaction is not I'm going to send
you money. That apparently is Joe Biden, Dan's reaction, Chuck
(18:00):
Schuber's reaction, that apparently is Nancy Pelosi's reaction, and that's
every other Democrat's reaction. I don't get that. But secondly,
at every stage, their position has been to Israel, don't
defend yourself, don't do anything. Remember when October seventh was happening,
Literally at three in the morning on the day of
(18:20):
October seventh, when the bodies of the twelve hundred Israelis
who had been murdered were still warm, the Biden State
Department tweeted out urging Israel not to retaliate. This is
after the murder of twelve hundred civilians, This is after
the rape of women and children, this is after infants
were slaughtered. The position of the Biden State Department was
(18:41):
do not retaliate. I blasted that at three in the morning,
and thankfully they deleted it. They realized, oh, we can't
say this quite yet, but to be clear. The next day,
that would be October eighth, Tony Blinken, with his own
Twitter account, sent out another tweet saying he had just
talked with a Turkish foreign minister and Israel should not retaliate.
That was their message. The day after, again I blasted
(19:03):
the Biden State Department. Again they deleted that tweet. There
were two tweets within twenty four hours of the October
seventh massacre, and the immediate knee jerk reaction of Biden
was do not retaliate. Do not retaliate now. What have
they said every day since then? Their position has been stop,
we need a ceasefire, We need a pause. Stop killing hamas,
stop killing terrorist, stop going after the bad guy. Now,
(19:24):
their position after Iran launches three hundred missiles and drones
into Israel, do not retaliate we will not support you.
It is asinine. And you asked what Congress is doing, Well,
I'll tell you one thing. This coming week, We've got
a mark up in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and
I've got a number of Iran related amendments that I've
(19:45):
already filed. I have one that I'm looking to get
a vote on to sanction all Hamas members. I have
another to sanction the Huthis for using Iranian missiles. I
have another amendment to sanction the IRGC in Iran for
using Iranian missiles against the United States. I have another
one to tag Iran's vessels to shut down their oil money.
And I have another one that says no suspending sanctions
(20:07):
to send money to Gaza. I got to tell you,
I think I know what's going to happen. We're going
to see the Democrats vote against those amendments because their
position is, no matter how much you hate America, no
matter how many Jews you kill, no matter how many
Americans you kill, we the Democrats will keep sending him money.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, it's incredible. Let me tell you about our friends
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Mobile dot Com slash Verdict Center. Let's also talk real
quick about the United Nations. It seems very clear that
the United Nations is hanging Israel out to drive Israel
(22:19):
calls for new sanctions on Iran, and the UN Security
Council apparently said, you guys better be careful what your
response is. Not really worried about Israel, but worried about
what they may do in response protecting Iran.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
As we're sitting here today, it is a few minutes
before midnight, Sunday night, and there's an Emergency Security Council
meeting going on as we speak, and Israel called it.
Israel called it seeking to discuss to force a vote
to urge the United Nations to impose sanctions on Iran
(22:56):
in response to the attack. And the response to that
is the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres,
told the Council that it was quote time to step
back from the brink, and that its members had the
collective responsibility quote to actively engage all parties concerned to
prevent further escalation. You notice they never say this about Hamas,
(23:20):
They never say this about Iran. It's always Israel. Just
don't retaliate. Just take people mass murdering your citizens, Just
take missiles being fired into your cities if you look
at it. So on Sunday, both Israel's and Iran's ambassadors
gave fiery comments that Israel's ambassador said that Iran's attack
had quote crossed every red line and that Israel reserved
(23:43):
the right to retaliate, and he urged the UN to
take severe actions, including crippling sanctions. And here's one thing
he said, quote the fact that Israel's air defense proved
to be superior does not change the brutality of Iran's attack.
Iran's ambassador, on the other hand, argued that Iran had
(24:03):
a quote inherent right to self defense after Israel's attack
on its diplomatic compound, and understand Iran is very upset
that Israel, in fighting back, took out a senior general
in several Iran military officials. But understand, Iran is who
funded October seventh, Iran is who funds Hamas, Iran is
(24:24):
who trained the Hamas terrorists, and so Iran has this
very strange view that it can pay people to attack
and murder other countries and not have them strike back.
The Iranian ambassador said, Iran quote does not seek escalation
or war in the region, but that if his interest
came under attack, it would quote respond to any such
(24:44):
aggressions vigorously and an accordance with international law. Nothing Iran
does is in accordance with international law. Now, Robert Wood,
who is a US representative of the United Nations, told
the Security Council that the Biden administration said quot vote,
the US is not seeking escalation. Our actions have been
(25:05):
defensive in nature. The US goal is to de escalate
and then get back to securing an end to the
to the war and the Gaza strip. This is now.
On the other hand, you know who argued in favor
of Iran.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Who is that?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Russia and China. And let's be clear when I said
that Joe Biden. The Democrats have a policy of giving
billions of dollars to our enemies. That's not just Iran,
it's not just Hamas, it's not just Hesbela. They also
give billions of dollars to Venezuela. They also give billions
of dollars to China, and they've also given billions of
(25:45):
dollars to Russia. You know, the Democrats love to talk
about Russia, but we've talked a lot on this podcast
about the nord Stream two pipeline, which I authored, the
bipartisan sanctions that shut the nord Stream two pipeline down.
Donald Trump signed those sanctions into law, and Joe Biden,
when he came into office, waived those sanctions, gave Vladimir
Putin billions and billions of dollars that effectively caused the
(26:07):
war in Ukraine. And when I forced to vote in
January of twenty twenty two to reimpose those sanctions on Russia,
forty four Democrats flipped their votes. They had voted with
me previously and voted in favor of Russia and Putin In,
giving them billions of dollars, and within a month Russia
invaded Ukraine. So this is a pattern over and over again.
(26:28):
And by the way, Russia is actively in Iran helping
them with nuclear technology.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
One of another area that I battled.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh, say that again, that's big news.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
It is big news. So Russia and Iran have a
very close relationship. I mentioned when Trump pulled out of
the Obama nuclear deal, there was an oil waiver. There
were also what were called civilian nuclear waivers, and there
were seven civilian nuclear waivers that remained in place. I
argued vociferously, we should end the civilian nuclear waivers.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Now.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Once again, the State Department, and I will say the
State Department has a long history of being wrong, especially
under Biden, but sadly with some frequency under Trump. The
State Department argued, no, no, no, no, don't end the civilian
nuclear waivers. Well, Trump agreed with me. He overruled his
own State Department.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
He ended them.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Among those civilian nuclear waivers, they were allowing Russia to
work with Iranian nuclear scientists to develop nuclear technology in
an underground bunker called Fordoh which is underneath a mountain,
and it's built under a mountain precisely to be able
to develop nuclear weapons, so that it would be harder
to take out in a military conflict. Now, what happened
(27:45):
when Joe Biden came into office. He immediately reimposed the
civilian nuclear waivers. So we've literally got Russia that is
providing nuclear technology to Iran. By the way, this is
a quid pro quo. Iran may drones is a critical
weapons supplier to Russia. So understand when Biden is flowing
(28:06):
one hundred billion dollars now more than one hundred billion
dollars to Iran. They're using them to make drones and
to make cruise missiles to attack Israel. They're using them
to make weapons to attack US servicemen and women. They're
using them to fund Hamas and Hesbela to murder Israelis
and murder Americans. But on top of that, they're manufacturing
enormous numbers of drones that are going to the Russians,
(28:28):
and the Russians are using to fight the Ukrainians. This
is a pattern. If you are an enemy of America,
lucky you because Joe Biden the Democrats will give you
billions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
There's some new reporting that's just come out as well
from Politico, and it says the US to Israel don't
do something you'll regret it, says quote. The Biden administration's
main message for Israel following an attack that is massive
their quote aerial assault, comes down to this stop and think.
Officials expect Israel to respond in some fashion to Saturday's
(29:04):
massive strike, but in both public and private ways, they
are taking steps they hope will convince Israel to choose
a limited response as opposed to an all out armed
counter attack, the latter they feel will plunge the region
into a major war. In President Joe Biden, in particular,
quote wants to avoid any battle that could drag in
US troops, and he made that clear to Israeli's Prime
(29:26):
Minster net Netnyahu's saying quote, this is again we're advising
him to take a breath before responding. A US official
familiar with the Middle East one of ten people granted
aminity to freely discuss closed door diplomacy. If Israel does respond, quote,
it needs to be proportional and bring this cycle to
(29:47):
an In Senator, this may be the biggest pipe dream
I've ever heard of. Bring this cycle to an end.
What makes you think that Iran would just stop now?
Knowing that they can basically get away with literally murder.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
The only way to bring the cycle to an end
is number one, to take away the resources from the
Iranian regime that are funding these terror attacks. It's why look,
during the whole Trump administration, I was deeply involved in
pressing the administration to enforce what was called the maximum
Pressure strategy, to put the maximum pressure to defund the
(30:23):
Iranian regime, and it succeeded. Understand, when Joe Biden came
into office, the Iranian economy was in shambles. They were
facing rampant inflation, rampant unemployment, they were facing unrest in
the streets. The regime was in danger of being toppled,
and very few things would be better for the safety
of America and the safety of the world than for
these theocratic lunatics to be out of power. Part of
(30:46):
the problem is if God forbid, the Iyatola had a
nuclear weapon. It's one thing when you have tyrants who
are secular who have weapons of mass destructions. It's another
thing when you have people who are motivated by religion
that glorifies death and suicide. That means the ordinary cost
(31:06):
benefit analysis doesn't necessarily work. And I want to share
something that was put out recently by the Institute for
the Study of War, and it's an analysis of the attack,
and I want to read. It's a nine part tweet
thread that I think is actually worth worth reading in full.
The Iranian April thirteenth missile drone attack on Israel was
(31:29):
very likely intended to cause significant damage below the threshold
that would trigger a massive Israeli response. The attack was
designed to succeed, not to fail.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
And that's in bold. Here's the second tweet.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
The strike package was modeled on those the Russians have
used repeatedly against Ukraine to great effect. The strike consisted
of approximately one hundred and seventy drones, thirty cruise missiles,
and one hundred and twenty ballistic missiles. The drones were
launched well before the ballistic missiles were fired, very likely
(32:05):
in the expectation that they would arrive in Israel's air
defense window at about the same time as the cruise
missiles and drones. The Russians have used such an approach
against Ukraine repeatedly. Only a few ballistic missiles penetrated Israeli
air defenses and struck near Israeli military bases. Out of
(32:27):
the one hundred and twenty or so the Iranians fired.
Ukrainian air defenses have averaged interception rates of only about
forty six percent of Russian ballistic missiles during recent large strikes.
The Iranians likely expected that Israeli rates would be higher
than the Ukrainian rates, but not above ninety percent against
(32:49):
such a large but ballistic missile salvo. The Russians, after all,
have never fired close to that many large ballistic missiles
in a single strike against Ukraine. Israel's air defense system
has several obvious advantages over Ukrainian air defense, but the
full implications of some of those advantages might well have
(33:11):
been unclear to Iranian strike planners. Ukraine has in particular,
been unable to use combat aircraft to shoot down Russian
drones and cruise missiles at scale, and Ukrainian President Zelenski
recently observed that Kiev will likely use the F sixteens
(33:32):
Ukraine will receive this summer. In those roles. Iran will
learn additional lessons from the failed attack that it can
leverage to launch more successful attacks in the future.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
So you look at all of that and then you
see this that just came out from the National Security
Council statement on Iranian attacks on Israel, and I'm quoting
it says President Biden has been clear. Our support for
is iss security is ironclad. The US will stand with
the people of Israel and support their defense against these
(34:07):
threats from Iran.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Okay, senter.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
If that's true, then they have to give them what
they need this week.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Well, if there was anything like coherence and logic, then yes.
And Number one, I'm going to predict right now, Chuck
Schumer is going to do everything he can to block
a vote on emergency military aid to Israel. I've called
on it, I forced her already once. My guess is
that he will put in place parliamentary tools to prevent
us from using the same technique again.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
And I think the.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
House, we've seen the Speaker of the House and the
Majority leader both say that they're going to vote out
an emergency military aid bill this week, So we'll get
another one that comes over to us, and my prediction
is the Democrats won't back it. They don't want to
send military aid to Israel. And part of the problem
is they've got a crisis in their caucus, and their
(35:01):
crisis is that the radicals, the teleibs and omars, they
more and more represent the mainstream of the Democrat Party,
and so Schumer is terrified of Michigan. Biden is terrified
of Michigan. They're terrified of the radicals, and so they
may put out statements. But remember this is the same
(35:22):
Chuck Schumer that not long ago stood on the Senate
floor and demanded that Israel's elected prime minister be thrown
out of office. He decided that Israel, alone, among all
our allies, was not allowed to elect their leaders. Every
other country. You know, Schumer hasn't called for the leader
of Iran to step down. He hasn't called for the
leader of Hamas or China, or Rushier of Venezuela or
(35:42):
North Korea. If you're an enemy of America, nope, Chuck
Schumer and the Democrats they're giving you money. But if
you're our ally, what will Schumer say? How dare you
be in office? We need an appeaser just like us.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
The world may be up in flames right now, biden
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Speaker 1 (37:42):
Center Lastly, I.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Want to ask you about bb You just mentioned I
was going to go there that the Senate majority leader
said he should step down. There's been a lot of
people in the media that have been really attacking him,
saying that he is a warmonger, that he's that he's
a killer, that he should not be the president, he
should not be in charge. I don't believe we're going
to see any of that stop, but at least in
(38:05):
the Middle East right now and specifically in Israel. How
important is his leadership.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
It's extraordinarily important. I will say I'm blessed to know
Prime Minister Netanyah, who very well. I think he is
a remarkable man. When he came and addressed a joint
session of Congress, and that this was during the Obama administration,
it was on the verge of Obama pushing through the
Iran nuclear deal at the time, and this was a
(38:34):
decade ago. Multiple Democrats boycotted the speech. They refused to
listen to him speak. The Democrats hatred for Benjamin Netanyah,
who is nothing new, and understand that when he was
re elected Prime Minister Joe Biden made clear he was
not welcome in the White House, that he would not
(38:54):
be invited in the White House. He could not come
to the White House. This is long before October seventh,
This is long before the war in Gaza. They hate
Natan Yahoo, but understand they undermine every Israeli government. They
have done so from the very first days of this administration.
But net Yahoo, they have a particular loathing too, because
(39:15):
he actually understands the gravity of the threat he is facing.
He understands that when the Ayahtola says death to Israel,
he's not playing around. He actually means it. When he
says death to America, he's not playing around. He actually
means it. And listen, I've been blessed. In twelve years
in the Senate, I've met many world leaders. That's one
(39:37):
of the most incredible parts of the jobs. You get
to sit down with people that are leading our friends,
leading other countries, leading our competitors. There is no world
leader who has impressed me more. There's no world leader
who frankly has taken my breath away more than Benjamin
Netanyaho because he has a seriousness of purpose. He is
(39:59):
the only world leader reader for whom I have used
the adjective Churchillian. In my office in DC, I have
three busts. I have a bust of Ronald Reagan, I
have a bust of Churchill, and I have a bust
of doctor Martin Luther King Jr. And I have those
three busts because they are all men who had extraordinary vision.
(40:20):
They faced remarkable challenges. They saw a world that was
better than the world they were living in, and their
vision helped bring the world to a better place. With
extraordinary courage, and clarity, And I have to tell you,
I think net Nyah who has that same courage and clarity. Now,
(40:40):
it is not my role to tell the people of
Israel who their prime minister should be. So when Netanyahu
was prime minister, when I started in the Senate, I
dealt with him because he was the leader, the elected
leader of Israel. When the people of Israel elected, enough
tolly about it, I dealt with him. Whomever the people
(41:01):
of Israel elect, I will deal with the elected leader.
But the people of Israel re elected Benjamin Netnaho, and
I respect the choice of the people of Israel. There
is an arrogance in Democrat foreign policy but also in
some Republican foreign policy that they think they can meddle
in the internal politics of foreign nations and especially our
(41:22):
friends and allies, that they can do what Chuck Schumer did,
which is tell the people of Israel, tis tisk, you
have no business electing net Yah who throw them out now?
And they treat them like the voters, the people of
Israel like the red haired step children. It is ridiculous.
It's much like. Look, there have been long debates in
(41:45):
Washington about a two state solution, and that they're Every
Democrat says we must have a two state solution. Many
Republicans say we must have a two state solution.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
My view on that.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Is that's a decision for the people of Israel to make.
They care acutely about their security. If the people of
Israel decide that a two state solution is workable, I
respect that decision. If they decide it's not because the
terrorists with whom they are dealing, the Hamas and Hesbela,
will not accept Israel's right to exist and will wage
(42:18):
war on them, I respect that decision as well, And
so I will say when it comes to Prime Minister
net and Yahoo, it's the choice of the people of
Israel that he should be their leader. I respect their choice.
But at the same time, I think he is a
leader who understands the seriousness of these threats and is
not cowed by the aggression of Hamas or Hesbela, or
(42:40):
Iran or anyone else. He is bound and determined to
protect the people of Israel.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
This week is going to be a very important week.
We're going to be covering it for you on Wednesday Friday,
and if anything massive happens in between, we will more
than likely get out of pod right away, so make
sure you hit that subscribe auto download, but right now
wherever you get your podcasts. Also, if you'll please help
us by writing us a five star review and post
(43:06):
this podcast on your social media so others can hear it.
We will be saying prayers for the people of Israel,
and we'll be back here Wednesday morning. Don't forget on
those in between days. You can grab my podcast, the
Ben Ferguson Podcasts, and I'll keep you updated on the
latest breaking news on those in between days, The Centaer,
and I will see you back here Wednesday
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