Transcript [00:00] Are you confident at all or what's your [00:01] level of confidence here the as the [00:03] peace process continues face to face? [00:07] >> Yeah, I'll put it bluntly and shortly. [00:09] The way things are going, there will be [00:11] another war between Gaza and Israel in [00:14] the not very distant future. And I say [00:17] that with tremendous sadness because [00:19] that isn't what I want for Israelis and [00:22] it's not what I want for the Arabs who [00:24] live in Gaza. But if Hamas isn't [00:28] disarmed and isn't dissolved as a [00:30] political organization in power of Gaza, [00:34] we're going to have trouble. So Trump [00:36] has inaugurated his new Board of Peace, [00:39] which some people are speculating is [00:42] actually coming to replace the United [00:46] Nations. And I just saw an amazing clip [00:49] from Jonathan Kenriquez. He is one of [00:51] the top experts in the Middle East, in [00:54] the world. And you got to watch this [00:56] clip. And then I have a number of things [00:58] I want to share with you about this [01:01] board of peace and what Krias has to [01:03] say. Headlines among the holdouts [01:06] because they're not thrilled with [01:07] Vladimir Putin's inclusion. So they are [01:09] not in as of now. Jonathan Krikus, a [01:11] retired lieutenant colonel in the Israel [01:13] Defense Forces joins us now. Let me just [01:15] start with a quick question on that. Uh [01:17] Jonathan, as you know, this was all [01:18] started to take on Gaza. I know it's [01:21] seems to have a wider ambitions now, but [01:24] what do you make of the the UK's [01:25] rationale says? Hey, what how you having [01:27] a board of peace if Vladimir Putin's [01:29] involved? [01:31] >> Yes. Hello. Thanks for having me on [01:34] again. I think that, you know, it looks [01:37] as if the situation in Gaza, the war [01:41] that followed the attack of the 7th of [01:43] October and everything that happened [01:45] afterwards and then the very positive [01:48] ceasefire that President Trump and his [01:50] team were able to mediate. It looks as [01:54] if that was more of a vehicle in and a [01:57] smaller part in a much bigger plan. And [02:00] the bigger plan looks like there's a an [02:03] ambition at least to either replace or [02:06] to replace the UN or to incentivize the [02:10] UN to overhaul or do a much much better [02:15] job at what it is is supposed to have [02:17] been doing but has failed pretty [02:19] miserably at doing and that is keeping [02:22] promoting peace, preventing war, uh [02:25] minimizing suffering and you know the [02:28] the UN charter and I think what [02:30] President Trump is doing is a very bold [02:32] move here. I can understand the UK from [02:35] an Israeli perspective. I have issues [02:37] with countries like Turkey and Qatar [02:40] being on the board of peace because they [02:42] are Muslim Brotherhood supporters and [02:45] they are very hostile towards Israel. So [02:47] many issues. [02:48] >> Do you even to your point about possibly [02:51] replacing uh the UN or challenging the [02:53] UN? Do you like even that as a concept? [02:57] Particularly when you think about the [02:58] fact that because President Trump has [03:00] made himself the kind of the chairman of [03:01] the board of peace, right? That [03:03] theoretically, it seemed, unless we're [03:05] reading this wrong, theoretically he [03:06] could stay on even after he's left [03:09] office as president of the United [03:11] States. [03:13] Yeah, it's definitely a very creative [03:16] and um u disruptive idea that has been [03:21] presented here that presents a lot of uh [03:24] new dilemmas and opportunities and I [03:26] think that a lot of democracies around [03:28] the world and you know US allies are [03:31] hesitant to become part of it because [03:34] many still believe and many want the [03:38] world order of international [03:40] organizations headed by the UN to be [03:42] preserved [03:44] and myself included. I mean, I think the [03:47] UN in general is failing at its core and [03:50] doing an abysmal job. As an Israeli, I [03:53] am, you know, very disappointed with the [03:56] work of the UN across all different [03:59] sections of UN work, whether it's UN [04:01] programs, UN peacekeeping, UN special [04:05] reporters, you know, the fact that you [04:07] can have a rabid anti-semite like [04:09] Franchesca Albanz appointed and still in [04:12] the job really taints the symbol and the [04:16] legitimacy of that organization. the [04:18] so-called UN human rights er in in [04:21] Geneva is an affront to anything that is [04:25] related to human rights because there [04:26] are authoritarian regimes like Iran and [04:30] China and Russia that govern that [04:32] council. So there are many many wrong [04:34] things but I don't think that you know [04:38] that there's definitely need for a deep [04:41] and and very serious gut renovation of [04:44] the UN [04:45] >> but maybe not an elimination. [04:47] >> Yeah. Yeah, [04:48] >> I wanted to ask you one specific [04:50] question about Gaza. Uh the president [04:52] said at that event today he's been clear [04:53] Hamas must return the remaining deceased [04:55] hostage and he talked about disarming [04:57] Hamas. Uh how do you think things are [05:00] going? I mean are you are you confident [05:02] at all or what's your level of [05:04] confidence here the as the peace process [05:06] continues face to face? [05:08] >> Yeah, I'll put it bluntly and shortly. [05:11] the way things are going, there will be [05:13] another war between Gaza and Israel in [05:16] the not very distant future. And I say [05:18] that with tremendous sadness because [05:21] that isn't what I want for Israelis and [05:24] it's not what I want for the Arabs who [05:26] live in Gaza. But if Hamas isn't [05:29] disarmed and isn't dissolved as a [05:32] political organization in power of Gaza, [05:35] we're going to have trouble. They are a [05:38] jihadi organization that wants to wipe [05:40] out Israel. That's what they tried to do [05:42] on October 7. That is what they have [05:44] said that they will do again and again [05:46] until they're successful. And as long as [05:49] they exist, there will be fighting. [05:51] >> Yeah. Well, we hope you're wrong. I know [05:53] you hope you're wrong, but that's uh [05:54] that's the way the world works. [05:55] Jonathan, thank you as always, Jonathan. [05:57] >> All right, let's unpack this because [06:00] there's some builtin kind of [06:02] unintentional humor here. Let me [06:04] explain. See, the United Nations is a [06:07] failing organization because that's the [06:10] only way it can exist. Let me now that [06:13] that might sound a little strange to [06:14] you. Let me explain. The majority of the [06:17] countries in the United Nations are not [06:19] democracies. Think about that. They have [06:22] voting power. Why should anyone who [06:25] lives in a free democracy or who [06:27] believes that the only legitimate form [06:30] of government is government that the [06:32] people choose, why should anyone give [06:34] any legitimacy to anything said by some [06:37] brutal, desperate dictator who's [06:40] represented in the United Nations? Why [06:41] should a vote by the United Nations [06:44] actually matter for anything? And in [06:46] fact, of course, it doesn't. And that's [06:48] why the United Nations has always failed [06:50] at its goal. And consider the irony of [06:52] this. Here you have these countries who [06:55] don't want to join President Trump's [06:57] board of peace because Russia's on it, [07:00] because Putin's on it. And as Krika [07:03] says, Israel's also got a problem with [07:04] Qatar and Turkey, who are hostile [07:06] jihadist nations who fund all of [07:09] Israel's enemies and are Israel's [07:11] enemies being on the board of peace. But [07:14] wait a second, the United Nations has [07:17] Iran on the UN Human Rights Council. The [07:21] United Nations has brutal despotic [07:24] dictatorships that brutalize their [07:27] people and where there's no human rights [07:29] who are member states. Why are you fine [07:32] being a part of the UN and not being a [07:35] part of the Board of Peace. I'm not [07:36] advocating that everyone join President [07:38] Trump's board of peace. I'm just [07:39] pointing out how ridiculous this whole [07:40] thing is. And then after talking about [07:43] the board of peace and how it's, oh, you [07:44] know, very nice, Trump's got this board [07:46] of peace. What does Kenrika say at the [07:47] end there when the guy asks him, the [07:50] interviewer asks him what the prospects [07:52] for Gaza are with Trump's plan for Gaza? [07:56] And he goes, "Look, there's just going [07:57] to be another war down there. There's [07:59] going to be another war down there [08:00] because Kamas refuses to disarm. And if [08:02] Hamas refuses to disarm, none of Trump's [08:04] plans can go forward. So the first [08:06] project of Trump's board of peace, which [08:08] is this rebuilding of Gaza and and uh [08:11] you know bringing peace between Israel [08:13] and Gaza is going to fall apart before [08:16] it even gets started. So this whole look [08:19] these efforts to bring nations together [08:23] to bring about peace, which is what the [08:24] United Nations was all about. When you [08:27] include nations where there are no human [08:29] rights, who are who have leaders who are [08:33] just despotic dictators, there is no [08:37] chance for those bodies to ever produce [08:40] peace. And that's why none of them will [08:42] ever work. This is a much bigger issue [08:45] than Israel or Gaza or the particulars [08:48] of this or that country, whether or not [08:50] Putin's on the border of peace. This is [08:51] an issue that free democracies, western [08:55] democracies [08:57] are actually at a disadvantage when [08:59] they're a part of these international [09:02] agencies. Let me explain the [09:03] disadvantage. You see, let's take being [09:05] a member of the United Nations. So, [09:07] let's say you were the head of a [09:09] democracy. You're the head of England or [09:11] France or Canada or Israel and you're in [09:14] the United Nations. Well, because you're [09:16] a member state in the United Nations and [09:17] you are a country that has rule of law [09:20] and you have a democratic leadership [09:21] that has to follow the laws that are [09:23] passed by your legislature and those [09:26] could include all sorts of compliance [09:28] with international law because you are a [09:30] democracy. You're not just going to [09:31] violate international law and get away [09:33] with it. So, you have to comply with the [09:36] rules that are set by the United [09:38] Nations. But if you're a despotic [09:40] dictatorship, you don't care. And [09:42] therefore, but you're part of the UN. [09:45] You get to vote in the UN. You have [09:47] rights of voting. You can actually be [09:49] the majority of despotic dictatorships [09:52] and vote for anything you want in the [09:54] UN. So, you get the vote, but then [09:56] you're not bound to follow anything [09:57] because you don't care about the Geneva [09:59] Conventions. You don't care about all [10:00] these rules because you're a despotic [10:02] dictator. This whole system of [10:04] international bodies is completely [10:07] flawed from the get-go. And if it was up [10:10] to me, I would go back to a system where [10:13] countries simply look out for [10:15] themselves. And in and and that's better [10:18] than surrendering your sovereignty to [10:21] some international body where the [10:22] majority of nations voting on the rules [10:26] of that international body are not even [10:29] democratic themselves. Think of the [10:31] irony. They're voting on things and in [10:33] their own countries, people don't get a [10:35] vote. The whole thing is ridiculous. And [10:37] that is why any international body, [10:39] Trump's Board of Peace, go for it. You [10:41] want to have fun, you want to try to [10:42] bring peace to the, you know, to the [10:43] world, go for it. It's never going to [10:46] work. Just like the United Nations never [10:48] worked. So, I'm all for I'm a [10:51] nationalist. I believe in nationalism, [10:53] not only for myself and my country, [10:55] Israel, but for every country in the [10:56] world. Be independent and let's also [10:58] treat rogue states as rogue states. [11:02] Let's stop pretending that these [11:04] dictators, these brutal tyrants who [11:08] deprive their own people of human rights [11:09] are actually legitimate heads of state. [11:11] That's another problem with the UN. It [11:13] treats them as legitimate heads of [11:15] state. So, with all due respect to [11:18] President Trump, God bless you for [11:20] trying out this board of peace and you [11:21] want to remain king of it or ruler of it [11:23] or president of it forever, so be it. [11:27] None of these efforts are ever actually [11:30] going to solve any conflicts. That's my [11:33] prediction.
