Transcription
Undeclared wars are commonplace. Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.
What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? What if Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now?
Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, June 24th, 2026. Aaron Mate, my dear friend, joins us now. Aaron, a pleasure. Um, you have some really fascinating observations about why the Iran deal is a pause and not real peace. And I wanted to get to that. But before I do, um, and before we get to Israel's, uh, continued slaughter in Lebanon, you and I, uh, living and working in New York City, have followed this congressional race, this primary, uh, involving Dan Goldman, uh, liberal Democratic congressman who last night uh, lost renomination uh, in the Democratic primary uh, at the hands, uh, of a, uh, progressive who spoke very loudly and clearly about the genocide uh in Israel. Uh what happened and what happened when Congressman Goldman walked into a coffee shop and was recognized?
Dan Goldman, who's the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, uh, who rose to prominence in the Democratic party in 2019 when he served as the, uh, House impeachment lawyer for the Democrats when they targeted Trump for pausing weapons to Ukraine, a weapon ship into Ukraine while pressuring Ukraine to open an investigation into the origins of Russia gate and to Joe Biden. Um he rose to prominence then on a real sort of neocon agenda where the argument was that Trump had jeopardized US national security by pausing one weapon ship into Ukraine. And I warned at the time this was after the collapse of Russia gate. I wrote a number of articles on this in the Nation magazine warning that this was a bad sign of things to come for Democrats. If they're centering their opposition to Trump around essentially neocon dogma that uh somehow arming Ukraine is good for the country and good for the world, then Democrats are in trouble because they'll be going further away from the issues that actually mobilize voters, issues that impact their lives like the price of groceries and so forth. So, but that was the trend. And so, Dan Goldman rode that wave of Trump's first impeachment to be elected to Congress. And when October 7th came around because now people like Dan Goldman were at the helm of the Democratic party that helped solidify the Democrats position of being staunchly pro-Israel. And finally, this is a case where having that position being Israel first led to a significant defeat because Goldman's constituents, which are, you know, including many Jews, just couldn't tolerate a politician who was this close to AIPAC and this close to Israel. I mean, Dan Goldman refused to condemn Israel for blocking humanitarian aid. I mean, he defended every single sadistic Israeli action there is. So, he faced a huge revolt. His challenger was Brad Lander who was critical of US arming Israel but still describes himself I think in a contradiction as a progressive Zionist but still you know made countering AIPAC a centerpiece of his campaign. Brad Lander defeated Dan Goldman by a huge margin. It wasn't even close. And you want to be careful to not take, you know, a coastal city like New York and make that sort of emblematic of the entire country signal that, you know, a significant portion of the Democratic party's base won't tolerate this anymore and won't tolerate people like Dan Goldman who are putting Israel first. And so he learned that lesson. Uh, you know, just before the election, there was an incident, as you mentioned, where a Brooklyn coffee shop uh found out that Dan Goldman had been in their store and they posted a tweet about it saying that his money is no good there and and that they gave him a refund because he supports genocide. And what happened there?
The Trump administration launched a civil rights investigation >> of that coffee shop. >> All right, Chris, make that a full screen. I want to read it. This is what the coffee shop uh posted. So, this was in addressed to him, though publicly posted. We see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn't taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference? You see, here at Poetica, the name of the shop, we don't serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers, or anyone in between. Too bad we didn't recognize you right away or it would have we would have turned you away. We issued you a refund. I guess he paid by his credit card. We don't need your money. It's probably coming from AIPAC anyways. Enjoy your loss on Tuesday. This was written before Tuesday. Enjoy your loss on Tuesday. Don't ever come to Poetica. Now, there's nothing in there about the fact that Dan Goldman is himself Jewish. They are condemning Chris, if you want to put it back up. They are condemning racists, fascists, homophobes, and genocide enablers. And they can make an argument, I don't know about his homophobia, but they can make an argument that he fits into those groups. A perfectly legitimate, utterly acceptable comment under the First Amendment. And now the federal government wants to investigate this coffee shop to see if they threw him out not because of his political views, but because he's Jewish. Do I have that right?
>> You do. And also when uh Dan Goldman's office was uh to face with some graffiti which which had nothing to do with him being Jewish but just talked about his support for genocide also uh him and his allies used that as a supposed example of anti-semitism. So yes, this is the classic case of just conflating uh anti-semitism with being against genocide. But in the case of this race, it didn't work. I mean, they tried this fear-mongering tactic of accusing uh Dan Goldman's opponents of being anti-semitic in two other >> races. Jewish. >> Brad Lander is Jewish. >> I wonder who won the election. >> Well, exactly. It's a really it's a hard argument to make and I you know, some uh pro-Israel pundits were saying this is a safe New York City is now unsafe for Jewish people. you know, everyone everyone who's Jewish in New York City is scared, except of course for people who Jewish people voted for Brad Lander and Brad Lander himself who is Jewish. So, look, that just doesn't work anymore. And to underscore how tired that talking point is, how no one cares. Um, two other candidates who are also endorsed by Eric Adams, the New York City mayor, who also were unapologetically pro-genocide, Claire Baldez and Daria Laza Aila Shioalier. They also won their primaries. um >> unapologetically opposed the genocide. >> Unapologetically opposed genocide. Yes. Excuse me. So, yeah.
>> The mayor was asked last night at one of these victory celebrations how he justified his criticism of some of the dark money that came into the campaigns of the people he opposed. Here's his very articulate answer. Chris number 17. Some members of the Jewish community, including Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, were alarmed by the language he used at the rally last week, calling AIPAC monsters who move dark money. These are phrases that invoke old anti-semitic tropes and conspiracy theories. What do you say to those who are concerned that the language you used is dangerous?
>> I want to be very clear. We're talking about a status quo where children are being killed on a daily basis. More than a thousand Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the so-called ceasefire. Even an Al Jazeera journalist, Ahmed Wishah, was killed this past Saturday by an Israeli strike. And when I am speaking about AIPAC, I'm speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people not just in Palestine, but frankly um through much of the region and it is a status quo for immorality. It is one that I will not accept. And when it comes to the way in which they defend the status quo, often times they defend it through direct contributions as we are seeing right now in New York 13. Um, often times they also support the status quo through dark money by filtering money that would have previously been directly from AIPAC now through other uh shell organizations whose identities of their contributors are only made clear after an election. And I think that it is important that when we ask ourselves how such death and destruction is happening overseas, we also name those who allow it to take place.
>> All right, we're going to go. >> This is the mayor of New York City, who I think is probably younger than you are. He is very, very articulate, >> extremely. and he's unapologetic in denouncing one of the most malignant malignant forces in US politics which is which is AIPAC which so many politicians have been afraid to do at best you get people who just avoid the issue but he's taking AIPAC head on and last night we saw in New York City it worked I mean he Adams had a clean sweep three out of the three congressional primaries where he endorsed a candidate and heavily promoted a candidate he won uh and this is again we want to be cautious about not extrap not not extrapolating too much from New York City to the rest of the country because you know different states are are you know because states are different than New York City but New York City is also the Democratic party power base is where uh Chuck Schumer the Senate minority leader and Hakeem Jeffries the Democratic leader in the House where they're from and certainly these are also two solidly pro-AIPAC candidates and this is a warning shot at them as well. So New York City is making things very interesting and so much of it is based on this revulsion that is spreading across the country to the genocide and the subservience that US politicians have to uh to AIPAC. In the case of um the the other one of the other races which was Daria Laza Abila Shioalier, she ran or one of the reasons she ran was because her member of Congress who she defeated who was the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Adriano Espaillat um Mahmood Khalil, who is the Colombian student who was kidnapped essentially and set for deportation by the Trump administration for being Palestinian. Um, Espaillat as a member of Congress did nothing to support him, was totally silent about Mahmud Khalil. So, this is in part what motivated Chevalier to run against him. A very powerful Democrat and last night she won.
>> Wow. Uh, let's go to the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States and your understanding of it. Will the Israelis help their buddy Donald Trump in the midterms uh by ceasing all the killing in Lebanon and by leaving? Or are they going to stay there and continue to kill?
>> I think it's up to Trump. If Trump really wanted to, he could tell Israel to get out. So far, he's told them to pull back inside the uh around 6% of Lebanese territory that Israel is occupying. But for Iran and Hezbollah, that won't be enough. So eventually the rubber will have to meet the road. I do think that I mean from what I've heard inside Lebanon things have gotten quieter in recent days. Israel has scaled back its attacks. Although some have continued. It's not a complete freeze. But it's another example where when the US tells Israel, all right, enough is enough and actually is serious about it. Israel has no choice because as JD Vance recently said, Donald Trump is Israel's only ally at this point. So it's the US that holds the cards. But of course, Netanyahu will do everything he can to convince Trump to uh let him run wild in Lebanon in part because inside Israel, there's so much popular support for for an ethnic cleansing operation out of Lebanon. And uh Netanyahu's main political rivals, including Naftali Bennett, who's the former prime minister, he's criticizing Netanyahu for listening to Trump and pulling back in Lebanon right now. So Netanyahu will do everything he can to be a spoiler and ultimately it will come down as it always does to whether the US wants to actually use the huge leverage that it has over Israel.
>> Here's uh Netanyahu yesterday basically saying the IDF is staying and they have a lot of freedom of movement. Chris number 15.
>> My directive together with the Minister of Defense to the IDF is clear and has not changed. Our soldiers in southern Lebanon have full freedom of action to thwart any direct or emerging threat against them or against the residents of the north. The IDF has no restrictions in this regard. I stand behind them. The entire nation stands behind them and I firmly insist that we will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to protect the residents of the north and all the citizens of the country.
In response to that, here's what the prime minister of Pakistan said. Why do we care about the prime minister of Pakistan? Because he and his team are the mediators in the negotiations involving JD Vance and the Iranian foreign minister and parliament speaker. So here's the Pakistani prime minister warning about Netanyahu. Chris number 18. We say this as a flashing sign of warning that there is no dearth of spoilers around the globe who are most unhappy and deeply dejected and disappointed out of this wonderful you know armistice truths which will lead to long-lasting peace and prosperity. They are out to scuttle this deal, create confusions, create doubts and my brother Masud Darshan myself and our brotherly and friendly countries are completely resolved that we will be like an iron wall against those spoilers.
>> Wall against those spoilers. We know who he was talking about without mentioning them by name. We just watched them saying the IDF is not going anywhere and they have freedom of movement. Is the MOU a ceasefire or a performative pause? Aaron?
>> It's a performative pause and whether it amounts to something greater again comes down to what Trump wants to do. And just one more point on Lebanon. Israel Channel 13 ran a quote the other day from a senior Israeli official who said that the message we've received from the Americans is clear. You had permission to operate without restrictions and that period is over. Now, this could just be performative. This could just be an Israeli official saying this uh for whatever reason to spin as if the US is putting pressure on Israel that it's not. Maybe the US wanted this Israeli official to say that or it actually could be real uh because Trump knows that if he wants this deal to work, then he has to restrain Israel inside of Lebanon. But over the longer term, he faces a problem. I mean, his own government, as his own US ambassador, Mike Waltz recently put it, sees Hezbollah in Lebanon as a quote cancer. That's how Mike Waltz recently described Hezbollah. Now, he's not just talking about a a militant group that resists Israeli occupation. He's talking about a political movement that's a part of the largest parliamentary block in the Lebanese parliament, and it doesn't have the support of, you know, the whole country, but it has a huge base of popular support. So the the Trump administration officially sees a major segment of Lebanese society as a cancer and Israel wants to root out that quote unquote cancer with weapons. So Trump shares the Israeli view of Leb of Hezbollah because it resists Israeli aggression as something to be wiped out. But yet Iran has drawn a red line and said that Israeli occupation of Lebanon is unacceptable and has to end. So this this memorandum of understanding that he's reached which calls for the termination of hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon for now it sort of puts a pause on things or at least creates the opportunity for a pause on things but it still kicks the can down the road for Trump and he'll have to make a decision as to what he wants to do because if he won't restrain Israel and Lebanon that he won't have a peace deal with Iran. Professor Muhammad Morandi who was on with us earlier today uh cautioned that there is a limit to the Iranian patience uh with respect to all the killing uh in Lebanon and that at some point if Trump doesn't can't won't restrain Netanyahu the Iranians will deem this a violation of the MOU and they'll begin sending ballistic missiles toward uh Israel. And let me also note, this is from Colonel McGregor, the former chief admiral of the Israeli Navy said, "The Navy's decimated. I'm not supposed to say it, but I'm retired and I can. And the Israeli sensors have kept the the public from knowing this." I didn't even know the Israelis had a Navy, but they did. And now they don't because of the precision and ferocity of the Iranian missiles.
>> Yeah. And how, by the way, has Trump tried to get out of this dilemma? he's in where he's got Israel clamoring for more aggression in Lebanon, but Iran declaring this to be a red line. Well, he's proposed that Syria, the Syrian government that he helped install uh go in and fight Hezbollah. Syria now ruled by a former al-Qaeda offshoot. And the new Syrian government led by Ahmed Al-Jara has politely turned that down. Uh because even though Hezbollah even though the new Syrian government might want to settle an old an old score with Hezbollah because they fought on opposing sides of the Syria dirty war, Hezbollah intervened in Syria to protect the government from the al-Qaeda insurgency that uh Al-Jara led. Uh even though they have, you know, a long-standing feud, Syria's in no position to open a brand new front in neighboring Lebanon. It the country is just too weak and it's trying to rebuild from a devastating war. So that's Trump's big idea is get Syria to go fight do the to go fight on Israel and the US's behalf. And uh Syria's not going to do that. So eventually Trump will have to make a decision as to what he's going to do. And Professor Mandi's message from his contacts with Iranian officials that Iran does not have a lot of patience. I think I hope people in Washington are listening. How long do you think the status quo under the MOU will last?
>> Well, it's a good question. Uh, so far the US has waved some sanctions on on the export of Iranian oil, which is a very big deal because that will open up a fair amount of revenue for Iran. So, that actually is something tangible that Trump has done so far. And I suspect that was done at the behest of of of JD Vance who sort of staked his political future around the success of this deal. He's even taken to calling out Israel in ways we don't usually hear or ever hear from a prominent US politician. So I just get the sense Trump hasn't made up his mind and he's doing things in both directions. He's waving some sanctions while still not willing be willing to fully stand up to the Israelis while somewhat restraining them so far in Lebanon. So look, I I I can't make a prediction on that front because that comes down to the psychology of Trump's brain and that's a loss.
>> Right. Right. Right. Just to go back to the uh domestic politics uh where we started, do do these uh primary races, which of course Senator Sanders and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Adams, uh, do they have a tendency in the in the long run to tug the center of the Democratic party in America to the left or are they outliers?
Well, that remains to be seen. Again, you know, I don't want to extrapolate too much because these districts that Adams won last night in terms of the candidates he endorsed, he also won these districts in his mayoral contests. So, these are already prominent districts. But the message that is being espoused of rejecting AIPAC, that is popular. If you look at polls, the Democratic party is not with Israel anymore at all. So in that respect, I do think this has national implications. And again, in a city where the two Democratic leaders, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are based and represent, they have to be listening to this. I mean, this is a huge defeat for them. and Chuck Schumer who recently uh marched in that uh Israel Day parade along with uh Israeli leaders who openly espoused genocidal policies. Uh he has to be paying attention to this because where he is at is not where the base of his party is anymore.
Before we go, just for a little bit of humor, here's a CNN montage on the reflecting pool.
This will last for at least 50 years and you'll never have a leak. It's very strong. You couldn't if you had a knife. I don't want to give anybody ideas. If you had a knife, you can't even cut it. So strong. So powerful. It's a powerful rubber.
Are the contractors who did the initial work with the reflecting pool, are they to blame for the current condition or is it >> vandalism? Vandal, you know, we have a I think 290 300 foot slit right through it. Probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind. National Guard police have been all over the mall. How would these vandals have gotten so close to do something like that?
Do you have any proof of this?
I mean, we didn't have we didn't have a lot of them then. Who would think that somebody would go into a pool and take a knife and start cutting it?
But do you have proof of that that photos or videos?
Well, let's put it this way. When you have a 350 I think it's 350, not 250. A 350 ft slit from one end to the other. You think that's proof? You think that's proof? Employers have been down there today looking for that slit that you mentioned and there's no evidence.
All you'd have to do is see the parks department. They'll show it to you or see see uh the secretary, but I saw it. They cut it. They cut it very violently.
Construction company is owned by a guy named John Cafaro. Chris has a picture of him. Mr. Rick Cafaro. Oh, we don't have the picture. All right. Mr. Rick Cafaro, who dwarfs the former governor of New Jersey in size, pleaded guilty to bribing a member of Congress, James Trafficant, and then testified against Congressman Trafficant in his federal bribery trial. And Mr. Cafaro, of course, got the pool renovation job without public bidding because he doesn't qualify for public bidding because he's a felon. There he is. I'm just reminded of what Trump said, I think, about Mexican migrants when he first started running for president back in 2015 where he said they're not sending their best. And I think that can apply to Trump's circle as well. He's not sending his best to do >> nicely nicely and very charitably put, Mr. Mate. Thank you. Thank you, Aaron. The pleasure to chat with you as always. All the best. We'll see you next week.
>> Thank you, Judge.
Okay. And uh coming up later today at 2 o'clock this afternoon on the militarism in Germany and the warnings by President Putin, Professor Glenn Diesen and at 3:00 on whatever he wants to talk about the great Phil Geraldi, judge the Paul Tano for Judging Freedom. Heat up here.