Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Useful Idiots, LLC
Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature analysis of the political news of the week and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of why both Republicans and Democrats suck. Join Aaron and Katie as they examine important stories that have slipped through the cracks and what the media got wrong – and laugh about whatever is left to laugh about.

  1. 1 HR. AGO

    “Israel Is NOT WINNING” - Military Analyst Elijah J. Magnier

    Click here for the full interview with Elijah J. Magnier: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-israel-is-not-winning?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Marvel Announces Next Movie: Liz Cheney the Liberal Superhero https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/marvel-announces-next-movie-liz-cheney?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Support local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show! BET ON THE ELECTION! Check out MyBookie and use our code USEFUL for a great deal: http://www.mybookie.ag Our Sponsors: * Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com * Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.ag Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    54 min
  2. OCT 18

    We Are Headed for World War – Former IDF Soldier Haim Bresheeth-Zabner

    Click here for the full interview with Haim Bresheeth-Zabner: http://usefulidiotspodcast.com Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Bill Maher vs Chappell Roan https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/bill-maher-vs-chappell-roan?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Support local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show! BET ON THE ELECTION! Check out MyBookie and use our code USEFUL for a great deal: http://www.mybookie.ag “They want world war.” This is the conclusion, after fighting in the IDF, after watching Israeli aggression expand for decades, and after watching the occupation and destruction of Gaza, of Professor Haim Bresheeth-Zabner. Haim’s latest book, An Army Like No Other, shows how the state of Israel has been formed out of its wars. So after last week’s politically-focused interview with Norman Finkelstein, we’re now running a military analysis with our guest Haim, who fought for Israel in the 1967 War and has seen first-hand how the army is embedded in all aspects of Israeli daily life and identity. He begins with the notion that what is happening in Gaza could be called a war: “Israel is not fighting against any army at the moment,” he explains. “They're not able to train an army that can fight guerrillas.” And the reason why is a centuries old truth of war. “Those guerrillas in Gaza, in the West Bank, the people of Hezbollah, and other organizations are all fighting for their home. They are fighting to defend their right to live where they are. And they will fight over it until they're killed or they're winning.” The Israelis, on the other hand, “are fighting for real estate.” And the US, in it’s long-term plan to weaken Russia and China, is more than happy to have Israel play it’s local part in this. “It is the West,” says Haim, “that is doing this genocide, and Israel is the tool.” Haim goes on to explain a history of the conflict in the Middle East, how it has expanded, when it will reach the inevitable breaking point, and the only way Israel can be stopped. “I don't think that anyone can actually stand in the way of this unless BRIC came together and said, ‘We will destroy you if you start this war. You want a deterrent? This is the deterrent.’ Now, the Russians more or less said this. And if you follow the press, Biden thinks that they are bluffing. Well, that's not a joke.” Iran also gave a similar warning, he says. “What the Iranians have done is told Israel, ‘Please, please, please don't fight us. We don't want to fight you. We don't want to kill people in Israel. We can do that. Just give it up, stop the genocide, and we promise we won't touch you.’” But if those warnings continue to be ignored? Haim asks: “Who is going to stop it? I don’t know.” Subscribe for the full interview with Haim Bresheeth-Zabner on the Israeli occupation policy that is worse than the Nazis, an analysis of who in the West is really in charge, and a dark conclusion from this genocide: “Life is [now] impossible in Gaza.” 00:00 Intro 00:58 State Dept lets Israel burn patients alive 14:57 Professor Haim Bresheeth-Zabner interview 15:27 Fighting for the IDF 26:42 Will Israel succeed? 36:57 Can Hezbollah stop Israel? 52:11 What would World War look like? Our Sponsors: * Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a grea

    54 min
  3. OCT 11

    Norman Finkelstein on One Year of Genocide

    Click here for the full interview with Norman Finkelstein: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/norman-finkelstein-isnt-giving-up-045?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Kamala Harris reveals her main difference with Joe Biden https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/kamala-harris-reveals-her-main-difference?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Support local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show! BET ON THE ELECTION! Check out MyBookie and use our code USEFUL for a great deal: http://www.mybookie.ag “I think the reasonable conclusion is that Gaza is no more. There's nothing left in Gaza.” Monday the 7th marked one full year of genocide in Gaza, the darkest era of a decades-long occupation by Israel, which has now begun to spread into the broader Middle East region. This week we’re joined by Gaza expert and Useful Idiots fan-favorite Norman Finkelstein to look back on this genocidal year. Norm points out that this is not, as Western and Israeli media claims, an “Israel-Hamas war.” This is not war. This is genocide. And Israel is not targeting Hamas; they are killing civilians, destroying civilian infrastructure, and picking off journalists, health workers, and children. “I read this letter,” he tells us, “from sixty-five physicians from around the world who gave testimony as to what they observed. And every one of the physicians testified that the children who were coming into the hospital had bullet wounds to the skull or to the chest. No shrapnel. It wasn't bombs and shrapnel. It was targeted bullet wounds to the skull and to the chest of children. What does that have to do with war?” “There were fifty-four disabled children who used the school in the convent complex. They fired two shells at it. What does that have to do with war?” Norman also recalls meeting Hezbollah members, and shares what he got wrong about the organization. “Israel, he says, “is willing to kill for material benefit, and Hezbollah and Hamas are willing to die for survival” He also recounts his time meeting Hamas leaders, and explains Israel’s unfair advantage: “Israel is the entrenched, concentrated manifestation of Western imperialism. It's got deep roots. It's got the whole Western system behind it, that Western system which won't let go. It will nuke China before it lets go of its global dominance. And in order to defeat it, it requires a very long-term struggle and intense calculation.” Subscribe for the full interview where Norman explains this despair, and the generational hopelessness which lacks historical precedent. “Our generation,” he laments, “has, for good reason, lost the belief, the conviction that we have the force of history behind us. That we have the force of justice behind us. Our generation believes there's a good chance we'll be defeated. There's a good chance we're not going to win.” But that doesn’t mean we should give up. “The only thing I can say as a conclusion is you never know. You can only know one thing for certain: If you do nothing, it can only get worse.” It’s that certainty that he says keeps him going. “If you resist, there are moments where it looks very grim. And then there's that folk song, it's always darkest before the dawn. It's this hope that keeps me carrying on. I

    1h 3m
  4. OCT 4

    How Biden and Netanyahu PROVOKED the War in the Middle East – with Lebanese Political Scientists Bashir Saade and Karim Makdisi

    Click here for the full interview with Bashir Saade and Karim Makdisi: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-interview-how-biden-and?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: John Kerry Wants to Save Democracy (By Ending Democracy) https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/john-kerry-wants-to-save-democracy?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Support local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show! “It's very bloody and very violent and very dangerous.” Lebanese political scientists Bashir Saade and Karim Makdisi shed light on Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah and more. Since the situation is so volatile, news is constantly breaking: after we recorded the interview, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister told CNN that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had agreed to a 21-day ceasefire just before he was assassinated by Israel. The temporary ceasefire, he claimed, was called for by President Biden, President Macron and other allies during the UN General Assembly.  During the interview Karim and Bashir predict what is to come. “The cost is going to be very high,” warns Karim. “It’s going to be very bloody.” They also reflect on why Israel’s attack on Lebanon was inevitable, but not because of Hezbollah.  “I think this is a war that has been coming,” Karim explains. “It's a war that was going to happen. And if it wasn't going to happen now, it would have happened a year from now. You have an expansionist Israel. It has always been expansionist.” And, Bashir adds, “Hezbollah is prepared for this.” They discuss the double standards faced by the IDF, which is called the most moral army in the world, and Hezbollah, which is described by western media and politicians as terrorist. As Karim explains: “Hezbollah could target civilian areas. But it's just not in their doctrine, in a sense, to hit civilian areas for the sake of it. In the way that for the Israelis, with the Dahiya Doctrine, you can level the entire civilian area if you think there's some kind of military target inside. This is something the Israelis have been doing since 1948.” Coming tragically full circle, Israel’s Dahiya Doctrine, which calls for disproportionate military responses and the targeting of civilians (war crimes), was named after a Beirut neighborhood where Nasrallah wound up being murdered.  The West justifies Israel’s war crimes by claiming that Hamas uses civilians as human shields. But this week, when Iran launched a missile attack on a Mossad weapons base, CNN itself admitted that the base was embedded in a civilian area. “The Mossad headquarters and military and defense ministry,” Karim explains, “are in various very civilian areas inside main Israeli cities. So does that mean they’re targets? Does that mean all the civilians working there and around there are targets? Does that mean that it's legitimate under self-defense or any other kind of doctrine? Does it mean that Hezbollah can blow up cell phones and pagers?” Notably, the very same western politicians and media who accuse Hamas of using human shields are absolutely silent when it comes to Israel’s documented use of Palestinian and Israeli human shields. Subscribe for the full interview with Bashir and Karim on the state of Hezbollah after

    1h 2m
  5. SEP 27

    Jordan Peterson, Bernie Sanders, and Elon Musk on the 2024 election – with comedian James Adomian

    Click here for the full interview with James Adomian: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-jordan-peterson?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch James' hilarious new standup special here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ5DFrdOyig&ab_channel=800PoundGorillaMedia Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: CBS News lets Blinken get away with murder https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/cbs-news-lets-blinken-get-away-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Support local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!  You know him from a hundred cartoons and a thousand podcasts – and now he’s a Useful Idiot. It’s comedian James Adomian, bringing jaw-dropping impressions of Jordan Peterson, Bernie Sanders, Elon Musk, Mike Pillow, Marc Maron, and more. And all of them have a lot to say about the Harris/Trump matchup. Who is Elon Musk’s new fascist girlfriend? Does Bernie think he sold himself out? What would Chris Matthews say about the election if he were still at MSNBC? Close your eyes, and you’ll be convinced they’re all really here. Plus, James does a deep dive on the changing nature of comedy, from the conservative era post-9/11 in which he and Katie had to fight to get progressive voices heard, to the leftist scene in the Obama years, and the swing back right in the 2020s. He explains how, similar to left journalism, the progressive comedy space is spread thin, losing ground to a smaller and more cohesive (and heavily funded) right. Subscribe for the full episode where James gives a roadmap for the left to escape this rut, shares his path as a gay man in comedy, and teaches us about the history of oppression in his family’s country of Armenia (okay, maybe it wasn’t all so lighthearted). You can watch James’ hilarious new standup special here. USEFUL IDIOTS NEWS: We have a bonus interview coming out later today with Cornell student Momodou Taal, who Cornell is attempting to deport for his pro-Palestine protests. Stay tuned. 00:00 Intro 01:14 Two presidents admit to foreign interference 27:45 Aaron returns to Piers Morgan 36:12 James Adomian interview 36:38 A comedian's take on 2024 42:46 Jesse Ventura's endorsement 44:30 Dems' ballot censorship 47:04 Did Bernie Sanders sell out? 50:21 Elon Musk's fascist girlfriend 52:29 Jordan Peterson on Elon Musk 53:28 What's happening in Armenia? Our Sponsors: * Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com * Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.ag Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 5m
  6. SEP 20

    The Most Evil Thing I Have Ever Seen – with Ret. Marine Jim Webb

    Click here for the full interview with Jim Webb: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/the-most-evil-thing-i-have-ever-seen?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: Hillary Clinton Wants to Lock Herself Up https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/hillary-clinton-wants-to-lock-herself?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Retired US Marine Jim Webb joins Useful Idiots to give a military analysis of America’s neoliberal wars waged around the world. If you miss history class or are fascinated by combat strategy and the decisions of generals, this episode is for you. We start in Ukraine, where everyone waited anxiously this week as Joe Biden teased a dangerous message to Ukraine: the approval of shooting long-range Western missiles into Russia. In the past month, Biden’s hawkish policy showed he was increasingly flirting with the idea, but Webb explains: “There were leaks leading up to this meeting between Biden and Keir Starmer last week saying that a decision was pretty much imminent, but it didn't happen. And it didn't happen after Vladimir Putin said that if Biden approves this, then basically the U.S. will be at war with Russia.” And it’s this waning end of hope for Ukraine, with desperate attempts at surprise attacks, forced conscriptions, and escalated war tactics, that Webb describes as the latest failure in the Washington neoliberal war machine. “We just don't know how bad the war is,” Webb says. “The lengths that the U.S. has taken to ensure the Ukrainians stay on the battlefield.” And that machine knows that as the number of killed Ukrainians skyrockets into the hundreds of thousands, their clutch of control will finally slip. “The descendants of Hillary Clinton's State Department are still driving the bus. And it's the last grasp, the last dying breaths of a really hardcore neoliberal element that is in control. They know that if this fails, then their entire project across the world is going to come into intense scrutiny, beginning with Ukraine.” So Webb gives a military history of the conflict, explaining the strategic (and nonstrategic) decisions made by each side that brought us to this point, and maps out how the upcoming decisions of Biden, Putin, and Zelensky could lead to peace or to war. He also answers the burning question: What will be the foreign policy difference between a President Harris and a President Trump? Subscribe for the full interview with Jim Webb where he explains who really started the Russia-Ukraine War, how Ukraine’s Kursk invasion was actually a trap laid by Russia, and why Israel’s string of pager explosions should be considered a terrorist attack. 00:00 Intro 01:11 Congress calls Israel's civilian terrorist attack "innovative" 18:23 Jim Webb interview 19:30 Biden calls of long-range missiles 23:06 Zelensky's strategy 28:13 Victoria Nuland's accidental truth 33:06 Do the Ukrainians target civilian areas? 34:46 The Kursk invasion was a TRAP 39:19 The Monty Python Warplan 41:38 West blames Zelensky for everything 43:50 Are the neoliberals losing? 48:26 Ukraine's forced conscriptions 50:21 Who started the war? Our Sponsors: * Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com * Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.ag Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    54 min
  7. SEP 13

    Here’s Why Trump and Harris Both Fail on Immigration

    Click here for the full interview with John Washington: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-heres-why-trump?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: We found the WORST moment of the debate (and it’s not about pets) https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/we-found-the-worst-moment-of-the?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Eight years ago, people were shocked at the insanity of the Trump campaign and his xenophobic border policies, pining for a more civil age where debates were proper and kids weren’t kept in cages. In 2024, those days seem simpler. John Washington, staff writer at Arizona Luminaria and author of The Case for Open Borders, joins Useful and reports something that may seem hard to believe: Trump’s campaign promises in 2016 are actually more progressive than either of the candidates’ we saw in this week’s debate. “Kamala Harris,” he says, “has wholeheartedly embraced policies that are to the right of where Trump was when he took office in 2016.” And it was all there in the debate. When Trump attacked her for being soft on the border, she didn’t argue that America is a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants. In fact, she didn’t talk about immigrants at all. “She talked about drug smugglers, human traffickers, and people who illegally crossed the border. But she didn't really give any idea of America as a nation of immigrants, which is the most boilerplate standard go-to on the left.” But in the past three years, what the US considers ‘left’ has shifted drastically. “It's also important to remember where we started,” Washington says. “At the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, they were asking for a hundred-day moratorium on deportations. Now they've gone way past the center and are at the right.” The Biden administration in a single term has already deported or expelled over three million people. “He's taken the mantle of Deporter in Chief,” a title that was previously held by Barack Obama. And as we heard in the debate, Kamala Harris is following in his footsteps. “The policies that she is fighting for are vehemently anti-immigrant. They would raise the asylum threshold, build more wall. They would put more surveillance technology on the U.S.-Mexico border. They would detain people for longer.” Tell us, Democrats, which of those things counts as a lesser evil than Donald Trump? Subscribe for the full interview with John Washington, where he describes the violent reality at the border, how the media is spinning it to protect Biden and Harris, and how borders affect what is happening today in Gaza. 00:00 Intro 00:28 Dems love Dick Cheney now 15:10 John Washington interview 16:05 Are they eating the pets? 19:29 Is Kamala Harris different than Trump? 23:01 The case for open borders 32:52 Do open borders make countries poorer? 39:49 Why should I have to pay for immigrants coming here? 43:49 The contribution to society Our Sponsors: * Check out American Giant and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.american-giant.com * Check out MyBookie and use my code USEFUL for a great deal: www.mybookie.ag Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    45 min
  8. SEP 6

    Israel’s Sadistic Frenzy of Hate and Revenge – with Israeli activist Sarit Michaeli

    Click here for the full interview with Sarit Michaeli: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-israels-sadistic?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: AOC vs Predator – Is Anti-Genocide a Predatory Stance? https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/aoc-vs-predator-is-anti-genocide?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com Join us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to. If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee! Though Western media has barely covered it, Israeli soldiers engaged in what can only be described as a gang rape of a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman, an Israeli military prison in the Negev desert, which Israeli media has dubbed the Israeli Guantanamo Bay. When Israeli police detained soldiers who engaged in the rape, which was recorded and broadcast on Israeli TV, Israeli citizens, including Israeli politicians, protested not the rape but rather the attempt to hold the rapists accountable. In addition to these "right to rape" protests, the governemnt has given the rapes its blessing. Hanoch Milwidsky, a member of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, said during a session of the Knesset, that “to insert a stick into a person’s rectum” is "legitimate."  A one off gang rape would be bad enough. But the truth is this is merely one example of a systemic epidemic of abuse. In fact, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a haunting report on the Israeli prison system which it described as “a network of torture camps.” The title of the report is what an Israeli jailer told a Palestinian prisoner when he arrived at one of these torture camps: Welcome to Hell.  To learn more about this hell, we spoke to Sarit Michaeli, the international advocacy lead for B’tselem, which focuses on human rights abuses in the occupied territories. The abuse suffered by Palestinian prisoners was not random. Rather, “the most gruesome accounts” of the victims revealed “the systemic nature of what has been happening in the Israeli prison system. After October seventh, Israel turned the prison system that deals with Palestinians into a network of torture camps.” This is not a case of a few rogue actors or bad apples: “The most important thing,” says Michaeli, “is that none of this is the result of individual actions by any sort of individual prison guard. These are systemic actions inspired by [National Security] Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.” And while the torture may have been inspired by Ben Gvir, it's approved of and encouraged by the Israeli government.  The testimony of the Palestinian detainees is harrowing. Fadi Baker, a 25 year old father and lawyer recalled, "they put cigarettes out in my mouth and on my body. They put clamps on my testicles that were attached to something heavy. It went on like that for a whole day. My testicles swelled up." Another detainee witnessed the killing of a Palestinian prisoner:  "He screamed in pain constantly, begging for the doctor. The guard would come now and then and swear at him and tell him to shut up. In the morning, the guards came to count us. One said, 'Get up, you animal. Get up, you dog.' They checked him, and the whole place went silent. Finally, the doctor said, 'There’s nothing to be done.' One of the guards said to them, 'My condolences.' And they all started laughing. They put him in a black body bag and carried him out like trash." Eighteen year old Muhammad Nazzal recalls, "they kicked us and hit us with metal batons. Every time I tried to cover my head with my hand

    1h 4m
4.5
out of 5
4,331 Ratings

About

Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature analysis of the political news of the week and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of why both Republicans and Democrats suck. Join Aaron and Katie as they examine important stories that have slipped through the cracks and what the media got wrong – and laugh about whatever is left to laugh about.

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada