The President's Daily Brief
November 29th, 2024: Iran Leverages ICC Ruling on Israel & Crypto CEO Sued Over Hamas Terrorism Allegations
Fri, 29 Nov 2024
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, and Iran takes advantage of the situation to push its own agenda. Victims of the October 7 Hamas attack file a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit in California against a major cryptocurrency CEO, accusing the platform of financing terrorism. The Biden administration urges Ukraine to bolster its military by drafting more troops and lowering the conscription age to 18. And in today’s Back of the Brief: Three Americans detained in China for years are released in a prisoner swap with Beijing. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the implications of the ICC's arrest warrants for Israel?
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Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. Today, we'll start things off with the latest on the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants against top Israeli officials and how Iran is seizing that moment to advance its own agenda. Hmm.
Later in the show, victims of the October 7th Hamas attacks filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit in California against a major cryptocurrency CEO, accusing the platform of funding Hamas terrorism. Plus, the Biden administration is pressing Ukraine to expand its military by drafting more troops and lowering the conscription age to 18.
And in today's Back of the Brief, three Americans detained in China for years now are free after a prisoner swap between Washington and Beijing. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. I want to begin with Iran and how Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime is attempting to use the International Criminal Court, the ICC, to isolate Israel on the global stage.
Chapter 2: How is Iran leveraging the ICC ruling?
Now, as you're likely aware, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Jov Gallant on November 21st for alleged war crimes related to the conflict in Gaza. Earlier this week, Khamenei reacted to the court's ruling, demanding even more extreme measures. Oh, well, thank you for those demands.
I mean, considering that Khamenei and his minions in the IRGC claim that the destruction of Israel is their primary objective, I can see him thinking that arrest warrants really aren't extreme enough. Khamenei said, quote, they issued an arrest warrant. That's not enough. Well, there you go. It's not enough. Death sentences must be issued for these criminal leaders, end quote.
Seriously, get a load of this guy. He's this top state sponsor of terrorism in the world. And now he wants the ICC to help him do his dirty work.
Despite the court stopping short of granting Khamenei's wish, senior officials in Tehran have hailed the ruling as the, quote, political death of Israel, saying that the warrants create a, quote, legal storm that will severely undermine Israel's standing in the global community and limit Netanyahu's ability to move freely around the world.
Well, Iran's reaction should come, frankly, as little surprise. Hopefully nobody was surprised. It offers a glimpse into the regime's strategy to leverage international law against the Jewish state. Now, mind you, they were equally excited when U.S. activists and Gormla students in the U.S., were holding pro-Hamas and anti-Jewish protests on campuses earlier in the year.
The ICC's ruling immediately divided European leaders, with several countries vowing to arrest Netanyahu if he sets foot on their soil, and other European leaders appearing somewhat torn about just how to proceed. According to a recent report by the Jerusalem Post, this is, of course, exactly the outcome that Iran was hoping for.
Now, while Iran is not a member of the ICC, and that's important to note, they are not a member of the ICC, observers say their hidden hand of influence can be seen in the court's actions against Israel. And here's where it gets interesting, and people should probably pay attention.
There's no smoking gun that proves a direct legal connection to the regime, but analysts say that this is because of Iran's shrewd use of proxies, particularly South Africa's government. Now, South Africa has been the driving force at the ICC targeting Israel, filing a genocide case against the Jewish state back in December of 2023.
That's just two months after Hamas launched their barbaric 7 October attacks. Now, some enterprising investigative journalists should dig into just what the South African government got in exchange for their backroom shilling for the Iranian regime.
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Chapter 3: What are the details of the lawsuit against the cryptocurrency CEO?
Chapter 4: What is the Biden administration's response regarding Ukraine's military draft?
Conservatives, OK, not without reason, see his rhetoric as part of a pattern of unaccountable spending with no clear strategy for resolution. The White House Office of Management and Budget is considering folding the aid into broader legislation to avert a 20 December government shutdown.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has indicated he intends to pursue a swift end to the conflict, questioning the wisdom of continued U.S. involvement and aid to Ukraine. All right, coming up in the back of the brief, some good news to end the week. See, it's not all bad news. China has released three Americans that the White House says were wrongfully detained.
I'll have those details when we come back. In today's back of the brief, three Americans wrongfully detained in China for years have been freed finally in a high stakes prisoner swap brokered by the Biden administration. According to the State Department, the freed Americans, Mark Sweden, Kylie and John Leon, are now in U.S.
custody and will soon reunite with their families after enduring years of imprisonment. On Wednesday, a National Security Council spokesperson hailed their release, stating, quote, Thanks to this administration's efforts and diplomacy with the People's Republic of China, all of the wrongfully detained Americans in the PRC are home, end quote.
According to Politico, the Americans were freed in a swap. involving unidentified Chinese nationals. Now, among the detainees, Mark Sweden's case was the most harrowing. According to the Texas Tribune, Sweden was detained in 2012 and sentenced to death in 2019 after Chinese authorities claimed to have found drugs with his driver and translator.
However, a UN report found no evidence linking Sweden to the drugs, and records showed he wasn't even in China at the time of the alleged offense. During his decade-long detention, Sweden endured what his mother described as, quote, physical and psychological torture. Li, detained in 2016, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage charges after traveling to Shanghai for a memorial service.
His son became a vocal advocate for his release, emphasizing his father's years of isolation in Chinese detention. The State Department classified Li and Sweden as both being wrongfully detained. Leung, an American citizen with permanent residency in Hong Kong, was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to life imprisonment on espionage charges in 2023.
According to CNN, the release comes just months after another American, Pastor David Lin, was freed in September following nearly two decades in Chinese detention. Lin's release was kept quiet to avoid derailing other negotiations. In light of the release, the U.S. lowered its travel advisory for mainland China to level two, urging travelers to exercise increased caution. Now, again, the U.S.
prisoners were exchanged reportedly for three Chinese prisoners being held in the U.S. And interestingly, the Chinese regime has not released the identities of the Chinese citizens involved in the exchange. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, 29 November. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com.
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