In short
Retired Green Beret Anthony Aguilar alleges that a Gaza humanitarian-aid operation tied to UG Solutions and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) violated international law and involved war crimes, including using razor wire around civilian distribution sites, herding crowds with pepper spray, stun grenades, tear gas, and live ammunition warning shots, and building sites inside active combat zones. He also disputes GHF/UG Solutions’ claims about his conduct and says he resigned due to safety/legal concerns.
Guest backgrounds
Anthony Aguilar is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and former Green Beret with 12 deployments (9 combat) across Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Tajikistan, and Southeast Asia; Purple Heart recipient (wounded in Mosul, 2005).
Key claims
Gaza distribution sites were pre-built by the IDF without proper contractor input; razor wire allegedly violates Geneva Convention rules for civilian areas; crowds were controlled with non-lethal munitions and live-fire warning shots; he says Amir, a starving boy at Site 2, was killed during the crowd-control shooting.
Notable examples
Amir at Site 2 (May 28) taking scraps from the ground and kissing Aguilar’s hand; alleged shooting of children off a berm; Aguilar’s Signal messages and a June 13 termination letter he says contradicts “fired” claims.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOHosts Welcome Listeners
0:40 to 1:56
Hosts Sagar and Krystal discuss the role of independent media.
“I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.”
Introducing Anthony Aguilar
2:08 to 2:31
Hosts introduce guest Anthony Aguilar, a retired Green Beret.
“We are very fortunate to be joined in studio this morning by Anthony Aguilar.”
Anthony's Background and Mission
2:31 to 4:25
Anthony shares his experiences leading to working in Gaza.
“Just tell us a little bit about you and how you came to be working in Gaza with GHF to begin with.”
Concerns About Operations in Gaza
4:25 to 6:44
Anthony discusses the legality and safety of operations in Gaza.
“what do you see first day, first impressions?”
Initial Impressions of Distribution Sites
6:44 to 10:15
Anthony describes his first day and observations at Gaza distribution sites.
“We weren't there on a, you know, and I thoroughly looked this up because I was concerned because I asked them, I said, when I did my visa and we came here and they stamped my visa and I read it, it says B2 entry visa.”
Encounter with Amir
10:15 to 14:03
A touching story about a young boy named Amir during aid distribution.
“First, when we approach the site, Now, I'll remember this for the rest of my life as we're driving down the Philadelphia corridor heading towards the Mediterranean.”
Witnessing War Crimes in Gaza
14:03 to 27:50
Learn about first-hand accounts of war crimes and humanitarian crises in Gaza.
“Does that little boy look like he had anything to do with the Hamas attacks on October 7th?”
Introduction to Various Podcasts
28:00 to 29:41
Learn about different podcasts focusing on personal experiences and storytelling.
“I'm Julie Pinheiro and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first.”
Introducing The Survivor Files
29:41 to 30:50
Elizabeth Smart shares her journey and highlights the stories of survivors.
“If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home.”
Discussion on Gaza Aid and Whistleblower Accusations
30:50 to 42:00
A whistleblower discusses allegations and challenges surrounding humanitarian work in Gaza.
“specifically highlighted some signal messages.”
Show all 14 chapters
Whistleblower's Experiences in Israel
42:00 to 46:09
Learn about the whistleblower's promotion and experiences while in Israel during conflict.
“And he says, I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America, the foregoing is true and correct.”
Concerns About Funding and Operations
46:10 to 49:44
Explore the concerns regarding the funding of operations and the implications of military contracts.
“To date, no one can figure out where the funding is coming from to include the United States government.”
Critique of Humanitarian Operations in Gaza
49:45 to 51:09
Discuss the inefficacy of current humanitarian operations and the need for professional aid.
“And I would ask this to anybody, who is Hamas?”
Closing Thoughts on War and Responsibility
51:10 to 51:45
Hear the conversation about the war's implications and the responsibility of allies.
“So it's been described as a war of annihilation.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:40I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse.
1:26Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions. Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Sagar and Crystal here. Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election, and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
1:56So if that is something that's important to you, please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member today, and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad-free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox. We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at BreakingPoints.com. We are very fortunate to be joined in studio this morning by Anthony Aguilar. He has been speaking out about what he saw as part of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. He's also a retired military veteran, former Green Beret. Welcome. Glad to have you. Good to see you, Sarah.
2:30Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Just tell us a little bit about you and how you came to be working in Gaza with GHF to begin with. So recently retired, living in North Carolina. I was called by UG Solutions in mid-May, May 13th. They were specifically looking for individuals with a special operations background who were recently retired or had recently left the service that had currency. I had just retired in March, so they called me. When they first called me, I had never heard of UG Solutions. and to me that was a little bit odd because I've been pretty familiar with contracting companies.
3:14So I did some research and I got back to them and I said, hey, I'm interested. Give me your 30-second pitch. And they said, hey, we're going to go into Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. Our company was selected to do the Nessarim Corridor mission, the checkpoint in January through March, and we got selected to go back and do this humanitarian aid. So that's how I got hired and ended up about three days later, ended up on a plane to Gaza. Wow. And so just again, just to give your background, your Lieutenant Colonel retired from the U.S. Armed Forces. You served in the Green Beret. How many tours abroad can you do?
3:49Just establish your military record for us. So a total of 12 deployments. Nine of those were combat deployments. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Southern Philippines, all throughout Southeast Asia. and Purple Heart recipient. I was wounded in combat in 2005 in Mosul, Iraq, and I commanded at every level from when I commissioned out of West Point as an infantry officer through my time trying out and being selected for special forces and then commanding through special forces up to the battalion level before I eventually retired. Got it. So take us from the beginning. I know I watched your other interviews.
4:27You came in on a tourist visa. Correct. And where do you go? what do you see first day, first impressions? First day, first impressions, not impressed. Things coming into the airport in Tel Aviv were very disorganized. We waited there for a very long time. It became evident to me that whomever was in charge of the processing for 277 tourist feature entrants under a company that did not do their due diligence and pre-coordination. So and then from there, we went to the went to the city of Ashdod, where we had a briefing and the questions that opened up the very first question I remember, because this question was asked when we were still in Virginia is, you know, leadership.
5:13We're here on a tourist visa. What are our rules of engagement? What are the escalation of force procedures? And what is our legal protections in Israel being armed as tourists? And the response to that was, why do you need to know that? If you're threatened, shoot. My response to that, I didn't ask the question. I'm sitting in the crowd, but I was physically aghast. I was just like, what? I was concerned. I cover the Pentagon, so just can you explain how extraordinary that is as somebody who served previously? how the U.S. Armed Forces, most other militaries, will set out very specifically rules of engagement for people like yourself while you're deployed in a combat situation.
5:56So UG Solutions as a subcontract for security is not a military organization. This is not a government contract, which is more concerning. If I go into a country, whether it's for combat operations or security operations, I'm protected by a status of forces agreement. and or Title X authority granted by the Constitution for me to be there as a combatant in war. I have legal protection. When I'm in Israel and I'm an American citizen on a tourist visa, I'm under the same status if my grandmother went to go visit Jerusalem. That's right. I'm just there as a tourist walking around and having an armed weapon or excuse me, a fully automatic weapon and armed.
6:36Immediately, day one, first step, don't pass go. So we are already violating international law right off the bat. We weren't there on a, you know, and I thoroughly looked this up because I was concerned because I asked them, I said, when I did my visa and we came here and they stamped my visa and I read it, it says B2 entry visa. And they're like, yeah, yeah. I was like, that's a tourist visa. And they're like, I don't think it is. I'm like, it says it clearly tourist. So that's concerning. It just seemed there was a lot of lack of understanding. I don't want to sound cruel, but ignorance in its definition.
7:15There was ignorance to the process. It almost seemed like if a child were given a project that was far beyond their means, that they just don't have the capacity to understand something of this magnitude. So your initial impression is one of incompetence, let's say, lack of planning. Yes. You get into Gaza. Gaza, you go to these distribution sites, and then what do you see that moves you from this is incompetent to this is a whore and in no way should American taxpayers be associated with it? That's a great question because I was with the first, not amongst the first or one of the first. I was with the very first group that went into Gaza to do a site assessment of each of the distribution sites.
8:03No Americans had been to these sites yet. but they were already built and already established. So it was kind of like the, hey, we built the house for you. Come get it. Not what was supposed to happen. We were supposed to have in-depth participation in the building and placement. Didn't happen. The IDF built them. I had my map. We're going to the locations. Prior to that, the Israeli Defense Forces had given us a brief on where they were conducting combat operations. Over 25 years in the Army, I've gotten pretty good at reading a map and looking at operational graphics. And when I saw where the sites were and I saw where the Israeli forces were operating, at first I couldn't believe it.
8:43I thought, maybe something's wrong. I'll wait what I get there. Because distribution sites, one, two, three, and four in central Gaza are all established within an active combat zone. So someone might say, well, all of Gaza is a war zone. I would disagree with that. But if we take that premise to be true, if all of Gaza is a war zone, there are certain areas where there is active combat operations. So particularly in the South, Operation Gideon's Chariots. It's an offensive operation, the idea for conducting as we speak. It's very violent. It's very aggressive. Tanks, infantry, rockets, missiles, artillery, and all three distribution sites in the South are directly in the middle of the primary engagement area of a combat zone.
9:32Again, a violation of the protocols of the Geneva Convention. Because you're asking starving people basically to have to walk kilometers through an active combat zone even to get to these distribution points. Yes, we are deliberately establishing a service, water, food, medicine. We are deliberately establishing a service that is designated for civilians in an area that then forces them to go through an operational combat zone to get to it. They were built that way. So when you see in the news and you hear about, oh, these things have become death traps, they were built as death traps from the very beginning.
10:12How soon do you realize this? Day one. Day one, you're on the ground. I go to the site. First, when we approach the site, Now, I'll remember this for the rest of my life as we're driving down the Philadelphia corridor heading towards the Mediterranean. Site number one is the furthest west. The road that breaks off to it is near a place that used to be called the Swedish Hospital, which is now leveled rubble. And as you take that right and you go towards the point, it's pretty open there. And as we approach the point, I can see that it's wrapped in what they call triple strand barbed wire common in the military.
10:44It's not uncommon to see that to protect an area. But as we approached it, what stuck out to me almost instantly was that it wasn't barbed wire. It wasn't concertina wire, which is often used for obstacles. It was razor wire. Razor wire is specifically annotated in the Geneva Convention that it cannot be used to surround or protect an area that's designated for civilian use. So tell us about, I know you've told this story before, but if you don't mind, our audience may not have heard it. Tell us about Amir and how this is sort of a breaking point. We have a photo of that. Yeah, we have a photo of that.
11:18And we also have some other images that you provided with our team with that we can put up on the screen. So this young boy is Amir. I do not speak Arabic fluently, but I do know a couple of key phrases. What's your name? How are you? Hello. Thank you. This is at distribution site number two on the 28th of May. The boy you see here, he was with the remaining of the group, what I call the eight minutes of madness, or the eight minutes of mayhem. In the first opening minutes of distribution, a crowd of eight to 9 ,000 people flood the site in one big wave. And within eight minutes, 25 ,000 boxes of aid are gone.
11:58Children, women, the disabled, the needy, the vulnerable, they get nothing. So as you can see in his hands, he doesn't have a box of aid. He doesn't have a meal or a box. He picked those things up off the ground, varying remnants of rice and beans. And as you can see in the first picture to the bottom right, he walks up to us. And I thought that maybe he was hurt or he was going to ask for more food or there was something wrong. But he walked up and he extended he extends his right hand to us. And he wasn't asking for anything. And myself and the other contractor standing next to me, we were like, you know, come forward.
12:38And we kind of walk to him and he reaches out. You see there, the first thing he did was reach out and kiss the gentleman next to me, kisses his hand. And then in the picture in the top right, that's my hand where he kissed my hand. He came up to us and kissed our hands. And in Arabic culture, that's very significant. It's a very significant sign of respect.
12:57I then put my hand on his shoulder, on his left shoulder there, as you see, and I could feel the bones. I could feel his ribs. I could feel that his skin was tight dehydration. I've felt that before. and the look of desperation in his eyes. And I put my hand on his shoulder and I said to him, you know, I looked into that picture that I've taken, I took that picture and I'm looking in his eyes and I'm looking at him and the look on his face and I tell him that, you know, the world cares. That people in this world care about you and you're not alone and you won't be abandoned. And the items he had in his hand, he set them down and he, and I kneeled so I could see him, so I could look at him and he sets his items down and he was, he seemed hopeful in his hands, his small hands.
13:49You know, this child is the age of my son, puts his hands on my face and he kisses me and he says, thank you in English. Thank you. To me, that was a very touching moment because in that moment I felt hope. I felt maybe we are going to make a difference. Maybe there is goodness here. Does that little boy look like he had anything to do with the Hamas attacks on October 7th? Right. I would say no. He then went back to the rest of the group. The process on each site, the standard process that became inherited from this, we have no rules, so we're just going to do what the IDF do. And this is because of a lack of leadership.
14:32As the civilians then leave the exit, the standard practice was then spraying with pepper spray into the crowd for no reason, no hostility, just getting them to go like, hey, everybody, it's time to go pepper spray, lobbing stun grenades. And these stun grenades are about the size of a softball. And when they explode, they emit rubber pellets and tear gas. They're not intended to be thrown into a crowd. The manufacturer is warning on these. They can say, do not use these unless you've been trained. do not throw them at a crowd. No one was trained. Who is doing this? Is it? UG Solutions contractors.
15:02We were the only ones that had them. Okay. Okay. On site, UG Solutions contractors are the only ones armed. The IDF are not on site. Okay. So stun grenades, pepper spray, and as they get to the gate, we then follow suit with the IDF with shooting warning shots at their feet over their heads into the berms to keep them going. The IDF have even said this in themselves, and there's IDF soldiers that have come out in the last week that have said, we have been ordered to fire warning shots as a crowd control method. Well, that's bingo. That's another war crime. Explicit in the Geneva Convention. So the UG Solutions contractors with lack of guidance just inherited that practice.
15:42So they're also firing warning, quote unquote, warning shots. Quote unquote, warning shots, which I'd like to say that is a misnomer. Yeah. Because a warning shot is a bullet. A warning shot is the same bullet you would kill somebody with. As they were leaving the site, IDF contract or UG Solutions contractors would shoot into the berms at the feet to keep them moving. In this particular instance, site number two is different than sites than the rest of the sites. Site four is kind of on its own. Open fields of fire. Site one, Mediterranean, open fields of fire. Site three, along Rafa, open fields of fire.
16:20Site two is set directly in the middle of site one and three. surrounded by berms on both sides because of the berms that are built up around sites two and three. So the exit to site two is completely obfuscated by a berm to where the IDF that are east of the location that shoot down the Morag Corridor Road, skipping bullets, can't see this side of the berm. They can't see it from that angle. It's what you would call an inner visibility line. So as the Palestinians are leaving and we're shooting and throwing stun grenades and they're panicking and running. They're then, as they hit the Morag corridor to the north and have to go left, have to go west to the coast, they're getting shot at at the intersection as they may have communication to keep them to go left.
17:02I suggested early on, how about we try a sign? How about we put a sign out there that says left or a bullhorn or a speaker? That costs too much money. So as they're being herded to the left with these controlled firing of ammunition, and again, this isn't hyperbole or something that I've just dreamed up. The IDF themselves have come forward and said that they do it. There's video. There's video of it. So as they're going that way and the shooting happens, this is the first time I had experienced that. When we did distribution on site one the day prior, the crowd rushed, we retreated, and there wasn't really much more than just a massive crowd that left.
17:42This was the first time I'd experienced that. So for me as a combat veteran, when I hear machine gun fire, and machine or assault rifle fire in rapid succession, I think, oh, we're being attacked. So I run up to the southern berm and I get into position and I'm looking like, what's going on? And as these Palestinians are leaving the site, you just see them hunkering down. You see bullets off the sand, off the berm. And this is on video. It's captured. And bullets then flying into the crowd. And you can see the crowd ducking and jumping. A 7.62 bullet kills. Yeah. And as the crowd rushes off and I'm looking, there are dead Palestinians and Amir is amongst them.
18:28This young child, old enough to be my son and for any American out there old enough to be your child, traveled eight kilometers from Kanyunis without shoes, without water, with pants being held up with a rope and walked all the way down the coastal corridor to the Morag corridor. another kilometer and a half down the Murad corridor and waited in the hot sun all day until the release was ready for them to roam down. And then by the time he got there, he got nothing except some scraps. And we had no water to give him because we weren't giving them water. Why didn't we give them any water? I asked that from day one because water costs too much because it's heavy and it costs more per load than it does for a box of food.
19:14it's it's indecent so
19:20are israeli defense forces committing war crimes and i mean that war crimes by definition not in a hyperbole or a you know a a phantasmatic reason of like oh war crimes by definition yeah the geneva convention international humanitarian law laws and conventions that we are signatory to violated just from where the sites are built, how they're built. The shooting of live ammunition at an unarmed civilian population to get them to move, it's verbatim. So are war crimes being committed? Yes. Is the United States with US citizens on a tourist visa in Gaza with live ammunition and bullets and stun grenades and tear gas using them against an unarmed population.
20:12Are we complicit and engaged in war crimes? Yes. This is not a matter of debate. These are facts. There's video, there's testimony. It's not only me coming forward as a witness, there are others. So at some point the world is going to wake up. They are France, Canada, the United Kingdom. They're all coming around to see the atrocity. Yes. Two days ago when they did airdrops over Jabalia for the first time, other airplanes besides IDF jets had the opportunity to see Gaza from above. First time anybody besides an Israeli jet got to see it. Because when anything comes into Tel Aviv, they either they either skirt around north to come in.
20:55Nothing goes over Gaza. So for the first time in a long time, other people other than the IDF got to see Gaza from above. And I think that shocked a lot of people. I think it shocked the president. I think it shocked the nation, the world, looking at that and being like, oh my God, what are we doing? What was it like for you to see it from the ground? Describe that Humvee ride. So we rode in these up-armored vehicles. They were called the Plassan Sankat. They were an armored vehicle that the Israeli Defense Forces provided to us. They're an Israeli vehicle, an Israeli army vehicle. So the first day when we drove in to the into gate 96 or excuse me, gate 231 to the Philadelphia corridor to go to the first site.
21:39A dear friend of mine who was on contract as well, who resigned in protest after the first day, retired Lieutenant Colonel Green Beret, combat veteran. Much respect for this gentleman. He and I are in the vehicle together. He's in the front. I'm in the there's like a jump seat in the middle. Yeah. And we're driving. And I have this on video. And he says, we drive in. And as soon as you take that first turn where you actually come around the wall, past Karim Shalom into Gaza, it opens up because you're elevated to the Mediterranean Sea. And it's just a vast wasteland, a dystopian wasteland of just leveled rubble and lifelessness.
22:17It's apocalyptic. And as soon as we came in, I saw it. I was speechless. and the individual that I was sharing with this, this other veteran who, who educated in warfare, he looks at it and he's like, I think we've gone far beyond proportionality. And I looked at it and I was like, I couldn't agree more. Like, and we were like, both of us kind of chatting. We're like, what is this? There's no signs of human life anywhere. As you drive past the homes that used to be there in Rafa along the Philadelphia corridor, homes, two or three stories that are leveled like Lincoln logs with couches still sticking out of the second floors, refrigerators, family pictures scattered into the rubble.
23:03These people didn't have time to leave. Everything is rubble. It was shocking to me. And as soon as I saw it, I felt
23:14the things that you hear on the news and you hear of the stories, it's worse than I thought. You know, what we hear sometimes from defenders is effectively, well, of course, war is hell. Of course, innocents, unfortunately, are killed as in the context of war. And we've heard comparisons made to U.S. actions in World War II. We've heard comparisons made to U.S. actions in Iraq, places like Fallujah, the urban combat there. What is your reflections on that comparison? Great question. I have being deployed as long as I have in the places I've seen and the destruction that I've witnessed, Mosul, Baghdad, Sadr City, Raqqa, Baghus Fakhani in Syria.
23:58I have never seen in my entire life. And if there's any veteran out there that wants to stand toe to toe and argue this with me, I would ask, have you been to Gaza? Not many of us have. Do you have the experience to compare that? Not many people do. It is the most brutal, unproportional use of force that I have seen in my entire military career. And I deployed a lot. So seeing that first impression in terms of the proportionality. The second piece was the in terms of, you know, where I've been, people that say war is hell. OK, so the people that say that that didn't serve in the military or have been in combat, I would say, what is your comparative reference?
24:45Because I'll tell you, war is hell. But when we commit war crimes, we hold people accountable. Did war crimes occur in World War Two? Yes. Did war crimes occur in Vietnam? Me lie. Yes. Did war crimes occur in the Gulf War? Yes. And at every opportunity, America has looked at that and said, we will hold our soldiers accountable. Now, in Gaza with the UGS, they're not soldiers, but they're still American citizens, and they're there on a tourist visa. They're even exposed to not just U.S. law, but international law. And I brought this to the leadership of the tension from the beginning. You are setting us all up for a lot of risk.
25:25Here's the other option. It takes some time and it costs money, but you can get this, it's called a general access visa to where if you're there as a subject matter expert or as invited by the government, it gets approved by the Ministry of Defense. It takes a little bit longer and it costs a lot more. When we went into Gaza with our tourist visa, we had to pay for it ourselves,$25. You can do it online. It takes about three minutes. Boom. You got a tourist visa. So you are rolling into Gaza with a fully automatic weapon in kit outlined as a tourist entering Gaza with no protection, as you're saying, provided here by the company.
Read the full transcript
26:06Now, before we get to that, I do want to give you some opportunities to also respond to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It's made some pretty serious accusations against you. But before we even get to that, I'm curious. Had you thought much about Israel-Palestine before we even went over there? Like, what were your views on the conflict? Yes. Your personal orientation? People are attacking you, so I want to give you the chance. Yeah, so when we first got to Israel, I thought it would be prudent and responsible to understand. Again, I'm not there as a combatant. I'm not there as a belligerent in war.
26:36But I felt it would be important to understand Israel's side of this. Now, has Hamas committed atrocities before October 7th? Sure. But as a point of reference, I went to Qabuts Biyari, which is outside Gate 96. Gate 96 is where Hamas busted through on October 7th. It's where you saw all the fighters coming through. And the first place they hit was Kibbutz Bieri. And it was brutal. Violent. Animals. Microwaving babies. Killing women and children. 333 dead. Horrible. And I went to the Nova Film Festival site. Horrible. Made me sick to my stomach. I absolutely understand the Israeli position on destroying Hamas.
27:17I don't think many people would argue with that. However, when we as a society, whether it's Israel, one of our closest allies, or us, or any Western democracy, when we label an entire population as the enemy, we have lost our soul. That's not how democracies engage in the world. So to anybody that says that I'm anti this or anti that, I'm not anti Israel. I'm not anti Palestine. I'm anti-war crimes and crimes against humanity. That's what I'm against. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.
28:00I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
28:49When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.
29:33But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Eli Rallo, and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having.
30:14I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. So obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters and that is a Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation did respond to some of the allegations that you've made and specifically highlighted some signal messages.
30:56So guys, can we go ahead and play F2 for a Colonel Aguilar, and then we will get his response. Let's take a listen, please. Now, Mr. Aguilar threatened UG Solutions with retribution if he wasn't hired back. And so the next day, on July 15th, he wrote that he could be, quote, your best friend or your worst nightmare. Stop effing around, put me back to work, and let's get this mission done. In a June 21st message, Mr. Aguilar cited his personal family needs when begging to be rehired. Mr. Aguilar ended the message with, quote, figure something out or I'm on a plane come Tuesday and the gloves are off.
31:39So first of all, sir, do you accept that those are real messages? Those are real messages and I wrote them. Okay. So they're real messages and you wrote them. I think you can understand how, given that, some of the signal messages, some sworn affidavits and others that have come out that they're calling you a liar, some of the people who served with you in this mission. So give us your response then for a reasonable explanation of why it looks like you're threatening the company after you were departed. So they claim you were fired. You said you left. So go ahead and respond. Absolutely. And I appreciate that.
32:11I always like to – when I travel, I always like to quote unquote have the receipts. So again, I'd just like to share a couple things because these were things that have been brought up directly. I'm just directly responding. So the signal chat messages I did write, the way they were picked were taken out of context. Okay. But to the audience, I would like to say, this is my termination letter. The metadata on this document shows the 12th of June, 2025. I wrote it at 738. I printed it at 742. Why would I write and print a document that I didn't submit? I submitted it over Signal Chat. Funny they didn't show that one.
32:59I gave it to the leadership. I handed it to them on the 13th of June. And I would like everybody to read this because what I find interesting is that UG Solutions and GHF continue to say they fired me. But to date, they have not produced a termination letter, an HR letter, nothing. Show me your receipts. I'll show you mine. Show me yours. Can I read that for the audience? Read it for the audience, please. All right, so the quote, this serves as my notification to UG Solutions of termination of my employment contract as independent contractor with UG Solutions in Israel, Gaza, effective 6-13-2025.
33:35My last day working will be Saturday, 14, June, 2025. Due to the nature of how operations are conducted, I can no longer support this operation. I submit this of my own accord, and I understand the contract obligations for equipment turn-in. Anthony Aguilar, 6-13-2025. Can I ask, when did you first raise concerns about what you were seeing? Day one. So how do you explain then some of the messages there where you were saying how proud you were to work for the GHF? Because that's another one of the six. So I want to clarify again. Yeah. I was not proud to work for GHF. I did not work for GHF. Or UG Solutions.
34:11UG Solutions. Right. That's who I was subcontracted to work for. Okay. One, I felt the mission was noble. Two, I'm a leader. Leaders don't complain down. They complain up. Did I bring my concerns to the leadership at the level above me? I absolutely did. But a lot of the of the contractors, a lot of the Americans that were there are people that I served with. Green Berets that I've served with men and women, Americans that I served with. Just because I retired from the army in March doesn't mean that I'm not, you know, I don't have those leader instincts anymore. Sure. I'm a leader. Yeah. Leaders don't don't proselytize the bad news.
34:49So things were horrible. However, there were moments where we were doing good. I have no qualm with the Americans that raised their right hand and wanted to go in and do this mission. For whatever their reason may have been, they volunteered to go into a very dangerous place. Hats off. My issue is with the leadership that are executing this mission for profit, who provided us with no legal protections, who provided us with no training or rules of engagement, who provided us with equipment way outside the means of conducting a humanitarian aid mission. That's who should be held accountable. So to that point, these positive messages, and then I'll get back to the ones that seem like I'm threatening the company.
35:37I was specifically tasked by the COO. I'm not going to say names. They know who they are. I'm going to respect these individuals. The chief operating officer in country. So UG Solutions had a COO in Israel and they had one back in North Carolina, kind of like a home team away team. On the first day of distribution, I shot a video of some Palestinian men cheering. Go. Yay, Trump. Yay, Trump. Netanyahu. We love you. They wanted me to film it. I did. I showed that to John when we got back to the headquarters and he said, that's awesome. Transfer that video to me. I said, sure, I will. And they send it to the, it goes to President Trump.
36:14It goes to Bibi Netanyahu. They watched it. President Trump watched it at his desk. And they said, you for now on, and I have this in writing for now on you, when you go to location, you're going to take pictures and you're going to take video and you're going to bring them back. And we're going to put them in this Google drive because we want to tell the story. We want to tell the truth. Well, you got the truth. You don't get to pick and parcel what the truth is. Sometimes it's nice. Sometimes it's not. So pictures that we saw, I saw, I saw some of the most heartwarming things I've seen in my life.
36:47Like Amir, my heart melts. Did he die? Yes, but not at the hands of UG Solutions. Here's the breakdown. UG Solutions broke down their teams into a static team that stayed on site and a mobile team. The mobile team at each site, that message that I sent, great job. That wasn't to UG Solutions headquarters. That wasn't to GHF. That was specifically to the mobile team operators. Because on that day, when they heard the shooting, they're in armored trucks about 800 meters back and all they see is the shooting. And then they hear things on the news, 27 people dead and taken to the Al Nasser hospital.
37:26And they're like, man, what happened? What's going on? And I showed some of them this picture of like, hey, it is tragic and it is horrible. But look at what you did for this boy. Look at what you did for this boy. So the guys on mobile security that weren't there, that didn't see it, did I go up to them and be like, hey, this kid's dead? No. Look at what you've done, the positive things you've done, because that's what leaders do. Now, when GF, GHF did their press conference yesterday, it's completely understandable they don't understand leadership because none of them have ever done it. I'm not a finance manager.
37:59I'm not a PR firm director. I'm not a hedge fund manager. I don't own my own business. I don't have a podcast. I don't write books. I'm not in politics. What I say is the truth and there's no motive behind it. I'm not making money off of this. They're profiteers. So how do you explain the messages then? So the message was threatening. That message, the gloves are off, was taken out of context from a different conversation, signal chat conversation that I was specifically having with the COO stateside. I'm told there was two. COO stateside. And I have the rest of that conversation that they cut everything else of.
38:35On the last day of my employment, you read this letter. I was going to work to the 13th and I will work to the 14th. You don't just drop the ball on somebody. 14th. On the 14th, the contract leader came to my location in the North because we rotated. So I was in the Northern checkpoint. He comes to me and he says, what's with this resignation letter? Because I signaled it to him. And I was like, I can't work under UGS anymore. What I had done before that is that the chief operations officer for SRS had coordinated for me to work for the humanitarian assistance team under SRS, going away from UG, working humanitarian aid, not armed, delivering aid.
39:15That had already been worked out. So he comes up and he's like, he calls me a slurry of names. Some horrible names, you can only imagine. And he said, get out of here. So I was like, okay, so all of us, one of the comments they made in there is that I stayed in a hotel. We all stayed in a hotel. Every single UG contractor stayed in a hotel. That's where we lived. So I go back to the hotel. I get a call from Nate Potter asking me to stay on, asking me to stay to work. What happened on that day is a senior UG Solutions staff member, an adult, slapped me in the face and knocked my phone out of my hand because after I was told get out of here this individual and I won't name him but they know he's he's even in this letter as the you know they they understood the claim of misconduct he slaps me that conversation of the gloves are off had to do with my concerns for legal action because I explained to Nate Potter, I said, he slapped me.
40:20He broke my phone. That is assault consummated by battery. And I was told by them, well, he didn't, we talked to him and he said, he didn't hit you that hard.
40:32So now are they, are they threatening you with legal action at this point? To date, I have not received anything in writing. I have received threats over the phone, So July 4th, July 5th, I can't remember the exact date. UG Solutions CEO and COO, the person I talked to on the phone, called me. And they had said like, hey, we know in the previous anonymous media sources that was you. And I want to tell America right now there's been four other anonymous contractors that have come out. It's not me. There are other contractors that have seen what I've seen. So people are coming out. So I do want to give you a response to this.
41:14They released an affidavit, which was a sworn affidavit, from somebody who worked with you. And I'm going to read directly. They say, My working relationship with Tony Aguilar began when we both served as team leaders. I observed his demeanor was often frantic and overly energetic, which contrasted with the common professional conduct expected in an operations center environment. His loud, rapid speech and rambling communication style frequently created a chaotic atmosphere, causing discomfort among colleagues. He created chaos in an environment which should be calm and controlled. Further challenges arose when he was removed as position as assistant country team leader, a role I was promoted to replace him in.
41:47So I assume you know who this individual is. He constantly deviated from our established communication plan, overlooked critical details by communicating with mobility. Effectively, it goes on to address your claims around non-lethal munitions usage specifically. And he says, I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America, the foregoing is true and correct. So how do you respond to that? Or the person who did replace you? I don't know who that person is. Okay. Because the position that I was in. They did black their name out. I should have that for the American public.
42:16Yeah. They redacted everything. Yeah. So here I am, name on the table. Who said that? I don't know. Yeah. Okay. So nobody replaced me because they created a position for me while I was there. Came into country. On the 20th, they promoted me from site security operator to joint tactical operations center team leader. Pay bump, promotion. On the 27th of May, after the second in charge left, they offered me that job. And when I told them that I didn't feel comfortable taking on that role, that someone needed to keep hands on the wheels for the operations, they said, well, we're going to keep you in that role, but we want to pay you the assistant team leader rate.
43:03We want to pay you that much. So in a mere six days, they promoted me twice and bumped my pay up twice. After everything finished, after all these affidavits and these sworn affidavits and everything else, after being promoted twice, after a phone call from the assistant country team leader on the 12th of June telling me, hey, you've been like, you're such a valuable asset to the team in the center in the north because Site 4 is going to get a lot more activity. We want you to move up there. You're doing great. After everything is said and done, the 25th of June, when I was leaving the country, mind you, on the 14th, Iran and Israel went to war.
43:47So I'm in Israel receiving rockets every day in Beersheba. When it was finally time to leave, the headquarters of UG Solutions, the headquarters, sends me this letter. And I would like you to read the first paragraph and ask the audience, does that sound like someone that was fired? Dear Tony, as your engagement with UG Solutions concludes, we extend our gratitude for your contributions to our mission in Israel and Gaza. We appreciate your flexibility and adaptability through the deployment and your willingness to support the mission in a variety of ways. while your current assignment ends. Please let us know if you're interested in future opportunities with UG Solutions.
44:24Would an employer offer a future opportunity to work with UG Solutions if they had fired me? Fair enough. I'm just asking the question. That's the final, and I understand this all sounds tedious, but I do believe that your story is so important that to address the accusations against you are vital in establishing your credibility for everything that you've said. So I just want you to understand that, and the audience understand that as well. I appreciate the opportunity. The signal message also was a claim that you tried to get your job back as recently as two weeks. Well, then what did the message, the message that they put in there was that you were asking for re-employment.
44:57So how do you explain that? Two weeks later? Yes. Yeah. So I, again, in this packet that they put out, everything is redacted. So I need to see that. I recall when this letter was sent to me And when the COO and COO called me on the 4th of July, what the signal message that they didn't include or the piece they didn't include to the rest of that, I wasn't asking for my job back. I said to them, I appreciate the opportunity and the offer. I cannot work with UG Solutions. Our values do not align. I cannot and I will not. I respect the intent of the mission. I cannot work with individuals that throw safety, laws, protocol out the window.
45:47They didn't include that one. Got it. Yeah. And so we'll wrap up here soon because I know I appreciate you taking the time with us. What was your sense of who was in charge? Like was GHUG Solutions running the show? Who were they answering to? who was responsible for the setup in this way? Where is the funding coming from? What is your understanding of that? To date, no one can figure out where the funding is coming from to include the United States government. Our Congress has been asking GHF and whoever its backer is to reveal who's paying for this. So to date, that question, it's a million dollar question.
46:31Who's funding it. Show us your books. They refuse to. So I don't know. GHF is an idea. The only people to GHF are Johnny Moore in a microphone and his PR guy. That's what GHF is. SRS as the contract has all of the people doing the work. How they're getting paid, I don't know. But I do know because this was said to me to my face after I witnessed an Israeli liaison officer telling his snipers to open fire on three children to get them off of a berm on site number two. I witnessed this. I was in the operations center. The gentleman, the COO or the, I don't know what positions they had for SRS because that was, I didn't work for them, but a person that was in charge of operations in the control center, beckoned over to me.
47:27We go outside and he says, because the Israeli officer was like, shoot them, shoot them. And I was like, no, this individual then tells me never say no to the client. And I asked him, I was like, I'm confused. Like walk me through this. What do you mean? Who's the client? He said, the IDF are our client. Never say no to the client. And I was like, the IDF are our client? I was like, are you telling me that this entire contract, like the IDF? He was like, we're not going to get into that. But the IDF are our client. So we have a combatant in a war who is our client who dictate every site, where we deliver, when we deliver, how we deliver, who we deliver it to.
48:06While they're engaged in a war, with all of these issues going on that are just, at this point, just fact. It's concerning. It has to be looked at. If you could get a message to President Trump, what would you tell him about this operation, about our support of Israel's action in Gaza in general? What would you want him to know? What would you want him to do? My message to the president, I think it was a very positive step that he came out last week to say that there is starvation in Gaza because there is. And anybody that says different, shame on you. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation needs to be defunded.
48:51It needs to stop. It is not humanitarian. They aren't built to do humanitarian aid. Humanitarian assistance and humanitarian aid aren't things you do as a weekend job. Professionals do this. There's an organization out there that is full of professionals that have been doing this for 80 years. An organization that we created. And that organization is called the United Nations. and they're waiting. The United Nations can deliver 500 trucks a day at 400 sites and deliver food to 2.1 million people a day. The reason they can't go in is because Israel proclaimed they're giving all the food to Hamas.
49:27Well, over the last week of investigations, two agencies within Israel, the USAID, Western nations have all said that that's not true. So the premise of having the Gaza humanitarian fund exist has now been debunked. While you were there, did you ever witness Hamas stealing the aid? No. And I would ask this to anybody, who is Hamas? Do they walk around wearing a Hamas t-shirt? Do they give you a business card? Hey, I'm Hamas. How do you know? In all of my time on every site, I never once witnessed anyone armed, anyone violent, anyone hostile. In my entire days in Gaza, I didn't fire my weapon one time, never threw one stun grenade or fired one spray of tear gas because I didn't need to.
50:13I was greeted with hugs and thank yous and gratitude. Even people starving that didn't get food were thankful. These they're not to say that all of all of Gaza is Hamas is irresponsible. And what I would say to our president is that we cannot go down that road. I clearly understand that Israel is one of our closest allies and I respect that. But what do allies do? You sit down with your allies and you say, stop. We did that in World War II with all the allies. Like, hey, don't, you shouldn't do that. I mean, there were instances where the United States committed war crimes in World War II and the United Kingdom and Britain was like, that's pretty bad.
50:53Stop. Okay. As an ally, We have a responsibility to take our ally and say, don't do this. If we continue to encourage them and fund them and what they're doing, we're going down a dangerous road. And to all the Americans out there that are listening, you're paying for it. Your tax dollars are paying for it. Keep that in mind. So it's been described as a war of annihilation. Is that something that you agree with? I would absolutely. how it's going right now, yes, it is a war of annihilation. Annihilation of the people, annihilation of the infrastructure, annihilation of the land, annihilation of every living thing, without a doubt.
51:35Anthony, thank you so much for speaking out. Thank you for spending some time with us. I appreciate the time. Thanks for your time, Anthony. We really appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thanks so much for watching, guys. We appreciate it. We'll have a Friday show for everybody tomorrow. See you then.
51:59On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
52:34If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet and pop culture with your favorite writers, book talk creators and plenty of overthought opinions. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are The Survivor Files Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable abducted, stalked, controlled and nearly silenced These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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From the publisher
Krystal and Saagar discuss Green Beret whistleblower joins to discuss Gaza aid site war crimes.
Fox News is now reporting that the boy "Amir" Aguilar reported to have seen shot has been located unharmed. https://www.foxnews.com/world/exclusive-video-reveals-gaza-boy-said-killed-idf-alive
Owen Jones: https://www.youtube.com/@UCSYCo8uRGF39qDCxF870K5Q
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