431. Question Time: Netanyahu’s Survival, Deadly Clashes in Syria, and Japan’s "Deep State"

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1:32Welcome to the Reciprojects question time with me, Alistair Kamel. And with me, Rory Stewart, and here we are, Alistair. First one, Andy Kidd, a member from Bristol. Please can we have an update on what's currently going on in Syria? There seems to have been some tension brewing there again, but not widely reported. A shared post on LinkedIn of all places, alerted me to it. Janice Membrubbingham, what's going on in Syria was the optimist about the new regime misplaced. What is Israel hoped to achieve fights attacks? I mean, let's start on this fact about it not being widely reported and being picked up on LinkedIn.

2:03I mean, is this a general trend? I mean, I've worried in the past about the fact that as the revenue streams of newspapers and televisions collapses, they have less and less money to pay for foreign correspondence and they're more and more driven by algorithms which reward reporting on, I don't know, whatever the Kardashians as opposed to Syria. And that tends to mean that some really big issues getting neglected. And I know one of them that you wanted to raise, we got quite a lot of questions on, was Japan as another example. Yeah, I mean, just our first of all, I want to answer to Andy's question, big shout out here to Alex Crawford, the war correspondent's guy, he's done some amazing stuff in Syria this week, really out there where the fighting is going on between the Druze and the Bedwins and the Syrian security forces, well, I mean, really, really has been unbelievably courageous and I saw some very good stuff from the BBC as well.

2:56So, I don't, I don't think that's fair. I don't know what media you consume, Andy, but I actually think that Syria has been a huge story this week quite rightly. And Janice's question about whether the optimist about the new regime was misplaced and what does Israel hope to achieve by its attacks? Well, if you listen to President Erdogan, who I listened to on TRT last night, He was absolutely scathing about the Israelis and said this is all about trying to prevent the success of the unified Syria coming together. The Israelis would say that they were in Netanyahu said that he was protecting what he called the Drew's brethren.

3:34But what do you make of your worry? Shout out also to Charles Lister, who's done some wonderful reporting on this, who's a real Syria expert. But very, very quick explainer in response to those questions, what's going on in Syria? Over the last 10 days, in the south of Syria, around a big city called Swadea, which is dominated by the Druze, and the Druze just remind people, are a minority religious sect, an esoteric, quite mysterious, but related to Islam. It began with somebody from a sunny Bedouin tribe, a Bedouin of obviously being traditionally nomadic Arabic communities, as seizing a Druze truck, and essentially robbing the truck and beating up the truck driver.

4:14That was then followed by Subeduin being abducted by the Druze and the beginning of fighting between the Beduin and Druze communities. And the reason why this was important is that Syria is struggling to reunify. The Druze in the South, people will also remember the fights with the the Aloites. The Kurds control a lot of Northeas Syria and the challenge for the central government is how do you bring together of country which has all these different ethnic and sectarian divisions. So Syrian government claims that they had been speaking to Israel and the US about this and they had thought because Al -Shara had been at a meeting where he'd actually in Azerbaijan sat down with the Israeli government and thought that he'd got agreement from the Israeli government that it was important for the Syrian state to have control over the country otherwise the whole thing fragments.

5:05So Syrian military deployed the Jews executed nine Syrian soldiers on the roadside kidnapped I think ten others and then executed them Israeli bombs started landing around swader the Syrian army advanced they took swader They basically recaptured that part of Syria it was very brutal. There were clearly atrocities It was committed by the Druze, but also atrocities committed by the Syrian army. There's a big debate about what happened in a hospital, which passed hands between the Druze and the Syrian army, in which people were killed. Almost certainly the final atrocities were probably committed by the Druze because they were the last people to control the hospital before that film was taken, but there's no doubt that there was horrible stuff going on on both sides.

5:54At which point Israel then bombed Damascus. So you'll remember it because we drove past that building when we were together in Damascus This is bang in the center of Damascus. It's like foot for British listeners It would be like bombing the M .O .D. main building on Whitehall right next to the House of Parliament So civil servants are in there going to work Three rockets go straight through it. Syrian army them withdraws and we're now in a situation where the droves have retaken control of the south of Syria around Swayda. The Syrian army has completely withdrawn. The Syrian government has basically had to give up on that.

6:31Big spillover effect, which is that they were in the middle of negotiations with the Kurds in northeast Syria, who control almost everything east of Fretis. The Kurds were increasingly drawing away from the Syrian government and have now made it clear that they have no interest whatsoever, and cooperating with reintegrating into Syrian state. The American government is very angry with Israel because remember, you remember very well, but listens remember, present Trump made this radical move to recognize al -Shara, this man with the South Qaeda past, and the US was really hoping that Syria was going to be part of its initiative in the Middle East and all the other Gulf countries from the UAE through the Saudi and Qatar, very much getting in behind al -Shara, also very critical of Israel.

7:17You know, Israel that was trying to rebrand itself in the last few weeks as a source of stability in the Middle East, they now think, wait a second, what an earth are you doing? You're basically guaranteeing that Syria is going to be a failed state. And that's what we are. It's very hard to know what Israel's motivations are in a lot of this, but just to give you one sense of some of the reform around ambassador, I don't know this guy. So maybe he's a well -known critic of, you know, I just don't know, but he was in Israeli ambassador. He was the the consul general in New York, I call Alan Pinkass.

7:47And he said this, this is an Aldous era. Of course, it's nice to pretend we're helping our friends the Druze in the same ways we never helped to other friends the Kurds. But he goes on to suggest that this is all about boosting Netanyahu's images of wartime leader, pushing back his corruption trial, which has happened, and reinforcing the delusion that Israel has somehow managed to reshape the Middle East through military force alone. Lastly, he doesn't want to see a unified Syria, which is the point that Erdogan was making as well. So there is cynicism amongst some, Netanyahu is out very, very clearly saying that this is about protecting the droos and so forth.

8:22But I think what's really I found fascinating was in, I watched Call Me Sadrary, I watched the Oval Office encounter between Donald Trump and the Crown Prince of Bahrain. And by the way, our theory that we talked about in the JD events series that he basically he wants to be the monarch. He introduced the crown prince by saying, he's the prime minister and the crown prince. I wonder which of those titles would I prepare it? It was me. I think I'd prefer the crown prince. And they were to talk about how great it was to think that you could get power just by being the son of the king. So anyway, when he was talking about this, he handed it straight over to Rubio and Rubio, Basie Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, was basically saying, This was a misunderstanding.

9:08There's been a misunderstanding and we're going to just try and sort this out as quickly as we can. It does appear for now to have been relatively stabilized, but what you saw if you're watching Alex Crawford on Sky News was that it's very, very tense and very, very volatile. I also want to say, to those people, we had so many of them, including Joey Barton. Do you know who Joey Barton is, Rory? No, you keep quaking Joey Barton, so I imagine. I don't quite hear him. He's a former footballer who has, shall we say, a certain reputation, but he was posting pictures of you and me and Al Sharer with all this stuff going on saying, you know, hey, look what you're mate is up to now.

9:46I'd just like to point out to our listeners and viewers that if we were to do an interview with Donald Trump, which we would love to do, it does not mean he's our mate. We will interview people who are in politics who are interesting. So there you go, Jay, that was just for you. Just on Israel, Rory, I think we've got to talk about Israel because we talked about it online the last couple of weeks, but, you know, briefly, the things have got worse. I mean, Rory, when you were in the military, answer me this question. When you were in the military, if you were told to fire a warning shot, where would you fire that shot?

10:20Well, the point about the warning shot is that it shouldn't hurt anybody. It's a Why so where would you fire it? Where would you point your gun? You pointed in the air yesterday dozens of people Including children were killed Cuing for food and medicine and so forth and they said that they fired warning shots Well, then what I heard David Lamy being interviewed today because either the statement in the comments yesterday There was the statement of 27 28 countries that had come together to condemn what's going on repeat everything about and the hostages out cease fire, get a ceasefire in the war, etc.

10:54The rhetoric is ramping up, but the more and more that it does, the more you get the sense that unless America really causes out, Lenya who thinks you can do what the early ones. Two quick things there. One is that America, I think, is genuine, the angry. I think Marco Rubio, in particular, was furious at what Israel did in Damascus. And actually, even for defenders in Lenya who this has been a very strange moment trying to justify what on earth they think they're doing and it's had a real effect on the region because all this story about how the future for the region is peace, stability, economic integration, which you would have heard a bit off off the back of the Bahrain Trump meeting that you watched.

11:35That is fracturing now because a lot of the Arab countries are beginning to think that if Israel is essentially attacking and fragmenting Syria, then all their plans for trying to create this more harmonious unified Middle East to be undermined. Second thing, I think it's very likely that Netanyahu will move to an election soon and may well win it. So I think there's a good scenario that he goes to the Israeli public saying I've had this great success in Lebanon against his Balar, I've had this great success in Iran and great Sunniqla weapons program and I'm going to announce the ceasefire, 60 days ceasefire in Gaza, some hostages get returned and I go to an election.

12:19And so there's a pretty good chance that he could re -emerge as the Prime Minister for the next few years, maybe with a coalition that doesn't include Smotch and Ben Gavir. And that again is really serious because any attempt for Israel to come to terms with what's happening, Garza, any attempt for Israel to try to rebuild relationships with the region, any hope of Israel beginning to think about futures for Palestinians is not possible so long as Netanyahu is there and the so serious chance he could come back in again for longer. It just shows you how volatile politics is and also how much of a survivor he is.

12:59I'm not convinced he would win, but I agree that he's absolutely back in with a chance of winning as opposed to just being in survival mode. If you go back to not long after October 7th it was sort of a matter of when, not if he goes. And now here he is, you know, in a much, much stronger position. Final thing on Joey Barton, I mean that's really interesting this stuff and you're right we got a lot of abuse As soon as anything happens in Syria there is an immediate move and it's often websites and accounts which are Russian It used to be UAE but not anymore now they've got behind Syrian account Israelis Iranian back to counts very very quick to move and attack al -Shara and indeed attack anyone like us who's ever interacted with him But of course, Joey Barton isn't really following what's happening in southern Syria, or in particular, one of the stories around the truth, which is this man, Hickmat Al -Hijluri, who was the big leader of this, and who's actually emerged stronger from it, and before got much more of the truth's community behind him.

13:59Because a lot of these people were pro -Assad, a lot of them were involved in the smuggling of drugs across the border, a lot of them are involved and secular military stuff, a lot of them worked for Israel on the past. It's a horrible situation, and nobody should be letting the Syrian regime off, who clearly committed atrocities, but equally. Nobody should be trying to suggest that the Jews are somehow sainz in this either, and the stakes for Syria could not be higher, because depending on everything that happened in the last 10 days, just goes to the heart of Is El Sharaz government going to be able to create stability and growths in Syria or is it going to collapse again into a failed state?

14:40And this certainly set it back a very, very long way. Okay, wait, let's go for a quick break and when we come back we'll talk about Japan and Superman will be at night in the same sentence.

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16:03Welcome back to the Restistar's Politics Question Time where Alistar wants us to go into some Godzilla movie which is combining Superman and Japan. So here we are, first question Ruby Bates. How is Alistar getting on with meeting Rory's challenge to address the issue of young men being drawn to the right, and even to out and out, or thorough tyrannism? Let's start on that and then we'll get on to Superman because there's a related question on Superman But how are you getting on with young men and the far right? Well, I'm getting on with it in that I'm talking to lots of them and I'm trying to work my way through what I think about it.

16:39I've also been Talking a lot to Peter Hyman who's been doing this huge study Talking to 17 year olds and finding out what they really think and we're putting the in the newsletter an article that the young guy he's been doing with wrote in, I think it was the observer, the weekend. One of the things I've been doing, which I want to push and promote today, is working on this a task force called the Lost Boys Task Force. And this was the idea of a guy called Paul Barber, who's the chief executive of Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club, and he brought a group of us together. And it was really interesting because we're all sort of in the same space that Garas Salategate was in and others have been about role models about mentors and what have you.

17:24But I think one of the things I was able to bring to is to say that, you know, be very, very clear with something like this is not government backed, but we're going to need government support. So be very, very clear about what you're calling for and why. And the thing we've allighted upon as the sort of first step is this what we call a trusted adult guarantee. And this is where, and this does need government backing and some government money. But what it essentially what it means that there are there are around about 630 ,000 young people in England who do not have What access to what is called a trusted adult that's somebody who they feels feels safe in going to Outside their family.

18:03There's a recognized kind of is a recognized position within advanced developed Modern societies tell us a little bit more about this trust. So this is not your dad This is what a school teacher or a football teacher It can be a football coach, it can be a family friend, it can be somebody in your workplace, but it's somebody that becomes known as your trusted adult, that you go to if you've got things you want to discuss that you feel you can't talk to your parents about. And so a lot of young men do see their teachers in this role. A lot of young men particularly see their sports teachers in this role, twice as many young men as young women, for example.

18:40And where the government will come in is in essentially embacking it in funding the training that goes with becoming, somebody who becomes a trusted adult at an education and sports setting and focusing first of all on boys who are growing up in poverty and then having a kind of national tracking system on the number of young people who got adults that they can speak to when they're struggling. And I don't know if you remember Garas' Southgate's dimwill be lecture, which was a lot of it was about, there's a lot of young men feuding lost and then they are very, very vulnerable to getting tapped up by these kind of right -wing influencers who are, frankly, most of them in it for themselves.

19:21So I think this is a good specific narrow point that we're going to try and take to government and get the government to back. I've of course seen it through the lens of having an eight -year -old and a ten -year -old son at the moment. My eight -year -old very, very interesting, just how much he really values the male teachers at his school and he's moving schools and he's just feels the loss of them so much. And you know he had an amazing, as an eight -year -old, credible sit down with one of them talking through so many issues. And yes, you're right partly it's one of them. So sports coach, he loves another one, so a deputy head, but it's lovely seeing these men who are just being...

20:06Yeah, they're great. I mean, I guess they're guys in their 30s and really, really kind and thoughtful with an eight -year -old. And it's wonderful to see. The other thing, of course, you see with young kids at the moment, this is obvious to every listener, but they are drenched in violence. their drenched in violence from movies, from video games, from toys, and even if you're not putting your kids directly in front of this, all their friends are watching that stuff. So you know, yeah, I can do all I can to shelter my kids, keep them away from the stuff on that on screens where I pants, you know, this, and anyone who hasn't listened to our Jonathan Heit and if you're on leading, please do because I think it's just extraordinary stuff on the influence of this.

20:53But even if I keep my way from screens, they will come back having spoken to their friends. And their friends are very, very quickly getting in, even at the age of eight, into influencers who are killing crocodiles, or influencers who are bodybuilders, even at seven, my little one was very, very excited by Anthony Joshua, who we interviewed on, on leading. This then raises the question, what are the values that they attach as they get older, who are they looking for in politicians? Because if you're living in a world which is saturated with the sort of hyper -aggressive images, figures, weapons, etc.

21:37Then who is it that you think is exciting? Who is it that you think is charismatic? Who is it that you look to by the time you are 16? which isn't very long away. And that's when he's six, yes, way back to New York. Yeah. And he's voting. Anyway, over to you. Well, as long as he votes Labour or with us, the main thing, what do you think of it as an idea that just to get this concept out there on the map, trusted adult guarantee is not an honest state. Government plays a role in training and in tracking. And particularly with people who would be identified as being vulnerable or living in, You know, poor circus.

22:15I think it's incredibly important, because, you know, if I can think of how important it is to my child's who isn't so many ways, so cherished, privileged, looked after how important it is to him, how much more important it is to people who are in vulnerable circumstances or in poverty, I think it's an amazing thing to do. I mean, yet again, you've got to work out how you do it effectively. I mean, what you do, what is nightmare bureaucracy, another set of paperwork for teachers and all the kind of nonsense that we get. But look, if we could imitate what I'm seeing with the best men and getting, I mean, part of it is also, unfortunately, getting more men teaching in primary schools.

22:54I mean, those are very, very female dominated spaces. Yeah, yeah. But I, some of the best contributions on the task force, quite big, there's about 20 of us on it, are actually young men who've been through really difficult times and have ended up turning their lives around in part with the help of a trusted adult outside the family who's, you know, sometimes a teacher, sometimes a coach, sometimes a family friend, whoever it might be. Anyway, I hope people check it out. Hopefully that's going to make a contribution. But the other question, Roy, on this theme, Harim, have either of you seen the new Superman film?

23:30If so, did you spot the pushback at some of the anti -woke, manned sphere ideas that seem to be taking hold among young men? And I got a fabulous email from a woman who said, I hope, I don't know if you're a fan of Superman, you said, I'm brackets, I'm not. But if you go and see it, you'll see that actually that it's, it's even got some subtle messages about Garza. And now don't if you saw that. So you went to see it. I did go to see Superman. And I think it's a lot of fun. I don't think you'd like it. I mean, you don't particularly like high tech stuff. I watched the Wushishanar and she did think that the first half of it, she got a bit put off by the violence and the high tech stuff.

24:06But is it developed? She was increasingly interested. And there is, I mean, And you know, it's pretty good at picking up on problems. And the first problem is that Superman is a celebrity hero who, from the very beginning, is being completely ground down by the modern world. So the whole thing is him being attacked on social media, all his motivations being challenged, made out as a villain, a society that's become completely sort of indifferent to the catastrophic issues surrounding it. So you get people working at their desks and outside the window are these kind of alien life forms being battled by Superman And they just don't care or they're taking little selfies in front of it There's a big push from our super villain who is again a kind of Elon Musk -like figure in the way that he's portrayed Lex Luce, he's a sort of tech guy who's got a lot of contracts with the Department of Defense and Who keeps saying the problem with Superman as he's an alien which explores another theme, which is his sense of inadequacy, his sense that Superman has somehow ruins his life by making him feel inadequate all the time.

25:17I also thought about it a great deal. I've just been partly inspired by you. I've been working on a BBC Radio 4 series called The Idea of the Hero from Achilles to Zelensky, which is coming out on the Fourth of August. So kind of week and a half's time where I've been trying to look at how ideas of heroes have changed through time and I think Superheroes are really really interesting examples of this because On the one hand, they're sort of role models, but on the other hand they're not very good role models because they are by definition Not really human. They don't have normal. They're not limited in the way that humans are They're not killed in the way that humans are and they actually create a completely unrealistic idea of good against bad you know, heroes against villains.

26:04The central part of the movie, which maybe you would enjoy, is that a sort of kind of Russian -style dictator is invading his neighbors. And his neighbors are basically, seem to be Afghans or Pakistanis. They're dressed in shower kameez that women have failed and it's them that Superman is defending. You know, it's interesting decision from a Hollywood filmmaker that the sort of victims, the heroic resistors are Muslims pretty. Well Roy, I haven't seen the film, but I have read the economist editorial about it. It points out that the director, James Gunner, apparently done an interview pointing out that Superman was an immigrant and that this was a story of basic human kindness, which sent the Maga crowd into overdrive saying the whole thing was woke and therefore nobody should go to see it.