- 3 months ago
Fmr. Green Beret Who Worked at Gaza Food Sites Talks about Starvation and Genocide
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00:00The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.
00:06That's the dire warning issued today by the world's leading hunger monitor.
00:12This comes as the official death toll in Gaza has topped 60,000, but that's widely viewed to be a vast undercount.
00:22At least 147 Palestinians, including 88 children, have starved to death.
00:28Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied there's any starvation in Gaza.
00:33But on Monday, President Trump contradicted Netanyahu's claim.
00:38We can save a lot of people.
00:41I mean, some of those kids areâthat's real starvation stuff.
00:44I see it.
00:45And you can't fake that.
00:48In related news, a group of at least 21 U.S. senators has written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
00:57urging the U.S. to stop funding the shadowy U.S. and Israeli-backed so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,
01:05which was created to take over aid deliveries in Gaza, replacing the United Nations.
01:13Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen is the lead author of the letter.
01:17He appeared on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday and said the aid sites have been turned into death traps.
01:23American taxpayers should not be spending one penny to fund this private organization,
01:30backed by mercenaries and by the IDF, that has become a death trap.
01:36Over 1,000 people have died from being shot and killed as starving people crowd to try to get food at just these four sites.
01:45We're joined now in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Anthony Aguilar, a whistleblower who worked as a subcontractor in Gaza
01:55as part of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid delivery operation.
02:00He resigned from his job with UG Solutions after witnessing Palestinians being fatally shot as they sought food at aid sites.
02:09Anthony Aguilar is a retired lieutenant colonel who served for 25 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.
02:19Anthony, thanks so much for joining us on Democracy Now!
02:22Can you start off by talking about your experience in Gaza and telling us exactly what you saw?
02:33Thank you. It's an honor to be here and to share this story.
02:36I do not call this my story. I call this the story of the oppressed, the story of the Palestinians in Gaza who are dying at the hands of starvation and violence.
02:47What I witnessed in Gaza, I can only describe as a dystopian, post-apocalyptic wasteland.
02:55We, the United States, are complicit. We are involved, hand in hand, in the atrocities and the genocide that is currently undergoing in Gaza.
03:06For anyone who says that there is no starvation or mass hunger or that not only are we at the precipice, but we have stepped over the line of wide-scale famine,
03:18to anyone who says that that's not happening, shame on you. Shame on you. It's inhumane.
03:25What I witnessed in Gaza at all four distribution sites.
03:31I didn't just go to one for a photo op. I didn't go to one to watch a distribution and then say, yes, this looks great.
03:38I spent days on end in Gaza at all four distribution sites, at Kareem Shalom, where the aid is loaded for distribution,
03:49and at both operation centers that control the daily convoys, logistics, operations, and distribution for the four sites.
03:57What I saw on the sites, around the sites, to and from the sites, can be described as nothing but war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international law.
04:13This is not hyperbole. This is not platitudes or drama. This is the truth.
04:18I break that down by what I would describe as the sites themselves.
04:24I spoke to Senator Van Hollen last week, and we had a very frank discussion on the status of the sites and what's at these sites.
04:34The sites have not only become death traps, they were designed as death traps.
04:39All four distribution locations were intentionally, deliberately constructed, planned, and built
04:45in the middle of an active combat zone. Some may argue, well, all of Gaza is a war zone.
04:52That may be true. But there are parts of Gaza that are determined to be active operational combat zones
05:00where Israeli defense forces are operating. Those sites were built in the middle of those areas, intentionally.
05:08It's not by accident. That in and of itself, to designate humanitarian distribution sites to service an unarmed, starving population,
05:19to build them deliberately in an active combat zone, is a violation of the Geneva Convention protocols,
05:27it's a violation of humanitarian law, and in my opinion, it's a violation of humanity in general.
05:32The sites, not only where they were built, all four sites around the perimeter and the roads leading in and out
05:40are barricaded by razor wire. Not barbed wire, not concertina wire that we use in warfare for obstacle obstruction
05:49or for paths. Razor wire. Geneva Conventions specifically prohibit the use of razor wire to restrict areas that civilians are servicing.
06:01Hospitals, water points, few distribution points. And we're using it. Not only did the IDF provide it for us to use it on the sites,
06:10we, UG Solutions, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, asked for it specifically. Razor wire is designed to maim and kill.
06:17And we're using that to channelize and herd, if you will, thousands of unarmed, starving civilians. That's a war crime.
06:29The actions on the sites, escalation of force, no standard operating procedures to dictate that.
06:36No rules of engagement provided to the armed contractors on the ground.
06:41The indiscriminate use of force, lethal and non-lethal, against unarmed civilians.
06:47I want to make that clear. We aren't there on the distribution sites defending ourselves against Hamas.
06:54We are using indiscriminate force, targeting civilians, escalation of force that goes far beyond the measures of appropriate
07:01against an unarmed, starving population.
07:05The equipment, the equipment that we were issued, fully automatic weapons, which in and of itself is not a violation of protocol.
07:16However, we were issued M855 green-tipped ammunition.
07:20That's important because green-tipped ammunition is a steel-jacketed copper round that's designed to, specifically designed to penetrate armor.
07:32It's designed to kill.
07:33It's designed to shoot through reinforced objects to kill someone on the other side of it.
07:41That's what all the UG Solutions contractors are equipped with right now in-country.
07:45Everyone carries a standard basic load of 210 rounds of M855 armor-piercing military combat ammunition.
07:53Why would anyone need that, even if to defend themselves, defend their lives against an unarmed population?
08:01It's inappropriate.
08:03That in and of itself, that action there is a war crime.
08:06I'd call the status of us being in the country, every UG Solutions contract American, U.S. citizens in Israel that are armed with fully automatic weapons, in Gaza, as we speak, today, right now, and have been since the 26th of May.
08:28We are in the country on a B-2 entry visa as tourists.
08:33We're in the country as tourists.
08:34So, if a family member wanted to go to Israel to visit Jerusalem, they would enter Israel on a tourist visa.
08:42That's the legal status that armed American citizens are in Gaza right now with the authority to use hostile force against an unarmed civilian on a tourist visa.
08:55That is a violation of humanitarian international law, period.
08:58The things that I just described are not just opinions, they're facts.
09:06The sites were designed to lure, bait, aid, and kill.
09:11The food that we distribute, nowhere near enough.
09:15To Mr. Johnny Moore, shame on you for celebrating 92 million meals delivered into Gaza.
09:23Shame on you.
09:25It's a very simple equation.
09:2792 divided by 2.2 million people divided by 3 meals a day.
09:32That's what GHF proclaims.
09:35We've been distributing aid since the 26th of May.
09:3926th May to now the 29th of June.
09:4164 days of continuous distribution.
09:44And we've only managed to distribute 92 million meals.
09:48When you break that down, again, it's a simple equation.
09:52That's 14 days of meals.
09:53So out of 64 days, we've provided 14 days of meals to the entire population in the enclave of Gaza.
10:00That's inhumane.
10:02That would be like saying that you only eat every fourth day.
10:04You only eat on Thursday and you only eat on Monday.
10:07And to say that that's humanitarian?
10:09So to anyone that says that that's enough or not even close to enough,
10:13the narrative of GHF needs help to do the rest,
10:18you don't need help because you're not anywhere close to where we need to be.
10:22The fact is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is not trained, equipped, manned, or staffed
10:27to run humanitarian aid and humanitarian assistance of this magnitude.
10:31The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation needs to be defunded, shut down,
10:35and the United Nations needs to be allowed back in in full scale,
10:38supported by the United States, resourced, helped.
10:42Instead of giving the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation $60 million,
10:45use that $60 million to support the United Nations mechanism to get 400 sites back to operating,
10:51to feed 2.1 million people every day.
10:55That was the capacity of the United Nations.
10:58So what I saw in Gaza, to me, concerns me as an American.
11:02What we are doing in Gaza in being complicit with what the Israeli Defense Forces are doing
11:07is un-American.
11:10I didn't come forward to talk because I want to disregard the struggle and the fight.
11:19I stand with Israel against Hamas in their atrocities.
11:22The world stands with Israel against Hamas in their atrocities.
11:25No one would argue that October 7th wasn't atrocious.
11:27But if we as a nation, the United States, and Israel are one of our closest allies,
11:34if we go down the road of saying we're doing what Hamas did and saying that that's okay,
11:39we are losing our humanity and we cannot go down that road.
11:44It's un-American.
11:45It's not in line with our values.
11:46Two months ago, I hung up my uniform after 25 years of service to this nation.
11:52I didn't hang up my oath.
11:54I swore an oath to the Constitution.
11:56I didn't swear an oath to the President, to the Congress, to a boss, to a contract, to a paycheck.
12:02I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States of America.
12:04And that Constitution is underlined in American values.
12:08Dignity.
12:09Respect.
12:10Respect for human life.
12:12Right now, America is on a dangerous road.
12:15And if we don't stop now, end this, and back the humanitarian aid process that should be going
12:21into Gaza, shame on us.
12:24Un-American.
12:25I'm going to make sure the truth is known.
12:28Anthony Aguilar is a retired Lieutenant Colonel Green Beret.
12:34As he said, 25 years of service in the U.S. military was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze
12:41Star in combat in 2005.
12:44How did you come to work at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
12:49How were you recruited?
12:50Who were you exactly working for?
12:53Are you considered a U.S. government employee?
12:56Were you?
12:58I was not considered a U.S. government employee.
13:00I was specifically hired as an independent subcontractor under UG Solutions, which held
13:07this subcontract under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation specifically for the armed security
13:13and protection of the aid.
13:15I was contacted by UG Solutions on the 13th of May.
13:20They were specifically looking for retired, recently retired military personnel who had
13:26special operations background.
13:27So I was contacted by them for that reason and asked if I would be interested in joining
13:33UG Solutions on this operation.
13:37The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has dismissed your testimony, Anthony, accusing you of making
13:44false claims with no basis in reality.
13:48The GHF said, quote, it should be emphasized that Mr. Aguilar was employed as a subcontractor
13:55and was fired over a month ago for inappropriate behavior following the dismissal or received
14:00threats that unless he was reinstated, action would be taken against us, raising questions
14:04regarding the motivation behind his interviews.
14:07We also have evidence that he likely forged documents and presented misleading videos to promote
14:12his false narrative.
14:13Again, this is the accusation of the GHF.
14:17Can you respond to what they've said and talk about the videos that they're talking
14:21about?
14:23What I find interesting about stating that the claims I make have no basis in reality, I provided
14:30videos.
14:31Those videos have been analyzed in their metadata and geolocation.
14:36In fact, UG Solutions themselves posted one of my videos on their press release website,
14:43showing the exact same thing, stating, here's the whole story, simply just showing what
14:49the video showed with UG Solutions contractors shooting at civilians.
14:54It's outlandish.
14:56Back to the question of me being fired or not.
15:00When I was, the short period of time that I was on contract, 41 days I was on contract.
15:06In that short period of time, UG Solutions promoted me twice, gave me a pay raise twice, asked me
15:16to take on more and more responsibility, relied on me for my expertise.
15:21I terminated my employment on the 13th of June in writing.
15:25I terminated that employment under the clear reasons that I could no longer be a part of
15:30this unethical, inhumane operation.
15:33After I tendered my resignation on the 13th of June, UG Solutions asked me to stay, to reconsider.
15:42They continued to pay me for an entire pay period.
15:44They continued to cover my life insurance.
15:47They continued to pay for all of my expenses until the 26th of June.
15:50If UG Solutions terminated me or fired me on the 13th of June, why would they continue
15:56to pay me my full pay, my coverage, and pay for all my expenses through the 26th of June,
16:01asking me to stay and reconsider my position?
16:04I wasn't fired.
16:06I resigned because I could no longer be a part of it.
16:09In terms of performance, all of the operations, the convoy operation plans, the distribution
16:17plans, the operational plans, I generated.
16:21I wrote them for UG Solutions because they did not have anyone on their staff who had
16:26the requisite experience, knowledge, and expertise to do that type of work.
16:30So you're welcome, UG Solutions.
16:34You're welcome, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, because if it weren't for me and other contractors
16:39that have skill, former Green Berets, former veterans, if it weren't for us, they're doing
16:45the work, you wouldn't be able to operate at all.
16:49No one in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, from Johnny Moore to Phil Riley of SRS to Jameson
16:54Giovanni of UG Solutions, have any experience in in-depth planning and operational planning,
17:01period, much less for a humanitarian assistance mission.
17:04They're understaffed.
17:06They're underqualified.
17:07And they're in way over their head for a mission that they should not have.
17:10I just want to explain to people, according to The New York Times, Johnny Moore, as a former
17:14Trump campaign advisor, was appointed to the board of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
17:20Moore was co-chair of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign's Evangelical Advisory Board and an
17:27influential figure during Trump's first administration.
17:31He was part of a coalition of Christian leaders who paid regular visits to the White House, as
17:35well as prayer meetings in the Oval Office.
17:37His PR company, Kairos, was acquired in 2022 by JDA Worldwide.
17:43He now serves as president of that larger firm.
17:46When he announced the acquisition on social media, Moore referred to his work in public
17:52relations as his day job, as he has had many other roles and projects linked to his faith
17:58and interest in foreign policy, including writing books on the persecution of Christians in the
18:03Middle East and Africa, he told The New York Times he and other evangelicals had pressed
18:07Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and to move the U.S. Embassy there.
18:14He, like many evangelicals, including Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, is committed
18:19to a Jewish state based on his interpretation of the Bible.
18:23I wanted to go to one of the videos you shared with the BBC showing armed American guards working
18:31with GHF opening fire at an aid site in Gaza on May 29.
18:37This is a short excerpt.
18:45I think you hit one.
18:49That's what we hear someone saying.
18:51Who is saying that, Anthony?
18:53And describe what we're seeing and hearing in this video.
18:56Who is firing?
18:58Who are they shooting at?
19:00In that video, the firing that you hear is gunfire from an assault rifle being fired by
19:11a UG Solutions independent security contractor.
19:15That individual is firing at a group of unarmed civilians who have left the site.
19:22That is distribution site number four up in central Gaza near the Nessarim Corridor.
19:30The Palestinians had left the site.
19:33They were moving south, back towards the bridge over Wadi Gaza, back into Beresh, where the
19:43town they came from.
19:45This individual was shooting at them, at their feet, over their heads, into the crowd.
19:51You hear the clear and distinct American voice in the shooting.
19:55That shooting is very close to that camera where I am standing.
19:59I filmed that video, not Hamas, not the Gaza health ministry, not some biased agent news
20:06media outlet.
20:07I filmed that, an American.
20:10That individual that's shooting, you hear him clearly say, woohoo, cheering.
20:16And the response from the other contractor on the ground who was standing about 15 feet
20:20from me, who says, I think you got one.
20:22And at the same time, the other contractor then responds with, hell yeah, boy, what they're
20:29talking about is the got one is a human being, a civilian, an unarmed, starving civilian who
20:38came to our site to get food, who is returning home.
20:41Why did we shoot at him?
20:42Because we wanted them to leave faster.
20:46That video is genuine.
20:48It's been timestamped, analyzed.
20:50It's been geo-located.
20:53It's been, the metadata has been assessed.
20:55In fact, in fact, UG Solutions themselves posted that exact same video on their press release
21:03page to refute the video itself.
21:06So they used the video that I filmed to refute the video that I filmed.
21:12So UG Solutions, who you work for, is a U.S. mercenary firm.
21:18GHF distribution sites are guarded by two U.S. security firms.
21:22Safe Reach Solutions, SRS, and UG Solutions, SRS, run by a former high-ranking CIA officer
21:29tied to a U.S. private equity firm in Chicago, according to Middle East Eye.
21:33How did you get recruited?
21:37Again, UG, so I was not recruited by Safe Reach Solutions or the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
21:43I didn't work for them.
21:45I was a subcontractor specifically under UG Solutions.
21:49UG Solutions is located in Davidson, North Carolina.
21:52So they were first reaching out to retired special operators, special operations forces
21:58soldiers who had that specific skill set, who were local to North Carolina because it
22:03would have been very, it would have been quicker and easier to recruit them and get them onboarded.
22:07So I was called by UG Solutions when the operation was first explained to me.
22:13I felt that it was a noble cause.
22:16One thing that I will agree with Johnny Moore in this, one thing he has said early on,
22:20there is nothing more Christian than feeding people.
22:24I would agree with that.
22:26What I don't agree with is that what we're doing is not that.
22:30Lying, covering the truth under the auspice of feeding people for profit.
22:34Remember, these are private organizations.
22:38The person in charge of Safe Reach Solutions is a former CIA officer and part of a private equity firm.
22:44That's who we have in charge of distributing humanitarian aid to a starving population.
22:48So when I first went into this, I was excited.
22:52I felt it was a noble cause.
22:54Within hours of being in Israel and seeing how this was going to unfold, I immediately
22:58had dire concerns as to the intentions, as to the execution, and what was going to happen
23:05when this fails.
23:06Did other people share your feelings?
23:10And is it accurate to call you, though you were a former retired Green Beret lieutenant
23:16colonel in special forces for years, is it accurate to call you a mercenary as you worked
23:22with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
23:24So I would not refer to myself as a mercenary, nor would I refer to myself as a whistleblower.
23:33I'm a patriotic American who wants America to know the truth.
23:37When I took this contract to go on this mission, my motivations were clear.
23:42I wanted to use my years of expertise, my experience in planning, my experience in executing operations
23:48of a large-scale magnitude to contribute to this mission succeeding.
23:55That's what I wanted.
23:56I retired.
23:57I recently had retired.
23:59Thoroughly enjoyed being a stay-at-home dad, watching the Golden Girls in the afternoon
24:03and enjoying my afternoon walks with my dog.
24:06Enjoyed that.
24:07I didn't take on this mission for personal gain or money.
24:10I took on this mission because I believed in it.
24:12I resigned my contract and left, walked away from the money, and they were paying us a
24:17lot of money.
24:19Walked away from that money because nothing is going to buy my soul.
24:24Nothing is going to pay for my values and my patriotism as an American.
24:28I'm an American first.
24:30I'm not a contractor.
24:32I'm not a mercenary.
24:33I'm not a whistleblower.
24:34I'm a patriotic American that wants the American people to know the truth of what we were involved
24:40in, in a very complex and complicated environment that, quite frankly, right now, we are on the
24:45wrong side of history.
24:47We're going to end it there, but I want to just be very clear.
24:50You saw former U.S. military.
24:52You saw IDF.
24:54You saw the Israeli soldiers opening fire on hungry Palestinians.
24:59Without a doubt, yes.
25:04Full stop.
25:06Anthony Aguilar worked as a subcontractor with UG Solutions, with the so-called Gaza Humanitarian
25:13Foundation, a delivery operation, so-called.
25:18Retired lieutenant colonel served for 25 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret,
25:24has been awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
25:29Thank you for joining us.
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