Bigger Broader War - July 23, 2026

**Cenk Uygur** (0:00)
You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome, thank you.

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**Trita Parsi** (5:07)
Merge.

**Cenk Uygur** (5:08)
You know, welcome to our Trash Revolution.

**Trita Parsi** (5:11)
I'm so upset.

**Ana Kasparian** (5:13)
Oh my God.
Welcome to The Young Turks, I'm your host, Ana Kasparian. And I've got a full jam-packed show ahead for all of you today. We're going to talk about the energy markets and just how devastating things already are when it comes to the cost of a barrel of oil. So we'll discuss that in the first hour. In the second hour, our good friend and the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute, Trita Parsi, will be joining me to not only talk about the latest updates in the war against Iran, I actually want to talk to him about AP Road in his substack about the civilian nuclear deal that President Donald Trump made with Saudi Arabia. There was a little bit of a backpedal today and we'll get into a little bit on that. But I think that Trita Parsi brings up a point that is irrefutable, incredibly important to address, how are you going to engage in a war against the civilian nuclear program in Iran while simultaneously shaking hands with the Saudis for their civilian nuclear program? Anyway, we're going to have fun. It's going to be a great show in our members only bonus episode today. I will discuss Jasmine Crockett weaponizing her race because she's a loser who can't accept the fact that she lost. And so now she's trying to sabotage a fellow Democrats campaign for a Senate seat in Texas.
What are you doing? You already lost, anyway, I have strong feelings about that. And so we'll get to that in the bonus episode for our members tyt.com/join to become one. Let's get to our first story.

**Chris Van Hollen** (7:31)
This has to change. I am really sick and tired of the Israeli government, the Netanyahu government taking American taxpayer dollars and mistreating Americans.

**Ana Kasparian** (7:44)
Weeks ago, Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded that Israel release an American university student in the occupied West Bank, who was abducted by IDF soldiers in the middle of the night, literally at 3am. Now tragically, she remains in Israeli custody without a single charge against her, no charges. As we know, there are literally thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli torture dungeons without a single charge. They are hostages. Now in this case, we're talking about a literal American citizen, not the first one. I'm sure it won't be the last one who's been detained by the Israelis, held without charge, and very likely treated poorly. As we know, the treatment of detainees or anyone in Israel, not great. Nicholas Kristof's reporting of sexual abuse in these prisons is a good example of what I'm talking about. Now, Sama Safi is the young woman I'm referring to. She's a 20 year old psychology student who was studying at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank. She was abducted from her family home at 3am in the morning. Now her mother grew up in the United States. Safi was born in the United States. She moved back to the West Bank for university. She apparently also grew up in the West Bank. But nonetheless, she's an American citizen who has been abducted without any charges against her. And we should care about this, right? This should be really, really important. This should be really important to the woman who helped to amplify rape allegations against Platner. Because she cares so much about American women being sexually harassed. She cares so much about misogyny. Well, there's an American citizen languishing in an Israeli prison right now as we speak, no charges against her. She has been detained since June 2nd.
And considering the fact that there are all sorts of sexual misconduct and rape allegations taking place right now against IDF soldiers in these prisons. I would just venture to say she should care. She should care just a little bit. But maybe she only cares when it comes to sinking campaigns. Anyway, let's move on. So three other students were also arrested around the same time, not American citizens. But they were also students of the same university, including a member of the Palestinian Women's National Soccer Team. And according to The Guardian, they were all held at an Israeli detention and interrogation center in Jerusalem, notorious for its record of abuse.