 Welcome, everybody. This is I-24 News. First, our headlines, escalation in the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu blames Washington for encouraging Hamas to delay a hostage deal, and the Haredi draft bill that could topple the Israeli government in the middle of a war. Another day of intense fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, while Israeli threats increase, I-24 News Robert Swift reports. Once again, the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona came under fire from Lebanon. At least 30 rockets were launched, the Israeli military said, with multiple interceptions taking place. Zahar Bishara, a 25-year-old resident of the Druze village of Enkinia, was killed in a strike on an industrial building. Hezbollah claimed responsibility for their attack. In response to the massacre committed by the Zionist enemy in Habariah, the Islamic resistance bombed Kiryat Shmona and the barracks of the 768th Brigade in the settlement, with dozens of rockets. Israeli aircraft struck a building in Habariah in southern Lebanon on Tuesday night. The Israeli military said that it targeted an Islamic jihadist organization, killing a, quote, significant terrorist, alongside several other operatives. Lebanese media reported that the strike hit an ambulance station, killing seven paramedics. While such exchanges of fire continue, tens of thousands of civilians remain displaced from both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border. I don't know if we're near. Zack Anders is now live in northern Israel with the latest from there. Zack, what's going on? Well, we're up to five attacks. Hezbollah has taken credit for at this point in the afternoon, including, as Robert mentioned, that earlier attack that killed a 25-year-old man living in Druze village here in Israel. This is the eighth civilian fatality in this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Fourteen soldiers have been killed, two of those in accidents, training accidents in this arena as they were here in the north. So, again, a considerable moment that is taking shape here. And at this point in the night, the concern, the fear that there will be continued Hezbollah fire throughout the northern area across this border, where we are in Kiryat Shemona, still mostly evacuated. In fact, one of the rockets, we're told by officials here in the north, also struck a home that belonged to a family with children that had been evacuated since the beginning of the conflict. So, they are okay. But again, it speaks to the broader scale of conflict that is taking place here when you have so many people evacuated on either side that it does not mean that there still isn't people here. And that's what we saw today. People were still working and this taking place in an industrial area where one of the rockets fell, injuring another man, killing the 25-year-old in a workshop where they were employed. So, a very difficult day here. And we're seeing they on the other side inside Lebanon, Hezbollah is within their own ranks within the party, the social media chatter. They're incensed by the latest strikes that have been taking place, cutting very deep inside Hezbollah territory. And they're calling for further retribution and retaliation. All right. Thank you very much, Zach Anders in northern Israel. Military analyst Jacob Lapin is here with me in the studio. Good evening. Good evening. Do you see an escalation coming in the north? I don't know when it will happen, but I believe it will happen. And I think, ultimately, I think we have to understand that for Hezbollah, the status quo that has been in place since October the 8th, since the day after the massacre in the south, when Hezbollah joined this war, this status quo is good for Hezbollah. If we want to get into their head, they, as far as they're concerned, are in a win-win situation. On the one hand, they have over 60,000 northern Israelis out of their homes. They're keeping the fire, coming down on the north. And the price that they've paid for that, for them, is fully acceptable. Despite the IDF's assessments, I think that Hezbollah is comfortable with the prices that it has paid. When you look at their full range of capabilities, it's really not that much. And they're willing to go either way. They're willing to go for a de-escalation at some point, in which case, they'll say, look, you know, we stood up to the Zionist enemy. We did what the Iranians asked us to. We helped Hamas. We split the Israeli military into two fronts and we walked away to tell the tale. Or they're willing to fight a war if it comes to that. I think they're OK with both scenarios and they're simply taking it as it comes. Now, we are hearing today some more threats from Israeli military circles and political circles against Hezbollah. What happens if IDF goes into Rafa, for example, in Gaza, of course? I mean, you know, I think that if that happens and I should say when it happens, because to me it's clearly an inevitable scenario, Hezbollah may increase its fire on the north. Its role, as far as the Iranians assigned to Hezbollah, is to keep the Israeli military resources, intelligence, firepower, airpower divisions split into two. That means that the IDF cannot bring into Gaza all of the forces that it wants to. It has to always keep one eye on the north. That is Hezbollah's role. Now, if that leads into a further escalation, Hezbollah is fully ready for that. It's got the stockpile. It's got all of the thousands of rockets and missiles that needs to fight a war, whether it's a limited one, whether it's a semi-escalation, whether it's a full escalation, they are ready for all scenarios. And I should add, I saw, you know, a report on a winet earlier today, according to which the assessment in the military here is that there's going to be some sort of ground maneuver into southern Lebanon. It looks inevitable. But that after that, there will be some sort of agreement and an enforcement mechanism to keep the Rod 1 unit away from the border. I don't understand what agreement people are envisaging here. There are no agreements that will have that will be worth the paper that they're printed on with a jihadist Iranian backed organization like Hezbollah. On the other hand, if there's a ceasefire in Gaza and some sort of a deal, what happens in the north? Well, look, I think, you know, if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, it will only be temporary, right? Because Israel has made that's a big argument. You know, so my personal belief, my assessment is that it will only be temporary, that Israel is committed not to months, but to years of counterterrorism and security operations in the Gaza Strip and that it will enter eventually some sort of reality that resembles area A of the West Bank. And if Hezbollah sees an opportunity to escalate, to de-escalate, sorry, if it says, look, you know, the war is over. As far as we're concerned, sure, it could use that as a fig leaf to de-escalate. That won't really solve the problem. They'll remain deployed in southern Lebanon in a very threatening manner. And we'll have to see how we get the northerners even back to their homes in that kind of scenario. But I'm not ruling it out. Sure, they could try to de-escalate. Yeah, very complicated over there. Let's move on. An Israeli former hostage in Gaza came out for the first time with her detailed account of her sexual assault by Hamas terrorists in captivity. Manuel Onar brings her story. This was only the start of the harrowing experience Amit Susana went through in Hamas captivity. Fighting with all her strength against at least 10 men, Susana, a 40-year-old Israeli lawyer, still couldn't escape the clutches of Hamas as they dragged her to Gaza on October 7th, kidnapped from her home in Kfar, Gaza, one of the community's bordering Gaza. Susana is the first released hostage to speak publicly on her sexual assault by Hamas during her captivity. In a troubling testimony, Susana recounted to the New York Times how she was chained by her ankle alone in a child's bedroom in Gaza, how she was groped and forced to perform a sexual act while being held at gunpoint by her captor. Given the violent nature of Susana's experience, the New York Times agreed not to disclose more details of her 55-day ordeal. Earlier on, following her release, Susana was vocal about the difficulties of her captivity. I was alone for a couple of weeks with Hamas armed soldiers guarding me the entire time. There was little food. I was kept in the dark and had to ask permission to use the bathroom, even not allowed to close the bathroom door. After that, they moved me to different places with different Hamas guards in each place. All the guards were heavily armed and abused me and the other hostages. I was also held in a Hamas tunnel, 40 meters deep, where there was no oxygen and very little food. The tomb-like tunnel was dark, damp, and felt like if we were buried alive. But within hours of her release, Amit Susana told medical professionals and social workers about her plight. A testimony, those same professionals say, has remained consistently the same. Hamas and its supporters had been quick to slam and deny any kind of sexual assault on the woman they've held captive, citing the sacredness of women's bodies in Islam, but also the so-called lack of evidence, given that so many victims had been killed. But a UN report earlier this month also found proof of sexual violence committed during Hamas' onslaught on October 7th, stating that most of the victims had been killed following their abuse. We know that there's a woman that survived the horrific attack, that survived the noble party, that survived the Qibbutzim, survived sexual violence and are alive with us and still not talking and maybe they will not talk. But here it's the first woman that dared to say this out loud, and it's not easy at all. Now everybody is interested to talk to her, all the media, and she will remember as the first person that dared to speak, but that will be for her lifetime. And we should really admire her, but I think also protect her. She spoke because I believe she understood how important it is, but she's a personal, she's a private person, and we have to also take care of her and not abuse her with questions all the time, which I assume it will happen to her. The Israeli president also praising Susana for her courage to speak up, saying she is the voice for all those who cannot speak following the sexual brutalities and calling on the world to side with the meat and all the victims. As false information swirls and accounts of sexual assaults are reported, the voices standing out the most are the ones whose cries couldn't be heard. And almost six months after October 7th, families of over 100 hostages in Gaza are still trying to press the Israeli government for a deal. I-24 News, Balir Sladin is live in Tel Aviv with the families. What's going on? Yes, so definitely very sad and negative atmosphere here at the Hostages Square. The activities are continuing, but what we are hearing from the families and their supporters that they are very disappointed by the latest developments in terms of reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas and also because of the latest development between Biden and Netanyahu and in general Israel and the United States and the tensions that we are seeing right now and in terms of the latest about that, the NBC News, the American media outlet is reporting that the prime minister's office decided to send the delegation that was supposed to be sent a couple of days ago, but Netanyahu refused to send that because of the Biden administration's decision in the latest UN Security Council, not vetoing the resolution 8-7. But what we are hearing from the prime minister's office that this is not true. The prime minister didn't return that decision and he is yet to decide on the rescheduling of the meetings and the delegation to be sent to Washington. What we understand from the sources that the White House was the one that called the prime minister's office and tried to reschedule that delegation, but the prime minister is yet to decide on that specific issue as well and the possible days that this delegation could be sent. Netanyahu also met with the Republican senator in Jerusalem today saying that the Biden administration's decision was wrong and he decided not to send this delegation in order to send a message to Hamas to know that any pressure, not even pressure from the United States can make Israel give more concessions in terms of the latest hostage deal. He also talked to congressmen and APAC members saying that Israel is firm on continuing this war and eliminating Hamas militarily and administratively in Gaza so there could be an Israeli victory in this war. So this tension is to the family's ears is absolutely something that is negative. They want to see the Biden administration giving more support to Israel, especially in these times and what we are hearing from Khaled Meshaw, the senior Hamas official, as well as Ismail Hani in the last day. They are very harsh on their stance. They are stuck with their demands. Israel cannot accept permanent ceasefire and the full retreat of Israeli soldiers from Gaza. So all of these developments are absolutely negative in the ears of the families of the hostages and their supporters were yet to know what the coming actions by Israel in terms of an invasion of Rafah would make of this deal something that is very concerning for the families of the hostages. Baler Saladin in Tel Aviv, thank you very much for that. Back to you, Jakob Lapin here in the studio. The families obviously want their loved ones back. They do not understand what holds back this deal. What is the problem? Can you try to figure out together with us what is the problem? Yes, well, I think we have a lot of clues in recent days. Israel doubled the number of Palestinian terrorists that it's willing to release for that deal in line with the suggestion of the Americans, of the CIA. That was rejected by Hamas. Israel accepted the idea of letting thousands of Gazans back into northern Gaza in a phased program. That was rejected by Hamas. So these are not the main things that Hamas cares about. What are Hamas leaders saying? All we need to do is listen to them. They want a permanent ceasefire. They want an end to the war. They want to survive the war so that they can declare victory and that they can rebuild their terror army in the Gaza Strip and take away all of the achievements that Israel has accomplished so far. That is the problem. And it keeps going back to that. When Hamas sees that Washington is applying serious pressure on Jerusalem, when it sees that Israel is increasingly isolated in the international arena, all that does for them is make them more optimistic that they will be able to rain down pressure and force Israel into a permanent ceasefire. And that's why we have no deal. Right. But there's a growing voice in Israel saying, okay, so say the war is over. We'll get to it later, you know? I don't understand how Israel can declare war and not meet it. Not necessarily declare, but somehow agree to a long ceasefire. You call it whatever you call it. It's the Middle East, you know? I'm giving you the rap. I've heard this claim many times and I've always said the same thing. I don't think it's realistic. I think that from the perspective of Israel as a power that wants to remain in this region for the sake of its continuity, its existential continuity. It cannot say or speak or act because it recognizes a reality in which Hamas survives this war, not after what we went through on October 7th, not after we have beyond any definitive doubt proof that Hamas is ISIS, that it is an Islam-o-Jihadist Nazi-like organization. I don't think any games can be played here, but Israel can offer a lengthy, lengthy truce and it has offered that. That's not good enough for Hamas. That's not what they're after. Right. And that keeps, so far, that keeps the negotiations apart, actually, in Qatar. That's the point where there's no agreement whatsoever. There is no agreement whatsoever. Look, for Hamas' leadership, the hostages are a survival mechanism. They're the armor that keeps them alive. Now, as they hold these hostages in the tunnels of southern Gaza, the rest of their terror army is slowly but surely being picked apart. The majority of Hamas' terror army has been disbanded as a force and now we have cells that are being taken out. Every day that passes, they're losing more and more of their armies. So, what's Yihissimov actually in charge of today? He's not really in charge of Gaza. He has cells that he's trying to rebuild, but time is not on his side. But because of that, I think he's still stooped in the sort of jihadist triumphalist dream that he is after striking this horrific blow against Israel, that he thinks he's going to survive this war, rebuild everything and make everything great again from his perspective. And the hostages are a key part of his jihadist fantasy to doing that. And I think that's the real reason why we haven't had any progress and we have been collectively far too optimistic about what he's willing to compromise on. Alright. Meanwhile, initial reports surfacing about who may be part of a new Palestinian government. Six of the Hamas, sorry, six of the names from Gaza, but none with ties to Hamas. With us now is Fatah Al-Aqtivist, thank you very much for joining us. You reviewed these names. We did as well. What are the options? And how do you see this development? Because it changed. He didn't consult with anybody in appointing this cabinet. So you cannot say there is consensus. There is public support to this government. These are again some puppets employed by Prime Minister Puppet, that the same guy that is still running the show is the 90 years old man, Mohamed Abbas. I know for fact that those who have turned down the invitation for the governments are almost 10 times those who have accepted it. You know now they couldn't find the minister of foreign affairs. He tried to convince two important ambassadors. His ambassador in New York, in the United Nations and his ambassador in Geneva in other United Nations, both of them declined. And they are ambassadors currently employed by him. So nobody is willing to take nobody seriously. A serious person will not accept the invitation for such a government because this government is not convincing, not to the Palestinian people. It's not convincing to the world that is looking for real reform. The reform is simply by the simply seeing the old man stepping down and passing the torch to a new generation. This is how Palestinians are expecting the world. And then what? Who are going to be the figures that will pop out? Well actually we need to go to elections but elections now are not possible because of the situation of Gaza. 45% of the population is not able to participate in an election until we get life back to Gaza. We cannot have elections. But at least now he should be able to involve the opposition in fact. Involve all the other political functions in the Palestinian political life into forming up a government that is acceptable by everybody. The street would like to see Abbas giving all his power. You know he is now issuing presidential decrees as laws because we don't have parliament. He controls the judicial system corruption is still there. He didn't do any serious change and until now he is still holding the money he is still holding the diplomacy he is still holding the negotiations he is still holding the foreign relations he is still holding everything. Most of these ministers that have been appointed they don't have budgets in their ministry. They cannot develop strategies or plans. They cannot develop projects that can serve the Palestinian people. Now almost the PA is bankrupted. They don't have money. So what can this government do? How can he convince us that this is the change and look at the government three women out of 18 three out of 18. This is I mean even in cosmetics he is not good. At least he should involve more women well yeah maybe he took an example for the Israeli government but that's a different issue. So if I sum up your opinion here very gloomy no no chance for real reforms until Mr. Abbas is gone well the Palestinians would like to see both Hamas and Abbas out of their life Abbas has brought corruption to the west back and Palestinians are suffering from this corruption and Hamas has brought destruction over Gaza and Palestinians are fed up from this destruction. Palestinians would like to see both of them leave the scene. Palestinians would like to see a leadership that is accountable, that is transparent, that is democratic, that is able to bring construction, development hope to the Palestinian people they are wishing to wake up every day and feel that today will be better than yesterday now every Palestinian works up in the morning and he is 100% sure that today is going to be worse than yesterday so this is a lot of pressure over the Palestinians and Abbas was not only a president for 19 years he has been number 2 since 1965 can you imagine that in the last 100 years the Palestinians have had only 3 leaders Hajj Amin al-Husseini and then Yasir al-Fat and then Mahmoud Abbas for 100 years only 3 leaders this is terrible and the Palestinians deserve to have a democratic leadership deserve to have election every 4 years deserve that young generations we are a very young nation 75% of our population is under 36 years old we are a very young nation and still he is 90 years old and he is planning to continue maybe for another 10 years he is holding all the jobs that is possible in the hand of one person I think I got the idea of what's your opinion about Mr. Abbas I thank you very much for that thank you we have about a minute in the studio he tries to do something some sort of reform everybody puts the pressure on Abbas to do something look the political culture of the Palestinian people I think as we've just heard is stagnant sick and going nowhere fast but in the Gaza Strip Israel does have an opportunity to work with moderate Sunni states and the United States to try and create something different after uprooting the Iranian-backed Hamas Islamic jihad they're uprooted as a regime the big question is who's instead there are various approaches to that building from bottom up bringing in people moderates from the outside lots of names being floated around at the end of the day there is no choice I think for Israel but to try and prop up an autonomy in the Gaza Strip that will first in the first stage be separate from Ramallah be separate from the West Bank even if it has ties to it and then later they can examine the linkage between them but I think Gaza is going to have to be an independent autonomy at least at this first stage after the war all right Diakoff thank you stay around for the next part of the show we'll take a short break and we'll be right back with more special coverage here on I-24 News Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well I-24 News Channel broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondence throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries completely done down in their beds the state of emergency and war in Israel bringing Israel's story to the world I-24 News Channels now on Hot Israel has a mandatory military draft law at age 18 except for the Kharedi population when Israel was founded a few Yeshivas were exempt by Prime Minister Ben Gurion 75 years later it's a meaningful chunk of the young population the military needs more soldiers now but the Kharedi establishment objects to military service to the point that the coalition government may collapse I-24 News Diakshi Arvind has more plans to end exemption from military service for ultra-orthodox Israelis in a proposed bill to extend the age of compulsory service has sparked conflict with an Israeli's ruling coalition and anger amongst the public at large while secular Israelis of both sexes are conscripted at the age of 18 their ultra-orthodox countrymen are not they have traditionally been exempted from the draft due to their enrollment in religious studies while a small minority do enlist the majority refuse to do so a proposal being discussed by the government basically seeks to prolong the exemption of the ultra-orthodox community this issue has caused tension in the coalition government cabinet minister Benny Gantz has expressed dissatisfaction and declared he would be willing to resign from the emergency unity if the bill is approved the nation cannot accept it the Knesset's must not vote for it and my colleagues and I will not be members of the emergency government should such legislation pass in the Knesset and enter the law books of Israel in a way that will hurt unity and national security in general and especially in a time of war the parties in the coalition have voiced their support for the proposed bill saying learning Torah in religious studies are as important in protecting Israel as military service is we are not interested in taking anybody out of the Yeshiva who was learning full time he is what we call the Holy of Holies and the army is not the place that they should be they should be sitting and learning Torah to protect the people of Israel and the land of Israel Israel braces for a defining moment in a possible coalition crisis as a deadline for submitting the bill nears we are joined by Amir Oren here in the studio Amir you have been covering military and political affairs in Israel for many many years let's go to this political angle now we are under deadline the government is under deadline by the supreme court what's happening Israel is dependent on its coalition partners among whom are the two or two and a half depending on how you count them ultra orthodox parties the politicians in those parties are fairly pragmatic but they serve at the pleasure of the rabbis and the rabbis are adamant that their disciples the Kharedi youth not become engaged in the secular world which means that they don't trust their youth or the appeal of the Torah they want to keep them secluded in the yeshivas so it has both a spiritual aspect as well as a financial one because the yeshivas get per capita from the state some subsidies however the lightly religious vote has turned into the orthodox camp especially following October the 7th and therefore Netanyahu is in a bind the attorney general would not support him it's up to the supreme court either to give them an extension which will push the issue into the recess it's not a matter of how many days it's so that the government can survive and maybe it will fall next week it is not certain that another fixture can be found here perhaps enough is enough Yaakov this thing was kicked down the road for 75 years but something happened on October 7th that is this thing changer I think it is from the perspective of not only Israeli society but also the Israeli defense establishment which is openly now saying look we want everybody recruited even if some of them go through a civilian national service program that's okay but there has to be a change to the status quo A because the status quo is creating an unbearable tear in the solidarity the collective solidarity of the Israeli population we look forward and more security forces domestically we've got the Gaza Strip that's going to be an active arena for many years to come West Bank is going nowhere who knows what's going to happen with Lebanon the IDF wants more soldiers so it all comes together and I think you know both the secular the national religious and the traditional segments of Israeli society are united in their call for an end to this status quo You mentioned Ben Gurion when the first government was established in 1949 after the elections for the first message Ben Gurion could have ruled with the left wing parties without the religious and the orthodox he didn't want to be dependent on the left wing so he said to the ultra orthodox okay 400 geniuses who are going to learn Torah and give it to the next generation fine those 400 have become thousands upon thousands and it's the principle that you are not exempt because you belong to a certain segment that once you are considered a Kharedi there are parties and institutions vouching for you so you don't have to undergo basic training and be inducted someone is taking care of you this is what drives the other Israelis crazy somehow that rolled year after year is the Israeli public now in a different position no question in my mind I think we're in a different world and things that could have been swept under the carpet or delayed kicking the can down the road you're hearing Defense Minister Galant himself saying I cannot support the continuation of the status quo you're hearing the military openly saying it the idea of spokesperson openly saying it so these are all signs that the army is gone and the government and the Prime Minister will have no choice but to try and create some real changes otherwise there's going to be a tear in society and it's going to be dangerous but they're not going to the army Amir well if you have a strong provost marshal strong military police and there is a determination that whoever goes absent without leave or defector he is going to be put on trial and jailed we will see who is stronger the state or the Dodgers I doubt it that it will come to that what do you think there's a whole bunch of measures I think that can be taken you know for penalties I don't know if military police has the capability to take on tens of thousands of draft Dodgers but I do think that the state can start laying down the incentives and penalties for those who refuse national service it's also interesting I've heard estimates that out of every cycle of yeshiva students only 40% or 50% approximately end up going every day to study so maybe start with those percentages that aren't actually showing up every day for study maybe they can start you're a skeptic the night between October the 6th and the 7th made all of us understand that no precedent is needed sometimes shocking events are bringing us out of our stupor yeah we'll see about that the IDF is increasing its operations in the west bank as more intelligence surface terrorist attacks iPhone 4 news Joe Brown has the latest following the atrocities on October the 7th Israel has conducted almost nightly raids into what it defines as terror hotspots throughout the west bank and in the early hours of Wednesday morning the IDF conducted its latest incursion into Janine in the northern part of the area the IDF says three terrorists were killed in a raid on Janine from both air and land two gunmen targeted UAV drone strike and a third shot in an exchange of fire after explosives were thrown at the Israeli soldiers this brings the total number killed in the west bank from Israeli raids since October the 7th to over 450 approximately 70 of whom were killed from drone strikes elsewhere a car filled with explosives was destroyed in a controlled explosion by the IDF with the two occupants of the car arrested in total over 3500 who have been arrested since the war began around half of whom have links to Hamas or other terror groups half way through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan a month which Israeli security services were placed on high alert due to the normal rise in tensions during this time on top of the hostilities surrounding the Gaza war Israel has thus far generally managed to contain the violence to within the borders of the west bank and it will hope to keep it that way back to the studio we had half way to the Ramadan still are still quiet things are still quiet let's hope it stays that way but this is good news I think so, I think Yahya Senwar was actually very disappointed in the west bank he had hoped to see hundreds of thousands of Palestinians riding under the banner of Al Aqsa and spreading his jihadist fantasies to that arena and it's not really happening we have seen an uptick in terrorist activity and we've seen the IDF come down very hard on those cells the Iranian weapons being intercepted and we're really seeing every effort being made to stop this arena from igniting at the same time the defense establishment is sticking to its formula of trying to not get in the way of uninvolved Palestinians and just walk down that very fine tightrope so far essentially so good we're not out of the woods yet but I think the Hamas is very disappointed so far in what it's seeing both in East Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the west bank there's a simplistic view of Palestinians or other Arabs as robots someone pushes a button there is an incitement video or a preacher calls on them to rise and do something and they do it they don't they are thinking independently and we have seen only this afternoon that Hamas released a video or at least an audio calling on all Arabs and Muslims to march on Jerusalem we haven't seen any response yet and the other half of the 3600 detainees are not people who are affiliated with Hamas they will do their own bidding at their own good time so yes they must be disappointed by this however he has some good news he's number 3 Marwan Issa is no longer there earlier Netanyahu ordered the IDF to kill Ahmed Jabri who was the number 3 and Netanyahu released Sinwar now all that remains between Sinwar and his first among equals the IDF is killed Sinwar rules alone to the point that there were arms from Iran going flowing to the West Bank this is something new it's new in the quantities involved and in the fact that it has been intercepted a few years ago we have seen a small payload being brought in or at least there was an attempt to bring it in from Lebanon or Syria and it fell somewhere within Israel proper but such quantities making the way from Iran through Iraq through either Syria or Jordan into the West Bank this is quite new and dangerous Thank you very much Amir Oran and Yaakov Lapin Jordanian anti-riot police beat and arrested dozens of demonstrators trying to march towards the heavily guarded Israeli embassy in the capital Amman Dr. Nasir Al-Umaris with us to talk a little bit about Jordan Good evening to you Good evening Thank you for having me How worried is the king about the spillover of the Gaza war? He is very worried He has presented himself lately as supporter of Palestinians even the Queen Rania who usually doesn't come out strongly against Israel she has come out and condemned the violence and what's happening to the Palestinians At the same time we know that King Abdullah coordinates closely with the Israelis and the relationship is stable the borders are stable and there is also cooperation The king is very close to the American perspective on what should happen However he has a population who are not happy, who do not feel represented by the king and therefore you see the satisfaction with the king despite dropping aid and acting as if he is a protector of the Palestinians people can see through all of that he doesn't have any real impact on what's happening in Gaza and therefore you have security forces climbing down every time the street comes out to protest his loquorm attitude toward what's happening in Gaza So there is a sort of a agreement by the king you've mentioned his wife she was speaking against Israel very boldly lately but there are some shared interests still Definitely I would categorize King Abdullah to be in the same position as Israel He is dealing with the threat coming from outside the threat of Iran and he has the Muslim brotherhood who have a lot of support in the street so he has to and his wife has to sound like she is pro-Palestinian when in fact they're really anti-Hamas the king himself condemned Hamas in front of the White House in clear terms However that is not the most of his people so this is a country that is definitely on the edge of challenge when it comes economically young people are not working there is no opportunity 50% of the young people can't find jobs so there are a lot of sticks and not enough carrots for the Jordanian people to stay quiet there is no economic future there is corruption the king himself is accused of corruption according to the Washington Post and therefore Jordan is in a very delicate situation and the king has been dealing with this relatively effectively but that can change if the situation in the Middle East continues to escalate So how could let's go to the other way what are the things around positively Well Jordan has a problem with refugees upon refugees from Syria even prior to that Iraq, Yemen, Libya there are refugee camps throughout Jordan and Jordan does not have a real economy it's dependent on some USAID there is no real investment and really young people as you can see you have a lot of security forces the Jordanian army is strong but there is no real economy and therefore this is dangerous what's happening in Jordan and anything can happen because young people are desperate Jordanians are suffering and there is no solution to the refugee problem in Jordan so a peace deal in Israel and ending what's happening in Gaza is really critical for the king and critical for Jordan All right, Dr. Nasir Al-Amari thank you very much Thank you for having me Now this Saudi Arabia will take part in Miss Universe for the first time ever this year I-24 News Dikshi Arvind tells us why A historic first Saudi Arabia will participate in the Miss Universe 2024 contest Rumi Al-Katani will be the country's first representative in the pageant since its inception in 1952 Rumi Al-Katani is a 27 year old Riyadh born model and social media influencer and she is no stranger to the spotlight she's competed and has been crowned the Miss Global Malaysia, Miss Saudi Arabia Miss Middle East Miss Arab World Peace and Miss Europe She wrote This is the first participation of Saudi Arabia in the Miss Universe competition The Saudi representative follows Lujain Yaqub from Bahrain Yaqub was the first candidate to represent a Gulf country in the contest This comes after Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently told CBS the decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful tire she chooses to wear Prince Mohammed's recent interview and the model's participation in the pageant signal another step for women's right in the kingdom and a move however slight towards gender equality in the region Reuters reports that Russia struggles to collect oil payments from China, UAE and Turkey Our economy expert Dr. Alex Good evening Alex How do you find that especially China and Turkey are behind payments to Russia? United Arab Emirates they're drowning in money they probably don't find I find this surprisingly good news because the idea was to block to hurt Russia to block its invasion into the Ukraine through the Swift mechanism the Swift is an international money transferring mechanism and the sensation the feeling at the beginning was that this does not work because Swift is an old system and China and Russia said we'll develop a new one which will be much more up to date so it seemed like it didn't work it did work because they did not succeed to develop their own system the US sanctions on the Swift system are effective and so Russia is not getting payments that it's supposed to receive them and the mechanism of suitcases filled with money that we see in gangster movies does not work here so it's excellent news and but is there any political intention behind it is it just technical? No I don't think so I think they are having a party because they basically says because we are like rogue nations and our products cannot be sold elsewhere so we will have our own micro it's not so micro but we'll have our own economy and using this economy we will benefit, we'll have better prices and we will have a party but apparently it's much more complex than that Ok we are about 6 months into the Gaza war we spoke before long time ago about the economic toll of this war and it's been going on since then so give us a picture at this point Well Israel is damaged because first of all the revenues of taxes have declined dramatically we don't have tourism agriculture was hurt severely because the workers went back to Thailand construction does not function, does not progress because construction workers from the Palestinian authorities are not coming high tech is not generating any exits globally but in Israel in particular so we have a dramatic decline in taxes at the same time of course we have the dramatic increase in expenses if you talk about the expense of war if you talk about casualties if you talk about recovering areas, massive areas in the north and in the south have been evacuated so people live outside of their homes this costs a lot of money I'm not talking even about the mental price I'm just talking about the financial price so you have a dramatic deficit this deficit costs more money than it used to Israel's rating has been downgraded in parentheses something that people don't like to talk about as much the fact that Palestinians are not allowed to work in Israel is very damaging for the Palestinian population because they do not have any income in the past they used to have like gardens outside the house that would sustain it this is no longer the case so this is a very explosive situation from a Palestinian point of view that's painful from the Israeli point of view that's mostly the West Bank in Gaza basically the entire economy is gone absolutely and we don't talk much I would assume all the legal economy because I think underground you always have these gangsters doing extremely well and black market black market is thriving as I said we don't hear much about the Red Sea, the Houthis and the economic damage there what's going on with this well the good news are that the whole world is suffering so if many people if the pain is shared by many people you expect to see a solution and you see the US and the UK are dramatically active there but the Houthis are apparently not dramatically hurt by that you're talking about what's characteristic of these economies is that they are very low gross domestic product but they can accept much damage without being impressed by that so they do have these ballistic missiles they have all this intelligence which ship belongs to which country so they are very high tech and very low standard of links so it's a weird Afghanistan-like situation right finally I want to ask you Dr. Koeman about Israeli Nobel laureate economics Daniel Kahanman who just passed away today at 90 what's his legacy? he's a central individual because the thing that you hate about science is when science is unrelated to reality so you have science building these towers in the air and reality is completely unrelated to that and he's the first Nobel laureate who is not an economist he's actually a behavioral psychologist he is him and Daniel Kahanman and Amos Tversky both of them who came from Hebrew University and moved to the States they were the first to show that the axioms that we make rational decisions these axioms are completely ridiculous and I asked Amos Tversky once but in physics if you were to take the axioms and remove them this would be an earthquake how come in economics this didn't happen? well it does happen but slowly what we must do is we must take the theory and reality and we must merge them because otherwise theory is just a child's story so I think that's his legacy to look at people the way we actually are flesh and blood and not to build theories on some optimal decision making mechanism so more psychology rather than physics yes and incorporating human faults into the analysis all right thank you very much for that this would be it for us stay tuned for more news with Benita Levine here on I-24 News have a good night from Tel Aviv Israel is in a state of war families completely gun down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well information for the war events war swords exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone the reaction of the Spanish-speaking countries News 24 the only media in spain that keeps you informed and connected with the latin community in israel news 24 only on I-24 news I'm Natasha Kyrchik and thanks for joining us on I-24 news it is day 173 of the israel-khamas war continues. The families of soldiers taken hostage in Gaza are expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, that's tomorrow, as diplomatic talks and Qatar between Israel and Hamas continue. The IDF has started to use facial recognition technology in the Gaza Strip, according to three Israeli senior intelligence officers. A report from The New York Times says that hundreds of Palestinians in the enclave have been arrested thanks to the AI-based system. Meanwhile, AIDS groups continue to warn about impending famine in the north of the Gaza Strip after at least 12 people drowned off of the coast of Gaza while trying to retrieve aid parcels that had been airdropped into the sea, according to Palestinian paramedics. At the same time, Israel's military says it's killed 180 people and arrested at least 500 terrorists in its raid on Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, which is in its second week. Elsewhere, the IDF has confirmed the death of Staff Sergeant Nisim Kahlom, a 21-year-old who died fighting in southern Gaza. His death brings the IDF's death toll during the Gaza ground operation up to 253. Now up north, fighting is escalating here in Israel. A 25-year-old man has been killed this morning after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. The IDF says around 30 rockets were launched at the city and what Hezbollah claims is a response to a deadly airstrike in Lebanon hours earlier. At least three hit Kiryat Shmona, causing both damage and casualties. One rocket struck an industrial building causing a fire and leading to the death of Zahir Bashar, a resident of the Druze village of Enknie. Well, a home in Kiryat Shmona was also directly hit and a third rocket strike in the city damaged a car as well. Our correspondent Robert Swift has more on this story. Once again the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona came under fire from Lebanon. At least 30 rockets were launched. The Israeli military said, with multiple interceptions taking place. Zahir Bashar, a 25-year-old resident of the Druze village of Enknie, was killed in a strike on an industrial building. Hezbollah claims responsibility for their attack. Khizbollah claimed responsibility for the attack. In response to the massacre committed by the Zionist enemy in Habariah, the Islamic resistance bombed Kiryat Shmona and the barracks of the 768th Brigade in the settlement with dozens of rockets. Israeli aircraft struck a building in Habariah in southern Lebanon on Tuesday night. The Israeli military said that it targeted an Islamic jihadist organization, killing a quote, significant terrorist, alongside several other operatives. Lebanese media reported that the strike hit an ambulance station, killing seven paramedics. While such exchanges of fire continue, tens of thousands of civilians remain displaced from both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border. But to turn to our guests in the studio, we have Ambassador Dr. Avi Paznell joining us, a former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy, and Colonel in the reserves Grisha Yakubovich, the former head of the civilian department of Kogat in the IDF. All right. So, you know, I think the big question right now is, are we seeing a serious escalation in the north? And how worried should the Israeli public be about a bigger war here? Grisha, would you like to begin? Yes, I think that the equations are still as it used to be until it's now nine o'clock in Israel. So Hezbollah and Israel still keep the same equation. But the change that happened is that Israel has raised the bar of the attacks, not only in Lebanon, but also if the rumors are right all over the Middle East. The seven paramedics that were killed, it's not seven paramedics, it's seven terrorists that belong to an organization that is called Jamia al-Islamiyyah. This is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. And of course, Hezbollah will paint them exactly what Hamas does in Gaza, that they take cover under, let's say, civilian disguise. The same thing is happening here also. But those are seven terrorists that were killed that belong to an organization, a terror organization that has joined the fights against Israel inside Lebanon. Ambassador, I'd like to hear your take on this. At this point, is there any diplomatic resolution to what we're seeing in terms of this exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah? As a diplomat, Natasha, I like to see diplomacy in action, but there is absolutely none. At the present time, both the American and the French have seized their effort to try to get a diplomatic solution, because I do not believe, by the way, that a diplomatic solution is possible as long as the fighting in Gaza continues. You know, Hezbollah has vowed to help the Hamas, so they're helping the Hamas as long as the fighting continues. It's true that the level of help is quite low. I mean, we have seen exchanges which have unfortunately cost human lives, but we are already now six months in the same framework, more or less. Grisha had just said that there is an expansion according to rumors of Israeli working in all the Middle East. But for the time being, it is contained. That's the key word, the containment of the fighting with Hezbollah. I hope it will be possible to continue to contain, because you know, in that kind of situation, it takes one mistake or one miscalculation to get things started in another way completely. But again, Natasha, as long as the fighting in Gaza continues, in my view, there is no point in trying to get the diplomatic solution. There are now France and the United States are not even trying anymore, and I think they are waiting for better times. All right. Well, we're going to turn now to Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel, where our correspondent Zack Anders is joining us live. I understand that you're at the site of where much of the damage was caused today by those Hezbollah rockets. What are the latest updates in terms of the fighting? What has happened throughout the course of the day, and show us what you're seeing here on the ground? Well, here in Kiryat Shmona, this is what it looked like in the morning. The results of a direct hit. You can see the crater here, the quick work to be done to already fill in where it actually landed. And it gives you a sense of the scale of the damage, because this is what it did to the home. This is a family's home that's been evacuated. They have multiple children. You can see that the deck, the balcony has completely collapsed in. And upstairs, every window is blown out, but upstairs you can see the bedroom of one of the kids. And the window, the frame of the window blown inside as well. This is the kind of damage that if anyone was home, you could only imagine would cause injuries, because the shrapnel that came off this rocket enough to punch through the cement wall of both the fence here and of the home. It's impressive to look at the damage. Thankfully, no one was home here down the street, however, in one of the industrial areas is where we have the 25-year-old man who was killed in the same barrage that Hezbollah is taking responsibility for, claimed credit. They say, as you were discussing just there, that it was the result of the overnight strike that killed seven in southern Lebanon. And this was why they targeted here at Shimona this morning, killing that 25-year-old man from a Druze village. It's, again, another night where we are questioning what comes next, because this level of fighting, as was alluded to earlier, has been contained into this somewhat proxy de facto zone of a few kilometers on either side of the border. However, the IDF has been striking positions several times in Balbash. This is 100 kilometers north of the border. Within Hezbollah, as we've been monitoring their channels, the rank-and-file party members, it kind of stops short at official calls when you get into Nasrallah circles. But for the men that are fighting in southern Lebanon, they want to see strikes deeper into Israel. They are frustrated. It appears with Nasrallah and with their own Hezbollah leadership for the lack of targeting of positions deeper. And again, this conflict has been remarkable because it has been a few kilometers on either side. Hezbollah has either not attempted or not been successful in launching anything further south than the Sea of Galilee. Another point that stands out here, and we can kind of show it visually to you, and I'll reference this crater again, this came from the west. Now, when you hear anybody out in the field describing the difference between a missile or a rocket, it's an important distinction because a rocket, once it's fired, you can't change its trajectory. It's more rudimentary in that way. A missile has the potential to be altered in its course in flight. So this came from the west. It's not clear. The IDF has not confirmed whether this was a rocket or a missile. But again, the Lebanon in the Galilee here is on either side of us and Syria in this direction. So you can kind of get the sense of where these things are coming from. But for something like this and the force that it caused, it's impressive to see the scale of the damage. All right, Zach, thank you so much for joining us and showing that first hand. We're turning now to ceasefire negotiations if they're still ongoing. Israel is reportedly gearing up for a ground operation in Rafah in mid-April or early May. This comes after the failure of the latest round of negotiations in Qatar. Well, Israel says it is not willing to make any further concessions to Hamas according to Egyptian sources quoted by the pro-Hezbollah media outlet Al-Aqbar deli. Now, the ground up would reportedly last between four to eight weeks. And it would see the evacuation of the over 1.4 million Gazans currently sheltering in the southern city. Now, this mass evacuation would be monitored from the ground and air to make sure that no Hamas fighters or Israeli hostages could be hidden among the Gaza civilians. Now, the same report is also suggesting that negotiations are underway with the UAE to bring medication to Israeli hostages in exchange for large amounts of medicine being allowed into Gaza. It appears that the relatives of Israeli hostages had enough with this standstill in negotiations for the release of their loved ones. Take a look at what some of them had to say last night. We're calling for a hostage deal now. We've been calling for a hostage deal for a long time. We know that there is a deal on the table. And we know that the negotiations are the only thing they can bring about an actual deal. You can't stop negotiating while there are hostages still held captive inside Gaza. You can't do that. You have to make sure that you do whatever you can to get them all back home. Get the deal done. Get them back home. Currently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more focused on his survival as a prime minister or his survival as a free citizen. He's more concentrated on his trial than to release the hostages. We are very frustrated. We were counting on our prime minister to get a deal to release our beloved, to release our families. But he's dealing with a totally different thing. He's dealing with his survival and not for the release of the hostages that were kidnapped because under his responsibility. Let's turn to hostage square and Tel Aviv, where our correspondent, Belir Sledin, is joining us right now. Belir, what do we know about the status of the Israeli hostages at this point, if anything? Yes, well, definitely the whole issue about the status of the Israeli hostages is, of course, very unclear to the families. And this is very, of course, hard for them not to know whether the loved ones are alive or dead at this moment after 173 days of this war. And this is all happening in the background of the latest developments in the talks in Doha, especially the negative response by Hamas that is currently discussed in the war cabinet by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. And he's, of course, a coalition partners, including Guns and IZincode. This will be also discussed in the wider cabinet where Ben Kvir and Smotrich are present as well. And this is very important because the official response from Israel is yet to be announced. But what we know from the prime minister's office comments on the Hamas respond that they are, of course, not happy with the stance that Hamas has taken with the harsh or the toughening of positioning right now after the UN Security Council's resolution that Benjamin Netanyahu is saying that it is weakening Israeli's efforts in order to secure this hostage deal. And is, of course, also increasing the tension between Netanyahu or Israel in general and the Biden administration. What is important as well right now is the whole issue about the upcoming delegation that should be traveling to Washington, D.C. We know that Netanyahu decided not to send this delegation that includes Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs. But many conflicting reports in the latest hours about this delegation, some are saying, including Reuters and NBC, that Netanyahu decided to send this delegation also saying that a possible date would be the beginning of next week. Exios also is saying the same thing but the prime minister's office is yet to announce and they are declining to comment on the latest reports and they're saying that Netanyahu did not approve yet the delegation. Of course, this is very important for the families of the hostages to see that the relationship between Israel and the Biden administration, a person who they see as the sole or the major, of course, factor that can help release their loved ones from Gaza and secure this hostage deal with his efforts and the American efforts in general. What we are hearing right now from the families of the hostages is that they rely on the Biden administration to continue the efforts to secure such a deal. It is yet to reach a deadlock in Doha. The, or some of the Israeli delegation members are still in Doha, but we are all waiting right now for the official Israeli response, for the latest response from Hamas. All right, Beliar, thank you so much for joining us from Hostage Square. For over 170 days now, the families of Israeli hostages still captive in the Gaza Strip have been in a state of desperation. Most have no idea where their loved ones are or if they're even alive. And sadly, for the family of 19-year-old Etai Khen, they were forced to learn of his fate two weeks ago when the IDF officially announced that Etai had been killed and abducted by Hamas on October 7th. The teen was serving in the IDF 7th Armored Brigade, 75th Battalion on that dark Saturday, and his body was taken from the Gaza border following a battle with terrorists during the Hamas onslaught. Well, joining us now is Ruby Khen, the father of Etai Khen. Now, Ruby, you know, the families of soldiers taken hostage in Gaza are expected to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Thursday. That's tomorrow. What can we expect out of this meeting? What do you want to say to him? First, evening 173, to you and all the viewers. When it comes to the Prime Minister, first of all, it has been unfortunate that the families of the IDF soldiers asked to meet the Prime Minister in this forum somewhere in December. And only now, he has found time to meet us. I think that the Prime Minister needs to be able to convey in a very concise, direct way, what is the actions that he is doing as the Prime Minister of the civilians and citizens that were abducted on until the 7th to get them back after six months of captivity. Ruby, you know, we are seeing more and more families of hostages held in Gaza speaking out and really expressing anger and disappointment with the government for failing to reach a deal at this point. I mean, how do you think the families feel about the government's performance so far overall? And what do they want to see happen right now? Well, unfortunately, it's kind of like a black and white type of process. Either the hostages come back or do not. And I think part of the issue is that the negotiators from the Israeli side, we have excellent people. We have the head of Mossad and of the Shin Bet. We have Nitzan alone, an awesome individual that are not being given a mandate to be creative in finding solutions to bring an end to this hell that we've been living for over 170 days. And the demand that we have from the cabinet to give the negotiators the complete mandate to find a way to get a deal for the living as well as for the deceased. You know, I'd like to just ask you, is there anything that you would want the world to understand about what your family has been going through, what these families as a whole have been going through during this time and kind of the message that you would want to send to the world? Yeah, so maybe we'll talk about our specific tragedy where we're notified by the IDF as well as U.S. officials. The next phase is to talk about Ashiva, which is the Jewish tradition of week of mourning and prayer for the deceased. And instinctively, we told my wife and I to the officials that we will not start Ashiva until he ties back with us, where he should be. And we afterwards got actually some backing from the Jewish Shubhan-Ugh that talks about the fact that you do Ashiva when you have no hope of having a burial for the deceased. And that is the same message that I conveyed to President Biden when he called Vice President Harris, Secretary of State Blinken, Senator Schumer and numerous other senators and congressmen and some Israeli officials that called, including President Heltak, and they all got it. And it's symbolic for us to say that our journey as that ended, it will only end as well as with the other 134 families that are loved ones. All back with us when they belong. After they were abducted and taken from us and the government of Israel has no other urgent project, task, and bringing our loved ones back to home. Well, I'd like to send my condolences to your family. This is just such a terrible and tough time. We're thinking and praying for your family and praying that you're going to be able to receive your son's baddie back home so you can properly bury him. Thank you so much for joining us and hopefully we're not gonna need to have you back on here soon because there will be a deal made to make that happen. Thank you. All right, I'd like to turn back to our guests in the studio. Obviously, you're hearing from these families this level of desperation, the feeling that there's really no movement being made forward in terms of truly securing the release of their loved ones. My question for you, Ambassador, is whether or not you think the goals expressed by the Israeli government to fully annihilate and demilitarize Hamas are compatible with the goals of getting these hostages back home at this point because we know that Hamas is essentially unwilling to agree to any deal that won't lead to a permanent ceasefire. I believe that those two goals are achievable. And we knew from the beginning it would take a long time and they are ups and down and I was really heartbreaking when I hear the story of the father of Itai who is praying for the return of the body of his son. And I can understand his anger and I can understand his impatience but I do think that the anger should not be directed against the Israeli authorities who find themselves in a very difficult situation whether the prime minister is Netanyahu or whether it's somebody else. This is an extremely difficult situation when you are dealing with a psychopath because Sinwar is a psychopath, a cruel man and that he plays with us and he knows how to play with the Israeli public and the anger should be directed towards them. You know, Netanyahu, we just accepted a few days ago the American proposal which by the way is difficult one for Israel to liberate 700 terrorists, 100 of them with blood on their hand for 40 hostages. This is a difficult decision of the Israeli government and we accepted it and the Hamas rejected it outright. And I believe that there is also a connection between the vote at the UN and the Hamas refusal to go ahead with the deal because they now think maybe they can get a better deal. So all in all, I want to be, my heart is with the family, I would like to be able to encourage them. More patience is needed but I think we will get the hostages, those who are alive will get them out of there. All right, well for now we're going to go out for a quick break. We're going to continue with our discussions on this topic and more on I-24 News. I'm Natasha Kirchuk, stick with us. We have a lot coming up. You're not going to want to miss it. Must reach the whole world. The I-24 News channel, Broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondents throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. Completely sundown in their beds. De la frontière qui sépare Israel, the state of emergency and war in Israel. Bringing Israel's story to the world, I-24 News channels, now on Hot. And we're back on I-24 News. I'm Natasha Kirchuk and thanks for joining us. It is day 173 of the Israel-Khamas War and the fighting continues on the battleground and in the public arena. An I-24 News investigation has found that life for Jewish employees at the United Nations has taken a decided turn for the worse after October 7th, political activism among staff, which was once taboo at the organization has now gone widespread and unchecked with a major anti-Israel bent. While our senior U.S. correspondent, Mike Wagenheim, checks in with us from New York. Mike, how deep does this run? It's pretty amazing, Natasha. We spoke with four different U.N. employees from different countries, only one of which has Israeli citizenship. They all work for different agencies within the U.N. They don't know each other specifically, yet all told us strikingly similar stories about their experiences. All of them saying pre-October 7th being Jewish at the U.N. Really didn't matter one way or the other. Didn't help them, didn't hinder them. Their close friends knew, but it wasn't a big deal one way or another. Post-October 7th, boy, life has certainly changed. We gave all four anonymity to speak because they all feared for retribution. The first employee we spoke with, a development staffer within the United Nations, said that they get a lot of reminders about the need for neutrality and not to take sides at all. But here is what this staffer had to say. He said, we're in a situation now where we have to stay quiet, not to say anything, be good civil servants, and to listen to the propaganda that is completely organized and supported at the highest level by the United Nations. That employee says that there have been, basically, a complete lack of guardrails in terms of employee behavior around the Israel Hamas conflict, social media behavior, speeches within the United Nations itself and the corridors of the halls where they work. It's gotten out of control. The employee told us that she thinks at some point that she should speak out, but it's also very difficult because Jewish employees risked their jobs in doing so. She said the United Nations has been instrumentalized by Hamas and that Antonio Guterres, the secretary general, has fallen into that trap of propaganda. A second staffer worked within the secretary at the main administrative body but actually left to go to another agency because it got so bad there. The manager that that employee worked for would not allow pro-Israel voices to attend official UN events because supposedly it might cause some sort of aggression or some sort of problems. Pro-Israel voices were banned. Pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas voices, not so much. That employee told us that the UN secretariat is purposely trying to hide as much as possible Hamas' responsibility for the terror attacks. It started to be very disturbing. That employee went on to say that even this notion of neutrality is really a biased one because as civil servants, they need to be neutral and impartial but apparently only when it comes to some topics. And that employee again reiterated here that they hadn't experienced any feeling of anti-Jewishness or anti-Semitism specifically but more of feeling against Israel within the halls of the UN post-October 7th. But now of course that employee said that two are becoming more and more difficult to separate because we're in a moment when most Jewish people have really stood out in their support of Israel. A third UN employee, a lawyer within the organization said that never in their life had they heard anybody within the UN be outspoken about any other conflict. And remember Natasha, there's conflicts going on all over the world. None of them are really spoken out about politically among the staff there at the UN. This is different from the diplomatic corps for each particular country. They hear about human rights violations all the time. They receive complaints. None of them have caused the kind of social media furor that UN employees have expressed since October 7th. The employee said, there's obviously been an exception here by the way. Several employees noted to us Jewish employees noted that several of the staff associations at the UN, the quasi-unions within each agency actually sent out letters of approval for Secretary General Antonio Guterres's position on a ceasefire and they asked employees to sign that letter of support. Of course, now they have a record of who signed it and who did it, which creates even more problems for Jewish and pro-Israel people within the United Nations. That employee told us there's not a single Jew or Israeli that they know of that works at the UN and they didn't think, oh my God, where am I working? What are the values of this organization? And a fourth Jewish employee told us that the rule at the UN is that you can't express your political views. It's gone out the window now. They don't see anybody not expressing a political opinion. And now, very disturbingly, that employee told us that lots of people are hiding the fact that they're Jewish. They're not saying that they're Jewish out of fear. Now there's no official records of how many Jewish employees there are at the United Nations because they don't keep track of such things. Only Israelis are kept track of on a country-by-country basis so difficult to tell how many people this is actually affecting. Now the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Marav Elan Shachar, gave us a statement saying that since October the 7th, it has become clear that the United Nations and international organizations have failed not only the State of Israel, but also failed their own Israeli and Jewish employees. She went on to say that for too many of them, their place of work has become a place of fear, isolation and discomfort where all the rules of impartiality and restraints have been disregarded. Now we asked Antonio Guterres' office to allow us to speak on record with Jewish employees that they would provide to us. Well, they declined to make any available on the record. However, Guterres' office did provide 24 news with a statement. That statement reads that basically the Secretary General is disturbed by the news that these employees are in fear of retribution, that they don't feel that they can speak out and that they feel isolated within their workplace. Guterres told us that he intends to make sure that there is not this atmosphere of intimidation and that all UN employees are following those specific rules that they sign on for when they go to work for the UN, that they need to be impartial in their work. Obviously it's not working so far for Jewish employees that we spoke with all right now in fear of retribution working within the halls of the United Nations. Mike, thank you so much for breaking that down. Really interesting to hear that insight and the question is whether or not this report is going to make some waves at the United Nations. Turning to the West Bank now where tensions are simmering and the IDF is trying to prevent it from bubbling over. The latest raid in Janine has led to the deaths of three Palestinian terrorists. The question is whether or not Israeli military action will truly de-escalate the situation. Our Joe Brown has the latest. Following the atrocities on October the 7th, Israel has conducted almost nightly raids into what it defines as terror hotspots throughout the West Bank. And in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the IDF conducted its latest incursion into Janine in the northern part of the area. The IDF says three terrorists were killed in a raid on Janine from both air and land. Two gunmen in a targeted UAV drone strike and a third shot in an exchange of fire after explosives were thrown at the Israeli soldiers. This brings the total number killed in the West Bank from Israeli raids since October the 7th to over 450, approximately 70 of whom were killed from drone strikes. Elsewhere, a car filled with explosives was destroyed in a controlled explosion by the IDF with the two occupants of the car arrested. In total, over 3,500 have been arrested since the war began, around half of whom have links to Hamas or other terror groups. Halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a month which Israeli security services were placed on high alert due to the normal rise in tensions during this time on top of the hostilities surrounding the Gaza war, Israel has thus far generally managed to contain the violence to within the borders of the West Bank and it will hope to keep it that way. And I turn back to our guests in the studio, Colonel, in the reserves Grisha Yanukovych, I'd like to ask you specifically about these ongoing operations in the West Bank. You know, what is Israel specifically targeting? Which areas are we seeing the most action take place? And what can we expect in terms of long-term results, especially amidst or during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan? We need to go back a year and six or seven months ago. It started before the October 7th war. Let's not forget that. The escalation in the West Bank started in Jinnin. It's actually the place where the Palestinian Authority left it in a way and created a vacuum and into that vacuum, Hamas and Pish, Palestinian Islamic jihad entered. So if you remember before the war, the operations in Jinnin, that everybody were in shock, that denies are inside and the whole brigade is inside. And for the first time, helicopters open fire, it's actually in Jinnin. So that's the most important, let's say nest of terror in the West Bank. From Jinnin, it went down to the south, to Turkarem and now Turkarem is leading and then to Tubas and now in Khadoum and Karawat-Bani Hassan and Birzad and it reached to Hebron. So actually the Palestinian Authority is not effective, unfortunately. The IDF is in, acting very aggressive to achieve two goals. One is to send a clear message that the unity of the arenas that Iran planned actually will not be implemented and two, it's a clear message that the Palestinian Authority is also a terror entity. So there is no way that they will be the ones that will control the Gaza Strip the day after. I think we can all see that one of the four people that were killed, one of the four terrorists that was killed in Jinnin this night was a Palestinian PA officer, a custom officer that daytime collect taxes from the people for the PA and during the night he's a terrorist holding an illegal weapon. I think since the beginning of the war, almost 52 PA officers, officials, were killed by the IDF as terrorists. So the message is clear. Now I want to connect it also to what is happening in Jordan. It's going to be the fourth night tonight that there are demonstrations that support Hamas. It's against, that's the policy of Jordan, the official one. It's also connected to what we've heard a few days ago that Iran tried to smuggle weapons into the West Bank also to support this unity of the arenas. So PAGE and Hamas, Iranian proxies in the West Bank, will have enough weapons to continue and creating this scale. So Israel will be forced to deal with three effective arenas, Gaza, West Bank, and Lebanon. And of course, the goal, eventually, after that is also to flame the Arab-Israeli communities incidentally. All right, Ambassador, I know you want to add something quickly. A little quick thing. When I see and I enjoy every word you said, when I see how the Palestinian authorities are not capable of assuring security in Judea and Samaria, how will they assure security in Gaza? I mean, you know, the idea of bringing them as responsible for security in Gaza when the Hamas still in every pole enjoy 50% of support, how will they do it? I mean, that's an illusion. All right, well, I'd like to thank both of our guests in the studio for joining us. We are going to have to say goodbye for now. We're turning to another guest. Over 100,000 Israelis still remain displaced from their homes since the start of the war on October 7th. More than 80,000 of them are from northern Israel, specifically, as Hezbollah bombards their communities with rockets. And at this point, there's no clear end in sight to their displacement. Today, after a rocket bombardment killed one man in the city of Kiryat Shmona, locals are even more on edge. Well, the Israeli Trauma Coalition is an organization working with the welfare departments of the Northern Municipality is to help support those displaced. And joining us now is Amir Reisman, the director of the Northern Region for the Israel Coalition for Trauma. So Amir, to begin, where are northern Israelis who have been evacuated currently living? What does life look like on a daily basis? I'll hear you. To begin, where are Israelis who have been evacuated from the north currently living? And what does their life look like on a daily basis? It looks like we're having some sound issues. Can you hear me? Sorry about that, I can't hear nothing. All right, we'll try one more time. OK, for now, we're going to come back to you. Amir, because it seems that we're having some technological issues. We're going to turn to a very disturbing story that came out yesterday. A released Israeli hostage in Gaza came out for the first time with a detailed account of her sexual assault by Hamas terrorists. We have more in this report. This was only the start of the harrowing experience Amit Susana went through in Hamas captivity. Fighting with all her strength against at least 10 men, Susana, a 40-year-old Israeli lawyer, still couldn't escape the clutches of Hamas as they dragged her to Gaza on October 7th. Kidnapped from her home in Kfar Azar, one of the community's bordering Gaza, Susana is the first released hostage to speak publicly on her sexual assault by Hamas during her captivity. In a troubling testimony, Susana recounted to The New York Times how she was chained by her ankle alone in a child's bedroom in Gaza, how she was groped and forced to perform a sexual act while being held at gunpoint by her captor. Given the violent nature of Susana's experience, The New York Times agreed not to disclose more details of her 55-day ordeal. Earlier on, following her release, Susana was vocal about the difficulties of her captivity. I was alone for a couple of weeks with Hamas armed soldiers guarding me the entire time. There was little food. I was kept in the dark and had to ask permission to use the bathroom, even not allowed to close the bathroom door. After that, they moved me to different places with different Hamas guards in each place. All the guards were heavily armed and abused me and the other hostages. I was also held in a Hamas tunnel, 40 meters deep, where there was no oxygen and very little food. The tomb-like tunnel was dark, damp, and felt like if we were buried alive. But within hours of her release, Amit Susana told medical professionals and social workers about her plight. A testimony those same professionals say has remained consistently the same. Hamas and its supporters had been quick to slam and deny any kind of sexual assault on the woman they've held captive, citing the sacredness of women's bodies in Islam, but also the so-called lack of evidence given that so many victims had been killed. But a UN report earlier this month also found proof of sexual violence committed during Hamas' onslaught on October 7, stating that most of the victims had been killed following their abuse. We know that there's a woman that survived the horrific attack, that survived the noble party, that survived the Kibbutzim, survived sexual violence and are alive with us and still not talking, and maybe they will not talk. But here, it's the first woman that dared to say this out loud, and it's not easy at all. Now everybody is interested to talk to her, all the media, and she will remember as the first person that dared to speak, but that will be for her lifetime. And we should really admire her, but I think also protect her. She spoke because I believe she understood how important it is, but she's a personal, she's a private person, and we have to also take care of her and not abuse her with questions all the time, which I assume it will happen to her. The Israeli president also praising Susana for her courage to speak up, saying she is the voice for all those who cannot speak following the sexual brutalities and calling on the world to side with the meat and all the victims. As false information swirls and accounts of sexual assaults are reported, the voices standing out the most are the ones whose cries couldn't be heard. Well, as the Israel Hamas War rages on, what do Israelis think about the government's performance? 57% of Israelis think that Prime Minister Netanyahu's performance since October 7th has been subpar. That is according to a new survey by the Israel Democracy Institute. Now, with no clear end in sight and ceasefire negotiations seemingly at a standstill, what does the Israeli public truly want to see happen next? And where does Israel's Arab Israeli population fit into this, which makes up around 20% of the country? Well, joining us now is Israel Palestine commentator Muhammad Zuhabi. So, Muhammad, 173 days into the war, what are we hearing from Israel's Arab Israeli population? You know, obviously identifying as both Israeli and also Palestinian simultaneously is not easy right now. Yeah, well, I mean, I think what we, first of all, thank you for having me. I think that the main thing that we've seen in the beginning following the October 7th massacre is the overwhelming solidarity that came from the Arab community. I mean, you know, poll after poll after poll showed that the vast majority of Arab citizens in Israel, you know, they first of all, they reject, you know, what happened, but also they feel a genuine sense of connection to the state and to their fellow citizens. Unfortunately, we have a government that is so incompetent that, you know, it needs to compensate for its incompetence. And one of the ways to compensate for a populist government's incompetence is by scapegoating minorities. And so since October 7th, we've seen, you know, senior officials from this government, you know, working actively, directly and indirectly to not only hurt the Arab community in Israel, but to try to antagonize us. I mean, to their disappointment, it's been like relatively calm within Israel proper. And I think that, you know, it kind of, you know, the difference between, you know, the situation now or how the Arab community in Israel feels with, you know, the hatred and the hate speech and all of these things, you know, as opposed to how they felt in the beginning of the war is kind of very resembling to our, you know, position in a way where our duality is, it's kind of, it's welcomed when it's comfortable for each side, but then if it becomes a bit uncomfortable, then we're completely kind of marginalized to the sidelines and so. Do you think that we've seen a change in how the Arab-Israeli population feels about living in Israel or being a part of Israeli society as this war has raged on? I certainly do, you know, see that if in the beginning of the war, Israeli Arabs, I mean, what Israeli Jews, for instance, don't understand is that for us on October 7th, waking up in the morning, you know, speaking Arabic or being exposed to, you know, Arabic social media platforms and all of these things, we were exposed to what was actually happening way before mainstream Israeli media even started to comprehend the scale of what was happening. I mean, I remember that on mainstream Israeli channels they were still reporting about dozens of people killed until, you know, until 12 p.m. And I remember waking up on that day and seeing on social media the horrifying images and I think I wasn't the only one. I think that a lot of the Arab population in Israel was exposed to that. They were shocked. They were horrified by it. And it did bolster a shared sense of being Israeli because also dozens of Arab-Israelis were killed. At least 10 Arab-Israelis were kidnapped if I'm not mistaken, and four still in captivity in Gaza. And so, you know, in the beginning, it started with that, but towards, you know, as the war continued and, you know, with the enormous Palestinian suffering, the immense devastation in Gaza, normally, you know, naturally the Arab population in Israel starts to feel less and less connected or kind of more disconnected from where the mainstream kind of discourse from the government but also from a lot of parts of Israeli society, unfortunately, is going. And it definitely makes Arab-Israelis feel excluded. Now, two weeks ago, Arab-Israeli towns held the first Gaza war protests. Would you say that these protests are reflective of what the general Arab-Israeli population feels and wants to see happen with this war? Well, I mean, I would say that there's a majority of Arab citizens in Israel who don't want this war, who want the war to end. There's a majority that wants a deal, you know, a hostage deal that will, you know, will ensure that all the hostages come back and that, you know, the war and the bombardment of Gaza stops. I have a friend in Gaza who's kidnapped, Dan Stive, he's my friend from university. And to me, you know, I mean, as an Arab-Israeli individual, but also as part of a collective, we're all part of collectives, I think that my, you know, my priority is really kind of reflective of the priority of the vast majority of Israelis in general. You know, there is a majority of Israelis that wants a deal, that wants the hostages to be returned. And I think that the more time that goes by without the government being able to fulfill that desire, there will be more and more friction in Israeli society in general. In the Arab community, unfortunately, I mean, hundreds of Arab citizens were arrested by Benghils police since the beginning of this war. For, you know, the majority of them were released without any charges. I mean, it's, you know, part of the reason why the Arab community avoided protesting, I think, is because we were trying to be considerate. We were trying, you know, we understood the situation. It was also the first time that we've seen Israel in a position of weakness, especially on October 7th, you know, seeing the horrifying images that are coming from the south and the fact that there's no one to protect the civilians who are, you know, murdered, kidnapped, raped in their homes. So it was very shocking to witness all of that. But unfortunately, the way the government has been handling everything has unfortunately distanced the Arab community from the mainstream Israeli society. And I guess that's what they want, to be honest. That's what the government wants. I'd like to turn now to Palestinian public opinion in Gaza and the West Bank. You know, we saw nearly six months after the start of this war another poll that was taken, specifically by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, and it found essentially a major rise in support for Hamas in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We saw an increase from 57% of support for Hamas in Gaza to 71% in Gaza over the course of the past three months. What would you say about this and would you say that it truly, this poll is truly reflective of the majority of Palestinians in the territories? So to be honest, I don't know how much, you know, I'm in a position to be able to kind of analyze, you know, the way Palestinian public opinion, you know, functions, but I am aware of the fact that there was a big poll that was published on the eve of October 7th. It was a coincidence and it showed that at least 60% of Gazans wanted Hamas out. Nowadays, you know, the pollings show that it's the complete opposite, over 60% or 50, 50 something percent want Hamas to lead the Palestinian people. I think that it's very natural when there's war for people to kind of unite around the flag, whatever that flag is. I mean, the same thing happened with Israelis following October 7th. We had a hectic year full of protests, full of unrest, you know, of clashes. And it did ease a little bit following October 7th, but it's kind of starting to come back. I mean, and that's kind of, you know, maybe where Israelis are different from, you know, the Israeli public, at least, that might be different from the Palestinian public. It might be, you know, certain, you know, privileges that the Palestinian public does not have like freedom of speech or freedom of protest. There has also been kind of getting under attack in Israel proper itself, but it is definitely worrying to see these numbers. And I do think that, unfortunately, Israel's retaliation