 Hello everyone, this is I-24 News First, the headlines. Families of captive Israeli soldiers met for the first time with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. An Israeli delegation will travel to Washington to discuss the situation in Rafa. And Saudi Arabia will have the UN Commission for Women's Rights. We'll start off with this. Families of captive Israeli soldiers are meeting for the first time with the Israeli Prime Minister. Soldiers are supposedly at the bottom of the list for exchangers with Hamas. The families want to change that. I-24 News, Balir Sladeen is in Tel Aviv now, live with the families. What's new? Yes, well, we are from Hostage Square here and we've heard the comments after the meeting that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, held with the families of the male Israeli soldiers holding captivity in Gaza. And he is saying, and he is assuring them actually, that Israel will free every single hostage in Gaza, just like it did when it freed 123 hostages. Until now, he said that Israel is preparing for an invasion of Rafa, for operation in Rafa, the southern city, in Gaza. And he's saying that only with military pressure will there be the possibility of a release of the hostages, including these male soldiers. He's also saying, interestingly, that Israel is holding strategic Hamas assets. As he's saying it, we are not sure what he means by strategic assets belong to Hamas, but apparently he means that the north of Gaza, the military presence there and the military occupation of this part of this tribe is, of course, a strategic asset that Israel holds from Hamas. Maybe that's what he means by strategic assets that belong to Hamas. And for holding that, Israel is, of course, that thing will help Israel release the hostages, including the male soldiers. The families themselves earlier today held a press conference in a recruiting office in Tal HaShumeir here beside Tel Aviv. They said that they were silent for 174 days, but they are breaking the silence right now. They are saying that no minister has ever talked to them during these 174 days. And they're bleeding from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and they're saying that you have the commitment, the commitment is yours to free all of the hostages, including our sons from Hamas as a captivity. They, of course, know that this category of male Israeli soldiers is apparently with the quote-unquote the highest price for Israel the last time that Israel exchanged an Israeli soldier. Israel did that a decade ago, Gilat Shaleed, for 1,017 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Among them was Hamas' leader, Ingaza Yahya Sinwar. So apparently this is the hardest category to be released, and that's what the families know, of course, and they are demanding from the Prime Minister to know what Israel is willing to do, which Israel is willing to offer in order to release their sons from Hamas' captivity. And the Prime Minister is assuring them that they are working to release all of them, including the male soldier, as he's saying it. All right. Thank you very much. Belair from Tel Aviv. Here in the studio, Denny Ayalon, Ambassador, former Israeli ambassador to Washington. Good evening, Denny. Good evening, Jacob. Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu can offer only words to these families, and they need more. Well, absolutely. Unfortunately, as your reporter just advised us, the soldiers are at the end of the list, and they are the ones who probably suffer the most. And the brunt of the Hamas' attack was against them and their bases, as well as, of course, the communities in the south. But I think what we mean by having assets of Hamas is not just our presence in the north of Gaza, but also we have more than a thousand Hamas' terrorists. Some of them are very high-ranking over there. So we have a lot of assets to be exchanged vis-à-vis the soldiers. And the parents of the soldiers, they are right. They don't want the soldiers to be left behind. They would like, if it's possible, to have one grand deal, everybody for everyone. Right. I spoke, actually, today with one of the mothers of a soldier that is there. And she said, you know, the first round was 50 days into the crisis. It was humanitarian. Okay. At this point, everybody is humanitarian. We cannot separate. So that's where they're coming from now. Sure. Even if you are 20 years old with good health, after 180 days underground, no, not seeing the light of day, not having proper nutrition, and who knows what else is, are they undergoing? Definitely. Everyone is a humanitarian case, and it would be a high time for them to be back home. And I hope also that the international community would realize that. And, you know, for Hamas to demand that it will be done in installments, you know, like two, three or four, it's really bad. It's really bad. It's just an assurance for them, I guess. And at this point, Jacob, if I were to advise the government, I would say, you know what, we will give you, we'll grant you, Sinwar and everyone else, a safe passage out of Gaza, lay down your arms, and you're free to go and, you know, get some prisoners out and give us back our own hostages. Yeah. The flip side of this is that Hamas is not really talking about any real solution. So that's the other problem. We'll get back to this. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, back down and we'll send a delegation to the White House. Still the tensions are far from over. Here's the latest. We is within reach. It's a few weeks away. Now we are told, this is it, last point, now we are told, you can't do this. If you're going to Rafa, you're going to have a humanitarian catastrophe. You're going to have, I don't know, 30,000 dead, 30,000 civilian dead, okay. That's not true. That is simply not true. At the height of the diplomatic crisis with the U.S., Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again rejected criticism regarding the IDF's mooted ground operation in Rafa, and has even provided a new rationale for the decision to cancel the departure of the delegation to travel to Washington to discuss the operation. My decision not to send the delegation to Washington in the wake of that resolution was a message to Habas. It was a message, first of all, was to Habas, don't bet on this pressure it's not going to work. Whether Habas was impressed by the message or not is an open point. After a jingle jangle of denials, the White House confirms that the Israeli delegation will go to Washington after all in order to calm the fear of a humanitarian disaster should the IDF enter Southern Gaza. The Prime Minister's office has agreed to reschedule the meeting dedicated to Rafa. So we're now working with them to find a convenient date that's obviously going to work for both sides. But his office has agreed to reschedule that meeting that would be dedicated to Rafa, which is a good thing. But against the background of this crisis, there is a growing fear in Jerusalem of a domino effect that will damage support from other countries. With the increase of international pressure to end the war in Gaza, the understanding in Jerusalem is also increasing. Israel does not have the time to fight unnecessary battles. So Daniel, former Ambassador to Washington, what is the state of affairs? Well it seems like there is no other way to go around the United States. Your best friend and ally, and I think Netanyahu was right to back down and send the delegation because with all due respect to the international community, to UN Security Council and their resolutions, we only have to mind the United States. And as so far as we are dependent on the air train, you know, for munitions mostly, we must heed to some of their concerns. And quite frankly, looking at this United Nation Security Council resolution, it wasn't a matter of life and death. And this is what I hear in Washington, that they must use sparingly the veto power. They cannot just do it too much because then it isolates the United States. They have wide-ranging interest in other areas of the world. And they have committed to block any resolution which would damage or hurt Israeli interest. In the case of the last resolution, it wasn't as such. And they did demand this resolution for the immediate release of the hostages. So I would say some more sophistication, more nuanced political diplomatic approach would have been, well, embrace the resolution. You see what Hamas did. When Israel did not, when Israel rejected the resolution, Hamas embraced it. And then we are the ones who are isolated. So I think Netanyahu did the right thing now, and it's better late than ever. What about long-term relationships between Biden and Netanyahu? How can they get along in the middle of a war here? Well, this is a good question, however, Jacob, I'm optimistic for one reason and one reason only, and that is American interest is a strong Israel, has always been the case. So America's support to Israel is not just because, I mean, it is, of course, for the values for sure, but this is not sufficient. Also because of the interest, because a strong Israel can actually bring about stability in the region. Certainly it needs now much more severely than before the 7th of October. So the U.S. will continue to support Israel, I would say, with or without agreements between the two gentlemen in the White House and in Balfour Street in Jerusalem. Okay. Meanwhile, Israel keeps pushing back its threat to invade Rafa, with growing skepticism on whether it eventually will. Hi, some Hasan Anis with us now to talk about this. Good evening to you. Thanks for having me, Jacob. In your assessment, where are we now on the hostage negotiations between the United States, Qatar, Egypt, Israel and Hamas? Unfortunately, there is no foreseeing progress yet. The Cairo and the Amdo'a talks did not lead to anything. Both the Indian and Qatar cannot control Hamas. In the state Hamas, yesterday its leaders went to visit Tehran. It was like telling both the Arab mediators, the Egyptians of the Qataris, that they have another regional ally who will give them more options on the negotiation table. Apparently, Hamas seems to care about one thing, survive the current war, declare victory. Even if this will come at the expense of Gazan civilians and Israeli hostages. What a government claims that Hamas holds Rafah and the only way to fight it is to go in. Is there any understanding of that in Egypt, in your mind? At the beginning of the conflict, Cairo didn't believe that Israel could take care or get rid of Hamas. President Sisi famously said that his government had a truck record in dealing with militia groups and it took years to get rid of them. Over time this started to change and we start to see statements coming from President Sisi himself calling for demilitarization of Gaza. His foreign minister Samash Shokri just a few months ago also responded to former Israeli minister Tzipi Levini and he stated that Hamas is out of the Palestinian consensus. Which means that Cairo started to see Israel doing progress inside Gaza and Hamas is weak and irresponsible and has no place at the helm of Palestinian politics anymore. And the big challenge for Egypt is they have three fears from any Rafah invasion. One massive influence of displaced Palestinians into its borders which brings troubling memories from 2008 when this happened. Such scenario Egypt foresees that it will force its border security officials to use violence against the infiltrating Palestinians and this will be very embarrassing for Egypt and the Arab world and internationally. What complicates the situation from the Egyptian perspective when it comes to this point back in 2008 when Palestinians infiltrated the border it was due to economic boycott. Now a day so they basically went in to buy food and supplies and got back. Nowadays Egypt foresees that there is nothing to do in Gaza and there is nowhere to live so if they get into different territories they wouldn't be going back. Do Egypt's worry about Palestinian civilian casualties? It doesn't foresee that any Israeli operation in Rafah without leading to massive casualties so it worries about. And number three last point is an Israeli-growing presence in Rafah means that more information will be released on hidden tunnels and other secrets that led to the massive militarization of Gaza. Obviously since it came from the Egyptian side of the border this is likely to be very embarrassing and this is why Egypt would rather have a ceasefire right away in order to avoid any complications of an Israeli inside Rafah. Is Egypt committed not to allow Hamas to go back into power in Gaza? I would argue that as I argued earlier at the beginning this was not the situation because they did not share the belief that the group could be taken out of power or a regime change could happen but seemingly as Israel started to progress from one town to another inside Gaza, Egypt started to see that Israel has a strong foothold inside the script and Hamas is not as powerful as depicted itself. And you could see that through the official statements that have been coming from Egyptian officials and warning Israel from intervening and change to the demilitarization Hamas is out of the political consensus the Egyptians are trying to find alternative solutions to bring the Palestinian authority into Gaza. So nowadays I would argue that they start to believe that Hamas cannot be at the helm of Palestinian politics. All right. Thank you very much for that. Thanks for having me. Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist confesses to raping an Israeli woman in a kibbutz during the Hamas terror attack on October 7th. We're talking about Manar Qasem. He was captured by the IDF earlier this month in Hanyunis. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. With us now is Lieutenant Colonel Sarit Zahavi, formerly with IDF. Thank you very much for joining us. Together with other testimonies like the one in the New York Times yesterday, the scope of the sexual attacks is being discovered now. Yes, it was difficult to believe how far are we from this kind of culture that not only cherish death, but also cherish these sexual crimes. And after all these criticism around the world, they deny, try to deny what they had done. We reveal more and more proof. This is shocking and frightening at the same time. Do you think anything can be done at this stage to alarm public opinion about this or this is just too late? All eyes on Gaza and that's it. Look in my field, it is never too late in the field of information. There is tons of information that needs to be exposed and as much as we find the proofs, we will expose them. This is highly important to continue to do that. We are dealing with an industry of lies from the other side. That's why it's so important not to give up and to continue to expose the truth to all over the world, especially in the UN arena after the United Nations Security Council resolution last week to make sure that everybody understands what kind of culture we are dealing with. All right, so please stand by. We'll speak about the Hezbollah in a moment. I want to go live to the northern border with I-24 Neo-Zach, Anders, and the latest from there after a couple of very, very busy days there. Today no different. We have additional Hezbollah attacks. These taking place like they often do with aerial launches. Hezbollah claiming that they fired dozens of rockets earlier today. The IDF has not confirmed the amount or the kind of projectiles that were used, but probably the most attention-grabbing headline actually came from Safad earlier this afternoon with two Patriot missile interceptions. One of them potentially exploding before reaching the target and the second missile that was sent actually intercepted the target. It's not clear the specifics of what happened here, but for those that live in and around Safad, they describe a massive explosion and a very loud rattling noise that could be heard throughout the city as a result of this attempted interception. Safad, a vital access point of course because that's the base for northern command of the IDF. We have no reports of casualties at this point in the afternoon in Israel. However, in Lebanon we're seeing these IDF strikes continue to cut very deep into not just Hezbollah territory, but into their rank and file as well. As many as 16 people unidentified their exact ties, whether they're involved directly with Hezbollah or with other terrorist organizations that operate in the south of Lebanon, but Lebanese media channels reporting in the last 48 hours as many as 16 have been killed near the border from airstrikes purported Israeli airstrikes. Of course, the IDF doesn't always confirm their involvement in each individual event so remarkable in the sense that this continues to be this simmering conflict. But again, for everyone that is up here in the north, there's still this sense of waiting, of not knowing where this really is set to go because we continue to see the consistent level of fire taking place on either side and no real leadership on either side, neither within Nasrallah, his circles inside Hezbollah, or within the IDF command structure or the Israeli political structure giving some sort of timeline of where they see this going and where they see some sort of resolution coming here. Again, we're still in this stasis, this standstill period. Right, Zach, thank you very much for this report. Back to you, Syriza Havi. This war has been going on for almost half a year and maybe the bigger stage is yet to come. I don't know. I must tell you that this afternoon as a matter for me was very difficult. I live nine kilometers from the Lebanese border. I am not evacuated and war is very present here. I was outside in the horse riding and we saw interceptions just a few kilometers away from us. This is insane to raise kids at this kind of atmosphere. And I agree that we don't see the end. I think that Nasrallah for now is not even interested in negotiating the end because he tied the fire in the north with the fire in the south and we don't see the end in the south as well. Again, with what is happening with international arena there is no reason for any of these terrorist organizations to work on a ceasefire. They get humanitarian aid. They don't have any pressure on them. Even in Hezbollah, even with Lebanon, even with the fact that there are thousands, tens of thousands evacuated in Lebanon as well, eventually there is no pressure over there to disarm Hezbollah or anything like that. So why would he go for a ceasefire? Even if the Gaza war ends or pauses or something like that, what will be the arrangement in the north that will allow thousands of people to get back home? First, I'm very happy that you used the word arrangement rather than the word diplomatic solution because the arrangement as the details were leaked to the media, at least in Lebanese media, don't look like a solution. Again, it doesn't speak about a deadline to the withdrawal. The word withdrawal is very problematic because Hezbollah lives in south Lebanon and you cannot take them away from their houses. We should talk about this arrangement. We don't understand what kind of enforcement, what kind of effective enforcement we can talk about since we've seen in the past 17 years that the UN mechanism and 17-1 resolution and the Lebanese army, none of these prevented Hezbollah from military deployment in south Lebanon. So truly, and we don't see the deadline. So without all these terms, I don't see how we are going to feel safe enough to go back to regular lives and to tell you the truth, I'm very much worried that this is how it's going to end. We will satisfy with the military achievements as they are with the limited activities that IDF is doing now and IDF published about 4,000 targets that were bombed in Lebanon which is a very impressive number but it is clear that once there is a ceasefire, Hezbollah will recover very quickly. And then what? And we will live it at that. That's a good question. Sareed Zavi, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take a short break and we'll be right back with more here on I-24 News, stay tuned. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely gunned 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. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war, Iron Spades. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone. The reaction of the Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only media in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. News 24, only on I-24 News. Welcome back. Intense military activity in the West Bank over the past few weeks as according to the IDF, there is intelligence of planned terrorist attacks. I-24 News, Robert Swift reports. Israeli medics were called out in the West Bank to attend to vehicles struck by gunfire, not for the first time. Two men received lower limb injuries when the car they were traveling in near the Palestinian city of Jericho was struck by gunfire. Paramedics evacuated a 30-year-old in moderate condition and a 21-year-old with light wounds. A second vehicle, a bus carrying school children, was also attacked with glass fragments injuring a 13-year-old. Israeli forces flooded the Jordan Valley following the shooting, special forces leading a manhunt. It's believed a single gunman was responsible for the attack with the two adult victims saying they were passing the village of Al-Ujah when the shooting started. While Hamas has attempted to further inflame the West Bank through opening an additional front against Israel, this has not happened, at least, not on a large scale. But there have been a number of shootings, including long-range attacks against vehicles. These tend to cause fewer casualties but give the shooter more opportunity to escape after an attack. In a particularly severe example several days ago, an Israeli soldier was killed and five others wounded in a protracted shoot-out with a Palestinian gunman. The shooter, armed with a sniper rifle, triggered the engagement by opening fire on Israeli civilian vehicles and was eventually killed by a helicopter strike. I'd like to inform you that Zarela Saran is here with us in the studio. On the other day, Israel captured arms from Iran into the West Bank. What's the plan there? Well, the plan is, it's not necessarily new. The IRGC, mainly, even Imam Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, has for over a year tried to put the spotlight on the West Bank as the next arena that should erupt, obviously, that was trying to divert our attention from Gaza, but it doesn't mean that their goal for the West Bank is not true or is not as forceful. What you mentioned earlier this week, the Shin Bet managed to thwart an Iranian plot that has been ongoing to not only send directions and instructions to terror operatives into West Bank to carry out attacks against Israelis, but also sending arms, sending weapons, sending money to support this infrastructure. And so earlier this week, the IDF and Shin Bet announcing that they managed to dismantle this network that was run by Iranians, also operating from Lebanon. At the end of the day, we see that not only Hamas wants to show the unification of the arena or the Sahara, as they say, of all the different arenas, all the different fronts that Israel is presented against, active at one time. It's also something that the Iranians want to see, all the while trying to divert attention from their own issues that are going on there. Ambassador Daniel Elon, could it be that even before the day after problem in Gaza, Israel would have a today problem in the West Bank? Oh, absolutely. I know that it was reported that Khamenei, which is, as we say, Iran is the head of the snake. So if Iran is the head of the snake, then the head of the head of the snake is Khamenei. And he is receiving Hania and other Hamas members and Hezbollah. And he was telling them that the vulnerable, let's say, a soft belly of Israel is from Judea and Samaria, from the West Bank. We see now all their attempt with smuggling all these arms, quite sophisticated, quite advanced ones. What they would like to do is to replicate Gaza into Judea and Samaria, which would be unsustainable for Israel. And this could very well be the next front. And I believe that the Judea and Samaria, Jacob, is more dangerous than Gaza and even more than Lebanon. And just to balance off that, today Khamenei, hosted in his offices in Tehran, the leader of Palestine-Islamic Jihad, Ziyad Nakhallah, as well as other high-ranking officials. So the head of the octopus, as you could say, is working nonstop before October 7th, and you could say even more vigorously since. He's trying to focus now on the West Bank, on Judea and Samaria. Meanwhile, Turkey is denying that it is sending weapons to Israel. Dr. Haidani al-Chuk is with us. Good evening. Good evening. Could that be? No. I think it's a fake news. This Sunday, Turkey will go to the municipal elections, and I also followed the news in Turkish, the Turkish press. And I saw that two newspapers, these are the Karar and the Miligas at the newspapers that are both known as Islamists, at the same time opposition. So they want to undermine Erdogan's anti-Israel election campaign, and this is not a surprise. Now there is a race in Turkey who will be more anti-Israel. So when you're reading the news, you can easily understand that they picked the name of the category. According to the Turkish Ministry of Trade, they are talking about lighter fluids. But it is still described under the name of the explosive substances. So again, Israel is part of internal politics in Turkey. Unfortunately, if you are making a defamation against Israel, you're using Israel. Unfortunately, you can have this public approval on your side. Again, we are there. Sometimes it works the other way around also in Israel. And it's good for both sides, as they say. By the way, what are the prospects for these elections? For these elections, I can tell you my personal opinion, because according to all surveys, we have a very tight rivalry, especially the capital Ankara and in the most important city, Istanbul. I assume that in capital Ankara, the opposition mayor, the current mayor, Mansour Yavash, will be victorious. That's what I think. Of course, I may be wrong. You never know. And in Istanbul, I think the current mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, which is again the superstar of the opposition, I assume that he will lose the elections. And I think Murat Kurum, the candidate of the Justice and Development Party, will get it. Erdogan is doing his best together with his ministers. They are using the public treasury's sources to make it more, to increase his advantages. To increase the advantages of Mr. Kurum. But again, we never know. And the last but not the least, the province of Izmir, the stronghold of the Turkish secular. I do not expect any surprises there. Erdogan never won there. But, you know, if he will win there, so this will be the most important headline of these elections. Got it. Remember the Marmara, the same group. There is planning to send another ship to Gaza. There's something to expect. Again, I assume that we should be very cautious because approximately two months ago, I again came across with the same kind of a report in the Turkish news, and it didn't happen. I assume that again, this is something very much connected to the Turkish municipal elections. According to the Turkish news outlets, if such a flotilla will depart from Turkey, it may arrive to the Israeli territorial waters in the second week of April. So we have plenty of time. I assume that after the elections, I want to believe that the Turkish administration will not allow this IHH to launch another flotilla because... But Erdogan promised some help to Gaza, right? Yeah, he's already using this as a trump card in his political campaign. He already dispatched humanitarian aid to Egypt and via Egypt from the Rafah crossing. All of the Turkish aid is already entering to the Gaza Strip, and he's using it frequently for his own public approval at home. All right. I'd like to thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Thank you. We've learned more about Turkey. And now, back to you, Ariello Saran. A Russian ship is arriving to the Red Sea to join the party. What's happening? It appears to be the biggest party in the world, not just in the Middle East going on right now in the Red Sea with another superpower sending warships there, the Russian Ministry of Defense announcing today that a cruise missile ship as well as another frigate have entered the Babanmandab Strait and arrived at the Red Sea. Now, the timing is interesting because it was just last week that there were reports that the Russians and Chinese received security guarantees from the Houthis that their ships will be safe, that they won't be targeted. And on Friday, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked about this. Let's take a listen to what his response was to this question. No, I don't know anything. I can't say anything. And not only the Red Sea? Not only the Red Sea, we're seeing the encroachment of Russian forces along Israel's volatile fronts, also on the Israel-Syria border. In recent months, we've seen increased Russian activity in building observation posts along the border. So far since the start of the year, 10 of these observation posts and 11th is expected to be inaugurated soon. And this raises big questions as to this shift that we've seen in Russian policy regarding the Middle East since October 7th, but specifically regarding Israel. I think there's two explanations to Russia's latest activity, one regarding the Red Sea. This is, as we said, the biggest party in the world. They have to throw their hat in to be relevant. I mean, even the Netherlands announced that they set the ship today. How can Russia not be part of it? It's a message to the Americans and the British that Russian condemnations for their strikes against the Houthis are not going to end only in words, and they're sending their military assets to the region. I think there's a very interesting and, I think, even alarming development going on there. The second message I think is aimed at Jerusalem. Russia is not favored Israeli, at least statements regarding Russian policy since October 7th, also since the war in Ukraine. Israel has been kind of tiptoeing, but I think the bolstering presence on a volatile border indeed sends a clear message to Israel. Let's see if Israeli leaders will heed that message, which should be heeded on the other side of perhaps reassessing Israel's strategic relations with Russia given these changes. How do you see this semester by alone? I would say, Jacob, that could be hilarious if Russian ships are being hit by the Houthis. Also, I would say that I don't think that the Russians have too many warships to spare after the Ukrainians take them one by one. So it's more kind of a bravado, a trying to show a force, but I'm not sure there is much behind it. We saw the achievements, quote-unquote, of the Russian military in the Ukraine and they are not anything that should be desired. So at this point, I think the Russians are just trying to save face. And as Ariel said, you know, if the U.S. is there, if NATO is there, Russia has to show that they are still one of the world powers, even though they are not. And there are many who will tell you that Russia basically is a third world country, but with one of the largest nuclear arsenals. All right. Ambassador Daniel, thank you very much. Ariel Osirand, I appreciate an update as breaking news about the Israeli Supreme Court and the draft of the Kharedi population. We'll get back to this in a few minutes. But now an Iranian court has sentenced a police chief in northern Iran to death after he was charged with killing a man during the protests in 2022. We have Kameleon de Kabyfart with us, editor-in-chief of Independent Persian. Thank you very much for joining us. Also, may I say happy Persian New Year. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you very much, dear Jacob. Good to be with you. And thanks for the noroes. Great thing. Noroes. Is there any message hidden here in this move by the regime, by the courts? You hinted a correct word. You said a police officer has been charged for killing civilian protesters. It means they want to more get engaged the people who has been killed by the police department, by the people who are officially around to be protect the civilians, not the revolutionary guards. At two years ago's demonstration, we had massively more of the police forces and also civilian clothes, armed individuals. Still, we don't know who were those people with the civilian clothes. None of them are there. We don't know if they were the revolutionary guards. They asked who were a different set of the clothes or the passage with passages under the revolutionary guards acting as the second degree forces. They try to build this intention to the public that the police were in charge of killing the people. And singleizing that individual on having a court for him, it's also a little funny. 550 people killed and just opening a file of one of those people and how about another 550 people, especially Masa Amini. Iranian still are so much demanding an investigation about her death in the custody of the authority and just eliminating about Masa and the other incidents of the people killed at the demonstration. It doesn't make sense to the Iranian. Which brings me to the state of affairs now in Iran. How would you characterize the status of the civilian unrest at this stage? In Iran, Iranians are not have this fashion to continuously pursue particular things. Even if you see the pre-revolution time, it takes at least 10 years than the revolution happened. And sometimes it has its own peak and again they get quiet again. And I can see that among the Iranians too. The past 45 years ago, from small demonstrations start to become bigger and bigger and the two years ago was the most biggest one. It's very quiet now, but the flame of the demonstration and anger and frustration can bore at any days. I believe this summer, it's the hot summer in Iranian politics, there were certain changes happened during the last two elections before our new year, early March and they were expecting to see the result of these elections, which was so much in the favor of the conservatives close to the revolutionary guards and close to the supreme leader. Perhaps the changes in the supreme leadership in Iran is next and also to be hearing more about their political engagement with the West and in the United States. Perhaps the Iranian would wait for another momentum depends on what the regime wants to do next step to have or to introduce the next supreme leader and also getting to the presidential election within the year and a half. Okay, Camelia, thank you very much. Thank you. As we said, we have a very interesting breaking story in Israel, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court that may affect the future of the government. Ariello Siran, with more details here. Yeah, we're talking about a dramatic 11th hour interim order, we have to say this isn't a final decision by the Supreme Court, basically stating that the Israeli government must freeze all funding to Israeli, to Jewish Ishevahs, ultra-orthodox institutions of education. If the students who are required to get drafted to go to the military, if they don't do that, meaning if there's a Iranian institution that doesn't send its students that are supposed to go to the army to the army, they will be revoked of their government funding. This is political bombshell, the Israeli War Cabinet that was supposed to convene and was postponed to an unknown time. There's even talks that it was because of this decision and the political reality in Israel dictating the situation. I will say that if there's one thing that has proven to take down governments in Israel, it's not wars, it's not COVID, it's this draft law. This is what is perhaps the biggest political hot potato and the Supreme Court with this interim order really putting the ball in the government's court and Prime Minister Netanyahu has some difficult decisions to make regarding the future of either of his government and the future of his political cooperation with the Herades or to adhere to this interim order. Alright, this is a developing story. Please stand by and we'll see if there are other developments meanwhile to Dubai to talk about this. Saudi Arabia has been chosen as the chair of the UN commission that is supposed to promote gender equality and empower women around the world. But stand by and Dubai, this is somewhat challenging. Let's put it this way, right? And surprising for sure. At least it wasn't a big challenge for Saudi Arabia, Jacob, as the Saudi ambassador to the UN Abdulaziz Al-Wasil was elected as chair of this commission on the status of women by acclamation as there were no rival candidates basically and no dissents at least at this CSW's annual meeting in New York yesterday. When the Filipino envoy to the UN who was the outgoing chair asked the members if they had any objections there was silence in the chamber basically. Besides normally a country holds the chair for two years but the Philippines was put under pressure from other members of the Asia group to split its tenure and pass the post on to another country after one year. Initially Bangladesh was expected to take over but late in the process Saudi Arabia sort of stepped in and lobbied for the chair. Now we are seeing human rights organizations opposing this. I mean if the reactions of human rights organizations such as Amnesty International or anything to go by, this could be seen as an attempt to burnish the kingdom's image. Speaking of Amnesty, the organization quickly pointed to the irony of the CSW being led by a country in which the gap between men's and women's rights even on paper is so wide. Also saying that whoever is in the chair is in a key position to influence the planning, the decisions, the taking stock, etc. Saudi Arabia's own record on women's rights is quote abysmal and a far cry from the men of the commission. And for its part human rights roach is saying that the country that jails women simply because they advocate for their rights has no business being the face of the UN's top forum let's say for women's rights and gender equality. The group even tried to lobby other countries among the current CSW members including states like the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, etc. but everyone reportedly kept secret, kept quiet, sorry. Well, there has been some progress in Saudi Arabia regarding women's rights. Who knows, maybe this will make things better there. I'm just speculating. In stories like this there are always three ways of looking at things. The first one is to consider that countries like these need to be integrated so as not to be isolated and not leave them to continue with, in this case, a patriarchal system. The second one is on the contrary to isolate them and force them to change. And the third one is to let them use their lobbying skills and say that it's okay, the situation regarding women in countries like Saudi Arabia is not so bad. And it's safe to say that the United Nations does a beat of all three, if you will, to the liking of Riyadh. Alright, Bestian Bari in Dubai, thank you very much. Now this, scientists at the Weitzman Institute of Science in Israel were lucky enough to spot the early stages of a supernova explosion. This is very rare and it was by chance. Eye 24 News, Dixie Arvind has the story. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a large star exploded 20 million years ago to be exact. The explosion dispersed remnants through space. Over a year ago, the light emitted from the explosion reached Earth. Israeli scientists at the Weitzman Institute were the first to observe the earliest stages of the explosion. So that night, on the Friday night, after we realized that this is a super interesting and very rare opportunity, we pulled the trigger, we told NASA, this is the time, stop whatever it is you're doing. Hubble stopped whatever it was doing and turned as quickly as it can to observe our target. And he did it. It was the fastest ever observations of this type that Hubble did. The star that exploded was located in a neighboring galaxy called Messier 101. And scientists predict that the explosion probably left behind a massive black hole. To understand this, we have to study the star itself as it was before the explosion. And these measurements that we got so quickly after the explosion allowed us to recover this information before it was totally lost. So one of the interesting results from this paper, for example, is that we suspect that after the explosion, a black hole was left behind. Such occurrences are quite rare and the explosion creates sort of fingerprint of the supernova and the elements it leaves behind. Scientists can now study the early stages of an ultraviolet light from such an explosion which can help find supernovas elsewhere in space. This was the first opportunity we had to observe this explosion process, this light escaping for the first time from the air around the star and that gave us new information about several things. One, we can estimate the properties both of the star and of the material around it as they were before the explosion. In the chaos of cosmic creation, scientists witness a spectacle which will move through space for aeons. And this is it for us. Stay tuned for more news with Kalev Bendevede here on I-24 News. Have a good night from Tel Aviv. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely gunned 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. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war Spades of War. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone. The reaction of Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only medium in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. Welcome to the special edition of I-24 News. I'm Kalev Bendevede. It is day 174 of Israel's war against Hamas, making it nearly six months that 134 hostages have been held captive in Gaza. Now with negotiations seemingly deadlocked over a deal that would free some of them, Israel's security cabinet is set to meet this evening over how to proceed from here. Earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a meeting in his office with representatives from some of the hostage families. Before heading into that discussion, some of the family members staged a protest outside the Army Recruiting Center in the town of Curiat-Ono. Here's what Daniel Neutra, whose brother Omer is held hostage in Gaza, had to say there. In our meeting, we want to know what the plan is to bring them home and we want to demand their immediate release now from the Prime Minister. It's been too long and I need my brother back. And joining us in the studio for more is Daniel Scheck, Director of Diplomacy for the Hostage and Missing Families Forum and the former Israeli Ambassador to France. We have Ariel Osiron, our Middle East correspondent, and Rafael Urshami, former Senior Intelligence Officer in the IDF. And Mr. Ambassador, let me first start with you. The significance of this meeting today between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the hostage families and, of course, the significance of the timing, especially. Well, first of all, let's say something that may sound unbelievable, but this is the first time the Prime Minister has met, will have met with the parents of the captured soldiers as a group. Right. It's sort of an unspoken truth in the building, in the Forum of Families of Hostages, that the soldiers, especially the male soldiers, are sort of the last group that can hope to be released. If at all. If at all and who knows, you know, some people think that it may take far too long. This is a group of parents that has, you know, on top of the regular, quote-unquote, distress that everyone has. This is one step above all the others. So I know that they consider this meeting as a big deal. They prepared for it as a group. Incidentally, I spoke about it with Wonen-Nutra, the father of the two brothers, and they want to hear if there is a plan, if in the negotiations this comes up at all, and in what way, and what is the strategy, even if they understand that it's not necessarily realistic to expect these hostages to be released in the first group, they want the negotiation to propose a strategy that will end with the release of the very last hostage, even if it takes time. That is their expectation, and they want to hear from the Prime Minister if that is also the strategy of the negotiators. I promise that's how it did release his statement afterwards, expressing his sympathy, identification, and that he certainly knows about the situation of that. We'll have to see after the meeting what's going on. There will be a statement by the families, too, but it's not out yet. Well, let's speaking of the ordeal, certainly that some of the hostages, they're all going through an ordeal, special concern about the female hostages, we should say. This, of course, just stays after the former hostage, Amit Susana, went public with her account of suffering sexual assault at the hands of her Hamas God, while in captivity, while the IDF, today, releasing footage from the interrogation of a captured Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorist caught in Gaza in the Qanyunis area, Manar Mahmoud Mohamed Qassem, confessing how he took part in the rape and murder of an Israeli woman during the October 7th attack. Let's take a look at some of that. I'm going to go and look for a woman. I'm going to go to the house, and the woman is surprised. She's surprised. I'm just going to say, I'm going to go and look for a woman. I'm going to put a mask on you. The woman is... Her face is not long, it's very long, and her face is very beautiful, and she's beautiful, and she's sitting down quietly. You were wearing shoes, weren't you? That's because you were wearing shoes. Yeah. I'm going to put some on her face and leave her scoffs and a white scarf. You're really beast. . . . . . . . I heard a sound. There were two men in the sound. I heard a sound. I didn't hear anything. I didn't hear anything. There were two men in the sound. I heard the sound. I don't know if it was a sound or not. I heard a sound. I heard a sound. It is a sound or sounds. It is a sound or sound. I heard a sound. I heard a sound. There was a sound. I heard a sound. I don't know if it was a sound or sound. I don't know if it was a sound. I didn't hear anything. The devil took him. It's hard to watch that. Raphael, we heard that did not we fear those denials of people that this didn't happen. Others say oh it was civilians that didn't there we have it there a terrorist from the PIJ admitting and going into great detail about the rape of this woman there on October 7th. Of course and it took a little while because of the conditions on some of the corpses of the massacres that are 7th of October but we have now all unfortunately the analysis medical analysis that prove how many people were actually tortured and raped during those massacres. This is now a legal medical proof that is in the files. We also know and people should remember that this horrible use of raping is of course first the women but it includes the men includes the men were raped and men were sexually assaulted and mutilated as well and we should also remember that the Hamas has practiced this kind of rapes and mutilation on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the rule that they're hunting a Gaza Strip. These people that's how they function that's how they think they don't even think they just don't think twice about it they will rape you they will mutilate you and in their perspective sexual mutilation sexual elements are very symbolic of their power over you they know that it will humiliate the victim even more it's all calculated it's all in a very emblematic way as well as the pure animal instinct that they show. All right we're going to come back to the issue where the hostage is and of course we're waiting to see if there's something that comes out of the meeting. I just want to move on a bit to northern Israel. It's just a day now after Zahir Bashar was killed by a rocket launch from southern Lebanon at the town of Kirchmona. Today his bullet continued its aerial attacks into northern Israel damaging a home in the town of Shlomi starting a fire in the community of Hanita. For more let's go to Zach and there's our correspondent in northern Israel and Zach just bring us up to date on the situation especially these attacks in the last few hours. Yeah we've been paying paying close attention to the border tonight considering the amount of activity that has taken place in the last several days. Hezbollah taking credit for six attacks at this point into the night there are no reports of casualties on the Israeli side however some damage some light damage it would be categorized in Shlomi as you mentioned from earlier attacks. We also see in a couple of places that fires have started today as a result of the falling debris from both the interceptions and from rockets that apparently just fell into the hillside without an interception it was a very hot day today and it's expected to get hotter so that's now a concern that's entering into this the the different factors that are at play here. The IDF continuing to strike positions throughout southern Lebanon we see several communities near the border on Lebanese media channels have been hit there's no significant reports coming out of Hezbollah themselves regarding any casualties or losses on their end however the reports coming out of Beirut suggest that once again today there are casualties related to these strikes Hezbollah absolutely incensed over the last several days on their social media channels many of the members of the party officials taking to social media tweeting in Arabic about their anger and frustration over IDF strikes that killed several men in border communities Hezbollah claiming that they were ambulance paramedic drivers and related to their wing of the emergency services that can't be independently verified and these are the reports of course that are stemming and originated from Hezbollah's claims themselves so the tense moments that are playing out along this northern border in the last few days continue to underscore that this is a very volatile situation we still have not seen a serious escalation in terms of massive saturation attacks or an attempt to launch farther than Hezbollah has done before of course that could change keeping an eye on things here as the night continues okay Zach and there's a northern Israel thank you for that and Ariel some reports also coming out of Syria Lebanon according to a player sort of raising his profile a little something that could conceivably concern Israel for sure yeah well we're talking about the Russians increasing their presence along the border the Israel-Syria border right over the past few months they've increased their presence there with since the start of the year they've established at least 10 observation posts along Israel's border with Syria and the Golan Heights that's a pretty significant number which raises the question what is Israel doing about this how is this affecting the strategic relations between Jerusalem and Moscow the 11th observation post is expected to be inaugurated soon and I think we if we look at what Russia is trying to achieve here I think we need to first of all look at the context of Israel-Russia relations that they've taken a hit since October 7th with Russia hosting Hamas delegations and really Russia positioning itself in the side of the Iranian axis but if we also look at what Russia is really one of its greater strategic goals that's to show that they're still relevant that's they see that there's a volatile border that could erupt at any moment and their increased presence there will improve their starting position regarding trying to play an influential role because that's at the end of the day well let's talk about a Russian presence because a pretty dramatic announcement coming from the Russians today about a different theater let's say larger scale conflict and that is involving of course the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea look if we're talking about an encroachment by the Russians and one of Israel's boiling fronts they're also heating up the temperature in the south with the Russian Ministry of Defense announcing today that cruise missile warship as well in addition to another frigate have entered the Red Sea through the Babelmandab Strait that would make the Red Sea the biggest party in the Middle East if not the world right now because you have American, British and a whole international coalition of naval forces present in the Red Sea in addition to Iranian forces and now Russians and so this is really getting a little tight in the Red Sea and with more and more actors it raises the possibility of some sort of eruption there any miscalculation this obviously a message to the West that the statements condemning American and British attacks against the Yemen against the Houthis in Yemen are not going to just be limited to words but now also going into action it's going to be very interesting to see how this reality in the Red Sea plays out all right well let's move now back to Israel and take a look at the West Bank where vehicles traveling there today were fired upon three people wounded in today's attack including a 13-year-old boy that's after bullets were fired at cars and school buses traveling along Route 90 in the Jordan Valley the terrorists remain at large Israeli security forces conducting a manhunt in the area more in this report from Robert Swift today Israeli medics were called out in the West Bank to attend to vehicles struck by gunfire not for the first time two men received lower limb injuries when the car they were traveling in near the Palestinian city of Jericho was struck by gunfire paramedics evacuated a 30-year-old in moderate condition and a 21-year-old with light wounds a second vehicle a bus carrying school children was also attacked with glass fragments injuring a 13-year-old Israeli forces flooded the Jordan Valley following the shooting special forces leading a manhunt it's believed a single gunman was responsible for the attack with the two adult victims saying they were passing the village of Al-Ujjah when the shooting started while Hamas has attempted to further inflame the West Bank through opening an additional front against Israel this has not happened at least not on a large scale but there have been a number of shootings including long range attacks against vehicles these tend to cause fewer casualties but give the shooter more opportunity to escape after an attack in a particularly severe example several days ago an Israeli soldier was killed and five other we're going out of briefing from the idea spokesperson Daniel Higari in recent hours we received a confirmation by the Shin Bet of the elimination of a high-ranking Hamas official right a bit in the Shifa hospital he was responsible for the logistics and manpower of Hamas he's considered a source of knowledge of know-how and also of our armament of Hamas he's considered one of the top 10 officials in Hamas's military wing he is connected to Yahya Sinwar and Marwan Issa leaders of Hamas in Gaza he was eliminated in addition to two he was eliminated in addition to two other terrorists in Shifa hospital who are approaching our forces they were eliminated by Israeli shayat at 13 special navy commando forces as well as Shakedon Dov Devan special units in another area of Shifa hospital and the maternity ward is a special forces that have searched the area identified three terrorists there was ensuing chase there was a firefight and the three terrorists were eliminated we're still looking into their identity and we will share their the information once we have it all the determination of Shin Bet and idea forces to operate in Shifa hospital based on pinpoint intelligence has proven itself we have reached senior officials and we were rich additional officials senior officials yesterday during interrogation taking place in Shifa hospital we interrogated a Hamas terrorist and he led us to a spot where long-range missiles were placed Israeli forces idea forces identified the launchers and destroyed them in Shifa hospital there were 1250 people when we cornered the area there are currently 350 patients and medical staff there out of the in addition to at least 900 Hamas and terrorists and PIJ terrorist suspects we will continue to investigate and we will identify additional senior officials in the hospital we will reach them all Hamas is destroying the hospital responsible for its destruction fights from within the departments is hurting the different awards and the hospital is damaged as a result of Hamas activity idea forces in Hanyunas area operating in the Amal neighborhood so far idea forces have arrested dozens of terrorists uncovered underground tunnels and undercover uncovering weapons caches that have been following intelligence by Shin Bet and IDF overnight Israeli forces destroyed underground tunnel of about just over one one half miles long that connected north and south Gaza during the fighting in the Gaza Strip this tunnel has been used by the terrorists and we destroyed it with over 30 tons of explosives in the Jordan Valley in the early morning hours a terrorist opened fire towards Israeli vehicles including a student bus as a result of the fire of the shooting three Israelis were injured including a 13 year old Israeli forces opened the manhunt launched a manhunt to find a terrorist we are going to continue down until we find him following a situation assessment a different checkpoints have been set up to prevent the disappearance of the terrorist we are spread out thoroughly during the month of Ramadan we are acting to thwart terror also in recent days also moving forward and we will continue to do that in the north we continue to bolster our readiness of all IDF preparations today we conducted a drill that tests all the different scenarios of a war in the northern front and that's aimed at improving our readiness in the north simultaneously in the recent days specifically over the last night Israeli fighter jets are striking all across Lebanon striking targets belonging to Hezbollah including significant terror infrastructure over the 48 hours we eliminated at least 16 terrorists in Lebanon 30 over the last week that's just one example of our extensive activity in the north we are going to thwart anyone who tries to hurt us thwarts any terror attack or any terrorism that tries to raise its head on the border and pushes away Hamas Hezbollah fighters a message to the residents of the north this is a difficult period despite that you are showing unwavering courage and strength we will continue to uh fight against Hezbollah while using utilizing many reservists that will help us act forcefully against Hezbollah we will do anything that we can everything that we can to ensure a safe reality and the safe return of the residents of the north since the start of the war the IDF is acting to gather forensic information aimed at showing the world the scope of the atrocities that Hamas carried out on October 7th we are working with the Israeli police to gather a significant database of information to prove Hamas's atrocities this is a very difficult task but it is our this is we are forced to do it we must do it part of our obligation to the Israeli people to tell the story of what happened to the Israelis also those whose voice will no longer be heard today we exposed difficult footage of interrogation of a Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorist from their naval forces of the pij that took part in the October 7th onslaught Qasem the terrorist acknowledge in his own voice how he raped an Israeli woman how he brutally raped her and how he shot a later shot in Israeli civilian we will continue to share and tell the world the crimes against humanity that Hamas carried out and how it carried out atrocities similar likening to ISIS against Israeli people to prove that this is a just war that the Israeli people are fighting we are continuing to gather more and more evidence that prove the scope of the atrocities of Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza 134 hostages are still being held we are very concerned for their physical and mental well-being we'll continue to act in all avenues operational intelligence and everything that will better the conditions to bring them back questions all right that was rear Admiral Daniel Hagar the idea of Spokesperson covering a number of topics including the fighting continuing fighting in Gaza in around Sheffar Hospital the elimination of a senior Habas terrorist in that operation he also discussed the attacks in the north the footage that we showed earlier the interrogation of a Palestinian Islam jihad terrorist who committed an act of rape admitting to committing rape on October 7th of an Israeli woman and mentioning that terror attack today in the Jordan Valley and Rafael he mentioned the manhunt on for the suspect there is a suspect and again the identity of the suspect raising some problematic issues well on the day that the Americans revealed that they were thinking of establishing a Palestinian security force in the Gaza Strip on the day after we see the problematic position of many of the security people of the Palestinian autonomy which most of them belong to the PLO but some of them unfortunately are not helping Israel to fight terrorism they are terrorists themselves that's that's the problematic what is new in the modus operandi of today's act action and a couple of days ago also is that you're talking about a lone sniper so it's not a lone wolf it's a very trained and very well-equipped terrorist not just a civilian going out on a spree with a knife or a pair of scissors but somebody who is belonging to security forces who is well-equipped who knows how to operate as a sniper who can shoot from a distance or attack with a long-range gun and then escape very easily meaning they have prepared in both cases and today as well their escape routes and this seems to be a new trend because a lot of the other modus operandi have failed or have been swatted of late because the idea of course learns from all the different cases so the terrorists are trying to innovate in this particular case because of the footage that the culprit could be identified but so far it's a manhunt going on to catch it right and of course we just recently had another terror attack where there was a former member or a member of the Palestinian security forces that was involved it's gonna bring i've seen copycat reactions unfortunately right and you mentioned of course yes i think this is already a copycat attack of october 7th because to have someone in military uniform shooting vehicles in an open road in broad daylight that's exactly what happened on route 232 in october 7th and the fact that there's a Palestinian security apparatus officer who obviously has seen the footage it wouldn't be surprising if that is indeed well it was indeed the intent to have a copycat attack inspired by the october 7th onslaught now you mentioned the u.s. role in trying to set up a reform so-called reform palestinian authority security forces that the role of the palestinian authority is one of the tensions the current tensions between the biden administration and the netanyahu government over the future course of both the gaza war and the day after in gaza this of course has sparked the most serious crisis between the israel and the u.s. in years now the latest skirmish between washington jews some sort of a battle of versions over uh the willingness of israel to send a delegation to the white house to discuss the planned military operation in rafah a guy asriel has more over this potential impact of this breach between the close allies victory is within reach it's a few weeks away now we are told this is it last point now we are told you can't do this if you go into rafah you're going to have a humanitarian catastrophe you're going to have thou i don't know 30 000 dead 30 000 civilian dead okay that's not true that is simply not true at the height of the diplomatic crisis with the u.s. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has once again rejected criticism regarding the idf's mooted ground operation in rafah and has even provided a new rationale for the decision to cancel the departure of the delegation to travel to washington to discuss the operation my decision not to send the delegation to washington in the wake of that resolution was a message to have us it was a message first and foremost to have us don't bet on this pressure it's not going to work whether hamas was impressed by the message or not is an open point after a jingle jangle of denials the white house confirms that the israeli delegation will go to washington after all in order to calm the fear of a humanitarian disaster should the idf enter southern gaza the prime minister's office has agreed has agreed to reschedule the meeting dedicated to rafa so we're we're now working with them to set to find a convenient date that's obviously going to work for both sides but he his office has agreed to to reschedule that meeting that would be dedicated to rafa which is a good thing but against the background of this crisis there is a growing fear in jerusalem of a domino effect that will damage support from other countries with the increase of international pressure to end the war in gaza the understanding in jerusalem is also increasing israel does not have the time to fight unnecessary battles well for more we're now joined by danie danone now a member of kineset for the likud party and of course the former is really ambassador to the unie speaking to us from televieve danie thank you for joining us and let's talk about israel-us relations now supposedly uh ron derma uh we'll be going uh with sachin agby to washington what should the message should be there and is the us is israel going to be able to get the us on the same page when it comes towards its intention to carry out to finish the job and carry out an operation in rafa we have no other choice kaleb you know we we appreciate the bond between israel and the us we are grateful for the support but when you look at the calendar you have a conflict of interest some people are in the us they want to move on they want to move on to the elections and to finish with the war in gaza but we're here in israel we cannot move on before we brought back the voltages before we finish the job and finish the job mean the eradication of hamas completely so that's where you have a conflict and i think when you have an ally like the us we should be open about it and we should tell our colleagues in dc we cannot stop we will have to go all the way and that's what we are going to do we are willing to discuss the issues in rafa humanitarian aspects but at the end of the discussion our colleagues should understand that we will not allow hamas to win this war it will be like the us in world war two invading europe paying a heavy price but before getting to berlin getting a hitler and leadership stop the war and say that's it we're going back to the us that's not how you win a war all right well the us position is that it it doesn't come out and said not to invade gaza just there has to be some consideration how would you say you were at the united nations you represented israel there israel getting a blow at the un uh from the us this past week how how serious do you assess it there are some who are saying that the netzineal government is making too much of that uh us abstention that was unfortunate you know it reminded me of 2016 when i was in the security council or president obama pushed a resolution against israel and the same idea of abstention it's not a real abstention basically the us allowed the resolution to pass and look what us officials said a few weeks ago about similar resolution they said not us but it's not going to help the negotiations of the release of the hostages that's why they didn't support the resolution so far so what changed in the last few days i think there's a lot of pressure from the us from other countries there in the un and that's why the the usk to that pressure it was a mistake i hope it will not be assigned for the future because our enemies are already starting to send more resolution to the security council and they think that they can stop us from the un but our our mistake we are not stopping we are going all the way until we finish the job there is one way for israel not to operate in rafa if khamas will surrender and release the hostages then we have no interest to go into rafa but otherwise we have no other choice all right and the do i want to ask i do want to ask you the prime minister meeting today with the parents of soldiers who have been captured uh in october seven taken hostage uh they're demanding more action it's unclear different interpretations about whether there's any flexibility at all in khamas's demands uh how do you respond to those parents of those soldiers today saying they want to see government be at least more proactive in somehow in reaching a hostage deal you know i i meet many of the families and i can completely understand what they'll take or talking about and they're absolutely right they want to see resort they want to see the boys and the girls back in israel it's the ongoing atrocities we know about the tortures we know what's happening to the hostages in gaza i think for us it means that if we don't see a development in the negotiations in the next few days we have to start the operation in rafa we have delayed it for a while it was a mistake and we have to continue with the same way we started the war with full power in order to finish it all right uh dany danone ambassador dany danone thank you for joining us this evening thank you very much khaled an i-24 news and mr ambassador daniel schach has also a another ambassador i want to just get your response to another daniel another daniel yes uh you're especially in terms of the the breach between the us uh and israel look i can understand the uh certain amount of frustration with uh with the role that the us played in the security council but it's it's uh it's not the full truth to say that uh the us vetoed uh the same veto they abstained no no he said that just a few weeks ago the us had vetoed the same right resolution it's not at all the same resolution it's not the same resolution there were resolutions coming from all sides including one pushed by the united states which was vetoed by the chinese and the russians and i think the us wanted something to come out of the security council uh an agreed text and they wanted they they cut out many many things and we were left with actually a very short uh text of a resolution with very few action items um without a direct correlation between uh the uh pause in the in the fighting not end of fighting pause for the ramadan right and the uh unequivocal uh appeal or uh demand for the unconditional and immediate release of all the hostages there's it doesn't even speak about a deal right it's it's uh unilateral so these two uh things are not uh textually related but they are so juxtapositioned that you understand that one can't be without the other and in the explanation that the us gave uh for their vote they said so uh openly so this is you know i think now we're on the road to uh renewing a more comfortable dialogue between uh jerusalem and and washington uh honestly i don't see that in a moment of crisis cutting the dialogue serves any purpose right well so that was really prime minister netanyahu that yeah deciding so he yeah and you know he he went back on on on that uh you know uh gesture of anger very very short very briefly and and that was the right move all right i want to stay focused on the us for a moment uh because let me point out that in the year 2000 joe Lieberman who has died yesterday at age 82 made history by becoming the first american jew to run on the national ticket of a major political party that's after al gore chose the uh democratic senator from connecticut as his vice presidential running mate now Lieberman and gore of course lost that race but just his selection for that candidacy especially since he was a religiously observant jew who proudly proclaimed and displayed his faith in the public arena did set a milestone in the acceptance of american jury in the us mainstream uh now the centrist democrat was also a strong backer of israel Lieberman did break with this party and then president obama to oppose the 2015 or a nuclear deal now prime minister netanyahu in a statement today called Lieberman an exemplary public servant an american patriot and a matchless champion of the jewish people and jewish state here is a segment of an interview Lieberman gave to i-24 news right on the eve of the 2020 us election i think uh we have enough shared value shared interest between israel and the us that if joe biden has elected president he and prime minister netanyahu us and israel will continue to have very close relationships because we are cut from the same cloth we are both rule of law democracies and we have common interest and unfortunately we have shared enemies beginning with iran well for more on joe Lieberman let's go to our senior u.s. correspondent uh mike wagon hunt joining us from the o'clock of ironic to hear senator Lieber the late senator Lieberman talk about uh his feelings about how the u.s. israel relationship will persevere in the biden administration uh given the current tensions uh but joe Lieberman was one of a kind in his party in u.s. politics in many ways uh mike you know it's a significant call if you mentioned that Lieberman was an opponent of the 2015 iran nuclear cord what other prominent jew the highest ranking elected official uh jewish elected official in american history also opposed to that was chuck schumer well in a what turned out to be a parting shot this week in an interview given now national tv Lieberman called schumer's comments recently on the israel u.s. relationship and on israel's prosecution of the war and hamas outrageous is how Lieberman termed it so even 10 years ago less than that what was roundly uh looked at as mainstream jewish opinion uh sort of on the on the state of american politics even shifted lately in a sign that Lieberman never really diverged whatsoever from his principles which drew him the admiration of even people today like chuck schumer like barack obama uh from all sides of the uh political spectrum democrat and republican uh a tip of the cap we're hearing uh from just everybody imaginable involved in american politics from the last couple of decades uh really signifying uh Lieberman in the way he was able to stick to his principles but yet still do it in a gentlemanly way in a statesman like fashion uh just something that's been lost in american politics everybody going for the sound bite nowadays everybody in a me me me look at me fashion Lieberman was able to get it done in the senate he was able to champion what he thought were priorities he was able to shift and shepherd them through the senate and yet was able to do it in a dignified way and i think uh a lot of um you know uh people in american politics that are looked upon very highly uh see Lieberman's passing is sort of a passing in american politics of the way you know the things used to be done in a quiet but efficient manner meanwhile for Lieberman uh you know just the paramount to a jew an orthodox jew that made it further than anybody else has in that realm i'm not really sure if we're going to see another like him i mean things have turned so much uh in the way that any jew is viewed right now in american life in american politics uh it's it's become so much harder at this point for for somebody like Lieberman to make a mark to climb the ladder to be looked upon as somebody who can have a a positive impact with anti-semitism just raining down now left and right so in a lot of ways his passing is a passing of um sort of the uh the pinnacle of american juries especially within the political realm right i just add mike you know if you look at both uh i would say certain elements uh non mainstream with certain elements in both the democratic and republican parties uh that are maybe fringe but so significant you wonder why the those parties would put a especially a proud and actual like joe Lieberman on a national ticket uh in the near future you have to wonder about that but let's just appreciate uh joseph Lieberman for what he was a politician and a mensch and a friend of israel and the jewish people may his memory be a blessing mike wagenheim thank you for that uh let's stay focused for a minute on the us especially on american campuses where jewish students or any supporter of israel is increasingly finding themselves subjects of continuous hostility and harassment both verbal in some cases even physical now long before the current wave of jubating erupted following october 7th the organization stand with us has been fighting anti-semitism in american educational institutions conducting leadership training and educational programs on hundreds of college campuses high schools and middle schools building support for israel and combating jew hatred and joining us in studio now is the co-founder and ceo stand with us ross rostin ross thank you for joining us in studio thank you thank you for having you here we've had you by distance before before we get started on us campuses let's just i want something maybe a word about joe Lieberman someone who was so publicly and proudly spoke about his jewishness uh and again in the current atmosphere uh you one has to wonder if uh uh how how that would fare you than american politics or in the public sphere it's it's a tragic loss i have met i met him a couple of times uh he was always pro israel and um and had uh just had such a beautiful perspective on on the jewish people the state of israel his wife hadasah um it's a terrible loss right really is well let's talk about the issue of the campuses because uh stand with us as i said i think 2000 in 2000 it was founded a 2001 one and has been really fighting this fight uh even we'll say well before it almost became a public issue so how do you assess uh the current situation now for jewish students well certainly those that identify as such openly or are openly supportive of israel their situation on a lot of these campuses uh it certainly was bubbling up since 2001 uh it's not a great big surprise that after october 7th it just really exploded on far too many campuses uh the students are complaining that they feel that they have to check their zionism or their judyism at the door uh in order to be accepted uh that many things are happening that are discriminatory actually discriminatory stand with us has legal help for students not just support for their uh you know ability to convey how they feel about israel and and be proud of their judyism and proud of their zionism but also when you know teachers when when they're professors or student groups on campus like students for justice in palestine cross the line into discriminatory behavior and the administration at those campuses doesn't do anything about it you know we we uh may get involved and it may be actionable give us a specific example and i know i think you've began from los angeles or you're from from that area but state of california especially the area uh around uh berkeley has been particularly a hotbed of this so maybe give us a a sense on on specific campus how that may operate there are a few cases already that we have filed and so i can i can be specific there uh george washington uh university for example washington dc uh a a professor was actually discriminating against her jewish and israeli students uh the the students told the administration the administration did nothing and uh actually went back to the professor and informed her and so it matters got worse and so the students came to us and and we actually filed a complaint uh with the department of education uh there are a few cases like that where we file complaints on behalf of the students and uh middlebury is another university in vermont i believe is it yes or new hamster and uh mit has got problems and how receptive do you find the school administration do you want to face with them and how how how receptive or not have you found them we always try we always try to find remedies where we speak to the administration see if they're willing to to listen to change uh but but in some cases in so many far too many cases uh the administration does not change and does not help the students and the students are left you know with with no support and so uh it's not on every campus but it's on far too many campuses and professors are also you know guilty of of discrimination and and when that happens uh you know they're they're gonna hear in a legal way uh from from us now it started in the u.s but i should mention it's been uh stand with us i think a half dozen countries uh active on including even in israel if i'm i'm not mistaken yes so let's talk about what that says do we and what you're doing here in israel now good question um i came to israel because i i wanted to give a great big hug uh to israelis and to victims of terrorism and for everything that's going on right now it's heartbreaking and um what i heard and what really motivated me to come this month is that many israelis feel that um people even if they care they care less or people don't care anymore uh or you know uh the comments that that many of our staff are receiving as you know you mean people still think about us you mean people still care about us and i want to say that yes they do very much so uh and and people like me and and people around the world connected to stand with us and by the way we're on six continents now okay so we're we are we have grown a lot okay um we we care so deeply we've actually had 1.5 billion interactions on our social media platforms i mean it's it's it's big and i wanted to convey that and that's really why i'm here seeing you know people who have lost members of their families who have survived the atrocities of october 7th who are displaced uh you know that's that's why i'm here all right uh ross Rothstein co-founder ceo of stand with us a a organization that was well ahead of the trend unfortunately one might say unfortunately but certainly have your work cut out for you for you more than ever ross thank you for joining us thank you so much for having me thank you well let's bring the focus back to israel now uh and take up the question of whether the ultra-orthodox religious sector called in hebron the charade should receive a full exemption from israel's mandatory military draft now this has been a long debate as a a debate of long simmering controversy but since october 7th and the pressing demand for more manpower in the idf it's become a critical political issue today the government requested more time from the supreme court to resolve the matter but there are no easy solutions for prime minister netanyahu his own defense minister says he won't support extending the service period for regular army and reservist troops unless the whole government supports uh a solution to the charade enlistment issue uh ben benigance member of the war cabinet insisting the ultra-orthodox must agree to serve in the army some way he today released a statement saying quote we tried to explain after october 7th the ultra-orthodox society must understand that something has changed we have the opportunity for a historical correction which will strengthen us now in the war unfortunately we couldn't come to an agreement between us and bridge the gaps and i still hope it's not too late but i will not give my hand to suggestion to aim that bypassing the high court and not to meet the needs of the idf and the israeli society as i have said repeatedly for a long time recruitment solutions yes exemptions from recruitment no well meanwhile here's what knesad member mosha gaffney of the ultra-orthodox united torah judy as a party had to say today on the issue after 2000 years of exile the people of israel return to become a jewish people we return to our land we return to tiberias and because of torah students who study torah and continue the tradition i bless the soldiers who risk their lives in gaza and here on the northern border facing hezbollah i pray with all the people of israel that they return home safe and sound but without torah students we have no future and so we have to safeguard them rafael from an officer in the idf uh i should note this to a high court did issue a uh a interim uh a ruling telling the government if it does not solve this situation by april first uh it will order that funding be cut off for all religious seminaries yeshi vote uh that do not whose students do not uh serve or are willing to serve uh the question is well how the government gets out of it and what it should be doing first of all the israeli government has shown tonight by postponing meeting of the cabinet that is more interesting in its own survival political survival than in the security of the country uh the problem of whether or not to enlist religious uh through our studying people is not a political problem not a moral problem it's a real security issue we need we are short of soldiers we need everybody to help to join the army it's not normal that only part of the israeli citizens should bear the burden so that's a absolute security need uh political and religious things left aside we must remember that out of the 60 000 uh so-called torah uh studying people that are involved more than 30 000 are not studying torah at all it's a trick it's a trick to escape the military it's a trick to avoid working not just avoiding the military and that will remind very humbly that the biggest mitzvah that can jew can perform as a jew is defending the land the holy land of israel and the israeli and the jewish people all right i just want to quickly go back to uh daniel scheck there's some comment from that meeting yeah so the meeting ended and the families spoke up the bottom line is that they were disappointed by the meeting they had heard nothing new and they pointed out to him especially ruby khen the father of itai khen who was declared dead unfortunately just a while ago he said uh that national security uh is also uh i mean it's not just a military notion it's also social cohesion has is a is a component of national security and what would happen to social cohesion if uh parents families of soldiers uh weren't certain that the