 The radical, fundamental principles of freedom, rational self-interest, and individual rights. This is The Iran Brook Show. Oh, hey, everybody. I did not expect to be doing a show this morning. I'm actually on my way to the airport. I've got a flight to take out, so this will be, I expect, a short show. You know, we're heading, I have to finish packing and get out of here. But what's happening in Israel right now is so dramatic, so horrific, that I thought I had a comment and let you know partially what I think is actually going on from the best sources I can find. Although, granted, I don't know anything special. Everything I said about the Ukraine war in terms of fog of war, remember, there's a lot going on in the ground that we are not privy to and we have no idea. And I haven't had that much time to do the research and prepare, so in terms of the details, I'm not guaranteeing that I get it all right. I will be following this up. I'm sure with the show tomorrow with a little bit more time to digest and to see what's going on. I did want to give you my early impressions and what I think needs to be done and what needs to happen, and I think it needs to happen quickly. I think that is my main message is that Israel has to act, it has to have decisively, and it has to act very fast. But let's start with what happened. It appears that earlier today, Israel time in the morning, this is a holiday in Israel, it is the end of the Sukrat holiday, the final day is a day of celebration. Hamas launched a coordinated, massive, sophisticated, one would have to say, attack on Israel. This entailed both a ground attack where they drove through the fences. Israel has Gaza surrounded by the most advanced fences in the world, some of the most advanced senses in the world. They drove right through it. Israel has troops along that border. They were caught asleep, they were caught unprepared. They also used, what do you call it, these kind of flying devices where they flew small groups of troops overhead. Again, you would expect Israel has the means to knock those down out of the sky relatively easily. But complete surprise, completely off God, and they got behind Israeli troops. Supposedly, and I haven't seen confirmation of this, but from what I've read, they also landed troops by sea. The boats, Gaza is on the Mediterranean and Israel has a long coast on the Mediterranean. Again, they landed terrorists from boats onto the shores of Israel behind troop lines. The consequence of this, so far announced, declared officially, there are 40 Israelis dead, over 500 injured. But the numbers are far, far greater than that. Right now, they are still, right now, as we speak, a day into this, almost a day into it, there are still 22 hotspots, 22 areas in which terrorists are still killing, are still slaughtering civilians. Now, this is a direct attack on civilians. What happened here is they're going, they've entered settlements, Israeli civilian towns, and they're going house to house and slaughtering the inhabitants, killing the inhabitants. They're dragging bodies into the street. You can find horrific videos on Twitter. And they're videotaping this and uploading this for the whole world to see their barbarism. I guess one of the few minutes says now it's already been announced that 100 dead, but it's going to be a lot more than that, a lot more than that. There are two hostage situations in which these terrorists have taken hostages and Israeli troops are outside and, I guess, negotiating at this point. In addition to that, there is the significant evidence that they have kidnapped Israelis, both civilians, potentially, but certainly soldiers, and have taken them back into the Gaza Strip. Again, the failure here of the Israeli military is astounding, not only to allow them to enter, to leave the Gaza Strip, but then to enter back into the Gaza Strip. This kind of attack had to have been planned weeks and months in advance, communication, planning, training. The intelligence failure here is, again, unbelievable. It is astounding. But what is really laid to bear here is the barbarism, the desire of Hamas and its supporters to basically kill and destroy and annihilate the Israeli state and the citizens of the state of Israel, and do so in the more barbaric way possible, and they will continue to do so as long as they were allowed to do it. Israel is deploying its military, it has called up the reserves. We'll talk about the northern front, both in Lebanon and Syria in a minute, but it is calling up reserves, it is beefing up its military. Netanyahu has declared this as a war. But God, I have to hold myself back. I have to say a few things about Netanyahu here, because I have to be talking about this for 20 years and nobody has been listening, and nobody cares, and nobody, you know, I've obviously not done a good job convincing people. Netanyahu, this is Netanyahu's war. This is the blood here is on Netanyahu. This is his fault, his responsibility, his disaster. I hope this constitutes the final end of his career in politics. He, I hope, will be voted out no matter how he responds. He voted out and is gone. Netanyahu has compromised, sold out, negotiated, refused to win, refused to engage in proper war, appeased Hamas and the Palestinian Authority over and over and over again, for now going back to the late 1990s when he first did a stint as Prime Minister. You know, he had plenty of opportunities to go into the Gaza Strip and strip them and destroy the Hamas and reoccupy the territory and destroy their capacity and their ability to wage war against Israel. He has refused to do that. He has negotiated with them. Every time they took hostages and prisoners, he has negotiated and released massive numbers of terrorists on Israel's side in order to get bodies, never mind actual live soldiers back, which is going to be very interesting right now because Israel has this tradition of giving everything to get a hostage back, completely rejecting the whole idea of you don't negotiate with terrorism, which by the way, again in Netanyahu, Netanyahu wrote this amazing book about terrorism. I don't know if he wrote it, who knows who wrote it, but it came out of his name in the 1990s. Brilliant book on terrorism and one of the principles that you never negotiate with them. And yet he has repudiated that book as Prime Minister over and over and over again in his action. Bibi Netanyahu plays a tough guy at the United Nations. He plays a tough guy when he appears before Congress. He plays a tough guy on CNN and Fox and un-American media. But he is a weakling, has been a weakling forever. And what we're seeing right now, the lives and the destruction of lives that is occurring right now is a direct consequence, a direct consequence of Netanyahu and Israel more broadly because you can't just blame the leader. You have to blame the people who elect him and the people who support him and the people who prop him up. And that includes all those, all the Americans on the right who think Netanyahu is a hero. This is all, you know, again, this is all a consequence of weakness, all a consequence of appeasement. And look, when the numbers come out in the end and the videos are shown, the horror here is truly outstanding. And this is really the first time since 1948, the first time in Israeli modern Israeli history since the War of Independence, that the Israeli civilian population is at the forefront of an attack. The Six-Day War, Israeli civilian population did not really feel it. The Yom Kippur War, we were in shelters in some areas, but the war was far. It was in the Golan Heights and it was in the Sinai Desert. Some civilians suffered, but it was relatively small. You know, yes, rockets have been launched into Israel population centers. Yes, terrorist attacks have occurred both in the south of Israel and in the north with Hezbollah and Mogheta Hezbollah later. But never have homes been invaded on such a scale. Again, one terrorist attack here or there. But the scale of this is really, really, and the barbarity of this is really, really unprecedented. So this is where we are. Now, why? Why now? Why now? Why has this attack happened now? What led to it? I'd say at least two things. One, Israel is weak. Israel has been engaged in internal fighting. It's been engaged in internal backstabbing. It's been engaged in massive protests in the streets. Reserve officers in the Air Force and otherwise have said they're not going to show up for the military duty because of these legal changes that the government wants to pass. The government has alienated a massive segment of the Israeli population because of these judicial reforms. But the Israeli population has basically thrown up its arms and said, OK, so we're not going to serve in the military as if the external threat is gone, as if these changes that the White is imposing on Israeli society right now could not be reversed by a future government. They could. I mean, the panic and hysteria internally to Israel has weakened the social fabric, has weakened its commitment to fight, has weakened its commitment to defend itself. Now, we'll see. We'll see how Israelis respond to this. We'll see if all those who said, oh no, we're never again going to report to duty if they actually volunteer and go back and serve in combat. But at least that was the that was how it was positioned, you know, and that the Arab world, the Hezbollah, the Hamas in Iran took as a sign of weakness. Israel was ripping itself apart from within. The second issue, I think, are the Abraham Accords and this peace agreement that is being pushed to Saudi Arabia. The reality is that there are strong elements within Arab society who do not want this piece of quotes to last. And it's not just Iran, the elements within Saudi Arabia, the elements within Egypt, the elements within UAE, the elements all over the Middle East who do not want to see. Israel and the Arabs reach any kind of agreement and any kind of deal. It is not an accident that right now, as we speak in the weeks leading up to this, there's been a lot of talk about a Saudi-Israeli deal where the U.S. is going to give security guarantees to the Saudis. And, you know, so we will see what, so I think that this is partially meant for Israel to respond harshly, which it has to do. And the Saudis then back off of a peace deal. UAE is already saying we need to cease fire. Israel don't overreact. Don't do, I mean, this is of course a message from the entire world, but the UAE that has a peace deal with Israel is saying this. A lot of these Arab countries are going to be placed in this massive dilemma of do we actually, do we keep the peace with Israel if Israel responds harshly? And I think Hamas and the Palestinians are hoping that this is additional pressure on Israel to be restrained, to be restrained. God help us. I just got a text to say from Boaz in Israel saying that, and this is what I expected, that all the people who said they would not serve in the Israeli military because of the judicial reform are all saying that they will show up and they will volunteer and they will serve in this fight. That's great, but there's no question that their announcement that they refuse to serve served as an encouragement to Hamas to launch this attack. It was again a sign of Israel's real weakness. Let me just add, I'm looking at this. So I think those are the two main causes. I mean, I'd add the fact that Iran is being playing nice with the United States and nuclear deal and all this other stuff. Again, this might be elements both in Iran and elsewhere that want to undo all that and want to bring conflict to the forefront and hopefully that's what they actually achieve. All right, a few other things that are important to say. Look, evil thrives when it is appeased. Evil thrives when the good guys don't stand up to it. Evil thrives when it believes the good is weak. And I've made the argument Israel has been weak. Netanyahu has been weak. In 2014 and in 2018 Israel had an opportunity to go in and they didn't. They let the Hamas off. They let them off the hook. They negotiated. I mean, think about it to this day, my guess is, and maybe bars can correct me from Israel. To this minute, Israel supplies all the electricity in the Gaza Strip. To this minute, most of the water that Gaza Strip gets, it gets from Israel. I mean, when in the history of mankind, in all of history, as a country, as a people, being willing to supply its enemy, people committed to its destruction, people that at every opportunity kill its citizens, when, when, in every, in all of human history, as such a country, as such a people supplied its enemy with the means by which to destroy it. It's unthinkable. And the fact, if electricity is still running in Gaza right now, if there's still water in the taps of Gaza right now, then that is a travesty. That is immoral, unjust, and just for that, somebody in Israel needs to lose their job. It's just unbelievable. I mean, Gaza Strip should be in darkness right now. Water, you know, medical services, all supplied by Israel. They should be cut off completely, shut down. As minute one, that should have happened hours ago. And let's be clear. Israel needs to act fast, fast and in devastating fashion within, you know, hours. I mean, I am sure, I know this for a fact. Israel has plans for the invasion of the Gaza Strip. It has plans for how to take over the Gaza Strip and take control of it and destroy the entire Hamas infrastructure. Those plans might be dusty. Those plans might not be up to date completely. But it is the responsibility of the Israeli military now, over the next few hours, while it is dealing with whatever elements Hamas has within Israel to clean up those plans, update them immediately, and launch an attack. The sooner, the better. The longer Israel waits, the more unlikely it is that they will be successful and the more likely it is that they will actually launch the attack because of all the international pressure which is about to be brought in Israel to show restraint, to be Christian, to turn the other cheek, to love thy enemy, to compromise, to sell out. It's just a matter of minutes. And you're already hearing it for certain elements out there. I'm just waiting for Elon Musk to go on Twitter and suggest that he fly to Israel and negotiate peace between Hamas and Israel. The other parties are watching. What would be even more devastating than what just happened is, and Hezbollah has already threatened this, is a massive attack by Hezbollah from Lebanon, opening a second front and potentially a third front of Iranian forces and Hezbollah from Israel's border in Syria on the Golan Heights. Hezbollah is already let Israel know that if they enter Gaza, they will launch their rockets. I mean, again, what would I do? I would immediately announce that we would immediately order the Israeli military to enter Gaza and to completely occupy it and completely dismantle and destroy the Hamas infrastructure. Everything, Islamic jihad, everything in the Gaza Strip. I said I'd turn off the lights, I would turn off the water, I would turn off everything else. And at the same time, Israel should launch a pre-emptive, massive airstrike on any moving target in Lebanon that is associated with Hezbollah, not moving, stationary and moving. Any target in Hezbollah from the spiritual leader of Hezbollah who should have been assassinated decades ago to every military force, every missile, everything. Don't wait for them to launch. And the same thing should happen in Syria. Whatever elements of the Iranian regime are in Syria. And it doesn't matter if the Iranians are behind what Hamas did or not behind what Hamas did. They are showing support for it. They are threatening Israel. Fine. Okay. You want to threaten us? Here's what you're going to get for it. Israel has the military capability to take out all three elements. But it has to do it fast. It has to initiate. It has to be pre-emptive. And it has to do it in devastating fashion. Enough of the leaflets dropped to tell people whether bombs are going to be dropped so that they can evacuate. It is time to be ruthless. It is time to bring peace to the Middle East. And there is only one way to achieve peace. And the only way to achieve peace is to win. It's to devastate your enemy. It's to crush your enemy. That's it. All peace is achieved. America is a peace with Germany. A peace with Japan. Why? Because we crushed them. Because we devastated. Because we made it clear what war will bring to them. And where is there war in places where war weak? Where is there war in places where the bad guys, the evil, thinks they can get away with stuff? Thinks they can be victorious? Or thinks they can inflict pain without suffering the consequences? The difference between... Anyway, another time we'll talk about the difference between Israel and Palestinians and why Israel is in the right here, unequivocally in the right, and the Palestinians unequivocally in the wrong. This is a conflict that is caused, perpetuated, sustained by the Palestinians. This is a conflict that could have been dealt with and solved over the decades if the Palestinians had wanted to. And the only reason it's sustained and perpetuated is because the Palestinians don't want to solve it, and Israel doesn't have what it takes, doesn't have the resolve, doesn't have the moral confidence, doesn't have the moral backbone to actually defeat its enemy and bring it to an end. Let's see... Sorry, I'm getting texts. I'm trying to stay up to date on the text and what's going on. Okay. Let's see, we've got a few questions. Questions only on the topic, please. As I said, I'm limited in time. I have to run. But let me just end with this. Nothing less than victory. Israel has to bring the Hamash regime to its knees. Worst case scenario, Israel hesitates. The West Bank erupts in violence. The Palestinians in the West Bank are emboldened to start a third intifada. A rocket start flying in from Hezbollah and maybe even, maybe they learn from the Hamas. They just start driving. They pick up trucks through the fences in the northern border. Iran starts launching missiles into Israel. That is the worst scenario. And the more Israel waits, the more it waits to make clear how devastating its response is going to be, the more it waits on that, the more likely it is that Hezbollah, the Iranians and the Palestinians in the West Bank, rise up against it. Israel must both destroy Hamas in a matter of hours and it must preempt anything Hezbollah. Don't wait for them. Destroy them before they get a single missile off the ground. Now, some missiles will land. There's no question this will bring about some real devastation in the north of Israel. And there will be casualties and people will die. But a lot fewer casualties, a lot fewer casualties will be caused if Israel preempts in Lebanon, that if Israel waits for Hezbollah to take the initiative. And again, every hour it waits. Every hour it delivers electricity to Hamas. Every hour it keeps, it acts as if everything is normal. It is an hour that is going to cost the lives of Israelis. It's going to cost the lives of many, many, many Israelis. Let me just, and some of you have expressed questions about my family. Family is, as far as I know, everybody's fine. My family does not live in the south where the atrocities are happening. They do live in the north. So anything for Hezbollah will affect my family directly. Part of my family lives in the center. But no direct impact on my family as of now. But again, this is an evolving situation. And who knows? And certainly if something happens in the north, it will be impacted. I do worry about my parents who are elderly well into the 80s just mentally and their state of mind. I think it's towards the end of their lives, towards the final years of their lives to see this happening in Israel, I think is shocking and upsetting and very, very difficult for them to bear. All right, let's see. Okay, Red Hawk, thank you for the $100. But let me report that Hezbollah has reached out to Egypt through back channels saying they will enter the war if Israel invades and tries to occupy the Gaza Strip, assuming this is correct. Do you think Israel will self-destruct once again and compromise? So here's my depressing take. I do. I think Israel is not going to do what's necessary. Now, it will have to show some force. It will do something. It will exert some, but Netanyahu is weak. His government is weak. Now, if he was smart, he would reach out to the opposition right now and quickly form a national unity government short-term just for what is needed to be done at this point. There is very little conflict among Israeli politicians about national security. Now, none of them as radical as I am. So, granted that, except maybe the crazy religious right. But, you know, I can't, you know, I can't appease the crazy religious right because they happen to agree with me on this particular issue. But Israel should form a strong of a government as a wide-ranging of a government as it can right now, and it needs to act militarily, quickly and thoroughly. It won't. I predict that it won't. It will enter Gaza. It will bomb. It will not preempt Hezbollah in the north. And so, you know, again, I could be wrong on all this. But Netanyahu has always been a compromise. He is afraid. He is afraid. He is afraid of war. He is afraid of what will do to his legacy. He is afraid he will lose power, though now he is very little to lose because I think he is going to lose power over this. The failure, the intelligence, military, political failure that this attack we haven't seen anything like it since the Yom Kippur War, but in many regards, this is worse. This is much worse because in Yom Kippur, the enemy was far. Here the enemy is right there where civilians are living. And to fail intelligence-wise, here at this level, unthinkable. I mean, Israel is going to have to do some real soul-searching, Israeli military intelligence and Mossad and the Shin Bet are going to have to do some real soul-searching about what happened here and how they could let this happen. Indeed, intelligence assessments last week were that Hamas was not looking for conflict. I mean, they blew it massively. I think Israel is not going to be as tough as it needs to be. I don't think it will preempt. Israel is very afraid of preemption. So I don't think it will preempt in the north. The other thing is, as I said earlier, Israel has always had this attitude of, oh, they've taken hostages. We can't be tough because they'll kill the hostages, which is a disastrous policy. So yeah, when it comes to war, you've got to win. You've got to destroy the enemy. That's not medieval. That is reality. And no war has ever been won without destroying the enemy. So I know that this episode that I'm taping right now is going to be shown in libertarian and other circles as proof of the bloodthirsty, crazy, war-mongering Iran. That's fine. The reality is I'm on the side of justice. I'm on the side of truth. And I'm on the side of peace. And the only way to achieve peace is to destroy your enemies. Hamas, unfortunately, believes Israel will compromise and not be as tough as it needs to be. They've been proven, they have lots of evidence that that is actually the reality. I know Americans have this false notion of Israel being super tough and super aggressive. It hasn't been true in a long time, in a long time. Netanyahu is the wrong prime minister. The last prime minister who showed any toughness was Ariel Sharon during the Second Intifada. And even there, he was weak. I'd say he was hampered by the Bush administration. But they need somebody like Ariel Sharon. They need somebody with military experience. They need somebody who has the backbone to really take it out. Paul, thank you Paul. I'm Mikad, I assume, from Israel. No, he was traveling in Europe. Bring back ancient Roman brutality, burn Gaza to the ground, salt the fields, crucify anyone who says the word Palestine. Unnecessary. You don't need that kind of barbarity. What you need is to win. What you mean is to unequivocally win. What you need is to destroy their entire infrastructure. It's not necessary to be as barbaric as the Romans were. This can be done, and it can be done systematically. A lot of people are going to die. A lot of people, one way or the other, over time are going to die. But one has to be smart about this. One has to be ruthless but smart. And there's no reason to endorse Roman techniques here. There are much more modern, sophisticated techniques to do this. I'm already in the chat being called a barbarian. More barbarian than the Romans. I'd expect that. Particularly from the pacifist libertarians who have never met an evil they don't want to embrace rather than go to war with. They've never seen a war they would actually endorse. Ian says we should adopt some of the social media techniques used to help spread support for Ukraine. Anyone should post pictures of the Israeli flag in addition to pro-Israeli anti Hamas post. Yes, and please share this video. I mean, if you like this, share this video. If you support this, share this video. I don't mind that everybody sees what I'm actually arguing for. Get it out there. Let people know. I'm seeing on Twitter some of you are already doing it and I appreciate that. Thank you. But the world needs to know that there are people standing by Israel, one, and two, people calling Israel out for its own weakness. Its own weakness. Its own tolerance of evil. Remo, thank you. Really appreciate it. Doug says thank you for going live with such urgency today. I suggest paying to promote this episode across a separate platform if that's a thing. I'll see. I'm on flights today, so it's going to be hard for me to split this up. But if any of you have ideas on how to promote this video, go ahead and do it. It's on Facebook and both my channels on Facebook. It's streaming on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it. So you can easily share it there in what do you call it, in Twitter video rather than YouTube, which are all suppressed. Share the Twitter feed and get the word out there. Shai asks, if Israel reasserts sovereignty over Gaza and the West Bank, what would properly be done with the inhabitants who couldn't be trusted to be peaceful residents assuming surrounding nations won't take them? I mean, what you have to do is basically you have to occupy their territory and do everything you can to prevent them from being violent and take over the schools. There needs to be reeducation. You have to get rid of the existing administration, the existing leadership of the Palestinians. And there has to be a process over a generation by which, you know, the Palestinians are pacified and by which the Palestinians are westernized. And that requires an intensity that I don't think anybody in the West today is willing to actually do and willing to actually engage in and I don't think Israel is willing and able to do it. It's why, you know, what Israel has chosen, what these really governments have chosen, over and over and over again, what these really governments have chosen is to, you know what I'm saying, bury their head in the sand. They have chosen evasion. They have chosen not to take the problem seriously. They have chosen to accept the status quo and pretend that it will stay this way for decades to come. Right? I don't believe you deal with your enemy in a liberal way and my friends at Cato hate me for my foreign policy. Hate me for my foreign policy. They hated me after 9-11. They'll hate me now. There's no question. I know who is going to be on my side and who is not and there's no question that the libertarians at Cato and certainly at the von Mises Institute are going to use what I've said today to incite even more hatred. That's fine. I tell it like it is. I tell the truth and when it comes to dealing with your enemy, you know, you don't allow the enemy to fast. You don't allow the enemy to educate the kids to hate you. You don't allow the enemy to continue to spread an ideology that is the cause for your own destruction. That's suicide. I don't believe in suicide. I believe in living. So I think you have to be, you know, how you do it, I don't know because I don't know that any nation has ever done, you know, what we're suggesting be done with the Palestinians. It's the civilizational, the difference today is so large. I think this could have easily be done 40, 50 years ago. The Palestinians were far more secular back then. They were far more reasonable back then. The view of Israel was far more positive back then. Israel blew it. And suddenly, but the people who really blew it are the Palestinian leadership. Tim says, Dr. Brooke, thank you for what you do. There is no, no one else in the world who can speak to these issues with the clarity you do. Thank you, Tim. Really appreciate it. Michael says, why do Palestinians think they can do this every three years? Will Israel eventually fed up and carpet bomb? No, they're not going to carpet bomb Gaza. They won't even reoccupy Gaza, I don't think. They think they can do it every three years because the consequences ultimately to them are minimal. Israel continues to supply them with electricity, water, food, Tijek and Hamas is soon to be no mass. Thank you for your fabulous show. We've been swinging the other day. Safe travels. I hope you're right, Tijek and Hamas. I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced Israel will make them gone. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Daniel. Brian says, good to see a fair amount of support for Israel on Twitter. I mean, how could one not? Yeah, but if you listen to the biggest, what do you call it, live show on Twitter, Mario Nafal's show where they're talking right now about Hamas and Israel at war, it's astounding how, oh, Israel needs to strain itself. Israel needs to do this. So we have sympathy to Palestinian. You watch over the next 24 hours to 48 hours how the tone on Twitter will change. Right now, all the Israel supporters are going out there and expressing their support as Israel enters into offensive operations that will all shift, including on the right. And you will see people, you will see people start condemning Israel. So it's going to be really, really interesting to watch this. By the way, I think the Iranian Institute is going to do a show on the situation in Israel later today. So stay tuned for that with Ilan Juno, maybe on Kargate, maybe, I don't know, maybe Boaz from Israel will join them. But they are going to do, I think, I'm just reading text back and forth. So I assume that later today or tomorrow, the Iranian Institute will be doing something. I will be on again tomorrow from California. But I'm flying. I've got a plane to catch in a little bit. So I'm flying in a little bit. Let's see, Brian, Brian, I just read what Brian said. Kenny said, glad to hear your family is safe. I appreciate that, Kenny. Thank you to Trevor. Let's see. I mean, we got a lot of love here. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, John and Daniel and Mike and Catherine and everybody else. And everybody else. Daniel says, love the show and Dumas. Thanks, guys. All right. Anything I have missed, let me see if I've got any updates from Boaz. Right now, the television in Israel is reporting 100 dead. But those numbers are going to increase. And I do think it's important for you to keep in context. Israel has a population of 10 million. So, you know, 100 in the U.S. is not a large number. But 100 in Israel is like a 9-11. I mean, I haven't done the math yet, but it's a much bigger number in proportion to the population. And it's all concentrated in one part of Israel in the south. You know, people have relatives of their family there. And then there's still hostage situations. The numbers are going to be much worse, much worse over time. And again, we will see what else evolves. Chris says, you've got my support you on. Don't worry about the passive libertarians. Not really worried about them. But I mean, if anything, this reveals them for what they are. It brings them out of the woodwork for all to see. And so you can really get a sense of kind of the difference. You know, I and Objectivism broadly take moral stands. It's clear that they are good guys and bad guys. There are states that are good, and there are non-state actors that are bad and evil. I think libertarians by... Again, I don't want to color all libertarians the same because there are people out there who are libertarian who are good in these issues. Many non-state actors are always better than state actors. The state is always bad. Good states like Israel and the United States are the worst. And they're horrible. The states that are heroic to be looked up to are Russia and places like that. This is going to be very interesting to see how this affects the Ukraine crisis. That's a whole other dimension of this. How Republicans deal with this and deal with their lack of support for Ukraine and whether there is any change as a consequence of what's going on right now. Are the Republicans going to rally around Israel in this case and how they can explain that vis-à-vis rallying around Ukraine? Also, is there a Russian link here? There's some rumors that some of the drones that Hamas is using are Russian. Is there a Russian link? Will Russia allow Iran to use Syria as a base to attack Israel? Russia controls Syria right now. So there's a lot that's going to happen. A lot happening right now as we speak in different places around the world, people talking and people figuring out what they're going to do. But there is real ways in which this could really escalate. And this is one of the reasons Israel might not preempt, is it's worry about escalating in Syria and bringing Russia into the conflict. Beware of coverage on mainstream media. You've got to watch something, but beware of coverage on mainstream media. It's often detached. Brian says, people who support Israel condemn the media for not calling Hamas terrorists. Terrorists is not too weak a word. No ideology behind it. Absolutely they're terrorists. What is the purpose of what they're doing right now? The purpose of what they are doing is not to capture ground. The purpose of what they are doing is not to take over Israel. The purpose of what they are doing right now is not some military goal. The purpose of what they are doing right now is to terrorize. It's to terrorize Israel to, and to terrorize Israelis, to put the fear of ally into them. It has these geopolitical reasons to try to convince the Saudis not to sign a peace deal, to try to convince the UAE to break off with Israel, to try to paint Israel into a corner of response, to try to make Israel do things that then the international community will come down in Israel for. It has all kinds of goals. But fundamentally, this is about terrorizing the Israeli civilian population. And you know, they're at war. That's what you do at war. But they are terrorists. And let's not be soft on them. Frank says, I hate that any Israeli soldier is taking hostage because he or she was conscripted and didn't sign up voluntarily. When you're a soldier, you're a target. Yeah, but think about the fact that they were taking civilians hostages as well. Conscription in Israel is an evil and it's part of the problem of the lack of professionalism within the Israeli military often. But that's not the issue on the table right now. The issue on the table right now is Israel needs to survive this. Israel needs, and to survive it, it needs to make a definitive, unequivocal statement about its willingness to defend itself and its willingness to crush, to crush its enemies. All right. Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for those of you who supported, who support the show financially, wherever and however you do it. And I will be back with you tomorrow from California with any updates. I, you know, I wish I could go long and I wish I could do another show later today with more news. But the reality is I'm going to be flying. I'm going to be on a plane, you know, for the rest of the day. So I will try staying in touch and see what's going on and update you tomorrow when I go live sometime from California. Bye everybody and no point in praying for Israel, but show Israel some love and show it some support. We can do that today in ways that we couldn't in the past. Just tweet about it. Just go on Facebook, link to this. Just express yourself out there. Don't let and keep it up. Don't let the other side dominate on this issue. Have a great rest of your weekend everybody.