 Hello, friends and subscribers, a very warm welcome back to my YouTube channel. Daniel Rossell here, bringing you today's video from the wonderful city of Jerusalem here in late November 2023. We have delightful wintery conditions here. We have driving rain. We have cold weather. We have a bit of fog. We have, you know, it's just a classic Irish weather, wintery day here in Jerusalem, which where when you live somewhere, which is almost nonstop sunny for, you know, probably a good, I think, like five months out of the year. These kind of occasional days are kind of nice. They're very cozy. You want to get inside, cuddle up to your laptop, your tablet, your spouse, your pet, whatever you have on hand or cuddle up to a pint of beer and a pub, which is what I'll be doing today because I've crossed the 3,000 subscriber milestone queue, queue the applause. It's really nice to have crossed 3,000 subscribers. I just want to say jokes aside. Thank you very much to everyone who's been watching these videos. I know this channel has gone through meandering course. We started off as tech and eventually found our way to these videos about Israel. And now I'm diverting a little bit to talk about Ireland. But it's been really appreciated that everyone who's been commenting and liking and sharing with their friends and putting these videos up on Facebook groups and all these various actions have really helped. I just want to say that I'm not in this YouTube game for money. Last anyone misunderstand my intentions. I recently shared on Twitter my really, really dismal YouTube earnings of approximately 100 bucks a month. People can pull apart what I'm doing wrong, but I'm not in. I'm not doing it for that reason. I love creating content. I love sharing thoughts. I love getting back comments. I love reading comments. I love responding to comments. It's all been a lot of fun. And I'd like to think I picked up some good skills about videos along the way. And I've also made some good friends. It's been really, really nice to, as I said in a recent video, have actually met a couple of the YouTube commenters who've been commenting and came through Jerusalem. And likewise in that vein, if anyone watching this is planning a trip to Jerusalem and would like to meet for pints, you can talk to my assistant secretary. You'll talk to my set. I'm just kidding. I have no I have no gatekeepers. I would love to meet anyone traveling through Jerusalem. There is a contact email on the about page and send me an email if you're coming in this direction. And it's always really, really nice to take digital relationships into real life. I know sometimes that can go horribly wrong for people, but so far I've had a relatively good luck. And it's been really nice to meet a couple of the folks who are commenting and just develop relationships in real life through this channel. It's been a great lot of fun. Today, I want to talk about another one of the Ireland is ready videos. And just to say one more no, because I'm doing a bit of a prelude to this video here. I recently did a video where I said I'm not talking any more about Ireland, Israel, because I figured, you know, people don't really come to this YouTube channel to hear about me talking about this very niche topic. And the reason I do as I explain is because I am an Irish born Jew. And so when Ireland sort of gets really into talking about Israel, it kind of peaks my interest and I said, I'd stop. I said, you know what, people don't need to hear it. But then I got a lot of messages very, very, which really kind of surprised me from Irish pro-Israel people saying, actually, can you keep making these videos? Because even though you might think this is pointless from my perspective, sitting here in Jerusalem, from their perspective in Ireland, there's so few pro-Israel voices kind of permeating into that conversation that they said, just keep going. So I'm going to keep going judiciously. If there's something I think is really noteworthy. And I would say, actually, this video that I'm doing is not maybe one of the more noteworthy statements coming out of Ireland. But I do think it's indicative for people who are kind of don't really understand the Israeli position via the Ireland. I thought I'd pull apart this statement because I think it does a it's a classic Irish statement about the Middle Eastern peace process about Israel, Palestine, the people in Ireland would say a bit like what we saw happening with Leo Veradke yesterday, who put out that tweet about Emily Hand being lost and found and probably got more impressions on a tweet than any Irish politician. And it caused massive offence here in Israel and among the Jewish world. And as I've said on Twitter, I think it was a little bit OTT. I think it was just a metaphor that fell completely flat. But there is that kind of disconnect that we see here in statements like this from Neil Hall-Martin. So I'm going to read this one out here. This was put out by Mehal Martin's office about an hour ago. And I just chopped off the header and I chopped off the footer to make it fit onto the screen, but no other alterations have been done. I just want to read this. Tonnish to calls for extension. I should probably give context for us. The Tonnish is Ireland's deputy prime minister, Neil Hall-Martin. Tonnish to calls for extension of Gaza. The truce highlighting urgent need to stop humanitarian catastrophe and see the release of all hostages. I feel like I'm a TV presenter, reading this, but I'm going to try to read it, bring it to life as best I can. The last four days of limited truce and Gaza have seen the release of some hostages and the delivery of increased humanitarian assistance so desperately needed by the civilian population of Gaza. I appeal now to all parties to build on the important steps that have been taken, the state, the cessation of hostilities, the delivery of vital aid and the release of some hostages and extend and expand this truce. Ireland has repeatedly called for a sustainable humanitarian ceasefire to be established, and I earnestly hope that this happens now. This conflict must end. Gaza's civilian population cannot be allowed to suffer any further. Extension and expansion of this truce would allow the sustained humanitarian assistance that is needed at scale to avoid this tragedy from further deepening. I strongly reiterate my previous calls for all hostages to be immediately and unconditionally released. We in Ireland were delighted and relieved this weekend by the release of Emily Hand, the Irish Israeli citizen who was abducted by Hamas. It is our sincere hope that all remaining hostages will soon also be reunited with their friends and families. There can be no military solution to this crisis. And we again urge all parties to take this chance to maintain and build on the positive developments that we have seen these recent days and find a path to peace and security. Now, so here's here's the critique from the Irish standpoint. This statement is who could disagree with this statement, right? We're saying there should be peace. We're saying there should be stability. We're saying that all parties need to build on this. And therein lies the problem. What's going on in Israel was not is not a is not a symmetrical conflict. It is a conflict between a democratically established state Israel and Hamas, which is a terrorist entity whose charter says it's dedicated to the elimination of Israel, right? Hamas on October 7th, blew up the Gaza Israel barrier, brought in thousands of terrorists to Israel, raped women, beheaded children and brutally murdered more than 1000 civilians. Now, Israel has since then been engaged in a military campaign to destroy Hamas because Hamas wants to destroy it. Now, the problem is reading the statement, it doesn't. It sounds like it's kind of two children, you know, to a legitimate conflict, right? The and the thing is this Ireland's under Ireland's understanding of neutrality really, really does not sort of come across in this part of the world. And I think it's why Ireland seems to have a hard time understanding why it's perceived as incredibly pro-Palestinian and more than that anti-Israel because Ireland thinks that calling for a ceasefire is neutral. This is the crux of the problem. Calling for a ceasefire is not neutral. It's pro-Palestinian calling for a ceasefire means telling Israel to abandon its legitimate military target of destroying a terrorist entity bent on its destruction, right? When you're calling for a ceasefire for Israel to put down arms for Israel to just stop and, you know, I'm just looking at the language here in the statement here for a durable, sustainable humanitarian ceasefire. Well, how sustainable and, you know, humanitarian. So we should stop for a week and allow fuel into Gaza and then continue. But this kind of a statement and there can be no military solution to this cry. I'm just going to bring the statement back up here on the screen. Looking at the last paragraph, there can be no military solution to this crisis. Now, Israel and I would disagree. There is a military solution to this crisis. Well, not maybe there is a military. There is a solution to this crisis and it's the destruction of Hamas. The only way to destroy a paramilitary organization with rockets and terrorists is through a military operation, which is why Israel is conducting one in Gaza. So when you say there, there can be no military solution to this crisis and we urge all parties. And again, this language is drawing an equivalence between Israel and Hamas. We urge all parties as if these are all reasonable people. It's not the all parties here that you're putting on a kind of equal standing point is Israel and Hamas, as if Hamas of any any interest in maintaining and building on the positive developments that we have seen in recent days. This is a delusional statement and it's in a delusional position. And the idea that a ceasefire is any way neutral and anything other than a pro-Palestinian partisan position is also delusional. I could keep going, but I think that's kind of set enough. Basically, this this people are kind of, you know, Leo Radker statement, as I mentioned, about the lost and found stuff has caused such a huge uproar, but it's really just it was a stupid metaphor. And it fell flat. This is the kind of stuff that people want to pop pull flaws at Ireland's treatment of Israel. I think this is quintessentially Irish statement and a quintessential statement in which Ireland can't understand why this in Israel is perceived as being very pro-Palestinian. And for me, it's as obvious as night and day by calling for a ceasefire. You are calling for Israel to abandon its military conflict. You're calling for Israel to basically just kind of say, lie down and say, let's do another October 7th, because if you don't eliminate Hamas through a military solution, as it says in the last paragraph, that's what Israel will get. It will get another October 7th and another October 7th. Thanks for watching today's video. This is my strident opinion for the day. And if you do want to keep getting these videos, do subscribe here on YouTube. Thanks for watching.