 Welcome to this year-end special here on I-24 News. I'm Batch 11th Olm, thanks for joining me. This weekend marks the grand finale of 2023. Asteroids, Armageddon and AI Apocalypse and Ancient Curses have all been predicted to bring about the end of the world. But as this year comes to a close, the most acute threat is largely a result of human actions. Environmental destruction, the climate catastrophe and of course, major wars. Doomsday has been envisioned with every year that passes and while many are grateful to have survived the past 365 days, for Israelis, Doomsday was an actual reality this year. A scenario many predicted but didn't foresee would actually play out. I-24 News correspondent Jonathan Schacher takes a look back at that fateful day, now known as the events of October 7th, 2023. 6.29 a.m. That's when Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on the morning of October 7th started. It was a Saturday, a Sabbath morning of the sacred Jewish holiday Simchat Torah, an undercover of extraordinary missile barrages launched toward Israel. Hamas simultaneously attacked by land, sea and air. These images, taken within an hour of the infiltration show carnage never before seen in Israel. It wasn't just border communities and the nearby Nova Music Festival. Many of the 3,000 Hamas terrorists advanced deep into the south to continue their killing spree. While the army, the police and the security establishment were still trying to fathom what was happening, on social media the first images were emerging. Many of them from survivors and victims of the Nova Music Festival massacre. Eventually, after fierce fighting, the Israeli security forces regained control of some communities near the border, which had been under Hamas' control for many hours. First responders could enter and witness sites beyond even their worst nightmares. We saw, it was unbelievable the casualties that we saw. And then we thought that everything, we saw everything but then it came to yesterday when we went into Kibbutz Baeri and we saw the, the rally, what was done to the families, to the children. Even after two days, the chaos was not over. In some communities in the south, like Baeri, Sderoth and Kfar Azar, the battle against Hamas was still raging. Once control was retaken, I-24 News was among the first on the scene on October 10th. Many of these houses are also still have grenades in them, movie traps. The scope of the horror shocked even seasoned IDF officers accompanying our teams on the ground. It's not a war, it's not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mother, the fathers in the bedrooms, in the protection rooms and how the terrorists killed them. It's something that I never saw in my life. It's something that we used to imagine as our grandfather and grandmother in the pogrom in Europe and other places. All told, more than 1,200 people were killed, among them at least 800 civilians. More than half of the victims were between the ages of 18 and 29. 36 children younger than 18 were brutally executed. Over 240 people were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. Two and a half months later, people in Israel are trying to return to their lives. Lives halted on October 7th at 6.29 am. A day dubbed the Black Sabbath. A day which will never be forgotten. Joining me here in studio is retired Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. Thank you so much for joining us on our special. You've spent most of your life fighting terrorism and insurgency in some of the world's toughest tough spots, including in the Middle East being Afghanistan and Iraq. And you've also recently spent some time here in Israel, I believe, two months into the war with Hamas. How do the atrocities of October 7th compare to some of the others you've seen around the region that you've unfortunately bore witness to? I watched the 45-minute video of the idea I've put together to show to journalists and diplomats, et cetera. And I also visited Qafar-Azra and buried quite soon after the atrocities took place. And in my 30-year military career, which has included fighting against Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Taliban, the IRA, the Irish Republican Army, I've never seen anything so horrific as what I saw in that video and in those communities. It's indescribably worse. Of course, there are comparisons, particularly with Islamic State, in terms of the delight in the horror in the devastation they were causing and the killing. But I would say it's a step much worse than them. It's really horrifying to hear that when we compare, as you mentioned, Hamas' ISIS, a lot of the stuff that people have been seeing, at least on the ground here in Israel, is, as you mentioned, worse than some of the atrocities committed by ISIS. Now, the longer wars tend to drag on, over time it becomes less clear-cut who is the victor and who the victim tends to be. But is that the case here? We have to remind the audience that there was a ceasefire before October 7th. This was not a war that Israel willingly or wanted to engage in in the first place. Absolutely not. And I think this is very much a black-and-white situation, despite what people like the General Secretary of the United Nations had to say about this did not happen in the vacuum. This is absolutely clear-cut, black-and-white case of evil and aggression. And it goes beyond that, because, of course, Hamas and Iran, together, working together, working hand-in-hand, carried out a very sophisticated deception operation against Israel to convince Israel that its intentions were not aggressive against Israel any longer, that it was focusing on the economic development of the Gaza Strip. So I don't think this is a case where you can say, you know, there are two sides to this argument. There is only one side to this argument, and Israel is on the right side of that. Or for such an operation to be pulled off, there's no doubting that you need a wad of cash in order to do so. And since 2007, Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip. They alone have been the sole government of over 2 million Palestinians in the enclave, destroying much of what Israel left behind when it unilaterally withdrew from the Strip two years earlier, Hamas lobbied on international funding. Instead of using those funds for the betterment of its society, Hamas injected its annual budget of around $2.5 billion into propping up its terror operations aimed at destroying Israel. Your veriting assessment out of Jerusalem was that Hamas has far too much to lose from engaging in a full-fledged war with Israel and therefore will not take the risk. But then October 7th happened, and now three months later, the Jewish state is still at war with Hamas. Our senior defense correspondent, Jonathan Regev, explains how the Israeli narrative collapsed and exactly what it was Hamas had to lose. On paper, it looked like a very good plan, beneficial to everyone involved. Hamas would get much-needed money for its civil employees who do not get their salaries. This money is going to pay my debts. I have to pay my delayed rents, electricity, water bill. Qatar would get the international status as the provider of Gaza and a reliable global player. Qatar is a credible state country, okay? And when we tell them what is there on the ground, what we are doing there, it's a good work. In Israel, which mostly kept quiet on the issue, did everything to facilitate it, believing an improved economic situation in Gaza would serve as a calming factor. It began roughly five years ago. As Gaza was sinking into a major economic crisis, Qatar offered assistance to the Gaza residents. Monthly cash envelopes with anything between $15 million and $40 million were brought by the Qatari envoy to the banks in Gaza and from there, on paper, to pay the salaries of Gaza's civil workers who were desperately waiting for it. One day feels like a year to us. We have kids that we would like to raise to give them a good life. Where are we supposed to get the money for that? At the same time, Qatar was also providing fuel for the Gaza power plants to keep working for longer hours and cement for construction of buildings destroyed in previous wars with Israel. Qatar became the closest ally of Hamas, the Emir was given a hero's welcome when he came for a visit, and at least according to his envoy, peaceful days were about to come. The work which we are doing, it's keeping peace for the both nations, okay, both people. There was just one issue. Someone had to monitor where exactly the aid was going and whether the claims made by Hamas were actually true. They know the money that was spent went only for humanitarian projects. Not one penny was used for weapons or other things. The salaries are used for health, education, welfare, and other humanitarian cases. The money will go only to beneficiaries. Now we know who these beneficiaries really were. Mouhamad Sinoir, for example, brother of Hamas leader Iqya Sinoir. Here we see him right next to the driver in what is the biggest tunnel uncovered so far in Gaza. A huge tunnel which cost millions and millions of dollars while the Gaza people are starving. The subterranean tunnel constructed by Mouhamad Sinoir. This is the Sinoir project tunnel that was meant to do a terror attack. Hamas has spent millions of dollars in this project specifically. Here is another beneficiary. Five million shekels, roughly $1.5 million were found in suitcases in the home of a senior Hamas official in the neighborhood of Jabalia along with ammunition and rocket launchers. Terror tunnels and ammunition. This is what the money was used for, but those in charge did not see it. We wanted to avoid a humanitarian disaster. That's why the money started flowing for those purposes. To avoid disease and maintain the two million people there. The plan that looked so good for five years crushed down on October 7th. Instead of avoiding a humanitarian disaster, it brought one first on the Israeli side of the border and then in Gaza. So many questions will have to be asked once the war is over. The issue of the humanitarian money funding this terror monster is one of the most important. Still with me in studio, Colonel Richard Camp Richard. A major question that has not been properly addressed, let alone investigated yet, is how did this happen? We've seen from a financial point of view, we understand where the money came from in order to pull off an attack like this, but from a military perspective, how did Hamas orchestrate an attack like this that it slipped right under the noses of the security and defence establishment here in Israel? Of course we'll have to wait until the investigation comes out before we can be fully clear on all of the facts. But from what I can see, as I mentioned earlier, Hamas deliberately mounted a deception, a very sophisticated deception plan, no doubt with advice from Iran, in which they lured almost the IDF and Shinbeck into believing that they were not going to carry out an attack like this. And I think one example of that deception was the fact that the previous round of fighting with Gaza did not include Hamas, and this was seen as an indication Hamas did not have aggressive intent. Now once that was sown into the seeds of the people responsible for assessing intelligence, I think even the details indicators of a potential attack were misinterpreted, misunderstood, seemed to be something else. And that was primarily the thing that enabled this attack to take place. On top of that, of course, there are big question marks over, first of all, the defense of the Israeli border with Gaza, and secondly, the slow reaction. And I should say that I believe Israel relied overly heavily on technology rather than boots on the ground to defend its people around the Gaza border area. And the other point I would make as well is that we should not forget, while we're making these condemnations of what happened, we should not forget the extreme bravery of so many people on that day who reacted, sometimes just off their own bat, retired serving civilian security guards who reacted with immense bravery, saving many, many lives, and in some cases losing their own lives. Absolutely. Since that fateful day, for lack of a better way of putting it, anti-Semitism has literally blown up, seeing unheard of increases. In the United Kingdom, for example, and listen to this number because it's insanely startling, more than 1,350% of an increase. Beyond all competition anywhere in the world, you would argue that Hamas is by far one of the most successful anti-Semitic entities in the world today. Why is that? Well, Hamas has jumped into a long-standing propaganda campaign against Israel, which began really in the 1960s. And out of interest, it began in Moscow in the 1960s, orchestrated by the Soviet Union, but Hamas jumped onto that, into that agenda, and managed to use its aggression against Israel as also a propaganda weapon against Israel. Hamas sought, every time they attacked Israel, and they've done it many times now, every time they attacked, their objective in that attack was not to destroy Israel because they can't, but to lure Israel into reacting, and knowing that reaction had to result in the death of innocent civilians because of the way Hamas fight, and therefore drawing the ire of the world onto Israel. This was their whole strategy. Organizations like the United Nations, like universities, think tanks, human rights groups, all of these people immediately condemned Israel every time they react to Hamas aggression, and it encourages them to do it again and again and again. And this not only leads to major problems here in Israel, but it also leads to a growing anti-Semitic campaign against the Jews around the world, in the UK, in Europe, and in the US, and elsewhere. Absolutely, and as you mentioned, that tactic known as double war crime, where they not only fight at civilians, but they do so from behind civilians. Richard, stay with me because I do want to turn to a slightly different topic with regards to this war. From Lebanon to Jordan and Egypt, criticism is mounting against the Israeli, American, and European leaders, all of whom are accused of dehumanizing the Palestinians. This is not the first time that the confrontation between Israel and Hamas has revealed a gulf between the West and the Middle East, which has itself experienced several cycles of conflict. But this time, the gap seems even wider. Our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osaran reports. There were high hopes for big changes in the Middle East. Talk of US-mediated peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which in turn would spread to other Arab countries, created much anticipation. But then, after thousands of Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israeli communities and IDF bases, slaughtering, burning, and kidnapping everything in their path, the delicate house of cards collapsed. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirms its categorical rejection of the continuation of aggression, occupation, and the forced displacement of Gaza's population. The Kingdom holds the occupation authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people and their properties. We are certain that the only way to guarantee security, peace, and stability in the region is to end the occupation's siege and settlements. But sidelining Israel's Saudi normalization for the unforeseeable future was only one of the effects of that dark October 7th on the region. It also saw the solidification of the Iranian axis of proxies. From Iraq to Lebanon, all the way to Yemen, Tehran's branches all began to attack Israel. We are in a multi-arena war. We are being attacked from seven different sectors, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran. We have already responded and taken action. And I say here in the most explicit way, anyone who acts against us is a potential target. There is no immunity for anyone. In an attempt to get a better understanding of how the region as a whole was affected by the October 7th attacks, I-24 News reached out to journalists in the region to give their perspective. One of them is a journalist from Yemen. We blurred his face and distorted his voice for his safety, speaking with an Israeli-based news outlet. This is the situation in the past. The difference in this operation is in the increase of speed in the region. And we have also put a lot of pressure on the country in the red and red areas of the Suez region. Perhaps the most surprising front to many has been the continuous drone and missile attacks by the Houthis in Yemen towards Israeli territory and then at international commercial ships navigating through the Red Sea. The Yemeni armed forces affirmed their continued support for the Palestinian people as part of the religious, moral, and humanitarian duty, and confirmed the continuation of operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea against Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine until the food and medicine needed by the Gaza Strip are brought in. But according to the journalist in Yemen, the Houthis are simply the ones pulling the trigger in service of their patrons. Beyond emboldening the Iranian axis, the October 7th attacks also seem to have affected the streets in many of the region's capitals in support of the Palestinians. I see a lot of change among the awareness of ordinary people who never really paid attention to political issues of the Palestinian situation. I've seen, especially in Arab countries, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, many of the countries are really much more involved now. And I think we've seen also progressives and young people around the world taking up the Palestinian cause in a much more powerful way than we've ever seen before. Like the journalist in Yemen, Qutb II believes that the war in Gaza has put a strain on Israel's existing peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt. Both peace treaties have held on so far, but on a very thin ice, I think that there is strong opposition in both countries to their countries continuing the peace agreements. But more importantly, I think people want civilian lives to be saved. Besides threats, there are some silver linings that have emerged from the horrific attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza. Not only the American-led Maritime Coalition aimed at ensuring the safe navigation in the Red Sea, but that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan all intercepted Houthi drones and missiles over their territories under way to Israel, an indication that Jerusalem does have shared strategic interests in the balance of power in the Middle East. I think Arab countries are trying to be peacemakers as much as they can. They're trying to provide material support to people who are in terrible need. And I don't think we've seen a major shift, especially in countries that have had normalization relations with Israel. The leaders are still insisting on keeping some form of relationship even though public opinion has changed. I hope that the government will continue to work on what has happened to Israel and the Islamic State. I think Hamas will say that the State of Israel and the Islamic State will continue to do so. And so, with the war in Gaza in full steam and further escalation with Hezbollah and the horizon, the October 7th attacks seem to have changed not only Israel, but the region as a whole. Now, Israel finds itself at a critical juncture, a regional war or increased regional cooperation. Whether or not it's up to Israel to decide what the outcome will be, that still remains to be seen. Iran is waging a shadow war on Israel right now using its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and even to some extent in the West Bank. Why not just attack Israel and the West Bank? Why not just attack the country directly? Why does it seek to hide behind others in order to carry out its dirty work? Well, this is the way that Iran has traditionally operated using proxies. It's used proxies against British forces, for example, in Afghanistan and Iraq and the same with American forces. Killing many Americans and many British in those operational areas. It's used proxies in the past against Americans in Lebanon. You name it, this is the way they operate. They're not interested in a face-to-face frontal confrontation if it can be avoided because, of course, they recognize that they could never win such a confrontation, particularly if it involved the U.N. or Israel, sorry, the U.S. or Israel or both. So that's why they operate in the way they do and they've been supremely successful at it. Tassim Salimani was one of the masterminds of this strategy until he was assassinated by the U.S. in Iraq. And they develop it and they continue it and they also fall the world into believing they're not behind it. And you have extraordinary things like Iran taking leading roles in the U.N. Human Rights Council, et cetera. So it's a very clever, very skillful tactic. It needs to be called out more often and there does need to be much stronger, I think, more direct action against Iran itself. I know Israel has been carrying out a series of assassinations, raids, et cetera inside Iran against the nuclear program. But we do need to see, I believe, for example, the U.S. striking at Iran's proxy in Yemen in order to, at least in the first instance, to give Iran a bloody nose. And then if that doesn't work, then turn to Iran itself. Of course, we're going to, we're very likely to see a big conflagration provoked by Iran in Lebanon in the near future. As you mentioned, the United States obviously intertwined into this conflict, as is the European Union, because Israel seems to claim or does point out that it is the first line of defense before Hamas, and quote on quote Iran, reaches their shores. Are we expecting that support to wane if this does become a prolonged war? I think we, I think it might. I don't think it's been, first of all, the most important country and the only really important country outside Israel in this conflict is the United States of America. And as I read it, the U.S. support has been pretty solid so far. I understand that they haven't really been pushing Israel to operate in the way they expect, except in their media statements. I don't think that's been happening behind closed doors as well. I think that's partly intended to appease the anti-Israel electorate within the United States. And we've seen similar kind of words from people like Prime Minister Sunak in the U.K. saying that Israel must adhere to the Laws of War, Israel must minimise civil inconsistencies. When they know very well, that's what Israel's doing. So I think support remains pretty strong. These sort of things, these public statements are dangerous because they imply that Israel is not adhering to the Laws of War and therefore they provoke anti-Semitism in their own countries. Retired Colonel Richard Kim, from Afghanistan, thank you for joining us on our year in special. Israel is in a state of war, families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. From the border that separates Israel from the state of emergency and war in Israel. Bringing Israel's story to the world. I-24 News Channels Now on Hot. Come back and thanks for staying with us as we continue with our year in special. Since Israel's retaliation on Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the October 7th massacre, hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have taken to the streets and cities across the Middle East, the United States, Europe and even Asia. And many of them anti-Semitic slurs often featured alongside calls to stop the quote genocide in Gaza against the Palestinians. R.M.A. Siegel takes a look at some of the global and at times violent protests. Subject, there were nine months of 2023 before October 7th, during which the angst that hovered over the US-Israel relationship centered on Israel's judicial overhaul. And how the Biden Administration society saw it. But then came October 7th and swept that all away. Our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman takes a look not only at how US-Israel ties have weathered the storm of this war but also on the warning signs going forward. The fleeting moment that encapsulates a year. A president from the silent generation speaking up on the legacy of the American bond with Israel. The chaos of war afoot. The chaos on the campuses and an 80-year-old president left to stand by the status quo. Israel has the right to respond. Indeed, it has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks, atrocities. I've been sickening. Where is Israel? Let's make no mistake. The most passionately pro-Israel speech in history, said leading expert Michael Oren saying that the Jewish people would quote war and cherish it. And the speech has remained a striking singular memory. Swallowed by an unruly reality. The scenes from Gaza that muddled US policy. The scenes from American streets and campuses that devoured the sense of belonging and support that Biden wanted to deliver. With the administration moving soon enough to make clear it wants this war behind it. The series of visits of high-level leaders to Israel and to walk Israel toward that end. The message of the Secretary of State from mid-October and then from the year's end. You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself but as long as America exists you will never ever have to. It's clear that the conflict will move and needs to move to a lower intensity phase. Calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment yes or no. It can be depending on the context. And all the while the campuses and streets for a wave of angry protests without precedent. For a rising fear of anti-Semitism that few American Jews expected. A crisis for an American Jewish liberalism that had always carefully cultivated the political center only to now see that political center evaporate. Replaced by the angry right and the angry left. Our tax dollars have gone to fund colonization, apartheid crimes against humanity and we're sick of it. The people want Palestinian liberation. We unequivocally don't equate our colonizers with the colonized or the occupiers with the occupied. Oppressed people have a right to resist and defend themselves by any means necessary. And so the story of 2023 is less about a heroic older president and more about the young generation that will inherit him. Pole after pole has shown the protests are not in aberration. America's Gen Z does not like Israel, does not like Biden and may not like the political center. The problem is so big and so much about America that Israel may not be able to solve it. Numbers that could one day put the US-Israel alliance in danger. Numbers that Israel might not be able to reverse a message for 2024 and for the uncertain decades ahead. And joining me now here in studio to break this down further is Racheli Rotner and Israeli comedian and cartoonist and from Tel Aviv, Brett Gelman an American actor and comedian welcome so much to you both too this year in special. Brett, I'd like to start with you. You were here in Israel at the moment. What made you decide to come in the midst of a war? What have you seen thus far and what message will you be taking back with you to America? It's still pretty evident that there's a major disconnect between many American Jews and Israelis regarding the reality on the ground. Yeah, you know what I'm going to be taking back with me and the reason that I came here is the truth is the truth of the situation, the truth of what Israel is. I'm trying to show people that Israel is a country and a culture and a people who celebrate life they do not celebrate death and and to show that this is really just it's the opposite of the message that my country with the Gen Z and other people who are protesting are stating that it's just this is this is just this is really truly the oppressed ones are the Israeli people that you are surrounded by hostility and surrounded by destruction and this is just a classic repeat just in a different form of anti-Semitism we've seen throughout history and really just briefly in our senior diplomatic correspondence report we saw the anti-Semitism that is brewing on campuses it would appear that the campuses have become almost a safe haven for pro-Palestinians which is flair because they do have a legitimate plight but what's absurd is that it's now becoming a ground also for breeding Hamas supporters, a terror organization so if these schools are quite literally allowing the preaching of terrorism under the guise of the First Amendment and not protecting its Jewish and Israeli students the big question is should we then abandon these Ivy League schools as Jews and Israelis or as many of the critics are calling it poison Ivy? Well, I'm not in any position to call for any means like that or leaving these schools I think the problem is those schools they don't support Hamas as they support being polite to everyone and be nice to everyone and they just don't understand the situation that Israel is in I mean for them when they talk about Palestine they're talking about Palestinians they know in America which are liberal young nice people and we're living the reality here so it's a little hard for me to understand their perspective those Ivy League schools that they're trying to include everyone but they don't really know what's going on. Brits, what would be your stance on what's happening at the moment on the U.S. college campuses? I think that it's incredibly misguided how I understand it is that there are a lot of progressive values that are very good I'm for civil rights I'm for women having the say of what happens to their own bodies I'm pro-choice I'm pro-environment I'm against oppression but somehow some sort of propaganda or misinformation seeped into the campuses in which they started to relate the Jewish people and the Israeli people as the oppressor and as colonizers and Israel as an apartheid state and it just it went way too far in the other direction to where the Jewish people were not given a seat at the marginalized table anymore and we weren't we weren't recognized as an oppressed people and it's just to find things in this very black and white type of context where you know there has to be an oppressor and an oppressed and so if they're going to choose they're going to choose the Palestinian people as the oppressed and the Israeli people and the Jews as the oppressor this is how you know this is what the polls have said and it's just incredibly misguided it's a complete lack of knowledge of history it's a complete lack of knowledge of what the actual situation in both Israel and Gaza and the West Bank are it's very strange to me that as these people are talking about oppressor they don't mention Hamas at all even if they were going to mention the Israeli government in some way the fact that Hamas is not even being brought into this conversation when they are a terrorist organization not only terrorizing the Israeli people but also terrorizing their own people makes me feel like this is a little bit that's very historical going on here that there is some sort of concerted effort of anti-Semitism not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything like that but we've seen this kind of thing happen in the past Absolutely and we are seeing not only this happening in college campuses but online as well the internet has been a wash recently of blatant anti-Semitism as well as anti-Zionist articles videos, memes etc you name it the outrageous lies are sadly believed as we've mentioned by many who don't do enough of their own fact-checking but simply believe the content they are exposed to some of them are so exorbitant that they've actually become laughable but if laughter truly is the best medicine then why fight these falsities with anything else our guest here in studio Rakhay Ali Rotner decided to do exactly that with one major difference her comedic skits are based on actual conversations and conceal a very sad truth Take a look My name is Jamma my son Hamid would really like to register to your establishment next year I think you might have heard of him he was one of the Hamas fighters who participated in the fight of October 7 a real political activist so I wanted to ask if you have some kind of political activism scholarship all of our scholarships are need-based there aren't any merit-based scholarships it would not help if he says that he's Hamas fighter everything that a student does helps them in the process that would be helpful if he writes down that he was in the October 7 massacre in addition to everything else our process looks at the students entire secondary school career both inside and outside of the classroom and the massacre is an advantage any of their activities we look at all of their activities inside outside of the classroom and don't worry he didn't rape any captive he's very respectful for a gender self-definition he only killed them he's very feminist so it would be okay right all I can say to you is that he can apply great great respectful for a ethnic minority the only slot of white babies we don't need more white male in the world right hello do you have any other admissions questions I can answer for you yes we want to make sure about your campus rules so we don't do anything forbidden you can smoke in the campus surroundings I'm sure if you can smoke on okay what about drinking drinking is not allowed what about raping that's not allowed on campus either okay how about slaughtering babies around the campus that's not allowed on campus what about wearing a hat you can wear a hat I was afraid for a moment okay he's looking forward to be in your school he has lots of very very fun activities for him and the students and everyone it will be so much fun thank you very very much have a good day you too this was a real conversation also something that was a real image was watching the presidents of three of the world's most elite university sitting together at a witness table all of them were women one black one Jewish sitting there within days one of them is forced to resign at the congressional hearing on campus anti-Semitism why is it so difficult to say yes being an anti-Semite expressing anti-Zionist rhetoric is against our code of conduct well I think that Bert mentioned the anti-Semitism I don't think this has anything to do with anti-Semitism going on in the universities I think they're just really confused about their morals at the moment because they got used to the fact that we always have to stand by the underdog the people who are more have less money have less political power which is true most of the time but sometimes the truth is a lot more complicated than that I mean not everyone is sure if you have less money and less power and less education then you're the underdog but it doesn't mean automatically that you're right and that you have to fight your situation by all means necessary which is the phrase that I keep hearing but it's not true I mean I don't have a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian because I'm sure that the answer is not murdering babies and raping women and I think that for people who are far away from these kind of conflicts on their daily lives and only read about it and they see it in a kind of it's more like it's literature to them it's poetic, it's let's stand by the weak guy to them every day that threatens their lives that threatens their kids it's just something to read about on Twitter and say oh this poor guy let's help them which I totally understand and admire in a way but I think that it's completely misguided I mean they don't see the whole picture and that's what's funny to me because that's why I made these calls to Harvard and Yale because I do believe that they have good intentions but I think the way those intentions got mixed up in the way is incredibly absurd and funny and sad which for me is the best kind of satire Absolutely and as you mentioned it seems to be an overriding theme of this idea of being misguided Brett you have been quite outspoken with many of the Jew haters in particular online why is bashing Israel and belittling Jews so attractive to so many in particular now with Gen Z Well yeah I have to disagree with Raheli I mean I agree with everything she said except the fact that she disagreed with me that it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism but just respectfully it absolutely does if you are only calling out this situation and you're not calling out the myriad of other like actual actual genocidal situations that are happening in the world and even if regardless of complications in Israeli society and the Israeli government it's a government their hands are not clean it's a society, the hands are not clean things need to be reformed things need to be done but if you're only pointing out the one Jewish government when you live in the United States and you're not even calling out your own government your own society in the way that you're doing the problems did not go away that we've always had so focusing on Israel in this way makes me think that you at least have unconscious bias I'm not saying that everybody there is consciously saying I hate the Jews but they are falling into something in an unconscious way when they're choosing to focus so much on this where as I advocate for my own people as I advocate for Israel people equate that to me being anti-Palestinian to me being pro-war to me celebrating the bombing of Gaza when I've not said anything I've only said the opposite of that and I'm sorry it is Jewish hatred I know first hand because of the amount of comments that I get that are solely directed at my Judaism that are violent against me speaking out in favor of my people and these are coming from Americans these are coming from people who are part of groups that I stood for you know and so it's definitely there is Jewish hatred involved I do think that there is misinformation I do think some are not aware that they are being anti-Semitic but it's absolutely a virus that's running through everybody I can you know all I have to do is show you every single post I've made there are comments there and it's one thing to say free Palestine but there are there is more than that being said that is way more hateful and deeply anti-Semitic Brett Gelman an American actor and comedian as well as Rachaeli Rotner an Israeli comedian and cartoonist I want to thank you both first and foremost for being here and out here in special but perhaps more importantly for fighting the great fight online in particular thank you both so very much thank you and from comedy to the classics this next clip will no doubt give you goosebumps and may even bring a tear to your eye in the coastal city of Kesaria the largest musical show ever in Israel took place yes in the midst of a war and that is because it not only included hundreds of artists but also the families of the abductees coming together with one message the powerful and our global slogan bring them home take a listen and last but definitely not least bringing us to the end of this year in special joining me now from northern Israel is Ron Klein the orchestral arranger for the director and a musical composer for TV and films thank you so much for being with me on our special explain to us a little bit about how you came up with the idea what did it involve the coordination for this must have been incredibly difficult yeah the who came with the idea is Talia Yaron the main producer she told me she was looking for a way to spread some light and hope all the despair and sorrow that's around us and she had a vision of a thousand musicians and singers singing in Caesarea for the kidnapped and their families and she turned to Iran Mittelman the talented musician and together they came with an idea to a renewed performance for the song Habaita coming home Iran then wrote a wonderful and uplifting musical adaptation and he wisely combined the national anthem inside the song and you can see the very moving result absolutely the video is simply beautiful seeing the families of hostages their stories are just heart wrenching and nothing besides having their loved ones safely back in Israel would remotely heal their pain but music often has the power to lighten the load a little bit do you believe that this is how they were feeling in their performance and if music in this way can also drive home the message around the world of bringing the captives home this is very much our hope that this project will increase the awareness of the terrible state the people who kidnapped are somewhere we don't know where we all hope they will get back as soon as possible some of the kidnapped families will also participate in the video and we were very moved from them it was very moving for us and just briefly Ron what is the next step for the homeland project where do you envision this going at least while there's still a war ensuing at the moment between Israel and Hamas currently we are definitely overwhelmed with the whole day everything all the feedback we get from all over the world this is spreading very fast this project and raising awareness and we are very moved by that I don't know of any plans ahead if we have any but already now we deeply hope that it will do some good and spread some hope maybe it will reach some of the kidnapped also I desperately hope so to call a couple to all of you and well done thank you Ron Klein the orchestral arranger for the homeland project for joining me and obviously we want to leave you now you're in special with more of that touching and moving music coming to you from Tel Aviv on this day 84 of the war with Hamas for Israelis have been wounded in a suspected car ramming attack in the west bank the assailant was shot dead at the scene the attack happened on the Route 60 highway north of the settlement of Othniel one of the victims is in a moderate condition three others are likely hurt in northern Israel sirens have been blaring in communities close to the border with Lebanon and in towns and villages in the upper Galilee in the south of Israel rocket sirens went off in the largely evacuated communities close to the border with Gaza to the ongoing fighting in Gaza where the IDF has announced the death of a soldier as it expands operations in the area around Hanyunis the fallen soldier has been named as captain in the reserves Har el-Sharvit 33 years old from Kochav Yaakov 168 IDF troops have now been killed in the fighting well joining us now from southern Israel our senior correspondent Pierre Kloshendler what is the latest on the fighting in Gaza as it intensifies around the Hanyunis area there's combat helicopters hovering over our head in support of the ground forces operating in the southern part of the Gaza Strip and one of the Apache helicopters just fired a missile over our head I'll show you the area of El Burej with our cameraman Daniel Boc there are heavy clashes in the northern and eastern outskirts of El Burej with artillery support and that has been going on for quite a while since the start of the ground operation in the central area of the Gaza Strip around the refugee camps of El Mughazi, El Burej and Nusserat and the fighting has been focusing the whole week according to media reports affiliated to Hamas from the Gaza Strip it's been focusing mainly on the outskirts of El Burej up until now which is mostly agricultural land they're not inside the camps as far as we understand now further south there are seven combined armed forces brigades operating in Hanyunis and in the area of Hanyunis there is a special operation on the eastern outskirts of Hanyunis just very close to the Israeli border in the community of El Chouda'a facing Kibbutz near Oz which was the site of maybe the west the most horrific massacre in October 7 when almost half of the population of that community was either massacred or captured and transferred to the Gaza gels of Hamas now there is that special operation because most of the combatants of Hamas who operated in near Oz in that Kibbutz on October 7 came from El Chouda'a and as a result the ground forces now are operating in order to destroy all the Hamas infrastructures that was facing that Kibbutz the activity is quite redundant I would say because of the dense defense lines of Hamas operating on tunnel shafts control and command centers investing the houses of Hamas operatives that are working against the Israeli forces in Hanyunis booby trapped houses arms depot snipers nests and when I said that these are combined forces assembled into a brigade that means that you have both the infantry the engineering corps the artillery the tanks the armored corps with the support of the helicopters the air force and the artillery which is in the rear inside the Israeli territory Pierre, thank you very much Pierre Kloshendler there with the latest on the fighting in Gaza well let's turn now to northern Israel where the IDF continues to battle the Iranian Bactarist organization Hezbollah which is based in southern Lebanon there were reports of a suspected drone infiltration into northern Israel this morning our Zach Anders joins us now from the north Zach, what's the latest? Hi Laura we have five alerts in the last two hours with at least 20 communities under fire this again another day full of attacks we are still waiting for official IDF confirmation but as of now it does not appear that there have been any casualties today that is not to say there has not been damage but the biggest headline of the last 12 hours is actually coming out of Syria even Iran revolutionary guards killed inside Damascus in a strike that's being attributed to Israel the IDF has not confirmed their involvement in this strike but is now being widely reported both in Israeli and Arab media channels that this strike killed 11 IRGC members inside Syria that is the highest casualty toll for the IRGC since the start of this conflict it being in Syria again a very curious or important potentially moment in this conflict again with Iran's involvement right and the sirens were blaring this morning Zach but of course a few people to hear them lots of Israelis have had to leave their homes in the north of Israel haven't they? Yeah and the latest estimate is some 60,000 have remained evacuated this is down a bit from the original estimate 50,000 towards the height of these evacuation notices this latest estimate is coming through Israeli officials who believe that many people have started to come back despite the danger so these communities like Kiret Shemono where there's roughly 20,000 people that live there it has rounded out a little bit with the businesses and the places of work where people are starting to come back simply because there's a long way to go forward to be away much longer there is still a state-sponsored aid for everyone that lives within five kilometers of the border here they can still expect to receive housing costs hotels for places that are considered safe or somewhere in central or southern Israel that is still in effect so there's still and we're getting now another report of hostile aircraft and I'm hearing just to my left an alarm here so this must be pretty close as we don't see anything in particular does not look like any interceptions are being launched just yet but this is one of the closer hostile aircraft alerts we've seen in the Galilee this is actually we're fairly south now so we'll wait for a few moments I'm imagining Laura we'll hear the interceptions at some point here soon very hot border isn't it Zach? Thank you very much Zach Andrews there in the north of Israel under another alarm sounding there amid an infiltration of a hostile aircraft so Sirens blaring in the north with me in the studio this hour Benjamin Antoni is the CEO of the Miriam Institute let's start them with the situation in the north because it is going up quite dramatically day after day isn't it? The situation in the north is a result of a non-policy actually on the part of the state of Israel now I just want to move firstly to the south what's going on in the south is the results of the same thing a non-policy it was described as mowing the lawn there was a reluctance on behalf of the government and the security establishment to go and do what we know in the midst of doing which is clearing that area of Hamas we are withdrawal from that particular territory when you don't have a policy you allow the other side to drag you by the nose into a situation that you never asked for and would not want that has happened in the Gaza Strip it happened on October 7th by way of the kidnappings and the brutal rampage of Hamas we cannot allow for the very same to happen in the north the north poses a far greater threat than anything that we face in the south we have not operated against the arming of Hezbollah with sufficient intensity and I have said from the beginning I said even prior to October 7th the Israel Defense Forces the Israeli Defense establishment would do very very well to reduce to its lowest possible potency the threat of aerial bombardments coming from southern Lebanon fired by Hezbollah and I still believe we ought to be taking out those munitions by way of an air campaign so when you hear those reports reports that were denied by Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Americans actively prevented Israel from taking preemptive action against Hezbollah what do you make of that? I think that it's the result of a non-policy on the part of successive governments here in the state of Israel the idea that the Americans have prevented us from acting with greater force against Hezbollah's capabilities that's something that really came to light post October 7th the lack of our efforts to reduce the threat that we face from our northern front in southern Lebanon at the hands of Hezbollah that predates by years anything that took place on October 7th 2023 in fact I remember when I served as a soldier inside southern Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 that there was an immediate re-arming of those munitions there was much rhetoric about the fact that we would go in and destroy that re-arming but it never happened and now unfortunately I don't believe that the Hezbollah are the ones who were deterred magically that we remain deterred from operating against them are you worried history is repeating itself with what you just said about Hezbollah with regard to Hamas? in what way? in that it's re-arming there is kind of a lack of political will to finish the job it can only go so far it's dragging on now in the Gaza Strip more than 180 soldiers killed now I mean I really appreciate that question and thank you for asking it there was a that was published by the New York Times about the rape and abuse and assault of our women inside southern Israel on October 7th at the hands of Hamas these reports are harrowing they talk about women being fired at in their genitals prior to being murdered women being raped then murdered then satellite it is a horrific horrific read and unfortunately I commend it to everybody everybody should know what went on that day I mentioned that because you cannot have a situation despite the political pressure despite people thinking this is dragging on a little bit too long you cannot have a situation where a people is sent over the border does that to our men women and children kidnaps our men women and children and then gets away with it and lives to fight another day this organization Hamas this terrorist movement needs to be destroyed I believe we can destroy it and I believe that the Israel defense was making great progress at a very very heavy price at a very low cost but the job must be finished and just to move on to something that is coming out of Syria today Zak our correspondent touched on it an Israeli airstrike reportedly killing 11 members of the IRGC in Syria and this just a few days after a senior IRGC commander was killed also in Syria in a strike that Israel has not admitted being behind but do you think Israel is being more active on that front now? Yes I think Israel is being more active on that front but it's partly as a consequence of the increased infiltration of the IRGC into Syria and by the way ensconcing themselves within the civilian population and something that is something that's not been spoken about of late many people have watched the movement of Iran inside southern Lebanon over years and even decades we've been less vocal about what's taken place in Syria but just a quick point about that I actually believe that we ought to be bringing a greater cost and a greater price to the malas inside Iran it's interesting because Naftali Bennett just published an opinion piece about his authorizing of strikes inside Iran questionable, controversial but whether we admit it or not we should be hitting them in Iran. Thank you Benjamin Anthony stay with us well on that note Israel's former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has defended himself after he drew fire for revealing that while he ordered strikes on Iran Israeli officials criticized Bennett after he said in an interview with Wall Street Journal that he had directed security forces to strike Iran directly twice in 2022 officials say those statements were not cleared by the military censor widely seen as a criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu Bennett said recent governments had talked and sermonized about Iran but had not exacted a painful price from Tehran we'll talk more about that. We're joined now by Shaiba Zak, political analyst and consultant and the former Israeli consul general to Miami and Boston. Thank you very much for being with us and what do you think was Bennett right to reveal those strikes on Iran in 2022? A custom of Israel in these cases is that we are not talking openly about it. We live it vaguely for many many reasons security reasons and international reasons. I think that I'm not sure that former Prime Minister Bennett intended to reveal these details in his interview but politicians are politicians and I guess he is looking for his way back to the political arena he is very much appreciated by many people in Israel and politicians you know this is what they do. Well do you agree with him in the interview that he gave has Israel fallen into the trap of exhausting itself fighting Iran's various proxies while Tehran itself remains untouched nobody dares take it on including of course the United States So it goes this way he is right that Israel should pay a price from Iran who sends all its proxies to attack it Hezbollah, Jihad Hamas the Houthis and others definitely the head of the snake is Iran and we have to hit them All the governments in the last decades are working against Iran. We are all aware of this situation all prime ministers all ministers all governments has been aware of the danger of Iran and of course the way that they are sending their proxies to attack Israel and we have all kind of ways of attacking Iran. Naftali Bennett was not the first prime minister who operated against Iran in many ways because of their attacks on Israel and so if the current government is doing the right things by attacking the proxies of Iran, of course they are I think the time is to attack Hamas for all they did to us but I don't think this government with all the criticism that some people in Israel has on this government I don't think the government is forgetting for a minute that Iran is standing behind all these attacks and I don't think this government with all the criticism as I said are intending to let Iran avoiding its responsibilities but we do what we have to do on the right timing, on the right way as Naftali Bennett said rightly so and as every government in the last few years doing we are not forgetting for a minute. Iran is behind it Iran is going to pay it. Shai Bezak, stay with us, Benjamin Antony would you like to respond to that? Yeah, I would, I think this is the first horse out of the barn running towards elections very very clearly and specifically attacking the Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Now the reality is we are in the midst of a very very serious conflict inside Gaza. We all know that. We potentially will be in the midst of a very severe conflict inside southern Lebanon. We have any number of challenges on the home front as well but we are also in my opinion in the midst of political campaigning. Many in the media are criticising the idea that Prime Minister Netanyahu might be playing politics during his press briefings. It may be the case it may not be the case but if it is he is not alone in that. Benny Gantz is doing the same thing Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing the same thing and now we are seeing that former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is doing the precise same thing so I think we are going to see the ratcheting up of this political rhetoric very very frequently very very often in the coming days and weeks and it will probably hasten the move towards calling elections. Do you agree with Prime Minister Bennett in his piece of the Wall Street Journal and then his subsequent defence of that in which he kind of very thinly criticised the current government? No I don't agree with him I don't agree that it was defensible to now reveal our activities inside Iran for what purpose that stand is unclear other than to criticise the government of the State of Israel at this time but it's appropriate I don't think it's beneficial I do agree with the policy by the way I do think we should be hitting them in Tehran I think it should be clear that we're doing so I don't think it always needs to be clandestine to the extent that it is but I don't think that it serves any pragmatic benefit politically it serves him very very well among some of his base. Shai Bezak in politics is very much back on the table right now isn't it and the other political hot potato is what Gaza should look like I think it should be destroyed the hardline coalition member Betalel Smotridge kind of forcing the Prime Minister to call off a meeting about that because he wasn't going to be involved I mean can these discussions go anywhere at this point? Yeah so first I have to say that I agree 100% with both answers of Benjamin to your questions he said exactly the right words so this is on this one on the day after and the Gaza and the Smotridge as Benjamin said we are now seeing politics in all its force unfortunately in the middle of the war we have to see these politics Benjamin Smotridge is talking to his own constituency to his base of voters he is now under the threshold in every poll and he wants to go on top of it so he is trying to go around Netanyahu and this government from the right hand side the same is Belgrade and unfortunately I don't think that this extreme right to win rhetoric are saving Israel in this international and security situation in any way. Shai sorry Benjamin he has also said it will be over his dead body to transfer tax money to the Palestinian authority when we are looking at a very heated situation in the West Bank as well is that the right policy for now? I think that Smotridge is a linchpin in arguably the most failed government unfortunately in the history of the state of Israel I mean that literally since the founding of the state of Israel I don't think that the preponderance of the electorate is supportive Mr. Batzak mentioned and I think that as the political rhetoric ramps up and as I said as we move more swiftly to the day that we might have elections I think you're going to see Batzalos Smotridge throw out even more red meat to his base but his base is reducing and I don't think that he has the influence or sway that once he did. Shai Batzak the military keeps kind of telling the public that we will soon be moving into another stage of the military campaign in Gaza a less intense stage will that be the time to hold an election? As Benjamin said this is a very problematic government the government that we have now since the before the last the 7th of October attack on Israel and after this attack and it was of course we saw this sign of it even before that so the support for government as they need to have in time of war is not there unfortunately and there is a big debate in Israel can we go to election while we are still fighting a mass and maybe we're going to have another front in the north because this government doesn't have enough faith and from the government from the people of Israel or we should wait till after the war the debate is there when it's going to be the right time exactly for election I cannot tell you it's a very flexible the situation to say one stage the second stage the third stage we don't know exactly when it's going to be the right timing but I think according to all the polls are expecting elections soon sometimes soon not in the middle of the war but probably within a few months I'm just going to throw this out there is the government taking too much of the blame for the failures of October 7th Benjamin Antony because the intelligence services also failed spectacularly as did the military in terms of its response for soldiers to arrive at the border towns is too much blame being put on the government? No I think not enough blame is being placed on the government look the doing of October 7th is not the government's the responsibility is of the government's and we still have a prime minister who has not clearly said he takes responsibility he's equivocated, he's talked around it he's spoken about inquiries that will come one day after the war I don't speak for what he genuinely believes or not but I can tell you that it's a failure of leadership in my estimation for a prime minister of the State of Israel to not stand up and say he is to blame that he takes responsibility rather not that he's to blame for the horrific attacks but that he takes responsibility for it and just to the nub of your question in my opinion and I'm a voter here in the State of Israel and I'm by no means alone I think the whole crew has to go I think the government has to be overhauled but I also think the senior members need to go now, I believe they're reconciled to the idea that they will be going the Chief of Staff, the head of the Southern Command and so on and so forth, the head of the Shin Bet but whether or not the prime minister believes that it's time for him to exit the stage I'm unsure about completely and I believe everybody else is Shai Bezak would you like to respond to that and we'll look at some polls as well because the latest polls show that Prime Minister Netanyahu would lose the election very badly if a vote was held today and the polls also show that more Israelis have moved right since October 7th here we can see Benny Gantz is far ahead with his national unity party the Likud party under Netanyahu and the Yeshetid centrist party under Yahya El-Apid around the same 16 and 15% respectively but are the polls showing Likud would grow stronger only under a new leader your thoughts on that yeah and the Likud will lose anyway with Netanyahu badly with another leader also going to lose some power but not so much but by all the polls we see that most of the people of Israel lose confidence, lost confidence on this government that's for sure on the phrase that you said about moving to the right you are right in the sense of the Palestinian state because if Hamas or any Palestinian movement thought that they will in somehow in some twisted way will advance the idea of Palestinian state by attacking so brutally Israelis on the 7th of October it's hard to understand their logic because if at all they pushed away the two state solution, the Palestinian state solution very, very, very further away because the people of Israel are now saying we tried this twice we withdraw from every inch in Lebanon and withdraw from every inch in the Gaza street both ways came out with a big war with a lot of missiles and now with these brutal attacks so what do we as the people of Israel have to understand from this about the Palestinian state who the possibility in Judea and Samaria do we want to get another attack like that when it's going to be established so it's going to be pushed this much further away so they didn't help anything to the Palestinian state with the idea and most of the people of Israel now left and right, you are right on this lost confidence on any kind of agreement with the Palestinians for now because you need to have some kind of trust that the other side on the other side of the border when you're going to sign peace agreement with him will not attack you, this confidence this trust has been broken completely on the 7th of October Benjamin Anthony, thank you very much we're going to take a short break we'll be back with another update shortly stay tuned, this is I-24 News Israel is in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where she is our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well What's exciting is what's happening is a tsunami of solar panels I-24 news coming to you from Tel Aviv on this day of the war and the people who are coming in the country are not allowed to live on the front lines of the war and the people who are coming in the country coming to you from Tel Aviv on this day 84 of the war with Hamas. For Israelis have been wounded in a suspected car ramming attack in the West Bank. The assailant was shot dead at the scene. The attack happened on the Route 60 highway north of the settlement of Othniel. One of the victims is in a moderate condition, three others are likely hurt. In northern Israel, sirens have been blaring in communities close to the border with Lebanon and in towns and villages in the Upper Galilee. In the south of Israel, rocket sirens went off in the largely evacuated communities close to the border with Gaza. And let's now turn our attention to the ongoing fighting in Gaza where the IDF has announced the death of a soldier as it expands operations in the area around Hanunis. The fallen soldier has been named as captain in the reserves Har el-Shalvit, 33 years old, from Kochav Yaakov. 168 IDF troops have now been killed in the fighting. While joining us now from southern Israel, our senior correspondent Pierre Kloshendler. Pierre, what is the latest on the fighting in Gaza as it intensifies around the Hanunis area? Right, there's combat helicopters hovering over our heads in support of the ground forces operating in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. And one of the Apache helicopters just fired a missile over our head. I'll show you the area of El Burej with our cameraman Daniel Bocke. There are heavy clashes in the northern and eastern outskirts of El Burej with artillery support, and that has been going on for quite a while since the start of the ground operation in the central area of the Gaza Strip around the refugee camps of El Mraz, El Burej and Nucerat. And the fighting has been focusing the whole week, according to media reports affiliated to Hamas from the Gaza Strip. It's been focusing mainly on the outskirts of El Burej up until now, which is mostly agricultural land. They're not inside the camps as far as we understand. Further south, there are seven combined armed forces brigades operating in Hanunis and in the area of Hanunis. There is a special operation on the eastern outskirts of Hanunis, just very close to the Israeli border in the community of El Chouda'a, facing Kibbutz near Oz, which was the site of maybe the worst, the most horrific massacre in October 7, when almost half of the population of that community was either massacred or captured and transferred to the Gaza Gales of Hamas. Now, there is that special operation because most of the combatants of Hamas, the terrorists who operated in near Oz in that Kibbutz on October 7 came from El Chouda'a. And as a result, the ground forces now are operating in order to destroy all the Hamas infrastructures that was facing that Kibbutz. The activity is quite redundant, I would say, because of the dense defense lines of Hamas operating on tunnel shafts, on the control and command centers, investing the houses of Hamas operatives that are working against the Israeli forces in Hanunis, booby-trapped houses, arms depot, snipers' nests. And when I said that these are combined forces assembled into a brigade, that means that you have both the infantry, the engineering corps, the artillery, the tanks, the armored corps, with the support of the helicopters, the air force, and the artillery which is in the rear inside the Israeli territory. Pierre, thank you very much. Pierre Kloshendler there with the latest on the fighting in Gaza. Well, let's turn now to Northern Israel where the IDF continues to battle the Iranian Bacterist Organization Hezbollah, which is based in southern Lebanon. There were reports of a suspected drone infiltration into Northern Israel this morning. Our Zach Anders joins us now from the North. Zach, what's the latest? Hi, Laura. We have five alerts in the last two hours with at least 20 communities under fire. This again, another day full of attacks. We are still waiting for official IDF confirmation, but as of now, it does not appear that there have been any casualties today. That is not to say there has not been damaged. But the biggest headline of the last 12 hours is actually coming out of Syria with apparently 11 Iran Revolutionary Guards killed inside Damascus in a strike that's being attributed to Israel. The IDF has not confirmed their involvement in this strike, but is now being widely reported both in Israeli and Arab media channels that this strike killed 11 IRGC members inside Syria. That is the highest casualty toll for the IRGC since the start of this conflict, and it being in Syria again a very curious or important potentially moment in this conflict again with Iran's involvement. Right, and the sirens were blaring this morning, Zach, but of course, a few people to hear them. Lots of Israelis have had to leave their homes in the north of Israel, haven't they? Yeah, and the latest estimate is some 60,000 have remained evacuated. This is down a bit from the original estimate of 100,000 towards the height of these evacuation notices. This latest estimate is coming through Israeli officials who believe that many people have started to come back despite the danger. So these communities like Kiryat Shimano, where there's roughly 20,000 people that live there, it has rounded out a little bit with the businesses and the places of work where people are starting to come back simply because their livelihoods depend on it, and they can't afford to be away much longer. There is still a state-sponsored aid for everyone that lives within five kilometers of the border here. They can still expect to receive housing, costs, hotels for places that are considered safer somewhere in central or southern Israel. That is still in effect. So there are still, for those people that live within that five mile buffer, and we're getting now another report of hostile aircraft, and I'm hearing just to my left an alarm here, so this must be pretty close as we don't see anything in particular, it does not look like any interceptions are being launched just yet, but this is one of the closer hostile aircraft alerts we've seen in the Galilee. This is actually, we're fairly south now, so we'll wait for a few moments. I'm imagining, Laura, we'll hear the interceptions at some point here soon. All right, very hot border, isn't it, Zach? Thank you very much. Zach Andrews there in the north of Israel under another alarm sounding there amid an infiltration of a hostile aircraft. So, Sirens blaring in the north, with me in the studio this hour. Benjamin Antoni is the CEO of the Miriam Institute. Good to have you with us. Benjamin, let's start then with the situation in the north, because it is heating up quite a dramatically day after day, isn't it? Yeah, the situation in the north is a result of a non-policy actually on the part of the state of Israel. Now, I just want to move firstly to the south. What's going on in the south is the result of the same thing, a non-policy. It was described as mowing the lawn. There was a reluctance on behalf of the government and the security establishment to go in and do what we're now in the midst of doing, which is clearing that area of Hamas, and Hamas is ability to return upon our withdrawal from that particular territory. When you don't have a policy, you allow the other side to drag you by the nose into a situation that you never asked for and would not want. That has happened in the Gaza Strip. It happened on October 7th by way of the kidnappings and the brutal rampage of Hamas. We cannot allow for the very same to happen in the north. The north poses a far greater threat than anything that we face in the south. We have not operated against the arming of Hezbollah with sufficient intensity. And I have said from the beginning, I said even prior to October 7th, the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli Defense establishment would do very, very well to reduce to its lowest possible potency the threat of aerial bombardments coming from southern Lebanon fired by Hezbollah. And I still believe we ought to be taking out those munitions by way of an air campaign. So when you hear those reports, reports that were denied by Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Americans actively prevented Israel from taking preemptive action against Hezbollah, what do you make of that? I think that it's the result of a non-policy on the part of successive governments here in the state of Israel. The idea that the Americans have prevented us from acting with greater force against Hezbollah's capabilities, that's something that really came to light post-October 7th. The lack of our efforts to reduce the threat that we face from our northern front in southern Lebanon at the hands of Hezbollah, that predates by years anything that took place on October 7th, 2023. In fact, I remember when I served as a soldier inside southern Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 that there was an immediate re-arming of those munitions. There was much rhetoric about the fact that we would go in and destroy that re-arming, but it never happened. And now, unfortunately, I don't believe that the Hezbollah are the ones who are deterred. I actually believe tragically that we remain deterred from operating against them. Are you worried history is repeating itself with what you just said about Hezbollah with regard to Hamas? In what way? In that it's re-arming. There is kind of a lack of political will to finish the job. It can only go so far. It's dragging on now. In the Gaza Strip? Yeah, in the Gaza Strip, more than 180 soldiers killed now. You know, I really appreciate that question and thank you for asking it. Many people will be aware of an expose that was published by the New York Times about the rape and abuse and assault of our women inside southern Israel on October 7th at the hands of Hamas. These reports are harrowing. They talk about women being fired at in their genitals prior to being murdered, women being raped, then murdered, then set alight. It is a horrific, horrific read. And unfortunately, I commend it to everybody. Everybody should know what went on that day. I mentioned that because you cannot have a situation, despite the political pressure, despite people thinking this is dragging on a little bit too long. You cannot have a situation where a people is sent over the border, does that to our men, women and children, kidnaps our men, women and children, and then gets away with it and lives to fight another day. This organization, Hamas, this terrorist movement, needs to be destroyed. I believe we can destroy it. And I believe that the Israel Defense was making great progress at a very, very heavy price at a very real cost. But the job must be finished. And just to move on to something that is coming out of Syria today, Zak, our correspondent touched on it. An Israeli airstrike reportedly killing 11 members of the IRGC in Syria. And this just a few days after a senior IRGC commander was killed also in Syria, Musavi, in a strike that Israel has not admitted being behind. But do you think Israel is being more active on that front now? Yes, I think Israel is being more active on that front. But it's partly because a consequence of the increased infiltration of the IRGC into Syria. And by the way, ensconcing themselves within the civilian population and something that is something that's not being spoken about of late. Many people have watched the movement of Iran inside Lebanon over years and even decades. We've been less vocal about what's taken place in Syria. But just a quick point about that. I'm very pleased that we're active there. And I actually believe that we ought to be bringing a greater cost and a greater price to the malice inside Iran. It's interesting because Naftali Bennett just published an opinion piece about his authorizing of strikes inside Iran, questionable, controversial. But whether we admit it or not, we should be hitting them in Iran. Thank you, Benjamin Anthony. Stay with us well on that note. Israel's former Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, has defended himself after he drew fire for revealing that while he was in power, he ordered strikes on Iran. Israeli officials criticized Bennett after he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he had directed security forces to strike Iran directly twice in 2022. Officials say those statements were not cleared by the military censor. Widely seen as a criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Bennett said recent governments had talked and sermonized about Iran, but had not exacted a painful price from Tehran. We'll talk more about that. We're joined now by Shaiba Zak, political analyst and consultant. And the former Israeli consul general to Miami and Boston. Thank you very much for being with us. And what do you think was Bennett right to reveal those strikes on Iran in 2022? A custom of Israel in these cases is that we are not talking openly about it. We live it vaguely for many, many reasons, security reasons and international reasons. I think that I'm not sure that former Prime Minister Bennett intended to reveal these details in his interview. But politicians are politicians. And I guess he is looking for his way back to the political arena. He is very much appreciated by many people in Israel and politicians. This is what they do. Well, do you agree with him in the interview that he gave? Has Israel fallen into the trap of exhausting itself, fighting Iran's various proxies, while Tehran itself remains untouched? Nobody dares take it on, including, of course, the United States. So it goes this way. He is right that Israel should take a price from Iran who sends all its proxies to attack it, Hezbollah, Jihad, Hamas, the Houthis and others. Definitely, the head of the snake is Iran, and we have to hit them. All the governments in the last decades are working against Iran. We are all aware of this situation. All prime ministers, all ministers, all governments have been aware of the danger of Iran and, of course, the way that they are sending their proxies to attack Israel. And we have all kinds of ways of attacking Iran. Naftali Bennett was not the first prime minister to operate against Iran in many ways because of their attacks on Israel. And so if the current government is doing the right things by attacking the proxies of Iran, of course they are. I think Naftali Bennett would admit it itself. Now the time is to attack Hamas for all they did to us. But I don't think this government, with all the criticism that some people in Israel has on this government, I don't think the government is forgetting for a minute that Iran is standing behind all these attacks. And I don't think this government, with all the criticism on it, as I said, are intending to let Iran avoiding its responsibilities. But we do what we have to do on the right timing, on the right way. As Naftali Bennett said rightly, so and as every government in the last few years doing, we are not forgetting for a minute, Iran is behind it, Iran going to pay it. Shai Bezak, stay with us. Benjamin Antoni, would you like to respond to that? Yeah, I would. I think that what you've seen is the first horse out of the barn running towards elections very, very clearly and specifically attacking the Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Now the reality is we're in the midst of a very, very serious conflict inside Gaza. We all know that. We potentially will be in the midst of a very severe conflict inside southern Lebanon. We have any number of challenges on the home front as well. But we're also, in my opinion, in the midst of political campaigning. Many in the media are criticizing. I'll leave it to them whether rightly or wrongly. The idea that Prime Minister Netanyahu might be playing politics during his press briefings. It may be the case. It may not be the case. But if it is, he's not alone in that. Benny Gantz is doing the same thing. Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing the same thing. And now we're seeing that former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is doing the precise same thing. So I think we're going to see the ratcheting up of this political rhetoric very, very frequently, very, very often in the coming days and weeks. And it will probably hasten the move towards calling elections. And do you agree with Prime Minister Bennett in his piece with the Wall Street Journal and then his subsequent defense of that in which he kind of very thinly criticised the current government? No, I don't agree with him. I don't agree that it was defensible to now reveal our activities inside Iran for what purpose that stand is unclear, other than to criticise the governments of the State of Israel at this time. I don't think that it's appropriate. I don't think it's beneficial. I do agree with the policy, by the way. I do think we should be hitting them in Tehran. I think it should be clear that we're doing so. I don't think it always needs to be clandestine to the extent that it is. But I don't think that it serves any pragmatic benefit politically. It serves him very, very well amongst some of his base. Shai Berzak in politics is very much back on the table right now, isn't it? And the other political hot potato is what Gaza should look like once Hamas is hopefully destroyed. The hardline coalition member Betal El Smotridge, kind of forcing the Prime Minister to call off a meeting about that because he wasn't going to be involved. I mean, can these discussions go anywhere at this point? Yeah, so first I have to say that I agree 100% with both answers of Benjamin to your question. See, he said exactly the right words. So this is on this one. On the day after and Gaza and Smotridge, as Benjamin said, we are now seeing politics in all its force. Unfortunately, in the middle of the war, we have to see these politics. Benjamin Smotridge is talking to his own constituency to his base of voters. He is now under the threshold in every poll and he wants to go on top of it. So he's trying to go around Netanyahu and this government from the right hand side. The same is Belgrade. And unfortunately, I don't think this extreme right-wing rhetorics are saving Israel in this international and security situation in any way. Shai, sorry, Benjamin, Smotridge has also said it will be over his dead body to transfer tax money to the Palestinian Authority. And when we're looking at a very heated situation in the West Bank as well, I mean, is that the right policy for now? I think Basela Smotridge is a linchpin in arguably the most failed government, unfortunately, in the history of the state of Israel. I mean that literally since the founding of the state of Israel. I don't think that the preponderance of the electorate is supportive of Betzalos Smotridge at this time, as Mr. Belzak mentioned. And I think that as the political rhetoric ramps up, and as I said, as we move more swiftly to the day that we might have elections, I think we're going to see Betzalos Smotridge throw out even more red meat to his base, but his base is reducing. And I don't think that he has the influence or sway that once he did. Shai, the military keeps kind of telling the public that we will soon be moving into another stage of the military campaign in Gaza, a less intense stage. Will that be the time to hold an election? As Benjamin said, this is a very problematic government, the government that we have now. Since the before the last, the seventh of October attack on Israel and after this attack. And it was, of course, we saw this sign of it even before that. So the support for government as they need to have in time of war is not there, unfortunately. And there is a big debate in Israel. Can we go to election while we are still fighting a mass? And maybe we're going to have another front in the north, because this government doesn't have enough faith from the government and from the people of Israel. Or we should wait till after the war. The debate is there when it's going to be the right timing exactly for election, I cannot tell you. It's very flexible, the situation to say one stage, the second stage, the third stage. We don't know exactly when it's going to be the right timing. But I think the most people of Israel, according to all the polls, are expecting elections soon. Sometimes soon, not in the middle of the war, but probably within a few months. I'm just going to throw this out. There is the government taking too much of the blame for the failures of October 7th, Benjamin Antony, because the intelligence services also failed spectacularly, as did the military in terms of its response. It took many hours for soldiers to arrive at the border towns. Is too much blame being put on the government? No, I think not enough blame is being placed on the government. Look, the doing of October 7th is not the government's. The responsibility is of the government's, and we still have a prime minister who has not clearly said he takes responsibility. He's equivocated, he's talked around it, he's spoken about inquiries that will come one day after the war. Do you think he genuinely believes he's not to blame? I wouldn't like to speak for what he genuinely believes or not, but I can tell you that it's a failure of leadership in my estimation for a prime minister of the state of Israel to not stand up and say he is to blame, that he takes responsibility rather, not that he's to blame for the horrific attacks, but that he takes responsibility for it. And just to the nub of your question, in my opinion, and I'm a voter here in the state of Israel, I'm by no means alone, I think the whole crew has to go. I think the government has to be overhauled, but I also think the senior members of the Defence establishment, they also need to go now. I believe they're reconciled to the idea that they will be going, the Chief of Staff, the head of the Southern Command, so on and so forth, the head of the Shin Bet. But whether or not the prime minister believes that it's time for him to exit the stage, I'm unsure about completely, and I believe everybody else is. Shai Bezac, would you like to respond to that? And we'll look at some polls as well, because the polls, the latest polls show that Prime Minister Netanyahu would lose the election very badly if a vote was held today. But polls also show that more Israelis have moved right since October 7th. Here we can see Benny Gantz is far ahead with his National Unity party, the Likud party under Netanyahu, and the Yeshetid centrist party under Yael Aped, around the same 16% and 15% respectively. But other polls show Likud would grow stronger only under a new leader. Your thoughts on that? Yeah, and the Likud will lose anyway, with Netanyahu badly, with another leader, also going to lose some power, but not so much. But by all the polls we see that most of the people of Israel lost confidence on this government, that's for sure, on the phrase that you said about moving to the right. You are right in the sense of the Palestinian state, because if Hamas or any Palestinian movement thought that they will, in somehow, in some twisted way, will advance the idea of Palestinian state by attacking so brutally Israelis on the 7th of October, it's hard to understand their logic, because if at all they pushed away the two-state solution, the Palestinian state solution, very, very, very further away, because the people of Israel are now saying, okay, we tried this twice. We withdraw from every inch in Lebanon and we throw for every inch in the Gaza Strait. Both ways came out with a big war, with lots of missiles, and now with these brutal attacks. So what do we, as the people of Israel, have to understand from this about the Palestinian statehood possibility in Jordan and Samaria? Do we want to get another attack like that, when it's going to be established? So it's going to be pushed this much further away, so they didn't help anything to the Palestinian statehood idea, and most of the people of Israel now left and right, you are right on this, lost confidence on any kind of agreement with the Palestinians for now, because you need to have some kind of trust that the other side, on the other side of the border, when you're going to sign peace agreement with him, will not attack you. This confidence, this trust has been broken All right, then Shai Bezac, Benjamin Anthony, thank you very much to you both. We're going to take a short break. We'll be back with another update shortly. Stay tuned. This is I-24 News. Altis, la red global de los dominicanos. A state of war. Families completely gone down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. Watching I-24 News coming to you from Tel Aviv on this day, 84 of the war with Hamas. Four Israelis have been wounded in suspected car-ramming attack in the West Bank. The assailant was shot dead at the scene. The attack happened on the Route 60 highway north of the settlement of Odniel. One of the victims is in a moderate condition. Three others are likely hurt. In northern Israel, sirens blared in communities close to the border with Lebanon and towns and villages across the upper Galilee. While in the south, rocket sirens went off in the largely evacuated communities close to the border with Gaza. And the fighting continues in Gaza. The IDF says it is expanding operations around the city of Hanyunis, where another soldier was killed overnight. 168 IDF troops have now fallen in the fighting. Earlier, I spoke to Benjamin Anthony, the founder of the Miriam Institute. He told me that the failed policies of the current government were squarely to blame for the situation in Gaza. You know, the situation in the north is a result of a non-policy, actually, on the part of the state of Israel. Now, I just want to move firstly to the south. What's going on in the south is the result of the same thing, a non-policy. It was described as mowing the lawn. There was a reluctance on behalf of the government and the security establishment to go in and do what we're now in the midst of doing, which is clearing that area of Hamas and Hamas' ability to return upon our withdrawal from that particular territory. When you don't have a policy, you allow the other side to drag you by the nose into a situation that you never asked for and would not want. That has happened in the Gaza Strip. It happened on October 7th by way of the kidnappings and the brutal rampage of Hamas. We cannot allow for the very same to happen in the north. Well, for the very latest, let's go to southern Israel and our senior correspondent, Pierre Kloshendler. Pierre, what's the latest? Well, there's a lot of artillery fire that has been punctuating the silence here on the Gaza border. And behind me, you will see some of the targets that both the artillery and the air force have been striking. This is the area of Aldaraj Tufach, which are two neighborhoods in Gaza City, which have not yet been taken over by the IDF ground forces. And there's a battalion of Hamas that the ground forces want to annihilate. And the operation in Daraj Tufach has been going on since the start of this week, and there are heavy fighting in that area. Further south, there are also fierce clashes on the eastern and northern outskirts of El Burej, the refugee camp in the central sector of the Gaza Strip. There are three refugee camps, which are hosting three Hamas battalions in that area, which is Almorazi, El Burej and El Nusserat. And they're also heavy fighting, as the ground forces are expanding their maneuvering further south in Chanyunas, with now seven combined armed forces brigades that are operating altogether. When I say combined armed forces, that means infantry with the support of the armored corpse, the engineering corpse, the artillery corpse, as well as support from the air and the sea with helicopter gunships that are just actually hovering over our head and with support of the air force and the Navy. Now in Chanyunas itself, the task is very redundant, but it's very necessary. Sniper nests, booby trapped houses, command and control centers, tunnel shafts, the linking all that network of tunnels that are beneath Chanyunas and where the army estimates that the political and military leadership of Hamas are hiding with probably some or all of the hostages. Further east of Chanyunas, toward the border with Israel in El Chouda'a, a Palestinian community, there's also a brigade which is involved into annihilating all the Hamas infrastructure. El Chouda'a was the staging ground of some of the Al-Nurbah elite commando unit of Hamas, who perpetrated one of the worst massacres in Neroz in Israel. Yeah, thank you very much. Pierre Koshendlo there in southern Israel with the latest on the fighting in Gaza. Stay tuned, another update for you shortly. The results of the Hamas terrorist invasion of the Nakhal-Oz outpost will continue to echo as the IDF investigates the events of the dark Saturday, October 7th. Today we can reveal what the IDF already knows about what happened at the base during the battle in which terrorists killed 66 soldiers, most of them field observers and soldiers of Golanig Brigade's 13th Battalion. The general data on the invasion presented to the families barely begins to convey the magnitude of the attack. At half past 5 a.m., IDF Southern Command Assessment shows no unusual warnings. The forces, which are already in limited capacity, do not prepare for anything out of the ordinary. At 6.29, sirens out across Israel as intense rocket fire begins from the Gaza Strip. At 6.54, the first invasion of the outpost by 70 terrorists commences. Six minutes later, at 7 a.m., a second invasion by about 50 more terrorists. Three and a half hours later, at 10.30, a third group of about 50 more terrorists invade the outpost. By this time, a total of about 170 terrorists have entered the Nakhal-Oz base. Saturday morning at half past 6, they have already identified a swarm of terrorists on the fence and they asked for help. To be precise, it was at 6.29 a.m. And they were told, deal with it, we have other priorities. In that situation, the commander on duty needs to make a decision, make a decision, get them on a Hummer, get them out of there. Then they would be here with us today. According to the IDF investigation, this is what happened on the ground at the moment the barrier was breached. At 6.29, field observers had identified two armed men running towards the fence, the beginning of the infiltration. At 6.30, identification of additional terrorists blowing up the fence. At 6.31, the deputy battalion commander announces what he defines as a complex event. Seven minutes later, at 6.38 a.m., terrorists from Hamas's elite Nakhubayunat have fully crossed the fence. At 6.40 a.m., the procedure for dealing with an infiltration from the Gaza Strip was officially declared. Two minutes later, the platoon commander activates sentry tech systems that automatically identify threats and open fire, hitting some of the terrorists. But two minutes later, at 6.44, the system stopped working. The cameras did as well. At 6.51, a situation assessment finally made it through to IDF's southern command. Terrorists have entered the outpost. The battle inside the outpost lasted for many hours. The investigation shows that the amount of weapons the terrorists carried with them was much greater than the amount of weapons the IDF soldiers had at their disposal, both in quantity and in quality. During intense fighting, some of the soldiers took cover in shelters that turned into death traps. The majority of them were murdered or taken hostage. Some soldiers managed to hide in their dorms. Some locked themselves inside the war room. The hours of being barricaded and terrified inside the war room are as if taken from a horror movie. This is what happened. The terrorists did not enter the war room at any stage. They carried out the attacks from the hallway. They threw hand grenades within an incendiary substance that releases toxic gases. The goal? To asphyxiate everyone in the war room within minutes. The smoke that came into the closed room began to suffocate the 22 people who were locked inside. The soldiers could not open the burning door of the war room. Seven managed to make it through the window. One field observer and six fighters. We know that the explosion at the war room occurred between 1130 and 12, meaning that they were alive for five hours and no one came to rescue them. In this report by Yonit Levy two weeks ago, the parents of the field observers detailed how they conducted their own investigation into the events of that day, putting together fragments of information they collected. Even today, after the IDF representatives shared with them the initial findings, the full picture remains unclear. While the parents are waiting for a full and comprehensive investigation to take place, they are still insisting on viewing the remaining security camera footage themselves, all so they can fully understand the chain of events that led to the bloody battle of the Nakhal Oz outpost. The government is making efforts to show the public that talks on a new hostage deal are moving forward with Mossad chief Dadi Barnea, reportedly back from a meeting in Warsaw, Poland with Qatar's prime minister and the CIA chief yesterday's diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman sketches out the terms for the talks and how this time they're different from talks on that first deal in November. The funerals remind Israelis of the stakes. Here, the funeral of hostage Alon Shamriz killed in the tragic friendly fire incident, his hands raised, his white flag not enough to earn his rescue, a reminder to many in Israel of the price of waiting on another hostage deal. You already saw the light, but it became darkness. Those who abandoned you also murdered you after you did everything right. And so the Israeli government reportedly ramps up talks on a new hostage deal with meetings afoot and progress made now with two key differences from that first hostage deal in November. First, that November deal focused on women and especially children who were in the twisted logic of Hamas assets, but also liabilities with the terror group taking a beating internationally for holding three year olds hostage. So Hamas had more incentive to free the kids for a lower price. And then the second difference, the balance of power on the battlefield. Only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages. My directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure without which we would have nothing. That first deal in November came when military pressure in Gaza was at a high with a sense of big incremental gains each day. And so big incremental losses each day for Hamas. The sense now is of a war that is making slower progress, less incremental pressure on Hamas means less sway for Israel and talks, all of which adds up to tougher decisions for the Israeli government and public, not only to want fervently to bring them home, but also to understand the price in all its dimensions. A giant and leading from deep inside Gaza right to the Israeli border was unveiled by the IDF during the war in Gaza yet. Another example of how what Hamas was doing with the assistance meant for the Gaza residents, but was used only for terrorism. I-24 News senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev was at the tunnel inside the Gaza Strip. It is nearly three miles long, more than two meters high and wide enough for cars to drive here. If anyone wondered what Hamas did with the giant funds provided every month, this is the answer. This tunnel had every infrastructure needed, cement, electricity, water and also various hiding places for our weapons, meaning it was ready for use in Shafton, that is very close to the Israeli border, roughly 400 meters or so, a quarter of a mile from the Israeli base of areas, less than two minutes, and the terrorists are already in Israeli territory. It's the biggest tunnel found in Gaza so far. Hundreds of terrorists could come to this point practically undetected. This tunnel runs from miles and miles into Gaza, into towns like Bet-Khanun, Bet-Laya, two or three miles inland. The terrorists come all the way up here and then the Shafts being on the other side. Once they come up to the ground, they're merely 400 meters or a quarter of a mile away from the areas crossing the area's base. Just before the tunnel is demolished, the IDF showed us what the money envelopes from Qatar are really used for. Hamas, as a terror organization, showed his face using his money only for terror. All of his investment only for terror, not for the civilians of Gaza. He doesn't care about the civilians of Gaza. They're only being used for one thing, for being a human shield. The tragedy that Hamas is putting its own people in does not end there. The area's crossing was the place through which 17,000 workers from Gaza crossing every day to work in Israel and earn wages far higher than they could in Gaza. The adjacent area's base was built only to allow for humanitarian cases from Gaza to be treated in Israel. But these were exactly the targets Hamas was looking for. We saw what happens in the tunnel inside. Now let's see what happens outside. Right behind me is the shaft. From here the terrorists come to the ground and just to my left about 400 meters, a quarter of a mile. You see the concrete wall. That is the Israeli border. That is the Israeli base of areas you can see right over there. Nothing more than a two-minute run and the terrorists are already there. That is all it took them to get from this position and into Israel. And in a war so full of terrible symbols, here is another one. Three soldiers were kidnapped from the area's base. On the day the tunnel was unveiled, two of those soldiers were pronounced dead. Two of my soldiers that were kidnapped alive from this base on the 7th of October was murdered by Hamas militants while were in captive inside the Gaza Strip. So for me personally and for my unit it's a very complicated day. Every corner of the area's crossing and the area's base serve as a reminder of what happened here on that terrible morning just a few hundred meters away the mission ahead is clear. Without demolishing the tunnel project of Hamas, we cannot demolish Hamas. This may be the largest tunnel in Gaza or at least the largest one uncovered so far, but many many other small ones exist all across the Gaza border. This is where the hostages were taken deep into Gaza and from there disappearing all across the Strip. Israel, among other missions, now needs to destroy all of these tunnels to make sure that such a thing never ever happens again. Jonathan Regev, I-24 News. We move on. The United Nations announced the formation of a Ten Nation Coalition to respond to repeated Houthi attacks against international shipping strikes by the Iran-backed group in the natural choke point of the Babel Mandib Strait are threatening to impact world energy prices. With more here's our correspondent, Robert Swift. As much as 70% of the petrol stations across Iran were disrupted Monday, with Iranian authorities citing a possible cyber attack as the cause. Some people say it was hacked. Some people say, well, we wonder if maybe there is a shortage. But these are all questions that need to be answered by a high-ranking authority. Iranian state media singled out hacking group Predatory Sparrow as responsible. It has been linked by Israeli media in the past to Unit 8200, Israel's Signals Intelligence Agency. This cyber attack comes in response to the aggression of the Islamic Republic and its proxies in the region, the hackers said in a statement in Persian and English on Telegram. The United States and nine other nations are forming an international naval coalition, their task to counter escalating Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, a threat which is disrupting a transit route that accounts for 12% of global trade. We've lost Operation Prosperity Guardian under the umbrella of Combined Maritime Forces and under the leadership of Task Force 153. All countries have the right to move freely and lawfully in international wars. Canada, the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, Spain and Bahrain will participate, either by contributing ships or through intelligence assistance. Actions the multinational force may take range from intercepting Houthi drone and missile launches to striking the group's assets in Yemen, a move the US has so far appeared reluctant to make. Additional countries are involved in the formation but have declined to announce so publicly. States such as Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are reportedly concerned with the blowback that could come from confronting the Houthis directly. Of course we are concerned about the potential for escalation. Our region is very complex and we do not need any other conflicts to erupt and therefore we hope that we will be able to avoid any further escalations in our region. The Houthis say they will continue attacking ships destined for Israeli ports as long as- Let's go back now to the morning of October 7th. More and more stories, amazing stories coming out from what happened that day. One of them involving Arif Hajabi, he's a farmer living in the so-called Gaza, envelope Gaza border area who woke up to the realization that his entire family from nearby Moshev-Yakhini was under Hamas' Hamas attack. Now Yareev did not think twice armed with a weapon and accompanied by three friends. He went to Yakhini where he found themselves caught in a crossfire between the IDF and Hamas. And this report adapted from Channel 212 News. We accompanied Yareev to the place where he rest his life to save his family, the same place where he also lost part of it. He says he has weapons, and then he turns to me with a phone call and tells me that he was hurt in my arm. At that moment when my mother told me that they were hurt, I went to a friend, I killed him, and two more, we were four, we were all dead. And in fact, we killed him three, four minutes before we got here. We just passed the bridge there and we were in the middle of the crossfire, until we got here to Mata. And by the crossfire, and in the middle of the bridge, we started to move forward. We saw three or four soldiers here. I started to see the enemy, so I could push them away from us, so I could take them out of the houses. There were a lot of enemies on us, and we realized that someone was watching us. In the middle of the crossfire, there was actually some kind of army here, and in fact, it was just the soldiers. They saw us, and in fact, they started to see us, and then they also sent us to the east. And then we realized that the situation was very serious, it was already with the soldiers on us. We just had to put our hands on it, and we passed them, like the soldiers, and the understanding that we didn't like. The army continued there, and we actually stayed here forever. We started to tear down all the soldiers here, and actually tear down the area. So it was actually my favorite, because it was a lot of soldiers. My brother was here during the war. All of this was a lesson to the soldiers there. All of this area was full of soldiers, and it was all the soldiers that I put here. Actually. I went to some sort of security unit of my soldiers that they know, and I saw that there was actually some sort of security unit that was here around us. We ran through the front of the army, and then we realized that my soldiers actually tore down in front of us. They really tore down from the ground. They tore down in the same situation with my brother. In fact, all of them were torn down when we realized that there were soldiers here. He had to come to his brother's unit to get rid of them in front of us, but it was more than a long time ago. We had to live our lives to model all of this work. And nothing else started at the time. There was a war, my friend, because the situation was different. And it's just a feeling that every day it takes, if you want to return, and to move on, to another day, and to another day. That's the biggest mental difficulty here. Because the work is work, but we're not in a state of war. Family is completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. My name is Carla Jurowicz. I'm Nicole Mischel, and this is a special edition of News 24 of Spanish. Derechos Humanos y Antisemitismo no son compatibles en un estado democrático de derecho en el mundo y en menos y menos en Chile. De ahí que en el mes de marzo de 2023 en Chile se presentó el proyecto de ley que incorpora el antisemitismo como una categoría discriminatoria contraria a los derechos humanos en Chile. Por eso no se entiende como una banda musical española llamada Scapi, ante miles de fanáticos en Santiago, programaban en su canción intifada que Palestina está sufriendo en el exilio la opulencia de Israel por un gobierno prepotente preparado para la guerra por tu ya sabes quién. La misma banda que tenía que tocar en Munich, Alemania, no les dieron permiso para interpretar esa canción discriminatoria para con los judíos en Alemania, los miembros del grupo fueron advertidos de que la canción incitaba la violencia, la canción intifada es de contenido pro-Palestino y la amenaza de la detención es porque las autoridades alemanas prohíben la apología contra el antisemitismo. Los miembros de Scapi dijeron en su defensa ser antisionistas y no ser antisemitas. Exactamente. Y estamos en tierra santa y a pesar de que en Israel estas navidades son una parte importante para la versión cristiana nosotros vamos a hablar ahora algo que tiene que ver con el cristianismo con el antisemitismo y con Israel y para eso tenemos como invitado a Daniel Farkas que ha escrito un libro que se llama se llama el más horrible de la historia Cuéntanos exactamente, cuéntanos que ha significado escribir este libro justamente sobre el 7 de octubre ¿Cómo se ubica un pogrom en el siglo XXI? La verdad es que yo tuve la experiencia en Chile de ser parlamentario de ocupar muchos cargos importantes y tengo una visión acerca de que en determinada forma y de una manera muy concreta cuando la ola de antisemitismo parte es muy difícil pararla y me da la sensación después de la respuesta que tuvimos en el mundo acerca del 7 de octubre que estamos en un problema y por qué lo dictifico como el pogrom más grande de la historia porque desde la salida de Auschwitz que no teníamos un día en donde fueron asesinados tantos judíos y porque el modus operandi lamentablemente y por desgracia que utilizó jamás era con el objeto de hacer daño de generar terror y de provocar con el sadismo una sensación térmica de aniquilamiento y eso es muy parecido a lo que hacían los nazis y en ese sentido creo que cabe colocarlo como un pogrom efectivamente Ahora bien, vos hablas del 7 de octubre y de lo que ha venido pasando después o solamente de ese día No, yo primero hago en el libro una pequeña reseña acerca del Islam y de sus puntos conflictivos con el judaísmo particularmente aquellos en los cuales Mahoma expulsa una tribu a matar a los hombres mayores de 14 años y manda como esclavos y esclavas a los niños y a las mujeres y también reseño a propósito de nuestro amigo Miguel Stoyer más las experiencias positivas que hay de confraternidades Islamis Hay que decir que Miguel Stoyerman es el director de la radio Jai que transmite de Argentina a todo el mundo Así es, muy importante y básicamente luego hago una reseña que esos los pogrom una triste y lamentable que nos ha acompañado por mucho tiempo que tiene que ver con también una situación que provocó en el gobierno de Los Ares una dinámica de persecución, robo, violación y generación de daño particularmente a los judíos no solo a los judíos, pero particularmente a los judíos por los Cossacos y que después fue repetida por desgracia en muchas otras partes de Alemania oeste particularmente Fíjate tú que el embajador de Israel en Naciones Unidas hace pocas semanas había sacado en la misma sede la foto del Mufti de Jerusalim y ya que tocabas mucho el tema también del Islán como el Mufti en aquellos tiempos que se había reunido con Hitler incitaba, le decía no los traigas que no lleguen aquí y los incitaba y decía quemarlos, matarlos y quemarlos o sea es como que una historia de 70 años casi 80 se repite exactamente y los pogrom que hubo a partir de la actitud que tuvo el Mufti de Jerusalim fueron realmente espantosos tanto en Jerusalim con otras partes de Israel obviamente y costaron muchas vidas y particularmente tenían esta lógica de no solamente violaciones y la cosa que tiene que ver con el viaje sino que también con hacernos sentir de que no teníamos ningún tipo de defensa y esa es yo creo la sensación que jamás quería lograr y en parte creo que por desgracia en algún momento la tuvimos y hoy ya estamos recuperando esa capacidad de defenderlo Hola, yo quiero llevar esto un poco a lo que pasa por ejemplo en Chile de donde vos sos originario hemos visto que en Chile hay distintas páginas que tienen que ver con el apoyo a Palestina pero hay una en particular que además de el apoyo a Palestina se llama a Palestina hoy que lo único que hace es agrandar y intensificar la acción del jamás como explicarle a la situación de los mayorías de los palestinos que hay en Chile que entiendo son cristianos que no van juntos una cosa con la otra de qué manera se puede enfrentar esto primero que nada por desgracia no solamente es un problema de Chile, lo vimos con las universidades más importantes americanas en un show de garrador sobre tres rectoras que son francamente una vergüenza para la academia pero esto se ha repetido en otras partes del mundo justamente con la excepción de que ustedes nombraban de Alemania en que en unos países que tiene una legislación más rigurosa con respecto al antisemitismo estos palestinos generalmente vienen de bellales de otros pueblos que si estaban en lo que en ese momento era palestina pero no salen en 1947-48 arrancando por decisión propia a partir de la creación del estado de Israel sino que lo hacen en 1918-2020 mucho antes particularmente por dos razones primero porque no querían que sus hijos hicieran el servicio militar en el imperio turco tomano justo en la historia y segundo porque no estaban dispuestos a pagar los impuestos gigantescos que el imperio turco tomano estableció en palestina y en otras partes de sus dominios entonces decidieron llegar a Chile hoy día algunos dicen que son 500 mil hay un estudio del profesor Michael Ehrlich que de la universidad es barilán que en realidad llega la conclusión de que más de 50 mil no pueden ser y yo creo que es una conclusión muy compleja porque quién se define como palestino resulta, y ustedes lo saben bien que los únicos refugiados del mundo cuyos hijos y nietos son los palestinos todos los refugiados del mundo incluidos los refugiados judios de los países árabe para qué hablar solamente la primera generación y tienen que ser absorbidos por los distintos países entonces hay una situación extrañísima y estos palestinos a mi juicio no solamente forma rara sino forma digamos lo bastante poco inteligente porque ellos serían perseguidos en Gaza y serían perseguidos en otras partes de el Medio Oriente y algunos de ellos por ejemplo que son comunistas o los que son gay para qué hablar pero no entienden o no quieren ver o el odio del antisemitismo es cada vez más fuerte y hay una cosa ahí que se entremezcla en Chile además que tiene que ver con otras partes del mundo también que es una línea de un partido comunista por lo que hace en Chile existe una cosa anaclónica importante con parlamentarios y con ministros y yo creo que uno de los pocos ejemplos en el mundo y en la línea del Partido Comunista y en la izquierda en general yo creo que esa otra gran decepción a partir del 7 de octubre ha sido más tapable pero lo más paradójico es que hay judíos que visitan el club palestino en Santiago y hay judíos que van al club palestino y hay negocios entre ellos y entonces cada vez menos porque yo lo digo en términos generales de mis amigos o mi familia incluso hay algunas todavía sociedad exitosa que bien que así sea pero en general la desconfianza y el antisemitismo a partir de las redes por ejemplo que cuando alguna amiga o amigo que están publicando los otros en el Facebook o en Instagram o en TikTok uno llega a la conclusión de que ese no puede seguir siendo mi amigo o mi amiga y corta las relaciones nos quedan dos minutos y pico para redondear un tema ¿Qué pasa con los distintos gobiernos que hay en Chile? porque esta situación no es nueva ha habido en los presidentes anteriores ahora con Boris los gobiernos hacen algo para de alguna manera restituir o mantener la relación entre ambas comunidades yo me sentí cuatro años con Boris al lado porque mi bancada terminaba justo en la bancada de él ¿De qué partido? partido por la democracia ¿Derecha izquierda? centro izquierda muy bien nos quedan dos minutos entonces lo que pasa es que el chantaje de la comunidad palestina con los votos que ellos dicen tener que a mi juicio no son ciertos hace que muchos presidentes parlamentarios se vean inclinados a hacerlo ahora digamos también las cosas como sobre si todo es Israel y incentivó todo tipo de negocios con Israel y la presidenta de Chile con quien yo también trabajía en su primer gobierno estableció muchos negocios con Israel y Chile sigue a pesar de todo esto lo más increíble es que Chile sigue comprando todo el armamento en Israel sigue comprando todo lo que tiene que ver con el tema aero espacial con Israel hay como una línea discotómica entre el discurso de odio y la información y lo que efectivamente hacen bueno nosotros en principio vamos a recomendar tu libro para que cuando esté visible o está en internet también si está en amazon o en otras portales ahí está, lo vamos a recomendar te agradecemos enormemente que hayas venido a nuestro canal y es un tema para llamar la atención a todo el mundo porque importar a sudamérica un programa el destino que nació en belén nos parece algo muy natural muy natural más en un día como el de hoy en el que estamos festejando la navidad o no puede reír eso llorar no sabemos lo que hacer nos agradecemos enormemente para haber venido a nuestro programa muchas gracias después de la guerra de Iom Kippur faltaban manos para poder cosechar y ese soy yo que vine como voluntario israel a cortar naranjas se llamaba planta pus y estuve dos meses trabajando en kibutsin bueno Carlos de vez muy buen mozo ya pelo hoy el programa para traer hemos traidos voluntarios a israel es un programa fantástico que se llama taglit en estos tiempos difíciles en los que está pasando israel contamos con dos de los miembros de este grupo que vino de sudamérica Natalia Goodman bienvenida Uruguaya de 23 años y Shaul Dabab de 24 años de argentina muchísimas gracias por estar con nosotros comencemos por Natalia a ver yo pasé dos meses cortando naranjas pero como fue tu decisión de venir y sumarte al programa de taglit bueno en realidad veía el antisemitismo y veía toda la guerra y bueno yo siento que los judios en todo el mundo tienen una conexión muy grande con esta tierra y con la gente como hay un unión muy grande y sentía necesidad de hacer algo y así asoará en las redes y esas cosas pero cuando me enteré de esto que fue dos semanas antes de venir a israel dije lo voy a hacer y estoy muy feliz con la decisión y en tu caso y lo mismo desde que empezó sentí una impotencia muy grande podíamos hacer pequeñas cositas siempre quise hacer algo con mis manos con mi cuerpo porque al fin y al cabo aunque vivamos en otro lugar en Argentina, en Uruguay nuestra tierra es ésta y nuestra gente es ésta y queremos que lo mismo sea para el futuro para nuestros hijos Natalia ¿Qué ha significado recorrer para ustedes israel que es algo fantástico porque en el camino se van descubriendo muchas cosas cuéntame en este momento ver israel es muy fuerte hay mucho dolor pero también hay mucha resilencia yo pensé que me iba a encontrar con un israel muy triste y también lo estoy viendo pero también estoy viendo un israel muy fuerte donde todos queremos ayudar donde todos queremos colaborar obviamente desde el dolor pero también desde el amor lo mismo también creo que hoy más que nunca yo he vivido acá unos años no entiendo mucho la política del país la verdad porque no soy de acá pero vi que en su momento en las elecciones por ejemplo el pueblo no está tan unido pero hoy en día creo que lo veo más unido que nunca uno ayuda al compañero, al prójimo y al final de al cabo al final de la jornada sacan una sonrisa ahora hablemos de la parte importante me explicaban antes que ponían los pepinos en un lugar correcto para que crezcan derechitos y no torcidos contame un poco la experiencia de trabajar la tierra porque no solo has venido a israel sino es que he trabajado la tierra de israel contamos es que sí, la verdad fueron experiencias únicas pues claramente nunca hicimos este tipo de cosas como por ejemplo cortar malezas en piñedos bueno, ayudar a que los pepinos crezcan pero que los pepinos crecen solos pero se ve que yo esto claramente no lo sabía pero se ve que hay que ponerles como que hay que enredarlos para que salgan derechos y bueno, además de eso también hicimos cajas de comida para gente que está desplazada hoy de mañana hicimos sándwiches para jaialim para los soldados y en tu caso también con los pepinos lo mismo programa lo mismo pero entendemos y así nos dijeron los supermercados el problema no es que no hay comida la comida está si las hay en los campos y en los lugares como los que fuimos pero no hay gente que lo coseche que lo mantenga y que lo lleve hasta el supermercado entonces, venimos a hacer eso venimos a ayudar con nuestras manos y hacer como dijo ella sacarlo pomelos del árbol sacar las malezas de los viñedos con nuestro granito de verina para que haya más comida en las mesas de los israelí nosotros vamos a poner ahora una foto que yo vi que en este caso está Natalia esta que está detrás mío en este caso y que también se ve ahí donde vos te sacaste una foto como si vos fuese una de los tantos secuestrados que tiene Israel que se siente en ese momento la verdad es que mucha angustia porque es lo que decimos siempre podrías haber sido cualquiera de nosotros cualquiera de nosotros podía haber estado en el festival, cualquiera de nosotros podía haber estado en el kibbutz y también a mi me parece importante que la gente que no está tan adentrada en este tema entienda que podría haber sido cualquiera de nosotros como nuestros familiares, nuestros amigos que entiendan que fue indiscriminado el target fue indiscriminado es lo importante que conscienticemos de esa manera y ustedes que traen de lo que hablan y sienten la juventud latinoamericana en Uruguay, en Argentina de lo que ha pasado aquí esa empatía que puede sentir un joven latinoamericano uruguayo hacia los jóvenes israelis que pasaron esta tragedia en realidad latinoamerica está viendo muchos movimientos en contra de Israel basados en desinformación dada por sea canales de noticias o información a medias también porque mucho se usa la información a medias canales de noticias, organizaciones en uruguay ahora está viendo marchas pero parecen a todo el tiempo ya que se debe, a que crees tu que se debe de la desinformación falta todavía hay mucha desinformación pero también hay mucho odio es un odio que está muy metido dentro de nuestras sociedades a mi me cuesta mucho verlo de una marcha feminista en uruguay y el eslogan era por palestina y se tiraban en el piso y se tapaban los cuerpos y después o una vez estaban repartiendo folletos sobre los mapitas los famosos mapas verdes y yo les digo están diciendo cosas erróneas que solo nos perjudican a nosotros y no les importa en el caso de Argentina hay marchas pero la gente la gente no entiende a que marcha muchas veces pasa eso hay gente tal vez que contrata a esas personas para que vayan a marchar contrata en el sentido de que les dice vayan y actúen no tiene ni idea ni palestina ni jamás porque son dos cosas hay videos con la bandera de palestina con la bandera de jamás y le preguntan a favor de que pasas para que estas acá y no pueden responder eso es lo que estaba diciendo ella falta desinformación los dos empezamos contigo que les dirías a tus amigos si un día dicen ok me ofrecen la posibilidad de venir a taglit y justamente esto hablaba ayer con un amigo mío me dice me parece que el año que viene quiero ir, que opinas y le dije esperemos que la guerra nos siga que termine todo acá y que las cosas vuelvan a la normalidad pero creo que te vas a sentir lleno con este programa de taglit y hacer de verdad algo con tu cuerpo y con tus manos como dije antes vas a poder ayudar a tus hermanos vas a poder ayudar a tu tierra y hacer dar nuestro lento de arena para que la tierra perdure y los israelí perduren totalmente de acuerdo y agradezco tener organizaciones de este tipo agradezco por nosotros y agradezco por israel para poder conectar de esta manera y se lo recomiendo porque son planes que están muy bien hechos, muy bien diseñados para conocer israel, para ayudar lo que sea y me parece me parece hermoso como vieron, yo vine en el 76 y todavía siguen durante estos planes lo que es muy bueno ahora en la pantalla aparece el lugar a donde los que quieran inscribirse puedan hacerlo y a ustedes les esperemos que los pepinos salgan derecho porque si no para decir que los que vinieron de sudamerica no sabían como plantarlo pero bueno muchas gracias por haber venido a nuestro estudio y esperemos que esta actividad que ustedes han hecho tenga continuación en el futuro muchas gracias gracias a ustedes estamos en tierra santa y a pesar que israel es parte importante de la población arabe cristiana por su mensaje optimista a ustedes que nos miran siempre mi compañera nicole visitó jerusalem esa sinicón ciertamente carlos me vestí de dos colores para este reportaje en jerusalem, rojo por la navidad negro por el luto que vivimos en tiempos de guerra la navidad en israel tiempos aqui difíciles para despedir un 2023 oscuro y recibir un 2024 lleno de esperanza en el barrio cristiano de jerusalem se siente la navidad las tiendas como cada año venden adornos que visten el lar volver de depino las monjas filipinas que habitan en jerusalem nos guían el camino para el santo sepulcro en israel viven aproximadamente 182.000 cristianos arabes san juan bautista de la sahib y en a finales del siglo 17 fundó el instituto de los hermanos de las escuelas cristianas los niños arabes israelíes recurren las callejuelas del barrio con plena libertad la que merecen la inocencia que sabe más que nadie del amor incondicional como representa la esencia de jesus para el mundo cristiano el santo sepulcro en jerusalem el calvario las llamas siempre encendidas el lugar donde se afirma que jesus murió y al tercer día resucitó la loza de piedra venerada como lugar de descanso de jesus peregrinos cristianos que se arrodillan para venerar el amor del judío jesus todos somos hermanos nos une la cultura judeo cristiana para tener paz hay que tener voluntad creer que se puede y se podrá en el camino conocía jardén darin una chica israelí con un entrañable mensaje saladino religioso griego ortodoxo que habita justo al frente del santo sepulcro nos regala su simpatía y buena energía y como parte de la magia de jerusalem una fable musulman y su deseo jerusalem enigma de las tres femonoteistas y llegamos al muro de los lamentos conocía el ravino brasileño su levinson sus palabras son proféticas yo creo que estamos viviendo una época muy especial ahora en este año que está entrando 2024 porque todo el mundo está un lío muy grande guerras en muchas partes y las personas justamente por eso están muy muy sedentas para contenido como la cabalá que es la parte mística de la torah nos explica que la ciudad muy fuerte es en ese momento que nace una nueva luz entonces aún que hay muchas cosas tristes pasando en el mundo ese es el momento para que las personas van a unir van a estar juntas para hacer cosas buenas y traer la paz en el mundo yo creo que la paz va a venir justo ahora como se dice un dicho judaico muy lindo yo creo que ese lugar justamente por ser un lugar que une todas las religiones del mundo cristianismo, judaísmo islamismo y todas las partes diferentes del mundo acá va a empezar la paz la paz para israel, para palestina donde la respetuosa convivencia sea la mejor herencia para nuestros hijos desde i24 news para el mundo adiós 2023 bienvenido 2024 muchas gracias thank you thank you shukran yasila Toda Raba es el momento de decirle a toda nuestra audiencia que tengan una feliz navidad que se eleven votos para que el próximo año sea un año de paz claro que si feliz navidad a todo el mundo que siempre la semana que viene claro que si hasta la próxima hey how's everything going i Had to see on the deconstruction se the scene still you could imagine of what happened i was something out of a movie and still also, the smell overpowering i was an important day for me and to show the viewers of I24 news but it was a difficult challenging day this was the home of yanniv ohana to see We are so dependent on the Army and the government and authorities to provide security, to see how all of that can be overturned in the course of one day. I think it really makes us understand how fragile our lives are and how much we're going to have to fight for our existence, our very existence, in this corner of the world. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Khaled Bendevi. This month marks the 38 years since I started as a journalist in Israel, and nothing was like the last two months. This has been the most challenging, most emotional, most heartbreaking, and in some ways the most complex story that I've had to cover during that time. And never have I felt the kind of responsibility that I had to present this story to the world in the right context with the right facts and to really speak truth to power in this situation. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on American TV that every day his country was moving closer to a normalization deal with Israel. In Iran, opponents of the regime had just quietly mocked a year since Masa Amini was murdered by security forces for failing to cover her hair, a killing which had sparked an unprecedented challenge to the Islamic regime. Trade between Israel and the United Arab Emirates was booming in the West Bank amid a spike in terrorist attacks. The IDF was carrying out almost daily raids on Palestinian cities like Jenin and Nablus. Peace seemed more distant than ever. Then on October 7th, the Jewish holiday of Sibrat Torah, everything changed. The Middle East correspondent Arab Osir An has this report. Till October 7th, there were high hopes for big changes in the Middle East. Talk of U.S. mediated peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which in turn would spread to other Arab countries, created much anticipation. But then, after thousands of Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israeli communities and IDF bases, slaughtering, burning, and kidnapping everything in their path, the delicate house of cards collapsed. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirms its categorical rejection of the continuation of aggression, occupation, and the forced displacement of Gaza's population. The Kingdom holds the occupation authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people and their properties. We are certain that the only way to guarantee security, peace, and stability in the region is to end the occupation's siege and settlements. But sidelining Israel's Saudi normalization for the unforeseeable future was only one of the effects of that dark October 7th on the region. It also saw the solidification of the Iranian axis of proxies. From Iraq to Lebanon, all the way to Yemen, Tehran's branches all began to attack Israel. We are in a multi-arena war. We are being attacked from seven different sectors, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran. We have already responded and taken action. And I say here in the most explicit way, anyone who acts against us is a potential target. There is no immunity for anyone. In an attempt to get a better understanding of how the region as a whole was affected by the October 7th attacks, I-24 News reached out to journalists in the region to give their perspective. One of them is a journalist from Yemen. He blurred his face and distorted his voice for his safety, speaking with an Israeli-based news outlet. Perhaps the most surprising front to many has been the continuous drone and missile attacks by the Houthis in Yemen towards Israeli territory and then at international commercial ships navigating through the Red Sea. The Yemeni armed forces affirmed their continued support for the Palestinian people as part of the religious, moral and humanitarian duty, and confirmed the continuation of operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea against Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine, until the food and medicine needed by the Gaza Strip are brought in. But according to the journalist in Yemen, the Houthis are simply the ones pulling the trigger in service of their patrons. Beyond emboldening the Iranian access, the October 7th attacks also seem to have affected the streets in many of the region's capitals in support of the Palestinians. I see a lot of change among the awareness of ordinary people who never really paid attention to political issues of the Palestinian situation. I've seen, especially in Arab countries, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, many of the countries are really much more involved now. And I think we've seen also progressives and young people around the world taking up the Palestinian cause in a much more powerful way than we've ever seen before. Like the journalist in Yemen, Qutb too believes that the war in Gaza has put a strain on Israel's existing peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt. The both peace streets have held on so far, but on a very thin ice. I think that there is strong opposition in both countries to their countries continuing the peace agreements. But more importantly, I think people want civilian lives to be saved. Besides threats, there are some silver linings that have emerged from the horrific attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza. Not only the American-led Maritime Coalition aimed at ensuring the safe navigation in the Red Sea, but that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan all intercepted Houthi drones and missiles over their territories on their way to Israel. An indication that Jerusalem does have shared strategic interests in the balance of power in the Middle East. Well, I think Arab countries are trying to be peacemakers as much as they can. They're trying to provide material support to people who are in terrible need. And I don't think we've seen a major shift, especially in countries that have had no organization relations with Israel. The leaders are still insisting on keeping some form of relationship, even though public opinion has changed. And so with the war in Gaza in full steam and further escalation with his balloon horizon, the October 7th attacks seem to have changed not only Israel, but the region as a whole. Now Israel finds itself at a critical juncture, a regional war or increased regional cooperation. Whether or not it's up to Israel to decide what the outcome will be, that still remains to be seen. Well, to discuss how the conflict has impacted cooperation between Israel and its Gulf allies, we can head to Abu Dhabi. We're joined by Laouai al-Sharif, peace activist and expert in Arab-Israeli relations. Great to see you, Laouai. Thank you very much for joining us. So looking back, has this been a success for Iran in terms of derailing the peace between Israel and its partners in the Gulf? Temporarily, Laura, first of all, good to see you and good to see everyone. And I hope, inshallah, that the new year will be a prosperous year, where peace will be dominant in the region. That's what I'm saying. So I'm very optimistic about that. But answering back to your question, I said, yes, temporarily, I think things were moving fast. When the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia talked about the peace, that every day Saudi Arabia is getting closer to peace, having peace with Israel, and also bringing benefits to the Palestinians as well. This is something that we have to mention. The UAE was doing lots of work with Israel. And things now are on hold because of this war. But it's not, you know, Laura, let me tell you something. I believe the leaders of this region realize so well that it's inevitable to have a permanent peace in the Middle East with Israel being a player in the region. This is what the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia said, and this is what other leaders believe. And it's also a permanent policy by the UAE to minimize the conflicts, to minimize the tensions and making peace and neutralizing all the conflicts. So it's been posed just temporarily. Well, one Gulf state has been in the headlines more than others over the past few months. And that is Qatar. This war has exposed its close ties to both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Has that raised concerns in the Gulf? Well, you know, Qatar now has, after Al-Ula agreement, Qatar agreed to many things to come along with its Gulf neighbors. And I believe many prominent analysts see that Qatar is or has a lot more to do with this. But I believe that the leadership of Qatar will come to a stage where they realize that there has to be a permanent peace in the Middle East, where Israel is part of it. And whatever the tensions that are going right now, I believe they will be solved very soon. I believe the leadership of Qatar really wants to have a stable Middle East, even though some things or some other things on the surface don't necessarily indicate so. But eventually because they agreed on Al-Ula agreement, and I believe that it's in their interest to support a stable Middle East. The UAE has taken a very different path and has really paved the way in terms of getting humanitarian relief to Gaza, the first country to set up a field, hospitals inside the Gaza Strip. Why has that been so important, do you think, to the leadership? Because the leadership wanted to send a very important message that it is true that the leadership of the UAE cares a lot about the peace in the region, making peace with Israel in 2020. It's a big believer in the Abraham Accords, but it will not, it did not, does not, and will not abandon the Palestinian people as people. This is a very important thing. The UAE criminalizes Muslim Brotherhood movement. The UAE criminalizes political Islam movements, but it would never criminalize the Palestinian people. And it would stand with the Palestinian people and with their suffering. And it would do whatever it can do to minimize this kind of suffering. This is why it established the field hospital. This is why it sent so many aides. The gallant night, Operation Gallant Night initiated by the President of the UAE, sent this important message. So it's very important to know, Laura, that the Palestinian people, the UAE cares for them. And we all do, and we all believe that the Palestinian people living in dignity is very important for any peace process that will move forward after the war in Shalom. Thank you very much indeed, Loay Al-Sharif. A happy and blessed new year to you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Loay. To all the I-24 staff. Thank you so much. Same to you. Well, as Israel responded to those attacks by Hamas, Egypt's proximity to Gaza meant that it was thrust into the conflict. Early on, Cairo rejected any attempt to allow Gaza refugees into the Sinai Peninsula, even temporarily. It facilitated aid transfers through the Rafah crossing and sought to mediate a hostage-release deal. Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty dating back to 1979. How's this war put that treaty under strain? Well, joining us now, Dalia Ziada, is an award-winning Egyptian writer and political analyst. Great to see you, Dalia. Thank you for joining us. And Egypt, first of all, is very much against any kind of resettlement of Gazans in Sinai, even temporarily. Why is Egypt so opposed to hosting Palestinian refugees on its territory? Thank you, Laura, and happy new year to everyone, to you and to everyone. It's always a pleasure to be with you. It's a good question. Actually, the policies adopted by the Egyptian state toward the war in Gaza and how to deal with the Palestinians, how to deal with the peace or the potential of peace in the middle of this war is characterized by confusion. There is a lot of confusion in the decisions made by the Egyptian state. Most of it is determined by domestic issues. One of the main highlights for this confusion is how Egypt is looking at the refugee crisis that is resulting from this war. Egypt, on one side, speaks all the time about the importance of ensuring that the Palestinian people are safe, ensuring that the Palestinian refugees will be treated properly, but at the same time, it refuses to open the borders for the Palestinian people to get into Sinai, to receive medical aid, or perhaps to stay temporarily until they go back. On one side, Egypt has, I would call it legitimate concerns, but I think they are somehow exaggerated, was exaggerated for domestic political reasons. Some of these legitimate concerns is the fears that Hamas militants may leak into Sinai with refugees who are trying to get into the country, or the Palestinian people, I mean, who are trying to get into the country. Another concern is the economic burden of hosting the Palestinians at this time while Egypt is suffering a severe economic crisis. But I think all of these are not reasons good enough for the Egyptian state to refuse to host the Palestinian people, at least temporarily, in Sinai. Because in 2014, for example, we have seen a similar situation when the Egyptian state opened the door for the Palestinians. They stayed for a while and received medical aid and so on. And when the war ended, they returned it back to Gaza. Well, quite. And I mean, in the midst of this conflict, President Assisi was returned to power in elections. He faced no real threat to his power. But is there a risk now in Egypt that Hamas' sister organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, could take advantage of the situation? Laura, unfortunately, what the massacres that Hamas committed on October 7th created a momentum for extremist Islamists all over the region. And it allowed them to go back to the surface again to leave the public opinion in Arab countries. In my country, Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has been launching attacks on everyone who spoke against Hamas, including myself. They are now influencing media. They are all over social media. They are bringing back to the front. The rhetoric of this Muslim versus Jewish war. And I think this will not hurt only Israel on the long term or even the medium term. It will also hurt the Arab state that has been fighting against this extremist Islamic rhetoric for a while, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia. That's why it's important for these countries to realize that their exaggeration in bending to the public rhetoric that's going on right now against Israel is actually hurting them. It's not gaining them any political ground in their countries, but actually it is hurting them. And just briefly, Dalia, Israel and Egypt have had strong cooperation for years in terms of security. And will that cooperation stay intact, do you think? To be honest, there are a lot of bruises to the relationship between Egypt and Israel. I'm sorry to say that and to see that. But I think Egypt still has. The main reason why these bruises exist mainly is because post-countries acted in a way that was misunderstood by the other country. So I think, yes, it will influence the relationship for a while. But thank God it has not broken the bond of trust yet between Egypt and Israel. So it's important for the two countries to take the initiatives to fix that before it's too late. Don't wait until the war is over. Just work now on rebuilding this bond of trust by working on the Palestinian issue or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict together. Dalia, thank you very much indeed. And a very happy new year to you. Thank you. Thank you and happy new year to all of you. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Well, peace between Israel and the Palestinians seems more remote than ever. Many of those who were murdered in the Kibbutzim on October 7th were pro-peace activists who drove Gazans to Israeli hospitals. And a recent poll of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank shows the vast majority supported the October 7th attacks. Samea Sinijlawi is a fatah activist and the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Fund. He joins us now. Thank you very much for being with us, Samea. Good to see you. And it all seems pretty bleak at this stage, doesn't it? Do you have any hope for a peaceful solution between Israelis and Palestinians in 2024? Well, definitely. Despite the fact that maybe this was the saddest year in our history. Sadness has been prevailing for the last three months. We have been seeing victims that have lost their lives on both sides. I have never imagined that this conflict will come to a level where our victims will have no names and no graves. So it's beyond the imagination what has happened on the 7th of October and later. But I think there is no other option but for both Israelis and Palestinians to live together and coexist and try to get out of this together. And I'm optimistic that maybe 2024 will be the year for security and peace for Israelis and Palestinians. This war has stopped a process, a huge diplomatic process that was supposed to enhance peace in the Middle East. It was supposed to bring the Saudis into the Abraham Accords and through this process also to push the Palestinian issue. And this was stopped by the war. And I'm confident that this war will stop through reactivating this process again. It is with the intention and the good will of the international community and regional neighbors. Maybe we will be able to stop the war and begin momentum again to the expanding the normalization and peace to include the Saudis, the Palestinians. And it's five, six birds that can be shot by one stone. If the Saudis are able to bring the Israelis and Palestinians and come together into a regional peace accord that will include everybody. Then there will be no way for Hezbollah or the Houthis or the Iranians to be interfering more and more in the stability of the region. So in one stone we can hit similar birds. Thank you, Samet. And I just want to ask you, in your mind, what will a post Hamas Gaza look like? Several Palestinian names have been talked about. Muhammad Dahlan is one of them. Do you have any preference for who could be a potential leader for the Palestinian people? Well, I'm sure it's going to be a collective leadership, partnership among names like Muhammad Dahlan, Nasr Qudwa, Marwan Balghouti. You know, the young generation of Fatih that has been waiting so long for a change in the leadership. A generation that is more pragmatic, that is more accountable, that is more transparent, that will try to be attached to the people, convincing to the Palestinian people and be positive in finding ways of cooperation with all the regional countries and working very hard with an Israeli partner to try to exit from this circle of violence. Both the Palestinians and Israelis desperately need to live in peace, security, human dignity rights. And I'm sure that responsible leadership, including a new leadership from the Palestinian side, and maybe we are expecting also change of leadership in Israel because Israelis are also not very much happy from their current leadership and would like to see more moderate leadership on the Israeli side. If this happens, then the star will align together and we will have the needed conditions for progress towards peace. I'm confident 2024, we will be able to get out of these feelings of anger, sadness, and be more towards tolerance, towards accepting the other side, working with the other side. We will achieve peace very soon, despite these sad days. Let's hope you're right, Samir. Let's hope we have a much more peaceful 2024. Happy New Year to you. Thank you very much, Samir Sinijlawi there. Well, on February 6, Turkey was struck by a devastating earthquake which killed more than 50,000 people. Israel was one of the first nations to respond with search and rescue teams. But in Israel's hour of need, Ankara chose not to return the favor. Turkey's President Erdogan instead lashed out at the Jewish state and said it was wrong to call Hamas terrorists by the end of the year. He said Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu was no different to Hitler. Well, joining me to talk about that, Haye Tan Yenoroczek is a Turkey expert at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. Thank you for being with us, Haye Tan. Good to see you. Other than Iran, President Erdogan has been the fiercest critic of Israel, hasn't he, since October 7. This despite the fact that Turkey, of course, is a NATO and U.S. ally. Just explain the thinking behind Erdogan's position. Well, first of all, I would like to make a point here that you mentioned in the beginning of the broadcast regarding the earthquake. We witnessed such a huge, sharp U-turn. This is really unbelievable. Before the war, we also witnessed a bilateral summit between Benjamin Netanyahu and President Erdogan at the sidelines of the United Nations. And now, unfortunately, we have seen the end of the normalization that could usher a new era, a golden era between Israel and Turkey. And, of course, nowadays we have to deal and we have to cope with the circumstances, with the ramifications of this current fighting in the Gaza Strip. And as you mentioned, Mr. Erdogan adopted a very pro-Hamas, a very pro-Palestinian approach. And I believe that this is something related to his past. He is considered as an Islamist. We know him very well. He is considered as a Muslim Brotherhood ideology person. And, of course, this is making things much more complicated. He doesn't believe not anymore. I mean, he does not believe that Israel is a strong state in the Middle East. This is a very important paradigm change in the eyes of the Turks. And besides that, when I'm looking at these latest statements, I also see that there's also another alarming phenomenon, which is the banalization of the Holocaust. For instance, yesterday, the Turkish president openly criticized the Israeli premier, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he is similar to Adolf Hitler. I think this is, of course, from an Israeli point of view and from a Western point of view, of course, this is something really unacceptable. And we are seeing the same kind of behavior in the Turkish press. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I happened to see a news coverage at the Milliet newspaper that they compared the Gaza Strip with Auschwitz and they keep comparing the Israeli soldiers with the Nazis. So this is very problematic. So we'll have to see if that relationship improves in 2024, won't we? Dr Cohen. I'm very skeptical, but let's hope. Dr Cohen, Jena Rotec, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Time for a short break. When we come back, Israel is also at war on its northern front and with Yemen's Houthis, won that next. In a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well.