 This is I-24 News and first our headlines. Anti-government protests in Jerusalem got wider and more aggressive. The UAE pauses Gaza aid after Israeli strike killed humanitarian workers. And the Palestinian authorities reviving its efforts to become a full UN member. Last night's anti-government demonstrations in Jerusalem got wider and more aggressive. I-24 News, Bianca Zanini, sums up four days of protests in the capital. It's been four days of anti-government protests, the largest since the war began and as you can see behind me, they're still ongoing. Since last Sunday we've seen people camping out in tents outside of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. There have been rallies and marches and there have also been clashes with police last night. Part of the protesters broke through barricades near the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There were five arrests. Throughout the day today, authorities and government figures have been calling for calm and warning against what they say is a worrisome trend of violence. Now earlier today, the family members of hostages being held captive in Gaza entered the Knesset gallery with yellow paint. Some of them threw it at the wall. Some of them had it on their hands. The yellow color symbolizing this war, they were calling for a new government and some of the members of Knesset from the opposition supported them by raising their hands. Now very quickly, security was able to disperse them but this was just the latest sign of frustration and anger. We've seen protests now for months since last Saturday. The two lines of protest movements, one against the government, one calling for the return of the hostages, they have now become one large movement and the protests are set to continue. Bianca Zanini, I-24 News, Jerusalem. Thank you, Bianca. With me here in the studio is Golan Benitzhak, a former Shinbeth agent, but also Golan, you are very much connected to the protest movement and I want to ask you, where do we go from here? It's hard to say, you know, this is not something that someone decides. When we see what happened yesterday in Jerusalem, it wasn't a decision now to increase something in the demonstration. I think it was a natural thing that happened after the news about the fact that the police invited the member of the Knesset, Nama al-Azimi, to interrogation. This made the people very angry about the police. And of course, the most important thing, 180 days, hostages are still in the tunnels of Hamas and it seems like, you know, the Knesset now is going to recess and nothing happens. And the only way we know in democracy is to protest and say, stop it, we want these people back. Yeah. Well, with all the respect of the Knesset, the body that takes the decisions is the government and the cabinet. And there's also some part of the war cabinet, which people like you had more expectations of and this is the Gantz party apparently is going to speak publicly shortly this evening. Do you have any expectations from the war cabinet at this point? Not anymore. But Gantz was in Netanyahu from my point of view because I have no expectations from Netanyahu. But Gantz, we had and we thought, OK, you know, he's going to join the government for the time of the war. And he said, in the end of the war, I'm going out of the government. When will be the end of the war? Because I remember when we entered, when we invaded Lebanon in 1982, I remember when we withdrew. So when is the end of 17 years later? Yeah, something like this. You know, we want him out of this government. But many people say, you know, they stained the government in order to ensure a hostage deal. You don't see any any positivity in this 180 days, 180 days, and they are not back yet. So I think this is enough time to understand that Gantz and Eisencote are not needed inside this government in order to bring back the hostages. We need elections. This will bring the hostages faster than any deal between Gantz and Netanyahu. Now, the four days of protests in Jerusalem are ending. As we speak right now, I'm still trying to understand what is next. Your and bigger demonstrations in your estimation? I think so, because I went to Tel Aviv last Saturday with my wife. We felt that there is something different in the air. Something in the vibe of the protest was not like something we saw earlier. And indeed, on Saturday, the protest in the demonstration in Tel Aviv was bigger. People were very angry. The Ayalon Highway was blocked. And now we had the event in Jerusalem. And it seems like more and more people are joining the protest. And I think it will be harder as long as nothing is changing in our government with the hostages. You know, nothing is working. The governmental offices are not working. I heard today that the mayor of the area of Eskol in the south, now is going to the banks to loan 40 million shekels in order to pay hotels for the people that needed to leave their homes on October 7th. This is insane. Yeah, he complained that the government did nothing so far about it. There is a convergence now of some of the hostage families and other movements. But not all, actually maybe even not the majority of the hostages families are in this, right? You know, this is democracy. And the fact that some families of hostages think differently, it's OK. This is, you know, we don't expect everybody to think alike. But you know, I have some conversations with the families of hostages that are part of the demonstration. And some of them voted for Netanyahu. And Navve Tsengaukar, her son, Matan, 180 days in Gaza, she said, I voted for Netanyahu. I gave him my vote. And now he's not bringing my son back. So it's not a political demonstration. I'm talking about the families of the hostages. They're not political, but some of them are, you know, they don't know what to do. President Biden found time to speak with the families of American hostages after October 7th. Our prime minister, it doesn't have time for that. Well, we'll leave it at that, and we'll get back to it later. Meanwhile, the UAE pauses Gaza aid after Israeli strike killed humanitarian workers there. And for news, Bastien Boreen, Dubai has more on that, Bastien. Well, it's hardly surprising to see the UAE taking this precaution. Firstly, in the interests of the humanitarian personnel working on board these ships, which set sail from Cyprus and docked directly in the Gaza Strip. Secondly, it's a way of putting pressure on Israel and the IDF's conduct of this war. And thirdly, it's a way of putting pressure on the international community in the West, which depends on the UAE when it comes to humanitarian aid. Abu Dhabi is the main financial backer of these maritime operations to help displace Palestinians. So it's only natural that the Emirates should expect guarantees, support and results, since all this is also a question of politics, of course, and of the ponds, so to speak, that the Emirates are trying to advance to make sure they have a role to play in Gaza once this war is over. Abu Dhabi, as this humanitarian aid is becoming more and more substantial. Around 200 cargo planes, 200 trucks, air drops, and now cargo ships. That's how much the UAE has sent and has been doing in terms of aid to displace Palestinians since the start of this war. And additional trucks are allowed to go through the Rafah crossing almost every week. And the Emirates handled much of it, if not all of it, of this coordination with the Israeli government. So today, by negotiating this maritime supply to Gaza directly with Israel, Abu Dhabi is given a way to bypass UNRWA, with which relations are not good. Now, is Abu Dhabi going to permanently suspend this corridor? Of course not. It is far more politically beneficial to keep it in working order. But Israel has to first conduct a full investigation of what happened and give safety guarantees because World Central Kitchen is working directly with the Emirate government. And you can see that on the footage. Their big sponsor label is even visible on top of the boats. Bestian Boreh in Dubai. Thank you very much. Back to you again here in the studio. This is a very tragic and unfortunate event, obviously in Gaza. What could be the outcome as we see part of it right now? I think that Israel needs to find a way to cooperate with all international organizations that work now in Gaza. This is an Israeli interest because, as Sebastian said, we don't want UNRWA. And we have a very good or very bad reason why not like UNRWA to work in Gaza. This is really a tragic event. But during the war, it happens, we know that several soldiers got killed from what we call friendly fire. We see the way the chief of staff, Ertia Levy, talked about it in a very candid way about what happened and about the fact that IDF will examine what happened. And I fully believe that this is what will happen. During wars in the world, in the United States, all over the world and other places, things like that happen, unfortunately. We're not happy about it. But the most important thing is, first of all, to make sure that it's not going to happen again and to cooperate with the international organizations. Because in the end, there are two million people in Gaza, and someone needs to bring them food. Someone needs to make sure that they don't suffer from hunger and diseases and whatever. And there are one million-plus around Rafah area, and we are hearing about conversations between Washington and Jerusalem that are getting harsher and harsher about this option. Can Israel and Americans apparently believe that Israel may not be able, can Israel deal with this like almost a million-and-a-half civilians there and move them around? This is a very strange event, because Rafah is not a big place, and operation in Rafah is not a big operation. So the fact that Israel is talking about Rafah for the last few months, all the time warning, we're going to Rafah, we're going to Rafah. Okay, let's say we went into Rafah. So what? Are we going to destroy Hamas because we entered Rafah? Well, the spoiler is, no, we're not going to destroy Hamas. So I really don't understand this idea, and also the fact that Israel, from the beginning, asked people from the northern part of Gaza to move to the south, how can we now go into Rafah without taking care of those people that were forced by Israel to move to the south? So it seems like someone doesn't want to go to Rafah, but it's a very easy thing, you know, to say Biden didn't let us, the international community didn't let us. I really don't understand this event. Well, they say maybe a way to put some pressure on Hamas, maybe about the hostage deal. Yeah, but again, 180 days, we don't see that this is very effective. So the outcome would be eventually, if not the end of the war, then a major ceasefire, otherwise there won't be a deal. But, you know, I heard something that Ronan Manelis, the former IDF spokesman, said about the war in Gaza. And he said, there's no war in Gaza. The little force in Gaza, there's a few operations. We saw the operation in Sheffa Hospital and so on. But there's not a full-scale war in Gaza. So I don't see why it's very hard to ceasefire now, to bring back the hostages and then to decide what's next, because it's not a surprise. And by the way, I don't see it as a failure of the Israeli government not to destroy Hamas now. We put aside the fact that this is what Netanyahu said. But, you know, he talks. We have time to decide how and when to do it. Most of the leaders are not in Ra'fah. Most of them are in Qatar. So ceasefire is not a disaster for the state of Israel. OK. Meanwhile, another thing, which is a major argument within Israeli society, after 75 years of avoiding military service, the growing, Kharedi population in Israel is facing a new reality. Recent court ruling and public sentiment call for equality. And that's a problem. Here's some background. It's an issue that has split Israeli society for decades. And now, in the middle of a war, it's threatening once again to split the country. While military service in Israel is mandatory for both men and women, ultra-Orthodox Jews can gain exemptions if they study Torah in a Yeshiva or religious academy. Demonstrators are now demanding a more equal share in the burden of army service, while representatives of the Kharedi community point out that Arab Israelis are also exempt from conscription. In 2017, Israel's Supreme Court ruled that blanket exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox were discriminatory. The government had until last month to find a way to comply with the court ruling. As no formula acceptable to the ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition was found, the process of drafting members of the ultra-Orthodox community into the army was to begin on April 1, according to a ruling by the attorney general. It remains to be seen in the coming days whether they will indeed join Israel's defense efforts against the threats along its borders. Back to Ghananben, it's Hakir in the studio. This thing has been going on for 75 years since Ben-Gurion gave a few Yeshiva members a pass. And politically, of course, it's a very hot potato. And most Israelis, I think, and most politicians do not believe that there will be a serious draft of Kharedi youngsters. What do you think? It's very hard. And I think it's very hard to take such a big population and force them immediately to join the army. But I think that the Kharedi society needs to understand that the things have changed since October 7. And now we understand we need a bigger army. Once we talked about a small and smart army, we got a small army, about smart. We can argue when we see what happened on October 7. So we need a bigger army. We need more people to join the army. And then the reserve in Israel is very, very important. This is what made change during the 73 war in Kippur. So and the fact that they are not taking any part of that and they are very happy to live, study, get money from our taxes, this is something that need to be stopped. Now, I think we need to find a way. We don't want now to take such a big population and start fighting with them while we are in war. But the leadership of the Kharedi society needs to change something in the way they look at Israel if they want to be part of the Israeli society. And it seems now that leadership doesn't want. But some of the society wants. There is a gap between the leadership and the people. We'll see about that. Meanwhile, Israel needs all the support that it can get these days. I-24 News, Emily Francis reports on a special ceremony in Jerusalem. An evening of hope in Jerusalem, kicked off by Israeli superstar Noah Kirel, who came in third in last year's Eurovision competition. This salute and appreciation ceremony organized by the Ministry of the Diaspora was broadcast live in English around the world. To say thank you to all those Jews while fighting for their people all across the world. If it's to put the posters of the hostages in the streets of Paris, London, Toronto, or New York. If it's to stand proud with the Maghende vid in the streets, if it's to encompass, to fight against anti-Semitism. When I look back at it now, almost six months later, was a primal reaction. It was like a fight or flight reaction. Among the panelists, actor Michael Rappaport, who has become one of the most vocal celebrity influencers fighting for Israel and against anti-Semitism. There's a lot of people that are speaking up. You know, obviously we wish there would be more. You know, I might be the loudest, or I might be the most vulgar. My being, my, when I represent who I am, is under attack. I just want to say it's just a real pleasure to be here. Thank you guys for honoring us, for encouraging us. You know, it feels nice. Sometimes we feel very alone out there, but we also feel this deep sense of being connected to each other, to Israel. Singing superstar Matus Yahu was also part of the ceremony's panel discussion. Matus Yahu, who has a new single, and is working on 40 unreleased songs, as well as performing in Israel for the second time since October 7th, spoke to me backstage before the ceremony. In some ways made me feel like a stronger connection to Israel and a more powerful connection to my Jewish identity. It kind of like brought me, like, kind of back to this like focal point of like being kind of this feeling of when there's like this opposition or like being like pushed against the wall. I think that people like Rapa Port and Matus Yahu represents the best values of our Israel, to be a proud Jew and like Mordechai in the Megillah. Mordechai won't bend on his knees in the face of evil, in the face of anti-Semitism. And this is the test for every Jew. Rapa Port and Matus Yahu both live in New York where anti-Semitism and violence against Jews are rising to levels never seen in modern history. That's just not what New York City represents and true New Yorkers are. I would imagine that the majority of those people running around doing that stuff are not New Yorkers because that's not the New York spirit. And now it's a time for the city to make a statement protecting the Jews because they've made statements protecting other people. And New York City is a city for everybody. Are you feeling threatened in any way being a Jew walking around with a high in New York? I don't know, not so much. I don't really walk around much to tell you the truth. I don't go out. Polish influencer Stefan Thompson, who is not Jewish, has also been one of the biggest advocates for Israel. This is a fight for our very survival. It is the survival of Western civilization. We need Israel and Israel needs the West. It is a symptom of that. Also, a performance by Israeli singer Michal Greenglick. She is carrying on the legacy of her brother Shal, a soldier who died in Gaza on December 26th. My brother was an amazing singer. He participated in the next star to the Eurovision. He decided to leave the show and to join his friends in the Army. He fell on December 26th in an heroic battle where he defended all his soldiers. Since Sholi died, that's what I do. I go on stages. I sing. I try to give as much as hope and strength as I can through the words and the singing and the music. And even though the hostages have not yet returned and the war with Gaza is not over, Jewish pride and unity around the diaspora will only continue to flourish. I want everybody to continue to stay sane and everything I lead with is for the hostages, for the hostage families, for the idea, for their families, for the survivors. Because the fact that we're still dealing with this 178 days later, those people that I just mentioned haven't had a chance to heal or mourn because we're still in it. I think the Jewish people will always be bickering and arguing with each other and when obviously there's a tragic situation, we also shine and we come together and we shine our light very strongly. So it's like a balanced thing, like darkness and light. In Jerusalem, Emily Francis, I-24 News. The Palestinian Authority has officially revived its application to become a full member state in the United Nations. I-24 News, Mike Wagenheim in New York. Hi, Mike. What are the prospects of this? It all comes down to Washington, essentially, the Palestinian Authority under the auspices of the state of Palestine has essentially reopened its dormant application for way back in 2011, which was signed by President Mahmoud Abbas, who still remains in power 13 years later without an election since then. But that application was never taken up or at least the decision made by the Security Council of the United Nations at the time. It went through a credentialing committee, but no action taken, and it was passed along to the General Assembly where the Palestinians were given non-member observer state status at the UN, and that's the status that they've held ever since. Now the Palestinians making another push once again, Mahmoud Abbas sending a letter to Antonio Gutierrez, the UN Secretary General as expected this week, asking for the Security Council once again to take it up the target date. From all sources we understand is April 18th, where there will be a high-level ministerial meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian file at the Security Council, and that is when the Palestinians are pushing for a vote to be taken. Now nine out of the 15 members of the Council need approval, but one of the permanent five, as with any resolution at the Security Council, can always veto it, and that's where Israel and some others, whether they want to say it publicly or not, are counting on Washington's veto there. If it could pass, it would then go on to the General Assembly, where two-thirds of approval would be needed for member states. That would be guaranteed for the Palestinians. So again, it's pretty much Washington standing right now in Ramallah's way. Right. If that happens, the Palestinian Authority is not a state, but if that happens, does that mean the UN recognizes a Palestinian state necessarily? The UN has made the point over and over again that the UN doesn't recognize states. It's up to other states to recognize states. So it's not the United Nations per se making that decision, but the quote-unquote state of Palestine is already recognized within the halls of the UN as a non-member observer state. This, what they're pushing for now, is full state membership, which carries with it a whole lot of benefits and a whole lot of essentially cachet within the international community. It completely changes the game in terms of being able to establish diplomatic relationships, and able to push more things at the United Nations, which, of course, inherently would be anti-Israel, so a completely different ballgame. That's why Washington's standing in the way. All right. Mike Wagenheim in New York. Thank you very much for that. We'll take a short break, and we'll be right back with more news here tonight. 24 News, stay tuned. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. The I-24 News channel broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondents throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. Families completely gunned down in their beds. The state of emergency and war in Israel. Bringing Israel's story to the world. I-24 News channels, now on Hot. Welcome back to I-24 News. Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant issued this warning to Hezbollah today. We are increasing our preparedness, and at the same time we are also expanding our actions against Hezbollah and against other entities that threaten us. We are hitting our enemies all over the Middle East. One of the issues that will come before us in the near future will be the return of residents to their homes. We prefer the path of settlement and agreement that will result in the removal of the threat. We should not have to prepare for the possibility of military action in Lebanon, which can also take into account the scenario we are describing here, which is a scenario of war, and we need to be prepared for this issue and understand that it can happen. The outcome on the battlefield is determined by what you do to the enemy and also what they do to you when you arrive. If God forbid we arrive at such a battle, the amount of casualties, the amount of damage to our territory should be as minimal as possible and the amount of damage on their side should be as large as possible. We do not wish for a war in Lebanon. I tell you that such a war will be a difficult challenge for the State of Israel, but it will be a catastrophe for Hezbollah and Lebanon, especially in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The 924 near Zak Anders is now live in northern Israel with the latest from there, Zak. Up to five attacks at this point in the night, Hezbollah claiming that they have targeted Israeli military sites along the border. We're not seeing any reports of civilian damage or civilian casualties, no official IDF reports of damage to these military sites that Hezbollah claims to be attacking. We do see the IDF striking at least one position, and this is corroborated by Lebanese and Lebanese media and both the IDF as a site within two miles, a village within two miles of the border where an earlier launch was initiated. The IDF says a fighter jet was in the sky and was able to hit the launch within minutes of the Hezbollah launch on their side. No announcement from Hezbollah of any casualties in this incident, although they're often delayed by several days before they announced the deaths of Hezbollah party officials, party members in these incidents. It has been a quiet day as we're near one of the air bases here in the north. We usually, at this point in the afternoon, have seen a handful of these F-16s or other fighter jets taking off and heading north. It's been very quiet tonight and it does appear through the Lebanese media that we've been monitoring and it's also been quiet on their side. They have not seen heavy activity, aerial activity in southern Lebanon as well. So, a quieter night, again, Hezbollah claiming responsibility for five attacks at this point in the day and you heard those statements from the Defense Minister talking about what could be manifesting here. This is amidst reports that the hospitals for some time have been on heightened alert that there's been fuel, stockpiling food, supplies, resources that preparations have been conducted here for weeks, if not months and that the latest amount of activity that we've seen here on the border is not necessarily some sort of precursor to a far greater operation, but it should be noted that we've seen an increase in military activity in the last 24 hours and the IDF moving more resources into the area and that, again, this is happening with weeks of preparedness taking place in the civil realm with the councils here in the north preparing evacuation routes, stockpiling these resources, preparing for the potential of a full-blown conflict with Hezbollah. Yeah. Zech Anders live in northern Israel. Thank you very much for that here in the studio. Good afternoon. Let's head back to you and the northern question in Israel. What to do with Hezbollah and what's your assessment? We saw the assassination the night before yesterday. In Damascus. In Damascus. And the fact that it was targeted towards someone that was a very high commander of Iran in Lebanon and Syria, this means that Israel is going to say or said, if it's Israel, that enough is enough. We saw that Iran is using proxies all over the Middle East in order to attack Israel. And I think that everybody understands that without dealing with the Iranian problem, we're not going to solve the Hezbollah problem. It's not a surprise for me to see that today was not very quiet because they launched some missiles and there was some attacks. But Hezbollah is trying not to push very hard the situation right now, waiting to see what Iran is going to say and how he's going to respond to the assassination. Israel is waiting. And I think, again, what we say all the time, Iran is the key to solving the problem in Lebanon, not Hezbollah. Right. So Iran is threatening Israel after the killing of the seven officers in Damascus. We have Dr. Amir Javendafar, an expert on Iran from Reikman University. Thank you very much, Amir, for joining us again. How do you measure the Iranian reaction so far? Well, unfortunately, I have to say that so far the only reaction we've seen from Iran is the bombing of the mausoleum of the grave, firebombing of the mausoleum of the grave of Estera Mordechai in the city of Hamadon. Videos have emerged that some people are throwing a lot of cocktail at this holy Jewish site. This is what we've seen so far. Of course, the Iranian regime will say it's not its official response, but of course, I don't think people would dare to do such things without some kind of consent within Iran, within the regime. The Iranian regime will want to retaliate because it has been humiliated in front of its own public also. Such regimes thrive and portray themselves as being mighty and powerful and the guarantors of security, but this attack attributed to Israel was also a humiliation to the Iranian regime and also an important person who was associated with the regime and with the higher echelons of power has been killed. So it is imperative for the harmony regime to respond. The question is how are they going to do it? The current thinking is that it's probably going to be via proxy because Iran's economy is facing a crisis. The Iranian currency is now 63,000 to one pound, to one dollar, which is a historic low. The inflation for food is more than 60%, the inflation for houses is more than 80% and the Iranian regime learned from eight years of war against Iraq that you cannot enter a war directly unless your economy can function. This is why I don't believe that the chances of a direct Iranian attack from Iranian territory are high but we should expect some kind of attack from the proxies. What's happening inside Iran? Is there war criticism on this growing activity around the Middle East? I saw some signs of that. Well, Instagram is the only application that's not blocked in Iran. And to all the most of the reactions I saw to the news that these officers, the IRGC officers were killed in Syria, most of the reactions were positive. Many Iranians were very happy that they were killed because they belonged to the IRGC. And there's a big difference when I was a child in Iran from the age of 14, from the age of 70 to the age of 14, when I lived in Iran there was the Iran-Iraq war. When an Iranian was killed, Iranian soldier was killed, people didn't really care if he belonged to the Revolutionary Guard or the army. People mourned every Iranian who was killed in the war. But that was 1980 to 1988. Now we're talking about 2024, the IRGC is viewed as a corrupt and abusive organization that oppresses the people of Iran, that is very violent. And the Iranians see the IRGC as almost as the enemy. And also many Iranians don't want the regime to be involved in Syria and Lebanon when there's dire need inside Iran for the country's resources. So people don't agree with what the regime is doing in Syria and Lebanon. So when IRGC people who are spending Iranian people's money, running operations in Syria and Lebanon are killed, what we see naturally on social media is people are being very happy. Because majority of Iranians don't agree with the forever war strategy of Ayatollah Khamenei which calls for forever war against Israel and forever war against the United States. Yeah, that's very interesting. Mayor, let me bring in Catherine Peres-Shakdam, also an expert on Iran. Catherine, thank you very much for joining us. How do you see the latest developments after this Damascus attack? I would agree with May here. I don't think that the Islamic Republic of Iran will directly target Israel. This is not to say that it's not going to try to use its proxies to direct some attacks. And the Hussis, I believe, might be their choice, their elected choice. I think that Iran has a difficult choice to make here. Historically speaking, Iran doesn't like to confront its enemies even though it's very vocal about its enemies and what it would like to do to its enemy. I think that everyone is very well aware of the slogan of the regime, death to America, death to Israel in that order. But it's never keen on directly confronting those appointed enemies. So I think that Nartefan is in a position where quite clearly it was targeted, the RSGC was targeted. It needs to do something. The question is what? And I don't think that its proxies too are getting a bit fatigued when it comes to playing the game of the RSGC, especially when they're the one dying as opposed to RSGC commanders or even their food soldiers. There's a clear understanding here that there's a symmetry that is not equal here in terms of the risk that Iran's proxies are taking versus what the regime is doing itself. So I think that they're going to fund themselves on the back foot quite a lot when it comes to their proxies across the Middle East too. Also, what I would like to point out and actually I've written an article about it in the Jerusalem Post, is that I don't believe that Israel is a target of the regime immediately. I think that the regime would very much like to see Jordan fall to the Shia crescent before it could move against Israel. What it's trying to do is, I believe, is to lock out Israel geographically and to continue its advances geographically in the Middle East and to try to lock Israel out and de facto Western powers too. And I don't think that people are aware of this movement that is happening and I think that Israel demonstrated that actually it is aware of it and it has every intention in stopping the Iranian regime in the Middle East. Right. Speaking of the proxies, it's worth mentioning out that the Houthis in Iran are now designated the terrorist organization by Israel which seems like a little bit too late. Yes. Well, too late. Yes and no. I don't think it's going to change the game very much. We all know that they are terrorist organizations. They have been for many over a decade now. They have acted as a proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran for over a decade now. I would go back as far as 2004. So what happened with the Arab Spring just accelerated, you know, that civilization as far as Western capitals are concerned. The Houthis won't stop anyway. So whether or not we'd meet that they are a terrorist organization or they are not, doesn't really change anything on the ground. The real question is, will we do something in terms of stopping the attack in the Red Sea, the threat against our waterways, the threat that they're posing on energy markets and the possibility of an escalation and dragging Arab capitals into the fray, because of course Saudi Arabia and the GCC countries by extension will be harmed including Egypt by, you know, this attack on the Red Sea. So it's a question of whether or not Arab capitals will be able to understand that the real enemy is in Tehran, that they will have to normalize ties with Israel if they want to meet the challenge of this century, which is to defeat the Islamic Republic of Iran. So it's a question that we need to pose to them rather than Israel, you know, acting and declaring the Houthis as a terrorist organization. Kevin, thank you very much. And back to you, Mayor. Well, what happens is that the focus is on Lebanon, on Damascus, Houthis, what happens with the nuclear program in Iran? It's a very good question and this is one of the achievements of the Islamic Republic from this war. But I have to say also, we in Israel are not doing a very good job of working with the Americans to find a solution in Gaza. And Prime Minister Netanyahu should not be butting heads with the Americans. He should be cooperating with them in order to work on an effective after strategy for Gaza in order to first and foremost, maintain our good relations with America and not to undermine them. And secondly, by maintaining our good relations with America and trying to find a good strategy for the day after in Gaza, that would enable us, number one, to improve relations with the Saudis, which is, you know, that the scenario of Iran and Israel and Saudi Arabia moving towards each other is a nightmare scenario and but also we have to go back to working with the Americans on the question of Iran. Now, of course, ending the war in Gaza also depends on Hamas the brutal terrorist organization. But if we really want to address the Iranian nuclear program in an effective way for the state of Israel, right now the current government strategy of publicly clashing with the United States undermines our interests and undermines our joint effort. We have to despite what we might think of ourselves, being with America having good relations with America to confront Iran is a force multiplier. This is something that deeply serves our interests. This is a serious force multiplier and this is something that we have to focus and this is something that we must not lose sight of as a result of what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Israel's northern border. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Gonan here in the studio. Again, we are asking these questions. Eventually it's a conflict between Israel and Iran, isn't it? It is a conflict between Israel and Iran. I think that it's also a conflict between Iran and other countries but Israel decided or the leaders of Israel decided to put Israel in a front line place that I think for many years Israel tried not to be there. But right now this is the situation. The situation is that Iran is walking with proxies against Israel all over the world in Yemen. Who thought that we're going to have drones and missiles that were launched from Yemen to the southern part of Israel. But this situation, who thought that a small group in Yemen will somehow do something against international commerce. This is the reality and yes, this is a war against Iran through proxies. Okay. Now to Turkey. According to Reuters report, Turkish authorities prevented the newly elected mayor of the pro-Kurdish party from taking up his post and announced a rerun vote in another area where president Erdogan's party did not win. What's happening there with us is Dr. Sinan Sidi from the foundation for defense of democracies. Thank you very much for joining us. By the way, is this possible in Turkey to do such things according to the law and constitution? Well, that's a good question. I want to answer the part that they've been doing it for, you know, since at least the last five, six years if not more, right? Just replacing especially elected mayors from the Kurdish provinces of Turkey in the southeast. Just literally taking them out of office and replacing them with an AKP caretaker. And it seems this is what they try to do this time around. But I should also add there's been a recent development, especially in van promise provinces. You just said that's exactly where they attempted to not allow the elected mayor to take power. But just in the last hour they've changed their mind and the Kurdish elected mayor has been able to get his certificate that will allow him to take office. That shows probably evidently some pressure by Erdogan. What's the effect of these local elections on Erdogan's behavior in Turkey these days? Yeah, I mean on Sunday he appeared before the television screens giving a concession speech representative of the single biggest defeat he has ever experienced in power, right? The AKP under his rule, his party has never experienced this defeat. And so he didn't necessarily know what to say other than the fact that he said his party had heard the message that they would respect the will of the people which this van sort of province shows that he wasn't necessarily willing to do and it's not just limited to the van but several provinces they're refusing to give the ability of elected mayors possibly due to a request for recount or whatever the ability to just assume power over the AKP it remains to be seen how far they will do this but one thing is clear for Erdogan his power has been weakened it's just a question of how much will he sort of double down on authoritarian measures to prevent the AKP from giving away districts to the opposition parties whether they be Kurdish ones or the main opposition CHP which is held on to some big cities. But it's not like there's a serious threat politically to Erdogan he's still in for the whole term, right? Right, as far as his presidency is concerned there's nothing that threatens that now he's still in power, he still controls the state, he controls basically all the institutions such as judiciary enforcement but there is a question mark now to the extent to which Erdogan's days in office whether it's 2028, 2027 is limited simply because the tidal wave of votes that really against the AKP on Sunday was so massive it remains to be seen whether he actually has a mandate as president to govern I don't think he can risk elections as for presidency in the near future because I think if he were to run again just to refresh his mandate from last year based on Sunday's results he would be dealt a severe blow the economies and shatters people are angry with the AKP and Erdogan so he thinks he can turn this around he thinks he can buy himself some time to sort of reset his governance but whether he can do so or not is a big question mark and his biggest contender he has met his nemesis now he knows this, is the mayor of Istanbul Ekrami Omolu has been with the AKP since 2019 Erdogan knows Imam Olu is the most likely person to challenge and probably succeed him in the future the question remains is what will he do about it can he basically just allow Imam Olu to stay in office as mayor or does he impose a political ban on him through the courts which is already there it just remains to be seen whether the courts actually impose that political ban on him is over, do you foresee any changes in Erdogan's foreign policy and rhetoric we'll have to watch because he has to be very careful because one of the things he's interested to quell public anger about the economy whatever is essentially attract, you know, make Turkey an investment grade country in order to do that in domestic policy he has to sort of ensure calm and do but also foreign policy wise to the extent that he escalates or continues to sort of double down on things like his support of Hamas but also if he was to go down a road of anti-Americans anti-western rhetoric that's going to sort of scare away any sort of perspective inward investment that's going to come we should remember that he has been the American government has not confirmed this but the Turkish government has said as President Biden that's still on the books so he doesn't have the luxury of essentially just escalating rhetorically both from the perspective of economic gains but also from the perspective of I think keeping up his White House visit Thank you very much for that Thank you we have sort of breaking news politically in Israel senior cabinet member Benny Gantz calls for elections by September this year this is the first time he puts a date on the table he did not put a deadline for his membership in the cabinet near an ultimatum but he puts a date and maybe under the pressure of the demonstrations maybe I don't think or I don't remember that he mentioned that he's going to say something before the demonstration yesterday in Jerusalem, I think that he understands that there is a gap going between him and people that usually vote for him and some of them are on the streets demonstrating against the government and he needs to find a way to close this gap I would say that we need to understand what are his terms in order to get to agreement with Netanyahu regarding the elections because Netanyahu can say no and then what we should clarify that even if Gantz leaves the cabinet Netanyahu still has 64 votes in the Knesset which means he still has a coalition and if he's going out of the war cabinet maybe Netanyahu will bring Gidon Sard that wanted to go into the cabinet now it will be a good chance for him to go into the war cabinet although Sard has flatly publicly denied that and he himself said that he was suggesting elections by January 25 but we're getting inside Israeli politics but overall this is a change we have a date now to relate to and the idea by Gantz was that he wants to calm the atmosphere I'm not sure it's going to work politically and I'm not sure it's going to calm the demonstrations as well what do you think? I don't think that it will calm the demonstrations we want the hostages back you know we said that we are doing everything in our everything we can in order to bring the hostages back on Passover well you know 180 days the hostages are still a couple weeks yes and we don't see that there is anything happening with any agreement with Hamas we want the hostages back and elections it's very important to have elections as soon as possible but we need them back but maybe the announcement now will work harder to do something to bring some achievements and bring back the hostages is the most important thing we'll have to see about that Donal Ben-Ishak thank you very much for that thank you very much for having me this would be it for us stay tuned for more news with Kala Bandabit here on night 24 news have a good night from Tel Aviv Israel is in a state of war families completely as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well Welcome to the special broadcast on I-24 news I'm Kala Bandabit it is day 180 of Israel's war against Hamas and today Israel is fighting another battle on the diplomatic front as well for international legitimacy of that operation this in the midst of global outrage over the accidental killing of seven foreign aid workers in Gaza in an accidental IDF airstrike on their convoy as it moved through Gaza Monday night among the dead were citizens of the U.S. the U.K. Poland and Australia working for the food charity World Central Kitchen and leading the chorus of foreign leaders condemning Israel is U.S. President Joe Biden who said he was outraged and heartbroken by the incident and accused Israel of not doing enough to protect humanitarian workers and Palestinian civilians in Gaza IDF chief of staff Herzl Hallevi released a statement calling the strike a grave mistake here is some of that along with the reactions being heard now across the world I want to be very clear the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers it was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night during a bigger war in a very complex conditions it shouldn't have happened the initial findings were just presented to me here in the southern command I also visited the new humanitarian command center that we established today to improve the way we coordinate a distribution in Gaza we were outraged to learn of an IDF strike that killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from the world's central kitchen which has been relentless in working to get food to those who are hungry in Gaza and quite frankly around the world we send our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones it's an awful, awful tragedy to think that these were brave Brits who were actually risking their lives to bring aid to people in need in Gaza to have lost their lives in these circumstances with their family and their friends at this time I spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu last night and was very clear with him that the situation is increasingly intolerable I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning with a phone call that was organized overnight I expressed Australia's anger and concern to reiterate my strong call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip I expressed my deep regret for the volunteers killed while engaged in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza I pray for them and their families and joining me in the studio for more we have Shiri Fine Grossman a member of the Forum d'Avore women in foreign policy and national security former head of the regional affairs for the Israel's national security council and Ambassador Avi Pesner from France in Italy former world chairman of Karen Hayes-Saud joining us from the Yorker senior U.S. correspondent Mike Wagenheim and from London we have our U.K. correspondent Jonathan Sacerdote I'll start though with you Mike the reaction in Washington strong reaction from President Biden that certainly is going to impact on how the U.S. relates to the operation in Gaza going forward Two senior Biden administration officials today that the incident that occurred with the world's central kitchen is not going to affect policy going forward at least in the near term but that's almost unimaginable at this point that that's the reality of the situation President Joe Biden using some of his strongest language to date in condemning the deadly incident he has said that not enough is being done to protect aid workers laying the blame on Israel also saying Israel is not doing enough to protect civilians in Gaza there are implications in the current ICJ case when words coming from the United States president reflect that he also said the incident simply should not have happened and expressed his outrage that it took place at all so a strong language right now coming from Biden I think the larger issue here Khaled that can't be overlooked while the IDF is saying all the right things at the moment saying that this should not have happened that it was a mistake that it will be it's discovery the optics yesterday of Prime Minister Netanyahu coming out of the hospital talking about his hernia and then almost as a footnote mentioning the WCK incident as one of those well it's war it happens the Biden administration took note of that and I think that is going to reflect more negatively than anything seeing the Prime Minister the one who's supposed to be the point person the one who's you know the buck stops with the head taking the attitude that these kind of things are just essentially unavoidable the Biden administration is looking at that is not a great message right now coming out of Jerusalem right and certainly on the public arena is not going to help Israel there in the US and maybe Jonathan Sachado even more so in the UK strong words coming even talk seeing some talk of an arms embargo against Israel resulting from this Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said that the killings were completely unacceptable and that he has pressed Israel for major changes to ensure the safety of aid workers as you say there is some discussion over whether or not you should still be selling arms to Israel there isn't yet any decision not to do so and indeed the government will be taking legal advice constantly they say on whether or not Israel is breaking international law but that legal advice isn't made public so when they change their minds we might presume that it's because they have legal advice that Israel is not obeying international law at the moment that hasn't happened despite leaks and discussions that there may be some existing legal opinion that would point in that direction a Downing Street spokesperson of course also said that the Prime Minister spoke to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he was appalled by the killing of the aid workers including those three British nationals in that air striking Gaza and transparent investigation and independent investigation into what happened and the Prime Minister also said that too many aid workers and ordinary citizens have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is what he called increasingly intolerable so obviously Britain is making more and more critical noises but of course we always need to compare what they're saying publicly for the domestic audience to what they're doing behind the scenes and whether or not they're actually getting in the way of Israel's continued war effort all right Jonathan thank you for that Mike also thank you for joining us Shiri of course things like this do happen as voices in Israel pointed out they happened to the United States killing even civilians and aid workers in places like Afghanistan but Israel is not the US and the question is where in terms of security how this will impact both on the humanitarian efforts in Gaza Israel's plans to move forward perhaps into Rafah and as you heard Jonathan even talk of possibly this impacting on arms shipments to Israel yeah so thank you three important points here one it's unfortunate and it's terrible and it should be thoroughly investigated and we should be a lot more transparent in that investigation because it's an important investigation and the IDF and the government has the tools to do so and the lawyers have we seen in the ICJ and they should definitely be more outspoken about what is going on and what are their processes and go thoroughly into this investigation the other thing is we have to say there have been at least in January IDF published that more than 30 IDF soldiers died from accidents and accidental shootings even hostages so these are things that happen and the third thing yes I think could may have a major impact on what's going on with the humanitarian aid and what Israel should do is actually allow aid come from the north from the air is crossing and will alleviate a lot of the unnecessary pressure that we feel whenever it comes to the humanitarian side the humanitarian aid going to Gaza Avi on the diplomatic side you heard Mike said there are those in Washington in the White House beyond just the incident itself talking about the optics of the incident and Prime Minister Netanyahu is presenting this to the world what should Israel be doing at this time even maybe more so to lessen the potential impact of this incident you'll be surprised but I think Israel did the right thing after this unfortunate accident Prime Minister himself came out and said we are responsible for that the chief of the army said it's our responsibility we will inquire I think Israel should go once and further and say that reparations would be paid to the families of the victim I think this is an idea which I want to float with you we should do our utmost to convince the world public opinion this was an accident a serious action but you spoke a minute ago about what happened in Afghanistan dozens were killed of aid workers were killed in Afghanistan by the way not only in Afghanistan in Gaza the American parachuted help to the Gaza people and the parachute did not open I should say the U.S. claimed that that wasn't aid drops from U.S. planes but I'll go there I don't blame the United States I just want to say really these things happen in war when we do it's a war going on our utmost will be to inquire to say yes we are responsible and we will do what we can to repair the damage this is what we can do and believe me Caleb in a few days they will speak about other issues because there will be other issues in a few days I want to ask Mike Wagenheim because I want to ask him about that in a few days there was also a U.S. public opinion in the head world kitchens got a very celebrity chef runs it very popular wrote a piece someone who has defended Israel in some ways in the past saying that Israel is not taking a broader view saying Israel is not conducting the war as it should be I agree with a friend certainly on one level the media cycle is short lived it's quite fickle and there will be other incidents unfortunately and other problems to deal with within this war domestic issues, Benny Gantz making a statement about an election today there are other things that will be focused on in the not too distant future whatsoever so certainly this incident will fade somewhat from the public eye at least out of the front pages but on the other hand there is a cumulative effect of the Israel-U.S. relations right now and you know Caleb I was saying you can't make hay of every little disagreement between the U.S. and Israel I think people blow up every little tension point and say well this is the end but it's getting to a point at this point where there are incredibly serious disagreements between Washington and Jerusalem right now that aren't going away that aren't getting solved that can't be resolved just by saying we agreed to disagree like most of the disagreements between Israel and the United States at least in the Netanyahu-Biden era here and so yes this may fade from the headlines but with everything else going on and every other point of disagreement I think this certainly adds to kind of a snowball effect and that is something to watch for more than anything even if this fades out of the headlines in the next couple of days. Alright Mike Wagon and Jonathan Satsudori thank you for that but sure I see you shaking your head you're in agreement with- I think this could be the Lebanon war that could turn things around and really lead to a possible UN Security Council that actually has teeth under Chapter 7 and all that so I think we're under this like you said it's a kind of aggritive effect and I think we should be worried because our Israeli government is continuing to ignore this diplomatic front this global international relation front and we can't win this war just by the tanks and the airplanes and the rockets it needs a diplomatic front and I'm sure Ambassador will agree on that. But I think here we all agreed that this was a mistake it was not an Israeli that's underselling it a bit you know and I don't think that we are going to see Chapter 7 agitated before our eyes in the near future because of that incident but it's true I mean where can it affect? Where can it affect? You know where it can affect we have now discussion with the American on the Rafa issue and here it may harden the position of the Americans which already in disagreement with us on that issue after that that's happened this might be the I see it as the major difficulty I would say that it was almost pretty a short but I'm sure we'll be talking more about this incident more of the details come about exactly how it happened but let's move now from the diplomatic sphere to Israel's domestic politics where the challenges are also mounting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mike Wagon I mentioned it from the opposition to join Netanyahu's government as a member of the War Cabinet dropped a political bombshell today calling for new elections in September now surveys have shown that Gantz's National Unity Party would emerge well ahead of the Likud in a new election putting him in position to take over the premiership from Netanyahu here's some of what Gantz had to say just a short while ago as long as we keep the unity and succeed in the most that will happen before us in order for us to maintain unity and succeed in the task before us the public must know that soon we will return and ask for their trust let's not ignore the October 7 disaster and what preceded it therefore we must reach an agreed election date during the month of September a year after the war I have talked in recent weeks with political leaders on the issue as well as informed the Prime Minister that I wish him good health and a speedy recovery and will continue the dialogue with him on the issue I will just add he didn't let that go on to where that he was resigning from the government to move that would certainly make more likely that there will be elections but I do think this ties in to what we've just been discussing the mounting difficulties with the operation in Gaza and we'll get to it in a minute but we're seeing in the streets not just for a hostage deal we'll talk about that but for a replacement of the government yeah we didn't look it's very important to get national unity national unity is key to moving on from the October 7 events and onslaught to move forward with our future this current government doesn't have a large base mandate from the public it was increased with Benny Gantz joining it calling for election that undermines that and the demonstrations by the Haasers families who are going on radio and television every night saying that they don't believe they don't trust this government anymore that it has the right considerations when it comes to the negotiations so that crack of confidence of trust in the government is key and something we have to amend and I think that was kind of what Gantz is alluding to at least I hope that was what he was alluding to new and brand-manded from the public which will help we're in the war but Avi we should know Prime Minister Netanyahu just this weekend said the worst thing would be new elections now it would freeze up the government freeze up the war in Gaza would be almost a reward to Hamas a benefit Hamas to have elections now in the midst of a war you know kind of I don't want to enter the discussion between Netanyahu and Gantz but what I want to say my point is that really if we go now into election we saw some scenes nobody liked to see yesterday night in Jerusalem which we will go into in a minute you know when you have election in the middle of a war it's the attention is focused on the election with broad internal discussions it will take until September to get election then it takes three months to form a new government I have a better idea for for Bin Netanyahu let's form a new government without the parties of the extreme right taking Leipzig, taking Lieberman make even the Labour Party take them in, make a broad-based government conduct the war with a really broad based government in the middle of a war which will only rise internal position leader Lapid offered that in the beginning of the war and Netanyahu wouldn't accept all right and there are those who say the question is whether even if that was possible and even if you maintain the Likud a Likud Prime Minister whether those parties would accept Benjim and Netanyahu as the Prime Minister I think today they will in a situation of war for a hostage until the war is over I think a lot of that everything we are discussing may be connected with whether there will be a hostage agreement in the coming weeks in recent days and we have been talking about this the protests against the government over the hostage issue have increasingly taken a political tone with the cause to show more flexibility in reaching a deal supplemented by demands that Prime Minister Netanyahu stepped down the main hostage family demonstration outside the Knesset has been going on for four days but last night some of the demonstrators moved to outside Netanyahu's private home on Jerusalem's Asa street and got into a violent confrontation with police and Shin Bet guards outside the residence who say some of the protestors tried to breach the barriers at the building's entrance the Shin Bet chief Ronan Barr the violent discord on the internet and some of the scenes we saw tonight in Jerusalem go beyond the accepted rules of protest on the ability to maintain public order mainly to violent friction with the security forces hinder them from filling their duties and even harm protected individuals there was a clear line between a legitimate protest and a violent and illegal protest this is a worrisome trend that may lead to dangerous areas that should not be reached the protestors meanwhile continue today inside the Knesset and expel demonstrators in the visitors gallery of the plenum who disrupted proceedings by leaving yellow hand prints on protective glass around the gallery well for more let's go to our senior correspondent Bianca Zanini who's in Jerusalem near where those scenes of the protest have been happening and Bianca some bombshell political news last night and really that's in some ways gotta be a reaction to that intensification of these protests we've been seeing the last few days I was about to say this guns calling for election and saying that it could prevent a rift in the nation is speaking directly to these intensified protests and the growing number of protestors until last Saturday we were seeing two separate lines of protests we were seeing the anti-government protests and the families focusing on bringing back the hostages that took a big turn and then we've seen the largest wave of protests in Jerusalem for the last four days now we've seen everything from families camping in tents there have been speeches and rallies and marches and last night there were also clashes with police five people were arrested this has been the scene of intense protests and earlier today we saw family members of hostages entering the Knesset gallery and using a yellow paint color to throw on the walls and to put their hands up on the glass yellow of course being the color symbolizing the war and they were calling for new election calling to topple the government and they were quickly brought out by security but again Kalev this does show the level of anger and aggression that we're seeing and today right now you're seeing that the protesters have left the Knesset but we are still expecting to see many more protests here in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv in the coming weeks Alright Bianca Zanini there in Jerusalem thank you for that Shiri Avi going too far the protesters either in the Knesset today at the Prime Minister's home last night one police official by the way in the court today in Jerusalem said it reminded him of scenes of a violent coup in which at the end they take the leader out in the street and is executed hyperbole from the... I think everything now is exaggerated that we are going back to the days previous September, October 7 violence in the streets protests and I think it's also a mistake from part of the families of the hostages going to the political arena but not all have we should say some have objected to it some of them, but some of them it will harm their cause because it will render the Hamas more sanguine it will render the Hamas more obstinate and it will be more difficult to get a deal for the hostages now in such an internal situation Well I can show you evidence at least a parent evidence of that Avi because Ismaa Chalmi Hamas leader just in the past couple of hours did make a statement made clear the terror group is not moving from maximalist positions which of course Israel cannot accept let's take a listen to what Chania said we clearly confirm that we are committed to our demands the permanence is fire comprehensive and complete withdrawal of Israel out of the Gaza Strip the return of all displaced people allowing all aid needed for our people in Gaza, rebuilding the Strip lifting the blockade and achieving an honorable prisoner exchange deal all of this is the path to getting the rights of our Palestinian people in their land homeland and sanctities sure you can respond to what Avi said but again is that rhetoric maybe responding to what's happening or is there any chance for any flexibility first of all the violence scenes that we've seen yesterday were some and the announcement by the Shin Bet head is also very alarming I mean it's basically said we're seeing maybe death threats to political assassination and that is a dangerous path we're marching on and I think look I think absolutely Mohammad Def and Sinuwar are in charge of if we get a deal, if we don't get a deal they're the most responsible and I don't think I don't believe the government is doing the best strategic move to get us forward and to defeat Hamas and get to that point where we have more leverage in the negotiations I mean whatever they're doing it's been six months we're 180 days in and the hostages are still there so I think there's criticism growing criticism I think it's justified and again there's a lack of faith and there's a breakdown of trust with the Prime Minister and the hostage families and this again is not managed in the right way it should have been managed we shouldn't have gotten to this point where the hostage families sit down with the Prime Minister and just don't believe anything he has to say I should say by the way that Ben-Igans even while calling for new elections has said called on restraint from those opposed to the government we just heard ania I mean the answer is ania did some mistakes during the negotiation it's possible but when you see the position of ania who is by the political leader of the Hamas it is true it's not Sinwar who is the military leader but here you have a demonstration of a hardening of position by the Hamas a month ago ania did not speak like that and I think that when he speaks like that you cannot blame Israel for not having a host again no the question was are the demonstrations the main cause of it and I don't think they're the main cause of it I think there's an aggregated things that we're seeing how we're seeing this lack of progress in the Gaza with the operation not going into Rafa and all etc alright you have to stay with us we are going out for a brief break but stay with us on our broadcast we'll come back in a few minutes and continue special broadcast war against Hamas we'll be right back welcome back to this special broadcast on I-24 news as yours were against Hamas day 180 but now we're going to turn away from the southern front to the northern front now as expected you could say Israel has not claimed responsibility for the airstrike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus that took out seven senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps but the Tehran regime is currently laying the blame on Jerusalem also as expected now American officials have reportedly conveyed to Iran that the U.S. had no role in the attack this is after American forces in Syria down the drone believed to have been launched by an Iranian backed militia in Syria it's the first time that's happened in a couple of months here's what a spokesperson for the IRGC had to say today in Tehran In fact, the Zionists are trying to avenge their defeat at the al-Aqsa flood by killing IRGC generals but they will get nowhere and the motivation of our soldiers will be multiplied soon we will see deadlier blows to the Zionist regime and the resistance front will carry out its duties in this regard out of the 70,000 militants that were involved in the al-Aqsa flood either as reservists or attack forces less than 1,500 have been martyred and the rest are ready to continue fighting the usurping Zionist occupiers for more, let's go to our correspondent, Zach Ganges who is in northern Israel and a lot of questions being asked today, Zach how will Iran make good on those threats for example, escalate its attacks there in northern Israel or use its proxies to strike elsewhere as we've seen as maybe we saw in that attack on the US forces in Syria they attempted a drone attack the other day on US forces that's a good point in the course of the Israel Hamas war we've seen Iran most prominently outside of their two main proxies the Houthis and Hezbollah elsewhere they fired on US interests in Iraq and in Syria and that entered into a period a dormant period for some time we hadn't seen US forces come under attack and there was over 100 incidents of US forces in the region being targeted over the course of the conflict and then around the new year it became very quiet and last night picking up like you said the first time in several months that perhaps a key indicator that Iran feels that US interests are more vulnerable perhaps it's a part of their overall calculations and what they think would best serve their interests if they can drag the US into this fight but Hezbollah again showing timidness in its response we've been in a stasis period again where we see the average number of attacks per day met at this point in the night today with the same responsibility for five attacks tonight same number yesterday so it's been relatively business as usual a remarkable usual but normal for what we're seeing here and the attacks have been primarily focused on military sites along the border there was last night a red alert and several rockets fired on the Hariyah this being an outlier over the last several months for this side the coastal side of northern Israel otherwise again remarkable to see the level at which the IDF if they are purported to be behind this Damascus strike as they were behind the Beirut strike the level of ability to target long standing Israeli enemies men that have been not just in the IRGC but coordinating terrorist activities in the Middle East for decades to be able to eliminate these high ranking figures and largely be met with a war of words and not a military response alright we should though mention as you mentioned yesterday in your report the IDF reports of the IDF beefing up its forces there in the north and also reinforcing for example key infrastructure like electrical power power stations perhaps in anticipation of a possible possible escalation from Hezbollah or other Iranian proxies Zach Anders there in the north thank you for that and still with us in studio Shiri Fine Grossman Ambassador Avi Pesna well let's talk about it Shiri because a lot of noise coming out of Tehran today we heard it public demonstrations in the streets did you really change the past couple of days on the northern front from Hezbollah activity well we have to differentiate the Hezbollah front which I don't think is the kind of where we're going to see the attack come from because it doesn't make any strategic sense that Nasrallah would make that mistake taking the major escalation into Lebanon he hasn't done so they're more than 270 Hezbollah operative dead I don't see that he would do that for the Iran Iranians that were killed but I do I mean there could be different styles of attacks could be on Israeli embassies abroad it could be drone attacks like you said of militia it could be a major cyber attack it could be long-range missiles either from Iran itself or from Iraq or other places with proxies so there's a number of scenarios I think they will definitely try to retaliate and send back a message but there's a few probabilities here ranging from they got the message and they they will take a step back till kind of the snowball effect of the attack and will escalation to war with Lebanon I'm just curious about this I mentioned this rocket this so-called drone attack on US forces which was the first buy one of these Iraqi militias after which they seem to stand down from them is that a possibility or do you think that was just a one-off it's definitely American troops are also always part of the calculation I think the US has already sent a message on this so I don't think it's likey there's a kind of this direct link about to Israel and I think that's where they want to retaliate I just want to know with all the noise and thunder out of Tehran Iran also trying to make a diplomatic push as if this was a diplomatic incident since the area targeted Jason to the or maybe in the embassy compound though it seemed but of course who was reported killed were military or terrorist officials you could say this gives us an indication maybe where the Iranian reaction will take place if I were the foreign minister of Israel I would now warn all the embassies of Israel everywhere to be even more careful than they are already okay and by the way the Iranian already once attacked an Israeli embassy in Argentina in the 90s it was the Iran so I would not be surprised because of what you said Caleb that all this happened in an embassy in Damascus that an Israeli embassy might be the target of retaliation somewhere in the future let's hope not and let's hope Israel takes whatever necessary precautions to prevent that we do have a report now coming out relating earlier to what we've been speaking about that prime minister now will hold a discussion a phone discussion tomorrow with US president Joe Biden and this comes after a meeting apparently or virtual meeting held today of the war cabinet which I'm sure this is one of the issues being discussed now as Israel finds itself increasingly under sort of international diplomatic pressure especially in response to that incident in the Gaza Strip the Palestinian Authority is taking the opportunity to relaunch its bid to be accepted as a full member state in the United Nations now the PA's UN envoy Riyad Mansour has submitted an official membership application or re-application to UN Secretary General Antoine Guterres who is reviving a bid that has been previously stormy in the UN Security Council primarily by the US now some European nations including Spain and Belgium have already said that they will advocate now on behalf of officially recognize the state of Palestine joining us now for more Palestinian security analysts Mohammed Najib from Ramallah Maba tell us about this new initiative why the PA might think this is the time they could in their statehood bid at the UN where in the past it has failed yes actually the Palestinians hopes that the UN Security Council that going to discuss the situation in the Middle East on 18 April will take their request that was submitted to the UN Security Council in 2011 resuming and taking concentration to recognize the Palestinian as a full state at the United Nations actually right now the Palestinian Authority as a non-member observer state when 140 countries were voted in 2012 for that but right now the Palestinians are hopes and this year is an election year in the United States and the United States is under aggression because of its position to regard the war in Gaza and there are also momentum of support for the Palestinians and to go for a political solution so the Palestinian Authority and Ambassador Mansour the special envoy of the Palestinian Authority the UN hopes that this is an opportunity to enhance and to get support for that but the issue is not that easy because they need at least 9 countries of the 15 members of the UN Security Council to vote for the Palestinians and that the US, Russia, China, France and the UK will not use the veto in 2011 when the Palestinians are blight the United States threaten to use the veto but this year the Palestinians hopes with the war in Gaza increasing support and the position in the United States for the United States official position regarding the war in Gaza that the United States will not use the veto and gain more support for the Palestinians and for this All right, Mohammed Najib in Ramallah thank you for that Avi with all we've been talking about first of all I have to say he'd get 9 members in the Security Council as I mentioned we've seen countries like Spain and Belgium the usual suspects by the way but maybe they will get the 9 we know maybe the other but is there any scenario outside of Russia and China there's other members especially the US not using their veto on the Palestinians or is that a call that President Biden can now if he chooses hold over Prime Minister Netanyahu? First of all Kaleb I see here the irony of history the bloodiest attack by the Hamas terrorist group on Israel will lead to the recognition of the Palestinian Authority as a state in the United Nations think about that that way okay now it all depends I think they can maybe mobilize the 9 votes I'm not sure but it all depends on whether or not we have an American veto like we had in the past and the last American president used a veto was Obama who was not that friendly with Israel he used his veto power in the Security Council to block the Palestinian admission let's just hope that Biden will follow suit and that we will not see this development which will be very detrimental towards Israel if it happens and I believe that maybe even tomorrow you just mentioned that Netanyahu is going to speak with Biden maybe this will also be one of the topics this is definitely one of the biggest sticks the Biden administration has to hold over this current government and I believe it will use it in the conversations it's definitely part of the toolbox recognizing the Palestinians it will threaten to do so unless it sees some kind of change in the activity of the Israeli government and it's in continuous refusal to debate the future of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict staying on the Palestinians for this year I just want to get your view we did have another terror attack the other night it was an Israeli Arab who did a ramming attack in central Israel in Nicaragua four policemen injured reportedly his family even said he had emotional problems had been talking about suicide but there was a lot of concern whether there might be an uptick in attacks now we've seen just two this week a relatively quiet first three weeks of Ramadan how concerned should we be especially stuff centered around the Temple Mount Al-Aqsa Mosque area the last third or quarter of Ramadan is the most kind of sensitive time that we have coming to Ida Al-Fitr and it's definitely been many years there are millions of Arabs in the passing territories and throughout Israel and of course the war is kind of inciting them and others are inciting them also Al-Jazeera and Qatar are inciting them so yeah it's such a situation but we are at war and we've seen a lot worse even in the months before October 7 so it's kind of between you know what more of what we're seeing the major thing to watch out for is if worshipers in the Temple Mount or Al-Aqsa Mosque will stay overnight and try to kind of throw rocks at Jewish prayers in the Wailing Wall and then will the police go in and break into the mosques that will be kind of this a very very sensitive point to watch out for. Okay that's a footage from the we show briefly from the terror attack the other day. I want to bring the issue back to the hostages for a moment as we always should. Last week Amit Sosana became the first woman held hostage in Gaza to publicly acknowledge suffering sexual abuse while being held captive by Hamas well after speaking with the New York Times Sosana has now spoken before and has settled screams and then silence which will now this will be released at the end of the month but we have a preview of some of that footage which was provided by Castina Communications let's take a look. There were ten men around me the feeling that they're taking me like I'm some kind of object I just couldn't I couldn't stand it my instinct was just to fight to do what I can really scared that they're gonna rape me there and that they're gonna drag me through Gaza streets and parade my body around so I feared that more than being killed I was chained for three weeks in Gaza I was kept in a really dark room without being able to move whenever I needed to go and use the bathroom I needed to ask for permission his name was Muhammad he used to sit on the bed in front of me wearing his shorts laying down I remember I couldn't look at him I was just like looking away and covering myself with a blanket so I wouldn't have to look at him he also kept asking me do I like sex do I have sex with my boyfriend and I whenever he talked about it I just like giggled and say oh come on stop stop trying to change the subject I knew that he's up to something I knew that something bad is gonna happen so one day Muhammad came and gave me woman sanitary pads he said dam dam when you get your period after that you'll take a shower and you'll wash your clothes and he kept repeating that every couple of times a day and when I got my period the period was just for one day but I told him to think that the period is continuing until I could not lie anymore he untied me and took me to the kitchen and showed me a pot now I remember thinking how can I avoid that there's nothing I can do terrifying to hear that being described and also I have to keep in mind I think 19 women being held hostage in Gaza Amita is a hero and we should also loot her it's all I can say really and it's terrible to think that we have 19 women who are maybe in worse condition than she was for a longer time and that we have to do our utmost to get them all out this is only a testimony to how time is running out I will say when you say as a hero in coming forward public and speaking about because as we know not only that look at the video of how she was taking into captivity seven men were trying to hold her down while she was naked this is impossible you look at it it's unbelievable the mental the strength that she had to fight it's fight or fly it or freeze not everybody fight that way and look at her strength look at how she carried herself and the world has forgotten that nobody speaks about this I think it's very worrisome that this will be the standard for a terrorist attack that a woman will have to come out publicly identify herself as a victim of this kind of sex in order to quell and even that won't be sufficient for those who doubt the accounts but do not take up the case let's hope all the women and all the hostages make their way home soon Jerry Fine Grossman and Ambassador Avi Pesner great to have you thank you very much now as anti-Israel sentiment and anti-Semitism continue to spread like wildfire around the world and that's going to only get worse certainly in the coming days there are a handful of Jewish celebrities and pro-Israel influences combating the narrative on social media elsewhere and coming to Israel to lend their support among them is the actor and comedian Michael Rappaport we've had in the studio and on several times and the singer Matis Yahu and they were among those honored at a special ceremony in Jerusalem this week our Emily Francis was there and got the chance to sit down with them both an evening of hope in Jerusalem who came in third in last year's Eurovision competition this salute and appreciation ceremony organized by the ministry of the diaspora was broadcast live in English around the world to say thank you to all those Jews while fighting for their people all across the world if it's to put the posters of the hostages in the streets of Paris London, Toronto or New York if it's to stand proud with them again David in the streets if it's on campus to fight against anti-semitism when I look back at it now almost six months later was a primal reaction it was like a fight or flight reaction among the panelists actor Michael Rappaport who has become one of the most vocal celebrity influencers fighting for Israel and against anti-semitism there's a lot of people that are speaking up you know obviously we wish there would be more you know I might be the loudest I might be the most vulgar my being my what I represent who I am is under attack I just want to say it's just a real pleasure to be here thank you guys for honoring us for encouraging us you know it feels nice sometimes we feel very alone out there but we also feel this deep sense of being connected to each other to Israel bringing superstar Matus Yahu was also part of the ceremony's panel discussion Matus Yahu who has a new single and is working on 40 unreleased songs as well as performing in Israel for the second time since October 7th spoke to me backstage before the ceremony in some ways made me feel like a stronger connection to Israel and a more powerful connection to the Jewish identity it kind of like brought me kind of back to this like focal point of like being kind of this feeling of when there's like this opposition or like being like pushed against the wall I think that people like Rapa Port and Matus Yahu represents the best values of our Israel to be a proud Jew and like Mordechai in the Megillah Mordechai won't bend his knees in the face of evil in the face of anti-semitism and this is the test for every Jew today in the world Rapa Port and Matus Yahu both live in New York where anti-semitism and violence against Jews are rising to levels never seen in modern history that's just not what New York City represents and true New Yorkers are I would imagine that the majority of those people running around doing that stuff are not New Yorkers because that's not the New York spirit and now it's a time for the city to make a statement protecting the Jews because they've made statements protecting other people and New York City is a city for everybody Are you feeling threatened in any way being a Jew walking around with a high in New York? I don't know, not so much I don't really walk around much to tell you the truth I don't know I don't go out Polish influencer Stefan Thompson who is not Jewish has also been one of the biggest advocates for Israel because this is a fight for our very survival it is the survival of Western civilization we need Israel and Israel needs the West it is a symptom of that and that is what we hear also a performance by Israeli singer Michal Greenglick she is carrying on the legacy of her brother Shal a soldier who died in Gaza on December 26th my brother was an amazing singer he participated in the next star to the Eurovision he decided to leave the show and to join his friends in the army he fell on December 26th in a heroic battle where he defended all his soldiers since Sholi died, that's what I do I go on stages, I sing I try to give as much as hope and strength as I can through the words and the singing and the music and even though the hostages have not yet returned and the war with Gaza is not over Jewish pride and unity around the diaspora will only continue to flourish I want everybody to continue to stay sane and everything I lead with is for the hostages, for the hostage families for the idea, for their families for the survivors because the fact that we're still dealing with this 178 days later those people that I just mentioned have no chance to heal or mourn because we're still in it I think the Jewish people will always be bickering and arguing with each other but then when obviously there's a tragic situation we also shine and we come together and we shine our light very strongly so it's like a balanced thing like darkness and light in Jerusalem, Emily Francis I-24 News finding the good fight is to a close this broadcast on I-24 News