Honestly with Bari Weiss: How Hamas Executed a Massacre, and How One Israeli with Nine Bullets Fought Back

The Free Press 10/27/23 - 1h 14m - PDF Transcript

Transcript
Show Notes

Lara, ich hab gar nichts verstanden.

Ich check einfach nicht, wieso mein Dad so früh am Morgen so ein Alarm macht.

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Ich glaub's nicht. Mein Dad hat's endlich gecheckt.

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Jetzt check auf ewe.e slash zuhause.

Ich bin Barry Weiss und das ist ehrlich.

Es sind fast drei Wochen, seit Hamas Israel attackiert.

Und es gibt drei Fragen, die,

dass ich so viel über die letzten 19 Tage beruhigte,

noch über die Frage ging.

Der erste ist, was genau passiert?

Der zweite ist, wie hat es passiert?

Wie haben thousands von Terroristen über eine Bordewahl über $1.000.000

über eine Bordewahl, die mehr als 1.000.000 Dollar kostet,

um die worsten Massacre von Jews aus dem Holocaust zu holen?

Und der dritte ist das, was kommt nächstes in dieser schon horrifizierten Krieg?

Über die nächsten zwei Episodes,

werden wir die drei Fragen über die drei Menschen sprechen.

Ihr erstes hört von Nimrod,

dem letzten Name, den wir nicht beantragt haben.

Er ist ein Special Ops Reserve Soldier,

der Hamas in vielen Locations in den Süden Israel

auf dem Morgen des 7. Oktober gefeiert hat.

Sein Account hat ein Bild von etwas,

was in Israel mit dem Gaza-Borderung passiert,

von einer Person, die mit seinen eigenen Augen nahm

und die Faltung in seine eigenen Hände war,

bevor die Armee sogar kam.

Dann hört ihr von Avi Izakarov,

ein prominente israelischer Journalist,

der auch einer der Kreatoren der Hit-TV-Serie Fauda ist,

die in seiner eigenen Erfahrung

als ein Mitglieder eines elite Counter-Terrorismus-Units

von der IDF, die untergekommen ist.

Meine Konversation mit Avi

hat eine breitere Art von,

wie es so passiert,

dass die größte und militärisch-sophistische

Landwirte in der Welt

in der größten, horrifizierten Art der Welt

In der nächsten Episode,

hört ihr von Walter Russell Mead,

der, was ich denke,

die ästhetischen politischen Ärzte der Zeit.

Es gibt keine bessere Länge,

als diese drei Menschen,

um uns zu helfen, was passiert,

wie es passiert,

und wo Israel und der Welt gehen.

Ihr wirst es hören wollen.

Bleib mit uns.

Wenn meine Kinder,

was sie für Essen wollen,

dann wählen sie Pillos und My Sandals

10 x out of 10.

Aber ich bin sicher,

dass ihre zweite Wahl

von den Farmerspielen

ein Essen ist,

sagen sie,

dass die Drei-Stil-Pellets gut sind.

Es ist 2023,

wenn dein Kind nicht auf ein

Kostüm-Mail-Planet ist,

und es ist ein Kostüm-Mail-Planet,

und Paris für die

von einer Forschungs- und Rescue-Unit und der former Special Forces.

Wie viele Jahre warst du in der Armee?

Und was für einen Kampf hast du in deinen Jahren in der Armee gesehen?

So, mein regulares Service war fast fünf Jahre,

aber all und all war ich in der Armee für 21 Jahre jetzt,

auch in Reserven.

Ich habe viele Situationen im Kampf,

auch in der Westbank,

oder in Lebanon,

um Israel zu verteidigen in irgendwelchen Richtungen.

Du hast gesagt, du warst in den Special Forces.

Könntest du uns ein Gefühl geben, was das bedeutet?

Oder ist es so, dass du an deinem Ort bist und du uns nicht sagen kannst?

Das bedeutet, dass es viel Training gibt.

Es ist wirklich ein unerwarteter Training

und wirklich ein komplexes und unterschiedlicher Training.

Es können Waffen, Paratrooping,

Navigating, Intelligenz, Recon, und so weiter.

Was machst du jetzt in deinem Leben separate aus den Reserven?

Wenn wir dich auf die Tage vor Oktober gefunden haben,

wo haben wir dich gefunden?

Was ist dein normales Leben?

Mein normales Leben, ich lebe in einer schönen Strecke in Jerusalem,

in der deutschen Kolonie.

Und ich arbeite direkt auf der Strecke auf Tel Aviv

in einer schönen Office.

Ich arbeite als CEO einer schönen NGO, die Israel ist,

der will, die Perception der Menschen in der Welt Israel zu ändern.

Wir arbeiten aktiv, um die Menschen closer zu Israel,

auch aus unserer Welt, in den Campusen,

in den deutschen Kommunen, aus Australien,

in Bahrain und in Marokko,

und die Idee ist, die jüngere Kinder zusammen

und für alle eine bessere Zukunft,

definitiv hier in der Region, aber weltweit.

Okay, ich möchte zum Ende kommen,

aber wir haben viel über unsere Show geredet,

was auf Oktober 7 von der Perspektive der Victiminnen

und den Survivoren, in Saferooms,

in Buschern und Füßen, für Stunden auf die Enden.

Wir haben nicht mit jemandem gesprochen,

der die Terrorist auf dem Tag fehlte.

Wenn Sie uns zurück nach dem Morgen des Oktober 7,

started from the very beginning of that day,

where did you wake up that morning?

It was a holiday, so we hosted at a family's place near Ariel.

It was a beautiful day, holiday, we were supposed to celebrate the Torah.

I woke up really early and I get a phone call from my commander

and our area that we are in charge is not in the Gaza envelope,

it's actually more near Jerusalem.

And he says, listen, there is missiles firing from Gaza to Israel

and we need to come to the unit.

Said no problem, I was really easy, it happens from once in a while.

I haven't said goodbye to anyone.

I just walked towards the car without saying goodbye

and drove towards Jerusalem.

On the way I'm starting to receive different WhatsApps,

Twitter's, realizing something is happening that is in normal.

And honestly at the beginning I thought it's fake.

Looking at Hamas, ISIS, terrorists in the rot,

shooting at innocent people, couldn't imagine.

But when time went by, I realized this is real, something really wrong.

Who was texting you?

Was it other people in the army or was it civilians and people you just felt?

Both.

At the beginning it comes from different direction,

but again it's really early.

I'm talking about seven, it's 26 minutes.

After everything is starting, no one has a clear picture at this moment.

At this moment people are dying, but no one has a clear picture.

And all I'm thinking, I have to go to Gaza envelope, to those communities.

I used to live there after protective edge operation back in 2014.

I established an academies for leadership in order to bring youth

to live in those communities, to strengthen them.

After they suffered from a severe demographic crisis, no one wanted to live there.

I helped reviving these communities, bringing life in those communities.

So I also felt responsibility and of course empathy.

I knew what it is to live there.

But all I could think of, I only had my pistol with nine, ten bullets

and I have no uniform.

So I was afraid that I will be stopped in army checkpost

or police checkpost, they won't let me go through.

And again, at this moment I still think it's nothing.

I mean the idea will take a minute and a second.

I drive to Jerusalem really quickly.

I wear my uniform and I am outside my home, ready?

Around 8 am.

Around 8 am, yeah.

And then I get more texts.

And actually my ex-wife, her boyfriend, lives in Niroz, one of the Kibbutzim.

With his two daughters, he is inside the shelter, the safe room, holding the door

and terrorists shooting at the safe room door and throwing grenades.

And he is talking to her and she is shouting to me on the phone,

they are outside Niroz's house, we have to get there.

And I am saying to myself, whoa, jumping into the car,

my commander telling me you have to be here, you have to stay with your unit.

And I am saying, no, I am driving to Gaza, something is happening there.

And I am hitting the road.

So just a pause for a second.

Your commander is telling you to sort of show up and get organized with your unit.

And you are thinking, I have to get to these communities near Gaza

because there are people that I know and love there.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's what I am doing.

And also people that I don't know.

I have to be there, people in need for help.

And I am flying on the highway.

Really fast.

One of my soldiers, that I am his commander, calling me,

Niroz, are we coming to reserve?

And he said, no, only the commanders from now, only the officers.

And he says, listen, I am hearing there is something terrible happening in the Gaza envelope.

I ask him, Kirill, do you have a pistol?

He says, yes.

Where are you now in Beersheva?

Come meet me outside of Netivot in 35 minutes.

He said, yes.

I told him, Kirill, I am not calling you as your commander.

But as a concerned civilian like you, said no problem, I am coming.

I got there three minutes before him.

I had a time and I recorded myself to my kids.

I said goodbye to my kids.

Because I knew that I won't get out alive from this moment.

So I managed to record myself for 20 seconds saying goodbye to my kids,

that I love them, I will think about them forever.

I told my fiancee, my girlfriend, that I will think about her.

And we are getting into combat.

And that's it.

And actually, minutes after finishing it,

starting to think, should I said more words,

more things I want my kids to know when they grow up.

So it was really hard, emotions to go into battle with.

I was stopped at an army check post,

telling that there is terrorists on this road, killing people,

anyone that goes on this road.

But I knew that I want to drive anyway.

I knew that at this point that there are people dying.

So this guy came with the pickup truck.

Showing from the car, listen, people are being butchered in Bayerie.

It's a small community, it's a kibbutz.

And I just jumped with my friend, we jumped on the pickup truck

and crossed through this army post stop.

We crossed it and we fly down the road.

It took us around seven minutes drive.

We saw civilian cars that woke up Saturday morning,

weekend, going out to nature, to hike, to bike,

two different activities, left on the road dead, civilians,

full of families, kids, mothers, babies.

All of them are shot dead in their cars.

I'm not talking about one or two dozens of cars all over the road.

It was one of the most horrifying things

that I've ever seen in my life.

I don't know how graphic you want it to be.

But I've seen people that were butchered on the street,

not just shot, burned, naked.

I've seen naked women on the road,

meaning that they were raped literally on the highway.

I've seen safety shelters, bomb shelters

that are located in the junctions

for people to be safe in them when Hamas is shooting missiles.

People went in, Hamas stopped their vehicles

and threw grenades inside.

But I hadn't any time to focus on it,

just run towards the terrorists to stop them.

We are stopping at the outside Kibbutz-Alumim.

It's a small community.

Let's say around 1,000 people are living there in a shared life.

And right outside Kibbutz-Alumim,

we are encountering Hamas terrorist group or squad shooting at us.

This is the first interaction I had.

So this was like in front of the gates to the Kibbutz.

Right outside the gates, right outside the gates.

I saw a dead soldier with a rifle.

It's a machine gun next to him.

I took the machine gun.

I took some bullets and magazines from the special forces that were near me.

And then we joined in, a small squad of special forces.

And together we decided to go to a battle with the terrorists

to stop them to enter the Kibbutz.

We had face-to-face battles.

Really tough fight from close range.

We had grenades throwing at us.

We didn't have grenades.

We came from home.

We were outnumbered, outgunned.

We lost a guy over there.

Three were injured.

I got hit on a ceramic vest that I found from another soldier in the chest.

It saved my life.

We got stuck for around three hours fighting.

Now we know, against 30 Hamas Terrorists,

we managed to kill each one of them.

And now we know that we stopped their massacre at Kibbutz Al-Umin.

We found on their bodies instructions and objectives what to do in Al-Umin.

The same massacre.

They were supposed to do a second Bayerie.

And we stopped them right on the fence of the Kibbutz.

We were fighting to save life.

They were fighting to take life.

So I guess the first trumps the other.

You have this three-hour fight.

Is your ex-wife's husband with the two children still waiting

for you to save them this whole time?

She's telling him that I'm on the way.

And from now on, then she's texting me.

And I'm saying, I'm on my way.

I'm doing my best.

Eventually, after three hours,

when we were about to leave this area of Al-Umin towards Bayerie,

it's a few minutes drive, while the helicopter is coming to take

the wounded and the dead.

I had time and we texted and she told me they are safe.

The army got to them.

At that moment, I knew that Bayerie is going through a massacre

and I have to go into Bayerie.

So after helicopters taking them to hospital,

they landed right next to us.

We hopped on the jeeps and drove to Bayerie.

It's a few minutes drive from one community to another.

It was surreal. It's like a movie.

Smoke everywhere.

Shooting everywhere.

From every bush or behind the tree,

you can have a terrorist with an Aka47 or an RPG shooting at you.

But we are driving.

We have one mission, to go to Bayerie and to save lives.

Keep saving lives.

On the entry to Kibbutz Bayerie, we've seen horrific sights.

What happened there, Hamas took time of killing, brutally killing people,

torturing, raping.

In the most, it's hard to me to say the word creative ways,

that you can imagine.

At that point already, the army started to come.

But we were special forces.

So a lot of them were giving first response in Bayerie,

but they were waiting for us,

as people that are highly trained for us to go in.

And we did.

We got in Bayerie.

And Bayerie was a piece of hell,

that Hamas made for a few hours.

And one of the things that I realized,

is we had a window in time,

where the Jewish people didn't have an army.

Never mind what the circumstances are,

we'll have time to learn why.

But for a few hours, the Jewish people did not have an army over there.

And they showed us,

what is the result of a Jew without an army to protect him.

Holocaust can come in a second, in a heartbeat.

If we won't be strong, unite, on guard, saving ourselves.

That's what I have witnessed.

I have witnessed a small Holocaust,

small in terms of numbers and proportions,

but not in terms of evilness.

The motivation was the same.

One of the things I've been thinking about since October 7th,

is how our ancestors survived.

The comfort, if there is a comfort for Jews around the world,

in this moment is that we have Israel,

and that we have an army.

And that at least in America, not so for the Jews of Europe,

we can go and get armed.

But our ancestors would survive Kishinev

and all of these horrific pogroms,

some of which we don't even know the names.

And there was nothing they could do.

It's unimaginable.

I learned history, and I'm learning from history,

not just in college.

And I live my life as a part of a chain,

not just now, a spot in time,

but something much bigger that goes back

and looks at the future.

And when I read about the pogroms against the Jews,

when I read Bialik writes his poem.

City of Slaughter.

When I read it, it's the same.

But like you said, they had nothing to protect them.

And here, I guess people did the same.

People prayed, people said Shema Israel,

which is a Jewish prayer that you say right before you die.

People negotiated their life.

People offered to give money.

People begged.

They decided to kill this one, rape this one,

and spare this one, and just take him to Gaza.

You couldn't know.

I just read an account of a mother in Barry,

who was in a safe room for 20 hours,

and explained the terror she felt,

the pure panic of accepting death,

and then sort of zooming out from her life

and giving gratitude for her life.

When you're in the midst of a fight with Hamas men,

is there a feeling,

or are there emotions that you remember from that day,

as you're seeing the horrific sights in Barry?

Are you able to even comprehend what you're seeing?

What is the emotional experience of October 7 for you?

Once I am there, I'm getting the picture really fast.

I understand everything.

I understand the magnitude.

I'm not realizing they kidnapped so many,

but there is one thing in mind.

Stop them.

Now it's time to break.

Now it's time to be a shield,

and to stop them from murdering civilians.

If I felt emotions, it was sadness,

deep sadness for what I'm seeing,

and for the fact that I'm going to die.

It didn't stop me.

It didn't stop me from run,

from being very sharp, accurate,

but I was sad at the same moment.

Do you know people who were killed or kidnapped?

I know several people who killed

from different circles in my life.

Everyone in Israel knows.

The numbers are so high.

And yes, I know people that kidnapped,

but I cannot say about it,

from different reasons why.

Who are they and why?

One of the most maddening things to witness right now

is that there are activists and journalists here in America

and around the world who deny that these things

that you saw with your own eyes took place.

They say babies weren't really beheaded,

that no women were raped,

that these stories are Israeli propaganda.

It's like we're watching a holocaust denial in real time.

What do you say to those people?

This is crazy.

They have to choose a side.

I mean, this is a corrupt moral sense of moral.

I don't know what energizes people,

but honest people died in the most horrific ways.

They just need to come and see.

You know, every day the army gets a lot of journalists

into those kibbutzim actually to prove we were massacred.

This is hypocrisy.

This is weak moral fiver.

We need to prove that we were massacred on that day.

And those people are poor people

that need to ask themselves big questions.

I don't know how they live with themselves.

But if you dig around these people,

you'll find pure classic anti-Semitism.

That's it.

They would have never dispute

if it would happen in some other place in the world.

Never.

So was criticizing Israel's response,

who say that Israel,

despite the fact that in three weeks

it hasn't had any kind of ground invasion,

that it's being too aggressive,

that there are too many Palestinian civilians in Gaza

who have been killed,

who throw around the term disproportionate.

What do you say to those people

who claim that Israel's response has been too much?

A few things.

One, I don't understand proportions in time or more.

I don't know what does it mean.

I don't know.

Thousands of Palestinians to retaliate.

Innocent one, babies.

We are not doing that.

Hamas is hiding inside areas

where there is babies and families

and not letting them live.

If there is a guilt side here, it's Hamas.

Hamas proven itself to be a terrorist organization.

We don't have a problem with Palestinians.

We don't have a problem with kids, with families,

as Israelis, as Jewish people.

We don't have freedom for everyone.

You know that as much as I am.

That's what we are taught from the beginning of days.

We are now here to bring justice

to destroy Hamas as a terror organization,

not just for Israel, for the world.

I think a lot of people who have been glued to the news

since the massacre of October 7th

are wondering what Israel is going to do next.

They have said so many things about

so much saber-rattling,

so much promise that they're going to bring the hostages back,

that they're going to eliminate Hamas,

and yet here we are, almost three weeks later,

and there's been no ground invasion.

There's been a lot of mixed messages

about what's going to happen.

I know that you're probably very limited in what you can say,

but do you have a sense of what comes next in this war?

It's really been talked about all over the media.

I cannot really say what's the plans,

denn honestly, I don't even know.

I do know that I trust.

I have to trust my government and the IDF

to do whatever we can for one goal,

to annihilate Hamas threat

and Hamas terrorists from this world.

They have lost any right to exist anymore

after doing something like that,

and this is what we are going to do,

not just for Israel, also for the Palestinians.

If we want to have any chance,

also for the Palestinians, and it's for the world,

when an evil energy like that occurs

in one place in the world,

don't be mistaken.

Tomorrow it's outside your home,

in America, in Belgium, in France, wherever.

So Hamas is not just Israel problem.

Nemi, last question.

You said at the beginning that you run an NGO

that connects people around the world,

specifically in the Middle East and North Africa,

to work with Israelis and Arabs,

to try and bring them together to understand one another.

How do you think about that work in this moment?

Are you still hopeful that that's possible?

Everything became more difficult,

but yes, I'm optimist.

This is my nature.

I'm optimist that we can connect young people

from all over the world

that simply want to have a different future.

But I do know that people,

definitely from the Arab world,

will have to make a decision.

There is two sides, like I said before.

There is a side for look for these values,

for instance society,

and there is a side that prays

and glorifies death and destruction,

and you need to choose.

I'm so happy to see that so many young people,

in this world, are choosing our side.

I'm not just saying Israelis,

but the side of life.

But I do know that for us here in Israel,

in this NGO,

we're going to have a lot of work

when this war will end.

Imrod, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for this opportunity to share my story

and hopefully we'll have a better future for our children.

This is what we're trying to do.

Thank you.

After the break,

Avi Isakharath explains how he understands

how all of this happened.

Stay with us.

Erfahre mehr über Herzgesundheit auf aok.de-bw-herz.

AOK, die Gesundheitskasse.

So, also,

wann waren Sie das letzte Mal zur Durchsicht?

Wie viel hat er runter?

Läuft im Grunde noch gut,

aber Sie müssen sich schon regelmäßig kümmern.

Gut behandeln.

Ab und zu durchchecken.

Nicht erst, wenn es Probleme gibt.

Erfahre mehr über Herzgesundheit auf aok.de-bw-herz.

AOK, die Gesundheitskasse.

Wie viel hat es passiert?

American Jews right now

are going through a shattering

of our illusions

about our fundamental safety

here in America.

On campuses across the country

the thin line, if it ever existed

between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism

has completely fallen away.

Jews are being barricaded

in the libraries last night at Cooper Union

with a pro-Hamas mob

banging down the door.

Just today in my hometown of Pittsburgh

I was going to mark the five year anniversary

of the massacre at Tree of Life

and there's graffiti outside of

Jewish homes at the local high school.

I could go on and on and on.

Our Israelis also living through

a sort of shattering of

certain paradigms that they

had held on to.

Just to give one example.

Many people I know

who believe so

strongly in the idea of a two state solution

now see what happened

in Gaza

and are now

completely reassessing

whether or not that will ever be possible.

Is that something

you feel yourself, Avi?

And

how has this changed

your conception of

Israel's

place in the region, Israel's ability

to live alongside

Palestinian neighbors?

My perception

didn't change dramatically

because I was saying for years

for years

that Hamas

is a threat, is an enemy

and we should fight it

and not help it.

I was watching in front

of my eyes and I was writing

about it over and over

and tweeting and talking about it

that this policy of strengthening

Hamas in order to weaken the PA

is terrible.

I still think that

if we will do huge changes

we can create

a partner on the Palestinian side.

But

we will need to keep in mind

that

the Muslim Brotherhood movements

not only in the Palestinian

territories, but all over

whether they are in Qatar

or in Turkey and of course the Shi'at

organizations, these are the people

I am not one of those guys that are saying

all the Arab Muslims are bad, no.

I am saying that the fundamentalist

the Muslim Brotherhood

the ones that want to eliminate

us, not only us as Israelis

but the western world, the liberals

the ones that want to promote

some liberalized deeds

and I am not talking about liberals

like in the US, I am talking about

liberal people like in the old

times

we should fight them

we should go on a war with them

and eliminate them.

There is no coexistence, not with Hamas

nor with Hezballah

and yes maybe right now

we don't go into a war with Hezballah

but we will face another war with Hezballah

because Israel

and the western world cannot bear

the existence of those kinds of movements

and we need to understand that

and this is what

I woke up from

maybe I also fell into this conception

that it's really nice to have those Hamas

they are in power

they are the less

worse option

that was my conception

the less worse option

now we understand that Hamas

is the worst option

one of the things that I think is so

existentially terrifying about

this war is the idea that

Israel is at war

against an idea

Hamas could be defeated

but then another group will pop up

that has the same idea

how do you fight an idea?

listen, we fight the military capability

we fight

the rule of this organization

or an idea

at the end of the day the target today

is not to eliminate the idea of Hamas

it's to eliminate its military capability

and to eliminate its regime

it's that mission impossible

I think that one of the biggest mistake

is to allow the terrorist organization

to become a statehood

Hamastan in Gaza

I know that some people think that

it's Palestine

I see all those

I don't know how to call them

those people that don't understand what's the difference

between the West Bank and Gaza

they call it Israel is fighting Palestine

no, we're not fighting Palestine

we're fighting Hamastan

Hamas took over Gaza in 2007

in a very brutal coup

Palestinians that were from their own people

we're talking about

a terrible dictatorship

that is fighting people, young people

especially people that are not really religious

and this is what it does

and now we need to bring them down

we need to bring them down as a government

we need to bring them down as a military organization

or an army

and this is what we need to do

as an idea

of course it will continue to exist

but I think that after the fall

of this regime

and the military capabilities

so even the idea will get weaker

Avya Zakharov, thank you so so much

thank you very much Marie

thanks for listening

we have been working tirelessly

for the past three weeks to cover this war

to help make sense of what it means

for Israelis

for Palestinians

for the Middle East

and for the world

if you want to support the work we do

here on Honestly and at the free press

there's just one way to do it

it's by going to our website

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your support makes our work possible

so thank you

see you next time

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Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.

It’s been almost three weeks since Hamas attacked Israel. And there are three questions that, despite having reported on it so much over the last 19 days, many people are still asking. The first is what exactly happened that day, minute by minute, and what were the battles across the south of Israel like? There are so many accounts of civilians waiting in safe-rooms for hours on end for the IDF to arrive—what happened? The second is how did it happen? How did thousands of terrorists cross a border wall that cost more than a billion dollars to carry out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust? And the third question is what comes next in this already horrific war?

Over the next two episodes of Honestly, we will answer those three questions by talking to three different people. You’ll first hear from Nimrod, a special forces reservist, who fought Hamas at several locations in the south of Israel on the morning of October 7—not because he was called by his unit to go there (he wasn't), but because he knew he needed to go save innocent civilians. His account helps paint a picture of what happened that day in Israel along the Gaza border, from a person who saw it up close and took the brutal fighting into his own hands before the army even arrived.

Then you’ll hear from Avi Issacharoff, a prominent Israeli journalist who’s also one of the creators of the hit TV series Fauda, which is based on his own experience as a member of an elite undercover counterterrorism unit of the IDF. My conversation with Avi helps explain how the most fortified and militarily sophisticated country in the world could have been overtaken in the most horrific way by thousands of Hamas terrorists.

In our next episode, you’ll hear from Walter Russell Mead, who I think of as one of the most prophetic foreign policy thinkers of our time. There’s no better lineup than these three people to help us make sense of what happened, how it happened, and where Israel, and the world, go from here. You’ll want to listen.

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