Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the resignation of Israel's Benny Gantz

Key Israeli Cabinet member Benny Gantz has announced he's withdrawing from Benjamin Netanyahu's emergency government. 

Gantz has said he will also withdraw from the National Unity party he chairs. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking “He was demanding some plan on ending the war.” 

Arnold said “His departure will not instantly collapse the Netanyahu coalition – but most of the remaining members will be hard-liners.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Richard Arld stateside, very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good morning Israeli.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
As much to be happy about.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yes, freedom and deadly devastation fuse together in this well
ongoing calamity. And now the latest centrist Israeli politician, Betty Gantz,
has just quit the Nettanno WHO war cabinet. He was
demanding some plan on ending the war, That's what he's
been saying in recent days. His departure will not instantly
collapse the Nettano Who coalition, but most of the remaining

(00:25):
members are going to be hardliners. So how does all
of this hold together? US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan
today says the United States supported Israel in the rescue
of those four hostages, but what was that US assistance?
And did the US know the operation would include massive
air strikes as it did and turn into the largest
rescue bids since October the seventh and the Hamas attack

(00:47):
on Israelis. Four hostages are released, but the cost enormous.
The Gaza Health Ministry says two hundred and seventy four
Palestinians have been killed. These are said to include more
than sixty children and fifty seven women, while one hundred
and fifty three children and one hundred and sixty women
are said to be among the nearly seven hundred wounded

(01:07):
as well. Hamas says that three hostages were killed in
that Israeli operation, including they say an American, and Jake Sullivan.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Says Innison Palestinians are going through sheer hell in this conflict,
and a lot of that is because Hamas has put
them in an impossible situation. Hamas hides among the civilian population,
holds hostages among the civilian population.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, it is catastrophic on all fronts, But what was
the American role? Jake Sullivan refuses to spell it out.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
I'm not going to get into the specific operational or
intelligence related matters associated with that, because we need to
protect those I can only just say that we have
generally provided support to the IDF so that we can
try to get all of the hostages home, including the
American hostages who are still being held.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well. That leaves some of the big questions unanswered, doesn't it?
How much did the Pentagon sign on to this specific operation,
much as Israel's Netno, who's simply ignoring President Biden's call
for ceasefire. Netno who is planning to visit Washington, d C.
On July the twenty fourth, at the request of Republicans
in the US Congress who are seeking domestic political capital

(02:14):
from all of this. While Biden has yet to respond
to whether he will meet with Netanya Who on that visit,
the israel leader has used similar tactics before. Back in
twenty fifteen, Republicans invited the Israeli PM to the Congress
in defiance and then President Obama that was on US
around policy at the time. Netnio who always seems to
be walking that political typerope, and right now he is

(02:35):
under more pressure than ever. But so, as Biden, former
US Ambassador Mark Ginsburg says.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
You clearly have American weapons that are being used by Israelis.
The fact that there are the significant munitions that are
being used is clearly a question. Raises serious questions about
whether or not the Israeli these Ida and particularly the
Nataelle government is paying any attention to the admonitions of

(03:01):
the United States Pentagon or the President of the United States.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Meantime, there are thought to be some one hundred and
twenty hostages still in Gaza, and perhaps thirty or forty
plus of those hostages have died no longer alive. Tony
Blink in the US Secrety of State is heading back
to Israel right now, following the D Day ceremonies calling
for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, but so far
no sign of that happening.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
And then we come to the families of Sandy Hook
and Alec Jones and his liquidation.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, you know, Jones has agreed to liquidate the website
called infra Wars, where for years he's been spewing really
the most disgusting lies. This nutjob has been at the
forefront of many crackpot conspiracy claims, but probably the worst
was his accusation, repeated at nauseam, that the Sandy Hook
Elementary School massacre was a lie. Jones said, the massacre

(03:45):
of twenty six people, twenty of them elementary school kids
ages what six or seven was a plot to winder
sale of guns, said Jones.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
Sandy Hook. It's got inside job written all over it.
Sandy Hook is ancient, completely fake with actors.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, that's it. That's more than enough of his byes.
The thing is some people took it seriously. He threatened
violence against the parents and other family members who already
because suffered the worst imaginable tragedy. So a dozen years on, Jones,
whose lies have brought him sixteen to twenty million dollars
in New Zealand, was fined by a court two point
four billion. Now is moving to shut down his operations

(04:23):
in partial acknowledgment of that. But before wrapping up his psychobabble,
he just did this online.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
I believe him out.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
I believe in my grandparents.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
I believe my parents. I believe it you.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
I just want to stop these people. Yeah, oceans of tears,
seemingly blubbering over the loss of money that he made
by torturing the Sandy Hawk families just unreal.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Alright, might have see Wednesday Richard Donold stateside Bennon got
ordered over the weekend to federal judge ordered him to
steve this is report to jail by one July, four
months sent and so he's been battling this in courts.
A peel scored up up and down the place twenty
two conviction a for contempt of Congress. They found to
have illegally refused to testify before the committee investigating jan six.

(05:09):
He didn't show up and he's going to spend a
period of time in jail starting July one. For more
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