Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a rare opportunity for me to have a guest
(00:02):
on the show whom I've wanted to have on the
show for a long time. Trey yinst is a foreign correspondent,
and now I suppose you would also have to say
a war correspondent. Well, he's done that plenty of times
before for Fox News, and he joins us from northern
Israel right now. I will note, in addition to what
we're going to talk about regarding what's going on in
Israel and Lebanon, today is publication day for Trey's book
(00:26):
called Black Saturday, an unfiltered account of the October seventh
attack on Israel and the war on Gaza. I have
started it, I haven't finished it yet. It's a remarkable read. Trey.
Thanks for making time for us. I know this has
got to be one of the busiest days ever for you,
so I appreciate your.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Being here absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So, you know my intent when I asked to have
you on was to talk about the quote unquote limited
Israeli ground invasion. I think news maybe has passed us
by a little bit, but give us a few seconds
on Israeli activities in southern Lebanon, including apparently having just
been on the ground in Lebanon within the last several hours. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Absolutely, so overnight the Israelis launched a ground invasion into
southern Lebanon. It was in relatively small ground invasion, but
overall it was the first time that Israeli forces have
been publicly operating over the border since two thousand and six.
And it's significant because they're not going after lebanon Non's army.
They're going after Hesbla positions that the Israelis say are
(01:27):
stationed all along the border and are responsible for all
of these rocket and anti tank guided missile attacks over
the past year.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
So it was interesting. Yesterday I saw just a headline
from AFP, I think French news agency or some and
it said it said Lebanese army moving in preparation for
potential Israeli ground invasion. That's all it's said. And I
tweeted back at them, well, does that mean they're moving
towards the Israelis or does it mean they're moving away
(01:56):
from a potential ground invasion? So what do we know
about what the Lebanese army such as it is, is
doing here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
What that tells me is that the Israelis actually gave
the Lebanese army a heads up in some capacity that
they were going to do this, or there were some
messages communicated maybe by the United Nations, for example, that
previously had forces along the blue line between Israel and Lebanon,
basically to get out of the way, because the last
thing that the Lebanese army wants is a direct confrontation
(02:27):
with Israel at this point, because Israel's war right now
is with the Iran Bak militant group Hezbolah, and Hesbola
controls most of the territory in southern Lebanon, and that's
part of the reason that the Israelis want to go in.
They want to clear out these positions because they say
that the Iranians are smuggling weapons into southern Lebanon to
this group that is threatening not only residents of northern Israel,
(02:49):
but also central Israel and major population centers like Tel Aviv.
Earlier today, sirens were sounding there as rockets rained down,
one of them hitting a major highway, and so there
are real questions about what comes next in this situation.
The Israelis are not just looking though at that northern
front the war still continues inside Gaza, and in possibly
just a matter of hours, Iran could launch an attack
(03:12):
using ballistic missiles against Israel.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
One last on Lebanon, and then I want to talk
about the Iran piece. If Israel could weaken Hesbelah enough,
do you think the Lebanese government and the Lebanese military,
which is obviously very influenced by Hesbela, they're part of it,
But do you think the Lebanese military would have the
motivation and the will and the capability to themselves take
(03:37):
out the rest of Hesbolah and rid the country of Hesbelah.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Look, it's certainly possible. And anyone who knows a little
bit about Lebanese history will tell you about Lebanon civil
wars and a country that has been plagued by civil war.
And it's also a country that's incredibly divided. If you
look at a map of Lebanon, you can see the
division between Sunni and Shiam flumps, also Mennonite Christians and
(04:04):
just a variety of different sects. Drew's individuals too that
live all throughout Lebanon. So it's a very divided society
in many senses, and there's not clear leadership, and this
has led to a lot of issues in the government
and corruption that we've covered on the ground when I
reported from Beirut back in twenty twenty and also in
twenty twenty one. And so the future of Lebanon certainly
(04:24):
not clear. But unfortunately, in many of these conflicts, and
Lebanon is no exception, the people who pay the highest price.
It's the civilian population that lives there, and we are
seeing that play out today with now, according to the
caretaker Prime Minister, around a million people displaced as a
result of the Israeli campaign against South Lebanon.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
We're talking with Trey yankste joins Us from Northern Israel.
His new book, published today is called Black Saturday, An
Unfiltered account of the October seventh attack on Israel and
the war in Gaza. So the news this morning, and
I don't know exactly if it is new, who is rumor.
I don't know how you would characterize it, but apparently
the White House is telling Israel and news outlets that
(05:07):
they maybe see evidence of Iran preparing the launch missiles
against Israel. What do you know and what do you think?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, look, these warnings don't go out at this level
unless the Americans and the Israelis have clear intelligence that
something is going to happen. And so we know that
embassy staff has been instructed to shelter in place. Already
the Home Front Command, responsible for talking to civilians in Israel,
has issued new guidelines to avoid large public gatherings. These
are all signs that there is information Iran plans to attack,
(05:38):
and they have not just satellite intelligence but hard intelligence
on the ground. They can see the movement of missiles
and personnel, and so generally when the warnings are sounding
this loudly, it means something is going to happen, and
if suddenly happens, it may look very similar to what
we saw back in April when the Iranians responded to
an Israeli strike against their embassy and Damascus, and that
(06:01):
included three hundred ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones that
were fired toward Israel. Not many of them actually made
into Israeli air space, but i was a result of
a coalition force that shot many of them down, and
so we could see something similar and if that happens,
expecting Israeli response in the days ahead. But this is
sort of what we've been seeing across the region, a
gradual war of attrition that is escalating into a broader
(06:23):
regional conflict.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It would be interesting if Iran actually launches at this
point to see if the US gets involved. I was
talking with my mom yesterday. We're Jewish. We have a
lot of cousins in Israel, and she had been talking
to some of them. It was funny it came up
in the conversation. How when in Israeli, especially these days,
says you know, we're safe. That has quite a different
(06:45):
meaning than what it might mean to an American. What's
it like being in Israel? I mean, like you're talking
about right now, the possibility of Iranian missiles being lobbed
at Israel. Where you are? You sound pretty calm, You
sound like in Israeli.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
There's a weird dichotomy in the society that people continue
their lives despite the security situation, so much so that
today's a great example. There were rockets fired from Lebanon
toward Tel Aviv, this economic hub, and you know, moments
after the sirens are done sounding and the interceptions take place,
(07:20):
or even the rockets land, people go back to work.
They go back to cafes into restaurants, and that's just
the reality of the life here. And we see this
not just in central Israel, but across the country. It's
a country that is used to war and they've adjusted
in some sense.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Last question for you, and I want to end talking
a little bit about your new book called Black Saturday,
an Unfiltered account of the October seventh attack on Israel
and the war in Gaza. You've You've been a lot
of places, You've seen a lot of things, You've done,
a lot of em beds that would scare the be
Jesus out of most of the most people. You talk
about one of them at the beginning of the book.
I'm curious, given that whole context of your remarkable experience,
(08:01):
how the specific reporting in the immediate aftermath of October
seventh has changed you as a person and as a reporter.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I think it's reminded me what I tried to focus
all of my reporting on, and that is that the
story that we cover, it's the humans that we talked to,
the Israelis, the Palestinians, the people who are directly affected
by war, and so it's a reminder to be empathetic
to encourage people to learn more about the people they
disagree with, and also to learn more about not only
(08:28):
what happened on October seventh, which is critical to remember,
and the hostages that are still being held inside Gaza,
but also what's happened in Gaza to the Palestinian people,
and remembering that this is not a black and white
story or situation, and everyone exists on a spectrum, and
it's critical to learn about people, try to understand people,
and be empathetic toward others folks.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
For years, actually not just the past year, but for years,
I've found Trey Yankster reporting from Israel to be the
best reporting from Israel. And of course the past year,
nobody has done a better job on war reporting and
offered more compelling reporting than Trey Yngst has. His new
book is Black Saturday, An Unfiltered account of the October
seventh attack on Israel and the war in Gaza. Trey
(09:12):
joined us from Northern Israel today. Thank you very very
much for your time and for your continually great work.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Absolutely thanks for having me
It's a rare opportunity for me to have a guest
(00:02):
on the show whom I've wanted to have on the
show for a long time. Trey yinst is a foreign correspondent,
and now I suppose you would also have to say
a war correspondent. Well, he's done that plenty of times
before for Fox News, and he joins us from northern
Israel right now. I will note, in addition to what
we're going to talk about regarding what's going on in
Israel and Lebanon, today is publication day for Trey's book
(00:26):
called Black Saturday, an unfiltered account of the October seventh
attack on Israel and the war on Gaza. I have
started it, I haven't finished it yet. It's a remarkable read. Trey.
Thanks for making time for us. I know this has
got to be one of the busiest days ever for you,
so I appreciate your.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Being here absolutely. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So, you know my intent when I asked to have
you on was to talk about the quote unquote limited
Israeli ground invasion. I think news maybe has passed us
by a little bit, but give us a few seconds
on Israeli activities in southern Lebanon, including apparently having just
been on the ground in Lebanon within the last several hours. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Absolutely, so overnight the Israelis launched a ground invasion into
southern Lebanon. It was in relatively small ground invasion, but
overall it was the first time that Israeli forces have
been publicly operating over the border since two thousand and six.
And it's significant because they're not going after lebanon Non's army.
They're going after Hesbla positions that the Israelis say are
(01:27):
stationed all along the border and are responsible for all
of these rocket and anti tank guided missile attacks over
the past year.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
So it was interesting. Yesterday I saw just a headline
from AFP, I think French news agency or some and
it said it said Lebanese army moving in preparation for
potential Israeli ground invasion. That's all it's said. And I
tweeted back at them, well, does that mean they're moving
towards the Israelis or does it mean they're moving away
(01:56):
from a potential ground invasion? So what do we know
about what the Lebanese army such as it is, is
doing here.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
What that tells me is that the Israelis actually gave
the Lebanese army a heads up in some capacity that
they were going to do this, or there were some
messages communicated maybe by the United Nations, for example, that
previously had forces along the blue line between Israel and Lebanon,
basically to get out of the way, because the last
thing that the Lebanese army wants is a direct confrontation
(02:27):
with Israel at this point, because Israel's war right now
is with the Iran Bak militant group Hezbolah, and Hesbola
controls most of the territory in southern Lebanon, and that's
part of the reason that the Israelis want to go in.
They want to clear out these positions because they say
that the Iranians are smuggling weapons into southern Lebanon to
this group that is threatening not only residents of northern Israel,
(02:49):
but also central Israel and major population centers like Tel Aviv.
Earlier today, sirens were sounding there as rockets rained down,
one of them hitting a major highway, and so there
are real questions about what comes next in this situation.
The Israelis are not just looking though at that northern
front the war still continues inside Gaza, and in possibly
just a matter of hours, Iran could launch an attack
(03:12):
using ballistic missiles against Israel.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
One last on Lebanon, and then I want to talk
about the Iran piece. If Israel could weaken Hesbelah enough,
do you think the Lebanese government and the Lebanese military,
which is obviously very influenced by Hesbela, they're part of it,
But do you think the Lebanese military would have the
motivation and the will and the capability to themselves take
(03:37):
out the rest of Hesbolah and rid the country of Hesbelah.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Look, it's certainly possible. And anyone who knows a little
bit about Lebanese history will tell you about Lebanon civil
wars and a country that has been plagued by civil war.
And it's also a country that's incredibly divided. If you
look at a map of Lebanon, you can see the
division between Sunni and Shiam flumps, also Mennonite Christians and
(04:04):
just a variety of different sects. Drew's individuals too that
live all throughout Lebanon. So it's a very divided society
in many senses, and there's not clear leadership, and this
has led to a lot of issues in the government
and corruption that we've covered on the ground when I
reported from Beirut back in twenty twenty and also in
twenty twenty one. And so the future of Lebanon certainly
(04:24):
not clear. But unfortunately, in many of these conflicts, and
Lebanon is no exception, the people who pay the highest price.
It's the civilian population that lives there, and we are
seeing that play out today with now, according to the
caretaker Prime Minister, around a million people displaced as a
result of the Israeli campaign against South Lebanon.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
We're talking with Trey yankste joins Us from Northern Israel.
His new book, published today is called Black Saturday, An
Unfiltered account of the October seventh attack on Israel and
the war in Gaza. So the news this morning, and
I don't know exactly if it is new, who is rumor.
I don't know how you would characterize it, but apparently
the White House is telling Israel and news outlets that
(05:07):
they maybe see evidence of Iran preparing the launch missiles
against Israel. What do you know and what do you think?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, look, these warnings don't go out at this level
unless the Americans and the Israelis have clear intelligence that
something is going to happen. And so we know that
embassy staff has been instructed to shelter in place. Already
the Home Front Command, responsible for talking to civilians in Israel,
has issued new guidelines to avoid large public gatherings. These
are all signs that there is information Iran plans to attack,
(05:38):
and they have not just satellite intelligence but hard intelligence
on the ground. They can see the movement of missiles
and personnel, and so generally when the warnings are sounding
this loudly, it means something is going to happen, and
if suddenly happens, it may look very similar to what
we saw back in April when the Iranians responded to
an Israeli strike against their embassy and Damascus, and that
(06:01):
included three hundred ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones that
were fired toward Israel. Not many of them actually made
into Israeli air space, but i was a result of
a coalition force that shot many of them down, and
so we could see something similar and if that happens,
expecting Israeli response in the days ahead. But this is
sort of what we've been seeing across the region, a
gradual war of attrition that is escalating into a broader
(06:23):
regional conflict.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It would be interesting if Iran actually launches at this
point to see if the US gets involved. I was
talking with my mom yesterday. We're Jewish. We have a
lot of cousins in Israel, and she had been talking
to some of them. It was funny it came up
in the conversation. How when in Israeli, especially these days,
says you know, we're safe. That has quite a different
(06:45):
meaning than what it might mean to an American. What's
it like being in Israel? I mean, like you're talking
about right now, the possibility of Iranian missiles being lobbed
at Israel. Where you are? You sound pretty calm, You
sound like in Israeli.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
There's a weird dichotomy in the society that people continue
their lives despite the security situation, so much so that
today's a great example. There were rockets fired from Lebanon
toward Tel Aviv, this economic hub, and you know, moments
after the sirens are done sounding and the interceptions take place,
(07:20):
or even the rockets land, people go back to work.
They go back to cafes into restaurants, and that's just
the reality of the life here. And we see this
not just in central Israel, but across the country. It's
a country that is used to war and they've adjusted
in some sense.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Last question for you, and I want to end talking
a little bit about your new book called Black Saturday,
an Unfiltered account of the October seventh attack on Israel
and the war in Gaza. You've You've been a lot
of places, You've seen a lot of things, You've done,
a lot of em beds that would scare the be
Jesus out of most of the most people. You talk
about one of them at the beginning of the book.
I'm curious, given that whole context of your remarkable experience,
(08:01):
how the specific reporting in the immediate aftermath of October
seventh has changed you as a person and as a reporter.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I think it's reminded me what I tried to focus
all of my reporting on, and that is that the
story that we cover, it's the humans that we talked to,
the Israelis, the Palestinians, the people who are directly affected
by war, and so it's a reminder to be empathetic
to encourage people to learn more about the people they
disagree with, and also to learn more about not only
(08:28):
what happened on October seventh, which is critical to remember,
and the hostages that are still being held inside Gaza,
but also what's happened in Gaza to the Palestinian people,
and remembering that this is not a black and white
story or situation, and everyone exists on a spectrum, and
it's critical to learn about people, try to understand people,
and be empathetic toward others folks.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
For years, actually not just the past year, but for years,
I've found Trey Yankster reporting from Israel to be the
best reporting from Israel. And of course the past year,
nobody has done a better job on war reporting and
offered more compelling reporting than Trey Yngst has. His new
book is Black Saturday, An Unfiltered account of the October
seventh attack on Israel and the war in Gaza. Trey
(09:12):
joined us from Northern Israel today. Thank you very very
much for your time and for your continually great work.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Absolutely thanks for having me
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