Day 69 of the Israel and Hamas War

The focus of our show is to provide daily coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. We will provide the war from the Israeli perspective and bring you the latest headlines from the region.

Jim Williams, an internationally syndicated columnist is joined by some of the top newsmakers in the business to discuss each days events and what comes next as the future of Israel will be decided based on the outcome of this war.

Williams brings 45 years of broadcasting including experience to the show. With seven Emmy Awards as a successful television producer, director, writer and broadcast executive he has the experience people worldwide have come to trust.

Also, as a contributing writer for Zenger International News Service, Newsweek, Forbes and Sports Illustrated he generates plenty of interesting content.

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Episode Transcript

(00:25):
Hello, everybody, and welcome tothis edition of the Politically Incorrect Podcast.
I'm Jim Williams. This is daysixty nine of the war between Israel and
Hamas. And what we're going todo with the podcast as we transition into
war is that we're going to goeach day into a deep dive into what's

(00:48):
going on on the ground in Israelas well as what's going on here in
the United States with our involvement inthe war. Now, each day,
we're going to start with Yvonne Levy, who is the Israeli government spokesperson who's
going to give the daily briefing that'sgoing to give you unedited, unfiltered information

(01:14):
directly from the government as to what'sgoing on on the ground. Will then
come back and hit the headlines andour future story for today, which happens
to be about Syncome and the IDEAFand how they're working together. So before
we get to that, let's getto Yvonne Levy from Tel Aviv as he

(01:36):
tells us what's going on. Goodoftenoon, everyone, I'm Israeli government spokesman
Aylon Levy. This is day sixtynine of the October seventh war. First
a brief update, and then Iwill take your questions. We'll start with
the latest figures. To date,over one thy two hundred victims of the
ten to seven massacre have been identifiedand three hundred and thirty five people have

(02:00):
been injured. Since the start ofthis war, Hamas has fired over twelve
thousand, five hundred rockets at theIsraeli home front, with over two thousand
misfiring, the large majority falling insideGaza and causing untold damage and casualties there.
The IDF has notified families of thedeaths of four hundred and forty five

(02:22):
soldiers. IDF fatalities have risen byone since yesterday's update with the confirmed death
of Master Sergeant Reserves Elisha levenstn.May his memory be a blessing. Hamas
is still holding one hundred and thirtyfive people hostage since ten to seven,
including twenty it has murdered in captivity, holding their bodies for a ransom.

(02:45):
The hostages comprise one hundred and sixteenmales and nineteen females, and there are
two children there. The b businfants abducted with their mother Shiri. We
will continue doing everything in our powerto bring back all the hostages, applying
full military pressure on Hamas to releaseall of them from their terror dungeons.
We will not rest until we havecompleted the mission to bring them all back

(03:08):
home, no one left behind.Time is running out, and we demand
again that the Red Cross use allits pressure to access those vulnerable hostages.
An operational update. Israeli forces continueto do battle with Hamas terrorists dressed as
civilians and fighting out of civilian buildingsin shaja Ea, Jabalia and khn Unis.

(03:30):
Yesterday, Hamas terrorists used a schoolin khn Unis as a base for
shooting RPGs and anti tank missiles atour forces. We uncovered long range rockets
and an underground combat compound in thearea of the school and directed an airstrike
on it. We also searched anddismantled a Hamas military compound in a school

(03:51):
in Shajaia. Israel repeats its callfor remaining Hamas terrorists to surrender, as
so many but not enough have Earlier, over seventy terrorists emerged from the Kamal
Adwan Hospital weapons in hand, andsurrendered the Israeli Defense Forces, releasing this
image. Just minutes ago. Thoseterrorists were apprehended and transferred to field interrogators

(04:15):
from Israeli military intelligence and the shinBet for further questioning. We think it
is outrageous that international officials from theWorld Health Organization and elsewhere are yet to
condemn or even express concern about Hamasconverting hospitals in the Gaza Strip into military
bases. To them, we say, you have not only let us down.
You've not only let Palestinians and thegas are stripped down. You've let

(04:39):
down the whole world and the wholearchitecture of global governance because this terrorist abuse
of hospitals has been happening under yourwatch, and you continue to cover up
for it and be complicit with thisabuse of protected facilities through your shameful silence.
We call on all Hamas terrorists inthe Gaza Strip to surrender. It
will speed up the decisive end ofthis war if they come out with their

(05:03):
hands above their heads, preferably witha white flag. Despite Israel's efforts to
minimize harm to civilians, Hamas isdoubling down on its human shield strategy,
intensifying its attacks on Israeli towns andcities from inside the Al Muwasi humanitarian zone.
To date, Hamas has fired onehundred and sixteen rockets at Israeli communities

(05:27):
from inside the designated safe zone.Now, Israel designated this safe zone in
Gaza, where Hamas had not alreadyembedded itself inside and under schools, homes
and hospitals, so that civilians couldbe protected. UN agencies feigned concern for
girls and civilians, but bizarrely noneof them can bring themselves to condemn this

(05:47):
Hamas war crime. To Honora,UNISEEF, the World Health Organization, and
the Red Cross and others, weask, what on earth is so difficult
about condemning Hamas rocket fire at Israelicivilians from inside a humanitarian safe zone?
Really, it's not difficult. Whyare you covering up for Hamas instead of

(06:09):
doing your jobs? Yesterday, ata situation assessment with Shinbet director ron Enbart
and senior officials, Prime Minister Netanyahustated that we are witnessing the beginning of
Hamas's disintegration, as we see fromthose images of surrender, as we destroy
Hamas and Iranian proxy. In responseto ten to seven, the Prime Minister
reaffirmed that we will also need toprevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. A

(06:33):
humanitarian update. The Karamshalam crossing remainsopen for inspections of AID trucks, creating
the capacity to more than double aiddeliveries into Gaza into Gaza. Now,
whether that aid reaches the people ofGaza depends, of course, on whether
Hamas stops stealing that aid and whetherthe AID agencies covering up for Hamas are

(06:54):
able to catch up and deliver itat the pace that Israel is inspecting it.
The idea V is enabling tactical pausesto allow civilians to replenish stocks,
with one such pause today in theAl Salam area of Rafah. Yesterday,
the world received a shocking reminder ofthe importance of deradicalization the day after Hamas,

(07:15):
and we continue to call on thewhole world to put in place plans
to deradicalize the Gaza Strip the dayafter so that we can gain peace and
security that we need as we rebuildthe Gaza Strip, making sure that concrete
go to people's homes and not tothe terror tunnels that we found under hospitals.
This afternoon, Prime Minister Benjaminettaniahu isscheduled to meet with US National Security

(07:38):
Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is alsoscheduled to meet with President Hertzog and members
of the War Cabinet. Since themoment Hamas declared war with the ten to
seven massacre, President Biden has demonstratedexceptional moral clarity and leadership in condemning the
Hamas atrocities and reaffirming the necessity ofan Israeli victory over Hamas. We thank

(07:58):
the United States for its Credit SecurityCouncil veto ongoing supplies of weapons needed to
destroy Hamas, and the strong messagesent by two aircraft carrier groups to deter
any further aggression against our people orexpansion of this conflict. Since ten to
seven, we have welcomed President Bidenfor a historic solidarity visit, Secretary Blincoln

(08:18):
a number of time, Secretary Austin, and now the National Security Advisor.
Israel and the United States, actingin unprecedented cooperation, see eye to eye
about the need to end this warwith the end of Hummas. Yesterday,
the Prime Minister thanked the Armoured Corpsfour hundred and sixty Brigade for the sophistication
of their operations against the Hammas terrorregime. He found. We will continue

(08:41):
until victory until the destruction of Hamasand that nothing will stop us as we
proceed with that sophistication that he praisedto restore security to the people of Israel
and bring to justice the ten toseven monsters. That's the end of today's
briefing. Will now take your questions. Thank you. WILLIAMS. Zenger,
International News Work Service, Washington,DC. While the US and Israel debate

(09:03):
the best way to achieve the mutualgoal of winning the war, isn't the
biggest story? How At the orderof President Biden, in the United States
Central Command sent COOM to work withthe IDF. Since October seventh terror attack,
sent COOM has been assisting the IDFon everything from high tech satellite intel
to helping to plan the dangerous streetto street fighting being done by the IDF

(09:28):
in Gaza. Sent COOMM and theIDF are working in lockstep to bring the
hostages home, to feed hmas andreduce the number of innocent people killed in
Gaza. Isn't that the biggest storythan the political theater going on now?
Jim, As a journalist, thatsounds like an excellent story for you to
cover. As we said, wethank the United States for the unprecedented cooperation

(09:48):
between our nations as we see eyeto I about the need to continue this
war until it ends with the endof Hummas. Question from Joel Pollock,
Breitbard News Number one. Celebrities suchas Taylor Swift have attended fundraisers for Gaza
without commenting on the atrocities of Octoberseven. Would you welcome Taylor Swift to
visit Israel to see the affected communities? And secondly, could you comment on

(10:11):
the UK travel ban on what itcalls extremist settlers. On your first question,
we of course welcome visits by allleaders and influential figures who want to
bear witness to the atrocities of tento seven and show the world what our
people endured during that horrific massacre andmake clear why we are fighting to defend

(10:31):
ourselves and defend our children and makesure this war ends so that children can
sleep safely in Bairie and near Oz. Again, as for the question from
the United Kingdom, we of coursedeplore all extremist violence wherever that may be.
There is a lot of extremist violenceinside the West Bank, particularly from
the direction of Palestinian terraces, butWe deplore all extremist violence. There is

(10:54):
no excuse for vigilantism or hooliganism,and we will continue to insist that all
extremist islands be dealt with with thefull force of the law. Adam Scott
belos the Israel Innovation fu per refugeand now have agreed to ask for refugees.

(11:22):
Are there any updates, updates andfigures available about the flooded tunnels,
Adam, I'm a spokesman for theIsraeli government, not the Egyptian or Jordanian
governments. Israel is urging Palestinians inthe Guards of Strip to move to the
Almahwasi Humanitarian Zone. That is wherewe want them to be protected and safe
and to receive the humanitarian aid theyneed. And we think that what the
international community needs to do is todirect people to the safe zone instead of

(11:46):
directing them towards Hamas strongholds, asthe aid agencies that feign concern for them
have been doing. And of course, as I said, to condemn Hammas
fire occurring rockets out of the humanitarianssafe zone, it really isn't very difficult

(12:07):
to do. Question from David Isaacat JNS The issue of settler violence keeps
getting brought up. The US announceda travel ban on violent settlers, and
just now the UK and just donethe UK. The Biden administration is reported
lee holding up a shipment of riflesfearing they'll fall into the hands of extremist
settlers. But Israeli police statistics don'tshow any surge in extremist settler violence as

(12:31):
the White House claims. So far, we haven't heard any pushback from the
Prime Minister on this issue. Infact, the opposite that he's confirmed the
White House accusations. Can we expectthe Prime Minister to make a statement refuting
these charges. Why hasn't he doneso? David? We just addressed the
question about extremism violence in response tothe previous question. And finally from Joel
Pollock of Brightbart News, is therea plan to replace the tens of thousands

(12:54):
of agricultural workers who have left?Is the planting season for spring in danger?
At the moment, we've seen anincredible mobilization of Israeli society towards the
goal of trying to prop up oureconomy and keep everything moving as we face
the unprecedented challenge of such a largecall up of the reserves to defend and
deter on the southern and northern borders. Beyond that, I have no information.

(13:18):
Thank you. Okay, thank youvery much everyone, Keep safe,
happy Hanekah, and we'll update youabout the tomorrow's briefing. Okay, thanks
to Elin for the briefing. Okay, here, let's hit the headlines for
today. The first one up isthe National Defense Authorization Act past the Senate

(13:41):
today three ten two eighteen. I'msorry, that should be the House,
not the Senate. The Biden.President Biden is expected to sign it before
the end of day Friday, ifnot sooner. Now, what happened in
the House on this one was atthe hard right and basically the folks in

(14:03):
the Freedom Caucus were against a numberof issues in the bill, but the
moderates prevailed and at the end ofthe day it passed, you say,
pretty pretty amazingly from three ten toeighteen. So President Biden will sign that
into law. Now, how doesthat effect what we're talking about here with

(14:28):
war, Well, it gives moneybecause it's a you know, a budget
for the United States military money necessaryfor Ukraine, Israel, and other countries
that the United States supports from amilitary standpoint, it is not to be
confused with the money that is tiedup. And we'll get to that ag

(14:48):
minute in the in the bill thatis presently in the Senate having to do
with one point six billion dollars invadethat we go to Israel, the Ukraine,
Taiwan, and the southern border.Okay. So that's that's a different
situation. So today's passing of theof the National Authorization Act is important inso

(15:16):
much as we're talking about military hardwareand not money that will be used by
the government to work on everything fromhumanitarian aspects to to military aspects, which
is the type of funds that willbe coming from the Senate bill. Okay,

(15:39):
So that is to kind of splitthe difference of what's going on.
All right, So let's talk aboutthat for a moment. The Senate may
hang around this weekend. Now,yesterday I told you that was unlikely that
they would hang around, that didn'tlook like there's a deal to be had.
Well, there is some conversation,and I said yesterday that President Biden

(16:03):
is looking to do a deal.Senate Majority Leader Schumer Senate Minority Leader McConnell
have been working hard to come toan agreement. Now, what is it
that's holding the bill up. Well, according to the New York Times,
what the Republicans want in this billis, you know, to work on

(16:29):
a tougher basically tougher actions at theUS southern border. Now, this really
is a deal where a to Ukraine, and we know that with Prime Minister
President I'm sorry, President Zelenski inthe country this week to talk about it.
He needs it for his continued fightagainst Russia, and of course he's

(16:56):
really needed for their fight against Whathas happened is the money for the southern
border, which is quite extensive inthis bill, would would certainly help down
there. But the problem is andit's for security. It's basically done for
you know, security reasons. Andat the end of the day, the

(17:21):
problem is that the Republicans want tomake it difficult for people to gain asylum
in the United States. The demandthat the White House has signaled they're willing
to consider some of it, Okay, now, some of it not,
you know, not some of theDakonian ideas that was arounded in the Trump
administration. Now the Republicans want torestore the policies that would gain either rapid

(17:49):
return of people, you know,turning them away at the border, or
force them to wait in Mexico untilthe asylum cases are heard. That was
some thing that President Trump used asmethods to shut down the border to migrants.
And now Republicans are seeking to expanda policy known as expedided Removal now

(18:11):
that is to rapidly report, deportundocumented immigrants. And also they want to
restrict the use of immigration policies knownas humanitarian parole. Now here's where this
gets a bit dicey. The humanitarianpatrol parole has been there for years and
it's allowed Afghans, Ukrainians, andothers from Central and South America to flee

(18:38):
war and violence and to come tothe United States for asylum. The Republicans
say that that needs to be totallyoverhauled to connect with the border crossings,
which has surpassed ten thousand people perday. So at the moment, we
don't have a deal. We'll findout in the next twenty four hours if

(19:02):
indeed there is a deal to behad. At this moment, it doesn't
look like that's going to happen,although you know, stranger things have,
so we'll keep it posted on thatsome breaking news that just came in a
few minutes ago, and that isthat the European Union has decided to open

(19:26):
negotiations with Ukraine to join NATO.Now that's something that really had been talked
about last year, as some ofyou may remember, but there was always
the key opposition from Hungarian Prime MinisterVictor Orbon. But the European Council President

(19:49):
Charles Mitchell, you know, who'sbeen you know, working out of Brussels
on the summit with the twenty sevenEuropean Union leaders, said the decision to
add them right now is something thatthey feel needs to be explored. So

(20:11):
the Ukraine finally becoming a member ofNATO could take years, but it's got
to start somewhere and right now,the UK, the EU, I'm sorry,
the European Union, seems to thinkit's going to be a victory for
all of Europe if indeed Ukraine canjoin the NATO Alliance and also potentially become

(20:42):
a member, you know, ofthe European Union. So that's all coming
down here and all. By bythe way, Moldovia is also being considered
as a possible member of the Europeanunions, so NATO and the European Union
situation. He's certainly becoming a possibilityfor the Ukraine. So that's very much

(21:06):
a very important thing which we willfollow for you. So now here's our
cover story, the story which youwill be able to read tomorrow and anchor
as well as a number of othersites which are in the showbox below.
And that is how the US CentralCommand and the idea of have a role

(21:29):
in what's going on in the IsraeliHamas war. Now. While President Joe
Biden is trying to walk that verythin line between the pressure from the Democrats
on the left and the far rightRepublicans, he has supported Israel and it's
not been in any way, shapeor form on wavering. He has actually

(21:51):
put up a very strong, avery strong point having to do with the
ability to make sure that they donot call a ceasefire because he feels that
that would be an opportunity for Hamasto rebuild, so he doesn't want that
to happen. He's holding hard thanthat. The Republicans on the other hand,

(22:15):
where that's a problem for him isthey are basically holding hostage the money
for not just Israel. Budd forUkraine having to do again with the southern
borders we're talking about, as wellas in some cases as we saw with

(22:37):
the House, where it becomes abudget neutral. So they're actually saying,
all right, fine, we'll giveyou the fourteen billion if you take fourteen
billion out of the IRS budget,which of course is forty percent of the
budget. So that's not going tohappen. So, as you know,
the political theory plays out in Washingtonand Tel Aviv, what's really happening behind,

(23:00):
you know, the scenes with thetwo countries as far as real things
that matter. Okay, at thispoint, you know, overlooking the calm,
blue green waters of Tampa Bay,you're gonna find McDill Air Force Base.
Now it is home to the UnitedStates Central Command now US sent Comm

(23:23):
as it is known, covers aglobal located group of countries in Europe,
Africa, and the Pacific. Okay, And while Tampa is six hundreds you
know, basically sixty six hundred milesfrom Tel Aviv, the two cities are
linked by this war between Israel andHamas. The Israeli Defense Forces we know

(23:49):
a the IDF and Sientcom are workingclosely as they develop a plan to bring
the hostages some defeat Hamas while doingthe least bit of harm to the resident
of Goslin. No. Sitcom isrun by Commander General Michael E. Kula,
and he has made two trips toIsrael since the October seventh attack.

(24:10):
On October seventeenth, he was inTel Aviv to conduct high level meetings with
Israel's military leadership and including the Chiefof Defense, which is General Herzy halle
V. According to the Pentagon,the meeting went quite well, and he
also met with the War Council.Now. In a statement later issued by

(24:34):
the Pentagon on October seventeenth, hesaid that his visit was I'm here to
ensure that Israel has what it needsto defend itself, and I'm partly focused,
particularly particularly focused, i should say, on avoiding the expanding of the
conflict. So two things Sentcom's doing. They're helping the idea on the day

(25:03):
to day issues of fighting Hamas inGaza, while looking again to make sure
that there is not an expansion ofthis war into other places which would stretch
the military, which right now can'tafford that kind of stretch. Now,

(25:26):
Krula, who is as we saidbefore, men in charge of Income.
The general has extensive knowledge in theMiddle Least. Among his many assignments that
he's been involved with include Desert ShieldSlash Desert Storm, which had him in
Saudi Arabia, as well as IraqOperation Iraqi Resolution as well as Operation During

(25:51):
Freedom, both of those are inAfghanistan, Operation Inherent Resolve which was in
Iraq, and he also served asthe Joint Staff Deputy Director of the Special
Operations on counter Terrorism. So yousee, he's got tremendous background, not
just in what goes on in theregion and who the players are in the

(26:15):
region, but his understanding of howthey work and how the counter terrorism situation
where they fought isis and you knowother terrorist groups in the region, the
Book of Ron among others. Heunderstands how they think, how they operate,
and he's very much the best pointperson to lead the group at Sencom

(26:41):
in this situation helping the IDF aswell as making sure they get what they
need now. Not only, asI said, are they using the state
of the art satellite intel technology toshare with Israel, but they also have
the boots on the ground to dosome old school personal communications using the years

(27:07):
that they have built up in theregion with the knowledge that they know what's
going on, they know who theplayers are, and they know who they
need to stop. Okay, Soat present US Sentcom has forty six countries,
including Israel, that are part oftheir coalition networks, So that means
that they can not only draw frominformation they have, but information that forty

(27:32):
six other countries have been able toglean over years to give Israel a better
understanding not only of who they're fighting, but how best to fight them and
how best to take Hamas out froma standpoint of making sure they're no longer

(27:52):
a threat not just militarily but politicallyin Gaza. So the information shared by
the US Sentcom with the IDEF howto fight order or battles the Israeli so
she's not now on a daily basis. And basically it's is clear that while
the political theater is always going tobe there, the real work that is

(28:19):
being done behind the scenes with thecooperation of the IDEF sitcom is what we
should be focusing on. So thereyou go, the entire story. Our
cover story will be dropping within thenext twenty four hours. You'll be able
to read it at Zeger News orany of the links below where you might

(28:47):
be able to find it again.Once it's published. It takes about twenty
four hours to get out to getinto the system, So hang with us
on there. It'll be there.You'll be able to read it. Some
of the other cover stories you canlook for as you know whether or not
the Red Cross is doing everything thatthey can, which we will be delving

(29:07):
into because we have not yet hadthe Red Cross sea the hostages. They
it's been since October eighth, sincesince they have been being asked by a
number of people, pressure being puton them by not just issue but the
United States, the UK, Franceand other countries. To get to that.

(29:30):
We will get touch based on that, we'll touch base on what's going
on for the day after, andwe'll certainly have guests look forward to in
the next couple of days, havingAlan Joel Steinberg, one of our buddies
here. If you know anything aboutthe podcast, you know that Allen has
been with us on a couple ofoccasions, most recently talking about Henry Kissinger

(29:56):
and what his impact on the worldfrom a diplomatic standpoint, you know,
was, And so Alan will bewith us Alan worked with as an advisor
to President George W. Bush aswell as spent a great deal of time

(30:18):
advising the Israeli government on a numberof different issues. So we'll have Alan,
we'll have some of your favorite journalistsjoining us, and so plenty of
stuff to look forward to right hereon the Politically in Correct Podcast. Now,
if you don't have a chance towatch us on YouTube, which is
cool, you can also get uswhere we started, which was the podcast

(30:42):
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(31:03):
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(31:26):
we will be with you tomorrow,and as I said before, there's a
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with the lawn. We're going tobe giving you as much information as we
can, as quickly as we getit. And so by all means,
it's not to steal Rachel Meddle's tagline, but watch this space. We will

(31:52):
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(32:14):
you tomorrow and until then, havea great have a great last night to
Hanukah, and we will see youtomorrow. Take care,