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Israel Faces Fallout After Accidentally Killing World Central Kitchen Workers in Gaza

Israel Faces Fallout After Accidentally Killing World Central Kitchen Workers in Gaza

Released Thursday, 4th April 2024
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Israel Faces Fallout After Accidentally Killing World Central Kitchen Workers in Gaza

Israel Faces Fallout After Accidentally Killing World Central Kitchen Workers in Gaza

Israel Faces Fallout After Accidentally Killing World Central Kitchen Workers in Gaza

Israel Faces Fallout After Accidentally Killing World Central Kitchen Workers in Gaza

Thursday, 4th April 2024
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0:03

From the opinion pages of The Wall

0:05

Street Journal, this is Potomac. Watch.

0:09

Relations between Israel and the

0:11

By Demonstration continue to deteriorate

0:13

After his real killed seven

0:15

relief workers for World Central

0:17

Kitchen in Gaza. Israel is

0:19

taken responsibility for the bombing,

0:21

which it said was based

0:23

on faulty intelligence, but reaction

0:25

in the Us in the

0:27

rest of the world has

0:29

been increasing hostility to a

0:31

Jewish state. What happens now

0:33

in U S is relations.

0:35

What does all of this

0:37

mean for the Gaza. War

0:39

welcome, I'm Polish. You go with

0:41

the Wall Street Journal opinion pages

0:44

and I'm here with my colleagues

0:46

Kim Stressful and Bill Mcgurn. So

0:48

Israel has apologized for the bombing

0:51

and that says it's conducting an

0:53

investigation. But let's listen to Jose

0:55

address the celebrity chef who runs

0:57

World Central Kitchen and was workers

1:00

were killed saying the strike was

1:02

deliberate followed by you a spokesman

1:04

for the State Department, Matthew Miller

1:07

on Israel's accountability. We were. Targeted

1:09

deliberately not stop until everybody was

1:11

that in these com boy these

1:13

happen over more than one point

1:15

five one point eight kid on

1:17

it so these was not use

1:19

our bad lag and situation where

1:21

hopes will drop the bomb in

1:23

the wrong place or not these

1:25

was over One point five one

1:27

point eight kilometers with a berry

1:29

defy humanitarian convoy that had signs

1:31

in the top in the rules

1:33

that cannot be that rob an

1:35

army the has hundreds of drones

1:37

above gotta the. Chief of Staff for

1:40

the Israeli Defense Forces has come out said

1:42

it's and beside it was a misidentification so

1:44

by took that to me. Meanwhile they were

1:46

targeting those cars are not believe that it

1:48

was World Central Kitchen that was operating those

1:50

vehicles at the time. But

1:52

that said, we need to wait and see

1:54

the outcome of this investigation. Does to know

1:56

with any confidence what it was that happened

1:58

in. We're going away. to do that. But

2:01

it doesn't really matter how they made

2:03

the mistake. At the end of the

2:05

day, you have seven dead aid workers

2:07

who are there trying to deliver humanitarian

2:09

assistance. So whatever the mistake that happened

2:11

inside the IDF, it's unacceptable. And they

2:14

need to do better. And they need

2:16

to put measures in place to ensure

2:18

that it doesn't happen again. Harsh criticism

2:20

from Jose Andres, the world central kitchen

2:23

head, and no

2:25

doubt painful, terrible episode seven

2:27

innocent aid workers killed. It's

2:29

truly awful. And

2:31

it's understandable as anger. But as you

2:34

heard from the State Department spokesman, there

2:36

doesn't seem to be any evidence that

2:38

this was deliberately an attempt to kill

2:40

the aid workers. The US seems to

2:42

be agreeing, or at least believing the

2:44

Israel point that it was a case

2:48

of mistaken identity. Kim,

2:50

if nothing else, what we know is

2:52

certainly isn't in Israel's interest to have

2:54

done this, because the condemnation

2:56

is made life more difficult for its

2:59

campaign in Gaza. Yeah,

3:01

I mean, there's a lot we still

3:03

don't know about here. Netanyahu came out

3:05

and apologized. They said that they

3:07

will investigate it, check it, there's going to

3:10

be a full review. I do think that

3:12

this is very important because it is what

3:14

distinguishes a democracy, the speed

3:16

at which Israel came out and

3:18

admitted fault for this horrible tragedy,

3:21

and said that there would be a review

3:23

and that it would be made transparent and

3:25

that people would know what would happen. This

3:27

is, I would say, in contrast, for instance,

3:29

to that hospital bombing

3:32

very early in the conflict in

3:34

which Hamas didn't take responsibility and

3:36

attempted to pin it on Israel. Very

3:39

tragic, though. And it just comes at

3:41

a terrible moment, because obviously it's a

3:43

moment in which Joe

3:45

Biden, unfortunately, is caving to

3:48

pressure on his left already.

3:51

He's worried about the upcoming election.

3:53

He'd been distancing himself somewhat from

3:55

Israel's war effort. He now came

3:57

out with his own statement. which

4:00

was also incredibly harsh. He said

4:02

he was outraged and heartbroken over

4:04

this. He said, Israel has not

4:06

done enough to protect aid workers.

4:09

Incidents like yesterday's simply should not

4:12

happen. Israel has not done enough

4:14

to protect civilians. And

4:16

this gets into growing questions

4:18

over Israel's thought of going

4:20

into Rafah. There's a big

4:23

push in Washington to try to dissuade

4:25

them from doing it. But between Biden

4:27

and a lot of heaping of scorn

4:29

by other world leaders, this

4:31

is certainly a new problem

4:34

Israel has to confront as this

4:36

conflict continues to drag on. There's

4:38

no downplaying the tragedy

4:41

here and the mistake. And

4:44

yet, I recall the episode

4:47

in August 2021

4:50

when the US on its way

4:52

out of Afghanistan mistakenly fired a

4:54

hellfire missile in Kabul, which

4:57

was aimed supposedly at ISIS

4:59

Khorasan planners who had killed

5:01

the Americans as we

5:03

attempted to leave. But

5:05

instead, mistakenly hit

5:08

a family and killed 10 civilians,

5:10

including as many as seven children.

5:12

That was a mistake. As

5:14

the Pentagon acknowledged at the time, we

5:16

now assess it is unlikely that the

5:18

vehicle and those who died were associated

5:20

with ISIS-K or were a

5:23

direct threat to US forces. None

5:26

of that is to deny the tragedy

5:28

of the event in Gaza,

5:30

but it does point out that in

5:32

wartime, these kinds of mistakes happen. Yes,

5:35

it does. That was a

5:37

good example, because remember, Paul,

5:39

initially the US Pentagon said

5:42

it was a righteous strike. It took a

5:44

little while for the real story

5:46

to come out. And I

5:48

don't recall outrage on

5:51

the president's part. I don't recall anyone

5:53

paying a price for this. And

5:55

I can understand mistakes to happen like

5:57

this. That's why we're so brutal. rule

6:00

because innocent people get killed.

6:03

But I think that's why you

6:05

have to be careful about not

6:07

self-righteously denouncing someone

6:09

for a difficult decision because it

6:12

didn't turn out well. You try

6:14

to minimize the threat and so

6:16

forth. I mean, I think Joe

6:18

Biden's outrage would be easier to

6:20

take if he were

6:22

clear in articulating goals, like he said,

6:24

Israel should be able to defend itself.

6:26

Kind of the same line he's taken

6:29

with Ukraine. He doesn't say

6:31

Hamas needs to be destroyed or

6:33

it has to win. And

6:35

I think it erodes Israel's

6:38

moral credibility when it's

6:40

constantly being sapped. Now

6:42

on the flip side,

6:44

the Biden administration is taking flack

6:47

from the pro-Palsidian crowd for continuing

6:49

to send weapons over there. But

6:52

I think when you don't lend

6:54

moral support to an ally, that

6:56

kind of aid becomes jeopardized itself.

6:59

And I would like to see the

7:01

president more forthright in what he wants

7:04

the outcome to be. Does he want

7:06

Hamas to be left there with a

7:08

nucleus? Does he want Hamas to

7:10

be destroyed? I'd like to see him be

7:13

more clear about what we're aiming for

7:15

with one of her allies. All

7:17

right. We're going to take a break.

7:19

And when we come back, we'll have

7:21

more on the tragic bombing this week

7:23

in Gaza and its implications for Israel

7:26

and the U.S.-Israel relations when we come

7:28

back. Max Levchin was

7:30

one of the original co-founders of PayPal.

7:32

And now he's leading one of the

7:34

biggest players in the buy now pay

7:36

later business. As CEO of a

7:38

firm, he's going head to head with the credit

7:40

card company. Credit, generally

7:42

speaking, is good. America runs on credit.

7:44

I think we let ourselves illustrate when

7:47

we decided that credit cards is

7:49

the optimal way of borrowing money. Here

7:51

an in-depth version of our conversation

7:54

with Max Levchin for WSJ's take

7:56

on the week. Plus other exclusive

7:58

content on WSJ's special. access

8:01

only for WSJ subscribers on Spotify

8:03

and Apple Podcast. Welcome

8:10

back. I'm Paul Gigo with Bill

8:13

McGurn and Kim Strassle here

8:15

on our daily Potomac Watch

8:17

podcast for Wall Street

8:19

Journal opinion. Let's build on

8:21

the point that Bill made, Kim,

8:23

in the last section where he

8:26

mentioned the pressure building on

8:29

President Biden through this episode on

8:31

the left. Of course, you have

8:33

Jose Andres, the leader of World

8:35

Central Kitchen, appearing everywhere, talking about

8:37

his claim that Israel did

8:39

this deliberately. You have the

8:42

Democratic left becoming increasingly impatient. Ben

8:44

Rhodes, who was one of the

8:46

architects of Barack Obama

8:49

policy in the Middle East,

8:51

which does not make him a moral

8:53

authority or strategic authority

8:55

in any sense, but he says

8:57

he was highly critical of Biden saying, as

9:00

long as there's no consequences against

9:02

Israel for what it's done,

9:04

then his rhetoric criticizing Israel

9:06

means nothing. You have

9:09

Jill Biden letting it be known, or somebody

9:11

letting it be known, that Jill Biden had

9:13

told Joe, Joe, you got to bring the

9:15

war to an end. Well,

9:17

thanks for that. Yeah, make it stop. Well,

9:19

thanks for that. We all want

9:21

it to stop. The question is how you

9:23

do it. And then Chris Van Hollen, the

9:26

Maryland Center, who's been one of the leading

9:28

anti-Israel voices in the US Senate, saying, I

9:30

hope this will be the moment where the

9:32

president changes course, quote, unquote, he

9:35

wants the administration to impose restrictions

9:37

on weapon deliveries

9:39

to Israel from the

9:41

US. I guess

9:43

my question politically, Kim, is this

9:45

pressure going to make any difference

9:47

in terms of the ultimate US policy

9:49

of support for Israel? In other words,

9:52

could Biden turn? That is the

9:54

fear. And by the way, I would

9:56

disagree with Mr. Rhodes, that rhetoric alone

9:58

is not damaging as we've been. we're just discussing,

10:00

I think that Joe Biden's

10:02

comments distancing himself from Netanyahu and

10:05

the very harsh criticism that he

10:07

has ladled out of late is

10:09

in fact very difficult because

10:11

as one of its strongest allies, it's

10:14

a signal to other world leaders to

10:16

back off as well too. And it

10:18

makes Israel increasingly isolated. So the rhetoric

10:20

is itself a problem. The

10:22

fear is that it grows into actual

10:25

policy changes. And you

10:28

mentioned Ben Holland, Chris Coons,

10:30

who's actually been one of

10:32

the bigger backers of Israel

10:34

in Congress. He's a Senator.

10:37

He came out today and said

10:39

that if Netanyahu were

10:41

to order the Israeli defense forces

10:43

into Rafah at scale and make

10:45

no provisions for civilians or humanitarian

10:48

aid, that he would vote

10:50

to condition future aid to Israel. You've

10:53

got also news reports, which

10:55

I find very concerning. This

10:57

has all been a discussion about the

10:59

next vote on the next branch of

11:01

Israel aid, but obviously there are arms

11:03

deals that are also in

11:06

the works. One of them involves

11:08

an $18 billion deal to transfer

11:10

among other things, F-15 fighters and

11:12

munitions. Apparently the president

11:14

sent informal notification of this deal

11:17

to Congress. And he so

11:19

far has not gotten sign off from

11:21

the two Democrats. So word is, is

11:24

that when this happens under the Arms and

11:26

Export Control Act, the president has to notify

11:28

Congress. And then the top

11:30

players on the Senate foreign relations and

11:32

House Foreign Affairs Committee have to say,

11:35

yes, the Republicans have supposedly said yes,

11:37

but Ben Cardin in the

11:39

Senate and Gregory Meeks in the House apparently

11:41

have not given their approval. So

11:44

we are already potentially moving to

11:46

a situation where Israel could be

11:49

struggling to get even

11:51

prior agreed equipment over to

11:53

them because of the politics here in the U.S.

11:56

That's of course, Bill, the pressure from

11:58

the. Democratic left,

12:00

for the most part, the people we've been

12:03

citing are, by and large, on the left

12:05

of the party. And yet,

12:07

when you look at the polling

12:09

that I've seen, the US public

12:11

support for Israel against Hamas seems

12:14

to be holding quite well at about two-thirds

12:17

of the public. The Wall Street

12:19

Journal poll in Michigan this week shows that

12:22

even in Michigan, which is, of

12:24

course, a locus of so-called Dearborn

12:26

Democrats, who are often,

12:29

nor many of them, are Arab Americans,

12:32

but also young people who disagree

12:34

with the US policy. But overall

12:36

in the state, the pro-Israel view

12:38

still prevails by

12:41

a substantial margin. So

12:43

my point is that the president would

12:45

pay a price politically if he

12:48

indeed were to start conditioning military

12:50

aid to Israel on certain

12:52

kinds of behavior, or if he were to

12:54

attempt to block Israel from

12:57

finishing the job against Hamas.

13:00

Yeah, I think it's part of

13:02

his tendency to kind of

13:04

take position, then mitigate it.

13:06

Like with Ukraine, he gives

13:08

him enough to keep footing, but I don't

13:11

think he's on the record said

13:13

Ukraine must win. He's been

13:15

saying that we must not allow Russia

13:17

to win, but he doesn't say we

13:19

need Ukraine to win. And the same

13:21

thing here. I think he's listening to

13:23

the wrong people. Paul, I look at

13:25

the polls the same way. The

13:27

majority Americans can distinguish between the

13:30

state of Israel and a group

13:32

that launches attacks, slaughtering

13:35

grandmothers and teenage girls

13:37

and babies, and they

13:39

know what side they're on. I think

13:41

it would be a stronger play. And

13:43

I think Biden had it originally, you

13:45

know, went over to Israel and visited

13:47

during wartime. If he had

13:50

stuck with that and tried to marginalize the

13:52

protesters. But now I think he's going to

13:54

get the worst of both worlds because

13:56

the people like us who

13:59

want to see a strong and

14:01

unequivocal defense of Israel and want

14:03

to see them win and absolutely

14:06

destroy Hamas and get hostages back,

14:08

including the four Americans they hold.

14:11

He's criticized from the right by them, but

14:14

the left is kind of onto his

14:16

game. They're not going to be appeased by

14:19

rhetoric. They're only going to be appeased

14:21

if Joe Biden really takes kind

14:23

of the view you have to cut off

14:25

aid and so forth, which I'm not sure

14:27

he'll do according to what they want. So

14:29

he's in a position where both sides

14:31

can kind of feel enraged. And of

14:34

course, the left is still going to

14:36

march on the convention. There's going to

14:38

be a lot of problems. That's the

14:40

passionate cause of the moment for the

14:42

left. And I don't think

14:44

it's going to obey. Well, we've been

14:47

talking about the domestic and political implications

14:49

of all of this. Of course, there

14:51

are global political implications, strategic, especially in

14:53

the Middle East, which is still in

14:56

a perilous position. We had the apparent

14:59

Israeli strike this week came against Iranian

15:02

Revolutionary Guard Corps building

15:05

and generals in Syria, targeted

15:08

strike that killed top generals.

15:11

Iran has vowed to retaliate.

15:13

We have on Friday the

15:16

annual Iranian Al-Quds day,

15:18

which might be a day they

15:20

launch reprisals at Israel, either

15:23

directly or through their proxies. We've

15:25

got a very tense position on the

15:28

northern border of Israel with Lebanon and

15:30

Hezbollah, the restive population

15:32

in the West Bank, Palestinians. And then

15:35

of course, the Gaza War is far

15:38

from over. So abandoning Israel

15:40

or seeming to abandon Israel, seeming

15:42

to stop it from finishing its job would have

15:45

real implications for what message we were

15:47

sending the world about how steadfast the

15:49

US is on behalf of a beleaguered

15:51

ally. Yes, and potential

15:53

implications for us. I would note

15:55

that the Iranian leadership

15:58

made clear that while While

16:00

they believe that Israel is behind

16:02

this, that they view America as

16:04

taking responsibility as well too. They

16:06

said America will have to pay

16:08

a price for this. We've

16:11

already had our troops under assault

16:13

and bases that we have in

16:15

Syria and Iraq from proxies funded

16:17

by Iran with drone strikes and

16:19

others. Three US troops killed back

16:21

on a base in Jordan in

16:23

a strike. I think

16:25

we can expect as well that those attacks

16:28

are going to ramp up and

16:30

maybe the area becoming more dangerous for

16:32

those that we have now trying to

16:34

keep things calm. I

16:37

think not just implications for what

16:39

has been a conflict that's largely

16:42

been centered in Gaza spilling out

16:44

over the borders, but further bringing

16:47

the United States in. This is what

16:49

happens when you don't show strong deterrence

16:51

and you don't stand by your allies. You

16:53

just make yourself more of a target. All

16:57

right, we'll take another break. When we come back,

16:59

we'll talk about Donald Trump and Israel. What would

17:01

he do differently if anything, when we come back?

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Potomac Watch Podcast. From

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17:59

back. Go with C F.

18:01

Potomac Watch podcast Wall Street Journal

18:03

opinion pages with Kim's Russell Pan

18:06

of Bill Mcgurn and let's a

18:08

pivot to what's leading political challenger

18:10

to president by Donald Trump. Has

18:13

been saying about the war in

18:15

Gaza and events and that he

18:17

made a call to Hugh Hewitt

18:19

so Radio show on Thursday morning

18:21

and I was asked of course

18:23

about events in Israel and the

18:26

what he said was he thinks

18:28

is just taking too long for

18:30

the Israeli government to finish the

18:32

job. He said that he wants

18:34

his real. To. Go

18:36

ahead because I'm not sure that I'm

18:39

loving the way they're doing it because

18:41

you have to have a victory and

18:43

it's taking a long time. And the

18:45

other thing I hate they put out

18:47

keeps all the time. every night the

18:50

releasing tapes of a building falling down.

18:52

They shouldn't be releasing tapes like that.

18:54

That's why they're losing the P R

18:56

war. Israel was absolutely losing a P

18:58

R War. And quote Kim, it's not

19:01

really grasp the nettle there. except I

19:03

guess he's not saying they shouldn't go

19:05

and or. Offer not committing any details.

19:07

he's a saying. They. Gotta move

19:09

fast. It's classic Donald

19:12

Trump. This is taking too long. The

19:14

Vault. I mean

19:16

one thing he also said of that

19:18

night I do think it was a

19:20

very key phrase. He said they need

19:22

to finish what they start in which

19:25

to me signals and Donald Trump is

19:27

sticking with Israel and saying that he

19:29

has their back in terms of their

19:31

objective. That yes, his complaint. As is

19:33

often Donald Trump when it comes to

19:36

international complex, he doesn't like anything that's

19:38

drawn out. He does I will. given.

19:40

as he doesn't understand that americans

19:42

also prefer to see complex and

19:44

quickly this is always been one

19:46

of the struggles when you in

19:48

the united states and anywhere is

19:50

engaged in a foreign com like

19:52

did keeping political will onside but

19:54

that's what we look to leaders

19:56

to do to explain the consequences

19:58

of early abandonment not

20:00

really Donald Trump's strong suit. I

20:03

think this distinguishes somewhat from Joe

20:05

Biden. He isn't being outwardly critical

20:08

other than a timeline perspective and

20:10

his professed worry that if this

20:12

drags on, it will be more

20:15

difficult for Israel to sustain it. And

20:17

there is a reality to that. You

20:19

know, I think it's interesting to me,

20:22

Bill, that he hasn't criticized Biden on

20:24

Israel. You know, he's kind

20:26

of stayed away from saying that Biden

20:29

should be more steadfast in support. He

20:31

hasn't said that Biden hasn't made the

20:33

point about Hamas holding US hostages. Why

20:36

do you think that is, Bill? I

20:38

don't know. I assume that

20:40

bolstering his gut instinct side

20:43

with Netanyahu is the

20:45

fact that Biden is being criticized

20:47

for not supporting him strong enough,

20:49

especially in rhetoric. So I would

20:51

have expected him to say more.

20:54

I think he will as he realizes. I

20:57

think to Donald Trump, a lot of

20:59

his political, if he thinks

21:01

that support for

21:03

Israel, strong support is

21:05

anti-Biden, I think he'll embrace it

21:08

more fully. But you point out

21:10

the politics are very odd because,

21:13

you know, the demonstrations,

21:15

people blocking airports like

21:17

JFK on behalf of

21:19

Gaza, along those people that

21:21

are very passionate would,

21:24

I think, be Bobby Kennedy supporters.

21:26

And he's also, he's anti-Biden. He's

21:28

been critical, been very strong. Yeah,

21:30

pro-Israel. Yeah, and reminds me, when

21:32

I was in Afghanistan during the

21:34

first war, they loved,

21:36

the Afghans loved the Rambo movies.

21:39

And then they found out

21:41

one of the ones, maybe the

21:43

last one, was filmed in the

21:45

Zionist entity. And

21:48

kind of dampened their enthusiasm. And

21:51

I kind of feel the protesters,

21:53

I don't think most of them

21:55

know Bobby Kennedy's position, but it

21:58

makes for strange bedfellows. I think

22:00

one of the things that's been shattered

22:02

in addition to the two-state solution is

22:05

kind of unfortunately a bipartisan

22:08

consensus on Israel. I think

22:10

the left is splitting the

22:12

Democratic Party from Israel, and

22:15

I think that's going to make for

22:17

all sorts of interesting politics, especially in

22:19

2024. And

22:21

I do think Trump was on to

22:23

it. It was a political point, not

22:26

a something point about taking long. You

22:28

know, when I was with Bush in

22:30

the White House, he always said, you

22:32

know, Bubba wants those troops home, and

22:34

it took three years to get a

22:37

successful surge strategy. Time

22:39

is generally not on the fighter's

22:41

side, the people trying to defend

22:43

themselves against terrorists. So if

22:45

that's, as Kim said, just kind of

22:48

an analysis of the fact, that's one thing. If

22:50

it signals, well, maybe I'll get

22:52

bored with support if this goes

22:54

on too long, that's a very

22:56

different thing entirely. Kim,

22:59

it is also in Joe Biden's interest

23:01

that this end soon, right? Because

23:04

the sooner it does, the conflict

23:06

in Gaza, the sooner he can

23:08

pursue the deal he wants between

23:10

Israel and Mohammed bin Salman of

23:12

Saudi Arabia to conclude

23:14

a peace deal or have them join the Abraham

23:16

Accords. That's still very much on the

23:18

minds of the Biden White House. Jake

23:21

Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, was supposed to travel

23:23

over there. So they still

23:25

want that to be done. And

23:28

then, of course, for the reasons Bill

23:30

has described about the pressure from the

23:32

Democratic left, they want this done well

23:34

before the Democratic Convention in

23:36

August, which could be

23:38

quite a damaging spectacle of internal

23:41

democratic division. Sure. This president

23:43

has all kinds of reasons to want

23:45

this done. I mean, one, obviously, he

23:47

would just like this conflict to be

23:49

over. It's one more overseas

23:51

distraction. He was already dealing

23:54

with Ukraine trying to keep

23:56

support marshaled to

23:58

continue getting aid to the U.S. that ally.

24:00

This is one more conflict that is

24:02

in many ways spiraling out of his

24:05

control. So you get that done and

24:07

not only do you take it off

24:09

the balance sheet, maybe you even get

24:12

a win after it, as you said,

24:14

with the peace deal. But also this

24:16

is just a president who prefers to

24:18

talk about domestic issues. He would much

24:21

rather be doing tours of the country

24:23

bragging about the infrastructure money he put

24:25

out and talking about abortion than he

24:28

would be foreign policy issues. I

24:30

don't know if he's going to get

24:32

that wish. Israel's been pretty clear that

24:34

this is going to take some time.

24:36

Donald Trump's advice to Israel notwithstanding, I

24:39

would wager that that country

24:41

understands that unless you actually

24:43

complete the mission and essentially

24:45

make it so that Hamas

24:48

cannot reconstitute itself and repeat

24:50

another October 7th, then

24:52

all of this has not been worth it. So I

24:54

mean this could still go on. We're

24:57

already at the six month mark here since

24:59

October 7th and in

25:01

that sense it is the longest

25:04

war in Gaza by far that has been fought after

25:06

a spate of Hamas

25:09

or Islamic Jihad attacks on Israel.

25:11

And this time Israel does

25:13

seem determined to eliminate Hamas.

25:15

And I think the question is how much

25:18

time it takes and in

25:20

what manner will it be accomplished.

25:22

Thanks Kim and thanks Bill. We appreciate

25:24

it. We're here every day on Potomac

25:27

Watch and we hope to see you

25:29

tomorrow. Thanks for listening.

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