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Stephen K. Bannon
This is an iHeart podcast.
Steve Witkoff
Dead of the night when the world is sleeping. Real America's Voice is live this Monday, 2am Eastern. History takes flight. Donald J. Trump arrives in Israel leading a high stakes mission for peace and the long awaited release of hostages. After months of war and heartbreak, a breakthrough, a ceasefire, hostage releases and the first steps towards a lasting Jerusalem accord. Steve Bannon leads Real America's Voice live coverage, joined by powerful voices from Jerusalem as the world watches this historic moment unfold. From conflict to compromise, from division to deliverance. This is leadership on the world stage. This is history in motion. This is Real America's Voice. RAV presents Trump's triumphant mission to Israel. Live coverage begins this Monday at 2am Eastern only on Real America's Voice. This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going.
Stephen K. Bannon
Medieval on these people.
Steve Witkoff
Christians not got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.
Matt Farachi
And where do people like that go.
Stephen K. Bannon
To share the big lie?
Dasha Burns
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul.
Steve Witkoff
I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?
Dasha Burns
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
Stephen K. Bannon
War ROOM here's your host, Stephen K. Banner.
Steve Witkoff
It's Monday the 13th of October in the year of our Lord 2025. It is Columbus Day here in the United States of America. Of course, dramatic. Let's go ahead and put the footage, got some amazing footage of hostage Square in Tel Aviv. You got, we got footage of Ream Air Force Base where the hostages are actually currently seven have already been released. Also other spots in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We are, we have with us this morning we're going to have Kurt Mills from the American Conservative, our own Ben Harnwell, international editor. Live in Rome, the great Jack Posovic pulling an overnight shift. Here with us, Joel Gilbert in Los Angeles, an expert filmmaker and expert on the Middle East. But I want to start with Matt Farace who's actually live in Jerusalem. Matt, put in context what this day, this is over a two year war coming off the most brutal slaughter the Jews have had since the Holocaust. Very contentious, this war in Jerusalem, in Israel, kind of torn about these, the nations torn apart really about the hostages and how the situation was handled, how the war is prosecuted. But what does today mean with the President of the United States about to arrive in Jerusalem on Air Force One to meet Netanyahu, welcome some hostages back, and then address the Israeli nation at the Knesset? Sir.
Matt Farachi
Good morning, Steve. Great to be with you. We are here in Jerusalem on Jaffa Street. This place is going to be banging here in a bit. This is one of the sort of most busy places in Jerusalem where Israelis come. I was reminded this morning, Steve, what a small country this is and how everybody has been impacted by this. The camera operator that I'm working with this morning, we were looking at some of the hostages being released. And two of the guys are called the Berman twins, and he worked with them before, and he knows a lot of people in the company that they worked with, very respected guys. I've got family members who have said the same thing. They knew people that either got abducted on October 7th or got attacked or, you know, whatever happened. So it's really, if you want to think of it this way, Steve, it's a family rejoicing for what's happening today. They're excited. To say they're excited to have President Trump is perhaps the understatement of the century. So I'm trying to find a word that encapsulates how thrilled people are that President Trump is here. The streets are all gated off with extra security for the motorcade to be able to come down to the Knesset. So there is a lot of anticipation this morning, Steve, as you noted, as the hostages are being released. On the downside, there's a lot of violence being reported and videos being uploaded in Gaza now that Hamas, you know, temporarily has the IDF stepping back. They're shooting a lot of people and shooting these rival clans. And there's a lot of brutality taking place in Gaza right now.
Steve Witkoff
Yeah, it seems to be like these open clan wars and people will collaborate. We're going to get to that in a minute. But here's the thing. I notice even CNN and BBC people, the news people, and even here at the war room, a little bit overwhelming, the emotional reaction to this by the Israeli people. I mean, now it's like two or three days they've been in. They've been in hostage Square in Tel Aviv throughout the nation. You see at Ream Air Force Base, thousands of people there to greet them. Were you anticipating it would be this emotional for the Israeli people?
Matt Farachi
Yeah, I was. Because again, because everybody either knows a hostage or knows a soldier that, that died in Gaza or knows somebody that was impacted or has it in their family. I have friends that I've gone to synagogue with who, you know, a father who lost a son, a rabbi I know who thought his son was alive inside Gaza for 10 months and only to find out later he had been killed on October 7th. So because everybody has been so closely impacted by this, because so many have been called up into the army over the last two years and have had to leave their jobs because so many families have been impacted, I think there's a collective family sigh of relief among the Jewish people today. And that's why you see the celebrating.
Steve Witkoff
Matt just hang there. Matt Farachi is in Jerusalem for us. Let's go to Joel Gilbert. Joel, you're as close as it comes to being an expert in the area or filmmaker, made many films about this. You're very you went to what the London College in London learned under some of the great scholars in the west, both Greek and Jewish, about Islam and political Islam. Your thoughts today, because President Trump's coming. He's going to meet the hostages. Obviously, this is very important for him. President Trump has got a big heart, as I think people realize. But he's also going to address the Israeli people at the Knesset and then he's going to actually go to Egypt for this, I guess you call it a peace conference, which Netanyahu was not invited to, is what we understand. Your thoughts on this?
Joel Gilbert
My thoughts are that today Israel gets a bone. They get 20 hostages back, they get President Trump visiting Israel, which is a very emotionally reward for the Israeli people. But what's coming in Egypt, about four hours later this afternoon, we have an entire cabal of the Gulf Arabs, Turkey and Egypt, and even I believe the prime minister of England and Canada is coming. And their goal is to turn the end of this war into a political defeat for Israel, to make sure that Hamas and the Palestinian Arabs gained statehood, rebuilding of Gaza, and to put together a coalition that will demand that Israel withdraw from half of Jerusalem, the West bank and create a Palestinian state. So I think the forces are aligning politically in Sharm el Sheikh to try to bring about an Israeli political defeat from the end of this conflict. And they're also going to try to have elections in Israel next year, and they're going to try to turn this entire episode against Israel politically. That's what I see what's coming. But today is where Israel gets to at least celebrate before all these political developments, I think, start aligning against them.
Steve Witkoff
You have, by the way, Macron is also coming. Keir Starmer, sir. Keir Starmer is coming and Macron is coming. If Macron's coming, you know, it's got to be bad news, right? I want to mention something. There's a gaggle on Air Force one. It's about 20 minutes long. We're trying to break it down and play segments of it before I go to. Before I go to Poso. Last night, Netanyahu addressed the nation through a video he made. And in a video he made, he said, hey, the Gaza part of this war is over, but the overall war continues on. He said this in Hebrew, and I think President Trump was asked about this on Air Force One, and he reiterated the war is over, and he couldn't have been more definitive. What are your thoughts about this, what Netanyahu is telling the people in Israel and Hebrew versus President Trump's mindset about this?
Joel Gilbert
Well, Netanyahu stated early on and has consistently said that there are dual goals. One is to release the hostages, and secondly is to disarm and dismantle Hamas and make sure that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel. Now, this came about because Israel had the foolish idea that by turning over Gaza to the PLO to terrorist groups, that peace would break out back in 2006, and they were woefully wrong. Now, Israel has said, okay, we were getting the hostages back. But I think that Hamas has no intention of disarming. I think Hamas is looking to do the Hezbollah model in Lebanon. Hamas doesn't want to govern anymore. They don't want to be in charge of governing, but they would like to be a heavily armed group that really controls everything and can still threaten Israel. I don't see any mechanism whatsoever that any international body is going to want to go into Gaza and disarm Hamas. So Bibi has kind of been cornered a little bit from the situation. Trump is saying, no, the war is over. You can't continue. But Bibi is not giving up on one of his main goals, which is Hamas will be disarmed and dismantled. So that's one of the conflicts that we're going to see coming out of this celebration is Hamas not going anywhere and the world aligning politically in Sharm El Sheikh to rebuild Gaza and demand a Palestinian state.
Steve Witkoff
Joe, hang on for a second. Let's go to Jack Bosovic. Jack, you've been on many of these trips with the president. You followed this very closely from the beginning. You and I covered this live on the day that it happened, October 7th. It was a Saturday. Your thoughts this morning as we await the president arrival on Air Force One?
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, Steve, this is nothing short of historic. The scenes we're seeing are absolutely biblical. And there are posters now going up in Jerusalem that I'm seeing just go viral on social media saying that Cyrus the Great has returned and they are referring to President Trump as Cyrus the Great. I see the crowds cheering there. The Persian leader who came in, but also was able to provide peace to this area after they viewed him as a liberator of liberating them from the Babylonians. And seeing this new covenant, seeing this new deal that is being put in place, I mean, it's nothing short of biblical. It's nothing short of biblical. And I don't know how anyone who's a believer can be watching these scenes, can be seeing this all happening and not going back and brushing up on our Old Testament. To say that it's Nobel Prize worthy almost doesn't even do it justice to the magnanimity of what we're seeing diminishes here.
Steve Witkoff
Yes, Joel, I want to go back to you and get mad in here. What I say is this overwhelming emotional response. If you follow this region, we have kind of seen this before, maybe not this intensity over the 20 hostages, but there have been other times where Israel, working with the Arab nations, working with the Muslim, have all parties, including the United States, which is trying to. Has tried to be an intermediary for decades and decades and decades, think you have the framework for peace or think you have a peace deal? There's been big emotional reactions in Israel in the past, and it just never pans out, does it?
Joel Gilbert
Look, there's still exists a vast misunderstanding of two cultures. Islamic culture, Islamic values versus Western culture and Western values. Israelis and supporters of the United States believe in these peace agreements and peace deals. I'll give you this piece of land and peace is going to break out. We'll live happily ever after. They fail to understand that Islamic goals and values cannot accept Jewish sovereignty over Palestine, cannot accept a Jewish state of any size. And the Arabs have been fighting militarily to defeat Israel and were unable to defeat it. And that's why I go into, in one of my films about how Anwar Sadat decided to wage a diplomatic strategy against Israel by offering Israel an embassy, essentially an office in a high rise building in Cairo in exchange for the Sinai. And he's tried to sell this model to the rest of the Arab world. The Egyptians saying, look, let's just all get together, we'll offer peace. You can have peace with us and withdraw from all these lands. And that would turn Israel into an indefensible country. And people probably wouldn't want to live there because it couldn't be defended. So it's a different model for the same goal, which is to defeat and eliminate the Jewish state. And I think those are the forces that are going to quickly align in Sharm El Sheikh to demand that Israel create a Palestinian state. And this is the calm before the storm politically, because their goal is to politically defeat Israel as a result of this agreement.
Steve Witkoff
I agree with you 100%. I think that there's no doubt that a proto two state solution will be basically agreed to this afternoon. Anyway, Joel Gilbert, Matt Farrachi in Jerusalem, the great Jack Bosobic working the overnight shift, Ben Harnwell in Rome and Kurt Mills all joining us here in the war room. Short break, back in a moment.
Dasha Burns
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Matt Farachi
Kill america's Voice Family Are you on Getter yet?
Dasha Burns
No.
Joel Gilbert
What are you waiting for?
Dasha Burns
It's free, it's uncensored, and it's where all the biggest voices in conservative media are speaking out.
Steve Witkoff
Download the Getter app right now. It's totally free. It's where I put up exclusively all of my content 24 hours a day. Want to know what Steve Bannon's thinking? Go to Getter.
Dasha Burns
That's right.
Joel Gilbert
You can follow all of your favorites.
Dasha Burns
Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobi, and so many more.
Matt Farachi
Download the Getter app now.
Dasha Burns
Sign up for free and be part of the new thing. This is a little bit more comfortable now. It's a little, little wet out there. Hello. Go ahead. So, President Trump, what's harder, peace in the Middle east or ending a government shutdown? Well, I think the hardest is this. This has been going on for 3,000 years. The shutdown has only been for 10 days. So I think the shutdown, it's gotten to be almost customary, but we're taking care of it. We've got the military paid, in fact, and we're doing a lot of things. We're ending some programs that we don't want. They happen to be Democrat sponsored programs. But we're ending some programs that we never wanted, and we're probably not going to allow them to come back. I think they made a mistake. I think they made a big mistake. This is really a Schumer shutdown, because he's become sort of irrelevant, and he wants to make himself relevant again. And in terms of the politics of this historic peace deal that we're on the way to go sign right now, you would think it's good for everybody. But at a rally this weekend, they were cheering for you and they were booing Netanyahu. What's up with that? I don't know, but we're going to make everybody happy. The one thing I can tell you is everybody is happy, whether it's Jewish or Muslim or the Arab countries, every country is dancing in the streets. And it's a point in time. I don't think you'd ever see it again. They've never seen it for 3,000 years. If you like one group, you don't like the other group. And if you like the other group, you don't like the first group. And this is the first time they've ever seen where everybody is unified, because, as you know, we're going to Egypt after Israel, and we're going to meet all of the leaders of the very powerful and big countries and very rich countries and others, and they're all into this deal. Everybody's into it. Never happened before. So I would say this is a lot tougher, but we'll see how it all works. Mr. President, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has not gone so far as to say the war is over. In your view is the war between Israel and Hamas? War is over. The war is over. Okay. Do you understand that, Mr. President, is.
Matt Farachi
The ceasefire going to hold?
Dasha Burns
Are you confident that ceasefire will hold? Say it. Are you confident that the ceasefire is going to hold? I think so. I think it's going to hold. I think people are a lot of reasons why it's going to hold, but I think people are tired of it. It's been. It's been centuries, okay? Not just recent. It's been centuries. I think people are tired of it. Yeah. The ceasefire is going to hold. And what will Gaza look like a year from now?
Matt Farachi
The international stabilization force, that's part of.
Dasha Burns
The good, strong force. I don't think I'm going to have a big impact because I don't think I. I think barely, we're going to have to use it. I think people are going to behave. Everybody knows their place. It's going to be great for everybody. It's going to be great for the surrounding countries. Arab, Muslim, all of them. It's going to be great for Israel. Everybody is happy and I think it's going to stay that way. Peter and if this, if this peace, if the ceasefire does hold, how long until we get to the part of the 20 point peace plan where developers can go in and make Gaza the Riviera of the Middle East? Well, I don't know about the Riviera for a while because you take a look at what you have, you have to get people taken care of first. But it's going to start really essentially immediately. I mean, they're going to have to start by removing a lot of the structures that you see that are down to the ground. I mean, it's a very, it's blasted. This is like a demolition site. Almost the entire site is. So you, you have to, you have to get rid of what you have there. You have structures that are very dangerous. They're falling down. If they haven't fallen, they're going to fall down of their own volition. So that process, Peter, is going to start pretty much immediately in that way, like a year from now, in your view. That's very quick. But over the years it'll look very good. It'll be, it's got the first chance it's had in centuries of being peaceful. It's always been a very, very strange area. It's always been loaded up with problems, religious problems, problems like no other place probably in the world. And I think it's going to now it's going to normalize. All you can say if it normalizes. That would be fantastic structure, sir, that you have set up in that peace plan. How soon will that new governing body be in place? Very quickly. And everybody wants to be a part of it. You're talking about the Board of Peace, right? Tony Blair yourself wants you. Everybody wants to be a part of it. I've had calls from all of the leaders, the leaders of countries. They all want to be a part. I mean, the, the leaders themselves. They're not going to send somebody. They want to be a part of it. Who's going to be a part of it yet? I do, I do. Can you share. No, not yet. To Tony Blair? Have you spoken to Tony Blair about it since the ear things out? Have you spoken to Tony Blair about. I have. You know, I. First I want to find out that Tony would be popular with all because I just don't know that. And I like Tony I've always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he's an acceptable choice to everybody. What about, what guarantees have you been able to give to both the Israelis and the Arab countries? We have a lot of guarantees. The Israelis are very, we, we have a lot of verbal guarantees, too, and I don't think they're going to want to disappoint me. I have a lot of verbal guarantees, guarantees that aren't down in writing, but they were given to me, and I believe they're going to be held very strongly. That's why I think it's going to be successful. Look who we have. I Katie Lev, Good to see you. Mr. President. Thank you.
Matt Farachi
Good to see you.
Dasha Burns
I'm sure you've seen reports of Hamas rearming, instituting themselves as a Palestinian police force, taking, you know, shooting rivals. What is your message? Come on. Because they do want to stop the problems, and they've been open about it and we gave them approval for a period of time. You have to understand they've lost probably 60,000 people. That's a lot of retribution. They've lost 60,000 people. And the ones that are living right now were, in many cases very young when this all started. And we are having them watch that there's not going to be big crime or some of the problems that you have when you have areas like this that have been literally demolished. You know, you have 2 million people and probably it'll be less than that, but you have close to 2 million people going back to buildings that have been demolished. And a lot of bad things can happen. So we want it to be, we want it to be, be safe. I, I think it's going to be fine. Who knows? Who knows for sure, Katie? But I think it's going to be fine. Mr. President? Mr. Yes? Hi. What is the latest that you've heard about hostages, when they will be released? Do you expect to meet with. Well, I hear the hostages might be even a little early, but I don't want to say that. So they have the hostages, I understand, all 20, and we may get them out a little bit early. Getting them was amazing, actually, because we were involved and they were in places that you don't want to know about. Deep, deep, deep. Some of the top Biden administration folks who were there, like Anthony Blinken, seem to want some credit for the peace deal. Blinken says it's good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan that the Biden administration developed. What do you think about that? Everybody knows that's a joke. Look, they didn't do. They did such a bad job. This should have never happened. This wouldn't have even happened. That was weak leadership, terrible with. And the same thing with Russia, Russia, Ukraine. If, if a. Just a decent president, not a great president like me, not a great president. If a decent president was in, you wouldn't have had the Russia, Ukraine. And this is, I would say even more so. This was bad policy by Biden and by Obama. Remember when Bibi came and he begged that you not do what they were doing with Iran? You remember that, right? Begged him and they wouldn't even listen to him. Everything they did was the opposite, what you should have done. And it's nice that they try and take a little credit. That was years ago and the mistakes were made years ago and it was both by Biden and Obama. And so what did you do so differently? Because a lot, I know a lot of it was behind the scenes. So what did you do so much differently than Joe Biden and to end the war? I resonated with the Arab leaders, the Muslim leaders and the Jewish leaders. For whatever reason, you tell me why. You know, he said that in my first news conference, I answered more questions of him than Biden did four years. And I think that's pretty close to being true. Now. There were, there were no Pinocchios in the fact check. That's right. That's right. Your relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu has been through some ups and downs. You had to get a little tough on him. Where is that relationship now? And can you tell us? Very good. He just put me up for the Nobel Prize. So, you know, I don't know what it means with the Nobel Prize, but he put me up yesterday for the Nobel Prize that I should get it. But I mean, I think it's very good commitments to you personally about moving forward to the next phase of peace. Look, let me tell you, he's a wartime president. He did a very good job. I had some disputes with him and they were quickly settled, I can tell you that. But as far as I'm concerned, I think he's done a great job. I think he was the right person at this time. You know, look, it's been, it's been this way for centuries. You know, we're not talking about for 10 years, for five. It's been this way for centuries. And he did a great job. And working with me, he was fantastic. Now working with Biden, no good. They didn't get along.
Steve Witkoff
Hang on a second. We're going to come Back to this. This is a gaggle that took place on Air Force One. We're waiting. The Air Force One should be landing here momentarily. So we're going to take a quick break before all that happens. I've got Jack Posovic, Joel Gilbert, Matt Farachi is in Jerusalem. Ben Harnwell is going to join us. Kurt Mills is going to join us. We're going to have a breakdown of all of this, but you heard there from the president, United States, and that's kind of, that's Dasha Burns, Peter Ducey from Fox, they got the first team traveling with the president today because this is obviously a historic event. And the president brought this together. He put the he united the arabs more than T.E. lawrence. And quite frankly, he told Bibi, hey, here's what we're going to do. This is, this is what we're going to do, when we're going to do it. That's reality. Short break. Our historic coverage overnight of President Trump's mission to Jerusalem, mission to Israel. The hostages are being freed. Hamas is laying down their arms. The IDF is moving back. The president's going to address the Knesset in the Israeli people this morning in Israel.
Stephen K. Bannon
Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Steve Witkoff
Welcome back to our coverage. We're awaiting the arrival of Air Force One to Israel. We've got a gaggle. Amazing. President Trump, just incredible. The answer to the questions and how he's thought this thing through. Mat Farachi in Jerusalem, there's been a number of celebrations of the hashis coming out, whether you're in Hostage Square or down at the Air Force base at Rheim, but also down at the location of where basically the music festival, what I call kind of the Burning man that was going on that day, where the slaughter, particularly some of the youngest civilians took place. What's happening down there today?
Matt Farachi
So, Steve, a lot of people don't realize we're in the middle right now of the Jewish High holidays. And so if you remember, actually October 7th happened at the very end of the Jewish High holidays, which we are approaching at again. Obviously, the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar are different. So it shifts. So this morning at the Nova music festival site, which is considered, you know, the site of such heartbreak, they did a very, very holy thing. It's the festival of Sukkot, which for our Christian viewers, Jesus celebrated Sukkot in biblical times, in his time. And it's a time where we remember that life is temporary, but that God is eternal, that God is always with us, that he's never abandoned his People and we build these temporary dwellings and as part of it, there's something called a lulav. You can see in the footage, Steve, these people waving this, this is, this is done. One of the reasons is to thank God for the harvest and for providing. And so it's really a beautiful thing because what they're doing is taking this site of desecration and making it holy and thanking God for his blessings in this sacred time on the Jewish calendar.
Steve Witkoff
You know, one of the things we keep showing these shots of hostage Square, which is pretty amazing, and it's been going on now for, I don't know, two, three days. This is not what you would call Trump country. Right. That Hostage Square in Tel Aviv is not, is not. I think we have our MAGA forces up in Jerusalem, but Tel Aviv is a little more progressive.
Matt Farachi
Yeah, this is the, this is like San Francisco.
Stephen K. Bannon
Maybe not that bad.
Matt Farachi
Maybe not that bad, Steve, but it, it's New York. It's, it's, it's, it's a blue city. It's, you know, Tel Aviv is by American standards a blue city. And so, yes, to see people, I saw Wolf Blitzer this morning or having to admit that, that people had MAGA hats on and I think it was causing him some heartburn. President Trump is somebody in Israel that transcends the traditional political lines because he's a friend and done such great things for Israel and the Jewish people. And I think you're seeing that universal outpouring of support continuing this morning. Steve, building on what you and I were talking about just last night.
Steve Witkoff
Matt, hang on for a second. Jack Bosoba, you heard the president right there on the, in the gaggle. And for the audience, you know, Pacific spinner, the media sits in back of really the compartments where the staff works for the President. President's all the way forward. On Air Force One, you have the media in the back. And President Trump, unlike Obama or Biden and really Bush, always goes back and have what is a press gaggle, which is, as you can tell, just an open ended press conference where they're just tossing questions to him right there in kind of the heat of battle and he'll answer everything. Your thoughts about some of his answers though, Jack?
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, Steve, you know, as the folks know, thanks to Real America's Voice and shout out to the support of Robin Parker Sig for allowing me the opportunity to have traveled aboard Air Force One in the new media seat there and participated in those gaggles. Look, the president is very clear. He's talking about how these are conflicts that go back centuries, in some cases thousands of years, depending on how you look at it. And I think he realizes as well the magnanimity of the situation, but also the fact that this is a real hornet's nest that he's getting himself involved into. And he's reaffirming America's role not just in the region, but in the entire world. He wants America to be the broker of the peace deal, but also the economic deals which will be coming on the heels of this. And so, yes, it's a crowded field and you've got the Arab nations there, Persia not too far behind, and then back behind all of that, you've got, of course, Russia and China. And so for the president to come there in the Middle east to be seen as this, which is an unequivocal win for President Trump, there's no question this is President Trump's victory, that it really plants a flag for the United States being the first among nations, but not doing so in a way that with the neoconservatives, where it's through conquest or neoliberals, where it's through the increasing globalism, but through direct one on one diplomacy, this is exactly what President Trump campaigned on. And President Trump is absolutely delivering. And in this case, not just for the United States, but for the world.
Steve Witkoff
He is, though. And I thought, I think it was Dasha asked one of the best questions there. I mean, you're in it now. It's not the United States hasn't been in it. And obviously I've been a big proponent that Israel's a protectorate, not an ally. And now, quite frankly, in the way this deal is set up and the way he's treating Netanyahu, that hey, here's what it's going to be is as a protectorate, not an ally. But by taking the role of the chairman of the board of peace, I think he's doing something that hasn't been done in American history. Except Woodrow Wilson was obviously very involved in the treaty and the Versailles Treaty, after our Treaty of Paris, after, in Paris to negotiate at the end of World War I. And really he was one of the architects of, of the post war League of Nations, which he then came back and could not sell to the American people. They never put it to a vote in the Senate as a treaty. He had a massive stroke and essentially his wife, you know, basically fulfilled his presidency at the end. But President Trump is stepping into a role and he just said right there, he says, hey, I don't know if Tony Blair is going to be acceptable. Tony Blair's role in the Iraq war has left a sour taste in his mouth with many people in the region, not just the Arabs. And so we don't know if Blair is going to be able to take over as executive director. But President Trump has reaffirmed today that he's going to be the head of the Board of Peace. That means you're overseeing not just the redevelopment of Gaza, but also all the involvement and quite frankly, thousands of years of hate and bloodshed and carnage that's going around Gaza. JACK.
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, Steve, that's right. And of course, President Trump putting his name on it is absolutely going to going to lead to a guarantee, but then also perhaps a check that will begin to see who is going to be wanting to cash that there in the region, politically speaking, in Israel, there's a lot there's obviously serious questions about whether or not Yetanyahu's coalition will be able to continue, because as you can see here, peace is extremely popular in in the area. And there's no question, you heard the booze a couple of days ago when Steve Witkoff was talking about the deal and he mentions Netanyahu, and they immediately start booing. This is something where they view President Trump as the one who came in, worked with the Qataris, worked with regional partners, came in, put the leverage on Hamas, was able to get the deal done by having those direct negotiations not going through, and having the IDF continue operations, which is what Netanyahu wanted to continue. So there's real questions as to what happens, politically speaking, there in the Knesset. And there's no and it's no coincidence that that's exactly where President Trump is going to be speaking very soon. So, yes, he is absolutely involving himself directly in this process, the same way, by the way, that he did in Ukraine, Russia.
Steve Witkoff
KURT Mills, the president was President Trump's a master of messaging and a massive a master of narrative warfare and of also branding. He referred to Netanyahu as a wartime president shortly thereafter, he said they said well, Netanyahu said last night in Hebrew in this video that the war continues on, although the Gaza part's down. There's one of the posters about President Trump. You're seeing these all over now, and particularly in areas of Israel that President Trump hasn't been particularly popular. So, KURT he basically said he's a wartime president, leaving open Netanyahu's future in this entire thing. He also was adamant when told that Netanyahu had had this video addressed to the people in Israel about the war goes on, although the Gaza part of it, and this is part of the Greater Israel Project that has gotten so many people here in the United States quite frankly, outraged about dragging us into it. And he said the war is over. What do you think the President is messaging right now to Netanyahu and to that kind of center right and right wing party in Israel?
Kurt Mills
Yeah, I think he's absolutely messaging that he wants this to be finito, that he wants this to be the last word on the subject potentially for his presidency. He doesn't want Benjamin Netanyahu coming back to Washington every other month as it seemed, as it literally seems that he's, he has to Washington. He doesn't want to be making a third trip to the region. This is of course, the second trip after May, this October, this year to solve these problems. Trump thinks that this should be a justifiable and durable piece. You see a lot of, you see the President's empathetic streak kind of coming through here, which I believe is an underrated part of his personality. You see Trump talking a lot more about history, which is not necessarily something that he does every day. And I think you have, you know, a general desire to be rid of the Israel issue for a while, that Netanyahu is on his own for elections in 2026 and that US Republican, American support, Donald Trump's support is at an end. We'll see how that goes. I don't think the President is ignorant of who he's dealing with. I think there's already signs from Netanyahu that he might try to scuttle the second phase of this deal. And I think there's going to try to avoid that.
Steve Witkoff
Kurt, hang on for one second. Air Force One has landed. Just landed in Israel. You see a guard of honor coming out to meet it. There's supposed to be a very short. See the red carpet. It's going to be a very short Runway. Do we have audio? Let's try to pick it. Let's pick up the music.
Dasha Burns
It means hot.
Joel Gilbert
Is that.
Dasha Burns
Ahmed It.
Steve Witkoff
Prime Minister Netanyahu and senior members of the, of his, of his government. The red carpet, they'll roll out to put the stairway in up against Air Force One. And we'll momentarily see the President of the United.
Dasha Burns
States.
Steve Witkoff
Jack, what's amazing is he's taken this red eye flight. We were here yesterday at I don't know what 4 o' clock in the afternoon. Was it watching the President leave. He takes a red eye essentially overnight flight. He doesn't go to a hotel. He's going to come, he's going to get off the plane and be completely refreshed and ready to go. It's just extraordinary energy, just extraordinary. Well, I'm senior, senior members of the government and idf. Go ahead, sir.
Stephen K. Bannon
And it's rare that President Trump actually spends any time asleep on these trips. And in fact, this Kaitlan Collins was posting up a report recently that she had claimed that she had heard there were members of the staff that were saying that they don't even get to sleep on any of these overseas trips when they're going with the president. You're seeing Jared Ivanka there with Nick and others, Witcock, Mike Huckabee as well. And it's true, the president is constantly working while on this trip. And there's no question while on these trips. And there's no question to me that he's working the phones on a regular basis. That's something that I know directly from having traveled with him to Alaska and back. He spent the entire time on the phone with world leaders. And there's no question and there's no doubt in my mind that of the 27 nations that are going to be arriving in Egypt for this meeting coming up here, he's probably on the phone already working deals, talking with people and putting the pieces in place for the meetings that will take place in Egypt in the coming days and hours.
Steve Witkoff
There's Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, the architect of the Abraham Accords, which was really the predicate of this deal with the Arabs. Ivankas there, Huckabee. Huckabee, who I believe has been quite unhelpful in this process, as he's taken to be a cheerleader for Netanyahu's government, I think to the great demise of trying to get this deal done quicker. Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Gonna meet Netanyahu, have a few minutes, I think have a meeting with them. Supposed to go meet hostages and then go to the Knesset. Jack, there's the local version of the beast. Secret Service will have would have pre positioned that. Here we go. It.
Dasha Burns
Thank you, sir.
Joel Gilbert
I appreciate it.
Steve Witkoff
Thank you. I think you're right. You would have to call, you would have to say the closest to this is Cyrus the Great. Right?
Stephen K. Bannon
You'd have to go back to Cyrus the Great. You'd have to go back to the Persian leader who toppled the Babylonians and then returned and restored peace to the region, allowed the flourishing, the rebuilding of the Temple. And there are in fact, posters going up. I've seen images going around referring To Trump as the return of Cyrus the Great. It looks as though the president should be coming out here any second.
Joel Gilbert
Yep.
Steve Witkoff
Kurt Mills, you said something a couple times, yesterday's show and today about the underplay about President Trump's empathy, how empathetic he is. Give me a minute on that as we wait for the president.
Kurt Mills
Absolutely. This is somebody who, you know, obviously a tough guy. He's seen us ogress by his opponents, but in moments of crisis.
Steve Witkoff
Hang one second. We have the. We have the it. No hand, no hands, no hand, no hand. You're blocking everyone.
Dasha Burns
IT party.
Matt Farachi
Thank you.
Steve Witkoff
We've got to keep the carpet clear to the car so everybody can slide that way a little bit and slide this way. Open up the carpet. Thank you.
Joel Gilbert
Thank you. It.
Steve Witkoff
Is the president with Ivanka and Jared and of course, Witkoff, the American negotiating part team that pulled this deal off on the architecture of the Abraham Accords. Kurt Mills, as we watch the president do the greetings and get greetings. Give that to me. Again, the empathy. President Trump underrated on how empathetic he is.
Kurt Mills
Yeah, I think so. You've seen him sort of wax poetic or whimsical on this trip. There was something, it was slightly unrelated. A reporter asked him if he thought he was getting into heaven and he either joked or, in my opinion, sort of spoke more seriously that he thought it was not happening for him, but he didn't care because he was delivering peace as president. And for him, that was a sort of. That was him.
Stephen K. Bannon
This is an iHeart podcast.
Podcast: Real America’s Voice
Host: Stephen K. Bannon (iHeartPodcasts)
Date: October 13, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode offers live coverage and analysis of President Donald J. Trump’s highly publicized and historic mission to Israel in 2025, marking a pivotal moment in the pursuit of Middle East peace. As Trump arrives in Jerusalem to facilitate a ceasefire, oversee the release of hostages, and address the Knesset, Stephen K. Bannon and a panel of expert guests provide insight into the emotional stakes, political implications, and regional reactions to this extraordinary event.
“It’s a family rejoicing for what’s happening today. To say they’re excited to have President Trump is perhaps the understatement of the century.” (Matt Farachi, 03:54)
“Their goal is to turn the end of this war into a political defeat for Israel... to demand Israel withdraw from half of Jerusalem, the West Bank, and create a Palestinian state.” (Joel Gilbert, 07:53)
“There are posters...saying that Cyrus the Great has returned and they are referring to President Trump as Cyrus the Great…nothing short of biblical.” (Jack Posobiec, 11:22)
“Islamic values cannot accept Jewish sovereignty over Palestine...the goal is to defeat and eliminate the Jewish state.” (Joel Gilbert, 13:32)
“What’s harder, peace in the Middle East or ending a government shutdown? ... This has been going on for 3,000 years...” (Trump, 16:12)
“Everybody is happy whether it’s Jewish or Muslim or the Arab countries, every country is dancing in the streets.” (Trump, 17:20)
“Yeah, the ceasefire is going to hold.” (Trump, 18:22)
“It’s got the first chance it’s had in centuries of being peaceful...Now it’s going to normalize.” (Trump, 18:58)
“I like Tony, I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody.” (Trump, 19:57)
“We have a lot of verbal guarantees too, and I don’t think they’re going to want to disappoint me.” (Trump, 20:16)
“They did such a bad job. This should have never happened. This wouldn’t have even happened.” (Trump, 22:18)
“He’s a wartime president...I think he was the right person at this time...Working with me, he was fantastic. Now working with Biden, no good.” (Trump, 25:38)
“He wants this to be the last word on the subject...a general desire to be rid of the Israel issue for a while.” (Kurt Mills, 37:57)
“He doesn’t go to a hotel. He’s going to get off the plane and be completely refreshed and ready to go. It’s just extraordinary energy.” (Steve Witkoff, 42:25)
“You’ve seen him sort of wax poetic or whimsical on this trip...he thought it [getting into heaven] was not happening for him, but he didn’t care because he was delivering peace as president.” (Kurt Mills, 55:31)
“This is nothing short of historic. The scenes we’re seeing are absolutely biblical.” (Jack Posobiec, 11:17)
“What’s harder, peace in the Middle East or ending a government shutdown? ...This has been going on for 3,000 years.” (Trump, 16:12)
“Everybody is happy...every country is dancing in the streets. And it’s a point in time. I don’t think you’d ever see it again.” (Trump, 17:20)
“Their goal is to turn the end of this war into a political defeat for Israel.” (Joel Gilbert, 07:53)
“Yeah, the ceasefire is going to hold...people are tired of it. It’s been centuries, okay? Not just recent.” (Trump, 18:22)
“We have a lot of verbal guarantees, and I don’t think they’re going to want to disappoint me.” (Trump, 20:16)
| Topic | Timestamp | |-------|-----------| | Opening & Context | 00:00–03:28 | | Emotional reactions in Israel | 03:28–06:29 | | Political analysis on Egypt peace conference | 07:20–10:57 | | Biblical/Historic references to Trump | 11:17–12:22, 49:13–49:53 | | Trump press gaggle on Air Force One | 16:12–26:14 | | Hostage celebrations, Sukkot significance | 28:21–29:37 | | Trump as chairman of 'Board of Peace' | 33:22–35:05 | | Direct message to Netanyahu & Israeli right | 37:46–39:20 | | Arrival in Israel, red carpet, live energy | 39:20–55:08 | | Discussion of Trump’s empathy | 50:30–55:31 |
This episode documents a watershed moment as President Trump takes a central, almost mythic role in Middle East peacemaking, buoyed by widespread celebratory emotion and overshadowed by skepticism regarding the long-term viability of the agreement. The War Room’s analysis balances hope, historicism, and realism, depicting Trump both as a transformative figure and as a calculated political operator seeking to “close the book” on U.S. entanglement in the region.