← Real America’s Voice
Loading summary
Transcript70 lines
- [00:00]
Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:04]
Steve Bannon
In the 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.
- [01:00]
Stephen K. Bannon
Hostas have now been released as the president. Rajkanessa. Pretty good timing. It's Margo. How are you?
- [01:58]
Kurt Mills
Great to see you. Pleasure to see you.
- [02:27]
Stephen K. Bannon
The United States and the Prime Minister, they come in, they got some mics up. I don't know if President Trump will do a gaggle.
- [03:15]
Joel Gilbert
Minister over here.
- [03:42]
Stephen K. Bannon
It, this is where it falls.
- [04:39]
Sheva Balcony
Jeffrey.
- [04:59]
Stephen K. Bannon
The massive crowd to the right still in Hashtag Square. Pretty, pretty overwhelming. Huge day. Jerusalem Post has a God bless the Peacemaker. Huge front page picture of President Trump. So as you can tell, he's gone next level with the Israeli people, particularly people on the left that didn't really, I think, appreciate President Trump until he put the full force of his office and his personality into this. We're awaiting the arrival of the commander in chief here momentarily. They're pretty much on schedule. We now have heard that I guess all 20 of the hostages have been released. There's the Jerusalem place entire. Look at that. Entire front page of the Jerusalem Post. God bless the peacemaker. President amazing photo of President Trump almost looks like his mug shot, which is probably the greatest photo it's ever been taken of him. But it shows you how far President Trump from trying to be destroyed by the deep state to now actually bringing peace, at least on some sort of beginning basis or framework for it, in probably one of the most contentious parts of the world where, as President Trump said, they've been fighting each other for 3,000 years. We're awaiting his arrival. The Prime Minister's already in. I think this, Kurt Mills, I think this speech to the Knesset is not going to be one of President Trump's one hour. I'm not so sure he's been going off the glass or off the, off the prepared remarks. I think this will probably be 20 to 30 minutes. Your thoughts on that of what he's going to address to the Israeli people because there's still a lot of moving pieces to this deal.
- [06:56]
Kurt Mills
Yeah, I'm not sure how long it will be. I'm not sure he'll hold them captive. So to speech so to speak. But I think it's quite likely that he's going to make some pretty bold pronouncements here. Yes, the deal is the plane is being built as it's being flown, so to speak. But that's sort of, as you know, how Trump does business and has done business throughout his career. So if there's any odds and ends on the debate, on the debate around the deal, if he feels the deal could be undermined by any of the parties, I think he may see oblique references to parts of the agreement that he wants to see solidified. And I think that's why it's so notable that he's not just going to Israel, he's immediately going to Egypt, he's immediately going to the Muslim world because he wants to square a huge deal on this. And I underscored before, as I reiterate from before, he doesn't want to come back to the Middle East a third time in the calendar year. I don't think. I think he wants to put a bow on this for now and then send Netanyahu to his constituents for an up or down vote on his performance. It's not his affair, not his problem anymore. Whether or not the Israeli side is going to agree to that, I think remains an open question. But I don't think he wants to see a war metastasize. I don't think he wants to see a war open up with Iran. There was very, very, very interesting sub element going on this weekend or early this week where the President actually invited the Iranians to his big party in Egypt. The Iranians, from my perspective, unfortunately declined because they were bureaucratic and paranoid society. Somewhat justifiably on the latter. But that shows you that the White House's mood right now is, it might be autumn, but it's springtime for diplomacy. Diplomacy, by all appearances.
- [09:00]
Stephen K. Bannon
By the way, didn't I think. Aren't the Persians sending their foreign minister? The president said, coming, but here comes the President of States. Mr. President Amir, speaker of the Knesset.
- [09:21]
Kurt Mills
Yes.
- [09:21]
Joel Gilbert
My partner alone. Welcome to Jerusalem.
- [09:25]
Stephen K. Bannon
Welcome to the Knesset. We've been longing for this day. It's a great honor. Thank you. It's our honor.
- [09:30]
Joel Gilbert
Pleasure.
- [09:31]
Stephen K. Bannon
Thank you very much. You guys know each other? We know each other.
- [09:43]
Joel Gilbert
Good. Yes. Please, Mr. President.
- [10:01]
Stephen K. Bannon
Okay. Okay. There's a tradition of signing the book when you come to the Knesset on a formal visit. President will sign it right now. I think I saw Ambassador Monica Crowley in there a moment ago.
- [10:24]
Joel Gilbert
And please hear. Let's try again.
- [10:38]
Stephen K. Bannon
Now.
- [10:38]
Joel Gilbert
Here, please. To Abby Everyone.
- [10:43]
Stephen K. Bannon
And White House photographer, please. Amen to that. We'll be here. I'm perfect.
- [11:47]
Joel Gilbert
Thank you.
- [12:02]
Stephen K. Bannon
Thank you very much, President. From the obligatory signing of the. The log that he's been there with a greeting and the signature of only President Trump Ben Harnwell. As we move through here, I don't think. I don't think I'm reading too much into it, but a little frosty between the Prime Minister and the President or overreading this situation.
- [12:45]
Ben Harnwell
No, no, no, no. As enjoyable as it is to watch the. The line of ceremony and the vassals lining up, I think that was the speaker of the Parliament, right? The speaker of the Knesset, who tried to crack a joke saying, I believe you two sort of. You two guys know one another. You're absolutely right. It was frosty. After signing the book, I noticed he. He didn't shake the hand of. Of the Prime Minister standing to his right either. So there was a. Somewhat of a scowl going on. That was absolutely, absolutely my reading of this as well. We're gonna find out, I suppose, in due course, exactly what the conversations have been. But you know what? My summary of what we're seeing today is my. Would be this. It's the management of expectations. Whether today is a success or not, is perceived as a success or not depends, I think, revolve entirely around the management of expectations. So, look, we're celebrating the release of the hostages. We're celebrating the. The confirmation of phase One. That is what I would say requires our appreciation and our applause. If we go beyond that, I think there might be potential down the road for slight, I don't know, inverted commas, disappointment. But these are stages that we're going to. We'll take in due course. Obviously, the state of situation is not going to go away, and I think that's fundamentally where the issues are. Can I close, Steve, before handing back with you to saying this, I don't trust Bibi and I don't trust Hamas either. I don't trust either of them. It's going to be in both of their interests, I think, to try to frustrate and. And create obstacles to this.
- [14:40]
Stephen K. Bannon
Yeah, hang on for a second. You saw Ivanka and Jared right in back of the press. I think I saw Susie Wiles, too. It's interesting, Kurt Mills, that Marco's not there, Pete Hex is not there. It looks like the entourage is really Witkoff, the Jared and Ivanka and Jared really. And Wyckoff being the lead negotiators here. I don't see a lot of Other of the President's cabinet or others with him. I believe Monica Crowley, the ambassador of protocol, is there, but I don't see any. Marco, I think that's, I think that's fairly. Of course, you get the press. Let's hear the press. I want to hear the press shout the questions as they always do. Let's go ahead and cut the audio up.
- [16:24]
Kurt Mills
Is the war now officially over?
- [16:25]
Stephen K. Bannon
Yes.
- [16:26]
Ben Harnwell
Do you have any message?
- [16:27]
Sheva Balcony
Mr. Will Israel not be able to renew the war?
- [16:31]
Stephen K. Bannon
Thank you. You know, Joel, people in the United States have been quite concerned about the security around all this, and I'll be honest with you, I don't. I think this is way too confusing and way too. Looks like, unmanageable. I would. I mean, I just think there's too many people around, too much media around. I don't get this. Coming into Israel on the spur of the moment. Joe, you first, and then Kurt. But I really. We're just taking the fee from people, but, man, I just. Don't that right there look like they're just winging it to make it up as they go along? Joe Gilbert, your thoughts?
- [17:23]
Joel Gilbert
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm very nervous when I see that many people crowded around the President from so many different directions. Don't forget, a lot of these people have weapons that are authorized to have weapons, but who knows, if, you know, somebody has a beef, you know, So I get a little nervous when there's not enough space between the President and a large crowd. What occurred to me just watching this is this whole spectacle is based on misunderstanding. I recall that, you know, I visited Israel, and Gaza was a pretty peaceful place at one time, but Israel gave up Gaza to the PLO terror group under the guise of the idea that peace would break out, that all they really wanted was to have their own territory without Israelis and there would be peace. And people cheered and they had the square and they sang songs and they danced, and immediately it just fell apart because the Israelis fundamentally did not understand that the Islamic world and the Palestinian Arabs did not want to accept Israel in any size or circumstance. And I believe that attitude remains the same today. And that's what they're going to encounter in the future. But it's all a result of this fundamental misunderstanding is why they had the war and why Trump is even there today.
- [18:47]
Stephen K. Bannon
Ben Harnwell, I'll go to. I'm gonna go to Kurt in a second, but, man, I didn't like what I just saw. I'll be brutally frank with you. I would want this thing much. I want it high and tight when the president shows up. Remember, we went, we went to the Middle east in May of 2017. We worked on the security for months and months and months. The president. This decision was just made the other day. But I don't like the fact you show up, you got all these people milling around, you're doing all these activities, then you just walk into a mob of reporters and a couple of microphones. I see they cut that off, but, man, somebody's got to be. I think somebody's got to say, what is going on. There's been two assassination attempts on this guy. He's all we got. Right. You don't have any. No backup to him. If we lose Trump now, I got to tell you, I'm very concerned and disappointed with what we've seen. I just think it looks very shoddy ever since they got to the Knesset. Ben Harnwell.
- [19:48]
Ben Harnwell
Steve, what's the underlying assumption here of what you're saying? Is it not the illustration, the fact that even though we're here today.
- [19:58]
Joel Gilbert
With.
- [19:58]
Ben Harnwell
All the crowds applauding, the peace that is achieved so far, there is still the awareness that there are. With that, there is the potential that there will be agents who will try to frustrate this? That's really the subtext of what you're saying.
- [20:14]
Joel Gilbert
Right?
- [20:15]
Ben Harnwell
And that just illustrates, I think, how precarious the present position is. And when you say there's no one who, who can replace President Trump, that's absolutely right. And it goes back to what we're saying before the, the feat of today, the achievement of today is President Trump's success and his alone because of his force of will, his force of charisma and, as you say, his force of personality. This is his day. And that, that, of course, makes us that. That's why the precariousness of this situation is there. Because if he weren't there, then the situation would rapidly dissolve once again. And that's the subtext of what you're saying. That's the importance of the security issue here, because we all know. So all watching the feed here, we're all sort of applauding and watching. We know that there is probably going to be some pockets somewhere of people who will do what they can to frustrate this. And I think that's the confirmation of that. Right? The fact of this. This. No, no. Uneasiness. The uneasiness, as you see, the chaos and the people, meaning, about milling out in what, of course, the Israeli Parliament is going to be a Very highly secure zone anyway. So that the assumption is even within that environment, there could be malign forces waiting to strike. It illustrates how precarious.
- [21:41]
Stephen K. Bannon
Yeah. Just when he shows up, you know, it's not a photo op for the press, by the way. They cut the feed. We're just taking the feed that they're providing. You saw the feed right there was, it was pretty chaotic. Just a grunch of people around the president walking down that red carpet, going to what I guess were microphones that were going to, I don't know, say a few words and have a press gaggle. I just don't think it's just not the right time to do that. President ought to get into the, like, he goes to the capital of the United States, he ought to show up. It ought to be a formal greeting for him, you know, sign the book. But then you're taken to the, to the back room. There's no kind of milling around that hallway. Had, the hallway had, had, you know, a thousand people look like just kind of milling around, you know, wanting to see the president and the media right there. So it was very, you know, very. Think you can say confusing. And when the president, United States goes to a place like Israel right now, and particularly to Jerusalem, given the, you know, there's reports already in Gaza that, you know, some of the clans down there, they're having some payback already to people they say are collaborated with the Israelis. It's a, it's a very volatile situation. You know, we're a long way from peace. President Trump has laid out the architecture and his force of will has brought us to this to get the 20 hostages released into, you know, start the process of peace. But with all the celebration you've seen, this is why I think we've had Joe Gilbert on for the last couple days. You've had these type of outpourings before where people in Israel thought there was going to be peace and it ended up not being peace. Now, I don't think there's ever been an outpouring around an individual like there is around President Trump. It's just extraordinary how they are relate. They're connecting President Trump to this day of getting the hostages back when even a couple weeks ago when Netanyahu went to the United Nations. Looks like the farthest thing from the, from what was going to happen. Kurt Mills, your thoughts on. I'm pretty upset about this thing in the Knesset. I just think it's unacceptable. And, you know, I put this on Bibi and his government and also the interaction with the U.S. government. But when the President, United States comes into essentially a war zone and Israel is a war zone, you've had, as the President said, not Steve Bannon, President said, 60,000 casualties in two years. You know, pretty extraordinary. Kurt Mills, your thoughts on what we just saw at the beginning of the Knesset, which I say was totally and completely unacceptable.
- [24:27]
Kurt Mills
Yeah, I don't deign to presume, but I would be a little surprised if the security was this self evidently shoddy on the Arab side. So we'll see hopefully what that looks like in a few hours. I do think it's interesting that he is traveling with such a light and quick footprint, at least on the front line. As you observed earlier, Rubio Hegseth and if I may, Mossad's own John Ratcliffe are not in the picture, just Jared and Ivanka and Steve Witkoff, his close friend. That indicates, in my view, that Trump has kept this pretty close ranks, this decision making. As you indicated before, this seemed extremely unlikely during the UN in New York in late September. And I think the reality is, and people like to talk about structural forces of history, I think this is a great man, so to speak, moment of history. Trump made this decision himself and he's going with his family and close friends to try to get this across the finish line. And I think you're right, that was an icy reception from Benjamin Netanyahu and Sara Netanyahu. You know, the Trump Netanyahu relationship is, is certainly worth a book. I think it's certainly worth, it's certainly more than meets the eye. Netanyahu body language doesn't lie. He doesn't look super happy. His people look happier than him. And this, the production value on this is very fly by the seat of the pants. Right? And you know, especially with everything that's going on, that's, that, that's, that's less than adequate. And it implies, you know, I don't want to speak too soon, but it implies a lack of enthusiasm within the Israeli state itself for the end of this war. Even though, I mean, look how desperate this population is for the return of the, of the hostages and for the end of the war. It just, it speaks to the sort of schizoid nature of Israeli society where the government is so much more hard aligned than so many good people in that country.
- [26:35]
Stephen K. Bannon
Well, you see the outpouring from the Israeli people in the square. Also the rest of the people at the Knesset greeting him were all smiles. And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, president just spent 45 minutes in the, in the beast in the car from Ben Gurion Airport to the Knesset with Netanyahu. I mean they traveled together and like I said, like I asked Joel when they started off, I'd like to be the fly on, you know, inside the car to hear that conversation. Clearly it wasn't hail fellow, well met. The president had his game face on when he showed up. I've seen that look before. That's not a, that's not the ebullent. You know, President Trump didn't we got a shot inside the Knesset right now. But Bibi clearly was icy and you said he didn't shake his hand after he signed the book. He specifically went and shook the was it the speaker of the Knesset's hand and, but pretty evident did not turn and you know, I don't want to read too much into that, but it was clearly icy when they got out of the car and got there. And I think it's because Bibi's not enthusiastic. This is a, this is a catastrophic defeat for the Israel first crowd here, Tel Aviv, Levin in that crowd. I'm sure they're banging their heads on the wall. It's a catastrophic defeat because they overreached, they pushed this Greater Israel project and it came crashing down around them. As the president states when Bibi, he already took out the negotiating team for Iran, which we now know he bald faced lied to the American people. And quite frankly, John Ratcliffe, the CIA director should be hauled before the House about why he went, why he agreed with the Mossad's assessment that this thing was days or weeks away from a nuclear weapon. When the cabinet minutes in the cabinet debate was released by the Times of Israel and they agreed that it was a minimum of two years of which we said here in the war room, he, they went to kill the negotiating team that Steve Wyckoff was supposed to meet with in Oman that Sunday. And really the hit the tripwire President Trump was Netanyahu without, you know, without talking to the United States went and did a missile attack into Qatar and to take out the negotiating team of Hamas. I mean, how are you going to make a deal? How are you going to try to get the hostages back with, without doing that. Okay, we're going to try to take one more commercial break here. If the president, if they, if he walks into the chamber of the Knesset will jump out of a commercial break from the 4 o' clock hour. We have Ben Harnwell, Joel Gilbert, Kurt Mills about to be joined by others as we return to Jerusalem the president is about to address the nation of Israel, and we will be back momentarily. If the president walks out, we will cut the commercial break and come right back. Back in a moment in the war room.
- [30:05]
Podcast Announcer
This is the story of the 1. As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Grainger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, all so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [30:35]
Stephen K. Bannon
Here's your host, Stephen K. Banff. Okay. Welcome back. The president's in the Knesset, and he'll be coming out to address the state of Israel, the nation and the people here momentarily. We'll cut right to that. Matt Farachi, you're outside. You're near the Knesset with a great shot. Tell us what's going on.
- [31:02]
Matt Farachi
Hey, Steve. Well, I thought I would add some fun, a little bit of flavor and color to this day. First of all, you commented on the slightly chaotic scene when the president came in. Correct. Just a few minutes ago. That is the Knesset. It is. It is. People forget this is a country full of Jews. I think the prime minister said once, many years ago, the problem with being prime minister is that you're prime minister of a nation of prime ministers. So it is a little bit. You know, when I take visitors to the Knesset, they're always surprised at the decorum. You know, it's not like the US Congress where there's a lot of decorum. There is process, but there's people yelling at each other. It's like a big family Thanksgiving special all the time, but with politics thrown in. Another thing, fun thing I thought I'd share with your viewers today. So as the president was pulling up, we heard the sound of the shofar. Now, the shofar is a ram's horn, and it's an ancient thing from the Bible. It's been used for thousands of years for many purposes, including at the temple. It's used at this time of year during the Jewish high holidays for religious purposes. But I heard something I never thought I'd hear in my life, which was the ram's horn going dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. And they were blowing them as the president was showing up, which was just an extraordinarily cool thing. You kind of got to be here to understand how significant that is.
- [32:34]
Stephen K. Bannon
But hold it.
- [32:35]
Matt Farachi
Everybody in Israel is celebrating.
- [32:39]
Stephen K. Bannon
Tell me what, what's the musical instrument? And what do they do? They play Hail to the Chief on what kind of musical instrument?
- [32:46]
Matt Farachi
Yeah, it's. It's literally a ram's horn. So if you guys Google it, it's a big. I wish I had one with me. Thereabout, they're anywhere from this little to, you know, a foot or two long. And it only, you know, to blow a note out of it, to blow a tune out of, it's hard because it's not like a trumpet. It doesn't have. It doesn't have, you know, there's no way you can change the key. So whoever was doing that was exceptionally talented, but there was a couple of folks doing it. Just picture Steve almost like, I hate to mention Disney since we both have a healthy disdain for that institution. But, you know, you picture the old Disney movies when the king is showing up and they would play the trumpets in like a, you know, kingly court situation, maybe kind of a similar analogy. But we heard them blowing them as the president was showing up today. And it wasn't coming from there. It was coming from the neighborhood around the Knesset.
- [33:42]
Stephen K. Bannon
Wow, Amazing. Matt, hang on for a second. I want to go to shove up balcony. An American activist that spends a lot of time in Israel. Sheva, you've been doing amazing work up with the Druze in Syria, Lebanon, you're in Jerusalem today. And we're going to have to cut to the president as soon as they come to the Knesset, but give us your perspective. Put us in the room in Jerusalem about the celebratory nature of today.
- [34:09]
Sheva Balcony
Hi, Steve. Thanks for having me. So the feeling in Jerusalem today and in Israel is unbridled jubilation. Everybody is so happy, excited that their family is being returned. And I do want to point out that this is a distinction between Israel and Hamas, that there is such a cherished feeling for the sanctity of life. If you look at the numbers, only, it's 20 living hostages for being exchanged for 2,000 prisoners and murderers. So if you look at the footage of everything that's being shown here, every single person in Israel is celebrating today, is celebrating America loving Trump, dancing like their own brother son is returning because they are.
- [35:11]
Stephen K. Bannon
Is. Is the candle worth the game? I realize you're getting 20 hostages back, and you can see the nations united around that, but even part of the minimum, part of the deal is 2,000 prisoners. I think the top 250 were some of the hardest were some of the hardest terrorists that Hamas had. Now, obviously, the senior command of Hamas has been killed over the last couple of years by the idf. But has that sunk into people that, that you're, you're exchanging from Israeli prisons? Two thousand, you know, bad hombres. But, but in, in that 2000, you got, I think, 250 of the top people that are designated as actual terrorists.
- [35:56]
Sheva Balcony
Oh, yeah. And everybody that I've spoken to is not happy about that at all. I think there's been a divide where they are celebrating the return. Israel really was stuck in the heaviness and pain of the separation of the hostages and the brutal torture that these hostages were going through and bringing them home was essential for Israel to move to the next step, which is protecting their people. And that next step is going to be harder now that these 2,000 murderers are released. 135 of the 2,000 are going to international countries. So that's something for the international community to keep in mind, because these are.
- [36:45]
Stephen K. Bannon
Not.
- [36:47]
Sheva Balcony
Thieves on the street. These are people that thrive on murdering people that are not aligned with their philosophy, which is the Western values, which is America, which is everything that we stand for.
- [37:03]
Stephen K. Bannon
Joe Joel Gilbert, would the people that built the nation of Israel, particularly the folks in 67 or 73, would they have made this deal? Would they have, and would they have been strung out for two years part of this because of a hostage situation, sir?
- [37:27]
Joel Gilbert
No, it changed over time. Back in the 60s, they might have changed. They might have exchanged one terrorist for each individual hostage, like 20. You know, it evolved over the years up to the point where BIBI Netanyahu released 1,000 prisoners back in 2011 for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in Gaza that was kidnapped. And one of them was Sinwar, who became the head of the head of Hamas and perpetrated the war. So there's great concern when you release these 2,000 terrorists. It's pretty well known that Hamas believes that when they lost all their leadership to Israeli assassination, they felt, well, they'll just be replaced by these guys coming out of prison at some point. And that certainly is their intention, that they're going to draw their new leadership from these terrorists who have been in prison all these years. So, no, back in the 60s, maybe they would release one for one. Somehow, I think Bibi had a big part of it was saying, well, okay, we'll give you one for a thousand. And that's part of what motivated, I think, Hamas even to embark on the October 7th attack in the first place because they knew if they take hostages, they can hold the country of Israel hostage and ultimately release thousands of their prisoners. They don't care about losing 60,000 people in Gaza. The average family has 10 children. That's just the average 10 children. And it's paid for by the UN so they don't mind. They expect if they lose one or two kids per family to them, it's just part of the price of fighting Israel. And they're Shahidin. They're, they're martyrs. So it's a completely different mindset. It's Israel's strength and it's its weakness that it puts so much value in each individual person.
- [39:16]
Stephen K. Bannon
Ben Harwell, president's been there now for a few minutes. He was supposed to spend a few minutes. I don't know if he's meeting with hostage families, but I believe the conversation with Netanyahu and the president probably continuing on. Do you think that's going to have any impact on what the president says in his remarks? Kurt Mills, can I toss that question to you?
- [39:49]
Kurt Mills
Yes, of course. Yeah. I mean, I think this will be directed by Trump pretty overtly. I do think. I just, I can't keep emphasizing this enough. He's not in Israel very long. Trump seems to want to speak to the Israeli political class. He seems to want to speak to the Israeli population, and then he wants to get out of dodge. And I think that's a pretty overt decision. I would remind that Trump did not visit Israel on his last trip to the region in May, and that also appeared to be an intentional maneuver. I take what the co panelist says very well, but the reality is that Gaza and Hamas don't have that many carts, to use the president's words. No country in the world has a fertility rate of 10. Gaza, basically, as far as anyone understands, has a fertility rate of somewhere between 3 to 4, which has been declining since the 2000s. Hamas is running out of people as well. Some of their Politico bureau could be replenished by this hostage exchange. But most of the hardliners, the ones who planned the October 7 massacre, have been assassinated. Mohammed Al Dif, the mastermind, Ismail Haniya, the political leadership in, in Doha, which is unclear if they ever even knew about the October 7th attack, have been, have been eliminated. Sinwar has been killed. And, you know, I do think Trump is probably subtly delivering the message. The strike on Doha in late September was the watershed moment. And the reality is that Netanyahu missed. He didn't kill most of the Hamas negotiators that he sought to kill. And the reality is this deal, and Trump wants to call it, and I think you're going to see it there. Trump is going to talk to Netanyahu today for a shorter amount of time than we are talking together this morning for four hours. And I think that speaks volumes. Trump has done a lot for Israel. Trump has done a lot for Benjamin Netanyahu. I think more than he deserves. And I think this is. He wants to call it. It's hard to imagine if they ink this deal and the Israelis try to start up a new war with Iran, I think they might find themselves in worse position than they might imagine. That cease fire in June, a lot of murky stuff on that. I think it was, at the end of the day, brokered on behalf of the Israelis. They were running out of interceptors. And if, if Israel tries to broaden this war and stick the bill with uncle sucker, I think it's going to be cold.
- [42:32]
Stephen K. Bannon
It's impossible. It's impossible. The Persian fantasy is over. I mean, the total obliteration, Joel. And by the way, the, I don't say the attitude, but one of the issues the world has, and I think the reason that President Trump continues to say that people are loving Israel now, and he told Netanyahu, you can't take on the world is the dehumanization of the Palestinian population. And we've got to remember there's not an insignificant amount of Christians in Palestine. And I know this from Christians. I know they've done relief work there. They are absolutely 100% anti IDF, anti Israel. And they said Israel has been, has been essentially. I'm not saying this, but they say it's been genocide, what they've seen. How do you respond to that? Because clearly the world's. I mean, one of the reasons Netanyahu is up against the wall is he's lost tremendous political support here in the United States.
- [43:32]
Joel Gilbert
Let me get a few comments. Look, Hamas deliberately dragged out the war with the assist from the Biden administration, especially at the beginning by dribbling out hostages, you know, 10 at a time or 20 at a time, and refused to end the war. So because they dragged it out for so long, one reason they did that, because they knew that they were winning the PR game over time. But I believe that Trump understands that the United States cannot exist as the lone democracy in the world between two oceans. United States must have strong democratic allies around the world, including Australia, Japan, Western Europe and Israel. And I think Trump understands. And people, we just need we have.
- [44:19]
Stephen K. Bannon
To go to, we have to go, we have to go to a break. We got to go to a break. We're going to be back. If President Trump comes in the Knesset, we'll cut right to it. But I will make the argument to Joel Gilbert that Israel is not an ally of the United States, They're a protectorate of the United States. Short break. Back in the war room, here's your host, Stephen King. Caveman. Okay, can we pull, let's pull that shot up of the Knesset right there. Really magnificent. The president is going to, momentarily. I think he actually may be meeting at least with some of the families of the hostages behind the scenes. We are running about, on the, on the program of what they led about an hour behind. And I think the president's remarks are going to be at least 30 minutes. And if the president, as he often does freelance, is a little bit, it'll go longer, but we'll have to see about that. Still massive enthusiasm in Tel Aviv at, at Hostage Square right there, the Knesset. The president will be coming out momentarily and we will cut to that live. We want to hear all of it. Joel, the overall for the hostages, I think there were 250 taken. My young production team here is pretty shocked that we get down to the end of it. There's only 20 that are still alive, and I'm sure some of those are in pretty bad shape. I know some of the early hostages released were in bad shape. All the female hostages and American hostages have been released a while ago. But, you know, the vast. I think the majority of hostages didn't make it out alive. Am I correct on that?
- [46:03]
Joel Gilbert
The number I have is 155 made it out alive. I also think about the mistake that the United states made. After 9 11, we lost 3,000 people at the World Trade center, and then we went and lost 7,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Similarly, Israel was trying to save 250 hostages and they lost about 800 soldiers fighting in Gaza ostensibly to get these hostages back. So there's some real tragic military calculations when it comes to trying to get these hostages back. They, they did lose. All they did was, you know, destroy most of Gaza, but lost 800 people trying to get 200 out and ended up with only 155 at the end.
- [46:54]
Stephen K. Bannon
Why has there not been any inquiry? I realize you've been at war, but in the, in the early years of World War II, when we finally got dragged in after December 7th, I think we had in the first two years three or four major inquiries into Pearl Harbor. Now I think we ended up with seven or eight. We've never really gotten the answer straight of exactly what happened and who knew what at what time. But has it surprised you? There hasn't been any inquiry into the 7th of October?
- [47:22]
Joel Gilbert
I think they've had some low level internal IDF type of probes. Why didn't they, you know, why didn't they have proper positioning of forces down there? I think the Mossad had some internal things. Some people did resign, but the idea in Israel was that we really can't have a big inquiry while the war is going on. And I think people mostly respected that. Netanyahu made the case that we can't all go and hire lawyers. Right now. We're trying to win a war. The Iran thing came up, so I do expect it to come up. The Israelis became complacent over 20 years. They simply shuffled Qatari money into Hamas and felt that they could buy them off and they wouldn't be interested in war. And they obviously badly miscalculated and have paid the price.
- [48:11]
Stephen K. Bannon
I mean, was it shocking to you that President Trump's here today on. On a day they're actually bringing the remaining hostages home? 20 males, I understand now the final 13 have been, have been turned over. The planning that went into October, I mean, Jack Posobic, I got him on the show by phone that morning as we did the Saturday war room, as we always do, and we covered it live. And it was pretty stunning, the scale of it. I mean, it was over 40 miles. It was air, sea, land. They had what the paragliders. They eventually found out they had floor plans for many of the kibbutzes. They absolutely knew about the Nova music festival and what to do there. They actually knew who the. Who the guards were on different guard towers. I mean, the level of sophistication of their knowledge was shocking. And given that Hamas has never been known as a particularly, you know, they're terrorists, but haven't been known for military operations, this was to pull off a military operation. Did that shock you at the time of how sophisticated that operation was?
- [49:16]
Joel Gilbert
Well, look, it was sophisticated, but it was also very low tech. 9 11, it was eight guys with box cutters. And because it was so low tech, they were able to penetrate the system. So too in Gaza, they had about 6,000 fighters on bicycles, tractors, and walking around in sandals and motorcycles. So it was so low tech. I think the Israelis did not anticipate something that low tech. They, Hamas, had done recon for years and knew where to go and what they were doing. But it was a very low tech assault. They had smuggled over plenty of weapons from Egypt for years and you know, it was an assault that kind of shocked us all. But no, I wasn't shocked because of the it was all manpower. They had 6,000 people, a bunch of rifles and a bunch of motorcycles and they encountered a defenseless group of kibbutzim that did not have proper defense installations to guard against that kind of low tech attack.
- [50:21]
Stephen K. Bannon
And as you had mentioned, many of the people in the kibbutzes and the people at the Nova, or the Burning man as I call it, had actually befriended people in Palestine, had taken them to hospitals and kids school.
- [50:33]
Joel Gilbert
Okay, we're going to take a break.
- [50:36]
Stephen K. Bannon
Here at the top of the. Hang on, we'll get to that when we get back. We're going to take a break at the top of the hour. It's close to 5am in the United States. Dave Brat is going to join us. The president, like I said, we're running probably on the schedule, I don't know, an hour behind. The president's going to address the Knesset. I think he's behind the scenes meeting with some hostage families and probably spending some more time with the prime minister. His speech to the nation of Israel is, is next. And we're going to return if a president walks out during our commercial break. We'll come back right back. Shava Balcony, Matt Farazi, Joel Gilbert, our own Ben Harnwell and of course, Kurt Mills. We'll be joined by Dave Bratton. Special coverage from Real America's Voice in the war room of the historic trip to Israel by the president. United States. Back in a moment.
- [51:34]
Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.