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Advocating for Israeli hostages release from Hamas · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's set the stage here for this. It
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  Speaker 1: has been nine months since that horrific attack in Israel
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  Speaker 1: on October the seventh by members of Hamas, resulting in
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  Speaker 1: a large number of hostages being taken and unfolding into
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  Speaker 1: a much wider conflict that is still ongoing to this point.
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  Speaker 1: And while there have been a release of some hostages
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  Speaker 1: and rescuing of some hostages, there are still hostages who
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  Speaker 1: are being held, one of which is Omri miran forty
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  Speaker 1: seven year old kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz nahal Oz.
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  Speaker 1: Joining me right now to discuss is someone who is
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  Speaker 1: advocating for the release of Omri from Hamas and the
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  Speaker 1: return and IDF captain in the reserves, as well as
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  Speaker 1: a management consultant in New York City. Joining me right
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  Speaker 1: now to discuss is Moshe the the How are you
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  Speaker 1: doing today?
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, thank you for having me. I'm doing well, waiting
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  Speaker 2: for my flight to Toronto.
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  Speaker 1: Actually, well, thank you so much for joining me here.
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  Speaker 1: I just I want to just start things off by offering,
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  Speaker 1: you know, my sympathies to the situation that is ongoing,
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  Speaker 1: and I just wonder what it's like for you at
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  Speaker 1: this point nine months into this right now, Yeah, it's.
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  Speaker 2: Been a difficult. It's been difficult nine months and we're
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  Speaker 2: approaching the ten months threshold soon. We are we as
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  Speaker 2: a family and also as families of hostages, we're trying
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  Speaker 2: to balance between taking care of yourself emotionally and of
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  Speaker 2: course materially. Many of the families, like mine, experienced displacement
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  Speaker 2: and trauma of survival from October seventh. At the same time,
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  Speaker 2: we try and advocate well, but we can, whether in
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  Speaker 2: Israel or in other countries. Is especially here in the
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  Speaker 2: US where the administration and other stakeholders are so relevant
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  Speaker 2: for the negotiations.
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  Speaker 1: What has this process been like this advocating What does
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  Speaker 1: that look like for people who aren't in your shoes,
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  Speaker 1: I'd imagine it's a lot of meetings, phone calls. What
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  Speaker 1: what are you finding that you're spending the most of
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  Speaker 1: your time doing when it comes to this advocating for
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  Speaker 1: the release of the hostages of your family.
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  Speaker 2: You're you're right on describing it. It's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: meetings with policy officials, with elected officials, of security officials,
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  Speaker 2: and also meetings with communities in order to make sure
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  Speaker 2: we share our story, our family story, the story of
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  Speaker 2: the hostages, and try and recruit the public wherever we go.
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  Speaker 2: I'll try to do the same in to lunch over
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  Speaker 2: this weekend in several events. And at the same time,
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  Speaker 2: we are coose focusing on how we can raise awareness
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  Speaker 2: through initiatives, through interviews, through activity on social media, trying
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  Speaker 2: to humanize the hostages by creating videos and bringing them
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  Speaker 2: to life so that they won't be nearly a name.
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  Speaker 2: And most important, rallying, valying in marching wherever we can
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  Speaker 2: demonstrating for a loved Once. I was in VCS today,
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  Speaker 2: I was there for a few days advocating in for
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  Speaker 2: me and the hostage in light of Benjamin now Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister and now visits and speech to the Congress. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what's part of it. We try there to balance
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  Speaker 2: between interviews, meetings with communities, meeting with elected officials, incuring
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  Speaker 2: the primary and and being present wherever we need to
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  Speaker 2: be present.
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  Speaker 1: So you've been advocating since October seventh, alongside your sister
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  Speaker 1: Lusha and Omri's father, Danny. I wonder could you tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit about Omri Moran.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, remarked his forty seventh birthday in April. He's a shad,
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  Speaker 2: a therapist and a gardener. We love to say that
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  Speaker 2: the heels people in his clinic and hills planned when
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  Speaker 2: he when he attends to them in Nachalo's garden. Love
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  Speaker 2: of nature, love of humanity, keen on non literature and sports.
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  Speaker 2: Amazing father to my two nieces, Ronnie and Almah, an
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  Speaker 2: amazing husband for my sister Lushai. We miss him dearly
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  Speaker 2: and I wish I wish we could finally see an
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  Speaker 2: end to it so that my sister, my nieces, Danny,
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  Speaker 2: and of course some Real's siblings will finally have a closure.
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  Speaker 2: For the advocacy campaign they've been we've been running together
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  Speaker 2: the world, Missus. Omri shouldn't be underground orchard, an abused
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  Speaker 2: by a terrorist organization should be with his family.
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  Speaker 1: So through the advocacy that you have been doing in
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  Speaker 1: trying to secure the release of Omri, I wonder what
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  Speaker 1: your mental state must just be like having to deal
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  Speaker 1: with this as each day goes by, as I can't
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  Speaker 1: begin to imagine.
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  Speaker 2: We all as a family, jurn myself making sure to
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  Speaker 2: take care of ourselves emotionally. Obviously it's taken a big tour,
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  Speaker 2: but be honest, we we are focusing, we're so focused
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  Speaker 2: on on advocacy that perhaps we're putting aside for a
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  Speaker 2: while dealing with with the complex emotions we have about
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  Speaker 2: the situation, about many other issues that are plaguing us
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  Speaker 2: as a result of Atober seven. But I'm doing all
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  Speaker 2: I can. I balance between my work and my advocacy work,
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  Speaker 2: and I hope we could benn to this soon. There
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  Speaker 2: is a deal on the table, and we keep we're
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  Speaker 2: going to keep emphasizing that all the stakeholders need to
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  Speaker 2: seal the deal as soon as possible. And right now
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  Speaker 2: we're waiting for Prime Ministers and Nohow to send a
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  Speaker 2: delegation for Dorca and precluding negotiations.
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  Speaker 1: So President, excuse me. Prime Minister and Netanyahu obviously addressed
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  Speaker 1: both chambers yesterday at Congress in the United States. I
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  Speaker 1: wonder what you're thoughts about his speech were in terms
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  Speaker 1: of calling for the release and of course trying to
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  Speaker 1: muster American support for Israel.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think he focused on on the latter. He's
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  Speaker 2: a great orator, he knows how to speak well and
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  Speaker 2: how to present a case. But he did not come
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  Speaker 2: to Congress in order to discuss the most pressing crisis
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  Speaker 2: that we have, which is the hostage crisis, which is
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  Speaker 2: the on going war. He discussed the larger battle that
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  Speaker 2: we may see evolving in the Middle East and in
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  Speaker 2: the world and in the years to come between o
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  Speaker 2: Therapa regimes and democracies, between Paris organizations and democratic states.
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  Speaker 2: But he did not address enough Leichue of the hostages.
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  Speaker 2: He paid respect to the money released, hostage was rescued,
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  Speaker 2: paying respect to some of the families who were present,
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  Speaker 2: not at all. But he did not present position. He
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  Speaker 2: did not present a plan, He did not present an update.
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  Speaker 2: Where are we standing right now? I expected him to
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  Speaker 2: do that, and it is clear to me from engaging
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  Speaker 2: with elected officials in the US that they are looking
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  Speaker 2: at least for that as well. Obviously overwhelming support his world,
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  Speaker 2: but they want to see the prime minister who's really
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  Speaker 2: prime minister and advancing for the deal, for the resolution
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  Speaker 2: to this ongoing crisis. Both President Biden and former President
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  Speaker 2: Trump of ecoed act in the past few days calling
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  Speaker 2: for a Swiss resolution to the war and to the
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  Speaker 2: hostage crisis, and I hope that something. How we listen
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  Speaker 2: to them when he meets when he meets President Biden
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  Speaker 2: today and when he meets former President Trump tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: So what I guess you know, I know that you
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  Speaker 1: don't speak, of course, for every single family or person
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  Speaker 1: that's involved in the advocacy, But I wonder when you
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  Speaker 1: talk about a swift resolution as has been mentioned, what
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  Speaker 1: is entailed in that? What are the immediate things that
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  Speaker 1: you think would secure the release of the hostages? What
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  Speaker 1: should be done?
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  Speaker 2: Look, there is a deal of disable right now that
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  Speaker 2: has been discussed for months. The deal is well proposed,
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  Speaker 2: was negotiated, There will changes to it, and we want
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  Speaker 2: to see its implementation. Many of the families want to
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  Speaker 2: see its implementation, and according to the polls, the vast
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  Speaker 2: majority of it Israeli public, that's what we want to see.
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  Speaker 2: We know that any deal is going to be a
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  Speaker 2: physical deal to digest. We know that's were negotiating with
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  Speaker 2: a bad faith answer that seeks our destruction, and we
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  Speaker 2: know that it will not be a long, truly, long term,
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  Speaker 2: peaceful solution to the crisis. It's actors like Homai the Palasini,
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  Speaker 2: slaming Jad and other accomplices continue to utilize terrorism and
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  Speaker 2: maximilism and genericized approach to the conflict. But in the meantime,
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  Speaker 2: we have to find a solution to the short term, pressive,
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  Speaker 2: the pressing short term crisis, which is bringing home the
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  Speaker 2: hostess alive. If they'll keep being held captive, the chances
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  Speaker 2: of redeeming them alive or at least those who are
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  Speaker 2: still alive, continue to go down. Only this week we
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  Speaker 2: learned of two hostages who were killed, murders and cactivity.
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  Speaker 2: We don't want to hear such news anymore. We want
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  Speaker 2: to hear news of release. And the only vibele well
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  Speaker 2: way to release the majority of hostages, all the hostages,
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  Speaker 2: is a deal, a painful deal. It probably will be
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  Speaker 2: a multiphase deal, but it is what it is. That's
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  Speaker 2: what many of the families want to see, and according
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  Speaker 2: to the that's what the Israeli public want to see.
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  Speaker 2: It's closure to the hostage crisis. And then we can
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  Speaker 2: continue preparing for the greatest threat that I had, the
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  Speaker 2: many challenges that I had in our region in terms
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  Speaker 2: of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and also have the opportunities
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  Speaker 2: that normalization with Saudi Arabia perhaps a path towards negotiations
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  Speaker 2: with the Palestinians in the long term to resolve the conflict.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I want to thank you so much for your time, Moshe.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Again from the bottom of my heart.
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  Speaker 1: My sympathies with you and with your family, and I
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  Speaker 1: hope for a swift release of the hostages and for
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  Speaker 1: an end to the ongoing conflict that exists. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for your time, and just I guess you can, can
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  Speaker 1: you with the advocacy that you're doing.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you so much, and have a lovely day.
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  Speaker 1: You as well. Thank you. That is Moshe Levite who
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  Speaker 1: is advocating for the release of his brother in law
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  Speaker 1: Omri Miran, as well as all of the hostages that
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  Speaker 1: are being held by Hamas in Gaza as a result
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  Speaker 1: of the October seventh attack which began. And then there
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  Speaker 1: is this ongoing crisis which still exists. John Lidkey here
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  Speaker 1: on AM eight hundred CKLW. We're going to take a
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  Speaker 1: quick break. We'll be back right after this