Latest / The President's Daily Brief / Special Bulletin: The October 7 Attacks Set Off Three Years of War. What's Next?

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Special Bulletin: The October 7 Attacks Set Off Three Years of War. What's Next? · The President's Daily Brief

• 0:06
  Hey,
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  Mike Baker here.
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  This week marks 3 years since the October 7th terrorist attacks on Israel.
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  I recently sat down with the most excellent Mike
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  Slater for a wide ranging conversation about the attacks,
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  the political and military fallout,
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  and how the past 3 years since those attacks
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  have fundamentally reshaped Israel and the broader Middle East.
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  Check out the podcast,
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  Politics by Faith
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  with Mike Slater.
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  I hope you enjoy the interview.
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  Let's go to the great Mike Baker,
• 0:35
  host of one of the top podcasts
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  in the entire nation,
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  the President's Daily
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  Brief.
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  Mr.
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  Baker,
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  how are you,
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  sir?
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  I'm doing well,
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  thanks,
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  man.
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  Great to see you again.
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  Thank you.
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  I'm glad you're here.
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  Thank you.
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  Uh,
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  let's just go back 3 years.
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  Uh,
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  remind us of some aspects of this attack,
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  the,
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  the actual physical attack,
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  how it happened.
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  Um,
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  and,
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  and what did Hamas do that maybe they've never done before?
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  How did it catch Israel so off guard?
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  Things like that.
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  Take us back 3 years ago.
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  Yeah.
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  Well,
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  I think what they did that was most important
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  from their perspective,
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  right,
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  from Hamas's perspective,
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  and Ya Ya Simmo is a big part of this,
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  um,
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  was that they,
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  they spent a lot of time prior to 7th October.
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  Creating this narrative
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  that Hamas didn't really want to continue this
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  hostilities.
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  They,
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  they didn't want this war.
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  They just wanted a better life and could,
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  you know,
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  could we just all hold hands.
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  It wasn't quite that simple.
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  But the message they were sending
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  for
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  really for a couple of years
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  at least was
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  this idea
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  that
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  I think it's a new day.
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  And
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  that lulled
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  the
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  Israeli government,
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  security services,
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  I would argue into kind of the sense that
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  the threat isn't what it used to be.
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  And we saw that in a way because we start to see,
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  you know,
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  a lot of infighting,
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  political infighting in Israel.
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  And typically,
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  they're so worried about uh
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  uh existential threats,
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  outside threats
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  that they don't spend a great deal of time.
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  You know,
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  publicly
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  fighting politically,
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  right?
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  They try to keep that tamp down to the degree possible,
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  right?
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  They obviously have it.
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  But
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  anyway,
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  so you started to see more of this infighting,
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  which meant they had more time to think about themselves
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  rather than worrying about Hamas.
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  And that,
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  I would say is the number one thing
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  that Hamas did
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  that
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  enabled 7 October.
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  Very interesting.
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  I've never heard that before.
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  Um,
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  we,
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  you would think because of social media and everything
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  that,
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  and we can see more of war than,
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  than a normal person maybe has seen before,
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  uh,
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  that we'd be more horrified by war,
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  but it's interesting,
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  I almost feel like people become more more numb
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  to the evils of war.
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  Uh,
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  how,
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  how brutal was what happened three years ago?
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  No,
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  it was,
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  it was Genghis Khan.
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  It was,
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  it was Vikings landing on the beach.
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  It was,
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  it was
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  horrific,
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  right?
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  And,
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  and this video of it.
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  But yet today,
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  because we've all got ADHD,
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  right?
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  Because also apparently it's OK to be somewhat anti-Semitic.
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  You know,
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  that's,
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  that's kind of been set aside,
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  and they don't remember what happened,
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  right?
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  And,
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  and yes,
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  it's terrible when it die and civilians die
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  and have a lot of Palestinians died since then?
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  Yes.
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  You know how many would have?
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  Probably not very many
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  if Hamas hadn't decided to do this.
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  That was their plan.
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  They wanted to turn this upside down,
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  right?
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  Cause they,
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  they,
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  they understood what would happen.
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  They understood how
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  Israel would respond.
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  They knew this was going to happen.
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  They didn't care
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  that their own citizens would be killed.
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  That's why they
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  put their command centers underneath hospitals.
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  In,
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  in weapons depots underneath schools
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  they don't,
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  they don't,
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  they don't care
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  and we've forgotten that because of the passage of time,
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  you know,
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  it's like the,
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  you know,
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  the 25 year anniversary of Octo of,
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  uh,
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  September 11th.
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  We just,
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  you know,
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  a lot of people were like,
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  00,
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  is it September 11th?
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  Oh,
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  how about that?
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  So yeah,
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  yeah,
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  and
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  so I wanna,
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  I wanna ask that.
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  So Sinwar,
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  who was the leader of Hamas.
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  Who,
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  who planned this whole thing.
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  Do you think he miscalculated?
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  Like,
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  like,
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  as,
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  as if he were to look back on this,
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  would he be like,
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  oh,
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  thank goodness we did this,
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  or,
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  oh man,
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  I really blew it.
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  That was a bad idea.
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  No,
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  he was,
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  you know,
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  he,
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  he was what he was.
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  He knew,
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  look,
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  there was no misunderstanding.
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  They've,
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  they've been,
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  they've been at this game with Israel for decades.
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  They understood
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  what they were getting into.
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  And
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  the brutality with which they conducted the 7 October attacks
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  was designed.
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  It wasn't as that they just said,
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  well,
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  let's see what happens.
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  We'll send some of our soldiers across the border and
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  see,
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  you know,
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  how it goes.
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  Um.
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  It was planned.
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  It was designed.
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  There was architecture around it.
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  So,
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  I don't think Yaya would,
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  would be,
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  you know,
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  and,
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  and,
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  you know,
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  I,
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  I hate to wish anybody dead.
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  I don't really hate to wish anybody dead.
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  There are people that deserve it.
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  He was one of them.
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  Tremendous amount of blood on his hands,
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  uh,
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  as a terrorist
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  and a leader of Hamas.
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  So,
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  um,
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  I don't think he would be surprised at where this went.
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  I think if you had
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  pulled all the Gazan citizens.
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  Uh,
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  if there had been a way,
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  there's not,
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  of course,
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  but if there had been a way to poll them,
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  survey them,
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  um,
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  without Hamas being aware of how they cast their vote,
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  they would have said,
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  are you crazy?
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  That's what you're thinking about doing?
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  You're gonna go do that and you're going to
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  then create this conflict that's going to destroy Gaza?
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  Absolutely not.
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  But that's not how it works.
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  Hamas is in control.
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  I would argue that in the parts where
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  Israel hasn't occupied,
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  they still are in control.
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  They refuse to disarm.
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  Um,
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  and there is no international peacekeeping force.
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  That's a bit of a farce.
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  So,
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  yeah,
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  I,
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  I,
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  I know I sound cynical,
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  but
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  the whole thing is a mess.
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  Look,
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  not that,
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  you know,
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  not the conflict in the Middle East isn't always
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  Incredibly complex and layered and messy and horrific.
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  And again,
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  it doesn't discount the fact that it is awful that civilians
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  have been killed,
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  right,
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  in this conflict.
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  Of course not.
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  That is a problem.
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  And
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  yes,
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  there should be transparency around
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  the Israeli Defense Force and how they conduct their operations.
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  Um,
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  but this whole thing kicked off because Hamas wanted it to kick off.
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  Hm.
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  So on that point,
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  what do you say to the people who
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  criticize all this because it's genocide?
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  Israel is creating genocide.
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  They,
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  they've been committing genocide all this time.
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  What do you say to that?
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  Yeah,
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  we throw genocide around like we throw the term Nazi,
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  right?
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  I mean,
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  we just got,
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  it doesn't have any meaning anymore.
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  They're not committing genocide.
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  They,
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  they've killed a
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  large number of people.
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  They've destroyed,
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  a large part of Gaza
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  in their pursuit of destroying Hamas.
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  Is that genocide?
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  No,
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  Genocide is the
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  intent to destroy an entire civilization,
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  right?
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  That's not what's happening here.
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  Um,
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  so,
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  they actually do.
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  Make the effort to plan surgical strikes to,
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  they actually do make the effort to warn civilians before there's an operation.
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  They actually,
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  they do,
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  you don't do those things if you're intent on genocide.
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  So maybe all those people who are horrified by the killing,
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  and that's not wrong,
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  of course,
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  they,
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  they can be,
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  come up with a different term because you're misusing the definition of that word.
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  Yeah,
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  sorry,
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  uh,
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  3 years later now with military responses Lebanon
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  and,
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  and Gaza and some other places too,
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  of course Iran,
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  uh,
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  militarily speaking,
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  where would,
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  how would you assess,
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  uh,
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  Israel's success in,
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  in response
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  and in the moment?
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  Yeah.
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  Uh,
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  well,
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  it's kind of a hot mess,
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  isn't it?
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  That's,
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  that's why you have me on,
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  Mike,
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  cause I,
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  I give analysis like that.
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  Uh
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  yeah.
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  Um,
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  look,
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  the,
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  the Gaza situation.
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  It almost in a sense,
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  right?
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  It's been because of the Iran conflict,
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  it's,
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  it's been pushed to the periphery and it shouldn't be.
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  It,
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  it needs to be
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  resolved.
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  Can it be?
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  I,
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  I don't know.
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  It's been,
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  they've been working on this for some time,
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  just like they've been
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  working on issues related to
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  Hezbollah and,
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  and the Houthis and others.
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  And so,
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  um,
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  I,
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  I think Israel
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  has stepped back.
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  I think they've taken a breath.
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  I think what they're doing right now,
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  they're waiting for the upcoming elections.
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  Um,
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  and they've also been
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  Kind of pressured by the US not to,
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  you know,
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  get involved
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  to,
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  you know,
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  I,
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  I,
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  however you want to refrain from,
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  you know,
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  a major conflict at this point.
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  So,
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  um,
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  Israel,
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  I think,
• 8:45
  look,
• 8:45
  they
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  significantly degraded Hezbollah.
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  They significantly degraded Hamas.
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  They significantly,
• 8:52
  you know,
• 8:52
  have
• 8:52
  degraded the Iranian regime leadership.
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  But
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  has that solved any of those problems?
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  No,
• 8:58
  they're still there.
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  And in the
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  scope of things,
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  it's all dog years in the Middle East.
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  I mean,
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  it's like we think in,
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  in short bites
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  out there,
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  things
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  progress
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  very slowly but persistently.
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  And so,
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  we'll be revisiting a lot of these issues,
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  not that we're not already knee-deep in them,
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  but
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  there'll be further conflict,
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  right?
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  Hezbollah,
• 9:21
  that situation.
• 9:23
  Uh,
• 9:23
  the Lebanese government has no control over Hezbollah,
• 9:26
  you know,
• 9:27
  so,
• 9:27
  the US can talk all it wants about
• 9:29
  negotiating with the Lebanese and
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  coming up with a new plan,
• 9:32
  but they're negotiating with the Lebanese government.
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  The government has no control over Hezbollah.
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  So,
• 9:38
  those negotiations,
• 9:39
  you know,
• 9:39
  it's nice to have communication,
• 9:40
  it's nice to have diplomacy,
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  but
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  I'm not putting a lot of stock in it.
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  And the Iran conflict,
• 9:46
  that's a whole separate
• 9:47
  mess.
• 9:49
  Mike Baker,
• 9:50
  he's the host of the President's Daily Brief,
• 9:53
  one of the top podcasts
• 9:54
  in the entire country.
• 9:55
  Mike,
• 9:56
  appreciate it.
• 9:56
  That was really,
• 9:56
  that was cheery,
• 9:57
  wasn't it,
• 9:57
  Mike?
• 9:58
  That was cheery.
• 9:59
  I,
• 10:00
  God,
• 10:00
  I've never,
• 10:00
  by the way,
• 10:01
  what are you doing this weekend?
• 10:02
  Yeah,
• 10:03
  Listen,
• 10:04
  I'm gonna go drink now.
• 10:06
  It's,
• 10:07
  it is what it is.
• 10:08
  It's the truth.
• 10:08
  It's the reality,
• 10:09
  and,
• 10:10
  uh,
• 10:10
  that's what we call,
• 10:10
  call for more than anything.
• 10:11
  Mike,
• 10:12
  you're the man.
• 10:12
  Next time we chat,
• 10:13
  it'll be more about,
• 10:13
  uh,
• 10:14
  sports and fun stuff.