Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Isaac Herzog | President of Israel Commemorates Three Years Since October 7th

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Isaac Herzog | President of Israel Commemorates Three Years Since October 7th · Sid & Friends In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: Now, Israel gets their chance tomorrow to commemorate three years
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  Speaker 1: since October the 7th.
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  Speaker 2: Told this story many times. Never went to Israel.
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  Speaker 1: 56 years I was on this planet. Wanted to go,
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  Speaker 1: almost went for Gabe's Bar Mitzvah. Time and time again,
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  Speaker 1: talked about going, never went. But after October 7th, I
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  Speaker 1: said that next morning, October 8th, I'm going.
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  Speaker 2: And I did.
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  Speaker 1: Just two and a half months after the war started
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  Speaker 1: in January of 2024, I was there. Been there four
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  Speaker 1: times since and will be heading back in May. And
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  Speaker 1: I've made some.
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  Speaker 2: Great friendships in Israel. Great friendships.
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  Speaker 1: One I'm really proud of happens to be the president
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  Speaker 1: of Israel.
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  Speaker 2: He's a super guy. Super guy. His friends call him Bougie.
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  Speaker 2: His name is Isaac Herzog. Mr. President, good morning. How
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  Speaker 2: are you?
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  Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you, dear Sid. And good morning to
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  Speaker 3: you and your listeners, of course, your many followers.
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  Speaker 2: We all love you here in New York.
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  Speaker 1: I mean that sincerely, Isaac. You've got a huge following
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  Speaker 1: here in New York and, of course, everybody in Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Going back to the days of your grandfather and father, too.
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  Speaker 1: What a magnificent family. Let me get to this Dubai
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  Speaker 1: flight story first, though. Turns out the co-pilot was Omani.
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  Speaker 1: People keep asking me, well, how does an Omani guy
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  Speaker 1: have permission to fly planes even from Dubai into Israel? Now,
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  Speaker 1: it turns out, we found out at least, that he
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  Speaker 1: wanted to do something very similar to 9-11 and crash
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  Speaker 1: that plane into the airport in Tel Aviv. What else
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  Speaker 1: do we know? Do we know anything else? The guy
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  Speaker 1: was radicalized.
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  Speaker 2: Similarly, a lone wolf. Do we know anything else?
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  Speaker 3: No. So look, this is under heavy investigation. a major
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  Speaker 3: interagency activity both in Israel and in the entire region
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  Speaker 3: and of course with agencies around the world including the
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  Speaker 3: various intelligence and investigation bureaus in America and elsewhere because
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  Speaker 3: everybody wants to get to the truth of it. Omani,
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  Speaker 3: the co-pilot who carried out the terror attack, is under
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  Speaker 3: heavy investigation in the United Arab Emirates. They are doing
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  Speaker 3: their best, and they are sharing information with all the
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  Speaker 3: relevant authorities. Every few hours, there's another leak adding to
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  Speaker 3: what you just mentioned.
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  Speaker 2: We'll know more, I guess, as the days move on.
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  Speaker 3: Listen, it's unbelievable, honestly, Sid. It's both a miracle and
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  Speaker 3: a result of incredible Israeli bravery and courage. On Thursday,
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  Speaker 3: I will honor these incredible heroes with the Israeli Presidential
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  Speaker 3: Medal for Bravery and Courage. Because these are incredible people,
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  Speaker 3: one woman and five men. who rescued this plane just
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  Speaker 3: before it may have crashed.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, good for you. I love you doing that, President Herzog.
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely love that.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: You're welcome.
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  Speaker 3: I love you, too.
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  Speaker 1: So let's rewind this tape to three years ago today.
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  Speaker 1: Three years ago today, it was a Friday. It was Shabbat,
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  Speaker 1: and you guys were wrapping up the Sukkot holiday.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. Right?
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  Speaker 1: And no one had any idea what was about to
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  Speaker 1: happen the very next morning.
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  Speaker 3: Morning.
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 3: You know what? On that noontime, it was Friday, and
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  Speaker 3: it was the 6th of October, exactly 50 years to
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  Speaker 3: the date of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where Israel
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  Speaker 3: was attacked, again, by surprise, from Egypt and from Syria.
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  Speaker 3: and went to one of its most challenging and painful wars.
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  Speaker 3: And so we marked that noon, 50 years to the war,
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  Speaker 3: and I went to a ceremony of an army military
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  Speaker 3: ceremony of a brigade that functioned heroically in the battlefront
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  Speaker 3: 50 years earlier. So there were many old people Some
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  Speaker 3: in wheelchairs, some lost their hands and legs and heavily wounded,
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  Speaker 3: and they even came with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And I
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  Speaker 3: came back home. I said to my wife, listen, you know,
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  Speaker 3: this nation is unbeatable. I saw these people. They fought
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  Speaker 3: like lions, and now they're coming with their great-grandchildren. And
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  Speaker 3: the next morning, it starts again. The next morning, 629 sirens,
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  Speaker 3: a major surprise attack, and terrorists swarm in by the thousands,
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  Speaker 3: and they burn, and they hijack, and they rape, and
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  Speaker 3: they kill innocent civilians all throughout the border with Gaza
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  Speaker 3: in the most horrific tragedy since the Holocaust for the
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  Speaker 3: Jewish people.
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  Speaker 2: That's all exactly what happened. You just nailed it.
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  Speaker 1: And then would you think that October 7th was the day,
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of people around the world, Mr. President,
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  Speaker 1: think it all started October the 8th. And you've got
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  Speaker 1: a mayor. I know you love this city. You always
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  Speaker 1: tell me, we're together in Israel, how much you love
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  Speaker 1: New York. And you've got a mayor who wanted to
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  Speaker 1: arrest a prime minister whose wife actually liked those graphic
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  Speaker 1: images of our young girls being raped and babies being burned.
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  Speaker 1: Can you believe you've got a guy like that here
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  Speaker 1: in New York City?
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  Speaker 3: So, you know, I echo the heavy criticism on the
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  Speaker 3: mayor a couple of times already because his expressions are
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  Speaker 3: utterly anti-Semitic. And worse than that, of course, it shows
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  Speaker 3: indifference to pain and to justice. Because with all due respect,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we did not wage this war. We did
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  Speaker 3: not want this war. This war was enforced upon us
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  Speaker 3: by a raving terrorist group, jihadists, who came simply for
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  Speaker 3: barbaric reasons to attack and kill and burn and rape.
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  Speaker 3: And we went to defend ourselves by the mere right
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  Speaker 3: of any nation on earth, most inherent right to defend ourselves,
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  Speaker 3: And the enemy chose the terrain of the battle. They
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  Speaker 3: fought and they attacked us by missiles from people's living
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  Speaker 3: rooms and bedrooms and mosques and shops. And they, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: they've used these people's homes to dig tunnels underneath and
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  Speaker 3: hijack our hostages. Today I met with a few of
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  Speaker 3: the hostages who were interned. and families of hostages who
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  Speaker 3: were killed in Gaza. And we were discussing it. They
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  Speaker 3: were there in the tunnels. They entered it from people's homes.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. Well, good for you for doing that today.
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  Speaker 2: One more for you.
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  Speaker 1: Four weeks from today, Mr. President, we've got a big
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  Speaker 1: election day. I know you follow this very closely in
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  Speaker 1: the United States. President Trump wants Republicans to maintain the House.
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  Speaker 1: And you spoke in front of Congress right before that
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  Speaker 1: tragic day, I think three months before, July of 2023.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly.
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  Speaker 3: And I said, I alerted the U.S. Congress in a
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  Speaker 3: joint session of the House. I said, you know, we
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  Speaker 3: want peace. Truly, we want peace. But it cannot exist
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  Speaker 3: so long as there is terror undermining it all the time.
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  Speaker 3: And people justify this terror with horrors. By the way,
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  Speaker 3: we will have our own elections.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's where I was going.
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  Speaker 3: On the 27th of October.
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  Speaker 2: Right, which is actually three.
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  Speaker 1: Weeks from today. In America, four weeks from today. Yours
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  Speaker 1: is three weeks from today. Please excuse me.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know the rules.
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  Speaker 1: Is the president, are you allowed to endorse Bibi or anybody?
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  Speaker 2: Will you be doing that in Israel?
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  Speaker 3: No, no. The president is like equivalent of the king
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  Speaker 3: of England. I'm above politics. But after the elections... I
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  Speaker 3: have the constitutional power to delegate the right to form
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  Speaker 3: a government to a member of the Knesset, and that
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  Speaker 3: depends on the results and the chances of any member
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  Speaker 3: of the Knesset to form a government. It's still a long,
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  Speaker 3: drawn-out process.
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  Speaker 1: I know it's much different than the United States. So
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  Speaker 1: in the final 30 seconds.
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  Speaker 3: One thing I want to say, I'm very proud of
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  Speaker 3: the Israeli democracy. We are celebrating democracy. We're the only
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  Speaker 3: democracy in the Middle East. There's about 50 parties running
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  Speaker 3: in this election.
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  Speaker 2: I know, like 50. There's a lot going on.
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  Speaker 1: So give me quickly in the final 30 seconds, what
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  Speaker 1: will the day be like tomorrow in Israel?
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  Speaker 3: Tomorrow, the 7th, will be a very sad day because
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  Speaker 3: yesterday was a very sad day because it was the
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  Speaker 3: Hebrew date of the massacre. Tomorrow will be, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the regular date, October 7th, and there will be tens
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  Speaker 3: of thousands of people gathered all over in sites around
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  Speaker 3: the country, including a major event in Tel Aviv. I
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  Speaker 3: will be with my wife at the Nova Festival site
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  Speaker 3: where they... terribly, I mean, most cruelly, butchered and killed
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  Speaker 3: and hijacked and took people who came to dance and
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  Speaker 3: celebrate simply in a nature party. By the way, people
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  Speaker 3: from 36 countries, including Americans.
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  Speaker 1: Terrible.
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  Speaker 2: What a horrible, horrible scene that was.
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  Speaker 1: I'd been there sense, beautiful faces all over the place.
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  Speaker 2: They're terrible.
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  Speaker 3: I know, I know. You know, may I invite your
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  Speaker 3: listeners to come and visit our country, show solidarity, and
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  Speaker 3: see what a beautiful country it is.
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  Speaker 1: It is a beautiful country, and you're a beautiful man.
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  Speaker 1: President Herzog, I love you.
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  Speaker 2: I really do. You're a terrific guy. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: making time for me today.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: All the best, my dear.
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  Speaker 2: You too. God bless you. Take care.
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  Speaker 1: President Herzog right there, Isaac Herzog, what a lovely guy.
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  Speaker 1: The president of Israel joining us on this very important day,
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  Speaker 1: the day before October the 7th.
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• 10:30
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• 10:36
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• 10:53
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• 10:56
  Speaker 2: What the heck is going on here?