in Israel push for a hostage deal and pressure on prime minister netan is growing in intensity and urgency every day the plight of the Israeli hostages takes the center stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee we will be talking about the RNC post assassination attempt with former Trump communications director turned never Trumper Alyssa Farah Griffin and on the prospects of a hostage deal with a chakal Levi mother of n Levy held in Gaza now 286 days it's Unholy I'm un Levy of Channel 12 in Tel Aviv and I'm bi gadri of CNN in New [Music] York so on holy Tu on the news different Jews this week uh listeners may have picked up on that um Jonathan is on book leave and we are so happy and honored that b could uh fill in for him B thanks so much for being here Anor senior Global Affairs analy for CN a dear friend of mine and a dear friend of the podcast happy and honored you should save that until after the show assuming everything goes well and I have big shoes to fill with Jonathan fredin I don't know how you've allowed this to happen y need it's a dream come true for me I feel like a psycho stalker listener um you know I'm a huge fan of the show and of yours and this is like a dream come true to be able to sit in um for someone as indomitable as Jonathan so thank you for having me we're we're really glad you're on and I mean there is so much to talk about be I was just thinking about the sort of news cycle since we last dropped our official episode I mean we had an emergency episode in the middle but just think of the assassination attempt Muhammad assassination attack all the difference of the world in the world right but assassination attempt against Donald Trump and the president has covid and JD Vance is the Vice Presidential nominee here in Israel new pictures of hostages coming out an Israeli tech company probably being sold to Google I mean this is just in 5 days it's it's really unbelievable to think we were ambitious enough and idiotic enough to think we could have planned and booked for the show last week yique given the day byday breaking news minute by minute really it's one of those situations where as journalists it's an embarrassment of riches but there is so much consequential news happening by the day uh you're right uh you know this is a show that that's focused a lot obviously on domestic and internal politics there and this tragic war in Israel but when I was in Israel last week and and I saw you I couldn't help but notice that you know a lot of the people that we spoke with including Israeli officials the first question they asked was not about you know how the US is covering the war in Israel but how Israelis are focused on what's happening in the US all of the Fallout continues from that debacle of a debate with President Biden and former president Trump and the um the missteps by the Democrats here and the continued focus and Chaos on the Democrat ratic party continues to ensue and as we're spending a week here focusing on the Republican National Convention in cohesion which is rare to say in the Republican Party these days um but that's on full display you see a bit of unraveling happening within the Democratic party yeah and and the president now with Co to say nothing of an assassination attempt uh right that that happen in a way I mean you look at and of course we have a lot of respect for security services in the United States and there's not a lot that Israelis can say after their terrible failure uh Security Services and of course defense all the defense that Shalon that failed on October 7th but you look at what happened in Pennsylvania and you say wait a minute what this is supposed to be this the top security service in the world what happened a lot of questions now for leadership at the Secret Service the the director of The Secret Service really coming under a lot of scrutiny called for Testimony before uh Congress and question about whether she can really hold on to the job after what we saw unfold on Saturday of course new details coming out about the fact that I Witnesses had spotted this shooter almost two minutes before that uh fatal shot that that or that attempted fatal shot that luckily uh just whizzed by the former president's ear but again we're talking millimeters directly in the line of sight for the former president a defensiveness I would say the first few days from the Secret Service and from security here uh in terms of what they did and didn't do the shooter was outside of the perimeter but again we're talking semantics here when you talk to any expert any former secret service agent and we've interviewed many that says how could this be possible that somebody could get on a building 150 meters away from the former president so still a lot of unanswered questions and thank goodness the shooter uh didn't accomplish what he sought out to do especially given what they found him in possession of more ammunition he he he clearly had this planned yeah I mean and this is all you know just laying the foundations for this the big story of this week obviously which is the RNC and we'll go on to talking a lot about that but it seemed to me that it it does show on him uh that he is you know I don't know if humbled is the word but the fact that this brush with death and it really is a brush with death did you know land on him the fact that he could have been dead he was saved you can see it on him or am I am I just imagining things no listen I think we've been conditioned now as we've been following him for a number of years to almost laugh at ourselves when he asked the question is this a different Donald Trump has he changed and while I won't go that far uh he has himself admitted uh just 24 hours after that attempted assassination that that it did change him a bit to the point where he rewrote his speech that we're going to be hearing um at the finale of the Republican National Convention but again while he said he changed the speech to be more one of cohesion and unity he did then say here's what I was going to say about former about President Biden and uh listed out everything that he thought of him so there there was some of the the former Trump that that Still Remains and I think uh we would be naive to assume that this is a different person but when you watch how all of this has played out and that iconic photo that really is going to be in the history books here however this election plays out with his fist in the air saying fight fight fight just moments after that assassination attempt uh again lots of questions about why Security even allowed him to stand up in that moment because there was still clearly a threat they didn't know if there were other Shooters but that's what set off this week at the RNC and then don't forget there was a legal uh battle that he won at least temporarily here with the judge in Florida judge had been viewed as perhaps a bit too sympathetic to to Donald Trump he appointed her uh to the federal court but she was overseeing one of the most consequential and damning of the four cases that the president was facing the two Federal cases this involving um the improper use of documents and uh taking them um illegally to his home in Mara Lago there had been ample evidence of this the documents just laying out in full display we we uh have reporting that this was the case that they were most concerned about within uh the Trump camp and the fact that this you know continues to be a consequence it appears from the Supreme Court decision on immunity that just a few weeks later uh we now have this judge dropping this case saying case closed now the special Council has filed an appeal and that will play out and take time no doubt and likely go all the way back up to the Supreme Court but the big victory is that th this definitely buys time time for the former president kicks the can down the road there will not be a case a trial before the election and adds just yet more Tailwind to his um to his campaign and all of the reporting suggests they feel like they have this in the bag there is a lot of confidence right now within the Republican party and I would say um deservedly so given what we've seen unfold not only the the ver the the sheer luck that the president literally dodged a bullet and then others in many ways uh the past few weeks but that we continue to see former uh President Biden uh stumble um you know concerns about his age and mental acuity are not going away uh Whispers I think had been tampen a bit and the push following that assassination attempt but just this this last 24 hours we've started to hear more calls uh and more members of Congress Adam Schiff being the latest Nancy Pelosi really sort of despite the fact that she's no longer speaker speaker amerus wields a lot of power uh within the Democratic party and CNN has reporting that even she has spoken to uh President Biden letting him know what she's hearing and that is a lot of concern not only about his viability but about what this means down ballot for members of Congress I don't want to sound too Jewish but I'm going to have to quote to you what Bernie Sanders said when he uh talked about is he concerned about uh Biden's four more years he said I have concerns about everything you know and everybody should have concerns about everything there's nothing more Jewish to say I think it was pointed out on Twitter by y liberman just I mean this is a very very Jewish thing to say we will uh talk a lot about JD Vance and the choice and all of that and where the Republican party is heading with our special guest this week but I do want to ask you I mean there's a lot of Jewish and a lot of Israeli stories in the convention particularly the story of the hostages with sort of front and center in the RNC um let's talk a little bit about that and also ask maybe will we see the similar something similar to that in the DNC yeah and that is listen I don't know I have no idea no insight into what the DNC is planning um uh no doubt a lot of expertise goes into this week um for both parties because it is really a display for the country for the party a lot of Showmanship and uh on uh on Wednesday night it it was quite an emotional scene to see where uh you saw the the families of the 13 service members who were killed following that disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 um President Biden their family members spoke and their support for for president Trump and and the lack of support they say they received from President Biden and that was followed by uh a focus on anti-Semitism and then on October 7th specifically there was a Harvard a Jewish Harvard student um by the name of shabas who came out and gave a very fiery passionate speech quite impressive given you know his age to come out before that big of an audience uh he's part of a lawsuit against anti-Semitism for Harvard University and and he spoke about just the virtues of being an American of being an Israeli how the the two were synonymous with their values or sorry not an Israeli as a Jew as a Jewish American he had previously been uh suppor of Bernie Sanders he was a registered Democrat and he uh and people can can go online and follow his speech but in a nutshell you know said that that he found more support in some of the statements and policies that the president former president Trump laid out would he uh win another term and you've covered this in great detail just the the outrage that the concern about the anti-Semitism specifically on college campuses this past year since October 7th the question the slippery slop of whether that's free speech and whether that veers into anti-Semitism and hate speech and you know ultimately the response of the universities from day one in his from what he said that that he was shocked that Harvard didn't condemn the attack and note the Americans who were killed and are currently still held hostage and uh the the lack of real um of AD impetus to to stamp this out and so that was a moving moment and that was followed by the parents of Omar Nara uh who was an American Born Israeli uh and they too said you their son was born a month after uh September 11th and loved America loved Israel um you heard chance of bring them home bring them home from the audience and you would expect to see the passion in om's parents and in shabas himself but you really saw a a a lot of emotional support and enthusiasm in the right sense of the term I mean the tone was right for the message they were sending you know condemning anti-Semitism and unity and supporting bringing the hostages home yeah I mean it's really interesting I mean I was I was looking at their um you know their speech and and of course they were talking to the Americans and talking to the convention but it was very clear that they were also talking to Benjamin and Yao uh first of all it's safe to say that nyao himself would feel very at home at the RNC but also that they were speaking and they knew that it is a message that he will hear and I think we'll talk a little bit about about where the hostage negotiations are are it is important to say that there have been issues of anti-Semitism coming from the right definitely definitely in the Trump years definitely among Trump's supporters and Trump himself you know I mean he's dabbled and in with some of those far right-wing you know white supremist that that have said anti-semitic comments he had famously had them a few of them over for dinner at Mara Lago so um yes it's interesting how this conversation has veered um since October 7th specifically to a problem on the left yeah and we have talked about this un and I remember when van Jones was on the podcast he also said that Biden might lose the Muslim vote and the Jewish vote because the Muslim vote because of his support for Israel and Gaza and the Jewish vote he might lose parts of it of course not all of it but parts of it because they think that he isn't strong or Tough Enough on anti-Semitism so should we talk a little bit about what's been going on here uh in my neck of the woods the the hostage deal which is again this week as well the main headlines uh here when you see the chief of staff the defense minister head of the mad all of them saying as clearly as you can there is a moral imperative now is the best opportunity to bring back the hostages because Hamas is at its weakest point when the head of the Mad was quoted saying in a in a cabinet meeting the girls don't have time this is his quote that is very clearly saying if we don't bring them back now it is a death sentence so everything is very very clear and on the table we also saw this week the harrowing uh photos of the five surveillance uh soldiers in Gaza already a few days after they were abducted I'll remind our listeners that we also have seen a few months ago the video of the actual footage of them being abducted from Nal o there Karina aray and Diel gilboa and aam berer and liir elb and of course n Levi we will be speaking to her mother today on the on the show and just you know these harrowing images of them in Gaza Nama actually being photographed separately with a with a purple eye you can't forget these images once you see them and it it does the families themselves of course wanted to release these pictures to put more pressure we we are also seeing uh ministers from the leud noticeably female ministers mirv and Gil Gamel uh putting pressure on Nano also Minister from Sha from the Shas party saying this is the time to to go to a hostage deal yeah and you know from an American standpoint and obviously covering all of this uh as a journalist and as somebody you know who has focused a lot on these hostages I was just there in Israel with you not just because I was visiting a close friend but uh that was an added bonus I I came to interview um Alexa klof who was one of the four hostages who was rescued uh by the IDF back in June from narat and uh he spoke quite harly harrowingly about his Oreal um very emotional detail like the fact the amount of details that that he was able to still recite and and the interview was an hour and a half I have to tell you we had to edit it down to 15 minutes but you know the ultimate message that he conveyed was that the need to bring the rest of these hostages home I asked him if he had seen any of the other hostages and and that was one of the the only answers actually that he didn't want to go questions he didn't want to go into detail about understandably because uh he said that that what he saw was a lot worse than than what he'd been experiencing uh in his time in captivity and mention the tunnels mentioned that that they don't have much time and that that is the the message that he wants to convey that I think all of these families are conveying that that we're getting just in covering this part of the war in the the friction that we've seen play out on the streets in protests um between these family members and Israelis who are focused primarily on just bringing these hostages home and then the government that at times they feel isn't receptive enough isn't emotive enough you know we talk about President Biden and BB Netanyahu and one thing you repeatedly hear time and time again and the five current uh Israeli hostages that are still being held in Gaza all of their families just say that that they have spent more time talking and hearing from the Americans from President Biden than they have from their own government specifically prime minister Netanyahu and it raises the question of what are the motivations what are the priorities are they in sync are they not in sync and sadly it's so heartbreaking to watch this play out now over nine months I actually want to point out an interesting development that our political uh analysts in Channel 12 Amit seel talked about this week Amit is actually assessing that Nano does want a deal his obstacles obviously beingin benville so he's trying to figure out how to sell the deal to them and he's essentially saying to them look the knesset is in recess from the end of July to the end of October you can't topple the government any so let me address your concerns the deal will allow uh for terrorists to be released from Israeli prisons but they won't be released uh to the West Bank that's one thing that he's promising them he's also promising uh to find some sort of concession to assuage their concerns about the Philadelphia line which is the line through which Kamas would smuggle uh weapons uh from Egypt and he's saying there will be concessions uh regarding that and we'll find a way to have some sort of Israeli control there I don't know if that can actually be done and the other thing is if you're worrying about the war being over he's saying to his farri ministers don't worry because after the first stage of the deal we can uh return to some sort of fighting in Gaza so that way n can give uh the deal that the public clearly wants you see that in every poll also possibly uh calm down the northern front uh perhaps even this is like a few steps forward go forward on the Saudi track all this time his Coalition Partners begrudging it but not dissolving uh the government so that is something that he is maybe banking on in in the next couple of weeks and of course yit we have the highly anticipated speech before Congress next week of prime minister Netanyahu it's something that you know is viewed very controversially he's done it in the past and yet just within the last few weeks you can't help but think how any of this is going to impact what he will be saying how he will be welcomed whether there will even be a candidate Biden uh obviously President Biden will still be here but if President Biden does decide within the next few days that he will no longer seek the nomination uh for the Democratic candidacy for president and that of course leads to the question of not only what the relationship between the United States and Israel will look like specifically as it relates to the war um the relationship between prime minister Netanyahu and President Biden these next four months leading up to the election and perhaps whether or not prime minister Netanyahu who may have a runin May Reach Out may have some sort of encounter with a former president Trump uh which leads us to our first guest who knows the former president quite well uh a man who's been in the spotlight uh quite a lot this week Alysa Farah [Music] Griffin Alysa far Griffin is the former White House communications director prior to that she worked at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill she's a co-host of the extremely popular and politically influential daytime show The View and is also a CNN contributor um a friend of mine uh and Alyssa um I don't know when you find time to sleep at all we've been watching you 247 here covering uh the the RNC all of the political implications and Fallout from not only the Republicans but also what's what's been happening uh among Democrats um and you've been doing your own show as well so thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today it's a pleasure I'm so happy to join you so you call yourself a republican in Exile and I want to get to that in a moment because you're not alone especially in terms of uh former Trump AIDS and those that worked in his previous campaign and administration given that uh what are your thoughts about what we've seen play out this week at the RNC especially following that horrific assassination attempt on Saturday yeah so listen um and thank God that the assassination attempt uh was unsuccessful and you know my best wishes are with the former president but listen watching the GOP convention coming off of that was really really kind of stunning because um there is a sense of unity within the Republican party it's kind Donald Trump got a hero's welcome when he showed up and wasn't originally expected to the first night of the convention he has every night since um but then on the other side of this is there is a real disunity within the Republican Party more broadly um there are those like me who are more traditional call us Reagan Romney conservatives who believe in internationalism we believe in America's role on the world stage who I think were were a bit surprised by The Pick of JD Vance as his vice president um which has a lot of implications for just where America will be on the world stage in a second Trump term but the reality is this Donald Trump is on a Glide path to win the uh presidential race at this point um granted we're three and a half months out a lot could change Democrats could change their ticket but overall the tone has been celebratory despite these sort of frankly fundamental policy uh uh kind of frictions that exist within the Republican party and by the way I should note folks like me even someone like a Lindsey Graham who's a bit more hawkish and believes in a stronger America uh role that America has in the world we are absolutely the minority and the party right now this is Donald Trump's Republican party that's been clear um this whole week on what was talked about what the themes of the knights and the vice presidential pick that exactly what I wanted to talk to you about uh even though I we will come on to to foreign policy but that choice to pick JD Vance is really it really signifies that Donald Trump has taken over the party he doesn't need the Republican establishment he doesn't need the M he thinks he doesn't need I assume she he feels that way he doesn't need the Mike Pence the responsible adult in the room he'll just take the you know isolationist maybe a trump 2.0 in a way he can take whoever he wants he can choose whoever he wants that's how emboldened and Powerful he feels that's exactly right and not just how emboldened he feels within the GOP where he doesn't feel threatened by anyone else um I thought it was notable he had Nikki Haley his former Chief rival speak at the convention because he knows she needs him far more than he will ever need her but he also feels emboldened just nationally in this race Joe Biden is underperforming where he should be he's losing in key swing States outside of the margin of error so I think the choice of Vance which it's been reported that Donald Trump waffled up until the last minute that he was still kind of deciding who he wanted to go with and I think he went with Vance because he feels so confident that he's going to win so he made a pick that was less about adding votes here and there like a Doug beram would have been similar to a Mike Pence a steady hand an adult in the room somebody who could perhaps reach some of these skeptical moderate Republicans he instead went with a legacy pick he went with Donald Trump 2.0 he went with somebody who can carry his policies on um after he leaves office and it's an interesting pick because what I'll say about JD Vance is he's got this incredible life story we know hillbilly elegy his pulling himself up by the bootstraps going on to be a marine going to Yale law school um but he's an incredibly polarizing figure as well um he's taken this in the last few years this this bent from being a chief Trump critic to being someone who praises him who praises conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones somebody who says frankly I don't care about Ukraine so there's plenty of vulnerabilities and things to attack him on I would also say on like women's reproductive Health that's something he's taken an incredibly Hardline stance but the Democrats are in such a position of disarray I haven't seen them even emerge to be ready to litigate that case against him effectively given that and the continued Fallout from the debate let's acknowledge that that former president Trump is the showman and he wants to put on a show he wanted this guessing game the waiting game who is the VP going to be um and we once again you know fell for it we we followed it to the last minute apparently JD Vance didn't even know until 15 minutes prior to the announcement being made how much of uh an impact do you think the Fallout from the debate and then all of the chaos we've seen in ensue within the Democratic party itself impacted his decision to ultimately go with JD Vance to your point really feeling locked in and confident that this is Theirs to win he's extremely confident and um the only thing that keeps Donald Trump up at night right now if I had to guess would be if Democrats change a candidate because that could become a different race um but there were real pushes I mean the Wall Street Journal editorial board Fox News rert Murdoch who wanted it to be someone like a Doug bur bergham a much steadier hand um somebody with also genuinely more mainstream policy viewpoints um and I'm told and through reporting that it was Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump the Pres former president's sons who were very bullish on JD Vance but you also can't leave out of this the Elon Musk Factor who hours after JD Vance was chosen it was reported he's going to contribute $45 million a month to a trump blind super pack so there's this Silicon Valley kind of tech bro Nexus that comes with JD Vance which is crazy because Vance's whole message is this populist you know we're reaching out to the white working class that feels Left Behind well he's funded by some of the biggest billionaires uh in the world or supported by I should say now the ticket will be you said it's a you know it's pretty much a a sort of Glide path to Victory and before we get into more of the what might be planned for if he does win can the Democrats still save this what what would you say to them if you needed to give them you know the golden advice what would it be so I'm extremely bullish that Joe Biden cannot beat Donald Trump um I there's you should never say never but I do think that if they were to make a change to the ticket um there could they could beat Trump and I say that because six and 10 Americans didn't want the rematch of Trump versus Biden young voters jenz and Millennials represent the biggest voting block and they're gen Z largely is up for grabs um they don't polling doesn't show that they're really committed to either a Biden or a trump and I think there's real worry that they'll stay on the couch but somebody younger energizing and who just isn't these two figures that have dominated the last you know 5 years of Our Lives emerged I think there's a world in which they could activate people who are inclined to sit on the couch um but it's a massive gamble we've never seen somebody introduce a national candidate to run for president in a 3 and a half month window um it would take an incredible amount of resources and just tremendous political Talent um cuz I do want to knowe like JD Vance last night I expected him based on having read hillbilly igy and knowing his life story I thought he was going to knock it out of the park I thought this was going to be a story that you know him telling his story introducing himself on the stage um and would really resonate with people and it was a little disjointed to me it wasn't with a bio like that I just thought he would have done something much more but you we it's a good time to remember that going from being a a senator or a governor even to being a national candidate overnight is an uphill hurdle for the most talented politician like Obama took time to get his SE legs as a national candidate so that's that's the best case scenario I see for Democrats and I do also think they would make a mistake to lean too far left in replacing someone on a ticket Independents and moderates are going to decide this race um so I think there's a lot that could happen in the next week or two it does appear that the dam is breaking though even within the last 20 24 hours Alyssa I don't know if that's the vibe you're getting but that clearly from our reporting at CNN the fact that you have Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeff and Reporting about Nancy Pelosi it's not just coincidence that all of this is coming out now and I'm curious It's listen it's strange bad fellas that you have black Democratic women and Donald Trump and his supporters on the same page both wanting President Biden to stay in this race but that may not be feasible in the days to come and we'll see what the Fallout may be but then the question turns to who and whether that is kamla Harris and what kamla Harris brings to an advantage for the Democrats in the sense that she's a known quantity right this may be an easier process perhaps you know she's been polling a little bit better and definitely better than Biden as of late she has a strong prosecutorial background she can address some of the issues that the Republicans have really taken hold of as their agenda crime border all of that even though border seemed to have been one of her her biggest hurdles early on uh how would a kamla Harris and you know fill in the blank whoever her her VP would be how would that impact the trajectory of this race for Republicans so listen I think if it's Donald Trump doesn't want to be he wants to run against Joe Biden he's worried about any shakeup though I do think he feels a level of confidence running against uh president Harris I think she is viewed by a lot of the country as more leftwing than Joe Biden um so I would say if it ends up being her she would absolutely need to run with somebody who's seen as a more moderating Force um you know you think of Governor Cooper of North Carolina or Andy Basher of Kentucky somebody who represents more of the middle of the country um rather than you know what will be framed as a left-wing California you know former Attorney General um I what I keep hearing from folks is this um KLA Harris is doing better than she was but even if she and this is this just shows how desperate Democrats are in this moment honestly is even if she lost to Trump she will lift down ballot Democrats in a way that Biden is actually hurting them and when you start hearing conversations this far out that's more about like we might change our ticket solely so we're not losing house races Senate races and you know by extension control of the Supreme Court um it shows how Bleak things are I I'm of the mind it should be some kind of an open convention where they try different Talent um but I know that there's a lot of the democratic base that would feel incredibly offended if the vice president was passed over um but and I do want to mention you know Nancy Pelosi from having covered her um I I do from having worked on Capitol Hill it is not in her DNA to look at data that says you are going to get wiped out in the house Democrats are going to you know lose so many seats and not intervene so I expect that she's actually had a heavy behind the scenes hand in trying to move these conversations forward that's very interesting if we back to a scenario that a scenario that right now looks uh more feasible which is a a second Trump presidency who are the people around him I mean so many people who were the guardrails you know stepped away and said we can't support this uh person whether it be Mike Pence or Mark esper or you you know so many people who said we we just don't trust him who are the people who surround him now who who will be his you know at his side besides the family it's a great question and by the way it's so jarring to watch the GOP convention and know Mike Pence isn't there and he's not backing this man and we haven't seen that in modern history before where a a former Vice President says I cannot support this man because of their unfitness and their character and even their some of their policy uh positions it is going uh the next Trump Administration will be staffed by people who first and foremost are loyalists to Donald Trump um there's been an effort underway under the LA under uh through the last four years to kind of start identifying those people for senior roles um his former very close a Johnny mckinty has just been keeping basically a roll aex of people who are loyal to him and also lists of people who are not um who shouldn't be considered when he wins so um I expect it's you know the bright line the lipus test for the vice president uh was would you have done what Mike Pence did on January 6th and everyone who auditioned had to say no they would not have certify the election you can kind of expect that at the cabinet level um you know I think about some of the National Security roles that are going to have to be filled and that's what's probably most alarming to me who you're not going to have Mark espers you're not going to have John Kelly's and some of these defining roles or gy mates um who's going to go into those spaces and and one thing I highlight there's a lot of talk about project 2025 and that's um certainly aligned with the president he hasn't blessed all of it but there's one part of it that I do know he has blessed and that's um basically he's got this goal to turn all civil servants into essentially political appointees that he can fire at will so here it's um it's very hard to fire someone like a Dr fouchy there's a long process for it it's um not something you could just fire at will but someone like me a political appointee you can fire at will no explanation he wants to do that to the whole federal government to be able to fill it with people who are loyal to him and his policy agenda and that has has tremendous impact on things like Emergency Management natural disaster management pandemics National Security things that rely on subject matter experts who have worked in these spaces for decades um so I worry a lot just about the functioning of these sort of the parts of government that are run by nameless faceless incredibly intelligent bureaucrats who know how to do their jobs and and that to me hasn't gotten enough attention he's got the executive order ready to go on day one yeah and project 2025 not to spend too much time on it but to tell our listeners a bit more about it and it is a an article that had been circulated that been written by the Heritage Foundation a conservative think tank uh it's notable that former president Trump um smartly so I would say at least from a political standpoint has pushed away from this and said that that that is not something that he's a part of and knows not much about though the people who are really behind some of the big policy ideas here worked in in his uh former Administration including his former om director uh but Alyssa it it is normal as we know as somebody who's covered politics for many years for candidates to really even at times get dirty and nasty with each other as they are competing for that top spot in nomination famously even vice president Harris remember during the debate with President Biden in the primaries when she went after him about busing that took a long time for Jill Biden especially to forgive her for but but it seems that some of these candidates have taken this to a different level you know Nikki Haley and her concerns and her warnings and her threats about former president Trump I'm just wondering she's I believe the only former Cabinet member who is there obviously have fully endorsing him and telling her voters to do the same I'm wondering what we should read into that because this isn't Politics as Usual this isn't just mudslinging and then everyone sings and rallies around the candidate there are sincere genuine concerns and threats espoused by you espoused by other members of his former Administration in cabinet about the threat that that another Trump Administration would pose to this country can you go into a little bit more detail as to what those threats are absolutely um and listen I want to kind of separate two things there there are people like Nikki Haley who I had a lot of esteem for in the first Administration but who are coming back around to the Trump fold in her in hopes of politically self-preserving themselves knowing that this is fully Donald Trump's party and without kissing the ring they're not going to ever have a future in it um I think that's purely kind of a a choice of ambition there are those of us who worked with him closely know him very well who have genuine and deep uh concerns both about just his character um the the the way in which he makes decisions the way he treats people what motivates him this is a an individual who I've spent years trying to understand and and the the best ideology I can really uh place on him is that he's purely transactional um which that that has consequences in in a lot of ways that somebody would make decisions but then there's there's the policy side of things and in the choice of JD Vance in the speakers we've seen on stage at the convention it's it's very safe to say he's leaning um completely into what Joe Biden called Ultra Maga it's this nationalist populism um where there's we demonize immigrants I I've been to every op convention since at least 2012 and to see people waving signs that says mass deportations now that's never been how Republicans talked about immigration securing the border and dealing with the um undocumented population in this country but that that kind of language has been mainstreamed um we have done a complete realignment on foreign policy and I I don't mean to harp on this point but it it has huge consequences because we there is a war in Ukraine right now there's the war between Israel and Hamas there's um a lot of just issues that are going to be unavoidable for Donald Trump to have a heavy hand in and a roll in and he's now with somebody um as a VP who just fundamentally thinks that America should not be involved in many of these things and I think that you can't ignore kind of the social issues the issue of around abortion and others that he well Donald Trump may not have any core convictions around whether how he feels about these the people around him want to see hard right policies put into place it's honestly um so far out of the mainstream of what Republican politics was even just 10 years ago he will look to do in a second term and and and also the most important I mean this is a man who who tried to overturn a democratic election right the notion that he's going to uphold our Norms that he's going to allow there to be an independent Department of Justice that he's not going to use it to weaponize and to go after his political adversaries is kind of absurd he's told us very clearly what he's going to do in a second term which is when you left right it was after that moment the that you decided to leave after um January I left about I left a month before January 6 so basically um after the election was called for Biden I stayed for about 2 weeks and this talk was starting to enter the public space of they were going to challenge the election the election was stolen and I was very I was just very uncomfortable with it um I think that listen the RNC absolutely had the right to try some of these cases early on in court but once case after case was knocked down there were over 60 cases um that they lost there was no path for recourse there was no turning around the results of the election and when the rhetoric shifted to it was stolen we're going to challenge it I had I've shared this before um the former white house chief of staff when I told him I was resigning said what if I told you we weren't leaving office and to me that made me tender my resignation that day I wasn't even going to wait another day because that's just ant anti-democratic speak right there there would be no legal lawful constitutional way that we would have stayed in office longer so is it hyperbole Alissa because we hear we've been hearing for years now the past several elections that this is the most consequential election of our lifetime that democracy is at stake I mean the fact that you have a former president who um wouldn't accept the results obviously uh helped in sight uh what we saw on January 6th um he's gotten some you know a lot of luck thrown his way given how the Supreme Court has ruled in some of these other cases against him but that doesn't deny what we all saw with our own eyes on January 6 and his actions ever since he has yet to say now that uh Joe Biden was fairly elected and he has yet to say that he will accept the results of this election though I would imagine given the trajectory it's headed in now he he likely will um are you concerned how much should the world be worried about this playing out again in four years that if he does if we do have another Trump term is that the end of democracy as we know it in the United States will he leave I mean what level of of worry do you have about that it's a it's a great question and I've I've tried to calibrate myself on it in light of recent events and just in general wanting to make sure I'm never being an alarmist and where I landed is this Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for president of certainly of my lifetime I would say of of of multiple generations for a number of issues and it is uh the biggest to me is just his genuine anti-democratic approach to governing um the thing the ways in which he would be willing to use government in a way that it just is not meant to be used as extra-constitutional and meant more to carry out his wishes and to carry out sort of his retribution on those who've wronged him um and then the policy side of it where I think he would just fundamentally undermine America's standing on the world stage and also who he surrounds himself with um the first term we had people that I trusted there were also some really Fringe figures who played outsize roles at points but overall there were always these sort of checks in every major institution and I don't expect for any reason that those will be there I think that he's going to staff a government full of people who've waited into scary conspiracy theories who don't understand the role of the National Security apparatus people who you know defended the fact that he took unlawfully classified documents and then withheld them from the Department of Justice and obstructed Justice um it's it's really waiting into Uncharted Territory I think is the best way I could put it and um I don't have confidence in the people around him or in his character and just ability to do to put the country before his own wishes and I think his wishes are going to be strongly motivated by retribution self-preservation and just kind of directing the country a little bit more toward his magga vision so you're painting a pretty scary picture and I'm sorry to be it's very it's very Bleak out there right now I'm sorry to be like I was going to be the Israeli to say let's talk about Israel a little bit so I'm sorry but we did set the stage for foreign policy or for a different kind of foreign policy and I kind of want to wonder I I think it's a general question what will we see in foreign policy that will be different specifically I mean VI of Israel he was a very you know from Israeli eyes a supportive president in his first term the Abraham Accords now he's been saying all kinds of things we remember the profanities against n personally but also you know things like the war has to endala is very smart Israel is not good on PR what kind of relationship will we see if this is indeed the next president uh with with the leader of Israel which is still netan and with the country so this is to me kind of one of the most interesting questions and it's a bit of an open question to me because because you're absolutely right he personally detests Netanyahu and it is because they had a good relationship it is purely because Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden after he won the election and Trump saw that as a personal affront um he thought he's he you know felt like he'd done more for Israel than any modern president how dare he do this um but Jared Kushner is extremely close with Benjamin Netanyahu he's done him since he was a child um their uh his father is close to him I see a world in which he could liaz that relation ship to get it back on track in a second um if there were to be a second term um I go back and forth on this because Donald Trump holds a grudge better than most people but I also know that his base expects that he be a fundamental supporter of Israel and his Base by the way this is what's so fascinating me his base wouldn't mind if he wiped Gaza off the map if it meant eradicating Hamas and why the Democrats haven't done a bit more to say um you know it may feel like we are having too heavy of a hand in supporting Israel but the other guy is going will not care about civil the civilian population of the Palestinian territory the other guy is going to be something far more aligned with BB Netanyahu um for someone like me I actually think it's I think that there's a world in which that relationship strongly goes back to where it was um I think that there would actually be efforts to expand the Abraham Accords and and and I want to give Donald Trump credit on this I mean it was reported this week that the Iranians actually had had put a Target on him and that there was sort of a foiled or suspected assassination attempt against him my former boss Mark esper travels with a huge amount of security and will the rest of his life because of the solemn any strike and because of their strong stance against Iran this is one of the areas that I actually still very much align with Trump on um I think that that will be a focus in the region I think there's a reason Nikki Haley praised his um his his perspective on how to deal with Iran versus the Democrats so it's I I'm I'm I'm very curious how this will play out but I could very much see the Netanyahu relationship healing because he sees support of Israel is more fundamental to his supporters than the personal relationship or lack thereof I should say yeah and we saw that on full display this night at the RNC just the the number of supporters there um Israel and of um the plight of the hostages it was very moving to see the opening night of the prayer for the hostages we heard from uh the parents of a hostage as well as well as a student at Harvard who was suing the school o over anti-Semitism it so it may be a situation again you never know what you're going to get with Donald Trump because as you said he is very transactional what he says one day may not hold the next but uh it may appear at this point that Israelis have a lot more wiggle room to breathe a sigh of relief if he is in fact in office again as opposed to let's say the ukrainians because we know there was a lot of concern uh about not only what a trump presidency would bring obviously that just being doubled down and reinforced by JD Vance and his views that are very much in line with um former president Trump about aiding uh Ukraine and international alliances as a whole very much so I would I would agree they they're separate they're seen differently um and I actually expect that Donald Trump would have a much more pro-israel stance um whereas I do not expect that with Ukraine Alysa Farah Griffin I mean we this was such a fascinating conversation and thank you so much and your busy schedule for taking the time to talk to us uh today thanks a lot well thank you it was great to talk to you thank you so much [Music] Alysa well I thought that was fascinating to hear from an Insider there who knows the Trump orbit quite well and uh has been really signaling warning signs for for years now about the dangers of another Trump term what that may entail uh and so many unknowns who will be advising this man who will he be listening to this is a different Trump in many respects he feels emboldened he knows Washington DC he's not going to be told what to do and a lot of the institutions that have held up thus far there there there's questions about how much resilience they have in another Trump term if he does follow through on some of um the very bold uh projections and goals that have been set out I mean she was in the Inner Circle right she was a communications director and she says he is a dangerous candidate she also says she's homeless uh because the Republican party is no longer her home and you think about a lot of people like that who feel that they are you know conservatives but they can't vote for Trump and what are they going to do in November are they going to vote for Biden are they going to ignore their instincts and votee for Trump are they going to stay home I mean that is a very big question as we look forward to November the interesting thing about Trump and has always been interesting even in his first presidency B is the fact that on the one hand people are saying yes he's dangerous for America pause but actually for Israel he's not bad now a lot of people here in Israel who who don't support Trump say you know bad for America is bad for Israel period yeah but it's a very interesting discrepancy in in the fact that for Israel you know see the Abraham Accords they see the fact that he passed he he he moved the the embassy to Jerusalem his support of of Israel and it's a very shaky kind of thing to to try and hold those two thoughts which are kind of contradictory right that on the one hand this isn't good for America say says a woman who worked for him on the other hand maybe for Israel it's not so bad it's a very you know it's a very difficult uh thing to kind of hold on to at the same time that many would call shortsighted perhaps because ultimately want a strong and robust America if the rest of its allies can follow suit then and feel the same but you're right I mean we do know during his administration president Trump was very popular in Israel but we also saw what happened in the immediate aftermath of October 7th and the skyrocketing popularity of President Biden and his his warm words his passion for the country his emotive just uh sorrow uh for what Israel had endured his VIs visit there to Israel in the days after I mean I don't uned Donald Trump has traveled to Israel since October 7th so it will be interesting to see where this goes directionally especially Visa Israel and of course even a theme as we noted this week at the RNC continues to be the war there specifically the plight of the remaining hostages and that leads us into our very important uh uh other topic of the week the the big story in the United States is definitely the RNC but the big story here is still the plight of the hostages and that feeling like we might see a deal when all of the security Echelon here in Israel is pressing the Prime Minister the politicians from his own Coalition are now uh uh pushing him towards this and that we might see because Kamas is at this weak point uh after the assassination attempt that was probably successful on Muhammad that we are seeing a point where this can actually happen and we have been you know we discussed this uh episode that we will do together it was really clear for us to us automatically that we there is one woman that we really want to talk to together we have been talking to her separately over the past couple of months but that we really wanted to bring her in uh to talk to her because she has the closest and the most personal uh view of the hostage [Music] story a chak Lev is Nama Lev's mother Nama has been held by Kamas terce for 286 6 days almost 9 and a half months AIT has been all through this a warrior uh Mother fighting for the release of her daughter and we really thank you so much for talking to us today a hi thank you thank you uni and Viana it's nice to see the both of you in front of me in the pictures yeah it's very we talk about you more than you would even imagine we do really do because I I think we are you know as and many Israelis and many Americans are in awe of your your your strength and your resilience and your ability to hold up this this fight for your daughter uh together with the the other families it really is um a remarkable thing to see I know that you would not for a millisecond uh think about this at all this new role that you have in Israeli public life and we would give it up in a really in a heartbeat just to to to be nine months back but you really are something that I think Israel look at at this strength and so I think the first thing to ask you is now that there is more talk about maybe a deal is possible with all of the defense Echelon and Israel saying we should do this now how optimistic are you from what you're hearing from these people that it can actually happen I'm optimistic I'm definitely optimistic because I'm hearing this very loud and clear and and not like before I mean this is different now I'm hearing it very clearly that the whole defense of Israel is seeing this as uh all the terms are uh ready and in place to be able to proceed with the negotiations and to bring this deal to to seal the deal so so I am optimistic I'm very stressed I cannot say I'm I know I'm very stressed even more than before because this is actually this is the very critical point that we were waiting for and because it is so close and feasible and possible um I'm just so scared that it might not you know something might be missed because it has happened before but I think we're in a different place at this point a I think that the phrase David versus Goliath should be changed to AET versus Goliath because these past nine months I mean to to Echo what yonit said just the strength the resilience that the passion that and the love as a mother that you have conveyed for the world to see you've gone up against not only a terror organization that's been holding your daughter um you've been dealing with a lot of a lot of headwinds uh from around the world of people not wanting to address this and focus on this uh as a top priority and you've also been dealing with some of the same concerns domestically internally in your own country and really wanting to get um on the same page uh with your own government to prioritize this and make sure they are prioritizing the release of Nama and and all of the other 120 hostages that remain there as I've gotten to know you over these past few months um you know we I know we we've become very close and every few months it does appear that you and the other parents of the five ID f female soldiers have agreed um painfully to release bit by bit some of the information that you've been made aware of whether it's the the videos of Nama and the girls the and the days hours after October 7th um to to new video that was just released this week well was taken by the IDF when they were in Gaza yes uh they found it um from Nama nama's early days there in captivity and you see that that um that that swollen eye that purple eye really again symbolizing just the hell that that these hostages have been enduring can you talk to us about the thought process that goes into what I I would imagine is such a difficult decision that you and the other families ultimately agree to release these images for the world to see and I would imagine also put more pressure on the players at hand here too yeah you know when I go back to the the October 7th on that day the video of Nama being kidnapped in Gaza uh being you know dragged from the Jeep from the backside of the Jeep and and we all know that video and we saw it on the very that morning already I'm thinking of th that that um that video that was published by Hamas and then it was run and rerun over in the in all the networks and all the uh social media and I had no control over that and it felt like that's my girl you can't show that all the time it can't be it we were in shock of course at that point but I'm just uh you know uh looking back at that those moments and thinking of that footage going over and over again and I'm thinking this is this is a private thing this is my daughter you can't show that but so this is my instinct uh response to to to publishing things concerning my daughter our family myself I mean this is so private in one sense but on the other hand and we have come to this point where we need to decide about how much more exposure we need to put for for our girls and once we received more footage of of the the what happened in the in that morning that video that uh was we we allowed to publish and then now we we just now received these frames from from the uh videos taken by Kamas and the probably the first or the the the beginning of their captivity there now we're the ones deciding of of you know what we what we put for the world to see and it's a it's a it's Agony every time because still I'm thinking you know that's my little girl don't show her don't don't expose her to to any more of this and this is the the the hardest moments to to see but this is part of our struggle and our fight and it is it pains me but we need to keep reminding the world that you know what happened on the 7th of October keeps on happening right now and the girls are there and the girls are still undergoing this Terror this terror attack it's it's ongoing so we have no choice that's that's my feeling I have no choice I need to keep I need to keep talking I need to keep um functioning uh and I need to keep um putting these images in the eyes of all involved the public the decision makers the world the other actors in in this whole situation so yeah you know you know we're saying um I don't know about my strength I don't know so much that I'm that I'm stronger I don't feel that I just you know I I I I get up every morning and I'm just I tell myself you know n is still there what am I doing what am I going to do today what's the next thing how do how how do we get her out how do I save her that's that's all that matters so I just keep going on that it's not it's not not even strength I don't know what it is do you know what we can't say everything that you know you can't say everything that you know because we're obviously there's information that needs to keep her safe but do you know can you tell us where she is obviously she's it looks like she's been separated from the other yes soldiers yeah we do know that at that point the the first days weeks she was separated maybe she was for a few days with another girl and then separated from her and then for almost uh two months she was alone with her captures they moved her from place to place under the attacks and the bombings and the uh and all the military operations that were taking place above ground and then she was entered into the tunnel and we know this from the hostages that were released at the end of of November because they met with her shortly and they saw her and and she spoke she told them uh what has what she went through until that point and uh and from then on the information that we have of course is nothing that comes from uh Kamas it is all information that we are receiving from our authorities and it is uh as they call it indirect in other words we don't know exactly how they can tell us this but we had signs of life ofama since then several Signs of Life uh and they do believe that they are in the tunnels and they do believe that um that she is alive there so I cannot really place it to to a specific time because that that is not that's our uh instructions but uh yes that's what we know I yell at um something you've been able to do very effectively is navigating this this crisis this nightmare by not turning this into a political issue by not politicizing it your focus has been on bringing these hostages bringing Nama home and that being the responsibility obviously you know Hamas the perpetrators here the terrorists yes that's a given but that is the responsibility also of the elected government in Israel and I'm wondering how you can square that with the chain of events we're about to see in the next few days um on the one hand there's a lot of optimism perhaps of a deal more optimism than we've had yet uh the Prime Minister giving a big speech to Congress um next week and an invitation I know that went out to a number of the family members of hostages that remain in Gaza and I know you um chose not to accept that invitation Noah aamani I think is going um with the Prime Minister just walk us through how you're able to thread that needle of making your point but not making it a political one well I think it goes back to my focus because I'm this is very clear to me what what the focus should be the focus should be saving Nama and all the girls and all the hostages and bringing them home by negotiations and closing a deal which will also secure the security of the region so having that in mind in every second you know may is in my mind every second everything else is uh lines up to that so if this is the focus and we are not at the point of the closure yet we are very close this these are critical days then all the focus and all the all all of the actions and everything we're doing should be focused on mobilizing that so for me and my answer and of course I I was as I told our uh prime minister's representative I'm honored to be asked and I appreciate it but I cannot do anything else until I see this is going in in in the direction of of a an agreement and I think think that our Prime Ministers and our government's uh focus should be on that just the same so that's my thoughts about that and I I'm not sure it's threading the needle completely but it is in my mind just saying you know this is what I expect I expect our prime minister's full commitment to this process to mobilizing this agreement to doing whatever he can this is my daughter this this could have been anyone's daughter this these are all our children and this is the top priority this is the first and foremost thing that should be done so all other things um should not distract us should not distract the government from this focus and this in involves more as I said this involves more than returning of the hostages which is of course the most urgent thing because their lives are in danger every second but it involves more and you know you too can say more about that I'm I'm I'm not I I don't know how to explain it but it involves you know a a a solution for the for the whole situation for the region yes because that is what many think that this will at some point end the war if there is a deal and then the the northern part of Israel and the skirmishes there will also be toned down um that is what many people think but when you look at the polls um and you see that 64% of Israelis this is a poll that channel 12 published us this Friday 64% of Israelis say they support the hostage deal now when you Analyze That from the political element in it right 85% of netanyahu's opponents support a hostage deal and 46% of netanyahu's supporters uh support it and there are many from the Israeli right who say you know we uh releasing prisoners is giving Hamas exactly what it wants we release their prisoners and they'll release our hostages which is a good thing but it will lead to more you know uh abduction like this and only in Bolden Kamas and the war doesn't need to end I'm sure you meet these people and you try to talk to them yes what do you what do you say to them no sometimes I say it from my medical point of view being a physician you this is so clear this is this is not a just a medical point of view this is a a Humanity humanitarian point of view if someone is in his life is in danger if someone is in in danger right this moment you you first treat or save or take care of the person who is in danger who is in under attack right now right now their safety has been taken from them they don't have their freedom and safety and they're in life danger right now for N9 and a half months so this is the first thing you do then the next thing you you treat or you tend to any other uh difficult or dangerous situations that are um I would call it the second Circle if this is the first thing you do then you you do all that is needed that to ensure the safety of others so um it's like an urgency thing what is the most urgent thing to do to save a life right now that's how I see it and this is what I say I understand it's it's complicated it's a complex and and there are different views but from a Jewish human Arian uh and even um ethical medical ethical point of view this is how I see it know yell at we saw so many people and continue to see so many scores of people take to the streets I remember nama's birthday in particular uh so many in June so many people were holding photos of Nama um you go on social media and you see her photos of accounts um bring Nama home I'm wondering how surreal is this for you at this point and you touched on this earlier and do you have three other kids um you know you have your medical profession as well and then you have this chapter of your life because this will be a chapter that I I I am just convinced will come to an end and Nama will be back with you at home I just tell myself that and I tell you that all the time because there there is no other there is no other option in my view Nama has to be back with you but when you compartmentalize what you see playing out on the streets and in everyday life there focused on the war and Nama your professional life how do you go about approaching that well I think this is what holds it together for me because uh you know being a mom I'm their mother you know just as much as I am n's mother and we are all in this together and so so you know just continuing with the daily routines pretty much or whatever is needed with the family with the kids taking you know thinking you know it it's sometimes very surreal it's crazy I know I just I go from from an interview or from a rally or from you know dealing or a meeting which is highly important and then I go and pick up the school books for om because he he's going up to seventh grade in a new school so the daily things and you know uh the regular life it's like they're paral to all of this and you know switching the the switching from from side to side or from different things sometimes is is I I feel like I'm going crazy but I just look at myself and I say okay now now this is what I'm doing I'm doing this now and then I'm doing this and I kind of try to um I try to have like an order of things um it's not even a a schedule it's like an uh it's like building blocks okay block and then I'll do the I'll put the next block on and and you know sometimes it doesn't work sometimes I just want to I just freeze I just stop and I say you know I I just I don't know what to do now so I have people around me thank God and uh and you know a lot of loving people and uh that helps in those moments but it's really crazy and everything kind of um mixes together even my patients come in and and I work and I'm okay and it's it's it's really I don't even understand it but I'm focused I'm concentrated when I when I see my patients and a lot of times we will talk about what's going on and they refer to n and they tell me things and we talk about it and then we go back to okay what's what what brings you in today and how are you feeling and so it's it's back and forth all the time it's back and force and I think if if there's one thing that I've have gotten used to because none of this I'm I've gotten used to not even talking to you because this is this is uh really amazing for me but um I've gotten used to the going back and forth all the time like like living in these two worlds all the time or three or seven worlds or I don't know well if I can just say I mean I I know you don't want to call it strength but I don't have any other word for it than one of the times that you and I were doing an interview and it was your daughter's birthday and you spent the morning with her taking her shopping at the mall and then as we said compartmentalizing going into the other mom phase uh fighting for your daughter to come home and doing an international television interview um I'm Blown Away by you I uh you know I love spending time with you I feel like I know Nama I I know her bedroom I know that the the animals on her bed and we are all just praying for her to come home and all of the other hostages very very very soon and you should you should know that the minute B came on the podcast it was clear that we're you're coming on so we um we're together thank you thank you I just feel like this is like a um like you're both giving me a hug right now and it's a we are we really are um I thank you know that's what gives me strength by the way like knowing that um I kind of I think of of of the two of you of of other good people that are out there I'm just like making myself um yeah like like a like a a flower to flower like person to person like I putting together all the bouquet of of all the good people and I'm holding on to that and saying you know we can do this we can do this we can go we can get through this and and we we'll bring n back and yeah Amen to that Amen to that a thank you so much for talking to us today thank you thank you [Music] you know y need every time I I speak with AET it's just I'm blown away at just how natural she is how warm she is um you sense the vulnerability obviously but on top of all of that is just her determination her strength she wins over every single person that she meets um everyone I've talked to in Israel there from you know government officials on down just think the world of her and I think that's so important in this situation when you have someone who's so endearing to a population to a country it almost lights the fire even more that that that we need to make this woman whole again and all of these families by bringing these hostages home and I think it speaks volumes that that she you know again not wanting to go down the political Lane chose not to accept the invitation she and many other parents of hostages you know viewed perhaps this as a political stunt that those are my words not hers of the Prime Minister in terms of an Entourage accompanying him to Washington DC some would call it perhaps kitah yeah I mean you're you're completely right about your your description of her and the other hostages families who's sort of you know the world fell on their heads and they managed to get up in the morning and continue the fight you mentioned the word kutah um thank you for doing that you are definitely an avid listener of this podcast so you know that at this point we will be doing our Awards and that I will probably be the one to start because Israeli somehow always carry the kuta award and give diaspora Jews the uh the mench award to do um so so the Thea award and this connects to everything we have been talking to um Vis Israel uh in this episode connects to uh the story it's Saka nebi he's the head of the National Security adviser for Netanyahu a political appointment definitely one of netanyahu's supporters giving an interview this week on channel 12 to rafif a very prominent jour IST and being asked about October 7th saying well there was a mishap of October 7th which you know I can't begin to even explain the problem with calling October 7th a mishap uh after you know um from an Israeli from an isra think about the outrage if this had been somebody from another country calling so so there was a lot of outrage in this country for sure and also asked why Nito did not visit for example any other kibuts but the kibuts of near o and it's it's people who have been evacuated near o really being the black hole of October 7th kibuts that the military didn't even arrive at and one out of four of its members are either murdered or or taken hostage and he said that Netanyahu doesn't have time again it's one of those moments where you think maybe this wouldn't be the best representative to send to the media if these are the messages but again a lot of you know public outry after what he was saying netan has enough time to visit the people of neros and other kibuts for sure because they are uh people who have been hurt the most by what has happened and he needs to speak with them I mean that is not in question it it reminds me of those who have described the events of January 6th here and the storming of the capital as just tourists uh who happen to be walking through the capital uh perhaps a bit too excited um so yes I think this is a well-deserved kutah and again not the first not the first time that member of this government have been criticized for their poor choice of words indeed um you get the mention I'm so excited men workpro I guess as you said Jew in the diaspora um always trying to think positive at least you know in this time of just one bad headline after another just a gut punch uh of of a new cycle it's hard to find inspiration but I think um listen Simon his friends over at America's Got Talent maybe filled that void at least temporarily with a a beautiful beautiful performance by the Jerusalem youth choir where you have both Israelis and Palestinians singing of what singing of Hope if there's one thing that can possibly reinforce that message of hope it's to see young people to see children especially at a time of such division during war to see that there there is perhaps there is perhaps hope and you think of namal Levi who in that horrible video saysi have friends in Palestine you know um that this had been a mission of hers as well to to reinforce this idea of us not always having to be enemies that Jews and uh Muslims Israelis in particular and Palestinians can work together can uh can sing together in this case yeah let's listen to a little bit of that going to make this place your [Applause] home don't pay no mind to the demons they fill you with [Music] fear TR drag you down if you get lost you can always be found just know you're not alone I'm going it really is a beautiful moment as you said uh young Palestinians from Jerusalem and young Israelis from Jerusalem just that moment where you know I'm not a fan of reality TV I maybe shouldn't say this um doing you know working in a commercial Channel I'm not a big fan but those sometimes feels like reality TV exactly but the sort of that moment which is always authentic when people just open up their mouths and sing and sing so beautifully in such an inspiring way it's just a beautiful uh moment very good mench pick my mench of the week is B griga for coming on Unholy as the very first uh uh guest co-host B thank you so much for that uh it was as I said in the beginning a pleasure um and uh and we will say also our thank yous to Gaia Glazer om primat om Barak next week our guest co-host will be an upand cominging journalist we're going to give him a chance to Showcase his talents here on the podcast David remnic and uh and um we will do that next week bi thank you again it's been wonderful my friend thank you so much okay are we still friends we are more friends than we were when this started and I'm keeping this in the recording I am so lucky that I did not press stop that is all saying [Music]