Verdict with Ted Cruz - From the Front Lines in Israel in a Time of War, LIVE Interview with Aryeh Lightstone, former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.520 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.220 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.

00:00:09.080 And Senator, we've got a special guest live from Israel in a moment.

00:00:12.440 But before we get to that, the media got it wrong.

00:00:16.320 The headlines have not been taken down.

00:00:18.860 And they're still misleading the American people and the world over that rocket that hit the hospital in Gaza.

00:00:27.980 One of the big headlines that's still up as we speak is on CNN.

00:00:32.080 It says, Gaza hospital explosion sparks anger and protests in Arab countries.

00:00:38.460 Then you look at Reuters.

00:00:40.080 Their breaking news headline was an Israeli airstrike killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza city hospital,

00:00:46.380 crammed with patients and displaced people, health authorities in the besieged claim.

00:00:52.760 Then the Associated Press breaking.

00:00:55.060 The Gaza health ministry says at least 500 people killed in an explosion at a hospital that it says was caused by an Israeli airstrike.

00:01:03.760 The New York Times breaking news.

00:01:05.960 An Israeli airstrike hit a Gaza hospital on Tuesday, killing at least 200 Palestinians,

00:01:10.840 according to the Palestinian health minister, which says the number of casualties is expected to rise.

00:01:15.340 Then the BBC getting in on it, too.

00:01:17.320 Hundreds of people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.

00:01:27.280 Follow the latest.

00:01:28.080 And finally, CNN with another one.

00:01:30.220 Palestinian health ministry says 200 to 300 people may have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza.

00:01:37.580 Now, they all got it wrong.

00:01:39.760 They're still not retracting it.

00:01:41.520 You and I talked about this on the last podcast, and it shows you just how much deceit there is within this media and anti-Semitism.

00:01:50.980 Well, every one of those headlines, the corporate media is lying.

00:01:55.780 And at this point, they all know they're lying.

00:01:58.200 They are repeating a fundamentally false statement.

00:02:01.320 It has now been demonstrated by both the Israeli intelligence services and American intelligence that what hit the Palestinian hospital was not a bomb from Israel.

00:02:16.360 It was not the Israelis who bombed that hospital.

00:02:18.780 It was rather Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is a terrorist group in Gaza.

00:02:24.900 And listen, one of the basic differences, because people might be at, well, why would the Palestinians bomb their own hospital? 0.64

00:02:31.200 You have to understand there's a very big difference in how the two sides wage war.

00:02:38.120 The Israelis have one of the most advanced militaries on the face of the planet.

00:02:42.160 They use precision-guided munitions, and with very few exceptions, they hit the targets they aim at.

00:02:50.020 And the Israelis don't target hospitals.

00:02:51.740 They don't target civilian targets.

00:02:53.280 They target military targets.

00:02:54.580 They're looking to take out Hamas.

00:02:57.260 The Hamas terrorists, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, they are firing very, very crude rockets and missiles.

00:03:05.780 And they're often just a tube of metal with some propellant in them, with some explosive and metal, whether it's ball bearings or nails or other anti-personnel shrapnel designed to murder as many civilians as possible.

00:03:20.660 And they fire these rockets.

00:03:22.560 They fire thousands of them.

00:03:23.700 And many of them go wildly off course because they don't have any navigation system. 1.00

00:03:29.040 They're just sort of aiming them and hoping they go into Israel and kill Jews. 1.00

00:03:35.020 And so a significant percentage of the terrorist rockets don't even make it out of Gaza. 0.93

00:03:39.360 And in this instance, both the Israeli intelligence and the U.S. intelligence have confirmed this came from Palestinian terrorists.

00:03:46.480 Now, that has not stopped almost the entirety of the corporate media from taking Hamas's talking points and blaming Israel.

00:03:55.700 And I want to read you a tweet that Rashida Tlaib, who is ostensibly a member of the United States Congress. 0.99

00:04:02.140 Here's what she tweeted yesterday, quote, Israel just bombed the Baptist hospital, killing 500 Palestinians, doctors, children, patients, just like that.

00:04:11.920 POTUS, this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire and help deescalate.

00:04:16.560 Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans like me.

00:04:23.200 We will remember where you stood. Now, that tweet at this point, she knows it is a flat out lie.

00:04:29.680 Now, I will tell you that tweet has had twenty eight point four million views.

00:04:35.360 So she's spreading propaganda that is deliberately false.

00:04:38.720 But you know what? It's very helpful to the Hamas terrorists. 1.00

00:04:41.480 Blame Israel and blame Israel first. 0.98

00:04:44.500 It is a lie. And by the way, if you don't believe me, Joe Biden from Israel said.

00:04:49.880 And this came from the Palestinian terrorists.

00:04:54.000 This did not come from Israel. 0.99

00:04:56.020 Chuck Schumer said this came from the Palestinian terrorists. 0.77

00:04:59.940 It did not come from Israel.

00:05:01.260 So Rashida Tlaib and CNN, MSNBC and every one of those media outlets that are lying about this, they know they're lying.

00:05:09.420 But their objective of undermining Israel is more important to them than telling the truth. 0.88

00:05:14.560 And they're shamelessly engaged in that propaganda.

00:05:17.740 What was even more shocking than that is the president is also basically become an apologist for Hamas.

00:05:25.040 He was on Air Force One, this audio being released after he had left Israel.

00:05:30.940 And I want to get your reaction to it, because this is Joe Biden on the Gaza hospital attack.

00:05:35.600 And he's almost apologizing or becoming an apologist for Hamas.

00:05:39.420 Listen, Mr. President, how about the hospital, sir, people all over the region are upset about the hospital and don't necessarily believe you or the Israelis that they didn't have anything to do with it.

00:05:49.720 Do you have a message to the people in the streets right now?

00:05:51.980 Well, I can understand why in this circumstance they wouldn't believe.

00:05:55.860 I can understand that.

00:05:56.880 And what I would not notice, I don't say things like that unless I have faith in the source from which I've gotten.

00:06:08.020 Our Defense Department says it's highly unlikely that it was Israelis, but if it had a different footprint and intercepted some.

00:06:16.940 Anyway, and so that's why, if you notice, I didn't say it first.

00:06:23.080 I wanted to make sure that I knew.

00:06:26.020 And look, and I'm not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it either.

00:06:33.880 I'm not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it either.

00:06:38.060 NBC News, Senator, followed up with that.

00:06:41.460 Live reporting from the street where their guy, Engel, there says blaming Israel for a hospital blast wasn't an impossible assumption.

00:06:51.280 Some of it might be disinformation.

00:06:54.320 That's how they're trying to clean up their mess over there on NBC. 0.61

00:06:58.360 Well, look, I'm going to actually surprise you a little bit on this, Ben.

00:07:02.660 And on this point, I'm going to defend Joe Biden a little bit.

00:07:05.500 Number one, I appreciate that he flew to Israel, that he went to Israel in person to be there while Israel is at war.

00:07:14.420 Listen, I've got enormous criticisms with how the Biden administration has flooded money into Iran, flooded money into Gaza, and has funded this attack.

00:07:23.540 And we have detailed those at great length on this podcast.

00:07:28.840 That being said, for the President of the United States to go to Israel at a time of war is a big deal, and I'm grateful.

00:07:34.420 I want to say thank you for the President for doing the right thing.

00:07:38.660 It would have been easy to stay home and not be there.

00:07:41.280 And I'll say, secondly, the fact that he definitively said in Israel, and even in that clip you just played on Air Force One,

00:07:48.300 he definitively said, Israel did not do this.

00:07:53.000 This was Palestinian terrorists. 0.74

00:07:54.740 That's a big deal, too.

00:07:55.840 It's important to clarify this.

00:07:57.700 And I'll actually thank Chuck Schumer as well.

00:07:59.800 I disagree on a thousand things concerning Middle East policy and their efforts to undermine Israel.

00:08:06.740 But the fact that they've gone out of their way to clarify that this was Hamas terrorists, and look, that is really important to clarify.

00:08:17.000 Now, the reaction of the media, all of their justification, the glee they had to blame this on Israel was incredibly revealing.

00:08:28.560 They have those stories ready to go.

00:08:30.600 And by the way, there is going to be a story that is true at some point of a significant number of Palestinian civilians killed by an Israeli attack.

00:08:40.420 Why is that?

00:08:41.420 We've talked about that on length on this podcast.

00:08:43.940 Hamas wants Palestinian citizens to die, so they use Palestinian civilians as human shield.

00:08:51.700 There will be an instance in this war where Israel is taking out a Hamas military target.

00:08:56.420 They're taking out terrorists.

00:08:57.400 They're taking out a headquarters.

00:08:58.520 They're taking out rockets.

00:08:59.580 And there will be Palestinian civilians there because Hamas wants them there. 1.00

00:09:05.000 And there will be women and children who are killed.

00:09:07.220 It's tragic.

00:09:08.140 Israel is bending over backwards to avoid civilian deaths.

00:09:11.560 But they will not be 100% successful because Hamas is very good at sacrificing the lives of Palestinian civilians. 0.55

00:09:18.840 Now, look, I'll say as a final thing, what Joe Biden said at the very end there, I don't find fault with either, which is he said, he said, I'm not saying Hamas did this on purpose.

00:09:28.960 I agree with that.

00:09:29.960 I don't think Palestinian Islamic Jihad deliberately fired a rocket at the hospital.

00:09:36.140 I don't think they did that.

00:09:37.380 I think they're willing to use Palestinians as human shields. 0.98

00:09:40.220 But I think there's no evidence that they said, all right, let's just fire a rocket at a hospital.

00:09:44.680 I think they just don't care who they kill.

00:09:46.820 I think they're just firing rocket after rocket after rocket.

00:09:49.200 And they know a bunch of them are going to go off course and just kill people randomly.

00:09:53.220 So it wasn't like they were aiming at the hospital. 0.62

00:09:56.160 They were just firing so many rockets and sort of hoping, well, some of these will kill people we don't like. 1.00

00:10:01.380 And we're so excited to kill Jews that if we have to kill some Palestinians, too, they're willing to do that. 1.00

00:10:07.040 So I don't think it was deliberate. 1.00

00:10:08.320 I think it was reckless.

00:10:10.320 They just didn't give a damn who they murdered with those rockets.

00:10:13.520 It certainly was interesting to watch the White House today because they were having one thing in Israel.

00:10:18.920 And then you had Vice President Harris saying today at the White House in front of the White House podium,

00:10:23.980 I support the right of the Palestinian people to dignity, freedom and self-determination,

00:10:27.660 making sure they were playing both sides of this to cover that as there were protests on Capitol Hill.

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00:12:00.680 Senator, we've got a guest and I want you to introduce because it's really important that we hear from people on the ground in Israel.

00:12:08.440 And that's what we're going to have for Vertic listeners right now.

00:12:11.080 And this is going to be something that I will say to everybody listening.

00:12:13.520 Please make sure you share this podcast because if you want to know what's actually happening,

00:12:17.760 we're going behind these headlines, calling out when they're getting it wrong and letting you know what's happening on the ground.

00:12:24.400 So I'm really pleased to welcome and to Vertic a good friend of mine, Aria Lightstone.

00:12:30.840 So Aria served as the chief of staff and senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Trump, David Friedman.

00:12:38.720 And David Friedman was an extraordinary ambassador.

00:12:41.000 He's a good friend.

00:12:41.760 And he was the strongest champion in the Trump administration for moving our embassy to Jerusalem.

00:12:50.000 He played a critical role in that.

00:12:52.060 And Aria was, by his side, assisted in every aspect of that.

00:12:55.860 I was with Aria.

00:12:56.860 I was with David the day we opened our embassy in Jerusalem.

00:13:00.340 It was a historic day.

00:13:01.620 It was actually the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern state of Israel.

00:13:05.380 And I've got to say, I've been to Jerusalem, I've been to Israel many times.

00:13:09.420 I've never seen such jubilation, people dancing, women dancing in the streets in celebration.

00:13:15.840 Aria is a native of Denver, Colorado.

00:13:18.640 He's a rabbi.

00:13:20.000 He's a management professional.

00:13:21.260 He's an entrepreneur.

00:13:22.820 And he splits his time.

00:13:24.760 He has a wife and four children.

00:13:28.740 He splits his time now between Colorado and Israel.

00:13:33.020 But Aria is calling us.

00:13:34.280 It is right now 5.27 in the morning in Israel.

00:13:36.960 And Aria got up early to call in and participate in Verdict and to tell us from the ground what is happening.

00:13:46.180 Aria, welcome.

00:13:47.000 Welcome to Verdict.

00:13:47.800 And our million-plus listeners are really glad to welcome you here.

00:13:54.520 Senator, thank you for having me.

00:13:56.120 I have to tell you, just listening to your moral clarity for the last several minutes was better than a cup of coffee.

00:14:01.660 The people at Israel need to hear this, and when they wake up in an hour and I share this, this will be better.

00:14:08.960 It'll be better than a warm hug.

00:14:11.180 Well, Aria, thank you.

00:14:12.460 Now, tell me, where in Israel are you today?

00:14:15.500 And tell me what's transpired with you, first of all.

00:14:19.020 We're going to talk broader about policy.

00:14:20.580 But just tell me what you've experienced on October 7th and on the days that have followed since then.

00:14:26.880 Yeah, thank you.

00:14:28.300 So now 12 days ago, my family and I on Sabbath, we're Sabbath and servants, went to synagogue to celebrate what's really the joyous,

00:14:35.760 the second most joyous day on the Jewish calendar year, walked into synagogue at 815.

00:14:41.480 The security professionals in the neighborhood walked into synagogue at about 825 and said,

00:14:46.400 everybody go home, we're evacuating.

00:14:48.140 Now, Israel has a strange thing that we get shot at a fair amount of times by rockets, and that's considered acceptable 1.00

00:14:55.980 because there's this awesome innovation called the Iron Dome, which I think one can make an argument that Iron Dome has made Israel complacent. 0.60

00:15:03.600 It's incredible technology.

00:15:05.000 It shoots rockets out of the air.

00:15:06.660 But if we can imagine just for one moment that Mexico City was robbing rockets into Dallas or Houston,

00:15:13.980 I'm not positive the first reaction of the United States of America would be to build a shield to prevent those rockets.

00:15:21.100 It would probably be to eliminate Mexico City.

00:15:24.400 And for the last 15 years or so, Israel has lived with this cancer called Hamas on its southern border 0.99

00:15:31.180 that every couple of weeks lobs several rockets in.

00:15:34.280 And since that Saturday, 12 days ago, there have been over 7,500 rockets aimed at civilians from civilian areas,

00:15:44.380 which is exactly what you were speaking about beforehand.

00:15:46.680 And my family has been in and out of our bomb shelter no less than 40 times.

00:15:53.280 And, yes, it's my kids sleep in the bomb shelter.

00:15:56.800 So we've discovered that the trauma of waking up a child at 2 in the morning to rush down in the 45 seconds that we had to get into the room and feel it was too traumatic.

00:16:07.820 So we've got an ongoing sleepover for the last 11 nights.

00:16:11.300 How old are your kids, Ari?

00:16:14.320 How old are your kids?

00:16:15.280 15 is my oldest, 6 is our youngest, and then we've got a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old in between.

00:16:22.000 The 13-year-old and the 6-year-old, this has been the most traumatic in real time.

00:16:27.220 And just to fast forward a little bit, we had that red alert last Wednesday where from the Central Command Homeland Security in Israel sends out this app that keeps you alert to all of these rockets.

00:16:42.060 So it sends out an incredible blast at 4.45 p.m. on, I believe it was Wednesday, that the northern border had been breached with paragliders.

00:16:51.340 Now, I don't know about you.

00:16:52.560 When I see a paraglider prior to 12 days ago, it brings me an honest joy.

00:16:56.240 I can't imagine anything more fun than simulating flying through the air.

00:17:00.120 And it's normally with these beautiful, you know, rainbow-colored parachute-type things, and it looks majestic.

00:17:07.160 That symbol has been hijacked.

00:17:09.860 On that Saturday, there were more than 20 paragliders who paraglided in with automatic weapons. 0.98

00:17:15.680 His entire goal was to murder innocent civilians after they raped and tortured them.

00:17:20.140 And there was a report that these paragliders had come in from the north, and it breached the front lines of Israel up there. 0.53

00:17:27.180 And my family went down to our safe room and discovered that our safe room was not safe enough, and we did a hostage drill.

00:17:34.340 What would happen if somebody breaches our house?

00:17:36.340 And you need to have that conversation with a 15-year-old or a 6-year-old exactly once in your life to have scarred them forever.

00:17:44.200 And we did it because we thought it was the only way to protect our family.

00:17:47.660 But when you look at that innocence shattered, it is not surprising that my children do not go to sleep easily at night.

00:17:56.040 Look, Aria, that is horrifying.

00:17:59.920 Heidi and I, our girls are 15 and almost 13, and I cannot imagine the fear and terror.

00:18:07.940 And when I've been in Israel, I've been to kibbutzes on the southern border by Gaza,

00:18:12.520 and I've talked with residents there that deal with the trauma, really the PTSD in some instances,

00:18:19.600 of the rocket attacks and rushing to a shelter, and that's a regular part of life.

00:18:23.900 And it has a real human cost on any day.

00:18:31.100 But in this instance, what happened on October 7th and in the aftermath was so grotesque and horrifying,

00:18:39.280 the world has not seen a mass murder of Jews on this scale since the Holocaust.

00:18:45.840 You have to go back to the Nazis to find a moment like this. 0.72

00:18:49.720 Let me ask you, I mean, you're there.

00:18:51.440 How are the people of Israel reacting and handling this?

00:18:56.040 My heart is breaking for them, but I'm not there.

00:18:58.520 I'm not seeing firsthand what they're experiencing.

00:19:03.640 And so can you just help people who listen to this podcast understand what the people of Israel are experiencing in real time?

00:19:11.540 So my grandfather, who survived the Holocaust, felt it was his duty to tell people what had happened,

00:19:18.840 because if you didn't hear from the first time, from a firsthand account, you wouldn't believe it.

00:19:23.940 And he began every one of his speeches to tens of thousands of public school students that there's a phrase called seeing is believing.

00:19:32.740 And he's here to tell you that that is not true, because what he saw, what he lived through, he still can't believe it.

00:19:40.420 Because human beings who have a soul cannot believe that there is this level of depravity that can exist from other human beings,

00:19:48.060 because it's not possible that somebody with a soul, with a piece of godliness within them, could be so barbaric.

00:19:53.740 People have used the word animalistic.

00:19:56.340 It's an insult to animals.

00:19:57.660 Animals don't conduct themselves.

00:19:59.620 Yeah.

00:19:59.860 That's right.

00:20:00.560 And the news, the reports, there's not a person in Israel, this is a small country,

00:20:06.140 there's not a person in Israel who has not been to a funeral, who has not been to a shiva house, a house of mourning,

00:20:13.200 who has not been to a vigil for the many, many hostages that are still missing with very little information about them.

00:20:21.200 And if you remember what it was like in America on 9-11, there was a sense of bewilderment and helplessness that existed.

00:20:31.840 And I will be very clear, Saturday and Sunday, 12, 11, 10 days ago, that is what the people of Israel felt like.

00:20:39.540 Sure.

00:20:39.760 And that started nine days ago, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday,

00:20:43.340 it felt like when Bush stood on the ruins of the World Trade Center and said, we're America.

00:20:49.360 And Israel stood up and said, we're Israel.

00:20:53.560 We're the strongest, the most brave, the most courageous, the most creative, intelligent.

00:20:59.660 We're going to take care of this.

00:21:00.960 And if you read, and I encourage all of your listeners to read the stories of heroism that are so incredible,

00:21:09.720 it's difficult to imagine human beings were created this way, and they are not angels.

00:21:14.000 But the feeling on the street in Israel today is everybody has a husband, a father, a son on the front line,

00:21:21.800 ready to do what it will take to excise this cancer from Israel, 1.00

00:21:27.720 because there was a promise that the Jewish people made after the Holocaust called Never Again.

00:21:33.700 And that promise was fulfilled from 1945 when America liberated the last concentration camp, 0.72

00:21:40.640 up until October 7th of 2023.

00:21:44.240 And October 7th, 2023, the beheading of children, the kidnapping of Holocaust survivors, 0.90

00:21:50.120 the murder of women, the tying of other women to those murdered women, raping them,

00:21:55.900 torturing them, and then murdering them, and all reported, not by the eyewitnesses,

00:22:01.360 of which there are plenty, but Hamas recording this on their own GoPros,

00:22:06.560 of streaming it on Facebook Live.

00:22:08.260 The difference between the Nazis and the modern-day Nazis is, at least the Nazis had the class 0.95

00:22:13.260 just to be embarrassed to do this secretly.

00:22:16.160 They tried to destroy the evidence.

00:22:18.560 Hamas not only didn't try to destroy the evidence,

00:22:21.400 they publicized it in such a public, braggadocious way,

00:22:25.120 it makes you wonder whether there is any soul in there,

00:22:28.140 which leads us to your description of the rocket yesterday.

00:22:31.400 So just sitting in Israel, yesterday at 7 p.m., there's an enormous boom that happens

00:22:37.860 because there was a barrage of rockets, sorry, not yesterday, two days ago now, I forget what day it is.

00:22:41.980 There was a barrage of rockets, again, from civilian populations and aimed at civilian populations.

00:22:49.180 And Hamas bragged that they're aiming at Haifa, which would be the furthest north city that their rockets can hit.

00:22:54.800 And everybody in the Haifa goes down to a shelter, no siren goes off, no boom over Haifa, several booms over my house.

00:23:02.100 My house is, I don't know, 45 minutes south of Haifa.

00:23:04.780 And about eight minutes later, the New York Times sends out a tweet, I don't know, led by Rashida,

00:23:12.640 or followed by Rashida and Ilan, saying that Israel deliberately knocks out a hospital and killed 5,000 people.

00:23:19.020 That's the tweet.

00:23:20.580 And within minutes, the organized Arab street across capitals across the Middle East

00:23:27.700 started marching on U.S. embassies.

00:23:29.980 Explain to me what this has to do with the United States of America.

00:23:32.560 Marching on U.S. embassies, screaming, death to Israel, death to America.

00:23:37.560 And later on, we woke up yesterday morning.

00:23:41.180 The conclusion was it was not Israel.

00:23:44.220 It did not hit a hospital.

00:23:45.980 There were not 5,000 deaths.

00:23:47.740 This was a rocket from Islamic Jihad that landed short and hit the hospital parking lot.

00:23:54.520 It may have killed people who were still waiting on the count.

00:23:57.240 It wasn't in the hundreds.

00:23:58.600 It likely wasn't in the dozens.

00:24:00.280 And it hit a parking lot.

00:24:01.680 There are several kiosks that were damaged.

00:24:04.800 There may have been some Toyotas as well.

00:24:06.720 And with the urgency to make the Jews not the victims, but the perpetrators of crime, 0.95

00:24:13.500 to set off a blood libel across the Middle East, when you sit here in Israel, you're like,

00:24:18.920 holy cow, the promise of never again needs to be restored by Israeli deterrent like it's never seen before. 0.96

00:24:26.680 Because if you were sitting there walking on those streets, they would chop your head off in a split second.

00:24:31.900 That's a feeling in Israel in a nutshell.

00:24:33.880 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

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00:25:04.420 To be clear, I want to make sure people understand this because you said it, but the headline said that the hospital was destroyed and that 500 people died.

00:25:21.400 You're saying the actual hospital is still standing and it was not a bomb.

00:25:27.580 It was a rocket that hit in the parking lot, correct?

00:25:32.720 That's correct.

00:25:33.220 There have been over 7,500 rockets fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and you may as well just call it Iran. 0.92

00:25:39.740 I'm saying this is Iran firing from Gaza over the last 12 days.

00:25:44.280 And the senator has been the single best person in the history of America to identify that and fight that.

00:25:49.720 And if everybody listened in, I wouldn't be going to funerals every day and meeting with families of ostriches. 1.00

00:25:54.980 There's no doubt about that.

00:25:56.060 That is clear and understood.

00:25:57.600 And of the 7,500 rockets, more than 450 never made it out of Gaza.

00:26:03.220 And therefore, they have hit Gaza target.

00:26:05.840 The part that makes people so obscenely upset over here, not obscenely, correctly upset over here,

00:26:13.620 is the world was a flame, a flame, but a period of time when they thought that Israel intentionally murdered 5,000 and went to 500 men, women, children, doctors, nurses, babies, whatever else it would be.

00:26:25.900 And then when they discovered that their own people did it, they're no process.

00:26:31.180 Nobody's in the street.

00:26:32.540 Nobody cares about Palestinian children other than the Israelis and the Americans.

00:26:39.320 Well, and it's worse than that, Aria.

00:26:44.200 Rashida Tlaib still has not deleted that tweet.

00:26:46.720 I read that tweet from her Twitter feed that is live at this moment.

00:26:51.000 It's 10.39 p.m. in D.C.

00:26:53.560 She still hasn't deleted it.

00:26:54.940 She's happy to continue lying because it's a useful lie.

00:26:59.220 And, you know, you're talking about the atrocities and your grandfather saying seeing is believing and that it's difficult to comprehend that people can do this.

00:27:09.960 And I will say that this is – these atrocities are being played out in a different time because we have the phenomenon of social media and we also have the sick phenomenon of Hamas proudly bragging about their atrocities and tweeting out the videos. 0.53

00:27:26.380 And I will say I've watched a lot of these videos and it is – it's sickening.

00:27:31.240 It is grotesque to watch what is happening.

00:27:35.420 And, listen, I understand in warfare one soldier shooting another soldier.

00:27:41.680 That war can be horrific.

00:27:43.800 It can be hell.

00:27:45.100 But soldiers fighting each other is something that has happened from the dawn of time.

00:27:49.140 And you can wrap your mind around that.

00:27:51.700 You can comprehend it.

00:27:53.340 What these terrorists are doing, I do not understand people murdering the elderly. 0.98

00:27:58.320 I do not understand people raping women and little girls, raping little girls in the street and parading them around. 0.99

00:28:06.840 I do not understand people who behead infants and burn them alive.

00:28:12.660 I mean, that is monstrous at a level – it's a level of hatred and racism and just bilious evil that it's important to really comprehend.

00:28:29.400 And I will tell you – look, you know this.

00:28:33.460 You grew up here in the United States, but I'll tell you the people of America are horrified for what's happening in Israel.

00:28:41.120 And there is – do not be deceived by the corporate media and the radical left at universities and the radical left in the Democrat Party.

00:28:52.660 The American people are horrified and standing in complete unison with the people of Israel.

00:29:01.380 And Arya, if you can convey anything to your friends and neighbors and colleagues, tell them that we are praying for you, we are standing with you, we are grieving for you at the horrors you are experiencing.

00:29:14.560 But we will also have Israel's back.

00:29:18.880 The mission of eliminating Hamas, it is right, it is just, it is righteous, it is necessary. 1.00

00:29:26.380 And you know that you are going to have enemies, not just the enemies of these monsters, but you are going to have enemies in the corporate media.

00:29:35.860 They're going to attack Israel, and the way to respond is with truth and light and facts. 0.94

00:29:42.400 And so thank you for what you're doing, Arya.

00:29:45.560 Thank you.

00:29:47.380 You, this podcast, your platform, your voice is how we fight back.

00:29:52.680 And, you know, the battle has expanded not just to the media, but certainly to our college campuses.

00:30:00.160 If you've seen the – when people chant from the river to the sea, although they've also taken off the mask on that one, I saw on two Texas campuses, 0.99

00:30:11.840 where they chant to actually gas the Jews or something that's encouraging the – again, from the river to the sea, as I say means, let's liquidate all the Jews, which liquidate is a nice way of saying, let's kill all the Jews. 0.97

00:30:24.860 And Israel, and you've pointed this out numerous times. 0.99

00:30:27.500 But apparently that is too subtle for people protesting today. 0.82

00:30:31.480 The people who protest in favor of Hamas are actively rooting for the beheading of babies, the raping of women and little girls, and the kidnapping of Holocaust survivors. 0.89

00:30:40.500 That is what they are rooting for.

00:30:42.380 And my comment here is, the United States of America is the beacon of light to the world.

00:30:50.120 This is a small percentage.

00:30:52.300 Let's defeat this small percentage while they remain a small percentage.

00:30:55.640 This is as though the Nazis were out there cheering in the process of the murder, the genocide of all of the Jews,

00:31:03.720 and all it takes is for people to be quiet, to allow that 1% to turn into 5% to turn into 10%.

00:31:10.440 The American people, my people, your people, need to stand up and support.

00:31:15.540 This is not a Jewish battle.

00:31:17.500 This is not even an Israeli battle.

00:31:19.160 This is a civilization battle in between good and evil, and good must prevail.

00:31:24.220 Well, I will tell you, Aria, real quickly, a story that NBC News ran tonight that I just retweeted,

00:31:31.120 which is that the headline is,

00:31:33.220 Top U.S. law firm Davis Polk announces in an internal email that it has rescinded letters of employment for three law students at Harvard University and Columbia University

00:31:41.980 who signed on to the organizational statements regarding Israel.

00:31:46.360 And look, Davis Polk is one of the top law firms in the world.

00:31:49.780 It is one of the premier law firms in New York City. 0.92

00:31:52.120 And this is a big damn deal. 0.97

00:31:54.420 Look, the statement from Harvard and what Columbia did, it was disgraceful. 0.99

00:31:59.180 It was repulsive. 0.95

00:32:01.800 And what the law firm is saying is, listen, if you sign on to a statement that is admitting publicly that you are a deeply racist anti-Semite, 0.89

00:32:11.120 that you blame Israel for the murder of children and infants carried out by terrorists, that we don't wish to be associated with you any more than if you if you tattoo a swastika on yourself or start marching around in KKK hoods, 0.89

00:32:28.180 we're not going to hire you at our firm because we're not interested in being associated with Klansmen or Nazis or people who revel in in the rape and murder and torture of women and children and innocent civilians. 0.71

00:32:41.280 And I will say it is a sign.

00:32:44.040 Look, Davis Polk is not a conservative place, to put it mildly.

00:32:47.700 It is overwhelmingly left-leaning.

00:32:50.380 But that that is a positive sign that, you know, even people who are not right of center are recognizing this embrace of horrific atrocities is despicable and unacceptable in civilized society.

00:33:12.080 I'm pleased that there is that there's, you know, broad bipartisan support for not beheading baby sides.

00:33:19.720 And, you know, we found the common denominator amongst ninety nine percent of America.

00:33:24.640 And we should identify the one percent who can agree to that.

00:33:28.580 There's plenty of room for disagreement with Israeli policy.

00:33:31.360 Middle East policy in and of itself is complicated.

00:33:34.020 This is not complicated.

00:33:35.420 Yeah.

00:33:35.540 And our ability to identify and excise that cancer within us as well will be critical to the ongoing health of the United States of America.

00:33:45.920 And we've got two Congresswomen. 1.00

00:33:47.180 I don't know.

00:33:48.720 I don't know what legal recourse there is.

00:33:50.820 But the active promotion of a blood libel seems to be something that would deserve at least like a censure or, you know.

00:33:57.420 Well, and listen, Aria, we played on this podcast the video of a reporter asking Rashida Tlaib.

00:34:03.860 What is your view on on the burning alive of children, on the raping of little girls, on the beheading of infants?

00:34:13.440 And she refused to answer the question.

00:34:15.280 And so, you know, you said ninety nine percent agree that the beheading infants is is is unacceptable.

00:34:21.600 I find it astonishing that a sitting member of Congress cannot say that, that that that won't just say it's horrible and evil, unequivocally period, full stop.

00:34:33.080 But but she will not utter those words.

00:34:36.280 Yeah, we're going to have to make up a T-shirt that says that Rashida represents the one percent.

00:34:40.940 It's the one percent of people who don't have humanity and the people, one percent of people don't have a soul.

00:34:46.320 It's a it's a constituency, apparently.

00:34:49.180 And who would have thought that she represents the one percent? 0.93

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00:36:24.600 Let me ask you the reaction in Israel.

00:36:27.680 Joe Biden has come out.

00:36:28.940 He's announced $100 million in aid for Gaza and the West Bank.

00:36:33.400 And there's many people asking questions.

00:36:36.380 Okay, why is Joe Biden, in essence, funding the Palestinians?

00:36:40.460 And this is after he was sitting with Netanyahu.

00:36:44.420 And he said this describing Hamas.

00:36:48.080 And based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.

00:36:55.840 But there's a lot of people out there who are not sure.

00:36:58.940 The world's looking.

00:37:00.720 We, uh, Israel has a value set like the United States does.

00:37:05.600 There's other democracies.

00:37:07.540 And, uh, and they're looking to see what we're going to do. 0.98

00:37:10.440 He refers to a terrorist organization that just beheaded infant children and raped women

00:37:16.800 and tortured people and put it on video as the other team,

00:37:20.960 while also saying, I'm going to send a bunch of money to an area that's been filled with corruption,

00:37:27.700 even when we've had humanitarian aid going into this part of the world and been used by the terrorists.

00:37:33.520 Well, look, one of the things about the Biden administration, Ben,

00:37:37.440 is that they have been willing to hire and bring into their administration radicals

00:37:45.220 who are deeply anti-Israel and deeply anti-Semitic.

00:37:48.940 So there's a story that broke today, and it was in the Daily Wire.

00:37:53.080 The headline is, the U.S. government hired a pro-Hamas PLA spokeswoman to handle asylum claims.

00:37:58.860 And there is a woman named Nejwa Ali, who is an officer at the Department of Homeland Security,

00:38:04.820 and she's in charge of adjudicating asylum claims. 0.99

00:38:09.840 Now, she previously worked in 2016 and 2017 as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian delegation in the U.S.,

00:38:17.920 which, according to its own website, served as the PLO office in D.C.

00:38:21.960 And she has been on social media repeatedly writing just rabidly anti-Semitic statements.

00:38:32.600 So she has stated, for example, this is a quote from social media,

00:38:39.140 F Israel, but she does not abbreviate F, the government and its military.

00:38:44.020 Are you ready for your downfall?

00:38:46.360 According to her social media, she's American-born, Palestinian at heart.

00:38:50.920 She's from Dearborn, Michigan, born in America.

00:38:54.140 And if you look at the quotes she's put out, she sent out tweets.

00:38:58.460 She sent out tweets with a picture of the paragliders with machine guns,

00:39:05.500 along with the caption, Free Palestine.

00:39:09.060 She has also sent posts that say, quote,

00:39:11.500 Respect our existence or expect resistance.

00:39:14.580 Simple, no apologies.

00:39:16.800 She also says,

00:39:18.800 I hold every Israeli accountable for their government's actions if they do not speak against Israel. 0.88

00:39:26.480 And here's what she said on October 9th, after watching this mass murder, quote,

00:39:33.280 F Israel, again, F is not abbreviated,

00:39:35.940 And any Jew that supports Israel, a nation that has nothing but Allah, has everything it will ever need. 0.97

00:39:45.000 This is a sitting official in the Biden administration, not just an official in the Biden administration.

00:39:50.560 You know what her job is? 1.00

00:39:52.440 Determining who gets asylum. 0.99

00:39:54.920 So if you have presumably terrorists who have the same views she does, which is we should murder Jews, 0.98

00:40:01.200 You have to assume she's eager to say, we're going to grant you asylum in the United States and to carry out your racist, anti-Semitic mission. 0.94

00:40:11.760 Today, I called on the Biden administration to terminate her immediately. 0.69

00:40:16.580 To the best of my knowledge, they have not done so yet.

00:40:19.540 And these kind of radicals, sadly, are populating the Biden White House, are populating the Biden State Department,

00:40:26.340 are populating agencies throughout this administration.

00:40:30.260 And it is the impact.

00:40:32.960 It's why the squad is not just tolerated in the House.

00:40:37.880 The rest of the House Democrats are terrified of AOC.

00:40:41.880 They're terrified of Tlaib.

00:40:43.220 They're terrified of Omar.

00:40:44.600 They don't want to be primaried from the left.

00:40:46.860 And so they won't take on and condemn the vicious poison they're spewing.

00:40:51.900 Yeah, great, great point there.

00:40:53.680 Lastly, for everyone in the U.S. that's going to be hearing this, is there anything that they can do?

00:41:01.180 I've had so many people reach out saying they want to get involved, they want to help.

00:41:05.260 What is it they can do?

00:41:06.520 You obviously pray for the people of Israel, and the loved ones still have their loved ones who are missing that are being held hostage.

00:41:15.040 But is there anything else that Americans can do if they want to be involved?

00:41:19.260 Thank you for asking, and having had the privilege of representing America here in Israel for four years,

00:41:28.740 I know that Americans love Israel, and I know that Americans love being on the side of good,

00:41:33.140 and Israel's a great example of that.

00:41:35.480 Here are the three things that somebody can do, and I just want to highlight for one moment,

00:41:42.280 it's important for all the listeners to know that there were 30 Americans killed in this tragedy,

00:41:49.020 and there are 11 Americans at least still missing.

00:41:53.120 I remember a time where there was a submarine, a tourist submarine, to go see the Titanic,

00:41:59.000 and I think there were five, six, seven people on board, and the nation was gripped by how many hours of oxygen that they had left.

00:42:07.460 And it was this porn of watching these people die, but the world was gripped and prayed,

00:42:14.200 and whatever else happened, that happened.

00:42:16.740 And I'm not belittling that by any stretch of imagination.

00:42:19.200 But I do not see the same captivation of America of 11 American young men and women being held hostage.

00:42:28.820 The Red Cross has not been able to see them.

00:42:31.400 We don't know where they are.

00:42:33.200 The leaders of their organization sit in a major non-Mado allied country, Qatar.

00:42:39.220 They sit there in the Four Seasons Villas and are living it up while they know where our young men and our young women are.

00:42:47.000 And I don't know why there's not a counter of how many seconds have gone by since their parents,

00:42:52.480 if their parents are still alive, have seen them last, since America knows where they are.

00:42:57.380 I mean, this is, yes, in Israel, but there are Americans amongst the hostages,

00:43:03.820 and Americans amongst the killed in action, and we have people protesting the streets,

00:43:09.920 rooting these people on, that they are rooting on the killing and the kidnapping of Americans.

00:43:17.760 I just want to be crystal clear on that.

00:43:20.700 Yeah.

00:43:22.000 Three different things we can do as human beings, certainly as Americans,

00:43:26.600 that we're highly influential and connected.

00:43:28.680 The first is prayer.

00:43:30.480 God and I, they're sleep, snoring, slumbers.

00:43:32.680 Let's make sure that he's busy 24-7.

00:43:35.160 One, if you pray, pray more.

00:43:37.360 If you don't pray yet, start now.

00:43:39.380 That's critical.

00:43:40.340 Number two is Israel will defend itself by itself.

00:43:45.360 It does not want an American troop. 0.95

00:43:46.900 It never has wanted an American troop.

00:43:48.520 It needs arms, it needs weapons, it needs to be able to be resupplied,

00:43:53.080 and it needs diplomatic cover to be able to continue to do this.

00:43:57.020 The senators pointed out so clearly how fast the world turns against Israel.

00:44:01.560 The United States needs to have the moral clarity to allow Israel to excise this tumor 0.94

00:44:07.060 along its sides called Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Iran.

00:44:11.140 It needs that diplomatic space and needs the weaponry to be able to do it by itself.

00:44:16.420 The third thing is, look, all of my neighbors, as I said, have somebody who's at the front.

00:44:21.700 I don't know how they sleep at night, which is by more than honor to be up in the middle of the night

00:44:26.080 to be able to be on this podcast.

00:44:27.640 There's very little bit that I can do.

00:44:29.360 If you post, post.

00:44:32.040 If you give charity, give charity.

00:44:34.580 But whatever it is that you do, do it until it hurts.

00:44:38.360 There are mothers who cannot sleep tonight because their kids are missing.

00:44:42.220 There are fathers who cannot sleep tonight because their kids are on the front

00:44:45.180 and they don't know if they will come home.

00:44:47.220 If we want to be with them, we need to be with them.

00:44:50.900 And that means do something differently than you would normally do.

00:44:54.380 If you normally pray for fathers, pray until you're missing the football game this Saturday.

00:44:58.500 Pray until, right, if you give charity, if you can afford $1,000, figure out how to give $2,000.

00:45:04.640 There are ways that we can be with the people of Israel at this point in time,

00:45:09.440 the Americans who are still missing at this point in time,

00:45:12.220 in a way that God will know that I am willing to sacrifice in order to help share the pain.

00:45:18.340 Pain can be diffused.

00:45:19.460 Pain can be shared.

00:45:20.800 And so will victory.

00:45:21.920 Israel will win. 1.00

00:45:23.200 The free world will win.

00:45:24.420 America will win. 0.89

00:45:25.420 And we just need to do those three things.

00:45:27.980 So, Aria, that was profound and powerful.

00:45:31.040 And I agree with all three.

00:45:33.000 Let me make a couple of observations.

00:45:34.720 One, the fact, my friend, that you are a rabbi, came through loud and clear 0.65

00:45:39.480 when you gave the wonderful advice,

00:45:43.220 if you pray, pray more.

00:45:44.400 If you don't pray, start praying now.

00:45:46.260 I love that advice, and that's good advice to every listener, a verdict.

00:45:50.720 I enthusiastically second that counsel.

00:45:55.320 And you're right in terms of all of the steps of adding the voice,

00:45:59.420 adding the voices of truth that are really needed powerfully right now.

00:46:05.540 You know, I want to ask you, I want to shift just as we're wrapping up,

00:46:10.580 to a broader policy question.

00:46:12.060 Because you are living in Israel, you're experiencing firsthand what's happening there.

00:46:16.440 But you also have been a very senior United States official,

00:46:20.780 the chief of staff to the American ambassador to Israel

00:46:24.980 during one of the most consequential times in the history of Israel.

00:46:29.080 And that was the Trump presidency.

00:46:30.760 David Friedman was ambassador.

00:46:32.800 We moved the American embassy to Jerusalem,

00:46:35.360 something presidents of both parties had promised,

00:46:38.100 both Republican and Democrat,

00:46:40.020 and presidents of both parties had broken that promise,

00:46:42.420 and yet we were able to deliver on it.

00:46:45.420 And you also were integral in a process just two and a half years ago.

00:46:51.420 We were at a moment where peace was breaking out in the Middle East.

00:46:55.980 The Abraham Accords were being signed, 0.94

00:46:58.180 and we were seeing Arabs and Israelis coming together

00:47:02.080 in a moment that many of us were afraid we would never see.

00:47:08.200 And it was extraordinary.

00:47:09.400 And you played an important part in that process.

00:47:11.560 And so what I want to ask you is a question.

00:47:14.500 What changed?

00:47:15.600 Three years ago,

00:47:17.180 I remember standing on the south lawn of the White House

00:47:20.740 for the signing of the Abraham Accords,

00:47:22.400 and people were marveling,

00:47:23.820 how did this happen?

00:47:25.200 And now we're facing the worst war in Israel in over 50 years.

00:47:32.940 And in your judgment,

00:47:36.400 as someone who was intimately involved in the policy

00:47:40.020 that led to the good outcome,

00:47:43.180 what has changed to have led to this horrific state of affairs

00:47:47.220 where we find ourselves today?

00:47:49.380 My goodness.

00:47:50.240 Yeah.

00:47:50.620 You know when your phone shows you images that happened on that day?

00:47:53.840 So three years ago this morning,

00:47:55.800 I was in Abu Dhabi with our Secretary of the Treasury,

00:47:58.860 Stephen Mnuchin,

00:47:59.720 leading the first ever Abraham Accord business delegation

00:48:02.880 to Abu Dhabi in the height of COVID.

00:48:05.640 We brought 100 Israeli business people,

00:48:08.020 men and women,

00:48:08.720 to meet with 100 Emirati business people,

00:48:12.380 men and women in the middle of COVID.

00:48:13.940 And had it not been COVID,

00:48:15.280 they would have been hugging each other 1.00

00:48:16.600 and said they were doing that stupid elbow thing, 1.00

00:48:19.360 which was forced for people. 0.99

00:48:21.420 And just three,

00:48:24.620 there was an LL flight flying from Israel to Abu Dhabi,

00:48:29.380 to the United Arab Emirates,

00:48:30.700 and five peace treaties in 123 days.

00:48:34.180 And there were more to come.

00:48:35.880 The Biden administration capitalized on that.

00:48:38.620 The answer,

00:48:39.580 and I will agree with how you started the show,

00:48:41.520 thank God for President Biden showing up to Israel.

00:48:44.880 Thank God that President Biden brought the carriers

00:48:47.000 into the Mediterranean coast in order to do an act of deterrence.

00:48:52.180 I praise him,

00:48:53.200 I thank him,

00:48:53.940 and I think those are important.

00:48:55.380 I think that's great.

00:48:56.840 But the three years prior to that is why we're in this position.

00:49:00.460 When you appease Iran, 0.99

00:49:03.040 that is a Neville Chamberlain action.

00:49:05.700 You fight Iran, 1.00

00:49:07.100 that is a Churchill reaction.

00:49:09.200 We have given money to Iran, 0.95

00:49:11.280 we've taken our foot off of their financial neck.

00:49:14.260 That's the billions,

00:49:15.440 the tens of billions,

00:49:16.560 hundreds of billions of dollars

00:49:18.020 that Iran has gotten over the last three years

00:49:20.780 were not used to rebuild their economy,

00:49:23.360 their universities,

00:49:24.820 their high-tech sector.

00:49:26.580 They were used to fund terror.

00:49:28.060 And when Biden decided

00:49:30.500 that he wasn't going to use the words Abraham,

00:49:34.180 of course,

00:49:34.600 that sent a message

00:49:35.620 to every country that joined Israel in peace

00:49:38.520 that we,

00:49:39.480 the United States of America,

00:49:40.740 do not stand with you.

00:49:42.320 It left a vacuum in the region.

00:49:44.860 And when the United States leaves a vacuum

00:49:46.840 in the region,

00:49:47.380 it is not filled by Costa Rica.

00:49:49.820 It's filled by China, 1.00

00:49:51.540 Iran,

00:49:52.440 and Russia.

00:49:53.460 And the only deal that's been brokered

00:49:55.340 in the last three years in the Middle East,

00:49:57.020 is that we did five in 123 days

00:49:59.120 with 10 other countries ready to go.

00:50:01.200 We gave the playbook

00:50:02.280 to the Biden administration.

00:50:04.640 China brokered a deal

00:50:06.100 in between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

00:50:09.060 Now,

00:50:09.380 why would Saudi Arabia,

00:50:10.740 a chief relationship

00:50:12.480 of the United States of America,

00:50:14.640 agree to a deal

00:50:15.520 with their number one adversary,

00:50:17.820 Iran,

00:50:18.420 brokered by China?

00:50:20.120 Because they didn't trust

00:50:21.140 that the United States of America

00:50:22.480 would be there for them.

00:50:24.100 And our inability

00:50:25.560 to be able to tell our allies,

00:50:28.120 concrete me,

00:50:29.020 we will be with you,

00:50:30.620 create a vacuum.

00:50:32.060 And when that vacuum exists,

00:50:33.680 it's filled by terror.

00:50:34.700 Under the Obama administration,

00:50:36.300 it was called ICE.

00:50:37.740 Under the Biden administration,

00:50:39.460 it's called Hamas,

00:50:40.660 Hezbollah,

00:50:41.280 and Iran.

00:50:41.740 It's the same thing.

00:50:43.120 The same radical Islam. 0.99

00:50:44.720 But it's because we are not decisive,

00:50:46.820 we are not clear,

00:50:47.580 and we fund this.

00:50:49.100 We fund this

00:50:50.440 with our Iran deal

00:50:51.340 that you fought against,

00:50:52.340 we fund this

00:50:52.980 with our hostage negotiations,

00:50:54.940 which I would call

00:50:55.500 ransom payments,

00:50:56.580 which you fought against,

00:50:57.900 but we nonetheless

00:50:58.780 have enfranchised

00:51:00.020 these monstrous barbarians 1.00

00:51:03.240 who direct, 0.94

00:51:05.100 fund,

00:51:05.560 and lead these attacks.

00:51:06.660 And you can call it Hamas, 0.93

00:51:08.380 you can call it Hezbollah,

00:51:10.100 but it's Iran.

00:51:11.720 Arya, my friend,

00:51:12.800 there was more wisdom

00:51:13.640 in what you just said

00:51:14.820 than I have heard

00:51:16.660 from virtually

00:51:17.380 any of my colleagues

00:51:18.660 in the United States Senate.

00:51:19.860 And I think that

00:51:20.560 that insight

00:51:21.420 and observation

00:51:22.040 was important.

00:51:24.060 And listen,

00:51:24.940 we often ask

00:51:26.160 our listeners

00:51:26.800 to share

00:51:27.580 the podcast

00:51:28.460 and particularly

00:51:29.500 the last two weeks

00:51:30.540 with the war on Israel.

00:51:31.640 I think what we've been covering

00:51:32.780 has been consequential

00:51:34.820 and has been information

00:51:36.080 that you can't get

00:51:37.500 many other places.

00:51:40.340 I think listening to Arya

00:51:42.540 on the front lines,

00:51:44.620 experiencing firsthand

00:51:45.860 what is happening in Israel,

00:51:47.620 this conversation

00:51:48.900 is important.

00:51:49.700 And if you watch CNN,

00:51:50.800 you will watch all day long

00:51:51.980 and not hear a word

00:51:53.800 of the insight

00:51:54.560 that you've heard

00:51:55.280 in the past few minutes.

00:51:56.840 Arya,

00:51:57.100 I want to tell you,

00:51:58.880 I'm praying for you.

00:52:00.340 I am praying for you

00:52:02.760 and your wife.

00:52:03.580 And I want to tell you

00:52:04.300 in particular,

00:52:04.820 I'm praying for your kids.

00:52:06.160 As a father,

00:52:07.540 my heart grieves.

00:52:08.660 I know your children

00:52:09.460 are afraid.

00:52:10.160 And I know as a dad,

00:52:11.840 you're frustrated

00:52:12.840 and you feel powerless

00:52:15.020 to fully comfort your kids

00:52:16.980 because the fear

00:52:17.920 they are feeling

00:52:19.200 is not irrational.

00:52:20.320 It is a very rational fear

00:52:23.080 from monsters

00:52:25.500 who would do them harm.

00:52:27.020 And know that I am praying

00:52:28.420 that God's comfort

00:52:30.220 be with your children,

00:52:31.640 that his strength

00:52:32.760 be with your children,

00:52:33.820 that his peace

00:52:34.580 be with your children,

00:52:36.000 and that the world

00:52:37.700 will stand united

00:52:38.900 with Israel

00:52:39.680 as you stand 0.92

00:52:42.000 and eliminate

00:52:42.780 this force of evil, 1.00

00:52:45.700 these monsters

00:52:46.560 that prey upon you.

00:52:48.300 Know, my friend,

00:52:49.300 that we are with you.

00:52:50.040 Thanks again for coming on.

00:52:52.920 Thank you so much.

00:52:54.920 Yeah, thank you for coming on.

00:52:56.260 Don't forget,

00:52:56.800 we do this show

00:52:57.300 three days a week.

00:52:58.220 We will keep you updated

00:52:59.340 on what is going on

00:53:00.560 in Israel.

00:53:00.960 We'll keep getting you

00:53:02.480 the real news that's coming out,

00:53:03.900 not these headlines

00:53:04.860 that we talked about earlier

00:53:05.700 coming from the media.

00:53:06.680 Make sure you share this podcast

00:53:07.940 and please write us

00:53:09.380 a five-star review as well.

00:53:11.600 We'll also have

00:53:12.300 a great weekend recap

00:53:13.520 for you on Saturday

00:53:14.780 and those days in between.

00:53:16.160 Make sure you download

00:53:16.760 my podcast,

00:53:17.600 the Ben Ferguson Podcast.

00:53:19.040 I'll keep you updated

00:53:19.740 on the breaking news

00:53:20.560 in between verdict episodes

00:53:22.700 and we'll see you back here

00:53:23.820 in a couple of days.

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - October 20, 2023

From the Front Lines in Israel in a Time of War, LIVE Interview with Aryeh Lightstone, former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Ambassador to Israel

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