Israel eliminates Hamas chief who killed dad with grenade as anger rages over murdered hostages

Introduction [Laughter] [Music] Fury and protest over murdered hostages since the beginning of this war almost 11 months ago Kamas has been playing pretty much the same game one of its strategies is how do we survive how does it not be defeated and eliminated by the IDF on the battlefield How does its Rule and control over Gaza not be put to an end and be replaced by a new actor either put into place by Israel the Americans the Egyptians the emiris the Saudis and one of the ways that it does this is by pulling at the emotional strings of Israelis and it has done this very effectively over the last 11 months the way it releases hostage videos the way it uh ahead of holidays ahead of the Passover holiday ahead of the Independence Day holiday Israel's independence day the way it did this again after murdering six people six Israeli Jews who were being held in a tunnel somewhere dark inside the southern Gaza Strip their bodies were covered by Israel on Saturday brought to rest on Sunday and Monday and then after the funerals to then release their last recorded statements their wishes and their said their their dispatch of love to their families is just cruel cynical and is meant to further rip at our hearts and they do this also because they know that it is effective they know that this is what will spark riots and protests and we get Israelis to come out even more harsher against their government and this has been working for them and and and I think that we could say no Israelis need to be stronger Israelis need to be more resilient Israelis need to stand up to this but I think we also have to recognize Israelis are human beings and Israelis are emotional human beings like all people around this world who value life and cherish their loved ones and therefore when we see this it pains us unlike them Kamas they uh thinkc defy death and and that is why there will always be this great thee gap between us that makes it UK government poor timing with restriction announcement more difficult to fight if one side plays by by different rules but beyond that you mentioned timing in uh your analysis of hamas's propaganda how upset are Israelis by the timing of the UK's decision to curb armed sales that was also announced during the funerals of the six hostages look the UK announcement when it comes to arm sales you know on the one hand okay this is politics and there are considerations and this is a new government that is now led by labor and of course they're going to be a little more leftwing and more Progressive and more liberal and and and the Gaza war was always going to be something of controversy but the timing of it to make this announcement pretty much as HH Goldberg Poland the Israeli American hostage who had become a symbol world wide whose parents ra parents Rachel and John were literally Superman and Superwoman and super mom and super dad what they did around the world knocking on every door banging down every door to to advance the cause and the release of their son who was murdered but also of the other hundred plus hostages who are still being held in Gaza and to do it then and to make that announcement then just shows a callousness and a total lack of awareness and understanding and recognition of what it is that Israel is facing now you want to make your political decisions go ahead I I have issues with them I think you're wrong I think they're mistaken but but what message is the UK government sending to the world when it says that on a day like today when it's so obvious to everyone who is the enemy that Israel is fighting against that it uh is issuing that announcement on that exact IDF eliminates Hamas commander time there has been uh some announcement uh this morning uh by the IDF that it has eliminated Ahmed W the commander of the nobar company in the darj tufar Battalion a member of hamas's paragliding unit clearly the Israeli Air Force and the IDF are still carrying out significant operations what is the uh current strategy do you think in Gaza right now let's remember who we're dealing with Ahmed vadi who is the commander of the N Force this was the Kamas Elite Force that raided the nativa Surak boots um and was part of the paragliding commanders one of the senior commanders but but I want to point out one other thing of who he was because I think it really tells the story he was filmed standing and drinking Coke in front of the kids of uh korin and shath a couple young Israeli couple little children their father Shai had jumped on a grenade to sacrifice himself to save his children this was the man who in that house after the father had been murdered was lying on the floor dead stood there nonchalantly drinking Coke this is the enemy we're facing against so again just what we were talking about before a little awareness and and understanding what it also shows though is with without a doubt the fact that uh this war does continue and there are enemies and combatants that still need to be removed and eliminated this is something that will go on Israel is still pursuing a victory over Kamas which will see the elimination and the continued degrading of hamas's capabilities and this it just goes to underscore and show that this war is far from being over still right as much as Israel has had success and it has had success and as much as the tragedy is for the people of Gaza and there is a tragedy for the people of Gaza but as long as Kamas still has capabilities and still is in control of Gaza the war does still need to continue and when you have a terror Hostage talks - what happens next, now? group committing such heinous atrocities like this it's not a stretch to imagine that the same group might lie when it comes to negotiations for a ceasefire and who is to blame for the failing of any talks where do you see the negotiations right now and how significant is this debate over what is known as the Philadelphia Corridor where arms have historically been smuggled in to Hamas terrorists Israel faces a real dilemma and I think it's not simple what we saw on Saturday when those six hostages bodies were discovered was just a day after pretty much a day and a half after the Israeli cabinet had held a vote and the members had overwhelmingly voted to decide that Israel cannot leave the Philadelphia Corridor that strip of land between Gaza and Egypt where Kamas has its tunnels as long even under a hostage deal and that Israel needs to retain a presence there for we don't know how long but to prevent Hamas from reopening those tunnels redigging those tunnels and recreating the oxygen pipeline of Iranian weapons into Gaza you saw right away after tragically how I don't know that Kamas knew that this vote had H taken place but you make a decision in the cabinet room and then six people who were alive who were waiting for you to bring them home are murdered and you find their bodies and you were too late to get to them I think it it teaches us a number of things first of all a mil military operation and Commando raids are not going to save all the hostages it's just not possible we're dealing with too many some of them are being protected and guarded at gunpoint and as we saw with these six they were murdered before the soldiers the Israeli soldiers could get to them the second thing it also tells us is that uh time is running out for the hostages and if we do want to get them back the only real way to do that is to do a deal with Kamas now the prime minister's decision which he now has explained as of uh Monday night gave a long press conference and finally for the first time I would say since this War began in the 11 months explain to Israelis what it is that his strategy is to some extent now we could agree with it we could disagree with it but at least he's finally spelled it out and his strategy for now is we cannot leave the Philadelphia Corridor now we could say he's wrong and there's a legitimate argument to make that he's wrong we could say he's right and there's a legitimate argument to say that he's right but the the the the importance of it is to finally say this is is my priority I'm thinking longer term I'm not thinking about the people I could save now I'm thinking about the people who might be killed in the future and these are tough decisions because if you leave Philadelphia you allow Iranian weapons back into Gaza if you stay in Philadelphia Kamas could say we're not going to make a deal with you and as of now that's what they're saying now they might change but as of now that's what they're saying you're basically bearing the chance for a deal and it means you're sentencing to some extent the fate of the remaining hostages now these are possible realities and I think that Israelis today are Torn One poll that's taken by the think tank that I'm affiliated with JPI shows that 50% of Israelis want the hostages back 50% of Israelis want the Philadelphia Corridor isra Israel is split on this issue because it is so difficult and there is no clear answer and I think that this is this is part of this ridiculous reality this crazy reality that Israel finds itself in and by the way it's it speaks to the Brilliance of whatas did in October 7 they didn't just kill 12200 Israelis which itself was horrific by taking so many hostages and keeping them in Gaza what they've been able to do is continue to to uh stab Israel's Collective heart every single day every single waking moment and and we're seeing how this is continuing even 11 months into a war of the tens of thousands of people on the streets of Tel Aviv and other places protesting what is your sense in terms of the view that people protesting want a deal no matter what the cost look I think you know no matter what the cost it's a very tough term what what what is a deal going to look like we had in the beginning of this War I remember a specifically a chief of staff a former Chief of Staff of the IDF who said we should release all the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in J or to get back our people at the time it seemed ridiculous to me I still think that would itself be you know release 6,000 security risks I mean there has to be some sort of borders to whatever deal is coming but I do think also that most people feel that we do have to take calculated risks and some gambles with our security to get back these people these people let's remember what was their crime that they slept in their beds in their homes where they thought they were protected by the ibf or soldiers who were deployed along the border and thought that the military would do whatever it was would take to get them back and that it was ready for this Invasion which it wasn't so Israel as a country has a responsibility to bring them back and let's also remember what happens if we do not bring them back you know people talk about the risk to Israel in the future but I also think of how do we convince young men and women to continue to serve in the military if they get this message that their lives are not important how are we going to convince people to continue to live in this country to be loyal citizens to to continue to sacrifice to serve in the reserves as we know that we need if we if they feel that they're just being neglected along the different borders that Israel has and also how will we ever heal as a nation if people still are in hostage in in in captivity by kabas so there's a lot of elements here which makes it even more complicated I think that most Israelis and polls also show most Israelis are willing to make some gambles and some sacrifices for these hostages to come Israel must continue to target Hamas terrorists home Israel is a society based on morals values principles and ethics some from Jewish tradition and many also from the democratic values that we share around the world countries and people who come from different democracies whether it's the United States the United Kingdom and all across Europe these are things that we just don't do and should never be done we don't take revenge because it's the the the blood is boiling we execute justice as all countries should after a rule after a due process and in according to a rule of law but we don't just execute people because of the fact that our enemies are doing that to us God forbid we should become like them and I think that Israel has shown throughout this war that we don't do that we don't stoop to that level we are not like them because again we sanctify life we preserve more of them than they Preserve of themselves we protect more of their civilians than they protect their own civilians we try to distinguish between when when they're trying to get their civilians killed by using them as human Shields we're out there trying to protect them and prevent them from being killed so that's a huge The threat of Hezbollah difference between us and Them whilst this is uh all going on it feels that events in the north have been completely sidelined when a week ago it was the story in the Middle East Israel's preemptive attempt to curb hezbollah's uh Massive Attack on Tel Aviv and and other key areas what is the latest in terms of the ongoing tit fortat action with Hezbollah because the events of the last week have have completely overshadowed what seemed like like a major story that has fallen to the side the issues of Iran and his BAH it's true first of all there's the point that the news here evolves and moves so fast and the challenges are so great and the threats are so dire and you see this happening on a daily basis one week we're it seemed like we're about to go to war in the North and next week we're mourning and our hearts are bleeding and every Israel is crying over the loss of these six hostages there was a hope that they would come home those threats still remain and rest remember that hisbah continues to attack Israel every single day I was just up in Northern Israel yesterday right near the Sea of gal the canit and up in near army bases I mean these are places that have been attacked every single day almost since October 8th when hisbah began its attacks the US military presence is still in the region and that's having an effect on detering Iran from doing anything but we shouldn't fo ourselves into believing that they have stopped they they still have their objective and their desire which is to do everything they can to weaken Israel to uh kill as many Israelis as possible and to continue to solidify their control and their belt of fire around the state of Israel and around its borders