Appearing on CBS, Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., tells “Face the Nation” that after the unprecedented attack in Gaza that left at least 600 dead, “we have to destroy the Hamas war machine.” “This is war,” he said. Additionally, Ambassador Herzog confirms that Americans were taken as hostages back into Gaza. WATCH:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there Americans among those hostages?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I understand there are, but I don’t have details.
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog. Mr. Ambassador, first, I want to offer you our condolences.
AMBASSADOR MICHAEL HERZOG: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We know that your Prime Minister is promising a sustained campaign. Do you have any sense of how Israel will define success?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, Israel is at war. Yesterday, we were attacked by a terror organization. They infiltrated Israeli territory and killed hundreds of Israelis. At least 600 were butchered yesterday, including whole families, elderly, women, children, babies were taken out of the mothers laps and murdered. This is war and we have to fight that war and win it. We have to destroy the Hamas war machine. You know, in war- back in war- we have to fight it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How is it that Hamas managed to take Israeli Defense Forces by surprise? Did they shut down communications?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, it was a surprise attack. There was definitely an element of surprise. But I think we’ll have enough time to investigate that once we conclude that war in victory.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said you want to destroy the Hamas war machine. Hamas is armed and funded by Iran. The Biden administration says they don’t have evidence that Iran was linked to this particular attack. Does Israel have evidence they were?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, we suspect Iranian hands behind the scenes, as you know Hamas and Iran are closely tied. Iran provides material support, funding, weapons to Hamas. They are tied in what they call the Axis of Resistance, of course, resistance to the existence of the State of Israel. They are part of the same coalition. So, as far as we are concerned, this is an Iranian led coalition and we suspect that Iran is involved.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that mean Israel will take the fight to Iran?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I’m not going to say what exactly Israel is going to do. But I will just say that whoever strikes Israel, we’ll strike back.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sir, this is just stunning to see what has happened in the past few hours. But there are questions within Israel, as you know about how such a strong military was taken by surprise. There has been a massive expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank area, and with that a buildup of forces to protect them. The former ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, has publicly raised the question of whether that’s why the border towns over and around Gaza were left unprotected. Were they? Was that a factor?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, I don’t buy that argument. I think that analogy is irrelevant to the current situation. Yes, it was a surprise attack, but I don’t think it has much to do with the fact that the IDF was preoccupied in the West Bank. They prepared a surprise attack, they reached the border fence, they came with paragliders, and through the sea. And as I said, there will be sufficient time after the war to investigate what exactly happened. Right now, we are at war and we have to fight that war and win it. We are attacked by a terror organization funded by Iran. And that’s where we are right now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But you have said that perhaps Hamas miscalculated by looking at all the domestic problems Israel has within its own politics right now. Do you–
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: –Absolutely.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think that that was actually, though, a factor when it comes to military readiness? Did it leave your forces vulnerable?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: They may have- maybe they were under the impression that given the internal debate in Israel, that Israel is weakened so that they can provoke us. They thought so, I think they’re definitely mistaken. You have to know Israelis to understand that when Israel is under attack, Israelis close ranks and they fight together. And there is no opposition coalition right now in Israel. There’s no debate. All reservists are volunteering. We- our embassy is flooded with phone calls from people who want to go back to Israel and fight Hamas. So in that sense, I think it was a gross miscalculation on their part.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But did it impact readiness? Because there were concerns of, you know, your reservists having objections, political objections, and refusing to serve.
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: No, it did not impact readiness, I think Israel is strong. As I said, Israelis are closing ranks right now and we will fight back.
MARGARET BRENNAN: In- back in 2006, you had a soldier taken captive and held in Gaza. It took over five years to get him back. And Israel did so in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. At what cost is Israel prepared to get these new hostages out?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I think it’s premature to discuss that. I think we- we just attacked yesterday. We understand that there are probably dozens of kidnapped Israelis and others in the hands of Hamas. We’ll have to deal with it in due time. The whole issue of hostages is a very sensitive issue. I think you know it from your situation, the US, and we- we’ve had experience in that in the past. It’s a very complicated situation. But I think it’s premature to discuss any deals or prices or whatever. Right now we are at war.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there Americans among those hostages?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I understand there are, but I don’t have details.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You don’t know the numbers or ability to retain them?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: No.
MARGARET BRENNAN: What is it that Israel and your Prime Minister is asking of the American President right now?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: So, it was a very good phone call between President Biden and our Prime Minister yesterday. The U.S. administration sounded a very strong voice of support for Israel, from the nation for the terror attack and support for Israel’s right to self defense. We are in discussions with the administration about the situation and about our needs. I want to take the opportunity to thank the administration for the solid support of Israel and its rise to self defense.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And before I let you go, how is Israel going to allow some of those Palestinian civilians who are trapped within Gaza to escape so that they aren’t victims of these strikes?
AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, the fact of the matter is that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
Hey admin;
SD says to “armor up” but Treepers can’t advise the same? You are hypocrites of the highest order, smearing the stellar reputation of Sundance with your petty, catty biases.
Hey Glock, stay out of it.
Glk26’s advice is correct. If you’ve been around the Treehouse for any amount of time, there’s the other aspect of Sundance’s admonition to “armor up” that is significantly more important and relevant and that is to first put on The (full) Armor of God as defined in Ephesians 6:10-18.
How could the IDF, arguably the most stalwart and efficient security network in the world, allow this aggregious lapse in intelligence to occur?
I remain suspicious of this entire disgusting, abhorent event.
Heads must roll.
Their system was hacked into.
More than likely. Iron dome didn’t even activate until much later.
Cia and joebama. They have been encouraging riots in the streets in Israel ever since Bibi was elected.
That’s a fact… do you think the terrorist did not have help from the obiden regime ..? How would they know what would deactivate the Iron Dome .
They were “Epsteined”, so to speak.
The IDF and it’s intelligence integrity isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Simple. Israel is over hyped.
They let it happen to go to war.
It could be the old “rationality” fallacy. That spooks & strategists sometimes fall prey to. They view the other side as practical & rational actors.
Stalin before the Germans attacked was bombarded with Intel, about Axis and Japanese intentions.
With the latter. It wasn’t “rational” for Tokyo to launch an attack on Siberia/Mongolia, when they were already bogged-down in a land war in China, and had a dire need to capture oilfields and other raw materials, which they of course couldn’t do whilst fighting the Soviets. So he cut a deal with them. This actually worked out.
Same thing with the Germans, it wasn’t “rational” to repeat Napoleon’s mistake of attacking Russia, whilst at war with Britain. Which required a massive German naval & air build-up to subdue the British and deter the USA. Particularly when the U.S.S.R was Germany’s prime-supplier of fuel, food & other materials at a reasonable price (history rhymes doesn’t it).
Of course the Nazi’s wernt as intermittently “rational” as the Japanese militarists by that point and attacked anyway.
So the Israelis might have had the intel but didn’t believe it, because they didn’t want to believe it. Because it didn’t make sense for Hamas to do this.
Or they thought a ragged-ass outfit like Hamas, couldn’t pull it off. Even with Iranian help & Ukrainian weaponry.
Russia knew damn well Germany was going to attack. You have no understanding of why that conflict happened, both sides knew, but the Soviet pressure for Germany’s Slovenian oil fields pushed Germany too far.
Same damn thing with Japan. Oil embargoed, and FDR intentionally move Pacific Fleet from San Pedro to Pearl Harbor late ’40, pissing off Admiral Richardson who argued against- FDR then relieved him of command with Admiral Kimmel US Secretary of War Henry Stimson noted weeks before the 12/7 attack they expected their pressure efforts to result in an attack. This is TINY bit of the evidence we WANTED the attack to happen.
You live a rose colored history completely dictated/manipulated by Entertainment Media Complex (Hollywood, TV, books, government education).
I wouldn’t touch a history book written by you.
aiding and abetting the enemy has happened under bobblehead’s watch how many times now with 0 consequences…? The great pretenders are at it again and will find a way to reap enormous profits from yet another war
So are Americans still the extremists???
Let’s be very clear
They aren’t Americans
They are “dual citizens” holding a piece of paper
Folks, the dirt isnt magic
From Qutar
I think there is time ahead to try to understand the intelligence failures. It is clear there were intelligence failures, just as there were in the previous Yom Kippur War.
The Israeli security establishment had a guiding idea of “deterrence.” Basically it involved meeting and responding to aggressive threats with a strong response, but all within an idea of living alongside of Gaza terrorists. From this point on, it is clear there is no meaning to the concept of “deterrence.” There is no living side by side with people who are willing to commit genocide.
Everything Israel does from this point on will be focused upon destroying Hamas and their ability to ever commit genocide again.
The issue of Iran will be dealt with secondarily. Iran is without question an existential threat to Israel. Biden made that threat a million times worse with $6 billion dollars to Iran for 5 American prisoners in return. It was once again, a perverse deal, like every other deal made by Obama and Biden.
What Americans find difficult to comprehend is how an American President (two: Obama and Biden) can do everything in their power to enable and empower a country that is openly determined to destroy America and our ally, Israel. This is so perverse that Americans just can’t understand how this can happen. But you have to accept it, even if you can’t understand it. Biden and Obama are so hateful of America they are willing to delegate our destruction to an enemy of the United States. They hate Israel so much, they are willing to empower the one country that has threatened to wipe Israel off the map.
We must be united in our efforts to destroy the enemies of freedom: Obama and Biden. They are on the same team as Iran and Hamas. They might as well dress up in Arab garb and go and capture innocent Israeli women and children, because that is what their money has bought: a genocidal war to destroy Israel.
Don’t listen to their mealy mouthed statements of being willing to help Israel. THEY CREATED THIS WAR. They are the enemies of peace, the enemies of Israel, and the enemies of peace loving people around the world.
I believe they crafted this war to force out the elected Prime Minister.
Joebama has been funding riots since the election
An army that targets women, children and the elderly, needs to be handled in a special way. Where’s the Geneva Convention? Where’s the UN? Collateral damage is one thing. But targeting women and children is special. Women were spared from combat mainly because in the sustaining of the species, females are the only ones who can do that. When the world calls for equivalent response do they mean kidnapping, raping, and killing, women, children and the elderly? Israel will be condemned no matter how they respond ( even by their population which is half woked) And Biden assisted in this for pouring cash into Iran. Trump is correct in that this administration created this situation.
Geneva convention does not apply to Israel, just ask them. Only applies when Israel defends itself.
At least 3/4 of the UN member nations hate Israel with a passion. i don’t think the UN Security Council is any better.
Israelis Question “Catastrophic” Intelligence Failure
SUNDAY, OCT 08, 2023 – 11:35 AM
Never in history has Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad been able to kill and kidnap hundreds of Israelis in a single day. Saturday’s assault was clearly well-planned, highly coordinated, and well-armed, and very likely was in preparation for months or even years. The Times of Israel is reporting an Israeli death toll of over 600, with the military confirming over 100 now in Palestinian captivity.
Israeli officials and media pundits now want answers: how could Israel’s most celebrated and storied intelligence organization Mossad have missed it? How did the military not have any foreknowledge that it was coming? How did the Gaza jihadists overrun several IDF outposts so swiftly and easily?
Chuck Freilich, Israel’s former deputy national security adviser, has told Politico: “This is a catastrophic failure in regards to Gaza.”
“It’s a failure in terms of intelligence, operationally,” Freilich said. “It’s clear we were caught totally unprepared by this. The divisional headquarters responsible for Gaza was occupied, they’re in disarray, and so the whole response has been delayed.”
He predicts far-reaching “political ramifications”…
“There’s always a short-term rallying around the flag. But once the dust settles we’ll have major political ramifications,” Freilich said. “After the Yom Kippur war, it took three and a half years for [then Israeli Prime Minister] Golda Meir’s government to be toppled — I don’t think it will take that long this time.”
Former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin compared Saturday’s raids to the “intelligence failure” of the Yom Kippur War – which famously saw the Egyptian and Syrian armies mount a surprise attack on Tel Aviv forces.
The common Israeli public has been voicing outrage as well…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israelis-question-catastrophic-intel-failure-after-unthinkable-hamas-assault
“But once the dust settles we’ll have major political ramifications,”
Is he saying that Mossad allowed this to get rid of Netanyahu?
Yah .. that’s what it sounds like he is saying… and so did we LET this happen.
It is totally unbelievable that Mossad and the CIA NSA did not know this horrific attack was being planned.
Maybe Biden thinks he’ll do better in 2024 if he is a “wartime potus.”
Dont tell me US intel didnt know.
The US has spy satellites going over all the time in real time. They can tell and have told if a Russian tank moves to the Ukraine border. I wonder if America knew but didnt say anything?
Its no secret that this Biden admin wants to topple Bibi.
What better way to do it
Look at their prior actions:
Why–what did they discover about him?
Biden appointed Maher Bitar as Senior Director for Intelligence at the National Security Council.
As I reported in 2021, Bitar has a long history of terror associations, dating back to his time in college at Georgetown where he was on the executive board of the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which has documented ties to Islamic terrorist organizations including Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).”
3. Ariane Tabatabai -Malley’s associate in the Pentagon
I am sure there are others too…
Wicker, Colleagues Demand Accountability on Iran-Linked DoD Official
Armed Services Leader: Ariane Tabatabai’s Security Clearance Should be SuspendedSeptember 29, 2023
https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/9/wicker-colleagues-demand-accountability-on-iran-linked-dod-official
Uhm, Obama did this. Biden does what Obama tells him to.
Obviously, there are infiltrators in the Israeli Intelligence Community…
“I understand there are, but I don’t have details.”
I say it often, “you don’t have to convince people to believe a lie they want to believe, you just have to give it to them.” Suddenly, everything that the right would otherwise treat critically and with skepticism, is accepted freely.
I hope no Americans were taken hostage, and if they were, I hope they’re returned safely, but it’s nauseating watching conservatives fall for this stuff like the left did with the Trump hoaxes. It’s the same people in the same media.
It’s a repeat of the build-up to the Iraq invasion. The right has learned nothing.
Lam 3:46-50 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. 47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. 48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, 50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
Lam 3:52-57 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. 53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. 54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. 55 I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. 56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. 57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
Death toll from Hamas onslaught passes 700, over 100 kidnapped, as Israel strikes Gaza
2,200 wounded, relatives of missing issue impassioned pleas for help; after 36 hours, IDF still tackling terrorists in several communities; some Israelis evacuated from border areas
https://www.timesofisrael.com/death-toll-from-hamas-onslaught-passes-600-over-100-kidnapped-as-israel-strikes-gaza/
Iran helped plan Hamas attack on Israel that killed at least 700 and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday: Islamic Revolutionary Guards devised land, air and sea assault that has left Middle East on brink of all-out war
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12608531/Iran-helped-plan-Hamas-surprise-attack-Israel-gave-green-light-meeting-Monday.html
Glk26—I absolutely agree with you.
The US has been supporting and paying for these protests against Bibis judicial reforms. All Bibi wanted to do was to stop Supreme Court judges appointing their own successors in perpetuity. So the Israeli courts would be stacked with leftist judges. Forever.
Surely that isnt right?
Instead of bickering who’s more at fault , maybe people should be thinking about where this leads to,Like ww3.
Like Ukraine! Am I right?
MUST SEE: HAMAS savages are putting kidnapped Israeli children and toddlers into cages and laughing about it
And posting it on the internet for the whole world to see. There is a caption on the Facebook page this came from that says: “Yesterday, entire families were kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists in Israel. Most of them will be raped and then used as bargaining chips.” h/t Victor
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