Habits and Hustle - Episode 351: Fighting Misinformation: The President of Israel Shares Insights on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Are You Getting the Full Story on Israel?  Have you ever wondered about the complexities and misconceptions surrounding Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? In today's media, it can be challenging to separate fact from fiction and gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation on the ground. In my latest podcast episode, I had the privilege of sitting down with the President of Israel for a candid conversation. The President shared valuable insights on the resilience and diversity of the Israeli people, the ongoing efforts to recover hostages, and the importance of fighting misinformation and anti-Semitism worldwide. To grasp the full depth and nuance of the President's perspective, I highly encourage you to listen to the complete podcast episode. Whether you have a long-standing interest in Israel or are just beginning to explore this topic, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the challenges, hopes, and complexities that shape this region. President Isaac Herzog is a public official who has been working in the service of the State of Israel and its society for over twenty years. He was born in 1960 to Aura and Chaim Herzog, later Israel’s Sixth President. For three years, Herzog served as the chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel. In July 2021, he was elected president by an unprecedented majority in the Knesset, and he entered office as the Eleventh President of Israel. What we discuss… (00:00) Global Misconceptions on Israel and Anti-Semitism (12:53) Israeli Ambassador Discusses Operation Rafah (17:10) Promoting Israeli Culture and Resilience (23:45) Positive Impressions of Israel …and more! Thank you to our sponsors: Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. Find more from Jen:  Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen   Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from President Isaac Herzog: https://www.jewishagency.org/isaac-herzog-bio/

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it! Are you getting the full story on Israel? Have you ever wondered about the complexities and misconceptions surrounding Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? In today's media it can be super challenging to separate fact from fiction and gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation on the ground. In my latest podcast episode, I had the privilege of sitting down with the President of Israel for a candid conversation. The President shared valuable insights on the resilience and diversity of the Israeli people, the ongoing efforts to recover hostages, and the importance of fighting misinformation and anti-Semitism worldwide. To grasp the full depth and nuance of the president's perspective, I highly encourage

you to listen to the complete podcast episode. Whether you have a long-standing interest in Israel or are just beginning to explore this topic, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the hopes, challenges, and complexities that shape their region and quite frankly the entire Western world. President Isaac Herzog is a public official who has been working in the service of the State of Israel and its society for over 20 years. He was born in 1960 to Ora and Chaim Herzog, later Israel's sixth president. For three years Herzog served as the chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

And in July 2021, he was elected president by an unprecedented majority in the Knesset, and he entered office as the 11th president of Israel. Please listen to this podcast and give me your thoughts and or comments after you do. Enjoy. We're very honored that you're here. You have a big impact. Well, thank you. I'm very honored to be here with you. And I really appreciate the to be here with you. And I really appreciate the fact you took the time.

And it's your first time in the last six months? Oh, yeah. That's wonderful that you came. So how many days you've been here already? I've been here for three, three or three days already. How did you find the country? I love it. And I love the food. I can't fit into my pants,

but that's a whole other story I can tell you about if you're interested. It's a different session. It's a whole different thing altogether. The food here is amazing, the spirit of the people, the resilience. I'm just very impressed with just the entire energy of it. It's actually very different than what I thought it was going to be. It is, but there is a lot of sadness, you should know.

Absolutely. A lot of agony and it's this feeling that people don't understand and they don't understand that, you know, it always starts with the Jews, always starts with the Israelis, will never end that. There's a wave of hate that's flooding the world and has to be dealt with forcefully. Absolutely. Don't you ever see those encampments? You see, there was yesterday a terrible demonstration in London. Terrible, calling for violence, for genocide of Jews. That's all there is to it. And this empire of evil from Tehran, spreading hate, money, armaments, ammunition,

all the cost of living of every American and Canadian is impacted by the Houthis, which are controlled and operated by the Iranians because they're closing the high seas. Isn't that, that's, it's a big, it's a big issue, it's a worldwide issue. Absolutely, that's basically why I came here, right? I wanted to kind of show, I wanted to bring awareness to the West because I think there's so many misconceptions and misinformation out there and like I'm trying to really use my platform with people who just for your information a lot of oh my gosh I'll be afraid some of it is also

pre-organized 100 but that the other come from the outside I want you to be I actually want you to talk about that because I think this is it's really a war it's basically a war of misinformation right now as well and people don't know what they don't know and they're getting their information from TikTok and their little bites sound bites that are actually not even accurate. TikTok we are talking to many people at TikTok because there is a misuse of the whole idea of TikTok and with a lot of efforts to distort from the algorithm all the way to what people are allowed to put on TikTok. And don't forget as we can speak and laugh at the end right now 128 hostages are down there in the towns in Gaza abducted raped some dead and we feel for raped, some dead, and we feel for the lives of each and every one of them. Well, I think that's, let's talk about that for a moment.

The hostages, because I think that's obviously on everybody's mind. You know, yesterday I went to the rally here to bring them home and a lot of the parents spoke. What are you, I know you guys are in negotiations and all this, but where are you right now with trying to recover the hostages? are you think I know you guys are in negotiations and all this but where are you right now with trying to recover the hostages where we have to understand a hostage deal can definitely bring hope right and on the merits it's the most important thing of all is to bring them back home but we are faced with a a warmonger and a monster who leads that war, who initiated that war. His name is Yechia

Sinwar. He is the head of Hamas. He is in the bunkers in Gaza. He doesn't want any deal. He simply doesn't want any deal. He keeps on rejecting every offer. Five times Israel has compromised, America has confirmed. President Biden has confirmed and also all the mediators that Hamas had the best offer possible in front of them and he rejected it and keeps on lying all the time. And the worst thing is that there is a great grave human tragedy that we just retrieved in an heroic war operation four bodies. Beautiful people and other families. They all went to celebrate in the Novo Festival,

in the Song Festival, in the party, young people. And then you hear all these marches and all these curses and people just don't understand that it will affect their lives, their lives if the world doesn't stand up to this horror and terror. That's, that's, we're fighting for many values of the free world, by the way. Oh, absolutely. And they keep on lying that we want genocide, absolutely wrong. My heart is aching with pain, also about the Palestinians, also about their plight.

with pain, also about the Palestinians, also about their plight. They are controlled by Hamas, and they should speak out loudly and say we are against it. And they should understand that the only hope is a different regime in Gaza, and we must bring a different regime in Gaza. That's what we have to do. We have the right to defend ourselves.

We keep on getting missiles every day on Israel. Why don't people realize that? Why is that? Why are the other side winning the war on the propaganda? Because I think they came very well prepared. I think they had it all ready and dormant around the world. I think it fell on a hot bed which includes a lot, we are prepared with a lot of anti-Semitism, anti-Israel, misuse of the DEI and rogue cultures on campuses. The whole cocktail

is used against Israel. The whole cocktail, I mean the Jewish people who suffered the worst atrocity of humankind of course are to blame again, okay, for the fact that they're trying to defend themselves. We didn't want that war. They burned, raped, chopped, abducted, and killed people who were the biggest peace lovers and supporters of peace in the nation here, okay? They, in these kibbutzim, they had special plans and they all allotted from their own income money for the people of Gaza. They had funds, but they didn't give a damn. They came in and wiped and burned. And you have one of these terrorists calling his mom and dad, hey mom and dad, I killed 10 Jews. That's the story here. And I always say it starts with the Jews. It won't end with the Jews. We are here defending the entire free world. And they're not. And there are evil empires out there

who are playing on the psyche of many Americans. People right back home are even yelling, chanting, death to America, death to America. I know. And supporting North Korea. Yeah, I mean, you know, they just don't understand that they are living in one of the greatest nations and eras in the world in world's history and being an American citizen. Absolutely. You say thanksgiving for the fact that you're an American. But there's still a disconnect even when they hear that that chance. Most of these people, I'm sure you're aware, when they say from the river to the sea, and that there's been people in pools and other

things going around asking, do you know questions? They have no clue. No clue. What the river is and what the sea is. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nor do they know anything about the fact that we, our nation is grown and built and was

formed on this land. Yeah. We are deeply connected right outside this door Yeah, I can show you a beautiful thousand thousands years old menorah okay, the candelabra just like here in the back, which is our national emblem and That's you know, that's what you see from ancient times. The Jews started here in this land. We were uprooted and we went back and came back to our land. The problem is a lot of people are fearful and scared of speaking up on the Jewish side even, right?

So you have the other side who are very loud and vocal. And people are afraid because they would be harassed on the digital bots where we take off their followers, they are harassed on campus. This is a this is a tale against thought. You believe in America which believes in free speech and the land of the free right? In the national anthem? Yeah.

The land of the free. You can't express your opinion you're going gonna be banned and hate on you and all these people are sending all these hate messages They should all be arrested and sued. They should be also sent outside the country and they should be leaving They should deport them But the other thing is I'm not sure you know I'm sure you've probably seen the freer hostages sweatshirts that everybody I wear and a lot of people wear it Thank you Of course a lot of people will not wear them Jewish people will not wear them because they're afraid afraid People are afraid they were going to like basketball games things like that and they were asked to leave the stadiums because they were wearing it

And to me the fact that that's even a political statement. Well, you can't have it on TikTok. No, you cannot have it on TikTok. Don't you, like, how do we, like, what do we do as a nation? What can you tell? We protest the fact that you're on this. Right. For example, and many others too.

How do we get more people? We have to awaken them to the fact that if this fire is burning their own life, their own stability, you see the violence, raging violence, raging violence of people who have no clue. And you saw the encampments. Now I'm happy that, you know, some law enforcement agencies went in and there has to be a combination of education, dialogue, law enforcement, civic advocacy, and also standing up with protests. Yeah, and I feel like we have to maybe even fight fire

with fire in a way, right? Because they're very, there's a visceral angst in what they're doing, and we seem to always take the high road a lot of the time. Because we are, we have like a higher moral ground and we accommodate other views but the frightening thing is is that people are kind of tending immediately to blame Israel for what i don't know we've tried peace and we got terror we pulled back from Gaza we got terror we upro at settlements in Gaza we go to that's the story and we should pursue peace

once we get rid of this terrible machine that was built underneath billions of dollars that should have gone to feed and educate and change life in Gaza it's a total failure of the system and the international community must recognize it absolutely Absolutely. Now you're also, you're not just the president, but you're also a parent of someone, a child who's fighting in Gaza. Yeah, he got out, thank God. He served four months. Can you just, can you talk about that a little bit?

Well, we don't talk much about it because naturally we don't speak about our kids in general, but we, you know, he was there. They have a, the group is very united, very nice people. The story of Israel, his commander, his family came from Ethiopia, from the heart of Africa, which is the great story. So the son of the president,

his commander is an Ethiopian born Israeli, okay? And I think that shows the beauty and equality of Israel. And most importantly, what I'm really honored is how much they care for the citizens in Gaza, how much they take, I mean, necessary steps not to hurt uninvolved citizens of Gaza if they and just to make sure that they move out of the site. Basically, two million Gazans were hijacked by Hamas for their own use, all instructed by Tehran, all in Iran. And it's clear to me that if we weren't here, Europe is next and the United States

is next. People just have to understand that this is a major clash of civilizational values. So what is and what are the goals of the Operation Rafa at this point? Well I don't want to go into the operational side but at the end you have to make sure that their infrastructure of terror has to be uprooted. They have their four battalions which from there they launch missiles on our people and they destabilize the whole notion of a better future for Gaza. Now what you say if you can just what is the number one misconception you would think that Americans have on what's actually happening? Well they it was proven already by the United Nations itself that the data on casualties is lower by 50%.

Some of these casualties were created by Hamas itself, the missiles which fell on their own people. Naturally, there are tragedies, although we are trying to prevent it. The number one misconception is that Israel is not operating according to the rules. We are operating absolutely according to the rules. We are sending millions of text messages. We call million phone calls, millions. We send leaflets by the millions to tell people to get out from this area for a while until we finish and then you'll be able to go in in some of these areas. That's the way you operate according to international law. We are defending our,

we have the right to defend ourselves. If any one of your viewers would have missiles on his head, he'd go bananas. Absolutely. Let me just turn it to this, to your vision for one moment, because I know it's very timely, it just happened. And I was, I heard that you were very instrumental

in having it go on perform. Can we, can you talk about why was that important? I found it really important because I believe that you know we have a great story to tell. We are a great nation. We do good around the world in so many things from water to solar to medicine to technology to agriculture to what's not really. We are an amazing nation and we care for others and we see a sense of purpose. And our voice must be heard in any forum. And the Eurovision is an important forum. It's in the city where there is most anti-semitism in Europe in Malmo

We have to be there and that's why I fought all around with all of my Contacts to make sure that we are there and we had a very dignified show Clearly, it's at me the masses voted dead and Bolan She was should have won the judges for their own reasons put her number five. Fine, okay, we respect that. We understand that there's a lot of politics going around, but we're very proud of Edith and her bold appearance and she was beautiful. Amazing. She wasn't me and I agree she should have won and but the fact that you saw that as a real opportunity. Absolutely. I insisted we should appear anywhere and that's my motto. What else are you what else are you trying to do? Well, I'm meeting a lot of

delegations that come from US campuses. Yeah. Many faculty members who come here are harassed. I don't believe it. I grew up in America. I went to three different academic institutions in America. I know what freedom of spirit, what academic life can offer you in America. And all of a sudden they come here, they sweat, they are harassed. Takes them time to melt down and start talking. And then they say terrible things. This can't go on.

What is this? This is the land of the free. Absolutely. Were you shocked at how quickly it turned at so anti-Semitic, so quickly? Well, okay. I mean, even though it was always there. Of course we were shocked. We knew about it. Okay, we knew. We knew that there was lurking hate and constant, constant anti-Semitic and also Palestinian rhetoric,

which did not, of course, mention at all the suicide bombing. That under any terror, any effort for peace, we got terror instead. And missiles. Ten thousand missiles on my home. Ten thousand. Ten thousand missiles on my home. Because we pulled out of Gaza, okay? We pulled out to the last Toyota. We gave it to the Palestinians. They turned it into a terror base. And yet, and yet people don't understand that, or they don't see that as many times. They don't want to. They turned it into a terrible base. And yet people don't understand that or they don't see that as many times. They don't want to. They don't want to. They don't want to and they have to start reading and understanding. I don't shy away from any criticism

that could be on Israel. That's legitimate. We're a democracy. The criticism that's mentioned here against the country or the government is much stronger. And that's the way democracies operate. We are a vibrant democracy. People don't get it. We are fighting a terror organization which has no values of any kind. They hijacked their own people

and they brought havoc and plague on their own houses. Yeah, I know, I agree. And that's why I wanna be sitting down talking to you because I want people to really understand and hear those messages. And we are allies of the United States of America, and we together, we should fight evil. We should definitely fight evil. Would you mind if I go back to one other question, just to kind of...

And if you don't want, you can answer it however you like, because we talked a little bit about the hostage recovery. But I know that's one thing that people are really, really curious and interested in. And you said that they keep on rejecting your offer. Can you talk about what those offers are? Well, a lot of it was mentioned. We laid down the whole debate now on the stages and how many in each stage, etc. etc. And what the length of the ceasefire, I don't want to go into it because I'm not in charge of it.

You're not in charge. I'm the president here is not an executive head of state. That's a figurative head of state like in Europe, like it's parallel to, you know, the structure in England. So there you have the prime minister and you have the government, which is sworn in by the Knesset and they run the country. Right. I'm so I don't want to go into the details. You want to go some supporting any deal.

And I say openly that we should try as much as we can. But I'm honestly saying it starts with Hamas and ends with Hamas. They decided to tilt the world to the stage, okay, to derail the whole idea of the inclusion of Israel in our region. In a region where Jew and Arab should dwell together, Muslims and Jews. And what I also noticed when I first got here, how much assimilation there is here. There's so like, that's another thing that people are not. Yeah, big mistake, people don't understand.

People don't understand. We have Jews of color and we have Muslims and we have Christians and we have Jews and we have no immigrants from all over the world and we are a beautiful mixture of anything possible in our country. It really is, it's a beautiful country and you've got and just let's just finish with like the the people of Israel, the resilience, the strength and how even like I said when we first

started this spirit that was very surprising even when I got here even in a war time, the spirit and strength of what I've seen on the outside. There's immense light in our nation. There's optimism. Optimism. Zest for life. A zest for life. And belief in themselves. It's very impressive to see. It's absolutely. How did you feel in the square yesterday?

In the hot... I felt like I was home. I felt like it was very nice. It felt very warm, inclusive, and like I was home. It was a beautiful feeling and listening to all the parents speaking about their children and the entire performance. I'm so happy that I did the trek here and I came here and I'm so happy that I was able to sit down with you. And it's also different from what you see outside, please. Totally different. And then all of our friends come to visit Israel and see for yourself. Great, beautiful country. I think that's a really good point.

If I can just even like just expand on that. People, I think, are fearful because they think of they have this misconception of what is war here. But you feel safe, more safe here in Israel than you do in America. You really do. Like I was actually very apprehensive. I go, Oh my God, what's it going to be like? And when I got here, it was so calming and you don't feel it. You don't feel that negative fear, fear, fearful feeling that you expect to feel.

You actually feel the opposite. That's what I've noticed and I think everybody that I have met... You should show them the promenade on Tel Aviv beach. I believe that's the first, by the way, that's the first thing I showed them. That's the first thing and I worked out on the beach on the muscle area. It was beautiful. I loved it. So everyone come to Israel. Yeah. Thanks a lot. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure talking

to you. Thank you so much for your time.