Tangle - Gaza on the brink.

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the start of a new “extensive ground operation” in Gaza, which follows a week of airstrikes on the enclave. The campaign, called Oper...ation Gideon’s Chariots, will comprise a “broad attack that includes the displacement of most of the population of the Gaza Strip,” an IDF spokesperson said. Israel has called up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation for the offensive. Ad-free podcasts are here!Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠, our “Under the Radar” story ⁠here and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.Take the survey: How do you think the U.S. should adjust its posture towards Israel, if at all? Let us know!Disagree? That's okay. My opinion is just one of many. Write in and let us know why, and we'll consider publishing your feedback.You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast was written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. All right. Cool. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, a place where we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. Today we are covering the latest on the war in Gaza with some news about Trump's tours through the Middle East and deals he's striking.
Starting point is 00:00:47 We're going to give an update on what's been happening and then I'm going to share my thoughts and my take today. Before we do though, I want to give you a quick heads up about two things. First of all, actually I guess it's three things. We have a lot of great content coming out. On Friday, tomorrow, we are releasing a contributed piece to Tangle by National Review's Noah Rothman. The essay makes a fascinating argument that Trump's second term is functioning as a repudiation of his first. We're going to send a free preview to all of our readers and there will be a free preview of Noah actually reading his piece for the Tangle podcast right here in our podcast feed, but the full version will only be available to Tangle members.
Starting point is 00:01:29 So a quick reminder, if you want to unlock all of our content, essays, stories, podcasts like this one, you need to go to readtangle.com forward slash membership. Also separately, we are on Sunday going to be releasing an interview with Sarah Isker, the legal analyst at the Dispatch. That'll be coming out in place of the Sunday podcast because we're off for Memorial Day, but we're not totally off for Memorial Day because on Monday we have a show coming out that is an interview between me and Emily Oster,
Starting point is 00:02:01 the economist and parenting expert, for lack of a better term. We talk about falling fertility rates across the globe, what it's like to see her work go through the partisan wringer, what she makes of the Make America Healthy Again movement, and what keeps her up at night as a parent. We've recorded this interview for our podcast,
Starting point is 00:02:20 but we'll also be releasing a transcript for Tangle members and sending a preview of the transcript to our entire mailing list. All right, with that, with the promotion of three awesome pieces of content coming out in the immediate future, I'm gonna send it over to John for today's main story and I'll be back for my take. ["Spring Day in the City"]
Starting point is 00:02:43 Thanks, Isaac, and welcome, everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, a bit and welcome everybody. Here are your quick hits for today. First up, a bit of breaking news. The Supreme Court affirmed the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to block a plan to permit the state to use government money to run the United States' first religious charter school. The court split 4-4 with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself. Number two, a gunman shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. in what split 4-4 with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself. Number 2. A gunman shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC in what law enforcement
Starting point is 00:03:10 believes was a targeted attack. Number 3. The House of Representatives voted 215-214 to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with two Republicans and all Democrats voting against the bill, and one Republican voting present. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. Number four, President Donald Trump hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, where they planned to discuss trade relations. However, much of the Oval Office meeting focused on President Trump's claims and President Ramaphosa's refutations that white
Starting point is 00:03:42 farmers in South Africa are experiencing a genocide. 5. Iran's top diplomat said the country will not agree to stop enriching uranium as part of any nuclear deal. Shortly after, the country's foreign ministry announced it would take part in the latest round of nuclear talks with the United States in Rome, Italy. Separately, Israel is reportedly preparing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities if the
Starting point is 00:04:05 talks with the United States break down. At number six, the Justice Department said it will dismiss lawsuits against the Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota police departments brought during President Joe Biden's term. The department will also move to close investigations into alleged wrongdoing at several other police departments. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the new military campaign. As we promised, we have launched a powerful campaign against Hamas, Gideon's chariots. IDF forces are simply entering with force into the Gaza Strip with a dual goal,
Starting point is 00:04:48 defeating Hamas and freeing our hostages. On Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces announced the start of a new extensive ground operation in Gaza, which follows a week of airstrikes on the enclave. The campaign, called Operation Gideon's Chariots, will comprise a broad attack that includes the displacement of most of the population of the Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesperson said. Israel has called up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation for the offensive. Israel claims that it struck 670 Hamas targets in the preliminary airstrikes, while the Hamas-run
Starting point is 00:05:23 Gaza Health Ministry says more than 400 people were killed and over 1,000 injured between last Thursday and Monday. Shortly after the ground operation began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would end a months-long blockade and allow limited humanitarian aid into Gaza at the urging of several of Israel's allies, including the United States. Aid groups have warned that approximately 500,000 people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation and face imminent shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and clean water. Kogat, the Israeli defense group that oversees humanitarian aid, claimed that five aid trucks entered on Monday and 93 entered on Tuesday, though
Starting point is 00:06:05 that number is significantly lower than the 600 that entered the Strip daily during March's ceasefire and the United Nations could not confirm the full total. The UN also says that the aid has yet to reach Gazans, as the Israeli military has not permitted trucks to access the area where aid is being stored. On Monday, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada warned they would take concrete actions against Israel, including sanctions, if it did not halt its ground offensive and allow more aid into Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable.
Starting point is 00:06:39 Yesterday's announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza," the joint statement read. The leaders also call on Hamas to immediately release the remaining hostages. Israel's renewed offensive comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's recent return from the Middle East, where he met with regional leaders but did not stop in Israel. While the Trump administration has affirmed its ongoing support for Israel and Prime Minister
Starting point is 00:07:11 Netanyahu, the President's Middle East visit underscored a new approach to relations with the Arab world. During the trip, Trump denied any tensions with Israel over its campaign in Gaza, though he acknowledged, a lot of people are starving. Today, we'll explore the latest on the war in Gaza and President Trump's Middle East visit with views from the left, right and Middle East commentators. And then Isaac's tape. We'll be right back after this quick break.
Starting point is 00:07:54 Alright first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left criticizes Israel's latest actions in the conflict, arguing they have abandoned the pretense of restraint. Some say that the Israeli government's decisions make it impossible to reach a truce. In MSNBC, Zayshan Aleem suggested Israel all but admits it is pursuing ethnic cleansing in Gaza in its new plan. Israel's retaliation against Hamas' October 7, 2023 war crimes has been going on for so long and with such intensity that its conduct may
Starting point is 00:08:25 have begun to feel normal to many. But it must be said that this is the stuff of nightmares. This is an all-out assault on human rights and the concept of self-determination, and the U.S. cannot claim credibility on those matters either while supporting it," Alim said. Israel's starvation and bombardment regime, which many human rights organizations, human rights experts, and genocide scholars have described as genocidal, has long telegraphed an agenda to render Gaza uninhabitable and force one of two outcomes, death or displacement.
Starting point is 00:08:57 But this plan of calling up reservists for indefinite occupation is new. President Biden offered unconditional support for Israel as it began its brutalization of Gaza and offered only modest public criticism and a one-off suspension of one shipment of munitions to Israel as it leveled the territory. It's unclear how Biden would have reacted to these latest plans if that red line that never emerged under his watch would have finally made an appearance, Alim said. With Trump as president, Israel may be wagering that it is a rare window of impunity for territorial control and possible annexation.
Starting point is 00:09:31 Unfortunately, that calculation may be sound. In the Washington Post, Rick Jacobs wrote, I'm a rabbi. Starving Gaza is immoral. Hamas continues to bear the greatest responsibility for the suffering of its own people, most particularly by using its citizens as human shields. American and Israeli officials have accused Hamas of confiscating desperately needed humanitarian food and supplies for its fighters while civilians starve. Hamas' cruelty in that regard, among many others, knows no bounds, though condemnation
Starting point is 00:10:05 from the international community is rare, Jacob said. Nonetheless, Hamas's actions do not excuse Israel's policy of cutting off humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza. A just war, such as Israel's efforts to prevent Hamas from attacking it again and curtailing its governance in Gaza, must be fought with just means. Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the total victory over Hamas it seeks, nor can be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law. Will this policy bring home the 59 remaining hostages, including the 24 who are still alive?
Starting point is 00:10:41 It's unlikely, Jacobs read. Of equal concern, far-right Israeli politicians see the aid blockade as part of a broader plan to permanently push most Gazans from North Gaza and replace them with Jewish settlements. Depriving Gazans of food and water will not make Israel safer or hasten the return of the hostages. Alright that is it for what the left is saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. The right is mixed on Israel's path forward, with some saying it should continue its military campaign until Hamas is gone.
Starting point is 00:11:22 Others say the US should push for an end to the war before the situation spirals further out of control. The New York Post editorial board argued Israel has no choice but to take control of Gaza and at last destroy Hamas. The escalation is understandable indeed almost inescapable. What other choice does Israel have? Hamas won't agree to any serious deal short of a permanent end to the war that allows
Starting point is 00:11:46 it to survive and maintain its death grip on Gaza, which it has vowed time and again to use to stage more October 7, 2023-style attacks on the Jewish state, the board wrote. So Israel can't permanently halt the war with Hamas in control of Gaza, yet no other nation has offered a realistic plan to end the Hamas threat nor to govern Gaza. Operation Gideon's chariots will roll out gradually, but won't stop until Jerusalem controls all of Gaza and Hamas has no place to hide. Good. Israel will also seek to deprive the terror group of humanitarian aid, which it has used
Starting point is 00:12:22 to maintain its control over Gaza's population, and it vows to destroy Hamas's infrastructure and target its leaders," the board said. No one with any compassion wants the war in Gaza to drag on, but Israel can't end by accepting an eternal threat of periodic October 7th-style massacres. In the American Conservative, Andrew Day wrote, Cut off Israel for its own sake. Just before the president's trip, many analysts detecting a rift between Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had expected and hoped that the U.S. president would push Israel to halt its war rather than escalate it.
Starting point is 00:13:00 While Trump did make some noise about the hunger crisis in Gaza, he did not implore Netanyahu to ceasefire, they said. This was a serious error by the president, the only person outside Israel with the power to stop the carnage in Gaza. While Trump has signaled a desire to put some policy daylight between the two nations, he hasn't suspended military aid to Israel, nor even threatened to do so. Unless that changes, the Gaza war likely will rage on toward a grim finale, namely ethnic cleansing.
Starting point is 00:13:31 That would be a catastrophe for the Gazans themselves, obviously, and would further destabilize the Middle East. But it could also, in the long run, put the people of Israel in grave danger, leaving their nation isolated and despised on the world stage," Day wrote. Time is running out for the White House to change tack. While most Israelis favor striking a ceasefire agreement that brings the hostages home and enables normalization with Arab nations, Operation Gideon's chariots represents a different, darker path forward.
Starting point is 00:14:00 If Israel carries the operation through, its reputation on the world stage will suffer irreparable damage. Alright, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to what some Middle East writers are saying. Many writers from the Arab world see promise in Trump's Middle East trip and hope the president can be a catalyst for a peace deal. Many Israeli writers see risks in Israel's Gaza campaign, but say the country must continue its mission.
Starting point is 00:14:28 In Arab News, Taufik Rahim wrote about Trump's narrow window for Middle East peace. Trump has been vocal about resolving global conflicts, and the White House has codified this in the Peace Through Strength Policy Doctrine. Beyond his current stance, the president has warned about the dangers of nuclear war for four decades. During his current stance, the president has warned about the dangers of nuclear war for four decades. During his first term, despite the bellicose rhetoric, he prioritized engagement with nuclear powers, Rahim said. The stars would appear to be aligning around a new dynamic in the Middle East, almost.
Starting point is 00:14:59 The Gaza crisis casts an apocalyptic shadow over the region. Perhaps the region's changing dynamic fed into Hamas' geostrategic calculus in carrying out the October 7 attacks. Today, however, Israel may be the biggest obstacle to the region's march forward. Trump avoided to stop in Israel on his trip, a glaring act of omission. He called out the humanitarian situation, saying, "'The people in Gaza are starving, Rahim wrote. Acknowledging this window of opportunity for change
Starting point is 00:15:27 in the Middle East is not about giving Trump the benefit of the doubt. Simply put, the window will not be open for long and taking advantage is to everyone's benefit. This moment in the Middle East requires entrenched interests and partisans across the aisle to work together in the common interest. The Jerusalem Post editorial board said,
Starting point is 00:15:46 Israel must fight like there's no deal and negotiate like there's no war. Israel thinks that time is on its side. If the negotiations don't work, we'll just pummel Hamas and Gaza some more until they agree. But after 19 months of war, time has actually turned into an enemy for Israel.
Starting point is 00:16:04 Looking at the situation without delving too far inside, that might not be apparent, the board wrote. The longer the war goes on and civilian casualties mount, the more it will damage Israel's international standing and toughen the challenge facing the Jewish state's defenders around the world in arguing Israel's legitimacy in its righteous battle against Hamas. The urgency is felt every day and every hour by the hostages in Gaza and their families going through their personal hell back home. For them, time is a huge enemy.
Starting point is 00:16:34 The longer the war goes on without an agreement, the greater the risk to their survival and return home, the board said. So Israel must decide. Will it continue to go forward one step and then back another in its two-pronged effort to defeat Hamas and bring the hostages home? Or will it negotiate like there's no war and fight Hamas like there's no negotiations? Alright let's head over brings us to my take. So all my thoughts about this conflict are honestly just not going to fit into my take
Starting point is 00:17:21 is there is simply too much to say and cover in one piece. As we speak, I am writing about one of the longest pieces I've ever written about this issue and my relationship with Zionism, which is set to come out for Tangle members next Friday. I don't say that to promote the piece, but just to concede that I won't cover everything relevant about this conflict today
Starting point is 00:17:41 or say all the things that I wanna say. Aside from the 2024 election, we have covered this story as much as or more than any other in the last two years. And it has been exhausting and difficult for me personally, which feels insensitive to say while millions of people suffer through one of the most brutal seizures of recent times. Still, as a way of introduction,
Starting point is 00:18:02 I want to briefly describe how my personal views have evolved or stayed the same since October 7th, 2023. First, I wrote about the horror for the Israelis and at the idea that it could have been me on October 7th, but also fear about how Netanyahu would respond and a very complicated view about the possible paths forward, which might now be the most read piece in Tangle's history. Then I embraced the idea that Hamas had left Israel with no good options. Then I wrote about my horror
Starting point is 00:18:33 and how Israel had been conducting the war, but resisted the allegations that they are carrying out a genocide. Then I called for a ceasefire from a Zionist perspective. Then I called for Netanyahu to step down because he is a failed leader. Then I wrote about fears of Iran and a wider war breaking out in the region.
Starting point is 00:18:50 Then I criticized anti-Israel college campus protesters and also criticized the people who were overreacting to a bunch of anti-war students. Then I wrote about my belief that all my worst fears were coming true. And then in a review of our writing from 2024, I wrote a concession that the latest news provided fresh evidence Israel's actions were meeting the definition of a genocide, and made a promise to write more later.
Starting point is 00:19:16 I've continued to have complicated and evolving thoughts about the conflict in recent months, but the combination of my son's birth, Trump entering office, and other global conflicts breaking out has meant that we have only covered this story as a main topic twice since January 20th, which basically gets us to here today, nearly 20 months into the war. Since I wrote about how all my worst fears have come true, little has improved.
Starting point is 00:19:43 In the most fundamental sense, I feared that Israel would inflict a great deal of human suffering on Gazans in order to pursue two goals it would not achieve, bringing the hostages home alive and destroying Hamas. By those two metrics alone, Israel has achieved some partial victory. Hamas is weakened, some 20,000 combatants have likely been killed and regional dynamics
Starting point is 00:20:03 have tilted somewhat in Israel's favor for now. Of the 253 hostages taken into Gaza, just 23 are presumed to be alive. 146 have been freed or rescued. But this is a partial story. First, as of January, the United States assessed that Hamas had recruited almost as many new fighters as it lost, the exact thing I was worried about. While Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are all facing greater
Starting point is 00:20:30 challenges than they were two years ago, the Houthis have also been dragged into the conflict. Israel is now immersed in live combat, and Trump is beginning to signal his impatience with Netanyahu, all while pursuing deals with Arab partners who will not have Israel's best interests in mind. At the same time, 82 of the 253 hostages have been killed, including three accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers and at least three killed by Israeli airstrikes. I believe and have for some time that Israel's conduct over the last year and a half has diminished
Starting point is 00:21:01 its position globally, torn apart Israelis domestically, divided the global Jewry, failed to meaningfully reduce the number of regional extremists who hate Israel, more likely the opposite, and has not improved the safety of Israelis. Self-evidently, Israel appears to be in more danger today than it has been at any point in the last few decades. It is also endangering Jews and Israelis globally, with a horrific amalgamation of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hatred ramping up and manifesting itself in events like the killing of two Israeli embassy workers last night in Washington, D.C., which appears to have been targeted.
Starting point is 00:21:39 And most relevantly, for anyone who cares about the Palestinians, which should be everyone, the tragedies and horror in Gaza have only mounted. Children so malnourished they are losing their sight. The execution of 15 aid workers by Israeli forces one by one, followed by an attempted cover-up and a burial in a mass grave. Two-thirds of all journalists in the world killed in the last year have been killed in Gaza. Trustworthy sources now estimate the total number of the dead in Gaza is between 77,000 and 109,000 people, four to 5% of the pre-war population. Numbers not just based on the Gaza Health Ministry,
Starting point is 00:22:15 but independent research. More bombings of hospitals, shots fired at international delegations. The perpetual cycle of displacement, the army was in the north, then move south, then move back north, then move back south. Israel repeatedly violating the terms of ceasefires. Gazans brave enough to protest the mosque
Starting point is 00:22:34 stuck between their brutal rulers and Israeli airstrikes. I saw a video this week of Theo von, the wildly popular YouTube star discussing Gaza. Von is in many respects and to many people, a know nothing comedian who has platformed loony anti-Semitic bigots like Candice Owens. He prefaces what he says by noting he is not a geologist, either poking fun at his own ignorance or revealing it,
Starting point is 00:22:58 and then suggests that he thinks a genocide is happening. Von then moves into a rather moving monologue about how watching the images pour out of Gaza has impacted him. His post got a lot of traction. He was predictably pilloried by some on my team for not mentioning the hostages, not mentioning October 7th,
Starting point is 00:23:17 and for falling for Hamas propaganda. I don't know Theo Von and I rarely watch his show, but I think it's fair to say that his reaction here is normal, it's fair, it's relatable. It is easy to dunk on him for commenting specifically about a topic where he isn't very knowledgeable, but van is really like most people who just see suffering. Kids buried in rubble, parents weeping over dead bodies, neighborhoods destroyed, and he wants it to stop.
Starting point is 00:23:44 His feelings and empathy seem entirely genuine. Those feelings are deeply human, and we shouldn't demean him or anyone else for having them. I have them. These shared feelings drive so much of my views on this war. We should never lose sight of the human costs of this violence. And whatever my reservations about Vaughn or his conclusions, I'm glad someone as influential as him is highlighting that human suffering and showing real empathy.
Starting point is 00:24:10 And now, perhaps, the culmination of all this suffering is the worst thing possible. Israel, as I warned, and as many people told me I was wrong about, is planning to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, a 20-year wind back that leaves us exactly where we started, only with more death and devastation in between. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is actually working on a plan to permanently relocate one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.
Starting point is 00:24:37 To be clear, that is more than half the entire population of Gaza. Forcibly removing an ethnic group from one place to another is the literal definition of ethnic cleansing. So Trump is considering and many Israelis are embracing an ethnic cleansing of Gazans. It's important to recognize this is not political. It is not anti-Israel, an absurd accusation to level me, sorry. It is simply sharing the reality of what is being planned. We can decide what we want to do with this reality and how we want to treat it, but we can't pretend it isn't real.
Starting point is 00:25:11 At a certain point, justifying Israel's actions by saying that this conflict is decades old, invoking October 7th, framing their actions as in response to Hamas's pathetic attempts at firing rockets into Israel, highlighting the need to root out terrorism or pinning the blame on a single extremist group that holds an entire territory captive and hasn't held an election in over 20 years
Starting point is 00:25:31 are all no longer good enough justifications for what we are witnessing. And frankly, we are well past that point. My disdain for Hamas is deep and ever present. But today, Israel's apparent willingness to subject 2 million people to an absolute hellscape existence for 20 months is what's keeping me up at night.
Starting point is 00:25:50 It has disillusioned me about Israel, about my Zionism, about a possible path for Israelis and Palestinians to meet for peace, and about any chance for a constructive future. There is so much more to say, and I will say more next Friday, but for now, I'll just say this.
Starting point is 00:26:06 I feel like we're trapped aboard a train into the abyss with no way to stop it. And I'm simply devastated. For Gazans, for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for the global community of Jews and Muslims who feel so personally tied to this conflict. We'll be right back after this quick break. Alright, that is it for my not very uplifting take today. We're skipping our reader question today because my take was quite long. So I'm going to send it back to John for the rest of the podcast and I'll see you guys. I guess I'll see you tomorrow briefly for my intro to Noah Rothman's piece and then Sunday
Starting point is 00:26:54 for my interview with Sarah Iskher and then Monday for my interview with Emily Oster and then we'll be back for real after Memorial Day on Tuesday. Have a good one. Peace. Peace. Please. Peace. Peace. Please. Peace. Thanks, Isaac. Here's your Under the Radar story for today, folks.
Starting point is 00:27:14 In a recent Fox News interview, FBI Director Cash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino said that they were certain alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein had committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019. The circumstances of Epstein's death have generated a range of conspiracy theories, but the FBI heads insisted that there was no evidence of foul play. As someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor who's been in that prison
Starting point is 00:27:40 system, who's been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who's been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one. And that's what that was," Patel said. Bongino, who had previously elevated claims that Epstein had been killed in prison, said in the interview that he had seen the whole file and was sure that Epstein had committed suicide. Fox News has this story and there's a link in today's episode description. Alright, next up is our numbers section. The percentage of Americans who say Israel is playing a negative role in resolving the key challenges facing the Middle East is 61%, up from 54% a year ago, according to a May-April
Starting point is 00:28:23 2025 Chicago Council on Global Affairs Ipsos survey. The percentage of Americans who say the US should provide military support to Israel until Hamas returns the remaining hostages is 55%, down from 60% a year ago. The percentage of Americans who say Israel's current actions are justified and not justified, respectively, are 27% and 29%. The percentage of Israelis who favor signing a hostage deal with Hamas, even if it means
Starting point is 00:28:53 ending the war in Gaza, is 68%, according to an April 2025 Channel 12 poll. The percentage of Israelis who think the war in Gaza is ongoing for political reasons and security-related reasons, respectively, is 54% and 40%. The percentage of Gazans who say they don't have sufficient food for a day or two is 48%, up from 31% in September 2024, according to a May 2025 Palestinian Center for Survey and Research poll. The percentage of Gazans who support and oppose respectively the disarmament of Hamas in the Strip in order to stop the war is 33% and 64%. The approximate length in weeks of Israel's blockade of Gaza is 11. And the approximate number of severe cases of acute malnutrition expected to occur among children aged 6 to 59 months in Gaza between April 2025 and March 2026 is 14,100, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase classification.
Starting point is 00:30:01 And last but not least, our Have a Nice Day story. We have a simple joy today. A cute video of a panda. Fubao, a panda who lives at a zoo in Japan, got a special surprise last month when his caretakers went the extra mile to bring him a pile of his favorite red leaves. The video shows the panda closely inspecting the leaves before realizing what they are and excitedly rolling around in the pile. Sunny Skies has this story and there's a link in today's episode description.
Starting point is 00:30:29 Alright, everybody, that is it for today's episode. As always, if you'd like to support our work, please go to ReadTangle.com, where you can sign up for a newsletter membership, podcast membership, or a bundled membership that gets you a discount on both. Tomorrow, you'll hear a special Friday edition that was written and recorded by Noah Rothman. On Sunday you can listen to Isaac's interview with Sarah Isger from The Dispatch, and on Monday you can listen to Isaac talk with Emily Oster. We will include previews for all of these podcasts, but to listen to them in full, you
Starting point is 00:31:00 need to sign up for one of our memberships. We'll be back with the daily podcast on Tuesday. This weekend, as many of us spend time with loved ones, connecting and enjoying our time together, let's take time to honor and commemorate the many people that have sacrificed their lives so that we might have ours. And a continued thank you to the men and women
Starting point is 00:31:21 who are currently serving in our armed forces. For Isaac and the rest of the crew This is John maul signing off have a memorable loving and wonderful weekend peace Our executive editor and founder is me Isaac saw and our executive producer is John maul Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas our editorial staff is led by managing editor Ari Weitzman with senior editor Will K. Back and associate editors Hunter Kaspersen, Audrey Moorhead, Bailey Saul, Lindsay Knuth and Kendall White.
Starting point is 00:31:52 Music for the podcast was produced by Dyat75. To learn more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our website at retangle.com.

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