The Daily Signal - Bodies of 3 More Hostages Found, Russia Open to Ceasefire, Memorial Day Film Recommendation | May 24

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

TOP NEWS | On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.  The Israel’s military says the bodies of three more hostages were recovered in Gaza.  Pro-Palestine protests continued this week at ​​University of California-Los Angeles.  Memorial Day film review of “The Longest Day.”  Relevant Links Listen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/ Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription   Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Sign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, May 24th. Here are today's headlines. Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. That's according to an exclusive report from Reuters. Russia's sources have told Reuters that Putin is ready to stop the fighting and agree to a ceasefire that recognizes the current battlefield lines. That would leave Russia in possession of a significant area. of four Ukrainian regions.

Reuters says that they spoke to a total of five people who work with or have worked with Putin at a senior level in the political and business worlds. One of the sources told Reuters, Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire to freeze the war. Two of the anonymous sources that Reuters spoke with say that Putin feels that the gains in the war are significant enough to declare a victory and to set up. the war as a victory to the Russian people. But despite this report, an end of the war between Russia and Ukraine does appear unlikely. Ukrainian President Zelensky has promised to retake the land that Putin

has taken, and Zelensky signed a decree in 2022 that declared any talks with Putin impossible. One of the sources that Reuters spoke with did say that an agreement between Putin and Zelensky appears unlikely while Zelensky remains in power. Next month, Switzerland is hosting talks with Ukraine and other nations to discuss plans to end the war, but as of right now, Switzerland has not invited Russia, and Zelensky has said that Russia should not be there. Israel's military said today that the bodies of three more hostages were recovered in Gaza. The bodies of Hananaya Vanka, Michelle Nisenbaum,

and Orion Hernandez were found in northern Gaza during an operation between the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency. Israeli officials said the three men were killed on October 7th, and their bodies were taken to Gaza. Their remains were brought back to Israel, and forensics identified them before the families were notified. The Times of Israel reports that until recently, there had been no information as to the status of the three men, so they had been believed to still be alive. The Times reports that there are believed to be 121 hostages that are still in Gaza, 37 of whom the IDF has confirmed are dead. In response to the news of the remains of the three hostages being recovered, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said,

I commend the IDF forces and the security services for acting with great courage in enemy territory in order to return them to their families for a Jewish burial. The news of the three hostages comes the same day that the International Court of Justice issued an order for Israel to stop military operations in Rafa. The International Court of Justice is sometimes referred to as the World Court and is an organ of the United Nations. The ruling against Israel states, Israel must immediately halt its military offensive in any other action in the Rafa governing, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

It is unlikely that the ruling in the court will affect Israel's planned military operations within Rafa. Over the past two weeks, Israel has evacuated 950,000 people from the city of Rafa in the Gaza Strip. Israel is currently carrying out military operations in Rafa because the city is believed to be Hamas's last stronghold within Gaza. Anti-Israel and pro-Palestine protests continued this week at the University of California, Los Angeles. Protests set up a new encampment on Thursday. The encampment started on a patio on campus that blocked access to a building. Law enforcement quickly removed it and the demonstration relocated itself to the center of campus. While the protests was underway, ABC 7 reporter Josh Haskell caught video of a food delivery robot

attempting to enter the encampment area to deliver food to protesters. The police at the scene appeared amused as they stopped the robot from entering the encampment. This was all going on while in Washington, D.C., the UCLA Chancellor, Gene Block, was testifying before the House Education and Workforce Committee on the pro-Palestine protests that have taken place on campus. this. It's another three weeks before UCLA has their commencement ceremonies. The main graduation at UCLA has been canceled due to the ongoing protests. It's Friday, and that means it's time for a film review. And with Memorial Day on Monday, it only seems right that we take a minute to talk about and review one of the first great war movies ever made. The Daily Signal's columnist

and author of The War on History, the Conspiracy to rewrite America's Past, Jared Stetman, is quite the history buff and movie expert. He joins us now. Jared, thanks for being here. That's good to be on. Jared, you know history very, very well. You're history buff. So when it comes to historical movies, I really trust your recommendations. And when I ask you, hey, do you have a movie recommendation for Memorial Day? You said The Longest Day. This is a film that was first released in 1962. And, Jared, the film The Longest Day is actually based on a nonfiction book, correct? That's correct. It's actually based on a 1959 book by Cornelius Ryan, who wrote a book called The Longest Day, which was, I think, actually, the first great book

about D-Day that was actually written. It was one that kind of opened up Americans and an international audience to what actually happened on that day, the various stories that took place, kind of communicated to the broader public, the scope of the operation that took place on D-Day, the sacrifices that were made, the incredible buildup that led to Operation Overlord, the liberation of Europe. And so I think as far as war movies, I mean, this was a great, spectacular kind of movie, had a lot of big stars, I mean, including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, including many who actually had fought and served in World War II. And I think what's really important about the longest day and several movies made in that era is there

attention in detail, their desire to make this an accurate representation of what happened. They wanted to do service to the people who had fought on the beaches of Normandy, who had many of whom had died. And so I think there was a real respect for what had actually taken place. This is not very long after World War II. And I think it came at a moment where many Americans wanted to look back. They wanted to think about, again, what had taken place on D-Day, this great moment. not just American history, but world history. So how does the movie the longest day frame this setup for D-Day? Are you following a couple of characters as they're preparing and then you follow them throughout the fighting?

How do they frame it? Yeah, very much so. It actually is like a little Vignets that take place to show the different parts of what was this grand operation. I mean, I think that's what really is conveyed in the movie is the true scope of what it took. to coordinate this amphibious assault. I mean, in military terms, an amphibious assault is one of the most difficult things you can do. And this was the greatest one in all of human history. Many others had failed.

And I think you really feel during the movie the weight of the decision on leaders, I mean, the possibility of failure. If something goes badly wrong, how many people could be killed, they'll be killed one way or another. But what will happen if this great invasion, fails. I think seeing the kind of weight that is placed on the leaders at the time and of course the weight that's placed on the individual soldiers who were there on the beaches who were there as paratroopers in the 101st, 82nd Airborne, the confusion that took place on the day of the battle. Things don't oftentimes go as planned when you actually meet the enemy and that's very much conveyed in the film the amount of confusion that was there on that day. So you get a little bit of

everything. You get the kind of high-level decision-making that was going on. You get a little bit of the German side and the perspective of those who are defending the beaches. And you get the perspective of the individual soldiers who had to deal with the chaos, the fear and the fighting that took place on what is, I think, one of the greatest battles in human history. Yeah. The film is the longest day. Be sure to check it out. It's an old movie, but as Jared has just described, takes you right back to D-Day. And the second. that were made on that day, and it's a powerful reminder of the sacrifices that so many men and women have made in service to our country. And Jared, before we let you go, you have an opportunity

that I want to give you a chance to talk about for individuals. If any of our audience lives in New York, you're based in New York City. And there is actually a film review that you are a part of hosting every single month at first things in New York. Share with us a tiny bit about that. And if individuals want to join those film watching parties where then you all talk about the movies. How can they do that? Yeah, absolutely. So we basically, once a month, I get together with First Things Magazine at their office in New York City, where we host basically a review session of a movie. And one person will choose a movie and we will all discuss the movie. My movie was Ron by Kira Kurosawa, which is a take on Shakespeare's King Lear from a kind of

Japanese perspective. But we've had many other great movies. We had one called A Silent by Martin Scorsese, which is about Jesuit priests in Japan. It's funny. Another movie about Japan, but who were actually, there was basically an inquisition that took place in Japan to try to stomp out Christianity and dealing with many of those who had actually been martyred in defense of Christianity. They're a very powerful movie. So we host a session about once a month on Wednesdays at the First Things Office.

We hold the discussion session after the presentation the movie actually takes place. For those who would like to join us in New York City, I would just email me actually so that we can put you on our list, on our email sent out. My email is Jared, my name, J-A-R-R-E-T-T-T-T-E-T-E-P-M-A-N atHeritage.org. And send me an email, I can put you on the list. And if you'd like to join us for the movie and watch, or maybe you'd like to join us, you make a presentation of a movie at some point, we'd love to have you. The more the merrier. Great. Well, I got to get up to New York City, Jared, at some point for one of these film nights. It sounds like a lot of fun. But thank you so much for joining us, Jared.

Really appreciate this review of a great movie, the longest day. Thank you very much, Virginia. And with that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here this Friday for the Daily Signal's top news. If you haven't had the chance, be sure to hit that subscribe button. So you never miss out on shows and if you would, leave us a five-star rating and review. We hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day. We're going to be back with you on Monday morning for a special Memorial Day edition. I have the privilege of sitting down with Audrey Bogelsdyke. She serves as Vice President of Survivor Services for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. She herself lost her husband while he served in the Navy when they were newlyweds. She shares her story and

and about the incredible work that the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is doing to support families who have lost loved ones in service to our country. Make sure to catch that conversation Monday morning. We will not have a Top News edition on Monday in honor of Memorial Day, but we'll be back with you for Top News on Tuesday. Thanks again for being with us today. Have a beautiful Memorial Day. And we'll see you Monday morning for my conversation with Audrey Bogle's Day.

The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listening. like you. Executive producers are Rob Bluey and Kate Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Mary Margaret O'Lehann, and Tyler O'Neill. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geiney, and John Pop. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.