The Daily Signal - Embassy Official Warns: For Hamas, Conflict Is 'Only Starting With Israel'

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

The world needs to understand that Hamas is “a brutal terrorist organization, [and] that it's only starting with Israel,” Sawsan Hasson says.  According to Hasson, head of public diplomacy at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, Hamas’ leaders have been quite vocal that they plan to carry out similar acts of violence against the United States and Americans. The Daily Signal spoke with Hasson at the Israeli Embassy after a screening of a 45-minute film containing raw footage of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. It was Hasson’s third time watching the film, but she was still visibly shaken.  The embassy official says she and all of the people of Israel have a very clear message for America, and it's a call to bring the hostages “back home now.”  Hasson joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what Israel’s key objective in the war is, and what's known about the hostage negotiations.  Want to learn more about the Israel film. Follow this link: https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/11/16/i-watched-raw-footage-hamas-attack-israel-most-graphic-thing-i-have-ever-seen/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling festive. Catch classic holiday favorites like Home Alone, the Santa Claus and Die Hard, along with holiday episodes from Family Guy, Abbott Elementary, and more with Hulu on Disney Plus. From festive Disney flicks to binge-worthy Hulu originals, Hulu on Disney Plus is your home for the holidays. Celebrate the season with Hulu, available on Disney Plus in Canada. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, November 17th. I'm Virginia Allen. I had the privilege earlier this week of attending an event at the Embassy of Israel here in Washington, D.C. I watched a film of about 45 minutes of raw footage of Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7th. I was there with a number of fake leaders and some other folks from the press.

And afterwards, I spoke with Sosan Hassan. She serves as the head of public diplomacy at the embassy. We spoke both about the disturbing images, the reality of the horrific attack that Hamas executed on Israel on October 7th. And we also talked about the importance of America's support for Israel and the Israeli people's message to America right now. So without further ado, let's go ahead and get to my conversation with Sosan Hassan after this. Are you looking for an easy and entertaining way to keep up with the news? care about? The Daily Signal and Heritage Foundation YouTube channels offer interviews with policy experts on the most critical issues and debates America is facing today, as well as short

explainer videos that break down complex issues and documentaries that dive deep into the way policy actually impacts people. Go ahead and subscribe to both the Daily Signal and Heritage Foundation YouTube channels today. You can search for either on your YouTube app or visit YouTube.com slash heritage foundation and YouTube.com slash daily signal. It's my pleasure and my honor today to be joined by Sosan Hassan. She serves as the head of public diplomacy for the embassy of Israel. And we have just at the embassy in Washington, D.C., we have just watched a really, really hard film to watch incredibly graphic that showed images, video of what happened.

on October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel. It's hard to know what to say after seeing those images. How have you processed? How are you processing? What has happened in your country on October 7th itself and the days after? I would say by saying, oh my God, this is the third time that I watched the film. until now we had unfortunately

several screenings and I'm saying unfortunately because no one should see this no one should be in this and I'm feeling that I'm still shaking I feel that I still need to take a breath to have a drop of water and to relax and to breathe because my heart is beating so hard

and I believe that everyone who was here today at this screening feels the same and it's us here thousands of miles away from Israel. So only imagine what happened to the people there, to the victims who suffered this brutality, to the children who have seen their parents being killed, to the elderly who were kidnapped,

and to people who were having their normal morning of Saturday, praying at the same day when we had Simchaturah, holiday, having their usual breakfast in the morning meeting with their families, and in a second being in such a brutal and barbaric way, killed, raped, burned alive. I can't even imagine what people are going through in Israel. I know what I'm going through. Do you know any of those who were killed or taken hostage on October 7th? My husband knows several of them. There are so many sad stories, and I met several family members who visited Washington and more who are coming to visit us.

We are in direct touch as an embassy with them. We're all dedicated, each diplomat here at the embassy, to be with them and to help them to bring their family members, their dear beloved people, back home. When you talk with them, what are the family members of the hostage families, family members who have lost loved ones? What are they saying to you? And are they speaking about what they would like to see from America? They have a very one strong message. Bring them back home now. This is what they expect everyone to do, including our best and strongest ally, United States.

How is the process going as far as working with the United States? How have you seen that relationship over the past five weeks play out between Israel and America? What are the things that you think President Biden is doing well? What are areas that you think we can do better? United States was there for us from the first moment, the support, the strong statements that came out from President Biden and his address. administration are very valuable and precious to us and to our existence in the Middle East, the support we have got in order to give a clear message to our enemies, and on the top of them is Iran.

Don't think to interfere in this. Don't get involved. Don't escalate the situation and that we stand with Israel. They're very, very important and strong messages. And we see that the whole civilized world is standing with us. They do realize that it's not a war of the state of Israel. This is a brutal terrorist organization that it's only starting with Israel. And we should win this war that we did not start. It's a strategic when for United States and our other allies in the Western community. What do you mean when you say it's for Hamas only starting with?

Israel. Explain that for those who might not understand. Their leaders were quite vocal, that they're starting only with Israelis and will continue to United States and to Americans. In fact, there were a lot of more than 40 foreign citizens who were killed or kidnapped in this war by Hamas terrorists. And this is absolutely like al-Qaeda or ISIS. It starts in one point of it's not being... controlled immediately and demolished, it will continue to reach each one of us.

You know, I think many people in America have been a little bit surprised from what we've seen in regards to pro-Hamas support and specifically young people coming out in support of Palestine and on college campuses. What do you think, speaking specifically to those young people, what do you think maybe they're not understanding about the whole picture, about this situation and the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians? I will ask them a simple question. Do you know what you are repeating in these rallies? Do you know what you are saying?

You are eliminating a whole state, a state of Israel, which was established 75 years back by a UN decision that was done in the United States. in the Security Council and in the UN member states, we are a part of an international community. Is this what you are, citizens of United States of the free world calling for to eliminate a whole democratic state? Because you are responding and repeating statements coming out from Hamas, from a terrorist organization, that we just were witnessing what they have done

by their own records. Is this who you are? I don't believe this. are Americans and who are educated in the United States on freedom and liberty and human dignity values. This is not true. I want you to go and search, search what you are rallying for. We don't have any problem with the Palestinians.

We have never had a problem with the Palestinians. We're having problems with terrorist organizations, which is controlling the whole Gaza Strip and using your own money, the American money that was sent for AIDS and the European money that was sent for them for education, for health, for agriculture, and for culture being accused to dig tunnels, to be used by the terrorists, to kill Israelis, Americans, and others. Is this what you are rallying for? This is my simple question to them. Powerful question. Amid even seeing pro-Palestine protest here in Washington, D.C., have you had any concerns for your own safety working here at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.?

We had a rally here in front of the embassy a few weeks ago. I was at the embassy that night, and I've seen what they were calling for. There were people who covered their head, their faces, calling for a third intifada, calling for Palestine from the river to the sea, which is elimination of the state of Israel, calling for Shahidis, suicide bombers. Believe me, none of us would like that. None of us would like to be in such kind of a situation, especially that we know that when they call for that, they do it, and they did it already. We had several cases around the United States of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli aggressive acts, and this is going through the whole community.

People are supporting, they need to understand their support terrorism, their support crimes by doing so. And this makes me worried, worried to see this. huge increase of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents here in the United States, supported by people who should have believed in liberal and freedom values and attacking others only because of their ethnicity or only because of religious reasons. So, of course, in response to Hamas' attack on Israel, Israel on October 7th declared war on Hamas, What is the end goal? The end goal is to destroy Hamas capabilities

to be a threat for the Israeli citizens. We have our duty to protect our own people. This is our goal. We do not want to take control over Gaza's trip. We left it back in 2005. We have nothing to do there, and we don't want to be there. We want to protect the Palestinians, the innocent citizens. This is why we call them to go.

to the south in order to find a shelter because Hamas is using them as human shields. We want to have that area controlled by a civilized power. And this is what we are calling for. We do not want to stay there. We want to leave the moment we finish our mission to destroy Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the exact same thing. me that very clear that the Israeli government doesn't want to control, doesn't want to rule the Gaza Strip. I've heard other news outlets, though, discussing, well, then who would step

in and rule that area? Are there thoughts on what that would look like moving forward? Who would be in control? If Hamas is eliminated, who would control the Gaza Strip and rule? So we are in touch on this issue with the United States, with the European countries, Palestinian Authority should be a mechanism that provides safety and security for the Palestinians and the Israelis. And I believe that a solution and suggestions would come. This is something that is being discussed in a high strategic levels. But it is definitely clear that it cannot be ruled by Hamas. What is your primary message to the American people who maybe are a little bit familiar with the tension between Israel and Palestine, but not, you know, it's not a part of maybe their daily lives?

What is your message to the American people? What do we need to be really aware of and thinking about in the coming days, weeks and months as we continue to hear. reports about what's happening both in Israel and in Gaza? I have actually three messages. The first one, I stand with Israel, means I stand with United States. The second one, bring them back home now. All the Americans, all the Israeli hostages and the other foreigners, they should come back home now with no conditions.

And the third one, we all stand together against anti-Semitism. I want to ask one quick follow-up question and relate to your second message. with the hostages, do we have any sense on how negotiations are going and who are leading the players who are leading those hostage negotiations if any progress is being made at all? We read a lot about it in the news. I would say only one message. We want them back home now. Thank you for your time today. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you. And with that, that is going to do it for today's episode. Thanks for being with us here at the Daily Signal. If you are interested in that film that we discuss a little bit at the beginning of our interview,

the full 45-minute film is not being made publicly available, at least not at this time. The reason for that is because many family members have not seen the content. Family members of those who were killed or taken hostage have not seen the content. And of course, Israel is trying to be sensitive to that. but I will put in today's show notes a link for an article that I wrote that describes some of the content in the film and also includes a few clips from the film that have been shared on social media if you want to learn a little bit more about it. But thank you again for being with us on today's show. If you haven't had a chance to check out our evening show, make sure you do so that you can stay up to date on all of the news today, like what's happening in Israel. Also, take a moment to subscribe to The Daily Signal

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Executive producers are Rob Bowie and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha O'Sheris. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.