The Daily Signal - Reporter on the Ground in Israel Shares Firsthand Account of War-Torn Country

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Field reporter and former U.S. Marine Julio Rosas, who has been in Israel since Wednesday, is sharing details from the ground as the war between Hamas and Israel continues.  "Just before I signed on to join this podcast, there was—I got alerts on my phone that there were rockets being launched further to the south of us, and so that is currently the biggest threat," said Rosas, author of "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful: The 2020 Riots and the Gaslighting of America," as he joined us for an interview on "The Daily Signal Podcast." "Also, there are some infiltrations attempts still being made, not obviously on [as] big of a scale as the initial attacks, but this is still—it's a pretty active area," said Rosas.  Rosas was in Sderot, Israel, at the time of the interview.  "The more north you go in Tel Aviv, which is where most of the flights go into right now, things are kind of normal. I would say that not as many businesses are open during normal hours," added Rosas. "And also just the fact, again, rockets get fired all the way as far north over there."  Rosas, who said he was also in Northern Israel, shared that "[i]t's kind of the same story where the towns along the Lebanese border have been evacuated."  Rosas continued:  There's not that many people there left, and it's concerning because there's still a lot of kind of minimal fighting between the [Israel Defense Forces] and Lebanese and Hezbollah kind of back and forth.So that's one of the reasons why Israel hasn't gone fully into Gaza yet, is because they want to make sure that their northern and eastern regions are prepared for any response that they make here down south. Rosas joined today's episode of "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss what he's hearing from locals about the Israel-Hamas war, what he wants Americans to know about what he's seeing on the ground in Israel, and how the situation has changed since he arrived in the war-torn country.  Julio's "X" page: https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11 Julio's Substack: https://juliorosas.substack.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Wednesday, October 18th. I'm Samantha Sheris, and joining today's episode is field reporter and U.S. Marine, Julio Rosas. Julio joined us live from Israel, so if you hear any noise in the background, that's why. Julio, who is the author of Fiery but Mostly Peaceful, the 2020 riots and the Gaslighting of America, shares what it's been like on the ground if he's spoken with anyone in Israel, about President Biden's visit on Wednesday, what he's hearing from locals about the war, and much more. We'll get to our interview right after this. So what is going on with Ukraine? What is this deal with the border? How do you feel about school

choice? These are the questions that come up to conservatives sitting at parties, at dinner, at family reunions. What do you say when these questions come up? I'm more. Mark Geine, the host of the podcast for you. Heritage Explains brought to you by all of your friends here at the Heritage Foundation. Through the creative use of stories, the knowledge of our super passionate experts, we bring you the most important policy issues of the day and break them down in a way that is understandable. So check out Heritage Explains wherever you get your podcasts. Joining today's episode of the Daily Signal podcast is Julio Rosa's, who is currently on the ground reporting in Israel. Julio is the author of Firing, but mostly peaceful, the 2020 riots,

and the gaslighting of America. Julio, thanks so much for taking the time to join us today. Thanks for having me, Sam. So first and foremost, Julio, where are you right now? So right now, I'm just on the edge of a town called Stradot. It is one of the kind of bigger towns in the southern region of Israel. This was one of the many towns that were attacked. two Saturdays ago by Hamas terrorists. Right now it is virtually empty of its civilian population just because, you know, at certain points, it's a mile, half a mile away from the northern Gaza Strip. And so obviously the IDF is signaling that that's where much of the military operations are going to be taking place. So just like they told people in Gaza to move south,

they got Israelis out of this area as well. Now, it looks like it's nighttime. there. I think it's about six o'clock, if I'm correct. What was your day like today? Tell us a little bit more about what it's been like on the ground. And yeah, just give us an insight into what it's been like. Well, it's been interesting. This is my first time in Israel. This is my first time in the Middle East at all. So obviously it's quite an interesting time to kind of learn the lay of the land. But really, it's the biggest thing right now, the biggest threat is rocket attacks from Hamas. Just before I signed on to join this podcast,

I got alerts on my phone that there were rockets being launched further to the south of us. And so that is currently the biggest threat. Also, there are some infiltrations, attempts still being made, not obviously on a big of a scale as the initial attacks. But this is still, you know, it's a pretty active area. The more north you go in Tel Aviv, which is where most of the flights go into right now, things are kind of normal. I would say that not as many businesses are open during normal hours, and also just the fact, again, Rockets get fired all the way, you know, as far north is over there.

And then further north, I was in northern Israel. It's kind of the same story where the towns along the Lebanese border have been evacuated. There's not that many people there left. And it's concerning because there's still a lot of kind of minimal fighting between the IDF and Lebanese and, and, and, and, and Hezbollah kind of back and forth. So that's one of the reasons why Israel hasn't gone fully into Gaza yet is because they want to make sure that their northern and eastern regions are prepared for any response that they make here down south. How long have you been in Israel? And how has the situation changed since when you first arrive to what you're currently experiencing? So I got here last Wednesday, the last Wednesday afternoon.

And I would say the biggest difference right now is it definitely. It definitely seemed like Israel was going to begin their ground operations into Gaza two nights ago, three nights ago, just because there was a lot of troop movement, a lot of equipment being moved around, like they're right here on the highway right behind me. And the area was locked down a little bit more. The Israeli border police were definitely stepping up their presence. That's not really the case right now. And I think part of the reason, another reason why Israel hasn't gone into Gaza is because they're still trying to figure out how many hostages. are in Gaza right now. I'm trying to figure out where they are.

And that's one of the things that's kind of complicating the situation is that obviously not only you have to worry about civilians being caught in the crossfire in Gaza, but their own citizens and foreign citizens. And actually, I'm just getting alert now that more rockets have been launched. Not where I am. At least I'm seeing, yeah, no, actually to the north of us. But I can hear it in the background. And so they're trying to figure out where everybody is.

They're trying to identify the bodies because there's still a lot of bodies that were so disfigured, whether through burning or through just total desecration bodies, they're still identifying or still trying to identify over two weeks later or nearly two weeks later. So obviously as soon as they can see, you know, who's alive and who isn't, then they can have a better idea of where everybody is at. Now, on top of that, you do have present. Biden coming to Israel. So it's pretty safe to assume that Israel will not be going into Gaza while President Biden is in town just because they don't want to put him at risk. But he's also going to be

going around the region as well, not as Israel. So I think it might take a, I think it might take a little bit more time just based off those kind of known factors. And obviously there's the unknown factors for them. But that the biggest difference right now is they're definitely trying to get everything in place before they do a ground operation. And just speaking of President Biden's visit on Wednesday, have you spoken with anyone on the ground about the president's visit? Are they in favor of it? What are you hearing from locals? So generally, I have, I've seen evidence of Israelis being appreciative of President Biden. In Tel Aviv, there is, there's these kind of giant digital billboard signs with Biden, with the American flag. and Israeli flag, it says, thank you. You know, and I have seen, I have seen actually bumper stickers with American and Israeli flags

and, you know, saying we, you know, Israel loves Biden. So I would say generally they are appreciative of Biden because he has continued the support that America has been providing them for a long time. So it's kind of funny when they asked me what I think about Biden. And I said, well, actually, on other issues, he's not great. Our economy sucks. And they're like, wait, really? And it's like, yeah, just don't get me started.

So from their perspective, they like him because he has continued to show the historic support for Israel. I also wanted to ask you just generally speaking, have you been talking to the locals? What are you hearing from them about the war? So from their perspective, the shock is now kind of over because obviously an attack on that scale was just not supposed to happen, right? They have all the security infrastructure. They technically have the personnel to address an attack like that. But because it was on the eve of one of their biggest holidays on the poor, obviously it was a little bit of a complacency issue on their end.

And the head of their intelligence agency has said that it's his fault. Like, you know, we try to do operations to minimize their Hamas's operational capabilities. And clearly we didn't do enough. and we clearly fell on that end. So there is a large sense of betrayal from that they view both the intelligent agencies. And it's actually, obviously the circumstances are different, but it kind of mirrors American's feelings

towards our own intelligence community and how, you know, we don't really have that much faith in them because they seem to keep missing terrorists and they seem to be focusing on the wrong things and, you know, people that are not threats and they're letting these other threats faster. And we're really seeing that now with all the pro-Kamass supporters in America.

And it's kind of like, what, you know, it's one thing to be, you know, be, okay, be pro-Palestine, but it's another thing to, you know, to basically say, yes, we're Hamas and we support what they did. And so, they have confidence in the military. They have confidence that they will be able to adequately address the current situation. But then it's a question of, okay, so then what's going to happen after this is done? And the other question is, when is it going to be done? And I think this is going to be another long haul conflict, kind of like with Ukraine and Russia. Now, I wanted to also ask you about more of your reporting that you're, you know, gathering on

the ground, the videos that you're posting to your X page, to your substack. What do you want Americans to know about what you're seeing on the ground? What I would want them to know is that this is a very, this, it's kind of weird saying because it's obvious, but this is very much a real conflict in the sense that, yeah, it's longstanding. Yes, there have been things done on the past on both sides that are not okay in terms of, you know, I mean, we just had, you know, the IDF struck a Reuters journalist team not too long ago in Lebanon. Obviously, you know, that was not a good thing, but it's a matter of everyone, you have people on the left saying that, you know, they keep focusing on, the Palestinian people

and yes, but they're not asking, they're not demanding Hamas to release the hostages. You know, AOC, Rashid to leave, you know, members of the squad, they're all saying, well, we just need a ceasefire. And it's like, well, there could be a ceasefire if Hamas releases

the hostages that they took. Now, Hamas has said, they said, well, yes, we have some hostages, but other groups and other people, whatever that means, have their own hostages because as we've seen through new videos, it wasn't just tried, you know, card carry members of Fomboz who attacked these Israeli towns. There were regular civilians, so to speak, who joined in on the frenzy and they also followed the fighters and took part

of the looting and destroying the kibbutzs and the town. So that's one thing that kind of, like I said, that complicates things because they're obviously dealing with this conflict that has been longstanding, a huge issue for a long time, both domestically here and internationally, you know, back home. So I would say that definitely check the sources on whatever information they're saying, because even for someone that's here, it is still kind of hard to figure out what is actually accurate and what is being, you know, being kind of like a ruse

or, you know, not making it seem as what it actually is. So it's tough. We saw that with Russia and Ukraine and all the kind of stuff that was being spread around and, okay, it wasn't really true. That's been happening for a long time here, but it's really intensified, obviously, within the past, you know, a week and a half. I wanted to ask you about one specific video that is on your X page. I'll leave a link to it in the show notes.

So our audience members can take a look at it. You are running and gunshots can be heard. What was going on in that video? Tell us a little bit more about that video. And yeah, what was going on there? Well, so the gunshots, one, was actually here right at this spot. And like I said, there are still infiltration attempts by Hamas into Israel. And so that's why there's actually all these roadblocks kind of around the area just because that is a threat.

And so, you know, it sounded like a heavy weapon, like a mounted. machine gun being used at that time. And it was actually a spot not too far away from where I was, but there was a rocket that was fired over us, and the Iron Dome missile intercepted it right above where myself and a few other people were. So we had to go into the bomb shelter nearby, not because of the rocket per se, but because of the shrapnel that was now falling from the sky. And that's what I'm saying is that that's a fact of life here. You know, you have to all always be aware of where the nearest bomb shelter is. And if there isn't one, you know, how can you make yourself as small as possible to avoid

catching anything? And yeah, it's a new dynamic for sure. It's definitely, you know, it's new for me. I've never had to, you know, grow up dealing with that. And it's funny because I was on the highway driving south. And I was playing my music kind of loud as I normally do. And, and I saw all of a sudden people pulling over the side of the road. And at first I thought it was for an emergency vehicle, like,

in the States. But then I turned my music off and that's when I can hear the air rate sirens going off. And I said, okay, maybe I shouldn't play my music so loud. Everything was fine where we were and I think the missiles or the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome. But again, that just shows that that's something that you have to be aware of when you're out here. Absolutely. Julio, just before we go, I wanted to ask, why was it important for you to go over there to Israel and document what's happening? Well, it's kind of like I said before, when, comes to whenever, I mean, whenever there's a conflict of any kind, there is always the fog of war. And, you know, that's a term for a reason. And that especially, like I was saying, is true for

this one just because both sides have their supporters that are willing to spread, whatever. And being here on the ground, it helps me do what I, what I've always done, which is, you know, be on the ground somewhere and make sure that I do my part to distribute as much accurate information as I can and as I know it to be true. So that's why I decided to leave town hall and go independent through sub-stack, which people can subscribe to and support because that's what it takes.

I mean, that's what it takes. I mean, you have to do the dirty work. You have to be out here for hours on it. You have to wear all this equipment and my helmet, my helmet's down there too. Just because if you don't, and you have to rely on, you know, certain sources, that's not always going to be the case in terms of, in terms of accuracy.

So it's just a matter of wanting to do it, obviously. Obviously, I want to be out here. But it is something that I think that I really, it's just something that I have a passion for. I don't know why. I don't know why I like running towards danger. But I do, and it serves a purpose. So I figured, you know, why not do something I love to do?

Well, Julio, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. One final question for you, if you could leave our audience with any final thoughts? I mean, I would say that, you know, for me, I'm not here to push, you know, to push one thing or the other in terms of, yes, the U.S. shouldn't get involved or no, the U.S. should not get involved. I mean, we're already involved to a certain extent. I don't think we'll get to boots on the ground in terms of troops here, but, I mean, you never know, right? These things can spiral out of control very quickly. And so as always, just, I would just ask people to pay attention. That's, you know, I'm not saying that I've become obsessed like I am technically right now at this moment, but just

just try to be as best informed as you can because it's, it's very easy. And as I've already seen, you know, people were blaming an IDF, the IDF for striking this civilian convoy in Gaza heading south. And that wasn't true. There's there's no evidence to support that. And actually there's more evidence that Hamas had a suicide bomber in that convoy to punish people who were trying to leave. And yet, you know, people already had their narratives by the time people were really looking into it. So I would you say, as with anything, definitely verify. And, you know, before you go spouting off on whatever, make sure that whatever you're sharing is accurate as, you know, as much as you know it to be. And to really make sure that you don't get sucked into just automatically reacting because no matter what the case is,

automatically reacting and saying your peace on something. It can be okay, but other times it can come to bite you back. So I would just say, just be careful. Well, Julio, thank you so much for joining us. We so appreciate you taking the time. Please stay safe out there. I will be in touch checking in on you. And again, I'll make sure that we have a link to both your substack and your X page

in the show notes so people can follow your reporting. Thank you so much. Yep, thanks for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to my interview with Julio Rosas, who again is on the ground in Israel reporting. If you want to follow along with his reporting, make sure that you check out his ex page, formerly known as Twitter, and also check out his substack. We'll leave a link to both of those in the show notes. In the meantime, make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal wherever you get your podcasts and help us reach even more

listeners. You're leaving a five-star rating and review. We read and appreciate all of your feedback. Thanks again for listening. Have a great Wednesday, and we'll be back with you all this afternoon for top news. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Louie and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit dailysignal.com.