The President's Daily Brief - October 10th, 2023: Israel Retaliates, Music Festival Massacre, and Missing Victims

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   On the fourth day of Israel's war against Hamas, we’ll highlight the responses from both the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces.   We shine a spotlight on the tragic massacre at the Supernova music festival, a pivotal moment that many believe defines the conflict.   Dozens of people are unaccounted for, believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas militants. We’ll look at the strategy behind the kidnapping of civilians and the growing hostage situation.   Lastly, we’ll bring the conversation back home, discussing the U.S. government's position on the crisis.   Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.   Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Tuesday, October 10th. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on this chaotic world stage. Let's get briefed. On the fourth day of Israel's war against Hamas, we start today's brief by examining the current realities on the ground.

We'll focus on the latest responses from the Israeli government and the Israeli defense forces. Next, we'll spotlight a pivotal moment that, for many defines this conflict, the devastating massacre of hundreds of young people at the Supernova Music Festival. Following that, we'll discuss Hamas' kidnapping of well over a hundred civilians and the escalating hostage situation that it's created. Finally, we'll shift our focus back to the United States to examine the U.S. government's stance on the war and their current response. But first, the news from the ground. Since Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel over this past weekend, Israeli officials report that approximately 1,000 people

have lost their lives with another 2,000 or more injured. The tragedy hits home as among those killed at least 11 were U.S. citizens. Meanwhile, from Gaza, Palestinians account for around 600 fatalities and over 2,700 injuries. Now, the Israeli defense forces and Hamas militants continue to exchange fire, but the IDF asserts it has regained control of the communities surrounding Gaza that had been overtaken after Hamas' initial assault. So what has Israel's response looked like? Well, to gain a full picture, we need to return to Saturday morning at around 6.30 a.m. when the attacks began. Israel, as it's been widely reported, was caught totally off guard by the scale of Hamas' offensive. For several hours, were allowed to just wreck havoc in southern Israel before the country could muster a solid defense.

It was until around two hours after the onslaught began that Israeli forces began mobilizing and responding. By 10.30 a.m., Israeli jets were executing airstrikes on Hamas's strongholds in Gaza, and around an hour later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now famously declared war against Hamas. Subsequently, the IDF deployed troops to southern Israel and began the process of recovering the towns and villages that had been overrun by Hamas militants. As of this morning, the IDF has called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists. Their mission? A substantial ground offensive against Hamas, poised to penetrate deep into the Gaza Strip.

In addition, substantial forces and resources will be focused up north. indicating ongoing concern of possible actions from Hezbollah and Lebanon or Islamic jihadists, possibly operating out of Syria. Israel isn't relying solely on air strikes and ground incursions, though. The Israeli Minister of Defense has intensified the response, declaring, quote, a total blockade on Gaza, cutting off essentials like electricity, food, fuel, and water. Now, Hamas's actions against Israel will obviously, severely impact Palestinian citizens, many of whom have no affiliation or association with Hamas. As mentioned in yesterday's PDB, the crackdown on the residents of the Gaza Strip is essentially

what Hamas was counting on. They understand, because they are very political and have developed a very savvy public relations ability, that no matter how brutal their slaughter of hundreds of women and children in Israel was, as soon as the number of Palestinian civilian casualties climbs, the media and social media useful idiots will turn the blame onto Israel. Now, one of the biggest concerns has been that hostilities could spill beyond southern Israel and Gaza, potentially igniting a wider regional feud. In the last 48 hours, this concern has already been realized. Several attacks have been instigated from up north via neighboring Lebanon. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad's armed faction has already acknowledged an incursion,

at the Lebanon-Israeli border. But they're not the only ones. Hezbollah, which is another Iranian proxy, has launched guided rockets and artillery at three IDF stations, calling it a gesture of solidarity with Palestinians. In a swift reprisal, Israel directed artillery fire at the Lebanese launch site,

resulting in the confirmed deaths of three Hezbollah fighters. Israel has fought multi-front wars in the past. They know the dangers and, strategic realities of having a second front open up, possibly involving Hezbollah, again at Iran's urging. Now, there's that reality again. The basic fact is, without Iran's support, Hamas and Hezbollah would be inconsequential. And yet, the West is currently engaged in an angst-filled delicate dance. They know that Iran, for years, has given Hamas the resources, funding, training, encouragement and support necessary to allow them to engage in this weekend's terrorism.

But the Biden administration doesn't want to call them out. Iran is like Voldemort to Secretary Blanket and others within the administration. It's clear the Iran regime and Iran's revolutionary Guard Corps are evil, but they dare not say their name. In part, it's because the Biden administration has been so eager over the past few years to negotiate some form of a new agreement with Iran that they've ignored the 800-pound terrorist in the room. All right, after the break, we'll take a closer look at a moment that is likely to be remembered as one of the defining moments of this conflict, the tragedy at an Israeli music festival,

where Hamas terrorists transformed a peace-promoting concert into a bloodbath. I'll be right back. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money, because behind every headline is a bulletin. bottom line. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings, there's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Welcome back to the president's daily brief.

The Supernova Music Festival was billed as a journey of unity and love. Now, held just three miles from the Gaza Strip border, this all-night electronic music concert had around 3,500 attendees, mostly young people, as you might expect, looking to enjoy the festivities. But what was supposed to be a night of peace and harmony quickly became the backdrop for the most devastating attack on Israeli civilians in recent memory, and for many, the defining moment of this latest war. Around sunrise, attendees witnessed paragliders descending towards them. Now, initial video footage suggests that, Some believed it was a planned spectacle, something put on by the festival, and many began approaching the landing area.

But as we now know, the men who descended on the concert were Hamas terrorists. Momus later, the gunfire began, and it wouldn't stop for several hours. In the ensuing chaos, people rushed to their cars, trying to escape. To their horror, vehicles full of gunmen awaited them, unleashing a barrage of bullets on fleeing concert goers. The gunmen pursued terrified civilians across the desert, indiscriminately firing and abducting individuals. Hours of terror ensued, with the attackers freely roaming the concert grounds, seizing or killing those unable to flee. The Israeli authorities have now reported around 260 fatalities,

with many others still in accounted for. Many people who were last seen at the festival remain missing, and that's because many of them were abducted. There's this heart-wrenching video going around. It shows Noah Argomani, a 25-year-old student, absolutely terrified. She's shouting, trying to get away, but then a Hamas militant grabs her, bundles her onto a motorbike, and she's dragged into Gaza as a hostage. Now, Noah isn't alone in this nightmare. She's just one among an estimated 150 Israelis and other nationalities believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas fighters, as per Israel's initial assessment. The international scope of the tragedy becomes apparent as officials from the U.S., France, and other countries

investigate potential kidnappings of their own citizens as well. While the music festival was a hotspot for abductions, some Israelis were kidnapped from their very homes, located in border communities overtaken by Palestinian gunmen on Saturday. The victims include elderly people and children. So, what's Hamas's objective with this brutality? This appears to be a concerted strategy by the militant group. There are thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, and the seizure of so many

hostages suggests that Hamas may want to hold them as bargaining chips for a prisoner swap. But the possibilities could get grimmer. Last night, a Hamas representative declared that for every Israeli airstrike that hits a Palestinian target without warning, Hamas will execute a civilian hostage. Israel, the U.S. and other nations are currently working to understand how many of their citizens are being held by Hamas. This multinational hostage pool, by definition, escalates the conflict beyond southern Israel and Gaza. Now, in any hostage situation, there are limited options. There could be an orchestrated prisoner exchange. There could be, depending on the intelligence

capabilities of the Israelis, hostage rescue operations. Or, there could be a lengthy and agonizing hostage crisis, where Hamas simply holds the hostages for mental torture and political leverage. An example of this would be the Iranian hostage crisis under Ayatollah Khomeini. All right. Coming up in today's back of the brief segment, while we turn to the United States and explore how the U.S. government is responding to the unfolding crisis, I'll be right back. Ryan Reynolds here for MintMobil.

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Welcome back. Let's bring it back to the U.S. now by taking a look at how this conflict is resonating in America. As we mentioned earlier in the program, it's been confirmed that American citizens were among the victims of Hamas' attacks. As of right now, the number of dead stands at 11 U.S. citizens while an unknown number remain missing. U.S. officials are in the process of verifying if Americans are among the hostages currently held by Amos, and they believe that is likely the case. On Monday, President Biden addressed the tragic loss of American lives, describing the casualties as heart-wrenching. He committed to

collaborating with Israeli officials to determine the whereabouts of the missing Americans. Now, the overwhelming response from U.S. politicians and officials has been to reiterate commitment to Israel and Israel's right to defend itself. Now, the State Department, they've taken some heat after initially calling for restraint from Israel in the aftermath of the weekend and slaughter. The department then quickly deleted some social media messaging and stuck instead with the message that we stand with Israel and their right to defend themselves. You'd think that would be an easy call in the wake of the attacks, but it appears the U.S. State Department initially defaulted to their reason for being, which is diplomacy, before realizing that was a bad

look in the current reality. Meanwhile, you can always count on at least a couple of U.S. Democrat representatives, and by that, I mean Rashida Talib of Michigan and Corey Bush of Missouri, to strap on their anti-Semitic helmets when conflict flares in the Middle East. They've been trying for some time to have the U.S. to fund Israel, and as the horrific violence unfolded over the weekend, they couldn't bring themselves to pointedly condemn Hamas. Instead, wordsmithing that they grieve the loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today and every day, with Talib then taking the opportunity, and the average. of the slaughter hundreds of Israeli women and children to call for what she refers to as an

end to Israel's apartheid system, which she blamed for the attacks. To be fair, criticism of their comments then came quickly from both Democrats and Republicans. Meanwhile, over at the Pentagon, in a strategic move, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed the USS Ford Carrier Group to position closer in the Eastern Mediterranean. This move not only symbolizes U.S. strength and support, but also has very tangible implications. With that carrier group, the U.S. military presence can aid in resupplying the Israelis, in gathering intelligence, and in offering an additional layer of long-range protection for Israel via the guided missile cruiser and multiple destroyers. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Tuesday, 10 October.

If you have any questions or comments, reach out to us at PDB at the first I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.