The President's Daily Brief - October 12th, 2023: Missed Warnings, Hezbollah's New Front, & US Border Alarm

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We delve into the updates of the sixth day since Hamas' terrorist activities in southern Israel and fresh insights indicate Israel might have disregarded vital alerts preceding the attack.   We delve into the second front of this conflict: Israel's confrontation with the Iran-backed terrorist group, Hezbollah, on its northern boundary.   Shifting our attention to the U.S., we shed light on some unsettling reactions from American political figures.   In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, alarming intel from US Customs and Border Protection emerges, highlighting arrests of thousands of "special interest aliens" over two years, many originating from notorious terror hubs in the Middle East.   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

Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a 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. It's Thursday, October 12th. Welcome to the president's daily brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage, and it is an increasingly complicated world stage. Let's get briefed. As we marked the sixth day since Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israel will lead today's episode with the most recent updates. And what about the intelligence failure that allowed Hamas to surprise and overwhelm towns and

communities along the gossip border and as far as 15 to 20 miles inside Israel? Was there a missed opportunity to prevent this? Fresh revelations suggest Israel might have overlooked crucial warnings about the impending attack. Next, we'll examine the second front of this conflict, as Israel faces off against the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah on its northern border. Later, we'll shift our lens to the United States, highlighting some of the most interesting and concerning reactions from American politicians and officials. Finally, in today's back of the brief, disturbing data leaked from U.S. Customs and Border Protection reveals that over the past two years, border patrol agents have arrested thousands of so-called special interest aliens from various countries, including terror hotspots

throughout the Middle East. But first, the latest news. As the conflict between Israel and Hamas unfolds, the death toll continues to climb. Israeli officials are reporting approximately 1,200 fatalities, with a still undetermined number of Israelis and other nationalities missing, and upwards of 150 hostages, now being held in Gaza. On the other side, Israel's counterstrikes have led to about 1,100 Palestinian deaths and some 5,000 people injured in Gaza. The number of Americans killed in Saturday's attacks continues to rise as well. The U.S. State Department confirms the death toll of American citizens has risen to 22, up from the 14 that President Joe Biden reported earlier this week. The fate of 20 missing Americans remains uncertain with concerns that they've been taken hostage by Hamas. Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Force edges closer to executing its ground offensive into the heart of Gaza.

An IDF spokesperson announced the deployment of nearly 300,000 troops. to the Gaza border, with the aim of ensuring Hamas lacks any military capabilities going forward. Now, while rocket attacks continue from inside Gaza, residents there are grappling with a rapidly deteriorating situation. Gaza's sole power station has shut down due to fuel shortages, leaving the enclave in darkness. That's the current situation on the ground, but what about the question that many of us are still asking? How did Israel, and frankly, Western allies miss the signals of the impending attack? Well, a recent New York Times report is revealing what happened in the hours leading up to the attack. According to the report, Israeli intelligence did note unusual activity on Gaza militant networks

as the operation was about to launch. An alert was reportedly issued to soldiers at the Gaza border, but it seems the warning was either not received or overlooked. Compounding the situation, Hamas drones disrupted Israeli military communications and destroyed surveillance infrastructure, which enabled a breach of the border fence in several locations. But this was an operation that was many, many months in the planning. The likelihood is there were clues, bits of intelligence collected from various human and technical sources that perhaps by themselves wouldn't have meant much or raised alarms. It's not unlike what happened leading up to 9-11.

There were clues there, but they weren't combined, they weren't collated, and the larger picture was never brought into focus. Moreover, there are emerging claims that Israel might have ignored four warnings from foreign intelligence agencies. Egypt's intelligence chief says he cautioned Prime Minister Netanyahu about a, quote, terrible operation looming around Gaza almost 10 days before the actual attack. Now, according to sources, Netanyahu indicated that IDF forces were preoccupied with addressing terror threats in the West Bank at that time. However, Netanyahu's office strongly refute these claims,

labeling them as lies. Lastly, the U.S. intelligence community is engaging, obviously, in its own investigations into what happened, what was missed. Surprisingly, preliminary findings cast doubt on Iran's involvement in Hamas' attack on Israel. At least we're told that preliminary findings cast that doubt. According to some sources, Iranian leaders were reportedly caught off guard by the attack. However, intelligence sources stressed that these conclusions aren't final, as the investigation is just at the beginning. The notion that Iranian leaders were caught off guard by the attack is a bizarre head fake. Of course, many in the Iranian regime were surprised. That's obvious. That's because this Hamas operation would have been and obviously was a closely

guarded secret. It essentially was on a need-to-know basis, both within Hamas and their armed element and within the Iranian regime. But you would have to be either ignorant or a useful idiot to believe that there weren't members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, that were not aware of and assisting in the preparations necessary for Hamas to carry out such an attack. All right, after the break, we'll examine Israel's northern front and their standoff with the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Then we'll bring it back to the U.S., spotlighting some disconcerting comments from U.S. politicians and officials. I'll be right back. 7-11, people always call me loud.

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to divide their focus and attention. That's because there's a potentially escalating situation brewing up north. Alongside its war with Hamas at the Gaza border, Israel now faces another threat, Hezbollah. Based in Lebanon, which borders Israel to the north, Hezbollah is a long-standing terrorist organization also backed by Iran. Frankly, are there any terrorist organizations that Iran's not willing to back? In recent days, the tension between the IDF and Hezbollah has continued to climb. Just to give you an idea, Hezbollah proudly took credit for the recent missile attack on an Israeli army post near a northern Israeli village.

Reacting swiftly, the IDF has now mobilized and deployed more than 10,000 soldiers to fortify its northern frontier. Now, if you're wondering who or what Hezbollah is, here's a quick brief. Their name means party of God, but they're not just any typical terrorist group. Think of them as a state within a state. They hold massive sway in Lebanon, essentially controlling most of the country's Shiite majority regions, including the areas brushing up against Israel's border. Hezbollah and Amas have quite a bit in common besides their disdain for, Israel, most importantly, as mentioned, they're both backed by the same benefactor, Iran. And Iran is

heavily invested. The regime pumps hundreds of millions of dollars of resources and cash into Hezbollah every year. And, frankly, it's not just the cash. The couped force of Iran's revolutionary guard is hands-on, training Hezbollah fighters. Plus, Iran's been quite generous with its weapons, arming Hezbollah with everything from basic firearms to sophisticated rockets. This partnership has dramatically bolstered Hezbollah's ability to challenge Israel up north. Essentially, Iran, over the years, has successfully surrounded significant parts of Israel with their own terrorist armies through their funding, training, and equipping of Hamas and Hezbollah. Now, turning the focus to the U.S. government at its ongoing response to the Middle East conflict.

In recent days, there's been an intriguing mix of support and some skepticism from U.S. leaders regarding Israel's stance against Hamas terrorists. While many stand united against Israel, there have been a few surprising reactions as well. Case in point. This past Sunday, the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. to champion an immediate ceasefire. Blinken quickly backtracked, deleting the controversial tweets after his suggestion drew immediate criticism.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Office of Ballastinian Affairs and office within the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem had a similarly odd, awkward, embarrassing, pick-the-word moment. They removed an ex post where they'd previously pleaded with both sides to, quote, refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Then there's New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the left flank of the Democratic Caucus. Their take on the Israel

Hamas violence, well, they're calling for a ceasefire and suggesting there's a moral equivalence between Israel's retaliation and Hamas's murder spree. Finally, I wanted to highlight Democrat Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. During a rally in support of Israel in the heart of Boston, Markey urged de-escalation of the current violence from both sides. the crowd's response, a chorus of booze that continued for nearly half a minute and twice interrupting Markey's attempts to finish his speech. All right, up next in our back of the brief segment, in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks on Israel, local, state, and federal law enforcement, as well as the intel community, are working overtime to assess potential threats

and concerns about security here in the U.S. Now, given the very close relationship between Israel and the U.S., any major conflict in the Middle East involving Israel automatically raises homeland security issues. But there's a new twist with the whole risk and threat assessment process, and it emanates from the U.S. southern border. Internal data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection reveals that over the past two years, border patrol agents have arrested thousands of, quote, special interest aliens from various countries, including the Middle East, as they tried to illegally cross the U.S. southern border. I'll be right back.

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Welcome back. With the heightened state of alert since Hamas' attack on Israel, U.S. law enforcement and the intel community are spending an increasing amount of time asking, what if looking at our current security posture, conducting risk and threat assessments, and working to understand where the next potential terrorist threat could come from. As it turns out, part of that effort, requires us to turn our eyes to the southern border. Newly leaked internal data from Customs and Border Protection is offering a stark insight into the situation at our doorstep. Over the past two

years, Border Patrol agents have arrested thousands of so-called special interest aliens as they tried to sneak across the U.S. southern border. This data handed over to Fox News comes directly from the CBP's records. Now, you might be wondering, who exactly are these? special interest aliens. Well, they hailed from countries that the U.S. government flags as either fostering or shielding terrorist activities, or they also might pose some sort of national security risk to the U.S. Diving deeper into the numbers, between October 2021 and October 23, agents have encountered a staggering 6,386 individuals from Afghanistan, 3,153,000. 3,153,000. three from Egypt, 659 from Iran, and 538 from Syria. They've also come across 30,830 from Turkey,

1,613 from Pakistan, and smaller numbers from countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and Iraq. But here's the catch. These figures only represent the individuals that have been caught and identified. This doesn't include the so-called godaways who successfully, alluded capture. And under the Biden administration, that number is thought to be over 1.5 million individuals. Although, to be fair, the actual number is anyone's guess. As the current Middle East conflict highlights, border security isn't some esoteric political talking point. Nations depend on secure, well-controlled borders for their safety and well-being of their citizens. That's not rocket science. Without them, there's eventual chaos.

And despite a popular trope from the far left, it's not racist or anti-immigrant to want secure borders. It is actually possible to have a just and fair immigration policy while also maintaining border controls. But, before any administration, if they're so inclined, can do the heavy lifting to fix and improve the U.S. immigration system, they first need to fix the borders. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Thursday, 12 October. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to us at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.