The President's Daily Brief - October 13th, 2023: Palestine for Dummies, America’s Aid to Israel, & Frozen Iranian Assets

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   We kick off with the latest updates on the Hamas terrorists' attacks on southern Israel, giving you the most recent developments.   Dive deep into a historical overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict. We aim to dispel widespread misconceptions about this age-old dispute in our segment, 'Palestine for Dummies.'   As Israel prepares for a ground invasion into Gaza, and we discuss the U.S.'s potential $2 billion aid package in response.   Lawmakers on both sides are urging President Biden to rethink the recent decision to unfreeze $6 billion of Iranian assets.   To end, in our 'Back of the Brief' segment, we spotlight a congressman's efforts to safely bring stranded Americans back home from Israel.   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

It's Friday, October 13th. Now, normally, I'd make some comment about Friday the 13th. But honestly, there's no need to reference anything scary after the horrors that we've seen this week. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. It's been nearly a week since Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel, and, as we've been doing all week, we'll start our program with the latest updates on that front. After that, though, I'd like to shift gears slightly. I thought it could be beneficial to provide a brief historical overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Given the complexity of this relationship, it might be helpful to engage in a bit of history and geography lesson. There are a lot

of misconceptions about the origins of the conflict between Jews and Arabs, and as with any complex matter, it's occasionally helpful to revisit the facts. Let's dub this second. Let's dub this Palestine for dummies. A little later in the show, Israel gears up for a potential ground invasion into Gaza, and the U.S. contemplates a hefty $2 billion aid package. Plus, amid well-founded suspicion of Iran's involvement or support or encouragement of the Hamas attacks, lawmakers urged President Biden to reconsider the recent unfreezing of $6 billion destined for the Iranian regime, and it looks like they, in fact, have reconsidered. Lastly, in today's back of the brief,

we'll close out an intense and tragic week on a somewhat positive note, spotlighting a member of Congress who personally helped bring dozens of stranded Americans back from Israel. But first, the latest news. The death toll continues to climb. Israel reports that rocket attacks

and the recent terrorist actions by Hamas have claimed 1,300, lives and left over 3,000 injured. Meanwhile, officials in Gaza highlight that Israel's retaliatory actions have resulted in the death of over 1,417 residents and injuries to more than 6,250. Now, it might be worth noting that a number of those Palestinian casualties include Hamas terrorists. The cost in American lives has risen as well. The State Department has now confirmed that 27 U.S. citizens have lost their lives due to Hamas attacks, with 17 still missing. And as tensions escalate, the Israeli defense force isn't slowing its preparations for a ground

assault into Gaza. Israeli artillery and jets continue to pound targets inside the Gaza Strip. Now, here, we're going to take a moment and review the tumultuous history of this small parcel of land. Now, this normally could take us months. We're going to do it in just a couple of minutes. If you've never done this before, take out an Atlas. I'm not sure if they actually still produce Atlas books, but if they do when you have one, turn the page to a map of the Middle East. Now, look at the size of the Arab world, and then look at the size of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. For as far back as recorded history goes, the area known as Palestine, or now Israel, was a crossroad of empires. At various times, it was controlled by Canaanites, Israelites, Egyptians,

Philistines, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, and Crusaders. But let's zero in on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That's when anti-Semitic sentiments really, really began to intensify in Europe. Jews faced mounting persecutions, including the Dreyfus affair in France and pogroms in Russia. This hostile environment, coupled with nationalist movements, inspired many Jews to seek refuge and returned to Palestine. Many were guided by Zionism, a movement advocating for a Jewish homeland in response to the hostility they were facing in Europe. Now, Jews who were returning to the region, they rush in and set up camp. They purchased plots of land, often from absentee Arab landowners, and as they did, the demographics began to change. The population.

regulations shifted, occasionally sparking tensions with local Arab communities. After World War I, as you can see here, we're jumping ahead and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Britain stepped into the picture. Britain received the mandate to oversee Palestine from the League of Nations. The Jewish migration picked up more steam in 1917 in the wake of a British document, the Balfour Declaration, and was named after the then British foreign minister Alfred Balfour, and it called for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the region. Of course, now, the Jewish diaspora was thrilled, the local Arab population, not so much. Now, after the devastation of the Holocaust, global empathy for Jewish refugees surged. By 1947, the United Nations proposed a solution, partitioned Palestine

into distinct Jewish and Arab states and envision Jerusalem as an international zone. Now, while Jewish leaders nodded in agreement, although not all were that enthusiastic, Arab leaders decidedly did not. The year in 1948 marked a pivotal moment. With Israel's Declaration of Independence, that's when the proverbial fuse was really lit, culminating in a war with surrounding Arab nations. In that war's aftermath, Israel, controlled even more territory than initially proposed by the UN. This territorial shift set the stage for many Palestinians to become refugees. Now, the point of this very brief crib notes review of regional history is this. You cannot overstate the complexity of the Israel-Palestine conflict,

and we haven't even touched on key neighboring players and their influence and impact, including Egypt, Lebanon, Gutter, Saudi Arabia, and of course, Iran. Now, we've discussed Iran's influence, support, and training of Hamas and Hezbollah on past PDBs. Gutter also plays a fascinating role, hosting senior leaders and officials of Hamas, who live lives of relative comfort while the residents of Gaza suffer. But also, Gutter hosts a key U.S. military base. This is what we call playing both sides. All right, when we come back, Israel gears up for a probable ground operation into Gaza, and the U.S. prepares for a significant $2 billion aid package to bolster Israel's war footing. Plus, growing criticism has caused the U.S. and Gutter to deny Iran access, at least for now,

to the $6 billion U.S. dollars recently freed up for Iran as part of a prisoner exchange. I'll be right back. I wrote a little song to remind you, Choice Hotels, get you more of the experiences you value. The Can Beah Hotels got it all. A rooftop bar, have a ball. Bring a date, your squad, or even your mom. Book direct at choiceotails.com. Welcome back to the President's Daily Brief.

I want to take a closer look at how the United States is stepping up to strengthen Israel's stand against Hamas. The Pentagon has maneuvered the USS Gerald R. Ford and aircraft carrier strike group closer to the region. While they initially cruised the Mediterranean, the Biden administration's directions now have them positioned close to Israel. Their current goal, well, it's to keep Hezbollah and other regional players from escalating the situation. But the deployment of the carrier group is not just a show of strength. This group will likely lend a valuable hand to the Israeli military, offering vital intelligence collection capabilities and relaying early warnings about possible

impending attacks to the Israeli forces. And while one carrier strike group is good, as you could imagine, two is better. Yesterday, the White House announced that the USS Eisenhower carrier group is making its way to the Mediterranean. While it may not be immediately deployed to join the Ford strike group in the eastern med, it will be nearby if needed. This is a remarkable projection of power by the U.S. Navy, and it demonstrates the critical nature of this escalating Middle East conflict. And speaking of military support, in a rare show of bipartisan agreement, the Biden administration, alongside key congressional members, are putting together an aid package that's worth around $2 billion. The package is primarily to restock Israel's interceptor reserves for the Iron Dome and to replenish

their artillery shells and other munitions. Now, behind the scenes, the Pentagon is busy checking its inventory, determining what can be sent swiftly to enhance Israel's defense capabilities, as per an inside scoop from a senior defense department official to the Associated Press. Now, as an aside, perhaps it's better if senior defense department officials don't open their yaps to the AP or other media about Pentagon planning when one of our closest allies is at war. Okay, now let's redirect our attention to Iran. You might recall, particularly if you're a PDB regular, that there is the matter of $6 billion in funds unfrozen during last month's prisoner exchange with Tehran.

With Iran's backing of Hamas, oh-drawing fresh scrutiny, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, as well as anybody possessing simple common sense, began pressing the Biden administration to block Iran's access to these funds. It seems the criticism, not to mention the potential for political ramifications, has quickly altered the Biden administration's thinking on the matter. The U.S., partnering with Gutter, which currently oversees the funds, have announced that they will bar Iran from utilizing this money. It's worth reiterating that, officially, the $6 billion was earmarked exclusively for humanitarian endeavors. Oddly, as late as yesterday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was continuing his efforts to convince anybody who would listen that there was no way the money could be used for terrorism. This, despite Blinken's acknowledgement that Iran does sponsor terrorism, and that money is fungible.

Now, if I'm Iran, and I want to spend money on terrorism, and you give me $6 billion, but it can only be spent on humanitarian resources, that's fine. I now have $6 billion freed up in some other pot that I can devote to Hamas, Hezbollah, the IRGC, and other purveyors of terrorism. So it's a good thing that we're freezing those funds. It will now be interesting to see if the Biden administration takes any other serious steps to punish the Iranian regime. The White House has been engaged in some interesting wordsmithing over the past few days, attempting to convince the public that there's no direct connection between Iran and the attacks. Now, that's like saying, yeah, I gave my kid the flamethrower,

but I had no idea he was going to burn down the backyard. Some initial assessments by the U.S. intelligence community note that the Iran regime, and that is a small group of relevant regime officials, likely knew Hamas was planning operations against Israel, but supposedly didn't have details of this particular surprise attack. Look, this was a closely held very secretive operation. Naturally, the numbers of individuals, both within the regime and within Hamas, read in on the plan, was limited. That is one of the reasons. that Mossad and others likely didn't have human or human intelligence on the plan. All right, in today's back of the brief segment, we'll close out the week on a hopeful note.

As a Florida congressman and combat vet steps up with some field expediency, helping dozens of Americans safely return from Israel. I'll be right back. How many discounts does USA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, New vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy. How many discounts will you stack up?

Tap the banner or visit usaa.com slash auto discounts. Restrictions apply. This episode is brought to you by Ultima Replenisher. Health is all about balance, like a salad with fries. So why not have balance in your hydration? With six essential electrolytes and no junk, Ultima provides balanced hydration you can enjoy every day.

That means no sugar, calories, or carbs, and it's not loaded with sodium. Just delicious plant-based flavors you'll actually look forward to drinking. Shop Ultima on Amazon or in store at Target and Whole Foods Market. Welcome back. At the risk of understating the situation, it has been an intense, chaotic week. I thought it might be appropriate to end today's episode on something positive. As you probably realize, getting out of Israel right now is a bit difficult.

As the conflict escalates and the uncertainty of what lies ahead looms large, there's been an understandable rush to book passage out of the country. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find an empty seat on commercial flights, despite White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby suggesting yesterday that U.S. citizens in Israel can book a seat on a commercial flight if they want to leave. Now, many of those having difficulty leaving are, in fact, American citizens. Enter Florida Congressman Corey Mills. Mills is a retired Army combat vet who served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq. Now, he noticed a gap.

The Biden administration hadn't set a clear plan to get U.S. citizens back. So what does he do? He jumps on a plane to Israel and personally escorts 32 Americans home. This isn't the first time that Mills has jumped into action like this. He has shown similar can-do mentality back in 2021, rescuing American families in Afghanistan during our disastrous withdrawal from that country. Speaking to the Floridian newspaper, Congressman Mills said he felt compelled to act after Hamas attacked Israel and is, quote, helping and showing solidarity with our Israeli brethren and helping

Americans evacuate. A few others also jumped into the fray, working to provide travel options for U.S. citizens looking to get out of Israel before the anticipated ground operation into Gaza. The U.S. government, a bit slow to the game, announced yesterday that they will be provided writing charter flights for Americans in Israel who want to leave and haven't been able to book passage commercially. So that's a good move. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Friday, 13 October. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to us at PDB at thefirsttv.com.

I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back on Monday. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.