The President's Daily Brief - October 31st, 2023: Bibi’s Blame Game, Hamas's Silent Crisis, & Russia's Disturbing Mob Scene

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: Israeli forces make a major move on Gaza's northern city, and Prime Minister Netanyahu's controversial comments lead to heightened tensions. A silent crisis unfolds in Gaza: foreign nationals, held as hostages by Hamas, prevented from leaving despite exit offers from neighboring nations. Turning our gaze to Russia, we unpack the harrowing incident at an airport where an anti-Semitic mob targeted passengers from an incoming Tel Aviv flight. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment: General Motors and the United Auto Workers come to an agreement, marking the end of a significant strike. However, Hollywood remains in a deadlock, as SAG-AFTRA and production houses continue their standoff. 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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Bad advice? You talking to me? Kayak, got that right. It's Tuesday, October 31st. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll begin with fresh developments from the Middle East,

where Israeli forces have launched a significant assault on Gaza's primary northern city. IDF forces have now been inside Gaza and battling Hamas for the past several days, in what Prime Minister Netanyahu has dubbed the second phase of the war. Additionally, Israel sees far. fallout as Netanyahu pulls back on contentious remarks, where he accused security chiefs of shortcomings in preempting the brutal Hamas attacks of 7 October. Later in the program, we'll shed light on Hamas's other hostages, hundreds of foreign nationals that Hamas is preventing from leaving Gaza, despite safe passage offers from Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, an alarming and disgusting situation unfolds in Russia. A mob storms an airport in Dagestan in a targeted anti-Semitic attack as a flight from Tel Aviv lands.

We'll take a closer look at this open, violent targeting of Jews by a crowd that was, I hate to say it, eerily reminiscent of Nazi Germany. To wrap up in our back of the brief segment, General Motors finalizes a crucial agreement with the United Auto Workers, signifying the conclusion of a landmark strike. Yet as one strike wraps up, Hollywood finds itself still on ice, with the actors union, the SAG-AFTRA, persisting in their disagreement with film and TV producers. But first, our PDB spotlight. The war between Israel and Hamas is now in its 25th day. To date, over 1,400 Israelis have lost their lives the vast majority, of course, in the Hamas rampage in early October. Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Health Ministry is reporting over 8,000 Palestinian casualties in Gaza.

Israel's offensive in Gaza continues unabated, and the Israeli defense forces have declared a significant expansion in troop numbers in northern Gaza. A spokesperson from Israel's military announced during a press conference on Monday that they are set to, quote, continue and intensify. their ground operations. On the ground in northern Gaza, IDF troops have penetrated deep into the Palestinian enclave. Eyewitnesses have reported the presence of Israeli tanks on the outskirts of Gaza's city, with a main road that connects the northern and southern parts of Gaza, now under blockade. The army has confirmed that they are in active engagement with Hamas terrorists

who have fortified themselves in residential areas targeting the IDF troops. The Israeli army has also revealed the deaths of three IDF soldiers in the ongoing conflict, a number that's almost certainly to multiply in the coming days. On a positive note, the combined efforts of the Israeli Defense Force and the Shimbabh Security Service resulted in the successful rescue of private Ori Megadish, an IDF soldier who had been taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. The army has confirmed her good health and stated that, that she's been safely reunited with her family. According to sources, the rescued soldier is providing much-needed intel support

to IDF elements working to rescue the more than 230 remaining hostages. In the political arena, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains firm in his stance against a ceasefire. During a press conference on Monday, Netanyahu said, quote, just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or after the terrorist attacks of 9-11, Israel will not consent to halt hostilities with Hamas following the traumatic events of October 7th, end quote. Both the prime minister and the defense minister were resolute during yesterday's press conference.

They restated that the war will not be over quickly, and they reconfirmed Israel's commitment to destroy Hamas, noting that now is a time for war, and in this conflict, Israel would expect all civilized nations to stand with them against the barbarism of Hamas. Now, Netanyahu has shown some strong leadership over the past 25 days, yet he's come under fire recently after he appeared to criticize the Israeli intelligence community for not providing ample warning about the October 7th attacks. Following a recent briefing with his security advisors, Netanyahu took to X, formerly known as Twitter, of course, to reiterate claims that he had not received prior warnings about the impending Hamas attack on 7 October. He even suggested that security chiefs continually assured him that Hamas had been deterred from carrying out any attacks against the Jewish state.

This sparked widespread criticism, as you might imagine, as many perceived it as an attempt to deflect blame. Responding to the backlash, Netanyahu retracted his words, stating in a subsequent message, quote, I was wrong. The comments I made post the press briefing were ill-advised, and I sincerely apologize. Now, full marks to Netanyahu for quickly walking back his comments and for making a straightforward and unequivocal apology. That's not something you tend to see much of in the U.S. where not only do politicians resist admitting mistakes, but their apologies, if uttered,

tend towards the feckless and mushy, sorry if what I said or did made you feel bad. But it's also a solid reminder that if you're in charge, if you're the leader, there's really only one honorable course of action. You take the blame when something goes wrong, and you give others credit when something goes right. All right, coming up after the break, more than 230 hostages taken on October 7th, remain in the Gaza Strip.

However, another group of captives is receiving far less attention, the hundreds of foreign nationals in Gaza whom Hamas is preventing from leaving, despite safe passage offers from Israel and Egypt. Plus, a disturbing anti-Semitic attack has been caught on tape, showing hundreds of Russian Muslims hunting Jewish individuals in the Dagestan airport. Now, if you thought that anti-Jewish hatred and violent rhetoric was a thing of the past, perhaps consigned to the dustbin of history after the horrors of the Holocaust, well, you'd be wrong. I'll be right back. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.

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See full terms at mintmobile.com. Welcome back to the president's daily brief. We're keeping a close eye on the plight of the hundreds of people kidnapped on October 7th. And on Monday, Hamas released what can only be described as their first hostage video. In the brief video, three Israeli women in front of a nondescript wall directly criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu, accusing him of neglect following the terror groups October 7th assault and urging him to facilitate their release. Now, although the women show no signs of physical injuries, they were obviously under distress in the video. Responding to the video, Netanyahu labeled it as, quote, cruel psychological propaganda. Unfortunately, this sort of abuse and psychological torture is exactly what you would expect from Hamas.

Hamas is a terror organization, and the release of manipulative hostage videos is simply another form of terrorism. In a related story, the remains of Shani Lauk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman, were reportedly discovered by IDF soldiers inside Gaza. Lauk was kidnapped at the music festival on the morning of 7th.3,000. October. She was subsequently tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists. The whole brutal ordeal was captured on video. Now, while the plight of these hostages is rightly grabbing headlines, a lesser-known crisis is brewing inside Gaza. Hundreds of foreign nationals who are being detained and prevented from leaving. Among these captives are an estimated 600 American citizens. despite ongoing intensive negotiations for their release over recent weeks, the situation remains dire.

Israel and Egypt and a show of cooperation have approved the evacuation of these foreign nationals. However, a major obstacle remains, and that would be Hamas, which retains control of the Gaza Strip and the Rafa crossing. That's the single exit point for these foreign nationals. consequently, many of the foreign nationals find themselves stranded at the Rafah crossing, with Egypt merely meters away. Although humanitarian aid trickles in, these individuals remain trapped, effectively serving as yet more human shields in Hamas's broader strategy. Now, one predictable consequence of the Israel-Hamas conflict has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks. Right in the U.S., the ADL reported 312 anti-Semitic incidents from October 7th to

October 23rd, marking a very concerning 388% surge compared to this time last year. Out of these, 190 were directly associated with the war in Israel and Gaza. Of course, things are going just as poorly overseas. Case in point, the Russian report. Republic of Dagestan, a Muslim-dominated region in southwestern Russia. A flight from Israel was set to land in the Republic's largest airport when an enraged mob swarmed the airport, causing officials to shut down the facility and reroute incoming flights. Now, multiple social media clips reveal crowds inside the airport and even on the runway. Many were waving Palestinian flags, while others aggressively broke through closed doors in the international terminal.

Their objective, well, it was to target Jewish individuals within the terminal and aboard the incoming flight. Disturbingly, various anti-Semitic banners like, quote, we are against Jewish refugees, and, quote, there is no place for child killers in Dagestan were paraded outside the airport. There's no word on whether the mob was equally outraged by Hamas's brutal killing of, hundreds of children, babies, and young people, or whether the mob just had selective outrage. It's also not clear if the Dagestan anti-Semitic mob got their banners from the same banner outlet as the New York City protesters that we highlighted during yesterday's PDB. You'll recall that that crowd, about 7,000 strong, temporarily blocked the Brooklyn Bridge

and carried a variety of hate-spewing banners, including, quote, F Israel, just as Palestine, and the always popular phrase among assorted anti-Jewish mobs by any means necessary. Luckily, none of the passengers from the inbound Tel Aviv flight into Dagestan suffered injuries during the violent chaos. However, some police officers and civilians weren't as fortunate with two reported in critical condition. Regional authorities have since detained over 80 individuals. It's worth noting that in response to the riot, Russian press, Vladimir Putin is claiming that Ukrainian and Western spy agencies were responsible, of course. Finally, in today's back of the brief, General Motors reaches a tentative agreement with the UAW

bringing a close to a historic strike. I'll be right back. Welcome back. In today's back of the brief, an update on a story we've been following closely here on the PDB. General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union have tentatively reached an agreement, potentially concluding the union's groundbreaking strike against the nation's big three unionized automakers. It appears that the terms are being finalized, but indications are that deals with all three, Ford, GM, and Stalantis are not far off. According to sources, the top-line agreement includes upwards of a total 30% pay increase, along with some concessions from the automakers regarding future right-to-strike triggers and other sought-after deal points.

Now, while the news from the auto industry looks positive, Hollywood remains paralyzed by an ongoing strike. The actors' union, Sag Afterra, persists in its four-month deadlock with major studios. Now, if you want to laugh, and God knows, we could use one occasionally in today's world, SAG Aftera has just released guidelines on Halloween costumes. The union warned its members, that dressing up as their favorite film or television characters this Halloween could be breaking strike rules.

They advised that members could dress up like generalized figures, but not characters from so-called struck content. In other words, they allowed to dress up as a spider, but not Spider-Man. Now, actor Ryan Reynolds tweeted, quote, I look forward to screaming scab at my eight-year-old all night. She's not in the union, but she needs to learn. By the way, let me know what you've pulled together for your Halloween costumes. And if you're handing out full-sized candy bars, send me your address and I'll rock up on your doorstep.

And that, my friends, is the president's daily brief for Tuesday, 31 October. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line.

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