The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 31st, 2024: Leader Killed In Iran & Maduro's Violent Crackdown

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    Hamas’ chief political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran’s capital of Tehran early on Wednesday morning in a major blow to the terrorist group, throwing ceasefire talks into question and fueling concerns of an Iranian intervention in the war. As international outrage mounts over Venezuela’s fraudulent presidential election and violence on the ground spreads, dictator Nicolás Maduro is digging in his heels, arresting opposition leaders and vowing to crush the protest movement. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail]  Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Code: PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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first-time purchase. It's Wednesday, 31 July. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, in a major development concerning the war in Gaza, Hamas's chief political leader, Ishmael Hanya, has been killed in a targeted strike inside the Iranian capital of Tehran. Also, as international outrage continues to build over Venezuela's fraudulent presidential election and violence on the ground spreads. Well, dictator Nicholas Maduro is digging in his heels, arresting opposition leaders

and vowing to crush the protest movement. I mean, as they say, dictator's going to dictate. But first, our afternoon spotlight. Hamas's chief political leader, Ishmael Hanye, was assassinated in Iran's capital of Tehran early on Wednesday morning in a major blow to the terrorist group,

throwing ceasefire talks into question, and fueling concerns of an Iranian intervention in the war. His death, particularly because it occurred on Iranian territory, triggered widespread condemnation in the Arab world, with Iranian leaders threatening severe punishment for Israel. Now, there's no word as to whether the Arab world also condemns Iran's sponsorship of Hamas and other terrorist groups that carry out the Iranian regime's objectives in the region.

Anxieties are now high that the situation could further devolve and engulf the region in a wider conflict. It remains unclear how the killing was carried out, and so far no state or party has come forward to take credit, though early suspicion in the Middle East fell on Israel, according to a report from Reuters. Israel has stayed relatively quiet since the news broke, noting they don't respond to foreign reports. They have a history of targeted assassinations inside Iran and Syria on key players in Iran's so-called axis of resistance. It's an axis of terror. Their collection of militant Islamic terrorists, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Ishmael Hanyi led Hamas' political operations from exile in Qatar, where he lived an opulent lifestyle, facilitated by a personal fortune estimated at $4 billion, with a B, U.S. dollars. That would be $4 billion stolen by Hanyi and his Hamas leadership cohorts, stolen from funds supposedly provided to help the Palestinian people. Now, let me just repeat that. Hanyi and the other top leaders of the Iranian-sponsored Hamas have spent years stuffing cash in their pockets and living the life of the rich and famous at the expense of the

Palestinian people. He was in Tehran for the inauguration of new Iranian president, Masud Pazishin, who was sworn in Tuesday to chance of death to America and death to Israel. And you would think, after all these years, they'd come up with some new chance. The Hamas chief attended the ceremony alongside fellow terrorist leaders representing the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Yemen's Khutis, and Lebanon's Hezbollah. It really was a gathering of the Evil League of Evil. At one point, Hanye was seen hugging the new Iranian president of. What was meant to be a show of unity and force for the self-proclaimed axis of resistance turned into an embarrassing blow to Iran's regional interests. All eyes are now on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, who indicated on Wednesday that Iran

would retaliate. In a post on X, Khomeini said, quote, the criminal terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest in the territory and has caused our grief, but it has also prepared the ground for a severe punishment, end quote. Now, as I mentioned, Israel has not directly commented on the death of Hanyet. However, Israeli defense minister Yov Ghalant did say they are prepared for all scenarios, but they don't wish to escalate the war. The former head of the Iran branch for Israeli military intelligence told the Wall Street Journal, quote, we are on the verge of a large, large-scale escalation. Officials in Qatar, who have been mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Khabas,

condemned Hanyi's killing and said it jeopardized the ongoing negotiations, which had been proving, well, with cautious optimism, fruitful. Hanye had been a key player in these discussions, reportedly taking a more moderate position than Yaya Sinwar, Hamas's chief inside Gaza. According to mediators, he was advocating an end to fighting in an attempt to ensure the long-term survival of Hamas. So, yeah, what he was doing was supporting the ceasefire

in order to maintain Hamas as a viable terror organization and, of course, his own personal cash cow. Now, that being said, a senior Hamas official said Wednesday that the terror outfit would not be changing its main goals in ceasefire talks despite the death of Hanye. The official said, quote, the absence of one comrade or another does not change the movement's compass on any issues. end quote. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, meanwhile,

mostly sidestepped questions about the assassination at an event in Singapore. Blinken said, quote, all I can tell you right now is that nothing takes away from the importance of getting to the ceasefire. We have been working to try to prevent the conflict from spreading. The death of Hanye came less than 24 hours after Israel said they killed Hezbollah's most senior military commander in Lebanon's capital of Beirut. Israeli officials said the commander served as a close advice. to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and was responsible for the attack in the Golan Heights on Saturday that killed 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field.

Coming up after the break, as international outrage mounts over Venezuela's fraudulent presidential election and violence on the ground spreads, dictator Nicholas Maduro is digging in his heels, arresting opposition leaders and vowing to crush the protest movement. I'll be right back. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. The dictator of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, is doubling down on his dubious claims of victory in Sunday's presidential election, vowing to crush a burgeoning protest movement against election results that cement his grip on power, despite evidence that he lost by a wide

margin. In a country battered by political repression and an economic collapse that's pushed over 80% of the population into poverty in recent years, the last little bit of the population into poverty in recent years, The latest elections have been a flashpoint. Demonstrators demanded that the Maduro regime released the official tally sheets for each of the 30,000 voting machines across the country, only to be ignored by the regime and labeled as violent agitators intent on orchestrating a coup. The situation has become dire with the people of Venezuela taking to the streets to express their anger over nearly three decades of socialist rule. groups marched through the capital streets of Caracas on Monday and Tuesday, shouting against Maduro

and tearing down and trampling on the dictator's campaign posters. The Maduro regime met the protests with violent force, of course they did, with riot police on motorcycles and armored vehicles shooting tear gas into the crowds. According to local human rights groups, at least 16 people have been killed so far in the clashes. The Maduro regime also began arresting opposition leaders, including former deputy of the National Assembly, Freddie Superlano. On Tuesday, allies of Maduro also called for the arrest of Maduro's opponent, 74-year-old Edmundo Gonzalez, as well as opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. As we reported yesterday on the PDB, the presidential election is widely viewed as fraudulent,

both within Venezuela and abroad, and Venezuelan opposition leaders have presented concrete evidence of the corruption. Gonzalez and Machado said Tuesday, that they had obtained more than 73% of the tally sheets from Sunday's election, which show Gonzalez with more than twice as many votes as Maduro. That would be normally considered a wind. They compiled the data into a publicly accessible database that Venezuelans can use to review a scanned tally sheet from their voting station

showing how many votes went to each candidate. Despite this, the regime-controlled election council has declared Maduro the winner, and the opposition and international community will frankly have few options to remedy the situation. The nation's military, likely the only force capable of ousting Maduro, appears firmly on his side. The White House faces a dilemma in political intervention, given limited leverage as Maduro consolidates power across military, judiciary, and media sectors. In addition, Maduro has retained power with support from key global allies and and here they are, China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua,

which bolsters his position against growing internal and external pressures. Now, I for one, am shocked to know that China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba are all supporting a hard-line socialist dictator. I just didn't see that coming. Restoring sanctions on Venezuelan oil could have economic repercussions for America, particularly affecting gas prices in the U.S. during an election year. Now, there is as much likelihood that the Biden-Harris administration will do anything that could raise gas prices three months before the U.S. presidential election as there is that Maduro will suddenly repent and admit that he stole the election. Neither is going to happen. But doing nothing, Greenlights another six years of Maduro and power, expanding the exodus of Venezuelans and exasperating the migrant crisis on America's southern border.

It is, as they say, a conundrum, a pickle, as nearly eight million have already fled the country in recent years, according to regional analysts. The situation remains volatile, with the regime showing no signs of relinquishing power peacefully, risking a further dissent, of course, into chaos. Maduro's regime remains determined to suppress what it calls a coup attempt, with high-ranking officials vowing no dialogue or forgiveness for the opposition. And that, my friends, is the is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 31 July. Oh, look at that. We just about made it through another month. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. Of course, to listen to the show ad-free, well, become a premium member of the president's daily

brief by visiting PDB premium.com. And as you know, the PDB is available on all podcast platforms and our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Hey, honey, it's mom. Did you know if we switched to Verizon, we can get four phones for $0, plus four lines for $25 a line? Call me back. Me again. That's just $100 a month for four lines on unlimited welcome. Plus four phones, no trade in needed. Call me. It's Mom. America's Best Network, Verizon. That's the one we're talking about.

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