What A Day - Breaking Down The Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

Negotiators announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had reached a temporary ceasefire deal to pause the 15-month war in Gaza and return some Israeli hostages. President Biden celebrated the news of the deal in comments at the White House, though it still has to be ratified by Israel’s government. The ceasefire is set to go into effect Sunday, but it doesn’t guarantee a permanent end to the war. Ultimately, it will be up to the incoming Trump administration to make sure both parties uphold their end of the agreement. Crooked’s Tommy Vietor, co-host of ‘Pod Save the World,’ explains what happens now.And in headlines: Confirmation hearings continued for President-elect Donald Trump’s clown car of a cabinet, South Korean officials apprehended and detained the country’s impeached president, and the Supreme Court signaled it might be OK with a Texas law requiring age verification to view online porn.Show Notes:Check out Pod Save The World – crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-world/Support victims of the fire – votesaveamerica.com/reliefSubscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Thursday, January 16th. I'm Erin Ryan filling in for Jane Costin, and this is What A Day, the show asking, If we can't even trust gay disco legends, the village people not to perform at Trump's inauguration, who can we trust? YMCA used to mean something. On today's show, confirmation hearings for Trump's clown car of a cabinet continue, and the Supreme Court considers a First Amendment case that could leave Texans with some extra free time. There are so many above-the-fold headlines today that in order for all of it to fit on

a physical newspaper, they'd have to either make the font really small or the paper really big. But let's start with the biggest headline on a day of headlines. A temporary deal between Hamas and Israel. The 42-day deal involves the release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, and it puts a pause on the 15-month war. President Biden spoke about the deal at the White House on Wednesday, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. As at long last, I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli government is expected to vote on whether or not to ratify the deal on Thursday

morning. But as news traveled, war-weary Gazans celebrated what might be the light at the end of a very long dark tunnel. Some Palestinian kids celebrated when they heard the news. Hearing that really brings home how affected they were by all of this. By now, most of us are familiar with the Israel-Hamas War by the numbers. Fighting began shortly after Hamas' surprise attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. More than 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, died in the attack. Around 250 were taken hostage. Israel responded by waging a devastating military campaign in Gaza. Palestinian health officials say more than 46,000 people have been killed in Israel's ground and air assaults, more than half of them women and children.

Analysts say the death toll is probably an undercount. The International Court of Justice is currently weighing whether Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide. Both Israeli and Hamas leaders have arrest warrants out against them from the International Criminal Court, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Throughout this, the Biden administration provided nearly $18 billion in aid to Israel. U.S. officials vetoed multiple ceasefire proposals at the United Nations. But now, finally, it seems that all parties have reached an agreement to end the fighting and release some of the

remaining hostages. All of this is happening as the sun sets on the Biden administration. Literally. The deal is set to go into effect Sunday, just hours before Biden's term ends, but the outgoing president made it clear who he believes deserves the credit here. Who is the history books credit for this, Mr. President, you or Trump? Is that a joke? Still it's not like the Trump administration will be able to waltz in, sit back, and let the unearned accolades roll in. Although President-elect Donald Trump has a long history of pretending to do things

that he didn't do, and disavowing things he definitely did, his administration now faces the daunting task of making sure both parties uphold their end of the agreement. So what does this mean? Is the war actually over? To get into it, I sat down with Crooked Media's own Tommy Vitor, co-host of Pod Save the World. Tommy Vitor, welcome back to What A Day. Great to be here. Great to have you. Big picture. So what's in this deal? Great to be here. Great to have you. Big picture.

So what's in this deal? So we finally, after 15 months of brutal fighting, have a second ceasefire deal. It's a phased approach. Basically, the first phase is six weeks. The Hamas will release 33 hostages, mostly women, older men, people who are sick, in exchange for hundreds, maybe thousands of Palestinian prisoners. There will be a cessation of hostilities, and the IDF will pull back from population centers

and allow Gazans to return home. And then during that first phase, they'll negotiate phase two and phase three, which the shorthand is a more hostage release, the IDF getting fully out of Gaza, and then a very, very long reconstruction period. Mm-hmm So why is it happening now? It seems like the Biden administration has been pushing Basically this exact deal for months and months and months

It sounds like what happened was Steve Woodcoff Trump's new Middle East envoy Had a meeting with then Yahoo where he applied some real pressure and said, you know Donald Trump means it when he says there will be hell to pay if there's not a deal by the time he takes office and apparently that hell was offered up to both sides. It wasn't just a threat for Hamas. It was a threat to the Israelis. Equal opportunity hell. Yeah. So this does have something to do with the fact that Trump is about to take office.

I think so. Yeah. So does Trump deserve credit for this? He deserves some credit. Yeah. I mean, he got over the finish line take office. I think so. Yeah. So does Trump deserve credit for this? He deserves some credit. Yeah. I mean, he got over the finish line. Yeah. I think Joe Biden and his team worked really hard. They put together the structure of the bill, the sequencing, the math on how many Palestinian prisoners

get released per every Israeli hostage. But Trump gave it that final push and got it done. So it's a short-term deal, only 42 days to start. What needs to happen to make it permanent? Yeah, I think what needs to happen in that first phase is they need to be negotiating phase two and phase three. And the good thing about this deal, I think, as President Biden said today, is that as long as negotiations are happening in good faith, the ceasefire portion will continue. And then one thing I forgot to mention that's arguably the most important piece,

at least from the Palestinian perspective, is the international community will be able to surge humanitarian relief into Gaza as soon as the ceasefire starts. They're talking about up to 600 trucks of aid per day, including fuel and things that are really critically needed. Let's go back to that fine print in Biden's speech about how the ceasefire will carry on if.

Let's listen. The plan says if negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire will continue as long as the negotiations continue. So what does that mean? Is there a chance that the Trump administration could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory here? Yeah, I think Trump could do that. I think the Israelis could decide

that they don't feel like Hamas is cooperating or negotiating in good faith. Hamas could decide the Israelis are not negotiating in good faith. So these things are precarious. I think it will require some work to keep it on track, but the US, the Egyptians, the Qataris are supposed to help make sure the deal is actually implemented. Okay, so let's think optimistically for a second in the sense that maybe this could lead to something semi-permanent,

although I think this is like the fifth war since 2008. So, you know, what is permanence in the Middle East? What would it mean for both Israelis and Palestinians? Like, it's hard to believe that things would just go back to the way they were before the war. Yeah, and I think you're getting at the most important part, which is this is a ceasefire. Hopefully it will be permanent. But I think like 90% of structures in Gaza

have been destroyed. There's no infrastructure, there's no water, there's no roads, people don't have anywhere to live. So we're talking about a generational reconstruction process. And there has not really been any serious conversation about who will be leading in Gaza going forward. Is it going to be Hamas or what's left of Hamas? Is it going to be the Palestinian Authority? Is it going to be some other organization or group of people? None of these questions have been figured out. So in some ways as hard as it was to get the ceasefire done, this is the easy part. Now

we're talking about a decades-long project. Mm-hmm. Yeah and on the note of a decades-long project, is there any concern of bad actors trying to take advantage of the fact that Gaza has basically been leveled? What does that look like? Yeah, I mean, you're right. I mean, the extreme factions on both the Israeli right and Hamas have always blown up any opportunity to get to a peace agreement. And so you could see bad actors in Hamas or ISIS or other jihadi groups launch attacks into Israel with the hope of getting a retaliation and starting the war back up.

You could see parts of the extreme Israeli right that have talked about sending settlers back into the Gaza Strip and basically just annexing it and making it part of Israel going forward. So, I mean, that's the other piece of this. I mean, forever we've talked about a two-state solution and then negotiated, set of negotiations that lead to a Palestinian state. We are so much further away from that being reality

than we were before. And things had not been close since what, like 2009, 2014. So it had been a long time since there were real talks. It also seems like there's a lack of trust on both sides. On the Israeli side, there seems to be zero trust for Palestinians. The political pressure for a ceasefire seemed to mostly extend only to getting the hostages back. So how do you work to mend those fences? Yeah, I mean, I think there are I mean, I think there are unbelievably deep, you know, wounds on both sides. I'm not sure either public will be ready for peace or coexistence anytime soon. I think it's going to take a lot of work. And bigger picture, the Middle East looks very different than it did before this war started. You know, Hamas, Hezbollah, they've both been decimated.

That's left Iran in a weaker position in the region because those were two of its biggest proxy forces. Syria could become a power vacuum, probably already kind of is, depending on how things shake out there. So what does this mean for Donald Trump? Do you want to be the person coming in to handle that? Trump 2.0 is inheriting a lot more uncertainty. As you pointed out, I mean, Lebanon just got a new president and prime minister in place after two years of a caretaker government. Syria, they just pushed out Assad, which is a great story. But now they're kind of the remnants of HTS, this rebel group that led the uprising in the ouster of Assad is trying to figure out what comes

next and they're trying to work with the international community to get rid of sanctions and get aid and development money into Syria. And then you've got Iran, which has been weakened, but is also closer than ever to getting a nuclear weapon. Great. And they, according to US law enforcement, were trying to assassinate Donald Trump during the election and now he's the president again. So they're in a pretty precarious situation.

So there's just a lot is up in the air right now. Yeah. And a lot of sporting events about to happen in Saudi Arabia. So that's- Get some soccer games. Soccer games on the schedule. All this couldn't possibly go wrong. Yeah, you know, then we can, some other episode,

we'll talk about all the right wing governments emerging in Europe and you know. Everything's gonna be fine. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be fine. Okay, so final question. What does this mean for Biden's legacy? It's a hard question.

I think that for me personally, I'm very grateful that we got a deal. I'm glad that Joe Biden never gave up. I'm glad that President Trump decided to use his leverage to get the thing over the finish line. But I'm pretty frustrated that we went so long without putting any meaningful pressure on the Israeli government, on Bibi Netanyahu to end the war and get to a ceasefire deal. In part because you had these hostages rotting in tunnels in Gaza for 15 months in the worst conditions imaginable. You had, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, 46,000 people killed. And I personally think that's going to be a drastic undercount because there's so many

bodies just under the rubble that have not been accounted for. You have- Yeah, I've seen counts up to like a hundred thousand. Yeah, I mean, the Lancet, which is a prestigious medical journal said they think the accurate count is at least 40% above what the Hamas Health Ministry says. And then you just have, you know,

like a generation of people on both sides completely traumatized. So look, after October 7th happened, everyone knew that something awful had been unleashed and it was going to take a long time to end. But I think the US could have used more leverage on the Israelis to try to end the war faster. And I think that's going to be a big piece of Joe Biden's legacy. Well, Tommy, thank you so much for joining me to talk about this. I'm sure there will be more to say about this as events continue to unfold and more details come to light.

Tommy Vitor, thank you. Thanks for having me. That was my conversation with Tommy Vitor, co-host of Crooked's Pod Save the World. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a day is brought to you by Vaya. I don't know about you, but for me and my family, 2025 so far has been incredibly un-chill. My husband and I have just been dealing with a lot.

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viahemp.com slash wad that's v-i-i-a-h-e-m-p dot com backslash w-a-d. Here's what else we're following today. Senate confirmation hearings continued in D.C. on Wednesday. The President-elect's nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi was up first. Bondi and Trump go way back. She previously served as Florida's attorney general. In 2013, she declined to investigate allegations of fraud against Trump University. Days later, luckily, Donald Trump made a $25,000 contribution to her reelection bid through his foundation,

which led to an ethics investigation into Bondi since charities are not supposed to make political donations. Whoopsie. Trump's foundation blamed a clerical error. She later would go on to work on Donald Trump's 2016 transition team, defend Trump in his first impeachment trial,

and has been affiliated with think tanks and businesses closely associated with Trump and his family. Democrats, naturally, had a lot of questions about her personal ties to the president-elect. Bondi promised, however, that she would of questions about her personal ties to the president-elect. Bondi promised, however, that she would be a nonpartisan attorney general. But she would not acknowledge Biden won the 2020 election, even when asked by Democrats like Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Are you prepared to say today under oath, without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020? Ranking member Durbin, President Biden is the president of the United States. He was duly sworn in and he is the president of the United States. There was a peaceful transition of power. It makes them short circuit to ask them that question. It's like asking Rumpelstiltskin to say his own name. He just goes up in a puff of smoke.

Anyway, she also did not rule out prosecuting Trump's political enemies, like former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith. Bondi was asked by California Senator Adam Schiff. The president has said Jack Smith should go to jail. Will you investigate Jack Smith? Senator, I haven't seen the file. I haven't seen the investigation. I haven't seen the investigation. I haven't looked at anything.

It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything. I don't even have eyes. I can't even read. I've never been exposed to the light. What are these squiggly things on this white square in front of me? And why, Senator Maisie-Horono?

How about Liz Cheney? Senator? things on this white square in front of me. And Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono. How about Liz Cheney? Senator? How about Merrick Garland? I am not going to answer hypotheticals. Aren't all questions, like, kind of hypothetical? What would you do? You know what?

I've got a headache. Senators also held a confirmation hearing for a Secretary of State nominee and their colleague, Senator Marco Rubio, on Wednesday. The Florida Republican faced tough questions from Democrats about his loyalty to the president-elect. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, in particular, pressed Rubio about Trump's financial ties to authoritarian nations like Saudi Arabia. Do you see how this fundamentally compromises your diplomatic efforts. Do you have an issue or will you raise an issue

with the president about his growing financial connection with the governments that you're going to be negotiating with? Well, first of all, I am neither authorized nor in any position to give you sort of any insights into any of these arrangements you've pointed out. Bondi is scheduled for another round of hearings on Thursday. Chris Wright, Donald Trump's pick to head the energy department was also grilled by some Senate Democrats in his confirmation hearing Wednesday.

The oil executive had to answer to previous comments that he made, claiming climate change hasn't caused more frequent and severe wildfires, which is a wild thing to say during a time of climate change anyway, but is extra wild when America's second largest city is currently on fire. If only we could harness the power of the audacity as an alternative energy source. On the Petro Nerds podcast in 2021, won't be adding that one to my queue, Wright spoke about the connection of warming and wildfires and said, quote, it is not because of climate change. Wright continued this rhetoric in more recent LinkedIn posts, also will not

be reading those, during the 2023 Canadian wildfires. He wrote, quote, The hype over wildfires is just hype to justify more impoverishment from bad government policies. California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla had some issues with that and asked Wright about the comments during his hearing. Do you still believe that wildfires are just hype? Sir, it is with great sorrow and fear that I watch what's happening in your city of LA. Do you think it's just hype or not?

Climate change is a real and global phenomenon. Is it hype or not? I stand is a real and global phenomenon. Is it hype or not? I stand by my past comment. So you believe it's hype? You know? Climate change is a real... Tell that to the families of the more than two dozen lost in these fires and counting. At least 25 people have been killed and thousands of homes, schools, and other buildings have been destroyed in the fires across LA. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 120,000 homes in California were without electricity. The impeached president of South Korea was apprehended, questioned and sent to a detention center near Seoul Wednesday on potential rebellion charges.

President Yoon Suk-yool's capture comes after he tried to impose martial law last month, which he justified by citing his opposition's quote, legislative dictatorship. After cutting through barriers at the presidential residence Wednesday, police detained Yoon. It was their second attempt to arrest him. In a video statement, Yoon said he decided to comply with the summons to prevent any unfortunate incidents or bloodshed.

Yoon is the country's first sitting president to be detained. South Korea's anti-corruption agency now has 48 hours to request a court order for Yoon's formal arrest. If it doesn't make the request, Yoon will be released. Note to self, next time you wish for a presidential perp walk, make sure to specify which country. The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday over a Texas law that requires users to verify their age to view pornography online. The law, which was enacted in 2023, is aimed at keeping minors from viewing sexually explicit content, but free speech advocates argue that the law is unconstitutional because it requires adults to submit personal information like a government-issued ID in order to view content online, which

means hypothetically that Texans pornography search terms would be associated with their government-issued IDs. Now, from a free speech and privacy perspective, this is troubling, but from the perspective of someone who, like me, loves mess, this is kind of funny. The justices seem to agree that states should be able to shield kids from adult content, but they were also sympathetic to concerns over how the law could infringe upon First Amendment rights. More than a dozen states currently require age verification on foreign sites. The court will likely issue a decision by June,

decision that will greatly influence the summers of people across the country and the amount of free time that they have. And that's the news. Before we go, California is racing to contain wildfires as weather conditions improve, but MAGA leaders are blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion for the crisis instead of focusing on real solutions. And this isn't new. Many companies are also rolling back DEI programs as the new Trump administration approaches. That's why this week on Assembly Required, Stacey Abrams and NYU Law Professor Kenji Yoshino tackle the myths, legal arguments, and share why DEI isn't the problem, it's the solution. Listen to this episode now on the Assembly Required Feed.

That's all for today. If you liked the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, don't stare at Pam Bondi's veneers for too long, you will go blind, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about the intersection of the First Amendment and porn like me, what a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Erin Ryan and everyone should have been meaner to Marco Rubio. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor.

Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Foer. Our producer is Michelle Eloy. We had production help today from Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrian Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilyard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.