A Missing Israeli Soldier & the Truth About Hamas

0:00Watching the barbarous attacks in Israel this weekend, a lot of us are figuring out how to respond. I'm Jewish. I have relatives in Israel. So far, my relatives are safe. A lot of my friends and their families are not safe. I've been absolutely horrified watching some of the response in the U.S., seeing groups like the Black Lives Matter groups celebrating murder, celebrating with pictures of the paragliders who came in and surrounded and mutilated hundreds of bodies. You know, a lot of these universities two or three years ago put out statements when it was politically popular to do so, supporting different causes going on here.

0:35Now Stanford's saying, actually, we're not going to make comments on social events going on. Hamas is worse than the Nazis. The Nazis tried to cover up the evidence of their crimes, which they knew were heinous crimes. Hamas has been sharing them broadly, showing heads cut off of children, slaughtered, horrible things that you've all heard is what's going on. And we're going to talk today to a man whose niece has been captured by Hamas. The family doesn't know where she is. to get a sense of what's going on on the ground of Israel, what they experienced, what their hope is. I have four daughters who are young daughters who are safe here.

1:10I feel very lucky to be safe in Texas and the United States. I feel very lucky to have gut rights and the rights to defend ourselves against the bad guys and to have a strong government, strong military. Israel also has a strong military, but this was a heinous surprise attack. It's now Israel's job to crush Hamas, to make sure Hamas never exists again. Israel hunted down and destroyed the Nazis. The U.S. hunted down and destroyed ISIS. Hamas will be hunted down and destroyed now and for the coming years. They will have no place they can hide where they are safe from Israel and from its supporters.

1:45And it's important to me for everyone to see what's going on, to understand a little bit more what's going on on the ground, to hear from someone experiencing this. But thanks for listening. We're here with Elad Levy, who's calling in from Israel. Elad, can you tell your audience first a bit about yourself? Tell our audience. You lived in New York for many years. Where'd you grow up and where in Israel do you live now? I grew up in Israel and I moved to New York when I was 26. I went to school. I went to Columbia University and then worked in investment banking for a few more years. Then we moved back some 10 years ago and now we live in the center of Israel in one of the suburbs of Tel Aviv.

2:21And so let's go back to Saturday morning. It was the end of the seven-day festival, Sukkot, Shabbat morning. Where were you when the attack started? And tell us about what you experienced that day when you learned that your niece was under attack and had gone missing. We were at home. We're sleeping. It was 6.30 a.m. So we were all asleep. And, you know, we heard the siren through our night, you know, like sometimes happens and it's kind of like in your dream and it's not, is it real? Is it not real? Took us five seconds to understand that this is real and then the entire house was on a flight mode and checking you know taking the kids in bringing them making sure everybody is ready we have we are considered lucky in israel because we have one minute since the siren until uh the the bombs uh actually fall so making sure we bring the kids and then also uh bringing in the dog and uh so that caught us by surprise and it was came because usually when the artist rockets you have attention or there is sometime uh events that are you know before that so you kind of like you feel the tension rise up and this was just came out of nowhere this is a surprise a surprise attack out of nowhere a bunch of rockets yeah Complete surprise.

3:40Sometimes, you know, it's always a surprise, definitely from the personal point of view. But sometimes you do understand that the situation is very tight. There are some exchanges and then, you know, but here there was nothing. um after we left the the safe room which is secure for us to go out in in our area it's very area specific so you know we went straight to the tv to see what's going on and what we've seen and in israel you have these um red alerts kind of like you know it's orange uh notices where the rockets are falling, like, you know, by area and the city or town name. And the screen was just full.

4:24And it didn't stop. It was really something that we never seen before. And I'm looking at that really five, ten minutes, something very weird is going on. Half an hour later, maybe an hour later, we started to see videos of terrorists, Hamas terrorists in the street of the israeli towns so this is really was something that's very alarming and we spent most of the time in front of the tv just going on you know checking on twitter checking on updates checking on any other platform you were not in a town where the terrorists were you were more you're more north yeah we're north we're in the center of israel so yes yes yes we're not in the and we know and we all know that our our niece ronnie that she's the gaza border she you know uh she went back to her her post a week before we had a full dinner with her and it was nice so we asked her mother you know what's going on at around 9 30 she texted her mom and she said very simple, hi mom, I'm okay, I'm busy, and I love you.

5:33And that's it. So that's the last time we heard from Ronnie. And in Israel in particular, we started to see all, and you know, you see it on Twitter because people tweeted from their safe rooms in the kibbutzim and the villages down in the south and they said i am in the safe room i hear a lot of noise of weaponry with each you know it's not fighting in the kibbutz we hear them they're in the kibbutz they're in my house stuff like that and you see it and you become like all right where is the military where is you know what's going on and uh you know by the hour by the half an hour you find out what's going on is a massacre and it's slaughtering.

6:18And so that's kind of like, you know, what our feeling, we started to feel worry about Ronnie at around, let's say three or four o 'clock after we didn't hear from her for a long time. Was she with a unit with a group of people? What was she, what was she doing on the border? What do we know? So she was like in the communication center of her base. What we know that this base was attacked at around 7am. So the time that she sent a text message to her mom, she was under attack. And the room that she was, the communication room, is a safe room by itself. So the Hamas terrorists could not get in.

6:58And what they've done at around 10.30 or 11, we're not sure about the right timeline, could be later, they just started to burn everything. And they knew there were eight females there, same as Ronnie, teenagers, right? They're 19 years old, living in this communication room. And they just started to burn them. And then we heard someone who actually escaped. And someone from the family spoke with him. And he said the smoke, the black smoke started very thick. They couldn't see. They tried to reach everybody to get them out. How did he escape? Did he run out the back door or back window or how did he get away?

7:41He broke, I don't know the exact, but what we heard is that he broke one of the windows from inside, kind of like an emergency or something like that. And he took all the females that he could find to take them before he escaped by himself. So we, you know, there were like two or three that are alive. They are well. They got wounded and everything. And we know that there are a few confirmed dead, and there are a few that are missing, like Ronnie. What have you and her parents been going through since then? We read that no one slept for days trying to locate her. What are you trying to do? Absolutely.

8:20So first, they are devastated. You know, they really can't breathe. We can't take air into our lungs. I think that they are, in a way, I would say they take the positives, that they are very mission-oriented. it. So first, you know, it keeps them, makes the family very, very strong. So on Sunday, they went to all the hospitals in Israel. They also gave DNA samples, which is, I have to tell you, it's really, really, really tough situation to be in. And they started to call everybody they know to start to hear what they know. We're reaching out to all the people in the military but there's not a lot you know what was done there really was a massacre they burned the whole thing what they've done to bodies what they've done to you know female soldiers it's just you know it's unbelievable no words i've heard they found children's bodies with heads chopped off things like that i don't it's sad horrible talk about but yes you need to like what they've been finding.

9:24Absolutely. They found them in one of the kibbutzim. They found bodies of females after they've been, I don't know, brutally abused. They found bodies, the music festival, for example, what they've done, they came with their pickups and they rounded hundreds of people in a circle and then just slaughtered them. but it wasn't enough for them. They shoot all the bodies so badly. So, so many bodies today, we cannot recognize them because of the damages that they've done to the bodies. They found bodies with limbs that are cut off. I've seen one video when they burned a young lady, I think she's a teenager, alive, and she's screaming on the road or on the surface and they're just around her taking photos with their iPhones or whatever.

10:31These are the types. They burnt families in their homes. They burnt, you know, I can't even go any further, but this was a genocide. This is clearly evil. These attacks, Elad, are being called Israel's 911. What should Israel's response be to these atrocities and how should the U.S. international community respond? I think the Israeli response should be very clear. Wipe out Hamas, just like that. Yes. Like, you know, like the U.S. wiped out the Nazis in 1945, unconditional surrender. Like the U.S. wiped out ISIS. Like the U.S. wiped out Al-Qaeda. We should wipe out this, you know, terrorist organization.

11:19I agree. I was always proud that Israel hunted down all the Nazis to the end of the earth. And, you know, I built a company that contributed to helping wipe out some of the other groups you just mentioned. I agree with you. You know, I want to ask you a little bit about things going on in America because I think it's good for them to hear your view. You know, in America, we have our unorthodox Jewish commentator on the right, Ben Shapiro. He said that only about one third of Democrats and about one third of people who are age 18 to 29 in the U.S. believe that Hamas is deliberately targeting civilians.

11:48Literally only one third of them believe that Hamas is literally targeting civilians amongst Democrats and people that age. Even the most basic facts are lost on many people. They believe that Israel is just continuously occupying Palestine and restricting the movements. They just don't understand what just happened here. Why do Americans misunderstand the reality of what Hamas is? How does that make you feel? First, it makes me feel disgust, I got to tell you. It makes me feel that, you know, many people lost their values, their basic values and their basic judgment. what we've seen on Saturday is very clear it's 0 and 1 it's black and white I don't know when the US media will come back and I hope they pictured everything and I hope they'll air everything they will tell the story because there are villages that have been wiped out they've been doing their I can't even understand why people would say so I think what we've seen on Saturday wasn't any, by any means, any military action or even a political, you know, a military action with a political aim.

12:54There is no aim. You know, the only purpose, there is one purpose and one purpose only, to kill and slaughter other people. And, you know, there is one other angle to that. Among the people that were murdered and the people that they kidnapped, there are many internationals, right? There are so many international of which they butchered and took as, you know, hostage. Why are they doing that? What is the political aim here? They just came there to kill, slaughter people. Even the emergency medical vehicles driven by Arabs were the guys driving the vehicles to try to save lives were killed. I want to do a couple more in the US just to get your thoughts.

13:35One of the ones that really shocked me, even though I've always thought the Black Lives Matter groups in the US were Marxists and were bad, but they actually put out a picture of the paragliders saying we support Hamas and Palestine from the Black Lives Matter groups in the US. And, you know, many corporations have sponsored these groups. And a lot of us warn them that these groups are Marxists and they're not representative of the black people in the U.S. So it's very interesting and very sad seeing these radical, you know, people at universities, at these institutions, like, basically support this slaughter.

14:04Do you think they know what they're doing? What's going on here? A lot of us are confused how these groups could possibly put a picture of the hang gliders, you know, up. It's just disgusting to me. Do people in Israel see this? What do they think about that? I think, you know, people in Israel don't see that. But this is why I'm doing that, because I see that I speak to Americans. And this is why I'm trying to get to all the corners of America that I can. I do think that most of these people, most of the people from, you know, Black Lives Matter and all the other organizations are just being naive and being led and not using their own judgment.

14:42I think that whoever says at this day, I support Hamas and Palestine, he says, I support the Nazis. And if you remember, you know, even in the 1940s, there were people that in the beginning called to, you know, to make peace with the Nazis. You can, you know, you had Chamberlain, you had Churchill. You know, this is the time people need to decide. It's like you can't just, you know, be in between. You're Chamberlain or Churchill. You know, because this is going to come back to you. Hamas, they don't care about the Americans. they don't care about anybody they are terrorists this is isis you know they killed americans they killed argentinians italians they killed from you know thais you know filipinos were from all over the world they mass massacred them they slaughtered them as much as they same thing as it done to the israelis so i i don't know and and for the all the black life matter which i personally understand what they're doing.

15:40I can tell one thing, our collective feeling right now, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't feel my lungs air these days and for, it's a week. And we all feel since Saturday through the personal experience and through the national, we can't breathe. People in Israel cannot breathe these days. I can't imagine. I have four daughters. I can't imagine what this would be like. I want to ask briefly, a lot of us were surprised that there weren't more guns the private homes in Israel. In America, this is a big issue. A third of us own guns. In Israel, only 2 % are allowed to own it. I think they're changing the laws now.

16:14Is this something where more Israelis are going to buy guns and defend themselves? Is that something people are talking about at all? I think it will change. Look, we had our, you know, people that had guns, but the amount of people that they faced was just overwhelming. I can tell personally, you know, a few months ago I was thinking about that, but I didn't do it because of, you know, why should I own God? But this is something I'm going to do, I don't know, in the next few weeks. Yeah, well, we all have them here. You know, as we close, you know, what changes do you hope will come out of this?

16:50Do you think the world will finally see Hamas for what they are? And is Israel going to just eliminate them? And we hope to teach the world why this is necessary. What's going to be the change here? Yes. I think we'll have to work very hard to convince the world I think on the elimination of Hamas Israel at that point should concur less about what the world says I can't tell you how much we appreciate President Biden's speech I can tell that personally I cried and I can tell that 9 million other Israelis cried

17:28I can't even tell you the feeling that we had and we know that America will stand behind us, even with the crazy Democrats or the crazy Republicans or just the crazy, America will support us. So we're very thankful for that. And I think that one thing is that Hamas in Gaza should be demolished, should be eliminated. I agree. And people are starting to talk about human crisis in Gaza. And the only thing I can tell to these people that we can stop this crisis in one minute, one minute. If Hamas will go out from their tunnels and will surrender, the food, water, everything will flow into Gaza immediately.

18:19We'll take care of it. It's their choice. It's not our choice. Finally, Ilan, what can our audience do to help? I think what we're looking, what we're asking from all the world, Americans and Europeans and others as well, is support Israel unconditionally, unequivocally this time, today, tomorrow, next week, next month, because it's going to take time. Convince your friends, convince your daughter, convince your uncle, anyone. We need anyone in our camp. We need everybody. This is World War II effort for us. You know, we're a small country. and that's what we ask from all of you who are good friends.

18:56I want to end on a note of hope. Can you tell us a little more about Roni, your niece and who she is and what your hope is? Roni, she's a 19-year-old teenager. She loves, let's say, you know, like, you know, she's a Taylor Swift fan. She's, you know, like everyday teenager, went to parties, you know, a lot of jokes, very funny. she had a few dogs which she loved them a lot obviously bright future in front of her and that's who she is what do we hope for her? very difficult for me to speak because when you think about it rationally it's very difficult to see good options emotionally we're hoping that we'll find her I would say safe she's not going to be well but that's what we hope for alright well we'll say a prayer for her thank you very much for speaking to us and we're hoping for the best for Israel and we're supporting you as you do what you need to do thank you very much and we appreciate your time and we appreciate your support