Is the IDF Protecting or Provoking?

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Transcript

00:00Itamar, I just want to come back to you on something that Gershon just said,

00:04that if the Israeli military was doing its job, October 7 wouldn't have happened,

00:09that IDF neglect on the border is what caused this.

00:14What do you make of that as someone who chose not to serve?

00:21Is that sending the wrong message about the Israeli military?

00:25Is it sending the wrong message about the way Israel is defending its borders?

00:30Well, I don't think that the main part or even a little bit of the job that the IDF do is protecting.

00:39You can see it even before the genocide in Gaza, in West Bank, and not only.

00:46There is war everywhere.

00:47And I don't think that to ask me about you are not joining for defense your country or something like that.

00:58The IDF is not protecting anything.

01:00I'm just making more troubles for Jews and Palestinians mainly.

01:04And yeah, that's it.

01:06Asher, what do you make of it?

01:07I'm the only panelist here who is serving in the IDF.

01:12Itamar, I'm double your age.

01:13I can tell you absolutely that when we were in Lebanon, when we were in other areas,

01:18and we found rockets ready to fire on Israeli cities, we were absolutely saving lives.

01:24Gershon, I respect you.

01:25I've been following your career for many years, and I respect your intentions.

01:29But as you know, you've also spent many years reflecting, bringing Hamas's positions and views to the Israeli leadership.

01:37Your friend, Razi Hamad, who you portrayed as an Israeli partner, has now become a main spokesperson for Hamas.

01:45I want to make one thing clear, is that Israel has never claimed that it's supposed to destroy Hamas as an idea,

01:51because you can't destroy the Muslim Brotherhood as an idea.

01:54You can absolutely destroy Hamas as the dominant governing and military force in Gaza.

02:02Unfortunately, the IDF, it's been a very difficult battle.

02:05Hamas has nearly every home mosque school has been used to store weapons, as it appears for it.

02:11I mean, these are what the soldiers on the ground are saying, not what the talking heads are saying.

02:17And so therefore, it's been a very difficult battle, no doubt.

02:20But Israel can and should have defeated Hamas as the dominant power.

02:26We've seen that those who have protested Hamas in areas where the IDF isn't present are quickly have their legs shot or are murdered,

02:33because Hamas is able to maintain its reign of terror over the Gazan population.

02:39And again, the only way to get to a better tomorrow for Gazans, for Israelis, is to end the rule of Hamas.

02:44And these ideas that a consortium of Arab countries will just take over for us and do the job for us,

02:50or Hamas will willingly give up its weapons and go on vacation somewhere, is just totally baseless.