Transcript:
The Inside Story: Israel at War
Episode 116 – November 2, 2023Page 1 of 23
Show Open:
This week on The Inside Story: We continue our coverage of the situation in Gaza and in the West Bank. Israel's Prime Minister rejects calls for a cease-fire. Protesters raise their voices around the world. President Biden faces domestic pressure to curtail Israel’s incursion. Now on The Inside Story... Israel at War.
The Inside Story:
CARLA BABB, VOA Pentagon Correspondent:
Welcome to The Inside Story, I’m Carla Babb reporting from the Pentagon. A degrading situation in Gaza as Israeli troops move into the region; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting calls for a ceasefire. Meanwhile relief begins to trickle in as aid workers warn of a humanitarian catastrophe. Here in Washington, most in Congress agree that an aid package is necessary, but so far disagree over ways to get one passed. All this, amidst continuing protests and an alarming rise in antisemitic and anti-Islam sentiment around the world, now on The Inside Story.
CARLA BABB:
Israeli forces are expanding their ground incursion into Gaza, targeting and claiming to kill dozens of high-level Hamas fighters. But as Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem, the expanding offensive also comes with an expanding the humanitarian crisis.
LINDA GRADSTEIN, VOA Correspondent:
Israeli tanks and troops pushed further into the northern Gaza Strip overnight Sunday, reaching the outskirts of densely populated Gaza City, as Israel continued its unrelenting airstrikes on Gaza. Israel said it killed dozens of Hamas terrorists who had barricaded themselves inside buildings.
Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi met troops on the front lines.
Herzi Halevi, Israeli Military Chief of Staff:
We are at war. You understood this from the first day. This will be a long process, and we are at the stage that we are hitting the enemy hard from inside the Gaza Strip.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
The expanded Israeli incursion came amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian health ministry said the death toll since the Israeli airstrikes began more than three weeks ago passed 8,300, more than half of them women and children. Officials from humanitarian organizations say that Israel must allow more aid into Gaza.
Karim Ahmad Khan, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor:
There should not be any impediment to humanitarian relief supplies going to children, to women and men, civilians. They are innocent. They have rights under international humanitarian law. These rights are part of cursory international law. These rights are part of the Geneva Conventions.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Israel says that it is allowing humanitarian aid into southern Gaza, where it has warned more than a million Palestinians to flee to. Meanwhile, the Israeli army says that Hamas is diverting aid and fuel and using hospitals as command centers instead of safe zones for civilians.
Daniel Hagari, Israel Defense Forces Spokesman:
Hamas has turned hospitals into command and control centers and hideouts for Hamas terrorists and commandos. Additionally, I can confirm that according to the intelligence we have in our hands, there is fuel in hospitals in Gaza.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
While most Israelis support the ground incursion and the state’s goals of eradicating Hamas, the families of the more than 230 Israelis taken hostage worry that the ground invasion could endanger the hostages. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the families and assured them that increased military pressure on Hamas was the only chance for getting the hostages released.
But the son of Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, believed to be a hostage in Gaza, disagrees with this approach.
Yonatan Zeigen, Son of Israeli Hostage:
Soldiers are not surgeons—they can’t save one person from – I don’t think it works like that. War is chaotic. And also from the side of Hamas -- they took the prisoners as leverage, and if they lose that leverage, then they don’t have use for them anymore. So it seems to me that she is more at risk.
LINDA GRADSTEIN
Israeli officials say they expect the war in Gaza to continue for several months.
Linda Gradstein, VOA News, Jerusalem.
CARLA BABB:
Violence is exploding across the West Bank, with almost daily incursions by Israeli forces into Palestinian cities and towns to arrest people suspected of Hamas ties. Many killed are members of armed groups operating in the West Bank, but according to the U.N., nearly 30% of the victims VOA’s Yan Boechat reports from the West Bank.
YAN BOECHAT, Reporting for VOA:
Here at the Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank, children play with toy guns in the very same place where Israeli forces killed two Islamic Jihad fighters just a few hours earlier.
They run, shoot, and hide from imaginary enemies on this street, which has been destroyed by bulldozers. The bullet holes and bloodstains are still fresh from the recent battle. Some of the kids pretend to shoot into the air to celebrate the fallen comrades' deaths.
Jubar:
There's no fear, my only fear is God.
Jubar is 12 years old and has many plans in life. He says he wants to study, become a professional football player, and a fighter. Last Friday, we spent the day with him. He carried a plastic rifle, which had a picture of a friend who died while confronting Israeli forces.
Jubar:
He was here, and they were there … and then, boom, boom, boom, he was dead.
YAN BOECHAT:
Aysar Al-Amer – a local commander in the Islamic Jihad militant group – was killed that morning.
His funeral attracted hundreds of people in Jenin, including dozens of fighters from different factions who favor a more violent approach toward Israel.
This is a scene that is becoming more and more common here in the West Bank. This is another funeral of a Palestinian fighter killed by Israeli forces. As you can see, there's a lot of tension here.
U.N. data suggests this is the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank in 15 years. More than 120 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and sparking the Israel Hamas war.
Most Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during incursions into refugee camps to arrest suspects linked to Hamas.
Attacks by Jewish settlers have also surged in the West Bank, and the number of Palestinians killed by settlers has been increasing.
In this small village near Nablus, at least five Palestinians have been killed by Jewish settlers in the last two weeks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Murat Obeh says he was shot.
Murat Obeh, Palestinian in the West Bank:
I was sleeping when I heard the loudspeaker of the mosque announcing there was an attack and people needed help. I rushed to the scene and saw my cousin lying on the ground. I put him in the car, and when I was going back to help the others, a bullet hit me in the back.
YAN BOECHAT:
Every day, new posters of deceased Palestinians are being printed and posted on the walls of Palestinian cities. With the violence escalating, many here seem to believe that the war is drawing closer than ever to the West Bank once again.
Yan Boechat, VOA News, in the West Bank.
CARLA BABB:
Images of the human toll of war continue pouring out as Israeli forces pummel Hamas targets in Gaza. The imagery can be hard to see and have fueled protests around the world in both opposition and support of Israel’s war on Hamas. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi looks at the
ongoing demonstrations.
ARASH ARABASADI, VOA Correspondent:
Israeli airstrikes reduce a Gaza neighborhood to smoking ash and rock as rescuers dig for survivors using their bare hands. It’s an all-too common scene following Israel’s response to Hamas fighters’ deadly incursion into Israel on October seventh. More than 14-hundred people in Israel died from that attack. Hundreds are still hostages.
Almost immediately an outpouring of support and demonstrations, like this one in New York City, calling for the release of hostages. Such gatherings took place in communities around the world. But so, too, did protests denouncing the loss of civilian life due to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, like this one across town on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.
Or in the country’s Midwest, at a rally in Skokie, Illinois where police arrested two people after they say one man fired a shot in the air while another pepper-sprayed pro-Palestinian demonstrators near an Israeli solidarity event in the Chicago suburb.
In the nation’s capital and on the doorstep of the White House, anti-war demonstrators carried signs reading, “Jews say: Ceasefire now.”
Eva Borgwardt, IfNotNow Political Director:
The Israeli Government right now is genocidal. Make no mistake. As Jews, we recognize it.
While some are denouncing the violence as a whole, others like these protestors in Philadelphia are focused on the hundreds of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas… marching in support of Israel and calling for hostage freedom.
And in Paris, where the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France staged a demonstration in front of the Eiffel Tower with strollers carrying pictures of children held hostage by Hamas.
But in London, thousands gathered outside British Parliament calling for an end to the war. This demonstration is organized by Palestine Solidarity Campaign. It is one of many pro-Palestinian protests and organizers calling for a “stop” to “the attacks on Gaza.”
Through much of the Arab world, however, demonstrations appear more personal as protestors say they see themselves as part of the conflict. Tens of thousands took to the streets in Jordan’s capital city, Amman. They carried pro-Hamas banners and blasted Israel, the United States, and France.
Husam Walid, Protester:
Netanyahu, Biden, and all the European countries call for democracy. When we go out to defend our people in Palestine and condemn the aggression and demand that the aggression against our children in brothers in Gaza stop, they say we are terrorists… We will not calm down, an we will not sleep… until they stop the aggression against Gaza.
ARASH ARABASADI:
And highlighting the dangerous effect both the attack and the Israeli response is having,
Many protestors are calling for an end to the nearly 20-year-old peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News.
CARLA BABB:
In the days following the massacre of hundreds of Israelis by Iranian-backed Hamas, the U.S. military has blamed other Iranian-backed proxy groups for near-daily attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria. According to the Pentagon, about 30 attacks using rockets and drones have targeted U.S. forces since October 17. Last week, the U.S. retaliated with precision strikes against facilities in Syria tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and affiliated groups, but the attacks against American personnel, while largely unsuccessful, have not stopped.
Lloyd Austin, Defense Secretary:
If this doesn’t stop, then we will respond.
CARLA BABB:
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warning Iranian-backed militant groups on Tuesday while fielding concerns from lawmakers that last week’s U.S. military response to the attacks in Iraq and Syria wasn’t strong enough.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican:
If we do not have a credible, not just a deterrence, but a credible deterrence with Iranians, these attacks are going to escalate. They're going to come faster. They're going to spread beyond Syria and Iraq, and they will involve weaponry of increasing sophistication and legality. That is my biggest fear.
CARLA BABB:
Hundreds more troops have deployed to the region, along with multiple Patriot batteries and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to knock threats out of the sky.
The USS Eisenhower carrier strike group is heading to the Gulf, while the USS Ford carrier strike group prowls the eastern Mediterranean.
Thousands of Marines aboard the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship patrol near Israel.
The top U.S. Marine, General Eric Smith, tells VOA those forces are there to protect and deter, not to go into Gaza.
Gen. Eric Smith, Marine Corps Commandant:
There is no intent that I am aware of to have any U.S. personnel on the ground in Gaza. That is not anything as a member of the Joint Chiefs that I am prepared to talk about or that I have even discussed. We are there to ensure, in that region to ensure that American citizens are safe, and that this crisis does not expand or escalate.
CARLA BABB:
For those who seek to broaden the conflict and target American troops, Smith gave this warning:
Gen. Eric Smith, Marine Corps Commandant:
If you target us, someone else is going to raise your children. And that's not a joke. That's not bravado. That's just how Marines think. You don't want to target us.
CARLA BABB:
While the Arab world denounces U.S. President Joe Biden's handling of the war in Gaza, Biden is viewed favorably in Israel. It’s a dynamic that appears to be reflected domestically with Jewish, Muslim, and Arab Americans. As VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports, Biden is facing increasing pressure to speak out about mounting Palestinian civilian deaths as Israel expands its ground invasion.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA, VOA White House Bureau Chief:
As Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza, including this one on the al-Shati refugee camp, an open letter to President Joe Biden from advocacy group the National Muslim Democratic Council demanding that he broker a cease-fire by 5 p.m. Tuesday or face the consequence of millions of American Muslims withholding their support for his re-election next year.
Basim Elkarra, National Muslim Democratic Council:
We know for a fact that our community will make a difference in the battleground states. And I think Democratic party leaders are paying attention, and they are afraid of what's happening, and they are sending messages to the White House that this is going to hurt our chances in 2024.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
More than [a] million Muslim voters cast a ballot in the 2020 election, turning out in numbers large enough to potentially swing the presidential race in some battleground states.
Muslim and Arab Americans traditionally vote for Democratic candidates, but a shift may be coming.
A new poll by the Arab American Institute showed support for Biden dropped among Arab Americans voters, from 59% in the 2020 election to 17% ahead of 2024.
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Press Secretary:
We're going to continue to engage – engaging with the Muslim community, the Arab American community and Palestinian American leaders to hear their concerns.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
In contrast, Jewish Americans are “deeply appreciative” of Biden’s support of Israel.
Halie Soifer, Jewish Democratic Council of America:
Israel is an important issue, remains a very important issue to Jewish voters. It's an issue about which there's a very high emotional attachment between Jewish Americans and support of Israel.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
About 7 million Jews live in the U.S., the same number as in Israel. They make up 3% of the U.S. electorate.
Biden is also widely praised in Israel. He has been urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conduct the war following international humanitarian law to protect civilians.”
Jonathan Rynhold, Bar-Ilan University:
What he's saying to Israel -- to help me to help you. If you give maximum effort to fight in the right way according to the laws of war, then it makes it easier for me to support you, and get support for you in the international community, and home in America and in the Democratic Party.
Polls show more Republicans than Democrats approve of Biden’s decision to send weapons to Israel.
Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute:
There isn't a lot of room for Republicans here, whether it's Trump or the Republicans in Congress, to outflank Biden on support for Israel.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
Meanwhile, there's growing pressure for a cease-fire, including from antiwar protesters during Tuesday’s congressional hearing. Administration officials have advocated for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to reach civilians but say a cease-fire at this point will only benefit Hamas.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, Washington.
CARLA BABB:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ramping up his support of Hamas, prompting Israel to withdraw its diplomats. Erdogan also took a major step recently to ratify Sweden's NATO membership, in a move analysts say is aimed at mitigating criticism by Western allies. But experts warn Erdogan may have miscalculated. Dorian jones reports from Istanbul.
DORIAN JONES, Reporting for VOA:
At a mass rally in Istanbul Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stepped up his support of Hamas, declaring again that Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a liberation movement.
The Turkish leader went on to warn that Turkey may come in the night to Gaza, with the crowd chanting to send the Turkish military.
In response to Erdogan’s statements, Israel has recalled its diplomats from Turkey, setting back the countries’ newly restored diplomatic relations.
Gallia Lindenstrauss, Institute for National Security Studies:
I think such statements basically symbolize that the rapprochement is over, I think that’s quite clear. This normalization process that started in 2022 is now over.
DORIAN JONES:
In the aftermath of Hamas's attack on Israel, Erdogan initially toned down his rhetoric as he sought to play a mediating role. But with Ankara appearing to be diplomatically sidelined, Erdogan stepped up his public support for Hamas.
Ilhan Uzgel, International Relations Analyst:
He [Erdogan] decided that it doesn't make any difference for his regional role. So he could play the domestic game, instead of a futile attempt to be a mediator in this conflict.
DORIAN JONES:
With opposition parties in Turkey protesting nationwide against Israel's Gaza assault, Erdogan's escalating rhetoric is also seen as an attempt to avoid being politically outflanked and to keep his religious base on his side.
But in a gesture to his Western allies, the Turkish leader last week sent to parliament a bill for the ratification of Sweden's NATO membership, which Turkey has been delaying.
Some experts claim Erdogan is seeking to perform a balancing act.
Sezin Oney, PolitikYol:
There, he (Erdogan) plays for the public, the local electorate, and the Muslim populations. And he's also giving something to the West with Sweden's NATO membership. But I don't think that would work that way because he (Erdogan) is making very, very fiery statements bashing the US, bashing Israel. It's going far beyond that. It's advocating Hamas.”
DORIAN JONES:
With Israeli forces stepping up their offensive in Gaza, experts say Israel has been measured in its response to Erdogan, with the priority being containment of the conflict.
Gallia Lindenstrauss, Institute for National Security Studies:
Israel doesn't need to add to the current tense situation with its neighbors, also tensions with Turkey. So, I think the Israeli government will do all its best not to enter into direct confrontation with Turkey. Yes, it will listen to the rhetoric very carefully, and it will see what Turkey does.
DORIAN JONES:
As the conflict escalates, Turkey's Western allies have largely ignored Erdogan's rhetoric, but some experts warn his words of support of Hamas are unlikely to be forgotten.
Dorian Jones, VOA News, Istanbul
Before we leave you this week, a story about mental health in times of war. Israeli psychologists and other volunteers are helping traumatized survivors move forward. Linda Gradstein reports from central Israel
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
It started as an all-night music rave attended by thousands of young Israelis.
But at sunrise on October 7, it turned into a massacre as dozens of Hamas gunmen, some flying in on hang gliders, attacked the rave, trying to kill as many Israelis as possible.
Those who survived and were not taken hostage are traumatized.
Yaara Gal, Music Festival Survivor:
I really felt there like, that’s it, this is our end. Because there were both missiles and terrorists in every direction. There was no way to escape because there was a traffic jam, a long line of cars. We were trapped inside the car. I was extremely stressed. I didn’t know how to deal with the situation.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
She and her friend Ido Vaknin are among the more than 2,000 young Israelis coming to seek comfort and healing at Ronit Farm. This upscale wedding venue near the coastal city of Herzliya has been transformed into a therapy center for survivors of the Supernova Music Festival massacre.
Gal says that Vaknin saved her life. A former special forces soldier, he drove around the festival site for more than an hour, looking for ways to avoid the Hamas terrorists.
Vaknin says he knows at least 30 people who were killed and others who were kidnapped.
Ido Vaknin, Music Festival Survivor:
I made a u-turn, drove in a different direction, and there were another ten terrorists. And another hundred Israelis running and falling down in front of our eyes. We thought they were falling because they were tired from running. Until I opened the window and heard the whistle of the bullets flying, and realized that the bullets were all around us. I saw people I know from my childhood, and I stopped to take them into my car. How could I not stop?
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Therapist Lia Naor opened Ronit Farm’s “Healing Space” the day after the Hamas massacre. It is run and staffed completely by volunteers.
Lia Naor, Healing Space Therapist:
The next morning, we opened the first “Merhav Marpeh”, Healing Space, which is an innovative integrative model for treating people in acute trauma so they will not develop PTSD. And that is the main goal of this place and this setting. We have had already more than 2,000 youth come here that say that through being here, it’s the first time they could sleep, first time they could eat, first time they could open up about what happened.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Naor says it’s important that people choose their own therapies, including a variety of conventional and alternative methods.
Lia Naor, Healing Space Therapist:
When they come here, they decide if they’re going to go see the therapist or they’re going to go first for reflexology, if they want to play ball, or just sit with their friends and play guitar. They’re taking responsibility for their healing.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Or Gerda says he has come to Ronit Farm for a second straight day because he needs to talk about the music festival massacre.
Or Gerda, Music Festival Survivor:
For three, four hours I just run for my life. And I saw some terrible picture that’s never going to come out, and until this day, the picture is still in my head. When I go to sleep and when I wake up in the morning, I’m seeing some terrible stuff that happened there.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Naor says that even those Israelis who weren’t at the festival have been collectively traumatized by the events of that day. But those who saw the horrors firsthand will especially take a long time to heal.
Linda Gradstein, VOA News, Ronit Farm, Israel.
CARLA BABB:
Thanks for joining us on this episode of The Inside Story for our continuing coverage of the War in Israel. You can follow me on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CarlaBabbVOA. Catch up on past episodes on our free streaming service, VOA Plus. Stay up to date with all the latest news at voanews.com and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at VOA News. We’ll be back next week with another episode of The Inside Story. I'm Carla Babb, thanks for watching.
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