Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / The End of the Age of Terror and a New Dawn for the Middle East
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: There is no other way to describe it but a historic,
- 0:03Speaker 1: a Middle East piece deal. President Donald Trump describing as
- 0:07Speaker 1: prayers of millions have finally been answered with the signing
- 0:12Speaker 1: of the peace agreement. Now, there is a lot that
- 0:16Speaker 1: has happened in the last twenty four hours, and this
- 0:20Speaker 1: is the part that most are celebrating. Hamas released the
- 0:25Speaker 1: final twenty living Israeli hostages that have been held since
- 0:28Speaker 1: October seventh of twenty twenty three, many of them underground
- 0:35Speaker 1: the entire time. What we also know is we have
- 0:39Speaker 1: witnessed and seen the homecoming play out on TV and
- 0:44Speaker 1: social media. Families prayer fully, crying, celebrating in tears without
- 0:52Speaker 1: words subscribe what it's like to see a loved one
- 0:56Speaker 1: they thought they may never see again. What happened in
- 0:59Speaker 1: exchanged is also important. Israel released one thousand, nine hundred
- 1:06Speaker 1: palace in entertainees and prisoners, including many who had life
- 1:11Speaker 1: sentences for their atrocees against the Jewish people. We also
- 1:16Speaker 1: know that the bodies of some of the diseased hostages
- 1:19Speaker 1: are also being returned. At least fore caskets have made
- 1:24Speaker 1: it back to Israel. The exchange is part of a
- 1:28Speaker 1: broader ceasefire a peace steel framework often referred to as
- 1:33Speaker 1: Trump's twenty point Plan, that was agreed earlier this month,
- 1:38Speaker 1: and under the deal, Israel is to partially withdraw troops
- 1:42Speaker 1: from Gaza to his designated line, while retaining control over
- 1:47Speaker 1: certain security zones, at least initially now. The plan envisions
- 1:52Speaker 1: handing over administration of Gaza to a body of technocrats
- 1:58Speaker 1: rather than Hamas directly, with oversight by international guaranteers. The
- 2:03Speaker 1: deal also calls for disarmament of Hamas, or at least
- 2:07Speaker 1: their relinquishment of overt military control, as a condition of
- 2:13Speaker 1: long term peace. A humanitarian aid push in a Gaza
- 2:18Speaker 1: is also part of the agreement, with large scale deliveries
- 2:21Speaker 1: planned during the ceasefire period. Now a board Air Force
- 2:25Speaker 1: one en route to Israel, Trump declared the war is over,
- 2:30Speaker 1: and in his address to Israel's parliament, Trump framed the
- 2:33Speaker 1: release of the hostages as a quote new beginning for
- 2:37Speaker 1: the Middle East and stress that the deal is historic.
- 2:41Speaker 1: He also reaffirmed US commitment to prevent renewed war, saying
- 2:46Speaker 1: he would uphold the cease fire and not allow hostilities
- 2:49Speaker 1: to resume. Trump also joked about pardoning the Israeli Prime
- 2:54Speaker 1: Minister in yet Yahoo and said he would fight for
- 2:57Speaker 1: whoever it may be to preserve peace. He think those involved,
- 3:02Speaker 1: including Middle Eastern mediators, and push the twenty point piece
- 3:06Speaker 1: plan as the path forward the present. In his own words,
- 3:12Speaker 1: had this to say at the signing, Take a listen.
- 3:16Speaker 2: It's a tremendous day for the Middle East, and you
- 3:19Speaker 2: can see that this is probably the greatest assemblage of
- 3:23Speaker 2: countries in terms of wealth and power, maybe ever assembled.
- 3:27Speaker 3: And it's just an honored part of it.
- 3:31Speaker 2: We're going to be signing a document that's going to
- 3:34Speaker 2: spell out of lot of rules and regulations and lots
- 3:37Speaker 2: of other things, and it's very comprehensive. But we've already
- 3:42Speaker 2: signed documents in the Middle East and having to do
- 3:45Speaker 2: with Israel and Hamas and just about everything else. And
- 3:49Speaker 2: it's really working out incredibly well. The hostages, as you know,
- 3:54Speaker 2: were let go on time, on schedule. The very sad
- 4:00Speaker 2: situation of bodies, which was always a sad situation, and
- 4:03Speaker 2: they're being sought out and they're working with many different
- 4:07Speaker 2: people finding some were brought in and some were not,
- 4:11Speaker 2: and they're working out to find out.
- 4:14Speaker 3: Where those bodies are.
- 4:15Speaker 2: It's hard to believe that you even have to say
- 4:17Speaker 2: something like that.
- 4:18Speaker 3: It's so sad. It's so sad.
- 4:20Speaker 2: But what's not said is that we have finally after
- 4:23Speaker 2: I guess they say three thousand years. I've heard from
- 4:26Speaker 2: three thousand years to five hundred years. But whatever it is,
- 4:29Speaker 2: it's a lot. But this was the one. This was
- 4:31Speaker 2: the granddaddy of them all, and frankly, I thought this
- 4:35Speaker 2: was probably going to be the toughest, and maybe in
- 4:37Speaker 2: many ways it was.
- 4:38Speaker 3: But we had a lot of good talent.
- 4:40Speaker 2: Steve Whitcoff, Jared and Marco and Pete and General Caine
- 4:47Speaker 2: was so great. John Ratcliffe was incredible. We had an
- 4:52Speaker 2: amazing array.
- 4:53Speaker 1: Of talent, an amazing array of talent that was able
- 4:56Speaker 1: to bring all of this to reality. There was even
- 4:59Speaker 1: a shocking moment that happened in this country as the media, yes,
- 5:05Speaker 1: even some Democrats surprisingly giving Donald Trump credit for the
- 5:11Speaker 1: Gaza deal. One of those was Hillary Clinton, and here
- 5:15Speaker 1: is what she said.
- 5:17Speaker 4: It's a really significant first step. And I really commend
- 5:24Speaker 4: President Trump and his administration, as well as Arab leaders
- 5:29Speaker 4: in the region for making the commitment to the twenty
- 5:34Speaker 4: point Plan and seeing a path forward for what's often
- 5:40Speaker 4: called the day after. Most importantly, the conflict hopefully will
- 5:47Speaker 4: end with the ceasefire, the hostages will be returned, and
- 5:51Speaker 4: then the very hard work of rebuilding Gaza, of finding
- 5:57Speaker 4: the kind of security that Israel and the Palestinians after
- 6:01Speaker 4: Hamas deserved to have. Moving forward with the other points
- 6:06Speaker 4: in the plan to try to create an opportunity for
- 6:10Speaker 4: Palestinians to have a better life and for Israel to
- 6:14Speaker 4: have greater peace and security. I am very hopeful that
- 6:20Speaker 4: we'll be able to see progress. Today's a good start,
- 6:23Speaker 4: but we have to keep going from here.
- 6:25Speaker 1: You can hear Hillary Quinton giving this type of gratitude
- 6:29Speaker 1: for the leadership of President Donald Trump doing something that
- 6:33Speaker 1: Joe Biden's team never got close to doing. And that's
- 6:37Speaker 1: not all the CBS Evening News opening their newscasts saying
- 6:42Speaker 1: this about President Trump.
- 6:44Speaker 5: There is more hope for peace in the Middle East
- 6:46Speaker 5: tonight than there has been in a very long time.
- 6:49Speaker 5: Hamas today released the last of the surviving Israeli's held
- 6:52Speaker 5: hostage since October seventh, twenty twenty three, and Israel in
- 6:56Speaker 5: turn freed to hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
- 6:59Speaker 6: And this is the first phase of the Trump Peace plan.
- 7:03Speaker 6: But remember it is a twenty point plan and there's
- 7:06Speaker 6: still a long way to go. The President was in
- 7:08Speaker 6: Israel today meeting with families of the now free hostages
- 7:12Speaker 6: and addressing the Kanesse.
- 7:14Speaker 5: The President said, the long nightmare for Israelis and Palestinians
- 7:18Speaker 5: is over now. He said, it is time to turn
- 7:20Speaker 5: the battlefield victories against terrorists into the ultimate prize, peace
- 7:25Speaker 5: and prosperity for the entire Middle East.
- 7:28Speaker 6: Mister Trump then traveled to Egypt to sign the peace
- 7:30Speaker 6: deal and hold a summit on the future of Gaza
- 7:33Speaker 6: and the region.
- 7:33Speaker 7: It's been a day of dramatic split screen moments, and
- 7:36Speaker 7: none more so than the sight of President Trump addressing
- 7:38Speaker 7: the Israeli Parliament at the final moment as the final
- 7:42Speaker 7: hostages crossed out of Gaza and AID trucks rolled freely
- 7:46Speaker 7: into Gaza. The result was after two years now a
- 7:49Speaker 7: brutal war, the unmistakable hope, the feeling in the air
- 7:52Speaker 7: that something big had finally changed.
- 7:55Speaker 1: You listened to that news report, that is honest reporting,
- 8:00Speaker 1: And that wasn't the only praise the President received, as
- 8:03Speaker 1: even those in the media that can't stand him could
- 8:06Speaker 1: not overlook the significance of his leadership bringing peace to
- 8:10Speaker 1: the Middle East.
- 8:12Speaker 8: This was very much a peacemaker's speech.
- 8:14Speaker 7: Do you give him credit for this?
- 8:15Speaker 5: I mean, this is an incredible accomplishment, an incredible moment.
- 8:19Speaker 6: It's a terrific day for the hostage families. It's a
- 8:23Speaker 6: terrific day for President Trump, for our national interests.
- 8:27Speaker 9: He should get a lot of credit. I mean, this
- 8:29Speaker 9: was his deal.
- 8:30Speaker 8: He worked this out.
- 8:32Speaker 7: Listen, he got the deal across the finish line.
- 8:34Speaker 9: There's no question things seem.
- 8:36Speaker 5: Sort of possible now in a way that they didn't
- 8:38Speaker 5: necessarily before.
- 8:40Speaker 9: A better future ahead.
- 8:41Speaker 8: That's what today represented. It was so so powerful and
- 8:44Speaker 8: unbelievably emotional.
- 8:46Speaker 1: You listen to those members of the media, those commentators
- 8:50Speaker 1: giving credit on networks that never give Donald Trump credit,
- 8:54Speaker 1: and it puts in a perspective just how significant this
- 8:57Speaker 1: moment actually is Donald Trump historic peace deal. On NBC,
- 9:02Speaker 1: they covered it this way.
- 9:04Speaker 9: From the moment he landed in Israel, the words thank
- 9:06Speaker 9: you visible from Air Force one and billboard to your
- 9:09Speaker 9: expressing gratitude. President Trump basted in the praise of a
- 9:12Speaker 9: country that credits him more than its own Prime minister
- 9:15Speaker 9: for today's long awaited reunions, the President's name echoing through
- 9:21Speaker 9: Israel's parliament as he touted his landmark diplomatic success.
- 9:25Speaker 2: This is the end of the age of terror and death.
- 9:28Speaker 2: This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.
- 9:32Speaker 9: Net Yahoo praising his American ally Donald Trump is the
- 9:37Speaker 9: greatest friend that the State of Visuel has ever had.
- 9:41Speaker 9: In the White House, going off script, the President called
- 9:44Speaker 9: on his Israeli counterpart to pardon net Yahoo, who was
- 9:47Speaker 9: indicted for allegedly accepting expensive gifts, which he denies.
- 9:51Speaker 8: Cigars and Champagne, who the hell cares about it?
- 9:56Speaker 9: The present then heading the Egypt for a peace signing
- 9:59Speaker 9: ceremony with the Air of Nations and other world leaders
- 10:02Speaker 9: who backed the deal.
- 10:03Speaker 2: Peace has been achieved after untiring efforts, efforts led by
- 10:10Speaker 2: President Trump.
- 10:11Speaker 1: His landmark diplomatic success. How NBC News described it as
- 10:17Speaker 1: for what the rest of the world is thinking. Net
- 10:19Speaker 1: and Yahoo praising the deal, defending Israel's conduct over the war,
- 10:24Speaker 1: and express relief and joy over the hostages return. At
- 10:28Speaker 1: the summit held in Egypt, over twenty world leaders, including
- 10:32Speaker 1: the Egyptian president, joined with Trump to endorse the ceasefire
- 10:36Speaker 1: as well as the postwar plan, and as part of that,
- 10:40Speaker 1: several countries committed to being guaranteurs of the agreement, the US, Egypt, Qatar,
- 10:47Speaker 1: and Turkey overseeing security and reconstruction in Gaza. The French
- 10:52Speaker 1: president called for progress towards a two state solution and
- 10:55Speaker 1: announced plans for a humanitarian aid conference for Gaza. Overall, well,
- 11:00Speaker 1: many nations welcomed the deal they thought was impossible as
- 11:04Speaker 1: a vital step towards peace, and many of them said
- 11:07Speaker 1: it's time now to get the real work done for Gaza, disarmament,
- 11:12Speaker 1: security and reconstruction. If you just step back and you
- 11:17Speaker 1: look at what President Trump was able to do, there
- 11:20Speaker 1: is no doubt. As NBC News put it, Trump's historic
- 11:23Speaker 1: peace deal. It is his landmark diplomatic success and it's
- 11:29Speaker 1: no telling how many lives will be saved because of
- 11:32Speaker 1: Donald Trump's leadership. President Donald Trump and Middle Eastern leaders
- 11:38Speaker 1: sign a peace agreement in a historic Egypt summit flanked
- 11:43Speaker 1: by world leaders. After the twenty live hostages still being
- 11:48Speaker 1: held by Hamas or release back into Israel and reunited
- 11:53Speaker 1: with their families, President Trump and about two dozen world
- 11:57Speaker 1: leaders displayed a robust unity at the Middle East peace
- 12:00Speaker 1: He's signing ceremony regarding the first phase of the historic
- 12:04Speaker 1: peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. Trump, along with the
- 12:08Speaker 1: Egyptian President, the Qatar leadership, Turkish president all there signed
- 12:14Speaker 1: the documents hours after. Trump gave a powerful speech in
- 12:18Speaker 1: Tel Aviv, the President of the United States of America
- 12:22Speaker 1: joining the leaders of Katar, Egypt, and Turkey in that
- 12:25Speaker 1: official signing. And I want you to hear what the
- 12:28Speaker 1: President had to say in his own words.
- 12:30Speaker 10: It's really working out incredibly well. The hostages, as you know,
- 12:34Speaker 10: let go on time, on schedule. The very said situation
- 12:40Speaker 10: of bodies, which was always a sad situation, and they're
- 12:43Speaker 10: being sought out, and they're working of many different people
- 12:47Speaker 10: finding somewhere brought in and some were not. And as
- 12:51Speaker 10: they're working out to find out where those bodies are.
- 12:55Speaker 10: I try to believe they'd even have to say something
- 12:57Speaker 10: like that, and so said, and so said, for what's
- 13:00Speaker 10: not saying is and we finally after I guess they
- 13:03Speaker 10: say three thousand years. I've heard from three thousand years
- 13:06Speaker 10: to five hundred years. But whatever it is, it's a lot.
- 13:10Speaker 10: But this was the one. This was the granddaddy of
- 13:12Speaker 10: the wall and frankly, I thought this was probably going
- 13:16Speaker 10: to be the toughest, and maybe in many ways it was.
- 13:19Speaker 10: But we had a lot of good talent. Steve wood Gough,
- 13:22Speaker 10: Jared marco Pe and General Kane's so bad. John Ratcliffe
- 13:29Speaker 10: was incredible. We had an amazing array of talent, and
- 13:34Speaker 10: we were helped by, in particular the countries represented at
- 13:38Speaker 10: this table. I will say to maybe you were fantastic
- 13:43Speaker 10: in your country is unbelivable and I don't believe they
- 13:47Speaker 10: give you a fair shape. They talk about you as
- 13:50Speaker 10: though you're not a nice person, and you happen to
- 13:52Speaker 10: be a nice person. You haven't a It was enough Dwood.
- 13:55Speaker 10: You're surrounded by everybody, and without year this wouldn't have happened.
- 14:00Speaker 10: And I just want to thank you very much.
- 14:01Speaker 8: That's Katar and.
- 14:08Speaker 10: He's an amazing leader and another man who's been a
- 14:12Speaker 10: friend of mine for a long time. I don't know
- 14:14Speaker 10: what it is. I like the tough people better than
- 14:16Speaker 10: I like the soft, easy ones. I don't know what
- 14:19Speaker 10: the hell it is. It's a personality problem, I suspect.
- 14:23Speaker 10: But this gentleman from a place called Turkey has one
- 14:29Speaker 10: of the most powerful armies actually in the world. It's
- 14:32Speaker 10: much more powerful than he even Let's know, if you
- 14:35Speaker 10: look at some of the recent conflicts, he was at
- 14:38Speaker 10: the top of him and he was winning him and
- 14:40Speaker 10: he did win him. And he doesn't want any credits.
- 14:42Speaker 10: He doesn't want anything. He just wants to be left alone.
- 14:45Speaker 10: He's a tough cookie, but he's bring my friend and
- 14:47Speaker 10: every time I've ever needed and he's been there for me.
- 14:50Speaker 10: So I just want to thank President third one Turkey
- 14:59Speaker 10: because he is it's difficult. They called me, they said,
- 15:01Speaker 10: would you do me a favorite? You speak to earn
- 15:03Speaker 10: a one, and I do. And he never fails us,
- 15:06Speaker 10: right general, he never fails. He's amazing. So I just
- 15:10Speaker 10: want to thank you for the friendship. It's good. Thank
- 15:12Speaker 10: you very much. And then of course we have the
- 15:16Speaker 10: host tonight and I just wanted to thank you very much.
- 15:19Speaker 10: It was a reason which was Egypt, because you were
- 15:21Speaker 10: very helpful and very very helpful. Everybody wanted to have this,
- 15:26Speaker 10: but we really thought it was appropriate.
- 15:28Speaker 3: And you are a great leader.
- 15:30Speaker 10: You have learned of the crime. We have problems that
- 15:34Speaker 10: other countries don't happen. Of course, nothing's perfect, but the
- 15:37Speaker 10: job you do is amazing and I want to thank you.
- 15:39Speaker 3: Another one and.
- 15:40Speaker 10: My friend Fred from the beginning during the campaign against
- 15:45Speaker 10: Crooked Hillary Clinton.
- 15:46Speaker 3: Have you heard of her?
- 15:48Speaker 10: And we were both downstairs waiting to go up to
- 15:51Speaker 10: meet this gentleman who has a place called Egypt. He
- 15:56Speaker 10: all this civilization. They say six thousand years, China's five
- 16:00Speaker 10: thousand years, but you're actually number one. Six thousand years.
- 16:03Speaker 10: Can you believe it? But the oldest, they say civilization.
- 16:08Speaker 10: But so I went up to meet them first, and
- 16:10Speaker 10: we liked each other so much that she waited for
- 16:12Speaker 10: about an hour and a half and I think your
- 16:15Speaker 10: meeting lasted about two minutes with her, So I always
- 16:18Speaker 10: remembered that. But that was our person media. We had
- 16:20Speaker 10: great chemistry together. And he's a fantastic man and a
- 16:24Speaker 10: fantastic general by the way, but he's a great president.
- 16:28Speaker 10: And I want to thank eachypt than all of your
- 16:30Speaker 10: representatives and treating us all so well. So we're really
- 16:39Speaker 10: representative of a whole group of nations, and they're sitting
- 16:43Speaker 10: behind us, and you know, most of them. I can
- 16:45Speaker 10: tell you this guy's had so much money.
- 16:47Speaker 8: They all have so money.
- 16:49Speaker 10: There's more money and power sitting behind us. I love
- 16:52Speaker 10: that they're behind us. We've never been sitting behind anybody before.
- 16:57Speaker 10: This is a very unique position for them. They are
- 17:01Speaker 10: seriously there among the most powerful countries in the world,
- 17:06Speaker 10: of the richest countries in the world, and there's never
- 17:09Speaker 10: been really an assemblage like what we have today. I
- 17:12Speaker 10: don't think to him, I don't I've never seen it anyway,
- 17:15Speaker 10: And I want to thank everybody for being just solve
- 17:20Speaker 10: the war for him as a boy, John did that
- 17:24Speaker 10: do that? Where did you don't think what is coming?
- 17:30Speaker 10: You're still getting along right? For for thirty two years
- 17:33Speaker 10: and about one hour we settled it right and they
- 17:36Speaker 10: like each other, and I feel it's good past right.
- 17:40Speaker 3: Well, I want to.
- 17:40Speaker 10: Thank everybody for being here. He believes he's a very
- 17:44Speaker 10: strong ruler. He's put a rigged up to God. A
- 17:48Speaker 10: big thank so manyody. We're actually gonna be making a
- 17:52Speaker 10: speech after this, so this is just a very important signing.
- 17:56Speaker 10: But we're doing the signing that, we're doing the speech,
- 17:59Speaker 10: and then I may say behind with the leaders just
- 18:01Speaker 10: to talk about that some things without the press.
- 18:05Speaker 2: I want to thank the media for you've been so
- 18:07Speaker 2: respectful on this year. You know the deal, and I
- 18:10Speaker 2: really it was so pleasant to watch. I was on
- 18:14Speaker 2: the plane for quite a while listening to the various
- 18:17Speaker 2: news guests, and they were all fair. They were talking
- 18:19Speaker 2: about how incredible this is. This is an incredible day
- 18:22Speaker 2: for the world, let alone the Middle East. So I
- 18:25Speaker 2: just wanted to thank the media. They really treated it
- 18:27Speaker 2: with respect. I wish you could be like that on
- 18:30Speaker 2: other things, but that's perhaps too much to ask for.
- 18:33Speaker 2: But on this tremendous everybody feels the same, just tremendous respect,
- 18:38Speaker 2: and we appreciate it very much.
- 18:40Speaker 3: Can we get the documents? Plezz.
- 18:43Speaker 7: You are watching a historic moment here in Egypt at
- 18:46Speaker 7: Charmel Shaikh, Egyptian city, as President Trump, surrounded by other
- 18:51Speaker 7: world leaders, signs a ceremonial document behind a banner that
- 18:56Speaker 7: says peace in the Middle East. This is to commemorate
- 19:00Speaker 7: today's milestone moment, the release of the hostages AID into
- 19:04Speaker 7: Gaza and the first step toward this broader peace plan
- 19:08Speaker 7: that could lead in a very good direction. The President
- 19:11Speaker 7: calls it a new day in the Middle East.
- 19:14Speaker 1: World leaders sitting there, including the Italian Prime Minister, the
- 19:18Speaker 1: French President, the Canadian Prime Minister, and many more, looked
- 19:22Speaker 1: on as these four leaders signed the documents that you
- 19:25Speaker 1: heard the President talking to saying, the people behind me
- 19:28Speaker 1: are the greatest leaders, most powerful leaders, the richest leaders. Frankly,
- 19:32Speaker 1: sometimes it's not politically correct to say that, but I'll
- 19:35Speaker 1: say it. Trump's saying that they are people that really
- 19:38Speaker 1: care for their countries. And why this happened is they
- 19:42Speaker 1: all came together and they wanted to get Gaza straightened out.
- 19:46Speaker 1: Everybody's happy about it like I've never seen before. Actually,
- 19:51Speaker 1: I've done other deals and people don't care as much.
- 19:54Speaker 1: President Trump went on ad saying big deals. I think
- 19:57Speaker 1: they're big deals, but this is something that's taken off
- 20:00Speaker 1: like a rocket ship, and it did from the beginning,
- 20:05Speaker 1: The president emphasizing the prospect of peace deal in the
- 20:08Speaker 1: Middle East has long looked daunting, with many saying it
- 20:11Speaker 1: could not be materialized. It's the biggest, most complicated deal.
- 20:17Speaker 1: Trump then posed for photos with a lot of the
- 20:20Speaker 1: world leaders ahead of the signing ceremony and took the
- 20:23Speaker 1: stage to give the speech that you just heard. Trump
- 20:26Speaker 1: noted before the signing that the document that he'd already
- 20:29Speaker 1: been signed regarding the beginning of the agreement between Israel
- 20:32Speaker 1: and hamas part of this getting done turning what was
- 20:36Speaker 1: a hope and a dream into a reality. We'll take
- 20:40Speaker 1: a quick break, we'll come back, and we'll also let
- 20:43Speaker 1: you hear what he had to say when he landed
- 20:45Speaker 1: in Israel as the President addressed what would be the
- 20:49Speaker 1: in essence, our Congress, Israeli's parliament. The President of the
- 20:54Speaker 1: United States of America landed in Israel and then went
- 20:57Speaker 1: to address Israeli parliament. This is not something that happens
- 21:02Speaker 1: very often. In fact, there have been I think just
- 21:05Speaker 1: four US presidents that have ever been given the honor
- 21:07Speaker 1: of doing this, the President now being one of those.
- 21:11Speaker 1: I want you to hear what he had to say
- 21:14Speaker 1: in a very important moment, when the President decided to
- 21:17Speaker 1: explain exactly what is happening, why we're here, and how
- 21:22Speaker 1: important Israel is to the United States of America.
- 21:26Speaker 8: Thank you very much, everybody. It's a great honor, nice place,
- 21:33Speaker 8: very nice place.
- 21:36Speaker 2: Mister President, mister Prime Minister, mister speakers, see members of
- 21:42Speaker 2: the Knesset and cherished citizens of Israel. We gather in
- 21:48Speaker 2: a day of profound joy, of soaring hope, of renewed faith,
- 21:53Speaker 2: and above all, a day to give our deepest thanks
- 21:56Speaker 2: to the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. After
- 22:24Speaker 2: two harrowing years and darkness and captivity, twenty courageous hostages
- 22:31Speaker 2: are returning to the glorious embrace of their families.
- 22:35Speaker 3: And it is glorious.
- 22:37Speaker 2: Twenty eight more precious loved ones are coming home at last,
- 22:41Speaker 2: to rest in this sacred soil for all of time,
- 22:47Speaker 2: and after so many years of unceasing war and endless danger.
- 22:51Speaker 2: Today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the
- 22:54Speaker 2: sirens are still, and the sun rises on a holy
- 22:58Speaker 2: land that is fine at peace, a land and a
- 23:02Speaker 2: region that will live God willing in peace for all eternity.
- 23:14Speaker 8: This is not only the end of a war.
- 23:17Speaker 3: This is the end of a age of.
- 23:19Speaker 2: Terror and death and the beginning of the age of
- 23:23Speaker 2: faith and hope and of God. It's the start of
- 23:28Speaker 2: a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all
- 23:32Speaker 2: the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region.
- 23:37Speaker 2: I believe that so strongly this is the historic dawn
- 23:41Speaker 2: of a new Middle East. I want to express my
- 23:46Speaker 2: gratitude to a man of exceptional courage and patriotism whose
- 23:50Speaker 2: partnership did so much to make this momentous day possible.
- 23:56Speaker 2: You know who I'm talking about. There's only one Prime Minister,
- 23:59Speaker 2: Benjamin Netanyahu BB, please stand up. And he's not easy.
- 24:23Speaker 2: I want to tell you he's not the easiest guy
- 24:26Speaker 2: to deal with. But that's what makes him great. That's
- 24:31Speaker 2: what makes them great. Thank you very much, baby, great job,
- 24:48Speaker 2: and that he also been very My tremendous appreciation for
- 24:52Speaker 2: all of the nations of the Arab and Muslim world
- 24:55Speaker 2: that came together to press.
- 24:57Speaker 8: Some as to set the hostages for and to send
- 25:01Speaker 8: them home. We had a lot of help. We had
- 25:03Speaker 8: a lot of help from a lot.
- 25:04Speaker 2: Of people that you wouldn't suspect, and I want to
- 25:06Speaker 2: thank them very much for that. It's an incredible triumph
- 25:10Speaker 2: for Israel in the world to have all of these
- 25:13Speaker 2: nations working together as partners in peace. And it's pretty
- 25:18Speaker 2: unusual for you to see that, but it happened in
- 25:21Speaker 2: this case. This was a very unusual point in time,
- 25:25Speaker 2: a brilliant point in time. Generations from now, this will
- 25:29Speaker 2: be remembered as the moment that everything began to change
- 25:34Speaker 2: and change very.
- 25:35Speaker 8: Much for the better.
- 25:37Speaker 2: Like the USA right now, it will be the golden
- 25:41Speaker 2: age of Israel. And the Golden Age of the Middle East.
- 25:44Speaker 2: It's going to work together. I'd like to thank several
- 25:48Speaker 2: great American patriots for their invaluable help in getting something
- 25:52Speaker 2: done that almost everyone thought was absolutely impossible.
- 25:57Speaker 8: We were wasting our time.
- 25:58Speaker 2: So many people said, you're just wasting your time, but
- 26:03Speaker 2: we weren't because we had talented people working with us,
- 26:06Speaker 2: and we had people that loved your country, and frankly,
- 26:10Speaker 2: people that loved the region. They loved the Middle East.
- 26:13Speaker 2: I want to thank my friend Steve Whitcoff. You know,
- 26:42Speaker 2: Steve was chosen by me. He never did this before,
- 26:46Speaker 2: but I knew him as a few things. He was
- 26:49Speaker 2: a great businessman, but I know a lot of great businessmen.
- 26:52Speaker 2: To be honest with you, he had tremendous negotiating skills.
- 26:56Speaker 2: But I know a lot of people that negotiate pretty well.
- 26:59Speaker 2: Although it is an art, but there are people that
- 27:02Speaker 2: can negotiate pretty well. But most importantly with Steve, he's
- 27:07Speaker 2: just a great guy. Everybody loved him, everybody. I mean,
- 27:16Speaker 2: I know some negotiators that are so good. But you
- 27:20Speaker 2: wouldn't have had peace in the Middle East. He would
- 27:23Speaker 2: be in World War three right now.
- 27:25Speaker 3: With some of these guys.
- 27:27Speaker 2: Everybody loves Steve and they respect him, and they somehow
- 27:31Speaker 2: can relate to him. I've known him for many years
- 27:33Speaker 2: and I've seen it over over and over again.
- 27:49Speaker 8: They don't think to come out.
- 28:03Speaker 1: We're gonna hear they're a protester. One of those in
- 28:06Speaker 1: parliament apparently protested in that moment.
- 28:18Speaker 11: Sorry for that, mister President. That was very efficient. So
- 28:42Speaker 11: back to Steve. He's but I tell one story because
- 28:57Speaker 11: he was so involved.
- 28:58Speaker 8: And then we called in.
- 28:59Speaker 2: Joe, we call it we need that brain on occasion.
- 29:02Speaker 2: We got to get Jared in here, we got to
- 29:04Speaker 2: get a certain group of people. But Steve started this
- 29:08Speaker 2: all by himself. I call him Henry Kissinger, who doesn't leak. Okay,
- 29:14Speaker 2: Henry is a big leaker.
- 29:15Speaker 8: He leaked.
- 29:17Speaker 2: Steve does it leak. Steve just wants to get the
- 29:20Speaker 2: job done. He wants to do what's right. But I'll
- 29:22Speaker 2: give you just a quick story because as you know,
- 29:24Speaker 2: he's working on the war with Russia and Ukraine, a
- 29:29Speaker 2: war that would have never happened if our president as shame.
- 29:32Speaker 2: Seven thousand young soldiers a week are being killed, more
- 29:36Speaker 2: than that this last week. It's a shame that had
- 29:40Speaker 2: never happened. But it did happen, and we won the race,
- 29:44Speaker 2: and I took over this horrible war that's been raging,
- 29:47Speaker 2: and I thought it would be.
- 29:50Speaker 8: Easily settled.
- 29:51Speaker 2: I thought it was a hell of a lot easier
- 29:53Speaker 2: than doing what we just did very successfully with Israel
- 29:57Speaker 2: and a lot of other people.
- 30:00Speaker 8: But this came first, and we'll get that one.
- 30:03Speaker 2: But I set up a meeting for him to meet
- 30:05Speaker 2: with President Putin, thinking it would be a fifteen or
- 30:08Speaker 2: a twenty minute meeting.
- 30:10Speaker 8: Steve had no idea about Russia.
- 30:11Speaker 2: I had no idea about Putin too much, didn't know
- 30:14Speaker 2: too much about politics.
- 30:15Speaker 3: Wasn't that interesting.
- 30:16Speaker 8: He was really good at real estate.
- 30:19Speaker 2: But he had that quality that I was looking for,
- 30:21Speaker 2: and I didn't see it around in too many ways.
- 30:23Speaker 2: And I set up the meeting with Putin and I called.
- 30:27Speaker 2: I said, uh, is Steve finished yet? That was about
- 30:30Speaker 2: a half an hour into the meeting.
- 30:32Speaker 3: No, sir, he's not.
- 30:33Speaker 2: He's still inside. This is in Moscow. I said, well,
- 30:37Speaker 2: how's he doing. I don't know, sir, he's still inside.
- 30:39Speaker 2: I called up an hour later. Let me speak to Steve, Sir,
- 30:42Speaker 2: he's still with Putin. He's with President Putin. I said, wow,
- 30:46Speaker 2: it's a long meeting. One hour I called up. An
- 30:49Speaker 2: hour later, he is still with Putin. Three hours later,
- 30:52Speaker 2: he was still with Putin. Four hours later he started
- 30:56Speaker 2: to get the word that he was going to be
- 30:58Speaker 2: coming out soon. Five hours he came out. I said,
- 31:03Speaker 2: what the hell were you talking about for five hours?
- 31:06Speaker 2: And he says, just a lot of interesting things. We're
- 31:11Speaker 2: talking about a lot of interesting things, including what he
- 31:15Speaker 2: went in there for. But you can't talk about it
- 31:17Speaker 2: for five You can talk about it for a certain
- 31:19Speaker 2: period of time and you know what you're getting.
- 31:22Speaker 8: But that's a talent. That's a talent where you can
- 31:25Speaker 8: do that.
- 31:26Speaker 2: Most people I'd send in number one, they wouldn't be
- 31:28Speaker 2: accepted number two. If they were the meet he would
- 31:31Speaker 2: last five minutes. And that's what happens with Steve. Everybody
- 31:35Speaker 2: loves him.
- 31:36Speaker 8: They love him on this side, they love him on
- 31:38Speaker 8: the other side.
- 31:39Speaker 2: And he really is he's a great negotiator because he's
- 31:42Speaker 2: a great guy.
- 31:44Speaker 8: So thank you very much, Sue very.
- 31:45Speaker 1: Much, President of the United States of America speaking there,
- 31:53Speaker 1: and this is truly an incredible moment as the President
- 31:57Speaker 1: is just talking about how we got this deal done,
- 32:00Speaker 1: on what happened there and the team that was behind it.
- 32:04Speaker 1: It's truly remarkable as we are looking at the real
- 32:09Speaker 1: reality of peace in the Middle East. It is incredible.
- 32:15Speaker 1: The hostages, those that are alive, have all returned, which
- 32:20Speaker 1: is also amazing. They have all returned back to Israel.
- 32:26Speaker 1: The bodies, as you heard the President mentioned earlier, of
- 32:29Speaker 1: those that have been killed by the terrorist organization, we
- 32:33Speaker 1: still don't know if we will be able to find
- 32:36Speaker 1: all those bodies. That it's horrific to even say that,
- 32:39Speaker 1: but a convoy carrying four coffins obnysseys hostages into Israel
- 32:44Speaker 1: did happen after the sun had set in Israel.
- 32:48Speaker 5: We do know that.
- 32:50Speaker 1: Don't forget share this podcast please with your family and
- 32:53Speaker 1: your friends where whoever they are, and I will see
- 32:56Speaker 1: you back here tomorrow.