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Speaker 1: Live from val Hartbland and the Crossroads of America.

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Speaker 2: It's Tony Katz today. So it really is a question

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Speaker 2: about what the future of the relationship looks like. I'm

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Speaker 2: not just talking about the United States and Israel, although

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Speaker 2: I guess that's a question for a lot of people

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Speaker 2: out there in social media land, but the question of

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Speaker 2: what does the relationship look like for Israel and the

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Speaker 2: rest of the Middle East, or for the Middle East,

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Speaker 2: the rest of the Middle East and Israel.

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Speaker 3: Exactly how does this work once you have an Islamic

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Speaker 3: regime gone? And it very much seems like the Islamic

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Speaker 3: regime that has been running around will be gone. Tony Katz,

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Speaker 3: Tony Katz today, Good to be here, Good to be

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Speaker 3: with you. And Lod stro Meyer joins me right now,

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Speaker 3: the Council General of Israel to the Midwest.

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Speaker 1: He is based in Chicago.

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Speaker 2: Sixteen years in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sir,

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Speaker 2: I appreciate you taking the time to be with us today.

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Speaker 2: Let's start with some of the basics we know about,

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Speaker 2: of course, the start of this last week. We are now,

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Speaker 2: depending on how you look at these things, nine or

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Speaker 2: ten days in the IDF has engaged in a tremendous

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Speaker 2: number of targetings, over six hundred targets. We're talking about

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Speaker 2: just in Lebanon having to deal with with Hesbil, and

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Speaker 2: never mind everything that has been taken out in around

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Speaker 2: including as of some of the latest reporting, even where

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Speaker 2: oil stores are kept the latest as Israel is letting

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Speaker 2: us know about it. From these attacks, how are things

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Speaker 2: going and what do they see as the future of

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Speaker 2: these attacks?

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Speaker 1: How long will this go on?

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Speaker 4: Thank you so much Jony for having me on the show,

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Speaker 4: and thank you everyone who listening. I want to say

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Speaker 4: that everything is going according to plan.

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Speaker 5: We're on the.

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Speaker 4: Second week of this operation led by the United States

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Speaker 4: together with Israel.

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Speaker 5: Great success.

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Speaker 4: Everything is going like we planted, taking down the threat

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Speaker 4: from this Iranian regime, taking down the threat to the

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Speaker 4: United States, taking down the threat to Israel, to the

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Speaker 4: Middle East, and to the Iranian people. We need to remember,

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Speaker 4: for forty seven years, we had a murderous Iranian regime

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Speaker 4: that killed thousands of Americans either directly or indirectly through

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Speaker 4: their proxies. They killed thousands of Israelis. Just in the

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Speaker 4: last few months, they killed at least thirty thousand Iranians

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Speaker 4: who protested to try and get a better life and

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Speaker 4: be freed from the oppressive resisime. And we're determined right

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Speaker 4: now to move forward to eliminate this regime threat, its

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Speaker 4: nuclear capabilities, its ballistic missiles capabilities, and its export of

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Speaker 4: terrorism around the Middle East and around the world, and

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Speaker 4: to create the conditions for the people of Iran to

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Speaker 4: rise up and to take the faith into their own

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Speaker 4: hands and bring upon a better future for themselves.

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Speaker 2: So that conversation is the same conversation that President Trump

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Speaker 2: had in his remarks on truth social which is to

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Speaker 2: say that it is not regime change, but rather setting

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Speaker 2: up the conditions for regime change. I see it a

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Speaker 2: little differently, even though I am wholly supportive that I do,

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Speaker 2: and I have just so for your edification, referred to

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Speaker 2: it as such.

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Speaker 1: As regime change and the removing of this Islamic regime.

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Speaker 2: But it is true I do agree that the people

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Speaker 2: now need to take control of their lives and their future.

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Speaker 2: But a lot of people will say, okay, you've mentioned

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Speaker 2: the nuclear threat. Well that's what the attack was back

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Speaker 2: in July, taking out Isfahan for DOAU and Natons and

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Speaker 2: the capabilities there there always seems to be a conversation.

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Speaker 2: They will argue in the social media circles in other

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Speaker 2: places about this threat.

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Speaker 1: Is the threat because there was an an Islamic regime?

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Speaker 2: Or was the threat because here is the tangible proof

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Speaker 2: of their continuing building a nuclear arsenal.

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Speaker 5: It's both.

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Speaker 4: It's actually both because first and foremost, we had intelligence

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Speaker 4: that shows that they continue to bring their new treth

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Speaker 4: to build their nuclear arsenal.

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Speaker 5: That's what they've done. We have taken back their program.

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Speaker 4: Back in June, and then they have continued to rebuild

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Speaker 4: it and move forward with a bomb, with their nuclear

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Speaker 4: program and their ballistic missiles program. But I said, it's

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Speaker 4: connected because this regime has continued that, and we came

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Speaker 4: to a realization that this regime can no longer exist

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Speaker 4: because as long as they exist, it's more of the same,

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Speaker 4: more of the same, and they will continue with building

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Speaker 4: their nuclear capabilities, exporting terror and building ballistic missiles. You know,

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Speaker 4: we're talking about the ballistic missiles. They're right now firing

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Speaker 4: rockets at Israel, at the Middle East, at Europe, for

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Speaker 4: crying out loud, They're firing at Cyprus and Turkey, Azeroba

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Speaker 4: Jan Now they're trying. They have tried to build an

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Speaker 4: intercontinental ballistic missile program, meaning that they could fire rockets

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Speaker 4: at the United States, and we know that they would

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Speaker 4: have if they could. So this is why this regime

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Speaker 4: is the threat along with their capabilities. And when I

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Speaker 4: talk about exporting terrorism, it seems to last ceasefire. They

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Speaker 4: gave one point two billion dollars to riz Baladi. Ringian

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Speaker 4: regime gave one to point two billion dollars to a

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Speaker 4: murderous terrorist organization when their people are starving, their economy

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Speaker 4: is crippling. This is a regime that needs to go

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Speaker 4: away and the people, anyone, need to bring about a

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Speaker 4: new future for themselves.

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Speaker 2: Talking to a Lord Stromyer, Council General of Israel to

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Speaker 2: the Midwest, and appreciate you taking the time to be

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Speaker 2: with us the Israel US relationship. You mentioned that this

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Speaker 2: is the United States taking the lead and Israel in

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Speaker 2: the assist as we know it, and certainly I'll say

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Speaker 2: it again, I'm all in favor of the removal of

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Speaker 2: the Ayatola and I do not want to see anybody

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Speaker 2: associated with the Iatola being allowed in a position of

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Speaker 2: power again. When new leadership is chosen for the country,

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Speaker 2: but how much of this was Israel saying this is

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Speaker 2: what they're doing versus the United States telling Israel, this

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Speaker 2: is what we're saying.

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Speaker 4: It was again, it was both both of us. We

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Speaker 4: shared the intelligence. We were in close collaboration. The President

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Speaker 4: and the Prime Minister have met several times in the

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Speaker 4: course of the last few months. We've assessed the situation underground.

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Speaker 4: We've seen the row intelligence and the intentions of this

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Speaker 4: murderous regime, and we came to our realization that there's

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Speaker 4: no other way. We need to understand Several things that

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Speaker 4: happened in the last few weeks that made to the

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Speaker 4: understanding that now it's the time to do what we're doing. First,

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Speaker 4: the United States engaged in good faith negotiation with the

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Speaker 4: run and offered very generous offers to the Iranian regime

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Speaker 4: when it comes to their nuclear program. The Iranian regime

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Speaker 4: said no. And this is what lived the United States

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Speaker 4: to understand what we have said all along, the Iranian

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Speaker 4: regime is dragging time and they don't want to reach

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Speaker 4: a compromise. They don't want to reach an agreement. They

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Speaker 4: want to reach to nuclear capabilities. In addition to that,

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Speaker 4: we have learned that in the past. I don't know

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Speaker 4: if a few months, but in recent times they have

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Speaker 4: started to put all their program, the balistic missiles and

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Speaker 4: their nuclear program underground in immune bunkers that B two

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Speaker 4: bombers cannot go to, so you cannot use the bunker

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Speaker 4: bluster bomber bombs in order to take it down. So

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Speaker 4: that we had a very narrow window of opportunity to act.

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Speaker 4: The United States and Israel saw that intelligence, saw that realization,

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Speaker 4: and we came to an agreement that now it's the

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Speaker 4: time to act. The collaboration is so close. And you

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Speaker 4: mentioned nine sixteen years in the Forum Service, and actually

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Speaker 4: longer than that in the Israel US relationship business before

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Speaker 4: even joining the Forum Service, I've never seen such close collaboration.

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Speaker 4: It's unprecedented the level of cooperation that our two countries

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Speaker 4: are now experiencing on the military level, on the diplomatic level,

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Speaker 4: and we are united with the goal that it needs

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Speaker 4: to end the way it needs to end, and not

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Speaker 4: to finish, not to leave the job half done.

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Speaker 2: You talk about the closeness, now, is that to then

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Speaker 2: say that the relationship was not close under prior presidents.

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Speaker 2: If a prior president had been willing to take out

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Speaker 2: the regime that Israel would have worked with them ten

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Speaker 2: years ago, fifteen years ago, twenty years ago, twenty five

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Speaker 2: years ago, etc.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's a theoretical question that it's difficult to answer.

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Speaker 4: The relationship between Israel and the United States were always close.

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Speaker 4: We always had a very close level of cooperation, very

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Speaker 4: intimate and frank conversation, even when there were moments that

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Speaker 4: we had disagreements. I think the difference right now is

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Speaker 4: that we are in full agreement about the assessments of

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Speaker 4: the situation, full agreement of what needs to be done,

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Speaker 4: in full agreement about the endgame, not to allow this

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Speaker 4: regime to have any nuclear capabilities, not to allow this

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Speaker 4: regime to continue threatening Israel and Iranian people, Meaning this

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Speaker 4: regime needs to end so that the people all of

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Speaker 4: you run will have new leadership. I don't want to

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Speaker 4: speculate what other administrations would or would not have done,

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Speaker 4: coming to understanding of the information that we have right now,

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Speaker 4: I can only say that what we see right now

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Speaker 4: is close collaboration between the Trump administration and our government

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Speaker 4: in the United States leadership, and it's beyond the politicians.

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Speaker 4: It's on the working level, on the military level, the

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Speaker 4: diplomatic level. We have a great understanding that we're working

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Speaker 4: to make the Middle East and it might sound as

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Speaker 4: a cliche, but it's true, to make the world a

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Speaker 4: better place.

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Speaker 2: Talk to a lot stro Meyer, Council General of Israel

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Speaker 2: to the Midwest, and let's go back to this relationship conversation.

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Speaker 2: The Poland doesn't tell a great story. Social media certainly

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Speaker 2: does not tell a great story the levels that we

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Speaker 2: have seen, certainly in the United States, whether it's.

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Speaker 1: Columbia University, college campuses, what.

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Speaker 2: We've seen in New York, what we've seen from the

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Speaker 2: spouse of a mayor's r and Mum Donnie, what we

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Speaker 2: have seen throughout America has been a larger law, larger,

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Speaker 2: larger level of anti Semitism, of vitriol, of anti Israel fervor.

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Speaker 2: We still argue that the relationship is solid. Do is

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Speaker 2: rallies feel that there is some tension stress in this relationship.

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Speaker 4: You know, first of all, I don't believe everything I

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Speaker 4: see on social media. Social media has a lot of

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Speaker 4: foreign influence over there and misinformation, and that's what leads

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Speaker 4: to some misguided opinions that we hear from people because

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Speaker 4: they're fed for false information for years, countries like Cut

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Speaker 4: are intervened with what's happening in your country, and that's

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Speaker 4: what led to the encampments and the protest that we've

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Speaker 4: seen after October seventh, and the rampant anti Semitism in

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Speaker 4: the United States. So we should take everything with a

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Speaker 4: grain of salt. Now, I cannot argue with numbers, and

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Speaker 4: I understand what you're saying regard to Napoleon, but I

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Speaker 4: also talk about the conversation that I'm having with people

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Speaker 4: and with elected officials, and despite some hurdles, some challenges,

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Speaker 4: the relationship are strong. Because there is also an element

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Speaker 4: that people might disagree with some action of the Israeli

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Speaker 4: government of what the government is doing. But there is

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Speaker 4: a very important understanding of the importance of Israel as

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Speaker 4: an important ally in the Middle East, as a democracy

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Speaker 4: that shares the same values as the United States. And

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Speaker 4: I believe that when we're successful right now, after this

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Speaker 4: operation with changing the Middle East, and we talked about

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Speaker 4: that can change the nature of the Middle East and

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Speaker 4: the relationship of Israel with its neighbors, then the attitudes

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Speaker 4: and the opinions of people will change as well.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about the future in America.

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Speaker 2: You have people on the left and on certain parts

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Speaker 2: of the right to talk about the idea forever wars

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Speaker 2: and how long the United States was in Afghanistan and

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Speaker 2: not wanting those things. I of course view those arguments

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Speaker 2: right now regarding Iran as a lot of silly talk

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Speaker 2: in that we're nine ten days into this. That's not

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Speaker 2: a forever war by any stretch of any imagination. There's

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Speaker 2: also great arguments about whether America in its current lifetime,

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Speaker 2: you know, the past couple of decades, has ever actually

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Speaker 2: seen what winning looks like and what taking out an

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Speaker 2: enemy looks like as opposed to some precision strike and

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Speaker 2: then moving on with our day.

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Speaker 1: The Islamic regime goes, it is gone.

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Speaker 2: It is no longer an Islamic nation around, but rather

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Speaker 2: it's make Aran Persia again, and it's well, it might

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Speaker 2: not be a republic like the United States, but it

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Speaker 2: is something that it wasn't. What does a future Middle

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Speaker 2: East look like? In the Israeli view, you.

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Speaker 4: Know, I would start saying that I agree with you,

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Speaker 4: it's not a forever war. It's ending the forever wars.

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Speaker 4: This is exactly what we're doing right now. By eliminating

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Speaker 4: this regime threat because unlike the other words that you

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Speaker 4: mentioned here, eighty percent of the Iranian people oppose the regime.

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Speaker 4: They want to see change, so that when we're taking

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Speaker 4: down this regime, they will be able to go to

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Speaker 4: the streets and lead the change that they want to see.

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Speaker 4: And that's the big difference from everything else. We're helping

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Speaker 4: the people creating the conditions for themselves, and I believe

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Speaker 4: that when that happens, we'll see a different Middle East.

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Speaker 5: And why is that?

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Speaker 4: First and foremost, before the Ranian Revolution in nineteen seventy nine,

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Speaker 4: Israel had great relationship with the Iranian people. The Uranian

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Speaker 4: people are good, smart, peace loving people. They love Israelis,

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Speaker 4: many of them they love Israelis. We see the Israeli

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Speaker 4: flags in Uranian dissidents protests, taking Israel and the United

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Speaker 4: States for helping them against the oppressive regime. So I

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Speaker 4: believe that when this regime is out and the people

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Speaker 4: will control themselves. And I agree with you, we don't

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Speaker 4: know what model of a regime it's going to be.

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Speaker 4: If it's going to be a democracy, it's going to

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Speaker 4: be our public. They will choose it for themselves, but

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Speaker 4: they will have a government that will work for the

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Speaker 4: people and want threatened Israel, one threatened the Middle East,

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Speaker 4: one threatened in the United States, and we will be

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Speaker 4: able to work together.

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Speaker 5: When that happens.

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Speaker 4: I believe in the greater Middle East we'll see the

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Speaker 4: change because right now all the countries in the Middle

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Speaker 4: East understand that the most destabilizing force.

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Speaker 5: In the Middle East is Iran.

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Speaker 4: And when Iran as this regime will be eliminated and

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Speaker 4: one threaten them, they will come to collaboration and cooperation

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Speaker 4: with Israel, and we'll see an expansion of the Abraham Accords,

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Speaker 4: an expression of cooperation in the Middle East.

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Speaker 5: I believe that it's possible.

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Speaker 4: We see the beginning of it right now, and I

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Speaker 4: believe that when it is Bala can no longer be

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Speaker 4: a proxy every run and will stop threatening us. Something

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Speaker 4: good and forward moving can happen with Lebanon and we'll

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Speaker 4: see a new, improved Middle East.

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Speaker 2: I do want to sneak in one more question talking

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Speaker 2: to a Lord stro Meyer, Council General of Israel to

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Speaker 2: the Midwest of the United States, there is such a

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Speaker 2: thing as a September twelfth American which is after September eleventh,

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Speaker 2: two thousand and one. People woke up on September twelfth

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Speaker 2: and realized that they didn't quite understand the world they

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Speaker 2: do now, and some of these things have to be

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Speaker 2: dealt with. Is there could this have happened without the

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Speaker 2: October eighth Israeli.

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Speaker 5: You know, it's a difficult question. I don't have an answer.

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Speaker 4: October seventh was a horrible day, a day to be

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Speaker 4: remembered in infamous, if to borrow your president words on

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Speaker 4: Pearl Harbor, and it's a day that will always be

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Speaker 4: a trauma for all Israelis. And I believe that October

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Speaker 4: eighth Israelis understand that what was cannot be in the future,

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Speaker 4: and that we need to be determined if in the

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Speaker 4: past we are able to contain some threats and some

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Speaker 4: rockets firing at us from Gaza or from Lebanon. By

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Speaker 4: chrisbela By saying, we don't want to escalate it into

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Speaker 4: a war. We want to create a status quo. Now

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Speaker 4: there's no time for status quo, because Israel understands that

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Speaker 4: every time that they fire a rocket at us, they're

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Speaker 4: examining us. They're examining to see how we are resilient?

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Speaker 4: Are we and how determined are we to face these threats?

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Speaker 4: And now we're showing them that every rocket, every threat

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Speaker 4: towards Israel will be met with full force. And this

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Speaker 4: is why we are operating right now against the Iranian regime,

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Speaker 4: because that's taking down the mother of all threats, the

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Speaker 4: head of the snake that supported Hamas, that supports Chrisbela,

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Speaker 4: supports the Khuti, supports the Shiek militias in Iraq that

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Speaker 4: kill Americans, and we're taking down this snake. And again,

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Speaker 4: I don't know if it would have been possible without

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Speaker 4: October seventh. That's a question that I cannot answer. I'm

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Speaker 4: just saying that we have changed, and we're resilient and resolved,

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Speaker 4: and we will win.

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Speaker 2: Ludstromeyer, Council General of Israel to the Midwest of the

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Speaker 2: United States.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking the time to be with us.

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Speaker 1: Keep it here. I'm Tony Katz. This is Tony Katz today.