Weekly Update: Nachum Segal and Malcolm Hoenlein Discuss the Latest News

Malcolm Homeline is with us. We call this a weekly update on Friday mornings here at JM and the AM Conference of Presidents of major American Jewish organizations. Mr. Homeline, welcome back to JM in the AM. >> Thank you. Good to be with you as always. >> So, is it my imagination or um or am I right that this is unprecedented, the lack of travel, the lack of the ability to travel on a regular basis back and forth Israel? What do I mean? Before CO, Malcolm, and again, tell me if I'm imagining this. Tell me if I'm imagining this. Before CO, am I right that No, I mean, I remember flying twice during the war in the summer of 2014. Am I right before CO there was no such thing as LL's national Israel's national airline actually, you know, becoming so limited and uh and and and where it would be so difficult to secure a flight from the United States to Israel and vice versa. Well, there were occasions where there were limited fights. It's not the first time we've had attacks from Iran and necessitating, you know, protective measures to to limit the number of flights. Uh this is already going into week three of it. And it's the uncertainty I think that is impacting and and also a sort of deadline with PES that a lot of people who want to get to Israel or from Israel uh want to do it. um of course in the next two weeks. So it puts additional pressure and there are limited flights and with the incoming rockets continuing including one not long ago uh they that that it's unpredictable and there are people who were on planes sitting on the runway having to get out of the plane even twice and then the flights get cancelled or the airlines the other airlines not flying. It's a combination of factors. So, it's it's not unprecedented, but I think the intensity this time and because people didn't take the warning seriously before that this was imminent, uh, didn't leave. So, my theory, and hear me out for a moment, you are a historian, especially when it comes to modern Jewish history and modern history in general. My theory that if CO never would have happened, there'd be no precedent where government leaders, including the leaders of uh Israel, would say to themselves, you know what, people can be in one place, they can zoom in here and FaceTime in here. We learned that lesson from CO, you know, everyone thought that there's, you know, there's no way you can go ahead and suppress an entire population from traveling, but CO proves we can. So you don't agree with my theory that if not for CO it would not be to this degree but the ban on travel would be to this degree. >> Yeah. >> Look the ban is is not something anybody wants. None of the airlines want it. They they this is a very profitable route especially for American airlines. And you know they also have unions that uh dictate what they what they do. I do think co soften the ground as you said. >> There you go. That's all I needed some affirmation. >> People acclimate to to to things. The problem here is >> I needed validation, Malcolm. >> Well, anything you want, just tell me and I'll validate if you and I'll stamp your card on the way out. >> There you go. >> So, there it is. And that's the current situation. I hate to start on this side of the world, but I think it's appropriate even though there's so much to talk about regarding the war, Iran, the oil, the loss of US military personnel. There's a lot to talk about, but we got to start what happened yesterday in Michigan. And it's interesting, you know, the Times has an article and it made me think this morning. I mentioned this to the listeners in the 6:00 hour. It made me think that, you know, there there are people now in certain synagogues who are proclaiming, and this was the quote from one of the rabbis. You know, we're not Fort Knox. You know, to what degree are we supposed to go to secure our premises? And yesterday, thank God there were armed security guards in this episode in Michigan. But Malcolm, it is a good question. When when rabbis and boards of directors and lay leaders in synagogues sit down to discuss protecting their premises, it's a legitimate question to what degree do they need to go. What are your thoughts in the aftermath of yesterday? >> Well, first of all, I think we have to look at the sort of in a larger context. How many synagogues came under attack yesterday everywhere in Roderdam, in Leazge, in West Bloomfield. And West Bloomfield is an unusual case. First of all, it's a huge campus. >> Toss Toronto in there also, by the way. >> 12 and Toronto who's going to come to Toronto separately. 12,000 members. Um, you know, they have the resources to have full-time staff, including armed staff. I think it is their staff that shot the guy, >> right? >> Not the police, as was reported some places. >> Um, but as you know, about 15 20 years ago, we started scan to meet this need. And when nobody would listen to us about the security needs, we went to community after community, especially in this area, and they would not take seriously until we started getting grants from the city, state, and federal governments to help cover it. So, this is not new. We've had so much warning about this, and we have tried to institute it to do we do uh lone shooter training. We do all sorts of things which have saved lives in numerous cases, including in the Texas synagogue and and at Tree of Life in Pittsburgh. both had just gone in the weeks before through the exercise so they knew what to do when the guy with a gun I don't know how many shooles would know what to do if a guy with a gun came in and and now you know many have a telephone somewhere and many have uh alarm systems or other things but till you activate it until you make sure that the person who knows what to do it is there every week or every day uh you know fires are used every day. So, it's a a much broader concern and people have to take it more seriously. This is a phenomenon that is going on and look in Toronto three times in a week and and it's and but but a global phenomenon to understand that that they're targeting uh synagogues and we have thank God so many and and so many Jewish institutions that and there are ways to do it that are less expensive especially use of cameras with locked doors or these detectors that can tell somebody coming in with a clandest um weapon. And ours there is technology now for for a lot of this stuff and we have to invest in it. It has to be a priority like everything else that uh you know we have including it's better to pass up kittish for a couple months than to pass up on >> Whoa. Whoa. Excuse me. >> Yeah, there are limits. I agree. >> Very sensitive topic. We're giving kids >> I'll take it back. I'll take it back. >> My father's yard sites Monday night. We're giving Kish to Shabas. Could you have chosen a different Friday to mention that, please? But the reality is, and this is what you're emphasizing, is not to stay stagnant. I mean, the reality is that even if you can't create a Fort Knox at a local synagogue, the reality is you can't stay stagnant. You have to constantly address this issue. And as you just said, add a few things, some inexpensive, maybe some expensive, but keep adding and and do what you can to protect the congregation. Any public area where where people know that major Jewish events take place, right? It's not just synagogues. It's any public area that are known for Jewish events. For us, the synagogues are everyday events and every shabas. But but absolutely every wedding hall, everything there has to be more serious attention paid to it and means locked doors and with somebody to let people in or uh other credentials. There are ways it's be very hard. I can't see at a wedding hall how you're going to check people. >> But that means then you have whatever metal detection and other things can be done to to help, >> right? And like yesterday, frankly, with with the right security in place, even at a wedding or major event, with the right security in place, if someone goes ahead and tries to drive into the building, you know, you'd hope that they'd be able to step in the way the security guards did yesterday. All right, we go now back to the war. Uh, I mean, I I don't know what if it's fair to call it the greatest fear going into the war, but certainly it was a great concern and it does worry all of us. I think everybody, not just members of the Jewish community, but all Americans, and that's loss of life in this war against Iran. And of course, yesterday at least four killed in the um refueling uh uh plane episode. Whatever happened, it's it's pretty unclear at this point what happened. We don't have any real details other than being told that at least four are dead, right, Malcolm? >> It is correct. There are four dead on the crew on this stratosphere, this amazing refueling plane. And um and thank God the other plane made it back to to land in Israel. But uh look, it it happens. You can't have hundreds and hundreds of planes in the air and there aren't technical issues. And thank God it happened over Iraq, so nobody fell in. >> But but you know what we're dealing with here? We are dealing with a I mean, again, let's be real here. We're dealing with a president who is very concerned about what people say about what he's doing in general and certainly when it comes to this war and you see the way he's handling the price of oil situation. I mean he's trying to be in front of that story all day long every single day. Um and and now this of course is only going to lead to more and more members of the media and more and more commentators to talk about you know America getting out of this thing and why do we go in to begin with? So if in fact we want the president of the United States to authorize finishing the job, whatever that means, because at this point I don't think anybody knows what it means, but whatever that means, shouldn't we be, you know, really concerned that he's going to, you know, hear all this criticism and hear these voices and, I don't know, possibly just end the whole thing immediately? >> It's you can't just pull out immediately. There's too much invested to I think at this point to just pick up our marbles and go home and say, you know, we've done what we had. Now it's up to the people to do what they want. It is up to the people now to hopefully that they more and more will go to the streets and take action. There have been some demonstrations. It's very restricted. The bus are out in the streets. Israel the other night sent drones to go after some of them uh on their motorcycles and in the streets. They're armed. There are 700,000 based who are armed by the Iranians, the Iranian regime to to go out and and shoot to kill was the order. And we saw in January that they will shoot to kill and tens of thousands people paid with their lives. So they don't come out so willingly to demonstrate. They are intimidated. they are afraid as is understandable and often those kind of reactions have to come after the conflict dies down the the armed aspects of it you know while they're bombing it's they don't you know rally in large numbers in the streets so there are a lot of factors that will determine when people decide the gig is up I think at least two weeks more and that the president yesterday's comments at least last night were more uh open towards understand but the problem is that people hang on every word when he says you know uh we we are near the end he is we are near the end and it is true that they were immensely successful in initial days but you're talking about a country of 90 million people talking about a vast area with with hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars invested in infrastructure underground overground and whether it's the the missiles the nuclear program the drones the other capacities that they have we've destroyed virtually destroyed their navy and the air force was their air capacity was very limited before the war and it's even more limited now. So there are great successes. War is not one overnight. You know there's cyber war going on now. There are other kinetic wars that that uh take place. >> The drones very complicated. I mentioned drones already and but these drones are much more sophisticated. They become more capable and the harder to detect. Although uh I think iron beam is being used the the laser defense system in the north to take down the drones. We have single days this week when Hezbollah fired 200 rockets. It can overwhelm virtually any system. And thank God that they they're taking them down with between all of the Iron Dome, Arrow, etc. and iron beam have been successful largely in taking down or allow those that are flying into dead space, you know, into open fields and stuff are not because you got to focus on on the ones that pose the greatest danger. I always wonder what BB thinks about public opinion. Do you think he has sort of like uh the seder is two weeks from Wednesday night. Do you think he sort of has like this artificial deadline to make sure that the you know that the population of Israel is not running in and out of shelters during the seder? Well, of course, you know, he he's concerned about it, but right now it's more than 90% of Israelis back this war. They know that this is existential the threat to them from Iran. You know, we we tend to lose sight of it because of the success in that first day, but the fact is that Iran is still a powerful country. You see what they're doing in the streets of Hermoose whole international community should come together all those who have to pay the price for this uh for blocking the shipment of oil which is with 40% going to the out to the world and and uh 20% of the west's oil comes through there daily uh and I think they you know there are if they would all cooperate but you see even the French the British They're very courageous. They say things, they don't do things. Uh, and some are against us like Spain. And I hope people will remember it when they're planning their summer trips and vacations uh to see this this really nefarious activities on the part of the Spanish government and any others who who behave like similarly. But the the you know the um the the kind of enemy that we're up against, it was a whole state. It's a terrorist state. It's not, you know, an terror entity operating in a state and their supporters. Uh, look how quiet Gaza has become. Look how quiet the Houthies so far, thank God, have been. Uh, that could change now. But they have still have resources and and can post and they're they only need one thing that is to be able to stand up the day after and say we are here. the >> whether it's Mushaba, whether he's alive or not or wounded or not, that any of them they could stay, we're still here. >> The anti-war crowd um continues to speculate that even after this war is over because of the way it's gone down and the way Iran has fought back, etc., etc., uh that they're going to that the the threat of the closing of the straits is never going to go away. Now, I'm wondering from your perspective, wasn't that always the case over the last 20, 30 years? there was always that threat or do you think it will be more serious and uh and more regular once this war is over? >> No, it's always been there and they they threatened it and they've exercised it periodically. We've seen in the streets of Iran, the streets of Hermus. Um it doesn't take much to do this. It's a very narrow area. So you could you could with cannons with rifles even you can pose a threat. But today they have still uh the little fast boats which are very deadly and which can ram a ship but they also have the capacity still to fire rockets and the um Houthies haven't exercised any of their rockets and and capacities yet and so they can also be dangerous and harassing. I hope that the Gulf States will will do stuff to take action and will join in in their own defense because they're paying a price. Look, look how many rockets. I think 1500 were aimed at the UAE, more than at Israel. And the the damage that they did in in Qatar and in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, let alone UAE, Oman this week got hit very hard. I mean, countries that did not play a role were not supporters of Israel. They're not we're not part of the Abraham Accords. So, you see the true nature of this of this regime that they're going after any country that has American presence or support systems. They try to target the communications uh capacities that the US uses to coordinate its flights. Um and and the countries, most of them are are, you know, ridiculous in their response. There's hardly anything that's done. There have been some rockets fired by some of the Gulf countries. I'm not going to go into that, but but the but it's a very limited response just as we've seen the aircraft carrier coming from uh from France and one from Britain. And the president rightly said, you come at the end, you come now. Right. >> And they're the ones who have a lot at stake. They they targeted a British base in Cyprus. >> They have other president. They targeted the French base in Iraq and people were wounded there. So they have an interest in this. The region was British and France are responsible for this situation because they carved it up after World War I creating artificial states and creating circumstances that we're paying the price for now. >> It's America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program. I'm heard on listener sponsored digital radio round the web also.com single network of course the beloved NSN app Malcolm homeline with us talking about the weekly update so prime minister Netanyahu spoke yesterday and some analysts interpreted his words uh as giving up on regime change in Iran. Has Netanyahu and to a degree parathetically Trump given up on regime change in Iran? No, I don't think anybody has given up on that as being an ultimate goal. It wasn't the initial goal. The first was to get the nuclear program, the missile program to hit their defense and and offensive capabilities. The regime change was never spoken about because it's it's hard for democracies to to do that. Uh and it is there are laws actually about regime change. >> America and Israel can get out of this war now without regime change. I do not believe that they can wrap this up without a regime change, meaning that there isn't somebody there. And it's very hard to find it. They're looking all the time. But not just them. The people of Iran are looking also trying to identify somebody. People have said Mousabi who's under house arrest. Even Larjani's name has come up, which I think is is ridiculous because he is part of the regime. Um but you never know. of course Raza Palavi's name the son of the sha but you know there's a lot of opposition and he lives outside the country and he uh I mean he'll be a figurehead he'll be involved perhaps uh there are coalitions being formed of representatives of different regimes there even were conferences some held some were postponed but where let's say the Drews and the not the Jews the Kurds and the Beluchis and the the um 30 million Azeris, they make up half the country. So people are talking about a federal system that that would be a more peaceful outcome and solution to this. But you know, the the fact that the Mushnaba, we don't know his condition. We don't we believe he's wounded. We don't know for sure anything yet about him. Uh about his uh but he's very hardline. some say more than his father that he was he he doesn't enjoy respect amongst many sers of Iranian leaders that I've spoken to over the years who are there still but um but the fact that he will continue if he was there to continue afterwards and would emerge as the leader that would be a major setback to the to the claims that can be made at the end of this war. How long can President Trump tolerate the rise in oil prices and more specifically gasoline prices at the pump that are up almost 30% nationwide? >> Well, we're releasing a lot from our strategic reserves. Um, remember America is a net exporter. So, America is not hit as hard. They will raise the prices clearly and our allies are affected and and our exports are affected. But the but the and and we have now lifted some of the sanctions on Russia so that they can sell more oil. But you know some of this is taking advantage or even anticipatory in terms of raising the prices because as you said America makes enough and and can provide enough for for Arameia needs but we have a lot of allies and others to worry about and the of course the Middle Eastern countries who rely on it they capacity is still much greater than is being exercised. the OPEC countries can produce much more if they if they need to and you know we will see the price will settle. It'll be elevated and then after the war is over it will go back down again. >> Do you think the anti-war crowd in the United States has been relatively quiet or has been somewhat silenced? I'm getting the impression the general media is pro pro this war. Do you get that same impression or not? >> Absolutely not. >> Interesting. I think that it's I think that the general media with few exceptions a lot of the talk radio others have been supportive. I think much of the media has been negative on this distorting the reality the importance of this war what the threat that Iran posed to our security and to get Americans to understand how relevant this is not a war as you saw this campaign to say this is BB's war including by people who formerly were supporters who you know lost elections or become now voices and uh shocking to me that they they say it's BB's war because of some illusion that Rubio made who clarified it right away and the president clarified it and and said it was in fact he who drove this much more. The Israel does not it's not a the tail wagging the dog. And that's one of the attempts to show that we're manipulating that this is not in America's interest. It is in America's interest. It's in Kuwait's interest. It's in UAE's interest. All of our allies in the region and far beyond the region. Iran pose a global threat and we know that they have sleeper cells and I know there's speculation but for years we have known that they exist. We know that they they have killed Americans for the last 47 years that there's so much evidence about what the importance of this war is. And to pin this all and saying, "Oh, no, it's VB who drove the war. It's Israel that drove the war. They're going to attack um they were about to attack Israel. Israel is probably more able to defend itself than virtually any of the other countries." And and has proven the capacity and the capabilities over and over again. And look at this amazing expression of cooperation between the two militaries. This is unprecedented. And I think we'll have very long-term consequences that the the militaries have become so close and and cooperate with all these planes sitting in Israel for the first time. And um I think that there will be many things that will come out of this that are very positive, including relationships with many of these Arab countries that see that the only thing they can rely on locally is Israel. >> Let's go up north. There there's been no evacuation call for northern parts of Israel till this point. Correct. >> No, there have been periodic alarms and and warnings to people not as sustained as it has been in the last couple days. And the only evacuation uh orders or suggestions that we've seen is when Israel recommends to those in southern Lebanon to leave. Correct. >> That is correct. And there was a decision made not to evacuate and but to defend. And we put 100,000 Israel put up 100,000 reserves in the area plus uh a lot of capacity um uh planes and and u missile defense and and rockets uh offensive rockets there. uh they have gone into Lebanon to try and and I don't mean just by air, I'm talking about on the ground to to take certain areas and to try to clean out where they know there are these launchers. It's amazing to me how how they could still have after all that Israel has done in Lebanon. And but but but note the reaction in the media where the reporters go in there trying to get people to criticize Israel criticis criticize Israel for their attacks and the fact that that a million people have been moved. They claim even if it's half that number and they don't they attack his they say it'sah's fault that they they they are angry at them and the president of of Lebanon is introducing legislation that would that would criminalize uh put out a warrant for the arrest of the leader uh other steps that were never taken before. if they can really find the voice and the capacity to stand up to to them, if the Lebanese army would would play a greater role in going afterbah, we could see a new Lebanon emerge out of this as well, >> right? But that's but but doesn't the Hezbollah behavior and the Lebanese government's reaction to it show us that they have very limited control over them? Like isn't it disheartening that all this broke out up north because we really thought the Lebanese government could in fact uh you know reign in Hezbollah? >> I don't think anybody thought that. I mean certainly nobody Yeah. The media did but nobody on the ground or no Israeli thought that they had the capacity. We know they don't and didn't and they could have some and and I think the United States would do more to arm them. remember Israel, they signed an agreement with the government over the oil areas offshore and I think they actually the area Lebanon got so far was dry but uh there were things that were arrived at and this this these sharing agreements. So, but people I don't think anybody was was deluded to think that the government of Lebanon and its army would stand up to which was getting all these huge stock weapons and the huge stockpiles. Think of it. Every day they discover more and more places with uh with where weapons because the Iranians would smuggle it in and paid for it and invested billions and billions of dollars there. And the uh and we're slowly identifying it, stripping it, bombing it, taking out the leaders, taking out uh some of the commanders. It's it's a it's a huge undertaking. And while Lebanon is not a big country, it's not Iran, which is, you know, 10 times the population alone has 10 times the population of Israel and many times the size of of Israel. Uh Lebanon is a much more condensed and right along Israel's border, but identifying where they hide in the mountains, where they hide in cities, and to try to limit civilian casualties as much as possible. Um these are but the reaction of the people to me is when I hear BBC reporters and others trying to cajul them into saying hostile things against Israel >> and they end up criticizing. >> The irony is that the Israeli army and the Israeli presence up north may outlast the uh the war in Iran, you know, by God knows how long. I mean that that you know that would be terrible if I mean look both scenarios would be terrible. a long war in Iran would be terrible. But also, you know, nobody expected, or I shouldn't say nobody expected. Everybody was hoping that Hezbollah would not start up this time. And it's that presence on the northern border that, you know, might lead to to Israel being in there militarily. God knows for how long, how many weeks and months ahead. >> Well, they they have a presence, but I think if Iran is really defeated and it doesn't have the ability to resupply and and you know, we can strengthen the Lebanese government. But I I worry about Syria, frankly, mostly because of Turkeykey's aspirations. And I worry that after we finish with Iran and the Shiite ring of fire, we're going to find a Sunni ring of fire led by Iran and Turkey. Turkey is very aggressive. It's much larger. It has and it has a real air force uh and is trying to encroach more and more in Syria. And of course, Shara Beholden and the the um the and they also have the Houthis. they have access to Libya. They there would be other Egypt we see a strong Muslim Brotherhood presence and even in Saudi Arabia and other places where Turkey and the Turk countries um could play uh a destabilizing role as well. So it's not a panacea to the problems but if we can knock out this one then we can focus much more seriously on the others. And it's that uh and it's that aspiration that Turkey has that makes it hopeless to think that there's a future Turkey Israel relationship, right? They can't >> Erdogan Erdogan is an extremist, you know, I know him well. I've met with him many many many times and uh and and actually the Jewish community in Turkey has been been defended and uh um but the radicalization of the population the Islamization has been taking place for many years and and Erdogan is ideologically Muslim Brotherhood and he's an extremist and some people say unstable uh but President Trump likes him and one of those you know anomalies that that happened that he's attracted to certain people and despite their extremist and irrational views. >> He admires their leadership skills, not their leadership qualities, but their leadership skills. >> No, he he admires strength and people project images of strength. Even Shara when he came out, Shara was a terrorist a month before and may be still a terrorist. Just because when they put on a suit, it doesn't mean that he's he's changed fundamentally. Right now, the situation in Syria, thank God, is quiet. Um but Turkey is increasingly increasing its pressure all the time and and wants to increase its presence. Uh we'll see if Shara is up to the test and and where he really lies. If you look at the areas under the control, you see the Islamization increasing in those areas. But um but you know those are things that we'll focus on later. But right now we have to Israel is protecting the Drews from pressure even coming sometimes from American sources. and um uh the Drews and the Kurds, two of the primary constituencies. Uh you saw the attack on Azabjan, an ally of Israel as well and the threat to to do stuff there. Remember 30 million Azeris in Iran is much more than the number of Azeris in Azerban and they can they can be the bellweather for toppling the regime or creating a new regime afterwards. >> Right. You know what's interesting? You know, the midterms are less than eight months away and normally you'd think a president, especially one like Trump, you know, all he's concerned about is uh you know, the the makeup of the House and Senate after the beginning of November. And uh I mean, you know, once once the election's over and the reality is, I guess there's so many millions of news cycles between now and then that he hasn't panicked yet. He hasn't, at least that's the way it seems to me because if you >> It's been remarkable that he's not fallen victim to that. sustains this that once the oil once the war is over the oil will come down quickly. I think because there is more than enough uh oil there was a glut before the the war. >> I know but he has so many people out there telling him that this war is going to go on for much longer than he thinks or he really is control of of of starting and ending. If he wants it to stop immediately it'll stop immediately. Well, there also he had many people including in his own white house who who urged him not to do the war and yet he made up his own mind and I think that is you know we have to show our current we have to show appreciation to the American forces but also to the commander-in-chief who was the president who made the decision and is taking responsibility for it. He's not saying oh you know it's the others I had to do it for did it just to protect you know the pressure from Israel when when they made the accusation he repudiated it. So absolutely we have to show appreciation and that the fact that he's been steadfast and put the resources necessary and and it also reestablishes the credibility of the United States what they did those two air forces US and Israel together and the message of this this cooperation I I think this will will will have a lasting impact the militaries have become very close and see what what uh can be done and Israel doesn't sherk responsibility Israel's out there every day and the front line. It's something people forget, you know, because America's presence is so big. >> Unbelievable. You like my millions of news cycle line. >> There will be. But but look at the media, the distortions, the misrepresentations, the attempts to try to portray it without talking about the true history of what is going on, what and that the Iranian people want this regime and and when you >> and the only reason we don't hear more from them is because they're being suppressed unlike January. But when they do interviews with them and the people say something, they try to to ask them questions in such a way that they will be critical of the United States and they're not. They're critical of the government of Iran and saying, you know, we want them out. Look what they did. They killed tens of thousands of Iranians just a month ago. >> And they can't and and they can't get thousands or tens of thousands in the street because they'd be suppressed and they'd be uh uh god knows arrested or worse. >> And they can't do it while they're still bombing. It's that's number one. And number two, the based are out as I said and they arm 700,000 of them and the people don't have weapons. You can't, you know, civilians, others are not allowed to own weapons and they do have a suppressive regime. But I think that the right circumstance will see them back out again because this is their future. They know it and they paid a heavy price for it. >> What happened under Rubio? He did make it to Israel this week, right? The Secretary of State or not? >> No, >> he wasn't in Israel this week. >> I don't think so. Wow. >> Maybe I dreamt it. >> I maybe did. I didn't pay attention to it. >> Maybe I Maybe I dreamt it. >> He was supposed to go right after, you know, at the beginning of the war and um at the military who are having meetings, but I don't think anybody's flying in and out. It's not so easy as you know. >> Yeah. >> Get seats on planes for people you want to as I know as well. But >> wow. Here's the story. Rubio canled his trip to Israel early next week following the USIsrael strikes on Iran. This was 5 days ago according to the State Department. All right, there you go. Uh here's another one. Yeah, Rubio will no longer visit Israel on Monday. All right, so I was a little bit behind the times in terms of the timing, but at least I didn't dream the fact that he's actually supposed to go, but all right, there you go. >> But but part of that is is part of the deception. the incredible things. You know, people don't know uh how many things they make people the the guys and the pilots and everybody park away from the thing. It couldn't drive to to work that morning that Saturday morning because we know that the Chinese for instance have satellites which monitor >> oh my god >> all of these things. So they had to create as many deceptive moves even to the degree of where people could order pizza from, you know, around Washington and and there because you had that pizza monitor system where they could tell they there were so many little details that that were taken into account about how to to make sure that they didn't tip them off. you know, they they moved planes to the south of Israel because they wanted to launch from the north, which they did launch from the north, but they were focused on the south and in trying to monitor it. So, the a lot of things were done and there were what they did in terms of these drone hits against the bases siege is a remarkable feat technologically, you know, close to the pagers and uh incident. So a lot of there will be a lot of books written on this war. A lot >> Pesak deadline, right? No way it's ending next week. Pesak deadline. >> Well, first of all, you know, they have to have the guys making the matzah and they need to get it back in the bakeries. But but and people want to be home for it. And you know, there are also remarkable things being done by groups. You know, my friend uh Mati Frerieden, you see the marid out there every night, middle of the night, 4:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. feeding the pilots and and how these guys uh express their gratitude to them for for what they what they're doing literally every night. There are a lot of groups who who are have undertaken these kind, you know, getting things. But people should be careful when you just see an ad on online does not mean it's legitimate. Don't just throw money. Check where you're giving to and give to to establish and legitimate places. >> Yeah. But unfortunately, and I I acknowledge this, those hared are not the ones getting the publicity, frankly. >> That's Yes, that's true. But but a lot of soldiers, I mean, I've seen videos that they did dancing with them, thanking them. I agree. It's hard for the army, you know, to serve 24 hours a day. They do provide them with food, but pilots coming back and you have hundreds literally in the air at a time. We have this week again 200 planes up in a single night and the Americans had a couple hundred planes up. >> This is uh and and the fact that they coordinated so amazingly in the air, you know, to to be flying over to Iran at the same time. >> You can't do this haphazardly. >> Understood. All right, Malcolm, thank you so much. Have a wonderful Shabas. We'll speak please God next week. >> Okay, be well. Have a good shabus and be safe. >> Malcolm Homeline Conference of Presidents of Morajor American Jewish organizations. We call it the weekly update here at JM and the A.M.