Join us on a compelling journey with Mike Gallagher as he hosts Israeli Defense Forces soldier Daniel Kopolov, who recounts his experiences from immigration to military service. Learn how the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews played a pivotal role in his recovery after a life-altering event. This inspiring dialogue also delves into the emotional courage, resilience, and purpose that drive Daniel’s aspirations beyond the challenges he’s faced.
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The Mike Gallagher Show on Salem News Channel and the Salem Radio Network.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hunger doesn’t have a political party, right? Poverty doesn’t distinguish between Republican or Democrat or blue or red states. It’s real. And I think that the fact that the Democrats continue to vote over and over and over again to keep this government closed, now we are right at the cliff.
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In the ReliefFactor.com studios, here’s Mike Gallagher.
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And yes, yes, yes, I know that police officers are never trained to clip somebody in the arm or the leg. I think I was pretty obvious in my exchange with Val from Houston. Tom from Flower Mound, Texas, on the MyPillow text line writes, Val, the ex-cop, quote-unquote, who says she was trained to clip a suspect in the arm or the leg? Seriously? I doubt if Val has the ability to clip a bag of potato chips. Ouch. And here’s a lot of law enforcement, a cop from Los Angeles. It’s called Center of Mass, Val. Give me a break. All right, 26 minutes before the hour, I want to quickly tell you about a guy that can make a difference in your life. My CPA can be yours, M. Dean Owens CPA. I want to introduce you to a true leader in tax and financial strategy. Dean’s a combat vet. His incredible team at M. Dean Owens CPA has been ranked one of the top CPA and financial advisory firms for the last three years in a row. That’s no surprise to me. I wish I had met him years ago. Their work reflects integrity, faith in God, and the conservative values we hold dear. Dean’s mission is to make sure you’re not paying one penny more to the government than you have to. So don’t wait. Take control of your financial future. Make the call. Save you a lot of money. And Dean is one of us. My CPA can be your CPA. Call Dean Owen, 270-554-0720. Put his team to work for you. Put together a financial plan, a strategy, going to put money in your pocket. Don’t pay one dime more to the government than you need to. M. Dean Owens, CPA. Call 270-554-0720, 270-554-0720, or visit owenscpa.com. I was so fascinated by the story of Daniel Kopolov, a 21-year-old Israeli soldier originally from Ukraine. He immigrated to Israel in 2019 with his family on a flight that was sponsored by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. That’s this beautiful ministry that we’re proud to represent here in Jerusalem. And on March 1st, 2024, during operations in the Gaza Strip, Daniel’s unit was ambushed by a remotely detonated bomb as they entered a building. What an honor it is to welcome a real hero to the Mike Gallagher Show, the Israeli Defense Forces soldier, Daniel Koppelov. Daniel, it’s great to see you. Great to have you on the Mike Gallagher Show. I appreciate you taking time. Your story is amazing. Your relationship with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is incredible. If you can, before we talk about that, can you walk us through your story about immigrating to Israel, becoming a part of the IDF, all of that? Can you kind of tell us the Daniel Kopolov story?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, so six years ago, I came to Israel from Russia. And I went here to like boarding school, youth village. And after three years, I went to the army, to the combat unit infantry. It’s called Kfil. And I was there for eight months in a basic training. And then I was guarding the Lebanese border on October 7, when the war started. The day after the war started, the Hezbollah terrorist organization and their, like, special forces, they start to attack my base with their rockets and missiles. And so I was there for a couple of months. Then I was, like, sent to commander’s course. Then, like you said, like, on March 1, 2024, I was injured in Gaza Strip. And, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep, and here we are. And I think people in the United States have a difficult time sort of understanding the journey of somebody from Russia. You emigrated to Israel. I hear you learned Hebrew in one year, which just impresses the heck out of me. You enlisted in the IDF at age 18. Tell us why, why the journey. Tell us what brought you to Israel in the first place.
SPEAKER 02 :
My sister, she was in medical school and she wanted to volunteer to the army as a doctor. And also she always felt connected to being Jewish. So she brought the idea and my family in 2014 had to move from Ukraine to Russia. So they supported the decision. and uh we moved and uh yeah that’s basically it and i like i just liked uh being in israel like the people and uh everyone was like so friendly and like open to me and i was trying to help to learn hebrew so i wanted to go to the army and like to to give back something
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure. It’s incredible to be here, and this is like my, I think, 11th visit to Israel. Every time I’m here, I get astounded at the friendliness of the people, what a beautiful place it is, and, of course, the spiritual hold that it has on me. You know, you go to all these holy sites that we’ve learned about in Bible study or from the pastor from the pulpit. Can we talk a little bit about the aspect you— bravely soldiered in the battlefield. You lost your leg in March of 2024 during this booby trap blast. Tell us what that was like for you emotionally. I mean, here you are, a young guy, you know, healthy. You got your whole life ahead of you. When you lose a limb at a young age, that has to change you psychologically, does it not?
SPEAKER 02 :
I think what affected me is that I lost three of my dear friends in the same event that I was injured. But I think compared to this, losing a leg, it’s like nothing. And also, I think… That’s, like, I don’t want to, like, stay in this, like, think about losing the leg all the time. I want to, like, continue to train, to come back to normal life, to go to university, to, like… To develop, like, so I don’t think… I didn’t stop with, like, my injury, I would say. I don’t think it affected me in any way. I don’t let, like… My mindset doesn’t let it, like, affect me. I just train, and if you put, like, enough effort, and you can, like… I think you can achieve anything you want.
SPEAKER 06 :
So… I’m told… I’m told by our friends at the fellowship that you are such an absolute inspiration to everybody you come in contact with. I know that you’ve spoken and you’ve lent support to others who have experienced a similar injury. Can you talk a little bit? We’re here doing our broadcast from Jerusalem thanks to the partnership we have with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Tell us a little bit about your feelings about the fellowship, what role they’ve played in your life, and what the fellowship has meant to you during your recovery and during you continuing to thrive.
SPEAKER 02 :
So they really helped me because after I was injured, I had to move to another apartment because my old apartment wasn’t like wheelchair accessible. And at the time I used wheelchair. So and I didn’t have any furniture. So they like furnished my apartment. And now I also, like, work with the fellowship. I volunteer. And we’re coming, like, we’re visiting, like, other families that they helped to immigrate to Israel. And when Iran striked with the missiles, so we helped, we, like, brought food to the people that could not be evacuated because of the health problems. And so, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep. I’m so honored to get to spend a few minutes with you because I know what the fellowship has done for so many people. And incidentally, there’s a great aspect to your story. I’m based when I’m not, of course, in Israel visiting. I’m based in Florida. And I understand there’s a young lady named Danielle that you met. She’s a Florida girl, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. So that’s funny because we broke up a month ago, but yeah, I used like a month after I was injured. I’ve been dating for more than a year. Like someone from, she came like to volunteer and like to interview injured soldiers. And that’s how we met. And unfortunately we broke up a couple of months ago, but yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s okay. That’s all right. Well, it’s all part of your journey, you know? I mean, that’s all right. Now, the notes that I was given, they left that part out. But that’s okay, you know? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d be surprised during a live interview. But, hey, I’m sure you wish nothing but the best for her, and she wishes nothing but the best for you. Yeah. And remind me to fire the person who gave me the notes, okay? I’ll take care of that as soon as the show’s over.
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Is that fair enough?
SPEAKER 06 :
Daniel, you’re amazing. You’re a great sport. I’m so glad you could join us. And thanks for lifting up the fellowship the way you have. And we’re going to continue to fight for the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews as well because, golly, this is an incredible organization. What’s next for you? What do you see for the next – where are you going to be 5, 10, 20 years from now, Daniel?
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s a good question because five years ago, I pictured myself with having two legs. Not every time it goes as planned, but now I train four times a week in cycling. I have first race coming up this Saturday. Maybe I want to do more professionally, maybe even in three years on Paralympic level and go to Los Angeles, hopefully. I also started this week, I started university. I went to business school in like international university in Reichland. And also hopefully I’ll like figure out what do I want to do and pursue. So that’s, that’s it I think for now.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, we’re pulling for you. We’re praying for you. And we are honored by your visit with us today here on the Mike Gallagher Show. Keep fighting the good fight, Daniel, and all the best. We’re glad you could spend some time with us.
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Thank you.
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Thank you for having me. You bet. I appreciate it. Daniel Koppeloff, who’s an Israeli Defense Forces soldier and a real inspiration. And he’s a product, his recovery, his rehabilitation. all supported by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. In fact, when he emigrated from Russia to Israel, he was on a flight with his family that was provided by the fellowship. This is the kind of work that they’re doing, and I hope you’ll take a moment. We are two days left now in the campaign, today and tomorrow, and we want to continue to bless the fellowship with your donations. Please go to mikeonline.com and make whatever gift you could afford. Yael Eckstein, of course, was with us this week. She dropped by our studios here in Jerusalem to remind us that your donations are having a major impact throughout the state of Israel.
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Wherever you look in Israel, it’s the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and sheltering the poor. And so whatever donation your listeners generously give, they’re seeding into God’s word that through those donations of feeding the hungry, you’re part of this land.
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Final two days, today and tomorrow, please go to mikeonline.com. The campaign ends tomorrow. You can go to mikeonline.com to tell the people of Israel that you’re with them. You can support Daniel by showing him you’re with him. Please go to mikeonline.com, or you can phone in your donation, 800-613-5511, 800-613-5511. Thank you for supporting the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Hey, I’ve got to tell you, Tritail’s Premium Beef, my favorite meat delivery service in the world. They’ve got a deal right now that you can’t miss. For the first 30 orders over $499, they’re going to throw in a roast absolutely free. That’s right, a centerpiece meal straight from their Texas ranch added to your order at no cost. Here’s the thing. Once those 30 are gone, they’re gone. No second chances, no rain checks. This is ranch life, not retail stores, not retail games. Don’t wait. Gather your family, feed your table, feed your legacy. And if you’re the kind of person who says, well, I’ll get to it tomorrow, let me remind you, tomorrow’s roast will be somebody else’s. And Tritail’s Premium Beef still has all my favorite cuts with the Gallagher Patriot Box. Just for you. Get one or two of those, add some of your favorites, and get yourself that free roast. Whether or not you get a free roast, you always get free shipping on all first orders and an automatic 10% off. Not a trick. It’s a treat. As this offer expires Halloween night, 1031 is the last day to get that free roast. Go right now to trybeef.com slash Gallagher. That’s trybeef.com slash Gallagher. Trybeef.com slash Gallagher.
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Mike Gallagher.
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I’ve admired Dr. Michael Oren for a long time. Of course, as I mentioned, he served as Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2013. He was named one of the most influential Jews by the Forward and the Jerusalem Post. Here we are in Jerusalem for our second day of our broadcast, thanks to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And what an honor it is to be rejoined by Ambassador Michael Oren. It’s great to see you again, sir. How have you been? Great to be back, Mike. Good to see you. Thank you for that very warm introduction. And thank you to the fellowship.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m a big fan of the fellowship.
SPEAKER 06 :
Me too. And we love what they do. And we’ve been spending the month of October inviting our generous audience to support the fellowship. And they’ve done so with flying colors. So many thanks to Yael Eckstein and the team at the fellowship. Mr. Ambassador, let’s start with the protests going on today in Jerusalem, if you can. I just want to spend about a minute on this, but there are thousands and thousands of people lining the streets of Jerusalem, as I understand it, and the way it’s described by Moshe Weiss over at JNS.org, and we’re in their Jewish News Syndicate studios. The rally, the thousands of people are demonstrating today, asserting that the progressive left, here in Israel is attempting to force its secular agenda onto a society that views Torah study as a fundamental national service. This has to do with serving in the military, right, on the part of Orthodox Jews, correct?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, yes, but there’s two inaccuracies of what that statement said. One is that thousands of people are protesting. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people are protesting. And second of all, it’s not the progressive left that wants the ultra-Orthodox, the Haridim as we call them, people who fear God, Haridim, to enlist in the military. It’s the entire country except for the ultra-orthodox. It is right and left. It’s one of the few issues on which right and left are totally aligned here. And in fact, it’s actually the people who are leading this fight most rigorously are from the religious right. And they say, you know, we read the Bible. Our Bible tells us to go out and fight. How is it that your Bible, you read the same Bible, tells you not to fight? And how could you sit on the side while your brothers are out there fighting? fighting and often bleeding and sometimes tragically dying as well as they continue to do this week. Why this is happening, it may take me an hour to explain, but very, very briefly, the Haredim believe that only God can redeem the Jewish people. Only God can bring the Jewish people back to their homeland and reconstitute a Jewish state. And the Zionist movement, which was in part a secular movement, kind of arrogated the role of God. by bringing the Jews back to this country and forming this state. So they will not recognize, they won’t salute the flag, they won’t sing the national anthem, they won’t teach their kids modern subjects in school, the kids get maybe a second grade Western education in English and math, and they will not serve in the Israeli army.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow. Wow. And that’s what’s led to, as you said, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets here. I mean, look, I know it’s big when the hotel slips a note under your door the night before saying, look, the roads, the streets are going to be closed. Good luck with traffic. Good luck getting around. I may have to sleep here tonight in the JNS studios until tomorrow because it’s going to be a little hectic out there. But this is also sort of an Israeli tradition, correct? I mean, there are many, many times, and certainly since October 7th and before, where people take to the streets to let their voices be heard. We see it, of course, in the United States, but it’s also very particular. It’s a very particular form of dissent and voice here in Israel, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
Demonstrations are a part of our life. We are a democracy. We’re a flagrant democracy. We have the right of free assembly, the right of free speech. As you do in the United States, I think more Israelis proportionally avail themselves of those rights. We have protested up to hundreds of thousands of people, which would be the equivalent of many millions of Americans, fortunately. The difference between these demonstrations and the one you’re showing now And that is probably a demonstration of protesting pre-war. It looks like maybe the government’s judicial reform program. And then during the war, the hostage issue, the difference between these protests and today’s protests, as you’ll see, that those protests were flying the Israeli flag. Today’s protesters will probably be burning it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Dr. Oren, let’s talk about the Hamas yesterday. And this is a huge conversation today here in Jerusalem and all throughout Israel and the world. Hamas staged the discovery of remains that belonged to an Israeli hostage. Video showed the terrorists… Hours before they handed the partial remains of the dead hostage, drones being flown by Israel captured the moment members of Hamas tossed a body out of a building, wrapped it in white sheets. They then were seen dragging the body to the center of a hole, attempting to bury it under dirt and sand once the body was mostly hidden. The Hamas members then signaled for an excavator to come and dig up their supposed new find. It’s so hard for me to understand how you negotiate with people like this. Mr. Ambassador, how does Israel, how does the United States and the role that President Trump played in this fragile peace process, how do you negotiate with monsters?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I’m going to be less than diplomatic, Michael, by saying that beats me. I don’t know. They’re a terrorist organization. They’re not an honest player. At best, they’re Lucy with the football. And they engage not just in physical terror, they engage in emotional and psychological terror. And imagine sending body parts of hostages back to their loved ones, literally one part at a time. That’s what they do. It’s what a crime family would do. And that’s who they are. And there’s only one way to negotiate. And that is if the negotiations are backed with credible military force, a credible threat. And I think it was very important that President Trump this week acknowledged that Israel had a reason to strike back at Hamas. We struck back very hard. And I hope that we’ll continue to get those green lights. We have a situation now where we have American military observers, about 200 of them, plus observers from other countries, including some countries that aren’t particularly friendly, like France and Spain, monitoring our military movements in Gaza. And perhaps at some point maybe trying to limit them. That would be a very big mistake. Big mistake, first of all, vis-a-vis Hamas. Hamas will take advantage of it, as they have already this week. And they will project an image of, let’s say, less than strength. for Israel throughout the Middle East. Middle East is a country, is an area that respects strength. It’s because of that strength we have the Abraham Accords. That’s why these countries made peace with us. Not because they love us, but because they are, they admire us because we are strong. And we have to keep up that image, keep up that image, keep up the reality, and we’ll get more peace, more security.
SPEAKER 06 :
I read your work on Substack, and you, of course, have clarity with Michael Oren at Substack, and I was fascinated by your open letter to the Jews of New York. Let’s take it to the United States here for just a moment. And you point out with this upcoming mayoral race in just a few days in New York City, there is one candidate of the three on the ballot, there is only one that insists that of the 195 states in the world, only one has no right to exist. Are you as mortified as the rest of us at the prospect of Mayor Zoran Mamdani?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m mortified. I’m scared for the Jews of New York. I’m scared for the United States of America. This is the direction the Democratic Party is going. I greatly fear it. But here is a person who checks all the box of what constitutes anti-Semitism. He says he’s not anti-Semitic, but everything he says is anti-Semitic. He wants to erase this state. He wants to erase me, my family, my kids, my grandparents. He wants to erase the studio in which you’re sitting. And the way it gets erased is not by peace. It’s by globalizing the intifada. that killed 1,000 Israelis by suicide bombing between 2000 and 2005. He wants to globalize it. What does that mean? He wants to bring the Antifa to New York, too, and kill those Jews, too. And, you know, there’s a list of democracies in the world. It’s a very short list. United States on that list, you know, Canada, Great Britain, Australia. Israel is the only country on that list that has never known a second one. of non-democratic governance and has never known a second of peace. Never known a second of peace. And there’s one democratically elected leader of that country, and that democratic leader, not the leader of Russia, not the leader of Venezuela or North Korea or Iran, who Mamdani would arrest if he came to New York, and that is the democratically elected leader of the state of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. So is that not, by definition, anti-Semitic? In the last 24 hours, the new one, the new sensation coming out of Mamdani’s mouth was a recording he made just before he started running for mayor, 2023. where he says he basically blamed police violence against black people in New York, on the state of Israel, on the IDF. That’s a classic anti-Semitic trope. We are dealing with a card-carrying Jew-hater. And so my letter to the Jews of New York says, do you know who you’re voting for? Yeah, he wants to give you free buses, and yeah, he wants to give you discount stuff in grocery stores. But is that worth the safety of your children, your families, your future? Think about it, I said.
SPEAKER 06 :
It just fascinates me. There are even people from Hollywood and the entertainment industry stepping up for this guy, including Mandy Patinkin. He and his wife now are huge advocates of this guy. And Mandy Patinkin is Jewish. I am confounded. I will spend the rest of my life trying to understand how a Jewish person could embrace… like you said, a card-carrying anti-Semite, just an absolute, by definition, somebody who doesn’t believe in the state of Israel’s right to exist. I guess it’s because people like Patinkin and others take their political ideology and put it ahead of something, oh, as fundamental as Israel’s right to exist. In other words, the politics side of it is more important than ideological or cultural or even existential threats.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m not sure some of these Jews even support Israel’s right to exist. There’s nothing really new about this. I know many of your listeners and viewers know their Bible. When you read the Bible, the problem that Moses had, that the prophets had, with Jews who wanted to cause nothing but harm to the Jewish people. It’s not new. If you are a observant Jew, three times a day you say a prayer where you ask God to protect us, literally, against the Jews who want to cause us harm. And we have a holiday, Hanukkah, that celebrates a Jewish victory over Jews who wanted to cause us harm. So it’s not new. We have survived the past. We’ll survive it now. That doesn’t make it pleasant. It certainly doesn’t make it understandable. It is very difficult even for Jewish people to understand. Believe me, it’s difficult.
SPEAKER 06 :
Mr. Ambassador, I’m thinking a lot about our dear friend and colleague Dennis Prager. Dennis and I took a number of groups over here to the Holy Land over the years. We call them the Stand with Israel tours. And, of course, we’re praying for Dennis as he’s continuing to deal with the many challenges of his terrible fall. But I would ask Dennis on these trips. how is it that every Jew in America isn’t a registered Republican? And he would always point out, his candid answer was, it’s often because many Jews are sort of secular Jews. They’re not particularly spiritual. They’re not driven by the Torah or by their spirituality. They’re driven, again, by a political narrative that supersedes their faith. I think that comes as close to any answer I’ve ever gotten about why so many Jews are on the hard left.
SPEAKER 03 :
But it’s an old axiom. I don’t know if it’s politically correct to say. On this program, I could probably say it, that in the United States, the Jews are the only minority group that vote against their economic interests, maybe even their national interests. The old axiom was that Jews earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans.
SPEAKER 06 :
you bet i could spend hours with you mr ambassador thank you so much and i i’m so grateful that you were able to spend time out of your i hope everybody follows you on substack it’s so important to read your work keep fighting the good fight sir i’m glad you could join us our audience really appreciates you and i do too all the best michael oran here on the mike gallagher show from jerusalem You ready to drop up to 20 pounds or more by the new year? Have you been struggling with belly fat forever? You know, the older you get, the harder it is to say goodbye to those unwanted pounds. PHD Weight Loss cracked the code. They have a metabolic reset system that’s a science-backed way to get your body to burn fat first. Look, I’ve tried everything my whole life. I counted points. I counted calories. I did crazy starvation diets. Then I met Dr. Ashley Lucas, and I learned all about her brilliant program called PhD Weight Loss, the only program that guarantees your success and your results. If I can lose over 50 pounds and keep it off over a couple of years, you can too. Everybody can. When you call right now, they’ll waive your consultation fee, you’ll get two extra weeks free, and they’ll cover the cost of your food during the program. Just for booking, you’ll get Dr. Ashley’s book, Five Steps to Reset the Scale. Hurry, call today, 864-644-1900, Ph.D. Weight Loss, 864-644-1900, or visit their website at myphdweightloss.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
This is a special edition of the Mike Gallagher Show as Mike returns to Israel on behalf of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And now from Jerusalem, here’s Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 06 :
I have to admit, our timing in coming back to the Holy Land has been pretty good this week. You know, this is a lot going on here. And, of course, our purpose was to continue to spotlight the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Yesterday, we chatted with Yael Eckstein, the president and CEO of the fellowship, here in our studios at Jewish News Syndicate, JNS.org. But while we’ve been here, so much has happened, including Hamas’s atrocious actions, apparently staging a body, a corpse, trying to bury the body and act like they uncovered it. But the drone, the video drones caught that action. And there is a massive. And so the ceasefire is fragile, to say the least. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has said, you know what? You guys are violating the ceasefire. We’re going to have a military action in Gaza. Meanwhile, as we are with you right now, outside the studios here in Jerusalem are hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets. And I’m a pretty bright guy. I’m not sure I fully understand what the demonstrations are all about. And it’s a big one. It is a massive protest. Protest is a way of life here in Israel, as Ambassador Michael Oren told us earlier today. And I wanted to bring back, I took advantage of his close proximity to the studios. Daniel Seaman has a podcast called Straight Up with Danny Seaman. He’s an Israeli political commentator, a media analyst here in Israel, advisor to the IDF, is actually the Israeli Defense and Security Forum. He served many years in the Israeli government. And, Danny, it’s an honor to have you back. on the Mike Gallagher Show. Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
My pleasure. You had Mike Oren on. Mike and I are paratrooper buddies. We served in the same combat unit back 40 years ago.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and I’ve had the great honor of interviewing Dr. Oren on a number of occasions. He’s a smart guy. So are you. You guys and he helped try to explain to me what these demonstrations are about right now going on. I’ve got a note in the hotel last night. Look, be prepared. All the roads are going to be closed. The entrance to Jerusalem and sure enough, the entrance to Jerusalem is being blocked by hundreds of thousands of people. Danny, walk us through what the protests are about.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there’s a particular segment of the people. When you talk about diversity, Israel is very diverse. It’s not only Jews and Arabs. Even among the Jews, they’re right-wing, left-wing, they’re ultra-Orthodox. They’re usual Orthodox, if you want to call it that, but the ultra-Orthodox, the Hasidim, They’re the ones in the demonstrating at the moment. It’s their demonstration. They’re far more organized than other parts of our society. And when they call, when their rabbis call upon them to do something, they all show up, the men, by the way. It’s mostly men in this case. But it also, the fact that it’s men, it’s because what is it addressing? For many years, the religious, the ultra-Orthodox, didn’t have to serve in the military. There is something in Judaism. There is the battlefield, but there’s also the field of studying and going in-depth into the religious studies of the Bible, which is very important. Nobody denies that. On my podcast, I actually relate to that today on the wealth of knowledge that is in the Scriptures. So they study it, and very seriously. But of course, not everybody is studying. And after this last war, we came to the conclusion we need as many able-bodied men and women, but especially men, who can serve in the battlefield or serve in the military. And parts of society here said that this has been a very long, extended war. And sometimes a lot of people are taking too much on their shoulders and it has to be spread out. So there was talk about having them. And by the way, many of the ultra-Orthodox who are not in depth in the study have joined. I’m not saying that they haven’t. But they want to turn it into a law. Now for many years it was convenient for the military not to draft them because you have to be very specific with their kosher requirements. The fact that they have to be separated from women. There are certain things that you have to respect if you want them to be part of the military. So the military preferred not to have to deal with these things, but now they understand they too have to address those issues and find ways of incorporating them and respecting their needs. So there’s a bill passed in the Knesset, and it’s a lot of give and take here going on, and they’re showing their strength to the government, saying we need you to be considerate of our needs, and that’s essentially what it’s all about right now.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and tragically, you just shared as you came into our studios that a man apparently fell off of a building to his death not far from here.
SPEAKER 05 :
A young man. A young man. It was part of participating in it. I don’t know. He was trying to look at something but fell off the building, and it’s tragic.
SPEAKER 06 :
Also, a tragedy of a different sort. I’ve been reading, and everybody here is talking about what was just revealed, how Hamas staged – the discovery of human remains belonging to an Israeli hostage. You know, a lot of Americans don’t really understand. The 20 living hostages, thanks to largely the efforts of President Trump, have been returned safely. And they’ve got a long road to hoe, but they’re back. Now you still have remains of the hostages that Hamas slaughtered that they’re keeping, I guess, I guess, as a tactic. And now we find out, according to the New York Post even is reporting, that hours before Hamas handed over the partial remains of the dead hostage, Israeli drones captured the moment members of Hamas tossed the body out of the building, wrapped in white sheets. They then tried to bury the body, and then they pretended, oh, look, there’s a body. Danny, tell us, I mean, again, how do you negotiate with such an entity? These are evil monsters.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s no surprise, and we know exactly what they’re capable of doing. This is who they are. Exactly, exactly. And this thing, it’s parts of a body of somebody who we were able to recover his body about a year or so before, at least parts of it. We had other things happening. Some of the soldiers, and you can see this on the videos that they taped themselves, they beheaded them. And our soldiers found when they were going into Gaza in some store, they were actually presenting the beheaded, the head of this soldier, and offering it to sell it to people there. And people were buying it. And they were able to return it to the family, fortunately. But in this case also, they had the funeral ceremony. the third funeral, because this is the third time they found parts of his body, of this hostage that was murdered. He was taken alive. They murdered him in captivity, and they cut up the body. So they’ve kept this. It’s ways for them to play with us. They know how important it is to not only to the families themselves, to us as a society. It’s a very important aspect, the fact of burial. And so they play on that. They, by the way, they don’t share the same sentiment towards burying in Islam. And they manipulate the fact that they know that for us it is something of importance.
SPEAKER 06 :
So is it safe to say that to the Jewish faith, to Jewish people, the remains of a loved one are every bit as important as a living hostage? Absolutely. See, that’s the disconnect. Because a lot of people are saying to me, having a lot of callers to the show and people who say, Mike, Why doesn’t Israel just go wipe Gaza off the map? Goodbye. Sorry, Hamas. You’re monsters. You don’t play. But those remains are very important.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there is the aspect that you don’t. The sanctity of life is more important. So if we know that somebody could be killed in trying to to excavate these remains. And the families themselves say they don’t want anybody dying for that. But at the same time, it is important to try to give the families closure. And so, therefore, that is part of what we’re trying to do there. And if we can, if that means we have to restrain ourselves a little longer, we’ll do that. But what is happening in the meantime is they’re taking advantage of this, and they’re taking out operations against our soldiers. In two weeks, we’ve had two soldiers who were killed, supposedly during peacetime. So we’re not going to tolerate more Israelis being killed. This is not what this process is about. So in this case, we want to get over with this. And if they continue assaulting Israeli soldiers there, we’ll have to end it because apparently the Arabs who are supposed to make sure that the Hamas does this aren’t fulfilling their part of the agreement.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I cannot wait to get into the parallels between BBNet and Yahoo and Donald Trump and their respective fans and critics. I’m going to share it. We’re going to get into all of that. Danny Seaman is with us. He’s the host of Straight Up with Danny Seaman on JNS-TV. And you can find that, Jewish News Syndicate, I mean, on X, at JNS underscore TV. One of the best and brightest here in Israel to give us some analysis. And I cannot wait to share with you two conversations I had, one with a critic of Prime Minister Netanyahu, one with a fan. And the parallels with Donald Trump, to me, just kind of are extraordinary. That and a whole lot more as we continue from Israel. Stay with us.
SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
There’s a real benefit to a talk show like mine coming over to Israel as guests of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and broadcasting from the Jewish News Syndicate studios because you get to meet people that are smart, bright, engaged, focused. Daniel Seaman is one of those great examples. And, Danny, it’s great to have you back in your studios for the Mike Gallagher show. Let me tell you a tale of two lunches. First day I’m here, I have lunch with a guy, smart guy. Hates Bibi with the heat of a thousand suns. Hates Benjamin Netanyahu. You said smart. Well, he seemed to be. Said corrupt. If he didn’t know about October 7th, he should have. If he didn’t know, shame on him, he should be out. If he did know, shame on him, he should be out. He’s been prosecuted, yada, yada, yada. That’s the first day I’m here. Second day I’m here, I have lunch with another Israeli. loves the guy, says he’s the kind of strong leader we need. He puts Israel first, much like Trump puts America first. He has been persecuted. He has been attacked mercilessly, not unlike Donald Trump. And I started thinking, Danny, about the parallels between Benjamin Netanyahu here and Donald Trump over in the United States. You and I were just talking a moment ago about how both of these world leaders want to put their countries, they want to make sure they’re safe. They want to make sure they’re protected. They want to make sure they’re okay. Can you talk about what I believe is a remarkable parallel between the narrative of what the world has done to Donald Trump and what the world has done to Benjamin Netanyahu?
SPEAKER 05 :
I’ll start with something else. You and the viewers. Who, in their eyes, who in your eyes, is the greatest American president? Well, today, you know what I’d say. Through history. Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan. But let’s go back. Farther. I think most people agree that Lincoln is… Abraham Lincoln? Abraham Lincoln. You know, he was despised by the media back then. He was second-guessed by Americans, and especially the media. There’s no difference in the media over the years. But he was despised. He was ridiculed. And today everybody can see and he was so far ahead of his time and had the vision beyond what the small people in the media saw back then. We had that parallel with both Netanyahu and with Trump at the moment. I think that both of them will be the standard to which leaders in the future could happen 10 years from now, 50 years from now. But eventually they will be the standard to which Americans and Israelis and the world Look at leadership and say, these are the people that we want to have our leaders emulate. Now, both of these people, yes, if you’re a politician, you have to be self-centered. You have to be concentrated on yourself. So when they say all he cares about is himself, I’m talking about Netanyahu, I say, fine, you know, yes, he does. He’s a politician. He has an ego. But there’s also another aspect to him. I don’t know so much about Trump, but I do know Netanyahu. I know him for 40 years. I know the family. he believes that he is the only person so it is about him but he’s the person who knows where to take israel and take the country that even when he leaves office at least for the foreseeable future afterwards the country will be and stick on that road for the protection the defense and the strength of the is of the state of israel and the israeli people and the jewish people i believe that trump is very much the same himself now both of these men And we have examples of sons of former presidents, for example, who are drug addicts, complete lunatics. And yet they were being paid millions of dollars to be on boards of these different organizations. Now, I say the only stupid thing about Trump and Netanyahu is these two men and Trump did it. Netanyahu didn’t. Therefore, Trump is smarter than him. Trump was a billionaire. Netanyahu wasn’t. And he isn’t. And he could be a multimillionaire just sitting on the board of some stupid international organization. organization and get for being a board member get millions of dollars they put that aside they don’t care about these things they’re focused on what the country each country needs and to forward them and I think that’s the biggest parallel between the two of them the support for Donald Trump here in Israel is astounding in fact last night Joey Hudson and I were walking
SPEAKER 06 :
towards a restaurant, and we went by a big, prominent art gallery here in Jerusalem, and I posted the picture of it. I took a picture on my iPhone, a giant, beautiful oil painting of Donald Trump, a huge picture in the window of the art gallery, and a handwritten note that was like paper clipped to the corner of the painting, Thank you, President Trump. You can’t overstate how much support Donald Trump has for the people of Israel. Is that true?
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely, and it’s not only him. It’s the United States. I think it’s the only country that on our Independence Day we wave both the American flag and the Israeli flag, American Independence Day. Israelis do appreciate everything that we get from the United States. We understand that a lot. We would survive, but the United States makes it that much easier for us. Now, there are benefits the Americans get as well from that relationship with Israel, but we appreciate everything we get from the United States. We appreciate what the United States offers to the free world. Too many countries, too many Americans have begun to forget that. But then take Donald Trump, and that’s even – it goes beyond anything we could have expected.
SPEAKER 06 :
We appreciate you, and we stand with Israel, and I’m honored to be here again for the 11th time. I hope they’ll be the 12th very soon. You don’t want to miss Straight Up with Danny Seaman and JNSTV. Go to JNS.org to find out. Danny, it’s great seeing you here in person. Thanks for making time out of your day again to keep fighting the good fight. Daniel Seaman from JNSTV. There’s a lot more coming up on this busy, busy Breaking News Thursday here in Jerusalem. Stay with us.
