Israel's Daring (and Deadly) Rescue

This episode discusses a high-risk rescue operation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to retrieve hostages from Gaza, amidst ongoing political and military tensions.

1. The IDF successfully executed a high-risk operation to rescue hostages from Gaza.
2. Political tensions in Israel intensified with criticisms of Netanyahu’s handling of the hostage situation.
3. The operation had significant collateral damage, with substantial casualties among Gaza civilians.
4. The U.S. played a supportive role, particularly in intelligence, but did not have direct involvement in the ground operation.
5. The mission’s success brought temporary national relief but also highlighted ongoing challenges in Israeli-Palestinian relations.

1: The Rescue Operation

A detailed overview of the IDF's rescue mission, its planning, execution, and immediate outcomes. Noor Gamani Almog: "This was a high risk, complex mission based on precise intelligence conducted in daylight."

2: Political Ramifications

Discussion on the impact of the rescue on Israeli politics, including Netanyahu's coalition dynamics. Brad Milke: "Netanyahu faces a fragmented cabinet and increased reliance on far-right partners."

3: Civilian Cost

The episode delves into the tragic civilian toll in Gaza due to the rescue operation and the broader conflict. Jordana Miller: "Civilians of Gaza paid a tragic price not only in this war but in specific incidents like rescue operations."

1. Stay Informed: Keep abreast of international news to understand the complexities of global conflicts.
2. Engage in Dialogue: Foster discussions about conflict resolution and peacebuilding in community forums.
3. Support Relief Efforts: Contribute to humanitarian aid organizations working in conflict zones like Gaza.
4. Educate Yourself and Others: Learn more about the historical and political context behind ongoing conflicts.
5. Advocate for Peace: Participate in or start campaigns that promote peaceful solutions and dialogue among nations.

Hours after a hostage rescue prompts dancing in the streets, a key opponent of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resigns. Clarence Thomas amends his financial forms, belatedly disclosing extravagant travel gifts from a billionaire friend. And a Wyoming landslide results in “catastrophic failure” for a key shipping lane.

People

Benjamin Netanyahu, Noor Gamani Almog, Jordana Miller, Andrei Kozlov

Companies

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas

Books

Leave blank if none.

Guest Name(s):

No guests were featured; the episode relied on reports from field correspondents.

Content Warnings:

This episode contains descriptions of violence and may not be suitable for all audiences.

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Brad Milke
It's Monday, June 10. Well, this jubilation didn't last. We start here.

Israel pulls off a deadly rescue operation to get four hostages out of Gaza.

Noor Gamani Almog
This was a high risk, complex mission.

Brad Milke
But overnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet has fractured. We'll fill you in. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gets his paperwork in order. It only took five years, a trip.

Meirzhan Shlomiziv
To Indonesia, Bali, and a trip out to an elite all men's retreat.

Brad Milke
We'll talk to the reporter that broke the story about the lavish gifts he's finally putting on the books.

And a piece of a mountain slid.

Andrei Kozlov
Right off one of the closest routes is about 60 miles off course.

Brad Milke
The problem is a major shipping route used to sit on top of it.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad Milke.

The chant in Israel in recent months has been a simple one. Bring them home. That, of course, is in reference to the hundreds of hostages taken by Hamas in its brutal attack on Israel seven months ago.

Andrei Kozlov
The responsibility is on the government's hands and on the prime minister's hands.

Brad Milke
Since then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced a torrent of criticism for waging a long, brutal war rather than cutting an immediate deal to get these hostages back.

Noor Gamani Almog
I see corruption. I see lack of hope. I see lack of vision.

Jordana Miller
They send soldiers to die just to save the government.

Brad Milke
Some have even accused him of prolonging this conflict, knowing that the minute it's over, his emergency cabinet will splinter. He'll lose support and could be out of a job. But in recent weeks, each side in these arguments has been faced with a somber fact. Many of these hostages are already dead. In fact, more and more often, the israeli public is learning about hostages that can no longer be saved.

As we come on the air tonight, there is renewed joy in Israel. This weekend, though, Israelis got some good news when the IDF announced it had rescued four hostages alive in a daring raid. But that has been followed by some significant political developments just overnight. Lets break it all down with ABC's foreign correspondent Jordana Miller, who is based in Jerusalem. Jordana, this hostage rescue, first off, tell us how this played out because it sounded dramatic.

Jordana Miller
It was very dramatic. The israeli army carrying out a daytime rescue operation.

Simultaneously, israeli forces raided two buildings in central Gaza in the heart of a very densely packed refugee camp.

Noor Gamani Almog
This was a high risk, complex mission based on precise intelligence conducted in daylight.

Jordana Miller
The israeli army feared that if they only went into one of the buildings and not both at the same time, that whichever hostages they didn't try to free, they'd be killed. So at the same moment, about 1130 in the afternoon on Saturday, they raided these buildings. And as soon as Hamas realized what was happening, these forces came under intense fire from rpg's, AK 40, seven's, grenades.

They were able to successfully get these hostages to the helicopters and fly them out of the Gaza Strip, all within about 25 minutes, we're told.

Noor Gamani Almog
Noor Gamani Almog, Meirzhan Shlomiziv and Andrei Kozlov.

They are back home in Israel. They are alive. They are. Will.

Jordana Miller
The scenes of these hostages, you know, reuniting with their family brought tears of joy to people who spontaneously went into the streets dancing and singing, especially the story of Noah Argamani. She represented the plight of the hostages because her kidnapping was filmed by Hamas and went viral on the back of a motorbike being driven off into the Gaza Strip screaming, you know, don't kill me. This is the young girl who was rescued, and her mother is terminally ill with brain cancer. Hours after her rescue, they moved her to the hospital where her mother was so that she could be there and have a few minutes with her. And we're told that her mother did recognize her, you know, smiled and knew that her daughter was back.

Brad Milke
Incredible scenes, like you said. And, I mean, the fact that this happened in a refugee camp, you know, sometimes we talked so much about the decision of whether to wage this war in these refugee camps. Israel says Hamas is there, and clearly that is the case. But what was the impact on ordinary GaZaNS then, I guess, in this neighborhood?

Jordana Miller
Well, there's no doubt that once again, the civilians of Gaza paid a tragic price, not only in this war, but in specific incidents like rescue operations. I mean, the last rescue operation, which was a few months ago, two live israeli hostages, about 75 Palestinians, died. And in this one, the israeli army estimates about 100. Hamas says it's over 200.

As a diversion and as cover for the rescue operation itself, Israel carried out heavy airstrikes in the area.

You know, people were killed, and tragically, children as well, and women.

On top of the question that we all ask, you know, did Israel think about the cost to palestinian lives when they carried out this rescue operation. You know, we should also ask why Hamas is keeping hostages in residential buildings surrounded by civilians who for the most part are taking refuge from fighting going on in other parts of the Gaza Strip.

Brad Milke
Well, and the Biden White House has obviously, this has been such a fraught conflict because they're claiming to both aid the israeli military but also to aid palestinian civilians. So what was the level of american involvement in a raid like this?

Jordana Miller
The national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said the US has played a role in helping Israel locate the hostages.

Brad Milke
We've been working for months to support Israel in its efforts to rescue and.

Jordana Miller
Recover hostages, largely an intelligence role.

And beyond that, Sullivan wouldn't really specify.

Brad Milke
We didn't have any us forces on the ground.

Jordana Miller
They did not take part in this operation.

And the floating pier was not used in this operation, even though the helicopters took off some meters away from it. There were false reports that were circulating that somehow the israeli army were hiding inside some of the humanitarian aid trucks. That is not true. So the US played some intelligence role. But beyond that, we don't have a lot of details.

Brad Milke
Saturday's joyous scenes of hostages reuniting with their families, giving way to continued demonstrations against Netanyahu in the streets. We still have over 100 kidnapped there, and we still have this ongoing war that we don't know where it's going. Jordan, amid this sort of good piece of news for Israel, you'd expect this moment of, you know, joy and maybe even sort of national unanimity. But then yesterday, barely within 24 hours of this raid, a key member of Israel's coalition government resigned. Why?

Jordana Miller
Right. General Benny Gantz had announced weeks ago that he would resign on June 8 unless Netanyahu made some changes in the way he was handling the war. Remember, General Benny Gantz is a centrist, Netanyahu's main political rival, and he joined the emergency government largely to restore confidence in Israel's leadership after the massive failure of October 7. But General Benny Gantz has felt sidelined for the last few months, and he also believes that Netanyahu is making critical decisions about the war because of his own political considerations, his own political survival.

And he said as much when he held a presser and announced that he is quitting the government.

This will not bring down Netanyahu's government. He has a 64 seat majority, but it will force Netanyahu to be more reliant on his far right partners, which is not necessarily good news.

Those far right partners have been talking about really defeating Hamas and putting the hostages, second on the list, which is out of sync with what the israeli public wants and certainly what Gantz wants.

Andrei Kozlov
Free the hostages. This is the first mission that our.

Jordana Miller
Prime minister and the government has to do right now. And this will also peel away a level of legitimacy that Netanyahu's government had during this war. Because General Benny Gantz is a centrist. He sees eye to eye with the Biden administration in ways that Netanyahu doesn't.

Brad Milke
Yeah, it reminds you of these kind of like post disaster moments when a country can kind of rally together that was seen as this emergency war cabinet, and then obviously there's going to be a falling out at some point. It appears that is happening as we speak. All right, Jordana Miller there in Jerusalem. Thank you so much.

Jordana Miller
Thanks, Fred.

Brad Milke
Next up on start here for one of the Supreme Court's most conservative members. He's been pretty liberal when it comes to the rules. We're back in a bit bit.

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Brad Milke
You've probably heard this rule before, but every government employee has to declare valuable gifts that they receive. It makes sense, right? If a member of Congress is sponsoring a bill on oil drilling, you would want to know if they're getting perks from oil executives. Well, last year, the investigative nonprofit ProPublica reported that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had been taking lavish vacations for years that were being paid for by a billionaire named Harlan Crowe. When this came out, Thomas said there was no reason to really report this stuff. Cause it was simply hospitality from a friend. A friend, it turned out, that he hadn't really been friends with until he was a Supreme Court justice. Well, on Friday, Clarence Thomas finally acknowledged these trips in writing. We have one of the reporters with us that broke the story in the first place. Justin Elliott is an investigative reporter with ProPublica. Justin, what is in this new filing?

Meirzhan Shlomiziv
Yeah. So what Justice Thomas says in this filing is that there were two trips paid for by a real estate billionaire out in Dallas named Harlan Crowe, who's also a big republican political donor that Justice Thomas should have disclosed in 2019, and he's now amending his 2019 disclosure. And those were a trip to Indonesia, Bali, and a trip out to a elite, all men's retreat in northern California called the bohemian grove.

Brad Milke
Is he just, like, saying, my bad? Is that what this amounts to?

Meirzhan Shlomiziv
Pretty much. I think there's a few significant things about this. First of all, you know, as you mentioned, Justice Thomas had maintained when we first reported this that these were trips that he did not have to disclose. So now this is a reversal by amending his old return from 2019. This is an acknowledgement that at least some of what we reported are things that he should have disclosed. This is also, I think, interestingly and importantly, part of a pattern with Justice Thomas going back ten or 15 years. Now, this is the third time in that period when he had to amend his returns way back in 2010, 2011, he had to amend his returns after not reporting his wife's income as he was required to.

Last year, he amended his forms after not reporting a real estate deal with the same billionaire political donor, Harlan Crow, that he was required to. And each time, he said he had sort of been mistaken in interpreting the rules and inadvertently omitted these things. But I think it's pretty significant, just on a basic level, that you have a Supreme Court justice who, of course, is in charge of interpreting laws, who is just repeatedly not following this disclosure law that many federal officials have to follow.

Brad Milke
And just so I'm clear, is it something where, like, I could imagine the average person thinks, oh, I bet all these Supreme Court justices are making a ton of money on the side anyway. Like, there doesn't seem to be a lot of accountability here. We know that justices get book deals. We know that recently, like, some have disclosed, like, I got concert tickets, or I got, like, art donated to me. How singular is Thomas in all of this?

Meirzhan Shlomiziv
Yeah, well, it's absolutely true that justices on both sides, democratic and republican appointed have gotten, you know, hugely lucrative book deals and occasionally get gifts. But when it comes to that category of gifts, at least from what we know publicly, Justice Thomas is a huge outlier. I mean, we reported that multiple billionaires were not only paying for luxury travel for many years, but also for private school tuition for one of Justice Thomas relatives that he was raising as a son. There was the undisclosed real estate deal where a billionaire bought some property off him.

And just the sheer scale of the travel involving private jets and superyachts around the whole world is something that we just simply haven't seen with any other justice on either side.

Brad Milke
Well, and so, lastly, Justin, I mean, are there consequences to any of this? Like, if this was a rule that he broke, is that, is there a penalty for that? Or does he have to, now that it's public, does he have to recuse himself from cases that Harlan Crowe could conceivably benefit from? Or like anything?

Meirzhan Shlomiziv
That's a great question. So this disclosure, these disclosure rules that we're talking about, this actually is the law. It comes from a law passed back in the seventies after Watergate, and there are at least potentially consequences. There's actually a review going on by the kind of bureaucratic arm of the judiciary, looking at the various reporting that Justice Thomas failed to disclose things he should have. And in theory, that body, if they find he intentionally didn't disclose these things, could refer this to the attorney general, because it is a legal matter. So, not predicting that's gonna happen, but that review is ongoing, and we're very curious to see where it ends up.

But it entirely remains up to Justice Thomas himself, like the other justices, whether he recuses himself from any particular case.

Brad Milke
Right. And I mean, we should say this billionaire, Harlan Crowe, he doesn't necessarily have pending business in front of the court at the moment, but like a lot of billionaires, like a lot of Americans, right. He has a very vested interest in what the court's decisions are gonna be. Clarence Thomas lawyer said last, after reviewing his clients records, I am confident there have been no willful ethics transgressions. End quote. Justin Elliott from Propublica. Thank you so much.

Meirzhan Shlomiziv
Thanks so much.

Brad Milke
When theres a major roadway disaster on a shipping artery, say, like the I 95 on the east coast, remember when that bridge collapsed in Pennsylvania last year? You can bet extensive detours will help trucks get around the affected roadway. But what if a major shipping highway is all by itself in the middle of nowhere? What if there are no alternates? Well, people in the northwestern part of the country might be about to find out, because this weekend in Wyoming, a landslide caused a major roadway to simply collapse. This all happened at the Teton Pass near Grand Teton National park. And ABC meteorologist Samara Theodore has been following it all. Samara, first off, can you just explain what happened here?

Andrei Kozlov
Yeah. Okay, so I want people to visualize this, right, this is not your regular flat road through a neighborhood. No. You know, at the beginning of those movies where the couple is leaving the big city, and they're getting ready to head to a cabin in the woods, this pass is literally slicing through this high elevation, mountainous region with these trees on both sides and kind of built on a precipice. So the. The road itself is rather isolated, as you said. And what we had occur here was a landslide. So a large chunk of this road literally just slid down the side.

It looks like someone took a bite out of the middle of the road as a result of that. And so you can't drive across it because there's no road. Literally no road to drive across.

Brad Milke
Well, and what was bizarre here was, I mean, luckily, no one was hurt because the road had already been closed because of a different landslide, one that hadn't, like, taken the road with it, but they had, like, covered the road in mud, so they shut the thing down. But, I mean, how do landslides like this happen? Like, what are the mechanics behind them?

Andrei Kozlov
Okay, so when it comes to a landslide, there's all different types of landslides, and a mudslide is actually one type of a landslide. When you have a higher water concentration, you're gonna get a flow with that. Right. So, with this landslide, we're seeing the rocks and the soil and the dirt beneath the ground ruin the instructional integrity of the ground, and so it just completely crumbles and falls away. And that can occur when we have different types of weathering. For example, we're starting to see that snowpack melt. Now, I'm not saying that they had a ton of rain. They're not above their normal for precipitation during this time of year. In fact, in the last 60 days in parts of western Wyoming, they've been flying a little bit below. But to see receive copious amounts of rain at one time and to also see temperatures above normal for this time of year. They've been sitting in the seventies. So that, coupled with the melting snow, that could lead to some weathering. And as a result, we could have landslides.

Brad Milke
How big of a deal could this be? Because, like, we see landslides, I suppose in all types of terrain in all parts of the country, and yet people, especially in transportation, seemed particularly alarmed by this.

Andrei Kozlov
Yeah, you know, you mentioned it right off the top. You know, when you're traveling along the I 95 corridor, if anything happens, there's all these ways you can get around it. Some side roads, whether you're hitting I five on the west coast, you can take 99. Well, in this specific region, one of the closest routes is about 60 miles off course, and that goes from Jackson, Wyoming, to Victor, Idaho.

Keep in mind also that this is a big deal because Jackson, Wyoming is actually a really big tourist destination. There's a lot of things to do there. Folks go out there to relax. And this could have major implications on the immediate future of the tourism industry for Jackson, Wyoming.

Brad Milke
Really interesting. Yeah. Especially when you consider so much trucking happening in the northwest on their way to those western states. Samara, Theodore, tracking all of this. Thank you so much.

Andrei Kozlov
Thank you.

Brad Milke
Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, if you thought a bike was a stripped down car, well get ready for the naked truth. One last thing is next.

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Brad Milke
And one last thing.

Start here is perhaps the only ABC news platform that can get away with playing this footage unaltered.

This is the sound, just the sound, luckily, of hundreds of people riding their bikes stark naked. This weekend marked what's become an annual event in Mexico City, a naked ride through the streets, all in the name of cyclist safety.

This woman said that to ride a bicycle through the city streets is impossibly dangerous. You got no layers of protection, in part because cyclists might as well be invisible, she said to city planners. Well, theres perhaps no better way to get attention than to bike in the buff, especially, as this man says, in a culture where nudity is so taboo.

But this isnt the only example of non traditional advocacy. Cyclists specifically have a long history of in your face campaigns.

In the early nineties, a group of hundreds of riders started going for Friday night rides in San Francisco, openly defying traffic laws, shutting down intersections, saying this is effectively the only way to bike safely in their city. They called themselves critical mass and eventually spread the practice to hundreds of cities worldwide. Further back in the 1970s, a canadian woman named Claire Morissette became known for staging what she called velodramas.

Jordana Miller
Velo drama.

Brad Milke
The Montreal subway subway system wasnt letting people bring their bikes onto the train, saying they were too disruptive to passengers. So she started bringing things that were legal, which included boxes, skis, ladders, a cardboard elephant, anything she could find that was much larger than a bicycle. The city now actively encourages bicycles on mass transit and named its downtown bike Lane after her. In the meantime, this nude north american cycling protest continues in Mexico City, where the message seems to be, hey, if we make you uncomfortable, you cant be much more uncomfortable than a bunch of naked people sitting on bike saddles.

Man, I thought I was pushing the envelope by, like, ringing my bell at cars that were infringing on the bike lane. Jeez. Hey, if youre the occasional listener, but you dont listen every day, remember, you can hit that follow button to subscribe to the show. New episode in your pod feed every day. And then, hey, if you dont listen, fine. The next episode comes up the next morning. More on all these stories@abcnews.com. or the ABC News apple, I'm Brad Milke. See you tomorrow.

Jordana Miller
In the 1980s, everyone wanted to be in the Brat pack except them. Now director Andrew McCarthy reunites with fellow brats Demi Moore. Why did we take it as an offense? It could brat because we were young.

Andrei Kozlov
We were afraid.

Brad Milke
We wore brats, you know?

Jordana Miller
Amelia Westevez, Ali Sheedy, Rob Lowe.

Brad Milke
I'm not gonna say we were the Beatles or anything. Well, we didn't tell Shea Stadium 1985. I think we could have the original.

Jordana Miller
Documentary Brads, streaming June 13 only on Hulu.