Historic: Israeli hostages are home, ceasefire holds

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This is your humble DC correspondent, Griff Jenkins, trying to fill the giant shoes of Brian Kilmead on the Brian Kilmead show. It is Really, a privilege and an honor. I've hosted this show numerous times before and talked about how privileged and honored I felt with a background in radio. But to be with you, the great listeners to this show on a historic day, that it is quite impossible to overstate the significance of this day. And overnight, many woke up to the great news that every living hostage is now freed after 738 days in captivity.

In the historic speech that President Trump, other presidents have spoken before the Knesset, the Israeli Knesset, but none with the gravity of the news and the achievements on what appears to be hopefully a new era of peace in the Middle East. Let me get you right to some of what President Trump had to say in the Israeli Knesset. Cut one, start here. The hostages are back. It is a good feeling.

Isn't that nice to say? You know, I just said the hostage. The first time I said the hostage is a back. It sounds, it feels so good to say it. But when you settle eight wars in eight months, that means you don't like war.

Everyone thought I was going to be brutal. I remember Hillary Clinton during a debate, she said, look at him, look at him, he's going to go into war with everybody. And actually, she said, he's got a personality that's all about war. No, and my personality actually is all about stopping wars, and it seems to work. And it indeed worked.

We're happy to have joining us right now my co-host on Fox and Friends weekend, Charlie Hurt. And Charlie, thanks for being here. Oh, man, what a day. What a day. It is.

You know, when I listen to President Trump, all of a sudden he's talking about the hostages and goes right into Hillary Clinton. It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton actually finally acknowledged the success. A lot of Democrats just simply couldn't bring themselves to give Trump credit, but she actually did. And I think the key thing you said a minute ago, talking about there have been other presidents who've spoken to the Knesset, but no president has ever spoken to the Knesset with the achievements, actual achievements, not talking about aspirations and hopes about the future, but actually was able to say, okay, the hostages are home. And obviously, there's a lot about the future that remains to be seen that we hope.

Uh Bears wonderful fruit, but I do think that that was so interesting. And also the fact that he took another quiet sort of dig. When he introduced Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, and he went on and on about Marco Rubio and how Marco Rubio will go down as the greatest Secretary of State in history. And I couldn't help but think that that was a little bit of a dig at a lot of secretaries of state, but not the least of which was Hillary Clinton herself.

Well, it's true. And, you know, we talked a little bit about this over the weekend, and that is that, you know, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken didn't get the job done. Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, they didn't get it done. And they were using the same sort of conventional tactics that previous administrations, to be fair, going all the way back to George W. Bush and President McCarthy, that simply were not proven.

And A lot of of why President Trump's approach was different is he came from this outside-of-the-box view that the goal isn't just getting to some ceasefire that we know through history was bound to just return back to violence and war. But yet, he came from the approach that why can't there be peace across the entire Middle East? And he got the initial sort of step in the right direction with the Abraham Accords. He talked a lot about that today, but by getting Israel to normalize relations with the UAE, with Bahrain, and it was really, you know, many wondered in the second term, you know, could he build on that? Could he add a country or two?

Could Saudi Arabia get involved? But yet he. Brings the hostages home, and he's lit the spark for actual peace, stable peace in the Middle East. And I think that. One of the lines that stood out most to me is he did speak directly to the Palestinians.

The Palestinians put Hamas in charge. And this is the moment I thought that was quite significant. This is cut four. Listen to this, Charlie. The choice for Palestinians could not be more clear.

This is their chance to turn forever from the path of terror and violence. It's been extreme. to exile the wicked forces of hate That are in their midst, and I think that's going to happen. I've met some people over the last couple of months that want to see it happen very much. after tremendous pain and death and hardship, Now is the time to concentrate on building their people up.

Instead of trying to tear Israel down, we don't want that to happen again. And the total focus of Gazans must be on restoring the fundamentals of stability, safety, dignity, and economic development.

so they can finally have the better life that their children really do deserve. Speaking directly to him. Yeah, and everything that President Trump does is unconventional, as you point out. Everything he does, and what I love about that in particular is not only is his approach unconventional according to the rules of diplomacy going back forever, but also he just looks at people as people. and he is a student of student uh of human nature, and he understands that All humans have self-interest.

And he appeals to their self-interest at a very, very basic human level. And then he also brings to bear the approach of a builder. And he looks at Gaza, looks at the rubble, and says, We could build something beautiful. Yeah. And you could have a better life.

And you could live this life and you could have jobs and your families could be safe. And that's what everybody wants. And yet, for some reason, in this part of the world, it has been so elusive. And I think that the secret to the Abraham Accords has always been. That President Trump went to these other countries and said, okay, you may have disagreements with Israel, but you can make lots of money.

And you can be, you can bring and live, you can live in peace and prosperity by working with Israel. And if you care more about your own prosperity than you do tearing down Israel, then maybe we can find a common ground here. And it's working. It worked with the Abraham Accords. It's working here.

And of course, he also talked about during that speech wanting to expand the Abraham Accords. Yeah, and we'll see that obviously would be an even perhaps larger accomplishment than even the release of the hostages. I agree. Even as difficult as that sounds. And, you know, I think you put your finger on something really significant.

And that is if you remember when Netanyahu, who was at the White House, and President Trump was speaking. Uh he he he did he humanized Both sides. He's made very clear that the U.S. is Israel's greatest ally. And in the darkest of times, when the world was piling on Israel and Netanyahu, he stood with them.

But in that moment, with Netanyahu by his side of the White House, he also humanized Palestinians. And when he talked about, you know, that. There would be a Gaza could be the Riviera of the Middle East. Everyone was like, oh my gosh, the old man's crazy. But it is remarkable with the incredible devastation of that drone footage we saw of Gaza.

98%, perhaps even really honestly, 100% of Gaza has been decimated. And I've been in so many war zones. Never have I seen something so widespread like that. But yet, Donald Trump looks at those scenes of apocalyptic devastation and he sees the possibility for a Riviera in the Middle East. And people are starting to think, well, Wow, wait a minute, that's a great way to look at it.

Well of course All great visionaries are crazy. before their time. And that's what makes them so unusual and makes them so it's so rare that one comes along. When you first say, I'm going to build the Riviera of the Mediterranean or I'm going to bring peace to the Middle East, everybody's going to think you're Stark Raving Mad because the experience has shown that that's like it's impossible. But the key to it is that both sides.

Trust. Donald Trump. Trust President Trump. And when he had Erdogan of Turkey in the Oval Office a couple of weeks ago, And if you talk to people behind the scenes, they all say that Turkey was integral in actually bringing Hamas to the table for this deal. And I thought it was, and remember, I think you and I were laughing about it at the time because when at one point Trump was talking about rigged elections, and he points to Erdogan and he goes, And you know all about that, don't you?

And we're all like, oh my gosh, he's dunking on the president of Turkey. Yeah. And he was, but he was doing it in a very sort of honest, straightforward way. And then, lo and behold, before you know it, Uh Erdogan is playing a key role in bringing about the most elusive Peace on the planet. And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, we expect, so, you know, the president is on a jam-packed schedule.

He's literally about to, you know, head to. The doors just shut, closed on Air Force One. Yeah, he'll leave Ben-Garayan airport and head to Egypt with 20%. 20 world leaders are going to be at this meeting. And, you know.

Let's not sugarcoat it. The challenges ahead are significant. Phase two, getting disarmament of Hamas, getting a Palestinian Gaza governance that isn't Hamas or reincarnated Hamas under a different name. Yeah. And as you and I were talking about this weekend, you know, Hamas has no, at the moment, has no intention of disarming and giving up, and Israel has no intention of allowing Hamas to continue to exist.

And so. One side or the other is going to have to give in on that. And I think that. And I think that based on what we've seen today and we've seen in terms of the progress, I think that the larger Um movement is probably going against Hamas at the moment. But um and I think it's kind of uh also Incredibly interesting.

The country that we're almost not talking about at all today. Is the country of Iran, who has been the single most important force propping up Hamas? For the past two years and for the decades before that, and yet they are. Almost entirely sidelined. I think they're probably a lot.

Maybe they're not quite as destroyed as their silence would lead you to believe. I'm sure they're trying, they want to reassert. But We're not even talking about them in terms of a force today. It's such a great point, Charlie. And actually, when President Trump Reached out to Iran in that speech in Knesset.

There was yet again a Clear example of how President Trump approaches things. I'll play a little bit of that for you. Cut five, listen to this. Yet, even to Iran, whose regime has inflicted so much death on the Middle East. The hand of friendship and cooperation is open.

I'm telling you, they want to make a deal. That's all I do in my life, I make deals. I'm good at it. I've always been good at it. And I know when they want.

Even if they said we don't want to make a deal, I can tell you they want to make a deal. All right, they do. They want to make a deal, and we're going to see if we can do something because this is crazy what's happening, and we're not going to have this anymore. Neither the United States nor Israel bear the people of Iran any hostility. We merely want to.

To live in peace, we don't want any looming threats over our heads. And we don't want to even think in terms of nuclear destruction, it's not going to happen, never will happen. I thought that was one of the most important lines of the speech, and I'm so glad you played it. He also said at that moment, he said, and this is said not out of weakness. But we are ready when you are.

And and I thought that that that, of course, was a nod to the B two bombings where that absolutely annihilated their nuclear program. And you know, for you know, the great thing about President Trump is that he kind of speaks both languages. He speaks the language of bombs and rubble, which is But he also speaks the language of peace and trying to rebuild. But you can't. Speak the language of peace in that part of the world unless you've also.

Demonstrated you know how to speak with bombs. Yeah, I mean, you talk about peace through strength. Yeah, there is no greater example of that. And I would argue there is no one who was more attuned to those words of that speech than the Arab countries in and around Israel. Charlie Hurt, you are the best.

Thank you. It is great to have you here on such a historic day. This is Griff Jenkins filling in on the Brian Kilmead Show. We'll be right back. Diving deep into today's top stories.

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So as we celebrate today, let us remember how this nightmare of Depravity and death all began. Two years ago, on the eve of the Shimhat Torah holiday, thousands of innocent Israeli civilians were attacked by terrorists, and one of the most evil and heinous Desecrations of innocent life, the world has ever seen, the worst slaughter of Jews since. The Holocaust. That was President Trump speaking before the Israeli Knesset in a historic speech after a historic accomplishment of freeing the 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza. This is Griff Jenkins filling in for Brian Kilmead on the great Brian Kilmead show.

And as we all sort of today is a day about the hostages. Today is a day about recognizing the historic significance of the 738 days that those 20 hostages were kept in the dungeons in captivity in the tunnels in Gaza. And it comes as we are starting to look ahead to the next more challenging piece, of course, and that is. Disarming Hamas, getting them to turn over governance of Gaza. But it's also, while it's a day about the hostages, it's a day too about the some 2 million Palestinians displaced from Gaza.

And we've all seen the horrific, apocalyptic images of the devastation of Gaza and the rebuild that will have to happen amongst what is, to be fair, a tenuous truce right now, a ceasefire that is holding with so many difficult challenges and hurdles to get across as President Trump heads to the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, where 20 world leaders will be gathered looking. And it will be fascinating to see if they indeed actually are willing.

Some of them who have not acknowledged President Trump's vision for the Middle East will get on board, have a change of heart. And I think it was very interesting. Charlie Hurd and I were just talking about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Which President Trump mentioned, obviously, in his speech in the Knesset. She also commended Trump.

She was willing to recognize the monumentous accomplishment that President Trump has begun in the vision that he has going forward. Here is a little bit of former Secretary Clinton. Cut 10. It's a really significant first step, and I really commend President Trump and his administration, as well as Arab leaders in the region, for making the commitment to the twenty-point plan and seeing a path forward for what's often called the day after. And that day after has a lot of question marks, but we also know President Trump has a plan for that.

It's part of his 20-point plan and his board of peace. To be clear, let me translate it: that is not Blue Helmet UN.

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This is Griff Jenkins, your humble DC correspondent, and filling in for Brian Kilmead on the great Brian Kilmead show. And what a day to be on the air with you! The historic day, this accomplishment of releasing the hostages, the 20 remaining living hostages, and the prospect of a new era of peace in the Middle East. I want to go now to our special guest, retired Army Captain Doug Truax. And, Captain, thank you for joining us.

We originally want to talk to you a little bit about how the military is being impacted as we enter day 13 of Chuck Schumer's government shutdown. And I can go into why I think it's appropriate to call it the Schumer shutdown, but it is obviously impacting Americans across the country, particularly those service members. But first, such unbelievable historic news coming out of the Middle East, out of President Trump's speech to the Israeli Kanel. It and you know, Captain, I just want to set you up a little bit of some. I'm sure you listened to some of it, but it really.

Words and sound bites that will be in the history books forever. Here's a little bit of President Trump this morning, cut three. The cruelty of October 7th struck to the core of humanity itself. Nobody could believe what they were witnessing. The United States of America grieved alongside you, and we Mourn for our own citizens who were so viciously taken that day, and to all the families whose lives were forever changed by the atrocities of that day and all of the People of Israel, please know that America joins you in those two everlasting vows: never forget and never again.

And Captain, aside from the historic nature of the speech, it's really the story of how President Trump was able to accomplish this that will be what is remembered for years to come. What do you think? What's your reaction to all the news?

Well, that's right. Thanks for having me on, Griff. It's a great day, and it's great that he's our president. I think he got elected. A huge part of why he got elected, his default position is to seek peace.

You know, we don't have troops on the ground over there. We're doing everything we can to help everybody. And this really goes back all the way to the Abraham Accords. Where he really started putting people together and creating alliances, and it was all built around. How do we Isolate the Iranians?

Over time, and Hamas is a proxy of the Iranians. And then this horrible day, October 7th, comes, and we go through this, you know, this goes on and on, and it's been difficult. That day was very difficult. The hostages, the hostage situation has been horrible. But he saw it through, Netanyahu saw it through, and you get to a place with the Hamas leadership.

And they begin to realize that the entire region is a raid against them, whether they say it out loud or not. I mean, there's a lot of politics involved with those allied states out there, where they don't want to come out and just say, oh, we're for the Israelis. But they're definitely against Hamas, and they want to put the Iranians in a box. And we saw this with the bombing of Iran and everything. We're pushing them back into their box because nobody wants these guys doing what they want to do.

The entire region wants peace, except for them. And so this is a great day, a moment where we can say, look, we found a way out of this. Hamas is definitely going away over time here. I know there's talk of rearming and things like that, but however, we got him to this point. The president got him to this point and with the plan of his that got us to here.

And so going forward, it's a great moment. I hope it can hold, but it definitely shows that the alliance building behind the scenes in the region is really paying huge dividends now. In phase two, the challenges ahead are so difficult. And the truce, the ceasefire holding now is so tenuous at this moment. But you know, you put your finger on what I was talking a little bit earlier with my friend Charlie Hurt about, and that was you took away the same thing we did, which was Iran.

Iran is such an important part of this. The demonstration of when President Trump on the campaign trail, and even as he began to take office, talked about peace through strength and being a peacemaker, despite his critics saying that he was going to start World War III across the Planet and civilization was going to cease to exist. I thought the Iran stuff was so important. I kind of, as a host, I don't like to replay different sound bites, but I'm going to violate my own rule today because I played this about 30 minutes ago. I'm going to play it again because I think this is the moment that is really one that may actually be the key to whether or not we see Middle East peace spread across the Middle East, and it is Iran.

That's the game changer. President Trump spoke directly to Iran and reached out to them after we watched Operation Midnight Hammer takeout and set back for years, perhaps decades, the Iranian nuclear program. Here is a little bit of what President Trump said about Iran in that speech in the Israeli Knesset. I want you to listen to it and get your reaction. Cut five.

Yet, even to Iran, whose regime has inflicted so much death on the Middle East. The hand of friendship and cooperation is open. I'm telling you, they want to make a deal. That's all I do in my life, I make deals. I'm good at it.

I've always been good at it. And I know when they want. Even if they said we don't want to make a deal, I can tell you they want to make a deal. All right, they do. They want to make a deal, and we're going to see if we can do something because this is crazy, what's happening, and we're not going to have this anymore.

Neither the United States nor Israel bear the people of Iran any hostility. We merely want to live in peace. We don't want any looming threats over our heads. And we don't want to even think in terms of nuclear destruction. It's not going to happen, never will happen.

I just don't think you can play that sound bite enough. Your reaction. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, he's a deal maker. The interesting thing about this situation, though, is it gets easier to deal with your opponent when they run out of options.

And with the Abraham Accords, over time, what they've been doing behind the scenes is we've been essentially helping the entire region prepare themselves for missile attacks and drone attacks from the Iranians.

So it gets to a place where all the allied groups in the Middle East begin to realize that the Iranians are not what they once were at all, or what they may have even been putting themselves out to be, I should say. But the fear factor begins to decrease. And then he's got the option to go in and say, look, guys, you need to have more moderates in control here. And you need to come to a better place because, one, you can't do what you wanted to do all these years because you're incapable of it now because of the way we've set things up around you. And two, if it doesn't end well for you, the guys at the top, you know, you think about Libya and Gaddafi and all these guys.

I mean, it does end well when some of these guys go down if they go down with a fight. And so I think that the Iranians are beginning to say to themselves, maybe we should consider different paths here. And with the president talking like that, I think they have every incentive, at least as far as that goes, to come to the table.

Now, will they be good faith negotiators?

Well, that's another topic. But at least we're on that path. You bet. And they're not good faith partners by every step of the path that we've seen them in their recent history. But I mean, going all the way back to Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 founding the Islamic Republic.

But it is interesting that when President Trump. Is using this piece through strength. Iran now knows. What the alternative is. And Iran is facing an incredibly isolated reality economically.

And what the Abraham Accords accomplished and hopefully will continue to accomplish is to set up economic opportunities, commerce across the Middle East. And Iran is going to be faced with a very difficult choice. And particularly, the mullahs and the radicals in charge in Iran are like, hey, we've got a choice here. We can cease to exist or we can get on board. And they would obviously, as President Trump said to them, have an opportunity.

And President Trump has proven, as he did with the Palestinians, he. Made a promise that everyone would be treated fairly. I mean, that's sort of what gains him respect in being the deal maker. He loves to say he's the deal maker, but I think there are principles of his deal making which is garnering him the respect he needs. I wonder though, you know.

Captain, we'll have to have a conversation as President Trump goes to Egypt and sits down with these 20 world leaders and they talk about the way forward and the other parts of his 20-point peace plan. You know well as a military leader that We have, President Trump said the war is over. But ending wars is very difficult. The IDF is drawn back, but they're not going to get all the way out of Gaza until there is some international force in there, which is yet to be determined and hopefully will involve Arab countries. This is a very difficult, aside from even getting Hamas to disarm, this is a very difficult task ahead.

Yes, it really is because history has shown us that it just takes one moment and it can all go south. And I think that the Hamas leadership has learned over time here that the Israelis are not going to back down.

So, you know, you could go down that path and end up right back where you were, but the path they were on is total destruction.

So, this has been an exit ramp for them at this moment. And so, I think that everybody's prepared. We want peace as much as we possibly can want it. But you have to be prepared to go back to combat if you need to. And these guys got to stay on this path.

It's like this whole thing, like we talked about, the Iranians and good faith and all that stuff. Yeah, that's great. Maybe they talk about wanting economic advantage going forward, but we got to keep an eye on it, you know, because this is, you know, frankly, they're sneaky and you got to keep an eye on them because you never know what's going on. Look what happened October 7th, right? And so we have to keep pushing them into a situation in a box that we feel comfortable with going forward.

And if they come out of it, they have to pay a price. That's the only way you can do it because they're bad actors. And they've proven that. And so that's the way forward. You know, peace through strength.

That's what you got to do. Captain, I'm coming up on a break. Can I keep you? I want to leave some time on the backside because I do want to address the government shutdown and how it's impacting the military. Can you stay with us?

Yeah, absolutely. Captain Doug Truax here on the Brian Kilmead Show. This is Griff Jenkins. We'll be right back. It's Brian Kilmead.

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Some federal bureaucrats are going to have to get laid off. This is not a situation that we're excited about. We want the government to reopen. But Chuck Schumer and the Democrats decided to shut down the government, and we have to deal with the consequences in the administration. This is Griff Jenkins filling in for Brian Kilmead on the great Brian Kilmead show.

And we're glad to have Captain Doug TrueX, former U.S. Army captain, retired, joining us to talk a little bit about this. And, Captain, thanks for staying with me here because I feel like it's very important to get into this. And, you know, I have said, because my background is a journalist, I've been a reporter for 20 plus years at Fox News. And, you know, Chuck Schumer has voted 13 times on a clean resolution, a simple, nonpartisan, couple-of-page continuing resolution, keep the government open.

And Chuck Schumer was told by both Majority Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson that, hey, we will negotiate over these extension of Obamacare health subsidies, but not while the government's shut down. Just pass this. You've already passed this before 13 times, and yet. They didn't. And now you're seeing the reality in just What, the 15th, I guess?

Military members across the country will get will miss their paychecks. Your thoughts about all this?

Well, that's right. He's pushing it pretty hard, and I think that it's going to backfire on him because I think most people, certainly his base is for it. But I think the question really comes down to the people in the middle, the moderates. You know, I'm a big-time conservative, so I know where I stand on all this, but the moderates are watching this, going, Well, hey, wait a minute. They're hearing what you just said, and they're thinking, why is it happening like this?

Why can't we just kind of work our way through this? And, you know, I think the Republicans might have a point about those Obamacare subsidies. You know, of course, secretly, this is how they're trying to keep socialized medicine alive is through those subsidies over time. But, anyways, you know, we can be working on this and trying to figure it out. I think with the military thing, it goes right back to what we've always said from the conservative side.

And I think most common sense Americans would say, you know, the number one role of government is keeping the people safe. And that was the defunding the police piece, you know, and all that. But if your military is not taken care of, if you don't ever want to get a situation where in peacetime, anybody in the military is thinking, am I not going to get paid? You know, because that's not a good sign going forward. The Chinese would love that if we got to a situation where, like, you know, oh, look, their military is having problems because they're not getting paid.

So, you know, President Trump rightly has directed Secretary Hexeth to use other funds to get them paid.

So I think we're fine there. And we'll see how long this goes on. But I think we averted the immediate crisis on that. But I think the larger question is. You know, just like with the Doge stuff and everything else, you keep hearing all this, oh, essential government task, and then you hear non-essential government tasks.

And we're all thinking to ourselves, well, what is that? Why is there such a thing as a non-essential government task? And so we got to keep chipping away at this. I think most of the people in the middle are beginning to say, Well, you know, I know my aunt, she's still getting her social security and all these things that are still happening as we go along, but what exactly are we talking about? And if you get into the subsidies, you start learning that, wow, a lot of people can make a lot of money and still get their health care paid for.

I don't understand what's going on here.

So that's why I think he's going to lose over time. As the more people dig into it, the more they're going to see this doesn't make any sense. You know, I think, Captain, that Chuck Schumer may have another headache on the horizon. And to be fair, we don't have confirmation from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York that they're actually going through with this because she wouldn't talk to Fox's camera when we asked her just a few days ago. But I don't know if you're aware.

So the chairwoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, was holding a big dollar fund. Fundraiser today in Napa Valley, wine and cheese amongst the host is Senator also Brooks, Ashley also Brooks from Maryland. Maryland is the fifth largest provider, employer of federal jobs to include military. She has more than 48,000 military employees in the state of Maryland, and yet she's choosing to go out to Napa Valley, where Democrats attending this fundraiser will do a wine tour and have a fancy dinner, wine and cheese. I checked the hotel rates to see, oh, if I wanted to go to Hotel Jutland in the vineyard mountains of Napa Valley, and you can get a basic room for $800, you can get a suite for $1,100.

And I'm just wondering if this is, you know, the look that Democrats really want when there's a lot of finger pointing deciding who's to blame. Democrats blame Republicans, Republicans blame Chuck. Schumer, it just takes five Democrats to get on board to alleviate the pain of the American people, and yet. They can't come up with those five, and Democrats are presumably out in California in a high-dollar wine and cheese fundraiser. Your thought?

Yeah, yeah, not surprised, not surprised at all. They have completely lost track of the optics on this. It just goes to their heart, too. They'd rather go out and raise money around it and, you know, come back and lie to their constituents. Oh, yeah, I'm working hard on this.

And they're not. They're not at all. I mean, the next day, maybe they got dinner the next night at the French Laundry with Gavin Newsom. You know, I mean, this is the world they live in now. It's crazy.

It is that. And that, I'm glad you mentioned the French Laundry. It's that hypocrisy that the American people have lost any trust in Washington, in politicians. And to be fair, you know, there was a time in Washington, the Tip O'Neill era, as they like to refer to it, where Republicans and Democrats would go at each other, but then they would realize at the end of the day, hey, if we don't come up with something to deliver for the American people, Then they're going to throw us out of office. And you look today, the polling for both parties, to be fair, has never been lower amongst Americans approving of their elected leaders.

And it's just a sad thing, but I do, my heart goes out. I do hope that Secretary Hex has planned to get military members paid, but then there's still some hundreds of thousands of furloughed government employees. Captain Doug Truax, thank you for taking time and thank you for your service to our country, sir. All right, thanks, Griff. All right.

This is Griff Jenkins filling in on the Brian Kilmead Show. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. The greatest radio show in America, the Brian Kilmead Show. This is your humble DC correspondent, Griff Jenkins, trying to fill the giant shoes of one Brian Kilmead on a historic day.

I don't care what your politics are. I don't care where you're from, what your background is. I just think everyone on planet Earth ought to be rejoicing today that the hostages, the 20 last remaining hostages in Gaza that spent 738 days in the tunnels and dungeons of Hamas terrorists are now freed. Images of the last hostage-bearing helicopter flying over hostage square in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of thousands have gathered, praying, hoping, willing that these hostages would be released, have now. Been released with the ceasefire currently holding in Gaza.

It is a remarkable historic day that cannot be overstated, how significant this day is with. The hope and prospect of Actual new era of peace in the Middle East brought forth by President Donald Trump, who It arguably could not have been brought by anyone else in the hard work of the president's envoy, Steve Wickoff, Jared Kushner, actually getting it across the finish line. President Trump, in a historic speech before the Israeli Knesset, many, or not many, actually just a handful of presidents have spoken before the Israeli Knesset. Carter, Obama, Bush. But this address by President Trump will go down as the most significant historical address before the Israeli Knesset in the history books.

Here's a little bit of what the President had to say: cut one, go. The hostages are back. It is a good feeling. Isn't that nice to say? You know, I just said the hostage.

The first time I said the hostage is the back. It sounds, it feels so good to say it. But when you settle eight wars in eight months, that means you don't like war. Everyone thought I was going to be brutal. I remember Hillary Clinton during a debate, she said, look at him, look at him, he's going to go to war with everybody.

And actually she said, he's got a personality that's all about war. No, and my personality actually is all about stopping wars, and it seems to work. Just a little bit of President Trump's speech. I want to bring in now legendary New York Post columnist and a friend, Michael Goodwin. Michael, I'm really struggling for words to put into context the significance of today, of this achievement, and really the prospect for the future.

Your reaction to all of the developments.

Well, Griff, you're right. I mean, we are living in history and so it's hard to say I think that's a good idea. Yeah. And it is an extraordinary experience, I must say. uh I think this day is one that will be talked about.

For many, many years, in terms of boy, I wish I could have been there. I wish I wish I had. You know, been alive or understood what was happening in front of us. And I th you know you you're correct to, I think, to focus on the President's Knesset speech. Um But It is it it does strike me that in If we're If we're missing anything, It is that This is not just the end of the war.

It is the beginning. the least potentially at this point of a whole new era in the Mideast and therefore around the world.

So the conference in Egypt that's now going on I mean, you've got countries from around the world that have come to be part the settlement. And by that, that means not just peace in the sense of Gaza. But it means regional piece. It could be the end of the era of terrorism, which Americans, of course, will mark as starting on 9-11. Um And This was you know, October seventh was uh is Israel's 9-11.

even worse in terms of the proportion But I think that when you've got so many Arab and Islamic countries, Turkey, Cutter Uh course uh Saudis, UAE. Yeah. In Egypt and Jordan. I mean, this is a moment that says. All of the Arab and Islamic countries say we're tired of this.

we're tired of this too because This is impoverishing the whole region. It is holding back the whole region. It's time for the Mideast to come into the the new world and to be part of the world economy not just uh petro states or anything like that but to really participate.

Okay. The world economy, in the marvels of modern technology, and the way the world has changed. and yet many of those countries are backward countries Um And so I think that what you're witnessing today is In Egypt is, as I say, well beyond the Of the war. This is the beginning of a new era of peace. At least it has the potential to be that.

And I think President Trump has done a remarkable thing in assembling these countries. I mean, you mentioned Jared Christian. and Steve Witkoff. But the fact that they got so many countries to sign on to this peace Treaty. Uh Yeah.

Hamas did. Is a real testament to their understanding of the region. where the power lies. in terms of keeping this piece. And so now uh who will be in this uh uh inter uh interdisciplinary force.

that will keep the peace in Gaza. Who will help rebuild Gaza? What will happen to refugees who want to leave Gaza?

So many questions, but I feel like this this is the end of the terrorism era, let's hope. That's just remarkable to consider, Michael, and there's so much to unpack here. But I do think you put your finger on the real essence about the shift from a terrorism-filled, warring Middle East and one of peace that is the second and more difficult accomplishment that President Trump is seeking. And no doubt that the first Abraham Accords and the first President Trump was certainly a step in the right direction with the normalization with countries like the UAE, with Bahrain, that chose commerce and economic opportunities over above all else. But I think when you spoke, and what I'm saying you put your finger on is the fact that he was able to get buy-in from these Arab countries, Qatar, Egypt, all around the region, before this.

Accomplishment with Hamas and getting the hostage releases. I think it came about because President Trump, in his policy of peace through strength, was using it to tell Iran that if you don't comply, we're going to strike your nuclear facilities, Fordo, and the others that were enriching uranium to the maximum dangerous level of having an actual weapon. And the world watched, but nobody watched closer than the Arab states. Because they were wondering, he's saying peace through strength, but only by using force would you achieve that peace? And he did with Operation Midnight Hammer and flawlessly carried out one of the most remarkable military missions in recent history, delivering the 30,000-pound bunker busters, taking out Fordo and other nuclear facilities with seven B-2 stealth bombers, getting them in, undetected, and out.

Now you have what I think, Michael. Was the most significant soundbite from President Trump's address to the Israeli Knesset when he reached out directly to Iran, speaking directly to the mullahs, the Ayatollah, that have reigned with an iron fist of terror since 1979 in the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He spoke directly to them and gave them an opportunity. Listen to this. I want to get your reaction to this soundbite.

Cut five, go. Get even to Iran, whose regime has inflicted so much death on the Middle East. The hand of friendship and cooperation is open. I'm telling you, they want to make a deal. That's all I do in my life, I make deals.

I'm good at it. I've always been good at it. And I know when they want. Even if they said we don't want to make a deal, I can tell you they want to make a deal. All right, they do.

They want to make a deal, and we're going to see if we can do something because this is crazy what's happening, and we're not going to have this anymore. Neither the United States nor Israel bear the people of Iran any hostility. We merely want to live in peace. We don't want any looming threats over our heads. And we don't want to even think in terms of nuclear destruction.

It's not going to happen, never will happen. And what's so great, Michael, about that moment is he is reaching out that hand because he knows that with what is an isolated and economically starving Iran right now, he's laying the choice before them. And the Iranian piece of the Mideast peace puzzle is a big one, perhaps the most important one, if you really are being honest about it. But, Michael, he said it in Trumpian fashion. We didn't have these speech writers writing these lofty, prosy platitudes we've heard from so many other presidents and administrations going back for years.

This was President Trump speaking directly to them and then ending it with: not going to happen if you don't get on board. That's my take, what's yours? I think You're absolutely right. that Iran is the biggest piece of the puzzle here. I mean, when you think of all the trouble, for example, The Abraham Accords, which the President fashioned in his first term, involving four uh Islamic and Arab countries.

Um And then you have Saudi. Moving closer to Yeah. accord uh under the Biden administration. And what was one of the first messages that came out after october seventh? It was for from Hamas saying this is a message to the normalizers.

and it was designed in part to stop further uh Abraham Accord joiners. particularly the Saudis. Uh And I think that that message rings true. in President Trump's speech. Which is that The strike on Iran was the final big piece here.

And so what you have is, I mean, look what's happening in Lebanon with Hezbollah, right? Mo look the even the Houthis. Look what happened in Syria. All of these events are connected in many ways to Iran. That they have been the big problem Since the late 70s, since the revolution in Iran.

And so if that era can end, Then the financing. The directions that Terrorism. that has roiled the entire region for decades and decades. Uh will come to a close. Yeah.

If it's like it's unlocking a key, you know, you can you can try to combat all the different combinations and none of them work. And when you finally get that right combination and the and the door unlocks, It's like, wow. Here it is. I think we're at that moment. Right now, the potential.

is that if Iran can be subjugated in terms of its nuclear ambitions, in terms of its regional ambitions. This talk of the little Satan, the great Satan. This is the under This is the current. that has poisoned the region. And now if it can be reversed and stopped, Hallelujah.

Indeed. And I want to tell our listeners, you have a great piece up written over the weekend about President Trump being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize. The headline, Trump bringing peace to the Middle East is the real prize. You were so right about that. A line you write in your piece.

You say, unfortunately, the achievement of real peace does not seem to be the metric the Norwegian committee demands and rewards such great words. Particularly now, you wonder if that Norwegian committee is really thinking twice about what they chose to do. Michael Goodwin, a good friend and one of the best writers, New York Post, go check him out. Michael, thank you for taking time on this historic day to weigh in. My pleasure.

Thank you very much. This is Griff Jenkins filling in on the Brian Kilmead Show. Don't go anywhere. We'll be back. Learning something new every day on the Brian Kilmead Show.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has been accused of drunkenly assaulting a delivery driver before the driver stabbed him. The penalties offset. Repeat first down. If convicted, Sanchez could be sent to prison or, worse, back to the Jets. A little bit of humor on Saturday Night Live, which I actually thought was kind of funny.

This is Griff Jenkins filling in for Brian Kilmead on the Brian Kilmead show. Listen, you gotta laugh sometimes. And when they did a skit with Amy Poehler and the other actress playing the role of Pam Bondi and Christy Noam in their open, it was actually funny. It was funny stuff. And actually, the Department of Homeland Security has a master trolling team.

I don't know who's doing their social media, but give that person a free beer and a big raise. They took a clip of the character playing Christy Noam saying, Don't worry about the layoffs because I've got ice hard at work because of this. And of course, they lampooned it, but that's when they cut the clip. And all of a sudden, you just see this scene after scene after scene. Of ICE agents rounding up violent criminal aliens, particularly in places like Chicago and Operation Midway Blitz.

I've been blown away at the idiocy of Mayor Brandon Johnson in Chicago and Illinois Governor Pritzker, who is just stood in every way they can. Because I went on the ride along day one, I was with Madison Cheehan, the deputy director of ICE. For two days, we were rounding up illegal violent criminal aliens. It included an individual that was convicted of raping a child under 13. We apprehended a convicted murderer.

That is among the thousand-plus people they've pulled off the streets. But yet. Mayor Brandon Johnson continues to say things like this: Cut 21. You know, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has made it very clear. That he has declared war on the city of Chicago.

In fact, as you've indicated, he has declared war against American cities across this country. And what he is promulgating is very clear. Unconstitutional, it's illegal. It's unnecessary and it's dangerous. And I'm using every single tool that's available to me to defend the people of this fine city.

to protect our democracy and of course to protect our humanity as well.

Okay, so Today is the day about the hostages. That is the significance of this historic moment we're living in. We just had such a great conversation with New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin.

So why am I just diving into the ICE stuff? Because there's a tie. Because I wonder if Mayor Johnson has a staffer smart enough to say, hey, hey, hey, boss. Hey, you just said Trump is declaring, quote, war on Chicago. Bad choice of words, boss, because literally that guy, President Donald Trump, is ending a war in Gaza with the start of the accomplishment of releasing the 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza that's been 738 days in horror, mouth freed with the prospect of peace in the Middle East.

It's just astounding, the words from Mayor Johnson. This is Griff Jenkins from the Brian Kilmead Show. We'll be back. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead.

So, as we celebrate today, let us remember how this nightmare of. Depravity and death all began. Two years ago on the eve of the Simhat Torah holiday. Thousands of innocent Israeli civilians were attacked by terrorists, and one of the most evil and heinous. Desecrations of innocent life, the world has ever seen, the worst slaughter of Jews since.

The Holocaust. That was President Trump in a historic address before the Israeli Knesset on the heels of the release of the 20 remaining living hostages out of Gaza after 738 days of horror. This is Griff Jenkins filling in for the great Brian Kilmead show. Brian's off today, and what an honor to sit here and really try and process all of this. It's with the prospect of peace in the Middle East on the horizon, something that previous administrations going back for decades sought but could not achieve.

And yet, here we are, living literally in history as it's unfolding in real time. Joining us now is journalist and Israeli human rights activist Emily Schrader. Emily, I just want to give you a chance to weigh in. What is your reaction? What's going through your mind right now?

We lost her connection. We'll try and get that, but I will certainly give you more of my take on it because, you know, I am a journalist. I've been to Gaza. I've been in Iraq. I've been in Ukraine.

I've covered war zones. And, you know, when you look at the devastation and all across Gaza, you see nothing but apocalyptic destruction. And it's scenes that even I have never experienced. And you look at the rebuild challenge that is coming in that area, it's going to be something that is going to be a monumental task. And we've got now Emily Schrader, journalist and Israeli human rights activist, joining us.

Emily, thanks for taking time to weigh in. I was playing just when we were bumping in a little bit of President Trump's historic address before the Israeli Knesset, but I wanted to start with just your reaction, your reflections on really the historical significance of this day.

Well, Griff, it's great to be with you. To underemphasize how big of a day this is for the Israeli public. I mean, it's been highly emotional, I think, across the political spectrum and across, you know, religious, secular, all sectors of Israeli society are definitely feeling the emotional weight of today. It's something that I I think the majority of the country has been praying for and hoping for. for now just over two years.

So it's hard to underemphasize just how meaningful it was to see the scenes that we saw beginning very early this morning and continuing until really as recently as a few minutes ago when we learned that uh at least four more hostages of the the deceased hostages are currently uh being transferred from uh the Red Cross into the hands of Israeli representatives. You're so right, Emily. And, you know, it is remarkable to watch the scene. We just saw this morning the last hostage-bearing helicopter flying over hostage square in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of thousands have been gathering for two years, hoping, praying, willing that their loved ones will come back. And yet, here we are in this moment with that last hostage-bearing helicopter flying over that square where prayers have been answered and results have been delivered by President Trump.

But I think you're right. You can't overstate the emotion of the Israeli public. And you took me back to a few months ago, I had the opportunity anchoring on Fox News to interview Lashai Miran Lavi, the wife of Omar, who is Omri, rather, that has been released now. He's part of these 20 and they've been reunited. And I couldn't yet, I'm human, as you are, and everyone else is.

I couldn't help but be moved emotionally because I remember her pain in that interview and her strength with every day passing, chipping away at the hope of this actual moment happening, but yet her talking about how the strength that she must demonstrate for her young children. And now, Omri, Leshai, and their children have been reunited. And that is what it is all about. And I think that as we talk about the next steps and really the possible paradigm shift in the Middle East towards peace that we may be on the eve of, I think you can't mention enough the significance of what the accomplishment of the release of these hostages has brought. What do you think?

Yeah. Mm. I mean, I think you're absolutely right. I did see that footage of Omri Nehron being reunited with his wife after two years. I mean, can you imagine not seeing your spouse for two years, much less knowing that they're in the hands of a terrorist organization, raising two small children on your own?

I mean, it's unimaginable, I think, for most Americans. And the courage and the strength that so many of these hostage families have carried with them every single day, day in. Day out. knowing that their loved ones, their children, their husbands in some cases, Are being tortured, are being starved, as we saw in some of the footage that was so cynically. Filmed and used as propaganda by this terrorist organization, Hamas.

I mean, it's It's awe-inspiring. It's truly, I'm truly, truly amazed. And I can't count how many times today I've broken down in tears just seeing these families be reunited, whether it be Omri Mehrans or Matan Zangauka, whose mother has lobbied so fearlessly for their release. Of her son, as well as all of the other families that have suffered for over two years now. But you did touch on something really important, and that is that.

This has the potential. I think at this point it's just potential, but the potential to be much broader. for the region and that's part of the reason I think It's such a historic success, you know, largely. Thanks to President Trump. At least that's the way that a lot of Israelis are seeing it today.

We heard when President Trump's You know, Air Force One flew over Hostage Square, huge cheers from the crowd, as you mentioned. Hundreds of thousands at the time, I believe it was around 80,000 people were in the square chanting thank you to President Trump, as well as the night before, 400,000 Israelis gathered in Hostage Square, chanting thank you to their support for President Trump for ending what really many Israelis had somewhat lost hope for, perhaps something we didn't want to express out loud. I think everyone feared the worst because we've experienced the worst across the past two years. And so to really be, I guess, proven wrong in some cases, that we can end this war, that there is probably solution, at least. For 20 of these remaining hostages, as well as the return of the deceased as well, that is coming imminently.

It's it's truly uh interesting. inspiring and I'm hopeful. that it can bring about a new era of more peace. is a more piece of green ass. Could say thanks to President Trump and his efforts, especially right now with the efforts in Shamel Sheikh and Egypt, bringing together many Arabs.

states and Muslim states that have no diplomatic relations with Israel.

Well, perhaps that tide is finally turning. And it's a great point, Emily, because, you know, President Trump brought these Arab countries together through his vision. His policy is peace through strength, but his vision is a thriving economic Middle East with commerce and trade and normalized relations, building upon Abraham Accords. And he accomplished it, I think, most by gaining the respect of those Arab countries through policy. Putting Iran in a box, that strike on the nuclear facilities was a huge step in terms of getting these Arab countries who do not want Iran disrupting it.

Why? Because the Poison in the region starts with terrorism that stems from Iran. And I think now, one of the significant moments, not only did President Trump address Iran directly, and I've talked a little bit already today about how significant I think it is that he reached out to them in friendship, but said, We're not going to have a nuclear Iran, not going to happen. It's that peace through strength. But he also spoke directly to the Palestinian people who put Hamas in charge, for which now we have seen difficult images, horrific images, of the devastation of Gaza.

The entire region has been decimated, as I was mentioning a moment ago. Here's President Trump in that Israeli Knesset address talking about the choice for Palestinians. Cut for. The choice for Palestinians could not be more clear. This is their chance to turn forever from the path of terror and violence.

It's been extreme. to exile the wicked forces of hate That are in their midst, and I think that's going to happen. I've met some people over the last couple of months that want to see it happen very much. after tremendous pain and death and hardship, Now is the time to concentrate on building their people up. Instead of trying to tear Israel down, we don't want that to happen again.

And the total focus of Gazans must be on restoring the fundamentals of stability, safety, dignity, and economic development.

so they can finally have the better life that their children really do deserve. The key phrase there, Emily, was: this is their chance to turn forever from the path of terror and violence. There's hope. There's hope, but no assurances that It can be achieved. What are your thoughts?

Well, you know, I think this is a longstanding issue with Palestinian leadership that we have seen with decades and decades of rejectionism, rejecting really of Palestinian state, if you think about it. They've had multiple offers for peace for a previously proposed Two-state solution that they have rejected. Often we talk about Israel rejecting it or an Israeli politician making a comment against the two-state solution when, in reality, Every step of the way, it's been the Palestinian leadership rejecting that. And I think President Trump is spot on when he notes that this could be a real opportunity to identify the previous mistakes that have been made and to move forward in a better way.

Now, that's going to require a great deal of de-radicalization. As we've seen from polls consistently over the decades, this is a highly radicalized society, in particular in Gaza, that has been raised cradle to grave on anti-Semitism, on incitement to violence, on support for terrorism. And that needs to be changed in the education system as well. That takes courageous leadership. Unfortunately, today, we don't see that from the Palestinian Authority and certainly not in the Gaza Strip from terrorist groups like Hamas.

So it is going to require significant support and investment from other countries. And I believe that's what President Trump has in mind for the next phase. of this deal, and hopefully he'll have leadership that's able to make that happen together with the support from other Arab states as well. I know that Qatar and Turkey have been involved in this process from day one. Perhaps, perhaps, They can also have a hand in the rebuilding and restructuring of the Gaza Strip and potentially other Palestinian areas that will see a better future for the Palestinian people.

That's such a salient insight, Emily, the way you put it, because again, the pieces of the puzzle here are so complex. And I just mentioned the isolation of Iran, but you're right. President Trump, in this vision for peace, he is ultimately attempting to de-radicalize, as you put it, these Palestinians from cradle to grave that have been steeped in anti-Semitism. And my sort of observation is that part of how he's sort of opened that Chapter is that he did successfully, in recent weeks, standing with Benjamin Netanyahu, humanized both sides of this. He humanized not only Israelis, for which his fierce support has always stood, but he also humanized Palestinians to show them that he recognizes their humanity as well.

Would you agree? Yeah, yeah. I absolutely agree and I think that it's an important step. For any leader to remind a population, even if right now today, it's a minority of the population, that there is hope. and that there is a better future and that there is a better way.

Whether that call is actually heeded by the people or by viable leadership, that's going to take some more steps. And as I stated, I think President Trump is doing the very best he can to build that structure and to actually help. the Palestinian people. Are they actually going to listen and take this opportunity? I am hopeful.

I'm skeptical as an Israeli myself, but I am hopeful. And I think that the vast majority of the Israeli public would open that with open arms, would welcome that, excuse me, with open arms. To have a better future with our neighbors, something that we wanted for a very long time, but as I stated, has been consistently rejected. It is a remarkable historic day, the release of those twenty hostages, but of course, the prospect of peace in the Middle East. Emily Schrader, thank you for taking time.

Great insight. As always, we appreciate it. I think. Thank you so much for having me. This is Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmead Show.

We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. Brian Killmead will be right back. It's Will Kane Country. Watch it live at noon Eastern Monday through Thursday at FoxNews.com or on the Fox News YouTube channel.

And don't miss the show. Listen and follow the podcast five days a week at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmead. My head's spinning trying to keep up with the great Brian Kilmead.

This is Griff Jenkins filling in on the Brian Kilmead show on a historic day with President Trump accomplishing the feat of getting the last remaining 20 living hostages out of Gaza after 738 days in the prospect of peace on the horizon in the Middle East, something thought never actually imaginable after multiple U.S. administrations failed to accomplish anything of the sort. And now here we are on the precipice of history, not only in the United States, but globally and certainly in the most war-torn, ravaged parts of the planet, and that is the Middle East. It's very interesting. I thought in the historic address before the Israeli Knesset.

President Trump made a number of statements that will be remembered for decades to come. And I do. Like that, he took the opportunity to recognize. I mean, look, everybody knows this wouldn't have happened without President Trump. President Trump even admits now to have been on the phone with the interlocutors of the negotiations between Hamas and Israel in Qatar.

But yet, here you have him also giving due praise where due praise belongs. Listen to this cut. We have uh some very great talent and they have No excuses for anything that's Taking place because we had some unbelievably good people working on this, and then you're going to add. A man named Marco Rubio, who is also here. And I have a prediction that Marco will go down, I mean this, as the greatest Secretary of State in the history of the United States.

I believe that. And he and I, you know, we really fought it out. You remember, he was tough. He was nasty. Will I make it?

Who the hell thought this was gonna happen, Marco? Right? And now I'm saying he's going to go down as the greatest he will. It was always He was always smart and sharp and people respected him. From Little Marco, Little Marco to the greatest Secretary of State in history.

And you wonder, I will give credit to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who gave praise, recognizing in name President Trump for this accomplishment, because she understands she worked on this very difficult task of peace in the Middle East. And yet she realizes that it was Marco Rubio in the Trump administration that accomplished it. What a historic day and a great opportunity and honor for me to sit in. This is Griff Jenkins on the Brian Killmeat Show. Little Marco.

From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. The greatest radio show on the planet, the Brian Kilmead Show. This is Griff Jenkins, your humble DC correspondent, having the honor and privilege of sitting in for Brian Kilmead today on a day that will go down in the history books without a doubt. President Donald Trump accomplishing the unthinkable feat of getting the last 20 remaining Israeli hostages out of Gaza, reunited now with their loved ones and families.

Images of the last hostage-bearing helicopter flying over a hostage square, where for more than two years, hundreds of thousands have gathered that the hostages would be released. And now that is a reality. It's a moment, listeners, that we are living. In real time, history in the making, as President Trump heads, to Egypt to bring about his goal of peace in the Middle East, the 20-point plan being implemented with buy-in from Arab nations. And you cannot overstate the significance of the accomplishment of this day and what we are witnessing.

We are fortunate to have joining us, I want to go right to him, the ambassador, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Dinon. And Mr. Ambassador, I can only imagine what you must be thinking and feeling at this moment. Thank you for taking time. What are your thoughts right now?

Well, thank you for having me. It's a historic day, you know, to see those pictures of the hostages reuniting with their families after two years. It's a miracle. You know, we prayed for that day. We fought for that day.

We are grateful to President Trump for his leadership. for Prime Minister Netanyahu's leadership. And we don't forget the soldiers, the brave soldiers who fought and sacrificed. More than two thousand soldiers and civilians died since october seventh. In order for us to be where we are today, But we haven't completed the mission yet, unfortunately.

We are still expecting the the the deceased hostages to come home. You know, Hamas did not comply with the agreement.

So far we received Only four. of the 28 deceased hostages. And we hope that by the end of the day, They will comply with the agreement completely. It's a great point, Mr. Ambassador.

And, you know, when we have seen Hamas as an untrustworthy partner time and time again throughout all of this, when you do see the drone footage, the devastation of Gaza, and they say, well, it may take a little longer to find those bodies, that is, goodness gracious, the challenge of rebuilding Gaza is going to be so amazing. But, you know, I do think that assuming that they are able to uphold that into the bargain, that we are on the eve of possibly a real paradigm shift in the Middle East. And I thought that both Prime Minister Netanyahu's address to the Knesset and then President Trump's were remarkably significant. Prime Minister Netanyahu saying, you know, we welcome you, Mr. President.

We thank you, and we are committed to this peace. You guys have always been ready to be. Committed to that peace, and we'll see. And I thought that there were a couple of moments with the president's address where he really reached out to the Palestinian people and gave them a choice to choose peace. And he knows, President Trump, that he is speaking to a population that has been grossly radicalized from birth to death for generations in the challenge.

And I want to play just a little bit, if I can, for you, President Trump's words to the Palestinian people. This is cut for. The choice for Palestinians could not be more clear. This is their chance to turn forever from the path of terror and violence. It's been extreme.

to exile the wicked forces of hate That are in their midst, and I think that's going to happen. I've met some people over the last couple of months that want to see it happen very much. After tremendous pain and death and hardship, Now is the time to concentrate on building their people up. Instead of trying to tear Israel down, we don't want that to happen again. And the total focus of Gazans must be on restoring the fundamentals of stability, safety, dignity, and economic development.

So they can finally have the better life that their children really do deserve. And Mr. Ambassador, one of the big questions in all of this going forward is will they choose that choice?

Well, I honestly, I don't know. I hope so. You know, I hope so because uh we pray for peace. We are a peaceful nation. We want to expand the peace agreements we have with other countries, but you we have bad experience with Gaza.

You know, we left Gaza. exactly twenty years ago, and we gave the keys to the Palestinians, and we hope that they will build up a better future with coexistence, and it didn't happen. Hamas took over, and we saw what happened in the last twenty years. I think now they have another opportunity. I hope they will grab this opportunity and that they need the strength and the courage to stand against the radicals.

You know, in many places in the Middle East, you see that the radicals are not the majority. But they actually enforce their power on the majority.

So I hope that this time it will be different. and that uh Gaza will not become a a place for radicals again, and it will allow a genuine leadership to grow there. Yeah, I hope they will take this opportunity this time. I want to talk about this meeting. President Trump is having some 20 world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt.

Obviously, a lot at stake here. And a lot of questions remain about whether or not Hamas will disarm and the questions surrounding the future governance of Gaza and even before that, the implementation of the force that is going to be inside there that would allow Israel to withdraw IDF and maintain a ceasefire. But you and I were talking yesterday, and I want to raise it again today because we just had some of these world leaders and countries represented that are going to now be at this meeting in Egypt that just weeks ago in New York here at the UN General Assembly either walked out of Prime Minister Netanyahu's address to The UN world body or chose not to appear, just weren't there. That includes Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Spain, Kuwait, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority. And I wonder your thoughts today to see these countries now represented at this historic meeting brought about by President Trump and Prime Minister Netyahu that chose not to hear the Prime Minister talk about the release of the hostages, talk about peace, talk about turning away from terror, which is what his address was here at the UN before the very body whose task in creation was to bring about peace.

And yet you had those countries that walked out or weren't present. to Prime Minister Nenezo's speech that now all of a sudden want to be a part of the process. Exactly. You know, we we saw the difference between those leaders were detached from reality. They came to the UN, gave empty speeches, empty declarations, and it didn't change anything.

And you compare it to the leadership of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who looked at the details, at the complexity of the issues, and brought this agreement to where we are today. And I would add another thing, you know, it's important to meet and we welcome the involvement of partners in the second phase in Gaza. But you need a commitment to make sure that you actually don't allow Hamas to stay in the game. Because you cannot play. If you think that you're gonna play and and uh ignore uh the presence of Hamas and allow them to be with different names, different uniforms, They will come against us again, and we will not allow it.

So you need those countries not just to come and enjoy the ceremonies, they have to be involved, they have to make sure that if they do send troops on the ground, that they have the the power to enforce and to make sure that Hamas is not running the show in Gaza anymore. There will be no future for the people in Gaza if Hamas will stay in the game. It's so true. It's so true. And great insights, as always.

Ambassador Daniel Dinon, thank you for making time and your business. I can only imagine how busy you are today, but you took time to join us on the Brian Kilmead Show. You're a great friend and a great ambassador. Thank you for taking time, sir. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. That was Ambassador Danny Dinon, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations. I am Griff Jenkins, filling in today on the Brian Kilmead Show. Don't go anywhere.

It's Brian Kilmeade. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Information you can use indeed here on the great Brian Kilmead show. This is your humble DC correspondent, Griff Jenkins, filling in for Brian.

And it is such a historic day with the release of hostages and the prospect of peace in the Middle East. But yet, here at home, we do continue still to have a number of Democrat leaders, particularly in Chicago, Illinois, taking on, obstructing, and trying to resist the Trump administration's efforts to. Get violent illegal criminals off the street.

Now, when you think about what President Trump ran on during his campaign, hostages were among them. He said that we will not forget the hostages, we will bring them home. He has now done that. And he also promised that he would shut the border down, stop the influx of millions of illegal aliens being released into the U.S., and that he would remove the violent criminal illegal aliens. From this country, and he is doing that on the First, he has completely shut the border down.

They have now had five straight months of zero releases of illegal aliens into the country. And you are seeing ICE Border Patrol and federal law enforcement officers going out and trying to get these illegal, violent criminal aliens that are particularly been able to thrive in sanctuary cities that have chosen not to cooperate with ICE in places, particularly like Chicago. I was on the first couple of days of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, riding along with the deputy director of ICE as they rounded up these criminal aliens. We apprehended individuals that were convicted of raping a child under 13, an individual that was convicted of murder. These are real bad people, but yet, Democrats.

Continue to make the case, whether it's Mayor Johnson saying that President Trump is declaring war on the city of Chicago by having the ICE officers there trying to make the community safer, or Governor Pritzker that says that there's nothing here, there's no need for this here. We don't need this, but yet the pictures and the facts tell a very different story. And then all of the sudden, former CNN anchor Don Lemon shows up on his YouTube streaming channel, whatever it is that he does, and he's taking to the streets with a microphone, choosing to, well, engage with literally immigrant people on the streets who try to school him and help him understand why illegal immigration is indeed illegal. Listen here. Mexico right now is doing mass deportations.

I know that people that stayed illegally because And that's how you manage a country. And it's not about hating people. Myself as an immigrant. It's just about doing pe um things the right way. As a lot of them have signs that said No human is illegal.

But once you enter the wrong way, doing it the proper way, you're breaking the law. It's not a crime, you're not breaking the law. I mean, you are breaking the law, but it's not a criminal act. Those laws are being broken. Left and right, and people are not being accountable.

And it gets to the point where little by little starts growing and growing till it gets to a place where you can no longer live and be safe. In Mexico, they are doing mass deportations and are using Force, nothing like you see here in the U.S., and they're not pulling you over and checking out. Let me see if you're legal to be here. No, they start beating you up and then they question you later. We're there.

That's happening. Not even close. Crossing the border illegally, that's a crime. You don't see it that way, but I do. She's literally giving him a lesson.

I feel bad for this woman who is, you know, choosing to talk to Don Lemon. And look, I'm no doubt she recognized who he was and is willing to engage in the conversation.

Somewhere midway through, she was like, oh my gosh, this idiot doesn't actually know the law. But it's telling because that is what so many Democrats, including some elected officials, that believe that lie that it's not a crime to cross the border illegally. I have some hard facts for you, Don Lemon, and others that have that same viewpoint. You need look no further than Title VIII, U.S. Code 1325, that makes it illegal to cross and enter the border without authorization or immigration permission.

And in title, that's a misdemeanor. Then, Title VIII, U.S. Code 1326 makes it a felony, punishable up to two years in prison, to re-enter again. And we have seen that most of the illegal criminal aliens that are being taken off the streets of Chicago have multiple re-entries.

So, the very people that Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker and clearly Don Lemon seek to protect from ICE removing them are those that have broken the law, in many cases, felonies. And at that point, the conversation becomes: do you want to be a country of laws or do you not? It's not debatable as Don Lemon would like it to be. And yet, to have this one entire side of this issue believing in the fallacy that. It's a gray area.

It is not. And all ICE and Border Patrol are doing now in places like Chicago, in Boston, in Los Angeles and across the country, Are carrying out the federal immigration laws. 1325 and 1326 were put in Title VIII through the Immigration and Nationality Act in the 1950s. The same laws have existed on the books for well over 60, 70 years. And so when you have lawmakers, members of Congress demanding that this is Gestapo or Nazi tactics and that the Trump administration, President Trump is breaking the law by doing this.

All ICE is doing is Carrying out federal immigration laws that have been on the books for some seven decades.

So if they're so upset about it, maybe they should start by first reopening the government, which sits in day 13 of the government shutdown. Because Democrats won't vote for a clean resolution to reopen it. Maybe they should then also get to a place where they want to debate what the laws are going to be. Because all of the good men and women, the patriotic heroes of ICE and Border Patrol and federal immigration law will do is carry out the laws on the books. But right now, instead, these Democrats are choosing to take a narrative that is based upon an absolute lie.

And while we are making fun of Don Lemon, it is a very dead serious issue because he is exposing the very lie that members of Congress, to include the Democrat House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has likened what we're seeing ICE do to something out of the 30s. That is absolutely a lie. And the sad, terrible truth is it's putting ICE in federal immigration law enforcement. Officers in grave risk of losing their lives with that rhetoric. I'm Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmead show.

We have so much more. Don't go anywhere because we will be right back. It's not a crime. You're not breaking the law. I mean, you are breaking the law.

From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Killmead. This is the Brian Kilmead Show, the greatest radio show across the great United States of America. This is your humble D.C. correspondent, Griff Jenkins, trying to fill those giant shoes of Brian Kilmead. And we are very fortunate now to have Corinne Hajar joining us, editorial board member and columnist for the great Boston Globe, as well as a fellow at the Steamboat Institute.

And, Corinne, you're actually got some employment news to share as well. Yes, yeah, I've had a d A little over two great years at the Globe, had a great time, but moving to the Washington Post in November.

So I'm excited for that to the editorial board over there.

So we were joking off air. I have lived in Washington for more than 30 years, and the Washington Post, which I have often described as the Washington Compost, which is a term I learned from Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North in the 90s when I was running his radio show because of their liberal bias. But we'll see. We'll see. It's a new era for the Washington Post.

And I think that they have chosen to do a number of things to maybe offer a more balanced view of the news to their viewers. And the fact that they're bringing Corinne Hajar, someone that I admire, love reading, and think is very fair and very talented, I think that's great news.

So congratulations. And in fair disclosure, I never gave up my membership subscription to the Washington Post. I just went from getting the paper version delivered to my door to getting it on my phone. It's the times that we live in. In Karin, the times we live in today are historic in ways that are hard to put into words.

The release of the last 20 living hostages in Gaza, the Israelis that were taken and put in dungeons and tunnels for 738 days now, reunited. I've been talking about it all day long. And I think that when you look at the next steps, the prospect of peace in the Middle East, a goal that many administrations going back decades sought, But never realized anything close to where we are now. This is not only historic about the release of the hostages and what the Israeli public are feeling.

Some of the hostages, family members that I have had the privilege and honor of interviewing on Fox News, the emotions they must be feeling now, but also the dawn of what lies ahead as President Trump attends this meeting in Egypt and trying to chart the future, which is likely going to have a paradigm shift that we haven't seen in more than a half a century in the Middle East. Yes, there's tremendous opportunity right now, and the President really deserves serious praise for getting this agreement going. It's a huge day, an emotional day, and my heart goes out to the families of the hostages that have been waiting so long for this day. And for the Middle East more broadly, you're right, this is a new page. And the agreement was the first big step, but now I think the harder work is ahead of us.

The president has really, I mean, the first step was to get the hostages home and get. And get the war winding down. But we need to look regionally at the root causes of this conflict. And I'm excited that the President is speaking with all of these Arab countries now in Egypt. And we gotta have some serious discussions about the groups that they were funding, sheltering.

We have to hold Iran accountable. It's great that the President. decided to strike their nuclear sites. But now going forward, I'm glad to see the administration is waging more sanctions on the Islamic regime. But it's time to really hold all of these groups accountable that have been funding Hamas, Hezbollah, because ultimately If they can go back to doing that, then in decades we're going to see sort of the same thing pop up again.

And my family is originally Lebanese, and I did some reporting in Lebanon this summer, and it was really exciting to see that for the first time there's a real shot for Lebanon to get rid of Hezbollah's power over the government. And for me, that was just such a deeply exciting opportunity. But if they can get money from Iran in any way, then we could. Go back to more conflict, and that puts Israel at risk too.

So, the president has shown tremendous leadership, and I hope he continues to show this tremendous leadership, holding these countries accountable. You know, Karim. I'm so glad you mentioned Lebanon because you just. Got me thinking.

So, one of my favorite restaurants for many, many years in Washington is owned by a Lebanese friend named Joe. Which one? Uh, well, so his restaurant he's now closed that restaurant that was um just outside of Georgetown. And he also always joke because he had Lebanese food, but his pizza actually was my very favorite. I'm like, You have the best pizza in DC.

There's a lot of good Lebanese pizza. There's a lot of good Lebanese pizza. It's a whole thing. Um, and I'm not sure where Joe's gonna open up again.

So I wish I had a restaurant to promote. But for years, I would sit at the bar, get a pizza on my way home, you know, it'd be like a late night or something. And he would talk to me about how, when he was a child, and granted, Joe's in his 50s or maybe 60s, I think now, about how Lebanon was. Was A destination for wealthy Arab countries everywhere. It was literally the destination that people went.

And When I heard President Trump talk about Gaza could be reimagined as the Riviera of the Middle East. What came to my mind was Joe talking about what Lebanon was versus what it is today. And For our listeners, which you well understand, the reason Lebanon is no longer that paradise and vacation destination is because of the poison of Iran and Islamic terrorism with Hezbollah and in Gaza with Hamas that began in 1979 with the foundation of the Islamic Republic and Ayatollah Khomeini. And now we're looking at a possible opportunity to not only bring peace to the Middle East, but the eradication of terrorism itself in the region, which is the fundamental problem. And I think that it's sort of my observation that.

The reason, part of the reason why you're seeing such buy-in from Arab countries, obviously, in the first Trump administration, you had the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. And hopefully, more will come on board to include Saudi Arabia and others soon. But the thing that really got the street cred or the respect, whatever you want to call it. that President Trump got from Arab countries to get so much buy in to what's happening right now was that he brought a peace through strength approach. But the Arab countries wondered When it came to holding Iran accountable, would he actually Enforce what peace through strength means.

And then we saw Operation Midnight Hammer in a flawless Operation 7 B2 bombs dropping 30,000-pound bunker busters, taking out Fordo and other nuclear facilities in Iran and isolating Iran economically. They're starving in that country, and he's giving them a choice. And then the moment in the Israeli Knesset speech from President Trump, the moment that I think is the most historic and plays directly to what you're talking about, is he spoke directly to Iran and had this to say: listen to this. President Trump, in Israel just now you were talking about a possible Iran peace deal. You said we are ready when you are.

Is that the ultimate goal with today's signing to get But no. Not Iran, but but I think Iran will come along. They've been battered and bruised and you know they're they're So they need some help. They have big sanctions, as you know, tremendous sanctions. I'd love to take the sanctions off when they're ready to talk.

But they can't really survive with those sanctions. Those sanctions are very tough. But at some point they're going to say we want the sanctions off. We're going to end up with peace. I think Iran is going to be fine.

I know so many Iranian people, they're great people, they're smart. Great, great people, engineers, lawyers, I mean they're academics, but they took a big hit. And frankly, if we didn't hit them with the nuclear, I don't think you would have been able to have this incredible. this this deal that's once in a lifetime deal. Nobody's ever seen it.

They're like, what's happening today? And countries have all come together. All different countries.

Some liked each other, some didn't, most didn't. And they've all come together. Every country has come together. And by the way, Iran did put out a statement, you know, that they support this deal very wholeheartedly.

So that was in itself something. But no, I I think they want to uh that's all I do in my life. I make deals and uh they want to make a deal. I apologize. I got ahead of myself.

It was the speech earlier, but that was the follow-up from my colleague Peter Ducey that asked about the moment in the speech where President Trump had said that he literally was offering the quote hand of friendship and cooperation is open. And that was Peter Ducey asking about that moment. And that QA right there really explains, tells you where President Trump believes we are. Let me tell you, it is such a shift from the Biden administration when I was covering their negotiations with Iran. It was all appeasement, and they were expecting the best behavior from Iran if only we gave them all these goodies, we pulled back sanctions, we promised a better deal.

And the deal that they were discussing at the time, which didn't end up happening, thank God, was quite dangerous. I mean, it was just going to be a weaker JCPOA, the deal that Obama struck.

So President Trump is so clear-eyed about Peace through strength, as you said before. Iran has a clear agenda. They want to spread their access of Shiite resistance across the Middle East. This is why they fund proxies like Hamas. This is why they have proxies like Hezbollah.

They want to spread their radical agenda across the region. The president understands that you can't just hand them over goodies and expect them to drop that. That idea that animates the entire regime, you have to play tough with them, which is why the strike on the nuclear facilities was so important. And so, and why sanctions are so important. You have to hold them accountable for the behavior that they not only show over and over again, but they promise us.

This is a regime that wants to destroy the West. This is a regime that wants to destroy Israel.

So, now that we have peace in Gaza, I'm really hoping that the president continues the good work he's been doing in holding Iran accountable. And they don't have leverage. There should be no playing nice with them now. They have to come to the table and honor President Trump's demands. You know, it's so true.

And you put that in perfect context in terms of the way the Biden administration dealt with this versus the way the Trump administration is now dealing with it. And, you know, I do think that to a certain extent, I talked a little bit about this earlier today. I do think President Trump has done a good job with respect to the challenge that lies ahead for the Palestinian people and whether or not Hamas, which the Palestinian people put in Power will force and help bring about the both disarmament of Hamas, but also the future governance of Hamas, of Gaza that cannot include Hamas. Your thoughts on whether the Palestinian people will choose to make sure that future does not include Hamas.

Well, they've already seen what a future including Hamas looks like. When Hamas became basically the when it started governing Gaza, I mean, look at the destruction in the war that it led to.

So I think that they already have a lived example of the destruction that comes about when you have a fundamentalist group running your region. This is going to be the big debate going forward. And this is going to be one of the, I think, the bigger challenge of the aftermath of the peace deal here. And that's the bumper music, which means we've run out of time. But Corinne Hajar, thank you for being here.

We can't wait to read about you in the Washington Post. Thanks for being here. Griff Jenkins on the Brian Kilmead Show. The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Killmead. This is your humble DC correspondent, Griff Jenkins, filling in for the great Brian Kilmead, and you will learn more on this show as you learned recently.

that I am a diehard Swifty.

So last but not least, We must address some new news.

Now, listeners to this great show may recall that I had an in-person conversation with Brian Kilmead here on a busy Newsday when he. Talk to me about being a Swifty and why I actually, as a grown man, was moved to tears for this new album. It's because my eldest daughter got me into Taylor Swift years ago. And the fifth track on The Life of a Showgirl, the greatest album Taylor Swift has put out to date. Is entitled Eldest Daughter.

It's an emotional one. I woke up on October 3rd and went straight to that fifth track, Eldest Daughter, and I was moved to tears. As I said then, and I maintain today, Taylor Swift wielded that magical emotional sword and she just slayed me. And I take a lot of grief. From viewers and listeners about being Swifties, they don't like Taylor Swift, perhaps mostly because of her politics.

She endorsed Kamala Harris, was a Biden guy, a Democrat, and we know the history with her. But her music is amazing. Her songs are magical. I think there's actually Swifties out there or people that are opposed to Taylor Swift that actually listen to the songs and secretly love them, but then publicly say that they don't support her.

Well, guess what? We've got to end with a major announcement on Good Morning America. In the Taylor Swift world, listen here. This morning, Taylor Swift is bringing the streaming event of an era to Disney Plus. And welcome to the era 2020.

Two brand new projects, including a behind-the-scenes docuseries, chronicling the Eras Tour. Both of those new projects, the end of an ERA docuseries and the ERAs Tour final show, they will begin streaming December 12th on Disney Plus. Wow. I don't actually subscribe to Disney Plus until about five minutes when I get off this show and I sign up.

So, premiering on Disney Plus, December 12th, accompanied by the simultaneous release of a new concert film, Taylor Swift the Air is tour, the final show. You can watch that.

Now, let me just tell you. That this is an important development. I remember on October 3rd going out to a movie theater. I couldn't get tickets because it was sold out, but I talked to a lot of the Swifties when they came out, and they too agreed with me that this is the greatest album to hit. And I think we are seeing a new era of Taylor.

This is the settled down era. And I would argue to you: those that think she is just this bleeding heart liberal that doesn't like conservatism and the traditional values that those of us who are conservatives hold, I'm telling you, we are seeing the trad wife era of Taylor Swift.

Now, I talked about track number five, Eldest Daughter, that moved me to tears, and I didn't see it at first. But if you listen to track eight, wish list, what is she singing about? She's singing about wanting to settle down, wanting to have a driveway with a basketball goal in it. She talks in another track about how she was a lie that she didn't want marriage. She does now.

This is who Taylor is now. She's happy. She's in love. She's getting married to Travis Taylor. Here is a preview of what you will see on Disney Plus and this era's tour final show.

Listen to this. People like to talk about phenomenons almost as if it was pieces falling into place. As if it just happened. The Eras tour wasn't when all the pieces fell into place. This tour was just when every single one of us who had done so much work.

Pushing inch by inch to where we all click together. We have broken every single record you can break with this tour. The only thing left is to close the book. I'll not be able to get to sleep because I can like come down but I've bought tons of TV. I have room for the sit bed.

I signed a box of 2,000 CDs. And then And then I'm tired. I'm not sure.

So, this is a new era of Taylor Swift. I am so excited.

Now, look, I'm not arguing that she's going to just, you know, stop making amazing albums and go barefoot in the kitchen cooking dinner for Travis every night. That's not what this girl is. She's one of the hardest-working people in Showbiz, and her success is really unmatched. Her song Fate of Ophelia was literally the most streamed on Spotify.

So, I had to give you that. Griff Jenkins here on the great Brian Kilmead show. Have a great day.