00:00Good to be with you, Josh. Good morning.
00:03Good morning. Well, first off, I do want to ask you about that meeting between Steve Wyckoff and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
00:09What can we expect from that meeting overall?
00:12Does it appear that the U.S. is maybe going to push Israel to work a little bit harder to get a ceasefire with Hamas?
00:20Well, there is. I mean, I think Wyckoff is meeting with Netanyahu as you and I are speaking.
00:25And there is some reporting this morning that Wyckoff is going to try to encourage the Israelis to make some concessions.
00:33But it's not clear what those concessions would be.
00:36And I think it's important to remember, Josh, that just last week Wyckoff was saying that Hamas was not negotiating in good faith.
00:45And you've had, you know, basically since the Trump administration came into power,
00:49you've had a series of attempts by the administration and by Wyckoff to try to engage Hamas.
00:56I think they tried to to bring Hamas into the process in good faith earlier on,
01:01and they've become understandably very disillusioned.
01:04And I do want to take you out to some of the live images that we do have coming in as the two, as you mentioned,
01:10are meeting right now in the prime minister's office.
01:14Do you see an end to the war in Gaza here anytime soon?
01:17Will the threats, so to speak, from the UK, Canada, cause Netanyahu to maybe give up some of what he's asking for,
01:26what Israel is asking for in this deal?
01:30Look, outside countries have been talking about recognizing a Palestinian state for years,
01:35and it hasn't moved the dial with the Israelis one jot.
01:39And I think that what you're seeing now from Britain, from Canada, from France,
01:46from a number of other countries who are mooting recognition, is really a performative gesture.
01:52It doesn't really mean very much.
01:53It's certainly not, recognizing a Palestinian state is certainly not going to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
02:02It's not going to mean that Palestinian children are fed more quickly.
02:07So I think that, you know, the position that the U.S. has taken is the more reasonable one,
02:14which is, look, we want to see the Palestinians living with a degree of freedom and peace and security alongside Israel.
02:21And in order for that to happen, we have to get rid of Hamas.
02:25So you have this rather contradictory policy internationally where the U.S. is essentially saying,
02:31we are not going to take any diplomatic measures that would allow Hamas to survive.
02:35While you have countries like France, Britain and Canada,
02:37who say they don't want Hamas to remain in Gaza after the war,
02:42but are basically now throwing them a lifeline with this recognition promise.
02:47And this live look here in Jerusalem, I thought we were looking inside a building,
02:51but it looks like we might be looking inside of a vehicle there.
02:55But the building is in the background, and that is where the meeting is taking place.
03:00What is it, and you mentioned that we don't necessarily know what concessions
03:04U.S. envoy Witkoff is going to ask of Netanyahu.
03:08But what is it that Israel is not willing to give up,
03:12and what is it that we understand Hamas is not willing to give up?
03:15Well, to come to Hamas first, the main feature that they're not prepared to give up,
03:22obviously, are the hostages.
03:24There are 50 hostages still remaining in Gaza,
03:28of whom about 20 are believed to still be alive.
03:33And that has been the main source of leverage throughout this conflict.
03:37So they're going to be very reluctant to do anything
03:39that compels them to give up the hostages.
03:42I think for the Israelis, it's a question of strategic depth in Gaza.
03:48There is some talk of reoccupying, annexing parts of that territory,
03:54but the Israeli government, the Israeli cabinet,
03:56hasn't taken a formal position on that.
03:59I think the main goal for Israel is obviously to avoid another situation
04:04that could generate a massacre like the one on October 7, 2023.
04:08And I think they also want to make sure that the main arteries through Gaza,
04:15for example, the Netzarim Corridor, don't fall back into the hands of Hamas.
04:21One thing that I...
04:22And so that's essentially, yeah, that's essentially the parameters of these negotiations.
04:27And one thing I always ask of experts, because I want to get their take here,
04:31what is maybe one misunderstanding or misconception that you think people out there
04:37who are watching this right now or across the world have about the situation that's going on
04:42in Gaza, as well as the situation between Israel and Hamas in general?
04:48Look, I think that there are lots of misconceptions out there,
04:53because there is a lot of bad, malicious information in circulation.
04:57I think the main optical problem that is posed by this situation
05:02is the accusation that Israel is committing genocide,
05:05which is an extremely serious accusation and one of the worst crimes that you can commit in war,
05:12if not the worst.
05:14It's essentially the elimination of an entire people.
05:18And what the Genocide Convention says is that you have to establish intent.
05:22And I don't think intent has been established on the Israeli side at all.
05:26I do not think, I think it's essentially a blood libel to say that Israel is waging genocide in Gaza.
05:33If you want to eliminate a people, you don't spend as much time as Israel has
05:38worrying about how to get aid to them.
05:41I think the problem here is that Israel has had no choice to fight the war in the way that it has,
05:47because of the way that Hamas deploys itself in Gaza, uses civilians as human shields.
05:54Their fighters don't wear uniforms.
05:57So you're essentially in this kind of urban warfare environment.
06:01And that has obviously been very challenging for the Israelis nearly two years in.
06:06All right. Ben Cohen, thank you so much for taking the time to join us
06:09and break down the latest developments there.
06:11Obviously, a lot happening over in the Middle East, so we appreciate it.
06:15Anything I missed?
06:16Anything else you want to add about any of this here before I let you go?
06:19Well, look, I think it's also important to remember that the regional situation has changed profoundly,
06:26and I think it's changed in Israel's favor.
06:29You know, Iran, which is the main backer of Hamas, but also Hezbollah in Lebanon,
06:33a number of other proxies across the Middle East, has been severely damaged,
06:37and its reputation dented by the war, which Israel, the bombing campaign, which Israel waged in June,
06:46joined in its latter stages by the United States.
06:49So I think the weakening of Iran in this context actually is a positive thing,
06:55and it does provide some momentum for negotiations.
06:59All right. Ben, thank you so much for taking the time to be here with us.
07:03We appreciate it.
07:04Thanks, Josh. All the best.
07:07And it looks like they have moved the camera away from that bus,
07:10and we do have another image outside of Jerusalem here,
07:13as we know that Steve Whitcoff, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East,
07:17is meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, discussing here the current peace talks
07:22that appear to have essentially fallen apart between Israel and Hamas.
07:26We will make sure to let you know of what develops here,
07:29and if there is a joint news conference between the two, or if even one of them speak,
07:33we'll bring that to you here in full on Live Now from Fox, as we always do.
07:38Going to head to our final two-minute commercial break of the hour here,
07:41841 on the East Coast, 541 on the West Coast.
07:45Much more live news coming up here in just a few.
07:48Stay with us.
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