Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world's stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start today's show in Ukraine, where the military has unveiled two new domestically-produced weapons. One is a drone missile that saw successful deployment earlier this week, and the other, a new ballistic missile. Well, it's just completed a successful test firing. We'll dive into the details with intelligence analyst and weapons expert, Ryan Mcbeth. Later, Israel launches its largest operation in the West Bank since the brutal attacks on 7 October that started this now almost year-long conflict. Only days into the West Bank operation, the IDF has announced that they've eliminated a top commander for a Palestinian Islamic Jihad wanted for his role in countless terror attacks. Idf Brigadier General Doran Gavish will give us his insight. But first, our Situation Report Spotlight. It's been a challenging week for Ukraine as the country faced a series of extensive Russian drone and missile attacks, some of the most significant since the war began. These strikes primarily targeted civilian areas and Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure. Now, despite these challenges, Ukraine has also made significant strides in its defense capabilities.

The Ukrainian government announced the successful launch of its first domestically-developed drone missile, known as the Palianitsya. While many details remain classified, officials revealed that the Palianitsya is powered by a turbo jet and could potentially strike over 20 Russian air bases, suggesting a range of at least 370 to 400 miles. But that's not all. Just a day later, President Zelensky revealed that Ukraine had successfully tested its first home a regrown ballistic missile. Now, specifics about the missile remain undisclosed, but it could mark a crucial milestone for Ukraine as it continues to bolster its defenses against Russia. Joining me now for more on this is Ryan McBeth. Ryan's a 20-year army veteran, an intelligence analyst, software architect, and cybersecurity specialist. Is there anything this guy doesn't do? You have to ask yourself. You can check out his work at rianmcbeth. Substack. Com or at his most excellent YouTube channel, and that's at Ryan Mcbeth programming. Ryan, thank you for joining us again on the PDB. It's great to see you.

Thank you for having me back.

Tell me, now, these domestically-produced weapons, are they game-changers as far as your Are you concerned?

Everything's been a game-changer. The HRIM-2, what the Ukrainians call their ballistic missile, it's probably a variant of the GROM or Sapsan missile, which they've been worked on for It's quite a while now, at least the past two years, trying to give that the extra oomph to go about a thousand kilometers. The Palencia, which I might be pronouncing wrong, missile is almost like the TH-141, which was a Soviet-era drone-missile combination thing that is powered by a jet engine that Ukraine used as a primitive cruise missile. What these two weapons can do is they can threaten threaten Russian air bases, and that's a big deal. If you can threaten Russian air bases, specifically bomber bases like Ingles Air Base in Russia, that'll make it a lot harder for Russia to fire cruise missiles and drop glide bombs. These glide bombs have been incredibly deadly. Is it a game changer? Everything's been a game changer, but it is an additional capability which gives Russia more dilemmas.

Well, and it would also seem that it gives Zelensky, it gives the Ukrainian military more free reign, because there's been this restriction on them, particularly from the White House in the US, in terms of using US munitions into Russian territory. Do you suspect that perhaps what they've done is they've rushed the development of these weapons to get around, to do an end run on the restrictions that have been placed on them?

Absolutely. One of the issues is that whenever you fire an American-made weapon or a NATO-made weapon, all of the lot numbers and stamps and manufacturer numbers are still on that weapon. When that thing explodes, some of those pieces survive. Russia will take those pieces of cruise missile and show, Hey, here's that Lockheed Martin stamp. Here's a lot number from Raytheon. That could be an issue with Russia. They do not want NATO weapons striking inside of their territory. Now, whether it's good or bad, that we allow We prevent Ukraine from using our weapons on Russian territory is a separate issue entirely. But Ukraine definitely developed these capabilities so that they could reach further into Russia, specifically to stop these deadly glide bomb attacks.

Well, now, you've raised an interesting point. Obviously, lobbying a Raytheon missile or some other manufacturer, not to do any free marketing for Raytheon, into Russian territory, it leaves evidence Obviously, the White House has been placing restrictions on the US, on Zelensky's use of US munitions because of the fear of escalation. I guess where I'm going with this question is, have you heard anything that would indicate that in an effort to assist Ukraine, but also avoid that evidence in that potential escalation, the US has provided assistance in the development of their domestic programs?

I am not familiar with that, but I would not be I would be surprised if the US has aided in things like targeting. Hey, here's this targeting information as to when Russian bombers are usually at angles. That just fell out of my pocket. I probably shouldn't have written that down when I was in the skin. I would not be surprised if we're giving that information to Ukraine or at least passing that information to them surreptitiously. Ukraine has plenty of competent engineers. In the big scheme of things, developing a ballistic missile really isn't that hard, or developing some the drone, jet power drone. It's not really that hard. I know.

I've done it myself. There have been times when I've been bored, and I'll get the kids gathered around, and we'll develop our own ballistic missile. You're right to that point. I'm sorry, I might have interrupted you.

No, that's perfectly okay. The technology is there. One of the issues is that I believe there is an arms control treaty, which for the longest time prevented ballistic missiles from They're going more than, I think it was about 310 miles or so, 500 some kilometers. Of course, that's out the window with Ukraine. They need to be able to strike these Russian airfields where the glide bombs are coming from and pounding places like Kyrsan.

To what degree have you heard anything about redeployment of resources on the Russian side? Obviously, they've got to be concerned about an extended range capability on the part of the Ukrainians. Have you heard any intel or otherwise about the Russian military redeploying or moving, particularly, their air assets?

I have not heard anything about Russia moving their air assets. However, one additional capability that they have created fairly recently was they've allowed the MiG-31s, which are traditionally interceptors, they've created a way for it to carry Ishkinder Ballistic missiles, which is unique because these planes can take off far away. We're we're talking about in Western Russia or in the middle of Russia, or yes, Western Russia, Eastern Russia, we're in the middle of Russia, and then launch these Ishkinder Ballistic missiles from a fighter platform, which is very, very uncommon, and that is totally out of range of anything that Ukraine.

It shouldn't be a surprise. We talk about the domestic capabilities of the Ukrainians. Look, they had a long history during the old days of cooperation and working with Soviet Union. They didn't have any choice. They do have a well-developed track record of working in the military hardware business. But both of these, the drone missile, as they refer it to it, and the ballistic missile, does it lighten the load? Does it lessen the requirement for Patriot missile systems, for other outside providers coming in, or are they still in relatively in desperate need of that outside support?

They're in desperate need. The fact is that Ukraine can, I don't want to say win, but Ukraine can certainly lose less. Now, there's no win in this war. There is lose and lose less. The race is on to find out who loses less. Ukraine can certainly lose less if they have Western help. They don't have the manufacturing capabilities to fight against Russia without Western help, but it is an It's an additional resource that allows them to use Western weapons on occupied areas while saving Ukrainian weapons for attacking targets inside Russia. Like I said, this is more like an additional capability rather than a game changer type weapon, but they still need the West's help.

Okay. We could go off in a different direction. I was going to ask you a question, then I thought to myself that that might be a little bit too political. I was looking forward to the November election. I'm I'm going to throw this at you. In talking to all the various people that you deal with, all the experts, the contacts, the sources that you've got, have you heard to what degree Zelensky and his leadership are worried about the potential for a Trump administration and what that could mean in terms of US support?

I have not heard any specific worrying from the top. There are some people who, I don't want to say I don't know how politics works, but there are some people who are genuinely fearful that if President Trump enters office, weapons might be cut off. But I don't see that as a possibility because number one, the higher-ups in the Zelinski administration know that It was President Trump that sent lethal aid to Ukraine. When President Obama was sending nightvision goggles and blankets, it was President Trump who said, No, we need to give these guys the javelin. Under President Trump, the National Guard started visiting Ukraine and training their soldiers. I think that President Trump's main fear is not Russia, it's China. If we can't stand together on Ukraine, which is a country that's fairly easy to access in Europe, we're not going to stand together in China, which is 3,600 miles away from anything. The best way of deterring China from invading Taiwan is to keep the weapons flowing to Ukraine. I don't see that changing if President Trump enters office or if Vice President Harris becomes alive.

I know I'm getting a little bit off-terf here, but what about the people who say, So what? Why are we even bothering? What's the point of this? We should be spending that money at home. There are a lot of people who, I suspect, would be happy to see that happen. But how do you answer that question? I I realized there's politics in this, and we were originally going to be talking about hardware and military tactics. But look, we're just around the corner from the election. I think you can't have a discussion about Ukraine without factoring in these other elements.

Well, the truth is that we are spending that money at home. There's a lot of people who think that we're loading C17s with pallets of money and then just parachuting it out over Ukraine, and they're going to buy a luxury cars with it. But the truth is that- Wait, we're not?

You mean we're not doing that? We're not doing that. Good God. So believe it or not- I like the visual image of pallets of cash dropping.

I would love some. I will give the CIA my address. They probably have it anyway, and they can drop some cash.

No, we do. Yeah, we do.

The truth is that rockets expire. The fuel in them actually expire. We need to shoot these things. If we don't shoot them, then we have to send them back to RTX, and they have to be demilled, they have to be destroyed in a controlled environment. That actually costs about as much money as making the missile because it's hazardous waste, destroying these rockets. It's actually easier to ship these rockets over to Ukraine, have Ukraine fire them, and that saves us the disposal cost, and we have to buy new missiles anyway. When we say we're giving a billion dollars to Ukraine, we're not necessarily We're giving them that money. We're really taking that money and buying new weapon systems, which means American jobs, American manufacturing, American materials, American computer chips. We're putting those into missiles and weapon systems that were going to expire anyway and be destroyed. That money is being used.

Now, that's a promo for the military-industrial complex. But in terms of geopolitics and the structure of the world and national security. I want to revisit this and say, how do we explain that to someone who's skeptical about support for Ukraine, but explain it that way rather than economic terms? Because I take your point, and I think you're absolutely right, But I want to look at it from why is it important from a global stability issue. But first of all, you need to stay right there. We're going to take a quick break. As you know, Ryan, we have some terrific sponsors, but we'll be back with more of the Situation Report. Standby. Hey, if you're tired of the same old coffee from those mega corporations pushing their woke agendas, and frankly, who isn't tired of that? Listen up. It's time to take a stand and support a brand that truly embodies American values. And of course, you know I'm talking about Blackout Coffee. Look, they stand with hardworking Americans who believe in family, faith, and freedom. They roast some of the most incredible coffee you'll ever taste using only premium-grade beans, roasted and shipped to you, get this, within 48 hours.

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Hey, it's Kimberly Fletcher here from Mom's For America with some very exciting news. Tucker Carlson is going on a nationwide tour this fall, and Mom's For America has the exclusive VIP meet and greet experience for you. Before each show, you can have the opportunity to meet Tucker Carlson in person. These tickets are fully tax deductible donations, so go to momsforamerica. Us and get one of our very limited VIP meet and greet experiences with Tucker at any of the 15 cities on his first ever Coast to Coast tour. Not only will you be supporting Mom's For America in our mission to empower moms, promote liberty, and raise your tax deductible donation secures you a full VIP experience with priority entrance and check-in, premium gold seating in the first five rows, access to a pre-show cocktail reception, an individual meet and greet and photo with America's most famous conservative and our friend, Tucker Carlson. Visit momsforamerica. Us today for more information and to secure your exclusive VIP meet and greet tickets. See you on the Does it feel like the world is getting darker every day? It's easy to get caught up in the negativity, but let's take a moment to remember what we're really fighting for.

Our families, our values, our future.

These are the things that matter most. On my new podcast, Love What Matters, we share stories that inspire and uplift. Stories of real people overcoming challenges with hope, compassion, and kindness. Subscribe to the Love What Matters podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the Situation Report. We're joined again by Ryan Mcbeth. Now, you can check him out at rianmcbeth. Substack. Com or at his YouTube channel at Ryan Mcbeth programming. Ryan, we were talking before the break. I asked that question, which I'm always fascinated by, which is when someone says, Why are we bothering with Ukraine? Why is that important to us? You I thought a very insightful answer as to from the economic side, from the money side, the resource side. But what do you tell someone in that situation as far as global stability or national security concerns? Why is it important from that perspective for the US?

Well, I can tell you this. I am old enough to remember President Ronald Reagan. When some tinpot little dictator in Libya decided to bomb one of our nightclubs, we decided to go after his entire country with F-111s. It's usually not a good idea to let the bad guys win, and evil can never be dead enough. If we allow Russia to aggress against a country that is leaning toward the West, essentially what we're doing is We are letting evil triumph in the world. America has always stood for the right of a country to decide their own destiny. The people of Ukraine have decided that they don't want to live under Russian control, and they want to lean more toward the West. The US has always sponsored democracy wherever it has taken root in the world. Supporting Ukraine is a good thing if you like democracy.

You know what? I should have written that down. That's a lot more eloquent than I could say. Okay, let's put ourselves back on the battlefield. Talk to me about the Ukrainian military's incursion into Kursk. First of all, top line, what do you think their actual What objective is in doing this? And B, from a strategic point of view, an operational point of view, where are they going with it? Can they take and hold territory for an indefinite period of time, or are they viewing this as a short term effort?

I don't believe this is a short term effort. Now, why they're doing it? That might still be up in the air, but there might be a strategic reason why. At first, I thought, All right, so these guys are going to go after the city of Kersk or they're are they trying to capture a rail line, or they're trying to capture a nuclear power plant that was fairly close by. But that never really materialized. I think what they're trying to do is they're trying to force the death or capture of conscripts. Now, for the longest time, there's been this unwritten rule in Russia, mainly from the upper middle class in Moscow and in St. Petersburg, who said to Putin, Do whatever the heck you want, but don't you dare touch our kids. Can Conscription touches kids. If you recall, back during September of 2022, Russia had a general mobilization, some general conscription. You notice they ended that really quick. They relied on Wagner, they relied on emptying prisons. They started paying more and more money to people in the Eastern half of Russia who were very poor to join the army as, as volunteers. They were fine with that.

But by capturing these For conscripts, one thing it might show is a weakness in the Russian military that they might not have as many troops as the West would like to think they have. But Russia might have to undergo a general mobilization. That could see the downfall of Russia, or at least the downfall of Putin, because people don't want Russia to touch their kids. It might be a lot harder to get out of conscript. I believe the Ukrainian objective was to force a general mobilization or capture to ensure as many conscripts as possible. That way, Russia would have to face the consequences of putting untrained conscripts close to the border.

But we've seen some reporting that indicates that just recently in the past week or so, that the Russian military has moved some 30,000 troops they've redeployed to have to deal with this situation in Kursk. I take your point, there's There's been a lot of pushback internally, I think, within the Kremlin and from the business side, from the oligarchs in particular, about the idea of a general mobilization. If you think that, go back to the Afghanistan occupation days with the old Soviet Union and the impact that eventually the families, the mothers had on the general mood and morale and direction of that war. It's possible. Do you think there's also There's no possibility here that what Zelensky is thinking or what his military is thinking is that, look, let's take and hold some territory. Let's round up as many POWs as we can. That gives us leverage for a negotiated settlement?

It certainly could. This will end in a negotiated settlement. Nobody is going to drive to Moscow unless Putin is over throwed and someone else is installed who wants peace, which I don't really see that happening. No one's going to drive to Moscow and there's going to be a surrender on a battleship like in World War That's not going to happen. No one's going to be able to drive to Kyiv. There's going to be a surrender in Kyiv. There will be a negotiated settlement. The question is, do you do it from a position of strength or do it from a position of weakness? It's certainly possible that Ukraine could have taken this territory because the idea of having Russian territory in Ukrainian hands, that's the nonstarter for any negotiation. They will have to give back some territory in order to get Proust back.

Yeah. I think that There's a concern that the way this all wraps up is that the territorial lines look very similar to prior to this invasion by Putin. You end up three years on and people say, What was that all about? Because Russia still has Crimea. They still have occupying parts of Eastern Ukraine. Maybe they claw back some of that territory for Ukraine. But I think the frustration will be immense if that's what they end up doing. But I agree with you. I don't see an outright victor here. I just see if they don't have a settlement, just years more of this same World War I-like slow movement or advancement on either side. I don't see that that does the world any good. I think they've got They don't negotiate from a position of strength. The Ukrainian military does. The government does. They have to make Putin feel some pain in order to get something that they can then sell to the Ukrainian public. That's just for what it's worth. That falls in the category, Ryan, of for what it's worth. Talk to me about what you might have heard about in the Belgarod region.

There's been a couple of incursions up there, Ukrainian military moving on some checkpoints inside Russian territory. Do you think that's a distraction, a head fake, to to try to focus more and stretch out the resources that the Russian military has?

It's certainly possible because one of the possibilities of the Kursk operation was that the Kursk operation was a faint. Belgarod could indicate that could be the main effort that Ukraine is trying to reach an objective somewhere there. It could also be a faint. Kursk could also be a faint so that Ukraine could go and try to capture Mariupol again, although running up against those minefields and those trenches is not going to be... It's not going to be any easier than it was a year ago when Ukraine tried their counteroffensive. So yes, that is certainly a possibility that the Belgarat incursion could be a main effort or it could be another distraction. Ideally, you want to give your adversary dilemmas, not problems. Problem has one solution. The dilemma has two or more solutions, each of which are equally bad. So if Ukraine can force Russia to constantly ship troops around, they're using They're using up fuel, they're using up resources. Russian rail cars, I believe only 40% of their rolling stock is active now because many of their... At least 40% since the start of the war, because many Russian rail cars actually use Western parts.

They don't really have the machine tools to machine new ball bearings. There's a name. I think they call them boggies, the actual wheels that the trains run on. They don't They have the machine tools to do that and make the replacement parts for stuff in their oil fields and for creating defensive equipment. Russia doesn't really have a machine tools industry, and many of their machine tools were purchased from Germany and from the Netherlands or Denmark, where they make a lot of good machine tools. This could be an effort to force Russia to start moving around its troops by rail, which increases wear and tear on the rail network, which makes it a lot harder for Russia to supply troops anywhere.

Right. Anytime you've got moving resources, you've got a target. You want to create movement on the other side. That gives you opportunity. Okay, you're the weapons expert. Answer me this. Rittle me this, Ryan. In your opinion, the most successful weapon system so far in this war for Ukraine?

It's probably, hands down, the high Mars system. One of the amazing parts about the The high Mars system is that it's modular and comes in packs. Russia has a system called Grod, which is a multiple rocket launcher. These missiles have to be loaded manually. They're screwed in manually. They're wired manually, and it takes quite a long time to load. I believe it's 48. I might be incorrect about that, 48 rockets into a launcher. Now, with something like the high Mars system, you roll down the road, you find a pack that's been dropped off for you, You load that pack into the high Mars launcher. There's already a crane on the back of the high Mars launcher. You load it in in two minutes, you can be ready to fire your fire mission. Then you drop that pack, head to the next cash where you have another high Mars missile pack and shoot that. You can keep doing that again and again and again. And high Mars is a fairly inexpensive system. It's a truck with a rocket launcher because we placed all the packing material inside this pack. So the high Mars has proven its value as a military weapon system.

I believe Poland just recently ordered more high Mars launchers than the US has. That's how Poland sees the high Mars launcher as a very efficient vehicle. I think we're going to get a lot more orders for that system in the future.

Now, to put you on the spot, we say it's relatively inexpensive. How much are we talking about?

I actually don't recall the number. I want to say about $5 million. I'm sure someone's going to fact-check me on that one. It's a truck Okay.

No one's going to fact-check you. You're the expert. Come on. Well, listen, Ryan, as always, it's very informative, it's entertaining, and we Always appreciate your insight and for joining us here on the PDB Situation Report. Thank you very much. You know we'll be calling you again because I don't think this conflict is going to wrap up anytime soon. But thank you again for your time, man.

It'll be a pleasure. Thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, Israel launches its largest operation in the West Bank since 7 October, taking down a top commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad responsible for numerous terror attacks. Retired Israeli Defense Force Brigadier General, Doran Gevish, will join us to share his insights. Every day, we hear more about surveillance and how our right to privacy is being infringed upon, and it's absolutely true. It feels like we're living in world where nothing is truly private anymore. You know that feeling? Most of us, frankly, for the sake of convenience, well, every day we hand over our personal information without a second thought. We're signing up for services, we're shopping online or using social media, and you know you're using social media. But this convenience comes at a cost. It's time for us to take a stand and to fight back for our right to privacy. Now, one tool that's been essential for me in this fight is the all-in-one privacy app, and that would be MySudo. M-y-s-u-d-o. Mysudo. It's an app that lets you create multiple digital identities with separate phone numbers and emails so you can keep your personal information private. Look, in this age of constant surveillance, having MySudo is crucial.

Now, for my listeners, I've got a special deal. Go to mysudo. Com/mikebaker and use the code Mike Baker to get 30 days free on a pseudo pro yearly subscription. Take back your privacy with MySudo. Trust me, It is definitely worth it. Welcome back to the Situation Report. All right, let's move our focus over to the Middle East, specifically the West Bank, where Israeli Defense Forces have launched a sweeping counterterrorism operation Operation. Hundreds of Israeli troops have descended on the city of Janine and surrounded areas, conducting raids in a coordinated effort to disrupt and dismantle terrorist networks. Now, as part of this operation, the IDF is detained a large number of militants and engaged in intense gun battles, which the military says are crucial to preventing imminent attacks on Israeli citizens. In a significant strike, the IDF announced earlier today that they've neutralized Mohamed Jaber. Jaber is a top, or was, let's put it that way in the past tense, a top commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Tukharam Battalion. He was killed along with four other militants inside a mosque in Tukharam. Jaber had been one of Israel's most wanted men, notorious for his involvement in the planning and execution of deadly attacks.

This operation comes just days after Hezbollah launched its largest attack against Israel since the hostilities began on the seventh of October last year. With the operation in the West Bank, this means Israel is, well, essentially dealing with a three-front conflict with Hamas on the West, Hezbollah to the north, and a combination of militant groups to the East. Of course, with the Iranian regime and its IRGC sitting atop the terrorist network, pulling the strings. Now, to provide more context and analysis on the latest developments, I'm pleased to say we're joined now by a retired Brigadier General, Doran Gevish, the former Commander of Israel's aerial Defense Force. General, thank you very much for taking the time with us on the situation report. It's very much appreciated.

Thank you for having me.

Now, I suppose this first question is going to be a little bit general. I'd like to start at the, no pun intended, I'd like to start at the 30,000-foot view here with this operation in the West Bank. Can you talk to us about the timing of it? Why now, to what degree, from your understanding, will be the duration of this type of operation?

Well, Mike, this is, unfortunately, an ongoing fight against the terror that we can see coming from the West Bank, and of course, in the last few months, starting for October, we see it from a different, I would say from seven different areas around Israel. So I wouldn't say that this is something specifically that started two days ago and it's going to be ended tomorrow. Unfortunately, this is the continuous fight against the terror that we see coming from the West Bank. Unfortunately, a few days ago, there was a terrorist that by accident exploded himself in Tel Aviv. Imagine yourself that this terrorist that exactly came from the West Bank would be successful in his plan. So this is an ongoing fight against terrorism, trying to stop them before launching their attacks and strikes and terrorizing, basically, Israel inside our country. Mike, just maybe to give you some feeling of what we are talking about, the distance between the West Bank and Tel Aviv, it's half an hour of driving. When there is traffic, one hour. That's it. It is very, very close, and we must be engaged with those terrorists before in our way.

Are you Are you concerned about, and maybe I'm using the wrong terminology, but are you concerned about opening up another phase of conflict at this point when you're obviously still dealing with Gaza, you're still dealing with the situation with Hezbollah to the north, and now to the east, over here in the West Bank? Does that concern you in terms of available resources for carrying on this fight?

Well, no doubt Mike, with your background, you know that it is quite challenging when you have to fight against everyone, against you, around you in a way. But unfortunately, it's not that we are choosing to do it because we believe that this is the right time and we were waiting. Unfortunately, the circumstances are there and we have to react to them. And I'm sure that you've talked about it there. On your show, but today, Israel is in a very challenging situation because we have the fight in Gaza and then with the Hezbala in the north in Lebanon, and we see projectas which are coming from Syria. Others are coming from Iraq. We saw 300 of them coming from Iran on the night between the 13th and 14th of April. Of course, Iran is, unfortunately, the basic of everything that we see here. Everything starts and ends in Iran, and this is really the destabilizer of our region. And if I would continue what I've just mentioned before, we also saw the Khut is coming from the Coming from the East also West East, Southeast, sorry, and West Bank. So seven different areas that we need to operate in.

You're right that you, as a military, you prefer to focus. This That is one of the reasons that Israel is now trying to get to the point that we would finish in a way, at least in some point, in some extent, what is being done in the Gaza spirit in order to first bringing back the hostages, but also to allow our safe to deal with other areas.

In the West Bank, General, for our viewers, what group is the primary threat at this point? Is it Hamas? Is it Islamic Shahad? Is it a mix of elements that you're dealing with in the West Bank?

It's a mix of element, as you just said, but it's mainly the Hamas, which is challenging. The Hamas is trying to root in himself in the West Bank, same as he did in the Gaza Strip. We have to remember that the Hamas, they are there from 2006, 2007, before we had the Palestinian that were leading the Gaza Strip. And of course, we all know what happened with the Gaza Strip. When I think about it, when I talk with my friend around the world, I said, When I go back to this involvement of 2007, I remember I was very optimistic. I said, Here we go. We have now a real opportunity that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinians, the Gaza Strip is there. And here we go, Singapore would be rising out of the Gaza street. And unfortunately, we found ourselves with the Hamashtan, not exactly Singapore. So this is the main concern also for the West Bank. Because if the Hamas would take over the West Bank, then it would be super challenging for Israel. So Islamic Jihad is also very strong on the West Bank. They are even more, I would say, vicious than the Hamas, but all of them, unfortunately, are very cruel enemies, and we have to deal with them.

When you're talking about Hamas, obviously in Gaza, they're the ruling party. They run the show. It's their turf. In the West Bank, to what degree do you assess that Hamas is at odds with the Palestinian authority? Is there coordination? Are they operating at odds with what the Palestinian Authority would prefer to see happening? Talk to us about that, if you could.

I think that we have to clarify that also for the Palestinian authority, the Hamas, it is the first opposition. And again, if we go back to what happened in 2007, and then in '09, in the Gaza trip, we have to remember that once the Hamas took over, they killed tens of of Palestinians official in a very brutally way. So the Hamas is not only an opposition, it is really someone who is very cruel, even toward the Palestinians themselves. So from the Palestinian authority point of view, they see the Hamas as a challenge. They would prefer the Hamas not to be there, and they would do everything they can also to diminish the the presence of the Hamas. But unfortunately, the Palestinian authority is not strong enough. This is why Israel is... We have to take care of ourself and sometimes to be in the initiative.

Okay. I realize this question that I'm about to ask you is probably it falls in the category of almost impossible to explain, but to what degree does Hamas maintain the support? I don't mean through through threats or intimidation, but to what degree do they have the support of the Palestinian people, whether it's in Gaza or the West Bank?

It is very interesting question, Mike, because two days ago, there were some intelligence that was gathering in the Gaza Strip showed that the Hamas was basically twisting all the pause. And there is a pause that was done by non-Palestinian, let's say, agency that we all were looking at it. And what we saw from the intelligence is that the number that was the real number was that Only 35% of the Palestinians are supporting the Hamas in the Gaza spirit, but they twisted the number to 70%. It is very, very hard, really, to know what exactly is going on there. If we would believe the new report that just came two days ago, maybe this is the situation. I hope so, by the way, because I would like to believe that the people, the Palestinians who live in the Gaza spirit, they understand that they could live peacefully if they would wanted to. But so once again, it's very hard to know. We're not talking about the democracies, Very hard to believe on those reports that are being done from this part or from the other part. The last number before, by the way, was 70% in favor of what the Hamas was doing also on the West Bank.

So 70% of the people over there were supporting the onslaught of seventh of October. Very challenging situation, but This is unfortunately what we have to deal with.

General, if you could stay with us. We have to take a quick break. I apologize for that, but we do have some most excellent sponsors, and so we'll address that, but we'll be back with General and more on the PDB situation report. Standby. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, I'm going to tell you something that might seem obvious. Bad news? Well, it's bad news, right? Bank of America clients just sold $7 billion in stocks. Now, that's the largest sell-off that we've seen since 2020. When it comes to rate cuts, well, as they say, the first one can often be the deepest cut of all. J. P. Morgan and Citigroup are now predicting two supersized Fed cuts this year. But here's the thing, and you might remember this, the stock market took a nose dive in both 2000 and 2007, right after that first rate cut. But I'm here to tell you there's a silver lining, literally. Back in 2007, while the market was tanking, gold prices soared over 200%, and silver, well, it shot up Right now, with all the uncertainty leading up to the US election, and there's some uncertainty, gold is more than just a shiny metal.

It's security. It's a core asset that you might want to consider holding on to. Call the proud Americans of the Patriot Gold Group today before it's too late. Mention PDB, and you'll always get best-in-class service from Patriots Protecting Patriots. Patriot Gold Group has the No fee for Life IRA, where your IRA or 401k Can be in physical gold and silver, and you may be eligible for the no fee for life IRA on qualifying rollovers. Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Patriot Gold Group is consumer affairs top-rated gold IRA dealer for seven years in a row. That's a lot of years in a row. Call 1-888-870-5457. Welcome back to the situation Situation Report. I'm joined once again by retired Brigadier General, Dauran Gevish. General, we were talking about the West Bank and about the operation there that's kicked off. Can you talk briefly about the Iranian regime's influence and over the efforts to get... I don't know whether this is going too far off topic, but the smuggling of weapons into the West Bank. I I think it would be important for our viewers to understand, because I've talked about this in the past, how the Iranian regime sits over the top of all of this.

Ultimately, the idea of having some lasting long-term peace in the region is a bit nonsensical as long as the Iranian regime and the IRGC, in its current form, remain in place with their stated objective of destroying Israel. But there has been a fairly long-term effort, it seems, by the Iranian regime to smuggle weapons into the West Bank. I was hoping you could talk about that just a bit.

Well, again, you're raising a very important point, Mike. This is exactly what we are seeing, and this is exactly what we're trying to fight against. The Iranian regime are trying to do it continuously. We saw it in the last month, year or two years, that those efforts They are even graduating. They are trying to do it through their operatives in Syria and then in Lebanon. By the way, there was an Israeli strike about one of the leaders of this operation last week. This is exactly what we are trying to do. We are trying to stop this smuggling while it is on his way. We are trying to fight against the operative which are organizing all this effort done by the Iranians, but it is there. This is part of, and once again, you said that you talked about it, this is part of the agenda. The Iranians are working through the proxies. We talked about the seven different arenas, and Iran is in all of them. By the way, now they're also trying to influence Sudan and others in Africa. So the doctrine and the idea of smuggling and trying to boost the terrorism all around, this is something that is being done continuously, and, of course, also to the West, I think.

How would you assess, I'm going to switch topics just slightly here. How would you assess Israel's intelligence capabilities? By this, I'm somewhat obliquely referring to recent operations where we've seen some very significant terminations of key personnel in various places. But could you give me a brief assessment from your perspective of Israeli intelligence capabilities?

Well, Mike, we can't ignore the seventh of October. This is unfortunately the starting point when we talk about when we are now, and unfortunately, on the seventh of October, we failed, and we felt hard, and this was a strategic failure. If we are for a moment, I'm putting this aside, and now we talk about the intelligence that we see during this work, starting, let's say, from the eighth of October. By the way, a lot of it was gathered also before of it. But from the eighth of October, I I think that the performance of the intelligence is quite an impressive one. Of course, if we're looking at it from a military point of view, we also have to remember that we have a CENCOM around us, very close cooperation with the CENCOM forces. Also, intelligence, it's part of it. If we're looking on some of the significant effort, I would mention two of them. One of them, the night of the 13th and 14th end of April, that from the intelligence point of view, we knew basically that it's going to come. We knew where it is coming from and where it is going to.

And we knew to prepare our reception, it was based on a very sufficient and effective intelligence. And also this week, the beginning of this week in Lebanon, the Albanians, the Hezbalas, they had Well, there are also Albanians, the Hezbala, they were planning to shoot a vast number of missiles, to this one, missiles, UAVs, and rockets. And we managed to counter it, basically, one hour before it happened. This is also a very strong intelligence that was part of it. From the intelligence point of view, I think that we see some some impressive data that is coming, and also in the tactic level. I can give you an example from the Air Force efforts, for example. Unfortunately, we have to fight also and to use our Air Force, although those are very dense areas, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank. In order to avoid as much as you can collateral damage, you need a very, very accurate intelligence. This is happening also on the tactic level. It is coming from a ground intelligence. It's coming from air intelligence, gathering intelligence from the air. You may see in all those. Once again, our ability to be quite successful on this and to be precise as much as we can, this is part of a very significant and effective intelligence.

How would you assess the effectiveness of the Iron Dome system so far?

Well, first of all, allow me being the previous, not the previous, but a commander in the past of the Air and the missile defense, I always remind everyone that they're behind the system. We have the warriors, men and women, which are operating the system. The Iron Dome is the system itself, but basically, really, the ones that are operating are doing quite a significant and amazing job with the Iron Dome. I would come back to it in a minute, but I would like to also clarify that when we're talking about the defense of Israel, it is not against rockets and missiles. It is not only about the Iron Dawn. It's a concept of what we call a multi-tier defense. It's the Iron Dawn on the lower tier, but it is the David's link for a bit longer projectiles and the Aero 2 and the Aero 3 for a very long projectile. We saw the Aero 2 and Aero 3 being very effective against those projectiles and missiles that were shot toward Israel from the, and from Iran. We talked about basically 98 % of success rate, which is an amazing number. And also the interception rates of the Iron Dome when it comes to shooting against to intercept the rockets and missiles, the number is very significant.

We're talking about thousands and thousands of interceptions. What we have also to remind our viewers that we intercept only those that are going toward our city. If a rocket is going or a projectile is going toward what is called an open area, then we to let it go. This is our way not to fight the numbers. We fight only against the direct threat. The other thing with regard to the Iron Dome is that the evolution of this system with the time allowed us to use it also against the UAVs. This is also something that we've seen in the last war or in the world that is being conducted now. Again, hundreds of interceptions, although we also I also have to say that it is a challenging threat when it comes to the very short ranges, mainly in the northern part of Israel, although there is a good success rate. But unfortunately, the Hezbala is still being able to penetrate with some of those project as the UAVs. For this, I would mention, I hope to be very short here, but that the doctrine is not only about the defense. The doctrine to fight rockets and missiles starts.

It have four main pillars. One of them is the attack. You're doing as much as you can in order to prevent it to being shot. I told you, the second one is alert. You want to provide the alert to the military and to the civilian in your area in order for them to guard themselves and to go to the shelters. The other one is the active defense that is being done by the Iron Dawn, mainly fighters, together with our airplanes and then Chopper. And once again, the passive defense, meaning that people, if they go to the shelter, they would be safe. So all of those together bring us to a point that Although there were some projectas that fell into Israel, the number of casualties, although there are casualties, and each one of them is the whole world, the number of casualties is low.

Well, with the time that we've remaining, I'm probably going to ask you a couple of questions that are also difficult to answer, a soft science. But are you hearing anything related to the negotiations that are taking place, related to the situation in Gaza, that gives you hope that there may be some in the near term ability to get the hostages back.

Well, I don't know if there is really someone Other than those that are really dealing with the negotiation who knows what exactly is happening there. But on the high level, I could say that looking from the Israeli interest, when it comes to the Gaza Strip, Israel defined two main goals. One of them was to bring back the hostages, and the other one was, of course, with regard to the Hamas. So if we're looking to the hostages, there are still 107 hostages that are there. And unfortunately, time is not helping them. We saw the last hostage, his name is Farhan, a Bedouin from the south part of Israel, who came back, was released, not released. It was taken by our soldiers two days ago. And you could see that he was in a bait ship, very thin. And unfortunately, the other hostage that was with him died basically because of is the conditions. So we don't have too much time in order to gain this goal. And this is a very important goal. You see that even personally, I'm going with this insignia that we are supporting the hostages. So this is the one goal. The other goal, we have to remember that out of the 24 battalions that the Hamas had, the 22 of them were dismantled.

And we could say that looking on the situation, Israel is basically on the control. There is still this part of the Philadelphia Line, which is very important because this is basically the air supply of the Hamas. Israel, of course, is very concerned with it. But in general, the Israeli interest is to close this area in the south. If we're going back to the beginning of our conversation, in order really to be to be able to vacuum itself to other arenas because we didn't solve yet the situation in the northern part of Israel. We have to remember that 70,000 Israelis are still refugees in their own country. The northern part of Israel is closed, basically. Also to look toward the north part of Israel, and we remember that 70,000 Israelis, they're not there anymore. They are refugees in their home country. And this is something that Israel have to take care of. If we want to be optimistic, maybe what would start in the Gaza trip would bring some diplomatic efforts that would be successful, if also in the northern part of Israel. I'm not sure that this is my assessment, but we hope so. For sure, Israel would have to prepare itself to the northern arena because we cannot stay with the Hezbala very close to our border.

General, I've got several more questions to throw in your direction, but we are unfortunately out of time. I do hope that you be willing to maybe come back on the situation report at some point in the not too distant future, because it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you. General Doran Gavish, we really appreciate your time and your expertise, and thank you very much for joining us here on the situation report. I hope to see you again soon.

Thank you, Mike. I really think that it is very important. Show like yours allows to talk about the situation much more in-depth than we see in other places, and the The main misconceptions that are toward what is happening here are very frustrating. So thank you for taking your time and looking at it in that.

I'll see you again soon. Thank you very much again, General. All right. I like the fact that the general used the word optimistic. I hope there's some optimism in that region, but it's hard sometimes to find it. That's all the time we have for the PDB Situation Report. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out at PDB at the Look, the entire PDB team always looks forward to digging into the mailbag to read through your emails and your postcards and your telegrams, to listen to the podcast of the show ad-free. Well, it's very simple. Become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium. Com. I told you it was simple, right? Remember, new episodes of the PDB Situation Report, well, they air every Friday at 10:00 PM on the first TV. Of course, on all podcast platforms and the juggernaut that is our YouTube channel, please check that out. It's at President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Until next time, you know the drill. Stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Dive into 888 Casino. Play for the love of live Casino.

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