Some Future Day

Marc Beckman: [00:01:00] [00:02:00] Shahar, it's great to see you today. Welcome to some future day.
Shahar Paled: Hi Mark, pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.
Marc Beckman: Shahar, where are you today?
Shahar Paled: I'm in central Israel today.
Marc Beckman: I see. I see. So we were just talking before we started, um, filming [00:03:00] and, uh, we were talking a little bit about life in Israel before October 7th. So I'm curious, what, what were you up to personally before October 7th?
Shahar Paled: Well, that's a great question, mostly because it feels like a different world. Like everything was different. Something, you know, obviously some things are good, but also most of it was very bad. October 7th was the most horrible day for everyone who's lived in Israel. before that, my day to day, I was a vice president of a cybersecurity company.
Very promising company, um, and a great position. Loved everything that I did there. And I was engaged to Noah, my fiancé. We're less than three weeks away from our wedding. So, you know, preparations and getting everything ready was a big part of our lives back then. Um, I lived up in the northern part of Israel, about three miles away from Lebanon.
Played basketball semi professionally. And, you know, loved life. Everything was just normal. [00:04:00] And everything has changed. transcript Emily Beynon
Marc Beckman: so you were living up north near Lebanon, that sounds like that's a, a, uh, an area at risk of attack is, is that fair to assume?
Shahar Paled: It's fair to assume now, but before that, it's not a concern that we had in mind. Like we hadn't had anything big with Lebanon since 2006. Um, there weren't too many missiles coming from there. So it was a very peaceful area, very beautiful. One of the most beautiful places in Israel. We're right on the beach in the Mediterranean sea.
we're moving back to the center now, but I'm going to miss this place. And, uh, it wasn't dangerous. Wasn't scary. People were traveling all the time. Beautiful nature, green. right now, though, it is, uh, it's a war zone.
Marc Beckman: So you haven't lived there since October 7th?
Shahar Paled: So, the first few months, I haven't been there about three and a half months, but mostly because I was on reserve student inside of Gaza. but then we met, we went back in there, my fiance is there now, and we're the northest neighborhood that [00:05:00] is not evacuated. So, we, we can be there legally. Um, but if you go, you know, quarter of a mile up north, there is no one besides soldiers.
Marc Beckman: So Shahar, you, you went into the, uh, military, you were with the IDF, but if you don't mind me asking, what was your fiancee doing at the time? Because her life must've, um, been dramatically changed as a result of the move too.
Shahar Paled: Yeah, so I served in the IDF in my active duty when I was 18 to 21, that was nine years ago. Um, in departure for special forces and you serve on reserves ever since. Yeah, you finish your active duty. It's gonna be two, four, six weeks a year to stay in shape in case something like October 7th happens. And on October 7th around 9 a.
m. I got a call from my commander saying report to base. And we drove to the center of Israel, and I dropped my fiancée at her current home, gave her this big hug goodbye that, you know, could have easily been the last one. Unfortunately happened to, [00:06:00] to many, many soldiers and, and people. and drove off, you know, the last question she asked me was, should we postpone the wedding?
Because our wedding was due to be on October 27th. And my answer was, no, I don't think we have to postpone the wedding because this is going to end in a week, just like it always does, because we didn't know how big this was back then. We didn't know that there are thousands of terrorists that invaded Israel.
We didn't know that there are thousands of casualties. And we didn't know the brutality of things. and ever since, yeah, I was on reserves duty, serving in and out of Gaza, fighting, protecting my country, my people, her, my family. And she was fighting at home, fighting to keep, you know, people sane, and fighting to support families who lost their loved ones.
But she's also a last year medical student, and a few weeks after October 7th, her study resumed, and she had to go back to the North to finish her studying. She's almost done in a couple of months. And, you know, [00:07:00] most importantly, she was A fiance of a soldier inside of Gaza. You can't really sleep. It's a horrible position to be in and so many of them have not seen their loved ones ever since because they died in or outside of Gaza.
And she had lots of friends who are in the same situation, you know, being married or engage the whatever two soldiers inside of Gaza and you just can't wait for them to be back home. You can't sleep because you always be scared of the knock on the door saying that something happened. So I know that we were the one, the ones fighting, but it doesn't mean that they weren't fighting as well.
And the situation in Israel wasn't easy, it was very, very tough. And some people say that the best place to be after October 7th is inside of Gaza because you can't see what's going on outside, you can't see social media, you can't hear the new names of people that were, that died. And you can't see [00:08:00] what's going on in the world with all the antisemitism, you're just busy fighting and doing what you do.
So, yeah, it's a long answer to a short question,
Marc Beckman: It's a lot, Shahar. So, so when you talk about, um, knocking on the door, that's, you know, that, that creates a very poignant image. I'm curious, do you know how many Israeli soldiers have been killed now in, in battle or, um, seriously injured in battle?
Shahar Paled: ever since October 7th, almost 600 soldiers died. Thousands are severely injured. I think over 2000, obviously more than that were injured, but severely injured over 2000. I think a big problem will be in the future with PTSD, it'll be thousands of thousands of people. Like I've been there on October 7th, I've experienced things that no one should ever experience.
I've seen things that no one should see and you can't unsee, and I've smelled smells. You can't unsmell and then you do. If I, in Gaza. And that's a [00:09:00] very, very complicated situation to be in. And some of these memories will never grow away. So that's another big, you know, risk of PTSD, but the 600, almost 600 soldiers, each one of them is a whole world, you know, young men and women who went to protect their country, which is the holiest thing you can do.
We can't forget the 1,000 civilians, the young men and women who went to the NOVA festival, and full families, entire families that were massacred and burned alive and beheaded, and the 136 hostages that are still in Gaza. It's so much bigger than the soldiers, but yeah, I can speak on behalf of soldiers.
When you go in there, you know that you might never get out, because death is random in there. It can come from everywhere. I don't know if it's a, if it's a mine, if it's a sniper, if it's an RPG, if it's a terrorist who just came out of a tunnel from whatever on your back, and [00:10:00] it's, you know that you might not get back.
And you do that knowingly and with full heart that you're doing the right thing, because this is what our ancestors did when they created Israel and built it from the ground up. Ground up, and this is what our parents did in the Yom Kippur War, and this is our generation's war. And if we're not going to protect Israel, who will?
Marc Beckman: Shahar, so just to back up a little bit, and again, I know you might have limitations with regards to security concerns and how much you could disclose, but, when, when you talk about the military going into Gaza, like you, from your experience, what's that like? like, are you first, stationed perhaps close to Gaza and then your unit?
Gets together and is organized and then you, you go in on the ground, like, and what's it like, is it like a noticeable difference? Like when you cross that demarcation between, you know, into Gaza, does it, do you suddenly feel something different? Like what, what's that [00:11:00] experience like, emotionally and physically?
Shahar Paled: Yeah, so this is my second time. I've been there in 2014 as well, and this time we had some more time to prep in the few short weeks after October 7th.
We're stationed outside of Gaza, training for whatever we needed to do. We had a bunch of roles and things we had to accomplish in Gaza for my unit. And once you're being called and it's your unit's turn to get in, You go closer to the border and you get on the vehicles and you cross the border and get into position.
And obviously these are military vehicles, they're bulletproof and, uh, sorry, they're bulletproof. And it's a very scary feeling, although you might sit in a gigantic piece of metal. But you know that any second you can get, you know, go on top of a bomb that was on the [00:12:00] road or an RPG can be launched towards the vehicle and it's like sometimes you forget to breathe because it is really scary.
We went in there knowing that this is really the most dangerous place on earth to fight in. With tens of thousands of terrorists, many of them dressed as civilians, with thousands of entrances to tunnels, with hundreds of miles of tunnels, everywhere in civilian buildings and hospitals and schools and mosques, and many, many, many units of terrorists who can just come out of a tunnel with an RPG and shoot you from the back.
And 2.3 million civilians as human shields. So this is what you go into. Half of the buildings are pre armed with bombs and mines. Half of the roads are pre armed. So obviously we can, we we know how to, to deal with these kind of things, but it's never a hundred percent. And this is the feeling, [00:13:00] but you also know that you had, you're doing the right thing because they had back then over 250 of our hostages, our people, not soldiers.
There were soldiers as well, but it was men and women and babies and elderly. It can be my, you know, future kids, it can be my fiance, my parents, my friends. These are our people and we had to get them back. We also saw what happened on October 7th and we had to make sure this never happens again. We didn't go in there to get revenge.
We went in there to make sure they can never do this again because maybe next time they will collaborate with Hezbollah in the north and with Iran and with the West Bank and this might be, you know, much, much, much bigger. Maybe this will be an existential threat. So we had to make sure that we ensured the future of Israel, and the only way to do it is to eliminate the threat that keeps calling for our destruction.
And even after October 7th, they said they're not going to stop. So it's a mixed feelings of pride and, and, you know, being scared.
Marc Beckman: It seems [00:14:00] like such a, um, like such a vast danger zone, um, with so many different variables. and I get the impression it must be pretty fast paced at times too. are you, like is a military even capable of being trained for that type of environment where you have, you know, Your enemies below you, above you, behind you, coming with just such different levels of arsenal.
I've seen video footage of the IDF training in like makeshift tunnels, but I understand that, um, like for example, um, there are specialists in the, in the IDF that go into the tunnels. So, is it even possible to be fully trained and ready for this type of combat?
Shahar Paled: I think we're as ready as we could. I don't think you can ever be fully ready, because the, the enemy is smart, and they have their secrets as well, and they have their, you know, capabilities and weapons as well. But we're as ready as we could, and every unit has their own, you know, specialty. Some units, um, [00:15:00] as you said, can go into tunnels and they're equipped to do it.
Some units can blow those tunnels up. Some people, some units can find these, uh, these tunnels and some units can fight face to face. So, every unit has its specialty, has its role. And you're very well trained for what you need to do. If it's 100%, it can never be 100 percent because we're not fighting a military.
We're fighting a terrorist organization that very often you won't fight a platoon of terrorists. of soldiers or terrorists dressed, um, as terrorists or soldiers. You'll fight people that are terrorists, but they're dressed as civilians. And maybe these three terrorists will come out of a tunnel in a window that happened to be in a building near you, see the window and just shoot an RPG or from a sniper rifle and get to you.
So it's not like, like you see in the movies. It's not always too organized because we are fighting this terrorist organization. They have their secrets as well. But this can also be people who are not a part [00:16:00] of Hamas or civilians or they're part of Islamic Jihad or another terrorist organization that just want to kill us.
And it's very different than what people actually imagine. It's much more complicated. It's much slower because we have the hostages. We have to move slowly and carefully, and we have so many civilians around us. So we have to move slowly and carefully to not hurt civilians. And everything has to be coordinated between the many units that were in Gaza.
And it's much bigger than what people actually believe.
Marc Beckman: Sure. How much time have you actually spent fighting in Gaza since October 7th, you personally?
Shahar Paled: So I've been a bunch of times, uh, inside. I don't know the exact amount of days, but I've been a bunch of times in and out because ever since I got injured after October 7th, I was just I was chosen by the spokesperson unit to be interviewed to lots of media channels across the world, both in Israel, in Gaza, and also across the world in the US and the UK.
Um, [00:17:00] and every time I wasn't in Gaza, I was taken out to interviews and to the States. but I've been there a bunch of times and every time lots of things happen. You know, you get new experiences and you see new things. Many of them are horrible. It's horrible. But you also see lots of things that you're proud of, proud of how we engage in this fight, and proud of how we keep our humanity, although we fight the most vicious terrorists in history, that fight in the most horrible ways, sacrificing their people, and You know, there's so many things that happen in there that it's just very hard to absorb and start thinking about them because we still live this daily, unless we get all the, when we get all the hostages back and the soldiers will leave Gaza and we'll see a future, um, living next to the Palestinian people in Gaza without Hamas, I think only then we'll be able to really try to grasp what happened.
Try to absorb all [00:18:00] this, these experiences and situations we've been a part of
Marc Beckman: Sure, when you say you see terrible things, you must be seeing things that the media is not reporting. Is there something specific that you could highlight for the audience?
Shahar Paled: and the amount of times that either my unit or others that we were next to saw civilians and Obviously, we don't want to kill civilians. We want to only hurt Hamas, but sometimes you know that within these civilians there are terrorists and Still it's not our job to go through the civilians. We just need to get to the terrorists And sometimes you see thousands of civilians walking in the humanitarian corridor and you know there are terrorists with them.
But you're not going to kill a hundred civilians for a few terrorists. But a few specific occasions were, you know, we got a rain of mortars from a fully populated [00:19:00] neighborhood in southern Gaza. And there's really nowhere to hide. And, uh, You know, some of these, of these mortars one of them hit my unit and severely injured one and killed another.
These are people you know, you've known for years, they're friends. We know exactly what building this mortar came from. We could have taken this building down in a few seconds. But this is not how we operate. We didn't know how many civilians are in there. So you don't. Another situation at sister unit of ours was in northern Gaza and you see 200 civilians walking towards them, mostly women and kids, in an area that should have been evacuated a long time ago.
And the soldiers didn't do anything because they are civilians. They just told them in the megaphone to stay away. And out of the 200, two terrorists rose and fired an RPG that killed two soldiers. [00:20:00] The soldiers didn't shoot back. There are dozens of soldiers there in a tank and, you know, they could have killed everyone in a second.
They didn't shoot back because they're not going to kill these women and kids because of the terrorists. And this is how they fight daily.
Marc Beckman: This is every day, every single day.
Shahar Paled: every single day, numerous times a day. This is what they want. You know, for Hamas, when an Israeli dies, when a Jew dies, this is good news. When a soldier dies, great news.
But when a Palestinian dies, it's even better news, because You know, we do whatever we can to protect civilians in Gaza. And for Hamas, when they die, it's a strategy. Because see what happens in the world. This gives them the legitimacy to be this terrorist organization. This gives them the legitimacy to ask for a ceasefire when they don't want a ceasefire.
This gives them the legitimacy to blame Israel for everything that happened on October 7th. Because they get their people, um, to be [00:21:00] killed mostly by them, by them. And you saw so many situations where civilians weren't killed and our people were killed, my friends, who could have been alive had we not cared about our humanity and had we not cared about civilians on the other side.
And having said all of that, you know, even with all these situations that, yes, civilians have died, it's war, it's a terrible thing, and especially in such a dense area when Hamas literally uses them as human shield and everywhere there are civilians, Hamas will go. Everywhere we have evacuated the civilians for safety, Hamas will follow them because it's much easier for them to fight from within civilians, from schools, from hospitals, from universities, um, from the safe zones.
And even with all of that, the numbers are astonishing. It's not what you hear on TikTok on the news that is shared by Hamas. No, Hamas just said today that they can't give us the [00:22:00] final number of how many hostages are alive out of the 135, but they can give us a number of over 30 people at 30,000 women and kids that were killed.
How can you count that? It's just not true. And,
Marc Beckman: So why won't they provide the names of the living hostages?
Shahar Paled: it's a part of the strategy. You know, I'll say one more thing and we'll get to the deal because it is important. Even if we do believe Hamas ruled Ministry of Health, which we learned not to believe them after the hospital incident and after the incident a few days ago, but even if we do, and let's be conservative just for this drill and take, they said 30,000 people that were killed in Gaza, a bit less than that since October 7th.
And we know that the IDF has killed over 12,000 confirmed Hamas terrorists. And on top of that, a few thousand Islamic Jihad terrorists and a few thousand independent terrorists that, Launch missiles or, or fire the soldiers and, [00:23:00] but let's be conservative, as I said. So the 30, the 30,000 and the 12,000, even if we do believe Hamas, world Ministry of Health, the ratio between terrorists and civilians is less than one to two.
And this might sound a lot for someone who doesn't know warfare. But according to the UN, the average number of, the average ratio between combatants, terrorists, soldiers and civilians in urban warfare, including in the war between the US and the Taliban, is 1 to 9. Nine civilians for one combatant,
Marc Beckman: Average.
Shahar Paled: average, including with the US and fighting in Afghanistan in this gigantic place is much, I want to say easier, but it's much less complicated when you harm civilians than Gaza, that is so dense with an organization that uses its own people as human shields and fight from within civilian areas on purpose as a strategy.
And it's over four times better.
Marc Beckman: why do the Israeli defense forces need to take [00:24:00] these precautionary measures that no other military in the world seems to have ever taken before? And from the percentages that you're quoting as, you know, directly from the United Nations, it seems like I would imagine the low number that you're articulating is as a result of these precautionary measures that the Israeli military has taken. But like, why does Israel have to even do that?
Shahar Paled: Why do we have to do it? First, we don't change our values because of our enemy. If we change who we are and stop fighting by our rules of engagement and by the IDF values and code of conduct, if we change it because of Hamas, we've already lost. We are proud that we kept our values and these are our values. According to all the facts and how we engage in battle, the code of conduct of the IDF We're the most humane military force in history. It's not just the rules of engagement.
We share the [00:25:00] map of the war with the enemy to tell them where it's safe and where it isn't, so civilians can evacuate. We throw millions of flyers from the air. Before we bomb to tell people to evacuate, we call their cell phones. We text, we text their call, their, uh, we text their numbers. We also open humanitarian corridors to let them leave because Hamas wouldn't let them and kill them if they left.
We do all of that because we don't want to harm civilians. And yes, if we have to do it, we don't have to do it.
Marc Beckman: but it seems not only counterintuitive, but it seems counterproductive. If you're saying that one of the Hamas strategies, the terrorist strategy, is to blend in with the civilians, and you're providing warnings to the civilians, you're providing warnings to Hamas, right?
Shahar Paled: Hamas lives with these warnings. They know where to go. They know where we're going to fight and where we're not going to fight. And they fight from within the safe zones. And it is counterintuitive because we help them as well. And I believe this war could have been [00:26:00] over a long time ago, but with much more casualties.
And this is not who we are. Our enemy is not the Palestinian people. Our enemy is Hamas, and I think Hamas is the enemy of the world, the enemy of the Western civilization. But again, we cannot lose who we are because of who we fight, and these are the IDF values. This is the IDF code of conduct. And, you know, lastly about this topic, we, had we not fought this way, there would have been a lot of casualties.
Much more than now and maybe what people say that they think is true Maybe it would have been true had we not fought how we fight But also many of my friends would have been alive and maybe the hostages would have been back already. It's all maybe I don't know. But what I know for sure is that how we engage in this fight saves numerous lives.
lives of Palestinian civilians who are uninvolved, hundreds of thousands, and the [00:27:00] number, every one of them is a whole world as well. We never intend to kill civilians, but they were killed because of Hamas.
Marc Beckman: but has any military in history provided the enemy with details about how they were going to, what they were going to do next? Like how the war would be enacted or conducted? Has that ever happened in history?
Shahar Paled: never. And if you ask generals from different militaries who actually know warfare, they will say this. It will say the way the numbers are actual miracle. I'm not downgrading everyone that was killed, but first you need to know that according to Hamas World Ministry of Health, everyone is a civilian.
Everyone is a woman or a child. They don't talk about terrorists. They don't talk about men. And the second thing is, even with all that, you know, we do whatever we can. And this, these numbers are a true miracle because the numbers could have been much worse. And had we taken the one to nine ratio. Think about it.
The number was over a hundred [00:28:00] thousand and we're very
Marc Beckman: Just, just repeat the ratio again that what's, what's the ratio right now?
Shahar Paled: less than one to two. Yeah,
Marc Beckman: one to two. So, you know, it's counterintuitive as it relates to, it's illogical almost. It is illogical as it relates to how a military, a military would, um, would fight. But it also, this, this level of, irrationality.
also plays into messaging. So, you know, can you explain why like, although Israel's citizens were savagely attacked by Hamas, Israel needs to defend itself on the global stage now? I mean, we're literally sitting in a moment in time where, you know, you just showed the absurdity as it relates to war. And now as it relates to messaging, Israel is defending itself worldwide, globally, notwithstanding the fact that these terrorists came in and brutally and savagely Attacked Israelis that were just at home.
Shahar Paled: people tend to forget that. I think it's a complicated answer, but It starts in a very simple [00:29:00] way, that first, Israel has a very bad PR, but most importantly, Israel is being treated with a very, very dangerous double standard, that most of the world, and people who attack Israel now in the world arena, expect Israel To behave differently than they would have expected their leaders to behave had this happened to them.
And it all starts there, because no country in the world was attacked as Israel was. And just to remind you, this is like 20 9/11's And look what happened after 911 And America had all the right to do it. But when it's Israel that's under attack, we have no right to defend ourselves. And everyone who's calling for a ceasefire.
What would they expect? So what's next? A ceasefire and then what? They say they're not going to stop going after us. So it starts with this. It's the second reason that we're Jews. It's much [00:30:00] easier to be anti Jews and anti Semitic. And it's a distant problem in the Middle East. For the Western civilization, people who their problems are different than ours, and their neighbors are different than ours.
I wish we had Canada and Mexico as our neighbors. For more UN videos visit www. un. org Or the UK and France and Spain and Germany, but we have Hamas in Gaza, we have Lebanon with Hezbollah, we have Syria, we have Jordan, we have Egypt, we have peace treaties with them. Behind that we have Iran and Iraq and Afghanistan, the Houthis in Yemen, like this is our neighborhood.
Marc Beckman: Tough
Shahar Paled: So yeah, but the radical Islam is bigger than just Hamas. The radical Islam, the radical Jihad, you can call it Hamas is one name, ISIS is another one, the Houthis, Hezbollah, it starts from Iran, and they have infiltrated everything that is good in Western civilization. The education system, some of it [00:31:00] was literally purchased by Qatar and Iran and their proxies, and the political system, and social media, and if you think it's only, you know, Hamas, then I think you're blinded to reality.
I'm talking to everyone who keeps going after it after Israel. It starts from everyone who wants to destroy Western civilization. All you have to do is translate the Islamic, the radical jihad charters. When they say that their end goal is to destroy Western civilization and build a great Islamic state on top of it.
And they are joined by two powerhouses who don't share their jihadi values, of course, but they share the common enemy of weakening the Western civilization. And that's Russia and China. And TikTok is owned by China. And TikTok has over 20 times more views than Twitter. For pro Palestinian content and pro Israeli.
20 times, not 20 percent. People are being brainwashed. And it's in universities. This is not a mistake where Qatar and others donate billions of dollars to American [00:32:00] universities, but with these donations come requests and demands. You need to accept this and these professors and these students. And you have to take in, take out this class and accept this class.
And these are the students that happen to lead the pro Hamas, pro Palestinian, the Jihad chapter, uh, student organizations afterwards. And these are the professors who are the most vocal professors, anti Israel.
Marc Beckman: So are you saying Shahar, just so I understand, are you saying professors are put into those schools strategically by places like Qatar?
Shahar Paled: Yes, students and professors. it's confirmed that one university, I can't say the name, accepted a 20 million donation from Qatar to add an RRB culture class, which is okay, but with this 20 million, they asked to add some professors and accept some students, but they also told them they'll make it a hundred if they remove the Jewish history class.[00:33:00]
What did they do? They took the 100.
Marc Beckman: They took the 100.
Shahar Paled: It's a business.
Marc Beckman: why, why can't you name the, you gotta name the university.
Shahar Paled: I wish I could. I was told this story by a confirmed source that asked not to share this because it might be under investigation.
Marc Beckman: I see. So
Shahar Paled: But it's a very modern university.
Marc Beckman: there's anti Westernism and there's anti Semitism and just staying on the latter for a second, like anti Semitism is just so prevalent globally. do you think it's possible that even with this war antisemitism could be reversed in our lifetime?
Shahar Paled: Anti Semitism is one of the biggest problems in the world. It's very scary. You know, I've been to the States and to the UK three times since October 7th on tours. I felt safer in Israel. Even outside, like on the border with Gaza, I felt safer than in America, in New York City. I can't say I felt safer in Gaza, but you know, not too far from that.[00:34:00]
It starts from education. And one of the problems that we have to fight is that antisemitism was never gone. It was just asleep. And it just erupted after October 7th. We saw what people actually think. But I think it's much bigger than antisemitism. I think the biggest problem right now. Anti Semitism is a part of it because people align this war with Israel and the Jews was just much bigger.
Slowly but surely, these, you know, jihadists, those that want to destroy Western civilization, they make people from Western civilization believe that they support the oppressed, believe that they support their values when they were actually supporting and pushing those who seek to destroy them. and let them infiltrate their organizations and schools and political system and slowly but surely this, you know, generation [00:35:00] might grow up believing in jihadi values.
Believing in anti West values and Israel is just, Israel and Hamas is a microcosm of situation of this bigger war between Western civilization and those who seek to destroy it. But per your question, if we'll see a world without antisemitism in our lifetime, I don't think so. I think it's too deeply rooted in so many places.
Marc Beckman: so? You said you do not think so?
Shahar Paled: I do not
Marc Beckman: very sad.
Shahar Paled: But we have to educate people what it actually means. And I'm sure we can make it better because people have started to wake up and people see evil for what it is. But they've been asleep for too long. They've been blinded to reality for too long. And for some generations, the younger ones, it's going to be a big fight to change the miseducation.
That literally led them to believe that the Jews are the enemy of everything, and the white colonizer is the [00:36:00] enemy of everything. The Jews are white colonizers, over 50 percent of Jews in Israel are not even white, they're Middle Eastern descent, and Jews are a minority. We're a very, very small minority across the world, and we are the minority that when we didn't have a country, half of our population worldwide was massacred.
So we're not asking for much. We're asking for the one state that was promised to us, that was always ours from the Bible and the ancestors time, but was also promised to us and given to us by the UN. It was never a Palestinian state, and we only wish to live in peace. Had we known that if we given the Palestinians, if we gave the Palestinians all of Gaza and the West Bank or 97 percent of the 67 borders or whatever they want, had we known that this would let us live in peace, this would have happened a long time ago.
But just listen to them, they don't want a two state solution. They want a one state solution from the river to the sea, all of Israel. They're [00:37:00] not going to stop because for them, it's a religious fight. And they've internalized their victimhood. After the Holocaust, the Jews didn't internalize their victimhood, they built an amazing country.
They literally made the desert bloom. But what happened to the Palestinians? They became these people that no one wants. Not our country want to help them, or accept them, or even take them in for two weeks to let us only fight terrorists. No one wants them. Gaza was under Egyptian rule. Were there colonizers there?
Was it occupied? The West Bank was under Jordanian rule. Was it occupied? Most of the Palestinians in Lebanon and Jordan don't even have rights. But the Arab Israelis in Israel have equal rights in a Western civilization democracy. They serve in the Supreme Court, they can be doctors, athletes, prime minister, everything.
But we keep being blamed for things that we don't do. Is Israel perfect? No, it's not. And I have a lot of feedback for many things that happened. But [00:38:00] compared to the situation we're in, this is a miracle. And we do our best to make it even a better place. For And we'll succeed, but the world is not helping.
Everyone who values life in Western civilization needs to be here to support and push us. And I also want peace. I also want a ceasefire. But I want a ceasefire that will last. I want to see the 135 hostages back alive and well. And I want to see a ceasefire that will not be broken by Hamas tomorrow.
That will not make us go into Gaza again in a year.
Marc Beckman: so Shahar, what do you think can lead to an actual, longstanding and sustainable ceasefire at this point? It seems pretty obvious to me, but we might as well just say it, right? Like, just recently, uh, Hamas exclaimed, as you noted earlier, that they're not even willing to give a list of all of the living hostages.
So in, you know, from your perspective, what would it take to get a ceasefire right now? [00:39:00] a sustainable ceasefire.
Shahar Paled: personally don't think that Hamas wants a ceasefire. I think they're playing a very smart game, stalling and waiting for Ramadan. Because if this is still an active war during Ramadan, and I don't know what's going to happen in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and this might really put the whole neighborhood, the whole Middle East on fire, and this is what they want.
They want this
Marc Beckman: Shahar, didn't they attack Israel on a, on a very, um, religious holiday?
Shahar Paled: Yeah, it was one of our holiest days of the year. But if we attack them, again, it's the same double standard. You know, Hamas wants the Middle East to be on fire. They feel alone right now fighting Israel, although they have Hezbollah in the north because they are the only ones in full war with Israel. But if Ramadan still has an active war in it, although Israel would have to be very smart, and I don't know what's going to happen in Temple [00:40:00] Mount, if Arabs will be able to go there or not, but this might put the whole region on fire, the whole West Bank, the whole Middle East, and I think this is what they want, this is what their, you know, funders from Iran and Qatar want.
Because this will put this, the peace treaty between Israel and Saudi Arabia on a very, very long hold. And this is one of the reasons for October 7th. We, we all know that. It's literally, this could have been the line that connects, you know, India through the Middle East to Europe and America and remove the need of America and, and Europe.
And the world needs this, and this is one of the reasons for the timing of October 7th. And putting the Middle East on fire might push this deal even further, and we can't, we have to make this deal happen.
Marc Beckman: Well, so like, it's widely, said that if Hamas returns the, all of the hostages, both living and dead, the bodies as well, then, um, this could [00:41:00] create a sustainable ceasefire. So, uh, why don't, why don't you think the United States and other Israeli allies are pushing for that. Do you, do you think that they've been influential enough to try to return the hostages now and create that ceasefire?
Shahar Paled: I think, obviously America was pushing for this, but the hostages are Hamas's biggest asset.
Marc Beckman: There are U. S. hostages too right now. I understand there are six U. S. hostages, Shahar.
Shahar Paled: We don't know how many of the hostages are alive. There are still babies in there, women, elderly, but whenever they return all the hostages, we just need to eradicate Hamas and a long lasting ceasefire will have to get Hamas out of the equation. They can't be a part of it. Not Hamas and not Islamic Jihad or another terrorist organization.
The only way to have a lasting ceasefire after we get the hostages back. is to demilitarize Hamas and Gaza because we saw that every time [00:42:00] Palestinians have weapons, they use them. We need to demilitarize that. If they don't have weapons, they won't be able to shoot at us. But then we also have to de radicalize the Palestinian people because the education system there is so corrupt, that is so jihadi, so radical, that kids from the age of three join Hamas summer camps and learn in school.
And I've seen some of these textbooks. That the biggest enemy of the world is America. The big devil in Israel is the small one. The Jews, you saw pictures of Jews, just like before the Holocaust with horns and big noses and
Marc Beckman: Where did you see these books?
Shahar Paled: You see it in UNRWA schools in Gaza.
Marc Beckman: So you, when you were in Gaza, you actually physically held and saw these books?
Shahar Paled: Yes. And you also saw them published by the Israeli president. It's not, it's not a secret. You just need to believe them and literally do the very simple task of translating Arabic into English. I can teach, I can give you a website called Google Translate. I'll give it to all the audience who wants to just do it.
Translate their chapters [00:43:00] because they teach their kids that their biggest calling, their biggest outcome of their life would be to become a shaheed. A shaheed is a martyr. For them, they believe that a martyr is a shaheed that basically kills the enemies of Islam with them. And by the way, these are not just Jews.
These are infidels, the enemies of Islam, Christians. Hindus, um, Catholic as well, not just Jews. Jews are in Israel and it's the easiest and the closest task. You'll become a shaheed. You'll be, you'll have 72 virgins waiting for you in heaven with Allah. Your family will be taken care of with money and salaries for the rest of their lives.
You'll become a hero. There'll be a family of a hero. And on top of that, You had no hope because Hamas has taken everything from you. So yeah, you might become a Shiite, and many of them do, and many of them
Marc Beckman: Shahr, you saw, you, you saw, you physically held this book while you were in Gaza. You saw this book in a, one of the United Nations schools.
Shahar Paled: Yeah, I wasn't inside of the schools, but I saw the book that was taken out from there, and I can't [00:44:00] read Arabic, but you saw the pictures, and when we went out, yeah, we did Google Translate, and we see what it means.
Marc Beckman: well, like, just out of curiosity, like, what else do you see physically, like, while you're on the ground in Gaza? Like, you know, you know, something that's interesting is like, when you go into Gaza with the IDF, you're staying there for, you know, a year. You know, perhaps several days, several weeks.
Where, where does the IDF sleep? Where do you, you know, have access to food and bathing? It's not like you're setting up a camp inside Gaza, right? So how is that working?
Shahar Paled: Yes, I can't talk about specific operations, but there are still many buildings in Gaza. Some soldiers sleep in them. As for food and supply, Gaza is not such a big area. And in some of the areas, you're literally a mile or a few ways from Israel, and you can have trucks going in and give you supply and food.
And, you know, you see everything that doesn't make sense, like tunnel entrances in schools and hospitals, and residential buildings, and ISIS [00:45:00] flags, and, you know, things that just show you how corrupt this place is. In most buildings, most houses you go into, you find weapons. For and missiles, and you see them on their kids beds,
Marc Beckman: So you personally saw this, Shahar?
Shahar Paled: I saw some of it, yes, and my unit saw a lot, and the sister unit saw more, and every unit sees, depends on the area, sees more, but everything, you know, for most units, it's pretty similar.
Weapons everywhere, literally everywhere, tunnels everywhere, thousands of entrances to tunnels. And, you know, it's just very sad how radical this place has become ever since Hamas took over in 2006.
Marc Beckman: Shahar, did you communicate with any of the, Gazan civilians, the friendly Gazan civilians?
Shahar Paled: I don't speak Arabic. Most units have an Arabic speaking soldier. Um, and usually you're pretty far away. We're pretty close to the humanitarian corridor, but you're still a few hundred yards away. You don't really talk to them. There [00:46:00] are some units that, you know, have arrested lots of, uh, of, uh, of terrorists and some other units that were in charge of helping civilians get out physically and they've communicated and I have a good friend who just told me how they helped this women, women elderly in a wheelchair to just get through the rebels to the safe zone and they have communicated more.
I've seen and I've heard talking but I don't speak Arabic and Some of the Arabic speaking soldiers told us afterwards how much some of them just wish for us to succeed. They don't want to see us out of Gaza because they know Hamas will come back. They wish that we'll destroy Hamas so they can get their lives back.
But some others are scared to speak up because if Hamas heard this, they will kill them.
Marc Beckman: Yeah, it seems like a majority of the civilians are pro Hamas now. From the reports that I've read personally in the United States as of today, it seems like [00:47:00] most, support the action from October 7th and support Hamas. Is that what you're hearing in Israel as well?
Shahar Paled: The last poll I saw, um, it was different between the West Bank and Gaza, which are different places with different leadership, but all Palestinians, over 82 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank supported October 7th.
Marc Beckman: Hmm.
Shahar Paled: around 50 of the Palestinians, 50 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza support it, but that's after a few months of war and seeing their home being destroyed if they're from northern Gaza.
and that's crazy. You know, it's, it shows you how radicalized Gaza is. These people are, and I'm not saying everyone there is radicalized, but when you grow up in a radical jihadi education system, what else can you become? And I hope that the, the normal peaceful Palestinians can speak up and become a majority because if they're a minority, it's gonna be a very hard solution to find.
Marc Beckman: Sure, there are so many, like, ironies and, and, um, irrational concepts that are going on with regards to the way the [00:48:00] Israeli military communicates, the way Israeli military operates, and um, you know, these contradictory ideas just keep permeating. There's one thing that I found so bizarre, which is that one of the leaders of Hamas, Sinwar, was killed.
was actually the recipient of medical attention from Israel and that Israel saved his life. Can you tell everybody like who is Sinwar and, and, uh, tell a little bit about that story?
Shahar Paled: Sinwar is a mega terrorist. He's in an Israeli prison for being a terrorist and murdering Israelis, and he had brain cancer while being an Israeli, um, prison and he was taken to Israeli hospitals and we saved his life. It's not just him. Many, many Palestinians and the niece of another Hamas leader and Israel, like, we have values.
We see someone hurting, someone sick, someone ill, we'll help them, you know, be cured. [00:49:00] And before October 7th, you know, my mom was a part of the organization that they literally went daily to the Gaza border to take Israel, uh, Palestinian kids and their families to Israeli hospitals to be treated for cancer or whatever.
And so much of it has happened. Sinwar was released, uh, the last deal when we released, when we released around 1,100 terrorists for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Sinwar was one of these terrorists and he's now the leader of Hamas in Gaza and he's the mastermind behind October 7th. He speaks fluent Hebrew.
He knows our culture. He spent a lot of time in Israeli prison and he's the person that destroyed Gaza and he hides underground when, when so many of his people suffer and their other leaders are in Qatar being billionaires and living their lives. And they're billionaires because they took so much of the aid that was sent to Palestinian people in Gaza.
Instead of actually giving it to the people, they took it to [00:50:00] themselves. And they're now billionaires in their big villas in Sinwar. Instead of being with his people and surrender and do what's best for them, to actually stop this war and end it right now by releasing the hostages and surrendering Hamas, he keeps fighting and running away and hiding.
Instead of doing what's right for his people, because what's right for his people is not what's right for him. He wants this war. He wants this war to never end.
Marc Beckman: Sure. When you mentioned the leaders, um, like the Hamas leaders that are living in Qatar, that is also something that's just like, is so perplexing to me. How could these individuals live freely? In Qatar, particularly when the United States just financed, its biggest military outlet in the, in the Middle East, it's, it's financed for the next 10 years there, and, and there are American hostages involved too, so how are these leaders from Hamas able to freely live in Qatar?
Shahar Paled: frustrates me too. I don't get it. These are [00:51:00] literally the heads of an international terrorist organization. Most of the world. Declared Hamas a terrorist organization before October 7. How can leaders of a terrorist organization walk freely? I just don't get it. I don't get where the world's values are. I don't get that people don't see right from wrong.
They don't see that we, Israel, are It's not It's not the gray area anymore. It's not Israel and the Palestinians. It's a Western civilization country, the only democracy in the Middle East, that was brutally attacked. And had thousands of these people murdered, beheaded, burnt alive. 400 young men and women in a peace festival were murdered.
Full, entire families were burnt alive and beheaded. And were brutally attacked. And the other side is a terrorist organization that wants only death and destruction. That believes that life on earth is short and life in heaven is eternal. That educates its people to become terrorists. Instead of building the Singapore of the [00:52:00] Middle East with the billions of dollars.
That we got from the world. They build the biggest terror infrastructure in the world. People don't see right from wrong. I just, I literally don't get it and it frustrates me so much because you just need to come and see. Come to Israel. Talk to Israelis. Go to Gaza. Talk to Palestinians. Talk to Hamas. Who do you want as your neighbors?
A Hamas terrorist that will sacrifice you and everything you care deeply for, just for their cause? Or an Israeli soldier that will sacrifice their lives to save yours? What values do you want to align yourselves with? I don't get it.
Marc Beckman: Yeah, your, your fear that you expressed earlier with regards to being in places like New York City, um, was probably derived as a result of seeing all of these, um, pro Hamas protesters in the streets of New York City. So I'm curious, do you think Hamas would welcome those New York City based protesters into Gaza?
Shahar Paled: No, I mean, they are their enemies as well. All they have to do is [00:53:00] listen and translate their charters. The enemies is anyone who is not a radical Islamic. Anyone who doesn't believe in the radical Islamic values. I'm not talking about Islam, I'm talking about radical Islam, Jihad. Everyone who is not them, who doesn't believe in their values, is their enemies, is an infidel.
And they would kill them. And then you see organizations like Queers for Palestine. They would have been hanged in Gaza. They have no rights there. They would have been killed. Women have no rights there. This is a radical jihadi organization ruling a people that, you know, no Western person would want to live there.
Look at the Arab Israelis. Even if there'll be a two state solution, they're going to stay in Israel. And everyone who with the right mind would want to be in Israel and not in the newly potentially formed Palestinian state. I've spoken at so many events in America. I've been at one of those events in New York City, in the West Village, and there was a mother of a hostage there.
And there were thousands of [00:54:00] protesters outside, literally knocking, banging on the doors, trying to get in. It was really scary, to be honest. I Spoke there and the mother of a hostage was there. And every few minutes you saw police officers with blood on their faces going in to wash their faces. And, you know, there's secret service there and police officers and, you know, horses with police officers and also a private security firm.
And people were scared to leave. And everyone, not just the speakers, the guests, everyone We had to be taken out of the area with police cars to not be hurt or killed by these civilians. And I saw the mother of a hostage leave, and people threw things at her, and cursed her, and yelled at her, where all she came to ask is for her daughter to be released.
I had so many people chase me down to the hotel. And it was really scary. And, you know, these people don't really want peace. And I believe that it all connects to the people that were, you know, put [00:55:00] into American universities. They are paid professionals. They are organized. They are charismatic. They are assertive.
And they know how to get the crowd wild. They know how to get people to follow them. They know how to get people to believe they were supporting the right cause. And they get masses of people, so many people to go to these rallies without even knowing what they're fighting for. And the truth never mattered less, from what it seems like.
The facts never mattered less. And we have the facts and the truth on our side. I, on top of that, have firsthand experiences. This is why I'm speaking. But these people don't care about the facts. And the sad thing that, you know, platforms like social media and news channels let it be spread. Let lies be spread.
And the more sad thing, that the education system let it be spread. Facts do matter. The truth does matter. Numbers should be validated. Lies cannot be spread without having people take accountability. [00:56:00] Social media made this world a much more dangerous place. They need to be held accountable. People who spread lies and hate need to be held accountable.
Schools who accept donations with some requests next to it, they need to answer why. Professors who spread lies and hate need to be held accountable. And people who support terrorism need to be taken outside of America and back to their countries where they can actually support terrorism. There should be some limitation of freedom of speech when this literally makes the world a more dangerous place.
Israel is a democracy. We also have freedom of speech. But, you know, if people come to America with their own goal is to destroy America, why should they be in America? Why should they poison the minds of young Americans to make them believe that America is to be blamed for everything, Israel is the devil, and that Hamas and Jihad are actually the [00:57:00] victims, and they're freedom fighters, and freedom rapists, and everything is justified.
No, nothing justifies burning people alive, beheading babies, raping hundreds of women, and going to a peace festival and killing as many people as you can. Nothing justifies this. But going into Gaza to free our people, to fight terrorists that say that October 7th is just the beginning, but also sacrifice your lives because you don't want to kill civilians.
This is justified. It's not just justified, it's mandatory. And we also deserve to live in peace. We as Israelis and we as Jews, we deserve self determination. Our lives matter too. Killing our people is just as bad as killing any other people. Raping our women is just as horrible as raping any other women.
We deserve our own state, this tiny beacon of peace. And we deserve to live in peace. And attacking us is just as horrible as attacking anyone else. [00:58:00] And just look at the history. And see what happens. Every time we gave land, we always gave land for peace. We always will, if we know that this will actually give us peace.
This is what we want. It's just sad that people don't see it.
Marc Beckman: one of the, um, like highlights, one of the positive moments over the past couple of months was when the IDF actually, uh, recently rescued a few hostages. It was just, um, I think it was the night of the Superbowl here in the States, actually. Like what a crazy juxtaposition between, you know, Americans tuned into their TV sets and, and then the IDF goes in.
I remember texting some of my friends in Israel, wake up, wake up. Hostages were rescued. you guys were still sleeping in Israel. Do you, do you think, uh, we have a chance to see more hostages rescued, like imminently? Do you think that the IDF and, and, um, you know, with such a high level of technology as well, do you think more rescues will, will occur in, in the [00:59:00] short term?
Shahar Paled: I hope so. I think it's possible. I personally don't think it's possible to get everyone out with this kind of heroic missions. Because Hamas, as I say, it's their biggest asset, and they keep it very, very closely. And Sinjar is surrounded by hostages, and I'm sure that the IDF knows where some of the hostages are, but I'm sure that when they step foot in there, they'll be killed, the hostages will be killed, and we, we value life, we want to make sure that we get them out alive, those that are still alive.
I wish it was possible to do more of these missions. Maybe it is, but I don't think we can get everyone out like this. But it was a crazy, crazy mission that I'm sure movies will be made out of this.
Marc Beckman: Shihar, I, end every one of our episodes with a particular formula that incorporates the name of the show, Some Future Day. what I do is I start the sentence for, um, my guest and then the guest finishes it. Would you be willing to do this with me [01:00:00] today?
Shahar Paled: Of course, of course.
Marc Beckman: Okay. In some future day, my children will live in Israel in
Shahar Paled: In peace, in a place that doesn't force them to join a military force because they don't need it. That's my dream. My dream that my kids will never have to join the IDF. Maybe they will choose to because we still need a military force, but it won't be mandatory. It will be another honor to join, but I don't say this in the near future.
Marc Beckman: Shahara, you've given me a lot of your time today and, and, you know, really very personal stories as well, and I appreciate that. Is there anything else that you'd like to add before we, we finish up?
Shahar Paled: I can just first thank you for hosting me and having me and it was a very nice conversation. I hope that I managed to shed some light on the actual situation. Thank you. I will say that I represent the vast majority of IDF soldiers. I think I also represent the vast majority of Israelis. We truly just want to live [01:01:00] in peace.
We don't want to live in a war. We don't want to be scared of any knock on the door. We don't want to be in Gaza. And as a soldier and reservist, the last thing I want is to go back in there. I just want to go back to my life, to start my company, to get married after I postpone my wedding, to have kids in the near future, to live in peace, to fulfill my dreams.
And as an Israeli, I don't want to ever use Iron Dome again. I don't want to ever hear of another soldier that died or another terrorist attack in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or the West Bank or anywhere. And my dream is to live in peace because for us, for Israelis, mostly Jews, but not just by the way, Israel has Christians and Arabs and Druze as well.
Once we live in peace, like, we, we've accomplished so many incredible things in an un unproportional way to the rest of the world. [01:02:00] All we need is to not be attacked. We're gonna do whatever it needs, whatever we have to, to get this peace. Uh, to work and to, and to last long, to last forever. Once it's there, you need to see Israel for what it is.
We bloomed, we made the desert bloom. If you haven't been to Israel, go to Israel. Come visit. I'm not gonna tell you who to support, but come visit Israel. Go to the West Bank, go to Gaza, and just make up your own mind. Don't be fooled. by people who want to just spread hate. Don't be fooled by lies, be a critical thinker.
And I truly want you to understand that Israel and Hamas is just a microcosm as part of it. And we are much, we are part of a much bigger war between Western civilization and those who seek to destroy it. And if you are a part of Western civilization, if we share the same values of life and prosperity and democracy, we're fighting for you as well.
We are the [01:03:00] first line of defense of Western civilization, and we hope that you can join this fight as well, not physically, but in your countries. So together we can push away hate and death and strengthen everyone who values life to show these haters that we're not going to lose because our love is so much stronger than their hate.
It's true in Israel, it's true in America, it's true in Europe, and we have to make sure it's true everywhere that we just want to live in peace.
Marc Beckman: That's beautiful, Shahara. Thank you so much. It's really a pleasure speaking with you today.
Shahar Paled: Thank you, Mark. It's my pleasure.
[01:04:00]