It was 6:30 a.m. Saturday a holy day for Israelis when Hamas airstrikes began. Thousands of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip. An hour later, gunmen from the group entered Israel by land and air. Hundreds of Israelis were killed and dozens taken hostage. In response, the Israeli government declared it was at war against the group, a conflict that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would be “protracted and difficult.” More than 1,000 deaths had been confirmed as of Sunday evening. To understand the unprecedented nature of the Hamas offensive and the possible consequences of the ongoing war in the Middle East, Julia Duailibi speaks with Guga Chacra, commentator for Globo, GloboNews and columnist for the newspaper O Globo. In this episode:
- Guga points out that Hamas’ advance exposes a “gigantic failure” by Israel’s intelligence services: “I’ve never seen anything like or similar to what happened on Saturday,” he says. For Guga, the attacks are the second largest terrorist attack of the 21st century, “a cross between September 11th and Bataclan,” citing attacks in the United States and France;
- He analyzes that this is “the biggest military defeat for Israel in 50 years.” And he says that once the conflict ends, the Netanyahu government will pay “a very heavy price” for the mistakes that enabled the offensive by Hamas, a group that is emerging stronger after this weekend;
- Guga points out what is attracting the most attention about Hamas’ offensive: “It is important to grasp the scale of what is happening,” he says, referring to the armed extremist group’s gigantic terrorist operation. “People were cruelly killed”;
- He concludes that Netanyahu must first strengthen himself after the attacks, but that the prime minister’s government will inevitably become “impractical.” At some point the bill will come,” he says.
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The O Assunto podcast is produced by: Mônica Mariotti, Amanda Polato, Lorena Lara, Gabriel de Campos, Luiz Felipe Silva, Thiago Kaczuroski, Eto Osclighter and Nayara Fernandes. Presentation: Natuza Nery. This week in the presentation: Julia Duailibi.
1 of 1 Natuza Nery, host of the podcast O Assunto — Photo: g1 Natuza Nery, host of the podcast O Assunto — Photo: g1