Michael Oren

Now it’s the first time that I’ve seen in history when we have the opportunity to make the strategy the strategy. It’s not a tactic.

We want to retain the regional alliance that emerged after last Saturday night of moderate Sunni state standing, you know, basically shoulder to shoulder with us against Iran.

I think that the minister Ben-Gvir's posting was totally indefensible and irresponsible and dangerous.

You can shoot 350 projectiles at us. And if one of them had gotten through, it could have killed thousands of people.

If the United States gets behind this effort to stop both of these extremisms together with Israel, there are tremendous opportunities here.

Hamas knows once it released the last 10 hostages, then Israel can then go into those tunnels, flood them with water, flood them with whatever flammable substance that we can find, and that will be the end of Hamas.

We know that when we send our children out to battle, if they -- you know, God forbid -- fall prisoner, the state will do everything, everything to get it back.

Israel has to, on one hand, defend itself, defend the country, restore its internal security because we have 250,000 people who can't go back to their homes.

If the ceasefire goes on, Hamas is going to use that period to lay more booby traps, to move equipment around.

Terrorist organizations do not negotiate in good faith. They move the football. They will play with the emotions of Israelis. They'll torture Israelis. It's part of their terror. It's actually part of their strategy.

This is the horrible reality of this war, and it's just in our -- no, it's not just a story. I'm a dad and a grandad, and it's just heartbreaking, the whole thing.