Speaker 1: Talk station. Brian Thomas happy to see an update on
Speaker 1: the fifty five carse Morning Show rundown and please as
Speaker 1: I can be to Welcome to the fifty five Carsite
Speaker 1: Morning Show. He is the captain of an elite commando
Speaker 1: unit in the Israeli Defense Forces. His name El Kana
Speaker 1: aka Kuna Cohen, and he's joined the program to talk
Speaker 1: about his new book and give us an update on
Speaker 1: the situation in Israel right now. The book October seventh,
Speaker 1: The War against SMAs through the Eyes of an Israeli
Speaker 1: Commando Officer. Welcome to the fifty five KRSS Morning Show,
Speaker 1: Captain Cohen. It's a pleasure to have you on today, sir.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having It's a great privilege to participate
Speaker 2: your program.
Speaker 1: Well before we get into October seventh and the aftermath,
Speaker 1: I want to quickly ask you, and I know Benjamin n.
Speaker 1: Yahoo has not gone on records saying Israel is responsible
Speaker 1: for the cell phone blowing the his balla cell phones
Speaker 1: blowing up, and yesterday the walkie talkie's blowing up. I
Speaker 1: just am in awe of how that was able to
Speaker 1: be pulled off. What is your reaction to the ability
Speaker 1: to get those devices into the hands of the members
Speaker 1: of the terrorist organization and set them off by remote control.
Speaker 1: That has really had to have blown his ball of minds,
Speaker 1: not literally, or maybe it is literally in some cases,
Speaker 1: but they have to be reeling from the effectiveness of
Speaker 1: that attack.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's amazing. As you just mentioned, Israel
Speaker 2: or the government or the idea did into the responsibility.
Speaker 2: But I think that we can learn from the action
Speaker 2: that we work very accurate in order to make sure
Speaker 2: that there is no any collateral damage. And the only
Speaker 2: people who got HERI in this action was the terrorists themselves.
Speaker 2: That they were holding pagers and Milwaukee tokis they only
Speaker 2: used for terrorisms.
Speaker 1: Well, and that you got them in the hands of
Speaker 1: the terrorists alone is pretty amazing. Now, I saw that
Speaker 1: the Israeli cabinet has given Prime Minister net and Yahoo
Speaker 1: and Defense Minister go out the authorization take military action
Speaker 1: against Osbawa. Is this the the limiting nature of the attack?
Speaker 1: In other words, you've taken away of his balla's ability
Speaker 1: to communicate, or you haven't. Their ability to communicate has
Speaker 1: been severely disrupted. Is that does not that represent a
Speaker 1: great time to move in because they're going to be
Speaker 1: in a state of disarray for a while because the
Speaker 1: only way they apparently could be able to communicate is
Speaker 1: by mail.
Speaker 2: So I'm not connected to all the information at the end.
Speaker 2: I'm an captain an officer in the Ideas. But as
Speaker 2: you just mentioned, I truly think that we did harm
Speaker 2: their communication and it's probably a good time for us
Speaker 2: to react sometimes, you know, we don't have all the information.
Speaker 2: Probably the Prime Minister and the Idea have everything, and
Speaker 2: I'm assuming that we are playing serious things ahead. I
Speaker 2: also can tell you that the Ideas mentioned that he's
Speaker 2: moving the center of the fight into up north instead
Speaker 2: of the Gaza Strip.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, pivoting back over to the Gaza Strip, which
Speaker 1: is the subject of your book, October seventh War against
Speaker 1: some Aster. The is of an Israeli commando officer prior
Speaker 1: to that terrible day October seventh, What is it like
Speaker 1: to be an Israeli citizen on the Israeli side of
Speaker 1: the fence and Gaza being right there, obviously literally next
Speaker 1: door with it's an area that is run by a
Speaker 1: terrorist organization that has held bent on eradicating the Israeli people.
Speaker 1: What is the stress level like? How do the people
Speaker 1: feel prior to October seventh, day to day living with
Speaker 1: that threat right there, considering the rockets being launched and everything,
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's good that you manage how that
Speaker 2: you mentioned the fact that we are a citizen. Also
Speaker 2: me right now while I'm talking to you, I'm a
Speaker 2: reserve captain. I'm not an octaviuty. And on October seven,
Speaker 2: I figured that I had to go into the army
Speaker 2: to the ideas to defend my country. But that day,
Speaker 2: on the morning, I was with my father in law,
Speaker 2: with my parents in law. We were celebrating holiday. And
Speaker 2: then it's a shocking knowledge. It will be shocking knowledge
Speaker 2: for you. My wife woke me up. It was five
Speaker 2: point thirty in the morning. She had a nightmare and
Speaker 2: she told me she were terrified and told me that
Speaker 2: in her nightmare, one hundreds of teubles were chasing us
Speaker 2: and I couldn't use my gun in order to defend
Speaker 2: herselfs I hugged her back and I told her she
Speaker 2: don't worry, everything will be fine. And then one hour
Speaker 2: later I was awaken up by the iron daum system
Speaker 2: that were activated from the missile that we're shooting from
Speaker 2: God that told to Israel. You asked me, how is
Speaker 2: it to live here in Israel? So I think Israeli,
Speaker 2: everyone who know Israeli, they know that we have great
Speaker 2: spirits and we I've been through some dark times. And unfortunately,
Speaker 2: while we're talking, we still have one hundred and one
Speaker 2: hostages in captivity. One hundred and one. It's it's an
Speaker 2: insane number. They're incuptivity already for three hundred and forty
Speaker 2: eight days. It's it's unbelievable. But I think we are
Speaker 2: with a great spirit. We have our time here right now,
Speaker 2: but we know that we will we will manage that
Speaker 2: and we will be able to defeat uh, this evil
Speaker 2: and this terror group. By the way, it's not just
Speaker 2: from us, it's I went through Gaza and soon I'm
Speaker 2: going to share some of my experience there. But I
Speaker 2: just want to tell you the majority of the people
Speaker 2: who live at Gaza, at least the places that I've
Speaker 2: been to the northern part of the Gaza Strip, support
Speaker 2: the elimination of Israel, the elimination of the West in total.
Speaker 1: Well, that certainly is the is the big sure in
Speaker 1: the image that I get, and I suppose that the
Speaker 1: October seventh terror operation, the murder of innocent women, children,
Speaker 1: young people, people who are not uniformed military combatants. That
Speaker 1: reminded me a lot of nine to eleven. And we
Speaker 1: use nine to eleven as a justification for launching wars
Speaker 1: in the Middle East. And I hear a bunch of
Speaker 1: people who are anti Israel, at least lean that way,
Speaker 1: complain about collateral damage. Were you going into Gaza to
Speaker 1: defend yourself against the horrors of the war that was
Speaker 1: launched on your country. I don't understand that, sir. So
Speaker 1: to those people who complain only about innocent women and
Speaker 1: children in collateral damage, would you explain to them the
Speaker 1: efforts that Israel goes through before they enter into it
Speaker 1: and start launching bombs and going into combat in areas
Speaker 1: like Gaza.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me answer your question. First of all, let's
Speaker 2: put it in numbers. On October seven, two hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty three people were kidnapped. In one thousand, two hundred
Speaker 2: people were slaughtered. If we compare that to the US,
Speaker 2: it's in the seven thousand, five hundred people were slaughtered. Sorry,
Speaker 2: we're kidnapped, and thirty six people were slaughtered that day.
Speaker 2: It's it's number that everyone just cannot think about it.
Speaker 2: It's outrageous. So first of all, when people say, you know,
Speaker 2: like a proportional response, what will be your proportional response
Speaker 2: for this amount of people who getting kidnapped and slaughtered?
Speaker 2: But I'm putting that aside. One second, I want to
Speaker 2: share one of my experiences during that time in Gaza.
Speaker 2: One of we got an intel of a school that
Speaker 2: were full with infrastructures for terror and we knew that
Speaker 2: we have to conquer that place. But we also knew
Speaker 2: that that school was school with civilians. So as we
Speaker 2: always do, I'm telling you, as we always do, we
Speaker 2: stuck calling them all out, but no one left the area.
Speaker 2: So we use the drone in orders to skin the
Speaker 2: to scan the school from above from the air, and
Speaker 2: then on we saw that there is Hamas guard inside
Speaker 2: that school. They didn't let those citizens to leave the school.
Speaker 2: More than that, one of the kids, I think was
Speaker 2: five years old try to run away and the Hamas
Speaker 2: guard shoot him in his head and kill them in
Speaker 2: front of his mom. Oh my god, that time I realized,
Speaker 2: we realized that we have to kill those guards. So
Speaker 2: after a couple of moments, later, one of the Hamas
Speaker 2: guard went on the rooftop. He went holding was holding
Speaker 2: a baby. Just in front of us. He was holding
Speaker 2: a baby. He knew exactly where we were. We wore
Speaker 2: a couple of one hundred meters away. He knew where
Speaker 2: we were, where we are staying. And behind them was
Speaker 2: a guy with a camera. They just waited for us
Speaker 2: to take that shot. And we didn't took the shot
Speaker 2: because unlike those savages, I have no other wall to
Speaker 2: describe that. We don't use innocent people, and we don't
Speaker 2: we don't slaughter baby as they just did on October seventh,
Speaker 2: and keep doing, by the way, because a few weeks
Speaker 2: ago we just got a great reminder murdering executing these
Speaker 2: six lovely hostages that were about to get rescued. So
Speaker 2: it was holding that baby what And we didn't took
Speaker 2: that shot, even though it's meant for us that we're
Speaker 2: putting our life on the line, because as I just
Speaker 2: told you, they knew exactly where we were. They could
Speaker 2: have aimed any RPG missile at forty seven that they
Speaker 2: had towards us. Yet we put our life on the
Speaker 2: danger and we didn't took that shot. Later on the
Speaker 2: same Hamas gard went on the roofstop again. It was
Speaker 2: surrounded by a group of women, one of them banned
Speaker 2: a little bit. It was enough for our sniper to
Speaker 2: take that shot and to eliminate that threat. And I'm
Speaker 2: sharing this experience because I want people to understand what's
Speaker 2: actually going on through this war. We're doing endless efforts
Speaker 2: in order to avoid any casualties. And then you just
Speaker 2: mentioned there's people who protest against.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I find that hard to believe. But I
Speaker 1: understand the disdain so many people have for Israel. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know that it exists. I don't understand where that
Speaker 1: hatred and disdain comes from, but there it is. And
Speaker 1: you mentioned the Gaza citizenry generally speaking, they're all anti Israel.
Speaker 1: They want to eradicate Israel generally speaking, which of course
Speaker 1: is the goal of Hamas, who runs Gaza. What is
Speaker 1: your belief what would you consider success, Captain Cohen. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you went in and you were able to eliminate
Speaker 1: every single member of Hamas and or Habala, the citizenry,
Speaker 1: maybe people who are not members haven't yet taken up arms,
Speaker 1: still have that same philosophy, so you'll still be living
Speaker 1: next to people who want to eliminate you. Don't you
Speaker 1: see that as a possible They could just like phoenix
Speaker 1: from the ashes, arise again in a different form or
Speaker 1: reform under the name Hamas or Hezbala. How can you
Speaker 1: win the war?
Speaker 2: I think first of all, we need to understand that
Speaker 2: we need our brother and sister back here alive as
Speaker 2: soon as possible, and this is what we're fighting for.
Speaker 2: We're fighting for our sake, but also for the Palestinian's sake.
Speaker 2: As I just mentioned, Hamasta doesn't care about his own people.
Speaker 2: He uses human hills. You're right, you just mentioned that
Speaker 2: they can rise from the ashes and through a different organizations.
Speaker 2: So after were making sure that everyone who support our
Speaker 2: desks is not able to do anything like that again.
Speaker 2: In the future, our main goal will be to re
Speaker 2: educating them and to show them what life's supposed to dealiz.
Speaker 2: You know, if you look at Israel, if you I
Speaker 2: don't know if you've ever been to Israel, but Israel
Speaker 2: it's a lovely place. We have huge Haita company over here,
Speaker 2: the nicest resort, amazing innovation, and just seventy years ago
Speaker 2: we went through a holocaust with six million Jews were killed,
Speaker 2: so we had every reason to be miserable to tell
Speaker 2: the world story and we can't do anything. And yet
Speaker 2: we managed to build an amazing state. And yet you
Speaker 2: can hear the Palestinians as they pronounce themselves. Even if
Speaker 2: there is something like that, they always looked for the
Speaker 2: past they have. I'm telling you, I've been through Gaza.
Speaker 2: They had the nicest bitches o reserve, but unfortunately they
Speaker 2: take every money that they had in order to invest
Speaker 2: and build terror tunnel, terror infrastructure, and we need to
Speaker 2: make sure to show them that we can do different.
Speaker 2: I want to have a boring life. I don't want
Speaker 2: to spend the last year I spent over two hundred
Speaker 2: and fourty days on reserve. I shut down my business
Speaker 2: that day. And as I told you and expecting father,
Speaker 2: I don't want to participate war. But unfortunately I understand
Speaker 2: that we have to fight it. As long that they
Speaker 2: are fighting and they want to destroy my country, to
Speaker 2: kill my people, I'll do everything that it takes to
Speaker 2: make sure that I'm protecting them.
Speaker 1: I understand that, like a grown up sir, I certainly
Speaker 1: understand that. But the biggest problem, the elephant in the room,
Speaker 1: if I may be so bold, the Iranians are the
Speaker 1: ones that are funding this. If the Iranians would not
Speaker 1: provide the weaponry, the money, the war machinery to these
Speaker 1: terrorist organizations, I think you would be in a much
Speaker 1: better place because the terrorist organizations, as much as they
Speaker 1: might want to eradicate you, are unable to do so
Speaker 1: without military hardware and rockets. What do we do with Iran?
Speaker 2: You're definitely right, You're definitely right. I think the entire
Speaker 2: of the world should understand that and to do embargos
Speaker 2: and you know, just world pressure against terrorism against Iran,
Speaker 2: against Ri Bala, against the SEA organization in them and Lebanon, Syria.
Speaker 2: They all part of the same network. And just amazing
Speaker 2: because as as we just saw two days ago, one
Speaker 2: of the Iranian UH representatives in his in Lebanon got
Speaker 2: heard from those UH UH walkie TALKI explosions. Just show
Speaker 2: learn only only you know, only the people who connected
Speaker 2: to his Bala had those those radio and yeah, this
Speaker 2: guy got hurt. So just show you that deep connection
Speaker 2: that they that they have between Iran to to Chris Bala.
Speaker 2: And I can tell you that I saw multiple weapons
Speaker 2: inside the Gaza strip that were made by Iran. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think the entire world should understand and and and
Speaker 2: do as much pressure as we can.
Speaker 1: Well, if it was up to me, I would do
Speaker 1: everything in my power to get the Iranians eradicated myself.
Speaker 1: They are obviously a source of discontent, weaponry, and war,
Speaker 1: and they hate us as much as the the Hamas
Speaker 1: hates Israel. So, sir, you're obviously very brave. I wish
Speaker 1: you all the best, and you're the fact that your
Speaker 1: wife is pregnant, you're you're you're waiting to become a
Speaker 1: father in the middle of this crisis is proof that
Speaker 1: the world continues to evolve and move on and live,
Speaker 1: thrive and survive. So I wish you and your wife
Speaker 1: the best of health and uh and you have a
Speaker 1: word or two you want to say about your fellow
Speaker 1: soldiers before we part company today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, first of all, I want to say about
Speaker 2: my fellow soldier and about my comrades. I think that
Speaker 2: I have an amazing team, and I have an amazing people,
Speaker 2: and I wish the war knew them, you know, privately,
Speaker 2: because personally, I'm sorry because we all people who want
Speaker 2: to leave, who want to be with our family, but
Speaker 2: we know that sometimes we need to put everything aside
Speaker 2: and fight talk for our country. But I also want
Speaker 2: to say thank you for all the people in the
Speaker 2: US who are supporting us. It's mean a lot and
Speaker 2: I'm very grateful for that. Please keep do that, keep support,
Speaker 2: keep even share this interview, do whatever you can in
Speaker 2: order to show the world what actually is going on
Speaker 2: right now while we're talking. And if anyone has any questions,
Speaker 2: you more than welcome to talk to me through my
Speaker 2: Instagram account it is Kanna under school who know no
Speaker 2: e l k A n A under School k u
Speaker 2: n O or through my website l cannat dashcoin dot
Speaker 2: com E l k a n A dash c o
Speaker 2: h e n dot com. And I can tell you
Speaker 2: last thing that hopefully I'm coming soon to the US
Speaker 2: for speaking to our to share our experience, to share
Speaker 2: the world what actually is going on. And if there
Speaker 2: is anyone here who wants me to come to congregation
Speaker 2: to his community, you're more than welcome to reach me
Speaker 2: out through my website or my social accounts. And I
Speaker 2: would like to talk to you with everyone.
Speaker 1: Captain Elkanna Kuno Cohen. It has been a real pleasure
Speaker 1: having you on the morning show. Thank you for documenting
Speaker 1: this in the book October seventh, The War against Somemas
Speaker 1: through the Eyes of an Israeli Commando Officer, Sir. That
Speaker 1: book is on my web page at fifty five cares
Speaker 1: dot com. My listeners can easily get a copy of
Speaker 1: it and reach out to you if they are interested
Speaker 1: in engaging in a communication with you. I wish you
Speaker 1: all the best and safety, and I wish you the
Speaker 1: best of success, sir, in your effort to wipe out
Speaker 1: these terrorists. Thank you very much, been my pleasure, my
Speaker 1: pleasure having you on the program seven coming up on
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Speaker 2: This is fifty five KRC, an iHeartRadio station.