BBC OS Conversations: Israelis discuss the war in Gaza

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas and recent warnings of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, have led to a ratcheting up of pressure on Israel, not just from its critics, but from its international allies. Emotions run deep amongst Israelis themselves, and opinions differ about their country’s military response. Simon King, a survivor of the 7 October attack on Kibbutz Be’eri remembers the horror of the day clearly and says the event has completely changed his perspective. Sharone Lifschitz’s elderly parents were seized by militants from their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her mother was released alive 17 days later, but her father died in captivity. In contrast to Simon, her view is that there are innocent children caught up in this conflict, and for their sake, and that of the remaining hostages, the offensive needs to end. We also hear from Hen Mazzig, an author and academic, and Oshy Ellman, an international relations consultant and commentator. They too disagree strongly on whether Israel should end the war now.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Mark Lohen. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. In BBC OS
0:11.9	conversations, we bring people together to share their experiences and their views. This time we're
0:17.5	listening to Israelis discussing the war in Gaza.
0:27.1	Recent warnings of mass starvation and a humanitarian crisis in Gaza have led to a ratcheting up of pressure on Israel, not just from its critics, but from its allies too.
0:33.6	The UK, France, Canada and Germany have given their strongest criticism yet of Israel's ongoing military offensive,
0:41.2	and the EU has condemned a new aid distribution system which bypasses the UN and other humanitarian organisations.
0:49.0	Israel's determination to destroy Hamas still commands a lot of support in Israel,
0:56.4	but others want the government to end the war and focus on bringing the remaining hostages home. We've heard previously on OS conversations
1:03.0	from people on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border, most recently a few weeks ago in our episode
1:08.7	Inside Gaza. Today we hear just some of the wide-ranging views held by Israelis living in Israel and abroad.
1:18.1	They all spoke to us before details of a new ceasefire plan accepted by Israel emerged.
1:23.6	As we record this, it's unclear if Hamas will agree to its terms or if it will lead to a permanent end to the war.
1:33.0	We begin with a conversation between Gen Mazig, who's an author and senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute,
1:38.9	and Oshie Elman, an international relations consultant and commentator on the current situation.
1:45.0	It was recorded before the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the new aid system backed by the
1:50.2	US and Israel, but not by the UN, started distributing food inside Gaza.
1:55.8	Israel does not allow international journalists, including the BBC, to enter Gaza to report freely, but the
2:02.1	scenes from there have shown a chaotic start. Israel disputes this and says nearly two million
2:08.0	meals have been distributed to date. This all follows an 11-week blockade by Israel. A few days
2:15.6	after that blockade was lifted, I asked Chen and Oshie if they thought Israel was taking the right approach. Oshie began.
2:23.8	First, I think it's letting aid, and I think Israel's managing the aid now rather than letting Hamas manage the aid,
2:30.2	which means that the Gazan population will actually get food and drink rather than being
	...

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