Welcome to Pazzi of the world, I'm Ben Rhodes and this is another special episode in the lead

up to November's election where we're looking at what the stakes are for our foreign policy

and the world as a whole.

Last week we focused on the war in Ukraine. This time we'll look at the war between Israel and Hamas in its continued escalation across the Middle East as Israel has decimated Hezbollah's leadership and bombed Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.

It's been over a year since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th,

killing nearly 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages.

In the aftermath, Israel has waged a relentless military campaign in Gaza, killing over 40,000

people, including 20,000 children,

more than all the civilian casualties in the war in Ukraine.

It's almost impossible to describe the horror

of the conditions in Gaza.

Just about every person has been displaced. Most homes have been

destroyed. Gazans have been living on the precipice of famine. Multiple health crises have broken

out. The bulk of this destruction has been done with U.S. weapons,

which have continued to flow without conditions to Bibi Netanyahu and the Israeli government.

The U.S. has tried repeatedly to negotiate a ceasefire that could secure the release of hostages,

including the 97 who remain in Gaza.

But those efforts have failed.

Meanwhile, rocket attacks into Northern Israel by Hezbollah caused a displacement of tens of thousands of Israelis.

Earlier this fall, Israel launched attacks on Lebanon.

First, with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies to take out Hezbollah operatives,

and then with a bombing campaign that killed Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah

...