‘Hamas invasion is Pearl Harbor of Israel,’ Joel Rosenberg tells Newsmax

ALL ISRAEL NEWS Founder and Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg spoke with Newsmax's Sunday Report about the situation in Israel as the nation intensifies its war effort against the Hamas terror organization operating out of the Gaza Strip.

Rosenberg spoke about the shock and confusion that many Israelis now feel, wondering how the government could have allowed such an attack to take place.

He compared the Hamas surprise attack to the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, saying, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Read the full transcript below, lightly edited for clarity.

JON GLASGOW: Joining us now is the host and executive producer of The Rosenberg Report and the editor-in-chief at ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS, Joel Rosenberg.

First off, I want to just touch base. You're in Jerusalem right now, from what we understand. What's the feeling like right now in Israel?

JOEL ROSENBERG: This is the Pearl Harbor of Israel. We've just experienced our own 9/11.

I've been traveling back and forth to Israel for 35 years. I became a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen nine years ago. And I live here in Jerusalem, as you said, I run ALL ISRAEL NEWS. We're tracking these issues. But I've never seen anything like this. These series of attacks that began yesterday morning at 6:30 local time has left more than 600 Israelis dead, more than 2,000 Israelis wounded. There have been more than 3,500 rocket missile attacks.

But I think what's rattled Israel most is, 'How in the world did the Israeli government, the Israeli military, and the Israeli intelligence network, totally miss this and leave our border with Gaza largely undefended?' Especially on the 50th anniversary of the biggest sneak attack before that, which was the Yom Kippur War.

So, there is deep grief. There's deep anger at Hamas, but there's confusion right now at our Israeli leaders. And we're unifying on the fight. But there's going to be some soul searching and there's going to be some payback at some point later on.

EMMA RECHENBERG: Joel, you mentioned both 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. And again, I just want to put the numbers in perspective of over 600 now already dead in Israel. Israel is a small country. So if you would compare that to the size of the United States, that would be like 30,000 deaths in just one day here in the United States, totaling more than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined. So, again, really just want to put that in perspective.

But as you said, the big question is, how is it possible that Israel did not know or anticipate this attack? I also want to know, how was it possible the United States wasn't aware of this attack? At this point, Israel has officially and formally declared war on Hamas. What’s your reaction to that?

ROSENBERG: Yeah, I’m not a big fan of the Biden administration’s policies in the Middle East or worldwide. But I think you’ve got to separate two things: Israel’s responsibility, the Israeli government, military intelligence systems' responsibility to know what’s happening in its backyard. So, this is on Israel, right? And it’s a huge failure. Why? Well, it’s going to take time to find out. I think the broad answer of why we were blindsided is I think the Israeli military system has gotten comfortable with the fact that we keep making peace now with six Arab-Israeli peace treaties. And that sense that things are getting better is true. But it doesn't mean that you can turn your back or close an eye at Hamas terrorists, which are radical Islamist demons. So that's the first thing.

The second thing, though, I would say that while Biden and the Biden administration doesn't have immediate responsibility for our own intelligence failures, but what happened just a few weeks ago, President Biden gave $6 billion to the terrorist regime in Tehran. Right. The Iranian regime. Why? As hostage payments to get some Americans out. All of us who thought that was a mistake said that is going to encourage more terrorism and more hostage taking. Hamas is funded and directed and armed by Iran, and it's impossible to imagine a scenario in which Iran didn't direct this attack, feeling emboldened by the $6 billion they just received from Biden, which was a colossal mistake.

GLASGOW:  Joel, we have to let you go, but I just want to ask you, as someone living there right now, how are you feeling about this situation?

ROSENBERG:  Well, we had eight rocket launches at Jerusalem yesterday, which almost never happens. So, sirens going off, running to your bomb shelter. But mostly it's calm in Jerusalem at the moment. But almost every young man that I know has been mobilized for war. This is the biggest mobilization in probably 20 or maybe 30 years of the army here in Israel. Everybody thinks we're going into a big ground war into Gaza. That will be even worse. So, I don't think the situation is going to get better in the coming days. I think it's going to get worse.

GLASGOW:  All right. Stay safe. We appreciate you joining us here on Sunday Report.