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151: Could the hostages have come home sooner? With Brett McGurk
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What actually brought hostages home, and why did it take so long? Brett McGurk, who led Biden’s efforts to free the October 7 hostages, joins Haviv to discuss his new book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages. From secret Saudi talks to the showdown over Rafah, he describes the decisions, failures and breakthroughs behind the negotiations -- and why he concluded that a deal would remain out of reach while Yahya Sinwar was alive.
You can buy the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/843630/brink-by-brett-mcgurk/
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This episode is sponsored by a friend of the podcast, Professor Robert Hockett, a Rhodes Scholar and professor of law and finance at Cornell University, who wishes regularly to support this podcast and this community, he writes us, which in his words “demonstrate with astonishing frequency that theology and history in the Middle East do not code easily as Western left or right, and that treating these subjects deeply, not facily, actually makes them more comprehensible, not more obscure or intractable.”
Thank you so much to Prof. Hockett for his support.
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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.