The PDB Situation Report | October 10th, 2026: How Hamas' October 7th Attack Changed the Middle East Forever

Mike Baker (0:07)

Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Coming to you today from my posh wood paneled office at home on the Boise compound.

Yeah, smells like rich mahogany, leather bound books. Let's get briefed. First up, this week marks three years since the October 7th Hamas attacks. And the Middle East has been transformed by years of war and a widening conflict with Iran. Alex Selsky of the Middle East Forum will join us to examine how the strategic picture has changed and what lies ahead. Later in the show, federal officers are reporting a massive surge in terrorism related encounters at the southern border. Well, that sounds good. Art Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies joins us to break down what those numbers mean. But first, today's Situation Report Spotlight.

This week marked three years since the brutal October 7th attacks when Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Three years later, the Middle East looks dramatically different. Israel has fought a devastating war in Gaza, battled Hezbollah in Lebanon, and now finds itself confronting Iran in a broader regional conflict that's drawn in the US.

But how has the strategic picture in the Middle East changed over the past three years? Where does Israel stand today following its wars with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran? And after three years of fighting, well, what comes next? Joining me now is Alex Selsky, Director of Israel and East Mediterranean Affairs at the Middle East Forum and a Reserve Major in the IDF Homefront Command. Alex, thank you very much for taking the time to join us here on the Situation Report.

Alex Selsky (1:53)

Thank you, Mike, good evening from Jerusalem, thank you for having me.

Mike Baker (1:56)

Absolutely. Well, here we are, three years on from the 7th October 2023 attacks. So much has changed in the Middle East.

And I know this is going to be a very difficult question because it's hard to prioritize, but from your perspective, three years on now from those attacks, how would you assess the most important changes that have taken place? And again, that's a big playing field, but I want you to go wherever you'd like to go with this.

Alex Selsky (2:33)

Yes. Well, I would like to mention maybe one big change, internal and one external. And I would like to start from internal. I think that Israelis have changed.

And those who still believed in partnership and negotiations with the Palestinians, I think, were very, very disappointed. You have to understand that those in the area that was attacked, those in these settlements, Kibbutzim, right? Kibbutzim is a kind of a small community, communist kind of, right? It was shared and everything is shared between people. And the people who lived there were the most pro-Palestinian. They were helping Palestinians, sending their clothes to Gaza, taking children, Palestinian children to Israeli hospitals by their cars. And not only they were those who were attacked. In many cases, Mike, they were attacked. And the intelligence on their home locations were provided by the families, by the workers that were working in the Kibbutzim, or by the families that they knew. And the disappointment, this deep disappointment was shocking for them. Now, you know, I, in a way, grew up in this area. I know this area, I know the people, I know the kind of, you know, their opinions and their living.

And I understand how deep they were disappointed. So I think that Israeli society has shifted toward the understanding that, unfortunately, justice doesn't provide security. What provides security is power, military power, and being nice and providing good doesn't provide security. Definitely not in our area, definitely not with our neighbors. And this shift is very significant. First of all, because I think the young people understood that they have to fight, and it's not over. You know, we thought that many Israelis thought that we are in times of the beaches and sea and bars and high tech and Tel Aviv. You know, if you come to Tel Aviv, you see California. And we thought that we are in a stage of our development where we don't want to fight, and we think we should not fight anymore. We want the wars, and we are secured. And this generation of young people is spoiled, but we discovered that no, the young people went to the front line.

The day after October 7th, people were, many, many young people were abroad and American. You are traveling, you know, Israelis love traveling, you know, if you travel, I'm sure you hear Hebrew a lot. And, you know, we would just, in some few places in, you know, in Georgia and other places, and it's just amazing, like you come to places you don't imagine you will find Israelis, and you find them, you hear Hebrew. And people paid five, six, $7,000 to get in a plane, to go back home, to fight, to defend your, you know, homeland.