Dan analyzes (with key soundbites) the decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his security cabinet -- announced Friday morning (August 8) -- to try to conquer Gaza City, as a first step toward taking over the entire Gaza Strip. Doesn't this doom the hostages? Obviously, more Palestinians and more IDF troops will die.

On Iran -- Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution (in Washington DC), discusses her article in FOREIGN AFFAIRS: "Iran's Dangerous Desperation," seeing a strong possibility that Iran will try to resume its nuclear program. We hear President Trump say they wouldn't dare!

Also -- at a U.N. meeting focused on the hostages held in Gaza, Israel's foreign minister aired his claim of "blood libels" against the Jewish state.

Please comment on X at @danraviv. Also on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Dan's most recent book -- with Israeli espionage/defense expert Yossi Melman -- about the Mossad and Israel's other security agencies is "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars" -- You may purchase it at http://bit.ly/41j1Sc3 in Kindle or paperback (and on all e-book platforms).

AND ANOTHER BOOK: Dan Raviv is co-author of a new book -- with world-renowned social psychologist Prof. Arie Kruglanski -- "The Quest for Significance: Harnessing the Need that Makes the World Go Round." It explains how every person has a need for respect and dignity, and the book advises how you can find what's important to you -- and figure out all the people around you, to give them a measure of Significance ... and then they typically will reflect some back at you. That's called a win-win. To buy: https://amzn.to/3Y2cawj

(You can watch or listen, also, to THE QUEST FOR SIGNIFICANCE PODCAST series.)

Our music for THE MOSSAD FILES podcast is Clock is Ticking, by Braden Deal, from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/braden-deal/clock-is-ticking -- License code: YY2MEPOUFX6P7MIH.