The Excerpt podcast: Israel wants to assassinate terror leaders worldwide

On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer explains Israel's global assassination campaign, and what it might mean for the region. The White House was in the dark for days about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization. Lawmakers announce a funding agreement that could help avoid a government shutdown. USA TODAY Health Breaking News Reporter Eduardo Cuevas looks at new research around ibogaine and combat veterans' PTSD. The Golden Globes ramped up film award season.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, January 8th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today we look at Israel's vowed campaign to kill terror leaders worldwide. Plus, lawmakers have reached a funding agreement to try and avoid a government shutdown, and how Ibogaine appears to help combat veterans for PTSD.

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Yesterday marked three months since Hamas militants in Israel killed some 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. In the months since, Israel has slammed Gaza with air and ground strikes, killing at least 22,000 people, while displacing the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million person population. Meanwhile, Israel last week promised a repeat of the so-called Wrath of God campaign launched in the 1970s. I spoke with USA Today Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer about what the current campaign may entail. Josh, thanks for making the time.

Josh Meyer:

Always, Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

Josh, I want to just get a little bit of history here at the top. What was Israel's so-called Wrath of God campaign in the 1970s?

Josh Meyer:

Wrath of God was a campaign that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, launched after Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches during the Munich Olympics in 1972. After that Israel vowed to travel the world, hunt these people down and kill them, in part because it didn't think that it had any support from the international community and going after them any other way.

And so these teams, covert teams, systematically went around the world and killed these operatives that they believed were responsible for Munich and other terrorist attacks over the next as many as 20 years.

Taylor Wilson:

And so, Josh, what do we know about Israel possibly carrying out a similar campaign this time around, and how might this campaign differ as well?

Josh Meyer:

Well, Taylor, I mean this time they came right out and said they're going to do it. Before, in 1972, the campaign approved by Prime Minister Golda Meir, that was done in secret. Obviously when the assassinations started piling up, people assumed that it might be Israel.

But in this case the head of Mossad, David Barnea, announced it the other day, basically saying Israel is committed to settling accounts with the murderers behind October 7th, that being the date of the Hamas attacks against Israel, of course. And it said that it doesn't want to just kill a few men, it wants to turn the hunters into the hunted. And what he said was, "It'll take time, as it took time after the Munich massacre, but we will put our hands on them wherever they are."

Taylor Wilson:

Strong words. Josh, we've had similar discussions here on the show before, but our targeted assassination campaigns like this legal under international law?

Josh Meyer:

Well, it depends on who you ask. I spoke to Steven Rapp, who was probably one of the most preeminent scholars on this. He was a Senior Justice Department official. He was also the first US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes. And he said that actually targeted killings are allowed under international law, under the right circumstances. I mean, these people are considered to be enemy combatants, and so if they are far from the battlefield, under the right circumstances they can be taken out or taken off the battlefield. There are other issues at play, though, of course. One is the sovereignty of other nations. Another is that you are supposed to exhaust other avenues first, including law enforcement, arrest, and prosecution.

One thing that Rapp said, which is worth noting, is that in some of these targeted killings, including the ones under Operation Wrath of God, there are much more precision strikes in the sense of really just going after one person, either by shooting them or blowing up their apartment. In the Wrath of God some of these guys were taken out with an exploding telephone or mattress. So when you do that kind of attack, you are having less collateral damage than when you blow somebody up with a drone strike, for instance.

Taylor Wilson:

What impacts can we foresee here, Josh, from this campaign, whether it be for Israel, the war in Gaza, or just broad tensions across the region and the world?

Josh Meyer:

We don't know for sure now. There's already been one targeted killing that we believe was linked to this. Saleh al-Arouri, who I wrote about a few months ago, he was taken out in a drone strike in a Beirut neighborhood just a few days ago, with some other Hamas operatives. And Israel has not taken or claimed responsibility for that. They haven't denied responsibility for it, but it does seem like this operation is ramping up. Hamas and Hezbollah and Lebanon have all blamed Israel for that attack.

But we don't know what's coming up next. We don't know if there's going to be more attacks, where they're going to be and when. I think one of the big questions is whether they're going to be taking out the political leaders of Hamas, people like Ismail Haniyeh, who are based in Qatar and who are negotiating as we speak for basically the release of the hostages that Hamas still has in custody.

Taylor Wilson:

Josh Meyer, great insight as always. Thanks so much.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure. Thanks, Taylor.

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Taylor Wilson:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged concerns about his secret hospitalization, but did not reveal more details in a statement released Saturday by the Pentagon. The Pentagon disclosed late Friday that Austin had been hospitalized after complications from an elective procedure. Neither Austin nor the Pentagon has revealed the nature of his illness, but we know he was hospitalized on January 1st. The Pentagon did not alert the White House until Thursday about Austin's condition, three days after he had been admitted to the hospital. That's according to a senior defense official who was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. The failures to disclose that Austin had been hospitalized for days was a breach of government norms.

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Congressional leaders have reached a funding agreement to try and avoid a government shutdown, but it's not a done deal yet. Lawmakers reached a $1.66 trillion spending agreement to keep the government open this year, including some 886 billion in defense spending and 772 billion in domestic non-defense spending. It's in line with the deal President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made last year during tense debt ceiling negotiations. But the full House and Senate still have to pass the agreement and then send it to Biden's desk before a government shutdown can be avoided. Funding for a number of domestic programs is set to expire on January 19th.

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A psychedelic drug is showing promising results for combat veterans battling post-traumatic stress disorder. I spoke with USA Today Health Breaking News reporter Eduardo Cuevas for more. Eduardo, thanks for hopping on The Excerpt today.

Eduardo Cuevas:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Let's start with the basics at the top, what is ibogaine?

Eduardo Cuevas:

Ibogaine is a psychoactive drug that comes from the root bark of plants in African rainforests. It's traditionally been used by certain African tribes for ceremonial purposes. In recent years there's been an increased look at its properties, particularly in relation to addiction and depression.

That being said, it's a Schedule I drug in the United States. It's not currently available. Folks who have looked for treatment options have tended to go outside of the United States.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So what have we learned through some of this recent research about ibogaine and it's apparent effect on PTSD? What did this study look like?

Eduardo Cuevas:

This study's pretty unique because by all accounts it's pretty grassroots. Stanford researchers followed around 30 Special Forces combat veterans who traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, crossing the border and undergoing ibogaine treatment under supervision of medical staff.

Something to note, Taylor, this is an observational study, so this is really Stanford researchers following along as they went through this treatment. But what Stanford researchers observed is they showed improvements in testing on PTSD, depression and anxiety. Outside experts noted something that's pretty interesting, they showed improvements in cognitive functions, which is really promising for those veterans in looking for better life really.

Taylor Wilson:

Are there any downsides of using ibogaine in this way? What has the research found there?

Eduardo Cuevas:

One of the really serious concerns is ibogaine can affect heart rhythm on patients, which can be fatal. And in this study, participants at this clinic in Tijuana were given an IV dose of magnesium to mitigate that risk. Just to note as well, this is not a drug that should be misused. These folks were monitored before, during, and after to ensure safety.

I do want to note some of the limitations in the study. This is a small sample. This is 30 Special Forces veterans, folks who have combat experience, folks who are relatively in really good physical shape. These are also very resilient folks as veterans. That's one thing to note. The other thing is this is not a controlled study, so this is observational. Another part of that is what one professor I spoke with mentioned was expectancy. And this is, "Hey, I'm going to get this treatment. I'm looking for a solution," so that may affect it. So those are things that we have to really think about in terms of limitations.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, and I mean, Eduardo, as you've outlined, we're talking about research that happened over the border in Tijuana. Ibogaine is not currently available in the US for these treatments. Can we expect it stateside anytime soon or what happens next here?

Eduardo Cuevas:

Congress's latest National Defense Authorization Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law just before Christmas, includes funding for psychedelic research on active duty service members. That provides around 10 million in grants to go into research.

The person driving that in Congress, or one of the representatives, is Congressman Dan Crenshaw. He's a Texas Republican who fought for the funding. To know I think it's important as well, he's a former Navy SEAL and combat veteran in Iraq and Afghanistan. And he said the Stanford study really moves this forward into psychedelic research. And the overall goal he told me is finding those safe psychedelic therapies through clinical trials, and the Stanford study moves that in the right direction with results that folks say is pretty promising. Again, we need more research on this.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Eduardo Cuevas covers health for USA Today. Thanks for the time, Eduardo.

Eduardo Cuevas:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

If you or someone needs mental health resources and support, please call or text 988, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services.

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Movie award season kicked into high gear last night with the Golden Globes. The show honored several first-time winners, including Lily Gladstone, who made history becoming the first Indigenous woman to win the award for Best Actress in a Drama for her work in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Barbie entered the night with nominations in nine categories and took home two wins, including in the new Cinematic and Box Office Achievement category. The other half of this summer's Barbenheimer sensation, Oppenheimer, fared better with five wins, including for Best Drama and Best Director, Christopher Nolan. On the television side Succession and The Bear took home some of the biggest awards. You can find a full recap of the night with a link in today's show notes.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you use a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Excerpt: Israel wants to assassinate terror leaders worldwide