Swapping war stories: Pete Hegseth and an IDF soldier in Hebron

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ete Hegseth grew up in a small town in Minnesota attended Sunday services at a Baptist church and learned the Bible but never met a Jew until he went to Princeton University and met Andy Kane. Hegseth describes their initial conversation as somewhat stilted. “The first thing I said to him is that I read about people like you in the Bible.”

Today Kane and Hegseth a rising star at Fox News are still close friends but after Hegseth’s second visit to Israel last week he’s clearly better informed on Israel than he was during his college days.

At Fox Hegseth provides analysis and commentary during daytime and prime-time programming on the military and politics his areas of expertise. One of his goals in Israel was to do a story comparing and contrasting IDF service to US Army service.

Hegseth noted one fundamental difference right off the bat. “America usually deploys elsewhere in defense of itself whereas in Israel there’s an existential nature of what Israeli forces face in defending their homeland.”

A former infantry captain in the Army National Guard in Afghanistan and Iraq Hegseth earned two Bronze Stars in combat. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard.

The influence of liberal northeastern universities did not budge him from the right-wing views of his evangelical Christian and Republican upbringing but he is painfully aware of the left-wing values he says have infused every level of US education from kindergarten through university.

“We have far too many kids who believe themselves to be citizens of the world and not citizens of America” Hegseth told reporters at a news conference at the King David Hotel. “So they’re not fortified to defend the Constitution or the rule of law or free markets. They’re not willing to believe the American military is a force for good that there are some wars worth fighting and that there’s evil in the world seeking our destruction.”

To change the narrative Hegseth suggested deploying veterans like himself who have stared the enemy in the face traveled the world and understand what our allies are facing. It also helps if they are articulate enough to disseminate their message at universities and other centers of influence.

Asked what Israel can do to help change the narrative Hegseth stressed the importance of bringing groups for a visit. On this visit he himself toured Jerusalem’s Old City including the Muslim Quarter Hebron Sderot the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria. “Seeing the terrain is as important as anything else in whatever battlefield that you’re involved in ” he said “which is why I went back to Iraq multiple times after I had served there.”

Hegseth who also ran a nationwide campaign of veterans opposed to the Iran deal says Israel and its supporters should not give up the fight to roll back that agreement despite the long odds. “Unfortunately many Americans view the deal as an abstraction or look at Iran as a country we have made peace with and don’t realize the existential threat it poses.