Uh, it's not playing well with the electorate.

Uh, that's right.

This is a story that, uh, was published.

It's actually from a book from two Israeli journalists that came out through the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Um, and it is having, uh, some impact on the Israeli election that is due at the end of October.

Um, I was speaking for The Observer, uh, to an Israeli pollster, um, who was saying that this is a very close race.

Um, this is a story, um, that really is putting, uh, the security failures of the October the seventh attacks, uh, front and center, uh, in the election campaign.

Um, will he manage to survive it?

Talk about what's happening in the street, and also people's view of NATO and what's happening right now.

now.Well, I mean, I think it's, um, it's clear, uh, here in, here in Ankara and in Turkey more broadly, this NATO summit is not taking pla- uh, not taking place in a climate of freedom.

Um, we saw in, uh, the two weeks leading up to this summit happening, uh, authorities in Ankara arrested over 200 people in, in dawn raids.

Um, there were members of, of, uh, that group that were arrested that Human Rights Watch pointed out.

The authorities have given no, uh, no clarity about what warranted the arrests, um, what warranted the accusations that went along with it that those arrested had links to terrorism.

Um, things that we do know about at least, uh, one of the people who, who was detained is that he's a prominent, uh, LGBTQ journalist.

He's the head of an LGBTQ rights organization.

Talk, Ruth, about Turkey's and Erdogan's diplomatic and militaristic interests here, particularly with its geographic position sharing a border with Iran, with Syria, its proximity to Russia and Ukraine, and President Trump now talking about lifting the ban on Turkey getting F-35 jet fighters.

Her recent piece for The Guardian headlined, "Turkey intensifies crackdown on public life in run-up to NATO summit in Ankara." Talk about what's happening in the street, and also people's view of NATO and what's happening right now.

now.Well, I mean, I think it's, um, it's clear, uh, here in, here in Ankara and in Turkey more broadly, this NATO summit is not taking pla- uh, not taking place in a climate of freedom.

Um, we saw in, uh, the two weeks leading up to this summit happening, uh, authorities in Ankara arrested over 200 people in, in dawn raids.

Um, there were members of, of, uh, that group that were arrested that Human Rights Watch pointed out.

The authorities have given no, uh, no clarity about what warranted the arrests, um, what warranted the accusations that went along with it that those arrested had links to terrorism.

Um, things that we do know about at least, uh, one of the people who, who was detained is that he's a prominent, uh, LGBTQ journalist.

He's the head of an LGBTQ rights organization.

And President Trump now talking about lifting the ban on Turkey getting F-35 jet fighters.

Talk about what's happening in the street, and also people's view of NATO and what's happening right now

nowWell, I mean, I think it's, um, it's clear, uh, here in, here in Ankara and in Turkey more broadly, this NATO summit is not taking cl- uh, not taking place in a climate of freedom.

Um, we saw in, uh, the two weeks leading up to this summit happening, uh, authorities in Ankara arrested over 200 people in, in dawn raids.

Um, there were members of, of, uh, that group that were arrested that Human Rights Watch pointed out.

The authorities have given no, uh, no clarity about what warranted the arrests, um, what warranted the accusations that went along with it that those arrested had links to terrorism.

Um, things that we do know about at least, uh, one of the people who, who was detained is that he's a prominent, uh, LGBTQ journalist.

He's the head of an LGBTQ rights organization.

And President Trump now talking about lifting the ban on Turkey getting F-35 jet fighters.

How's the reaction been so far to what Trump's been saying?

Well, I mean, I think it's probably fair to say that a lot of this summit is that the mood is very much it's about keeping Donald Trump happy one way or another, whether it's the very, very warm welcome that he received from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

And, you know, all the statements we've heard coming from the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutter about his sort of excitement to show Trump the progress towards 3.5 percent GDP on defense spending for NATO members, that progress that he wants to show Trump since the last election.

Obviously, yes, we're starting to see some reactions from Trump's rather, well, from some of the statements that we had from Donald Trump when he was sitting next to Erdogan at a press conference where he began talking about Greenland and his desire to take control of Greenland again.

Some statements from the Danish leadership basically objecting to what Trump was saying, asking that allies respect Danish sovereignty, saying that Greenland is not for sale.

But in terms of the rather...

Warm statements that Trump has made about Erdogan and his competitors, rather cold statements about NATO as a whole.

Is that true?

Do you think that that is a sort of strong signal to Tehran that military action is forthcoming once again?

I mean, I think what we're seeing at the moment is that there's a lot of reports in the media about preparations for potential strikes.

There's certainly potential, um, certainly plenty of kind of hostile rhetoric, um, coming from Trump.

Unfortunately, I think the world has gotten quite used to that.

Um, you know, the, the fact that he's posting on his social media saying, "Time is of the ess- uh, uh, for time, time is of the essence.

For Iran, the clock is ticking.

They'd better get moving fast." Um, and that we're seeing, uh-Iranian officials try and kind of match that rhetoric, um, uh, one warning the US to, to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, uh, before the Sea of Oman becomes your graveyard.

What more do we know about this? Is it likely to spread wider?