Transcripts For CNNW Inside 20240703

So that has to be part of the thinking. And it is. But the immediate focus is on making sure that israelis are protected, defended, and that this cant be repeated. With regard to the second front. Try to take advantage of the situation. The president has been clear about that. He said very starkly that any state or nonstate actor considering that should not. Dont do it. And hes backed that up in a number of ways, include ing as mentioned the other day deploying our Biggest Group to help ensure that anyone contemplating getting engaged doesnt do it. But beyond that, a big part of my own conversations here throughout this trip, including today, following up the next couple days is working with other countries to make sure they are using their own influence, their own relationship. Welcome to inside politics. We have been listening to the u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken in hamas backyard. Hes in qatar. He called hamas actions unconscionable and warned any country against offering them safe harbor. Talk about that in a minute. Particularly, given where the Secretary Of State is right now, were seeing israeli tanks on the move. Buss of troops are getting closer to the gaza border as strikes intensify. This just hours after the idfs warning to more than 1 million civilians leave Northern Gaza now to deal with hamas terrorists. Now even though hamas told everyone to stay, some are listening. But then the u. N. Is warning that getting everyone out is an Impossible Task that could have dire consequences. An Open Question is where are gazas arab neighbors. Its the assistance for innocent pales palestinians. Were going to start our coverage in israel with nic robertson. I want you to talk about what youre seeing there but as you do, i know you were listening to the Secretary Of State Antony Blinken, Very Interest Ing Word that he had while in qatar. Act being deliberate about hamas and the actions, the terrorism, that terrorists took last saturday and beyond inside israel and trying to do a dell indicate dance there. On the one hand telling them, but they need to rebuke hamas, who they give political space to to operate in qatar. Been to qatar a couple times, specifically to interview the leaders of hamas. Because thats they are allowed to reside and give their messages, if you will. The Prime Minister yesterday said all these political offices that hamas have Around The World should be shut down. They are carrying part of that message that this is a way by shutting down those offices of signaling to hamas that they have crossed a line, that they are going to be penalized and punished for this. On the other hand, hes speaking to the qatars yis, because they host hamas, of having a dialogue with hamas about releasing the hostages. So qatar can play several role there is. Its played roles in the past when there have been contacts. Its egypt that gets involved to find ways to reduce the tensions and end the conflict, but its often qatar that comes in through its relationship, the relationship it chooses to have with hamas, to help put money into gaza that will alleviate some of the social hardships to undermine hamas, that they have access to that money and use it for the projects it want wants Palestinian Civilians given the right to and work inside of iz are real. About so qatar has played this Important Role across all facets of diffusing the situation, and the Hostage Issue is on a very fine timeline, because israel is getting ready for a ground incursion, which puts the hostages in a very immediate and greater jeopardy. So complicated, so nuanced, and were so lucky to have you to explain. That context is critical. You are standing there near the border with gaza. You have been reporting on what the idf, the Israeli Military is doing to prepare for a possible ground invasion. What are you seeing at this hour as night has now fallen there . Reporter more Artillery Strikes on the northern end of gaza, the area that the idf has told gazas residents to move out of. Pst its not at a very high tempo, but its started up. We have seen a few rockets come out of gaza today, but not as many as before. And last night on gaza that we have seen so far, no rockets coming out of gaza, which i think tells its own accounting of how to stop the rockets coming out when theres heavy fire going into gaza. Hamas cannot operate and get their rockets out. But this tempo of buildup and buildup and the requests to civilians to move out of the way for safety, this is all instructive about how close we maybe getting to a possible ground incursion. Perhaps not tonight or tomorrow, but after that, the expectations are that it becomes a very reallife possibility when israel gets the information, intelligence, actual realtime that will help it achieve its goals. Nic robertson, thank you so much for that fantastic reporting. And here with me to share their insights based on their years of experience is retired Intelligence Officer Colonel Lathen and former Deputy Director of national intelligence, beth san er. You were sitting with me for the end of the u. S. Secretary of state and his comments. You were sort of nodding your head when you were listening to nic explain the goal that tony blinken has. He has multiple goals when dealing with the qatar people and other stops hes going to have along the way. He certainly does. The key thing about this is to think of qatar as kind of a switzerland in the middle east. What they are trying to do is they are trying to bridge the gap between several different Major Players in the middle east, one of them being hahs mass, the other being israel, and another one being iran. Plus they have to deal with the saudis. And they also have a major american presence in their country in the form of Military Base there is. So that becomes the jumping off point for discussions on the diplomatic front. Thats why qatar is so important to the Secretary Of State on his trip right now. Lets talk about the israeli order to evacuate, or at least part of gaza. My question for you is, the obvious, how are they supposed to do that . Lets just take one example, the u. N. Working with israel to allow the refugees out, to find a corridor out. Egypt, the neighbor there, allowing a court odor out, corridor out, or some of the wealthy countries, including qatar where the Secretary Of State is right now, helping. Whether it is financially or any other way, their fellow arabs inside gaza. I have heard this kind of horrible cynical phrase that a lot of middle east experts have said that the arab states are willing to fight israel to the last palestinian. It kind of tells you a lot about where were coming from, what the history has been here. Is so on the one hand, you have just so much pressure from israel saying no. They are not going to let up this siege until the hostages are released. Then theres a complication of people moving south. Are there going to be fighters mixed in with that. And. Were putting up a map that gives a sense of the other arab countries and then when blinken goes to these countries, these are the things hes talking about. Basically three things. One is included very much so included is iran. Preventing this from escalating. And kqatar is one of the main continue wits. Theys hosted the taliban negotiations. They have a long role in that. But the hostages and then the refugee situation, thats going to become very important in egypt. We give them a lot of money. So i think a lot pressure has to come to bear. Give who a lot of money . Qatar is under a lot of pressure now. Ameer was in germany and talking about this natural gas deal they are doing. Many people in germany are saying maybe we shouldnt be giving that deal to them. This is a conversation about what happens to the innocent civilians. You are both Intelligence Experts and have a lot of experience. What about the hostages . Do you have any hope that there is real insight into where they are inside the intelligence communities in the u. S. And in israel . More israel because they are more tactically focused. Although the u. S. Can provide some data that can help with Something Like this. I do hope some can be freed based on historical precedent and the Israeli Forces and perhaps based on a potential success in negotiations, even tha partial success. But its something that would take some time to realize. I dont know how much time we really have. Its pretty limited. 13 have already been killed. We dont know if thats true or not. We know they are spread out in tunnels. I dont think they have a complete understanding of that. Theres hope they will be able to get out women and children, maybe in exchange, but i think we also need to prepare ourselves mental for not a good outcome of the hostages. There are massive protests around the globe today. How high is the threat level should the threat level be right now globally and here in the u. S. . I think one of things we have to look for, it is a ring. We have schoolings closed down in europe because they are worried about threats here in the United States. We have to worry about jew ish places of worship. But in iraq and syria in particular, where we have these proxy groups with a lot of deniability but links to iran, i think we are up on very high alert there. I agree. I think you look all the whats happening in iraq, in yemen, big protests in several other cities, and several other places in the middle east. Its pretty clear that the fuse is about to be lit. And we have to be very, very careful with this. So if i were working a Warning System or the terrorist alert levels, i would have to say that definitely have to be possible raised, it should be high at this point. Well, thank you both if for this incredibly important to talk to both of you given how long you both worked in intelligence. Were going to continue to cover all of the latest developments out of israel and gaza. Meanwhile, here in the United States, republican chaos like we have never seen before in congress, and that is saying something. They have no idea who the next House Speaker will be. Well talk about that, next. Welcome back to inside politics. House republicans will try again at 1 00 p. M. Eastern, so 40 minutes from now, to vote on a new speaker nominee. Its not clear if anyone in the republican conference can et get the 217 votes they would need to win on the house floor. Congress has been Payroll Liezed for nearly two weeks now with no speaker, and the way forward is very, very unclear. Melanie zanona joins me now. I was saying before the last break, i have seen a lot on capitol hill. None of that comes close to the dysfunction thats happening inside the House Republican conference right now. Youre right. The sudden collapse of Steve Scalises bid has plunged the gop into further chaos and heightened this Leadership Crisis that they are facing. They are back at square one, and there are serious questions about if and how they are going to move forward, which is just a kind of crazy thing to say, but its absolutely the reality now. Now the current plan, as you mentioned, is they are going to huddle again at 1 00 p. M. To have a another Candidate Forum or try to rally around a new speaker. As of right now, there are two candidates in the race. That is jim jordan, who tried to run against Steve Scalise and came up short, and now we have a new candidate that just decided to get sba the race into the race. Thats austin scott. Hes against jim jordan. Really think about this in hes just running as the antijordan alternative. And i will tail light you theres a lot of sentiment in the party right now that they do not want to just get behind jim jordan. They are burned by how this process went down. A lot of people in the middle of the party are deeply concerned with the idea of a jim jordan speakership. Is the conference ready to elect jim jordan . Very close. Theres still some holdouts that i understand. They need to be talked to individually. Whats your level of concern about jim jordan . I think i laid that out yesterday. Has that changed at all . Not overnight. Thats a mystery that is wrapped in ini guess ma. The bug picture is hes going to face a difficult time trying to get the 217 vets hes going to need on the house floor. So they will have another election where they get behind closed doors, elect someone new and then they have to go to the floor. They are also dealing with attendance issues. A number of frustrated law miccers decided to skip can down. But as of right now, no consensus, no speaker and not ability to govern. Im going to keep it clean. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I actually want to go become. Were going to have a discussion about this in a minute. I want to go back to israel. Nic robertson is live. What are you learning . We have just learn ed from te Israeli Defense force they have put some troops across the border into gaza in the past 24 hours. They call it a local, im looking for the language here exactly, a local raid. So a limited incursion, a local raid is a language they use to describe the troops that they have sent across into gz is a. Its not clear how many they have sent across. Its not clear yet what their mission was. Its not clear if their mission was successful. Its not clear yet if they had any casualties. But this is the First Time Since the weekend, since this big buildup of forces that we have heard from the diidf this they have sent troops inside the gaza strip. They say this was over the past 24 hours. The indication seems to be that this was limited. And the indication seems to be that it is over now. Those troops are out. That would perhaps be within the sort of expected operational parameters for Something Like this that the idf would not announce Something Like this while they had forces over the Boarder Inside Of Gaza itself. It really is Interest Ing Tht they did make this public. And you said very clearly that we dont know what the mission is right now. You would think it might be too full. They located some of the terrorists or some of the higher ranking officials in hamas. But what does it tell you that we know this Information Nou . Theres another thing to add to that mix of what it might be as well. It might be going into recover bodies. It might be going into recover soldiers who died over the weekend. It could be as simple as that. But what it speaks to, what it speaks to is that israel is more and more on a foot ing where it can go into a dangerous area for troops and be ready to protect itself and carry out a mission. Its indicative there will be more missions like this to come. Until we get the details of precisely what it was, it was more than just a body recovery, then that will tell us that they are really on a Forward Footing at the moment. Thank you so much for that. I want to bring back colonel cedrick lathen, who will give us perspective on what nic just reported. What are your thoughts . The key indicator here is that this was a series of small raids. Every single one of the options you talked about, possibly a hostage recovery mission, possibly the business about going after Senior Leadership of hamas, or the recovery of the remains of dead iz relaty soldiers, all of those are possibilities. Im thinking its either number one or two. What they are looking for would be a perfect thing for Israeli Intelligence to recover. In the wake of the debacle on the strategic front. Where there are special Operations Forces come in and actually have a successful mission. We dont know yet whether or not the mission has been successful. We have no idea what the targets were. Where special Operations Force gos in and have very fine targets that would go in and they would be able to take actions on them and meet limited obje objectives. Im just being told in my ear that the idf says that they were searching for hostages as part of this raid. We do not know if that was successful. What does that tell you . So the likelihood is very high that we might be disappointed of the outcome of this because of the way hamas operates, but we could see hopefully some success, but i dont want to give anybody false hope at this point in time. Its very early in this idf, if things are successful. At some point, they are going to announce that they have rescueds hostages and that would be a big political as well as Military Victory for the israelis. It would also clear the way for further incursions from an operational standpoint on the military side, further incursions of a conventional nature if they choose to do them in gaza. So were kind of in this environment now. So if this was a Hostage Rescue Mission or trying to find out where the hostages are, that would be a classic special Operations Mission and it would be something that would have a high payoff for the israeli political and military leadership. Thank you so much for jumping on and helping us make sense of this breaking news. Fascinating and important breaking news. We are now also getting information from the white house that the president was just on a call with the families of missing americans. Americans presumably held by hamas terrorists. I want to talk about this is and more with our panel. Lets just stay on President Biden and the way that he and his administration have been handling whats going on there. What we just heard from the white house minutes ago, which is that the president is talking to families of americans, presumed, we dont know for sure, but presumed to be held hostage by hamas. I think the president is doing what hes supposed to in this moment. As opposed to what we are seeing in the house ask with House Republicans. I think that there is nothing more to be done than to be very, very direct and clear about what your position is, and he has done that through his speeches and actions. The truth is on the other side of the ledger, the alleged front runner for republicans is not having any kind of conversation like that. It has not been able to articulate in any way where he stands, when he thinks should be done, and so for all the people who have been concerned about joe biden as a president , were going to have a lot of performance here to judge going forward. I should add that we are told that the there were 14 families who were represented on this call, the call lasted for over an hour. It included not just President Biden, but also his National Security adviser Jake Sullivan and roger carr stents, his ambassador who helps negotiate the release of hostages globally. I think that right now in this moment, i was just talking to a source earlier this morning who is close to prooid and said in this moment, President Biden is pretty comfortable. His experience, whether it in in be in the senate or as Vice President , he has been in these positions for a very long time, has a relationship going become to the 80s with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of israel. And on Foreign Policy, hes incredibly comfortable. This is something that were seeing right now in realtime, that he came out and made a very forceful and direct speech, and has stuck to essentially what he believes in terms of his forceful support of israel, but also trying to explicitly state his administration, one of their main priorities, is to keep this as confined as possible and make sure it doesnt expand. Thats a great point. We moved to the next question, which is this is a stage on which hes incredibly comfortable. This is something they will be watching, but ultimately, we judge our president s, at least politically and on lx time, on domestic agenda, much more than Foreign Policy agenda. And so i think that is when we talk about the sort of split screen right now between a Republican House dysfunction and a whos on territory where hes commanding the world stage, its politically very appealing for democrats and for biden. As we go forward, i think as we get into a political season, the split screen may not be as good. I thought a lot about this. Same thing. Foreign issues or International Issues tend to fade, even when the images are striking. We saw this with ukraine. I do feel like theres Something Different about the middle east and the question of conflict between israel and palestinians. Or in this case, hamas. One is that it doesnt go away quickly. It doesnt sort of fade. It can go for a long time. I dont think its an accident we heard from the voice of george bush in just the last day or two in a speech where he was weighing in on, well, the hard part comes when people realize how long it goes. When the Wariness Kicks in. That will be hard for the president. I do think theres always been something very particular about this part of the world that it just makes it hard to look away, and it makes it hard to say even as an american, this somehow doesnt matter to our national politics. Its just hasnt really been how its played out. Republicans in the republican party, especially in recent years have been proud of their support of israel and we saw that they have been really in turmoil. Not just with the House Speakership but with their ability to show any type of support because the leader of their party, as you pointed out, praised hezbollah and also attacked Benjamin Netanyahu in a political speech. He said, this is donald trump were talking about, has been hurt badly buzz of what happened here. He was not prepared. He was not prepared. Ez real was not prepared. Thats true, but is that really something that republicans, who are i say this because its preparing for a conflict of a skiel of which we have not seen. Theres a ton of backlash from his opponents. Who typically are not willing to push back. As we get to this next phase, were likely to have division in the democratic side, especially if were what were poised to see is death and destruction and horror in gaza. And so yes. A quick break. Well go back to israel. Stay with us. From chrome to duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. Unlike chrome, the Duckduckgo Browser has privacy builtin. It comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. And theres no catch. Its free. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you around. Join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today. Breaking news this hour, were learning that the Israeli Defense forces conducted raids inside gaza over the past 24 hours and part of their mission is to search for hostages. Cnns Matthew Chance is live in tel aviv. What can you tell us . This just coming through to us from the Israeli Defense forces. Were braced for the big possible Land Invasion of the gaza strip. In the meantime, iz realliy forces have not just been carrying out airstrikes in density Populated Areas of the strip, but also carrying out incursions as well in a much smaller scale. Of the one that were all braced for. And as you mentioned, the purpose of those limited incursions are to, first of all, eliminate areas pose a threat to israel to eliminate terrorists as the Defense Forces put it. But also to try to locate the areas where hostages maybe held or to find evidence for where the hostages maybe held. Because remember, as we all wait for what could be an absolutely definite stating Land Invasion, we have to baerld between 100 and 150 israeli hostages are being held at unknown locations across the gaza strip. Separate ly, of course, and tha will complicate if not hamper the possibility of a big allout assault on the territory already. The militant group says 13 is the number they have given of hostages they say have been killed as a result of israeli airstrikes. Theres no confirmation from the United States or the israelis either, but it underlines the challenge facing israel right now as it prepares to go into the gaza strip in a large military way. Thank you so much. I just want to tell our viewers the video they were looking at while you were speaking was video given to the media by the idf of strikes in gaza. Again, thank you so much for that important reporting. Today coast to Coast Security and a big challenge. Police and Law Enforcement across the country are bracing for protests that they may worry cross the line from peaceful to violent. The nationwide display of anger follows a plea from a former hamas leader calling for a day of rage. Shimon prokupecz joins me live from new york. What are we hearing from Law Enforcement sources across the country . Reporter the thing that is concerning most of the Law Enforcement officials looking at chatter, most of it coming from online folks, people discussing whats going on in israel and perhaps wanting to take advantage of that situation, and the concern is what they dont know. Its that Person Suting at home who is viewing video, who is taking in all this information and perhaps will react. So what Law Enforcement is doing all across the country is a lot of what were not seeing. There are reenforcement officers here in new york city who are mobilizing at Police Headquarters just waiting just in case if something happens. Here later in times square, theres going to be a much larger presence of officers here as they get ready for a rally thats supposed to take place at 3 00. Just here in times square. So we will see more Law Enforcement. There are Law Enforcement officers all just on standby just in case something happens. And one of the things that the mayor and governor here are talking about is they want people to feel safe. Thats why they are taking these extra precautions. As you can see behind me here in times square, people are out. Theres a lot of concern. This is something on everyones mind, but people are out livein their lives. They are out shopping. Theres a lot of terrorists in the city. The other thing going on here is every synagogue that you go to, youll see Law Enforcement. I drove by a couple this morning here in manhattan. There are cops out outside these areas. And its not a large presence, but again, its to make people feel safe. So later today well see an increase, and the big worry for Law Enforcement and intelligence officials, it is what they dont know. Could there be some kind of surprise attack, some lone wolf person who tries to take out some kind of attack. Thats certainly something they are keeping a an eye on. There are no credible threats. As the cities across the country are urging people to go out, live your lives, do what youd do normally on a day like today. Shimon, as you well know, the fact that there are Security Officials at synagogues or other buildings across the country, thats not new. What seems to be new, according to reporting, is that its very much stepped up right now. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Any conversation about israel and Palestinian Territories is not easy. And it is a near guarantee that it will produce tension and even anger. But there is a line. A line between antisemitic hate and antizionist rhetoric. Werre watching that line get crossed again and again. On tuesday at George Washington university, a school with a large jewish population, st students held a vigil to celebrate, quote, the martyrs of palestine. Not to protest what many call the occupation, not to object to the israeli governments promise to bomb cities in gaza, but to applaud the murders who carried out the single biggest slaughter of jews since the holocaust. I should say on wednesday the president of the school condemned the celebration of terrorism. This picture comes from theo ba baker, a report er at stanford, hours after students held a vigil to mourn, these messages were scratched on the concrete. From the river to the sea. They are calls for the destruction of israel. Im joined now by adam leeman, the president and ceo of the largest jewish Campus Organization in the world. And jillian, the chair of the israel leadership network. Thank you so much to both of you for being here for this important conversation. Im going to start with you because you have the National Global look at what were seeing here. You believe University Leaders have failed students of all shapes and sizes and stripes. Absolutely. Its been so disappointing to us. So many leaders have failed to call out the horrible acts of violence perpetrated by hamas terrorists, to recognize the trauma thats inflicted on their jewish communities, and this failure is sadly continuing. We have where an instructor asked a group of jewish students in class to go huddle themselves in a corner to ups what it feels like to be a palestinian. This in a moment where they are reeling from trauma looking at these terrorist attacks. So its problematic. There are bright spots with some leaders who have stepped up and spoken out, but far too few. And we should say that this is happening right now in this current very tense environment against a backdrop of this growing tension that has been happening for years on College Campuses. It is very nuanced. It is very difficult because there is obviously room to protest. I have heard a very wellknown scholar on these issues say ing you want to hear the biggest criticism of the government, go sit in a cafe in jerusalem. So theres that, but its the Slippery Slope from that to outright antisemitism. What are you seeing at blown and at other schools . Absolutely. So its been very difficult at brown. As the president of brown students for israel, i have talked to so many jewish students on browns campus. Every single one of them personally knows someone, whether its a Family Member or a friend who is in israel right now, who is fighting, who is missing, who has been killed whose relatives have been killed. So its incredibly difficult. On a campus level, as we have talked about, there are issues with the administrations responses, and at brown specifically, we have had an administration thats been supportive. They have condemned the terrorism. Our College President spoke at a vigil that was held by jewish students. But the response by individuals on browns campus, particularly students for justice in palestine, has been horrendous. They have compared the terrorism thats going on to a justified act of resistance. They have attributed it entirely to the israeli government. Its made students on campus feel unsafe in a way that i have never experienced before. Unsafe. Unsafe, threatened, its a strong mooesmt. We have a Strong Movement and a strong community, but this is unprecedented. We have never felt this way before on campus. Just to build on that, this is a week from our University Leaders not only to call out what had happened, to recognize these ongoing real threats. Yesterday, as you showed in the lead in, we had a group of Student Organizations under the banner of students for justice in palestine, carry out a day of socalled resistance, in many cases scelebrating the atrocitis committed by hamas. Thats unacceptable and University Leaders need to speak out. We also need University Leaders to show up. We have had hundreds of vigils. They have been beautiful, filled with prayers, with song, with sol dare day,ty, they need to be there standing with us. We need University Leaders to protect their jewish student and other communities this day of rage called for by a former hamas leader is real. And how can jewish students not be fearful in this moment. So were really looking forward to more partnership and collaboration to take on this challenge. Again, this is happening on the backdrop of what was already a growing movement, as said to me, its envogue on College Campuses for progressives to take on the plight of palestinians. So the question of Palestinian Rights is a valid one. I think a lot of jewish students on College Campuses would agree. The issue now is conflating the rights of civil yans with the Terrorist Acts on other ci civilians. All of us, every single one of us is grieving for innocent lives lost in gaza, for innocent lives lost in israel. Theres no debate about that. Theres so many legitimate criticisms and so many legit mt. Takes on the conflict. This is not about that. This is terrorism. This is people being killed. This is people being mass kerd. Theres no debate about the morality of what is going on. There should not be a debate of the morality going on. This is different from any legitimate discourse that goes on on campus. It should be universally like they are experiencing a moment they never experienced before on College Campuses. Im so grateful you both came on to talk about this. It is such an important topic. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. And up next, im going to talk to my friend and colleague wolf blitzer about this horrific, horrific week, and get some perspective. Welcome back. The House Republican conferences vote on a new speaker just got even more complicated. If that is possible. A new candidate just threw his name in the ring, Congressman Scott Of Georgia will go against jim jordan of ohio. House republicans will meet in the 1 00 p. M. Hour, theyll start meeting in five minutes. Cnns manu raju joins me now. Any sense that this is going to have a different outcome, manu . Is he talking to members . There he is. I lost my audio for a little bit. You asked about austin scott running in this race here. Jim jordan is expected to have a candidate against austin scott, a candidate a republican from georgia, extremely critical of the republicans who voted to oust Kevin Mccarthy from the speakership. He told me last night, the republicans who battled then Speaker Mccarthy and took down Steve Scalise made them look like a bunch of idiots. Hes frustrated by this entire process. Who are you voting for, jordan or scott . Were here for speeches. Have you decided jordan or scott . Jim jordan. He deserves this right now. Okay. This is his moment. Well see where we go from here. As you can see, a lot of members are not saying, some decided, some voting for jim jordan. The question is who will get the majority of the 221 republican members and three members who are from delegates who are nonhouse who dont vote on the house floor. Some vacancies too. Well see what the ultimate threshold is they have to clear here. But they will whoever wins here will be the nominee here for the republicans again. The question is can that person get the 217 votes needed on the house floor to be elected speaker of the house. Thats the major question. Even if jim jordan wins, no guarantee he becomes the next speaker. See Steve Scalise to underscore that point that you just made. Manu, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Turning back to the story that dominated this week, what happened in israel. Scarred and scared. Tomorrow marks one week since hamas took guns and shovels and knives and paragliders and raped and kidnapping into the heart of israel. The murdered are still being counted. The wound for israeli families is still bleeding and the fear for jews across the country and the world is very real. Kib kibbutz, names jews have committed to memory. Wolf blitzer joins me now. Wolf, im so grateful youre here because it is really still hard for us to, to find words about what happened. You covered the middle east for decades and decades. I wanted you to put what we have seen in perspective for us. I covered my first job in journalism looking for the Reuters News Agency and the tel aviv bureau. I remember the terrorism going on and i covered all the wars that have been going on. I have a lot of history in that part of the world. Ive never seen anything along these lines, just little kids, grandparents, and the kidnapping going on, taking people to gaza as hostages. It has been awful. Painful not just for the jewish people, painful for everyone to see it, to see those images, to hear those stories. It is just an awful story and i wish it would get better, but i fear it is about to get worse. Im seeing all across social media, im sure you are too, never again is now. Yeah. This is first day, a week ago, first day of this hamas invasion, an attack against israel, more jews were killed on that day than on any day since the holocaust. It is a very, very painful situation to see all of that explode and it is painful to see what is going on in gaza right now with all the civilians and the people there. And it is just awful that hamas is telling these palestinians in gaza, dont leave, stay put, what do they want, Human Shields or Something Like that . It is a dangerous situation. Especially as the Israeli Military is being activated, mobilized, 300,000 troops are ready to move in and deal with hamas. It is a real problem. You know, it is you questioned humanity and what human beings are capable of. You and i went in the spring to the Concentration Camps and we questioned that and now we see these images and you questioned it again. Yeah. It is just so painful to see what is going on. And it is were journalists, we cover it, so we see a lot of atrocities. We see a lot of bad things happening, we try to report as fairly and as honestly as we possibly can