Transcripts For CSPAN Washington 20240703

Taking his name out of consideration to become the next House Speaker. Some republicans reportedly ok with working with democrats to get the winning votes. Outside of d. C. The defense secretary and the secretary of state in israel to show u. S. Support for the country as the war with hamas continues. You can comment on these events on republicans 202 7488000, democrats 202 7488000, and independents 202 7488002. If you want to text us do that at 202 7488003. You can post on facebook and on x and also follow the show on twitter. Republicans were set to meet going into that meeting and coming out of that meeting a distinct change at Steve Scalise announcing he would no longer be in the race to be the next House Speaker. After that meeting he went before cameras and gave an explanation. I just shared with my colleagues i am withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee. If you look over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there is still work to be done. Our conference has to come together and is not there. There are still people that have their own agendas. I was clear. We have to have everyone put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. This country is counting on us to come back together. This house of representatives needs a speaker and we need to open up the house again. Clearly not everybody is there. There are still schisms that have to get resolved. I never came here for a title. I have had some great titles. I am the majority leader of the house and i have. Ive had big challenges in my life. I have been tested in ways that put perspective on life. The 2017 shooting, when i did not know i would make it out alive, that taught me what is important in life. My family, my faith. I am blessed beyond belief. I have all of the right perspective. I still have a deep passion for making sure we get our country back on track and get our conference fixed. There are some folks who need to look in the mirror and decide are we going to get it back on track or are they going to try to pursue their own agenda. You cannot do both. I think we will get there. I was very clear in that room. Ultimately we have to come together for the country. I never came here for a title and it is much bigger than me and bigger than anybody else. Nobody is going to use me as an excuse to hold back our ability to get the house open again. Host that was last evening. You can find all of those statements on our website at cspan. Org and our app. If you want to comment on the race for the House Speaker or the events in israel, several legislators commenting on that yesterday. A vigil outside of the capitol building. You can do that at 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488000 four democrats, and independents 202 7488002. To comment further on the events , scott wong of nbc news joining us to fill in the blanks from yesterday. Thanks for joining us. Guest good morning. Good to be with you. Host thank you for giving us your time so early in the morning. What was it that kept the widespread support from Steve Scalise . Guest leading up to his stunning announcement was three hours of meetings in his office with some of the detractors. According to our account there were more than a dozen no votes for Steve Scalise, even more folks that were on the fence. He could only afford to use he could only afford to lose four republican votes because of the republican paperthin majority and because democrats would all throw their support behind Hakeem Jeffries. During those three hours we saw some of those detractors coming out of his office saying they were unmoved. They were still a no vote on Steve Scalise. He failed to flip any of those detractors into the yes column. That is why after several hours, critical hours of his speakership endeavor, that he called the meeting of all House Republicans and in a very short while announced he was pulling out of the race, dropping out his bid to be speaker and would remain as majority leader. Host we saw leading up to this rising support for jim jordan. Does he continue on with this effort . Where does he stand amongst republicans . Guest we expect later today that jim jordan will jump into the race for speaker. He was Steve Scalises only rival in the race. He did officially run for speaker against Steve Scalise, losing narrowly in that internal vote, 11399. Just a handful of votes had flipped jim jordan would have been the nominee. There is incredible support for jim jordan throughout the conference, including from folks like the Freedom Caucus chairman scott perry. Jim jordan was the founding chairman of that conservative Freedom Caucus, as well as from folks like kevin hearn that run the Republican Study Committee and across the spectrum. Jim jordan does have enormous support. However, jim jordan will run into the same problem Steve Scalise did and Kevin Mccarthy did. He will need to have practically the support of the entire 221 members of the republican conference in order to move ahead on the house floor. You need 217, a simple majority. That will be an incredible feat. Already last night we heard from several members who said they were in the never jim jordan camp, including in wagoner. I was texting with anne wagner late last night and anne wagner, when i asked if you will be supporting jim jordan she wrote back hell no. Jim jordan has an incredible uphill battle. The only cap yacht will be the only cap yacht the only caveat will be of House Republicans can come together and decide they want to change the rules of the speakers race, meeting lowering the threshold that is needed in order to go to the floor and rally around their candidate so they can end this chaos and dysfunction we have been seeing in the house of representatives for the better part of two weeks. Host there is some reporting and you heard it on capitol hill , some republicans talking about reaching out with democrats to come up with a compromise in order to achieve a vote that gains a House Speaker. What is the reality of this . Guest the message from democrats, from leadership all the way down to rank and file, moderates, is that our door is open. If five republicans want to cross the aisle and do a deal with democrats, we can find a consensus candidate. Whether that would be it very unlikely would be Hakeem Jeffries. Somebody in the middle, they would be willing to do some kind of deal in order to get the house functioning again. So far there have been no real takers on the republican side. That is what we have been hearing from democrats. If this drama drags on for several more days or weeks we do not have a functioning house, we do not have a speaker in place that can get legislation moving again. Remember we are up against another shut down deadline in a month. We have the crisis with the israelhamas war. There is real concern in the capital about National Security issues. Perhaps the calculation on the part of some of those moderate republicans could change. As of now republicans are still trying to solve the speaker problem internally, and that will start with another closeddoor private meeting at 10 00 this morning. Host if that is the case, a republicans planning on staying in town until they figure this out . There reportedly some republicans already headed home. What is the status of that and tell us what to look for in the days ahead. Guest that is exactly right. Republicans have said they need to stay in washington and get the job done as long as it takes. Whether that means staying in session through this weekend come already it has been a long week of long meetings, of tense meetings. We call them family discussions where it is an airing of grievances. We have seen several of these meetings this week. You are absolutely right. There are lawmakers who have said this is above my pay grade. I will home for a few days, spend time with my family. Those who want to have this fight and do so in the capital. When they are ready to call a vote i will fly back from my home district and return to washington and will be prepared to vote for the next speaker. There is a lot of frustration, especially a lot of concern on the part of moderate republicans who are in these swing districts who know this type of drama and dysfunction does not bode well for their reelection bids. There is also that layer of this story as well. Host scott wong reports for nbc news. You can find his work at nbcnews. Com. Here is the latest on the website. As always we thank you for your time. Guest thanks for having me. Host you can comment on the status of the House Speakers race. You can comment on what is going on in israel. 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488000 for democrats, and 202 7488002 for independents. Anne starts us off in North Carolina. Democrats. Good morning. Caller i wanted to comment on the israeli situation and say i hope americans have 100 backing to israel. That is jesuss homeland and i hope we all still believe in jesus christ. We dont. That is their business, i guess. I want to make a comment on the Republican Congress not being able to come together. I think this is a very selfish problem theyve got and very juvenile the ones that are trying to stir up all the trouble. They have. We need the money released to israel at the money released to ukraine and the money released to the border. They want the border. Democrats are not against the border. I know they say we are, but we are not. Ive heard this from everyone that calls in. They need to come together. What are we going to do . Tommy tuberville is Still Holding up promotions in the military that is so important right now. I dont believe these young people, they complain about the older folks, i am old enough to remember the korean war. Host lets move on to the republican line. Matt is in new york. Republican line. Go ahead. Caller good morning. It is friday the 13th. I would like to comment on these indoctrinated idiots that are on these College Campuses protesting against israel and blaming israel for what is happening. I was just watching fox news and one of their reporters was interviewing one of these protesters and asked her what she thought about women getting raped and babies getting beheaded and burned alive, and she said it is all lies. It is unbelievable that these idiots actually believe this stuff. I hope ceos get the identities of all these people that are signing these resolutions protesting israel and never hire them. Host lets go to paul in virginia. Independent line. Caller how are you doing . I would like to comment both on the speakership and israel. With the speakership i was very disappointed about Steve Scalise dropping out. I think he is wonderful. As far as the hold up in congress, the democrats are just as complicit as the republicans. I say that as a true independent. Host if not Steve Scalise, who would you like to see as speaker . Caller i dont know at this point. Host would representative jim jordan fall into that category . Caller he can be boisterous. I dont know. Maybe mccall. He is a voice of reason. Host Michael Mccaul of texas . Caller yes. But anyway, back on the israel thing. Israel has every right to defend themselves. What i would like people to also realize is that hamas is another name for isis, as netanyahu said yesterday. It is another name for isis. People talking about palestinian, etc. Hamas is not doing the Palestinian People any favors. They have also killed Palestinian People. People need to realize that not all palestinians are backing hamas. That is like saying all californians and new yorkers are all democrats. That is not the case. Host lets hear from ulysses in texas. Democratic line. Caller good morning cspan. It is right in front of you. Youre looking at a people that are shows that are so scared of producing something they cannot get together and come up with a leader. People have been there five, 15 years. They are not eligible to be a leader . Everything the republicans have led on, you can go back through history, back to obamacare. They did not want to do obamacare but they did not have an idea. I was told by my grandmother that if you do not have a solution you are part of the problem. They are part of the problem. You cannot lead without leadership. It is like the dog catching the car. If he catches it, what im i going to do . Host Hakeem Jeffries on his twitterleadership. It is like the dog catching the car. Feed about Steve Scalise dropping out of the race, posting it is time for traditional republicans to break from maga extremists on a bipartisan pat forward. Catherine from facebook saying the house is at a standstill. Republhad no idea who would replace mccarthy. Hows is that for governance . If this is how republicans govern they should be voted out. Joseph from facebook making his own nomination for speaker, former President Trump, adding it would be awesome. This is russell on facebook saying the war will zzle out. Back tbusiness as usual. The speakership, how broken the politics and representatives, all out of control, all due to the powers that be. If you want to post on social media, that is available. Facebook. Com cspan and on twitter, it is cspanwj. Lets go to west virginia, republican line. Diane. Caller we do not seem to understand what this house fight is about. It is not about maga extremists. It is about spending. It is about spending and debt. We are spending 7 trillion every year. It is 2 trillion more than what we are bringing in. It is just a massive amount. You cannot wrap your head around it. The good guys in congress are the guys trying to say we do not care if the government shuts down if we cannot get our spending under 5 trillion. We are destroying the country by spending every cent we will ever make. You cannot replace the speaker no one challenges the king until the king is gone. What go ahead host go ahead. Caller Tommy Tuberville, the problem with the appointments as they can all be appointed one at a time. The democrats do not want to appoint them one at a time, they want them as a group so they can stick it a bunch of radicals. Host we saw some action on the senate side. In spite of senator tubervilles efforts former speaker of the house Kevin Mccarthy when in front of the cameras to talk about what he saw as the Current Situation in light of the removal of Steve Scalise from the speakers race. He will still be our majority leader. Ive been in the same position he was in 2015. We dont want this. What is validating to me is how do you allow 4 of the conference to do this to the entire country . Why would all of the democrats joined with eight members . What i did was 100 right, keeping government open. Can you imagine the wars that are going around the world if government was shut down . If our troops were not being paid right now . We want the Aircraft Carrier being out there questioning whether they will pay the rent . The conference has to figure out their problems, solve it, and select a leader. Host from twitter a viewer adds his thoughts on the House Speaker efforts, saying the republicans have low integrity have let low integrity destroy their party. Maryland, independent line. Caller i think, looking at the circumstances right now, the republicans should consider a rule change in the chamber to let the speaker, the democrats need to set up a Coalition Front to address these issues and bring the house back into session. As far as the israel comment is concerned, we are forgetting of peace deal was in process with saudi arabia to bring peace to the region. I think the United States should play a diplomatic role in addition to supporting israel. The conflict will continue but diplomacy is key in this region at this time. In partnership with the other arab nations to find a resolution. Thank you. Host joyce in new york. Democrats line. Caller good morning. Host you are on. Caller good. About the republicans. I was very disappointed they did not pick a leader. The thing is jim jordan is an election denier. How is that going to work when he is supposed to be working with our president . They are both election deniers. It was a very poor choice. I feel very bad for our president. He is doing a wonderful job and he is stuck with this congress. Thank you. Host we will see how during the course of the day if representative jordan decides to enter that race for speaker, may be other candidates will come to the forefront. You heard our guests talk about 10 00 is when republicans are said to meet again on what theyre going to do about the House Speakers race. You can comment on the phone lines and social media as well. Be sure to stay with cspan all day, particularly cspan 1 which covers the house. Maria is in new york. Independent line. Maria in new york. Hello . Caller good morning. Host you are on. Go ahead please. Caller i would like to give my opinion about the situation in israel and the gaza strip. Host go ahead. Caller i am talking. Host just keep going please. Caller i live in the United States for 50 years. I have witnessed bloodshed all over the world from the United States and israel. Please do not hang up on me. America should know the truth. The truth is why the United States supporting the most racist country called israel kill the palestinians for many years. They are savage, they are racist. Host tom in virginia. Independent line. Next up. Caller i appreciate your patience. You have the patience of job. Next time anybody asks i am saying pedro for president. I am disappointed at how flawed all of the people they keep trying to get in as speaker are. I think Kevin Mccarthy is flawed. He changes the history after the fact. He just said in one of those quotes, i am like can we get a straight shooter . There is a guy from arkansas i find to be interesting and he shares the House Natural Resources Committee and his name is westerman. He is very fair to both sides. He is polite. I think that is what we need. Jim jordan is a brute, brute force on everything. He was a wrestler. He was involved in some big mess. He has his flaws, Steve Scalise has flaws. If republicans would just put somebody up there who can lead. The problem is we do not have leaders, wherever it is. The government or in general. The world needs leaders and im not seeing it from the republicans. The other thing i want to say is this one man being able to destroy everything, whether it is matt gaetz who had no solution but a way to destroy it, or Tommy Tuberville with the military. My kid used to be in a play, and the parents would work on these stages for months, and then when the play was over he would just destroy it. It is easier to destroy things than to build them. Im just disappointed, especially with everything going on right now. We need leadership. We need people in their house to get their act together because they are looking for. Host that was tom in virginia. One of the things you might see play out as the day goes on, the hill is reporting, saying republicans are exploring whether to expand the powers held by speaker pro tem patrick mchenry. The conference looks nowhere near ready to make a final decision on speaker. Frustrated by the stalemate, republican lawmakers are taking a look at what mchenry can do in the new position with moderate republican seeking to expand the power. Representative Maria Salazar of florida and a letter signed by members of the moderate Republican Group she supports drafting resolution to give mchenry the opportunity to open business. In the meantime we can walk and chew gum at the same time so lets keep on moving business while we find a permanent person for the position. She told reporters huddled outside the Speakers Office she would take a series of procedural moves that would have to be considered by republicans and democrats. If that were to happen, something to watch in the days ahead. Guest 2 for pup 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488000 for democrats, independents 202 7488002. Text us at 202 7488003 if you wish. Lisa is next in kentucky. Caller you know i really blame mccarthy for this mess. He made a deal with the devil, matt gaetz, to destroy the house. They said they could leave when they got in, they said they would solve the government problems, they have done everything but. It is on them. I sure hope the government does not shut down. As far as the israelhamas war. It is not biden that took his eye off the ball. It is net yahoo . He it it is Benjamin Netanyahu. He is preoccupied with his own country. They need to replace him. Host joshua is in south carolina. Republican line. Caller good morning host . You are on. Go ahead please. Caller the israel war . I think this is a good thing that biden should learn that you do not deal with terrorists organizations that support terrorism like iran. He has been working with them and that gives him a good indication not to do that anymore with any other country. Host that is joshua in south carolina. The secretary of state in israel and after meeting with the israeli Prime Minister made brief comments on the situation there and renewing u. S. Support for the country. Here are the comments from yesterday. The people of israel have rightly prided themselves on their selfreliance, on their ability to defend themselves, even when the odds are stacked against them. The message i bring to israel is this. You may be Strong Enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as america exists you will never have to. We will always be there by your side. That is the message President Biden delivered to the Prime Minister from the moment this crisis began. It is the message i and my other colleagues in the government have delivered to our israeli counterparts on a daily basis. It is the message i bring with me to our discussions today and is what i will affirm when i meet with the members of the newly formed National Emergency government. We welcome the governments creation and the unity and resolve it reflects across israel society. Host the secretary of state in israel. Landing today was the defense secretary, lloyd austin, meeting with israels defense minister to talk about u. S. Support on the military in munition side. A lot going on when it comes to these events, a lot going on when it comes to events in congress, particularly as republicans make the effort to elect a speaker. You can comment on both. Allen in new york. Independent line. Caller the most puzzling mystery to me is the existence of antisemitism. Anyone with a casual knowledge of history like myself can tell you that the jewish people never attacked anybody. They never bothered anybody, they never invaded. People invaded them. They did not do anything. I am totally baffled by that. This comes from person who has no political affiliation. Anyone with a 10th of a brain knows that the republicans are beyond pathetic. This comes from person, i am not a democrat. With everything that is going on in this world, they are worried about who will be speaker and holding up everything. It is pathetic. The only thing i am proud of is that the United States backs israel, they backed the right party in this and i hope everything works out. Host that is allen in new york. To show you how the wall street journal is reporting it. Yesterday joint decisions between United States and qatar about funds said to go to iran from that prisoner swap, you remember a few weeks ago, 6 billion in total now on hold as these events go on and play out in israel. Lets go to marvin in chattanooga, tennessee. Democrats line. Caller i think it is quite ironic that all of this conflict with republicans and democrats running this country, that they can be in total agreement with what is happening in israel against the palestinians. These comments about the endurance of israel about the ignorance, and israel being constantly bombarded, it is totally erroneous. The youtube lines are full of the truth of how the israelis have dealt with the palestinians since 1947. Historically, when you look at the fact that in 2016 there was an agreement to give israel 38 million over a tenyear period and it cannot be interrupted by any president or any legislation of our country, then you should realize. Host as a democrat what you make of President Biden strong stance against hamas . Caller he is siding with republicans on that. Host you dont agree with that . Caller i do not agree with that. Everybody in america does not support israel. I know the truth about israel. I have gotten degrees. Host that is marvin in tennessee. Lets hear from brent, west virginia, republican line. Caller thank you for taking my call. I understand the gentlemans point. He was talking about he was baffled about people hating jews. It is very simple. They are gods chosen people. The masters that people like hamas and the socalled palestinians serve is not god. That means there is only one other master that they can serve. That is why you have such irrationality. Now they are trying to feed lies into the media about the actions of hamas. Hamas murdered children. Hamas murdered senior citizens. Yes, they all did that, and they engaged in this barbaric behavior. It is time to tell the truth. There is no such race as palestinians. There is no such country is palestine. It does not exist and it never has. Host why should the u. S. Government support israel at this point . Is it based on the religious aspect you are referencing . Caller it should be. If we are going to do the right thing, yes, we should stand by israel no matter what. There are strategic regions for that. In a region like the middle east , when you have all of these theocracies and dictatorships and countries that despise the United States and despise the principles we used to stand for in this country, israel has been our staunchest ally. When the is threatened or when the United States faces a problem, israel is always one of the First Nations to come to our defense and show their support for us. The root of this verlander opposition against israel is antisemitism, it is really antigod, if you want to get right down to it. Host that is brent. You can continue calling in and making your thoughts. Whether it be the House Speakers race, whether it be the events in israel. You can post on social media. On capitol hill it was democrats and republicans gathering on the Capitol Steps to hold a candlelight vigil for israel. It was during the comments there were brief remarks made by former representative Debbie Wasserman schultz urging for more action from the United States. I cannot tell you the short period of time it took to bring this money members together. As a member of congress, as a jew, as a zionist, as a human being, this moment of us coming together, whether it is the disorganization or disunity in israel prior to this point or here in our country, when israel and the United States need one another, it is moments like this where we step up. It is actions that matter so much more. It is actions that matter so much more than words. Host those events took place on capitol hill. You can see the full event at our website at cspan. Org or follow along on our app at cspan now. Stay close to the website and the app as things play out. Stay close to cspan one as the house continues its search for a speaker. Lets go to tony in detroit michigan. Democrats line. Caller good morning, pedro. How are you . Host go ahead. Caller i will make a brief statement about the house. You have had callers saying the democrats are complacent when in reality you have Steve Scalise, who was referenced as david duke without the baggage, then you have jim jordan, jym who is in a scandal with the molestation of children in ohio at schools. Now Kevin Mccarthy made a pact with some spiegel with some people who do not want to govern. They do not want to govern, they want to destroy. Matt gaetz, Marjorie Taylor greene, lauren boebert, they are not governors. They were put in place to destroy the government as we know it. Then to israel. That is so sad. All of those innocent people are being slaughtered because of politics. Because of politics. Acta donald trump, lets back to donald trump. He just made a reference to how brilliant hamas is. And people in america want to vote him back into office knowing donald trump dont care nothing about them. He does not have any kind of camaraderie with these people. He dont care about these people. Host richard in cincinnati, ohio. Independent line. Caller there has been so much distortions about the palestinians and that whole thing, this guy calling in and saying it is antigod to be against israel. This is ridiculous. Lets have a balanced view of these things. Let me mention that a jewish historian wrote two books, one is the ethnic cleansing of palestine, and the next is the biggest prison on earth. You can see what he was trying to get at. Partly, even in the propaganda film exodus they showed the King David Hotel bombing. That is terrorism. How about in the 1950s when israeli agents planted bombs in theaters and libraries in egypt with the idea of killing westerners, killing americans and british, and blaming it on arabs. You can look that up. Host why do you trust those sources . Caller are you kidding . Host you can look this up in 10 different places. Are you serious . Host do you want to finish your thought . Caller how about the u. S. Liberty attack. They were shooting our lifeboats. Host you brought up a series of sources. I wanted to see why you trusted them and base your opinion on that. Barbara in texas. Republican line. Caller i would like to Say Something about israel. I heard guests where they said the left said donald trump was the one that made the deal with iran. Really it was obama and the Biden Administration that did that. Obama did away with the bill that says they could not do business with iran. Also i think we should protect israel because they are gods people and god also said whoever makes a deal with iran, he would turn their back on them. Host why base u. S. Support on a religious belief . Caller i believe in god and that is what he said. Thank you. Goodbye. Host kim in new york. Tim in new york. Democrats line. Caller every time a democrat gets in there he talks about budgets. Trump branded up more than obama did. For new york and california, 2024, it is because of you we are in this mess in congress. You flipped a lot of democrats and voted for republicans. 2024, please vote back. I ran, iraq, syria, saudi arabia, jordan, some of these countries need to get palestine, just get them out of there and let israel take the land and get it over with. This is too much. Congress needs to do better. Host the Washington Post takes a look app support of israel coming from the United States, framing it under the headline u. S. Lawmakers support and echo israeli rhetoric. They say the groundswell of support coming after a decade of policy tensions with israel has been reminiscent of the rhetoric in the post9 11 era and it was deemed taboo to deviate from rage and express concern for the rights of those who might be in the crossfire as the United States struck back. For some an unspoken test has emerged measuring ones support for israel not just in statements of political backing but the extent lawmakers are willing to give israel a green light to do whatever it thinks is necessary in gaza. You can find that in the Washington Post story online. We will take your calls. You can comment on israel or comment on the events on capitol hill. The election of a new speaker continues to take place after Steve Scalise dropping out of contention yesterday. 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488000, and independents 202 7488002. If you wish to text us you can do that too. 202 7488003. This is neil in North Carolina. Caller i am calling regarding the speaker of the house battle. I do not think the democrats voting for a republican, and i do not see any republicans voting for one of the democrats like jeffries. My thinking is it would be a smart move for the democrats would be to nominate liz cheney and try to get five of the republicans to vote for her to be speaker of the house. Host even after her involvement in the january 6 committee . Caller five moderates. There are some moderate republicans. There are some republicans who won in the biden district and they may be able to get five of moderates. Republicans are angry because the democrats like liz cheney because she stood up for january 6. I do not think they would have any political pressure on the democrats if they voted for liz cheney. There are more than five republicans, there are several who are moderate and who won in biden district who might make that move. Host ok. Neil giving his own nomination for House Speaker. Anyone can be named House Speaker, it does not necessarily have to be a member of congress. Several republicans desiring to see former trump in the position former President Trump in the position. In south carolina, republican line, this is from duke. Hello. Caller listen, i want to comment on the speaker. The republicans have to get their act together and get somebody in that position soon because the country has to work and pay bills and fund these wars. As far as israel, israel was attacked and they have the right to defend themselves. There are a lot of problems in this world. You ever correct you have ukraine going on. Now you have israel. Whats next . Will china invade taiwan . All of these things are happening under a democrat watch. It does not matter about democrat or republican. Nothing like this ever happened when trump was in. They cannot blame trump for all of this because it is all under the leadership of biden. He will own it. The chickens will come back to roost. I just hope the world can if u. S. As a stronger superpower because we are not being viewed that way anymore. It is a sad day in america to see all of these things happening. Host the analysis the Washington Post provides when it comes to the House Speakers race, one of the points they make about Steve Scalise, saying some of the concerns people had with Steve Scalise included his lack of a plan to fund the government, lingering anger that Kevin Mccarthy lost the job, opposition to given the next person in line to mccarthy a promotion, opposition that others saw as a continuation of how Kevin Mccarthy governed. That goes into play and may continue out over the next two days ahead. Charles in new jersey, democrats line, hello. Caller i want to Say Something about israel. You said they took the heads off of babies. I saw the men but i did not see babies. The jewish are nothing but a lot of liars. You lied about jesus. Host why make widespread accusations against the people when we are talking about israel and hamas. Caller i am talking about israel and hamas. Host youre also making widespread accusations about the people. Caller they lied about jesus. Host how so . Caller my people used to hang them on the wall and say he is the head of my house. He is the head of nothing. Stop lying. Host that is charles. When it comes to new jersey, news coming out of new jersey. Abc news reporting that federal prosecutors filed new charges against bob menendez from new jersey, accusing him of violating a prohibition on members of congress to acting as an agent for a foreign principal. The indictment says menendez made multiple requests from the department of justice to commence an investigation another person for failing to register under the foreign agents relations act. Menendez faced a sweeping indictment in late september, accusing him and his wife of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes for using the senators power and influence to protect and enrich the business. John in michigan, independent line. Caller in my opinion it doesnt matter who the speaker of the house is. It does not matter. You hear about these conflicts and everyones opinions are based in religion. Their religion, they do not see what their real religion is, which is american exceptionalism. The belief that america is the best and we can do whatever we want across the world. You see that with the congressman. Every republican it supports israel. Every republican supports israel and every democrat supports ukraine. Host there are also many democrat supporting israel. We just saw a collection of them. Caller pedro, if i am an american and i do not support israel nor ukraine, i do not have a Single Person representing me in congress if i do not support either of those countries. That is the problem. It does not matter who the speaker is. They think they are fighting for their pet democracies. One supports ukraine in one supports israel. What they are really supporting are the weapons manufacturers in america. Talk about biden. He said he saw a photo of decapitated babies in the white house walk that back later in the day. Why dont you report on that . Have you ever heard of the gulf of tonkin incident . Host lets go to pj in florida. Republican line. Caller i want to speak about congress. I am republican. I am a staunch republican but i feel bad about how republicans have been running the country, trying to run the congress for the last six months. I have been watching cspan. It is shameful. I agree with the one democrat who said liz cheney is a good person for speaker of the house. I agree with that. I think that would help get things done. Host why so . Caller i think we need to work together. All they have been doing since ive been watching tv is the extreme democrats on one fence in the extreme republicans on the other fence and they keep throwing rocks at each other and nothing gets done. Host aside from liz cheney you think it takes an outside person to achieve that, whether it be liz cheney or someone else, someone outside congress . Caller i dont know, but jim jordan is definitely not the man for the job. He is an extreme republican. He will not get anything done. All he will do is stall everything. We need somebody who will bring us back together instead of tearing us apart. Nothing will get done as long as we have extremists. Host lets hear from anna in pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller i am calling about israel. I kept hearing people say the palestinians need their homeland back. If you are american comic you want to give back all of our land to the indians . This is what it amounts to. I support israel in what they are doing. I think people should not demonstrate and not be antisemitic and that is how i feel about it all. Host one more call from vincent in maryland, independent line. Caller good morning. First off, for the issue with the congress, i agree with the previous caller. We need an outside source. We have gotten too extreme on both sides. I have been unaffiliated my entire life. Politicians are too worried about their next election. People are about to lose benefits. They are worried about electing somebody has all of these skeletons in their closet who dropped out for another extremist. The palestinians just want to live in peace. Hamas took over and those people live in fear. If they want any kind of two state solution, they are branded as a terrorist and they with their own people. We need to go back to the 1967 borders and let the people have a chance to have peace and drop this religious pretext of which area belongs to each other. Host that is vincent in maryland. Finishing off the calls for those of you who participated. We will continue on. You can continue watching what happens on capitol hill by staying close to cspan during the course of the day. If you have to be out and about, you can download the app on cspan now. You can always follow along on the website at cspan. Org. We will continue our conversation, particular what is going on in israel. Ambassador James Jeffrey will talk about the events there and give his perspective. Later we will hear from michael warren, a Senior Editor for the dispatch will discuss the House Speaker contest and how washington is responding to the conflict in israel and gaza. American history tv, saturdays on cspan 2, exploring the people and events of American History. If College Professor talks about the escalating tensions between colonists and the British Government prior to the american revolution. And on the presidency, a series of discussions on the foreign and domestic policy achievements of barack obama and the legacy of michelle obama. Exploring the american story. Watch American History tv saturdays on cspan 2. Watch anytime on cspan. Org history. 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Scroll through and spend a few minutes on cspans points of interest. A healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this. Where americans can see democracy at work. Where citizens are truly informed, and republic drives. Get informed straight from the source. On cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. From the Nations Capital to wherever you are. Get the opinion that matters most your own. Cspan, powered by cable. Washington journal continues. Host we welcome back to the Program Ambassador James Jeffrey from the Wilson Center. He heads up there middle east program there. Ambassador, welcome back. Guest thank you for having me. Host you have seen these conflicts. What sets this apart in your mind . Guest i have seen many conflicts, not like this. In the middle east, you have these fights, conflicts, bombing campaigns, and such. We have done them, israel, other countries, but they usually return to the status quo. Only a few times do you see a few big ones. The yom kippur war 50 years ago. The iraqi invasion of kuwait. This is one of the big ones, because it puts israels existence at stake. It cannot deal with a hamas capable of attacking much of the population of israel at the same time as facing hezbollah in the north by the lebanese border, syria, and iran. That is why israel feels it has to act. Host how is the u. S. Are fonts and we have seen the last couple of weeks how do you rate that . Guest that has been an a so f ar. President biden is committed to israel, and he is very shocked, as we saw yesterday, tony blinken reacting to what happened yesterday. There support diplomatically their support will magically is 100 . More importantly, they deployed forces, including two Aircraft Carriers, to deter liberties has below, or their patrons, iran ians, from intervening and put israel in existential threat. Host we heard the defense secretary say, when it comes to the aid, it was going over without conditions. Was that the right approach . Guest that is the right approach. There are always legal conditions with military equipment we give to other countries, but the israels know these rules. I am sure they will act in accordance. The main question is the aid is moving rapidly, and, surprising for us, on bureaucratically unbureaucratically. Host israel asking 1. 1 Million People in gaza to remove themselves is that a reasonable request . Guest it is certainly a necessary request, because israel is planning on going into the northern, highly built up urban areas of gaza to take down hamas. And there is some one million plus civilians there. What israel is saying is move to give your viewers an idea 10 miles to the south and stay there for about puts them closer to the crossing into egypt, where assistance is still flowing, and a lot more could be. This takes more time than the israelis have given them, requires more organization, but most importantly, it requires hamas, the governing entity, to allow those people to go. But to hamas, these millions of people are nothing more than shields behind which it can continue to attack israel, and that is the major problem right now. Host our guest joins us until 8 45. If you want to ask questions, it is 202 7488000 for republicans, 202 7488001 for democrats, and 202 7488002 for independents. You can also text questions at 202 7488003. Ambassador, if this turns into a ground war, what does this mean only for israels sake but for the United States and its support . Guest it will turn into a ground war. The first question is how because, militarily, israel has the capability, if it is willing to take heavy casualties it can literally conquer the northern half of gaza and all but troy destroy hamas. The problem is it will lead to civilian casualties and a great deal of pressure on israel and from arab states to the United States to halt the fighting. Israel has halted fighting before on our request and demand. This time, it is different. Israel sees this as existential. The second problem is outside forces coming in. Lebanese hezbollah, which has basically hated within the rules minus shelling back and forth i said it will intervene if israel goes in on the ground. I do not think so, but i could be wrong, because israel has deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to the lebanese border, and they are now backed up to u. S. Air force. Host so the changes adding u. S. Military forces directly to the fight or support for those forces if they turn to a ground war . Guest we are not going to put Ground Forces in. I would recommend to underline our commitment to deploy, as we did in 1991, patriot batteries to israel. They have a lot of them, but they need more. Most importantly, if israels enemies see american troops, however little, are on the ground, they will see america is in this fight and will stay out of it. Host do you see, the biden, initially showing full support, eventually turning them turning back . Guest i am sure that will happen. We saw that from tony blinken yesterday, where he went on about some length about israel adhering to international law. The israelis do adhere to international law, but there is a lot of debate and a degree of vagueness about, when fighting up in when fighting in built up areas, what is legal and not legal. This morning, arguments over White Phosphorus shells, for example. In 2006, when israel went into lebanon, the Bush Administration did pull the plug on the israeli operation. Host lets hear from callers. First call is from john, independent line. You are on with ambassador James Jeffrey of the Wilson Center. Caller hello. I was just wondering, the people there still in gaza, how are they supposed to comply with all orders and stay alive . It sounds like they have had their electricity cut off, their water cut off, that they are being told to move quickly before they get bombed. And the population pyramid of gaza seems to be skewed that half of them are minors. It seems like an absolute logistical impossibility to move all these people out without them getting killed. How are individual civilians in gaza supposed to stay alive . Guest it is not an impossibility to move a large number of people 10 miles. It would require a safe passage by the israeli forces, and we have not heard the details of that yet. It would require cooperation from egypt, which would have to provide humanitarian food, water, and other materials. It sounds difficult, it is difficult, but we have moved far larger numbers of internally displaced people fleeing fighting in syria. There are some 3. 5 million of them camped just beyond the turkish border, so there is precedence to do this. The question is under what conditions and what timelines. Host what are the ideal conditions . Guest there are no ideal conditions. This requires living in tents, surviving on a limited number of calories a day. Fortunately, the weather is not too bad right now, but it is not something you want to go through for a long time. In the case of idlib, it had been there for years. The main problem with such a movement, other than the details, is hamas is saying it does not want people to do this, because it wants them as human shields. Host from the democrat line. Caller hello, how are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller i have a question for mr. Jeffrey. Mr. Jeffrey, it seems to me that israel is, while they may be justified in some retaliation, they are in no position to be going into gaza strip now without incredible anger and being motivated by that. What i cannot understand is this problem has gone on for half a century. Why is it that the u. N. , especially right now, cannot step in with their peacekeeping forces and let them try to rout hamas out of gaza and get the country back to normal, instead of having israelis come in, who are incredibly and Esther Farley angry. But most of the people who will suffer are the people in gaza. I will take my question answer off the air. Guest we have voted in the Un Security Council for deploying peacekeeping to israel many times. They are good for monitoring ceasefire lines. They do not engage in combat. The israeli are the israelis are absolutely committed to destroying hamas as a military and political organization. The israelis see, with justification, that is an existential cause for the survival of the state of israel, so they will not let anyone else do this, particularly someone who will not do a good job. Host in tampa, florida, republican line. Caller good morning. Good morning, mr. Jeffrey. Thank you for being on cspan this morning. Much appreciated. There is no easy answers right now. It is very discombobulated situation. Russia and china are standing on the sides here. I think there is a group, russia, china, some other countries, Top Countries in the world that should start mediating this thing. Cooler heads prevail. We know these two sides have to recognize each other. United nations resolution 242. Oh, please, you go first. No, you go first. And there is just come bob elation in congress, we have no House Speaker. Russia and china are watching this. We have to get together here. Host ok, thanks for the segway, because he did bring on what is going on in the house right now. What do you see playing out politically . Guest i see support for israel very strongly bipartisan. Despite the circuits we have in the u. S. Congress right now, that aid will continue flowing. The other point is the president has all kinds of authorities that he, for good, understandable reasons, does not want to use unless he has to, because they can be challenged in the courts. But if it is necessary and, in this case, supporting israel, it is necessary, he will do what is needed, i am sure. Host it was the former president who made news yesterday for comments he made about hezbollah. I want to play a little of what he had to say and get your comments. [video clip] hezbollah is very smart. They are all very smart. The press does not like it when i say it paid president she in light when i say it. President xi, i said he is a smart man they killed me the next day. But hezbollah are very smart. They have a National Defense minister or somebody saying i hope hezbollah does not attack us from the north. So the following morning, they attacked or they may not have been doing it, but if you listened to this jerk, you would attack from the north, because he said that is our weak spot. Whoever heard of officials saying, on television, they hope the enemy does not attack in a certain area . Unless it is a con job. But you know what a con job is. Say what you want, israel was not ready. This was a big surprise this was a terrible thing that happened. Host ambassador, particularly on the comment about israel not ready. Guest israel was not ready for this. There were multiple intelligence failures, and they are being investigated or will be investigated. More importantly, there was a failure of conception. Israel thought it could live with hamas. It had three shortterm conflict with hamas, bombings and schellings and shootings, but it felt hamas would stay in gaza and israel could live with the hamas threat. It has now concluded, i think correctly, that it cannot, and it has to take out that organization as a threat to israel. That is what we are facing now. Host what do you think of the validity of reports that egypt had reportedly warned israel of the potential actions there . Guest the Israeli Government denied that, but the devil is always in the details of intelligence reports, because you go to the white house on a given morning, and there will be somebody with a stack of reports. 80 of them turn out to be, to some degree, incorrect or inaccurate, or they get the timing wrong and such. That is the world we live in. That is the world Prime Minister netanyahu lives in, in israel. You have to look into what was pitched by the egyptians at what time with what specificity. Again, the jury is still out on that. Host for ambassador James Jeffrey, this is from mike in illinois, independent line. Caller thank you for your time. I am looking at this a little more simple. Can you factcheck a couple points real quick . The vote for speaker of the house host ok, to the question on the topic, please. Caller ok, cynical side. During trump and kushners time, there were many takeovers of country from within, like from israel with netanyahu, from saudi arabia with the family being imprisoned in the four seasons, and then the prince coming out in brazil with the general who became president. That is one point. Another point is the disappearing of 100,000 troops we trained in iran and the 300,000 we trained in afghanistan host for the sake of time, what do you want from the ambassador as far as a question . Caller if this has been in plan for a while, the footing that hamas was attacking from is the footing of Solomons Temple. Those stones had been cut from Solomons Temple that the antichrist had been living on. Host ok. Guest no comment. Host john is calling from michigan. Caller good morning. I have a question relative to what the ambassador thinks would bring a lasting peace between the israelis and the palestinians. This is excluding hamas. Hamas is a terror organization. But what would bring lasting peace . Guest we have a lasting peace, first in the 1948 General Assembly u. N. Resolution to create a jewish and arab state. And now in the resolution some 25 years ago that called for a two state solution. Without that requires is neither side to question the existence of the territory of the other. There have been problems with both. You know the history of israeli settlers, but frankly, the palestinian leadership has never, at least formally, given up on its call for the instruction of the entire state of israel. They have never accepted fully, to the satisfaction of the israelis, the 1948 compromise. Both sides would need to move. I would say the palestinians need to move more. Host this is sid from maryland, independent line. Hello. Caller yes, ambassador, i agree with whatever you have said so far. My only question is, as far as the plumas he is concerned, what role can as far as this policy mike only question is, as far as diplomacy is concerned, what role can the u. S. Do with the 1. 1 million palestinians displaced and how can we resolve the conflict peacefully . Guest the first address is cairo. The Egyptian Government has to allow a massive flow of relief supplies, humanitarian aid into southern gaza. Secondly, i would recommend that at least some people, the ill, the wounded, be allowed to pass through that crossing, the rafah crossing into egypt. But also, the arab states have to urge all sides to avoid escalation. That is particularly important for lebanon, where hezbollah in the south takes more from iran than their own government. I think that is what our diplomacy is focused on right now. Host a lot said about iran over the last few days. To what extent do you think they are directly involved . Guest we are still looking at that. The administration has put out statements saying senior government officials in iran did not know about this attack or about the timing. Again, i would have to see the intelligence, which i cannot anymore, because only very few people, and not in the government but in the uranian in the Iranian Revolutionary guards would have known about this attack. Host what do we know about the level of support iran has for hamas generally . Guest generally, hamas, in its current form, would not exist without iran. Iran has supplied the missiles and rockets hamas has been firing. It supplies the weapons, the training, the money some 100 million a year and it provides diplomatic support. Host there was a story that the u. S. , in qatar, was blocking some 20 million around a prisoner swap. What is the messaging . Guest that the u. S. Congress does not want the administration making any deals with iran right now. Thats 6 billion, which is essentially iranian money from their oil cells sales was put in escrow, and iran was given a credit card, if you will, to buy 6 billion worth of humanitarian aid, food, medicine, and such. But any government, including the iranian government can substitute. If you have more butter, thanks to the 6 billion, you have more guns. That was a concern expressed by many people in congress and outside the administration, and they decided caution is a virtue and shut it down, at least temporarily. Host should it be released eventually . Guest no. As long as this war is going on, no money should be flowing to iran. Host from danny, republican line. Caller good morning. I am wondering what percentage of the palestinians actually support hamas and what is going on, and how many are neutral about it . Because it seems to me that many, many of the residentss there residents there actually do support hamas. Host thank you. Guest in fact, the last time there were free elections in the palestinian territories in 2005, hamas won a significant victory. Now it is not all the people of gaza or, for that matter, the west bank, because both voted, and hamas did well in both areas. It is a significant part of the population. But i would distant was between supporting hamas politically and supporting what hamas has just done to the state of israel. I do not know what percent of the palestinian or gazan population would support that, but i think it is much lower than the people who voted for hamas in 2005. Host this is James Jeffrey joining us from the Wilson Center. If you want to ask him questions, 202 7488000 for republicans, 202 7488001, for democrats, and for independents, 202 7488002. Texas at 202 7488003. Caroline in maryland, democrats line. Caller good morning and thanks to cspan. Look at what is being done with the palestinians i do not agree with what hamas did at all, but my heart goes out to the palestinians. We do not buy that they are trying to get the palestinians out for their own good. And for the palestinians not accepting the 1940s agreement, that was their land. The israelis were in their space. It is like, come on, you cannot be killing and bombing these people who had nothing to do with what hamas did. And something needs to be done to protect them. Moving your family 10 miles is a hard thing, especially around bombing. Were not buying that youre doing that for their safety. We just need you to know that. We see what is going on. Someone said reach out for peace. Reach out for peace to them. Those are families, too. Thank you. Guest you are absolutely right. These people are innocent. I disagree with you about 1948. In 50 years of diplomatic and military service, ive have been involved in dozens of issues, conflicts, debates that involve two or more peoples claiming the same territory. It is not unusual. In fact, it is too terribly common, and it leads to most of the wars and conflicts we see today. But again, the you when general simply took decision to divide the british mandate of palestine, at the time, into an arab and jewish state. The jews will argue, with considerable historical reason, that they were there for thousands of years, and that is the way reality is on the ground. Host how are other countries looking at the events . Guest again, hamas has few friends in the region. It is seen as a terrorist organization. It is seen, widely, as under the thumb of iran, which is feared and despised by most of the states in the region. That said, all of the arab states are, obviously, sensitive to Public Opinion in their countries, whether they are democracies or not. And Public Opinion will run very much in favor of their arab brothers in gaza, particularly if they are being attacked. That is the reality the arab states have to deal with. They will be putting pressure on washington and, indirectly, on israel to modify or stop its operation. Host from peter in new york, independent line. Caller i just want to be clear. Every Single Person defending this evacuation from palestinians from the north of gaza to the south is defending ethnic cleansing. I am an armenian american. This is the exact same thing the armenians in the Ottoman Empire were told. If you do not leave, we will kill you. And as they were leaving, they got killed anyway. If you are defending what israel is doing now, this is ethnic lensing. Guest under international law, this is not ethnic cleansing. The whole idea is people can return to their homes after the fighting is over. Host from janet, independent line. Caller good morning. Mr. Jeffrey, Wilson Center middle east Program Chair what a responsibility. Thank you for your work. We are tied to israel. Our president , joe biden, has eight it clear to support israel has made it clear to support israel. The how to support israel . Iran has never liked the usa, but we try to keep cool, compromise when necessary. Thou shalt not kill and love your neighbor as yourself. Israel and palestine are neighbors. Jesus is a jew. His earthly parents were jews, on their way to pay taxes when jesus was born. Jesus was baptized when he was 27 or 28. Jesus is the son of god, as we all are. Follow the 10 commandments and help each other. Respect and care is the answer. And dont have children if you cannot support them. Host ok, janet, we will leave it there. Ambassador . Guest simply to point out she is correct, and that all took place in what is now the state of israel 2000 years ago. Host do you think there is a religious aspect . Guest america is a religious country and there is a religious aspect to everything. I do not think it is a major issue, obviously rated they our ties with religion obviously. There are ties with religion between Jewish Americans and israelis, that is strong. There are evangelical groups in america that are supportive of israel. The support is far broader and beyond simply religious groups. Do you think there is misinformation about what is going on there . Guest we are very aware of misinformation. I think that misinformation today in america, the term, is highly politicized. We saw that during the covid time. And i am reluctant to make general statements on misinformation. You show me a clip, and i can address that to the best of my knowledge, whether it is false or true. Beyond that, i do not like to get into the politics in censoring misinformation. Host a caller on the independent line from tennessee. Caller im wondering if mr. Jeffrey thinks that people in gaza, after they supposedly leave so their homes can be bombed, what will they be going back to . A bombed out city with nothing in it . He is a neocon. This whole thing, one thing i wanted to say is cspan should get a balanced person on. I have been watching for a couple days and there does not seem to be a representative for the palestinians, speaking in defending them for what is going on. Host do you want to address our guest directly with a question . Caller will the palestinians have a home to go back to . That is what i want to know. Host thanks. Guest in many cases, no. In many cases, yes. Gaza is home to some 1. 1 Million People. Theres bombing campaigns going on right now, there is fighting. And a lot depends on hamas. If they move into those homes and attack israelis from those homes, those homes will be hit, but they went up he hit if hamas is not firing from them. Host what about israel providing resettlement after they come back . Guest israels argument will be the International Community can provide resettlement. Its argument is they were attacked by gaza. Host is that a good argument . Guest it is an argument that will hold up, i believe. Host mike in florida on the republican line. Hi. Caller good morning. I agree with mr. James. I have a followup. I think, this is my opinion, that most people here in the United States do not know the true details about whats been given to the palestinians, especially the people of gaza. In 2005, the army of israel, they gave them a chance to live and do more. [indiscernible] theres two in the west bank. The government. And the other one dealing with their own war. And, another party in gaza, ham as, they are ruling by iran for their agenda, just to kill the jewish and americans. Come on, those people do not follow up about that. Most of the people who live in gaza, they live by their own. Host thanks, caller. Guest the caller is correct. And first sometimes it looked like gaza would move like a normal, if you will come a neighbor of israel. Then hamas took over in 2007, violently, killing and imprisoning the Palestinian Authority or governance. And announced it would pursue its agenda of restoring the state of israel. The problems gaza has had a from that, the israeli blockade, the limitation of travel and trade between israel and gaza it flows from the homeless take over hamas takeover. Host what role does hezbollah play in this . Guest hezbollah is an arm of iran to exert military pressure on israel, as an insurance policy, which is one reason why some analysts do not think that hezbollah at this point would waste its arsenal and risk to serve as a deterrent to israel attacking iran. Nonetheless, the middle east is full of surprises. If israel goes in on the ground, there is a possibility hezbollah will head to the conflict and it will draw the United States in. Because President Bidens statements and actions are clear, he will support israel against attacks. Host one thing we saw was the announcement out of israel of the unity government. Remind people of the importance there is. Guest it is important because israel has been politically divided, terribly, over a set of issues involving the west bank, the treatment of orthodox jews, and most importantly the supreme or high court in israel between the Benjamin Netanyahu government, a right of center government, and others on the left who have been struggling over internal issues that have divided the country in the last six months, more than we have ever seen. The fact they have come together shows two things. First that israel is first, united. And second, that these issues will be put to rest. A smart move. Host a caller on the democrat line. Caller good morning. Host you are on. Caller something simple that has been going on and everything. The remarks former President Trump said if an insult to americans were the words he said, and in the senate and house, if they would stop wearing Donald Trumps diapers over their faces, it is that simple. Hes noteworthy at all. Host ok. Lenore on the independent line. You are on. Caller hey. I just got a couple questions, because i do not really have a dog in this fight, but listening to the callers and your guest, um, im trying to understand. It looks like to me that it looks like an apartheid system in israel. It looks like colonizers picking land. And how can you say you are going to war that you how are you going to war . Host we can barely hear you. Get closer to the phone. Caller im sorry. My car picked up the call. It looks like israel, america, it is a bunch of bullies trying to make people do and be the way they want them to be. They whitewash religion, they whitewash history. Now they are trying to tell us lies. This guy is in your studio talking about 2000 years, but you cannot find in the stroke of history anything about in historical history anything about israel. Guest you cannot find a lot of historical documentation that israel was a jewish state. In terms of apartheid, that accusation is made to the Israeli Occupation of the west bank. The israeli argument against that his it has pulled forces out of southern lebanon in 2000, and what it got was hezbollah wanting to destroy israel. What we talked about earlier. And out of gaza dune 2005. In 2005. And it was taken over by a group whose express purpose is to destroy israel. It cannot afford to pullout of the west bank, which has a larger population, and is closer to the center of the israeli population, without being absolutely sure that the same thing does not happen there. Now, there are many actions israel takes the u. S. Government criticizes, such as settlements in the west bank, but that is a different issue. I would point out 30 of the population is arab, that they both, that they had members of the government, and people in power today. Host what about the colonization argument, especially with the u. S. s history with native americans and land . Guest again, theres a problem with the israeli settlements in the west bank area. Thats something the u. S. And International Community has condemned repeatedly. They are not allowed, generally speaking, under the laws of war, because israel is legally occupying hostile territory, that is the legal basis of that. But the settlement activity is both a political problem and diplomatic problem. It raises serious legal questions. Host last call on the republican line. Go ahead. Caller hello . Host you are on. Caller hello . Hello . Host we will have to stop her there. Marty in texas on the democrats line. Caller good morning. So, i just have a few quick questions for you. The in the west bank, 48 of the population is below 18 years old. 56 of them are below 13 or 14 years old. If they leave the west bank, where and they do not have documentation to be repatriated, where are what are they supposed to do . Are they supposed to be refugees for the rest of their lives . And, uh. Host we got your point. Guest i think he is talking about gaza. This is a question of moving from an area that is going to see heavy Ground Fighting in the days ahead, that is what we are assuming, to an area of gaza temporarily to stay out of the line of fire. The question is will their homes be there when they return . I do not know. Th vast majority of homese in northern gaza are still there. The israeli have bombed buildings because hamas is in those buildings, but that right great theres a great many more abilities. The main issue is to get people out of the way of the fighting, so that for their own sake they one not become casualties. Thats a very important consideration. And we have done it repeatedly. We did it in 2004. Host James Jeffrey joining us for this discussion. Thank you for your time. At 9 15 a. M. , we will talk about what is going on in the house, as the race for speaker continues. Michael warren willoin us for that conversation. In the meantime, we will take your calls on the house or on the events in israel. 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488002 for independents. Well take your calls on the washington journal. Announcer book tv, every sunday on cspan2, features authors discussing theiratest books. At 8 00 p. M. , cassidy hutchinson, a former trump staffer discusses being in the white house in 2021, and her testimony before congr at 10 00 p. M. , wall street general reporter cameron meant murder on the history of the ar15 and its influence on american gun culture. Narrated by an author and journalist. Want to book tv every sunday o cspan2. Find a full schedule on your Program Guide or watch online anytime abbott navy at booktv. Org. Announcer as part of our new series, we are asking you which books shaped america. The sound and the fury. To kill a mockingbird by harper lee. Announcer you can submit your picks for the book you think helped shape the country. Go to our website, hit the viewer input have and to select record a video. Tell is your pick and why. Books that shaped america, live every monday on cspan. Announcer a healthy democracy does not just look like this. It looks like this. Where americans can see democracy at work. Where you can get informed straight from the source, on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the Nations Capital to wherever you are. To get the opinions that matter the most, your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan. Announcer washington journal continues. Host in about less than 15 minutes, the house is supposed to come in for a pro forma session. We expect they will do some business been gavel out again. House republicans will meat this morning to work on the speaker battle. You can comment on that or events in israel. 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488002 for independents. Lori in missouri on the republican line. Good morning. Caller i wanted to call and say that i do not get this. I mean, um back in the bible in the old testament, god chose moses to lead his people out of the desert. Out of egypt. Then they changed and all th at. Israel is their land. Back in the bible there were no palestinians. And, i do not know why i do not know why they will not give it. Host ok. Caller i am hearing myself. Host we will leave it there. If you call, turned on your televisions when you are waiting. In minnesota, skye is on the democrats line. Caller good morning to everybody. Im calling to say i have been disappointed in the News Coverage i have seen on israel and palestine. Even people i usually agree with. I think the call it israel is doing anything other than genocide is irresponsible and deceptive. Even though it is illegal for them to be there. Gaz is ana open air prison where the average age is 18 and most people who live there is 14. Hamas is not in gaza. Type in open air prison in google and gaza is the only thing that comes up. This is clear. We thought israel allies . Count me out, this is an asymmetrical relationship. The palestinians are in an intentional state of disarray with no place to live. Host clyburn in North Carolina on the independent line. Caller god bless you. Its claiborne. Host i am sorry. Caller to the ladies who have called in, i agree with everything in the woman just said. The one before, i agree with her she just does not get it. I do agree with that. The gentleman from the Wilson Center, he said we have done this before. I think he said. But gaza is an area half the size of the county i live in. It is extremely densely populated. Half the people there are 15 and under, children. And this is disgusting. And i agree that the Media Coverage has been contributing to it. Talk to me about american values. Call your congressmen and your senators, and raise hell. Host that is in North Carolina. Expressing sentiment over either front when it comes to what we are hearing and seeing out of israel and on capitol hill. There is still no speaker insight. In sight. They are trying to govern together in a bipartisan coalition. Although the republicans is trying to hide, the americans should know they have not been able to do the job of governing. The funding for the government will run out in a few weeks. And a representative saying it is time for maga to once and for all. Look for a on capitol hill to play out with the house coming into a pro forma session in a few minutes. Later this afternoon, a meeting to discuss next steps. It was the defense secretary landing in israel today. And after that landing, give comments about the United Statess position in supporting israel. [video clip] hamas does not speak for the Palestinian People or their hopes for security, dignity, statehood and peace alongside israel. As a of central command, the deliberate cruelty of hamas vividly reminds me of isis. Bloodthirsty, fanatical, and hateful. And like isis, hamas has nothing to offer but bigotry and death. The world has witnessed a great people. A great evil. The Bloodiest Day in jewish history since the end of the holocaust. So make no mistake, the United States will make sure that israel has what it needs to defend itself. And israel has a right to protect its people. President biden has told Prime Minister netanyahu the United States would also respond swiftly and decisively to such a massive terrorist assault. And the president also underscored that democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war. Terrorists like hamas deliberately target civilians. But democracies dont. This is a time for resolve and not revenge. For purpose, not panic. For security, not surrender. Host you can see more of that on our website. Lets hear from rory from california on the republican line. Caller hamas would have attacked no matter when, but the fact we did not have a speaker of the house and lack of what we have done in the last week emphasizes that. And right now, i do not they may have attacked because we cannot support israel in the way we could if we had a speaker. Another thing that came up, that Aircraft Carrier in sea. I heard that their plan is to hit the ukraine or in israel. Are lee setting up to go into the middle east . One last thing, i noticed a lot of people who call in, they cannot get the idea that they are going to make a statement, not to do a oneonone conversation with you. In other words, you interject here and there, but they are not there to do a debate with you. I wish you could put a sign up saying, we are not here to do a two way conversation. Thats it. Host we appreciate the audience that calls day after day, year after year. Part of what we have built our network on, as far as the ability to have access. A caller from florida on the democrats line. In stanford, florida, hello . Caller yes. Im just curious why people continue to vote for the republican party. Each and every time they get control of congress it is chaos, there is no progress. We start progress when the democrats are in. You get bills passed and and they have ideas. What happened to republicans and ideas that they had in previous decades . Its like, i do not even know why they are in congress. They do nothing. Now here we are in the middle of a war and we do not have a speaker of the house. Its unbelievable people continue to vote for them. They are not doing anything. They are using taxpayer money and not even doing their job. They are getting money host for free. Host another free. Host another floridian, mike. Caller israel, they used to be palestine. Which you explain how israel actually became a state in 1948 . Can you explain to the people . Host the guest is gone but i invite people to go to the website. We have segments related to the topics you brought up. Type those things in the search box and you can see everything we have given as far as information. On the republican line from new york. Go ahead. Caller thanks for taking my call. I want to comment on the Media Coverage. Its been the only word i can come up with is disturbing. The length to which of the mainstream media, cnn, they are leading the public like a bull and a nose ring to one side of this conflict. What happened it did not happen in a vacuum. The palestinians have been putting up with the same type of terror we saw last week. They have been putting up with it for generations now. And so it did not come out of nowhere. Its distressing that theres no other viewpoint. Its been so onesided. And i basically tune them out. I do a quick hit and run to see what they are saying, but they are saying the same thing and there is no other viewpoint. I wish there would be. Host again, for all the activity taking place on capitol hill when it comes to the race for the next speaker, stay close to our network, particularly on cspan 1. In a minute or so, we will take you to the house floor. We are expecting them to gavel in, do business, then gavel out. If you are on the line, stay on. 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488002 for independents. Stay close to cspan during the day. Our app as well. President ial politics, by the way, this afternoon President Biden is expected to make a speech in philadelphia talking about bidenomics. That is expected at 3 15 p. M. You can follow along on that on the website and on our app, too. Plenty more information there. And more on what is going on on our network. At the house will come in for a short session and we will take you to them now