We are now preparing ourselves. Were striking gaza from the air. All options are on the table. Were on the Offensive Targeting hamas, destroying their capabilities, the government capabilities, civilian capabilities. Neil israel pounding hamas from the air as it prepare as major offensive on the ground. Troops and tanks amassing at the border and both sides get ready to enter the next day of war with the american Death Toll Rising and the search for hostages john going. Where is the u. S. Involvement in all of this head something well ask Michael Mccaul. Welcome, everybody. Im neil cavuto. It doesnt end. It accelerates. Now a possible ground war that could be moments away. Lets get the very latest from greg palkot in israel with the latest. Greg . Ive been covering the region 25 years. Ive never seen anything like this. Weve been on the ground for three days with the war with israel and hamas. Its more intense, more active. The numbers are grim. Israel is saying that 1,200 of their own are killed. 1,100 palestinians killed. Among those dead, 22 americans. The big wild card in this, 150 hostages. America is saying that in fact 17 of their own have not been accounted for and at least some of those are in the grips of the militants. The scale of the infiltration by the militants in the Thousands Saturday and sunday. Amazing. We were in an area that was a couple miles away from gaza today. There was still territory that the Israeli Government could not say that they had control. The scale of the blast, the blasts against hamas infrastructure inside gaza, its remarkable, too. 250,000 palestinians now without homes. Theyre not all hamas backers. Lets get back to the hostages now. Theres american hostages. There are a lot of families very worried about this moment. We speak with an Israeli American man that flew back yesterday worried about his father. Take a look at what we heard. At 6 30, he called and said theres alarms. Hes going to shelter. Since then we lost touch. Israeli american igor talking about his father. He went with his friends to fish near his home in Southern Israel next to the gaza strip. Hamas militants arrived. His car full of bullet holes, Fishing Tackle in the trunk. His body not found. You think hes being held hostage in gaza . At this point, i hope so. You hope so. That would be the best alternative . Yeah. Igor flew from his new jersey home to comfort his mother. My mom cant imagine life without him. And help search for his beloved father. Theyve had little word from the Israeli Government. Igor has several words for hamas. They should be deleted. Every Terrorist Organization should be erased from the face of the earth. They should be erased. We ask igor if he could talk to his father right now, what would he tell him . He said come home. Come home. Back to you, neil. Neil so sad. Thanks, greg palkot who has covered more than his fair is share of these tragedies. Jennifer griffin with the view from the pentagon where theyre trying to keep track of americans that could be killed or hostages. Jennifer . We just learned the State Department is making preparations to evacuate thousands of americans that want to leave israel and having trouble getting on commercial flights or going over land to jordan. Theyre planning to have their own contracted flights go in to israel. Those arrangements are being made as we speak. The president and his National Security team spoke again with israeli Prime Minister b. B. Netanyahu today offering more u. S. Assistance. This attack has brought to the service painful memories and scars left by a millennium of antisemitism against the jewish people. At this moment, we have to be crystal clear. Theres no justification for terrorism. No excuse. The type of terrorism exhibited here is beyond the pale. At nato Head Quarters in brussels, the new joint chiefs chairman c. Q. Brown and Defense Secretary austin met with nato Defense Ministers about aid to ukraine. Israels Defense Minister call in to the meeting. Lloyd austin said make no mistake, the United States will remain able to project power and direct resources to tackle crises in multiple theaters. We will stand with israel and support ukraine. No decision has been made about keeping two u. S. Aircraft strike carriers in the groups 1 the u. S. S. Eisenhower arrives in two weeks. The u. S. S. Ford is likely to be extended. For anyone thinking about trying to take advantage of the agony in israel, to try to widen this conflict or spill more blood, we have just one word. Dont. Secretary austin has offered u. S. Personnel, military personnel, including Special Operators to help develop intelligence that could lead to the rescue of israeli and american hostages. Some are already in israel for training. Special operations personnel were already on the ground as part of their jobs at the embassy or support for bilateral Training Agreements between u. S. And Israeli Special operations. The Israeli Defense ministry released this footage from the u. S. Already arriving in Southern Israel. Ive not seen any indications of additional players that are going to get ininvolved to the detriment of israel, this is one of the reasons that we its not only in support of israel but deter future actions. U. S. Officials are holding hourly calls with their counter parts. Theyre concerned about this widening beyond the gaza border and theyre looking very closely tonight at the hezbollah border in the north. Neil . Thanks, jennifer. To congressman Michael Mccaul of the House Foreign Affairs committee. Chairman, good to have you. Thanks for taking the time. The war is widening. Its clear. Look what has happened to the north and what hamas has already done. That was the scenario that a lot of people feared what do you make of that . Well, that is a nightmare scenario. To contain this war in gaza is really the key here. If it escalates with hezbollah to the north out of lebanon, they have 100,000 rockets, hezbollah does, which would overload the iron dome. Its not capable of protecting from that many rockets. So you know, with iran playing a role in this, which i know the administration doesnt want to talk about with hezbollah and lebanon, with the isis radicals is islamist in syria threat ago gentlemen had to jerusalem, the last thing we want is an escalation of this war. The best way to do that is through deterrence by sending our Aircraft Carriers and frigates to the mediterranean as a warning sign not to escalate. Neil chairman, you talk about Warning Signs. Jacqui heinrich raised this question today, whether there had been early signals or warnings of this attack last week by hamas, this is from the white house briefing, a few moments ago. Can you speak to the reports that israel was warned by egypt . I cant. Mccaul from Foreign Affairs made that allegation this morning saying that was something that members were told around the Foreign Affairs committee. So has that been discussed at all . Is that something youre looking into . I cant speak to specific intelligence matters. We have time to look back at this as we always do and we will. Right now were sharpening the intelligence gathering in cooperation and sharing with israel as we should since theyre involved in active operations and make sure that they get the tools that they need. Martha your intelligence might be saying one thing. John kirby might be holding his cards. The white house has another set of cards. Who is right . We know the egyptian intelligence did refer this to israel. I cant get into any more depth than that. I do think there was a Threat Stream out there. It was a failure of intelligence. You know, we had a classified briefing that i moderated with the entire house today. Well have to get to the bottom of what went wrong. They planned for this almost a year, hamas did, to make this horrible Invasion Attack on israel. Yet there were no Warning Signs in advance. When the egyptians did warn israeli officials, obviously there wasnt enough done to stop it. This concerns me not just with respect to hamas but what about our intelligence on hezbollah . What about our intelligence on iran . Theres no clear link to iran . I disagree with that. Iran gives them 100 million a year and we know a lot of the Weapon Seasons that they get comes straight out of iran. So the idea that iran is not complicit or doesnt have any fingerprints on this is absolutely laughable from an tell standpoint. Neil back up, chairman. You raised a lot of point. People want to know if its semantics, what type of aid or planning was involved here. Back to this egyptian warning. Was it to the point of saying hamas was going to lead a multipronged attack on israel . Was it that blunt, that blatant . I cant get into specific details. The warns was made from egyptian intelligence to the israelis. What did our committee know about that . Its unclear. The answers are not very good to be honest with you. We dont know what levels this intelligence went up the chain in israel prior to this Terror Attack from hamas. Neil chairman, were learning that more american munitions have arrived on site. The su the u. S. S. Gerald ford is in the area. You think there should be more advisers onned the ground in israel . Yeah, the more Threat Posturing we can have in the region, the more deterrence we have from an escalation. You know, as was mentioned in your report, we do have Special Operators. I know the Fbi Hostage Rescue Team assisting the idf, the israelis as they move from bombing, command and control to going house to house, which is what theyre going to start doing soon. Thats where it gets dangerous. To Rescue Hostages and perhaps americans and israelis. Thats going to take a long time, to be honest with you. Thats when they really need our assistance. Nobody is better at going house to house than we are. We perfected that in iraq. Fallujah, a good example in 2004. So they need our training and assistance. Thats why were there helping them. Chairman, the State Department as we just learned, is looking at trying to get americans, trying to get out of there have the means to do so. This follows on the heels of canada planning to fly a lot of citizens, independents out of its rile by the end of the week. Do you know anything more about that, will that be different than what was pandemonium around afghanistan, for example. Yeah, i talked to the Undersecretary Of State today. We have a committee to assist members that get calls from their constituents about getting americans out of israel. Theres about 500,000 american citizens in israel. A lot of them with duel citizenship. We need help. If they want to get out, we need to help them. What i worry about are almost 20 americans that unaccounted for right now. We dont know where they are, whether they have been killed or taken hostage and taken in to gaza. I will say, neil, i was in the kabbuts with Kevin Mccarthy. To that very community that was overrun by hamas. They massacred that entire village that we were in and then went in to the Day Care Center and killed the children that i saw a year ago. Decapitated children and babies, this is beyond the pale. Its terror. Its evil at its worst. I know you cant share much intelligence and i respect that. What would compel hamas to do Something Like this . Theyve had control over the gaza since 2007. Theres been three or four major incursions. Some call them wars under their control. Nothing ever like this. There might be a search for to trigger a jihad or something that the ayatollah wanted after 911 or something grander. Do you know of anything beyond just the brutality that would trigger it . That would make them think hamas think that this strategy was a winner for them . Youre right. Its the largest Terror Attack from hamas. That was a 50th Anniversary of yom kippur. However, i think theres Larger Forces at play here. Remember, you know, iran is tied to rush, which is tied to china. You know, north korea. We dont really know i know that iran had a major factor in this. Even know the administration wont admit that. But i think your question is very valid. Why now . Why so massive . I think the anniversary had a lot to do with it. Neil theyve had to know to your point that the israeli response would be as its turned out to be massive and ten, maybe 100 fold to make this point that this was an unwise horrific decision on the part of hamas. While i still have you, sir, looks like republicans might have settled on the speaker issue around Steve Scalise. Were told that jim jordan will throw his support behind him. The only issue is when that will happen. Do you know . Well, we hope any moment now. We were told around this hour. We obviously dont want to go to the floor without the requisite number, that being 217. We dont want to go there 15 rounds and ballots, which neil are there names emerging . What you would think jordan throwing his support to scalise, thats it. Its done. But maybe not . No, there would be no other nominees. Just a question of whether this eight or so gang of eight, if you will, will throw their support for scalise. Enough to give him 217. We dont want to do that, make the charade that was done last time. If anything, neil, this projects weakness to the world. Its the last thing we need to be showing is a democracy cant function. We need to govern. The first bill that steve is going to put on the floor is my resolution condemning hamas for the Terror Attack and supporting israel. Neil would there be another measure to stop this single vote, all it takes to a single congressman to nix a speaker and undo what we just saw, Kevin Mccarthy . Thats right. So with a razor thin majority, every vote will count. Some members are not even here. That makes it worst. So every vote will count. Neil the right to vacate gives a single congressman a power to nix a speaker, youre not a fan of that. Are you going to insist on that to settle the speaker matter, that whoever they settle on, assuming Steve Scalise, that that measure, that power goes . We can entertain that. We can change that motion to vacate later on. Right now were focused on getting a speakner the chair to get the work of the people done. Neil thanks, chairman. Mike mccaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee. Lets get the latest on the speaker battle and where it stands. Chad pergram has more. Chad . Good afternoon, neil. We dont know definitively if theres a vote tonight. Jim jordan, the chair of the Judiciary Committee and one of the members running here, he has put his full support right now behind Steve Scalise. He says when he was asked a few minutes ago whether or not he thinks there should be a floor tonight, he says he hopes so. They want to get this speaker in place especially considering the State Of The World and whats going on in the middle east, neil. Neil obviously jim jordan was the pick of the real conservatives. He had bipartisan support early on. Look like Steve Scalise would be an also ran. They might divide that vote. So theres a lot of possibilities. How will this play out . When is it going to play out . This is very organic. They probably want to go to the floor sooner rather than later. If you think you have the votes, you want to vote. As mike mccaul said, maybe if they vote and they lose, then thats a problem. Maybe people say maybe we should have somebody else, maybe patrick mchenry. Maybe they need to vote a couple times. Patrick mchenry is the speaker pro tem. Heres the thing to watch for. I talked the victoria spartz, the republican representative from indiana just a bit ago. She voted present in the conference meeting. I said how will you vote on the floor . She said i dont know. We havent figured this out. This is why this is not just about the math, neil. This is about the algebra. We dont know about the precise number on votes that Steve Scalise or anybody else requires to be elected on the floor. Its contingent on how many members cast ballots, how many people are there, how many people vote present. That is really hard to figure. Again, to whip that vote and understand where everybody is. Look at how many votes that Steve Scalise got this afternoon in the conference. Thats a lower bar. 11 three. If everybody in the House Of Representatives right now, 433, you need to have 217. Three of the votes im told came from the nonvoting delegates that are republicans. You get the idea. They cant vote on the floor. They can vote in conference but not on the floor. That gets Steve Scalise down to 110. That sent jim jordan casting his vote to help Steve Scalise. Do you get to the threshold . Thats what we saw time after time again in january where Kevin Mccarthy would come in, he had more votes than Hakeem Jeffries but he couldnt gept across the threshold. They dont want to repeat that frankly. Neil you mentioned Hakeem Jeffries. Any possibility in this latest gosh around that the democrats vote for the republican, whoever it is . Probably unlikely. There was a question this morning to pete aguillar, the Democratic Caucus chair from california. He said earlier this morning he thought that Steve Scalise was more affable than jim jordan. He thought jim jordan wasnt bad for democracy, bad for government. They have more respect for Steve Scalise. Its not like they see this as someone that they can really support. They seem to trust the impression ive gotten from democrats trust Steve Scalise more than Kevin Mccarthy. I will say that. Neil we shall watch. Thanks, chad pergram. Back to what is happening right now in israel with these troops that are amassing. Reservists on the border. Right now better than 300,000 were told. The real concern is building for the state of hostages, maybe up to 150 of them. Many a good number of americans. One mom that is worried about her son after this. There were two texts in a row from hersh at 8 11. The first one said i love you. Immediately at 8 11 also, it said im sorry. 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Side effects may not appear for several weeks. I didnt have to change my treatment. I just gave it a lift. Ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save. Neil were learning that President Biden is getting ready to speak after a Big Battleship is in the neighborhood and more arms arrive. More after this. More carbs . Before you decide. With the freestyle libre 2 system know your Glucose Level and where its headed. No fingersticks needed. Manage your diabetes with more confidence. And lower your a1c. The number one doctor prescribed cgm. Freestyle libre 2. Try it for free at freestylelibre. Us vo you were diagnosed with Thyroid Eye Disease a long time ago. And year after year, you weathered the storm and just lived with the damage that was left behind. But even after all this time your Thyroid Eye Disease could still change. Restoration is still possible. Learn how you could give your eyes a fresh start at tedhelp. Com. Neil all right. You know of those that are held hostage right now up to 150 of them. A good many could be americans. Some put 17, others two dozen. What we do know, its possible that hersh polin is among them. His mom, rachel, is kind enough to join us. Shes trying to draw the worlds attention to her sons case because she did indeed hear from him saturday morning when this attack was on. Very good to have you, rachel. I cannot tell you how much we feel for what youre going through with your family. Sandra if you dont mind telling us what you heard from hersh last saturday. So in the morning around 8 00, i heard a bomb siren go off, a rocket siren go off in jerusalem, where i live. My daughters and i ran in to our bomb shelter in our apartment. My husband was at synagogue. And hersh i knew was out camping somewhere but i wasnt clear where. So when we got the allclear after ten minutes of him not of the bomb sirens stopping, we came out of the bomb shelter. I turned on my phone, which i normally dont use my phone on the jewish sabbath. This was an emergency. I needed to know if he was okay. I turned on my phone. There were two texts at 8 11. Both of them at 8 11. The first one said i love you and the second one said im sorry. I immediately knew something horrible had happened or was about to happen. We subsequently found out that through a whole slew of investigative work that we with dear close wonderful friends of ours that have been helping us to piece together, hersh and one of business best friends, whos name is honor, were at the Music Festival together. They went running from the attack when the terrorists came to the festival. They were actually in a car driving away with two other people when rockets started falling from that were being shot from gaza. They quickly pulled the car over and ran in to a public shelter. Bomb shelter what we subsequently learned is that there was gun fire outside of the shelter that they were in. Terrorists came to the doorway of the shelter and started throwing in Hand Grenades. Spraying the room with bullets from machine guns. By all accounts, honor, who was standing at the doorway, was picking up the Hand Grenades and throwing them back out quickly. All the witnesses we talked to said he was a hero. There were 30 people crammed in to this very small area. After the terrorists sprayed the room with Machine Gun Fire and threw in more and more Hand Grenades, it went quiet. Most people were dead, some seriously wounded. Some were moderately wounded. The terrorist walked in and said the ceasing of the fair and the terrorists working in. They said anybody that can stand up and walk out, lets go. The three witnesses that we have spoken to all said that hersh stood up and walked out but he was missing his arm from somewhere around the elbow down. The arm was gone. He had tourniqueted it. He wasnt screaming or making any noise. Im sure he was in extreme pain. Neil were having difficulty. I hope we can fix this. That was the last you heard, he had been taken off by some of these hamas attackers. He lost his arm, tourniqueted his arm to keep himself from bleeding to death. That was it. The only thing you heard. The president wants to the fact that were going to get these hostages out, theyre going to do that. But its difficult to find them. Im wondering what others are telling you who know the area might know more about your sons whereabouts, what if anything is being done. Martha well, to be honest, i have faith that they want this, you know, this situation dealt with as soon as possible. As realistically as possible. I dont know what that will look like. You know, we have these civilians here. Hes an american civilian that was at a Music Festival that was critically wounded. And who is now being held hos hostage. Were very concerned about he has this horrible wound that as you said and we fear, you know, he could bleed to death. He certainly needs antibiotics, other medication for such a brutal and barbarictype of loss of a limb. Were terribly worried about him. We really feel confident in how motivated the president , the State Department get everyone that we have talked to in the administration or any representatives from america have been very kind, supportive and were hopeful and were praying, praying all the time. We have neil as we are. We might hear something about this from the president of the United States and what he can do to address hostages like your son being held captive. The president of the United States. Folks, i came first of all to say thank you. Thank you to all of you in this room. We have not only cared but youve been breaking your neck the last couple years to deal with this overall issue of antisemitism. I know many of you are personally impacted by what has happened in israel. Theres thousands of duel citizens, maybe some of your relatives are there. Doug, i want to thank you for all the work youve done on behalf of our administration to combat antisemitism. Ive been on the phone, around the clock with our friends Around The World quite frankly discussing whats going on in israel. I want you to know that i want to thank you as well for all of you for working the work youre doing to bring comfort in this moment of grief. And youll read this weekend, the synagogue, god made stars to give light on the earth and separate life from darkness. Give light on the earth and separate light from darkness. You know, its been hard to find that light the past few days. When terrorist groups like hamas brought not only terror, but sheer evil, sheer evil to the world, evil that echos the worst and matches in some cases exceeds the worst atrocities of isis. More than 1,000 slougterred in israel. Ive been speaking with a number of israeli leaders Around The World, leaders in the region as well. You know, among those that have been victimized, who have been killed are at least 22 american citizens. This attack was the campaign of pure cruelty. Not just hate. But cruelty against the jewish people. I would argue its the deadliest day for jews since the holocaust. The deadliest day since the holocaust. One of the worst chapters in Human History to remind us all of that expression i learned from my dad early on, silence is complicity. Silence is complicity. It is. I want you to know i think you figured it out, i refuse to be silent and you refuse to be silent as well. [applause] im here with my senior staff. You all represent a voice that america has to hear. America is not americans cant be silent. We not only reject terrorism, but it goes beyond that. You know, i spoke with Prime Minister netanyahu i dont know how many times but again this morning. Already were surging additional Military Assistance to israel including ammunition to replenish the iron dome and will will sent more fighter jets there to that region and made it clear to the iranians, be careful. We want to make it real clear. Were working on every aspect of the Hostage Crisis in israel including deploying experts to assist. The press will shout to me and many of you are that, you know, what are you doing to bring get these folks home . If i told you, i wouldnt get them home. Folks, a lot were doing. A lot were doing. I have not given up hope. Im bringing these folks home. The idea that im going to stand here before you and tell you what im doing is bizarre. So i hope you understand how bizarre i think it would be to try to answer that question. Were going to continue to work closely with our partners Around The World to ensure israel has what it needs to defends its citizens and respond to these attacks. My commitment to the safety of the jewish people is unshakeable. The United States has israels back. I have yours as well. Both at home and abroad. You know, you can see the pain in some of your faces as i walked in this room. You okay, kiddo . Your fear for family, friends back in israel, worry about kids being targeted in school, about going about their daily lives. You heard by The Down Playing Of Hamas atrocities and blaming israel. This is unconscionable. I asked members of my Team IncludingHomeland SecuritySecretary Mayorkas and attorney general garland to work intensively with our Jewish Community partners so many of you here to set up security around jewish life in America Prevent Emerging threats. We will condemn and combat antisemitism at every turn. You know, the past few days had been a solemn reminder that hate never goes away. Hold on a second. I used to think you could defeat hate. That you can make it all it does is go underground. Just goes underground. Doesnt go away. It only hides until its given oxygen. A little bit of oxygen. Thats why ive secured the largest ever increase in funding for physical security for nonprofits, including synagogues, Jewish Community centers and day schools and i may release the First National strategy to counter antisearchtism from many of you in the room. Many of you helped write that. Its the most ambitious effort to combat antisemitism in all of american history. Were aggressively implementing it. We must all do our part. And we have to push back against the attempts to distort the facts to make clear theres know place for hate in america. Not against jews, not against muslims or against anybody. We mourn the act and act you and so many leaders have across the country of showing us what thousands of years of jewish history has shown us. The enduring strength i mean this sincerely, the in enduring strength of the Jewish Community. Thats why i took my kids and put them on a plane. I wanted them to see that you could not not know what was going on. Walking through those gates. You could not fail to understand as a country what was going on. Thats a fact. Had a profound impact on my children and my grandchildren. So many thought taking a 14yearold grandchild i took them one at a time. I got three more to go. Folks, its important. You know, the miracle of israel is israel. The hope that it inspires. The light it represents to the world. Folks, i was asked in one of my very frank conversations with b. B. And herzog. Why do i feel so deeply about this . Its not about the region. I truly believe where there no israel, no jew in the world would be safe. Its the only ultimate guarantee. The only ultimate guarantee. Folks, because of you i mean this sincerely, because you speak up, the intense tip and the brilliance that you bring to this cause, i think we have a chance to end this in a way that is makes it very difficult to be repeated. I want to thank you for your leadership. As i said, theres a lot to talk about. But im quite frankly concerned as to its hard to talk about this without detail. And is contraire try to our interest to let out the details of whats going on. This is just round the clock, as you understand. You fully understand. But, you know, ive known b. B. Over 40 years. Very frank relationship. Know him well. The one thing that i did say that it is really important that is israel, all the anger, frustration and just i cannot explain it that exists is that they operate by the rules of war. The rules of war. There are rules of war. And i believe israel is doing everything in its power to pull the country together, stay on the same page and were going to do everything in our power to make sure we will succeed and good willing bring home those americans in harms way. Ill let you have a private conversation youve been having, which you should continue to have. Just came to i mean it from the bottom of my heart. Ive given my word as a biden, thank you for the intensity of your support. It matters. It matters that americans see what is happening. I mean, i have been doing this a long time. I never thought i would so i and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children. I never thought id ever anyway. But there are countries in the region trying to be of some help, including arab nations trying to be of some help. Anyway there president , where do you draw strength from during these times . From my faith. My faith. My faith that at the core of every human being is a spark of humanity and decency. Got to be touched. Got to be spoken to. Thats what you do. Thats why youre here. Its not about, you know, revenge. Its about decency. Just basic decency. Treating people with a sense of i dont know how to say it. But i know we can overcome this. I know we can overcome this. Look, i dont know anything about the kind of losses. But i know what its like to feel loss. Lose people that you adore. Get a phone call saying theyre gone. I get that part. I get the part. What ive learned is that as we persevere, we can grow. The day will come when the memory of that person or those persons will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. It will happen. God, it takes a long time sometimes. When its borne out of something that is bent, anything from a mistake to a vicious, vicious intent, it im not saying i know the same. Look, i mean, ill never forget i wont go into that. Anyway, i just think that if we stay true to our values, pursue with every inch and every bit of our energy to get this right, we can bury this again. Bring people back. Bring people home. I think we can i think we can change the middle east. Then again, i have been referred to as a congenital optimist. Im not going to answer any questions to you guys right now. My team here knows when the press is gone, theyll talk more directly to you. Even then, they wont tell you all thats going on. So we say thank you. 80 years ago this week, 80 years ago this week, a group of 400 rabbis came to washington hoping to meet with franklin roosevelt. They were refused entry in to the white house. The fact that were here today and you have spoken as the president of the United States, so clearly in support of israel, so clearly in support of the jewish people. Multiple leaders and representatives of the Jewish Community in to the white house for this Discussion Shows what a distance we traveled in this United States, how we as the Jewish Community are blessed to live today in the United States and thank you for your leadership. [applause] neil the president addressing a crowd of jewish leaders and the Eisenhower Executive Office building. He spend time talking about the fact that hes not forgotten about the fact that those americans were killed, 22 and 17 others unaccounted for. He wasnt going to share the details about how he hopes to get them back. Also talking about the close bonds and connections he has not only with Benjamin Netanyahu and the people of israel. One thing that stood out in my mind, because it was the first reference i heard to the iranians at all in a message he said, be careful. First time hes even mentioned them by name. Again, all of this at a time when israel has 300,000 plus reservists amassed at the border in gaza with a Ground Attack perhaps imminent. Mike tobin in israel with the very latest. Mike . Neil, were at the northern end of the gaza strip. On the israeli side of the border. The palestinian rocket teams have been active tonight. While we hav here, theres been four bombardments of palestinian rockets. We saw them launched at the iron dome. They were taken out with a lounge bang. Were here investigating a rock street. As were investigating, more rockets came in and its the israelis that pulled us in to their shelter for safety. This is the location of the latest rocket strike. Heres a piece of what is left over from the rocket that hit. This is the point of impact. A stone landscaping wall. If you look in here close, you can see a little bit of the rocket. I cant pull it out. Its buried in the ground. Its still hot from the explosion. The rocket hit here. The force of the blast went this way. Blasted through that fencing. Theres a house there that broke out all the glass. We got records of a couple of injuries because of this rocket. It appears that the injuries are really just the force of the broken glass that went to the next house over. You can hear the off in the distance, the impacts from the rockets. This is a drill that sadly people in israel repeat over and over again. All up and down the length of the gaza strip, theres israeli artillery, armor, israeli infantry at the ready to get the order to begin this ground offensive. The artillery is booming away throughout the night sending a message in to the gaza strip that one of the most powerful armies in the world is preparing to enter the gaza strip. We see the troops moving around. So far theres no indication that theyre moving across the border. We dont know exactly when they will get the order. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke a few minutes ago here. He said every member of hamas is a dead man. Neil . Neil mike, i think i learned from you watching the report earlier and your composure was remarkable where some homeowners invited you in a lot of jewish homes have these safe rooms. Without a moment to think about it, they invited you and your crew in. They did with it the disposition of someone saying sit at the dinner with us. Kind and welcoming. This guy didnt know me from anyone. He brought me in to the safety of his house, the safety he prepared with his young daughters. We were all crammed in the same room. It was wellwishing trying to keep others from harm. The good nature of that individual, neil. Neil yeah, theyre amazing. Mike, got me thinking, which is dangerous, how common place it is for israelis to have these safe rooms. They need them. The history bears out its a good idea. When i lived here in israel, i had a safe room in my house. Someone else that built it there. By about all of the houses have a safe room in them. They try to resist the urge to store things in there because when you need it, you need it in a big hurry. The people here in the south of israel know that very well now, neil. Neil indeed. Be safe, my friend. Mike tobin in all of that. I do want to get the latest from david freedman, the former u. S. Ambassador to israel. Very good to have you unfortunately under these circumstances where israel is being tested as never before. What do you make of the planning that went behind this, ambassador . More to the point the president s message to iranians, first time hes mentioned iranians to be careful. Well, neil, i think that theres no way that this attack could have been funded or orchestrated,supervised and acted upon without the help of iran. This is a very sophisticated attack. This fence has not been breached in 50 years despite many attempts to do so. This was really an absolutely unique assault. Of course, i wont repeat all the horrific results. Iran has its fingerprintses all over this. Some reporting by the Wall Street Journal reporting that, Washington Post as well. The State Department and the government is saying theres no evidence of that. I think that is just a complete mistake. Look, heres the problem that the government has, the United States government has. At the same time that they were negotiating a Prisoner Swap giving 6 billion to the iranians and given this as a token of their own good faith, but at the same time, i ran was negotiating the worst attack on the jewish people since the holocaust. The iranians are up to their eyeballs in this. Ive been a critic of President Biden since he began. I appreciate somebody living in israel, i appreciate the message to iran and the gerald ford being moved to the mediterranean. I appreciate the messaging. If we can keep hezbollah and iran out of this, it will save lives. I hope thats the case. Neil were seeing a new plume of smoke in gaza. We heard about the 300,000 reservists poised at the border to do just that, launch a Ground Attack. Israelis are prepared for that. Where does this go . Look, you know, if i may, this goes to the question of whether or not israels going to be handcuffed in its attempts to eliminate and eradicate hamas, whether its going to have free reign to do it. They have to do what they should have done years ago. Few words of President Bidens extraordinary speech, very deeply heartfelt speech, which i appreciate. Few words there that will come to bear in the days to come. This reference to israel has to abide by the laws of war. You know, ive studied the laws of war. Theyre pretty murky. Wars are ugly. Difficult thing to control. What i can tell you is that civilians that gave aid and comfort and hiding and embed with the terrorist groups are not out of bounds in terms of attack. Were going to see. Its inevitable. Well see casualties. Its a war. Theres casualties of this water. In the world of this internet, there will be pictures. As they emerge, the question is are we going to Hearing References to the laws of war and how israel has to be held back. I can tell you, if hamas emerges from this battle simply degraded as opposed to eliminated, it will be an enormous victory for the forces of evil in this world. Neil real quickly to that very point. The history of these incursions in the past, nothing like this. But the pattern seems to be sympathy and support for israel. That quickly dissipates. Within a week, theres warnings about dont overdo your responses. Were hearing that already from the u. N. Secretary general. Does that worry you that this is fleeting, the im convinced its fleeting, i have seen this movie before. What is difference is the resolve of the people of israel, the anger, the horrors of attack are unprecedented, not just the conflict between hamas and israel, frankly in the history of the past 75 years, i dont know of a more barbaric, more brazen, more horrific attack since 19450. In that context, i am not sure israel is going to care, they care deeply about the United States and its views much less about the un. Is eight or ten times over the last 20 years, it comes back worse and worse and worse and the people of israel, especially poor People Living in demanding an end. David friedman, former ambassador to israel. That will do it. Here is the five. m