>> martha: good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum at fox news head quarters in new york. the story happening right now is new reaction coming in about the white house as president biden has said "i think we need a pause" in the israel hamas war in order to get humanitarian aid in and people being held there out. but others say that that only gives hamas time to reload as the u.s. tries to accomplish those goals. here's john kirby moments ago. >> localized that would allow us to get aid in and to get our people out is a good thing for the people of gaza, a good thing for the americans that are being held hostage and it's not going to stop israel from defending itself. the security assistance we're providing continues to flow. a temporary pause doesn't mean a general cease fire when the war is over. it means pause for a specific purpose. >> martha: so let's go to tel aviv now and speak with danny dannon, a former israeli ambassador to the united nations. good to have you with us today. welcome. the first question is your reaction to this back and forth. we heard president biden now several times say that they would institute pauses in order to or ask the idf actually through your government to institute pauses to let us get people out and to also let humanitarian aid get in. are you okay with that plan? >> absolutely not. i don't get it, why we're talking about a cease fire or pause. we had a cease fire until october 7 with hamas. they decided to attack us unprovokedly, to massacre our babies and rape our girls and kidnap 240 israelis. if they want to surrender, release our hostages, they can do it. if we pause now, we'll give them time to regroup, plan more ambushes to or forces and the next attack. i don't see any reason to that. regarding the humanitarian aid, we allow more than 100 trucks to come in every day. we don't need a pause for that. >> martha: what would you say to the biden administration, to the president himself? he's obviously under political pressure in this country to allow for these pauses to happen. there's increasing coverage about the casualties in the palestine territory as well. so what would your message be to this white house about that? >> we are fighting evil. it's going to be long and complicated and costly war. we know that. we're prepared for that. we expect our allies to stand with us and to understand that we cannot win the fight against evil if we're going to pause every few days, if we're going to give them fuel, if we're going to give them the time and the energy to continue to fight against us. we want to eliminate hamas as soon as possible and to bring the hostages back home. we have 30 babies today in the hands of hamas. so in order to do it fast, we have to continue with the war. >> martha: those children on the cover of the sun in the u.k. right now, it's an interesting difficult actually comparison. you have people here tearing down pictures of these israeli hostages and then you have "the sun" newspaper in the u.k. putting the babies you mentioned on the cover of their newspaper, which we can show everyone in just a moment. these situations of these children whose families are speaking out this young children is always smiling, her family says, and laughing. she wants to hug you. i believe this is a child whose parents were both murdered october 7 and this child is probably unaware of that, danny. >> we in the jewish history, we have so many problems and atrocities. we're seeing who are the good guys who are standing with us, who understand the moral clarity that we need to stand together to fight the bad guys, the evil forces of isis, al-quaida. you have those that come against us. unfortunately, we see what is happening in iran, in turkey, even russia. the statements are made against us. so i think we should be strong and we should thank those that are standing with us. >> martha: danny danon, thanks very much. good to have you with us, sir. >> thank you, martha. >> martha: these decisions that we're talking about, many of them can only be made by a president in terms of our invol involvement. right now that is joe biden. former u.n. ambassador, nikki haley hopes she will be in those shoes come 2025. she joins me now. governor, good to have you with us. good to have you here today. >> thanks, martha, for having me. >> martha: is a very difficult situation. this is what the american people elect presidents to decide because these decisions are so difficult. you have hundreds of americans who are currently trapped in gaza, and you have hostages, over 240 of them, including 10 americans that are down there as well. how would you negotiate this with israel in terms of the pauses that might be required in order to manage that situation? what would you do? >> i think this is incredibly personal. should be personal for america. we've got -- you have 33 americans lives lost, you've got almost 20 hostages there. you've got other people we're trying to get out of gaza. look, it's precision that we're trying to do. i know israel well enough. i dealt with them for two years every day. they want to save every single life. they want to bring every hostage home. so america should be working with them on how to do that. you don't do that with a pause. you do that by understanding what is the threat to the hostages and what is the threat to america. the threat to all of them is iran. iran is waving their flag, telling hamas what to do. they told hamas to kill 1,400 jewish people. they're telling hamas what to do. we have to make sure iran knows there's hell to pay if they hurt any of our people. i've been there. i've seen those tunnels. martha, what makes this difficult is they could have those hostages in the tunnels, they could have the hostages somewhere else. these tunnels are underneath schools, underneath hospitals, underneath civilian sites. they do that because hamas doesn't value life and they know that america and israel do value life. i don't think we need to tell them to take a pause. we need to led israel do what hey need to do, defeet and eliminate hamas. hamas will come after us. iran will come after us. when they dragged the naked bodies in the streets of gaza, they said death to israel, death to america. >> martha: this is what the president is hearing as well and seeing when you see body bags in the palestinian territory. some of these are small. they have children in them. what would you say to the american people as president when they push back and say this is not our fight and there are children being killed on both sides. what would you say to them? >> this is our fight. it became our fight when we had 33 americans die there on that day, october 7. it is our fight because they took hostages. this is what i'll tell you. whether you see in these pro hamas rallies around the country, which makes me sick to my stomach. because you are really focusing, rallying and supporting a group that says death to america. we don't support any violence whatsoever. the fact that they're doing this on campuses is one thing. the second thing is understand that iran is doing this in conjunction with russia and china. see this holy alliance for what it is. you've got china sending iran billions of dollars by importing their oil. you have russia, what did they do? their first call wasn't to netanyahu when this happened in israel. who did they call? called hamas and told them to come to russia. in turn, hamas said that russia was their greatest friend. you have an unholy alliance agreeing on the fact that they don't want freedom anywhere and they hate america. so we have to see this as personal. we have to understand that eliminating hamas is a way to kick the knees out from iran. we've got to do that before they get to us. we're acting like it's september 10th. america better remember what september 12th felt like. we've got an open border and we've got terrorists that want to kill us. we need to start acting that. >> martha: we heard that from the fbi director yesterday. he said the threat level to these united states is at a whole other level. that is a chilling reality that i think americans have to accept right now. a number of middle east experts are advising the president right now to hit strategic targets in iran, to send the message there, to let israel in effect handle the situation in gaza and the united states hit these very clear targets in iran that will send a very clear message. would you do that as president? >> first of all, it's irresponsible that we've had almost 100 strikes during the biden presidency on our military bases. as a wife of a combat veteran, what that is deployed and is very close to that area right now, and dealing with some of those issues, what i'll tell you this tit for tat is not what you want to do. when these strikes happen, the first thing you do is you go and you take out wherever it was that the strike happened, you take out their supplies. you take out their infrastructure. you take out whatever allowed them the ability to strike the military base in the first place. that's what he should be doing. not just being reactionary. >> martha: thanks, governor. we have pat ryder at the pentagon. this is brigadier general pat ryder. let's listen. >> the protection of civilians and unfetterred access for the delivery of humanitarian aid in gaza. next week, secretary austin will travel to india, the republic of korea and indonesia for several important engagements to bolster our strong relationshipses in the region. the secretary and india's defense minister will participate in the fifth two plus two ministerial dialogue alongside secretary of state blinken. secretary austin will travel to the rok for meetings with the rok minister of national defense, which include the 55th annual security consultative meeting. and secretary austin will meet in jakarta indonesia. this will be the secretary's fourth trip to the indopacific region this year. the trip cops as the united states along with u.s. allies in the indopacific continues to deliver historic momentum toward a shared regional vision for peace, stability and prosperity. finally. there's been some interest in whether secretary austin has had the opportunity to meet with the new speaker of the house yet. secretary austin and chairman of the joint chiefs of staffs had a chance to meet with mr. johnson yesterday. they look forward to working with the speaker and the congress to make sure the u.s. military has what they need to defend our nation. with that, i'll be happy to take your questions. go to a.p. t tara. thanks, general ryder. we've begun to see from president biden and from some members of congress that there is interest in a cease fire or a pause in operations in gaza to allow some humanitarian aid to get through. does the secretary think that a cease fire or a pause would also be beneficial at this point and is he communicating that to his israeli counter parts? >> a couple things there. as it relates to a cease fire, you've heard the white house speak to this. we do not support a cease fire and that gives time for hamas to regroup. it's something that again would put israeli citizens and others in danger. you have heard, however, the president say that the u.s. government does support humanitarian pauses to enable humanitarian aid to get in for hostages to get out as well as other citizens. in the secretary's discussion with his counter parts at the top, the discussion of ensuring that palestinian civilians, gazans, innocent civilians in gaza are able to get water, fuel, medical aid, that continues to be something that we continue to emphasize regularly. >> so the secretary is advocating for a humanitarian pause? >> so i'd refer you to the white house to talk broadly. the dod focus -- our focus is on the things that i highlighted, deterring a broader conflict, ensuring force protection and ensuring that israel has what it needs to defend itself. idris? >> two quick questions. first on last week the intercepts by the -- the missiles from yemen. now that you've had time to study it, do you definitively believe the missiles were headed to israel? >> we know the houthis point targets to ranges in israel. as it relates to u.s.s. carney, what we know is that those missiles were in the vicinity of the carney, so they took appropriate action to take them down. but the broader point here is, again, we know that they have this capability, the missiles that can reach targets in israel and as you saw earlier this week, israel took one of them down. as it relates to israel missile defense and air defense, i refer you to them. >> [question inaudible] >> i don't have that information. >> do you believe israel's response so far has been proportionate? >> i'm not going to speak about israel's operations. you've heard us say that we continue to talk with them about the importance of applying the laws of wars, which includes taking into account civilians on the ground. you heard us talk about the challenging situation they're in as it relates to hamas and and their command and control modes, rockets, tunnels deeply embedded underneath gaza. all wrapped around innocent civilians. i don't think we can question the complexity of the urban warfare taking place in gaza. we expect our israeli partners to abide by and take into account the laws of war as they conduct their operations. will? >> two questions. first in terms of u.s. monitoring of military supplies, aid supplied to israel, have there been any instances of concern that raise concerns on the u.s. side in terps of civilian casualties and an update on u.s. forces? >> whenever we provide military assistance to partners, including israel, we make clear that that support must be used to include the international law of war and protecting civilians that is standard with any partner that we provide. again, this is part of the conversation that we continue to have with our israeli partners recognizing that they have a duty and right to protect their citizens. as it relates to attacks since october 26, there's been eight attacks, three in syria -- three in iraq, five in syria. i'd say just one -- the last one was october 31. that was one attack in syria. >> what is the total? >> 28 total. >> since october 17? >> yes. correct. eastern time. chris? >> thanks. two questions. one on the attacks and one on ukraine training. i'd just like to clarify what an attack on u.s. forces is just so we're all speaking the same language. >> yeah. >> are you counting attempted attacks that may fail at launch and is your assessment of an attack consistent with how you categorize these instances in the past? >> yeah, it's a great point. thanks for bringing it up. so i think part of the challenge here -- and i know that you wrestle with this as well -- defining an attack. for those of you that have spent any significant time if places like iraq and syria particularly during the height of combat operations, whether it's oif or the counter isis campaign, you know it's not -- it's not unusual back in the day so to speak to have indirect fire on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times a day. in baghdad, it was a significant psychological event. by the end of the deployment, it barely registered an eyebrow raise. that said, it's dangerous. in some cases you have a couple of rockets maybe impacting somewhere near the fence line or inside the fence line. in other cases, you have drones that may impact a facility. as you saw on october 17 and 18, we had some folks that experienced some injuries. since then, you know, no injuries of u.s. personnel to my knowledge. but again, it doesn't minimize the potential risk and the danger of these. so as we put these lists together, these numbers together, we're working with u.s. central command to try to be as conservative as possible to identify if u.s. forces in iraq and syria were threatened. but again, it's an art, not a science. for the sake of transparency, trying to make sure we're providing what we can as quickly as we can. i'll leave it there. >> so what is the definition? is there a distance it has to be or is it -- >> no. like i said, it's u.s. forces essentially being threatened. it's more of an art and a science depending on the situation. >> my second question. on tuesday you said the timeline for training the ukraine pilots and f-16 would be five to nine months. is that a pre-existing dod estimate or is that an estimate after the pilots got to arizona? >> that's an assessment that is taylored to the current situation based on our conversations with the air national guard and predicated on the skill level of the individual pilots going through that training. >> martha: okay. we'll keep a close eye on the briefing at the pentagon. we'll watch it, let you know if there's more news out of that briefing. first, we want to go live to southern israel with mike tobin is watching all of the action on the ground there. hi, mike. >> hi, martha. while we're watching the big picture of the combat in the gaza strip, there's the impact of individuals. we know there's a kibbutz near here. it was terrorized on october 7. people wore blind folds and held up pictures of the children being held hostage in the gaza strip to keep people running what this is all about and how families are in such agony not knowing the fate of their loved ones. there's the loved ones for the people inside the gaza strip. foreign passport holders that were trapped there at the southern end of the gaza strip and couldn't get out. we learned today that a number of people did get out. hundreds went down. the president said some 70 got out. the state department won't confirm an exact number. the family of emily roushenberger. emily and her five kids and her husband all made it of of the gaza strip. >> as soon as emily got out, she called her best friend that lives in saudi arabia. they talk on whatsapp. she said call and tell me dad we're out, we're healthy. we're on a bus to cairo and i'll call him when i wake up tomorrow morning. >> another big visual of a crater opening up after israeli strikes. about halfway down the gas strip. the idf says that gaza city itself is encircled. the idf said they made easy work getting through hamas's northern defenses. they have done it at a price. 18 israeli soldiers have been killed since october 7. more than 300 israeli soldiers have been killed. if you look at the palestinian side, the death toll is over 9,000. martha? >> martha: thanks for your continuing coverage. mike tobin on the ground there. later this hour, the international spokesman for the idf will join us and we will ask him about this encircling of gaza and what comes next. if you struggle. and struggle. and struggle with cpap. you should check out inspire. no mask. no hose. just sleep. learn more and view important safety information at inspiresleep.com about two years ago, i realized that jade was overweight. i wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. after farmer's dog, she's a much healthier weight. she's a lot more active. and she's able to join us on our adventures. get started at betterforthem.com the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com welcome to ameriprise. i'm sam morrison. my brother max recommended you. so my best friend sophie says you've been a huge help. at ameriprise financial, more than 9 out of 10 of our clients are likely to recommend us. our neighbors, the garcias, love working with you. because the advice we give is personalized, hey, john reese, jr. how's your father doing? to help reach your goals with confidence. my sister has told me so much about you. that's why it's more than advice worth listening to. it's advice worth talking about. ameriprise financial. >> martha: the fbi is searching the home of a top fund raiser for new york city mayor eric adams. that according to law enforcement in the city. so the mayor suddenly headed back to the city earlier today after he went to washington d.c. for meetings on the immigrant crisis. so it's our understanding the meetings did not happen. he came back to new york. alexis mca aadams. >> yeah, this all breaking this morning. mayor adams cancelled his plans and came back to address a matter. this is what we know so far. this happened at the home of this woman. that's the mayor's fund-raising chief, brianna suggs. he was house was raided by the fbi. she's been helping raise money for eric adams campaign. neighbors told the "new york post," they heard screaming and helicopters as her home was searched earlier this morning. we reached out to the mayor. he said his spokesman would respond. so they wanted to get back to new york as quickly as possible. mayor adams plans to return to washington d.c. and reschedule these meetings as soon as he can. according to campaign finance records, the adams 2025 re-election campaign paid suggs company, called suggs solutions llc nearly $100,000 and about $30,000 for the 2021 mayoral campaign. that's the one to focus on here. a source with adams campaign confirming to fox news the raid is related to the 2021 campaign, this is not the first time his campaign came under scrutiny. in july, six people were charged with attempting to divert tens of thousands in public money to adams campaign months before his election. the mayor talked about the allegations at the time. >> you must follow the rules. that doesn't change. my conversation is consistent. i can sleep well at night because i know i'm consist tint in what i say to people. >> the mayor is scheduled to attend an event in new york city today. no word if he will come to that or talk to the media. thanks. >> martha: thanks. in another part of new york city today. donald trump jr. wrapping up his testimony and his brother, eric, taking the stand in the civil fraud case where their father is also on trial. they're accused of inflating the value of their properties. the former president says he did exactly the opposite and undervalued those properties. donald trump jr. testifying that he left the accounting to the accountants. nate foy live with the very latest in the trump case at the courthouse in lower manhattan. hi, nate. >> hi, martha. we're in a 15-minute recess set to resume in five minutes when eric trump will again take the stand and continue his testimony. he's testified that he never saw or worked on any statements of financial be condition for the trump organization. this comes after you mentioned don jr. wrapped up his testimony earlier today. both brothers are co-defendants in this trial alongside their father, former president donald trump. all three deny any wrong doing. the state will soon resume questioning eric about his role at the trump organization and the acquisition of properties. don jr. testified that he signed a 2017 statement of financial condition but he didn't prepare that statement himself. instead, you mentioned relying on the company's accountants. don jr. called it another political attack on his family. >> it's a sad state of affairs. we don't have an equal system of justice in america these days. it's so ridiculous that i think actual hard working americans trying to live their american dream are starting to realize it now. >> former president trump posted on truth social, so sad to see my sons being persecuted by this political witch hunt on a case that should never have been brought. new york attorney general letitia james is seeking a $250 million fine and severe business restrictions on the trumps for fraudulently overvaluing properties. former president trump is set to testify on monday of next week followed for now by his daughter, ivanka on wednesday. she's appealing the judge's ruling requiring her to testify. we'll see if that stands. back to you. >> martha: thanks for keeping an eye on it for us, nate. breaking right now, israel's defense forces confirming moments ago that the encirclement of gaza city is complete as they zero in now on dismantling hamas terrorists. idf spokesperson jonathan only on "the story" with the very latest next. >> i call on noncombatants, leave. go south. we will not stop our action to eliminate the hamas terrorists. we will advance. we will advance and win. we will do so with god's help and the help of our heroic soldiers. o save money every mon? 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[dog barks] oh. no it's just a bunny! calm down taco. sit duchess. stop! sesame no no. archie! walter don't, no, ahhhh. ahhhhh! you're lucky you're so cute. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty.♪ >> martha: breaking right now, israeli defense forces confirmed that they have gaza surrounded and their focus is to dismantle hamas. in moments, lieutenant colonel jonathan joins us. first we go live to northern israel with steve harrigan. hi, steve. >> martha, really a barrage of attacks so far over the past several hours from hezbollah positions inside lebanon hitting at least 16 different places in northern israel. the town of simona being hit by rockets. it's not clear the number of casualties yet. you get a sense there's an uptick in violence with hezbollah's leader expected to speak too many. many people wondering if he will call for hezbollah to play for a more active role. biden officials say they do not expect a major escalation by hezbollah. >> we're concerned about continued attacks on israeli forces there in the north as are the israelis. i don't believe we've seen any indication yet that hezbollah is ready to go in full force. we'll see what he has to say. >> certainly one worrying note, the "wall street journal" reporting that russia's wagner group is in talks with hezbollah to supply an anti aircraft defense system to hezbollah in lebanon. that system would be able to shoot down jets with missiles. martha, back to you, thanks, steve. joining us from tel aviv, the spokesperson for the idf is here with us. colonel, thanks for being here. we want an update on the idf's movement and your mission in terms of this day and we're about a month in to all of this now. you heard our reporter, steve harrigan, reporting on the attacks coming from lebanon and the fact that nazrallah will speak tomorrow. what are you hearing there? >> hello. thank you for having me. yes, i think that your coverage is spot on and the fact that you started from the north is the correct thing to do. that is the most dangerous area. what we're seeing there is a significant escalation by hezbollah firing at our cities, firing further south in to israel and using weapons, quantity and quality of weapons that they have not used before. our message to hezbollah is that we are deployed in northern israel, we are defending ourselves and that we have only employed or used less than half of our air force. the air force is locked and loaded and ready to engage in whatever targets need be. that is focused specifically on hezbollah and their terror structure in lebanon. the question that has to be asked by the state of lebanon, do you really want to jeopardize what is left of lebanese prosperity for the sake of terrorists in gaza. lebanon stands to lose a lot and gain nothing. >> martha: i'm sorry, colonel. your audio is breaking up a little bit. we can hear most of what you're saying. so i do want to continue. you heard john kirby just moments ago at the white house saying that they are not convinced that hezbollah is all in or that they're going to increase their posture and escalate their posture. we also heard that the wagner group, there's reports that the wagner group from russia may be deploying anti-aircraft missiles to lebanon to shoot down your aircraft. are you aware of that? is that on your radar? have you seen any of that equipment coming in to lebanon? >> we are -- i'm sorry for the quality of the audio. >> i apologize about that. the situation is tense. really it's really a decision time for the state of lebanon. we will see what the chief terrorist of hezbollah has to say. we're following those reports and events on the ground. that would be a significant escalation on behalf of hezbollah. not something that we would be able to deal with or to accept. we would have to deal with that on a military level. the bottom line here is that yes, the situation in gaza is serious. we're fighting and engaging with hamas. but we're also focusing a lot of assets towards the north to make sure that they don't engulf the region in an all-out war, which would be disastrous for anybody involved. it's tense times. we're ready and prepared. >> martha: this is the top hamas official at 10:00 eastern time this morning. talking about their commitment to this fight. watch. >> gaza will remain as the thorn in the throat of the occupation and we will continue to fight against the occupation. they could not achieve any achievement on the ground either politically or militarily or security. >> martha: so what does it stand in your opinion? you all have said it's going to be a long fight. he's saying that you will not win in this. what is your sense of how much ground you have made already and how long you have to go before hamas is eliminated, which you've said is your goal. >> yes. this is the same ghazi hamad two days ago gave very compelling interviews to arabic audiences about their desire to annihilate israel and kill all the jews and to do october 7 over and over and over again. >> martha: that's right. >> let's not be confused with what he says in nicer words in english. this is a rotten and vile terrorist, part of a rotten organization. i think our actions will speak instead of words. our actions on the ground are steady, methodical progress. we're making good progress according to our plan on the ground where there's tactical engagements between us and hamas. we beat them. we have already killed hundreds of hamas operatives. we have taken several strong holds in locations and as the war continues, we will -- i don't think we'll have to say so much but the actions on the ground will be speaking for us. and the days of that has terrorist and all of the others are counted. we will -- there will be a reckoning for the atrocities of october 7 and we will make sure that that will never happen again from gaza. >> martha: when you talk about encircling gaza and we have seen your videos of the hamas headquarters, is it the intention to take out those headquarters and do you have concerns about the hospital above it? >> yes, we are concerned. as important as it is for us to win the war, we also want to make sure that we don't cause unnecessary damage to civilians and their infrastructure. we're fighting through the laws of armed conflict despite the fact that our enemies do everything in order to violate it, including by placing their military infrastructure in and under protected sites like u.n. schools, hospitals, clinics, mosques, churches and everything that is supposed to be out of bounds for fighting. we will continue to fight determinantly with a focus on hamas and its military assets and we will be careful and take all the precautions that we can take in order not to strike and kill unnecessary civilians -- >> martha: all right. colonel, thank you very much. i hope we can speak again. there's a lot of questions for you every day. we hope you come back as we move forward in this fight. thank you very much, colonel. thanks. so as israel takes aim at an iranian backed terror group, the iranian regime chairing a u.n. forum on the promotion of human rights despite executing more and more of their own people. iranian american activist and mike gallagher next. e the plan that's right for you. the call is free, and there's no obligation. you see, medicare covers only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. that's why so many people purchase medicare supplement insurance plans like those offered by humana. they're designed to help you save money, and pay some of the costs medicare doesn't. depending on the medicare supplement plan you select, you could have no deductibles or copayments for doctor visits, hospital stays, emergency care, and more. you can keep the doctors you have now, ones you know and trust, with no referrals needed. plus, you can get medical care anywhere in the country, even when you're traveling! with humana, you get a competitive monthly premium, and personalized service, from a healthcare partner working to make healthcare simpler and easier for you. you can choose from a wide range of standardized plans. each one is designed to work seamlessly with medicare and help save you money! so how do you find the plan that's right for you? one that fits your needs and your budget? call humana now at the number on your screen for this free guide. it's just one of the ways that humana is making healthcare simpler. and when you call, a knowledgeable, licensed agent-producer can answer any questions you have and help you choose the plan that's right for you. the call is free, and there's no obligation. you know medicare won't cover all your medical costs. so, call now and see why a medicare supplement plan from a company like humana just might be the answer. >> martha: so iran is chairmanning the u.n. nations department on foreign rights. that's correct. they have been accused of executing people at an alarming rated. a 30% spike compared to the same time last year. iran is a supporter of hamas whose attacks on israel triggered the war raging in the middle east. iran's proxies have launched attacks in iraq and syria more than two dozen times, 28 times general ryder just told us since october 17. the military disrupted most of them. there's been some minor injuries and an american contractor died of a heart attack. let's bring in masih alinejad, activist. good to have you here. i want to start here at home. we heard from christopher wray that they believe there's an elevated threat to americans and he mentioned you. he said we have already seen an american journalist targeted by hamas on her front door step with a man with an automatic rifle. he's speaking out. he's saying you're an example of what can happen here. they have proven that they will come here, masih. >> of course. i have been warning for years and years. martha, i'm not even shocked, not surprised that when attacks happen to -- when the terrorist attackses on israeli civilians h, they were not even shy to say that we are together. hamas, hezbollah, the islamic republic, they're united and that was a plan for them to take israeli civilians and get the democratic countries against israeli. so what is actually sad, that for years and years, we have been warning about this danger. now what do we see? these terrorists are attacking democracy, not just people in the middle east. they are a danger and threat to americans, to europeans, to all who care about humanity, who care about freedom. >> martha: this is a piece of sound from iran's ambassador. here's what was said. watch this. >> sure. >> every society possesses the capabilities and potential that complement the capacities and possibilities of other nations. the youth, women and girls within these communities must be at the heart of planning for securing the future. >> martha: youth, women and girls must be at the heart of the planning. what do you say to that? >> first of all, i have to say that i don't believe anything that dictator is trying to say. i'm not angry with them. i angry with democratic countrying gives them the platform. today we're talking here, the islamic republic is a leader chairing human rights council at the united nations. it means that the united nations is a place for united dictators. this is beyond sad. the islamic republic sends drone to putin to kill innocent ukrainianers. they're sending killers on u.s. soil. not only targeting me, targeting u.s. officials. they're targeting american citizens on u.s. soil. i believe that the u.s. government must criminalize trans national representation and have to call their allies to call them a terrorist organization. this is at the united nations in new york, they threaten america. they are behind this war. >> martha: and the u.n. refuses to recognize hamas as a terrorist organization or that hamas was behind the october 7th attacks and to call for the release as a united body of those hostages, which ought to be easy for them to say. masih, thanks very much. masih alinejad joining us this afternoon. >> thanks for having me. >> martha: good to see you. a tide of anti-israel information is being flooded online. watch. >> the reality for jewish content dictators includes tik tok. it's been a barrage of harassment in all forms of tik tok facilitated interaction. >> martha: mike gallagher said it's digital fentanyl and brainwashing our youth against mesh. congressman gallagher joins us now. he serves on the intelligence and armed services committees and a retired marine. congressman, good to have you with us. feels like we sort of get all fired up about issues like tik tok and say tik tok should be banned in the united states and then it all just goes away. something like this happens and we see the hate that is being spewed all over these platforms, congressman. what can be done? >> the first is to recognize why a momentum fore a ban has stalled. one is because the senate effort to take action was too broadly drawn. it was viewed as a grant of authority to executive branch. the others because tik tok spent millions on a lobby effort to lull members of congress in to inaction. this should be a call to action though. the hate we're seeing spewed against jewish americans on tik tok should remind us of the basic facts. the fact is that this app, which increasingly young americans get their news from this app, this is the source of news and could become the dominant news platform in america is controlled by a chinese company. if you don't think the chinese communist party could or would weaponize that platform to spread anti-american propaganda to divide americans against americans, to increase division in this country, then you're not paying attention to what they've been doing all around the world. just recently chinese tech companies literally wiped israel off the man, refusing to show the state of israel on a map. that's a taste of what could happen if we allow tik tok to continue its ascendence here in america. >> martha: you said something about all of this i'm passions speech on capitol hill against tik tok. it disappears. you talked about the millions spent in lobbying money. does that money get traced back to china? is china using our lobbying system in this country to keep that app alive? >> there's no question that the chinese communist party weaponizes the d.c. swamp against us. look at former members of congress who now lobby on behalf of chinese companies like huawei. the chinese drone company, we had a bill to ball their use for military purposes. they hired active duty police officers to lobby members of congress against it. we have weak foreign disclosure act laws. they need to be fixed. we have people that get around the fara registration process. that's where something we just need to clean up our own house. >> martha: well, i'd love to see where that goes and how successful it is. it's a really important issue as we head in to the campaign season. we have live shots of flares over gaza, congressman gallagher. i want to ask you about the back and forth -- i just spoke with the idf spokesperson. we have spoken with netanyahu's spokespeople as well. netanyahu made clear when he spoke to some of the troops today, he said that there will -- we will not stop, we will not stop our advances. and then you hear from the white house that there will be pauses and that they will make sure there's pauses. where do you stand? >> the president's call for a pause is counter productive. we have to support israel. they have a right to now systematically dismantle hamas after the horrific attack on october 7. your previous segment was important. what will happen now, as israel continues to press in to gaza, there will be an effort to isolate israel in the united nations, take action against israel in international criminal court. we will have european allies that will go weak-kneed. we need to not lose our nerve in this case and we need to continue to back our ally, particularly as we know hamas has plenty of allies in the united nations. they have plenty of allies in american universities. all the more reason why we need to be working together and not lose our nerve. >> martha: you think president biden is getting unsettled when he sees polling over democrats that are nervous over this and support the palestinian people and by extension, hamas? >> there's no question that the democratic party is divided. the president's initial rhetoric on this has been good. i'm glad the white house wants to support israel. i stand ready to work with him on that. if the left grows in their influence and if they continue to argue against israel and if what we're seeing on college campuses spills out in to the mainstream in capitol hill, it's a huge problem. i hope the president will continue his steadfast support of israel. >> martha: mike gallagher, thanks very much. good to have you with us. thank you. >> thank you. >> martha: we will continue to watch these live shots that you're seeing now. this is the skies over gaza as we continue to see rocket fire. we know the area has been encircled by idf forces. we will have continued live coverage as the idf continues their push through gaza. that is "the story" for today. i'll see you right back here tomorrow. >> neil: all right.