Too early on this friday morning and all week long. Morning joe starts right now. Good morning. Welcome to morning joe. It is friday, october 13th. We are following fastmoving developments out of israel. The countrys military is telling us more than a Million People telling more than a Million People to leave their homes this morning as it prepares a potential fullscale Ground Invasion in the wake of the Terror Attacks by hamas. Well have a live report for the very latest on the ground there. Plus, an update on the Biden Administrations efforts to prevent further escalation in the region with top officials on the ground this morning in israel and jordan. Also ahead, the republicanled chaos on capitol hill reached yet another level last night when the partys nominee for speaker just dropped out of the race. Well talk about how that impacts the country and world events. Along with joe, willie, and me, we have the host of way too early, White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. And president emeritus of the council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass is with us here in new york, as well. Nearly a week into the war, the atrocities carried out by hamas are still coming to light. On social media yesterday, the Israeli Defense forces released photos showing the burnt and decapitated bodies of babies. Due to their graphic nature, were not going to show the images here this morning. Among the many israelis missing, ten members of a family who descended from a Holocaust Escapee Who, himself, passed away just last year. Speaking in telaviv yesterday, u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken described some of the horrors he had been shown in photos. Its hard to find the right words. Its beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see and, god forbid, experience. A baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive in their cars or in their hidaway rooms. I could go on, but its simply depravity in the worst imaginable way. Meanwhile, in its ongoing response to the terrorist ambush and ahead of a potential Ground Invasion of gaza, israels military has called for the entire population of the northern half of gaza to move to Southern Gaza within the next 24 hours. That area home to just over one Million People, accounts for about half the territorys population. The United Nations warning such a move would be impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences. The u. N. Has asked for the order to be rescinded to avoid transforming, quote, what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation. Hamas has told palestinians not to comply with israeli demands, calling it, quote, psychological warfare. Joining us now from the israel israelgaza border, chief Foreign Correspondent richard engel. Thank you for being with us again this morning. What more can you tell us about the practicality of what israel has requested, which is that the northern half of gaza move to the southern half of gaza in the next 24 hours . Reporter and it is asking people to do that while they are under attack, while they are sealed off, and while the power, electricity, gas, all supplies have been cut off. So people are it is not an organized evacuation in any way. People have just been told, leave by any means possible. You can see behind me right now, that is the northern gaza strip. That is gaza city. That is the most populated part of gaza. As you said, there are just over 2 Million People in the gaza strip. It is broken up into roughly two heavily populated areas. The north with gaza city and then in the south. What israel has done, what israel has said, everyone should leave the north, evacuate gaza city, evacuate an entire city of a Million People, and get in their cars, get in donkey carts, and there are still donkey carts in use in gaza, and move south, move below the wadi gaza valley. People in gaza are trying to do it. Hamas has told them not to leave, not to obey the order, but people are listening. They are packing whatever they can, taking a little food, taking some supplies, if they have any batteries, any gasoline, theyre taking that with them, and they are trying to move south. Overnight, we heard some of the most intense bombardments so far. We were here all night, and the incoming was intense, one of the other of another with israeli tanks, fire. We are now hearing drones above. This offensive is continuing. We will see today if the attacks do lessen to a degree as people move south. That remains unknown. Hospital officials inside gaza also tell us theyre overwhelmed. There are thousands of dead and injured, and theyre running out of supplies. People are being treated on the floor. Hospitals are enormously crowded. Now, under attack, cut off, people are taking what they can and trying to get out of that city right now and move to what could be a safer area before what is anticipated to be an israeli onslaught into gaza. Now, it seems quite clear the onslaught will focus on the north, on gaza city. Richard, let me ask you about that anticipated onslaught. As you said, israel has been responding from the air over the last week or so. What could a Ground Assault, a Ground Invasion by the israeli militant look like here . Reporter well, one of the reasons that israel says that it wants people to leave is it is expecting a massive fight. It is expecting that hamas is dug in. When you expect to fight against an entrenched enemy, you are going to bring a lot of force to bear. Israel has broughtartillery, an they move the tanks into the tight streets of gaza looking for hamas, concerned about booby traps, trying to destroy them, they will be firing a great deal. So this area could soon become an open fire zone, and i think thats why israel is trying to tell people, leave the area right now. Itll be dangerous for the israelis because hamas is dug in. Itll be dangerous for hamas, clearly, but it will be very dangerous for any palestinians who stay behind and are caught up in what will soon be perhaps some of the most intense urban fighting weve seen anywhere in the world in years. Richard, could you explain to our viewers in america why egypt seals its border with gaza and why they sealed the border soon after the attack . Reporter i dropped off. Sorry, i cant hear you if you are asking. Okay, very good. Thank you, richard engel. Well be asking Richard Haass that question. Richard engel, thank you so much. Please do everything you can to be safe. Richard haass, well ask you that same question. Egypt, obviously, no friends of hamas. Egypt who, of course, struck a peace deal with israel in the late 1970s. Talk about why egypt has sealed off the border with hamas, because that obviously would allow a lot of palestinians to escape. Egypt used to administer the gaza strip, and did until the 1967 sixday war. They know it all too well. There has been infiltration over the years into egypt of people committing Terrorist Attacks in egypt, among other things, so they just shut down the border as part of their larger effort to maintain internal security. Its about that simple. That really explains a larger point, that americans who are just now tuning into this, the atrocities that have happened, hearing about israel and hamas, and, of course, the ongoing Palestinian Question. I had noticed over the past 10, 15 years, im sure youve noticed it even longer because youve been so involved in this region for so long, but a growing animosity toward the palestinian cause because of hamas, because of the Palestinian Authority, from arab governments. It used to be the arab league would get together and unanimously vote against israel. They would vote for causes that were near and dear to hamas heart. That is no more. Thats no longer. In fact, most of the Sunni Arab World has turned against hamas and, by extension, the palestinians living in the gaza strip, which is an ongoing tragedy. Why . Lots of reasons. One is the principal backer of hamas who puts a lot of the sunni arab governments, shall we say, on notice. When Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied kuwait, who was cheering for Saddam Hussein . The palestinians. A lot of the sunni arab governments have a long memory. They have no illusions about that. Hamas, again, their involvement doesnt make people comfortable. The one thing the arab governments, joe, have to be careful of, and we see it in the toing and froing with saudi policy here, is the palestinians still enjoy considerable popular support. In some ways, the governments are in different places in the arab world than the quote, unquote, arab street. The governments have to be a little careful not to get too far out in front of their population. If you have, for example, al jazeera, you see palestinians getting hurt, itll be the thing that will make governments careful. They face a situation then where sympathy for hamas, sympathy for the palestinians will grow. Well, theres already, of course, a humanitarian crisis that is growing right now in gaza. Those images are coming out of children, of elderly people being hurt by the attacks. Many have died. Richard, the question is, because, obviously, hamas knew this would happen. Hamas just being blunt about it, if an israeli dies, thats a victory for hamas. If a palestinian dies while israeli is trying to go after Hamas Terrorists, it is also seen as a victory for hamas. They dont care if their people die. In fact, they said, anybody that tries to make peace with israel will be shot. So the question is, richard, with the United Nations warning of a coming humanitarian crisis that many would say is already there, what do the israelis do . What is their best move . They cannot allow gaza to remain run by these terrorists who have run it without an election since 2007. They have to go in, and they have to root out i was going to say isis. Might as well be isis hamas. But how do they do it and avoid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis . Ill be controversial here. There is a difference between what israel will do or likely to do and what it should do. What i fear it will do is go in en masse. Itll be extraordinarily costly for Israeli Armed forces. Several will be killed and captured. I think it increases the odds dramatically, if there is a massive Israeli Campaign in gaza, the war will widen. Thats the sort of thing i fear could bring hezbollah and others into the war. You will get the Global International response. Again, israel will lose some of the high ground. Most of all, joe, i do not believe it will succeed if success is defined as eliminating hamas. I fear it could work the other way. I also think israel has better options. I would suggest two things. I would say, go after hamas in a discreet way, not a mass way. Do targeted attacks, whether from the air or from the ground, when you have really high value, quote, unquote, actionable intelligence. Go after hamas. Second of all, shore up Israeli Defenses facing gaza. That was what started this or allowed this to happen. The weakness of Israeli Defense readiness against gaza. Make it impossible for hamas ever to do Something Like this ever again, and go after individual or units of hamas whenever you have a chance. But i would really be careful. I really have questions about reoccupation of gaza. Weve seen this movie before. Israel got out in 2005 for the very reason that this could not be sustained. When they got out, it created a vacuum which hamas has filled. I dont want a rerun here. Of course, willie, hamas knew that with its barbaric actions, that it would pull israel in to gaza, almost setting a trap. Richard put a lot of options out. The option i would start with is turning the screws on iran and irans oil revenue as tightly as possible. All of hamas funding at the end of the day, or most of it, like hezbollahs, like the rebels, like islamic jihad, it comes from iran. When iran doesnt have oil money, they cant fund hamas. Yeah, and were hearing now that call from republicans and democrats alike about the 6 billion that weve been discussing and everything else. You have to turn the screws. Richard, i wanted to ask you, as were talk about the relationship between arab governments and hamas, about a name we havent talked about much in the last week or so, and thats qatar, which hosts in lavish living quarters the leadership of hamas. Theyre not on the ground in gaza. Theyre in hamas calling for International Jihad this week wednesday. What is the role of qatar in all of this . Might they be able to help get some of the hostages out . You even have some former Foreign Policy officials in america saying, america should take or israel should take Military Action to take out the leadership of hamas inside qatar. Seems unlikely. The point is, the people running the Operation Sit comfortably in a different arab nation that has been welcomed into the world, hosted the world cup last year and all the else. They are the Principal Financial backers. If iran is the principal strategic backer, i guess youd call it, qatar hinds behind the area theyre only giving humanitarian money. Money is fungible, so it doesnt bear scrutiny. The United States should put much more pressure on qatar. After 9 11, u. S. Policy changed, and we declared we no longer drew a distinction between terrorists and those governments that supported terrorism. I actually think we ought to have a very rough conversation with qatar. Whats holding us back, in part, is the United States is so dependent on them for its own Military Presence in this part of the world. You know, its important home to a lot of u. S. Military forces. Its not an easy conversation. But, you know, what we might want to do is talk about the parameters or put certain limits on the help they give to hamas. One other thing, i do think if there is an exchange of hostages for hamas prisoners being held in israeli prisons, qatar will be at the center of it, possibly egypt, as well, but certainly qatar will play a significant role here. Weve got multiple considerations here. Its just very hard to say, well, were going to come down on qatar like a ton of bricks, because other things weigh against that. Jonathan lemire, President Biden positioning this country fully partnered side by side with israel. Lots of strength and moral clarity in his words. Secretary blinken backing him up there. But he is also running a government that has some parallels with israel right now in terms of the chaos in the Republican Party and no speaker of the house. Yeah, no speaker of the house which well dive into later in the morning. Steve scalise dropping out last night. President bide season a fullthroated endorsement of israel. Also some warnings about what could come next, like try to avoid Civilian Casualties. Be concerned about this humanitarian crisis. We heard it explicitly from Secretary Of State blinken while he was in israel this week, telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hey, tap the brakes as to what will happen next in gaza. Richard, want to talk about the fate of the hostages. Ive seen reporting this morning looking into why the white house is not sending Boots On The Ground there, in part, in deference to israel, but also because they dont know where the hostages are. They suspect theyre spread out. They suspect theyre hidden amongst civilian a targets. They also feel israels intelligence isnt as good as it used to be, leading to the attack last week. If israel goes in this week, what do you think happens to the 100 odd hostages, including americans . Obviously, theyre in greater jeopardy than they are. Hamas took the hostages for two reasons. One was to arrange some kind of swap to get their own people out. The other was to put a brake on Israeli Military action. If that brake doesnt work, and if there is widespread Military Action, then, i dont mean to sound callous, but what worries me is the quote, unquote, value of the innocent people to hamas goes down. I fear that it puts them at greater risk. Can i make a larger point . You put your finger on something really big. For the u. S. Right now, for the Biden Administration, which has been incredibly supportive of israel, i thought the president s speech the other day was powerful and magnificent. But, privately, clearly, theres growing disagreement with what israel wants to do. The administration is trying to thread the needle. It is trying to be as supportive as you can of israels right to retaliate, but privately saying, just because you might have the right to do certain things, is it really smart . Will it leave you better off . Trying to work this out so we are supportive of israel, yet, in some ways, try to pull them back, is threading the needle. Thats exactly what the administration is doing. Quite honestly, we all better hope, i actually think we all better hope they succeed. I worry about where this is heading. Joe, President Biden obviously navigating this on The World Stage while, back at home, there is questions hanging over capitol hill as to how to really get a Functioning Congress in place. Here, we have a crisis, obviously, one of the gravest crises in The Middle East, certainly possibly since 1973. We have a grave crisis in the center of europe with ukraine fighting against russian aggression. We have the continued fear that china is going to act aggressively against taiwan, and you have House Republicans just inexplicably but not picking a speaker of the house. Just make Patrick Mchenry the temporary speaker for now, for god sake, until everybody else can get their act together. You not only have that, you have the republicans in the house in chaos in this unbelievably dangerous time for americans and the world. Then you have donald trump, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page talking about donald trumps, quote, israeli war incite, saying mr. Trump cant help himself from making everything about himself. Its the same way he handled the covid crisis, and it is what voters would get in a second trump term in a much more dangerous world. Thats from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page this morning. Of course, theyre responding to what israelis are responding to, and that is, donald trump going out and praising hezbollah and attacking israel and its leaders. Thats what is going on right now. There is a reason why the israelis are putting up billboards of joe biden in telaviv and thanking joe biden for his support. Because thats what they need right now. Its something that i know so many republicans want to give to the israelis, but they need to get their act together in the house. At least get a temporary speaker. They need to get a president ial candidate who actually doesnt undermine israel right after their worst attack in 50 years. Well talk about that and much more when morning joe comes back. Polar 1, and you can help take control of your symptoms with vraylar. Some medicines only treat the lows or highs. Vraylar treats depressive, acute manic, and mixed episodes of bipolar 1 in adults. Proven, fullspectrum relief for all bipolar 1 symptoms. And in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. 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Just one day after the party nominated majority leader Steve Scalise for the position, the louisiana congressman withdrew from the race last night. I just shared with my colleagues im 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 still has to come together, and it is not there. Joining us now, msnbc contributor Mike Barnicle, and another mike, the cofounder of axios, mike allen, and congressional reporter for the hill, mychael schnell. Joe, what happened . What could have happened at this point . Wouldnt it be a moment now more than ever where they need things to just function . Get someone in place, lets go. It is inexplicable. I dont know of any Political Party that would ever act that way. We had a problem with newt gingrich. We took care of that problem in between sessions. He moved on. John boehner complained about his problems, and for good reason. Paul ryan quietly would grouse about it, but things were done in a somewhat orderly process. You didnt have this happening in the middle of two of the biggest wars in recent history. Its a recklessness, an irresponsibility, a lack of leadership, the likes of which none of us have ever seen. In our lifetime. From the house or the senate, really in our lifetime. It seems to me, john that lemire, that its one thing when you have eight people deciding theyre going to go their own way, but you had half the conference deciding that they werent going to go with the will of the majority of the conference, as has always happened. This has spread from 8 people to 90, 95 people. It seems to me, im wondering if theres reporting, are they thinking about someone like Patrick Mchenry, just as a temporary speaker, where they say, okay, you hold the gavel. You run this place until we can get our act together. There is a hot war in The Middle East. There is a hot war in the center of europe. In both cases, our allies are in crisis and are going to need our help. A phrase we use a lot in this modern era of politics, the trump era if you will, is, weve never seen this before. But weve never seen this before. You come out of the closed door meeting with your nominee, and that person will be speaker. Steve scalise, though, didnt even come close, and thats just it. He bailed last night because he wasnt just a few votes shy. He was dozens of votes shy. Now, Where Do We Go From Here . There are some who support jim jordan, the runnerup to scalise, saying he can make another chance now, though people we talked to on the hill suggest his chances are just as slim as scalises were. There is a thought of a dark horse, mainstream moderate candidate who can jump in. Not clear who that would be. Republicans saying we have to make a deal with the democrats now. Maybe we can get their support. Democrats saying, well, we might be into that, but well need real concessions and promises to make that happen. Then there is the Mchenry Point, where there is momentum there. The idea of trying to create some mmechanism, mike allen, where he could step in in a temporary way. This is happening at a destabilizing moment, the war in israel, whats happening in ukraine, Government Shutdown deadline. Thats on the horizon, only a month away. Again, its not clear whether theyll be able to pull that off. What are you hearing . Is there any end in sight to this crisis . The Axios Hill Team has new reporting this morning. The Bipartisan Group of ten House Members are talking about how they could do it, how they could find a speaker. Behind the scenes, im told there have been talks about some kind of power sharing. Could there be, democrats suggest, a Couple Speakers that will be acceptable to them, and, in turn, they get some say about what goes on the floor . There could be subtle procedural changs theyd go for. Ive lived through centrist moments, but this is an emergency. Mychael schnell, youve been reporting on every twist and turn in thes ago, im sure youre on the phone. Its unclear anyone can get 217. Steve scalise stepped aside. People say, its jim jordan, who lost in the preliminary round of voting to scalise. Anybody in the caucus who can get to 217 . That is the key question here. I think you bring up two really key points i want to touch on. A, republicans are likely going to put up a new candidate, jim jordan, as you mentioned, who actually secured fewer votes than Steve Scalise in the internal election. The final tally was 11399. Republicans are going to try to move ahead with jim jordan, who already has less support within the conference. Not a good place to start at. When you get into, you know, is there anybody who can secure enough support to wield the gavel, look, jim jordan is likely going to have the same problem Steve Scalise had. The fact the house gop majority is so slim, you need near unanimous support to within the speakership on the house floor. There are already republicans coming out against jordan, wagner and austin scott. Already, it is an uphill climb for him. I was hearing sound bites from the back benchers, extremists, about why Steve Scalise shouldnt have the job or whatever. They were saying things that were so stupid and cruel and just beyond even bringing up at this table. But dont these people see the fire thats burning Around The World, that they should think above themselves perhaps and operate . Whats going on . Its nice seeing an optimist this early. Im not optimistic. Im just trying to figure it out. Its not even the case of the tyranny of the minority. Its the tyranny of ten. Yeah. Yet, in the middle of that, you get a ray of common sense from even what used to be the Republican Party. I was listening to chairman mike mcfaul yesterday. Chair of the house Foreign Relations committee. He was as upset about what is happening as we are. They lack the basic ability to govern, and they dont care about it. When you go to vote for your member of congress, no matter what party youre in, you want them to do one thing, do their job. Their job is doing something for con constituents, theyve lost the ability. Exactly. Joe . You are so right, and im so glad you brought up chairman mccaul. Hes right on this point and has been right on ukraine. Absolutely. Hes been pushing the Biden Administration to move further and move faster with the deployment of weapons. We know, i know, because, you know, i was on the hill a few weeks ago. I know there are republicans who want to get this moving. They are enraged. First of all, that eight people held things up. I think though, now, listen, i would work a deal. I would say to the republicans, either get your act together or were going to work a deal with the democrats. Youre going to get run over. You know, thats what happened when i was in congress. You stand in the way of whats best for your party and what is best for your country, people build coalitions and they run over you. We hear, oh, its a small minority. Mike allen, ill go to you on this one, then i want to go to richard on another question. Mike allen, everybody is talking about, oh, its such a small republican majority. It is such a small oh, who could ever . Ill tell you who could, nancy pelosi she had a small majority. We always said on this and people say, well, will this bill pass . Id always say, if it goes to the house floor, it will pass. Because nancy pelosi knows how to run her caucus. She knows how to pass bills. Im just struck, mike allen, that we talked about chairman mccaul. Hes a very capable leader. I know the chairwoman of the appropriations committee, i worked with her, very capable. There are very capable republicans. I just wonder at what point do they say, you guys, work with us or were going to run you over and find some democrats that will help us govern this house. Joe, thats the perfect contrast. Do you govern from fear, or do you govern from strength . Thats the fatal flaw in the deal that Kevin Mccarthy took to get the job, that he was never going to be able to lead by strength. He was in fear of the tyranny of the one in the case of the chance of losing the gavel. Thats why republicans are weak. Theres not somebody who can say, this is what were going to do. This is what we have to do. Joe . Yeah. Either go along with the party, stop undermining the party, or were going to run you over politically. Its that simple. Its how it works when you have people who know how to run things. Lets hope for the sake of the country, lets hope for israel, lets hope for ukraine, lets hope for the American People that the republicans will find that person. You know, Richard Haass, you wrote a book, your last book called bill of obligations. You also have written articles talking about the greatest risk to america is americas political system itself. You know, i wrote an atlantic column talking about how powerful this country is militarily, how powerful we are economically, how all of our leading indicators are exceptionally well. I wrote it late summer. Yet, the one fatal flaw continues to be our dysfunctional government. Here we go again. I think one of the most dangerous times in recent history. 100 . Thats what makes it so dangerous, joe. I mean, if you go Around The World, you mentioned the war in ukraine. You mentioned the rise of china, the threats to taiwan, north korea has grown its Missile Force and its nuclear weapons, and weve been talking about iran. Still have terrorism in The Middle East. You have global challenges. You know, we just got out of a pandemic. You have climate change. Thats quite an inbox. The fact we have to contend with that inbox at a time the u. S. Government is dysfunctional means we dont have the resources, we dont have the consistency. If you were a friend of the United States and you saw what is going on here, that would have to, to some extent, unnerve you. Where is the consistency . Where is the reliability . Where is the predictability . Right. Thats essential for a great power. It undermines democracy. Who is going to want to emulate us right now . Its this combination of whats going on out there and whats going on here, and the fact it doesnt sober people you, what you were getting at, what people around this table are getting at. The idea these people can continue with this circus given the fact they ought to be responsible in this moment and step up to this challenge, and rather than stepping up to it, theyre stepping back from it. Willie. Mychael schnell, youre hearing republicans talking about what joe proposed. Congressman rogers of alabama said, Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader, we need your help. We cant do this alone. Were not getting to 217 with anybody. Lets make a deal. Congressman rogers calling that small group of republicans that ousted Kevin Mccarthy traitors, using that word over and over again, and said theyd rather be in the minority so they can just vote no on everything and raise money and be on cable news channels. Is there any chance of a deal here between democrats and this group of republicans who actually want to have a speaker of the house . Willie, i think the prospect of that is pretty low right now, just because republicans see working with democrats, even more moderate, pragmatic ones, they see teaming up with democrats for the speakership as something of giving up and throwing in the towel. Republicans worked hard to win the majority, albeit, by a very small one, and theyre saying under no circumstances do they really want to, you know, team up with a minority. They say we need to get our act together. Look, were a week and a half into in situation where there is no speaker and no real viable candidate on the horizon, so it is possible we could move into some sort of Coalition Government at some point, that some of these republicans can say, okay, the time has come. I didnt speak to congressman don bacon yesterday, a moderate republican from the nebraska, said the time is coming where we will need a bipartisan solution. But i dont know were there yet, and i dont know there will be enough of those republicans willing to. I will note that Hakeem Jeffries has consistently said, as recently as yesterday, that democrats are ready and willing and able to team up with some of those more moderate and pragmatic republicans to come to some sort of, you know, a compromise here to reopen legislative business. Thats likely going to take some concessions from the republican side, whether it be an even Playing Field on the rules committee, promises to bring up different pieces of legislation. Theres going to be a hefty negotiation there. I dont know were there yet and there are enough republicans to team up on that yet, but is it a possibility in the future . Absolutely, on this track were headed on. Congress man reporter for the hill, mychael schnell, thank you for being on this morning. Cofounder of axios, mike allen, thank you, as well. Mike barnicle, you stay right where you are. Really . Oh, yeah. Coming up you are here for the duration. Coming up, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has equated hamas to isis. David french will join us with his new piece for the New York Times on what it would mean to treat both terror groups the same. Plus, National Security Council Spokesman john kirby will join us as israel is planning a Ground Invasion into gaza. Also ahead, the former president s comments praising hezbollah as smart. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. We need to fill the chair with a speaker. Every day that goes by, it gets more dangerous. You know, i was on the phone with our friends with israel. Theyre going to need a supplemental in aid to replenish the iron dome. They cant do that if we dont have a speaker in the chair. I see threats out there, but one of the biggest threats i see is in that room. It is dangerous, what we are doing, and i wanted them to know that, you know . Were playing with fire. Its not just designed to look good. 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Thats why hes passing laws to lower costs. Capping insulin at 35 a month for seniors. Giving medicare the power to negotiate with Drug Companies for lower prices. Lowering Health Insurance premiums for millions. And investing in americanmade clean energy to lower power costs for families. For joe biden, its about restoring the sense of security working people deserve. That simple promise. That peace of mind. Hes determined to get it back. Because of where hes from. And who he is. Im joe biden and i approve this message. When my doctor gave me breztri for my copd things changed for me. Breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement, and reduced flareups. Breztri wont replace a Rescue Inhaler for sudden breathing problems. It is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a Heart Condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Dont take breztri more than prescribed. Breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Ask your doctor about breztri. Youre probably not easily persuaded to switch vision changes, or eye pain occur. Mobile providers for your business. But what if we told you its possible that comcast Business Mobile can save you up to 75 a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers . Its true. Plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. There are no Term Contracts or line activation fees. And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. Beautiful sunrise over new york city at 6 46. South of new york, the Philadelphia Phillies eliminated the braves in the nlds for the second year in a row. Castellanos became the first player to record concuve multihome run games in the postseason. The braves are out. The phillies will host the Arizona Diamondbacks in game one of the nlcs monday night. Th American League series opens in Houon Sunday Night with the astros hosting the Texas Rangers. Mike barnicle, the teams with the five best records in baseball in the regular season are all out. Here we are again. The astros have another chance to go to the world series, and the Philadelphia Phillies and that stadium absolutely rocking again last night, back in the nlcs. 11 home runs in a fourgame series. Nick castellanos twice last night. The third run they got was a home run off the bat of trey turner. They are hitting the you know what out of the ball in the ballpark, and the ball flies out of that park. After being upset at the marginal crowds showing up at tampa bay, it is a very good team, but 18,000, 19,000. But to see the philadelphia fans jam the stadium and be unbelievably vocal from the first pitch to the last, that was heartbeat. I love that. That was postseason baseball. It was so exciting. For everybody who follows a team thats not in the American League east and hear us talking about the American League east every day, dont think it has gone unnoticed by all of us here that the a. L. East, the three teams from the a. L. East, 07 in the playoffs this year. Swept, jonathan lemire. Guess what . We were in last place in that division. In fact, the bos tennessee Boston Red Sox were the only east team who won in october. The rest of the league teams did not. Great note. It pains me to praise the philadelphia sports fan, but that is great. Its a great crowd, maybe the best in baseball right now. As we head into this next round, we can all be united on one thing, to root against the houston astros. Exactly. Whatever it takes. Go rangers. We are all Texas Rangers this morning. Yeah. Guess what, guys, did you know it is Mike Barnicles birthday . Ah. Here we go. Happy birthday. I said it was your special day. Yes. Mike got really mad at me when i tried to wish him a happy birthday this morning. I appreciate that, mika, but let me tell you something. At this stage of my life, if i wake up every day, its a special day. Every day is a special day if i wake up. It is a very special day today, because here is a tiny snippet of what we are treated to from mike every morning, right here on morning joe. We have msnbcs Mike Barnicle with us. Veteran columnist. Mike barnicle is with us. Oh give me the morning meat. This ballpark is so many places. It fills the minds with thoughts of when you were young or thoughts of yesterday or hopes for tomorrow. You come here, and the memories just resonate. They just fall off you like sweat on a hot day. Catastrophe of 86. I love you, Mike Barnicle your average fan. Morning. Im Mike Barnicle in for willie geist, and this is way too elderly. Here it goes. President obama oh, right here. Here he is. I walked right past the president. If you look at your life as a 15round title bout, youve been knocked down several times, gone to one knee. You always get back up. At this stage of this election process, why are you still the guy, the best guy to be in the ring with donald trump . This is a Crime Syndicate that has been operating in full view of the american public, which says a lot about us, that it takes these hearings to awaken and alert some people to the misbehavior, to the criminal behavior of one administration, the trump administration. This country has suffered great damage. None more so than the injection into the political bloodstream that the election of 2020 was fixed, was rigged. What would you do if you were elected about aleppo . About . Aleppo. What is aleppo . Youre kidding. No. All facing west toward the beach where they landed, the channel they crossed, and the land that they left to come and help rid the world of the terror that was hitlers third richt. It is unfortunate every american cannot get the opportunity to stand on that hallowed ground. Barnicle will leave his jacket on the chair, and say, ill come right back, and he never comes back. Thats the irish goodbye. Legendary. He is. So handsome. [ applause ] willie, it is, i mean, for younger people who know mike over the last 16 years on this show, that weve been so blessed to have him here, many dont even younger people dont understand, he is one of the greatest columnists of the 20th century. You talk to people in boston still, and they come up to you and they ask about barnicle wherever i go. First question. Yup. Theyre like, tell me about barnicle. Tell me more. I will tell you about Mike Barnicle very briefly this morning. Willie, i know you feel the same way. People ask how we get up at 3 30, 4 00, and how we do it every day. We do it every day because we do it with people we love. Yeah. People that are members of our family. Just like you are a member of our family, willie, and were a member of your family, mike is not like family to us. Mike is family. Ive never felt closer to a group of people, along with my family, than i feel to you all. Mike, willie, mike is at the center of that. Yeah. No question about it. And the reason you love Mike Barnicle is because these five minutes are making him outrageously uncomfortable. So mad. Hed much rather not talk about himself. Very angry. Hes going to leave. Yeah. The jacket on the chair. It is true, joe, and i was thinking exactly what you said. You wake up at 4 00 in the morning, come through, see 30 rock, and it wakes you up because youre lucky to work here and do this show every day. When you see Mike Barnicle, you go, oh, right, thats why were doing this. To spend time, not just on the air, but off the air is the best time with mike. We love him so much. Hes a role model to me as a dad. Oh, my god, stop this. To all of us. He is. Its a big birthday. You werent joking about the jacket on the back of the chair. No. The 2008 Republican Convention in st. Paul, minnesota. Thats right. Doing a show, three hours. We take a break, i look around and say, wheres barnicle . The blue jacket is on the back of the chair. I text him, where are you . Im in the hotel room having breakfast. I said, what . He said, willie, in your life, what you want to do, buy cheap blue blazers. You can just leave them wherever you go, and you can leave any party you dont want to be at, any situation. Smart. Walk away from it. Costco . The best advice hes ever given. Happy birthday, mike. Did you see that coming . Did we surprise you . I did not see it coming, and i am enormously grateful for the time ive been allowed to spend here, 16 years. Can you believe it . With all of you. Now, mika, in the immortal words of roberto duran, no mas. All right, mike. We love you. Were going to get back to todays top story. Well have another live report from on the ground in israel after a quick break. Trelegy for copd. Birds flyin high, you know how i feel. Breeze driftin on by. You know how i feel. You dont have to take. [coughing]. Copd sitting down. Its a new dawn,. Its a new day, its time to make a stand. And im feelin good. Start a new day with trelegy. No oncedaily copd. Medicine has the power to treat copd. In as many ways as trelegy. With three medicines in one inhaler,. Trelegy makes breathing easier for a full 24 hours, improves lung function, and helps prevent future flareups. Trelegy wont replace a Rescue Inhaler. For sudden breathing problems. Tell your doctor if you have a Heart Condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating,. Vision changes, or eye pain occur. 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Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be lifethreatening, or uncontrolled Muscle Movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. Movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. Stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. 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. Top of the hour. Welcome back to morning joe. It is friday, october 13th. Jonathan lemire, Mike Barnicle and Richard Haass are still with us. Joining the conversation, we have New York Times opinion columnist david french. And former nbc news telaviv bureau chief, Martin Fletcher joining us this morning. Willie . All right. We begin this hour, mika, with the latest out of the war between israel and hamas. Earlier today, israels military called on civilians in gaza to evacuate the northern part of the country and to head to the southern part of the territory. For more, lets go live to nbc news Foreign Correspondent raf sanchez. Hes in the Southern City of ashdod. Tell us more about the order from the Israeli Military, the warning to evacuate the entire northern half of gaza into the southern half in a 24hour period. Reporter willie, this is an Evacuation Order unprecedented in scope and scale, and it appears to point to an unprecedented Military Operation being planned. There are more than a million civilians who live in the northern half of gaza, and israel is telling them, the entire area is full of hamas military targets. It is going to be targeted. People, for their own safety, need to leave the area. But the United Nations this morning is pleading with israel to back down on this Evacuation Order, saying there is simply no way to move a Million People without catastrophic humanitarian consequences. There is no way to house them. There is no way to feed them. As you know, willie, gaza is sealed in. Both the egyptian and the israeli borders are closed. There is nowhere for these people to run. Israels military says it has no choice, it has to go into gaza. It has to dismantle the hamas war machine, and it has to make sure that what happened on saturday never happens again. Now, senior members of President Bidens cabinet are fanned out across the region. Secretary of state lloyd austin is here in israel, just meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As you know, willie, the secretary of defense was a general before he was in the cabinet. He was in charge of the war in isis and northern iraq. He knows a thing or two about isis. What he has seen out of southern israel, the atrocities committed by hamas are worse than anything that isis has done. Secretary of state Antony Blinken, who was here in israel yesterday, is now over the border in jordan. He is meeting with the king of jordan, a close u. S. Ally, who is warning the United States today that if there is largescale displacement of palestinians in gaza, there is the potential for a regional crisis, a crisis that spreads far beyond the borders of the holy land. Willie, on top of all of this, all eyes waiting for news of the hostages inside of gaza. Hamas today says 13 of those hostages have been killed by israeli air strikes inside the gaza strip. We should be really clear, the Israeli Military is not commenting on that claim by hamas. Nbc news has not verified it, but there is deep, deep concern among the families of hostages that this intense bombing campaign, followed by what is potentially going to be a Ground Invasion of gaza on a scale unlike anything weve ever seen before, could lead to the deaths of the hostages, either if they are executed at the hands of their hamas captors or if they are killed accidentally by advancing Israeli Forces. Willie . Of course, that was precisely the strategy from hamas, taking 150 hostages so they could use them as Human Shields should israel go in. You mentioned threat of a wider war coming from jordan. Lets be specific about what they mean by that and what many people fear could happen with the israeli assault over the next 24 hours, potentially through the weekend, going in on the ground. What is the threat, that hezbollah might attack from the north, that other nations might get involved . Reporter yeah, so theres a number of different possibilities here, willie. We are hearing from the Israeli Military that they have evacuated one civilian community in northern israel right now on the gaza border because of concerns about possible infiltration by militants, terrorists from lebanon. We dont have details on that. There have been a number of false alarms over the last couple days, but there has also been rocket fire from hezbollah, from smaller Palestinian Armed groups inside of lebanon. At this precise moment, there is no indication that hezbollah, which is a far, far more powerful organization than hamas, is planning to engage in a fullscale war with israel, but it is one of the concerns. Specifically, what the king of jordan is talking about is, one, a flow of refugees that could be absolutely destabilizing, both in neighboring egypt but also in the west bank which borders jordan. Jordan knows a thing or two about flows of refugees, having taken many, many millions of syrians over the course of the war. The king of jordans other point is these images coming from gaza are potentially so inflammatory, they may arouse passions across the region, spark violence, and we could end up in a cycle no one can control. Willie. Raf, of course the reason this region from israel is and will be so ferocious is because of the absolutely horrifying scenes weve all seen now, the acts of savagery by hamas in some of the kibbutzes. You were one of the handful of International Correspondents to witness with your own eyes. Can you share with our viewers what you saw, what you heard, what you witnessed there in israel . Reporter yeah, willie. Our team has had the grim distinction of going to two of these kibbutz that were overrun by Hamas Terrorists in the early mornings of the saturday morning, as well as the sight of the music festival, where 260 people, most of them young, were slaughtered in a field. This was a place of music. It was a place of dancing. It was a place of joy. When we walked that Festival Site yesterday, there was just a deathly, deathly silence. You could see all the signs of what had been a normal weekend cut just brutally short. There were bloody shoes on the ground that had fallen off the feet of people who were fleeing for their lives. There were ransacked suitcases where hamas paused to see what was in the packs. We went to two kibbutz. The horror is unbelievably concentrated. These are not big places. The homes are not physically large. You step through what are often blown out doorways and, inside, the walls are covered in blood. Theyre riddled with bullets. In a community of 700 people, it felt like Israeli Forces were finding new bodies of civilians almost every couple of minutes. They told us a number of children were either shot or burned to death inside of these kibbutz. Ironically, it is a beautiful place there. We were looking from front of what was the kindergarten, the local school in this kibbutz. It looks nice, except for the body of a hamas fighter, which is decomposing in the hot sun in front of the doorway. So these are communities that are never going to be the same again. Some have lost a very, very significant proportion of their residence. These are places that are scarred forever. This is a country that is scarred forever. Willie. As you say, a grim assignment indeed, but such a critically important one. We so appreciate your reporting. Nbc news Foreign Correspondent raf sanchez inside of israel for us today. Again, raf, thanks so much. Joe, these descriptions, there have been some people who downplayed, perhaps, what happened, but our reporters have seen with their own eyes. We just said babies were burned. Did you ever think youd hear that in your life . No. It explains why the israeli people and the world are outraged by this and why the response is going to be so overwhelming from israel. It is. If that had happened in the United States bordering any country, we would have been in the next day. There is just absolutely no doubt that israel is left with no choice but to degrade hamas. Its going to be an extraordinarily difficult, difficult challenge. But, youre right, the imagery that shows the absolute savagery. Babies burned alive. Babies, infants, riddled with bullet holes in their chest. Elderly women burned to death. Women raped, killed, paraded around like dead animals. No, no. This would not stand for a day in the United States of america. This would not stand for a day in just about every other country in the globe. So yeah. So, ive just got to say, people sipping their latte in the comfort of their starbucks somewhere, making moral statements about israel and israels right to exist, you know, they need to look at those images. They need to stop lying to themselves and stop lying about hamas. Because the terror that we saw from isis, we would see over weeks at a time. All of this happened in a matter of hours, and it is unspeakable evils, just unspeakable evils. Martin fletcher, ive got to say, i republican when i visited the holocaust. I thought the holocaust would give me when i visited auschwitz, i thought auschwitz would give me a better understanding of what happened. Of how humanity could lead to the extermination of 6 million jews. I must say, i walked away from auschwitz even more baffled. I wasnt looking at the victims in the pictures. I was looking at the german soldiers standing there, asking how they could do that to another human being. I say that just to say, you were so much closer to this story than any of us. You have spent so much time there. I would guess, of all the time you spent there, it probably gives you no more insight into the events of saturday and whats happening now because there really isnt a parallel, is there, martin . Um, there is a parallel in a way. I mean, part of my family were killed in auschwitz, as a matter of fact. This is extremely personal, and i think it is partly it accounts for the extraordinary rising of anger and sense of futility and sense of vulnerable in israel today. You know, you mentioned auschwitz. This is the its the key phrase in israel, in the memory of israelis. When these hamas murderers went into israel, they killed, what, around 1,000 israelis in horrific ways in one day. When they went into israel to Kill Israelis, they went looking for israelis to kill. They were looking for jews to kill. I think that is absolutely significant. Ive been in gaza at least 50 to 70 times over the years, over the decades, many times because there was some kind of outbreak of fighting or the crowds were rushing towards the border. In every single instance, when they called out, the israelis are coming, they never used the word israelis, not once. They used army or the words the jews are coming. Theyre killing the jews, and thats something to understand. Hamas today are calling for days of rage and anger across the world in support of hamas. Theyre talking about the jews. Theyre talking about, go find the jews. This is not only about israel. You know, it goes even deeper than that. It hits the israelis and jews deep in their psyche. Vulnerability going back, you know, generations, thousands of years. This is an extension. Thousands of years. Yeah. Thousands of years. Of course, martin, what i was saying is, there was no parallel, i meant, in all the years of your reporting, there was no parallel. Not even 73. You would have to go back to the holocaust. I want to underline something else, and ill tweet it out right now. There is an atlantic article by bruce hoffman. Understanding hamas genealogy. People on campuses wringing their hands about hamas and Conflating Hamas with the plight of the suffering Palestinian People, theres a complete ignorance about hamas ideology. This is not im not saying this with any bias toward israel, even though im bias toward israel on certainly issues right now. But hamas ideology, and i just tweeted it out, the atlantic article. I would hope those people who are morally equivocating right now will read it. Their Founding Documents say that they are going to kill jews. Thats their goal. If there is a jew behind a tree, then may the rocks and the trees rise up and kill the jews. They are going to drive israel into the sea, and they will kill anybody that tries to make peace. That is hamas. That is hamas Founding Documents. That is what their entire ideology is based upon. And this, this is who many people are celebrating in the west on College Campuses and back benches of parliaments. Absolutely. 100 right, joe. You know, the people who we hear all the time saying, we have to see the context, we have to understand the background, yeah, do. Go check it out. Please. I also read the document. I read the charter actually yesterday. I read the whole thing through. You quoted the most critical parts of it. Its all about not making peace with israel. So when people call about the context and say, well, why cant they make peace and israel wont compromise, how can you compromise with somebody whose goal, whose charter is to destroy your state . Hamas doesnt want peace with israel. Other palestinians do. Dont get me wrong. I mean, the hamas is only part of the Palestinian People. The west bank, the government, theyre continually having Security Cooperation with the Israeli Government. Their Security Cooperation is important to the safety of the israeli people, but thats one part of the palestinians. In 2006, this was a war in gaza between hamas and those other palestinians, in which it was a bitter war. Hamas won, kicked people out from gaza to the west bank. Now, the Palestinian Government is in the west bank and the separate government in gaza which is hamas. The last elections in hamas were in 2006. Nobody really understands how many people in gaza actually support the hamas government. Hamas is a brutal government in gaza at home, toward their own people. Let me just go back to one thing, if i may, joe, earlier, when you were talking about the unprecedented nature of this. You know, the brutality. I was in israel for about for both Suicide Bombing campaigns. There were 100 Suicide Bombs over a period of 18 years in israel. 838 israelis were killed in those bombs. I was at the scene of probably 80 out of 100 of the Suicide Bombings. It was horrific. Nothing relates to what happened this week in gaza. It was extraordinary murder and Suicide Bombing which terrified israel, which was the goal, over 18 years. 838 israelis killed. Every time i went, it was a horrific scene. What happened . In one day, hamas killed more israelis than all of those Suicide Bombs put together. Right. Thats what it means to israel. Mika, just following up on what martin said regarding hamas, theyre brutal dictators. Havent held an election since 2007. Theyre tyrants. When people say, why wont the israelis make peace with hamas, because if somebody in gaza wants to make peace, they literally will kill them. They literally will kill them because making peace, coexisting, working together with any jew is considered a Death Sentence if youre in gaza because of hamas Founding Documents. Anybody that wants peace wants Hamas Degraded and out of power in gaza. David french is writing about exactly this challenge in a piece for the New York Times. David, its entitled, of course, what it would mean to treat hamas like isis. In it, david, you discuss some of the difficulties israel faces in trying to dismantle the terror group. One being what you call the coep of distinction. You write in part this, distinction requires soldiers to separate themselvesrom civilians by wearing uniforms, for example, or by fighting from marked military vehicles. It prohibits militaries from fighting from places like hospitals, schools, and mosques. Hamas disregards the principle of distinction. Its fighters take aim from civilian buildings while wearing civilian clothes and using civilian vehicles. This presents an attacking military with serious targeting problems. Is it is easy to identify an Armored Personnel Carrier as military vehicle. But what if there are four toyotas in the car, and only one is hamas fighters . When hamas abandons the principle of distinction, then hamas is responsible f t Civilian Damage that results. If hamas fights from a hospital or stores munitions in a hospital, Damage Tohat Hospital is hamas responsibility. That repeats itself many times over, david. You talk about, unlike russia versus ukraine, israel wants to follow the rules of war but hamas doesnt. Right. Hamas is their tactics is not to follow the rules of war. The reality of hamas is they are they use civilians as a military asset. In other words, the presence of civilians they use as a protective means, so that when israeli troops or when Israeli Armored vehicles go into a street, often the israelis will have to take and receive the first shot to know where hamas is. I compared this to the challenge that iraqi and American Forces faced in 2016. It took 100,000 troops nine months to clear the city of mosul. Sadly, hundreds of civilians died because isis treated civilians the same way hamas treats the civilians, and those deaths were isis responsibility, just like, right now, the risk to civilians is hamas responsibility. Hamas is hiding amongst civilians. David, lets get your thoughts on what these next 24 to 48 hours might look like. The Israeli Government has ordered the northern half of gaza, which includes gaza city, everyone there to evacuate, more than a Million People. The u. N. Asked them to reverse the order, saying it is not possible, and itd lead to a massive humanitarian crisis. What are your fears there, and what would your advice be to the Biden Administration, as to how they message very much israels right to respond but also worried about what could happen next . Yeah, whats happening here is very clear. Israel is trying to deny hamas the use of civilians as Human Shields. So if you look back at americas war against isis, for example, many times, civilian populations fled. For example, fled from their cities. When mosul happened, the civilians largely werent permitted to flee by isis. Getting civilians to flee the scene of fighting is an attempt at a humanitarian gesture here. It is an attempt at a humanitarian move, as difficult and horrible as that is. Because what is also difficult and horrible is fighting block by block in a city where civilians are kept there essentially as prisoners, for example, by Isis In Mosul or by hamas in gaza. There is no good situation when hamas embeds itself into a population. The order is trying to get civilians out of the zone of fighting, as has happened in other middle east cities at other times, but it is so incredibly difficult. Again, this is because of what hamas has done. It is because hamas embeds itself in the civilian population and essentially says, come and get us. Thats what isis did in mosul, and the u. S. Military, with the iraqi allies, did get isis and fought them block by block, street by street, until isis was defeated. Lets bring into the Conversation Accord R Coordinator for strategic conversations at the white house, admiral john kirby. Lets pick up the conversation with the call from the Israeli Military for gaza to evacuate the northern half of the country, effectively, a Million People into the south in 24 hours. Do you support that call . Do you believe thatspractical . We believe what the Israeli Forces are trying to do here, and theyre making the case they dont want to cause additional Civilian Casualties. Theyre trying to call hamas out for the fact theyreorin in ordered people to stay in their homes, basically, again, calling them to be willing Human Shields. We understand what the Israeli Defense forces are trying to do. We do. They have publicly said theyre, again, trying to minimumcasualt. We also want to see that there are opportunities, a Safe Passage Out Of Gaza Writ large, that people have the ability to leave gaza. Thats not the case right now. Were continuing to work with the israelis and the egyptians on that, as well. Do you believe, admiral, that it is possible to get a Million People south in the next 24 hours . Look, thats going to be a tall order, given how densely populated it is, given there are bombs falling and strikes happening. Thats a lot of people to move in a short period of time. The idf recognizes the challenge there. We dont want to be in the armchair quarterbacks about everything theyre doing at a tactical level. Again, we understand what theyre trying to do and why theyre trying to do this, to try to isolate the civilian population from hamas, which is their real target. Admiral, thank you so much for being with us. I want to talk about what the Biden Administration is doing right now across the region, across europe. I know that Secretary Austin was working with nato allies over the past few days, talking with them, encouraging them to be fully supportive of israel. I know hes somebody who has fought in that region. He is there now. Secretary blinken, of course, doing a masterful job, as well, in speaking out for freedom. Longterm peace and stability in the region. What should we expect from the Biden Administration in the coming days and weeks as far as support for the israeli people and the Israeli Military . The first thing you can expect us to be right on is about additional Military Assistance for the Israeli Defense forces. In fact, as you noted, Secretary Austin is in israel today. Hes expected to announce yet more Military Assistance, more weapons, more capabilities coming to israel. I would expect that youre going to see, joe, in coming days and weeks, you know, sort of a drum beat of that Additional Support we know theyre going to need. Theyre a capable military, but they certainly do need additional munitions and weapon. Were going to do that. The other thing youre going to expect from us, joe, is to continue to work very hard on the hostage recovery issue. I dont have any options to speak to today, and, obviously, we have to be careful what we say publicly, but i can tell you, hour by hour here at the National Security council at the white house, were focused on this problem set and trying to get as much information as we can about who is hostage, where they are. Right. Number of groups theyre in and maybe if theyre being moved around. Well keep working that. Can i ask you a followup on that . We have a complicated relationship with qatar. I know, obviously, they have a Working Relationship with a lot of Terrorist Groups across The Middle East. We also have a Military Base there. Theyre quite helpful to the United States, as well. They are. Are they being helpful right now in the process of Hostage Negotiations and possibly recovering hostages . Well, let me put it this way. We want to make sure were not telegraphing everything were doing, we dont want to cut any opportunity to get the hostages back, but qatar has an open channel of communication with hamas. You know, we all recognize that. Qatar is a good partner to the United States military in the region. I think im going to leave it at that. Retired rear admiral john kirby, well be talking to you again soon. We appreciate your joining us this morning. Yes, maam. Thanks. Good to have you. Richard and martin, in terms of the hope for these hostages, it just seems like an impossible situation. With these reports especially now that some may have already perished. I dont think it is impossible. Martin will know more the details than i will. But israel has a long history of being willing to exchange in order to get its people back. They want 1,000 prisoners for one. Its onesided. I actually think before this is you have more experience than i do at this, im curious but i think there will be exchanges. Really . I think there is a decent chance. Look, some of these people are going to lose their lives, i understand that. Its just going to add to the tragedy. But one of the reasons that hamas took so many hostages, again, was to set up some exchange. Have power. Again, i think israel will be willing to, despite how awful its been and how evil hamas has been. I still think there would be a willingness to do that in order to save human life. Martin . First, when hamas today says that 13 hostages are being killed, it may be true, it may not be true. Could be psychological warfare, we dont know. Yeah. Yeah, israel is holding 5,000 Palestinian Security prisoners in its jails. Plenty more palestinians. More security reasons, 5,000 people, of whom only 183 come from gaza. If there is a release, by the way, that means only 183 from gaza. That means the rest will go home to the west bank. You have, like, 4,800 odd released prisoners going to the west bank, and many of those will revert to their old ways. This is a real threat to israel if it goes through. I agree with richard. Exactly, hamas took those hostages in order to, as they said openly, to free all their prisoners. You know, a deal will be in the works at some point for sure. Mike . Martin, in your life and in your career, youve seen things that cannot remain unseen in your mind. You live with them once you see horrific events. My question to you has to do with the Palestinian People. Everybody talks about the Palestinian People, as we must help the Palestinian People. Why do the governments of egypt, saudi arabia, bahrain, United Arab Emirates, seem to do very little for the Palestinian People . Palestinians ask the same question. One of the answers is, in essence, im not sure how to phrase it correctly, in that part of the world, they dont particularly like the Palestinian People. You know, during the war, when palestinians were demonstrating in the war in kuwait, in iraq, the palestinians essentially have more trouble with them. Hold that thought, martin. We have Secretary Of State lloyd austin in telaviv speaking alongside his counterpart there, expected to announce some more support for israel in the form of munitions. Lets listen in. Americas support for israel is ironclad. I extend my deepest condolences to the israeli people for those killed or wounded in this terrible slaughter by hamas. Im also here in solidarity with all the families still living the waking nightmare of not knowing the fate of their loved ones. We will continue to coordinate closely with israel, to help secure the release of the innocent men, women, and children in the clutches of hamas. Including american citizens. Now, israel is a small country, a place where Everybody Knows everybody. In times of trial, the intimacy of your society deepens the intimacy of your grief. But thats not a weakness. It is a profound strength. In times of testing, israelis know what to do. Over this awful week, weve seen Israeli Hotels and homes taken take in those who had to flee. Weve seen long lineups to donate blood. Weve seen whats app explode with messages as people race to support neighbors in anguish. Perhaps because im a Retired General, i was especially moved by the story of a Retired General named noam teebone. His son called him on saturday from his home near gaza to say that Hamas Terrorists had stormed their kibbutz and were closing in. The Retired General jumped in their car in telaviv and raced to the fighting zone. Linked up with other fighters and rescued his son, his daughterinlaw, and his granddaughters. When the general arrived at their house, one of his granddaughters just said, grandpa is here. These are rays of hope in a terrible week. At times like these, sometimes the best thing that a friend can do is just to show up. And to get to work. Now, this is no time for neutrality or for false equivalence or for excuses for the inexcusable. There is never any justification for terrorism. Thats especially true after this rampage by hamas. Anyone who wants lasting peace and security for this region must condemn and isolate hamas. Hamas does not speak for the Palestinian People or their legitimate hopes for dignity, security, and statehood and peace alongside israel. As a former commander of central command, the deliberate cruelty of hamas vividly reminds me of isis. Blood thirsty, fanatical, and hateful. Like isis, hamas has nothing to offer but bigotry and death. The world has just witnessed a great evil. The deadliest attacks on israel and the Bloodiest Day since the holocaust. Make no mistake, the United States will make sure israel has what it needs to defend itself, and israel has a right to protect its people. In our many phone calls this week, President Biden has told Prime Minister netanyahu that 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. Tyrants like hamas deliberately targets civilians, but democracies dont. This is a time for resolve and not revenge. For purpose and not panic. And for security and not surrender. At President Bidens direction, we have moved urgently to respond to this crisis and to send a strong message of deterrence. The uss gerald r. Ford Carrier Strike group is now in the region, led by the largest Aircraft Carrier in the world. Weve augmented u. S. Fighter aircraft squadrons in The Middle East, and the u. S. Department of defense stands fully ready to deploy additional assets if necessary. As President Biden has said, for any country, for any group, or anyone thinking about trying to take advantage of this atrocity, to try to widen the conflict or to spill more blood, we have just one word. Dont. The world is watching. So are we. We arent going anywhere. We will remain in close contact with our valued part nerpaers a the region, and support is flowing into israel. That includes munitions and air defense capabilities and other equipment and resources. It also includes more intercepters for iron dome to save israeli lives. We will continue to ensure that israel has what it needs to keep itself secure. Now, hamas attacked at a time of global challenge. But the United States is the most powerful country in the world. We remain fully able to project power and uphold our commitments and direct resources to multiple theaters. So we will stand with israel even as we stand with ukraine. The United States can walk and chew gum at the same time. And u. S. Security assistance to israel will flow in at the speed of war. As this harrowing week draws to a close, and as shabbat draws near, we stand together. We stand strong. The United States has israels back, and that is not negotiable. It never will be. After this terrible week, i wish you and all the people of israel shabbat shalom. Thank you. United states secretary of defense lloyd austin speaking alongside his counterpart, saying it is not a time for neutrality or false equivalence. The world has witnessed a great evil. He characterized hamas in very clear, sharp terminology, also saying that hamas does not speak for the Palestinian People. This is the time for resolve and not revenge, and that the United States will stand with israel as it stands with ukraine. This country can walk and chew gum at the same time. He announced a lot of changes and support for israel in terms of munitions and military. Martin fletcher, id like to hear what you have to say about what the secretary of defense just said, and, also, you were in the middle of making an important point, and wed like to hear that, as well. Well, i think for israelis, seeing the american secretary of defense framed by two israeli flags, giving such a strong statement of support for israel in its struggle, and President Bidens extraordinary remarkable. Yeah, so emotionally involved and so totally on the side of what israelis would say is justice and their cause and then their defense, more to the point. I think israelis watching this must be saying, thank god for america. Big brother is standing with us. At this time for america, it is so important. Israel has always said, you know, we need money. We need aid. We dont want american Boots On The Ground in israel. Well do our own fighting. Dont risk your boys. Give us the resources. Well do it ourselves. This is one of those moments. The Palestinian Question that you were, why are the palestinians not widely admired in that region . Because, well, wherever theyve gone, they brought trouble. They went into as refugees into lebanon, formed their own Head Of State within a state in the south of lebanon, which israel went into in 1982 and took apart, but they were part of the lebanese civil war. They broht a lot of instability into lebanon with them. In jordan in 1970, there was the war the palestinians fought with the jordanian government and army. They have brought trouble with them. I think there is great sympathy in the arab world for their plight. Dont get me wrong. Right. But they have i dont like to say it this way, by theyre not loved in the arab world. That is the main reason they havent been supported. Also, with states that do want to move ahead and reach some kind of agreement with israel cant do it because of the palestinians, without, you know, that settled. Theyre baically a thorn in the side of everybody, and i hate to say that. Its not their fought. Fault. Theyre in a terrible situation. Yeah. Willie . It is first President Biden, then secretary blinken, and now, today, secretary defense, absolutely no daylight between the United States and israel, saying our support is ironclad. He also said, martin, at a meeting earlier today, the defense secretary did with netanyahu, he said, i led the campaign against isis. What happened in these kibbutzes is worse than anything i saw. It says a lot. You understand this part of the world, martin, so very well. What to you expect to see beginning perhaps this weekend and for the weeks and months, perhaps years to come . How will this play out . Badly. In the short term. Is there something good that can come out of it in the long term . Right now, i think all focus has to be on, can israel actually destroy hamas . Is this actually possible . My sense would be no. I mean, frankly, you kill everybody and then so what . Now what happens next . Youve destroyed hamas, if it happens, i dont think it really can happen completely, but then what . Now israel is back in gaza. Another occupation which they dont want. They have to set up some kind of government in be gaza to take the place of hamas. This is the the potential for trouble in a wider world, for a wider war is enormous. I think israel needs to get through the next few days, and so do the Palestinian Civilians in gaza. I mean, hell is about to be rained down upon them. Actually asking a question right now to the Israeli Defense minister about iran. Lets dip back in and see what we can get from this. As to the future actions of idf, i will state confidential for good reasons. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you for this. Chairman mike mccaul said we know egypt warned israel three days prior an event like this could happen. We dont know how we missed it. We dont know how israel missed it. Can you tell us what really the u. S. Knew before this attack . What i can tell you is that if we had known or if we know of a pending attack against an ally, we would clearly inform that ally. But what were focused on now, soloman, were focused on making sure israel has what it needs to defend its sovereign territory and to protect its citizens. The minister and i spent a good bit of time talking today about what those requirements are and what we need to do to urgently meet those needs. [ speaking a nonenglish language ] so, again, were listening to secretary of defense lloyd austin with his israeli tell counterpart in telaviv. They were asked the question about iran, and he gave the answer we caught right there. Richard, your thoughts . The question is how you can prevent war widening, and thats the danger between what weve been discussing and that. If you have a largescale Military Operation in gaza, martin raised, i think, the likelihood that it wont succeed if we with define success as destroying hamas. One of the additional risks of it is it increases the odds of war widening, that hezbollah would come in. What the United States is trying to do is put pressure on iran, which controls hezbollah, so it doesnt come in. Thats what a lot of this is about. What youre having in israel more broadly is a conversation. Everybody understands israels right to do things. Everyone understands the emotions now. The question is what is smart . What will leave israel better off than it is . I was at an event the other night with several israelis, and we were talking about this. I was struck, mika, by how many of the israelis were saying, we have to be really careful about a largescale reentry into gaza. They understand the emotions behind it. They understand the goal of quote, unquote, rooting out hamas, but they also understand the realities of why that is likely to fail. Secretary austin was talking about the American Experience in afghanistan. Right. We have to differentiate between when we originally went in and ousted the government. That was successful when we got rid of the taliban. We were much less successful when we tried to remake afghanistan after occupation. Thats the israeli challenge. It is one thing to target hamas individually, when you have intelligence. Something very different to do a second fullscale occupation of gaza. That ought to make people very, very worried. One can be supportive of israel. At the same time, one can raise questions about whats the smartest strategy from this point on . All right. Former nbc news telaviv bureau chief, Martin Fletcher, thank you so much for coming back in and joining us with your analysis this morning. We appreciate it. Joining us now live from israel, news editor for the Jerusalem Post and editor in chief of the jerusalem report, alan eviatar. And senior military correspondent and Intelligence Analyst for the Jerusalem Post. Authors after target tehran. How israel is using cyber warfare, assassination and secret diplomacy to stop a nuclear iran and create a new middle east. Its good to have you both. Your book, obviously, so timely right now. Curious, first of all, your thoughts given the latest developments and everything you might be seeing on the ground, and how the concept and thesis of your book plays into where we stand now. Ill start with you, ilan. Right. One of the features of our book is the fear of iran has brought these primarily Sunni Arab States to the point where theyre willing to create ties with israel, as we saw happened with the United Arab Emirates in bahrain, and as we saw was happening with saudi arabia. Big question now is what will happen with the issue of normalization of ties between israel and saudi arabia, which at least for the moment is going to be on hold. The question is, how will israel emerge from this that the u. S. Is giving israel its back in an unprecedented manner. The saudis will be looking to see how strongly israel emerges from this conflict because they are very scared of hamas, and isis and groups like that. Jonah, the question hanging over this entire nightmare is irans involvement. What are your insights . So i spoke with i have to call him a senior diplomatic source, lets just say at the highest levels, and right at this moment, they say that iran was not necessarily involved in this operation. However, funding, logistics, the spirit behind it, telling hamas and the other terror group in gaza, islamic jihad, proxies all over the place to attack israel, to make trouble for israel. The training, the sophistication of the operation. Even if iran didnt order this operation on this day, theres no question this operation could not have happened without iranian backing, and whats going to happen next, the Ground Invasion which i heard earlier in the week was going to be about within a week, and were seeing that now with the warning to evacuate gaza city in the north of gaza. Were going to see a Ground Invasion soon, and all of that is not just to get rid of hamas, whatever that means. Some of your other interviewees commented, but its also a message to iran. Dont mess with us. Dont try to cross the line to a nuclear program. Dont send your proxies after us because this is what will happen to you. Look at what were doing to hamas. Could you Say Something about the larger israeli conversation now about what to do next . The Israeli Government is clearly preparing what looks to be a large assault on gaza. Could you Say Something about the debate and to what extent are they receiving support, or to what extent are israelis basically also suggesting a degree of caution given what has happened over the last two decades in gaza . I think the overwhelming majority of israelis fully support the government. I think the overwhelming majority of israelis feel that our response to what has happened to this act of barbarism, this act of genocide needs to be unyielding, resolute, and resounding. I wouldnt say there is really much of a debate at this point. I think everybody in a broad consensus from right to left is that israel must go in and must take apart hamas and eliminate its military capabilities at whatever cost. We just obviously just this moment, talking about eliminating the cost and threat to israel, but what do you do about an unnamed its never named. They always say, we have to go after israel. Iran has to go after israel. Hamas has to go after israel. What theyre saying is we have to kill jews. What do you do about that . Theres no covert ops in the world that can deal with that. What do we do about that . Look, thats correct. You flashed a book on earlier. Thats about mossad stopping them, but stopping people from wanting to kill jews isnt just going to go away. Iran isnt just going to go away. What were dealing with now is gaza and hamas. Israel is going to go in with air bombing all over northern gaza, but other parts as well. Theyll go in with the Ground Forces with the benefits of air bombing having affected them, and how long will that go . How much of hamas fighters will Israeli Soldiers kill . How much of their rockets will be destroyed . Some of that will be determined. Right now youre seeing complete backing from the United States and even european union, but as unfortunately, you start to see in war, theres going to be Civilian Casualties on the palestinian side. Hamas is not letting civilians lead. Theyre using them as Human Shields. As people on the palestinian side rise, youre going to see the support unfortunately, weve seen it before, fall. Theres going to be pressure on israel to stop, and as all of you said, can israel really eliminate hamas . Who is going to put in charge afterwards . The Palestinian Authority who was roused before with lebanon, they havent been able to stop hezbollah. Theres not a clear answer to that from the senior diplomatic source that i spoke to. I dont believe they have a clear answer yet. I think they will figure that out midstream which isnt always the best way to come up with a permanent solution, but theyre going to do that first, hope it sends a message to some of israels other eneenemies, but youre 100 right. There are people who wont necessarily accept a jewish state and israel in The Middle East, and israel needs to make as many peace agreements as it can, but itll never be able to let down its guard and its very powerful to the the United States backing it. All right. The Jerusalem Post authors. Thank you both very much for joining us this morning. So lets put in perspective everything weve heard so far. You can take it to richard, but hearing from lloyd austin and the secretary of defense from israel, everyone is with israel and military support is on the way, but its incredibly complicated and hostages lives stand in the balance. Yeah, they do. American support on the way, but theres a limit until there is a speaker of the house and a working congress as to what they can do. On the subject of hostages, we have been talking about this impending invasion. The president is talking to some of the families of those believed to be held hostage. Theyre doing everything they can to get them home, but thats going to be very hard to get them home. Tell us what you think the next 48, 72 hours will look like. The United States is going to continue to help, you know, send equipment there, be supportive as youve seen, but Behind The Scenes, youre going to have increasingly Difficult Conversations between the Biden Administration and israelis. Were also going to go over what israel plastered the concern over the hhostages. That conversation you just heard there, can you really eliminate hamas . Probably not. What do you put in its place . Again, history suggests a degree of caution here, and then i think people are worried about warwidening. Youre also going to see the United States talking to qatar putting pressure on iran. This has become an incredibly complicated chess board. Theyre looking at what the israelis will do in gaza, and theyre inhibited by not only israeli, but american hostages and we have a larger set of concerns. The last things we want at a time of focus on ukraine and russia and europe, we also want to focus on china. The last thing we want is The Middle East to again become a major theater of conflict. So we are close to the precipice of this. The stakes here are hard to exaggerate. They are real. All right. Coming up, senator cory booker will join the conversation. He was in israel when the hamas attack unfolded. Well hear his firsthand account on how he made it how the and what congress is doing to aid americas ally. Morning joe will be right back. Ally morning joe will be right back i was stuck. Unresolved Depression Symptoms were in my way. I needed more from my antidepressant. Vraylar helped give it a lift. Adding vraylar to an antidepressant. Is clinically proven to help relieve overall Depression Symptoms. Better than an antidepressant alone. And in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be lifethreatening, or uncontrolled Muscle Movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. Movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. Stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. 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. Good morning, and welcome to morning joe. It is friday, october 13th. We are following fastmoving developments out of israel. The countrys military is telling us more than a Million People telling more than a Million People to leave their homes this morning as it prepares a potential, fullscale Ground Invasion in the wake of the Terror Attacks by hamas. Well have a live report with the very latest on the ground there. Plus, an update on the Biden Administrations efforts to prevent further escalation in the region with top officials on the ground this morning in israel and jordan. Also ahead, the republicanled chaos on capitol hill reached yet another level last night when the partys nominee for speaker just dropped out of the race. Well talk about how that impacts the country and world events. Along with joe, willie, and me, we have the host of way too early, jonathan lemire, and president ameritus, richard haas is with us as well. Nearly a week into the war, the atrocities carried out by hamas are still coming to light. On social media yesterday, the Israeli Defense forces released photos, showing the burnt and decapitated bodies of babies. Due to their graphic nature, were not going to show the images here this morning. Among the many israelis missing, ten members of a family who descended from a Holocaust Escapee Who himself passed away just last year. Speaking in tel aviv yesterday, u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken described some of the horrors he had been shown in photos. Its hard to find the right words. Its beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see and god forbid experience. A baby, an infant riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive in their cars or in their hideaway rooms. I could go on, but its simply depravity in the worst imaginable way. Meanwhile in its ongoing response to the terrorist ambush and ahead of a potential Ground Invasion of gaza, israels military has called for the entire population for the northern half of gaza to move to Southern Gaza with the the next 24 hours. That area home to just over 1 Million People. Accounts for about half the territorys population. The United Nations warning such a move would be impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences. They asked for the order to be rescinded. Hamas told palestinian not to comply with israeli demands calling it, quote, psychological warfare. Joining us from the border, richard engel. Richard, thank you for being with us again this morning. What more can you tell us about the practicality of what israel has requested, which is that the northern half of gaza moved to the southern half of gaza in the next 24 hours . Reporter and it is asking people to do that while they are under attack, while they are sealed off, and while the power, electricity, gas, all supplies have been cut off. So people are it is not an organized evacuation in any way. People have just been told, leave by any means possible. You could see behind me right now, that is the northern gaza strip. That is gaza city. That is the most populated part of gaza. As you said, there are just over 2 Million People in the gaza strip. It is broken up into roughly two heavily populated areas, the north with gaza city, and then in the south, and what israel has done and said, everyone should leave the north, evacuate gaza city. Evacuate an entire city of 1 Million People and get in their cars, get in donkey carts and there are still donkey carts in use in gaza, and move south. Move below the valley, and weve spoken this morning with people inside gaza. They are trying to do it. Hamas has told them not to leave, not to obey this order, but people are listening, and they are packing whatever they can, taking a little food, taking some supplies if they have any batteries, any gasoline. Theyre taking that with them, and they are trying to move south. Overnight, we heard some of the most intense bombardments so far. We were here all night, and the incoming was intense. One after the other, after another with israeli air strikes, tank fire going in. We heard small arms fire, and even now we are hearing israeli drones above, and this in the offensive is continuing. We will see today if now that israel has given this order for people to move south, if the attacks do lessen to a degree, that remains unknown. Hospital officials inside gaza also tell us theyre overwhelmed. There are thousands of dead and injured, and they are running out of supplies. People are being treated on the floor. Hospitals are enormously crowded. So now under attack, cut off, people are taking what they can, and trying to get out of that city right now and move to what could be a safer area before what is anticipated to be an israeli onslaught into gaza, and now it seems quite clear that the onslaught will focus on the north, on gaza city. So richard, let me ask you about that anticipated onslaught as you said. Israel has been responding from the air to this point over the last week or so. What could a Ground Assault a Ground Invasion by the Israeli Military look like here . Reporter well, one of the reasons that israel says that it wants people to leave is it is expecting a massive fight. It is expecting that hamas is dug in. So when you expect to fight against an entrenched enemy, you are going to bring a lot of force to bear. So israel has brought in tanks. It has brought in artillery, and when they move the tanks into the tight streets of gaza looking for hamas, concerned about booby traps, trying to destroy them, they will be firing a great deal. So this area could soon become an open fire zone, and i think thats why israel is trying to tell people, leave the area right now. Itll be dangerous for the israelis because hamas is dug in. It will be dangerous for hamas clearly, but it will be very dangerous for any palestinians who stay behind and are caught up in what will soon be perhaps some of the most urban fighting weve seen in years. Richard engel, thank you so much, and please do everything you can to be safe. Richard haas, well ask you that same question. Egypt obviously no friends of hamas. Egypt who of course, struck a peace deal with israel in the late 1970s. Talk about talk about why egypt has sealed off the border with hamas because that obviously would allow a lot of palestinians to escape. Egypt used to administer the gaza strip and did until the 1967 sixday war. They know it all too well. There has been infiltration over the years into egypt of people who are committing terrorist acts within egypt among other things. So they just shut down the border as part of their larger effort to maintain internal security. Its about that simple. And that really explains a larger point that americans are just now tuning into this, the atrocities that have happened and hearing about israel and the and hamas, and of course, the ongoing Palestinian Question. I had noticed over the past 10, 15 years. Im sure you noticed it even longer because you have been so involved in this region for so long, but a growing animosity toward the palestinian cause, because of hamas, because of the Palestinian Authority, from arab governments. It used to be the arab league would get together. They would unanimously vote against israel. They would vote for causes that were near and dear to hamas heart. That is no more. Thats no longer in fact, most of the Sunni Arab World has turned against hamas and by extension, by the palestinians living in the gaza strip which of course, is an ongoing tragedy. Why . Lots of reasons. One is the principle backer of hamas is iran. That immediately puts a lot of the sunni arab governments shall we say on notice. People forget their history also, joe. During when Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied kuwait, who was cheering for him . It was the palestinians. A lot of sunni arab governments have a long memory. They have no illusions about that. Their whole involvement with terrorism and other radical groups doesnt make the arab governments comfortable. The one thing the arab governments though, joe, have to be careful of, and we see it in some ways with toing and froing, they still consider popular support, and in some ways the governments are in different places in the arab world than the, quote, unquote, arab street. The governments have to be careful not to get too far out in front of their population, and if you have for example, al jazeera showing all sorts of images, if we get to the point where israel does go in in force, and you see Palestinian Civilians getting hurt, its just the sort of thing thats going to make the governments really careful because they face a situation then where sympathy for hamas and sympathy for the palestinians will grow. Well, theres already of course, a humanitarian crisis that is growing right now in gaza. Those images are coming out, of children, of elderly people being hurt by the attacks. Many have died. Richard, the question is because obviously hamas knew this would happen. Hamas just beinglunt about it, if an israeli dies, then thats a victory for hamas. If a palestinian dies, well, israelis trying to go after Hamas Terrorists, thats also seen as a victory for hamas. They dont care if their people die. In fact, theyve said, anybody that tries to make peace with israel will be shot. So the question is, richard, with the United Nations warning of a coming humanitarian crisis, that many would say is already there, what do the israelis do . What is their best move . They cannot allow gaza to remain run by these terrorists who have run it without an election since 2007. They have to go in, and they have to root out i was going to say isis. Might as well be isis. Hamas, but how do they do it and avoid just a catastrophic humanitarian crisis . So let me be controversial here. Theres a difference between what israel will do, are likely to do, and what it should do. What i fear it will do is go in in mass. I think it will be extraordinarily costly for Israeli Armed forces. Several will get killed or captured. I think it increases the odds dramatically if theres a massive Israeli Campaign in gaza. The war will widen. Thats just the sort of thing i think could bring hezbollah and others into the war. You will get the global, international response. Again, theres also that israel will lose some of the high ground. Most of all, joe, i do not believe it will succeed if success is defined as eliminating hamas. I fear it could actually work the other way. I also think israel has better options. I would suggest two things. I would say go after hamas in a discreet way, not in a mass way. Do targeted attacks, whether its from the air or from the ground when you have really highvalue, quote, unquote, actionable intelligence. Shore up Israeli Defenses facing gaza. That was what started this or allowed this to happen. The weakness of Israeli Defense readiness against gaza, so make it impossible for hamas to ever do anything like this ever again and go after individual units of hamas whenever you have a chance, but i would really be careful. I really have questions about reoccupation of gaza. Weve seen this movie before. Israel got out in 2005 for the very reason that this could not be sustained and when they got out, it created a vacuum, which hamas has filled. I dont want to see a rerun here. Yeah, and of course, willie, hamas knew that with its barbaric actions that it would pull israel into gaza, almost setting a trap. Richard put a lot of options out. The option i would start with is turning the screws on iran and irans oil revenue as tightly as possible because all of hamas funding at the end of the day are most likely like hezbollahs like islamic jihad, it comes from iran. When iran doesnt have oil money, then they cant fund hamas. Yeah, and were hearing now that call from republicans and democrats alike about the 6 billion that we have been discussing and everything else. You have to turn the screws. Richard, i wanted to ask you as were talking about the relationship between arab governments and hamas, about a name we havent talked about much in the last week or so, and thats qatar which hosts in lavish living quarters the leadership of hamas. Theyre not on the ground in gaza. Theyre in hamas calling for International Jihad this weekend. What is the role of qatar in all of this . Might they be able to help get some of the hostages out . You even have Foreign Policy officials in america saying, america should take or israel should take Military Action to take out the leadership of hamas inside qatar. That seems unlikely, but the point is the people running the Operation Sit comfortably in a different arab nation thats been welcomed into the world. Hosted the world cup last year everything else. Whats their role in this . They are the principle financial backers. If iran is in some ways the principle strategic backer i guess you would call it, qatar hides behind the idea that theyre only giving humanitarian help to the people of gaza. Money is fungible so that doesnt wash. Doesnt bear any scrutiny. I think the United States should, you know, put more pressure on qatar. After 9 11, u. S. Policy changed and we declared we no longer drew a distinction between terrorists and those governments that supported terrorism. I think we ought to have a very rough. Conversation with qatar. Whats holding us back in part, is the United States is so dependent on their for part of their military. Its home to a lot of the u. S. Military forces. Its not an easy conversation, and what we might want to do is talk about the parameters or put certain limits on the help they give to hamas, but you also say one other thing. I think if there is an exchange of hostages for hamas prisoners being held in israeli prisons, qatar will be at the center of it. Possibly egypt as well, but certainly qatar will play a significant role here. So weve got multiple considerations here. So its just very hard to say, well, well come down on qatar with it like a ton of bricks because there are other things that play against that. So jonathan lemire, President Biden positioning this country fully partnered side by side with israel. Lots of strength and moral clarity in his words. Secretary blinken backing him up with his presence there, but he also is running in a government that has some parallels with israel right now in terms of the chaos in the Republican Party and no speaker of the house. Yeah, no speaker of the house which well dive into later this morning. Steve scalise dropping out, and President Bidens endorsement of israel. There are also warnings about what could come next. Make sure to try to avoid Civilian Casualties and we heard from Secretary Of State blinken while he was in israel to netanyahu, tap the brakes as to whats going to happen next. Richard, i also want to talk to you about the fate of the hostages. I have new reporting this morning looking into why the house is not sending Boots On The Ground there in part, in deference to israel, but also because they dont know where the hostages are. They suspect theyre spread out and hidden amongst civilian targets and they feel like israels intelligence in that region, not as good as it used to be, which is why it led to the attack last week. If israel goes in this weekend like theyre telegraphing they may, what do you think happens to the hundredodd hostages there, including some americans . Obviously theyre in even greater jeopardy than they are. Hamas took the hostages for two reasons. One was to arrange some kind of a swap to get their own people out. The other was the try to put a break on Israeli Military action, and if that break doesnt work and if there is widespread Military Action, i dont mean to sound callous, but what worries me, jonathan, is the quote, unquote, value of these innocent people to hamas goes down, and i fear it puts them at greater risk. Can i speak to a larger point . You put your finger on something really big. For the u. S. Right now, for the Biden Administration which has been incredibly supportive of israel, i thought the president s speech the other day was really powerful and just magnificent, but privately, clearly theres growing disagreement with what israel wants to do. The administration is trying to thread the needle. Theyre supportive of the right to retaliate, but theyre saying, just because you have the right, is it really smart . Will it leave you better off . And trying to work this out so we are supportive of israel and in some ways trying to pull them back is threading the needle, and thats what the administration is doing, and quite honestly, we all better hope they succeed because i worry about where this is heading. And joe, President Biden obviously navigating this on The World Stage while back here at home, there is questions hanging over capitol hill as to how to get a Functioning Congress in place. Well, i mean, here we have a crisis obviously, one of the gravest crises in The Middle East certainly possibly since 1973. We have the grave crisis in the center of europe with ukraine fighting against russian aggression. We have the continued fear that chinas going to act aggressively against taiwan, and you have House Republicans just inexplicably not picking a speaker of the house. Just make Patrick Mchenry the temporary speaker for now for gods sake until everybody else can get their act together, but you not only have that. You have the republicans in the house in chaos in this unbelievably dangerous time for the americans in the world. Then you have donald trump the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page talking about donald trumps, quote, israeli war insight and saying, mr. Trump cant help himself from making everything about himself. Thats the same way he handled the covid crisis and its what voters would get in a second trump term in a much more dangerous world. Thats from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page this morning, and theyre responding to what israelis are responding to, and that is donald trump going out and praising hezbollah and attacking israel, and its leaders. Thats whats going on right now. Theres a reason why the israelis are putting up billboards of joe biden in tel aviv and thanking joe biden for his support because thats what they need right now. Its something i know so many republicans want to give to the israelis, but they need to get their act together in the house. At least get a temporary speaker, and they need to get a president ial candidate who actually doesnt undermine israel right after the worst attack in 50 years. Well talk about that and much more when morning joe comes back. T and much more when morning joe comes back symptoms were in my way. I needed more from my antidepressant. Vraylar helped give it a lift. Adding vraylar to an antidepressant. Is clinically proven to help relieve overall Depression Symptoms. Better than an antidepressant alone. And in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be lifethreatening, or uncontrolled Muscle Movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. 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Joining us now, msnbc contributor, Mike Barnicle and another mike, the cofounder of axios, mike allen and a congressional reporter for the hill, michael schnell. What happened . What happened at this point . Wouldnt it be a moment now more than ever where they need things to just function . Get someone in place, lets go. It is inexplicable. I mean, i dont know of any Political Party that would ever act that way. We had a problem with newt gingrich. We took care of that problem in between sessions, and and he moved on, and, you know, john boehner complained about his problems and for good reason. Paul ryan quietly would grouse about it, but you had two of the biggest wars in recent history, and so its a recklessness yeah. Its an irresponsibility. Yeah. Its a lack of leadership, the likes of which none of us have ever seen. In our lifetime. From the house or the senate really in our lifetime. It seems to me, jonathan lemire, that its one thing where you have eight people deciding theyre going to go their own way, but you had half the conference deciding that they werent going to go with the will of the majority of the conference as has always happened. So this has spread from eight people to maybe 90, 95 people. Now it seems to me im wondering if theres any reporting. Are they thinking about someone like Patrick Mchenry just as a temp rir speaker where they say, okay. You just you hold the gavel. You run this place until we can get our act together because theres a hot war in The Middle East. Theres a hot war in the center of europe, and in both cases our allies are in crisis and are going to need our help. A phrase we use a lot in this modern era of politics, the trump era if you will, is weve never seen this before, but weve never seen this before. You come out of the closeddoor with your nominee, that person is going to be speaker. Steve scalise though, didnt even come close. Thats just it. He bailed last night because he wasnt just a few votes shy. He was dozens of votes shy. So now Where Do We Go From Here . There are some who support jim jordan who was the runnerup to scalise who think he can make another chance now, though those on the hill say his chances are just as slim as scalises were. Maybe theres a mainstream, moderate candidate who could jump in. Not sure who that could be. Republicans are saying weve got to make a deal with the democrats and get their support. The democrats say, we might be into that, but were going to need some real concessions and promises to make that happen, and then theres the Mchenry Point where theres momentum there, trying to create a mechanism where he could step in in a temporary way because this is happening in such a destabilizing moment. The war in israel, whats happening in ukraine, Government Shutdown deadline. Thats on the horizon. Thats only a month away, but again, its not clear whether theyll be able to pull that off. What are you hearing . Is there any end in sight to this crisis . The Axios Hill Team has new reporting this morning that Bipartisan Group of about ten House Members are talking about how they could do it, how they could find a speaker. I know that Behind The Scenes i have been told theres talk about power sharing. Could there be democrats suggest, like, a couple of speakers that would be acceptable to them. In turn they get some say about what goes on the floor. It could be some pretty subtle procedural changes they would go for. I will say im skeptical. Like you, ive lived through all too many centrist moments, but this is an emergency. Willie. So michael schnell, you have been reporting on every twist and turn of this process. So its unclear is it not . That anyone could get 217. Scalise could step aside and say, its jim jordan. He lost to Steve Scalise in the preliminary round of voting. Is there anybody in that caucus who can get to 217 . And look, willie, thats obviously the key question here, and i think that you bring up two really key points that i want to touch on. A, republicans are now likely going to put up a new candidate, jim jordan. As you mention, he secured fewer votes than Steve Scalise in that internal election. The final tally was 11399. Republicans are now going to try to move ahead with jim jordan who already has less support within the conference, not really a good place to start at, and then when you get into, you know, is there anybody who can secure enough support to wield the gavel, look. Jim jordan will likely have the same problem that Steve Scalise had. The fact that the house gop majority is so slim, you need to have near unanimous support to win speakership on the house floor. There are some republicans coming out against jim jordan. By my count, two, anne wagner and austin scott. Already its an uphill climb for him. Mike barnicle, i was hearing sound bites from some of these, i guess extremists about why Steve Scalise shouldnt have the job or whatever. They were saying things that were so stupid and cruel, and just beyond even bringing up at this table, but dont these people see the fire thats burning Around The World that they should think above themselves perhaps and operate . Whats going on . Its nice seeing an optimist this early. Im not optimistic. Im just trying to figure it out. Thats not the case. Its not even the case of the tyranny of the minority. Its a tyranny of ten, and in the middle of that, you get a ray of common sense from even what used to be the Republican Party. I was listening to chairman mike mcfaul yesterday, and he is upset about what is happening as we are apparently today, and as many people are today. They lack the ability to govern, the basic ability to govern and they dont care about it. Yeah. When youre going to vote for a member of congress, no matter who it is, no matter what party youre in, you want them to do one thing. You want them to do their job, and their job is doing something for their constituents. Exactly. Theyve lost that ability. Joe . Well, and you are so right and im so glad you brought up chairman mccaul. He not only is right on this appointment. Hes been right on ukraine. Hes actually pushing the Biden Administration to move further and move faster with the point of weapons we know i know because, you know, i was on the hill a few weeks ago. I know there are republicans who want to get this moving, and they are enraged. First of all, eight people held things up. I think though now, listen. I would work a deal. Yeah. I would say to republicans, either get your act together or were going to work a deal with democrats, and youre going to get run over. Thats you know, thats what happened when i was in congress. You stand in the way of whats best for your party and whats best for your country, people build coalition and they run over you. You know, i always hear its such a small minority. Ill go to you on this one and then ill go to richard on another question, but ill go to you. Mike allen, everyone is always talking about, oh, its such a small republican majority. Oh, who could ever ill tell you who could. Nancy pelosi. She had a small majority, and we always said on this people said, will this bill pass . I would always say, if it goes to the house floor, it will pass because nancy pelosi knows how to run her caucus. She knows how to pass bills. Im just struck, mike allen, that we talked about chairman mccaul. I know hes a very capable leader. I know the chairwoman of the appropriations committee, i worked with her. Shes very capable. There are very capable republicans. I wonder at what point do they say, you guys work with us or were going to run you over and were going to find some democrats that will help us govern this house. Joe, thats the perfect contrast. Do you govern from fear or do you govern from strength . Thats the fatal flaw in the deal that Kevin Mccarthy took to get the job that he was never going to be able to live lead by strength. He was in fear of the tyranny of the one in the case of the chance of losing the gavel, and thats why republicans are weak. Theres not somebody who can say, this is what were going to do. This is what we have to do. Coming up, we will go live to israel for what could be a fullscale Ground Invasion of the gaza strip. The very latest on the war there when morning joe comes right back. When morning joe comes right back has no idea shes sitting on a goldmine. Well she doesnt know that if she owns a Life Insurance policy of 100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. 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He was in israel when hamas first launched its attack. Well talk about that and much more when morning joe comes right back. About this time yesterday, i was jogging behind in the old city when i got an urgent call from my chief of staff telling me to get back to the hotel as quickly that i could, that israel was under attack. When i got back to the hotel, i joined others in the bomb shelter or the stairwells. Frightened faces of children and elderly families. Many americans. There was a sense of fear and worry, and a knowledge to many of us that there were horrific things going on around the country at that time. We who believe in peace and freedom and human rights for palestinians, for israelis, for all humankind must reject those who use terror as their weapon. Who use terror as their weapon upbeat music with the push of a button, constant contacts ai tools help you know what to say, even when you dont. Hi constant contact. Helping the small stand tall. 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Report fever, stiff muscles or confusion which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable Muscle Movements which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain and high cholesterol may occur. Movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. Sleepiness and stomach issues are also common. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. Ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save. 45 past the hour. When hamas brutally ambushed israel on saturday, democratic senator cory booker of new jersey was in jerusalem for meetings about the abraham accords, and senator booker joins us now here on set. Hes a member of the Foreign Relations committee. So many nightmare stories. You experienced firsthand with the people you were with, where do we begin . Tell us about it. The jarring juxtaposition of being there, rushing out of the senate to get there early for the celebration the night before. Im dancing with the torah. The next later that evening, i go to a sabbat dinner, and then i go with my host the next morning, and they had both tragically lost family in the most horrifically unimaginable way. I was jogging that morning in the old city, just feeling so much joy and hope for the Peace Mission we were on and i get a call from my chief of staff to run back to the hotel because israels under attack. And then how long did you stay . How did you get out . I want to ask you about the politics at home and how that is impacting our ability to be effective in this or not. Israels such a small country, the stunning of going in and out of the bomb shelter a good part of that day was to see the effect, the slow dawning of not just people understanding of what was happening, but people being directly connected, losing family members, the horrors, and seeing the effect on families who on holiday wouldnt look at their phone, but we were getting information. The next 24 hours from the president calling me to the state department, we knew we needed to leave because we were sucking resources and energy, but more importantly, i was not going to let this terrorist organization undermine what is the most hopeful period ive seen for real peace in that region. And yet hope today is diminishing rapidly given the just savagery of what has happened there. Well, this is part of hamas plan. Understand this. This is an organization that was founded not to stop the state of israel. This was an organization founded to kill jews. This is an isislike, nazilike organization. They kill their own people. They kill Palestinian People. Right. They kill, torture, abduct palestinians, and they plotted this attack targeting civilians, killing children not just because of the viciousness and nature of this evil organization based on hate, but they did it in a way that echoed what they did right after the oslo accords. You have arifat and rabin getting a peace prize with the pathway to peace and they respond to attack and Kill Israelis to try to derail a pathway to peace. So what was hopeful to me, and i will return to the region to saudi arabia within days with a bipartisan, small group of senators because one of the best ways to defeat them is to show theres still a pathway to peace. Remember, nbs, saudi arabias leader goes on fox news and says unequivocally, every day we are closer to a peace plan, the palestinians are a critical part of that. Our discussions and dialogues, the United States with the administration and the palestinians themselves. For the First Time Since 1967, saudi arabia goes and sends a delegation back to the west bank. Everyone was preparing for reestablishing a pathway to peace, reestablishing the twostate solution, reestablishing dignity, security in their own state for the palestinians, and who goes after to destroy that is this organization based on hate. I was there with the president when he met with Prime Minister netanyahu on the sidelines of the u. N. Just a few weeks ago and there was real hope for that process. Weve heard from President Biden and forcefully, members in his cabinet saying, the Biden Administration is standing with israel, but theres only so much they can do in the shortterm without a congress, without a speaker of the house, and seemingly no republicans are closer to getting one any time soon. Tell us your level of concern as to what youre able to do, what the senate and congress can do if the republicans cant get their house in order. Im grateful for both sides of the aisle. The conversations i have had, and the focus we have had in the senate, leaders about the crises before us. Ukraine, we must stand with the ukrainians unequivocally, and we must continue to support that effort. Now we have a crisis in a cris. We must stand with israel unequivocally, support our ally who have been attacked. We must set up a humanitarian corridor, try to help relieve the humanitarian crisis now in gaza. And we must fund our government while there are critical things going on at the state department and other things that are critical. Whats happening in the house of representatives does not reflect the majority of republicans and democrats. It is a far right wing faction that are creating circumstances that none of us at this table have ever seen before. I dont know how they are going to resolve this. I actually have hope that republicans understand this is a unique time. You see a Coalition Government in israel. Why not turn to the democrats and make compromise in order to get out of this dysfunction and begin to focus on the issues . Whether its a short period of time, lets make a deal. Im hoping wiser minds will come up with a bipartisan way forward. Going back to the senate this week, i am grateful that people know their priorities as i work with senators from lindsey graham. You just left a region thats been on fire for decades. Have you ever focused on the idea that we are sort of a nation of innocents in terms of dealing with war . Were separated by oceans. History has been kind to us. War is a headstone in a cemetery in arlington and things like that. But we dont live in a country where you could get up in the morning and lose your life because youre a jew. What do we do about getting the United States of america, its people, more cognizant of the dangers in that region of the world, including ukraine, more cognizant of the threat beyond our borders . Theres a hebrew phrase i learned many years ago. For everything, there is a purpose. We do have a naivete or maybe privilege that we often dont fully appreciate. People in that region, palestinians, israelis have spent a lot of time in bomb shelters. They know people who have died. When i travel to the rest of The Middle East on this trip, i was in jordan, uae, bahrain. They understand the fragility of living there. What was amazing to me was these arab leaders from different sectors looking me in the eye and saying hamas is evil, they are thugs. They are the impediment. They do not stand for islam. They are betraying the Palestinian People. People forget all the things hamas has done to undermine a pathway to bring to that region what they yearn for. There are projects going on in jordan to share water and energy and solar raies with the uae. In the senate, we do know it. Thats why im one of the cofounders of the abraham accords. I know that the pathway to peace is something we have to double down on more than ever. Palestinians deserve human rights and their own state. Israel deserves security and their own state, the right to exist, the right to thrive. Its not just about peace and security. We can go to a higher level. We have to do everything we can as americans to support that. The challenges were facing in washington that impact our ability to function as a government and also to lead by example in the world, and theres another big story that we havent really gotten to given everything thats going on. Senator bob menendez with a superseding conspiracy to act as a Foreign Agent for egypt. He was head of the Foreign Relations committee. Youre on the Senate Judiciary committee. Do you think he should step down . Yes. Let me just say to you very pointedly, i think this is more personal to me than any other senator. Bob and i have served together for ten years. Hes been my senior senator. Nothing in these indictments comport with the man i know. The indictments are shocking, sensational. And i defended him in his first corruption trial. 11 out of 12 jurors said he was innocent. This rises to a level that i said he should step down, not because hes guilty. He deserves the presumption of innocence. As Public Officials its not just the ethics level, not just the criminal level. Theres another level which is important, which is the public trust. I said in a long statement that i believe he should step down because of that and focus on defending himself against these charges. Im hoping he comes to that conclusion, but at the end of the day thats his choice. There will be ethics proceedings going on, criminal proceedings going on. But do i think he should step down . Yes. Democratic senator cory booker of new jersey, thank you for coming in during this really difficult time. Coming up, we return live to israel as civilians in northern gaza are ordered to evacuate ahead of a possible Ground Invasion. Plus well be joined by House Republicans. Well ask them how their party can find their way out of their seemingly selfinflicted chaos. Seemingly selfinflicted chaos singlecare is amazing. Even though i have insurance, it cant beat the pricing i get on my medication through singlecare. Before i submit any prescriptions, i always check singlecare first just go to singlecare. Com, search for your prescription and show the coupon to your pharmacist. Millions of people on medicare, just like me, use singlecare every month, and you can too visit singlecare. Com and start saving today. Terrorists like hamas deliberately target civilians. But democracies dont. This is a time for resolve and not revenge, for purpose and not panic, and for security and not surrender. As this harrowing week draws to a close and as shabbat draws near, we stand together and we stand strong. The United States has israels back, and that is not negotiable. Secretary of defense lloyd austin speaking earlier this morning in telaviv alongside his israeli counterpart. Welcome back to the fourth hour of morning joe. It is 6 00 a. M. On the west coast, 9 00 a. M. In the east. Israels military has ordered a largescale evacuation of the entire northern half of gaza within 24 hours, a clear sign that a potential Ground Invasion is imminent. Israel dropping leaflets seen here over gaza, warning that just over 1 million civilians in the area have to leave immediately. Lets go right to raf sanchez, who is in the Southern City of ashdad, israel. Reporter that Evacuation Order issued by the Israeli Military is absolutely unprecedented in scope and scale. It suggests that the Israeli Ground operation in gaza, which we expect to begin soon, will also be unprecedented in its scope and scale. This morning, there are difficult questions about what that invasion may mean and whether it could put the hostages in danger. This morning israel issuing a stark order to Palestinian Civilians. Evacuate the entire northern half of gaza before its too late. Israel says the area is full of hamas military sites, but its also home to more than a Million People. With gazas border sealed, theres nowhere for them to run. Hamas is urging civilians not to leave. The terror group also announcing 13 hostages, including foreigners, were killed by israeli bombing. The claim has not been verified by nbc news and was met with skepticism by an Israeli Military spokesperson. A rescue mission would be carried out by israeli commandos, but fears growing about what a Ground Invasion would mean for the 150 hostages. Among them, this 20yearold. We had a shabbat dinner. Reporter he was at the festival. Hamas gunmen killed more than 260 people. Omar last seen in this video on saturday. What is it like to see you brother like this . Truly unbelievable. Why . Why does it have to be like this . Why does it have to be us . Reporter omars room just as he left it last friday. What is it like for you to be in here . Its weird. Reporter and the family dog lucas sensing somethings wrong. If you could speak to the People Holding him, what would you tell them . I just want him back. I dont want vengeance. I just wish he could be with us right now. Reporter a family, one of many, praying to be reunited. And mika, you played that sound earlier from defense secretary lloyd austin, who is here in israel today. Youll remember that before he was a member of President Bidens cabinet, he was a senior u. S. Army general responsible for the campaign against isis in northern iraq. He says he knows isis and has fought isis, but the savagery committed by hamas is above and beyond anything hes seen. Joining us now, veteran journalist halah garani. She has reported from every country in The Middle East and has won numerous awards for her reporting. Could you share with us your analysis in terms of the complexities and challenges beyond the state of the hostages of a Ground Invasion . Israel has twice mounted incursions into gaza, in 2009 and in 2014, much more limited in scope than what were anticipating now. Some of the complexities and dangers for the israeli troops is that they will start a ground war that will draw them into doortodoor, buildingtobuilding urban warfare. It is extremely difficult and dangerous. Its not necessarily something that the troops amassed at the northern border with gaza are prepared for. A lot of these are reservists. They havent trained or expected to be sent into gaza to mount a ground defensive. The Israeli Military will have to target the tunnels and the hiding places at the same time as trying to free the hostages, at least 150 hostages that we know of that could be hidden that are certainly moved very often in parts of the territory that the Israeli Military is going to want to target. And then theres that Evacuation Order which the United Nations says is impossible and could lead to a Death Sentence for those people who are in the hospital. The civilians are going to be suffering immensely in the coming weeks and beyond. Given the urgent issues, theres also the issue of a wider war breaking out. If you could talk a little bit about the effort front of mind for the United States administration to bring in countries in the region to help prevent this from escalating and lighting a fire that sweeps across the region. Is it even possible . Talk about the time constraints involved. There are time constraints, because with this Evacuation Order, israel is sending a message that a ground incursion is going to happen relatively soon. What i found really interesting is that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the iranian president had a 45minute phone call two days ago. It was kind of underreported, i thought. It was their first direct communication since march. As many of our viewers know, iran is accused of supporting hezbollah and hamas. This phone call, according to reports, was initiated by the iranian president. Is that an indication potentially that iran is trying to send a signal that it will not push some of these militant groups that it weaponizes in its effort to control the region to try to deescalate a situation so it does not explode into an allout regional war. We all hope thats whats going to happen, but the fact that these two leaders who control so much of the power here are talking is perhaps a sign that there is an effort going on Behind The Scenes. Today President Biden is expected to speak with the families of americans believed to be held hostage in hamas. The president was asked about the scheduled call. Heres what he had to say. Why do you feel so strongly about speaking to these families personally on zoom . Because i think they have to know that the president of the United States of america cares deeply. We have to communicate to the world this is not even human behavior. Its pure barbarism. Were going to do everything we can to get them home if we can find them. Joining us is jen psaki, reverend al sharpton and donny deutsch. Joe, President Biden, most agree has been rather remarkable on The World Stage with his words and his intentions. The humanity of this president is also playing a huge role in making israel understand that truly they have a partner. Its been unequivocal. As the secretary of defense said, the United States supports israel and thats not negotiable. I take note of the Wall Street Journal editorial today quoting donald trump and what hes been saying about israel, talking about and im quoting from the Wall Street Journal you know hezbollah is very smart. Theyre all very smart. Theyre quoting trump. I said that president xi of china, 1. 4 billion people, he controls it with an iron fist, a very smart man. Then the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page says we leave it to the trump partisans to explain that and this one about Vladimir Putin. I get along with him very good. You know, i actually get along with the tough guys the best. Then the journal says, perhaps mr. Trumps most revealing comments were about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who made trump mad because netanyahu publicly acknowledged that President Biden won the 2020 election, as if a foreign leader could say anything else. Quote, theyre quoting donald trump here, he was very early, like earlier than most in acknowledging biden won. Donald trump says of Benjamin Netanyahu, i havent spoken to him since. F him. He told the writer for axios. You contrast that with the billboard up in telaviv this morning thanking President Biden and the American People. Theyre thanking the American People for supporting them. Theres the billboard in telaviv. Thats not a political statement. Thats a statement of gratitude to the people of the United States for being unequivocal. Donny, our leaders have been unequivocal in government. Not so on College Campuses where they continue to bite their tongues for a terrorist group. They wont take sides condemning a terrorist group, hamas, who burn and shoot up babies. We saw those horrid pictures yesterday. Who mutilate children, who burn young people and their grandparents, who shoot children in front of their parents and shoot parents in front of their children and commit atrocities. This was the most, i think, telling part of secretary of defense lloyd austins press conference, a man who actually knows the region, who actually fought isis. He said that the atrocities committed by hamas, these terrorists, who College President s are afraid to speak out against. The atrocities committed by hamas were worst than any atrocities he saw on the ground committed by isis. Thank god we have a government that is not morally equivocate ing terrorism and calling this what it is, just sheer terrorism. Thank you for the clarity of your discussion this morning and i wish we had clarity all around where we dont. Let us salute our president and leaders and the secretary of defense and the Secretary Of State for their clarity. Hamas is a terror organization. It has one mission statement, to slaughter jews around the planet. That is their goal. Theres no moral equivalence. You can have empathy on all sides, but there is no gray area here. Unfortunately, to your point, there seems to be gray area around the campuses. Across the board, there is not absolute condemnation. You can condemn terrorism, you can condemn the killing of jews and it does not minimize suffering in other places. It is a very clear signal. Unfortunately, not all the media is getting that. The bbc has guidelines for their reporters to not call Hamas Terrorists, but to call them militants or fighters. It skews the coverage here. Somehow talking about trump minimizes whats going on. But i have heard my jewish friends say im voting for donald trump because hes good for israel. No, hes not. Joe biden good for israel. This defense of donald trump and this is my friends and jewish people around the country, well, hes good for israel. No, hes not. Do you think they still think that . No, they dont. Lets be clear about hamas. You are right. I dont want to minimize the discussion by spending too much time talking about a former president , who is attacking israe at just the worst of possible times. Reverend al, you have had a very close friendship with the head of the adl for quite some time. I know i saw you all talk after the slaughter in pittsburgh, and i know how upset you have been and how much you all have talked about antisemitism in america and across the globe over the past several years. Im wondering, again, just what your thoughts are on the moral equivocation of some people afraid to call evil what it is. I certainly understand we have to be careful. We have to separate hamas from the Palestinian People. If these people attacking israel looked more closely, they would see that actually the Palestinian People have been victims of hamas since 2005. Anybody calling for peace or raising their children in a peaceful nation could get shot by hamas. Their Founding Documents say their job is to kill jews and destroy the nation of israel. They say in their documents peaceful coexistence is no option. What would you say to a College Professor afraid to speak out against terrorism when we see images of babies being burned, babies being shot, of Young Children being gunned down in front of their parents, Young Children having to see their parents gunned down, kids going to Music Festivals just being slaughtered . What would you say to these people who are morally equivocating because these are jews . I would say that they are moral cowards. You cannot have a moral center based on who youre going to be outraged by. When you see what happened by hamas in israel, i mean, were talking about babies, the elderly, the people that had nothing to do with the policies of netanyahu or anybody else just sacrificing. Youre all right with that . Then how do you have any credibility when you talk about gun control here, but you dont care about slaughter in israel . You can question netanyahu. You can question him telling a Million People to relocate. But you cant do it if you dont say what happened was wrong. It gives us the moral authority to say maybe we should look at this whole thing with the palestinians that are now going to be displaced differently, because we have said this was slaughter, these were terrorists, these were not militant activists. These were murderers that dont care about human life. If you dont set the premise right, then youre just nitpicking and playing for whats trendy to your crowd. Amen. They said in their documents, as you quoted, joe, that we will kill people that seek peace. How hard is it for you to say these people need to be dealt with and all of us need to be united and then we can figure out where to go from here. I just could not agree more with what you have said, because there will come a time, i am sure, when this war is over. And when this war is over and there is actually a side that will negotiate for a twostate solution, people can be damn sure that when they tune in to this show, we will be pushing israel to move toward a twostate solution. That has been the goal of the United States. That has been a goal of a Prime Ministers in israel. But right now you cannot negotiate with terrorists. You cannot negotiate with people who burn babies. You cannot negotiate with people who shoot their own just because theyre talking about a peaceful coexistence between israelis and palestinians. Joe, war is chaos, its death, its destruction, and sometimes its inevitable. When the war is over this is a great phrase uttered throughout history by many people. Its a sad phrase. So is the Wall Street Journal that you just read an excerpt from where the former guy calls hezbollah smart. In ten days, on october 23rd, this country will experience probably pass it by unknowingly, the 40th anniversary of the day when two buses driven by hezbollah soldiers drove into the Marine Corps Barracks in beirut. Over 200 marines were killed that day. Smart people, hezbollah. That takes me, jen, to your former boss, the president of the United States, joseph r. Biden of delaware. Could you speak to the point that experience counts in the oval office, that Character Counts in the oval office and that joe biden is the one individual who, as Joe Scarborough just pointed out, could help and is helping get us to a point where there is a twostate solution in The Middle East . I think what people are seeing right now is what i saw working for him for two years and what many people have seen who worked for him much longer than that, which is the former chairman of the Foreign Relations committee who has known Benjamin Netanyahu for decades, who has been an unquestioned defender of israel. Hes also somebody who has an enormous heart. I have no question that he is waking up every morning thinking about these families and the hostages who are being held, because thats who he is in his heart. I also think the other piece of this is he is somebody who thinks about the day after. Its important to be unrelentingly defending the actions of israel, supportive of the israeli people, calling out antisemitism. He also has his Secretary Of State out in the world right now, because this is a complicated diplomatic situation, meeting with other countries, trying to prevent an escalation, trying to plan for whats going to happen with all of these refugees. This is a man who has been preparing for this moment and this crisis and the humanity and the heart and the experience thats required to lead in the world for probably his entire career. I think thats what people are seeing out there right now. Im so glad that mike brought up what happened 40 years ago to our marines because of hezbollah. Im glad he brought that up, first of all, to remember these victims of iranian terrorism and also to draw a through line. We can talk about hamas, we can talk about hezbollah, we can talk about islamic jihad, but those are actually just tragic symptoms of the underlying cancer, which mika, your father knew all too well. And that is iran, who has been the epicenter of terrorism since 1979. They have been killing americans whenever they get a chance since 1979. They have been killing jews whenever they get a chance since 1979. Your father knew it firsthand. The iranians told him after they took our hostages to turn over the shah of iran. Your father told him, his words, go to hell. And right now we can continue talking about managing hamas, degrading hamas, trying to figure out how to deal with hezbollah, but make no mistake, the source of that cancer for over 40 years has been iran. Its leaders in iran, iran a great people, a great history, a great heritage, but they are run by savages, who have turned their guns on their own people time and time again. So the United States policy, yes, we have to support israel, we have to work towards a twostate solution eventually after hamas is rooted out and dug up. But it all starts, as your father would say, it all starts in tehran. 40 years ago they killed over 200 american marines. Now theyve killed more americans, and of course, they have been the funders of everything were talking about today. Without the leaders in tehran, we would not be talking about this slaughter, because it never would have happened. New messages being sent clearly by President Biden, secretary blinken, lloyd austin even this morning, a message to the world, also a message to iran, which is a conversation that needs to be had for sure. I guess were having it right now. Coming up on morning joe, one day after securing the gops nomination for House Speaker, congressman Steve Scalise has withdrawn from the race. Well talk to two House Republicans about the turmoil in the chamber and how it could impact u. S. Aid for israel. R and impact u. S. Aid for israel choosing a treatment for your chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more can be overwhelming. So, ask your doctor about botox®. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start. Its the 1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment. So far, more than 5 million botox® treatments have been given to over Eight Hundred And Fifty Thousand chronic migraine patients. 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These days, your customers are not just down the hall. Theyre all over the world. So cute. It doesnt have to be lonely at the top. Join the millions to finding success on their own terms. Start your journey with a free trial today. I just shared with my colleagues that im withdrawing my name as candidate for the speaker designee. If you look over the last few weeks, if you look where our conference is, theres still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together, and its not there. And with that, majority leader Steve Scalise withdrew his name for consideration for the House Speakership one day after securing the republican nomination in conference. What does the Republican Party do now . Lets bring in republican congressman mike lawlor of new york and Kelly Armstrong of north dakota. When i think about this globally, like both of you, im very, very concerned about israel, very concerned about ukraine, very concerned about americas role in the world. When i just think about politics, congressman lawlor, i think of you, actually, first, because youre one of those republicans that won in a biden district. I just wonder what are people saying at home about this republican conference not being able to elect a speaker . Look, joe, theres 18 districts that joe biden won in 2020 that republicans now represent in congress, mine being one of them. And they elected us to serve as a House Republican majority as a check and balance on the Biden Administration, on the spending, on the border, on some of the international policy. Obviously, we cant do that without a speaker. Its why i was opposed to removing Kevin Mccarthy in the first place. You dont remove a speaker midterm without cause. Obviously the house is a bit paralyzed. I think the french would call it a cluster fark. This is something we need to resolve immediately so we can get back to the work of the American People and especially representing a district like mine, the 17th district of new york, which has one of the largest jewish communities in the country. Im deeply concerned about the situation in israel and want to make sure that we immediately pass additional supplemental aid as well as legislation like mine, the ship act, which would impose stricter sanctions on Iranian Petroleum. Youre standing in front of the will rogers statue. He famously said, i dont belong to an organized party, im a democrat. A lot of. Republicans in your conference saying that could apply to the Republican Party. A lot of republicans are not happy about what theyre seeing in congress. What are you hearing at home . And what are you telling your fellow conference members . Im telling them the same thing im telling everybody. This wasnt a mccarthy program. I spoke on the floor in favor of keeping kevin. A coup without a successor is just chaos. This wasnt a Kevin Mccarthy problem. To be honest, it wasnt a Steve Scalise problem. Its a problem with the majority. We have rules with no consequences. Were going to go in at 10 30 this morning and trying to figure this out. There are a lot of people working on numerous pieces of legislation involving iran and support for israel and all of that. We were supposed to be in district this week. Go ahead. I was going to say we were supposed to be in district this week. We have to get this figured out by monday or tuesday, because thats when were supposed to be in session and doing the work of the American People. Congressman lawlor, weve heard a couple of different options, the possibility of republicans figuring out a way to work with some democrats. I think all of us who have served understand what a high bar that would be to reach. What about the possibility of maybe getting Patrick Mchenry to be a speaker as a stopgap measure until the conference gets behind somebody else . So i think obviously in this day and age its going to be a little hard to have some sort of bipartisan compromise candidate. The reality is we have a House Republican majority. We need to elect a republican speaker. I think in the absence of being able to reach 217 in the room, its going to be critically important to advance the work of the American People. I think if were unable to come to an agreement within the next 24 to 48 hours, then we need to, in my opinion, give expanded authority to the speaker pro tem, Patrick Mchenry so we can at least start moving legislation on the floor while we work out who the longterm speaker would be. Its not ideal, but i think its a reality given some of the crises were dealing with. We cannot continue down this path. Everybodys got to put their big boy pants on, come back to 217 and get back to work. You said how this Current Situation is sort of politically embarrassing at home. What sort of message is this sending to the world right now in a time of crisis in israel, a time of crisis in ukraine and washington cant get its house in order because of the Republican House of representatives . I think its a perfect example of why Kevin Mccarthy should have still been here. Theres nobody whose bona fides on behalf of israel are more legitimate. As mike said earlier, the American People sent republicans to congress to be a check and balance in the senate and the house. We need a republican leader showing the world we are capable of doing these things. So when we dont have one, it is not great for us internally, it is not great for the country and, no, its not great for the world. Congressman lawlor, last segment we were talking about how the Terror Attacks, whether youre talking about hamas or hezbollah, it all starts in tehran with the leaders there. And of course theyre funded by oil. Thats just it. We talked about the 6 billion fund. That came out of a waiver for south korea in 2018. What do we do as a country to turn the screws on the money, the petro dollars flowing in and out of tehran . The biggest purchaser of iranian oil is china. The ship act is intended to impose sanctions on anyone who purchases, transports, refines iranian patroleum. The free world needs to crack down on tehran. They are the biggest sponsor of terror. They fund and back hezbollah and other terrorist organizations with the express intent of wiping israel off the face of the earth, period. There is no moral equivalency here. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with israel and support them in their efforts to eliminate hamas and any other would be bad actors who think this is the moment to strike. I can say that would be a disastrous mistake for anyone to take action at this moment. We need to eliminate hamas. I fully support israel and its right to exist and to defend itself. We need to crack down on tehran like never before, because the Iranian Petroleum is what helps fund the terrorism and it needs to stop. Good luck getting to 217. Thank you. This sunday poland is going to be holding key parliamentary elections. The results could have a huge impact on how much the country continues to aid neighboring ukraine in their war against russia. Nbc news Foreign Correspondent Josh Lederman has more from warsaw. Reporter in the final days of a hardfought polish election ukraines future is hanging in the balance as farright populists who want to cut support to ukraine say enough is enough, arguing its worsening polands own check problems. America first for me. Do you see the similarities with president trumps approach . Of course. [indiscernible] reporter at a Campaign Rally in warsaw more like a rock concert, kristaps is firing up support. The confederation is still small, polling around 10 , but its antiukraine message is resonating with the partys base, young men with a libertarian bent. This supporter saying helping a neighbor shouldnt take top priority, our country comes first. The polls are incredibly tight, but Neither Party is going to win. They have to form a coalition. In the campaigns final das the president has been moving to the right and arguing cheap ukrainian grain is hurting polish farmers. Im quite sure its politics before an election. Reporter its a sharp shift from poland, who was ukraines staunchest supporter. A year ago, there was support for ukraine, but today things look very different. The government said maybe poland will send older weapons later. And president duda compared ukraine to a drowning man who might pull its savior poland down with them. What do you think when you hear people talk like that . She says, of course i agree, because local Small Businesses are going bankrupt. People have no money. Soon a coffee and a piece of cake will be a luxury. The Opposition Party is campaigning on a pro ukraine pro eu message, trying to peel away voters in struggling areas in polands rust belt, where shuttered coal mines have driven up unemployment. Theyre hoping that while polands support for ukraine has slipped, it hasnt entirely disappeared. Do you want to see poland continue to provide weapons for ukraine . Definitely, definitely, yes. Yes, but not necessarily the amount of help we are giving right now. We gave more than we had. Reporter theres ukraine fatigue in a growing number of other european capitals. Slovakia cutting off days just days after populists won their election. And hungarys victor orban threatening to use his veto power to eliminate all ukrainian aid. At a rally for the center left party, warsaws mayor says the party is taking its views straight from likeminded leaders in the u. S. How closely are people in poland watching whats happening in congress . We are watching whats happening in the United States. What we see in Congress Makes us a bit apprehensive. Its not the whole Republican Party, just a part of the Republican Party. Reporter the rise of the farright raising tough questions about whether the help ukraine depends on may soon dry up. It is hard to overstate the importance, jen psaki, of that election, but it underlines so many things coming at the Biden Administration and the United States so quickly. You look at the war in The Middle East and the war in central europe. You look at these elections coming up on sunday. You look at china continuing to flex aggressively about the possibility of invasion of taiwan. This is the wrong time to have a speakership empty. As Josh Ledermans package showed, the whole world is watching. Thats exactly right. Theyre watching the chaos in washington. Theyre watching the fact that theres no speaker. Foreign capitals with well aware that congress cant pass additional aid packages without a speaker of the house. They know u. S. Politics. This is exactly why the Biden Administration is pushing for an aid package once we hopefully get to that point that includes not just assistance for israel, which is so important at this moment, but also assistance for ukraine, assistance to support the aggression were seeing around taiwan, because all of these are happening at the same time. One of the impacts of all of our understandable focus and necessary focus on whats happening in israel is kind of a lack of focus a bit on whats still happening and the brutality that russia, Vladimir Putin and others are inflicting on ukraine and their desperate need for aid and assistance at this pivotal moment. Coming up, Law Enforcement on high alert around the country after a former hamas leader called for a, quote, day of anger. Since last weekends massacre, weve seen great scenes of solidarity with israel, including our next guest. Well talk think about next on morning joe. aidyl hi, im aidyl, and i lost 90 pounds on golo. I struggled with weight loss and weight gain my entire life. With all the yoyo dieting i did in the past, i would lose 20, 30, 50 pounds just to gain them over and over again. In one year, ive lost five sizes, and im on my way to lose another three. With golo, i can do it. announcer change your life at golo. Com. Thats golo. Com. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. our therapists give their all each day. And while were in the business of taking care of others, its important to make sure our therapists know that with benefits from principal, theyre taken care of too. Police Across the country have stepped up patrols of jewish businesses and synagogues after calls for attacks on the u. S. Increase online. Former hamas leader called for today to be a global day of anger in support of the hamas Terror Attacks in israel. Multiple Law Enforcement officials are telling nbc news they are monitoring, quote a lot of chatter on social media but saying none of the online threats are specific and credible. In new york the nypd ordered its entire force to be in uniform and on patrol today. They will have additional security at large gatherings as well as Jewish Community cultural sites and synagogues. Lets bring in right now rabbi matthew guard and staff writer for the atlantic, thank you both for being with us. Rabbi, let me begin with you. You have spoken about how in your life in america this is the most terrified you have seen members of the Jewish Community. What comfort can you provide today for members of the Jewish Community . Not only in your congregation but across america. Joe, thanks for having me back, i didnt know that three weeks after id be back for this. All the world is on a teetering narrow bridge. Thats how we feel right now. One that has made us terrified, undone, in shock, were unbelievably numb, and because of all the reporting that you have so poignantly done and by the way, its been a comfort to our community this week and youve said it all. 1,100 not militants, not soldiers, not freedom fighters, but terrorists who para glided into a concert, who shot israelis who were in a music vibe. They went from town to town from kibbutz to kibbutz and also then killed an 88yearold woman who had a dementia, no problem. Five people in a home burnt down to the ground, no problem. 16yearold women, blood dripping from their pants from rape, no problem, and babies, of course, as weve heard all week long not just killed but decapitated, that with a significant uptick in antisemitism has made us terrified. But the second part of that song says the principle is that were not going to be scared. Were terrified but we are not going to be paralyzed. I have seen jewish unity locally here in america that i have not seen in years. Thousands of people within hours showing up in solidarity. You see in israel, were talking about benny gantz and netanyahu who have come together in a unity government because they know theres an enemy bigger than they are, and finally were not going to be paralyzed because i feel clear eyed. I feel theres moral clarity i have not seen in decades, and im happy to go further into that. We are terrified, but we will not be paralyzed. There are a lot of afraid people out there. One of my friends daughters said to her is there going to be another holocaust here. The Brand Mission statement of the nazis is no different than hamas. Its really, really clear. Joe talked about this earlier, the unfortunate similarities to the holocaust and why people are so afraid. It was just in our lifetime that 6 million jews were slaughtered and people keep saying the same thing is happening with the silence thats come from so many people about whats going on. My dad was barely born here, probably cooked in europe and born in america, so 24 First Cousins and my great grandmother, sorry to be so graphic, the report came to him, her head was rolling down a polish street. This is very close to us. This day has been the most jews killed in a day since the holocaust, so you want to parse down israeli and palestinian complicity over the 75 years, we can do that, but the truth is the reason this is different and Martin Fletcher said this earlier and joe said it earlier its right there in the charter. Its not about land. This is about killing israelis and eradicating jews anyplace and anywhere. Thats why this reminds us. If never again means never again, then never again. Yair a couple of questions for you. First of all, how did this happen . How did israels government, how were they so illprepared and not just at the initial attack but, you know, we heard the heroic reports about the Retired General who was on a bike. He heard that people were in trouble. He got a pistol. He got in his car, and he went down and he was a hero. He went down and saved lives. Thats the first question. The second question is we look at the possible invasion of gaza. What should the United States government do regarding egypt . Should we ask egypt to allow safe passage for the palestinians that are trapped in gaza right now . Really big questions, very hard to answer in this amount of time, but theyre good ones, which is how did this happen, how did this Israeli Security establishment miss something of this magnitude. Its the greatest failure certainly since the war 50 years ago, and there will be a tremendous inquiry into this within israel, and theyll find out a lot more. It seems clear that there were intelligence signals that were missed. This happened before 9 11 as well. There usually are inklings of something but people just miss what happened, and afterwards they put it together. You mentioned these israeli generals and others, basically civilians often in their 60s these generals who come out of retirement and start rescuing civilians. Its also evidence of failure that other experts and people who know what theyre doing have to come out of retirement because the institutions have failed, and i think part of the inquiry into this will be over netanyahus current government, which has many far right elements, a lot of cronies he had to give power to in order to create it. Those people were not necessarily qualified for their jobs. You have these posers who have now been separated from the professionals by crisis, and i think thats more and more that will probably come out. In terms of gaza and President Biden and, you know, the situation there. So you definitely would like, you would love to let gazaen refugees into egypt because they are in this tiny enclave, we have nowhere to go. They are basically hostage to hamas. They are not responsible, but egypt has resisted for a very, very long time letting any gazans in whatsoever for a whole bunch of reasons, and they are continuing to say we are not going to let anybody in. People talk about israel surrounding gaza, that part of the border of gaza is the border with just a minute. That is the border you can let people out of it. You can let people out through the border in egypt. Im sure theres intensive diplomacy going on around this, but at the moment it has not yet succeeded. We have heard so powerfully from the rabbi about the impact on his community. Talk to us about do you see signs of hope that so many different faiths are rallying together to support the jewish people. I think the sign of hope is in that when you come outside of your comfort zone, come outside of your tribe so to speak, and stand up for whats right for others, thats what gives people hope, and thats why im glad that i have been able to work with rabbi and Jonathan Greenblatt over the last several years. I challenged people if it was Trayvon Martin or george floyd, where are yall . Well, they wont have to ask where i am. Im going to stand up for the slaughter that happened in israel and stand up for the rights of palestinians. And the last word to you rabbi. Reverend al that means everything to us. We will be there for you the way you are for us right now. Last word, is i was on the set three weeks ago. One night my daughter had to run out of her First High School Football Game as a freshman because there was a fake gun incident there. The next night we were swatted at the beginning of the jewish year. Last night she said mom and dad is this the day tomorrow that were going to be bombed, and then you think to yourself, this is the world in which were raising our kids . The Jewish National anthem, ha teak va is not about pride, its about hope. I feel like its in our dna that our faith which is not blind belief. Its doubt plus belief equals faith. With god at our backs that we shall overcome. And rabbi, this morning the words i will only give you the words in the few seconds we have remaining that our secretary of defense said in israel, america supports israel. That is not negotiable. Thank you both and please come back. We would love to hear more from you as soon as possible. That does it for this morning. Jose diazbalart picks up the
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