federal government is deploying extra resources to synagogues and jewish centers across the country in response to this, jonathan green blat, we are all hoping for the best as we continue to monitor this. i appreciate you joining me tonight. thank you for having me. the global jewish community i should say is expressing support. just an outpouring of support really from around the world tonight for the hostages. israeli prime minister bennett tweeted this, i am closely monitoring the congregations if colleyville, texas. we pray for the safety of the hostages and the rescuers. police are ramping up security at synagogues across the country tonight after what is ongoing. our coverage continues next.
welcome back to state of the union. i m jake tapper. international tensions on high this weekend after a report you heard first on cnn that russia may be working to fabricate a reason to invade neighboring ukraine, a false flag. that news after a series of high-level meetings with top u.s. officials did not appear to dissuade russia from a potential invasion. the big question for the u.s., how should president biden respond if russia actually acts and invades ukraine again? joining us the top republican on the house foreign affairs committee, congressman michael mccaul of texas. congressman, thanks for joining us. i do want to first get your reaction to the situation yesterday in your home state of texas, where a gunman and anti semite apparently held four jews hostage as a synagogue in colleyville, texas. the fbi has not released the name of the suspect. he demanded the u.s. free aafia
here. you have the investigation, of who this individual is, and that s very significant. but then obviously getting these hostages released, jim. absolutely. and that s the most important thing and you know this all too well having covered these types of cases for so many years, they are going to go by a playbook here that has one thing in mind and one thing only and that is the safe release of these hostages who are being held right now. shimon prokupecz, thank you so much for that update and keep in mind for the folks who are watching at home, this is changing moment by moment on the scene there. we are getting the latest information that we can confirm at this point. obviously, as things develop, we re going to bring you the latest on all of this, but just to recap, the fbi assisting with a hostage situation at the congregation beth israel in colleyville, texas. police are assuring the public
newsroom. welcome back. we are following breaking news, really sad breaking news, right near ft. worth, texas tonight, there is a hostage situation. the congregation is beth israel in colleyville, texas. a law official is very much ongoing, tell cnn there are believe to be four hostages currently. witnesses say they were watching a stream of services. the temple is believed to be among the hostages. the white house is monitoring as is merritt garland, the attorney general, two law officials tell us that investigators believe the hostage-taker may have been motivated by a desire to free a wo woman, a counter terrorism groups have dubbed her lady al qaeda. she is serving an 86-area
about religion and is atlanta and his sister, and the fact that he has children and he doesn t think he will come out alive. but i think the viral nature of it, at one floint were 8,000 at one point there were 8,000 people. there were people that know the rabbi who were watching in confusion as well as in fear trying to figure out what the heck was going on. we know now that it is a serious hostage situation. onrequire was one of those jon: i was one of those 8,000 people watching. so thank you for the explanation and helping us clear that up. once again the standoff continues in colleyville, texas just outside of fort worth.