[background sounds] neil: one month in, and israeli troops continue heading in, now encircling gaza city, home base to hamas, as the war with expands to close-up urban combat. at this are hour, a three-hour window announced by the israeli military for evacuees to flee along a main highway in the gaza strip. it was just closed. we're going to talk to a u.s. citizen who who escaped the war zone with her husband and five kids. terrifying, the say the least, but alive. also at this hour, secretary antony blinken in jordan meeting with arab leaders. they want a ceasefire while the u.s. wants a humanitarian pause. israel wants hostages freed before considering either. and are we any closer right now to ultimately seeing something, anything constructive happening? i'll ask israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's top adviser and former u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo. and get ready, protest are everywhere again from iran's capital to england's capital, to a massive pro-fall stint januarh plans for you are nation's capital this afternoon. good morning, everyone, i'm neil cavuto, very good to have you. i jumped that open, i apologize. very good to have you this saturday, this business i city weekend -- busy weekend. let's go to mike tobin in southern israel with the very latest. michael. >> reporter: yeah, neil, we just had a fresh rocket launch autoof the north, i can look up at the sky and see one, two, three, four intercepts, little puffs of smoke left in the aftermath of a rocket being intercepted by the iron dome. you mentioned the humanitarian evacuation corridor that opened up. that has just closed. and what i've got from sources in the gaza strip, it wasn't very successful. meantime, the fighting intensifies. israeli forces have encircled gaza city, they will be tightening the noose into the dense population centers. he was attacks hamas personnel, command and control structure, infrastructure. they have seized weapons like home maid anti- homemade anti-tank rounds and building roads. the fight has not been limited to the north. there has been contact below the evacuation line that is work adi, gaza. strikes have gone into the refugee camp, and here's an idf spokesman. >> we know that there are many hamas leaders and commanders that are in southern gaza. we will strike them in southern gaza using the same methods that we've used, trying to the differentiate between civilians and terror forces. >> reporter: now, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken has been involved in frantic and very fragile shuttle diplomacy trying to keep this war in gaza from spilling over into a regional conflict. this after he stopped in israel and once again failed to persuade benjamin netanyahu this time for a humanitarian pause that would allow aid to get to palestinian civilians. >> we are absolutely focused on getting hostages back and getting them back to the their families in safety. and we we believe that, among other things, a humanitarian pause could help that effort. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: i made it clear that we are going with full steam ahead and that israel refuses any temporary ceasefire that does not involve the release of the kidnapped israelis. >> reporter: and a u.s. official speaking to the our jennifer griffin confirms that hamas fighters were trying to sneak out with the sick and the wounded. you remember ambulances were sent up from egypt to take the sick and the wounded out to medical care. well, hamas fighters were trying to get in those ambulances. the lists were submitted, the names were evented, and the fighters were discovered, and that is part of what slowed the exit of foreign passport holders or who were trying to get out of the gaza strip. neil, back to you. neil: you can understand the israelis' reticence on that. be safe, my friend. mike tobin over there in israel. alexandria hoff traveling with the president in delaware, the white house making it clear if they had their preference, it would be for a pause in the war for humanitarian purposes, but it's not quite that simple. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, neil. it is complicated. within the hour we are going to hear again from secretary blinken. he'll be holding a joint press conference with his egyptian and jordanian counterparts. these visits are two-way streets. you have u.s.-allied arab nations who are trying to push the u.s. to the support an immediate ceasefire, something the white house has so far dismissed believing it's very different from a temporary humanitarian pause that the white house has been pushing for. once again secretary blinken is in jordan today. he attended a meeting of foreign ministers earlier after he was in tel aviv yesterday trying to sell this idea of a temporary pause of military action in gaza to prime minister netanyahu. >> civilians should not suffer the consequences for its inhumanity and brutality. we've provided israel advice that only the best of friends can offer on how to minimize civilian deaths while still achieving it objectives of finding and finishing hamas terrorists and their infrastructure of violence. >> reporter: now, the white house has said, it's said that this is a potentially risky maneuver, humanitarian pause, and that situations like this are unpredictable. again, israel has so far rejected the notion of a temporary pause many gaza saying some 240 hostages have to be released first. and president biden himself has had to fend off calls for a complete ceasefire, that's here at home. it happened at a fundraiser in minnesota. take a look. [no audio] >> reporter: all right, there was a moment of back and forth with an audience member saying they wanted a ceasefire. the president saying, no, we're only for a pause right now. once again, dismissing that, what that audience member was saying has to happen. you can see it there, the audience member says i would love for you to the answer my question. the president, we need a pause to get prisoners out. audience member hopes that the rest of the audience is hoping for a ceasefire, the president stops it will can dead in its tracks, it seems. the president is spending his weekend here in rehoboth as secretary blinken is adding on to his middle eastern itinerary. he will head to turkey on monday, neil. neil: alexandria, thank you for that with the president in rehoboth. and by the way, one of the things that antony blinken hopes to gauge at least talking to a lot of these arab leaders is how strong they are on this pause. some go so far as to say a ceasefire, in fact, a majority of those leaders have been demanding that right now. forget just a temporary pause. the former chief of staff to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu with us now. very good to have you back. let me ask you about that pause if for any length of time seems, understandably so when we hear the prime minister explain the reasons and what they've been dealing with, justified here. you're feeling the pressure, and i'm sure the prime minister is. how do you respond to that? >> well, yeah, there is pressure. but there is a duty to the jewish people and the state of israel to continue this fight and not let up. certainly, the pain and suffering that the palestinian people are feeling in gaza is not something that anybody wants. but, you know, we have to look at the facts, and the facts are that i don't think anyone does well under a government led by islamic extremists. the taliban in afghanistan, mullahs in iran, there are plenty of examples around the world of successful muslim countries like indonesia and united arab emirates and others. we have to get rid of the fundamentalists, the radical islamists. and so, yes, i'm sure everyone wants a ceasefire. i don't think a single parent of an israeli soldier wants to continue risking their sons' and daughters' lyes, but in this has to be done until we we eradicate the islamic fundamentalists from gaza. neil: so if the that is the goal, and i understand this goal, hamas has all time, certainly since 2007, control of gaza. that goes away, but you want to go a step further from that and just annihilate hamas. but a lot of people in this country, sir, want to the know what does that ultimately mean? st one thing for them not to have any control of gaza period, but to annihilate, maybe just tell me? >> well, it doesn't only include ridding hamas of any ability to lead and control gaza, it also includes taking care of the four or five hamas billionaires living in qatar, the shah who, i think, is worth $5 billion. i mean, when you look at how their people suffer in gaza, you've got these billionaires controlling the radicals in gaza is, that has to also be eradicated. you know, we always talk about taking off the head of the snake. hamas in gaza is one thing, but the head of the snake lives in doha. they are billionaires. we have to get rid of them too. neil: you know, it's interesting because you mentioned qatar, and you think of this role they're playing in opening up this passage with egypt. in the rafah, and i'm thinking to myself they're portraying themselves as a friend to israel in this process to try to protect individuals. you seem to have a very different view of their role here, and they do house a number of hamas militants as well. so i'm just wondering how after this is ultimately sorted out, what will be done about qatar? what will be done about some of these arab countries that not only house, but comfort and pay some of the worst hamas elements? >> yeah. well, no, qatar and other nations will have to decide, you know, which side of history they want to be on. neil: well, they've already decided. they've already decided, right? >> well, they may have to have -- yeah, they have to have a gut check, and when this is over, we'll know where they stand. right now, right now they're standing with the terrorists. right now they're standing with those who fund raise and deliver technology and weapons to terrorists. they're going to have to, and i hope that the u.s. and and and other nations will put pressure on qatar to eradicate those elements from their country when this is over as well,s because it cannot continue. we can get rid of hamas in gaza. as long as the head of the snake continues to the exist and and live their billionaire lifestyles, this will continue. we have to the get rid of both. neil: you know, you're a good reader of the global reaction to the all of this, and i'm sure you're aware that from the united nations to virtually all the major arab nations urging israel to cool it, don't respond disproportionately, do you ever feel that there was none of this rage four weeks ago morning where i was sitting where i am now and these attacks were first being waged, very little reaction and condemnation to that. and within, you know, literally 72 hours, it had seemed hamas was in this odd position of winning then, even now the p if r war. pr war. >> let me tell you something, neil, your viewers can see here the yellow star that my father wore during the holocaust. the u.n. ambassador from israel wore a yellow star in the security council the other day to remind the u.n. why the u.n. was created. it was to the stop genocide. it was to say never again. and to me, never again is not a pr battle. never again is a very serious, serious thing. and i think israel will continue to do the what it needs to do the regardless of winning or losing the pr battle because this can never happen again. and we are committed to never letting it happen again. and so, yeah, i mean, you know, we may have ups and downs when it comes to the pr battle, we may have, you know, some people supporting us, other nations, you know, being with against us, israel will never let this happen again. and so that's what we have to remain focused on and not be caught up in the battle of who's winning or losing p are; rather, making sure genocide never happens again. neil: we're watching right now a protest going on in paris, george. we've seen a number of them where i am now in new york city, another one expected this weekend in washington, d.c., a very big one featuring pro-palestinian protesters. these are in western nations, western governments. how do you feel about that? >> well, i, you know, i think we have to be vigilant, but i think we have to also remind everyone that to be pro-palestinian means getting are rid of hamas. we wanted a two-state solution. they've said no to lee different prime ministers having a two-state solution -- three different prime ministers. we want the palestinians to live side by side, we want to go -- to coexist -- neil: maybe that's just a ruse. maybe this attack four weeks ago proves that was not the goal, the goal was something more dramatic. >> i think you're right, neil. remember, when they say pro-palestinian now, they're saying free palestine. they're saying free palestine from the river to the sea. what they're talking about is being pro-genocidal. they want to eliminate the jewish sate and the jewish people. so, yes, they're going to protest, s but our voices are going to be just as loud if not louder, and we've seen strong world support push back against these protests. neil: all right. very good seeing you again. >> thank you, neil. neil: all right. we were alluding to iran, by the way, a big protest going on there. whose side do you think they're on if on this? one interesting development here is going after all these iranian proxies. we're very good at doing that because they fund a lot of these groups that go after u.s. soldiers, 28 times in more than 2 weeks. joe lieberman and a host of others are wondering why don't we just go after iran itself? after this. do you know what's taking a big bite out of family budgets? car loans. get a newday 100 va cash out loan. own your car and have no more monthly car payments. lowe's knows black friday savings should be more than just one day. that's why we're giving you black friday deals every day. where you can find the best value all november long. shop now and save big, in-store or online. (♪) honey... honey... dayquil severe honey. powerful cold and flu symptom relief with a honey-licious taste. because life doesn't stop for a cold. dayquil honey, the daytime, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, honey-licious, power through your day, medicine. go look at the sprinter gene. i wonder if you have it or that's why you didn't make the team. let me pull it up. sprinter... sprinter gene... don't have it. yup, i knew it. let's see. can't run. can't catch. too short. what else does it say? give the gift of family heritage with ancestry. neil: these attacks tend to be on surrogate groups or groups who iran is correctly or indirectly funding. shouldn't these attacks in response be focused on iran? >> they absolutely should be focused on iran. neil: heir not right now. >> they're not. neil: shouldn't we target iran, iran the country? >> yeah. because iran's behind all of this. you're not going to the stop this by the kind of attacks we made in syria. that's helpful, but in the end you've got to go after the head of the snake. and the head of the the snake is in tehran, the islamic revolutionary guard corpses and all the rest. -- corps and all the rest. if we strike directly at iran, will they respond? i don't think so. neil: all right. joe lieberman convinced the only way to send iran an unequivocal message that we don't think highly of their 28 separate opinion sored attacks on u.s. soldiers over the last two weeks is to go after them directly, not their proxies. lieutenant general david a kind that with us to say go slow. general, good to have you back. you're concerned about where that could lead, but what i think joe lieberman and others have been saying, advocating taking on iran correctly, is they are taking on us directly under the cover of these proxies. so we should respond more strongly. how do you respond to that? >> well, neil, i think that there's the issue of proportionality, but at the same time there is the point that while the biden administration has issued warnings to iran and its terrorist arms over this aggression and that we won't take any significant incoming attacks without a reaction, the responses you saw last friday simply wasn't sufficient to deter additional attacks against u.s. forces as we saw because there have been several since then. so without changing american policy toward iran, this threat's going to persist. i think the way you go about doing this is, first, by having the administration stop seeking a nuclear deal, then enforce sanctions on oil and missiles instead of ignoring iran's violations. and then restore maximum pressure on tehran. and that could include can covert aid to the dissidents inside iran so that the ayatollahs feel purchase at home. and depending upon response if it's necessary, then we should be willing to employ force against iran because, here's the deal, to be effective as a deterrent, the administration needs to the to indicate its willingness to the actually employ force with deployed aircraft against iran's proxies and, if necessary, iran itself. neil: because if i'm iran, right, general, and i'm saying, all right, go ahead, blow up some tents in a syrian desert, have at it. but you don't seem to be willing to go after us, so we'll keep doing this. >> that's exactly the reason i made those points in changing u.s. policy toward iran. the iranian leadership needs to understand that they are directly responsible, and the united states is willing to hold them accountable as such. neil: general, while i've got you here, we're learning hamas is apparently putting wounded fighters on this departure lists, the bad guys are slipping through. we don't want that. what to do you make of this? >> well, once again, it is exactly right along the lines of how hamas operates. and it's why that there's such a strong feeling about not agreeing to an overall ceasefire. evil can't be tolerated. it must be eliminated. so while it may be appropriate for pauses in certain places and times for certain effects, we should not agree to -- or encourage the israelis to agree to an overall ceasefire. neil: well put. general, thank you so much. i always say for your great service to this country as well. you strifed a lot for -- sacrificed a lot for that. mt -- in the meantime, the threats that could be coming here, maybe already here through our own border. the side of the story you don't want about to hear but you probably should, after this. (up) (♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) >> in just the past few weeks, multiple foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against americans and the west. >> the fbi director, wray, nor the president have any idea whether or not there is somebody from a maas -- hamas roaming around the united states of america who could strike this kind of deadly attack on our own country. neil: all right. do you notice a pattern here? more and more governors, in fact, the owners of oklahoma and texas who were visiting israel to warn us what's going on over there and the threat of terror over there is, in fact, likely to happen over here. the fbi director saying as much a few days earlier. chris swecker, are they right? is it a matter of time before we're dealing with what israel's dealing with here? >> absolutely, neil. i mean, this is the greatest terrorist threat to this country since the pre-9/11 runup. and i think it's even more pronounced now because we have these conflicts. these cells in the united statei mean hezbollah and hamas, but mostly hezbollah -- have been around for a long, long time, committing crimes and is raising money for hezbollah. hose cells could quickly morph into viability cells with the southern border being as open as it is. we have no idea who's in this country, so it's a combination of what's going on in the middle east as well as that wide open southern