You know, there are moments in life, and i mean this literally, when the pure, Unadulterated Evil is unleashed. On this world. The people of israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the Terrorist Organization, hamas, a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill jews. This is an act of sheer evil. More than 1000 civilians slaughtered, not just killed, slaughtered in israel. Among them, at least 14 american citizens. Killed. Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach churning reports of babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace. To celebrate peace. Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. Families hid their fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet. To avoid drawing attention. Thousands of wounded. Alive, but carrying with them the bullet holes and the Shrapnel Wounds and the memory of what they endured. You all know these traumas never go away. Theres still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones. Not knowing if they are alive or dead or hostages. Infants in their mothers arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust Survivors abducted and held hostage. Hostages who hamas has now threatened to execute, in violation of every code of human morality. Its abhorrent. The brutality of hamas, this bloodthirstiness brings to mind the worst, the worst rampages of i. S. I. S. This is terrorism. But sadly, the jewish people, its not new. This attack has brought to the surface painful memories, and the scars left by a millennia of antisemitism. And genocide. The jewish people. In this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with israel. We stand with israel. And we will make sure, it will have what it takes to defend its citizens, take care of itself, and respond to this attack. After the president spoke, his National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan, held a Press Conference and said this. The president has been deeply engaged in giving direction to his National Security team. To take action, to support israel in its hour of need. At his direction, the United States has surged ammunition and interceptors for iron dome, and the president spoke with Prime Minister netanyahu just a little while ago, to talk about additional capabilities that israel will need. And he pledged that american planes will be landing in israel with those capabilities in the days ahead. Now, at the direction of the president , we are working with congress to make sure that israel maintains supply of its critical assets, to defended cities and its citizens. As well as the many u. S. Citizens who live work and travel in israel. Also at President Bidens direction, the u. S. Military as enhanced its force posture in the region, to strengthen our deterrence. Including the movement of a Carrier Strike group into the east mediterranean. And we are prepared to move additional assets as necessary. Let me be clear, we did not move the carrier for hamas. We moved the carrier to send a clear message of deterrence to other states, or non state actors, that might seek to widen this war. The president is also tasked us with engaging in Contingency Planning for any and all escalation scenarios. Leading off our discussion tonight, is White House Principal deputy National Security adviser, john finer. Thank you very much for joining us on this important night. Do you have any updated numbers for us on the number of possible american dead in this situation . Or the number of possible american hostages . Thanks, lawrence, for having me. I dont have any numbers beyond those that the president and Jake Sullivan used earlier today, 14 americans who have been killed and as many as 20 or more who remain missing, some of whom we believe are likely to be held in gaza as captives. I do believe those numbers are likely to rise, perhaps in both cases just due to the sheer number of americans who are in israel, at any given moment several hundred thousand, upwards of 500,000 at least. So, because a fog of war we havent been able to gather perfect data, it is something we are really focused on, and the president has said, his highest priority, it is to see to it that were doing everything we can, to try to address the situation of americans who are in harms way. The fog of war for the United States in gaza must be especially intense. Because its not clear to us out here, anyway, that you have many Contact Points and Contact Possibilities for whats going on there. What can you tell us, the president and Jake Sullivan talked about working relentlessly, hour by hour, to try to get more information about the hostages, the american hostages, being held in gaza. What can you tell us about how that is being done from the White House Administration . Well, we have a number of areas of focus when it comes to people who may be held hostage in gaza. One of which, we have set up a conduit, an ability for americans whose loved ones maybe missing to contact the State Department, provide information that might make it easier for us to pass to the israelis and work with the israelis to try to help locate them. Second, the president has deployed, as you know, because you talked about it today and Jake Sullivan talked about it as well, a team of experts from across the u. S. Government in hostage recovery, to work with israeli counterparts on what is going to be a very difficult task of trying to locate and ultimately, we hope, be able to secure the release of these hostages, who are in gaza. And the third piece of this, were gonna share every bit of intelligence and other information we can gather through our intelligence capability, with the israeli counterparts, as we quite often do, given our close intelligence relationship with the government of israel. The Secretary Of State is going to israel tomorrow, to point about that. What is his mission in israel . And then secondly, with the Secretary Of State be going, if the United States had a confirmed ambassador to israel in service there now . Well, ill say a few things. One, the Secretary Of State is going to israel first and foremost as a show of solidarity, very much carrying the message that the president conveyed today. The United States stands with israel in its very difficult hour, very difficult moment. We celebrate triumphant occasions, happy occasions together. In this past weekend was a holiday weekend, when Many Americans were celebrating in israel. We also mourn our tragedy together. Secretary blinken will be going to do just that. Hell also be going to engage with our embassy, and with american citizens who are in israel to make sure that theyre getting every bit of assistance they need for those who would like to leave the country, for those have experienced a traumatic situation, our embassies foremost mission is to provide support for americans who live, travel, or work abroad. He would absolutely be going under any circumstance, whether we had a confirmed ambassador or not. Would we prefer to have a confirmed ambassador, absolutely. We urge congress to take action to confirm our ambassador right away. We have, by the way, a very capable charge daffaires who has done an outstanding job in lieu of an ambassador over the course of the past very difficult week. In the president s phone call with Prime Minister netanyahu today, how did the president come out of that phone call confident about the parameters that will be followed in the way israel responds to this . Did the president come out with any concern of a possible overreaction by israel . I guess what id say about that, its not for the United States to set the parameters of the operation that israel is already conducting and has said, quite clearly, it intends to intensify in the coming days. What the president said, he and the Prime Minister had an exchange about the fact that democracies, like the United States and israel, are stronger, are more secure, when they act in accordance with the principles like the rule of law. And that very much goes for the law of war in the conduct of Military Operations, beyond that, im not gonna characterize the president s Confidence Level one way or another. We all, i think, had very deep concerns about both the current environment and the situation going forward. Given how challenging it is going to be, to conduct a Military Operation in a place like gaza. Is it your understanding at this point, that israel is essentially, has essentially, secured its territory, has there been some rocket fire in southern israel today . What is the risk, as you understand it right now, for people in israel . So, ill leave it to the government of israel to characterize exactly the Security Environment in their country. I dont think thats our place to do that. They do seem to have said that they have secured the areas immediately surrounding gaza, which i know is a primary area of focus, and took a number of days after these attacks began, given their complex nature, given the number of fighters involved. So, i wont characterize when one way or another. It does seem to have calmed considerably over the past 24 hours or so. Which is fundamentally very good thing. Has the State Department been involved in Helping Americans who want to leave israel to leave israel . Has that been necessary . So, our understanding is that the civilian airport in israel remains functional, remains operating, there are commercial flights still going in and out of israel. At the moment, that some carriers have suspended those operations, which we believe is making it somewhat difficult in some cases, for americans and others to secure tickets on outbound flights. So, the State Department is going to continue working with american citizens to help make sure that they know all of the options that are available, including flights including Overland Routes into look to provide a potential new options if those become necessary. As you go forward, there are benchmarks that youre looking for in the course of this week or next week, that youre hoping can be achieved, that you could then call progress. So, again, lawrence, it would not be for us for, the United States government, to set benchmarks for the upcoming Military Operation or objectives, or that sort of thing. That would be for the government of israel and the Israeli Military to take that. Set themselves. I do think they have, as a very clear Goal Reestablishing deterrence that can prevent any thing like the sorts of attacks that took place over the past several days. From ever happening again. And, certainly, to reducing, if not ending the capability of hamas. The Terrorist Organization to conduct these attacks. From being able to do this kind of thing to the israeli population. I think we cannot underestimate here in the United States, the degree of trauma that was inflicted, on the israeli populace, by these attacks. This is all still very fresh and also very raw. Frankly, it was a day or some of these are unprecedented in the history of the country. Of israel which is obviously had a very complicated. And recharging hysteria. Times frankly, unprecedented in history of most countries. So, they are going to first and foremost work to prevent that sort of thing, and make it clear that sort of thing cannot happen again and will not happen again. Deputy National Security, john, finer thank you for taking the time to join us tonight. Really appreciate it. Thanks, for having me. Joining us now from tel aviv, is ronan bergman, staff writer for the New York Times magazine. Hes the author of rise and kill first. The secret history of israels targeted assassinations. Thank you very much for joining us, once again tonight from tel aviv. Please tell us what this scene is like for People Living in tel aviv today, and tonight. Well, you know, the sending of rockets and missiles from tel aviv to time to time. This is not something extraordinary. Something that People Living in israel have experienced. But one thing is, unique in a very tragic way, is that there is no family, no one in israel, being a very small place, who is not a relative or friend, who has not lost anyone in this horrifying event. And the stories just piling in. Most of the funeral have not taken place. But people are looking for their relatives, looking for their friends, dont know the fate of the missing people. Crying for those who were killed or, very much concerned. For those who are missing. I think this is the story that the mood is the mood of grief, mood of deep sorrow, and sadness. And people, i think, still far away from absolving what actually happened. You have done deep reporting on israels intelligence operations, including the operations that they might be mounting to try to rescue the hostages. What often that israel have now in trying to make a move to reach those hostages . , the hostages possibly underground. I assume that there is some kind of inquiry into the possibility to rescue them, but this will be at a very high cost. And only after careful learning of intelligence, collection of the details of who is keeping them, who is guarding them, what are the chances that the rescue force and the hostages will remain alive after such an operation and only then will the Israeli Government sent any Prime Minister, not just the current one who lost his brother at the i think that any Prime Minister will have to have a very serious difficult dilemma whether to send a force or fights hamas, thats the main goal of what the idf is doing now. Or at the same time, running a negotiation for a possible exchange of prisoners. What are the prospects in this situation of actually negotiating for the hostages . Well, i think that both sides are now denying having any kind of negotiations. The political leader of hamas says that they will not negotiate at the end of the war. Meaning that hamas wants to have the leverage of the hostages being inside gaza, as a human shield, to protect the gang from israeli bombing. And israel, who is holding a tough position, saying we will not negotiate with these criminals, i think that the reality is more complicated through qatar and possibly the egyptians. There are some first attempts to negotiate a possiblelimited deal. A limited deal that will include the women and children from the kidnapped civilians, just taken to gaza on saturday. And a possible exchange of them with women that are being held and prosecuted and sentenced in israeli prisons. Does hamas distinguish between american hostages and israeli hostages . I would think that this is very unlikely. We saw those horrifying videos of the way they treat children and women, and elderly. They dont have any boundaries. Any limits, no humane consideration. So i dont think that american citizenship would make them suddenly be humane. Ronan bergmann, thank you very much for joining us again, at what is a very early hour for you in the morning in tel aviv. Thank you very much. Thank you, good morning. Coming up, well have more of what President Biden had to say today. Senator them Richard Blumenthal will join us. Thats next. To help get you ready, your Aspen Dental Denture team is celebrating 25 years of Affordable Care with an epic anniversary savings event. Dont miss enjoying a moment with fast repairs in our onsite labs and 20 off your custom dentures. Plus, we have a denture Money Back Guarantee so you can smile with confidence. Aspen dental. Book today. I was stuck. 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