climb. >> we know that a number of those americans are being held hostage right now by hamas. i think that we all need to steal ourselves for the possibility the numbers will keep increasing, and that we may, in fact, find out that more americans are part of the hostage pool. >> hamas is believed to have taken around 150 hostages, and the group is threatening to execute those hostages won by one. in retaliation for israeli air that hit dozens in their homes. the scale and the brutality of this crisis is without modern precedent. today, israeli troops cleared the sites of hamas attacks near gaza, and the scope of this weekend's violence became clear. soldiers were seen in scores of bodies. 260 people killed, dancing at a music festival, families killed and safe rooms, or at bus stops, just going about their daily lives. today, the u. s. and its highest serving diplomat to israel, secretary of state, anthony blinken in a show of support. president biden addressed publicly the war for a third time. and spoke to prime minister netanyahu for the fourth time since fighting began on saturday. inside israel there are signs of political solidarity and today netanyahu and his top political rival benny gantz, formed a unity government and the israeli parliament and have something that would've been almost unthinkable just a week ago. but today, with his former political rivals set aside, netanyahu gave a speech vowing that every hamas member is a dead man. and that israel would crash and destroy hamas. to that end, last night, the first plane carrying american ammunition arrived in israel, against the backdrop of the israeli military. amassing tanks, and troops near the coastal border ahead of unexpected ground invasion. here's nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel on this frontlines earlier today. >> israel's defense minister promises what is coming next will reshape gaza forever. we will reach all places, he says, hamas wanted to change the situation, it will change back 180 degrees. and they will regret this moment. as the military buildup picks up pace, israel has declared the entire area around gaza a military zone. israel brought in enough tanks and armored for a full scale ground war, and is now mobilizing the more than 360, 000 reservists called up for national service. a new phase of this conflict is about to begin. and there will be many casualties. >> today, hamas launched rockets past israel's iron dome defense system, hitting the coastal israeli city of ashkelon. meanwhile, airstrikes by the israeli military and gaza have displaced more than 260, 000 people. at least 1200 israelis have been killed since this weekend's attacks, 2700 more injured. and in gaza, the death toll is at least 1100 people with more than 5300 injured. that number includes multiple medics and at least nine united nations employees. but the toll of this war on civilians will almost certainly get work. worse. israel is blocking food, fuel, and water from entering gaza gaza's densely populated region. and egypt has shut its border blocking the only evacuation route for civilians to escape gaza. that means that all 2 million people that live in gaza are under siege. which makes the task of fighting hamas, while avoiding civilian casualties nearly impossible. as david ignatius writes in the washington post today, -- counterattacking through a maze of tall buildings, laced with hidden garrisons and booby trap passenger ways. -- -- for the ghastly attack, what defenses did they prepare? hamas fighters don't wear uniforms, they hide and high-rises alongside civilians, and now hostages. and hamas may have been planning for this stage of the attack for quite some time. on top of all of that, after shattering israel's sense of security, hamas is declaring that it has one. and that it may very well continue to declare victory no matter what comes to pass. from the new york times today, it remains unclear whether the high cost to civilians will blow -- even when hamas attacks first, gazans ten to -- every war, no matter how many palestinians die, hamas will come after it and say, we are victorious. joining me now is my friend, ali velshi, msnbc's chief correspondent reporting live from tel aviv and israel. it is great to see you, i trust that you are safe and well. i know we have a delay, so let me get right to it. just a staggering, deeply distressing scarring in some ways video that we are seeing of this attack, the aftermath, israeli security forces are clearing bodies and recovering the lost who died in the course of this terrorist attack, how is that shaping public sentiment in this moment? we know that this was bad, the extent of the brutality ages seems to increase exponentially every day. >> it is incredible. how would you think after what we first saw on saturday that it would be worse on sunday, and on monday, and on tuesday, and on wednesday, but it actually is. -- in fact, for many of the israelis with whom i have spoken, it is not a matter of defeating hamas, it is a matter of flattening gaza. it is a matter of doing this in a way that it never comes back. i spoke to a man today who is one of these around gaza, who said i want them all gone. i want them to go to their friends in iran, and in egypt, this is our land. we want to be done that way. i've spoken to other people who have served in the military. there's military national services in this country who have said a war, it ground invasion of gaza is going to be treacherous for israeli soldiers. however, the israeli population is united around this, the government is even, they have a unity government they form today between the right and the left. and the division is whether or not the effort should go into the ground offensive, which richard was talking about earlier. or it should all go toward rescuing the hundred to 150 hostages that israel believes are being held by gaza. the families of this hostages when the hostage released to be priority number one, and that is the issue here. that they don't want this were to begin because they are quite convinced that once the ground invasion -- there is a war already, but once the ground invasion begins their loved ones will be human shields their loved ones might be killed. they might be killed and videotaped. or filmed, and sent out as propaganda. so, that is why the division is. there is nobody who thinks that hamas should not be dealt with, or that there shouldn't be a war, it is about this hostage situation. you and i talked about it last night, and it hasn't evolved substantially. the only thing that has evolved here is that those troops, as richard said, are amassing in that military zone around the gaza border, and the situation in gaza has become much, much worse because of the lack of fuel and food there. the electricity is still 100% gone. >> ali, i understand the desire on the part of the families of those taken hostage to prioritize the rescue of those captive men and women and families, children, but in terms of the broader israeli public, and of course i know that you have not spoken to every person in israel, but give me a sense of how well israeli's recognize the sort of irreconcilable nature of hostage rescue any ground invasion to flatten gaza. i mean, have people -- i don't want to use the term-ed peace, but do they accept that one cannot go hand in hand with the other? >> yeah, again, this is a country which, everyone serves in the military. they are all trained, they understand this. since 1973, israel is not seen this. it's been worsened between, but it hasn't seen this degree of catastrophe. nor has it seen what is likely to come if these troops that are amassed at the gazan border go in, so they are all conscious of it. they are all aware of it. it is a bit different than the split sentiment in america during the afghanistan and iraq wars were a lot of people didn't have a connection to a soldier or a person in american who is dying over there. that is not the case here. everybody is in this. one way or the other. i mean, you choose to live in israel or come to israel, knowing full well that you will serve in the military. so that doesn't seem to be the issue, no one is under the makings conception that if israel goes into gaza and does that street battle, and in between those apartment buildings, and those perhaps booby trapped buildings, that many, many israeli soldiers would die. and in fact, as you know, you put the death total of civilians, and at this point, people realize that if there is a ground offensive, the death toll but soldiers will be very high. that is something that israelis internalize when they have soldiers that are killed. because it feels like a national effort. yes, they know, if this ground war ensues, a lot of -- at least many israeli soldiers will die and it. we are still prepared to undertake it. >> just incalculable loss all around. forwards and backwards. ali velshi, great reporting, please stay safe, my friend. please come back and talk to us more about what you are seeing and hearing. thank you. joining me now is ayman mohyeldin, that we have "ayman" on msnbc. and he has extensively covered -- and ayman mohyeldin, it's great to talk to you. i wanted to since this war began. the idea of defeating hamas, it seems that once quite obvious and yet unbelievably elusive. because at this point, hamas seems to be as much of an organization that citizen ideology. and one that will, apparently, if you believe the new york times claim victory no matter what. do you think it is a goal that can really realistically be approached? >> i think if the goal is to destroy the organization itself, there are certainly tactical ways that israel has tried to do that in the past, and history is the best lesson here. because if you look at what israel has done repeatedly since 2016, and before that, it has gone after hamas very aggressively and we should be very clear about that because israeli military officials, certainly retired one, have been clear about that. they killed the spiritual leader of hamas, they've killed political figures within hamas, they've killed senior military commanders within hamas's military. they've killed financiers that tried to raise money for hamas. bomb makers. drone makers. they've gone after all of them. and, they've gone and inside into gaza, in 2014, 2008 operation, this would be the fifth war in the span of 15 years in which israel has gone into gaza and try to destroy it using air power, and everything it has. and every time that hamas has shown itself to be resilient and in some cases, has even come back, bounced back with stronger capabilities as we have just seen, now this is the deadliest, to your, point i think that you are right. there's an argument me that if you go in this time and we occupy gaza, you could perhaps destroy the structure of the organization. but if you studied palestinian history and looked at the rise of militant groups over the years, you would see an evolution from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, in which 11 organization is defeated or destroyed, another one involves in this place. and i think that that is the fundamental issue here. because hamas is an ideology that builds itself on a central tenet of claiming to be a resistance movement to israel's occupation, there is always going to be an ability to recruit from palestinians and get support from countries like iran, who buy into that and variable to then take the next level or the next organization, or generation of fighters. >> regardless of whether they call themselves hamas -- or something else? you are one of the very few people that i know, that i think are on tv, that has actually reside in gaza. you understand the architecture of that region. there is this sort of ideological battle against hamas, there is the tactical battle against hamas, and it seems, i wonder if you could explain a bit more about what israeli security forces, defense forces are facing, as they try and route out hamas fighters from such a densely populated area. >> yeah, there's two layers to the challenge, and i was boost as a correspondent in gaza from 2018 2010, i covered operation cast, lead and then subsequently would go back for various operations and wars that happened there. and in the 2008 war, israel's challenge was to essentially cut gaza in half to try to separate the northern part of gaza, which has gaza city, and very densely populated from the southern part of gaza, which was more farmland, but also had big refugee camps, and also very densely populated areas. so addition to the ability of moving around in these densely populated areas with tanks, armored personnel carriers, air power, over the last several years, hamas has been able to develop a very complicated and sophisticated network of tunnels underground. and in that capacity, it was able to penetrate israel, cross borders, lee booby traps for them as it moved, and certainly in the northern part of gaza. like the refugee camps, and it made it very difficult for the israelis to, not only take gaza, but take and move within gaza. so in an operation in 2008, 2009, it is successfully controlled the entire territory. they divided the territory and half of their tanks and armored personnel carriers. but once they were in there, they stayed outside of the urban centers. so it was easy for hamas at that time to withstand the pressure, obviously if they go in this time, they are not going to repeat that. they want to go into the urban areas to really wheat hummus out. but that is where hamas wants the fight to be tactically, and that is where the danger is going to lie for both israeli soldiers, and the civilians who have not gone out. >> and hostages. >> of course. and it is important to remember one thing about the palestinians who may want to leave, and who may not want to leave. and i heard an earlier guest on our show say this, which is that 60% of the palestinians who live in gaza are descendants of two generations of palestinians who have either been expelled from their homes or removed in 1967. so there is those kind of generational trauma that exist among palestinians about not leaving their homes after fear of what comes next. so as a result, palestinians who may want to leave, they may have a large part in this, but other palestinians will say this is our homeland and we know what happens in 67, we know is what happened to us in 1948 -- when we left our homeland as refugees, and we were never allowed to return. >> let me ask you one more question -- there's a lot of talk about whether or not egypt will help open up a humanitarian corridor for those gazans who wish to leave, it seems like, given the lack of resources, the electricity, the water, the bombing hospitals and so forth, there's probably still is sizeable population that very much wants to get out? >> absolutely. we saw that previously. >> are you at all optimistic that egypt will be convinced to open up humanitarian corridor here? >> i'm not convinced. they haven't done it in previous wars. and the argument that egypt provides, and i know that we've been hearing from american officials that they are working on that, and that it would be very interesting to see what if anything changes the calculation of the egyptian government. previously, egypt has taken the position that if they opened the corridor, for palestinians to leave, that they would become responsible for the refugees. and they have learned from neighboring countries what has happened one other countries have taken refugees that are abandoned by the international community. egypt's position has always been we will not absolve israel's responsibility for the people of gaza by accepting them into egypt, and ultimately being the only party responsible for that. there are no guarantees that of the palestinians we've got to come to egypt, they will be allowed to return to their homes, as we have learned from history. and as a result of that, egypt has taken a position that the only way to deal with this crisis is through a multi party agreement. so, i've been watching the language of american officials. jake sullivan, admiral kirby, even the secretary of state, anthony blinken, today before you head towards the region. it's very clear, we are trying to work on something. what that looks like? i think it will be very telling. but i don't see the egyptian government now just simply -- unilaterally changing a fundamental principle that it has held onto in four previous wars. they may try to offer relief, they may offer certain amounts of people to come through, but they've never open the border to simply allow hundreds of thousands, if not 1 million people just to come and reside into the sinai peninsula. >> ayman mohyeldin, you are a wealth of information and such valuable perspective in this moment. thank you, my friend, for joining me on set tonight. when we return we are going to speak with one of the survivors of the terrorist attack on a music festival in southern israel near the gaza border. we will have more on one woman's harrowing journey, that is next. is next. ♪ ♪ ♪ cargurus. shop.buy.sell.online. this halloween, trick or treat yourself to the blendjet 2 portable blender... it's to die for. blendjet 2 gives you monstrous power for a delicious smoothie, shake, or frappé anytime, anywhere. cleaning blendjet 2 is scary easy. just blend water with a drop of soap. recharge quickly with any usb port. boo-gie on over to blendjet.com and order yours today. type 2 diabetes? 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ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's 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. it's not just possible. >> it has been five days since it's happening. hamas launched a terrorist attack on israeli citizens near the border with gaza. journalists have finally begun to access the communities that were first attack and horrific details are now emerging about the atrocities that took place. nbc news foreign correspondent, raf sanchez, got a glimpse of the devastation in one near the border. >> terrorists arrive at the gates of -- just before 6 am on saturday. unable to get through, they lay and wait for israeli citizens to arrive. today, we walk through those same gates. following a trail, is small israeli farming commune. >> the scenes of destruction are just staggering. the military says that 40 hostages are in this house, six soldiers were killed trying to liberate them, and you can see the house completely burned out. >> that harrowing scene resembles the site of an outdoor music festival in southern israel where hamas terrorist killed at least 260 attendees and cannot several others. all that remains are a few tenths, and burned out cars in the place where thousands of young people, like this person, and gathered to celebrate the jewish holiday. early saturday morning, him and her friends were among the festival goers who fled the event running through a nearby field as hamas terrorists closed in on them from all sides. they called police for help, but they were told that they are on their own as they hid in the bushes. six hours later, ben haim and the fellow survivors were found by a stranger who is rescuing people and his car. joining me now is ben haim who had survived the attack. thank you so much for being here. i am sorry to have to ask you to recount what happened to you. but i think that for the purposes of understanding what you and many people in israel have been through, i would really appreciate it if you could talk to me about how you first realized you are under a terrorist attack. >> thank you for having me, it is really important for us to let the world know what is going on here right now. so, we went to the party, having fun, 6:30, we started hearing the rockets, and realize that we have to either run or lay down on the ground. it took us a few minutes to understand that it is more dangerous situation than usual, because we do have a lot of rockets flying towards us in the south. it is not really unusual for us. after a few minutes we realized that we have to get out of there. and i got to the car with my friends and started driving like crazy. and everybody was really wasted and helpless and confused. and it is a music festival not a situation when somebody, obviously never, you never expect this nightmare to happen. so we started traveling, but one way we had a rocket and -- the other way more terrorists shooting at us. and we realized we have to get out of the car and started running towards the fields and the rockets never stopped and the shooting was from everywhere, no matter where we went to, we saw the people screaming, coming to us, saying they're shooting at us. they were on cars and motorbikes, and they just never stopped shooting. it was insane. i saw a lot of people falling down. we understood that we had this after something like two hours of running everywhere. because i just couldn't run anymore, and we didn't have work, they were everywhere. the shooting was just on us, above us, we could hear the whistles. and the screaming in arabic, so we hid in that place that you are showing right now in the bushes, and we tried to reach the police, and they didn't want to help us. they just told us that we are going to level with you, you don't understand what is going on in israel right now, and people are getting kidnapped and villages are being taken over by terrorists so a lot of friends around us -- we couldn't -- we could hear them screaming. we just thought that -- >> sorry to interrupt. that moment when the police said that you don't understand what is happening in israel, it is violence, it is happening all over the place, and you are on your own. what went through your mind when you heard that? >> i was really scared and sod, sad, honestly to the police i wasn't mad. but -- yeah. helpless. >> how did you make it? you are effectively on your own for six hours, and i wonder what the six hours were like with you and your friends in the site of devastation and murder? >> we stayed silent and we held hands. we prayed. after a while we stopped, we didn't know -- we could hear them around us. i don't know if it was five feet away, or ten, or 20 we couldn't look and we had to stay still. we realize that we have to find a way to get out of this. so we send messages to our family and friends. the location, but at the same time, we told them that we loved them. and that i am happy with the life that i had. though i am going to make it. >> i am so, so sorry that you had to go through that. we are all thankful that you survived. maybe a memory of those that you lost in this be a blessing. thank you so much for joining me. and telling our country what it was like to witness and survive a brutal, brutal attack. we are thinking of you and everyone who has been affected by this. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> when we come back, among the victims of this weekend's terror attack in israel are a number of americans. their stories are next. s are next so common. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patients say you know doc, it really works. >> i would say to the hamas that i want my daughter and my granddaughter back. i beg of every official there, think of them as if they are your daughter and your granddaughter. what do you have feel if it happened to them? 17 year old natalie and her mother, judith, have been missing since saturday afternoon shortly after hamas launched its attack on israel. the two women are from the suburbs of chicago, and were visiting relatives for the recent jewish holiday. now, their family and community fear that the two may have been kidnapped, or worse. a 19 year old dual citizen serving in the israeli army has also been missing since saturday. his father has urged president biden to, quote, take an active role as much as possible. according to the white house, at least 17 americans in israel are currently missing or unaccounted for. so far, 22 americans have been killed. americans, including deborah mathias, who in her last moments, shielded her teenage son with her own body in order to protect him. mathias was on the phone with her father, as she and her husband were gunned down. a 27 year old soldier grew up in both israel and the u. s. . his funeral was held this morning in central israel, his aunt, back in connecticut, told usa today that she felt shattered and hopeless. another person was killed near southern gaza. he was a peace activist. someone committed to building a more peaceful future for both israelis and palestinians. his doctoral dissertation at the university of washington was dedicated to quote, all life forms that exist between the jordan river, and the mediterranean sea. today, speaking at a gathering of jewish community leaders, president biden mourned the dead and so that he has not given up hope on finding those who are still missing. >> the press are going to show to me, many of you are, what are you doing to bring these folks home? if i told you, i wouldn't be able to get them home. folks, there's a lot we're doing. a lot we are doing. i have not given up hope. i am bringing these folks home. >> coming up ahead this hour, steve scalise could be the new speaker of the house. maybe? as of now, house republicans do not seem to be in any particular rush to figure that went out, or address the unfolding crisis in israel and gaza. we are going to have more on that right after the break. er the break hi, i'm jason. i've lost 228 pounds on golo. ♪ i don't ever want to go back to wearing a 4xl shirt or not being able to climb up stairs without taking a break. so i'm committed to golo for life. teeth sensitivity is so common. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patients say you know doc, it really works. from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. (dog bark) it's just smarter, healthier pet food. it's amazing what real food can do. >> it's really important that this congress get back to work, we select a speaker, go to the house floor, go to 18 and get the house working again. the first order of business for the speaker steve scalise is going to be to bring a strong statement of support for israel. >> amid the ongoing war between israel and hamas, the united states congress is still without a speaker of the house. republicans held on anonymous closed-door vote to decide who should be the next candidate to lead their conference. house majority leader steve scalise of louisiana when they're secret ballot, defeating congressman jim jordan by a vote of 100 and 13 to 99. it is not of the 217 that scalise needs to secure the speaker's gavel, but there are indications that some holdouts are ready to lineup behind him. congressman jim jordan to nominate scalise to be the speaker. right wing congressman matt gaetz, who led the effort to oust the previous republican speaker, a man named kevin mccarthy, as indicated he will also support scalise. but again, absent any democratic support, the next republican leader can only afford to lose four republican votes. and already some republican members have said they would not vote to make steve scalise the next speaker of the house. joining me now is former obama campaign manager in msnbc political analyst, david plouffe, in the flash, and former u.s. senator, also an msnbc political analyst, the great claire mccaskill. david, let me start with you in terms of democrats and how they have handled all of this. is there any chance that democrats do anything to help republicans get out of a mess of their own making here? >> this is the republicans problem to solve. what a message, with what's going on in the middle east. you get another government shutdown looming, urgent questions about how government needs to handle a i, and these folks can't even nominate a speaker. and given what is happening right now, the promises i'm sure scalise is going to have to wait to secure the votes, it should scare us all. >> clare, i wonder what you make of the backdrop of the israel hamas war and the republican, is the right word, ineptitude? in sort of getting their act together to figure out, who's gonna lead the conference and then how to assist in something that i think they understand is of great importance? >> i think what this shows is that this is beyond ineptitude. typically, when there is a crisis, parties satisfied some of their differences and come together to unify around causes that are more important, frankly, than who is the next speaker. do they have 217 or 219 votes? they are not doing that. let's count the ways the republican party is not uniting right now with democrats in support of israel and against the atrocious terrorist activity of be heading toddlers by an extremist group. first, we have a republican senator who will not allow the confirmation of our most important military leaders. next we have a republican house that can't come together long enough to even pick a leader to allow support for israel to pass through that legislative body. and then tonight we have the former president, republican president, criticizing israel behind a podium at a political speech. so it is frankly amazing to me that anybody in the republican party would be critical all at all of the democrats and their support for israel and the president and his support for israel when this is going on in wide open view of the entire world. >> yeah. let's talk about that for a minute, david. trump endorsed jim jordan, who only got 45% of the republican conferences vote in this closed-door session. it was a secret ballot. i find this quote from john fury gop consultant in the post sort of ironic. having outsiders meddled in insider elections never goes well. and trump is the ultimate all outsider. and frankly most members don't like him very much. oh really? what have you all been doing for the last eight years? do you read anything into the fact that trump's pick effectively did not win, went nowhere? is there anything more to read other than oh wow a secret ballot is useful and finding out what republicans feel. >> since 2016 election, he lost everything. the 18 and 22 elections disaster, he lost to joe biden in 20. a lot of senate candidates lost in primaries and cost them the senate. illuzzi continues. i think what it shows is there kind of like jell-o in public. maybe behind the scenes they don't march entirely to his drum. so it's pathetic, actually. it shows a little bit of inclination. but obviously he's heading to be the republican nominee absent some surprise. it could happen. as claire remembers, at this time a backyard october obama was given up for dead. it happens. they're all going to get behind. and i do think to claire's point, if you listen to the parade of horrible's, there are going to be voters out there who are even if they're unhappy with joe biden, do i really want to throw back in with trump? when you see the republican party around and completely so dysfunctional and irresponsible out think it's helpful to him at all. >> you think this is a true inflection point in terms of voters cancel their ballots, actually? >> i don't know. we have 17 political life fines between now and vote start next fall. but it's not helpful. >> claire mccaskill, what about steve scalise as a potential speaker of the house. he certainly, on paper, more radical than kevin mccarthy was, even though he is positioned in somehow contrast to jim jordan is somehow more moderate. what do you think of that potential leadership? >> it's interesting to me they were going to try to rush a vote today. and then all of the sudden steve scalise hit a pothole. it is not clear to me that he's going to get the votes he needs. i'm not sure this will be resolve tomorrow or even the next day. it's not going to shock me if we end up having another third party candidate. and all of this dysfunction in the republican party really hurts them and hurts the republican nominee for president. i would also say -- i want to underscore the point david made. we are a long way from the election. and one thing i know for sure. i came to the u.s. senate because a president was very unpopular over the iraq war. so depending on how all these hotspots play out, both ukraine and now, israel, that really remains to be seen. and joe biden can't escape one thing. he's the president right now. and to any extent these wars devolve into long and painful exercises that they involve involved -- i think it is way too early to decide what is going to happen next november. >> yeah, david, could you elaborate on what you are feeling in terms of the war at -- we know they are casualties and they are likely american hostages. we are sending over some military support. this is not going to be a war without any american fingerprints on it. how risky is that for joe biden? >> it's risky. but you have to do the right thing and i think you have got -- to his been speaking every day and he probably should continue to do that and inform people about what we are doing to help with a situation generally with these american hostages specifically. and so you just have to stay on it. and the politics, i think, you almost have to set aside. and having worked in the white house, it's a lasting on your mind. and they are working 24 hours a day, and they are feeling the pressure. lives are at stake. and if you do the right things and take it seriously, and again, something about trump. he didn't take the pandemic seriously. he doesn't take anything seriously. thank god we have a president there, as tricky is the situation is, it doesn't guarantee and all a positive outcome. you know they're gonna make good decisions and do everything they can to try and get as positive a result is possible. >> as positive as. i think that's the key part of that phrase. claire, david, thank you so much for your wise words an assessment of this insane situation. i appreciate your time. one more story for you tonight. republicans, as we said, cannot seem to coalesce around how speaker, but they've settled on at least one response to hamas's brutal attack. it involves blaming president biden. we're gonna have more on that, coming up next. somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patients say you know doc, it really works. the long-lasting scent of gain flings made it smell like dave was in his happy place... ...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. >> today the biden home of the xfinity 10g network. administration gave a classified briefing to members of congress about the ongoing israel hamas war. that briefing was intended to keep members updated about the ongoing crisis. joining me now is someone who was in the room. democratic congressman from connecticut, jim himes, and head of the -- thank you for being here. i know you there's not a ton you can divulge about the meeting. republicans walked out suggesting the president is in denial about iran's royal role in the israel hamas war. can you shed any light on any assessment or intelligent we have about iran's potential involvement? >> i think i can, because i was in that meeting. i can tell you that the very first republican stood up to ask the question of the most serious people and our national security establishment, the people who are looking at photographs of murdered and decapitated israelis, the people who are contemplating hostage situations, and what happens if there is a wider regional war, the very first question from my republican colleague and i'm not going to divulge what was his, how can my constituents get more tactical here to the israelis? how can my -- vests and guns to the israelis? that's where that meeting went. and of course, there is a legitimate amount of ambiguity about precisely what iran's role was in the last couple of months. by the way, larger question, this is really obvious. for decades iran has been training in providing weapons and money to hamas. so nobody is arguing about that. but the whole case on joe biden in the use of the word denial shows you where they are in a global crisis which is, at all costs you have to be able to criticize president biden. -- crosscurrents, information that is not clear. we're getting one thing from one thing for one person out of the things for other people about exactly what iran knew about my deeply unserious republican colleagues decided that what really matters here is attacking joe biden over something around which there is a great deal of ambiguity. >> yeah. no shortage of republican criticism that is being launched to president biden. i have to ask, though, in terms of your assessment about how the biden administration is focused, do you get the sense that their top priority is freeing american hostages? i mean, where the hostages engaged with netanyahu? >> the world doesn't work where we see over going to make our hostages the fifth priority behind these others. the reason that these people who were so rudely treated by my republican colleagues today i was exhausted as they are is that they're trying to a bunch of things at once. so there are multiple number one objectives, including making sure iran has the munitions, sorry, that israel has the munitions and the support that they need at a very perilous moment nds another top priority is trying to identify where all of the hostages are including and most importantly the american hostages, a profoundly serious a difficult undertaking. hamas is not stupid. they show that through the success of this attack. these hostages are almost certainly dispersed, almost in certainly -- so this is a moment in which very serious people are doing very serious things. it just stuns me, in a political body, like i am in right now, my republican colleagues would have the chutzpah to attack the president and the presidents people. and boy the recent brutal attacks against these people in that closed hearing today. at a time when they can't even elect a speaker so that the house of representatives can be functional. it just defies imagination. >> we talked about the republican behavior inside that meeting. there are multiple reports about republican derrick van orden from wisconsin acting belligerent and yelling at biden administrations in that meeting. can you a lob rate on that? >> i don't want to spend a lot of time. i told you the story at the first about how we can get more tactical gear to the israelis. but yes, representative van orden stood up and just absolutely obliterator did all of these people who had taken two hours, and by rights probably had slept in five days, and it was just, you know, look, i understand, people are people. you've got internal emotions. you have to find some place to vent those emotions. when we're in national crisis it's not the moment to take up very serious people's time with the venting of your own emotions. >> well, the strategy defies logic, if it is even a stat strategy. congressman jim himes, thank you for your time tonight. appreciated. that is our show for this evening. and now it is time for the last word, with lawrence o'donnell good evening, lawrence. >> our coverage continues. thank you very much. >> the united states of america has never had a jewish president. or a jewish vice president. no president or vice president has ever been married to a jew. until now. and so today, for the first time, in the 75-year partnership of the united states and israel, the