People elected joe biden president. Or, you know, they can all elect Hakeem Jeffries to be speaker of the house, he got 216 votes there. Claire mccaskill, thank you as always for your wisdom and thoughts tonight. I appreciate it, my friend. You bet, alex. That is our show for tonight, now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening,. Lawrence. Good evening, alex. I think Hakeem Jeffries may be on his way for setting the record for getting the most votes for speaker, more than anyone else who hasnt been elected speaker. Its unbelievable to see those vote totals when Hakeem Jeffries is the leader on the board. Shocking. Its a sign of the times, lawrence. Well see what the board says tomorrow. Thanks, alex. Have a good show. Thank you. Air force one was wheels up at Andrews Air Force base at 5 52 pm. President biden is now four hours into the ten hour flight to israel, where Air Force One is expected to land about about 11 am local time in israel. A little over an hour into the flight, at 709 pm, the white house issued this statement from President Biden on Air Force One. I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the al ahli Arab Hospital in gaza. And the terrible loss of life that resulted. And immediately upon hearing this news, i spoke with King Abdullah of jordan, and Prime Minister netanyahu of israel, and have directed by National Security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened. The United States stands on unequivocaly for the otection of civilian life during conflict, and we mourn e patients, medical staff, and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy. The New York Times reports, Gazan Health Authorities said hundreds of people were killed in a blast on tuesday, at a hospital in gaza city. Where thousands of civilians had been sheltering, an overwhelming loss of civilian life that immediately inflamed the region, the authorities blamed an israeli airstrike, but the assertion was disputed by the Israel Defense forces, which blamed an errant rocket fired by an arm armed palestinian faction. After a two hour review, the Israeli Military said that the blast was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian Islamic jihad. An armed group in gaza that participated in the Terrorist Attacks on israel on october 7th that killed at least 1400 people. The group later denied responsibility, and an Israeli Government account deleted video that it had posted as evidence of the militarys claim. In the past, rockets fired by Palestinian Armed groups, including Islamic Jihad, have occasionally malfunctioned and hit civilian neighborhoods. Before Air Force One took off, President Biden already knew that the tragedy at the hospital had already affected his trip. After meetings in israel, President Biden had been scheduled to fly to jordan, but his scheduled meeting in jordan with King Abdullah, egyptian president sisi, and the president of the palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, had been canceled. Mahmoud abbas announced a three day mourning period for the deaths at the hospital, then the white house released this statement. After consulting with King Abdullah ojordan, and in light of the days of mourning announced by president Mahmoud Abbas of the palestinian authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to jordan, and a planned meeting of these two leaders and president sisi of egypt. The presintent his deepest condolences r the innocent lives lost in the Hospital Explosion in gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounde he looks fward to consulting inperson with these leaders soon. And agreed to remain regularly and directly engaged with each of them over the coming days. Joining us now, from israel, is nbc news correspondent ellison barber. Ellison, when President Biden lands, we would be likely that the israelis will be able to show him a full explanation of what they believe happened at the hospital . That is what we expect to happen. There was a briefing a couple of hours ago with the spokesperson for israels defense forces. He said that they have acquired evidence, evidence that he described as various pieces of footage, some that they have publicly released. He also said they have some sort of Audio Recordings that their intelligence operations have collected, that they say will show Islamic Jihad members talking about this. They say it will prove that they were the ones that were firing a rocket. Or rockets towards the direction of israel. And that theyve been misfired and struck this hospital. They say that all of that evidence will be presented to President Biden in a briefing when he arrived here in israel. He laid out so where well, lawrence, the different accounts that we are getting right now from hamas to gazas ministry of health, to the idf, to Islamic Jihad. Everyone saying something different, a little bit at this point, israel blaming Islamic Jihad, saying that they are responsible for this. Islamic jihad, hamas, gazas ministry of health, saying this was the result of an israeli airstrike. Nbc news has not independently been able to figure out exactly what happened here, or who is responsible for this. What we do know, we have been able to report, is that a lot of innocent civilians have died as a result of this. I received a statement a few hours ago from a doctor who is working inside of another hospital in gaza city, where they are now treating a lot of the victims. The al ahli from the al ahli hospital, and they are seeing many women, many children. And that a lot of the victims, those who are injured, and also those who have died, were people who had gone to this hospital to seek shelter. They thought it was going to be a safe place, and it was anything but that. He said their hospital is already overwhelmed, and has been overwhelmed for days. With patience, with people needing help, they said right now they cannot keep up with it. He expressed just of her dismay as what has happened, here inside of gaza right now, they feel like absolutely nowhere is safe. We are on the border of israel and gaza. And we have seen, in the last couple of hours, and i think you can be seeing some might be seeing a little bit of this behind me just now, flashes of lights. Of strikes happening still inside of gaza at this hour. We can hear an Israeli Military helicopter overhead. We havent heard massive amount of Artillery Bombardment of anything at all tonight. But there is so many questions about what happened inside of gaza at that hospital. Israel is adamantly denying that they did this. But a lot of people inside of gaza, from hamas to Islamic Jihad, to gazas ministry of health, to other arab countries and arab leaders outside of gaza, they are pointing the finger at is israel. Hezbollah, in lebanon, they have called for tomorrow your time, today our time, wednesday, to be a day of rage. They have called on muslims and arabs Around The World to take to the streets, to squares, to protest their anger and frustration at what happened at this hospital inside of gaza city. Lawrence . The change in the president s schedule tomorrow, obviously, allows him more time in israel, since he wont be going off to jordan. And more time to concentrate on the israeli next steps. Is that something that the Israeli Government is ready for . Is to actually spend more time on this with President Biden tomorrow . They certainly could be. They havent publicly commented on that, or given any sort of indication in terms of how long this meeting will take place. Secretary of state, antony blinken, met with Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, the war cabinet with other israeli officials for hours. Upwards of eight hours just the other day. When he was here. So, it certainly could be a long visit. I think that is something israeli officials would welcome with the United States planning what Secret Service will be comfortable with, we do not know. Ill remind you, President Biden did visit a war zone in february. He went to kyiv, ukraine. He spent about 24 hours on the ground in kyiv. I reported from ukraine, i have reported extensively inside of ukraine, covering that war. The situation there, when youre in a place like kyiv is very different than the situation here. Youre talking about a much larger area of land in ukraine, where when rockets were launched, they were coming from the sea, they were coming from inside russian territory, and there was a longer window, with an Air Raid Sirens sounding inside of kyiv, to signal shelter. Thats not the case in israel. Were talking about a much smaller area of land. When a raid sirens sound, in even in tel aviv, its not as big of a gap to get this to safety. A quicker rush to shelter. That certainly will be something that Secret Service and bidens team is considering, as he is here on the ground. It is more tense. Theres the possibility for things to change much more quickly than what was true when he visited kyiv back in february. Lawrence . Ellison barber, thank you for that report from israel. Joining our discussion now, richard stengle. The former undersecretary of rick, lets listen to what john kirby, National SecurityCouncil Spokesman said on Air Force One tonight. When he talks to Prime Minister netanyahu into the war cabinet, hes gonna be doing a few things. One, hes gonna get a sense from the israelis about the situation on the ground, and more critically, their objectives, their plans, their intentions in the days and weeks ahead. Hell be asking some tough questions, ill be asking them as a friend. As a true friend of israel, but he will be asking some questions of them. Rick, you have been in that situation as an under secretary of state. Where you have to ask the tough questions and ask them of a friend. What would be the tough questions that President Biden will be presenting tomorrow . I think john mentioned some of them. Whats the endgame in gaza . If you do get rid of hamas as the leader of gaza, who replaces them . What are your plans for the west bank . What are your plans for the nations that you had normalized relationships with, who are now probably more estranged. Lots and lots of questions. And as john kirby said, thats the questions that a friend, that an ironclad ally, as tony blinken said, can ask. Very few president ial trips have been put together as fast as this one. You know, Bibi Netanyahu said, in effect, please come to israel. Probably not expecting a very Fast Response from the president on that. Probably expecting, in a few weeks. President biden said so that trip as fast as possible. Basically, on the way to the airplane, the president finds the summit with the other leaders is canceled. Thats off. Because of this explosion at the hospital, first of all, he finds out of the explosion at the hospital. And is wondering how is this gonna affect it. He finds out pretty soon how this is going to affect it. Talk about this kind of trip. State department organization, everyone in organizing this. National Security Officials organizing the trip. And as you minute by minute, the way it can change, with this unfolding in formation. Yes, as you know, lawrence, President Biden expressed his grief and sadness about what happened at the hospital. Obviously, that changes the calculus of the trip. One of the things that was special about this trip was the fact that he was going to go to jordan and meet with King Abdullah, to meet with Mahmoud Abbas about the palestinian authority. To meet with president sisi of egypt. Part of what President Biden can do, and hes a great believer in personal diplomacy, is that hes hoping to quell some of the rage in the region. To speak with some moderation, among israelis allies. And i think the other thing he wants to do, which john kirby has said, and which are the people at the nsc has said, he wants to talk about restraint, about being careful about civilian casualties. Thats also something a friend can do. Well, after this event, that is an unavoidable discussion. Its a discussion that israel has to be even more welcoming to, after this event today. Yes. Again, that isnt to say that israel is to blame for this at all. But it is a matter of perception that they have to be very much concerned about. Yes, any loss of civilian life is tragic. No matter what israel says about this, the arab street will probably not believe it. So, he is there to talk to netanyahu about how he sees the future. About being more restrained. One of the Unintended Consequences is that if there is going to be a ground invasion, its not going to happen while President Biden is there. Thats a change. Yeah, so, a minimum, some level of delay in President Biden making this trip. It pushes off whatever the schedule might have been on any kind of ground invasion. We are so used to, after these high tech wars that weve been seeing, beginning with the first pushback of Saddam Hussein by American Forces in kuwait, were so accustomed to being able to see video of the smart missiles going right down into their target, exactly where theyre going. Weve seen some of that kind of video already. This week. Is it likely that, if israel is responsible for what happened at the hospital, that they would be in possession of actual video that shows one of their missiles going in there, even if unintentionally. Yes, thats certainly possible. Again, those videos always give the sense of, and sometimes the illusion of, accuracy, that doesnt exist. Were also living in the realm of, and ive read a lot about, this the realm of disinformation in deepfakes. That weve already seen so much disinformation on the web. On social media platforms. From all sides here. You know, we may never know the true answer. As we go forward, the president has said he wants to have this meeting in person. That was canceled. So, we could see him possibly back in the region next week. Its just hard to say. What is travel schedules gonna be. Yeah, he wants to both show the nature of the friendship and support that we have for israel, but he wants to show world leadership, he wants to show leadership in israel. Remember, a recent poll in israel show that two thirds of israelis would replace Benjamin Netanyahu with anyone else. Half of israel watched the speech that biden gave the other day. Hes there in some ways as part as a Leadership Figure for the people of israel. They trust america, they trust him. And he will, presumably, to see whoever succeeds Bibi Netanyahu to be the Prime Minister of israel. There are indications of more public support for joe biden in israel then netanyahu and in israel as of tonight. Absolutely. President biden is the much more popular leader in israel than Benjamin Netanyahu. Richard stengel Kamala HarrisKamala Harris 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. 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