0 responsibility by hamas and islamic jihad and their military wings. it's difficult to ascertain which one of those organizations, if either one, actually did -- actually was involved but for their domestic political consumption they always try and claim responsibility for these types of attacks. there's no doubt, though, that it is going to be in the eyes of the factions here a welcome sign as has been he can pressed by the organization's spokespeople. it is an indication the violence only threatens to worsen if this truce in egypt is not reached. luke? >> and, ayman, we're learning of new details concerning a link between iran and certain types of missile systems within gaza. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, one of the things that has perplexed a lot of people, despite all the israeli attacks on gaza and hamas' infrastructure, hamas has been able to fire rockets reaching the outskirts of tel aviv and jerusalem. hamas has claimed it has developed a rocket it has called the five. according to the revolutionary guard officials that technology was given to hamas by iran so there is now a direct link at least coming out of iran that they provided the know-how to build these types of long-range missil missiles. no doubt they have enjoyed a tremendous amount of financial, political, and material support from iran over the years. in fact, the speaker of iran's parliament has also called on arab countries to do the same, providing military and political and financial support to hamas to carry on this fight. >> thank you so much for joining us. a direct link between iran and gaza. i'm sure we'll be hearing more from that. stay safe. clinton's shuttle diplomacy is a test for u.s. influence in the region and a shift to direct engagement in the conflict by an administration which for most of the time has kept the issue at arms length. kristen welker is live at the white house where the president returned from asia. good morning to you, kristen. what is the latest we're hearing from the white house? obviously we know they're condemning the attack on 0 the bus in tel aviv. what is their latest thinking in terms of what's happening on the ground in the middle east? >> reporter: good morning, luke. that explosion in israel could only be seen as a setback to this administration's efforts to try to help broker a ceasefire in the region. president obama sending secretary of state hillary clinton there to talk with leaders throughout the region. and really to try to add a sense of urgency and to nudge them towards a ceasefire, so this morning not only are they condemning the attack but this is clearly unwelcome news. jay carney released this statement earlier today saying these attacks against innocent israeli civilians are outrageous. the united states will stand with our israeli allies and p - provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack. the united states reaffirms our unshakable commitment to security and our deep friendship and solidarity with the israeli people. secretary of state clinton has met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu as well as a leader of the palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas. she is sending a strong message that they should be de-escalating the violence and also the united states' commitment to israel. there is also a hope that her mere presence there, luke, will dissuade israelis from launching a ground attack. so i think that certainly this explosion is being seen as a setback as secretary of state hillary clinton prepares to meet with egypt's president, mohamed morsi. luke? >> kristen, the president does have a public event today. we're not sure if he'll comment directly about what's going on in the middle east but it's the annual turkey pardon at the white house. some turkeys are going to be saved by president obama's pen today? >> reporter: that's right. this is a thanksgiving tradition here at the white house. on a much lighter note. two turkeys, two very lucky birds, gobbler and cobbler will be pardoned today at the white house. they were raised by craig and nancy miller on their farm in rockingham county, virginia. the two birds right now, luke, are apparently staying at the "w" hotel. not too bad. after they are pardoned today they will head to george washington's mt. vernon estate and garden. pretty nice life. this is a tradition that initially it was thought dated back to harry truman back in 1947. now, according to our nbc political team, truman did receive a bird but we think he may have eaten that turkey. we think that j fk was actually the first president to actually pardon a turkey back in 1963. luke? >> well, and i know of many turkeys who get bottle service at the "w" so it's an appropriate place. thank you for joining us. for 33 years republican presidential contenders have flocked to ames, iowa, to eat food on a stick and participate in a campaign ritual, the iowa straw poll. but now the state's republican governor says the tradition has outlived its usefulness. just as a whole crop of 2016 wannabes are making their presidential ambitions known. nbc's deputy political editor dominick montenaro. the turkey pardon, jfk was the first president to save the birds, correct? >> well, he's the first one to pardon a thanksgiving turkey. lincoln is actually the first one to pardon a turkey in general. and that was a christmas turkey given to him to be eaten but his son took a liking to it, so they decided to keep him around. >> look at that. another abe lincoln story. abe lincoln is so hot right now in the news. let's talk a little bit about 2016. which we are all gearing towards now. iowa governor terry branstad said i think the straw poll has outlived its usefulness. i think it's days are over. that angered the republican chairman a.j. spiker who said governor branstad is wrong. this is not a decision he will make anyway. it is a decision the party and the candidates will make. let's talk about this. obviously the last person to win the iowa straw poll was michele bachmann. >> it has not been a good indicator of success. will it really be gone or is it something that's just -- no matter what technology we have with twitter and facebook and everything else, it's so part of tradition. >> i found it surprising about terry branstad's comments. this is a fund-raiser for the state party. so that's why the state party chairman is so annoyed by this. one point about the history of the straw poll, it's the first organizational test and it's also something that we candidates, think tim pawlenty, he dropped out after that because he had made such a big deal of it. if the candidates want to participate, then they will. the other historical point on this is that it's not a great predictor of who wins the caucuses but, until last time around where michele bachmann and ron paul finished first and second, it had been the case that since 1980 when they started this, that the top two, one of the top two finishers, did go on to win the straw poll, so it was a bit of an indicator, although the top person didn't necessarily go through. >> to some degree almost a microcosm of this fight within the gop between the establishment and the grassroots, sort of the establishment saying these things aren't going to work because the grassroots can manipulate them to their benefit. let's talk about who seems to be throwing their hat in there. some interesting comments from jeb bush jr., the son of jeb bush, former governor of florida, and rand paul. let's play this and we'll get you on the other side. >> your dad going to run for president? >> i don't know. no comment. i certainly hope so, but -- >> which is it? >> i don't know or no comment. >> i hope so. >> is there going be to be another paul for president campaign? is. >> that's classified. i can't tell you that. you don't have clearance to hear that. i want to be part of the national debate. i think it's a little too soon to talk about who is going to run and who is not going to run. to tell you the truth, i don't know what will come. am i interested in thinking about that? yes. >> talk about a soul for the fight for the gop, rand paul versus jeb bush not to mention others trying to get in but we're starting to see two very different wings of the gop staking out ground. >> and i would say three, marco rubio out there, jeb bush who swatted down marco rubio's comments about the age of the earth, not knowing how old it was. and rand paul, he's running. let's just put it out there right now. the fact is when ron paul retired, the are torch of liberty was going to be passed to rand. everybody in iowa knows that he's going to be running. >> our political junkies are thankful of the jeb bush versus marco rubio. it's only 2012. >> hopefully a little time off. >> happy thanksgiving. thanks for joining us. lawmakers are home for the holidays but that's not stopping the benghazi blame game. democratic congresswoman karen bass joins us next plus on the road again. you're looking at live pictures here of i-4 in orlando, the home of chuck todd. that critical corridor we talked so much about during the election. cars are moving pretty well there right now, pu how bad will the traffic trouble be for millions of holiday travelers? we'll show you where the worst part of it is. look ahead at the president's schedule. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late.