violence in israel showing absolutely no sign of slowing down. a day after five incidents involving palestinians trying to stab israelis. the violence coming despite new security measures, checkpoints, and troops in east jerusalem. dozens have died in the recent wave of violence gripping our closest middle eastern ally. president obama still calls the attacks random violence. joining me now to react congressman lee zeldon, the only jewish republican in congress. what is your reaction, good morning, to this state of violence and what we should be doing about it right now? well, it s saddening. a couple of months ago i was standing on the same exact streets where we re watching all of this violence today. israel is just trying to defend herself. you have innocent israelis being targeted by elements within the palestinian authority that will not rest until israel s wiped off the map. as far as america, we should be standing strong with our greatest ally. i mean
on that point, let s hear president obama, a news conference at the white house on friday. this kind of random violence isn t going to result in anything other than more hardship. and more insecurity. now, he says it s random violence. on social media, you see people suggesting here s how you stab israelis. here s how you do it. is that random? no, it s not random at all. it s deliberate. it might be a lone wolf attack. but at the lectern during prayer you have muslim leaders, palestinian authority leaders, that they re pushing it. you know, and i sat down with the prime minister of the palestinian authority and i was asking him about the influence of hamas in some of these terrorist groups, what are you going to do about it? and he starts talking about the need for democratic elections. and obviously it was a brief meeting to a visiting congressman, not when you re sitting down with hamas. think about, now let s talk about how the media has been covering this. you have a rep
people who pay close attention say isis is changing some of its tactics. when it comes to the message it wants to spread. less emphasis on brutality, more focus on governance. although the brutality part still seems pretty prevalent. but correspondent benjamin hall shows us how isis may be evolving. baking, farming and fishing, bustling markets and clean hospitals, beautiful landscapes, not things usually associated with isis. but they re now being used by the terrorist group to paint a very different picture of life inside the caliphate. a recent analysis by the quill am foundation of the staggering 9,000 pieces of propaganda that isis releases every month. shows how the majority of it concentrates on statehood, not violence. the fact that it s got an economy, the fact that it has
word obama would not use. he disgracefully called it, he called it random violence. as if what we re dealing here is the oregon shooter. this is a campaign to kill innocent jews wherever they are. so instead of calling it that, he has essentially said it s the equivalent on both sides cycle of violence. he said it s not going to create more stability or advance any causes. as if the reason to announce the stabbing of a 72-year-old woman on a bus or a 13-year-old boy on a bike, is because it s not going to advance your cause. the reason to denounce it is because it is evil, it is an abomination that s a violation of all civilized norms and obama speaks about it as if it s a traffic violation. and the secretary of state says well this has to do with settlements. which is completely false.
hardship. and more insecurity. the only way that israel is going to be truly secure, is the only way that the palestinians are going to be able to meet the aspirations of their people is if there are two states living side by side in peace and security. president obama on the situation in israel. specifically the escalation of violence there. as hamas called for a day of rage. and pretty much carried it out today. as that battle continue. we ll begin there with the president s comments, at a news conference. let s bring in our panel. steve hayes, senior writer for the weekly standard, and ann guerin, and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. i think if you look at what the president said on the israeli/palestinian issues and also on iran and russia, it was almost a picture of passivity. and the president didn t seem to be terribly engaged. i thought on the israeli question, he used euphemisms in