Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Cavuto 20240703

Politicized. At least thats the initial indication. You just talked to congressman hearn, i do think its interesting hes not in the speakers race, but hes talking about iran specifically and all of the funding that that biden has approved and authorized as we talk about the 6 billion. Thats saying publicly that the islamic public that supports what he calls the alaqsa storm. These are very public statements from iran that is that is going to stir the whole thing that youre talking about even further. Im wondering youve been very patient, but concerning when you sat Down With Bin Salman that this interview and the overtures that he was making to israel or at least, as it emerges as is very different kingdom, that that triggered iran, and that triggered maybe the forces at play and maybe the attack on israel today and certainly triggered hamas and very soon reports that hezbollah will join them, that that was meant and that this attack was meant to stop all that. Well, you know, its an interesting thought. Ive said ive talked to a number of people who look at operations and believe that this has been planned for quite some time, long before mbss statement to me. I do think that those statements did open some eyes. Remember, saudi arabia normalized relations with iran before even talking openly about normalizing being close to normalizing relations with israel. Iran publicized that if normalization happened with saudi, that they would be a real problem. This operation seems like it goes back a ways, and again, seems like its tied to funding from iran because hamas doesnt operate without that funding. Look for hezbollah to stir things up, you know, in the north again. I think that youre in the middle here of something that is much broader and its going to affect the entire face of The Middle East. Neil its looking, right now that that might end up being an understatement, bret. But startling developments. Thanks for taking the time to join us. Bret baier on all of this, were again to bring us uptodate as we start our second hour, a little late here, hundreds are estimated dead across the gaza right now. We are reporting that militants are claiming that Israeli Soldiers are among those who have been captured. The Secretary Of State Antony Blinken joined pretty much a chorus of american officials condemning the attacks, including President Biden who emphasized u. S. Support for israel in a call with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This continues ongoing escalation of conflicts between just hamas and israel. This is the third one in almost as many years. Trey yingst with the latest now from israel. Trey. Yeah, neil, as this ground and Air Operation continues, i want to show you the scene behind me. Israel bringing in serious reinforcements right now. Jeep after jeep filled with soldiers who have their weapons raised understanding that the following days are likely to be very difficult. You can see a few civilian cars going the other direction. Theyve been able to take some of the territory back from hamas militants and we are learning from israeli media that four Palestinian Militants were just killed in an operation to rescue some hostages in a village near the gaza border. That operation was successful, but many others are ongoing. A Military Spokesperson from israel telling fox news at this hour, that his troops are currently engaged in fire fights at 22 different locations along the gaza strip. Remember, this attack began at 6 30 a. M. Local time and it is now past 6 00 p. M. In the distance, some explosions. Theres been mortar fire along the border and israel trying to get a firm assessment exactly what has taken place and where to put the preserve troops in order to rescue the israeli hostages hey long the border and trying to come up with some plan of action to address what is taking place up in the distance. Im going to have my Cameraman Pan up here. A small cloud of smoke, likely an interception, likely off the Israel Defense system the iron dome. Back here, its tense. Soldiers are being evacuated as you saw when we spoke earlier, neil. Its a constant flow of sending units in, trying to engage the Palestinian Militants from hamas and Islamic Jihad as israelis count a rising death toll here in the central part of the country. Neil i think, trey, youve expressed eloquently and gracefully on the gruesome attacks from hamas on families, whole families. Theyre going for the shock effect here and now israel is in the. Take that lightly, these are not militants firing on soldiers as we saw recently in the west bank, with elite israeli unit. These were Palestinian Militants armed with grenades and other weapons going into peoples homes as they rested, as children slept in their beds and they slaughtered these people. And those that they didnt kill, they took hostage and those that were not taken hostage became Prisoners Of War and its also notable the amount of israeli equipment that was taken into the gaza strip. Tanks and Armored Vehicles and weaponry taken from bases here along the border. The explosion there, more rocket fire coming into the southern part of israel. But there are Israeli Soldiers inside gaza right now that are alive. There are Israeli Soldiers that have been killed and their bodies a number of those along the border that we have seen. And this location it is chaos here and really, truly, Hell On Earth for the israeli people. This is a day that so many hoped would never come, neil. Neil all right. Thank you for that, trey. Just updating you on what is going on as we speak, and trey touched on it, hamas fighters are still engaged in their battles going on in no fewer than 25 locations in israel. So this is ongoing. This is coming from the groups armed, weighing, updating reporters on that. We dont know how many were involved in this attack either, we just know it was multipronged and one thing were discovering, even with the technological marvel, a dome to prevent Missile Attacks, they didnt provide adequate defenses against those coming in on paragliders or soldiers on the ground who sneak in at various Security Points and apparently a complete surprise to authorities on the scene to soldiers, still trying to make up for all of this. Lucas tomlinson at the white house with the fallout there and what the white house is now saying and planning to do. Lucas. Neil, Officials Say its the largest attack on israel in a half century and remember yom kippur was launched at golan and sinai, not Israel Proper, where were seeing them infiltrate today in small villages and settlements. Moments ago, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said he spoke to President Biden and in a statement said, u. S. President joe biden called president Benjamin Netanyahu and announced that the u. S. Stands alongside israel and supports israels rights to selfdefense and president netanyahu thanked President Biden for the unreserved support and made it clear that a forceful prolonged campaign, which israel will win, is necessary. Now, like yom kippur 50 years ago, neil, todays attack was launched not only on their sunday, but also on a jewish holiday with the cycle of tora readings. There is terrorist against civilians and civilians communities, theres never any justification for terrorism. We stand in solidarity with the people of israel and extend our condolences. And the United States supports israels right to defend itself. Just in the last hour speaking to you, neil, mark esper gave these candid remarks. It was a surprise, caught the israelis completely off guard and you cant say anything, but it was an Intelligence Failure. Were dealing with a tactical situation on the ground, which is terrible and tragic for both Israeli Citizens and the Israeli Military. Congressman mike wall is taking to twitter, this is 100 iran calling the shots, and no question in ukraine, were having an impact on social media, reported a hamas drone destroying an israel tank and dropping it down on the soft part of the tank, the turret, destroying the tank. Neil we talk about the administrations response and in this case, support israel and all that. Are they concerned about how strongly saudi arabia is responding, and essentially putting the blame they might be talking, and the blaming on israel, pretty much the same response, youve gotten from a number of other socalled moderate arab players. Does that give them some pause . Of course, the backdrop of this and our own bret baier we heard from your program just traveled to the saudi kingdom and interviewed mbs, mohammed bin salman, and one day will rule it proper because his father is aging and theres no question that theres a lot of negotiations here at the white house with riyadh trying for a peace deal between israel. And lets talk about the chaos not just on capitol hill, but also in israel. For weeks we saw trey yingst speaking at massive protests that were taking part in israel over, you know, many people in israel angered over netanyahus moves on the israeli judiciary. Theres no question we heard from Defense Secretary former secretary esper, he called it a massive Intelligence Failure similar to the yom kippur 50 years ago, and golan. And these went into Israel Proper. Neil you know, lucas, the administration is warning any other party hostile to israel seeking to take advantage of the situation, obviously, hezbollah comes to mind, but there are a host of nefarious players in that region of the world that could. Im wondering what weight that holds . Well, theres no question right now, neil, that the u. S. Navy will be on full alert in the persian gulf, and the u. S. At bataan, talking about potential shutdown on american troops. We saw bataan and the u. S. Navy 5th flight accusing Iranian Forces of signing at a helicopter. And a ship loaded with thousands of marines and hueys, fighters and the vipers Attack Helicopters. The u. S. Has presence. And in addition to the iron dome you have the in qatar, the United Arab Emirates and scattered throughout The Middle East for defense. And Jennifer Griffin reminded moments ago, is now in charge of air space over israel as well. Israel controls their own air space of course, but you know what i mean. Israel is part of the part of the portfolio. So no questions u. S. Forces are on alert to make sure this doesnt escalate further and Iranian Proxy Forces and sharing the intelligence. You have Satellite Reconnaissance birds up in the air all the time and no question that those photos will be exchanged. Neil all right, lucas, thank you very much. Lucas tomlinson on this and were hearing from Benjamin Netanyahu this is war. His defense minister didnt say anything different, that hamas started a war that israel will win. And jack kane, keane, general, this escalates at a minimum. What do you see . Yeah, well, i think netanyahu is certainly using the term war because he wants to clearly make sure his people understand that what is the difference here and the shear scale of this. With 2200 rockets and missiles fired in such a short period of time, the preparation for that, likely took weeks and months with additional launchers stockpiling the rockets and missiles and then to conduct a multifront Ground Attack, assigning tactical objectives to the militia to seize certain border towns and kill as many people inside the border towns as possible and then to attempt to hold those border towns against the counterattack, thats very different than anything that weve seen before and likely, in my judgment, strategically, the iranians are behind this. I think this is about sabotaging the normalization of relationships with saudi arabia and israel. Something that iran has taken strong objection to, with the other arab states that have done much the same thing. Remember, the reason why the arab states are coming together with israel it twofold. One is for security and stability to counter the iranian threat in the region and second for their own prosperity to be aligned with technological innovator that israel is. And iran sees that clearly as a threat here. And you know, so our Viewing Audience understands. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, these are the two Terrorist Organizations that live right inside of israel. In this case most in gaza and some on the west bank. Theyre never recognized israel, but their purpose is to destroy the state of israel. Thats their stated objective. They have no interest in any kind of Peace Agreement or twostate solution. And thats why theyre a proxy in the iranian government to execute this administration. And that has to be accepted by the administration to tie the link to iran in doing this. Doesnt that bring into question why we would ever give them 6 billion under any conditions to be able to help themselves provide the missiles and the rockets to hamas and the Islamic Jihad is using. Theyre all from iran or they give them the parts to be able to assembly them themselves. Hezbollah, hezbollah has over 100,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal. And yes, thats a concern that we have, expansion. Will hezbollah get involved in this and will Islamic Jihad and hamas, thats in the west bank, also get involved in it so that theres actually a threefront attack on israel coming from the west bank, coming from the north, and also coming from the southeast where hamas is in residence in gaza. Neil general, we dont know the details yet, but we know that hamas was able to pull this off in complete surprise and im thinking israel has maintained a black cade blockade since hamas took over the territory in 2007. Since that time there have been foreign incursions, some would say four outright wars. How is that possible or get to iran or other places to get around blockades to get around resistance, what . Well, theyre masters at doing that and certainly israel tries to stop it by land and also tries to stop it by sea and certainly by air, which is a lot easier to do, but theyve always been able to penetrate to a certain degree. Thats the reality of what were dealing with here. Israel has been surprised by rocket and Missile Attacks in the past and theyve just never been on this scale and secondly, the multifront Ground Attack to actually seize and hold border towns, the preparations for Something Like that, the positioning of troops. You have to move equipment. That has to be seen by satellites and other intelligence vehicles and also, the israelis have a very sophisticated Signals Intelligence where theyre monitoring phone conversations, Radio Communications and the like. Theyll do an autopsy on this and figure out why they didnt have some kind of Early Warning that Something Like this was take dd is taking place. But the reality is, that this is very different from what weve seen before. Were concerned, number one, about expansion here and certainly, the support that israel should get internationally here should be unequivocal. So our audience understands, since 1948 and all the wars that israel has fought. Theyve never asked the United States to come to assistance with the troops. Thats a fact and this is something they always felt. This is their fight, and this is the survival of the jewish state and theyre going to take care of it themselves. If they need some special equipment, certainly, we would provide it and weve always provided with intelligence, we have a very, very close relationship with them on intelligence, on the proxy, on iran, on the radical islamist terrorists in the region, et cetera. Theyre never ever going to ask for troops and theyre not going to here, but they should get our full moral support and condemnation of what is taking place here. Hamas is doing what they always do, making war on innocent people, an act of war for sure and using Military Equipment to execute this attack. Neil general, i know its a very different world than it was 50 years ago this is coming to us live, general, an attack on gaza city, ill stop talking and see what we can get. [inaudible conversations] all right, we are watching the after of a Missile Attack in gaza city. Were not sure if its a response on the part of the israelis on the attack this morning or a followup hamas attack. Well be interviewing trey yingst soon. To your point, general, it serves to a point i was trying to make, that we see what we saw 50 years ago, this unites the arab world in a way, of course, very different times, that they would eventually target the United States for supporting israel back then, and back then it was an oil embargo. Different times, i grant you, but do you worry about that . Yeah, well, i think the theres been a growing frustration among the arabs with the palestinians themselves, the political arm of the palestinians. The palestinian liberation authority, mahmoud abbas. And thats one of the reasons why one of the arab nations with israel without any palestinian concessions being made. And the reason for that is because all of the Peace Agreements that israel has tried to get involved with, the palestinian liberation movement, they have just rejected them completely time and time again. The arabs have been very frustrated by it. Theyre never going to abandon the palestinians, im not making that point, neil, but theyre exasperated and they realize that the major problem they have in The Middle East is not the palestinian issue, which it used to be decades ago. The major problem in The Middle East is iran and its aggressiveness and thats why they have been willing to normalize relations with israel to counter that aggressiveness. Its not that they abandoned the palestinian issue, they have not, but its not top of mind and its not the key strategic issue any longer. Youre right, this will certainly bring together the arab world as a result of this. The pattern well see unfold here, very aggressive attack by hamas, this one likely killing more israelis than we have ever seen in this kind of an attack before. Very strong response from the idf, the israelis military arm. Some civilians will be killed in that. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad will exaggerate the number of civilians being killed. Eventually condemnation of the israelis attacks and calls for ceasefire because of the civilians that are being killed. That is the pattern that this takes and sometimes, even the United States will be making phone calls to the israelis asking them to stand down their military operations because of the pattern thats unfolding in front of them. The reality is, and to for our viewers once again to appreciate this because weve talked about it in the past and just reminding you, that hamas and Islamic Jihad hides much of what theyre doing, military storage, missiles, warehouses, launchers, they do that around known and prominent civilian sites, underneath those sites and they do that because they want protection for them from the israelis, given the fact they know the israelis will do everything they can to avoid killing civilians, but in a Community Like gaza where the civilians are living on top of one another and the hamas and the Military Machine is right in the middle of all of that, its unavoidable that, for civilians not to be killed. Its just an unfortunate thing thats going to take place here. And hamas knows that and welcomes it because they get sympathy and empathy as a result of that. Donor money as a result of that, and also at some point, condemnation of israel as a result of it. Neil all right, general. Thank you very much. For those of you wondering what youre looking at here. These are images of gaza city, technically, its a palestinian city in the gaza strip about 600,000 people live there and we cant discern this Missile Attack exploded just about five minutes ago, from the israelis responding or something a weapon that hamas has to do and to orchestrate part of this surprise attack. Theres just no way of knowing. Trey yingst right now in Southern Israel with the latest. Do we know anything about this particular attack line, trey . Yeah, neil, we do. The israelis routinely will conduct what is called a Roof Knock Strike in order to notify civilians in a Building Inside Gaza that they plan to level the building. And thats exactly whats taken place in gaza city just a few moments ago. The Palestinian Health Ministry Says hundreds of people are dead inside gaza, many of them militants. But the question now is whether or not this is the beginning of the israeli response or just sort of testing the water here to see what sort of rocket fire will come from gaza. Routinely, just to give you a breakdown of the targets that they will hit, the israelis will use fighter jets and Attack Helicopters along the border to try and hit different hamas posts and positions in order to stop rocket fire from coming into southern and Central Israel. Those are normally the initial targets. Theyll try to hit squads that have antitank missiles used and sometimes fired towards the communities along the border and then they will escalate to start hitting larger buildings, really, to send a shock and awe message about what has taken place. So it appears that israel has started that process. Well see if they follow up with a larger strike. Right now, you can start to see people here that are coming from the gaza border. Im going to have my cameraman just push in here. You can see people carrying suitcases. These are the first civilians that have been freed from these villages. They likely spent days in shelters, i just want to give you a moment to look at this and embrace here. People are reuniting with their Family Members not knowing for hours if they had survived. So, thats whats taking place here along the border, but again, neil, israel is preparing their larger response against factions inside gaza, largely the rocket fire has subsided for now, but thats often the case because the militant groups like hamas and and before they are in the country. Neil thank you, stay say, trey. Were learning from the Israeli Military chief theyre calling up as many Reserve Forces as they can, even hundreds of thousands if needed. And the reaction to the former ambassador to israel. Ambassador, obviously, a lot of surprises today, including what could come next and that this could spread. What do you think . Well, neil, this is a major strategic setback for israel policy of deterrents against hamas in the gaza strip. And give a situation in gaza, its unstable stability, thats been the policy, going in, going out, as your interviewers have mentioned in the past many years, intermittent outbreaks of war and incidents, but this is of a differentdy tension, what were witnessing today and its a critical i think its a critical crossroads that israel is going to have to really analyze what went wrong here. The this comes at a time when the israel body politics with opposition to the right Wing Coalition government of Bebe Netanyahu and i was struck by the Prime Ministers first statement he made to his cabinet, he called on all israelis to unite because we are in war. Israels, of course, always unite when theyre faced with an external threat and i think that the Prime Minister netanyahu making the point that isr israel, israelis must unite, theres a weakness in the system that needs to be addressed. Neil not the least of which how this ended up happening in the first place, right, to your point, ambassador that sometimes security falls apart and Early Warnings and signs are not seen or adhered to. That appears to be the case here. This is a total surprise. Hamas pulled it off with a response with paragliders and the rest and there are at least two dozen different locations across Southern Israel and im wondering now, obviously, there might be a rally around the leader, rally around the country, i get that. A lot of people wonder, Prime Minister, how did this happen . How did we let this happen . And it might get a response to no overtures. Dont do anything with hamas, and dont make any agreements with the palestinians. Could it lead to a much sharper response . We dont want this to happen again and we hold it on you, Prime Minister, that it did. Yes, neil, i think theres a real possibility that is very, very serious, at Israel Proper and israel citizens and the kidnapping of individuals and soldiers is to go to have a, i would say a polarizing effect in terms of this is war. And the situation is grave and that its not going to be a time for diplomacy, its going to be a time for retaliation and escalation and that that unfortunately, a lot of people are going to lose their lives and be displaced. But the this attack had to be coordinated in a on the part of hamas for a while. This is not something that was stitched together just yesterday. Its a deliberate its a deliberate move on the part of hamas to change the Political Landscape and to make their point that fundamentally they are opposed to israels policies and theyre going to resort to harmed conflict. How this affects the palestinians in the west bank is another serious issue that has to be addressed and how it affects, as your previous interviewer, you discussed with him, the rest of the arab world needs to be addressed. Neil ambassador, i just want to pick your brain on one item thats come up. The approachment, if you want to call it back, of saudi arabia and israel, seems to be frozen in place for the time being or maybe quite a while. Does that worry you . Well, i think it is theres a lot of talk about how far israelisaudi talks have progressed. Theres a lot of ambiguity and confusion taking place and we really dont know, but fundamentally, i think the people are making the connection between the reported israelisaudi reproachment and the attack to dislodge that movement. I am not sure thats the course on the part of hamas, but fundamentally, but there have been explosive incidents in jerusalem where Israeli Settlers entered the alaqsa mosque and hamas usually reacted to incidents in jerusalem before the as a reason for their armed attacks. I think there are a lot of factors. The situation is very fluid, both condition israel, within the arab world and certainly hamas as a militant Armed Terrorist Organization has taken the lead and is changing the Political Landscape overnight. Neil ambassador, thank you so much, we appreciate it on a fairly tragic day to put it mildly and one that seems to get even more so to that point, were hearing on the wires from secretary gutierrez, secretary to the united nations, condemned hamas for these attacks saying that peace loving individuals stand by, you know, this not escalating, im paraphrasing here because i lost my notes. The gist was he hoped other foreign players wouldnt come into this and add to the angst and the anxiety here. There are already calls for the Security Council to meet next week and a head of the council, brazil, recommended that and in so doing made it clear, it was taking the side of israel on this, and hamas must stop this and must not spread and thats the hope. And Lieutenant General kellogg, what he thinks happens now. He joins us on the phone. What do you think . Hi, neil, thanks for having me. First to be very clear, this was an unprovoked attack on shabbat, on israeli holy day like our sunday. Make no mistake, neil, this was a coordinated attack, well coordinated, and you can see the use of drones, and you can see the attack in the armed vehicles and i think what they really need right now, they need israelis. They can handle things militarily like General Keane said, and that the world needs to say to the israelis, were behind you and whatever actions you take, it was unprovoked attack on civilians. And france has come doubt, zelenskyy has come out and our president need to come out and say were with you, and we understand its a difficult situation, but you respond. My concern, this is not a near term thing, meaning its not a pinprick. This is going to evolve to a much larger, potentially a larger war and this is where netanyahus going to have to make some hard decisions and the hard decisions are, what do you do Going Forward . Understand that hezbollah doesnt work coming out of lebanon sn is going to and we are going to have to bring this to a conclusion from a Military State and if that means going after the Senior Leadership theyre doing. And at the same time theyre trying to normalize with saudi arabia, theyve start today do that and done the work through the Abraham Accords and this complicates everything, but this is done not only on a holy day, but on the 50th Anniversary of Yom Kippur War. So, make no mistake, this was a deliberate attack that was done with provocation and deliberate thought behind. It. The israelis are going to have to make some hard calls and extend to the fight and probably get larger before it gets smaller. Neil you mentioned the 50th Anniversary, as have i, obviously those who wish others ill, season this. And also the assassination of anwar sadat. And with those talking peace and israel, and those instances doesnt go well. And a very different situation on the part of attack on egypt and israel 50 years ago and it did lead to an a chain of events that united the arab world, what that was of that world at the time, to target the United States for its support of, and for israel. All of them embargoing oil in the United States and those who remember, and i know its different today, and i put that in some perspective here, what do you think . I understand. That was primarily like a military ora operation. What youre seeing on television today that trey is covering so well in israel, this is an unprovoked attack on civilians. Pictures that are coming across are horrific. This would be a lot different from a military perspective, if its force on force with military. But theyre terrorizing civilians and that to me crosses a line. I dont care if its syria using nerve gas on civilians, or people going in and shooting families which youve seen on television this morning. And this is an unprovoked attack. You have to think of it like a 9 11, an unprovoked attack on a World Trade Center and the pentagon and taking down the aircraft. You have to look at it that way and so netanyahu has to look at it that way and so the question you have to ask yourself what kind of escalation is it going to take and to me, the reason i talk about super escalation and i know its hard to think about, this is one you have to take to a level the entire world says, stop, you have to to go back and figure out this has to stop because of the violence thats occurring out there and the israelis are going to have to respond and theyve taken an israeli general captive, killed civilians and israel, youve seen potentially, hamas amassing to the north. Its going to get a little bit out of control in the nearby. All israel is can go asking for is moral support and i think the world needs to give them moral support in a tough time. They did not start this attack, the palestinian authorities started this attack and they are the ones killing the civilians and they need to be held accountable for it. General kellogg, thank you so much, sir, for your service to this country. I want to go back to trey yingst in israel, how things are looking there. Trey. Yeah, neil, we spoke with few moments ago and we talked about the possibility of israel striking high rise buildings in gaza after a Roof Knock Strike. Well, they did just that. Striking two major buildings in the center of gaza city. Something that hamas already is out with a statement saying is an escalation. A man who is a spokesperson for hamas who is rarely seen or heard from the gaza strip, made a rare statement just moments ago, saying that tel aviv, israels second largest city will pay the price for the strikes in the central part of gaza city. This is a significant threat because as we spoke about before, over the past few hours, the rocket fire has subsided. There have been some Mortar Attacks along the border and short range fire, but the long range rockets and missiles have not been used against Central Israel in a number of hours. Well, hamas at this moment is threatening to fire once again on tel aviv, threatening to send hundreds of thousands of people to Bomb Shelters. You can see a lot of the civilian traffic. We talked about that before, neil. Some of the border communities are just now making their way to safe ground. The israelis have been age to recapture some areas along the gaza border and allowed civilians who spent the entire day in Bomb Shelters hoping that Palestinian Militants wouldnt shoot through their doors and theyre finally getting to a safer location. Neil. Neil for all of israel, what is the message, obviously, you had Benjamin Netanyahu early this morning, saying were at war and the Defense Ministry saying were at war and so all israelis know theyre at war. How is that being digested . I mean, what are obviously, those are the affected region, where the hamas has orchestrated these attacks and theyre in their own separate panic, justifiably so, but in the rest of israel . The israel psyche right now is largely in shock. It has been a collective event for this population in the past when just one or two hostages were taken and made Prisoners Of War inside the gaza strip. Its something that there have been protests about and government decisions based on negotiations to free palestinian prisoners and get Israeli Soldiers back. Were talking one or two people in the past. Today we are talking about dozens of israelis, civilians and soldiers alike, that have been taken by hamas and Islamic Jihad into the tunnels of gaza. Its something if you ask someone on the street last week if we were worried about, they may have laughed because its unheard of. There have been rounds with gaza in 2014 during the 51day war, in 2019 in november when Islamic Jihad launched hundreds of rockets in a barrage after one of their commanders was taken out by the israelis. In 2021, earlier this year, i mean, these round are very familiar to israel, but we saw the rocket fire that is normally used throughout an entire operation by hamas and Islamic Jihad militants used in a matter of hours and now threatening to fire more. And it is a significant escalation. They have hostages inside israeli territory and they have taken Prisoners Of War. And this is something that will not be over in a matter of days, at best, this is a matter of weeks. Neil. Neil a lot of people are harkening back again to the syria and egypt attack on israel 50 years ago yesterday. And they start saying how long that dragged on, and the reverberations of that, very different, as youve been pointing out, trey. But the same panic that ensues, im sure in israel. Absolutely. And israel is a relatively small country with a very large military. Almost everyone you meet here below the age of 45 is signed up for Reserve Forces. Many of them are being called up this hour as a large mobilization of israeli troops. Its not just sent to the southern part of the country, but the northern part of the country. Ill give you an example of how small it was. As we were watching the military jeeps drive by. As you know, im based here in israel, i saw one of my friend driving the jeep and thats just the reality of the situation. Ive also talked with Palestinian Friends who live in East Jerusalem who say theyre worried about what comes next. When you see it firsthand, it is a story about people and there is a collective trauma and a history to this conflict, but what we saw play out today is unlike anything israel has seen in the last few decades. Militants entering civilians homes, Slaughtering Women And Children and dragging those who survive into the gaza strip and the work by the Israeli Military has just begun to rescue those people and to respond to the militant groups inside gaza, neil. Neil just incredible. Trey, be safe. Trey yingst following all of that. In the meantime, weve got florida congressman mike wall, sits on the House Armed Services committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee Member as well. Congressman, obviously when you have israel calling out reservists and by the thousands, Tens Of Thousands, its getting ready for something and something that could last a while. What do you think . Yeah, neil. Lets be clear and lets make no mistake. This is an iranianbacked fullon assault and war against israel. Israel is not just going to need to strike back, strike back, they are going to have to overwhelmingly eliminate hamas capability to do this again and not just focus their retaliation on hamas because thats a proxy for iran. They are also going to have to hit back inside of iran. The Supreme Court leader of iran has repeatedly and openly talked about surrounding israel with a ring of fire, his words, of terrorists and of rockets to use at a time of his choosing. The Supreme Court leader of irans choosing to eliminate israel. Now, a lot of people are asking why now . I do think this has a lot to do in terms of timing with the saudiisrael talks, and using hamas to spoil those talks because they would build on the abraham accord and they would be transformative for the region, but this is an allout war, neil, and the United States needs to be very clear that we 100 have israels back. The statement that came out of the embassy in the u. S. Embassy this morning was despicable that called on israel to not respond. Its since been deleted, but i think that shows some of our bureaucrats true colors. Neil you know, turkey says its apparently ready to deescalate the situation, close to all parties. Its close to its foreign ministry. What do you think of that . Look, we havent seen the other shoe drop yet. To the north of israel is hezbollah that has hundreds of thousands of more iranian purchased rockets and what they the goal here, neil, is to overwhelm israels defenses with dumb rockets and then they have gps guided missiles that can hit things like Downtown Tel Aviv government buildings, their Nuclear Power plant, the airport, i just israel and particularly under the leadership of netanyahu cannot continue to live with a gun to its head like this and i think theyre going to need to take down that capability, but i think they also need to they need to take down the head of the snake and this administrations Appeasement Policy to i mean, theyre going to say that the 6 billion they released was only for humanion aid, but we know the money is fungible. What that did was free up billions for iran to use for its proxies and its no coincidence this is happening weeks after that transfer. Neil we dont know that for sure, but i do know this and youre a great student of Military History as well, a fighter in your own right, but ive seen this craziness in The Middle East dating back, as i said to the Nixon Administration when this Yom Kippur War was launched by syria and egypt. Different player, but through democratic and republican administrations alike its been a hornets nest. Im wondering now when i hear hamas leader telling other countries that israel cant provide you with any protection. Whether thats coming indirectly as a money line from iran, or what have you, that there is a sense that this powder keg continues and theres nothing we can do about it. What do you no, but neil, respectfully, i disagree there. Thats conflating two things. We are no longer in a state of the region where countries like jordan or egypt or others are invading, these arab nations are invading israel. Thats why the Abraham Accords were so transformative to bring the sunni arab nations into alignment with israel. The issue here is singlefold. Its a Terrorist State and a Terrorist Backing Regime in iran thats using these approproxies in what it views as a holy war with israel. And one can only imagine under a nuclear umbrella. And we have to call it an apiecement strategy the last few years has only funded the regime to do what its doing right now and thats why we have to shift track, and go back to our policy and go back to maximum pressure. The only thing the regime cares about is its own survival and why its Shooting School Girls in The Street In Tehran and furthering its jihad against israel and the west and we cant indirectly fund that through an appeasement strategy. Neil well, with all due respect. I dont know how could say republicans are better handling evil and democrats vice versa. And youre quite right, this is a different circumstance. Im curious though, where do you think it goes . Because theres an appetite right now where the appetite for foreign incursions in this country isnt what it was. I know the ukraine situation is different, but a number of the candidates and those Who Rebelled Against Kevin Mccarthy shared a common concern that it was good money after bad when it came to ukraine. Do you fear that same thinking will apply to israel . Well, and i want to be clear on your previous statement. Im not saying this is a partisan issue. Neil i know youre not, youre not. I wanted to be equally clear that but go ahead, i apologize. But, i mean, theres just no denying that the Abraham Accords were transformative when it came to the nations and israel. And we were looking at historic peace accords a few years ago and look where we are here. What im talking about is appeasement never works and it certainly is not working with iran. Its only em boldening iran. Neil does that apply, congressman, to those who are concerned about the good money after bad thing i raised about ukraine, whether that or do you fear that it might extend to israel and even if its just Financial Support . Well, i think that no, i think theres a very different view of israel as our key ally in the nation and thats very well understood that thats across the american p populace and our political sphere. And people are rightly asking questions, why we backed ourselves and d ditherred ourselves in. And its not explained by the president , if you do ent dont rubber stamp a blank check over and over again, there is a lot there, whether its europe burden sharing, and europe is still buying russian gas, doing it through india and hong kong. There are valid questions about the lack of strategy from this white house and therefore, where is all of this going with billions and billions and billions of dollars flowing out the door. Those, i think, completely valid. That doesnt make you an isolationalist or appeasement. Neil hamas has done this essentially the fourth time since it got the area in 2007. Thats with the black cade. This one is raising a lot of eyebrows, the sweeping nature testify, effectiveness of it, and the total surprise of it. What do you make of all of that . Well, i mean, right now, i think its a time for israel to defend itself and to hit back hard and to hit back at the head of the snake as well. However, neil, we do need to unpack and im sure the israelis will with our assistance, this was an Intelligence Failure, theres no other way to describe it. I dont know if somehow hamas now has encrypted communications provided by iran. If theres with an a failure of israels human source network, but certainly for them to be able to develop this sophisticated of an attack right under israels nose and execute clearly with external support is something that both israel with the help of the United States will have to take a very hard look at. Neil congressman, we will watch the fallout of all of the above. With me right now is my colleague, martha mccallum. She was in israel not that long ago. Its the bed rock of so many religions, but also so many controversies. Martha. Neil, good to be with you. Obviously, were all watching this. Its extraordinary, awful morning, very tragic for the people of israel as we see whats playing out and you were talking with congressman waltz about, its coordinated attack on 25 locations. And when we were there we went into the west bank area and you see the walls surrounding jerusalem and the walls boundaries to get in and out of the areas. At that time there was some sort of low level discussion about concerns, we were were trey yingst at one point in that trip as well. That people live with all the time in israel, concerns about skirmishes and concerns about attacks and the feeling that theyre always facing this responsibility, but theyre incredibly resilient people who go about their work every day and the mission to keep their country intact and to keep it strong and independent. So, its hard to ignore the largest shift that weve been seeing going on in the world though and you have excellent guests who have talked about this this morning. And i think about this 6 billion that came from iran. Youd think about this Percolating Deal that seems to be the desire of both mbf to the interview a few weeks ago and netanyahu, the Prime Minister of israel who both side they were closer than ever to a deal and i think thats the kind of statement that chills the bones of the iranian leadership. It isolates them. It threatens them, even though they had recently brokered their own sort of agreement between saudi arabia and to point out again, that was done at the coordination of the chinese. So you have to really it appears that this is such an enormous, brutal attack and that netanyahu called it a 9 11 for israel. And what we saw after 9 11 here is that you get a shift. You get a shift in alliances and it does feel as though this is larger scale moment that all of us will have to watch and see the impact of, neil. Neil you know, israel is already saying, you know, all hands on deck to your point, martha. Calling up Tens Of Thousands of reservists and done something to this degree and certainly to this amount in 50 years. Yet, here we are and it does make you wonder about the fallout. You know, i think theres such pride in israel at the mandatory Military Service of all young men and women there do. And i think its something thats discussed in this country and obviously, very hard to implement in this country, but you see these young men and women at all the check points all over israel trying to protect their country. I also was at an off the record briefing with the israeli leadership during the u. N. Meetings just a couple of weeks ago and while that was off the record, just in terms of the broader mood, they, i think, felt strong about their ability to fight back and retal rate and their intelligence. The strength of their intelligence, the strength of their ability to target some of these palestinian leaders which they had actually done right before we went last summer, very effectively to push back on attack. But the scale of this is so its so unsettling and you can only imagine. You can well imagine the reaction that the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is having this is his sixth term as Prime Minister of israel, so, this is going to cut very, very deep and those people are in those tunnels, theyre being held against their will, and there will be a massive retaliatory attack thats already underway by the israelis. Neil indeed, it is. Martha, thank you so much for that. And that response is happening right now. Israel has gone ahead and confirmed that hamas has israeli captives. We dont know how many. We do know hundreds are feared dead across gaza and israel and israeli response to this, for example, over the palestinian area has claimed about 300 lives coming from the palestinian. We know that israels ambassador to the u. S. Has expressed confidence in washingtons support. The president of the United States has already indicated to Benjamin Netanyahu with whom he charted about an hour and a half ago that that support will be forth coming. The mood on the hill is to support israel in this clear Terrorist Attack and now the fallout is beginning. Iae