Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline 20240703

Of Jewish Community leaders. We will bring it to you live when they get underway. And communities in Southern Israel seems to be under relentless fire. Nbc news caught this barrage of rockets in ashkelon, near total darkness, as the sole power plant there has run out of fuel. Israel has been amazing soldiers near the border. The scenes comes out of gaza strip, will be, quote, different to understand and cope with. Ahead, a more devastating stages of wart, Benjamin Netanyahu and benny gantz, have announced an Emergency Government to put it on a wartime footing, even as the recallis are coming to grips with the heinous nature and scope of the Terror Attacks heres what one soldier tells nbc news. I never saw in my life. Its something that we used to imagine as or grandfather and grandfather who grew up in other places. Complicating israels war efforts, the harrowing Hostage Situation. At least 150 men, women, children have been kidnapped by hamas. Hamas is threatening to execute them one by one in response to any action by israel. New york times reports,quote, theres no recent precedent to the scale of the Hostage Situation in the gaza strip. No modern government, not even the worlds most brutal, like those in where you area or north korea, has used hostages in this way, as human shields. Its a reminder why the u. S. Government and European Union Categorizes Hamas as a terrorist orization. Our lester holt spoke to the family of a mother and daughter who are believed to have been kidnapped by hamas. What do you want your sister and niece to know right now . I want them to know we are doing everything in our power to bring them back. We do not forget them. Were doing everything we can in the states, in israel. Were very worried about them. We love you. We want to hug you. We want you back home. What i would say to hamas, i want my daughter and my granddaughter back. I beg of every official there, think of them as if they are your own daughter and your granddaughter. What you would feel if it happened to them. Im only a mother. We have a live report from on the ground from our correspond in israel just a minutes. We have the former Supreme Allied Commander of nato and counterterrorism experts, and retired idf colonel mary isom is here. Is it clear to you a complete assessment of everything that took place be ginning Saturday Morning happened, or is the situation ongoing . Were talking about a. I changed on october 7th to remind themselves of what they do. This was preplanned, very extensive, combined use of very basic capabilities, taking the soldiers that they had mass akerr and wearing the uniforms. Those are the things that can still be ongoing. We dont have the exact number of how much of these Terrorist Opportunists came into israel. We have killed thousands in israel. We dont know how many more are still there. Theyre popping up, still trying to do,s, including infiltration. Its not over yet. A lot of the communities that are adjacent to the gaza strip itself, were talking about towns and villages, all the of the people are not there. This is stilt totally ongoing. Can you tell me what you just alluded to, one of the tactics deployed to render some of these towns and villages defenseless was to slaughter and target the Military First . Can you say more about that . I think we would call it combined effort. Were talking about a terrorist organization. They came in and attacked both soldiers and dozens of civilian communities at the same time. Part of that preplanning is to not only mute late, torture in a barbaric manner, but to take the vehicles and uniforms, to be able to continue ko use that and be the ones that when the reinforcements came in, they came in and saw soldiers, and the soldiers were Hamas Terrorists who bushered them as well. One of the pieces of the horror is the graphic nature of the Terror Attack. We had September 11th, but this has a different nature to it. It was in some ways slow motion, facetoface terrorism, staring at a child, staring at a mother, a soldier, a grandmother, taking people who suffered from chronic diseases. Can you just speak to whether the counterterrorism expert, theres anything about the brutality of the Terror Attack that surprised you . Its what we saw with isis. Until october 7th in the morning, as an expert, i was always say hamas is different, its not isis. I have changed. I learned i was wrong on october 7th, i woke up and understood all of the tactics when it comes to isis, we have seen in the last few days. Maybe they have upped their game. How sarcastic can i be . But they livestream it already. Its in tiktok, with the joyish aspects, and its all done to be online to show they are proud of what they have done. The live images, and you mentioned this before, i dont want to think what teal do with the Hostage Situation in social media. Admiral stavridis, the ununprecedented nature of the hostages an human shields, how does israel do with that . Lets recognize the professionalism and the competent of the israeli situation, thats built into the dna of israel, back to 19 2, the response in munich, in tebbi, the israelis know how to do this. Having said that, i cant imagine a harder location to pull this off, the scale of it, 150 hostages, undoubtedly by now, scattered throughout the incredibly packed gaza, the israelis not knowing exactly where it is, and then couple that with what is a necessary incursion into gaza by main force military, and adjacent to that, your Special Forces are going to have to do everything they can to bind, fix and rescue these hostages. Again, i cant think of a harder challenge. If anybody can pull it off, it would be the highend forces of the idf. Let me close with this. Almost certainly there are americans in the mix, and i know the administration, the president , lloyd austin, our secretary of defense, jake sullivan, National Security adviser, theyre focused on those hostages. Our closest and allies, our friends are in there. So the entire resources of u. S. Special forces, and we are very good at this as well, will be available if needed. Admiral stavridis, you wonder if i can use your expertise to go back to Saturday Morning a little bit. What will we be trying to learn from the brutality that we have discussed, the Hostage Taking that we are now aware of, the Social Media Tactics that youre talking about, and the ability to surprise israel and america and the world, how does that change whatever theyre planning to do next . First and foremost, as the colonel correctly pointed out, these individuals are barbarians, but they are smart barbarians. They have been watching not only the islamic state, but many other actors, including Special Forces of our own countries. They have adapted those tactics, everything from hanggliders, paragliders, all of the deception and tricks you talked about a moment ago. That will get pulled apart, analyzed, fed back so we can reverseengineer it and kill it the next time it appears in front of you. Secondly, just as the United States had to face its Intelligence Failures after 9 11, i know israel will face those failures in a forthright, direct manner. Israelis are nothing if not direct and capable of selfcriticism. They will pull apart what everything, everybody from communication between stations, elements, commands, organizations. Just like the United States after9 11, they will remodel and adapt coming out of this. At this moment, its not the time to be overanalyzing what happened. This is time to go forward, find and kill hamas in gaza. Mirri, the ar mill said to take us forward. Well do that. Can you tell us yours best and informed assessments about of what the next 24 hours will entail . The biggest question is about the ground incurring. As the admiral says were only Talking Beverly Thousands who came in for many years. As an expert, i talk about 30,000 hamas fighters. They are inside the gaza trip. They have their cache of weapons, command and control, and this time, as opposed to before, well go after these arenas. We can expect the continuation of israel attacks all of these different hamas Terror Caches in the gaza strip. Were giving advance warning to entire neighborhoods, that that neighborhood will not be in another 8 to 10 hours. They used their own palestinians as human shields. Theres enormous movement. My heart can go out, as a mother, to Palestinian People, but we will destroy what we can of this hamas infrastructure, which is next to us, and showed what it wants to do and how to do in the last five days. Miri, it became known after the leaders responsibility for plotting the 9 11 attacks. Is that known to you there . Do you know the leaders there . And i imagine you would be targeting the leaders . For those who speak arabic, dev was the military commander. Weve tried to target him for many, many years. He, in his voice on Saturday Morning, said Retake Jerusalem and kill anybody you see. Thats what theyre doing. That would be the one inside israel itself. There are leaders who are not in the gaza strip. Most of them are either in lebanon or qatar, and theyve been speaking from brute. Beirut. We havent opened that front yet. We havent talked about that. Other thing we need to be aware is were in an incredibly tense situation on the northern border. On the other sigh is the hezbollah Terror Organization that has ten times the amount of strength of hamas. What is the sentiment among vali people in terms of a Brother He Retaggia Torrie or selfdefense operation . Its different in the past, and i say this in a heavy heart as a human being, but i too until october 7th, said hamas is not isis. You have to go after the strongholds. You cant allow them to build what they did in the last days of carnage. Most israelis are strongly on that. You showed before lester holt interviews, the biggest change we have. The hostages, they dont complicate anything. They are our people, who they are, and we need to be there for them, and in this moment, the dilemma is you need to go against these horrific, horrific terrorists, but they have these hostages, and theyre most definitely going to use them to specifically stop us from doing so. Thats what you hear from the israeli public, the challenge between you have to destroy this and you have to bring back our people. We brings in our correspondent alison. What have you seen since youve been there . Weve seen waves of missile attacks. We saw a bunch of them coming from the direction of gaza, headed toward the mo populated area of ashkelon. Most of the ones we have seen this afternoon the once you have seen are just from the last two hours or so here. It started back up again a little over 9 00 p. M. Local. There were four waves of these missiles coming in this evening. The majority of the ones we saw tonight, most of those seemed to be intercepted by the iron dome, viewings air defense system. The ones we saw this afternoon, and counted thrills nine different missiles coming from the main direction of ashkelon, we saw only seven intercepted, but we didnt know if two others were intercepted. We were watching some of the video from inside ashkelon. We know that one of the missiles fired today hit a hospital. In the video thats now come out, you see people hunkered down, screaming, as that plowed into the area, and there is that massive rock of an explosion and plume of smoke. We could see a plume of speaking from here this afternoon. We did see israel rockets firing from israel into the direction of gaza at one point today. It was three or four in that strike. We have seen a lot of military activities down this highway. When we left this morning, we are trying to go to a city thats further down the road here, a little closer to gaza. Were about two miles away from the northern border with gaza right north. We were told at a checkpoint that we could not go any further, and that we could not film any of the troops there and we could not film any of the Military Equipment that was beyond them. We saul at least 100 israeli tanks, vehicles parked in a row in this area that was kind of behind off in flat land, if you will. All of it seeming to suggest this is a country thats getting much closer to launching a more aggressive offensive and that whole Ground Assault into gaza, which is something we have not seen in recent times, and something we do expect to happen almost any minute, any day now. Nicolle . Ashkelon is one of the site of one of the assaults. It sounds like theyre preparing for war and still discovering and dealing with sort of the scope of the tragedy that unfolded, especially right there where you are. Reporter you know, we were we were standing here today, someone stopped in a car and pulled over, and showed us horrific images of a play nearby here, where hamas militants had been, where he was saying just today they were in the area handing out food, giving food to Israeli Forces and Israeli Forces were going into a small pocket somewhere near here, and just recovering multiple bodies, and the images are horrific. This is still a situation where people are trying to process what happened. People are talking about it here, like people used to talk about 11 in new york, where they say 9 11, and everybody alive during that time, decades after, everyone knows what you mean. Here theyre saying 10 7, and a life they had from places where there are pockets of tension, that they had a life before 10 7, and then there is a life in israel after 10 7. Theyre trying to process what happened over the weekend. Theyre trying to find people who are missing with over 100 people believed to be held hostage, and figure out what an entire country at war might look like, especially as the threats from the north seem to increase, and for civilians, its ripples of different emotions people are trying to process. One thing people do seem to be pleased with, based on conversations, is that there is in unity government. Theyre hopeful together israel will be able to have the response that israeli civilians, at least, believe should happen. People have told us they understand there probably will be high casuals among splittians, but a lot of the israelis we speak to feel like thats a Ground Assault must happen because of the terror that unfolded on saturday. Nicolle . Alison, the person who showed you imageimages, did they pull because they wanted the world to see . Was it a Family Member or neighbor . Reporter i think it was all of it. They were telling us a couple different things. We heard today what sounded to our team, people who have reported in war zones, people with military experience, sounded like minute guns fire. He heard that some Hamas Terrorists might have and they were shot and killed by the idf. We werent able to verify it independently at the time, but there have been reports of israel trying to go into some communities and make sure hamas militants arent still in them, and showing the personality effects and things they found, he was talking about how where people might have been from and who they might have been so we could look further. Theres a whole process with people are trying to figure out what happened and may or what should happen next . Alison, you are our eyes and ears. Please stay safe. Were grateful. I thank both of you for your expertise and calm and wisdom. We will continue to call on you day after day. When we come back, this is ron sherman. He is a 1yearold israeli soldier. He was kidnapped by terrorists from a base near gaza Saturday Morning. Rons mom will be our next guest. Shell tell us more about her son and the efforts to bring him home safely. Congress and President Biden has said urgent action is needed. 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Whats it say about the summer house . Yeah, the beach house. The summer residents goes to mr. Marbles. Plot twist. Im sorry, what . Doesnt make logistical sense . Unbelievable. Pets arent just pets. Theyre more. You got a train set todd. Save 35 off your first autoship order. At chewy. To families of the more than 150 people who are believed to have been taken hostage by hamas, in the midst of the terror groups attack on israel the past few days have been. Hamas is threatening to broadcast the executions. Her family says an 85yearold woman needs medication to survive. Some of the hostages are children. One hostage is nine monthsal. This has left the rest of the world desperately praying for the safe return of all the hostage. Ron sherman is an israeli soldier, his role was to help deliver goods to the citizens who live in gaza. How are you doing . Im having a terrible time. Tell me what i want to hear all about rhonda. I want to start by asking you to tell us what happened on saturday . It was Saturday Morning, when his was it was, i think very few other soldiers hes just one year in the army. As you know, its required that israeli children after finishing high school, must go into the army. So he was based just on the border. He job was to help the traders to go to enter goods into gaza. On Saturday Morning, we started getting texts that something is wrong. And then we heard about the attack i mean, it wasnt there were it was very hard on the base. He ran to the shelter, which is not exactly a shelter, but its a Concrete Wall that they have to go to when theres missile attacks. He just started texting me, its hard bombing now, the missiles are very, very it sounds different from other times that they have these attacks. He called me, he knows there are terrorists inside the base, and i didnt believe him. I was really, i thought it was his imagination. But after a while, he said i can hear our language outside the center, and im coming inside. These were his last words, actually said, i love you all. He sent hearts, and he said, im done, theyre coming in, and then they stopped texting. I was sure he was dead, really, at this point its terrible. I almost fainted. But after four hours, we received videos that the hamas filmed that he was seen kidnapped from the base. From the time he stopped texting me, they started taking videos of him, he was taken into the street, and you can see in the hamas video, he looked very healthy and alive when he entered the gaza strip. That was the last i think we know about him. We saw him alive. We know hiss in terrorist hands, but we were so relieved at the time. We knew he was alive and had a chance. He as another citizenship, argentinian citizen. Hes so hes so smart. He has a very friendly character. We hope he has help, but you have to understand that the hamas is not its not a country, its not a something that theyre really a group of terrorists. All they want is blood and they are very cruel. They kidnapped children on the same day. We all are in shock. We didnt know that hamas were as cruel as isis. We didnt know that they were so cruel that they could do such terrible things to children. We are really we are so, you know, we dont know what to do. We are demanding them to do everything to bring back all the hostages. And really asking the other governors to help us as much as they can. Have you heard anything from ron or from the government, or anyone else, since he was taken . No. No one knows. We just know that you know, we are the lucky ones. One was one of the only ones, i think, that were very i dont know how many people you can see clearly entering the district. Most were killed. They took bodies with them, or killed them and them them on the israeli territory. You have no know that he would you say a defense soldier. He was helping the arab population in the gaza strip. I must say also, we are not we dont we feel so sorry for the arabs, the population in gaza strip for the citizens there. They are not not all of them are terrorists. Hamas has took over the gaza strip. They are also very, very poor people right now. Right now were trying to do everything, first of all to bring back our hostages home. This is the most important thing. Another problem we have is rob is asthmatic. You can imagine he needs an inhaler. He couldnt be without his inhaler even in his room so right now im thinking about him. I dont know how he will survive without this medication. We trying to get to the red cross. We are trying to get to the argentinian people, were trying to do everything in order to, you know, to help him. To give him his inhaler, and of course to bring him back. I know from the picket terse, he clearly loved to travel. When you were reunited, tell me more about him. What does he want to do . He wanted to be a lawyer. I told you hes a have i special character. Above all, he knows how to deal with situation, you know, different kinds of situations i know to being a hostage of a terrorist, its the worstcase scenario, but i think ron has more, you know he can survive this. You know, he has the right character to survive. Hes very strong, veryself confident, as you can see in the pictures. We trust his very special just because i dont know else to say. Its better to be with rons character if you have to be a hostage. U6789sds is there anything you want to say to your son . As a mom, i think youre incredibly brave for speaking out. So i am grateful to you for taking time to speak about ron. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. We are going to switch gears a bit and dip into whats happening at the white house. President biden is at a roundtable speaking more about the Terror Attack. I want to say thank you to all of you in this room. You not only care, but youve been breaking your neck the last couple years to deal with this overall issue of antisemitism. I know many of you are personally impacted by whats happened in israel there are thousands of dual citizens, maybe theres some relatives there. Doug, thank you for all the work you have down on behalf of our administration. I apologize. Ive been on the phone around the clock with our friends around the world i want to thank you as well doing work youre doing in bringing comfort in this moment of grief. The torah god made stars to, quote, give light on the earth, and separate light from darkness. You know, its been hard to find that light during the darkness of the past few days when they brought not only terror, but sheer evil to the world, evil that echoes the worst and in some cases exceeds the cruelty of isis, more than 1,000 civilians slaughter in israel. Ive been speaking to leaders around the world you know, among those who have been victimized are at least 22 american citizens. This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty. Not just hate but cruelty against the jewish people. I would argue its the deadliest day since holocaust. One of the worst chaps in Human History to remind us all an express i learned from my dad early on, silence is complicity. I want you to know i think you have already figured it out, i refuse to be silent, and i know you reattitudes to be silent as well. [ applause ] you all represent a voice that me has to hear. America cant by silent. It goes beyond rejecting terrorism. I spoke with Prime Minister netanyahu, i dont know how many times, but again this morning. Were already surging assistance to the military force. And we made it clear to the iranians be careful. We want to make it real clear, were working on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including experience to advise and assist on recovery efforts. Many are, what are you doing to bring these folks home . If i told you, i wouldnt be able to gem them home. Folks, theres a lot were doing. I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home, but the idea im going to stand here and tell you what im doing is bizarre. I hope you understand how bizarre it would be to try to answer that question. Were going to work around world so israel has what it needs to defend itself and respond to the attacks. My commitment is the security and safety of the jewish people is unshakeable. You can see the pain in some of your faces, as i walked in. Are you okay, kiddo . Well, your fear for family, friends back in israel, worried about kids being targeted in school, going about their daily lives. You heard by the downplaying of hamass atrocities, blaming israel, this is unconscionable. I have asked members of my team to work intensely with our community partners. Were also going to condemn and combat antisemitism at every every. Hold on a second. I used to think you could defeat hate, that you could make all it does is go underground. It just goes underground. It doesnt go away. It ohm hides until its given a little bit of oxygen. Thats why ive secured the largest increase in funding for security for nonprofits. Many of you in this room helped write that we must all do our part. To makes clear, this is no place to hate in americas, not against jews, muslims, not against anybody you have been showing the enduring strength and spirit of the Jewish Community. A point of personal privilege. Thats why i took my kids, everyone, when they took 14 years old, i took them i wanted them to see that you could not not know what was going on, walking through those gates. You could not fail to understand as a country what was going on. Thats a fact. It would a profound impact on my children and grandchildren. Some thought taking a 14yearold grandchild was a mistake. I took them one at a time. We have three more to go. Folks, its important. You know, the miracle of israel is israel. Its israel itself, the hope it inspiring, the light it represents to the world, and, folks, i was asked in one of my very frank conversations with bebe, why do i feel so deeply about this . Its not about a region. I truly believe if we no jew would be safe, its the only guarantee. Folks, because of you what you bring to this cause, i think we have a chance to end this in a way that is that makes it difficult to repeat it. Thank you for your leadership. As i said, theres a lot to talk about. I quite frankly concerned its hard to talk about this without detail, and its contrary to our interests to let out the detail of what is going on. This is just around the clock, as you fully understand. But, you know ive known Bibi For Over 40 years, a very frank relationship. I know him well. The one thing i did say, that it is really important that israel all the anger and exp it, that exists is that they operate by the rules of war, the rules of war. And there are rules of war. And i believe israel is doing everything in its power to pull the country together, stay on the same page, and were going to do everything in our power to make sure they succeed and god willing bring home those americans in harms way. Im going to let you have the private conversation you have been having, which you should continue to have. I really mean it from the bottom of my heart. I give you my word as a biden. Thank you for the attention of your support. It matters. It matters that americans see whats happening. Ive been doing this a long time. I never really thought that i would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children. I never thought i would ever anyway, there are countries in the region who are trying to be of some help, including arab nations that are trying to be of some help. Anywa [ inaudible ] from my faith. From my faith. My faith that at the core of every human being is a spark of humanity and decency. Its got to be touched. Its got to be spoken to. Thats what you do. Thats why you are here. Its not about, you know, revenge. Its about its about decency, just basic decency. Treating people with a sense of i dont know quite how to say it. But i know we can overcome this. I know we can overcome this. Look, i dont know anything about the kind of losses, but i know what it feels like to have loss, lose people you adore, get a phone call saying theyre gone. I get that part. Not the same, but i get that part. What i have learned is that as we persevere, we can grow. The day will come when the memory of that person or those persons will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen. It will happen. God, it takes a long time sometimes. When its out of something thats been anything from a mistake to a vicious, vicious intent, you know, it varies in degrees. Im not saying i know the same. Look, i mean, ill never forget i wont go into that. Anyway, i just think that if we stay true to our values, pursue with every inch and every bit of our energy to get this right, we can bury this again and bring people back, bring people home. I think we can change. But then again, i have been referred to as a congenital optimism. Im not going to answer any questions right now. My team here knows when the press is gone, they will talk more directly to you. Even then, theyre not going to be able to tell you all that were doing and all thats going on. [ inaudible ] 80 years ago this week, a group of 400 rabbis came to washington hoping to meet with roosevelt and appeal to him to rescue jews being persecuted in europe. They were refused a meeting with president roosevelt. They were refused entry to the white house. The fact we are here today and you have spoken so clearly in support of israel, so clearly in support of jewish people, and both leaders and representatives of the Jewish Community into the white house for this shows what a distance we have traveled in the United States and how we in the Jewish Community are blessed to live in the United States. We thank you for your leadership. [ applause ] a passionate joe biden. Big news nuggets there. I believe this is the first time we heard President Biden say that he told Bibi Netanyahu to, quote, operate by the rules of war in one of their many conversations since the Terror Attacks. The president of the United States seemed to confirmed he had been shown by the Israeli Government images of the Terror Attack, including the, quote, beheading of children. The president talking to this group of jewish activists and folks fighting antisemitism. He spoke to the special people in acute pain. He knows how they feel about the downplaying of the Terror Attack and efforts to blame israel for something that unfolded there. He talked about taking his kids and grandkids to a Concentration Camp where 41,000 people were slaughtered in world war ii. He was asked seemed to anticipate that theres a lot of interest intense interest here and in israel and around the world about the 150 hostages that hamas has taken. If i told you how i was going to get them out, i wouldnt be able to get them home. Making clear that this is more than on his radar but a priority for this white house, something they are working on actively. Speaking to the specific anxieties, fear, and grief of the Jewish Community, he said, i know some of you are worried about your kids being hurt going to school. Im going to work with he mentioned specifically his secretary of Homeland Security and his attorney general. He said he was going to essentially he didnt use the word surge, but he implied he was going to surge funds and resources to protect our Jewish Community members. Perhaps most pointedly, he said this about hate. Quote, i used to think you could defeat hate. All it does is go underground. Lets bring into our live coverage, Congressman Meeks of new york, the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs committee, and david jolly is here. Ive been joined by Donny Deutsche as well. Congressman, your thoughts on the president s remarks . I thought the president was very good and showed how committed he is to make sure that israel has what it needs to defend itself and that the United States will be there. He spoke about the ending and making sure that those that are hateful, those that when you see acts that we have seen committed by hamas, killing women and children, beheading children and infants, that that cannot continue, and that is something that all of humanity must speak up and speak out about. Silence is complicity. He refuses to be silent. I think that he also showed very clearly that there are things that the administration is doing to work with our israeli allies to make sure that we take everything to get our american citizens back home and out of the grips of hamas and their terror they are terrorists. They are i. S. I. S. Plus in my estimation. I would say that theres no question about where the president stands. I think theres no question that the United States house of representatives and the United States congress will stand squarely behind the president of the United States in making sure we meet those requirements. One of the hallmarks of the biden presidency is the length and duration of some of his relationships in the building in which you serve. I think it sometimes confounds members of the media, members of his own party that he has all this Muscle Memory of a time when democrats and republicans worked together in the senate. Someone drew a parallel to that biden specific skill set when they talked about the relation relationship with Bibi Netanyahu. What do you understand to be the dynamic right now between the two leaders, between biden and netanyahu . I think that it is an understanding that we must stick together. The differences that we may have and talked about in the past, right now, we have to have one single focus. Thats going after hamas. I think that that is the nature of diplomacy. Thats who joe biden was when he was senator biden and now as vice President Biden and now as President Biden. He understands that and that there is a time where we are going to have to figure this out so that we can have peace in the middle east. He is and should be the optimist. So we move forward with reference to the Abraham Accords and working with saudi arabia and other countries that will recognize israels right to exist. I think the fact that he is having this dialogue with Prime Minister netanyahu more than as he indicated several times a day, shows the two men are focused on the same thing and the same kind of result and reminding each other that our own humanity and to make sure that we are working collectively within the bounds of the rules of war against a vicious and immoral hamas, and we need to track down those leaders wherever they are. Congressman, the chairman of your committee, michael mccall, describes the number of american hostages in israel this way, as being, quote, dozens. Does that match with your understanding . Yes. I dont know about dozens. But i know somewhere in the neighborhood of 20, 22, or something of that nature from what i heard someone from the administration say publically. There is, like the president said, we cant say everything publically, because theres things being worked on. I did hear and get clearance from the State Department and others about 22 dead and several they didnt mention a specific number, but several americans that are held hostage. I want to be clear, the 22 number is 22 americans that are dead, but several americans hostages are believed to be being held by hamas. Okay. Thats a little different from what mr. Mccall said. That does match up with some of the public members. I wonder if you can speak to your understanding of i dont want to call it an Intelligence Failure. But the the former cia director john brennan said on this show that this is not the hamas of ten years ago. You have described the horrors and atrocities of the Terrorist Attack as i. S. I. S. Like, as has the president , as has the mothers of many of the people who have been taken who i have had a chance to speak to. Did we understand the complete conflation of i. S. I. S. Tactics with hamas . I think obviously from what has taken place, as you described, theres been an Intelligence Failure of which has to be examined and looked at thoroughly. My belief is that what was taking place by hamas is they do not want peace in the middle east. They do not want peace with israel. When they saw the Abraham Accords were taking place, negotiations were taking place and people were saying that israel has the right to exist, that that could then mean peace and that would further get rid of them and isolate them, so they had to disrupt. They exist for one reason, to destroy israel. They believe that israel should not exist. Thats why we have to get rid of them, because they will never they never will want peace with israel. You cant negotiate with someone who does not believe you have the right to exist. Exactly. Congressman meeks, i want to make sure our viewers know you have watched along with us the president s remarks and waited patiently for us to get to speak to you. We are very grateful to you for that. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you for reporting on this tragedy. David jolly, im coming to you in two phases. I want to get a reaction to the president. Then i will go to the region and come back to you. President joe biden making a good deal of news and also making abundantly clear where the country stands when it comes to standing by Bibi Netanyahu in the face of this horrific Terrorist Attack. Yeah. Continued strength on display from joe biden. A moment that in many ways his political career has made him for. We see the pain, but we also see the commitment and the confidence and resolve. I was taken by one statement he said. Maybe it was just his congenital optimism as he said, or the reliance on his faith. When he said, i believe we can end this in a way that it will not happen again, was that just joe bidens confidence and his faith and that Bedrock Resolve he has . Or does it speak to more detail about how this campaign will be executed against hamas . It is hard to see a world in which there is simply retaliation and then hamas continues to exist just across the border into gaza. I think joe biden and the west are in conversations with israel about what comes next. And i think theres a lot more to learn from his statements today. David jolly, i wrote that down, too. It was notable to me that Congressman Meeks, who was briefed by the administration today, said hamas cannot exist. Clearly, all of the important players and leaders are communicating with one another. David jolly, stick around. I need to get to my colleague before i miss the opportunity to speak with him. That would be a tragedy. Its just after 5 00 p. M. Eastern in new york. Its after midnight in israel. I want to bring in my colleague, raf sanchez. Tell me what you have seen today since we last talked 24 hours ago. Reporter well, some news breaking in just the last couple of minutes. They are Broadcasting Images of which they say are images of an israeli female hostage and two Young Children being released from gaza. We should be really, really clear, this has not been confirmed by the Israeli Military. This footage being broadcast appears to be during daylight hours. You can see behind me, its midnight, its pitch black here. We do not have a lot of clarity on this. For what it is worth, they are broadcasting this claim by hamas that it has released an israeli woman and two Young Children. If thats true, that may give hope to the hundreds of families all across israel tonight who are praying for the release of their loved ones. It may also signal that hamas is aware that they are being compared to i. S. I. S. Worldwide by the president of the United States and figures across the world. They are aware of the massive, massive condemnation, disgust and horror, at the beheading, the killing, the raping that the Terrorist Fighters carried out in Southern Israel. To put it crudely, it may be that hamas realizes it has a pr problem after it murdered 1,000 people. Thats developing tonight inside of gaza. The Palestinian Energy Ministry Says that the strips single power plant has now run out of fuel. Its unable to generate electricity for the 2 million palestinians who live there. You can imagine the impications of that. Just off the top of my head, an icu unit in a palestinian hospital, Neonatal Unit where potentially machines are no longer going to function because hospitals are losing power. The implications are potentially dire of a major humanitarian crisis. Earlier tonight, Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was forming an Emergency National unity government. You and i have talked in the past about how netanyahu leads the most right wing government in israeli history. Its a government that includes members of the far right. Tonight, he says, as israel prepares to launch what we all expect is going to be a Ground Defensive inside of gaza, he is bringing one of the countrys large centrist parties into his government. He says that this is the unity israel needs in this time of crisis. The leader of that centrist party is the former top general in the Israeli Military. This is netanyahu trying to signal to the israeli people that there are serious people around the Decision Making table as israel prepares to move ahead. So much. I have 30,000 followup questions. I know its late there. We talked yesterday about this sort of maybe not detectible, but this blast radius of the trauma. Those are obviously the stories that take a minute to be digested here at home. The president very emotionally talking about what you brought us yesterday, but specifically talking about seeing from the Israeli Government the beheading of children. The brutality seems to have done what maybe nothing else could have and united this divided political moment in israel. Can you talk about that a little more . Reporter yeah, absolutely. I think this is a moment of stunned unity in this country, a little bit like americans experienced in 2001 after the September 11th attacks. This is a country that for the last year seemed to be ripping itself apart. These enormous demonstrations on the streets against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plan to weaken the supreme court. Many israelis genuinely questioning whether the lights of democracy were about to go out in this country. Deep divisions between secular people, religious people, deep divisions between left and right, people who live in settlements, israelis who live inside the internationally recognized borders of israel. We spoke earlier today to the leader of the israeli opposition. He said, look, those divides dont matter today. The country is united in grief, in sorrow, but also in resolve to do something about hamas in gaza to make sure this can never be repeated. Its worth saying that nobody from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on down has really articulated a plan in terms of israel militarily could go into gaza. It could overthrow hamas. Then what . Does israel reoccupy gaza . A territory it left in 2005. Does it try to install the Palestinian Authority, the weak almost universally despised by the Palestinian People authority who are sort of in charge of parts of the west bank . The Palestinian Authority was in charge of gaza for two years, and then they lost a brief and bloody civil war to hamas. As we as americans have learned many times since 9 11, its one thing to go in and invade. Its another thing all together to have a plan for what comes next. I have yet to hear any israeli official really articulate what that day after might look like. I want to play the spring back One More Time and ask you about something i asked you yesterday about this time line getting filled in. It seems that some of the strategy of the attack is revealing itself in the targeting of some of the bases near the border. I wonder what else you are learning about exactly what and how what happened on saturday was pulled off. It just feels like a dozen monstrous mass shootings, a dozen bloody tragedies all unfurling in the same part of the day, Saturday Morning. Any more information on how that happened . Reporter yeah. The attacks seem to have begun in the first instance at a place where we were earlier. It was a scene of horror like all the other places we have been where we have been taken by the Israeli Military since saturday. The hamas gunmen arrived at the gates at five minutes to 6 00 in the morning. They were unable to get through the gate. You can see them on cctv trying to go under, trying to go over. When they are unable to, they basically wait on the side of the road and they lay in ambush for israeli civilians who drive up to the gate early on Saturday Morning. They kill the people in the car, and they wait for the gate to open. And then they slip inside and carried out their massacre. There are so many painful questions facing israel right now about what everyone accepts is a massive failure, be it an Intelligence Failure, a military failure, be it really a failure of imagination to think that this was possible. Among the many questions is just given how much preparation hamas put into this, we are learning that they literally built a mock town to practice this attack. The fact that they could be planning at that level of detail on that scale and israels Intelligence Agencies did not pick it up is just pretty extraordinary. The fact that hamas fighters were training on paragliders out in the open by definition and israeli satellites and drones and Observation Balloons didnt pick up these paragliders, and someone asked the question, what do you think theyre going to do with those, is just one of the many, many questions haunting israel right now. I will tell you when you ask israeli officials in the military and politicians what went wrong here, the answer almost universally is, a lot. We need to figure it out. There will be painful postmortems. The focus is on fighting the war and rescuing the hostages right now. Raf sanchez, your reporting stands apart from all other. Thank you very much for staying up and spending time with us. Stay safe. Thank you. Joining us now, the ceo and National Director of the antidefamation colleague, a familiar face to you, Jonathan Greenblatt and Donny Deutsche. Jonathan, your reaction to the president s speech today . First of all, i think so many of us are still coping with the unspeakable. I listened to rafs piece coming in. The stories about children babies burned in their cribs and children beheaded. We are talking about the unspeakable. And yet even in this moment, im encouraged that President Biden is finding the words to comfort a nation. This wasnt just an attack on the israeli people. Although it was. Or the Jewish Community, although it was. It was an attack on all of us. This kind of inhumanity is a threat to civilization as we know it. Im glad to hear the president speak with such clarity, without any equivocation about the sheer evil of hamas, about the danger of antisemitism and his willingness to support israel. Compare that to University President s who have been unable to find the simple courage to say in no uncertain terms, antisemitism, antizionism, this kind of hate is wrong. We have over 1,100 bodies of civilians who were butchered and tortured and maimed. Im glad the president spoke the way that he did. I think that will not only encourage the israeli people and the Jewish Community, but the rest of the country that wants to know. Mary that america has israels back but it maintains its moral core. One of the things that he said that i wrote down and underlined four times, he talked about this calls on us to be part of the solution. He talked about his taking his kids and grandkids to a Concentration Camp when they are 14. Let me play that One More Time. There is no place for hate in america. Not against jews. Not against muslims. Not against anybody. We mourn the act you and so many leaders have across the country been showing us with thousands of years of jewish history showing us. The enduring strength i mean this, the sense and spirit of the Jewish Community. Thats why i took my kids, when they turned 14, one at a time put them on a plane and i wanted them to see that you could not not know what was going on, walking through those gates. You could not fail to understand as a country what was going on. Thats a fact. It had a profound impact on my children and my grandchildren. Some thought taking a 14yearold grandchild did not i took them one at a time. I got three more to go. Folks, its important. I feel like he is getting at something that we talk about, to make sure that it never happens again. You have to know your history. I talk to people that have taken their kids to the Lynching Museum for the same reason. The only bulwark against brutality, against savagery, against the dehumanization of any human is to know the history of the savagery and brutality against other humans. I thought that was a really important part of what he had to say today. Look, this isnt about politics. This is about principles. This is about basic values. He is at his best when he is not reading notes and doing something stilted. That was President Biden from the heart. You are right, the only way we can fight evil is if we recognize it and we respond to it with clarity and focus. I have had such a hard time over the last few days because as dr. King said, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. Joe biden and other members of congress, groups like the National Action network, a few ceos say clearly and strongly, we are your friends. I will say the analogy to the Concentration Camps, what hamas was doing was literally planning a kind of fourth reich. There was nothing about palestinian liberation going on when they were raping women. There was nothing about a two State Solution when they were implementing their final solution, ravaging teenagers at a concert and just massacring them like that. Im laying this out though because if we dont call out hamas as we did al qaeda and i. S. I. S. , for the savagery, we are missing the point. We learned from the lessons of history we need to take our enemies at their word. So i hope that with americas support, israel will do what it needs to. As much as it can minimize casualties, protect the sanctity of all life, buteradicate this evil. I want to congratulate Jonathan Greenblatt. Yesterday when the president talked about hamas, i want to talk about the brand of hamas. Its a world im going to use. Its an essence, a set of values and reason to be. Lets be clear. Their reason to be hamas has nothing do with a two State Solution, nothing to do with netanyahu or retaliation or human rights. It has to do the killing of jews on this planet. That is their brand. Im glad that the president brought up the holocaust. No different than nazis. Lets not lose sight of that. It is that simple, to kill jews. You can have context over here where you talk about both sides, you talk about the comple issues, and empathize with the palestinian plight. But theres no context here. There was no context to 9 11. We have to talk about it in absolute terms. The reason im laying that out is because i dont understand the silence that jonathan just talked about and the president talked about. When i say silence, we have what i call the pillars of our institutions. We have corporate america. We have academic institutions. We have the entertainment industry, communications and media. We have our political operatives. Almost without exception, theres been silence. Jews being slaughtered by the Mission Statement of exterminating jews, yet its well its contextualized. Universities are condoning the hate. I dont understand the silence from hollywood, from corporate america. I dont understand the silence from academics. I dont understand the silence from politicians. Theres no context here. This is about the slaughtering of jews. Thats the brand Mission Statement. David jolly . I think this is a very important conversation. I would put it in the frame of two things can be true at the same time. In this case, multiple things. We know historically that you have two populations who believe they have a claim to the land. You can make a decision what you think about that. Something else is true, which is hamas is a Terror Organization that used the most inhumane tactics to try to further its eradication of the jewish people. Theres no equivocating on that. Theres no reason not to denounce that. This chase that many of us try to live a life toward equity, this is not that situation. Its approaching the question of who has claim to the land. I think there are strong opinions on that. Its why israel is supported today. On the notion of how populations treat each other and how a Terror Organization behaves, the notion that there are any sympathies whatsoever towards hamas is a disgusting moment in our domestic politics and should be renounced. Thats why this conversation is so important. Im going to scramble the circuits of everyone and ask you to stick around. David, you have been with us a long time. Stick around a little longer. We will continue our coverage and our conversation. We will get at some of what the president got at today, which was specifically how we confront and call out and stop antisemitism in the wake of a brutal Terrorist Attack in israel. That conversation will be we will turn to when we come back. Later, we will talk about the israeli hostage crisis. We will be joined at the table by diane foley, the mom of james folly, the War Correspondent Capture and murdered by Terror Terrorists in syria. She dedicated her work to Freeing Hostages Around The World and those wrongfully detained. She will offer experience, expertise, comfort to the families whose loved ones have been taken by Hamas Terrorists. Deadline white house continues after a quick break. Stay with us. Ng new iphone 15 pro jason sean do you mean this one the one with titanium . sean no way i can trade this busted up thing for one. jason maybe stealing wishes from the birthday boy is not your best plan switch to verizon and trade in any iphone and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. sean what . jason yup, and on an Amazing Network sean and i dont have to ruin anymore Birthday Parties jason yeah, that ship has sailed. Lets go get you the iphone. Here we go, come on hon. vo its your last chance to trade in any iphone for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. [city ambience sounds] [car screech] [car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introducing neds plaque psoriasis. [camera shutter sfx] he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. Otezla is the 1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. [ned . ] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. With no routine blood tests required. Doctors have been prescribing it for nearly a decade. Otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. Dont use otezla if youre allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can happen. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. [crowd gasp] with clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. [ting] live in the moment. Ask your doctor about otezla. Theres holocaust number one and number two. Its mind blowing, infuriating, unbelievable that it happened in 2023 in israel. Back with jonathan, david and donny. Let me come back to you, Jonathan Greenblatt. We talk a lot about what makes it hard to call things out in this country. Right . I have pressed you, why cant Mitch Mcconnell call out an antisemitic attack . Wouldnt it help . You said, he wont call out racist attacks against his own wife. I feel like some of the things that people have been afraid to do are catching up with us. All of this simmering stew of hate coexists with the brutal Terror Attack in israel. I wonder how you see those two pieces fitting together and augmenting each other. I gotta say, im glad you asked the question. I wrote a book on it here. When you dehumanize people, when you deny their fundamental humanity, when you delegitimize their very existence, again and again and again and again, words have consequences. Words condition us as we learn from the big lie. Words condition us to see reality in a different way. Decades of highly antisemitic, antizionist propaganda pushed out by tehran is really the largest State Sponsor in the world. Its been taken and laundered by hamas, have led many people to believe that, quote, Palestine Liberation involves the murder of jews. Look, i dont know if the Palestinian People have ever been farther away from a state than they are right now. The idea that the Israeli Government, any Israeli Government and the people of israel would entrust their palestinian neighbors in gaza to a state of their own, i mean, i dont need to tell you, there has never been a greater damage done to the cause of palestinian rights than what hamas did on Saturday Morning. The massacre, the slaughter of innocent israelis, slaughtered the dream of so many of us for a two State Solution. Literally, it is in the blood of all these people. We need to again, words have consequences. When i have dealt with so many people who have said to me, maybe there could be a they could live in a status quo arrangement. Hamas was always their Mission Statement was the eradication of the zionist entity. They have accomplices here. There will be rallies tomorrow all over the country on College Campuses where people are going to extoll the resistance, if you will. What happened on saturday as a heroic win. Its atrocious. Every mother or Family Member that i have spoken to who has in one case a daughter and in one case a son and in one case a mom and a dad being held hostage by the Hamas Terrorists, has found a way to beautifully work into the conversation that they are not political. They wish for peace. What has happened to their son, daughter, mother and father, was so barbaric that they were treated worse that be the slaughtering of animals, that they dont see how thats possible. A level of heinousness we cant comprehend. Beheading a baby, taking a 9monthold hostage, killing elderly people. It goes back to my question, why the silence in this country from our institutions . Hollywood. Whats the answer . You know, i dont know if it goes back to the beginning of time that somehow the annihilation of jews falls out in a different place. It doesnt make sense. Somebody put is everyone afraid of getting attacked. They are afraid of the outrageous left. I think they are afraid of part of their audience they will offend. I dont understand hollywoods quietness. The top ten most wellknown instagramers who have 4 billion followers, half the country, only today the rock spoke out. This is where young people antisemitism is the biggest among young people. Jonathan can talk to that. Where are the ceos . How is there not outrage across the board . The final thing about children that you brought, you have heard from so many parents that their kids are terrified. Me, too. Is there going to be another holocaust here . My daughter was terrified last night. They have a right to be frightened. Unless the institutions im calling out speak up. This is not this is real stuff. Its not just over there. Its here. Listen to the president. David jolly, why is this hard for some people . Sometimes too much selfreflection is a sign of insecurity and arrogance, frankly. Too much Im Impar See D impartiality. This will be a long story line. What comes next is nearly impossible to picture a situation in which israel allows hamas to control and exist in the gaza strip after today. Are we talking about reoccupation . Are we talking about a shadow government, Puppet Government . I dont want to portend the answers. This is not retaliation and israel withdraws. This will be significant. It will last a long time. It will include bloodshed. Hamas as they victimized israel will be victimized through their efforts and actions. Ultimately, whatever the solution is, its going to involve coordination with the west, including the United States. For those who cannot speak out right now, you are not going to be able to continue your silence for long before you start beginning to feel the criticism of people who simply are asking that you stand up for innocent victims of terror. Can i Say Something to build on what david said . Of course. What donny said, the truth is, if you care about the Palestinian People, stand with the jewish people right now. If you care about the dignity and aspirations of the people of gaza, stand with the Jewish Community right now. Maybe that sounds count counterintuitive. To show compassion and decency for a people grieving those who were stabbed and burn and beheaded, that should not be hard. To celebrities, to ceos, if you are a ceo and watching this we created something called the workforce pledge. See it on adl. Org. Make it so easy for ceos and president s of universities to simply say, we stand with the jewish people. The bar is so low to simply say, enough. I think that the path to peace starts with loving one another. If people can just show a little bit of love for their jewish Brothers And Sisters right now, while we are hurting, while we are vulnerable, while we are scared, that could actually pave the path. The last thing i will say, while we are scared and vulnerable, what makes this different from the holocaust is we will never, ever, ever allow that to happen again. You had Better Believe being scared is going to be followed by being strong. If these barbarians from hamas, if these savages from hezbollah think they can intimidate israel and their accomplices here they they can intimidate the jewish people, they have another thing coming. Jonathan and david, i appreciate both of you. Thank you for having this conversation with us. Donny sticks around. When we come back, we will be joined by diane foley, the mom of james foley who was abducted and later killed by terrorists in syria. Shes a tireless advocate for hostages all around the world. She will be right here at the table after a quick break. Dont go anywhere. To a child, this is what conflict looks like. Children in ukraine are caught in the crossfire of war, forced to flee their homes. A steady stream of refugees has been coming across all day. Its bitterly cold. Lacking clean water and sanitation. Exposed to injury, hunger. Exhausted and shell shocked from what theyve been through. Every dollar you give can help bring a meal, a blanket, or simply hope to a child living in conflict. Please call or go online to givenowtosave. Org today with your gift of 10 a month, thats just 0. 33 a day. We cannot forget the children in places like syria, born in refugee camps, playing in refugee camps, thinking of the camps as home. Please call or go online to givenowtosave. Org today. With your gift of 10 a month, your gift can help children like ara in afghanistan, where nearly 20 years of conflict have forced the people into extreme poverty weakened and unable to hold herself up, ara was brought to a Save The Childrens center, where she was diagnosed and treated for severe malnutrition. Every dollar helps. Please call or go online to givenowtosave. Org today. With your gift of 10 a month, just 0. 33 a day. And thanks to special Government Grants that are available now, every dollar you give can multiply up to ten times the impact. And when you use your credit card, youll receive this special Save The Children tote bag to show you wont forget the children who are living their lives in conflict. Every war is a war against children. Please give now. We are told he was completely calm. I think he was probably in shock. He got up and he walked out with five other people. The police told us one thing they knew is the last known signal, cell signal from his phone was on the border with gaza. The message is, these are babies. Babies, women, families. Show some decency, show some respect. He is an arms length away in gaza, evidently, but couldnt be farther from me and our family right now. The voices of the families and their shock and grief and their feelings of helplessness and despair and determination. Those are some of the families who have shared, been generous about sharing their darkest hours with us as they deal with something unimaginable. Between 100 and 150 people, sons and daughters, as you heard, grandparents, are believes to have been taken hostage by hamas. Many are innocent civilians from babies to the elderly. They were seized from their homes in brutal fashion. Seized from military bases, a Music Festival. As the New York Times reports, theres no precedent for the scale of the Hostage Situation and the threats that hamas is making against them to wage its war against israel. Its a pain and horror that our next guest knows too well. Her son james foley was kidnapped while reporting in Northern Syria in 2012. He was tortured for nearly two years and publically murdered by i. S. I. S. Terrorists. She has since made it her mission to prioritize and advocate for u. S. Citizens held hostage overseas. Diane foley, mom of james foley, is here with you. The you are the founder of the james w. Foley foundation. This is work so heroic. I cant imagine being a mom and going through this. The people that have shared their stories with me, they rock me to my core. I wonder how you do this work. Well, if we can help any family in this situation, its healing. It has been healing to me. I mean, since all this happened to jim, we have had hundreds of americans come home. The horror of it doesnt change. This has been so, so worrying to me. To be honest, the assault on innocence is very similar to what happened in syria. Jim was some of the western hostages that were taken. There were thousands of syrian locals, citizens who have gone through the same horror. Thats why its so horrific to see it again. The heinous Human Rights Violations of just no limits, you know, no limit to taking children, elderly, ripping families apart. That part is just so horrifying. The hatred that would make a human act like that. To another human. Yes. Its just horrifying. What works in these situations . Well, the government needs to first of all prioritize the return of their citizens. When it was with jimmy, when he was taken with three others, that was not the case. A governments got to make that commitment, which is not easy. Because then once you make that commitment, you have to theres a lot involved to work with terrorists or nation states that take our people. Its very complicated. Its very difficult. We dont want to have to negotiate with people who do such atrocities really. There have to be multiple strategies. And then there has to be comprehensive deterrence. Obviously, we want this to stop. This is you know, its amazing the strides we have made to be honest, as a nation. I mean, our Secretary Of State and president says its a priority. Thank god. That, to me, gives hope to those families. Because that means our government is doing all they can through the consulate, through the Israeli Government, to really find these people and get them out. Which wasnt the case with jimmy. Jimmy was collateral damage. In that sense, we have made a huge progress to me as a nation. We realize, these are our people. We must prioritize them. But then it gets to the hard work of making that happen, which is very difficult, especially in a zone like that. Can we call him jimmy . Sure. When jimmy was taken by a terrorist organization, there were all these structural hurdles that you are describing. The Hamas Terrorist Organization now holds 150 hostages. What are the unique and extra challenges to dealing with terrorists who have taken hostages . Well, thats a very good question. Back in 2012, 2014, they felt the best president obama in his best judgement felt the best way was we do not negotiate. The problem with that is that, okay, then they will all be killed. So thats what happened. Thats what the uk did at that moment in time. Since then, we have realized we must find ways for shrewd negotiation. Sometimes it needs to be a military Covert Military action. Sometimes thats the only way. Sometimes theres shrewd negotiations, something they need right away. Its very difficult, particularly in this urgent situation like this, where they are threatening the lives of the people right now. Its very difficult. When its a longterm situation, then theres a little more opportunity to get creative about how do you negotiate to get people out. Which we have done in many countries with venezuela and in russia and iran and such. With the Terrorist Group thats doing an urgent thing like this, its very, very difficult. It is. I have thought about him and his journalism a lot, as you have watched the world literally explode. He was in syria telling a story that had to be told but nobody else was telling. When you look at the war in ukraine or the war now in gaza, what stories do you think jimmy would have been attracted to . I just see as a matter of fact, right now im at a conference, the alliance of culture of safety. Its full of freelance journalists doing the same thing. They are brave men going out in the most dangerous parts of the world, ukraine, gaza. I was talking to someone from the New York Times and how they are trying to protect the civilian journalists in gaza, trying to bring the information to us. They are at risk. Its important work. Our world needs to know whats happening. But its very dangerous work. Theres no getting around it. Do you feel retraumatized when you see these stories . Or are you so far some of it, yes. But i have to look at the progress and the human component. When we work with families and can give them some hope and actually see people come home, thats what i have to i have to focus on all the positive. The negative is really tough to deal with. It gets back to where we started. The heroes in the story are the people who tell us the truth. Im honored to be sitting next to you. Its a privilege, really. You see vibrant. Where do you put this . How do you get your arms around and it say, why did this happen . My jimmy is a good boy. How do you bring faith into this . I cant imagine losing a child. What do you do with that . Well, my faith has helped me. Theres no question. I mean, yeah, i believe in a merciful loving god. This isnt of god. This is people who take hatred and do evil things in the world, right . I mean, this is people allow that hatred to take over their souls. So after jimmy was murdered, thats when all the good people stepped up, seriously. Lots of angels, good people surrounding us, encouraging us, helping us to do it better. As americans we can take care of our people. But this isnt the jimmy would have wanted the positive. Jim was an optimist. He would have want his legacy to be, were going to make it better for the next. And you are the legacy. Well, god willing with a lot of other people, people like you, thank you. Its amazing. Please come back, and keep talking to us about what these families are going through because i just cant imagine. I thank you for helping the American People to become more aware. Its a threat to us as a nation, and we need to know how to address it and protect our people. Well, i hope grace our chair and our desk any time, in the conversation. We want to let you know that this weekend is the ninth annual james im going call him jimmy now, freedom run. For the free press and frohm of all americans held hostage overseas. Quick break for us. Well be right back. Break for us well be right back. [man struggles] i need some sleep. [man relieved] if you struggle with cpap, you should check out inspire. Inspire. Sleep apnea innovation. Learn more and view Important Safety Information at inspiresleep. Com im gonna hold you forever. Ill be there. You dont. You dont have to worry. Hi. I use febreze fade defy plug. And i use this. Febreze has a microchip to control Scent Release so it smells firstday fresh for 50 days. 50 days . And its refill reminder light means ill never miss a day of freshness. Since my citi custom cash® card automatically adjusts to earn me more cash back in my top eligible category. Suddenly lifes feeling a little more automatic. Like doors opening wherever i go. [sound of airplane overhead] even the ground is moving for me yall seeing this . Wild and i dont even have to activate anything. Oooooohhh. Automatic sashimi earn cash back that automatically adjusts to how you spend with the citi custom cash® card. [mind blown explosion noise] yesterday on this program we had the privilege the speak with a mom in israel. Her daughter had attended that Music Festival that was attacked by the Hamas Terrorists. Her daughter had been missing ever since her final frantic text from the Early Morning hours of the Music Festival. Today we learned some from sad news. She had been notified her daughter has die. She was only 21 years old. She was beautiful. She was not a soldier. She was a civilian, and she was the beloved daughter and sister. We do not are the privilege to know her in her life, so here she is in her mothers words yesterday. Shes such a fun girl, such a Beautiful Girl in and outside. She has high volumes for lives. Shes honest, shes so aware of herself and to her environment. And she brings light with her wherever she goes. Shes always smiling. She loves the beach. She loves sports, and her boyfriend is also completely devastated. Her prosecutors are devastated. We are she wouldnt like to see us this way. She wouldnt want to see us we extend our deepest sympathies to ahuva, to adis brothers and her boyfriend and all the grieving families whose loved ones have been killed in this horrific Terrorist Attack. Well be right back. ll be righ. Mlb chooses tmobile for business for 5g solutions. To not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. Nows the time to see what americas largest 5g network can do for your business. 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