Speaker, theyre wrong. It is going to be a republican speaker and he was not suggesting that. Some of my some of my democratic colleagues have been pushing for, you know, four or five of us to vote for hakeem jefferies. Thats not happening. I understand that. Congressman mike lawler of new york. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you. This is cnn Breaking News. It is the top of the hour. Im dana bash in washington where the State Of The Union is holding its collective breath. You are watching a special live hour of cnn Breaking News coverage. Israel at war. A top israeli official just told me more than 600 people are dead and more than 2,000 are injured after Hamas Terrorists swept into israel. Several americans are reportedly dead and an israeli official says dozens of americans are among of the hostages brought back to gaza. We are talking about hostages who are largely civilians. Mothers, father, children, grandmother, sisters, brothers. Now 36 hours later israel has formally declared war and is still battling to clear Hamas Terrorists from inside its own borders. Watch this heartstopping video of a fire fight in the middle of a highway. Says are. It is being seen across social media showing the world of horror of this attack and in response, israel is retaliating against hamas in the form of relentless bombing on gaza cities. To get some perspective from israelis who are living through this terror, Esther Marcus is a residence of a kibbutz located within the gaza border and joins me now. Thank you. You are currently on a bus with your family evacuating. Can you discuss what you have witnessed in the last 36 hours . Yes, from 10 00 in the morning which is shabbat, a religious holiday. The first thing i heard was the iron dome which freaked me out because we havent heard that in a while and we had to get into a safe room and we have only gone in and stayed there, ten, 15 minute, maybe an hour or two, but this time we were in that safe room for 26 hours. We went in yesterday at 6 00 in the morning. We were only let out this morning at 9 00, and even while we were it wasnt just about being in the safe room. We had to lock all our doors, close our windows. Be in darkness. We being only have a bit of light in our safe room. We were in the safe room im talking my husband and i, my married daughter with her husband and two small babies, and my other married son and his daughter. So theres a whole bunch of us in the room and all we can hear is shooting going on outside which were the terrorists and obviously, we had to keep the babies as quiet as possible which was a huge challenge and at the same time keep ourselves as calm as possible in order not to put our anxiety and stress on to them and it just went on and on and on and in the beginning we didnt really know what was going on outside of the walls, and slowly and surely the news started creeping in. As hard as it was for us, i now understand it was even harder for other people that terrorists physically came into their houses, set fire to their houses and it is just awful and the terrorists infiltrated and they killed Foreign Workers whose bodies have still not been moved even because the situation is going on. There wasnt even time and its considered a Security Hazard to move these dead bodies. Esther, i cant even imagine what that was like to be in that safe room for more than 24 hours especially as you said with your grandchildren who are babies and its not easy to tell babies to be quiet. When you finally did emerge before you got on the bus where you are now what did you see . So when we came out and we started watching the news it just went from bad to worse and it was just all about taking care of ourselves. I also run a hot line for our local resilience center. Im in charge of the Therapy Center where weve been giving therapy for the residents and children in the area for teaching them how to react. Yeah. The main thought was to get the children as far away as possible, to get them to safety and then we started getting organized ourselves and when we were supposed to leave we then couldnt leave because again, they were scared that there was frustration and we had to get back into the safe room and it wasnt until 3 00 this afternoon we were able to get on the bus, and everybody is just completely freaked out. I cant even imagine. I cant even imagine. Thank you for sharing this story. Thank goodness that you and your family are safe. We all wish and hope that you have a safe jornurney up north. Thank you. However bad it is, it is worse for others and for the hostages that are found safe and sound and just pray. It truly is for us, as you expressed, our nerv9 11 and it y birthday and the Yom Kippur War and it happened on the 7th. Im sure we will get through this, as well. Israelis are very resilient people, and i appreciate you telling your story. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Byebye. Up next, is there a diplomatic way out of israels new war . Former u. S. Ambassador to israel will join me ahead. Welcome back to State Of The Union. Just in to cnn, we have information that new jersey senator cory bookers office says he has just left israel. The democratic senator arrived there on friday for several days of meetings. He was in jerusalem when hamas launched its attack. He sheltered in place and is now safely on his way back home. Very good news there. Joining me now to talk about the war in israel is the former u. S. Ambassador to israel tom nieds. We should disclose he is married to cnns virginia moseley. You left your post in july. You are tell very much in touch with the people who workede for you there on the ground as well as israelis. What are you thinking . Heartbreaking. I was talking to my former colleagues, their families and kids and i have many, many friends there. Most have shouleltered in placed many of them have family that have been called up for reserves as old as 55 years old have been called up. This is affecting every Single Person in israel and its heartbreaking and its senseless its beyond words and as someone who spent a couple of years there, i cant express my anger and frustration and just my heartbreaks for all these people. Understandably so. You, of course, have been in touch with the staff, you are talking about the israelis mostly, but the staff of course. The Foreign Service officers and how are you they doing . Ive had multiple conversations with Foreign Affairs who is doing a fantastic job. Theyre quite the largest in the world. Not only do you have families of americans and israeli, local people there. Her job is not only to communicate with washington, but communicate with the Expat Community in israel, The Americans. There are hundreds of thousands of americans in israel living every day and then to work with the staff. Staffs are scared. They wake up every day and theyre sheltered in place. Again, when you see these kinds of things and you watch it on tv andio dont realize the impact this is having on every Single Person who lives in the state of israel. For me its the the anger is quite inside of me. I can imagine. What about The Americans who we now know according to israeli and american officials who have been on this program today are who have not only been killed, but are hostages . Do we have any more information about them . No, ive been told the name. Obviously, we dont know the numbers and i dont think some people understand where they are and some are dead and some captive. Look at the visuals and whats happened. Hamas are a bunch of monsters and throwing kids, elderly, women and children and parading them around. Who does Something Like this . The reality of this is is the behavior and what youre seeing is only a part of it and obviously the days ahead are going to be painful, but do not underestimate the strength of the jewish people. Do not underestimate the strength of the israelis to rally, to come together to basically try to make this as good as it possibly can and get those hostages free out of gaza which will be in itself a massive operation. That was going to be my next question. There is a dual track, it seems, just pure retaliation and then getting the hostages out. The untold number of hostages out and doing so safely. That is a very, very tricky task. I think what people should understand first and foremost, hamas does not speak for the palestinian people. In gaza, i dont think people understand, 15,000 gazans leave every day to go work in israel. The reality is hamas is very, very unpopular in gaza and they dont speak for any of these people. They speak for themselves. They speak for terror and have one objective which is destroy the state of israel. The second objective is to bring a bunch of their friends in the region to also join in which thankfully so far hasnt happened and israel will do what israel needs to do to get the hostages out and to protect the state of israel and the people that sadly, have been captive. You have been there a couple of years representing the United States. You lived and worked through some very Tumultuous Times inside the netanyahu government. How much do you think, and this is a question that i have been asked. I asked ron dermer about this earlier, how much do you think that that government was distracted to the point where they were caught flat footed . This is is not the time to speculate and the good news is, and the bad news is there will be Plenty Recriminations here. Theres no lack of israelis relitigating and thinking about how we got here. The most important thing is right now is to get the men and the women and the kids out of gaza, to safely secure the border and make sure those people are brought home to their loved ones and there will be plenty of time to think about why this has happened and i applaud President Biden. We all knew and as someone who was his representative in israel, he cares deeply, deeply about the state of israel. He doesnt need to be a jew to be a zionist. He is standing by the state of israel to do what israel may need in this very, very difficult week ahead. There will be time to look back when it comes to the netanyahu government. The question looking forward is what is going to happen with the israeli government, questions about a new coalition government, how viable, and how realistic is that. Listen. As someone who is called for compromise many, many times, i think in a wartime setting which is whats going on right now as someone who has been there, it would be terrific to get lapid and gantz to Work Together to protect the people of the state of israel, get politics out of this. How possible is that . Listen, i dont know. Im not there, obviously. You know the players. I know the former Prime Minister and that would be lapid has suggested a coalition government. I know the former defense minister benny gantz has suggested and worked toward that, again, at a time of cries i not dissimilar to what happened to us in 9 11, countries come together, people come together, israelis come together and its time to get out of politics and get it out of the way and the security of the state of israel and the security of those people who are now captive by these lunatics in gaza, get them out and get them home. How worried are you, you mentioned this about the north, for example, hezbollah and the organizations like hezbollah. We had mike mccaul on earlier wondering about whether the taliban is going to somehow find a way to take advantage of this inside israel . How worried are you about this expanding in an even more dangerous way . Listen, im not going to speculate at this point. Clearly hezbollah has decided not to engage in a fullforce way. I dont believe they will. I think ultimately they know the costs that we paid. Israel will not step aside and let the hezbollah attack israel. Make no mistake. Ive been in the meetings with the israelis and they mean business about this. By the way, america has got israels back. Theyre not just thinking about the israeli security. Joe biden has said over and Secretary Of State blinken said on your show this morning and Jake Sullivan and all of the people that are focused on this, weve got israels back and well make sure, to the best of our ability, to make sure other players dont get involved and make sure they stand by and stand aside as israel does what they need to get those hostages out of gaza. How worried are you about the saudi deal which has been a main focus of not only the United States, but of israel and saudi falling apart and whether that was part of the goal here by the Hamas Terrorists . Listen, ive been a big promoter of the idea of a potential saudi deal because i thought and still believe how grand would it be and hard to think about it in this current environment. The future will see, theres a reason why the haters dont want stability. They want to destroy the state of israel. Do you think its still on track . You know, this is clearly a setback. I dont think any of us should be under any illusions of this, but again, difficult things take difficult to keep focus and the people are focused on the endgame and if there is a chance that this could happen, well see what happens after we get through the current crisis. Last question. Mike mullen, a republican senator from oklahoma, i asked him how important it is to confirm jack lew who President Biden wants to be your successor to get over to israel and he said the people in your former office are quite capable and basically theres no rush. He wants to meet with jack lew and others do, too. What do you think . Jack lew should be confirmed tomorrow. He was a spectacular diplomat. He was a spectacular public servant. We switched jobs when we were deputies of state together. I think jack would do a good job. Yes, stephanie is doing a great job and more is better than less and jack would make a phenomenal ambassador. Nides, u. S. Ambassador to israel, as of july you are back. Thank you. Im honored, thank you. Up next, a look inside israels war strategy. Well go to the wall and talk t to a former defense secretary next. Is it possible my network could take my business to the next level . It is with comcast business. Powering all your devices with gigspeed wifi. And you get fast downloads and uploads. Pick it up pick it up oh we got this because its powered by The Next Generation 10g network. More speed for your business . Its not just possible. Its happening. Get started for 59. 99 a month for 12 months. Plus, ask how to get an 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Welcome back to State Of The Union. As we follow the unfolding War In The Middle East i want to get to pentagon correspondent orrin lieberman. You now cover the u. S. Pentagon. You spent years in jerusalem as cnns correspondent there. You know the region incredibly well. What can you tell us . So lets look at a few major factors here. One where the fighting is still ongoing and where israel is looking to reclaim its territory by Hamas Terrorists and first got fighting. Well give you a look at the hot spots. This village is 14 miles from the gaza border. These are just a few miles here and some villages are a hundred meter away from the border and this where we are seeing ongoing fighting with the terrorists that came across the border and sterot is a major city there on the gaza border. Theres an order there from the idf for residents there to remain inside their homes so an ongoing concern even when there isnt active fighting and a concern on the part of the israelis that thigh could be looking for as this ongoing well past the 24hour mark. In terms of evacuations. Israel has ordered evacuations and this is 14 miles away, but all along the border there, ordering evacuations and trying to make sure that they are operating as the Israeli Military is still trying to fight its way through what has been an incredibly stubborn resistance from Hamas Terrorists from across the border. Youve been focusing rightly on gaza and the israeli neighborhoods inside and near gaza. Lets talk about the northern border. Walk us through what happened there already and what is potentially a danger there. So that, and well zoom here. Heres what we are looking at in the lebanon border and it is a hezbollah stronghold. This is where they are the strongest and just like in gaza where youre looking at distances of a few hundred meters and its the exact same distance and the Israeli Community is right on the border and the Lebanese Community is right on the other side of the border and hezbollah took responsibility for firing several Mortar Rounds for several bunkers and outposts there. Israel retaliated and the fear is that that back and forth has ended and the fear is what could come if hezbollah becomes involved in a larger fight because they are exponentially more powerful and weaponry that hamas and gaza. Something like 140,000 unguided rockets and 10,000 guided missiles that at least have some measure of precision. The concern here is that if israel decides to carry out a Ground Incursion and that seems to be the threat right now that hezbollah is threatening or appears to be threatening to get involved and that can spiral very quickly, worth pointing out and hezbollah even more so backed by iran than hamas. Such important points and Critical Data points, as well when youre talking about the weaponry that hezbollah has sitting on the other side of israels northern border. Thank you so much for that, orrin. Lets talk more about this with