Transcripts For CNNW Smerconish 20240703

The ground war seems imminent but how its described is already a subject of debate. Im in philadelphia. One week from the brutal attack by hamas to israel and now israel have ordered 1. 1 Million People to advocate their homes. The crisis is deepening. Theyre putting up a united front from visits to the middle east. Behind the Front A Diplomaticing Challenge is brewing about public messaging. The State Department sent an email to a small group of officials who work on that messaging not to use words like deescalation, restoring calm. Jennifer, what can you tell us, from washington, d. C. Good morning. Were seeing this administration tow this difficult line when it comes to the war in israel. Normally we would see the administration coming out to urge calm and urge the parties to deescalate. We have not seen any of that in the past week. We have seen full support for israel for those attacks by hamas last weekend. Secretary of state has traveled and said these are not retaliatory operations carried out. These would not be retaliatory if israel was to launch a Ground Incursion and said these would be defensive to insure Something Like this does not happen again. He said if Something Like this happens to america, america would respond in the same way. Behind the scenes we have also scene this reflected in that email you referenced that went out to the small group that work on public messaging, urging them to reflect from Secretary Blinken from President Biden to not use the phrases like deescalation and ceasefire and calm. They want to be on all fronts. I am told this is a small group, not a diplomatic cable that went out to a lot of embassies or anything like that but it is notable they are trying to put up such a unified front as this incursion seems imminent. The take away seems they dont want any perception theyre putting any limitation of any kind on netanyahu and idf and it seems like it was something i saw from Secretary Blinken i with will put on the screen. The secretary Foreign Minister and i spoke on the attack on israel. I encourage the advocacy for a ceasefire. He didnt want that lingering so that was deleted by the State Department. Your thought. Yes. The state Department Spokesperson was asked about this earlier this week and said it did not convey the message they wanted to convey to the public so they deleted it. That does underlying what you are saying, they dont want any impression they are not supporting israel in any of its operations to respond to what happened last weekend. I should note they have started to speak more about the need to protect civilians, something we had not heard in the forefront of their messaging. In the immediate aftermath, we are Hearing Blinken and others talk about the need to protect those civilians in gaza. Thank you. We appreciate it. Go to my website at smerconish. Com. This is todays Poll Question. Should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza . Its a race against time for more than a million gazans as israel encourages them to head south with what is likely an assault. Becky anderson is on the ground in tel aviv. How long before the israelis launch this assault and what can be accomplished during this pause . Reporter this is the big question, isnt it . Of course, this hour, as your show went to air, is the close of what is the advertised window. It is 4 00 saturday and the israelis advertised they would extend this Passage Window that is safe. We dont know what will happen yet. We do know the part of the israelis that will encourage as many as 1. 1 million gazans to evacuate south towards the valley to egypt that is gaza city you have to assume is going to be the clear target of any escalation in this conflict on the part of the israelis be that by ground or air, which is what many many many people here, of course, are anticipating. I have to say, you know, weve beep on the ground here more than a week now and all the sources i have spoken to on the israeli side certainly not indicating what their plans might be. We do know the israelis have saturated that border with gaza with 300,000 troops mobilized there, and they have been in the last 24 hours conducting what they describe as raised into gaza to try and discover and collect evidence of happenings, 100 to 150 hostages we know. A number of them americans being held by hamas and also these raised to try and denigrate or destroy any hamas infrastructure. So the short answer to your question is we dont know when this wider conflict will start. We dont know when this wider Military Assault will begin and we dont know what the scope of it will be. So what we do know is that the u. N. Is telling us it is almost impossible to get everybody evacuated out of northern gaza, hospitals, people who are in hospitals, disabled, elderly, theyre very very short of fuel and water at this point. Electricity, of course, is a total siege at this point. One thing we do know becky reporter the administration sorry, let me just say has been working closely with its allies, israel and egypt and trying to get the citizens out of that crossing. Its closed. I have just seen photographs indicating there are about 500 people down on the gaza side of that border. It may be we are seeing the beginning of an evacuation of u. S. Citizens at least from gaza. Sorry. Quick answer if youre able. If the gazans get to where the israelis would like them to go what resources if any await them . Reporter nothing. Nothing more than what is in Southern Gaza at present. The u. N. Agency which usually works in the north, they have reportedly moved some of their operations down into the south. Nothing like the scale of what would be needed. They are already sheltering 330,000 people, their medical and education facilities. Nothing like we need. The rafa border is being closed at present. What is discussed is opening that up on the egyptian side for the aid, medical supplies, fuel sitting on the egyptian side of the border to bring into Southern Gaza, too, to your point provide some sort of infrastructure and support for people fleeing south. That border at present, as we understand it, remains closed. All of those supplies stay on the egyptian side of the border at this point. Becky anderson, nufor that report. Now, on the question of should israel have seen it coming, cnn is reporting in the weeks before last saturdays attack by hamas, the u. S. Based reports by israel warning the Biden Administration of increased risk of Palestinian Conflict and warned of Rocket Attacks across the border and unusual activity by hamas, all indications an attack was imminent. Richard clark joins me now a former Terrorism Advisor who advised three consecutive u. S. President s. It was during his tenure with george w. Bush he wrote a families memo warning security adv advisor condoleezza rice. And of the deaths and the trade center sadly proved him correct. He has written ten books and recently wrote a piece for smerconish. Com titled 50 years after the war which means we dont want another war in the middle east that is based on false intel. Thank you for joining us. I guess i could say one of your books was entitled warnings on exactly this subject. Whats the intel now on this coming to light and whether could have been acted upon . There are two problems with the warnings issue. One, if your opponent knows how you collect intelligence they can hide from you. Thats whats happened here. Hamas knows israel well, they know how they collect with drones, cig signals intercepts they worked around that. The other problem with warnings is you have to have a Warnings Officer who has the courage and instinct to see indicators and break the glass and sound the alarm. What this looked like to the israelis was more of the same because a lot of things like the small Border Crossings occur all the time. Im curious as to whether you think americans have the patience for whats about to unfold . One of your old boss, former president george w. Bush said Something Interesting this week. I will roll it for all of us to watch. Steadfast. But its not going to take long. Its gone on too long. Surely there is a way to settle this through negotiations. Both sides are guilty. My view is one side is facilitity and its is guilty and its not israel. Dont be surprised if israel takes whatever actions to defend herself and it will be ugly for a while. Its gone on too long said w. What do you say . I think hes right, at least about that. The American People will be very upset when they see whats about to happen in gaza and so is the world. It may be israel is walking into a trap. The Iranian Foreign minister has been to syria, meet to hezbollah in lebanon. It could well be the iranians are planning a massive hezbollah response once the world is outraged by the messages coming out of gaza when the israelis stop their operation. Images. The israelis of to make these Decisions Cooley and calmly in a calculating way. Right now, they are like The Americans were after 9 11, they are traumatized and looking for venge dependence. You can also hear colin powell talking about the pottery barn relative to gaza and going into gaza. What am i referring to and what do you make of that . Colin powell said in 2003, remember the pottery barn, if you break it you own it. The israelis have two questions, who Will Run Gaza after they destroy hamas and, two, what will nthey do ab getting hostags out. I think they have answers and very very good answers. They are not saying this is a very small group of people at the top in israel making these decisions without communicating what they are. The answers, i think, are theyre going to run it, which is not a good outcome, and theyre really not going to be able to get the hostages, which is a terrible outcome. Wow. I was just going to ask to what extent the hostages pose an impediment to israel doing what israel wants to do visavis gaza. Normally, the israelis are very sensitive, perhaps too sensitive. That i traded a thousand hamas prisoners for one israeli soldier a few months ago and some were involved in the attack a week ago. I think theyve gotten to the point they think they have to eliminate hamas and if the hostages cannot be rescued in the process theyre ready to accept that as part of the horror about to happen. There seems to be conflicting information about the iranian role and im curious what you think of it and the Biden Administration and failure for pointing a finger directly at iran for being a catalyst for a what unfolded . The Biden Administration is saying publicly theres no smoking gun. Of course theres no smoking gun. Theres years of iran arming, Equipping Hamas and hezbollah. I smell an iranian hand here and this is exactly what iran wants. They instigated it in my opinion to break up the deal the United States was about to do involving israel and saudi arabia, which is now on ice. I think iran is plotting chapter two here involving hezbollah. If hezbollah attacks israel with Tens Of Thousands of more sophisticated missiles while israel is engaged in gaza the United States could come under pressure to get involved and to help save israel by air strikes against hezbollah in lebanon. That would bring the United States into a much wider middle east war. We are on the precipice of that. Thats what tony blinken and others are now trying to prevent by their Shuttle Diplomacy around the middle east. Okay. Less we it probably is not required to be said lest we repeat the mistake of iraq we have to see the proof it needs to be convincing, right, relative to ap iranian role . Absolutely. The American People and American Congress are not going to be happy with the United States saying there was an iranian role, believe us, trust us, we cant show you the evidence. Not this time. Not this time. Richard clarke, thank you. Appreciate your expertise. Thank you, michael. What are your thoughts . Hit me up on social media. I will read some during the course of this program. Lots to get to. Long term repercussions on both sides says scott morrison. I think president bush had it right when he said its gone on for too long and gone on for a week and israel has yet to do what it intends to do in gaza. Public is fickle. Tyke is of the essence. Up ahead, the war in israel is part of many crisis this members of congress have been unable to address since the ouster of Kevin Mccarthy. Jim jordan had 55 people still vote against mim. Him. I will speak to someone who thinks if jordan can get to 217 he needs to end the impasse. And hamas took hostages including regular citizens to children and elderly and americans. Is there any hope of rescuing them in this situation . You just heard Richard Clarke address that. And i will talk to someone who talks about who is responsible for the hostages abroad. For todays Poll Question, should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza . Speaker so it can get back to work. Friday, jim jordan was nominated to be the Speaker Aftering Being spoken to by sean hannity. In the crisis of israels war against hamas to a Government Shutdown now just 34 days away. Its unclear whether jordan can win enough support through the entire house to get the 217 votes. Friday, he still had some opposed. Joining me now who pushed for his oust. Matt gaetz. Do you regret ousting him with the fact we have no speaker . Absolutely not. Israel has a right to defend itself and no need for us despite we cant meet. The Legislature Passed by senator marco rubio of florida the administration is preauthorized to meet any need israel could possibly express in this particular phase of the crisis. My expectation is we will elect speaker designate jim jordan as House Speaker next week and move forward with resolutions of support. Those are nonbinding exp expressions of our opinion when it comes to the movement of the intel and we are preauthorized because our relationship with israel is that unique. How do you think jordan crosses the finish line with 217 if there were 55 votes against him as is being reported, you were there, 55 votes against him in that ballot last night. Initially there were 81 votes against jim jordan and 30 minutes later there were only 55 votes against jim jordan. On that trajectory he seems to be gaining a good amount of momentum. Those 55 votes on jordan were on a secret anonymous ballot like the basement of the office building. Its a second thing to stand on the floor and vote against the second most popular man in america. I know how hard it is. I did it to extract confessions i thought were meaningful unfortunately the former speaker did not live up to. I think we will elect jim jordan. We could have done it last night and i would have preferred that path but speaker emeritus jim jordan said he wanted his Family Members to be there. One thing Kevin Mccarthy and i agree on, jim jordan will be the next speaker of the house. You heard the criticisms including one in your caucus said its a group of idiots leading us down this path and responding to the democracy around the globe. How do you think the congress of the United States has arisen after your ouster of Kevin Mccarthy . I find it ridiculous. Oh, no, the world is ending because we havent passed resolutions this week. The entire senate was out this week. The United States takes seven weeks off every year for essentially a summer vacation. There are days all we vote on are procedural votes and post offices. I think the Chaos Narrative is a bit overplayed particularly in the beltway because the lobbyists and Special Interests want someone they control. They had that in Kevin Mccarthy. Just because they had a motion 0 vacate doesnt mean there was chaos because there were ten days we were off the house floor. We have not put our pencils down. We were getting briefings on the middle east. And i was taking depositions pursuant to our oversight work. Dont believe because there isnt floor action somehow our representatives arent working, i have been working. I heard you talk about autopay for israel, to the extent there is congressional action required of any kind visavis israel, will you be seeking to tie it for support for ukraine . I will be seeking to untether any question about ukraine for any question on israel. Its important you ask that question. What does that mean . I think they deserve their own vote and dignity. However you feel about israel and ukraine, i think a responsible and reasonable government ought to address those questions separately. They shouldnt be lashed together. I would support meeting additional requests from israel for aid. I would not for ukraine. Mushing things together, log rolling them, that is the old way of washington. Thats what im trying to change whether its our Budgeting Process or foreign aid i want individual votes on separate and disparate questions. Many of your colleagues dont share that view. Is that your understanding . In other words, those who seek to diminish United States support for ukraine are now looking to this israel issue as a means of doing so. Unless we felt a reduced role for ukraine were not going to support israel to the extent youd like us to. Thats a sentiment im hearing. That is not the sentiment from the administration. The administration is trying to combine the question and im trying to separate the question. One of the questions we got in house rules that will outlast Speaker Mccarthy is rules committee to raise points of order and questions to try to separate those. When we had our 886 billion defense bill Marjorie Taylor green was successful getting a separate vote on the 300 Million Dollars for ukraine because of that subject we got in january. That 300 Million Dollars for ukraine passed but with a majority of republicans voting against it. For now for anyone to move legislation to support ukraine they would have to roll a majority of the republicans who now believe we should be less involved in that conflict but that in no way diminishes our support for israel very strong in a bipartisan fashion. Final quick question, whats your answer to my Poll Question today, should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza . I knew i was getting this question. I think the Biden Administration should be focused on egypt to set up Refugee Camps and passageways. You only deescalate after military operations are concluded. My answer would be no today and efforts focused on humanitarian passageways to get civilians out of gaza. If we have a pile of dead muslim kids that could increase the amount of terrorism in the world not decrease it. I understand israels very sincere and legitimate efforts to destroy hamas once and for all. Put the social media up there, either a complaint about gaetz or me hosting him. Maybe he will want to respond. Jordan is the worst of bad choices for speaker, further proof the gop cannot govern effectively for all of america. You would say what to that person at x . At x76, i guess im glad youre not a member of the United States congress. If you were, you would know jim jordan is a virtuous man across the congress. Thats a distinction between jim jordan and Kevin Mccarthy and one reason im excited to make him House Speaker. But those like me say mccarthy was willing to reach across the aisle for debt and less we suffer default. Ten seconds you get the final word. I think Kevin Mccarthy was ousted by republicans and democrats because he made multiple contradictory promises he never planned to keep. Jim jordan get us back to sanity and policies we need to win elections and push our policies. Congressman gaetz, now for coming back. Thank you, michael. Always good to be with you. He just answered the Poll Question. I need you to answer the Poll Question. Should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza . Congressman gaetz was a no vote. Coming up, the battle on campus for speech issues leading to consequences for teachers and job hunters and donors. In harvard releasing a statement putting all the blame on israel, this Billboard Truck circled the names and faces of student members. Should times of war impact Speech Rights . The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Is there any way to safely rescue the hostages in gaza . The Terror Group Hamas is holding as many as 150 people hostage in gaza ranging from officers and children and nationals from other countries. And israel has cut off fuel and electricity until hostages are sent home. They have never dealt with something on this scale before. Secretary of state Anthony Blinken said in on friday they are working for the release of the hostages and americans. And joining us now is former if assistant to President Trump and senior director for terrorism at the white house that gave him responsibility for u. S. Citizens being held Hostage Overseas and also director of the International Spy museum in washington, d. C. I have to say the person we had on the program, Richard Clarke, was rather pessimistic about the hostages being republiced. Rescued. Do you share that sentiment . I did hear what Richard Clarke said. Because of the sheer scale there are individuals that will be extremely vulnerable, talking about the hostages, just because of the sheer number, scale, what you just outlined. Theyre underground, likely separated. It is an immense Rescue Operation and hard to get to those hostages simultaneously. It is a significant magnitude of sophistication to pull Something Like that off. How likely are they to be a go between . Very likely. I participated in a government in a bilateral exercise just in july, which was the first time we ever did that. The United States, the embassy was there, u. S. Ambassador of the qatar kicked it off. Theyre very capable, enthusiastic and want to be brokers in the region and very effective as in terlocutors and we have seen that with relationships with the taliban. I think you can not shut off any avenues you have to possible negotiations down the line. Is shutting off food and energy and water an effective means of getting those hostages released, or do you really see the two as not being connected . I dont see the two being connected because when israel decides at a time of their choosing and places at their choosing to execute their Combat Operations theyre going to do that simultaneously, theyre going to do it fast. At the end of the day, its not going to be prolonged in terms of the initial assault, if that does play out in gaza. Right now, you want to put pressure on the hostage takers. Thats classic rescue sop, if you will, standard operating procedures. Finally, colonel, obviously a lot of planning went into the unprovoked attack last saturday. One wonders what you do with 150 hostages once they are under your charge. Thats not easy. Thats an interesting point. I dont think hamas thought through the second and Third Order Effects of having to feed, clothe, secure their hostages. I think they went well beyond their mall lined capabilities and are extremely vulnerable. They might be looking for ways out of the situation they created for their own making. Thank you for your time and expe expertise, we appreciate it. Lets check in on social media comments. From the world of youtube, does the u. S. Still operate under the philosophy of do not negotiate with terrorists asking madison. I dont know the answer to the question. It seems to me the israelis are answering it now and their answer heretofore seems to be no and can you blame them in this circumstance. Answer this weeks Poll Question, should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza . We had reporting at the outset of the program, in case you missed it, there have been some emails, advice given to a small audience with words we dont want to use and not perceived putting limitation on the israeli response. Coming up also igniting protests on several American College campuses leading to schools losing donor money and students seeing job offers rescinded. Should students who participated be blacklisted by Perspective Employers . The brutal attacks against israel by hamas Reigniting Debates across College Campuses about where to draw the line when it comes to free speech. Several companies, universities and donors have been taking punitive actions. Stanford university separated all the jewish students in class by labeling them colonizers. The university removed the teacher and is currently investigating the matter. When columbia students held pro israel rallies, they closed the gates for concerns of public safety. The University Of Pennsylvania with a history of making antisemitic remarks, alumni rowan, a donor is calling for University Leaders resign and other donors protest by giving only a dollar. The repercussions have also extended to employers. One law firm rescinded its job offer to a former associate of the nyu Bar Association saying quote inflammatory comments on israel and gaza profoundly conflict with the firms values. Perhaps the biggest fallout was Harvard University after 34 signed a statement that solely blamed the Israeli Government for hamas and a truck that drove with the names and faces with a virtual screen under a banner that read harvards leading antisemites. And harvard alum bill ackman is calling for them to release the names with the students affiliated with the letter so his company can blacklist them from getting hired. Several ceos have echoed his request in excluding jonathan, who said i would like to know so i never hire these people. Joining me now is the president for the foundation for individual rights and expression or fire. Hes also the coauthor of the bestseller, the coddling of the American Mind and the new book, the canceling of the American Mind. Youre a First Amendment advocate, a defender of free speech on campus. Where is the line in these circumstances . Depends on the case. When it comes to the stanford case and im a stanford alull, that was a case where the professor literally made jewish students to raise their hands, told them to take their stuff, get in the far corner and started telling them, youre colonizers. As many jews have been killed by the colonizers than the holocaust. Thats something they can publish a professor for and the case stanfords actions are appropriate. The other is Freedom Of Speech and Freedom Of Association to decide who they hire, but in canceling the definition of canceling culture is get people fired for their political opinion since 2014. In this case while certainly again employers can decide who they hire, actually deciding to blacklist them for their opinion is cancel culture. It might be cancel culture many people agree with, but lets not pretend. At the university of florida, president ben sasse put on a different approach. The statement he released, he said, i will not tiptoe around this simple fact. What hamas did is evil and no defense for terrorism. This shouldnt be hard. Sadly so many people in academia have been so weakened by moral confusion when they see videos of beheaded and babies and to some their reaction is provide context and explain the baby and beheaded grandmother. This thinking separate just wrong, its sickening, dehumanizing and beneath people called to lead our next generation of americans. Thankfully i eighth seen that either inch our faculty or studt body. That is in bounds what a president can do. Our personal position and here is universities should express more political neutrality on issues of the world. The University Of Virginia said were concerned about our students in israel and there and their families. I thought that was perfect. In many schools they comment on too Many Political issues. I think ben sasse was clearly within his rights to say that. Im pretty sure he also came out with a statement defending the free Speech Rights of his faculty and students at the same time. In a different era or the vietnam war at the university of chicago, i think it was 1967, academics were tasked with the responsibility of how do you address these political and cultural hot spot topics. What did they determine . The calvin report is what i advocate for, that came out of the 67 moment. The institution is not setting the political positions and shouldnt create orthodoxies on our campuses. We will withhold that and let the discussion take place among the professors and students. We think thats very wise. We have been watching some including stanford really come out in favor of neutrality. At the same time, having done this for 22 years, the fact it took this incident to decide to be neutral, i understand the sin sierms and skepticism. And harvard has come out with Free Speech Rules now. The proof will be in the pudding but i welcome the change and i hope its for real. Craig, thank you. Good luck with the new book. Thank you so much, michael. Always great seeing you. Still to come, more of your best and worst social media comments and the final result of the Poll Question. Should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza . The result of the question, so close. A stone cold 50 50. Should the Biden Administration encourage deescalation in gaza. I time for just one social media reaction. What do you have . War is hell, deescalation would prolong it. Let the israeli finish the job. 50 agree with you. According to our reporting, we had jennifer here earlier and she said this was advice. Stay away from deescalation shared with just a few people. Somebody among the few must not have agreed with it because it got leaked. Cnns war coverage continues. Wolf blitzer will continue at 11 00 a. M. Stay right here