Next stage. Israel now escalating its gaza air strikes ahead of a likely invasion as fears grow, the region could be drawn into the conflict. What is israels lplan. I caution israel not to be blinded by rage. Chairman mike turner joins me and lifeline, more humanitarian trucks poised to enter gaza carrying desperately needed food, water and medical supplies. These trucks are not just trucks. They are a lifeline. But as israel preps for the ground war, are conditions about to get much worse . Plus, at odds. With future u. S. Aid to israel on the line, House Republicans are back to square one in their speaker search fiasco. We are in a bad place as a party. Can anyone unite the conference in former Republican Congresswoman liz cheney is here for her first media interview in more than a year. Hello. Im jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is breathing so much pain and loss of life. This morning the Israeli Military says it is stepping up its air strikes against hamas in gaza and the idf hit a mosque in the west bank to prevent what it called an imminent Terror Attack all as we learned more unimaginable details about the brutality of the hamas Terrorist Attack on israeli civilians on october 7th. Now with anticipation of a ground war building, the Human Devastation in gaza is coming into clearer focus. Disturbing new video shows a hospital in the Central Gaza District overwhelmed with bodies following overnight air strikes. Just now more air strikes are beginning to be allowed to enter gaza through egypts Rafah Crossing though not clear how many or what they were carrying and the first aid trucks were let in yesterday as the u. S. Warned more civilian lives in gaza are being pushed to the edge of catastrophe and as anger grows there are new signs of concern about Thisses Escalati Being A Regional War and the u. S. Deploying systems in response to escalations around the region. Secretary of state Antony Blinken held a cal with his qatari counterpart to get Hurricane Hostages released after two american hostages were released by hamas and are making their way home. What hamas got in exchange for those two hostages has not been disclosed. Joining me now from Northern Israel is cnns matthew chance. When it comes to fears of this war spreading to becoming a larger regional conflict israel says it is evacuating even more communities near where you are. Thats right. Im in the northern town which has already been evacuated. The authorities are sending busses who couldnt get out by their own vehicles and towns and villages all around the north of israel close to the lebanese and syrian border, as well theyve all been cleared out. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people both here and in communities in the south were evacuated because of the attacks last week in gaza who have now been displaced because of this ongoing violence in the country. The situation here in the north is particularly of concern because the Israeli Military says theres been an upsurge in attacks bile hezbollah forces in the past several days and rocket strikes and antitank weapons and infiltrations of militant fighters that have been repulsed as well, and all of this, the Israeli Military says theyve responded to and theyve carried out an increased number of attacks inside Southern Lebanon and they have warned lebanon and hezbollah, as well that it will press further, that it will launch enormous strikes on hezbollah and indeed on lebanon if that escalation continues. One Idf Spokesperson saying that hezbollah is playing a dangerous game and dragging lebanon into a war that it will lose. There is a lot of concern about what lebanon and hezbollah are doing and an absolute commitment from the israelis to strike back hard if that escalation continue, jake. Weve seen israeli troops at times building up on the border with gaza. Do we know anything about any sort of time line for an Israeli Ground incursion into gaza . No. Obviously, we are all very nervous and tense watching when that move will be made across that frontier into gaza. The israelis say theyve been stepping up air strikes and they intend to do that and put more pressure on hamas and the objective remains the same, they say, which is to in other words, destroy hamas and dismantle the military infrastructure, but in terms of where the actual green light for a Land Invasion will be put on, we dont know yet. There is a possibility although this isnt an official position at this point and there is a possibility that israel may be waiting to see what further results the talks between the United States and qatar and hamas may yield in terms of more Hostage Negotiations and more hostage releases. Already two u. S. Citizens held by hamas have been released and the hope that more freedom can be brokered and thats not the israeli position. They say they will choose the exact time and moment when it is best suited for a Military Incursion for the green light. Jake . Joining me now for her first media interview in more than a year, former Republican Congresswoman, liz cheney and she was number one republican in the house. Its good to have you. Thank you. Gaza city is very densely populated and hamas embeds itself within the population. Do you think its wise for israel to stage a Ground Incursion strategically and do you think israels been doing enough to prevent the loss of innocent life . We know hamas embeds itself within the population and thats what they do. Theyre a Terrorist Organization, but is it smart for israel . Look, number one, people need to recognize number one whats happening in terms of the conditions in gaza is the responsibility of hamas. The reason that people in gaza are facing the situation theyre facing, hamas has been in charge in gaza since 2006 at least. So israel we have moved so quickly beyond the focus on the devastation of the Terrorist Attack, the absolute barbaric slaughter of men, Women And Children and the stories that we continue to see come out of babies, you know, tied up with wire and murdered brutally and people tortured in front of their children. The fact that people have moved on from that is really wrong and israel on. Just fyi, we have not and we continue to tell the stories on cnn. I think its very important. What we have seen, though, Around The World and frankly before israel began any kind of a response in gaza we saw this this massive expansion and explosion of demonstrations Around The World, antisemitic, antiisrael. Here in the United States on our University Campuses is outrageous, its dangerous and needs to stop and israel must take whatever action it needs to take to defend themselves and the u. S. Should not tell them to slow down and they have to defeat hamas. In terms of advising a country that is an ally, a lot of people are drawing parallels to 9 11 although proportionately this was worse. This is the same as killing 40,000 people in israel as opposed to 3,000 on 9 11. On 9 11 your father was Vice President and take a look at what President Biden said in israel this week. I caution this while you feel that rage, dont be consumed by it. After 9 11 we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes. Given the goal of not just defeating hamas, but a longterm goal of israel living in peace, of a twostate solution, if thats even a serious proposition anymore, what lessons do you think we have learned as a country that we could tell israel, that we could share with israel. Well, look, i think probably the biggest mistake that we made post9 11 was President Bidens decision to withdraw from afghanistan the way that he did. I think the biggest lesson that weve learned and frankly, after 9 11 the fact that the steps we took for over 20 years now have prevented another Mass CasualtyTerrorist Attack at the hands of islamic terrorists is something that we all ought to be very clear about and we ought to remember. The lesson that we learned and the lesson that we need to apply here is first of all, these these conflicts are connected. Iran absolutely is behind whats happening with respect to hamas, with respect to hezbollah. Some of the hamas terrorists, they found iranian munitions, north korean munitions in their kit. The hamas leadership itself has talked about their ties and relationship with russia. Weve got an weve got adversaries against us who only understand strength and who only understand that, you know, that weakness to them, frankly is provocative, and if they think that were weak and if they think were going to lose our resolve, they will, in fact, be strengthened and the lesson that we need to learn here is iran needs to recognize if they do come in then they will face very severe consequences from israel, from us, but the forces of freedom are at war with the forces of tyranny and terrorism Around The World and america has got to lead. I thought that part of President Bidens speech in the oval office is good. I think that those themes of the indispensable Nature Of America and the Battle For Freedom Globally thats exactly right and what we need to be saying. The Administration Needs to make changes with respect to the iran policy. We saw just last week the Sanctions Venting Iran with the Missile Technology laxed and the administration didnt take steps to stop that. We need to enforce the sanctions with respect to the network and there are a whole list of things we need to do and in my view the lesson from the post9 11 era is that american strength is what matters and what will keep us safe and israeli strength is something that we ought to be supporting and advocating for. The attack was october 7th, the saturday. I think it was wednesday that donald trump gave a speech in which he insulted benjamin netanyahu, said the attacks wouldnt have happened if he had been president , saying that netanyahu let him down. He said it had something to do with the strike against suleimani, but people interpreted because netanyahu congratulated netanyahu after biden won the presidency and insulted the Defense Minister and called him a jerk. Praised hezbollah as smart. What was your reaction to that and did it surprise you that trump could say all of that about the Prime Minister while they were still burying the dead after the october 7th Terrorist Attack and it didnt have any impact on Republican Voters or what republican lawmakers on capitol hill said about donald trump . They were appalling comments, and you know, youre absolutely right that there should have been a response. I think every republican member of congress ought to be asked about those comments and he reportedly shared i Israeli Intelligence with the russians very early in his term. He also, as we know now from the indictments that weve seen from jack smith, shared highly classified military documents apparently relating to a, you know, Military Action potentially against iran. He shared that with mark meadows Ghost Writers and Political Consultants it seems according to the indictments. So if you think about not only is he out there advocating for, complimenting americas adversaries and Terrorist Organizations that slaughter innocents, he also seems to have shared very highly Classified Intelligence information with adversaries. Its simply the latest example of why donald trump is not fit to be president of the United States. Who do you think is providing better leadership on the International Stage biden or trump . Certainly biden. President biden pushed for more aid to ukraine and i want you to listen to what a senator had to say about the package that biden is pushing. Whatever your view, sean, on ukraine, it is a separate country in a separate problem. I think what the president did is completely disgraceful. If he wants to sell the American People on 60 billion more to ukraine he shouldnt use dead israeli children to do it. It was disgusting. Your response . Look, what j. D. Vance is saying is completely wrong, ignorant, uninformed. As i said before, america is facing four adversaries right now and major adversaries in china, russia, north korea and iran, and what happens with respect to our willingness to defend ukraine has a direct impact on all of those other challenges and conflicts we face and the idea that we are now in a situation where youve got this growing movement on the part of republicans not to support american aid to ukraine is dangerous. Its wrong. Anybody who is today saying they dont support aid to ukraine needs to be asked and frankly, i hope they will be asked in the Candidate Forum tomorrow night for speaker, why in the world would you be engaged in surrendering to americas adversaries because thats what that is. If you do not support aid to ukraine given the global atmosphere and the con ntext in which we are living you are in fact, helping americas adversaries and demonstrating weakness at a moment when you should be showing is strength. Its ill informed. Congresswoman cheney, well ask you about the candidates for speaker. Well be back after this short break. President , im so glad youre here. You endorsed me and then you just kind of disappeared. Yeah, well, thats because i prefer the jordans who win, okay . Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. The House Of Representatives are more specifically the republicans in the House Of Representatives are no closer to finding a speaker than they were two weeks ago. So with billions of aid for ukraine and israel on the table waiting for their consideration, with americans literally dying, House Republicans did what your boss would no doubt let you do if you were way behind on crucial projects. They took the weekend off. With at least Seven Members now saying theyll put their names forward, the speaker of the conference will reconvene tomorrow night with the speaker Candidate Forum with a possible vote on tuesday. Back with me now is former res Republican Congresswoman liz cheney. What has it been like to watch this fiasco play out over the last few weeks . Its hard to describe. I wish that it were surprising. You know, what weve seen is a result of really the Leadership Decisions that Kevin Mccarthy made all of the way back after the 2020 election and certainly after january 6th and you know, looking the other way in the face of the kind of assault on our democracy that weve seen from donald trump and his allies in the house including jim jordan, elevating those members, frankly, some of whom are White Supremacists and some of whom are antisemitic, a number of whom were involved directly in the attempt to seize power and overturn the election. So its not a surprise when you see that those people have been empowered mccarthy women nowered them, right . Exactly. Exactly, in order to obtain the votes he needed to become speaker and i also have been watching the extent to which Political Violence and the threats of violence have now reared their head once again. Those have become part of our politics in a way that certainly they never should. I talked to one of my former colleagues who was in the meeting with jordan, and the holdouts a few days ago, and he told me that when some of the members who were receiving these threats of violence raised it and asked jordan about it, that another one of our colleagues representative davidson, also from ohio said essentially, its not jim jordans fault. Its your fault because youre voting against jim jordan. That kind of acceptance of violence is completely inappropriate and dangerous in our politics. So i, you know, we need people who are serious and who recognize and understand the dangers that were facing globally as well as from donald trump and those who support him. It used to be that that kind of its called terrorism, the idea of people demonizing their enemies and not specifically not specifically calling for violence against their enemies and demon ieizing them in such way and who will come and threat