Maria, we will see you soon. Varney company picks it up, ill see you tomorrow. Stu, take it away. Stuart congratulations on your 30th anniversary, or maria. Maria thank you, stu. Stuart good morning, everyone. The mideast on the brink of wider war, and the president is struggling to stop it. He arrived in israel at 4 a. M. Eastern time. He met Prime Minister netanyahu looking tired and less than robust. The hospital explosion had derailed the visit, the air a wrap world arab world immediately blamed israel. Biden said, from what ive seen, it was the other team, not you, but theres a lot of people out there who are not sure. End quote. There is movement to the wider war. U. S. Forces foiled a drone attack on a base housing american soldiers. Protesters set fire to the American Embassy in lebanon. Hezbollah has called for a day of unprecedented anger. Theres a general strife and unrest in the west bank. The president will leave israel in a matter of hours, hell be on the phone Onboard Air Force one calling the jordanians, the egyptians, the Palestinian Authority trying to work on the hostages, on gaza and the involvement of iran and its proxies. Its a fast moving story, coverage throughout the the show. Minor losses for stocks just like yesterday. Profits and Interest Rates more important to investors than whats going on in the mideast. The dow down maybe 90. The s p down 23, the nasdaqs down just over 100 points. Modest losses. Interest rates holding at what i would call elevated levels and actually going a bit higher. The yield on the 10year treasury 4. 85, and look at the 2year. Last time i checked it was 5. 19, it is now 5. 20. Oil, last time the i checked 88 a barrel. Now its 87. 77 but rising gradually. Gold getting closer to 2,000 an ounce, youre at 1960. But gas, my lord, its falling again, 3. 57 for regular. Thats to down 30 cents in a month. Diesel actually up 1 cent at 4. 46. Politics. Another vote this morning to elect a new peeker. It is chaos speaker, and we have no clue as to whether jim jordan has enough votes. What a disgraces. The worlds on fire and the house has no speaker. On the show today, hamas supporters in congress, Rashida Tlaib immediately blames israel for the hospital blast and so does most of the media, accepting the word of hamas. Well show you the evidence of just who is responsible. Plus, the parallels between jimmy carters struggles with iran and President Bidens. Theres a long history of the mullahs upending american president s. When is it going to end . It is wednesday, october 18th, 2023. Varney companys about to begin. Stuart right to it, please. President biden is in israel this morning. He met Prime Minister netanyahu, but his summit with arab leaders is and his meetings with the Palestinian Authority all canceled. He wrapped up his meeting with israels war a cabinet. Lauren, what is the latest . Lauren the region is boiling after a blast killed more than 500 at that hospital in gaza. Both israel and and hamas are blaming each other. Israel released video and an intercepted audio call showing Islamic Jihad was to blame. The president stood with israel. Outraged by the explosion at the hospital in gaza yesterday. Based on what ive seen, it appears as it was [inaudible] but theres a lot of people out there there who are not sure. The worlds looking. We, israel has a value set that the United States does and other democracies. Lauren and thats why the second part of bidens trip to jordan to meet with the arab leaders was canceled. Now, the hospital explosion sparked protest in several middle eastern cities. There is a general strike on the west bank, widespread unrest. U. S. Embassy in beirut set fire by propalestinian rioters. The question today as i see it, what happens next. Is the hospital blast a pretext for iran to widen the conflict or for the u. S. To enter it or for israel to change its plan for a Ground Invasion . Stuart its a good question, we cant answer it. Lauren what now . Stuart cant answer it yet, but we will. Join Fox Corporation in supporting the united jewish appeal, donate at ujfedny. Org. A new quinnipiac poll shows that 85 of voters fear that the war in israel will escalate to a wider conflict in the mideast. Ben domenech with me now. Ben, put it all together, please. Fluid situation. I think it looks grim. Can the president prevent a wider war . Well, look, i dont think that joe bidens visit is coming in a way to save anybody. I dont think that its going to really salvage anything out of the Current Situation much as i think netanyahu has depended on the support of americans and leans on that american relationship in a lot of different ways, i dont think that what joe bidens mission there is in terms of what hes going to be saying behind the scenes is going to be something thats very welcoming for the leaders of israel. The simple fact is, stuart, we have seen i think a delay that ultimately hurt the ability of the israelis to do what they need to do in gaza and, ultimately, i think this hospital situation is only going to contribute to that. Look, i frankly would disagree with the idea that we have any confirmed number of deaths. Youre depending on hamas for that number. Youre depending on the Gaza NationalHealth Ministry which is, unfortunately, the kind of thing that we sew happen again and again see happen again and again. And yet those numbers are always things that seem to be revised after the fact, and many few media organizations do the work of revising them. I also think theres very strong visual evidence that this was a rocket that a went off and, frankly, broke up in a way that led to this tragic death. But certainly, you know, these are the kinds of things that happen quite a lot when youre depending on rockets that are being fire by various terror antiisrael organizations from within gaza. Look, its going to be hashed out in the coming days, but it is right now a pretext for canceling meetings that were a lot more important, i think, than the one joe biden is currently having with israeli officials. Tour or stuart ben, please stay right there. I want to move to the separate subject of the house meeting on a new speaker. Yesterday jim jordan didnt have the rotes votes. How many republicans went against jordan . Lauren 20. After this first round of votes, jordan is shy of the 217 he needs to take the gavel. He gets another chance today, round two of voting is expected after 11 00. Can he close the gap, or is his bid for the speakership on life support . Does another candidate have to emerge in order to take care of israel . Stuart lets bring back ben domenech into this. Ben, i find it hard to restrain myself. This failure to elect a speaker at a time like this, again, im going to use that word, i think its a disgraces. What say you . It is a disgraces, which is one of the reasons i think the timing of it is going to go down as one of the worst experiences for the Republican Party in years. They have shot themselves in the foot at the worth possible time and, unfortunately, as much as there are a lot of conservatives out there who really like jim jordan, would like to see him become speaker at some point, he didnt are anywhere the time he needed to ramp up a race for the speakership s. And a lot of people just assumed Steve Scalise would be the next in line. Now what i think is increasingly likely after today, at least one member has said hes going to put it forward if jordan once again fails as all of us really expect to be able to achieve the speakership, theyre going to put forward the idea of empowering the current speaker pro tem, patrick mchenry, probably through the end of the year, just in order to keep the government running and keep the house running to a certain degree. But9 with the understanding that he isnt the longterm speaker, but they can give his position more power to do the things and advance the bills and legislation needed to fund the government, keep the doors open and, frankly, address the numerous problems that they have in front of them around the world at the moment. Stuart will they need the democrats help to put in the pro tem speaker with more permanent powers . Thats a big question. I think that its possible that they get some democrat support for that. Thats already been teased by a number of democrats who, frankly, are frustrated and want to do something when it comes to israel in particular. So i think they may get it. Whether they need it or not is really a question of how much people want this are ridiculous chaos to continue. If they want the chaoses to continue, then i think that they will be opposed to it. If they want to actually have some temporary resolution and just say were going to, weve got to kick the can on this because nobody can get to the right number, i think youll see a number of democrats who could potentially vote present, lowering the threshold in order for mchenry to have the kind of powers he needs. Stuart pathetic. Ben domenech, thank you very much for joining us. Back to the markets, please. Modest losses pretty much across the board. Dows down 70, nasdaqs down 1 to 90 100. Eddie ghabours with with us. Eddie, if we get a wider war in the mideast, the price of oil will go up. Its already going up. I think the market goes down. Is that how you see it . Wider war, oil up, stocks down . Stuart the, i think investors need to be prepared for 1000 oil and and a 10year treasury note over 5 . 100 ill. If this war does escalate and oil does blow through 100, that thats going to be a problem here domestically. So this is the not a time to do nothing in regards to ignoring these are risks. But, look, oil as weve talked about with our clients is an area that it will make money, in our opinion, if the war escalates. And if we get peace, it will go up as well too. So its an area where you can make money in either scenario. I pray for peace there, but i dont think the probability of that happening anytime soon, or unfortunately, is really high. Stuart at some point this war, this situation, i should say, will have an impact on stocks and eddie, i think its negative and you do too, correct . Absolutely. And, look, i hate the bring this up, now the bigger risk, in my opinion, is because were so vulnerable as a country financially and now were funding potentially two wars, a possible government shutdown, is this the time where chinas going to look to make their move. I hope that doesnt happen, but if youre going to do it, youre going to do it when were at our weakest, and i dont know a time in the last three decades when weve been as vulnerable as weve been. So the risks are real, and its reckless to ignore them, in my opinion. Stuart eddie ghabour, thank you very much for joining us on a very important day. Coming up, aoc stumbled through her explanation of how israel should respond to the hamas. Roll tape. What is israel supposed to do the about hamas after they murdered, brutalized, abducted over 1,000 of their citizens . Are they supposed to just do nothing . What is important is for us to identify our goal in terms of what safety means, in terms of defense means. Stuart laugh are bl, in my personal opinion, but we will have more on that. Biden is in israel facing a difficult diplomatic mission. Whats the republican position on his visit . Ill ask california congressman darrell issa next. Tourists tourists that turn into scientists. Tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. That can be analyzed by ai in real time. So researchers can identify which areas are at risk. And help life underwater flourish. She runs and plays like a puppy again. His 2s are perfect hes a brand new dog, all in less than a year. When people switch their dogs food from kibble to the farmers dog, they often say that it feels like magic. But theres no magic involved. dog bark its simply fresh meat and vegetables, with all the nutrients dogs need instead of dried pellets. Just food made for the health of dogs. Delivered in packs portioned for your dog. Its amazing what real food can do. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. 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And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Stuart President Biden is in israel this morning. At the same time, Vladimir Putin is in china meeting with president xi jinping. Edward lawrence joins us. Please, edward, break down these two very different meetings for us. Reporter yeah, stu. Lets start with israel. President biden hopped right off air force one, went into a bilateral meeting with the israeli Prime Minister, and thats with he compared hamas to isis and expressed outrage. Its beyond my comprehension to imagine what theyre thinking. Beyond my comprehension. Theyre committed evils and atoes atrocities that make isis is look somewhat more rational. Reporter so because of an explosion at a hospital in gaza, the palestinian leader, the king of jordan and president of egypt canceled a meeting with President Biden. The white house says therell be a phone call later tonight with those leaders. Still, President Biden now saying the explosion at the hospital not israels fault based on u. S. Defense Department Data and pledged support is. And i want to say to the people of israel, their courage, their commitment, their bravery is stunning. Its really stunning. Im proud to be here. Reporter the president also gathering with israelis war cabinet telling them the u. S. Will work towards three goals. The United States stands with you in defense of this that freedom and pursuit of that a justice and in support of that peace today, tomorrow and always. We promise you. Reporter now, as we see these images, russian president Vladimir Putin in beijing where the chinese reaffirmedded mutual trust and support for russia. The chinese president celebratedded the deepening political and economic ties. China now has record trade and Oil Purchases with russia under president joe bidens tenure. Back to you, stu. Stuart thanks, edward. Congressman darrell issa, republican, california, joins us now. Youre on the House Foreign Affairs committee. What is the republican position on bidens israel visit . Well, stu, doing the right thing after youve done the wrong thing should always be remember as the right remembered as the right thing. The president showing solidarity with our ally and saying the right things about the terrible atrocities of hamas, palestinian jihad and even hezbollah, its a good thing. Stuart a good thing. But the visit has been really derailed by the hospital explosion. And blame for it. The outcome is not what the president was hoping for, i suspect. Well, iran flipped the switch. They flip the switch everywhere including embassies around the world. It shows the power that they have and how emboldened they are by the bad policies of this administration that have let them gain money and gain back the ability to spread terror and to do what theyve been doing since 1979. Stuart it looks like a wider war is starting. Would you agree with that . Its going to get worse before it gets better. The youre going to put the genie back in the bottle, you literally have the take the playbook of Ronald Reagan and not give an inch on anything when it comes to combating terrorism. You know, remember, Ronald Reagan sunk iranian ships, warships, in the persian gulf because they tried to deter the ability of oil to flow. At the time he was denounced, but in reality its the only thing that put the genie back in the bottle for a number of years. Stuart would you be comfortable seeing American Forces firing shots in anger either in the air or on the ground if theres a second or third front opens against israel . You comfortable with that . I want to see our military doing everything it can to allow israel to do what it needs to do and to secure a lebanon that is free of hezbollah. We have to engage in this area. And, stuart, this is one of those times in which many of the things being done, the movement of ships and so on, sends the right message. Israel doesnt need our boots on the ground. It does need the protective missileses and rockets, the iron dome support, the support for patriot missiles. It needs that right now more than ever. And, by the way, so does ukraine. And if were not careful, so will every embassy. Stuart okay. Lets turn to the speakers vote. Jim jordan failed to get enough vets yesterday. Votes yesterday. If youre not careful, congressman, if the republicans are not careful, the democrats will elect a speaker, and they will exact a nasty price. Youve got to get this done. Weve got to get it done, but anytime you get 96 and its a failing grade, its a pretty tough one to meet. You know . Speaker mccarthy had 96 and got a failing grade. Quite candidly, its over 90 for jim jordan, and its time for all ofs us to swallow our pride and go with the give an a and not give it as a failing grade. Weve got a standard that cannot with met by anybody. Not even you, stuart, and we love