Thank you so much for letting us into your homes. We are grateful. The beat with ari melber starts now. Hi, nicolle. Thank you. The developing news that has been coalescing around the possible replacement for Kevin Mccarthy to be Speaker Of The House. It is developing because the people you see on your screen, one of them is the former speaker. The other may or may not become the republicans pick. Hes had more vote than anyone else, but maybe not enough votes. That is a big deal for the United States, for the congress at times like these, so we are going to bring you an update on that story later in our newscast. The news out of israel right now is bleak. There is escalation. There are reports that now 22 americans have been killed in this unfolding israelhamas war. Youre seeing gaza pitch dark because gaza is under a blackout. 17 of those are still unaccounted for and feared held hostage in gaza. The shelling tonight there intensifying. Vaez says it has fighter jets that have hit over attacks still under way. Cameras caught a moment where couples were forced to shelter from rocket fire. [ screaming ] the death toll is rising. Over 1,200 israelis dead. 2,700 injured. Over 1,100 have been killed in gaza. 5,000 injured there in that densely packed area. The humanitarian situation in gaza is worsens ahead of what many see as a planned or potential israeli invasion. Theres no electricity there for the 2 million roughly 2 million people, and you can see some of the images captured just earlier today in some of these bombed out areas. Gaza hospitals are overflowing with people both who need help, who are injured, as well as the bodies of the dead, and these power and Supply Shortages are not expected to let up any time soon in this war. On the israeli side, the funerals have begun taking place. There was a ceremony for a 24yearold woman who was at that music festival, peacefully doing what people do in many societies, many countries around the world, when she was killed by Hamas Terrorists. There are also fears about how this conflict could spread even further. For the fourth day in a row, israeli troops traded fire with forces in lebanon to the north. They also say they have detected rocket launches, they believe, that have come from inside syria. President Biden Addressing The War Again today as he did yesterday, speaking from the white house. Were surging additional Military Assistance to the Israeli Defense force, including ammunition, intercepters to replenish the Iron Dome Sbmt , and were sending more fighter jet there is to the region and made it clear made it clear to the iranians be careful. The president referencing iran, which has long backed hamas. Although the intelligence is an open question as to how warned that may have been in advance. With all that in mind, we have a special guess to lead off our coverage, john brennan, the senior for obama. You are no stranger to tough stories and situations like this. Its tough for everyone involved. What do you see as the State Of Play right now and when the president references iran, what is he doing there . First after all, ari, i think any conversation on this Subject Needs to start with the strongest condemnation possible of the barbaric attacks that were perpetrated against innocence by hamas. That was just senseless, senseless violence that has led us to this point. Clearly the israelis are going to try to eliminate as much as they can the ongoing threat from hamas as rockets continue to rain down on israeli cities and settlements. So therefore i think theyre preparing to move in with great force, overwhelming force into gaza to destroy hamas war making and terrorism making capability but also to find and hopefully recover safely those hostages. I think the statement from President Biden today was a clear signal of the extent of usa support for israel but also a clear warning to iran that this is something they should have no part of. Clearly they have been responsible for empowering hamas terrorism and warmaking capabilities. They provided training, material support, assistance, and so on. But i do think that theyre still looking at whether or not iran did play any type of operational role in these atrocious attacks. Lets go to that question as you raise it, sir, because weve reported on and mentioned, of course, that sort of alliance, the links there. But there has been sort of initial reporting, leaks really on a wide spectrum. Wall street journal and others had sources saying that iran was hand in glove on this. There was pushback from some u. S. Officials today reporting u. S. Intelligence indicates iran ersere actually, quote, surpsed by the hamas attack. Sources said the Biden Administration has not reached definitive conclusions about irans role in the attack partly due to that intelligence. Im sure you could take a whole hour to walk us through the complexity a this rapidly evolving intelligence buck what in brief do you think the happening here . Is there a strategy behind all the back and forth in this pushback . Or do you see this as a genuine search for answers over whether iran secretly furtively actually knew the extent and length of this attack and was involved in it . I think were still in the very early days of this situation, ari, and i know that they have been combing through the intelligence, that they have had access to, both israeli intelligence, u. S. Intelligence, and other Intelligence Services around the globe. So i think theyre trying to find out with some type of clarity and certainty whether or not iran was involved in this. But as you pointed out, The Fog Of War frequently will lead to all different reports coming in. But i think at this point the jury is still out and theyre trying to make that determination, because it is critically important. And if iran was in fact operationally involved with this, i do think were talking about a whole different type of scenario going forward. But i do believe the israelis are doing contingency planning, not just in terms of gaza, but destroying hamas and recovering can captives but also planning to see whether or not they can take additional action outside of that gaza trip region. Whether or not americans follow this closely or not, everyone remembers the days after 9 11, the questions of intelligence, how something that sophisticated took place inside the countrys borders could have come with basically lit toll no warning. And then there was argument about the natures of the warning. Walk us through for a generalist audience what many are calling an Intelligence Failure. Theyve taken great measures physical and tactical wise to be prepared. Was this a great Intelligence Failure, and why . I think it was an Intelligence Failure as well as a policy failure. Clearly hamas engaged in some very sophisticated activities, including a deception campaign. This had to make months and months and months of planning and im sure they used to gazans that went back and forth to israel to surveil targets as well as look at what the Israeli Defensive measures were long that border. But also i think theyre engaged in different maneuvers inside the gaza walls and fences that were misinterpreted by the israelis, by analysts and others. I also think maybe hamas has been on to israeli collection efforts, both in terms of Human Sources and technical Collection Systems and were very, very careful about trying to avoid that. But we do have reports the egyptians might have prodded warning to israel that something was happening in gaza and they might need to tick a look at it, just in days proceeding the attacks. Whether or not it made it up to the policy levels, the Defense Forces intelligence can only go so far, but also policymakers are the ones who have to look at the environment and what measures they should put in place. Israel caught very much unaware, not just from an intelligence perspective, but clearly a lot of those israeli and defensive Security Stations outside of gaza were very fully manned, and they were not ready at all for any type of incursions, much less that massive multidimensional attack that hamas engineered last saturday. Mhmm. And finally you have experience here on the u. S. Side with the kind of alliances and work that is done. What does this Biden Administration, the United States get out of sending the Secretary Of State there . What does that visit do . Not only symbolically but operationally, given that you have been involved in these kinds of things in the past . Whats supposed to happen in the next day or so there . Im sure its not just Secretary Of State blinken but Defense Secretary austin and cia director burns and director of National Intelligence and others that have been in Constant Contact with the israelis, trying to make sure not just to reassure them but also to understand what their needs are at this point. Because the coming days and the coming weeks are going to be very, very difficult, i think for israel, for the palestinians as well as for the region as a whole. And i think they want to make sure that theres no lack of communication and that theres going to be this active discourse between israeli and u. S. Officials at the highest levels to make sure we are well prepared for whats coming down the road, but also to make sure the United States is able to meet all of israels needs at this point, and as President Biden pointed out, making sure the rules of law, the rules of war are going to be followed as israel engages in what they have to do in gaza to, again, destroy hamas. Understood. Director brennan, thank you for your time and expertise tonight. We appreciate it. Ill tell folk whats cing up. News out of washington. Uncertainty now. Some call it another round of chaos. Its a big story that matters for all the reasons that matter when the speaker of house is vacant. We have that coming up tonight with a special guest. And an important look at the Peace Process when i return with you in one minute. Th you in one minute. Still disrupts my skin. Despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. It disrupts my skin with rash. But now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. Rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. Its one pill, once a day. Many taking rinvoq saw clear or almostclear skin while some saw up to 100 clear skin. And, they felt dramatic and fast itch relief some as early as 2 days. Thats rinvoq relief. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers including lymphoma and skin cancer, death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. People 50 and older with at least one Heart Disease risk factor have higher risks. Dont take if allergic to rinvoq, as serious reactions can occur. Tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. Disrupt the itch and rash of eczema. Talk to your doctor about rinvoq. Learn how abbvie can help you save. Welcome back. I want to turn to something important here as we continue our special coverage on this grim topic at this tough time for so many. This involves the Peace Process, facts and the history that can inform where we go from here. Well begin like this. The world is of course watching this escalating war. Many recalls the horrors, the casualties that are subject to both sides of any conflict, and the deep rifts that grow not only between but also within countries. Now, for america, those are something weve experienced in many different ways. Theyre the echos of iraq and vietnam where you think about not only the lyes lost but enduring strife that up ended decades of our civic and political life. If you think about the conflicts over those wars at a basic level, you might recall there was some passing talk of unitying but then there werent unity governments. There werent a lot of bipartisan alliances. If anything, Foreign Policy droves years of domestic division. So, i mention that tonight as we get into discussion of governing and the Peace Process because there is news out of israel amidst all that that is pretty striking. Theres the new formation today of a unity government. Prime Minster Benjamin netanyahu partnering with one of the opposition figures who is actually seen as his potential alternative, defense minister benny ganz. Thats supposed to go for the conflict. Thats not something america had happen with politicians over iraq or iran. They also queened an emergency war cabinet over the possible ground incursion. Some analysts note this new move today might reflect an internal or political weakness for netanyahu, who faces withering criticism since hamas rampaged through those israeli wns, as the washington postreports, and that the Idea Bh Not Netanyahu but that Opposition Politician i jus mentioned r a unity government to be formed. Netanyahu may have felt he had little choice as public support grew over the next four days. This reinforces a point a loft people made. There is diversity and a broad range of views within Israeli Society just as there is within Palestinian Society. Debates about how to govern and certainly about what to do regarding these Foreign Policy rifts for both societies. Netanyahus approach to both governing and the Peace Process has been very controversial for a long time inside israel and within israeli civic and political life, and both sides of the conflict as i mentioned have seen foreign policies define safety and policies for a long time. Israels first focus right now, we can clearly see, is this Emergency Security challenge and the war. But israelis are also concerned, accordingo what they say about egovernments Intelligence Failure and potential misal location of military and a socalled level of political chaos spurred, netanyahus critics say, b his policies and judicial crackdown. Some argue withinsrl that that has undercut the cohesion of the countrys well known and powerful victory according to a breakdown in the associated press. All of those forces are working on a response to what is the single highest death toll from an attack since israels founding, in one attack. And theyre girding for the kind of war that could, again, upend everything for both societies and for the renal, which could, lets be clear, hearing and seeing no offramp, certain will i no ceasefire on the table for some time. I mentioned the Peace Process and the history, which is part of our special coverage tonight. Veteran middle east peace negotiator dennis ross, who also helped create the oslo accords has previously warned the breakdown of a real durable Peace Process feeds a dangerous status quo, where you have the occasional ceasefire punctuated by terrible terrorism and violence. What comes next . If all we do is go back to the status quo, were basically biding time until this happens again. So i think there needs to be a strategy not only for a ceasefire, i think there needs to be a strategy for what comes next. That was about two years ago. Ross has much experience here. We quoted him earlier in our coverage this week. He was a Special Envoy in oslo, srael and the plo reached a deal. You can see him there near prt inton. He served as a diplomat and peace negotiator throughout that administration as well as in the State Department under president bush. There he is with some of the principles. You can see a younger netanyahu. And ross also served in the obama administration. This week politico stated no american diplomat is more familiar with the issue of enmity than professor ross. He is our guest for these issues. Er this for being here. Thank you. Good to be with you. Tough time for everyone as weve taken care to emphasize. You know a lot of needs people. You have been through this. You were someone at the table with both sides trying to get somewhere with progress for both societies as i put it. So, when you talked about the fact that ceasefires and the stalemate should never really quiet down, what did you mean . Do you tragically see this as one of those outcomes . Look, i do. I think i didnt remember that i had been on with you saying that two years ago, but i was concerned at the time, if there wasnt something done that was more fundamental as it related to a demilitarization of gaza, marrying it to a condition of reinstruction, well do massive reconstruction, but there has to be a mechanism that guarantees demilitarization or my concern remains, were going to see this all over again. I will say this the israelis have had a paradigm since 2009 visavis hamas. There was a significant conflict then. There was another one in 2012, another one in 2014, 2021, which we were just talking about. Every time there was a ceasefire that was negotiated, hamas used that to rebuild and prepare itself for the next round. Israelis since that time basically felt they had found a model. They felt that model was one in which they could coexist with hamas, manage periodic conflicts, and it was less expensive to manage periodic conflicts than it was to go