Morning Joe - Morning Joe 10/11/23

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

Israel ramps up attacks against Hamas

So in this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack. There's no justification for terrorism. There's no excuse. Hamas does not stand for the Palestinians' people's right to dignity and self-determination.

Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people. President Biden making it clear that the United States stands with Israel, promising support following the Hamas terrorist attacks. The president also confirmed that there are Americans being held hostage by the terror group. We'll get an update on what is being done to try and free them. And we've seen more explosions in Gaza this morning as the conflict enters its fifth day. We'll get a live report from Israel in just a moment. Also ahead, national security analysts for NBC News and MSNBC. Clint Watts is standing by at the big board with an overview of the war and what could happen next. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe.

It is Wednesday, October 11th. Let's dive right in. Israel is ramping up its strikes against Hamas terrorists. Warplanes hammered neighborhood after neighborhood along the Gaza Strip yesterday in retaliation to the atrocities. The terror group launched over the weekend, killing hundreds of Israelis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to destroy the terrorist organization. Israel ordered a total siege of Gaza, stopping the entry of food, fuel and medicine. The only remaining access from Egypt was also

shut down yesterday because of the nearby airstrikes. Israel says it has now regained control of the areas Hamas hit over the weekend. The Israeli military has summoned 360,000 reservists to join the fight, roughly 4% of the country's total population. Meanwhile, there are signs the war is escalating into neighboring countries. Yesterday, there were exchanges of fire along the Israeli borders of Lebanon and Syria and Willie. All the while, we have up to 100, possibly more hostages whose lives hang in the balance. And some of them Americans, as we heard from President Biden yesterday. All told, as of this morning, more than 2000 people have died in what now is a war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli defense forces say at least

twelve hundred Israelis have been killed since Saturday's ambush, the attacks by Hamas. Health ministries in Gaza and the West Bank say more than 1,000 Palestinians have died there. 14 Americans are among the dead. President Biden yesterday confirmed Americans are being held hostage by Hamas. It's not clear exactly how many were taken captive, but the White House says at least 20 Americans are missing. Israeli officials say between 100 and 150 people are being held captive. Hamas has threatened to execute them if Israel bombs civilians in Gaza without warning. Families of the missing Americans are now sharing the little that they do know and asking both the Israeli and American governments to do more.

I normally don't use my phone on the Jewish Sabbath, but it was an emergency and I needed to know where my son was. So I turned my phone on, I believe at 8.23 in the morning. And when I turned it on, there were two texts in a row from Hirsch at 8-11. The first one said, I love you, and immediately at 8-11 also it said, I'm sorry. And so I knew immediately, wherever he was, it was a terrible situation. I took it to mean I love you and I'm sorry because whatever is going to happen is going to cause you tremendous pain and worry. We know that he was injured in a gun battle. I mean, they were all civilians at a music festival. They were fish in a barrel sitting in this bomb shelter. Terrorists came to the door. They were throwing grenades in,

shooting machine guns. Mother of one of the Americans missing. Joining us now near the Gaza border in Israel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel. Richard, what does it look like there today? Well, it seems clear we are heading for a wider war. An announcement was made overnight by Israel's defense minister saying that Israel will go into the Gaza Strip in a ground invasion. He said that what is in Gaza will be no more, that this offensive began from the air and that it will continue later on with forces on the ground.

So we are now preparing for a ground war here. And what U.S. officials are trying to do by sending warships to the Mediterranean, by making statements like what we heard from President Biden last night, is to prevent this war, a wider war which is coming coming from spreading out and becoming a war across the Middle East. But I think right now what we're seeing is a softening campaign, a media campaign where Israel is laying out the justification for this and the next phase. Don't know when, but it seems like it could be fairly soon, perhaps in the next few days or in a week, will be a push with ground forces into Gaza, according to the

Israeli Defense Ministry. So, Richard, we're getting horrifying reports yesterday as journalists were allowed into some of these kibbutzes right across the border that were terrorized. Women, children, babies killed. What more can you tell us about what happened there. So I went into this this kibbutz that you're talking about and later we'll be going into another, I believe. So that was the kibbutz of Kfar Azzah. And journalists were allowed to go in there yesterday for the first time as Israeli troops were still clearing it. They they they they believed it was secure enough to to enter, to bring in some foreign media. But there was

still some gunfire in the area. There was still some incoming fire. These road troops were going house to house looking for any potential Hamas fighters. As far as I know, they didn't find any. But what they did find were bodies of Hamas fighters still on the ground wearing their uniforms, carrying their guns. I saw one on the ground with his hand still on the trigger and many bodies. And we went into homes of people who had suffered these terrible home invasions where Hamas fighters stormed in the kibbutz. They cut a hole in the fence and they went house to house, kicking down doors, killing people in their homes, ripping people out of their homes, taking them back into the Gaza Strip. The town looked frozen in time.

There were meals still on the table. There were bloodstains on the ground. You could see what happened in this kibbutz where dozens of Israelis were killed. The Israeli soldiers were collecting the remains, putting them in body bags and counting them and adding them to this growing death toll. And that is just one community. And this happened in several communities where Hamas really went on a killing spree, massacring people and then taking hostages back into Gaza. And really, the scale of these atrocities is only now coming to light as Israel is going back in and re-securing

these communities. The people are not going back into their homes for now. They remain closed military zones. And I think that's going to remain the case, especially as we go into phase two of this war, which is a ground invasion. The big question is, will there be a phase three, a phase four? Will this ground invasion lead to a wider war, potentially with Lebanon, potentially with other countries as well? Iran, Lebanon being the biggest potential causes of concern because both of them support Hamas. The viciousness of the atrocities that you witnessed yesterday, Richard, Khafar, Azad and other kibbutzes that we will see is probably why we're about to see such hell rain down on Gaza from Israel. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel. Richard, thank you so much. Let's go to national security

analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, Clint Watts at the big board. Clint, good morning. So what more do we have new this morning that you can share with us about the way Israel is responding here? Yeah, Willie. So yesterday, an interesting day. You really saw the Israeli military kick into gear. Several things happened. One, you saw Richard Engel actually here near Ashkelon. That's where some rocket attacks were coming in from Gaza. But you saw the Iron Dome take out a lot of those rockets. Meanwhile, in this area here, Starat, all the way down in this area here, you saw the Israeli military going through and clearing out that area. They now believe they've secured most of it. There was a brief gun battle as well,

where some militants were killed in Ashkelon, but they believe they've secured the Israeli side, and they have now cordoned off what is Gaza. The bigger picture is what is that ground invasion going to look like that Richard was talking about and how would they do it? All of this area here, you're seeing the massing of troops, the buildup of troops, looking at a much wider war. The second thing to really look at is the airstrikes. We've been talking about the airstrikes. You're starting to see those hit inside Gaza City. There are several mosques in a refugee camp area that were hit yesterday. But you're also seeing strikes against naval targets out in the water and much more larger attacks, I think you'll see, up and down the Gaza Strip as

the day goes on. This points to some of the bigger issues, which is the humanitarian situation. Down here in this area, you're starting to see lots of humanitarian issues arise as people start to flee from these cities. They're trying to figure out what they can do. The Egyptians have not opened the border down here to the south. Just looking at a bigger picture of what's going on, though, just like Richard was talking about, everyone is wondering, will this turn into a multi-front or a much larger war? Should the Israelis go into Gaza? Will we see this change? And just yesterday we did see some rockets fired and some Israeli missile strikes that hit in southern Lebanon. This is where Hezbollah is based at. Remember, there was a war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Everyone's wanting to know, will Hezbollah jump into this fight? There were also, in the Golan Heights and coming over from Syria, some rockets that fell in from there. Note, for both of these militant organizations, militants in Syria, militants in southern Lebanon, command and control is not always a strength. They're not always 100% aligned, but any of those small incidents can trigger a much bigger war. So the question now is, will this expand out? What will the role be of countries like Egypt? But also, is Iran somehow linked or coordinating behind the scenes with all of these militant groups around Israel? Clint, I do have questions about the inevitability of a wider war and the implications of the United States. But just a more basic on the ground question first. And that is,

as Israel retaliates, what is the sense of where the hostages are? Is there any possibility that their lives again are in danger as they potentially could be caught in the crossfire? What are the negotiations do we hear in terms of their location and potential return? Yeah, Mika, I think that's the big open question. Most believe that in the large urban areas throughout here, mainly around Gaza City, but even down here in Qanunis, you might have hostages spread out through the entire Gaza Strip. The question that no one really knows, at least not at present, is are any of the hostages being killed or wounded during these airstrikes? I don't think there's a good answer for that.

Remember, at the start of the show, we were talking about the U.S. military possibly coming in to help do hostage negotiation, understanding and intelligence around it. You're going to see more international cooperation, I think, around those hostages. But at this point, I think it is a big unknown, especially as things like electricity and power are cut to Gaza if it's pre-invasion. That means cell phones, other electronic devices, which are a last sort of tether to potential hostages may be going away as well. All right. NBC News national security analyst Clint Watts. I know we'll be hearing from you again. We appreciate your insight. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be traveling to Israel this week in a show of solidarity. The top U.S. diplomat is expected to meet with senior Israeli officials to discuss the situation on the ground and what additional resources the U.S. can provide.

He is scheduled to arrive in Israel tomorrow. Blinken will then head to Jordan to meet with senior officials there. Yesterday, Secretary Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris stood with President Biden as he offered unequivocal support for Israel and warned against those who might view the situation as an opportunity. You know, there are moments in this life, and I mean this literally, when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world.

The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas, a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews. This was an act of sheer evil. More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered, not just killed, slaughtered in Israel. Among them, at least 14 American citizens killed. Parents butchered using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed.

Entire families slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace. To celebrate peace. Today, Americans across the country are praying for all those families that have been ripped apart. A lot of us know how it feels when it leaves a black hole in your chest when you lose family. Feeling like you're being sucked in. The anger, the pain, the sense of hopelessness.

This is what they mean by a human tragedy, an atrocity on an appalling scale. We're going to continue to stand united, supporting the people of Israel who are suffering unspeakable losses and opposing the hatred and violence of terrorism. The Department of Defense has moved the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and bolstered our fighter aircraft presence. And we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed. Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking

of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word, don't. Don't. Our hearts may be broken, but our resolve is clear. President Biden sending an extremely strong message on Israel. And there are many big questions that remain, including how did Israeli or U.S. intelligence miss the warning signs of these attacks? National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked about that yesterday. We'll play for you his response in 60 seconds. The Israeli government has placed a high premium on its intelligence capacity as it relates to

Hamas, as it relates to the West Bank, as it relates to Hezbollah. And why it is that they did not have warning from this is not a question that I can answer from this. U.S. intelligence. Was there anything in what crosses your desk that would suggest this was coming? We did not see anything that suggested an attack of this type was going to unfold any more than the Israelis did. All right. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan yesterday confirming the lapse in intelligence. So we're going to bring in the host of way too early White House bureau chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, and former chief of staff at the CIA and Department of Defense, Jeremy Bash. He's an NBC News national security analyst. Jeremy, a lot of moving parts that we want to get to with you this morning, including the implications for the United States in terms of a wider war.

Obviously, the very complicated situation of the hostages being held right now, some of them Americans, and what Tony Blinken's objectives will be as he heads there. But also, how? It is fair to ask in this moment. There are some questions that are completely inappropriate in this moment. There's no context here. There's no one side versus the other. Pure evil, pure terrorism. Let's agree on that fact. But my question to you is, is it also impossible that as they came in on hang gliders by air, by sea, by water on their feet, this was practiced, this was coordinated. Is it possible Israel had no clue? It's possible, Mika. I think there are certainly some warnings at a high level, but I think what Israel lacked was the specific tactical warning about how this attack would

unfold. And new reporting this morning out of Israel suggests that the Hamas terrorists did two things very effectively. First, they conducted a disinformation campaign. They were talking on their phones to each other, basically saying, oh, this is just an exercise or we feel deterred. We're going to stay on the sidelines. And that's the message that they transmitted both allegedly secretly to each other, although Israel was obviously listening, and took the message from that, oh, Hamas is not going to attack. And the other thing they did very effectively was use technology, use drones to take out several of the watchtowers, several of the sensors along the Gaza border.

And that effectively blinded Israeli forces. There was also a forced posture breakdown by the idea if they were concentrated at one base. And so they and they also were not able to quickly respond because they were not monitoring or actively working on social media indications and warning real time from the battlefront. So there was a multiplicity of breakdowns. This was in some ways a perfect storm, not unlike our 9-11, when we had a breakdown of intelligence, a breakdown of analytics, a breakdown of aviation security. I think this is going to be analyzed for many, many weeks to come. So, Gio, strategic question for you.

Does this security breakdown, along with the deep divisions going on and distractions, some would argue, in Netanyahu's government, does it impact how the United States approaches this? Are there going to be requirements for transparency, for, I don't know, for Netanyahu to get it together, for the United States to really be able to be a partner with Israel in dealing with this evil? Mika, I think the president of the United States delivered one of the most impactful speeches about Israel in the Middle East by a world leader ever. It was extraordinary in its moral clarity. People were asking, you know, why is this presidential speech different than all other presidential speeches? It's because there was

not both sides-ism. There was not a message of, you know, Israel, you have to engage in restraint. There was a clear sense that the United States is going to have Israel's back in this campaign in Gaza and that the United States is going to have skin in the game. We're going to put forces into the region, including that carrier strike group that was referenced by the president, precisely to deter Iran from using its surrogates in proxy, using its using its surrogate in Hezbollah to attack Israel or attack other partners of the United States. I think this was an extraordinary statement by the president. It was clear. It was direct. It was impassioned. I sent a note to one senior adviser to the president. I said, where did that come from? And the answer was it came from his heart. And Jonathan Lemire, Israel responded similarly. The former ambassador, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, said this, quote, President Biden's speech was the most passionately pro-Israel in history. Our people will always remember and cherish this

speech and the man who delivered it. Sometimes thorny relationship between the president and Prime Minister Netanyahu, but no daylight here. No, those complications between Biden and Netanyahu set aside at least for now. This was a full-throated defense, as we previewed yesterday, from President Biden for Israel and its right to defend itself. Now, there could be complications down the road, to be sure. We will have to see about the domestic political situation in Israel, as well as the duration and impact of this possible siege of Gaza. But right now, the United States is in, and it's all in. Secretary of State Blinken en route to Tel Aviv as we speak to meet with Israeli leaders.

We have mentioned an aircraft carrier group has already been sent to the region. There's a possibility of more, A show of force and a warning, and a warning to Iran and anyone else in the region, the president said, who might be looking to take advantage of this situation. And there was a very firm, firm message from President Biden yesterday. Don't even think about it. The United States is here. Now, the question is, what kind of aid can we get there? The first shipments have already

gone over. That's true. There are some that DOD can do on its own. There's some the White House can do on its own. Anything robust and substantial, of course, has to come from the Congress. And as we'll be talking about later this morning, there's still no House speaker and there may not be one for a while. So that is going to hinder American efforts. And as strong as the president was yesterday, some senior White House aides say they do worry about the message it sends to the rest of the world, that Washington can't get its house in order, that the Congress can't get this done.

So, Jeremy, let me ask you a tactical question. Clint Watts was just talking about the hostages. At least 100, maybe up to 150, President Biden yesterday confirmed Americans are among them. Hamas has shown quite clearly in the last few days it does not play by any conventional rules. So hostage negotiators coming in is nice, but Hamas doesn't show any mercy, obviously, and they show a willingness to sacrifice hostages and to use their own people as human shields. So how difficult a predicament is this for Israel right now,

where they'd like to go in and just, frankly, wipe out Hamas, but they have to be careful doing it? Yeah, no country has really faced a hostage crisis like this, probably since the United States faced it with respect to Iran in the late 1970s. There is no precedent for this. And I think the main tool that the United States is going to have to lean on are third countries. We're going to have to talk to the Egyptians. We're going to have to talk to the Qataris. These are the countries that in the past have been able to go to the leadership of Hamas, to other people inside Gaza, to try to get deals done, to try to negotiate ceasefires, to try to negotiate cross shipments of humanitarian aid. I think there's really no other option.

I don't see U.S. Special Operations Forces staging a daring rescue inside Gaza. We haven't been on the Gaza. We haven't been inside Gaza since essentially the American presence left, even when Israel was there before 2005. So it's going to be a very challenging situation. We're going to have to take our lead from the Israelis. I think we're going to be providing a lot of intelligence soak there, meaning I think we're going to be listening, we're going to be watching,

we're going to be trying to run human sources the best we can to try to pinpoint the location of these hostages. But at the end of the day, the way we're going to get them out is probably through a negotiated settlement. Yeah. And again, the answer to my question has been just in terms of what happened, what's going to be the breakdown of trying to figure out what happened with this intelligence failure, perhaps for our own knowledge and for our own protection. Two things can be true at the same time. The U.S. can face evil and say evil is for what it is. For example, Ukraine still has a long way to go as a country. And yet we stand with

Ukraine, the United States, as they fight and die to save the world, for the safety of the world. I guess my question is, will there be an extended look at the intelligence failure inside Israel? And also the questions about the division within the government. Can they at least, you know, put their divisions aside, perhaps get extremists out? So there is a functioning government in Israel that can take on this evil that the United States can support. Yeah, Mika, first of all, in my experience working with Israeli national security officials, they don't get defensive. I think they adopt the posture that you've adopted, which is we've got to fight this war. We've got to be tactically smart. We've got to be morally

clear. But by the way, let's quickly learn the lessons of any breakdowns, because there are still several communities along that Gaza border. And they have to understand how breakdowns in missile defense and coastal defense and civil defense cannot occur here in the coming weeks and months. So I think undoubtedly Israel is going to take a very hard look at this. They're very good at adaptation, probably better than the United States. And so I fully expect that with respect to the political divisions inside Israel, I think we've all been encouraged in seeing them close ranks, saying that they're all one people, one nation right now. Yes, they have divisions on domestic issues, but that's really not at the fore right now. And Bibi Netanyahu has reached out to others. They've talked about a unity

government. I suspect Israelis are going to come together and fight this war because this is going to go on for a very long time. And it's important that the United States continue to have Israel's back. NBC News national security analyst Jeremy Bash, thank you very much. We appreciate your coming on again this morning. And coming up on Morning Joe, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller will join us with an update on the U.S. response to the Israel Hamas terrorists war. Plus, the battle for the House Speaker Gavel officially begins today. And it looks like it will be a long fight with GOP tensions very high and no clear favorite in sight. What's going to happen? We need a speaker now. We'll have the latest next on Morning Joe.

Republicans will try to elect a new speaker of the House, and apparently Kevin McCarthy said that he would be willing to return as Speaker. That's right. Kevin McCarthy might run to replace Kevin McCarthy. I think that explains this ad I saw. Kevin McCarthy was a terrible Speaker. He voted to raise the debt ceiling, and he turned his back on the GOP.

Kevin McCarthy is wrong for America. That's why you should vote for Kevin McCarthy. He's the best. He reached across the aisle to raise the debt ceiling. He's perfect for America and he'd make a great speaker. Don't vote for a Washington insider like Kevin McCarthy. Vote for a Washington outsider like Kevin McCarthy. Don't vote for Kevin McCarthy.

Vote for Kevin McCarthy. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin McCarthy. It's vote for Kevin McCarthy. Vote for Kevin McCarthy. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin McCarthy. It's either him or him. Paid for by Kevin McCarthy, not Kevin McCarthy. And now, since Jimmy put that on the air, McCarthy says he doesn't want to be voted back into the Speaker's seat. House Republicans are set to begin the formal process of selecting a new speaker later this morning. In just a few hours, Republican-led lawmakers were holding an internal election behind closed doors. The Republican conference met last night to hear from the two congressmen

who have formally entered the race to be speakers, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio. As we mentioned, despite signaling he'd be open to the speakership again, NBC News has learned Kevin McCarthy has asked members now not to nominate him for speaker today. Join us now, co-host of Showtime's The Circus, NBC News national affairs analyst John Heilman, and congressional reporter for The Hill, Michael Schnell. Good morning to you both. Michael, let me start with you up on Capitol Hill. So handicap this race for us. We had a lot of Republican members coming out of that room yesterday saying nobody's even close to 217. That's the number this time around because there are 433 members currently in the House. So you don't have to get to 218. But the conventional

wisdom is that this is going to be a battle. There is no consensus candidate. Nobody's close to 217. So how's this going to play out from here? Yeah. Hey, Willie, good morning. Look, right now the race is in a dead heat. You mentioned it right there. Majority leader Steve Scalise, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, neither of them are a clear front runner in this race. Both have picked up significant endorsements from across the GOP conference. But as you mentioned, no one is close to that subsequent 217 votes needed to be speaker. So how this is going to play out right now is an open question. One thing that is of general consensus is that it's going to be a bit of a lengthy process. As you mentioned, House Republicans this morning are going to huddle behind closed doors with the intent of nominating a candidate

for speaker. A big question this morning is whether or not the conference will accept a rules change to increase the threshold to nominate a speaker from a majority of the conference to that 217 vote number. The point there would be to avoid a messy public fight on the House floor over speaker. Whether or not that rules change will take effect remains to be seen, but that'll really set the pace for how the rest of this speaker's race plays out. All right, John Heilman, given the massive, horrific assault on Israel, sparking a war in retaliation that could spread like wildfire across the Middle East and has a lot of interesting implications for the U.S., how important is it that we have a speaker of the House right

now? How high can you count, Mika, on the importance scale? Pretty important. You know, look, what we saw last week in the deposing of Kevin McCarthy was that a lot of things were in play there. But one of the things that you came away with was the reality that the House Republicans were not, at least for that period of time, were not a functional majority to be able to run the House. And the question of how functional, whether they can become functional again at the highest level under the most stressful circumstances with the stakes as high as they could be on the world stage is really what's going to be on display here today. This is a situation of great chaos, and it could be a very lengthy, prolonged circumstance. The House is not, there's been

no indication after McCarthy being knocked out that the House Republicans have their stuff together any more than they had it last week. And so there's not a lot of clarity. There's not a unity candidate. There's not a consensus. Both Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan are publicly and privately claiming to have the race locked up. Steve Scalise says, don't pay attention to the public endorsement count. I have it all wired.'t pay attention to the public endorsement count. I have it all wired. Jim Jordan leads in the public endorsement count. But because he is perceived as being so much of a bomb thrower, there's a lot of question about whether that is something that the House Republicans will ultimately be able to get

behind. And as you said, as you raised, the specter here is a House without a speaker is a House that does not work. And this House without a speaker going forward for not just potentially today or tomorrow, but potentially all the way through the rest of the through the end of the week, if the Republicans can't pull it together, which there's some chance that this could take quite a long time, is a very difficult and dangerous situation on the world stage. The American leadership, as Joe Biden pointed out yesterday, is essential. And in terms of being able to do the kind of aid

for Israel that there is a bipartisan consensus for, you've got to have a functional House. And we don't have that right now. So, Michael, Representative Massey said yesterday that he thought there'd only be a 2 percent chance, 2 percent, that the House could come out with a new speaker by day's end. And to John's point, the rest of the world is watching America here and waiting for its support for Israel. So I know the White House administration officials tell me that they're at least floating the idea of linking Israeli aid and Ukraine aid,

thinking both vital in this defensive democracy. What are the chances you give that of succeeding in Congress once a speaker is put in place, whenever that might be? Look, Jonathan, I think that the odds of that happening are actually pretty low right now. And even though, of course, Israel aid is of high importance to Congress overall, particularly Republicans. And we've seen them emphasize that in the wake of Hamas's attack over the weekend. But Ukraine aid, on the other hand, has been a lightning rod

within the House Republican conference. Of course, we've seen it divide the conference pretty bitterly just earlier this year. Last month, actually, we saw a vote on the House floor where more Republicans voted against sending more aid to Ukraine compared to those who voted in favor of it. So I think that the fear there is while,

you know, for example, I spoke to Tom Cole about this, and he had an interesting point, Republican from Oklahoma. He said, well, he's supportive of both Ukraine aid and Israel aid. He doesn't like the idea of jamming those who are skeptical of sending more aid to Ukraine, jamming them into supporting this joint package by including Israel on. And I think that we're hearing from a lot of other lawmakers who are saying sending aid to Israel, one of the U.S.'s closest allies, is of the utmost importance. We should do that on its own. That should be dealt with separately.

And then a third part of this, I think that lawmakers want to do that in a pretty speedy fashion, as John mentioned, once the House can actually get back to legislative business, once we actually have a speaker in place. So that idea has been floated and some lawmakers may try. But I think that there's a low possibility that actually comes to fruition just because of all those difficulties laid out. And John Heilman, just briefly on the politics of this, Biden's speech seemed to get global respect and even respect from extremists on Fox News. How do you think this plays out in the weeks and months to come as this could become a wider war? Definitely is going to last quite some time. And also given what we have or have not heard from the Republican front runner on this.

Well, I think it's a good, it's obviously an essential question. You occasionally have, even at the level of presidential politics, especially during a primary campaign, which is what's going on on the Republican side, you tend to have a almost exclusively domestic focus. In a general election where someone, we get the two candidates from, the two nominees from each side, the questions of foreign policy, national security and strength in particular as a character attribute become more important. But in these primary campaigns, they tend to be much more domestic, except when something this big happens. And I was out in Iowa just the last couple of days. I'm headed up to New Hampshire at the end of the week. You know, Republicans are trying to figure out amongst themselves how to talk about this. They recognize it's a real time kind of test of leadership, their ability of their own ability to kind of look presidential, to convey command of foreign policy.

And they're also, in some cases, trying to find some way to gain some advantage against each other. You saw Mike Pence talk, come out, take a big swing at Donald Trump and at Rhonda S Sanderson and Vivek Ramaswamy. Yesterday, Tim Scott gave a speech in Washington where he attacked Joe Biden. The one thing the Republicans can all agree on, the only thing they can agree on right now at the presidential candidate level, is that it was a bad idea for Joe Biden to do not to do the hostage swap that was done. But the six billion dollars, the kind of, there's a lot of, obviously, you guys have talked about this for the past couple of days, the complexities around that. For Republicans, that has just become the only talking point, is that somehow Joe Biden's

responsible for this. The $6 billion was terrible and somehow was responsible for this by giving that $6 billion to Iran. $6 billion, we know. Again, we could go into the weeds about what that actually was. But this is the thing. If this war is a wider, more brutal war, if it's a ground war that takes many, many months, this is going to be at the center of the presidential campaign. That's why, for a lot of reasons, Joe Biden's speech yesterday, the stakes for it, both diplomatically in terms of world leadership and also politically, were sky high. And I agree with you. I think he could not have done better yesterday in terms of generating bipartisan respect for the things that he said and being

four square on Israel's side. And as Admiral Kirby said on our show yesterday, that money can be frozen. It's not in Iran yet. It hasn't gotten there. And so there's that. And that fund was set up by the Trump administration. So just putting a pin on that. John, thank you very much. Congressional reporter for The Hill, Michael Schnell, thank you for your reporting this morning. Great to have you on. And still ahead, the horrors of Hamas attacks continue to emerge as families desperately wait to hear from loved ones. We'll be live in Israel with the latest on the ground there. Plus, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will join us as aid to Israel is gaining bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

Also ahead, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be a guest here this morning. Morning Joe, we will be right back. So look, those statements this weekend, and we're going to continue to be very clear. We believe they're wrong. We believe they're repugnant and we believe they're disgraceful. Our condemnation belongs squarely with terrorists who have brutally murdered, raped, kidnapped hundreds, hundreds of Israelis. There can be no equivocation about that. There are not two sides here.

There are not two sides. President Biden has been clear on where he has stood. You heard him. You heard from him directly. White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre with a sharp response to a question about lawmakers who have not issued full support to Israel. In fact, among some Democratic members, the contrary. The president of Harvard, meanwhile, is speaking out days after a statement released by Harvard student groups on the Israel Hamas war was widely condemned. The Ivy League University faced national backlash after the Harvard undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee published a statement on Saturday blaming Israel for the deadly Hamas attack that targeted civilians. The letter was co-signed by 33 other student organizations. The statement was criticized by school alumni, including lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. Lawrence Summers, a Democrat and former

Harvard president, said he was sickened by the statement. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a Harvard Law School alumnus, called the school's silence, quote, utterly indefensible. Yesterday, Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, finally broke her silence on the controversy, writing in part, quote, I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent. Whatever one's individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region, adding, while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group, not even 30 student groups speaks for Harvard University or its leadership. Mike Barnicle joins us at the table. Mike, a statement from the president

finally a couple of days later, but not really a condemnation of the statement put out by those student groups. A Jewish student, a doctoral student in Jewish history at Harvard has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, just one excerpt, quote, how can we share dormitories, classrooms, and ideas with students who would make excuses or even celebrate if we and our families were hacked to death by a Hamas terrorist tomorrow? So that gives you an idea of the climate on campus. If you're a Jewish student, how you must be feeling right now, a Jewish student at several universities where we've seen some of this stuff. You know, for universities, Mike, that put out

statements about every little wrong they believe that they see in the world, to not come out strongly against this stuff. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but it's pretty shocking. These are troubling times that we're all living through, Willie. And it's not just university campuses. It's not just Harvard University. It's in the halls of Congress, it's in various state houses throughout the country, and it's on street corners where people are talking about what happened this past weekend. There is a huge difference between the definition of militant and terrorist. A huge difference. And the idea that we live in a culture where there seems to be some confusion

between militancy and terrorism, this was pure terrorism. Yesterday, we saw the president of the United States give perhaps the strongest, firmest outline of who he is, who we are as a nation in this troubled world that you're ever going to hear from a president. And good for Joe Biden. And good for Larry Summers, incidentally, who immediately, upon this weekend's rallies on the Harvard campus, came out strongly in support of common sense. This was an act of terrorism, an act of barbarism that we saw over the weekend. And if, you know, God help the poor Palestinian people.

But guess what? Their biggest ally is not Hamas. Hamas has been taking care of Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007. They have done very little for the Palestinian people other than put them in constant peril because of one thing. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Yeah. And Mika, if you look at some of the other statements, the rallies we've seen even here in New York City in support of what's happening right now and what just happened in Israel, the massacre of civilians, it's hard to see how it wouldn't be easy and quick for a university president to come out and condemn that immediately. What's what are you equivocating on? What's the question in your heart?

You're worried about offending somebody. We're talking about the slaughter of civilians. This one should be easy. Some things are hard. This one should be easy to condemn. I completely agree. It's the reality of the moment. I mean, this is not to be put in a larger context. This is not to be explained in any way. There's no explanation for the evil. And this, I think, applies to members of Congress as well. You don't need to have Israelis in your constituency to see this for what it is, a terrorist attack. And I think university presidents across the country, to echo what we were hearing from the head of the ADL yesterday, need to watch Joe Biden's speech and need to look at what is happening there and call it for what it is,

because there's free speech and then there is speech that really distorts the facts of the moment. Meanwhile, the U.S. is ramping up military aid to Israel in several key ways. The Times of Israel reports the first transport plane with advanced American ammunition has arrived in southern Israel. Israel's Ministry of Defense released this video of that initial shipment of weaponry arriving last night. The IDF says the ammunition is intended to, quote, enable significant strikes and preparations for additional scenarios. The move comes after the U.S. began deploying warships and fighter jets near Israel earlier this week. Current and former senior U.S. officials tell NBC News the movements are designed to send a blunt message to Iran to stand down, specifically when it comes to any consideration by Tehran

of unleashing the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reports the U.S. is considering sending a second aircraft carrier near Israel to deter other regional powers from joining the war between Hamas and Israel at this point, given the terrorist assault on Israel. Additionally, a U.S. official tells NBC News the U.S. government has sent a team of technical experts to assist in hostage recovery efforts in Israel. That's the massive complication here. And Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the Department of Defense now has a small liaison cell in Israel working with Israeli special operators.