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Call in the experts that know how to beat the heat conditions apply. See website for details. If it's Tuesday, conditions worsen in Gaza as Israel's ground operation intensifies as the FBI director warns that the Israel Hamas war is escalating the domestic threat environment and that Hamas could inspire attacks here in the U.S. plus, amid those threats, the White House and the Senate gear up for a potential standoff with the House Republicans and the newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson over emergency wartime aid for both Ukraine and Israel.
And we're just one week away from election day 2023. What we're watching as both part test key campaign messages ahead of 2024 with former President Trump dominating the Republican primary. Welcome to be the Press now. I'm Garrett Hake in Washington where the Biden administration's national security team has descended on Capitol Hill amid mounting concerns about security here at home and abroad as the Israel Hamas war intensifies.
The Secretary of State, the secretary of defense, the FBI director, the homeland Security chief and the nation's top counterterrorism official all testifying today, painting the portrait of an increasingly complex and difficult threat environment both in the Middle east region and here at home. FBI Director Christopher Wray saying the current terror landscape is something that US Officials haven't seen since the rise of isis. Just the past few weeks, multiple foreign terrorist organizations have called for attacks against Americans and the West. Al Qaeda issued its most specific call to attack the United States in the last five years.
ISIS urged its followers to target Jewish communities in the United States and Europe. Hezbollah has publicly expressed its support for Hamas and threatened to attack US Interests in the Middle East. And we've seen an increase in attacks on US Military bases overseas carried out by militia groups backed by Iran. The US Is also dealing with a growing threat to our military forces and facilities.
The Pentagon confirmed today that there have now been 27 attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria by groups supported by Iran. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin addressed those attacks today at a separate hearing on Capitol Hill. Protection the safety of our troops and our civilians is of utmost important to me and utmost important to the president as well. We've been clear.
President's been clear and I have been clear, Vice Chair, that if. That if this doesn't stop, then we will respond. And so we remain. We maintain the right to respond.
We have the capability to do that, and we will respond at a time and place of our choosing. As the White House, it continues to urge Congress to pass a supplemental funding request linking aid to Israel and Ukraine, with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken making the case that the wars in Ukraine and the Mid east and the threats posed by Russia, Hamas and Iran are not independent of one another, especially when it comes to US national security. Increasingly, Russia and Iran are working together to challenge our leadership to Hamas and globally to pose a growing threat to our own security as well as that of our allies and partners. They've been partners in a devastating war in Syria.
And now we have a running proxy firing missiles from Syria. In northern Israel, Russia could stop this, but it doesn't. Instead, to the contrary, its government is hosting Hamas for talks in Moscow. Iran is sending UAVs to Russia to attack Ukrainian civilians.
So we're seeing the profound connections here and in the Middle East. The ground war and the humanitarian crises are intensifying as Israel's military pushes deeper into Gaza. New images show the aftermath of a large blast in northern Gaza at the Jabalia refugee camp. You can see the rubble and debris surrounding a large crater in the ground.
The IDF confirms it did conduct military operations in that region. They say they killed Hamas commander involved in the Oct. 7 attack. A local hospital reports that dozens have been killed and hundreds were injured in the explosion.
NBC News has not independently verified any of the details surrounding this incident. And in southern Israel, sirens blared as a rocket hit a parking lot outside an apartment building. You can see here heavy smoke coming from cars as they burst into flames. Hours before that attack on Israel, the IDF says it intercepted a rocket fired towards Israel from Yemen.
The spokesperson for the Iranian backed Houthi militant group claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to carry out more missile and drone attacks in the future. All of this comes as moments ago, we have learned that the Rafah border crossing should open tomorrow. According to an official the border a number of wounded will be permitted to leave to receive treatment in Egyptian hospitals. Joining me now on the ground at the Israel Gaza borders, NBC, Ellison Barber and NBC National Security and Global Security reporter Dan Delouse is with us as well.
So Ellison, give us latest on the ground there. What would we know about this strike in Jabalia? Yeah, so the big question, Garrett, right now is exactly how catastrophic this was. I mean, you Touched on this, right?
There are different numbers coming out of Gaza right now, and that's partly because this is still so new. But we know there are multiple explosions inside of the Jabalia refugee camp. There are some reports coming from inside of Gaza. Hamas claiming hundreds have been killed.
Officials with a large hospital there, the Indonesian hospital, they're saying at least 40 people have died, possibly 50. But again, those numbers, it's all very new right now, but we have seen the footage, things from our teams all around inside of Gaza, footage provided to us from people inside Gaza showing just the scale of this, showing people frantically digging through the rubble, looking for survivors, pulling bodies out, wrapping them in blankets and then lining them up at different areas. The IDF says they did carry out a strike in this area. They say that they were targeting a number of Hamas militants that they killed a number of them, as well as a top Hamas commander who they say was partly responsible for organizing and training the militants that carried out the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel.
They also say he was acting as one of the primary fighting leaders in northern Gaza in recent weeks. They say when they launched strikes targeting those Hamas militants, they were targeting underground tunnel infrastructure and that in that process, when they targeted those areas, other buildings around it collapsed. I want to read you part of the statement that we have. It was a lengthy statement from the IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Admiral Hagari.
He said Yahya Singh Singhwar, who is the current leader of Hamas, does not care about residents in this area. He said, quote, this is from the IDF spokesperson Singhwar purposely built the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas under the homes of civilians and is not only behind the massacre against the citizens of Israel, but also the massacre that causes the collapse of the Gaza Strip on its residents. Hagari then went on to the IDF calls for civilians to evacuate south of the river. So right now the IDF doesn't seem to be challenging some of the numbers that are coming out in terms of the total Disney pound civilians.
And inside Gaza, Palestinian officials are saying that the majority of the victims they are seeing are women and children. But they are blaming Hamas for any civilian casualties here, saying they the IDF was targeting Hamas militants. And because of the way hamas operates, in IDF's view, they are responsible for any civilian casualties that occur in that proximity of what they consider to be legitimate terror targets. Obviously Hamas disagrees with that.
A lot of Palestinians disagree with that. A lot of nonprofit organizations disagree with that. And the director of Indonesian Hospital just held a press conference where he says that the initial number of dead and injured in jabalia is about 400. He said most of the bodies and wounded they are seeing are seriously injured, which to him, he said indicates the use of different types of weapons.
He said search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. People are still missing in Jamalia. And he reiterated from the hospital standpoint their cause and the urgent necessity for supplies to the hospital, medical supplies, medicines and also fuel, saying they need all of it in order to keep treating people. We are going to get more information as the night progresses about what exactly has happened in Jamalia, how large the toll of it is.
But IDF is not disputing that they carried out a number of attacks in this area. They're just saying they were targeting Hamas militants and saying civilian casualties that happened as a result are Hamas's fault, not theirs. Hamas strongly disagrees with that. They are saying that Israel was targeting civilians here and it's mostly women and children who have bear the brunt of this assault.
We're going to talk substantially more about the humanitarian impact on all this later in the broadcast. Also, why have you. There's also been more attacks on Israel itself tonight. What do we know about those?
Yeah, you know, there are strikes, rockets launched into central and southern Israel almost every day. And that's been the case for upwards of three weeks now. I spend most of my time here at the border with northern Gaza. Then when I sleep, I go to Tel Aviv.
I can tell you almost every day I'm in Tel Aviv, I do hear four or five rockets intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome. You hear the booms, it rattles your windows. It's nothing compared to what we hear here. We hear hundreds of strikes into northern Gaza every single night.
Yes, rockets are still being fired on Israeli cities. Most of those appear to be intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome because they have that advanced capability to intercept so many rockets. What we see every night here on the border and you can see some of the haze there, that's from a rocket that fired just before I started talking to you, Garrett. It's every night it constant here.
Yes, it's happening in Israeli city still, but it really is leaps and bounds of a difference is what's happening inside Gaza. Garrett Ellison Barber, thank you for that recording. And tonight is every night. Please stay safe.
Dan, we continue to see these attacks on US facilities in Iraq and in Syria. Secretary Austin was asked about it today. Could we see the US respond to these attacks like they did last week or perhaps in an even more fulsome manner? I think, Garrett, that is a distinct possibility.
Secretary Austin really seemed to be suggesting that today on the Hill. And of course, last week the US Tried to send a signal to Iran with an airstrike in eastern Syria after American forces came under attack there and in Iraq by Iranian backed militias. But after that airstrike, we've seen these rocket and drone attacks continue. And clearly whatever deterrence was trying to be achieved there has not been achieved, has not been established.
And so I think we should look for at some point more U.S. airstrikes. And yes, they might be more significant. They were quite calibrated last week.
Maybe they will be more significant, slightly larger scale. But of course it's a very difficult thing to balance. The US doesn't want to trigger something bigger, something wider, and yet we're moving more troops into the region. And then there's also these Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claiming responsibility for a missile drone attack on Israel.
Has that fit into the wider war? And what are the implications with more US Forces going in, more regional actors, you know, launching something for an expanded conflict in the region? You know, there are two dangers here, Garrett. There is the danger that one of the parties seeks a wider war, that Iran and its proxies intentionally try to trigger an expanded regional war and draw in the United States.
There's also the danger that really is the focus of the White House is a miscalculation, an unintended conflict where you have a series of incidents like we're seeing that continue to accelerate and each side feels they need to respond. And then pretty soon you have an unintended wider conflict. Now, this incident today with the Houthis was very significant. This was a ballistic missile that was fired from the Red Sea and was taken down by Israeli's, Israel's air defense arrowhead system, and it was believed to be headed towards Israel.
And these are Houthi forces backed, armed, trained and helped by Iran in Yemen. And this also puts Saudi Arabia in a difficult spot. They are right next door to Yemen, of course, and they have air defenses that could take down these kinds of missiles. But of course it puts them in an awkward position politically.
Saudi Arabia's public is very sympathetic to the Palestinian situation in Gaza. Saudi Arabia would much rather not get involved. So that is also kind of a politically motivated action the Houthis are taking there. But again, it raises the possibility of a kind of expanded conflict spreading out across the region.
No, I appreciate that, Dan, and thank you for the gentle correction here. I mean, the difference between a rocket fired out of Hamas and Israel and a Ballistic missile that can cover that kind of distance is a qualitative difference in armament that we should be paying attention to. Joining me now on set is NBC's chief foreign affairs correspondent, Andrew Mitchell, NBC justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Delaney. Ken, we were both watching director Ray today talking about the threat of a Hamas inspired attack.
I want to play something he said about lone actors and ask you about on the other side. Lone actors, homegrown violent extremists inspired by foreign terrorist organizations are in many ways the biggest threat we face here in the homeland. And those lone actors will draw inspiration from all sorts of things. And so to have this many foreign terrorist organizations, this explicitly calling for attacks significantly, as I said in my opening statement, significantly takes the threat level, the threat environment, the risk to a whole nother level here.
So this isn't a new warning about foreign inspired lone actors, but how does the war change the kind of threat posture the administration stance towards it now? It sort of raises the temperature, the influences that are working on these lone violent extremists who may be living in cities and doing nothing right now. The FBI's concern is that all this rhetoric, all these calls from Al Qaeda, from ISIS to mount attacks on the west, that it only takes one or two people to heed those calls for something horrible to happen. It's interesting.
They're not talking about threats of cells of terrorists trying to infiltrate the United States. It's not the old Al Qaeda model. It's the lone extremist model. It's still very dangerous.
I can't watch this without thinking about the fact that there's lone actors inspired domestically who do commit so many acts of non theoretical violence, like 18 people who were killed in Maine. How's the FBI view the difference between foreign inspired lone actors and domestically inspired lone actors and how they do a better job of policing the latter? When we're focused, I think nationally on the forum, I think it's a fair question. They would tell you they treat them both the same, but the reality is they have more legal authority to monitor the communications of people who are talking to actors abroad, particularly foreign terrorist organizations.
And that's always been a distinction. And they've been criticized, the FBI has, for a failure to concentrate on the problem of right wing extremism that has fueled a lot of these attacks by lone wolf extremists in recent years. Whereas after 911 they showed no such compunction about going hard after the problem of, you know, potential terrorist infiltrating the United States who are Muslim and Arab Those balances between civil liberties and security is at the heart of this whole discussion. Andrea, we've talked about this before.
We'll talk about it again. The media director of the Rafah crossing says they may be open tomorrow. They may be able to get folks out to get medical treatment in Egypt. What do we know about this time perhaps being the charm?
But they're being very cautious about the White House and the State Department and Secretary Blinken forced on the Hill today. As you know, Gary, we're covering that because they have been wrong so many times before. Not because they're wrong, but because they've been misled. There's so many parties involved in this.
Egypt had to agree. That took a while. Then when Secretary Blinken was actually going to Cairo that weekend and thought that Egypt had agreed, there was no agreement. It turned out that Israel was requesting all sorts of inspections.
Then it turned out that it's Hamas. Now, people in the region are denying that it's Hamas, saying there are no obstacles, there are no roadblocks. But it's not a physical roadblock other than the gate itself, which Hamas controls. It's all the other things they are demanding, according to U.S.
officials and Israeli officials and Egyptians, by the way, right now saying that it is Hamas. But they keep upping the ante about what they want from the US to let the Americans out there. About 400Americans, including dependents. There are about a thousand people lined up.
The Americans were told by the State Department two weeks ago on Saturday morning, go south, head south. There's a safe place and you'll get out. Rafah, it's going to open. We were here in the bureau Saturday night, Sunday morning.
Nothing happened. Blinken was in the region and nothing happened. They didn't get out. And every day it's all they're going to get out of and they don't get out.
So it is a continuous frustration, the blame game. Everybody's going back and forth about who's, who's to blame you. But right now, the US at least says on the record it's Hamas. That's what Lincoln told the Senate today.
The Israeli managed to rescue hostage yesterday. What's the latest on the diplomatic efforts to free the hostages by those means? They are ongoing, I can tell you that. Even the devastation today in the north, which is being attributed to Israel, Israel says they were going after terrorists, but we know at least that the visuals are, you know, going around the world.
And that is going to further inflame at least the critics of what is going on, on the bombing, at least from Barry McCaffrey telling me in real time. Those are, those are big craters. Those are bunker buster bombs. There's only one player here that has bunker buster bombs.
Anyway, the serious point is that people are dying and civilians are being hit. The president urged Netanyahu on Saturday on a call, please try to be careful. But as the military will tell you, you can't be careful, quote, unquote. You can try to if you're going after Hamas terrorists in a tunnel.
Israel says they're using these people as human shields above the tunnels and they're going to get hurt. And that's the terrible reality. The other question I have repeatedly asked Israeli officials on this show and not gotten satisfying answers to is what happens if and when this offensive is successful and what a post Hamas Gaza looks like. Do American officials, do other diplomats you're talking to have a better answer to that question?
They are trying to address it. They say they're looking at the long term issues because Israel does not want to occupy but will be occupied because they got out voluntarily in 2005. But to that point, they have no idea. There's no in the west bank, no leadership there.
That's up to this. The Arab leaders are critical of Hamas privately, but they don't want any part of it. So that remains to be seen. I didn't fully answer your question about the hostages of the question that we learned today it has not been denied or confirmed by the Israelis.
And I was asking Ron Dermer and he talked around it. He's the closest advisor in 19. Oh. So it's a very sensitive issue that there was a secret meeting over the weekend on the hostages by the current and former Mossad leaders in Qatar where Hamas is, you know, being housed, the top leaders and which finances in part Hamas.
So stay tuned. Well, and if you get that confirmed, come on back. I would say that's a nondenomical. It's confirmed.
Got it all 10 billion. Thank you both for your reporting. And coming up, we will be trying to speak to a worker trying to get help to civilians suffering in bazaar. As the UN Warns, time is running out amid the spiraling humanitarian crisis there, plus the brewing wartime funding fight that could involve Washington and the newly elected speaker of the House.
You're watching the press now. Welcome back. As we mentioned earlier, Secretaries Blinken and Austin also testified on Capitol Hill earlier today before the Senate Appropriations Committee. In their case, as the Biden administration makes its case to tie emergency aid for both Israel and Ukraine into one Big single bill.
And while the White House and the Senate appear to be on board, House Republicans aren't. Newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson says his conference wants a standalone funding bill just for Israel and for the aid to be offset by rescinding money. That means cuts from the administration's signature Democrats only achievement, the Inflation Reduction Act. Joining me now with the latest on the funding fight is my Capitol, Hillary, Sahil Kapoor.
So, Sahil, you watch this hearing along with me. What were your main takeaways? From what we heard in the Appropriations Committee today, it seemed the cinders in that room at least were in agreement on linking Ukraine and Israeli aid together. Yeah, that's right, Gary.
There is a lot of support for packaging these various funding requests into one bill. In the Senate, we heard, we heard Secretary Blinken talk about how this is all one fight. He was backed up by Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said in no uncertain terms that USAT Ukraine stopped, they will lose that war to Russia and Vladimir Putin will acquire that territory. And they face a warm reception, not only from the Democrats on the committee, including Chair Patty Murray, but also the top Republican, the vice chair, Susan Collins.
She's backed by the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. There are other Republicans who support the idea of moving these provisions together, but there's also some reluctance to undercut their House Republican colleagues, especially the new Speaker, Mike Johnson, Mark Rubio and Grand. As far as linking Ukraine and Israel, let's just not forget about my opinion. It's not gonna pass in the House.
So we need to operate on that reality. I think Secretary Blinken Austin gave a good answer of why we should not break it apart. Hamas was hosted in Moscow by Putin, so there's connection there. At the end of the day, I think all of these conflicts have to be dealt with strongly and they should be dealt with together.
And I spoke earlier today to the number two, Republican John Doon, who said it's likely that these Persians will move together in the Senate. That is where the consensus seems to lie. But they're also keeping a close eye on what the House says, what the margins look like, what that Mike Johnson bill breaking off just the Israel aid and pairing with IRIS cuts, what that vote look like in the next few days as everybody in Washington starts to wonder, what's Mike Johnson thinking? A question that none of us are particularly well suited to answer right now.
Sil Kapoor, thank you for that reporting. And coming up, the final countdown, our man Steve Kornacki will be here, which is one week until election day 2023 and eight days until what may be the last debate for some of the Republican presidential field. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back.
Cooler weather, kids in costumes here around MEET THE PRESS world headquarters. That means only one thing. It's election season. We're just one week now from election night 2023 with key races in places like Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi with results that could echo well into 2024.
And joining me now, the big board is who else but NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki. So, Steve, it's Tuesday. Voters will be voting in a week. What races are we going to be talking about?
I think there's four places on the map we're going to be paying attention to closely on Tuesday night. A mix of a lot of different things here, but start with the state of Ohio. There are two initiatives on the ballot here that I think have some national implications, especially Amendment 1. This would put in the state constitution a legal right to abortion.
It would also allow the state to restrict abortion past the point of fetal viability. So we've seen various initiatives in states across the country to put some form of abortion rights protection into law or state constitutions. These things have passed everywhere so far, including in deep red states. There was almost a test vote on this in Ohio over the summer where opponents tried to change the threshold that the amendment would need to win.
That thing failed this summer. So it's a simple majority. And this would be part of the state constitution in Ohio. Amendment 2 in Ohio is about the legalization of marijuana again, something we've seen elsewhere across the country.
Is the tide turning on that at all? Is there any kind of a backlash? That's what we might look for in the result here in Ohio on legalization of marijuana. Then go to Virginia, where the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, controls half of the state legislature.
Right now, the House of Delegates is Republican controlled. The state Senate is Democratic control. There has been massive money pouring into Virginia. Republicans badly want to get control of both of those chambers and then really move Youngin's agenda.
One part of Youngkin's agenda. He has proposed an abortion legal until the 15th week of the pregnancy. That's something he says he would like to do if he can get control of the legislature, Democrats and try to make an issue out of that as well. So we'll be looking at the Virginia state legislative races and then we got two statewide races.
Number one is in Kentucky, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear being challenged by the state attorney general, Daniel Cameron, a protege of Mitch McConnell seen a few years ago as a rising star in the Republican Party. Surprisingly, given Kentucky's tilt that we've seen, Bashir has been leading, I don't want to say comfortably by solid margins over Cameron in the polls. Cameron has changed tactics late in this campaign trying to put a softer edge on his, on his image here. That's a sign, I think this campaign knows they need, they're playing catch up here.
We'll see still red tendencies in Kentucky, but Cameron is the underdog. You're going to this against Andy Bashir. And I think the sleeper race here is Mississippi. Again, you think Mississippi is a deep red state.
The Republican governor Tate Reeves being challenged by Democrat Brandon Pressley, by the way, distant relative of Elvis Presley, if that holds any water still in Mississippi. But a couple things to remember here. First of all, Tate Reeves has been plagued by scandalous administration involving welfare money, money paid to former NFL star Brett Favre. His image is suffered in Mississippi.
And keep an eye in the Reeves got elected four years ago in Mississippi. Again, supposedly deep red Mississippi. He barely won. The margin was five points.
So in Mississippi, Democrats have a big floor of support because there's a big population of black voters. And we talk about a statewide race as opposed to federal office, the presidency, the Senate, the governor's race. You find more Republican voters willing to cross over and vote Democratic if it's a right kind of Democrat. And Pressley has run a pretty conservative campaign, pretty conservative messaging here.
So I think Mississippi, we haven't talked a lot about that. But the possibility of a Democrat beating a Republican governor, I think it's a real possibility. Democrats just lost their one governor's mansion in the deep south in Louisiana. So taking one back next week would be a really interesting storyline.
Steve, yesterday we talked about the new NBC News, the one register media compulsory showing Donald Trump with that huge lead in Iowa, as if that weren't demoralizing enough for the rest of the field. I understand you have new numbers from that poll. They'll provide even more evidence on how difficult it might be for another candidate to catch him there. Yeah, I know this is certainly frustrating.
All the candidates that Donald Trump has yet to appear on the debate stage with them has indicated no plans to change his posture on that. I think Republican his opponents felt when this campaign began that he might pay a price with voters for skipping those, that he might be pressured to join in, that they may get traction from the base that would force him to reconsider. Look, we as Iowa Republican voters here, does it bother you or not? Should Trump be participating in these debates and should participate.
42% say he should look at this. Nearly 60% say doesn't matter. That's not the kind of poll number, given the lead, we should show that he has an Iowa elsewhere. That's not the kind of number that's going to make Trump think I should reconsider this.
Yeah. Given how much we heard, you know, Ron DeSantis and the other candidates say that Trump is disrespecting the voters by not showing up. The voters are saying, ah, we're cool with it. All right, Steve Kornacki, thank you for bringing that down.
You got it. And as a reminder, you don't want to miss that third Republican presidential debate on NBC and NBC News now on November 8th. And coming up, we'll do a deep dive into current president's wartime struggles with a key bloc of voters. You're WATCHING me, THE PRESS now.
Welcome back. As we've been reporting recent days, President Biden is now getting some complicated political cross currents when it comes to his unwavering support for Israel. And we've got some new reporting now that Muslim American voters in multiple swing states are threatening to vote against the president next year due to his handling of the situation in Gaza. Muslim Americans vote overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020.
And in a close election, margins are everything. I'm joined now by one of the reporters behind that piece, NBC News senior politics reporter Alex Seitzwald. So, Alex, talk us through this new reporting. How concerned should the Biden campaign be about this potential protest or backlash from Muslim and Arab Americans?
Yeah, Garrett, I think they should be concerned. I mean, obviously, we're a year out from the election. Emotions are high. As Joe Biden always says, don't compare him the Almighty, compare him to the other guy.
And the other guy, probably Donald Trump is not out there yet. But we have talked to numerous Muslim voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota. These states are all familiar to all of us and to a person. Every single one of them said they are hearing from multiple voters who are saying that they will not vote for Biden.
They're so upset about the way he's handled the Gaza situation. They feel like he's not been giving as much weight to the lives of Palestinian civilians. And they feel left behind and furious. And so the plan from a lot of us American leaders and groups, these are not just activists, these are elected officials and, you know, try to gather voters.
They're saying they will definitely try out their vote next year. But whether they encourage people to vote for Joe Biden or not remains to be seen. And that could be a huge problem for him in those swing states because there's small portions of the electorate. But margins matter.
When Joe Biden's winning some of these states by 10, 12, 14,000 votes, a big defection from Muslim, Arab Americans could really cost him a lot. Well, in the almighty versus the alternative argument, the alternative call for a Muslim ban. I mean, what does this protest look like here? I mean, is it more like folks just staying home or leaving the top line blank or is it too early to say at this point?
Yeah, that's exactly right. And they just feel like are aware of that and they don't want Donald Trump to be president again, but they just also feel like they can't support the current president at the moment. So what this might look like is all the things you lay out, probably not voting for Donald Trump, but possibly voting for party, voting for a random candidate or just leaving the top of the ticket blank. I've heard that there are even ideas of working up a voter guy, which a lot of groups put out where they tell you, you know, the issue before and just not putting anyone for president.
And as a Georgia state representative I spoke to, she's the first Muslim woman elected to say she said she feels like she's Palestinian American. She said she feels like she has to choose between protecting her personal safety by voting for Biden because she feels like Trump engages her personal safety or she has to sort of endorse what she views as the killing of her family, her extended family in Palestine, by supporting Biden. So she just feels like she's in an awful situation. And there's a lot of other Muslim Arab Americans who right now feel like they're also torn between two bad options.
All right, Alex heal, thank you for that reporting. For folks who wrenched it, please go to NBC news.com you can read Alex's whole piece. Joining me now on set is Dan, American national political reporter for the messenger, former Florida Democratic congresswoman Stephanie Murphy and Republican strategist Doug Hai. And Congressman, you're nodding along while I was just giving his reporting.
So I'll go to you first here. How perilous do you see this moment for the president? How do you think the White House is handling their embrace of Israel and his policies here? Where do you see this cross reference going?
You know, I think he's in a tough situation because if you are making foreign policy and national security decisions based on domestic polling, I think you're already in a bad spot. But in this situation there's also the Jewish American vote, and they happen to be twice the size of the Arab American vote and are also a key constituency. I think the White House is doing the best they can in difficult circumstances. They are saying on one hand that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks.
And. But it has a responsibility to do so, in a way, respects human rights and the war rules. And so. And they're trying.
They are having meetings, doing outreach with the Muslim community. But, you know, this is a situation where emotions run high and it's gonna be hard to satisfy everyone again. You heard Alex go through the states. I mean, when he took them off, this is the places where elections are decided.
It's Wisconsin, it's Michigan. I mean, how seriously should the Biden campaign be trying to address this now? Do they kind of wait it out? I mean, everybody involved in this conflict predicts a long war.
It's 2023. Is the response now in October of the off year really gonna be a deciding factor? I think it's a dynamic that the Biden campaign will want to address probably later into the election, probably next year, at some point, see how things change over the course of the last few months, and then go back. You're absolutely right.
I mean, the states at play here are critical. The states that you and I will probably be in a lot next year at some point. And these mar do matter. These margins in many of these states are tiny.
And so a few voters, maybe they don't vote for Trump, but they sit out the vote or they vote for third party, that can really matter. Now, I think it's important to note here, a year out from the election is a lifetime in politics, as you all well know. So a lot can change. But I do think there are Democrats who are looking at this, acknowledging the fact that this is what happens when you are the incumbent and you're running for president.
There are international issues you have to handle that impact your reelection, but also acknowledge there's a lot of time in between now and when voters actually decide. And interestingly, the flip side of this coin is Donald Trump has angered a lot of Jewish American voters. The way he has talked about the war, talks about his ballah. Is there an opportunity for the White House?
How do you see that dynamic there where all of a sudden there are a lot of sort of pro Israel hawks who are looking at the way Jo Biden has handled this, and they're pretty happy? I always laugh when Joe Biden talks about the alternative versus the Almighty, because Donald Trump believes that he's the Almighty and in every issue, in every way that he campaigns, that's how he at least flies the metaphor. Exactly. Look, I think the challenge for Biden here is not polling in one community versus another.
It's polling as bad in every community. And if we were talking about Joe Biden, who was at 48% approval right now, then we're not really looking at this poll in the same way as could this be perilous in Michigan or Wisconsin. He is not just this problem. He has a myriad of problems that more and more don't seem solvable unless he's running against the one person that he thinks that he can beat the most.
He's bailing out a leaky boat. Congressman, I'll ask you about what we're about to see in the House this week. The new Republican speaker's version of an Israel aid bill is this.14 billion just for Israel, no Ukraine. And it has cuts in it.
It has, I think, served the immediate purpose of dividing Democrats who don't know exactly what to do about it. I'm curious, if you were still in Congress, would you vote for that bill and what do you think of the way that the new speaker is trying to handle an issue where Republicans in the Senate, including Mitch McConnell, are aligned with the president on the other side of it? Well, I think by selecting the IRS that was in the Inflation Reduction act as the pay for for the Israel funding, that really allowed some Democrats to have an excuse not to vote for this. I think he would have created an even bigger division within the Democratic Party had he put forward a bill that was bipartisan, acceptable, even if it had just been a straight Israel, a no pay for.
It's just sort of dare Democrats to vote against that. Yeah, you definitely see more of the division there. But now they have an excuse. Oh well, the IRS funding is in this bill.
We don't want to do that. So I think between the resolution, the Israel's court resolution and this Israel appropriations, you'll really see where people fall out. But the good news is after three weeks of no bills and nothing happening in Congress, they are finally addressing somebody talking about legislation again. Right.
You can answer the question that Sahel and I were sort of pointing out, which is nobody really knows that much about how Mike Johnson thinks about any of this. I mean, he is an unknown quantity. What do you make of the strategy and the potential division it creates between he and Mitch McConnell? Well, first, I don't think he should be an unknown quantity.
He was a Republican Study Committee chair. That's a large group of House Republicans. He was the vice chair. So he's elected by Republican champion leadership.
If frankly, y' all want to chase members of Congress down the hall cause they tweet something stupid, that means we're not paying attention to the members of Congress who put their heads down and do their hard work. How many times have you seen your colleague Gus? Bill Aarakis on TV? 0.
Peter Walsh, a great Democrat from Vermont? 0. Maybe we should pay attention to the hard work. I would note that Speaker Johnson also was hard at work trying to undermine our Constitution and the election outcome.
You're like, we did. Okay, fine, but you didn't pay any attention to him. You know, that's more to Johnson. But I'm being serious here.
Just because a member of Congress does something unusual or online or at a theater or whatever, they become household names. There are so many members of Congress who put their head down and work and they don't get that attention they deserve. But the fact that he's unknown is being used by both parties. Republicans see it as a strength for him because he didn't have enough Baggage to anger 8 or 8.
He didn't have enough enemies because he's unknown, because he hasn't done X, Y and Z dimension. And Democrats are using that against him because he's easily definable. Now he has all these hits that no one has heard of. The Democrats are going to spend this well the next few months defining him with what he said 15, 20 years ago.
It's actually for both of them, for both parties. They look at that unknown nature and think it's a strength. I'm already getting fundraising emails from Democrats sent me about defining Mag and Mike Johnson, which Matt Gates probably, possibly unhelpfully, nicknames him and he nicknamed him that because he thought it was going to be a strength. And the Democrats are running with that nickname.
Is in every DCCC fundraising because you didn't check our travel schedules for the debate. We will not see Donald Trump. I don't know how much you heard of Steve Kornacki's breakdown here, but how problematic it is if these other candidates that appears a significant or not significant, but small majority of Republican voters don't seem to mind if Donald Trump doesn't. It's his hold on the pace.
I mean, he goes and they'll say that's a great idea. And he doesn't go and they'll say that's a great idea. And I think the interesting numbers from that poll where the Iowa numbers and you have candidates who are now saying that Iowa are a bus remain. I think the senator from South Carolina, who's Tim Scott, his name is, he has said that, he said that recently the stand has moved the number of staffers to Iowa, basically signaling that this is kind of make or break for him.
I've talked to a lot of Iowa folks over my career. They have said that strategy works when it works and when it fails, it fails ethically because you raise the expectations that I. So if you get blown out by 30 points in Iowa in a state that you said was scribbled your campaign, what's next? I came to here and ask you this, but you got to answer it fast.
Do you buy or sell the Nikki Haley Boomlet at the moment? I buy it. I'm not sure how much of it I'm buying at this point. I definitely buy some of that short term hold.
I got my CNBC training wheels on here. All right, folks, Stephanie Murphy and De America, thank you all for coming in. With apologies to Tim Scott. Tell us everything we need in it.
All right. Okay. Silicon the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza that is growing increasingly desperate. The World Health Organization is warning of a public health catastrophe.
You're watching me depress now. Welcome back. As we reported, the top of the hour and official Rafa crossing between Egypt and Gaze Gaza says that the crossing will be open tomorrow for a limited number of wounded people to receive treatment. But whether that will happen is in doubt.
We've seen no confirmation yet from the Egyptian side of the crossing or from Israel. Meanwhile, aid organizations are warning the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached dire levels. Last night, the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees said that the need for a humanitarian ceasefire has become, quote, a matter of life and death for millions. His comments came after reports Sunday that Gaza residents stormed a UN warehouse that held aid supplies, primarily food waiting to be distributed to displaced families.
The World Food Program's Gaza director said the raid was a sign that people are growing desperate and losing hope. At a press conference earlier today, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said that they have the resources to address the crisis. They just need more to access. We don't have enough.
People in Gaza don't have enough. They're in a terrible situation right now, under siege with nearly all supply lines cut off. And whether they do have 5 or 6% of supplies, I think it doesn't matter. They need lots more.
And we are in a position to supply this if we have the humanitarian access, if we have A humanitarian pause and can supply these things. Everything is possible, but we need the access. I'm joined now by Steve Tieravelli. He's a senior spokesperson for the UN World Food Program.
So, Steve, we have obviously frustratingly little visibility into the situation in Gaza on the ground. Take us through what your colleagues are seeing there. Just how dire is the situation about food and water, basic necessities? Sure, Garrett, and you're right to use the word dire, because when water and food run out, people become desperate.
And right now, Gazans are desperate for food, and the UN World Food Program is desperate to bring food in. Conditions seem to working against us on that front. This week we've managed so far to bring only 14 trucks of food across that border into Gaza, which is a trickle of what's needed. Given the severe need and the hunger that people are experiencing in Gaza right now, we estimate that 40 to 50 trucks of food per day is what is needed to meet just the bare minimum nutritional needs of those who find themselves in these conditions.
So 14 trucks of food over three weeks is not enough? The food that we're bringing in, by the way, is food that is designed not to need cooking or heating or refrigeration. We call it emergency food. It's canned beans, canned chickpeas, canned tuna and the like so that people can access it immediately.
How? I mean, we talk about it being dire now. How long before it becomes worse than dire? I mean, give me the status of your warehouses, of your people on the ground.
Sure. It's no exaggeration to say this is becoming worse by the hour. This is a real humanitarian catastrophe, any way you look at it. It takes far longer than people in Gaza can bear to get trucks in.
And you mentioned staff. Yes. This takes a toll on aid workers as well. We have aid workers who are themselves affected by what's happening.
They've lost their homes. Some are staying in UN shelters at warehouses. Yes, there were UN warehouses, as you reported, that were looted. This is what happens in moments of desperation.
People are wondering if they're going to live, how long they're going to live, will they see food again? This is as bad as it gets in the aid world. We talked about access, the question of access from the World Health Organization spokesperson. That sound that I played just before you came on, what would sufficient access look like to meet even the minimum people you're trying to serve there?
Is it simply more trucks of food? I mean, what do you think is possible? What's realistic given the conditions on the ground there at the moment. What's most needed, yes, I would say, is food through that Rafah border crossing into Gaza at a much higher, more sustainable rate than we're seeing now.
Can I stop you for a second? Do you have any better information than we do on the subject of Rafah, whether or not that will actually be open tomorrow? This has become the most unhumorous version of Groundhog Day, where we talk about this possibility day after day. Right.
We have seen it open for short periods, and trucks have come through. What will happen tomorrow, I don't know. We have appealed and appealed and appealed again to the authorities who can make this happen, to allow eight trucks in. And it's not just the trucks, Garrett.
It's an environment where aid workers need to feel safe to deliver and distribute food. Not just feel safe, but be safe. And those in need need to feel safe and be safe out and seek food. And right now, with missiles and other warfare happening, those safe conditions aren't in place.
We need safe access for trucks, food, and people. To that ending, you lost contact with some of your team over the weekend when Internet was cut. And do you have a sensitive your people are safe and well and back in contact now? We did lose access for about 36 hours and had to halt operations.
We are back in touch with our staff. WFP has not lost any of its staff to the fighting. I wish we could say the same for the whole un. Our sister agency has lost many aid workers.
Go ahead. Well, I was just going to say one of the things that you asked, what would be most necessary, and I mentioned food and the trucks. Fuel is another critical element to getting people into safe conditions again. And the absence of fuel affects agencies like WFP as well.
Before the conflict started, we contracted with 23 bakeries in Gaza to provide fresh bread to people in need. Right now, three weeks later, only one of those 23 bakeries is able to operate and provide bread because of an absence of fuel or because of damage due to bombing. That's shocking. And that just shows how much our capacity has been affected by what's happening.
All right, Steve Terravella, so appreciate you shedding some light on this for us. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. Thank you all for joining us for this hour.
NBC News now coverage continues with Tom Costello in for Hallie Jackson right now. I'm Craig Melt. Cheers. Cheers.
Cheers. I've always been a glass half full kind of guy, and now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way, too. Some really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges. Their stories are funny and quite candid.
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