ukraine, but also at the gaza and israel border there. that conflict. we will have a lot more. unpacking all the angles of stories coming up when we return at 10:00 a.m. >> right now we take you to "smerconish." two major stories are dominating our day. crowded passenger plane brought down in a war zone. who did it and why? israel goes into gaza. twice before, israel battled hamas to eliminate the threat of rockets. will this be different? those are our stories this hour. we will have live reports from ukraine and israel and experts. i'm michael smerconish. let's get started. new today, malaysia is demanding full access to the crash site of

the malaysia airline flight 17. transport minister says it is unhumane if investigators are not allowed in the war zone crash site. so far, international monitors have only been allowed at the site by the gunmen for just 75 minutes. malaysian officials will go to ukraine's capital to retrieve the bodies. suspected pro-russian rebels used the missile-to-air launch system missile. i understand you have been speaking about the troubles the investigators are having at the crash site. >> that is right. i spoke with the prime minister and asked it there are any negotiations going on with the government and rebels to ensure

safe access to the crash site. this is what he had to say. >> the key problem is these russian-led guerella blocked the access to the crash site. even more, they have taken 38 bodies to an undetected spot. we need to recover the bodies and to start a full-fledged investigation, but russian-led terrorists do not allow us to do this. >> reporter: michael, in addition, the prime minister and other ukrainian officials continue to make a somewhat compelling case that the missile that is believed to brought down flight mh-17 was fired from rebel-held territory in eastern ukraine. they are saying it was shot down by a russian-made anti-aircraft

surface-to-air missile system known as buk. and the head of the counter intelligence of the main intelligence agency here said there were three such systems on ukrainian territory brought from russia in recent days and have since been taken back from ukrainian terrorist to russia. he went one step further, accusing russians of firing the missile that brought down the plane. we can't confirm those allegations and the russians and the rebels have denied them. michael. >> ivan watson, thank you for your report. all signs point to pro-russian rebels in ukraine by the military in the tragedy. was it a tragic mistake intended to strike a ukrainian military plane or attack on the commercial airline? what will investigators be able to determine from u.s. satellites? lieutenant colonel dan hampton

is a decorated fighter pilot. his job was to draw fire to surface-to-air missiles. he is the author of the book "lords of the sky." and the former army general for europe and an expert on ukraine. general, let me begin with you. what would you expect us to be able to learn from the satellite information? >> well, i'll start off, michael, and say it depends on where we were looking at the time. if a satellite is focused on an area, we certainly can gain a lot of intelligence. it is not an unblinking eye. it would have had to be located in that vicinity to determine what we are looking for. if it was, we will see a heat signature from the missile launch. we could see trajectory potentially and we might be able to see the explosion. there are reported from european command a few awaks in the sky

over poland at the time, but they don't think that could observe the things going on near the ukraine border. >> general, what level of sophistication is required to operate the buk weaponry? what i'm trying to get to is where there was direct russian involvement here. >> i think dan will tell you a lot about that since he had to fight against that. the sa-11 is the nato terminology for the weapon system is a tough system to operate. it is not a video game. it takes a look at altitude, bearing and speed of an aircraft. it is designed to shoot down cruise missiles and maneuvering fighter jet to give off chaff or radar spoofs. when you talk about shooting down an airplane over 30,000 feet in the sky, it is not that difficult. it is difficult to maneuver this weapon system and shoot it. interesting report recently

there were three of these in the area, if that is true, that is how they usually operate. in groups of threes. that is an air defense battery. it is associated with an radar system. each one of the guns have a radar on them. they like to operate in groups of three because they give each other cover. >> colonel hampton, you were part of the elite wild weasels. your job was to draw enemy fire from the weapons systems. what do you expect the pilot of that commercial airliner would have known or felt or sensed, if anything, when that missile was headed in his direction? >> michael, my guess and this is just my opinion, i don't think he ever saw it coming. he would not have been looking for it. the weather was kind of spotty. if you don't see it launch on the ground and you don't have

the equipment on board to tell you it launched, you probably will not see it. he is a commercial airline pilot. not a military pilot. he wasn't looking for it. the trajectory this flies from below and it is designed to proximity fuse and explode beneath the aircraft and not necessarily hit it, probably came straight from underneath him. the visibility of the cockpit of a 777 downward is not very good. he probably never knew what hit him. >> colonel, if he had known it was coming in his direction, unlike you in a military capacity, there would be no measures available to him. >> that is right. you will not maneuver an airline the way a fighter is. he has no chaff or jamming pod, nothing like that that the general mentioned to decoy a missile. what just came out that you were discussing is the fact they were

talking about the three missiles. one of those is a acquisition radar. it decide what is is a target and passes that information on to the targeting radar with the missiles. i always suppose they just gotten a hold of the self-contained missile vehicle that is a telar. it has a radar and missile. it is not as pick as the acquisition radar. if they are traveling in groups of three and one is a acquisition radar, the chance this was not a military transport plane is probably pretty good. if it was just the targeting radar, that would not have known and shot it down by mistake. >> to the colonel's point, i'm trying to figure out what would someone on the ground discern as if they were looking at a civilian or military aircraft. >> at 30,000 feet, you will see an airplane, michael.

we are talking a lot of conjecture here. this is a complex operation. dan said if this is one vehicle that shooting based on self-contained radar, all they get is a target track after they paint with radar. as he said, if it is true, there was a radar acquisition, they could tell more about the type of airplane it is by the size and way it is flying. that is a lot of conjecture right now. all we know and truthfully, we don't know this is what shot it down with 100% certainty. it certainly appears that way. >> colonel, to the extent of the debris field would suggest it was shot out of the sky. in other words, this was not an impact and limited in one geographic area. >> i think it would be different if it was blown up at 30,000 feet. everything we have seen and we have not seen much indicates it was hit by a single missile and came apart at 30,000 feet.

not necessarily exploding because the fuel tanks have come down relatively in tact. it is important to find out who did it, but i'm more concerned about what happens next and whether putin uses this to declare marshall law or if he declares a peace mission and acts like big man on campus and diffuses the mission. i don't think we will get a traditional crash scene investigation out of this. they have no reason to cooperate until they sanitize it and get rid of whatever they want to get rid of. >> colonel dan hampton and general hertling, thank you for your expertise. we know the flight 17 was shot out of the sky, but what we don't know is what the intelligence is. coming up, the black box giving clues about the tragedy at home. >> and all i can say about it

now is what president obama and our government said. we need to wait to make any definitive statements until we know exactly what happened, but it was sickening. that's a man interviewino.for a job. not that one. that one. the one who seems like he's already got the job 'cause he studied all the right courses from the get-go. and that's an accountant, a mom, a university of phoenix scholarship recipient, who used our unique --scratch that-- awesome career-planning tool. and that's a student, working late, with a day job, taking courses aligned with the industry he's aiming to be in. ready to build an education around the career that you want? let's get to work. layer upon layer of bacteria, so destroy these layers with listerine®. its unique formula penetrates these layers deeper than any other mouthwash. for a cleaner, healthier mouth, #1 dentist recommended listerine®.

power to your mouth™. #1 dentist recommended listerine®. celebrate your love of crab with gthis year's largest variety!. 'cause it's crabfest at red lobster! dig into a succulent selection of crab entrées. like new crab lover's trio! with sweet snow crab legs, split king crab, and jumbo lump crab over savory shrimp. crab three ways! all on one plate. or try new jumbo lump crab over wood-grilled salmon. experience crabfest at red lobster today. only for a limited time. come in and sea food differently!

dust irritating your eye? (singing) ♪ visine® gives your eyes relief in seconds. visine®. get back to normal.

well, we certainly do know is that this crime site is insecure and already we don't know where the critical information, the flight recorders or black boxes or whatever you want to say is on the ground. we don't know where it was taken or impartial investigators. we don't know what happened on the ground. >> that was cnn international

correspondent christiane amanpour. there is worry today that the crash zone may be contaminated by rebel fighters and that will make it harder for investigators. my next guest is mary sciavo. and then we have an airline crash investigator. mary, we are familiar with mh-370 and the black boxes which have not been indicated. same case here. >> there is other evidence. they will be able to find and identify what happened from the evidence on the ground from the the shoot down. the black boxes here would eliminate any false stories. they would eliminate cover

stories like we tried to communicate with the aircraft and it was squawking the wrong code. the black boxes would rule all that out. those stories did surface in kl-77. >> in other words, it might is stop the inaccuracies in this case. >> right. >> and asked of vladimir putin to allow crash investigators to the site. what is it we need to learn from the crash site itself? >> i think on the crash site, we pretty much at this point know it was causal in the aircraft crash. the shoot down by the missile. post-forensic evidence on the ground, you want to look at what would indicate that it was confirmed with the missile. you are looking for pieces of explosive material and high

energy explosions that would hit the airplane and penetrate the airplane from the outside in. you are looking for marks that confirm that. the passengers will have that embedded in the tissue of their bodies. gruesome, but that is what you look for to confirm that. >> lieutenant, the buk firing system itself is like a gun in any other murder case. after all, that is what this is. what could we learn from the system if we were to have it in our possession, meaning law enforcement or investigators? >> if you had the actual missile firing system, it is well known how that operates just like any other firearm if the atf was investigating. we know how many missiles are on the launchers and we know the parametrics and we know how that takes down an aircraft with a proximity fuse.

all that is well known. what is not well known is the systems tie into other systems. you will have a search radar and acquisition radar and targeting. this system can do a stand alone shoot down by locking on an aircraft and firing a missile and shooting it down. however, the identification of friend or foe is a commercial airliner or a military-type aircraft was not discerned enough. >> mary and ken, thank you so much. a big question many people are asking, why was the plane even flying over ukraine? the faa warned u.s. carriers, but many airlines around presidethe world did not follow the lead. and the fight into gaza is widening and the casualties are mounting. it won cause me discom. exactly, no discomfort, because it's milk without the lactose.

and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid®. 100% real milk. no discomfort. and for more 100% real dairy treats you'll 100% enjoy look for lactaid® ice cream and lactaid® cottage cheese. ♪ ♪ start a team. join a team. walk to end alzheimer's. visit alz.org/walk today.

you love this game. but does the game love you? ♪ who cares? look where you get to stay! booking.com booking.yeah! is building up layer, upon layer, upon layer of bacteria. and to destroy those layers? you need listerine®. its unique formula penetrates these layers deeper than other mouthwashes, killing bacteria all the way down to the bottom layer. so for a cleaner, healthier mouth, go with #1 dentist recommended listerine®. power to your mouth. also try listerine® pocket paks to kill bad breath germs on the go.

. i want to get out to chris cuomo. he is live at the crash site. what's the latest? >> reporter: michael, how you doing? the worst of situations, you have a set of expectations. they are not being met here. we have who identifies himself as the local leader of the militia of securing the area. he had been giving interviews.

he is walking around with a massive russian machine gun pm-k. saying move back. they have been firing into the air. this is an unusual situation. an ongoing active civil conflict here. there's fighting about 150 clicks away. 100 miles away from here. which is close in proximity. within that conflict, michael, you have what we have been talking about. the plane probably shot out of the air. the same people in the circle of suspicion for having brought it out of the sky are in charge of taking care of the dignity of the loved ones. it is not the most intelligent statement for safety, they are not doing a good job. they are walking through here. they are collecting the bodies. there are white ribbons around us that are identifying the dead. many are still in place. some have not been located. you can see them with your plain eye. they don't want to hear anything

from you about that. they're belongings, michael. assuming you don't get a body back in this situation. all 298 on board perished. their things become important to families. they have been picked through. there is no question the scene has been corrupted. anyone who says otherwise is misstating the facts. you can tell. they are opened and picked through. some re-closed. some shattered and broken and the luggage is put together. the personal effects. this is a raw scene. it is not handled well. when they allow the monitors in, it the monitors are here to monitor the violence. they are not crash scene investigators, michael. the first thing i wanted to do when i got here is get down on my knees and say a prayer for those gone. they are not getting the

dignity. it is a tragedy what the ukrainians are doing to us. he said it is a parallel. his belief that ukraine shot this plane out of the sky. his reasons were rambling. that is the scene here now. this man just walking around with a massive machine gun saying back up, please. >> chris, the prime minister told our own ivan watson there were reports that some bodies removed by the rebels. do you know anything of those reports? >> reporter: i've heard those reports. all i can tell you is what i see. there is no question they are moving the bodies. men right now moving in the field on the opposite side of where i'm standing collecting bodies. we have been told they will take them to harkiev. we are told they will take them there and identify them. it is hard to identify the bodies based on what we are seeing. taking them and prolonging or

stealing them, i don't know anything about that. they are collecting them and putting them in bags and assembling them for transport. >> chris cuomo live at the crash site in ukraine. please stay safe. congress member ed royce is the head of the joint affairs committee. he is about to join us. and they are blaming the crash on one person and it is not who you might think. really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans... ...with our best-ever pricing for business.

can i get my actual credit report... like, the one the bank sees? [ male voice ] sheesh, i feel like i'm being interrogated over here. [ male voice ] she's onto us. dump her. [ pay phone rings ] hello? oh, man. that never gets old. no, it does not. [ female announcer ] not all credit report sites are equal. experian.com members get personalized help and a real credit report. join now at experian.com with enrollment in experian credit tracker. [ female announcer ] aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals® oat with five vital nutrients. [ aniston ] because beautiful skin goes with everything. aveeno®. naturally beautiful results™. aveeno®. tthe will..., mobilizing to take on the world? you don't know "aarp." aarp and its foundation are taking on hunger with 29 million meals donated. drive to end hunger teams with local agencies

to reach the hungriest among us. if you don't think feed the hungry when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp." find more surprising possibilities and get to know us at aarp.org/possibilities. with a new volkswagen turbo. turbocharged reward card why are we so obsessed with turbo? because we like giving you power, but we also like giving you fuel efficiency. like the sporty jetta. and the turbocharged passat tdi® clean diesel. okay... and the iconic beetle... and the powerful tiguan... okay you can't forget the cc... guys, this is going to take a while. avo: hurry in and you can get a $1,000 turbocharged reward card when you lease a new 2014 jetta se for $199 a month. lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no discomfort. come on, would i lie about this?

probably eat something orll drink something that is acidic on a daily basis. those acids made over time wear the enamel. a lot of patients will not realize what's happening to the enamel. once it's gone, it's gone away for good. i recommend pronamel. it's designed specifically to help strengthen the teeth. pronamel will actually help to defend the enamel from the acids in our diet. if you know that there is something out there that can help, why not start today? e future? the future of kids? like a stock. not the kind of stock that's about making money. but a stock for social change. a whole new kind of investment called better futures. when you invest, it helps kids go to college. believe in us, invest in us. watch us grow. my name is sydni and i'm your dividend.

and my concern is obviously there has been a lot of misinformation generated in eastern ukraine generally. this should snap everybody's heads to attention and make sure that we don't have time for propaganda and we don't have time for games. we need to know exactly what happened and everybody needs to make sure we are holding accountable who committed this outrage. >> that was president obama's take on the situation in ukraine. we have the congress member with us. we were told that there was credible evidence that pro-russian supporters and rebels were responsible. what information can you add to

that? >> we know from general breedlove, the commander for the nato forces that they were training separatists on the equipment. we know in the last few weeks, a tremendous amount of heavy equipment came over the borders, especially tanks and anti-aircraft weaponry and so forth as the russians step up the operations in the east. they are panicked because poroshenkyo has been moving support in the east. the ukrainian government are rather desperate to set back the advances made by the ukrainian elected government and i think this is unfortunately an unforeseen consequence of that. we know this because they shot down several ukrainian planes.

what happened is a rather poorly trained separatist group here probably have inadvertently shot this commercial plane down. >> what responsibility does putin bear here in light of what you told me? >> not only are the arms coming across the border, several generals or commanding officers are actually russian. in the meantime, the prisoners, a female pilot with a distinguished record, she is being held in jail in russia. you can see how it is being micro managed from russia, the kgb agents or current equivalent are on the ground in eastern ukraine. i was in ukraine and they told me about taking into custody russians that were there. the governor there and the civil society groups, women's groups

that we met with on the ground told us they wanted the russians to butt out. this was the russian-speaking region. he put to the a plan. that is the plan that is not acceptable to putin. that is why he is stepping up the activity of pushing in the heavier equipment and volunteers coming in from russia to fight. >> what is the appropriate u.s. response? >> i think the entire international community will begin to move in tandem now. the degree of anger, you know, in east asia and europe and central asia toward the downing of the jetliner will probably consolidate the world opinion behind the place plan behind

president poroshenkyo. if we can get a cease-fire there alone, that can help us. that can help lead us to the next step which poroshenkyo and willing to meet and give them the autonomy. all that is required is russia quit putting arms into that region. >> congress member, this is the fodder for the domestic debate. it is being used for critics of president obama. do you think that is appropriate? >> well, you know, i can remember the remarks of the former cia director who was concerned that when we pulled out of poland and the czech republic in terms of our intercept system to defend that

area against a launch from iran and the united states, the credit systiticism he had at th putin will look at this and think we are weak and begin to take aggressive action. who knows what is going on in putin's mind. the reality is that looking at the situation on the ground right now clearly we need leadership. we need a strong position and we need europe to be with us on this, i think, after this event. given merkel's anger and anger of others in europe, i think it will solidify more support, but i think the president needs to get out and lead the international community and let's get putin to back down here. let's get him to cease and desist on aiding and abetting. he is the only reason this situation even exists is the fact that russian forces are

ensconsed in eastern ukraine. >> congress member, thank you. another breaking news story. conflict on the ground. we check in with wolf blitzer live in jerusalem next. thank ythank you for defendiyour sacrifice. and thank you for your bravery. thank you colonel. thank you daddy. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. find yourself. in an accomodation where you get to do whatever it is that you love to do!

♪ booking.com booking.yeah! dust irritating your eye? (singing) ♪ visine® gives your eyes relief in seconds. visine®. get back to normal. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 30 of the web's leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter.com/offer5.

the sound of warning sirens going off in israel as the iron dome missile system with rockets over tel aviv. the military started the invasion two days ago looking for rocket sites and tunnels. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is warning he could expand the incursion. hamas says israel will pay for the offensive. our wolf blitzer joins me from israel. without the threat of rocket fire, what is the difference this time? >> reporter: they might not completely eliminate this time. they are making progress in the undermining of hamas firing rockets into israel. they say going into the latest exchange with hamas, the israeli

intelligence community believes hamas had 10,000 rockets and missiles supplied from iran mostly. they have homemade stuff as well. they believe 1,600 as we speak right now, michael, have been sent into israel. the iron dome has destroyed. many others landed in relatively open fields. they believe the israeli military operation has intensified on the ground and air and the sea. they destroyed another 3,500. they think there are about 5,000 leftover. they are trying to destroy as many as they can. they acknowledge by the time a cease-fire, if there is an end to this, they may not have completely destroyed hamas' artillery and hardware. they may not completely succeed this time. >> how do you know when the mission is concluded? is the idf doing it by numbers that when they reach a certain

level of taken out hamas rockets, it is at that point they shut it down? >> reporter: what the idf is their mission is to destroy as much of hamas military as possible. to destroy this stage the tunnels that go from gaza into israel to allow hamas guys to come into israel and kill people, if you will. they think they destroyed about 13 as of right now. they think there are tens more. they won't be specific how many more. this is a difficult operation. you cannot destroy the tunnels from the air or sea. you have to put boots on the ground, if you will. israelis mobilized troops ev engaged in the operation. they say there is no desire on the part of israel to reoccupy gaza. a strip of land of 2 million people. israel withdrew from gaza in

2000. >> wolf blitzer reporting from jerusalem. stay safe and thank you. the u.s. is standing behind israel in the conflict, but as the two sides continue to battle, is military action really the answer here? plus, politicians from both sides of the aisle here in the u.s. are rallying for israel. genuine or part of a political campaign? really... so our business can be on at&t's network

for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans... ...with our best-ever pricing for business. lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no discomfort. come on, would i lie about this?

♪ (water dripping and don't juspipes clanging)ncisco. visit tripadvisor san francisco. (soothing sound of a shower) with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better.

israel's decision to launch a ground defensive came after two failed cease-fires and rockets fired from hamas. on the other side, ten days killed nearly 300 palestinians, mostly civilians. let me bring in aaron david miller. distinguished scholar at the woodrow wilson international center. he is the author "the end of greatness." you wrote for politico this week. either you put boots on the ground or hamas agrees to do did. obvious that israel was going to launch a ground incursion. why wouldn't hamas agree to a cease-fire? >> good morning, michael. hamas went into the conflict

weakened. you have a military former supreme commander. the former muslim brotherhood. morsi is in prison. hamas needs things before it starts to launch the high trajectory weapons. it needs prisoners released. it needs a host of economic and political benefits and israelis, frankly, are in no mood given the time and space the iron dome provided them to secure the home front to essentially give them the victory. as a consequence of this, this conflict will continue. there is no solution to this. that is the tragedy for the hundreds of palestinians who have been killed and thousands wounded and for the israelis killed and wounded and terrorized by hamas rockets. there is no solution.

there is only an outcome. we have seen this before in 2009 and 2012. the israelis can degrade its high trajectory weapons capacity. unless israelis occupy gaza and kill its leaders and dismantle the infrastructure and turn gaza over to somebody who is prepared to take it, we are just biting our time frankly until the next round. >> is there any solution that can come from washington? >> you know, we have a lot of influence with the israelis. we have been extremely supportive. i expect the president communicated and so has secretary kerry. the reality is we have no influence with the other side with hamas. if you want to end this, frankly, you need three things. you need urgency, both sides need to be ready to stan stand

down. they are not. you need a mediator. you don't have one of those. finally, you need a deal. you will have to find a negotiated way out of this. right now, what israel wants and what hamas needs are simply not this is going to go on, i'm afraid, with tragic consequences. >> aaron, thus far who is winning the war for public opinion? >> you know, it's funny, because in '09 the israeli's lost it. no matter how effective military tactics in a conflict, it's the politic, the image of war that counts. this time around the israelis have more political time and space. hamas rejected two cease-fires, egyptians are pressing hamas. americans supportive. even key europeans wonder about why hamas chose and continues to pursue a course of launching high trajectory weapons, but all

it takes, you've already got hundreds of palestinians dead, and thousands wounded, and scores of thousands displaced. all it's going to take is one errant israeli missile strike that kills scores of palestinians in a single incident to fundamentally change the political, emotional and psychological contours of this conflict, and i'm afraid that the longer this goes on, the greater the possibilities that that, in fact, could happen. >> and israel certainly knows that. aaron david miller, thank you for your expertise. as the death toll is rising in gaza, now more and more of our politicians are rallying behind israel. but is this just more chest thumping, or a compliment to help end the conflict? the domestic political side of the israeli/palestinian conflict is next. dust irritating your eye? (singing) ♪

visine® gives your eyes relief in seconds. visine®. get back to normal. hi, credit report site andour i have a problem. i need to speak with your fraud resolution department. ugh, we don't have that. what should i tell him? just make that super annoying modem noise... (shuuuuuuuh....zzzzzzzz...de ee...dong...shuuuhh...) hello? not all credit report sites are equal. classic. experian.com members get personalized help plus fraud resolution support. join now at experian.com. with enrollment in experian credit tracker. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com

you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. i have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. can you print only stamps? no... first class. priority mail. certified. international. and the mail man picks it up. i don't leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again.

i've also been concerned by the way by moral equivalence going on in the press and e-mails i'm getting and public statements i'm hearing some make in some quarter, not here in the senate but in other places. this idea both sides are to blame. an interesting concept but it isn't true. it is tragic, unfortunately, civilians are dying in gaza, but the reason why civilians are dying is 100% hamas' fault. >> that was senator marco rubio from florida, potential presidential contender in 2016, weighing in on israeli ground offensive, while putting the blame on hamas. he also said the obama administration is responsible for not being strong enough as a backer of israel. cnn political analyst maggie haberman is here. maybe i shouldn't say potential after listening to those remarks. i said, he's in in 2016? >> an unsubtle move.

look, in keeping to some extent, anyway, where the rest of congress has been. overwhelm sag port -- >> pretty resolute. >> yes. overwhelming support from congress. from the house, unanimous resolution. the senate, almost entirely strongly supported but rubio went further, you know. went from saying not just a false equivalence, media reports and the focus on the human tragedy going on in gaza. children being killed. regardless who is to blame, those images are yun setting for people. he went to what is a common refrain from some republicans over the last several years, that obama is partly at fault, because he has not been strong enough. i think you will hear more of that as we go along. >> i read an analysis talking about aamorphosmetamorphosis, rl went through? >> he's been clear in terms of a shift. right? walking a line for a while of trying to seem less like he is

boxed in a certain ideological corner. on the senate resolution, wanted to see more teeth in it. he wanted aid denied to certain quarters to show support for israel. different where he has been in terms of how he has gone about calling for an end to u.s. aid to foreign interests. he has been nor supportive of israel than a lot of people expected him to be but you're seeing it as a presidential proving ground for 2016. >> maggie, earlier in the weeshgs gallup released a survey what's the most important problem facing the country today? before gaza, before mh-17. foreign affairs came at-of-in at number ten. asked me, i'd say two or three. has that changed? might foreign affair, foreign policy, play a dominant role in the midterm elections in a way that previously wasn't in the cards? >> tends to be not what voters base their focus on. >> why? >> they focus on what's affecting them personally. pocketbook issue, jobs.

obamacare, perceived doing better, still will claim more of a role how people vote and a driver of certain base voters on both sides. however, there is a sense that this white house is being driven by events as opposed to sort of driving its own agenda and to the extent it adds to a sense obama is adrift in an out of control world between the border crisis, between what you're seeing overseas, that is another question. >> used to drive the gop base in opposition to president obama, this will all get laid off on him? >> correct. and that is not a surprise, but this creates more of a focal point. >> right. understood. grapt analysis. maggie haberman, thank you so much for being here. that's it for me. see you next saturday. until then, please, have a great weekend and a terrific week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

this is part of what is left of malaysia airlines flight 17. >> you just hope none of your children -- will go before you. >> we saw next to three of the passengers' names, capital i. as we now know, the letter i stands for infant. >> it's crazy. you don't expect to go into an airplane and get blown out of the sky. the pictures are jolting. the information is fluid. we're so glad to you have with us as we walk through this morning. good morning, i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. 10:00 on the east coast. 7:00 out west. you're in the "cnn newsroom." first, this morning, the growing international alarm rebel gunmen are keeping investigators from the crash site. although we know that the osce investigators, those monitors,

the organization for security and cooperation in europe, they are there today. a little more flexibility than they had yesterday, but still -- >> even though a smaller team there of them, but they seem to have more mobile than yesterday, it's reported. germany is urging russian president vladimir putin to pressure these rebels to let the investigators in even further. malaysia airlines issued, too, its latest list of the 298 people 11 nations aboard the flight when it was shot down out of the sky over eastern ukraine. most of the passengers come from the netherlands. there was one american as well. >> international observers at the crash site say they have been hearing gunfire and explosions this morning. witnesses say some human remains put in body bags and put to the side of the road. >> accusing pro-russian reshls removing more than three dozen bodies as well as destroying evidence, they say, the ukrainian say. >> and heavy fighting, about 60