push to sew disinformation in the american public and was in the white house in december. >> a key december 18th meeting. by taking this plea she is going to have to admit things -- she is going to have to admit things like we knew it wasn't stolen, it was a crime, et cetera. now kenneth chesebro has a chance to plead out. what is he doing? >> the timeline is important. powell and chesebro were set to have jury selection for their trial in georgia starting today. so powell's not going to trial and we know there is through nick valencia in atlanta, he learned that kenneth chesebro has been offered a plea deal and is still thinking about what to do. he hasn't decided if he will take that. these are two defendants that were going to go to trial first in this 19 defendant conspiracy case that includes trump. every person that is offered a plea deal and thinking about it, that could be a domino that falls leaving potentially donald

trump alone. >> wow. fascinating. >> thank you. "cnn this morning" continues right now pochlt. this is cnn breaking news. >> it is the top of the pour. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. monitoring two big stories right now. jim jordan about to give a news conference in minutes as he tries yet again to become house speaker after failing multiple times. we are also following several big developments in israel's war with hamas. today president biden is back from the war zone and calling on congress to approve a new wartime aid package for israel and ukraine. in a prime tile oval always speech he called it vital for america's national security. >> i know these conflicts can seem far away. it's natural to ask, why does this matter to america. when terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, when dictators don't pay a price for

their aggression they cause more chaos and death and destruction. they keep going. the cost and threats to america and the world keep rising. >> of course, congress is paralyzed right now without a house speaker, technically can't pass anything. this morning israeli military says a majority of the hostages being held in gaza are still alive, nearly two weeks after being abducted during hamas' massacre in israel. >> this comes as israeli leaders are cigarsignaling a ground inv could be imminent. troops massing mere the border and told them they would see the quote inside of gaza soon. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu also visited troops and asked if they were ready to deliver, quote, a hard blow. and overnight the israeli military says airstrikes pounded hamas' underground tunnels, warehouses of weapons and command centers and israeli forces have been launching deadly raids on the ground in the west bank to capture hamas

operatives and obtain information about the hostages. we witnessed increased activity on the border, including flares and heavy machine gun fire. erin burnett is live in tel aviv with so many developments, including hopeful news about the hostages being held. >> reporter: hugely hopeful news coming from the idf. they say majority, not clear what that means in terms of the numbers, 203, they confirmed to be hostages. we heard a couple of thuds this morning. we have been here ten, 11 days now. there were days early on when there were lots of thuds here in tel aviv you could hear in gaza. it appears they have proceed that northern ground. all tv as we have seen through the week has moved fourth south. we will see what the day brink's, poppy, as you have that major news coming possibly on the house speaker dysfunction back home. >> this is all connected, right.

do you have a speaker of the house who can approve a huge aid package that the president needs congress to approve to help on the ground in israel. you are looking at the lectern where jim jordan where speak. you reported a long time on hill. surprised he is holding this address as he pushes forward to still try to become speaker? >> having covered jim jordan it's not a surprise he is continuing to fight. >> he is a wrestler. >> he is a wrestler, known as a fighter on capitol hill. i think the difference between fighting when you're a small number in the minority versus fighting against leadership versus trying to become leadership is a very different dynamic. i think right now you heard from tim just a short while ago. he is walking in. they want answers and a speaker. jordan doesn't have the votes for that. >> a few years ago poly and i got a call from friends living in dayton, ohio. they asked if we were free to go

to dinner with them. sure. before we go to dinner, we are going to tour the write brothers homes. we said great, we enjoy history. let's learn about these amazing americans. we go there and paid the lady at the door $5 from the historical society and you go in this tour and learn these make things about the wright brothers. you learn about the bicycle shop and the other things, the gadgets and gizmos they tinkered with and built. fascinating tour. last stop on the tour is oroville wright's bedroom and they tell you a few more things about this wright brother and then they close the tour out by showing you two pictures. first picture they hold up, they very first flight, 1903, in kitty hawk, north carolina, in this thing they called a plane. and you -- the first -- you see that and you think, how did that thing get off the ground?

it barely did. flew 100 feet, a few feet off the ground. you are thinking about -- you sort a remember that picture from eighth grade, nato grade, whenever they teach you that this school. that's amazing. they put that picture down and hold up a second picture. 44 years later, 1947, chuck yeager breaking the sound barrier in a jet. and i was like, wow, that i didn't know. that's amazing. and 44 years ago from two guys flying 100 feet to another american breaking the sound barrier in the jet. that's the end of the tour. we start walking out and as we are walking out that door it hit me. wait a minute. wait a minute. why did they stop there? i represent the hometown of neil armstrong, who 22 years after chuck yeager breaks the sound barrier steps on the moon.

stop and think about it. in 66 years one lifetime we went from two guys flying 100 feet to putting a man on the moon. it is a great country. a great country. the greatest country in my judgment made up of great people. and right now those people, i think, are starting to doubt and wonder about their government and about where our nation is headed. they see an open border. they see crime in the streets. they know what it cost to put gas in their car, to put food on the table, they see a war in israel, our strongest ally, israel, what's happening there and the help that israel needs and they see a government that has been weaponized against we, the people. the very government that's supposed to serve us has been turned on the taxpayers who pay for it. i think the american people are thirsty for change. i think they are hungry for leadership. and frankly, they know that the white house can't provide.

they know the senate won't lead and they are looking for house republicans to step up and lead and make change on these important issues. we got important work to do. important work to do. we need to help israel. we need to get the appropriations process moving so the key elements of our government are funded and funded the right way, particularly our military. we need to get back to our committee work and frankly we need to continue the oversight work that i think is so darn important. in short, we need to get to work for the american people. we feed to do what we said we were going to do. we need to do what we told them they were going to do when they elected us and put us in offers and we can't do that if the house isn't open. we can't open the house until we get a speaker. my favorite scripture, timothy 4:7. paul is giving advice to at young guy timothy. fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.

i tell vehicles i love that verse because of the action in it, because of the -- americans aren't timid folks. they are people of action. and the words of that verse fight, finish, keep, i think it fits the american spirit. americans expect their government to fight for them. they expect us to finish our work. and they expect us to keep faith when the principles and values that made us the greatest nation ever. made us the nation that could go from the wright brothers to neil armstrong. that's what we have to keep in mind. and that's the kind of attitude we got to have. the quickest way to get this working is to get a speaker elected. that's what i hope we can do today. i'll take your questions. >> lay out your path. are you going to call roll call vote after roll call vote and try to wear your opponents down? >> stop. y'all said that we are going to

lose 10 to 15 votes. stayed the same. we picked up few. lost a few. i think the ones we lost can come back. there have been multiple rounds of vote for speaker before. we all know that. i just know that we need to get a speaker as soon as possible to get to work for the american people. >> do you plan to ride this out this weekend if you don't get the votes today and then, secondly, president biden, as we heard last night, is sending $100 billion aid package here -- is that something that you -- >> you're making the case for why we need to get the house open, to evaluate the package. can't pass anything in that until we get the house open. i got to see the package. we certainly feed to help israel. i got to see the package. we can't do that if the house isn't open. all the more reason we need to get the house open as soon as possible. >> what do you say to the people of israel, prime minister

benjamin netanyahu, that you are not able to provide any aid to israel because the house is so locked up? >> you are making my case. i got 200 votes. the speaker designee from my colleagues. the sooner we get this police brutality accomplish /* -- get in accomplished the better for the american people. >> [ inaudible ]. >> we had a good conversation. we will continue to do that. as i point out, the fastest way to get to work for the american people is to elect a speaker so the house can be open and we can get things done. i will take a couple more. >> [ inaudible ] what was your intent in the memo to your staff, mark meadows, suggesting that vice president pence --

>> just that. >> that you should -- [ inaudible ] do you believe the 2020 election was stolen? >> there were all kinds of problems with the 2020 election. my intention with the email was an argument for donald rumsfeld. i forwarded it on to him. that's all it was. >> can you walk through what is your plan this weekend if you pick up any votes on the ballot or if you lose votes -- >> our plan is to get a speaker elected to the house of representatives as soon as possible so we can help the american people. last one. >> what is your message for the people of israel about -- >> we stand with you. >> you clearly don't have the vote to be speaker. >> i have been there five times. amazing people. amazing country. w we should do everything we can to help them. the way to do that is elect a speaker. >> you have been listening to congressman jim jordan, the ohio republican, who made clear he is

not giving up. he is not dropping out. he will push forward for a third and potentially many more round of votes to become the next speaker of the house. he is 0 for 2, lost 20 votes the first time, lost 23, i believe, the second time. there was some sense yesterday as seemed like we was bleeding support behind the scenes, more support behind the scenes, he would drop out. there was a very airing of grievances like republican closed door conference meeting full of lots of profanity and pushback. but jordan has made clear he is staying in, made clear he is pushing forward, and i don't get the sense he feels like dropping out anytime soon. >> what was the goal there? did he say anything different than he has been saying? we knew he was going to keep pushing. >> if i could analyze from afar, which is a little difficult, he wanted to look like a speaker. in that room, the raburn room, is critical. but also giving a speech,

talking about the wright brothers, i appreciate him making clear the wright brothers ohio, north carolina, we should win that battle. but trying to make it look better and talking about the need to move forward, especially in the context of the president sending out that aid package. that would be my guess. we will see. i have not heard some text messages saying this is going to change anything. we will see. cnn political commentator errol lewis, analyst and anger of early start, kasie hunt and former congressman charlie dent. charlie dent, do you think that moves members of your former conference? >> absolutely not. i think that many of these members who voted against jim jordan over the past few days are dug in. and i think they are immovable objects, many of them. in fact, the people who are voting against jim jordan, these are not -- from what i could tell, these are not gadfly members. they are serious, thoughtful members, members of the

appropriations committee, including the chair, kay granger. what is notable about the speech i just heard jim jordan said he wanted to get the appropriations process moving. i served on that appropriations committee for many years, was one of the senior members along with kay grangers who are voting against jordan and i know why they are voting against jordan because they have been working for years to be responsible, fund the government and do things that must get done to have, jim jordan in particular and others, undermine their efforts every step of the way when they are in the majority. and now they said no. and they didn't do this lightly. they did this because they don't think that jim is the right guy to help craft the types of deals that will need to be cut like the one on november 17th to keep the government funded. that is what this is in large part about. they don't think he is the right guy. there are other members who announced yesterday they would not be supporting jim jordan today. i didn't hear anything in that speech that would get any of

those folks to flip. >> errol, to you, same sort of question. what was the purpose then and did he fulfill it? >> he is trying as far as i could tell to sort of in real time do a makeover, try to recast himself on the national stage as somebody who could be the speaker, you know, sort of in the raburn room talking broadly, talking in a way that is completely at odds with his actual history, his political history, his legislative history, history of not passing a bill -- >> thin. >> non-existent. and so he is trying to sort of recast himself. we have seen this before. any number of people remade themselves politically. he is entitled to try. it wasn't terribly convincing. i don't know what his colleagues think about this. he is trying to act like a responsible person, not bomb thrower, not a legislative terrorist, which boehner -- and in congress. and so a thin record, with a lot of people who have seen through a lot of his act, with the

threat to intimidation, by the way, which he didn't mention. members of congress are being threatened from the outside. this apparently is part of some of the strategy where it's authorized by him personally or just sort of a wildcat action by his supporters, a lot of pro-jordan people doing stuff that's really out of bounds and that is designed to sort of annoy members of congress who i don't think we are going to see a shift in the vote today. >> one of the questions that was asked, about do you think the 1.1 million election was stolen? he said i think there are all kinds of problems. that's one of the reasons some are consistent about not voting for him and goes to the point liz cheney made a week and a half ago about what he stood on election and what he knew and what he did. >> right. i mean, jim jordan's interactions with the events of january 6th concern an increasingly small group of republicans in the house of representatives. but i think you're right to

highlight it. reporters are right to ask about it. we shouldn't ignore it. you are asking why did he do this today and what was he trying to accomplish. i heard a couple of different things in his remarks. one, he is trying to underscore t to conservatives he is with them and that they should continue to approach this the way that they have been, which is they have been opposed to the idea that patrick mchenry, who has been the temporary speaker of the house, should be empowered with the help of democrats, right. they have been trying to underscore we need to vote against that, we don't want that, and there are conservatives who are very angry at the possibility of that happening. he is talking to them. those are his people. he said he wants to focus on oversight. impeachment inquiry into president biden, inquiries into hunter biden's activities, et cetera. the pitch he was making to those voting against him was that the quickest way to get what you want is to vet for me. he kept saying over and over,

get the house open, fastest way is to elect a speaker. that only person available for job right now is me. he wouldn't answer how many times he was going to be doing this. that was the push. >> this was a different venue that we have seen from him. he is trying a different strategy the version that he has of the bully pulpit strategy we would see out of the white house. the question is will it work or do the concerns about issues like the election that you mentioned, like, quite frankly, his legislative terrorist tendencies that john boehner talked about are going to allow the government to continue at all. that's, i think, the concern that those appropriators have. so, you know, his strategy is going to mirror what kevin mccarthy's was it seems. we are not sure how long he'll last. >> all right. we will start to figure it out in an hour and 40 minutes when the vote starts. we appreciate it, guys. stay with us. two big stories as we discuss that we're following.

back to israel right now where erin burnett is continuing to follow what is a very, very consequential day in israel. >> reporter: across the middle east the united states doesn't even have a government in place for all intents and purposes to approve aid. that's the reality. sara sidner is in west bank. we have reporters around the region. it is friday. that is the day that people go to the mosque and after there have been calls for mass protests. sara sidner is in the west bank. what are you seeing? it was quiet earlier when people were attending mosque. now they have left and what are you seeing. >> reporter: it's not quiet anymore. a few moments ago we heard gunfire likely from the israeli military posted up -- i will try to give you a shot of it t let me show you what's happening here. people came after the friday prayers. they came to march in solidarity

with the palestinians in gaza who are dealing with both a humanitarian crisis, no food, no water, no water, no fuel, but also hwith a crisis of getting the airstrikes over and over and over again, which has killed so many civilians who are not a part of the government, not part of the government that runs that place, that strip, hamas. so you are seeing this sort of solidarity called for by -- all over thearab world and the journalists gathered here. this is where the -- happened. all right. >> you are not welcome here! genocide supporters! cnn! genocide supporters!

>> reporter: all right. you see people are angry. >> let me just -- >> reporter: but we're fine. but what you are seeing is the heightened fear, anger, frustration with what's happening in general, whether -- [ inaudible ] the general anger people feel that israel is getting more support than the palestinians and the palestinians feel they are getting bombed and losing a lot of life. i mean, we are talking upwards of 3,000 killed, 10,000 or plus injured in gaza. in the west bank, by the way, 67 people plus have been killed. watch out. there is an ambulance coming. every now and then you have tensions flare. this is what happens in this region. this is different in that there is a full-scale official war

that has been declared by israel and they may going forward go in to gaza on the ground and there is a huge fear, huge fear from people here that that is going to turn into an unbelievable massacre than what occurred from airstrikes. that's the situation here. there are comparatively protesters, compared to other pl places, jordan has a huge number of protesters. this is how people are responding because they feel they can't do anything else but come out and decry what is happening to palestinians in gaza. erin. >> reporter: all right. sara thank you very much. we are going to let sara go. as you can see how tense that situation is and what sara said, you know, that man coming up, you are not welcome here, sara moving away, it gives you a sense of the passions and tenses of what the ground crews are

experiencing on the ground now. i want to go to amman, i wap to give sara a chance to move. annette has been monitoring those over several days. mass turnout was promised. tell us what you are seeing. >> reporter: absolutely. mass turnout was promised. that's what we saw earlier today. an enormous march following friday prayers in downtown amman. this march has come to a bit of an end at this point. we are expecting more protests later this evening as we have done every night since the outset of this war began. in amman, there is a very strong feeling of solidarity with the palestinian people, with people in gaza. there is a very strong sense of outrage over the continued aerial bombardment of the gaza strip by israel and there is also anger just as sara was experiencing there over the coverage of this war. there is angerer over the international response.

many say they feel the plight of the palestinian people, palestinians inside gaza is not being addressed enough, being ignored. we have been speaking to protesters every night. the message is the same and consistent. they want to the world to pay attention to what is happening in gaza, call for a ceasefire. take a listen to a protester we spoke to earlier today. >> actually do something for palestine so the world can actually see what we're doing. let the world hear -- palestine and israel is not our country. >> what is your message for the world? why are you here? >> to see that palestine is one of the strongest countries in the world. >> reporter: what is your reaction to israel's airstrikes in gaza? >> the most -- that the world honestly -- i wish we all could do something about it and make the world hear about it. >> reporter: of course, it's not just happening in amman. as you heard from air a in the

west bank, protests in there, lebanon, tunisia, iraq, across the regional. we are seeing huge protests in europe, in the u.s. this is a cause -- the street. many people are deeply angry about what they are seeing in gaza, not just the airstrikes, but the siege, the crippling humanitarian situation on the ground. there is a real sense of frustration and anger here. we are anticipating that we will continue to see these protests so long as the airstrikes continue, so long as the siege on gaza continues. it is not just on the popular front. we are hearing this expressed by arab leaders. king abdullah of jordan has been vocal in condemning the violence and calling for an end to the siege as has abdel fattah el sisi. we are seeing that diplomatic movement, particularly focused on a border crossing and attempts to get crucial aid into gaza.

the death toll continues to mount in the gaza strip, these protests are going to intensify. we have seen that march earlier today begin to dwindle now. we are nearing the afternoon. what we are anticipating this evening is another enormous show of solidarity with the palestinians. another enormous show of protests than what we have seen the last couple of nights is hundreds of people gathering forwards the israeli embassy here in amman. a huge security presence. that has not deterred the protesters. erin. >> reporter: all right t thank you. and phil and poppy, what we see sara dealing with on the ground in ramallah, it is so important. these are pro-palestinian protests but there is the perception of where american media stands. you are not welcome here. there is an anger and resentment and rang, it is real and it is important and it is a part of the story as well.

pro-palestinian anti-israeli anti-american is often one big giant soup and it's very hard to pull those strings apart as that moment with sara i think illustrated so well. >> it did. and as we are talking to you, these are live picture out of ramallah in the west bank. 3:30 in the afternoon you saw our friend and correspondent sara sidner facing extreme opposition to just reporting on the ground there. erin, we just had a foreign policy analyst speaking who said even though president biden last night spoke about u.s. support for a two-state solution, the palestinians that she had spoken with after the president's address last night believe they are empty words and don't see action. i think you saw that playing out in the encounter sara. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. and i think it is important, you know, there is in groundswell and what you see in ramallah, we

will see a lot more of it. we know israel is going to do something notable, they say they are going to see the inside of gaza. that's unacceptable on the arab street. after that hospital bombing news, 80,000 people were demonstrating on the streets in turkey, a place that most americans have never heard of. there were 80,000 people reportedly outside of that consulate, my understanding, was closed at that time. i don't know if its reopened. but had been closed because of that. and that is where we are right now. and it is an escalating cycle. there is absolutely no doubt about that. we will see what happens in the evening, right. people have gotten out of mosque in ramallah. we will see what happens in jordan and in egypt where president sisi said there will be millions of egyptians on the streets if they are allowed to go out and voice their opinion about people from gaza, refugees from gaza coming to egypt. that specific angle on had could motivate millions of egyptians.

protests in egypt have been banned since we were there in tahrir square. they have been banned basis cy. he is allowing them back in in light of this. we have all of these places to watch. as i should say, the middle east is a region where a lot of things happen at night. people stay up late it's a very nocturnal society in many ways. when you see protests they often continue well into the evening. we will see what happens tonight. >> thank you very much. a critical point about egypt and what we may see unfold there. we will get back to you to sara quickly. we are keeping an eye on this. live pictures out of ramallah in the west bank. back in a moment. you're loo

from moments ago on the streets

of ramallah in the west bank where it is the middle of the afternoon. it is after mosque on a friday. mass protests. our sara sidner reporting there. we will get to her shortly. >> as protests continue throughout the region, we are also seeing israeli forces apparently on the brink of entering gaza. a u.s. warship in the red sea intercepted multiple missiles. bases in iraq and syria have had to rappel attacks. a dynamic and fluid situation in the region. with us now with a look on what's going on, cnn chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. i want to start with our reporting about a potential green light for the massing forces of the idf to actually enter gaza. what does that tell you? >> let's look at what we are seeing by the border. as you mentioned, nic robertson seeing flares go up. you launch them to get better vision as your forces make plans for going in. we are beginning to hear from

israeli politicians what the goal of this operation is. we have known for some time and our teams have witnessed all of the forces, all of the armor, armored personnel carriers, tanks arrayed around gaza, particularly this northern area. and now israeli politicians are publicly describing what the goal of this operation is. to go in, they are saying may very well be a long war, but then create these barriers around gaza, basically a no man's land, they say it's going to be a free fire zone so that no one inside gaza, particularly hamas fighters, islamic jihad, et cetera, can get close to the border, about but also afterwards reserving the right and the act for israeli forces to go back in as necessary. one of the israeli politicians mentioned how things work with the west bank. that's how it works with the west bank. israeli forces, they go inside frequently, they carry out attacks frequently there against militants. they are basically setting up

for the same thing when we look at what's happening in gaza city now. and that we should note portends a difficult operation inside gaza. >> jim, this and then the broader context of what is happening across the region, right, there has been activity involving u.s. warships concerning yemen, there is major concern about that. there has been active attacks by drones on u.s. bases in iraq and in syria. can you put that all into context for us and the morning after the president's oval office address? >> it gets to the threat here from two directions. what happened yesterday. you had a u.s. destroy other off the coast of yemen, projectiles, missiles fired. it wasn't clear where they were going. were they targeting the "uss carney"? we learned throughout the day they were targeting, it seems, the u.s. believes, was israel. and the carney shoot those missiles down before they got

there. why is that important? the great fear is this expands into a multifront conflict against israel. you had hamas coming in from here. you have hezbollah in the north. the idea of iranian-backed houthi rebels firing missiles from here and perhaps iran self. then you see precarious geographical position that israel is in. that's the concern. you have already seen what you might call potshots taken at israel, not a full-scale offensive. it shows where the power is. you mentioned u.s. forces. here is the problem. you have u.s. forces distributed around the region. they are in syria, they are in iraq. you have ships here in the red sea, the arabian gulf. also two carrier groups here. they a they are there to defend israel, provide the resources they can without getting involved correctly. sad fact is, they are potential targets. yesterday we saw drones, rockets, targeting u.s. forces in iraq and syria.

of course, concerns about u.s. ships down here and ships in the eastern med. a point i would make, poppy and phil, hezbollah today operating out of lebanon has thousands, thousands upon thousands of missiles and those missiles are capable of hitting ships. they hit an israeli ship during the 2006 war. the concern is could they attempt to do the same against u.s. ships here. >> take a step back. when you are to your sources at the pentagon and the national security establishment, do they feel like the uptick we saw over the last 24 hours is, as you would frame it, potshots, trying to harass, to or is this the start of an escalation? >> when i speak to the folks at the pentagon it's a we're here kind of message. we can get to you, right? and they can. you have iranian proxies in iraq, syria, yemen, iran, lebanon, gaza. they have a lot of opportunities to go after not just of course

israel, but u.s. forces at. at this point, they don't see an escalation happening today, but it's possible. that's the great concern here. that's why you hear president biden whenever he speaks, you heard in his comments in just the days after this attack, if you are thinking about coming in, the president's words were, don't. and there is a lot of message sending with the forces that are going there. but as you or the three of us know having covered this area, these tensions for some time, there are leaders in these nations who are willing to take risks. right? and would they take that risk? remains to be seen. >> jim sciutto, extremely helpful. thank you very much. clashes at the lebanon/israel border north of israel over the past week have been raising fears about a wider regional war. earlier today israel announced mandatory evacuation of an israeli city near lebanon and pulled that back. we will speak to lebanon's minister of foreign affairs next.

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seeing throughout the region. in ramallah, protests, sara sidner was just in the middle of one. to the right of the screen you will see what is happening in egypt where political parties throughout the state for an issue that had often been banned, always banned by president el sisi, protests nationwide are happening, you are justified according the egyptian state political parties and media and they are very significant. we will keep an eye on those. >> also this morning, the israeli military tells cnn they have shot three militants on the border of lebanon and are searching for another who tried to infiltrate the country. tensions have been rising on the northern border of israel for days as israel trades missile fire with hezbollah in an iranian backed militant group based in lebanon. right now israel is calling for the voluntary evacuation of a town near the border that is home to some 23,000 people. there is growing concern hezbollah could open a second front against israel in this war

if israel launches that ground incursion that is expected into gaza, which is something a senior advisor to benjamin netanyahu said ready for. >> we are building up our forces and we are'd ready to move. and if you have interviewed any of those soldiers on the front you know there is a determination to do what needs to be done. >> joining me is lebanon's minister for of foreign affairs, bouhabib, the former lebanese ambassador to the united states. mr. minister of foreign affairs, i appreciate your time this morning. let me begin with a question of what your government's response is this morning to this crossfire, cross border fire from hezbollah into israel and i think more importantly, what, if anything, is your government doing to rein in hezbollah? >> well, first, we have been very afraid, very worried that the war could spread.

this is the last thing we want. we have had wars. and we're trying have peace in the north and southern lebanon. the issue is there are a lot of exchanges, bad exchanges between the groups in lebanon and israel. most accuse the other of starting it. what you are asking is that for israel to call for a ceasefire for 48 hours. if they do that, then we will know exactly who is starting what. really we don't want war. the government does not want war. we are dialoguing with the various groups. but it is uncontrollable because it depends all on what happened in gaza. gaza is a very important issue to a lot of people in the region. not only in lebanon, but also in syria and jordan and iraq, and, of course, palestine.

so what happened in gaza, if it is excessive invasion of gaza, it really is out of control. >> foreign minister, are you in touch -- >> we are asking -- >> are you in touch -- are you speaking with, actively speaking with hezbollah militants and asking them -- the deterrents you are talking about, advocating for that deterrence? >> no. we are talking with them all the time. and we are talking the iranians and we are talking with the syrians. everybody. we are trying to stop the damage. but sometimes things get out of control. like what happened in southern -- [ inaudible ]. >> did we lose the connection? there wie go. go ahead. >> that's why we're asking for a ceasefire. sorry. that's why we're asking for a

ceasefire, talking to the various partners. people there, you know, there is no war yet. yes, there are skirmishes, but there is no war yet. all depends on the limitation or how far and how long would be the war in gaza. >> look, this is what the -- just this morning one the spokespeople, colonel learner for the idf said that basically they will hold your government responsible for any attack from hezbollah. i want you to listen to this and i want to give you a chance to respond. here it is. >> the government of lebanon anything that happens from their sovereign territory, they need to -- they are responsible for and they will be held accountable for. this is a sovereign state. it has control over its borders. they have the responsibility to make sure that terrorists like hezbollah, terrorists army, does not launch attacks against israel. >> they put, mr. foreign minister, that responsibility for on you. >> i know.

they said more than that. they said they will put -- turn lebanon to the stone age, and so on. you know, if they stop -- nobody is talking in lebanon. even hezbollah is not saying anything in lebanon, you know? the leader of hezbollah did not make statement yet. if they stop talking, this -- they are inciting the situation. they are making it works by their talk. it's better for them to call for a sees fair. they are a country. so let's, you know, let's call for a ceasefire and see what happens. instead of threatening. there is nowhere to go now because the damage would be worse for them as much as for us. it would be lebanon. that's what we are afraid of, it would be damaged. would be destructed. the country is not going to be safe because all of these resistance forces have a lot of weapons and they are going to use them.

>> mr. foreign minister, you warned several months ago that given the breakdown of the government in lebanon, it does not have a president right now, that if there were a breakdown further, that it could be worse in the situation, your words, than that between israel and the palestinians right now. i have to ask you, there are many people that are looking at your government right now, criticizing it for ultimately having no say over whether your country is at peace or war, and this is essentially a call that paramilitary group, unelected body, ultimately make and criti. >> i say that not only lebanon, every country in the region, if the situation gets worse in gaza, every country in the region is not going to have much say. every government in the region is not going to have much say of what happens in the street or on the borders with israel.

it's not an easy situation and everyone should understand that. the governments of this region, including that of lebanon, despite the fact we don't have a president, we do not want war. we don't want to see destruction in our countries, but if things get out of hand, god knows what would happen. not for us only, also for israel as well. so this better to control it in gaza because the people are interrelated here, politically and even bloodwise. so we cannot hold them from doing some revenge if really the situation in gaza is going to be worse than what it is now. >> meaning you cannot hold back hezbollah, that's what you're s? >> no, they don't want war. >> okay. >> they do not want a war, but, i mean, you can't control it. it all depends, again, on what happens in gaza, on the invasion

of israel to gaza. >> mr. foreign minister of affairs, abdallah bouhabib, i appreciate your time in speaking with cnn this morning. thank you. >> thank you very much. this afternoon. >> this afternoon for you. that's right. thank you. >> yes. thank you. we've been showing you live images of ongoing protests in the west bank. we will continue to discuss the global impact, there's live images right there, of war unfolding between israel and hamas as the white house aims to deter wider escalation. stay with us.

welcome back.

this has been a very fast-moving week in israel's war with hamas. it started with secretary of state antony blinken chris i don't saying the middle east, the hospital explosion in gaza and the subsequent fallout. that was followed by president biden's historic trip to israel where he showed full-throated support for the israeli war effort and the canceled meeting in amman jordan that was spouse supposed to occur. pro-palestinian protests have flared up, they're leading into what could be an eventful and consequential weekend. joining us now is cnn host fareed zakaria. i actually want to start where poppy left off with the foreign minister. the idea of leaders not having control, him saying i can't control what the street does. in lebanon it's a little bit different in terms of hezbollah's power versus the government's power, but what did you take away from that? >> i think it shows you the limits of bibi netanyahu's strategy for the last really 15 years he's been prime minister

on and off for most of that time, which has been completely ignore the palestinian issue, provide no path for palestinian political rights, political settlement of some kind, and try to make peace with the arabs. on the theory that particularly the gulf arabs don't really care about the palestinians, they mouth the rhetoric, but they really don't care. what you saw with that very good interview that poppy did was that there were limits to that strategy because even if they don't care, it is true that it is this great popular cause among the people of the arab world and particularly if they feel there is no political path for the palestinians, you know, that these people are living in miserable conditions, it makes them much more prone to support anything -- to be absolutely clear, none of that condones the brutal terror attack of hamas, but there is a political context, particularly to the arab support. so these governments are all calculating, you know, how much do we give in. and, remember, many of these

governments are not democracies, so this is a way of letting out steam for popular views, anguish, anger. >> you made a really interesting argument on your show last week and in your column, and i'm just going to read the crux of it about the strategic prize. and you said the establishment of normal relations between israel and saudi arabia would be the severest set back for hamas, hezbollah and iran, not a military setback. you are saying go forward with what everyone is essentially saying dead in the water. >> if you think about it what is hamas reengting to? hamas is reacting to the idea that israel and the moderate arab states are going to -- ally, have normal relations, have economic and technological exchanges, there is going to be a world of peace and prosperity and for hamas the terror organization this is terrible. so they want to burn the house down. the best repose to that would be continue to build that world of peace and prosperity, but in

order to do it, you have to solve -- or at least be on a path to solving the palestinian issue. you know, netanyahu's approach fundamentally seems to assume that there is no issue, but there are 5.5 million palestinians who live between the west bank and gaza and they do not really have political rights. you can't just pretend that problem doesn't exist. if you can find a way to provide some political path there, restart relations -- you know, notice, none of the countries that have signed the abraham accords with israel are breaking off ties yet. so you can tell all these guys want to have relations with israel. they understand that that's a bright future for them. it's a win-win. but you have to give them some path so that they don't seem as though they're trampling on palestinian rights. >> that lack of path gets to a question we've been asking all week, which is if israel goes in and if they do what they say they plan to do with hamas, the military and political

organization, what next? if you look at the west bank and you look at how abbas leads in his respect not just with israel but also his own people, we've seen protesters calling for his ouster, the palestinian authority is certainly not the strongest of governing institutions, what's next in gaza and the west bank? >> you're absolutely right. adds to that complexity there will be settlers going around shooting palestinians, i can't remember the numbers but it's dozens have died in the last six months, a bunch have died in the last few days. so all of that adds to this complexity and it's important to remember abbas is largely unpopular because he's feckless, corrupt, but also because it's seen that he has promised we'll recognize israel, we will work with them, and he's gotten from the palestinian point of view nothing for it. you know, so that's the problem here, which is that the -- you have delegitimized and undermined the one palestinian partner you had who recognized you, renounced terror, was

trying to work with you. and as people in israel reported, this was part of a strategy that netanyahu had of building up hamas to undermine the palestinian authority. >> right. >> so that he could say, hey, theres no path, there is no peaceful path, we just have to kind of keep going. you know, what it makes you realize is that this is so fraught with complexity that the israelis should spend a lot of time thinking about the day after. you ask what happens. let's assume everything goes well in in war, they take gaza city, they take gaza, then what? do they want to reoccupy gaza? if they leave hamas will come back, if they stay hamas will launch terror attacks and an insurgency we know that because they were in gaza for 24 decades and that's exactly what happened. that's why they left. >> what's the other path, then, fareed? >> i think that in general with terror, you know, the terrorists are trying to provoke an overreaction, that's what 9/11 -- that's the goal, to production a massive

overreaction that then produces civilian casualties and people start siding with the terrorists. be strategic. go in targeted. if you are trying to, you know -- the israelis used to have a rule, many, many years ago, that the goal that they would bide their time and they would take out every terrorist who planned and executed this. maybe that's several hundred people. go after each single one, be narrow, be strategic. imagine if we had done that after 9/11 instead of invading two countries, building up a massive bureaucracy and spending what some estimate is $8 trillion. have we become more secure because of it? >> we heard the president with that warning last night again, learn from our mistakes after 9/11. fareed, thank you. so look forward to the show this weekend. appreciate it. just moments ago the attorney for kenneth chesebro just arrived at an atlanta area court. chesebro is accused of being the architect of the fake electors scheme and was indicted on seven criminal charges.