war in fall ouja and other places. you are talking about not just danger to the soldiers involved but obviously hamas uses these families, these hostages, as a shield against some of this. you wonder whether there are negotiations ongoing and how that is behind the scenes. we're just getting word there was another phone call between president biden and the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu about the situation this morning. the white house continues to put out that he has had dozens of phone calls and put out that picture but again we haven't heard from him in person and we will later on today. >> dana: we also brought to you some disturbing observations that the idf has found especially involving the horrific barbarism against innocent babies. we'll get you to our second hour.

>> i want also to speak about the responsibility of the u.s. administration, president biden, and the secretary of state blinken has for the lives of every u.s. citizen that is out there and they are responsible to bring the u.s. citizens back home safe and sound. we expect nothing less from the u.s. administration, from president biden. >> dana: families of americans and israelis missing in the hamas massacre breaking down in tears as they describe the chilling moments when they last heard from their loved ones. they believe their relatives are somewhere in gaza and praying for their safe return as are we. welcome to "america's newsroom." i'm dana perino. bill hemmer is off today. >> bret: it's a sad day. i'm bret baier. israel says it has regained control of towns near the border with gaza. defense forces pounded hamas

targets inside the gaza strip all its might being used. military commanders say strikes on the enemy will be bigger than before and far more severe. the government mobileizing more than 350,000 reservists just over three days. live fox team coverage. matt finn standing by with the latest on u.s. citizens abducted by hamas. greg palkot is live but he is running to a shelter to stay safe from rocket fire near the gaza border. our concern is to stay safe and get our reporters in a position that they can report safely. that is a difficult job, dana, in the middle of something that is changing by the minute and they have launched thousands of rockets from gaza to various sites inside israel, including the international airport within

the last couple hours. >> dana: you just reported right before the top of this hour that the president of the united states has spoken again with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. maybe we'll never know, right? these are highly classified conversations. we'll hear from the president in three hours. you wonder what benjamin netanyahu is asking for at the moment? >> bret: yeah. what specifically that looks like. we have the carrier group, u.s. carrier group moving quickly to that area. it's in position, the u.s.s. gerald ford and that strike group. obviously support from afar and monetary support. there is a pipeline of money already that is set up, was set up during the obama administration. but one would think they are going to need immediate retooling of all of the elements of the iron dome and other things. the house, by the way, is frozen

as far as being able to move money and pass bills because they don't have a speaker as of this moment. >> dana: looming large over all of this is iran and their desire to have a nuclear weapon. just thinking back to the attempts by the obama administration to get a deal to try to get them to stop enriching uranium. president trump thought it was a terrible deal. pulled america out of it and the biden administration has been quietly trying to figure out can they do that but also could they do the peace deal between israel and saudi arabia? all of this is -- a lot of geopolitical situations happening right now. greg palkot is back on air with us here. i know that you had a moment, greg, where you had to take cover. what can you tell us on the ground why that was?

what's happening? >> it has been an active front here. we're a mile and a half from the gaza strip here in a town that has been a battleground between the israeli military and the hamas militants. hamas militants are very busy up in the air. we just had a couple of rockets come over and the air raid sirens. we did not hear them intercepted. they could have been heading toward central israel because that's what we've been hearing about. a lot of rockets reaching tel aviv and jerusalem and the airport. so hamas still very active. we have been here for 6 or 7 hours along the border and we have been hearing a lot of planes go overhead. the israeli jet fighters are hitting targets near and far inside the gaza strip. we have heard from the israeli defense force saying they have about 250 targets hit this day.

so it is a back and forth battle. we are in the town of sarat. it was held by the militants for a good time over the weekend. i'll show you what was the police station here. now it's a total wreck. it's where the hamas militants made their last stand and israelis actually brought in a bulldozer to get them out. they're clearing it away. we asked when resident why they're clearing it away so fast. they want to rebuild it. they want to rebuild it where it is standing. you folks have been talking about the hostage situation. there have been hostages taken from here and nearby where there was a music festival along these towns and that's the real wild card in this. yes, you have the figures strong and amazing, more than 900 israelis killed, 2600 injured. 800 palestinians killed. 4,000 injured. but the ongoing drama now, too,

is 150 hostages, a couple of miles away from where we are somewhere in the maze that is gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the entire world. you heard from the families in the past hour. they are concerned about their loved ones and israel helping out and we have been watching all day the build-up of arm ored personnel carriers, tanks, heavy artillery as if israel was getting ready to go in with a major ground incursion. but they know there is a problem with that, too, with those israelis, perhaps americans, and other nationality civilians inside gaza. this is where it stands now. it is day four but this war is still strong and changing on a lot of different fronts, guys. back to you. >> bret: you have covered this region for a long time and seen

a lot on the ground. put it in context to what you've seen before. israel, the israelis moved out of gaza strip in 2005. dismantled from there. that changed the dynamic. just what you are seeing now in comparison to what you've seen over the years covering this region. >> i'm missing you. you fore-- >> bret: do you have me now? we lost him. stay safe. let's head over to matt finn and matt, where are you? >> bret, this morning americans are pleading for the return of their family members as we have been covering over the past hour. one man says he was on the phone with his mother when she was abducted. there is an increasing number of family and friends sharing

terrible stories of their missing loved ones. rachel said her son was attending the music festival and invaded by hamas. she learned a part of her son's arm was blown off and he was taken into a truck. she received two quick text messages from him saying i love you and i'm sorry. >> i took it to mean i love you and i'm sorry because whatever is going to happen is going to cause you tremendous pain and worry. >> this morning there are many horrific videos emerging showing the moments that women, men and even children were suddenly taken captive by hamas. israel alone estimates hamas is holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians as hostage in gaza now. they are threatening to start executing hostages if israel strikes civilians without warning. one young woman, tells fox news that her family discovered her brother was abducted when they

saw a video appearing to show the brother being marched through the streets by armed hamas terrorists. her brother was attending the music festival and abducted and they haven't heard from him. >> they posted a lot of disturbing videos and pictures on telegram. i am sorry, i can't watch this video. >> this morning there are any number of americans remaining in israel right now trying to get out. it is growing more difficult as airlines like delta and american have stopped flights to tel aviv. bret and dana. >> dana: thank you, matt finn, for bringing us that story. an important part of the conversation today. >> bret: let's bring in dorey roberts. born in israel now living in the u.s. four members of his family are missing and believed to be

inside the gaza strip. the front page of the "new york post" has pictures of your family members. what do you know now and any news? >> thank you so much, dana and bret for the opportunity to be on your show and share my family and my people's stories with the rest of the world on your platform. as we all know on saturday morning, all hell broke loose in israel. hundreds of people got killed, among the kidnapped people and people went missing are my family members. my aunt, her daughter, my cousin, a woman and her two young daughters. they were in a safe room by the border when terrorists got into their home, looted, burned, destroyed, broke into the safe

room and pulled them out. the next thing we knew the communication was lost around 10:30 local time in israel. and right after that we lost communication. the next thing we knew is a video from hamas telegram showing them on a vehicle being captured and moved to the gaza strip by militants and after that the last signal we got from her phone, that was located in the south of gaza city. it has been horrific. it never ends. we're trying to use every platform to reach every person that is willing to listen and put those faces out on the media demanding their immediate safe return of my family, the people that are held hostage in the

gaza strip back to their family and loved ones in israel. this is what we do right now. >> bret: i can hear the emotion in your voice and i know it's very difficult to talk about. you live in austin and have for 20 years. but for the people who live around you who are watching this, they feel your pain but they can't really articulate what this is like. what do you want the u.s. to do? >> it is not just the u.s. it is every ally and every human help from around the world to apply the pressure to tell the story, to understand that this is not a conflict between two nations. this is not a conflict about race or religion, this is a conflict about humanitarian basic needs. this is about women, kids, and

civilians that got kidnapped by a terrorist group and we are asking, we're begging for any help and demanding the immediate return of those people back to our family and back to israel. any help from anywhere around the world is much appreciated. >> bret: you have a cousin there and the pictures of the girls on the front cover of the "new york post"? >> he is the husband of my cousin and doing a tremendous amount of effort together with my family back in israel staying strong talking to everybody who is willing to listen. he is talking to leaders, politicians, news outlets, newspapers, spreading the word. we know the time is too short. there is just no time to spend

whatsoever on this. it has been so hard but we're determined to keep going as long as we can to keep telling the story and asking for their immediate return back to us. >> when you hear that israel is moving forward in this incursion into gaza, what do you think about that move and obviously you don't know exactly where your family members are. >> we are hoping they are still within gaza strip borders and not taken outside. because then it is really unknown, like we saw 15 years ago. we don't want to think about it. we don't want to think about invasion. we're trying to get the international community to understand the urgent and our needs right now to act diplomatically and put the pressure on the leaders to release those hostages immediately. this is what we're trying to do.

>> bret: dorey roberts' family held hostage inside gaza. our thoughts and prayers are with your family. >> thank you so much for having me today. >> dana: the eloquence of these family members who have lost people is really touching and, of course, their passionate as well but steady, measured, looking for help. i'm sure every minute that passes probably feels like a year that the waiting has to be excruciating. the bombing continues, you can see it happening as we speak. >> bret: in is gaza city and there was a drone shot yesterday over a part of gaza that looked like the after math of an earthquake. there is real devastation there as is israelis are trying to go after hamas leadership. we're told that hamas leader

commander was taken out this morning. >> dana: john kirby is here with us. john, the families earlier that gave the press conference, they are asking for the united states to help them. they are looking for specifics. will they get any of that from president biden when he speaks at 1:00 today? >> i think you will hear specifically the president address the concerns of american citizens in israel. those that unfortunately we know have perished. those who are missing and wounded. he will absolutely address those concerns and make it clear we have offered and will continue to offer hostage recovery assistance and expertise to the israelis as they might deem appropriate. i will tell you, dana, we don't know right now here at 10:00 in the morning whether we can -- we can't confirm that americans are in the pool of folks being held

hostage by hamas. we have to accept the grim possibility that that could turn out to be true. but as we're speaking right now we don't know whether any americans are in that group. >> bret: it's bret baier. we heard from families of americans in israel who say their family members are being held hostage. despite that lack of confirmation on your side. there is this call for the u.s. to do more. is there more that can be done currently? >> in terms of the hostage crisis again we're focused right now making sure we make available. we have great expertise in the law enforcement intelligence and military on hostage recovery techniques and tactics and offering that expertise to the israelis and obviously we'll continue to work with them. we're working to improve the information flow and intelligence sharing between us and the israelis, specifically with regard to this hostage crisis. obviously this is more difficult than any other sort of normal

hostage or wrongful detention scenario because we don't know how many they have really. we don't know where they are. it's an active scene of war. active combat right now which greatly complicates any kind of recovery operation or endeavor. doesn't mean we turn a blind eye to it. even if there are no americans in this group we'll still offer that support to israel as best we can and as much as they'll accept. >> bret: are you ruling out a special operation to rescue american citizens? >> i'm not ruling anything in or out, bret. we're not prepared to do that at this time. we don't have enough information to get into policy possibilities and options. we take the safety and security of americans overseas very seriously. president biden made it clear. bringing home almost 40 americans wrongfully detained. we'll act with that same sense of urgency and seriousness here. we don't have the numbers to

confirm or the information to be able to talk with any great specificity about what the options might be. >> dana: i think it's important to everybody to hear some very tough things and from the jerusalem post within the last hour, the tweet from one person is the stories from southern israel get worse by the hour. a woman found murdered with a fetus next to here. an elderly woman with bullet holes. entire families burned to death in their homes. what is president biden's level of alarm about the bomb -- >> the images and stories the gut wrenching. the barbarism. this isn't 2014.

there is a difference in the level of violence and brutality and depravity that hamas has now visited on innocent israeli citizens and putting palestinians in gaza at further risk, there is a difference here. we understand the rage, we understand the great sense of urgency that israeli officials and israeli people have right now and why we're working really hard to make sure that israel has the tools and capabilities to defend itself and to go after these barbarians, these terrorists in hamas. the first tronch of security assistance is on the way, first since the attacks. we have a pre-existing relationship. there will be more coming. the president will talk about that as well. >> bret: i heard you say yesterday you hadn't made a direct connection to iran in this instance but you acknowledged that iran funds

hamas and hezbollah permanently. a lot of talk about the $6 billion in the american hostage exchange. you said it can be frozen at any time. why isn't this the time to freeze that? >> i don't have any policy decisions with respect to that to speak to you today, bret. i think it's important for people to remember that not a single dollar of that funds has gone to iran. not one, not any. nothing has been allocated out of that fund. >> bret: you get $6 billion for humanitarian and food and you can money someplace else and you have the not enforcing sanctions that allows iran to cash in on its oil around the world. >> bret, with all due respect i have to push back there. it's not we're not enforcing sanctions. we have been enforcing them. we've added sanctions. we've sanctioned 400 entities in iran in the beginning of this administration let alone the sanctions that came before us.

as for the fungability. the iranian regime wouldn't see it. vendors we approved to provide humanitarian assistance to get directly to the iranian people. the regime would never see or feel that and they haven't asked for it. the other thing i'll say. >> bret: i want to push back on one thing. you said the sanctions are being enforced. the iranian exports of oil to china 2020, 6.6 billion. 2021, 23.1 billion. 2022, $30 billion. so how is that enforcing the sanctions on iran? >> we're mindful iranian oil is still on the market. it's a global market. >> bret: that's a lot of money. >> i'm telling you that we are enforcing the sanctions and adding sanctions to the regime. but back on that $6 billion. it is not like the iranians would be able to get all $6 billion or even a billion at a

time. the idea would be we allocated in very small chunks. the idea even if they start evidence -- >> bret: let's just say that that's fine. the $6 billion is not moving. but there is billions of other dollars. is there a look now at iran policy because of what's being funneled to hamas and hezbollah? >> there has always been a review of iran policy and we have always been looking for ways to continue to hold iran accountability for the destabilizing activity. we added military in the gulf and eastern mediterranean and additional sanctions to the regime. we have never not taken our eye off iran or not considered how to pursue dealing with the kinds of things that they're doing in the region and beyond. and all this talk about, you know, pursuing diplomacy. we haven't worked on the nuclear deal for many months because it was clear that iran wasn't interested in negotiating in good faith. that's all -- we're constantly

looking at iran policy to make sure we're doing the proper things to hold them accountable. >> dana: the president is not shy about calling out maga republicans as he calls them. in this scenario, in this situation you have people within the democratic party, members of congress who have said some very vile things despite all that we've just talked about in terms of the barbarism. in his remarks today will president biden call out those members of his own party for those remarks which should be absolutely rejected. >> without getting into too many specifics on the speech itself i think you will hear very clearly from president biden today the need for all americans to yoon unite and support israel and hear him also deliver a strong message to the american people about wrapping our arms around the jewish community in this country and making sure they can worship and live the peace and

security and they don't have to worry about threats of violence to themselves and to their places of worship. so you will hear a unifying message from president biden on that score. >> dana: i think anti-semitism is something that's reared its ugly head and it is shocking to some people to see. i wanted to put up the poll from gallup. they looked at a poll of people support for israeler versus palestinians. 2013, i don't have the numbers if front of me. in 2013, you had the majority of democrats, 55%, supporting israelis. today that is at 38%. and the president is the leader of the democratic party. he is also the leader of the free world. does he have a responsibility to try to turn those numbers back around? can he do that today -- starting today? >> he also has been historically and remains a key supporter of israel all the way back to his time in the senate.

nobody has more respect for the israeli state or people than president biden. again, dana, i think you will hear him talk plainly and forthrightly about the importance of maintaining that support for israel. how important it is not just to the israeli people but to our national security interests in the region as well and then again pushing back on any temptation by anybody to engage in anti-semitism here at home against the jewish people. >> bret: let me ask you about other countries that we're allied with in a number of different ways and the statements coming out from them. one of the most eyebrow raising was from qatar which basically said israel alone is responsible for what we've seen, the attacks. we operate with qatar. we have u.s. troops there. we have a base in doha. what do we say to qatar in that statement? >> well look, qatars are

important partners in the region and key in helping us get the five americans home. we have lots of mutual interests and shared concerns with qatar. it doesn't mean we agree with them on everything we say and don't agree with that comment whatsoever. the israeli people, israel is a state. they are the victims here by a brutal set of terrorists who obv obviously were planning these attacks for many months. we'll stand solidly with israel and made it clear privately and publicly. >> bret: we know you have been on the air forever and we appreciate you coming on. i've seen you listen to and see some of these horrific images and stories coming out of israel and at times in different interviews get choked up. it is kind of tough over time. >> bret, it is just -- i don't know how you can as a human being look at these images and hear these stories. some of the stories you were talking about before i came on and not feel it in your gut. these are families, these are

brothers, sisters, moms, dads. we all can relate to that. everybody can relate to that. it is absolutely reprehensible and i do -- i apologize for losing my composure at times. that is never a good thing and i shouldn't do that. >> dana: that's not true. you have to be yourself and human and you have a very tough job. we appreciate you coming on and our viewers appreciate it, too. we'll probably talk to you later today as well. thank you so much. >> thanks, dana. >> bret: thank you. >> dana: want to get back to greg palkot. as we did the interview with john kirby we could see a lot of activity that seems to be happening in gaza city. >> there are images coming of boats off the coast there, some smoke we're hearing about. we know for a fact that the sea has been one of the means hamas militants have been using to get over here. we know that the israeli defense

forces have highlighted their interceptions of some of the marine travel by the hamas militants. but some of them did get through in this means as well. what we're also tracking, dana and hearing back in the vietnam war there was an operation rolling thunder. the bombings that occurred over north vietnam. these are iron dome defenses being shot into the sky being shot by hamas going into central israel. one interesting note. one city to the southern part of israel was warned by the hamas militants that if they don't leave by 5:00, then we will bomb you. and, in fact, of course, that was black humor trying to replicate some of the things that israel says to gaza

residents but in fact there were many rockets fired and we heard the roar of the israeli defenses. no confirmation of any damage on the ground but rockets have reached as far as tel aviv, as far as the international airport. even near jerusalem. maybe even straying towards the west bank, which would be another interesting turn to this. the numbers are big and we can't say them enough. more than 900 israelis killed. over 700 palestinians killed. thousands and thousands of wounded. but you get back to the point that we've been talking about. we are here just across the border from the gaza strip. from this town and many other towns hostages were taken. civilians were taken. they were brought into gaza city and that is -- that is perpetuating the feeling of real concern here in israel, and around the world with people

watching this closely. how israel will respond to the horror that hamas is perpetuating here and vice versa, scenes from inside gaza a couple miles from where we are. devastation in many of the urban neighborhoods there, especially gaza city is one of the densely populated places in the entire world. the attacks are coming. we've been hearing the planes going over and we've been hearing the bombing and they are continuing. back to you guys. >> dana: we're watching it live as you give your report of those very bombings, missiles and rockets and thank you for your report. i want to bring in bari weiss editor of the free press. i am an avid reader of your work. some of the best out there. your piece today says when people tell you who they are, believe them. and one of the things that you also have in addition to the newsletter side is a podcast. i want to play, this is call for number two from your podcast

about a mother in israel whose 12 and 16-year-old sons were taken from her home by the terrorists. listen here. >> i could hear arabic speaking behind the door. the last thing i heard was my youngest, who is 12, telling them don't take me, i'm too young. that was it. the phone went off. and i didn't hear from them since. >> dana: thank you for joining us this morning. maybe open it up to you to give your thoughts. >> thank you guys so much for having me. sorry if i'm shaken up and try to be as composed as possible. i got home from shabbat dinner here in l.a. and my phone was blowing up with friends from israel saying something terrible had happened here. anyone in the american jewish community that has close family or friends in israel is used to getting texts like that.

this is different. what had happened over the past 72 hours is the biggest slaughter of jews since the holocaust but unlike with the nazis, it took years for the allies to uncover the extent of germany's war crimes because the nazis tried to hide it. in this case, with hamas in 2023, they are livestreaming their atrocities on tiktok. filming them with sophisticated drones and proudly and gleefully showing the extent of their barbarism. what has occurred in the last 72 hours is important for people who don't pay attention to the news from israel who feel like it is a place far away that has many problems to understand that this is about civilization. this is not a war with two sides with militants on one side and an army on the other. the two sides here are

terrorists like isis, who have raped and maimed and mutilated and murdered innocent people. we're just getting reports out in the south of israel where they are finding the bodies of beheaded babies. that is what's on one side of this. on the other side are innocent people. people who were in their beds, people who parents who threw their bodies over their children to protect their children and give their lives. people who went to a music concert in the desert to enjoy with their friends, and were raped next to the corpses of dead bodies. that is what we're talking about here. and i just think it is very, very important for people to understand what is actually going on here. this is not a tit-for-tat. this is not a cycle of violence as you will hear in so many other places in the press.

what this is a massacre being live streamed in realtime. if you want to understand the extent to which jewish and israeli life has been dehumanized over the past several decades, just think about the number of ceos and university presidents and celebrities who had immediate statements about the murder of george floyd, about black lives matter, about the war in ukraine, about hate against asians, about any number of other righteous causes. where are they now? why is my inbox not blowing up with emails and statements and posts from these people? it really tells you a lot about people who claim to care about justice, about -- who tell you that words can cause violence. and yet have nothing to say in the face of such utter

bloodshed. >> bret: we've been listening to those stories of families who have hostages who are in gaza, who have lost loved ones and each one is really painful. as you look to what's happening and how long this can go, how do you process all of that? and what is going to happen on the ground? >> to be honest with you, bret, i am just right now trying to focus on observing what i am seeing and capturing a lot of what is happening in the israeli press and in hebrew language media that's not getting translated into american media here. i have spent the past few days on interview calls and video calls with people. i will give you an example. i'm so glad you guys played the mother who didn't want to share her name because she is too scared that sharing her name could mean more agony for her two children age 12 and 16. i want to share another story with you of someone whose name i

can share. i had a call yesterday morning with a mother. she has two children, eight months pregnant with her third child. on saturday morning, she was on the whatsapp with her father who said we're in trouble and i love you. she has ten family members missing from the area. it is four miles from the border with the gaza strip. her father is missing. her mother is missing. her sister in missing. her brother-in-law is missing. an elderly disabled relative is missing and three children under the age of 12 are missing. when the idf, israeli defense force ultimately got to the area, the home of her family had been burned to the ground. israel has recovered more than 100 bodies -- 100 bodies from this place of 1,000 people. 10% of the members of that community that we know of have

been murdered. so my focus right now is not thinking -- of course i'm thinking how could this cel happened? the most sophisticated military power in the military, how could it have been so brought to its knees? we know some of the answer. hamas, of course, some of the answer is iran. hamas's backers who coordinated and funded and fund hamas and gave the orders for this attack. we know the answer to that. but right now there are bodies still being discovered and they are the hostages of 150 is a conservative estimate. people, including many american citizens in gaza, and that is what i'm focused on. trying to tell their stories and demand that the world wake up. trying to help the world understand that what's happening here is not just another war in israel. it is a massacre of unspeakable

proportions. >> dana: barrie, one of the things you had initially right away on sunday was an interview with michael, who used to be an ambassador. in that conversation, it was said by both of you that it is important for all of us to see what is happening to not turn away, to actually look. i just wanted to share one thing with you. you wrote this piece today called when people tell you who they are, believe them. i asked my assistant to get me a summary so i could look at it. so she asked chatgpt, this tool, the summarize it. guess what it said? it said this content may violate our content policy. if you believe this to be in error, please submit your feedback. i wonder what you thought of that? because yes, it is very hard to listen to. what you just said about the beheaded babies, the tweet that i just said that the jerusalem

post wrote this morning about a woman found murdered with a fetus next to her still attached with the umbilical cord. and the world needs to hear this because this is about good and evil. it is a generational war of ideas. and social media or other sort of tools should not block us from being able to see what is there. >> that's the first i'm hearing that someone tried to put that column into chatgpt. i think it's very, very hard to look evil in the face. some of that is because people don't want to believe that there is such a thing as evil. some of it is so painful to imagine if it was your family, your child, your mother, your sister. but it is important to understand what hamas backed by iran has done if you want to understand what is coming in the

israeli response and what unfortunately could be a wide a regional war. i want to say one other thing, dana. the people in front of the sydney opera house cheering and shouting gas the jews, the people celebrating in the streets of new york or berlin or london or maybe my own city of los angeles, they claim to be cheering for palestinian liberation and resistance. this, what hamas has just done, will not bring liberation. it will bring bloodshed. this is not resistance. this is barbarism. and the people cheering it on under the language of human rights are not cheering for

human rights. they are not cheering for the liberation of the gaza people who languish under hamas. if you want to see what hamas can do, we're seeing it. they are cheering for blood shed. i think it is also very, very important for people to look that in the face and really understand what those people are about. >> bret: barry, i think you went to columbia and just from an ivy league perspective we have seen student groups put out statements to the point you are making supporting this action or saying israel is solely to blame. and you have some prominent alumni, harvard, larry summers, former treasury secretary and putting out a statement about the student efforts and saying they should have been condemned. he says in nearly 50 years of harvard affiliation i have never been as disill ashen ashened.

i can't fathom the failure to disassociate the university and condemn this statement. there are these statements but there is that pushback as well. >> i think, you know, if you go and look at the instagram or the twitter of many of the most prestigious institutes of higher education you will see posts about sustainability week. you won't see posts about the greatest slaughter of jews since the holocaust. it tells you something about how deep this ideological rot is. these are universities who indulge the idea that words can cause violence. that they seemingly have nothing to say about true violence. when i see the tweets from larry summers and so many other

people, i see people waking up to the reality of that ideological rot and looking it directly in the face. >> dana: i want to pull this up one more time. there was a poll that gallup just did that showed that support for israel amongst the democratic party has gone down quite dramatically in the last ten years. in 2013, 55% supported is rail east. and now it's 38%. >> the ideology that dehuman eyess jewish life that says they are white and privileged and can never be victims has taken root at many of the most important institutions in american life. at our universities, at our publishing houses, at too many

of our newspapers, and many of the most important sense making institutions. the places where young minds are moulted. if you want to understand the poll you just showed you have to connect it to the fact that we have yet to hear from many of these university presidents just coming out quite simply and condemning barbarism and bloodshed. why is that so hard for those people to do? >> dana: what will you be listening for when president biden speaks a little more than two hours from now? >> an absolute condemnation of hamas. i hope a condemnation of iran. a country that is funding hamas and then helped organize this attack. and an absolute commitment to free every single one of these hostages that include the elderly, the disabled, young

women, and young children. that is what i want to see from the leader of the free world. and a clarification to people again that this is not about a far-off country in the middle east. this is about a war between civilization and barbarism, between good and evil. that america stands firmly and unequivocally on the side of those that love life and that don't love death. >> bret: bari weiss, editor of the free press. we commend your writing and podcast to everyone and continue to have you back and tell these stories. >> thank you so much. >> dana: she is so eloquent and dignified and one of the most knowledgeable people on this and other issues. i encourage people to follow her. >> bret: iran's ayatollah said we kiss the hands of those who

planned israel attacks. he just said that. if you didn't see the direct connection to iran, just by their words you are seeing it now. >> dana: earlier when john kirby said they had abandoned the idea of returning to the nuclear deal because iran didn't seem to be -- there was no desire on the iranian's part to negotiate in good faith. no kidding. i hope everybody is very clear eyed about this as we move forward. president biden speaking in just a little more than two hours. we'll have that for you live, of course. >> bret: the concern here in this country, the deadly terror attacks in israel highlighting concerns about national security threats through the southern border here in the u.s. and the record number of people on the terror watch list stopped there bear that out. bill melugin is down there for a long time and reporting live in brownsville, texas. bill, good morning. it's a big story. >> yeah, good morning to you.

i can tell you for over two years now border patrol agents are telling us they have extreme concerns about who is crossing our southern border, primarily because so many agents have been pulled off the front lines to instead focus on processing. that then leaves gaps in the border where we simply have nobody out on patrol. the numbers are startling. we'll start with the terror watch list numbers. fiscal year 2023 so far, 151 people on the f.b.i.'s terror watch list have been arrested by border patrol agents crossing illegally here at our southern border. that is the highest number on record. it's also higher than the previous six years combined. the highest number under trump was six. we got 151 this year so far. the biden administration says that shows they are catching more people, right? not exactly. we'll talk about the gotaways. cbp sources telling us since president biden took office there have been well over 1.5 million known gotaways at our southern border. these are illegal immigrants crossing the border and are seen

on cameras or sensors but border patrol doesn't have the manpower to get to them so they successfully get into the united states without capture. it's a population size bigger than the city of dallas, texas that has successfully snuck across our border and gotten into the united states without apprehension. enough people to fill up 16 rose bowls in pasadena, california. we also got some brand-new internal cbp data leaked to us from cbp sources. if we can pull up the graphic. this data showing that thousands of special interest aliens have been arrested by border patrol while crossing at our southern border illegally over the last two years. the special interest countries are what the federal government determines countries or conditions that favor terrorism or could potentially pose a threat to the united states. you can see these countries, thousands from afghanistan, more than 600 from iran, more than 160 from lebanon, the home of hezbollah. more than 500 people from syria

the home of isis, more than 130 from yemen. former border patrol chief rodney scott who served under president trump and biden. when border patrol agents encounter these people they have no way of knowing who they are. >> open border allowing anybody to come in is a national security threat. this administration keeps wanting to talk about we're vetting people coming in. that's simply not true. we have very little information on the people across this entire globe. >> to elaborate on that point. border patrol sources tell us they simply have little to 0 way of vetting these people from these so-called special interest countries. i'm told unless they have a criminal record in the united states already or they are on a federal watch list, there is no way for border patrol to find out about any possible criminal record because the home countries they are coming from

mostly in the middle east don't share their records or data with the united states. when border patrol agents run their names or try to run their fingerprints there is nothing there for them to compare it to. obviously major security concerns down here at the southern border especially with what's happening in israel right now, bret. >> bret: those numbers are staggering. the numbers especially of those countries where obviously suspected terrorists have come from before. there has to be this huge level of frustration in the cbp and obviously they are giving these numbers for a reason. you've dealt with this for a long time, this frustration is probably pretty high. >> it is. their morale is in the toilet. a lot of border patrol agents tell us they feel like they've been turned into social workers. they signed up for this job to patrol the front lines and go after the bad guys and criminals and cartels.

instead of them feel like they are paper pushers, driving around migrants and filling around paperwork and off the front lines. border patrol leadership has expressed frustration about this. they want to have their agents out there patrolling to go after the bad guys but when they get these huge groups of thousands of people crossing at once that the cartels are pushing across, it sucks up all their resources and leaves gaps in the border completely unpat rolled. that's where the national security threat comes in and you hit the nail on the head. massive frustration within border patrol and cbp. thanks to the sources we have they can get us these numbers and put it all in perspective for us. >> dana: this is a nonprofit working furiously to save lives in israel. he joins us now. where are you now and what have you seen in the past 72 hours?

>> i'm just in jerusalem. is it tough on our teams. saturday morning we had the attack that initially started on the periphery and rocket bare acknowledges across most of the country we've treated over 1500 people, civilian and military, for all sorts of injuries and even some of our own first responders. we had one first responder kidnapped by hamas. we had an ambulance that was kidnapped by hamas. there was another first responder of ours who was killed. a number were injured. they weren't specific in who they were going for. a lot of these first responders were risking their lives to help save other people when they were attacked.

it was a horrific time. what we are seeing is a lot of hope coming from people. we're banding together to support rescue efforts to support the soldiers, to support first responders across the country. it is really on the flip side it's heart warm to see. >> dana: you are a nonprofit. your people -- you and your folks there, you found two babies in a home and the parents had been murdered? >> what happened there was the parents were murdered and they put the babies in a closet. and the hamas terrorists who got into the house missed the babies and 12 hours later when the area was finally freed, special forces went into the house and found the babies.

the first 48 hours or longer teams worked directly with the military providing the military went in and we provided the medical response right behind them. so they handed us the babies and said go figure it out. so our team a good friend of mine, he took charge of the two children for about almost 12 -- maybe 16 hours to social services here. they were working hard to try to get them to other family members, grand parents or relatives that they could give them to. >> bret: you have volunteers, more than 7,000 of them all from around everywhere and again the site is israel rescue.org. fully volunteer ems, right? you are going all over the place and you need support to be able to do that. >> very much so.

volunteers drop whatever they're doing. saturday was a special holiday for us here. people left their homes and families and some left jobs to go rescue people and save lives on the southern periphery. it's something we're used in terms of responding immediately. responders usually drop whatever they're doing and respond to a medical emergency within 90 seconds to three minutes ahead of ambulances. it's something we are used to. in this instance we have 1500 volunteers brought down to the southern gaza periphery. set up medical clinics, round the clock shifts to treat civilians and military personnel who were injured. people dropped whatever they were doing in order to help. some people just 20 hour shifts and full day shifts in order to just provide that coverage and save lives. over the first day with the massive amounts of medical equipment that we sent down with those volunteers, we pretty much

-- in the southern part of the country, brought things down from the national logistics center and it is being depleted. we're asking people in israel for additional help finding supplies and purchasing supplies and internationally people can donate to the website to help us replenish. we are using all the funds to purchase medical equipment, purchase vehicles in order to get to people and save their lives. it is literally every dollar is saving lives. >> dana: rafael, thank you for what you are doing and being on air and we'll stay in touch with you and your force. israel rescue.org to donate. thank you so much. bret, it has been an incredibly moving two hours. it feels like they are in a holding pattern. i think what dan hoffman said earlier about the longer you wait to solve this problem the

harder it is to solve is really on my mind as we finish out this show today. >> bret: i actually think the talk with bari weiss was really something. she articulated how you can't look away from these images. you can't look away from the stories. we need to embrace them because it shows the depravity and basharism. >> one of the details in here many of the hamas leaders were unaware this was even happening. this is how sophisticated it was and when you listen to president biden two hours from now, listen what he says just not about hamas and helping israel. what they say about iran or don't say about iran. we'll have to pay close attention to this. the sophistication was definitely supported by the

iranian revolutionary guard. >> bret: we know that 11 americans so far have been killed and we know from those families that talked today they believe there are american hostages. john kirby is not saying that but the families are. there are other nations from around the world who are making those announcements now as well. just in the past few minutes italian prime minister said that hamas has kidnapped ten italian citizens in israel including a 1-year-old baby. so every nation has something involved here and what the president says this afternoon will be a big moment not only for the u.s. but for israel. >> dana: generational struggle between good and evil and it focuses the mind. harris faulkner will take you through the next hour. bret, thank you for being with me. i will see you on special report as well. thank you so much. here is harris. >> harris: let's continue our coverage now