this whole time. will: what do you think about america's involvement? if there's american hostage, is will there going to be american operators at some point trying to retrieve them? >> if there's american hostages, there will be americans going to do their best to save them. rachel: wow. pete: he knows what he's talking about. we'll see where and when. jocko will ink, thanks very much for your time. rachel: thanks, jocko. pete: by the way, join fox corporation supporting the israel emergency fund in association with the united jewish appeal, just scan the qr code or donate at ujafedfinishes y.org. will: that's going to do it for us today here on "fox & friends." stay tuned to the fox news channel for continuing coverage for the conflict in israel all throughout the day. rachel: and we'll be back tomorrow. [background sounds]

[inaudible conversations] >> palestine will be free! >> shame on you! shame on you! shame on you! [background sounds] neil: tensions around the world escalating as a full-scale ground offensive is thousand fast approaching one week after hamas launched its surprise attack on israel from gaza. israeli forces are said to be just hours away from invading gaza as thousands of palestinians are scrambling to get out. lots of americans are caught in the crosshairs. they're also a searching for a path back home. we're on all the fast-moving developments and talking to all the key players including here and only here the former israeli prime minister ehud barak on

israel's current prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, promising to wipe hamas off the planet. we've also got presidential candidate and florida governor ron desantis the on his efforts to evacuate floridians from the war zone and his 2024 rival, south carolina senator tim scott, on washington needing to send a clear signal. even if it is far from clear the house will find a speaker anytime soon. also former new york police commissioner ray kelly on startling protests worldwide and worries of lone wolf attacks right here at home. and a ceo who is facing major backlash for vowing not to hire harvard students blaming israel for all this. it's coming in the next two hours. welcome, everybody, i'm neil cavuto, and this is, indeed, "cavuto live." we're on top of all those developments with the former

prime minister of israel, the top presidential candidates, but first i want to go to trey yingst in southern israel with the very later -- latest there. trey. >> reporter: yeah, neil, good morning. as we speak right now, breaking news, there are air raid sirens in tel aviv. the country's second largest city, this is the second time today that hamas has fired on tel aviv, and it's significant because those airstrikes against gaza continue. just a few moment ago i spoke with the country's former defense minister benny ganz who is in the cabinet within this unity government that the israelis brought together after that wartime declaration. and he told me israel is preparing for a large assault against gaza that matches what we see on the ground. there are large deployments of infantry troops. we have seen different apcs and tanks preparing at staging points throughout the area. and overnight we even saw fuel trucks and d9 bulldozers headed toward the border with gaza, all pointing to the fact that in the

coming hours it will likely be announced about a ground operation into gaza. this country is bracing for what could be months of fighting. they understand that it will be a difficult battle, a street-by-street battle, urban warfare, guerrilla tactics conducted inside gaza, and they're trying to get as many civilians out of the way in the process. that's part of the reason you saw them dropping these leaf leaflets and warning civilians to go south immediately. at the same time, this parallel story, you have american citizens inside gaza, and the american government looking to cut a deal with egypt and the israelis to allow for passage out of the rafah crossing. i do want to touch quickly, neil, on the northern border. as we speak, there are ongoing artillery battles between factions in the southern part of lebanon, we do believe hezbollah is firing on israeli positions, and the israelis are responding at this hour. of it's a very active northern front as well, and it raises the point about the possibility of this erupting into a much larger war. neil? if.

neil: you know, trey, we're learning right now israeli soldiers taking out two hamas key players. i don't know whether they would be considered formal commanders, but can you tell us about that? >> reporter: yeah. we're talking about two individuals. morad is a hamas aerial systems link. he was the man responsible for dealing with the aerial systems as it e related to this multifaceted attack on saturday morn, this massacre of so many civilians. certainly an important target for the israelis given the background. kud can i was a company commander for one of the groups of fighters that crossed into israel and conducted some of the slaughter of civilians. so these are two people linked to what happened on saturday morning and yet another message by the israelis that they will target each and every person that had any responsibility for what took the place here and the deaths of more than 1300 soldiers and civilians.

neil? neil: trey, i'd also learn right now, it's not only difficult for anyone to get out of israel right now with american airlines, you know, canceling flights to and from israel, but it's apparently extending to points outside israel. lufthansa's just canceled all flights to lebanon for the next couple of days. that's got to complicate the picture there are those -- for those trying to get out, right? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. we've received a lot of messages. people see us on air, they know that we are inside israel, we understand the situation, and they say my participants are stuck in tel aviv -- parents -- stomach in jerusalem, they are on a vacation and now they can't get home. and so it's important to note there are many people, and you can see some more equipment going behind me, there are many people who are trying to get out and simply can't. we know the border with jordan does remain open, but it's difficult to get all of the logistics together. and i'm just going to step out of the way so you can see some of this military equipment on

the move, neil. this is a very active area. this is one of of the main junctions where there are soldiers and equipment moving from place to place. but i can tell you the equipment, and you can see the soldiers here many in high spirits as awe they move this stuff near the border. but i can tell you that all of this is headed toward gaza. we're not talking about a limited operation, we are talking about a full scale seeming on the gaza strip from multiple different points, and that's exactly what israel is preparing for. neal? neil: you know, trey, with very little sleep for you and your crew, you've to gone around the country and have a chance to see how average israelis are holding up through all of this because it changes and gets scarier by the hour, by the day. how would you sum it up? if how are they putting up with all of this? >> reporter: i think people are showing up in a lot of different ways. you see restaurant owners bringing food to soldiers. almost every building that you go into, especially hotels where there are families from many of these communities that were

attacked by hamas and islamic jihad, they have boxes of supplies, toothpaste, socks, food, anything these people would need because everyone is pitching in whatever way they can. in terms of the psyche of the israeli people, this was a collective trauma against the country of more than 9 million people. we've spoken with many soldiers today, and they're in high spirits. they are focused. even benny ganz, the country's former defense minister, a man who is currently on the cabinet making these decisions alongside other israeli leaders, he was very specific to reference what he has seen and why that was a motivating factor in what's about to take place in gaza. so the soldiers are motivated and they are ready. they do say, some of them, they are scared to go into battle, but they are going to do it to protect their country. on the civilian side, it's difficult. parents are trying to explain what's taken place to their children. one person described to me as ref are few gees in their own country -- refugees. and it's true. their homes were burnt down by hamas, they were destroyed,

communities slaughtered. there are still bodies in these communities that are being worked through by israeli officials that can make it there, but it's often too dangerous to get to some of these areas along the border. it was a collective trauma for the israeli people. there's an understanding there are difficult days ahead. neil? neil: trey, i know you're getting tired of hearing this, my friend, but please be safe, you and your crew. thank you so much for incredible reporting through so much. trey yingst in israel. there are, we are told, 14 americans who are missing, assumed hostages, right now, and the focus is on trying to rescue them or get them out of harm's way. al zahn drink cra of at the white house with the latest on that. >> reporter: hey, neil, that's right. and the president spoke with their families yesterday. i do first want to get to secretary blinken because he did just land in abu dhabi as he continues what is a regional a campaign to expose hamas as a terrorist organization and nothing less. that was his focus, his focus when he sat down with saudi

arabia's foreign minister earlier today. the tone coming from the two differed though. the foreign minister did not mention hamas, blinken did right off the a bat. >> we need to work together to find a way out of this cycle of violence. >> this is, i think, an important moment for moral clarity when it comes to hamas. at the same time, as israel pursues its legitimate right to defending its people and to trying to assure that this never happens again,s it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians. >> reporter: or so both agree e that safe passage for civilians is critical. sources tell our jacqui heinrich that the u.s. had actually urged israel to delay any ground invasion into gaza a until a route out was secured. >> president biden, what worries you about a potential israeli ground invasion? >> death. >> reporter: you heard the president say right there simply death is his biggest worry. that was during a trip to

philadelphia yesterday when the president said he did speak with the families of the 14 missing americans. he spoke over zoom, a conversation he called gut-wrenching. >> i assured them my personal commitment to do everything possible, everything possible to return every missing american to their families. we're not going to stop until we bring them home. >> reporter: but, of course, before they can be brought home, they have to be located. many of these 14 may be hostage as of hamas right now. something else i want to mention is that this meeting with saudi arabia's foreign minister the comes at a critical time as saudi arabia is reportedly putting on pause talks that they had with israel to instead focus on iran, try to deescalate tensions in the region, neil. neil: alexandria, thank you for that. in the meantime right now, the reverberations of an imminent ground war that could change the complexion of israel and maybe the region for some time to come. with us right now is ehud baa a rack, the form former -- barak

the former prime minister of israel joining us out of tel aviv. mr. president, thank you for joining us. neil: -- >> thank you. neil: benjamin netanyahu has said the goal here is the elimination of hamas. do you agree with that goal? >> look -- [inaudible] but we exactly determined to make sure that hamas will be paralyzed. and all his operational capabilities will be taken from him to the last rocket launcher, weapons system or individual who participated in these terrible kind of barbarian attacks. and we are determined to make sure that this kind of event can never happen, and hamas is a

military terrorist organization that will be totally, fully paralyzed. neil: you know, prime minister, are you surprised or disheartened by some, not all, sir, of the global reaction? the united nations warning that any israeli activity to clear out, you know, gaza will be a human tragedy and israel shouldn't try it? we've heard from a lot of countries in the middle east themselves including countries presumably friendly to you prior to all of this, from egypt to the united arab emirates, even saudi arabia saying that this was of israel's making. what do you make of that? >> i don't listen to anything that they say from any place, you know? after these attacks which was the most severe blow in that we suffered since the -- state of israel. to a murder, 1300 israelis with

terrible, you know, some people were decapitated, babies that were slaughtered, their whole families, and it's really bar bare. it's a -- [speaking in native tongue] you call it isis, al-qaeda-like operation. and you, the americans crossed half of the globe to put an end to the phenomenon of al-qaeda or daish, and we are going to do the same beyond our border with these guys who executed these brutal attacks. so we, you know, we would be happy if it could be accomplished from the air. it probably cannot be accomplished from the area to go underground and make sure that it happens and, of course, we are totally committed to the international law. so we have to warn them with enough time. so we already issued warnings that whoever have any hamas

activity or terror nature or holding some munitions or having an office, whoever had any such activity within the residential place, working place have to move out of this place because with every such place is a target. and we warned the population, please, make sure you leave the area. we cannot assure a full completion. and and so probably inevitably there will be certain collateral damage and people will be killed. but, you know, it's a whole different. they sent the terrorists deliberately to slaughter innocent civilian people. we are hitting them back and and only those who would not leave the place in spite of our warnings, repeated warnings might risk their lives. neil: you know, i was thinking, prime minister, ahead of your coming here the significant role

you played trying to broker peace for your country. you were elected in may 1999, you were the labor party leader at the time. you defeated at the time benjamin netanyahu in that race for prime minister. the next year you were at camp david meeting with jasser arafao hammer out an accord that would form a lasting peace. much like the camp david accords before that with jimmy carter, israel and palestinians have had a devil of a time doing just that that. now, a hamas has complicated things at a minimum, i get that. but do you get frustrated with a process that is unending and war and violence that is unending no matter your aggressive peace efforts and those of prime ministers before and after you? >> we are now focused on the war. we first have to win the war.

we suffered an a unprecedented blow, but we are a defiant species. we know how to unite when we face a real threat, and now we are focused on a kind of completing what i have just described. and we will win. even if it, certain constraints on the operation, one constraint is the hostages, another constraint is the, to whom you might pass the torch of controlling gaza even if we spend the next several weeks in cleaning every, every spot of hamas activities of present. we have, we don't intend to stay there for 20 years. we have to -- [inaudible] that's the second constraint. third constraint is the possibility that it will spread e to the hezbollah in lebanon, probably some dormant cells will come out in jihad. in west bank probably even some she e unite mill saw -- shiite militias backed on the syrian side of the golan heights.

all of them might join is. we have to take it into account. we are not interested in intervention, but already they will do do it on the initiative of probably the situation will just deteriorate through the exchange of activity. so even with these wider situation in which we have to take into account, it can happen. i can't promise you there is no exist ten -- existential net to the state of israel. -- threat. it might take more toil and sweat and tear and blood, but we win this war. that's what's important. now, i never lost my eye contact with the fact that at the the end of the road we should have certain kind of arrangement9 with the fall pal stinting januaries -- palestinians.

i am great believer in the two-state solution. but that's not the time for it. there is dispute about it in israel and netanyahu mentioned the opposite. i think that he's -- it doesn't matter right now. we are now focused on destroying the hamas, and we will do it. neil: all right. so when you say destroying hamas, that echoes what the president has said -- the prime minister has said now, that that that is the goal. so by that i assume whatever happens in gaza after this attack and you make things right and you hope that things, you know, they're eradicated, hamas should have no role then in gaza, right? would that be -- >> yeah. neil: -- important to handing over to whomever does get that control, no connections to hamas at all? >> look, you know, there is a utopian wish, i don't know if it's realistic. i tried it 15 years ago, in

2008, just around one of these wider operations in gaza. there is a, at least hypothetically that once israel take over hamas, the whole world demand that israel -- we we say, okay, we are ready to pass the torch to anyone else. let's think of multi-national arab force including egyptians, bahrain januaries, whatever. they take the whole area and they make it quiet for, let's say, six months. and within this limited period of six months to convince the palestinians to take back their own. they are the formal a representative of the palestinian people. basically, hamas took the power from them in a very violent coup d'etat that some 15 years ago or more. so that's -- in the past i tried to do it, but it failed. none of them was ready to take

it. probably after 15 years we are in different situation. i cannot, cannot tell you whether it can fly. but it means that israel intends to eliminate the presence of hamas from the negotiating table and paralyze it or take it from any potential capability. we cannot comport the dreams of people -- the ideology, cannot take from them the wishes, but we can make sure that they don't have tools to execute any action against us, and we are determined to do just that. neil: prime minister, i do appreciate your time here. but i did want to get your take on these egyptian reports that they did give israeli authorities -- i don't know who exactly, sir -- a heads up about not the details of this hamas attack, but that something was being planned. we've heard nothing more on that, and you're quite right to

say the focus right now has to be dealing with that and investigating all of this later, but do you know anything? you were a defense minister as well, how this slipped through what is arguably one of the most incredible intelligence forces on the planet? >> first of all, i don't know the answer for question. i can hardly see a reason why the egyptians should invent or provoke such a claim withouting is having any factual basis, but i cannot tell you that i know. from my experience in previous major events, look on 9/11 or look ott -- on our being caught surprised in '73, or you can say backward or to the -- [inaudible] you will find in retrospect there was many hints, many hints that something is going to

happen. and because of certain blocks, block thinking, certain inertia, certain routines, they were not interpreted as converging to an operation. that's a major, major failure of our intelligence. we have to correct it. we do not deny it in any way. but i should tell you honestly that there were along the last ten months probably ten time, probably more that the highest authorities of our intelligence, our head of intelligence, our commander of the armed forces and minister of defense demanded once and again from netanyahu, look, what you call judicial reform and other calls judicial coup d'etat, the consequences of this together with the overall situation -- which are extremely sensety -- sensitive the, they create imminent and apparent

risk to our security. and i quote this well. and they demanded to gather the cabinet, the body of responsibility and even the commander in chief. the prime minister is not commander in chief. he governs through a collective -- called the government which has an inner government. netanyahu was never ready to do that. and at certain point it was kind of -- there is no genuine reason. for example, two months ago there was voting in the knesset about what's called the unreasonableness clause, part of the, this regime reform or coup d'etat -- [inaudible] and the chief of staff demanded together the government to explain the implications of this. it was three months ago, and he was rejectedded. and then in the day of the

voting, the head of intelligence, the head of operations and j2, j3 of our chief of staff, joint staff came to jerusalem, tried to meet with minister, members of dehe's set. they met -- knesset. they met 2 out of the 64. now, what was the reason? there was simple reason. netanyahu understood that if these members of the cabinet and the knesset will hear from the chief of staff the, from the minister of defense, from the head of the intelligence, all others the situation they might not vote for his jaw additional reform. judicial reform. so i cannot even, i don't want to dive into it when we are at war. but there is in spite of the operational failure of the intelligence to give concrete kind of warning about this coming, the whole situation, the fact that we are in a very --

situation about the hamas, hezbollah, iranians and so on was clear, aa parent, written on the wall -- apparent, written on the wall and rejected as a subject for discussion. that's, that's very bad, but it should be put on the shelves now. once we win, we have to make sure that we learn the lessons. everyone is accountable for his responsibility. neil: prime minister, you're quite right. there's a time for investigations and looking into how this all transpired. there'll be time for that as there was in this country after 9/11. but i appreciate your time in the meantime, prime minister. be well, be safe. >> thank you, neil. neil: e ehud baa acura, the forr prime minister of israel. the war rages on, there are many hostages. we don't know their fate, we

barely know where they are. sharon joins us right now, she's the missing of -- mother of a missing israeli soldier, a 19-year-old. sharon, thank you for sticking around. have you gotten any more news on your daughter? what can you tell us? >> well, my daughter is missing since saturday. i last heard from her on saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. she texted me a message saying don't worry, mom, i love you. and this was the last time that i heard from her. she has been kidnapped to gaza by hamas-isis, and i don't know where is she. i don't know where my daughter is. and i miss her. i miss her so much. neil: where was she when you did last hear from her? >> she was in communication ram

in the her -- room in her base. the base was very close to the gaza strip. and i know she was in the communication room, and we know that the communication room was set on fire. and we know that she was -- i don't know where is she now. i don't know where is she. neil: right. i believe that was one of the first israeli military outposts attacked by maas in gaza. >> yes -- hamas in gaza. >> yes. neil: i'm sure you've looked at videos around that attack, not too much from the communication center where your daughter was, but at this effort now to find those hostages, to find your daughter, you know? now we have a ground war going on, and hamas threatening hostages who they say will be in harm's way. and this is all on israel. what do you say to that? >> with i trust the israeli

government, and i trust our friends in america to do all they can to get all the kidnapped people from gaza including my daughter. and this is the that we can do at this time, ask i'm sure that they are doing the best they can and what they know to do to get them all out of there. neil: sharon is, i don't want to put you in this position, if you don't want to answer this question, you have no reason to. but i'm curious as a mom of an israeli soldier and looking at how this attack has been portrayed by some across the world as israel's fault, that hamas did nothing wrong, these allegations of the attack were inflated and exaggerated, as a mom how do you feel about that? >> well, you've seen the

pictures. i hope you've seen the picture how they killed babies, how they raped women, how they kidnapped children. and to say that they exaggerated, it's a laugh because they did things that the nazis in the holocaust didn't do. so it was, it was a massacre. it was a genocide. it was attack on israel in saturday morning, and, you know, it was horrible. i have no other words to describe it. neil: understandably, sharon. thank you very much. you have a beautiful daughter. i hope and pray you find her. thank you for taking the time. >> thank you. thank you so much. neil: all right. in the meantime, u.s. reaction here is very strong in support of israel, very strong in condemning groups that have said israel sort of made all of this

stuff up. but the fact of the matter is that the ground war is on, but the u.s. might be limited in the way it can react, how quickly it can react because there is still no speaker of the house in the house of especiallitives. so that part -- representatives. so that part of government can't function until that is done ors, and that's a long way from getting done. congressman dan bishop of north carolina kind enough to join us. congressman, it's a bad time to be facing this dilemma. how do you see it going? >> a food morning, neil. concern good morning, neil. it's unfortunate that the timing coincides. i don't think it's a fair statement to say that the united states is meaningfully disabled from playing the appropriate role here by virtue of the ongoing questions about the speaker in the house. the president's fully capable of providing immediate response to the situation whatever would be needed. as you said, the expressions of

support in congress, in the house have been almost unanimous, 13 democrats only have declined to join the resolution of support offered by the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, michael mccauling, and the ranking member, gregory meeks. they've both spoken in very clear terms. we certainly need to resolve the present impasse and i believe, neil, we're making -- we've made mt. last day extremely important progress toward that. it remains somewhat uncertain, but i think you'll see that jim jordan who is now the nominee of the republican conference is working to secure the remaining votes necessary to achieve, essentially, unanimity among the conference and by, i believe by tuesday we'll see that he is, indeed, the person who can accomplish that objective. neil: all right. of course, he's tried it before and bowed out when it didn't look like that was happening. steve scalise came in, he looked like the guy, bowed out when he

saw that wasn't happening. it's already prompted interest from other members kicking the idea around. your colleague, austin scott from georgia, do you see others? if it's not jim jordan, are others going to emerge? >> there's a lot of talent in the republican conference. we are in a, i think, a transitional period in terms of the challenges that face the country and the urgency of achieving cohesion of the republican conference around not to only unity, neil, but unity for a purpose. and i know that's been distressing to some, but i believe progress is being made. i actually think even though, as i said, there are other talented members and if something could go awry, it's not quite true true that jim's withdrawn. jim and steve were the candidates. steve prevailed very narrowly, attempted to get the remainder of votes, found his pathway was blocked. jim is now in the position of

having within the candidate, now a nominee -- been the candidate, now a nominee. the point is there is somebody who can fuse together the pieces of the republican conference as we tie to put together all these disparate impulses within the conference, and jim's that person. i think it's pretty clear. i think the evolution that we've seen over the last several days, the conversations that occurred in conference all yesterday, they're headed in the right direction. and i hear other, you know, details about that. i'm optimistic that we're going to get there, and i'm confident, i'm certain that we'll resolve the problem one way or the other within the next few days. neil: are you embarrassed by it though, congressman? >> you know, neil, i'm not. and i remember, you know, back in the january conflict you've been sort of a critic of the notion that these conflicts occur. i think it's trouble -- as troubling as it is, it's actually reflecting some dynamism in the congress. i actually think given the

challenges that we confront, that ought to be going on. i'm not sure that we -- neil: all right. >> -- that the status quo or drift meets the nature of the challenges we face any longer. obviously, it has to get resolved, and i believe it will. but i believe having these sorts of serious discussions about direction and stepping up to the moment and delivering for the american people, very important. so i wish it could be easy as, and smooth at every point, but i don't think it's something to be regretted in it essence. we obviously recognize that it must get to a resolution, but there are important issues being resolved in this process. neil: got it. all right, congressman, thank you for taking the time on a saturday. always appreciate it. be well. >> thank you, neil. neil: all right. in the meantime, back to israel right now. an evacuation, particularly of

palestinians many of whom have been toll get out now, and that process is beginning. mike tobin with the very latest in israel. mike. >> reporter: and the two things we're watching, first of all, are the evacuations of not only palestinian citizens, but a lot of foreign nationals who are in the gaza strip trying to get out. we're also watching the ramp-up to what appears to be an a inevitable ground invasion, and that includes the dismantling of the hamas command and control structure. the israelis say they've been able to do that by striking high value hamas targets. one of those that they claim they got overnight is a gentleman who is a planner of october 7th. he is an interesting character because he was one of the people who had been in israeli custody but released as part of that deal to free the kidnapped israeli soldier that happened in 2011. he got right back into the hamas organization, he is said to be one of the planners of the

october 7th attack ors and he is now dead can. also another man killed, he is also said to be a planner of october 7th. part of this commando force, they call themselves naval commandos, said to be one of the higher-up, calling the shots for october 7th. hit with an airstrike the, he is also dead. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the the barrage of attacks overnight targeted militants. these militants are the ones a that execute the atrocities on saturday. we attacked military headquarters for over three hours. the idf and israel -- eliminated based on intelligence the head of hamas aerial system in gaza city who was largely responsible for the massacre on saturday. >> reporter: the evacuation of gaza and getting foreign nationals out of the gaza strip is chaotic at best. we are told earlier in the day that a deal had been struck between the u.s. with egypt and

hamas to open the rafah crossing to the southern border, at the southern border of the gaza strip that would allow people out into egypt, allow foreign nationals out into egypt. for whatever reason, that opening just never occurred. a lot of people went to the southern end of the gaza strip and simply waited there, a lot of people slept in the dirt. foreign aid is arriving but really for no good at this point because the rafah crossing, to the best of our knowledge, never opened. neil? if. neil: mike tobin, thank you for that. be safe is. we're getting, obviously, these growing concerns from the international community about israel not going too far. you've heard that from the united nations, you've also herald that in extreme cases from other countries in the region. for example, turkey's president erdogan right now is saying israel's response risks being tantamount to a massacre. i want to get the view of general david perkins, u.s. army

four-star general, retired right now. lucky for us, a fox news contributor. general, that notion if that almost the world or some in the world, particularly some in the arab community who are already saying israel not only is to blame for this or be an instigator for this entire attack, but now to its response to that attack? what do you make of that? >> well, that is the largest case of false logic that i have ever heard. and, of course, the rest of the world sees it for where it is. the analogy i would use is if you had an arsonist break into a house, light the house on fire, and when the fire department showed up and put the fire out, we start blaming the fire d. for ruining the carpets because they're all soaked with water. neil: that's a very good point, but it is what it is. i stress, as you did too, general, this is not worldwide. but among neighbors in the region, i always try to read between their lines, and they've

not exactly been effusive in support of israel. there has been a lot of finger pointing and urging caution on the part of israel. so this is a major land invasion if it ever comes to that. you know, to address a region that has been the source of these attacks. how does israel go about that, do you think? >> well, you know, we're at the point now where there just aren't that many options. i mean, this has been years in the building. hamas would conduct a terrorist atrack, the -- attack, israel would respond by taking out some key leader, take out a command and control center usually from the air, but because of the atrocity of this, the level of barbarism experienced, you know, the prime minister, rightly so, has said he is going to destroy hamas, destroy their ability to conduct another attack like this. and the reality in war is from the air with precision strikes

you can punish people, but the only way you're going to destroy a capability is on the ground. you destroy people on the ground. and so they are just going to have to go in. it's very bloody. urban warfare is very difficult. they will work very hard to minimize collateral damage, hence the warnings they have gibb civilians to move -- given civilians to move to the south. but this just aren't many options left for is reel to destroy the ability of -- israel to troy the ability of hamas to repeat this. neil: what happens -- i'm getting ahead of the diplomatic skis, but for a reason. assuming israel succeeds in e eradicating this threat in gaza, no guarantee, i grant you, and i it doesn't want hamas to have anything to do with that region and it's had control of that region, what, since 2007, who does and what role does the united states play, if any? >> well, you know, the united states is always engaged diplomatically all around the world just as we are with this.

and so i think we continue to work with many of the other friends in that part of the world, some who publicly are constrained by what they say but privately i think they seed the -- see the same things similar. as mike was just saying in the segment before this, very interesting that as the palestinian civilians are moving to the south trying to get out via the rafah border crossing, the egyptians have closed that. the egyptians know what they're working with when it comes to hamas, and they are justifiably concerned about terrorists coming into their country. israel is not the only country in that part of the world concerned with hamas and their ability to export terrorism. some are just are more vocal about it. neil: you know, general, we do know reports of missiles fired at israeli army posts in southeast lebanon. that always, you know, reignites the fears of a widening war on multiple if fronts and what does hezbollah do and with whose help

and what is going on in syria. i noticed this past week israel was striking syrian airports to deal with that. but it could widen out significantly. and i'm wondering what you fear of that if that does materialize and from where. >> yeah. so i would, my answer to that would be with related back to the first -- the last question you gave me which is what role does the united states play. i think the, you know, the movement of our carrier strike group in there, the movement of british forces down there, other western militaries, you know, this is no intent for the u.s. to get involved boots on the ground in israel. what the u.s. is going to focus on is containing the conflict and crisis to get no larger than it is right now. and those are very strong messages to hezbollah, to iran and, quite honestly, any other opportunistic people whether it be the russians or chinese getting involved behind the scenes. that's where the u.s. can be

most useful, is keeping other people out of this and making sure it doesn't spread to any other regional conflicts. neil: general perkins, very good seeing you. thank you, sir, for taking the time. >> all right, neil. have a good day. neil: all right, you too. we're getting some interesting, you know, video coming in. i'll just paraphrase it for you from benjamin netanyahu, visiting the troops, infantrymen outside the gaza strip. his office then releasing a statement accompanying it and saying are you ready for the next stage, he asked the soldiers. the next stage is coming. he didn't elaborate in the video what that is which are the infantrymen modding in response to his question. that next stage is, indeed, coming. we don't have the particulars or the timeline, we just know that it's on. there are

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neil: all right, those protests that dominated the news yesterday, it might not be with just a one and done kind of thing. they could continue for some time and pretty much all over the world. c.b. cotton in new york with more on all of that. >> reporter: neil, good morning. yeah, people are heading to these protests with signs and megaphones and leaving in hand cuffs. we watch this unfold at one rally. the group saying local lawmakers, rabbis and holocaust survivors were among the dozens of demonstrators arrested outside of senate majority leader chuck sometimer's house last night. ahead of his trip to israel this weekend to show support for the country. these demonstrators demanding a ceasefire in the israel-hamas war saying there's genocide in gaza. similar messages were echoed from thousands of pro-palestinian supporters who march through times square to the israeli consulate and to the united nations. small pro-israeli crowds sometimes spotted on the sidelines, and as for college campuses, students are divided

about the escalating violence overseas. here in the city as a crowd of plo-palestinian -- pro-palestinian supporters, one protester telling us he believes israel's, quote, colonialism caused violence in the region. >> certainly what hamas did is violence, but we have to understand that these people have been under occupation for 75 years. they have nod food, water, electricity,s they're under a blockade, hay can't leave. they can't leave. >> reporter: meanwhile, columbia university's limiting access to its campus on thursday. pro-israel and pro-palestinian supporters gathering on opposite lawns. university and college leaders are facing intense criticism for how and when they respond to some of the dueling protests and messaging. backlash has been swift for students at harvard university who signed on to a joint statement blaming israel for the attacks.

harvard's president says in her third message that the university rejects terrorism but embraces freeway expression. free expression. >> our university embraces a commitment to free expression. that commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous. we do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views. >> reporter: now, that statement didn't land well with house republican conference chair elise stefanik who called on the president of her alma mater, harvard, to step down writing on x that anti-semitism should be condemned and never defined or endorsed as free expression. neil? neil: thank you for that, c.b. cotton, in new york city. a rainy new york city at that. what does it mean when cities are on high alert? what do you have today? a former new york city police chief has some ideas after this. [inaudible conversations]

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neil: all right, major cities pretty much around the world right now under varying degrees of high alert. and you always probably wonder what that means. we in the new york area know pretty well what that means. ray kelly, the former new york police commissioner, kind enough to join us. ray, it's always good learning from you on this. a lot of people do get panickedded, they start wondering, uh-oh, what's up? how do you tell hem and what do you tell them? >> well, i think you -- as much as you can as far as the information that you have. you deploy your resources to the places, let's say houses of worship or places where you have some intelligence that might be of a concern to you.

you make certain that your investigators like in new york city here, we have a joint terrorism task force with the fbi, that you're sort of in lock item step, that you're working -- lockstep. that you're working together. but it is very, very difficult in this environment to protect, say, the city here has 10 million people in it during a work day. so you do the best you can to, again, raise that comfort level for the public and use your resources as effectively as possible. but, of course, there are no guarantees. we had to do this many times in new york city, and we had 16 plots against the city during the bloomberg administration, and we've had lone wolf terrorism attacks just a few hundred yards from where i am now. so new york is a perennial target, and i think the police certainly realize that. neil: you know, there was an incident earlier at the louvre museum where authorities had to

clear it out after a phoned-in threat. i don't know where that ultimately went. that's a museum where that happened. earlier, of course, yesterday you heard about this french incident, they're already deeming it a terrorist incident where a teacher was knifed to death. so these incidents pop up around the world, blessedly few, but they trigger further incidents. and i'm just wondering how you monitor that. >> well, i think you try to look at the individuals involved and see if you have any information on them, are they associated with a group or an organization. and it's t important to monitor these events. i know they do that in the nypd and other major police departments. you try to learn everything you can are from things that are happening overseas. and there's something happening virtually every day as far as terrorism is concerned. it's, it's really a case where

the intelligence units have a treasure-trove of information to look at. they have almost too much to look at. it's hard to sort of sift through it. neil: yeah. indeed. you got us through it. hopefully calm, cool heads like yours will get us through this next wave. ray kelly, the former new york police commissioner. of course, you've seen the smoke clouds bellowing over gaza. we're going to keep track of that, also get reaction to what should come next. we've got presidential candidates senator tim scott joining us u ron desantis joining us, much, much more. stay with us. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. hey david. connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great. j.p. morgan wealth management. ...

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