>> i'm shannon bream. hamas unleashes a shocking assault on israel leaving hundreds dead an unknown number taken hostage and a nation

stunned. as its allies warn, the world is watching. ♪ >> the united states stands with the people of israel in the face of these terrorists assaults >> a stunning escalation in the decades-old conflict, israel's prime minister declaring this is war and warns his people it will be long and difficult. the israeli military also retal rating at hezbollah after the iran backed terror group fires enter the north. today we'll have the latest the ground and again reaction from john finer president biden's adam laxalt as well as former secretary of state mike pompeo. >> the united states obviously is going to stick with is real. >> i stick with israel the u.s.

should be standing with is real here. >> we all stand the state of israel. >> republican presidential candidates react. we're one on one with governor ron desantis with his first sunday network appearance since announcing his. >> do you worry they get overshadowed by other things you want to talk about. >> all right now on fox news sunday. ♪ ♪ . >> shannon: hello from fox news in washington, let's look at the broader region where these attacks by hamas coordinated widespread and by all accounts a surprise to israelis and emanating from the gaza strip. let's look at the rockets thousands of them were fired from here into key cities like tel aviv, israel of course has been responding with fire into the gaza strip as well, but it's not just in the air. on the ground as well there were scores of attacks coordinated and unleashed. we've heard the stories.

you've seen the videos. attacks going home to home in these communities killing people, taking people hostage now back in the gaza strip, which creates a new nightmare for israel because essential they they know their citizens are being held there as they now fire back. also this morning, there is a new front as to the north, hezbollah has been exchanging fire with israel. that's a new front. all of this comes as the prime minister has warned this is going to be a long conflict and not easily resolved. >> we have team coverage with lucas tomlinson at the white house and trey yingst on the ground in southern israel. we begin this morning with trey. hello. >> reporter: shannon good morning. a massacre of unimaginable proportions took place in israel yesterday with more than 600 israeli civilians and soldiers killed by pal stillian militants according to israeli media. we do know those militants

crossed into southern israel yesterday morning on the backs of pickup trucks and motorcycles. they went first to a music festival where they opened fire on the crowd. they then took over communities along the border between israel and gaza. at this hour, hamas militants are still h the military. at the same time they launched this assault more than 3,000 rockets were fired into the jewish state. earlier today hamas militants infiltrateing into israel once again where they were chased by security forces after stealing a civilian car. take a look. >> israeli security forces just pursued a group of hamas militants that infiltrateed from the gaza strip, stole a civilian car and then headed north toward the city of ashtood. the car in the distance has bullet noles the windshield security forces are concerned one of these militants has

escaped and could be hiding in the area. israeli tranqs headed toward the gaza border right now a clear indication that is reel is preparing for a ground invasion. we've also seen artillery units and special forces headed south. the biggest concern for israel right now securing the southern part of their country. we do know their second concern has to do with the hostages taken as prisoners of war by hamas and islamic jihad. dozens of israeli soldiers and civilians dragged both dead and alive into the gaza strip. hamas says they are being stored in the tunnels underneath gaza. all of this as israel plans their response. you can see the soldiers behind me. they've been striking the gaza strip overnight and into this morning. and we do know they are now facing rocket and mortar fire from lebanon in multi conflict erupting in the region. shannon. >> shannon: trey yingst big thanks to you and your team keeping us updated around the

clock. thank you trey >> turning now to the biden administration response to the crisis, fox news correspondent tomlinson is live at the white house with that part of the story hello lucas. >> reporter: speaking at the white house president biden pledged the full support of the united states and issued the following warning. >> let me say this as clearly as i can. this is not a moment for any party hostile to israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. the world is watching. and let there be no mistake. the united states stands with the state of israel. >> saudi arabia crowned prince de facto rules the country and israel's prime minister both recently told fox's bret baier their countries were approaching an historic moment full diplomatic recognition for the first time. >> if you were to characterize it are you close? >> every day we get closer. it seems it's, for the first time serious.

we're going to see how it goes. >> we just got back, i know you heard the words from the saudi crowned prince. what was your response? >> i was delighted to hear what he had to say and to borrow a phrase, i think we're getting closer to peace every day. >> reporter: senator tom cotton says crushing this potential peace detail is exactly where hamas launched the attacks on israel saying in a statement, quote, this war is a transparent attempt by iran to derail the peace talks between israel and saudi arabia. the united states should provide israel the diplomatic support it needs to destroy hamas and the biden administration should cease all engagement with iran a point echoed by one of israel's former prime ministers. >> we're fed up with this hypocrisy. it's time for israel to fight back. it's time for israel to destroy hamas. >> reporter: former defense secretary mark esper and senator lindsey graham both called this attack an intelligence failure.

shannon. >> shannon: lucas thank you very much. joining us now john finer, deputy national security advisor with the biden administration. john thank you for your time this morning. let's start there on the intelligence failure. there are if i caners pointed at israeli intelligence but also us intelligence that we didn't pick this up. what's your response this morning? >> my response is we are laser focused and president biden, who has a 50-year record of solidarity support and resolve for israel is focused on making sure that they have everything that they need to respond to this appalling attack, everything they need militarily all the diplomatic support and all the intelligence support. there will be a time and place to look back on exactly how this happened, who knew what when but that moment is not now while still in the throes of the attack as your reporting just showed this is still ongoing. >> shannon: with a number of top iranian officials coming out saying they support hamas engaging in the north, what's your assessment about the level

of iran's involvement in this particular onslaught? >> so in terms of iran's involvement in the attack that began yesterday, that's obviously something that we're looking at very closely and something that we will continue to watch. it is too soon to draw any definitive conclusions, but iran has been a long-time supporter of hamas and has complicity in the capabilities that hamas has built up over time. we saw statements that came out of iran yesterday, we obviously completely reject those and i think you heard the president's words chosen very carefully to warn against any parties hostile to israel seeking sflang this situation including any attempts to open any sort of second front. >> shannon: and a number of administration officials have been clear to come on and talk about the $6 billion in iranian funds recently unfrozen saying not a penny of that has been spent it would not have had anied way to flow into this particular conflict but the wall street journal editorial board when news of that unfreezing came said this, what stands out in this deal is a $6 billion

ransom. they refer to the secretary of state. they say though mr. blinken says it will only be available for humanitarian trade like food and medicine, the reality is that the waiver now frees up funds for iran's nuclear program, terrorism and proxy wars. your response. >> look, we've been quite clear that we just have a fundamentally different view of this situation and that we believe those criticisms are not well founded and, frankly, inaccurate. any implication that money that has not yet been spent, not a single dollar of that money has yet been spent, had any role in the attacks that took place in planning them, in equipping the parties that conducted them. just frankly doesn't make any sense. and as we've been clear, that money can only be spent on humanitarian items, on food, on agricultural products, on medicine. that sort of thing. we're going to be watchinghat very closely as well and if iran spends that money in ways that it's not supposed to we will know. so i think the facts are quite clearly on our side of this

debate. >> shannon: but if iran knows it's getting $6 billion worth of breathing room is it not fair to assess and have a conversation about whether they then would think the funds they do have in house that are already at their disposal could be spent in nefarious ways? >> we expected this money is only going to be spent over a fairly extended period of time, years, not weeks, not months, and that spending money on stuff, food items, agricultural products, medicines, that benefits the iranian people but does not benefit the iranian military is frankly not related to t discussion that we're having today. >> shannon: well the people there certainly need that relief and that help. let's hope that it does get to them. i want to ask you, too, about what you heard lucas talking p, the negotiations and conversations between the saudis u.s. israel that have been ongoing. how much do you think that the incursion, the attacks over the last 24 hours or so are about those conversations? >> so to be honest, i think it's a bit premature to try to answer that question definitively. we've been quite clear that we

believe normalizing relations between israel and saudi arabia would be a good thing for the region. would turn the temperature down, deescalate. we've been for greater integration of israel into the wider middle east. we think it would be in both country's interest to continue to pursue this possibility. we've also been quite clear that this is a challenging set of diplomatic conversations that we are not on the cusp of some immediate break through when it comes to normalization and something we're going to be continuing to work towards. but right now in this moment with attacks still ongoing in israel, our immediate focus is on getting the israelis absolutely everything they need. by the way on working with our other partners in the region including the saudis making sure they are being as constructive as possible in their diplomatic work behind the scenes and in their statements to try to lean on parties not to expand this conflicts. >> shannon: deputy national security advisor jon finer we appreciate your time. thank you so much for dropping in. >> thank you for having me. >> shannon: joining us now former secretary of state mike

pompeo. mr. secretary want to start there, you're very familiar with the tensions of this region and to this point about these ongoing conversations, politico said this. interventions by that reap, a top iranian official you cans and other senior iranian policy makers will be seen by iran's long running rival saudi arabia as a threatening signal that tehran is willing to stir up regional conflict to prevent them from normalizing ties with israel as the u.s. wants. do you think that's what this is about? >> well, shannon, good morning. this is at its core about historic efforts by iran to wipe israel off the face of the earth. make no mistake about it. these were barbaric attacks, they're continuing. women and children. there's hostages being held. i was on this very show a few weeks back talking about when the united states pays a billion dollars per hostage there will be more hostage taking. look what happened yesterday. more hostages ken by the iranian regime's proxy, hamas, in gaza.

this is bad set of policies, when i hear mr. finer talk about the fact that that decision to give them $6 billion didn't matter, we can't forget too we gave palestinians $230 million on nearly day one of the biden administration. the responsible party here are the leadership, the terrorists in gaza strip, hamas. they are funded by iran and the united states policy to cozy up to iran has created enormous risk for israel which we are seeing play out today and you should know, too, the gulf states all are watching what iran is doing here. they can see. this was a moment of clarity for the world. do not avert your eyes. i hope the world will continue to watch what's taking place here because this is precisely why we built out a structure, which isolated iran, caused at least four countries to normal relationships with israel and why when the biden administration disrupted that there's so much risk for the american people as well. >> shannon: to the broader impact, national review has this headline, the world is about to change and likely for the worse,

they say. that this presumably scotches years of diplomacy quietly shepherded by both the biden administrations trying to get saudi arabia to officially recognize israel, iran's self interest here is thus transparently obvious but think further afield of places like china, russia, ukraine and america. what do you make of the potential for broader impact as you just sort of touched on? >> shannon, i think there's a lot of truth to that. look, we have to focus on what's going on the ground there today. there is an immediate crisis there. this was a massacre of innocent civilians and israelis must be provided everything they need to respond to this in a way that deters this from ever happening again. that was the mistake. the opening moments after this attack, the biden administration's team on the ground in israel said, gosh, can't we all just get t demanding that the israelis essentially fold their tent and allow this massacre to continue. >> shannon: just so we know it was restracked so folks know but

yes it was their first response. >> yes, it was their first response it was their instinct exactly right. this is the biden administration's instinct apiece at every turn it's how you get what you described. you described the fact we had 13 americans killed in afghanistan, we've seen cues in africa. we have a ground war in europe, a chinese communist party that is threatening every one of its land based neighbors and sea based neighbors. when america refuses to do the right thing and lead and use american power in ways that deter adversaries they, like the old southwest airlines line, they feel free to move about the cabin san son and that's bad for the united states of america. wee a strategic petroleum reserve with seven days of ingraham angle the lowest in american history we put americans on their back foot and when you do that the iranian will run head shot over us, and i worry that hezbollah, the iranians on the ground will seize this moment to do even more harm to the peace that we had built out in the middle east

over our four years in office. >> shannon: the exchanges to hezbollah to the north very concerning as well. mr. secretary thank you very much. we always appreciate your insights. >> thank you shannon. have a great day ma'am. >> shannon: you too. we'll continue to break down this story plus fallout from president biden after flipping on his campaign promise to not build another foot of wall at our southern border, as the flood of migrants crossing into our country shows zero signs of letting up. we bring in the sunday panel to discuss how the president's about face could affect his anemic poll numbers going into '24. they'll also preview a critical week in washington as the house tries to pick a new speaker. next. ♪ (vo) while you may not be running an architectural firm, tending hives of honeybees, and mentoring a teenager — your life is just as unique. your raymond james financial advisor gets to know you,

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♪ >> israel has the right to defend itself and its people. full stop. there's never justification for teorist attacks. and my administration's support for israel's security is rock solid and unwavering. >> shannon: president biden reaffirming u.s. support for israel after the deadly widespread attacks by hamas. time now for our sunday group, usa today white house correspondent francesca chambers, ben domenech the the r and host of the podcast. kevin walling and mary katherine ham columnist for outkick. we planned to talk about a lot of things until yesterday. this was not one but it is now front and center. ben you've heard unequivocal unanimity in washington about supporting israel but there are decisions by this administration and polling that people aren't confident about how it's handling foreign policy. it's here now front and center. >> i don't know why any american

would be confident in the way this administration is handling foreign policy challenges we face at the moment. going back, connected to the situation in afghanistan, which this administratn absolutely bunkled turneded into a debacle and got americans killed. the fact that ukraine has had to engage in the kind of lengthy drawn-out process that it has in order to get f16s and many of the other equipment that they're still bein administration, certainly extending that conflict in ways that american people are frustrated with. and then we see this happen in this way and hear the denials from this administration as if money works in ways that are absolutely magical and that you can't have $6 billion injected into an iranian regime that funds terror around the world and not have consequences because of the confidence they have that they'll be able to pay for everything they need going forward. there's a direct connection tween what this administration is doing and death around the world and chaos that people see all over the world. and for some reason, only the white house remains in denial

about its responsibility. >> shannon: kevin you know when this landed on september1th of all days, there was a lot of consternation from a number of quarters not just the ultra conservative and republican voices. >> shannon i think that was so important to hear from jon finer directly with the white house, our own jennifer griffin of course has debunked that notion that the $6 billion has been used to fund any element of what's going on that we are he seeing. >> you don't know. do you understand -- no, no, no, explain to me how money works, explain to me how you can put $6 billion in front of you as a giant gift and then not have other money moved. >> what's to say the iranian regime was going to fund the $6 billion note any kind of medicine any kind of food for their own people. we know this is a terroristic regime in iran. >> fact check source you have to deny that is the president i iran saying he can spend it where he wants to spend. >> there's verification from the money that it is their own money from oil reserves. now having said that, i think we need to, as the president said yesterday, reestablish and refocus that element of this

iron clad relationship that enjoys both bipartisan support we are seeing. i fundamentally reject whai'm seeing on the left for forys wed to deescalate. no calls for that were after 9/11 or pearl harbor. the israelis for the first time have had their own sovereign territory invaded, something we haven't seen since 1948 and you're seeing an administration with that statement from the president yesterday, again, declaring for the entire world that iron-clad relationship that we have with israel, and that's critically important. >> shannon: this is showing up on the campaign trail too because we pedestrianly heard all the gop contenders saying we are with israel we stand with them but trysting former mike pence noted in a scathing resume pens faulted voices of appeasement like donald trump vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis that i believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that america is the lieder of the free world.

mary katherine, that's a direct quote on israel. those candidates and former president have made clear that they 100% support israel but interesting that he would try to open some daylight there. >> yeah. i'm not sure about that attack to the right particularly of desantis, but to your point kevin, i have seen messaging that says israel can defend itself. and also it should not. we should be very clear about this, free people have been invaded and butchered and tortured and there are people who are in gaza strip who we don't know what will happen to them. and blinken just said a few minutes ago on a show that perhaps some of them are americans, right? so we have a really desperate situation here, but hamas did not act out of desperation. they acted out of opportunity and enthusiasm for taking out the jewish people and the jewish state and that is what is happening here. and so we need to be very clear about that on both sides. >> shannon: i want to make sure too that we loop this in. chad pergram our fantastic capitol hill producer and correspondent says this is one of the issues that highlights

the fact that we don't have a speaker because if you have to