joining me now is ambassador dennis ross, a former special middle east foreign affairs analyst and theuthor of "doomed to succeed." ambassador ross, great to have you. >> nice to be with you. thank you. >> thank you. we first start here. is the victory over isis in manbij a good news/bad news scenario? >> it is a good news scenario as it relates to isis because manbij is a critical strategic access point getting to raqqah, which is the self-declared capitol of the islamic state and it's a key point of access between that and getting to turkey. so if you're going to get fighters coming in from the outside trying to join the islamic state or isis, they really have to go through there. most of the other access points have been cut off. so taking manbij actually is quite significant in terms of increasingly choking off the capitol of the islamic state, not only their access to people but also i think their resources. it's not great news in terms of the larger story as it relates to syria because the larger story as it relates to syria is really focused much more on aleppo. there you see th

i'm also pleased to welcome ambassador dennis ross, who has watched the relationship evolve as a senior u.s. government official, across several administrations. i called him a colleague when i worked at the washington institute. he recently wrote a book called doomed to succeed, which documents a history of the u.s. israel alliance. moderated discussion is john, who has watched this alliance evolved over several administrations. i ask you to turn off your cell phones or set them to vibrate. we want to make sure that today's event is not interrupted. welcome, and thank you all for joining us. >> thanks to all of you for coming, especially to 10 and dennis. jonathan referred to his long relationship with ken and maybe this is like bring your work -- or mentor to workday, because dennis and i actually go back a long way as well, from my time as a graduate student at stanford. i think dennis may regret this, he actually got me my first job in washington which was also at the washington institute, as well as my first job in government, working for him at the state department on the policy p

not least, in a bid of self-promotion, but definitely mytinent to this setting, co-invested or dennis ross and myself have written out a piece that will be in "the new york times" tomorrow. there will be a lot about what we talked about here. all of you have been here today and i know you hold this issue closely. keep your ears open and let us know what is going on. and hopefully, we will see you next time. thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> president obama said yesterday that donald trump is unfit to serve as president and called on republicans to denounce the gop presidential nominee. that is conference is next on c-span. then, we will bring you highlights from tonight's white house state dinner for singapore's prime minister and his wife. >> there will be three presidential debates. the first will be held at hofstra university in new york on the temper 26. on sunday, october 9, hillary clinton an

dennis ross who has watched the israel u.s. relationship of all. i was honored to call him a colleague when i worked at the washington institute a little more than a decade ago. dennis recently wrote a terrific book called doom to succeed which documents the u.s. israel alliance. moderating today's discussion is senior counselor john haner. john is a veteran senior u.s. official and has watched this alliance evolved over several administrations. this is the moment where i ask you all to turn off yourself owns or to set them to vibrate. we want to make sure today's event is not interrupted. that includes the panelist. once again, welcome and thank you all for joining us today. john, over to you. >> thank you. thank you to coming and to ken and dennis for being here. jonathan referred to his long relationship with ken. well, maybe this is like bring your mentor mentor to workday because dennis and i actually go back a long way as well during my time as a graduate student in the 1980s. i think he may regret this today. he actually got me my very first

. >> i'm a former executive director of aipac and i was struck by dennis ross' statement that every times in u.s.-israel relations, afterwards relationships have gotten better. it's been about a year now since the jcp a, and the think that since that time when israel objected to it, you know, in a very public way with netanyahu coming are speaking to congress that there's been any improvement in the relationship? >> i don't think fundamentally the personal relations between the president and the prime minister are not, i don't think they have changed. but john started off by saying and i think it's true, we are very likely going to see a 10 year m.o.u. concluded between the united states and israel. that will become it would be significant more than what was in the last 10 year m.o.u., and that follows the pattern. you look at, after, project camp david and all of it after the f-15 in the carter administration, then you get what is, you get the assistance israel, institutionalized really for the first time of 3 billion a year. after the awacs debate, which is very tough one in 81, then y

not least, in a bid of self-promotion, but definitely mytinent to this setting, co-invested or dennis ross and myself have written out a piece that will be in "the new york times" tomorrow. there will be a lot about what we talked about here. all of you have been here today and i know you hold this issue closely. keep your ears open and let us know what is going on. and hopefully, we will see you next time. thank you very much. [applause] >> president obama said yesterday that donald trump is unfit to serve as president and called on republicans to denounce the gop presidential nominee. that news conference is next. on today's washington journal, we will get an update on the transfer pacific ownership deal. that is live at 7:00 a.m. on washington journal. there will be three presidential debates, the first held in new york on monday. on sunday, october 9, hillary clinton and donald trump will debate at washington university in st. louis. the third and final debate will theeld on october 19 at university of devout in las vegas. we will have coverage on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org.

ross delivered a sermon about the generosity. >> it will enlarge your minneapolis often through the years. no one, though, had any idea how closely one of their flock had been listening. >> dennis left more than a gift of money. he truly left his life to us. >> reporter: dennis ericsson served as an usher here for 15 years. the church really was his family. he had no spouse, no kid, no brothers or sisters. instead, he devoted himself to his church and his collection, a december, dennis left his historic automobiles and his modest two-story home in egan, minnesota, to celebration church. and, boy, are they celebrating. so you walk into the house for the first time and what went through your mind? >> a lot went through my mind. not much came out of my mouth. >> reporter: you were speechless? >> for a guy who talks a lot, not often i'm found in a lack of yet, it was in that moment that i became overwhelmed with his generosity. >> reporter: oh, my gosh! it was hard not to be overwhelmed. >> it's breath taking. >> reporter: seeing for the first time all of the model cars, trucks, tractors, and buses dennis collected for six decade, ever since he was 9 years old. they are stacked one