here to react, israeli minister of education along with joel rubin, president of the washington strategy group and former obama deputy assistant secretary of state. mr. minister, i would like to start with you. what would you like to say tonight to the president's critics? will get to some of the specifics in a moment, but a message to them about their concern about his language? >> first of all, i came over from israel to tell the folks in pittsburgh that we stand united. israel has always been under attacks and now we've seen the deadliest anti-semitic attack in america's history and we do stand united with our brothers and sisters. unfortunately, anti-semitism has

joel rubin just one more question to you before we move on to the rest of august koran is very much on the cards on the table has been for a very long time but in the last four weeks we've heard about pressure being put on saudi arabia pressure being put on the crown prince himself is the trumpet ministrations iranian strategy in tatters right. i wouldn't say it's in tatters but it's under duress there is certainly a lot of questioning here in washington to keep the washington perspective on this there's a lot of questioning about the wisdom in following a saudi lead on iran or from the perspective of the us foreign policy to make it all about iran when we see that saudi arabia has behaved like they did in turkey with the killing of jamal khashoggi so there's a lot of questioning but in tatters no not not yet the department is continuing to execute sanctions the state department continuing to engage diplomatically in the pressure track and there really is no alternative diplomatic track yet that they've created but that's not different from the past year of engagement with iran but cer

right now we have joel rubin joining us president of the washington strategy group deputy assistant secretary of state we're discussing the options that the white house has when it comes to saudi arabia one of the options that you think that they have when it comes to the crown prince when it comes to saudi arabia over the crucial. well i think you for having me and there are a variety of options that the white house has hit its disposal they could first and foremost prevent him from traveling to united states they could implement sanctions from the magnitsky act the white house could do with holding of military transfers withdraw support for saudi's air war into yemen so there's a variety of measures but really the question is the political will for doing it and right now it doesn't seem like the white house has much will in that space certainly clearly now want to have an investigation go forward but they don't want it appears to have the investigation goes to the level where where it touches mohammed bin selman and so congress is going to get additionally frustrated and look for measures a

treaty and how will it affect relations between the united states and russia for this we turn to joel rubin he served as deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the obama administration he's president of the washington strategy group he joins us from washington before we get to the question of the nuclear treaty was your reaction to these explosive devices going around. thanks larry for asking about that and it's great to be with you it is very troubling and people in washington are on edge as a result of this target seem to be liberal democratic icons leaders people who the president has identified as enemies of the people in some instances and really has unsettled a lot of people here in washington about about really the real world impacts potentially environment we're in how do these events play overseas well i think what it does is it just highlights for an international audience. the kind of dynamics that we have right now in the united states our politics are too vicious in terms of the way people are are talking about each other talking about issues and perhaps

joel rubin just one more question to you before we move on to the rest of august koran is very much on the cards on the table has been for a very long time but in the last four weeks we've heard about pressure being put on saudi arabia pressure being put on the crown prince himself is the trumpet ministrations iranian strategy in tatters right. i wouldn't say it's in tatters but it's under duress there is certainly a lot of questioning here in washington to keep the washington perspective on this there's a lot of questioning about the wisdom in following a saudi lead on iran or from the perspective of the us foreign policy to make it all about iran when we see that saudi arabia has behaved like they did in turkey with the killing of jamal khashoggi so there's a lot of questioning but in tatters no not not yet the department is continuing to execute sanctions the state department continuing to engage diplomatically in the pressure track and there really is no alternative diplomatic track yet that they've created but that's not different from the past year of engagement with iran but cer

joel rubin. mr. rubin, thank you fo staying with me.his has been determined as a hate crime by authorities. did you believe what you were hearing when you first heard about the shootings? >> well, arthel, i have a group text of high school buddies of mine. we are continually engaged and the shock came through, started getting calls. this is pittsburgh. it's a calm, enjoyable, warm, down-home city. it's a city of tight ties between families and community members. it's a city where people feel free to walk around late at night and it's a beautiful town. and squirrel hill is a jewel of a neighborhood in pittsburgh. and it's just shocking. the rhetoric right now, the hate speech, the attacks, the bomb threats we saw from the other day, things are out of hand. things are out of hand. and pittsburgh as a city is a mirror of reflection of america and if it can happen in pittsburgh, i hate to say it can happen anywhere. this is a man-made crisis and man and women, we all can fix it and we all must. to have a synagogue be a target like this, it

it's a highly diverse community. >> joel rubin, thank you for joining me. joining me by phone is howard fineman, who is a pittsburgh native. howard, we've known each other a long time. this is an atrocious act. and a sad day, but give us around the country a sense of pittsburgh, in terms of the demographics and how the jewish community in pittsburgh, the pivotal place that it is and operates as a community in the city of pittsburgh. >> we have known each other for a long time. it's comforting for me to talk to you. >> thank zblup we're buddies, and you can understand the horror and the pain of a place like this. on a day like this. yes, i grew up in pittsburgh, i actually attended and was bar mitzvahed at this synagogue, the tree of life. since you're from new york, you know the role these kind of places play. it's a smaller city in which ethnic neighborhoods live side by side, not to be naive about, there are rough moments, but generally speaking in great harmony. there's great ethnic pride in pittsburgh, catholic, muslim, hindu, et cetera. because of the

straight going forward we are out of time and thanks to all our guests because andrew finkel and joel rubin and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website which is there dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter handle is at a.j. inside story for me imran khan and the whole team life and. i. in the eight hundred seventy s. hundreds of will genia were banished to the foggiest corner of an empire where their descendants still live today. my grandparents died with a heavy heart they left everything behind. and don't dare leave it lame argyria an identity it's all there was present inside as this french territory in the pacific prepares to vote on independence al-jazeera world tells the story of exiles in new caledonia. november on al-jazeera radicalized youth a new hard hitting series comes face to face with the hatred and violence of militant groups that attract young people around the world on november fifth the u.s. will impose

joel rubin, thank you for joining us. joel: thank you. david: though the president make some sense?dent make some sense here? bipartisan support make his hand stronger? joel: it certainly would make your hand stronger. congress playing the role with the president often times means he delays and does not need to have congress engage. we need to make sure we president here, the already has existing authorities available to him to punish saudi arabia today. he could an active sanctions right now if he chose, he could review --agnitsky at act review, so he has those tools. he is not choosing to use them. democrats take control, they could engage in this in a way that president trump could not like. administration says we need to know what the facts are, and if we do not know that, we do not know what to do. is that right or do you think they do know the facts but they are playing for time to figure it out and how to handle it? are essential, but we are passed the fact finding layer with the political concern of the khashoggi affair. congress is very skeptical of the american-saudi allia

and joel rubin is in washington d.c. now he's the director of policy and government affairs that she is fun but also a former u.s. deputy assistant secretary of state nice to have you with us how much of a loss do you believe nikki haley is to this administration my producer was pointing a little bit earlier she is a woman a woman of color a daughter of immigrants the type of person we don't really see many off in the trumpet minutes administration no we don't and there will be as a result of a significant gap with her not being at the table and yes there really is not a there are not many women there's only one person of color people of color that is other than nikki haley and so it is a real loss for americans of versity and diversity is representation at the un in addition to that she has been a strong voice on a number of issues from an international perspective that president trump has not really been seen as championing in particular related to russia and american efforts to punish russia for its election meddling

joel rubin, frank figullzi, thank you both. >>> thousands of migrants are being held back by police in an intense stand off on their way to the u.s. we'll take you there live. >>> the department of justice charging a russian national for conspirei conspireing -- allegedly conspireing to interfere with the 2018 midterm elections. don't let cracked skin tell you what to wear. new aveeno® cracked skin cica ointment. with shea butter and triple oat complex. for fast relief and a protective barrier for lasting relief. wear what you love, aveeno®. warning, california. a handful of billionaires have spent over $70 million on campaigns to undermine our public schools. and electing a former wall street banker named marshall tuck to superintendent of public instruction is all a part of the billionaires' plan to take money away from neighborhood public schools and give it to their corporate charter schools. that's why tony thurmond is the only candidate endorsed by classroom teachers for superintendent of public instruction. because keeping our kids safe and improving our neighborhood public scho

here to react, israeli minister of education along with joel rubin, president of the washington strategy group and former obama deputy assistant secretary of state. mr. minister, i would like to start with you. what would you like to say tonight to the president's critics? will get to some of the specifics in a moment, but a message to them about their concern about his language? >> first of all, i came over from israel to tell the folks in pittsburgh that we stand united. israel has always been under attacks and now we've seen the deadliest anti-semitic attack in america's history and we do stand united with our brothers and sisters. unfortunately, anti-semitism has always existed. where there are jews there's always been anti-semitism and we need to speak up and i believe that's what the president is about to do. what he's done. he spoke up very loudly, very clearly saying he would fight anyone who is anti-semitic and that's what we would expect and we were very pleased to hear that. >> laura: what about the resistance? the resistance to the president's visit by not all, but some more

all other parties to abide by their international obligations under the convention when i talk to joel rubin is a former u.s. deputy assistant secretary of state who worked for the successful passage of the iran nuclear deal in congress he joins us live from chevy chase in maryland joe this nine hundred fifty five treaty of amity was established to bill close the ties between the u.s. and iran so what's the thinking behind the u.s. pulling out and how significant is it. well there and it's it's troubling because this is a treaty that has been longstanding as you mentioned for more than six decades and it's just another sign of increasing tensions between the trunk the ministration and iran and really a curtailing of all diplomatic avenues in the engagement and the context for this is well is the trump administration has been withdrawing from international bodies for the last several months the u.n. refugee and works agency the u.n. human rights council other areas as well within the u.n. and including in addition to that is jumbled dig criticize the international criminal court so the contex