We have to look out for our people. When there are hostages, commander in chief, you have to do whatever you can to get them done. But the overall issue with this is this administration is trying to hobble Israel from being able to defend itself. They have a right to eliminate Hamas and win a total and [00:00:15] complete victory, so that they never have to deal with this again. Hamas wants nothing less than a second Holocaust. They would wipe off every single Jew off the map. They would destroy the state of Israel if we could. Joe Biden will say they support Israel and then they do nothing but [00:00:31] try to kneecap them every step of the way. You should not try to direct their war effort. We should work together with them so that they can bring Hamas to heal. So there Ron DeSantis was pretty clear that he doesn't think there should be effectively, any limitations on what Israel does in pursuit of Hamas in Gaza. [00:00:49] Now the context, too, though, was he was asked a specific question about whether he would allow for US forces to be used in Gaza, and he didn't want to answer that. And that was actually pointed out by Chris Christie. So why don't we play a little bit of that? >> Speaker 4: This is the problem with the first three debates. [00:01:07] Ron gets asked a question and he doesn't answer it. Your question was very specific. You said, would you send American troops as commander in chief? And he went on to this minute 32nd Hosanna about his knowledge of the military and [00:01:22] what we need to do and didn't answer your question. Look, when you're president of the United States, you're not gonna have a choice whether to answer that question or not. Your generals, your secretary of defense, your secretary of state, your national security advisor are gonna present plans to you. They're gonna look at you and say, do we go or don't we, Mr. President? [00:01:40] And you can't give a 92nd speech about your military services. >> Speaker 5: Would you send American troops into rescuing hostages? >> Speaker 2: I would absolutely. If they had a plan which showed me that we could get them out safely, you're damn right I'd send the American army in there to get our people home and [00:01:56] get them home now, and I'll answer that question directly. >> Speaker 3: So he was very direct. He would send US forces in if it was requested, if there was a plan. Ron DeSantis went on to still not answer the question. Look, we're very used to politicians on debate stages not answering direct questions, but this seems pretty consequential what you think the US's [00:02:15] involvement in this continued conflict should be. So I wanna turn to our participants now, starting with you, Marianne. What should US involvement be in this conflict? What should the government be doing right now? What would you do, assuming the conflict is still raging, [00:02:30] were you to become president? >> Speaker 5: I don't have a problem with the United States supporting Israel. The issue is this bombing of Gaza. I don't even think is supporting Israel. I think the United States should have an equal commitment to the safety and the security and the human rights of both people. We all understand why Israel is furious. [00:02:48] And we also might know Ron DeSantis has such an incredibly simplistic view of what's going on there. He says we need to help Israel win, have a victory, so this could never happen again. What does he call a victory? Even if they are to get rid of all of those, all of the tunnels, [00:03:03] which I certainly understand the urge to get rid of the tunnels, but their effort to do so is creating so much more hate. It is creating so much more Hamas. Hamas is not just an illiterate group of people. It's also a philosophy. So the United States should have for [00:03:21] decades now been being far more truthful. I'm sorry, the settlements are illegal. The West bank occupation is illegal. The siege of Gaza was wrong. No justice, no peace. There was never a military solution to this situation. [00:03:38] The only solution is peace and justice for both people. I can see this only as a two state solution at this point. And similarly, right now, there is no military solution. And the more time goes on, the more we still aren't hearing from Israel. What's the game plan here? [00:03:55] So that the worst accusations against it are becoming harder and harder to deflect or to disagree with. So the United States should be saying complete ceasefire, release of the hostages, and immediately an international consortium to work on plans for a two state solution. [00:04:13] And this has to involve, of course, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, as well as Western powers as well. We're living in a multi polar world now. There's no one country that goes in and can say what it's going to be anymore. But that's what the United States should stand for. [00:04:29] Ceasefire, beliefs of the hostages, two state solution. And now the killing has got to stop. >> Speaker 3: Representative Phillips, what would your approach be? What should Biden be doing right now? >> Speaker 6: Well, I'm the ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. I've been to Jerusalem twice this year, sat down with the prime minister, [00:04:46] looked him in the eye, told him exactly what I thought. Had no idea, of course, that October 7 was forthcoming, been to Riyadh and to Istanbul and Ankara to have conversations with both the Turks and the Saudis. We are so close to getting the Saudis to normalize with Israel. One reason I think the attack occurred on October 7, by the way, is Iran. [00:05:04] They don't want peace. Hamas doesn't want peace. And I hope Israelis soon choose to pursue a path of peace. At the end of the day, well, it's not a simple solution, but it's a simple plan. Release the hostages. By the way, there are eight Americans sitting in the tunnels right now, [00:05:22] held hostages for now two months by a terrorist organization. And any of us who might become president should make that our number one priority. I do believe we made a big mistake with the $6 billion. That was not the release of it, but the access to it in exchange for [00:05:38] five prisoners from Iran. I think that sends a message to anybody else, including Hamas. If you take American prisoners, you can extract billions of dollars. I think the president should be speaking about this every damn morning. Should use every tool available to him, diplomatic tools, pressure with our [00:05:55] foreign aid, and, yes, special forces, if they have a plan to extract Americans. It's the longest Americans have been held hostage in this number since the Iranian revolution in 1979. Release the hostages. An immediate ceasefire. Replace Israeli troops in Gaza with an international multinational peacekeeping [00:06:14] force to keep the peace for Palestinians and Israelis, not to include Israel and the United States. But Hamas has got to be eliminated. That would also take a multinational task force. And then we have to all collectively make investments in civil society, democracy, infrastructure. [00:06:30] And then two things have to happen. Palestinians must be afforded the chance to vote for the first time since 2006. The Palestinian Authority is corrupt. Mahmoud Abbas, in his 80s, corrupt. Pay to slay is happening right now. They pay people who would be so bold as to kill an Israeli. [00:06:47] And Hamas is clearly dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the destruction of Jewish people. It's plain and simple. They've got to go, too. And if Israelis and Palestinians finally choose peace, every single nation in the world, friends and foes, Chinese and the US and [00:07:02] Russians and everybody else, Gulf states, have got to unify behind this. I'm just gonna turn the light back on president Biden, he's been in Washington for 50 years. He was the chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate. Eight years as vice president, three years as president. [00:07:19] It's the same cycle of nonsense my entire life. And to think the same people in the same positions doing it the same way are going to achieve success. Netanyahu's got to go. The settlement policy, I agree, is wrong. And Israelis, thank goodness, live in a democracy. [00:07:34] 2 million Muslims living side by side with safety and security and protection, a multinational country protecting LGBTQ plus rights, women's rights. There are 140 Israelis that live in Gaza, but they're right now held hostage in a tunnel. [00:07:51] So this has to end. And I just think it's time for the pro Palestinian and the pro Israeli factions around the world to join hands, not take arms. Join hands, cuz humanity is more important than nationality or religion, plain and simple. >> Speaker 3: Cenk, I want to end this segment by giving you a chance to respond [00:08:09] this time. >> Speaker 2: So there are actually some things that I disagree with Dean on, but I do wanna agree with him that, yes, Biden has been in Washington for 50, maybe even 60 years at this point. And when they do that thing about, he's Joe from Scranton. Come on, guys. Come on, [LAUGH] ,he hasn't been to Scranton in five, [00:08:27] six decades in terms of living there. Okay, but let's address the issue here. So, look, I agree with Chris Christie that Ron DeSantis never answers the question, and I think that was one of his better moments. But I wildly disagree with Chris Christie when he says we should send in American troops. Okay, first of all, that's nuts. [00:08:44] We're not gonna go and get into a bigger war in the Middle East. Number two, what are they needed for? It's not like the Palestinians have an ability to fight back against Israel's military. Israel's military is 2000 times stronger. It's not really a war. [00:09:00] It's just utter destruction of Gaza. So what happened on October 7 was horrific, and Israel had the moral high ground there. And I wish that they had gone to a productive solution, which I'm gonna offer here at the end. But look, all the Republicans there, I think, for [00:09:16] lack of a better word, are mental. I mean, Ron DeSantis talking about how Joe Biden has kneecapped and hobbled Israel's response. How many more civilians did you want him to kill? There's 15,000 dead in Gaza, and [00:09:31] Joe Biden pretty much gave a complete green light to that. Certainly for the great majority of the time. Is 15,000 dead civilians not enough for Ron DeSantis? And so how much more of a green light could Joe Biden have given Israel? It's preposterous. [00:09:47] So, look, the idea that you're gonna get a total incomplete military victory that DeSantis talked about against Hamas is absurd. When is Hamas going to get up and go? Okay, we lost. How? [00:10:02] How would we even know? How would we know if the Palestinians have turned on Hamas? How would we know if Hamas is lost? We haven't seen Hamas basically since October 7. So, yes, they fire rockets, etc, but they're in the tunnels. And the tunnels appear to be completely unaffected by the bombing. Yet Israel continues to drop 2000 pound bombs. [00:10:20] And now Israel has admitted, yes, there are 15,000 dead in Gaza. And so, look, my solution is harsher in regards to restricting our ally. If you're going to use our money to kill those civilians, I say no, [00:10:35] I would not send $14 billion to Israel for more death and destruction. And I honestly would not send them any more money, period, until they end the occupation. It has to be two states. It's non negotiable. I don't want my taxpayer dollars going to kill Palestinian civilians and [00:10:54] to keep them occupied in an open air prison for decades. So no deal. Now, if they end the occupation, then fantastic. We love Israel and we want Israel to be a flourishing, beautiful country that is a strong, democratic ally of America. So finally, the productive solution is, look, [00:11:13] if Israel were to now say, you know what? We're gonna do a deal with the Palestinian Authority and they are going to run Gaza. But in order for them to have the moral authority to do that, because at this point, even Palestinians in the West bank are beginning to [00:11:29] see the Palestinian Authority as collaborators with Israel, cuz they're helping to continue to occupy the West bank. Say, we are reaching a peace deal, 1967 borders, and we're doing it not with Hamas, never with Hamas, but with the Palestinian Authority. [00:11:45] So Palestinian Authority then can come and take Gaza and control Gaza and drive Hamas out. That actually would be total and complete victory against Hamas, cuz then the Palestinian Authority would say, we brought you a Palestinian state and they would have the credibility to be able to do that. [00:12:01] And if you wanna say, hey, maybe not, 1967 borders, take 4% for settlers, etc. Okay, we can have that conversation, but get to a peace deal immediately, get to a two state solution immediately, and regain the moral high ground for Israel and for America. [00:12:16] >> Speaker 3: We are gonna have to take our first place. >> Speaker 6: If I could just say one thing quick. I'm not here to defend Chris Christie, but just facts are facts. The question was whether you would use troops to extract the hostages. That was my comment. That was Christie's comment. I don't think any of us were posing, sending American boots to the ground. [00:12:32] But I do think it's an American president's priority and prerogative if American hostages are being held and there is a plan to extract them, to then use American troops, not in a ground war in Israel or Gaza, but to extract Americans. That should be our highest priority. By the way, why is it not on every single newspaper cover every day? [00:12:49] Why is the president not speaking about it every single day? And I got to tell you all the truth is I think it's because they're Israeli Americans, and that's the truth. >> Speaker 5: But nobody knows where they are. And everybody knows that they don't know where they are. The Israelis don't know where they are. [00:13:05] >> Speaker 6: But my point wasn't that. My point is we have eight American hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas. And I think this should be a bigger deal to the United States of America. That's all I'm saying. They're Americans. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I got to agree with Dean on that. I think that Israel should have used special forces from the first day to try [00:13:23] to rescue the hostages from inside the tunnels. Dropping bombs on civilians and residential buildings, hospitals, etc doesn't help rescue the hostages at all. We got to get our people back and we've got to show the courage to be able to go into those tunnels and extract them.