The Diplomatic Scramble to Contain the Israel-Hamas War

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. Tavern see and this is the. [Music]. daily President Biden arrived in Israel. today as the crisis in the region. deepened we have other Breaking News NBC. news now learning between 200 and 300. people were killed in a bombing. targeting a hospital these are people. who were likely being treated for for. injuries related to the war already. after a devastating blast at a hospital.

in Gaza ignited protests across the. broader Middle East Palestinians in the. West Bank are very agitated yes there's. chaotic scenes outside the US Embassy in. Beirut angry protesters Lebanese as well. as. Palestinians my colleague Edward Wong on. America's most difficult diplomatic. Mission anger is not just toward Israel. people are blaming the US. Administration support its Ally while.

also preventing a wider. War it's Wednesday October. [Music]. 18th so Ed we have a deteriorating. situation in the Middle East you've been. very focused on American diplomacy in. this moment and you've been traveling. with American officials all over the. region for the past week tell us what. they've been trying to do Sabrina this. is the most intense diplomatic scramble.

I've seen Among Us officials in the time. I've been covering foreign policy and. diplomacy in Washington and it's obvious. because the stakes are very high the US. wants to show full support for Israel. which is a very close partner in a. region where many countries have been. hostile to it then there's this growing. humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel. carries out its air strikes and prepares. a ground Invasion there and on top of. all that you've got the possibility of. this becoming a wider regional conflict.

and US officials are desperately trying. to head that off so from the very. beginning of this crisis American. officials have been involved we saw the. us immediately come out and condemn the. attacks by Hamas right after they took. place on October 7th on a Saturday and. then over that weekend there were a lot. of intense discussions between President. Biden and foreign leaders in the region. to really try and get them on board with. a consistent message about the attacks I.

know that the US officials and US. leaders were intensely focused on. showing strong and unwavering American. support for Israel at that time and for. whatever Israel planned to do its. military strikes its retaliation against. Hamas and they also wanted to speak with. Arab leaders in order to try and. persuade the leaders to condemn Hamas. and condemn the attacks and show as much. support for Israel as they could and Ed. why was it so important to get Arab.

countries to sign on to this to condemn. the attack well given the scale of the. attacks I think that the US felt they. had an opening to try and get Arab. Nations and Arab leaders on board with. what Israel is about to do as you know. Sabrina the Palestinians are seen as. victims by many Arab citizens across the. region I would say that the majority of. people who live in the Middle East see. Israel as an occupier and see America as.

the backer of this occupation so even an. attack like the Hamas attack will be. seen as justified by many just ordinary. people in the region and I think that. the US was hoping that the governments. and the leaders of the region would help. set the tone will help guide public. opinion by coming out and being more. forceful in their condemnation of these. attacks so what happens do any of them. condemn Hamas in the attack well there.

are a couple Arab countries that do come. out strongly against Hamas over that. weekend to Monday we see the United Arab. Emirates put out a statement that. forcefully says Hamas was not right in. doing these attacks and naming Hamas and. we also see Bahrain smaller country in. the Gulf region also put out similar. statement and naming Hamas and what's. interesting is that these two countries. had signed on a few years ago to what.

are known as the Abraham Accords which. were these agreements that the Trump. Administration really pushed in a. diplomatic effort to try and get Arab. countries to normalize relations with. Israel but Saudi Arabia for example. makes a statement that essentially says. oh we told you for years that the. Israeli occupation of Gaza would lead to. reactions that you won't like Kut. another Arab country country comes out.

with a statement that says Israel is. solely responsible for these attacks and. that did not please us officials at all. of course okay so the US doesn't get. much in this initial round of private. calls this initial flurry of diplomacy. what does it do next so on the Tuesday. after the attacks good. afternoon you know there are moments in. this. life and I mean this literally when the. pure unadulterated evil.

is Unleashed President Biden comes out. and gives what many people describe as. one of the most emotional speeches of. his career young people massacred while. attending a musical festival to. celebrate peace to celebrate peace he. forcefully condemns the attacks he. describes in detail how horrific they. are. families hid Their Fear for hours and. hours desperately trying to keep their. children quiet to avoid drawing. attention he evokes the history of.

persecution against Jews this attack has. brought to the surface painful Memories. the scars left by a millennia of. anti-Semitism and genocide of the Jewish. people he tells Americans we stand with. Israel and we will make sure Israel has. what it needs to take care of its. citizens defend itself and he described. to the American people how he promised. to the Israeli leader that the United. States would support Israel in whatever.

actions it takes these. atrocities been. sickening we're with Israel let's make. no mistake thank you and Sabrina that. same day I was also getting a flurry of. messages from the state department. telling me to pack my bags because Tony. blinkin the secretary of state was about. to go on one of the biggest diplomatic. trips of his career so publicly this. overwhelming support for Israel is In. This Moment by the us but at this point.

Israel has also started bombing in Gaza. right so how is the US viewing that and. what's it saying to Israel about it you. know either in public or behind the. scenes well that's interesting Sabrina. because this was something that I. watched change as I was following Tony. blinkin around the region during this. past week so when blinkin arrived in Tel. Aviv he put out a very strong message of.

unwavering and unconditional support for. Israel he stood next to Netanyahu and. talked about how Israel had an. obligation to defend itself and that the. US completely understood what Israel was. about to do in Gaza but as lincol is. traveling around the region and going to. visit with Arab leaders in a total of. around a half dozen Arab countries in. the area he hears a lot of concerns. about the civilian casualties and so I.

think that this really impacted the. thinking of us officials and President. Biden and blinkin were talking intensely. during blink's trip and we saw blinkin. as he stood next to Arab officials. giving press conferences across the. region talking more and more also about. the need to address the suffering of the. 2 million people in Gaza and just to. remind listeners here Israel had shut. off power water and food to Gaza the.

bombing has been causing this deepening. humanitarian crisis I'd imagine this was. pretty worrisome to a lot of Arab. leaders that's right Sabrina they really. are pushing for the US to tell the. Israelis please back off from this cut. off of water this cut off of electricity. this cut off of food and we're seeing. all these images coming out of people. fleeing the cities of the and bodies.

being pulled out of the Rebel and I know. that us officials at this time were then. really pressing the Israelis to start. restoring some of these basic services. and were Israelis heeding what US. officials were telling them were they. doing that restoration of services well. Netanyahu and his top AIDS felt. justified in using the most intense. forms of warfare against Gaza I think. that the the magnitude of the violence.

that Hamas carried out in Israel these. terrorist attacks really struck at the. psyche of Israelis around the country. you hear that when you talk with. Israelis but they do start thinking. about what the US officials are telling. them what about food and supplies well. Sabrina there's only one land Border. Crossing into Gaza and that's through. Egypt it's a place called Rafa and so us. officials start negotiating with people. from different governments so they talk. to the Egyptians the Egyptians say they.

definitely want to make sure that a gets. through that border Israelis are very. reluctant to open it they have argued. that over the years Hamas has gotten. weapons through that border and they. don't want that border to be open as. they're Waging War on Hamas they've even. done some air strikes dropping bombs. right around the border and so the. Americans are talking to Israel to try. and get them to hold back from doing air. strikes or bombing on that border and.

trying to persuade them that getting. humanitarian Aid to Gaza is a valid. effort and we have to also remember that. it's not Israel that controls that. border Hamas does control that border. and so the Americans are also trying to. pass messages via officials in katar to. Hamas to try and tell Hamas we want to. bring humanitarian Aid through and. please open the border when the trucks.

start coming through Qatar is a country. in the Gulf that has in the past past. messages to Hamas had relations with. Hamas and is close therefore that's how. the US is communicating with Hamas. that's right and another important point. about this border is that American. officials have been trying to get. Palestinian Americans out of Gaza via. this border crossing so they've been. trying to talk to these countries to. open up the crossing too to American. citizens with valid documents and we.

know that other governments are also. talking with Egypt with Israel to try. and get the border crossing open for. their citizens too so blinkin is working. on getting Americans out and Aid in but. what about everybody else in Gaza I mean. there are two million people there. presumably some number of civilians. there would leave if they could what. about them. well what we know is that Israel will do.

its offensive in Northern Gaza they've. been telling people in the north of Gaza. to move down to the South and there's a. lot of people who want to get out of. Gaza through the South through this land. border but as American officials travel. around the region and talk with Arab. leaders they're discovering that the. refugee issue is a very complicated one. Arab nations are reluctant to take the. refugees for various reasons they don't.

want a refugee crisis in their own. borders but they also don't think that. Israel should be forcing the relocation. of Palestinians there are intense. historical Echoes of what happened. decades ago to Palestinians and I was. even hearing from Palestinians and. Palestinian Americans who were outraged. by the fact that Israel was calling for. people to move out of Northern Gaza and. also they were afraid that once. Palestinians left Gaza entirely that.

they would not be able to go back so it. there's a very complicated set of. considerations here okay so the stakes. are extremely high here right I mean two. million gazin they have nowhere to go. effectively there's a worsening. humanitarian crisis Israel is attacking. from the air and clearly preparing for a. ground invasion is the US exerting. pressure on Israel at all to ease its. approach or even to reverse its plans to. invade. well what we're hearing from us.

officials is that they're still fully. behind whatever offensive Israel's. planning in Gaza they know that uh. Israel has been deeply wounded in. physical and spiritual and psychological. Ways by the Hamas attacks and also that. Israel needs to show its adversaries. around the region namely other militias. and Iran that it can protect itself and. so the the US feels strongly supportive.

of that and for example we know that. Pentagon officials are talking with. Israeli officials about lessons that the. US has learned over Decades of doing. Urban Warfare and what fight in Gaza. City might entailed but at the same time. we're also hearing lots of anxiety from. American officials about the prospects. of a much wider Regional. War. they think that once the ground invasion.

of Gaza starts and we see even bloodier. images that there will be massive. concerns around the region and that. other armed groups that are supportive. of Hamas will start taking part in the. war and the US officials that I've been. traveling with this week one of their. big pushes is to really try and keep. this war from becoming a huge regional. conflict. that could draw the US in and put the US.

military squarely back in the Middle. East. again we'll be right. [Music]. back so Ed you said that the US. officials you're talking to are very. worried that this war could turn into an. even bigger conflict one that spills out. into the broader region let's start to.

unpack that well Sabrina we've been. talking all this time about Hamas which. is this group that's basing Gaza on the. southern side of Israel but up in the. North Lebanon borders Israel and there. Israel faces attacks from a very. powerful militia Hezbollah that's faced. in South Lebanon and give us a primer on. Hezbollah remind us why it's such a. threat to Israel in the US well.

Hezbollah has a very unique position in. Lebanon there's a political Wing that. has seats in the government and there's. also a very powerful military Wing this. military Wing has many fighters who are. well trained they have thousands of. rockets and they get a lot of backing. from Iran which is one of the most. powerful countries in the region in the. 1980s it carried out some of the most. devastating terrorist attacks against us.

interests it carried out a bombing of. the American Embassy in Beirut in. 1983 and it also carried out another. bombing this one of Marine Barracks in. Lebanon the US has designated Hezbollah. as a terrorist organization and. Hezbollah has similar to Hamas made its. mission to fight and Destroy Israel. that's right Sabrina but hezb is the. much more powerful actor it's better. funded it's better organized its. Fighters are better trained and its.

weapon systems are more powerful and. more. sophisticated so Hezbollah a militia in. Lebanon is similar to Hamas in many ways. including being funded by Iran but it's. also different because it's a more. effective more powerful fighting force. and of course it kept having Wars with. Israel right over that border into. Israel's North I myself covered one of. those Wars in 2006 and you know it was. extremely taxing for the Israeli. military tied up their Ground Forces.

took them weeks to extract themselves so. it has been quite a force in Israel's. North for many many years but what about. now with the attack on Israel last. weekend we've seen an uptick in some of. the exchanges between Israel and. Hezbollah in the north so Hezbollah has. been firing more rockets and Israel has. recently told its citizens who are. living up in those towns bordering. Lebanon to start moving south Israel.

knows that things could heat up very. quickly there okay so there's been. rocket fire since the attack on Israel. how has the United States been viewing. that well us officials are very anxious. about this they're afraid that Hezbollah. might decide to mount a fullon assault. on Israel as Israel carries out its war. against Hamas in the South so the US is. watching this very carefully and to try. and deter Hezbollah from doing anything.

it has sent two aircraft carriers to the. region one of them that Gerald R Ford is. already there and the other one that. Eisenhower is moving there right now. it's also sent a few thousand troops to. the region but it says that those troops. for now will not get involved in combat. so the Americans are effectively reading. the Tea Leaves of this bit of Rocket. fire that started last week from the. north from Hezbollah the worried about a. wider war and they're sending these.

ships to the region presumably to try to. stop that from happening right US. aircraft carriers are among the most. powerful weapons in the US military. system and other countries know that so. the US is hoping that Hezbollah and its. main backer Iran will read this and. they'll realize that if Hezbollah uh. starts military assaults in Northern. Israel that they will incur a great cost.

and so they're hoping that there's a big. deterrence factor to having these. warships there but you know we all know. that Israel is planning a huge ground. invasion of Gaza and if it goes into. Gaza with troops and do street by-. street fighting it could get very bloody. and very violent there we'll see many. civilian casualties probably even beyond. what we're seeing with air strikes right. now and then Hezbollah might feel. obligated or they might feel the desire. to open up a northern froner in Israel.

and many people who've looked at. Israel's military say that military even. though it's very well trained is not. powerful enough to fight a two-front war. and I think us officials are also wary. of another scenario which is Iran. getting directly involved that's one of. their biggest fears their assessment. right now is that Iran doesn't want to. get involved in a regional War but a. downward spir of events could end up. drawing IR into a war they can't. discount that.

possibility okay so these are some of. the calculations that US policy makers. are making and the big fear is that. there will be a second front in Lebanon. with Hezbollah or even that Iran itself. hezbollah's backer would get involved. what is the US doing to try to head this. off well that's where we're seeing a lot. of urgent diplomacy taking place so I've. witnessed that this past week as I've. been traveling around the region with. Tony blinking and his AIDS they're.

trying to communicate to Iran they're. trying to get partner countries even. some of their Rivals to pass messages. onto Iran so for example they've spoken. about this with katar which is a US. partner and they're telling qari. officials to talk to one of their other. partners which is Iran that Iran should. hold back and there was even one day. during his travels here when Lincoln. decided to call wangi China's top.

Diplomat because he wanted to try and. tell China to persuade Iran to stay out. of the fight so Ed as we know President. Biden has made the choice to travel to. Israel at this incredibly sensitive. moment what do you think he's trying to. accomplish with this visit well Biden is. trying to do several things um he wants. to show full support for Israel for the. war that it's waging he also wants to. make sure that Israel and other. governments in the region commit to. getting humanitarian Aid to the people.

in Gaza that's becoming a much bigger. crisis and he also wants to again send. that message of deterrence to other. adversaries of Israel and say I'm here. America's here and if you get involved. in this war then you'll feel America's. wrath but of course it's also very. fraught time for him to be going to. Israel the air strikes are in. intensifying in Gaza we're seeing many.

more images of civilians who've been. killed in these strikes and just today. we got news that there was an explosion. at a hospital in Gaza where hundreds of. people were killed and some of the. images of the aftermath are absolutely. horrific Hamas came out with a statement. saying that this was the result of an. Israeli air strike and Israel has said. that's not the case fighters in Gaza.

might have fired an errant rocket that. landed on the hospital yeah the videos. circulating online do as you say show. these unbelievably horrific images you. know clearly the details of what exactly. happened there are still coming to light. Israel has said it wasn't them but the. images are out there circulating and. make this an incredibly wrenching moment. for the Palestinians and Biden's trip is. set to play him in the middle of this. which presumably makes his job of.

preventing the conflict from spreading. harder it definitely ties Biden and. America much closer to this war that. Israel is waging this war that Israel. feels is Justified but it will evoke a. strong reaction from Arabs across the. region and even from some governments. that the US usually relies on to be its. Partners in the region so Ed I want to. step back for a minute here you you've. just spent seven straight days traveling.

with American officials around the. Middle East they're racing to contain. the threat of whiter War how do you see. this moment based on what you're hearing. from them well I think it's a very. anxious moment I think it feels like. we're in the edge of an abyss. potentially if this widens into Regional. War it could be the biggest event in the. Middle East in many years perhaps since. the American invasion of Iraq and the. Arab Spring and those revolutions and I.

think that the American officials are. very very worried about the US getting. involved in another major war in the. Middle East they know that our country. has been scarred by these wars and some. of the conversations that I've had with. us officials as I've been traveling. around with them have been among the. bleakest I've had since covering this. diplomatic beat there's a very Grim. atmosphere they definitely know things. could get much much worse. but also these us officials tell me they.

need to stand strong with Israel they. say Israel is a partner it's an ally and. that America has promised to defend. Israel through the decades against its. enemies Ed we started this episode. asking how the US was getting involved. in this conflict and you know how it was. trying to thread a needle support Israel. even if it goes down the road to ground. Invasion while at the same time easing. the humanitarian crisis and containing.

the broader war in some ways what we're. seeing now images from the hospital and. the bombings of the past week is. potentially just the beginning so you're. talking to. officials what price will US officials. be willing to pay for this support of. Israel well the officials tell me that. their support and their resolve is. steadfast but I think what's going to. happen is we're going to see that tested. many many times over the coming weeks.

and the coming months this is just the. start of the war the Israelis say. they're ready to fight a long war. against Hamas and against any other. adversaries that get involved and in. these areas there are many many. civilians and I think that both the. Americans and the Israelis are gritting. their teeth and saying we're going ahead. but then the question is as these images. keep coming out and as public opinion. start starts to turn more against Israel.

how Resolute will these American. officials be will they start to wonder. whether they'll pay a political price. for example for continued support of. Israel will they decide they need to. push back against some of Israel's. military tactics in the area I think. these are all questions that will become. even greater irrelevance as this war. goes. on.

Ed thank you thanks. [Music]. Sabrina on his diplomatic trip to the. Middle East President Biden had planned. to visit Jordan where he would meet with. Palestinian leaders but on Tuesday. afternoon that Summit was abruptly. cancelled after the blast of the. hospital the situation deteriorated. throughout the evening with defiant. crowds of protesters clashing with. security forces in Aman and in.

Beirut and in Iran the country's foreign. minister who on Monday had warned that. multiple fronts would open against. Israel if attacks against Palestinians. continued said that time was. [Music]. up. [Music].

we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today the tellers agree in their tallies. that the total number of votes cast is. 432 of which The Honorable Jim Jordan of. the state of Ohio has received 200 votes. representative Jim Jordan of Ohio the. ultraconservative Republican seeking to. become the Speaker of the House failed. to win the job during a vote on Tuesday. when a determined block of moderate.

Republicans blocked his path no person. having received a majority of the whole. number of votes cast by surname the. speaker has not been elected the chair. declares the house in recess subject to. the call of the. chair Jordan an ally of Donald Trump who. led the Congressional effort to overturn. the 2020 election fell 17 votes short of. the majority he needed not a single. Democrat supported him and one of them. representative Pete agalar of California.

delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of. Jordan's record from the house floor a. vote today to make the architect of a. nationwide abortion ban a vocal election. denier and an Insurrection Insider to. the speaker of this house would be a. terrible message to the country and our. allies Jordan plans to call for a second. round of voting this morning. but it's unclear whether he can win over.

enough skeptical Republicans to secure. the speakership if he fails the house. will remain leaderless and. paralyzed today's episode was produced. by Ricky nety Olivia Gat Shannon Lynn. and Carlos PR it was edited by Patricia. willins and Lisa Chow contains original. music by Diane Wong Dan Powell and Pat. mccusker and was engineered by Chris. Wood our theme music by Jim brunberg and. Ben Lanser of.

wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina tavernes see you. [Music]. tomorrow.