Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., has appeared to label the attack on Israelis by Hamas terrorists as simply an ‘ongoing situation in the Middle East.’ 

Seattle-based KTTH Radio talk show host Jason Rantz shared a message the congresswoman’s office emailed to constituents and signed as from Jayapal herself. 

‘Amid the ongoing situation in the Middle East, I wanted to share some resources to assist with any concerns you may have regarding security for U.S. citizens in the region,’ the email said.

Rantz condemned the response in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

‘Wow. @RepJayapal just sent an email to constituents. She labeled the terrorist attack on Israel an ‘ongoing situation in the Middle East.’ If decapitating babies can’t get you to condemn Hamas terrorism, there’s truly something wrong with you,’ Rantz wrote, also sharing a screenshot of the email online. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Jayapal’s office Wednesday seeking comment but did not immediately hear back. 

It has been five days since Israel has been at war with Hamas terrorists who launched a surprise attack Saturday. More than 1,200 Israelis have died and more than 100 others were captured. 

As of midday Wednesday, the most recent post on Jayapal’s X account was about climate change. ‘The climate crisis is here – and working and poor Americans are being hit the hardest. We must do more to protect workers, families, and communities. We need to pass the Green New Deal,’ Jayapal wrote Tuesday. 

Jayapal, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair, was slapped with a censure resolution over the summer for calling Israel a ‘racist state.’ She later walked back the comment and even voted ‘yes’ on a GOP-led resolution affirming Israel is not a racist or apartheid state before Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed a joint meeting of Congress in July. 

The email from Jayapal’s office this week directed people to monitor messages from the U.S. Embassy in Israel to U.S. citizens for the latest updates. 

The email said if you or someone you know is a U.S. citizen that is currently in Israel, to enroll contact information in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. 

In what appeared to be an automated response to Rantz, Jayapal also provided a link to where the State Department will post travel advisory updates for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

‘The Department of State has a 24/7 coordinating group communicating with U.S. citizens and providing them assistance through phone calls and an online form,’ the email said, adding that ‘all U.S. citizens whether in Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza seeking to be in touch with the U.S. Embassy in Israel can fill out the form at https://cacms.state.gov/s/crisis-intake or call 1-833-890- 9595 or 1-606-641-0131.’

‘My office will continue to monitor the situation and send along any further information or resources that may be helpful. Stay safe,’ the email concluded with Jayapal’s e-signature.

House Republicans have chosen Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as their nominee for speaker after huddling behind closed doors for over two hours on Wednesday.

GOP lawmakers voted via secret ballot. Scalise won 113 votes, while Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan won 99. House Republicans voted minutes earlier to table a motion to raise the threshold for electing a speaker to 217 — a majority of the conference.

It comes after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted in a vote by eight members of his own party and all House Democrats last week. That moment marked the first time in history the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove its own leader.

The contest to replace him quickly became a two-man race between Scalise and Jordan, R-Ohio.

Scalise has been McCarthy’s longtime No. 2, despite a yearslong rivalry between the two.

Jordan, who is closer to McCarthy, nabbed early support from top conservatives in the GOP conference like House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas. 

Jordan himself is one of the original cofounders of the group.

A senior White House official on Wednesday defended the Biden administration’s response to Iran, while admitting Tehran’s ‘broad complicity’ in Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, also said there was no intelligence to date suggesting Iran was directly linked to Saturday’s attack. 

‘Nobody has turned a blind eye to Iranian destabilizing behavior,’ Kirby said. ‘We’re obviously recognize that there’s broad complicity here by the Iranians, I mean, because of the longstanding support to Hamas. Hamas wouldn’t have been able to function at all had it not been for propping up by the Iranian regime. But we haven’t seen any specific evidence that tells us they were wittingly involved in the planning or involved in the resourcing and the training that went into this very complex set of attacks over the weekend.’ 

Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressed Kirby on how the Biden administration would define a ‘direct link’ between the Hamas attack on Israel and Iran. In response, Kirby noted what White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday. 

‘We haven’t seen anything that tells us they knew specifically date time, method that they were that they were witting to this it. We haven’t seen anything that tells us they specifically cut checks to support this set of attacks or that they were involved in the training and that obviously this required quite a bit of training by these terrorists or that they were involved in any directing of the operation,’ Kirby said Wednesday. ‘We’re not one and done here, either. We’re going to continue to look at the intelligence stream and see if it leads us to a different conclusion. All I can do is be honest with you about the conclusions we’re coming to today, and we just haven’t seen that.’ 

‘Is it the position of the administration that at this stage Iran was not involved?’ Heinrich asked. ‘I guess my question is, how can we know this was in the planning for over a year and within a few short days say that Iran was not behind it?’ 

‘Because that’s what we think,’ Kirby responded. ‘Again, we have not seen any evidence, specific evidence that Iran was directly involved with these specific sets of attacks.’ 

‘Look, we’re going to keep looking at it. The book is not closed on it. We’re going to keep looking at that. But that’s just where we are right now,’ he added. 

This comes as former President Donald Trump and others have criticized the Biden administration’s $6 billion prisoner swap deal with Iran and called for the U.S. to rescind those funds. 

At the White House press briefing, Kirby earlier reiterated to reporters that Iran has been ‘supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist networks.’ 

‘Hamas is one of the most highly sanctioned terrorist networks on the planet, largely because of what we’ve been doing here in the United States to — to target them,’ he said. 

Since the start of the Biden administration, Kirby said the U.S. sanctioned some 400 plus entities with more than 40 different sets of sanction regimes, including 30 the past year alone. He also stressed the Biden administration has increased U.S. military presence in the Gulf region because of attacks on maritime shipping. 

‘We have added additional sanctions because of their support to Russia and the fact that they’re still providing drones and technology to Mr. Putin so he can kill innocent Ukrainians. And now we’ve added our military capability. We’ve added to it from a naval perspective in the Eastern [Mediterranean],’ Kirby said. 

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is urging his supporters to back House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., for speaker, a source with direct knowledge told Fox News Digital.

Republicans chose Scalise as their candidate over Jordan earlier Wednesday. The vote was by secret ballot. Scalise won 113 votes, Jordan won 99.

A vote had been expected as early as Wednesday afternoon, but sources told Fox that the House will recess at 3pm and a vote is not currently planned for today. Some Republicans have said they will not vote for Scalise, including Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

Scalise was chosen by the GOP majority in the lower chamber as their nominee for House speaker, but the House is in recess after the nomination, a source confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Recessing does not necessarily mean the House will not hold a vote today — but staffers are not optimistic.

‘Zero chance it happens today,’ a senior House GOP aide predicted.

Republicans chose Scalise as their candidate over House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan. Scalise won 113 votes, Jordan won 99.

In the wake of the vote, though, Jordan is encouraging his supporters to throw their hats behind Scalise, Fox News Digital has learned.

A vote had been expected House-wide as early as 3pm Wednesday afternoon, but the timing is up to Scalise. Instead, the House will come in and immediately recess, Fox Digital is told. A vote could still happen Wednesday, but there are not plans as of yet to do so.

Some Republicans, including Reps. Chip Roy and Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they will not vote for Scalise.

The news comes as Republicans look to mint a new House speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster last week.

McCarthy was ousted in a vote by eight members of his own party and all House Democrats last week. That moment marked the first time in history the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove its own leader.

The contest to replace him quickly became a two-man race between Scalise and Jordan, R-Ohio.

However, Scalise — who has been McCarthy’s number two for many years despite their rivalry — came out of the contest on top.

Jordan, who is closer to McCarthy, nabbed early support from top conservatives in the GOP conference like House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas. 

Jordan is also a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and served as the caucus’ first chairman.

The ongoing Israeli-Hamas war witnessed a surge of hostilities over the weekend as Palestinian terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel, which the Israeli prime minister called the deadliest offensive in 50 years. 

The attack, dubbed Operation Al Aqsa Flood by Hamas, involved over 3,000 rockets, drones and commando raids that have targeted Israeli cities, military bases and infrastructure. 

In response, the skies lit up with the action of the Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system, neutralizing a significant number of incoming threats with a reported interception rate of 90%, according to the Israeli military. 

Why Israel made the Iron Dome

The creation of the Iron Dome was spurred by the need to shield Israeli civilians from the unrelenting fire of mortars and rockets, chiefly from militants in Gaza and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. It made its interception debut in April 2011, neutralizing a Grad rocket headed for Ashkelon from Gaza. Since then, it has been a key player in Israel’s defense strategy, intercepting thousands of projectiles. 

How it works 

The Iron Dome operates through a sophisticated radar system that detects incoming projectiles from approximately 40 miles away, calculates their trajectories and discerns their potential threats. It is a vigilant device that springs into action, firing a launcher containing 20 interceptor missiles to intercept any rocket deemed dangerous. Remarkably, it is designed to conserve its ammunition, holding fire on projectiles heading toward uninhabited regions. 

How much it costs to intercept a missile  

The financial facet is as hefty as the technological one, with each intercepting missile costing around $40,000 to $50,000. As of mid-2021, Israel deployed ten of these systems, each capable of guarding a vast area, ready to respond to aerial threats in any weather condition.

How the USA funds the Iron Dome 

Originally a solo endeavor by Israeli firms Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, the Iron Dome was designed to shield against short-range rocket threats. The project took a collaborative turn in 2011 when the United States began financially supporting the initiative, significantly bolstering its development and deployment. This financial backing was further solidified with the U.S. Congress approving a total of $1.6 billion in funding from 2011 to 2021 and an additional $1 billion in 2022. 

Where is the Iron Dome technology built? 

The collaboration expanded in scope with the involvement of U.S.-based Raytheon Technologies, which joined hands with Israel’s RAFAEL to form a joint venture called Raytheon RAFAEL Area Protection Systems. This venture aimed to establish a production facility for the Iron Dome weapon system in the United States, marking a significant step in the co-production of Iron Dome components. 

Kurt’s key takeaways

The Iron Dome undeniably contributes to safeguarding Israeli lives from rocket attacks, providing a buffer for the Israeli government to strategize its response. Last July, Israel announced significant upgrades to the Iron Dome with the addition of AI to allow for more precision in targeting.  

As of the time of writing, both sides have declared war against one another, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, ‘I tell you frankly, difficult days are still ahead of us.’ 

Should America have its own Iron Dome? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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Since the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists Saturday, hundreds of civilians, including babies, the elderly, and soldiers have been killed, wounded or captured. Israel retaliated against Hamas by firing missiles into Gaza.

A terror attack by Hamas at a music festival in Israel claimed the lives of at least 260 concert-goers with many others kidnapped and injured. Those abducted — including American citizens — are still being held hostage in Gaza.

‘We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas,’ President Biden said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

Below are the most recent numbers related to the war. Fox News Digital will continue to inform on fatalities, hostages, death toll and more as they are reported and confirmed by officials.

At least 1,200 Israelis have diedAt least 4,250 Palestinians are woundedAt least 2,700 Israelis are injuredAt least 830 Palestinians have been killedAt least 22 Americans are reported deadAt least 150 soldiers and civilians are being held hostage in GazaAt least 155 Israeli soldiers have been killedAt least 4,500 rockets have been fired by Hamas terroristsAt least 1,500 Hamas terrorists have been found deadAt least 260 died at the Tribe of Nova music festivalAt least 70 terrorists invaded Kfar AzaAt least 200 Israelis were found dead in Kfar AzaAt least 30 missing persons have been located and rescued at a kibbutzThe population of Gaza is 2,000,000The population of Israel is 9,795,00072 hours of silence from President Joe Biden until he first addressed the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, October 104 days of war as of Tuesday, October 10

This is one of three Fox News Polls released Wednesday. See results of Fox News’ polling on border security here and on support for Israel here.

Former President Donald Trump maintains his commanding lead in the Republican presidential contest, but his nomination would unify Democrats in the general election, according to a new Fox News national survey.

Trump receives 59% support among GOP primary voters. He’s been above 50% since March and hit a record 60% in September.

Ron DeSantis remains an extremely distant second — he holds steady at 13%. Nikki Haley registers her best showing yet with 10% support (+5 points), while Vivek Ramaswamy falls back into single digits with 7% (-4 points). All others are below 5%. 

About the same number of voters say they plan to participate in the Democratic (42%) as the Republican primary/caucus (45%) in their state.

Forty-five percent of Democratic primary voters now want to keep President Joe Biden as their party’s presidential nominee, up from 37% in February. Still, a majority of 53% prefers someone else at the top of the ticket. 

Republican primary voters are more settled, with fully 82% saying they are satisfied with their candidate choices.

The 2024 general election matchups remain tight. Despite a job approval rating stuck at 41%, Biden’s support in hypothetical head-to-heads is between 45-49% against each Republican tested. He is preferred over Trump by just 1 point, while DeSantis has a 2-point edge over Biden and Haley tops him by 4 points. This marks the first time in Fox News polling this year that Trump has fared worse against Biden than his rivals for the Republican nomination.

No candidate, however, is truly ‘leading’ as each matchup is within the survey’s margin of error. 

Notably, Haley has gone from trailing Biden by 6 points in August to besting him by 4 points today. She also garners the highest number of defections among Democrats (9% support her), while Trump gets the least (5% of Democrats back him). Bottom line, Democrats are most unified when Biden is running against Trump.

Plus, more voters overall say it would be ‘extremely’ important to show up and vote in a Biden-Trump contest (80%) than if the race is Biden vs. DeSantis (67%) or Haley (63%) — and that heightened motivation holds true for Democrats, Republicans, and independents. 

‘A Biden-Trump rematch starts at pressure-cooker level and keeps Democrats highly united,’ says Chris Anderson, a Democrat who conducts Fox News surveys with Republican Daron Shaw. ‘If Republicans somehow pick someone other than Trump, the pressure immediately drops, and some Democrats might toy with backing the Republican — that doesn’t happen if Trump’s the nominee.’

Meanwhile, compared to the final Biden-Trump 2020 Fox NEws pre-election survey, Biden’s advantage over Trump has narrowed most significantly among Black voters (-17 points), women (-15), and voters under age 45 (-12).

While independents favor the Republican candidate over Biden in each matchup, a caution that those single-digit advantages are insignificant among such a small subgroup.

The new survey, released Wednesday, included two potential three-way matchups with third-party candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, who announced Monday he will run as an independent instead of as a Democrat, takes about equally from both sides, as 13% of Democrats and 11% of Republicans back him over their party’s candidate. Biden and Trump tie at 41% in this scenario and Kennedy gets 16%.

With West in the race (9%), Biden trails Trump by 2 points (43-45%). Again, roughly equal numbers of Democrats (7%) and Republicans (5%) defect for West. Trump’s narrow advantage comes from independents preferring him (35%) over both West (28%) and Biden (26%).

Independents are more likely to go for Kennedy (41%) than West (28%). That is at the expense of Trump, who performs 9 points better among independents against West than Kennedy.

‘A lot of pundits and practitioners speculate West would draw from Biden and Kennedy would draw from Trump,’ says Shaw. ‘That may prove out over the long run, but third party or independent candidates tend to draw disproportionately from those who are more independent and less engaged, and that checks out in this poll.’

Poll-pourri

Majorities believe there is a disconnect between the electorate and the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Sixty-four percent of voters say Biden is out of touch with everyday Americans and 59% feel that way about Trump.

More Democrats think Biden is out of touch (30%) than Republicans say the same about Trump (24%), and more independents feel Biden (81%) is detached than Trump (68%). 

Twenty-four percent of those saying Biden is out of touch still back him over Trump, while for Trump that number is 17%. 

CLICK HERE FOR TOPLINE AND CROSSTABS

Conducted October 6-9, 2023, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,007 registered voters nationwide who were randomly selected from a voter file and spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all registered voters and plus or minus 4.5 points for Democratic and Republican primary voters.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher led a bipartisan group of nearly 100 House lawmakers on Wednesday to urge President Biden to refreeze the $6 billion in Iranian assets released last month in light of the deadly Hamas terrorist war on Israel.

Gallagher, R-Wis., led a group of 96 House Republicans and two House Democrats, Reps. Donald Davis, D-N.C., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., in sending a letter to Biden. The lawmakers said they ‘stand ready to work’ with the president and will back up his administration’s ‘rock solid and unwavering’ support for Israel’s security.

‘Denying the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Tehran access to funds with which it can export chaos is an essential step in this direction,’ they wrote.

In September, the Biden administration made a deal with Iran to swap prisoners and release $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds.

As part of the deal, Iran released five American citizens detained in Iran and the U.S. released five Iranian citizens being held in the U.S. The deal also created a blanket waiver to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar without fear of violating U.S. sanctions. Administration officials say the funds can only be used for ‘humanitarian needs like food and medicine.’

The unfreezing of the money took place nearly a month before Hamas terrorists launched a massive, deadly attack on Israel over the weekend.

At least 22 Americans have been killed in the terror attacks. An unknown number of Americans are being held hostage by Hamas, U.S. officials say.

‘Your administration recently released $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran in return for American hostages. Our concern — a concern that has grown more acute in light of Iran’s support for a terrorist war against Israel that already amounts to the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — is that the Iranian regime will use all available financial tools to further fuel this war against Israel, fund other terrorist proxies in the region such as Hezbollah who export Iran’s genocidal terrorism, and accelerate Iran’s nuclear [buildup],’ Gallagher and the group of lawmakers wrote. ‘Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi put it plainly that the funds would be used ‘wherever we need it.’’

They added, ‘Iran’s ‘need’ is Israel’s destruction.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was ‘at war’ and promised that the attackers would pay ‘an unprecedented price.’

But the lawmakers cited Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, who stated, ‘‘This cancer [Israel] will definitely be eradicated, God willing, at the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region.”

Gallagher and the lawmakers also pointed to reports of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) ‘involvement in planning and giving the ‘final go-ahead’ for Hamas’ terrorist war on Israel,’ saying it ‘demands an immediate response.’

‘Left unaddressed, the Iranian regime’s continued support for terrorist groups and attempts to wipe Israel off the map will only grow more brazen and more destabilizing for the region,’ they wrote.

Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they have ‘not seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack.’ However, Gallagher said ‘senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials claimed that IRGC officers have been working with Hamas since August to prepare for air, land and sea invasions of Israel.’

‘This, combined with years of Iran providing weapons and training, enabled Hamas to launch thousands of rockets at Israeli civilian targets and invade communities, murdering and maiming hundreds of innocent people,’ Gallagher said.

Gallagher and lawmakers also pointed to Iran’s United Nation’s mission, which ‘said the measures Hamas has taken — which include rape, kidnapping, torture, bombings, and murder — ‘constitute a wholly legitimate defense’ and that the regime ‘emphatically stands in unflinching support of Palestine.’’

‘To prevent Iran from accessing tens of billions of dollars to further subsidize this terrorism, we are requesting that you take immediate action,’ they wrote, demanding the administration start by ‘freezing the $6 billion provided in exchange for hostages, as well as the $10 billion in released funds based in Iraq, and withhold all waivers, general licenses and specific licenses for the use of such funds.’

‘In September, the State Department said, ‘we have the ability to freeze [the released funds] again if we need to,’’ they wrote. ‘The events of this weekend demonstrate such a necessity.’

The lawmakers also called on Biden to fully enforce sanctions on Iranian oil exports to China, which, they say, ‘have been unenforced for months despite China’s crude oil imports from Iran having set a new record.’

They further demanded that the administration ‘prevent Iran from accessing any further Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund, through which they have quick access to $6.7 billion, and blocking the further provision of funds to Iran in upcoming SDR packages.’

The letter to the president comes after both Senate Democrats and Republicans have called on him to do the same.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., posted about his support of freezing the $6 billion in Iranian assets to the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.

‘As American intelligence officials continue to investigate the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas, we should review our options to hold Iran accountable for any support they may have provided,’ the senator said. ‘At a minimum, we should immediately freeze the $6 billion in Iranian assets and explore other financial tools we have at our disposal.’

U.S. officials have said that ‘not a dollar’ of the money has been spent, but still, critics argue that the funds can be diverted to other places.

Iran is a known backer of Hamas and praised the attacks on Israel. The State Department has stated in the past that Iran provides some $100 million a year to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Greg Wehner and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.