Israel marks three years since October 7 attack

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vogt, who is fantastic, he's on a job. We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right Russ? He's going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion. He's got some great things happening.

Mika Brzezinski (0:21)

President Trump yesterday giving a shout out to a little known cabinet member suggesting there are some big things coming from his administration. It comes as there is new reporting just out this morning on efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to undermine the midterm elections. We're going to get to that developing story in just a moment. Meanwhile, multiple US. Senate races are shifting with less than four weeks until Election Day. We'll go through those developments. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Wednesday, October 7th. With us, we have the co-host of our 8 a.m. hour, staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire.

MS NOW national affairs analyst, John Heilman. He is partner and chief political columnist at PUC.

And MS NOW contributor, Elise Jordan. And we start this hour, Willie, with today's date and what it will forever be remembered for.

Willie Geist (1:16)

Three years. It's been three years since those attacks of October the 7th, the deadliest single day in Israel's history. Hamas attacked the country, killing 1,200 people, taking more than 250 hostage. Israelis gathering across the country today to remember more in the lives lost, including at the site of the Nova Music Festival, where 348 young people were killed by Hamas terrorists during the attack. Videos from the day showed militants gunning down fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at point blank range and ambushing people seeking refuge in bomb shelters.

The anniversary is the first for Israelis without any hostages still remaining in Gaza after the remains of the last Israeli hostages recovered in January. The anniversary also is the first since the US-backed ceasefire deal in the region. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. That's according to health authorities there. Today also falls less than three weeks from Israel's first election since the attack, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an uphill battle and increased criticism after several media outlets reported Israel received warnings from the UAE and Egypt ahead of October 7th. So John, that is kind of the backdrop of this anniversary, which is all these questions about the days, weeks and months leading up to that attack, to what Benjamin Netanyahu and his government knew ahead of time. All of those questions probably on the minds of voters, but for today, just a solemn anniversary and remembering waking up that morning to shock, to not being able to believe what we were seeing and hearing with our eyes and ears.

Jonathan Lemire (2:54)

Yes, starting there. Certainly a very somber day in Israel. More Jewish lives lost in one day since the Holocaust. That's what happened three years ago today. And obviously the ramifications of that day, you know, personal tragedy for so many there in that country, but such wide-ranging geopolitical impact as well with Israel's then response in Gaza. There's still so many questions about Netanyahu and what he knew about the attack and his response to it. There's still not been an official line, an official Israeli government inquiry into what happened. There's a belief that Netanyahu has wanted to push that off to be on the election. You know, as you say, Willie, there's reports of these warnings he received from a number of countries, payments that Hamas received via Qatar for years.

And now we head into this election with so many things shadowing it, of course, October 7th, but also the war in Iran. Right now, in sort of this somewhat of a stalemate, but no real resolution, the Strait of Hormuz is still largely controlled by Iran, although more oil getting through now than a few weeks prior. Unclear if President Trump will ramp up hostilities into before or after the American elections. And Netanyahu has, of course, tied himself to Trump in so many ways, but there's been real divisions there in recent months about the right approach. So yeah, Willie, right now, polls suggest a very close race for Netanyahu in a few weeks, but that'll be a day for politics then. Today's a day for morning and remembering.

Willie Geist (4:22)

Yeah, and Mika, I'm thinking about over the last three years, all the families we've spoken to on this show of who lost family members on that horrible day, or those who are waiting and hoping that their family member would come home, or be held hostage there. Unfortunately, many of those we've had on the show and kind of become family of our show, who've been on the show so often and talked so eloquently and beautifully about the people. They've lost sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, just thinking about them this morning when their loved ones didn't come home.