Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Incontrovertible Proof

NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show.

Now that Israel has provided overwhelming video evidence of Hamas’ tunnel complex and use of the Al-Shifa hospital to hide hostages, will the Washington Post, MSNBC, BBC, New York Times and CNN run stories saying Hamas are liars? Will they forever asterisk Hamas and United Nations or World Health Organization claims by noting they are proven liars? 

Will United Nations organizations, Red Crescent and the World Health Organization stop carrying water for Hamas? 

We Predict: Of course not.

Tonight: We will take you inside the tunnels and how Israeli forces will have to fight their way to the Hamas bunkers. 

Plus, what it’s like to be a terrorist — Grand Theft Auto-style:

• Helmet cam shows Iranian-backed rebels take over a ship they thought an Israeli owned.
• The ownership is still in dispute, but military experts will tell you this isn’t Somali pirates. These guys have real training, tactics, support and weapons. 

Shhhhhh … don’t wish Biden a Happy 81^st  Birthday

Remember when Marylin Monroe sang President John F. Kennedy “Happy Birthday”?

Today, there will be no such celebration.

President Joe Biden and the White House would rather you forget it is his 81st birthday. Bloomberg calls his age his “biggest liability.” Newsweek calls it his “unhappy birthday.”

Friday’s note laid out Biden’s problem isn’t the low poll numbers but the lack of a plan to turn it around.

And the problems without solutions continue to mount:

• The erosion of Biden’s support is most pronounced among Democrats, the majority of whom believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza, and among voters aged 18 to 24, with a whopping 70 percent of them disapproving of Biden’s handling of the war. 
• The IfNotNow folks took over the California Democratic Convention demanding a “cease-fire now.”  

Nightmare Scenario for the Biden Administration 

What happens when Iran’s militias kill American troops? Is such an attack preventable?

The Washington Post says, “A split emerges as Biden struggles to deter attacks on U.S. troops.”

• “In a statement, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that Biden has demonstrated that ‘he will never hesitate to take action to protect U.S. forces’ and that the president is ‘fully prepared to take further measures as needed at any given moment to protect our people.’”

Fair question: Do Americans have to die? How many before Biden takes action? 

Tonight, NewsNation Political Editor Chris Stirewalt will discuss Biden’s plans.  

Elon Musk in the Crosshairs 

Apple among others, including Lionsgate and IBM, pulled its advertising from X, formerly known as Twitter, because of Elon Musk’s comments on an antisemitic conspiracy theory. 

• The Left celebrated. They finally found a way to crush Musk, who they hate for his opening of the Twitter algorithm to treat conservative speech fairly.  

Be Fair:  Why do Apple and CNN care so much about Musk’s antisemitic musings but defend chants to destroy Israel and kill Jews on college campuses? Isn’t that antisemitic too? 

Tonight, Seamus Bruner, author of “Controligarchs,” joins us to discuss this. 

In Other News

Good read: Arab governments love to wave the Palestinian flag but secretly hope Israel takes care of Hamas. 

One for the road: The group Stop Antisemitism uncovered a Facebook post by a United Airlines pilot celebrating the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 as “resistance by brave people.” Doesn’t a man flying commercial airplanes who sympathizes with terrorists seem like a problem? 

• Note: As of publication, NewsNation can’t verify the person mentioned is in fact a United pilot. We have asked United for comment, but it hasn’t responded.

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of NewsNation.