Hello and welcome to Background Briefing available 247 at background briefing.

I'm Ian Masterson.

Today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We will begin with the two-day extension of the pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas as

more hostages are released and explore the possibility of a ceasefire as well as discuss the

probability of a resumption of the war. Joining us is Brian Coutoulos, a senior fellow

and vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute. He was formerly a senior fellow at the

Center for American Progress, where he focused on U.S. national security policy in the Middle East

and South Asia. He lived and worked in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and Egypt and was a

Fulbright scholar in Amman Jordan, where he conducted research on the peace treaty between Israel and

Jordan. An Arabic speaker, he's the co-author of The Prosperity Agenda.

Then we look into the exodus of Senate and House members of Congress who are

quitting in many cases because of frustration with polarization and gridlock as a minority within

a minority prevents majority rule. Joining us is James Thurber, the University Distinguished

Professor of Government and founder and former director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. He's the author of numerous books

and more than 80 articles and chapters on Congress, interest groups and lobbying, and campaigns

and elections, and he's the author of Congress and Diaspora Politics, the influence of ethnic and

foreign lobbying, and most recently

campaigns and elections American style. Then finally we'll assess how much the deteriorating

relations between Canada and India and tensions between the US and India over an assassination

plot on American soil are impacting joint efforts to deal with China's growing

influence in the Indo-Pacific. Joining us is Cleo Pascal, a non-resident senior fellow at the

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