Growing concerns that the Middle East is heading toward all-out war.

We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win.

I refuse to let that happen.

President Biden tells Americans that our Democratic allies face the threat of annihilation

and calls on Congress to send billions of dollars in aid to Israel and Ukraine.

One problem with all this, the House can't even pick a leader.

A speaker has not been elected.

The mess in the House comes at a bad time for the world and there's still no speaker nominee in sight.

As in fighting continues, Congress is at a standstill.

Next.

This is Washington Week with The Atlantic.

Good evening and welcome to Washington Week.

It's been another brutal week in the Middle East.

In Israel, bodies burned beyond recognition by Hamas are slowly being identified

and two hostages have just been released.

In Gaza, the humanitarian crisis worsens and anger simmers over the deadly explosion at a hospital.

An explosion that is generally understood now to be the result of an Islamic jihad missile

but is still blamed on Israel by many in the Arab world.

Earlier this week, President Biden traveled to Israel to demonstrate to U.S. support

and to also implicitly warn Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon, not to make more trouble.

Looming all of this is the threat of full-scale war across the Middle East.

It's not a great time for Congress to be paralyzed, but paralyzed it is.

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