CNN contributor Scott Jennings traveled to Israel last week to bear witness to the atrocities Hamas committed during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. But in the wake of Israel launching its military operation to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities and prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Jennings is witnessing more than he expected to on his first trip to the Jewish state.  

“Not only did I get to fulfill my mission of understanding deeply the horrors of Oct. 7, but being here watching the war unfold against Iran, I feel like I am here at the beginning of the war to defend Western civilization,” Jennings, who is traveling with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation, told Jewish Insider from his hotel in Tiberias on Friday. “I think this has to end with a complete annihilation of Iran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon,” he said, calling on the U.S. to do “whatever we have to do to achieve that in concert with our special partner, Israel.” 

“I had gotten up at about 3 a.m. [Friday morning] to do a CNN appearance on the politics of the day. That’s when our phones went off with the emergency alert,” Jennings recalled. “I went out on the hotel balcony and for the next couple of hours watched the sky and saw lots of jets flying over. It was really the front end of the war watching the Israeli Air Force heading off towards bombing Iran.” 

Slated to head back to the U.S. on Saturday but now stuck in Israel while the country’s airspace remains closed, Jennings is making the most of his extended trip. On Sunday, he met with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. 

Earlier in the week, the group visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community where approximately one-quarter of the 400 residents were killed or taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, as well as the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre, where 378 people were killed. They also met with the mother of Alon Ohel, who was kidnapped from the festival and remains held captive in Gaza. 

Jennings, who served as special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs in the George W. Bush administration, said that his message to Americans amid Israel’s war with Iran is the “need to understand what’s going on here is nothing short of the fight for Western civilization.”

“Israel is the one fighting it and they’re fighting it in their own backyard,” he told JI. “But these people who hate Israel also chant ‘death to America.’ To allow Iran to continue to develop terror proxies and nuclear weapons, it’s just not a possibility for the West. Israel’s taking care of that and we should be fully supportive of that.” 

Jennings expressed “continuing rolling disappointment” with Senate Democrats, who have voiced divided responses on Israel’s strikes on Iran. 

“This idea that everything must be turned into some sort of anti-[President Donald] Trump narrative is ridiculous,” the conservative commentator said. “I’ve been thoroughly unimpressed. There are a few Democrats who stepped forward and said the right thing,” he continued, mentioning Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who on Friday criticized his Democratic colleagues in Congress who have spoken out against Israel’s attack on Iran, calling it “astonishing” to see members of his party treat Israel’s actions as escalatory. 

“Looking at this situation — literally looking at it, watching missiles fly over my head,” Jennings continued, “we should be thankful that Israel is willing to take bold, decisive steps to defeat the enemy of the West. We should also be thankful that President Trump participated in this.” 

“President Trump has clearly said his policy is that Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon,” Jennings said. “I think President Trump has played this smart so far and if it all ends with a neutered Iran thanks to Israel and the U.S. working together, that’s a great outcome,” he said. 

Trump has continued to reject assertions that the U.S. is involved in Israel’s strikes on Iran. “We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,” the president said on Sunday. 

By Monday afternoon, Iran had fired around 350 missiles and several drones at Israel, killing 24 Israelis and injuring almost 600 others.

But amid the chaos and fear, Jennings said he’s observed that Israelis are overwhelmingly united — even across the political spectrum. 

“Talking to people, you get a sense of resolve,” he told JI. “They have differences of opinion on certain things but everybody seems to agree — you can’t live with Hamas next door. Everybody seems to agree that Iran is the head of the octopus here. From north to south, what you get a feeling for is this incredible resolve and clarity of purpose when it comes to defeating the enemies of Israel. This is not happening in a faraway land. What happened to them happened in their homes, in their [kibbutzim], at a music festival. It’s up close and personal. You get a feeling that they’re still living with that trauma.”  

“You get a real feeling for the camaraderie and sense of purpose,” Jennings said, calling the trip “a real eye-opening experience.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” he continued. “I get the feeling everyone is resolved to endure whatever sacrifices they have to in order to put an end to this existential threat once and for all.” 

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) criticized his Democratic colleagues in Congress who have spoken out against Israel’s attack on Iran, calling it “astonishing” to see members of his party treat Israel’s actions as escalatory. 

Fetterman spoke to Jewish Insider on Friday for an interview in the wake of Israel launching its military operation to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities and prevent the regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon. 

The Pennsylvania senator said he could not fathom how some Democrats on Capitol Hill could accuse the Jewish state of launching the strikes to upend the Trump administration’s nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

Fetterman didn’t mention any of his Democratic colleagues by name, but many have been critical of the Iranian strikes. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), for instance, went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday morning and said that Israel’s strike on Iran was “pretty transparent that this was an effort to submarine, to undermine our diplomacy.”

“It was just astonishing to see colleagues criticizing these things. It’s like, do you think you can negotiate with that regime? Do you think you want to run that scenario and allow them to acquire 1,000 pounds of weapons grade uranium? I can’t understand, I can’t even begin to understand that,” Fetterman told JI.

“I can’t imagine why they would say that. Remember, Iran tries to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran has created and spent billions of dollars to build those destructive proxies like Hamas or Hezbollah or the Houthis. Why can’t we talk about that? Why can’t we talk about the absolute imperative to keep Iran accountable for what they’ve done? That’s exactly part of what Israel did last night, as well,” he continued.

The Pennsylvania Democrat praised the opening salvos of the operation as “absolutely spectacular,” citing the “precision in targeting people.”

”They eliminated the generals and those scientists in their beds at their building, and they didn’t take out the whole building. It was just their specific apartments. I mean, that is truly remarkable. … It’s like Beepers 2.0, the kind of things they’ve done. Like I said, I am constantly blown away by the sophistication and their lethality,” Fetterman said, referring to the Israeli pager operation that took out senior Hezbollah leaders.

“I think I might have been the only one openly calling for that [striking the nuclear facilities now]. I’m never going to negotiate with that regime. You can never trust them, and the only thing they’re going to respond to, that they respect, are exactly the kind of things that [Israel] did last night. … Any potential path for an enduring peace in the Middle East, these are the kind of steps that do that,” he added.

Fetterman disputed the narrative that the U.S. supporting Israel in targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities could increase the prospect of a regional war. “If Iran is going to take their big, big swing, they would have done that by now. Just imagine how exposed they are, even how [exposed] they were earlier this year after what Israel had done taking out Hezbollah,” he told JI. 

“Hezbollah ain’t talking tough anymore. They’re not talking about any kinds of actions, they’re just whimpering, and that’s my point. Iran can’t fight for s**t. … They just shot their big shot, a couple junkie rockets, and it’s like, that’s what you’ve got?” Fetterman asked.