Why many Israelis are so angry at Netanyahu

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, October 17th. I’m Shumita Basu. This is “Apple News Today.” On today’s show… How the House leadership crisis is jeopardizing Biden’s plans to help Israel and Ukraine, another court-imposed gag order for Trump, and a giant new map of our brains may lead to breakthrough treatments.

But first, millions of people in Gaza are running out of food and water. Dozens of trucks carrying aid are backed up in Egypt, waiting for Israel to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza. Air strikes continue to hit the area. All this while Israeli ground troops are prepared to invade, and Hamas is believed to be holding close to 200 hostages inside Gaza.

Everybody holds this terror group, Hamas, responsible for the attack. A growing number of people are holding Netanyahu personally, and his government, responsible for bringing Israel to this place of such a vulnerability where an attack like this could happen.

People she spoke to were especially shocked that the military was caught so off-guard by Hamas’s attack.

You have thousands of heartbroken citizens from the south who keeps saying, where was the army? These are people who either their families were slaughtered or they themselves somehow survived, but they were stuck in bomb proof shelters for, like, 14 hours before anyone came to help them.

Israel has mandatory military service. Tarnopolsky points out, this means the relationship between the people and the army is one of close understanding. Netanyahu’s relationship with the military was deteriorating before Hamas attacked. Many reservists joined massive protests against his attempts to weaken the court system.

As a result, the Netanyahu government basically, declared war on the army. Every time a warning was issued by army officers, the government responded as if this was just politicized crap and didn't take the warning seriously. Army brigades were moved from guarding the nation's borders to guarding illegal settlements in the West Bank. So, you have a sense now of Israelis kind of rising up and embracing the army and enraged against the government.

Netanyahu has faced numerous threats to his power over his career. But Tarnopolsky says this longtime political survivor may not be around once the war is over. She says even some of his allies see him as politically dead.

Netanyahu has recently had a frosty relationship with President Biden. But U.S. support for Israel goes back decades, and Biden will visit Israel tomorrow to underscore that.

There are also thousands of U.S. troops on standby to travel to the region. They probably would set up in a neighboring country, and not enter Israel. The Pentagon has already moved ships and aircraft in the region to signal its support. At the same time, Biden has signaled that funding for Ukraine remains a high priority too. Recently on "60 Minutes," he was asked whether the United States could help both allies at the same time.

We're the United States of America, for God's sake. The most powerful nation in the history, not in the world, in the history of the world. The history of the world. We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense.

But in reality, very little can be done to authorize new funding without a Speaker in the House of Representatives. It’s been two weeks since Senator Kevin McCarthy was voted out. It’s not clear that Jim Jordan has enough support from fellow Republicans to win in an expected vote today. But he has picked up a few votes from some key holdouts.

Now, let’s take a quick look at some other stories in the news.

In China, Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting the country’s leader Xi Jinping. This is only Putin’s second known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March. China has broadly called for peace in Ukraine, but still maintains close ties with Russia. The meeting comes as Ukraine’s counteroffensive has made slow progress. And recent attempts by Russia to mount an assault of its own have largely not gone well.

And finally, a major breakthrough in science. Researchers have built the largest ever atlas of the human brain. Scientist Ed Lein talked to "NPR" about the potential.

You can use this map to understand what actually happens in disease and what kinds of cells may be vulnerable or affected.

The detailed guide to the location, structure, and function of brain cells could further understanding of conditions ranging from depression to Alzheimer’s. The project includes a kind of dictionary that lets scientists look up how certain types of brain cells connect with specific genetic changes. The atlas may also make it easier to determine what makes our brains unique from animals, and how we each come to develop different personalities.

There are 170 billion cells in our brains. And Lein says this atlas is like a first draft at capturing the complexity of what our brains do. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you’re already listening in the News app right now, stick around. We've got a Narrated Article coming up next about what makes us want to follow our exes and enemies on social media. "Vox" looks into the psychology behind this urge to keep tabs on people we dislike.