Transcripts For CNNW State 20240703 : vimarsana.com

Morning. Well stay on top of this breaking developing story. State of the union is next. Mighty vengeance. Israel responds. After a brazen and brutal hamas Terror Attacks. Citizens of israel, were at w w war. Antony blinken joins me next. And how could it happen. Israeli civilians killed and ab ducked as the world scrambled to understand how hamas pulled off such a surprise attack. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael Mccaul and former Vice President mike pence join me ahead. Plus rock solid. President biden voices strong support for israel. Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop. And congress rushes to condemn the hamas attack but without a speaker of the house, could that hamper any u. S. Response . Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Hello, im dana bash in washington where the state of our union is standing with israel. Breaking news just in to cnn, israel formally declared a state of war. And cnn is reporting more than 500 israelis are likely dead after a surprise Terror Attack by hamas. Today is the Jewish Holiday of sim caw torah, people are usually dancing and celebrating, instead israelis are in mourning. Mourning the hundreds who were killed and looking for their kidnapped babies, grandmothers, sisters, brothers and husbands. Captured by terrorists in their streets and in their homes. Desperate parents are still praying for information about their children who are hamas hostages. Terrorists now and they are so young [ inaudible ]. They were 16 and 12, so it is very, very hard to hear. And that was the last time i heard from them. As we speak, israeli tanks are rolling toward the gaza border. Ize raely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns of a long and difficult war to come. Joining me now is the u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken. Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. First, what could you tell us about what is going on on the Ground Inn Israel and in gaza right now and how worried are you about how rapidly and how widely this could escalate. The first thing to say is this, this is the worst attack on israel since the Yom Kippur War. But there is a big difference. That was a conventional war between countries and armies. This is, a massive Terrorist Attack, on israeli civilians. Indiscriminate fires of rockets against civilians. Thousands of rockets. And men and women and children dragged across the border into gaza, including a holocaust survivor in a wheelchair. People gunned down in the streets, civilians. So you could imagine the impact this is having on israel and it should be something that revolts t the entire world. Right now what were seeing is relative calm throughout most of israel but intensifying continuing to go on in the gaza area. We immediately reached out to President Biden President Biden reached out to Prime Minister netanyahu and spoke to him on the phone yesterday and i spoke to thei israeli president and weve been on the phones throughout the last 24 hours engaging everyone in the region and well beyond. Both to make sure that there is support for israel and that every country is using every effort to pull hamas back and to prevent this from escalating. Well how concerned are you about that last point that you made . That this will escalate beyond what is happening in israel and in gaza . Well our first focus is to make sure that israel has what it needs to deal with the situation in gaza. To deal with the some thousand militants that came into israel again attacking israeli civilians in their homes an their towns. As of now, they seem to have been pushed back for the most part into gaza. But we want to make sure that israel has what it needs. At the same time President Biden was very clear in sending a message to anyone in any other area who might try to take advantage of the situation, not to. And whether that is in the north, with hezbollah, and lebanon, whether it is in the west bank, or whether it is elsewhere. Weve send the message clearly and directly and through other countries. When you spoke with your counterpart in israel when the president spoke with the Prime Minister, did they ask specifically for help from the u. S. . So, we, as you know, provide significant assistance to the israelis. We have since president obama signed a memorandum of understanding to provide 3. 8 million a year in military assistance. Were looking at specifically additional requests that the israelis have made. I think youre likely to hear more about that later today. You could give us a preview . Let me not get ahead of it. But again we want to make sure that President Bidens direction was to make sure that were providing israel everything they need to deal with the attacks from hamas and as i said, i expect there to be more than on that later today. Before we go, i want to ask is there any indication that americans were killed or kidnapped by terrorists . Yes. We have reports that several americans were killed, were working overtime to verify that. At the same time. There are reports of Missing Americans and, there again, were working to verify those reports. It does seem like this very coordinated attack came out of nowhere. I wan our viewers to listen to what the u. S. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said just nine days ago. The middle east region is quieter today than it has been in two decades. Now challenges remain, Irans Nuclear weapons program, tensions between israelis and palestinians but the amount of time that i have to spend on crisis and conflict in The Middle East compared today to my predecessors going back to 9 11 is significantly reduced. That obviously has changed dramatically. Not just for Jake Sullivan, but for all of you. And this is this isnt about anything that jake missed but more broadly about the Intelligence Failure, not just about about the israelis but about the u. S. What you could say about that . Well, two things, dana, first what Jake Sullivan said is right. If you look at the relationship among countries in The Middle East, you saw with a lot of work by the United States, countries come together and the region integrating. Hostilities diminishing and weve been very engaged in pursuing normalization between israel and its neighbors, building on what has already been done and including with saudi arabia and other conflicts like in yemen where weve had a truce now for two years have made a huge difference. What happened over last 24 hours doesnt go to state to State Conflict where jake is exactly right, it is diminished. This goes to a Terrorist Attack by a Terrorist Organization. At same time, we have been intensely focused on tensions between israelis and palestinians. That is why we brought them together. To try to get both sides not engage in acts that could preci precipitate hostility and violence and that does not include hamas because it is a Terrorist Organization and it took action as we have seen over the last 24 hours, that has had a terrible impact. But that is what was going on. In terms of the intelligence, there will be plenty of time in days to come to look and see what anyone missed, what might have what we could have done better. Right now the focus is on helping israel to deal with this attack. I understand. The u. S. , you mentioned saudi arabia. I want to ask you about that because the u. S. , your administration has been, would working to craft a deal between israel and saudi arabia. Do you think this attack was in part to disrupt that and could that be successful . Certainly that could have been part of the motivation. Look, who opposes normalization. Hamas and hezbollah and iran. And part of the motivation may have been disrupt efforts to bring saudi arabia and israel together. Along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with israel. So that is certainly a faker. And i think it speaks to the fact that if we could achieve normalization, which is incredibly difficult, there are a lot of hard issues to work through, but if we could, it would bring greater stability to the region and move the region away from decades of turmoil and conflict and at the same time what weve been very clear about and others have been very clear about is normalization could in the be a substitute for resolving differences. In fact, it ought to be able to reinforce it, to strengthen it. So there are two paths for the region. One is a path of much greater integration, much greater stability. And a resolution of the challenges between israelis and palestinians including equal measures of democracy and of opportunity and of justice and dignity for both israelis and palestinians or the path that hamas has engaged in, a path of terror and wreaking havoc in people lives and doing nothing to better the lives of the palestinians. On the the contrary, every action is making it worse for palestinians as well as israelis. Do you have evidence that iran directed this attack . There is a lot relationship between iran and hamas. In fact, hamas wouldnt be around if the way that it is without the support that its received from iran over the years. In this specific instance, we have not yet seen evidence that iran directed or was behind this particular attack. But there is certainly a long relationship. It is one of the reasons why we have been taking action against iran and the supportive tor terrorists and terrorist proxies. We sanctioned more than 400 iranian individuals and entities precisely because of their support for things like hamas. While were talking about iran, i have to ask you to, if you want to respond to what were hearing from republicans who are over and over since this happened using Word Appeasement when it comes to iran and they criticized the decision to unfreeze 6 billion in iranian funds. And i know and want to state that that money has not yet been unfrozen. Iran does not yet have it. But the accusation is that irans posture excuse me that the u. S. , your administration posture towards iran has helped contribute to this. I want to give you a chance to respond. Well, there are two things here. First, with regard to the funds that you mentioned, that were made available to iran for humanitarian purposes. As part of getting americans back who were being held or detained in iran. Lets be very clear about this and it is deeply unfortunate that so many are playing politics when israel is under attack. The facts are these. No u. S. Taxpayer dollars were involved. These are iranian resources that iran has accumulated from the sales of oil that were stuck in a bank in south korea. They have had from day one the right to use these monies for humanitarian purposes. They were moved from one account to another in another country to facilitate that use. As of now, not a single dollar has been spent from that account. And again, the account is closely regulated by the u. S. Treasury department. So it could only be used for things like food, medicine, medical equipment. That is what this is about. And by the way, the Previous Administration set up a very similar mechanism so enable iran to use its oil proceeds that were blocked in various places for humanitarian purposes. So, people are either misinformed or theyre misinforming and either way it is wrong. Before i let you go, ill ask you about the United Nations saying that they have detectived rockets from coming lebanon toward israel and hezbollah is taking responsible. Have you seen intelligence that hezbollah is contemplating a more folsom attack in the north of israel and would get help from the groups like taliban or iran as weve been talking about . Well one of the reasons President Biden was very clear from the very first moments that no one elsewhere should try to take advantage of this situation. It is precisely to do everything we can to ensure that there is not another front in this conflict, including hezbollah and lebanon. We saw some limited firing of missiles coming from lebanon. That seems for now to have stopped and the israeli responded immediately and as of now that is quiet but it is something were watching very carefully. Secretary of state Antony Blinken, thank you so much for your time this morning on this very dark, dark day. Appreciate it. Thanks, dana. And up next, well get a live report from the ground in israel, Nic Robertson is there and will join us in minutes. Ill also speak with the top democrat in the house, Hakeem Jeffries about what the u. S. Is learning about the attack and chaos in congress. The House Of Representatives is at a standstill while all of this is happening in The Middle East. Welcome back to state of the union. Israel and the world is reeling from yesterdays shocking Terror Attacks by hamas. Cnn analysis sulggests that the death toll is likely to surpass 500. Many of them are civilians, including women an children, hundreds more are wouned and israeli Officials Say a significant number of israeli civilians have been taken hostage inside of gaza. For more on all of this, lets go Nic Robertson in sderot, israel. Reporter the situation that were seeing here in sderot is just really hours after theize raely Defense Forces took back control of this town from hamas. Hamas was holed up for a while in the Police Station here. You could see the level of destruction, The Fire Fight by israeli Defense Forces to take that building, so youust that building alone back last night was intense and going on into the early hours of this morning. But as you drive into this town here, everywhere along the road youre finding smashed cars, cars shot up, this burned out and shot up vehicle here. There is a big pool of blood on the other side of it. It is this sort of thing all across it town with just a couple of miles from gaza. Were Hearing Drones and fighter jets. Were Hearing Explosions as well going on in the area of gaza. And i was speaking with an Israeli Defense force spokesperson just a few minutes ago about that issue of all of the hostages that have been taken and i asked him, how will you get them back and i said were not going to leave anyone behind. This presents a huge political challenge at the moment. The situation in sderot, the israeli Defense Forces may have control of it, but as the spokesperson was telling me, just a few hours ago they picked up a gaza resident in the town here. Hes come out with the militants and come in here to loot and rob in the town and had been stranded and left behind. And across this area, still in Southern Israel today, there are till contested areas with hamas militants and the area, the whole area around here is on a very, very high level of security. You go through checkpoints here and the soldiers have the safety catches on their weapons. You dont see that normally. And that gives you an idea of just the heightened sense of alert here because of the reality that all hamas militants are not back in gaza or as the Defense Forces here say, neutralize captured or killed. Dana. That is such an important point. This is very much an ongoing very fluid situation. It could not be over given the fact that there are still terrorists inside israel. Nic robertson, thank you. Joining me now is congressman Hakeem Jeffries. The House Minority leader, the democratic leader in the u. S. House of representatives. Thank you so much for joining me this morning, sir. First question, what information do you have . I know you were briefed about the situation going on in israel. Well it is a very heartbreaking situation, a tragic situation. We mourn for the loss of life that has taken place and for those israelis who are current by being held hostage in Southern Israel or in gaza. I had a conversation with white house as well as the National Security counsel yesterday, and the most important thing that needs to be said is that the United States will continue to stand strongly behind israel. Americas bond with israel is unshakeable and unbreakable. We have stood strongly behind israel during the first 75 years well stand behind them for the next 75 years and beyond. You are part of what is known as the Gang Of Eight. And this is the top eight leaders in the house and the senate who get very sensitive intelligence information. Was there any indication that any of this was on the horizon or even a possibility, this kind of Terror Attack inside israel . Well that remains to be seen. We have not had a