Transcripts For CNNW Jose 20240703

Israeli Security Forces and hamas fighters as israel is trying to regain control of all of its communities and bases. Israeli official says at least 300 israelis have been killed, but the former Prime Minister of israel, neftali bennett, tells me that number is much higher. Hell be with me in a moment. We have gruesome video in, though, now which appears to show Palestinian Militants opening fire on a civilian car. You hear the gunshots, the car crashes, and there are no signs of life inside. Dozens of israelis we know have been taken hostage, including this young woman who was kidnapped and taken away on a motorcycle. In a moment, im going to be speaking to her roommate this hour. Now hamas is warning anyone taken hostage is, quote, present in all axes of the gaza strip, beware of miscalculation. Meantime the Israeli Military is mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists, fighter jets, and drones carrying out strikes on hamas targets in gaza. The show of force, though, really coming only after israel was caught completely by surprise. Despite investing enormous amounts of money and resources into its Intelligence Agencies. Tonight were learning the United States may be just hours away from announcing new assistance to israel. Our team of reporters is standing by. Nic robertson live in israel tonight. Sam kiley also with us from london. Let me begin with you, nic, there were roberts behind you. We spoke about a half hour ago. You had sort of a barrage, an assault coming in, which was fended off successfully by israels iron dome Missile Defense system. What is happening now . Reporter yeah, since then weve heard a helicopter coming through the area again. Heavy machine gun from the helicopter opened up. It appears to be supporting Israeli Defense force troops on the ground, still combating those hamas militants. This checkpoint behind me marks the area of what is considered safely controlled israeli territory, and beyond that an area where the Israeli Defense force does not have 100 certainty that it has full control. Just over the hill to my left over this direction here, earlier on this evening weve learned that hamas tried to assault the beach there with a sevenman force to have another incursion after nightfall into this area of israel. Thats a completely separate incursion to those that occurred this morning. Now that was intercepted by Israeli Defense forces. They did control that situation. Of course the concern is, as you say, all of those hamas militants that came across the border, where are they . Thats something israel has to be able to answer, and its trying to do that tonight. Theyre trying to do that tonight. There is obviously no sleep, no rest. They are fighting actively. When you think about that, not even knowing necessarily where some militants are. I mean, i hate to use the word expecting because obviously youre in a situation thats fluid, you dont know what to expect. But does it seem that its just going to, you know this will be a relentless continuation of the fighting here in these final hours of darkness . Reporter you know, i think its going to be a while until we see the really heavy Israeli Defense forces move in around here. Weve seen one Tank Maneuver and go over toward the beach area this evening, come out of the gaza area, toward the beach area over the hill there. But what we have seen maneuvering around here are groups of israeli idf, Israeli Defense force, Special Forces maneuvering through the area. Are they coming off one operation and going onto another . Are they relocating to something more important thats happening at the moment . Thats not clear. The only thing that we can say from our Vantage Point here is it is active, it is dynamic, it is fluid, and israel still does not have full control where it wants it. We also have some video here of these some of the terrifying moments. This was hundreds of people running from gunfire. They were at a festival, and theyre literally just running in terror. So when youre just talking to people, this is a country, right, a country full of civilians. Now completely militarized. And despite how much they may be prepared theoretically in israel for something to happen, nothing like this ever has. How are people responding that youre talking to . Reporter people are very afraid. Theyve witnessed an experience in the past, rockets coming in. Theyve heard sirens. Theyve seen Terrorist Attacks on their streets, cars ramming people waiting to get a bus, a lone gunman, a lone knife man. But something on this scale is completely out with their experiences, not what theyve been expecting. It is in some ways peoples worst nightmares. People living close to gaza earlier on found themselves cowering in their houses with hamas militants banging on the doors, pulling some of them out in some cases, hiding, trying not to get caught. And of course, everyone in israel is aware of this. Theyve seen the pictures. They know whats happening in their country. And what we witnessed earlier today when we flew in here and arrived at the airport, israelis very afraid of the situation that they were in. I saw people clutching loved ones and holding each other as sirens were going off, intercepts were happening in the air above. People lying on the ground crying because they were afraid. It has brought a level of fear even to scenarios like missile attacks that people are familiar with. It is unsettling and unnerving, and it will take quite naturally a little bit of time for people to get accustomed to that and to find their feet with it and to know where they are in terms of their own emotions about it. All right. Thank you very much. Tonight an Idf Spokesman telling me that dozens of israelis, including a substantial number of civilians, are being held hostage now by hamas. He told the story of one group that had been freed as we were speaking but saying it is dozens remaining. Its a terrifying situation and one that he called delicate in terms of what it does to limit israels potential response. We do want to warn you, some of the images that we are going to share about what we know about these hostages are graphic. And sam kiley is out front. Reporter A Living Nightmare begins for this woman taken hostage. Appears in a captured jeep with Israeli Military plates into gaza. Palestinian militants launched a complex attack killing dozens of israelis on assaults from the air, sea, and land. Theyve claimed to have taken numerous hostages. The israel Defense Forces say they are Prisoners Of War. This soldier was captured alive after his tank was destroyed at the gaza border. His fate is now unknown. The brigade released a heavily edited Propaganda Video that purports to show militants overrunning israels crossing, the most heavily fortified location on the gaza fence. The video shows dead israelis and prisoners, their fate is also unknown. These scenes are intended to galvanize widespread attacks against israel. Amid this hamas call to arms if you have a gun, get it out, he said, this is the time to use it. Get out with trucks, cars, axes, today is the most glory notice and honorable history begins. So far that calls not been answered. But the hamas operations involved unprecedented Firefights Inside Israeli T territory in which civilian cars were targeted. Civilians gunned down on roads where what are reported to be militants were also killed. We are at war, not an operation or in rounds, but at war. This morning hamas launched a murderous Surprise Attack against the state of israel and its citizens. We have been in this since the Early Morning hours. Reporter this has arguably been the biggest Israeli Intelligence failure since arab nations attacked the country 50 years ago. Israel has hit back with air strikes, pounding militant targets. At least 198 gazans answer been killed. But the countrys rightwing government will be under pressure to attack deeper into gaza and reserves are being mobilized countrywide. Its very possible that we will witness a massive Israeli Ground operation in gaza strip that basically will aim to try and to change totally from the ground the conditions that have been prevailed for the last almost two decades. Reporter Israeli Forces have struggled to contain the attacks from gaza from the sea and bulldozer assaults around the palestinian enclave. And with a Hostage Crisis looming, the Initiative Still remains with hamas. Sam, you have this situation where youve got the fighting jog ongoing, militants dont know where they, a teary to they have not fully regained control of, yet all these hostages in gaza that tie israels hands somewhat in terms of their response. Youve got dozens of people, israelis, that they cant risk killing. What does this mean . Reporter it means that its the Idf Spokesman told you earlier on its a delicate thing theyre going to have to deal with. An approach to gaza and managing the level of violence they unleash against gaza that doesnt result in a conflagration elsewhere, an uprising on the west bank or within the israeli arab population, the ethnic palestinians who have israeli citizenship, live inside israel. Theres a heavily armed population, according to a knesset report. So all of these are combined, and all of them are part of the hamas planning. They know, and the israelis know, that theyre going to walk into some kind of trap thats already been set in gaza for which the bait really are these very significant numbers of hostages. Now israel takes hostages extremely seriously, and this does give the hamas militants a very, very serious advantage when it comes to any kind of future negotiations they might enter with israel through third parties such as qatar and egypt, as they have done in the past, erin. All right. Sam, thank you so much. Out front now, the former israeli Prime Minister, neftali bennett. And thank you so much for being with me. I know that you have spent the day with soldiers and residents. What are you hearing right now . Its been a very tough day for the state of israel, for the citizens of israel. The numbers of murdered israelis is huge. Right now its been made public is 250, but its higher than that. And weve got lots of kidnapped citizens and soldiers. We have babies that have been kidnapped into gaza. We have 80yearold woman with seems like she has dementia kidnapped into gaza. So its been one of the hardest days in israels history. But israels strong, and were striking back, and we will win. But i have to admit its been a tough day. Have you has stall and the id israel and the idf been able to regain troll . Well control . Well, at some specific moment theres still several villages where hamas is fighting and shooting civilians, and weve got soldiers there, but theres fighting going on. The citizens are typically hunkering down in their shelters. Throughout the day, what the citizens, what the residents did was enter their shelters, lock the shelters, and then Hamas Terrorists came and sort of knocked and pretended to be soldiers. And then if the residents didnt come out, they started burning their houses so the smoke would push people out. I was on the phone with people while this was happening. They were sort of whispering so the terrorists dont hear them. This is reminiscent of horrible things in our past. It should not happen it was sort of like a this is the state of israel. At the same time, i can tell you, erin, that our soldiers, our fighters have a very strong spirit. Were ready to go. They want to fight back, and they are fighting back. Unfortunately, not few commanders have died in action, and the commanders have fallen because thats what israeli commanders do. They fight in front. A good friend of mine, the mayor of this area, was killed while he was out fighting with his own pistol. And he was shot and killed. Im very sorry to hear that. I know you speak because you know. You, of course, were an officer in an elite idf commando unit. And when you saw this today, hamas was organized, they made it through the wall, youre describing what they were doing to people in shelters. Theyre in towns. What stands out to you about the scale, the depth, the clear planning of this attack . This was a very well planned and deliberate attack. It wasnt planned for two weeks but for many months in advance. You know, in fact, the Israeli Government had opened up gaza and allowed gazan employees to workers to enter israel. No reason whatsoever for this sort of unprovoked attack. And yeah, its for us its sort of israels 9 11. But we you know, were fighting back. And its going to be a prolonged war. Its not going to take a day. We need to destroy hamas. And of course you know this has been discussed from the very moment this started the intelligence missed, the Intelligence Failure. I dont know what you think the right word is, but you talk about something thats been planned for months. And obviously you know, the preeminent intelligence agency, one of the preeminent Intelligence Agencies in the world, how did this happen . How did israel not know that this was in the works . Well, its too early to tell. I think its premature to enter these sort of investigations were fighting right now. Yes. My friends are fighting. One of my other friends that served with me in my unit was also killed in action protecting his family, protecting other citizens. So its way premature for all of this. What i can tell you, though, is that while the past year has been fairly polarized and divided year in israel, right now israelis are are united left and right, religious and secular. We stand together, behind the government, behind the idf. Well all want to defend ourselves, and we all want to destroy hamas. Theres also in the u. S. Been discussion about whether the needs that israel may have right now will what will mean for u. S. Stockpiles, for u. S. Aid to ukraine. What do you need right now . And is it a matter of choosing between israel and ukraine . No, its not. In fact, our needs dont really overlap. What i do want to say, though, is how much we appreciate america standing behind israel so clearly. President biden standing up very clearly and saying that youre with us. That means a lot. Were going to do the job. We dont need we never asked for american soldiers to do the job for us and defend us. Well defend ourselves, thats fine. But still knowing that the good people of the United States of america stand behind the good people of israel means the world to us. So for that i want to thank you. Thank you so very much. I appreciate your time. I know it is the early hours of the morning where you are. I know that you, yourself, are hunkered down in shelter. Youve lost some of your friends. Im glad that you and your family are safe. Had to jump into the shelter several times throughout the day. But were going to were going overcome this, and were going hit back, strike back very strong. Thank you so very much. I appreciate your time. Neftali bennett is the former Prime Minister of the state of israel. Thank you. Thank you, erin. Our breaking News Coverage continues. Were going to go back to israel where forces are still in a grueling battle right now to take Back Territory that hamas currently holds, plus israels Prime Minister now warning hamas will pay an unprecedented price. What does unprecedented look like . Breaking news during this Special Edition of out front israel of war, theres a flurry of activity in the United States. A call with the joint chiefs chairmen and u. S. Central command. This as a senior u. S. Official tells cnn the United States could announce new assistance to israel within hours. President biden meantime has vowed the United States is 100 behind israel. We will not ever fail to have their back. Israel has the right to defend itself and its people, full stop. Let there be no mistake, the United States stands with the state of israel. General hurtling, robin wright, and Phillip Smith are back with me. General, what does that mean . 100 , full stop, in the context of an unprecedented situation and allout war that israel says its response, you know, to hamas will be tremendous and unprecedented in turn. Youre going to see, first of all, the secretary of defense talking to the commander of centcom. They will reposition forces from the central area of operation. That includes the fifth fleet, naval forces of the fifth fleet, air force central command, some elements of Space Command to collect additional intelligence that they can pass to the israelis, concerning what is happening with hamas and others that may be threatening. Whats interesting, President Biden also put out a message just a few minutes ago on twitter basically saying other countries in the area who are thinking of interfering, dont. Thats a signal to hezbollah, iran, and various other nations that might pile on to this Terrorist Attack by hamas. So i think a combination of forces plus equipment, you know, more ammunition for the iron dome, were in conjunction and coordination with the Israeli Defense force that, as well as Intelligence Passing is going to be critical in the next couple of days and hours. Robin, how worried are you that this is just the beginning of a much wired war . Biden wider war . Bidens warning notwithstanding . Well, we have to remember that israel faces not just hamas and Islamic Jihad in the gaza strip, but it also faces a much larger arsenal along its border with lebanon because of the rockets and missiles that hezbollah has. Then on its border with syria, you have several groups inside syria, iranian allies, allies of hamas and hezbollah, who are equipped with iranian missiles, as well. So the potential on three fronts is high. Now the interesting thing is that in the first 24 hours we have not seen hezbollah pile on, not open a second front. Which could reach overmatch militarily in terms of israel having one major airport, one major power grid, and leaving it very vulnerable. Much more vulnerable than it is now. But the reality is that we know that there are other parties in the region who share hamas goals, and that the potential down the road is obvious. Whether it plays out that way, i think we have to be careful about not speculating about the future of wars. Phillip, of course, there are many parties that benefit from destabilization and crisis in the middle east. We talk about iran and former chairman of the Armed Services committee was saying in his view very clear iran is involved here. But there are questions about who else, and russia has also come up. I know youve pointed out here a few things. Hamas has been meeting with top russian officials for years including the foreign minister, sergey lavrov, a familiar face to our viewers. Hamas has touted those meetings on their website they. Put Press Releases out about it. There have been multiple meetings, in fact, between hamas and russian officials since russia invaded ukraine. Now, you take those dots and tie them together and say theres a real chance that putin and russia are connected to what happened today. What do you see, phillip . Well, the russians are thinking geostrategically here. They have a huge issue in ukraine, and what are you going to do to draw attention away from it and assist your ally whos assisted you im talking about iran with thousands of drones that have been used. For the russians, this is thinking in that geostrategic fashion. They are trying to execute this as thumbing their nose at the United States. There is what it comes down to on that kind of side note for them. For them, you know, they look at all these losses that they have suffered look at the aziriarmenian conflict and whats going on there. They feel like theyre being rolled back. This is a great way for them to really put themselves out there and hit back. All right. Thank you all very much. I appreciate your time tonight on this very important evening. Thank you all. Next, a spokesman for israels Defense Forces tells out front that dozens of israelis have been kidnapped. Next well talk to the roommate of this young woman you see there. She was abducted by militants, taken away on a motorcycle, and is still missing tonight. Were back with a Special Edition of Outfront Israel At War. Our cnn camera moments ago during the commercial break caught another rocket being intercepted near gaza. Theres been an intense stream of rockets and activity there as the fighting has been intensifying through these evening hours. It is now, of course, the early hours in the morning in israel. Weve got more new video coming in showing the carnage after hamas militants raided a peaceful Music Festival in Southern Israel near gaza. Want to warn our viewers that you may find this disturbing. You see a van riddled with bullet holes, and the bodies two of people lifeless. Seeming dead on the ground after being gunned down in cold blood just as theyre running just gunned down. This is more video into outfront showing a woman being abducted, taken by militants. Shes crying out to her boyfriend who also has been abducted. Im going to speak to her roommate but first we have more from the ground in jerusalem this hour. Obviously here approaching down hours where you are, as the fighting continues. What more are you hearing about the israeli civilians who have been captured by hamas and are being held hostage at this time . Reporter we have confirmed from the Israeli Military that they are confirming that both soldiers and civilians have been taken as both Prisoners Of War have taken into gaza but also there have been Hostage Swiegsz on israeli tear situations On Israeli Territory where they entered towns along the gaza strip and had taken hostages there. I believe one of those Hostage Situations has been resolved. Although there are still ongoing firefights on the streets of israel. In terms of number, we do believe that the numbers who have been taken into gaza is somewhere in the dozens. We have not received any confirmation on specific numbers of soldiers and civilians who have been taken and how many are believed to be alive or dead. We know that the Israeli Military is gathering information. In fact, Israeli Police have told Family Members this they dont know where their Family Members are, if they can reach out to the Israeli Police and bring them pieces of clothing or hairbrushes that have dna samples on them so that that could potentially help them identify Family Members. We are seeing harrowing accounts of weve heard them on air and across social media, people looking for their Family Members. Theyre going from hospital to hospital. Theyre calling around, trying to find any information on where their Family Members are, if theyre in hospital, if theyve been killed, if theyve been taken into gaza. I have never seen anything like this before. There have been situations where soldiers were kidnapped, but those would be one, two. So rarely have listens ever been taken hostage in this way. We are talking about numbers that are going to be very high. And this is in addition on top of the Casualty Numbers were having of at least 300 dead, more than 1,500 wounded. Whats going to be an increasingly and larger Israeli Military campaign in gaza for the civilians there who, erin, they dont have the luxury often of Bomb Shelters there. Civilians are going to be likely experiencing a very, very difficult air assault thats already started. Theyre being warned by the Israeli Military to leave certain areas, to find shelter elsewhere. Theres not much shelter in gaza and not anywhere to go for those civilians in gaza. Its going to be a very difficult next few hours, next few days, potentially weeks. As we were speaking, in the last few minutes rockets have continued being fired from gaza into israel. Most focused on Southern Israel. We havent heard sirens or rocket impacts here in jerusalem in a few hours. Ive been hearing the regular roar of fighter jets. Theres a direct hit on a hospital so far, no injuries reported from that direct hit. Thank you, in jerusalem. And now the roommate of Noah Argamani who was taken hostage on that motorcycle that we saw. Emir, i am sorry to be talking to you and to be talking to you about this right now. I know that you have had a chance to speak with noahs father, her family wants her story to be told in hopes that it can help bring her back. You saw this video of noah being abducted by militants. Shes at this festival, shes celebrating. Then you see this video, shes crying out for help, taken away on a motorcycle. You see this video, what do you even think i mean, this is a person you know incredibly well. Its very difficult when you see someone that is so close to you and you know theyre being treated like this. Its very difficult to see it. It makes you like shocked and ask what did she do to get this like why they should act like this to her. When i spoke to her father this morning, i tried to tell him not to see it. But i didnt he saw it already, and it was shocking. When you hear about parents and children kidnapped like this, treated like this, its very, very difficult. Oh, just the anguish and fear he must be feeling. What did he say to you . I know that he wants you to share her story. Yeah. What else did he say . So first of all, i want to say that like this is the first time in our lifetime in israel as young people we experienced an experience like this. Like we had a lot of operations, but a Surprise Attack like there weve never had in this magnitude and scale. Its crazy for us. Side say that when id say that when i heard about my friends missing from the party, we all got like super trying to get a lot of details about them to ask people, put on some groups on facebook and whatsapp to get as much as we can about them. And we still dont know about many of them. Were talking about a lot of people, about 500 and more that is still missing. We dont know blah we dont know what is going on with them. How many do you know noah, her boyfriend, others at this event. I mean, how many people do you know that are missing tonight . So we know yeah, we know about noah and evitan that got kidnapped, you can see on the video. We have more, five or six Close Friends that were still looking for them. Im getting a lot of messages on facebook from other people in my country asking me to put pictures on facebook, try to see for more people to seek information for them. Were talking about a lot of young people that went to the party, the families and this the younger children and elder people that were in their houses and just terrorists from gaza get inside their houses and talent and talent their life. Its difficult to see and more about it especially close people to you. You shared pictures with us of her and you together. Can you tell me a little about her . Yeah. So noah iss like an amazing friend. Shes always smiling, always trying to get the best of the situation. Shes always trying to get the best of time. Like if we have some free time, lets go do something. Im trying to get pictures from our trip in india from one month that we met over there last year. From then were very good friends. We were supposed to live together she moved to my apartment, and hopefully well get her back, and we will continue everything. Yes. Yeah, we wont give up, all of us, friends and families will do everything that we can. And our country and government, we know that theres a lot of stress, and they are trying to get the control to everything that is going on. But still, we have people missing, friends and family, young and old, everyone that got to gaza strip and we need to do everything now to get them back. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. I hope that your friend, noah, and i should say five or six others that you know of that are not accounted for yet all come home safely. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Next, our Breaking News continues. Cnn learning american officials are deeply concerned that Israeli Intelligence was unaware hamas was planning and preparing the highly coordinated and brutal assault, something that clearly took an extensive amount of time. What went wrong . Our Special Editions of Outfront Israel At War continues with Breaking News. New explosions in the gaza strip. An israeli Air Strike Hitting near a palestinian mosque. Its in retaliation for the massive assault launched by hamas On Israeli Territory. One that caught israel and the entire world by surprise. A stunning Intelligence Failure. Out front, oren liebermann, who has done extensive reporting and spent a lot of time in jerusalem and tel aviv is a reporter yourself. Six years as a correspondents there. So as a correspondent there. So what are you hearing about this Intelligence Failure tonight . Reporter the key question here is how american officials got no warning about this, but primarily a warning such as that would come from the israelis. America may have some intel gathering and surveillance capabilities there, but it is primarily the u. S. Relying on israel using its own stateoftheart tech, its own advanced capabilities to monitor gaza, something israel does from the navy on one side and army on the other two, as well as signals intelligence, its cyber capabilities, and yet for all of its vaunted abilities in doing so, israel it seems was caught completely by surprise. And thats something that israel will have to figure out and the u. S. Will also have to figure out. A u. S. Official telling cnn there will be after Action Reviews to try to figure out if there is a gaping hole in intelligence which hamas was able to use to carry out this crossborder terror attack. Israel even has a border wall there thats supposed to be able to detect underground digging as well as motion sensors. And yet, this attack came across from the sea, from the air, and from land. So there will have to be serious questions asked about how israel was unable to pick up on this. When cnn spoke earlier to a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense forces, he said that will come later. Thats a future issue about trying to figure out how this played out. But that will be a question the u. S. Is also trying to figure out. Is there something that should have been picked up on, that would have led to something that must have been months if not longer in the planning. Certainly, and of course it raises the question obviously right now theyre focused on regaining territory. Got to focus on that. At the same time, what else do you not know right now . Has got to be a question theyre asking. Thank you very much. I want to go to ian bremmer now, world renowned Global Affairs columnist. Youve said this is israels 9 11. To hear talk about this, a Massive Attack months in the planning, the former Prime Minister of israel was saying that to me, as well. And now they have to be fears of what else they dont know. I mean, such an Intelligence Failure by such a an elite intelligence force, right . One of the worlds the creme de la creme. How unprecedented is this . Its the gold standard, erin. You know, many Intelligence Forces would tell you that, its their surveillance, digital surveillance. Its their surveillance on the ground with human intelligence, operatives. Its their Border Security, and its also the Israeli Defense forces and all of them failed in unprecedented fashion. I remember a few months ago when you and i were talking about israel before, we werent talking about the palestinians. We were talking about Something Else that was unprecedented demonstrations that were going on, larger than youve ever seen, every day, you know, consistently across the country because of the judicial reform. And that included a lot of Defense Forces of israel. There was obviously a lot of distraction going on because the israelis were focused on their own internal instability. Also, so many of israels Defense Forces have been focused on the west bank, on Border Security there, as well as on settlements, israeli settlements that have been expanding under this rightwing Coalition Netanyahu government and also on palestinian backlash and violence against Israeli Slifbs and israeli civilians and israeli settlers. That means you had far fewer israeli troops on the ground in the south that would be defending against the palestinians, hamas radicals, coming over these borders. So youre right, of course, i do believe this is israels 9 11. We already know of hundreds of israeli civilians dead in a country of less than ten million people, just imagine what that would be in a country like the United States. Not to mention the fact that you now have the all of these civilians being held hostage, many of whom dozens of whom have been brought back to gaza where the israelis have now declared war. So there is unprecedent this is unprecedented territory, but its true in many different ways. When it comes to netanyahu, as you point out, weve been talking a lot about him, right . Shaky ground internally to say the least. There was often chaos on the streets of israel, right . Thousands of protesters, as you point out, Protesting Those Judicial the judicial overhaul plan saying it was undiabetic, autocratic. He was facing an existential crisis of his own making, bribery, corruption charges. Now at least at this moment youve got a country that is coming together. Does this make all that go away for him . Well, it goes away for the time being because this is obviously a National Security priority of the highest order. I mean, the other thing you and i have talked about for the last year and a half has been the russian war in ukraine and how its brought nato together. That is nothing compared to what hamas militants have just done for unity among the entire israeli people. And the israeli population is very diverse. It is a wide, wide political spectrum from the far left to the far right, with many, Many Political parties of different stripes. All of them have as their top and abiding priority right now to defend the state of israel, the sovereignty of israel. To get the israeli civilians back unharmed, and to wreak vengeance against the leadership of hamas so that they no longer are capability of leading a terrorist organization and leading gaza. That is its its almost unimaginable the amount of unity presently being experienced on the ground in israel. Bet way, very different than the response were seeing in the United States which is very partisan. Immediately, completely partisan, right. And on that front in the u. S. , obviously there have been big focus on what would have been a breakthrough deal, normalizing of relations between israel and saudi arabia. The Biden Administration says even though people were talking about that being on the cut , it was still months away. And maybe thats the case. But it also, of course, would buy them some time in the context of the current conversation. Is that deal dead . Think, first of all, it was very close. I met with a lot of saudi officials over the course of the past weeks and talked with americans as well. This was a deal that everyone was feeling more optimistic about. A deal between israel and saudi arabia that would have actually normalized diplomatic relations between those two countries. Also that deal that would have improved u. S. Relations with the saudis, giving them major nonnato ally status, improving the nature of the defense relationship. As of now, id say that deal is dead. Doesnt mean it cant ever come back, about the certainly the saudis were expect is at least some Window Dressing that the israelis would improve the situation with the palestinians. That obviously, exact opposite of that will now necessarily happen in response to these Terrorist Attacks. Also, the idea that the israelis are going to be cutting a deal with the saudis in todays environment, when the saudis initial Foreign Ministry reaction was not that they were still condemning the attacks but saying israel was partially responsible for them because of what they had done to the palestinians historically. That deal is dead. All right, thank you very much, ian bremer. In tehran, thousands of iranians gathering in the streets to celebrate hamas attacks across israel that have left at least 300 dead and hundreds more wounded. This as the words of israels former Chief Spy Service in july time prescient tonight, taking on significance. Warning Benjamin Netanyahus widely controversial play to overhaul the judiciary was hurting National Security and iran was ready to pounce. The iranian threat hovers over our heads on a number of fronts, and we must ensure that israels Security Resilience is not harmed. Outfront an Israeli Special envoy for combating antisemitism, dismissed by Prime Minister netanyahu after criticizing the controversial judicial overhaul hes championed and spearheaded. I appreciate your time. How prescient are those words today . Those words were indeed prophetic ask sadly so. Theres no doubt a lot of military operation, people from the former idf that were saying this is weakening israels resolve, however, nobody is having this conversation right now. We must take care of the situation on the ground and make sure israel gets sovereignty back. Fingerprints of this attack are on iran. Iran is the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world and is a state that is the greatest sponsor of antisemitism in the world. Weve been saying this for a very, very long time. Iran is out to get israel, iran is out to destabilize the entire region, and this attack is exactly what they had intended to do. So when you hear this again and again, reference to a tremendous and unprecedented response in response to a tremendous and unprecedented attack, what does that mean for iran . Were not sure what it means for iran. But israel could not sit still after an attack like this. No country would sit still. The thing to remember as well, every time there are conversations about peace in the region, Palestinian Militants are sabotaging this. This is exactly what happened around the oslo accord, why the oslo accord failed, because the palestinians unleashed Terrorist Attacks all over israel. So its not surprising that this is happening again while were discussing peace with saudi. I have to be clear here. There are no what aboutism about what happened today, no defending it in any way, shape or form. Democratic socialist of america is hosting a rally in New York City in order to support whatever just happened today. When you put women and children on trucks and elderly and babies and you take them into gaza and parade them, there is no defending this. The palestinian as a National Movement need to figure out what it is that theyre after. They need to figure out what it is that they want. Because this they are after living side by side with israel, im sure there is a conversation to be had about that at some point, not any time soon. But if theyre going to continue chanting from the river to the sea palestine will be free, essentially ethnically cleansing the jews and wiping israel off the map, were going to keep having these issues. I was clear, noa, at the beginning here you were dismissed by netanyahu for criticizing the judicial overhaul and reform. Yes. At this moment he is vowing mighty vengeance. You have a united israel, of course in a moment of incredible existential threat. Does this moment strengthen netanyahu . Does the Country Rally around him after the initial moment . The israeli people are extraordinarily resilient and nobody is thinking about politics today. Im the clearest example that you can be a true zionist while criticizing some actions of Israeli Government. Questioning government has nothing to do with delegitimizing israels right to exist. Israel is dealing with Palestinian Militants, hamas after destroying israel. Theyre not interested in twostate solution, theyre not interested in peace. Nobodys thinking about politics. Everybody is united and united together against with government and the opposition. Noa tishby, thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for joining us for this ongoing breaking News Coverage. This special continues after a break with jake tapper. Cmon, were right there. 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