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Don Lemon Tonight

Gaza Under Fire; Fugitive Killed in New York; Global Violence Unnerving Americans; Can Any U.S. President Broker Mideast Peace?

Aired July 28, 2014 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

Breaking news: Gaza under fire. Israel's pounding Gaza tonight. Palestinian officials say at least 18 people had been killed. We're live in Gaza with the very latest for you.

Plus, has the U.S. contributed to this standoff? What should America's role be? The experts are going to weigh in for you.

Hunted down. Gunfire rings out in Manhattan as officers trace a fugitive featured on CNN's "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" and tips helped police track him down. His life ends in a hail of gunfire. John Walsh will join us live tonight.

Plus, with the deep battle lines drawn in the Middle East and Putin's bold moves in Ukraine, are Americans feeling less safe? If you are, you're not alone. Let us know what you think. The experts are standing by to answer your questions. Tweet us using #AskDon.

But we are going to begin with that breaking news in the Middle East. Israel has been pounding targets in Gaza all night long. Al Aqsa TV reports that the ministry of finance in western Gaza was hit by an airstrike.

CNN's Karl Penhaul, there he is there live in Gaza City for us.

Karl, we have been hearing multiple explosions coming out of Gaza this evening. What's going on now?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Don. That has been pretty much the pattern for this evening after night fell.

What we saw were a lot of Israeli illumination rounds lighting up the night sky over Gaza City. That continued for about two hours. We heard the constant buzz of drones overhead, and it seems that those illumination rounds, because it is a moonless night here on the Gaza Strip, those illumination rounds were being sent into the air so that the drones that are equipped with high resolution cameras could do their work, looking for apparent targets down on the ground. After that had been going on for about two hours, then the airstrikes came in.

We got the sound and the pictures from a couple of those that went off from our office just about 500 yards away. Let's take a quick look at those. You can see just how powerful those explosions were. I pause for just a second because what I'm wary of just now is that we can continue to hear Israeli F-16 fighter jets overhead. And if they bomb targets that are too close to us, then I will have to get down. That is because the shrapnel field could come right into the front of this building.

We have, of course, taken out the windows and the window frames in case there is an explosion. Then at least the shockwaves won't send glass shards flying everywhere.

But just to pick back up on that, what I was saying was that there have been a number of explosions. They have rocked these areas around central Gaza. And there is a great tragedy to that as well, Don, because earlier today, the Israeli military was sending SMS text messages to residents of northern Gaza, telling them they were in harm's way, telling them to flee northern portions of Gaza and head to safe ground in Gaza City.

But then the explosions started here as well. It really illustrates how there is no safe place for people in Gaza to run. This area, the Gaza Strip, is no bigger than the metropolitan area of Las Vegas. Imagine Las Vegas having a big wall around it. People could not get in or out. That is the situation on the Gaza Strip. That's why Gazan people have no place to go where they can feel absolutely safe.

We have also heard in the last few moments as well from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. He is also -- I'm just going to go quiet again, Don. F-16 fighter jets, we can hear them going overhead. Let's see if they have got a target in mind. They seem to have headed past.

We're being told that targets are being hit in northern Gaza, in southern Gaza and here in Gaza City as well. But what I was saying was U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon has put out an urgent statement about what is going on and is saying basically that the U.N. does not have the resources to help with the number of people that are being displaced by the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Now they cannot cope with influxes of people in Gaza City fleeing from other areas where there are fighting. That means effectively tonight the people of Gaza are feeling ever more on their own than ever -- Don.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Karl, we want to you stand by. We want you to be safe, because we will get back to you throughout this broadcast this evening. We're on for two hours tonight, Karl, and we will definitely get back to you again, Karl in Gaza City reporting what is going on there, illumination rounds mostly. But there's been firing going back and forth between Israel and Gaza tonight despite the cease-fire that is supposed to be in place and then of course they disobeyed it and now they're firing again.

Paula Hancocks joining us now to talk about this intense fighting.

Paula, we have been hearing about the fighting going back and forth. And as I said, there was a cease-fire and then no cease-fire, cease- fire, no cease-fire. What is the difference now? Why has this appeared to have intensified just within the last couple hours, 18 people dying so far?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's not clear at this point, and obviously from the Israeli point of view it is difficult to get any kind of response because it is the early hours of this morning.

But we did hear from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier. He basically spoke to the Israeli people on Israeli television and said that there could be the possibility of a protracted campaign. He said, effectively, if it's necessary, we will carry it out. He said that today is a painful day, meaning Monday. Of course, the death toll rose significantly on both sides of the border and particularly Gaza.

But in Israel, there were five Israeli soldiers who were killed, one in combat fighting down in southern Gaza, according to the Israeli military, this is, and then four were killed just on the Gaza-Israeli border by mortar fire. So the Israeli prime minister has effectively prepared his people for the fact that this could go on longer than expected.

He said that he cannot pull out the troops. He can't stop the operation until those tunnels going from Gaza into Israel have, in his words, been neutralized.

LEMON: Paula Hancocks, I want to you stand by, as well as our Karl Penhaul.

I want to bring someone else in now.

Joining me now is Alan Dershowitz. He's a longtime supporter of Israel and he's the author of "The Case for Peace: How the Arab- Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved."

It is good to have you back when we're not on Skype so we can actually understand each other this evening. So, thank you for coming back on.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, AUTHOR, "THE CASE FOR MORAL CLARITY: ISRAEL, HAMAS AND GAZA": Thank you very much.

LEMON: What do you make of the fighting today that has intensified, 18 people so far dead because of this?

DERSHOWITZ: Well, it's tragic.

Israel twice accepted cease-fires that Egypt had proposed. Israel's conditions are very simple. Just neutralize the tunnels. I was in these tunnels. I saw what they were. They're concrete tunnels which are designed to allow terrorists to come in. There is the threat that if there are like 40 tunnels, you could send in 200 or 300 terrorists and kill thousands of Israeli children.

The tunnel that I was near was very close to a kindergarten with 57 children. That was the target. What would America do? Israel is being attacked from under the ground and from the air. Israel's conditions are simply, demilitarize Hamas, take away their rockets, take away their tunnels and Israel will stop attacking. Hamas' conditions are end Israel and Hamas will stop attacking. Obviously, Israel can't accept that.

LEMON: I want to talk more about the tunnels and then there was also a cease-fire as well, an agreement within the past couple days, that Israel did not accept either. But let's continue to talk about those tunnels, because Wolf Blitzer was able to visit one of them earlier today. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: From what you know, what was the purpose of this tunnel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attack soldiers. They want to take regular people, children, woman, men.

BLITZER: They wanted to go attack, kill Israelis, but also kidnap as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BLITZER: That was one of the rationales that Israelis have suggested was one of the purposes of these tunnels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is this a nonstarter? If these tunnels are not eliminated, the fighting, the conflict will continue, the fighting will not stop, is that correct?

DERSHOWITZ: Absolutely. Can you imagine any American or any other country allowing tunnels to come under its children? Some of these tunnels were literally located under children's kindergartens.

At any point, they could be blown up with catastrophic effects. The world says, look, there are only three Israeli civilians and 40 some- odd Israeli soldiers. And there are many more Palestinians who have been killed. But the issue is how many Israelis could have been killed if these tunnels hadn't been stopped?

Israel developed the technological response to the rockets, Iron Dome. There is no technological response at the moment to the tunnels. That's why they must be neutralized. And people have to remember, too, that Israel didn't start the blockade of Gaza until two years after Gaza was completely freed.

Gaza could have become the Singapore of the Mediterranean. But instead they used the money they got from Europe to build rockets, to build tunnels, to try to destroy Israel. It was only two years later that Israel employed a military blockade. What would America have done? Every country would have done what Israel does and they would have done with it the same kind of care that Israel does, by sending out messages, by trying to avoid civilian casualties.

But when Hamas hides its fighters in schools, and there are videotapes showing this, and in mosques, and in civilian buildings, there are going to be civilian casualties and the civilian casualties are the fault of Hamas.

LEMON: All right, Alan, we will talk more about this. Stay with me.

When we come right back, both Israel and the Palestinians have vocal supporters here in the U.S. and John Kerry is struggling to broker a cease-fire. Why is this so crucial to the U.S.? We're going to get into that next.

Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.

We're following the breaking news in the Middle East, so you skies of Gaza there, Israel pounding targets all night long in Gaza. Palestinian officials say at least 18 people have been killed. The U.S. has tried to negotiate a cease-fire, but so far that hasn't worked out. What should the U.S. role be?

Joining me now is Marc Lamont Hill. He's a CNN political commentator. Peter Beinart is a CNN political commentator as well and a columnist for "Haaretz." And Alan Dershowitz, attorney, is back with us this evening.

Peter, to you first.

The United States has long been Israel's biggest supporter, and that is not going to change. But as you watch this shelling tonight, do you have any reservations about Israel's conduct in Gaza?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, Israel has the right to defend itself, but Israel also needs a military strategy against Hamas. Israel's problem is that there have been Palestinian leaders over the past several years who have not been launching rockets at Israel -- in fact, they have been doing security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank -- who have accepted Israel's right to exist, Mahmoud Abbas, for instance, Salam Fayyad.

They have gotten nothing from this Israeli government, except further and further settlement growth. So Palestinians don't see that nonviolence and acceptance of Israel's right to exist has gotten them anywhere. That's what frightens me. That's what really strengthens Hamas.

If we really want to undermine and weaken Hamas, Israel needs to not only respond militarily. It needs to show Palestinians that recognizing Israel's right to exist and pursuing their cause nonviolently works. This government has made that course a failure.

LEMON: And, Marc, I want to talk to you, because what Peter says about political support for Israel is bipartisan, I want to you take a listen to some officials from both sides today. And then we will talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think America must send this clear public and united message. Israel is our friend and Israel's enemies are our enemies. And as long...

(APPLAUSE)

BOEHNER: And as long as I'm speaker of the House, I give you my word, this will be our cause.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a time of worry for all who care about Israel. But here's one thing you never have to worry about, America's support for the state of Israel.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So bipartisan support for Israel, Marc.

And I want to go back to something you told me yesterday. You said that the U.S. should impose sanctions against Israel. But you just heard folks from opposite sides of the aisle there giving uncompromising support for Israel. Are Israel's interests much in line with the United States, much more so than Hamas?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, they're very much, much more in line with the United States' interests, United States' interests, friends and enemies in the region. And Israel becomes the arm of the United States foreign policy in the region, which is why they have unequivocal, unwavering support of Israel.

And, quite frankly, supporting Israel as an American politician is like kissing a baby. It is the safest position to take. And of course we want to protect Israel's right to exist. No one wants to see innocent Israeli lives lost. No one wants to see anything but the protection of Israeli lives.

However, that can't come at the expense of Palestinian lives. And right now is an opportunity for the United States to exercise moral leadership and speak against this offensive siege that's being waged in Gaza. And that's my point. I don't want to see Israel lose its right to defend itself. I want to see Israel stop engaging in an offensive against -- in Gaza.

And also it is important to say -- and this is to Alan's point earlier -- yes, Israel has the right to defend itself from outside threats. And he draws the comparison to what would you do if you were in the United States?

But it's a very different circumstances. You can't on the one assume an occupation role and then treat it as a foreign power. Gaza is being occupied. The region is being occupied. You can't on the one hand occupy it and then treat it like a foreign territory which is then launching threats against it.

They have an international responsibility, according to Hague regulations, Article 47, according to all sorts of international law, to treat Gaza very differently. That's the point.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: Just wrong.

LEMON: Alan?

DERSHOWITZ: Just wrong. That's just wrong.

Israel ended its occupation completely in 2005.

HILL: That's untrue.

BEINART: That's untrue.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: That's disingenuous.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: No. It is absolutely true.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hang on, Alan. Why is it not true?

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: It's not true because there are international standards for occupation. They still control electromagnetic space, the airspace, the naval space, the population registry. Every single measure of occupation, they satisfy all the conditions for occupation.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: According to the United States government, Israel occupies Gaza.

HILL: Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: We're not talking about -- now we're talking about 2005, 2007.

And, by the way, if that was the policy, then we will never get a two- state solution, because Israel will always have to have some military presence in the West Bank as a security border. That is an unconditional requirement for Israel's success. Both of your speakers have very short memories. They forget that, in 2000-2001, Israel offered to end the occupation, to create a two-state solution. Arafat said no. In 2007, Olmert offered to end the occupation, create a two-state solution. Abbas did not respond.

You have to remember that Israel has since 1948 favored the two-state solution.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: And Hamas has said no, no, no.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: Two weeks ago, this Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said very explicitly he does not support the two-state solution. So we are now in a reality...

DERSHOWITZ: That's not true.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: It is true, absolutely. He said Israel would maintain permanent military control over the West Bank. That is not...

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: That's right, and there would be a two-state solution.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: You cannot have a Palestinian state in which another state, Israel, has permanent military control of it.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: When the other Palestinian state stops sending rockets, then that will end. A military occupation can continue until the military threat is over. That is clear under international law.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: But, Alan, so now you're at least conceding the fact that it is a military occupation. A moment ago, you were not.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: There is no military occupation in Gaza. There is in the West Bank. Don't put words in my mouth, please.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: In 2005, you're right, 8,000 settlers were moved out. There was a shift.

However, Palestinian people in Gaza -- people in Gaza have not exercised one day of self-governance, one day of control, one day where their movements haven't been completely controlled.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: That's not true. Between 2005 and 2007, they had an election.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let Marc finish and then we will let Peter get in.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: Jimmy Carter monitored it.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: Alan, between 2005 and 2007, Israel had a security perimeter inside the Gaza Strip, from which Palestinians were barred from entering. How on earth can you say that Israel was not occupying between 2005 and 2007?

DERSHOWITZ: It was not occupying it. They were free. They could have created a state.

They could have built beautiful...

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: Remember the settlers? The Israelis left the settlement, left the settlements. They left hothouses, greenhouses.

They could have built a beautiful, beautiful state. Instead, they turned to rockets. They turned to tunnels. They used all of their resources not to feed their residents, not to help their residents, but to build tunnels and to build rockets to try to destroy Israel's right to exist. That's reality. You cannot paint that in a more positive way.

(CROSSTALK)

BEINART: Yes, but, then, Alan, how come you had a Palestinian leader in the West Bank who did accept Israel's right to exist, who did terrific security cooperation, and got...

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: And they offered him a state. And he said no.

BEINART: No, in fact, not this government at all.

This government has never been willing to put any map on the table about territory and has never accepted the '67 lines.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK. We're going to have to wrap it up. We're going to have to wrap it up.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Alan, I will let you get a word in. Everyone will get a word.

First, Alan, quickly.

DERSHOWITZ: OK.

Olmert is part of the Israeli government. He offered them a state. They did not accept it. They now regret it. And I wish we can finally have a two-state solution with peace on both sides.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Peter?

BEINART: We have now a Palestinian leader who is within the Clinton parameters, publicly stated, that Bill Clinton laid out in December 2000, an Israeli government that is not.

This may be hard for supporters of the two-state solution to come to terms with, but, sadly, it is the reality.

LEMON: And Marc?

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Marc, go ahead.

HILL: There's nothing more frustrating than this idea somehow that the Palestinian people had the opportunity for Shangri-La and instead turned to violence and destruction. That is simply...

DERSHOWITZ: That's right. It's true. It's true.

HILL: Repeating that it is true doesn't make it any...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Marc, continue.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: Between 2005 and 2007...

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: Alan, that is not true. As soon as Hamas was elected in 2006, there was a military imposition and a siege started. That is simply untrue. But the point is that...

DERSHOWITZ: That's after the rockets.

HILL: That is not after the rockets. Gaza is an open-air prison.

(CROSSTALK)

DERSHOWITZ: After the rockets.

LEMON: Alan, let him finish. You had your chance. Let him finish.

DERSHOWITZ: Sure.

LEMON: Go ahead, Marc.

HILL: Gaza is an open-air prison. People's movements are restricted. People's ability to self-determine is restricted.

In the midst of all of that, to look at rockets and tunnels and say somehow that Israel is on the defensive is simply untrue. It is empirically untrue. And it violates international law.

LEMON: Let's hope that lives will stop being lost very soon and they will reach some sort of a agreement.

HILL: Absolutely.

LEMON: And as we leave you -- thank you very much -- I want to show you the skies above Gaza. Now the sun is coming up. Let's hope the shelling has ended for the day and has ended permanently, but, as we know, the likelihood of that not great.

When we come right back, CNN has launched its new show "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH." And that happened just a few weeks ago. Today, one fugitive who was featured on the program was tracked down right here in New York City and a shoot-out followed that. More on what happened next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We want to talk now about that wild shoot-out in Lower Manhattan. Authorities were trying to arrest a suspected child molester, Charles Mozdir. And he was a fugitive for more than two years and was tracked down by tips after he was featured on episode of CNN's "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH."

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is at the scene of the shoot-out now.

Deb, tell us what happened when officers tracked Mozdir to that scene today.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the smoke shop just behind me. You can see sort of the white lights there.

That's where the shoot-out happened. Mozdir seemed to know that the task force was coming for him. This is the U.S. Marshals, New York- New Jersey regional task force. One of the detectives on that task force had made a visual. Other Marshals responded and when they entered the store, Mozdir pulled out a gun and he began firing.

He hit one of the detectives in the abdomen, and he hit another in the leg. Another was injured with what appears to be shrapnel or a bullet to the arm as well. They opened fire back, taking him down. He was killed, pronounced dead on the scene, right now police combing through video to try to find whatever clues they can as to how this all played out. There's going to be a lot more, Don, coming up in the 11:00 hour.

LEMON: Absolutely, Deb, and we will see you then. Thank you very much.

I'm joined by John Walsh. He's the host of CNN's "THE HUNT." Ed Smart is the father of Elizabeth Smart. She was kidnapped from her bedroom at the age of 14 and held captive for nine months.

Gentlemen, thank you both for joining us.

"America's Most Wanted," you did it for 25 years. Right? This is your first capture on "THE HUNT." This is what you live for. This means everything to you to help out like you.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "THE HUNT": This is a fantastic result, because this was a guy I profiled a week ago, and as Ed will tell you in a second, I'm the father of a murdered child. He is the father of a missing child that was recovered.

These are the guys I hate the most. This guy was on the run for two years. While he was on the run, he told people that he was going to come back and kill this little boy's father for turning him in. So there is a big sigh of relief tonight that Charles Mozdir is off this planet.

LEMON: And they knew he was armed. Right? Police knew he was armed.

WALSH: Yes. We knew. We got some great tips last week and we got some tips when they re-aired the show just before the original show on Sunday night.

LEMON: On Sunday night. Yes, I watched it Sunday night, actually. I fell asleep to it.

Listen, Ed, Ed Smart, your family benefited from the success of "America's Most Wanted." How important is it for the public to speak up?

ED SMART, FATHER OF ELIZABETH SMART: You know, I think there isn't a greater resource out there than the public.

And one of the things that John does consistently is call upon that resource and really drill into them how important their role is in finding children and helping to catch -- catch these predators. I mean, they're out there. They -- they're out there to do harm. And it's -- it's amazing to see how the response is.

And John has always just elicited this huge response from the public. And, you know, law enforcement overall, I believe, the more they use the resource of the public, the greater effect, the quicker we find these creeps and these bad people. So this is exciting. I'm thrilled for John and for "THE HUNT." And I

hope it brings down many more and really thank the public in Elizabeth's case.

LEMON: Ed, if I can get in here, because I want to talk about what you're talking about now. In this family's case, right, they wanted to share their story to prevent Mozdir from hurting anyone, but they asked that their identities not be revealed so that their son would not be stigmatized. How hard is it for families to speak out in these cases, you know, when children have been abused? But it is important that they do it, but it's hard.

SMART: Well, you know, the issue really boils down to the child, or the person that's being, that has been abused. You've got this threat out there, which was just like Elizabeth. How they control the victim is by saying, you know, "If you don't do what I tell you to do, or if it is a member of the family, I'm going to kill. I'm going to come back and do that."

You know, certainly in our case, Elizabeth felt that there wasn't any question that Mitchell would have come back and tried to hurt a member of the family. So it's something that's very real. But it's also, you know, you've got to understand that they don't really have that kind of control that they claim they do. And -- and so moving forward and being able to bring these creeps to put them in jail, put them where they belong.

LEMON: Justice. Right?

SMART: Absolutely.

LEMON: Hey, John. Can I ask you this? Because you know, the little boy is very brave to speak out. You know, and his mom and dad, you know, he told them at a young age. And I told you my experience when you walked in the studio. I didn't tell my parents until I was 30 years old. How important is it for -- to foster a relationship like that with your children where they're open enough?

WALSH: It is incredibly important, and talking about Elizabeth Smart, who now, when she has a chance, speaks on behalf of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And so do her mother, Lois, and her father, Ed. We always talk about being proactive. We talk about education. We talk about opening that bond of trust with your child and say, "I don't care if it's the priest, the minister, the rabbi; if it's Uncle Bill; if it's Grandpa Bob. You can tell me. And if you're afraid to tell me, tell someone you trust, and we will do something about it." It's vitally important to open those lines of communication with your children. Eighty percent of crimes that happen to children are by a trusted authority figure. This guy was the child's godfather. You know, was a roommate of the father in college.

LEMON: We always say people are not who they present themselves to be in public. Thinking you're a perfect example of turning the worst thing into something that can help other people, and I wish everyone could do that. Ed, you, as well. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate you joining us.

And coming up, we're going to talk. John is going to be back with us at 11 p.m. And we'll have a special on -- on what you just did.

Coming up, we're going to talk about the massive explosions in Gaza tonight, but there's turmoil. It's spread around the world in Libya, Afghanistan, Ukraine. And Americans are feeling the tension.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're following breaking news in the Middle East, Israel launching air strikes all night long in Gaza. Al-Aqsa television is reporting that the house of Ismail Haniya, a senior political leader of Hamas, has been hit.

That deadly battle is just one example of violence in hot spots around the world that's troubling to many Americans. Here's CNN's Jean Casarez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day, another round of anxiety on the world stage. Israel's Operation Protective Edge into its third week with no lasting cease-fire in sight. Fresh rockets from the Israeli side tonight.

The American embassy in Libya evacuated over the weekend because of increasing violence in Tripoli. And new worries about Afghanistan, where a government you had a why it shows nearly half a million weapons supplied by the U.S. to Afghan security forces may end up in the hands of Taliban insurgents.

After the shoot-down of Flight 17, concerns about the potential threat from Russia and its provocative leader Vladimir Putin as the U.S. and Europe agree on stronger sanctions against Russia.

Terror expert Philip Mudd.

PHILIP MUDD, INTELLIGENCE EXPERT: The willingness to use these weapons against neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine with a major super power. And I would consider Russia to be a super power that abuts against NATO countries in Europe. The willingness to use force, to me, is a deep concern.

CASAREZ: It's enough to fray the nerves of ordinary Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Planes are falling out of the sky. That's scary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. could possibly be a target in the future, getting involved in other people's conflicts. But it is something that we should do since we're a country that's neutral in wars. But right now, I don't know.

CASAREZ: Anxieties echoed in a recent Pew Research poll, showing nearly 60 percent of Americans are either very worried or somewhat worried about another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

U.S. officials are concerned about the threats from ISIS, the terror group that now calls itself simply the Islamic State. ISIS became a household name after recently taking over key Iraqi cities within days.

Another concern, ISIS members with U.S. or European passports heading to the region to train. One positive in all of this: unlike the days after September 11, authorities now know better what they are dealing with.

MUDD: We have a sense of who the adversary is, of what we can and can't do to oppose that adversary, and the amount of uncertainty, I think, is reduced with that big asterisk.

CASAREZ: Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Jean, appreciate that.

I've asked you to tweet us if you feel unsafe. And tonight the experts are answering your questions. I'm joined now by CNN military analyst Lieutenant Rick Francona, aviation analyst Miles O'Brien, national security analyst Bob Baer, and he's also a former CIA operative.

Good evening, gentlemen. Are you doing OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Fine, thanks.

LEMON: Good. One-, two-word answers.

All right. So Colonel, I'm going to start with you, Rick, as you have told me to call you. I'm going to start with you. We saw in Jean's piece, Americans are increasingly worried about the impact of, you know, all this conflict that's happening around the world and what's going on. Are we -- as we look at the shelling that's happening in Gaza tonight, how much of this is destabilizing to U.S., the U.S. and its interests?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, all of them in total destabilize the whole world. And of course, our interests are worldwide. So of course, we have to be involved in this.

And I know everybody in the United States is war weary. We're withdrawing from wars, and we don't want to get involved in any more. But sometimes you only get one vote. The other guy gets a vote, as well.

So if we face a threat from the Islamic state, ISIS, whatever they're calling themselves now. If they set up a quasi-state in what is now Iraq and Syria and they start exporting terrorism, we're going to have to deal with that, whether we want to or not.

LEMON: Bob, you know, today the U.S. and Europe agreed to impose tough new sanctions against Russia. This time, targeting financial energy and the defense sectors. Will it have any effect on Putin's behavior? I mean, a lot of people have told me that he really doesn't care about sanctions.

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: He doesn't care. This man is bloody-minded. He went into Chechnya. We've seen over the last year him just destroy the north Caucasus. He is not going to give up eastern Ukraine. He's going to hit back hard, probably against the Ukrainians.

You have to do real long-term damage to Russia to get him to change his mind. He's very popular. He's got national support. And you know, that's just half our problem overseas. The other is the jihadists. They're here in this country.

Gaza is inflaming them. We have an Islamic state in Iraq. Their surface-to-air missiles that you saw in "The New York Times." They're refurbishing the batteries. They're all over Africa, all over the Middle East. The UAE has canceled flights, crossing the corridor over Iraq, because they're worried about surface-to-air missiles. So I just think that, you know, further violence is inevitable going into this fall, and it will involve American victims.

LEMON: Miles, how worried should travelers be about surface-to-air missiles?

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, statistically, I think that's a remote possibility. I mean, certainly, it's more dangerous getting to the airport in the car you drive.

Having said that, I think we've learned a little bit -- a lot, actually, about how the airlines manage risk in flying over war zones. And I hope they've learned some good lessons about what their vulnerabilities might be.

You know, a lot of this has to do with what we talked about before 9/11. The failure of imagination. Airlines assumed, if they were above the altitude that a shoulder-fired, heat-seeking missile can go, say 15,000 to 17,000 feet, they were safe. Well, they're not. And so they need to rethink things.

But I also don't think that people should be turning around and staying home and cowering under the covers. That's not a reasonable reaction.

LEMON: I want to get your questions in. You know how I like to do this quickly, Miles. So I'm going to ask you something that Barbara wants to know. "Will we ever see the aviation authorities adopt a proactive attitude towards flight safety versus their current reactive mode?" We saw what happened with Ben Gurion Airport earlier. They're starting to adapt, no?

O'BRIEN: Well, if you'll recall, it was the airlines that instigated that. So short answer is no. I don't have a lot of faith in the regulators.

LEMON: OK. We talked about the types of terrorist targeters. Jean's question says, "Don Lemon, my biggest fear has always been our water systems. If terrorists poison our water, we'd go down fast." How sophisticated a plot would that have to be?

BAER: Very sophisticated. There's a lot more easier things to do in this country. And that's going back to traditional suicide bombings, you know, acetone and peroxide bombs. They're easy to make. There's any number of ways they can hit us.

And I hate to bring this up, but it is a real problem, according to people I've talked to. And that's the border. It's easy to get across. So if you're ISIS and you've decided that you have to strike at the United States, you simply send people into Texas or California.

LEMON: Rick, how about Americans and Europeans going to the Middle East and training with terror groups and then coming back? They have passports. They have easy access into the country. What's the concern there?

FRANCONA: This is the big fear, because you know, the gold standard is the American passport. And if you can -- if you can recruit a young jihadi here, send him overseas, send him to Syria, get him into the field with ISIS, get him some training, send him to Pakistan, get him some weapons training, explosives training, and then bring him back. And he doesn't have to worry about coming across the border in Texas. He can walk right through JFK, walk right -- walk through customs, and he's back home, and he begins his own jihad here. It's a real problem, and -- and there are people that are watching that now.

LEMON: As always, your expertise is right on. We appreciate it. Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

This is hardly the first time the U.S. has been directly involved in Middle East turmoil. When we come back, shocking comments about Israel made by President Richard Nixon and recorded on secret Oval Office tapes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: For generations, U.S. presidents have been involved in the turmoil in the Middle East trying to broker peace. So far with little success.

Joining me now is Doug Brinkley, or Douglas Brinkley, who's a presidential historian and the author of "The Nixon Tapes," which is -- it's very interesting. I've seen you everywhere with these. There's a lot of interest from the public.

Can we talk about the fighting in Israel now? It's been going on for centuries. Can any one president do anything to broker peace or bring peace to that region?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: It's very tough. You know, in October '73, Henry Kissinger was able to get involved with the Yom Kippur War. That's when Egypt and Syria invaded Israel. And Kissinger did a lot of backhand negotiating and eventually started setting the bar, if you can -- could for Jimmy Carter and the Camp David peace accords. It actually grew out of war. It's important tonight, when we're watching what's going on in Gaza to recognize, we can't give up on the two-state solution. We've got to keep doing -- fighting for peace if you're the U.S. government.

LEMON: It's funny that you should mention Henry Kissinger, who was Nixon's national security adviser. But he didn't want his own national security adviser, at the time, to get involved in any talks about anything that had to do with Israel or anything, because he was Jewish. Let's take a listen and then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Anybody who is Jewish cannot handle it. Even though Henry's, I know, as fair as he can possibly be, he can't help but be affected by it. You know, put yourself in his position. Good God, you know, his people were crucified over there. Jesus Christ! Five million of them popped into bake ovens. What the hell does he feel about all this?

H.R. HALDEMANN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, what he ought to recognize is even if he had no problems at all on it, it's wrong for the country, for American policy in the Middle East to be made by a Jew.

NIXON: That's right.

HALDEMANN: And he ought to recognize that. Because then, if anything goes wrong, they're going to say it's because a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Jew did it, rather than blame Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What do you make of that?

BRINKLEY: Anti-Semitism. Nixon always seemed to say something anti- Semitic. Here it is, Henry Kissinger that's trying to do the diplomacy, who was Jewish, and his own boss, Nixon, sort of making smears about Kissinger like that. It's the unpleasant side of Nixon. Nixon does the opening of China and diplomacy with the Soviet Union that you can applaud. But the kind of bigotry that comes out of these tapes is unacceptable for an American president.

LEMON: I think you're being rather kind, because I want to remark on the language used, "popped into baked ovens."

BRINKLEY: Yes.

LEMON: To bake ovens. A goddamn Jew. I hate to even say that.

BRINKLEY: But look, I don't know what to tell you. He -0 you should hear him on, people from India. There's a book called "The Blood Telegram" by Professor Gary Bass of Princeton. People need to read it. And you'll see the way that Nixon and Kissinger thought about people from India. It's really uncomfortable material when you look at how the two of them talked. And then operated. It's cold-blooded realism in foreign policy. It's about big powers, and they don't care about little people.

But yet Kissinger and Nixon are always scoring points against each other. So it's a bit of a psycho drama, Don.

LEMON: I don't want to quote you wrong. You said that Kissinger went out of his way to avoid bias, right? And then he talks about the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union. We'll look and then we'll talk about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy. And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRINKLEY: Yes. You know, I find that kind of talk just stunning. Here the Soviet Union is repressing Jewish people. There is no freedom of religion. There is no FDR for freedoms going on there. And here Kissinger is saying, "We don't care about them. Let Russia deal with their problems. We wouldn't like it if they dealt with -- told us what to do about African-Americans. And I don't care" -- at one point, Kissinger says, "I don't care if the Soviet Jews go into a gas chamber." That's the quote.

LEMON: Have we done more harm than good, you think, as a country, when it comes to dealing with the Middle East?

BRINKLEY: Well, I mean, we were great, I think, to support the creation of Israel in 1948, and there's different great moments at it. But it's tough for to us dictate what's going on. Now we are so committed to the -- to Israel, our great ally, for a lot of great reasons. It's the democracy in the region. But sometimes it just gets out of control there.

Nobody has an answer of how to stop the hatred in the Middle East. Each president has to deal with it.

LEMON: When last we spoke, it was Cronkite book -- I'm still reading it. And now at least I get to just listen to this. Always a pleasure, Doug Brinkley.

BRINKLEY: Thank you so much.

LEMON: Thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: At the top of the hour we're going to bring you more on the episode of CNN's "the Hunt" on the search for Charles Mozdir -- Mozdir. He is a suspected child molester. He was killed today in a shoot-out with New York City police. John Walsh, the host of "The Hunt," is going to join me live.

But right now it is time to spotlight another CNN series that's really making a difference, and that's "CNN Heroes." African lions are teetering on the brink of extinction, and this week's hero is a conservationalist [SIC] battling to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sixty years ago there were probably half a million lions in Africa. Today there's less than 30,000 lions in all of Africa. If we don't do something soon, there will be no lions left. Maybe in 10, 15 years, who knows?

I spent a year living in the Masai community to understand why people were killing lions. It brings a huge amount of prestige for the warriors, and they were killing lions in retaliation for livestock that were killed.

They started opening up and telling me stories. That's when it clicked. If we want to conserve wildlife, we have to integrate communities. Our organization hires Masai warriors, and it converts lion killers into lion guardians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GRAPHIC: Before I became a Lion Guardian, I killed (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I didn't think they were beneficial. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we first hire lion guardians, they don't know how to read or write. We provide all of that literacy training and the technical training. They track lions so they can keep very accurate ecological data on lion movement.

The lion guardian model is founded on Masai cultural values, and it is just being tweaked a bit to the 21st Century.

We never really even imagined that we could transform these lion killers to the point where they would risk their own lives to stop other people from killing lions.

When I first moved here, I never heard lions roaring. But now I hear lions roaring all the time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: The next hour of CNN TONIGHT starts right now.