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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Israel Ready for Cease-Fire; ICAO Meets to Discuss Flying Over War Zones; Ebola Fears

Aired July 29, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jake Tapper.

We have some breaking news from the Middle East. A very senior Israeli official tells CNN's Tim Lister that Israel is, quote, "prepared for a cease-fire," unquote, but nothing firm has been agreed upon.

As you may know, earlier today, Palestinian government authorities proposed a cease-fire but Hamas rejected them.

Wolf Blitzer, my colleague, now joins me live from Jerusalem. Wolf, what do we know about any possible new movement towards a cease-fire?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Well, Jake, we have the spokesman for the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with us here in our Jerusalem studio. Mark Regev is joining us.

A lot of confusion right now, Mark. Is there going to be a cease-fire? Is there not going to be a cease-fire? What is the latest?

MARK REGEV, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: Unfortunately, Hamas has torpedoed the chance for a diplomatic solution. Just today, as Jake said, announced a cease-fire then shortly afterwards Hamas announces no, they're not part of this.

Israel over the days of this conflict has repeatedly accepted the Egyptian proposal which calls for an immediate cease-fire. And then talks in Cairo, Hamas has rejected that.

We've accepted humanitarian cease-fires to give the people in Gaza a breather to move about, to buy food stuffs, to go to hospitals, to have a bit of time-out, Hamas has either rejected them or violated them.

So really the ball is in Hamas' court. Someone has to ask, do you want this to go on or do you want this to end?

BLITZER: Prime minister's security cabinet getting ready to convene in Tel Aviv. Is a cease-fire on the table during this meeting?

REGEV: The ministers will of course review the military situation and the diplomatic situation. Our goal is clear.

Our goal is to free the people of Israel from the terror of these rocket attacks coming from Gaza and from these tunnel attacks coming from Gaza where we have people pop out of the ground with machine guns and explosives to kill and to murder, to kidnap people.

So ultimately, that goal, those goals, can be achieved diplomatically or militarily or a combination of them both, but we will continue until that goal is achieved.

BLITZER: If Hamas accepts this Palestinian authority initiative, I assume together with the Egyptians for a cease-fire, is Israel ready to accept it as well?

REGEV: There's a lot of ifs there. We've shown in the past that we've held our fire. We've shown in the past that we're willing to accept cease-fires.

But Hamas has always been the spoiler. Hamas has always refused to hold their fire. In fact, in Hamas' language, a cease-fire is only Israel. It doesn't include them.

Obviously, that's not sustainable. We are ready for a period of sustained peace and security for the people of Israel, for the people of Gaza. We're ready to end this. But it has to be real.

BLITZER: It looks like there's been a major escalation other the last 24 hours, and I anticipate later tonight as well, as Israel's military campaign in Gaza. What's going on?

REGEV: Yesterday, we took a deliberate step to deescalate. The IDF had orders only to work on the tunnels, which is defensive, and to protect our forces as that work goes ahead.

Of course, you understand why we have to deal with those tunnels, because that's a strategic threat to our people.

But Hamas took the Israeli attempt to deescalate and chose to escalate, and we had rockets in the very north of our country. We had the terrorists coming across the border killing our people. We had mortars from Gaza killing our people.

So Hamas threw away the chance yesterday to deescalate. That's why we are where we are today.

BLITZER: Did the army air force or artillery blow out one of the major power plants in Gaza?

REGEV: We're not aware it was our fire. We've spoken to all the units.

BLITZER: Was that a target of the Israeli military?

REGEV: No, it wasn't.

BLITZER: Because it's out, as you know.

REGEV: We don't know exactly what happened yesterday. As I said, we've investigated to see if it's our fire, apparently not.

I remind you what we saw yesterday, where you see Hamas munitions malfunctioning and falling in Gaza.

I've been told that some 10 percent of Hamas rockets fired from Gaza into Israel actually malfunctions, falls short and lands in Gaza.

BLITZER: Mark Regev, thanks very much for joining us. Mark Regev's the spokesman for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

So, Jake, you just heard it. If there was any great expectations that a cease-fire was about to break out here between Israel and Hamas, it doesn't look very likely, at least not now.

We'll see what happens after the Israeli cabinet meets in emergency session. It's supposed to begin in about an hour from now.

TAPPER: All right, Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem, thank you so much.

Now let's go back to the passenger jet shot down over Ukraine. This afternoon, airline industry leaders are meeting in an attempt to prevent any further civilian plane shoot downs.

Why do some airlines fly over countries that are at war, while others say it's not safe to do so?

Just ahead, we'll show you the global danger zones for commercial flights. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: Anxious flyers have plenty to keep them up at night -- mechanical failure, collision, terrorism, and of course, after the MH- 17 crash, we can now add war zones to the list.

The FAA has established no-fly zones for U.S. aircraft over dangerous nations. You see them here in red; in yellow, a notice-to-airmen alert to be cautious. But many international flights take passengers directly over the most dangerous places on earth.

In response to the MH-17 air disaster, the International Civil Aviation Organization is meeting just over an hour from now to discuss the risk of flying over war zones.

Joining me now CNN's aviation correspondent Richard Quest and CNN safety analyst and former FAA inspector David Soucie.

Richard, let me start with you. It seems commonsensical. Why don't airlines just avoid routing their aircraft over war zones?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: They don't do so not because of cost, not to save money. They don't do so because the regulators, the people who are charged with saying whether the road is safe, basically, have told them it is safe.

No airline flies a route that the regulator has said is closed. They're not allowed to. The route wouldn't be open.

Now, some airlines choose to take a, if you like, a higher level of caution. Others basically say, look, the regulators, the global -- the governments say, Jake, it is safe. Therefore, we are going to file flight plans that take us down that road.

We're an airline, they say. We're not equipped to know the every nuance of every disaster or every conflict zone. We have to go by what the regulators say.

TAPPER: David, what safety technology exists, is available right now that could potentially prevent another mh-17 shoot down from happening?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, right now, the NOTAM system, it's a very complex, thorough system, for notifying the entire airline industry when a particular state has said we have a risk within our country, and we're going to make that known to everyone.

What it can't do, what it doesn't do, is allow that to happen from anybody other than that particular country, so in the case of Ukraine, Ukraine said it was safe to 32,000 feet.

They did not, which they should have, issued, saying it's no longer safe at 33,000 feet. We've had airplanes shot down at 31,000 feet.

So ICAO is stuck between a rock and a hard place as far as do they take over and do this or do the countries still maintain their sovereignty and ability to issue those NOTAMs?

TAPPER: Richard, what do you think is going to come out of this meeting today?

QUEST: Well, I think what's going to come out is a framework. We're not going to get a solution. We're not going to get a new way of working.

What we're going to do, and I'm guessing it's going be to the air navigation departments that will leading the way here or the airports themselves -- what we're going to get is a framework for how better to judge the risks.

The airlines are not equipped to do it. Let's just get that right on the table. I mean, Tim Clark, Tim Clark of Emirates, his airline has been flying over Iraq for months and months.

Last week, it started -- or yesterday said it was no longer going to fly over Iraq because they've made that judgment.

But somebody above the airlines has to make that judgment. And my guess is in Montreal today, they will begin that process.

But as David says, countries won't give up sovereignty. Airlines want certainty. The passengers want safety. No one wants to lose a plane. But everybody wants to get their way.

TAPPER: David Soucie, very quickly, if you could, if you could snap your fingers and have the international aviation industry go along with what you think needs to be done, what are the top three step, you would do?

SOUCIE: The first thing is they need to implement the ASIAS, the Aviation Safety Information and Analysis Section, which the FAA developed and has offered to turn over to ICAO.

That's where it belongs, that's where it needs to be, and then the states report to that analysis section. That's what has to happen. And ICAO needs to take a stronger role in that.

TAPPER: All right, thank you, Richard Quest and David Soucie. Appreciate the conversation.

A suspected child molester tracked down after he was profiled on the CNN show "THE HUNT," and he did not go down without a fight.

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JOHN WALSH, CNN HOST, "THE HUNT": They usually give up like little babies. They're real cowards, preying upon children, preying upon women. This guy was armed and ready.

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TAPPER: Just ahead, John Walsh talks about the viewer tip that led to a deadly shootout with police.

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TAPPER: For more than 20 years, John Walsh profiled the worst offenders from the criminal world on television. His show, of course, "America's Most Wanted," which led to hundreds of arrests. Now another criminal is off the streets, to say the least, after his case was profiled on CNN's "THE HUNT" with John Walsh." Charles Mozdir (ph), he was killed in a shootout with police in New York yesterday. Three officers wounded in that incident are all, thankfully, recovering. Walsh spoke earlier today to our Chris Cuomo about the suspect, about his new show, and about his lifelong mission.

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WALSH: And the worst thing was, of course, he weaved his way into family's lives. He was the godfather of this little boy. And like all those predators that are out there, he waited for the opportune time and he struck, destroyed this family. They had big, big courage, Chris, to go forward, and his roommate told police and told us that he had threatened that he was going to go back and kill the father for turning him in. So this family lived in fear for two years.

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": And unusual that this kind of sicko is also homicidal though, right?

WALSH: Oh, absolutely. They usually give up like little babies. I mean they're real cowards preying upon children, preying upon women. But this guy was armed and ready. We got the tip a week ago, our second show, and marshals focused in on the village area. And then they reran the week befores show just before I went live with a new show, 9:00 Sunday. We got another tip that he was down in the village. And the fugitive task force circled right in and got him.

CUOMO: Does a case like this make you remember the need, John -- you're the only one who does this. You know, "America's Most Wanted" is a unique thing in the media. It has a direct public service that is effective. It would be tough to leave, wouldn't it?

WALSH: I'm the father of a murdered child. I still have that rage. Last Sunday was the 33rd anniversary of Adam's abduction and murder. And that's when the tips that took him down came in. Tough, tough day for my wife and I, but I thought, you know something, we're still out there fighting. We're still fighting back. And look what happened, we took this creep down.

CUOMO: So what do you want people to know?

WALSH: I want people to know that you can call me. You can go on our website, CNN -- I'm sorry, cnn.com/thehunt. You can call our toll free hotline. And I guarantee you'll remain anonymous. People want to do the right thing, Chris, they just don't know how to do it. Cops don't have the resources. A lot people don't want to talk to cops. We're there. If you see one of these creeps, I guarantee you, you can remain anonymous. We'll catch the guy, get him off the streets.

CUOMO: And as scary as Mozdir seems, Mozdir as we learned about him, there are plenty of them out there, aren't there?

WALSH: Tons of them. Tons of -- in all the years that I did "AMW," we turned down about 150 cases a week. We just couldn't keep up with the load. And one thing that people should learn from this case, if you're going to give your -- the person you love the most in the world, your greatest treasure, to somebody like this creep to baby-sit for you, you better check him out. You'd better find out who's watching our -- your kids.

CUOMO: And as much as the need is great, the challenge of justice is often just as great. And that's why we need every tool we can have at our disposal and that's really what your show is.

WALSH: It's about using the American public, not in a vigilante way.

CUOMO: Right.

WALSH: People want to do the right thing. They just want to know how to do it. And cops will be the first to admit it. The Coronoddo (ph) Police in San Diego, where this guy was wanted, said we don't have the resources. He ran. He's been out there for two years. We haven't had one good tip. I said, partner up with me, the marshals. We'll put him all over CNN. And if we're lucky, we'll get a tip. We got a great tip and he went down. He's right where he belongs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And you can catch a new episode of "The Hunt with John Walsh" on Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Right now, the world is in the middle of the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever. Two American health care workers have come down with the Ebola in Liberia. What is the danger of this disease spreading to the United States? Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us in just a minute to talk about the myths and the realities surrounding this very scary disease. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: Leaders in West Africa are scrambling to try to stop the deadly Ebola virus from spreading. We're talking about literally the worst outbreak of Ebola in the history of the world. The World Health Organization says more than half of the 1,200 infected have died. The latest victims include two American workers with the relief group Samaritan's Purse. Both are in a Liberian hospital right now. Officials in the U.S. are worried that Ebola could be just a plane ride away from the United States. Dr. Sanjay Gupta's our chief medical correspondent, of course.

Sanjay, what more do we know about these two American victims? Will they be evacuated from Liberia?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, in terms of how they're doing, they are quite sick. You know, you hear about how quickly Ebola can attack someone's immune system, make them sick. We're hearing that about these two people as well. They seem to have contracted it from another health care worker who may have spread it in a particular room.

It's tough about the evacuation question, Jake. There's sort of three main considerations. One is, are they medically stable enough to fly? That's the first and foremost. But also, how do you protect everyone else then who might be actually responsible for their transport? That can be a challenging task in a situation like this. And finally, where would they go? You know, there's not a specific treatment or anti- viral so it's not like some country is waiting with the magic treatment for them. So I don't think they figured out the answers to those questions yet, Jake.

TAPPER: How big is this outbreak, Sanjay?

GUPTA: It's the biggest. It's - this is - well, the first outbreak ever was back in 1976. It was in Zaire. And there had been a smattering of outbreaks since then. Some much larger than others. This is by far the biggest. If you take all the people in the history now of these outbreaks that have been infected, more than a third of them have been in this outbreak alone. It's the biggest in terms of number and it's the widest spread now in terms of geography.

TAPPER: And realistically speaking, how big a threat is this here in the United States? Is it very possible that someone infected with the virus could fly here and spread the disease or is that a remote, remote possibility?

GUPTA: There are sort of two questions, Jake, and it's important to just separate those out. Could they fly here? Could they spread the disease? I think the answer to the first question is yes. I know a lot of people have been doing interviews on this and people tend to soft pedal this because it strikes so much fear. So I can understand the soft pedaling. But, look, I was in Konokri (ph), Guinea. It's an inner - it's a capital city, has an international airport. There are people in that area that had Ebola. Between the time that you get exposed and the time you get sick, it can be up to 21 days, Jake. You could fly all over the world. It's going to happen at some point.

The second part of your question, could they transmit the disease? It's not a disease that transmits very easily. Typically some is very, very sick before they start to transmit the disease. And so if it -- you had someone with Ebola for example in the United States, I imagine they would be placed into isolation, all the safeguards would be put in place and they would try and offer whatever treatment they could to the person. So I think it could come, but I don't think it's going to be one of these things where it's going to spread easily after that.

TAPPER: And, Sanjay, very, very quickly, because we're almost out of time, what was the most surprising thing you learned when you were in Africa about this disease?

GUPTA: I think that the -- there is so much stigma against the health care workers. It was really surprising. It makes it very difficult for people to do their jobs. There were health care workers, Jake, who worked in these Ebola camps at great risk to themselves that could not even tell their families where they were working. So it was -- because they didn't want to be stigmatized. So you can imagine how difficult it is for these health care workers to do their jobs then.

TAPPER: All right, thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And thank you for watching. Be sure to join me later this afternoon on my show, "THE LEAD," starting at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 p.m. Pacific. We'll be asking questions to spokesmen for both the Israeli government and Hamas.

If you have questions, tweet me at JakeTapper. Wolf live from Jerusalem starts right now.