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Prime Minister Netanyahu Arrives in U.S. on Divisive Visit; Thousands Rally for Murdered Putin Critic; New Video Shows U.K. Teens En Route to Syria

Aired March 01, 2015 - 17:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, is the one who invited him. But many Democrats in Washington not thrilled. They say Netanyahu should have come at a different time, not this time, right ahead of his own election. Also President Obama was not consulted about this official visit.

Netanyahu trying to throw some water, some would say, on this conflict that you have between these two leaders, telling CNN just a few hours ago, quote, "This is a crucial trip, even a historical one. I will be the messenger of all the people of Israel, including those who agree with me and those who do not agree with me."

Whether the White House likes it or not, Benjamin Netanyahu is going to be here in the United States. In just moments, his plane expected to touch down. Also his plans to speak before a Joint Meeting of Congress on Tuesday morning, minus some Democratic senators and House members who are boycotting.

Let's talk about it now with our panel. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach joins me. Also director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Yousef Munayyer.

Thank you both for being here. I appreciate you it very much.

Yousef, let me begin. When you look at this, you say that Netanyahu is using Congress as a prop. And you've said that this is really purely political, looking at the timing. At the same time, can you understand why this leader, who believes that his nation is in grave danger, is willing to risk his relationship with the president, with the White House, to send this message very clearly to Congress?

YOUSEF MUNAYYER, EXEC. DIRECTOR, U.S. CAMPAIGN TO END THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION: No, because it's very clear that the prime minister has all the access and ability to deliver that message at any time. The timing of this is clearly being used to further his domestic political objectives.

Look, I think there are a number of reasons why members of Congress are perfectly within their right to not want to attend the speech, including the fact that this Israeli prime minister has a history of thumbing his nose, not just at the White House and this particular president, but established U.S. foreign policy in relation to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have been agreed upon by Republican and Democratic White House administrations alike. He champions these settlements despite the fact that the United States

is opposed to them and is happy to take billions of U.S. aid and -- and diplomatic cover while ignoring these U.S. policies. So I think the question is not so much why members of Congress are not attending the speech, but why, given all of this, any members of Congress are still planning to go.

HARLOW: Rabbi, your response?

RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, AMERICAN ORTHODOX RABBI: Well, Yousef, respectfully, you're not even addressing the issue. This is not about settlements and it's not about a peace process. This is about an annihilatory genocidal intent on the part of Iran, the form of sponsored international terrorism, and has repeatedly threatened to annihilate, destroy and eradicate the Jewish state.

And they have hidden their nuclear program from the world, lied, deceived, for more than a decade. Now Iran is a -- is an oil superpower. They need a nuclear program for peaceful purposes the way I need a ham sandwich. This is all about building nuclear devices, which they have stated emphatically will be used to destroy the Jewish state.

Now there are six million Jews living in Israel. We kind of have than as an eerie number. Just 70 years ago, one out of three Jews on earth was gassed and cremated and turned into a lampshade, so we take this very seriously. And I know that protocol matters and I know no one wants to offend the president of the United States, but such considerations pale into complete and total insignificance in the -- in the wave of genocide, genocide, genocide.

We've had one holocaust. That's just one too many.

HARLOW: Rabbi, let me ask you this. I want you to listen to some sound from Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Jew herself, someone who is going to attend this address to Congress, but who is not fully supportive of what Netanyahu has come here to do, and this timing.

I want you to listen to what she said on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning and get your response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When Netanyahu said, he's coming to speak, he says he speaks for all Jews. Does he speak for you?

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: No, he doesn't speak for me on this. He doesn't at all speak --

BASH: Does that bother you when he says he speaks for all Jews?

FEINSTEIN: Yes. I think it's a rather arrogant statement. I think the Jewish community is like any other community. There are different points of view. So I think that arrogance does not befit Israel, candidly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Rabbi, your response to that?

BOTEACH: Well, arrogant or not, I think that being exterminated probably befits us even less. This is not about the character of the prime minister --

HARLOW: Do you think -- do you think -- are you saying you think it's a bit arrogant as well?

BOTEACH: No, what I'm saying is that I applaud the Senator -- Senator Feinstein for saying.

HARLOW: Yes.

BOTEACH: It is a democracy, people can express her views. She clearly doesn't seem to be much of a fan of the prime minister and God bless her for expressing that view. That's the beauty of a democracy, but why is the administration trying to silence the prime minister of Israel in addressing the world's most powerful legislature when the first of our amendment is a right to speak out.

HARLOW: Let's get --

BOTEACH: So let her express her opinion. Let Netanyahu express his opinion.

HARLOW: Let me get Yousef back in here.

Yousef, it's interesting because John Kerry, secretary of state, this morning on ABC's "This Week" said that Netanyahu is welcome to address the U.S. Congress but he said right now it is odd, if not unique, that the administration was not included in this process.

MUNAYYER: Sure, Poppy, I'd like to just response to one thing that the rabbi said.

Unlike you, Rabbi, I was actually born in the state of Israel. My hometown is there, my entire family is there. Many of my loved ones are there, I visit there frequently. If there was a true existential threat to the population there, I would have every reason to be as concerned as anyone else.

But the reality is, sir, that what you are engaged in and what the Israeli prime minister is engaged in, and going to be engaged in when he comes here is threat inflation and exaggeration for political grandstanding. The same kind of threat inflation and exaggeration that he participated in in 2002, when he spoke to Congress before the war on Iraq and exaggerated the benefits of that war saying that he guaranteed in fact enormous positive reverberations throughout the region if we took out Saddam.

What we ended up seeing as a result of the Iraq war, what we are seeing today still, is one of the most horrific things we have ever seen in the Middle East, that's ISIS growing out of that vacuum of power.

Frankly, sir, the American people do not need any more of his Benjamin Netanyahu's advice.

HARLOW: Do you -- Yousef, how important, though, do you think that a strong relationship between the prime minister of Israel and the president of the United States is? Even on a personal level? Although they have the same policy goals when it comes to Iran, they have very different views of how to achieve that. How important is this that this is -- this becomes a stronger personal relationship, Yousef.

MUNAYYER: Well, the relationship between, you know, any two countries is much deeper than any two individuals. What we're seeing now, though, which I think is truly unique about this moment is that the divide between the United States and Israel is not just a personal one between the president of the United States and the Israeli prime minister, but we're seeing a significant shift in American public opinion among particular demographics, including younger Americans and Americans who come from minority backgrounds, which are, by the way, the very base of the Democratic Party.

And what this suggests is that these changing attitudes, which are part of this divide that continues to grow and are being exacerbated by the Israeli prime minister, are going to have lasting implications for a divide between Israel and the United States that's far longer and far deeper than any two personalities at the top of those states.

HARLOW: Yousef Munayyer, thank you. Rabbi, thank you for joining us. We'll have you both more on this evening throughout the program, as we continue to cover this and we continue to wait for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plane to land.

We'll let you know as soon as that does in Washington.

To Russia now where Vladimir Putin, his critic, Boris Nemtsov was supposed to lead today's opposition rally in Moscow, protesting Russia's involvement in Ukraine among other things. Now he was murdered, as you know, less than 48 hours ago. Today's rally turned into an emotional tribute to Nemtsov. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Moscow there. Some left flowers at the shooting site on that bridge, which was just yards from the Kremlin.

Putin has vowed to find and to punish Nemtsov's killer. Russian police are looking for a male suspect they say with short hair, wearing blue jeans and a brown sweater. Authorities say the shooter likely used a Russian-made pistol.

I'll tell you a little bit more about this man, Boris Nemtsov, and his life. Who was he? What we know, he was born in Sochi, Russia back in 1959, science was his passion. The brash young physicist protested plans to build a nuclear plant in the late '80s. He leapt into politics, he won a seat in Russia's parliament at just age 29. Three years later he became the first governor of a prosperous area just outside of Moscow. His political star was rising pretty fast. Then in 1998 President --

then President Boris Yeltsin named Nemtsov the first deputy prime minister. Everything crashed when Putin took over. He was booted from government in 2003 and that is when he really embraced political opposition groups. He was arrested a number of times for criticizing Putin. In recent years, Nemtsov returned to his hometown of Sochi to study the funding of the Olympic Games there. He blasted the Sochi Olympics, saying most of the money was embezzled with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS NEMTSOV, FORMER RUSSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: This is the most expensive Olympic Games in the history of mankind. This is the most corrupted Olympic Games in the history of mankind. My estimation is that they steal about $25 billion to $30 billion U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, he spent decades trying to bring change to Russia. His efforts ended suddenly just yards from the Kremlin as we said. He was shot four times in his back. He leaves behind four children.

Coming up after a quick break, we're going to talk more about him. Also we're going to play you some of the interview that he gave just hours before he was shot and killed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov often aligned with Western journalists to show his fierce criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now he was shot, as you know, four times in the back just days before he was set to lead a rally in Moscow opposing Putin's government and policy.

My next guest met Nemtsov on several occasions. Let's bring him in. Joining me now, foreign policy columnist, Michael Weiss.

Michael, thank you for being with us again.

MICHAEL WEISS, CO-AUTHOR, "ISIS: INSIDE THE ARMY OF TERROR": Sure. Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: So you last saw Nemtsov back in 2013. You two were in Estonia.

WEISS: Right. Right.

HARLOW: What can you tell me about that conversation?

WEISS: Well, he was quite keen on expanding the Magnitsky Act, which was of course a U.S. law that was passed recently, back then anyway, that sought to impose visa bans and also freeze the assets of Russian officials who were credibly accused of gross human rights abuses. It was named after a famous -- well, now famous Russian tax attorney who exposed a $230 million tax fraud perpetrated by members of the Russian government. And Mr. Magnitsky was then railroaded by the very people he exposed for the crime that he exposed.

So Nemtsov was very keen on -- you know, one of his -- the main bulwarks of his work, you know, since 2000 has been to expose rampant Russian corruption. And he named names, you know, he named the names of the people who are involved in the Sochi Olympics, which he considered one of the most notorious and expansive acts of graft and theft ever perpetrated in modern history.

Not coincidentally, some of the people that he named wound up on U.S. sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. And if you look at what the Treasury Department had to say, the money and the figures that they cited often tracked with what Nemtsov had alleged. So he actually still was quite a relevant opposition leader, and despite what the Kremlin is now saying that he was, you know, sort of cast aside and marginal.

HARLOW: Michael, what do you think his ultimate goal was?

WEISS: I mean, I think Nemtsov belonged to a generation of, you know, true Russian liberals. He was always seen somewhat warily because of his involvement with the Yeltsin government which now in retrospect, compared to what the Putin government has got up to, seems sort of a bright shining gift to the Russian people, I would submit.

It is true, though, that, you know, he believed in expanding freedom and democracy in Russia. He was one of the earliest anatomists if you like of the regime that was being built. Now remember this is at a time, it wasn't really until about 2004, '05 that people in the West began to open their eyes and see what Putin was about. Remember the infamous meeting with George W. Bush, I looked into his soul, we had a partner in this man. He was the first foreign leader to call Bush after 9/11.

So the idea that there -- there could be normalized relations with this particular individual and the regime he was constructing, it's always struck Nemtsov as fanciful. You know, he -- I think he kind of got the cut of his jib early on.

HARLOW: It's interesting, you've said that Putin hast typically, as we've seen in some of these other sort of high-profile opposition leader jailings or murders even, poisonings, that typically, right, Putin has been pretty quiet after them.

WEISS: Yes.

HARLOW: This time we very quickly, hours later, got this statement from Putin directly to Nemtsov's mother, condemning the killing saying we will hunt down the killer. We will punish the killer.

Does this difference in reaction surprise you?

WEISS: Yes, and it actually worries me a lot. When Putin names people by name, it usually indicates something bad is going to happen.

Let's just be very clear. Whatever did transpire a few days ago, the Russian government's role in this crime has already been established in the sense that the president of Russia, a political enemy of Mr. Nemtsov, has said that he is personally going to oversee the criminal investigation.

In what law-abiding country would this ever be deemed feasible? The Russian state, again, through Mr. Putin via his press spokesperson Dmitry Peskov already implicated or suggested the motive and method. They said this looked like a contract killing with improvisational character designed to destabilize the Russian government. Well, there goes your impartial trial and investigation right there.

Third, state media, which is already paranoid and hysterical to begin with, and not just the normal outlets but the ones that are controlled by the Russian intelligence services have already defamed the victim. They said Nemtsov was killed because his Ukrainian girlfriend, he had to get an abortion for her in Switzerland, that it was a jealous ex- lover or he ran afoul on one of his many foreign governmental patrons. The Ukrainian government or the State Department or the CIA.

This whole thing -- I mean, nobody believes, even inside the regime at this point. Nobody believes there's going to be a credible investigation, that there's going to be any kind of free and transparent trial here. So whatever happens, you know, what do you say about a country where a public officials can be murdered right in front of the main government building and everybody already knows the results. The perpetrator will never, ever be found. This is a very dire state of affairs for Russia.

HARLOW: Michael Weiss, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

WEISS: Sure.

HARLOW: For that perspective and historical context to all of this.

Coming up, Boris Nemtsov did sit down with our Anthony Bourdain. Very fascinating conversation just last year over dinner. They talked about exactly this -- did Nemtsov fear for his life? They talked openly about Russian politics and what happens to people who cross Vladimir Putin. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEMTSOV: Good relationship with Putin and his people around, right? You repair a good relationship with governor or mayor, it doesn't matter. Here you are in the city, while you have a chance to raise money, to be successful, you know, to buy real estate in the south of France or in Switzerland, to open accounts in Swiss banks, et cetera. But if something happened between you and Putin, or you and your governor, you would be in jail. It's very easy.

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": And your company is dismantled --

NEMTSOV: That's why -- yes, of course, company will disappear.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: All right. We're going to show you the rest of that interview. It has never been aired before. It's going to be aired tonight right here on CNN for the first time, 7:30 Eastern, the Bourdain interview special, Boris Nemtsov.

All right. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just landed in Washington, D.C.,

Our Elise Labott travels on the same plane with Netanyahu here. She joins me on the phone.

Elise, can you hear me?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER (via phone): I can, Poppy.

HARLOW: What can you tell me about the trip over here and what else we may have heard from the prime minister?

LABOTT: Well, basically, Poppy, it was a very long flight, about 12 hours. The prime minister, we're told, really holed up in his cabin working on his speech to Congress. Journalists in the back, watching a lot of movies but we understand. We didn't get any rest. Really working on that speech. And Israeli officials just briefed reporters on the plane, told us, listen, the prime minister is going to come out, lay the elements of the deal he understands.

Those officials said, listen, we know a lot about this deal, and we believe it's a bad deal. And we're -- and the prime minister is going to lay out to Congress the elements of what he knows. He believes that Congress does not understand what's going on with this deal, and he wants to say why he thinks this is not only a threat to Israel, but to the U.S. and to the world.

We also understand he's going to urge Congress to push back -- get the administration, pressure them to push back that March 24th deadline for a political agreement because he feels that there needs to be more time for questioning about this deal.

Also understands the politically fought tone of the trip, Poppy. The prime minister spoke with Secretary of State John Kerry last night. This official saying, listen, the -- the prime minister is not trying to pick a fight with the president or the White House. He respects the president and the United States, and he wants to just make sure that this is not a bad agreement. He's not against any agreement, but he thinks that this agreement from what he knows is too many compromises in Iran's favor -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Can I ask you, Elise, very quickly, before we let you go if you believe that the tone is changing here a bit because Netanyahu and John Kerry spoke yesterday and then this morning on ABC, the Secretary of State John Kerry said that, you know Netanyahu is welcome to address Congress, the timing is just odd and it's frankly odd that he didn't consult the administration beforehand. A much calmer set of words and a much different tone than what we just heard from Susan Rise a few days ago, calling it destruct to the fabric of the relationship. Do you sense a change?

LABOTT: I think that there is a slight change in tone. I think both sides understood that this really got out of control. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the attention that they gave to this address and the criticism that they gave of the prime minister only kind of fueled the interests in this speech, and they have these agreements with Iran. They don't -- they kind of want to take the wind out of his sails now, I think.

So they're trying to lower the tone, lower down the rhetoric, and for Prime Minister Netanyahu, he understands how important this relationship is with the United States. He has his problems with President Obama, but he definitely understands that this relationship is too big to fail, so to speak. And so he wants to lower the tone. He knows that the day after Israel is still going to be needing to work with the United States on these Iran talks and so many other issues.

And so I think after this speech, you'll see the tone lower a little bit, but still got a March 24th deadline is coming up.

HARLOW: Right.

LABOTT: And if that agreement does take place, they think it's a bad agreement, we could see things heat up again -- Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott who just traveled to Washington, D.C. with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his plane. We'll continue to cover this throughout the evening.

Elise, thank you very much.

Coming up next, this new video may be evidence that three U.K. may crossed into Syria to join ISIS.

Also ahead, new details on the hunt for the man known as Jihadi John and what may have led him to join the terror group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It is the first sighting of a group of British teens since they disappeared from London just two weeks ago. Take a look at this. This is surveillance video from Turkey. What it shows is the three missing girls, it is believed, boarding a bus in Istanbul. Authorities believe they have already crossed into neighboring Syria with plans to join ISIS. Both British counterterrorism officials and the girls' parents have tried to persuade them to return home. This may be yet another example of the ISIS propaganda machine.

Let's discuss it with Dr. Qanta Ahmed, author of the "In the Land of Invisible Women" and a scholar.

Thank you very much for being with me. It is incredible to see how effective the ISIS propaganda machine has become. Not only targeting young men, clearly targeting young women as well. Why do you think it is so effective?

DR. QANTA AHMED, AUTHOR, "IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN": I mean, I think it's interesting. These are British female Muslims, British citizens. I was a British Muslim schoolgirl, too. They are being seduced into the narrative, even their dress on the CCTV is very characteristics of the neo-orthodoxy. They're wearing pseudo-Arab Gulf dress with sneakers, something that appeals to British youth tremendously. And I think this is entirely a choice.

I've just returned from London a few hours ago, and the British public is mortified, not just by these girls, but also by the discovery of the identity of Jihadi John. And there's a lot of hand wringing in Britain. Why this has happened?

This is happening out of a choice, a seduction in joining a narrative and these are individuals who are electing to pursue what they think will be some kind of adventure, some kind of ideal purpose. It's very difficult to combat.

Well, worth noting are the parents of these British Muslim girls, completely flabbergasted, and outstanding citizens themselves. Ethnically the girls look to me to be of Bangladeshi heritage, too, so this cuts across all sectors.

Mohammed Emwazi was a Kuwaiti in origin.

HARLOW: Right.

AHMED: It cuts gender, it cuts demographics and it cuts national origins.

HARLOW: Absolutely. And it's not only happening in Europe. I mean, it's happening here in the United States.

I want you to listen to the director of the FBI talking about just how vast the fight against this recruitment is right now. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: ISIL in particular is putting out a siren song through their slick propaganda through social media that goes like this, troubled soul, come to the caliphate. Right? You will live a life of glory, these are the apocalyptic end times. You will find a life of meaning here, fighting for our so-called caliphate. And if you can't come, kill somebody where you are. Right?

That is a message that goes out to troubled souls everywhere, resonates with troubled souls, people seeking meaning in some horribly misguided way. Those people exist in every state. I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: In every single U.S. state.

AHMED: Yes. (CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Does that surprise you?

AHMED: When I -- not at all. And when I listen to Director Comey, his words are eerily resonant of the actual accounts I heard in Pakistan's northwest frontier three or four years ago, from Pakistani boys, and how they were seduced into Taliban operations.

It's the same story. It was the same story 10 years ago when it was luring al Qaeda and it's probably going to be a similar story if you interviewed someone from Boko Haram. So it's not just the story. It's the medium. We are now in an era of unprecedented social media, which is just incubating this much more rapidly than anything before seen and also transcending all kinds of boundaries, national and otherwise.

HARLOW: Dr. Ahmed, thank you very much for joining me on this. We'll continue to discuss it and focus it on this show.

AHMED: My pleasure, Poppy.

HARLOW: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just landed in Washington, D.C. Not everyone, though, is happy about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEINSTEIN: So I think that arrogance does not befit Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The latest on his trip and the fallout, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, just landed in the United States, in our nation's capital, just moments ago ahead of what he calls a historic trip. He is expected to lobby Congress for real, real action on Iran. Also appealing for support from the American people in pushing back against this potential nuclear deal that he opposes. He does not clearly trust that Iran will hold up its end of any bargain that may be reached by the end of the month.

The lead-up to this trip has been increasing in heated rhetoric. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)