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Jerusalem Mayor Tackles Suspect; Discussion of U.S.-Israeli Relations; New Arrests in Paris Terror Attacks; Details of Apple's Smart Watch Revealed Today
Aired March 09, 2015 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: As the clock ticks down to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, Republicans are sending a firm message to Iran's leaders, a deal will not last. They write this in an open letter to Iran. Quote, "it has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system. Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement." The letter goes on, quote, "the next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time."
Now, this letter arrives as President Obama's team continues to negotiate. Mr. Obama describes the nuclear deal as extraordinarily reasonable. Listen to what he told CBS.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But over the next month or so, we're going to be able to determine whether or not their system is able to accept what would be an extraordinarily reasonable deal if, in fact, as they say, they are only interested in peaceful nuclear programs. And if we had unprecedented transparency in that system, if we are able to verify that in fact they are not developing weapon systems, then there's a deal to be had. But that's going to require them to accept the kind of verification and constraints on their program that so far, at least, they have not been willing to say yes to.
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COSTELLO: Now, the president also warns that the U.S. is prepared to walk away from any deal that does not include tight inspections. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also appeared on "Face the Nation."
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I do not trust inspections with totalitarian regimes. It didn't work with North Korea. They violated it and played a good game of hide and cheat. It didn't work with Iran. They cheated and bamboozled inspectors. It's a matter of survival really on the deepest security issues for the state of Israel, I think for the security of the Middle East, for the security of the world and also for the United States.
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COSTELLO: At home in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a tough re- election next week. Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Tel Aviv's main square this weekend. Their message, Israel wants change.
With me now the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. He has endorses Netanyahu, something the prime minister certainly celebrates because Mayor Barkat is not only the mayor. Many in Jerusalem are now calling him a superhero. After all, the mayor did tackle a knife-wielding man who had just stabbed a citizen walking down the street. That's the mayor, you'll see him in white, and he'll eventually wrestle this man, this terrorist to the ground. Amazing, right? The mayor joins me live this morning from Johannesburg in South Africa.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for joining us. I appreciate it.
MAYOR NIR BARKAT, JERUSALEM: Hi, Carol.
COSTELLO: Hi. Mayor, we have to talk about that video. It's not every day a mayor leaves the safety of his car to tackle a man with a knife. Take us through that day.
BARKAT: Well, first of all, thank God in Israel, in Jerusalem, we have many, many people that are trained from the army to get engaged and get involved if, God forbid, there's trouble. And you want to be in such an environment. For me, I just -- I was in the car. We did not know that it's a terrorist when I came out of the car. And as we walked to figure out what's going on, we heard some hustling and challenges. I saw the terrorist with a knife seeking who else he wants to stab. And so my security guard took out his pistol, cocked it and aimed at him and he immediately threw the knife and I jumped him just to make sure that we neutralize him. I assume that if he wouldn't have dropped the knife, we would have killed him on the spot because we would not allow terrorists to create a terror attack in the city of Jerusalem. And immediately went on to take care of the wounded person.
COSTELLO: He --
BARKAT: Please.
COSTELLO: Oh, I was just going to say, it's not every day a mayor risks his life to do such a thing.
BARKAT: But you don't think about it this way. It's a natural instinct. You are getting -- I got into the situation to see what's going on. And when we're in such a situation, you just perform based on what you're taught and what you expect from your friends to get engaged. And it was just very pure instinct. We didn't think about it at the time.
COSTELLO: Wow. We've had lone wolf attacks here in this United States, too. How are you protecting your citizens? BARKAT: Well, first of all, you should know, I'm here in Johannesburg
in a trip to -- in South Africa. Our crime rates, if you take crime and terror together, are one-tenth the average of American city, of Atlanta. We're one-sixtieth, one-fortieth of South Africa. So when I travel to America or to South Africa, I pray to come back safely back home to Jerusalem.
And all in all we have excellent police. We heave excellent security. The people are trained. If God forbid something happens, we get engaged, we get involved, we help each other. That's the nature of Israelis and the nature of Jerusalem. And I think it gives a lot of pride and self of security when you travel the streets of Jerusalem, which is indeed the case. So I think we've got great police, great help from each other and it works. We're one of the safest cities in the world.
COSTELLO: What about arming individual citizens?
BARKAT: Oh, indeed, we have many, many Israelis that have carried weapon, have fought in the army. I myself was a company commander in the paratrooper. I was shot myself in Lebanon in 1980. So we are willing to take responsibility for the sake of our friends. And this is something quite remarkable in Israel that people are willing to stick their neck and help others and get engaged. They don't think about themselves necessarily. That's what I did and that's what majority of the Jerusalemites do when God forbid we're attacked. And that togetherness is a key element of living proudly and safely in our city.
COSTELLO: You have a host of terrorist groups to worry about, but I wondered if ISIS is an immediate threat to Israel, too.
BARKAT: Well, you were earlier talking about the threat of Iran. Iran and radical Islam regimes that are fund and supported by Iran and others is not only Jerusalem problem, it's not only Israel's problem, we're all in the same line. Now, we may be first in line, but it's the same line of radical Islam that doesn't accept Christianity or Judaism, that is willing to fight for it. And, unfortunately, that's growing. ISIS is just one incidence of it. Go to the Hamas, go to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza and other regimes here in Africa and others, they're similar to each other in their unwillingness to accept people different than them. You come to Jerusalem, you'll see the respect. It's the only place where Christians feel secure and safe in the Middle East. And we're an open society and willing to -- seeking win-win deals with our neighbors. That's unfortunately not the case with ISIS and the other regimes.
COSTELLO: The United States is fighting ISIS in Iraq. Iran is, too. Does Iran's involvement in Iraq concern you?
BARKAT: Well, unfortunately, I don't trust the Iranians. And just listen to what they are saying. They're saying -- they're supporting terrorist groups, maybe not ISIS, OK, that's not comfortable for them but they support others, Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza and others. They believe that by proxies, by terrorist groups and proxies they can get their way. They believe that nukes will help them destroy Israel. That's what they're saying. And they will tell the American and the public whatever you want to hear because they know their goal and they're stating what their goal -- what their goal is. So I don't trust them, unfortunately, for anything they say. And they'll get anything they can by peace, by agreements and the rest by force and by terror. So I wouldn't trust them. I don't think anybody in the world should trust them.
COSTELLO: All right, we're going to dig deeper into that topic, but I have to take a break. So, mayor, please stick around. I'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: Joining me again, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. I'd like to continue our conversation right now. Thanks for sticking around. I appreciate it, Mr. Mayor.
BARKAT: Okay.
COSTELLO: Benjamin Netanyahu, he's angered many Democrats here in this United States when he spoke before Congress. Some say the relationship between Israel and the United States has become partisan for the first time ever and the relationship has become splintered. Do you agree?
BARKAT: Well, I think that the values and the cooperation between Israel and the United States is unbreakable and unshakable. Even in the family, sometimes we have difference of opinions. I think that that's the way we should view this. The values, the vision, the only democracy in the Middle East that understands and appreciates the United States is Israel. And I, as doing business -- I'm an entrepreneur so I did a lot of business in North America -- I know how close the relationships are and always should be. Now, I think there's difference of opinions on the approach and the threat that Iran poses. We're first in line, as I said earlier, and we're most concerned, and unfortunately, don't trust the Iranians. Trying to do a deal is something that Prime Minister Netanyahu dearly cares about and is deeply concerned about --
COSTELLO: Mr. Mayor, if I can interrupt for just a second because here's the thing. You have Benjamin Netanyahu coming to the United States sort of telling our government how to deal with Iran and then you have Republicans just today sending this open letter to Iranian authorities, telling them that any deal that would be reached would probably be rescinded after President Obama leaves office. It seems like Benjamin Netanyahu has aligned himself with Republicans and vice- versa against a Democrat president that Democrats -- or Republicans in the United States don't agree with.
BARKAT: Well, look at it this way. I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu had two choices. Or to voice out before a deal is signed, or it may be a decade from now, people will ask him, "Why didn't you voice out your voice before the bad deal?" So Netanyahu had two bad choices, if you like: to voice out and to get some criticism or not to voice out his voice and say what he is concerned about and forever being blamed for not speaking up for the Israeli estate. So I think that if you look at it in a bit of perspective, he's doing his job, he's protecting Israel. He's coming out to the United States and to anybody who wants to hear and raising a red flag, don't do a bad deal. I appreciate him for that. He has some criticism -- don't talk about the process, talk about the message.
COSTELLO: Couldn't you argue that Benjamin Netanyahu is being used by the Republicans and the American Congress?
BARKAT: No, no, not at all. Look, the subject matter. Focus on the subject matter a second. If you were an Israeli and you knew that Iran, the biggest enemy of Israel, supporting all the terrorist groups that haunt us and fire rockets at us, would they blink twice in giving or sending or firing a nuke at Israel? They wouldn't blink twice. They don't care what America thinks. It's his duty, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's duty, to come and raise that red flag regardless of the criticism he may receive from one party or another. This is something deep into the future of Israel. We went through one holocaust, we're not going to go through another one. And if he has got to go out there and say and voice out his voice, he has got my support, he's got the majority of the Jewish people supporting him on this, and hopefully you understand, it's not just our problem. We may be first, but the Iranian regime doesn't like America. I've been there on September 11, I saw who was happy when I saw the two Twin Towers fall. It's this same regime in Gaza and other places in the world. They are not your friend. They are not our friend, unfortunately.
COSTELLO: All right. Mayor Nir Barkat, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
BARKAT: Thank you.
COSTELLO: You're welcome, sir.
I have some breaking news to share with you right now. We're learning new information about the Paris terror attacks. A spokesperson from the Paris prosecutor's office tell CNN that four people have been taken into custody. They're believed to be linked to the attacker, Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people during a standoff with police at a kosher supermarket in January. Police say one of the individuals is actually a policewoman. We'll bring you more details as soon as we learn more. I'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: Any remaining questions about the new Apple watch are about to get answered. In about three hours, CEO Tim Cook is expected to reveal all those secret details about their big gadget release.
CNN's Samuel Burke joins us now with five things to know about this new smartwatch. I'm ready.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It's the first new device since the iPad. The first under the watch of Tim Cook. It starts off at --
COSTELLO: Did you just say "the watch?"
BURKE: Yeah, I did. It starts off at $349. It comes in three different styles. It's called the Watch, the Watch Sport, the Apple Watch Edition, and it comes IN stainless steel, aluminum silver, they call it, 18 karat gold. Here is the most important part. Listen to me clearly. It only works if you have the iPhone 5 or newer. So you can't just walk around with this watch unless you just want to tell time. If you want to be able to use the functions on it like phone, e-mail, et cetera., you're going to have to have the phone with you to make it work. It doesn't have GPS. Again, you'll have to have the phone with you to make it work. And most importantly, Carol Costello, the most expensive model we expect to be announced today will cost $10,000. Will you buy me one?
COSTELLO: No, I'm not going to buy myself one. Are you kidding? It just doesn't sound like a great thing to invest in to me. I'm trying to like wrap my mind around it, but I can't.
BURKE: What they're saying is it will be more convenient. Instead of having to reach into your pocket, you can look down at your wrist to get a phone call, to answer a message. I'm skeptical though because there's a dirty little secret in wearables. It's the buzz word in technology, but one-third of people who get wearable technology in the United States abandon it within six months. And among adults, nearly half of them abandon it. Some people say this means Apple could come in and do well in a space where people haven't done well before. That's what they did with the iPod and the iPad. It's very hard to bet against Apple, but I don't know. Not being able to use it unless you have the phone, that really holds me back. You?
COSTELLO: Yeah, because I could envision myself buying one if I didn't have to have my phone with me.
BURKE: If you go running or something like that.
COSTELLO: Yeah. Then I could just look at my wrist, I could keep my time. But it doesn't have GPS, so it can't even track my mileage.
BURKE: It has Apple Pay on it so you could pay with it. But again, it looks like you're going to need to have the phone to be able to do that. If you're going to buy one, you're also going to have to have your phone with you. Don't forget that.
COSTELLO: We'll see if the lines form.
BURKE: We'll be watching.
COSTELLO: Yeah, we'll be watching. Ha, ha, ha.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after the break.
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