Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Netanyahu Speaks to Press; Rabbis Killed in Attack; Senate Votes on Keystone; Netanyahu Says Police Prevented Even Bigger Catastrophe; Four Killed in Attack Inside Synagogue; Synagogue Attackers Killed By Police; Interview with Rep. Adam Schiff

Aired November 18, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL (through translator): This is what the citizens expect of us to stand together as one man, united together. This is what is needed at this time, and that is national unity.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE.)

NETANYAHU (through translator): There is no gap between me and the head of the CIA (ph), who was very precise in his words today, in his testimony before the committee. Only a part of it was quoted. But what the head of the ISA said - and he clarified this as well - he said, Abu Mazen does not send out terrorists. He doesn't directly encourage acts of terror. And this is good. This is a good thing.

On the other hand, the incitement of the Palestinian authority, and he hates the Palestinian authority and sometimes even think that he personally says, these do encourage terrorism, in terms of incitement and people. And tensions that run high among people, that would be the right description. And I repeat that now as well.

Mr. Prime Minister -

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, here are the -- you're hearing the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking out condemning what happened in Jerusalem earlier today. Four rabbis killed, several other people who were worshipping at that time, early morning in Jerusalem, injured some of them seriously. Three of the four, American-born, one British-born, all rabbis, clearly a very, very disturbing development. And you hear the prime minister of Israel announce that Israel will take measures, including destroying the houses of those Palestinians who were engaged in this terror attack.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to, once again, welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

I want to go right to Jerusalem inside what's going on. Ben Wedeman is on the scene for us. Ben, explain to us what happened for viewers who might just be tuning in right now.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATINOAL CORRESPONDENT: What happened is just before 7:00 this morning, Wolf, there were around a dozen men in this synagogue in Har Nof (ph) in west Jerusalem when these two Palestinians from a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem called Jebo Mokuba (ph) burst into the room as they were praying. These men were armed with knives, with axes and we saw pictures with -- which would indicate they also had butcher's knives as well as a nine millimeter pistol and they started to attack these worshippers. Four of them were killed immediately. And within seven minutes, the Israeli police were alerted to this attack and arrived on the scene. As the two attackers were leaving, the Israeli police opened fired and were able to kill the two attackers. Now, six people were injured, some of them severely in this attack, including one of the police officers who we understand is now in critical condition.

Now, the Israelis have, of course, reinforced security around Jerusalem. They did dispatch forces to the neighborhood of Jebo Mokuba where these two attackers come from. Some of their relatives have been brought in for - into police custody for questioning. And as we heard the prime minister say, Israel will go ahead with the demolition of these houses.

Earlier we heard from Mark Regev, the spokesman for the prime minister, saying that this is a -- one technique they're hoping -- one strategy they're going to be used which they hope will deter any future attackers in this case. But the situation in Jerusalem now extremely tense. This is the worst attack in the city since 2008 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And the prime minister of Israel responding with that statement. You heard it, Israel will respond with a heavy hand. Has anyone claimed responsibility for this terror attack?

WEDEMAN: No. We heard Hamas, Wolf, praising the attack but not claiming responsibility. There was a statement that came out attributed to the popular front for the liberation of Palestine, a militant secular Marxist organization, which indicated that perhaps these two men were somehow affiliated with the organization. But there was no direct claim of responsibility. And this is one of the problems now that the Israeli security forces are facing in Jerusalem because it appears that this may be one in a long string of what they're calling lone wolf attacks. Attacks by people who, not for clear motivations, are launching these attacks but with no link to the usual suspects, so to speak. So, it becomes more difficult for the Israeli security forces for intelligence to really understand where the next attack might be coming from -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And the local authorities, as you know, Ben, they've identified these four rabbis who were killed in this knife and ax attack, whatever you want to call it. Let me put a -- give you their names. They identified the dead as Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Rabbi Kalman Levine and Rabbi Moshe Twersky. What do we know about the conditions of the others who were injured?

WEDEMAN: Well, we understand they range from sort of light to severe. And, of course, as I mentioned, one of them was -- one of the police officers that responded to reports of an attack who is in critical condition at this point. So, it -- we're told, actually, that normally there would have been more people in the synagogue at the time and for some reason, there weren't. So, it could have been much worse. But as far as many Israelis are concerned, this was about as bad as it can get where, of course, at morning prayers, worshippers are attacked in such a manner -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ben Wedeman on the scene for us in Jerusalem, thank you. Joining us on the phone right now is Mati Goldstein. He's a commander of ZAKA. That's an organization that provides search and rescue for these kinds of terror attacks inside Israel. You were one of the first people on the scene, Mati. Tell us what you saw.

MATI GOLDSTEIN, COMMANDER, ZAKA INTERNATIONAL RESCUE UNIT: Yes, I was one of the first people on the scene. When I got there, there was still shooting going on. As we train all our teams, we have to take care of safety. Once the police officers took clear of the terror attackers and they were dead, we went in with our team. Those of us who are trained in paramedics and first aid helped in saving lives.

I have to say that the scene was a complicated and difficult scene. There were about close to 50 people in the room, not like I heard before, people saying a dozen. There were about 50 people in that room and there were a lot of people were injured. Like, we know 12 were injured, four were killed. It was a very big chaos. And our mission is to make sense of the chaos. Our team came in, helped saving lives and then making sure that people that are injured are going to the hospitals and to the operation rooms. The second thing that we did is we took care of the remains of the body and to also make sure that the people can be buried as fast as they can together with the forensics of the police department.

BLITZER: And when -- by the time you got there, were the two terrorists who committed this ax attack, were they already dead? Were they already shot dead?

GOLDSTEIN: One of them was. The other one wasn't. It took another about half a minute to a minute when I was there to make sure that both of them are dead. We have to understand people are talking about the first response of the police officers in Israel which was but five minutes is still a long time when people are launching into a (INAUDIBLE.) When people are in the synagogues, have no weapons, they have nothing to help themselves, only by throwing tables and chairs and trying to save one another. So, five minutes is a long time.

BLITZER: In a synagogue like this in Jerusalem, is there normally special security outside? Is there special security going in or can anybody just simply walk in?

GOLDSTEIN: Anybody can simply walk in in any synagogue like I know in any other place around the world or in a mosque or wherever you want to go. And as long as you're going in to pray and to dovven (ph), no one's going to really check you and bother you. And that was here today. Unfortunately in the last month, we have known that Jerusalem is having all kind of terror attacks and people are on high alert together with the security services and the different organizations. But when somebody goes into a synagogue to pray, together with his kids at 7:00 in the morning, why should somebody harm him?

BLITZER: Have you ever seen anything like this before? I know you've been involved with ZAKA, this group that goes in and deals with - unfortunately, with bodies, with remains of people who have been killed. Have you ever seen anything like this where axes and meat cleavers, if you will, were used to kill these people?

GOLDSTEIN: Not like today. Unfortunately, in the last 15 years, I've been around all the world. Was at the bombing attacks in India where we had six years ago, a shooting in the (INAUDIBLE.) We had the explosion of the bus (INAUDIBLE.) All those place, I've been there. I've been in Haiti and japan. All kinds of situations. But today, we saw that the terrorists came to do something different. Something different. They used hostile within but they made sure that whoever is dead is dead. And unfortunately, I don't want to give you guys all the details because I don't think it's appropriate but it was a very, very complicated and bad scene.

BLITZER: It was an awful bad seen. But your sense, based on what you saw, what you know, these two terrorists who went inside that synagogue at 7:00 a.m. local time during the morning prayer service, they must have realized they were going to be killed themselves. These were suicide terrorists. They weren't suicide bombers. They were suicide murderers, right? They knew they were going to die.

GOLDSTEIN: You're right. Unfortunately, like I said before, in the last six weeks, we see this thing in Jerusalem. We see people driving in to train stations. We see people going and stabbing people, knowing that they're going to die. This is something new that we have to deal with.

But on the other hand, you also have to understand that the spirit in the Jerusalem is very high. And the Jewish population in Israel is not going to put themselves down for any terror attack. Unfortunately, we had a very bad one this morning. And then, fortunately, Israel has the best teams around the world to deal with this. And like we saw this morning, even though we dealt with something very, very complicated, after five and a half hours, the building was opened. I mean, forensics were done. People were in the hospitals. Body were on the way to be buried. And it's something that's very unique in Israel that five and a half hours after such a disaster happens, life is back to what it - what it usually is. And the synagogue was open to people that they can dovven and pray. And I know that tonight, they're having a big dovvening and that we're sure.

BLITZER: Mati Goldstein is a commander of Zaka, which is an organization in Israel provides relief search and rescue operations. Mati Goldstein, thanks very much for joining us.

President Obama says the U.S. condemns this synagogue attack in Jerusalem in the strongest possible terms, calling it horrific. He says most Israelis, most Palestinians want peace and says the U.S. wants to work with all parties to bring that about. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tragically, this is not the first loss of life that we have seen in recent months. Too many Israelis have died. Too many Palestinians have died. And at this difficult time, I think it's important for both Palestinians and Israelis to try to work together to lower tensions and to reject violence. The murders for today's outrageous acts represents the kinds of extremism that threatens to bring all of the Middle East into the kind of spiral from which it's very difficult to immerge. We know how this violence can get worse overtime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're monitoring both the White House and the State Department briefings. We're going to bring you any new developments on this front, U.S.-international reaction coming in. More coverage of the Jerusalem terror attack coming up.

Plus, the death of the American hostage, Peter Kassig. And now, the White House is reviewing the entire U.S. policy on dealing with American hostages and the role of the military. And the hostage family. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our top story this hour, the brutal terror attack, the killing of four people, all rabbis, at a synagogue in Jerusalem, three of the victims, American citizens, one victim, a joint British-Israeli citizen, at the same time. Joining us now, California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. He's a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

The fact that three of the rabbis were dual American-Israeli citizens, one a British-Israeli citizen, is there any indication this is just by chance or was this a deliberate attack on westerners, if you will, Americans and British?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I don't think we know yet whether this was just a target of opportunity, that they knew that there would be rabbis there and make good targets or that they knew there would be dual citizens there. In either case, it's a terrible escalation of the violence and a horrible tragedy. And what's most disturbing to me about this is to hear spokespeople for Hamas praising this and tweeting out pictures of the dead and injured in a gloating fashion. The whole world needs to condemn this act of violence. And, unfortunately, we see in Hamas reaction what Israel has to deal with, with a terrorist group like that.

BLITZER: So what does the U.S., what does the Obama administration do now? It's obviously an escalating, very, very tense situation, not only there in Jerusalem, elsewhere in Israel and the West Bank, but throughout the region. It looks to be exploding every place you look.

SCHIFF: Well, that's absolutely right. And this couldn't come at a worse time with the whole region literally up in flames. You know, I think the administration has to do what it is doing, which is, it has to condemn this unequivocally, this horrible act of violence, and talk about how this can never be condoned, there's never anything that can justify this. At the same time, the president has to appeal to responsible leadership among the Palestinian community to end provocative acts and also urge the Israeli government to, you know, work with restraint and not to continue this escalation. So it's a tough line to walk, but I think that's precisely what the administration needs to do.

BLITZER: Let's switch gears, talk about what's happening right now with ISIS. The latest ISIS video showing the beheading of another American hostage. President Obama now asking for an overall review of U.S. policy in dealing with these kinds of hostage situations, including taking a look at the military, family involvement. Do you think a hostage policy change is needed by the U.S. right now, specifically is it time for the U.S. to start paying ransom for the release of these hostages as some European countries do?

SCHIFF: No, Wolf, I don't think that would be wise for us to change policy and I'm not sure even that that facet of policy is being examined. I think it's the right policy. You know, certainly as a practical matter when it comes to, do we prosecute members of a hostage's families for trying to pay a ransom, I think we would never execute the -- exercise the prosecutor's rule (ph) discretion to do that. I just can't see ever bringing that kind of a case to court.

What I think is more likely to be the subject of review here is, how are we interacting with the families, what kind of efforts are we making to free hostages, is there anything more that can be done? And I certainly think in the area of coordinating our efforts and talking to the families of those who are hostages, there's a lot of improvement that can be made because I think a lot of those families feel very isolated, they feel very much in the dark. And within the confines of not releasing information that ultimately could harm their loved ones, I think we could do a better job in bringing them into our confidence about what we're doing to free their loved ones.

BLITZER: But you know - you remember, all of us remember, the U.S. was willing to engage in a prisoner exchange, releasing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl, the American sergeant who was being held by the Taliban for several years. And at the time there was some serious criticism that this merely encourages the taking of American hostages, knowing they're going to get some of their own prisoners released in the process. What do you say about that?

SCHIFF: Well, look, I think there are a lot of fair questions, many of which I had also about the Bergdahl exchange. And I'm not sure that I would have made that same agreement were I in a position to make that decision. But there is a difference between doing a prisoner exchange where you have prisoners of war and they have prisoners of war. The Taliban, in this case, has every incentive not just to capture Americans but to kill them. So I don't think it changes the equation much for the Taliban. But when you're talking about paying ransoms to a terrorist organization that will use the money to fund other kidnappings and fund other acts of violence, I think that's a very different case. So I think the two are distinguishable, even though I think the Bergdahl exchange was highly problematic.

BLITZER: You wrote an article in "The Los Angeles Times" in which you said the president is acting outside the U.S. Constitution in regards to the current military operations against ISIS. You say this is a situation that has to be resolved by Congress and has to be done immediately this year. Go ahead and give us the gist of your message.

SCHIFF: Well, my message is that neither of the two prior authorizations to use force, either against al Qaeda or against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, neither of them apply to the current conflict. And because the clock that starts ticking when the War Power Act is invoked has already exceeded the time limit, now that means I think we are operating outside the Constitution in the sense that Congress has not authorized this use of force. And I think Congress shares much of that responsibility because there's nothing that prevented us from taking this up before the elections because combat was already underway, and there's certainly nothing preventing us except a lack of political will in taking it up right now. And I think that the Constitution requires us, it gives us the power alone to declare war, to take up this very important issue and either vote to authorize or vote not to authorize the president to go forward with further strikes.

BLITZER: Congressman Adam Schiff of the House Intelligence Committee, thanks very much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: When we come back, we'll get back to our top story, the terror attack at a Jerusalem synagogue earlier this morning. Four rabbis were killed in the process. Three of them American-born, one British-born. Much more on that top story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. Only moments ago the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, spoke out about the terror attack at a synagogue earlier today in Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are deeply concerned about the -- specifically about this terrorist act. We're talking about, you know, attackers senselessly and brutally killing innocent worshippers at a synagogue. You know, those who were killed include three American citizens.

The fact is, there can be no justification for an attack like this against innocent civilians. And the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence.

At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem, it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence and seek a path forward toward peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, speaking out. Much more on this breaking news story coming up later this hour.

But there's other important news we're following here in Washington at the same time.

A major political drama playing out right now over a controversial oil pipeline project. The U.S. Senate voting later today on whether to approve the Keystone pipeline. Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, she's pushing for passage, hoping it will help her in a run-off election early next month. But as our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash has learned, the senator -- another senator, Angus King of Maine, he's an independent senator, he plans to vote no. Landrieu needs 60 votes. As of now, 59 senators have publicly stated their support. Landrieu says she does have the 60 votes she needs. We'll see if that happens. Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is here with me right now.

This is - this is -- the House overwhelmingly passed it last week.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BLITZER: It looks like she says she's got the 60 votes you need to break a filibuster. Does she?

BORGER: We don't know. We're going to find out. It's going to be high drama today later in the day. But if you take a step back, Wolf, consider the fact that the reason this vote is coming up in the Senate and forcing the president into a position where he's likely to veto this legislation if it gets to him is because of a Democrat, not because of a Republican. But it's because of a Democrat, Mary Landrieu, who is in a run-off in Louisiana and the Democrats are trying to give her this issue so she can take it back home and say, look at what I've done for the state of Louisiana. I'm forcing the president on this issue.

BLITZER: So Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, and he is for at least another month the Senate majority leader.

BORGER: Yes. Did her a favor.

BLITZER: He's allowing this vote to come up -

BORGER: Did her a favor. Right.

BLITZER: To embarrass the president of the United States -

BORGER: You bet.

BLITZER: In order to give her something that may allow her to win this run-off?

BORGER: Yes, she can - yes, she can take it home and say, I'm powerful, I managed to get this many votes. If the president doesn't sign it this time, we're going to come back at him again. And by the way, Wolf, I would argue to you that if the president vetoes this, he should and will expect it to come up again. And the next time, maybe he'll figure out a way to sign it because maybe he could use it to cut some deals with Republicans in the Senate on something else. But as of now, the White House is saying, look, we - the State Department hasn't issued its full report. There's judicial issues pending in the state of Nebraska. We want those to be taken care of first before we can make any final disposition. But make no mistake about it, this is about Democratic politics to help Mary Landrieu, not about helping the president.

BLITZER: Yes. We'll see if it helps her December 6th, that runoff.

BORGER: Yes. Right.

BLITZER: And the polls show she's pretty significantly behind.

BORGER: She is significantly behind which is why she's doing this.

BLITZER: She's a - this is a desperate measure by her.

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: And she got the support of Harry Reid, even if it means, as I said, embarrassing the president.

BORGER: You bet. You bet.

BLITZER: On a sensitive issue like this.