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Biden Speaks About Hamas Attacks In Israel; Biden: Hamas Attack Is "Pure, Unadulterated Evil"; Biden Will Ask Congress For "Urgent Action" On Funding Israel; Biden Not Urging Netanyahu To Exercise Restraint; Fleur Hassen-Nahoum, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor, Discusses Israeli War With Hamas; Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) Discusses Israeli War With Hamas & Electing New Speaker; White House Holds News Briefing Amid Israel's War With Hamas. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 10, 2023 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.

My administration has consulted closely with Congress throughout this crisis. And when Congress returns, we're going to ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners.

This is not about party or politics. This is about the security of our world, the security of the United States of America.

We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas. I've directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts.

Because, as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.

The United States has also enhanced our military force posture in the region to strengthen our deterrence.

The Department of Defense has moved the "USS Gerald R. Ford" carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean and bolstered our fighter aircraft presence. And we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed.

Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation. I have one word. Don't. Don't. Our hearts may be broken, but our resolve is clear.

Yesterday, I also spoke with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and U.K. to discuss the latest developments with our European allies and coordinate our united response. This comes on top of days of steady engagement with partners across the region.

We're also taking steps at home in cities across the United States of America police departments have stepped up, security around centers of Jewish life.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working closely with state and local law enforcement and Jewish community partners to identify and disrupt any domestic threat that could emerge in connection with these horrific attacks.

This is a moment for the United States to come together, to grieve with those who are mourning.

Let's be real clear. There is no place for hate in America. Not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody.

We reject, we reject. What we reject is terrorism. We condemn the indiscriminate evil just as we've always done. That's what America stands for.

You know, just over 50 years ago -- I was thinking about it this morning, talking to the secretary of state and the vice president in my office.

Over 50 years ago, as a young Senator, I visited Israel for the first time as a newly elected Senator. And I had a long, long trip, meeting with Golda Meir in her office, just before the Yom Kippur War.

And I guess she could see the consternation on my face as she described what was being faced -- they were facing. We walked outside in that sort of hallway outside her office to have some photos.

She looked at me and -- all of a sudden said, "Would you like to have a federal?" And so I got up and followed her out. We're standing there silent looking at the press. She could tell, I guess, I was concerned.

She leaned over and whispered to me. She said, "Don't worry, Senator Biden. We have a secret rep here in Israel." My word is what she said. "We have no place else to go. We have no place else to go."

For 75 years, Israel has stood as the only guarantor of the security of Jewish people around the world. So the atrocities of the past could never happen again.

And let there be no doubt. The United States has Israel's back. We will make sure the Jewish and Democratic state of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow, as we always have. It's as simple as that.

These atrocities are sickening. We're with Israel. Let's make no mistake.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, what was your reaction --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:35:04]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: President Biden making as strong a statement as possible about America's support for Israel, his administration's support for Israel.

Not just emotional support but military support as well. Support for the Iron Dome system. Obviously, also talking about the carrier group and other moves by U.S. forces.

With me now is CNN's Clarissa Ward in Ashkelon. Ben Wedeman is in Jerusalem. Kim Dozier is in D.C.

Clarissa, a lot of Israelis no doubt listening to what President Biden had to say. How do you think they will feel about what they heard?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) -- say, right? Usually, historically, there has always been the call for restraint in this situation, the call upon Israel to exercise restraint in its response.

We did not hear that. We heard a very, very staunch and solemn commitment by the U.S. to stand with its Israeli partners. We heard specifics about where those efforts may lie going forward.

He talked about supplying more ammunition, more interceptors to keep those Iron Domes running well. He talked about collaborating closely with Israeli intelligence to try to do whatever can possibly be done to bring some of those hostages safely out of Gaza.

Of course, he also said that there are, as we know, Americans among those being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.

But I also think, Anderson, that this was a speech for Americans too. Right? And he talked about the importance of coming together, both sides of the aisle in Congress.

There's no place for hate in America. And really urging the U.S. political apparatus, if you will, to take a united stance and work together on this with the Israeli -- Anderson?

COOPER: Kim Dozier, I'm wondering what you thought monitoring this.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: That is President Biden's message to the American people, that essentially, we are going to war together with Israel, to get Americans out and to get others out.

There won't be U.S. boots on the ground, but the way he described the brutality of attacks that we're still trying to confirm as reporters and he discussed it in such stark terms, of the hole that it leaves in your soul, this kind of grief.

And there was also a warning to -- a pointed warning to Iran, without naming Iran, that anyone thinking of interfering in what's going to happen next, don't.

So I think this is a message that we're going to see a tough Israeli ground incursion into Gaza. There may be civilian casualties. But he is making the argument to the American people that, because of the brutality of what was done, this has got to happen next.

COOPER: And Ben Wedeman standing by in Jerusalem.

There was no equivocation in this statement by the president.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. I mean, in the past, in previous instances where there were flare-ups between Gaza and Israel, we would always hear the same thing. Condemnation of, whether it's Hamas or Islamic Jihad, firing the rockets, and then calls for restraint. There is no restraint, call for restraint that we heard from President Biden. This was a very unequivocal declaration that the United States stands behind Israel.

His references to the carrier group that's headed to the eastern Mediterranean, certainly, I think, among Hamas's ranks is going to raise concern that perhaps the United States isn't just sending its hardware to the eastern Mediterranean as a show of force. I think there's a hint that there's more to it than just that.

Now, I think that certainly in Gaza people listening to this speech are going to be concerned. Let's keep in mind that Hamas is not particularly popular in Gaza.

I've been in Gaza. For instance, in 2014, I arrived in Gaza just hours after that war began. And really, there was a sense of trepidation of what was to come.

And certainly, what we're hearing from Gaza is people are saying, we're not members of Hamas, we're not part of this war, but they're paying the price.

And the worry is that now Israel -- it's been made clear to Israel, no need to use restraint, the United States supports you completely.

And this could be a very grim prospect for people in Gaza who don't support Hamas but are going to pay perhaps a very high price -- Anderson?

[14:40:00]

COOPER: Yes. President Biden did talk about the rules of war and following the rules of war. But obviously, a very strong statement of support for the government here in Israel.

I want to talk about all this with the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassen-Nahoum.

Sir (sic) Mayor, I'm wondering what you thought of what you heard from President Biden.

FLEUR HASSEN-NAHOUM, JERUSALEM DEPUTY MAYOR: Well, we're very, very pleased with this type of support. It's completely unequivocal.

I think that President Biden has made clear what moral clarity is. And that is when you see a general genocidal regime that came into this country through a border that we have with them -- because people forget, Israel left Gaza in 2005. We left Gaza, and we pulled out 7,000 Jewish settlements from Gaza so

that the Palestinians could start being autonomous, building their country. And this is what we did almost 20 years ago.

Originally, it was ruled by Fatah. And then a year and a half later, Hamas came into power, elected into power.

And they had a choice. They all had a choice. They could have turned the Gaza Strip into Dubai or they could have turned it into Beirut. And they chose to turn it into Beirut.

Everybody knows that Hamas is the long arm of Iran, as is Hezbollah in the north. And the massacre and the incredibly cruel humanitarian, you know, disaster that's occurred over the last few days.

Anderson, two hours ago, we got a report that the Israeli army found 40 decapitated babies. We're talking about ISIS here.

We're talking about scenes that we saw in Afghanistan 10, 15 years ago. We saw the same thing. Boko Haram in Africa. This is what we're talking about.

We're talking about people who have zero value for life. Not ours and not even their own.

COOPER: Yes. I do just want to point out I just spoke to the IDF spokesman. They have not confirmed what you have said. And in fact, I think -- I don't think anybody has said it was that many.

I'm not going to quibble over numbers. But the IDF has said that that information is not confirmed. So we're being very cautious.

But clearly, the troops on the ground who are at Kfar Aza Kibbutz were deeply affected by what they have seen. Reporters, too, who have seen bodies being removed.

It was a brutal attack, terror attack. Just as we've seen in kibbutzes all across the border, Nir Oz as well, many people killed, kidnapped there.

If you can, talk about what it's like in your city right now. What you are hearing from people.

There are so many families waiting for word on their loved ones. And there is not anybody we've met in Israel who does not know somebody who is either missing or wounded or dead or kidnapped.

HASSEN-NAHOUM: Well, that's the thing. When you live in a small country -- we're less than 10 million people. Everybody is connected to everybody.

Some good friends of mine who actually appeared in your press conference this afternoon, Rachel Goldberg, who's the mother of Hirsh Polen who's an American citizen, 23-year-old kid.

He celebrated his birthday last week. And he was at that concert. He has now been confirmed to have been taken hostage. He lost an arm in the firefight.

And we're very worried for his well-being. Because if he doesn't get medical attention, this is life-threatening for him. Like him, there's another six, seven Americans that are held hostage.

And it's, of course, not just the Americans. It's 150 hostages that we have there. And that makes a ground operation or any operation very, very complicated.

Hamas has been planning this type of scale of attack for 11 years. They've tried in so many ways. They built tunnels into civilian areas, which, thankfully, the IDF found and closed down. They've tried explosive balloons.

They've been planning this for a long time. And they have not been planning this on their own.

And finally, they got the success they were looking for, which is absolutely -- to have a situation where old ladies are being killed in their beds, little children are being, you know, murdered in front of their parents and vice versa, disabled people, women -- we have reports of women being raped in Gaza by these people.

And you know, President Biden is right. There's no justification. And even if the retaliation is tough, you know, the retaliation of the armed forces in the Second World War also killed a lot of innocent Germans.

[14:45:04]

But this was a civilizational war. It's the forces of evil, the forces that want to take us back 500 years, run by Iran, and the forces of good, people that want peace and prosperity.

Thankfully, many in the Arab world have now joined Israel in those countries that want peace and prosperity.

And I don't think it's any coincidence that, thanks to the American administration that brokered the peace -- the peace that was being brokered from Saudi Arabia, the people who have the most to lose from that are the Iranians. So this was the time to do this.

And again, this is a civilizational struggle. We're the first stop on that struggle. But the rest of the world is next.

COOPER: Yes. Certainly, the negotiations with Saudi Arabia for some sort of comprehensive peace agreement was of great concern to the religious forces in Iran.

Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassen-Nahoum, I appreciate your time.

Stay with CNN for breaking news. We'll have more from the region just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:34]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We just want to let you know we are monitoring a White House briefing that is set to begin soon.

Jake Sullivan will be taking questions from reporters at the podium. We will be monitoring that and bring you highlights as they happen.

In the meantime, President Biden delivered remarks just moments ago on the crisis in Israel, saying Congress must take urgent action to provide security funding for Israel, what he called a critical partner.

Before anything gets passed in Congress, though, the House needs a new speaker.

Republican Congressman Andy Barr, from Kentucky, is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And he joins us now.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

First, I want to get your reaction to the confirmation that we got from the president, at least 14 Americans killed in these attacks. American citizens, apparently, also among the hostages being held by Hamas.

REP. ANDY BARR (R-KY): Yes, this is exactly why this is in the national security interest of the United States to stand with Israel in their fight against Islamic terrorism, against these Iranian terrorist proxies, Hamas.

And others like Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which also threatens Israel at the time on their borders.

Not only are Americans among the victims and among the hostages that Hamas has taken into Gaza, but the United States is also the target here.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I hate to interrupt, but this is Jake Sullivan from the podium at the White House.

Let's listen.

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: And we're actively working with Israelis to determining the whereabouts of the missing, including missing American citizens.

As the president just said, what we have seen from Hamas these past few days was the same evil and barbarity that we've seen from ISIS.

The unspeakable horrors they perpetrated on innocent people, women, children, the elderly, babies. These were the scenes we saw in Iraq and Syria as ISIS rampaged through. As President Biden said, this is not some distant tragedy. The bonds

between Israel and America run long and they run deep. And we stand with Israel, not just in these dark days, but at all times.

As Karin just said, the president had been deeply engaged to giving direction to his national security team to take action to support Israel in its hour of need.

At his direction, the United States is surging ammunition and interceptors for Iron Dome.

And the president spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu just a while ago to talk about additional capabilities that Israel will need. And he pledged that American planes will be landing in Israel with those capabilities in the days ahead.

And now, at the direction of the president, we are working with Congress to make sure that Israel maintains supply of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens as well as the many U.S. citizens who live, work and travel in Israel.

Also at President Biden's direction, the U.S. military has enhanced its force posture in the region to strengthen our deterrence, including the movement of a carrier strike group into the eastern Mediterranean. And we are prepared to move additional assets as necessary.

Let me be clear, we need not move the carrier for Hamas. We moved the carrier to send a clear message of deterrence to other states or non- state actors that might seek to widen this war.

The president has also tasked us with engaging in contingency planning for any and all escalation scenarios. And we are now deeply engaged in that planning.

And we are consulting with allies and partners as well about all of the potential scenarios that might unfold in the days ahead.

Let me repeat what we've now said many times and what the president said just a short while ago so that everyone, including enemies who are thinking of exploiting the current situation hear it loud and clear, the United States has always and will always have Israel's back.

And to those families undergoing the unfathomable pain of having loved ones missing, our hearts go out to you. We cannot imagine the anguish you must be feeling right now.

We know that U.S. citizens are among the missing. And we know that U.S. citizens, as the president just said, are among the hostages.

We are working with the Israeli government and with our regional partners on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the U.S. government to advise the Israeli government and coordinate with them on hostage recovery efforts. As the president just said, there is no higher priority than the safety and wellbeing of American citizens being held hostage overseas.

[14:55:01]

Over the coming days, we'll continue to stand strongly with Israel to ensure that that it is able to defend itself.

And my team and I are working with our colleagues across the U.S. government every hour to keep the president updated on the latest developments, to take his direction and put it into action.

And we'll continue following his directions to provide Israel and the people of Israel all the support required at this time of need.

And with that, I'd be happy to take your questions.

Yes?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE)

(CROSSTALK)

SULLIVAN: OK, go ahead.

LEE: On the American hostages, can you, first of all, tell us how many are we talking about, several or a dozen hostages? Do you know anything about their condition at all?

SULLIVAN: We do not know about their condition. We cannot confirm a precise number of American citizens. We believe that there are 20 or more Americans who, at this point, are missing.

But I want to underscore and stress that does not mean, necessarily, that there are 20 or more American hostages. Just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for.

We will work, hour by hour, both to determine whether we can account for any of those Americans or to confirm exactly what the number of Americans being held hostage. And we will come back to you with that information as soon as we have it.

As you know, very sadly and tragically, the number of dead has risen with each passing hour. And that's true of the total number. It's also true of Americans, which has gone up just today from an earlier report this morning, 12 to 13, now 14.

So I cannot give you a precise number. I can tell you that number of unaccounted for at this time. That number could change, too.

But I want to underscore that that is not a statement from me that we have that many hostages. We do not know the number of hostages we have at this hour.

LEE: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has the president discussed with the prime minister the possibility of a ground incursion into Gaza. And also how that might affect the American hostages that are in Gaza that are now confirmed?

SULLIVAN: I'm not going to get into the operation discussions that the president and prime minister had. That is important for them to be able to keep a discreet channel between them.

What I will tell you is that the president and prime minister did discuss how the United States can deploy expertise to help work on the hostage recovery efforts. That is what the United States is in the process of doing right now.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Under what circumstances would you put American forces on the ground to help out?

SULLIVAN: At this point, that is not something that is under planning. What we are focused on, when we talk about sending experts, it is people who can work on intelligence, who can work on overall planning, who can work on coordination with the Israeli government.

We are not currently sending forces to Israel. And I'll leave at that for now.

Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has the president spoken to any of the families of the 14 American citizens who were killed?

SULLIVAN: He has not yet spoken with the families. But the State Department has been in contact with those families.

And the president has been making this his highest priority as he receives briefings each day about what we are doing to try to determine both what's happened with the missing and also to ensure that we can secure the bodies of those who have perished and ensure that they get returned to their loved ones.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So are you reaching out to those whose loved ones may be unaccounted for? One family member of a missing American said there has been no formal attempt by the U.S. government to update the family.

SULLIVAN: We have, in fact, updated the families of the unaccounted for American that we know of.

If there are Americans, for some reason, who have not yet been reached out to, that would be remedied immediately because Secretary Blinken, President Biden, everybody in the U.S. government is making this the highest priority. So we are in very regular contact with every family who has someone either missing or unaccounted for. And anyone who is not currently on that list for whatever reason, we will take care of that. That is one of the highest priorities.

Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake, two quick questions. One is a priority.

The Iron Dome replenishment has only arrived or is it on its way?

SULLIVAN: Some of the interceptors have come out of stocks that the U.S. had in country. So those have gone over to the Israelis in short order.

And then we will be flowing in additional Iron Dome interceptors so that they have the capabilities they need to sustain their Iron Dome defense systems.

We are also looking at other ways that we can help augment their air defense capabilities as well as we look ahead. Not just to what's happening now but to potential contingencies that could unfold.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And then, secondly, what can you say about Iran's role in the Hamas attack? And is that one of the actors who you are worried about widening the war?

SULLIVAN: Look, we've said since the beginning that Iran is complicit in this attack, in a broad sense, because they have provided the lion's share of the funding for military for Hamas, they have provided training, they have provided capabilities, they have provided support.

[14:59:58]

And they have had engagement and contact with Hamas over years and years. And all of that has played a role in contributing to what we have seen.