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Pres. Biden Meets With First Responders & Families In Israel; Source: U.S. analyzing Israel Intel On Gaza Hospital Blast; Protests Erupt Near U.S. Embassy In Lebanon. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 18, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Too long a suffering makes a stone of the heart.

The thing that I found at just this real quick meeting with all of you is none of your hearts have turned to stone yet. Every one of you talked about what you have to do, every one I talked to about having to reach out, talked about, whether or not they were a Jew or a Muslim, reach out.

And, you know, I've often said I remember the first time that I was in Israel with Golda Meir. She was just before the Six-Day War. And she was telling me how terrible everything was, which it was.

She kept flipping the maps up and down behind her. And all of the sudden, she looked at me, and she said, would you like a photograph? And I thought, that's unusual. And she just got up and walked out that door outside her office.

And we're standing there having a photograph taken like you and I are standing, looking at the press. And she -- without looking at me, she turned and she -- like this, and she said, you look worried, Senator. I said, I am. She said, don't worry, we Jews have a secret weapon in our fight, we have no place else to go.

Well, the truth of the matter is, if there weren't an Israel, we'd have to invent one. The truth of the matter is that I believe that -- as I went home and said, I got in trouble at the time, but it was true, you don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.

And I think the security and safety of Jews worldwide is anchored in the re -- the continued vibrance of the State of Israel. That's what I think it's about at its core.

And so, I've admired you all, this country for so long. And I'm convinced that the more people know the -- your responses to what's happening as opposed to just what war and peace is about, the more they're going to be inclined embrace Israel.

And -- but I have a lot more to say. But I'd like to talk to you in private, if I can. (CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: The data I was shown. The data I was shown by my Defense Department.

(CROSSTALK)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you are looking at live pictures of President Biden in Israel, in Tel Aviv, standing next to and speaking with the world and the families who have had some of their family members kidnapped by Hamas and some of their family members killed in that horrific attack on last Saturday, October 7th.

He is here to speak with the Israeli leadership. He is here to also try and have conversations to try and figure out a humanitarian corridor for those who are in Gaza suffering from the airstrikes and the dire consequences of the Israeli blockade there were -- they don't have enough water, food, or fuel.

I want to go now to our Kaitlan Collins, who was also in the country here watching all of this unfold. Give us some sense of just how important and significant this visit from President Biden is after he was invited here by Prime Minister Netanyahu in the midst of an official war.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And he took a few days to consider that invitation from the Israeli prime minister and then obviously accepted. I want to tell you, Sara, where this meeting is happening right now that you just heard President Biden speaking from it's happening truly across the hall from where I'm standing right now, that applause that you could hear the microphone, we could hear it. It's loud enough. We're that close to where this room is.

And this stop that President Biden just made is easily the most somber of this few stops that he is making while he's here on the ground in Israel for a very short, just really a daytime visit today. He started out by meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, then he expanded that and opened it up to that newly formed wartime cabinet that Prime Minister Netanyahu has formed. That's what he was meeting with for an extended period of time.

But they're in the room with him. Those people that you saw surrounding him, those were first responders who responded on that deadly day on October 7th as that Hamas attack unfolded here in Israel. It was the families of victims who were killed that day. And also the relatives of hostages who still don't know the fate of their loved ones, which is something that the White House said was on President Biden's priority list, because of course, we know those hostages include several Americans as well.

[09:05:26]

And right there at the end, you saw the President being asked a question by a reporter, you couldn't exactly make out what his answer was. Our colleague, Kevin Liptak, is in the room. We'll wait to see what it was exactly the President Biden said. But of course, one of the things that he is being asked about, while he's here, Sara, is what he said when he first got here, which is about that hospital explosion that happened in Gaza City that caused so much uproar, something that you heard Prime Minister Netanyahu saying the world should be outraged about but it shouldn't be directed at the Israelis because they are denying responsibility.

And that is a denial that I should note President Biden has emphasized since he's been here on the ground, saying based on what he's seen, he believed it was, quote, the other team was the phrase that he used. He didn't directly say that it was Palestinian militants. But it was Palestinian terrorists that I should note, the IDF blamed earlier.

And so that is something of course, that has been a central undertone of this entire visit, since that happened, who that -- who was responsible for that, of course, given that is what scrapped the other part of this trip that was supposed to happen that is now no longer happening.

I should note, President Biden is going to come in this room here behind me soon after he meets these first responders and these victims, the family's victims, victims of the families, and come out and make remarks. We'll see what he says if there's any update on humanitarian progress, of course, a corridor somewhere for civilians in Gaza who were fleeing to go getting water and food. And all of those are key issues that he's been discussing while he's been here on the ground today. Sara?

SIDNER: Thank you so much for that reporting. And we will be waiting to hear from you again once President Biden makes his way to where you are. I want to get now to Clarissa Ward, our chief international correspondent who has been watching all of the developments, and particularly what has been happening in Gaza from her vantage point where she has also been seeing rockets come in over the last eight to nine days.

Clarissa, give us some sense of what you're hearing about what is happening in Gaza after that horrible, disturbing, I don't know any other way to tell a terrible attack on the hospital.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, we have been talking to doctors who describe horrendous scenes of basically sifting through dismembered body parts, charred corpses, making it difficult to identify, still not a clear picture on exactly how many people were killed. Certainly, it seems to be in the hundreds. We have spoken also to the organizers of that Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

They say that hundreds of people were using the hospital as a shelter, if you like, because there had been this order to evacuate northern Gaza to move further south because there had been pretty consistent, well, certainly relentless bombardment in Gaza, in northern Gaza, particularly a lot of people in these situations as you know, Sara, they take refuge in hotels, they take refuge in hospitals, places that they think are relatively safe. And it appears that most of the victims were ordinary people who were just taking refuge as well as patients at the hospital. More broadly speaking, the hospital is in Gaza now say they are not able to function. They are no longer to carry out -- able to carry out their proper duty of medical care. We have heard from doctors who say that they're being forced to perform operations without anesthesia.

There is no electricity, there is no drinking water. Our own journalists on the ground has talked about having to boil water from the toilet, so that people have something to drink. The U.N. has called this an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes. The U.N. Secretary General has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

But of course, what happened at the hospital has really complicated efforts. President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had really hoped that they were going to be able to announce some sort of a tangible deliverable here in terms of opening up humanitarian aid to allow it to at least if not to allow people to flee Gaza at least to allow aid in to the people of Gaza that now becomes incredibly complex prospect, Sara, because Arab leaders have canceled their meeting with President Biden because they are now dealing with outrage and protests on the streets of their cities.

[09:10:14]

It becomes all that more difficult for diplomats to do their job for humanitarian organizations to have their voices heard, and for some modicum of respite to be delivered to the people of Gaza. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. It is really important to remember that no matter all of the noise out there, from many different sides of this conflict, that there are hundreds of families dealing with loss, dealing with injured and just terror inside of Gaza, because it is so densely populated. I know you and I have both been on the ground there multiple times.

It is a very difficult place before there's any kind of incursion. And now it has been rendered a -- just a complete disaster when it comes to the humanitarian effort there. Clarissa Ward, thank you so much for your reporting. Kaitlan Collins, I appreciate you. And we'll check back in with you both when we get some new information as Biden makes his way to where you are Kaitlan. John, Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll get back to you soon, Sara. Thank you.

So this morning, the Israeli military is steadfast and adamant that Islamic Jihad in Gaza is behind the deadly blast at the hospital, presenting evidence at a press conference overnight. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: By land, sea or air that hit the hospital. Second, our radar system tracks rockets fired by terrorists from within Gaza at the time of the explosion. Third, we have intelligence some that will be shared here of communication between terrorists talking about rockets misfiring. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: He just talked about some audio which hopefully will play for people in a little bit of a conversation. Israel says was between Hamas just after the strike. With us now CNN military analyst retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. General, thank you. This is the location of the hospital in Gaza right now just so people get a sense of what it looked like before. This is the overall campus.

And as I said, the IDF released what they call evidence that this was caused by Islamic Jihad what the U.S. calls a terror group operating inside Gaza. And one of the pieces of evidence that they provided was this radar trajectory of rockets they say launched from Gaza. Explain what we're seeing here.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: What we're seeing is the lines of several rockets coming from a launcher. This is called a point of origin in military speak. They normally go to a point of impact. And this is what the Iron Dome uses to intercept rockets. They see where they're going. And then they intercept them if they're going into a populated area. But what happens, John, and a lot of time with some of these rockets, because they're not real technologically advanced, they will just fall out of the sky.

And what I mean by that is the engine will stop. And as soon as they do that a rocket has the trajectory of a brick. So it immediately goes a little bit further and then just drops down. But an important factor to consider when that happens, it still has rocket fuel inside the rocket. So it not only has the explosive warhead, it has fuel behind it. What happened, the indicators are or what the Israelis are saying is one of those rockets came out, lost its engine, lost its forward propulsion and just dropped out of the sky and it dropped near this Al-Ahli Hospital, which is on the southwest side of the city of Gaza.

BERMAN: Standby one second, general.

BOLDUAN: Standby for us real quick. We're going to get back to Kaitlan Collins. She's got some new reporting and some new information about President Biden and what he is learning about, well, exactly what we're talking about this last the hospital. Kaitlan, what are you picking up?

COLLINS: Yes, John and Kate, this is really notable because when President Biden arrived here in Israel, that was when he first said that he embraced those denials by Israel that they were not behind that hospital explosion in Gaza. And he said based on what he had seen, but he did not say what it was that he had seen. But when he was just in the room meeting with those families and the first responders, he was asked what made him confident that Israel was not in fact, behind that strike.

And I'm quoting the President now. He says, the data I was shown by my Defense Department, so he is citing the Pentagon saying that is the reason he is confident that it was not the Israel Defense Forces that were behind that explosion that happened at that hospital, something that they have strenuously denied. He says it is the Pentagon who is backing that up. And that is why he cited that as soon as he arrived here on the ground in Tel Aviv.

[09:15:02]

Obviously, that is incredibly significant because we've seen the protests that have been spreading because of those claims that it was Israel behind it. The President says the Pentagon has shown him that it was not Israel that was behind that explosion that hit that hospital in Gaza City.

BOLDUAN: Great and important context and background on this. Kaitlan, thanks so much. And General, you're here with us, not just information coming from the IDF, President Biden saying it's information he received data from the Pentagon from the Defense Department says what to you?

HERTLING: Well, it tells me that there's more information, and you're just not going to take another government's word for something happening, even though the pictures that the Israeli Defense Forces gave out, are pretty compelling. But we're always going to confirm or deny within the Defense Department. And I said this earlier today, that there has to be more to this. And I think the U.S. government has what we call, Mason (ph), intelligence from satellites, from signals that show launches.

We have that capability. So as much as you're going to get a tactical approach to this point of origin point of aim, which is pretty significant, you're going to have an overhead platform that sees a missile burn when it takes off, or when something explodes and comes out of the sky that reinforces.

BERMAN: Let's talk a little bit more about the evidence the IDF did present. And again, people looking for absolute slam dunk proof one way or the other aren't going to see it here. But the IDF points to craters This is the site of the explosion, explain.

BOLDUAN: Right.

HERTLING: Yes, well, OK, this is the hospital here. This is a parking lot with a lot of cars in it. And you see pictures of it, the implosion -- or the explosion site, which would potentially the fuel that we were talking about earlier, burned most but not all of the cars in that parking lot, which is interesting, it talks about fuel spilling all over. But on the side of the hospital, I also saw some pock marks which would be the results of an explosion.

BOLDUAN: We see some of it here, general, as this goes through. This is some of the aftermath --

HERTLING: This is the middle of the parking lot. But as it spans over I think it was on this film.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It'll come up.

HERTLING: There are the puck marks in the side. That's from a blast. Someone was here, that's obviously blood. But you can see most cars are burned. This one is not. There's another one over here that's not. So you can tell this was a constricted explosion somewhere, maybe didn't even touch the ground.

BOLDUAN: This also shows it here. This is a zoom of this kind of exactly what you were talking about as well.

HERTLING: Yes. And look at these cars, nothing. So it is very compelling. But when you also look at, you know that aftermath, where's the crater, when you're talking about a crater from an Israeli bomb, there's going to be a hole there.

BERMAN: And again, this is why the Israelis did release images. These are of craters that they say are formed when they drop bombs from airplanes. And they say there are no craters here inside these parking lots, correct?

HERTLING: The problem with all this, as we've seen over the last 12 hours, information is important. But emotions took hold early on from both sides. The Israelis were very defensive. The Palestinians were very upset. There are indicators of some people wounded. It probably wasn't the numbers that they were citing last night. That's just conjecture on my part. But both sides are blaming the other. And that's what happens in war.

BOLDUAN: General, can you -- sounds this is a flippant way of saying but can you put the genie back in the bottle with more information? You can't?

HERTLING: You can partially, Kate, but you're talking about those Arab Street all over the Middle East last night, we saw films in every single Capitol with hundreds of thousands of people, you know, every one of those, Iraq, in Baghdad, in Tehran, Turkey and Egypt. So when you say, OK, we've now got more facts, potentially. And if you believe the Israelis, and they have compelling facts, how do you put that genie back in the bottle?

BOLDUAN: Can we hit out just -- go ahead, John.

BERMAN: I was going to just put this back up one more time, the video of this. And again, there is also audio released is the idea for at least audio of what it purports to be Hamas officials talking about this blast after it happened. Hopefully we'll play that for you in a bit. But just -- to sum it up, do Islamic Jihad rockets fall from the sky like this?

HERTLING: All the time.

BOLDUAN: These fires happen.

HERTLING: All the time, these fires happen. I don't want to give a percentage because I don't know. But because of the quality of these rockets and we've seen the same thing in Ukraine in that conflict where they're using Russian rockets. They fall out of the sky completely like this. They don't hit the targets. These are not precision weapons, these are aerial weapons. So you're not saying, hey, I'm going to hit that particular point on the ground. They go out and hopefully get in the area and cause damage. And sometimes they're just not very well made and they drop out of the sky.

BOLDUAN: Put it all together what we have see hear what the IDF has put out and then the new information as Kaitlan was just reporting that President Biden says the data that he was provided from the U.S. Defense Department that helped him get to a place of comfort and confidence that this was not Israel, this was Islamic Jihad. What does that do to you, your level of confidence when we are in the fog of war, we are somewhat flying blind, obviously, as analysts.

[09:20:26]

HERTLING: Yes. Well, first of all, every time in war, things happen, bad things happen to either side. So, you know, we've seen the distrust at times of the Israeli forces. In 2014 when Israel went into Gaza, the war stopped basically because of the amount of civilian casualties. But it's also Hamas's approach. It's their strategic objectives. Number one, kill a lot of Jews. Number two, embarrassed the nation of Israel.

This is a factor in embarrassing the nation of Israel early on. The Hamas Ministry of Health last night immediately said that this was an Israeli attack. Israel, you know, kind of hemmed and hawed for a little while, but then they said early last night, we have information. We're going to send it out shortly, as soon as we get it translated and compiled. They did that later. There's a lot of compelling facts. And again, it's a back and forth not just facts but emotions. Emotions play a big part in warfare.

BERMAN: All right, General Hertling, thank you very much for helping us understand the evidence that exists right now. And obviously a whole lot of people analyzing what else is out there as well. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, more reporting on the protests that we've saw overnight, erupting across the Middle East following this deadly blast yesterday, outside the hospital in Gaza, the new State Department warning now for Americans.

And also, getting back to the United States, on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives back at it again, set to convene for a second attempt, second vote to get a new House speaker after Jim Jordan fell pretty short, well short of getting the votes that he needed in support he needed in the first go round. We'll take you there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:18]

SIDNER: All right, we have this just coming in to CNN. A U.S. defense official says that the U.S. had to shoot down two attack drones that were targeting U.S. forces in Iraq. There were no injuries there. And it is not clear who exactly launched the drones. But such attacks, they say are frequently attributed to Iran or Iranian-backed militants in the region. The news comes of course, as American embassies have been facing protests in a number of Middle East countries because of the war in Gaza.

Right now in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, hundreds of protesters are gathered in the streets as they were overnight. This is video I think of overnight, they tried to break through security barriers near the U.S. Embassy. And these are live. OK, so I can't -- it's difficult for me to see where I'm -- from my vantage point. But yes, these are live pictures happening right now.

You see lots of smoke, you see people in the streets. They are clearly, clearly terribly upset about what is happening next door to Lebanon in Gaza. In particular you can hear the chants, hundreds of people. Let's bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman who is in South Lebanon live for us. Ben, can you just give us a sense of what you've been seeing on the ground? And what you've been hearing from your sources about these protests?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing some large explosions just to the south of here near the border with Israel. But these protests are very much reflective of many people in Lebanon. Particularly, it's been simmering since the seventh of October, but particularly since that strike on the hospital in Gaza yesterday.

Last night, we saw protests outside the U.S. Embassy. It's north of Beirut. It's actually not in Beirut. It's about eight miles north of Beirut. And of course, again, we're seeing it today with protesters throwing rocks and shooting fireworks at the Lebanese police. Police responding with water cannons, and lots and lots of tear gas.

It's important to keep in mind that behind those barriers, it's about half a mile up the hill to the U.S. Embassy itself, there's another explosion. And this embassy is highly fortified, the staff aren't allowed to simply walk out the door and enjoy the pleasures of Beirut because of security concerns.

Now speaking of the embassy, the State Department has said that families of U.S. embassies, staff members and non-emergency personnel are now authorized to leave the country should they so desire on a case by case basis. The United States has also advised Americans not to travel to Lebanon. And we're seeing a similar advisory coming out of France as well.

Now, regarding the situation in South Lebanon, we've had two strikes by Hezbollah on Israeli positions. Hezbollah puts out videos of these strikes. And it appears that among other things, they have struck a tank. Overnight, we heard a fair amount of explosions. There's another one in the distance. I don't know if you can pick that up. But certainly reflective of the ongoing tensions here on the border between Lebanon and Israel. Sara?

[09:29:53]

SIDNER: Ben, you have been in this region for a very long time. And just to get your sense of things, for example, during the Second Intifada what things look like in places like Beirut and in places like Jordan in comparison to what we are seeing now.