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Massive Blast Hits Gaza's Largest Refugee Camp; Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, IDF International Spokesperson, Discusses Israel's War Against Hamas, Confirms Blast at Refugee Camp Was Israeli Attack; NY Gov: Person Of Interest In Custody After Cornell Anti-Semitic Threats; FBI Director: Anti-Semitism Is Reaching "Historic Levels" In U.S.; IDF Confirms Airstrike Hit Gaza's Largest Refugee Camp. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 31, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:34]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Back now to our breaking news here in the Middle East. A massive explosion at the largest refugee camp in Gaza.

Joining us now is Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht. He's the international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I want to ask you first about this massive blast that we all just saw, we saw the video, at the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza. Is there anything more you can tell us about how this explosion happened?

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Hi, Wolf. Thanks for having me.

We will be coming out in the next hour with more data.

I can update you now that there was a very senior Hamas commander in that area. Sadly, he was hiding, again, as they do, behind civilians. That's all I can say at this point.

We'll be coming out with more as we learn what happened there.

BLITZER: So can you confirm it was an Israeli attack that destroyed a chunk of that Jabalia Refugee Camp?

HECHT: Yes, I can. We were focused again --

(CROSSTALK)

HECHT: -- on a target, a senior -- senior commander, Wolf. We'll be updating you with more data as the hour moves ahead.

BLITZER: Even if that Hamas commander was there amidst all those Palestinian refugees in that Jabalia Refugee Camp, Israel still went ahead and dropped a bam there, attempting to kill this Hamas commander, knowing that a lot of innocent civilians, men, women, and children, presumably would be killed?

Is that what I'm hearing?

HECHT: That's not what you're hearing, Wolf. We were focused on this commander. Again, you'll get more data who this man was. He killed many, many Israelis.

We're doing everything we can -- it's a very complicated battle space. There could be infrastructure there, tunnels there. We're still looking into it and will give you more data as the hour moves ahead.

BLITZER: You know that there are a lot of refugees, innocent civilians, men, women, children in that camp as well, right?

HECHT: This is the tragedy of war, Wolf. We've been saying for days, move south. Civilians are not involved with Hamas. Please move south.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Just trying to get a little bit more information.

You knew there were civilians there. You know there were refugees, and all sorts of refugees. But you decided to drop a bomb on that refugee camp attempting to kill this Hamas commander. By the way, was he killed?

HECHT: I can't confirm yet. We'll find out. There'll be more update on whether he was killed.

About the civilians there, we're doing everything we can to minimize. I'll say it again, sadly, they're hiding themselves within civilian populations.

Again, we're doing this stage by stage. We're going to go after every one of these terrorists who were involved in that heinous attack on the 7th of October, Wolf.

BLITZER: Lieutenant Colonel, I'm having trouble hearing you.

But let me move on. I assume you can hear me, right?

HECHT: I can hear you loud and clear. Can you hear me now?

BLITZER: As you know, just a little while ago, the IDF announced the first two deaths of Israeli soldiers since the ground incursion into Gaza began. What more can you tell us about that?

HECHT: So the fighting is going on. I won't go into the slow details. We're slowly moving ahead, stage by stage. And this expanded ground operation, we're expanding it stage by stage, and moving as -- on our plans to root out Hamas.

Again, you saw last night, an example, while we were doing the ground operation, we rescued one of our hostages. We're focusing on dismantling Hamas, and at the same time trying to put pressure and also rescue our hostages. (AUDIO PROBLEM)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We do appreciate you being with us.

I'm so sorry. We actually just lost Wolf's signal. So we are going to say thank you very much for being with us.

[13:34:59]

And we are going to get in a quick break.

That was the IDF international spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht.

We'll be back with Wolf Blitzer. Stay with CNN.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas is igniting anti-Semitic incidents on several school campuses here in the United States.

High school students in Stamford, Connecticut, found swastikas drawn on the tennis courts last week. Administrators say it's the second time that's happened.

Yesterday, in Virginia, officials say vandals spray painted a swastika on a football field.

Meantime, at Cornell University, New York State troopers are posted outside the Center for Jewish Living after it was targeted in online threats.

[13:40:05]

New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, today said troopers are helping local authorities protect schools, synagogues and mosques. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHEL (D-NY): Jewish New Yorkers are experiencing the greatest increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in decades.

We cannot allow any New Yorker to live in fear. For the day we are willing to accept that is the day that our moral compass has broken and spun out of control.

Let me restate in the strongest of words, every single New Yorker has a right to feel safe and to be safe as they go about their daily lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN national correspondent, Athena Jones, has been tracking all of this from New York.

And, Athena, the governor said there is a person of interest in that Cornell case?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. That's right. The governor putting out a statement in the last half hour or so saying, "When I met with Cornell students yesterday, I promised them New York State would do everything possible to find the perpetrator who threatened a mass shooting and anti-Semitic violence on campus.

"Earlier today, law enforcement identified a person of interest as part of the investigation and this individual is currently in the custody of the New York State Police for questioning. "

Public safety is my top priority, and I'm committed to combatting hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head."

We know as soon as the governor met with those Cornell students yesterday, we knew a lot of resources were being dedicated towards helping law enforcement find, track down the person responsible for a series of anti-Semitic posts.

Targeting Jewish students at Cornell over the weekend with violent rhetoric and threats to kill and shoot and commit sexual violence against Jewish students there.

Very, very clear now that they're pleased that they have someone in custody that they are questioning.

But we also heard the governor expand on this issue, the issue of the need to fight anti-Semitism and other hate crimes.

She gave a speech this morning saying that, over the last several weeks, since the October 7th attack, she's been meeting with Jewish New Yorkers, with Muslim New Yorkers who shared their pain and their fear about all that's going on and the impact it's having on communities at home.

She made several announcements about an expansion of resources going to try to fight and prevent hate crimes and anti-Semitism in New York.

Including expanding the work of the state's Social Media Analysis Unit at the New York State Intelligence Center. That's to cease the monitoring of violent threats at schools like Cornell and all other schools in the state, as well as credible threats by white supremacists and Nazi organizations.

She also announced they're going to provide $3 million to help law enforcement agencies expand the use of the Red Flag Law to try to keep guns out of the hands of people who will do harm.

And millions more are going to state law enforcement to try to prevent and monitor for acts of violence connected to anti-Semitism or hate -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Athena Jones, thanks so much for the reporting.

Brianna? KEILAR: The Israel-Hamas war is also raising Homeland Security

concerns. In a Senate hearing today, the DHS and FBI directors warned lawmakers about a marked spike they've seen in domestic threats since the October 7th attacks.

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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DHS SECRETARY: In the days and weeks since, we have responded to an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities and institutions across our country.

Hate directed at Jewish students, communities and institutions add to a preexisting increase in the level of anti-Semitism in the United States.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Our most immediate concern is that violent extremists, individuals or small groups, will draw inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks against Americans going about their daily lives.

The ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Justice Department announced more than $38 million in grants to help local communities combat hate crimes.

We're joined by Oren Segal. He's the vice president of the ADL Center on Extremism.

Oren, thank you so much for being with us.

When you look at the statistics from the ADL, you see a 36 percent increase of anti-Semitic incidents in 2022 compared to the year before. And I'm sure you're expecting 2023 to pale in comparison based on what you've been seeing?

OREN SEGAL, VICE PRESIDENT, ADL CENTER ON EXTREMISM: I mean, if what we're seeing since the massacre on October 7th is any indication of what the total number this year will be, this is going to be another all-time high.

We've already documented a nearly 400 percent increase in anti-Semitic vandalism, harassment and assault reported to us since October 7th, in comparison to the same time timeframe last year.

[13:45:04]

KEILAR: Hamas is aware that anti-Semitism is on the rise. We're talking about it in the U.S. It is especially pronounced in Europe as well.

Do you think that Hamas is exploiting that, that this is part of why they chose this moment? SEGAL: I think Hamas is notoriously focused on creating fear and

anxiety in the Jewish community around the world and to attacking Israelis and Jews in Israel.

I mean, one of the realities is and the shocking part of what we've seen in this sort of post massacre landscape, is not only the rise in anti-Semitic incidents, but how much glorification, celebration and justification for what Hamas did, is part of our public discussion, what we're seeing at rallies on and off campus.

Is it any surprise that anti-Semitism is increasing when people are lauding the acts of a terrorist group who just massacred 1,400 people.

KEILAR: We heard the FBI Director Chris Wray say this morning, if ever there's a time for that saying, "if you see something, say something," it is now. The FBI is looking for tips. They're looking for leads.

What do Americans need to be on the lookout for?

SEGAL: I mean, it's very true. It's not just on the New York City subway where it says, "if you see something, say something." If people are identifying the type of language online, they should report that, not only to the platforms, but to law enforcement if there's a threat there.

Even at ADL and our Center on Extremism, where we are tracking extremists in the darkest spaces all the time, we have seen, for example, a nearly 1,000 percent increase in threats specifically at Jews, Israelis and Zionists on a platform like Telegram.

The more that people are engaged in online spaces trying to tell the difference between disinformation and facts, the reality is, we are also seeing these threats on more established platforms.

And people should report it to law enforcement. We don't have a luxury to ignore any of these threats.

KEILAR: They're raising the alarm. You hear that today. They're on Capitol Hill. They're raising the alarm.

Do you think that Americans are listening? Do you think what they're saying is enough?

SEGAL: I mean, the reality is, the spikes that we're seeing not only in anti-Semitism but other acts of hatred around the country, I think it's only the beginning.

This is going to be a long, drawn-out effort that we're likely going to see in the Middle East.

And the longer that it goes, the more that people are going to be angry, the more that there's going to be people spreading disinformation designed to feed upon people's anxiety.

So we know that this spike is probably going to continue. So it's critical that our law enforcement agencies, that the administration is saying we are going to double down on making sure that communities are protected.

KEILAR: Oren, we appreciate you being with us. Oren Segal, with the ADL, thank you.

SEGAL: Thanks.

KEILAR: And next, we will be heading back to Israel with Wolf Blitzer. The latest on the massive explosion at a refugee camp in Gaza, the result of an airstrike by the Israeli Defense Forces.

[13:48:39]

Stay with us.

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[13:53:21]

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news out of Gaza right now. An IDF spokesman confirmed to me moments ago it was an Israeli airstrike that caused the huge blast at the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said the IDF was targeting what he called a very senior Hamas commander in that area.

CNN military analyst, retired Colonel Cedric Leighton, is joining us now.

Colonel, what's your reaction to this?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it certainly sounds like a very massive strike, Wolf. And it's very unfortunate that it seems to be right in the middle of the Jabalia Refugee Camp.

The target, we're not sure exactly, at least I'm not sure exactly which person this was. But it would be under the category of what we in the U.S. would have called a high value target or HVT, someone that is essential to the operation of Hamas and you know, merits a lot of effort to go after.

So sounds like that's what the Israelis were trying to do. They were trying to prosecute an HVT, or a high value target, and that very fact, of course, put a lot of people in that refugee camp at risk.

BLITZER: Because what the critics of Israel are pointing out is, if a refugee camp isn't considered safe, what is it safe in Gaza right now?

LEIGHTON: Well, that's exactly right. And I think one of the most disturbing aspects of this is the fact that it really is very difficult to distinguish between safe areas, which there appear to be very few or none, and areas of combat.

[13:55:07]

There really needs to be distinction made between those kinds of areas. And it is definitely not, as far as I'm concerned at least, in Israel's interest to prosecute targets when there is such a high risk of hitting civilian targets like this.

That is kind of what we're having right now. We're having a situation where these targets are being prosecuted and they're going after them, and it almost seems to be a case in which they're doing this regardless of the collateral damage that is ensuing and that becomes a real problem.

BLITZER: What do you think, Colonel, is likely to be the reaction from the White House and the Pentagon, for that matter, on this?

President Biden, as you know, has repeatedly warned the Israeli prime minister to try to avoid as much as possible civilian casualties to try to avoid those casualties at all costs?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think most of the reaction, Wolf, is going to be behind closed doors or closed channels.

But that kind of reaction is going to be pretty firm and swift, basically telling the Israelis they can't do this kind of work in this way. They can't go after these targets with such a great amount of damage to civilians and, of course, causing death to many civilians.

That, I think, is going to be the White House message and it's going to be echoed by the secretary of state and by the secretary of defense.

BLITZER: Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

We'll have more on all the breaking news coming up. Stay with us.

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