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Blinken: "We Need To Do More To Protect Palestinian Civilians"; IDF Says It Has Surrounded Gaza City As It Deepens Operation; U.S. Economy Adds 150,000 Jobs In October. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 03, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:01:36]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This our big developments on two fronts at least in the Israel-Hamas war. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken has been on the ground to meet with top Israeli leaders. He's reiterating the U.S. commitment to stand with Israel.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: It is striking. And in some way shocking that the brutality of the slaughter has receded so quickly in the memories of so many, but not in Israel and not in America.

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BOLDUAN: At the same time, Tony Blinken is pressing Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza, pressing for a pause to allow for more hostages to get out who were kidnapped by Hamas, and also to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Listen to this.

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BLINKEN: We remain relentlessly focused on securing the release of hostages, including American citizens. We discuss these ongoing efforts today. We believe that each of these efforts would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses, by arrangements on the ground that increased security for civilians, and permit the more effective and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're watching the Secretary of State's mission very closely. Also, we're watching his speech being delivered by this man, Hassan Nasrallah, who was the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon. This group, which the United States considers a terror group has enormous sway in the region, not to mention huge military capabilities with some 150,000 rockets that could hit all over Israel. People have been watching this speech from Nasrallah over the last hour to see if he's signaling any possibility for escalation in the region to open up a new front. He did say all scenarios are on the table. But importantly, at least so far, in so far as we can tell, he had not called for a specific escalation on that front. We're digging through that much more on that in just a moment. We've got CNN crews all over the region, in Beirut, in northern Israel near the Gaza border, also in Doha in Qatar.

Let's begin our coverage this hour with CNN's Jim Sciutto, our chief national security analyst who is right on the Israel-Lebanon border. Jim, let's start with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the remarks that he made in the efforts he is making right now in the region. What did you hear?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: We're listening to Secretary Blinken this afternoon, it made clear that his mission in the region has multiple goals. The main goal, perhaps, is to get some progress on freeing hostages from Gaza, perhaps in exchange for a pause, some sort of pause in the military, fighting military action by Israel inside Gaza. That's one piece of it.

Also seems to be a continuing message from U.S. leaders to other players in the region. Hezbollah among them, do not even think about getting involved in this conflict. I think that's part of the message. In addition, though, there is a message between friends here. Secretary Blinken making clear that the U.S. is pressuring, cautioning Israel from being too aggressive in Gaza and really pushing for concrete changes to protect civilian lives there. Have a listen to how the Secretary put it this afternoon.

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[11:05:12]

BLINKEN: Civilians should not suffer the consequences for its inhumanity and its brutality. We provided Israel advice that only the best of friends can offer on how to minimize civilian deaths, while still achieving its objectives of finding and finishing Hamas terrorists. Protecting civilians must take place, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank where incitement and extremist violence against Palestinians must be stopped and perpetrators held accountable.

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SCIUTTO: It's notable, he mentioned both the treatment of civilians in Gaza and in the West Bank, because in this region, it has gotten an enormous amount of attention civilian casualties in Gaza, the result of Israeli airstrikes, but also settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. And you have a U.S. Secretary of State here who's going to leave Israel and then go to Amman, Jordan, where he's meeting with Arab leaders who've been making their consternation very clear, and how Israel is carrying out this military campaign.

So you have a U.S. Secretary of State, trying to speak to all the players here, trying to be a mediator to some degree. But, boy, John and Kate, that's an extremely delicate balancing act. BERMAN: To say the least. All right, Jim Sciutto, who is in Northern Israel near the Lebanese border. I want to go now to Beirut. That's where our Ben Wedeman is. And Ben, you've been monitoring this speech from the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, tell us what he has said.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it ended about half an hour ago. And basically said, all possibilities are open as far as the situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel. He described Hamas's attacks on Israel on the 7th of October, as an earthquake, a political military psychological earthquake. He said that, for instance, that what may be going on the border between Lebanon and Israel in terms of cross border fire, cross border fire between Israel and Hezbollah is, in his words, modest, but he said that it's resulted in the evacuation of 43 Israeli communities along the border, and essentially tying down a third of the Israeli army in the north.

But by and large, he didn't come out and actually say any concrete steps that Hezbollah is going to take going forward. In fact, what was interesting is that just when his speech began, we heard a huge volley of celebratory gunfire here in Beirut, massive. When it ended, it was somewhat more muted, which seems to indicate that perhaps those who anticipated a much more fiery speech, one that actually laid out a plan might have been disappointed.

One Hezbollah supporter I've been in contact with basically said, the message to Israel is, we are ready if you want war. It doesn't appear, however, that this speech is going to really change the situation dramatically at this point. But certainly, what we saw yesterday was Hezbollah claiming 19 individual strikes on Israeli targets on the other side of the border.

And perhaps we may be able to -- we may be seen in the coming days, a continuation of that heightened level of cross border fire. But it does appear that for the time being Hezbollah is going to maintain what's known as the rules of engagement, an unwritten understanding between Israel and Hezbollah that both sides can strike targets along the border, but not too deep into the other's territory.

Now, he also did say that he held the United States responsible because of its military, diplomatic, political support for Israel, in its war in Gaza. But regarding the U.S. two carrier strikes in the eastern Mediterranean, he said, they don't scare us, and they've never scared us.

BERMAN: So needless to say, Ben, a very tense situation remains on the border between Israel and Lebanon, but nothing Nasrallah said over the last hour necessarily makes it any worse. Ben Wedeman in Beirut, we appreciate you being there. Thank you so much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So in the meantime, Israeli forces say as of today, they have Gaza City completely surrounded after an intense night of artillery fire in and around the city. That and also saying the IDF saying that force -- their forces are advancing and destroying above ground and underground terrorist infrastructures. Let's get over to CNN's Jeremy Diamond who's in Sderot, Israel on these developments in the ground operation. What more are you hearing, Jeremy?

[11:10:10]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, as you said Israeli forces say that they have been circled Gaza City. But even as they have done that, we are still hearing active fighting north of Gaza City. Clearly, Israeli forces are still battling Hamas militants right behind me in the northeastern most city of Beit Hanoun.

And what we have also seen is that as Israeli forces have said, they have broken down Hamas's northern defensive lines. But last night was very intense operation, military operation being carried out by Israel on the ground on -- by sea as well as from the air in that city of Beit Hanoun. Today, the fighting is markedly calmer, but we are still hearing some bursts of artillery fire as well as small arms fire in the distance.

But what is clear is that the Israeli military is not looking for a ceasefire, not looking for a pause in its operations at the moment. And the Israeli Prime Minister moments ago made that very clear after his meeting with the Secretary of State Tony Blinken saying that even as Blinken was pressing him for some kind of a temporary pause to allow for humanitarian aid, to allow for more time for these mediations over the release of hostages, the Israeli Prime Minister's effectively saying the only scenario in which he would agree to some kind of a cessation of hostilities is if indeed, some of those hostages are released from Gaza.

And so in the meantime, until and if that even could happen, Israeli forces very clearly still pursuing their objective. They are destroying Hamas tunnels as they discover them. They're finding weapons caches of Hamas, destroying those as well. And they say that they will continue to pursue their objectives by any means necessary. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much, Jeremy.

BERMAN: All right, we want to go now to Doha in Qatar. That's where CNN's Becky Anderson is. And Becky, what we want to talk about is Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip now to Jordan. He's headed to Amman. Now, he was supposed to go to Amman a couple of weeks ago, but the Jordanians canceled that visit, after the explosion at the hospital inside Gaza that apparently was caused by Islamic Jihad. It was not caused by Israel incorrectly blamed on Israel. But Jordan still canceled the trip from Blinken then, what does Blinken want to get out of this trip now?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And I think it's important to point out because I spoke to the Palestinian Prime Minister soon after that canceled trip. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, should have been there at that summit in Jordan, after the explosion at that hospital in the sort of fog of war, as it were, he pulled out of that meeting. And whatever the resultant sort of, you know, blame was at the point at which that news came out.

It was clear that it will be very difficult to get anything out of that meeting. And as I was told by the Palestinian Prime Minister, in fact, the Americans did understand why that summit a week or so ago, wasn't possible. So yes, there will be another meeting today. What we will hear from the Jordanian Foreign Minister and King Abdullah himself is a consistent message I was told by diplomatic sources familiar with what will be said at this meeting in Jordan, that the country will be calling once again for an immediate ceasefire and nothing less.

They want to see, you know, an opportunity for more humanitarian resources to get in on the ground and more protection of civilians. So their language is an immediate ceasefire. That is something we know the Israelis have already ruled out. They've ruled that out before today. But as you've been reporting, we've heard more now from both the Prime Minister Netanyahu and his and his defense minister.

When pressed by Antony Blinken, as we understand it, press today for at least in principle, a temporary pause in hostilities, a temporary pause, call it a pause or a ceasefire in order, in the first instance, to try and get these mediation efforts sorted on the hostage file. Both the Israeli prime minister and his defense minister have said no to that. So that's going to be the message from Israel as Antony Blinken moves into Jordan. But we will hear again, he will hear immediate ceasefire. He will hear real concerns from the Jordanians who don't forget, have a peace deal in place and have had with Israel along with Egypt for years now.

But they've already recalled their ambassador that is a big diplomatic move. And they are really fearing a risk an escalation in the -- in this conflict around the region, they will be, I'm sure reassured somewhat by what they have heard or not heard from Hassan Nasrallah today, no real clear implicit sort of threat of an escalation. But we'll have to keep an eye on what goes on that northern border. But there is a real concern around this region of what happens next. So there will be no holds barred when Antony Blinken arrives in Jordan, and he will know that. John, Kate?

[11:15:34]

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Laying out very well, the challenge and the complicated and huge, hugely risky mission that Tony Blinken is now headed on leaving Israel and soon be heading to Jordan, when he's going to be tasked with there. Becky Anderson, thank you very much.

BERMAN: We got a brand new jobs report in this morning, showing where the labor market, where the economy might be headed. We will give you those numbers in just a second.

And Eric Trump, Donald Trump's son on the witness stand and the civil fraud trial against the Trump's in, the Trump business they've already been found liable for fraud. What he is saying? How he might be helping or hurting his case?

And it's almost Election Day in America. There are important elections next Tuesday, which will tell us a lot about where things are headed towards 2024.

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[11:21:04]

BOLDUAN: The U.S. economy showing signs of cooling off. Here's the latest read on the labor market. 150,000 jobs were added last month in October that's lower than September's stronger than expected total and also slightly lower than what economists were expecting this time around. Let's get a read on this. Joining us right now for more is the Acting Secretary of Labor, Julie Su. Secretary, thank you so much for coming in. What's your take on this job report? Is the U.S. economy out of the woods yet in your view?

JULIE A. SU, ACTING SECRETARY OF LABOR: This is a very solid jobs report, 150,000 jobs last month brings the total since President Biden came into office to 14 million. The three month average is 204,000. And recall that over a year ago, President Biden said that in light of the really what was then your red hot jobs numbers, it was 500,000 or so at the time, that once we got to the point where it was about 150,000, it would signal a transition to steady, stable recovery with sustainable growth in jobs. And that's exactly where we are.

BOLDUAN: We see some impact. We finally -- we're seeing it in the numbers in terms of manufacturing to the massive labor strikes that we saw in the auto industry, entertainment industry, healthcare industries, we're seeing some impact in these numbers. But what do you think the real impact was of those longer than expected strikes on the economy?

SU: Yes, I appreciate that question so much. Because there's stories that are not revealed just by the numbers, right? The numbers for manufacturing went down. And that those numbers coincided with a period of the strike. But what we saw was that the United Auto Workers got historic gains at the bargaining table. And between them and the big three, wages are increasing in ways that were never before seen other benefits. And, you know, the security that we want for every single worker to have, that was something else that the UAW won.

And together, they are charting a path for the future of this industry, which means that during and after transition, the auto industry will still be built by good union auto workers.

BOLDUAN: You know, Jay Powell said just Wednesday and speaking about the lingering question of fears of a recession or diminishing fears of recession, his view is that economic activity is not really indicative of a recession in the near term. Translate that from your view, what does that mean? You're no longer afraid of the recession and what that would mean for the labor market?

SU: And so these numbers are wholly inconsistent with recession. And that's something that's been true for a long time now. President Biden's economic policies, the center workers, the focus on empowering working people, focus on this middle out, bottom up idea that rather than top down, we can build an economy in which no one gets left behind, has defied all those expectations of, you know, sustained unemployment or, you know, a difficulty recovering in terms of jobs. And so this is a sign that Bidenomics is working across the country and the investments that are being made will continue to reap benefits.

BOLDUAN: Secretary, I wanted to ask you about the view of AI and the emerging technologies like AI and the impact on the labor market. Yes, there is a lot of unknown. But my colleague Donie O'Sullivan just recently did a profile on a worker at Microsoft who's -- who was told essentially that their job was replaced by AI. Is AI good for the labor market? Are you optimistic or pessimistic what this should mean for workers?

SU: Well sort of give a little bit historical context, right? Changes in automation and innovation have often been met with some concern about what the impact on the labor force would be. The important thing to note is that none of that is inevitable, right? There are going to be policy decisions made about the kinds of AI we develop, how it gets deployed, how it gets used, and how it gets regulated that are going to determine its impact on working people.

[11:25:19]

The other thing we've seen to tie together a previous question is that when workers have a voice at the table, when they can bargain, when there's a union, there is a way to determine what the impact of AI is going to be, that can take advantage of the best parts of it to help make workers safer, to make jobs better, and to mitigate against the risks.

BOLDUAN: Yes, a big part of that, though, does include regulation coming from Congress and an administration, which there's a big question on what that is potentially ever going to look like when it comes to AI. Secretary, thank you so much for your time. John?

BERMAN: All right. Just moments ago, Eric Trump wrapped up his testimony in the civil fraud trial against him, his brother, his father, the family business, we will tell you what the state pressed him on over the last few minutes.

The most important elections of 2023 are just days away. What we might learn about 2024.

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