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Blinken Speaks After Meeting With Netanyahu; Multiple Tornadoes Reported In Florida Panhandle. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 09, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Just as I heard, again, a commitment not only to be engaged in the future of Gaza but also to take the steps necessary, make the commitments necessary, provide the assurances necessary to give Israel confidence in its security.

That's something that is new in recent years and very powerful, which is the willingness, the commitment of many neighboring countries, not only to live with Israel in peace but also, genuinely, to have our region more integrated in which everyone can feel secure, including Israel.

So there's -- I think also here, potentially a powerful opportunity for the future. Now it's very difficult to get, hard to get there, hard decisions, hard choices need to be made in order to get there. But you can see that possibility.

I'm not going to speak for the prime minister or anyone in the Israeli government about their views. I can just share our own. And also share a little bit of what I heard from countries in the region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the next question, Suleman Masada (ph) with Kahn News (ph).

SULEMAN MASADA (ph), REPORTER, KAHN NEWS (ph): Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for taking questions. I will be fast.

The Israeli government is still refusing to transfer the P.A.'s money and the administer said yesterday there are two million not sees in Gaza and I won't give money to Nazis just like the U.S. won't give money to al-Qaeda. I would like to have your comment on that.

The second question is, the cabinet said that they're refusing to let Gazans go back to north Gaza for now. Is that something that you agreed on with your Israeli counterparts?

Thank you very much.

BLINKEN: So, first, with regard to the Palestinian Authority revenues, these are their revenues. They should have them. They should have them in order to be able to make sure they can pay their people that are providing essential services.

Including doing essential work in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority security forces, who are playing important role in trying to keep peace, security, stability in the West Bank, something profoundly in Israel's interests.

So we believe that those revenues should be released to them. Again, their revenues and they are being used to do something important to Israel.

And when it comes to the future governance of Gaza when the conflict is over, of course, people need to be paid. They need to be able to do the work necessary to administer Gaza, to do the other things that are critical once the conflict ends.

In terms of Palestinians and moving back to northern Gaza, as I spoke earlier, we have an agreement that the U.N. will conduct an assessment to determine the conditions necessary for people be able to move back home.

There are a lot of really challenging important issues to deal with, including things like unexploded ordinance, booby traps, other explosives that have been left by Hamas.

Infrastructure questions, proper support. All of those things are going to be evaluated by the United Nations pursuant to this agreement.

And as soon as conditions allow, we want to see people be able to move back to their homes. We've been very clear about the necessity of doing that when conditions allow. And making sure that people who want to go back can go back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Mauldin with the "Wall Street Journal."

WILL MAULDIN, REPORTER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Thank you so much.

I want to ask about we have heard voices, some Israeli political leaders talking about the threat of Iran in the region and, of course, its proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, have been active in and around this conflict.

But you are bringing a message to the region of de-escalation. Was your message of de-escalation heard and agreed with when you spoke to your Israeli counterparts and political leaders today or -- we have not seen that in the last few days.

There have been strikes on Hezbollah that appear to be an escalation. Do you support that? Is the U.S. and its partners prepared to take a strike against the Houthis because of their continued action in around the Red Sea?

BLINKEN: Thanks, Will. One thing we have heard clearly every place we've gone, including in Israel, is that escalation is in no one's interest. No one is seeking, and no one wants to see other fronts open in this conflict.

[13:35:00] And more than that, as I have already shared, we have countries around the region that are using their relationships, using their influence to try to make sure that that doesn't happen.

We had extensive discussions about that today, as we had on other days of this trip. And here we focused particularly on the situation in northern Israel.

And it is clear to me from these conversations a few things. First, we strongly support the proposition that Israelis need to know security so that they can return to their homes in northern Israel.

And 80,000 or so Israelis have been forced from their homes because of insecurity from southern Lebanon, rocket attacks, other threats posed by Hezbollah.

Equally, we believe, and the government of Israel believes, that a diplomatic path is the best way to achieve the security. That's exactly what we will continue to pursue. That is what the government said today and that is what we are focused on.

More broadly, we have, you're right, a number of actions being taken by the Houthis, by other Iranian proxies, in Iraq, Syria, with that threatens stability. And it threatens the potential for conflict.

And we are determined, again, that we will not see exhalation, that we don't have the conflict to spread, and we've made that very clear.

But of course, if our personnel, our forces are threatened or attacked, we will take appropriate steps. We will respond. We will protect them. We have demonstrated that in the recent past. And we will again if we have to.

We have talked already about the threat the Houthis pose. That is a threat not just to us directly, or to Israel. It's a threat to the entire international community because they've been attacking shipping through the Red Sea that is vital to providing 50 percent of global commerce every day.

These attacks have had very, very negative effects for countries around the world in terms of forcing ships to route around the Red Sea, taking longer routes, more expensive, more time. Insurance rates go up, prices for food, medicine, energy, for whatever is being shipped are going up.

And more broadly, it is a threat to the principle of freedom of navigation that every country has a stake in. And that's why more than 40 countries joined us in condemning the Houthis' actions.

That's why other countries have joined us in making clear that if this continues there are going to be consequences.

But no one's looking to create a conflict or to escalate the conflict. On the contrary, we are seeking to prevent that from happening.

But we also have to uphold basic principles of international law, including freedom of navigation. And we have to make sure that our own personnel, when they're under threat, are being protected.

MAULDIN: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

BLINKEN: Look, I will not speculate on what will happen in the future. We want to make clear that if these actions by the Houthis continues, there will be consequences. I Won't say anything about what they will be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The final question will be Al Amari (ph) with "Al Jazeera."

AL AMARI, REPORTER, "AL JAZEERA": Thank you (INAUDIBLE).

First, (INAUDIBLE) Secretary Blinken, thank you for expressing your deep sadness about the tragedy of our colleague, Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza.

Wael has lost his wife and three sons and his grandchildren in Israeli bombardment of the house where they fled from the center of Gaza City and displaced to the southern Gaza Strip in the 25th of October.

Two days ago or three days Wael lost his eldest son, Hamza, who was a journalist in the Al Jazeera Media Corp and was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a civilian car in Rafah.

And 110 Palestinian journalists were killed so far by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war. More than 20,000 civilians were killed and tens of thousands were injured and hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes that no longer exist.

The situation of the Israeli citizens is also difficult. Tens of thousands were displaced from the Gaza (INAUDIBLE) and the border line with Lebanon. And hundreds of civilians were killed in that Hamas attack on the civilians in October.

[13:40:02]

And there is many prisoners and hostages from both sides, as you know.

My question, why do you, as a superpower and as a leading force in the international community (INAUDIBLE) and especially the Israeli government to ceasefire in Gaza, and respect the United Nation resolutions indicated the peaceful solution in the state of both sides continuing war, blood by more blood?

My second question is related to the matter of normalization. Is the USA really busy with the matter? And do you think, Mr. Blinken, that the option exists or is it just an attempt to escape from the solution of the Palestinian question?

And does Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, agree with the American position in order to change his extreme government?

And what about the rule for four Arab nations or countries as you mentioned before in Gaza? Is it just to contribute for the reconstruction or they have political rule? BLINKEN: Thank you.

Let me say again at the onset, the loss -- the losses that your colleagues suffered are unimaginable. And I have deep condolences for what he has suffered. I can't even begin to fully imagine it, what he has gone through.

As I said again the other day, to the journalists who have lost their lives, who have been injured in Gaza, we feel very strongly for them as well and the essential work they do. It is more vital than ever.

We want this war to end as soon as possible. There has been far too much loss of life, far too much suffering.

But it is vital that Israel achieve its very legitimate objectives of ensuring that October 7th can never happen again. And we believe they are making considerable progress towards the goal.

At the same time, I think it's very important to remember that everyone has choices to make. That includes Hamas.

Hamas could have ended this on October 8th by not hiding behind civilians, by putting down its weapons, by surrendering, by releasing the hostages.

None of the suffering would have happened if Hamas had not did (sic) what it did on October 7th and had it made different decisions thereafter.

So it's very important to keep that in perspective. And again, this could end tomorrow if Hamas makes those decisions.

We will continue, as we've done, to give the Israelis our best advice about conducting this war in a manner that achieves the objective to make sure that October 7th can't be repeated, does better by protecting civilians and making sure that people get the assistance that they need.

With regards to normalization, there is a clear interest in pursuing that. Integration of the region is something that virtually all the countries I visited on the Strip want to advance, what to pursue.

Some of them have already taken vital steps to do that. Others I think are interested in doing the same.

But it is equally clear that that is not in substitute for or at the expense of a political horizon for the Palestinians, and ultimately a Palestinian state.

On the contrary, that peace has to be a part of any integration efforts, any normalization efforts. That was also very clear in my conversations during the course of this trip, including in Saudi Arabia.

Thank you. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, that was Secretary of State

Antony Blinken speaking in Tel Aviv. A critical stop on his whirlwind tour of the Middle East.

[13:45:00]

We have Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt joining us now.

And there was so many important things he said, just to touch on a few of them.

Where he said, you know, first off -- and this is before we dipped into it there, the coverage. He said the charge of genocide against Israel's merit-less. He's referring to South Africa bringing a case to The Hague, having to do with that.

But I think the most critical part of what he said had to do with the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza. He was saying there is going to be a U.N. assessment mission to see how Palestinians can safely do that.

And he said, he was crystal clear in I think using those words, you know, he's very specific for him to say the Palestinian civilians must be allowed to return home as soon as safely -- as soon as safely possible. And they will not, they should not be leaving Gaza as someone in the far-right in Israel has said.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY, RETIRED: First of all, they're not going to leave Gaza simply because no country will accept them.

Second, they do have a legitimate right to no longer be internally displaced people but to go back to their homes.

There are some people in the far right of the Israeli government that don't believe that this is the final time to cleanse Gaza of, quote, "Palestinians." But that just won't happen.

We would cut off funding, I would suspect, to Israel before we allowed them to raze Gaza and eliminate all the people that are legitimately living there.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Another aspect to the question-and-answer period I thought was fascinating, Tony Blinken was asked straight up whether in his conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu he got a sense that Netanyahu supports a two-state solution.

Something the United States and the West has been pushing for, for decades now. That is to potentially ease the conflict long term.

He did not specifically say what he gathered from Netanyahu. In fact, he said something to be effective, I'm not going to share Netanyahu's perspective on this.

He did harp on the fact that there was support in the region by partners to the United States for a two-state solution. And he specifically mentioned that they had offered security guarantees to Israel in order to facilitate that.

What are the security guarantees looking like? Is it something you believe Netanyahu may buy into?

KIMMITT: I don't think so. The real issue of that question is not about security guarantees. It's about governance. Who will govern in Gaza?

The united -- it's clear that the Israeli position is that Mahmoud Abbas will not govern, the PLO will not govern the West Bank. There has to be some sort -- excuse me -- Gaza. There has to be some sort of other formulation before Netanyahu will buy into it.

That generally will be the trickiest part. Humanitarian aid, probably a solvable problem. Resettlement back into their homes, probably a solvable problem.

But nobody has come up with a good formulation at this point for who will govern Gaza post-war.

KEILAR: It seems like he was going in with some hard truths. Is Israel really having no plan for what they're going to do with Gaza after the fight subsidizes.

And what is going to happen with Israel? They don't to incentivize what happened on October 7th, that's seems the way they see it.

If they move towards a two-state solution, what is the message they're sending to Hamas? They got something, right, out of what they did.

But to Tony Blinken's point, he is trying to say that if you want to ease tensions and move towards a future, there has to be a two-state solution. That is where everyone who he has spoken to on this trip is demanding more political rights for Palestinians.

How is it possible that Israel can be moved on that by the U.S.?

KIMMITT: The security guarantees by the U.S. would have to be that, if Gaza attacks again, we will come to your eight.

Because that is the hard part on the Israeli side. The Israeli side says, how do we prevent October 7th from happening again? How do we know we're not going to have a third intifada? A fourth? A fifth?

There has to be some sort of solution so we don't have to go through another October 7th every year.

KEILAR: General Kimmitt, so great to have your perspective on this at such a critical time. Thank you so much.

KIMMITT: Thank you.

KEILAR: And severe weather hitting Florida. We're keeping an eye on this. The governor there declaring a state of emergency as suspected tornadoes touched down in the panhandle of the state.

There are cities like Tampa and Orlando that are under tornado watches right now. The latest on the damage after a quick break.

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[13:54:25]

KEILAR: A punishing storm wreaking havoc across the U.S. today. Reports of multiple tornadoes touching down in the Florida Panhandle. There is video that shows houses teetering. Just look at this. And we do know that that some injuries have been reported.

SANCHEZ: Emergency responders say they're seeing significant damage around Panama City Beach.

CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers, tracking all of this for us.

Chad, where the storms now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Eastern Georgia, parts of South and North Carolina, moving into northern and western Florida. A new tornado watch was just issued, including Tampa and Orlando.

[13:55:59]

So this is the area that we're really concerned with at this point. Along this line of weather here.

On the northside, you showed pictures earlier of the blizzard back in Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, parts of Texas. It is the same storm, just the cold side of that storm.

But the severe weather side, where the tornadoes are still possible. And I still think probably a couple are on the ground right now. You need to keep your radio on or make sure you have some way of finding out what is going on in your area.

If you are west of that line, you are in the clear. If you're east of that line, you still have the potential for some weather still going on today.

There will be weather throughout the afternoon. Tornado watches are in effect in from the Carolinas into parts of Florida. This is going to be the area that we are still seeing in the pink boxes. Some of these individual cells are rotating.

When they rotate on the radar, on the doppler, we can see that rotation with the wind speeds going in different directions. That is how really most of the radar warnings were put out today.

There are not that many people out there looking for these tornadoes. Not spotter warnings. Most of these are indicated by that spin on the radar.

A lot of rain still to come up to don't northeast. An awful lot of snow still on the ground in the northeast that is going to melt in this rain. There is potential for severe weather for the rest of today. As we

move farther towards the northeast, we will see the rain into parts of New York, all the way into New England.

Watch out for the storm drains that are already clogged by the snow. That water is not going to get into those trains very quickly. It is going to start to fill up the roadways. We are going to see the flash flooding possible up to parts of New England, with the rain and the melting snow.

SANCHEZ: A lot to be on the lookout for.

Chad Myers, from the CNN Weather Center. Thank you so much, Chad.

MYERS: All right.

SANCHEZ: Ahead, it's the briefing we've been waiting for. The Pentagon has some explaining to do. They are going to take questions.

And there are a lot of them after the failed disclosure of Secretary Austin's hospitalizations. The secretary of defense hospitalized. They didn't tell the White House for days. The handling of this has sparked backlash from both sides of the aisle.

The briefing us live in the next hour. Stay with us.

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