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Leaked Audio Allegedly Captures Netanyahu Calling Qatar Problematic In Meeting With Hostage Families; Ring Ending Video- Sharing Program With Police; Scientists: IVF Pregnancy Could Save Northern White Rhino. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 25, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This just in to CNN, a source tells CNN that CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet with Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatar negotiators in the coming days to push for a hostage deal with Hamas.

This comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Qatar after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly criticized the Gulf state in leaked audio from a meeting with the families of hostages. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For me, Qatar is no different in essence from the U.N., it is no different in essence from the Red Cross, and in a certain sense, it is even worse, more problematic.

I was very angry recently and I didn't hide it from the Americans that they renewed the contract on the military base they have with Qatar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now CNN has not independently verified whether that voice is Netanyahu's and the Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied that audio.

The Qatari Foreign Minister though was quick to condemn those comments saying, quote: These remarks, if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives but are not surprising.

We want to discuss this and more with Tal Heinrich, she's a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tal, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. Was that Benjamin Netanyahu's voice?

TAL HEINRICH, SPOKESPERSON FOR ISRAELI MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Well, it's a leaked audio. Again, I'm not going to confirm this or deny this, Boris, as you just said. We're not commenting on such a report. SANCHEZ: But what about the substance of the criticism? Is there a

feeling from the Prime Minister that Qatar is problematic and hindering negotiations to get hostages out?

HEINRICH: Well, we welcome any kind of efforts to bring to the release of more hostages.

Of course, we're working with international mediators. The United States is involved. Qatar is involved. Egypt is also involved. But there's no secret about it that any country that is harboring terrorist or terror masterminds, so to say, is problematic.

Now, Qatar says that its relationship with the terror master heads, the Hamas leadership that have been there for years and are still there, is something that can benefit the civilized world.

And we say, OK, let's see it. The burden of proof is on them. Boris, you know that there are at least 136 more hostages who are in Gaza right now. Around 100 of them, we believe, are still alive. We want to see all of them returning back to their families.

SANCHEZ: To that point, Qatar, the United States, officials in the United States believe, was instrumental in getting the previous hostages released. And they were harboring Hamas leaders back then. So isn't that relationship, to a degree, beneficial?

[15:35:00]

HEINRICH: Indeed, we saw the release of some hostages. You know, we say that what worked back in November is the combination of two things.

First, the IDF pressure on the ground, the fact that we are exerting a lot of pressure, hitting Hamas hard, is what created the conditions to reach this framework that saw the release of some of the hostages. Hamas terrorists on the ground, they wanted a breather. And we said that we would agree to a humanitarian pause in the fighting that will facilitate the release of hostages. We still stand by it.

As you know, Hamas were the ones that broke the other framework on day eight, if I'm correct. And we are continuing to pursue every possible avenue that would bring the release of more hostages.

This is a combination of heavy military pressure. And also, we're working diplomatic avenues behind the scenes. I know that there are a lot of reports out there, allegedly, about offers that are on the table. Not all of them are correct. Most of them are incorrect.

But we're not commenting about the nature of these talks, because we believe that it's everything -- everything is so sensitive right now. We're talking about human lives. So we believe that the more quiet we keep these talks, the better chances of success we have.

SANCHEZ: Understood. I am curious about some of the criticism toward the United States. How does the prime minister feel about the al-Udeid airbase agreement, the United States expanding -- or extending, rather, its agreement with Qatar to keep that largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East open for another decade?

HEINRICH: So, as I told you before, Boris, I cannot comment specifically about this leaked audio. But what I will tell you is that we are in --

Yes, we're in constant communication with Washington. There's not much daylight between Jerusalem and Washington, as some media headlines sometimes try to portray it. Because at the end of the day, we all want the same things.

We want to see the end to this war with Hamas surrendering, with all hostages returning to their home. We want to see the elimination of Hamas. And as we do this, we also want to see minimized civilian casualties in Gaza.

Now, we don't have to agree on everything with partners. The United States is our best friend. We consult, we take advice, we share concerns.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I want to ask you about one specific place where I think there is pretty public daylight. But I just want to go back to the substance. Aside from the audio, whether Netanyahu said that in private or not, does he feel disappointed that the United States extended this agreement with Qatar to keep that base open?

HEINRICH: Well, you keep asking me that same question, Boris. I told you what I can at this point. We --

SANCHEZ: I'm just curious about how he feels, aside from the audio. Just the news that the United States reached this agreement.

HEINRICH: Well, if the Prime Minister feels something and he wants to tell it to Washington, he has his ways to do so. I'm not going to elaborate on this on air.

SANCHEZ: Sure, sure.

He did say recently in public that he's communicated some difficult truths to members of the Biden administration, specifically when it comes to their insistence that Israel and specifically Netanyahu be open to a two-state solution. The Biden administration has maintained that in private conversations, Netanyahu has been open to a two-state solution. But very publicly, the Prime Minister is saying the opposite. Is this a matter of disagreement or is this just some kind of miscommunication?

HEINRICH: I think it's a matter of semantics, because I think CNN also quoted President Biden over the weekend, telling reporters that there are different types of two-state solutions. And we say no to the type that would mean that it would jeopardize Israel's security. You know, peace with the Palestinians or full sovereignty to the Palestinians down the road cannot be a collective suicide of the state of Israel.

This is not what peace is about. Peace that would endanger Israel. Peace that would mean that, let's say, Iranian leaders could touch base on Palestinian soil and that Palestinians could receive shipments, weapons shipments from Iran and have training camps on Hezbollah in the area west of the Jordan River.

That's unacceptable and that is not real peace. That would mean that you and I, for instance, will continue to have these conversations again, you know, one year down the road, five years down the road. We said that this round should be the last round.

That in order to achieve a real durable peace, the right conditions have to be in place. Gaza has to be demilitarized and the Palestinian society has to be de-radicalized.

Now, that formula that the Prime Minister was talking about, Netanyahu, it's something that he articulated in many different occasions before October 7th. It's even explicitly written in his book and even so after October 7th.

[15:40:00]

The Palestinians should have all of the powers to govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten Israel. That's how we see things.

SANCHEZ: And Tal, that there are questions about whether the eradication, the complete eradication of Hamas is possible. And there is some criticism even from key members of the war cabinet, including Gadi Eisenkot. He was a former chief of staff to the Prime Minister. His son recently was killed in Gaza.

He said that the idea of the absolute defeat of Hamas is a fantasy, saying that whoever spreads that message is, quote, not speaking the truth. We should not tell stories.

Do you believe that the eradication, the complete eradication of Hamas is still possible?

HEINRICH: We certainly believe so. And the IDF has been making great advancements on the ground. We eliminated more than 9,000 terrorists, Hamas terrorists. We arrested 2,300 and injured many more who are immobilized. So there is progress.

And as we progress in the war, by the way, we see the number of civilian casualties also decreasing as we move to the more targeted raids phase of this war. And, you know, there are different opinions in Israel. We welcome every opinion. We're having these internal discussions amongst ourselves. But we believe that it is indeed possible to bring to the elimination of Hamas as an organized war machine in Gaza.

SANCHEZ: Tal Heinrich, we have to leave the conversation there. Look forward to advancing this conversation at some point in the future. Thanks for coming on.

HEINRICH: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Stay with CNN. We're back in just moments.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Ring doorbell. They are on front doors across America. Probably maybe your door or in your neighborhood. And they've been a huge help to police. But now Amazon says it is ending a program that lets authorities request footage from users.

CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is here with us now on this. John, tell us about this new restriction on this video sharing program.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, Brianna, the Ring doorbell system has an app called Neighbors. And this way, neighbors in a given area or a couple of blocks can share video with each other and notes on suspicious activity and other things.

But there's also a function in that app where police could send out an RFA, request for assistance. So they could send it out to a wide area or a small area and say this crime, this is this suspicious activity. There was a murder, a robbery, an attempted child molestation. And of course, you know, we've seen all those videos of crimes that were caught on camera, people who were caught attempting burglaries, bears on people's porches, lots of things. But police were able to kind of send out these requests and get people to give them the video where they saw suspicious activity.

Now, Amazon and Ring have removed that function. They say they've sunsetted it, but they don't say why. Interestingly, a privacy advocacy group called the EFF out of Washington on their website is calling it a major victory from a long fought battle to reduce the network of, you know, police surveillance they say permeates across the country.

KEILAR: Very interesting. All right. So many questions remain on this, John, and we know that we'll be following up on this. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, did scientists just save an endangered species? We're going to talk about that, tell you how.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Extinction fighters everywhere are celebrating the promise of IVF in rhinos. The group BioRescue just announced that scientists had successfully used that process to impregnate an animal. The aim is to create a future for the descendants of these two rhinos. Najin and Ratu.

KEILAR: That's right. So they are the only living northern white rhinos in the world. Just the two of them. Can you imagine that here? They are under strict guard in a Kenya conservancy because of that. And now the IVF that was successfully done here -- we should mention it was in the southern white rhino. And BioRescue is hoping that they can then do this procedure for their much rarer northern counterparts within two and a half years, which would certainly be very exciting. So joining us now to talk about it is the host of Wildlife Nation,

Jeff Corwin. All right, Jeff, I mean, we said it there, just two northern white rhino left. How big of a scientific feat is this?

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, "WILDLIFE NATION": Well, this is a very exciting moment, but they still have a very long journey ahead before they save this truly eclipsing species. This incredible group of animals, the northern white rhino, are all, in a sense of purposes, they are biologically extinct.

We only have two females that are surviving and they are now very old. They're not very productive right now in this stage of the reproductive cycle. So, Brianna, we're relying on the southern white rhino, which has a population of about 15,000, and there we can, through in vitro fertilization, actually implant an embryo that is created from the material, the reproductive material that still exists today.

We have about 12 individual specimens from the northern white rhino. But this is the sun setting on this species, and we are literally in a fight to try to save them from extinction.

SANCHEZ: To that point, Jeff, how did the northern white rhino get to this point?

CORWIN: Oh, just greed and avarice, the story around the world. The black market trade in wildlife is a $20 billion a year industry. These animals were destroyed for their horns, which has a value of $40,000 to $70,000. So one rhino horn has this tremendous black market value.

It's used in medicinal trinkets, and it's used in the creation of like ornamental things for spears and for daggers and stuff. But this greed and this hunger for this endangered species is what drove it to the brink of extinction.

I have a personal connection to this species. Back in 2009, in a documentary I did, we were there to help move the five surviving rhinos to their new home. And now to see this species get reduced to only two, it's sort of heartbreaking. But to know that there is hope, but a long journey ahead, that sort of gives me a bit of pause to think that maybe we could pull this off. But there's a long way to go.

KEILAR: Let's talk a little bit about that, because the cells to create the northern white rhino embryo, it may not come from living rhinos. Is that right?

CORWIN: Well, just for example, you know, just with human beings, we can freeze our reproductive material and use them to create an embryo far in the future. We can freeze fertilized eggs for many years at a time.

[15:55:00]

We actually have a reservoir of thousands and thousands of species today that we have cryo-frozen for a time in the future where we may try to reintroduce them when we are a kinder species and we've made a planet more habitable for these species.

For example, in Australia, they're losing all their corals. They realize they're in a race against time to save corals. So they're now just resorting to freeze in the embryos of these corals.

It's the same thing with this species. There are a number of examples where we have taken animals that are biologically not here anymore, we find that close enough cousin, we're able to implant that embryo and revive that species.

SANCHEZ: I saw, I think it was a documentary about this once, but it didn't end well. There were dinosaurs. I'm just kidding.

Jeff, do you think we'll see other endangered species eventually get the treatment of IVF like this, as you alluded to, with like coral reefs, for example?

CORWIN: Well, I think it's certainly -- it's a very important tool in the toolbox for conservation, but it's also has this fantastical element to it, Boris. I think the most important thing we can do are the things we can do today. And that is to stop the black market trade of wildlife, to protect habitat and work with the species we have today.

But yes, there are species. We're thinking of doing this with the Tasmanian tiger. We're looking at bringing back mammoths.

There are all sorts of wonderful things to explore, but still, we have urgent problems today with species on the brink. We have lost about 75 percent of all nature in about 100 years. So yes, this is very important. It's very exciting. But this is just one small example of the great challenges we face with protecting nature.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a sad note, but a glimmer of hope for the future. Jeff Corwin, thanks so much for joining us.

CORWIN: Got to have the glimmer.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's right.

Stay with CNN. We're back in just a few seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Stun the golf world by becoming the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event in more than 30 years and the youngest since 1910.

SANCHEZ: But do not call Nick Dunlap an amateur anymore. The University of Alabama sophomore is turning pro. The 20-year-old defied the odds when he won the American Express event in California last weekend.

[16:00:00]

He couldn't take home that more than $1.5 million prize because of his amateur status. But it did give Dunlap a PGA Tour exemption through 2026, where he can now haul in any prize money he wins moving forward. He makes his first start as a pro next week at Pebble Beach. Not a bad place to start.

KEILAR: No, that is amazing. All the best to him. That was an amazing showing that he had. Really good.

All right, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.