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Danny Danon, Israeli Ambassador To U.N., Discusses Israel Strikes on Beirut, "Painful Response" To Iran; Hurricane Damage Threatens Medical Supply Chain; Couple In Severe Uber Crash Can't Sue Because Of Uber Eats Order. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 03, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:34:05]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As Israel weighs it's retaliation against Iran for Tuesday's missile barrage, Israel's military is reporting that around 100 projectiles have been launched from Lebanon into Israel in just the past few hours.

At the same time, a CNN team in Beirut recently reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke, as you see in this video, rising over the city's southern suburbs.

The IDF says it struck around 200 targets in Lebanon in a barrage of airstrikes overnight and that it killed several Hezbollah commanders in a strike on a military structure in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese military says the strikes in central Beirut killed at least nine people.

All this as Israel is now telling more villagers in southern Lebanon to evacuate, a sign of what could be a wider-scale ground incursion.

Joining us now to discuss is the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon.

Ambassador, Shanah Tovah. And thank you so much for joining us on this holiday.

[14:35:02]

AMB. DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Thank you both for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

You have vowed that the response from Israel to Iran will be a heavy price. I wonder what factors go into consideration among officials when making that decision?

DANON: You know, what happened two days ago was unprecedented, 200 ballistic missiles flew into Israeli. The entire population, 10 million Israelis had to run for shelters, babies, children, elderly. And we cannot continue to live that way. We would send a very clear

message to Iran, it will be painful. You know, Hamas underestimated our determination.

Also, Nasrallah in Beirut will know what happened in Gaza and in Beirut. The same will happen with Iran.

You know, we are in pain. We celebrate the new year today also, Shanah. We reflect back and we analyze it was the hardest yield for the state of Israel ever.

But, you know, the pain doesn't mean that we are weak. We are in pain, but we are strong. We are determined. And we will show it to anyone soon.

They will realize that what they did was something that you don't do. You don't attack another member state of the U.N., a state with 200 ballistic missiles.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador, you likened the response from Israel, the one that's forthcoming, to the message that you say was sent to Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah?

I don't expect you to telegraph what is going to be carried out, but does that mean that eliminating the leadership in Iran, the ayatollah perhaps, is on the table?

DANON: We have a lot of options. We've already proved that we have the ability to reach any destination in the Middle East. You know, even those volleys, you ask yourself, why we have a conflict with Iran or Yemen or Iraq? We have not voted with them. It's so far away from -- from Israel.

But when you have like radicals, they come after us. So we have that ability. We proved it in Yemen a few days ago and we've done it, some of the Houthis' infrastructure. So it's up to us to decide when and where we want to attack.

But they are vulnerable. They know that.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador, how do you then respond to President Biden saying that he believes that targeting Iran's nuclear facilities should be off the table?

DANON: Well, you can understand I cannot go into details about our options.

But I would weigh the question, when you know that Iran is building nuclear capabilities, and we saw the ballistic missiles flying into Israel, you ask yourself, until when the Westerns watch and wait until they will actually be able to put together a nuclear bomb on a ballistic missile, it's totally, I've told you that we can take no chances.

When you are radical leaders threatening to destroy the Jewish nation, we better believe them. So I haven't read the headlines here, but I will tell you that. It should be the interest of the U.S., Europe, and any other democracy to block Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities.

If we fail with diplomacy, we have to consider all options.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador when it comes to the northern border with Lebanon, that country's foreign minister told CNN that before Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was killed, he had already agreed to a three- week cease fire.

And apparently, the foreign ambassador was told that Netanyahu also agreed to that. So why did those negotiations fail?

DANON: Well, we have a very clear message. You know, we can stop them all tomorrow. All it takes for Hezbollah to stop targeting Israel. It started on October 8th with no provocation, just to show support for Hamas.

And Hezbollah, north of the Litani River, (INAUDIBLE) the Security Council decided in 2006, once both conditions are met you don't need a ceasefire. You go back to where we will.

But I think Hezbollah is saying that line and we all know that they don't decide for themselves. They take direction from Tehran.

And what happened two days ago, very interesting, Boris, Iran took the mask off because, for years, they were hiding behind Hezbollah, behind the Houthis.

Today, it's clear that Iran is behind the attacks against Israel and against other U.S. targets in the region. And we should name them as responsible for what's happening.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador, you outlined there sort of the immediate goals of what's been described as this limited incursion. But there are concerns about mission creep.

For one, analysts have pointed out that it's in Hezbollah's interests to make the IDF get bogged down in Lebanon. And history itself, in 1982 and in 2006, has shown that these incursions can very quickly get complicated and become much more expansive. So how do you prevent that?

[14:40:10]

DANON: Well, you know, what you mentioned that we have no desire to send our boys and girls into Lebanon. But what we are doing now, we're taking care to degrading the capability of Hezbollah.

And what we found next to our border was beyond imagination - imagination, you know, bunkers, tunnels with maps of communities inside Israel. They were planning to invade Israel. I think they we're caught by surprise.

Hamas did it before Hezbollah. But Hezbollah had the infrastructure and the ability and the ammunition to invade Israel. So what we are doing now, we make sure that all the infrastructure is destroyed and they will not be able to use it against us.

SANCHEZ: Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you joining us and sharing your perspective.

DANON: Thank you very much, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Hurricane Helene is sending ripples through the supply chain. Ahead, we're going to discuss how a plant in North Carolina that was flooded could cause a critical shortage.

We'll be right back.

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[14:45:46]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Each day reveals a different dimension to the devastation caused by `Hurricane Helene. We're now warning that hospitals around the country could face a shortage of I.V. fluids because of a critical production site in North Carolina that is now shut down.

And it's not just as hospitals, but it's also dialysis centers that may be affected by this storm damage.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is with us now on this story.

How big of a problem is this, Meg?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It can be a considerable problem, Brianna. I'm hearing that from folks who are fairly concerned about what they're seeing here and still sorting through really what the impacts are likely to be.

But this is a facility from Baxter. This is a health care company. This is its largest manufacturing facility. It says it's located in the north coast of North Carolina, which is about 50 miles from Asheville.

And this manufacturing site, the company says, is the largest U.S. manufacturer of I.V. fluids and dialysis solutions. And so we have been hearing from pharmacy experts and from folks around the country working in health kara that there could be a shortage of those items.

They are already starting to put into place sort of efforts to conserve these fluids, trying not to use them when it's not necessary.

We have heard about these shortages before. There was a hurricane, Hurricane Maria, that hit Puerto Rico in 2017 and that affected this same company. And there was a shortage of I.V. bags, I.V. saline after that, that lasted quite some time.

Now, this plant in North Carolina experienced flooding and has been temporarily closed. Baxter says it's working with federal, state, and local authorities trying to assess the damage and reopen it as soon as they can and limit the impact here.

But we've heard from experts that in previous natural disasters it can take as long as a year for the plants to come back online and that filters through the whole system -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes, it certainly does.

All right, Meg, thank you so much for that. We do appreciate it.

Still ahead, a court has ruled that a couple severely injured during an Uber ride cannot sue because of a separate Uber Eats order.

We'll be talking to a legal expert about what exactly happened here and what rights you have when it comes to those terms-and-conditions agreements.

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[14:52:59]

KEILAR: So we've all done it. We download an app, we just click it, right, except without reading a single word of print. Well, maybe this story will make you think again.

SANCHEZ: A couple in New Jersey was severely injured after their Uber driver sped through a red light and was T-boned by another car.

They pushed for a jury trial, but a court ruled that they can't sue the company because they and their daughter agreed to arbitration when they accepted the terms of service for a separate Uber Eats order.

Joining us now to discuss is defense attorney, Misty Marris.

Misty, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

The couple claimed that they're young daughter was the one who accepted the terms while using their mom's phone. She wasn't 18, but she said that she was 18 when she signed up for the terms of service.

What do you make of this whole case?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right. So that argument was one of the two arguments that were raised by the plaintiffs here.

First, it comes down to whether or not the couple, the actual parents, and the plaintiffs in this case, consented to this arbitration agreement.

So they raised the argument that their daughter, who was not 18-years- old, was the one who actually click that box. The court ultimately determined that there was evidence that the mother had actually accepted the terms and conditions prior to that time.

And also testimony indicated that they weren't really clear on what the daughter had seen. They just did not remember seeing that click box that talk it's about arbitration popping up on the phone.

So the court actually said that's an argument for the arbitration, but it's not going to preclude you from being bound by this arbitration agreement.

KEILAR: OK, let's say -- let's put aside that, Misty. The whoever it was, who clicked on it, I think people look at this story and they say, wait, so it was a separate Uber Eats order, but this was an Uber, this was a drive, right?

What does my Taco Bell have to do with my taxi ride in a way. What's the answer?

MARRIS: No, absolutely. And certainly, that's the takeaway here. So putting that issue aside, the next issue -- and all of this is a matter of contract law.

The next issue, when this box pops up and it provides these new terms and conditions that, by the way, you have to click in order to use the app and in order to use the app for both Uber Eats and the Uber rides app, well, if you don't click it, you cannot use the service.

So the question is, was that open and obvious? What was the writing like? What did it actually say?

In this particular case, that box that popped up not only discussed the obligations of a consumer with the Uber Eats component of the app, but also said that those same obligations, including the arbitration provision, applies to the Uber ride app as well.

So the overall answer to the question is the language matters. And it's going to be different in every case. This bleeds into what the part of the argument was.

[14:55:04]

But these are the types of conditions -- 12 pages you're scrolling through on an app screen. All the bargaining power is what the company and none on the consumer.

But here, the appellate court found that the language itself did cover Uber rides as well. And that it was very pronounced, that it was obvious that there were new terms and conditions, which were ultimately accepted.

SANCHEZ: I did not consider any of this when I went for that cheesy Gordy crunch.

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SANCHEZ: Misty, is there -- is there a way ever to get out of the terms of service?

MARRIS: This is why I imagine we're going to be seeing so many of these cases working their way through the appellate courts. Because that bargaining power lies only with the company. And as we move into a consumer framework, where there's all of these

applications, where we're using apps essentially in every aspect of our lives, we have to ask ourselves, as consumers, where's the protection?

And the answer, Boris, is unfortunate. Because it's not like a contract where you might sit down in a room and you both have a lawyer and you're hammering out the details or you're talking to a contract or a service provider. No, it's either you click yes or you don't use the service.

So I think these issues are going to be hashed out as they continue to climb up the courts. And there has been a movement where decisions have moved more towards the consumer-friendly side.

And that's because, as we talked about, it's a contract. And contract law the drafter of the contract, there's an inference that the language is more beneficial to them. So it's a difficult road.

SANCHEZ: It seems like it's apples and cinnamon twists or burritos.

KEILAR: And, man, when they have you by the cheesy Gordy crunch.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Misty Marris, appreciate you joining us.

MARRIS: All of them. You've got to love --

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: So next hour, Donald Trump is set to speak to voters in the key state of Michigan. It's the first time we're seeing him on the campaign trail since stunning new details dropped in Special Counsel Jack Smith's election interference case against him.

That's straight ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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