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Israeli P.M. Rejects Calls For Ceasefire: "Time For War"; Israel Foreign Min: 23-Year-Old Hostage Found Dead; Hamas Releases Hostage Video Showing Three Women; Trump Disqualification Trial Begins in Colorado; Antisemitic Threats Rise in Communities Worldwide Amid Conflict; U.S. Tries to Balance Attack Response with War Worries. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 31, 2023 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:31]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world as we continue our coverage of Israel at war. I'm Paula Newton. As Israel steps up its ground offensive in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister says there will be no end to the war, and no ceasefire until Hamas is resigned, "to the dustbin of history."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Calls for a ceasefire or calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war, a war for a common future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Benjamin Netanyahu there rejected criticism over civilian casualties, insisting Hamas was preventing people from moving to the safe zone in southern Gaza. The Israeli military says dozens of Hamas fighters have been killed during the recent advance.
Now meantime, Hamas claims Israel's attempts to enter Gaza have not been successful "except in some limited areas," but the fighting is clearly taking a tremendous toll. These chaotic scenes from inside Gaza's largest hospital where -- were shared by the head of surgery with CNN. He says staff cannot cope with the thousands of patients that are treating and that injured people are lining both sides of the hospital corridors.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. Meantime the death of a 23-year-old woman on Monday after she was kidnapped by Hamas fighters. Shani Luke who was at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th. She was last seen in videos of that attack seemingly unconscious in the back of a truck with Hamas militants. The ministry says she was tortured and experienced unfathomable horrors. Meantime, the IDF announced the rescue of a Hamas hostage on Monday during ground operations in Gaza. The Israeli soldier was abducted during the October 7th attacks and she has now been reunited with her family.
CNN's Nic Robertson has our update.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voiceover): The moment they feared might never come. Private Ori Megidish hugs her grandmother, reunited with her family. Rescued by the IDF after more than three weeks held hostage by Hamas. A moment of hope too for families of other hostages.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In some way, they are listening to us right now. Please, please stay strong.
ROBERTSON (voiceover): But Megidish met her family her mass propagandized three hostages they still hold. Seen here before their capture. The Hamas video CNN has decided not to air shows the women under apparent duress, blaming the prime minister for not calling a ceasefire to help get them released. Netanyahu, unrelenting in refusing Hamas's masses pressure
NETANYAHU: Just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11. Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas.
ROBERTSON (voiceover): Inside Gaza, Israeli forces reinforcing that message extending their incursion deeper into the enclaves densely populated neighborhoods. Ground troops according to the IDF calling in airstrikes on Hamas' strongholds. Aircraft also dropping flyers warning civilians their neighborhoods now a battlefield until we evacuate south.
This civilian looking vehicle didn't manage to escape taking a direct hit from a tank. The IDF say impossible to know if it contains civilians or terrorists.
The mounting civilian death toll and deteriorating humanitarian conditions fueling international pressure on Israel to call a ceasefire. Netanyahu insisting his is a just war.
NETANYAHU: It means making a moral distinction between the deliberate murder of the innocent and the unintentional casualties that accompany every legitimate war.
ROBERTSON (voiceover): As night falling, more and more of Gaza's residents on the move.
[02:05:03]
Many in makeshift camps. All of them just hoping they'll see the sun rise.
Nick Robertson, CNN Sderot, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: For more on all of this I want to bring in CNN is Clare Sebastian in London. I mean, Clare, look, things have been escalating and obviously the suffering in Gaza continues.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Paula. We know that Israel is ramping up. This so called second stage of the war. We're hearing this morning from the IDF that they say they are moving slowly and meticulously. But moving slowly doesn't mean slowing down. Of course, the bombardment continues. The ground operations are ramping up.
He said that the focus is in the northern part of Gaza. Gaza City, we know is experiencing heavy bombardment. But he said that even though civilians have been asked to evacuate 800,000 of them have done so that there will be strikes not just in the northern part, but anywhere that the IDF sees that there are Hamas operatives or infrastructure that continues to be their primary goal as for the bombardment that we're going to continuing to see.
Hospitals in the firing line again at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society saying overnight that the Al Quds hospital, the neighborhood where that hospital is in the southern part of Gaza City was seeing intense bombardment. They said that the building was trembling and there's a lot of fear and panic in that hospital. Separately, we heard late on Monday from the director of the leading cancer hospital in Gaza, in the northeastern part of the enclave that that hospital had been hit.
No injuries, but some damage there. Israel of course, has been heavily criticized over the damage not only -- the damage to hospitals, but also the cost to evacuate them which the World Health Organization has described as basically impossible. Now obviously, the rescue -- emphasis on rescue not release of that Israeli soldier from Hamas captivity, a rare positive sign for Israel and all of this Israeli officials continuing to emphasize.
This shows they say that they can continue their ground offensive, that it serves the purpose of getting those hostages home. Obviously, there were major fears that the ground offensive might endanger the lives of those hostages. But of course, the idea of saying that 238 of those still remain and Hamas did release a second video showing three women hostages. Also on Monday, showing that they are continuing to use this as a tool and information tool in their operation. Paula?
NEWTON: Clare Sebastian for us in London. Thanks so much. Appreciate the update. CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier joins me now from Washington. And Kim, I really appreciate getting your insights in this especially as we see developments on the ground in the last few hours. Now, Netanyahu was resolute, right? Israeli troops press on in the meantime. The Prime Minister now claims that the rescue of the IDF soldier is proof that military pressure on Hamas will in equal measure both save hostages and destroy Hamas. Is that even possible? KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the families of the hostages certainly fear it's not they think that if some of the hostages are saved, it'll be by lock in some skill, but they're really worried about collateral damage as the Israeli Defense Forces push forward. Encircling Gaza City. It looks like that's what they're doing. And starting -- laying the siege for what looks like a long urban warfare campaign.
That's the kind of thing where you go block by block. The hostages are likely hidden in an underground tunnel network in different groups. So perhaps they can get to some pockets of them in time, but every single tunnel that they go down will likely be booby trapped mind. And there's also the possibility that Hamas will follow through with its earlier threats to execute hostages if Israel approaches them.
NEWTON: Absolutely chilling but clearly something that does terrify the families of those hostages. Now, it seems though, in the meantime, that Israeli troops are in Gaza, and they may be there now in Gaza to stay for weeks, if not months. I want you to hear what well sourced journalist said to CNN earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARAK RAVID, AXIOS FOREIGN POLICY REPORTER: Well, these raids are doing right now. Is there encircling Gaza City. They're still in the outskirts of the dense urban areas. But I think in the next few days, we will start seeing this much more dramatic incursion into Gaza City.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, in terms of what he's saying that you can intent anticipate, certainly the ground incursion to begin in earnest perhaps in days, if not weeks. What does that look like on the ground especially if Israel intends to stay on the ground for quite a bit of time?
[02:10:03]
DOZIER: Well, it seems that Israeli Defense Forces by their own press releases have established a beachhead in northern Gaza. And from there, they will prosecute this operation. In terms of -- we're probably going to see many more troops coming in there. But that 300,000 reservists to call up wasn't just to invade Gaza. It was also to strengthen to shore up the north, and also to strengthen security across the country because the security services after what happened had to look at every previous plan that they had and try to double up.
So, we're likely going to see more troops. But urban warfare is different than the other kinds of campaigns we've seen the Israelis pursued.
NEWTON: And in the meantime, Kim, you point out that world opinion seems to be turning against the Israeli military campaign and crucially against the U.S. support of it. You say Hamas, maybe winning the public relations war. Why? DOZIER: Well, you hear in Arab social media and Arab media reports, this overwhelming surge of anti-Israel and anti-American opinion. They are seeing the images every day of Palestinian civilians, mothers embracing dead children and screaming. Lines and lines of aid trucks not able to get into Gaza. Whereas there's a disinformation campaign afoot to say that much of what the Israelis claimed happened on October 7th didn't happen.
I even had Gulf officials raise questions about oh, the Israeli showed you that awful video that they claim came from October 7th but did you get it independently verified? That kind of thing, questioning their account and what happened to them? And so, the U.S. aligning itself with Israel means that whatever Israel does, it's being blamed for across the Arab world and largely across -- well, just look at the vote at the U.N.
There was a vote in favor of a ceasefire in Israel. Humanitarian ceasefire, but Canada had an amendment that the U.S. backed to condemn Hamas for its attack and release all of the hostages. That didn't pass.
NEWTON: Yes. Again, encapsulated there, as you said, as the debates that continue at the U.N. Kim Dozier for us. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
DOZIER: Thanks.
NEWTON: Forensic experts in Israel are working to identify victims and the October 7th attack. Coming up. We'll look at What's hindering their efforts to give answers to grieving families.
Plus, an update on our CNN colleague Ibrahim Dahman who fled northern Gaza with his family, but says they still do not feel safe.
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[02:16:50]
NEWTON: Israeli doctors and forensic experts are working to identify victims killed in the Hamas attack but their work, of course, as you can imagine has been challenging given how badly some of those bodies have been mutilated. CNN's Sara Sidner has details in this report, which we want to warn you contains disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): These are Hamas militants arriving at Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7th terrorizing residents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): Please we are going to die. We are trying to send the army, we love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (text): Please, please, he (husband) is losing a lot of blood. He is going to die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): Mom, hold him, hold him, OK. The army is here everywhere, the terrorists are everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (text): They are throwing grenades everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (text): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (text): They are throwing grenades on us.
SIDNER (voiceover): The last conversation between a mother and son in Kibbutz Be'eri. Daughter Michal Pinyon shared it with us. Her last memory of her mother, as Hamas descended on her parents' home.
MICHAL PINYON, RESIDENT OF KIBBUTZ, BE'ERI: I know after a half an hour, she was writing, help, help. And then it was quite.
SIDNER (voiceover): The next time she saw her parents, they were in coffins.
Some families have yet to say goodbye outside Tel Aviv at the rabbinical shore a military base. Inside these containers there are hundreds of unidentified bodies, many mutilated and in fragments.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This place is indeed pure, its holy paradise. But it's also hell.
SIDNER (voiceover): Forensic experts, dentists and rabbis are working day and night to identify the victims of October 7th.
SIDNER (on camera): The smell is completely overwhelming. I mean, completely overwhelming even with this on and it's refrigerated. But some of the bodies are just in pieces. It doesn't take much to be really badly affected by just looking at the horror of that.
SIDNER (voiceover): Even those whose job this is are struggling.
CAPTAIN MAYAAN, FORENSIC DENTIST: You see the lack of humanity and pure cruelty. During our identification process, we heard the screams and we heard the cries of the family that came in and said their last goodbye.
SIDNER (voiceover): The brutality of the Hamas attack is forcing a change to burial rites here. Usually very strict and Judaism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): According to Jewish law, we bury the dead when they're in the ground. In this case, we bury them in their coffins, because we want to respect them, but also because there isn't much left of them.
SIDNER (voiceover): Michal Levin Elad and her colleagues say this is the worst thing they have ever seen because of the evidence of torture.
MICHAL LEVIN ELAD, HEAD OF NATIONAL FORENSIC INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT: I started crying and the other people hug and we have these great break -- breaking moments because this is -- these are atrocious crimes.
[02:20:05]
These are crimes against humanity. This is not regular murder or terror attack or bus explosion. We've seen all of this in Israel, but never anything like this.
SIDNER (voiceover): What she doesn't know for sure is this is more death and torture than she has ever seen in her career.
Cemeteries like this one are popping up across the country.
SIDNER (on camera): This is just a temporary grave site that is being dug for the victims of the October 7th Hamas attack. You look at these graves, you can see the remnants of some of the things they loved in life. But there are some gruesome details. One of these graves, for example, has two bodies from a family buried together.
SIDNER (voiceover): Families are insistent that these temporary resting places are just that temporary.
PINYON: We don't want them to be buried in another place. They are people of bury. This is their home. This is their community. They cannot be buried anywhere else.
SIDNER (voiceover): That's because so far Kibbutz Be'eri is still under the control of the Israeli army. It's too dangerous to go back and Pinyon realizes her family is just one of potentially 1400 having to make this awful decision. Three weeks in, she says they have no idea when they can go home again. And when they can finally bury her parents, Amir and Mati (ph) in their final resting place.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And our thanks to Sara Seidner for that report. Still to come for us. A CNN journalist trying to keep his family safe in Gaza shows us what it's like on the ground as Israeli forces ramp up their fight against Hamas.
And Donald Trump's words on election night claiming he'd won the vote could come back to haunt him in a Colorado courtroom. Details next on CNN.
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[02:26:29]
NEWTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there will be no ceasefire with Hamas militants saying "this is a time for war." Israeli troops are advancing meantime further into Gaza. That's according to a CNN analysis. And Israeli military officials say they've sent more ground forces into the enclave. Israeli Prime Minister is pushing back on the notion that Israel is inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian people.
But the humanitarian situation on the ground is, of course grave. Aid or -- aid organizations say the lack of clean water, fuel and other supplies are putting civilians in danger as are of course, Israeli airstrikes.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says it has now received fresh food and medical supplies from about 26 trucks that entered Gaza Monday. But aid group say that's not nearly enough to meet the dire need.
Meantime, Israel is warning people in northern Gaza to evacuate with increasing urgency. Aid worker Mahmoud Shalabi says -- pardon me. Aid worker Mahmoud Shalabi lives there. He sent this message to CNN's Erin Burnett describing a sudden attack that hit just 65 feet from his home. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD SHALABI, PALESTENIAN AID WORKER: One simple rocket just one rocket that hit a neighbor's home without warning and totally destroyed that neighbor's home and around seven adjecent homes around it. My neighborhood is full of the color gray. I hate the color gray now. Everything is covered in rubble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: And now to our colleague Ibrahim Dahman who is in southern Gaza with his family where he's actually teaching his young children how to survive in case something happens to him and his wife. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IBRAHIM DAHMAN, CNN JOURNALIST (text): My family fled from northern Gaza but we still don't feel safe.
What's wrong? Don't be afraid.
Every night, airstrikes hit Khan Younis. With no sense of time, the days roll into one. We pass the time by watching airstrikes. There are too many to count.
This used to be someone's home. Now, they're likely become one of the dead. Strangers volunteer to search for their remains.
Food is scarce where we are staying. We cook and share whatever we can. We teach the children too, so that if we are killed, they can feed themselves. The tanks are filled with impure water. We try to keep our spirits up.
[02:30:04]
There is comradery in the chaos.
The explosions became louder this weekend as Israel expanded its ground operation, leaving us in a blackout.
Only Israeli phones worked, so some tried to keep a sense of normalcy. All I could think of was my parents' safety and pray my family made it
through the night.
But even in a war zone, there is light in the darkness. My wife is three months pregnant.
Just like our sons, this baby has the power to turn our fear into joy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And our thanks to Ibrahim for that report.
Now, the White House says it is pushing for more humanitarian aid in Gaza. According to officials, U.S. President Joe Biden discussed the matter in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. He also stressed the importance of protecting civilian lives.
The U.S. National Security Council spokesman told reporters on Monday both Biden and Netanyahu recognize that it's important to abide by the law of war and to minimize civilian casualties.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: And I think that they certainly are making that effort. It doesn't mean that there haven't been civilian casualties. Tragically, there have been many, thousands of them. But unlike Putin in Ukraine and unlike what Hamas did on October 7th, killing civilians is not a war aim of the Israeli Defense Forces. Their war aim is to go after Hamas terrorists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Donald Trump's words in the hours before the Capitol insurrection could keep him off the presidential ballot in at least one state. Details on a push to disqualify him -- that's next on CNN.
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[02:36:40]
NEWTON: A group challenging Trump's eligibility for the ballot in Colorado used the former president's own words against him as the case went to trial on Monday.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is looking to use a civil war era provision of the U.S. Constitution that bars people who have engaged in, quote, insurrection or rebellion from holding federal office. The group played clips from Trump's infamous election night speech where he falsely claimed victory, and when he urged supporters to, quote, fight like hell at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
A lawyer for Trump denied the former president had incited supporters to violence and set it would set a dangerous president to disqualify him. Meantime, Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka is scheduled to testify soon
in another legal case involving her father. A New York judge denied a motion by Ivanka Trump's lawyers that would've gotten her out of testifying. But he is giving her time to appeal his ruling. Ivanka Trump was originally listed as a codefendant in the $250 million lawsuit filed against the former president, her brothers and several Trump Organization executives. Now, it claims they were involved in a massive years long fraud scheme to enrich themselves.
Now, despite the rash of legal troubles he's facing, Donald Trump is keeping the support of many of his followers. A new polling from the "Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom finds that the former president has a support of 43 percent of likely caucus-goers in the state of Iowa. That's more than double that of his closest rival Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. And the figure, you know, it hasn't changed much since August.
Joining me to talk about all this Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic Magazine" and one of the nicest gentlemen in the world to join us here and discuss this.
Because this really didn't surprise anyone, right, Ron? I mean, let's take this all into parts.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
NEWTON: Firstly, what does it tell us about the Iowa caucuses as they come up? And secondly, does it tell us anything about the GOP race in general?
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. You know, I think, look, it actually tells us something about both. Obviously, Donald Trump is in a commanding position in the Republican race. Very few primary candidates had ever had the kind of lead in national polling that he's had, and he remains ahead in the first two states, Iowa and New Hampshire.
Paula, going back to 1980, the historian of the Republican primaries is that one candidate has won Iowa, a different candidate has won New Hampshire, one of the two has won South Carolina, the third contest, and that person has won.
At the moment, Trump is in position to potentially win Iowa and New Hampshire which would almost certainly end the race. But there's an interesting wrinkle in the poll which goes to the next question. If you look at what's happening below Donald Trump, you see Nikki Haley moving up to tie Ron DeSantis. And that could be an interesting development.
NEWTON: Yeah, a move of ten points is extraordinary. Does that really go to the point that so many people thought the GOP debate without Trump would mean anything, and yet the debates have mattered, right?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes they have mattered. They have mattered for her. And what's interesting about Nikki Haley moving up in Iowa is that I believe the evidence and the history suggests that a second place finish for her would be more valuable in Iowa than it would be for Ron DeSantis.
[02:40:06]
If Donald Trump beats Ron DeSantis by 25 or 30 points in Iowa, the story is Donald Trump winning by 25 or 30 points in Iowa. If Nikki Haley leapfrogs Ron DeSantis to come in second, I think at least part of the story is her eclipsing him is potentially the chief rival to Trump. And Haley is clearly better positioned than DeSantis to convert momentum in Iowa, into a stronger showing in New Hampshire.
I mean, DeSantis is running the Iowa strategy that allowed Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz to win the state in Republican caucus in '08, '12 and '16 by mobilizing evangelical Christian voters above all. All three candidates immediately cratered in New Hampshire which is much more secular electorate.
Haley if she finished second I think in Iowa has a more natural constituency in New Hampshire, which is college-educated, more moderate, certainly more secular. And she's already pulling their better than DeSantis. So if she wins, she might be able to challenge Trump in New Hamp -- I'm sorry, if she finished second, she'll be able to challenge Trump in New Hampshire more effectively I think than DeSantis is in a position to do.
NEWTON: Oh, you have really sketched at a really interesting offensive play there for Nikki Haley. Wow! I want to keep an eye on this.
Go ahead.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: The historical precedent. In 1984, Walter Mondale won the Democratic caucus in Iowa, by about 35 points, but Gary Hart surprised everyone by finishing second instead of John Glenn, the astronauts senator hero, and part then got significant momentum that allowed him to one New Hampshire.
Mondale ultimately won the race but Hart took him all the way to the last day of the primaries in June. Not saying Haley can do that, but she has the potentially to essentially replicate that kind of model is she can come in second in Iowa.
NEWTON: OK, game, and then we move out of this other issue of Colorado, right? Ron, what do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
NEWTON: Is this significant? I mean, we said this group of voters is trying to disqualify Trump, but does any this really matter? Can you see it making a difference?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, at the end of the line for all of his legal challenges is the U.S. Supreme Court with six Republican appointed justices, including three chosen by Trump. I don't know how the state judge is going to rule. They're going to be cases coming up like this in other states, including Minnesota and I believe New Hampshire.
But again, at the end of the line, you have to ask, is that Republican majority Supreme Court going to take the position that Trump isn't eligible to be in the ballot and so directly, you know, put themselves on a collision with Republican primary voters. They've really done that in their decisions.
So, I have a hard time seeing that. On the other hand, like the trials that are unfolding around us in Georgia and in Washington, this is going to provide a forum to air and remind people of what happened on January 6th, everything that Trump did after the election in 2020. You know, right now, the focus that the public is on their dissatisfactions with Biden.
Trump has been step, you know, out of the spotlight, when he moves back in, they will probably be reminded that they're not wild about him either. Anything that he puts forward or surfaces, those doubts probably benefits Biden more, but I can't imagine this U.S. Supreme Court removing him from the ballot.
NEWTON: Yeah, in terms of the dissatisfaction of the race, you don't need a poll for that, right? You ask you Republican neighbor, your Democratic neighbor and they'll tell you pretty much the same thing.
Ron Brownstein, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
NEWTON: Still to come for us, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is also creating tensions on some U.S. college campuses and communities right across the globe. We'll have more on this troubling trend.
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[02:48:12]
NEWTON: Israel has issued its highest travel warning for Dagestan and other areas of southern Russia after an antisemitic mob stormed in an airport over the weekend.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for firm actions following Sunday's violence. Putin also pointed blame at Western intelligence agencies, and Ukraine, suggesting they used social media to stir up the unrest. Kyiv has denied the Kremlin's accusations, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling the incident a signal that Moscow's hold on power is slipping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): For the second time this year, Russia is losing control over events. We see the mutineers are heading to Moscow and no one is stopping to them. We see either the power of article in Dagestan is evaporating, leading to a real upheaval.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: As CNN's Brian Todd reports, the chaos that erupted in Dagestan is part of a sudden rise in antisemitic violence and threats worldwide.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An anti-Semitic riot at an airport in the Southern Russian Republic of Dagestan. A violent mob stormed the terminal after a flight from Tel Aviv landed there on Sunday.
Some rioters chanted Allahu akbar, waved a Palestinian flag. Once inside the terminal, many of them burst into hallways, rushed through checkpoints, seemingly looking for people. A vehicle was violently shaken.
A State Department spokesman likens this to the organized violent attacks on Jews in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
MATTHEW MILLER, SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: Look like a pogrom to me. We call on Russian authorities to publicly condemn these violent protests.
TODD: Political and religious leaders in Dagestan did condemn the violence, and the founder of the free speech platform, Telegram, said Telegram accounts that incited the violence in Dagestan will be banned from the platform.
[02:50:07]
But the threat is hardly isolated. At Cornell University in Upstate New York, police are investigating a series of anti-Semitic threats made recently against the school's Jewish community. It wasn't just this graffiti on campus saying, quote, Israel is fascist. The school's newspaper says there were online posts threatening to shoot Jewish students, to shoot up their kosher dining hall and encouraging others to harm Jews.
Some of the usernames chosen by those making threats included the word, Hamas.
MOLLY GOLDSTEIN, CO-PRESIDENT, CORNELL CENTER FOR JEWISH LIVING: Jewish students on campus right now are unbelievably terrified for their lives. I never would have expected this to happen on my own campus, to happen in my own home.
TODD: Governor Kathy Hochul says state police are ramping up security on the Cornell campus.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): We will not tolerate threats. or hatred or anti-Semitism or any kind of hatred that makes people feel vulnerable.
TODD: At Tulane University recently, three students were assaulted during a rally. It's part of an alarming spike in anti-Semitic incidents throughout the U.S., tracked by the Anti-Defamation League since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's response in Gaza.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Already in the United States, anti-Semitic incidents before October the 7th at the highest point ADL had ever tracked in 45 years of doing this work. And in the last three weeks, numbers are up an additional 400 percent.
TODD: One expert on extremism says during this war, many people on both sides are lumping their anger against the Israeli government or Hamas with unfounded anger against the Jewish and Muslim communities. And much of that is fueled by inaccurate information online.
PROF. CYNTHIA MILLER-IDRISS, EXPERT ON EXTREMISM, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Social media, like chat rooms and forums and gaming rooms are a really a toxic mess of hate right now. And there's so much misinformation being fueled about this war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): President Biden told reporters on Monday that he is very concerned about the rise of antisemitism, and the White House has announced new actions it's taking to combat incidents on college campuses in the U.S.
The Biden administration recruiting officials from Homeland Security, Justice, and the Department of Education to coordinate the response with law enforcement officials at the colleges.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
NEWTON: Now, earlier, I spoke with Brian Levin, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism to get his insights on what has been incredibly disturbing trend. I asked him about the events at Cornell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN LEVIN, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN BERNARDINO: Let's look at Cornell as a microcosm, I have a son over there. A professor name Rickford talked about the Hamas attacks earlier this month as being energizing and exhilarating, at a rally on campus. And then just a short time later, this kind of heat got normalized.
First of all, threats are always criminally prosecutable in the United States. And the FBI is looking into this. But what we have seen time and time again is when leaders speak of tolerance, it has an ameliorated effect. So, six days after 9/11 when President Bush spoke of tolerance towards Muslims, hate crimes dropped the next day and into the next year.
Similarly, though, when candidate Trump talked about a Muslim ban proposal, five days after the San Bernardino terror attack, hate crimes against Muslims went up another 23 percent above the spike we saw from the terror attack. So, bottom line is civic leaders, including campus leaders, have to
set a tone where certainly people can rally under the First Amendment, but threats, those are illegal. More over for a community, we have to say that antisemitic stereotypes are glorifying the weapons that were used in terror attacks, that should be communally off limits. We make a safe space for everybody on campus, so people can discuss these things as opposed to threaten each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, the U.S. military says its troops have been under attack for weeks in Syria and Iraq. Pentagon officials tell CNN Iranian- backed militias have attacked U.S. forces almost two dozen times since mid-October.
But as Oren Liebermann reports planners are walking a fine line between wanting to retaliate and not wanting to set off a wider war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We have seen a continuation on the attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East since October 17th. That number now, according to the Pentagon, stands at 23 attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria over the course of the last two weeks or so.
The problem here is that the U.S. carried out strikes on facilities in eastern Syria linked to Iranian blacked troops carrying out attacks on U.S. forces. The purpose of those narrowly targeted strikes was to send a message that the U.S. would protect itself and try to also send a message of deterrence against Iran and Iranian proxies to tell them, look, the U.S. will protect its interest there and carry out strikes if needed.
[02:55:12]
But since those strikes, we've seen half a dozen more attacks on U.S. forces. So, that message, not getting across. Question, will U.S. act again? Will it carry more airstrikes on the Iranian-backed groups it accuses of striking U.S. forces or at least attempting to with rockets or drones?
The U.S. has left open that possibility. It has to weigh that against the risk of escalation, a broader escalation in the region, very much something that U.S. is trying to avoid. From President Joe Biden on down, in the White House, they try to draw a distinction between the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. And other efforts, other actors in the Middle East trying to pointedly U.S. presidents in Iraq with Syria is about the ongoing defeat of ISIS.
But those are not distinctions that have been recognized by many actors, including these Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East. And that has made it difficult for the U.S., even as it tries diplomatically, militarily even, to try to keep these conflicts separate.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: That does it for us. I'm Paula Newton.
Stay with us. My friend and colleague Bianca Nobilo continues right after the break.
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