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Hundreds Of Foreign Nationals Allowed Out Of Gaza; Jabalia Camp Hit By Second IDF Airstrike In Two Days; Palestinian-American Couple Trapped Near Border in Gaza; Israeli University Presidents Pen Open Letter; Legendary Basketball Coach Bobby Knight Dies. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 02, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Wherever you are around the world this hour, thank you for joining us here on CNN. I'm John Vause in Atlanta with our ongoing coverage of Israel's war with Hamas.
And for the first time since Israel declared war on Hamas, a few 100 people holding foreign passports and several dozen severely wounded Palestinians have arrived in Egypt from Gaza. For weeks, many have been waiting at the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt. The two other border crossings into Israel remain sealed.
Israel and Egypt agreed to open the border after the U.S. and Qatar brokered a deal, which allowed all foreign nationals and dual citizens to leave Gaza. The U.S. State Department believes about 1,000 Americans and their families are still stuck in Gaza desperate to leave. Here's more from U.S. President Joe Biden.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in a situation where safe passage for wounded Palestinians and foreign nationals to exit Gaza has started. American citizens are able to exit today as part of the first group of probably over 1,000. We'll see more of this process going on in the coming days, working nonstop to get Americans out of Gaza as soon as safely as possible.
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VAUSE: Aid worker Ramona Okumura was one of two Americans among the 361 people who left Gaza on Wednesday. And he spoke to CNN soon after her aunt arrived in Egypt.
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AKEMI HIATT, NIECE OF AMERICAN AID WORKER NOW IN EGYPT: I think there's still frustration from many who are still there. I don't know. You know, we understand the complexity of the negotiation. And we were not privy to the nuances of that. And so we just remain incredibly grateful. But we also do call upon our government to continue evacuating other dual citizens, other Americans to also hopefully call for a ceasefire because this is, you know, from the last couple of days, we were very growing very desperate.
We were hearing from her that there were really limited food, they were starting to rash and people had illnesses and she was relatively protected given her status as an aid worker. But we know that that is not the situation everyone else is in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This agreement will allow for dozens of wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egypt for immediate medical attention. That does not apply to wounded Hamas fighters. And for the second time and as many days the Jabalia refugee camp has been hit by an Israeli airstrike. The IDF claims Hamas command center was the target. At least 80 people were killed according to hospital officials in Gaza.
The U.N.'s Human Rights Office says the scale of destruction and high civilian casualties could amount to war crimes. Well, for more now of the opening of the Rafah crossing. Here's CNN's Melissa Bell reporting in from Cairo.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tired smile and a wave from one of the lucky few finally allowed to leave Gaza since the war began. These families just some of the first foreign and dual nationals finally permitted through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Wednesday. The result of a deal brokered by Qatar, between Israel, Hamas, Egypt and the United States that will allow all foreign and dual nationals to leave the besieged enclave.
Also allowed to leave under the deal, the first Palestinians, 81 of the most severely wounded those desperate enough for urgent surgical intervention taken one by one in a convoy of ambulances to a field hospital set up a few miles away and to other hospitals in northern Egypt.
Large crowds of foreign nationals have been messing at the border after hearing at the start of the conflict that they'd be allowed out. Families desperately checking to see if they were some of those lucky enough finally to get through.
ISMAIL ABU SHAABANE, AMERICAN-PALESTINIAN IN GAZA (through translator): I'm an American living in Gaza. We heard that the crossing was open, but unfortunately, we discovered that it was open for specific nationalities at the moment. And we had to turn back because the cellular network was down and we weren't aware that there was a list. We hope to see our names on the list tomorrow or the next day.
BELL: As the only crossing from Gaza to anywhere other than Israel, all eyes had been on Rafah ever since the total siege of the strip was announced by Israel. It is the only way in and out now and once what's gone in has been painfully little. A further 20 trucks arriving on Wednesday, a drop in the ocean say aid organizations given the needs inside.
[01:05:05]
For some here, it's been days or even weeks of waiting and praying with ever dwindling supplies and under the constant fear of Israeli strikes, even here in the south where civilians had been told by the IDF to evacuate. Nowhere in Gaza is safe. So finally, for a small few, a chance to leave and live again.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We're live now to CNN's Clare Sebastian who's covering all these details for us. I guess, you know, under this deal, hundreds will be likely Gaza, I guess the coming hours coming days, but only those with a foreign passport of those who have been seriously wounded who are Palestinians.
Still too many Palestinians are stuck there. And there's minimal aid being allowed in and Israel is rejecting any calls for humanitarian pause, instead, wanting the military offensive will only intensify. So this humanitarian crisis, which is growing by the day will only get worse, it seems.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. John, I think that is critical to remember as we look at what seems on the surface to be a significant diplomatic achievement. And it was the talks were incredibly difficult. And delegates only we're hearing on Wednesday, from a senior U.S. official who said that there were significant hurdles in Hamas demand, for example, to include some of their fighters among the injured Palestinians, who were able to leave that was rejected.
Israel had to be convinced them to accept a list of injured Palestinians to get out, obviously, the backdrop to all of this as well as the Egyptian fears that they will then be inundated by a flood of Palestinian refugees. That is why this process has been so such a long time coming and it's now so slow, and it's so tightly controlled.
But as you say, this is not -- this is a very small number still, it's not only a very small proportion of the foreign passport holders who want to get out. We understand from Secretary Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State, that Americans and their families number around 1,000, that they're around 5,000 other third country nationals who want to get out of the Gaza Strip.
So it's a small proportion of that but obviously a tiny minuscule fraction of the 2.3 million people living in the Gaza Strip. And I think a measure of just how water tight the siege on the strip was leading up to this that these really are the first people by less than a handful of hostages to get out. And of course there is that separate track of negotiations still ongoing regarding those hostages, a track of negotiations also brokered by Qatar and one that we understand that, you know, parties, including the U.S. are very concerned is complicated by the ongoing ground offensive and air offensive, which we understand, as you say, to be ramping up.
The Israeli Defense Minister saying on Wednesday that there is fighting now in Gaza City so the humanitarian crisis intensifies, very little aid still getting in and of course very slow process that we see now underway to get people out.
Clare, thank you. Clare Sebastian, live for us in London.
Well, Jabalia refugee camp, which was hit twice by Israeli airstrikes is just a few miles north of Gaza City, the biggest city in all the Palestinian territories and now not far it seems from advancing Israeli ground forces. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has details.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is all that remains. For the second day in a row, Israeli jets striking the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp flattening apartment buildings. Hundreds were wounded and at least 80 people were killed, according to the director of the nearby Indonesian hospital. The IDF said it struck a Hamas command and control complex in Jabalia killing Hamas militants.
But civilians also clearly among the casualties, including children rushed out of the rubble. Tonight the United Nations Human Rights Office raising serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes. Israel blaming Hamas for using civilians as human shields as it continues its offensive.
A top is really commander now says his forces are closing in on Gaza City, Hamas's stronghold in the Gaza Strip.
BRIG. GEN. ITZIK COHEN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): We are deep in the strip at the gate of Gaza City. In the last five days we have dismantled a lot of the abilities of Hamas. We've attacked strategic positions, all the explosive abilities, underground facilities and other systems.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Five days after Israel launched its ground defensive in Gaza, Israeli forces are advancing towards Gaza City from three different directions. In the north, Israeli armor and infantry have been spotted advancing from both ends of the strip. Israeli tanks also appear to be closing in from the south.
CNN geolocated this tank at the strategic Netzarim junction, on the road into Gaza City. Israel is also moving some of its artillery closer to Gaza.
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(on camera): Until recently this field was filled with Israeli artillery positions. You can see these mounds where Howitzer guns or other types of artillery would dig in. And now as Israeli forces move closer into Gaza, those artillery positions are also moving closer to support the troops on the ground. Now all that remains are these boxes of munitions, artillery fuses used by the forces that were here. (voice-over): The question now is how deep Israeli forces will move into Gaza.
MIRI EISIN, INTL. INSTITUTE OF COUNTER-TERRORISM, REICHMAN UNIV.: The only way to get to what Hamas has built over a decade inside the Gaza Strip, the only way is through a ground operation.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Ashkelon, Israel.
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VAUSE: For more now on Israel's military offensive on Gaza. CNN military analysts and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton is with us this hour from Washington. Welcome back. It's good to see you.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to see you too, John. Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: It's always a pleasure. I want you to listen to part of the conversation between CNN's Paula Newton and IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus about the level of firepower or I guess, explosive yield used in that first Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp. Here they are.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: I've been in Gaza when the IDF has performed surgical strikes. The IDF is more than capable of this. This is not that. Why not?
LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: So I don't think I really agree with what you said because the precision here is to hit a target deep and buried underground. What we did here was to strike with the acquired or the required amount of firepower in order to get to where he was hiding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So according to reporting from Bloomberg, an Israeli Air Force transport plane recently flew with GBU-39B, 250 pound bombs from the United States to Israel. So in terms of the firepower, which would have been used, the Israelis called these sharpale (ph). They're precise, and used to penetrate fortified structures. Is that the kind of bunker buster bombs which will be used in this instance, I guess, and once that part of the town was destroyed, does that explain essentially the implosion left behind, the ground sort of imploded leaving these huge craters there?
LEIGHTON: Yes, there's certainly the -- that kind of GBU bomb could have been used in this particular case. There's also another possibility invested GBU-28, which the Israelis have had in their inventory for about a decade almost over a decade, actually. Either type of bomb either type of GBU precision guided munition could have been used in this situation. And what it does is it hones in on a target goes for, if it's programmed properly goes for the most vulnerable points in that target, and then detonates on impact. It is designed to go underground, I -- in some cases up to 100 feet, which is a clear, and it really a useful place for them to go into structure like the tunnels that they have for in the -- in Gaza, who that Hamas has lived there.
VAUSE: And clearly once it explodes, it destroys that infrastructure, which the tunnel was holding up the ground above it. So once that infrastructure is gone, does that explain essentially what's left behind?
LEIGHTON: It could depending on how the structures above it are built in what they rest on. I -- it is possible that if the bomb hits exactly right, that it could actually take down above ground structures. And that could indicate, you know, exactly not only where things were located, but also it could manifest itself in the type of destruction that we see a to the refugee camp in Gaza.
VAUSE: And help to understand this network of tunnels beneath Gaza. Here's part of your analysis from just a few days ago, who here we go.
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LEIGHTON: As far as the tunnels go, they are at a minimum, described like this about, you know, could be up to 300 miles of these tunnels, but they're all in this area right in here, particularly in the north and in the upper central part. And then there's some also here in the south. These are areas in which we can expect to find command and control nodes for Hamas, hostages, and also resupply efforts plus the rockets.
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VAUSE: So 300 miles or so, the Hamas Metro is almost half as big as the New York subway, but notably bigger than the London underground tube. And then it's also said to be three different levels here with Hamas commanders, the senior leadership on the deepest level broke ground about 75-feet below ground. First, how difficult is it to target someone that far below ground? And I guess what the more powerful the bomb does that mean the more destruction above?
LEIGHTON: Yes, generally it does actually. So the more powerful the bomb I ended depending on the warhead and the exact nature of the ground that it impacts, I -- it could definitely cause destruction above. But normally these bombs are designed to go underground and explode underground.
[01:15:14]
And if the soil is right, it could actually limit the impact above ground. So they're designed to avoid that type of destruction that you often see above ground for a normal type of bombing raid. But yes, the structures below especially the command structures that to 75-feet or so, they're the ones that are the prime targets very difficult to reach. And it becomes really indicative of the targeting process, how well and how quickly those targets can be prosecuted in the air force jargon.
VAUSE: And the IDF is the reason why they hit this tunnel at that particular moment at the tunnel beneath refugee camp was because of real time information, a senior Hamas leader was there. Bringing that scenario to one side, is one option here essentially flooding the tunnels because in recent years, Egypt has flooded cross border tunnels with Gaza which had been used by smugglers and it seems that's actually quite effective. Is that actually an option here for Gaza?
LEIGHTON: It potentially could be. I think there might be some issues with getting the enough water into a tunnel in a combat zone like Gaza. The Egyptians had the luxury of flooding those tunnels without being shot at. The Israelis would be shot at in a case like this. So I -- it is one option that's possible. But in this particular case, the more rapid disposition of the targets really calls for some kind of aerial attack or a ground mounted attack. So that could be a, you know, another alternative but it's not infeasible to flood some of the tunnels at least.
VAUSE: Colonel Leighton, it's always good to have you with us, sir. Thank you.
LEIGHTON: You bet John, thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Up next here on CNN, a closer look at the devastation left behind in Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp. Palestinian say entire families have been killed in the blink of an eye.
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VAUSE: Israel has now confirmed both airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza. But what remains unknown right now is the full extent of the devastation and just how many people were killed in both attacks. The IDF says, Hamas command center was the target on Wednesday's strike. On Tuesday, the Israeli military says it targeted and killed one of the Hamas commanders responsible for the October 7th attack on Israel.
But the strikes have left behind catastrophic damage in a very densely populated part of Gaza. More now from CNN, Salma Abdelaziz. And a warning, her report contains graphic images and scenes which many viewers will find how to watch.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dust and debris fill the air after an Israeli airstrike. Ambulance, ambulance calls the man carrying the child. These are the moments after the Israeli military's attack on the Jabalia camp in Gaza. Everyone is disoriented and terrified.
And this is the result. Several city blocks leveled in an instant. The scene is apocalyptic. Survivors desperately dig for their loved ones with bare hands. Israel says it was targeting a Hamas commander hiding in this densely populated residential area.
An IDF spokesperson called the death of innocent civilians, a tragedy of war. That tragedy tearing apart this community, no one yet knows how many still lie under the ruins. Shortly after the bombs fell, comms in the enclave are mostly severed. But one Palestinian cameraman was among those able to post on social media.
The anguish is heart wrenching. The victims small and afraid. Moms and Dads will bury their children. All three of my children are dead, this father screams, all three.
Entire families are wiped out. This man holds up the name of 15 relatives killed in the airstrike. My whole family innocent people are dead, he says, total destruction. Our whole building is gone, 20 stories. This is a massacre.
At a nearby hospital the carnage is on display. The bodies keep piling up. With her dead children at her feet, this mother prays for strength. Many in this forsaken enclave feel they have no one but God left.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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VAUSE: Israeli President Isaac Herzog is urging national unity while warning Hamas will do whatever it can to incite division and hatred between Israeli Arabs and the majority Jewish population.
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ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT (through translator): This monstrous enemy is trying with all its mighty to wage against us a psychological war with the most nefarious tools. We've seen it this week again and again. And I expect we'll see it in new and different ways. It aims to terrify us with video clips, rumors and lies. It wants to unsettle us psychologically.
The enemy seeks to kindle hatred between us, between Jewish citizens and Arab citizens. We have to fight back against this without compromise and single mindedly we have to reject every urge toward hatred and racism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ever since the Hamas October 7th attack on Israel, there has been a surging number of reports of anti-Semitism across Europe. On Wednesday, leaders of Austria's Jewish community said a ceremonial Hall and a Jewish ceremony was to face with swastikas it set on fire. Seven in Vienna and a police investigation is now underway with Austria's Chancellor denouncing the attack saying anti-Semitism has no place in society, and we fought with all political and legal means.
The mayor of Rome says two commemorative cobblestones honoring Auschwitz survivors have been desecrated. And he called for solidarity with the city's Jewish community.
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While anger at the U.S. government is rising among Palestinian- American stuck in Gaza who say not enough has been done to get them back home safely. When we come back how one family in Michigan is coping with a daily fear of not knowing if their elderly parents are alive or dead.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. And this is CNN Newsroom. For the first time since the Israeli offensive on Hamas began 26 days ago, a few 100 people had been allowed to leave Gaza. According to Egyptian officials, at least 361 people holding foreign passports were allowed into Egypt by the Rafah crossing.
Among them all the 22 remaining staff from Doctors Without Borders. Few dozen seriously wounded Palestinians were granted permission to leave as well taken away by ambulance with at least 45 now being treated in hospitals across Egypt. With the Rafah crossing the only exit to the outside world, officials in Gaza say it's crucial Rafah remains open in both directions.
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HISHAM ADWAN, PALESTINIAN BORDER OFFICIAL (through translator): We call upon our Egyptian brothers to put pressure for the crossing to open in both directions daily and continuously so that many of the injured and the serious surgical cases can go through. As we have about 20,000 cases in hospital, 1,000 of those are very serious and include difficult injuries. Therefore 81 people is not enough.
We want hundreds of those injured to receive treatment abroad. As all the hospitals have exhausted their capacities in every respect, medical supplies, medicines for wars and burns have run out as well. We also call for the fuel to be allowed in for the hospitals, the ambulance, and Civil Defense vehicles to operate. Therefore we call upon the Egyptian brothers to open this crossing daily and continuously.
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VAUSE: A hospital official in Gaza says an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp has killed at least 80 people and injured hundreds more. It was the second consecutive day that Israel has targeted the heavy-populated camp, or as it claims, the Hamas tunnels underneath.
Laura Aguirre has details now and a warning, some viewers will find video in her report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LAURA AGUIRRE, CNN PRODUCER: Chaos in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Gaza's largest refugee camp Jabalia Tuesday. The densely- populated camp is filled with families with children and embedded Hamas militants, say Israeli military officials.
The IDF confirms they targeted and killed several Hamas combatants, including a top commander in the strike.
LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Our bombs struck, not on buildings but in between the buildings because we were aiming for the tunnel complex where the Hamas combatant -- commander was.
Aguirre: Wednesday, a second Israeli airstrike in the same camp. A doctor at the scene told CNN that there were hundreds wounded and dead.
MAJOR DORON SPIELMAN, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: It is because there are terrorists that are embedded there, the IDF right now is fighting face to face combat with Hamas terrorists inside Jabalia. Ultimately speaking the collateral damage, and this is very clear, it's on Hamas's shoulders.
AGUIRRE: Meanwhile, at the Rafah gate crossing between Egypt and Gaza, limited evacuations have begun -- part of a deal brokered by Qatar between Israel, Hamas and Egypt in coordination with the U.S. according to sources familiar with the talks.
MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: An initial group of foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens departed Gaza through the Rafah today. And we expect exits of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to continue over the next several days.
AGUIRRE: This as hundreds of others wait outside the gate, hopeful that they too will soon escape the horrors of war.
I'm Laura Aguirre reporting.
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VAUSE: According to the U.S. Secretary of State, about 400 Americans along with 600 immediate family members are unable to leave Gaza. Among them, Zakaria and Laila Alarayshi, who arrived in Gaza to visit families before the October 7th attack by Hamas.
According to their daughter-in-law, six times they have been told they were clear to evacuation and should head to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt only to be denied every time.
The Alarayshi has since filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense for allegedly failing to safely evacuate U.S. citizens from Gaza.
Their daughter-in-law Lisa joins us now from Canton, Michigan. Lisa, thank you for being with us. I can only imagine the last couple of days, the last few weeks have been incredibly difficult for you and your family, just watching as these events unfold.
LISA ALARAYSHI, FAMILY MEMBER STUCK IN GAZA: Yes, they have been.
VAUSE: And right now --
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ALARAYSHI: It has been very hard.
VAUSE: -- with no phone or Internet services, they seem to be down once again. So when was the last word you had from your in-laws and what did tell you?
ALARAYSHI: I know I spoke to my father-in-law on Friday -- not Friday -- Monday morning. And he looked pretty stressed out and not very -- I'm just very worried and nervous.
My husband was able to talk to them I think by like the WhatsApp this morning, to hear that they were still alive and that they were ok. But I know every few times a day we just want to know that they are still ok.
VAUSE: When you say they are ok, where are they staying? And how difficult have the last few days been for them?
ALARAYSHI: It has been very difficult for them. They have been sleeping on like a blanket on the floor in a hospital hallway. They don't have the basic necessities of normal life. They are not eating regular food or having regular meals. They have no place comfortable to be at.
They went there to visit their family and they can't even spend time with them or see them because of the chaos that is going on around them.
They don't have water available. They can't even clean themselves or anything like that. It has been hard. And I know they will have some health conditions and they are out of medicine, so they don't have any more medicine that they can take for like high blood pressure and things like that.
VAUSE: For the family like you guys just waiting back home, how have you guys been dealing with all of this? How difficult is this, watching the news, especially when there are reports of Israeli air strikes in the south of Gaza?
ALARAYSHI Very hard, very hard. I know that it is like a lot of anxious feelings all the time. You try not to get overly stressed out about things when bad stuff is happening, because it is out of your control but, you know, a lot of crying. I mean I have cried a lot.
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ALARAYSHI: My husband is pretty stressed out too, about the whole thing. And then, you know, when you hear from them and you know they are still alive, and you will feel better, I mean. People call me all the time too, have you heard from your in-laws? And
I will say, yes, we heard from them this morning.
Then you know, eight hours go by and you are wondering again, are they ok or not, especially overnight, every time it's night time, if the bombing really intensifies, so, you never know if you're going to hear from them in the morning or not.
VAUSE: And, six times? They have been told to head to the Rafah crossing to evacuate and each time it just hasn't happened?
ALARAYSHI: Yes, I think there might be a chance for them to get out tomorrow, maybe. I'm not 100 percent sure. I know that they are working on evacuating people now, so maybe. Maybe our dreams are coming true and our prayers are being answered.
But I'm am not sure exactly the number of times, it might have been six. But I know there were multiple times that they went to the border and waited all day from ten in the morning until five, they said it would be open but it never opened.
And then when they brought in the eighth convoy, they had been to the border that day, too. They went to border. I guess (INAUDIBLE) today like yesterday morning, the 31st on the morning, they go but it wasn't for them.
VAUSE: And your family is part of a lawsuit which has been filed by the American Arab anti-discrimination committee and the Arab-American Civil Rights League, which accuses the U.S. government of unconstitutionally discriminating against Palestinian Americans by not securing their safety and well-being. The inaction of the State Department is especially problematic when juxtaposed with its chartering of flights to assist Israeli-Americans to escape.
What are you hoping this lawsuit will achieve, and is there a timeframe here? The longer this goes on, the worst case it is for your parents.
ALARAYSHI: Yes, I mean I think the objective was for them to take action to get our family out and other American citizens also that are still there.
I don't think it was like any other motivation, just that. Just for them to realize that there are American citizens that were in Gaza that needed as much rescuing, if not more rescuing, than the people that were in Israel, to be honest.
I feel the people in Israel, after the initial attack on October 7th, had less danger presented to them than people that were stuck in Gaza. They don't have an Iron Dome or bomb shelters.
VAUSE: Lisa, thank you -- thanks for being with us and, as you say, this is a very difficult time for you, a very dangerous time for your in-laws, your parents. Your parents-in-law are still stuck there. We wish you all the very best. ALARAYSHI: I mean, unfortunately, my husband has other family there,
also, but they are not American citizens, they are residents of Gaza, so they can't come home. I mean, they are where their house is supposed to be, but we can't get them out of danger.
VAUSE: Yes. That's a good point, there. Still 2 million Palestinians who are stuck in Gaza with all of this going on and have nowhere else to go.
Lisa, thanks for being with us.
ALARAYSHI: You're welcome.
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, we visit three American college campuses where the response to the Israel-Hamas war is triggering serious divisions among students and faculty.
[01:38:14]
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VAUSE: Amid a surge in the number of anti-Israel protests on college campuses worldwide, Israeli universities have written an open letter, warning those institutions of the dangers of anti-Semitism and false equivalency.
It says in part, "It is ironic that the very halls of enlightenment in America and Europe, essentially the bastions of intellectual and progressive thought that are your campuses, have adopted Hamas as the cause celebre while Israel is demonized. Let's be clear, Hamas shares no values with any Western academic institution."
Many of those protesters have accused Israel of targeting civilians in Gaza with universities around the world now reporting an uptick in anti-Semitic threats.
College campuses in the United States have long had a history of political activism, especially during times of conflict.
CNN's Elle Reeve spoke to Jewish and pro-Palestinian students at three American universities as tensions rise over the Israel-Hamas war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the river to the sea.
CROWD: From the river to the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Palestine will be free.
ZOE BERNSTEIN, STUDENT, CORNEL UNIVERSITY: I'm Palestinian, I have family in Gaza. This has been an issue that's affected me my entire life. Like I'm calling them and there's bombs in the background, they need to go somewhere safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a lot of family and friends in Israel. Just having so much hate thrown at and so much misinformation as well about what is going on just shared on campus and on social media has been challenging.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is tension at hundreds of colleges across the U.S.
At (INAUDIBLE) a fight broke out after someone tried to burn an Israeli flag. At Harvard and Columbia, a doxxing truck showed up on campus naming students who allegedly belong to organizations that release anti-Israel statement.
EVE M. TROUTT POWELL, MIDDLE EAST PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: I'm shocked at the temperature on campus. I could never have imagined it would be like this.
There is a level of, I don't want to say hatred, but anger and fear.
BENI ROMM, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: The A.E. Pi, the Jewish fraternity, was hit with a graffiti attack of "The Jews are Nazis" earlier this weekend.
REEVE: CNN visited three campuses where the response to the war has had major consequences. The University of Pennsylvania in Drexel where students were part of a nationwide walk out in support of Palestine. And Cornell which this weekend faced anti-Semitic threats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was on my way to the kosher dining hall when I looked down and saw the threats.
REEVE: How did you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean it is terrifying. Like this isn't -- this isn't anything that we thought we would ever have to deal with in the United States.
REEVE: The posts on a Greek Life Web site threatened to shoot up a kosher dining hall and kill Jewish students. They were signed "Hamas Soldier", but on Wednesday, Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old Cornell student, was arraigned on a federal charge for making online threats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that the quick response by the university really did quell a lot of students fear. I know a lot of people are choosing to do Zoom options for their classes and asking for special accommodations because they just don't want to put themselves at risk.
REEVE: What did you think when these anti-Semitic threats were posted online?
BERNSTEIN: I think those were very hateful things to say. As a Muslim, it is very disturbing to see such hateful comments being made in the name of a law. I feel like it is very disrespectful.
Anti-Semitism will never be accepted in our movement, and hateful comments such as these, whether they be Islamophobic et cetera, have no place on our campus or anywhere, really. REEVE: Abuhashim is the head of Cornell Students for Justice in
Palestine, a group whose national chapter has drawn a ton of criticism for saying the Hamas attack was a historic victory.
And some other college chapters have posted images of paragliders, but Abuhashim says her group acts independently, and she does not give talking points for the national chapter.
[01:44:55]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cornell SJP, we make statements based on what our students are feeling and what needs to be said. Just having that equal treatment from the administration.
REEVE: Some Muslim students say they are frustrated they are constantly asked to denounce Hamas. That it is a distraction from their message about Palestinians.
There is a lot of concern that pro-Palestinian students are pro-Hamas, and pro-terrorist (INAUDIBLE).
MOMODOU TAAL, PHD STUDENT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Yes, yes.
REEVE: Going all the way up to national politicians. Is that true?
TAAL: Absolutely not true. My condemnation is inconsequential. I think it is quite racist, Islamophobic, that before I'm allowed to have a view on genocide, I have to condemn a terrorist organization.
REEVE: But is it so hard to say that yes, I condemn Hamas?
TAAL: But what does that do? Why is the immediate association I support Hamas? I can say clearly, categorically, I abhor the killing of all civilians no matter where they are and who does it.
I don't go around asking white people, do you condemn the KKK? Why is the assumption that you would be supporting KKK in the first place?
CROWD: From the river to the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Palestine will be free.
REEVE: From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, heard in many campus protests, has become a lightning rod.
YOUSSEF RAFEH, STUDENT, DREXEL UNIVERSITY: Free Palestine is when Palestinians can live with food, water, electricity, have equal rights that all humans deserve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are completely ignoring the fact that the people chanting that have lost all their family members, had neighborhoods wiped out.
REEVE: Many Jewish student leaders see the chant as a threat, a call for Jewish genocide in Israel. BERNSTEIN: From the river to sea -- the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean Sea, Palestine will be free. Free of what? Free from who? What will happen to the people who live there?
That to me sounds like a call for genocide or an ethnic cleansing, and that really does terrify me, honestly.
ROMM: Chanting slogans of from the river to the sea, an intifada, right, is never going to invite a conversation with Jewish students of, hey, look at me, I'm also experiencing suffering as a result of the events in Israel.
CROWD: Free, free, Palestine.
TAAL: What from the river to the sea means is that Palestinians will live freely in that region away from settler violence. That is not calling for the extermination of Jewish people.
CROD: From the river to the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This organization, it works two ways. I mean I don't hear people talking about Israeli violence pre-October 7th. I'm not hearing it.
If the term makes you uncomfortable, then ask why it makes you uncomfortable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is violence being inflicted on Palestinians.
REEVE: The students at the heart of this remain proud of who they are.
TAAL: In my lifetime, it may never change, but I feel encouraged at the end of the day, I feel like we are on the right side of history. And I can go to bed quite comfortably.
BERNSTEIN: I'm very, very proud to be a Jewish student on this campus. Seeing the resilience of my community, seeing the unity of my community it really has only strengthened me and my pride since October 7th. And I hope that that will continue for a very, very long time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We'll take a short break, but when we come back, he was a coach with extraordinary talent and a temper to match. Hall of Fame college basketball coach Bobby Knight is dead. We'll look at his achievements and controversies in a moment.
[01:48:03]
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VAUSE: We're on sport now.
An incredible pitching performance by the Arizona Diamondbacks' Zac Gallen is not enough. The Texas Rangers pumped out four runs in the final inning to win baseball's 2023, yes, World Series.
And there was bedlam as Texas relief pitcher (INAUDIBLE) threw a cold strike to seal the win. Arizona's Gallen had thrown a no-hitter through six innings but a towering two-run homer by Texas Marcus Semien in the ninth was more than enough for the Rangers, way more than they needed. Final score 5 - zip, zero, nil, nada.
And after 63 years, the first World Series championship ever for Texas. Yay, Texas.
Now to college basketball, where Bobby Knight, one of the most successful head coaches of all-time, and was also one of the most brash and controversial. The hall of fame coach who led Indiana to three national titles and an undefeated season that has not been matched since is now dead. He was 83.
CNN's Andy Scholes looks the highlights and the many low lights of Knight's career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at here, Bobby Knight's (INAUDIBLE) clear across the free throw lane.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Robert Montgomery Knight, nicknamed the General, was one of basketball's biggest and most polarizing personalities. A strict, no-nonsense coach on the court, Bob Knight didn't mince words off the court either.
BOB KNIGHT, HALL OF FAME BASKETBALL COACH: I will handle this the way I want to handle it now that I'm here. You (EXPLETIVE DELETED) IT up to begin with. Now just sit there or leave, I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) what you do.
Now, back to the game.
SCHOLES: After graduating from Ohio State University, Knight enlisted in the army to help lead basketball program. He was the Black Knights' head coach for six seasons before accepting a job to coach at Indiana in 1971.
Under the General's leadership, the Hoosiers won three national championships, including the undefeated 1976 season, which remains the last men's college basketball team to not lose a game all season. Knight also led the U.S.A. to a gold medal coaching Michael Jordan and the rest of the team at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
After 29 years, Knight's behavior on and off the court strained his relationship with the administration at Indiana University. In May of 2000, Knight was placed on a zero-tolerance policy after CNN aired a video of a practice three years earlier where it appeared Knight placed his hand on the neck of a player named Neil Reef (ph). But months later, Knight had an altercation with a freshman student on campus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He grabbed my arm and got in my face and said a couple comments like, I don't know, it was pretty wild.
KNIGHT: I would have to be an absolute moron, an absolute moron with the things that have been laid down on me to grab a kid in public and curse at a kid in public.
[01:54:53]
SCHOLES: But that incident turned out to be the final straw for Knight at Indiana.
MYLES BRAND, INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT 1994-2002: I gave him the option of resigning as head basketball coach. He declined, and I notified him that he was being removed as basketball coach effective immediately.
SCHOLES: Knight continued coaching after Indiana, spending seven seasons in Lubbock coaching Texas Tech.
KNIGHT: This is without question the most comfortable red sweater I have had on in six years. I can tell you.
SCHOLES: After retirement, Knight who had little patience for the media, became a media member himself, broadcasting college basketball games for ESPN. And during the 2016 presidential campaign, Knight tried his hand at politics, stumping for Donald Trump.
KNIGHT: You folks are taking a look at the most prepared man in history to step in as president of the United States. That man right there.
SCHOLES: In February of 2020, after years of turning down invitations, Knight finally made his return to assembly hall. Knight attended the Hoosiers game for the first time in 20 years. He was surrounded by former players and received a huge ovation from the home crowd.
Brash, intimidating, unapologetic, mad genius -- Bob Knight has been described a lot of ways, and always true to form, those opinions never seem to matter much to the General.
KNIGHT: When my time on earth is gone and my activities here are past, I want they bury me upside down and my critics can kiss my (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching.
I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. My friend and colleague Paula Newton will have the very latest on the Israel-Hamas after a short break.
I hope to see you right back here, tomorrow.
[01:56:46]
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