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CNN International: Netanyahu: Israel Will Have Overall Security Responsibility for Gaza After War Ends; Palestinian Health Ministry: 10,000+ Dead in Gaza; Americans to Vote on Key Leaders and Issues Today; Trump Wraps Up Combative Testimony in Civil Fraud Trial; Northern Israel Communities Abandoned After Hamas Attacks; Putin Seizes on Conflict to Rally Against U.S. and the West. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 07, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. It is 9:00 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas marks one month today. And the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is now discussing the potential future of the besieged territory. Like a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, we'll have the overall security responsibility because we've seen what happens when we don't have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The Palestinian Ministry of Health, which relies on data from inside Gaza which is controlled by Hamas, says the death toll in the enclave has now surpassed 10,000 since the war began on October the 7th. The head of the UN says the deteriorating conditions in Gaza make the need for a humanitarian ceasefire all the more urgent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day. More journalists have reportedly been killed over a four-week period than in any conflict in at least three decades. The unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, Israeli forces are tightening their advance towards Gaza City. Their ground forces say they've surrounded the city and have cut northern Gaza off from the south. Let's bring in journalists Elliott Gotkine now, because that interview with Netanyahu getting a lot of pickups. The first time we really got a sense of what Gaza might look like, who might control it after the war is over.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Right, and I think it's important to note what he said and what he didn't say. What he said specifically was that certainly from his perspective that Israel will have overall security responsibility for Gaza for an indefinite period. Now, does that mean boots on the ground for an indefinite period? Which could of course be a short period, or could be a long period of time? Does that mean governing Gaza? I don't think that it does.

But of course, what is the alternative right now? And this isn't something that's really been articulated, certainly not by Prime Minister Netanyahu or his government. There will be elements of his government who would be yearning for a reoccupation on the ground of the Gaza Strip, which Israel withdrew its settlements and soldiers and security forces from in 2005, even though it's been, you know, maintaining an air and sea -- control of the air and sea around there.

At the same time, there are those who would think that the most convenient solution would be to get the Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the West Bank, to -- the Israeli occupied West Bank -- to go in and take control of the Gaza Strip, which it did have until Hamas violently threw it out in 2007. But of course, the Palestinian Authority is -- doesn't really carry a lot of legitimacy anyway. In the West Bank, among Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas is in the 19th year of a four-year term, and he's hardly going to go riding in on the back of Israeli tanks, effectively or metaphorically, and take control of the Gaza Strip.

So the most likely scenario may be some kind of peacekeeping force, maybe from the UN, the U.S. or other friendly Arab states. But again, it's a very complicated situation and it's not really been given a lot of thought because the overwhelming focus right now of course is on a military campaign and Israel's objective of destroying Hamas, not just militarily, so it can never again carry out the kind of program that it did on October the 7th, but also politically so that it can no longer govern or be in control politically of the Gaza Strip.

NOBILO: Is there any indication that the global pressure from the international community, from citizen movements and from international organizations for a ceasefire is having any impact on Netanyahu.

GOTKINE: I'd imagine any administration that can really have an impact on Netanyahu is the U.S. administration, and they are not calling for a permanent ceasefire. They're calling for humanitarian pause. And Netanyahu in that same interview actually talked about the possibility of, in his words, tactical little pauses, maybe an hour here or a couple of hours there. But certainly no ceasefire because his position, the position of the Israeli Government remains until such time as those 240 or so hostages, men, women, children, the elderly, babies are released unharmed there can be no ceasefire.

[04:05:00] So it's very much focused on what it feels is the kind of headquarters of the Hamas military machine in Gaza City, which has now encircled and probably we will see Israeli troops going in there in the coming days as it continues to try to attack Hamas commanders and infrastructure and the like inside Gaza City.

NOBILO: Elliott, thank you very much for joining us.

The head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is in Israel, the first of several countries that he'll visit in the Middle East this week. CIA director William Burns is expected to meet with intelligence counterparts and political leaders in the region. The agency says Burns will discuss issues including the situation in Gaza. Support for hostage negotiations and the U.S. commitment to keeping the Israel Hamas war from spreading further.

It's Election Day in the U.S. and in the hours ahead, Americans will head to the polls to vote.

FOSTER: You know, there's a race for governor in Kentucky where Democrat Andy Beshear is seeking reelection against Republican challenger Daniel Cameron. If Cameron wins, he would be the first of the states first Black governor and the country's first Black Republican governor to be elected.

The big issues in Ohio are cannabis and abortion. Voters will decide on a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Ohio will also vote on whether to legalize recreational marijuana.

NOBILO: In Virginia, the balance of power in both chambers of state government is up for grabs, CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten explained what's at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Virginia is the other thing I'm watching, right? We have a Republican governor there. The House of Delegates is controlled by Republicans. The State Senate is controlled by Democrats. All 100 seats in the House of Delegates are up. All 40 seats in the State Senate are up. And historically speaking, the party that wins the State Senate, at least the last few cycles, has done very, very well. In the next year's presidential race. So it's one of those tea leaves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: And in deeply conservative Mississippi, a second cousin of the king of rock'n'roll, Elvis Presley, is challenging the incumbent governor. It's Democrat Brandon Presley on the right versus Republican Tate Reeves.

FOSTER: Donald Trump has denied wrongdoing in each and every case against him, and Monday was no different. When he took to the stand in the civil fraud trial. He was belligerent with the New York judge who ordered the former Presidents legal team to control their client. And that same judge whom Trump called extremely hostile, will determine the financial penalties and whether Trump will be barred from doing business in New York. The judge already ruled that Trump was liable for fraud for inflating his wealth to secure better deals from banks and insurance companies.

Well, CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has a closer look at what happened in court and what comes next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it went very well.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump leaving court after testifying in an attempt to defend his real estate business.

TRUMP: It's a scam, and this is a case that should've never been brought.

REID (voice-over): During nearly four hours on the stand, Trump continuously clashed with Judge Arthur Engoron. I'm sure the judge will rule against me because he always rules against me.

The judge responding: You can attack me. You can do whatever you want but answer the question.

In another testy exchange, the judge had to instruct defense attorney Chris Kise to control your client, adding, this is not a political rally. We are here to hear him answer questions, and most of the time he's not, the judge said, and then threatened to remove Trump from the stand.

On the financial statements at the heart of the case, Trump said: I would look at them, I would see them and I would maybe, on occasion, have some suggestions.

And on his role in preparing the statements: I accepted it, other people did it, but I didn't say make it higher or make it lower, he said.

When asked if he maintained accurate records from August 2014 going forward, Trump said: I hope so. I didn't keep them myself.

Trump was also questioned about the valuation of his assets, including his Trump Tower apartment, which financial statements show a more than $200 million value drop in one year.

I thought the apartment was high, he said, adding, we changed it, and saying, different property assets were both high and low.

Trump has long claimed his Florida Mar-a-Lago property was undervalued, saying today, it is worth $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

TRUMP: The numbers are much greater than on the financial statement. REID (voice-over): But the judge cited a Florida tax appraisal valuing the property at just $18 million. In his decision finding Trump his adult sons, and his company committed persistent and repeated fraud.

In court, Trump said, I thought Mar-a-Lago was very underestimated, but I didn't do anything about it.

Trump's conduct has become a flash point in this case.

[04:10:00]

TRUMP: You have a racist attorney general who made some terrible statements.

REID (voice-over): Even before he took the stand, Trump took aim at New York Attorney General Letitia James, later calling her a political hack in court.

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: The only thing that matters are the facts and the numbers, and numbers, my friends, don't lie.

REID: The next witness, expected to be called by the Attorney General's office in this case, is the former president's daughter, Ivanka Trump. She is expected to testify on Wednesday, and then defense attorneys are expected to begin their case at the beginning of next week.

Paula Reid, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Bernarda Villalona is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, and she's with us now from New York. Always great to speak to you. If we can leave aside for a second the fact that Donald Trump is a former president and has all of the attendant sort of associations and baggage. If a client used the tone, language and substance that Donald Trump did on the stand, what impact would that usually have on the case?

BERNARDA VILLALONA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND FORMER PROSECUTOR: Bianca, what we saw today was complete disaster in the courtroom. If it were anyone else, they would have been in jail. The judge would have held that person in contempt. Would have removed that person from the courtroom. But as you can see, Donald Trump is getting special treatment inside of this courtroom because of his former status. But it's something that's not tolerated in any courthouse.

FOSTER: How do you think it's going to play out then? Because the judge, you know, despite what you're saying there was being quite clear in how this should be conducted. How do you think it may, you know, develop as it goes on?

VILLALONA: So as it goes on, Max, and let's just be honest, that this judge, the same judge who's telling the attorney to control your client, is the same person that's going to make the decision in this case. And that decision is, what do you do with Donald Trump? How much do you have to pay? Will the Trump Organization and Donald Trump cease to exist in businesses here in New York? And so you're acting out in this way and you're acting out to the very same person that holds your business faith in their hands.

NOBILO: All eyes now turning to Ivanka Trump's testimony, which is coming up on Wednesday. What should we look out for when that happens?

VILLALONA: Well, I'm curious to see whether Donald Trump is going to be present in the courtroom when Ivanka testifies. He was present when his son was testifying. So the question would be -- because remember, Ivanka is his favorite child -- is whether he will be present. Whether he will react to her answers. Whether he will say things inside of the courtroom that will distract what's going on inside of the courtroom. But I'm curious to say, what Ivanka does have to say, because as you can see, Ivanka hasn't been present these last couple of appearances and hasn't been present in the public or actually making statements having to deal with any of these cases.

FOSTER: And some sort of people who study Donald Trump is saying this is actually the one that he could potentially care the most about because if you want to harm him, you got to hit him in the wallet. Is what -- what do you make of that this case compared with the other cases and how personally he may take this one?

VILLALONA: Well, he's been taking this case personally from the very beginning. You have to think he's been present at least seven times doing these court proceedings. This is the one that hurts him because you're talking about his reputation. Aside from his reputation, his legacy, his brand. Who is he? The money, money, money guy, the businessman, the real estate mogul. And this case to him is a threat to who he is as a person and who he will be thought of once he leaves this earth.

NOBILO: I suppose one of the elements, one of many, that makes what's going on with these cases against Donald Trump quite so unique is the fact that he's also using it as a campaigning platform and that will be going through his mind throughout.

VILLALONA: Absolutely. And that's been his tactic with all of his cases. And you got to think that even while he was testifying on the stand today, that there were already some marketing emails asking for money for people to donate to his campaign. You also have to think that all these cases, especially this civil case going on right now, all of this is marketing for him. So he is playing through the court of public opinion as opposed to the Court of Law and what he should be taking care of inside of the courtroom. He's using every chance he gets as a campaign speech in order to market himself. But in the end, this is a civil case and not a criminal case. So despite what happens in the election, this case will stand and he won't be able to do anything about it.

NOBILO: Bernarda Villalona, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

[04:15:00] Coming up, the Hamas attacks on Israel have forced many Israelis to flee their homes, and now communities in northern Israel are virtually ghost towns as the battles with Hezbollah intensify along the border with Lebanon.

FOSTER: Plus, how Russia's president is hoping to use the Israel Hamas war to his advantage. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Soon after the October 7th Hamas attacks, 10s of thousands of Israelis living in northern Israel were forced to flee south.

FOSTER: And leaving many areas completely abandoned, with now only Israeli troops remaining to battle Hezbollah militants across the border in Lebanon. CNN's Jim Sciutto has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST (voiceover): Visit Northern Israel today and you find ghost towns. Evacuations in the wake of the October 7 attacks have left communities such as Metula, Arab al-Aramshe, and Qiryat Shemona empty, except for soldiers deployed against Hezbollah.

Kibbutz Misgav Am, situated right on the Lebanon border, is among those communities now abandoned.

ELLEN WEISMAN, EVACUATED FROM NORTHER ISRAEL KIBBUTZ: We're staying here on the site.

[04:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Residents Ellen Weisman and her partner Joseph Locknew (ph) now make their home in a hotel some 40 miles south in Tiberias.

WEISMAN: Everything that's here in the middle, from the -- all the children's things where all donated.

SCIUTTO (voiceover): Residents here are among some 60,000 Israelis who have fled south.

SCIUTTO: One consequence of the October 7th attacks is a temporary migration from northern Israel south and from southern Israel north. With talk of the Israeli military creating a buffer zone inside Gaza and perhaps later in southern Lebanon, the reality today is that those buffer zones exist but inside Israel.

SCIUTTO (voiceover): For evacuees from kibbutz Misgav Am, the pain and fear of October 7th remains raw.

SCIUTTO: Polina (ph), nice to meet you.

SCIUTTO (voiceover): Polina (ph) still has trouble explaining what happened to her three children.

SCIUTTO: Do you think the kids understand what happened?

SCIUTTO (voiceover): The eldest children, she tells me, understand that we're fighting for our home.

SCIUTTO: Do you talk to them about it?

SCIUTTO (voiceover): They see and they're aware.

This is the reality of Israel post-October 7th, a country more aware than ever perhaps of the threat on its southern and northern borders. But that awareness leaves open the question of when they will go home.

Ellen and Joseph tell us it's just a matter of time.

WEISMAN: When we're told that we can go back, we'll go back.

SCIUTTO: You'll go back. If the government says it's fine --

WEISMAN: Right.

SCIUTTO: -- you'll go?

WEISMAN: We'll go.

SCIUTTO (voiceover): Sharon Ben Yair and her husband Maor Atun (ph), with 2-year-old and 6-month-old little girls, are far less certain.

SCIUTTO: Will you feel safe moving back north?

SHARON BEN YAIR, EVACUATED FROM NORTHERN ISRAEL KIBBUTZ: We think we are not going to stay there. After what's happened in Gaza and all that, we don't have a -- we don't trust.

SCIUTTO (voiceover): Today, they are thinking of moving further south for good or of leaving Israel entirely.

YAIR: I won't lie and tell you that -- tell you that we didn't think about moving to another country.

SCIUTTO: And where -- where would you move if you thought about it?

YAIR: Maybe to Canada.

SCIUTTO (voiceover): There is another possibility that some Israelis here suggest, that after the IDF finishes its military operations in Gaza, continued skirmishes along the border will force the military's attention north and bring an invasion of southern Lebanon.

WEISMAN: They say that they'll finish in the south and then maybe start in the north, correct?

SCIUTTO (voice-over): But that prospect has a troubled history. Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000 was costly and Hezbollah returned. And its incursion into southern Lebanon again in 2006 was costly as well, and Hezbollah returned again.

Still, what's clear for many here is that after what they witnessed on October 7th, the north will never be the same.

YAIR: Until now we use -- we lived in the kibbutz and we didn't think about everything that's happened on the other side of the fence. And then now, after all of this, we finally open our eyes.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Open eyes to growing threats from the north and the south.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Northern Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Russian President Vladimir Putin, closely watching the conflict between Israel and Mass as he wages his own war in Ukraine.

NOBILO: And it seems that he might be trying to use the war in Gaza to craft a new narrative about the West. CNN'S Fred Pleitgen explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As Israel's military continues its war against Hamas, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is framing the conflict as part of a global struggle of America and the West against the rest of the world.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is the current ruling elites of the United States and their satellites that are the main beneficiaries of global instability. They extract their blood toll from it.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): While many nations around the world condemned Hamas after the October 7th raid on southern Israel, killing more than 1,400 and taking hundreds of hostages, including Russians -- Russia invited a high-level Hamas delegation to Moscow for meetings.

A top Hamas leader saying the group would give preference to captives from what they call, quote, Russian friends.

MOUSA ABU MARZOUK, CHIEF DEPUTY OF HAMAS' POLITICAL BUREAU (through translator): This request from Russia, we treat more positively and attentively than others due to the nature of our relations with Russia.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): So far, no Russian hostages appear to have been released. Still, Moscow not criticizing Hamas. Instead, ripping only into Israel for the many Palestinians killed by the IDF's ongoing aerial campaign in Gaza.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Condemning terrorism, we categorically disagree that terrorism can be responded to by violating the norms of international humanitarian law, including the indiscriminate use of force against targets where the civilian population is known to be located.

[04:25:00] PLEITGEN (voice-over): But for years, it was Russia that waged a relentless bombing campaign against areas held by rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The U.S. and various international aid groups accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian areas, including hospitals and markets, killing and wounding scores, even though the Kremlin has consistently denied those claims.

And Russia's war against Ukraine continues. Moscow, once again, harming civilian structures overnight in the port town Odessa, wounding several people.

Vladimir Putin though trying to argue that Russia is invading Ukraine to help the Palestinians.

PUTIN (through translator): These are our soldiers and officers and the choice of a real man, a real warrior, is to pick up arms and stand in line with his brothers. Be in a place where the fate of Russia and of the whole world is being decided including the future of the Palestinian people.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, still to come, workers from Gaza, detained after the October 7th attacks in Israel, are now speaking out. We'll hear what they're saying when we return.

NOBILO: Plus, G7 foreign ministers are gathering in Tokyo for two days of discussion. Why coming to a consensus about the war between Israel and Hamas may not be easy.

[04:30:00]