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Ukraine's President Warns Democracy in Europe at Risk as Congress Blocks Aid; Navalny's Disappearance Raises Concerns Amidst Russia's Prison System; Israel Warns Gaza Conflict Could Drag On for Months; Zelenskyy's Plea in Washington: Putin Must Lose; White House Stresses Importance of U.S. Support for Ukraine Amid Funding Bill Uncertainty. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 12, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN, it's not just about the money. With Republicans in Congress set to cut off Ukraine by blocking billions in financial aid, Ukraine's president warns democracy in Europe could soon be at risk. Alexei Navalny, jailed opposition leader, and Putin critic, appears to be lost somewhere within Russia's notorious prison system. And with Gaza already wallowing in unprecedented human misery and suffering, Israel warns the war with Hamas could drag on for months.

The fate of the war in Ukraine and possibly freedom and democracy in Europe is now depending on reform to the U.S. immigration system. Reforms which have long been opposed by Democrats but demanded by Republicans. With GOP lawmakers linking passage of a major funding package for Ukraine to border reforms, Ukraine's president has arrived in Washington with a message. Putin's dreams are coming true. Unless there is a last-minute breakthrough, Congress will most likely adjourn by the weekend, and there appears to be no way of passing a funding bill for Ukraine in the months ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Putin must lose. Must lose so that everyone else who sees Russia's war on Ukraine as his personal lecture, at the so-called university of aggression, gets the message loud and clear. Putin must lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And the White House says U.S. support, or the lack thereof, for Ukraine sends a key message to other countries and would-be invaders about what they can and cannot get away with. Here's CNN's MJ Lee reporting in from the White House.

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MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visiting Washington, D.C. this week to try to make a personal and desperate plea at such a critical juncture for his country. On Tuesday, President Zelenskyy will be visiting Capitol Hill first, where he will be meeting with senators from both parties before he has a one-on-one meeting with the new House speaker, Mike Johnson. Then he heads over here to the White House for another meeting with President Biden, and then the two leaders will proceed to have a joint press conference.

Of course, Zelenskyy is hoping that his visit here can break the impasse that we have seen on Capitol Hill over the issue of the billions of dollars in additional funding for Ukraine that has been such a priority for the White House but has in recent weeks become completely tangled up in the very fraught and complicated politics of immigration and border policy. What U.S. officials have been trying to warn for weeks is that time is up and that there isn't another pool of money that the U.S. government can tap into.

Other officials have also told CNN where the world is watching, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. One U.S. official saying that when this supplemental package didn't move forward in the Senate last week, that they very much noted that Russian state media celebrated this news. They're also saying that a failure to continue to fund Ukraine would send a bad message to any of the would-be aggressors that are paying close attention to all of this. But at this moment in time, the prospects of this additional funding getting approved before the end of the year looking very grim. MJ Lee, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: One of Vladimir Putin's top critics and the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, appears to have gone missing within Russia's prison system. Supporters say they haven't heard from him in six days. Navalny was being held at a Russian penal colony east of Moscow, but the prison now says he's not there. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a huge amount of concern about Alexei Navalny after both the Anti- Corruption Foundation and also his family say they have absolutely no idea where he is, that essentially, he is missing inside the Russian prison system. Now, a spokeswoman for Alexei Navalny, she said that he was supposed to show up for a video link hearing today from the jail that he's being kept in so far with a court, and that he simply didn't show up for that hearing. Now, when Alexei Navalny's lawyer asked what was going on, they were apparently initially told that there had been power issues at the jail where he was.

[00:05:09]

However, upon further questioning, the authorities at that prison, called the IK-6 prison, which is about 150 miles to the east of Moscow, said that he simply wasn't on their list anymore of prisoners who were inside that jail. Now, upon hearing this, the legal team then went on to ask other jails whether or not Alexei Navalny was there, and all of them said that he simply wasn't. So as of right now, Alexei Navalny remains missing as far as his foundation is concerned and as far as his family is concerned as well.

Now, the big question, of course, is what could have happened to Alexei Navalny? And there's certainly several possibilities that are out there. One of them is that Alexei Navalny apparently was supposed to be transferred to a jail that has an even harsher regime than the one that he's been staying in so far. And it's not uncommon within the Russian prison system for prisoners who are in that transfer phase that they are out of communication, that they're not allowed to communicate.

In fact, that's something that happened to Alexei Navalny when he was taken to the prison that he's been in so far in 2022. However, the Anti-Corruption Foundation also says that Alexei Navalny has been having some serious health issues as of recently, that, for instance, last week he fainted inside his jail cell and had to be given an IV. The other thing that the associates of Alexei Navalny are also looking at is the fact that his disappearance right now within the Russian jail system comes just at this almost the same time that Vladimir Putin has announced that he will run again in the upcoming Russian presidential election. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, for now, the disappearance of Alexei Navalny. We're joined by CNN national security analyst Steve Hall, who's also the former chief of Russia operations for the CIA. Good to see you.

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be here, John.

VAUSE: Okay, so from your experience, knowing Russia and knowing Vladimir Putin, as you do, what's the best-case scenario here for Navalny and what's the worst-case scenario?

HALL: Yeah, I'm afraid there's a lot more of the latter than there are of the former. I mean, the best case for Navalny, I mean, depends on how you how you define that for him. I think many of us were surprised after the FSB, the internal security service that Putin runs inside of Russia, tried to poison him. He went to Germany for treatment, but then he came back to Russia. So, he's very clearly dedicated. I'm not sure whether he would actually be allowed to go free today, whether he would actually actually leave Russia, although in my opinion, that would be the best. The worst case scenario for him is obviously he could simply die, which would be a very positive thing from Vladimir Putin.

But he's got a very delicate line to walk on that. He knows that Navalny is one of the more effective opposition leaders and that a direct killing of him could actually lead to some public backlash. So right now, I think Putin is trying to balance, okay, do I just send him to a really, really bad prison, worse than the one he's in, and just perhaps let him die on his own in, you know, in jail, in our custody? Or, you know, or do I just keep him in jail for 20 or 30 years? Those are the bad options for Navalny. VAUSE: Well, here's the latest from the State Department on Navalny's whereabouts. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We do not have any information about his whereabouts. We are deeply concerned for Mr. Navalny's well-being. We have communicated to the Russian government that they are responsible for what happens to Mr. Navalny while he's in their custody, and they will be held accountable by the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yeah, right. Really? That sounds kind of laughable in a way, if it wasn't so serious. In some ways, is Navalny's disappearance a sign of a more emboldened Vladimir Putin? He's had a good couple of months.

HALL: Yeah, I'll be really fascinated to see where and if Navalny turns up. I mean, there was discussion of transferring him to a different prison. And in Russia, that's not usually done via airplanes. They usually put him on a train. And it takes a long time. It's possible that he's just in transit to another location. It's also possibly, you know, it's entirely possible that he's simply dead, that they've either killed him or let him die. But why now, I think, is the question I think you're asking.

And I do feel Putin probably believes he's, you know, a little more emboldened now because he has always placed bets on the idea that the West was going to lose focus, that we were going to not understand what was really going on and get, you know, attracted to something else, whether it's, you know, the middle east or the Middle East. Or, you know, internal stuff like on elsewhere. So, I think he feels he can get away with stuff that, you know, perhaps he couldn't have a little while ago.

VAUSE: Yeah. Well, as you say, Putin's feeling obviously good about this delay in the Ukraine funding bill, which is being stalled in the U.S. Congress by, you know, some Republicans. CNN reporting Putin is very closely what's happening in Congress in the United States for obvious reasons. And that's why the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is in the U.S. to try and rescue that $60 billion in aid and to show up support on Capitol Hill. Here he is speaking on Monday. Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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ZELENSKYY: Russia is set on more than just Ukraine's land, resources or our people. It won't be satisfied with just a part of Ukraine or even all of it. Ukraine is just a stepping stone for Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, what's your assessment here? If Ukraine was forced into some kind of negotiated settlement with Moscow, would that essentially unleash Putin across Europe? Would he have that capability?

HALL: Well, you know, it certainly could. I mean, you have to go back really just a very short period of time in history to when a similar type of thing happened with the country of Georgia, where the Russians decided they were going to invade the country. The Georgians, you know, tried the best as they could without really anybody's help to defend themselves. But then they were just essentially left out to dry. There were sort of backroom that were made to Georgia. But Russia just went ahead and did it anyway, and it worked out. So Putin's lesson from that was, okay, I can figure on this. I can try Ukraine.

And although there's been a substantial pushback against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nevertheless, he does sense, I think, that things are starting to drift and that he has a chance. I think there's a real strong historical similarity between what's going on right now and what happened right before World War II, when people were saying, oh, you know, the Germans, the Nazis, you know, we can just leave them alone. It's really not our problem. And it expanded much bigger. I think that there's a good chance that Russia will not stop with Ukraine because it worked in Georgia. It's working in Ukraine. What's to stop them from going the next step? So I think, yeah, we need to be very concerned about that. Zelenskyy's right.

VAUSE: Steve, good to have you with us. Thanks so much. Appreciate your time.

HALL: My pleasure.

VAUSE: The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote Tuesday on a non- binding resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This comes as the defense minister calls on Hamas fighters to surrender, claiming the last two Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza are now surrounded. Yoav Gallant says the final Hamas battalions there are on the verge of dismantling.

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YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: We are nearing a breaking point in northern Gaza Strip and Gaza City, and we will continue this operation in other places as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Heavy fighting also reported in southern Gaza, where Israeli operations are expanding. But as the battles intensify, so do concerns about the U.N. and the U.N. government. The U.N. has been in a state of dire humanitarian crisis. The head of the U.N. relief and works agency for Palestinian refugees says staff in Gaza feel abandoned after the failure of a U.N. ceasefire resolution last week.

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PHILLIPPE LAZZARINI, COMMISSIONER GENERAL OF UNRWA: It's beyond disappointment. They feel abandoned by the international community. Deep frustration, deep disappointment, outrage also by a number of other staff regarding the options of a ceasefire. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Alex Marquardt is following the developments as the very latest now from the U.N. from Tel Aviv. But first a warning, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Israel says after two months of fighting, it is still battling Hamas in two different strongholds in northern Gaza, where militants have held out. But Israel claims they are now on the verge of being dismantled. One area is the Jabalia refugee camp, where residents said dozens of civilians were killed over the weekend.

Since the fragile week-long pause in the fighting ended, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip and the Gaza Strip. The U.N. is now focusing on the south, in Khan Younis, the second largest city there, where Israel believes senior Hamas leaders may be hiding. As Israel expands its operations, the number of civilians killed and wounded grows. The entire house fell on my head and I was pulled from underneath the rubble, this woman said. We would have been better off dead with my children rather than living in this grim reality. An urgent appeal was issued by the IDF this weekend for even more civilians to evacuate parts of Khan Younis.

But it's unclear how many would have heard the orders. And it isn't a guarantee of safety or shelter, medicine, food and water, which are all in short supply. We were displaced from the north to the south for safety, but there is no safety in the south, this woman said. It has led to deteriorating, chaotic scenes. The U.N. secretary general warning that public order will completely break down soon.

COL. MOSHE TETRO, COORDINATION OF GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE TERRITORIES: The situation is very challenging. But I think that the state of Israel does much beyond our obligations by the international humanitarian law.

MARQUARDT: You call the situation in southern Gaza challenging. Last month, you denied that there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Do you acknowledge now that there really is a dire humanitarian crisis?

TETRO: What I'm saying is, like I've said, the situation is very, very challenging.

MARQUARDT: But it's not a crisis in your opinion?

TETRO: As I see it, it's a challenge. It's a huge challenge.

MARQUARDT: When the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session on Friday to vote on a cease-fire resolution, the United States was the only country to vote against it, vetoing the resolution.

[00:15:09] The U.N. vote coming the same day that the Biden administration used an emergency maneuver to bypass Congress and approve the sale of 14,000 more tank rounds for Israel. Today in Jerusalem, Palestinian areas protested the war with a general strike, also seen in the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan.

On a normal afternoon, these small streets in East Jerusalem would be teeming with people who live here, tourists, shopkeepers selling all kinds of things. But today there are very few people out. Shops are all closed and it's eerily quiet. Business and life really coming to a standstill in solidarity with Gaza.

AYMAN AL SAFADI, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region, that will define generations to come. And therefore it's hurting its own people as much as it is hurting everybody else in the region. This is a war. That cannot be won.

MARQUARDT : Alex Marquardt, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who spent more than two decades as a Middle East negotiator at the U.S. State Department. Aaron, thanks for being with us.

AARON DAVID MILLER, SR. FELLOW CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: Pleasure to be here, John, always.

VAUSE: Thank you. Now, I want you to listen to the Qatar foreign minister on the wider impact of all that death and that destruction and the ongoing military offensive in Gaza, the impact it's having around the world. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER: Seeing these images right now that's coming out of Gaza every day is not just affecting those forces which are in Lebanon and Yemen or in Iraq.

UNKNOWN: Backed by Iran.

THANI: But it also affects an entire generation that might be radicalized because of these images.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And while Israel says it does not target non-combatants, that's a long way short of actively trying not to kill them, which is what the U.S. is now calling for. One country in the world can reign in Israel, and until the United States does, is it not unreasonable for the rest of the world to assume that the U.S. is OK with Israel's military offensive and all that comes with it?

A.D. MILLER: Look, having tethered itself to Israel's warnings, and I think the president very much agrees with what they're trying to do, which is to destroy Hamas's military infrastructure above and below ground and kill those senior leaders responsible for October 7. And in the process, end Hamas's sovereignty in Gaza, which might, over time, if, in fact, you can get a governing force in there and enough humanitarian and reconstruction aid, actually give Gaza some things that it hasn't had either under the Palestinian Authority or certainly since 2007 when Hamas took over.

Security and prosperity. And with that commitment comes the hammering by the international community, by the democratic -- large elements of the Democratic Party, young Americans, Arab Americans, international world opinion. With that tethering comes incredible criticism for the exponential rise in Palestinian civilian deaths and humanitarian catastrophe that Israel's military operations have caused.

VAUSE: Beyond Gaza, though, there's been this investigation by the Washington Post which found the IDF may have used white phosphorus, a highly restricted chemical, banned by many countries during a recent cross-border attack on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Here's a spokesman for the U.S. State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

M. MILLER: Our expectation of every country to whom we provide military assistance, weapons and other assistance, is that they use that assistance in full compliance with international humanitarian law and the laws of war, and Israel is no exception.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Key to all of this was that white phosphorus may have come from the United States. And that may be the official line from the State Department, but the reality is the Israelis have been given a very long leash here to achieve their war aims. And, you know, that's often been the case in the past as well, which has often led to these criticisms of the United States as not being, you know, an honest broker in the Middle East.

A.D. MILLER: Well, I know it'll come as shock to viewers, but having participated in almost every negotiation from the 80s through the early (inaudible) of this century, we're not an honest broker. We have a different sort of a relationship with Israel, which leads to giving the Israelis, more often than not, the benefit of the doubt, whether it comes to -- war making. And the fact is, Israel shouldn't be an exception, but it is an exception as a consequence of that close relationship. So, look, I think the administration, frankly, is within the limits of what the president wants. I think that the administration is, in some respect, -- this is -- the language is performative.

[00:20:09]

VAUSE: Well, the U.S. has called out Israel in the past. The most memorable moment was back in 1990. Secretary of State James Baker, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly giving out the phone number for the White House, asking the Israelis to call when they're serious about peace talks. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BAKER, SECRETARY OF STATE (1990): I have to tell you, Mr. Levine, that everybody over there should know that the telephone number is 1-202-456-1414. When you're serious about peace, call us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Another moment that wasn't as obvious as that nor was dramatic, but in 2006, during the war with Hezbollah, the U.S. warned the Israelis it would slow shipment of weapons over the high civilian death toll in Lebanon. So, these moments happen. They often happen. But they're crucial, not just for U.S. credibility, but also for Israel. Sometimes Israel needs a friend who will give it advice to pull it back.

A.D. MILLER: I think that's probably right. And I worked for Baker. I remember that line. And yes, the U.S. can and has at discrete moments used its influence and leverage. And as I mentioned before, I think, given the fact that the clocks are not synchronized, I think you could well see such a moment if by January, there isn't a change in the Israeli tempo of military operation.

VAUSE: Aaron, we'll leave it there. But good to have you with us. And your memory and your experience and where you've been and what you've done is invaluable. Thank you, sir.

A.D. MILLER: Thanks, John. Always a pleasure to be with you.

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, COP28 was born amid controversy, and now the U.N. Annual Climate Summit comes to a close amid anger and outrage. Full circle, if you like. Also ahead, how North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is building his illicit stockpile of nuclear and ballistic missiles, allegedly with billions in hacked crypto cards.

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VAUSE: Tropical cyclone Jasper is strengthening slightly as it approaches Australia's northeast coast with winds of 100 kilometers per hour. Landfall is expected north of Cairns on Wednesdays. And officials are warning that wind speeds could actually pick up to 140 kilometers per hour. And there is potential for dangerous flash flooding.

Well, there is disappointment and division at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai where a new draft agreement on tackling the climate crisis is facing international backlash. The United States, EU, and many coastal countries slammed the draft deal reached on Monday which dropped calls for a phaseout of fossil fuels. Environmental groups are also expressing their outrage. The summit is due in Tuesday but is likely to go into overtime with hopes the deal can be revised.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SULTAN AL JABER, PRESIDENT OF COP28: The time for discussion is coming to an end, and there is no time for hesitation. We must still close many gaps. We don't have time to waste.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But the European Union says the current draft is insufficient and unacceptable, saying greater measures are needed to curb what it calls the unabated use of fossil fuels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOPKE HOEKSTRA, EU CLIMATE COMMISSIONER: There is a great majority of countries who actually want and demand more in terms of phasing out, and in terms of what is in the text. And it is up to us to make sure that these voices are being heard, and that this is solved in the next day, or the next days, or however long it's going to take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In a statement posted on X, former U.S. Vice President and climate activist Al Gore said COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure, saying the current draft is even worse than many had feared. Well, despite being isolated, sanctioned, blacklisted, and shunned by pretty much all of the world, North Korea's Kim Jong-un has managed to build up a considerable arsenal of weapons. Experts believe it's now largely funded through a complex international web of hackers and cryptocurrency criminals. Details now from CNN's Will Ripley.

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WILL RIPLEY, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every North Korean missile test, every satellite launch, every nuclear test likely costs Kim Jong-Un's life. England's cash-starved country millions of dollars. Where does that money come from? How does Kim's regime evade heavy sanctions, advancing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs at breakneck speed?

ANNE NEUBERGER, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR (voice-over): We certainly believe that North Korean hacking of cryptocurrency around infrastructure around the world is a major source of revenue for the regime.

RIPLEY (voice-over): A staggering more than $3 billion in stolen crypto over the past five years, U.S. lawmakers say, a record $1.7 billion last year alone.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): So where does that money go? Straight into North Korea's illegal nuclear program.

RIPLEY (voice-over): An underground pipeline of illicit wealth, fueling Kim's nuclear ambitions, pumping payments into Pyongyang from places like Russia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Vietnam.

WARREN: Does that pose a threat to our national security?

UNKNOWN: It does, Senator.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The U.S. believes North Korea has a global shadow army, secret operatives posing as IT professionals, government officials, freelance blockchain developers, even hiring Westerners to hide their connection to Pyongyang. Spanish police arrested Alejandro Cao de Benos earlier this month, known as a special delegate for North Korea. The U.S. accuses him of helping North Korean officials use tech for money laundering. He posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, there is no extradition. The U.S. accusation, besides being false, does not exist in Spain.

Blacklisted by the U.S. as modern-day digital pirates, North Korean operatives are linked to ransomware attacks. Targeting online gaming, gambling, and banking industries. Even American hospitals. North Korea exploiting online vulnerabilities, using stolen money to mass-produce missiles, funding the Kim family's lavish lifestyle, palaces, planes, yachts, and this armored Mercedes limousine carried on Kim's private train to that September summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The latest breach from North Korea's notorious Andariel hacking group, targeting South Korean defense firms and others. A year-long investigation into the U.S. and South Korean defense firms, and the U.S. and South Korean government. The investigation by South Korean police and the FBI, exposing grave vulnerabilities in Seoul's cyber security defenses. Around 250 sensitive files, 1.2 terabytes of classified data, stolen. A crime concealed through rented servers. A secretive trail of digital deception, leading straight to the North Korean capital, breaching borders, defying digital defenses, threatening global stability. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, how has Qatar been able to send millions of dollars to Gaza and presumably Hamas for the past five years, all with Israel's blessing. Details on that controversial deal up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

[00:31:32]

For the past five years, Qatar has been a major donor to Gaza, sending the Palestinian enclave millions of dollars, sometimes in cash or with Israel's blessing. Qatar is now coming under fire for sending that money, but it's not vowing to stop the payments.

CNN also has found out that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, allowed all of this to happen, and also for the cash to flow to Hamas, despite concerns raised from within his own government.

CNN Nima Elbagir has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israel's mourning continues, even as the clamor around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grows, questioning whether his policies helped prop up Hamas.

In a series of interviews with key Israeli players, CNN and the Israeli investigative platform Shomrim were told how Netanyahu allowed Qatari cash donations to Hamas for years, without supervision, despite concerns from within his own government.

MAJ. GEN. AMOS GILAD (RET.), FORMER SENIOR ISRAELI DEFENSE AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: Thirty million dollar bill --

ELBAGIR: A month.

GILAD: Bill a month, $360 million. It's more than 5 billion shekel. It's simple mathematics.

ELBAGIR: It's a lot of money.

GILAD: A lot of money. Dollars in Gaza is like $20 in U.S. For them, it was like a relief. It was like oxygen. Can you live without oxygen? No. So it's a dramatic, historic mistake.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Former Israeli prime minister and former defense minister Naftali Bennett says he was among those repeatedly raising concerns to Netanyahu.

When Bennett became prime minister in 2021, he put a stop to the suitcases of cash to Hamas, moving the transfer of financial support to Hamas from cash to a U.N. mechanism.

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I stopped the cash suitcases, because I believed that's a horrendous mistake to allow Hamas to have all these suitcases full of cash that goes directly to re-arming themselves against Israelis. Why would we feed them cash to kill us?

ELBAGIR (voice-over): The cash deliveries were supposed to help, among other humanitarian needs, pay Gaza's civil servants. And pictures in 2018 showed workers lining up to receive 100-dollar bills.

Israel approved the deal in a security cabinet meeting in August 2018 during a previous Netanyahu tenure as prime minister. An Israeli official defended Netanyahu's decision, telling CNN, "Successive Israeli governments enabled money to go to Gaza, not in order to strengthen Hamas, but to prevent a humanitarian crisis."

That's true, but no one else approved it in cash. Former Prime Minister Bennett says that Netanyahu underestimated Hamas.

BENNETT: I think the approach towards Hamas was one of a sort of a nuisance-type terror organization that can shoot rockets, can cause a bit of havoc here and there, but not much more than that.

ELBAGIR: So underestimated? BENNETT: Absolutely. And in that sense, we've learned the lesson. We

have to believe our enemies.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): This lesson has become a turning point for Israel, one even longtime Netanyahu allies like Zvika Hauser acknowledge.

ZVIKA HAUSER, FORMER CHAIR, KNESSET DEFENSE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: That was a strategic lesson for the Israeli society that you can talk a lot about peace. You can try to do a lot of things. You can come to the White House, to -- and get some Nobel Prizes. But at some point, enough is enough.

[00:35:14]

And if you ask me what symbolizes October 7? October 7 mostly symbolizes to Israeli society, no more take risk.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Risks such as this, heeding the toll of human suffering and international calls to slow the pummeling of Gaza before Israel is satisfied Hamas has been destroyed. Whatever the cost.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, the Iowa caucuses are just weeks away, and there's not much doubt about who's going to win. Why all the drama is now who's going to finish second, behind Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Poland's populist Law and Justice Party is no longer in power after eight years of authoritarian rule. They lost a confidence vote on Monday, paving the way for centrist opposition leader Donald Tusk to take power.

He's already served two terms for as prime minister, from 2007. Expected to do so again with an official vote later this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TUSK, POLISH OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): This is really something extraordinary. Tomorrow, we will be able to repair the harm, so that everyone in Poland, everyone without exceptions, are Polish citizens or really feel at home.

VAUSE: E.U. chief Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Tusk, saying, "Your experience and strong commitment to our European values will be precious in forging a stronger Europe for the benefit of the Polish people."

Donald Trump loves a poll; he's going to love these, his lead among Republicans, in his search for the Republicans' -- for the Republican Party's nomination in 2024 just got a lot bigger. A new Iowa poll conducted by "The Des Moines Register," NBC and

Mediacom shows more than half of the Republican caucus goers plan to vote Trump next month.

The former president is also gaining traction in battleground states against current President Joe Biden. CNN's Jeff Zeleny breaks down the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Donald Trump holding a commanding and widening lead in Iowa, just five weeks before the state opens the 2024 Republican presidential contest.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, everybody.

ZELENY (voice-over): The former president crossing a new threshold, with 51 percent of Republicans now backing him, according to a new "Des Moines Register" poll. That's up from 43 percent in October.

The shrinking GOP field has boosted Trump, who now holds a 32-point lead. The race for second place is a showdown, with Ron DeSantis at 19 percent, followed by Nikki Haley at 16 percent.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's his own worst enemy by not being able to control his mouth. And that has consequences for governance and us being able to get things done.

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ZELENY (voice-over): On a weekend Iowa campaign swing, DeSantis and Haley sharpening their attacks on Trump's record.

NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know that the economy was good under Donald Trump, right? But what we need to also remember was that we went $9 trillion in debt during that same time. And we are paying the price for that.

ZELENY (voice-over): Nearly half of likely Iowa caucus goers say their minds are made up. But among Trump supporters, 70 percent say they are firmly committed in their decision.

TRUMP: The first guy that ever got indicted whose poll numbers went up.

ZELENY (voice-over): The former president is increasingly turning his focus to President Joe Biden, as new CNN polls show fresh signs of warning for the White House.

In Michigan and Georgia, two of the five states Biden turn from red to blue, the president is facing alarmingly low approval ratings, our poll showing fewer than four of ten improve of his performance in office.

TRUMP: I will save democracy. The threat is crooked Joe Biden. That's the threat.

ZELENY (voice-over): In Michigan, Trump leads Biden 50 to 40 percent in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, with 10 percent saying they wouldn't support either candidate.

That raises the question of a threat from a third-party contender. Asked specifically about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornell West in Michigan, Trump falls to 39 percent, and Biden to 31 percent.

And in Georgia, Trump has a 49-to-44 percent edge over Biden, the poll found, with 7 percent saying they would not back either.

The challenges for Biden are coming into sharper view.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Trump just talks the talk. We walk the walk. Frankly, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

ZELENY (voice-over): Among the many factors that could drive the race are Trump's numerous legal challenges, particularly the criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In Georgia and Michigan, nearly half of voters say that, if true, they should disqualify him from the presidency.

ZELENY: But long before it's clear if there will be a Trump-Biden rematch, the former president must navigate the Republican primary. Yes, he has a commanding lead in Iowa, but the voting does not began for five more weeks.

For now, at least, the most competitive race is for second place, between Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

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VAUSE: I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT is up after a very short break. See you back here in 18 minutes.

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