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CNN International: Zelenskyy To Meet U.S. Senators On Capitol Hill; Israel Reopens Kerem Shalom Crossing For Inspections; Russia Launches Heavy Attacks In Kherson Region; Draft Deal Drops Calls For Fossil Fuel Phaseout; U.S.: Kremlin "Responsible" For What Happens To Navalny; Xi Jinping Arrives In Vietnam For State Visit; Kim Jong-un Accused Of Stealing Billions In Crypto For Weapons; Qatar Sent Millions To Gaza For Years, Backed By Israel. Aired 8-8:40a ET

Aired December 12, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[07:59:41]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello, you're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, the Israeli military says it's encircled Hamas's last strongholds in northern Gaza. This as the humanitarian catastrophe worsens by the minute. We'll have the very latest.

Then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet U.S. senators to plea for more military aid. We'll be live from the U.S. Congress and Ukraine for a firsthand account.

[08:00:05]

Plus, a draft climate deal from COP28 is prompting criticism from all over the world. We'll discuss why.

All eyes on Capitol Hill this hour, where we are watching for the arrival of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He's in Washington to make a desperate plea to Congress to pass an aid package worth billions of dollars. But with funding negotiations stalled and lawmakers and an impasse over U.S. border policies, it's far from an easy task.

Next hour, he'll meet with key U.S. senators and then House Speaker Mike Johnson before heading to the White House later in the afternoon. We'll bring you all that as it happens.

First, though, to Gaza, where Israeli forces say they are engaged in fierce fights with Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Scenes like this playing out across the northern Gaza Strip. Israel says it's destroyed both the rocket launch post and a weapons production facility in Jabalya. Israeli warplanes and tanks are also pounding southern Gaza, where the U.N. says the fighting has grown so intense that the distribution of aid to desperate civilians is being curtailed.

But the flow of aid into Gaza could increase in the coming hours. Israel says it has begun inspecting aid trucks waiting the Kerem border -- at Kerem Shalom border crossing there. After being cleared by the Israelis, the trucks will be allowed to cross into Gaza at the nearby Rafah crossing.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is at that crossing. He joins us now live. A lot of hope there that something at least will get through.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max. This means that more aid could be allowed into Gaza. It does not necessarily mean that more aid is going to get into Gaza. What this essentially does, according to the Israelis, is doubles the capacity for the inspections that they have been so rigid about, having to approve everything that goes into Gaza.

So what you see back there are some of the trucks that have come through here today from Egypt. They are inspected there. We've seen them opened up. We've seen cargo from the World Food Program. And then over here, there's a long line of more trucks coming in from the Egyptian side of the border. So once they are told to keep coming, they will then go around this corner and get inspected.

Now, what this effectively does is it does double the number of trucks that Israel can inspect. Until now, there was only one inspection point much farther south, way out of the way. This is much more convenient. So these trucks come in from Egypt, they get looked at, but then they've got to go back into Egypt and up to the Rafah border crossing where all of the aid has been going into Gaza.

That is where, Max, there has been a real bottleneck. Rafah was not built for hundreds and hundreds of trucks every single day. And then because of the utter chaos on the other side of the border with hundreds of thousands of people displaced who are swarming those aid trucks because of the heavy fighting, there's so much difficulty in distributing that aid.

The aid officials, the humanitarian officials cannot get all the trucks in that they need. There's a major question, Max, about when this crossing, Kerem Shalom, will actually open for aid distribution to allow these trucks straight into the Gaza Strip. For now, we're told by the IDF that is not on the table. That is not a decision that the Netanyahu government has made yet. Max?

FOSTER: OK. Alex, thank you so much for joining there from near the border.

Now to Russia's war in Ukraine where Moscow is continuing to pound Ukraine's southern region of Kherson. One military official says over the past 24 hours, Russia attacked the region more than 100 times, hitting residential buildings. One person was killed.

The fighting comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy makes his case in Washington for more war funding for Ukraine. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine joins us now live. What can he achieve when there are so many domestic issues to battle with politically?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, look, essentially the argument that funding Ukraine's defense of itself against Russia is indeed a U.S. security issue, should be at the heart of what Zelenskyy tries to argue and indeed the consciousness of most U.S. politicians. If Ukraine does not hold Russia back, then it's potentially NATO's borders, U.S. allies that U.S. is mandated under NATO treaty to assist.

But clearly domestic politics has begun to nip away at the sort of ubiquitous feeling of support for Ukraine that's been the hallmark of the last year and a half. A deeply damaging moment, though, for Ukrainian morale. We've seen that on the front lines talking to troops, heard their anger.

They know, they say they will fight on as long as they can, but they know without the financing and the munitions the U.S. has been supplying, they will be in severe trouble. The timetable, hard to tell, but it's already beginning to make opinions here darken slightly.

[08:05:13]

A very bad day, though, frankly, for Ukraine as I speak. You mentioned Kherson, we were there just yesterday, saw ourselves the intensity of the shelling on a huge civilian town. Now full of many people have evacuated from other areas around it that have been shelled and two of damaged buildings.

A sense of life really squeezed out of there despite the fact it was liberated from the Russians over a year ago. That all aside with the infrastructure attacks that appear to be escalating around Ukraine, missile attacks yesterday, Ukrainians are now finding their cell phone services interrupted.

Kyivstar, a major operator here, they appear to have been attacked. No prizes for guessing who might be behind that by a cyberattack. That's impeding service here. Other networks are saying they're just overloaded. But I think there are many Ukrainians here looking at Zelenskyy's trip to Washington, desperately hoping, frankly, it would never have even got to this particular point.

But deeply concerned as to how the winter will turn out if they don't keep getting U.S. aid delivered at the pace it was. It's going to slow Ukraine's ability to defend itself. And now we're seeing with these cyberattacks, with Russian moves against a town called Avdiivka in the east, that Moscow may be beginning to have a plan rather than being constantly reacting to Ukraine's moves over the summer.

A key time for this war, a key time, frankly, for European security, Max, regardless of how much attention is still getting in the west.

FOSTER: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you for joining us from there.

Any minute now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving at the U.S. Capitol den. He's on the Hill to try to secure more funding for his country's war with Russia. Due to meet with senators in the morning, then go to the White House for talks with President Biden.

Mr. Biden proposing $60 billion in new aid, but it won't be an easy sell. Republicans want to tie it to immigration at the southern U.S. border. Lauren Fox joins us from Washington with the details. I mean, he needs to get past this border issue, doesn't he, and get the discussion onto what this war means for American security effectively.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, he's coming to Washington essentially begging for more munitions, begging for more support from the United States, and yet he's going to be walking into a moment in which he has very little control over domestic border policy in the U.S. and at the southern border, specifically Republican and Democratic senators have been working for weeks now to try to find a middle ground when it comes to a border security package that both sides could live with.

They are no closer to a deal. Despite the fact that these conversations have been ongoing, despite the fact that they continued those talks over the weekend, both the Republican and Democratic negotiator told me yesterday that they believe that they may not reach an agreement by the end of this week.

And U.S. lawmakers are expected to head home for the holidays beginning as soon as Thursday afternoon. So that gives you a sense of both the desperation but also the reality for Zelenskyy as he comes to Capitol Hill today.

This is not the scene that he found himself in about a year ago when he gave a joint address to Congress, when he was given an American flag, when he was greeted with a standing ovation. Instead, the moment he finds himself in is an intractable one really when it comes to domestic policy that, again, he cannot and does not have control over here in the U.S.

FOSTER: In terms of the response he's going to get, have you managed to gauge what the Republicans want from him specifically, or are they really given up the idea of, I mean, this group of Republicans, at least, are they given up the idea of helping Ukraine?

FOX: Well, there's really two different groups of Republicans. And I'd say that the split is happening maybe most acutely between House and Senate Republicans. But over in the United States Senate, I mean, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is perhaps one of the strongest advocates for additional military aid for Ukraine.

He has been arguing and fighting for more aid to Ukraine for months now. He has brought it up repeatedly, unprompted. He is trying to encourage his members, educate them on what the long term effects of not supporting Ukraine would actually be.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Speaker Johnson has a much more difficult task because he probably has a few dozen conservatives who are going to be opposed to more Ukraine funding no matter what. They don't see the value in it.

They argue that it's wasted money and they don't buy the argument that if the Ukraine is not supported in the months and years ahead, that there could have long term ramifications for U.S. foreign policy. So those are really sort of two views from Republicans.

And I would argue that while there are Republicans supportive of Ukraine funding in both chambers, there are more Senate Republicans who fall into that camp. Max?

[08:10:05]

FOSTER: OK. Lauren Fox, we'll be watching closely. Thank you so much for joining us.

Now, still to come, time running out to finalize a climate deal at the COP28 summit after a contentious draft deal only fueled further tension. Can negotiators really bridge the gap? We're live for you in Dubai.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Negotiators scrambling to finalize a package of agreements on the last official day of the U.N. climate conference in Dubai, after a deadline set by the host country has come and gone. But deep divisions remain. A draft deal was unveiled on Monday evening, but it omitted the phrasing of phasing out fossil fuels, a crucial demand for many nations. The summit's director general, meanwhile, defending the controversial draft as a starting point for talk.

CNN's Eleni Giokos is in Dubai, joins us live. A lot of people will have sympathy for the critics because a climate deal that doesn't really mention fossil fuel properly isn't going to work.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, look, here's the thing. And we have to go back to the previous cops where fossil fuels weren't even categorically mentioned. This would be historic if fossil fuels are included. Those words are included. Then the question is, in what context would it be phase out or phase down?

We've got to remember during COP27, phase out of coal and phase down of coal was the big point of contention. They eventually agreed on phasing down of coal. That takes now again in the draft as well. And then fossil fuels also bought into the draft in terms of what we've been seeing, but we're running out of time. In 45 minutes, it would be officially into overtime.

Now, what's interesting is there's a mention of how countries could bring down their greenhouse gas emissions. And it's basically like a menu or a laundry list, which includes the reduction of consumption of fossil fuels and also production. But it doesn't say that it's legally binding. So it's almost like a menu or a shopping list of what people could be using, Max.

And that is what the point of contention is right now. We know that talks went overtime yesterday. They were discussing, you know, overnight in the early hours of the morning. Now we're going to be heading into a huge delay. And so many people are in the room that are pushing against this because they're very concerned about what the ramifications are. And the implications of phasing out of fossil fuels could mean for greater economies, for countries that are fossil fuel producers, but also in terms of energy security.

FOSTER: Who are the culprits, if I can call them that, for holding all of this up?

GIOKOS: Yes, that's a really good point, right? So who are the culprits? We know that according to observers, it's Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait that are against any kind of wording that includes phasing out or even phasing down of fossil fuels.

[08:15:11]

And in fact, we also know there was a letter that OPEC had sent its members asking them not to support any language of the sort. You've got to have 198 countries that need to come to some kind of consensus in terms of deciding what this final agreement would basically mean.

But I want to also refer to a tweet that we saw from Al Gore yesterday, and he is a former U.S. vice president. He's also a climate advocate. And he said something really interesting because it shows the urgency in terms of what we're dealing with on the climate crisis and how important fossil fuels are in dealing with what we're seeing.

And he says, "COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure. The world is desperately in need to phase out of fossil fuels as soon as possible. Anything else is a massive step backwards from where the world needs to be truly to address the climate crisis and to make sure that the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal doesn't die in Dubai."

And frankly, that is the big concern right now. It's, does this agreement, will this agreement, will the draft agreement in terms of what we're seeing and the final agreement match the urgency that we're seeing on the climate crisis front, the urgency that we need to be adopting?

We know that this has been the hottest year on record, Max. Next year, we're expecting even hotter temperatures. Will we breach that 1.5 degrees Celsius? Scientists say we are. But then does that become an average number? And what is the fossil fuel industry going to be doing to actively try and stop its emissions and also consumption?

It's not that easy, though. You've got to think about foreign exchange earnings for these oil producing countries. You have to think about what you touch and I touch every single day. It's all intrinsically tied to the fossil fuel industry.

We need to see mega change on all fronts on consumption and production in terms of seeing a dramatic shift on the energy transition front, Max. It's not that easy. It is complicated. And I think that this is being reflected in the negotiations here in Dubai.

FOSTER: I covered the COP in Glasgow in Scotland, and even then there was a discussion about whether or not these events are relevant anymore if they can't shift on fossil fuels. Is that what the academics and campaigners are telling you there now?

GIOKOS: That is -- I think it's so peculiar because when I speak to people, they're saying, well, you know, we kind of expected that no one's really going to push back on, you know, the phasing down of fossil fuels or even any agreement on the oil and gas industry.

I find that people here are -- and even the experts are just saying, well, this is expected, this is anticipated. There's nothing much we can do. And then there's the other end where people are very optimistic and they go, we can find solutions. We can find carbon sequestration options that could perhaps save us and, you know, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But frankly, even -- you know, anyone to do with financing or even the African countries, the emerging markets, who are saying we can't industrialize, we can't do anything without fossil fuels, there's really a mixed bag. And I think that when you hear these opinions and you hear these views, it becomes even more complex.

And then you hear from the small island nations and they categorically say, look, we are going to die. We have to do something about this. It just gives you the sense that not only is the world at a crisis point on climate change, but also in terms of the way we live, the way we conduct our business, and what options we have to truly transform.

FOSTER: Eleni, back with you if and when we get an update today. Thank you for joining us from Dubai.

Now bringing you live pictures from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expected to arrive soon ahead of meeting U.S. senators and officials, including the House Speaker Mike Johnson. Probably the most important meeting. Expected to appeal for continued U.S. military aid. Later this afternoon, he'll meet with President Biden.

Still to come, these missiles likely cost North Korea tens of millions of dollars. We'll talk about the corrupt ways Kim Jong-un is said to be funding his nuclear ambitions, according to the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:24]

FOSTER: The trial of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been postponed as his whereabouts are unknown. Navalny's team say they've heard he has left the penal colony where he was being held, but they don't know where he's been taken.

The U.S. State Department says the Russian government is responsible for what happens to Navalny. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov pushed back on Tuesday, saying Russia will not and cannot monitor prisoners.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Vietnam for an official two-day visit, a state visit. He is seeking to strengthen ties between the communist neighbors. The Chinese president's trip comes just three months after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Vietnam.

Despite being isolated, sanctioned and shunned by much of the world, North Korea's Kim Jong-un has managed to build up a considerable arsenal of weapons. And experts believe it's largely funded through a complex international web of hackers and cryptocurrency criminals.

CNN's Will Ripley has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every North Korean missile test, every satellite launch, every nuclear test likely costs Kim Jong-un'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 ADVISER: 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), MASSACHUSETTS: 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?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 yearlong investigation by South Korean police and the FBI exposing grave vulnerabilities in Seoul's cybersecurity 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 Capitol. Breaching borders, defying digital defenses, threatening global stability.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Let's cross live to Capitol Hill in Washington because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to arrive soon ahead of meeting U.S. senators and officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, expected to appeal for continued U.S. military aid.

[08:25:13]

Later this afternoon, he'll meet President Joe Biden. But that's, you know, I mean, the unusual thing about this trip is that the visit to the White House isn't the main event. This is.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's not Biden that he has to convince. This is a case case of convincing the Republicans mainly on Capitol Hill that Ukraine aid is more urgent essentially than tying border security to that aid package, which means that this trip in itself is a risk for President Zelenskyy because he is being embroiled sort of by the nature of it into this partisan politics in the U.S.

And it risk -- it's a risk because he risks going home empty handed because of it. And I think that is why, you know, on the one hand, he couldn't not go. Certainly if you speak to Ukrainians, he had to take every opportunity he could to try to make his case before Congress.

It's also about relationship building. There's a new speaker, of course, since he was last in the U.S. in September. But he has to balance that with the optics of coming here, coming back without a new deal. And at the same time, you know, Russia, we think it's stepping up attacks.

Certainly there was a missile attack over the weekend after 80 days nearly of a pause. And this is something the Ukrainians are really worried about, Max. I spoke to a Ukrainian member of parliament in the last hour. She said, look, Ukraine is already losing. They're having to dig fortifications on the front line because they don't have the munitions to attack.

So that's really all they can do at this point. And they are extremely worried that these missile attacks are going to step up in a big way and they won't have the air defense munitions to counter them. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLEKSANDRA USTINOVA, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Russians had produced three times more ballistic missiles in 2023 than they produced in 2022. The problem is that if we don't have enough munition for the air defense, for patriots, for NASA, for other types of system, we will have tens of thousands of civilians killed.

Kyiv can be turned into the second Mariupol and totally erased because we see hundreds of drones flying to Kyiv every day. But they're not using the missiles a lot yet. So we're waiting for a massive attack of hundreds of drones then following hundreds of missiles. And if there is nothing to put them down with, that's it. We're done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So this is now. This is already a dire situation is her point. She is, by the way, the head of a commission in the Ukrainian parliament that handles this flow of military aid into the country, a temporary commission that was set up.

Now, of course, we know Russia is watching this extremely closely. The Kremlin spokesman said today that they are, he said, monitoring it really closely, but they believe that none of the western weapons delivered so far have made any difference. And if any more come, they won't either.

The foreign ministry saying that Zelenskyy will again beg his masters for more aid. So some scathing comments there from Moscow. But of course, I think to say that they're watching it closely is an understatement.

FOSTER: How does he convince, if I can call them, hardline Republicans? Because they're hardline on Ukraine. The, you know, funding the war is in America's interests. Immediate interests.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, I think the line that we've heard from the Ukrainian side and from President Biden is that if this -- if Ukraine isn't able to push Russia back, if they're not able to defeat Russia, then Russia will keep doing this. And the next step could be a NATO country, which will mean countries like the U.S. have to actually put boots on the ground.

So that -- it is in the U.S.'s interest. It is a worthy investment to put however many billions into weapons into Ukraine because if they don't, they'll have to spend a lot more on bigger military efforts in the future. So that is the main thing.

It's interesting when you look at what's happening on the ground because Zelenskyy has been making the case, as has Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Defense Secretary, that things are going better than many had thought, right? That actually Ukraine has taken back half of the territory that Russia took to begin with.

They've won, in Zelenskyy's words, in the Black Sea. But on the flip side, we hear from this MP that things are actually getting worse by the day, that supplies are dwindling. So I think that is an interesting PR balancing act. Do you emphasize the positives to try to, you know, show the sort of strength of the investment that the U.S. has made so far? Or do you try to hit home with the point that this is now life or death for Ukrainians?

FOSTER: OK, Clare, stay with us because we were waiting for him to arrive.

But just into CNN, it appears Harvard University's President Claudine Gay will keep her job. Harvard University's top governing body has just issued a unanimous statement of support for her. She had apologized after she and other university presidents came under fire over their answers at a congressional hearing on antisemitism at American universities last week. More than 700 Harvard faculty members signed a petition backing Gay.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:01]

FOSTER: As the Israel Hamas war rages on, CNN found after a series of interviews with key Israeli players that Qatar sent millions of dollars to Gaza for years with Israel's backing. Although Qatar is now coming under fire for sending the aid money to Gaza, it's vowing not to stop the payments.

But CNN also discovered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed this cash to flow to Hamas despite concerns raised from within his own government. Nima Elbagir has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE 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 DEFENSE AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: $30 million per --

ELBAGIR (on-camera): Month.

GILAD: -- per month.

ELBAGIR (on-camera): OK.

GILAD: $360 million. It's more than billion check. It's simple mathematics.

ELBAGIR (on-camera): 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 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 believe that horrendous mistake to allow Hamas to have all these suitcases full of cash that goes directly to reordering themselves against Israelis. Why would we feed them cash to kill us?

[08:35:07]

ELBAGIR (voice-over): The cash deliveries were supposed to help. Among other humanitarian needs pay Gaza civil servants and pictures in 2018 showed workers lining up to receive $100 bills. Israel approved the deal in a security Cabinet meeting in August 2018.

During a previous Netanyahu tenure as prime minister and Israeli official defended Netanyahu's decision telling CNN, "Successive Israeli government 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 sort of nuisance type terror organization that can shoot rockets, can cause a bit of havoc here and there, but not much more than that.

ELBAGIR (on-camera): So underestimate.

BENNETT: And -- 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 Speaker Hauser acknowledged.

ZVIKA HAUSER, FORMER CHAIR, KNESSET DEFENSE & FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: That was an 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 the -- and get some Nobel Prizes. But in some point, enough is enough.

And if you ask me what symbolizes October 7th, October 7th mostly symbolized the Israeli society. No more take risks.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Risks such as this, hitting 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)

FOSTER: Well, we are still waiting for the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy to arrive at Capitol Hill. He'll be meeting with the U.S. senators, officials, including the House speaker Mike Johnson. He's expected to appeal for continued U.S. military aid. Later this afternoon, he'll meet U.S. President Joe Biden.

Clare joins us now. He's running a bit late, but --

SEBASTIAN: Well, he's -- yes, he's expected to go to the all senators meeting at the top of the hour. So still a little bit of time if he gets there. But obviously a very packed day and a critical day. This is the second day of his trip.

And I think these meetings on Capitol Hill are the most important because, of course, it is this divide in Congress over what to do about this aid package and tying border control measures to that that have brought us to this situation where they have yet to pass any aid and haven't done so since September.

And we've seen the consequences already, Max. We've seen the size of U.S. military aid dwindling. They now estimate that there's some 2 billion left. For context, the U.S. has already provided about $44 billion in military aid to Ukraine, making them by far the biggest provider out of all the donor countries.

So this is a hugely critical visit for President Zelenskyy. He needs to try on Capitol Hill to make the case that Ukraine can make good on the investment if the U.S. provides it, can use it to great effect to try to push Russia out, to defeat Russia. But also balancing the risk of being embroiled in these partisan politics.

FOSTER: In terms of, you know, whether or not this is make or break, considering the MP you were talking about earlier on, it does feel like it, doesn't it? And it's a completely different tone from previous visits.

SEBASTIAN: Yes. I mean, this time last year, he turned up in Washington, his first visit since the start of the war. Kyiv had just managed to push Russia out of Kherson, which was the biggest city that Russia had managed to occupy in the war.

Since then, over the last now 13 months, we have not seen a big breakthrough on any of the front lines. The effect, some would say, of delays in aid deliveries over the spring led the counteroffensive to start a bit later. And it has not gone to plan. It's moved very slowly.

Yes, there has been some territory taken, but not the kind of big breakthrough that really helps in a PR perspective when it comes to making the case for more aid. So it's a critical juncture. We're now getting into winter. We just saw a missile attack on Kyiv over the weekend, which is the first one in almost 80 days.

Ukraine is extremely worried that there will be more and bigger attacks, that they will target critical infrastructure and that civilians will be in the crossfire, especially since this MP, Oleksandra Ustinova, who I just spoke to, said that they simply do not have the air defense missiles to put down an attack like that.

FOSTER: What can Biden do to help with this because effectively what we've got today is Zelenskyy and Biden coming together to convince Congress?

[08:40:03]

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, look, it's a very delicate situation because on the one hand, the Democrats hope that Zelenskyy's case will compel the Republicans to postpone their demand for tying border security to this aid package. And on the flip side, the Republicans hope that Zelenskyy's case will compel the Democrats to allow them to include border security.

So you have this sort of political brinkmanship that's coming as we're getting into an election season, of course, in the U.S. So there's even more at stake there. So it is difficult to know what it is that Zelenskyy can say to convince them.

And certainly we heard from Senator James Lankford, who is the chief Republican negotiator on immigration, that there isn't really anything that he could say to change their minds. And, of course, this is the last week that Congress is in session, in theory, before they go off on their Christmas holidays.

FOSTER: OK. So we are waiting for President Zelenskyy to arrive to meet senators on Capitol Hill, key meetings with, you know, the, you know, the speaker of the Congress as well. These are the sorts of politicians that can actually unlock that money coming from Washington to Ukraine, which, as Clare was describing, is vital if they want to continue making progress.

And some people questioning whether or not, you know, the war can continue effectively without that money. So a huge moment for Ukraine and a big test for Biden as well. But hands are tied there almost, handing over to other politicians to make the decisions on this one. We'll be following it throughout the day.

World Sport with Amanda is next.

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