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Michigan Splash Pad Mass Shooting; Trump Courts Black Voters in Detroit; Biden Raises $28 Million at Hollywood Fundraiser; Israel's "Tactical Pause" in Southern Gaza; FAA's Problems with Boeing; Boeing Subject of Several FAA Investigations; Major Protests in France; President Zelenskyy Looks for Support from World Leaders; New York Exhibit honoring the Lives Lost at Nova Music Festival; Muslims Celebrates Eid al-Adha; Exciting Day of Football at Euro 2024. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired June 16, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:00]

LIEV SCHREIBER, HOST, VIOLENT EARTH: There was a Craigslist post from a stranger over 50 miles away who had found a photograph in their yard. It was a picture sucked up by the tornado, a baby photo of Amber, the only one to survive. The woman mailed it back to Amber along with $5, all she could afford, but wanted to give to help Amber start her life over.

For more information on what you can do in a tornado, and what you can do to help combat the growing climate crisis, go to cnn.com/violentearth. I'm Liev Schreiber. Thanks for watching. Good night.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching in the United States and around the world. I'm Anna Coren live from Hong Kong. Ahead on "CNN Newsroom."

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under no circumstances, is it normal for ice cream cones and flip flops to be strewn amongst blood and bullet casings.

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COREN: Another horrific mass shooting in the U.S., this time at a splash pad where children were playing.

Plus, Israeli forces announce a tactical pause to get more aid into Southern Gaza. We're live in the region with what that means.

And the FAA has a problem with Boeing. I'll speak to a former FAA inspector about the troubles piling up on the U.S. airline industry.

Police say at least nine people, including two children, were injured in a mass shooting at a public splash pad near Detroit, Michigan. Families were just enjoying their Saturday when the scene at the kid's fountain turned into chaos, with people scrambling to get away. The youngest victim is just four years old, that's according to police. And his mother and eight-year-old brother are both in critical condition. Authorities say the shooting appears to be random.

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MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF: The suspect fired potentially 28 times, reloading multiple times. We have recovered the handgun and the magazines.

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COREN: Officials say they found the 42-year-old suspect at a nearby home dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The mayor of Rochester Hills extending his support for the families of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN BARNETT, MAYOR OF ROCHESTER HILLS: It's a mental reset. It's a reminder that we live in a fragile place with fragile people. And it's also a reminder to be grateful for professionals. There were a hundred firefighters and sheriff's deputies out there today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: The Gun Violence Archive reports there have now been 223 mass shootings so far this year. When four or more people were shot in a single incident, not including the shooter. That's more than one mass shooting a day.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is courting black voters as he campaigns in the battleground State of Michigan on Saturday. He held a community roundtable at a predominantly black church in the City of Detroit. His campaign also launched a coalition group targeting black voters who have overwhelmingly backed Democrats in the past elections, where polls suggest that black men are more open to supporting the Republican nominee in this year's election than in the past.

Mr. Trump also used the event to lash out at President Joe Biden's mental health, but Trump got the name of the doctor who tested him wrong.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Joe Biden has no plan. He's got absolutely no plan. He doesn't even know what the word inflation means. I don't think if you gave him a quiz. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did. I took a cognitive test and I aced it. Doc Ronnie, Doc Ronnie Johnson -- does everyone know Ronnie Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor and he said I was the healthiest president he feels in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Meantime, President Joe Biden's campaign says it raised $28 million at a Hollywood fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday, a record amount for Democrats at a single fundraiser. The star-studded event was attended by former President Barack Obama and "Late Night" host Jimmy Kimmel, among others, who warned audiences that fundraising Former President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. Actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts were also there.

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It comes as Mr. Biden and Trump have agreed to accept the rules of the first presidential debate to be hosted by CNN on June 27th. These include muted microphones throughout the debate, except when it's the candidates turn to speak. No props or pre-written notes on stage. Both have also agreed to appear at a uniform podium, and their positions will be determined by a coin flip. There will also be no studio audience.

New developments this hour in the Israel-Hamas war. The Israeli military says it has started a daily tactical pause in one part of Southern Gaza to allow more aid to reach Palestinians. But the military says the fighting in Rafah continues. The IDF says the pause will run from 8:00 a.m. local time until 7:00 p.m. local time every day until further notice.

Well, CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now live from Beirut with more on this, Ben, what exactly does this tactical pause mean?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this tactical pause, Anna, is very specific in terms of location. It's between the Karim Abu Salem or the Kerem Shalom Crossing between Israel and Gaza, through which much of the humanitarian aid that is getting to Gaza passes, and it goes through the Salah al-Din highway, which is the main north south highway between inside Gaza. The point is to allow aid to reach those who need it most.

Now, the Israelis put out a statement saying that they have decided to do this pause indefinitely after coordination with the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations. This, of course, following reports of increasingly dire situation in particularly the northern part of Gaza. But increasingly, what we're seeing is the entire Gaza Strip because of the crossing -- the closing of the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza, much less aid is getting through and the humanitarian situation is getting ever worse.

Now, it also coincides, and we'll get to this in a minute, with a high number of Israeli casualties yesterday that really underscores just how difficult Israel's mission in Gaza has become. A, because of the amount of resistance still being put up by Hamas, despite the fact that this war is eight and a half months old, and also due to mounting international pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Anna

COREN: Ben Wedeman joining us from Beirut. We thank you. Well, James Elder is a global spokesman for UNICEF and he joins us now live from Rafah. James, firstly, your reaction to this tactical pause and what it exactly means as far as you're concerned. JAMES ELDER, UNICEF GLOBAL SPOKESPERSON: Yes, it's difficult because I'm very close to those areas and I certainly have heard a significant amount of bombardment.

So, look, any pause in bombing is good for children. Though -- yes, I mean, we just -- we have to see what this means. We've heard a lot of promises. Yes, as your correspondent said, we desperately need more aid in. It's not just about getting more aid in, of course, it's also then the safe delivery of that aid on the Gaza Strip, and that's become less and less certain over the last weeks, really ever since that military offensive in Rafah, which of course was promised to be "a limited offensive," but in fact meant not only a million people, 1 million people again had to move, again, had to go take a tent, having lived in a home from a tent to another area of rubble.

It also meant that the Rafah Crossing, which was the lifeline for aid coming into the Gaza Strip has essentially been closed now for more than a month. So, it's a real wait and see. Any news that means more aid and a restriction on bombing and killing of children is great news. But I think we have some way to go before we see a reality on the ground.

COREN: James, the U.N. and other aid organizations have been calling for the delivery of more aid now for months, warning of the humanitarian crisis that is now unfolding across the territory. So, I guess my question is why now and how long will this tactical pause last?

ELDER: Yes, I just don't know, unfortunately, questions for the -- you know, for the occupying power, for Israel and its military, for the United Nations at the highest level. My executive director, the secretary general, it has to be a ceasefire.

And I think certainly, again, coming back to Gaza now and seeing, of course, that as hard as it is for viewers to understand how much worse this has got, it's critical we do. This cannot be normalized. There is nothing normal about two days ago, yesterday, three days ago, me walking across children with burns, with partial limbs lying on hospital floors.

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There's nothing normal about 40, 50-degree heat, a hundred-degree Fahrenheit of people in tents because their family home's been destroyed. There's nothing normal at all about children live in a constant state of fear. So, it does come back to those people with the decision-making power on a ceasefire, they have to become more connected to the suffering of children and civilians here.

COREN: James today -- a year ago, families in Gaza would have been celebrating Eid al-Adha with feasts and celebration. Now, there's a million people facing starvation where you are. Tell us, what are the priorities in getting to those people, reaching those people, getting aid to them?

ELDER: It's a great question. I think what really, I found quite heartbreaking -- yes, it's a lot of heartbreak here. OK. But what I found particularly unsettling yesterday was talking to a lot of families. I realized today is Eid and I wanted to speak to families to understand that. And I got that sense that, yes, it is. Yes, you go out and, you know, you buy fresh clothes for the family and today, of course, is a feast and an amazing feast, rich or poor, everyone eats like a king today and they make sure that even those people for whom meat is too expensive for, you know, have a wonderful meal today.

But what I really learned is today is about family. Today is that day like all cultures have where everyone comes together, it's cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. It's that beautiful day that we all know whatever time of the year it is.

And what I really heard yesterday, because I was in camps that were entirely of orphans, what I really heard yesterday, increasingly through tears, was just families will not be together. Families have been literally devastated. Families have been destroyed. You've got people who've lost their entire families, half their families, a brother, a sister. So, that's what that looks like in terms of what that celebration really is.

But yes, on a nutrition front, we keep sliding into more and more perilous states when it comes to the nutritional status. UNICEF has done an enormous amount on trying to reach those severely malnourished. Severely malnourished means you are 10 times more likely as a child to die from a standard disease, and disease is taking root here because sanitation has been devastated.

But we had these stabilization centers treating thousands of these children. Again, they were disrupted or ended during that Rafah offensive. So, we're starting afresh. So, again, the nutritional status of the most vulnerable children really falls back on yes and aid delivery, but also a ceasefire.

COREN: James Elder, we thank you for the work that you and UNICEF are doing. We appreciate your time. Thank you.

A wild ride in the sky, as a Boeing 737 comes within just a few hundred feet of crashing into the ocean. Those details ahead.

And dangerously high temperatures are affecting much of the U.S. And in many places, it's only going to get hotter. Stay with CNN.

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COREN: Returning now to our top story, police say at least nine people, including two children, were injured in a mass shooting at a public splash pad near Detroit in Michigan. Families were just enjoying their Saturday when the scene at the kid's fountain turned into chaos with people scrambling to get away.

Well, joining us now is Abraham Dabaja, a reporter with the Metro Detroit News. He was on the scene after the shooting and went to the sheriff's press conference. Abraham, thank you for joining us. What are the latest details that you are learning?

ABRAHAM DABAJA, REPORTER, METRO DETROIT NEWS: Hi, Anna. Just a heartbreaking day in Rochester Hills, Michigan. According to the Oakland County Sheriff's office, nine people were shot in total, including two kids, an eight-year-old and a four-year-old. The eight- year-old is in critical condition. He was shot in the head. And the four-year-old is in stable condition. And the children's mother is also in critical condition.

Right now, police tell us a lone gunman, 42-year-old male drove to the splash park. Exited his car, got out and just started opening fire without warning or anything. He then left his -- left the park, went to his house, barricaded himself. Cops were able to track him back to his home after finding a gun that was registered to the home. After several hours, they went in and they found the gunman dead.

Right now, police are still looking to see what the motive is. And it's still under investigation.

COREN: Yes. As you say, absolutely tragic. Police believe this was perhaps a random attack. And as you say, they're still trying to establish the motive. Do we know if there is any connection between these victims, including the two children and this 42-year-old suspect, gunman?

DABAJA: Yes, as of now, they're just calling a random shooting. Police say he has no connections to Rochester Hills. He didn't live in Rochester Hills. He has no family in Rochester Hills. They don't know why he decided to go to the park and just begin shooting. They believe he may have suffered from a mental illness, which was not known to police at the time.

COREN: Do we have an update on the condition of the victims, the nine victims? You mentioned that some are in a critical con condition.

DABAJA: Yes. The eight-year-old boy who was shot and has a critical condition, his sibling, a four-year-old is in stable. His mother, 39- year-old, is in critical condition. A 39-year-old female who was also at the park is in stable condition.

[04:20:00]

There's a 30-year-old male who's in stable condition, 78-eight-year- old male who's in stable condition and a 37-year-old female who was in stable condition and a 40-year-old male who's in stable condition.

COREN: I mean, Abraham, this was a Saturday afternoon, you know, people just enjoying their weekend. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there've been at least 223 mass shootings in the U.S. so far, obviously, including this one. I know it's early in the morning where you are right now, but what was the reaction from the community when they heard this news late yesterday?

DABAJA: You know, it's tragic and heartbreaking. It's not the first mass shooting that happened in the Oakland County community. In 2020, the Oxford High School shooting that left four students dead. So, a lot of people are still trying to recover from that. And I've talk to a few people and I've seen when I got there and everyone is just heartbroken.

One witness told me they saw a couple protecting their children from gunfire, jumping in the way so their child wasn't shot. And the community is just trying to recover right now.

COREN: And I guess what's alarming, Abraham, is that these gun laws in Michigan, they were tightened at the beginning of this year, but still not enough to stop this shooting. Abraham Dabaja, we thank you for your time.

DABAJA: Thank you, Anna.

COREN: Well, the year's first significant heat wave is expected to roast a significant portion of the central and southern parts of the U.S. today. The National Weather Service is warning people in the South and Midwest to do what they can to stay cool amid a major heat risk with high temperatures into the 90s in some areas.

An expansive and exceptionally strong heat dome will also build over the east and stretch into the Midwest and Great Lakes over the next few days with the heat expected to persist through the week.

We're learning more about a Southwest Airlines flight that came within 400 feet of crashing into the Pacific Ocean. It happened in Hawaii back in April during an on-board flight. Island hop between Honolulu and Kauai. Flight tracking data shows the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plummeted while only a few hundred feet above the water before rapidly climbing. The flight then returned to Honolulu.

In a statement to CNN, Southwest acknowledged the incident but did not say why it happened. That incident, though, just one of a number of incidents involving Boeing aircraft the FAA is now looking into. Earlier in the week, the head of the FAA admitted the agency had been too relaxed in keeping Boeing in check.

Well, joining me now is CNN Safety Analyst David Soucie. He's also a former safety inspector for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. David, great to have you with us. Let's start with the Southwest flight that came within 400 feet of crashing into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii back in April. We are now in June. Why are we learning about this now?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST AND FORMER FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR: Oh, that's a really good question. Why? It seems like it was hidden or something. What happened was a simple movement of the new -- they had a newly assigned first officer there. And what had happened is he actually -- he or she, I don't even know which one it was. I'm sorry. But they leaned forward on that control yoke, they actually leaned forward on it and caused it to move forward and caused that aircraft to dive.

It wasn't something went wrong with the aircraft. It wasn't a procedural or operational thing like that. It was simply that they must have been moving in the cockpit or something and it got forward on it. And once you get forward on that control yoke and the aircraft starts diving, it throws your body forward as well. So, it's hard to get back out of there and pull it back.

That's the only explanation I might have for why it wasn't made known by everybody is because it was a mistake by a person and the FAA has to go towards that person for violations about what they did or didn't do right, and that's -- that takes some time to happen. So, I don't think it was any kind of systemic problem that had to be addressed with other aircraft.

COREN: David, let's now turn to the issue of this titanium with the fake documentation that's been used in Boeing and Airbus planes. I mean, what does this mean about the structural integrity of these planes?

SOUCIE: Well, what I've found out so far from Boeing and from Airbus is that these titanium parts are what they call fire shield parts. They're parts that are used to make sure that the fire, if there is a fire, goes from one area to the other, that it is contained, and that's what these titanium parts are for.

[04:25:00]

It wasn't a structural piece. It wasn't anything to do with the landing gear or the way the engines are mounted or the inter internal parts of the engine. All of that titanium comes directly from the manufacturers of the titanium to Airbus and to Boeing, and they're inspected in that chain.

What happened here is that these parts entered this suspected unapproved parts area, this arena of parts that come in from other vendors that aren't vetted the same way that they are vetted when they buy parts or buy materials for safety critical items. So, they didn't think that this was a safety critical item.

But that creates problems for me. I don't understand why they weren't inspected the same way. They have to -- documentation is one thing. If they forge this, and obviously someone's going to end up going to jail for that. You don't forge documents on aircraft. You just don't do that. So, that's going to happen.

What needs to happen, though, is at that point, the aircraft parts still have to be inspected. They still have to be looked at and verified. Are these really the right parts? Were they manufactured with the right things? And that chain of custody that didn't exist on this part is very disturbing to me, and I think we're just real fortunate that that didn't happen on a structural part. We need to look into that. The FAA needs to take up their responsibility for why are they not looking into these safety issues even further up the chain or deeper than just the documentation they receive.

COREN: Oh, David, there is intense scrutiny of Boeing, reeling from a series of mishaps and safety issues. On Thursday, the FAA chief admitted to Congress that he was too hands off in watching over Boeing. Does there need to be an overhaul? SOUCIE: Yes, I really think that there does. It has needed -- been needed for a long time, even going back to the MAX 8 accidents where hundreds of people were killed by a mistake at Boeing.

Now, here's the interesting thing, and I talked with Richard Quest about this the other day as well, but Boeing has been mandated to come up with their safety program. What are they going to do? And the safety program is very detailed. I've looked at many parts of it right now, and I'm very impressed with what it does and how it does look at itself and realign their thoughts and their entire culture about safety.

What is interesting to me is the FAA then receives this thing and they approve it. And they -- they're looking at it and scrutinizing and say, yes, you have to do this. You have to do this. But where does -- where was the FAA in all this? Why does the FAA not have -- where's their safety plan? Where's their safety strategy changes? What are they going to be doing different? I haven't seen that yet.

And this is the first step, on Thursday, when the administrator admits this, that gives me an indication that they're looking at themselves. They're looking -- not just looking at the manufacturer, they're looking at themselves. And the FAA has done this before. But at this point, it has to be a much bigger picture. It has to look at not only how they're doing the safety oversight on these manufacturers, but who is doing it. That's one thing that they've been lax on.

COREN: Davis Soucie, we appreciate your analysis. Thanks so much for joining us.

SOUCIE: Of course. Thank you.

COREN: After the break, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is looking for support from world leaders as the Ukraine Peace Summit goes into its final day.

And hundreds of thousands take to the streets in France to protest the far-right ahead of snap elections. Those details ahead,

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[04:30:00]

COREN: In France, hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across the country against the far-right. Some clashing with police, as you can see in the video. It's the first major march since snap elections were called on June 9th. There's been speculation that the far-right could at least become the kingmaker in the next government, after they took some 40 percent of the vote in the European elections.

The Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland will wrap up later today. And Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been looking to delegates to support his 10- point peace plan regarding Russia. Well, earlier he met with the U.S. vice president who announced a massive aid package to help Ukraine rebuild. But the White House admits its recent security agreement with Kyiv could be scrapped if Donald Trump is re-elected.

Well, let's go live now to CNN's Sebastian Shukla in Berlin. Sebastian, what exactly has been achieved at this peace summit, considering that Russia wasn't there, they weren't invited?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, I think the final conclusions of what will finally come out of this peace summit will come later today. But as you said, Anna, the main focus is to try to bring European allies and world allies of Ukraine around President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 10-point peace plan, which he has previously outlined in other statements made as he looks to bring the war in his country to an end.

From the perspective of assistance and what he has been able to gain, the United States, represented by Vice President Kamala Harris, has announced a $1.5 billion humanitarian and infrastructure development package after Ukraine's infrastructure largely its energy systems have been completely and utterly obliterated by the force, Majeure, on -- of the Russian air forces.

But take a listen to what he had to say about the 100 countries that have come together and what they are looking to send the message to Russia to be.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The very idea of war has already lost. Putin should switch from the language of ultimatums to the language of the world majority, which wants a just peace.

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SHUKLA: The difficulty though, Anna, is that President Putin has laid out what he views as peace, and President Zelenskyy is doing the same. And at the moment, the two sides are at opposite ends of the spectrum. What will need to be achieved for a meaningful, lasting peace is to bring the sides closer together, but the thing that is lacking that everybody has pointed out is that you cannot have peace and a peace summit when the main belligerent Russia is not represented. Anna.

COREN: A very good point indeed. Sebastian Shukla joining us live from Berlin. Many thanks.

Well, there's more to come on "CNN Newsroom," including a look at a New York exhibit honoring the hundreds of lives lost at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on October 7th. Please stay with us.

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[04:35:00]

COREN: Since late April, an exhibition has been running in New York City focused on the brutal events at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th. That's when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people. Hundreds of people from all over the world died that day at the Nova Festival alone. The exhibit seeks to commemorate the lives that were lost. It was created by the man who produced the Nova Festival itself, Ofir Amir, and he spoke with our Bianna Golodryga.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: One of the most powerful parts of this exhibit are just the belongings that no one came to claim from hats and bags, as you see here, soccer balls, water bottles to clothing items and then ultimately, the shoes.

I think for so many people, it's very reminiscent of what they see at the holocaust museum and just it gives you a sense of the scope of what was lost that day. How did this come about?

OFIR AMIR, PRODUCER, NOVA MUSIC FESTIVAL AND NOVA EXHIBITION: Well, everything that you see here, from all the belongings and the tents and the chairs and well, with the help of the police, we managed to get all of these belongings.

And when you see the shoes, it's clear, it's reminding us exactly what happened to us 100 years ago at the holocaust. And people were running away and left everything behind, even the shoes.

[04:40:00]

And I was one of the last people to leave the festival area. And we saw the tents broken and we saw their belongings and bags. And I was asking myself, how could someone run away without their bag? But when terrorists are shooting at you, you just leave everything behind.

GOLODRYGA: How many of the survivors have been here?

AMIR: We had over, I think, 50 of the survivors coming here and being part of the team and telling the story.

GOLODRYGA: And you've really encompassed a multisensory feeling and exhibit here.

AMIR: This is exactly the feeling that we wanted to give everyone that goes through this journey, the feel and the smell. And we also explain everyone that is entering this exhibition, it is not like a museum where you cannot touch anything. We want people to touch the tents and then the belongings to get the sense of what we went through.

GOLODRYGA: And this is the wall honoring all the victims?

AMIR: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: How many in total? 300 and?

AMIR: 401, including the police and the security guards. And -- yes, too many -- I know too many faces. Yes.

This was a really good friend of mine. Nathan.

GOLODRYGA: And I know -- where was he? I just saw him. This is a real hero. AMIR: Natalia (ph), oh, he's a hero. His parents were also here in the first two weeks.

GOLODRYGA: How are you feeling today? Physically.

AMIR: Well, physically it's getting better every day. I have been working really hard on recovering. I was shot in both of my legs. And my right leg was paralyzed for a few weeks.

My mission was always like to get better as fast as I can because my daughter was born four weeks after.

GOLODRYGA: You were one of the founders of the Nova Festival. You were there on October 7th, we're sadly over 350 party goers, concert goers, music attendees lost their lives, were slaughtered. You are one of the lucky ones to be alive. Your wife was nine months pregnant. So, she wasn't there with you. Walk us through that day.

AMIR: Well, 6:29 is when the rocket started. And I remember the first moment, we were looking at the sky, and it was like hundreds of rockets. And the first feeling was, OK, I was standing -- next to me was another producer standing next to me. And we were looking at each other. And we don't want to believe that it's happening, that it's like this feeling of hope that, OK, we have the iron dome.

Unfortunately, when you live in Israel, you know rockets. And I'm telling him, we have iron dome, no? They will not shut us down. And --

GOLODRYGA: You wanted the concert to still go. You didn't understand the scope and the magnitude of the attack.

AMIR: We had no idea. We had no idea. And Around 8:00 in the morning, this is when -- yes, this is when the first time we understood, OK, it's real. We saw them coming with their pickup trucks. Like four pickup trucks --

GOLODRYGA: The Hamas terrorists, yes.

AMIR: And we understand that they are surrounding us and they came with the pickup trucks and heavy machine guns. And then, they start shooting into the crowd. The bullets are hitting next to us, and you can hear them. You can feel them going next to your head. And so, this is the first moment where we said, OK, this is real. And --

GOLODRYGA: How long after the rockets started were you shot? How many hours later?

AMIR: I was shot at around -- a little bit before 10:00 in the morning. So, it was about three and a half hours.

GOLODRYGA: And how long until you were rescued?

AMIR: Another four hours. After I got shot, we managed to -- I don't know how, but we managed to escape the terrorists three times because they shot us and then they shot us again. GOLODRYGA: And this exhibit now, which has extended its stay twice in New York City was initially literally a lost and found for those survivors, for those family members of the loved ones to come and claim their clothing, their belongings. How did that evolve into what it is today?

AMIR: We recreated the festival, the main stage of the festival in Tel Aviv. And so, the idea was for the memorial. And it evolved to, again -- for the memorial. And once we opened the doors in Tel Aviv, we understood if after a few days that it's not only for the memorial. We have such a strong tool in our hands to show the world what happened. There is so much denial on social media and so much hate.

GOLODRYGA: Did that denial and hate for music lovers who were simply coming to a peaceful concert, did that surprise you?

[04:45:00]

AMIR: Yes, yes. It surprises me, because a music festival, the dance floor, it's supposed to be the safest place on earth. It is the place with so much joy. And everyone that comes there can be whoever they want to be. It is a place of love and freedom and peace. And we were disappointed that we didn't get the support of the music industry, of even the -- we are part of the Global Trance Music community. And even from the -- some -- the Major Trance Music festivals, they didn't support us.

And it is disappointing because this exhibition, this festival, it has nothing to do with religion or politics or -- because we believe that no matter where you -- when you are on the dance floor and we listen to the same music, we are the same.

GOLODRYGA: Why do you think that silence exists, that lack of support?

AMIR: I wish I could answer this. I wish I had an answer for this.

GOLODRYGA: Earlier this week, there were mass protests right outside this exhibit here on Wall Street. Some of just the unadulterated antisemitism was quite shocking. People were chanting, long live the intifada. Israel, go to hell. In one video, a man declares, I wish hitter was still here. He would have wiped you Jewish people all out. Something a lot of people have spoken out against. The mayor of New York city called it despicable.

What was going through your mind when you heard those chants outside?

AMIR: Well, I'm not surprised they came here to demonstrate, because I have been here in New York for the past two months and I hear the news and see these demonstrations at colleges and what's going on all over United States, and there is so much lack of education. And I feel -- sometimes I feel sorry for them because when you ask someone a question, where is Israel, they don't even know where Israel is.

Because we have been talking to some protesters before. There were a group of five or a group of two in the last few weeks. And we approached them and told them, listen, come and look for yourself, come look inside at what you are protesting against. And there is no interest of communication from their side. And -- well, some kind of way, it breaks my heart that there is so much hate out there because we are exactly the opposite.

I say, we, the festival producers and the Nova founders, but also as an Israeli and as a Jew, we don't hate. We don't want this hate. We don't hate back. And --

GOLODRYGA: We're now over eight months into this horrific war. There has been so much tragedy and innocent life lost, obviously, in Israel and subsequently in Gaza amongst civilians there. I'm just wondering for you, as someone who embraces peace, how have the past eight months been for you?

AMIR: Well, we're dealing with so much in the last eight months since October 7th. And I almost got murdered. We focus on the good. We focus on the light. It is not easy to live in Israel. It is not easy that you are hearing the news every few days more soldiers that have been killed or Palestinians that died out of the consequences. And this is not what we want. And -- well, we are not politicians or anything, but it's easy. Give back the hostages, and it will be over.

GOLODRYGA: Four of them, as you know, were thankfully rescued alive this past weekend. But even -- and they were Nova Music fans. They were attending the Nova Music Festival. And, yet, you also hear from top military officials that there is no way they can replicate these types of hostage rescues. How important is it for you that an end to this war come, that a cease fire deal be reached?

AMIR: Well, I can you last Saturday when the four -- when we got the news of the four hostages, well, I was surprised that the feeling that went through my body. And I was -- like the whole country was crying and so emotional and so happy that they came back. And then you have these talks, what they have been through in the past eight months. It's unthinkable. And, of course, we want the war and the cease fire to happen as fast and as soon as possible. It helps no one, this war.

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GOLODRYGA: You can't put to words the emotions you feel when you walk through this. You really replicated that night at the festival. It is really breathtaking and some of the most horrific ways imaginable. And, finally, you end up here in what you call the healing room. Why was it important for you to end this tour on a positive note?

AMIR: It's -- because this is part of our journey. And the exhibition is telling our story. It's from the light to the darkness and then to the light again. And this is what this healing room is all about.

And the day after, like I mentioned, we open our healing facility. And since then, we open a foundation that is dealing with the survivors, with the families of the victims, and this became our purpose in life right now. We are doing everything in our power to heal our community and the sentence, we will dance again, I promise you that we will dance again. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," there was plenty of exciting action on the second day of the Euro 2024 championships in Germany. We'll have it all when we return.

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COREN: Today marks the start of Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, and one of the most important holidays in Islam. It comes as more than 1.8 million Muslims are taking part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage, one of the biggest religious gatherings in the world. And this year it comes amid an extreme heat wave. Temperatures in Mecca are forecast to reach 48 degrees Celsius or 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Officials are asking pilgrims to carry umbrellas and stay hydrated amid the harsh conditions.

It was an exciting day of action at Euro 2024 in Germany. Albania made history with the championship's fastest ever first goal in a match scoring after just 23 seconds. Italy was shocked, but managed to recover to win 2-1. Well, Spain are looking for a record fourth title and started their campaign with a convincing performance. Posting a three-nil victory over Croatia.

In the first match of the day Switzerland looked to be cruising to victory up two-nil after the first half. Well, Hungary came back with a goal in the second, but then conceded another to give the Swiss a 3- 1 win.

We're about two and a half hours from the final round tee off at the U.S. Open Golf Championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina That's up to Bryson DeChambeau put on a shot making clinic yesterday. The American surged into a three-shot lead with six birdies. He's at seven under par. Three shots ahead of three players including Rory McIlroy. The world number three is chasing an elusive fifth major.

Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. "CNN Newsroom" continues in just a few minutes.

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