Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Protests Grow Across Israel After Recovering Of Six Dead Hostages; Harris Holds Lead In New Poll As Campaign Heads Into Labor Day; 49ers: Rookie Player Pearsall Out Of Hospital After Shooting. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 01, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Hello. Thank you so much for joining me, I'm Alex Marquardt in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We are on top of breaking news this hour. Right now, tens of thousands of Israelis are filling the streets of Israel in protest. Demonstrations demanding that the Israeli government broker a ceasefire deal with Hamas, after Israeli military officials say that they recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza this weekend.

The IDF announcing that they discovered the bodies of all six hostages deep in a tunnel underneath Rafah which is in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Health Ministry saying that they were each killed by "short range shots" they believe just 48 to 72 hours before their autopsy.

Many demonstrators are blaming the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his inability or unwillingness to bring hostages home despite months of intense negotiations with Hamas involving the US, Qatar and Egypt as well.

In a televised address, the prime minister said that it is Hamas who is not negotiating in good faith. Take a listen.

[03:00:15]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In recent days, as Israel has been holding intensive negotiations with the mediator and a supreme effort to reach a deal, Hamas is continuing to steadfastly refuse all proposals. Even worse, at the exact same time, it murdered six of our hostages.

Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal. For our parts, we will not relent. The government of Israel is committed and I am personally committed to continue striving towards a deal that will return all of our hostages and ensure our security and our existence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: The news about these hostages is especially difficult for the families of the remaining more than 100 hostages, including seven Americans still being held inside Gaza by Hamas and other militant groups.

Today, one family told CNN that it is time for both Netanyahu and US officials to finally get a ceasefire deal done. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONEN NEUTRA, FATHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE OMER NEUTRA: We are just hoping that he is doing everything it can. The situation is dire. It is urgent. We've seen him putting all kinds of hurdles. We know the Israeli people are going out in large numbers and calling the government to do what their job is, to bring the hostages home, 101 hostages left and they are dying there and every day is a huge risk for each one of them.

So we urge him to do what he is tasked to do in Israel, but just as well, we are calling on our leaders here in the United States to do what they are tasked to do.

We are calling on President Biden, on Vice President Harris to do everything in their power to reach a deal and bring the hostages back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's Nic Robertson is live for us in Tel Aviv as he has been all evening at these massive demonstrations that are underway right now.

So Nic, a lot of anger being directed at the Israeli government, at Prime Minister Netanyahu himself. What are you hearing?

Do you feel like this -- do they feel like this may be a turning point in finally pressuring the Israeli government to agree to a ceasefire deal?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, I think people see it as an opportunity, a potential cusp upon which things can turn, but that the prime minister has been here before, the country has been here before and they know, and this is why the out on the streets and such numbers, unprecedented numbers in Tel Aviv tonight that it may be a moment, but unless they try to seize that moment and make it a moment and make their voices count, then it is not going to happen.

I am just going to step out of the way so Pete, our photojournalist here can get some better pictures of what is going on.

What you're looking at here is a massive crowd on the main highway that runs north-south through Tel Aviv. Right now, the protesters are blocking one part of the highway that is threatening to -- excuse me, they are threatening to block both sides of the highway here.

What you've got in the air is smoke from fireworks that has been fired. There is a police water cannon that's just a little bit up the street from us here that sort of came in towards the crowd, decided to not have a confrontation, to sort of go into containment mode here.

And I am reading the signs around me here, they are saying only a deal now can save the hostages, a deal now -- excuse me -- to the prime minister, you're at the top, you're responsible. A deal now to save the hostages.

So it is a real sense of frustration, a sense that this is a moment of opportunity, but a frustration about how to manifest that opportunity. Organizers say there has been as many as three hundred thousand protesters on the streets in Tel Aviv alone tonight.

Now, it is impossible for us to verify that number. Certainly this is the biggest number of people our team has witnessed in months and months and months of anti-government protests here to try to get the hostages back home.

So right now, it is a part of that larger crowd, some people have gone home, but others are really focusing on the highway because they feel if you can close that, then that signals to them the government that things must change. The other signal that government is going to sort of feel and hear over the coming days, this city itself, the municipality has decided to go on strike.

Some of the big labor unions in the country, incredibly powerful and significant has said that their membership would join the protests.

We've heard from Ben Gurion Airport, saying that they will be operational tomorrow.

[15:05:10]

But in the past, these unions have managed to shut down the airports as well. So this is a big moment.

Is the country on the cusp of it again? Or will the prime minister prevail with his rhetoric, winning the day -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And Nic, quickly, we've just learned that there was a Cabinet meeting today during which the Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant blasted the government for prioritizing that Egypt-Gaza border, that stretch known as the Philadelphi Corridor and Netanyahu's desire to keep Israeli troops in that area, prioritizing that, Gallant said overreaching this hostage deal.

ROBERTSON: Yes, he tried to make that point last week. The vote went against him. He voted against it. He asked the prime minister, said have another Cabinet session, make another vote on this.

This is the point that -- it is where Israeli troops are along the border between Gaza and Egypt, that appears to be one of the major stumbling points in the negotiations and he believes that the prime minister is micromanaging mismanaging by directing where the troops should be.

Now the prime minister did agree to reduce the number of troops that it is having any troops there that is a blocking point for Hamas. So what we've heard from them defense minister today, and let's not just forget what is going on here. This is the prime minister and his defense minister arguing over a fundamental part of what and how the country should be run and how decisions should be made.

When the country is at war where else would the defense minister be calling out the prime minister? The country is still at war with Hamas, threatened by Hezbollah to the north, threatened by Iran further to the east in the region, so let's not underestimate whatever is being said. The actual nature of what is happening at the moment, these deep, deep divisions in government manifesting by the people's voices and actions in the streets here as well.

MARQUARDT: Yes, those deep divisions that anger very apparent on the streets of Tel Aviv.

Nic Robertson in the middle of those very active demonstrations, thank you very much. We will be coming back to you soon.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has expressed optimism in recent days that a ceasefire deal is within reach.

CNN's White House reporter, Kevin Liptak it is here with more.

Kevin, the US has been quite optimistic in recent weeks that they could reach a ceasefire deal yesterday saying that we are on the verge of one. How do we think that this news about the six hostages is going to impact them?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I don't think there is any question that it adds a layer of complexity to what had already been quite painstaking, difficult negotiations that had intensified over the last two weeks, but in reality have been going on for months and months.

And when you talk to American officials today, they do say, this does raise some new questions about just how serious Hamas is about reaching a deal. But they also acknowledge that this is going to apply a new pressure point on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and certainly we are seeing that play out on the streets of Israel today.

I also think it is important to note now that President Biden is no longer running for president, achieving this hostage and ceasefire deal is his top priority. This is something that he thinks could contribute to his legacy and he has been spending himself quite a lot, a lot of time on this calling leaders in the region trying to secure some kind of agreement. And I think there is no question that this will lend some complications to that.

Now, we did hear from President Biden in a statement yesterday, he said that he was devastated and outraged specifically by the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is the Israeli American citizen who was killed as part of this.

He said, he has worked tirelessly to bring Hersh safely to his parents and he says he is heartbroken by news of his death. It is as tragic as it is reprehensible. And he says, make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.

Now whether that means American forces will cause them to pay for their crimes or some other forces, I think remains to be seen, but that was an interesting line in the statement.

We did learn earlier today that President Biden, along with the Vice President Kamala Harris, had spoken to the parents of Hersh Goldberg- Polin. Of course, they had gotten to know them somewhat well over the last 11 months or so. Remember, they actually spoke at the Democratic National Convention a couple of weeks ago, it was quite a powerful moment in the arena there.

Kamala Harris, in her statement, doesn't actually explicitly mention the ceasefire talks. She has talked about them extensively, including just last week in our interview with her down in Georgia. She does say that Hamas is an evil terrorist organization, and says with these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands.

She goes on to say the threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel and American citizens in Israel must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza, just saying very clearly that as part of any agreement that they come to, it cannot include an eventuality where Hamas could return to power in Gaza.

[15:10:05]

I do think one interesting thing in both of these statements is neither of them applies any pressure either explicitly or implicitly on Prime Minister Netanyahu to try and come to an agreement. I think American officials are recognizing that that pressure is going to come pressure is going to come from inside Israel.

MARQUARDT: Yes, they have been quite reluctant throughout the past few months of criticizing Netanyahu openly.

Kevin Liptak, senior White House reporter for us. Thank you so much.

Let's get analysis now from former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller.

Aaron, thank you so much for joining me.

This is a potential turning point as we are seeing on the streets of Tel Aviv, all of this anger spilling out into the streets with these six hostages who were found dead. How do you think this impacts the talks?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You know, Alex, you and I have had this conversation before and things are happening. I think from my own experience, negotiations succeed only when you have two liters, two parties that feel a sense of real urgency and it seems to me, despite what I would consider to be critical urgency to redeem the hostages, yes, to make sure October 7th does not happen again, but the Israeli government has a longstanding, had a commitment to redeem both Israelis alive and dead on the battlefield.

As far as Hamas is concerned, it does raise critically important questions about Sinwar's motives here.

He spent 20 plus years in Israeli prisons. He speaks fluent Hebrew. He knows precisely how the issue of live and dead Israelis play in Israeli politics. It seems evident to me that if Sinwar was actually interested in a deal, he wouldn't have issued orders that approach any idea of forces, these hostages would be executed, including as we know, one -- tragically one, particularly for Americans, one American.

As far as Mr. Netanyahu is concerned, I think you've got an unprecedented situation in Israel, an open riff between Yoav Gallant accusing the prime minister, abdicating his responsibilities morally.

They've argued, the IDF has argued you could always return to the Philadelphi Corridor, you do not have to occupy them physically, but again, with Benjamin Netanyahu, reorganizing principle is rule, is retaining power.

And again, I think, we will wait to see. Histadrut is going to come out with the trade unions tomorrow with a big strike, 800,000 affected workers. And this has been happening since 2023 when Benjamin Netanyahu fired Gallant for statements that he had made.

So again, I think it is a pressure point, but I am not sure how it is going to play out with respect to advancing these negotiations.

MARQUARDT: David, American officials acknowledge that the beginning of July, Hamas had agreed to a deal. They had backed down on their requirement that a temporary ceasefire become a more permanent ceasefire and then we reported, we and others have reported that Netanyahu tightened some of the terms specifically, you mentioned two of them that Egypt-Gaza border called the Philadelphi Corridor, the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts across essentially the middle of Gaza and would make it more difficult for Palestinians to go home in the north.

To what extent do you think Netanyahu is responsible for the parties not reaching a deal which is certainly an accusation that we are seeing right now in these very dynamic protests on the streets of Tel Aviv tonight?

MILLER: I mean, I think he is partly responsible. As I mentioned, this isn't one hand clapping. As grotesque and as savage an organization as Hamas is, the government of Israel, the IDF, the Biden administration has made a calculation that the only way on it is, the only way to de- escalate the war is through an agreement with a terror organization.

And once you buy into that as the only way to go forward, then in effect, it is up to Netanyahu and Sinwar to do what is necessary to close this.

And Alex, you know, that even if they agree to a phase one deal, we are talking about a limited exchange of hostages for large numbers of Palestinian prisoners and a six-week ceasefire Hamas is going to continue to hold the male hostages until they get what they want, which is a permanent cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza. And it seems to me under no circumstances given what we are watching play out, particularly with the Israelis -- IDF discovered yesterday that any Israeli government is going to agree to those terms.

So it would be great to get six weeks, maybe you can build on it right now, time is a cruel adversary to the hostages, their families, and to largely civilian population of Gaza and it is an ally, I am afraid to Yahya Sinwar and Benjamin Netanyahu.

MARQUARDT: All right, Aaron David Miller, I am asking you to stay with me. I want to go straight back to Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, who is in the middle of these protests that really seem to be heating up.

[15:15:18]

There are fires on the streets.

Nic, what are you seeing?

ROBERTSON: Yes, Alex, you are joining us in the middle of a crowd here. Just behind us here is the highway. People have gathered to watch what the police are doing. The police just moved in here with a water cannon. They didn't use the water cannon on people. There was a big fire in the highway right behind me.

That is the police water cannon going through. Big fire, trees down on the highway. The police moved in to put that fire out. There is also police on horseback here. They are not engaging violently with the crowd, but they are moving through here in a really determined way to put out the fire and I am just going to ask Pete to join me here, ask these gentlemen to clear out the way so we can maybe get a better shot there at what is going on.

Pete, if you look here, I am just going to swing over the barrier, get in the road, Pete is going to come over the barrier with me now.

So we are in the highway now. Now, you can get a better picture, Alex, of what is happening here. This is the police water truck. It is clearing off the fire in the highway. It looks like, and if you can turn around a little here, just to paint the whole scene. So you've got police on horseback, motorbike. Police on horseback here, keeping this big crowd just on the hillside, keeping them back, and I will just have Pete swing around with me this way as well.

You could see up the street there, the crowd who just moved out of the way when they saw the cameraman. The crowd is still on the street. The police are trying to clear them away.

So what you're looking at here really is a crowd control with fires here that have been burning out. We are just moving away to get a little bit away from the sound. Just going to step out in the road a little bit here, Alex, so that you can see what is going on. You have the police up here.

This is, as you can see, you're joining us in a very active, very mobile bit of this demonstration. The demonstration was in the center of the city. It was around the main Defense building.

It is all about convincing the prime minister to do a deal on the hostages, but here you have a line of police vehicles, policemen on this side of the road over here, and here you have the crowds. So it is moving.

A few minutes ago, the focus was down the road there where we were a hundred meters away, a hundred yards away. Now, the crowd is here. It is not a violent situation at all. There is not violence down here, but it is a real sense of people as we were speaking about before, want to use this moment, this moment to find a way to communicate with the prime minister that they really want to see change.

And the way that they are trying to communicate that at the moment is by shutting the highway. We've seen them try to shut the highway. And when I say highway, this is the main highway that swings north-south in Tel Aviv. The road is clear, but there is no traffic on it at the moment, so it is not really open to the crowd, is trying to make it clear, trying to make their protests clear, and trying to get themselves heard by the prime minister -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Nic, these scene there certainly something that Hamas would like to see these deep divisions among the Israeli government and the Israeli people, but this anger from the Israelis towards Netanyahu has been on full display for months. We've all been in those protests.

But as you were saying, Nic, this may be the biggest series of protests that we have seen yet coming on the heels of this horrific news of these six hostages who were killed.

What are the people out there telling you in terms of why they believe that their prime minister has not agreed to a deal or not done enough to reach a deal that would bring the hostages home?

ROBERTSON: People here believe that the prime minister is looking out for his own political career and future because if the war ends, there is a deal and the war ends, he could find himself out of job as prime minister if there was an election, he probably, or his coalition probably wouldn't be re-elected. And if he was no longer prime minister, then he would face a number of criminal charges that are stacked up against him and pending. He can't be charged, and those cases can't go forward while he is prime minister.

So, people believe that he is holding on, not just as he says, because he thinks this is the best way to defeat Hamas, but because it is his own political career that is at stake. Those are the charges that many people believe and level against the prime minister.

[15:20:16]

And certainly, Yahya Sinwar of Hamas absolutely studies the political situation in Israel. He spent many years learning Hebrew while he was in jail, studying how the politics here works, looking at where divisions are, and is trying to exploit those divisions. He sees the potential to create discord. He sees the moments where he can try to put the -- use the people of Israel's pressure on the prime minister. This is a Hamas tactic. It appears that by killing these hostages, he is trying to do that if you will, in the vernacular, the card that he has played here or the capital he has spent down on his bank balance, if you will, of hostages that he has still alive in reserve, is to send not just a political signal that he is not going to negotiate, but to try to undermine the position of the prime minister here by actions that he knows will bring people out on the streets here.

He knows there is dissatisfaction, he knows that two-thirds of Israelis want to see a peace deal to get the hostages freed, and he is using any means possible to exploit it. That is what he does and that is one of the things that we see manifested here.

But rest assured and understand that people in Israel are acting from their own feelings and their own passions and their own anger with prime minister that he is not following through on the job that he was voted to do in their opinion, and a new election where he would not be prime minister and that is what they believe.

MARQUARDT: Yes, it is a cruel and craven Hamas tactic that appears to be having some effect tonight, but as you say, that anger certainly organic and coming right from the hearts of the Israeli people.

Nic Robertson, we are going to take a quick break. You are right there in the middle of those demonstrations in Tel Aviv, we will certainly be coming back to you. I want to ask our viewers to just stay with us, we have a lot more news ahead. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:52]

MARQUARDT: Let's get straight back to CNN's Nic Robertson live in Tel Aviv in the midst of one of these massive demonstrations in Israel underway right now.

Nic, you were just noting the demonstrations have yet to turn violent, but they do appear to be growing. We've seen those police officers on horseback, trucks trying to put out the fires. Are things turning out there?

ROBERTSON: You know, it is a peaceful situation right now. It is loud, it is raucous. They are singing songs, some traditional songs about bringing the world together. They have been singing songs about how the hostages are stuck in tunnels under Gaza that they want to get them back home again.

It is joyous is the wrong word, but it is not angry per se, but it is persistent. This crowd is persistently remaining on the highway tonight. They moved off from outside the big defense headquarters about a mile or so away, came down to the highway. So I'll just spin around and ask Pete here to turn around the blue flashing lights.

You can see here these are some of the police vehicles that are waiting. The big white truck was pulling away down the street there. That's the police water cannon vehicle. Now that is pulling away. You can see a few police officers on horseback hear.

But it is a pretty relaxed environment at the moment here and that really is because the police are not in the business right now of confronting the protesters, really just sort of containing the situation. It does mean that this main highway through Tel Aviv this evening is closed, at least in this direction. That's the north, that's the south -- that's the north, sorry, I've been turned around a few times.

So, that's the north in that direction, so they are trying to get north around Tel Aviv. It is going to be tough to do it tonight.

Again, they are continuing, sometimes they are lighting fires here at the moment to kind of draw attention to themselves.

But the vast number, the numbers that we heard before from the organizers, potentially as many as 300,000 people in the protests throughout the city. We couldn't verify those numbers, but they were certainly big. It is a much smaller number that's gathered down here. I would say perhaps just a few hundred down on the highway.

I don't know, Pete, maybe you can turn the camera around take a look up on the bridge there. There are plenty of people -- there are plenty of people here that are here, watching what is happening. There was a lady on a megaphone that we heard speaking before and she was directing people this way, go this way, she was saying. This is the way to go change your country. Go this way. Go this way.

So everyone wants to see what is going on. They want to change the course of the country. Again, this is a feeling that the country is on a cusp, but they've been here so many times before.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a political survivor. It was very telling that his statement today was relatively short. It wasn't live, it was recorded. There was no opportunity for anyone to ask him questions.

So, it is still at the moment at a stage of public polite, peaceful protests. Tomorrow things may get a little different when some of the unions may go on strike, when the municipalities and cities like Tel Aviv go on strike, hitting the facilities that people rely on in their cities.

So how deep do those potential strikes affect the country? How deeply do they affect the country, that could have -- that could contribute to how the prime minister handles the current situation and whether or not he has to change his position -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Nic, we are going to take another quick break in the midst of these large demonstrations in Tel Aviv.

Nic Robertson is there on the highway that runs north-south through the Israeli city. You can see there some police officers on horseback. Certainly, these are some of the biggest if not the biggest protests we've seen as Nic has been saying.

Nic, we will certainly be coming back to you very soon.

In the meantime, we are going to take a quick break. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:35]

MARQUARDT: It is Labor Day Weekend here in the United States, which means we have now entered the final stretch of a hugely consequential election season.

Tomorrow, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, of course, will be campaigning in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. At that Pennsylvania stop, she is going to be joined by President Joe Biden, her boss, who will be making a rare campaign appearance in Pittsburgh. That is in the western part of the state and that state is a critical must-win for both the Harris and the Trump campaigns.

Now, we have a new poll out today that gives us a bit of a snapshot of where this race stands with just 65 days to go until Election Day. This comes from ABC News-Washington Post, and IPSOS and you can see there that it has Harris leading Trump 50 percent to 46 percent among registered voters. Now that is very close, but it is outside the margin of error, so it does give Harris a bit of a lead.

With me now to discuss more about the race for the White House is Domenico Montanaro. He is a senior political editor and correspondent for NPR.

Domenico, thanks so much for being with me.

Let's start with that poll, 50 to 46, very narrow. But what do you think it tells us about the state of the race?

DOMENICO MONTANARO, SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT, NPR: Well, I think overall what it tells us about the state of the race is that things have moved fairly dramatically since Harris got into the race and Biden dropped out.

You know, Biden was starting to trail Trump even though in some national polls, Biden was still up by a point or two, Harris has clearly extended out that lead a little bit. National polls, obviously don't tell you a whole lot about what is going to be happening in the states, because obviously, the Big Seven states that we are all watching are where this really matters.

But what we've seen is that Harris has picked up anywhere from about four to six points on average in those swing states where she now has a narrow, but consistent lead in the blue wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, particularly in Wisconsin, seems to be doing fairly well, especially because of her advantages with women.

In the Sun Belt States out west, Arizona and Nevada as well as in the east, North Carolina and Georgia, she has now made the race essentially an even tie. Trump was up five to six points over Biden and that has just evaporated.

MARQUARDT: And when we see Biden on stage with Harris tomorrow, it is going to be in Pittsburgh, western part of the state, not as friendly to Democrats as the eastern part of the state. What does Scranton Joe bring to the Harris campaign in Pennsylvania.

MONTANARO: Right, and Scranton, obviously in the eastern part of the state, Scranton is also working class kind of area. It is where Biden obviously grew up and tries to label himself as part of that sort of working -- White working class group of people. He still has a lot of popularity among Democrats.

In many respects, this is going to be about turning out that base. Harris has some deficiencies when it comes to White working class voters, people who Biden has done well with. He has a much longer history, for example, with union voters, with labor who have very deep ties to Biden and deep support and respect for him, and Harris can certainly we use that.

The campaign from what I understand is going to really try to target where and how they use Biden. Certainly, Pennsylvania is going to be a huge key. We heard Biden say himself that he has already reached out to Josh Shapiro after he didn't become the VP to say, hey, buddy, you and me, we are going to campaign throughout the state, so we will see.

I think that that is actually what we are going to see. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, shocking, the blue wall if they're able to hold all three of those, Harris probably wins the election.

MARQUARDT: Another thing we are going to see this week is the Harris campaign launched this reproductive rights tour, 50 stops, a lot of its going to be done with surrogates.

Do you think it really highlights the complications to put it mildly that Trump is facing in terms of his stance on abortion and how that can be really dangerous for him.

MONTANARO: I mean, one of the biggest criticisms of Kamala Harris was that in 2019, she didn't seem to have a message. She didn't seem to have a core and what Dobbs gave her when Roe was overturned was really giving her this message, being able to talk very strongly about abortion rights. She became the best messenger within the administration on this.

Clearly, it is something that the Democrats, the White House, that the Harris campaign are looking to use to be able to get women out to vote, but it is not just women. A lot of Democratic men as well see this as a fundamental issue for the kind of country they want to see going forward for them, for their daughters, and all of that.

So, I think this is a huge issue for her to use. It is a very tricky one for Donald Trump, as we saw, his -- you know, kind of being all over the map when it comes to what he feels about the Amendment 4 in Florida, which means that there would be a six-week abortion ban in the state.

[15:40:05]

He said -- he initially seemed to say that he would be against something like that, then came out and said that he was going to vote, you know, basically with the anti-abortion rights groups.

MARQUARDT: Yes, things really heating up this Labor Day weekend and into the fall with just nine days before the first match, the first debate between Trump and Harris.

MONTANARO: Yes. And I think we are seeing a lot of ideas being floated of how they're going to present themselves in that debate as well.

MARQUARDT: All right, Domenico Montanaro of NPR. Thanks so much for joining me. I appreciate it.

We are taking a quick break, when we come back, more on our breaking news coverage out of Israel where protesters are now blocking a major highway in Tel Aviv demanding a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. We will go back to Tel Aviv live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:28]

MARQUARDT: Let's go back to Tel Aviv in Israel.

Right now, tens of thousands of Israelis are filling the streets demanding that the Israeli government finally broker a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. After Israeli military officials say that they recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza.

CNN's Nic Robertson is there in the middle of one of these demonstrations.

Nic, it does appear that the news of these six deaths, the six hostages has sparked something bigger in terms of protests than we've seen in recent months.

ROBERTSON: And it resonates with so many people here because it exemplifies everything that they feared was going to happen. The fact that the prime minister, they believe was digging in too hard and being intransigent on his side of the negotiations with Hamas. Hamas, it appears executing six hostages, young people who were at the Nova Music Festival for the most part, and that's really caught people's sense here of just everything that could possibly go wrong during the negotiations appears to have happened here. And that is why they are on the streets here tonight.

Since you were last down here with us on the highway, the main highway runs north-south through Tel Aviv, people have let another fire here. This is still a peaceful protest. The police away off down the street on horseback. They've got a water cannon truck there to put out fires.

But people here are singing. The placards again are the ones that we've seen all evening, over the previous weekends, demanding that the prime minister make a deal and do a deal now to get the hostages home. There is immense anger and frustration that these six hostages died. The sense is that it was needless, that prime minister could have cut a deal if he was more flexible in his negotiations and this is what the crowd wanted, gather here today on the streets outside the Defense Ministry buildings earlier on. Now, down here on the highway so they are heard, and why do they feel that they need to do this?

Because the prime minister they feel ignores them. About two-thirds of the country support a deal to get the hostages, the remaining 60 or so who are still believed to be alive and the others, north of 30 or so believed to be dead, to get them returned. It is a message that they have been trying to communicate with the prime minister that he resists and his Cabinet is still backing him on his decisions.

So, they are taking to the streets, tomorrow in Tel Aviv, the municipality here would be going on strike, so do the big unions across the country will be going on strike. These are the instruments on the streets here, these are the instruments that people in a democracy have to show their dissatisfaction.

And they are being shown in a very peaceful way, and the police really seem to understand that. If you sort of look, some up here -- look down the street, still people, and this is what it is about. It is about the hostages, it is about the women, about the girls. This first phase of the peace deal was supposed to see 33 people release. It would have been the elderly, the very young, the sick and all the women and there have been videos of these young women being beaten or brutalized by Hamas on October 7th and that's why people are here, they just want their message to be heard and acted upon -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Certainly adding to the pain and anger is the knowledge out there that there were at least three of those six, Israeli American, Hersh Goldberg-Polin and two of the women who would have been released in the first phase of a ceasefire deal, which has not yet been reached.

Nic Robertson, we will certainly be coming back to you. He is live in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much for your reporting. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:53:39]

MARQUARDT: The San Francisco 49ers say that rookie, wide receiver, Ricky Pearsall has been released from the hospital just one day after he was shot in the chest.

Authorities say that a 17-year-old gunman tried to rob Pearsall on Saturday afternoon in downtown San Francisco at Union Square. The two got into a scuffle. The suspect's gun went off and a bullet hit Pearsall in the chest. The suspect was also hit. He is facing charges this week.

CNN's Camila Bernal joins us now.

So Camila, what more do you know? CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Not only has he been released from the hospital according to the 49ers, but his mom also saying that he is in good spirits. There is a Facebook post obtained by "The Athletic" where she says that he was saved and protected by God.

She says that bullet went in through his chest, exited out of his back and missed all vital organs. So she of course, very thankful and asking for prayers.

You mentioned this happening in Union Square. It is a very popular shopping area in San Francisco. It was around 3:30 PM. So broad daylight and he was walking by himself and the San Francisco Police Department saying that a 17-year-old tried to rob him gunpoint.

The gun went off multiple times, according to the chief of police, and it hit both the 17-year-old and the football player. That 17-year-old tried to run away, but he was arrested quickly by the San Francisco Police Department. And it is the district attorney who will make that charging decision, she said either Tuesday or Wednesday, but it will be made in juvenile court because he is 17 years old.

[15:55:10]

There is limited information now. Of course, the football player was taken to the hospital and released today, so there is good news there, but it also sparks a conversation around crime in San Francisco. The mayor saying that this is a setback and others saying that this is just not enough and it needs to be addressed -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Camila Bernal, thanks so much for that update. Certainly, Pearsall is quite lucky.

Ahead, protests escalating across Israel. Demonstrators blocking a major highway in Tel Aviv, lighting fires demanding that ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

Police forcibly removing protesters from the roads, hosing them and fires down with water. We are live in Tel Aviv next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:00:00]