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Israel Military: Bodies of Six Hostages Recovered in Gaza; Protests Underway After Recovery of Six Dead Gaza Hostages; First Babies Receive Polio Vaccinations in Gaza; A Look Inside Ancient Roman Aqueduct Beneath Trevi Fountain. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired September 01, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:35]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

We have the latest now on the breaking news from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement one day after the Israeli military says it recovered the bodies of six hostages from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area.

Netanyahu said, quote, "Those who murder hostages do not want a deal. I say to the Hamas terrorists who murdered our hostages and I say to their leaders, your blood is on your head. We will not rest and we will not be silent. We will pursue you."

The IDF has now identified all six, saying their families have been notified. They are Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, and Alex Lobanov. An Israeli military spokesperson says the six were killed just before troops could reach them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: According to the initial assessment at our disposal, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short while before we reached them. They were abducted alive on the morning of October 7th by the Hamas terror organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: On the streets of Israel today, there are new anti- Netanyahu protests calling for a ceasefire and hostage agreement. The group Missing Families Forum is responding to Netanyahu's statement, saying, quote, "stop blaming everyone. Take responsibility for your failures."

Meanwhile, the U.N. campaign to vaccinate more than half a million children against polio has begun. All right, so for more on this story, I want to bring in journalist

Elliott Gotkine live in London and CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson live in Jerusalem.

Nic, let's start with you. Take us through the reaction there in Israel.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, Kim, let me bring you some of the latest reporting we have from my colleague Jeremy Diamond, who's been speaking with two senior Israeli officials. And this is even more heartbreaking, if you will, and damning information and news, terrible, terrible details that that we are understanding now from these two senior Israeli officials. And that is that Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Eden Yerushalmi, and Carmel Gat were slated to be released in the hostages that were going to be released as part of the first phase of the hostage releases, that six month -- six-week first phase deal. They -- those three were going to be released.

This would just bring so much additional heartbreak to their families to know that they were so close that they were being talked about, that their release was imminent and indeed would have happened if the deal had gone ahead. And of course, that's what we're hearing from the hostage families. They're calling on the Prime Minister to, you know, to take account and explain himself over why he made these decisions and why they and so many others here hold them responsible for the deaths of these six hostages.

And it also begs the question about their deaths and how they died. And Hamas's hand in the timing of their deaths, if that, in fact, is the is the case. But this is -- this is just very, very sad news.

Now, all six of these hostages were young. Five of them were at the Nova Music Festival. Carmel Gat had gone to visit relatives in Kibbutz Be'eri close by. She saw her mother killed. The -- the others we know were desperately fighting to save their own lives. And in the case of Ori Danino saved the lives of others. He actually drove away, rescuing a couple of people and then drove back in to the Hamas gun battle to try to save another two hostages. Maiev and Itay Regev -- Maya and Itay Regev.

Now, Maya was later released as part of the deal last year. So you understand when you hear the narratives about these -- about these individuals that they not only were caught up in this, but acted selflessly and bravely to try to save others.

[05:05:10]

And that also is the story of Hersh. We understand who was trying to shelter away from the Hamas attack with others. Hamas was throwing grenades in and he -- and shooting at them. And he was trying to throw those grenades away and protect himself and protect others. And that's how he lost his arm.

The political recriminations, as you can imagine, when the situation is so deeply polarized here at the moment -- deeply polarized at the moment, we're hearing from opposition leaders who are calling on people to come out and protest, calling on the Prime Minister to take account of his decisions. And perhaps most telling of all from the Defense Minister, who's calling on the Prime Minister to hold another cabinet session and take a vote again on his decision to keep troops along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, which is understood to be one of the principal reasons why the current peace deal and its current formula was scuppered.

But there's latest news that three of them, three of these hostages who were murdered in cold blood, according to the Defense Minister, according to the IDF spokesman, brutally killed shortly before the IDF could reach them. This is very clearly a tragic and heartbreaking time for the country at the moment and one full of recriminations against the Prime Minister.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. So, listen, I want to bring in Elliott now. Nic was just telling us a bit about some of the hostages there who were killed. What more can you tell us about -- about them?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Kim, just to tell you more broadly speaking, we've just been listening to a press briefing from Nadav Shoshani, who's the international spokesman for the IDF. And he was asked a few times kind of how, what does shortly mean, as Nic was saying, you know, that these bodies were discovered, you know, they were killed shortly before the IDF got there. And he refused to be drawn on that.

He also said that these bodies are actually still being examined. So they've been identified, but they're still being examined to try to determine the precise cause of death and the precise time of death, and that we should get more information anywhere between, you know, by the end of today or perhaps, you know, several days down the line, depending on how clear cut the cause of death and the time of death was.

In terms of the six hostages who were killed themselves, who were killed and whose bodies were discovered, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, as Nic was saying, probably the best known, not just because he's an Israeli- American citizen, but also because he was seen on that day of October the 7th being herded into the back of a truck with half of his left arm blown off.

Now, we understand from a firsthand account from a friend of his, as Nic was saying, that the injury to his arm was sustained when he took shelter in a small bomb shelter with a number of other Israelis, and that as Hamas militants were throwing grenades into that bomb shelter, he was throwing them out. And while trying to throw out these grenades, half of his arm got blown off.

Now, his family did get a sign of life a few months ago when he appeared in a hostage video. And, of course, they have been very visible and vocal advocates for not just the release of Hersh, but also the other hostages. They met with President Biden. They spoke at the Democratic National Convention some 10 days ago and joined the crowd in a rendition of bring them home, which is a kind of phrase that the families of those who are being held captive in Gaza often recite. So that's Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

Eden Yerushalmi, she was a 24-year-old bartender. Her entire flight from the militants, as she tried to run and hide her hours-long ordeal, she shared with her family members on the phone. They heard all of it and even recorded it. And her last words to her sister were, Shani, they caught me.

There was Carmel Gat, the only one of the six who was not at the Nova Music Festival. She was at Kibbutz, Be'eri visiting her parents. Her mother was killed that day. Her father survived. She was an occupational therapist and was described by those who were released in the first and only ceasefire hostage deal back in November as a guardian angel. She apparently was also teaching the other hostages meditation and yoga.

There was Almog Sarusi, 27 years old. He was with his girlfriend of five years. She was shot and mortally wounded. He stayed with her to try to help her and then wound up being kidnapped himself.

And then there was Alexander Lobanov, a Russian-Israeli citizen from Ashkelon, just north of the Gaza Strip, 32 years old. He was a bar manager at the Nova Music Festival. His wife gave birth to their second child, who's now five months old, his baby boy that will never meet its father.

[05:10:09]

And then finally, there's Ori Danino, 25 years old. As Nic said, he took a number of people from the Nova Music Festival to safety in his car and then turned back around to try to rescue some more and then was kidnapped. And as we know, his fate was to die, to be killed in that tunnel under Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

And worth noting as well, Kim, that according to the IDF, 101 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip. Thirty-five of them believed to be dead, 66 of them believed to be alive, and that includes two who were kidnapped before the October the 7th terrorist attacks.

Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate that. We have Nic Robertson in Jerusalem and Elliott Gotkine in London. Thank you so much, both.

A group of families of hostages has released a new statement saying the six, quote, "were taken alive, enduring the horrors of captivity and were then coldly murdered." They go on to say a deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for over two months. Were it not for the delays, sabotage, and excuses, those whose deaths we learned about this morning would likely still be alive. It's time to bring our hostages home, the living for rehabilitation and the fallen and murdered for burial in their homelands."

Now, earlier, I spoke with Miri Eisin, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Counterterrorism at Reichman University, and she shared the collective reaction of Israelis in the wake of these hostage deaths. Here she is. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIRI EISIN, SENIOR FELLOW, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR COUNTERTERRORISM, REICHMAN UNIVERSITY: You go around and you think of it as being something very personal. And the combination is that we are heartbroken and we're angry. And it's hard to pinpoint what more, more heartbroken, which is so harsh or more angry and at home.

And -- and all of that is how you feel, because as I went around, you know, my little things that I was doing this morning, right at September 1st, I was supposed to go, I was supposed to work and I can't concentrate. And I'm looking around and nobody knows what to say. And that's in the entire state of Israel.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, it's such a mixture of feelings, it must be, as you as you described there. The cabinet apparently meeting at this hour. What's your sense of what could come out of this?

EISIN: So at least in the Israeli news, they announced that the cabinet had -- had decided to cancel this morning's meeting, which is a statement upon itself. So I don't think they're actually meeting right now. Usually every Sunday there's the Israeli cabinet meeting. Sunday's the first day of the week here inside Israel. But what I'm watching is, you know, we get our news feed from different things that within the cabinet itself, the members of the government, I'm not talking about the opposition, that the members of the government are putting out vastly different statements.

The Defense Minister put out a written statement. The Prime Minister did a taped statement not facing journalists or people. The Prime Minister canceled his scheduled visit on the first day of school to go to a first-grade class. It just goes to show that this is throwing everybody off.

All of us are feeling horrible. And the cabinet most definitely made statements that are very challenging. And I think in that sense that what we're looking at as Israelis right now, will the security cabinet that made the decision last week that they're going to stay on Philadelphi Corridor, will they change that decision? I do not know the answer. I know that the Defense Minister stated clearly, let's sit down, let's change that decision. Let's get the live hostages back.

BRUNHUBER: On that, I mean, there is -- there is so much anger against the Prime Minister. How much do you think this will add now to the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a hostage release and ceasefire deal?

EISIN: So I really want to try and flush this out with you for a moment, Kim, because this is a real challenging point. I'm not sure that any other prime minister right now would have an easy job. This is a horrific, horrible war. It started, and I'm not going to -- I'm going to be, when Elliott before described them as militants, I wanted to jump in and say, no, they are terrorists and Hamas is a terror organization. And that beginning from October 7th, that last night, the finding of these six people who were murdered, executed 24 hours before they were found, they were alive until then, that that's part of the whole situation. So I am angry at the decisions that the cabinet has made.

I have to tell you, I do acknowledge that there are different opinions. So I want to separate between that overall anger that is here, which is against whoever is making the decision and specifically the Prime Minister, because the Prime Minister was under attack in Israel in the year before the war. I was one of those also who very much opposed the policies of this government.

[05:15:16]

And having said that, they were elected in and there are very few legal democratic ways that you can move them out. And they're making these decisions that impact every single one of us. So I don't know that there's more anger now, but boy, it's boiling out all over the place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right, just ahead, much more on the recovery of the bodies of six hostages in Gaza with protests underway in Israel right now, we'll discuss what it could mean for cease fire negotiations.

Plus, parents in Gaza are rushing to get their children vaccinated against polio. Today marks the first day of a vital U.N.-led campaign. What details ahead? Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Returning to our top story, the Israel Defense Forces have confirmed that troops found the bodies of six Israeli hostages who were held by Hamas during a military campaign in Gaza on Saturday. Five of the six found in Gaza were taken from the Nova Festival on October 7th. They included Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage with his arm severely injured.

[05:20:10]

He was shown in a video released by Hamas in April with part of his left arm missing. His parents and family say they are heartbroken by his loss.

Eden Yerushalmi was a bartender at the Nova Music Festival. Her family was on the phone with her during the attack. Some of her last words she whispered to her family were, quote, "They caught me with gunshots in the background."

Alexander Lobanov was one of three Russian citizens held in Gaza, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. His wife gave birth while he was in captivity, and he never got to meet his child.

Almog Sarusi was with his girlfriend while at the Nova Festival. She was mortally wounded in the Hamas attack. Sarusi stayed behind to help her and was later kidnapped.

Ori Danino left the festival in a car, taking others to safety. He returned to the festival to rescue others and was then taken hostage. And Carmel Gat was visiting her parents in Kibbutz Be'eri near the

Gaza Strip. Both her parents were killed in the October 7th attack. Other hostages released in November says she was their guardian angel.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement about the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Israeli-American citizen whose body was recovered in Gaza Saturday, saying, quote, "Doug and my prayers are with Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Hersh's parents, and with everyone who knew and loved Hersh. When I met with Jon and Rachel earlier this year, I told them, you are not alone. That remains true as they mourn this terrible loss. Americans and people around the world will pray for Jon, Rachel and their family and send them love and strength. As I said, in the Jewish tradition, may Hersh's memory be a blessing."

And U.S. President Joe Biden also spoke about the recovery of hostages' bodies on Saturday. He said it's time to get a ceasefire deal done. Here is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: And it's time to support ending it. We should end this war. I think we're on the verge of having an agreement. It's just time to end it. It's time to finish it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement in the last hour, saying Israel had accepted a ceasefire and hostage deal, but Hamas rejected it and the hostage families group, which called for protests today, blamed Netanyahu of abandoning hostages. In response to his statement, the group said he should stop blaming everyone and take responsibility for his failures.

All right, our breaking news coverage continues in a moment. We'll talk to a former Israeli official about what the country's government could do next. Stay with us.

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[05:26:06]

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

New protests are underway in Israel after its military recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza. Protesters are marching and holding sit-ins at multiple locations in and around Tel Aviv. That's after a hostage families group called for rallies today, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning the hostages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YAIR MOSES, SON OF TWO HOSTAGES CAPTURED BY HAMAS: We come to shout for the name of the loved ones that are still captured in Gaza. And this week, we are very, very disappointed for a government that decided that instead of working on releasing them instead, didn't listen to the one person that know about the security and said it's OK to leave the Philadelphi. And all they care about is the politics. And they didn't approve to -- to do a deal with -- with Hamas. And so our loved ones are still there. And currently, we don't see the horizon and don't see it, know when they will be back with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The bodies of six hostages were recovered on Saturday, according to the IDF. The statement says they were brutally killed by Hamas a short while before Israeli troops reached them. Netanyahu released a statement in the last hour blaming Hamas for rejecting a deal to free the hostages.

I want to bring in H.A. Hellyer, who's a Middle East studies scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Senior Associate Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. And he joins me from London.

Good to see you again. So Prime Minister Netanyahu, as I said, has come out with an angry message attacking Hamas, blaming Hamas for the lack of a deal, saying, quote, "Those who murder hostages do not want a deal." But many of the hostages families are blaming Netanyahu for the fact that their loved ones haven't been brought home. So where do you think all of this leaves the state of negotiations?

H.A. HELLYER, MIDDLE EAST STUDIES SCHOLAR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: So thank you, Kim, for having me on.

The negotiations have been going, frankly, nowhere for -- if I'm -- if I'm honest months now at every stage, what we've seen is that Israeli media leaks the fact that inside the Israeli negotiation team, there are huge differences of opinion where the negotiators themselves are blaming Netanyahu for putting up huge obstacles in terms of coming to a deal that would see the release of hostages and to oppose the hostilities at the very least.

And I think this is why you see such immense anger being expressed by hostage families at the current moment in time. They're very clear that they see Netanyahu as being unwilling to actually bring their family members home and far more intent on pushing forward his own aims for this current state of hostilities in Gaza.

And again, you know, seen outlets like Haaretz, but also other newspapers in Israel make it very clear that at multiple points, the negotiations have been sabotaged and they've been sabotaged by Netanyahu himself above and against one has to say the wishes of his own negotiators.

So I think that there is very palpable anger. I should say the popular anger is really about the hostages more than anything else. The fact that tens of thousands of Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas have died over the past nine months is far less important in these in these protests. And I think that as things go forward, you're going to see more protests take place. But again, it'll be about the hostages.

One has to keep in mind that once the hostages are all released and one hopes that they are all released immediately without any more harm coming to anybody, there's still going to be this serious question of the immense humanitarian toll that this has taken upon hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza.

[05:30:17]

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that -- that toll can't be lost in all of this. But going back to the deaths of these hostages, the fact that an American hostage was killed, an American-Israeli, does that change anything from a U.S. perspective? Do you think the Biden administration will put more -- more concrete pressure on Netanyahu, do you think?

HELLYER: So just -- just as a side note to that, there have been Palestinian Americans who have also died as a result of IDF bombings in Gaza, as well as within the West Bank itself over recent months.

But back to your question vis-a-vis the hostages, I think the Biden administration has made it very clear over the past nine months that they will set deadlines for Netanyahu and say that he cannot cross them and that if he does, there'll be consequences. But multiple times he's done exactly that. He's crossed those red lines, and the administration hasn't actually held them accountable for that.

So I don't expect there to be a change in tact, certainly not before the elections in November. And I think that Netanyahu is fully aware of that, which is why he's proceeded to, again, cross those red lines time and again.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll leave it there, but always appreciate getting your analysis. H.A. Hellyer in London, thank you so much.

Now, I want to turn to Alon Pincus, who is in Tel Aviv. He's a former Israeli Consul General in New York.

Good to see you again. So the reporting that we have, that three of the hostages found dead were due to be among the first freed in a hostage deal, I mean, this makes this news even more heartbreaking.

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Yeah, absolutely. Those three and possibly others that we don't know if they're alive. This is part of the deal that could and should have been concluded months ago, certainly in early July.

And Mr. Netanyahu, again and again, reneged on it, kept on setting new stipulations, new conditions, demanding more clarifications with the sole intent of undermining a deal. So the anger is not just against Hamas, who actually killed and murdered these people, but against Mr. Netanyahu, who basically neglected it.

BRUNHUBER: We're getting a reaction from Prime Minister Netanyahu. I just want to play a clip of something he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NETANYAHU (through translator): In recent days, as Israel has been holding intensive negotiations with the mediator in 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 part, 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)

BRUNHUBER: All right. So we are hearing that there will be no full Cabinet meeting, which has been condemned by the hostage families. I mean, what do you make of the government reaction so far?

PINKAS: Well, Mr. Netanyahu, again, is blatantly lying. He is misleading. He is misinforming. He is using his on-brand mendacity to try and spin this. There was a quote that I will quote to you in a moment, Kim, coming out in the last hour from -- he remains anonymous -- a senior Cabinet member who says the following. I'm reading. "Netanyahu fully understood what he is doing. His cruelty was evident. The blood is on his hands. Everyone knew that he's corrupt, a narcissist, and a coward. But his lack of humanity, his lack of sensitivity has been exposed in all its ugliness in the last few months," quote-unquote.

From a senior Cabinet minister who, unfortunately, and I think in a bad way, did not bother to say this with his name and face on television or on radio. That tells you the story, Kim.

Now, there's another thing. There's a political angle here. The fact that Mr. Netanyahu was so quick, as opposed to other instances when these things happened, that he was so quick to make a remark and issue a statement tells you that he's aware of the amount of anger and the amount of frustration that exists toward him and his demeanor and behavior in the last few weeks.

[05:35:23]

BRUNHUBER: Now, so you're outlining some of the anger from within Cabinet. We're hearing so much anger as well from the hostage families about the state of negotiations, protests ongoing right now. Just anger at Netanyahu personally for, in their view, being a stumbling block, as you've said there, for prioritizing his own political survival rather than the welfare of the hostages. Do you think now -- is there a tipping point anywhere here where this pressure will actually tell and have a concrete effect?

PINKAS: Well, the thing -- I hope so. But the thing with tipping points, Kim, is that contemporaries usually fail to detect them in real time. So by next week or even in a few hours, we could look back and say that when you and I spoke here on CNN, that was the tipping point, that masses went into the streets and demonstrated. It could happen. It could not happen.

Now, you would imagine going back to your previous conversation with the previous guest tallies, you would imagine that the tipping point could be precipitated by the U.S. I think that, you know, with a very flat learning curve in terms of understanding or misreading and misinterpreting -- and misunderstanding, rather, Mr. Netanyahu, the Americans have come to the conclusion that they've been conned.

And the question is, what will they do? Because they are reaching the conclusion that he wants this war to go on in order not just to cater to his political survival needs, but also to become an issue in the American election. He wants this to roll into November. And I don't know that the Biden administration is willing to go ahead with that and to go along with that.

But what will they do? Well, given what they have not done in the last six or seven months, I don't know. But if there is a tipping point, it's going to come either from the Israeli streets or from the American administration or a combination thereof. Yeah.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Yeah, we'll be watching to see whether that happens. Alon Pinkas, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

PINKAS: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Today in Gaza, a massive U.N. campaign is underway to vaccinate more than 640,000 children. Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting in three phases through September 12th. Officials say the campaign officially kicked off in central Gaza today. But the first group of babies received vaccinations a little earlier than expected yesterday.

Gaza had near universal polio vaccine coverage before the war, but it has since dropped below 90%. Palestinian health officials have stressed that a permanent ceasefire is needed for the vaccination campaign to truly succeed.

Earlier, I spoke with an official from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency about how they're approaching this enormous task.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM ROSE, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING UNRWA: What I can say is that four hours into the campaign, we started at seven, eight o'clock this morning. From what I've seen on the ground, it is going well. We have hundreds upon hundreds of families queuing up to get their young children, in particular, vaccinated. We have to reach all children under 10, and large queues this morning at the health centers I visited, and all appeared to be going well.

BRUNHUBER: But I mean, you know, even with 200 teams, as you say, I mean, when you look at the actual math in terms of the window of time and the number of kids, I mean, it's, you know, vaccinating some thousands of children an hour, right?

ROSE: Absolutely. We were reaching, I'd say each team was reaching, yeah, hundreds upon hundreds. In the time I was there this morning, I'd say well over a thousand children vaccinated at this one clinic, which is our busiest clinic in Nasirah. And look, what that tells us is that the preparations are working. There have to be some adjustments. We have to readjust our teams. We have to send more supplies to certain locations, move things around. But what it tells us is that the acceptance levels and understanding and awareness amongst the community is high. But indeed, the rest is still to come.

We've got several more weeks of this campaign. Today, I'm happy to say that the bomb stopped at six o'clock this morning, that there was calm on the streets. But today we'll go, tomorrow we'll have to go beyond the safe areas into areas where the calm, where the pauses haven't been agreed. So much more challenging times to come. And it's really only at the end of each day that we'll know collectively how successful we have been in terms of the number of children that we aim to reach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:40:09]

BRUNHUBER: And we'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Voters are going to the polls in the German state of Thuringia, one of the eastern regions of the country where the far- right party, Alternative for Germany, is looking to gain a foothold. Elections there and Saxony are the latest in a string of local races. German leaders are watching closely as they eye the rising support for the far right and how it might perform in national elections in just over a year.

Now, earlier this year, AfD was kicked out of the European Union's far-right coalition following incidents with the AfD leader Maximilian Krah. Krah told an Italian newspaper that he didn't view all members of the Nazi SS group as criminals.

Now, despite that, the AfD managed to secure its best E.U. election result during the voting, securing the second highest share of votes in Germany behind only the center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union.

Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the far right and the AfD. They marched in the capital of Thuringia, one of the state's holding elections, and if the AfD wins, it would be the first time a far-right party has held a majority in a German state parliament since World War II.

And joining me now from Berlin is Matthew Karnitschnig, Chief Europe Correspondent for "Politico."

Thanks so much for being here with us. So, first, just to set the scene here, take us through what the AfD stands for and why they've become so popular.

MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG, CHIEF EUROPE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Well, what they're best known for now is their stance on migration. They really want to crack down on asylum seekers coming to Germany. They have this narrative that the country has been overrun by asylum seekers and it's time to deport them.

[05:45:06]

They also sort of play on this fear about Islam and the influence that the Muslims who are coming to Germany and most of these asylum seekers come from Muslim countries, that they're going to destroy German society. So, these are very potent issues, very emotional issues that they use to sort of drive their base and to challenge the establishment parties in Germany.

BRUNHUBER: Is their base sort of national or is it sort of more in the east of the country where there might be a sense of kind of being left behind?

KARNITSCHNIG: Well, I would say it's both. I mean, they are now polling in the high teens nationally, just behind the center-right party, the Christian Democrats, that people might remember that as the party of Angela Merkel. But now they are in second place.

So, they're doing pretty well nationally. They are particularly strong in the east, however, and this is what we're likely to see today in Thuringia and in Saxony. They're polling at 30% -- a little bit more than 30% in some of the surveys we've seen. So, there's a good chance that they could win in both of these states, which would be absolutely unprecedented.

BRUNHUBER: Widening the lens here, the extreme right seems to have become mainstream of who we've seen with Netherlands, France, the European Parliament. The right wing seems to be increasing in popularity across the continent. It seems that the stigma of supporting these extreme parties has kind of evaporated. Is that fair?

KARNITSCHNIG: I think that is fair. We've certainly seen it with Giorgia Meloni in Italy, the Prime Minister of Italy, and as you say, in France recently, the Netherlands. What links all of these countries is this issue of migration and fears of being overrun by migrants. That is certainly the case in Germany.

There is also in the east this sort of lingering resentment over the way reunification was handled. There are other issues that these far- right parties have in common that they play on, including the war in Ukraine, their opposition to that.

COVID policy surprisingly remains a very potent issue. There's a lot of lingering resentment around that, but also other issues that, you know, might surprise some people, such as the phase-out of the traditional gas-powered automobile is something that they also use to rile people up. It's a very emotional issue, especially in Germany.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and certainly many of those issues that you mentioned there sort of resonate in the right wing of this country. You mentioned the war in Ukraine. I mean, that's something particularly notable from a U.S. perspective. The AfD and a lot of these other right-wing parties are a lot more pro-Russian. So for an American audience, explain what this party and generally the growth of the far right might mean for relations with the U.S., particularly on this topic.

KARNITSCHNIG: Well, it's worth remembering that this part of Germany was the former East Germany, communist East Germany, which was part of the Soviet sphere, part of the Russian sphere of influence during the Cold War. And you can see that 45 years or so of Soviet propaganda has certainly left its mark on the population here, who might not really embrace everything about Russia and Putin, but they certainly see Russia as no worse than the United States. And they blame, many of these people blame the United States and NATO, which they say provoked Russia.

And I think it's fair to say many of these people are more comfortable with the Russians than they are with the West. So in terms of relations with the U.S. going forward, I think this is going to remain an issue because, you know, they might only be in a couple of Eastern states after this election -- after these elections that we're seeing today. But five years down the road, you know, at the trajectory that we're on right now, they could have much more influence at the federal level.

And certainly what we've seen in France, these changes that we've seen, these shifts to the far right happen over time. And this might just be a preview of what's coming down the pike.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, interesting to see what ramifications this will have. We'll leave it there. Matthew Karnitschnig, thank you so much for being here with us.

KARNITSCHNIG: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: And we'll be right back.

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[05:53:30]

BRUNHUBER: We're going to end the show with some lighter news now. Have a look at these spectacular sights out of South America where paragliders competed to qualify for the annual Paragliding World Cup held in Bolivia for the first time. The Paragliding Pre-World Cup event finished on Saturday. The competition featured 27 male and female pilots from around the world as they sought to boost their rankings and World Cup eligibility.

For hundreds of years, visitors have thrown coins into the waters of Rome's Trevi Fountain, hoping the act will ensure their eventual return to the Italian capital. But what feeds the fountain doesn't always get much attention despite its fascinating history.

Ben Wedeman goes beneath the streets of Rome for an eye-opening look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For centuries, cool crystal-clear water has cascaded from Rome's Trevi Fountain. Once a vital source of water for residents, now a must-see for tourists flocking to the Eternal City. Most perhaps unaware that this masterpiece of Baroque art is fed by an ancient aqueduct.

The secret lies far below. Down a corkscrew staircase, 25 meters or more than 80 feet below the surface, to an underground aqueduct the Romans called Aqua Virgo, Virgin Water. Some Roman historians say the name came from a young woman who showed parched Roman soldiers where water bubbled to the surface east of the city.

[05:55:07]

We wade through those waters with Marco Tesan whose job is to make sure Rome's aqueducts continue to flow. In Roman times, he tells me, the water was much higher designed to bring as much water as possible to Rome. At its height, ancient Rome had more than a million thirsty inhabitants.

(On camera): In total, the ancient Romans built 11 aqueducts to provide water to the city. This was the sixth one. It was built 2,043 years ago and it's still working.

(Voice-over): The other aqueducts, all above ground, were destroyed as the barbarians overran the empire. The Aqua Virgo, almost completely underground, was spared.

Today its waters feed the Trevi and other fountains and irrigate many of Rome's parks. It's the task of Acea, Rome's water and electricity authority, to prevent harm to the monuments that make this city unique.

We have a variety of treatments to eliminate salts and calcium to make the water as neutral as possible, to avoid damaging the fountain, Marco says.

A feat of engineering more than 2,000 years old and still flowing strong. They certainly don't make things like they used to.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Under Rome.

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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN This Morning" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "Quest's World of Wonder."

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