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Protesters in Israel Direct Anger at Netanyahu, Demand Hostage Deal; Cousin of Killed Israeli Hostage Pens an Emotional Tribute; Final Sprint in U.S. Presidential Election; Exit Polls: Germany's Far- Right AfD Party Set for Victory. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 02, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Protesters on the streets of Israel certainly made their message very clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This country was built on some core values. Part of them is strictly that the government of Israel will do everything in its power to bring back hostages and soldiers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These six hostages could have been saved if we prioritized the sanctification of life.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time this war ended. We should end this war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This most intense part of the campaign season really kicks off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's important for us right now to point out the difference between Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane. Max is off today.

It's Monday, September 2nd, 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Tel Aviv and across Israel, where a nationwide strike is now underway as pressure mounts on the government to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal. Air travelers were among the first to feel the impact as Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv temporarily halted flights, departures and arrivals. Flights have now resumed.

Today's strike comes as anger builds over the killing of six hostages in Gaza. Protesters are turning out again in cities across Israel, one day after tens of thousands filled the streets to demand a deal to bring the hostages home. One man who came out to protest explained why so many people feel frustrated and angry.

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RAFI KRECHMER, ISRAELI PROTESTER: We are here to protest against the Israeli government that is making wrong decisions. This country was built on some core values. Part of them is strictly that the government of Israel will do everything in its power to bring back hostages and soldiers from captivity wherever they are.

And this government, because of political reasons and for the right extreme coalition of Netanyahu, is breaking those values. And this is the core of the existence of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, all of this coming after the Israeli military says it recovered the bodies of six hostages, including an Israeli American from the tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday. Israel's health ministry says they likely were killed by short range gunshots between Thursday and Friday morning.

Our CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has been following developments here for us in London.

Salma, the fury on the streets there is palpable as we saw from that clip. And this strike and these protests are sizable, the largest since the start of the war. What more is expected to come today?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So more anger and anguish on the streets of not just Tel Aviv, but cities and towns across Israel. The stated goal of today from these labor unions is to halt Israel's economy, to force Prime Minister Netanyahu's hand by essentially stopping all economic activity or as much as they possibly can today. It is very telling for these protesters, these demonstrators.

It is the details that are motivating this anger and drive on the streets. You mentioned the six hostages, of course, killed, but it's the details of that. Three of those hostages were set to be released, potentially in any ceasefire deal.

One of them, this Israeli American, Hersch Goldberg-Polin, who was killed. He was really in many ways the face of this movement. His parents were very outspoken. They were at the DNC just a couple of weeks ago saying, bring them home.

So there is a real sense that Prime Minister Netanyahu has failed to secure a deal to bring those hostages home and that he is prioritizing the demands of his own cabinet over the tens of thousands of people you see on the streets.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and as I said, so much anger directed at the prime minister for not doing enough to protect the hostages. We have seen him come under pressure. He has been under pressure arguably this entire time. So how is he likely to be responding to this?

ABDELAZIZ: I think unfortunately for these demonstrators, the structural issues remain the same. Prime Minister Netanyahu's cabinet is the most far right government in recent Israeli history. Nearly all of that cabinet or all of that cabinet is against any ceasefire deal. In fact, some ministers have threatened to resign if he accepts a ceasefire deal.

There was a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

[04:05:00]

There was one voice that came out of it in support of a hostage deal. That was Yoav Gallant, who called this failing a moral disgrace, fueled these demonstrations even more.

I think it's also telling that the finance minister was taking steps to stop today's nationwide strike. I mean, they are pitting each other head to head here. The government against the streets. I don't know what breaks.

MACFARLANE: All right. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you very much for now.

Now, the cousin of Carmel Gat, one of the hostages found dead in Gaza on Saturday, penned an emotional tribute for her on Sunday.

Gil Dickmann posted on X saying: Sorry, Carmel. Sorry, we didn't stop when it was still possible. Sorry, we let them kill you.

He also said: I wish you saw how your friends fought to bring you back alive. He also wrote that I wish that in your memory, thousands would come out to demonstrate tonight. Just as I would have done as you would have done.

Forty year old Gat was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th while staying at her parents home. And Gil Dickmann joins me now live from Tel Aviv.

Thank you so much for your time. And can I first begin by saying how sorry I am, Gil, for your loss? And sorry, too, for the suffering that your family has been through for the past 11 months, only for it to end this way.

GIL DICKMANN, COUSIN OF CARMEL GAT, HOSTAGE KILLED IN GAZA: Yes, thank you very, very much. We can't really believe that this is how it ends. We didn't want it to end like this. We wanted another ending for this horrible story.

You know, Carmel wasn't the only hostage from the family. Her mother was murdered on October 7th by the terrorists. And her sister-in-law, Yarden Roman, was also taken hostage and she was returned. She was brought back home on the 54th day of the war, thanks to a ceasefire that was signed between Israel and Hamas.

And we really hoped that a very similar ceasefire would be signed between the two sides. But we found out that it was very, very hard to bring the two sides to sign the deal. Hamas is a terror organization. I have no expectations from this horrible figure, Yahya Sinwar, to sign the deal that will actually bring my cousin home. But we know that Hamas has agreed to a deal at some point. And Israel was the one putting on more and more terms and actually postponing the deal.

And right now, we know the decisions that our prime minister, Netanyahu, has made, made it impossible for Carmel and other hostages to return and put their lives in great danger. And that's what killed them.

MACFARLANE: Hamas has said that the hostages would be alive if it weren't for the actions of the Israeli government. Who do you blame, Gil, for the death of Carmel?

DICKMANN: This blame game is a game to me. And when I'm here for life and death, it's no game. It's both sides who are to blame.

It's, first of all, the terror organization who took her and all of the hostages. They shouldn't have taken her. She is an innocent, an innocent civilian. And she wasn't supposed to be taken in the first place. A 40-year-old woman, not related in any way to, not to the army and not to anything else. She was supposed to be at home with her family.

And she was taken just like kids and other innocent people were taken. And I blame, of course, I blame Hamas. And I also blame my government because these are the people that should be in charge of the security. And the peace of people in Israel. These are the people who are supposed to be responsible for the life of people here. And they were responsible for the lives of all the hostages.

And they decided cold-bloodedly, they voted just a few days ago that the Philadelphi, the border between Gaza and Egypt is more important than the lives of the hostages. And that means that our government decided that they're willing to sacrifice the lives of the hostages.

They all voted. The cabinet voted for it. And we were shocked. And we said, me and my sister and all my family and all the families of all the hostages, we said, this is crossing the red line. And that would mean the death of hostages. And saying this, I did not know how true it will be and how specific and personal it is going to become.

And it was Carmel. It could have been anyone else, but it was Carmel.

[04:10:00]

And the lives of all the other hostages are still in danger. So we must act now.

The Israeli government and the Israeli people, the Israeli people chose to act. They came out to the streets last night, and they're out to the streets right now. And it's very moving.

I'm sorry that we had to go through this horrible, horrible situation in order for them to get out. But they did, and I really hope that the government, our government, will make the right decision and push for a deal that will bring the hostages home. It's been too long.

MACFARLANE: And that was what you were calling for in your tribute to Carmel, Gil. You were calling on people to come out and demonstrate in her memory, and they have done that. We've seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets.

We're reporting on nationwide protests, nationwide strike today. Do you feel that this is a turning point we're witnessing here?

DICKMANN: I really hope that this is a turning point or a breaking point or some kind of a change in reality which will maybe, maybe help the government make the right decision. But if it's just a one-time thing, it was reported to be the largest protest or demonstration in the history of Israel. This is very moving.

And I know that Carmel can't see this, but I know that's exactly what she would have wanted, for people to come out and to demand the release of the other hostages. It's too late for her, but it's not too late for them. And I hope that they're not, that the government is not just going to look away and to choose death over life, because this is not what we believe here in Israel. That's not what we believe this war is about.

You know, you're giving a lot of airtime to this war because of things that are going on, on both sides of the border. People think it's Israel versus Palestine or Jews versus Muslims.

This is and has always been a fight between people who believe in life and who choose life and who choose a ceasefire that will bring the hostages home over the people who believe in death and choose death.

And I know that the organization that kidnapped Carmel and that murdered her mother chose death. They believe that death is sacred.

But I can't believe, I still can't believe that my government chose death. And I urge you, Benjamin Netanyahu, choose life. Please sign the deal, seal the deal, go to ceasefire and save the hostages that you can still save.

MACFARLANE: I understand that you, your family, had a chance to speak to the president over the weekend, that he reached out to you and wanted to talk, but you refused. Why did you do that? And what do you make of Benjamin Netanyahu's actions in all of this?

DICKMANN: Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it public that he's going to approach the families in order to speak to them. Then he decided that he gave us the message that he wants to speak to us. We don't want to be a part of this media circus of the Prime Minister Netanyahu, who's now using the murder of the hostages in order to justify staying there and not getting out and going to a ceasefire and signing a deal, which is unbelievable to me.

He's trying to use this saying, if you murdered the hostages, you don't want the deal. And I didn't want to take part in this. We didn't want to take part in this.

The family, Carmel's family, believe that the prime minister of Israel is responsible for her death. He is her killer. That's the fact. He didn't pull the trigger, but he left her there knowing that that means she's in life danger, death danger. And knowing these risks, this is actually, it's killing. And we don't want to talk to him. I don't feel like he could be convinced by a conversation heart to heart. I spoke to him. I saw him and how he reacted to hostages who came back from captivity and spoke about what they went through there.

It doesn't look like it moved him. I don't feel like his heart is open to this kind of conversation. I think he only understands the language of politics.

That's maybe something that happens to you after so many, so many years in your job. Everything becomes politics. Even the life and death of people becomes pure, pure math of whether it will bring me more support or less support. Would let him stay in power or lose power. And if that's what it is, then that's the language that we should speak to him. We must go out to the streets and protest in our democratic way.

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And this is not an anti-Israeli thing to do. The exact opposite. This is the most Israeli thing to do. We came out with Israeli flags and with hostages yellow flags to tell him the democratic thing to do. if you want to stay in power, if you want to have any legitimacy to act in our name, save their lives and sign the deal now.

MACFARLANE: Thank you for that message, Gil. I think we just have a minute left and I just wanted to reflect on Carmel in this last minute. We saw some video I think just then of her dancing with your niece.

She was a free spirit. We've heard that she's been called a guardian angel by the other hostages that were held with her. Can you just finish by telling us a bit about her and what you will remember?

DICKMANN: Carmel, my eldest cousin, is a peace-loving person. She had friends and people loving her from all religions and all languages. She is a person of love and you can see her dancing with her niece.

Her niece was also kidnapped, but unbelievably saved by Carmel's brother, Alon, her father. And the fact that she was able to be a beacon of light in captivity, to shed light on the other hostages, in the darkest places, in the darkest times, it's heartwarming for me to know. And I think for all the family, she actually had yoga sessions done with them in order to keep them safe and meditation sessions in order to keep their spirits up.

And one of the hostages who were with her posted yesterday a very, very, very short post saying, thank you and you're the reason I'm here today. And I believe, I don't know what she saw from there. I know that now it's too late to tell her that, but I really hope that she knows that she saved these wonderful people's lives and that she was a beacon of light to them and that she was an inspiration to so many people here in Israel to support the cause and the life of the hostages and to support life and what she believed in in her life. And I really hope that she knew that.

MACFARLANE: She sounds like an exceptional human being and we really appreciate you, Gil, speaking to us at this extremely difficult time for your family. And we wish you well. We know you are continuing to fight for the 101 hostages still left in captivity.

Thank you so much for joining us.

DICKMANN: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: And we'll be right back after this. Stay with us.

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MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Returning to the 2024 presidential race now. And it seems Kamala Harris is not enjoying the post-convention bounce she might've expected.

A new national poll from ABC News and Ipsos shows the vice president holding a narrow lead over Donald Trump. Harris is at 50 percent and Trump is at 46 percent among registered voters. That's nearly identical to the poll results from early August before the Democratic National Convention.

Well, President Joe Biden will join Harris on the campaign trail as voting kicks off in some states this week. He's set to appear at a Labor Day event in Pittsburgh on Monday after Harris makes a stop in Detroit. It's part of the campaign's push to appeal to working class voters across battleground states.

On Tuesday, Harris's campaign will launch a new bus tour to advocate for women's reproductive rights. It will start in Trump's hometown of Palm Beach, Florida.

And U.S. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff is speaking out after Kamala Harris seemingly changed her position on fracking. He told CNN in an exclusive interview last week that she won't ban fracking, even though in the past she said she would. Schiff defended her comments despite his support for banning fracking.

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REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I do think that when you are representing the whole country, you have a different perspective. As the vice president pointed out, her values, though, have remained consistent, and that is she is a champion of moving ourselves in the renewable energy direction.

But look, let's compare a situation where someone changed their position four years ago to Donald Trump, who's changed his position four times on abortion in the last 48 hours.

That, to me, is, you know, a much more significant question, particularly as, when you're talking about abortion and you're talking about a right and freedom of the American people, to be so pandering, wishy-washy, flip-flopping, you know, so disrespectful of the rights and freedoms of millions of American women. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, as the 2024 race heats up, Donald Trump is promising an economic revival while focusing on the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. He's planning to hold all events in three states later this week. It comes as the former president claims he had every right to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.

He spoke to Fox News on Sunday about the updated indictment in his federal election interference case. It slims down the allegations against Trump in light of the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, but none of the four charges have been dropped. Here's what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it, you get indicted and your poll numbers go up. When people get indicted, your poll numbers go down.

But it was such, it's such nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Now, for the first time since World War II, a far-right party is projected to win regional elections in Germany. In the state of Thuringia, initial exit polling says the Alternative for Germany party is pulling well ahead of the Christian Democratic Union with an expected third of the vote.

[04:25:00]

But numbers show a much closer race between the two parties in Saxony, where the CDU is leading by less than one point.

Well meanwhile, the German Chancellor's Social Democratic Party is bracing for disappointing results. These local elections are viewed as a litmus test for Olaf Scholz and his coalition partners ahead of next year's general elections.

CNN spoke with a political scientist, Liana Fix, about what the rise of the AfD party could mean for German politics.

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LIANA FIX, HISTORIAN AND POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Yes, it is quite a dramatic result. And we do not only see a big victory by the extreme white AfD party, but we also see a rise in left-wing populism. So especially Eastern German states, we have a polarization of the political landscape that makes it almost impossible to build a center coalition by the governing parties.

And that has repercussions for the federal elections in Germany in September 2025. It makes the government in Berlin a lame duck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, parts of Germany classify AfD as a suspected right- wing extremist group, while the party's top candidate in Thuringia has been fined twice for using a Nazi slogan.

Now, an urgent effort underway in Gaza to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children against polio, the latest in the campaign, in a live report ahead.

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