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Hamas Training Camps Exposed Near Israeli Border; Former Israeli PM Bennett: offensive Stage to Wipe Out Hamas; House Republicans Struggle to Find Speaker Amid Israel Crisis; Trump's Controversial Comments on Israel Draw Criticism. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 13, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

COLONEL CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Gaza Territory. Now, that's this part right here. Now, when you get down to the south to Khan Yunis, which is originally started as a refugee camp for Palestinians, that has 172,000 people. And then right on the border with Egypt, the town of Rafah has about 138,000 people in it. So that's what this looks like in terms of different population centres right here. And then you've got the population density itself. You've got over 21,000 people per square mile in Gaza. Compare that to Washington, 3,632. A vast difference. Gives you some idea of how things are when it comes to this.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR Yeah. 6 times more dense than Washington. Three to 4 times more dense than Los Angeles. Colonel Cedric Leighton, we appreciate it. Thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: So, a CNN investigation into where Hamas militants trained for their attack on Israel. How it appears they were able to do it in plain sight, not far from Israeli troops.

MATTINGLY: And former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will join us from Tel Aviv. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, there are more Israeli strikes underway right now in Gaza. We're also learning more about how Hamas was able to execute Saturday's terrorist attack inside of Israel. A senior Hamas official says they were preparing for the invasion for two years and a CNN investigation shows militants trained in at least six sites across Gaza, including camps just over the border with Israel, and because of the report you're about to see, the IDF says it will investigate all of this after the war. Our senior international correspondent, chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward reports.

[06:35:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) CLARISSA WARD, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Propaganda videos put out by Hamas reveal chilling details about the years of preparations that went into Saturday's bloody attacks right under Israel's nose. Analyzing metadata from the videos, a CNN investigation can reveal the presence of at least 6 training sites inside Gaza, one just 720 meters from the most heavily fortified and patrolled part of Israel's border. In that camp, Hamas recreated an Israeli compound with elements of the nearby border crossing, including an insignia of the Erez battalion. The videos show they even practiced taking prisoners and zip-tying their hands at the camp.

Satellite imagery indicates the camp was constructed within the last year and a half. At 2 other locations in the southern part of Gaza, Hamas trained for their audacious paraglider assault, rehearsing takeoffs and landings. At all 6 sites, two years of satellite imagery reviewed by CNN shows no indication of offensive Israeli military action. The imagery instead shows that in the last two years, some camps even expanded into surrounding farmland, and that there was activity in the last several months at the camps.

The stunning revelations raise questions as to how Hamas was able to train so openly, so close to the border for so long, and why Israeli officials were unable to pick up on and prevent the October 7th attack. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Re'im, Israel.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MATTINGLY: Well, the security lapse prior to Hamas' assault over the weekend has many wondering what will be done to make sure it never happens again. Joining us now is former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Sir, we appreciate your time this morning. We want to look forward and kind of what to expect, what you're seeing. But to start there, I think it's been striking when you listen to Israeli officials, IDF officials, as they try and figure out what happened, including this from a retired general to our colleague last night. Take a listen.

(BEING VIDEO CLIP)

ISRAEL ZIV, RETIRED GENERAL ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: We fail. We fail. I feel ashamed. We fail to protect them. They live here. They are the first line of all Israel, of our sovereignty. And we fail. We fail to defend them. It's a personal humiliation and national humiliation at the same time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And sir, I think what stuck out to me, you had an interview with Channel 11 News, where you're talking about how the international community views Israel right now. You said, I don't want their pity. I want them to fear us. I want them to understand our strength. Are you concerned that kind of how Israel is perceived has been punctured over the course of the last six days?

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Oh, absolutely. And whoever that general is, is correct. There's no doubt that the first and foremost duty of a sovereign state is to protect its citizens. And factually, 1,500 Israeli citizens were slaughtered by Nazi monsters. And we're gonna have to fix all of this. Okay. Military history teaches us that time and again, there's a limit to our mistakes, like Pearl Harbor, like Barbarossa, like 9-11, like the Yom Kippur War. We're gonna have to fix it. But now our view is forward and moving to the next stage from collecting ourselves and kicking out and killing all the terrorists that entered Israel to the next stage, which is the offensive stage.

HARLOW: I also want our viewers to understand, Mr. Prime Minister, you have stepped up into the IDF Reserve. So that's the role that you are serving now as well, serving your country. But you say we're going to have to fix it, meaning the intelligence. The question is, do you believe that fix has happened enough that whatever is about to imminently be carried out on the ground in northern Gaza can be done while protecting the lives specifically of the hostages? It includes many Israelis and Americans. As you know, Hamas has claimed overnight that 13 of the have been killed by Israeli airstrikes. The IDF cannot confirm that. But it does raise the question of is the intelligence now they're much better than a week ago.

BENNETT: We've collected ourselves. We're ready. And over the next period of time, we're going to go on attack. That attack is going to be very forceful. What we're doing right now is evacuating the Gazan residents, the uninvolved people that are not militants, telling them to move southward of the city of Gaza so we can focus on the Hamas terrorists, and our goal is clear, to wipe out Hamas off the face of earth.

[06:40:09]

MATTINGLY: Sir, to that point, there were debates in 2009, 2014, the last time there was Israeli forces incursion in Gaza about the scale, how long to stay, whether or not to stay permanently or for a longer period of time. When you say very forceful, what does that mean?

BENNETT: Well, it means, to your question, I would anticipate months or years of what we need to do, because we'll have to hunt down every single Hamas snake in the jungle. Takes time.

HARLOW: So potentially years? That sounds like a re-occupation of Gaza. Go ahead.

BENNETT: No, Israelis, we have no, we lost nothing in Gaza, we don't desire Gaza, all right? But we do insist on our security. The whole mindset of being able to live side by side with a Nazi type regime has collapsed. That doesn't work. We have to topple the regime. You know, the West did not say, you know what, we'll respond to the original Nazis in World War II and hit them hard, but stop. No, it continued until they eradicated the whole Nazi regime. That's what we're going to need to do here. And it's going to take time. It took time for America to collect itself after the Pearl Harbor surprise attack and for the Soviet Union to collect itself after Margarosa. We're fixing things on the fly. IDF is a powerful army. The Israeli people are a people of lions, of brave people. I've had friends that have lost their lives, sons and daughters that have lost their lives. But I'll tell you this, in every single military unit that I've seen over the past 5 days, there's about 130 percent to 150 percent enlistment rate, meaning people who are already discharged from reserve unit, might be 45 years old, they're insisting, enlist me, give me a weapon, I want to go fight. Every single Israeli man and woman wants to and is in consensus that we need to destroy and obliterate our enemies.

MATTINGLY: And then what? And I don't ask that flippantly, but there will be a power vacuum here. What happens next? Do you have a sense? Is there a plan for governance in Hamas or in Gaza if you eliminate Hamas, as you say, is the goal?

BENNETT: Well, we'll figure it out. It's just like if in 1944, you'd ask America after you and everyone, what do you do after and then what after the Nazis? We'll take care of them and we'll figure it out. Right now, we have to destroy Hamas.

HARLOW: Prime Minister, finally, before you go, what is your assessment of how you believe the Biden administration has responded to this over the last week? I want to say something, be loud and clear. President Biden and the American administration and the great people of the United States of America have shown that they are the best friend, the strongest ally at a time, a very difficult time for us. I'm saying this as a former prime minister. I mean, if there was any question where the United States of America stands, there's no question anymore. You have stood up to the plate and you're behind us.

We're going to do the fighting. We don't need America to do our fighting. We never asked America to fight for us. But the overwhelming warmth that we're getting from the great people of the United States of America, it strengthens every single man and woman in Israel. And we're grateful for that. I want to thank you and the American people, President Biden.

HARLOW: Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, thank you for your time from Tel Aviv today. Thank you. And now we want to show you this video out of Gaza City. Take a look at this. This is drone footage from a journalist. His name, Motaz Aziza. We were going to speak with him on the program, bring you an interview with him this morning from inside of Gaza City, but he could not join us last minute because he is currently evacuating. Look at this.

[06:44:49]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOTAZ AZIZA: They want Gaza City to be empty, to destroy it more.

UNKNOWN: I literally ghost town. We were sad because we lost family members, we lost houses, but right now we need to be losing our whole homeland and no one knows anything about us.

AZIZA: So pray for Gaza, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Motaz Aziza has been reporting on the ground. He's been capturing these remarkable, dramatic images and this footage, drone footage of large-scale destruction at his home even.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZIZA: I'm speechless. I don't know what to say. I don't know what should I say. Believe me, it's the most sadness that Gaza ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He even reported from the scene where an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 15 of his family members happened. We will try to bring him to you in any form we can when it is safe for him to join us.

MATTINGLY: Well, here in the U.S., House Republicans aren't any closer to finding a speaker after their initial choice. Steve Scalise has dropped out of the race without a speaker. There's virtually nothing the House can do to provide aid or support to Israel. So, what happens next? Great question.

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[06:49:19]

HARLOW: We're continuing to monitor the latest on the ground in Israel and in Gaza here in the U. S. House. Republicans are back to square one, seriously in their search for a speaker after majority leader Steve Scalise made this announcement last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP STEVE SCALISE, MAJORITY LEADER (R): I just share with my colleagues that I'm withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee. If you look at where our conference is, there's still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together and is not there. There are still some people that have their own agendas, and I was very clear. We have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. This country is counting on us to come back together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So, Scalise withdrew just 24 hours, by the way, after he was nominated. Once it became clear that he did not have the votes to get to 217.

MATTINGLY: Now, the question remains. It's a fairly important one at this point. Can anyone in the conference actually get 217 votes? And here's the actual reason why it's important without a speaker. There's nothing the House can do regarding Israel's war with Hamas or anything else, and that includes just a simple resolution to support Israel, let alone vote to provide it aid. We're told the House Republican conference is expected to regroup in a few hours behind closed doors to figure out the next steps. I have a lot of thoughts on this. Honestly, Republicans said them all themselves last night in their airing of grievances.

Let's bring in CNN political commentator Errol Louis and CNN senior political analyst and anchor John Avlon. Errol, actually, I want to play some of the comments, or at least one of the comments to our colleague, Manu Raju, which I think really captured things. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV RON DESANTIS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): Now is not the time to be attacking our ally. You're not going to find me throwing verbal grenades at the Israeli leadership.

SEN. TIM SCOTT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (R): Psalm 122.6 is very clear. You pray for the peace of Jerusalem and those who do prosper. I guess the former president just disagrees with that. I don't know where he's coming from. He's just wrong.

UNKNOWN: Let's make it clear. He's a fool. He's a fool. Only a fool would make those kind of comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: That obviously was not about the House Republican conference, it was about the leading.

HARLOW: But we will get to that.

MATTINGLY: We are going to get to that in a second. But I'll read for you what Austin Scott told Manu Raju. He said, how does this make you guys look? And Congressman Scott said, it makes us look like idiots, which was not an isolated comment.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And it's not wrong. On the other hand, in an odd way, this is the system working in the sense that --

MATTINGLY: Go on.

LOUIS: Well, I mean, look, they represent the divisions of the country, right? I mean, you know, unless they cross the aisle and work out some kind of stable, centrist governing pattern, which is at odds with the politics of how the House has been run for the last generation at this point, we're not going to move forward. You know, this whole idea of this old what they call the Hastert rule, that unless you can get a majority of just your conference, no legislation ever sees the light of day. That is not -- That was never a good idea.

And it can't work. And now we've seen, you know, sort of proof of concept that it can't work. You can't even get yourself to 218. You can't get yourself to 217. You can't get a Speaker of the House, you can't pass a resolution, you can't pay yourselves. Ultimately, you can't even run the country. And they're going to have to figure this out. We've seen it in parliamentary democracies. We're used to it, right? Where they, you know, you try, and you try, and you try again. Can we get a coalition? Can we put people together? They're unable to do it without Democrats. I think that is crystal clear at this point. They're going to have to figure out how to make it happen.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND ANCHOR: Look, amen, brother, on the centrist solution. But let's also be real that this is a problem within the Republican Party, right? Nancy Pelosi didn't have a difficult time when she had a similarly narrow margin. And Democrats got a lot done, some of which was bipartisan. This is a problem within the Republican conference, and it predates Kevin McCarthy, as we've discussed. This goes back to Boehner, Ryan, now Scalise, less than 24 hours. And there is no obvious person who can unite. Now they're saying maybe Patrick McHenry, the interim speaker, can do this. Errol's right that ultimately necessity may be the mother of invention. I've got an op-ed that's going to come out later today on CNN that makes the case that, look, ultimately, you're going to have to put forward a Republican who can garner some Democratic votes --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Who's that (INAUDIBLE)?

[06:55:19]

AVLON : -- It would look a number of people. See Tom Cole from Oklahoma --

HARLOW: Johnson (ph).

AVLON: Well you know I think, plent of people want it when push comes to shove. Tom Coles one, Don bacon's another you hear. Mike Gallagher, you know that there -- there are a number of folks who -- who I think would be pretty strong and could have that. Again, all you need to do is liberate yourself from the disproportionate influence the far-right the people who republicans themselves have called arsonists and it's not to be Jim Jordan. And -- and then Hakeim Jeffrey's just has to, you know, have democrats, a handful of them vote to get this done.

LOUIS: Scalise was supposed to be that person. Scalise and Jeffrey's have a of good personal relationship. They've both talked about it. They played on the house baseball team together, that sort of a thing. They sort of --

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: Yes. Yes.

LOUIS: -- had a social relationship. Scalise threw in his cards because he had so many extremists in his conference who said we will take you down, we will McCarthy you, we will make it impossible for you to either become speaker or to remain speaker as long as that's the case. Yes, it is a very difficult task.

AVLON: But that's what's so crazy right? This is everyone I spoke to on the hill, on the republican chiefs of staff are saying look, Scalise is trusted by the members, right. He's very conservative but he's trusted. McCarthy never had to trust he never had friends. Scalise had that, right and -- and you know, they just kicked him to the curb 24 hours after he got the vote.

HARLOW: Yeah, I do want to get this in before we go guys and that is what we played for you that was republican presidential candidates responding in disgust I think is fair to what President Trump has said recently this week about Israel and by the way Hezbollah. Let's listen to the former president. This is Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- and they said gee I hope Hezbollah doesn't attack from the north because that's the most vulnerable spot. I said whatever you know Hezbollah is very smart they're all very smart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So he said Hezbollah smart but he also has been critical of Netanyahu and Israel in this moment, John.

AVLON: He cannot help but make it all about himself. This is another example these rambling incoherent unhinged statements from the former president attacking one of our closest allies at a time of maximum pain. Right. Blaming the victim in effect while praising a terrorist organization who's targeting civilians in Israel. You know, it's the kind of thing that in a rational political world would be a disqualifier itself. Evidently that you heard the clips earlier from some of the people running for the republican nomination finally standing up to Trump and condemning his comments. There's absolutely no moral excuse except that he sees everything through the prism of himself even a massive terror attack. Imagine (ph).

LOUIS: Another way to put that is the argument for Trump is falling apart right in front of him and I think we're seeing him lash out for that reason. You know he -- he's supposed to be a successful businessman. We're seeing in court that maybe he's not so successful. He's supposed to be, you know, on the world stage doing all kinds of things, you know, move the embassy to Jerusalem and so Forth. Netanyahu is like, you know what we're with Biden right now. That part of his argument is falling apart. I think we're going to continue to see him lash out as long as he feels like his chances of recapturing the White House are crumbling in front of him.

MATTINGLY: It was fascinating to watch his team actually have a cleanup effort last night several press releases several they don't usually do that in a formalized manner so the president, well former president will undercut that shortly. Errol Louis, John Avlon, thanks guys appreciate it.

We're going to show you pictures live of east Jerusalem this morning where police are patrolling the area where protests are happening, we are going to stay with this throughout the morning. HARLOW: Also, police in cities across the United States are on high alert today after a former Hamas chief called for a day of quote global rage in support of Palestinians in Gaza. We're going to take a look at the preparations right now here in New York City.

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