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Biden Makes Case for Wartime Aid to Israel and Ukraine; IDF Says Majority of Hostages in Gaza are Alive; Sources Say, Rafah Crossing Not Expected to Open Today. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 20, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: -- he is in need of mental health services.

[07:00:01]

And CNN This Morning continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden laying out plans that he will be sending to Congress to support both Israel and Ukraine.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: When terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: How rare you see the president in this setting, speaking from the Resolute Desk. He's only done it two times.

BIDEN: We reject all forms of hate, whether against Muslims, Jews, or anyone.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Pro-Palestinian protests right outside the White House gate, conflicts that have struck a chord here at home, not just overseas.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Across the broader, Middle East, we've seen protests in almost every country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight trucks lined up as long as the eye can see, that's to go into Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Water is the issue right now. We don't have any utilities.

COOPER: Israel's defense minister telling troops they would soon see Gaza, quote, from the inside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And as you can see, very significant developments overnight. I'm Poppy Harlow with Phil Mattingly in New York. We have team coverage on the ground in Israel, Erin Burnett live in Tel Aviv, Matthew Chance is near the border with Lebanon. President Biden back from the war zone, and today he is pushing Congress to approve more wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine. He made that case in a primetime Oval Office address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Hamas and Putin represent different threats but they share this in common. They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.

History has taught us that when terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, when dictators don't pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction. They keep going. And the cost and the threats to America and the world keep rising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: There remains, of course, a major hurdle to Biden's aid request. Congress is currently paralyzed without a House speaker, unable to pass anything.

HARLOW: This all comes as Israel leaders are signaling a ground invasion of Gaza could be imminent. Israel's defense minister visited troops massing near the border and told them that they would see, quote, inside of Gaza soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited troops. You see him there and asked if they were ready to deliver, quote, a hard blow.

Overnight, the Israeli military says airstrikes pounded Hamas' underground tunnels, warehouses of weapons and command centers. And Israeli forces have been launching deadly raids on the ground into the West Bank to capture Hamas operatives and obtain information about the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

Also, this just into CNN, the Israeli military says a majority of those hostages are alive. Again, the majority are alive. This is nearly two weeks after they were abducted during that massacre in Israel on October 7th.

Early this morning, our Nic Robertson witnessed increased activity along the border, including flares and heavy machine gun fire.

So, let's go straight to our Erin Burnett. She joins us live in Tel Aviv. So many significant developments, both in what Israel is going to do next and that really significant update, Erin, on the hostages.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Incredibly significant update. You know, and that is going to give such hope to so many who are in such anguish and suffering here that the majority are alive. Again, majority could mean anything, but I can tell you, Phil and Poppy, that some of the families we've been speaking to who have been desperately waiting for news have gotten some news over the past few days confirming, in one case, that one of their children was a hostage.

So, the IDF does have a lot of information about these hostages, which may indicate a lot about what they're planning to do when they go into Gaza.

You saw the prime minister, Netanyahu, visiting troops as he was bolstering morale last weekend when we were in one of the kibbutz that had been attacked by Hamas. He was there visiting troops. So, this is the second time I'm aware of in the past five days that he's been on that frontline, clearly feeling the need to bolster and build troops who have been sleeping in open air, coming in, driving 40 minutes day by day in buses.

We see them in coaches coming in and out to do training and to get ready. And they clearly are ready. An IDF spokesperson telling me the reserves are ready and there are some, you know, again, who we're talking last night to me, 2:30 in the morning, there was still a war cabinet meeting going on. That in and of itself isn't unusual. We have been seeing that night after night. But it is clear that nobody can continue in terms of a lack of sleep and a state of readiness like this for an indefinite period of time or even an extended period of time.

And in Israel's northern border, there is also a watching, waiting and a readiness. According to the IDF, one terrorist was killed in Lebanon amid a significant exchange of fire. The IDF is also calling on some 23,000 residents in a town near that border to evacuate.

I want to bring in our Matthew Chance live in Northern Israel, of course, what would be the second front in this already ongoing war. There has already been a lot of firepower up there. Matthew, what are you seeing today?

[07:05:00]

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, there's already been a lot of tension up here in the northern frontier, close to the border with Lebanon and with Syria as well. We're in the town of Kiryat Shimona, which has got a population of just over 20,000 people.

The order has now been given to evacuate that town because of the ratcheting up missile threat coming from across the border in Lebanon. You can see behind me, there's a whole load of cars waiting to exit Kiryat Shimona. And the police and the army are here in some force to try and make sure that's done in an orderly way. Buses are being laid on, state people don't have their cars to various locations outside of this danger zone.

But, look, the road itself out of Kiryat Shimona is currently blocked by the police and the army, and that's because there's been an incursion, according to Israeli Defense Forces, from Lebanon by militants from the other side of the border into this side. They've shot three people on the border. They say already three militants trying to infiltrate Israel.

There's another one person, according to security officials here that we've spoken to, who is at large somewhere up there on Israeli territory. And so there's a big search operation underway right now to try and find that person. And until that happens, the army tell me, and I've been speaking to them right here, they say they're not laying any civilians go any further than this.

And so you can see they've got that roadblock there. They've got the spikes on the road to make sure nobody sort of rushes through the checkpoint, I suppose. But it just does, Erin, give you an indication of just how tense the situation is here and that -- just how tense the situation is here right now and, of course, how tense it could get once an invasion by the Israeli military into Gaza takes place, because it's then that we will really know what the response of actors like Hezbollah is going to be. Are they going to fire massive barrages of missiles into this area and across Israel, or will they hold back?

Well, the people of Kiryat Shimona, the authorities at least, not taking any chances and are evacuating. Erin?

BURNETT: Matthew Chance, thank you very much along that northern border, the possible second front with Hezbollah.

Joining us now is Mark Regev. He is senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mark, I'm glad to speak with you again. I want to begin with the breaking news that we have. The IDF has just confirmed that more than half of the hostages, of course, Israel has said there are 203 of them, are alive, the majority. I'm sorry, they've said the majority. So, that's my question. What does majority mean? Is there any more information you can give? Is majority almost all of them or is it just over half? Do you know?

MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISER TO ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: So we're talking about, and, obviously, it's a very difficult situation, but we've said that what we know, they're alive. We can't talk about everyone, and I can't be more specific than the statement is in itself.

BURNETT: All right. Let me ask you one other thing in this statement, because I wasn't totally clear, and I want to make sure I understand, and everyone understands, as we've been speaking to so many of these anguished families.

You say that there are 20-plus hostages under the age of 18. Are you saying that there are 20-plus hostages known to be alive under the age of 18 or you -- so 20-plus under the age of 18, you know to be alive?

REGEV: I cannot be more specific than the statement. I apologize. You've got to remember that Hamas is not sharing any information with us of value. You've got to remember these people were taken. We've still got lots of Israelis who are unaccounted for. We don't know if they're dead somewhere or if they're in Gaza. There's a lot of things we don't know.

We do know the total number of hostages we estimate in Gaza, the 203, we know that that number could rise because we've got the people that we are unaware they're just listed as missing. And every day we learn something new. But I can't share with you and I apologize more precise information. And think about how the families think of those people who are unaccounted for. Think about the families -- I saw them outside where we are today, they're meeting, the suffering of all those who got loved ones who are in Gaza. It's a terrible, terrible situation.

And I would suggest that the message from the international community has to be that all people abducted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad and in Gaza, they have to be unconditionally and immediately released. Holding hostages this way is a war crime. We know it from organized crime. The mafia, you know, they kidnap people and ask for ransom. This is not the way people behave.

And I think Hamas is exposing itself for what it is, a brutal, ruthless, horrific terrorist organization. And we saw that in the murders and we see that in the kidnappings.

BURNETT: Yes, Mark, the prime minister, of course, your friend here, you've worked together for so many decades, it was along the border here, visiting troops at least the second time in five days to bolster morale.

[07:10:02]

You know, we see those troops, hundreds of thousands of them, we see how they're sleeping and eating at barbecues, right? They're waiting. And they're waiting for the call. And they're ready. And we also hear, of course, the defense minister of Israel saying soon they will see the inside of Gaza, or Gaza from the inside, as he put it.

Mark, how much pressure do you feel right now, does the prime minister feel, to do something for those troops, to give them the call to move, simply because there's only so long they can wait in ready stance?

REGEV: So, we are at the moment ready to act. We've spent the first few days of this crisis cleaning out the terrorists who had entered our own territory and we're building up our forces and we're ready to move. And if you've interviewed any of those soldiers on the front, you know there's a determination to go and to do what needs to be done.

Now, as has been said by leading Israelis, the prime minister down, we know that there will be difficult fighting. And I think the soldiers who are going into battle know that they are risking their lives. We are facing a formidable enemy, a brutal enemy, an enemy that will try to kill as many of our fighting men and women as they can.

And we go into this battle, though, united in knowing that this is necessary. No country should have to live next to a terrorist enclave like Israel has had to live next to Gaza. These people can massacred Israelis on October 7th, brutally murdering us.

We will change the situation. We refuse to live in proximity, in immediate proximity, to these murderous terrorists. And when this is over, we will have paid a price. I have no doubt that those brave young men and women, not all of them will be coming back, and they know that.

But the price is worth paying. We will free Israel from this terrorist threat that is a plague upon our country. And in doing so, we will also free Gaza from this tyrannical authoritarian theocracy. The people of Gaza also deserve better.

BURNETT: Mark, I know that obviously you have 350,000 troops on the border. We don't know how many you'll be sending in, in an incursion. We know there were maybe a couple thousand or half that. We've been unclear on the exact numbers of Hamas fighters who came over on October 7th. Do you have a specific idea of how many Hamas fighters await you on the other side? How many of them do you anticipate there are? How big is their fighting force?

REGEV: So, our working assumption has to be that they are waiting for us, that they are prepared for an Israeli assault. Our challenge will be to surprise them tactically on the ground, to catch them unaware, and, therefore, I'm not going to go into any details whatsoever about Israeli military plans.

I can say this, we will win and we will win decisively. And when this is over, the Hamas military machine in Gaza will be destroyed, and their political structure in Gaza will be dismantled. Those are the goals of this operation.

BURNETT: Mark, let me ask you one final question. Yesterday, you said you anticipated there would be movement on the Rafah border crossing today. Your words carry a lot of weight. Sources subsequently told CNN that was not likely to be the case, and indeed here we are at 2:15 local time, and that border is not open. Do you know what happened, what went wrong?

REGEV: I think we're still talking about something that is ongoing. From our perspective, we have, and I repeat, we have no problem whatsoever with water, food, medicine going to the civilian population, especially in the south, where so many people have vacated themselves because of the expected heavy fighting in the north. We're in favor.

If there are problems, it's coming from Hamas, which, as you know, refuses to stop its firing from the area in the south against us, which refuses to give commitments that it will not steal aid that's headed for the civilian population. But we had clear arrangements agreed to when President Biden -- when he was here, and we will stick to those commitments.

Can I also add? We haven't talked about it. President Biden's speech last night was welcomed across the board here in Israel. The way he stated that, you know, a lot of people, you know, they're not necessarily focused on foreign policy necessarily the whole time, President Biden explained why, what is going on here is crucial, not just for Israel, but for the United States and for the entire world.

[07:15:00]

It's crucial that we defeat Hamas. Just as ISIS was defeated in Iraq and Syria, we will defeat Hamas in Gaza. And in doing so, we're not only doing ourselves a favor in protecting our people from this terrible threat, but we're doing the world a favor. Hamas, as the president said, is sheer evil, and we will eliminate that evil.

BURNETT: Mark Regev, thank you very much. And, of course, he did use those words, unleashed pure, unadulterated evil from President Biden last night. Mark, thank you so very much. I appreciate it.

And as Mark was just talking about, President Biden in that primetime speech, cast this moment in history as an inflection point, very clear to say that, saying that it was a battle for democracy. We have some new polling about how Americans really do feel about that, how much they care about that, and how they feel about Biden's handling of the wars in Israel and Ukraine.

We'll be back.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliance is what keeps us America safe. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with. To put all that at risk, if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it's just not worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That was President Biden last night delivering an impassioned plea to Americans in that primetime address, an effort to build support for more U.S. aid to Israel and Ukraine. And today, the White House will be officially requesting north of $100 billion from Congress to support the wars abroad.

With us now, CNN Contributor, staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of the Biden biography, Joe Biden, The Life, The Run and What Matters Now, Evan Osnos. Evan, it's very good to have you.

There were a number of striking lines in the president's remarks, including making this an argument for an investment that would pay dividends in the future. But also striking was a reminder of the mistakes America made post-9/11, clearly a message to Netanyahu and Israel in this moment.

Listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: When America experienced the hell of 9/11, we fell enraged as well. While we sought and got justice, we made mistakes.

[07:20:01]

So, I caution the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So, he said that, and it comes with reminding people of his perspective, voting as a senator for the Iraq war, coming to regret it later, and that message that he made last night, while supporting Israel, but also saying learn from us.

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that's an essential piece of this. He's trying to strike a balance between calling for action and also warn against the dangers of excess.

This was about connecting the dots, right? He was saying to Americans, you are, I know, fatigued by 20 months of supporting, both in moral support and military support, what's been happening to Ukrainians in their defense against Russian aggression. And then he's saying, I know you are now looking at the events of the last 13 days and saying we are facing yet another war. But his argument was this, that if we do not do something now, ultimately, the effect will rebound on Americans. It will affect American values, and it will ultimately affect American security.

MATTINGLY: Evan, do you think -- I was texting back and forth an administration official last night and said, you know, this is clearly his comfort zone. You know that better than anybody. And the official replied back, this isn't a comfort zone. This is his entire theory of the case.

You've written about this. You've talked about this repeatedly. Is there concern that it's just not going to end up connecting?

That fatigue is real. You can look in the poll numbers on Ukraine as they have gone month by month and see it. Do you think there's concern inside the White House it won't connect?

OSNOS: I think you hit the nail on the head, Phil, which is the idea that this is an argument, in some ways, just an iteration, an argument he's been making since 2019 when he got into this race to be the president of the United States, when he said that democracy, as a fundamental American value, was under attack.

It's never been the kind of thing that is immediately popular with Americans. But his belief is that it is like a dull ache just below the surface. Americans know that there is something at the core of who we are as a people that is under attack, both at home and around the world.

And this was about putting that in the foreground and saying to people, look, this is -- I know we are asking a lot of you, but he reached back to World War II. I mean, he explicitly sort of tied this into a classic perception of American capacity and values. And values really is in the foreground.

MATTINGLY: You know, he quoted Madeleine Albright calling America the indispensable nation, and making this argument that, Evan, America can do things that other nations just can't, that it is one of the things that makes America exceptional. What did you hear to that effect in the president's remarks last night?

OSNOS: Yes. That was an extraordinary moment, because, in some ways, it's counter-cultural. The fact is, over the last decade, we've sort of come to imagine the idea that America's position is constrained, our capacity is constrained. We may not have the credibility, the money, frankly, to be able to continue to play a role in the world that we had during the Cold War and afterwards.

And I think his argument -- and let's be clear, some Americans won't agree, but his argument is this is not a chance, a moment, an opportunity for us to sit back. This really calls upon Americans, both because our friends are asking for help, but also because our adversaries are watching our actions. And the key concept, and this goes throughout his -- really, his political career, is that when dictators or terrorists are not stopped, ultimately, they will continue to march forward.

And that's the idea that he wants Americans to walk away with, because his belief is that, yes, it's going to cost us now. He's about to ask Congress to find it within themselves to fund not only Ukraine, but also Israel, and that if we don't do it, ultimately, the globe stability and American security is in peril.

The last bit I'll mention on this, which I think is important, is you heard him say something directly to Americans, saying that Americans deserve to be safe, if they are Jews or Muslims, from attacks here at home. And he said, you are all Americans. That is an idea that gets lost in a moment like this. And I think it's something that he wanted to put in explicit terms.

MATTINGLY: Evan Osnos, we appreciate your expertise, as always. Thank you very much.

OSNOS: My pleasure.

MATTINGLY: Well, the next hour, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan planning to hold a news conference after two failed attempts so far to become House Speaker. Can he flip the holdouts by the next expected vote later this morning?

HARLOW: Ahead, we will also be joined by the parents whose 23-year- old son was kidnapped and taken hostage into Gaza in the initial Hamas attack nearly two weeks ago, as the IDF now says the majority of the hostages taken are alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BURNETT: Welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett. I'm live here in Tel Aviv.

There has been a delay in the humanitarian aid that has been expected and waiting on that Gaza-Egypt border, sources telling CNN that the Rafah border crossing will not open today, as had been expected and advertised. U.S. officials now anticipating the first convoy of humanitarian aid to cross the border this weekend.

We'll see if that's the case. They're optimistic. They say they have a deal, but thus far we've heard that and it hasn't yet happened. This new video is showing the line of trucks waiting to bring that aid into Gaza. 20 trucks are expected to enter once the crossing opens. The U.N. saying it needs 100 trucks a day to provide the adequate aid to the people inside Gaza.

In the last hour, we heard from the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, who is at the Rafah border crossing. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Behind these walls, we have 2 million people that is suffering enormously.

So, these trucks are not just trucks. They are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza.

What we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of this wall, to make them move as quickly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: This morning, the IDF says that the majority of the hostages being held by Hamas are alive, and that over 20 of the hostages are children under the age of 18.

23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin is one of the hostages taken by Hamas. His parents have been desperately working to find him, not sleeping, talking so the world can hear them and know that their son is there.

Hersh was attending the music festival when Hamas militants attacked. He went into a bomb shelter seeking safety along with so many others. Hamas militants, as you have all now painfully had to hear, were throwing grenades into those shelters, shooting at anyone trying to take cover or to run outside.

Joining us now, Hersh's parents, Rachel and Jon. And I very much appreciate both of you.

I know you're just getting the news. You're just getting the news right now that the majority of the hostages are alive. I know that you've believed this in your heart and soul. But when you heard the IDF say that, when you hear this news, Rachel and Jon, what goes through your heart?

JOHN POLIN, SON WAS KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS AFTER ATTENDING MUSIC FESTIVAL: Look, for 14 days now, we've looked for optimism anywhere we could find it. The irony of this whole situation, as we've talked about, is who in the world could have imagined 15 days ago, any parent saying, thank God, our child was captured by Hamas with an arm blown off, taken into Gaza, and that's good news. But we've taken some solace in that's good news.

So, everywhere, we've been looking for optimism. I don't know anything about this report. I don't know the source of this report. I will say if the source of this report is Hamas. BURNETT: It's the IDF itself. They have just formally put it out. So, it's the IDF. Yes, the Israeli Defense Forces.

POLIN: We, first and foremost, are parents of Hersh. We know that Hersh was last seen with an arm freshly blown off, being taken captive. He is our primary interest.

[07:30:00]

But, of course, we're humans. We're parents. We're children of parents. And we care about all of the 200 hostages and the new --