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Israeli Election Exit Polls Project No Clear Winner; Daily Struggle, Bleak Future in Lebanon's Poorest City; Container Ship Blocks Suez Canal; Crucial COVID-19 Conversations across Europe; Warriors Coach Pushes for Gun Legislation. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired March 24, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, Israel in political paralysis once again. We're live in Jerusalem for our ongoing election
coverage.
And then, 10 percent of the world's trade halted in one instant. We'll tell you how just ahead.
Also --
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "They're running away from the disaster," says Nadal (ph), a shopkeeper. "They're
running away from the collapse. They're running away from their theft. There's no government and we're heading toward the abyss."
KINKADE (voice-over): And blame for Lebanese politicians over a currency crisis that has touched nearly everyone. We'll take you to the city at the
center, the anti-government protests, that is also one of the poorest areas in the country.
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KINKADE: Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD, I'm Lynda Kinkade filling in for Becky Anderson. Good to have you with us. Well, Israel's fourth --
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KINKADE: -- Israel's fourth election in two years is over. But there may be no end in sight for the political confusion and the turmoil. We are
awaiting the final results from Tuesday's vote. With nearly 90 percent of the ballots counted, right now it remains too close to call.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition of right-wing parties is in the lead but it's not clear if he'll have enough votes to win a majority.
Mr. Netanyahu has been banking on a boost from the nation's successful COVID vaccination campaigns and from deals with the UAE and Bahrain.
But now weary Israelis could be facing the prospect of a fifth trip back to the polls. Well, CNN's Hadas Gold is on the ground for us in Jerusalem and
joins us now live.
Initially, when we heard from Benjamin Netanyahu, he called this a huge win for right-wing parties. But it certainly seems that he's going to struggle
to form a governing majority.
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lynda, last night, when the first exit polls came through, it seemed like he was going to have just at the 61
seats that he needed to get that majority and stay in power.
And as the night went on and votes started coming in officially, and as we're still getting votes in now, that seemed to have changed just a bit
now. We just got more numbers in, in the last few minutes. We're at 97 percent of the votes in.
And as it stands, Netanyahu's right-wing coalition does not necessarily have a super clear path towards a 61-seat majority. They could get there.
I'm not saying it's impossible. They could get there.
Now what's interesting now, according to these latest numbers, we have 52 seats in the pro-Netanyahu bloc. There are seven in a party called Yamina,
which are more likely to join a pro-Netanyahu bloc.
And what's interesting, there's a smaller Arab party that might be the kingmakers in this whole situation. It might seem unusual for an Arab party
to necessarily sit with a right-wing Netanyahu-led government but we're in unusual times here.
And actually, Netanyahu has been making an outreach to Israeli Arabs as a part of his campaign. That's a new thing, something he hasn't done in the
past before. In the past, he and his party were accused of trying to suppress the Arab vote.
But this time, we saw Netanyahu campaigning in Arab towns. We saw billboards with Netanyahu's face on it, in Arabic language, embracing
Netanyahu. Not necessarily sure if it worked with Arab Israeli voters. But the fact that this party may choose to sit with Netanyahu, that could
change the ball game.
But we still don't have all the votes in and things can still change. Also, there is the opposition parties and what they might do, what sort of
coalition they might be able to form.
But although Netanyahu last night might have said that it's a victory for the right wing, it is not a clear victory for him. And perhaps as a symbol
of that last night, at his election night party, the balloons that were hanging from the ceiling waiting to drop in celebration never came down.
KINKADE: They certainly didn't. And it's clear from the outset, even listening to Benjamin Netanyahu speak, as those exit polls came in, that he
said that Israel's a champion of the world for vaccinations. He was really hoping that swift rollout of vaccinations in response to the pandemic would
really boost his chances here.
GOLD: Oh, definitely. And that was one of the key aspects of his campaign. In fact, one of his slogans was "Back to life." It was a very positive
campaign.
A lot of his campaign ads were showing coverage from around the world, showing other leaders hailing prime minister Netanyahu's response and how
quickly the vaccines have rolled out here and brought a sense of normalcy almost back to Israel. Restaurants are full. People are going to hotels.
[10:05:00]
GOLD: People are out and about; whereas, other countries are still under lockdown. He was claiming credit for it, pretty much telling Israelis that,
if it wasn't for him, Israelis wouldn't have gotten the vaccines. And that he needs to stay in power so Israel will continue getting vaccines.
But that's not clear it necessarily worked for him because the Likud did lose a few seats, as we noted, and he does not have that very clear
majority. Keep in mind, while the vaccine rollout has been very successful, there is a pretty loud and active group of voters out there that are anti
Netanyahu.
I was at a protest last Saturday that happens regularly outside of the prime minister's residence. And this protest was huge last Saturday. There
is lots of activity, lots of anti-Netanyahu activity out there.
But the problem for the opposition was really gelling behind a single party, a single leader, who could form a proper opposition coalition.
And so what we're seeing is, if Netanyahu does manage to cobble together this coalition, it will be a very right-wing coalition with right-wing
parties, with religious parties as well, including some very right-wing parties. It will be a different sort of government than we've had here in
the past.
KINKADE: Hadas Gold, we will speak to you again soon as this continues to unfold in Israel. Thanks so much.
Well, the political and economic crisis in Israel's neighbor, Lebanon, is only getting worse. Surging fuel prices, a collapsed currency, food and
medicine shortages, all while the prime minister designate and the president remain deadlocked in a battle to form a new government.
But the United Nations estimates that more than half of Lebanon's population live in poverty. Our senior correspondent Ben Wedeman joins us
now from Tripoli, Lebanon's poorest city.
Ben, good to have you with us. This economic outlook gets bleaker by the day; 400 percent inflation has risen in December last year, compared to a
year earlier. Many people can't even afford basic staples.
WEDEMAN: That's right. Just a correction, we're actually now in Beirut, Lynda, but the situation is very bad. For instance, just today, the price
of bread was raised yet again. That's the third time in nine months. It's essentially doubled since last May.
And of course, Lebanon's economic crisis precedes the coronavirus pandemic, which has made it much worse. So that really, with that, and if you take
into account the 4th of August Beirut port blast, Lebanon's crisis has no end in sight.
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): The faded pictures of politicians from Lebanon's last election three years ago grace the walls of Tabbaneh, one of the
poorest neighborhoods of Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city and its poorest.
Business below the market for secondhand goods is slow. Poverty here, a constant.
"The richest people in Lebanon are here in Tripoli," says 62-year-old Ahmed Mousawa (ph). "The leaders, the dogs, don't care about anyone."
He lives with 11 members of his extended family in two cramped rooms. Years of winter rains have left stains where the water drips into the sitting
room, which doubles as a bedroom at night. A picture on the wall speaks of better days, now long gone.
He has been ill for years. He can't afford basic medicines or much else.
"I don't eat meat," he says, "I just smell it from the market. It's two, three years, we don't know what meat is in my house."
Activist Linda Burhul (ph) brought leftover food from restaurants to his house to share with the poor in Tabbaneh. She, too, has lost faith in
Lebanon's politicians.
"Must we cry and bleed and all of you remain leaders," she asks?
"It's not logical. We're done, we're fed up."
Tripoli has been the scene of violent protests against the political elite. In the last two years, the local currency has lost more than 80 percent of
its value against the dollar. Annual inflation last year was more than 80 percent. Unemployment is rising. Lebanon teeters on the brink of collapse.
And all the while, the politicians squabble over the shrinking spoils, unable to form a government since the last one resigned nearly eight months
ago after the Beirut port blast.
"They're running away from the disaster," says Nadal (ph), a shopkeeper. "They're running away from the collapse. They're running away from their
theft. There's no government and we're heading toward the abyss."
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WEDEMAN (voice-over): Old bullet holes on the walls of this city, a reminder of what that abyss could bring.
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WEDEMAN: And many Lebanese, in fact, have concluded that the reason why the politicians simply cannot not come up with a new government is they
don't want to be responsible when the country really falls apart -- Lynda.
KINKADE: Yes, exactly. Ben Wedeman, it's good to have you on the ground there to give us that insight. Thank you so much. We will speak to you
again very soon. Thanks, Ben.
Well, traffic through the Suez Canal has ground to a halt after a giant container ship ran aground. It was bound for the Netherlands when it
encountered high winds and a sand storm. Tugboats have now partially freed the ship. More than a dozen other ships remain blocked right now.
And this is not your usual traffic jam. About 12 percent of global trade goes through the Suez Canal, including 10 million barrels of oil every day.
Emerging markets editor John Defterios has covered the Suez Canal for now, joining us now live.
John, this container ship is the size of the Empire State Building, completely blocking trading, one of the world's busiest routes.
How did this happen?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, it's pretty extraordinary, Lynda, how this unfolded. We're about 1.5 days into the
incident. And we're starting to get some more clarity about it.
But this is a huge cargo ship, 400 meters long, 59 meters wide and it can carry 20,000 containers. So everybody has been fascinated by the fact that
it went horizontal to the canal and it's blocking the other traffic. It's a marvel of architectural wonder that this connects the Mediterranean to the
Red Sea and on to the Indian Ocean.
But not when it gets clogged up right now. The latest news we have on this is that there's eight tugboats trying to move the vessel so it's not
horizontal and it can get aligned with the canal. But we don't have clarity when traffic can get unblocked.
A senior pilot that works that canal is suggesting that it could be two to three days to see the congestion clear. You mentioned it does handle 12
percent of global traffic but it's 30 percent of seaborne traffic around the world. And why it is so important.
And also, we're very fortunate to report that there are no injuries, we don't see any spillage of fuel out of the vessel at all and we understand
that the cargo traffic -- the container traffic is not damaged, because the other option here is, if you can't move this vessel, you would have to dig
it out or actually unload the cargo to another vessel to get it to refloat.
So right now we're starting to see some movement. We're looking for clarity from the Suez Canal Authority, which is still waiting -- Lynda.
KINKADE: It is good. We've also heard no one injured on board, which is also good news. But it seems that this has already spooked the oil market.
What sort of delays are we looking for in terms of oil supplies?
DEFTERIOS: Well, this is not a huge artery for oil trade, Lynda, because it handles about 5 million barrels a day on normal traffic, 10 million at
peak, as you were suggesting in your lead-in.
But a couple of sources that track the movements of these vessels are suggesting that we have 10 vessels that are clogged up right now, carrying
about 13 million barrels. This is about 14 percent of daily demand. So you can see why the oil market is responding.
It's been a terrible week in the oil market because of the cases that we saw in the coronavirus in Europe. So it dropped $7 a barrel and we see the
price jumping back up 3 percent, because of what is unfolding before us.
The vessels are carrying crude from Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United States and Russia. And again, on the other side of the canal, into the Red Sea,
you have the port of Yanbu, a major partnership between Saudi Aramco and CNPC of China.
But right now the real issue is unclogging the canal. And some are saying it could take up to a week to do so. But we're starting to see the movement
here. And that's why the oil market has responded but not panicked, let's put it that way, Lynda.
KINKADE: Right. So obviously, this canal moves obviously not just oil but all sorts of products.
And we have seen ships run aground in this canal in the past but never one this big, right?
DEFTERIOS: That's correct, Lynda. This is one of the top 100 vessels in the world, can carry more than 20,000 containers. It's being leased out of
Taiwan by Evergreen Marine here.
And we're looking for the source of the problem. Again, we see different variations to that narrative. But it hit a sand storm, which is normal
during this time of year, in this transition from winter to spring, which quickly becomes summer here in the Middle East.
And apparently there could have been a blackout on the boat, which would have made it difficult to navigate and keep the boat in parallel, as I was
suggesting, with the canal.
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DEFTERIOS: We know there's an effort to try to upright it, to move it, to clear the traffic and we're waiting for more information as this story
develops.
KINKADE: All right. John Defterios, we'll speak to you for more on this next hour, no doubt. Thanks so much for joining us.
DEFTERIOS: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, we've got a programming note for you now. CNN is set to have an exclusive report on the Uyghur parents who are desperate to reunite
with their children. Amnesty International says China's policies towards the Muslim minority have split up thousands of families.
David Culver is traveling to Xinjiang to look for the children who have been left behind. Here's a preview.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Followed by a convoy of suspected undercover Chinese police vehicles, blocking roads that
lead to possible internment camps, keeping us from getting too close to so- called sensitive sites.
CNN is searching for the lost Uyghur children of Xinjiang. Thousands of families have now been ripped apart due to China's actions. We tracked down
two of them.
CULVER: Do you want to be with them?
Do you miss them?
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KINKADE: David's exclusive report, "The Lost Children of Xinjiang," can be seen on "AC360" Wednesday night in the U.S. That's midnight London. Time
and you can watch it throughout the day here on Thursday on CNN International.
Still ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, we'll take you to the U.K. and to France and the crucial conversations happening at the highest levels of
government.
And back to Israel, where the election is still too close to call. I'm going to be talking to the boss of "The Times of Israel" about Benjamin
Netanyahu's future and what it could mean for the country. That's a little later in the show.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
We're connecting you this hour to the COVID-19 vaccine rollouts across Europe, plagued by fights over fairness, rumors over safety concerns and
supply chain nightmares. AstraZeneca is standing by new trial results from the U.S., showing the vaccine to be 79 percent effective.
More than a dozen countries halted their rollouts because of isolated reports of blood clots, although no link to the shot has been found.
Meanwhile, France and Germany have posted new restrictions to fight rising infections. Crucial conversations are going on. The German chancellor
facing questions about coronavirus measures in parliament. She has rescinded an Easter quiet order because of massive backlash.
The U.K. prime minister is set to answer questions before a parliamentary committee there. We'll be bringing you the latest from the region.
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KINKADE: Our Scott McLean is in London. But first, I want to go to Melissa Bell in Paris.
Good to have you with us. First, I want to start on Germany. Obviously, in the midst of this third surge in cases, a new lockdown was announced over
Easter. But now we're hearing that the German chancellor is walking back that -- those restrictions, calling it a mistake.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Pretty extraordinary U-turn there, Lynda. And one that led her to provide an apology today.
In fact, what we've seen in Germany, Lynda, as we've seen in other European countries, these last few weeks are those new variants, making fast and
dangerous progress and in particular, the variant first identified in the United Kingdom. It's been dominant in Germany as it's been dominant in
France and Italy.
And that means you have a surge in new cases. And because we know now that it is believed to be more dangerous, a surge in entries into ICU, health
systems once again on the brink. Hence this announcement, a two-prong announcement by Angela Merkel.
First of all, it would be the extension of existing measures. That, I understand, still stands but a five-day hard lockdown over Easter, which
had been announced, was then announced to be taken away, as a result of a fairly tumultuous and fairly long meeting between Angela Merkel and state
premiers.
It appears that it simply wasn't practical. It wasn't possible on such short notice to put in place such a hard lockdown. A U-turn on that and,
once again, many questions about what happens next and how Germany, like other European countries, can take on this third wave in a way that is
sufficiently fast to protect their health care systems, Lynda.
KINKADE: Right. Melissa, of course, where you are in Paris, the French president there is saying the vaccination campaign and ramping it up is a
national priority. But of course, there are major issues over the supply of the vaccine.
And we've got the European Union calling for drafting emergency rules to essentially stop some of the export of this crucial vaccine.
BELL: That's right. The European Union, you'll remember, back in January, in the middle of its fight with AstraZeneca over its supplies or shortfalls
in supplies, had announced an export ban. That was used to stop 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine being exported towards Australia.
What we've seen today is the European Commission published plans that must now be put to European leaders on Thursday and Friday at a European
leaders' summit. They would have to approve it.
But the plan would be to expand that export ban mechanism. Not simply focusing on companies and whether they're in breach of the contractual
obligations they have with the European Union, as AstraZeneca was, the E.U. ruled, but looking also at the countries to which these vaccines would be
exported.
Looking at how their fight against coronavirus is going. How their exports of vaccines work. The question of reciprocity. That's at the heart of it
today. It's an expanded ban, one that targets companies rather than simply countries.
The E.U. is at pains to point out, this is something that exists already in other countries. The United States vaccinating America first before it
exports its vaccines. The United Kingdom ensuring that it gets its supplies first and ahead of other countries.
The E.U. really putting pressure on other countries to try to live up to what it believes is its good record about being fair about its export. It
points out that it's exported 40 million doses. So they want to make sure that this happens, Lynda.
KINKADE: Right. Melissa, I want to get the response from London on this. I want to bring in Scott McLean, because Britain obviously stands to lose the
most as a result of these E.U. emergency rules, because it relies so heavily on the vaccine coming, that's being produced in the bloc.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly stands to lose but the British government at last word is saying they're still on track to offer
the vaccine to everyone over 50 by mid-April and for the vaccine to every adult in this country by the end of July, regardless of the supply
situation.
And that's because the U.K. has its own dedicated supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine that's being made in this country. It simply comes down to, the
U.K. made a much-different deal with drugmakers, particularly AstraZeneca, than the European Union did.
They invested early on and heavily in this vaccine that was developed at Oxford University, to make sure it was manufactured in this country and
make sure that they had a really solid deal with the vaccine maker to say, look, you can export this as long as you fulfill your contract with the
U.K. first.
The E.U. clearly made a different deal here. And you can understand their frustration. And the points that Melissa is making over there in France,
that, look, they ordered 120 million doses, they say, from AstraZeneca.
[10:25:00]
MCLEAN: They were supposed to be delivered by the end of March and they're going to get maybe a quarter of those, if they're lucky, at this point. If
you look at the vaccination numbers and we have a graphic that illustrates just how far ahead the U.K. is, vaccinating three times the proportion of
its population than Italy and Germany and Spain and France.
And so you can understand the frustration coming from Europe. The U.K. is in better shape either way because of this dedicated supply and because of
the fact that they've already vaccinated most of the most vulnerable people in their society, with at least the first dose.
The British prime minister has been outspoken this week, saying, look, there is no need for export controls here. We want -- we don't want any
kind of blockades. We certainly wouldn't retaliate against the E.U. if they were to impose something like that.
But that's pretty easy for them to say, considering they are not really exporting, period. And I want to show you an exchange between a British
journalist and the vice president of the European Commission. It seems to really sum up the debate across the Channel.
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QUESTION: Why are you seeking to punish countries, which have been more successful than the E.U. in vaccination, like the U.K. and Israel?
And is this the new level playing field, everyone has to be as bad as each other?
Thank you.
VALDIS DOMBROVSKIS, E.U. COMMISSION VICE PRESIDENT: Well, our mechanism is not addressed at any specific country. But it's clear that we also need to
ensure vaccination of our own population.
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MCLEAN: So Lynda, that journalist's question there may be summing up the sentiment amongst the British population that, look, the government here
obviously, by any objective set of standards, made a better deal with drugmakers than the E.U. did.
So why are they to be punished for that?
KINKADE: Exactly. And we did hear the British prime minister say that capitalism and greed is the reason Britain has inoculated so fast. That
comment was made on a Zoom call. And clearly the prime minister is now embarrassed about that.
MCLEAN: Yes, so this was made actually during a closed-door meeting with backbench conservative MPs yesterday. And the comments that he made,
according to multiple sources who spoke with CNN and confirmed what was said on the call, he said that the U.K.'s successful vaccine rollout was,
quote, "because of capitalism, because of greed, my friends."
He quickly realized what he had said in that meeting and retracted the comments and said that he regrets them.
But now that they've gotten out in public, it's not a great look for the British prime minister to have those out there. And the timing couldn't be
worse, considering the back and forth between the E.U. and the U.K. over vaccine exports. The prime minister seems to have stepped in one a little
bit here, Lynda.
KINKADE: Scott McLean for us in London and Melissa Bell for us in Paris. Good to have you both with us. Thanks so much.
Well, still ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, will Israeli voters have to do it all again and go back to the polls for a fifth time?
I'll check in with the editor of "The Times of Israel" when we come back. Stay with us.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
We're turning now to our top story. The Israeli election that is too close to call. Benjamin Netanyahu could struggle to secure enough seats in
parliament to stay in power. And Israeli voters may now be wondering if they'll have to make a fifth trip back to the polls.
My next guest is the editor of "The Times of Israel," who says, and I quote, "A Netanyahu win on Tuesday, given the limited array and orientation
of his potential political partners, pose a new risk to Israel's democratic character."
Introducing you now to David Horovitz.
So essentially, the fourth election in two years, a political paralysis. Which is essentially continuing.
DAVID HOROVITZ, "THE TIMES OF ISRAEL": Yes, that's right. We should stress and we don't stress this enough, the count not final yet. We don't know
exactly how the parties have fared. But we have about a dozen parties that have made it into the Knesset.
Right now, neither the pro-Netanyahu or anti-Netanyahu blocs can get to a majority in parliament. And the balance of power between them is held --
you couldn't make this up -- by a conservative Islamic party.
About 22 to 23 percent of Israel's population is Arab. There are lots of members of the Knesset. And in this election, one Arab party split away
from the others and it said, you know, we'll work with whoever can benefit our community.
And Netanyahu before the election said he would never join this party. He would never rely on its support. He may have to, to try and retain power.
But even then, it's going to be very difficult for him.
KINKADE: Yes, it certainly seems that way. No clear winner at this stage but as you say, we are still seeing those votes being counted.
In the lead up to this election, despite the initial handle of the pandemic, we did see the rollout of the vaccinations happen very swiftly.
And it did seem that Benjamin Netanyahu thought that that would be enough to really, really help his chances here.
HOROVITZ: And you know, he had every reason to think that. The timing of this election in terms of the pandemic, just to be sort of crude and
political, could not have been better for him.
Israel has real, like everybody else has, we have more than 6,000 people dead, which, in a fairly small country, comparatively speaking, it's not
particularly good. We've been world beaters on vaccination. Pretty much everyone, probably fewer than a million Israelis, who are eligible to be
vaccinated, have been vaccinated.
Most of the country has been vaccinated, with two shots of the Pfizer vaccine. And we saw, in the final days of the campaign, you know, these
numbers were working so well, the daily number of new cases was coming down.
On Monday, the eve of the election, for the first time in months, we had fewer than 500 Israelis seriously ill with COVID. And therefore, Netanyahu
had reason to believe that, if he was having a hard time winning elections, this would help him over the top.
As far as we can see, it hasn't worked out that way. And you know, you quoted an article I wrote before the election.
Even if he can somehow manage to get together a majority -- and I think there's lots of ifs there, including with that Islamic party that I
mentioned -- he would be also relying on the support of a very far-right party, a party that includes, you know, extreme Knesset members with
hostile positions on Arabs, hostile to the LGBT community.
He would need to scrabble together this extraordinarily unlikely mix from Arabs on one side to anti-Arabs on the other. And even then, he's barely
going to have a majority.
KINKADE: Talk to us a little bit more about that and how this could shape Israel's democratic character, as you call it. As you've pointed out,
Netanyahu did seek the supporter of Arab voters this time around.
[10:35:00]
KINKADE: In the past, he's either dismissed or intimidated those voters.
HOROVITZ: He wants the Arab electorate to vote for him but he has been hostile to the Arab political parties. And that's -- you know, it hasn't
quite panned out that way in this election for him, because it's one of those parties that he would need and, even then, that may not be enough.
There is a whole democratic aspect, an additional one to this whole process, which is that the prime minister is on trial. He's on trial in
three corruption cases. The evidentiary stages of the trials start in two weeks. He denies this.
But his supporters have said they would like to initiate legislation that would give him immunity from prosecution for as long as he's prime
minister, retroactive legislation. He says he doesn't want it, that he'll stand trial and the case against him will collapse.
But his lawyers, some of them, were planning to initiate legislation to get him off the hook. It's almost certain that's not going to happen now,
because of the way the election panned out. He just doesn't have enough people sufficiently loyal to him to get that legislation through.
And he may not even have enough people sufficiently loyal to get him back into power. Last night, in a kind of non-victory speech, he urged rivals,
people who have left his supportive environment and who campaigned against him, he asked them to sort of come back and rejoin the Netanyahu camp.
But we only have these elections -- we only have them because the last election, a year ago, which was deadlocked, saw him persuading one of those
rivals, a man named Benny Gantz, to abandon his anti-Netanyahu position and join Netanyahu in government.
Netanyahu then collapsed that government and we had elections again. So it's very unlikely that anyone looking at what happened last time will say,
you know what, really, I am going to sit with Netanyahu. He seems like, you know, a great guy.
We've had this experience. It happened a year ago, it didn't work. And that's why we had these elections.
KINKADE: As you say, on the one hand, we've got this corruption probe hanging over his head, concerns that, if he survives politically, he could
potentially suspend that corruption trial and then, on the other hand, you've got his response to the pandemic, a swift rollout of vaccinations.
If this is indeed a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu, what does it say about him?
HOROVITZ: It's a great question and it kind of says that the jury, as in the electorate, they're still out. You know, I wish I could have given you
a very linear, clear interview. We have this extraordinary election system, with pure proportional representation across the country. You get 3.25
percent of votes nationwide, you get your seat in the Knesset.
One house of parliament, 120 seats. And we've had another election and there's about a dozen parties who have got their seats in parliament and
they are from all over the spectrum, ideologically and even personally, when it comes to Netanyahu.
And for the fourth time in a row, no clear, decisive winner has emerged, not in the pro-Netanyahu mix of parties and not in the anti-Netanyahu mix
of parties. Maybe, somehow, somebody will cobble together a coalition. Or maybe we are sentenced to yet another election. And we'll speak again
because I don't know how it's going to pan out.
KINKADE: That is the big question.
If you had to put a bet or it, what are the chances we'll see a fifth election?
HOROVITZ: Here's how utterly I don't want to put a bet on it. We have polls running up to elections, like you guys do, and you think you know
who's going to win. But we've learned not to take them too seriously. But we have exit polls at 10:00 pm On Election Day when the voting is over.
And thousands of people have gone from the genuine placing stations and placed, supposedly, an identical paper in the pollster's ballot box. So you
would think the exit polls would tell us who won an election.
Well, last night's election polls initially suggested that Netanyahu had won the election and that that Islamic Arabic party that I mentioned wasn't
going to get any seats at all. So even the most expert predictors with all the evidence can get it spectacularly wrong. So I'm out of the prediction
business.
KINKADE: Me, too, David. Good to have you with us, David Horovitz. Thank you.
Still ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, many in the sports world are speaking out on gun violence. That comes after Tuesday's mass shooting in Colorado. The
powerful words from one basketball coach coming up in CNN "WORLD SPORT."
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
Prominent names in the sports world have been speaking out after Monday's shooting in Colorado that left 10 people dead. Golden State Warriors coach
Steve Kerr had some especially powerful words during his news conference. Don Riddell joins us now with more on this.
When it comes to sports figures speaking out on social issues, Kerr is at the top of the list, along with the likes of LeBron James.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's so informed, so thoughtful, compassionate and articulate. He lost his dad in a terror attack in Beirut
when he was just 18 years of age. And he has paid very close attention to this country's love affair with guns.
And he was very, very outspoken on this situation, as you say, on Tuesday, even speaking in front of a list of names of the victims, not just from
Boulder this week but also the aid people (ph), who were so senselessly killed in Atlanta last week.
And he makes some very compelling points about why this country could and should do better. And you can hear what he has to say next in "WORLD
SPORT."
KINKADE: We will tune in for that. He certainly speaks -- he's a very eloquent speaker. Don Riddell with "WORLD SPORT" will be back with you in
just a moment. Thanks so much.
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