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Connect the World
WFP: Half of Gaza's Population is Starving; Texas Files Migrants to Chicago Amid Crisis at Border; Trump Appeal of Colorado Ballot Ban Expected soon; Hamas: No Talks over Prisoner Swaps until IDF Operation Ends; Fishing Town Near Volcano off Limits Until after Christmas. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired December 21, 2023 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: It's 2 pm here in London. I'm Max Foster. This is "Connect the World". A starvation disease and the winter
cold is threatening the survival of some 2 million displaced civilians in Gaza. This as the death toll reaches approximately 20,000. Israel wants to
broker another deal to release these hostages from Gaza.
But Hamas says no negotiations will go ahead without a "Full cessation of aggression". The U.S. Supreme Court could decide the fate of Donald Trump
in the 2024 election. But the Former President is asking it to stay out of the dispute over whether he's immune from prosecution.
A toxic mix of disease and hunger, that's how the World Health Organization's Director General is describing conditions in Gaza two and a
half months into Israel's war with Hamas. He's warning that Gaza is experiencing soaring rates of infectious disease outbreaks that could be
lethal for malnourished children.
Making matters even worse, the lack of medical care for the sick and the wounded, W.H.O. official says a team that recently toured Northern Gaza saw
no functioning hospitals left there. The W.H.O. worker who led the team described what he calls unbearable scenes of seriously injured children or
people rather, in a church crying out in pain and pleading for water.
The humanitarian catastrophe is happening as the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah says approximately 20,000 people have been killed in
the war in Gaza. A number the U.N. Relief Coordinator caused a tragic and shameful master. The World Food Program says half of Gaza's population is
now starving, and the aid coming in isn't coming fast enough. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks this is what we've seen of the war on Gaza. Israel's brutal military might pound
neighborhoods into dust. In Central Gaza and Nuseirat whole blocks reduced to rubble, seemingly deserted unlivable.
But there's also this, the near surreal scenes this week in Nuseirat, the hustle and bustle of the street market. It's the story of every war where
life doesn't stop. It goes on for those trying to survive. But Gaza is like no other place. It's where more than 2 million are crammed into this tiny
strip of land that now looks like it's been bombed back into ages past where those who've lost everything have nowhere left but the streets.
That's where Minus (ph) is building a clay oven, hoping people would pay him a shekel or two to use it, he says maybe then he'll have enough to buy
his children cheese or tomatoes. Our lives are a million years behind, we live in sewage, minus says, every time it rains, the sewage overflows. It's
cold, there's no food, no water, no warm clothes.
Most here have escaped the bombs only to be trapped in this misery. Disease and starvation the U.N.s warned may soon kill more than those bombs. Half
the population it says are now starving, people going entire days without eating. Um Ahmed (ph) says she collects a bit of flour from here and there
to bake bread for her children.
We're all thrown into the streets she says, they said go to the south. We came to the south to die slowly. Human Rights Watch says Israel is using
starvation as a weapon of war. It's a war crime Israel denies and calls it a lie. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid. In the wake of October 7th
Israel's Defense Minister announced a siege of Gaza, "No electricity, no fuel, everything closed until all hostages were returned".
Some aid and water delivery resumed but nowhere near enough. Much of the blockade remains in place, what Rights Groups call collective punishment.
Sometimes the lucky ones find more than lentils and bread for the hungry mouth they have to feed. This mother uses a pair of jeans for her fire to
boil some chicken wings and bones.
I'm using clothes and cardboard to make fire and cook, she says, the situation is disastrous. But I need to find a way for my children were in
the street because we have nowhere to shelter fleeing the bombs, scrounging for food. Now the people of Gaza desperately wait for the moment they can
try once again to live. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: In the next hour of "Connect the World" an interview with a senior spokesperson for the World Food Program about the immense challenges and
risks facing aid workers in Gaza. Well, aid Gaza is a key component of course a resolution up for a possible vote today in the U.N. Security
Council.
[09:05:00]
The U.S. has vetoed two previous measures. This as Hamas says it will not to negotiate any more deals to swap hostages to Palestinian prisoners until
the war is over. The Israel Defense Forces says the voices of the three hostages accidentally killed by Israeli troops were captured on one of his
cameras just days earlier as they fled a firefight.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following all of this for us from Tel Aviv. Just take us through this, Hamas statement Jeremy, which seems to you know,
really take away all the optimism for any sort of ceasefire.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, especially when you consider the fact that over the last few days Max, we have been watching a
flurry of activity not only the Israelis very much are engaging with a lot of seriousness and putting proposals on the table for Hamas to consider
regarding the release of hostages and a pause in the fighting, the entry of aid, the release of Palestinian prisoners.
But also yesterday, we had seen Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas traveled to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials there who have been key mediators
as well in these negotiations. And yet, this morning, Hamas effectively reaffirming the position that they have held for several weeks now, which
is that they will not even engage in these negotiations until there is a pause in the fighting until Israel in their words, stops its aggression of
the Gaza Strip.
And so it appears that we are back to square one or perhaps even lower than that, because Hamas seems unwilling to engage in these talks. Israel had
put on the table, a potential proposal that would have seen a week long pause in the fighting, the release of some 40 hostages in exchange for
humanitarian aid to go in and the release of more heavy duty Palestinian prisoners than those who had been released in the previous rounds.
And amid all of this, of course, we know that the United Nations is preparing to potentially vote on a resolution that could call for a
suspension or a cessation of the hostilities in Gaza and also trying to establish perhaps a monitoring mechanism. There has been significant
wrangling over the language of that resolution over the last few days.
With the United States very much trying to get to a place where it can support this resolution, rather than abstaining or vetoing it in the way
that they did just a few weeks ago, when they vetoed a resolution calling for an all-out ceasefire in Gaza. Amid all of this, of course, those who
are suffering the most from all of this political wrangling and the lack of movement on these negotiations are Palestinian civilians.
We just crossed the 20,000 mark of numbers of Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza. That's combatants and non-combatants. But if you're trying
to get a sense of the scale of the civilian casualties in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health 70 percent of those 20,000, or 70 of
those 20,000 are women and children, just a staggering civilian death toll in Gaza.
FOSTER: In terms of that U.N. resolution, if it is voted through, how would Israel react? Would it see it as binding because it obviously has
criticized the U.N. quite a lot in recent years?
DIAMOND: Well, resolutions that come out of the U.N. Security Council are indeed legally binding. But in oftentimes, when they apply to certain
country, those countries tend to ignore that resolution, if it's something that they don't agree with. So there's not a whole lot of enforcement power
on these.
Israel, of course, has a track record of dismissing actions taken by the United Nations, of course. So far, they haven't said exactly how they will
react to this resolution. But it will be interesting to see and regardless, frankly, of whether or not Israel abides by the terms of this resolution.
This will be a watermark a significant moments in this 70 plus day war, during which we have watched as international pressure has been slowly
mounting and particularly in the last couple of weeks, as pressure from the United States has also been growing.
And so I think the most significant aspect of this would be if the United States voted for a resolution that called for a suspension or a stop in the
fighting that would certainly be a significant mile marker in the pressure that they have been bringing to bear on the Government of Israel.
FOSTER: Jeremy Diamond, thank you. In about 20 minutes, I'll interview the Former Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry about the tenuous
state of hostage negotiations and the larger obstacles to achieving a lasting Middle East peace. Coming up, the controversial ruling to ban
Donald Trump from the U.S. Presidential Ballot in Colorado, we'll get reaction from Colorado voters.
But first, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is upping the ante and his efforts to move migrants away from his state by flying them to Chicago.
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FOSTER: Texas has sent a plane full of migrants to Chicago marking escalation in Governor Greg Abbott's border fight with Biden
Administration. The Governor's Press Secretary says the flight departed from El Paso to Chicago on Tuesday with 120 passengers, including children.
Abbott has bussed more than 80,000 migrants to sanctuary cities across the U.S. since April 2022, including Chicago.
But that scheme hit a roadblock when Chicago passed a new passed ordinance last week preventing buses from dropping people off in the city without a
permit. For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Whitney Wild who's in Chicago. How's it going down there, Whitney?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is in direct retaliation for this ordinance that you just mentioned. Governor Greg
Abbott is openly saying that on Twitter. So basically what's happening here in Chicago was just rolled back a little bit is that the city passed an
ordinance that would allow the city to impound what they call rogue buses. So these are buses that drop migrants off at places that are not able to
accept them.
So a big office building, for example, other areas throughout the city that are not typically handling migrants that don't have an infrastructure for
handling migrants. What normally happens is that they're supposed to go to basically a drop off zone that's designated by the city. Usually that's
what happens. But there are some buses that don't do that.
And so the city has reserved the right to impound those buses. We know that that has happened one time. And now Greg Abbott, as you point out, upping
the ante here saying that he's going to start flying migrants into Chicago. This is not totally a typical Max; we have seen some numbers of migrants
coming into O'Hare and Midway Airport by flight.
So it's not like all migrants are coming in by bustle, though that is the predominant method of transportation that migrants are coming to Chicago.
But again, some migrants have arrived by plane. This is another example of that. This time though Greg Abbott taking direct responsibility for flying
these migrants to O'Hare. This happened Tuesday around 120 migrants were dropped off at O'Hare International Airport.
Right now there are almost 300 migrants awaiting placement at a shelter at O'Hare. This is an ongoing problem for the City of Chicago just as they
start to be able to get a handle on the migrant situation. It seems like there's another flood of migrants that come, Max. So for example, the city
has seen more than 26,000 migrants coming to Chicago since August 2022.
The majority of those buses and flights have come since May. And what we have reported on extensively over the last several months is how much this
is straining the resources in Chicago. Earlier this fall, there were more than 3000 migrants living on the floors of police stations and airports.
The city has worked rapidly to try to house those migrants bringing them out of the police stations, out of the airport. And it was really just in
the last couple of weeks that they were able to move those migrants out of police stations and really lower the number of migrants at O'Hare.
[09:15:00]
So this as I point out a city just being able to get a handle on this migrant situation and then all of a sudden, the situation shifts and now
they may be dealing with a rising number of migrants coming into O'Hare, which as you know, is an airport. It is not a shelter, and it is nobody's
ideal location for housing migrant's long term, Max.
FOSTER: Cools snow up. Thank you so much for joining us, Whitney. Now Donald Trump is banned from the Presidential Ballot in the U.S. State of
Colorado prompting a range of opinions from across the political spectrum. CNN spoke with Trump's Dormer Attorney General Bill Barr about the ruling
that said Trump is ineligible to run because of the constitutional ban on insurrectionists, holding public office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think that this case is legally wrong and untenable. And I think this kind of action of stretching the law,
taking these hyper aggressive positions to try to knock Trump out of the race are counterproductive, they backfire. He feeds on grievance just like
a fire feeds on oxygen and this is going to end up as a grievance that helps them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: So what the voters in Colorado actually think, we sent Gary Tuchman to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This coffee shop at Douglas County, Colorado goes by the simple name of coffee. And deter where we have
a simple question for customers.
TUCHMAN: Tell me your gut feeling. Do you think it's a good thing; the Colorado Supreme Court did that or not a good thing?
CHRISTIAN LYLES, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: You know, I'm not the biggest fan of Trump, but I don't think people should be taken off the
ballot, necessarily.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This man is a political independent in a very Republican county. So here in the county seat of Castle Rock, it's easy to
find loyal Trump Republicans who feel the same as this man.
TUCHMAN: What do you think of the Supreme Court decision?
TRAC STEPHENSON, DOUGHLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: I think it's unfair.
TUCHMAN: How come?
STEPHENSON: Government shouldn't get in; get in that position to control votes for certain candidates.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But we did find this Democrat who says that's precisely what this Court needed to do.
STEVEN FERRANDINO, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: I think it's a great decision. I think that when you try to overturn an election, you don't get
to run again. You know, we have a 14th amendment for a reason.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Back inside coffee, Loyal Trump supporter Tony -- doesn't take this decision seriously. She thinks the Supreme Court taking
Trump off the primary ballot is the result of game playing.
TUCHMAN: Why do you think they're playing a game and not doing their job?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they're part of the game.
TUCHMAN: And what's that game?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not being honest.
TUCHMAN: But you think that Trump has been honest?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the most part, yeah.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Her friend concurs, saying that she feels.
KRISTINA KARFORD, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: Outrage, absolute outrage that they're -
TUCHMAN: Why -- wrong?
KARFORD: They're going to take away our choice based on their personal beliefs, because I don't believe they're speaking for the people.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But Elle Gray believes the justices are. She's an independent who has voted for Donald Trump, but says she won't be voting
for him again, if he ends up back on the ballot.
ELLE GRAY, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: I agree with their ruling that he engaged in Insurrection. Yes.
TUCHMAN: So do you think it was the right thing to do?
GRAY: For my state, yes.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Keith Raymond has voted for Donald Trump twice. He says this time around, he's supporting Chris Christie. His opinion is more
nuanced.
KEITH RAYMOND, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: It's a complicated issue. But if the laws, law and the Supreme Court is stating it, we have to abide
by it. Doesn't mean I'm a fan of it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Many Coloradans are still digesting the court ruling, the varied opinions in the shop about Donald Trump, symbolic of countless
discussions in the state and this country. Kelsey Mystile is a Democrat.
KELSEY NISTEL, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: I think that what he did was unacceptable for our country, and he should have faced the consequences
for that.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Jake Herman is a Republican.
JAKE HERMAN, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO RESIDENT: I think if that was a legitimate thing that happened, if he was part of an Insurrection, he would
have been arrested. He wasn't arrested.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The Colorado primary is March 5th. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Castle Rock Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Not the U.S. Supreme Court could take up a separate issue connected to Donald Trump on Wednesday. Trump's legal team asked the high court to
say out of his presidential immunity dispute.
This dispute is over whether the Former U.S. President and Current Republican Presidential Front Runner has immunity from Special Counsel Jack
Smith's prosecution for alleged crimes related to the 2020 election subversion case. His talk about Trump's presidential immunity filing is
CNN's Katelyn Polantz and she joins us live from D.C. about to take us through this. So we all understand it Katelyn.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yeah, Max. What Donald Trump's legal team is saying right now is they don't want the
Supreme Court to rush to any judgment. They don't want any decisions legally with reckless abandon at the Supreme Court. What is happening here
is this case is about Donald Trump going to trial as a criminal defendant. That trial is set for March in federal court in Washington D.C. that date
is holding as of right now.
[09:20:00]
But there has to be some sort of resolution from the appeals court very likely almost certainly by the Supreme Court deciding whether Donald Trump
can go to trial and be tried for crimes related to the 2020 election, while he was serving as president. The question before them is about presidential
immunity and also double jeopardy.
Can Trump be tried a second time in a court of law after he already was tried during his impeachment proceedings before the U.S. Senate and he was
acquitted. So that's what the Supreme Court has to look at. And the Justice Department Jack Smith, the Special Counsel, they want the Supreme Court to
decide things very quickly, they are skipping an intermediary court going to the Supreme Court and saying, you guys have this, it's in the public
interest, you can take this case now, please give us a resolution.
There's a lot of reasons legally, why we should just skip ahead and see what the Supreme Court has to say here. But Donald Trump doesn't want the
Supreme Court to step in just yet. He wants it to go through this intermediary court, the court in the middle of the trial level and the
Supreme Court to take a look first and of course, to drag things out, potentially, so that that trial doesn't take place while he's running for
President.
FOSTER: What about this idea that it will be unconstitutional to allow him to run for President because of what happened during that Insurrection?
POLANTZ: Well, that's something that the State of Colorado, the Supreme Court in Colorado has determined for them, for just that state that he
can't be on the primary ballot as a candidate. Now, this is an issue that the Supreme Court is very likely going to be looking at. Right now Trump
will be on the ballot until something happens likely at the Supreme Court.
In the next couple of weeks, we are expecting Trump's team to go to the Supreme Court and then the Supreme Court can take a look at that and decide
whether the law of the land should be everywhere. Do we allow Donald Trump to be on the ballot or not if he is someone that a state determines was an
insurrectionist?
Now all of these questions are relating back to January 6, the 2020 election, Donald Trump's role at the time, whether it's about him being on
the ballot related to Colorado, or whether it's about his criminal trial. And so there's a lot that the Supreme Court has to deal with at this very
moment, and very likely in the coming months to make sense for Americans what happened in 2020, and how those things should shake out and be thought
about legally.
FOSTER: Katelyn, thank you. For his part, Donald Trump is lashing out at the Colorado ruling calling it a sad day in America. He's now urging his
supporters to chip in so we can stay on the ballot. Trump's Republican rivals including Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley say the voters not judges
should decide who runs for President. CNN's Brian Todd explains the constitutional amendment at the heart of the Colorado court's ruling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: We did nothing wrong.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump has again put the United States in uncharted waters never before in American history has the
14th Amendment to the Constitution, the so-called Insurrectionist Ban been applied to a top Presidential Candidate. But then again, no American
President has ever tried to overturn an election as Trump did. What is the 14th amendment?
STEPHEN VLADECK, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LAW SCHOOL: This forward looking rule that you have engaged in Insurrection against the United
States, you may not hold federal office unless two thirds of both chambers of Congress say you can.
TODD (voice-over): Specifically, section three of the 14th Amendment says no person who's previously taken an oath to support the Constitution shall
hold any office, which has engaged in Insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. And the
Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that's what Trump did on January 6th 2021 when he implored his supporters to go to the Capitol.
TRUMP: We're going to the Capitol.
TODD (voice-over): The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, another period of raw political turmoil.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Those Reconstruction amendments in 1868 came about because our country was torn apart in the Civil War.
VLADECK: When Congress drafted section three of the 14th Amendment it was already worried about the problem of Southern States. If you had been part
of the Confederacy, send them back to Washington, officials who had fought for the Confederacy, officials who had been leaders in the Confederate
government.
TODD (voice-over): In 1870, Zebulon Vance, who had served in the Confederate Army, was appointed as a Senator from North Carolina, but the
Senate refused to seat him citing the 14th amendment. Vance later got amnesty and did end up serving in the Senate. In the early 1900s, Victor
Berger, a Socialist from Wisconsin was refused a seat in the House of Representatives twice after having been elected.
His opposition to World War One had led him to be criminally charged with disloyal acts and the House used the 14th amendment to keep him out. But he
eventually got his conviction overturned and did serve in the House.
[09:25:00]
More recently, a County Commissioner in New Mexico was removed from office in 2022 on 14th amendment grounds, because he actually was a convicted
January 6 rioter. Now we have the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the Colorado ruling and decide whether Trump can be on state
ballots. It would be the first time since Bush versus Gore in 2000 that the Supreme Court would have weighed in on such an important matter in
presidential politics.
BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: The country is much more divided now than it's ever been before. I mean, in a sense, if you're a Supreme
Court justice, it makes Bush versus Gore look like a walk in the park.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): Donald Trump has denied doing anything wrong on January 6th and as of now he's not been convicted of any crime related to January
6th. But Legal Analyst Stephen Vladeck says at least one of those previous cases where Congress has denied seats to people based on the 14th Amendment
is an indication you don't have to be convicted to be prevented from holding office under that amendment. Brian Todd, CNN Washington.
FOSTER: Ahead on "Connect the World" an interview with the Former Head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. And Alon Liel will give his views on hostage
negotiations and what could happen in the weeks ahead in Gaza.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Welcome back. I'm Max Foster in London; you're watching "Connect the World". Hamas says it will not engage in talks about hostage and
prisoner swaps until Israel ends its military operation in Gaza. That announcement comes amid word that Israel has proposed a second pause in
fighting similar to the deal reached last month.
A senior Israeli official responded to the Hamas announcement by telling CNN, Israel is fully committed to the release of all hostages and to
destroy Hamas. Now Israeli leaders face anger at the home over the plight of the hostages and the accidental deaths of three of them shot by Israeli
troops.
I'm joined now by Alon Liel, the Former Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was also Israel's Ambassador to South
Africa. Thank you so much for joining us. First of all, we've had the statement last couple of hours that Hamas isn't going to release any more
hostages unless they get a broader ceasefire effectively. How we interpret that?
[09:30:00]
ALON LIEL, FORMER DIRECTOR GENERAL, ISRAELI MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: I think both sides do not have reasonable demands. I think the word or the
goal to eliminate Hamas or destroy Hamas is not realistic. And the wish of Hamas to have an end to fire is not realistic. We cannot eliminate Hamas.
And there is never -- to fire in Gaza. We're fighting in 100 years.
So this demand that after we exchange, they also just imprisoned as nobody will shoot is also not realistic. So I think both sides have to come back
to reality in exchange hostages and prisoners, and bring back to life thousands of families that are not living at the moment, worried about the
fate of their members of family.
FOSTER: Yeah, I mean, unimaginable for them to see all of this happening on, particularly where you saw those hostages that were actually shot by
the IDF because of the chaos there. What about the U.N. vote? Because if America does agree to some sort of resolution that the U.N. signs up to, do
you think Israel will actually adhere to it?
LIEL: I think that the only country in the world or the only international organization in the world that can really put pressure on Israel is the
United States. The U.N. is not considered, I think, unfortunately, a player here. United States, the United States has proved a strong airline -- all
the United States a lot.
And I think an American demand for the exchange can impact our government and or maybe force our government to act. The question is who has a similar
leverage on the Hamas. And we think that the combination of Qatar and Egypt has such an impact. And both sides have to feel the pressure before
something happens, unfortunately.
FOSTER: What do you make of the current government strategy in Israel? Because polling within Israel isn't positive, is it for Netanyahu, and this
is linked to the vulnerability of the hostages. And then outside the country, polling is very bad as well, because of the number of Palestinian
civilians dying.
LIEL: Yeah, I can speak more on our system. In the Israeli system, in matters of war and peace, there is one person deciding, and this is the
Prime Minister. When it comes to critical matters of this guide, the government doesn't matter. The Parliament doesn't matter, the public
doesn't matter. If there is one decision maker, it seems at the moment that on the other side, it is similar.
There is one decision maker --. I don't think he doesn't have a parliament, I don't think his cabinet is affecting him. So we are dependent on these
two players. And unfortunately, a not very logical players with the divert I think. But they will be making the decision in the pressures of the
United States at least should be directly on Netanyahu what effective pressure could be.
And I hate saying it to stop the humanitarian aid, because for Netanyahu or to allow Netanyahu to stop the humanitarian aid, because the feeling here
is that this is the real pressure on Hamas. Not that fighting. So it depends if the United States is ready to increase the pressures on Hamas
and on Israel to get such a deal.
FOSTER: One area of pressure, the United States has exerted is around the two state solution suggesting the current government doesn't believe in
one. And there needs to be a government in office that actually does believe in a two state solution.
LIEL: This is not pressure most of the Israeli public does not believe that the two state solutions is possible. Most of the Palestinians do not
believe in it.
[09:35:00]
This is a long term issue. And when we speak on exchange of hostages and prisoners, this issue of one state two state is completely irrelevant.
FOSTER: Okay, thank you so much for joining us today with your insight today on that. Just ahead on "Connect the World" a European court makes a
bombshell ruling over the future of footballs Super League. And the volcano that stole Christmas, why residents of a town in Southern Iceland will have
to spend the holiday away from home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Thousands of people evacuated from a town in Southern Iceland won't be allowed back to their homes in time for Christmas, while lava flows from
a volcanic eruption continue to slow. Authorities say they're unpredictable. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on the scene there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Up close as the Earth spews fountains of lava. South Iceland remains in a
state of emergency as the volcanic eruption continues.
PLEITGEN: This is as close as the Icelandic authorities are going to allow us to the actual fissures or where the eruption is happening. I'd say we're
a mile maybe a little less than a mile away from it. Now things have calmed down a little bit. But at the same time, of course, the danger is still
there. The authorities fear that there could be new events that might open up, pop up.
And that more lava could be gushing to the surface and then could be coming to the surface in fountains like we've seen over the past day and a half.
So while things have gotten a little bit more muted, certainly the danger is not over.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): In the early stages of the eruption, a wall of lava spewing hundreds of feet into the air. While it has subsided somewhat, the
underground magma tunnel remains active and dangerous.
BIARKI KALDALONS FRIIS, GEOLOGIST: Still dangerous. Of course, and the magma that is coming up is around 1200 degrees hot when it comes to the
surface. And it takes a long time for the surface to cool down.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The area around the eruption zone remains cordoned off, critical infrastructure endanger the world famous Blue Lagoon hot
springs closed.
PLEITGEN: Here's another reason why the situation is so dangerous. You see over there is the volcanic activity. And if we pan over in this direction,
over there is a geothermal power plant. That's extremely important for the electricity here in this area. The authorities are trying to protect that
power plant by building a berm against any lava flows.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): For the local residents, no respite.
KATRIN JAKOBSDOTTIR, ICELANDIC PRIME MINISTER: We now have this volcanic eruption very close to Grindavik. I think it is -- it has proven vital that
the town was evacuated in November. We have been buying flats for the residence. So now we actually have 70 flats that people can move into
before Christmas which is the most people who are in most dire need of housing.
[09:40:00]
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Leaving many residents wondering if they will ever see their homes again. Fred Pleitgen CNN, near Grindavik Iceland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: We are following a major court ruling in the world of sport. A top European Court says FIFA and UEFA unlawfully prevented the formation of
footballs Super League, Super League back in 2021. The court also says these organizations have been abusing a dominant position to control
European football.
Carolyn Manno joins us from New York. She's following this bombshell ruling because, you know, we all thought it was done and dusted. But now it's back
as potentially a proposal again.
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max. And this landmark court ruling is a really a major victory for those European clubs
who've been looking to join this breakaway league for a couple of years now.
The CEO of A22, which is the Super League's primary backer, says that they have now won the right to compete, and that the UEFA monopoly is over. He
also went on to say football is free. Barcelona President Joan Laporta also adding that the time has really come now for clubs like is to be able to
have greater control over their destinies.
So with this news, A22 quickly bringing together a new Super League proposal to the table that features 64 men's teams competing across three
leagues, and also 32 women's teams in two leagues. Safe to say this saga is far from over Max. So we'll be following it on "World Sport" and not quite
done and dusted.
FOSTER: No, it's fascinating. Thank you so much for joining us Carolyn. We'll be back in a moment.
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