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Israel-Hamas War; Iran Vows Decisive Response To Strike On Its Consulate; Search And Rescue Ongoing As Hundreds Still Stranded; Israel Using AI to Pick Gaza Bombing Targets; Growing Fallout over Deaths of Gaza Aid Workers; Judge Denies Trump Lawyers' Delay of Hush Money Trial; NASA Conducting Research during Solar Eclipse; Women's Sports. Aired 10-11 ET
Aired April 04, 2024 - 10:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD, I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi in for my colleague Becky Anderson.
Today, US President Joe Biden is expected to express his anger to the Israeli prime minister in a call after seven aid workers were killed in
Gaza. But ahead of the call, sources tell CNN that Mr. Biden has recently authorized the transfer of thousands of bombs. That decision, however, made
before more Monday strikes but the revelation comes at a critical point in US Israeli relations.
And inside Israel, Netanyahu is facing domestic pressure. A key member of his war cabinet is calling for early elections. Plus, more than 700 people
are still stranded in Taiwan after the strongest earthquake in a quarter century. CNN is on the ground at the epicenter.
Relations between the US President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to grow even more tense today. According to
a senior administration official, Mr. Biden is angry over the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza
earlier this week and will convey that message to Mr. Netanyahu in a phone call today. Both leaders are facing global outrage as the war carries on
and feel increasing domestic political pressure.
And CNN has just learned in the last half hour that the Biden administration authorized the transfer of thousands of bombs to Israel
according to our sources. It was decided before the strike on the World Central Kitchen and aid workers, but still a recent decision and it adds to
Israel's arsenal despite US concerns over the country's conduct in the war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the world -- around the world, there is horror and anger over the killing of aid workers in Gaza. These are the faces of the victims,
innocent people who lost their lives trying to help others. Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, is among those lashing out. He
accuses Israel of systematically and deliberately targeting the aid workers. CNN's Brian Todd has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The 54-year-old founder of World Central Kitchen slamming the Israeli military for the attack that killed seven of
the group's aid workers in Gaza.
JOSE ANDRES, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: They were target systematically, car by car.
TODD: Celebrity chef Jose Andres, in a jarring interview with Reuters, describes how the vehicles in the team's convoy were fired on.
ANDRES: They attacked the first car. We have a feeling they were able to escape safely because it was an armored vehicle. They were able to move in
the second one. Again, this one was hit. They were able to move in the third one.
TODD: Andres says his team tried to communicate with the Israel Defense Forces at that moment.
ANDRES: In the chaos of the moment, whatever happened, to try to be telling IDF why are they doing that, they were targeting us in deconflicting zone,
in an area controlled by IDF, them knowing that it was our teams moving on that route.
TODD: Regarding Israeli claims that the attack was a mistake and unintentional, Andres brushed back fiercely.
ANDRES: This was not just bad luck situation where, oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place or, no, this was over 1.5-1.8 kilometers with a
very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of. That's very clear
who we are and what we do. It seems that what is happening in Gaza is like a true Hunger Games. This has to end.
TODD: Andres went after the leadership of Israel and the US.
ANDRES: We are letting the people of Palestine down. US must do more. They need to understand that this was not by somebody that is above law and
order, that decided just to kill us because, I don't know, maybe because I did a tweet that was very strong against President Netanyahu.
TODD: Andres repeatedly rejected Israeli and US claims that the strikes on his team were not deliberate.
ANDRES: Even if were not in coordination with IDF, not democratic country and not military, can be targeting civilians and humanitarians, especially
when the technology today allows you to know things in ways not too long ago was not possible.
Those drones have eyes on everything that moves in Gaza. I've been there. This is drones non-stop flying above you. There's nothing that moves that
IDF doesn't know, but said that even nobody should be targeting ever. Humanitarian organizations and civilians continuously.
TODD: Asked if World Central Kitchen will start its operations again in Gaza, chef Andres said their work is "halted," but that they're analyzing
the situation hour by hour to figure out how to keep doing the work. And in a pointed message to the Israeli prime minister, I will tell to.
ANDRES: Prime Minister Netanyahu, 200 humanitarians have died already. Tens of thousands of civilians have died. I'm sorry, but I think one
humanitarian life is one too many. One children is one too many.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Again, regarding this attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli forces "unintentionally" struck innocent
people. The IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, has said that the attack was a "grave mistake." Other Israeli officials have said
the incident is being investigated at the highest levels. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
GIOKOS: Right now, I want to get right over to Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon who's standing by to tell us more on the US authorizing these
bombs to Israel, because I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by this, especially considering the Biden administration's tone in the last
few days.
It is important to note, however, Natasha, that this decision was made before the strike on Monday. Could you tell us more about what you've
heard?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Eleni. However, it was not long before that strike on Monday that the US confirmed the authorization of the
transfer of over 2,000 new munitions for Israel, including over 1,000 500- pound bombs and over 1,000 small diameter bombs adding to Israel's arsenal of course, at a moment when they're coming under increasing pressure by the
US, by the international community, to rein in their operations in Gaza and do more to protect civilian lives, allow more humanitarian aid in.
And, you know, the US has been pursuing a change in rhetoric here, trying to get the Israelis to do more to protect civilians. And they are, you
know, issuing statements and readouts, including from President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying that they are outraged over in
particular this strike on World Central Kitchen aid workers.
However, when it comes to the actual arms sale policy, it seems to be business as usual. And that is something that the administration has not
necessarily denied. They have said that they are going to continue supporting Israel with these arms transfers and these weapons sales in
order to allow Israel to defend itself against the threats that it faces, including Hamas and Iran.
But it's important to note that even though this authorization, this latest authorization came just before this WCK strike, it came after well over 190
other aid workers have been killed in Gaza already as a result of Israeli strikes and the fighting there. And so, I think that with this latest
report, and also as you see President Biden speak to Netanyahu today, there are going to be even louder calls for the administration to kind of match
its actions with its rhetoric.
GIOKOS: All right. Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much for that update.
Standing by for us, we've got Alon Pinkas joining us from Tel Aviv to weigh in on the call that is expected, of course, later on today between Biden
and Netanyahu, and also the domestic pressure that Netanyahu is facing the call for early elections in Israel. Alon is a former Israeli Consul General
in New York. We've also got CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson joining us from Washington for more analysis. Thank you very much to both
of you.
Alon, I want to start off with you, and we've just heard Natasha Bertrand telling us a little bit more about the sale of bombs to Israel, a decision
that was made before what we saw the strike on Monday with regards to the WCK aid workers that were killed. What do you make of that decision given
the anger that President Biden has so publicly levied towards president -- Prime Minister Netanyahu?
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Hello, Eleni. Well, there are three plausible explanations here. The first is, and you
mentioned it and Natasha Bertrand certainly mentioned it, and that is these are long term contracts that are being fulfilled, both munitions and the
sale or the authorization of the sale of further 27 F-35 fighters and several dozens of F-15s.
The second explanation is that this reflects a US policy that has not changed. And President Biden may be angry, outraged, laments what is
happening as these are all terms that the White House used, but they haven't crossed between the rhetorical and the policy realms. What they're
saying is one thing, what they're doing seems another.
The third, probably the most --
GIOKOS: Yes.
PINKAS: -- plausible -- I'm sorry?
GIOKOS: Yes, please go ahead. Yes.
PINKAS: I'm sorry. The third, probably the more plausible explanation is that Israel guaranteed to the US, made a guarantee to the US rather that
these munitions will be used in the event of an escalation up north in Lebanon with Hezbollah rather than in Gaza, which made it easier for the US
to authorize and go ahead with the sale.
GIOKOS: Stephen, I want to talk about this phone call that is anticipated between Netanyahu and Biden later on today. And we, I mean, we've seen
words from President Biden that the harshest yet with regards to his anger around the killing of the aid workers. What are we anticipating there?
Because as just Alon described, this is a longstanding agreement with Israel in terms of selling weapons. But what are the consequences? Are we
going to see a phone call where there will be conditions attached to any sale of weapons down the line? I mean, what are we anticipating here?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: That seems very unlikely because, as Alon was saying, the US rhetoric has been increasing but
there's a contradiction here because the administration is doing nothing concretely at least to try to enforce a change in Israeli behavior. This
phone call takes place with both leaders under great domestic pressure.
President Biden is being undermined in many ways on the progressive wing of his own democratic coalition by his continued support for Netanyahu. There
is outrage among those voters about the civilian toll of the Israeli war in Gaza. So this is something that's really threatening President Joe Biden's
own political standing.
And in Israel, of course, we've seen the biggest demonstrations against Netanyahu since the war began. He's got problems in his own cabinet. Benny
Gantz, a member of the war cabinet, came out and called for early elections. So both of these leaders are in a political position where
they're challenged by the situation. And it may well be that their priorities are actually conflicting.
Biden needs this to end as soon as possible. Netanyahu may need to prolong the war in order to prop up his own political position.
GIOKOS: So, Stephen, just a key democratic senator has just told CNN that he is now ready to consider conditions on aid to Israel. I want you to hear
what Chris Coons had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I think we're at that point. I think we're at the point where President Biden has said, and I have said and others have said,
if Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister, were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale, they were to drop thousand pound bombs and send in a battalion to go
after Hamas and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, that I would vote to condition aid to Israel. I've never said that before.
I've never been here before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Stephen, could this be a turning point?
COLLINSON: I think this is very significant because Chris Coons is exceedingly close to President Joe Biden. He's one of the closest US
politicians who has the President's ear. I think it's the latest in an increasing drumbeat of signals from senior Democrats to the White House
that the President really does have a great problem in his reelection year over this war.
We saw this week, for example, another protest vote in the Wisconsin Democratic Primary, 48,000 people voted against Biden. That's a key state
in the election. A few weeks ago, we heard Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, call for early elections in Israel, another very pro-
Israel senator. There are a number of trial balloons being sent up by Democrats to try to convince the President to strengthen his rhetoric on
Israel with consequences. That hasn't happened so far.
GIOKOS: Yes.
COLLINSON: The President is actually one of the most pro-Israel presidents of the modern era in the United States. But the politics is beginning to
shift very dangerously for Biden here, I think.
GIOKOS: It seems, indeed. Alon, I want to bring you in here. And Stephen mention of the Chuck Schumer tweet. Listen to this. He said, when a leading
member of Israel's war cabinet calls for early elections, and over 70% of the Israeli population agrees, according to a major poll, you know it's the
right thing to do.
I also want to just bring to your attention Yair Lapid's tweets as well. He said the state of Israel can't wait for six months until this terrible,
dangerous and most failed government in countries history leaves. What is your sense of the domestic pressure that Benjamin Netanyahu is dealing
with, not only internally but also on the streets?
PINKAS: Well, it's tremendous pressure, which he has resisted until now. But you have to distinguish, Eleni, between these two references. Chuck
Schumer was vindicating his own speech from two weeks ago in which he called for an early election. And what Benny Gantz did, and I'll get to
that in five seconds, is exactly vindicating what Chuck Schumer did.
Pay attention, as Stephen correctly did, to the three Chrises, Chris Coons, Chris Van Hollen and Chris Murphy, all three leading Democratic senators.
All three considered to be very close to President Biden, with Chris Coons being very close. So the pressure that they are exerting on Biden is then
exerted on Benny Gantz, who was invited to Washington two weeks ago. And I'm sure that was on the agenda.
Now after Benny Gantz, let me put something in perspective briefly. Everyone seems to think that this is very dramatic, that Benny Gantz,
member of the war cabinet, is calling for an early election. But look carefully what he said. Let's make September an agreed upon day for an
election to which Yair Lapid, chairman of the opposition, alluded to.
That means that he's not leaving the government with -- government, which gives and provides Mr. Netanyahu with even more added protective field, a
political protective field. And two, September is an agreed upon day. So Mr. Netanyahu can prolong this, as Stephen was referring to correctly, can
prolong the war for his own political needs. So September could actually become December and December can become February, which is exactly what Mr.
Netanyahu wants to do.
I do think, however, that the pressure on Benny Gantz rather than on Mr. Netanyahu, the pressure on Mister Gantz to withdraw from the government
will increase. It would lead, as a consequence, to more demonstrations, which would lead to more pressure on the coalition, which would then lead
to an early election.
GIOKOS: All right. Alon Pinkas, thank you so much for your time. Steven Collinson, we always appreciate your insights. Great to have you both on.
Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is speaking out in harsh terms, denouncing an Israeli strike that hits its consulate in
Damascus Monday, killing at least seven military officials. CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Beirut. Ben, good to have you on.
I want you to give me a sense of what we're expecting in terms of retaliation. I guess that's the big question at this stage.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the big question, Eleni, but we simply don't have the answer. Nobody really knows.
But certainly as people wait for an Iranian response, worries, tensions are growing. We've heard from Israel, for instance, today that the Israeli
military has canceled all leaves for combat units. In addition to that, yesterday the Israelis also called up Reserves for air defenses and
announced intention to recruit more people for the air defense units.
Now we're also seeing reports that today there has been widespread disruption of GPS services not only in northern Israel, which has been
fairly common over the last six months, but also as south as Tel Aviv, where people trying to drive around are seeing that suddenly their GPS
would indicate that they're in places like Beirut and Cairo. The assumption is that the Israeli military is disrupting the GPS services in worried that
perhaps those, that Iran will fire missiles or Hezbollah or somebody else using the GPS facilities available in those areas.
Now, tomorrow is what's known as Quds Day, Jerusalem Day, and we know that in Iran, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, will be speaking here in
Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will be speaking. There will be large demonstrations. And many people are worried in Israel that tomorrow
might be the day when something could happen, that Israel -- the Iranian response could come.
In fact, the senior Israeli spokesman -- military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, has told people not to worry, not to go out and buy food and generators and
get money out of ATM's. But nonetheless, tensions are high. What we've seen on the border between Lebanon and Israel today is pretty much ordinary
exchanges back and forth between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
Nonetheless, the worry is that perhaps that is where Lebanon's south and Israel's north, where, if anything does happen of significance, it might
happen in that area. Eleni?
[10:20:15]
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for that update.
All right, still to come this hour, an investigation claiming that Israel is using artificial intelligence to help pick bombing targets in Gaza.
Here, my conversation with the author of that report.
The rescue mission is ongoing in Taiwan after Wednesday's earthquake. Ivan Watson takes us on the ground.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: More than 700 people are still stranded and dozens are still unaccounted for in Taiwan after being struck by the strongest earthquake in
decades. Rescue operations have been ongoing with 10 dead and thousands injured. Take a look at this moment when the earthquake struck. Maternity
staff rushing to protect newborn babies at a hospital in Taipei. And this, cars suddenly stopping and rushing away. Then moments later, boulders begin
to fall. A car is then struck and CNN has not been able to verify the images and is unaware if any people were injured. One of the biggest
challenges facing rescuers is the location, as many are stranded in rocky and mountainous areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There were too many rocks like bullets falling from above. We didn't know where to run. We were all
scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: The 7.4 magnitude earthquake hits Hualien County on Wednesday at around 8:00 a.m. local time. Hualien County is on the east side of Taiwan.
However, much of the rest of the island still felt the impact. CNN's Ivan Watson is in Hualien as rescue operations continue there.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The small city of Hualien was the epicenter of Wednesday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake. And I
think this building here is an example of just how frighteningly powerful this disaster was. It's a day later now, and already you've got work crews
ready to bring down what's left of this building. We saw videos of dramatic rescues, firemen pulling residents out of this building.
Now, make no mistake, this was a deadly disaster. The death toll has been incrementally growing. More than 1,000 people injured. There are still
rescues underway in the mountains around this city where there were enormous landslides bringing down entire mountain faces.
But take another look at Hualien down this road. You would be hard pressed to find any other building that had significant damage. In fact, a lot of
these shops and businesses are currently open right now. The city authorities say there were at least 92 buildings damaged. They're being
inspected to see if they're still viable going forward into the future. But Taiwan and Hualien in particular are very experienced when it comes to
earthquakes.
[10:25:19]
And I think what we're seeing here demonstrates the -- how prepared this community is, the structural integrity of these buildings. Everybody I've
talked to here has said that they have lived through many, many earthquakes before. That Wednesday morning was the most frightening experience they had
ever had. That said, it's very clear that this disaster, if Taiwan was not so well prepared, could have been much, much worse.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hualien, Taiwan.
GIOKOS: This is what grief looks like in Ukraine as the fight to resist Russia's invasion goes on. Well, this is the moment when a Ukrainian
firefighter learned his father, a fellow firefighter and rescuer, was one of four people killed in a Russian strike on the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Ukraine's interior minister paid tribute to the fallen firefighters and offered condolences to the son, saying it is impossible to watch this
footage with a cold heart.
Well, NATO is marking its 75th anniversary in Brussels today, honoring its past and reportedly looking for ways to ensure it can go on supporting
Ukraine. America's top diplomat is on hand, meeting with Ukraine's foreign minister who says NATO allies have agreed to identify air defense systems
in their arsenals to be sent to Kyiv.
An angry Kremlin, meantime, is warning that NATO is, in its view, in direct confrontation with Russia. Those images you're seeing coming through from
the Kremlin.
All right, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD live from Abu Dhabi. And just ahead, here from the author of a report claiming that Israel is using AI to
help select bombing targets in Gaza after the short break. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:00]
GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos. I'm in for my colleague, Becky Anderson.
We are expecting a phone call between President Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today, amid growing tensions between the
allies. We are watching for any developments to come out of that call.
Meanwhile, we're also learning that Israel is using artificial intelligence to help pick bombing targets in Gaza. That is according to an investigation
by "+972 Magazine" and local call (ph), citing Israeli intelligence officials.
The online publication, which is run by Palestinians and Israelis, reports the AI based tool is called Lavender. And although it is known to have a 10
percent error rate, human review of the targets it comes up with was cursory at best.
The IDF did not dispute the tool exists but it denied AI was being used to identify suspected terrorists.
Now CNN cannot independently verify what is in this investigation. Last hour, I spoke to the author of that report, Yuval Abraham. I started off by
asking him about his findings and how the AI program works. I want you to take a listen to this conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUVAL ABRAHAM, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, +972 MAGAZINE: That description, just, you know, by the way, it appears in a 2021 book and a book that was
signed anonymously but we discovered was actually written by the present commander of Units 8200, which is like the Israeli equivalent of the NSA.
And that book is titled, "Human Machine teams: How a collaboration between AI and human beings can revolutionize the world."
And such a target machine, such a system with this feature, exists in the book. Now according to the six Israeli military intelligence sources that
have spoken with, as you said, what Lavender does is that it collects information on almost everybody in the Gaza Strip.
One source told me it's 90 percent of the people. So hundreds of thousands of people. And it gives each one and rating based on this long list of
features. And the rating shows how probable the machine thinks that a particular individual is -- that belongs to the Hamas or the Islamic Jihad
military wings.
And as sources said, when they were operating this machine, they were told two things. The first is that, during the first few weeks of the war, they
were not forced to apply any thorough supervision over the results.
So one source told me that he would spend roughly 20 seconds before authorizing each target. And the only supervision they needed to do is to
check if the target the machine marked was a male or female.
And the second thing, as you said, both have said that the machine would occasionally make mistakes. It would mark people who have a loose
connection to Hamas or no connection at all to Hamas as potential targets.
And they knew that the supervision mechanism in place would not be able to find all of these mistakes.
GIOKOS: I'm sure you've been seeing just the aftermath of the World Central Kitchen staff that were killed, seven people. And the IDF came back
and responded, this was a grave misidentification and, of course, have admitted their mistake.
When you saw the story playing out, based on the investigation that you've been conducting and the fact that you've just talked about errors that can
exist, what did you -- how did you respond to the story?
ABRAHAM: So I don't have any information specific to that story but what I was thinking is, you know, after talking to all of these Israeli
intelligence officers, the general feeling that I got from them really is a trigger-happy -- would be an understatement.
Like they were using these systems in an almost automatic way and authorizing strikes that's killed really entire Palestinian families for
targets that they thought, they said were not important enough in the military's eyes to use expensive munitions on.
One source said that he calls these garbage targets. So when I heard what happens to the seven aid workers, I thought that -- I thought Israel just
did not know that they are internationals.
But I -- immediately we called the case in the beginning of March with the flour truck, when 112 Palestinians around the aid truck were killed, the
Israeli military says that it shot at some of them. I recorded "The Guardian" reporting. That's 14 cases like this of Palestinians being shot
around aid trucks happened before.
And I was wondering, is the Israeli military saying this and issuing this apology because of what happened or because of the identity of the victims?
[10:35:04]
That's what I was thinking, you know, after speaking (INAUDIBLE) these Israeli intelligence officers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Now in response to that report, the IDF says that, contrary to claims, the IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that
identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target
identification process.
For each targets, IDF procedures require conducting an individual assessment of the anticipated military advantage and collateral damage
expected.
World Central Kitchen says its operations in Gaza are suspended for now after 17 members were killed in an Israeli strike on Monday. It has not yet
reached a decision on when it will resume its vital work. Another aid organization, Anera, has also suspended humanitarian work in Gaza. This is
what they see or told CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN CARROLL, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ANERA: I think viewers should think about what if World Central Kitchen delivered meals in Israel to displaced
Israelis after October 7th?
What if Hamas had bombed a convoy of World Central Kitchen workers delivering meals to Israelis?
What would the world's reaction be?
What would the retaliation be?
What would be the efforts to redouble efforts to keep more weapons from coming in?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Sherine Tadros joins us now live from New York. She is the deputy director of advocacy and U.N. representative at Amnesty International and
was previously senior international correspondent for Al Jazeera in Gaza.
Sherine, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for taking the time today. I mean, the whole world is pretty shocked with the news out of Gaza
with World Central Kitchen aid workers that died.
But frankly, the overall number of aid workers is pretty shocking. We're seeing record numbers of up to 200 people, aid workers that have been
killed thus far, making it the deadliest war.
I want you to give me a sense of what you think of the response to this particular case. And Amnesty International has been very loud in its
response every time something occurs on the ground with aid workers.
SHERINE TADROS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY AND U.N. REPRESENTATIVE, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: It's completely unacceptable. It seems to be that
the Israeli officials are saying, whoopsee, we have this fog of war. We didn't see the -- they were aid workers.
But as your last guest talked about, there's very sophisticated weaponry being used by the Israeli army. And so it's really not an excuse to say
that there's a fog of war. The head of the organization had talked about how the vehicles were very clearly marked.
And it's one of the three vehicles were. He talked about how this looked like a deliberate killing, a deliberate targeting of his staff when the
seven people were killed. And what we need now is an independent and an impartial investigation, not an investigation by the Israeli --
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: Is that is that possible, Sherine, is that -- is that possible, an independent -- yes.
TADROS: It absolutely is possible. And so far as what we would need is for Israel to allow four investigators to do their job, investigators that are
not from the Israeli army. This is not rocket science. This is something that can be done. The United Nations can do it.
There are other independent and impartial experts that can conduct such an investigation. But what we've seen in the past is that Israel has said, no,
we will conduct our own investigation into our own army. And of course, that leads to very little information ever becoming public and absolutely
no accountability.
Sherine, I want to move on to this new law, a potential new law out of Israel, that would ban any foreign media that posed a security risk to
Israel. Al Jazeera coming under the spotlight; you worked for Al Jazeera. We know just how many staff members have been in killed in this war as well
and how deadly it has been.
But overall, this could open up a Dora's (sic) box for foreign media as a whole, covering this war.
What are your thoughts?
TADROS: Absolutely. And that is the point of it. It is not just about Al Jazeera. It's about trying to warn off all foreign media.
When you have a law like this that, in its terminology, is so wide, is so easily abused, because it's anything that is against, quote, "national
security," anything that the prime minister and communications minister decide is not good for the country, they can very quickly shut down that
foreign news network.
And this is an embarrassment for a country that calls itself a democracy, that champions itself as the only democracy in the Middle East. Well, this
is not how democracies act.
[10:40:03]
And friends of Israel should remind them of that. In fact, this is straight out of a dictator's playbook to have this kind of law enforced. It's part
of a stream of repressive measures that we've seen in the course of the last year.
And last year, we saw another very similar legislation being passed, that crackdown on a Lebanese station. Of course the killing of Al Jazeera
journalists shooting a blocklit (ph) last -- in 2022.
And last six months, as you know, very well, foreign (ph) journalists have not been allowed inside of Gaza to cover the war unless they're on an
Israeli army embed with severe restrictions.
So this is again an assault on foreign journalists and, quite simply, leaders that are not afraid of the truth are not afraid of journalists.
So Sherine, the accusation is from Israel's side in -- and this is what they are saying, is that Al Jazeera is sympathetic toward Hamas and is a
voice for Hamas.
What is your response to that?
TADROS: Well, I'll let Al Jazeera speak for themselves and I believe they have released statements talking about how this is complete nonsense. But
it's a very slippery slope.
Once you start accusing certain media of saying certain things that you don't like, calling them biased, it's hard right now in the media landscape
to talk about completely neutral channels as it is.
So under international law, it's very clear, you cannot pick and choose which media you like and you don't like this. These are accredited media
professionals. They should be afforded that kind of respect, even if you don't like what they say. That is what democracy is about.
GIOKOS: Sherine, so good to have you on and hear your thoughts on this. We appreciate your taking the time. Thank you so much.
Still to come, delay, delay and delay. It is the favorite tactic of Donald Trump's lawyers but it didn't work this time in his criminal hush money
case. More on the failed motions straight ahead.
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GIOKOS: The judge in Donald Trump's criminal hush money case gave a motion to delay the April 15th trial the thumbs down. Trump's lawyers said it
should be paused while the Supreme Court considers Trump's claim of presidential immunity.
A frustrated judge, Juan Merchan, disagreed, saying the request tested the court's credulity. Now our senior crime and justice reporter Katelyn
Polantz has been following the story for us. Anything legal to do with Trump, Katelyn is your go-to person.
Good to see you. I want you to give me a sense of what happened today with this hush money trial. And the judge did not mince words, did he. Tell me
what happened.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Not at all. The judge has to make decisions on anything that Donald Trump's team is
requesting at this point.
[10:45:00]
They're often requesting to delay. By prosecutors' count, they've asked eight times for delays. But Judge Juan Merchan in New York City, he has
that jury selection, the beginning of the trial set for April 15th. And he is not willing to move things back.
This latest request that he shot down from Trump's team is about presidential immunity. Donald Trump's lawyers wanted them to cut out -- or
they wanted the judge to cut out the ability of prosecutors to refer to anything Donald Trump was saying once he was in the presidency, saying
that's immune, shouldn't be part of this case at all.
Now the judge said, you have brought this request way too late in this process for me to consider. It's something that you can bring up piece-by-
piece at trial if the prosecutors want to say, read a tweet to the jury or tell the jury something Donald Trump said while he was president. We can
talk about it then.
But this is not the time, shooting down a request by Trump's team to delay the case until after the Supreme Court looks at presidential immunity in a
different, separate criminal case Donald Trump is facing.
But it's not the only thing on the table as far as Trump's bid for delays in this case. They also are still asking to put off the trial's beginning
because they say there's too much publicity around Donald Trump right now for him to have a fair trial. He's campaigning for the presidency. The
judge has denied this request before.
And so it's very likely he does the same again but has not ruled exactly on this yet. The prosecutors in the case, they have shot back to the latest
request on the publicity attempt to delay. And they've said it is perverse for Donald Trump to be asking this.
That's their word, "perverse," because Donald Trump is the cause of so much of the publicity himself.
GIOKOS: It is indeed. In another case -- and let's make the kids (ph) -- another case, the classified documents case, the judge is taking a lot of
time to decide legal issues.
What can we read into that?
POLANTZ: I've lost count of how many legal issues the judge hasn't decided over the course of the last month; 34 days ago, we were in court. And both
sides, Trump's team and the Justice Department, asked the judge to put a trial date on the calendar. It had been set to go to trial in May. that
classified documents case in her Florida courtroom.
That was clearly not going to happen and so they laid out timelines. Nothing since then. There are other things that the judge is not ruling on.
And one of those issues relates to a thought exercise that she has had both sides go through, related to what they could tell the jury about the
possibility of using the Presidential Records Act to look at the charge of mishandling classified documents.
The Justice Department shot back just the other day that this case needs to be moved along quite promptly and that that thought exercise that the judge
is asking them to do is absolutely incorrect under the law.
GIOKOS: Katelyn, thank you so much for making sense of all of that. Great to see you, Katelyn Polantz for us.
And still to come, Monday's eclipse across North America, a stunning cosmic event and a chance for sciences to unravel mysteries of the solar system.
Details on that coming up next.
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[10:50:00]
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GIOKOS: While millions of people across North America will carefully look up on Monday to witness the solar eclipse, NASA will be launching rockets
and high-altitude planes into its path.
The space agency hopes to gather invaluable data and observations when the moon temporarily but totally blocks the sun's light. CNN's Bill Weir joins
us now to tell us all about the science behind this and why this is quite an exciting phenomenon.
It'll last for exactly, I think four minutes.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Right.
GIOKOS: Short window here.
WEIR: It is. It's a short window but thanks to the tools that NASA has, they can watch it a lot longer than most of us.
Just for context, did you know that Einstein's theory of relativity was proven during an eclipse?
He theorized that the time and space sort of warps the fabric of the universe so it would make stars seem out of place. And only three years
after the theory of relativity, was that proven during an eclipse. They saw he was right about that.
Right now, the fascination about the big mystery is the corona of the sun. That is the hot outer atmosphere, which is millions of degrees hotter than
the surface of the sun, the center of the sun itself.
They don't know why that is, that that hot outer ring, which looks like a halo during an eclipse, maintains a sort of a steady temperature while the
sun goes through these 11 year cycles of activity.
Right now were at solar maximum, which means it's most active it can possibly be. So they're going to measure with these high altitude planes,
they're called WB-57s. They can fly 10 miles high in the sky, twice as high as commercial aviation.
And using spectrometers and special cameras to study the corona there as well and the rockets that they're firing up will actually study the
ionosphere, which is the layer of the sky between deep space and Earth -- breathable Earth -- that has -- is full of these electrically charged
particles that come from solar activity.
And as the sun moves around the planet, as we spin around and the shadow moves you can see the electrical activity in the ionosphere. It sort of
sparks during when the sun is up and then fades when the sun goes down in that region of the Earth.
Well, when you have a temporary sort of artificial sunset in the middle of the day, they're firing rockets in there to measure before, during and
after how the ionospheric changes, which affects our satellites and our cell phones and life down here on Earth.
GIOKOS: That is so cool, Bill, very cool.
Where are you going to be?
Are you going to be --
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WEIR: Well, I'm going to be -- I so wanted to be like up in Buffalo. But I'm going to be in a studio in Atlanta with our colleagues --
(CROSSTALK)
WEIR: -- we'll be doing four hours of geeking out on science and wonder and --
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GIOKOS: Yes, I'm going to ask if I can get onto that assignment. I'm in the UAE, so I'm not going to catch it but, you know, I mean, historically,
you know, any solar eclipses or lunar eclipses always was like an omen of good things or bad things that could happen.
But again, today, the esoteric (ph) fields, everyone's watching to see what it could mean for their star signs. So I actually checked. And you're also
Sagittarius. And so am I and let me tell you what the astrologers are predicting. Apparently, there's a new romance or you're ready to put a ring
on it.
Does that resonate with you?
WEIR: I've been engaged for about five years but we're actually talking about doing it sealing it, getting married. So maybe yes.
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WEIR: Maybe the attacker (ph).
Does it mean that we have to get married during the eclipse?
GIOKOS: You have to, I mean, this is like, this is, I mean, I'm already married, so there's -- this doesn't mean anything for me but apparently I
should be writing a book or getting into a passion project. So, anyway, good luck to all of us. Good times.
Feel the energy of the solar eclipse, Bill. I'm relying on you and your team.
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WEIR: One way or another, scientifically, (INAUDIBLE), we can all enjoy one of these. It's non-political.
(LAUGHTER)
GIOKOS: It's not -- exactly, exactly. Binds us all together. Bill Weir, always a pleasure to speak to you. Thank you so much.
WEIR: Likewise.
GIOKOS: Well, join us on Monday for the total solar eclipse as it travels from Mexico across America and into Canada. Our special coverage starts at
12:00 pm Eastern in the U.S. You'll have the fantastic Bill Weir and other great CNN anchors taking you through it; 8:00 pm here in the UAE.
You don't want to miss it -- and 5:00 pm in London.
And Saudi Arabia, in the meantime, has managed to eclipse other locations to land a big-time tennis tournament. The Women's Tennis Association has
agreed that Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will host the WTA finals for the next three years, starting this November.
The WTA says, it looked at multiple bids but Saudi checked all the boxes, with -- which included offering record prize money of more than $15 million
for this year.
[10:55:10]
Caitlin Clark in the meantime scored 41 points Monday night to lead her team to the NCAA women's basketball Final Four. And she broke the all-time
division 1 scoring record this season with more than 3,900 career points.
Now Caitlin Clark has another honor to celebrate. She has been named the 2024 Naismith Women's College Player of the Year. Now it's the second
consecutive win for the Iowa Hawkeyes superstar. Clark spoke to the crowd last night in Ohio after receiving the award, let's listen in.
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CAITLIN CLARK, WNBA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: But like I said, I think it's been a special year for women's basketball. So to win this award is really
special. But to be back here playing with my team, I couldn't script it any better. I know some of them are here somewhere back there. I'm not really
sure.
All right there.
Thank you for being here. I love you guys. This is just as much yours as is it mine.
And my parents are here.
And I love you guys to death.
And, yes, I'm just very grateful and thankful and I'll see you on Friday night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos, stay with CNN. "NEWSROOM" is up next.
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END
