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American Morning

Rally In Support of Israel To Take Place in Washington

Aired April 15, 2002 - 08:24   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We continue with our coverage of the Middle East now. Secretary of State Colin Powell traveled to Beirut and Damascus today in an effort to stop a second front. These are the attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas across the Lebanese border into Israel. He is also seeking an end to the violence even as the stand- off between the Israeli military and Palestinian gunmen continues outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

And as Palestinians and Israelis bitterly disagree on the extent of the killing and destruction in the Jenin refugee camp, which Sharon called a center of terror, and who is responsible.

This morning thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people, are heading to Washington to show their support for Israel's position in the Middle East conflict. And on Friday, four major Jewish groups sponsored a full page ad in the "New York Times" saying Jews in Israel fight for survival every day and it asked American Jews to give up one day to show their support.

One of the keynote speakers at today's rally is CNN's contributor, Bill Bennett, who joins us now from Washington -- good morning, Bill. Welcome.

WILLIAM BENNETT, EMPOWER AMERICA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Paula. Good morning.

ZAHN: Before we get to that, I'd love for you to comment on my interview with the former mayor of Boston, Ray Flynn, who had some interesting thoughts about Cardinal Law. And he essentially said he believes the reason why he doesn't think Cardinal Law will resign was that the Holy Father sort of thinks that the burden rests with him right now and he's the man, perhaps, that can reform the system to protect children down the road.

Is that a cop out?

BENNETT: I don't think he's the man. I don't think Law is the man. Look, I'm only a lay Catholic. I'm not former ambassador to the Vatican. But everybody can see that Cardinal Law has lost, as you pointed out, his moral authority. It may be only the people who can remove him, as it may be only Congress that can impeach and convict a president. But there are times when a president ought to resign, Nixon's case, Clinton's case, in my opinion. Similarly here, it may be only the people who can remove a cardinal, but a cardinal can, in his own conscience, remove himself, say I don't think I can do this job effectively any longer, and that's what Cardinal Law should do. I've known Cardinal Law for years, worked with him and admired him. But this latest business is, it's horrible. It's one of the worst things that can happen. It's a cover-up and he has, people are not showing up, people are not listening to him. And whatever people's agenda might be about reform of the church, and I may agree with Ray Flynn there, that's irrelevant.

Just because people who disagree with you want him out, the question is the merits of the case. And on the merits of the case, Cardinal Law covered up and protected people who were engaged in the worst kind of offenses against young people. He's got to go.

ZAHN: So you see the pope changing his mind here?

BENNETT: I don't think the people is probably paying much attention to this. My guess is, remember, this is only six percent of the Catholic Church, the American church. But I would wonder where are the bishops and friends of Cardinal Law, other cardinals? Why aren't they on the phone to him saying what friends need to say, you know, it's time for you to step down?

The church has a way of handling some of these situations. A person can go and do pastoral work for a few years and then maybe he can come back. Maybe he can't. The extent of these offenses is so deep and so large that, you know, this may be it for Cardinal Law in terms of having a position of high authority.

But that's appropriate. Whatever his merits as a human being otherwise, this was an abuse, a serious abuse of authority and he needs to step down.

ZAHN: All right, let's move on to the Middle East now. Last Thursday when you were on the air with us you made some very pointed comments about the Bush Mideast policy, suggesting that he was really alienating his base with the actions that his administration has most recently taken.

Now, within the context of what you've said, describe to us how you're going to approach this rally today. Is, will that be your message today?

BENNETT: No, it won't be about the politics of the Bush administration. That was just a warning. Look, presidents should do the right thing, whether they're politically popular or not. But I think in the president's circumstance, the president is doing the wrong thing and it is politically unpopular. So it's a double whammy.

I'm going to speak at the rally today about the close connection between Israel and the United States. I think the main thing I'm going to say, which is on people's minds but people haven't said it, is that the situation of Israel in the modern world is precarious. Jewish friends of mine are worried that in five years Israel will not exist.

The world opinion has now pretty much turned fully against Israel. We see these demonstrations in Europe. By the way, did you notice in London the burning of the Israeli flag as well as the flag of the United States? So I think it is time for people to stand up for Israel, and people who are not Jews to stand up for Israel is an important part of that.

ZAHN: Would you acknowledge that some of the actions the Israelis have taken are actually what have turned these nations against Israel? I mean as you know, there hasn't been much support for these recent incursions into West Bank towns.

BENNETT: Well, I would certainly not acknowledge that this is what's turned public opinion. I think opinion against Israel and against Jews has been pretty negative for some time. I'd have to see the evidence that soldiers engaged in gratuitous brutality, and if they did, the Israeli government, as the Israel Supreme Court has shown, would probably hold them to account.

But let's remember what the provocation is here. Let's remember what the cause is. You still have several hundred million people in that part of the world, neighbors of Israel, who believe that Israel should not exist. Are there grievances? Of course there are grievances. Are there legitimate grievances on the part of the Palestinian people? Of course there are. Has Israel conceded them? Yes, they have.

But this is no excuse for either the suicide or homicide bombing, as it's now called, or for this conviction on the part of a lot of people that Israel should not exist. Again, I make mention of the rise of anti-Semitism, of the hate literature not only in the Middle East, but throughout Europe. We are seeing things being distributed that talk about Hitler with great respect and I think Americans and other fair-minded people around the world need to understand this. And that's what I'm going to talk about today.

ZAHN: All right, well, our cameras will be trained on that rally. What are you expecting, tens of thousands of folks? We've heard various numbers. We've just got about 10 seconds left here.

BENNETT: I don't know, Paula, but I think it's going to be a fairly big turnout and Rudy Giuliani will be there and Benjamin Netanyahu. It'll be a very interesting group.

ZAHN: Well, we will be watching from here. Bill Bennett, as always, thanks for your joining us this morning.

BENNETT: Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: Have a good week.

BENNETT: Thanks.

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