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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Interview with New York Congressman Steve Israel; Interview with State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki; Middle East Cease-Fire Holding; Ebola Outbreak; Hamas Caught on Tape?; Interview with Saeb Erekat; Russia Retaliates for Latest Sanctions

Aired August 6, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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


JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're about halfway through the 72-hour cease-fire. What happens when it ends?

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

The world lead. The kidnapping and murders of these three Israeli teenagers set it all off. But now we know Israeli police arrested a suspect for this almost a month ago. Why did Israel sit on that information as the bloody conflict with Hamas dragged on?

Also, squeeze Russia and Russia squeezes back. Vladimir Putin now retaliating for new U.S. and European sanctions against his country.

And it appears the mortalities are no longer contained to West Africa. Now a country thousands of miles away is reporting a death from Ebola, as the Centers for Disease Control warns this could go on for months.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD coming to you live once again from Jerusalem, where a cease-fire is holding for a second day between Israel and Hamas.

If you had to trace the fighting before this truce back to one single moment, most observers would point to the day of June 12. That's when three Israeli teenagers, innocent, one of them with dual American citizenship, were kidnapped on their way home from school on the West Bank. Two days later, Israel directly accused Hamas of the crime and an aggressive campaign of searching, interrogating and arresting Palestinians began.

Israeli police early on had indications that the boys had been killed, but that information was not definite and it was also censored from the public as Israel rallied to bring the boys home. It was three weeks, I believe. I'm sorry. It was weeks before these three boys were found murdered on June 30, and as tensions grew during that time, rocket attacks from Hamas and Gaza resumed.

And then on July 8, Israel launched the offensive on Gaza. Now here's the interesting part. Three days after the offensive was launched on July 11, Israeli police, Israeli government officials arrested a man for allegedly organizing the murders of those three teenagers.

That was nearly a month ago, but Israel only revealed that fact yesterday. The Israelis describe this individual as a senior member of Hamas, and according to press reports, he is accused of taking money from Hamas to supply and assist the two alleged kidnappers and murderers who remain at large.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Hamas would pay for the crime and today in a press conference he defended Israel's tactics in the offensive against Hamas, which have resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel deeply regrets every civilian casualty, every single one. We do not target them. We do not seek them. The people of Gaza are not our enemy. Our enemy is Hamas. Our enemy are the other terrorist organizations trying to kill our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Even as these P.R. wars are being fought, Netanyahu making his case, delegations from Israel and the Palestinians are in Egypt as we speak trying to get together and perhaps talk about turning this temporary cease-fire into something longer-lasting, something bigger, something more important.

The United States is taking a back seat this time, with a very small State Department team arriving in Egypt this evening, according to one source. This team will advise and observe, but they will not mediate. They will not take a direct role in the talks.

Let's bring in Jen Psaki. She's spokeswoman for the State Department.

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: Hi, Jake.

TAPPER: Hi, Jen.

First of all, why such a small role for the U.S.?

PSAKI: Well, let me first say we're sending our acting special envoy, Frank Lowenstein, to participate and support these talks. He's a senior member. He's close adviser to the secretary.

We are not a party to the talks. We certainly have a stake in the outcome. And that's why we're on the ground. Certainly, the efforts of the United States have led to the point we're at here, but this is a role we would be playing in any circumstance. We don't negotiate with Hamas. We don't talk to Hamas. But we certainly want to be there to support an effort to negotiate over these key issues that have been so troubling in the region for so many years.

TAPPER: Jen, do you think the reason that the Egyptian government has been able to have more success in brokering this cease-fire, putting at least a temporary end to the bloodshed in this region, is because they brought Hamas in? Is that the big key difference between what Secretary Kerry was unable to do and what General Sisi was successful in doing? PSAKI: Well, Jake, I think it's important for everybody to

understand, the reason we're in a cease-fire right now is because of the efforts of not just the Egyptians, but of Secretary Kerry, of the United Nations, of many in the international community.

What's changed over the last couple of days is that Israel finished their operations on the tunnels and that international support for a cease-fire and honestly pressure on the parties increased. So, Egypt certainly played a role. They're hosting the negotiations, but really this has been a building process leading to the point we're at now.

TAPPER: I want to play something that Prime Minister Netanyahu said in his press conference just a few minutes ago about his relationship with your boss, Secretary of State John Kerry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NETANYAHU: We worked very closely with him and with the U.S. administration, with President Obama, throughout this operation and before. There are reports of the substance and the tone of our relationship that are distorted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Sources tell me, of course, Jen, that Netanyahu told Secretary Kerry and told U.S. Ambassador to Israel Shapiro not to second-guess him. That was a story broken by AP's Matt Lee, and I confirmed it as well. And Bibi did not deny it. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not deny it.

Isn't it just a fact that things are tense between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations right now?

PSAKI: Well, Jake, the sign of a strong relationship is being able to express concerns when you have them.

And obviously the circumstances on the ground have been tense. They have been difficult. And negotiations have been tough. But I think people need to remember and recognize that Secretary Kerry has been speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu two times, three times, sometimes five times a day, more times than some of his family members.

And they have a relationship where they can be honest, they can be straightforward. But certainly we have been working hand in hand to end the indiscriminate rocket attacks from Hamas and bring peace back to the region.

TAPPER: Jen, what are you hearing about the 72-hour cease-fire being extended?

PSAKI: Well, certainly, that's one of the primary objectives that the parties that are on the ground in Cairo need to do, because about 36 hours from now -- I'm not sure how my math is there -- but the morning after tomorrow, the cease-fire, the 72-hour cease-fire, will end. We need to have that extended because we can't address these tough issues, find the conclusion to these key issues in that short amount of time. That's been the goal from the beginning. And an extension is something we're certainly supporting and we're hopeful they will be able to achieve on the ground.

TAPPER: Jen Psaki, thank you so much for your time, as always.

PSAKI: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Meanwhile, nine members of Congress are in the middle of a week-long trip to Israel. They're led by Democratic Congressmen Steve Israel of New York. They met with Prime Minister Netanyahu for about an hour today, where Netanyahu told them that he's hopeful that the quiet of the cease-fire will continue.

Congressman Steve Israel joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Thanks for joining us, Congressman.

As you know, there's been a lot of criticism about the Israeli military strikes and whether they have been excessive, whether they have been as accurate as the Israelis have suggested they would be. The State Department and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power called an Israeli strike near a U.N. shelter horrifying and disgraceful. Are they right?

REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Well, I will tell you what the prime minister said, that Israel mourns the loss of every life.

But the fact of the matter is that it is Hamas that has chosen to hide its military commanders underground and put civilians above ground. It is Hamas that has decided to embed its military technologies and weapons in schools, in mosques and other facilities.

It is Hamas that decided to launch rockets in an asymmetric way. And so it is Hamas that has the responsibility for increasing the number of fatalities. I happen to agree with that view.

I'm a big believer, Jake, in, what would you do? My district -- 200 of my constituents lost their lives on 9/11. What did we do? We responded. Israel has not the right, but the responsibility to protect its civilians while trying to minimize the loss of innocent civilians and that's exactly what they have done.

TAPPER: So you do not agree with the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department, all of whom have said that Israel could have done more to prevent civilian casualties?

ISRAEL: I do not know what more Israel could have done.

Look, in any war, you're always going to get the tragedy of those casualties. And we have drone programs that operated against the bad guys, and, unfortunately, there were casualties that we mourned and that we didn't want. That's what happens in a war. This war happened to be started by a terrorist group that launched

rockets at heavily populated Israeli cities. Now, the other thing I would mention is this. We can bemoan the criticisms and the back and forth. What's important is that the United States and the United States Congress under this administration has helped finance the Iron Dome program, which has saved thousands of more lives and prevented an already horrifying escalation of hostilities from escalating even further.

So I'm going to continue to focus on technologies like the Iron Dome program. I don't care who said what. I care about the deed, and that we are actually in very good shape with Israel on military and intelligence cooperation.

TAPPER: Congressman, are you not bothered at all by the timeline of how this war began, the capturing, the kidnapping of these three Israeli teens? And then apparently the Israeli police knew that they were likely dead, and yet the search went on in the West Bank.

And it was in response to that aggressive search -- even though the Israeli government seems to have actually already known that the teenagers were dead. It was in response to that that Palestinians were killed and that Hamas then started launching rockets. Does that not bother you at all? Do you not have questions for the Israelis after that?

ISRAEL: Jake, what bothers me is that three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered.

I don't know why Israel should shoulder the blame for the terrorist murder of three Israeli teenagers. What further bothers me is that it was Hamas that decided, having nothing to do with Israel, but its own internal loss of power and its marginalization, that they could empower themselves by launching rockets in an unprovoked way over a border into Israel. And it was Hamas that actually increased the loss of life by refusing to agree to a cease-fire that I hope they now will agree to.

Those are the things that really bother me. Again, I grieve for the loss of every life on both sides, but a nation has a responsibility to defend itself against the kind of attacks that Hamas has launched against Israel.

TAPPER: Congressman Steve Israel, Democrat from New York, thanks so much for joining us, as always.

ISRAEL: Thank you, Jake. Thank you.

TAPPER: And we should note that Congressman Israel's trip is being paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation, a charitable group affiliated with the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

Coming up next, militants caught in the act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty percent of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: A reporter in Gaza just steps away from a rocket as it goes off on live television, showing just how close these missiles were to innocent people on the ground.

Plus, small groups of protesters who want their voices heard, one side celebrating the deaths of Palestinian children, the other eager to watch Israelis die. How much sway do these groups have in the peace process?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD, live once again from Jerusalem. It is day two now of a three-day cease-fire.

Now, we on THE LEAD have covered the grisly civilian death toll in Gaza at length and we've put Israeli officials on the spot. But we have also tried, sadly, in vain, to get Palestinian leaders to decry the ways that Hamas has put their own people in jeopardy while also trying to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Now, before the relative calm, Israel claims militants in Gaza fired more than 3,000 rockets, many apparently stored, assembled and fired from near humanitarian shelters, hospitals, schools, mosques, population centers. And now, we're seeing exactly how it's done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty percent of Gaza --

TAPPER (voice-over): Caught on tape. Palestinian militants reportedly launching a rocket from Gaza while a reporter was live on air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened? What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a rocket.

TAPPER: That reporter with France 24, Gallagher Fenwick says he saw rocket launchers next to a residential building and another one outside a United Nations building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A blue tent has come up. It wasn't there last night. It came up just this morning.

TAPPER: Another international news organization released this video reportedly showing militants setting up rockets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing Hamas setting up fire rockets launched just meters away from a hotel.

TAPPER: Indian news channel NDTV then aired this video, saying it shows rockets being fired from a residential area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that's the rocket being fired a day after from the exact spot the rocket was fired. That's the smoke.

TAPPER: The Israeli government has repeatedly accused Hamas from firing rockets from densely populated areas in Gaza, and just last week, the Israeli military released another video saying it shows just that.

This video caught on closed-circuit TV and posted online appears to show one of the rockets landing in Israel about 20 miles from Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat joins me now live from the West Bank, in Jericho.

Mr. Erekat, thanks so much for joining us.

We'll get your thoughts on the ongoing cease-fire negotiations in a moment. But first, I want to get your reaction to the newly released videos that show Palestinian militants in Gaza launching rockets from residential areas. It must bother you that -- I know you put the Israeli government -- you say the Israeli government is to blame for the deaths, but it must bother you that these militants in Gaza are putting the people in harm's way, no?

SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINE NEGOTIATOR: I don't condone the firing of missiles at civilians. I don't condone the killing of civilians from either side. I stood and stand all of the time, the moral ground of trying to tell Palestinians and Israelis that the only way to solve this problem isn't going to be through missiles or through bombing or through killings. It will be through a meaningful peace process that would lead to need end this Israeli occupation that began 46 years ago and is still ongoing in the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Jake, I heard the guest, Mr. Israel, Steve Israel, this gentleman was justifying the murder of 2,000 Palestinians and the wounding of 10,000 Palestinians.

And to your question, Gaza is the most densely populated area on earth. It's not New York, it's not the United States, it's not Canada. It's an area of 360 square kilometers, eight persons to a square meter and that's the truth.

So, if his constituency in New York were to be occupied by another power, what would he do? It's just -- if we lose the moral ground, if we lose the conscientious understanding of what's needed here, I think that's when we're going to get more of this and more of this and more of this.

We don't want Israelis to be harmed. We don't Palestinians to be harmed. I want Palestinians and Israelis and have been working all my life to have Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side as good neighbors -- as good neighbors.

A Palestinian state --

TAPPER: Right. EREKAT: -- to live side by side the state of Israel in the 1967 lines.

TAPPER: OK.

EREKAT: And that's my job and what I gave my life to, and I recognize the state of Israel's, Jake, right to exist, but I'm yet to hear any of those who call themselves pro-Israel or whatever they call themselves in the Israeli government who stand and say that we recognize the state of Palestine to live and exist on the 1967 lines. By the way --

TAPPER: Mr. Erekat -- yes?

EREKAT: -- I don't care if someone is pro-Israel or someone pro -- just one second -- or someone is pro-Palestine. My world is divided between those who are pro-peace and those who are against peace. What we need to gather the momentum for the meaningful peace process that would lead to ending this Israeli occupation that ends this abnormality, that ends this situation and facilitate for a better way of living side by side for Israelis and Palestinians each in his own state.

TAPPER: Mr. Erekat, so, let's talk about -- so let's look forward, if we can. Right now, there is a race against the clock. The 72-hour cease-fire expires.

Israel has said they're willing to extend the cease-fire as long as anyone wants to, as long as Hamas and the other Palestinian leaders will agree to. We just have word from Hamas official saying that there is no agreement now on extending the cease-fire. Is it not important to save the very lives that you were just talking about so passionately? Is it not important to extend this cease-fire at least for another 72 hours or for another week until there can be more conversations?

EREKAT: Absolutely. Absolutely. We are working so hard now. We are working so hard.

The president of the Palestinians, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, myself, and through the offices of the Secretary of State John Kerry, who is exerting every possible effort and unwavering commitment, getting in touch with all parties involved including sometimes six, seven times a day, to us doing nothing short of trying to get an open-ended cease- fire. Yes, we're trying to sustain the 72-hours and we're looking to extend the 72 hours.

So, sustaining, extension and at the same time we are working to alleviate the suffering of more than half a million people who have become homeless. Half a million people, one-third of the Gaza population are now roofless, homeless. Their homes are gone. Ten thousand Palestinians, mostly women and children are being treated in hospitals. It's beyond our capacity.

So, we're asking the United States, we're asking Europe, we're asking Arabs to have aerial, sea, land, bridges to help us. We don't have electricity. We don't have water. The sewage is destroyed. It's a disaster area.

But the most important thing is to sustain the cease-fire and yes, extending the cease-fire and at the same time, we have to alleviate the suffering of the Gazans, the 1.7 million people in Gaza by lifting this siege that has been imposed on them since 2007.

TAPPER: Well, let's hope that cease-fire is extended. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, thank you so much and best of luck.

Coming up next, retaliation Russian-style. Vladimir Putin's latest move against the West and why it has the Pentagon worried.

Plus, what does President Obama think of the Russian president show of force on the Ukrainian border? He sure to tell us in fewer than 30 minutes when he will speak live right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I am Jake Tapper and I am once again live in Jerusalem, watching the second day of a delicate cease- fire here. At the same time, we're also keeping a close watch on the active war zone on the border between Russia and Ukraine where the violence continues unabated.

Today, Russian leader Vladimir Putin tried his best to swing back at fresh sanctions from the United States and the E.U. with his own curious attempt at wreaking economic havoc on his enemies.

All of this as explosions echo across the region and Russia bolsters its troop levels along the border.

Let's go live now to our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh live in Donetsk.

Nick, tell us about Putin's latest move and the kind of destruction that you are witnessing there.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russian sanctions today were a bit answered, the volley of sanctions leveled at them by the E.U., but in many ways punishing Russia's own people by depriving them, the middle class, the Putin's rise to power, (INAUDIBLE) of the ability to have French cheese potentially, various types of food stuff from the European Union, very popular in Russia. Well, many of them are banned. We don't know the exact details yet. But effective today, imports of agricultural goods, potentially fresh products, meat as well, are banned from the European Union, a knee- jerk reactions perhaps, perhaps a bid by Moscow to make it seem like the Russian market is so valuable to Europe that they can't live without it and they punish them back by the sanctions the E.U. have levied because of the activity here in the Ukraine.

But, Jake, it's not only changing much from the ground here at all. Rhetoric from the Kremlin, sure, but we're seeing a continuing disaster to unfold here. In the hours before we spoke, we heard anti- aircraft gunfire here behind me here. In the early moments when dusk fell, there was heavy shelling to the north of the city. We've been around the town today to see exactly what the noise we

heard last night, the explosions we heard last night, were really about heavy craters caused in some of the streets on the outskirts of town here and that seemed potentially to be from air strikes and it turned out that the gunfight we heard, the exchange of gunfire just three streets away, simply a battle over a local government financial building.

Really unclear what's happening but it is absolutely obvious, Jake, that the Ukrainian army are moving fast in toward the center of Donetsk where I'm sat now and certainly at this point we're seeing no signs the Russian army is actively intervening.

In fact even a separatist leader here asked the question directly, do you want Russian military help. He said, well, that will be complex for Moscow. Not really sure it's in the cards just now -- Jake.

TAPPER: Interesting. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. And as always, my friend, stay safe.

When we come back, the CDC director saying he knows what needs to be done to stop the killer Ebola virus from spreading. But will the 50 Americans being sent to Africa be able to contain the worst outbreak in history?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)