sheltering some 3,300 people. there has been shelling just the last few moments, the last hour or so throughout various areas in gaza. we'll see what tomorrow brings. thanks very much for watching. our continuing coverage. that does it for us. appreciate you watching the two-hour special. "cnn tonight" starts now. this is "cnn tonight." i i'm don sterling. hamas claims more than a dozen people were killed. this video is one example of the horror of the ongoing conflict between israel and hamas. we have reporters in gaza and israel who have late information coming up. and a deadly strike on a united nations shelter in gaza. the u.n. blaming the attack on israeli artillery. one official says the world stands disgraced for not protecting children. we're going to talk with cnn's fareed zakaria and richard haass. with the fighting intensifying, hatred of israel and jews is unleashed.

we're going to take a look at why anti-semitism is on the rise. and perhaps the most disturbing news out tonight, chilling video of an american born radical jihadist fighting in syria's brutal civil war, vowing to bring terror and bloodshed to america. we have a report from the state department that's just ahead. we're going again in the middle east tonight with the deadly air strikes on an outdoor market in gaza and a u.n. shelter. let's turn right away to cnn's john vause who is reporting from gaza tonight. john? >> reporter: don, israel's military offensive is about to enter its 24th day, the longest ever and one of the deadliest attacks happened here on wednesday at a marketplace not far from downtown gaza city. what we understand is israel had announced this four-hour humanitarian window when they would hold their fire if hamas stop firing the rockets. hamas never agreed. they continued to fire 26 rockets in just over two hours. then israel decided to respond with a number of quick airstrikes. and it seems that that

marketplace not far from us here was hit maybe three times. that's according to witnesses, and there is video from the scene which is very graphic, very zurich. we're to be show to it you now. some viewers will find this upsetting. what it shows, ambulances rushing to the scene as well as others coming out to try to help the wounded, evacuate them from that area. and then another blast quickly followed by what appears to be a third explosion. these graphic images were broadcast on hamas television. they show victims without limbs, others covered in blood, screaming for help, as well as bodies which are being simply blown apart. and that attack came just a few hours after a u.n. school being used as an evacuation center was also hit. according to the u.n., they there is no doubt about this. it came under attack hit by three rounds of israeli artillery. the idf is investigating. they believe mortars were fired by hamas militants around the area, and then they returned fire. but don, all the time it's the civilians who are paying the

highest price here. take a look behind me. it is pitch-black out there. gaza is still pretty much without electricity. the only power plant after it too was hit. the water pumps aren't working. the sewage systems aren't working. the telecommunications system is in trouble. this infrastructure, which was struggling at the best of times now simply collapsing. >> thank you very much. now we want to turn to martin savidge in jerusalem. martin, the two graphic bombings john vause just reported on, what is the response in israel? >> absolutely horrific the number of casualties that occurred today in those two separate incidents. and the israelis will be the first to tell you that certainly the israeli military, but they also say these two events are under investigation. the first one referring to the attack that may have occurred on the school. i say may. the reason being that the israeli military is maintaining right now that's still under investigation as john vause pointed out, they say their troops on the ground in gaza

were fired from. mortar fire came from the vicinity of the school. israel always maintained when its troops are fired on, it will respond in kind. whether those shells in error went and hit that school is unclear or whether the school was argued the, we don't simply know. regarding the marketplace, again, the israeli military use adeline they used before. they noted it was a humanitarian pause put into place. but israel continued to be showered with rockets. israel responded. but they also say it's possible that market in part could have been hit by rockets being fired towards israel that fell back on to gaza itself. that too is said to be under investigation. it's worth noting the idf is saying look, we have realized and noted in the last 48 hours there seems to be an increase of blame that israel is being blamed with for attacking civilian or unruh facilities. and the idf implies that is not coincidence. they think hamas is deliberately

targeting or forcing israel to target these facilities so israel looks bad as the result. >> and martin, more israeli soldiers killed today in a booby-trapped house where they had just uncovered a tunnel. as long as more tunnels are being discovered, it's really unlikely there will be any pressure from within israel for a ceasefire. >> right. in fact, it is the terror tunnels, and that's how israelis refer to them, that seems to now have replaced rockets as being feared the most by both the israeli government and by israeli citizens. they're really struck by this potential, as they see it, for terrorists to pop up in their living room coming from a tunnel. that's not necessarily realistic. but that is the perception, certainly for those who live near gaza. and it's fortifying the public opinion in support of the military effort on gaza. it's also part of the reason that the israeli cabinet has said that they will continue to go forward aggressively with the cam main in gaza, stop the tunnels that is the primary message that is going out to the

israel military from its leadership. >> before you go, i want to ask you this question. the u.s. government condemned the bloodshed in gaza but also agreed to resupply israel with ammunition. what you tell us than? >> the military relationship between the united states and israel is quite strong, as is the bond that the u.s. government has with israel. i think what should be interesting about this, israel maintains it's not some sort of emergency buy, that they're rung low on ammunition. instead it says israel in any of its military operations must be planning for the future. if israel is indeed going to go forward with buying a lot more ammunition, it could imply that israel foresees this military operation going forward for some time, and perhaps it's sillnalling an expansion of the conflict, unfortunately. don? >> martin savidge in jerusalem, martin, thank you very much. i'm joined now by richard haass, president of council of foreign relevances and author of foreign policy begins at home. and also fareed zakaria host of

fareed zakaria gps. let's take another look at this air strike on this market in gaza. it is fairly grisly. let's look. >> as we -- i want to look at the aftermath of this, because several explosions go off. why would a market be targeted in this conflict? >> i think the thing to remember, don, is that gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet. it's about 120 square miles. you've got 1.7, 1.8 million people living there. it is essentially an urban environment. and i think it just reminds us tragically that this whole idea that we have become used to in the united states that there is something like precision

warfare, that you can use drones and use highly targeted munitions and sort of use computers and somehow take out the fog of war. take out, you know, the reality of collateral casualty, the reality of errors. what gaza reminds you of is really the essential nature of war. this stuff happens all the time. this is what war looks like. and some of it is collateral damage. some of it is mistakes. some of it is the reality of war. >> the u.n. insists thousands of people are without power, without water. what can be done to help? >> in the short-term it is very unlikely you're going to be able to do much. the israeli government believes they will pay the same price in public opinion in terms of international condemnation if they do this job at 70% or if they do it at 95%. they'd rather do it at 95% and get out those tunnels, get out those rockets. it doesn't address the larger strategic issue which is why hamas exists, what they're going

to do to solve the fuel that keeps hamas going. but it certainly is true that they will be able to get at a lot of the tunnels and a lot of the rockets. >> they told the u.n. the idea that civilians were sheltering in the school targeted today. i want to show you what ban ki-moon said about it and then we'll talk about it. >> this morning yet another united nations school sheltering thousands of palestinian families suffered reprehensible attack. all available evidence points to israeli artillery as the cause. nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children. >> very strong language there. what is your reaction? >> look, we don't know any of the details of what happened, what was intentional, what was accidental, whether it was even carried out by israel or somebody else. whether the palestinians in this case the hamas has put weapons in that area, in some ways

trying to provoke attacks. we simply don't know. so the language used by the u.n. secretary general is incredibly strong, particularly for someone from the u.n. i would simply say if the u.n. wants to keep itself in a position or put itself in a position where it can play any kind of an intermediary role, i think the secretary general needs to act with some care. >> is israel in violation of international law? >> israel is acting in self-defense. hamas has done all sorts of things. these tunnels are not there for archaeology. the tunnels are there to infiltrate soldiers into israel to cause -- either for kidnapping or to cause harm and death against israeli civilians and military. with the missiles, the rockets that hamas is shooting into israel is just that. these are weapons of war. israel has therefore responded. what we have is a situation you ultimately want to stop. but let's be honest here. it's not going to be stopped until you deal with the root causes. and that means getting rid of the military capability of hamas

and israel simply won't agree to stop i believe until in particular it deals with the threat of the tunnels, which your report correctly had it, has terrorized and in some ways brought this to the israeli public in way that nothing has for some time. >> how do cow do that? >> i think there is ultimately a deal here which the israelis would agree to in exchange for demilitarization you would have economic normalization. that all the constraints and the controls which limit gaza's access to capital, to goods and so forth, well, those constraints would go away if hamas was no longer able to pose a military threat to israel. hamas wants to the constraints lifted without demilitarization. i don't believe israel will bring to that deal. >> my question is what is the breaking point? after the shelter strike, the market strike, and the shelter strike, israel asked for a four-hour humanitarian ceasefire. hamas did not agree to it and continued firing. what is the breaking point here?

>> i don't think there is a breaking point in terms of the violence to be honest with you, because, look, the way hamas sees this, hamas has been in trouble. it has not been doing particularly well. people in gaza were somewhat fed up with it because it's corrupt. it's inefficient. but hamas has one great calling card, which is it is the voice and the spirit of resistance against what they see as an unjust israeli occupation. so to the degree to which hamas is able to resist israel, it gains a certain amount of credibility. so for example, palestinians had been denouncing hamas over the last few years. no palestinian will denounce hamas right now because to do so would be in a sense to be cooperating with israel's attacks on hamas. so right now, you know, what is happening with hamas is that they are in a very weird way being politically strengthened by the fact that israel is attacking them. >> yes.

>> and so they don't see a particular reason to stop. israel, as richard points doesn't feel like it needs to stop because it is trying to solve what it sees as essentially a military problem. that's why you have this logjam. >> we're going get a little bit more into that. there was an article that mentioned you and what you said about this. this war or conflict is more than what you see on the surface. it's not just about hamas, about palestinians and about israelis. there is much more to it. when we come right back, we're going to talk more about israel and gaza. we're going to talk about the disturbing video of an american-born jihadist, who like many others vows to bring bloody jihad to the united states. you know.... there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips

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welcome back. i'm back here with richard haass and fareed zakaria. i want to mention this article. it's david brooks from "the new york times." and he says that we have to stop looking at this through 1979 lenses, that it's just two parties involved here, israelis and palestinians. here is what he said about you. he said what happened -- what's happened of course is that the middle east has begun with richard haass of the council on foreign relations has called its 30 years war, an overlapping series of clashes and proxy wars that could go on for decades and transform identities, maps, and the political contours of the region. meaning there are more parties involved. this is bigger than that. it's saudi arabia, it's iraq and on and on and on in that region. >> think of it as like california or a complex geological area with multiple

fault lines. we've been talking the last few minutes about one, which is one between israel and various palestinians. but there is fault lines within the palestinians between hamas and the other part of the palestinian authority. you have sunnis versus shia. iran versus saudi arabia and the arabs. you have secularists versus people who embrace religion in the political space. and the parallel i drew to the 30-years war goes back to the early 17th century in europe when for three decades protestants and catholics fought within borders, across borders, states came in behind them. and what we're seeing in some ways is the modern version. unfortunately, the weaponry has gotten much more powerful. and the lesson is this can go on for a long time and there can be tremendous damage. >> proxy war. you said it is believed this is a proxy war because the original intent was to gain control of egypt, right? so that's what they're saying that is a proxy war. >> it's a proxy war for control or dominance in the middle east. you know, you have the saudis and the egyptians on one side. you have iran. but the result of what richard

is talking about, the reality that you have these larger fissures is that you're seeing something very interesting. because the saudis and the egyptians are now more scared of islamic fundamentalism than they are of israel, you notice something very peculiar in this gaza war. saudi arabia has not condemned israel. the egyptian government has not condemned israel. the jordanian government has not condemned -- remember, these are countries in the case of saudi arabia that do not have relations with israel. they're technically almost in a state of war with israel. and yet they have not condemned. this is unprecedented. and what it tells you is that the saudi monarchy is more worried about the prospects of hamas winning which would embolden islamists in other parts of the middle east, and therefore potentially an islamist opposition in saudi arabia. so their eye son we don't want these kinds of guys to win. >> right. >> if israel beats them up, well and good. >> it's not as simple as, you

know, israel and palestine should stop fighting. or hamas should stop fighting. >> even if they would stop fighting it wasn't resolve any of these. >> it's an american born suicide bomber who blew himself up in syria at the end of may. and in the video, he threatens president barack obama, saying that we are coming for you. he then says this to israel. look. >> and you israel, oh israel, talking to you, jewish israel. just know that we are coming. mujahedeen will march to palestine. well will free the people. we'll bring you down. you are definitely going to the dirt, and you're going to compare yourselves to enter the hell fire. preparing to burn you in hell fire. >> so there are reports that he came back to the u.s. before going back to syria for the suicide bombing. what is your reaction to the timing of the release of this video? is it meant to recruit new jihadists?

>> it could be that. it could be simply to motive people. it could be to intimidate us so we don't support the forces that we're supporting. but we should take this seriously. this is going to be the unexpected and clearly to say the least unwanted legacy a result of some of what is going on in this part of the world. when these people get done killing each other in syria, many of them are going to return home to europe, conceivably to the united states, and that is going to become next generation possibly a threat. >> take it seriously. but should we be worried? >> there have been people like this threatening all kinds of things for years now. i don't think the specifics of this threat are meaningful. i think the phenomenon, particularly of american-born people with american passpors. i would have to say watching it, you feel sad for this kid who is totally brainwashed, doesn't know frankly what he is talking about, and blew himself up in a cause i don't think he even understands. >> i want to ask you two gentlemen, as we are here and

you're talking to someone with such magnitude of the middle east, and i do mean that as a compliment. as you sit here, and these conflicts are going on all over the world, not just -- what is going on? what next? now what? >> well, what has really happened is there was a kind of structure. there was an order in the middle east from libya to tunisia, all these years were stable because they had repressive dictatorships that were supported by the super powers. that has changed. the dictators have faltered. the super powers have faltered. the state didn't just collapse. the nation collapsed there was no there, there. so people are searching for some identity. and it turns out that they are clinging to older identities, sunni, shia, kurd, arab. and in that it just means that you've got a mess. and it's going to tick a while

to sort it out. >> i've got to go unless you want to say something quickly. >> so much of the world we worry about nationalism in strong states. in middle east we have to now worry about weak states and what happens when weak states break up. >> thank you so much. fareed, stick with us. we're going to talk more on the ongoing violence in the mid east is leading to a rise in anti-semitism abroad and here at home. i'll talk to fareed zakaria and others about that next. when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs.

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welcome back. the side effect of the battle between israel and hamas, which shows no sign of ending is a rise in anti-semitism both around the world and here in the united states. here is cnn's deborah feyerick. >> reporter: from the west coast -- >> five, six, seven, eight, israel is an apartheid state! >> reporter: to the east. >> stop the genocide. >> reporter: anti-israel protests are gaining momentum and getting nasty. almost 200 rallies across america since fighting intensified weeks ago between israel and hamas. pro palestinian demonstrators with signs and slogans show

images of hitler, the holocaust, and apartheid, images say oren segall who confuse historical facts and fan the flames of religious intolerance. >> it conflates issues that people may have with issues with israel with issues they have with jews that is anti-semitism. and that's what is dangerous. >> reporter: segal heads the center on extremism for the jewish anti-defamation league which tracks protests. >> increasingly it's not just israel or israelis that are being compared to hitler and the nazis, it's jews. so the focus for many of the people at the rallies is to demonize jews. they don't see the difference. >> reporter: europe has seen a rise in anti-semitic attacks over the last few weeks, most blatantly, jewish-owned businesses vandalized and one burned in paris after an anti-israel rally. the uk has also reported a spike. more than 100 incidents reported. and america is not immune. smaller acts of vandalism

directed not towards israeli institutions, but toward synagogues, like the one in miami sprayed with nazi swastikas, the word jew written in cream cheese on a car. the adl says anti-semitic hate speech is spreading on-sites and online hackers have targeted synagogue websites with claims denying the holocaust. zia dram dan with the islamic american group care warns the rise in anti-semitism could trigger an anti-muslim backlash, like this flier found in a brooklyn neighborhood. >> i think the rhetoric has to be contained to the point of the questioning of human rights. and to the question of politics, but not anti-jewish. >> reporter: no one can say whether the level of anger and violence in europe will spread to the u.s., but some american jews fear that the growing anti-semitic rhetoric and hate speech could reach levels not seen in generations. deborah feyerick, cnn, new york.

>> all right, thank you very much, deb feyerick. i'm joined now by rhab -- rabbi and fareed zakaria. there has been a rise of an uptick in semitism. why is that? >> look at the incendiary language we're seeing on some of the people you have on your show. ban ki-moon, the secretary general speaking about how deplorable it is of israel to murder children while they're sleeping. in the final analysis, i didn't hear that statement from the secretary general even about vladimir putin who may or may not have been involved in the downing of the malaysian airliner. i didn't hear the kind of rhetoric about the president of syria, bashar al assad, who gassed 4,000 children. so why are the jews singled out. and when people layer world leaders speaking in that manner or celebrities, javier bardem or penneelope cruz. i just came back from rwanda. 300 people died every hour.

in the holocaust, six million jews died. this is genocide. what we jews feel is the highest form of anti-semitism is the blood libel where you falsely attribute murder jews for which they're not responsible. it's specifically these human shields that are being employed by hamas. >> fareed, if someone automatically criticizes israel's actions in gaza, is that automatically anti-semitic? >> no. i think it should be perfectly legitimate for anyone to criticize israel, the government of israel, as it is to criticize any government. but what is deeply disturbing about what you're seeing is the scenes we saw that particularly in europe where people are attacking local jewish restaurants or shops. the idea that a jew anywhere in the world has to be held responsible or can be attacked for actions of the state of israel is reprehensible. >> let me get more specifically

about what you're saying there was a jewish-owned business in suburban paris being attacked and looting in belgium. posting a sign in turkish saying entrance allowed for dogs but forbidden for jews. you're right. >> for all you know, that particular jewish businessman might not like what the israeli government is doing. this connection between the government of israel and jews everywhere is deeply pernicious. >> i want to get your take on these. these are a few tweets we have come across we've seen. the first one says we got these from viewers to this program. does israel see any similarities between how they treat palestinians and how germans treated them? the second tweet reads there is no difference on what israel is doing to pals, meaning palestinians than germany -- than germany gassed the jews. and we received the tweet directed toward one of our jewish guests. why do you keep having that zionist pig on your program? where are the palestinian voices. what do you make of that? >> i get tweets like that almost every single day.

it's very zurich. you're victimizing the victim. you're saying those that experience genocide, and a lot of the things that fareed is referring to in france and in germany. france was the vichy regime that cooperated with germany. you don't even allow them the comfort to feel victimization. you say they have internalized the hatred and they're just like the nazis themselves. it's extremely disturbing. >> social media making it easier to spread hate? >> it makes it easier to spread powerful emotions of any kind. you have a vast insymmetry of power. that asymmetry of power is visible very clearly around the world. and it naturally evokes a certain set of emotions. >> but what is the difference, fareed, between free speech which is protected here and dangerous opinion or dangerous rhetoric? we've seen people using nazi propaganda like swastikas here and abroad. >> look. >> i tend to be more of an american on these issues.

i think free speech should protected and you protect precisely the speech that is offensive and worries you. in europe, they have different standards because europe has had a very different past in which incendiary speech has led to terrible things. not just the holocaust, but all kines of pogroms. >> the long their goes on, an escalation in attacks against jews do you think? >> absolutely. that's the history of anti-semitism. it leads later to violence. if you can actually demonstrate that a subgroup is a threat to the body politic, then any violence you perpetrator against them is a virtue. that's what is so disturbing here. i am actually amazed at how the internet is awash in anti-semitism. i wake up every morning to 30 or 40 tweets like the ones you received. and they're directed at me, my children, my family. and it's kind of shocking. and whatever people feel about israel, fareed made the very important point what does visit

to do with other jews? most jews do support israel. we don't understand why it's not allowed to defend itself. >> but most jews do not support every action of a particular israeli government. what i'm always struck by is the debate in israel is much wider than people realize that you have a lot of patriotic israelis saying i don't like this thing that the israeli government did. so to lump it all together and assume that every jew anywhere in the world is always going to support bibi netanyahu's policy. >> an american jew on this program that is not necessarily in lockstep with what is happening in israel and has spoken in support of gaza. >> well, the beautiful thing about our community is we're people of the book and people of dialogue. we appreciate self-reflection and criticism. i don't think where you hold israel to a higher standard. i think that's find. i think anti-semitism is where you hold jews to an impossible standard there isn't a government on earth that can fight a war where there are

civilians that are so embedded that are being used as human missile silos or children being used as bulletproof vests and not harm them. israel doesn't have those armaments yet. >> thank you very much. coming in late. i know you had an early day tomorrow. thank you very much. coming up, is the situation in gaza a humanitarian disaster? two military men will weigh in. ♪ man: [ laughs ] those look like baby steps now. but they were some pretty good moves. and the best move of all? having the right partner at my side. it's so much better that way. [ male announcer ] have the right partner at your side. consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. caman: thanks, captain obvious. wouldn't stay here tonight. captain obvious: i'd get a deal for tonight

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welcome back, everyone. we're keeping an eye on the skies above gaza as day breaks in the middle east. we can see day breaking right there. just one of the global conflicts that threaten to spiral out of control. and today the u.s. and europe expanded sanctions against russia over its role in the ukraine conflict. but moscow remains defiant. and two weeks after malaysia flight 17 was shot down, wreckage remains at that crash site. fighting and shelling continue in the area, and investigators say it is too dangerous to even access. but cnn's nick paton walsh took another route to the scene, and here is what he found. >> reporter: the road isn't

easy, past shelling, eerie separatist checkpoints. but where it leads is harder still. in beauty surely nothing couspo likes a horror still unresolved. 12 days since mh17 was blown out of the sky. it remains here, a monument to cruelty, to how 298 souls, some shipped in parts away on a separatist train have yet to find complete rest. questions left. what or who else did they love? what did they feel in their last moments. the silence in these fields is that of a tomb, like sorrow and loss have isolated it from the war around it. but you really have to stand here and see the things that people wanted to take with them on holiday and horrifyingly, even now, smell the stench of decay to understand the urgency, the relatives of those who died must feel to get inspectors to this site and get some kind of

closure. in the hour we were there, no separatists, inspectors or ukrainian soldiers at this site. just distant smoke that explained why the inspectors' large convoy has not for the fourth day running got here. god save and protect us, the sign asks. not here. still reeking of jet fuel, where you can see the heat of the inferno they fell from the sky in. strangers have tried to mourn. the scene of this crime has been abandoned, evidence tampered with. what hulls remain shrapnel remains. traces of daydreams that fell from the jet stream into a war whose daily horrors drown out that that took their lives, whose blind hatred have yet to find space for the minor

dignities that they deserve. nick paton walsh, cnn, ukraine. >> unbelievable. thank you, nick. joined now by lieutenant colonel rick francona, former u.s. military attache in military. and david soucie, cnn safety analyst and author of "why planes crash." the situation for mh17 seems to have gone from bad to worse. what do we know about this missile now that took this plane down? >> well, we were able to look at some detailed pictures. we're finally able to get the pictures located there is an article in "the wall street journal" that did a little bit of documenting as well. so between those two things, i've been in communication with people at the wreck site and trying to do their investigation. so we've been providing them with some satellite images and analysis, allowing them to get a good view of what it is that the remains might still be. >> so what does the wreckage tell us about the missile and how it worked? >> well, what the wreckage is telling us is that the missile actually -- you could see that it had exploded prior to impact.

and maybe you can talk about that. >> prior to the impact -- >> well, there really was no impact of the missile. what happens is, you know, within a couple of hundred meters, the warhead detonates and just turns into a cloud of shrapnel. >> got you. >> and i think you were able to figure out where this shrapnel impacted the aircraft. but you're talking about hundreds of pieces of very sharp metal about the size of a quarter spinning through the sky. >> so how close to the aircraft did this explosion happen? >> well, you can set it. but ideally it would go off at about 200 meters. but remember, it's still moving toward the aircraft. >> right. >> and you can see clearly from the evidence that we've seen today that the front part of the window, of the copilot's window was very damaged by the shrapnel. and they were closely spaced, meaning it was closer to the aircraft than it was in the back. >> so all of the momentum of this missile is going towards the plane. >> right. >> and then it detonates and hits. so what happens inside of the

plane? happen exactly happened to the plane when the shrapnel hit it? >> well, from what we can see because of the disbursement of the debris on the ground, the cockpit was hit first. just behind the cockpit, the area behind, between the wing and the cockpit basically disintegrating and came apart. the cockpit continued to fall down to the ground and ended up in a different city. the rest of the airplane continued to fly. it did damage the left wing at that point. the left wing was damaged and had no structural integrity. so the airplane made a sharp turn to the left. and at that point the tail then came off at this point. not prior to that, but just about a half mile before impact. >> so if that plane had heat-seeking, you know, missile counter measures, would that have prevented this? >> no, not at all. in fact, there is really no way to prevent this kind of attack unless you're willing to install some sort of like a laser counter measure system. very, very expensive. you know, the most dangerous part of any flight is the takeoff and landing.

that's where the heat seekers would be. you would be vulnerable to that. we saw that with the israeli flight in 2002 in mombasa. as it took off, someone fired a shoulder-fired missile. now you can prevent that. and the israeli el al airlines does. but something like this, there is really no defense at altitude. >> let's put the picture. what does this picture of the plane tell you about which areas of the plane was most affected by the shrapnel? >> well, as you can see, i've drawn three lines across here. these are the major break sections as to what hatched with the aircraft. the nose you can see off to the left. in the intersection section there the part that first hit the ground. the nose continued to travel and ended up in another city. the rest of the aircraft you see from the second red line back, that remained in the air, remained flying. although the tail had been damaged. if you look at the wing that is closest to us here, that wing was also hit with shrapnel. i think that the explosion occurred somewhere off of the left side of the aircraft.

>> didn't stand a chance? >> really didn't. >> no, no. this aircraft is not maneuvering and was not practicing any kind of defense. there was nothing you could do. and it would have been the perfect target for this kind of system. >> and weeks after still sitting this in the field. thank you, guys. appreciate both of you. the republican house voted today to give john boehner the authority to sue the president. this power politics as usual? robert f. kennedy jr. will join me next. rewards points verizon just gave me. ooh, you got a buddy. i'm like a statue. i just signed up and, boom, all these points. ...and there's not-so-good more. you're a big guy... ...oh no. get the good more with verizon smart rewards and rack up points to use towards the things you really want. get the lg g3 for $199.99.

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know better sleep with sleep number. welcome back, everyone. the republican-led house voted today to give speaker john boehner the authority to sue president obama. joining me now with his thoughts on that and a lot more is robert f. kennedy jr., the sun of general robert f. kennedy and the nephew of john f. kennedy. he is the author of thimerosal. thank you for joining us tonight, sir, to talk about this. >> thanks for having me. >> tonight i want to get to the political news that i talked about, the house approving regulation giving speaker boehner authority to sue the

president. republicans argue that president obama has abused his power by making changes to laws, particularly to obama care without congressional approval. what is your response to this move? >> well, i think what leader boehner is addressing with this legislation is not policy but politics. this is the most unpopular congress in the history of the united states. it's a congress that has passed less legislation than any congress in history. and they failed in major legislation today, which was the one piece of legislation that they had tried to get through, which was the border legislation to deal with all these children who are piling up on the central american borders. so the republicans didn't have the vote to do that. so they -- and they're to be go on a five-week vacation, which most americans don't have. and and they had to do something. so i think that they, you know,

they made a meaningless legislative demonstration to throw to the really crazy people in their base. nobody believes that this kind of -- that this legal action will ever go anywhere. even judge antonin scalia, who is aligned with this group politically has said that this kind of -- has publicly said on several occasions that this kind of legislation has no merit. incidentally, you know, the legislation addresses the extension of the employer mandate, which by president obama of the affordable care act. president obama has given the republicans what they have been asking for. they have voted to kill the extension of the -- to kill the extension of the employer mandate 60 times in this one-term alone. and president obama has just said okay, we're going to allow employers to extend the mandate. so he has given them what they want and they're now suing him.

>> they're now suing him. i want to get a couple of things in. i want to talk about your book, but i also want to talk about tomorrow night, the cnn series "the sixties" airs tomorrow night. it was about 1968. your father wwas assassinated. there were riots and protests. what do you recall than time? >> well, i was 14 years old in 1968. my father was running for president. you know, i was involved in the campaign, as were all of my brothers and sisters. and as we had been in the 1960 campaign. so we had been -- you know, we were very conscious what was happening in the world. we were very conscious of the upheaval, not only in this country, but in countries all over the world. you know, it was civil rights with people in the colonial parts of the world and vietnam

and africa and elsewhere, trying to assert their power for the first time in history after 100 years of domination by an infrastructure that was driven by bigotry and by, you know, it was essentially a europe -- eurocentric infrastructure. and all of the sudden you had all these different kinds of people, black people and women and people from africa and latin america who were saying we want our share. we want a world that actually lives up to the ideals that america has been proclaiming. and i think, you know, it was an idealistic time in many ways. for our country, it was driven by young people and by people like my father and martin luther king who really just wanted america to live up to the promises that were outline in its constitution and the ideals, the greatest, highest ideals of our country. >> and real leaders on that. and you have been a leader on

this particular subject. the book is called "thimerosal: let the science speak." why did you write this book? it's been controversial. >> i wrote the book, because as you say, it's almost a radioactive issue. and people on both sides have dug in their heels. and the debate about it has devolved into kind of name-calling and it's not been a productive debate. so what i did is i got a group of scientists together. and i said let's go scour -- and i raised a couple $100,000. let's scour the scientific literature and find every article ever written on thimerosal safety. it's a preservative i that was eliminated because it was damage. it was taken out of american

vaccines, but unfortunately, we're still giving it to people all over the world. unfortunately, it was the same year cdc recommended it for the flu vaccine. so kids today and for the first time pregnant women are getting very, very large doses of this neurotoxin, doses that are equivalent to what they were getting before the ban on pediatric vaccines from the pediatric vaccines. so this is an unnecessary preservative. the size is very clear. well found over 500 peer reviewed publication, 1400 references this book that show that this is a known, recognized neurotoxin for which there are many, many alternatives. they should not be in our vaccines. >> and unfortunately, i have to get to a break here. but i appreciate you, again, the book is called "thimerosal: let the science speak." we'll have you back again to talk about it. thank you, everyone. >> thank you.

this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. it's 11:00 p.m. on the east coast. early thursday morning in israel and gaza, where another day of deadly violence is expected. an outdoor market in gaza was hit by an israeli air strike today. the gaza health ministry reports 17 people died. and a deadly strike on a united nations shelter in gaza. the u.n. blaming the