you can see it. and i hope cnn runs it. indian television station has a video of hamas fighters planting their rockets right next to a hotel, running away, using human shields. i don't care what amnesty international says, it is a fact that hamas uses human shields. >> we're using it right now. go ahead. >> unfortunately, it's also a fact that even if khaled meshaal were standing on top of a hospital with a sign that says israel come and get me, it would still be a violation of international law for israel to blow up that hospital that. >> is not true. that's false. that's absolutely not true. [ overlapping dialog ] >> the geneva accord -- >> let me jump in for one second. alan and reza, let me jump in for saefnlgtd i want to show the viewers the video that alan was talking about, which we have shown. and i do want to get, reza, your views of it. an indian station was saying some reporters were staying in a

hotel, and they did seem to witness fighters. i don't know if they were with hamas, but with some palestinian group putting a rocket. let's run that tape. >> rocket launching site. that this is an area very heavily built up. a lot of residential and hotel buildings all around. sort of a bush on top of what they embedded under the sand. >> that's the rocket being fired. in the act spot the rocket has been fired. that's the smoke we just showed the video of it in the immediate aftermath. >> now hamas has repeatedly denied using civilians as human shields. i asked an adviser to palestinian president mahmoud abbas today for his reaction to that video. here is the exchange. >> that area that that video was shot, that was packed with civilians. hamas turned a neighborhood into a target. as a palestinian, that must bother you.

>> what bothers me is really the killing of innocent people. remember one important thing. gaza is very crowded area. about 1.9 million palestinians live in only 370 square kilometers. so wherever you go in gaza, it's very crowded, whether here or there. >> not true. >> obviously, gaza is densely populated. but that's not to say that rockets have to be fired from a populated neighborhood. reza, what is your reaction to that ndtv clip and mohammed shtaya? >> there is no question that hamas fights in residential areas, that it launches attacks against israel from residential areas. that's an empirical fact. it's a direct violation of the geneva accords and international law. it is also a direct violation of the geneva accords and international law for israel to haphazardly target civilian areas when there is a

disproportionate number of civilian deaths involved. this is an issue of not moral equivalence. if we're going to compare israel's acts to hamas' and to actually excuse israel's actions because hamas is worse, then let's just compare them equally. let's make sure that international law applies to both. let's make sure that both are responsible for their actions. >> let me explain international law. international law says it's absolutely prohibitive ever to use ever, to use human civilian shields. ever. there are no qualifications. but israel has the right. it's a military target. and any rocket is a military target, to respond, as long as the value of the military target is proportional to the number of anticipated civilian deaths. now if meshaal is standing on top of the building, no. but if he is firing at israeli soldiers or civilians, then they do have the right. to fire back. >> but alan, we're in a ceasefire now. >> right. >> let's say that the ceasefire holds. let's talk what will happen next. >> right do. >> you think that there is a way

that what hamas wants, the blockade lifted off of gaza, can that happen? >> only if they are demilitarized. hamas has a choice. demilitarize and end the blockade, or remain militarized and retain a blockade to prevent more rockets from coming in and more concrete to build tunnels. that's their choice. >> reza, what do you think? >> i absolutely agree. the lifting of the siege in gaza has to be lifted in coordination with the demilitarization of hamas and the acceptance of a unity government. to the larger point here about president carter's comments, the united states already recognizes hamas as a legitimate political entity. it did so when it recognized along with every other country in the world except for israel the unity government between hamas and fatah in april. and frankly, if the likud government had also accepted that unity government, i don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we would not be where we are right now. >> very quickly, can you just talk than unity government? >> yes. the unity government did not

recognize hamas. it recognized that some members of hamas -- >> but it's the closest we have gotten. >> let's let hamas earn its right to legitimacy. until it gives up its tactic of hiding behind civilians and targeting civilian, it is an outlaw group. should it be treated the way pirate soos been treated historically. if it earns its right to legitimacy, then israel and other countries will give it that right. >> gentlemen, we'll leave there it there. alan dershowitz, reza aslan, jake. we'll see you tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. eastern on "the lead." you guys stay safe. when woe we come back, while the world is watching the middle east, things heat up in the ukraine. vladimir putin about to make a move? 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.

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more trouble in ukraine tonight. russia has added 8,000 troops on the border with eastern ukraine, increasing the force there to some 20,000. what should the white house do about this? joining us now is stephen cohen. he is the professor emeritus of russian studies at princeton and

nyu. and general wesley clark, the former nato supreme allied commander. gentlemen, thank you so much for being here. general clark, let me start with you. what is putin doing? >> well, he is building up his capacity to intervene. he habit apparently made a decision overtly to intervene. we do know there are russians on the ground there is russian equipment inside. and there is russian artillery and rockets that fire across the boarder to target the ukrainian forces. so he is building up the military capacity. he has a pretext for intervention now. he has the separatist mayor of luhansk citing an eminent humanitarian catastrophe and he is calling a council to discuss a humanitarian situation. he has many options. he could invade. he could infiltrate across the border. he could declare himself a unilateral peacekeeping mission. he could call for a ceasefire. he has lots of options here. and he -- he is playing it. he is like someone fumbling with the lock trying to find the

right key to open the door. >> professor, how troubling is this, what is happening on the boarder? >> well, it would be troubling if general clark told only one side of the story. but in any fight, there is two fighters. there is an american adage here is two sides to every story. it's very clear in moscow how putin sees this, what he thinks he is facing. he is being told by people who are advising him that this is no longer a struggle for ukraine, but a struggle for russia. these cities that you have reported on in eastern ukraine that are being attacked by the ukrainian army, kiev, are close to russia. he is being told if you let those cities go, you lose those cities, you will fight tomorrow in russia. so general clark is right in this regard. putin is now exploring another option. can the defenders of the city, as they call themselves, with additional russian weapons defend the cities themselves? if not, he is preparing another option, which would be to

intervene directly. >> general, what do you make of that? do you think that putin is going to do what he -- pull a sort of crimea maneuver here? >> well, he certainly would like to do that. but he -- putin has declared politically that he has created a zone that includes eastern ukraine. he wants that to be russia. he envisions forming the basis for a new union. it may not be exactly like the soviet union, but it will make russia a greater power. and he wants eastern ukraine in that. how much is eastern ukraine is open to dispute. but those two cities, they're not russian cities. and the people who are leading the fighting in there are not ukrainians who are ukrainian citizens, they're russians who have infiltrated in backed by soviet spetznatz. but now he is being frustrated

because he never expected the ukrainians would actually fight. imagine, he thought that he could just walk in there and they would surrender. the ukrainians were told by the west not to resist in crimea. that's why the ukrainian defense minister called the russian generals in crimea and said look, don't hurt our people. we'll give you everything. just let us leave. but they didn't like it. they're fighting for their country. >> hold on a second. professor, i see from your expression that you see this differently. >> i'm glad you call me a professor, because i deal with fax. i want to be as polite as possible. but general clark is simply uninformed. these are ukrainian cities, russian-speaking ukrainian cities. the populations are either ethnic russian or russian-speaking, but they are ukrainians. they are getting help from russia. but overwhelmingly, the fighting force in these cities that is defending the cities, about 15,000 men overwhelmingly they are ukrainian citizens. the notion, this entire crisis

comes from putin's aggression, ignores a fundamental fact there is a civil war under way in ukraine. and as i said, the first time i was on cnn back in february, that if ukraine's civil war becomes a proxy war with america supporting kiev and russia supporting the east, then we will run the risk of an american-russian war. and that is exactly what happened. to omit one-half of the story is just not to know what to do next. >> general, i do want you to be able to respond to what professor cohen is saying, and also do, you think this has become a proxy war between the u.s. and russia? . >> no, i don't think it's a proxy war between the united states and russia. but what happens in ukraine will have an enormous bearing on what happens for nato and how the united states has to respond in leading nato. so the outcome is vital to the united states. what we want is a diplomatic solution. but let's be very clear about this. there was an overthrow of an authoritarian government in ukraine. there has been a democratically

elected president. people in eastern ukraine are ukrainian, but to say that this is a civil war is to ignore the instigation, the subversion and the leadership of the russian influence, which is encouraged, aided, abetted and supported that conflict. so strictly speaking, this is not a civil war. this is a tactic for taking over eastern ukraine by an outside power. >> professor cohen, i'll give you the last word. >> yeah, because the longer general clark speaks, the more nonfacts emerge. it's a civil war created by history. nobody created this in russia or the united states. and to say it's not a proxy war when the united states department of defense has testified to the senate that united states officials are embedded in the ukrainian defense ministry is simply to ignore reality. i don't know where general clark has been these last two or three weeks. >> i've actually been in

ukraine. now, i don't know where you have been, professor, but when i was in ukraine, i met with the american embassy, i met with the ukrainian government. and there are actually we're not giving any military assistance that i can see other than some flak jackets and supposedly night vision goggles that will some day arrive and some mres. that's not much compared to what russia has in that conflict. >> do we have officials in the ukrainian defense ministry? >> not to my knowledge. >> well, they have testified to this to the senate. >> no. what you had was a fact-finding mission from the united states european command to look at the long-range structure of the ukrainian armed forces to reduce the size of the armed forces in the five to ten-year planning effort there is nobody giving them any advice or any assistance that i know of. i was just there. i've been there twice. >> you look it up. it's senate testimony. >> well, i testified in the united states -- >> not you. >> it wasn't my testimony. >> not yourself. of course. you're not in the government.

>> gentlemen, it doesn't sound like we're going to be able to resolve this tonight. but of course we will keep our eyes on what is happening along the border. we thank you both for your perspectives. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. when we come back, are republicans going head to head on support for israel? rand paul seems to be changing his tune. next, i'll ask ann coulter what she thinks he means. where the reward was that what if tnew car smelledit card and the freedom of the open road? a card that gave you that "i'm 16 and just got my first car" feeling. presenting the buypower card from capital one. redeem earnings toward part or even all of a new chevrolet, buick, gmc or cadillac - with no limits.

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the israeli-palestinian conflict is dividing people around the world. our next guest says she wishes benjamin netanyahu were our president. joining us is ann coulter, author of "never trust a liberal over 3, especially a republican." hi, ann. >> hello. >> nice to see you. >> good to see you too. what do you mean you wish benjamin netanyahu were our president. he could solve the border crisis? >> well, i keep looking at the news. like a lot of americans, we see israel's border and the

ukraine's border. how about our border? can we talk a little more about that? and i'm just jealous of what netanyahu is doing on israel. how about a nice fence and we'll send some drones down there. i think we could get this wrapped up pretty quickly. >> but you know we're not at war with mexico. >> no. but we have millions coming in. and raping and drunk driving and bringing in diseases and voting. i mean, unless -- >> you know that children from honduras are not trying to obliterate the united states -- >> speaking of human shields. >> the way hamas is. >> speaking of human shields, yeah that. >> send their children so the whole family can come. this is a country. >> what do you mean this is a country? you mean they want to come here because it's a better country? >> yes. and there are 52 billion, not million, billion people of the world who would like to live in a better country. it's not going to be a better country if all 52 billion come. >> let's talk about rand paul.

the congressman has said about our military aid to israel. so we give $3 billion a year in military aid. and rand paul seems to have been sort of all over the map as to whether or not this is a good idea or not. let's see what he said first today. >> i haven't proposed targeting or eliminating any aid to israel. so when people write that, they're not really writing the truth. what they're writing is a story line. >> so there he says he doesn't want to eliminate any aid to israel. but this is what he said back in 2011 when he has talked to wolf blitzer. >> so just to be precise, and all foreign aid, including the foreign aid to israel as well, that right? >> yes. >> what he was saying he wants to eliminate all foreign aid. >> right. >> so which one is it, and which one do you think he should be supporting? >> i think it's a little like a compass. it used to be whatever would

please 15-year-old ayn rand readers was his position. now it is whatever will please basically the mainstream media as his new position. but i wish we would pick a position and go with it. even if it's -- especially if the media hates it, if it's against what most people think, i would have a lot more respect for someone who takes an unpopular position, defends it and sticks to it. and i might add, that's what his father used to do. >> do you think that we should still be sending $3 billion in military aid to israel? >> the foreign aid thing, like the earmarks things is a little bit of a red herring. it's a very, very, very small amount of money. i don't think we use -- >> but $3 billion is a lot annually. >> for our budget? it's a drop in the bucket. i think we should be using our foreign aid better, ie as both a carrot and a stick. and we don't. as for, for example, right now with 100,000 latin american kids coming over. we can't pressure?

mexico can put our marines in prison, and we can't do anything about it? we send them $20 million in foreign aid. >> yes. so what does that mean? you do like the idea? >> i don't have a problem with foreign aid. i don't have a problem with earmarks. in both cases it's a drop in the bucket for what the federal government spends. the foreign aid itself, it ought to be used as part of our foreign policy. again, we're a country. we should be serving the interests of our country. we aren't the u.n. where anyone can move in and we just send money around the world. it is true. we don't have the money for it. we don't have money -- i mean, for all these things. >> well, of course. that's been the whole ail along. we have to make these choices. >> foreign aid used as part of our foreign policy, it's a very small amount of money. it's a lot less expensive than going to war. it's a lot less expensive as the open borders crowd says rounding them all up and sending them all home. no, foreign aid before they get here and using it in such a way

to have countries prevent 100,000 of their poor coming into our country would be a good way to use foreign aid. but we don't. >> got it. ann coulter, great to see you. >> good to see you. >> see you soon. and we'll be right back.

is "cnn tonight" tomorrow.

the stories you'll be talking about tomorrow. here is some disturbing video to show you. police are hunting for this gunman that you're to be see. apparently shooting and beating a man in a new york city grocery store on saturday, all without spilling the drink in his hand. five other men step over the victim as they leave the store. we will have much more on this story tomorrow. i'm alisyn camerota. that's going to do it for me. thank you so much for watching. we'll see you back here tomorrow. "ac 360" starts right now. good evening from jerusalem. thank you very much for joining us. a lot to cover tonight. the ceasefire, israeli troops pulling out of gaza. mission accomplished the idf says. in a tweet this morning, military operations went up until the 8:00 a.m. deadline this morning. this was the scene in gaza city, and that was the west bank. a stray rocket, one of 20 that hamas fired shortly before the ceasefire took effect. tonight we'll take look at