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tv   Wolf  CNN  November 18, 2014 10:00am-11:01am PST

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>> translator: there's no gap between me and the head of the -- he was precise in his words today and his testimony before the committee and only a part of it was quoted. but what the head of the isa said is that mazen doesn't directly encourage acts of terror. and this is good. this is a good thing. on the other hand, with the incitement of the palestinian authority, he hates the palestinian authority. and sometimes even things that he personally says, these do encourage terrorism in terms of incitement in people. and tensions that run high among people, that would be the right description. i repeat that now as well. >> you're hearing the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, speaking out condemning what happened in jerusalem earlier today. four rabbis killed, several
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other people were worshipping at that time early morning in jordan, injured some of them seriously. three of the four, american-born, one british-born, all rabbis, clearly a very, very disturbing development. you hear the prime minister of israel announce that israel will take measures, including destroying the houses of those palestinians who were engaged in this terror attack. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i want to go right to jerusalem inside what's going on. ben wedeman is on the scene for us. ben, explain to us what happened for viewers who might just be tuning in right now. >> reporter: what happened is just before 7:00 this morning, wolf, there were around a dozen men in this synagogue in west jerusalem when these two palestinians from a palestinian neighborhood in east jerusalem burst into the room as they were praying. these men were armed with
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knives, with axes and we saw pictures which would indicate they also had butcher's knives as well as a 9 millimeter pistol and they started to attack these worshippers. four of them were killed immediately. and within seven minutes, the israeli police were alerted to this attack and arrived on the scene as the two attackers were leaving the israeli police opened fired and killed the two attackers. six people were injured, some of them severely in this attack, including one of the police officers who we understand is now in critical condition. the israelis have, of course, reinforced security around jerusalem. they did dispatch forces to the palestinian neighborhood where these two attackers come from. some of their relatives have been brought into police custody for questioning. as we heard the prime minister
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say, israel will go ahead with the demolition of these houses. earlier we heard from mark regev, the spokesman for the prime minister, saying that this is one technique they're hoping -- one strategy they're going to use which they hope will deter any future attackers in this case. but the situation in jerusalem, now extremely tense. this is the worst attack in the city since 2008. wolf? >> the prime minister of israel responding with that statement. you heard it, israel will respond with a heavy hand. has anyone claimed responsibility for this terror attack? >> reporter: no. we heard hamas praising the attack but not claiming responsibility. there was a statement that came out attributed to the popular front for the liberation of palestine, a militant secular marxist organization which indicated that perhaps these two men were somehow affiliated with
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the organization. but there was no direct claim of responsibility. and this is one of the problems now that the israeli security forces are facing in jerusalem because it appears that this may be one in a long string of what they're calling lone wolf attacks, attacks by people who, not for clear motivations, are launching these attacks but with no link to the usual suspects, so to speak. so it becomes more difficult for the israeli security forces for intelligence to really understand where the next attack might be coming from. wolf? >> and the local authorities, as you know, ben, they've identified these four rabbis who were killed in this knife and ax attack, whatever you want to call it, let me give you their names, they identified the dead as rabbi arira capinsy.
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what do we know about the conditions of the others who were injured? >> reporter: well, we understand they range from sort of light to severe. as i mentioned, one of them -- one of the police officers that responded to reports of an attack who is in critical condition at this point. so we're told, actually, that normally there would have been more people in the synagogue at the time and for some reason, there weren't. so it could have been much worse. but as far as many israelis are concerned, this is about as bad as it can get where of course at morning prayers, worshippers are attacked in such a manner. wolf? >> ben wedeman on the scene for us in jerusalem, thank you. joining us on the phone right now is monty goldstein, commander of an organization that provides search and rescue for these kinds of terror attacks inside israel. you were one of the first people on the scene, monty. tell us what you saw.
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>> yeah, i was one of the first people on the scene. when i got there, there was still shooting going on. as we train all our teams, we have to take care of safety. once the police cleared the terror attackers and they were dead, we went in with our team. those who are trained in paramedics and first aid helped in saving lives. i have to say the scene was a complicated and difficult scene. there were close to 50 people in the room, not like i heard before. people saying about a dozen. there were about 50 people in that room and a lot of people were injured. 12 were injured, four killed. it was a very big chaos. and our mission is to make sense of the chaos. our team came in, helped saving lives and then making sure that people that are injured are going to the hospitals and to
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the operation rooms. the second thing we did is we took care of the remains of the bodies and made sure the people can be buried as soon as they can together with the forensics of the police department. >> by the time you got there, were the two terrorists who committed this ax attack, were they already shot dead? >> one of them was. the other one wasn't. it took another about half a minute to a minute when i was there to make sure both of them were dead. we have to understand people are talking about the response of the police officers in israel, which was -- five minutes is the wrong time -- people in the synagogues have no weapons, nothing to help themselves. only by throwing tables and chairs and trying to save one another. so five minutes is a long time. >> in a synagogue like this in
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jerusalem, is there normally special security outside? is there special security going in or can anybody just simply walk in? >> anybody can simply walk in in any synagogue like i know in any other place around the world or in a mosque or wherever you want to go, as long as you're going in to pray, no one's going to bother you. that was here today. unfortunately in the last month, we have known that jerusalem is having all kind of terror attacks and people are on high alert together with the security services and the different organizations. but when somebody goes in to a synagogue to pray at 7:00 in the morning, why should somebody harm him? >> have you ever seen anything like this before? i know you've been involved with zaka, this group that goes in and deals unfortunately with
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bodies, with remains of people who have been killed. have you ever seen anything like this where axes and meat cleavers, if you will, were used to kill these people? >> not like today. unfortunately in the last 15 years, i've been around all the wor world, the bombing attacks in india a few years ago, the shooting in other places, the explosion of the bus, haiti, japan, all kinds of situations. but today we saw that the terrorists came to do something different. something different. they made sure that whoever is dead is dead. and unfortunately i don't want to give you guys all the details because i don't think it's appropriate. but it was a very, very complicated and bad scene. >> your sense based on what you saw, what you know, these two terrorists who went inside that synagogue at 7:00 a.m. local time during the morning prayer service, they must have realized
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they were going to be killed themselves. these were suicide terrorists, they weren't suicide bombers. they were suicide murderers. they knew they were going to die. >> you're right. unfortunately like i said before in the last six weeks, we see this in jerusalem, we see people driving in to train stations. we see people going and stabbing people, knowing they're going to die. this is something new that we have to deal with. but on the other hand, you also have to understand that the spirit of the jews is very high. and the jewish population in israel is not going to put themselves down for any terror attack. unfortunately, we had a very bad one this morning. and unfortunately israel has the best teams around the world to deal with this. and like we saw this morning, even though we deal with something very complicated, after 5 1/2 hours, the building was opened.
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it's very unique in israel. 5 1/2 hours after such a disaster happens, life is back to what it usually is. and the synagogue was open to people that they can pray. i know that tonight, they're having a big prayer service. >> mati goldstein, commander of zaka, thanks very much for joining us. president obama says the u.s. condemns this synagogue attack in jerusalem in the strongest possible terms, calling it horrific. he says most israelis, most palestinians want peace and says the u.s. wants to work with all parties to bring that about. listen to this. >> tragically, this is not the first loss of life that we have seen in recent months. too many israelis have died. too many palestinians have died. and at this difficult time, i think it's important for both palestinians and israelis to try to work together to lower
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tensions and to reject violence. these outrageous acts represents the kinds of extremism that threat e threatens to bring all of the middle east into the kind of spiral from which it's very difficult to immerge. we know how this violence can get worse overtime. >> we're going to bring you any new developments on this front. more coverage of the jerusalem terror attack coming up. plus, the death of the american hostage peter kassig. now the white house is reviewing the entire u.s. policy on dealing with american hostages and the role of the military. and the hostage family. stay with us. we'll be right back.
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back to our top story this hour. the brutal terror attack, the killing of four people all rabbis at a synagogue in jerusalem, three of the victims, american citizens, one victim, a joint british-israeli citizen at the same time. joining us now, california democratic congressman adam schiff, member of the house intelligence committee. thanks for joining us. the fact that three of the rabbis were dual israeli-american citizens, one a british-israeli citizen, is there any indication this is just by chance or was this a deliberate attack on westerners, if you will, americans and british? >> i don't think we know yet whether this was just a targeted opportunity that they knew there would be rabbis there or dual citizens there. in either case, it's a terrible
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escalation of the violence and a horrible tragedy. and what's most disturbing to me about this is to hear spokespeople for hamas praising this and tweeting out pictures of the dead and injured in a gloating fashion. the whole world needs to condemn this act of violence and unfortunately we see an hamas reaction what israel has to deal with with a terrorist group like that. >> what does the u.s. -- what does the obama administration do now? it's obviously an escalating, very tense situation, not only there in jerusalem, elsewhere in israel and the west bank but throughout the region. it looks to be exploding every place you look. >> that's absolutely right. this couldn't come at a worse time with the whole region literally up in flames. the administration has to do what it is doing, condemn this unequivocally, this horrible act of violence and talk about how it can never be con domed.
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nothing could ever justify this. at the same time, the president has to appeal to responsible leadership among the palestinian community to condemn provocative acts and urge the israeli government to work with restraint and not to continue this escalation. so it's a tough line to walk. but i think that's precisely what the administration needs to do. >> let's talk about what's happening right now with isis, the latest isis video showing the beheading of another american hostage. president obama now asking for an overall review of u.s. policy in dealing with these kinds of hostage situations, including taking a look at the military, family involvement. do you think a hostage policy change is needed by the u.s. right now, specifically is it time for the u.s. to start paying ransom for the release of these hostages as some european countries do? >> no, wolf, i don't think that would be wise for us to change policy. i'm not sure even that that facet of policy is being
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examined. i think it's the right policy. certainly as a practical matter when it comes to, do we prosecute members of a hostage's family for trying to pay a ransom, we would never exercise the discretion to do that. i can't ever seeing bringing that kind of a case to court. what is more likely to be the subject of review here is how are we interacting with the families, what kind of efforts are we making to free hostages, is there anything more that could be done? and i certainly think in the area of coordinating our efforts and talking to the families of those who are hostages, there's a lot of improvement that can be made because i think a lot of those families feel very isolated, they feel very much in the dark. and within the confines of not releasing information that ultimately could harm their loved ones, i think we could do a better job of bringing them into our confidence about what we're doing to free their loved ones. >> all of us remember the u.s.
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was willing to engage in a prisoner exchange, releasing prisoners from guantanamo bay in exchange for bowe bergdahl, the american sergeant who was being held by the taliban for several years. and at the time, there was some serious criticism that this merely encourages the taking of american hostages, knowing they're going to get some of their own prisoners released in the process. what do you say about that? >> well, i think there are a lot of fair questions many of which i had also about the bergdahl exchange. i'm not sure i would have made that same agreement were i in a position to make that decision. but there is a difference between doing a prisoner exchange where you have prisoners of war and they have prisoners of war. the taliban in this case has every incentive not just to capture americans but to kill them. so i don't think it changes the equation much for the taliban. but when you're talking about paying ransoms to a terrorist organization that will use the money to fund other kidnappings
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and fund other acts of violence, i think that's a very different case. so i think the two are distinguishable, even though i think the bergdahl exchange was highly problematic. >> you wrote an article in "the los angeles times" in which you said the president is acting outside the u.s. constitution in regards to the current military operations against isis. you say this is a situation that has to be resolved by congress and has to be done immediately this year. go ahead and give us the gist of your message. >> well, my message is that neither of the two prior authorizations to use force either against al qaeda or against saddam hussein in iraq, neither apply to the current conflict. the clock that starts ticking when the war power impact is invoked, we are acting outside the constitution. congress hasn't authorized this use of force. and i think congress shares much of that responsibility because there's nothing that prevented
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us from taking this up before the elections because combat was already under way. around there's certainly nothing preventing us except a lack of political will in taking it up right now. i think the constitution requires us, it gives us the power alone to declare war, to take up this very important issue, to authorize or not authorize the president to go forward with more strikes. >> congressman, thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. when we come back, we'll get back to our top story, the terror attack at a jerusalem synagogue earlier this morning. four rabbis were killed in the process. three of them american-born, one british-born. much more on that top story when we come back. dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future.you. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them.
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i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. only moments ago, the white house press secretary josh earnest spoke out about the terror attack at a synagogue earlier today in jerusalem. >> we are deeply concerned about the -- specifically about this terrorist act. we're talking about attackers senselessly and brutally killing innocent worshippers at a synagogue. those who were killed include three american citizens. the fact is there can be no justification for an attack like this against innocent civilians. and the thoughts and prayers of the american people are with the victims and families of those who were killed and injured in
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this horrific attack and in other recent violence. at this sensitive moment in jerusalem, it is all the more important for israeli and palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence and seek a path forward toward peace. >> josh earnest, the white house press secretary speaking out. much more on this breaking news story coming up later this hour. but there's other important news we're following here in washington at the same time. a major political drama playing out right now over a controversial oil pipeline project. the u.s. senate voting later today on whether to approve the keystone pipeline. democratic senator mary landrieu of louisiana is pushing for passage hoping it will help her in a run-off election early next month. but as our chief congressional correspondent dana bash has learned, another senator, angus king of maine, independent senator, he plans to vote no. landrieu needs 60 votes. as of now, 59 senators have
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publicly stated their support. landrieu says she does have the 60 votes she needs. gloria borger is here with me right now. the house overwhelmingly passed it last week. looks like she says she's got the 60 votes she needs to break a filibuster. does she? >> we don't know. we'll find out. going to be high drama today later in the day. but if you take a step back, wolf, consider the fact that the reason this vote is coming up in the senate and forcing the president into a position where he's likely to veto this legislation if it gets to him is because of a democrat, not because of a republican. but it's because of a democrat, mary landrieu who is in a ra run-off in louisiana and the democrats are trying to give her this issue so she can take it back home and say, look at what i've done for the state of louisiana, i'm forcing the president on this issue --
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>> harry reid, senate majority leader for the next month, is allowing this to embarrass the president of the united states in order to give her something that may allow her to win this run-off? >> yeah, she can take it home and say, i'm powerful, i managed to get this many votes. if the president doesn't sign it this time, we're going to come back at him again. and by the way, i would argue if the president vetoes this he should and will expect it to come up again. and the next time, maybe he'll figure out a way to sign it because maybe he could use it to cut some deals with republicans in the senate on something else. but as of now, the white house is saying, look, the state department hasn't issued its full report. there's judicial issues pending in the state of nebraska. we want those to be taken care of first before we can make any final disposition. but make no mistake about it, this is about democratic politics to help mary landrieu, not about helping the president. >> we'll see if it helps her
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december 6th, that run-off. the polls show she's significantly behind. >> she is. >> she got the support of harry reid, even if it means embarrassing the president on a sensitive issue. speaking of the president, immigration reform, the president saying if the congress by the end of this year doesn't engage in significant reform, he's going to do it on his own, even though the republicans say that would be a violation of the constitution. he can't do it. he does not have legal authority and now, read "the new york times" story earlier today, several examples of the president himself in recent years saying he can't do this on his own, including this clip from back in 2011. >> there are enough laws on the books by congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system that for me to simply, through executive order, ignore those congressional mandates would not
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conform with my appropriate role as president. >> he was speaking on univision, the spanish television network at the time, explaining why he can't do it on his own. another occasion he said, i'm the president of the united states, i'm not the emperor of the united states. but now he says he's going to do -- >> now he's the emperor. he was against it before he was for it, wolf. he used it to explain to hispanic groups who were saying, why don't you do something by some kind of executive order saying, no, no, no, i can't do it, because he wanted something to pass through the congress. now that he knows that nothing is going to pass through the congress at this point, don't forget the senate passed a bill. in the house the bill went nowhere. he's decided he has 26 months left in his presidency that he's going to do exactly what he said he was not going to do. and i think, again, if you look at the larger picture here, this
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is a president who is saying to a republican congress, okay, dare me, i'm going to do it. and it's going to create a situation in which republicans are going to have to decide as they run the house and the senate whether they can compartmentalize and actually work with the president on, say, tax reform and trade and not work with him on immigration or whether it's all going to blow up. and we just don't know at this point how it's going to play out. >> it could play out by the end of this week, they say, if the president decides to do what he earlier said he shouldn't do. >> and you do have that "hell, no" caucus who would be saying to their leadership in the republican party, let's shut down the government. >> i don't think they'll shut down the government. >> stranger things have happened. >> i'd be surprised if they make that mistake again. gloria, thanks very much. still ahead, the national guard called in, a state of emergency declared.
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unease is growing in ferguson, missouri, ahead of the pending grand jury decision. and we'll get back to our top story, that horrible terror attack in a synagogue in jerusalem. we'll go live to bring you the update on what's going on. can't wait to get the next big thing? come to t-mobile and get the samsung galaxy note 4 for zero down. grab the hottest phone around, for zero down and zero waiting and zero annual service contracts only at t-mobile. stuck in a contract? we'll even buy you out of it. so why wait? switch now and get the samsung galaxy note 4 for zero down. our hearty all-natural turkey chili is back in season. slow-cooked with turkey raised without antibiotics, tart tomatillos, chilies, carrots, edamame and more. the savory spice of the chili pairs perfectly
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to help give you a better healthcare experience. call to enroll today and enjoy these benefits and more, like smart ways to save and tools to help you stay healthy. most plans also include part d prescription drug coverage. your healthcare needs are unique. that's why, with over 30 years of medicare experience, we'll help make things easy to understand and guide you every step of the way. open enrollment ends december 7th. so don't wait another day. if you're medicare eligible, call now... and talk to unitedhealthcare about our plans, like aarp medicarecomplete. let's get you on the right path. call unitedhealthcare today. the quiet holiness of a synagogue shattered by unholy terror, that's the headline in the jerusalem post describing today's horrific attack that left four people dead. two palestinians armed with
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axes, knives and a gun went on a rampage during morning prayers. pictures from inside the synagogue reveal the carnage that unfolded. a word of caution to our viewers. the images are very graphic. a trail of blood leading down a hallway, blood-soaked prayer shawls, a broken pair of glasses. in the meantime, we're learning more about the victims. three of the four who died were dual u.s.-israeli citizens. the fourth, a british-israeli citizen. all rabbis. the fbi says it will get involved in the investigation because of the american victims, the u.s. citizens. earlier we heard from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, calling the attackers animals joining us on the phone from tel aviv is a correspondent for the israeli newspaper. barack, thanks for joining us.
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give us some reaction. how awful is this situation and where do we expect it to lead? >> well, i think that what you see today, we need to trace back to, let's say, three or four months ago, with the kidnapping of three israeli teenagers in the west bank and afterwards the kidnapping and murder of a palestinian teenager. and then war in gaza and the escalation in temple mount the last two weeks and this horrendous massacre today. i think what we are seeing in the process leads us to what we can already call today the third inti fatah. the west bank is quite stable. inside israel, there are no
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terror attacks. but this is the center of the new and third intifatah. i think many israelis inside and outside jerusalem, see the situation and they're very worried and concerned we might go back to the scenes that we've seen ten years ago or 12 years ago, 2001, 2002, of bombings and attacks all over the country. >> because the prime minister of israel in a statement -- we showed it to our viewers. he said israel will respond immediately by destroying the houses of those two palestinian terrorists who went into the synagogue earlier today. that presumably is going to lead to an escalation in this situation. there's a fear that there will be revenge attacks, right? >> well, i think that this is the main problem here.
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prime minister netanyahu all along his political career was a person that ran under the slogan "i will be strong with the arabs, i will be strong against hamas, i will be strong against iran, i will bring you security." and in the last few months, i think what many israelis are seeing is quite the opposite. the security situation is deteriorating, deteriorating and deteriorating more and more. and right now, the government which is, by the way, it's a right wing government and doesn't have anyone to blame, he doesn't have any strategy or any solutions to the situation, doesn't have any answers. so what is left for them is, a, to blame president abbas for the terror attacks and, b, to go for reactions like demolishing houses and treating the civilian
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population in east jerusalem more harshly. and i agree with you that it's a self-defeating strategy that will only lead to more escalation of violence. >> here's the bottom-line question. is the prime minister politically in trouble? is his government in trouble? could it fall? >> well, i think that in the last few days, there was a lot of talk in this country about the possibility of early elections. this talk will be off the table for the next few days. but when you look at the big picture, i think that the current escalation, the current violation and the instability in the country will not work for mr. netanyahu's popularity because, again, many israelis will say, okay, you said that you were strong against hamas, you'll be strong against all the terrorists. what are you doing to change the situation? you're a right wing leader.
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it's not that you can blame those left liberals for not treating the terrorists the way they should treat them. so what are you doing? what are you doing to stop all this violence and all this terrorism? and netanyahu doesn't have any answers. i think politically he's in a very difficult situation. >> barak ravid, thanks very much for joining us. let's get u.s. perspective. michael o'hanlon is joining us right now, the director of research at the brookings institute here in washington and also the author of "bending history," a book on president obama's foreign policy. what's going on right here in the united states? how should the united states be dealing with this escalating crisis in jerusalem right now, michael? >> hi, wolf. i think first of all we have to always in this sort of a situation stand by the country
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with innocent civilians. that's true of palestinians as well as israelis. at the moment, we have to express our deep condolences for what began this. it's a very sad day for the israeli public. but it's a very sad period in general for these two peoples. and i think we have to emphatically say as our second course of business, get back to the peace process. there's really no alternative but a two-state solution and there is no better time than now. anyone who would challenge those two points, i believe we should disagree with. and i don't think we should be as apologetic about it as we sometimes seem to be. >> secretary kerry worked for over a year to achieve something in that peace process. it led really nowhere. for all intents and purposes, it's dead right now. how can he revive it? >> well, he can't without the israelis and palestinians themselves being willing to. so that's why i'm suggesting
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that the advice has to be given to them more than me giving it to my government. i don't know what more secretary kerry can be asked to do or like people at my colleague at brookings and others working on the two-state solution, what more they can be asked to do. but we have to partly speak to the publics on both side and help with the political will. what's the alternative for israel? to live in a jewish minority state that someday has more palestinians and other arabs than israelis? i don't think so. to have a system of two tiers of citizenship over the long term? that's not consistent with the israeli ethics that i know. so there really is no alternative there. the palestinians can't afford to stay in limbo for the rest of their history. we should be emphatic and speak directly to the publics to develop political consensus as much as we can. it's going to take time, though, for the reason you just
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mentioned. >> let's switch gears and talk about isis. the latest isis video showing the death of that american hostage. president obama asking for a full-scale review of how the u.s. government should deal with the military, with families when it comes to americans being held hostage by terror organizations. are changes overdue in the u.s. policy? >> well, one thing i've been thinking of, it's not at cnn's expense here, but i wonder if the media is giving too much visibility to these horrible, brutal, disgusting videos. obviously it's what isis wants us to do. that's why they release these. we're not going to be able to suppress it entirely. but one policy that i would want to ask people to think about changing is how much coverage we want to give to this because it acts in some ways as a propaganda tool for isis when they get so much footage out of these terrible atrocities. but, back to your original question, i don't think we can fundamentally change our policy on hostages. i think we need a better policy towards isis. and the obama administration is
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making serious progress and good progress in regard to iraq, although there's a long ways to go. but the policy on syria doesn't even add up. we can't seem to speak clearly about whether we're working with president assad or against him. we insist there's no formal communication or coordination and yet we seem to have the same goals. president obama wrote this secret letter to iran a few weeks ago. there's no viable plan for building up a syrian opposition that could seriously contest either assad or isis. so the syria policy needs a lot of work. i think that's where we should focus at a policy level. at an implementation level, there's, of course, a lot of work to do in iraq. but at least the basic concept makes sense to me. >> you think this new iraqi government which is obviously very closely aligned with iran really can get the job done? because their military, even though there are hundreds of thousands of iraqi soldiers who were trained, financed, armed by the united states, for more than a decade, they simply ran away as a bunch of isis terrorists
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came in to iraq, abandoning their posts, abandoning mosul, a city of 2 million, abandoning all the weapons the u.s. left behind. you think the iraqi military is really changing? >> well, you raise a very valid point. so far, the progress has been slow. i think we had a pretty good summer in helping forge that new iraqi government. but since that time, the key implementing legislation for some ideas that are designed to wrestle with the very paradoxes and tensions you mentioned have been held up. the creation of this new iraqi national guard, it's a great way to get sunni arabs to be recruited and fight locally for their own communities. but the iraqi central government is worried that these sunnis are ultimately going to turn on baghdad. and so it doesn't want this national guard to be created. i think the united states has to get more engaged. we're moving in the right direction. but i think a longer-term commitment by the united states and a willingness to keep forces there for mr. years, maybe even through an alliance, is actually the best way for us to help glue
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together these groups that are still so distrusting of each other. >> michael o'hanlon of the brookings institution, thanks very much for joining us. also want to put up the book jacket "bending history," his new book on president obama's foreign policy. still ahead, on the way, a grand jury still deciding whether officer darren wilson will be indicted in the august shooting of michael brown in ferguson, missouri. and the unease building, the missouri national guard being called in, a state of emergency already has been declared. she's still the one for you. and cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment is right. cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache.
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ask your doctor about xarelto® today. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 30 of the web's leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter.com/offer5. missouri is under a state of emergency. today the governor of missouri, jay nixon making the declaration, calling in the national guard as ferguson and the country brace for the grand jury's decision on the shooting of michael brown. stephanie elam has more on the growing unease. >> reporter: protesters in st.
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louis brave frigid temperatures taking to the streets ahead of missouri's governor declaring a state of emergency. governor jay nixon anticipating expanded unrest. if the grand jury decides not to indict ferguson police officer darren wilson who shot and killed michael brown on august 9th. governor nixon activating the national guard to assist the county police with securing ferguson, bypassing the ferguson police department. the mayor of st. louis agreed with the decision. >> we don't know what's going to happen or when it's going to happen or what the decision's going to be or what the reaction's going to be. i think we need to make sure that we are -- we are prepared. >> michael brown's parents have asked that everybody who supports them do so in a nonviolent, peaceful, constructive way. >> for more than three months now, this entire area has been on edge. >> are you worried about violence becoming an issue again?
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>> i'm not really. by civilians or by police? >> whatever concerns you. >> i mean, the biggest concern is that something very small will happen, like a water bottle and that will lead to tear gas or gunfire. >> last week, a law enforcement source says the fbi issued a bulletin to police across the nation. warning officers to be vigilant about possible violence related to ferguson. over the past few months, community leaders have complained that outsiders have instigated much of the violence. >> so when the grand jury comes out with its decision, what do you think's going to happen? >> i honestly can't say. i can just speak about what we're going to do to protest until we get what we deserve, which is justice. >> and more on that fbi bulletin. it does state that if there is any reason for there to be interaction that they should be vigilant as far as law enforcement is concerned. let me read to you what part of the bulletin says. the announcement of the grand jury's decision will likely be exploited by some individuals to
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justify threats and attacks against law enforcement and critical infrastructure. so everyone here ready and on edge for whenever this decision comes out, wolf. >> and we have no idea if it could be the next few days, week from now, two weeks from now. it's still a mystery, right? >> reporter: it's still a mystery at this point. and we're not supposed to know when it's happening. we're getting clues by the fact that the national guard has been activated, by the fact there's a state of emergency. it leads one to believe that we may be getting closer to finding out the fate of darren wilson. >> stephanie elam, we'll be in close touch with you. thank you very much. up next, another mystery. this time, a mystery involving a russian spacecraft if it's conjuring up memories of the cold war. what's the craft? what's its mission? we'll explore. for over a decade,
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i'm just looking over the company bills.up? is that what we pay for internet? yup. dsl is about 90 bucks a month. that's funny, for that price with comcast business, i think you get like 50 megabits. wow that's fast. personally, i prefer a slow internet. there is something about the sweet meditative glow of a loading website. don't listen to the naysayer. switch to comcast business today and get 50 megabits per second for $89.95. comcast business. built for business. it's up there orbiting in space right now. but that's the only thing we know for sure.
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what we don't know is the make-up or the mission of a swift-moving russian spacecraft. chad myers is joining us now. this mystery is reigniting speculation of a russian satellite. some are suggesting from the battle cold war days. what do we know? what can you tell us? >> we don't know much. what we know is that back in y may, the russians sent up a satellite rocket. and three satellites deployed, like expected. but one other piece of space junk came out. well, now we don't think it was space junk. we don't think it was a rocket booster or anything like that, it has been maneuvering around the atmosphere. right now over antarctica, but about to come back over to the u.s. in a few hours. no nefariousness with it. what it could be. it's 2014, 28-e. or norad 765. those are the numbers. but what could it be doing? it has maneuvered a little bit closer to other russian
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satellites. and there's a lot of junk up there. this is what space looks like right now. so this satellite has been maneuvering around. it could be refueling, it could be repairing. it also could be ready to take a shot at another satellite. i don't know why you have to do that, but obviously there are good things this could be doing and bad things that this could be up there doing. but the fact that it actually is maneuvering in space, close to other satellites tells us it's not just a piece of junk. it's up there to do something. and hopefully it's up there to repair a satellite. remember how we had to repair the hubble every once in a while. we hope it's something like that. we'll keep watching, the russians aren't saying much about it. >> they haven't said much and didn't explain what the overall mission was to begin with. >> correct. no explanation. we knew the other three satellites were going to come out. they did deploy. they deployed accurately. now we're waiting for this next one. >> all right, chad. thanks very much. we'll watch that mystery unfold. that's it for me, thanks very much for watching.
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i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the "situation room." for our international viewers, get ready, amanpour is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. hi there, i'm brooke baldwin. thank you so much for being with me here on this tuesday. i want to begin with breaking news. the whole city is peering down the barrel of a potential eruption of killing of the gruesome terror attack. even in the face of a recent spike of violence. israelis are absolutely stunned at what happened today at this synagogue where four rabbis, three from the united states were slain by two intruders screaming islamic religious slogans. according to witnesses there the assailants entered just before 7:00 in the morning. bearing a gun