show. congrats. 40 years for "snl." thanks for being with me this afternoon. stay with us. wolf starts right now. hello i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 7:00 p.m. in copenhagen. 8:00 p.m. in cairo. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we're watching two major stories unfolding right now. terror attacks gripping another european country. police in denmark have stepped up patrols after two deadly attacks. a gunman opened fire at a cafe and outside a synagogue. we're going to have the very latest. we'll go live to copenhagen. egypt strikes back against isis on yet another front following the latest savage act by the terrorist group. fighter jets today unleashed the second wave of air strikes against isis targets in libya. the egyptian military says the strikes are to avenge the killing of 21 egyptian

christians. the terror group released a video showing the apparent beheading of a dozen christians. the egyptians say it is their right and their duty to avenge the blood of their christian countrymen and to punish what they call the criminals and the murderers. the killings of the egyptian christians highlight the concern about the rising influence of isis throughout the region. in response egyptian f-16s took to the skies, targeting isis locations in derna, libya, not far from the egyptian border. ian is joining us with more from cairo. what can you tell us about the targets of these latest egyptian air strikes? >> reporter: there has now been two air strikes targeting derna. they are now going after isis depots and training facilities. this is a city that isis

controls. it's clesose to egypt, about 200 miles, and also close to europe about 200 miles from there as well. it sounds like they're planning a prolonged campaign against them. the foreign minister is heading to the united states to talk to the u.n. security council, to ask for what he says is an international effort. they would like to see the same sort of coalition that is operating in iraq and syria operate in libya as well. they're talking for more weapons. i talked to a retired general. he told me the egyptian military can keep this up for quite some time but they'll start running out of bombs and ammunition. they're going to need help from partner countries if they're going to keep up these strikes. egypt sees this as a very real threat to its national interest. right now it is sandwiched between isis and the sinai peninsula and isis in libya.

there's thousands of egyptians still in libya trying to get out. the egyptian government is trying to charter planes to get them out. once they cross the border. but it's a very dangerous situation for them now that egyptian has stepped up these air strikes. >> ian, these latest video released by isis appears to show a dozen egyptian christians being beheaded. 20 egyptian christians were killed. what do we know about them? why were they in libya? give us the information that we have. >> reporter: well these men were laborers. the many thousands of laborers go to libya before the 2011 uprising. there were millions of egyptians there going to work. a lot of them are very poor. these christians come from the southern part of egypt, a large christian community there.

this isn't the first time there have been killings of christians in libya. there have been several across the country. but this is really the first large scale kidnapping of these christians. back in december in january. and now we're seeing them executed. what this video shows is that isis has a very firm presence in libya. it's expanding its presence there, taking advantage of the political and security vacuum that has been libya since 2011. >> we're going to have more on this story later. let's turn to copenhagen where there's a much more visible police presence throughout the city following a pair of deadly shootings over the weekend. one at a cafe. one at a synagogue. nick robertson is on the ground for us and has more. >> reporter: this morning, copenhagen. the latest european city traumatized by an apparent act

of terrorism. as new details emerge about the 22-year-old gang member who killed two civilians and injured several police officers in a frightening attack over the weekend. he recently served time in jail after being convicted of a knife attack onboard a commuter train. according to the police there were no known ties of islamist extremism and they believe he didn't travel to syria or iraq. the chilling moment the gunman opened fire saturday afternoon in the middle of a free speech debate obtained by the bbc. >> the turning point, is but. why do we still say but when we -- [ gunfire ] >> reporter: you can hear

gunshots. cnn is unable to aweuthenticate the recording. the assumed target lars vilks, a controversial cartoonist on al qaeda's most wanted list for satirical drawings of the prophet muhammad. >> they took me and brought me into a storage room. >> reporter: hours later, the suspect attacked a synagogue. the gunman killing 37-year-old dan uzan a guard providing security for a bat mitzvah party. >> we will do everything we can to protect the jewish community in our country. >> reporter: the terror-filled weekend ending sunday outside these apartments. when the police killed the 22-year-old in the third gun battle in less than 24 hours. >> and what more are we learning

about the shooter and any possible accomplices? >> there appear to be two accomplices. the police have said all along that he acted alone, but they're actually beginning to piece together some more information. what we have heard from prosecutors this morning, two people police arrested yesterday. prosecutors have charged these two young men arrested yesterday. one 19 years old. one 22 years old. prosecutors say they had a prior agreement with the gunman to hide him out between the attacks, between the first attack and the time that he was killed by the police. prosecutors also say these two men hid the weapons. they'll be charged with accomplices to murder. the appearance is there were people these two men, who knew in advance, that this attack was about to happen or going to take place in some shape or form. so the security effort is to find out if there are any more

accomplices like this or the concern about a potential for a copycat attack. >> there's deep concern about that. nick thanks very much. following the deadly attack on the copenhagen synagogue, benjamin netanyahu urged jewish communities in europe to leave, and i'm quoting, israel is waiting for you with open arms. alyse is joining us now. many angry about the prime minister's remarks. not necessarily forced to go to israel. how are the prime minister's remarks being received where you are in israel? >> . >> reporter: from the prime minister in denmark to the chief rabbi there, who said they were disappointed with remarks from president hollande, and his prime minister said those remarks were offensive.

in europe, they're saying jews are an important part of europe. those comments are not coming off very well in israel either. ramon perez said this is the wrong thing to say. that right now jews should not be coming to israel out of fear. they should be saying it's every jew's birthright to come to israel and should come out of faith and love for the country, not out of fear. that's a similar sentiment being felt all throughout europe right now. >> as you know the cabinet of the prime minister approved a $46 billion plan to encourage more jewish immigration, specifically from france belgium, and ukraine. so how would that work? >> reporter: well it really runs the gamut. it could be anything from more seminars and fairs for jews in europe to learn more about coming to israel and doing what they call coming to israel and becoming a citizen of israel. it could be teaching hebrew in

those countries so jews would be ready. it could be anything from housing allowances to job opportunities to integrating these people into the communities. basically the israeli cabinet. right now they're just discussing this $45 million plan. it's very significant and one of the biggest of its kind wolf. >> all right thanks very much. appreciate it. and we're just getting this in now. lars vilks, the swedish cartoonist who escaped the attack in copenhagen is now confirming to cnn he has begun into -- gone into hiding. he says he is not afraid but he is going into hiding for understandable reasons right now. we'll have much more on this story coming up later. our next guest says prime minister benjamin netanyahu's comments came at the wrong time and he says normal life will continue for the jewish communities of copenhagen and elsewhere in europe.

denmark's former chief rabbi standing by to join us live. and later, first jordan now egypt. they are on the offensive. will the change -- will this change the fight against isis? stay with us. lots of news happening today. the lightest or nothing. the smartest or nothing. the quietest or nothing. the sleekest... ...sexiest ...baddest ...safest, ...tightest, ...quickest...

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french authorities are questioning five teens in connection with a desecration of hundreds of graves in a jewish cemetery. tombstones were broken and defaced. some were painted with swastikas and nazi slogans. the teens claim they didn't even know it was a jewish cemetery until after they began vandalizing the tombstones. police are still looking into that story. this is quite unnerving to many

jewish families after a number of anti-semitic attacks in france. just a month ago a gunman killed four hostages four jewish men in a kosher supermarket outside paris. the incidents in france coupled with the deadly attack on the copenhagen synagogue have reignited fears in jewish communities across europe. for more let's bring in the former chief rabbi of denmark. rabbi lexner thanks for joining us. give us your reaction. there's no concrete motive yet for the copenhagen synagogue attack. there's suspicion that they may have been inspired by the events in france last month. how worried are you? how worried is the jewish community in copenhagen about more potentially anti-semitic attacks? >> listen we have expected that. we know that denmark as a country is a goal for terrorism.

we know that when terrorism is the word, the jewish are endangered. so we have known that it could happen. we wouldn't have believed it would happen. now we saw it. and we were not afraid. we were not afraid today. we are worried, of course. we try to live a normal life a jewish life and we hope that what happened here gave us some strength. i just came from the synagogue. we said to people come and be in the synagogue. we had a thousands people just coming to the synagogue, just to be there. and we had flowers around the synagogue. you wouldn't have believed -- i think i saw your show during the

day. that people came from the prime minister -- a little girl yesterday evening with flowers. since sunday morning, there have been people the whole time in the street where the synagogue is. we have got mail telegrams, from those in denmark and also from the muslim communities. we are not scared. we want to live in denmark. >> rabrabbi, the man killed at the synagogue, 37-year-old dan uzan i understand you delivered the news of his death to his family. i wonder if you want to share your thoughts on how that all went down. >> listen everybody can imagine, dwhauz it mean that you get a phone call at 1:30 in the night, the police said please could you come to us.

and when they get there, they say you are the one who are going to tell the parents. we knew that if something was going to happen the rabbi would go to the family. so i went with two policemen to the family in the middle of the night. and i was sitting there for i think five hours. and listen to lose a child for parents is the worst thing you can imagine. so of course it was hard. and sometimes it's better not to speak, just to be quiet. just to cry with them. just to shout together with them. and other times, you speak a little bit. and little bit little you get people to understand what is going on. and that is one thing, i said i

can do everything in the world for you but giving back that. so this was a hard time for me but you can imagine a thousand more hard for the parents. >> yeah of course. >> this afternoon, i will just tell you that this afternoon, the parents and the sister came to the synagogue and we explained to them what really happened. and also, this is part of the bereavement. >> i wonder if you want to react to what benjamin netanyahu said when he suggested it's time for the people in your country, to pick up and leave those countries and come to israel. i wonder if you want to react to what the prime minister said.

>> i have reacted already. first of all, let me say, in 1961 israel's prime minister came to denmark and said the same thing. and came here a media storm, the chief rabbi went out in the media and said this is not the way to come here and tell people to leave. i will say this was not the commentary i have expected. i'm a father of three children who have left denmark and are living and establishing families in israel. we are happy. they did not leave denmark because they were afraid. they went to israel because they wanted to live in israel.

and i want those people that come to israel they should come to israel because they want to go. not because they're afraid to be in another european country. >> rabbi, thank you so much for joining us. good luck to you. good luck to everyone in copenhagen and denmark. awful, awful attack over the weekend. we'll, of course stay in touch with you. >> we need a lot of sympathy. thank you very much. >> thank you, rabbi, and police pass along our deepest, deepest condolences to the families there in denmark. up next, as you saw, denmark has been shaken by these two deadly attacks. we're going to take a closer look at the shootings. the possible links to last month's paris attacks.

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of a cell. >> denmark's prime minister talking about the suspect in the deadly shootings in copenhagen over the weekend. two people were killed. five others were injured in the shootings. the suspect was later killed by police in copenhagen. let's talk about more of this. joining us our national security analyst and our cnn intelligence and security analyst, former cia operative. peter, the danish government you just heard the prime minister say no known connections to isis or any other terror groups but she used that phrase "at this time." what's your suspicion about what's going on here? >> i mean, they'll be looking for this guy's connections but it wouldn't be the first time that we've seen people motivated by isis's ideology. in canada and australia, we've seen these lone wolf attacks. on the other hand the danish government has arrested other people so it's early to make a definitive statement. >> it looks like the shooter did have links to other crimes.

there's a lot of similarities apparently to what happened in paris a month ago and what happened in copenhagen over the weekend. >> yeah, wolf. this looks like a copycat attack right now. but the daner police will be going through the metta data. that's what it's good for, to see if he had any links to the middle east, if he traveled there. what sort of connections, cell calls, encrypted communications which is always possible. this will take a couple days. a good algorithm will tell them whether this is a lone wolf or not. but peter is absolutely right. what's scary is that someone can purchase guns in a place like denmark, where they're not readily available and carry out these attacks. i'll say it again. having shot these policemen was some skill. so where he learned how to handle a gun also interests the danish police. a lot of questions.

but these lone wolf attacks, which scare the fbi and europe. >> there's a whole notion of this copycat, because in paris, there was first the attack against the magazine then the attack on that kosher supermarket supermarket. in copenhagen the attack on this magazine and cartoonist where they were having a discussion about freedom of the press and a few hours later the attack on the synagogue. >> yeah both attacks involved attacks on policemen and both attacks involved people who seemed to have radicalized in prison. >> so what do you do about this? all over europe and maybe even here in the united states what do you do about copycats who may be inspired -- they may be gang members, but they may be inspired by this kind of ideology and they go ahead and do something like this? >> it's very tough. if they really are lone wolves they're not communicating with other people, not part of a group. it's hard to detect. but president obama is convening

this week at the white house, a two-day conference on countering violent extremism, bringing people around the world who are concerned about this subject. i don't think it's very easy to come up with answers because countering violent extremism, how do you know when you succeed? if you succeed, somebody just doesn't do anything. >> and the police there in copenhagen the police have picked up these two suspected accomplice accomplices. i guess they're being held for ten days during this investigation. presumably if there are accomplices, that raises the level of this kind of attack right? >> of course, wolf. what they have to determine is whether they were just part of this gang and he converted all by himself. or they actually shared the ideology. but the danish police face the same problems we do here in this country, you actually have to commit a crime before they can haul you in and truly investigate this. the department of justice has

been worried a long time about our prisons of people going in and joining muslim gangs and coming out, self-recruited if you like. or recruited in prison, and carrying out attacks. it's always a concern and if law enforcement is on top of it. but we just really don't have the mechanisms to stop it in its tracks. >> thanks very much. it was six months ago when isis forces took key tones in northern iraq including the mount sinjar area. up next cnn is going back to see what has happened to the yazidis after isis took control of that area. this is an exclusive report you will see only here on cnn.

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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. isis fighters are gaining critical new ground in western iraq. and iraqi troops are in danger of actually collapsing there. that's the word from a senior sunni tribal leader in the region. he had been warned that if the troops withdraw anbar could fall "within hours" to the north. isis still has a strong grip over the predominantly kurdish areas. it was just six months ago when isis arrived in the area triggering an exodus from the town of sinjar. cnn's phil black takes a closer look at what's happened there since then.

>> reporter: sinjar is now mostly empty. blackened and battered by war. isis holds this town firmly. from a peshmerga position we hear fast-moving aircraft followed by explosions below. from this position you can see the smoke rising above the town. there is the occasional burst of small arms fire from down within its streets and there is a surprising amount of traffic coming into the main road from the west from the direction of the syrian border towards sinjar and isis-controlled territory. cars and heavy trucks an endless stream moving at high speed. proof the coalition has not achieved its goal of stopping isis from moving fighters and supplies across the syrian border. the arrival of isis last august triggered a panicked stampede. much of the population hundreds of thousands, led up the slopes of neighboring mount sinjar. they found safety from isis but no food and water. no shelter from the scorching

heat. some remain on the mountain. most have moved on. many others have disappeared. this fighter says he hasn't seen his brother or nephew since isis entered the town. at a large refugee camp in kurdish iraq now full of people from sinjar we hear stories that help explain the disappearances. this woman and her niece were captured by isis. she says they killed the men, she saw her cousin beheaded. both say they were moved repeatedly with other sinjar women, first to syria, then back to other isis areas in iraq. she says she saw women being raped again and again. her daughter just 13 says she was kept with other young girls who were told to embrace islam and marry isis fighters. she tells me one girl refused and they cut off her hand. aunt and niece were held

separately but both escaped at different times. like almost everyone from sinjar they follow the yazidi faith, a religion especially loathed by isis. yazidis are now scattered across northern iraq in camps like this waiting for isis to be driven from their towns and villages. but they say they will never go back to sinjar because they will never forget what they saw and would never feel safe there again. >> phil black is joining us now live from erbil in northern iraq. the u.s.-led coalition, they've been targeting these air strikes in these air strikes against isis targets in the region lately. does it seem to be having much of an impact? >> reporter: it has, wolf. there's no doubt. together those air strikes along with those kurdish peshmerga fighters on the ground they have successfully cleared thousands of square miles. driven isis out. but as we know air power alone won't finish the job. and also there's every sense

that these kurdish fighters are very much aware of their limits as well because while they are prepared the clear small villages open ground, they're not moving into big towns and cities. that's why they're not yet moving into sinjar, for example. they are holding off, waiting, druing perimeters around these towns, circling them. it would seem waiting for the iraqi army to finish its preparations its retraining to be ready to rejoin and lead offensive operations to liberate these much larger urban areas. in the case of sinjar this means there is no major offensive plan in the future so it will be some time yet before the world discovers exactly the extent of the horrors that took place there. how many were killed. how many were taken. wolf? >> reporter: phil black on the scene for us. thanks for that report. appreciate it. meanwhile, egyptian fighter jets there targeting isis in libya, as egypt's offensive now a potential game-changer. our panel of experts standing by to weigh in. their analysis of the war

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egyptian war planes with strikes in response to the slaughter of 21 egyptian christians by isis. let's get some perspective on what this means. joining us retired navy general, spider marks. peter bergen joining us. they're both with me here in washington. general, egypt now on the offensive against isis in libya. jordan on the offensive, as we know now for a couple of weeks against isis targets in the region and syria, and not necessarily in iraq but maybe in iraq. is this a game-changer? what's going on right now? or is it just more of the same? >> no, no, no, it's a game changer. what you have, wolf clearly is the momentum has built. the threat is now imminent. it's been defined as imminent. it's getting closer and closer. so the egyptians going into libya, at least they don't have to ask for permission to keep

going into libyan air space. but they're clearly striking against targets, as they present themselves. and then with the jordanians into syria. that obviously is a game-changer. as long as we can maintain the pressure and keep this coalition together, it could be a game-changer. >> so isis what are they thinking? you studied these terrorist groups. they go ahead and they slaughter 21 egyptian christians. most of them they behead them put it out there on video, show the whole world what's going on. they've got some guy speaking in english, talking about all of this. do they think there's not going to be a reaction from the egyptian military which is still a pretty powerful military largely u.s.-supplied, u.s.-trained. >> i don't think they're rational actors. beheading the american journalist caused a huge reaction. killing the jordanian pilot brought jordan into the fight. it's not an effective strategy to keep adding to your enemies and that's what they've been doing. but they have an apocalyptic view that the end of the world

is near and they're part of this kind of force for good that's going to help. of course that doesn't make any sense. but they truly believe that they are in a cosmic struggle which they're on the good side. >> do they think -- do they want this kind of reaction jordanian reaction to the brutal burning of that f-16 fighter pilot in that steel cage? do they want an egyptian reaction to the beheading of these egyptian christians in libya? and obviously the beheading of the americans and killing of the americans who were being held hostage. what is their objective here? >> well peter hit the nail on the head. it's apocalyptic. they want to go to war with egypt, with the egyptian military. the islamic state is getting a lot of recruits from egypt, from jordan and now from saudi arabia. i oddly enough read the obituaries in the arabic press and there's a lot of saudis dying in iraq as well as libya and other places. so what they're hoping is if they can draw the west and our

allies whether it's egypt or jordan into this into a real confrontation, you know crusaders against islam, that these states will eventually fall. i think they're wrong. but this is the war they're fighting. so when they christians this goes against tenets but they want to provoke us into a war of really putting boots on the ground taking american prisoners, and the rest of it, and they think at the end of the day they can win this fight. so when peter says apocalyptic, he's right. >> there's a lot of experts on iraq -- and i've been speaking with them lately they think isis might be destroyed eventually inside iraq. but not necessarily thanks to the u.s. and the coalition air strikes. not necessarily thanks to the iraqi military which is basically pretty much useless. not because of the peshmerga and the kurdish fighters but largely because of the shiite

militias backed by iran. tens of thousands of them are going after isis right now. they're having the huge impact. and if in fact isis is destroyed, the shiite militias backed by iran may emerge as the big victor in iraq to which you say -- >> odd story, isn't it? that now our biggest ally in the region might be teheran in terms of what they've been able to accomplish in terms of the heavy lifting going against isis. it's not an outcome that we would prefer. it's clearly an outcome that is potentially inevitable based on what we see on the ground right now. i would challenge the efforts that are now ongoing by the united states and coalition partners as really doing a very -- just a heavy amount of lifting against isis in terms of containing them and not letting this spread geographically elsewhere, although we are seeing motivations and seeing successes in places like libya. but if we can hold it there, we're good. >> it's a complicated story with

no clear end in sight but we'll watch it guys. thanks very much. we're now into day two, by the way, of that cease-fire in ukraine. observers say it's shaky, but holding for the most part. we're going live to donetsk for a live update.

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muhammad. >> i realize this was many years ago in 2007 and there are other artists who have rendered pictures of the prophet muhammad and angered many in the muslim community. there are other authors among them and then of course the most recent with "charlie hebdo" being targeted as a result of the same sentiment. do you feel response nlible or do you feel that you have contributed to this sentiment that has inspired some people to resort to violence to express their anger about how the prophet muhammad has been depicted? >> well when you pose the question on the political responsibility i mean the reledgere

religious symbols they are carrying they are carrying political decisions almost so if you question the basic symbols of this it's a part of a political conversation. and if you have people with guns who start murdering people the thing you do is to start to put these people in prison because we cannot accept people murdering and trying in that way to stop the discussing our questions which you do with the freedom of speech and in a democracy. so it's a responsibility and, of course not one for following the rules and keeping a reasonable discussion going. it's those people who try to stop it with violence and murder. >> during the shooting bodyguards moved lars vilks, the cartoonist into a storage room. denmark's prime minister praised security in copenhagen saying

that the shootings could have been much worse and overall the city was lucky. we're almost two days into the cease-fire in ukraine. officials say it's officially holding but there's been some shelling. fighting between rebels and ukrainian officials have increased leading up to the cease-fire. nick paton walsh is joining us live right now. nick from what you have seen there, have there been any violations of the cease-fire? how is it holding up? >> reporter: well certainly we've come down from the key town which is at the heart of the disagreements around the cease-fire and there was a lot of shelling begging the question, what do you really cause the cease-fire when people haven't stopped firing. that of course is what people are dealing with right now. there were shelling on both sides and civilians are cowering in basements, simply terrified to leave there.

and, of course the other issue as well being how to resolve the hundreds and thousands of ukrainian troops trapped inside that particular town. we spoke to some ukrainian tank troops who had just come out and they said trying to go back in there, in their words, was a one-way ticket to their grave. very far from a cease-fire. the monitors say it's holding apart from the bouts. the bouts are always going to be the key town that both sides want to sad bee that would derail the cease-fire. that seems to be happening as we speak and until there's a political solution that resolves the fate we could see a perilous situation ahead of us. wolf? >> nick as you know both sides are supposed to be moving heavy artillery out of the hot zones. what's the timetable for that to happen? >> reporter: well, that is supposed to begin to happen

right now and unfortunately what we saw on the ground was, in fact ukrainian heavy weapons and heading in the opposite direction, it seemed to be back towards the front and there are reports that separatists have their weapons in place and both sides seem to be waiting for the other to make the move and the previous agreement there was a moment of silence that pre-empted that withdrawal of heavy weapons. >> nick paton walsh, be careful over there. we'll stay in close touch. we'll take a break and be right back.

here in the united states last night, a cultural icon celebrated its 40th birthday. i'm talking about saturday night live as part of the celebration. they rolled out some of the classic classic characters like these. ♪ ♪ >> i love the blues brothers. for 40 years, they have lampooned our world and i consider it a badge of honor

that i have been spoofed by "snl" a lot over the years. so which wolf blitzer do you prefer? watch this. >> good evening. i'm wolf blitzer. >> i'm wolf blitzer. >> worse name cnn correspondent wolf blitzer. >> wolf blitzer, cnn news. >> i'm wolf blitzer, such an exciting name for such a boring name. >> what kind of a name is wolf, anyways? >> it's so obvious that god made it up for the war. >> i'm wolf blitzer and this is "the situation room." >> homey, where you at? >> i'm in "the situation room." >> ha-ha, straight up. >> all right. yeah. >> i'm going to do push-ups for everyone and i want you to count them out loud. blitzer, get up here and sit on

my back. >> one, two, three -- >> the crawl is a privilege, not a right. >> my face is being haunted by the ghost of an old beard. >> it's like hi we now take you to our war correspondent. >> so let me warn the gun-slinking buccaneer. >> you're watching "the situation room." >> very funny stuff. just laughing. today, by the way, is presidents' day here in the united states and tonight our north american viewers will get to see six cnn anchors testing their knowledge of presidential trivia. it airs tonight for our north american viewers at 9:00 p.m.

eastern. that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'll be back in "the situation room" for our international viewers, amanpour is next. for north america, newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. here we go. i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for being here with me on this presidents' day, monday. we begin a new phase in the war on isis. it's just begun with this. 21 egyptian christians kidnapped, lined up on a beach and beheaded. another brutal mass murder at the hands of isis. but this time it didn't happen in syria, iraq this was