Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Samantha Power's Speech to AIPAC; ; ISIS Frees Some of Its Assyrian Hostages; Israeli Prime Minister Urging No Deal on Iran Nukes

Aired March 2, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's head live to Washington. You're looking at live pictures inside the AIPAC meeting today. Samantha Power, America's U.N. ambassador, ready to address the pro- Israel lobbying group ahead of Netanyahu. Let's listen.

SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Before I begin, I want to thank Howard Core (ph) for the invitation and to congratulate Lillian (ph) on her selection. I'd also like to -- I'd also like to give a shout-out to Bob who has done so much for this organization and for the U.S.-Israel partnership.

In 1942, a 28-year-old Polish diplomat and Roman catholic named Jan Karski disguised himself as a Jew, donning an arm band with the star of David and smuggled himself through a tunnel into the Warsaw ghetto. Later posing as a militia man, he infiltrated the Nazi death camp of Belzec and escaped carrying hundreds of documents on a miniature microfilm. Karski eventually made his way to London where he showed the documents to Ignatzi Shvartzbart (ph), a Jew and representative of Poland's government in exile. Shvartzbart immediately sent the following cable to the World Jewish Congress in New York. Jews in Poland almost completely annihilated, stop. Read reports, deportation, 10,000 Jews for death, stop. In Belzec, forced to dig their own grave, mass suicide, hundreds, children, thrown alive into gutters, death camps in Belzec, Treblinka district, Melkania (ph), thousands dead, not buried in Sobibor district. Voldavsi (ph), mass graves, murder, pregnant women, stop. Jews, naked, dragged into death chambers, Gestapo men ask payment for quicker killing, hunting fugitives, stop. Thousands, daily victims throughout Poland, stop. Believe the unbelievable, stop.

Six years later, on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion issued the declaration that created the state of Israel. For generations, Jews had dreamed of being a free nation in their own land, (INAUDIBLE) Israel. A vision articulated by Theodor Herzl in 1987 at the first Zionist congress.

But the showa (ph) gave this long-held dream what the declaration's authors called greater urgency. The savagery Karski witnessed was also a major impetus behind the creation of the institution where I currently represent the United States, the United Nations. I began my career as a journalist, moved by the harrowing images of prisoners in Serb concentration camps. I traveled to the Balkans where I covered the horrors of a war in which kids were picked off their bicycles by snipers. Bosnian Muslim women were systemically raped and some 8,000 unarmed men and boys were murdered in Serbernitza (ph), the largest massacre in Europe since World War II. I also saw the citizens of Bosnia look in false hope to U.N. peacekeepers to protect them. In the end, they found rescue only from a U.S.-led coalition that finally intervened to stop the slaughter.

I was chilled by what I saw and chilled equally by the slowness of the world's response. I didn't understand how the world could say we had learned the lessons of the Holocaust and never again, only to witness Sarajevo, Serbernitza, the Rwandan genocide and so much more.

Those questions were the impetus behind my first trip to Israel nearly two decades ago. So much of what I saw there left an enduring impression. But nothing so much as the children's memorial at Yad Vashem. The descent into a dark underground cavern, illuminated by a sea of projected (INAUDIBLE) candles paying tribute to the memory of 1.5 million children murdered by the Nazis. Projected in that darkness, a stream of photographs of the individual faces of the children who were killed as their names, countries and ages echo in the void, implanting themselves in one's consciousness and into one's conscious. You do not need to be Jewish to feel the searing loss held by that darkness. A loss like the tiny specs of light reflected in that cavernous room that is immeasurable, infinite.

Of course, the story of the creation of Israel and of the United Nations, for that matter, is about much more than a reaction against the evils of the Holocaust. The story is also the story of thousands of years of Jews yearning for a homeland. And it is the story of a set of principles reflected in Israel's founding document, which envisaged a state, quote, "based on freedom, justice, and peace and envisaged by the prophets of Israel," end quote. A state that would, quote, "be faithful to the principles of the charter of the United Nations," end quote. So it is bitterly unjust that the United Nations, an institution founded upon the idea that all nations should be treated equally, is so often used cynically by member states to treat Israel unequally.

These attacks on Israel's legitimacy are biased, they are ugly, and the United States of America will not rest until they stop.

Now, as a few of you may have heard, the prime minister of Israel is in town. Rumor has it that he may be giving a couple speeches. You may also have heard -- you may also have heard lately of tension in the relationship between the United States and Israel. Let me today separate out a few different issues, politics, policy and what the United States does each and every day to combat anti-Semitism around the world and to fight attacks against Israel at the United Nations.

We believe firmly that Israel's security and the U.S.-Israel partnership transcends politics and it always will.

That is a very important statement you all have made. It was the same bond that led President Truman to make the United States the first country to recognize Israel, 11 minutes after it declared its existence in 1948. And it is why we have stood by Israel's side every minute since. Our commitments to our partnership with Israel are bedrock commitments, rooted in shared fundamental values, cemented through decades of bipartisan reinforcement. This partnership should never be politicized and it cannot and will not be tarnished or broken.

Now, debating the most effective policy both within our respective democracies and among partners is more than useful. It is a necessary part of arriving at informed decisions. Politicizing that process is not. The stakes are too high for that.

On policy, the negotiations that we and our partners have entered into with Iran, negotiations aimed centrally at denying Iran a nuclear weapon, have generated reasonable debate. My colleague and dear friend, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, will speak in depth about Iran later tonight. But I am struck that when I read about alleged policy differences on the Iran nuclear negotiations, I rarely see mention of the foundational strategic agreement between the United States and Israel. An agreement that undergirds our entire engagement with Iran. The United States of America will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon period.

Now, let me put President Obama's commitment to denying Iran a nuclear weapon in context. The Obama administration has invested more than $20 billion in foreign military financing for Israel, far more than for any other country and more than at any previous time in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

And -- and the president not only committed to denying Iran a nuclear weapon before negotiations with Iran began, he has reiterated the same commitment during negotiations and he will keep his commitment whether negotiations collapse or produce a diplomatic solution that meets our bottom lines. Maybe the president has made this point so often that it isn't heard in the same way anymore. But we have to keep repeating it. Talks, no talks, agreement, no agreement, the United States will take whatever steps are necessary to protect our national security and that of our closest allies.

We believe diplomacy is the preferred route to secure our shared aim. But if diplomacy should fail, we know the stakes of a nuclear armed Iran as well as everyone here. We will not let it happen.

There will never be a sunset on America's commitment to Israel's security, never.

Now, let me turn to aspects of the U.S.-Israel partnership that get far less attention what the United States is doing every day to combat anti-Semitism around the world and to have Israel's back at the United Nations. We are living in an era where anti-Semitism is surging by every measure, reported harassment, polling data, violent attacks. And we should all be extremely disturbed by it.

Last summer, we saw rallies about the Gaza violence in Dortmund (ph) and Frankfurt (ph), at which protestors chanted "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas." And a similar rally in Paris where protestors marched on a synagogue chanting, "Jews to the oven." We see children who have to walk through (INAUDIBLE) of heavily armed soldiers to get into their Jewish schools and congregants forced to walk through metal detectors to enter their synagogue. And we have seen murder, the attack in Paris and the attacks before it on the Jewish school in Toulouse and the Jewish museum in Brussels, last month's attack on a synagogue in Copenhagen. Then there are the signs we cannot see but that are no less chilling, Jews thinking twice before shopping in a kosher shopping market, putting on a kippah or hanging a mezuzah outside a home.

In 2004, all 55 countries in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including the United States, convened in Berlin to make a historic pledge to combat all forms of anti-Semitism. When last November the countries reassembled to mark the 10th anniversary of that pledge, President Obama asked me to lead the presidential delegation to the meeting. What I told the leaders gathered there is what you already know, anti-Semitic attacks are not only a threat to the Jewish community, they are a threat to European liberalism and pluralism. The very ideas that Jan Karski was willing to risk his life for. I told the European gathering that while freedom of expression is a sacred right, criticism of Israel can never be used as a justification for incitement to violence.

(APPLAUSE)

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to step away. You're listening to Samantha Power, America's U.N. ambassador.

Elise Labott is inside the auditorium where Miss Power is speaking. I want to get some thoughts from Elise before we head to break.

Elise, it was interesting that Ambassador Power said that she wasn't going to talk about Mr. Obama's Iran policies but she was instead going to talk about the ways that America supports Israel.

Why do you think that was the strategy here?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, Carol, I think that Ambassador Power was a good choice by the White House to kind of tone the atmosphere down, basically letting this audience of 16,000 people know that there might be problems in the relationship between the U.S. and Israel but that U.S. commitment to Israel security she said there will never be a sunset on that commitment and that was a response to one of the fears that the Israelis have that after this deal with the U.S. and Iran and those world powers expires, that Iran would be able to go for a nuclear weapon.

And what the ambassador was saying is, no, we will never let Iran have a nuclear weapon, we will always be looking out for Israel's security and, you know, tried to lower the tone, lower the tension that's been going on with the White House.

Now she's talking about the U.S. commitment to make sure that there are no more anti-Semitic attacks against Jews around the world, and really trying to show the breadth and the depth of the U.S. relationship with Israel -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, her speech certainly seems to be well received going back to what she said about Israel's security when she said Israel security transcends politics, she got a standing ovation.

LABOTT: Well, that's right. And these people yes, obviously the issue, the Iran nuclear issue was the main issue here at this conference. But by coming out and by saying that the U.S. is looking out for Israel, that is U.S. will not let Iran have a nuclear bomb, I think she's reiterating that commitment that the Israelis have, you know, been a little bit nervous about. They've been nervous about this White House, that deal shaping up with Iran would leave places -- pieces in place for Iran to go after a nuclear weapon.

And she's saying, listen, no matter what the acrimony is, the U.S. is looking out for Israel. The U.S. is not going to let a bad deal happen that threatens Israel. And I think that message --

COSTELLO: All right. Elise Labott breaking up there because obviously she's inside of an auditorium and still those connections aren't the best.

But, Elise Labott, thanks so much.

I've got to take a break. I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Israel's prime minister is set to speak for APAC in minutes. Of course when Mr. Netanyahu begin speaking, we'll take him live.

But first, after months of violence ISIS sets hostages free. Nineteen Assyrian Christians were released from captivity on Sunday. All but one of them were among the more than 200 captured last month.

The captives were processed in a Sharia court but ISIS has not explained its decision to let the hostages go leaving many asking why.

So let's talk about this, I'm joined by former U.S. Delta Force commander and CNN global affairs analyst, Lt. Col. James Reese.

Welcome, Colonel.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So why did ISIS free these Christian captives?

REESE: Well, Carol, there are several aspects we can look at here. No one is ever going to really know but one of the major pieces is that the Daesh is really trying to show themselves as a state. That they have a judicial process. They've gone through it. And now that they'll release them, again it continues to show their followers that they are an Islamic state.

But on the other hand, the thing that I find very interesting is that there were negotiations done for this. You had some Kurdish, some Sunni members of Iraq, parliament really doing some negotiation with Daesh. That to me, even though I know a lot of people just want to bomb Daesh into existence, that to me possibly could show a fracture line inside ISIS or Daesh, which is, you know, what I'm hoping would be is that there are some diplomatic ways to get these things solved and you know again we have to sit back and watch this. But I think it's a good sign.

COSTELLO: So supposedly -- there was this Sharia court that decided who would be released and, you know, we can't discount the fact that money might have changed hands and the Sharia court was just a sham. And I understand what you're saying but if money was exchanged, is that really a positive sign?

REESE: No, it's not a positive sign if money is exchanged. If we can find that out, then that turns the tables, you know, kind of on our assumptions of how this thing plays out. But again one of the pieces I picked up from our folks in Iraq is there were several negotiations going on while the Islamic court, the Sharia court, met and again, you know, everything -- unfortunately over there everything is done with money.

Money is the backbone of everything that's done over there in the Middle East. So that could be an aspect which throws the whole piece about negotiations out the door.

COSTELLO: I understand.

Lieutenant Colonel James Reese, thanks for your insight as always. We appreciate it.

Our coverage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to AIPAC after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. I'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

A live look at AIPAC right now. The American-Israel Political Action Committee Conference is ongoing. The rift between the Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a possible nuclear deal with Iran playing out on that stage.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, telling this crowd the safety of Israel's security should transcend politics.

Mr. Netanyahu speaks next but he's already made his case for coming to Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (Through Translator): I'm leaving for Washington for a fateful, even historic mission. I feel that I am the messenger of all of Israel's citizens, even those who don't agree with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're covering the speech from all political angles. Elise Labott is inside the auditorium where Netanyahu is set to speak. Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill. Jim Acosta is at the White House. Wolf Blitzer is in Washington. And (INAUDIBLE) is a fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Welcome to all of you. Thanks for being with me.

I want to start with Elise. She's inside that auditorium.

How is Ambassador Power's speech going over, Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, Carol, she's having a very warm welcome by this crowd of 16,000. I think really a good choice by the administration to lower the atmosphere and this tension between the U.S. and Israel making a strong case why not just on the Iranian issue will the U.S. continue to stand by Israel security, saying that the relationship with Israel is above politics but also laying out a lot of areas particularly at her perch at the United Nations, where the U.S. does stand by Israel on anti-Semitic attacks, on resolutions, one side against Israel.

Really going on about why the U.S. and Israel are close friends despite this profound disagreement on the Iranian deal shaping up -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I want to go to Wolf Blitzer right now to talk a little bit about what Netanyahu might say after Samantha Power.

I don't know the reason for this, Wolf. But originally Samantha Power was set to speak after Netanyahu but suddenly she was moved before him. I don't know if that really means anything. What do you think?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I think that both sides are trying to lower the temperature right now. There's been a serious rift understandably so. A serious disagreement over what the U.S. is trying to do as far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned. The end goal is the same. Everyone wants to make sure Iran does not get a nuclear bomb. But they way to that goal -- seems to be a significant difference between the Israeli government, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the president of the United States, the secretary of state obviously.

Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the U.N., has been delivering very, very positive speech trying to stress the importance of the strong U.S./Israeli relationship and as Elise just pointed out, going through step-by-step-by-step everything the United States has done to try to help Israel and the international community. Very significant steps at a time when Israel is increasingly isolated internationally.

And I suspect that Netanyahu in a speech that he's about to deliver before AIPAC is going to try to do the same thing. He knows he's been bitterly criticized by a lot of Democrats. He's going to reach out, he's going to say really nice things presumably about the president of the United States saying that, yes, there's been strong military-to- military cooperation, intelligence cooperation although there are differences. So he'll underline that. I think he will try to go out of his way to try to repair the serious rupture that's occurred as a result of his acceptance of this invitation from John Boehner, the speaker, to go and address this joint meeting of Congress.

COSTELLO: Yes. I'm just looking over the picture beside you, Wolf, because Benjamin Netanyahu set to speak at any minute now but apparently they're showing a film before he does.