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Netanyahu to Address the U.N. General Assembly; Florida Counties Report Damage, Flooding and Downed Power Lines; Matthew Kent is Interviewed about Power in Georgia. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:31:40]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you are seeing pictures of Prime Minister Netanyahu arriving here from yesterday. But any moment now the prime minister will address the United Nations General Assembly as the conflict's intensifying between Israel and Hezbollah this morning, with everyone worried about a huge war escalating, a regional war potentially. Israel placed tanks and other armored vehicles near the border with Lebanon, signaling that they could potentially, at some point if they decide, go in on the ground.

Plus, we have seen overnight airstrikes. And this is in the middle of all the confusion surrounding Netanyahu's response to a potential ceasefire plan.

CNN's chief national correspondent Alex Marquardt is outside of the U.N.

You have had some really excellent reporting on this. What can you tell us about what - what I think the us thought was going to be a ceasefire announcement shortly?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, at best, Sara, it appears to be a huge misunderstanding, which is really hard to believe because there were several days of discussions of negotiations earlier this week over what the White House then put out on Wednesday night, almost triumphantly, as this proposal for a 21-day ceasefire, a truce, a pause in the fighting to work on a diplomatic solution for the border between Israel and Lebanon, where tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced because of the last 11 months of the fighting.

Now, White House officials assembled a call on Wednesday night. They said that it was an important breakthrough. And then just hours later, Netanyahu essentially dismissed it. He rejected it. He said that the IDF will continue fighting with full force, using all of their might against Hezbollah. And so we've been trying to make sense of this contradiction by the Israelis that has certainly frustrated and disappointed U.S. officials. And frankly, Sara, the White House has not come up with a good explanation because Israeli officials were very much involved in those discussions earlier in the week.

So, what was put on the table on Wednesday was no surprise to them. And yet here we have Netanyahu appearing to not be on board with this plan. The White House's John Kirby told reporters just yesterday that they would not have put this plan on the table, they would not have made it public if the Israelis were not on board. And he said that he believed that all parties were negotiating in a sincere way.

And yet here we have these conflicting attitudes towards this proposal. The Israelis do appear to be trying to smooth it over. They put out a statement saying that they - they support this U.S.-led initiative. They thanked the U.S. for their involvement. And they will continue the discussions in the coming days. So, it's clear that this is not yet a done deal. Certainly it does not appear to be imminent. These discussions are going to continue.

So, we will be on the lookout for anything that Netanyahu says on this in the coming moments. He's the next speaker up here at the United Nations. And then later on this afternoon we're going to be hearing also from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will certainly be pushed on this. So, lots more to come today.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, I mean it's truly, you know, a bit of a diplomatic mess, if you will, when it comes to the negotiations over the ceasefire and what was expected.

I do want to ask you what you're hearing from your sources about this concern of a regional war because now we're seeing that Israel is amassing some of its tanks, some of its munitions on the border with Lebanon.

[09:35:04]

And whenever a country does that, there is always the possibility that they go in on the ground, which would create a full-scale war.

MARQUARDT: No, it's a very significant concern on the U.S. side and countless other countries here. That is the main concern right now that not only will that conflict in Lebanon escalate to include an Israeli ground incursion, but that could lead to a much broader regional war. That is what the U.S. and France and all these other countries that signed on to the statement on Wednesday night are trying to explicitly avoid.

Now, we could see a scenario in which perhaps the Israelis would pound Hezbollah for the next few days from the air and then - and then turn their focus to this potential pause in the fighting. That - that, right now, appears to be the best-case scenario.

But Israel has made clear that they are willing to go into Lebanon on the ground. This is no longer a hypothetical. They have called up brigades. Their top generals have said that they are planning for a ground incursion should they get that order. And the U.S. is now working as hard as it can to try to avoid that scenario. The secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, spoke with our colleague, Wolf

Blitzer, earlier today in an interview that's going to be airing today on CNN, saying that they want to avoid that ground incursion because of that possibility of escalation. That is - it is a major, major concern that this conflict, not just in Gaza, not just in Lebanon, but it could expand in a much broader way, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, the whole region is on edge, as are, of course, U.S. officials and others concerned about what that means for them and their troops.

Alex Marquardt, thank you so much for all your great reporting there outside the U.N. for us.

And now I'm' going to toss it back to John, who is tracking the remnants of Helene, which are significantly - causing significant problems over several states.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, more than 3 million customers without power across several states. More than a million without power here in Florida. We're getting reports of hundreds and hundreds of water rescues overnight. That's what the FEMA administrator told us. Unprecedented flooding in Clearwater, Florida. Record storm surges in so many coastal communities.

Let's get to CNN's Carlos Suarez, who is in Gulfport, Florida, this morning.

Carlos, you had a remarkable day and night yesterday as the storm surge pushed inland in ways that I don't think a lot of people were expecting even where you were. What are you seeing this morning?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, so that storm surge yesterday at its peak was at about six feet. And, in fact, we were at this very location yesterday afternoon when it just became unsafe for us to stay here, and so we had to evacuate. We made our way inland.

We are back out at the same location where we were yesterday. And to give you a sense of just how high the water was, yesterday, for our live location, my photographer, George, was perched up just atop that top - the top of the stairs there. By the time we left yesterday, and nightfall had fallen here, the water was well above that line.

And so that's why all of this area here has been damaged. The National Guard is already here on the scene in Gulfport. You can see there's at least one, two, three boats that were pushed out from the bay that now sit kind of right near where a volleyball court used to be. And then here to my right, there is another boat that was pushed right into this casino. And then if you go over a little bit to your left, you'll see all of the pier that's missing, the dock that's missing. You can see where it came to a stop out here. And you can see at the far end yet another sailboat that sits there. And then at the very, very end there, there is another member of the National Guard. The teams there, we're told, are trying to take a look at all of this damage to get a better sense of exactly how much effort it's going to take to try to start removing a lot of this debris.

John, I can tell you that over in the St. Petersburg area, in a really low-lying part of the city, we're told that some water rescues have been taking place overnight and into the morning hours because officials were having a really the hard time getting some first responders out there. And then over in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, and the Tampa Bay area, around there, the mayor was up in a Tampa police helicopter and she got a look at some of the damage. And you can see that the flooding there is pretty widespread.

And it's important to note, guys, that this storm stayed to the west of us. It was about 100 miles, if not more, to the west of Pinellas County. This was not a direct hit. And yet all of this damage was the result of the strong winds, the storm surge, the rain that fell and just gives you a sense of how big this storm was considering that it wasn't really in the direct impact where we are right now.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, that really is such a great point, Carlos. You know, you're a hundred miles from the center of the storm, yet still records storm surge where you are in Gulfport.

[09:40:03]

Standing water still all around you. And those boats pushed into shore.

Carlos, thank you so much for the work that you've done. That's, you know, 150 miles south of where I am in Tallahassee. Well north of here in Georgia, they are having serious issues with rain and flooding and power. More than a million customers without power in Georgia.

With me now is Matthew Kent, spokesperson for Georgia Power.

Matthew, thank you so much for being with us.

Give us the latest update on how many customers are right now without power.

MATTHEW KENT, SPOKESMAN, GEORGIA POWER: So, as far as Georgia Power, we have just over 700,000 customers without power. But the - the great thing is that we were able to restore power using our smart grid and just redirecting power to about 100,000 overnight and to this point. So, we are working to get this power - those customers back online.

BERMAN: When will crews be able to get out and get to work? Has enough of the storm passed through yet so it's safe?

KENT: Yes. In the south, in the south Georgia, we have damage assessment crews out and looking at the lines right now. They will assess where the greatest need is first for the greatest number of people and we - our crews are already out, but they will go to those places first to make sure that that power is back online first.

BERMAN: And where is the area of greatest need? Do you have a sense of what metropolitan areas, or cities or towns, may have been hit the worst?

KENT: At this point we are seeing quite a bit of a power outage in Valdosta, Columbus, Savannah. So those - as - and the storm has moved through most of that area. So, we have - we are able to start working on that area safely.

BERMAN: And what is the biggest challenge this morning?

KENT: Of course, we've - safety is always our top priority and keeping everyone safe, not just our linemen, but our customers as well. As they're waking up, going to work, you know, you've heard stay off the roads. Also, if there is debris down, if there is water in your yard, stay out of that as well because that could be electrified if there is a downed power line somewhere nearby.

BERMAN: All right, Matthew Kent, thank you very much.

I'm going to go back to Sara Sidner now in New York.

SIDNER: Thank you, John. Appreciate it.

We are, in just a few seconds, going to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take the podium and began addressing the United Nations General Assembly. The last speaker just wrapping things up.

This is coming, of course, as the Middle East is embroiled in war. And there is a huge concern that it will turn into a regional war as Israel and Lebanon fire back and forth.

You can also hear protests in the room as the prime minister is about to speak.

Let's listen in.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I didn't intend to come here this year. My country is at war fighting for its life. But after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight.

I decided to come here to speak for my people, to speak for my country, to speak for the truth.

And here's the truth. Israel seeks peace. Israel yearns for peace. Israel has made peace and will make peace again.

Yet we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation. And we must defend ourselves against these savage murders.

Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror.

When I spoke here last year, I said we face the same timeless choice that Moses put before the people of Israel thousands of years ago.

[09:45:02]

As we were about to enter the promised land, Moses told us that our actions will determine whether we bequeath to future generations a blessing or a curse. And that is the choice we face today. The curse of Iran's unremitting aggression or the blessing of an historic reconciliation between Arab and Jew.

In the days that followed that speech, the blessing I spoke of came into sharper focus. A normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel seemed closer than ever.

But then came the curse of October 7th. Thousands of Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists from Gaza burst into Israel in pickup trucks, on motorcycles, and they committed unimaginable atrocities. They savagely murdered 1,200 people. They raped and mutilated women. They beheaded men. They burned babies alive. They burned entire families alive. Babies, children, parents, grandparents in scenes reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust.

Hamas kidnapped 251 people from dozens of different countries, dragging them into the dungeons of Gaza. Israel has brought home 154 of these hostages, including 117 returned alive.

I want to assure you, we will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home too. And some of their family members are here with us today. I asked you to stand up.

With us - with us is Elie Stevie (ph), whose son Edan (ph), was abducted from the Nova Music Festival. That was his crime, a music festival. And these murderous monsters took him.

Kobe Smerno (ph), whose son Jonathan was murdered. And his corpse - his corpse was taken into the dungeons, into the terror tunnels of Gaza. A corpse held hostage.

Salima Latrash (ph), whose brother Mohammad (ph), a brave Arab Israeli soldier, was murdered. His body too was taken to Gaza. And so was the body of Ifat Hyman's (ph) daughter, Inbar (ph), who was brutally murdered at that same music festival.

With us is Sharon Sharabi (ph), whose brother Yossi (ph) was murdered and who prays for his older brother, Ellie (ph), who is still held hostage in Gaza. And with us still is Iar Liftich (ph), from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a kibbutz that was wiped out by the terrorist. Thankfully, we achieved the release of his mother, Yocheved (ph), but his father, Oded (ph) is still languishing in an underground terrorist hell of Hamas.

I again promise you, we will return your loved ones home. We will not spare that effort until this holy mission is accomplished.

Ladies and gentlemen, the curse of October 7th began when Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza, but it didn't end there. Israel was soon forced to defend itself on six more war fronts organized by Iran. On October 8th, Hezbollah attacked us from Lebanon. Since then, they fired over 8,000 rockets at our towns and cities, at our civilians, at our children. Two weeks later, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen launch drones and missiles at Israel. The first of 250 such attacks, including one yesterday aimed at Tel Aviv. Iran's Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq have targeted Israel dozens of times over the past year as well. Fueled by Iran, Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria perpetrated scores of attacks there and throughout Israel. And last April, for the first time ever, Iran directly attacked Israel from its own territory, firing 300 drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles at us.

I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran, if you strike us, we will strike you. There is no place - there is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach.

[09:50:10]

And that's true of the entire Middle East. Far from being lambs led to the slaughter, Israel's soldiers have fought back with incredible courage and with heroic sacrifice.

And I have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall. We are winning.

Ladies and gentlemen, as Israel defends itself against Iran and the seven front war, the lines separating the blessing and the curse could not be more clear. This is the map I presented here last year. It's a map of a blessing. It shows Israel - Israel and its Arab partners forming a land bridge connecting Asia and Europe, between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Across this bridge we will lay rail lines, energy pipelines, fiber optic cables. And this will serve the betterment of 2 billion people.

Now, look at this second map. It's a map. Look at this second map. It's a map of a curse. It's a map of an arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Iran's malignant arc has shutdown international waterways. It cuts off trade. It destroys millions. It destroys nations from within and influx misery on millions. On the one hand - on the one hand, a bright blessing, a future of hope. On the other hand, a dark future of despair.

And if you think this dark map is only a curse for Israel, if you think that, then you should think again, because Iran's aggression, if it's not checked, will endanger every single country in the Middle East and many, many countries in the rest of the world, because Iran seeks to impose its radicalism well beyond the Middle East. That's why it funds terror networks on five continents. Thats why it builds ballistic missiles for nuclear warheads to threaten the entire world.

For too long the world has appeased Iran. It turns a blind eye to its internal repression. It turns a blind eye to its external aggression. Well, that appeasement must end. And that appeasement must end now.

Nations of the world should support the brave people of Iran who want to rid themselves of this evil regime. Responsible governments should not only support Israel in rolling back Iran's aggression, they should join Israel. Tey should join Israel in stopping Iran's nuclear weapons program.

In this body, in the security council, we're going to have a deliberation in a few months. And I call on the security council to snap back U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran because we must all do everything in our power to ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons.

For decades I've been warning the world against Iran's nuclear program. Our actions delayed this program by perhaps a decade. But we haven't stopped it. We've delayed it, but we haven't stopped it. Iran now seeks to weaponize its nuclear program. For the sake of the peace and security of all your countries, for the sake of the peace and security of the entire world, we must not let that happen. And I assure you, Israel will do everything in its power to make sure it doesn't happen.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the question before us is simple, which of these two maps that I showed you will shape our future? Will it be the blessings of peace and prosperity for Israel, our Arab partners and the rest of the world, or will it be the curse in which Iran and its proxies spread carnage and chaos everywhere?

[09:55:12]

Israel has already made its choice. We've decided to advance the blessing. We're building a partnership for peace with our Arab neighbors while fighting the forces of terror that threaten that piece. For nearly a year, the brave men and women of the IDF have been systematically crushing Hamas' terror army that once ruled Gaza. On October 7th, the day of that invasion into Israel, that terror army numbered nearly 4,000 - 40,000 terrorists. It was armed with more than 15,000 rockets. It had 350 miles of terror tunnels, an underground network bigger than the New York subway system, which they used to wreak havoc above and below ground.

A year later, the IDF has killed or captured more than half of these terrorists, destroyed over 90 percent of the rocket arsenal, and eliminated the key segments of their terror tunnel network.

In major military operations - in major military operations, we destroyed nearly half of Hamas' - sorry, nearly all of Hamas' terror battalions, 23 out of 24 battalions. Now to complete our victory, we are focused on mopping up Hamas' remaining fighting capabilities. We are taking out senior terrorist commanders and destroying remaining terrorist infrastructure. But all the while, all the while, and I'll say this one more time, we remain focused on our sacred mission, bringing our hostages home. And we will not stop until that mission its complete.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, even with Hamas' greatly diminished military capability, the terrorists still exercise some governing power in Gaza by stealing the food that we enable - sorry, that we enable aid agencies to bring into Gaza. Hamas steals the food and then they hike the prices. They feed their bellies, and then they fill their coffers with money that they extort from their own people. They sell the stolen food and it (INAUDIBLE) exorbitant prices. And that's how they stay in power. Well, this too has to end, and we're working to bring it to an end.

And the reason is simple, because if Hamas stays in power, it will regroup, rearm and attack Israel again, and again, and again, as it has vowed to do. So, Hamas has got to go.

Just imagine for those who say, well, Hamas has to stay, it has to be part of a post-war Gaza, imagined in a post-war situation in World War II, imagine allowing the defeated Nazis in 1945 to rebuild Germany. It's inconceivable. It's ridiculous. It didn't happen then. It's not going to happen now.

This is why Israel will reject any rule for Hamas in a post-war Gaza. We don't seek to resettle Gaza. What we seek is a demilitarized and deradicalize Gaza. Only then - only then can we ensure that this round of fighting will be the last round of fighting. We are ready to work with regional and other partners to support a local civilian administration in Gaza committed to peaceful coexistence.

As for the hostages, I have a message for that Hamas captures. Let them go. Let them go, all of them. Those alive today must be returned alive. And the remains of those whom you brutally killed must be returned to their families. Those families here with us today, and others in Israel, deserve to have a resting place for their loved ones. A place where they can grieve and remember them.

This war - ladies and gentlemen, this war can come to an end now. All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms, and release all the hostages.

[10:00:00]

But if they don't - but if they don't, we will fight until we achieve victory. Total victory. There is no