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Scholars: Israel's Actions in Gaza Meet Legal Definition of Genocide; Rescuers Race to Reach Victims After Deadly Afghanistan Quake; West Sweltering as Late-Summer Heat Blankets the Region. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 01, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: ... situation in Gaza a genocide. The Israeli foreign ministry says that the International Association of Genocide scholars is basing their assertion on quote, Hamas's campaign of lies.

In its new resolution, the IAGS says, quote, Since the horrific Hamas- led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure of Gaza.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly two years of war, including nearly 350 reported deaths from famine and malnutrition.

Omar Baddar is a member of the National Policy Council at the Arab American Institute and a Palestinian American Middle East analyst. Omar, thank you so much for being with us, especially on Labor Day. I wonder what you make of the statement from Israel.

OMAR BADDAR, MEMBER, NATIONAL POLICY COUNCIL, ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE: Well, there's nothing surprising about the statement. I mean, they're in the business of denying what they're doing. No government comes out and admits what they're actually carrying out.

But from my perspective, this recognition of this genocide, honestly, is belated. It comes many months after leading human rights organizations have recognized this as a genocide, not just Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, but even Israeli human rights organizations like B'Tselem and a slew of scholars of genocide and Holocaust studies, many of them Jewish and Israeli as well. And the reason is, if you look at the statements of Israeli officials at the beginning of this campaign, you look at the bragging of Israeli soldiers on social media about what they're doing in Gaza, it is difficult to reach any other conclusion apart from the fact that Israel is systematically destroying Palestinian life in Gaza.

You look at every metric, how many journalists are being killed is unprecedented. You look at how many children have actually been killed in the process. And worst of all, just one thing that I think is really important to point out here is the fact that this is the first live stream genocide.

So when you hear Save the Children talk about how there are 10 Palestinian children every single day who are requiring amputations to their arms and legs because of Israeli bombardment, or when you hear Western doctors visit Gaza and talk about how Palestinian children are being used as target practice by Israeli soldiers, you can literally see footage of that on your phone every single day, a fresh crop of Palestinian children whose bodies are being shredded.

And the fact that we've allowed this to continue for as long as we have is absolutely insane. It is time to bring that genocide to an end.

SANCHEZ: So given this declaration, what is there to do? What is there for the United Nations, for example, to do now?

BADDAR: It is -- I mean, frankly, the world, in a way, is standing on the right side of history right now, with the exception of the United States. And the United States is blocking any potential solution and intervention here because the U.S. uses all of its military leverage, giving Israel unlimited military funding, practically in the tens of billions of dollars to carry out this campaign, and intervenes at the U.N. Security Council to veto any attempt to hold Israel accountable at the U.N. Security Council.

It is an abnegation of leadership by the United States, the fact that we're allowing the U.S. standing and image to be torn to shreds. The entire international order that is supposed to be based on the idea of human rights for all and democracy and so on, we're watching that completely fall apart. And the Trump administration at this point, Biden before them, but at this point, is allowing that to completely fall apart. And it really is time for the rest of the world to step in, to apply meaningful sanctions on Israel, to isolate Israel diplomatically and militarily and economically until this genocide comes to an end.

It should be the United States stepping in to take that action. But given the fact of how incredibly biased the Trump administration has been and how utterly dismissive it is of Palestinian humanity and human rights, it really is time for the rest of the world to act.

SANCHEZ: The Israeli argument is that they cannot stop the war until Hamas is completely eliminated. I mean, there have been these sort of ceasefire deals, brokering some sense of peace, and then they're broken. There's still talk from Netanyahu that there may be some kind of solution without having to have phased frameworks.

But their argument is essentially that Hamas cannot exist. And until that happens, there will be continued war. I mean, is there a practical way to get there for Netanyahu? Or is that simply just rhetoric to continue on with bombing?

BADDAR: If you take the Israeli government at face value, we already are at a solution. Hamas has already capitulated significantly compared to their initial position. They're willing to give up power in Gaza, and they're willing to release all the hostages for an end to this genocide and allowing Gaza to be reconstructed.

The goal has shifted. Israel's goal at this point, which Netanyahu is not shy about saying, many members of his administration are repeating the same thing, and the Trump administration repeated that in his own plan as well, which is to empty Gaza of Palestinians. And when that is the goal, it is not adequate that Hamas is willing to give up power and give up the hostages anymore.

There is a much bigger plan, and that plan is to essentially completely erase Palestinian existence in Gaza, a campaign of ethnic cleansing, if we were to put it bluntly.

[14:35:00]

And you hear Trump and Netanyahu referring to it as voluntary relocation. There's nothing voluntary about destroying Gaza and making life unlivable there and then telling people that you have an option to leave. Obviously, if the choice is between genocide and leaving, there's going to be many Palestinians in Gaza who are willing to leave.

But the real, you know, an actual solution to this situation is putting an end to that genocide and allowing Palestinians to exist as a free people on their own land. And that means that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians would want to stay on their land and thrive where they can.

And the only obstacle to that has been Israeli policy, back the United States, backed by the United States in a way that is just utterly indefensible from a moral perspective, from a strategic perspective, and just being interested in U.S. standing and U.S. leadership to be able to point the finger at other world powers, Russia and China and whoever else, and saying that they are not respecting human rights and international law and looking at their records. You can't do that when our record is supporting an absolutely devastating genocide in Gaza that is just obliterating the population there.

SANCHEZ: Omar, I want to get your thoughts on the U.S. now telling diplomats to stop approving non-immigrant visas for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, also Palestinian passport holders living overseas. This will also affect members of the PLO and the PA as well, including the President Mahmoud Abbas. If what the West is seeking, and by the West, I mean the United States and Israel, is some sort of alternative to Hamas, but they're also blocking the PLO and the PA from even going to the United Nations General Assembly, who is there to represent the Palestinian people?

BADDAR: You are absolutely putting your finger on the problem. And let's remember, by the way, this started with banning Palestinian children whose bodies are being destroyed by American-supplied bombs of the Israeli military from being able to come and seek medical help in the U.S. That's the first cutting off of visas that happened just a month ago or so. And since then, you know, there is a power struggle within Palestinian politics.

There is Hamas, which insists that all you have to do is resist by any means necessary and to be violent as a way of achieving Palestinian liberation. And then you have Mahmoud Abbas, who's offering the alternative vision, which is to say you bend over backwards, you accommodate every American and Israeli, you know, request, and in response, they're going to give us something positive.

So when you see the U.S. administration now punishing even the faction of the Palestinian leadership that is willing to basically bend the knee and do whatever Trump and Netanyahu want them to do, it basically signals that, you know, it's obvious why this is Israeli policy, because ultimately what they want is to eliminate Palestinian existence between the river and the sea.

But by the U.S. endorsing it, the U.S. is effectively saying to the world that we don't see everybody in the world as equal. We don't see everybody in the world as deserving of human rights. And that's the posture that we're in.

We're basically saying that to be Palestinian, in a way, is a crime. And we're willing to follow Israel and accommodate what this extremist government in Israel wants, even to the extent of punishing all Palestinians, regardless of their political leanings, simply because they feel that Palestinians deserve freedom and independence and human rights.

SANCHEZ: Omar Baddar, we appreciate you sharing your point of view. Thanks so much for joining us.

BADDAR: Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more to come this afternoon. Hundreds of people dead after an earthquake hit a remote mountainous region in Afghanistan. Rescuers there still trying to reach some of the victims.

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SANCHEZ: Right now, a huge rescue operation is underway in eastern Afghanistan after an earthquake devastated the region. The 6.0 magnitude quake and a series of aftershocks hit towns near the Pakistani border. A Taliban spokesperson says that at least 800 people are dead. Nearly 3,000 are injured. Reuters is reporting that three villages were destroyed in one province alone.

CNN's Nic Robertson is tracking the latest for us. Nic, what are you learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it's Kunar province that's the worst affected. That's where most of the casualties are coming from. And there are several reasons that this is such a devastating earthquake.

One of the biggest reasons, really, is that it happened in the middle of the night and people were in their homes. But in that sort of rugged, rural, mountainous area, many of the homes there are made of mud, rocks, trees. Literally, it's branches of trees that are the roofs of the homes. The leaves intertwine. There's mud piled on top of it. So when a quake hits, these buildings are just not resilient. And that's what brought them down. And because it was nighttime, people were sleeping in there.

And the other thing that contributed to such a violent shake here from this 6.0 magnitude quake is that it was relatively shallow, five miles, about eight kilometers deep, which is pretty shallow for an earthquake.

So these remote villages, the roads have fallen away because of the quakes in some places. There's really been torrential rain there, flooding even over the past few weeks, which has all contributed to making access into these areas really, really difficult. You see some helicopters that are getting used there.

And some of the people are being brought to hospitals in places like Jalalabad, which is the sort of nearest big city. Asadabad is another town where people are going to hospital. But even the resources when they get to the hospital are limited.

You know, Afghanistan's a poor country. A lot of the aid support that it gets from international donors like the U.S. and other countries, that's really cut back over the past year or so. So even when they get to hospital, the treatment is not perfect.

And what the latest thing we have from the Afghan government is they say they've got to all the villages, but the real sort of rescue recovery push that they hope for with international aid organizations, that won't happen until daylight Tuesday because it just takes that long to organize.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson live for us with an update. Thank you so much.

[14:45:00]

Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.

The New York Times is reporting that former special counsel Robert Mueller has Parkinson's disease. Mueller's family told the Times the 81-year-old was diagnosed with the illness four years ago. Last month, the House Oversight Committee withdrew its subpoena for Mueller to testify in its Jeffrey Epstein investigation, citing health reasons. Mueller testified as FBI director before leading the Russia investigation into President Trump during his first term.

In Pennsylvania, heroism at Hershey Park. Anxious crowds watched as a young boy had been missing -- reported missing earlier that day, was seen walking along a monorail track about 100 feet in the air.

A man who said that his dad instincts kicked in climbed to the roof of a concession stand, reaching the boy and then guiding him to safety. The park says the monorail had been closed to the public, but the boy somehow got around the barricades, blocking the station. Fortunately, he was eventually reunited with his family.

And the FAA and NTSB are investigating yesterday's deadly small plane crash in Colorado. Officials say a Cessna and another aircraft collided as both pilots were trying to land. One person was killed. Another in the plane survived. The two people on board the Cessna fortunately made it out with minor injuries. This happened at the Fort Morgan airport, some 80 miles northeast of Denver.

A late summer heat wave is scorching parts of the Western U.S. this Labor Day. Ahead we're going to break down where temperatures are expected to climb to nearly 100 degrees. Stay with us.

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SANCHEZ: We're getting some new video in from New York, showing the moment an Army football player and his father jumped into action, pulling a man from a vehicle that had just crashed into a utility pole. You can see Larry Pickett Jr. and his dad lifting the man out, carrying him across the street. Moments later, the vehicle was engulfed in flames.

In a social media post, Larry Pickett Sr. said his son, quote, ran toward a burning vehicle, ignoring downed power lines crackling around it. Here's Pickett Jr. describing what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY PICKETT JR., ARMY FOOTBALL PLAYER: I was just thinking, I'm just grateful that we got him out, honestly. Because I really don't think that anybody else was there. Because when we pulled up, there was already somebody standing there, but they saw the electric wire and I don't think that they wanted to go get him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Pickett is in his second year at West Point.

Labor Day may feel like the end of summer, but in many cities, the temperatures are a harsh reminder that fall is still three weeks away. It's roasting outside in some places, especially out West.

Meteorologist Chris Warren is with us now from the CNN Weather Center. Chris, who is dealing with some of these extreme conditions on Labor Day.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Boris, it's really up and down much of the west coast where yes, a firm reminder that it definitely is still the summer season. Meanwhile, much of the east coast enjoying almost fall-like weather with even cooler air on the way.

But it is hot along much of the west coast. In fact, dangerously hot for some. From eastern Washington and eastern Oregon through the Central Valley in California, even all the way down to San Diego. From San Diego to Los Angeles all the way up to Sacramento, we do have some hot days we're going to be watching here in the coming days.

In Sacramento, temperatures will be above average. Now, it's the hot time of year. 91 is your average, but you're going to be a lot closer to 100 the next couple of days. 97s and then eventually a little bit cooler than average by next weekend.

Where the temperatures will get to 100 is where you would expect temperatures this time of year to be in the upper 70s. In Spokane, 79 is your average high, with 100 expected tomorrow and then again on Wednesday. Even Los Angeles is going to be on the sizzling side of things with temperatures in the lower 90s.

Meanwhile, cooler air for much of the eastern part of the U.S., Central and Eastern time zones. With the Central time zone really seeing the biggest change in temperatures where it is maybe not quite chilly, but much more like fall with temperatures cooler than average here around the Great Lakes.

And it's that cold front that's going to reinforce what's already some cool air. Chicago, you're going to be into the lower 60s by the end of the week and that's what this looks like here. Your average is 80. You'll be near average next couple of days, but even some of these lows a degree or two away from the 40s.

Here's what we're watching in the Atlantic. The potential is there. Medium chances here for development in the coming days. And the coming days are also here in the heart of hurricane season. We're getting to that very obvious peak here in early September that really goes through about mid-October or so.

So where we do typically see this time of year in September, four storms to form and go. Pretty obvious where we're tracking right now and all up and down much of the eastern seaboard -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Chris Warren, thanks so much for the update.

President Trump has made tariffs a key part of his economic agenda and history could offer lessons on what could happen with the president's trade war. In his latest documentary special, Fareed Zakaria looks back at America's past experience with tariffs.

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FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: As President Trump has been hurling America's economy into turmoil with his big, beautiful tariffs, you may have asked yourself a question. When did he first fall in love with tariffs? Well, Trump's obsession with protectionism is a tale that goes back decades.

DONALD TRUMP, BEFORE HE BECAME PRESIDENT: They are beating the hell out of this country.

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TRUMP: They have taken tremendous advantage of the United States, folks.

TRUMP: They are systematically ripping off this country. ZAKARIA (voice-over): You'd be forgiven for thinking that was an anti- China tirade from Donald Trump on the 2024 campaign trail. Or maybe the 2016 campaign trail.

Not quite. These are the words of a much younger Trump in the 1980s, then laser focused on Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Be sure to tune in. "BIG, BEAUTIFUL TARIFFS," a Fareed Zakaria special airs tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

Coming up, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin standing shoulder to shoulder as China casts itself as an alternative global leader, making not so thinly veiled jabs at the United States. We'll discuss next.

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