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Middle East on Edge as Israel-Hezbollah War Intensifies; Trump Holds Rally in Key Swing State Pennsylvania; More Stimulus Expected in China After Disappointing Economic Numbers. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 30, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. Here are today's top stories.

In the coming days, U.S. President Joe Biden plans to visit communities devastated by Hurricane Helene. The federal government has declared a public health emergency in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida and will deploy disaster and medical teams to assist states in their recovery.

Floods and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 192 people in Nepal. As rescue workers reach more remote areas, officials warn the death toll will likely rise. Images show floodwaters are sweeping over parts of the capital city, Kathmandu. Other videos show entire buildings collapsing as the land below gives out.

A rooftop fire at a chemical plant near Atlanta, Georgia, has forced evacuations and road closures. Officials say water from a faulty sprinkler head came in contact with the water reactive chemical causing a massive plume of smoke. As you can see, crews managed to get the fire under control, but the smoke may be visible for several more days.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Israel continues to escalate its attacks against Hezbollah, saying it has launched new airstrikes in eastern and southern Lebanon today. And this comes after Israeli airstrikes hit within the city limits of Beirut for the first time since this began.

Video shows the chaos and fear unfolding for Lebanese civilians in the capital following the attack on Monday morning. The country has faced days of intensifying strikes, which Lebanese officials say killed more than 100 people on Sunday alone.

Well, the World Food Program warns that, quote, Lebanon is at a breaking point with an estimated one million people displaced by the Israeli attacks.

Pope Francis is calling for an immediate ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) POPE FRANCIS (through translator): Defense always has to be proportionate to the attack. When there is something disproportionate, you can see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality. A country that with its force does these things, any country, I mean, that does these things in such an exaggerated way. They are immoral actions. Even in war, there is a morality to respect. War is immoral, but the rules of war indicate some morality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: That's Pope Francis.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is adding a former rival to his cabinet. Gideon Sa'ar will become a minister without appointment, analysts say. Netanyahu is bringing on the veteran right-wing politician to shore up his base and to protect his government from ultra-orthodox opposition.

[04:35:00]

Before Israel's escalation in Lebanon, Netanyahu had intended to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and give Sa'ar that position. Now, Gideon Sa'ar insists he would have been qualified for it, despite his lack of national security experience, but now says he will not take the post.

Well, last hour, I spoke with Dahlia Scheindlin, a political analyst and fellow at the Century Foundation. She has written an article that suggests, quote, thanks to the war in Lebanon, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government will probably strengthen their political hand. Well, I asked her to further explain how and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAHLIA SCHEINDLIN, POLITICAL ANALYST AND FELLOW, CENTURY FOUNDATION: For the first six months immediately after October 7th through April, Netanyahu and his government were suffering in public opinion. People blamed them for the failures to detect and prevent and cope with October 7th and everything that happened afterwards. And their poll, their polling numbers were very poor.

But from around early April, beginning with the assassination of a senior Al-Quds commander in Damascus and the fact that there was an exchange of fire with Iran that did not escalate out of control, there began an incremental recovery of polling. We saw another inflection point in August after the double assassination of Fuad Shukr, senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut and assassination attributed to Israel of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

And that also did not fully escalate into a regional war. It looked like Netanyahu had some sort of strategic control over the events in the regional dimension. And the polling got better for the government. Now, the government has regained at this point all of what it lost in those first six months of the war.

And I can, you know, my assessment is that it's because of the regional dimension. There's no evidence that Gaza is playing out well in the Israeli public. People are still devastated by the fact that there hasn't been a hostage release deal. They consistently prefer a hostage release deal, including the concessions that would mean on Israel's part to the government's position. But everybody feels like the regional threat is kind of above politics. And that does play well for the government.

However, it should be said, the government has not been able to regain the majority that it had in the November 2022 elections and surveys. So if elections were held today, they still wouldn't win. But elections will not be held today. They haven't even been called yet. And the government could also last the full term.

ANDERSON: Yes, and unless Benjamin Netanyahu collapses this government and were to get rid of the very right wing of this coalition, elections not expected anytime soon.

I just want our viewers to get a further sense of the conceit of your opinion piece for Haaretz.

Quote: Israel and Hezbollah have turned the corner into full scale war. No one can say how it will end or how much rubble and how many bodies will be left in its wake. But one modest prediction is credible, based on recent experience. Thanks to the war in Lebanon, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government will probably strengthen his political hand.

And I think you've just spoken to that. What's your assessment of the appointment of Gideon Sa'ar?

SCHEINDLIN: Well, it's interesting because in a way it strengthens the government. The government had 64 out of 120 seats beforehand, so it already had a majority. But there was always a threat that some of the coalition partners could bolt.

So now it has 68 seats with the four seats that Sa'ar, Gideon Sa'ar's party brings to it. So Netanyahu is in a stronger position. What's interesting is that when we see Likud doing a little bit, tiny bit better in surveys following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, which is very new, of course, we don't know if these trends will last.

But there hasn't been any change in the position of the overall coalition in surveys. They're still only getting between 49 and 53 seats. And as a result, bringing Sa'ar in could also be perceived as an effort to reach outside the core supporters of the government. It's as if nothing moves. Those were in the anti-Netanyahu bloc.

Now, Sa'ar doesn't have a great deal of credibility in the Israeli public. He only commands a small number of seats. Many people already see this as a betrayal of the voters because he ran with a party that was opposed to Netanyahu. But on the other hand, the Israeli public is also absolutely kind of demoralized by the political levels right now. They are deeply distrustful. All surveys are showing a sort of crisis of faith in the leadership. And there is a great call for unity. So maybe Gideon Sa'ar is hoping that he gets some credit for putting the unity of politicians first in order to reassure the public. And Netanyahu may be hoping to reach a little bit outside of the core of supporters for the government.

But remember, this government represents a very extreme, ultra nationalist, you know, militant and militarist and even conquest oriented position.

[04:40:00]

And their voters represent that, too. And that's why they haven't been able to reach beyond the core supporters of the government. Surely Netanyahu is hoping for a little more than that.

ANDERSON: Yes. And that government has really damaged the legitimacy of this Israeli government in the eyes of many outside of Israel, as well as those inside. There is a -- you know, Benjamin Netanyahu in a position at the moment threading a needle between security on the one hand and legitimacy on the other. Going forward, how is he going to work that through?

SCHEINDLIN: You know, the current war has brought Israel to its most severe situation of sort of on the -- I would say on the threshold of international isolation that it has really not faced since.

Now, I don't want to overstate the case, but there is, you know, there are numerous ways in which Israel faces significant, you know, ramifications, even among its allies, even among its democratic allies. And he has been playing fire with the relationship with the U.S.

Having said that, I think what he's trying to do is, you know, from his perspective, he has long sought a greater conflagration in the Middle East that even draws the U.S. in. And, you know, it's hard to say for sure what's going inside his head, but just reading the actions of the last number of days, it looks very much like he is pushing the U.S. to a situation where there could very well be a severe escalation in the Middle East, including possibly attacks on U.S. forces that would drag the U.S. in.

And so it's almost as if he's not really going to give his allies a choice about international isolation or not. He's trying to pull them in and create the kind of binary divide that he described in his U.N. speech. The good guys and the bad guys, it's how he sees the world, or at least it's how he wants the world to see Israel.

The problem is that Israel behaves like the bad guys in many ways with its undemocratic and conquest-oriented positions of this government, and yet feels like it legitimately can expect the support of what it calls the good guys who advance peace and democracy. And I think there's a lot of uncertainty around how those democratic allies will see Israel in the coming years.

ANDERSON: Right. Dahlia, always good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. SCHEINDLIN: Thank you for having me.

FOSTER: Becky, Donald Trump questioning Kamala Harris' mental state again. We'll have the latest on the U.S. presidential race after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: We are just weeks away from the U.S. presidential election and Republican nominee Donald Trump spent much of his Sunday rally in Pennsylvania railing against his rival Kamala Harris. He criticized her stances on immigration and again stoked fears about migrants. He also questioned her mental state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: With five weeks to go in the presidential election, former President Donald Trump campaigned in Pennsylvania on Sunday, talking about a return visit next week to Butler, Pennsylvania. Of course, that was the site of the assassination attempt earlier this summer that certainly changed him and the campaign.

He talked about that assassination attempt at a rally in Erie on Sunday afternoon as he delivered an excoriating recitation of Kamala Harris, talking very little about his own policies but repeatedly questioning her mental acuity.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired, sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There's something wrong with Kamala.

And I just don't know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what? Everybody knows it.

ZELENY: Now, many Republicans would prefer the former president focus on the economy, focus on immigration rather than personally going after Kamala Harris. That was not what Donald Trump did. There is no question that the base of his party enjoys those types of attacks. The larger question is, what does it do for persuadable voters in the middle?

Now, Erie, Pennsylvania is a fascinating place to campaign. Certainly, one will be watching as the election goes forward. Barack Obama won this county twice in 2008 and 2012. Donald Trump carried it in 2016. Joe Biden won it in 2020.

It is indeed a swing county inside a battleground state. That is why Donald Trump was campaigning here on Sunday. There is no doubt the vice presidential debate is coming up on Tuesday in New York. And then one month remains until the election.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Erie, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: A Republican senator and Trump ally, Lindsey Graham, was asked about Trump's rhetoric on Harris' mental state. And here is his response to CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): No, I just think she's crazy liberal. I don't question her.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: But what do you think about that rhetoric?

GRAHAM: I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country. They're crazy liberal.

Now, I'm not saying she's crazy. I'm saying your policies are bats**t crazy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Kamala Harris concluded her West Coast swing with a rally in Nevada, a state the Democratic nominee believes is part of her many paths to 270 electoral votes. Harris used the event to strengthen her latest -- her support, rather, amongst Latino voters. And she took a swipe at Donald Trump when talking about health care.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump intends to end the Affordable Care Act.

(CROWD BOOS)

HARRIS: And he has no plan to replace it. He has, quote, concepts of a plan.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, the Harris campaign says it raised $55 million from two fundraisers in California just this weekend.

And a reminder to watch CNN's special coverage of this week's vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance, hosted by CBS News. It starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in New York. That's midnight here on CNN in London.

Now, so to come, new economic data in China shows Beijing has more work ahead if they want to hit their goals for the year. I will break down the numbers in a live report for you.

[04:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: More economic stimulus is expected in China. After disappointing measures of factory activity and services expansion in September. It comes amid moves from China's central bank and government officials to reverse the trend.

But the question remains. If it will be enough for Beijing to hit their growth target with the end of the year. Closing in pretty quickly, Kristie.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and investors at the moment, they're in a positive mood, Max. They are cheering. Shares in China this day surged again over the government stimulus blitz. Even after there was more weak data emerging from China, the world's second largest economy.

You know, on Friday, a couple days ago, there was an explosive stock market rally after China unveiled a major stimulus package. And on Monday, as you can see on your screen, markets soared yet again.

The Shanghai composite gaining more than 8 percent. Here in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng reaching 2.5 percent higher. And the Shenzhen indices there surging over 10 percent, nearly 11 percent higher. Now markets will be closed tomorrow for the Golden Week holiday.

Now, data released on Monday earlier today showed a painful point. Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for the fifth consecutive month in September.

But on Sunday, there were some really big moves made to revive the property market. And that helped lift investor spirits. China's central bank said it would start cutting existing mortgage rates before the end of October.

And then you also have that announcement from three Chinese megacities, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, saying that they are lifting curbs for homebuyers.

[04:55:02]

You know, look, China has been facing quite a number of economic challenges, including weak consumer spending, including an ongoing property slump, including rising local government debt.

And for months now, economists have been asking Beijing to step in and do more. And Beijing seems to be heeding that call. Last week, we heard from the Politburo, the very political elite in Beijing. They vowed more stimulus to reach China's annual growth target of around 5 percent. Investors cheered the news. Economists as well.

I want to bring up this quote from Bruce Pang. He's the chief economist trying to have Jones Lang LaSalle.

And he said this, quote: A pickup in government spending will probably be sufficient to drive a turnaround in business confidence, market sentiment and economic activities, helping China to catch up with potential trend growth. Unquote.

Now, that pledge that we heard from the Politburo last week that came days after China's central bank unveiled a major stimulus package, its most aggressive stimulus package since the pandemic.

But Max, this isn't going to be easy. It's not going to be a quick fix. Experts say that, you know, it's going to take time for the stimulus measures to push through and filter through. So there could be more painful data ahead -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Kristie in Hong Kong. Thank you.

New Zealand has set the world record for the largest mass haka on home turf.

It has reclaimed the title from France, with about 6,500 people taking part in the Maori war dance in Eden Park in Auckland. Comedian Conan O'Brien was amongst the celebrities at the stadium. But New Zealand's All Blacks haven't lost a rugby match since 1994.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break.

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